It's up the Bush Administration,and now the Obama Administration to define words, and NPR's ( & other "journalists") job to adopt those definitions unchallenged? Sheez!!! She actually said that!? Had to listen to it twice, to make sure I heard that.
Re the latest proposed travesty, (as I said back in '01) somebody should inform these depraved a-holes that Kafka didn't intend to write a #!&^#@!!! how-to manual.
-- mikeinportc
Permalink Wednesday, July 8, 2009 12:11 PM
The above comment appeared in a comment thread which accompanies a typically hard-hitting Greenwald post. I was inspired to respond that perhaps we should parody an "official" government-sponsored dictionary.
Please feel free to add the most odious and officious definitions and euphemisms that you have heard of-- or are willing to invent-- in the comments here.
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6 comments:
"Spying on citizens" is alternately both "keeping us safe" and "collecting foreign intelligence".
"Military Commissions" have replaced the old "kangaroo court".
And the all-time winner: "Tyranny" is repackaged as the "unitary executive".
Gosh, Karen, this could go on forever...
Speaking of "unitary"...
I have a fascination for Jasper Fforde's novels about the literary detective, Thursday Next.
One of the recurring characters is the Cat formerly known as Cheshire, who for awhile was the 'Unitary Authority of Warrington Cat' because they had changed the county boundaries.
But he's back to being the Cat formerly known as Cheshire.
Fforde is on to something with this series. The world in this parallel universe is in danger of being dominated by a large corporation, "Goliath." You might find them amusing. The first one is "The Eyre Affair."
Hey, my first comment disappeared!
Yes, Jim, this could go on for quite some time... [sigh]
But we might as well get something as close as possible to resembling either a silver lining or comedy gold.
from the UT thread today...
For Anonymust
A euphemism:
But Smo interrupts: "There is no solitary confinement here. They just spend a lot of time alone in their cells."
http://www.tampabay.com/news/military/war/article1015673.ece
-- bystander
Thursday, July 9, 2009 02:24 PM
I've been trying to ignore the worst of the euphemisms that are bandied about for war crimes and domestic felonies, but I had toyed with the idea of making a glossary of terms that have been held over or brought back from WW II for the Global War on Terror:
Verschärfte Vernehmung = "Enhanced Interrogation"
Blitzkrieg = "Shock and Awe"
Reichssicherheitshauptamt = Department of Homeland Security
Arbeit macht Frei = "We will be greeted as liberators"
Kraft durch Freude = "This war will pay for itself"
大東亞共榮圈 (Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere) = Project for the New American Century
You think it's a coincidence that the head of the Gestapo was Müller and the head of the FBI is Mueller? Fat chance.
Sounds more like Karma or, even better, something based on numerology, but certainly not on coincidence.
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