WARNING: Performing The Song "Kung Fu Fighting" May Be A Hate Crime

Western civilization’s ever increasing self loathing as evidenced by the rise of political correctness over the last twenty years struck one of its lowest points this past weekend in the Isle of Wight, the United Kingdom with the arrest of singer Simon Ledger for publicly performing the 1974 Carl Douglas #1 hit song “Kung Fu Fighting”. To the reasonable and sane it boggles the mind how a performance of any top 40 song could lead to an arrest, but apparently Mr. Ledger had the misfortune of performing this crowd favorite as two people of Chinese origin were walking by, and of course how else could this performance be construed but as a form of racial abuse. Having been faced with this supposedly racially motivated musical assault a complaint was filed with the police and Mr. Ledger and his offensive voice were promptly arrested that very evening. No doubt the racial and ethnic minority communities of the United Kingdom gave a collective sigh of relief to know that this dangerous vocalist and his vitriolic lyrics were placed behind bars even if only until he made bail.


Friends in case you have not said it already, allow me to say it for you: WTF?!

In my short lifetime I have witnessed the Western World devolve from a people proud of our collective contributions to humanity over the last two thousand years to a people raised instead to focus on every real or imagined sin committed by our ancestors. So ashamed are we now supposed to be that we can only make amends by groveling at the feet of the rest of the world and loudly crying “mea culpa”; the results are not surprising. The West no longer commands the respect of the world and has invited instead the disdain and hostility of peoples who once aspired to either live among us or bring the best we had to offer to their own people. It is a sad truth about humanity that if you give an inch people will take a mile. Now that we shun the hard earned laurels of our ancestors is it any surprise that there are those people who wish to press the advantage and overtake us?

Simon Ledger’s arrest, though simultaneously comical and sad, is a warning signal. It is, as he himself said, “political correctness gone potty”, but the fact is that political correctness has always been only worthy of the toilet. It is one thing to be sensitive to the feelings of people and quite another to encourage people to be oversensitive to the point where they seek out personal slights. As Americans we most likely laugh at this incident confident that it could never happen here, but are we not seeing variations of that every day in the media? In a time and place where just the act of dissenting with President Obama can earn one the label of racist are we perhaps not even more far gone than what happened to Simon Ledger? Before anyone in this country thinks with smug certainness “that could never happen here” I would suggest it already is.

Donald Trump: Big, Brass Teflon Coated Balls

For those who wonder what the clanging sound coming from New Hampshire was today, it was the sound of Donald Trump’s humungous brass balls.

When confronted by a derisive and hostile press with the news that Barack Obama had finally released his birth certificate “The Donald”, rather than be embarrassed or admit any kind of defeat confounded the Obama-mania media by holding his head high and declaring “Today I am very proud of myself because I have accomplished something that nobody else has been able to accomplish”. The man with his name on everything went on further to say how honored he was “to have played such a big role in hopefully, hopefully, getting rid of this issue. Now, we have to look at it, we have to see, is it real”.  As they say, now that's balls!

Anyone else in politics , and I do mean virtually anyone else, would have been dealt a major, humiliating defeat today. After trumpeting the “birther” issue for weeks Donald Trump was supposed to have been dealt a major smack down today and yet rather then come away tarnished those big brass ones are shinier than ever. 

One must marvel, even admire the audacity and cool under fire that Mr. Trump demonstrated today. To take what should have been a losing moment and so brashly turn it into a win is absolutely remarkable.   Certainly it is not so unexpected to have heard him say the issue has hopefully been put to rest, but to take credit for it and beat his chest in pride, that is unexpected to say the least. (Considering that people, starting with the Clinton Campaign in 2008, have been raising questions about Obama's birth certificate Trump may very well be justified in taking credit today.) 

As the public digests these new sound bites two major camps most likely will arise: those who find it amusing and those skeptics who are now given pause to consider what kind of steady, steel nerves this man must have. More than that it boldly declares that he is not a lifelong politician and as such refuses to play by the established rules of politics.  In today's cynical, disenchanted political environment that alone could win him thousands of votes.  Whatever the case Mr. Trump's audacity certainly gives his supporters hope that he is a serious contender for the 2012 Republican nomination and it most likely gives the White House pause as they consider how to confront him next.

Still there is a very serious side to all this as one cannot help but wonder about the timing of today’s announcement from the White House. Was it purely an attempt to put Trump in his place or was it an attempt to dominate the headlines and thereby crowding out the first ever press conference held by a Federal Reserve Chairman (Ben Bernanke). If the answer is the former the White House lost; if it is the latter it is a victory for the floundering administration. If you can keep all eyes off the rising water on the sinking ship the captain may very well get people to book a second cruise.