Feelings have no place in the political process.

Last month the Senate defeated an amendment designed to prohibit the burning of the American flag. The freedom of speech guaranteed by our First Amendment escaped a revision by the hair of its chinny-chin-chin. By only one vote.

Old Glory wasn’t upset because it has no feelings or, to use the word’s current political incarnation — sensitivities. If it did, the PC crowd would certainly oppose burning it. They’d say that such an act was offensive. It would intimidate and hurt other flags, much as a cross burning intimidates black families or airport profiling insults Muslims.

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I was in Pittsboro last week and dropped in at a local establishment for breakfast and a cup of coffee.

And what a cup of coffee it was! A sign at the self-serve dispenser informed me that it was relevant coffee. Imagine that! And as if relevance wasn’t enough, the sign also said that the coffee was “important,” “socially aware” and “part of the solution.”

Wow! This sure was a life-changing brew. I was humbled in the presence of such a benevolent beverage and felt a sudden wave of shame for having enjoyed the coffee at my usual hangouts, Panera and The Shade Tree, whose coffees make no such socially important claims.

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Now that all the kids but one, Mario, are out of the house, the empty nest makes a big noise and my wife is acutely feeling it. She wants to get out there and make herself useful, mostly for herself. Nothing in Durham or Raleigh offers anything like the film career she had in Los Angeles, but she wants to be productive. She interviewed for a number of part time retail positions at a very nice mall called Southpoint and finally settled on one of them. What she reports after two weeks on the job is interesting and a bit alarming.

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