Maybe that’s a question the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette should finally be asking itself. Then again, I have long suspected that Dana D. Kelley’s column has been included on the editorial pages as a sop to those who harbor such feelings, but would like to disguise them somehow. He certainly is the whitest looking columnist they have. Do they Photoshop his picture so it comes out that way before publication?

I’m pretty sure that his his column of last Friday – “No more Spades?” – brought delight to many a pale heart.

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I have written about Comrade Kelley’s columns before, as when I quoted from a 2008 column he wrote:

“For decades now, there’s been a concerted effort among the diversity dogmatists to demonize stereotyping as a sin.

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“It’s wrong to generalize groups, we’ve been told, because general characteristics of a group don’t apply to all specific individuals within it. ‘Stereotyping leads to bigotry !’ has been the cry of the politically correct priesthood.”

And again:

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“Today’s scarlet letter is ‘I,’ with intolerance being the offense for which the PC puritans would love to bring back the pillory. Generations of children have now grown up being taught that people who fail to conform to traditional social norms should, nonetheless, be tolerated..”

But wait! There’s more!

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“Starting in the late 20th century, however, there began a movement to elevate the atrocity of certain politically incorrect infractions, including stereotyping. As long ago as 1988, in a piece about violent crime, The New York Times editorialized that ‘if fear creates victims, so does discrimination.’ It was then, and is now, totally irresponsible to equate the ‘crime’ of prejudice with what Hilton did to Emerson.”

There have been similar offerings from the Kelley Mint since then, but I think he may have reached the top of his game (god, I hope so) with this last column.

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He begins, as he often does, about the evils of political correctness, and how it has gotten the upper hand, as he calls it, on “public candor.”

He writes about the usage of the term “calling a spade a spade,” which means to speak honestly about a subject. Spade is also a shovel, which Kelley didn’t mention.

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Anyway, he makes brief mention of the fact that is was used as an epithet against black Americans. But hey, since they weren’t called spades until around 1928, they don’t own the word. Or, as the Harriet Tubman of the political correctness movement writes:

“At that time the phrase was already 371 years old, having first appeared in English in 1542, which dispels any objections (always possible in these hyper-racial times) that the wording itself demonstrates an ethnic slur.”

Well, okay, then. Nothing to see here, folks. Everybody move along now.

Except, like a bad comedian at Amateur Night at your local comedy club, Kelley sets up his punch line well in advance.

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After giving us this history lesson, he writes about other words which seem to have lost their true meaning because of those damned Political Correctness Vigilantes.

Bum.

Drunk.

Slacker – which comes from a speech by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, which meant those who weren’t living up to their responsibilities to their country in time of war.

But then, like the inept comedian, Kelley changes course, and launches into a diatribe about welfare fraud and waste in the Medicare program.

Because, you see, behind those many trillions of dollars lost are fellow Americans who are dishonest or irresponsible. Kelley says that translates into “ . . . millions of citizens – some of whom are outright cheaters.”

So now Kelley goes for the Big Line that will draw his audience in:

“Even though someone who swindles social programs is actually harming a needy neighbor, few politicians have the gumption to call a spade a spade.”

And there we have it, the one sentence that leaps out of the entire column.

I sometimes have the feeling that Kelley writes one paragraph in particular, and crafts (if that is indeed the word) the rest of the column around that paragraph.

I think this was that one paragraph. Of course, Kelley may protest and say that he wasn’t writing about any group of people of people in particular, but many may suspect that, based on his past columns, he had something specific in mind when he wrote this.

I mean, it’s probably time to throw niceties aside and call a spade a spade where your column is concerned, don’t you, Dana?

Well, I think you’ve made your readers happy once again, Dana.

Try not to keep up the good work.

******

Princella Smith and my international apology tour

I’ve always wanted to go on one of those.

Ms. Princella Smith, the subject of my blog last week, wrote and told me that the ADG were the folks who chose to list her business at the end of her guest column. She had actually listed her work in Washington D.C. and with Newt Gingrich, and was at a loss to understand why they left that out.

She is currently in China, hence my international – but sincere – apology for ragging on her about that.

*****

Boy, Arkansas really dodged a bullet with his guy

Last Thursday the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette featured a guest piece by Fred Ramey, who wrote a piece called “A trophy for all: Didn’t win? Don’t worry!”

Comrade Ramey talks about awards and trophies that one achieves through merit, and then goes on a tirade about the amusement and disgust he has felt watching the Occupy Wall Street Protesters.

It is the final paragraph that Ramey, a former GOP candidate for the U.S. Senate, wrote.

“America is a land that surely loves its trophies. From championship trophies to trophy wives, we love them all . . .”

Trophy wives.

Okay . . .

****

On the Air: Kenneth Wade Aden, candidate for Congress

Kenneth Wade Aden, a Democrat who hopes to be the candidate to challenge Republican Congressman Steve Womack in the Third District, will be my this week.

Among issues discussed will be the environment, a woman’s right to choose, education, veteran’s affairs, our foreign wars and rebuilding America’s infrastructure – just to touch on a few of a few of the topics.

More information about Kenneth Wade Aden can be gotten from his website:

http://aden4arkansas.com/

Show days and times:

Monday – 6am/6pm
Wednesday – 6am/6pm
Friday – 6am/6pm

Fayetteville Public Access Television is shown on Channel 218 of the Cox Channel line-up in Fayetteville, and on Channel 99 of AT&T’s U-Verse, which reaches viewers from Bella Vista to Fort Smith.

***

Quote of the Day

There is always hope when people are forced to listen to both sides. – John Stuart Mill

rsdrake@cox.net

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