Word Dance
Word Dance is a collection of definitions where honest words are freed at last from hostile captivity, cynical spin, and truth-abuse.
When kidnapped words are liberated, they run free. They celebrate their being. The words sing, dance, and blow ripples of lost truth to freshen the stale air. Cold lies are stripped naked, easy bullshit is washed away, and fast spin loses its momentum. Welcome, citizens, back to reality. And dance, words, dance.
- Activist Judge:
- A judge whose legal decisions annoy believers in right-wing dogma. ANTONYM: Strict Constructionist.
EXAMPLE #1 - In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling (9-0) in the case of "Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka." The Court declared that state laws for separate public schools for black and white children were illegal. In the highly-segregated U.S. South, this ruling was attacked and openly resisted even by governors: Harry Byrd (Virginia), Orval Faubus (Arkansas), and George Wallace (Alabama). For years, billboards appeared along highways all over the South and elsewhere: "Impeach Earl Warren." To segregationists, Chief Justice Earl Warren was a flaming "Communist" and an out-of-control "Activist Judge."
EXAMPLE #2 - In 2000, in the case of "Bush v. Gore," the U.S. Supreme Court intervened in the U.S. election and (by a 5-4 vote) awarded the Presidency to George W. Bush. The Court's majority stopped the recounting of votes in Florida. They claimed counting all the votes would do "irreparable harm" to candidate Bush. Somehow, they ignored the fact that NOT counting all votes would do "irreparable harm" to candidate Gore. The Court's decision was criticized as a violation of States Rights, of stare decisis (which says that prior court decisions must be recognized as precedents), and of judicial prudence, logic, and political neutrality.
Law professor Alan Dershowitz wrote that "the decision in the Florida election case may be ranked as the single most corrupt decision in Supreme Court history, because it is the only one that I know of where the majority justices decided as they did because of the personal identity and political affiliation of the litigants. This was cheating, and a violation of the judicial oath." [Supreme Injustice: How the High Court Hijacked Election 2000.] Also see: Jeffrey Toobin's The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court.
QUESTION: What would you call the five justices (namely: Renhquist, Kennedy, O'Connor, Scalia, and Thomas) who voted in the majority opinion on Bush v. Gore? Since they short-circuited existing laws, ignored fundamental principles of jurisprudence, and broke established precedents, were they "Activist Judges"? If so then, weren't the other justices (Breyer, Ginsburg, Souder, and Stevens) acting as "Strict Constructionists"? - Chickenhawk:
- A loud, aggressive advocate for starting wars—thus sending other people's sons and daughters off to fight, get wounded, and die—because a chickenhawk is an armchair warrior who personally never spent a day in uniform serving his or her country. Habitually, war-thirsty chickenhawks pooh-pooh diplomacy, hate the United Nations, and think the best-damn way to save and "democratize" a nation is to bomb it, invade it, or both. ANTONYM: Veteran. SYNONYMS: Coward; Hypocrite.
Actually, many political figures, right-wing commentators, and war supporters never served in the United States military, including: Spencer Abraham, Eliot Abrams, George Allen, John Ashcroft, Bill Bennett, Roy Blunt, John Boehner, Jeb Bush, Saxby Chambliss, Dick Cheney, John Cornyn, Ann Coulter, Charlie Daniels, Tom Delay, Bill Frist, Paul Gigot, Newt Gingrich, Rudy Giuliani, Phil Gramm, Sean Hannity, Dennis Hastert, Tim Hutchison, Laura Ingraham, Toby Keith, Jack Kemp, Bill Kristol, John Kyl, Wayne LaPierre, Scooter Libby, Joe Lieberman, Rush Limbaugh, Trent Lott, Michelle Malkin, Chris Matthews, Mitch McConnell, Michael Medved, Ted Nugent, Bill O'Reilly, George Pataki, Richard Perle, Dan Quayle, Ronald Reagan, Ralph Reed, Condoleeza Rice, Dana Rohrabacher, Mitt Romney, Karl Rove, Rick Santorum, Michael Savage, Antonin Scalia, Jean Schmidt, Richard Shelby, Kenneth Starr, Clarence Thomas, Fred Thompson, J.C. Watts, John Wayne, Vin Weber, George Will, and Paul Wolfowitz.
By comparison, these people are veterans of U.S. military service: Lloyd Bentsen, David Bonior, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush (partial credit—graded "Incomplete" for being absent the last two years of a six-year National Guard commitment), Jimmy Carter, James Carville, Wesley Clark, Max Cleland, Tom Daschle, Gray Davis, Bob Dole, Mike Dukakis, Gerald Ford, Richard Gephardt, John Glenn, Al Gore, Paul Hackett, Chuck Hagel, Tom Harkin, Daniel Inouye, Jim Jeffords, Ted Kennedy, Bob Kerrey, John Kerry, Tom Lantos, John McCain, George McGovern, Walter Mondale, Markos Moulitsas, Patrick Murphy, Jack Murtha, Colin Powell, Charles Rangel, Jack Reed, Randi Rhodes, Paul Rieckhoff, Chuck Robb, Joe Sestak, Ted Stevens, John Warner, Jim Webb, Heather Wilson, and Tony Zinni.
REFERENCE: Who Served in the Military? - Decider:
- A fool who makes life-or-death decisions based on gut-feel, ignores relevant facts, spins the rationale, belittles all critics, and stubbornly refuses to change course—even when the outcome will obviously be failure or disaster. SYNONYMS: Destroyer, Asshole, Doofus, Dumbass, Incompetent, Ninny, Twit.
- "Democrat" Party:
- An intentional insult used, instead of the correct "Democratic Party," by small-minded hacks who toss words as weapons to besmirch opponents whom they disrespect and secretly fear. The use of this slur has a long history among "Repub's," including William Harding, Harold Stassen, Joe McCarthy, and Bob Dole. The word was given new life by Republican pollster Frank Luntz and Newt Gingrich. In 1990, Gingrich wrote a memo, Language: A Key Mechanism of Control, which told Republicans they should use "Optimistic Positive Governing Words" (like crusade, freedom, liberty, peace,, and prosperity,), and brand opponents with "Contrasting Words" (like abuse of power, corruption, failure, traitors, and—worst of all—liberal. The point is: It's not what you do that counts: it's what you say. Even the uniter-not-divider President, George W. Bush, habitually uses the epithet, "Democrat," such as in his State of the Union Address, January 23, 2007, when he asked for bipartisan support while uttering this ironic jewel: "I congratulate the Democrat majority." ANTONYM: Democratic Party. SYNONYM: Hated enemy.
- Realpolitik:
- The practice by governments and their agents of making decisions with no regard for ethics, morals, human rights, justice, or laws. SYNONYMS: Machiavellianism; amorality; Henry Kissinger. ANTONYMS: International law; Jimmy Carter.
- Veteran:
- A person who served his or her country on active duty in the military. A veteran is a real human being, whose thoughts and feelings are more complex than a slogan small enough to fit on a bumper sticker or magnetic ribbon. A line of troops in uniform, standing at attention and looking strack, always makes an impressive backdrop for a Presidential photo op.
All veterans carry wounds: some are just less visible than others. The best ways to "Support the Troops" are to: (a) NOT put them in harm's way without just cause; (b) give them the leadership, strategy, and equipment to perform the mission with success; and, (c) take care of them and their famllies in every way—medically, psychologically, financially—while they're gone and when they come back home. ANTONYMS: Chickenhawk; Bush Administration. SYNONYMS: Jimmy Carter, Max Cleland, Al Gore, Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, John McCain. REFERENCE: Who Served in the Military?
