More Second Amendment Insanity

South Carolina law makers have got to be kidding, right?

Catch This Phrase, Trump

I'm sure everyone who reads this blog is just as indifferent as I am to the fact that NBC decided not to renew Donald Trump's once-popular-but-now-tired-out reality show, The Apprentice. But perhaps someone out there in the blogosphere shares my frustration with the media's overly generous assessment of the Trump's contributions to the English language. In MSNBC's article on the now-canceled show:

His announcement appeared to end any lingering doubt that “The Apprentice,” which turned the self-styled tycoon into a television star and popularized the catch phrase, “You’re fired,” would be banished from NBC’s airwaves next season.

Um, please excuse me, but "You're fired" is no catch phrase! Those two little words signaled doom for less-than-stellar employees everywhere long before The Apprentice hit the airwaves; and last time I checked, Trump's attempt to copyright the phrase failed miserably because of its already ubiquitous meaning and common usage. And just to support my critique, Dictionary.com defines a "catchphrase" as thus:

1. a phrase that attracts or is meant to attract attention.
2. a phrase, as a slogan, that comes to be widely and repeatedly used, often with little of the original meaning remaining.

I'm sure I don't need to enthusiastically explain why "You're fired" doesn't live up to either of these definitions, but please - if you have any questions - consult me and I'll do my best. And please, MSNBC, the last thing The Donald needs is another stroke of his - er - pat on his back. Don't encourage him further!

A Poor Take On The Fire Drill

In a completely and utterly disgusting move by a group of Tennessee teachers (which I'd like to think could only happen in the Black Hills, but unfortunately believe this may become a trend), 69 terrified sixth graders were subjects of a staged gunman attack during a week-long educational class trip to a national park. According to the MSNBC article, teachers and the school's assistant principal decided to fake an attack after discussing amongst staff how they would react in a real situation. The students were not warned that there would be a "drill" of this nature, and believed whole heartedly that the teacher disguised in a hooded-sweatshirt with a fake gun was on a rampage out to kill them.

Understandably, parents of the children exposed to the simulated assault are outraged. The responsible administration and teachers offered absolutely no justification for the "drill," nor did they indicate that the students were supposed to take any particular lesson or message from the simulation (20 of whom reportedly sobbed in the dark, begging for their lives whilst hiding under tables and chairs during the attack).

I am sickened to think that our nation has reached such a boiling point in the hysteria of gun-culture that shooting-rampage drills are even a remote possibility on the horizon. We should not be preparing school children for gun attacks á la fire & earthquake drills!!! Fires and earthquakes are natural disasters which occur unpredictably by the forces of nature, and thus we should reasonably prepare students to respond appropriately to such phenomena. SHOOTING ATTACKS, on the other hand, are the very specific actions of psychotic individuals armed with GUNS, which are often legally-obtained by violence perpetrators and which are MOST CERTAINLY not natural extensions of the human body creating natural disastrous phenomena. On the contrary, guns are decisively unnatural tools of violence - available only in very recent human history - and integrated haphazardly into a nation where guns morphed from tools for the protection of cattle on homesteads to concealed semiautomatic weapons for use in gang, school, and domestic violence in less than a century. It seems that sanctioning shooting attack drills in schools signals our society's acceptance of, or acquiescence to, its own pitiful ability to control firearms possession.

I've said it once and I'll say it again: Guns do not belong in American society. Get rid of the god damn Second Amendment.

Bye, Bye Blair

Prime Minister Tony Blair announced his long-anticipated resignation today, prompted in part by free-falling public approval ratings due to his partnership with President Bush in Iraq. But although there are cheers for change in Britain, I am sad to see a largely successful world leader step down. As Blair reminds us in today's speech, he has made a remarkable difference for the UK domestically (in terms of education, health, and gay rights) and has helped made Britain's economy stronger than ever (a fact I know ALLLLLL too well from living abroad there for the Fall semester... screw that damned exchange rate!!). So Blair, I kiss you goodbye, wish you the best of luck, and I do indeed hope that speculation about an active Clinton-esque foundation in your name is soon to come!

See the resignation announcement here: