"The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter." —Mark Twain
In the news
From my post of two days ago: “And I think corporate ownership of congress is going to get worse, not better.” Boy, I’ll say. Yesterday the Supreme Court extended free speech rights to corporations, who will now be allowed to contribute unlimited amounts of money to political candidates and parties. Some say this’ll be the […]
Ever hear someone say he has a beak, or that such-and-such a thing gives him the beak? We said it all the time in the USAF; “I have a beak” means I’m pissed off; “you give me the beak” means you make me angry. The beak must be secret military jargon, because when I Google […]
Now that televisions look like panels, will we continue calling them “boxes”? Probably. I’ve decided to quit watching Keith Olbermann’s Countdown. The commercial-to-content ratio is ridiculous; there can’t be more than 30 minutes of content in this 60-minute show . . . the pain far outweighs the gain. Plus he’s a pompous ass with an […]
Unconnected thoughts and observations which don’t rate separate blog posts, but when aggregated together might just amount to something: Tasers: This seems like good news, and it comes not a moment too soon: “Police need reasons to believe a suspect is dangerous before firing a Taser and can’t use their stun gun simply because the […]
I remember, as a kid, reading a science fiction story about a future in which working adults are forced to buy, use, wear out, and replace enormous amounts of material goods, their lives an exhausting cycle of consumption imposed on them by the government in order to keep the nation’s economic engine going. Older people, […]
Sarah shows her true colors again. From Ben Smith at Politico (posted yesterday, December 3rd): Speaking to the conservative talker Rusty Humphries today, Sarah Palin left the door open to speculation about President Obama’s birth certificate. “Would you make the birth certificate an issue if you ran?” she was asked [ . . . ] […]
“If God had not intended for us to eat animals, how come He made them out of meat?” Sarah Palin, Going Rogue. Good question, Sarah! Now you’ve got me thinking . . . If God had not intended for us to burn books, how come He made them flammable? If God had not intended for […]
Update (11/19/09): more than two months with no response. Time to ramp it up a notch: The Honorable Gabrielle Giffords November 19, 2009 U.S. House of Representatives 1728 Longworth House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Dear Congresswoman Giffords, I mailed the attached letter to the US Air Force Chief of Staff on September 16, 2009 […]