November of last year, U.S. Senator Barbara A. Mikulski introduced Rosa’s Law, a bill that will eliminate the terms "mental retardation" and "mentally retarded" from the federal law books. U.S. Senator Michael B. Enzi (R-Wyo.), Ranking Member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, is the Republican sponsor of the bill.
I'll tell you upfront I think political correctness is idiotic. As goodly William Shakespeare said, "A rose by any other name is a rose." I think it holds true that a "Retard by any other name is still a retard."
Please understand that I don't say that last sentence in a hurtful or mean-spirited tone. I just think that any move to change the language is offensive because it's an attempt to control our thoughts. And I think that the attempt to control our thoughts is wrong-headed, because you can't control a man's thoughts.
Back to the specifics of Barbara Mikulski's well-intentioned political issue; she proposes calling mentally retardation an "intellectual disability". What Senator Mikulski seems painfully unaware of, is the fact that the term mental retardation was coined so that people would stop using terms like cretin, moron, idiot, imbecile and dolt for people who are mentally retarded. Mental retardation was politically correct!
How did a clinical term like mental retardation get to be an insult? Well, because kids started calling each other retarded as a clever way to insult one another. And the truth is, it doesn't matter what we call the mentally disabled, kids will learn that term and they will call each other that term.
Snowed in on a cold winter's day, is there anything more fun that a good old fashioned conspiracy theory?
At issue today is not a dose of 9/11 "Truth" or Obama's birth certificate or even the question of whether the Moon landings were faked. At issue is a more mundane question that just started to nag me as I watched repeating news alarms over the Toyota recall.
It's pretty hard to miss to miss these reports, but in case you've been under a rock, Toyota has been in the news because of a recall to repair floormats and then in a second recall to repair mechanical elements in the accelerator. There have been reports that Toyota vehicles have been having the accelator sticking and this has caused a number of injuries and deaths.
I heard a tale on the radio the other day that someone ran into a barricade on the Interstate because they couldn't get their car to quit accelerating. To which I have to say, for the safety of anyone reading, if you're in such a situation, if your accelerator sticks you could stop your car by running into a barricade and then hope seatbelts and airbags save you. You could do that, but I recommend it. Instead, I suggest putting the car in neutral. Once the transmission is disengaged---even if you don't have brakes---you can drift to a stop. Remember. Don't panic: put the vehicle in neutral.
Back to the matter at hand, this Toyota stuff has been blaring in almost every news report I see. And there seems to be a bit of controversy brewing. Toyota claims that the failures are floormat related. Then Toyota claimed there may be a mechanical failure in the pedal mechanism. There are those in the media that hint (with any any real proof) that there might be something the matter with the electronics in Toyota's throttle control system.
Toyota said that testing has not shown any evidence of any problem with the electronic throttle control, and yet I saw a CNN talk to a professor at some university. The messy-haired professor tests electronics all day, and the professor says (suprise, surprise), "You should always do more testing."
CNN interpreted this to mean that maybe Toyota doesn't care about the safety of its vehicles. It could be a Toyota conspiracy to hide the truth. When I see a reporter get into attack mode on a story infused with hints and opinions rather than facts and objectivity, I always start to wonder what the agenda is and I start to think well, two can play at that game.
So, I could buy into a conspiracy theory that Toyota is trying to kill its customers. Or, once I am allowing conspiracy theories, I can come up with my own conspiracy theory. Once I start to wonder, that I have to ask if these reports are exaggerated or untrue, who benefits if Toyota's reputation is tarnished? If the National Transportation and Safety Board hammers Toyota who would benefit?
Well, I would image one of the biggest beneficiaries would be GM, aka Government Motors. Now that the government is fully-invested in the business of selling cars, anything that hurts other companies helps GM and Chrysler.
Conspiracy theories are great because you don't need much in the way of facts. You just need a perceived motive and you're off to the races.
River Towers a condominium development surrounded by 26 acres of parkland. River Towers is a commuter's dream, near everything, but away from it all.
Relax at one of the many park benches where you can watch the birds sing and the squirrels frolic. Enjoy a lonely walk along the surrounding paths. Jog the Potomac Bike Trail or just sit back and relax at the private club room. Dock at the nearby boat slips or rent a boat from the marina. (Residents have access to boat parking and kayak racks.)
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Parks and open spaces Bucknell Manor Park, Mount Vernon District Park, White Oaks Park are in the community. Fort Willard a relic of the area's Civil War past is a short walk from Bucknell.
George Washington Parkway and Rt. 1 Bucknell has no traffic jams and many different ways to reach your destination.
Community Activities There are many youth leagues, community clubs and organizations for the family to enjoy.
Marina Community boat slips are available at the Marina.
Why I was a kid my Grandfather told me that those fuzzy brown and black caterpillars predict the winter weather. If you see 2 orange stripes and 1 black stripe it will be a mild winter. If you see 2 black stripes and 1 orange stripe it will be a rough winter. This fall, the caterpillars predicted a rough winter. So far the caterpillars are right.
On the other hand, Al Gore tells me that the glaciers are melting and the polar bears are dieing. He says that the seas are rising and the Earth is warming. Yesterday the groundhog didn't see his shadow which traditionally is interpreted to mean that we should expect another 6 weeks of winter weather. Hmmm.... Al Gore or the groundhog?
I'm the first to admit that I'm not a climatologist. I don't really know much about the weather or caterpillars or even groundhogs for that matter. But I can look out my front door. Last night we got four inches of snow. There's more snow headed here this weekend. We've already had several big snow storms this winter.
I'm also all for saving the planet and for polluting as little as possible.
But the caterpillars and groundhogs seem to be aware of some fact that Al Gore isn't aware of. The experts tell me, "Contrary to media reports Antarctic sea ice continues to expand. Ice totals for November 2009 are significantly higher than 1979 when measurements began. The main stream media concentrates on a couple of small areas of the Antarctic in order to scare you in to believing that Antarctica is melting, when in fact its gaining ice." (Click for satellite pictures of the ice.)
Here's the view toward my house. Believe what you want to believe ... for my part I'm going to keep trusting my own eyes.
Kingstowne is planned community with nearly 5400 residences. Along Kingstowne's rolling boulevards one will find a nice mixture of condos, townhouses and single family homes. Kingstowne has an open and surburban feel. Kingstowne Towne Centre has shops, grocers, restaurants, banks and fast food: all the conveniences of modern life. Nearby Springfield Mall serves most shopping needs.
Kingstowne's 22,000 acres are so expansive, that some folks refer to the general area (including nearby subdivisions like Manchester Lakes and Island Creek) as Kingstowne. Kingstowne is in Fairfax County, and most residences here have Alexandria postal addresses. The surrounding area is more rightly called Springfield or Franconia.
Kingstowne is located just outside the Capital Beltway (I-495) and has easy access to the Springfield Mixing Bowl (the enormous junction of Interstates 95, 395, and 495). This provides residents a good commute to major employment centers like the Pentagon, Washington DC, Tysons Corner, Arlington and Alexandria. Via back-roads, Kingstowne connects very easily to Fort Belvoir and parts of Alexandria.
The residents of Kingstowne can also reach downtown DC via the Metro's Blue Line at the Springfield-Franconia Metro or the Van Dorn Metro. Springfield-Franconia station is closer to Kingstowne and offers plenty of parking. Van Dorn Metro is closer to town and offers a "kiss and ride"
Politicians say lots of things to create fear or create a desire for fairness in voters. In the end, policies are never about the problems, but always about the money. (This is one of the biggest reasons I'm for a smaller government.)
For years Democrats have been creating government departments like Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Education and many others that were purposed toward helping the public. But the more government America has, and the more money we spend, the worse the problems get.
Take the Department of Housing and Urban Development for example. HUD hasn't really created any more affordable homes. But HUD has created a lot of government entitlements like Section 8 vouchers and it has created a lot of HUD jobs. And you know what this really creates? It creates loyal voters.
George Bush billed himself as a "compassionate conservative" --- which was a really clever way to say that he was going to be a big spender too. (This strategy backfired on him because for Liberals you can never spend enough and the Conservatives deserted him.) But part of this grand strategy was the creating of the Department of Homeland Security. Homeland Security didn't really solve any problems at all. It just created a scary beauracracy that could wiretap your phones and search your baggage. But it did create lots of government jobs for conservative leaning folks. Homeland Security is chock full of former military and other patriots who tend to be conservative. Homeland Security creates lots of opportunities to spend money on psuedo-military projects.
Bush also repurposed the Department of Education. Instead of trying to kill this department the way Reagan did, Bush gave MORE money to Department of Education and worked with No Child Left Behind and Faith-Based initiatives to channel money to more conservative voters while hiring loads of conservative government employees. Bush was an aweful President, but not for the reasons that the Progressives think. He was aweful because he tried to spend the conservatives into power. This was a woeful demonstration of just how little Bush understood the typical American voter.
The average American voter--those who aren't paid for by the entitlement system anyway---understands the real problem (is government) but we put up with the problem because we don't really want to get involved.
To the dismay of many Democrats, Obama is now taking a yet another page from the Bush playbook. Rather than dismantling the faith based iniatives Obama is also trying to buy off faith-based organizations, by repurposign them.
In addition, rather than dismantle the Department of Homeland Security, the Washington Post reports today that, "The Obama administration Monday delivered to Congress the nation's first Quadrennial Homeland Security Review, defining homeland security for the first time as including hazards beyond terrorism, in a strategic document intended to drive long-term budget decisions"
This is an attempt to hire Peace Corps types, rather than Marine Corps types into DHS.
Those of us who want smaller government, lower taxes and more freedom are disappointed.
A few weeks ago I was one of the people who defended Harry Reid when he said Obama was "light-skinned" and with "very little negro dialect." I have a pretty high tolerance for mistaken utterances and bad words. As I often say, I've called my wife some pretty vile things, and I love her.
But now I have to call Chris Matthews out and I have to wonder why no one else seems to notice what Chris Matthews said. Matthews said that he forget Obama was black.
This slip of the tongue provides some real insight into the mind of Chris Matthews. Let's be honest, you never forget that Obama is black---half-black anyway---ever. He's African American. What Chris Matthews really meant was there is something wrong with being black, but Obama was able to make us forget why it's wrong to be black. When Chris Matthews reminded us that we forgot Obama was black, what he really meant was that we forgot that black meant something bad. This is one of the vilest racial comments I've heard on TV that I can remember.
Chris Matthews might have meant well and Chris might not be a bad guy, but this statement calls him out to me as a quiet racist. For my part I always prefer a blatant racist to a quiet racist. I like to know where you are coming from. I hate to have to find it out through careful study.
So, I have a little breaking news for Chris Matthews, most all of us---black or white, friend or critic---did not for one second forget that Obama is black---half-black anyway. Furthermore, supporters and critics alike don't think there is anything the matter with being black.
Obama is half-black. Get over it.
For me personally, the Matthews comment was one of the most offensive racial statements I've heard in some time. It was worse that Imus' "knappyhead" comments. It was worse that Trent Lott telling Strom Thurmond he would have made a good President. It was worse than when Biden said that Obama was "articulate". It was worse than anything Harry Ried said.
I'm not asking for Chris Matthews to resign. But I do think he should be called out, because I think he needs to know why that was a pretty rotten thing to say. He thought he was complimenting Obama. But Matthews was way off base.
Before I share my opinions, it's important to understand that I don't like brussel sprouts. That doesn't make me a bad person. I don't like man-kisses. That doesn't make me a bad person. Which leads me to this thought---and I realize this might be radical thinking---we should be able to think or say whatever they want about being gay, pro or con, so long as no one physically gets hurt.
Still, I have no choice but to lay out some of my philosophical and legal basics. Namely:
I support and obey Fair Housing Laws at all time.
I support the individual's right to free will in this and all things.
I recently learned that at the direction of President Obama, the Pentagon is making efforts to allow openly gay service members to stay in the military. This means that Clinton's long standing "don't ask / don't tell" policy, which forbids openly gay individuals from serving in the military is going away. I think this is a policy error.
Please understand, that as a supporter of individual free will, I believe that everyone should be able to pretty much do whatever they want so long as they are not hurting anyone else. This means that I strongly support a person's right to do whatever they want in their bedrooms, so long as no one gets hurt.
As a supporter of free will, I don't expect everyone to agree with me but I do expect others allow me the freedom to express my opinions. We don't need to think the same thoughts and ways to respect each other and to have genuine affection for each other. Just because I don't love brussel sprouts doesn't mean I don't love you.
I know it's a little out of style these days, but reason and intellect have led me to believe that the rules and conventions of a traditional Judeo-Christian lifestyle are best ... for me anyway. As a part of my Christian upbringing my religious leaders taught me that homosexuality is a sin. And, I have come to believe that my elders were right.
Much as I love the Pet Shop Boys and the song "It's a Sin", I do not call homosexuality a sin lightly, nor do I say it with malice of any kind. For my part, I understand a sin to be something we do which hurts ourselves or hurts others. Therefore, if what you're doing doesn't hurt anyone it isn't a sin. Period.
I am also mindful that sometimes the best one can do is commit an act that others might call a sin. For example, the Ten Commandments say that you shouldn't lie. Well, guess what ... sometimes you should lie. The Ten Commandments say that you should not kill. Sometimes we must kill.
My understanding of the Bible warns me against the practices of homosexuality. But my religion gives me a lot of warnings that I ignore. For example, I was warned against the sin of Gluttony and yet I still have a size 42 waist. By the same token, the Bible instructs us to not eat pork. Eating pork probably does hurt me, and therefore eating pork is a sin. But I don't expect that I will stop eating pork any time soon.
My point is that although in general principal I think that homosexuality is a sin, because I think it is a sin that hurts the sinner, I acknowledge and agree that sometimes and for some people homosexuality is the best possible choice. I also think that for the most part people have a right to do that which hurts themselves, because who am I to say whether it really hurts them or not.
So, no matter what your chosen religion or philosophy, our holy books can only provide ideals and goals. But none of us will achieve the ideal, and thus no man can judge another for his particular deviance from that ideal. This means that even if I believe that homosexuality is a sin, until that day when I make no sins, I have no place to call anyone out for their choices.
I also believe that the homosexual lifestyle is a choice. No matter how powerful an individual's homosexual urges are, the acts of homosexuality themselves are still a choices. For example, I love pork rinds. I will always love pork rinds. I have no choice but that I love them. God put the desire for pork rinds in me, just as surely as he caused the Bible to tell me not to eat pork.
Still, I have a choice.
I choose to put pork rinds in my mouth. For my part, I choose to only eat pork rinds two or three times a year ... because I know they are bad for me. Homosexuality is a choice. Pork rinds are a choice. God put the desire for pork rinds in me, but it is my choice to eat or avoid pork rinds.
What's all this about?
The founder of e-Harmony is a Christian who does not agree with the gay lifestyle. I read in the paper yesterday that e-Harmony.com is being forced to help gay couples get together. This really doesn't sit well with me.
I don't like the idea of forcing someone to accept and endorse a lifestyle choice. The founder of e-Harmony should not be forced to provide services for something he does not agree with. Does make sense for me to go to the Jewish deli and demand that they sell me a bacon sandwich with a side of pigs-feet? I have a right to eat pork, but I don't have a right to force you to sell pork.
I don't think the gays who support this action against e-Harmony are being reasonable with regards to the thoughts and minds of others.
I feel like the gay community, long oppressed, is now pushing back to the point of unreasonableness on almost all fronts. I can't turn on a morning coffee program without hearing the word "gay" on a daily basis. At some point I will start avoiding restaurants that feature brussel sprouts. Eat them if you want, but I don't like them, Sam I am.
In Southern states, we love pork rinds, pork barbecue, pig feet and scrapple. But down South, we don't teach our kosher kindergartners pork tolerance. We pretty much leave pork out of the classroom and out of the discussion. It's bizarre to me that California feels the need to teach little kids gay tolerance.
Furthermore, I think our sexuality is most enjoyable and most fun with a little mystery and a little taboo. It's no fun when sex becomes common place and clinical. Isn't part of the fun of being gay the feeling that you've broken through a barrier and that you are doing something you shouldn't be doing? If we go out of our way to teach gay tolerance, then we remove the barrier that is so much fun to cross.
Years ago a friend, who described himself as an old NYC queen, who scandalized me when he informed me that a local Catholic priest was running around with our small town gay community. In small town, the gay community was quiet, hidden and almost like a secret fraternity. This old NYC artist said to me wistfully, "I'm so jealous of him. Every time he does it, he still feels guilty."
In this way, I think that "stigma" is of gayness is good for us all. And as we get older and wiser everything seems to take a different perspective.
In late middle school I attended Wakefield Country Day School a fantastic little private school in Rappahannock County near Flint Hill VA. If you're a parent of a school age child and you live within about 30 miles of Wakefield, I highly recommend you consider enrolling your child here.
A fact of life at Wakefield was your book bag. It was not unusual for elementary and middle school kids to carry around a large sportsbag like the Wilson bag pictured here.
These bags were stuff full of books because it wasn't unusual for each class to require 3 books. When I attended the Wakefield school day was about 2 hours longer than public school education, so you had a lot of books to carry. That meant that without a bag of some sort it was pretty much impossible to go from class to class or to take books home to study.
Well, my parents couldn't really afford Wakefield, so we cut costs where we could. Those sports bags weren't cheap, so my mom fished a bag out of the thrift store that could do the job just as well.
From an adult's standpoint, I suppose my bag was a pretty close match. I mean both bags have zippers and handles. Mine was a little taller rather than wider. Both bags have a place where you carry your books. My bag was safety orange. All in all, a pretty ugly bag.
About half-way through the 7th Grade I transferred to Strasburg Middle School. As good as Wakefield was, those schools in the shadow of Signal Knob were about as good a public education gets anywhere. But things were a little different in Shenandoah County.
You didn't take Algebra in the 6th grade at Shenandoah County. You didn't take French from kindergarten on up. There were lots of little things like that, so my parents had me bumped up a grade when I made the transfer.
That meant I was suddenly the littlest kid in the class.
Of course, in Strasburg, middle school students didn't need a giant book bag. In fact, you didn't really need a book bag at all. I learned some kids actually carried their books---get this---in their arms!
Someone could have given me a clue that I wouldn't need a book bag. Well someone did give me a clue and one of those somebodies was Richard Carbaugh.
On one hand you have me, the spindly under-aged prep-nerd with the bookbag and you have Richard Carbaugh big healthy red neck in an untucked flannel shirt. I've not seen Richard, other than on Facebook, in more than twenty years. Then and now, he was a big guy with a big neck and a big smile. He was generally a good guy, but had a quick wit that could cut to the truth in a flash.
Richard asked me, "Why are you carrying a purse?"
This wasn't so much a question, as a piercing insight. Point Carbaugh.
Richard suddenly caused me to take a look at my bag in a new light. He was right ... it was a little purse-like. "Damn it."
But here is my curse and blessing: I'm not the kind of person that accedes to peer pressure, ever. Maybe there is something broken in me. I say this because there are times when peer pressure is a good thing. Richard was sort of doing me a favor by calling that bag out ... but by God I wasn't going to bend to his will or anyone else's will.
Here's how my convoluted thinking works. If I stopped carrying the purse, then I have admited that Richard was right. But if I continue to carry the pur ... er ... book bag then the it's still a book bag and was never a purse. Point for me. Take that Carbaugh.
So, even though I didn't need the pur ... er .. book bag, but I simply refused to stop carrying it because I thought that meant I was admitting to Richard. So, what I did was a took a Sharpie and a Magic Marker and put graffiti all over the bag.
Now with Napoleon Dynamite styled "ligers" and my name in big bold letters no one could call this book bag a purse. I had created a real manly bag. If you can't tell I'm being extremely sarcastic. The truth is I couldn't have been a bigger enemy to myself unless I'd used that same marker to write "I am a dork" across my forehead.
So I refused to stop carrying the bag and Richard Carbaugh ... and Doug Clem and just about every other kid in my class gave me a little hell about it. But this bag is where I had planted my flag and here is where I would fight my battle.
I grew to really hate that orange graffiti-covered bag that I didn't really need, but I refused to stop carrying it because I didn't want to admit they were right. But damn it ... and it's 35 years late ... but I'm admitting you were right:
It was a purse.
I didn't know it was a purse, but once good ole Mr. Carbaugh pointed out that fact, I didn't have the common sense to just chuck the thing in a garbage bin. I was so happy when that school year ended because I pitched that book bag and refused to ever carry a bag in high school.
Of course, once we got to high school, a lot of kids used book bags to carry books from class to class. Not me, mind you. But a lot of kids.
Was I traumatized? Well, to this day I don't much like it when my wife asks me to hold her purse for even a minute. But do I blame Richard? Do I think he traumatized me? Nope. I traumatized myself. I blame myself for being a doofus and for being so stubborn.
I had choices. I could have pitched the bag because he was right. Or I could have called him out and said, "I don't care if it looks like a purse. It's my book bag." Instead I chose to be doofus and draw ligers on my purse.
In every story there is a lesson, so here's the lesson to learn. If someone is right, just admit they're right and move on. On the other hand, don't back down when you're right. And don't keep it to yourself. You'll respect yourself more and others will respect you if you just say what you are thinking.
To apply the lesson here, I should have either thrown the purse away or I should have hit Richard with my purse and called him a masher.
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County near Flint Hill VA. If you're a parent of a school age child and you live within about 30 miles of Wakefield, I highly recommend you consider enrolling your child here. 
From an adult's standpoint, I suppose my bag was a pretty close match. I mean both bags have zippers and handles. Mine was a little taller rather than wider. Both bags have a place where you carry your books. My bag was safety orange. All in all, a pretty ugly bag.
So, even though I didn't need the pur ... er .. book bag, but I simply refused to stop carrying it because I thought that meant I was admitting to Richard. So, what I did was a took a Sharpie and a Magic Marker and put graffiti all over the bag.
;)
;)
