OPTIMISM

Let's face it, ol' H.C. can be a tad on the dark side sometimes. My world is full of apocalyptic notions. I believe people are inherently evil (You have to convince yourself to do the right thing and talk yourself out of doing the wrong thing. Right?) I believe that a nuclear weapon will go off somewhere in the world before the end of this century. I believe that people are more narcissistic then they have ever been in history, and that as a result our families are falling apart along with our morals. But, there is another side to my personality that a lot of you don't get to see. Believe it or not, I'm basically a very happy person. In fact, my nickname in high school was "Smiley". In order to maintain my sanity, I look for the good things in life. Believe me when I tell you, if you look for only the bad things in life, you will end up one miserable person. Whenever I read the newspapers, I always read the comics last. After a long night of CNN or FOX, I always try to watch a comedy or some comedian. And instead of continuously searching for whatever is wrong with this world, sometimes I look for what is right. So, to help you through these trying times, I'm going to show you the better side of humanity. I really believe this goes on more than you know, it's just that it doesn't bleed....so it doesn't lead.

*Business Man Gives Away Toys*

In Longway , Texas, businessman Don Talley gathers up toys in the months before Christmas to give to needy families in his community. Don and his "Darlings" (helpers) gave away a ton of toys but that wasn't enough. They even reached into their own pockets to buy even more toys so that in their words, "every child in the community would get a Christmas present." Way-to-go Don and his Darlings.

*Secret Santa*

Even though he died this year of cancer, Larry Stewart led a life that should be an inspiration to all of us. During the course of his life Larry gave away $1.3 million dollars as a "Secret Santa" to people in need he found through social agencies or word-of-mouth. He kept his identity a secret up until he realized he was dying and then only reveiled it because he wanted to inspire others to be more generous. RIP Larry, think of all the people you made happy, if only for a moment.

*Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffet*

I know it's far more popular to view anyone with wealth as evil bastards who got where they are by crooked means or by stepping on labor. I guess I'll never be able to convince the 30% of you that are always hating anyone with success. But, for the rest of you, consider that Warren Buffet gave away $37 billion to various charities, nearly 85% of his total wealth. The lion's share of that went to the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, a foundation that last year gave more medicine and food to people in Africa than any country in the European Union. So much for the kinder, gentler Socialistic notion.

*Salvation for the Salvation Army*

One of my favorite organizations, The Salvation Army, received 31 $100 dollar bills from a person known only as "Leo". The person left a note saying he wanted to outdo a previous donation of 30 $100 dollar bills. Now that's a war I can stand behind. The money will go to helping poor people heat their homes. I find that a little more important than whether or not the Salvation Army will enlist openly gay people, the big issue on the left.

*America the Charitable*

Even the left-leaning MSN has to admit it; "The United States leads the world in levels of charitable activity." The rest of the world tends to forget the wonderful things the U.S. does around the world. From supplying medicine to feeding the hungry, both in our country and outside, no one can deny the U.S. shows her passionate side. With hardly any effort, you can find dozens of barely reported stories of American generosity. Sure, it's true that the U.S. also does bad things, but focusing only on that side doesn't do her justice. Would you want to be judged only on what you did wrong? I thought not.

Now, go forth my children. Take this renewed faith in humanity and smile a little and laugh a little. Watch a comedian or read the comics. Watch a sunrise or just spend a few moments appreciating what you have. While it's true there are a lot of things to be concerned with, your life will be far happier if you spend at least some time searching for what's good...instead of only what's bad. H.C. :)

H.C. DROPS HIS VEIL AT STUDIO 1714!

Most of the time I try not to bore all of you with my personal life, which is basically drinking 3 Molsons and falling asleep, but I thought this was particularly interesting. I just got back from recording several segments of political discussion at "Studio 1714", a Flint-talk radio supported Internet show. I got to sit in the hot seat with John and Steve, who have made quite a name for themselves both on radio and in the Internet world. They've interviewed a whole host of local political figures and local entertainers such as Bryan McCree, a well know comedian.

So how did 'Ol H.C. bag such a coup d'e tat? Simple, I lied and said I had more readers than Maureen Doud, Cal Thomas, and Thomas Freedman put together. Actually, I sent them an E-Mail and after reading some of my rants, they thought I seemed an interesting character.

So I put on my best tie-dyed t-shirt, my Brook Brothers suit and made my way to the studio looking a little like Timothy Leary and Ann Coulter hooked up and had a child 47 years ago. On the way I stopped to pick up some water and breath mints at a local store. I must have been an interesting site as a homeless dude kept looking at me from the corner of his eye and people seemed to want to keep a little distance between us. The Arab-looking gentleman behind the counter treated me like everyone else, my guess is you could come in humping a goat and he wouldn't have noticed.

Once I got to the Studio, nervous and wondering if I had made a mistake, Steve and John set about making me feel right at home. These guys are so easygoing, within minutes you feel like you've known them all your life. We went through a whole slew of possible subject matter and then set about recording. John is the more outgoing of the two although I would say either one of them has their moments of brilliance. I found myself feeling very comfortable in front of the camera, in fact, for a while I forgot all about it. Their camera man blends right in and leaves the show to form itself, I think that's a good part of why it feels so much like just shooting the shit with some of your buddies. The first segment went by so quickly I was stunned that it was over. They then asked if I wanted to do a few more and feeling all politically charged up I couldn't wait to jump back in.

We covered everything from Medicinal Marijuana to Governor Granholm. You can catch it on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=Studio1714 . The most interesting thing about this for me is, I Loved It. I had no idea how I would feel about talking on video (I'm very self conscious about my looks), or on the radio. I'm desperately interested in how all of you felt I did and am looking forward to your comments. Don't cut me no slack, I'm a big boy, I can take it. In the mean time, watch out Bill O'Reilly, watch your back James Carville, I might be thinking your job looks like a lot of fun. H.C.

BACK IN THE SADDLE!!

The combined evil plot of Democrat and Republican operatives has officially failed, the Hippie Conservative is back and mad as hell. So they thought they could stop me from uniting Blacks and Whites, Asians and Hispanics, Christians and Secularists, and most importantly, Democrats and Republicans. Did they really think simply crashing the entire Ibogs web site would send me crying? Sure, there were some bad moments, watching my 400 hits a day reduced to 10 or 20 people I could contact personally. Realizing that half my columns were in my cruddy handwriting and would have to be typed back on one by one. Having to suffer putting them back on one or two a day while great political material passed right before my eyes. Yes, it's been a tough month, but it's over now and I am ready to get the masses back one by one. By the way, if any of you have any bright ideas on how I can link my old URL to my new one without access to Iblogs, I'm all ears. I've started a new parallel site on Myspace.com. (http://www.myspace.com/thehippieconservative) and I've linked hippieconservative.com to this site so if the government should try any more shady shit, I'm ready.

So what's been going on since I disappeared off the radar? Lots. As you know the War in Iraq has continued to fall apart, and Bush is starting to look like his legacy will be starting a new 30 Year War. I've got some thoughts on how we could still save some honor, but not much. Donald Rumfeld has been fired (quit, resigned, whatever, as long as he leaves) and we're pinning our hopes on Robert Gates now to find some kind of way to win something. The Democrats are salivating over their BIG mid term win and are probably already plotting how to make the remaining two years of Bush's term a living hell. A little known Senator from South Dakota, Timothy Johnson, suffered a type of brain aneurysm and now has the Democrat Majority-elect wondering if they can pull off their own version of "Weekend at Bernies" to hold on to their slim (51-49) majority in the U.S. Senate. The Democrats should be cautious, they have a bunch of Senators over 80 years old including both the Democrat Senators from Hawaii. The '08 elections are firing up with Barrack Obama already entering the fray. Like Christmas, the elections seem to start earlier and earlier. The Baker/Hamilton commission has released their report, and everyone seems to hates some part of it, including the Iraqis. And other than that, I'll just say the world is a crazy as it was before I disappeared. I have a long list of things I can't wait to tell you, but in the meantime, have a Happy Christmas and take care of one another. H.C.

WHERE'S THE HIPPIE, MR. CONSERVATIVE?

Posted in Uncategorized on July 7th, 2006
Lately I’ve been getting called out by my left-leaning friends. The truth is, I don’t have any conservative friends. Even though some of you might think I sit around all day listening to Rush Limbaugh with all my far-right, neo-conservative, religious buddies, the truth is, I’m all alone for the most part on my opinions. I do have some religious family members who do lean to the right, but I normally only see them during family functions and my wife won’t let me talk politics with them anymore. (Man, you start one little fight.) Anyway, lately people have been asking me where the “hippie” part of my persona has gone. They’ve even gone so far as to tell me I should change my name, since I only have conservative opinions anyway. “The Conservative?” that doesn’t sound like a site I would want to visit. So, in the interest of being fair, I went over my past posts just to check, and I’ve got to tell you, I don’t get where they’re coming from.
My first column, fresh out of the box, was on legalizing Marijuana. The response on that has been very good by the way; with any luck it’ll find its way to people who can support it better than I can. Definitely a Liberal piece though. The second one was an attack on a Ku Klux Klan member in the Senate. I would like to think that’s something a ”hippie” would support. Don’t hippies try to expose when the establishment is secretly supporting racism? (Or should we only expose Republicans?) The third one, on Katrina, I took a more conservative stand on, but only because I thought the whole thing was fermenting racial division, and not being reported accurately. Honesty in the media is something we should all support, especially hippies. Next I took on Roe vs. Wade, I didn’t give my personal stand on it, as it was a educational piece, but for the record, I am Pro-Choice. Next I took on the issue of bigotry against Christians in our Universities. Hippies, I thought, were always against bigotry. Apparently some of you think it’s O.K. to be bigoted against Christians, but as a hippie, I take the love your enemy point of view. Freedom vs. Security was done as I pondered how far we should all go, if you read it carefully you’ll find I didn’t even take a firm stand, left or right. The Iraq War piece was easily the one I caught the most shit on, I thought I was safe on that one, as I made it plain that I was against this war from the start, yet my friends on the left attacked me for thinking it could be won, (sigh). Every piece, every time, my friends on the left felt I was too easy on Bush, gave too much credit to the conservatives, attacked the advocates too much, and reaffirmed their belief that I was slowly drifting to the right. And now, in my darkest moment of self-reflection, they are trying to take away my hippie creds. That, I will not tolerate.
I think that it’s the definition of “hippie” that’s changed, not me (at least not completely). I’m still the guy who picks up trash along my road. I refuse to even throw a gum wrapper on the ground. I hate trash. It’s like spitting on our mother to me. I love being in nature and being part of it. That’s why I hunt and fish, I want to know everything about nature, as a participant, not as a observer. You can’t learn everything about nature from just watching. That’s pure hippie to me. I don’t trust the establishment, you know, the folks in charge, they have their own agenda and it’s usually not the same as mine. That includes both our political parties. I never saw hippies in the ’70s supporting the Democratic Party, that’s something you guys started more recently. In fact, most of us supported third parties.(I myself have voted for Ralph Nader 3 times). I’m anti-war. Isn’t everybody? I’ll only support it when it looks like not having it is worse. Some of you people on the left need to understand that not taking action can be worse than taking action. Look at what inaction did in Rwanda. I’m Pro-choice and Pro-Womens rights, but sometimes, what is being advocated by the left is not what’s best for women, women on the right represent women too. In short, I’m a rabid environmentalist; a crusader against racism (all racism, not just the fashionable advocacy of the moment), anti-war, pro-choice, and a firm believer that government has a responsibility to take care of those that CAN NOT take care of themselves. I don’t buy into the politics of hate and fear. I don’t hate Bush, as much as you’d all like me to, but I’m trying to give you the truth, and not be a tool for either side.
I’m going back down to my room in my basement now. I’ll pick up my guitar and play “All you need is love” while staring at my Pink Floyd posters under the gentle light of my lava lamp, like I do a lot when I’m reflecting. This old hippie may have changed a little while growing long-in-tooth, but I’m not ready to abandon my roots just yet. Challenge me all you want, I love debate anyway, but don’t try to take away my right to call myself a hippie, it’s still what makes me……..me. H.C.

RED PILL/BLUE PILL
Posted in Uncategorized on October 18th, 2006
I sort of swiped this idea from my friend Andre from “Inside Andre’s Mind” (check out his blog, this guy’s one of my favorite writers). He brought up “The Matrix Metaphor” which is the idea that we can all chose to either face life as it really is, (the red pill) or chose to live happily in an illusion (the blue pill). It occurred to me that I probably should have given you readers that choice a little earlier on. There’s an old saying, “With knowledge, comes sorrow.” If you’ve been reading my column, you know what that means.
The Iraq War, crazy tyrants, nuclear proliferation, and terrorism, all of this is enough to push even the most happy-go-lucky person to the verge of suicide. I myself mumble “Please Kim Jong Il, don’t!” in my sleep. My wife thinks I’m having an affair with an Asian girl. All of this can lead to a life of near depression. Maybe the people who sit around watching “American Idol” or playing video games have it right. You can’t do much about the world’s problems, so just ignore them. Unfortunately, that’s not me.
I have, however, found a few ways to keep myself from falling off the deep end. For example, whenever I read a newspaper, I make sure that I read the comic section last. You’d be surprised at how reading about two black kids in the comic strip ”Boondocks” finding out that they live on “Timid Deer Lane” can make you forget a significant part of the world wants to destroy us. Another way to lighten up the mood is to laugh at the silly things politicians do. “Look Honey, Bush really thinks people are going to buy that B.S.” In this case, laughter truly is the best medicine. Which is why I always try to put a little humor in my pieces. (if you haven’t noticed any, disregard that last comment.)
So I guess what I’m doing here, is giving all of you a second chance. I’ll be gone for a little while (about two weeks) taking a vacation to Colorado. I’ll be camping at about 8,ooo feet, so my chances of finding a moment or a laptop are mighty slim. But I’ll be using that time to come up with some interesting things to talk about. We have my predictions for the November elections coming up, so I’m compiling all my data. I want all of you to use that time to decide if you really want to continue to get the full view of what’s going on in this crazy world. (Even though I’d hate to lose even one of you) I have to be fair, I can’t guarantee there won’t be times that I might scare the shit out of you, or depress you a little. (My wife jokes that I should come with a warning label) But I promise I’ll always do my best to be as fair and honest as I can possibly be, and as Morpheus said, “I’ll show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.” H.C.

An Introduction

Hello, and welcome to my column, or for those of you that used to visit me at my old site, welcome back. To bring everyone up to speed I'm going to rerun my archived columns everyday until we're all on the same page. Then we'll go back to the once a week posting that most of you were used to.
Webster defines a hippie as; “A young person of the 1960’s who rejected established social values, advocated spontaneity, free expression of love and the expanding of consciousness.” A conservative on the other hand is defined as; ” A person who is conservative in principles, actions, habits, etc.” Conservative in this definition is meant to mean ‘moderate’ not extreme right, as some tend to associate it.
This, I think, defines me perfectly. A person cought between his 60’s values and his moderate conservative morals. I am, in other words, a walking contradiction. To far left too be with the right and too far right to suit the left. Everyones hates me on some level. My mom jokes that I used to debate Jehovah’s Witnesses to the point where they would skip our house. I love to debate. My goal in this column is to get George Bush to support aborting people like me. To make Michael Moore support capital punishment, as long as I’m first to go. I want The Pope to hope to strangle me and Ghandi to rise from his grave and punch me in my pudgy little face. No one is going to be safe. I’m riding a hellbound train Savoy Brown wouldn’t get on. A switch hitter of the political sort. I’ll ask you why you never see videos of black cops beating up white criminals. (Surely it happens.) Why is marijuana still illegal despite the fact that past potheads keep becoming presidents. (If it really causes brain damage, are we electing brain damaged people? hmmmmm……) does the Republican party really want to change Roe vs. Wade? ( don’t they get most of their money from people who will stop contributing once it is overturned?)
So keep reading folks, strap in and hang on, your going to question everything you believe.
H.C.