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(AP Photo)
Weasel word: "Interpret"
"President Barack Obama named
federal appeals judge Sonia
Sotomayor as the nation's first
Hispanic Supreme Court justice on
Tuesday, praising her as 'an inspiring
woman' with both the intellect and
compassion to interpret the
Constitution wisely." – aol.news
Only modern "Living Document"
liberal Democrats and their kindred
Neocon Republican power hounds
would "interpret" rather than "apply"
the Constitution.
If a politician uses a weasel word, are journalists required to use it blindly in their articles? If they’re directly quoting the weasel the answer is yes. But if they’re taking their ideologically correct cues from the weasel and using the spurious speechifying themselves, they become the weasel.
Here are a few waffling weasel words that need popping.
1. “Invested”
“The Obama administration announced Thursday that it has invested $7.5 billion in GMAC, aiming to prop up the troubled lender and boost its ability to make loans to Chrysler dealers and customers.” – CNN
Investment? Politicians don't "invest." Investors invest. Politicians politick. Political operatives pay off their principle providers of pelf from the public purse, thereby laundering the money through “legitimate” activities where it’s run through the rinse cycle before being folded and packed away in the politico’s campaign coffers.
In this particular case, the “investment” is money stolen from citizens in the form of taxes and turned over to the bankers at GMAC (“the main source of financing for General Motors” – CNN) so people can buy cars which will keep GM afloat which will keep union workers working and paying dues to their union bosses who will keep funneling union money into the pockets of hard left liberal Democrats.
It’s an investment for the Obamanables, not for us. In this money-laundering scheme the taxpayers get hung out to dry.
2. “Abuse”
“Drug czar Gil Kerlikowske says one of his top priorities is curtailing abuse of prescription drugs such as the addictive painkiller OxyContin.” – Tennessean
No power-addicted drug warrior large or small can ever use the “drug” word minus the “abuse” word. There is no such thing in their intolerant, proscriptive worldview as “drug use” or “substance ingestion” or “prescription taking” or “alcohol consumption.” It’s always drug abuse, substance abuse, prescription abuse, alcohol abuse. In time we'll surely be hearing about Aspirin abuse and Pepto-Bismol abuse and tic tac abuse.
This is word abuse.
And put this in your crack pipe and smoke it. A Department of Health and Human Services survey in 2007 discovered that 75.3% of drug users (they actually said "users," not abusers) aged 18 and over were employed either full or part time. So why do we keep throwing perfectly employable people into prisons where we have to support them with our taxbucks?
3. "We Report, You Decide"
"For a network whose slogan is 'We Report, You Decide,' it would not make any sense if we didn't have an open forum for our fans." – foxnews.com
Fox news Channel will fairly and accurately report the full panoply of opinions of neo-conservatives, paleo-conservatives, moderate conservatives, Christian Evangelical conservatives, compassionate conservatives, liberal conservatives, Republican Party conservatives and minimum government libertarian-leaning conservatives and you can decide which one is right.
4. "Make sense of it all"
"Our job is to let folks know what's going on and to make sense of it all." - Brian Williams, NBC Nightly News promo
Once upon a time, whether it ever actually happened or not, the journalistic ideal was to report the facts, period. The self-consciously pious mandarins of the Fourth Estate prided themselves on their objectivity and neutrality and moral detachment. So it's almost refreshing to hear a mainstream media outlet openly admitting that its goal is not only to tell us what they think we should be told but what they think we should think about what we're being told.
Their tagline might as well be, "We Report and We Decide."
5. "Dwindling energy reserves"
"Russia raised the prospect of war in the Arctic yesterday as nations struggle for control of the world’s dwindling energy reserves." – Times Online
In this case the weasel words are used to crowd out the honest word. If allowed by media regurgitators, the correct phrase would be, "the world's dwindling access to energy reserves."
A National Petroleum Council working document, "Global Access to Oil and Gas," spelled it out for us just two years ago. Note how the non-weasel word "access" keeps popping up:
"For many reasons including the preservation of wildlife habitat or fragile ecosystems and public policies to further domestic economic and energy security goals, governments around the globe, including the United States, have reduced access to oil and natural gas resources."
"Up to 97% of oil (20 BBbls) and 87% of natural gas (162 Tcf) resources beneath federal lands onshore in the United States have significant access restrictions."
"Over 30 BBbls of oil and 134 Tcf of natural gas resources in offshore waters of North America (U.S. and Canada) are in moratoria areas inaccessible for leasing and development."
So why are we being told there's a shortage problem rather than an access problem? Think political control. Think ideological control. Think cultural control and social control and mind control.
Then ask yourself why big government power hounds lie to us about anything? And everything. And why they love weasel words so much?
It's long past time to pop the weasely worldcrats.
Comments
Indeed... as for the energy access, we need to help people understand how that came to be limited, ask by what right or authority it came to be limited by government, and discover how we can restore mankind's access to both energy and liberty.
"If they’re directly quoting the weasel the answer is yes."
nice of you to call the President of the United States of America a weasel.
Very patriotic of you...you seem to have something in common with the president of Iran.
I can start a collection for your plane ticket if you want to be with your kind.
Hey Walrus,
The current American Pharaoh cut his teeth on Chicago politics. Weasel is actually too mild a word.
he was what the majority of Americans wanted. Get used to it or move.
I'm sure Germany is ready for a 4th Reich
Gosh, Walrus, if 51% of the "American People" voted for you to step off a cliff, would that be good enough for you to carry it out? If 51% of your neighbors "voted" to burn YOUR house down, would that be ok with you?
"Democracy" is mob rule by any name. I rule my own life. I don't want or need the mob to tell me how to do it or force me to do things their way. I only wish to be left alone.
ding! ding! ding! ding!
Ladies & Gentlemen we are taking no more "Stupiest Analogies" contest entries.
We have a winner and the contest is closed!
MamaLiberty please come up to the stage and claim your prize!The rest of you, thank you for your submissions, but we can only give out one Grand Prize to the Stupidest Analogy. Please join us in Congradulating MamaLiberty as our Grand Prize Winner!!!
As we can all see, Walrus fits the progressive stereotype perfectly. He is all emotion, no rationality. It's not that he doesn't get reason, he's simply incapable of reasoning. He is what the conservatives call a Kool-Aid drinker. He makes even thoughtful progressives cringe.
wow, you have no singular thought at all...the conservative buzz word of the day
"kool-aid drinker" just came out the day before yesterday and here you are a borg-like drone using it...talking to one of you is like talking to all of you...I could listen to Rush and know every dogmatic buzzword that you will spew that day...do you have ANY original thoughts at all???
You don't even realize how small you seem when you use the conservative buzzword of the day...talk about kool-aid drinkers...damn, it fits your kind PERFECTLY...if we could just pay Rush to order all of you to drink the kool-aid while saying the daily buzzword most of America's problems would be behind us.
BTW the opposite of progressive is regressive and that explains alot.
to Walrus: Gottcha
I keep hearing that the left wants bi-partisanship, but I have seen no evidence of it from anyone on the left. Great article on “Words” Garry!
Donna, gyroscope2000.today.com says:
I keep hearing that the left wants bi-partisanship, but I have seen no evidence of it from anyone on the left.
this from the party of NO???
this from the party that attacked the POSSIBLE justice choices BEFORE the choice????
Republican politicians are actting like DIVAS that say no to all restaurants suggested by their rich husbands. We (democrats) finally decided to leave without them. Too late, too bad. THE WINNERS gave you a chance for a voice, you said NO...tough! Win an election to get a voice now.
Walrus, I hope that some day you learn that libertarians are not Republicans or conservatives or even rightwing. We're not Democrat or progressive or leftwing either. We're a whole different choice. We believe in all of your rights, civil as well as economic. Your life is yours, not the politician's. I hope you discover that soon.
sorry Garry but Libertarians have too much in common with republicans...they seem to be republican lite...especially when it comes to free trade...seems that the libertarian platform (or at least a large part of it) is geared towards getting rid of laws that control the robber barons and corporate polluters...most of the libertarian platform seems very selfish and self-absorbed to me...they want the government to protect their rights but don't want to pay for government to do so...I don't disagree with some of the platform...but it troubles me that it would make the perfect haven for the slumlord and sweatshop owner that doesn't wish to pay taxes or do their fair share of returning to the community what the community has ALLOWED them to make. What libertarians propose suggests nightmares of a laisse fare, Andrew Carnegie era..robber barons gone amuck...libertarian policy doesn't seem too community friendly...individual is all..very selfish.
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