It used to be that when you were fond of someone, you carved initials in a tree trunk.

Maybe they still do that in Elk City, Oklahoma or Tuskegee, Alabama or some other godforsaken place.

But wake up folks!  This has all changed.  Most of us have moved on.  Now instead of the tree trunk carving thing, we snap a photo with our smart phones of a boner in briefs or a t-shirt raised for a nice tit shot, then send that sucker out on the digital highway!

This is romance in the Digital Age.  Sweet nothings by hitting our ‘Send’ buttons.

Let me first remind all those that pine for the “good old days” that we have cut down 90% of the trees in this great land of ours, which right from the get-go puts a serious crimp in the carving-initials-in-the-bark-of-a-tree way of doing things.

But more importantly is that every form of human activity evolves.  Who is to say how we will say I love you, baby! in ten or twenty years.  Maybe instead of a diamond ring, guys will offer the gold-plated testicles of a Himalayan Yak on a depleted uranium chain.

So I say all of this flap about Anthony Weiner’s “indiscretions” is truly an anachronism and one big hearty snorting knee-slapping joke.

But seriously . . .

It actually goes way beyond this.  The truth is there is no ha-ha to be had in this brouhaha.  Because frankly the hypocrisy of it all is so breathtakingly and insultingly evident.

I hate to have to bring this up.  But every American citizen right now is an accomplice in some very appalling crimes against our fellow man.  Each one of us.  Guilty as charged.

Call it a war on terrorism or whatever you want.  The fact is that America has killed and is killing thousands of innocent people in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and too many other places to mention.  Oh right, we don’t approve of innocent killing.  But that’s what’s being done in our name by President Obama.  We cheer him on, party when he gets the bad guy, then glaze over all deaf and dumb when any of the collateral slaughter gets mentioned in the news.  But let’s own up.  We did elect the guy president.  He’s doing the job as our chosen commander-in-chief, with our consent and tacit approval.  There have been over 332 unmanned attack drone strikes since Obama took office.  Unfortunately, it ain’t just the bad guys on the other end of those drones.  Over two thousand people have been killed in Pakistan alone, few of them confirmed terrorists.  Many of them children.

Another one.

We are among only a handful of nations who refuse to sign the anti-landmine treaty.  The lovely company we keep on this includes China, Pakistan, Russia, North Korea, India and Myanmar.  I have seen first hand in Cambodia and Vietnam the horrible consequences of landmines.  But that’s where we stand.  Again we have turned a blind eye and deaf ear.  But it’s our country and our Congress and our President.  We each share the blame and dishonor.

One more . . . just because we’re having so much fun, eh?

We are the most polluting, wasteful, selfish country on the planet.  We gobble up 25% of all of the energy in the world.   We throw away 31 million tons of edible food every year.  Our foreign aid as a percentage of GDP is among the lowest in the developed economies.  We are 22nd, behind countries like Greece, Portugal and Ireland.  They’re all broke but they still manage to be more generous!

I could go on but it is too depressing.

All I have to say is when all the self-righteous hyperventilating pontificates of propriety point the finger at an individual and act like sending a picture of Mr. Happy standing at attention in a pair of BVDs is some horrifying immoral act, they should take a look in the mirror and do some real objective soul-searching about what they and this country stand for and what right they have to claim the high moral ground.

We are all guilty of something.  Some guilt is more serious than others.

We all have issues.  Some issues are more important than others.

Time to sort it all out and get on with the important stuff.