Miscellaneous Musing #57

Regarding the upcoming Colorado gubernatorial contest, there is a reason to vote for a potential Republican challenger against the incumbent Democrat even aside from the fact that the latter is one of the worst governors in the country: wouldn't you rather have a governor named "Tancredo" (which hearkens to Tancred, a leader of the First Crusade) than one named "Hickenlooper"?

Uncommon Commentary #362: US Government Goes to Pot

I had not realized until lately just how much overlap there is in the functions of the State (e.g., Connecticut) and those of the state (that is, the USA as a whole), and how absurd this double jurisdiction can be.  For instance, Colorado and the State of Washington have legalized the possession and recreational consumption of marijuana (as opposed to "medicinal" use, if such a concept is indeed valid), but smoking of the same remains illicit at the federal level; and so, if you puff on a "joint" in Denver or Seattle, a local policeman may not arrest you but an agent from the Drug Enforcement Administration may.  Really, is this any way to run a country?

Uncommon Commentary #361: I Wish that I Could Draw a Red Line Through Obama's Name

An attack by our military upon that of the Syrian government is "not a matter of if but when", according to a Defense official who evidently has not read item number 57 on the list here.  There’s reason to doubt that the US presidential administration will really authorize this assault—after all, President Obombast drew his "red line" over a year ago—but the fact that this option is even being considered is almost incredible.  Yes, Assad’s regime has been sadistic in its attempt to quash the insurgency in his country, but do we really want to do something that might alter the fortune of battle in this civil war in favor of the jihadists who are known to dominate the rebel forces, as we did so recently in Libya?  In The "Arab Spring" Spews Blood, I wrote of that intervention as being possibly the worst of all Obama's blunders, but there is something even more stupid than making a mistake of such magnitude: making it again.

Uncommon Commentary #360: Feministas Only Smell Strong

I don't use the term "strong woman", because it implies that the average woman is not "strong".  Women cry more easily than men, but that doesn't mean that they're weaker; it merely means that they are more sensitive. (I'm more sensitive than the average man, which certainly doesn't mean that I'm weaker than they.)  This is not a feminista argument; in fact, it was likely feministas who dreamt up the "strong woman" phrase, to assert their self-imagined superiority over others of their sex.

Miscellaneous Musing #56

I don't go around correcting people's grammatical and syntactical errors. (This is not because I believe, as they seem to do, that they have some innate right to speak our language badly; rather, it’s because I would have no time to do anything else.)  Sometimes, however, I think that I ought to do so.  A well-known maxim goes: "If something is worth doing, it is worth doing well".  Doesn't that apply as truly to speaking and writing English as to anything else?

Uncommon Commentary #359: "Popular Culture"? How's That for an Oxymoron?

Detrimental effects of the hyperbolic Journalese (which is not one of the coinages alled "domanisms") that has become almost ubiquitous in the USA are by no means restricted to the English language.  Persons who are materially fortunate (but perhaps spiritually unfortunate) enough to be celebrities of popular culture generally have egos of a size to match their status; calling them "superstars", "icons", or "legends" only exacerbates the problem.

Uncommon Commentary #358: US Politics Is No Party

I don't belong to any political party, but I always vote Republican.  In our winner-take-all, de facto two-party system, a vote for anyone but the GOP is almost as bad as a vote for the Democrats, who, in my opinion, not only lack solutions to this country's problems but have themselves caused many of them.

Uncommon Commentary #357: UC #356 Follow-Up

My previous posting included a link to a news article.  As if the overreaction reported in that story weren’t bad enough, the president of the Missouri NAACP is now demanding an investigation by both the Department of Justice and the Secret Service into the rodeo clown who lampooned Obama.  If he wanted only the DoJ to be involved, one might assume that he was asking that body to determine whether the clown has committed a civil-rights violation (which, were that the motive in soliciting federal intervention, would be sufficiently Orwellian); the Secret Service, however, serves no purpose other than to protect the lives of politicians.  Does the Missouri NAACP, then, equate ridicule of Obama with intention to cause him bodily harm?  "NAACP" is an acronym for "National Association for the Advancement of Colored People", but it might stand more accurately for "Nazis Assiduously Attacking Critics of the President".

Uncommon Commentary #356: One Clown Mocks Another

This news item reports on the aftermath of an incident, at the Missouri State Fair, to which President Obombast's term "phony [sic] scandal" applies much more truly than it does to the real scandals that our chief executive is trying to belittle.  The rodeo-clown act was disrespectful, but: So what?  What has Obama, an unprincipled, megalomaniacal bully, done to deserve respect?  Certainly an important office like the US presidency has inherent dignity, but this doesn't mean that a dishonorable man transforms into an honorable one by means of lying his way into our country's highest office.  I regard any president as worthy of respect so long as he sincerely endeavors to serve in the best interests of his country; I think that this was true of Carter, failure though he was, but would anyone seriously argue that it's true of the present occupant of the Oval Office?

Uncommon Commentary #355: Besides, That Day Ought to Have Some Connection with a Saint Rather than with a ...

I’ve just learned that yesterday was the feast day of St. Cayetano, patron saint of the unemployed.  Why not transfer that commemoration to 4 August, which is President Obama's birthday?

Uncommon Commentary #354: That Filibuster Was a Filly's Bluster

Don't expect the Texas law that regulates the committing of foeticide (or any others of its nature) to save the number of lives that many of its backers expect it will.  Once the law takes effect, women who would previously have had their children killed after 20-weeks' gestation may simply have abortions earlier during pregnancy, or have the procedure performed in some other State (like bordering New Mexico, which has no restrictions whatsoever on the practice); additionally, abortions after the 20-week limit may come to be induced illegally in Texas, as they are in other States (see Miscellaneous Musing #55).
On a related subject: Isn't it sadly ironic that Texas State Senatrix Wendy Davis, in filibustering against a bill intended to ban most late-term executions of unborn girls (and boys), captured media attention by wearing pink shoes?