Kinda proud over here...lemme share.

My brother, Joey, is a great big, sweet, very intelligent...um...yeah, I guess he's a man now. Weird, cuz he's my little brother. Bad enough that I get a crick in my neck trying to look him in the eye as he's like a foot taller than me. I remember at one point when he was in middle school or high school, one of his teachers recommended to my mother that she get him tested for a learning disability, because of the difficulties he seemed to be having in school. My mom did so, and the test results came back in the form of an extremely high IQ. He didn't have a learning disability. He just didn't have an affinity for writing what he knew. He knew it, and that should be enough.

Currently, he's living in Tenessee with his wife, their daughter, and expecting a son in August. He's grown up on me, and I'm very proud of this little story I'm about to tell you about him.

Apparently, a few months ago, my brother wrote a letter to the editor of his local newspaper about something going on in local government between the mayor and the police department. He didn't even write it for himself. He wrote it for another person who wanted to express her dismay with the situation, but wanted it written intelligently and clearly. He told her to sign her name to it, but she didn't, choosing to give him credit instead.

Not only was the letter published, but the newspaper contacted Joey and told him that they would print anything he writes. What follows below is his first article which was published in its entirety as soon as he submitted it.

In a country where we have the right to speak with our vote, our wallets and even by changing the radio station. It amazes me how many of us are being given
no choice at all. Either by suggestion, by law, or by just being shamed in to submission. We are being given fewer choices every day. In the last year alone we have seen bans on smoking, bans on trans fats, and even bans on talk show radio hosts. So what’s the rush to save us all from ourselves? The moral majority does it to save our souls. The progressives do it to save the poor. The right wingers do it to save the left and the left wingers do it to save the right. Please somebody save me from all of them!

Another election looms close and we have a huge field of candidates; some good, some bad, and some loonier than daffy duck. Yet time and time again I hear political pundits who tell us that only Hillary and Obama stand a chance for the donkeys and Romney, McCain and Giuliani are the elephants only hopes while the third parties have no chance at all. I’m so thankful these pundits are trying to limit my choices
over one year before any of us even cast a ballot. I’d hate to actually do my part in a democratic republic and pay attention to all the candidates; so that I’d
actually have to chose who I thought was best. The pundits in their vast wisdom choose only to talk about the front runners hoping to eliminate the need of the
voting public to hear the candidates views or even be able pick them out of a police lineup. At least they only limit us by suggestion. More and more people are
trying to limit our choices by law.

The newest craze by state governments isn’t reducing taxes, fixing roads, or even making sure that our teachers can read let alone our students. No it's stopping the most horrible of all people; smokers. They don’t do this by using their wallets to choose not to eat at restaurants that allow smoking. No that would be far to difficult and still allow others to choose to do what they have deemed unacceptable. They instead force us all to have no choice by making laws against private business owners and private building owners to have only one choice “no smoking”. It’s our
health they claim to be protecting but as Red Fox said “we all have to leave here with something.” Shouldn’t it be our choice what we leave here with? Shouldn’t it
be the restaurants choice if people smoke in there business or not? Perhaps more would speak out if it wasn’t deemed politically incorrect to stand up for smokers.

It is the politically correct crowd that is trying to drive all freedom that might offend to the grave far faster then a two pack a day habit ever could. Imus is
just the latest target in the P.C. crosshairs. Before him Ann Coulter, Dr. Laura and even Bugs Bunny have been targets of this movement. Imus for being rude to black women, Dr. Laura to homosexuals and Bugs for being too violent. Freedom of speech stands in direct opposition to the movement's mantra of freedom not to be offended. This does not mean that we should not speak out against bad behavior but we can not silence offensive language. Our goal should be to expand the great market place of ideas not strip the store shelves bare of all thoughts, ideas and expressions deemed not politically correct.

So next time one of those boring presidential debates between six people you’ve never heard of before and two people who have been on Oprah comes on. Maybe, just maybe we should pay a little extra attention to the ones whose names we don’t know. The next time one of those new laws that would force people to stop bad behavior is proposed, maybe just maybe we should allow others to choose for themselves. But most importantly the next time someone on the radio offends us with some crude joke or opinion maybe, just maybe we should turn the channel. Remember the choice you make today could take away that same choice tomorrow.
--Joey Love