Monday Thoughts

I agree that the nickname "Redskins" is offensive.  People can argue that it isn't, "But we don't mean it that way," but the fact remains that, historically, it's an offensive term.  Now whether or not government should step in and remove trademark protections is a far different matter.  First, by doing so, the federal government has made access to this "offensive" term/mascot even greater.  Second, this is not the business of government, to tell people what is and what isn't offensive.  People are able to do that for themselves.  The way to combat this is to boycott, to avoid, to shun.  And, for that matter, if it is so offensive, how about players from that team refusing to play or opponents refusing to play against such a named team?  It harkens back to the NBA owner, so many players offended by their owner's words, but not so offended to give up money to protest.

I haven't read the column George Will wrote that purportedly says coeds on campuses have used claims of "rape" as status symbols--or something like that.  I am not even sure he suggested that, although many of the protesters have said as much.  That's not my point here.  My point is there are far more people up in a dither over Will's column--and he may not even have written what others claim, I confess ignorance--than Bill Clinton's behavior toward women, lots of them.  Clinton is still the darling of the Democrats, the Left, the Media, women's groups even.

In reading the novels of Vince Flynn, Brad Thor, Robert Crais, Lee Child, et al, I wonder if there are really guys out there like Mitch Rapp, Scot Harvath, Joe Pike, Dewey Andreas, and Jack Reacher.  I know there are bad guys out there, like those depicted in the books.  But are these good guys also doing things we will never know about?  Are they just creations of these authors?  But there is so much that seems factual, with training, weapons, etc., I still wonder.

What a mess in Iraq?  We not only seem to have wasted the lives of several thousand good Americans, but also billions and billions of dollars.  Recent audits show that maybe as much as 25% of the money we sent there is unaccounted and an even greater percentage has been wasted.  I guess that's what happens when those in government are allowed to freely spend other people's money.

BTW, can anyone keep a straight face when seeing John Kerry?  I think back to his Presidential campaign and his "gravitas" gambit.  He had it, it was implied, while his opponent W Bush didn't.  Looking at Kerry, I think the implications were way off the mark.