"Confused About Reality"

My family and I just recently had a confrontation with "political correctness." It would be funny if it were not so ridiculous. All we wanted to do was get my son's senior portrait made. We liked the studio. They had done some work for us in the past. My wife made the appointment. Then, last week she and my son made the trip about 30 minutes up the road to get the photos made.

Like most teenagers, he is proud of his accomplishments. He is a black belt, a weight lifter, and he has won some awards in speech and debate tournaments. So he wants to take those mementoes of his life and arrange them in the picture. Sounds great. But my son is also a bow-hunter, and he likes to play "air-soft" with a lot of his teenage pals. Bowhunting with his compound bow is an honored past-time and a useful occupation. But, just to be on the safe side, I told him to leave his razor sharp arrows at home. "Air-soft" is a new thing--kids have these toy guns with orange tips, and they shoot very soft pellets (you still need to wear eye protection). None of us thought there would be a problem with bringing an obvious toy gun to a photo shoot.

There was. My wife called me and told me that they refused to take the pictures because of his bow (no arrows there!) and his air soft gun. My wife spoke politely but firmly with the management, but they were firm: no "weapons" in the pictures. It might frighten the children in the waiting room. This is a "family friendly" studio, after all.

I got the direct phone to the owner of this chain of portrait studios. I told him I fail to understand how a TOY with an ORANGE TIP on it is a problem. "It might frighten the small children who would not understand the difference between that and the real thing." I responded, "Kinda like the management and owner? Isn't that the responsibility of the parents to explain to their children the difference between reality and a TOY? How is the parents' failure to teach their own children MY responsibility? Why and am I--and MY family--being punished for the failure of other people to distinguish between a TOY that cannot hurt anyone, and reality?"

He didn't get it. The bow could also hurt someone, the owner said. How? Without arrows? My clenched fist could also hurt someone, so I can't have a clenched fist in a photo? Baseball bats can certainly hurt someone, but that doesn't stop kids from being photographed with their baseball bats. . . I ended the conversation with the owner, explaining to him that I do not deal with people who cannot distinguish between reality and a toy. He's free to set up his own rules for his business. . . and I am free (still) to take my money elsewhere.

However, it really left me sad. How is it that a bow, and an imitatiton gun, are not considered "family friendly?" Why do people continue to promote the "sissification" of America--classifying these items as evil and unwelcome? It was only a few years ago that young boys were expected to be familiar with bows and guns in order to hunt and protect their families. What are we teaching our sons?

"The Arrogant Left"

The fact that Scott Brown was elected U.S. Senator from Massachussetts to replace Ted Kennedy wasn't supposed to happen. It was a complete surprise. It caught everyone off guard. So says all the leftists and "progressives." They say this because they did not know their own constituents--the people of Massachussetts. The people had hit their saturation point with high taxes, overspending, over regulation, and a government that does not respond to the will of the people.

The leftist elitists STILL refer to the senate seat as "Ted Kennedy's seat." Why? Was he just supposed to bequeath it to a descendant as though he had some kind of royal dynasty? Why even bother to have an election. Just pick a successor like they do in North Korea or some banana republic and hand it over. The left actually tried with Martha Coakley. But. . . .the people were not going to buy this kind of treatment.

Where was George Soros and MoveOn.org? Where was ACORN? Where were all the dead people registered to vote? Where were the smear tactics against Scott Brown? The left tried their dirty tricks too little too late. They were too late, because all along they thought that the people of Massachussetts had stopped thinking. Had just given up. The left thought that the people were just lemmings.

But disgusted, frightened voters, who are in fear of losing their liberty showed up in a January election in droves. Some Democrats, some Republicans, but mostly Independents.
By the way, the left will be back. They are planning their counter-attack. It ain't over. Not by a long shot.

"They Are Getting Nervous"

I just received a considerably lengthy letter from my U.S. Congressman, John Boccieri. In this tome he tries to explain why he supports the American Clean Energy and Security Act (also known as the "Cap and Trade" bill). I just have a few questions.

This is the second time he has written this letter to his constituents. Why does he bother with the paperwork? I didn't realize we were that important to him. Why didn't he bother to meet with his constituents even one time in a face to face meeting in a town hall this past August? He had the time. He could have explained all of this to thousands. But he chose not to come out of hiding and meet in such a gathering.

He is constantly talking about how this bill will create "green jobs." Name them. Congress is real good at dreaming up solutions to problems that they created (like dependence on foreign oil), but the letter never lays out any specifics on what those "green jobs" would be.

Mr. Boccieri--when was the last time the U.S. Congress actually created an industry? Actually created jobs--other than government jobs in which paper is shuffled around? Did Congress create the auto industry? The banking industry? The housing industry? The oil/natural gas/coal industry? Or any other industry? Did Congress EVER create a useful product?

No. A free people unshackled by burdensome government created all those things in a free market. But Congress sure can regulate all of the above, tax it, confiscate it, or drive it right out of business. They're good at that--their track record proves it. Mr. Boccieri--save your breath and your paperwork. The best thing you can do is urge your pals in Congress to get out of the way of a free people. And get out of Congress while you're at it.

The fact that you're sending me this letter for the second time in six months tells me that maybe your constituents are not convinced. Maybe you're getting nervous about your job security. Maybe you should be. . . .

"Baby It's Cold Outside"

I know that it's supposed to be cold here in the Mid-West. I'm originally a Georgia boy, so anything below 72 degrees is actually inhuman. I've complained to my Congressmen about the freezing temperatures here in January, but they just look at me weird and tell me that there's nothing they can do about it. . . .but wait--there IS something they can do about the weather! Silly me. Silly Congressmen. They can pass Cap and Trade legislation, and if all the industrialized nations of the world pass some kind of treaty limiting their eeeevil carbon output, then the weather will be perfect within the next 20 or 30 or 1000 years or whatever. Yep, ol' Mother Nature can be stopped by legislation and treaties and evil industries using "green energy."

It's supposed to be warming up outside, according to the climate change commissars. However as I read recent news reports, the weather is not cooperating with the prophets of doom. Take a look at these reports:
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/storms/winter/2010-01-06-cold-snap_N.htm.
http://forecast.weather.gov/showigwx.php?warnzone=FLZ173&warncounty=FLC086&firewxzone=FLZ074&local_place1=Coral+Terrace+FL&product1=Freeze+Warning.

Just a sampling of the record low temperatures and winter storms that are hitting the U.S. In fact, Europe is experiencing some pretty record low temperatures for a while now. My town here in the Mid-West is about to get hit tonight with a boatload of snow. Crops are in danger of freezing throughout the South. Where is the Global Warming???? Ain't happening.

To get the truth, check out these sites:
http://www.desmogblog.com/lee-c-gerhard.
http://www.geocraft.com/WVFossils/Reference_Docs/Gerhard_Climate_Change.pdf.
and http://icecap.us/index.php. Hope the "Stop Global Warming" indoctrination clubs in government schools across our land get a hold of the truth. In the meantime, put another log on the fire and try to stay warm.

"Best Good News I've Heard All Day"

Heard any good news lately? Iran is still making nukes. Al Qaeda is still trying to smuggle explosives in underwear. Our government is still shredding the Constitution and trying to imprison us. But, I saw some good news!
First, the Copenhagen Summit on "Climate Change" broke down last month with hardly any resolution. Hooray.
Next, at least 13 Attorneys General from various states are threatening to sue over the current health care bill. If Congress doesn't make the same sweet deal to these states that they made to Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska (you know--Nebraska doesn't ever have to pay for Medicaid again--but the rest of us have to pick up the tab), then these 13 states will sue. Sweet. Hopefully it will throw a monkey wrench into this entire health care bill process.

BUT--the BEST good news I've heard all day, all week, is what Brit Hume said about Tiger Woods and redemption. Here is the link to the youtube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVjuO5v5Cts&feature=related. Three cheers for Brit for his compassion and his stand for truth.

Yep, it was the BEST good news I've heard in a long while.