Newspeak

If you haven’t read 1984, now is a good time to read it. On second thought, before November 4, 2008 would have been better timing. As they say, timing is everything, and we missed that boat, if you’ll pardon the mixed metaphor.

It seems that our Secretary of Homeland Security is on the one hand terrified of using the word terrorist when speaking about TERRORISTS…

Instead of referring to threats from terrorists, Janet Napolitano is referring in her speeches to “man-caused disasters.” In an interview, a reporter for Germany’s Spiegel Online asked Napolitano whether her avoidance of the term terrorism means that “Islamist terrorism suddenly no longer pose[es] a threat to your country?”

“Of course it does,” Napolitano replied. “I presume there is always a threat from terrorism. In my speech, although I did not use the word ‘terrorism,’ I referred to ‘man-caused’ disasters. That is perhaps only a nuance, but it demonstrates that we want to move away from the politics of fear toward a policy of being prepared for all risks that can occur.”

By this logic, the FBI should refer to serial killers and serial rapists as “man-caused afflictions.” After all, we do not want to create fear about serial killers.

…and on the other hand not at all shy about referring to conservatives as TERRORISTS-waiting-to-happen. I suppose my husband is suspect, since he’s been terrifying our children’s friends for years. It’s not the six foot three frame, the gruff demeanor, nor the booming bass that offends. Nope. It’s the service ribbon he wore so proudly on his Army uniform. That’s right. He’s a veteran. That qualifies him as a potential threat to the very country he served.

Astoundingly, as a Pro-Life Catholic, I seem to be a TERRORIST, too. 

Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration.

I think it’s time to watch my copy of It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World.

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link 1   link 2   link 3

sometimes resistance is everything

best movie line taken out of context

It so applies to what is invariably happening all over the country today:

You know, it’s an interesting thing when you consider…the Earth people, who can think, are so frightened by those who cannot…

Is there a perpetual full moon?

I do believe the news headlines are out of control–or rather, people who make the news are losing it.

Here’s a selection of the weirdness. I’m tempted to just watch reruns of Gilligan’s Island.

Voter Rolls Stuffed with Dead and Absent Registrants

Homeless Voters Can List Park Benches as Residents

TV Anchor Barbara West Blasted for Asking Biden Tough Questions, But her Tough Questioning of McCain Goes unnoticed

and finally:

Russia Offers Cuba Air Defence

What? WHAT? the Russians in Cuba? Again?

I don’t really want to be Chicken Little, but the sky is looking like a giant vortex and my brain is being sucked into a black hole. Suddenly, all that apocalyptic science-fiction that I read is starting to come true.

election hoo-ha

Just thought I’d announce that I’m about done with this ordeal.

I voted. You should, too.

Can we get on with whatever befalls us on the 5th? Either way, it’s going to be ugly.

miracles DO happen

This father and son used up their entire family’s allotment of good luck, not just for this generation, but generations to come. Read their amazing rescue story here.

where’s my red pen

Change we can believe in. in which we can believe.

Unbelievable.

does anyone else get the impression that the mayor of London is a slob?

I know, I’m probably pissing off my British (or at least those of you from London) readers, but the guy really just was a mess at the closing ceremonies.

C’mon, forget that he didn’t button his jacket, or that his shirt was coming untucked, or even that his hair was mussed. His demeanor on the stage was more like frat boy given the honor of tapping the keg, not representing a city and nation in a symbolic gesture of “passing the baton” (perhaps I shouldn’t use that metaphor — it seems to have been dropped a couple of times already).

A real live “Home Alone”

These poor folks are gonna be in a world of trouble when they get back home. Seems that they left their kid at the airport when they boarded their flight to Paris.

Paris! Just like in the movie. Ha!

It turns out they are an ultra-Orthodox Jewish family. Must be a cultural thing to leave the kid behind when traveling…wink wink. The last time it happened was about 2000 years ago.

I just made Ludacris very uncool

Anything left in my car becomes my property, so following along that line, I totally enjoyed Celia Cruz’s CD La Negra Tiene Tumbao, and an amazing Arturo Sandoval CD that I may rip at work.  Fantastic!

There was also a Ludacris CD that I was tempted to pitch out the window, but didn’t want to litter the street. Instead, I did the obvious thing: I played it.

Curiosity? Maybe. Intellectual experimentation? Perhaps. A weird sense of voyeuristic insanity? Yeah, that’s the ticket. The truth is that I enjoy all kinds of music, and while rap and hip hop generally arouse in me a great deal of disgust, there are moments when I find the music palatable, even catchy. As long I can tune out the lyrics.

Here’s the confession: I actually like the sound of Money Maker, although the lyrics offend beyond all measure. Still, here I was, listening to the song.

Let me paint that picture for you: fat, middle-aged white woman in business suit, driving the very sensible vanilla white Ford mini-van, pulls up to a red light with the bass maxed out, bobbing her head to Money Maker. Just then four black young men pull up in the car next to mine. They all look over at me, and I look back, still bobbing my head in that very uncool way that only a fat middle-aged white woman in a business suit could possibly have, and then they register the song.

Please. Someone has to invent some kind of video device that is automatically activated when things like this happen because I will never, ever, forget the looks on their faces. I would win the million dollars in America’s Funniest Videos.