Spaw - your supply is hardly "a beauty". In fact, it would be no exaggeration to say that it resembles a wilted, month-old zuchinni suspended between two green chokecherries. At least, that's what I heard from one of your exgirlfriends...you know, the one with the braided armpits and the mohawk? :-))))

It is indeed extraordinary that Native Americans (American Indians...aboriginals...whatever...you know who I mean) would object to sports teams using names associated with American Indians. After all, the reason the sports team is using the name is precisely because those American Indians are seen as brave, resourceful, fast, effective, and so on. So why would it be seen as pejorative in some way? Suppose a team is called "the Pirates" or "the Buccaneers" or "the Crusaders" or "the Knights". Is this pejorative or insulting to pirates and knights? No, it isn't. One wonders whether some lawyer could convince the knights and pirates to take legal action against such a name, if there were a sizable minority of knights and pirates present in society these days? Well, I wouldn't be surprised if that happened. Silly? Damn right it's silly!

I love American Indian values, and I see absolutely no harm in calling a team "the Indians", the "Redskins" or whatever. If someone does see harm in it, he's got either way too much time on his hands, or he's got a very large chip on his shoulder. That's the way it seems to me.

If you want brotherhood, try spreading some by your own good will first, instead of nitpicking on everybody else for every little cultural thing that doesn't match your idea of a perfect world. Little Hawk has spoken. (to use a typical Indian style remark...it used to be, anyway).

The point is, what is the real motivation behind naming a team the Redskins? The motivation is to show that the team is pugnacious, tough, and a good team. If the motivation is not harmfully intended, then what is the problem?

If I hold a door open for someone, it is not condescension, it's normal courtesy. I hold doors open for anyone whatsoever...even Spaw. (couldn't resist that!)

I had a black girlfriend for awhile. Excellent girl. One day we got in a big debate about the word "black". You're not "black", I said, you're coffee-coloured...like coffee with cream in it...so what's all this about black? (I was kind of kidding around at the time). Well, we got into quite a debate about that! Then I pointed out that I am not "white". Not even slightly! I'm a sort of pink, with overtones and undertones of a variety of other colours (talk to a good portrait painter about that)...but I am NOT WHITE!

We've both been described in a completely false way by these words, I told her...so why don't we just dump the whole thing and be human instead...I'm a pink human and you're a brown human. She started to laugh at that point, thankfully.

The only thing that matters is: what are your actual intentions?...not what words you use.

Of course, a lazy mind would rather just deal with the bare words than go to all the trouble of digging deeper and figuring out what somebody else is actually trying to say.

And thus, we get extraordinary books like Huckleberry Finn censored and banned by people who can't bother to think or look beyond the end of their own prejudice.

I also find it intriguing that certain liberals will accuse conservatives of being bigots for challenging some political correctness...and certain conservatives will accuse liberals of being bigots for precisely the same reason!!! They both accuse the other of the same nefarious intentions in regard to this issue. In so doing they reveal only their own bigotry toward the other group.

Now, that's funny.

A plague on both their houses, I say! There are bigots on both the right and the left in every society...and bigots are most enamoured of political correctness...as long as it slants in the direction that happens to suit their particular set of prejudices. It's the very opposite of the credo "Live and let Live". Red China, for example, is a bastion of political correctness of the most extreme sort, and always has been. There, they shoot you for violating their notions of political correctness. As they do in most dictatorships.

A "traveller", as far as I know, is someone enroute to a destination.

Oh, by the way, I find any number of things offensive. Baseball caps on backwards, TV's in restaurants, loud drunks, aggressive people, Spaw's lack of underwear, the word "Nu-cu-lar", aggressive proselatizers of various fundamentalist faiths, aggressive atheists, some lawyers, some bankers, some politicians, boom cars, jetskis, loud motorboats, snowmobiles, O.J.Simpson, Bart Simpson, Jesse Helms, and on, and on, and on...

My reaction to that is...to instead concentrate MOST of my time and attention on things I like, people I like, work I like, and situations I like. I'm gonna go and do that right now. If ya don't like it, write a letter to Ann Landers or something. Bye, bye...

Live and let Live.