Happy Ramadan!!!
Well, MCMXCVIII is over and what a year it's been. 1998 will be written as the year that marked the beginning of the fall of the American Empire. Actually, it's been falling for some time, but last year it's head struck the ground and has been knocked unconscious. There are many places to try to put the blame. Media and politicians are prime suspects. But in reality, it is we who allowed this to happen. Feelings have replaced thought. News magazine programs have replaced news. Expediency has replaced morality. Ignorance has replaced wisdom. Damn baby boomers.
I have compiled a list of words and phrases that were run into the ground in 1998 and should be retired. (I can hope, can't I?)
| 1. | "The American people": This one might have set the record for overuse on the "talking heads shows." "The American people" of course means 400 people participating in a telephone poll. |
| 2. | "Does not rise to the level of impeachment": You have to hand it to the Dems. They sure know how to punch a phrase. The problem is that they are still posing the question. It has been answered. The president has been impeached. Time to change the phrase. |
| 3. | "The business of the (country, people, American people)": When Washington is doing the business of the country, who do you think is getting the business? |
| 4. | "Politics of personal destruction": This one is a late comer to the party. (The phrase, not the strategy.) It might also be the funniest of them all, too. Bill Clinton told us at the White House post-impeachment pep rally that he has tried for six years to put an end to the mudslinging in the capital and the division in the country. This coming from a man whose administration has done everything and anything to destroy anyone who questions it and has succeeded in fracturing our society into various groups pitted against one another. Now that's comedy. (Alec Baldwin, were you listening?) |
| 5. | "Republican coup": Can't happen. Next. |
| 6. | "Overturn a popular election": Can't happen. Next. |
| 7. | "Unfair": Used ruthlessly to confuse people who have no idea about what an issue is. |
| 8. | "Bipartisan(ship)"and its root word, "partisan(ship)": Perhaps the granddaddy of them all. Let's look up the word "bipartisan" in the New Democrat Touchy-Feely Dictionary, shall we? Bi·par·ti·san, adj. representing or characterized by Republicans agreeing with and succumbing to the ideas and policies of the Democratic Party. |
I don't know what we will be treated to in 1999, but I don't really think it will be any better. President Clinton does not have the honor to resign. The Senate does not have the intestinal fortitude to remove him from office. Jerry Springer and Rikki Lake will still be on the air. Saddam Hussein will still be in power in Iraq. Furbies will be replaced by some other stupid product that you absolutely must buy for Christmas. Tobacco will be replaced by something else (fast food, alcohol, guns, sport utility vehicles, personal watercraft, Microsoft, peanut butter) as the source of the greatest evil in the world. Oh, well. What, me worry?
And another thing ...