Monday, October 29, 2007
Cockamamie Ideas
"Cockamamie is the child's version of 'decalcomania,' dye transfers that youngsters used to put on their hands and arms. Since they were cheap, they soon wore off. So, 'cockamamie' first meant anything trifling or second-rate, and later came to mean simply silly or laughable." From "Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins" by William and Mary Morris (HarperCollins, New York, 1977, 1988).
Interesting word, cockamamie. I've never thought much about the word and actually don't recall hearing it used in many years. Then last week I heard it on a rerun of "Charmed" , you know the show about the three witches. Piper asked who comes up with all these cockamamie rules anyway concerning an explanation given about the powers and their intervention in human events.
Then I read an article about the Michigan primary and Senator Carl Levin trying to end New Hampshire's "cockamamie" first-in-the-nation role in presidential primaries. Intrigued because I had come across this seldom used word twice in a couple of days, I began to think about the various things I see, hear and read that simply fit this word's definition. Here are a few.
John Edwards, a former Democratic senator from North Carolina, says the federal government should underwrite universal pre-kindergarten, create matching savings accounts for low-income people, mandate a minimum wage of $9.50 and provide a million new Section 8 housing vouchers for the poor. He also pledged to start a government-funded public higher education program called "College for Everyone."
Hillary Clinton has declared she would like to "give" every child born in America a $5000 savings account, "give" everyone a $1000 Individual Retirement Account (I thought Social Security was supposed to be government's answer to retirement) and provide government managed universal health care for all Americans.
Barbara Boxer, Senator from California's Beserkely area, stated that the wildfires in California would have been controlled faster and better if their National Guard were not off fighting in Iraq, even though only 2000 are deployed in Iraq and over 17000 were not even called in to fight the fires.
California Lieutenant Governor, John Garamendi said, "We must also consider the degree to which global warming creates or perpetuates the conditions that allow these devastating wildfires to consume our state." Perhaps it just may have something to do with the terrain and climate conditions in the areas that people have decided to live. Can everything can be blamed on global warming?
Apparently it can since according to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. talking to reporters last week, "One reason why we have the fires in California is global warming."
And talk about the topmost cockamamie thing I have witnessed in the past two weeks, Al Gore wins the Nobel Peace Prize. He made a damn movie! Not a very factual one at that and he wins a peace prize? Give him an Oscar if you want but a Nobel peace prize? Good God, how cockamamie is that?
I asked a liberal friend of mine if he thought Al Gore deserved the Nobel Peace Prize. He said as much as anybody else. I guess since a history of former winners includes Jimmy Carter and Yassir Arafat, he may well be correct.
And that's cockamamie to me.
OH
Interesting word, cockamamie. I've never thought much about the word and actually don't recall hearing it used in many years. Then last week I heard it on a rerun of "Charmed" , you know the show about the three witches. Piper asked who comes up with all these cockamamie rules anyway concerning an explanation given about the powers and their intervention in human events.
Then I read an article about the Michigan primary and Senator Carl Levin trying to end New Hampshire's "cockamamie" first-in-the-nation role in presidential primaries. Intrigued because I had come across this seldom used word twice in a couple of days, I began to think about the various things I see, hear and read that simply fit this word's definition. Here are a few.
John Edwards, a former Democratic senator from North Carolina, says the federal government should underwrite universal pre-kindergarten, create matching savings accounts for low-income people, mandate a minimum wage of $9.50 and provide a million new Section 8 housing vouchers for the poor. He also pledged to start a government-funded public higher education program called "College for Everyone."
Hillary Clinton has declared she would like to "give" every child born in America a $5000 savings account, "give" everyone a $1000 Individual Retirement Account (I thought Social Security was supposed to be government's answer to retirement) and provide government managed universal health care for all Americans.
Barbara Boxer, Senator from California's Beserkely area, stated that the wildfires in California would have been controlled faster and better if their National Guard were not off fighting in Iraq, even though only 2000 are deployed in Iraq and over 17000 were not even called in to fight the fires.
California Lieutenant Governor, John Garamendi said, "We must also consider the degree to which global warming creates or perpetuates the conditions that allow these devastating wildfires to consume our state." Perhaps it just may have something to do with the terrain and climate conditions in the areas that people have decided to live. Can everything can be blamed on global warming?
Apparently it can since according to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. talking to reporters last week, "One reason why we have the fires in California is global warming."
And talk about the topmost cockamamie thing I have witnessed in the past two weeks, Al Gore wins the Nobel Peace Prize. He made a damn movie! Not a very factual one at that and he wins a peace prize? Give him an Oscar if you want but a Nobel peace prize? Good God, how cockamamie is that?
I asked a liberal friend of mine if he thought Al Gore deserved the Nobel Peace Prize. He said as much as anybody else. I guess since a history of former winners includes Jimmy Carter and Yassir Arafat, he may well be correct.
And that's cockamamie to me.
OH
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Stop Continental Drift
There is a movement afoot and it is huge. The biggest. The earth itself is moving. But it isn't moving in unison, it is moving in pieces. These pieces are bumping up against each other. And this phenomenon is happening all over the globe. Everywhere on the planet a large part of our very earth is grinding into another large part of the earth. This causes untold devastation in the form of earthquakes and volcanoes and tidal waves. And our government doesn't even care.
It is only going to get worse. Day by day the movements continue and more and more places are threatened by major disasters. Millions of people are threatened. Millions of species of animals are threatened. The very outlines of our continents and islands are changing and we stand by just letting it all happen.
Where is the outcry? Where are the minions bringing this approaching catastrophe to our attention? Why do they shun every shred of evidence which proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that our foundation is crumbling?
Well I am here to start a new movement against this impending global crisis. I believe it is way past time for this government and every other government on the planet to confront this problem head-on. We should devote every available resource to this problem. We should raise taxes in every country to promote the global cause which I call, 'Stop Continental Drift'.
No effort should be spared in solving this urgent problem, for the very ground we walk upon is at grave risk. It simply astounds me that the world is so utterly ignorant of this issue. I'm sure if we could spread the word a little more effectively, we could convert every soul to this cause. We must do this for our children. It is they who deserve this earth to remain the way that we left it, so stopping this insane drifting of the continents must surely be the number one priority of this century and every century until there is no more problem.
Stop Continental Drift.
(because it makes as much sense as stop global warming)
OH
It is only going to get worse. Day by day the movements continue and more and more places are threatened by major disasters. Millions of people are threatened. Millions of species of animals are threatened. The very outlines of our continents and islands are changing and we stand by just letting it all happen.
Where is the outcry? Where are the minions bringing this approaching catastrophe to our attention? Why do they shun every shred of evidence which proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that our foundation is crumbling?
Well I am here to start a new movement against this impending global crisis. I believe it is way past time for this government and every other government on the planet to confront this problem head-on. We should devote every available resource to this problem. We should raise taxes in every country to promote the global cause which I call, 'Stop Continental Drift'.
No effort should be spared in solving this urgent problem, for the very ground we walk upon is at grave risk. It simply astounds me that the world is so utterly ignorant of this issue. I'm sure if we could spread the word a little more effectively, we could convert every soul to this cause. We must do this for our children. It is they who deserve this earth to remain the way that we left it, so stopping this insane drifting of the continents must surely be the number one priority of this century and every century until there is no more problem.
Stop Continental Drift.
(because it makes as much sense as stop global warming)
OH
