Sticks & Stones

"Nigger."

"Cracker."

"Faggot. Dyke."

"Wop. Jewboy. Greaser. Polack."

"Slant-eyes. Round-eyes. Haole. Chink. Beaner"

"Camel jockey. Coolie. Coon. Frog. Gook. Guido. Hajji"

"Homo.  Homophobe. Redneck.  Raghead.  Goober smoocherCarpet muncherJungle bunnyPorchmonkeyHymieJigabooKikeOreoPeckerwoodPochaSandmonkeySlopeSpearchuckerSpicSpookSquawSquintTowelheadWetbackWiggerWhiteyWhitebreadUncleTomAuntJemima Honkymotherfucker."

Offended yet?

There has been much in the news lately about so-called "hate speech" and racism.  Paula Deen has lost potentially millions in future revenue and has had her reputation permanently damaged for a remark she made in  private conversation nearly 30 years ago.

A white staffer of a black DC mayor was once forced to resign over using the term "niggardly" in a private staff meeting, because in the eyes (and ears) of over-sensitive liberals and other poorly educated citizens it was "racially insensitive".  (For the record:  NIGGARDLY: adj, Stingy or petty in giving) 

This is the way it goes in modern day America.  In the Age of the Perpetually Offended.  Some (read Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Louis Farrakhan, Jeremiah Wright, the Congressional Black Caucus, etc. etc.) have even made a profession out of taking offense at assumed bias.

When did we all become so weak that the words of the ignorant could assume so much power?  Whatever happened to "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never harm me."?  While many of these terms are vile in their reference and are undeniably used with intent to inflict pain, it's also true that the only way they can have such effect is if you allow them to.  No one has the power to offend you unless you permit it.

No one has a constitutional right to be free from being offended.  The First Amendment allows even the most reprehensible moron the freedom to fully illustrate his/her ignorance for all to see.  The use of such terms is often the only way they have to feel powerful in the face of their own irrelevance.  The only satisfaction they get is by observing the reaction of their victim to their verbal taunts.  If you don't react, they don't get that satisfaction.  Their power goes away because you refuse to give it to them.

Attorney General Eric Holder once said, in testimony before Congress, that America is cowardly when it comes to discussing race.  Really?  Ok, let's have the discussion.  But first, we need some ground rules.  We can't have a rational discussion or debate, much less make any progress towards a resolution of the issue while we are hobbled by unequal rules.  The same rules need to apply to all, equally, if the debate is to have any value.  Otherwise, it's nothing more than it always has been, a chance for the professionally (and perpetually) offended to beat up on their opponents.

Don Imus temporarily lost his radio program and was vilified nationally by so-called civil rights activists and liberal political pundits for his "nappy headed ho's" comment, yet rap and urban music "artists" refer to black women as "bitches" and "ho's" routinely.

Mel Gibson's acting career went down in flames because of the outcry over his alcohol-fuel rants about Jews.   Has anyone looked into the sermons of "Rev" Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam concerning his views of the Jewish people?  For some reason, he gets a pass.

Has anyone other than FoxNews commented unfavorably on the pronouncements Jeremiah Wright made for 20+ years from his pulpit about "White America"?  If you look, you'll find that most liberals and many (not all) blacks have gone out of their way to excuse his use of inflammatory hate speech.

If a word is offensive, it doesn't matter who uses it.  Still, you can only be offended if you allow it.  Don't give away your power so easily.  Look at the kind of people who use these terms.  Are they really that important?  Do you really care what their opinion is?  I don't.  You shouldn't.

 

Congratulations! You're a victim, too!

It's now official.  Absolutely nothing is anyone's fault.  We're all victims of at least one thing or another.  The AMA (American Medical Association) has come out with the determination that obesity is a disease.  That's right.  You're not fat because you single-handedly support your local Krispy Kreme and are an enthusiastic couch potato pursuing your PhD in PS3.  Noooo.  Such thoughts are cruel and insensitive.

Said Dr. Patrice Harris, a member of the AMA's board, “Recognizing obesity as a disease will help change the way the medical community tackles this complex issue that affects approximately one in three Americans.”

Left unsaid is the fact that labeling obesity as a disease, as opposed to the result of a series of poor personal lifestyle and dietary decisions, now opens up the many obesity surgeries and drugs to coverage by insurance.  Follow the money, people.  Follow the money.  Some doctors and obesity advocates said that having the nation’s largest physician group make the declaration would focus more attention on obesity. And it could help improve reimbursement for obesity drugs, surgery and counseling.

Still, the vote of the A.M.A. House of Delegates went against the conclusions of the association’s Council on Science and Public Health, which had studied the issue over the last year. The council said that obesity should not be considered a disease mainly because the measure usually used to define obesity, the body mass index, is simplistic and flawed.

      

“Given the existing limitations of B.M.I. to diagnose obesity in clinical practice, it is unclear that recognizing obesity as a disease, as opposed to a ‘condition’ or ‘disorder,’ will result in improved health outcomes,” the council wrote.

Any guess what the inclusion of the new "disease" of obesity will do to healthcare and insurance costs?  Could be worse,  I guess.  Once Obamacare has to begin paying for obesity treatment, can government regulation of our diets be far behind?  Think Bloomberg's 16oz soda ban and salt restrictions.  On steroids.

---------------------------------------------------

Confessed child rapist still not in jail, 4 years after confessing!  DATELINE:  St. George, Utah.  Four years ago, Richard Burditt was charged with several counts of forcible sexual assault on a minor.  In a plea agreement where other charges were dropped, he agreed to plead guilty.  Yet, to this day he hasn't spent even one day in jail!  The reason?  Judge Wallace A. Lee has decided to delay sentencing until Mr. Burditt has had a psycho-sexual "evaluation".  Yep.  This poor girl's sentence began immediately, this miserable bastard's still free pending a psychiatrist's opinion of his mental state.  Does anyone wonder why the average person is losing faith in the institutions of government and the rule of law?  The worst part?  This creep doesn't even have to register as a sex offender until he's been officially sentenced, meaning that he can move to any area and the parents in the neighborhood have no way of knowing the potential danger their children are in.  Maybe, now that the news has been broken, enough public pressure can be brought to bear that this miscarriage of justice can finally be remedied.  This sounds like a job for FoxNews' Bill O'Reilly, a staunch defender of children and an advocate of mandatory sentencing guidelines for child rapists.  Let's all contact Mr. O and get him on the case.

--------------------------------------------------

Let's see, we've got the IRS targeting Tea Party, conservative, and religious groups for invasive, possibly illegal, scrutiny.  We've got the NSA gathering intelligence on the communications and online activities of American citizens not charged with any crimes.  We've got confirmation that the government has used drones domestically to help gather information "that would have been much more difficult to obtain without their use".  We've seen that the DOJ targeted news organizations and individuals investigating it's potentially illegal and unconstitutional activities.  Now there's the controversy over the death of Michael Hastings, an investigative reporter for Rolling Stone and the BuzzFeed website.  Mr. Hastings is the reporter who broke the story of the affair that led to the resignation of U.S. Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal. As reported in the NY Daily News, Mr. Hastings was killed when the car he was driving crashed and burst into flames.  Given his digging into secret government surveillance programs and illegal acts by the FBI, NSA, CIA and others against American citizens' civil rights, the internet was awash in conspiracy theories within hours.

Hastings wrote in his book, "The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America's War in Afghanistan," that he received a death threat from a former McChrystal staff member:  "We'll hunt you down and kill you if we don't like what you write," the staffer threatened, according to Hastings.

Mr. Hastings had reportedly been working on several new projects covering potential scandals involving the FBI and CIA.  Shortly before his death, he had been in contact with some of the lawyers for WikiLeaks, saying that he was being watched by the government and his movements were being followed by the FBI.

Conspiracy to silence revelation of even more damaging information about government abusing the constitutional rights of it's citizens or tragic accident?  Crime or coincidence?  Two things stick out to me: When was the last time you heard of a car bursting into flames in a car accident, outside of a Hollywood movie set?  And Mr. Hastings still hasn't been officially identified as the victim in the accident, the body was burned beyond identification.

Hastings' final story published on BuzzFeed, was titled "Why Democrats love to spy on Americans."

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/conspiracy-theories-abound-michael-hastings-death-article-1.1377392#ixzz2X3ToqJkJ

This whole thing reads like a Brad Thor novel.