Shell, I could not disagree more. I think it is the conservatives (usually in the form of Republicans) and religious groups who are out there petitioning and doing all the heavy lobbying to influence people to live the lifestyle *they* think is right, in the eyes of (their) God. ALL political groups have their major faults — that’s why I am Independent — but it’s these groups who want to ban certain books, art work, lifestyles, religions, etc. even if they have to lie to get their way (ex. President Obama is a Muslim and the NYC Mosque is being built at Ground Zero — both lies). But I don’t want to get too political on one side…

…Because I think both groups are at fault for not putting responsibility where it should be — with individuals. And with kids, the parents. When my child comes to me and asks for a can of pop at 8:00 PM on a school night, the answer is, “No. It’s too late.” When I get a negative note from the teacher about my child, I handle it. I don’t blame the teacher; I straighten out my child, if necessary. If I see them eat too much candy, I put a stop to it. I don’t need a law or a child services worker, many without children, coming into my home telling me how to raise my kids. Or a group telling me what’s right & wrong *in their opinion*. Or laws being passed to help me live correctly because too many of the masses have no common sense. Last year, I asked my daughter’s gym teacher if they still play dodge ball. He said no because kids can get hurt. They don’t keep score in games either because they don’t want kids feeling bad when they lose…. WHA?!? How sad is that? I think the decision makers are the kids who got pounded in school sports that grew up to get their revenge!!!

We as a society have gone overboard and are making a generation of wimps with no decision making skills. Either a law will be passed to make our decisions for us, or some smug group will lobby hard enough to make a company make changes, all for the ‘betterment of society.’ Like removing toys from Happy Meals.

Now, I am going out to have a smoke with my expensive, legal, but deadly to myself and others, cancer stick. :^P (joking! I don’t smoke!)

Yup still got em

despite complaining about political correctness, can one stand up in favor of free speech and expression…and do it consistently?

As Tears for Fears sang in 1985 “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”, and more people than not want to tell people how to run their lives; welcome to humanity.

Can these bad ideas be defeated before they become law? Do we humans have the understanding of what is and isn’t moral to defeat these stupid ideas, or are we just gonna make jokes about them, only to drop to our knees and fail to defend what we claim to believe in?

Cause so far….history has shown us to do the latter more often, not the former.

Just remember this old saying: “the price of freedom is eternal vigilance”. Well, I have yet to see humans at any point in history showing any of the latter.

and if you say “they’re too afraid of the feds coming down on them”. And why would that be? Who elected those very feds to begin with? Answer: we did. So obviously, those people represent us. We have to look at our own society, and see if our own ideas are bad or good, and why they are either bad or good, rather than just complaining about them.

It’s that simple.

For what it’s worth, your hard work has made at least one customer REALLY happy. The figures were everything I hoped for and finding them at TRU for such a great price was even more than I’d hoped for. Thank You.

I agree with everything you said. I was doing some research lately in a fit of nostalgia and discovered that one of my favorite childhood toys, the Ghostblasters that were a promotional item at Hardee’s for Ghostbusters 2, are actually somewhat hard to find today. Apparently they were recalled soon after their initial release because kids were swallowing the batteries like so much shiny metal candy.

It seems both tragic and ironic that at the same time so many properties from the 80′s are seeing a resurgence, so too is the hysteria towards awesome products that seemed so prevalent in those times. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to go watch my old copy of “Mazes and Monsters”.

Jason, I do agree with you. People worry too much and they do overprotect too much. It’s pathetic, and I’ve been personally affected by it more than once. It’s freakish.