Just When You Think You're Safe, Something Happens

Our house was broken into last Friday. I first saw that the gate to the yard was open, something I don't do because the dog may get out and go off on her own. There were footprints in the snow leading up to our back porch; a window in the storm door was open and there I found the smash window of the backdoor. I went around to the front of the house as I normally do and then called the police. "Get out of the house." I was told. "They may still be in there."

The police came in and checked the inside of the house; thankfully no one was there. The only thing missing was my laptop that was recently given to my by my wife. It was to be her old one; a friend at work had completely gone over it and had installed Window XP. The computer was clean, there was nothing on it, and I had hardly used it. That was the only thing stole, it was sitting on the couch, right next to the door. One cop said it was kids, it was small, light and valuable.

The second police office explained how easy it has been to get into, the broken pane was right next to the lock and was easy to open. He suggested we install a two-way lock—a key needed to get into from either side as well as installing a door with a more remote pane of glass.

I went to the home store and bought both, a lock and a door. Then the snow hit and I have a new door sitting in my house uninstalled. My life has changed. I will no longer be able to look out my back door window to see activities take place in the back yard without having to open it first. I'll have to think twice about being too friendly to people who come to my house, meter reader, paperboy etc. I'll have to remember how my house, my private life was violated and forced open and something stolen from me.

K.

“If a politician isn’t doing it to his wife, then he’s doing it to his country.” Amy Grant, singer/song writer

Should politics and the public media mix? In particular, Barack Obama has become the pet project of Oprah Winfrey. Now Oprah has enough clout and loyal public following that she can just about do anything she wants. She is quite a public entity in her own right and command quite a bit of respect. If Barack Obama is buying time on her show (and I don't mean the one dollar payment to show that he actually paid money) that is one thing, but if she is offering this totally free that is another. If he is paying money, that particular show on which he appears should be labeled as a "Paid Political Announcement."

A public forum show is just that, an unbiased place where politicians can speak without debate to a friendly, receptive audience. If Oprah makes Barack Obama the only politician who speaks on her show, she has defeated the free speech movement. Yes, she can have any guest she chooses, but can her show become the exclusive forum for a single candidate?

Yes, other celebrities have endorsed candidates. Some such as Barbara Streisand have personally contributed the maximum amount, $2300.00 to each of the democratic candidates. But Oprah is more than several celebrities combined. Her show is almost an institution in itself, and as such should take this responsibility seriously.

K.

“…the dead can’t answer slurs, but I’m here.” Anita Brookner 1938-, British novelist & art historian

I learned something new today about a certain ethnic slur. I thought the word I used was innocuous, but it was at it turns out, a slur of some seventy-fives years ago. Now, but almost forgotten, except by a few older woman where I work, who proceeded to scold me for my insensitivity. My familiarity with it goes back to my grandmother to used it, as I thought, to describe the "rag man" who frequented the neighborhood shouting out "rags, paper rags."

My first abrupt introduction to insensitive ethnic slurs when I overheard a white man address several black day maids at a hotel "How is it going girls?" The sharp retort came back, "We ain't girls Jack, we're ladies!" The expression "girl" and "boy" goes back to the days of slavery in the South. It was still used in the years before the Civil Rights Moment in a 1941 song written by Harry Warren and Mack Gordon, and played by Glenn Miller--"Pardon me boy, is that the Chattanooga Choo-Choo?" The "boy" referred to the train porter.

Put the words "pardon me boy " in your search engine and you will still see today the many uses of this expression in advertising, print media etc. Purists may raise their hackles when the word "Roy" is substituted for "boy" but in today's politically correct world it saves a lot of hurt feelings.

Current fashion and political correctness may be responsible for a few other "corrections" such the infrequent use of the word "niggardly" in print and the media, and the discontinued required reading of the book Nigger of the Narcissus by Joseph Conrad.

Some people who teased me about my German heritage have called me a "Kraut" and even "Nazi", but it still hurts. To make it even worse the term nazi is entering the dictionary in such expressions as "ski nazi." But that's the subject for another blog. So until then, behave.

K.