My first hate mail, from "Growing Pains" to being a pain and loving our weather.

Late last Friday, I posted a status update on Facebook that read as follows: 

“Listening to intelligent U.S. political "talking heads" try to justify Rush Limbaugh publicly calling a young university student a slut because of a stand she has taken on contraception makes me that much happier that I live in Canada.”

Little did I know that this one sentence statement would result in me receiving two nasty private messages from Facebook “friends” of mine admonishing me for my “stance on contraception”.  I’m not even going to address these two individuals except to say that if you take the time to read my status carefully, it really has nothing to do with me taking a stance on contraception.

My issue with Rush Limbaugh in this case is that he used his bully pulpit to insult and make personal attacks on a young lady simply because he does not agree with her on the issue of contraceptives being covered through health care benefits.  He called her a slut, a prostitute and then said that her parents should be embarrassed of her.  Well, it’s a good thing that I am not that young lady’s father because I would have paid a visit to Mr. Limbaugh’s studio and tried to shove his microphone somewhere rather uncomfortable.  Thankfully, several companies have pulled out as advertisers of Limbaugh’s show since he made these comments and I hope that they will not return despite his feeble, half-hearted attempts at apologizing to the young lady.

What was even more disturbing was watching a number of individuals of influence, specifically supporters of the Republican Party (…Limbaugh is a big supporter), go out of their way in an attempt not to justify what Limbaugh said but to deflect away from his comments.  It was political spin at its worst as highly ranked officials shied away from calling out a vocal and influential supporter of their party. 

The bottom line is that if anyone had made a similar comment on national radio in Canada there would have been an uproar; and I’m next to certain that the comments would have been taken to task by individuals of all political stripes.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

·    So Kirk Cameron, whom none of us have heard from since he left Growing Pains almost 20 years ago, appears on CNN last week and tells the interviewer that he believes that being gay is “unnatural” and that it is “…detrimental, and ultimately destructive to so many of the foundations of a civilization.” One, who cares what Kirk Cameron says anyway and two, why the hell would a station like CNN interview a has-been actor in primetime on national television to ask him his thoughts on homosexuality.  It reeks of a station that knew Cameron would say something controversial and took advantage of it to get additional publicity.

·    I have to laugh when I hear snooty music insiders scoff at Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, etc and complain that they cannot sing or that they are not real artists.  The funny part is that many of the music industry’s most influential producers have worked with Bieber, not because they hope that he will then follow them on Twitter but simply because they feel he is talented.  As for Taylor Swift, even Rolling Stone Magazine has written that the only reason why she is not widely recognized as a brilliant songwriter is because critics can’t get over the fact that her main target audience consists of 12 year old girls.  I’ll be the first to agree that Ms Swift has an average voice at best and neither of these two young artists will ever be confused for Lennon/McCartney in their songwriting efforts, but in the meantime they are both laughing all the way to the bank while, “…all the critics are ever going to be is mean”.  (Ouch…can’t believe I just quoted a Taylor Swift lyric in my blog)

·    I’ve always been of the opinion that in the limited amount of time that I have on this earth, I will do what I can to make sure that I see as much of our planet as possible.  That is why I am always perplexed when I hear friends of mine say that they are planning on returning to that same beach in Jamaica or Cuba for the 7^th straight year.  I’ve been on beach vacations before but I’d rather spend my hard earned money on seeing the world that I live in than catch up with Lupé the bartender at a resort in Punta Cana who has been serving me drinks every winter since Jean Chretien was Prime Minister.  Some will say that they want to go to the beach to relax.  Honestly, I have never been more relaxed than I was when looking out at the mountains in the different Himalayan villages we visited and there was not a beach to be seen for a thousand miles.  To each their own, but I feel it is such a waste not to see and experience our world while we are here.

·   I always find it interesting that gas prices often go up 4 or 5 cents/litre at a time but when gas companies lower prices they only do it one cent/litre at a time.

·   Is it only me or are most of the singing competitions on TV incredibly overrated when it comes to creating stars. To the best of my knowledge, the only winners of these competitions that have made it big are Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson.  I’m not saying that the others have failed in their careers but I think it is fair to say that their success has not been what one would have expected after winning a contest in which millions of people vote on a weekly basis.  Remember that neither Jennifer Hudson nor Chris Daughtry won American Idol.

·    I hate our winter but I will admit that I am thankful for the cold every single time I am watching TV and see reports on the tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes and other disasters that have an impact on different parts of the world.