Ah, the holidays. A time for tradition, whether gathering around the fire for some Christmas carols and eggnog or filing away your grandfather urinating on the tree under repression or denial. A time when the stress and constant grinding press of Christmas is all too often mistaken for the "magic" of the season. Showing the self-restraint not to dish out a British mobster-style beatdown to the little old lady who just cut you off, for the parking space you weren't even interested in to begin with, does not qualify under "peace on earth and goodwill toward men (or little old ladies). That goes 365 days a year, not just when we start singing carols about it.
The holidays are also a good time for the sappy announcement. This is only amped up each year by the steady stream of commercials for jewelry chain stores and the asinine made-for-TV "entertainment". You have your standard holiday engagement announcement (the less on that the better), the always popular impending child announcement (we all know the turkey doesn't always put people to sleep...), and so on and so forth. Notice how you never see the TV ads where somebody comes out of the closet, or waits until everyone pops that first bite of Christmas dinner into their mouths before announcing the divorce?
And I suppose, on top of all the other hot mess, the holiday season is a time for contemplation, whether it be how to deliver (or break) the news, or whether or not you are going to test the airbags out on that little old lady's Cadillac DTS. An in a telling sign of the times, you can pretty much contemplate how you want the apple of your eye to shine on down the road, catalog shopping for that custom-made kid that seems to be in vogue somehow, to people as much money as hope, or arrogance. Then, of course, you knew once we started gaining little bits and pieces here and there of the ability to play God, the idiots were going to wander onto the field start demanding stupid new rules along the way.
The Human Tissue and Embryo Bill, currently in Britain's House of Lords, would bar parents undergoing embryo screening from picking one with an abnormality if a healthy embryo existed. You know how it is. The coffee you drink may be hot, the cutlery set you just received may be sharp, and the cruise control in that car in the driveway, the one with the bow on it? Yeah, it will not drive the car for you. So, it hardly comes as a surprise that somewhere, somehow, someone should have to be told, as a matter of law, that they cannot purposely select a child to be born with a disability. That's where the government comes in, and then...
...here come the protests. No matter how oblivious or disconnected from reality one would have to be to argue this point, bless them , they are out there. Jackie Ballard, a former director-general of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and MP, said deaf parents should be allowed to screen their embryos, so they could pick a deaf child if they wanted to.
Well, that just about the dumbest argument I have ever heard. Pun intended. Ballard, now the chief executive of the Royal Institute for Deaf and Hard of Hearing People, or (mercifully) RNID, thinks the slim number of deaf parents who may want a child that is deaf as well should have the right, because being deaf is a cultural identity. WTF? Being deaf is a disability. If you can rise above it and live a productive and/or meaningful existence, more power to you, and damn well so. Declaring it a cultural identity just opens it up to the overwrought political correctness that too many times diminishes an issue just by its mere mention. Ballard's stance is that "we should not destroy that cultural identity by preventing children from being born deaf. Britain has seemed to achieve an odd parallel to the United States. Someone who was in charge of animal rights thinking humans should be purposely allowed to be born deaf makes as much sense as putting a thoroughbred sports exec in charge of disaster management. And it is roundly impossible to say, or even think at this point, that Ballard is doing a heckuva job.
As cockamamie as Ballard sounds, if you can believe it, there are others who fall into her puzzling line of logic. Several organizations are collaborating to force changes to the bill to allow parents to pick abnormal embryos, including the British Deaf Association. The stance taken by the organizations is that the bill is discriminatory, as it prevents a couple from selecting a baby with a disability on purpose, and rightfully so. Amazingly enough, no one seems to mention how discriminatory it is for the newborn to get dealt something like a disability, and from the people who purport to love and know what's best best for the kid. after, they took the painstaking lengths to bring the kid into the world, didn't they?
Ballard's last bit of erstwhile wisdom came in the form of "we would like to retain, as far as possible, parental choice, but it has to be in conjunction with a clinician so that people know exactly what they are choosing." That's the problem even a former MP should be able to spot. Just because people know exactly what they are choosing, regardless of the context or situation, it does not necessarily make that choice right, ethical, decent, or legal.
I would go on, but I'm afraid to say it may be falling on deaf ears. Again, pun intended. Good thing this is typed, so I don't have to yell.
12.07.2007
Gives a whole new definition to getting the shaft
With the oppressive, vice-like grip of the holiday season firmly around our wallets, as well as other vital parts of our anatomy, I figured it was only a matter of time before some fairly ludicrous stories involving air travel came to light. Not that it isn't already fairly ludicrous that you have to do everything short of turning your head and coughing before boarding (give them time), but you know you were braced for some horror story involving delays boarding on residency on the runways or the usual bakers' dozen each year where some poor unfortunate's "personal massager" takes on a mind of its own, forcing some cool, if ultimately embarrassing bomb squad action. I'd like to think this story falls somewhere in the grey area.
Alaska Airlines, along with Horizon Air, have a new discount program for certain flights during the holiday season, but under the condition the ticket buyer visits a special page on the airline's website, geared for the homosexual traveler. Not a giant deal in my way of thinking, given discounts regularly given to elderly customers, children, or club members for a variety of services, not limited to or including air travel. Not so fast. Of course, family values had to pitch a fit somewhere, after all, the homosexual is involved, so naturally, some "values" group is in hot pursuit, no pun intended.
Bryan Fischer, with the Idaho Values Alliance, is steamed under his probably starched collar over the discount program, calling it discriminating against heterosexuals. Yeah, I hear ya, pal. Us straight people don't get any breaks. Fischer went on to mention preferences given to gays over married couples and concessions such as allowing male passengers to dress cross-gender on flights. Calling up the somewhat meaningless statistic that more families buy tickets than individuals or traveling pairs, Fischer goes on to say that "it just doesn't seem like it's smart business for them to stick their thumb in the eye of the main passengers." That does not come down to pleasing demographics, it comes down to misguided belief on the part of Mr. Fischer. If the airlines had one tiny iota of business sense in their possession, then the industry would not have benefited from previous government bailouts. They are in the business to sell tickets, and if that entails discounts here and there, then that's what we like to call free enterprise.
As Fischer delved deep (again, no pun intended) into the apparently illicit world of gay air travel, he spoke with a reservation clerk, who was unaware of the discount program, but did say the discount was available through the specified page on the website. Wait, huh? How can you be unaware of something's existence, but tell you exactly where to find it? This clerk would have had, or indeed could still have, a bright future in politics. Shame the Bush White House didn't find this guy earlier.
Fischer's problem, as it appears, is not so much having to say you are gay, lesbian, or otherwise to nab ten percent off your airfare, but that you pretty much have to be gay, otherwise you would not logically find this page on your own. Can't say that isn't at least a valid point, but then again, a bargain is a bargain, and there will be those who will find and take advantage of a bargain, by hook, crook, or sexual preference and Internet savvy.
For all of Fischer's indignation at someone, somewhere, getting a better price on air travel then he is able (or willing) to get, his argument leads me to wonder if, at any time, Fischer ever parked in the handicapped space, you know, "just to run in here real quick." You need nerves of steel, or at least a strong stomach and the patience of saints long ago departed to handle air travel in America in 2007. If a male passenger wants to undertake this adventure in a dress, then not only does he deserve a little credit, but maybe a hug, as well. If American soldiers escorting the body of a fallen fellow soldier home can be forced to strip down to t-shirts and boxers (no word if the TSA made the corpse strip), , then the circus of the absurd surely has a little room left for a couple of cross-dressers. If Fischer wants to harness his indignation, then he should try to find out how many heterosexuals have went alternative lifestyle in order to save a couple of bucks.
Maybe someday, although probably not soon, Fischer will learn that, holiday season, sexual preference, or whatever else is thrown into the mix, the only real value that will prevail in the end is the value that helps out the wallet.
Alaska Airlines, along with Horizon Air, have a new discount program for certain flights during the holiday season, but under the condition the ticket buyer visits a special page on the airline's website, geared for the homosexual traveler. Not a giant deal in my way of thinking, given discounts regularly given to elderly customers, children, or club members for a variety of services, not limited to or including air travel. Not so fast. Of course, family values had to pitch a fit somewhere, after all, the homosexual is involved, so naturally, some "values" group is in hot pursuit, no pun intended.
Bryan Fischer, with the Idaho Values Alliance, is steamed under his probably starched collar over the discount program, calling it discriminating against heterosexuals. Yeah, I hear ya, pal. Us straight people don't get any breaks. Fischer went on to mention preferences given to gays over married couples and concessions such as allowing male passengers to dress cross-gender on flights. Calling up the somewhat meaningless statistic that more families buy tickets than individuals or traveling pairs, Fischer goes on to say that "it just doesn't seem like it's smart business for them to stick their thumb in the eye of the main passengers." That does not come down to pleasing demographics, it comes down to misguided belief on the part of Mr. Fischer. If the airlines had one tiny iota of business sense in their possession, then the industry would not have benefited from previous government bailouts. They are in the business to sell tickets, and if that entails discounts here and there, then that's what we like to call free enterprise.
As Fischer delved deep (again, no pun intended) into the apparently illicit world of gay air travel, he spoke with a reservation clerk, who was unaware of the discount program, but did say the discount was available through the specified page on the website. Wait, huh? How can you be unaware of something's existence, but tell you exactly where to find it? This clerk would have had, or indeed could still have, a bright future in politics. Shame the Bush White House didn't find this guy earlier.
Fischer's problem, as it appears, is not so much having to say you are gay, lesbian, or otherwise to nab ten percent off your airfare, but that you pretty much have to be gay, otherwise you would not logically find this page on your own. Can't say that isn't at least a valid point, but then again, a bargain is a bargain, and there will be those who will find and take advantage of a bargain, by hook, crook, or sexual preference and Internet savvy.
For all of Fischer's indignation at someone, somewhere, getting a better price on air travel then he is able (or willing) to get, his argument leads me to wonder if, at any time, Fischer ever parked in the handicapped space, you know, "just to run in here real quick." You need nerves of steel, or at least a strong stomach and the patience of saints long ago departed to handle air travel in America in 2007. If a male passenger wants to undertake this adventure in a dress, then not only does he deserve a little credit, but maybe a hug, as well. If American soldiers escorting the body of a fallen fellow soldier home can be forced to strip down to t-shirts and boxers (no word if the TSA made the corpse strip), , then the circus of the absurd surely has a little room left for a couple of cross-dressers. If Fischer wants to harness his indignation, then he should try to find out how many heterosexuals have went alternative lifestyle in order to save a couple of bucks.
Maybe someday, although probably not soon, Fischer will learn that, holiday season, sexual preference, or whatever else is thrown into the mix, the only real value that will prevail in the end is the value that helps out the wallet.
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