As noted, it was a play on the joke title/lyrics to The Stars And Stripes Forever. If you look at the entire series of newsletters, you'll notice a lot of headlines similarly played off of song titles, lyrics, quotes, etc.
As the newsletter editor, I'm not going to apologize for it, unless given evidence that the specific term "wheel-footed" is a previously unknown to me established slur. I deliberately, for a number of reasons, adopted a light-hearted tone for the newsletter, particularly in the headlines. Disabled folk were not singled out for such, nor were they excluded from it. As someone who has an occasional mobility disability (gout attacks in leg and foot joints), I'd personally find it insulting to be considered sufficiently fragile that I'd take offense to an obviously light-hearted play on a song title/lyrics that was being done in the same way to many other groups/individuals.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2012-09-07 03:55 pm (UTC)As the newsletter editor, I'm not going to apologize for it, unless given evidence that the specific term "wheel-footed" is a previously unknown to me established slur. I deliberately, for a number of reasons, adopted a light-hearted tone for the newsletter, particularly in the headlines. Disabled folk were not singled out for such, nor were they excluded from it. As someone who has an occasional mobility disability (gout attacks in leg and foot joints), I'd personally find it insulting to be considered sufficiently fragile that I'd take offense to an obviously light-hearted play on a song title/lyrics that was being done in the same way to many other groups/individuals.
Tom Galloway