February 28, 2008
NYC Emailer Smells
Glenn Reynolds publishes part of an email:
no shit Mccain leads democrats in TN. Like that is even a question.Its a fucking southern red neck state. Obama or Hilary would never win that backwater hole.
we in nyc laugh at the south and think you people are pathetic.
It must be tough to think of yourself as so cosmo and still live in hell.
And when you visit NYC we sense your backwaterness. We can smell it a mile away.
When people like this person travel south we don't need any special detective senses; their rudeness and arrogance are overwhelmingly obvious.
Geographical location doesn't make you superior and behaving as if it did is parochial*.
*Having the restricted outlook often characteristic of geographic isolation: insular, limited, local, narrow, narrow-minded, provincial, small-town.
February 26, 2008
Poor Word Choice
"He was someone that was revered by the faculty and staff and students alike." - Chief Donald Grady speaking about NIU shooter Steven Kazmierczak.
Revere - To regard with awe, deference, and devotion. There have been people that I have know whom I have admired but I can't think of any that I revered.
I'm going to hope that Chief Grady had Latin classes in school and remembers that the root word vereri means to fear or be wary. I hope this is what he meant.
February 23, 2008
February 20, 2008
The Perfect Storm of Self-Satisfaction
In his quest to make San Francisco the greenest city in the nation, Mayor Gavin Newsom recently created a $160,000-a-year job for a senior aide and gave him the ambitious-sounding title of director of climate protection initiatives.
You know what that leads to...
February 18, 2008
President's Day
While I was out running errands today I heard a discussion on NPR about whether we should have President's Day or celebrate the birthdays of Washington and Lincoln separately.
What I thought was interesting was that everyone I heard comment on this pretty much agreed that both Washington and Lincoln were superior presidents. Some went on to point out that not all presidents were that good.
Maybe it's just a conditioned reflex I have from listening to too much public radio but I got the feeling that at least some of the commenters were talking about our current president when they were talking about some of them not deserving a day of honor.
I wonder how many of those commenters realize that many people detested Lincoln during his presidency. I'm not saying that Bush is on par with Lincoln but I do think that it is possible he will be appreciated more in the future than he is now.