Skip to content

Category Archives: Language

Conceding the Frame

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Barney Frank sent me an email the other day. He was warning me about a “right-wing, pro-life group”. It never ceases to amaze me. The Democrats alway seem eager to let the Republicans frame the terms of debate, constantly ceding the rhetorical high ground. I can understand why the Republicans want to call themselves “pro-life”, […]

Also filed in Democrats | | Comments (1)

A word about some words

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Recently, Sarah Palin feigned outrage at the fact that Rahm Emmanuel called the people that elected his boss into office “fucking retards”. Naturally, neither she or anyone else objected to the insult to people who were only asking that Obama fulfill his promises; rather, her faux anger was voiced on behalf of the mentally retarded, […]

Also filed in | | Comments (0)

Non sequitur

Thursday, February 4, 2010

1. An inference or conclusion that does not follow from the premises or evidence. 2. A statement that does not follow logically from what preceded it. Let Justice Thomas illustrate: Justice Thomas responded to several questions from students at Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport, Fla., concerning the campaign finance case, Citizens United v. […]

Also filed in | | Comments (0)

Sunday Book Review

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Be warned. This is long and I’m not sure it’s worth the reading, but I enjoyed writing it, so what the heck. Most of the books I read concern events that happened a long long time ago, if not far away. Thus, they are not really appropriate for comment on this blog. The book I […]

Also filed in Politics, Rants | | Comments (1)

Another day, another meme

Saturday, June 13, 2009

One of the latest right wing memes accuses Obama of having a Messiah Complex. Charles Krauthammer runs with that argument in a column reproduced in this morning’s Day. (I will not link to Krauthammer, but you should have no trouble finding it). Krauthammer is actually a psychiatrist, though you’d never know it by reading his […]

Also filed in Hypocrisy | | Comments (0)

Setting the terms of the debate

Friday, May 15, 2009

One of my pet peeves is the fact that even people who favor abortion rights have allowed the anti-abortion crowd to call themselves “pro-life”. Those who favor abortion rights, rather than just insisting on the term “anti-abortion” have simply opted for calling themselves pro-choice. In my own humble opinion, this has meant that the anti-abortion […]

Also filed in | | Comments (0)

What’s in a word?

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

I highly recommend this column in today’s Times, by David Leonhardt, in which he argues that today’s financial crisis was caused by people who knew they were free to ruin the economy, making big bucks for themselves in the process, because they knew the government would step in and bail them out. In a word, […]

Also filed in | | Comments (0)