Readers write

Walt's been hors de combat for a couple of days, so was delighted to find a couple of comments waiting to be moderated.

Gisela Corinne von Boetticher left a comment on "Dr. Laura learns a lesson in PC":

I found your site, while trying to delineate between the hijab and burka.

Thanks! I think you're funny/honest/insightful. You remind me of an old, brilliant (libertarian) economics professor I once had in the States. He never won any elections, unfortunately. :)

Gosh, Gisela Corrine, you're making old Walt blush. And you hit the nail on the head as regards my political philosophy, to the extent that I have one. I never won any elections either because I had the disconcerting habit of saying what I truly thought.

Anonymous posted a comment on "Help Kids Canada - a scam or only half a scam?":

Guess I wasn't the only one who was scammed! Never wanting to assume a kid would lie about raising money to help someone out I doled out $5 for the half empty box of chocolate covered nuts -- $4 but I said keep the change.

Deep down I was suspicious and thought this may be another charity where the "executive" on top is taking home a 6 figure income. As the girl and her friend continued down the street asking other neighbours I did see a "white" van come shortly after to pick up the girls. I did catch the name of the charity so I could check online if it was a scam or not ....and I guess I should have gone with my instincts!!!

Yep, they're still out there. In my neighbourhood they've been positioning scruffy-looking waifs outside of banks and supermarkets. Maybe going door to door doesn't work any more.

Agent 3 refers me to Ignore the Door, from which you can get big red signs to hang or stick on your front door telling canvassers to bugger off. (Well, the one I got says "At this house we ignore the door!") Maybe they'll keep the JWs and scruffy kids and energy bullies away. Worth a try.

Your comments and feedback are always welcome. Use the comments feature here or e-mail walt.whiteman@yahoo.com.

Dr. Laura learns a lesson in PC

"Some of my best friends are n______", says Dr. Laura

The forces of Goodness and Political Correctness have won again. Dr. Laura Schlessinger's 30-year career in talk radio is ending in December, all because she used the Forbidden Word on the air recently.

Forbidden word? Wat dat? We're talking about a word even worse than the F-word -- everyone uses that now -- and the C-word, used occasionally (even in print) in Britain. We are talking about a word which is so powerful, so offensive, so evil, that it can't be said and can't be printed, even in quotes...unless you're black. Then it's OK.

I refer, of course, to the dreaded "N-word", now referred to obliquely as "a racial slur". Only people of colour can say that, in an affectionate way, about each other. I remember a line near the end of Blazing Saddles in which one character calls the black hero "Yo shifty niggah!"

We should have seen this coming. I also remember dialogue from M*A*S*H (the movie, not the TV show) in which a black football player says to his teammate, "He [a white guy] called me a nigger!"
His buddy says, "Well, you call him one right back!"
"Call him a nigger?!"
"Noooo... say something bad to him."
(I'm quoting from memory. Please don't e-mail me if I don't have it down pat.)

The point is, white folks can't talk about black folks like that. The word has become unspeakable, literally. And the First Amendment be damned. So watch yo mouf, honky!