Posts tagged as:

President Obama

RISIBLE [RIZ-uh-buhl] : laughable, comical

February 16, 2013

When Senator John McCain issued his “explanation” for choosing to participate in a Senate debacle to delay the nomination of Chuck Hagel for Secretary of Defense, I found it incredulous.   His rationale for disputing Hagel’s nomination is based upon the fact that during the Bush administration then Republican Senator Hagel said something disparaging about President [...]

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HACKLES: the erectile hair on the back of an animal’s neck … or … a response of a person to being “attacked”

February 5, 2013

It’s such a common thing for someone to say that a person “has his hackles up” that it might never occur to you to consider where that phrase comes from.  It turns out that it’s a simple matter. Hackles, as illustrated to the right, are hairs that grow on the back of animals, particular those [...]

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GOT: must

January 23, 2013

It’s an Americanism, they tell me, to say something like “I gotta go now.“ It may be informal or even slang talk, but I have to say it’s really common.   One of the most common users of the got phrase is none other than the President of the United States.  He is forever saying something [...]

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PROPHETIC: predictive and thoughtfully advisory

January 22, 2013

A number of people have indicated that President Obama’s 2nd Inaugural Speech was, among other things, prophetic.  Douglas Brinkley, the respected historian, said this morning that it ranks among the best 2nd term speeches in history.  He is one who cites it as having been prophetic. Some have said it was more political than prophetic.  [...]

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INAUGURATE : to make a formal beginning of; initiate; commence; begin:

January 21, 2013

This won’t be a long post.   It doesn’t require a lot of words. Today Barack Obama takes the oath of office to begin his second term as President of the United States.   It is not as historically significant as it was four years ago when he was the first African-American to take the oath.  But [...]

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CIVIL CULTURE: the arena outside of the family, the state, and the market where people associate to advance common interests.*

January 17, 2013

The debate about guns, violent films, and other stimuli for violence took a nice turn this morning when Morning Joe held a civil discussion about the larger issues on its daily MSNBC program.  The presence of Tom Brokaw always seems to bring a more civil sense of decorum to the show, and today was a [...]

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PERSONA NON GRATA [per-SOH-nah nohn GRAH-tah] : someone who is unwelcome

January 10, 2013

In a radio commentary sometime over the past couple of days President Obama’s  nominee for Secretary of Defense, former Senator Chuck Hagel (R/ Neb) was referred to as a persona non grata among his fellow Republicans in Congress.   The accusation, which others say is exaggerated, stems from his outspoken opposition to some of the issues [...]

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EPITHET [EP-uh-thet] : an especially apt description or label, or, a slur or abusive term

January 6, 2013

Words are frequently mis-understood, especially in the heat of argument.   How’s that for an understatement? But when a word is mis-characterized due to an overabundance of abuse and ignorance, the mis-understanding is regrettable but correctable.  Such is the case for the word epithet. Epithet is a word commonly understood to mean a negative or abusive [...]

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CARAPACE [KAR-uh-peys] : a hard shell, as on a turtle or armadillo

December 9, 2012

I am of the opinion that there is no such thing as a living armadillo.   Having lived in the near southwest for several years and traveling the roads pretty frequently, I have seen my share of armadillos, that creepy, pointy animal with a hard shell and a long, bony tail.  But they are all dead, [...]

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SEGUE [SEG-way] : to make a smooth transition

December 8, 2012

One of the criteria which depicts the American way of governance is the smooth transition from one presidential administration to another.   It is recognized as a segue: a transition without conflict or violence. In some countries the transition of leadership is by coup or armed revolt.   Violence in the streets and loss of life is [...]

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