Political Hippo Circle Jerk - America, farg YEAH!

[shorebird]

I'm really not a fan of Michele Obama, but man, I can't stand friggen' Sarah Palin. What an embarrassment she is. She's slamming the First Lady for wanting to help children. Let me tell you, anyone who has a set of eyes can see that childhood obesity is a problem in this country. Her constant belittling of the First Lady is becoming tiresome and boring. You'd think that if she has serious aspirations for the presidency that when on a stage were a lot of people will hear her words, she'd want to talk about something with a little more gravity. Like maybe world news or the economy. But noooo! Palin is a fargin' hack and Barbara Bush has never said anything more right than when she said Palin should stay in Alaska.

[Diomedes]

You could be right, I am admittedly not a semantic genius.

You know this kind of chaps my ass.  Since when does knowing the difference between the meaning of words make you a semantic genius?  Since when are aristocracy and plutocracy words that are just too obscure for serious discussion among presumably educated adults?

I had this argument the other day.  Someone was using the word "anonymous" in talking about the fact that the origin of something was not known.  I tried to explain that anonymous is "name known but deliberately witheld."  For example, someone knows who gave a million dollars to the children's hospital, but the donor wished not to be known, so his name was witheld and "anonymous" was listed in the pamphlet at the big banquet.  The pamphlet did not say "unknown."  We don't attribute the invention of Chess to "anonymous" because to the best of our knowledge it was not created by a single individual who for whatever reason wanted his identity to be kept secret:  we say that the inventor is unknown.  To say that use of the word "anonymous" is incorrect language in this example is an understatement:  it's incorrect thinking.

If knowing the difference between words like these and caring about the power that preserving those definitions and usages gives us as thinking creatures makes me some kind of semantic elitist or something, then we really are living in Idiocracy, because these are easy distinctions of basic word, not obtuse dissections of super complicated overly-specialized language.

[Diomedes]

What could anyone possibly have against Michelle Obama?  She's perfectly innocuous. 

[shorebird]

I had to come back on this because apparently that crazy ass bitch up in Alaska has no idea what shes talking about when she says that the First Lady doesn't trust parents to make the right decisions about what there kids eat. From what I know, Madam President's campaign is nothing at all like that. What she's doing is making an attempt to provide the parents of children in this country with information that will allow them to provide a good, healthy diet for their kids. I, for one, applaud her efforts and think it's one of the really good things shes doing so far. I mean, be honest, how many of us have been in the drive thru line at Micky D's and seen that mini van full of kids with Mom at the wheel. You can't blame Mom too much, it's the easy way out and I'd probably be inclined to do the same thing. The First Lady wants to educate parents on whats good to eat, and have regulations so schools provide healthier meals for kids, which is imo, really a problem country. School lunches are mostly crap. She also has a lot of measures that are geared towards limiting big food companies ability to target kids in advertising. We might be looking at the end of the happymeal, which should have been done long ago, imo. She has some character named Buddy Bison that is promoting outdoor activity. I wonder if the kids realize how tasty bison actually is, and it has half the fat content of beef!

So basically, Palin is a crazy, ignorant ass bitch, an embarrassment to her political party, and needs to just STFU already.

[shorebird]

What could anyone possibly have against Michelle Obama? She's perfectly innocuous. 

I don't know if I'd say that about her, after all, she's one of if not the most powerful women in the world. Her words carry a lot of weight. Thats why people are dissecting her obesity plan.

[Diomedes]

She's done nothing and said nothing remotely offensive or divisive.  Only Obama haters have a problem with her. 

[shorebird]

Well, there are a lot of people who still haven't gotten' over what she said about being proud of her country. I don't want to rehash an old argument, but to say she hasn't said anything offensive to some, even if it is Obama haters, is leaning a lot to the left, and really the same reaction of the people who have a problem with her, just opposite. Some people just can't let stuff go. I can, and like I said, I applaud her efforts towards childhood obesity.

[Diomedes]

You and I both know that comment was harmless and warped out of context by people who hate her because she's married to Obama.

[Munson]

^^^^Yup


Also, like many other childhood problems, obesity disproportionally effects on a socio-economic scale. Poorer, and thus blacker, children tend to be eating more unhealthy because unhealthy food is more affordable. Of course that racist hick from Alaska won't know shtein about it.

[shorebird]

^^^^Yup


Also, like many other childhood problems, obesity disproportionally effects on a socio-economic scale. Poorer, and thus blacker, children tend to be eating more unhealthy because unhealthy food is more affordable. Of course that racist hick from Alaska won't know shtein about it.

No. Are you saying black kids are more apt to eat unhealthy because the food is cheaper? Cmon'. That just isn't true. It's all kids from all walks of life. Junk food, fast food and school lunches are the main culprits here, as are parents that are either too lazy or just uneducated as to whats healthy and whats not. It's not any more expensive to eat less and more healthy food.

[MMH]

Don't underestimate the effect of food deserts.

[Sgt PSN]

No. Are you saying black kids are more apt to eat unhealthy because the food is cheaper? Cmon'. That just isn't true. It's all kids from all walks of life. Junk food, fast food and school lunches are the main culprits here, as are parents that are either too lazy or just uneducated as to whats healthy and whats not. It's not any more expensive to eat less and more healthy food.

Not true. Healthy food is more expensive. Fresh fruit and vegetables are relatively cheap but other than that anything labeled as healthy on the grocery store shelves are usually more expensive than their fat filled counterparts.

[Eagaholic]

You could be right, I am admittedly not a semantic genius.

You know this kind of chaps my ass.  Since when does knowing the difference between the meaning of words make you a semantic genius?  Since when are aristocracy and plutocracy words that are just too obscure for serious discussion among presumably educated adults?

I had this argument the other day.  Someone was using the word "anonymous" in talking about the fact that the origin of something was not known.  I tried to explain that anonymous is "name known but deliberately witheld."  For example, someone knows who gave a million dollars to the children's hospital, but the donor wished not to be known, so his name was witheld and "anonymous" was listed in the pamphlet at the big banquet.  The pamphlet did not say "unknown."  We don't attribute the invention of Chess to "anonymous" because to the best of our knowledge it was not created by a single individual who for whatever reason wanted his identity to be kept secret:  we say that the inventor is unknown.  To say that use of the word "anonymous" is incorrect language in this example is an understatement:  it's incorrect thinking.

If knowing the difference between words like these and caring about the power that preserving those definitions and usages gives us as thinking creatures makes me some kind of semantic elitist or something, then we really are living in Idiocracy, because these are easy distinctions of basic word, not obtuse dissections of super complicated overly-specialized language.

wow, looks like somebody (unknown) was hitting the pumpkin pie a little early.

Personally, I'd be quite happy if people could learn the difference between when to use the word then and than.

[Sgt PSN]

Nothing pisses me off more then that.

[Eagaholic]

You're antisemantic