A Laugh a Day

Quote of the Day:

Now the gardener is the one who has seen everything ruined so many times
that (even as his pain increases with each loss) he comprehends - truly
knows - that where there was a garden once, it can be again, or where
there never was, there yet can be a garden.
~ Henry Mitchell ~

Viewing the world objectively can sometimes be a depressing. The way children are programmed into particular roles, whether through Barbie or the latest killing game, can knock one off the edge. Especially when you begin to see and understand how it worked on You.

I remember the games I played way back when. Now, double dutch is an ice cream and hide n seek is about nonexistent WMD. Sure do hope there are still a few kids out there who know the fun of jump rope.

Today, John Rappoport said that "depression is a reflection of the Four-Wall feeling. Surrounded on all sides. No way out."

If there is a way out it could be found by looking within and understanding how your machine has been programmed. This is the composting of Sacred Cow manure which nurtures the inner garden.

It's dirty work. And sometimes requires a good laugh. Humor seems to help in seeing the objective reality. When you can really laugh at your self and the little I's self importance begins to swirl down the drain.

If you left your objectivity at home or are taking your little I's too seriously, then you may not want to read the post over at AlterNet on the new dictionary being constructed which describes the current administrations attempt to rewrite certain words and phrases in a way which is favorable for them.

Below are some alternative definitions from the AlterNet piece. If you are really interested in researching the way words are being used to change a person's perception of 'reality' I suggest you take a look at this article which describes how definations are being changed to suit the purposes of social control.

"The definitions of numerous key concepts have changed and are changing ever more rapidly in the present day. This process seems to have begun with the additions of tertiary, or lesser, and slang definitions, shifting in the direction of the concepts the Deceiver wants to achieve. Although a gradual alteration in the spellings, pronunciations and meanings of words does occur naturally, in the process known as linguistic drift, it does not normally happen in so brief a span as a few decades. The speed with which this is occurring strongly suggests deliberate controls are being imposed on words."

On to "The Laughs"

Nationalism n: How foreigners love their country (when they do). A very dangerous phenomenon that can lead to extremes of passion, blindness, and xenophobia. (See, Terrorism)

Oil n: 1. Black gold. 2. (defunct acronym) Operation Iraqi Liberation or OIL (name changed to Operation Iraqi Freedom, OIF, without explanation). 3. What the Bush administration wasn't after in Iraq and isn't after in Iran. (See, Democracy)

Patriotism n: How Americans love their country. A trait so positive you can't have too much of it, and if you do, then you are a super-patriot which couldn't be better. (Foreigners cannot be patriotic. See, Nationalism)

Pentagon n: Formerly, the Defense Department, but since we now have a new defense department (see, Homeland Security Department), soon be renamed the Global Forward Deployment Department or GFDD (Ge-Fudd). Its forward-deployed headquarters will be established in a two-sided building, the Duogon, now being constructed in Bahrain out of sand imported from the beaches of Texas by Halliburton subsidiary KBR. From there, it plans to rule the known world.
TOM ENGELHARDT

Checks and Balances: The system whereby the campaign checks of the few balance the interests of the many.

Free Speech Zone: The area to which those who differ from the administration are confined should they be so audacious as to wish to exercise their right of free speech.

Free Press: 1. Government propaganda materials covertly funded with a quarter of a billion dollars of taxpayer money but given out for free to the press and then broadcast without any acknowledgment of the government's role in their preparation. 2. Newspapers that obscure the truth on behalf of corporate and government interests for free.

Town-hall Meeting: A meeting in a hall in a town where all the participants have first been vetted for loyalty to the Bush administration.

Mandate: 1. The opinion expressed by about a quarter of the eligible voters. 2. The opinion reflected in an electoral-vote margin smaller than in any 20th century election other than 1916 and 2000. 3. The opinion expressed by the smallest popular vote margin obtained by a sitting president since 1916.
STEPHEN SHALOM

Abuse n: Modern word for what was once referred to as torture. An interim term, soon to be replaced by "tough love" (which, in turn, is expected to be replaced by "freedom's caress").

Mullah n: 1. (archaic) Religious teacher or leader, a title of respect in Islamic countries, pronounced "mull-a." 2. (informal) In the modern presidential vernacular, a title of disrespect (pronounced "moo-lah") in reference to Muslims deemed too fanatical to be bought-off by American "moo-lah."

Rummy slang: 1. (archaic) A person so drunk he can't recall a thing. 2. (modern) A SECDEF so drunk on power that he refuses to remember anything.
NICK TURSE

Culture Humor Language Society