Political correctness (adjectivally, politically correct; both forms commonly abbreviated to PC) is a term denoting language, ideas, policies, and behavior seen as seeking to minimize social offense in gender, racial, cultural, sexual orientation, handicap, and age-related contexts. In current usage, the terms are almost exclusively pejorative, connoting “intolerant” and “intolerance”.

In other words, it’s the attempt to alter human speech patterns and thoughts so as to not offend anyone.

Here’s what’s wrong with that idea.

Setting aside the actual fact that political correctness promotes censorship as well as trying to manage what you, as a human being actually thinks, the even moreso simple fact is that there’s simply no way to “not” offend someone.

Take the recent Christmas holiday season for example.  For the last several years, we’ve all seen and read stories about how we’re not supposed to say “Merry Christmas”, instead inserting such inane greetings as “Happy Holidays” so as to not offend Jewish, Muslim, or other religions that might not celebrate Christmas.  You’ve even read stories about stores like Wal-Mart and Target banning their employees from saying “Merry Christmas” in order to appease their customer base.

The problem is, this is America folks.  America as a whole is essentially a Christian nation, so when a store like Wal-Mart (arguably the largest retailer on the planet) puts the kibosh on Christmas to keep from offending any group of customers, they’re actually serving to offend lots, and lots of people.

… but that’s ok, now that Henry Brown (Republican) from South Carolina and his Congressional cohorts are coming on board.

I present to you, HR111-951, a bill before the 111th Congress designed to

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the symbols and traditions of Christmas should be protected for use by those who celebrate Christmas.

In other words, designed to make it illegal to say “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas” by protecting it by law.

I don’t know folks.  Who wins in this situation?  Why can’t we, as Americans learn the difference between people trying to be offensive, and being offended?  I think almost everyone working for a company has probably had to endure some sort of bullshit “cultural diversity and sensitivity” training, so why hasn’t everyone figured out to just accept that some times, people say, and do stupid things and may offend (intentionally or not) but NO ONE has some mysterious right to “not” be offended…

In the end, the practical result is that — with few extreme exceptions — there’s nothing anyone can say on any given topic without offending someone, so being PC is a complete waste of time, energy and effort.

All I know is that between Wal-Mart, Target, and Representative Henry Brown, all of this crap is enough to completely take the fun — as well as the Christ — out of Christmas.

Wayne Hunt
segwayne.com

There is no such thing as truth.

.. or better said that truth, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.  Better yet, in every situation in your life, whose “truth” do you choose to believe?

Take for example the United States’ current involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Is it the truth that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction as we were all mislead to believe, or is it more truthful that — as oil men — George W. Bush and cronies saw an opportunity to exploit the resources of both America and a sovereign nation for their own financial gain under the premise of freedom and democracy?

My point, and feel free to expand this to ANY situation, is that history (sometimes passed off as the truth) is written by those who remain to write it.  American Comedian Robert Wuhl taught us that in perfectly crystal clear valid examples in his HBO series “Assume the Position with Mr. Wuhl“.  I’ve just however start to realize how correct he is, and how his examples can be traced down to the most minute of details in each of our own personal lives.

Think about politicians.  Are politicians all liars, or are they simply more adept at spinning the media for the truth they want to express?  How many sex-scandalous Republicans are getting caught versus getting ratted out by other politicians they piss off?

All I’m asking in this little diatribe today is that each of us stop to think about what we do.  Actions have consequences.  The world around you may see “the truth” differently than you, I, or anyone else.  This is a lesson that I’m being hard pressed to learn, and I believe everyone else would be better off if they kept an open mind.

Specifically, I’m discovering that I’m a spoiled, American brat. At least where my toys are concerned….

A few weeks ago, or more precisely the last day of July, I bought — with my dad’s help — my 2002 Mazda B2300 pickup. I say “with dad’s help”, because he’s trying to help me get my life on track and get out from all my debt, for which I’m eternally grateful and could never dare pretend to be otherwise.

Having a vehicle paid off and being able to sock that money away every month will be a remarkable thing once I get there.

So why am I sitting here kvetching about being spoiled?

Easy. Over the last 3 years, I had truly come to identify myself with the “Big-assed Orange Truck” (or BOT for short).. I truly loved that vehicle and felt like it had become very much an extension of who I am and what I represented in the world. Big, HEMI-strong, bold, and “sucking the gas outta life itself”… (haha)…

Now I’m being faced with the reality at 43 years old that I simply can’t have everything I want in life. Signing my name to a creditor’s note isn’t the answer to moving ahead in life, and some of my toys simply don’t make sense.

Like I said in my last entry, the truck was costing me about $3.50 per mile just to drive that 6 miles each way to work and back, 2 or 3 times a week (rainy days) while I rode my bike the others. As such, getting rid of the truck was the most rational and expedient thing to do, and it wiped out roughly $14,000 in debt with the stroke of a pen. Yay for me…

So why on Earth am I sitting here kvetching to you good people?

The problem for me (and a lot of Americans I’m betting) now is that I’m finding myself somewhat resentful and feeling childishly petulant about having to give up my toy and “settle” for what — for me — seems to be a DANGEROUSLY underpowered, trouble-ridden (they still haven’t fixed the clutch) “piece of shyte” “point a to point b” car.

In short, I’m childishly pitching a b*tch because even though there’s absolutely nothing wrong with the truck (except the anemic 4-cylinder), I’m kvetching like a kid who dropped his ice cream cone, just because it’s just not what I want.

Over the past three years, I had the perfect vehicle for me. Big interior, LOTS of power, good ride, excellent stereo (even OEM) and lots of what most consider luxury features. Sure, the gas mileage and insurance costs sucked big time, but hey, I’m a rich American capitalist, infidel, pig-dog, right?

The “new” Mazda (let’s just call it what it is, a Ford Danger, erm, I mean Ranger) on the other hand is small, cramped, underpowered, with a basic AM/FM stereo and while it has power everything, it just feels like a huge step backwards from where I was.

That being said though, I spent most of the weekend depressed and whining about it, only to finally admit to myself that there’s literally NO used car that I could have bought for the same amount of money ($5,000 USD) that would be any better.

The Mazda — flawed as I want to imagine — is literally, the best used vehicle I could have hoped to have found — clutch problems not withstanding. The benefits of which will kick in later when I’ve got it paid off with my dad.

Speaking of Dad, he’s been great about it, offering to “take it back and sell it and go get something else” whenever I even mention my reservations, but like I said, short of the Jaguar I had my heart set on, I can’t imagine I’d be happy with any other choice either.

The socially relevant bit, as promised…

I’m sitting here writing this, as I said, because it’s socially relevant, and not just to me.

The era in which we currently find ourselves is the result of 8 years of the Bush regime and not one, but two illegal and expensive wars (though some would track it all the way back to Clinton). I don’t personally care who’s at fault and don’t want to make this political. In truth I don’t care who caused it, because “who” just doesn’t matter any more.

Regardless of who you personally want to blame for the current economic disaster, the end result — whether you’re rich or poor — is that this financial crisis is incredibly tough on everyone and for me, I’m starting to feel it the hard way.

See? It’s like this. Lots of middle-aged old farts like me who grew up on easy credit are now learning the hard way to live by their bootstraps with only what they’ve got and frankly, it’s an incredibly tough pill to swallow.

We’ve ALL gotten used to 20 years of toys, be they Dodge Daytona HEMI-powered pickup trucks, or million dollar houses on interest-only payments, and now we find ourselves driving “hoopty” little trucks, hoping to be able to feed our families, and living in apartments while searching for the dream of stable employment.

All we can do hopefully, as spoiled Americans, is to suck it up and survive long enough to finally learn the lessons about living on credit.

As for me, all I hope for is continued employment long enough to pay off the truck, then to be able to continue kvetching about (erm, I mean driving) it until I can save up enough to pay off all my bills and then maybe, just maybe, save up the cash to buy me a new Big-assed Orange Truck someday.

As for the rest of my American compatriots facing similar cut backs in real life, you have my empathy. I now know how you feel. All I can say is good luck and God Speed.

I offered in my train of thought, altruistically (so I thought) that if worst came to worst with the US economy, this area’s economy collapsed like other parts of the country, and I could sacrifice my financial status and my belongings as long as I knew that we, as a idyllic nation would survive intact, I would be perfectly ok with that.

To my amazement, this drew literal gasps (in shock and horror I imagined) and comments about how I was “a socialist” and support “the redistribution of wealth”…

I didn’t see it at the time, and to a large extent, I still don’t really.  All I meant was that I don’t believe either candidate will be able to save the economy.  One will follow established the failed patterns and policies that got us here, the other of untested quality under the pressures of a failing economy, two unnecessary wars, etc..  Unfortunately neither party offered up a better candidate, so… They’re “what we got”.

So, what DO I believe that got me here?

I believe that government needs to stay the hell out of our pockets (as individuals. I do not feel the same view for rich corporations).  I feel that people are wholly responsible for their own status in life, good or bad,  However, at the same time, I believe that the government has a great responsibility to work for the public well being, instead of for itself, or lobbyists which is the way it is now.

I believe every human being has the right to quality affordable (if not free) health care but the system here is so broken down and corrupt that honest hard-working people in America are having to pass up on even basic health care because it costs more per month than they make in a week (if not two).

Trust me.  While I’ve been blessed enough (not a religious statement, a confirmation of my luck in life so far) to have good jobs and a steady income, I worked for it, only to have my basic Blue Cross/Blue Shield policy (which didn’t pay for anything except really major medical) go from $165 to almost $300 per month over the course of two years.

I see doctors charging $3600 for what amounts to an IV full of painkillers, a couple of X-rays and some rental time in a bed (which happened to me with a kidney stone).  All while the same doctors complain about the system and having to hire 5x the size of their necessary staff JUST to handle the paperwork from the outrageous claims.  Claims they’re forced to inflate because the insurance companies refuse to pay for anything realistic.

If, for example, said doctors charged the insurance company $600 for said services, they would have probably received $60 with a warning that they should “charge appropriately”.

While I believe that we, as human beings are responsible for our own destiny and the government should stop interfering, I also believe that it’s time for a “reboot” if you will, to fix all the problems which caused what will end up being trillions of “bailout”  debt.

While I’m sure there are those of you here who will gladly argue the point against, and I don’t want the government in my pocket any more than you do, I just think that we — as a nation — pretty much earned where we are today, and everyone is going to have to compromise to some extent to get out of it.

Just a few of my wacky socialist ideas…:

- Stop spending 10 billion a month in a war no one wants, ever wanted, or even cares about except for the wasted money.  That money alone could pay for the ever-unpopular “universal health care” (of which I’m not necessarily a fan, I’m just making a point here).

- Don’t give Alaska another dime until it coughs up the money it stole for “the bridge to nowhere”.  In fact, do a big ass audit for all states that have wasted money fudging in rider bills to grant tax exemptions to “laminated arrow makers” (see the aforementioned “bailout bill” as it was passed).

- As a matter of fact, stop putting billions of dollars into pork barrel spending and put that money into providing a realistic education to our children.  For all you stingy “me” generationalists, “children are our future” and right now, the future doesn’t look too damned bright (socially, or intelligence-wise).

- Invest in the fricking future, which includes getting away from oil dependency and if that includes building solar, wind-powered, and nuclear power plants all over the damned country, so be it.  Hell, dig out the big tree in my back yard and put up a wind turbine if it could get me out of paying my utility bill.

– (ancillary note to the trophy Veep candidate Sarah “ya betcha” Palin, it’s not “new-kya-lar”)

- Let the people who bought $500,000 houses on 50k incomes take their lumps and if that means they gotta get evicted then rent somewhere, then so be it.  Lesson learned as far as I’m concerned and I have zero pity for them.

Between said idiots and the corrupt market, it’s their dumb asses that got us here in the first place.  When I bought my house, it was specifically below what I could afford, because — let’s face it — I like having the ability to eat out and go see movies.  Now with the economy the way it is, I may need to do a little less of each, but hey, maybe I can keep the house.  Novel fricking concept.

All I want to know is, when did the ideal of a government “for the people” get phased out for “for big business and the rich corporations who are supposed to trickle down their wealth but instead go on 400k junkets the day after receiving their bailout from the government?”

Do these thoughts of social responsibility make me some sort of evil bastard?  That’s kinda the way I’m feeling right now, and that’s not cool.

Going all political and stuff, I am truly starting to wonder whether the term might actually apply, because I can’t help but seem to irritate friends when they start talking about John McCain and his new Jesus Freak Barbie doll, Palin…

Am I the only one left in America who’s thoroughly disgusted by this woman and her “sending troops to Iraq is a task from God” bullshit mentality?  We’ve already had 8 years of Bush using God to defend his actions when illegally invading a sovereign nation, but now Bush Jr (McCain) wants — as his second in command — a woman who’s even worse than Bush…?  Yet McCain wants to pretend he’s “not anything like Bush”….?  What the holy bleeping bleep man…!

Talking about it with my best friend today, I realized just how much she — and her Jesus Freakyness — really, really pisses me off.  I’m afraid I might have even embarrassed myself in the restaurant at lunch, God forbid I embarrassed my friend…

I’m ok if people need to believe in God.  I believe that God exists, I just have zero belief in any organized, man-made religion.  I also strongly believe in the separation of Church and State and we’ve seen what damage mixing the two causes over the last 8 years.  I’m reminded of one of my favorite quotes;

Religion, like masturbation, should be done in private.

Anyway.  Regardless of who you vote for, Democrat, Republican, whatever. I don’t care.  All I’m asking is that you just think about it before you vote.  I’d vote for “none of the above” before I would vote for anyone who so strongly pushes their belief that everything they do — right or wrong — is somehow certified by God Almighty.

If you can’t display the ten commandments in a courtroom, then you MUST remove God from the White House.  It’s only fair.  Something about a goose and gander getting it on or somesuch.

Sincerely spoken,

Wayne

————————————–
Robin Williams’ plan…

(Hard to argue with this logic!)

“I see a lot of people yelling for peace but I have not heard of a plan for Peace. So, here’s one plan.”

1) “The US will apologize to the world for our “interference” in their affairs, Past & present. You know, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Tojo, Noriega, Milosevic, Hussein, and the rest of those “good ole boys”, we will never “interfere” again.

2) We will withdraw our troops from all over the world, starting with Germany, South Korea, the iddle East, and the Philippines. They don’t want us there. We would station troops at our borders. No one allowed sneaking through holes in the fence.

3) All illegal aliens have 90 days to get their affairs together and leave. We’ll give them a free trip home. After 90 days the remainder will be gathered up and deported immediately, regardless of who or where they are. They’re illegal!!! France will welcome them.

4) All future visitors will be thoroughly checked and limited to 90 days unless given a special permit!!!! No one from a terrorist nation will be allowed in. If you don’t like it there, change it yourself and don’t hide here. Asylum would never be available to anyone. We don’t need any more cab drivers or 7-11 cashiers.

5) No foreign “students” over age 21. The older ones are the bombers. If they don’t attend classes or they get a “D” then it’s back home baby.

6) The US will make a strong effort to become self-sufficient energy wise. This will include developing nonpolluting sources of energy but will require a temporary drilling of oil in the Alaskan wilderness.. The caribou will have to cope for while .

7) Offer Saudi Arabia and other oil producing countries $10 a barrel for their oil.
If they don’t like it, we’ll go someplace else. They can go somewhere else to sell their production. (About a week of the wells filling up the storage sites would be enough.)

8 – If there is a famine or other natural catastrophe in the world, we will not “interfere.” They can pray to Allah or whomever, for seeds, rain, cement or whatever they need. Besides most of us know that what we give them is stolen by the beaurocrats or given to the army. The people who need it most get very little, if anything.

9) Ship the UN Headquarters to an isolated island someplace. We don’t need the spies and fair weather friends here. Besides, that building would make a good homeless shelter or lockup for illegal aliens.

10) All Americans must go to charm and beauty school. That way, no one can
call us “Ugly Americans” any longer.

11) The Language we speak is ENGLISH…learn it…or LEAVE…

Now, isn’t that a winner of a plan?

The Statue of Liberty is no longer saying “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses. She’s got a baseball bat and she’s yelling, ‘you want a piece of me?’ “

You know. Influential people like George W. Bush apparently have no problems selling their souls. It’s the poor schlubs like me that have all the trouble gaining that winning lottery ticket.

Just a random thought. Sorry.

It’s a lesser of two evils kinda thing.

Instant Analysis: Kerry-Edwards Ticket (washingtonpost.com)