Why doesn't someone give that old geezer a 'wedgie?'

Christmas is coming. Now, let's get one thing straight: Christmas is America's traditional celebration of the birth of Christ.

Those of you wishing to embrace the "new norm" may call it what you like. It is a holy season and the dictionary definition of "holiday" is "holy day."

Granted, there is not much "Peace on Earth, goodwill to men," but that's not God's fault.

I was mellowing out in anticipation of another Christmas since the sand in the top of my hour glass is getting pretty thin. So. I was fit to be tied when Christmas gave way to the "sex scandals" in Congress.

That's nothing new, and the women who took the "shush" money were just as guilty.

That's no way to treat a taxpayer.

In my career lifetime, if some old geezer showed up in my presence wearing only his underwear, I'd have given him a "wedgie" he'd never forget.

However, that's not the real problem here.

The Constitution of the United States is the Supreme Law of the Land. You are innocent until proven guilty by a jury of your peers, and you have the right to face your accusers.

Former Congressman John Conyers Jr., D- Mich., has now joined the rest of the bodies under the political bus.

But Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore of Alabama has not abandoned ship. Mitt Romney weighed in opposing Moore. I respect Romney's opinion, but I would vote for Moore because of his conservative record on the bench.

God forgive me, but I really don't care what happens to Sen Al Franken, D-Minn.

There's no way to legislate a rumor mill.

But when you are in the Idaho Legislature, you'll know when one of your guys spikes the Washington punch bowl or - whatever.

Most of you won't remember when movie actor Errol Flynn was caught on his yacht with a 15-year-old girl whose mother was aware of the rendezvous.

I don't remember how it was resolved, but fire and brimstone became the order of the day. It wasn't gossip or innuendo that brought him down. He was caught red-handed.

The Ten Commandments ( actually, Commandment No. 9) says "Thou shalt not bear false witness."

And I'm more afraid of God than I am of Congress.

My mother actually believed that if you couldn't say something nice about someone, say nothing at all. Dad would just smile and say under his breath, "The trick is not to get caught."

I assumed he was kidding.

The "New Normers" and the media are now fixated with sexual misconduct, while North Korea's Kim Jong Un fine tunes his nuclear arsenal.

In the old days, we had to avoid finding a lump of coal in our stocking, not a nuclear warhead.

Or, why don't we accuse Kim of sexual misconduct, deny him his constitutional rights and let the Democrats throw him under their bus.

And the Republican tax cut?

Certainly, we need to stimulate the economy and create jobs, but I can't get my arms around cutting taxes and simultaneously adding $1 trillion to the deficit without any spending cuts.

It is, I guess, what it is.

We have too many congressional cooks in the federal kitchen with no one but taxpayers to wash the dishes. The cooks can't follow a recipe book (either the U.S. Constitution or the Holy Bible) and they don't know how to roast chestnuts on an open fire.

Last week, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi expressed her concern that America was heading toward "Armageddon."

She does not recognize her complicity in the battle between good and evil that already exists.

Now, it's just a matter of who wins.

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Barrett served 11 terms in the Idaho House of Representatives. A retired miner, she lives in Challis.