Penny For Your Thoughts

           What ever happened to everyone is entitled to their own opinion and freedom of speech? Is it now unsafe to voice our opinions for fear of consequences if our opinion is not in the likes of certain viewers? Biting your tongue hurts to much, so why not say what you feel?

That’s exactly what American country singer-songwriter and musician, Hank Williams did. On a recent Fox News Interview with Williams, things went left. When Hank compared President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner to Adolf Hitler and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on "Fox and Friends," it caused uproar in the media. To elaborate, he told the hosts that he didn't like any of the candidates in the GOP primary for President, and that John Boehner's golf game with Barack Obama was a major mistake.

"That would be like Hitler playing golf with Netanyahu. Not hardly. In the shape this country is in?" When one of the hosts said that he didn't understand the analogy, Williams was gave it to him straight. "I'm glad you don't brother, because a lot of people do. They're the enemy... Obama! And Biden! Are you kidding? The Three Stooges."

I agree that Williams’s comparison wasn’t appropriate and probably not the right place to say it but he did. You can’t hold a person’s personal opinion against them, though. He did what many couldn’t even imagine doing.

Of course, his fellow partners did not agree with his actions and Williams was later pulled out of his usual Monday Night Football introduction.

I understand what he was trying to say and I’m sure even some of Fox’s hosts understood later what he meant, but for entertainment’s sake, they needed to keep viewers on their channel and the media takes no prisoners.

Williams later explained his thoughts and how Fox twisted what he was saying and escalating his comments into something bigger than it was meant to be. Williams Jr. says, "Some of us have strong opinions and are often misunderstood. My analogy was extreme - but it was to make a point. I was simply trying to explain how stupid it seemed to me - how ludicrous that pairing was."

He continues, "They're polar opposites and it made no sense. They don't see eye-to-eye and never will. I have always respected the office of the President."

In retaliation of the drastic actions, Williams later posted a song titled “Keep the Change” he wrote in regards to how he viewed America and took a shot at Fox, calling them out. With this new media topic, many are speaking and eventually, we’re going to have to stop and listen!

“This country sure as hell been goin' down the drain. We know what we need, we know who to blame. United Socialist States of America; how do ya like that name?”

Goin' Postal, Huh?

So here’s the 411, The U.S. Postal Service has switched up from the usual. Let’s back up a little bit. The Postal Service is on the verge of losing billions of dollars and in my opinion, in dire need of a life saver. With the world as it is today and with the way electronics is aiming to put everything that has to do with print over and forgotten, there may barely be enough room for mail.

Now, back to the present topic at hand, what can the U.S. Postal Service do to make revenue they need? One option they’ve resorted to is what’s gotten my attention. They have come to a conclusion that they will present the world with the first stamp with a celebrity that is still alive to be on sale! This is a huge shocker given that they’ve never put a face of a famous person that was still alive on the stamp before. According to the New York Times, the only way the postal service would allow a famous person to be on a stamp is if the person was dead for at least five years. Now you understand the importance of this.

In doing this, The U.S. Postal Service is also seeking to get attention from the young adult generation. Sure they want stamp collectors to get as many as they can in hopes of adding to the amount of new postal buyers on board but they’re after us. My theory is that in getting us on board, they’ve got another wave of faithful buyers for at least another generation in hopes of us passing it on to our next generation so they don’t die.

Personally, I feel that if you’re not forgotten; keep on trying so you’re not just a memory. I don’t really know how this is going to pan out because it can only go two ways. One being that it’s an epic fail. Think about it, we have TECHNOLOGY for heaven’s sake. Everything we need to communicate is either on a laptop/computer or a hi-tech cellular device. Print is really being pushed against the wall. Kids don’t want to have to write something unless it’s for school. We text, email if that, social network each other, video chat…not WRITE A LETTER!

On the other hand, you can’t be dependent on technology because they backfire. Mail doesn’t get deleted unless we manually throw it out or shred it. No one can hack our mail unless we have a nosey mail person on our hands. Sometimes when it’s written, it means a little more because it means you took the time out to do so.

It’s an iffy outcome for the postal service. Whether it sinks or swims, I believe it’s up to how we accept it. If we’re against it, we won’t want to make it thrive. If we’re ready to see what it has to offer and what other ideas they can think of, then they don’t dig a deeper ditch for themselves.

They’re goin’ postal!