Among the things I dislike about the media is their lack of facility with language (and yes, I do realize how much I’m setting myself up with that statement). Clearly a blog with the reach and influence of mine can change this, so herewith the first in an occasional series I’m calling ‘When Good Headlines Go Bad,’ courtesy of CNN:
[[image:cnn_kennedy.gif:Joan Kennedy remains hospitalized:center:0]]
Joan Kennedy’s remains have been hospitalized? I didn’t even know she had died!
“We promised the Schindler family that we will not let Terri die in vain,” Mr DeLay said.
“We will look at an arrogant, out-of-control, unaccountable judiciary that thumbed their nose at Congress and the president.”
Thanks Tom. What about the arrogant, out-of-control, unaccountable politicians that thumbed their nose at the people? Can we impeach you now please, or do we have to wait another year and a half while you get to do anything you want, and then lie to us about it so that you can get another 6 years?
And yes, I know what unaccountable means, and I know what elections are. But given that when DeLay eventually leaves the Senate, by whatever means, he will probably end up in a lobbying position at 10 times his current salary, it’s hard to reconcile the two concepts.
After the recent school shooting (what an unpleasant phrase) this article popped up on Slate about the Red Lake reservation, the country where the shooting happened. No point to make from me, it’s just interesting.
I’ve been hearing and reading huge amounts about the Terri Schiavo case. I get mad about a lot of the assertions made, mostly from those trying to keep her in her current pseudo-life state, but also sometimes from those who think she should be left to die. Both of those pale into insignificance, however, compared to the hypocrisy involved. When trying to describe just how hypocritical the people complaining about starving her to death are being, I’m reminded of some lines from a book by Ben Elton called Stark. I don’t have the exact quote, but it went something like this:
How toxic was this substance? Well the word ‘very’ pops into your mind. But then it pops back out again because of its sheer inadequacy. And then it pops back in for lack of anything better. So let’s just say that if the universe is very big, then this substance was very toxic.
What makes me label this as hypocrisy? Well, as I’ve mentioned several times here already, globally a child dies of starvation every 5 seconds. If it is so wrong for Terri Schiavo to be starved to death, what does it say about us, and about the people defending her most of all, that they will let these children die (maybe 20 since you started reading this)? Oh, there goes another one…