All Shook Up

I usually don't always like shaking hands because I don't like germs, and I know that that is one of the fastest ways to move them along. In fact, some germs have been known to travel at a rate of .0001 parts per second after entering one of the body's passageways and canals. (I made that up, but it sounded pretty good anyway.)

Still, there are those who I would never shake hands with like Nazis, idiots, criminals, unreformed skinheads and certain politicians. And this is why Barack Obama shouldn't have shaken hands so vigorously with Hugo Chavez for being in at least one of the aforementioned categories. Instead, Obama should have given him a fish handshake, coughed and looked away.

I know all about building bridges and roads instead of walls, and for all I know Chavez had a lousy childhood that led to all this, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't have some limits and standards over what is acceptable and what is not. After all, would Obama have shaken hands with Hitler or Mussolini had he had the chance? What about Stalin or the Marquis de Sade? Never mind.

All I know is that it is one thing to be polite and kind but another to try turning everything into one giant peace and love rally from the 60's.