From the category archives:

POLITICS

DEFERENCE: respectful submission or yielding to the judgment, opinion, will, etc., of another

August 29, 2010

There are some who would identify deference as a weakness.  In an age and society in which getting ahead at any cost prevails, the idea of acknowledging the superiority of another can be seen as a sign of inferiority.  Those who strive for the top of the pile might subscribe to the theory that one [...]

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TRANSPARENCY: a clear picture of what is taking place; no smoke screens

August 25, 2010

You have heard me talk about my favorite coffee shop, the LaSalle Bakery in Providence.  It is where I have my bran muffin and coffee every morning.  It is also where I read the New York Times, chat with regulars and staff about the Red Sox and the Syracuse Orange.  But it also where I [...]

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SYCOPHANT: a self-seeking, servile flatterer

August 19, 2010

It is the beginning of a full-fledged political season.  Oh, there has been a good blast of political shenanigans already, but it’s only a warm-up to the real thing.  After the September sorting out of legitimate candidates for the parties, otherwise known as the primaries, it becomes open season for behavior that can only be [...]

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GROUND ZERO: the point on the earth’s surface where an explosion occurs

August 17, 2010

Prior to 9/11/01 the term ground zero was a generic term, primarily military, which referred to any point on the earth’s surface beneath which a designated explosion took place.  It was first used, according to Wikipedia, to refer to the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Since 2001, however, the term has become synonymous with that area [...]

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APPARATCHICK: a bureaucrat appointed for ideological reasons rather than skills

August 16, 2010

I know.  I’ve been there also.  The DMV for instance.   There I stand, facing a man or woman who is paid to be nasty…or that’s what it seems like.  I come to the conclusion that if I was to read their job description it would say:
It is your function to make the applicant feel ignorant [...]

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CITIZENSHIP: a 14th Amendment battle emerges

August 9, 2010

The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides citizenship for any baby born in the United States.  As the media has clarified over the past week or so, the Amendment came about after the Civil War to allow for the citizenship of babies born to those who had been brought to this country as slaves.  [...]

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PRAGMATIC: a decision which makes sense, given the current circumstances

August 6, 2010

Sixty-five years ago today the United States government carried out a decision which made sense in a pragmatic way, but which was, perhaps, the most disastrous moral and ethical decision of modern times.  It was a fulcrum day which signaled the beginning of a new era in human existence.
A U. S. plane flew over Hiroshima, [...]

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DISABLED: Challenged to discover new ways to function

July 26, 2010

Today is the observance of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, one of the most humane pieces of legislation to take place in the past fifty years.  With its passage and signature of the President the hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities in this country achieved full stature of citizenship and a [...]

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NOES: the plural form of the word “no”

July 20, 2010

In a recent article I read the report of someone who was making the case that the Republicans in Congress are the” Party of No!” It is a  criticism which we have heard numerous times over the past eighteen months of the Obama administration.  Clearly, it is a technique decided upon and organized by the [...]

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PRIMARY: the selection process within a political party by which potential candidates attain party nomination

July 18, 2010

We have entered that season of a mid-term election when we begin to sort out the potential candidates for office.  Prior to this a huge number of people have thrown their names into the hat as a test to see what kind of response they get.  Now we see them pulling out, having determined that [...]

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