I’m as guilty of this as anyone, but Leslie has always been down on the casual use of this word.

Apparently, the move to make it taboo is growing. It would be nice to see us all speak better of others and to not toss around cruel words so casually.

Granted, I’ve got a lot of work to do on that myself with other words.

Boy am I glad we aren’t raising Gabriel in Oklahoma.

They know next to nothing about America. Either they are really dumb or the teachers there are feeding them the same anti-American BS they apparently are teaching kids in Texas.

Two from Colbert on our government selling out to corporations.

Colbert Report: The Word – Let Freedom Ka-Ching

Colbert Report: Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission – Jeffrey Toobin

Go figure.

You tell kids that sex is a sin and that contraception is evil and they’ll chuck out plenty of unplanned babies. There actually is a cause and effect relationship between stupidity, mythology, and procreation.

Some day I hope this country embraces the concept of an educated public as a good thing. But not if we’re overrun by dumbed down conservative bastards.

I know I’m down on organized religion a lot of late – and I have my reasons. That said, I found this story on how the three major faiths in the US are addressing the problems of protecting their congregations while still adhering to their religious traditions.

I was reading up on this story of a miscreant who sent a complaint email to her local sheriff. In it she complained about being held up in traffic because a funeral procession for a local soldier who died in Afghanistan was going by.

She also complained about the Patriot Guard riders who were part of the procession, and who were not about to let her try to get around the mourners.

I think every person in the country – particularly the warmongers who wanted us to detour into Iraq – should have to come face to face with a military funeral. We’re letting a small percentage of our nation take all the risk and all the sorrow wartime service brings. The absolute least they can do is honor our war dead.

Plus, having known a Patriot Rider or two, anyone who knows what they do and why would know better than to insult them.

I don’t know if this lady is a Republican or a Democrat. I’d like to think the former, the letter reeks of the egotism and smug sense of self that comes with being a conservative these days. But maybe not.

Either way, Sheriff Glenn Boyer had the local paper print both the woman’s complaint and his response. I get the feeling I may not agree with Sheriff Boyer on much, but I do on this issue.

Meanwhile, I noticed some other neat trends going on in St. Louis, from inner city vegan groceries to elementary schools growing vegetable gardens which then supply the cafeteria menu.

Nice to know the MidWest still has good things to offer their communities, and law enforcement not afraid to call out selfish asses.

Matt Taibbi is still pissed about the lack of health care reform in this country. First off, he blames us for our collective peasant mentality in allowing greedy jackasses to run over us. Then he blames the politicians for bungling the reform process itself.

Not that anything he’s saying is wrong; it’s just a hard pill to swallow (to push a metaphor).

I like this article. It sets the right tone and focuses on the effect that GOP anger and disrespect will eventually have on our nation’s children.

We don’t have to agree with everything we are told. That’s the beauty of living in a free country and being allowed to express our own opinions in a public forum. But there is such a thing as respect and civility-which was something severely lacking Wednesday night as this “authority figure” lashed out in the middle of the President’s speech.

I would have left that article happy that someone is thinking like an adult.

And then you read the comments and realize that we have way too many odious and filthy hatemongers left in this country. I would hope they aren’t raising children in their own image, but that would probably be too much to ask for.

I heard this a couple days ago. Basically the French are banning la bise or the air kiss due to concerns over the swine flu.

Just like Bush and Cheney being allowed to kill our civil liberties for fear of terrorist under our beds, this smells wrong. French are known for this greeting and I can’t see how this would prevent more than a few cases from popping up.

That said, I doubt that you’d be able to stop people from following both tradition and conditioning in time. Either way, let’s hope the greeting survives the flu season.