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BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...

26 Jun 01 - 03:39 PM (#492385)
Subject: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: Amos

Bushonics speakers strike back !

We're mad as hell and we won't be
misunderestimated any no more!

- - - - - - - - - - - - By Tom McNichol

March 19, 2001 | The day Lisa Shaw's son Tyler came home from
school with tears streaming down his cheeks, the 34-year-old
Crawford, Texas, homemaker, knew things had gone too far.

"All of Tyler's varying and sun-dry friends was making fun of the
way he talked," Shaw says. "I am not a revengeful person, but I
couldn't let this behaviorism slip into acceptability. This is not
the way America is about."

Shaw and her son are two of a surprising number of Americans who
speak a form of nonstandard English that linguists have dubbed
"Bushonics," in honor of the dialect's most famous speaker, President
George W. Bush. The most striking features of Bushonics -- tangled
syntax, mispronunciations, run-on sentences, misplaced modifiers and
a wanton disregard for subject-verb agreement -- are generally
considered to be "bad" or "ungrammatical" by linguists and society at
large.

But that attitude may be changing. Bushonics speakers, emboldened
by the Bush presidency, are beginning to make their voices heard.
Lisa Shaw has formed a support group for local speakers of the
dialect and is demanding that her son's school offer "a full-blown up
apologism." And a growing number of linguists argue that Bushonics
isn't a collection of language "mistakes" but rather a well-formed
linguistic system, with its own lexical, phonological and syntactic
patterns.

"These people are greatly misunderestimated," says University of
Texas linguistics professor James Bundy, himself a Bushonics speaker.
"They're not lacking in intelligence facilities by any stretch of the
mind. They just have a differing way of speechifying."

It's difficult to say just how many Bushonics speakers there are in
America, although professor Bundy claims "their numbers are
legionary." Many who speak the dialect are ashamed to utter it in
public and will only open up to a group of fellow speakers. One known
hotbed of Bushonics is Crawford, the tiny central Texas town near the
president's 1,600-acre ranch. Other centers are said to include
Austin and Midland, Texas, New Haven, Conn., and Kennebunkport, Maine.

Bushonics is widely spoken in corporate boardrooms, and has long
been considered a kind of secret language among members of the
fraternity Delta Kappa Epsilon. Bushonics speakers have ascended to
top jobs at places like the Internal Revenue Service and the
Department of Health and Human Services. By far the greatest
concentration of Bushonics speakers is found in the U.S. military.
Former Secretary of State Alexander Haig is only the most well known
Bushonics speaker to serve with distinction in America's armed
forces. Among the military's top brass, the dialect is considered
to be the unofficial language of the Pentagon.

Former President George H.W. Bush spoke a somewhat diluted form of
the dialect that bears his family's name, which may have influenced
his choice for vice president, Dan Quayle, who spoke an Indiana
strain of Bushonics.

The impressive list of people who speak the dialect is a frequent
topic at Lisa Shaw's weekly gathering of Bushonics speakers. That so
many members of their linguistic community have risen to positions of
power comes as a comfort to the group, and a source of inspiration.

"We feel a good deal less aloneness, my guess is you would want to
call it," Shaw says. "It just goes to show the living proof that
expectations rise above that which is expected."

Some linguists still contend, however, that the term "Bushonics" is
being used as a crutch to excuse poor grammar and sloppy logic.

"I'm sorry, but these people simply don't know how to talk
properly," says Thomas Gayle, a speech professor at Stanford
University. Professor Gayle was raised by Bushonic parents, and says
he occasionally catches himself lapsing into the dialect.

"When it happens, it can be very misconcerting," Gayle says. "I
understand Bushonics. I was one. But under full analyzation, it's
really just an excuse to stay stupider."

It's talk like that that angers many Bushonics speakers, who say
they're routinely the victims of prejudice.

"The attacks on Bushonics demonstrate a lack of compassion and
amount to little more than hate speech," says a prominent Bushonics
leader who spoke on the condition that his quote be "cleaned up."

Increasingly, members of the Bushonics community are fighting
back. Lisa Shaw's Crawford-based group is pressing the local school
board to institute bilingual classes, and to eliminate the study of
English grammar altogether. "It's an orientation of being
fairness-based," Shaw says. A Bushonics group in New England has
embarked on an ambitious project to translate key historical
documents into the dialect, beginning with the Bill of Rights. (For
instance, the Second Amendment rendered into Bushonics reads: "Guns.
They're American, for the regulated militia and the people to bear.
Can't take them away for infringement purposes. Not never.")

Bushonics activists say they'll keep fighting as long as there are
still children who come home from school crying because their
classmates can't understand a word they're saying. Lisa Shaw hopes
that every American will heed the words of the nation's No. 1
Bushonics speaker, and vow to be a uniter, not a divider.

"We shouldn't be cutting down the pie smaller," Shaw says with
quiet dignity. "We ought to make the pie higher."

- - - - - - - - - - - -

About the writer: Tom McNichol is a San Francisco writer whose
work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the Washington
Post, Spy, Punch and other publications. His radio commentaries have
aired on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered."

26 Jun 01 - 03:53 PM (#492391)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: Pseudolus

Thanks Amos, I needed that..... :)

Frank

26 Jun 01 - 03:54 PM (#492393)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: wysiwyg

But some things just need said.

The funny thing was, I saw the thread title, darlin', and immediately knew you'd created it!

*G*

Yes, we could all get up a good laugh and/or argument on how people talk... but since the most effective layer of communication is the non-verbal one, who cares what the words are? If I were copy-editing Lisa Shaw's memoirs, for instance (Bless her sole!), I would leave her style alone and in fact amplify it where necessary.

But the term Bushonics.... irrestistible, I have to admit, you stinker you! *G*

~S~

26 Jun 01 - 03:55 PM (#492394)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: mousethief

This is just another abcessed attempt to ridiculify the President. Isn't it about time to give it a rest stop? Over and over again we hear people making funny of the most powerful person in the whole roundabout world -- the President of the United States of America, George W. Bush. It's really starting to begin to make me maddening!

Alex

26 Jun 01 - 03:55 PM (#492395)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: jeffp

Amos, that is beautiful! Almost worthy of your pen.

jeffp

26 Jun 01 - 04:00 PM (#492398)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: SDShad

Well, I think this whole ball of fish is just partisan political strategery.

Shad

26 Jun 01 - 04:31 PM (#492422)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: Kim C

Heeheehee!!!

There are always people who are possessed of what some call "colorful speech." Or as Tom Petty once said, "the younguns call it country and the Yankees call it dumb."

Over the weekend I watched the old Disney "Davy Crockett" with my hero Fess Parker, and the word "speechify" was in that movie. :-D

26 Jun 01 - 04:39 PM (#492427)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: Amos

Ah'll tell ya, ma dahrlins -- it isn't so much the incorrectitude of it that bothers people, it's feeling like unrespect is bein' offertoried which gets them riled.

So what I always does is tell them as a precautionistic step that we have my own ways of wording things up but I am sure they can appreciate the sediments behind my semitics.

As I tole mah sweetheart just the other minute, it's kinda scary that Ah'm so much more improved on this styling nor I thought I'd be!

26 Jun 01 - 04:48 PM (#492433)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: Don Firth

Casey Stengel ("I had many years that I was not so successful as a ballplayer, as it is a game of skill.") and Yogi Berra ("I couldn't tell if the streaker was a man or a woman because it had a bag on it's head.") are obviously masters, not just of this language, but the mode of thinking behind it. Stengel is gone, now, but perhaps Berra might be considered for political office. He's a bit long in the tooth, but considering the make-up of the Senate, that shouldn't be a deterent. After all, when Berra once remarked, "I didn't really say everything I said," I think he showed a real flair for politics.

Don Firth

26 Jun 01 - 04:51 PM (#492435)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: Don Firth

But then again, I may be misunderstaken. . . .

Don Firth

26 Jun 01 - 08:22 PM (#492613)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: Amos

Na -- youre right .... I think "We ought to make the pie higher."

26 Jun 01 - 08:32 PM (#492622)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: GUEST,awe quit it

let Bushbumbelonics be ...

26 Jun 01 - 10:40 PM (#492692)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: Bill D

"He coulda made to 3rd base if he'd a slud, but he didn't, so the runners go back to their repectable bases."

Jerome Herman 'Dizzy' Dean, early practicionizer of Bushonics

Has anyone else noticed that when Bush is giving prepared speeches or responding to standard questions, that he is being given VERY simple, short sentences with no tricky words?

26 Jun 01 - 11:07 PM (#492699)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: Oversoul

Let me know when Bush blows a load on an intern's face. OK? Until then, you malcontents should reconsider several things. Get a load of Leadbelly's diction, still got a problem? Bush talks like a spearchucker, so fucking what? Got you real good this time. Care to argue?

26 Jun 01 - 11:12 PM (#492701)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: Bill D

Leadbelly didn't run for president...I might listen to Dubya sing, but he should NOT make speeches to the world *sigh*

27 Jun 01 - 11:56 AM (#493043)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: mousethief

Yes the worst possible thing a president could do is to sin sexually. This is far worse than making an end run around the constitution (Reagan and Bush Sr.), or lying under oath about political machinations (Nixon), or cutting a political deal to pardon the man who makes you the first unelected president in US history (Ford).

I still can't believe how bent out of shape people get about Clinton's sex life. Jealousy, perhaps?

Alex

27 Jun 01 - 12:14 PM (#493066)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: mousethief

Besides, we're not talking about impeaching the man for how he talks. We're just poking fun at him.

Alex

27 Jun 01 - 12:24 PM (#493076)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: Kim C

Well, I continualize to maintain that it shows a lacking in responsibilification to make hanky-panky in the office when you should be attendifying to important internationalate business. ;-)

27 Jun 01 - 12:35 PM (#493086)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: annamill

I don't really care about his dialect, Amos. I just wish he'd stop talking altogether...brrrr..

I hope he goes away soon!

(verygood ;-)

Love, Annamill

27 Jun 01 - 01:12 PM (#493132)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: Kim C

Actually I kind of like the word "strategery." Sort of a cross between strategy and treachery. As in "old age and strategery will always overcome youth and skillness."

27 Jun 01 - 01:39 PM (#493157)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: Pseudolus

If you're ever feeling down about the presidentiality thing, just close your eyes when your listening to him speechify and picture him in a red shirt with overalls attached on one shoulder as if he's starring in a new comic strip called, "Lil' Dubya".....always gets a chuckle out of me.....ya got George and Barbara as Mammy and Pappy Yokum....uh....I mean Mammy and Pappy Dubya....hmmm, who would play the rest of the characters?

Frank

27 Jun 01 - 01:48 PM (#493166)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: katlaughing

Thought ya'll might enjoy a little bit of FESTUS SPEAK.

27 Jun 01 - 02:00 PM (#493183)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: mousethief

fun, Kat!

27 Jun 01 - 02:08 PM (#493189)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: GUEST,SharonA

"Has anyone else noticed that when Bush is giving prepared speeches or responding to standard questions, that he is being given VERY simple, short sentences with no tricky words?"

Yes, but he can't read from a TelePromptr without Bushering the language, either!

----------

"...to sin sexually...is far worse than making an end run around the constitution"

In each case, a solemn vow is being broken and a trust betrayed.

----------

"...cutting a political deal to pardon the man who makes you the first unelected president in US history (Ford)"

Did you know Ford recently got a Profile in Courage award for that? (don't know the proper name for the award) (courageous=outrageous)

SharonA

27 Jun 01 - 02:27 PM (#493199)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: mousethief

In each case, a solemn vow is being broken and a trust betrayed.

Yes, but the vow he made to his wife, and whether or not he breaks it (and whether or not she decides to divorce him for it), is none of my business. The vow a president takes to uphold the constitution is very much my business.

Alex

27 Jun 01 - 02:52 PM (#493217)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: Kim C

Isn't there a vow about no hanky-panky in the office? ;-)

27 Jun 01 - 02:57 PM (#493224)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: mousethief

Well, Kim, many people have that same misunderstanding. This is due to the fact that there is a vow about no kinky slinky in the oval office -- sexual play with children's toys is not allowed. But there is no vow about staffers.

"But sir, I'm on your staff!"

"Not yet, but we can remedy that!"

Alex

27 Jun 01 - 03:05 PM (#493238)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: GUEST,SharonA

Sorry, mousethief, I completely missed the sarcasm in your earlier post! (Annyway, I'm one of those who believes that if a president is diddling in the Oval Office — our tax dollars at work — then it IS our business!!) ):^\

SharonA

27 Jun 01 - 03:10 PM (#493246)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: mousethief

Fair enough, Sharon. I think it was reprehensible and disgusting and foolish. But not impeachable.

The cigar thing shows he has a really racy imagination -- perhaps he should go into blue movies?

Alex

27 Jun 01 - 04:02 PM (#493288)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: Kim C

Well, then, I have clearily been deludenated.

27 Jun 01 - 04:02 PM (#493289)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: GUEST,Beadie

Considering that the President is on duty (and on the public payroll) 24/7 for at least four years, does that mean he must remain celibate for the whole time? I mean, after all, one way or the other, we're paying him to horse around, even if it is with his wife.

27 Jun 01 - 05:31 PM (#493381)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: GUEST,SharonA

Well, now, I wouldn't want him to be diddling with his wife in the Oval Office, either. What he does when — and where — he's not supposed to be actively conducting the business of the Presidency is his own affair (so to speak). Same as any other salaried employee.

On the other hand, the argument can be (and has been) made that the President's 24/7 conduct is a reflection on the nation as a whole... and we've certainly had more than one as-whole in office.

27 Jun 01 - 05:55 PM (#493400)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: mousethief

Thus proving we're all as-wholes [sic]?

Alex

27 Jun 01 - 10:39 PM (#493600)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: Amos

ALex, go home!!! You too bad the joke makin' thing are messing up with our heads and confuzzling the whole tarbation in these parrots!!

27 Jun 01 - 11:56 PM (#493647)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: JedMarum

Fucking hillarious.

28 Jun 01 - 09:21 AM (#493848)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: Uncle_DaveO

"Bushering the language". Wonnnnn-derful!

Dave Oesterreich

28 Jun 01 - 09:36 AM (#493853)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: wysiwyg

"Lil Dubya!" LOL!

"Bushering!" LOL!

But Amos! Can't you make this a song challenge to write songs in the dialect? What we need is pickertunities!

As a good friend used to say-- rolling off the floor. I mean, there's no two way street.

~Susan

28 Jun 01 - 06:29 PM (#494310)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: Amos

Hey, humor is a two-way floor, innit? I am not putting on false airs here,when we say that a good song is worth more than all the tea from Newcastle put together! I'm just trying to likely express my affectation for evvyone who contributed to this marvelous piece of thread!

28 Jun 01 - 06:30 PM (#494313)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: MAV

Geeesh!

Humorific.

mav out

29 Jun 01 - 03:53 AM (#494556)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: CarolC

I suppose I shouldn't point fingers. I know I'm as capable as the next person of making spectacular blunders. And it wasn't Bush himself who said this. But I just can't let this one go by without mention...

Unfortunately, I wasn't paying very close attention to the context. General Clark (don't know his first name) who appears to be a high ranking general who is in Europe on behalf of the U.S. said something about someone of importance travelling with his 'couturiere'. I am assuming that what he meant was 'coterie'.

Made me chuckle pretty good.

29 Jun 01 - 04:26 AM (#494558)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: catspaw49

I think I first became aware of how stupid Dubya sounds when I was writing a Cletus and Paw story and realized Cletus sounds a lot like GW.

Yogi Berra was another case entirely. Have you ever listened to Yogi in an interview when they start going through the "Yogi-isms?" Berra is almost like the old definition of "Idiot Savant." He has a spectacular memory and is a true genius in all things baseball, but the everyday world caught him unaware. He will tell you the 5th pitch thrown by Whitey Ford in the third inning against Ted Williams in some completely unremarkable Yankees/BoSox game 45 years ago but he then will explain how something he said makes complete sense ("It gets dark early out there".......Yogi responds quite seriously, "Well it does, see?")

Bush is just an idiot.

I guess if I have to explain it anymore than that it would be better off said in a different way or not at all if it's the same difference.

Spaw

29 Jun 01 - 10:02 AM (#494743)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: Kim C

It's kinda like in the movie Lonesome Dove, when Woodrow asks Gus why their sign says "We don't rent pigs."

Gus replies, "Well, we -don't- rent pigs."

03 Oct 01 - 08:39 PM (#564593)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: GUEST,Genie

Rather than start a new thread, I'll add this to this thread:

G W Bush, on Oct 2, 01 -"This Thursday, ticket counters and airlines will fly out of Ronald Reagan airport."

Oh, those flying ticket counters!

03 Oct 01 - 09:37 PM (#564627)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: Nancy King

Remember the subliminable rat?

Cheers, Nancy

03 Oct 01 - 11:50 PM (#564691)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: DougR

Funny, Genie, funny.

DougR

04 Oct 01 - 12:00 AM (#564695)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: JamesJim

Guess it "depends on what is, is." jc

04 Oct 01 - 01:37 AM (#564731)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: GUEST,Genie

Clinton was too facile with the language; Dubya, the opposite.
Both of them provided good fodder for comedians!
Does any politician not?
Genie

04 Oct 01 - 01:39 AM (#564732)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: GUEST,Genie

!*#@!!**@#!
I'm a member G*! D*@! it!
Why can't I get rid of the !#@**! "guest?!

04 Oct 01 - 01:54 AM (#564737)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: Amos

Reset Thy Cookie and Relax Thy Mind, Oh Genie -- and stay away from the bottle....?

08 Oct 01 - 08:32 PM (#567843)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: GUEST,Genie

Re: "Bushisms" and intelligence or knowledge, I would accept that one can be somewhat dyslexic, aphasic, etc., and still be quite knowledgeable and intelligent. But I understand that Bush recently talked about how the Gulf war "restored democracy to Kuwait."
If he did say that, that's ignorance that is very relevant to his job.
If we rid Afghanistan of Bin Laden and his cronies, would we be restoring the rights of the people in that country?

BTW, Amos, this time I just didn't bother to log on. But I have had a lot of trouble coming up as "guest," on many occasions right after I have finished resetting my cookie several times. That's why I swore in keyboard-ese.
Genie-who-is-not-a-guest.

08 Oct 01 - 09:00 PM (#567856)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: Donuel

Well there have been some reforms in Kuwait. I think women are now allowed to drive. W is clealy a dolt*. His biography underscores this.

*(in these times of war we all must seem to add that our views of the man is not a treasonous undermining of the values of freedom we treasure in our nation)

08 Oct 01 - 09:28 PM (#567868)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: Donuel

Dolt is too simplistic an explaination. He is the product of wealthy priviledge that promotes sub standard people progressively through positions that are undeserved.

08 Oct 01 - 10:03 PM (#567889)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: Troll

"You can acomplish a lot if you're handy with money."
Robert F. Rose, circa 1974

troll

26 Jun 02 - 10:28 AM (#737325)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: Amos

The latest logical proposition from SHrub is to raise the national debt ceiling. THis is kinda like someone who is maxed out on three credit cards solving the issue by ordering a new one, a piece of fiscal madness from any perspective of fiduciary balance. Worse, justifying it on the grounds that doing this proves you are even more credit-worthy, since you now have four credit cards to abuse into bankruptcy. That means more credit, right? Proves you're a good risk, sure!

But he has it all explained with the following deathless reasoning:

The Journal notes up high that President Bush sent a letter to House leaders urging them to raise the federal debt ceiling, which, Bush said, is the patriotic thing to do: "As we fight for freedom, we must not imperil the full faith and credit of the United States government."

Anyone detect any newspeak in the proposition that we should worsen our national financial profile on the grounds that it would imperil our national 'faith and credit' not to do so?

What planet are we on here, folks?

26 Jun 02 - 10:50 AM (#737351)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: mack/misophist

The Bush family only talks funny when they don't care what they're saying. Listen to them talk about big oil, the army, or re-writing the Constitution and they sound almost normal. Crazed, but normal.

26 Jun 02 - 12:06 PM (#737426)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: Deda

Best of Yogi Berra: "When you come to a fork in the road, take it."

W. isn't clever enough to have come up with that one. It's almost a koan (one of those eastern/ Bhuddist(?) mind-stretchers like "what is the sound of one hand clapping?").

W. is just a grievous blot on our political history, and extremely scary, given that his oil-money crony-ism is going to prevent any effective environmental measures for at least a couple more years, and in fact going to keep worsening our polluted biosphere at a suicidal rate, all the while with that nasty self-congratulatory smirk on his monkey face.

26 Jun 02 - 02:53 PM (#737563)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: Deda

Other than that, of course, and his mangled speech, he's a great guy. And he always speaks very highly of me, too, although we've agreed not to exchange any gifts this year.

26 Jun 02 - 03:07 PM (#737574)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: kendall

So, it's not ok for one president(Clinton) to "get it on" in the Oval office, but, it was ok for another(Harding) to do it in a closet with a maid. Depends on whose ox is gored. Anyone who has traveled outside the USA knows that we are a laughing stock with our hangups around sex. I actually know someone,(a republican) who firmly believes that Clintons sexcapades are way more serious in terms of damage to the country than was Iran-Contre, Arms for hostages, and Watergate. I aked if she was aware of what Dubbya is up to in lowering the air quality standards so the old inefficient power plants in the mid west can, not only continue to pollute the air that WE breathe, but, in fact, make it worse? No answer. All she said was, "I'm bloodied, but unbowed." She is the type who would vote for Jack the ripper if he were running as a republican. GAWD, I cant stand that kind of blind, unthinking party loyalty. Doug, my friend, Dubbya was a doofus before 9/11, and he is still a doofus. How can you fail to see that??

26 Jun 02 - 03:19 PM (#737590)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: Amos

It's all part of the great underground terror exchange -- not a new commodity, but one which has been making dough for newspapers and politicians since pre-history, I reckon; substitute bogeymen for probabilities and replace analysis with a buncha knee-jerk responses to scary rhetoric and bingo!! ya get a captive population offering you 60% of their sweat if you'll just make them dustbunnies and scary pictures go away...pleeeze???

:>)

26 Jun 02 - 10:37 PM (#737887)
Subject: RE: BS: Absurd in the Bush is Words, Too, ...
From: Amos

Interesting silence! :<) Couldn't be the wind blowing a bit too close to the bone, now?