No matter the side of the aisle you fight from, you’d do yourself a real disservice not to read this piece from Rick.

This morning, the New York Times notes that four — count ‘em, four — major networks have refused advertising to Americans who wish to speak about the issue of medical malpractice suits. These networks are NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox.

I realize that I’m a voice crying in the wilderness here. Too many Americans, sadly, really do not care. I’m not sure if it’s because they don’t understand what this means, or what. But this isn’t the first time this has happened. And it’s something that should be of concern to every American, regardless of political viewpoint. We should be flooding our congressional representatives with letters, phone calls, post cards and other methods of protesting this action. And I call on every blogger to take up this issue no matter your politics because, again, it should concern all Americans.

Why? Because anyone can tell a good story if there’s no opposing point of view allowed. How many times have you — you personally, reader — heard something and, because you believed it, thought something like “That’s terrible!” or “That’s great news!” only to find out later that there was something you had not been told. How many times has learning that new thing changed your mind?

Have you ever been mad at someone because of something they did or didn’t do, only to feel badly when you learned the whole story as to why they didn’t?

There can be no limits on freedom, nor on debate.

As my W-2 from a previous employer had still not arrived, I called up the last store I managed for.

I called Christina, my old boss, but she wasn’t home, so I called the store. Julie, who had been the AM (and demoted herself to driver) answered. Quick conversation – nope, neither she nor her husband (he’s a GM) had recieved their W-2s. She thought we had until the 15th of February to get them, but I thought employers had to have them to us by the end of January. Maybe they just have to be in the mail by the end of the month.

About fifteen minutes ago, Christina got home, saw my number on her caller ID, and rang me up. Nope, she hadn’t gotten her W-2 either. She told me she had good news and she had funny news. She lied, as her funny news was the good news. Anyway, her good news was that she’d gotten engaged to her boyfriend Mike. Yay! So what was the funny news?

First, a little background. I worked for this company for four odd years, mostly as a driver. I started as a driver for them at the Cockeysville location, under the management of an asshat named Dwayne who used his position to abuse and take advantage of his employees. There was the ‘in’ circle, and beware if you ever fall from his grace — he’d cut your hours, screw you on routing, and do whatever he could to make your working life miserable. He’d been with the company for several years already by this point and was of the attitude that he could do no evil. Complaints to upper management went unanswered, and eventually, most of us did the only thing we could – we quit, we transfered, we got the hell out of there.

Working at that store, actually, was how I met both Mike and Christina, but that’s another story.

And that sucked, quitting the store, I mean, because the Cockeysville store was busy as hell and you could make good money. So the question became, was the money we could make worth the aggravation of Dwayne? The answer more and more clearly could be expressed in one word: “Hellzno!”

I don’t think I could ever quite explain the depths of my hatred for this man. Sometimes I remember back to the days when he and I would actually lend each other DVDs, and I wonder if that was all made up. Our last months working together were not pleasant, and I was quite happy when he approved my transfer to another store.

“So,” I asked Christina. “What’s your funny news?”

“Dwayne got fired.”

HALIFUCKINGLUJEAH!

Then I started jumping up and down like a six year old on crack.

Remember when it snowed on Saturday a week and a half ago? Dwayne apparently decided not to open the store and give himself the day off. He thought his time with the company gave him the authority to do whatever he wanted. And the company finally decided that it had had enough.

“Dwayne? You’re fired.”

Yeah, he was just a pizza GM, but with his bonus, he was probably making over seventy thousand a year. And he’d just bought himself a new Beamer. I should point out that as I’m writing this post I’m giggling in a maniacal fashion. Christina said, “I told Mike this was going to be the best news you’ve heard all year.” No, honey: best news of the fucking century!

I’m going to be in a good mood for the next few days …

(Apparently Dwayne found this site! Eek! Anyway, full name removed at his request, and because I’m too much of a pussy to say no.)

If Michael Steele were to stand up and announce that had the civil rights movement of the 1960s not occured, it would have had no bearing on his life and he still would have become Lieutenant Governor of Maryland, I think a lot of people would’ve looked at each other and said “Huh?”

So imagine my reaction when I read this from current top-Conservative feminist Michelle Malkin: “Will American feminists be celebrating these amazing images and this historic day? The silence is deafening.”

I was under the impression that Michelle Malkin was an American, but I suppose I could be wrong. Oh, no, according to her biography, she was born in Philly. And clearly, she is celebrating “these amazing images and this historic day”, so why is she trying to disassociate herself from feminism?

Back when I lived in Towson, my neighbor Jody had a poster that summed up what it meant to be a feminist. I couldn’t find a reproduction of that poster on the ‘net, so I’m just going to steal this bit from Cheryl Price:

Being a feminist does not mean all women should go to college and find careers and should never be full-time homemakers and mothers. It does not mean all men are evil and must be destroyed. It does not mean you have to be a Democrat, or even a woman. Feminists are male, female, black, white, Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, young, old, gay, straight, rich, poor. Anyone who believes women are not substandard humans is a feminist.

Does Michelle’s comment mean that she believes all women — herself included — are substandard humans? Is she ashamed of herself and the considerable influence she commands over Conservatives? I could understand being ashamed over defending the practice of internment of American citizens, as she has, but while I certainly don’t agree with her political alignment, she should be proud of how far she has come as a feminist in an ideology that associates those who believe in it with Nazism.

No matter how much she may deny it, Michelle Malkin is a feminist. Actions, as they say, speak louder than words, and if Michelle Malkin really wanted to be seen as a non-feminist, she’d quit her high paying job, stay home and cook dinner for her husband and pop out half a dozen or so kids, never voicing an opinion of her own much less daring to form one.

Michelle Malkin is a feminist. So the question is, why is Michelle Malkin ashamed of herself?