Much, I’d say too much, has been made of the incident in the elevator involving Ray Rice and his then-fiancée. I believe that most of us agree that men should not slug women and women should not spit on men. But in a world where men are being beheaded and women are being stoned, whipped and sold into sexual slavery, I think we should all get a grip.

In the wake of the incident NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell stood a good chance of losing his job. As I sit here, the question hasn’t yet been answered and, unless you’re a friend or relative of Mr. Goodell’s, it will be of no concern to you.

Perhaps it’s because I have no interest in football that the only thing that made me sit up and take notice was when a spokesperson for the league said, “The NFL will do everything in its power to restore honor and integrity to the country’s most lucrative and popular pastime.” There’s no getting around the fact that Americans, by and large, love their football, but “honor” and “integrity”? This is a sport, let us never forget, that welcomed Michael Vick, a convicted torturer and killer of dogs, back into its ranks. Whether we’re talking about football at the college or professional level, “honor” and “integrity” are two words that are as out of place as they’d be in a candid `discussion of American politics.

Speaking of politics, as some of you already know, I greatly admire Dr. Ben Carson’s surgical skills. But I fail to see how his career has prepared him to be the Commander-in-Chief. Although I understand that we all have reason to question career politicians, I no more want another amateur in the Oval Office than I do in an operating room.

I have already raised my objection to Dr. Carson based on his lukewarm defense of the Second Amendment and his fulsome praise of Jesse Jackson, hailing the race-baiting corporate extortionist as a great leader of the civil rights movement, but I have only recently discovered that he supports affirmative action. That’s perfectly understandable because he has acknowledged being a beneficiary of the policy. But he is 62 years old, meaning that he benefited from it four decades ago. To suggest that even 50 years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act, it should be necessary to offer black students advantages over everyone else smacks of reverse racism.

As of this August, Dr. Carson’s PAC had raised eight million dollars. My question is what happens to the dough if he decides not to run or if he simply drops out of the race if he fares badly in Iowa or New Hampshire? Somehow, I doubt if the unused portion will be returned to the donors. So who the heck gets it?

As I have admitted in the past, I am not religious, probably because I wasn’t raised in a religious household. Still, I don’t get why so many people are proud to boast they’re atheists. To me, it appears that these nincompoops have signed up for a religion based on nothing more than their own disbelief.

I mean, how can one devote so much of one’s time to denying the existence of something one insists isn’t real? After all, people like the late Christopher Hitchens don’t go around debating whether the Easter Bunny lays chocolate eggs.

What I do know is that if I devoted my life to denying that God exists and mocking those who believe in Him, I’d be having serious second thoughts on my death bed. For when it comes to knowing who’s been naughty and who’s been nice, one has to assume Santa Claus is no competition for God.

When a reporter asked Obama if it wasn’t true that the only reason he had postponed announcing amnesty for millions of illegal aliens until after the midterm elections was because Senate Democrats had begged him to hold off, giving them at least a shot at being re-elected, Obama denied it. However, being Obama, he couldn’t help tipping his hand by saying “And I’m being honest now…” One, people accustomed to telling the truth don’t feel compelled to assure others they’re not lying. Two, that pesky little “now,” suggests that, subconsciously at least, he was signaling that everything he had said previously was absolute rubbish.

What is amazing about Obama is that even though he has spent even more time lying to the American people than he has playing golf, he is no better at lying today than he was in 2008. One can only hope that at least his golf game has improved.

As an example of what a politician should be, consider Ted Cruz. Recently, he agreed to address an organization called In Defense of Christians. It seems that several Christian leaders from Syria and Lebanon, who had voiced support for Bashar Assad and Hezbollah and had made some virulently anti-Semitic remarks, were in attendance.

Apparently the organizers of the event assumed that Sen. Cruz would temper his remarks and shy away from speaking about the Jew hatred that festers equally among Christians and Muslims in the Middle East.

Instead, Cruz told the audience that those who hate Israel also hate America, and those who hate Jews also hate Christians, and that anyone who hates Israel and the Jewish people is not following the teachings of Christ.

He went on to say that Christians in the Middle East have no better friend than Israel, and that it’s the one nation where Christians can pursue their faith free of persecution. His words were greeted with a chorus of boos.

Before leaving the stage, the Texas senator told the creeps that “if you will not stand with Israel, if you will not stand with the Jews, I will not stand with you.”

Can you, in your wildest fantasy, imagine Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton venturing into such a venue and stating a position with such moral clarity? Obama, as we all recall, bowed and scraped to Islam in his 2009 Cairo speech and Mrs. Clinton showed her own true colors when she scolded a congressional committee, insisting that it made no difference who attacked our consulate in Benghazi and massacred four gallant Americans.

The most disturbing aspect of the response to Sen. Cruz wasn’t the booing from the Middle Eastern contingent, but the fact that so few American Christians in the auditorium were willing to confront the bigots in their midst by at least applauding the senator’s remarks.

Far too often, conservatives try to pass off their reluctance to stand up to bullies as simply good manners. But it’s not worth the effort because absolutely no one is fooled. Even on a school playground, no eight-year-old has ever confused cowardice with civility.