A&E and the Dangers of Political Correctness

I will say at the offset I have never seen Duck Dynasty nor do I plan to.   It doesn't seem like something that I would be all that interested in enough to spend a half hour of my life sitting in front of the television for.  I have heard of the family and seen pictures of him with various people, but I really know very little about the show except it has something to do with duck hunting.

A&E has decided that it goes against their values to employ someone who holds a biblical worldview on sin.  You can disagree with the premise all you like, but it doesn't change what the bible says.  Homosexuality is a sin according to Christian belief.  I fully understand that there are churches out there that ignore that and have no problem with openly gay clergy and will marry same-sex couples.  That still doesn't change what the bible says about it.

Phil Robertson gave an interview with GQ Magazine.  During that interview he was asked a question on his view of homosexuality.  He answered the question coming from a biblical point of view.  He is a person who believes that the bible is the living word of God.  Yes his words may have been crude, but they were not bigoted, nor did he liken homosexuality to having sex with a goat.  He simply gave a list of things that are sinful, he also included having heterosexual sex outside of marriage in his list.

"Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men."

All he said is that sex outside the confines of  traditional marriage is sinful, which according to the bible, it is.  That shouldn't be up for debate.  Again, you can feel that the bible is outdated, fake, or anything that you may feel about it, but it doesn't change what scripture says.  If you are to follow the bible and its teachings you shouldn't be having sex of any kind outside of traditional marriage.  Once you do that, you are committing a sin.  

Another part of his quote gets left out in almost all of the media coverage:

“We never, ever judge someone on who’s going to heaven, hell. That’s the Almighty’s job. We just love ’em, give ’em the good news about Jesus—whether they’re homosexuals, drunks, terrorists. We let God sort ’em out later, you see what I’m saying?”

Is it any wonder that this gets left out?  How can you say that he is "hating" on homosexuals if he says he is not judging them?  As a Christian it is part of your duty to spread the word of God.  People will do that in different ways and to different degrees.  But a true Christian never makes statements about someone else's salvation and how God will ultimately judge a person and how they lived their life.  Not only isn't that our job, it way above our pay grade.  

But of course the media coverage is he is a bigot, he is a hater, or he is some crazy right winged nut job.  He isn't allowed to have a biblical worldview and share that openly.  That is something you must keep in the closet and act like it doesn't exist.  Of course the same people who are hitting him hard have no problem with talking about homosexuality in sex ed classes geared to 6 year olds.  That is perfectly acceptable.  But don't tell them the other side of the equation, oh no, you are a hater then.  

If activists for the gay community are as open-minded as they claim to be, they will have a debate on this topic.  But that isn't what happens.  The debate gets shut off by people losing their income or labeled a bigot and a hater.  My gosh even feminist and openly gay Camille Paglia understands what is happening by these fanatics

"utterly fascist & utterly Stalinist"

Having a debate on the legalization of gay marriage is worth having in this country.  But it devolves into name calling and threats.  What does it say about people who say they are only trying to be accepted and have their rights protected by our society when they care none about the rights of those who believe otherwise?  

We have gotten to the point where any talk of religion must be closeted and must be whispered in the confines of your own home.  We have even gotten to the point that sometimes you can't have a bible study in your home without interference, putting up Christmas lights on the outside of your home gets you a letter from your neighbors telling them how offended they are.  

That isn't tolerance folks, that is tyranny.  This is how far we have fallen as a society; a major public university gives classes on the fine art of fellatio and that is deemed a perfectly acceptable use of tax payer funds for "educational" purposes, but a Christian man can't give the biblical view that he tries to live his life by without losing income.  

A&E has every right to end their contract with Mr. Robertson.  They are a private business and they are under no restrictions constitutionally, as this isn't a free speech or free religion issue.  The government isn't interfering.  Just because A&E has the right to end his contract doesn't mean that it should.  So far the sponsors of the show seem to understand what is at stake here and are standing on the right side.  The side that says he has a right to religious liberty and his viewpoints.  

A sad day in America.  A very sad day.  

No, There is No War on Christmas - Video

This is just disgusting.  Why bother to sing this song at all?  I mean really.  Listen to the words, they took out "Christ the Savior" and "Holy Infant", but left "Holy Night".  

They didn't want to "offend" non-Christians, but apparently had no problem offending Christians.  

Christmas is about a birth of baby and that was the son of God.  That is what it is.  There is no way around that.  Christians follow Christ.  

Head meet desk. 

More Nanny State Political Correctness Costing Tax Payers Millions

Aren't these pretty?  Forever Stamps,   Not so fast.  They are going to be destroyed, yep the entire run.  Why you ask?  Well it should be obvious and an outrage to you.  After all, take a look at the skateboarder.  Where are the knee pads?  The wrist braces?  No helmet?  How can that be?  It is dangerous.  Dangerous I say.  It cannot stand.  A cannonball?  How can that be allowed?  Apparently nowadays you need a helmet to do a head stand.  No helmet you might get hurt.  Oh no.  We can't let that happen now can we?  

Seriously, I didn't ride a bike with a helmet when I was little.  I loved, and I mean loved, gymnastics.  To this day, even at my old age, I am one of the most flexible people I know.  I can put both my feet behind my head.  I don't wear any protective gear.  So far I have never injured myself so badly that I needed medical attention.  We skateboarded without helmets and knee pads.  We survived.  It wasn't the end of the world.   We even had cars without (gasp) airbags and child safety seats.  How did we survive?  IT'S A MIRACLE!!!!  We should all be dead by today's standards.  

Honestly, an entire run of stamps will be destroyed because someone on the Presidential Council has decided this may give kids the wrong impression about being active.  Huh?  Do kids even use stamps anymore?  What is it exactly that they are mailing out?  I mean would you have noticed the lack of knee pads had I not pointed it out?  

Well at least the post office is not running in the red.  Oh wait!!!  Oh it is just a millions.  Who cares?  

Reason 34,289 Not To Live in Seattle

I love the pacific northwest, especially Seattle.  It is simply beautiful.  But I could never live there.  The people are  certifiably insane out there.  Shortly after the state announces it will spend millions upon millions of tax payer dollars to make all state paperwork gender neutral comes this,  

 An internal memo at Seattle City Hall is causing quite a stir. It suggests government workers no longer use the terms "citizen," or "brown bag."
According to the Office for Civil Rights, the terms are potentially offensive and other words should be used.

Citizen should be changed to residents and they have not quite come up with a replacement for brown bag, they are thinking sacked lunch may be more appropriate.  Oh my.  Apparently someone has gotten into their head that brown bag is a racial slur.  

And while city leaders publicize "brown bag" lunch meetings as a way to designate a bring-your-own lunch time event, the term has a sorted history. 
"It used to be a way people could judge skin color," Bronstein said in a phone interview

Don't these lawmakers have anything more pressing to deal with than this?  I mean Seattle has one of the highest levels of homelessness in the country and this is what they are choosing to deal with?  Have you ever heard anyone use the term brown bag lunch as a racial slur?  I didn't think so.  

Is is any wonder that our society and government is in such a mess?  

The Politically Correct Firing of Paula Dean

The Food Network has announced that they will not be renewing the contract of Paula Dean that expires at the end of this month.  She has been fired.  The Food Network is a private business and they can hire and fire people at will.  That is their prerogative.  But the reason they did it was the mansy pansy politically correct world we have found ourselves living in.  

Dean is being sued by a white woman who is claiming that she was exposed to a hostile work environment.  Now, I at one time worked at this non-profit who gave us training on hostile work environments often.  I think I had to sit through that seminar four times in the two years that I worked there.  Like most federal laws there are too broad and far too encompassing to my taste.  Virtually anything can be an offense under these laws.  The woman says that there was porn passed around in the back of  the house in the restaurant and their were people who used racial slurs.  Unless I am mistaken, the lawsuit doesn't claim that Paula Dean herself used those slurs, just that employees did and nothing was done to stop the behavior.  

During a deposition that was taken in May, Paula Dean was asked the question if she has ever used the N word.  She said yes and relayed a story about a private conversation that she had in her HOME  with her husband that took place in 1986.  At the time she was working in a bank.  A black man came into that bank, pointed a gun at her head and robbed it.  After this experience she used the N word to describe him to her husband.  This is a firable offense?  

Paula Dean is not being accused of using racial slurs at the work place.  Paula Dean is not being accused of discriminatory hiring practices.  Paula Dean was asked if she ever used the word.  Paula Dean was born and raised in the south during segregation.  Does anyone in their right mind think that word never left her lips throughout her life?  If so, those people are fooling themselves.  

This isn't about the right or wrong of the word.  This is about does a person have any right to have a personal conversation in the privacy of their own home anymore?  Look the word is offensive, when used by whites.  I don't deny that.  I certainly don't use the word and I cringe on the very rare occasions that I hear it.  But that doesn't mean that The Food Network should feel pressured into firing this woman because of that private conversation.  

Be honest, haven't you said things in a private conversation in your home that could easily be found offensive to someone?  Should your place of employment feel that due to that you are unemployable if that conversation ever became public knowledge?  

I was going back and forth with others on this last evening and one of  the things that I heard was if I went into work on Monday and used that word to a co-worker I wouldn't have a job on Tuesday.  True enough.  But that isn't what happened here.   I also saw comparisons to the man who fired from the television show Grey's Anatomy for using the word faggot.  Again, that wasn't done in the privacy of his home. That was done in public and if I remember correctly was directed towards a coworker who is gay.  There is no comparing the two.  First and foremost I have a problem with these laws to begin with. But even if I didn't, what happen in that case was public and done in the workplace setting.  

Look, you can pass all the laws you like, it won't change people's hearts.  I actually contend it was that people's hearts changing that directly led to the civil rights laws being passed.  What Martin Luther King did so brilliantly was he humanized the people who were being mistreated.  He put a face to the discrimination.  When images of people being attacked by dogs and water hoses were shown in every household across the country, people had to take a look at themselves.  That is when things changed.  The law followed the heart.  

People are allowed to be racists if they choose.  There isn't anything that anyone can do about that.  People are allowed to say what they want in their homes.  She is free to spray paint the N word on her living room wall if she wants to.  I wouldn't go to someone's home that did that.  But it doesn't change the right of her to do it.  This is private behavior.  

She will be just fine.  She has plenty of money and she certainly won't starve.  But that isn't the point.  The Food Network is yet another victim of political correctness that has run amok.  They are bowing to public pressure because she is now perceived as being a racist.  She used a racial slur in her lifetime.  That isn't a racist make.  Everyone one of us has said things that offend someone else at one point or another in our lives.  That doesn't mean we should be able to allow public pressure to force employers across the country to fire everyone who has.  

The Nuts are Out

A mother in Canada has taken her own nuttiness a tad too far.  Donna Giustizia, a mom of two is trying to get all the oak trees near her child's school removed because of nut allergies.  The school itself is nut free (which was mistake number one) but the school property gets acorns from the surrounding trees.  Her solution is to remove all the oak trees in the area.  

Now this from the director of Allergies and Asthma at New York University Hospital

“There’s no relationship between acorns and peanuts,” Bassett said. “If people have food allergies, they need to work with an allergists on prevention, avoidance and preparedness. People with food allergies need to be careful and have a plan.”

But this mother doesn't appear to be willing to give up.  She also says:

She appeared before the Vaughan, Ontario, City Council last week to plead for the removal of the trees, saying : “The acorns are not only presenting a risk to the tree-nut-allergic students, but it is also becoming a great cause of anxiety among all students with nut allergies.” Giustizia also said, according to The Star,   that “acorns can also be used to bully and torment children.

Luckily, she isn't suggesting that entire town cut down their oak trees, just the area near her child's school.  

So, the school system is preparing a report to address her issues.  For what purpose is beyond me.  There is no scientific link between acorns and human allergies to nuts.  So this school system is going to use limited resources and funds to research a problem that doesn't exist all to please one over protective zealous mother that doesn't have any idea of what she is talking about.  What I find so comical about her testimony is that she already prepared an alternative reason for getting rid of the acorns, as they are a bullying tool.  

If I were sitting on this school board I would be telling this mother to take those acorns and stuff them where the sun doesn't shine and I would charge her for the time that she wasted.  I am sick to death of people taking their obscure and often wrong ideas and expecting the entire world to bow down to what they want.  No child is going to die due to being near an acorn.  Get over yourself lady.  

R.I.P. America - PC Police Have Taken Over

Do you remember when you were little and went to your first Daddy/Daughter dance?  I remember mine.  I got all gussied up in a pretty dress, tights, and patent leather shoes.  (Hey, that was the style way back then) and went danced with my daddy.  Most school systems around the country have some form of this.  Over the years they have added things for Mom/Son to do together as well.  It is a great way to bond with a parent.  I would think this is a very special memory for you dads out there as well.

Well, these are a thing of the past, at least in Rhode Island.  Daddy/Daughter dances are no longer allowed.  They are deemed illegal.  Not for what you think either, they pass the title IX test, because they have activities for the boys as well (and let's be honest, the title IX freaks care none for equality of little boys anyway) no, it is because one single mother complained that her daughter was left out because 'she doesn't have a dad'.

Well, the sperm came from somewhere, so she has a dad.  But apparently this single mom is going it alone and the dad is nowhere to be found.  I find that sad for the little girl, I honestly do.  It should come as no surprise that I believe in the traditional family.  But I am sure many of the little girls that go to Daddy/Daughter dances around the country are products of divorce or have parents that were never married.  So I think that this is even more important for those families.  Again, it gives them time to create some special bonds and create memories.

I feel for the girls that don't have a dad to take them to the dance.  Some people die young and that is the reason that there is no dad around. But it would seem to me that in most of these instances there is another man in mom's life that can fill in for the daddy/daughter dance; a brother, your own father, or a close friend.  Apparently this woman has no man in her life that can take her daughter to the dance, so now no one can go.

That's right, every little girl in Rhode Island has been robbed of this coming of age experience because of this one woman.

We have now reached the point that one person gets to decide for an entire state what type of dances elementary schools will put on.

Excuse me while I go lie down and cry.

Chains, Politics, Racism, & VP Biden

All the political chatter today is about Vice President Biden's remark

"put y'all back in chains"

But let's looks the entire quote in context

“Romney wants to, he said in the first 100 days, he's going to let the big banks once again write their own rules. Unchain Wall Street. They're going to put y’all back in chains,”

To me these look very different when taken in full context.  He was using a metaphor.  A poor one may be, but a metaphor just the same.

Much has been made of the fact that this took place in Danville, Va which is a city that has a population of almost 49% black.  This is what I find offensive.  If he had said this in a city that had a population that is say only 8% black it would have been different?  You can see from the pictures of the event that the crowd was diverse.

What I find so offensive is that what I am hearing in this uproar is that apparently we are supposed to change our language depending on who were are talking to.  Does that mean that I am supposed to create a blog for hispanic readers, another for whites, and yet another for blacks?  That I am supposed to change the language I use for the point I am trying to make depending on the skin color of the reader?  That is really offensive to me.

Is what he said stupid?  Of course it is.  But in full context it wasn't racist.

I do believe that Biden has some preconceived notions of things.  I think many will remember that he once made a comment about Indians and 7-11's.  The fact of the matter is that in the area that I live in you would be hard pressed to find a 7-11 that didn't have employees that are not of Indian descent.  What he said is true, at least in this area of the country.  That may not be true everywhere, but here it is.  So is that racism/bigotry?  No, it isn't.  Maybe it isn't polite to point it out, but that is about political correctness, not racism.

See I am no fan of how everything we say and do in this country has to fit into some preconceived notion of being politically correct.  Who is it that makes these rules?  Because we all know that they are different for different people.  Had Paul Ryan used the same words the likes of Roland Martin would be the first one to screaming and yelling it was indeed racist.  Whereas today he is saying that it isn't.  For once I actually agree with him that it was not a racist statement.

We need to get past all this PC nonsense and realize that using the metaphor of chains has nothing to do with slavery.  It is a commonly used metaphor that covers all kinds of things.  I am sick to death of everything being labeled "offensive" or "racist".  It is no more attractive when it comes from the right then when it comes from the left.

I dare anyone who disagrees with me on this to look me in the eye and tell me honestly that you wouldn't feel that had the exact same scenario happened to a politician you agree with, you wouldn't be defending it and saying it wasn't racist and people were over-reacting.  If you can't do that, then stop playing the same "racist" card that has been played on us for the past four years.

Is VP Biden a gaffe machine?  Oh, yes.  He is not the smartest tool in the shed, that is for sure.  He also has a habit of changing his dialect up a little bit depending on the crowd he is front of.  Which is offensive.  But there is no proof that VP Biden is a racist and that this comment was nothing more than metaphor of a theme that the right has been using for the past two years, of unshackling the private sector.  Could he have used a different word than chain?  Yea maybe.  But why should he have?  At some point we have to get beyond this nonsense and stop equating everything to race and slavery.

Take it away Joe:

Juan Williams' New Job

Juan Williams was fired yesterday afternoon for stating his opinion.  An opinion, that I might add, many in this country share;  lets say a few months after 9/11 and a person who dressed in clothing that lead you to believe that they are a Muslim is sitting next to you on a plane you wouldn't have a moments pause?  I would say that you are lying if you say that it wouldn't have mattered to you. 

Since 9/11 we have had the shoe bomber, the undies bomber, the Fort Hood Shootings, and the Times Square bomber.  We have read the news reports about the arrests made by the man who was buying bomb making materials in a store while being videotaped.  There was a recently a court hearing for a group of men in the Houston area who were making plans to make bombs.  Let's see there was another arrest a few years ago of men who were planning on bombing the Sears Tower in Chicago among other iconic buildings and bridges.  We also have the Times Square Bomber who told the judge that he lied when he took his oath for his U.S. citizenship.  At his sentencing he said that he was only the beginning of the violence that will be heading our way from the hands of terrorists that want to kill us in the name of Islam. 

There are reasons to take pause.  This is not something that is being made up, as some on the left would like you to believe.  We have the 9/11 truthers who don't believe that al Qeada even exists, it was manufactured by Bush to justify the war in Iraq.  Polls of Middle Eastern countries have consistently have shown that many in the Muslim world do not believe that bin Laden was behind 9/11 let alone any of the other near misses we have experienced since then.  These same polls show that many in these same countries believe that suicide bombings are justified.  That makes these types of conversations important to have. 

All Juan Williams did was express the obvious and for that he was fired.  Now, I don't agree with Juan Williams on virtually anything.  Just last night before his firing was announced, I heard him on Fox talking about how rent control is necessary and capitalism needs to have its limits.  He came stunningly close to saying that private property rights should be secondary to the needs of the poor.  Not something that I agree with on any level.  But, I am standing up and protecting his right to say it.  I also stand up for the right for the Maddow's of the world.  She is doing commentary, she gets paid for her opinion.  I think her opinions are crazy and I don't understand why anyone wants to watch her show, but that is for the free market to decide, not me. 

Less than 24 hours after his firing he was offered a $2 million contract with Fox News.  So, it seems to me that Fox is not only willing to have him express his leftist views, they are quite willing to pay well for it too.  Good for Juan. 

Come as You Are - McDonalds Foree into Political Correctness

This is playing on French TV.  Is there some sort of connection between Big Macs and Homosexuality that I am not aware of?  Or is this is just one more corporation that is jumping on the political correctness bandwagon?  I don't think I want some food chain giving me social commentary. 

Not Everyone Loves a Clown - Ronald McDonald Must Go!!!

People on the left have found their next target; Ronald McDonald.  That's right, the happy, redheaded clown from McDonalds.  Apparently, it is time for him to go.  Now, is it just the restaurant clown that needs to go?  Because I am thinking that we need charitable clown to hang around.  Ronald helps families have a free place to stay while their ill children are getting life saving treatments at the best medical facilities around the country.  Don't we want to keep that guy? 

“For nearly 50 years, Ronald McDonald has hooked kids on unhealthy foods spurring a deadly epidemic of diet-related diseases,”   How exactly can Ronald McDonald be at fault, when we didn't have the obesity problems 5 decades ago that we have today? 

Oh, no!!!  He is comforting a child. 

“Ultimately the report makes the case that it’s time that McDonald’s stop directing fast food to kids. Really, Ronald deserves a break and so do we.” 

Stop This Clown!!  He is reading to children. 

“vulnerable to manipulations to marketing” and turns them on to junk food at an age when childhood obesity rates have soared"  So, wait are they saying that five year olds take their own money and walk over the local McD's on their own? 
 
“We think of Ronald McDonald as a deep-fried Joe Camel for 21st century"  Really?  Smoking and eating a Bic Mac are the same thing? 

This is yet one more example of some organization saying that we need protection.  We don't need to take responsibility mind you, because they are on the case.  You see parents that are stopping through the drive thru on the way home from work will no longer do so if Ronnie just goes away, they will all of sudden have more time or more money.  Simply ridiculous. 

Ok, I just want people to leave me alone!  If I want a Angus Burger on occassion that is my business.  Where else can I buy large iced tea for buck? 

What's next?  Are they going to go after Barney because he is a wee bit on the tubby side? 
 

Sorry Day - Coming to School Near You?

The politically correct police don't just exist in the United States. In Australia they are making updates to the school curriculum to include "Sorry Day". This is a day that will allow kindergarteners to have a day to say they are sorry to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. The Australians and the Aborigines have had struggles between the two cultures for what seems like forever. The goal of this program is to make sorry day to have the same significance as Anzac day; the Australian and New Zealand version of Memorial Day.


The public school system is getting an overhaul. Multiculturalism, indigenous rights, ethics, and wait for it, sustainable living, will be focused on from grades K-10. All of this would be fine if they were not putting in these subjects in front of history and math. Isn't it still important to teach our children math and history?

History teaches how we got to where we are today. Kids all over the world need to understand how people and cultures have evolved over time. What parts of history are no longer going to be taught? Do we not teach kids about WWI? Do we forget about Hitler and Stalin? Or do we just forget about The Roman Empire? If we don't understand history we are doomed to repeat it. Isn't that how the saying goes? How many years do you think it will take for this to infiltrate the school systems in the United States? Political correctness has run amok. 


The Daily Telegraph