Citizen Humphrey During Election Week

With the Ontario provincial election only a week away, Humphrey is thinking a lot about democracy and citizenship. He invites readers to view his book on this very subject! You can read it online below, click on the link below. Give it a moment to load and you should be able to flip the pages with your mouse...and it helps to click on the "full screen" button to enlarge the text.

My Citizens and Me:A Dog's Eye View of Democracy by Humphrey Chimpden EarwickerAs told to Dr. Laura Pinto | Make Your Own Book

*REDACTED* [Humphrey] wants an anonymous shell corporation!

Last night, in jaw-dropping awe, Humphey watched as Dr. Stephen T. Colbert signed his name to a Delaware anonymous shell corporation whose details will be disclosed six months after the US presidential election. At present, the anonymous shell is said to be an educational organization devoted to educating the masses on how LGBTTQ people cause earthquakes. But of course, the side benefit is that (like Carl Rove's anonymous shell), it allows Dr. Colbert to obtain anonymous donations which can then be donated to a Political Action Committee without disclosing donor's names (instead replacing them with "redacted"). Dr. Colbert describes it as a money-laundering scheme, a characterization not disputed by his lawyer, Trevor Potter.
Humphrey imagined all the fun he could have with an anonymous shell. Too bad he resides outside the US :(

Humprhey's summer 2011 bucket list

How did Humphrey's summer stack up, you ask? As usual, he had a full agenda planned....

Check!

Check!

Check!

Didn't happen this year....

...but this did!

Sadly, not in 2011. But he reminds his guardian that the bluffs are a fine autumn outing, too!

Oh yes! Many times!

They keep promising this new friend...but Humphrey has yet to meet him.

For the most part, Humphrey got to experience some great summer fun.

But there's always next year for more adventures and new friends.

Remeber Dexter?

It's been a while since we saw Dexter in the neighbourhood, but no doubt everyone remembers him fondly! A certain local politician who's making his way into the papers with increasing frequency inspired Humphrey's look-a-like today, and made him think of Dexter....

Here we go again with altruism!

David Brooks is at it again, Humphrey thought, realizing his guardian will produce an exasperated sigh upon seeing another one of Humph's posts citing the conservative NY Times columnist. But, once again, Brooks is just plain relevant.

Humphrey reports for duty as resident recycler, an espeically fulfilling occupation.

It all started with today's Globe & Mail article reporting on the 10 happiest jobs (which include clergy, fire fighter, author and teacher, among others). These are contrasted against the 10 saddest jobs reported in Forbes.  Humphrey, of course, found it puzzling that "Resident Recycler" was  not included in the happiest jobs list. Nonetheless, he appreciated author Steve Denning's observation that the happiest jobs involved altruism, while the saddest ones (despite higher pay and status) have no intrinsic meeting. Just as Humphrey explained in his June 14 blog post, citing Brooks, altruism matters a great deal to human beings.
All this talk about altruism is loosely related to morality. Which brings us back to Mr. Brooks, who in his September 12 column, talks about a recent study that found 18- to 23-year-olds engage in moral individualism, tending to acribe morality to indivdual taste over universal principles. The article also cites that the youths studied had given a great deal of thought to morality in general. Now, Humphrey is well aware of neuroscientific research, and he wonders if this is more a matter of physiological development in the brain rather than a trend, but who knows?
Despite the rather hopeless tone of Brooks' article, Humphrey has great faith in the human spirit, and is confident that altruism will remain a priority! If nothing else, Brooks' previous column which Humphrey regards so highly implies that it's hard-wired in people and Maltese-poodles, among other animals.

Speaking of Harry G. Frankfurt....

Sign, sign, everywhere a sign

As they made their way along the winding path toward the park, Humphrey noticed something on the fence by the pool. "Does that sign say, 'long-haired freaky people need not apply'?" he asked his guardian, with false earnesty.
"What do you think, Humph?" she asked, not entirely sure if he was kidding.
"Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign?" he responded.
"Thought so."
Humphrey was beginning to miss swimming. Just then, he spotted some friendly faces!

Where have you been, Humphrey?

It was KC and Jack-Jack, walked by David! Humphrey hadn't seen them in months.

Once Humphrey got over Jack-Jack's combination of ample size and puppy-like enthusiam, they played in the grass.

Then along came Lucy, in town for a special visit!

By the end of his walk, Humphrey was exhausted, and decided to take a nap in lieu of a coherent end to his blog entry.

Dogs and proposal-writing

Humphrey reads Harry G. Frankfurt's delightful book

The night air is now heavy with the smokey, earthly scent of late-summer flowers, and Humphrey is delighted to be back in Toronto to enjoy them. His guardian has been monopolizing the computer, not giving him a chance to catch up on his blogging.

“What are you doing?” He asked her.

“Remember that research grant proposal….?” She began.

Humphrey tuned out. Oh yes, he thought, that stupid grant proposal, the one which the guardian and Dr. C. spent two whole all-nighters on this summer; the one that spoiled the chances of trips to meet Guido the Donkey at his Essex County farm. Humphrey remembered the grant proposal well.

“But I thought you and Dr. C. won that?”

“Yes,” she responded, “we did.”

“So why are you fussing with that? You won it, so you are done, right?”

“Well, now we have to actually do the research.”

Humphrey thought to himself, dogs can never write grant proposals, and not because typing is a b**ch with no opposable digits (no pun intended). No, it’s because dogs cannot engage in bullsh**.  As philosopher Diogenes the Cynic argued and Humphrey described in an earlier blog post, dogs are honest and authentic beings (and therefore should be emulated).

The routine refusal to speak with regard to the truth, philosopher Harry Frankfurt aptly observed in his book on the subject, is bullsh** because “evasion of normativity—correctness being, after all, a standard external to one’s personal desires—produces a kind of ordure, a dissemination of garbage, the scattering of sh**” (Mark Kingwell in his July 2011 Harper’s article).  In this way, bullsh** is far more threatening, and evil, than plain old lying. As Frankfurt points out, the bullsh**ter “does not reject the authority of the truth, as the liar does, and oppose himself to it. He pays no attention to it at all. By virtue of this, bullsh** is a greater enemy of the truth than lies are.”

The fact of the matter is, Humphrey learned from looking at all these grant proposals, is that they are rife with bullsh**. They sort of have to be, since they cater to what the judging panels want, and also reflect (in many cases) the researcher’s aspirations within the constraints of the funding.