Browsing Category General

Baby Boomers may be well familiar with Judge Judy Sheindlin. The Libra, born October 21, 1942, is one of us. Yes, she too is a Boomer. Unlike some Boomers I have not been a fan of Judge Judy; that is, I wasn’t until recently reading her book Don’t Pee on My Leg and Tell Me Its’ Raining. Yeah, I found the title pretty disgusting myself, but the book was a definite eye opener. If you were not a fan of Judge Judy, because you thought you knew all there was to know about her and you didn’t like her, reading her book will likely change your mind. And if you have always been a devoted fan of the tough mother of 5 and grandmother of 11, well the book will probably make you like her more.  

A family court judge for over two decades,  the judge lays it all on the line in her book when she exposes little good, but lots of bad and ugly in the criminal justice system, the welfare system, and oh, so much more juicy stuff. You can catch snippets of her in action on various YouTube videos, or you can get an first-rate critique of her book at www.potpourri101.com .

The statement by Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO) that being linked to President Obama would be like “touching a tar baby” doesn’t surprise  many people. Like a number of other public officials — many of them on the right — who have unashamedly disrespected the president by their offensive actions and contrived Freudian slips, Lamborn, is a Baby Boomer. Older Boomers grew up during the height of the civil rights era and unless they were totally spaced out during those tumultuous years they are well aware of what constitutes bigotry. Therefore, it is hard to believe the claims of some in question, that they did not know their comments or actions would be perceived as biased.  Read what they did and said at www.potpourri101.com.

I recently saw a movie titled, The Invention of Lying. Although it is classified as a comedy, I didn’t find much humor in the 2009 film. A few scenes made me chuckle, but overall I thought the movie was boring and just plain silly. In that film world no one ever lies. Everyone tells the truth and says exactly what they are thinking. When the main character, Mark, finds himself at wits ends after being fired from his job and watching his life slide downhill, he decides to do something different to improve his life. He tells a lie – the world’s first lie. Since no one in the universe is familiar with lying, people believe everything that Mark says and he soon begins taking advantage of his newly acquired skill. Nice stretch of the imagination, but the movie left me wondering how the real world would be if everyone told the truth all the time. 

The film gave me cause (yet again) to think about the downside of political correctness, an apparent good idea run amok. Now it has become a game that no one wants to play anymore, but everyone is being forced to participate to avoid being tagged out. You frequently see the absurdity of PC exposed on live TV programs, you hear it from politicians at public forums, and you even feel it when you and your peers hesitate to candidly express your thoughts, because you don’t know what reaction you will receive if your thinking does not align with theirs.