Well, I do try. Thanks for the kudos.

BTW, I have an upcoming post about you, actually. Be on the lookout.

Oh and one other thing.

I will again point out that nowhere in my original response to your article on FARK did I make any disparaging jokes about actual retarded people. I do believe I even went so far as to make the point that they are focused thinkers. Of course, you keep skipping over that as well.

Oh Duff. Your continued venting on this is most amusing. Since you obviously are reading my blog, it's just as obvious that you don't understand anything about me and, frankly, that's fine.

Please do post this on FARK. I don't care if 300 people call me out for possibly having Tourette's or not. In fact, I regularly joked about it with my wife, kids, friends, family, etc.

You see, Duff, you keep missing the point. You're attempting to turn this into an attack on mental retardation. The reality is, I continually point out that you didn't care at all about this until it personally affected you. Let me call that part out and make sure you see it...

You didn't care about this until it PERSONALLY AFFECTED you.

And now, suddenly, you're a crusader wanting to turn "retard" into hate speech. What I find most interesting is that, in both your email to me and this comment, you've never once addressed that point. Instead, you just keep trying to vilify me and think you're going to find some sort of statement that I'm going to go "oh no, please don't do that."

By the way, I'd like to congratulate you for moving on up from email to a more public forum. I eagerly await your next move... although I'm reasonably I can predict that it's more of you avoiding the two points I've been making all along:

1) you didn't care about this until it personally affected you
2) you've been guilty of using this word int he past and now "champion" this cause as a means to soothe your own inner guilt about the whole thing

Have a good Friday and a great weekend!

It's a peril of being altruistic unfortunately. It means I pretty much have put myself into a position where some things are absolutely black and white, with no discernible gray. The thing is, I do believe the Phelps' freedom of speech is absolute because they pretty much limit themselves to public property. The notion of "you can't yell fire in a crowded theater" doesn't apply since, again, they do it on public land. It's annoying, but it's also the price that is paid to ensure everyone has the same freedoms. The only real way around this is to somehow make this a states' rights issue and that sets a VERY worrisome precedent

Honestly, it wouldn't have much of an effect on me. I have this somewhat odd detachment from death and I see it as a natural part of the life cycle. I rarely ever mourn a loss, instead I choose to celebrate the person's life. My entire family is like that. Wakes are full of laughter and fond memories. That's just my personal take on it. People grieve differently and that difference absolutely has to be respected. So while I feel that the FRs and PGs don't help the root of the issue, they DO provide a very valuable service. Additionally, they have Constitutionally-protected freedoms to do what they do and I would much rather they did what they do, as opposed to not.