Open Letter Against the Special Olympics 'R-Word' Campaign

As CNN informed me today, the Special Olympics has launched a campaign at “r-word.org” for people to pledge to stop using the word ‘retard.’

Now, I’ll ignore the fact that the site gives no page to even attempt to educate someone such as myself, who finds no problem using the word ‘retard’ in the proper context, instead preaching to the choir of people who are already against the word. However, I hope that someone finds this post and thinks they can attempt to educate me. If so, I want to tell you, my mind is open to your reasoning.

But here’s my point: By going on a crusade against the word ‘retard,’ all we do is give it more power. When I use the word ‘retard,’ it’s entirely in jest. I don’t use it often, but when I do use it, I am referring to when someone (or myself) does something stupid. In fact, I don’t even see it as referring to someone with mental disability. If a person uses it to refer to someone with a mental disability in a derogatory way, then I completely agree that others should make them aware that their statements are unacceptable. But by being hypersensitive to the word, acting out in anger when it’s used by someone who means no harm by it, all we do is give the word more power. It’s the same reason I was opposed to the movement to ban the N-word; I agree that the N-word is too often used negatively towards African-Americans, but the word is ALREADY powerful enough (so much so that I’m not even comfortable typing it here) without giving it the power of illegality.

I understand that I’m already biased, being a staunch opposer of political correctness, but while I completely support those afflicted with mental disability and their friends and family, I cannot in good conscience even allow the ‘r-word’ campaign to pass me by without comment.

Strange Fact Of The Day

I was reading the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, because I’m a huge dork like that, and I found some really interesting stories about the document upon which our country is based:

What we call the ‘Bill of Rights’ is known to refer to the first 10 amendments to the Constitution. We talk about the First Amendment as being:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

The Tenth Amendment is:

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

HOWEVER, upon looking at the actual text of the Constitution, the document we know as the Bill of Rights was presented with TWELVE articles, with the third one being the ‘First’ Amendment and the twelfth one being the ‘Tenth’ Amendment.

So what happened to the first two? They read:

“Article the first. …. After the first enumeration required by the first article of the Constitution, there shall be one Representative for every 30,000 until the number shall amount to 100, after which the proportion shall be so regulated by Congress, that there shall be not less than 100 Representatives, nor less than one Representative for every 40,000 persons, until the number of Representatives shall amount to 200; after which the proportion shall be so regulated by Congress, that there shall not be less than 200 Representatives, nor more than one Representative for every 50,000 persons.

Article the second … No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.”

The first article was never ratified, and the second was ratified 202 years later as the 27th Amendment, in 1992. This was as a result of the actions of a student at the University of Texas, Gregory Watson, who studied the issue and realized that since there was no time limit on the amendment, it was still possible to ratify it. It took him ten years, but it was finally made law in 1992.

Watson also later brought to attention the fact that Mississippi had never ratified the 13th Amendment (abolishing slavery), and Tennessee had never ratified the 15th Amendment, granting the rights of males of all races to vote. Once an amendment has been ratified by 3/4ths of the states it becomes law in all states, but it was still an outrageous situation to not have ratified those amendments. In fact, Mississippi’s only official declaration about the 13th Amendment had been a condemnation and rejection of it in 1865. Through his actions, both states symbolically ratified those amendments, in 1995 and 1997, respectively.

In the words of the late Notorious B.I.G., “If you don’t know, now you know.”

Seth MacFarlane Rocks My World

“I still kick myself for missing that topless cheerleader parade with the hundred foot tall chocolate teddy bear and the F-16’s doing aerial acrobatics choreographed to the music of Queen.” - Stewie Griffin

Shoe Throwing Journalist Sentenced

Can you believe this? They sentenced Muntadher al-Zaid, the guy who threw his shoes at President Bush, 3 years in prison. In terms of appropriate sentencing I might have said that maybe 6 months would have been appropriate, but 3 years isn’t just unfair, it’s politically stupid as well.

CNN Breaking News:

“International Space Station crew climb into escape module to wait out passing space debris.”

In Today's Top Stories...

You know, there’s nothing like a manhunt that leaves you locked out of your neighborhood for 4 hours to give a little perspective.

So let’s tell a little story…

We start yesterday, at 8:15pm. I ordered a pizza from Papa John’s for takeout (large 1-topping pizza for less than $10, pretty solid deal), and while I waited for my food to be prepared, I watched some TV on my computer. At about 8:45 I realized I should probably head out to get food, so I walk down to the garage in my building, get in my car, and drive out.

Not 10-feet from my garage is a police car, and as I slowly go to drive around it, a cop waves his flashlight at me. I look in my rear view mirror and see another cop at the end of the street, and I look up the other end to see three more cop cars. I figure there’s a crime investigation of some kind. The cop walks up to my car and asks me where I live. I tell him that I live in the building I JUST came out of, and he searches my car with his flashlight from the window. Satisfied, he tells me that he can allow me to leave, but it could be a couple of hours before I can return. I tell him OK and start leaving, then stop and ask him what the nature of this police action is. He looks at me uncertain of what to say, and his partner says, “We’re looking for someone.”

It took me four roadblocks over a distance of less than a quarter mile, each one checking my car, before I could leave. The closest exit from the perimeter is onto a side road which forces me to go around campus to get to where Papa John’s is. As I’m driving back closer to the search area, I can see a helicopter circling my building, and along the way I have to pull over 5 or 6 times for police cars to get around me.

I finally get my food, call a friend who lives far enough away from me, and go to her place. I tell her the story, and she goes straight to the TV.

Now, here’s the saddest thing about Los Angeles. Even though there’s a full-blown manhunt in my neighborhood, the only channel with news before 10, KCAL9, is broadcasting a car chase down the 5, passing through San Juan Capistrano and San Clemente. Right at 10 a cop PIT-maneuvers her car at an offramp in San Clemente just short of San Onofre, and after a brief standoff the situation is over.

As we switch between KCAL9 and some other channel with news at 10, here are the stories we see, in order:

The car chase that had just ended, which involved a female burglary suspect

A car chase in East LA involving 2 vandalism suspects.

A murder investigation.

Yes, these are the three top stories: pretty intense, but not too bad for a big city like LA, although they don’t include MY story, which is frustrating.

I ended up taking a nap at my friends place, and although the all-clear came at 12:15, she let me sleep for an extra hour before I went home.

The next morning, I hit up KCAL9’s website, and here are the three top local stories

The USC incident: During an investigation at the corner of Adams and Budlong, which is just outside of the majority of USC’s residential area, a suspect threatened an officer with a gun, and one suspect was shot. The car then fled the area, went east on Adams and turned south on Menlo, which is 90% USC residents. They hit a USC bus with 10 passengers (none of whom were injured) before three fled on foot. The fourth suspect was the one who was shot, who later died. A perimeter was created and then closed in on (although it included my building for the entire time), and the three suspects were found: one immediately after fleeing the car, one in a tree (and found by helicopter and K-9 units), and one posing as a member at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting (we have a few churches mixed in, even though the area is almost entirely houses).

A DIFFERENT car chase: At 5:30am this morning a car chase began, during which the suspect rammed three police cars, which ended at 6am with the death of the suspect.

A Ferrari crash kills some MMA celebrity

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH EVERYONE. STOP EVADING POLICE / DRIVING TOO FAST / DOING BOTH SIMULTAENOUSLY / KILLING PEOPLE.

There were FOUR different police chases yesterday, TWO of which ended in death. Plus, a murder investigation, and a celebrity who was driving too fast. On one hand, it’s exciting to live in a big city and have these things happen, but COME ON. Let’s all just take a deep breath and chill the fuck out. PLEASE.

Breaking News: F*** My Life

I left my apartment at 8:30pm to pick up a pizza I ordered, and went through 4 roadblocks, after which I was told I couldn’t return for at least two hours. There are helicopters and cops EVERYWHERE.

So now I’m stuck at a friend’s place across the residential area of USC because, as the Daily Trojan says (they’re the only news source with this story):

Officer-involved shooting on Budlong Ave. and Adams Blvd, DPS said.

Perimeter blocked off between Jefferson and Adams boulevards and Vermont and Orchard avenues.