War, Politics, and Life by Bruce Maulden
One headline yesterday that just screamed bullshit was atop stories of THC found in Trayvon Martin’s bloodstream — a medical examiner’s report also revealed traces of cannabinoids in his urine. All the MSM news stories carried that in its lede — and the problem? Instead of having an actual impact on what happened the night…
Chump change: A trivial sum of money, a trivial matter. For example, Dave was sick of working for chump change, he wanted a decent salary, or, ‘Don’t put that on the agenda, it’s chump change.’ This expression uses chump in the sense of “a fool or sucker who should be ignored.” [Slang; 1960s] Also see…
Creatures of the future in the hardcore words from the dangerous mind of Dick Mourdock, who whipped Dick Lugar in Indiana on Tuesday: “What I’ve said about compromise and bipartisanship is I hope to build a conservative majority in the United States Senate so that bipartisanship becomes Democrats joining Republicans to roll back the size…
One of the bedrocks of being alive and being anywhere near ‘successful,’ is having a job — working a wage. And although job openings in the U.S. rose in March to the highest level in more than three years, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Jeffrey Lacker noted yesterday unemployment remains at “a very elevated…
In a most-personal and open manner, Rick Santorum endorsed Mitt Romney for president — the broadcast via e-mail at about 11 o’clock last night. Who’s the wiser? Reportedly, last Friday Romney visited Pittsburgh where he and Santorum clinched together for “an over-hour long one-on-one meeting,” and three days later, the endorsement came in the middle…
Political language — and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists — is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. — George Orwell, “Politics and the English Language,” 1946 (h/t Juan Cole) Politics is weird. And creepy.…
One item that’s fallen off the news radar the past few weeks is gas prices — no more the hand-wringing stories of people going without food to fuel their vehicles and all is well. Out of sight, out of mind? You betcha. Yesterday, I put another $20 worth of gas in my Jeep with the…
Mitt Romney waxing eloquent Friday at Otterbein University in Ohio: “The impact of gathering facts, gathering information, learning about the reality behind the words, has proven to me, in the business sector, that facts are more important than words and that results are more important than words,” he said. “So as you look at the…
As we begin a near-seven month nightmare — the 2012 elections — the US of A has become one vast holding pen of pure bullshit, creating an ironic, near-mockery of American democracy. Not only is the political discourse so freakin’ stupid, sometimes just a pain to watch, but the distortion of so much data is…
We all live by certain rules, sometimes, and to be able to live outside those guidelines is fantasy. Michelle Obama has a thought, via CNN: “It is hard to sneak around and do what you want,” Obama continued. “I have done it a couple of times. But you know one fantasy I have, and the…