Here are some recent posts from other blogs which have caught my eye. Gee, judging from my comments below, I think I'm in a bad mood. 
11 year old dies as parents watch
from Dwayne at Just Me
I'm all for freedom of religion, and if you want to be stupid and refuse medical treatment for yourself on religious grounds, knock yourself out. But how dare anyone make such a choice for a child? Who's to say that this child would have chosen the same beliefs when she was old enough to make the decision for herself? We'll never know, now, because her parents made a choice for her that they had no right to make, and now she's dead. There's a special place in hell - and in prison - for these parents.
The Dumb Leading the Blind
from Randy at This Is True
This is an old piece, originally run at the bottom of the e-mail newsletter, but recently archived on the blog. It involves a complaint Randy received regarding a blind joke he used as a tagline on one of his stories. The person who wrote in thought the joke was mean and unfair. The whole thing reminded me of a very similar incident on a newsgroup several years ago, in which someone came to my "defense", even having the audacity to say that although I might have posted "LOL" in response to the joke, he just knew I was sitting at home bawling my eyes out. News flash to all those who step in and "defend" the disabled without being asked: We can speak for ourselves. How is my disability any different from the color of my hair, the size of my butt nose, all of the things that are perfectly okay to joke about? That you put the disability in a separate category like that instead of in with the rest of the physical characteristics that make us all unique, that is what's insulting.
What could I possibly add to this?
from Rob at Fighting Monsters with Rubber Swords
An... er, "intelligent" looking woman holds a protest sign demanding, "Make English America's offical language" (sic). Well first of all, lady, there is no country called "America". America would include two continents, one of which contains a great many countries which would take exception to this demand. Second, if we did make English our official language, would we get to deport all of the native speakers who can't get the language right?
Sometimes I get it right, and other times not so much.
from Rob at Fighting Monsters with Rubber Swords
I didn't even realize I'd tagged two entries in a row from Rob's blog this time around. It seems for every "valiant defender of the helpless" as described above, there is someone like the woman Rob describes here. Someone who is so ignorant and devoid of compassion, the response Rob came up with is the only one they're worthy of.
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