Why the hell do some pleasures have to be guilty? And where did that idea come from anyway?

As I see it, there are two parts to a guilty pleasure: The guilt that’s felt for enjoying something and an embarrassment to admit it. That’s because structurally, a guilty pleasure is something your peers think is crap.

People who determine what’s crap are The Elites, defined as those who think they’re smarter and more sophisticated than everyone else, even if they’re not. You’ll find most Elites in the media, academia, HuffPo or in Whole Foods.

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Well, it’s that time of year and the annual battle between secularists and religionists has again been engaged, though not as virulently as in the past. However, the question still remains: Will we be having a Merry Christmas or a Happy Holiday?

Here in Durham, neighbor to the liberal hotbed of Chapel Hill, the “Christmas” trees that once graced the lobbies of the Wilson and Davis libraries at UNC’s Chapel Hill campus during December are now being kept in storage. You can ask a custodian to let you in to take a look at them if you want.

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With the swearing in of Obama as President and an overwhelmingly Democrat Congress, we can look forward to an accelerated dash to green living. As the great comedian Jimmy Durante famously said, “Everybody wants to get into the act.”

Companies that make everything from diapers to cars won’t be able to crank out Green stuff fast enough, giving consumers yet another thing to consider besides price, ingredients, reliability, durability and do-we-have-a-coupon-for-it. Now, more than ever, consumers will be asked to decide between a product that can save the planet or one that will do it harm and possibly tilt it off its axis.

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In the noisy and bitter aftermath of Proposition 8’s failure in California, national protests by gay and straight groups are sweeping the country. Today is Day Without A Gay Day and gays are being encouraged to call in sick and donate the time to help in the battle for gay marriage.

Their efforts might gain even more traction if the issue were exclusively political. But it isn’t. The gay marriage issue isn’t really about marriage, it’s about homosexuality which, like abortion, is viewed by Christians as a moral issue and not a political one.

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Wilson

This past weekend, I drove my nineteen year old son, Mario, and his friend from Durham, NC to Glenside, PA. to see Brian Wilson in concert at the Keswick Theater. My son has had a passion for the Beach Boys and Brian Wilson for years, the kind of passion I felt at his age for an opera singer named Mario Del Monaco, after whom my son is named, incidentally.

Wilson’s new album is Lucky Old Sun, and while I didn’t attend the concert, I have heard the album. How could I not? Mario plays it constantly. And in my own geezer fashion, I was drawn to it because Lucky Old Sun was one of my favorite Frankie Laine recordings way back when.

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This won’t be the only piece in the blogs about the media’s utter capitulation to the Obama campaign in the past election. Their behavior reminded me of joke about how France reacted when they were invaded by Germany: “Table for eighty thousand? Right this way.”

No fight, no resistance, no nothing. The media tarnished the election process by using their bully pulpit to surrender themselves and us to the Obamalytes. The Fourth Estate shamelessly used its powers of advocacy to sway our Democracy their way.

Now that the election is over and amber waves of people have chosen Obama, the outstanding issue isn’t who won, whether Sarah Palin was a good or dumb choice, or whether liberals, conservatives or moderates have the best roadmap for the future of the country.

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RIP Brad

Prison Break lost Brad Bellick last week, the first television character victim of the failing economy. Characters from other shows are also slated for the ax. Bellick, a formerly cruel guard at Fox River Penitentiary was reborn as a colleague of the good guys, but had to go because the Scofields, Sucre, Mahone, et al, couldn’t afford his upkeep.

“He knew he was a goner, anyway,” said Michael Scofield, who is suffering from a brain tumor that may find him gone. “Brad’s cholesterol level was through the roof.”

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Just no abuse or name calling. Thanks.

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In To Sail beyond the Sunset, the last of Heinlein’s Lazarus Long stories, Lazarus discusses a dynamic that I think is rampant today. Food for thought for all newly elected politicians.

From handouts to bailouts to ….?

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In contemporary warfare, a seemingly impersonal and detached engagement of missiles, long distance attacks and technological battle, it is easy to lose sight of GI Joe, the man in the trenches, of foxholes, submariners, flyboys and the sheer bravery of taking a hill, storming the beaches or defending your position.

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