Little by little America is becoming crude, lewd and feuding. The citizens and the government seem already to have forgotten the crooked executives that raped the stock market and stockholders. What should have been an obvious solution, hanging and paying back the stolen monies, has dwindled in the mind of the news media and the prosecutors to almost insignificance. It has taken so long to right the wrong, the problem has been joined by a new case of executive theft when mutual fund overseers allowed the big boys to trade after closing time. Watch that die on the vine, and excuses found for the rotten tomatoes. Our real enemies are boards of directors who are blind to crime and over pay their greedy corporate leaders. Many board members deserve prison time.

I’ve lived through a bunch of presidencies but never have I witnessed the backstabbing taking place these past few months. I remember the old &uot;rally around the President&uot; years. Even when Nixon stubbed his toe it wasn’t as malicious as today, over whether or not there are WMD. Democrats, liberals, are vicious and seem to me in favor of American failure at any cost. Replacing Mr. Bush is more important to them than regaining prestige in the world; they are even considering a Republican ex-general as a possible candidate. Al Franken is the current hero and spokesperson for the naysayers.

The farce just played out in California is almost as funny as California’s image. A double election, kick one out and put another in, simultaneously – is a rarity, and the assortment of characters was scary. The last one to join the fray was a lap dancer who figured she could refill the treasury with a tax on her services. She suggested customers carry a punch card and pay a hefty tax at the end of the year for each fulfilling encounter. The Governor is a muscle-bound trained movie killer who admits to groping, (acceptable since Clinton) several women in past years and who admires Hitler’s mastery of motivational speeches.

Rush Limbaugh apparently stepped in it with a football analysis, his opinion, and ESPN let him go rather than fight the good fight. All three 6 p.m. liberal talking heads jumped on that and with straight faces had a field day with the dour circumstances. Now there will be a blue ribbon committee to see if someone in the White House leaked info that exposed an already exposed CIA agent, and another blue bunch to prove Rush should do time for substance abuse. Self-righteous liberals are more disgusting and dangerous than Hell’s Angels with an attitude; they are having a ball. How can any Democrat, after Clinton, with a straight face criticize anyone?

Television scares me the most. I find myself avoiding local and other channels to avoid the dumb sitcoms that run for hours with live laughers and enhancing laugh tracks. It’s all geared to the young and the easily pleased who have little interest in the TV fare that might educate them. Often sitcom language and innuendo is what was formerly heard only in army barracks. Of course it passes on down and sticks to children who are allowed to watch because mommy and daddy have nothing better to do.

It’s as though sex has just been discovered and every TV and movie director seems to work it into the plot so we will become familiar with every aspect of it. We’re getting closer and closer to what we considered porn 50 years ago when black and white movies showed up wherever men gathered for beer and cards. Even advertisements appear to be exploiting some part of the human body. Young girls are sliding their pants or skirts further down each fashion year and I wonder what follows belly buttons. Too many, 8 to 40, think life should be this way; a downward trend is progress in their minds and nothing wrong with it. Let’s not forget religious leaders and some of their conquests.

We elders can live with it – but we are mighty concerned about our great-grandchildren. What kind of a country will they be living in? George Washington said, &uot;The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained.&uot;

Robert Pocklington is a resident of Suffolk and a regular News-Herald columnist. He can be contacted at robert.pocklington@suffolknewsherald.com.