Image Credit: Chuck Poulsen

A woman in the supermarket, hurried and harried, bumped into me with her shopping cart.

The lower rung of the cart hit me in the ankle. It hurt a bit, but not being an NDPer, I didn't cry or search out a support group.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" she said.

"No problem," I replied.

That was it, the whole thing over in five seconds.

Accidents happen.

Prime Minister Justin threw himself into a fray in the House this week and inadvertently elbowed NDP MP Ruth Ellen Brosseau.

Ruth Ellen said she was "overwhelmed" by the poke, although whether she will suffer from post traumatic stress disorder isn't yet known. I'd bet on it though.

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair shouted at Justin about this being no way to treat a lady, unleashing Mulcair's chivalry, or exposing his latent sexism, take your pick.

Justin also used the "F" word in this small scale melee, which provided some hope, albeit quickly dashed, that we hadn't elected the reincarnation of Miss Manners.

Here is what followed Justin's outrageous slip into human-beingism.

Justin turned into a simpering mess of shame and guilt.

He has apologized three times - ad nauseam - and sworn to do penance. What further form of supplication that might be, we hope Justin takes it like a . . . well, whatever.

Meanwhile, Justin's old man Pierre is shouting fuddleduddle to his kid from the grave.

How Justin and his hand-wringing will deal on issues with the bullying Donald Trump, or the even nastier Hillary, suggests Justin's default mode will be unconditional surrender. Then he'll apologize to them for bringing it up.

This grovelling by the prime minister is not enough for the NDP, and some Conservatives who have suddenly discovered the sanctity of political correctness with a straight face.

There are calls for the PM to undergo anger management.

Our Justin? Seriously?

Some social media warriors are calling for a criminal assault investigation. After blowing the Ghomeshi case, the Crown is not likely to jump at that one.

There will be an official "investigation" by a committee of the House. The members of this committee will watch the video yet again in back and forth stop action, as in a murder trial.

A story this week from the U.S. has a bit of a connection to all this.

The story reported a survey that found 9 out of 10 native Americans weren't offended by the NFL team in Washington, D.C. being called the Redskins.

There has been clamour over the name, led by a few native leaders and many pointy-headed academics who specialize in guilt and demands that we all share in it.

If Redskins is okay with 9 out of 10 natives, what's there to be sorry for?

Our politicians have taken to apologizing every time someone on social media has been shocked and appalled, which happens about a thousand times a day in Canada.

These apologies at every two-bit gripe just cheapen the currency of the occasional sincere apology that is necessary.

Could our politicians just stop apologizing for everything that doesn't matter?

Please.

— Chuck Poulsen can be reached at poulsenc30@hotmail.com.

News from © iNFOnews, 2016