All right then Mike

If that's what your real name is...

First, given the possibilities of random keyword searches, I'm not surprised you happened on my blog.
Second, I read your e-mail carefully. I think your heart is in the right place.
Third, I think your head is in the right place too... if you wish to do your own prostate exams.

I was merely predicting that the movie "Blind Side" will win an Oscar. It's a film; has nothing to do with sightless people, not in the least. Got nothing against blind people. I'll never refer to them as "visually impaired" because it sounds sissy, and rather demeaning to the affected adults.

I know way more about blind people than you do anyway.

Back in the 1940's a legally blind distant cousin of mine did time in the Oklahoma Sate prison for his involvement in a bank robbery. He was the getaway driver, no kidding. I'll never know for sure how a gang of criminal masterminds like that got caught, but privately I think the seeing eye dog ratted them out.

And in post Civil War times, US mint issued a 5 cent coin, about the same size as the 5 dollar coin. They got the five on there all right, but missed the whole dollar/cent distinction. What happened for a while was a lively trade in duping merchants and bartenders. When the gang was caught, the legman avoided time by being blind. His successful defense was, "How did I know I was cheating people?" Some scholars who study phrase origins think this is where "robbed 'em blind" got started as American jargon.

Was a time in this country when the most widely recognized face was that of a blind girl, Laura Bridgman. She was the forerunner of Helen Keller by about three generations. Cute little deaf/blind girl, grew up to be a woman, novelty wore off. Sad story really; people used her and let her down.

Reason one used to see Braille in the oddest places, like ATM's for example, but not so much anymore? Was once a law maintaining that silliness, since lapsed. That because there are more Americans who can speak fluent Apache than can read Braille. Tech has lept far ahead of Braille, which was once cutting edge tech, but now is an anachronism.

Leading cause of blindness in 2010? Running with scissors. Naw, just joshing about that! Lack of about $2 worth of eyedrops really. Combination of vitamin deficiency and endemic conjunctivitis strains in the affected areas. For that, some six million humans are blind. Like Oklahoma bank robber getaway driver blind, for life.

So I know a little bit about blindness. Enough not to wallow in some kind of namby pamby nonsense about PC nomenclature. I still say that Sandra Bullock movie, "The Blind Side" will win at least one Oscar. I know politics. Excuuuusssse ME! Should've called it "The Visually Impaired Side."