If the NY Times Can't Get It Right

So, the NY Times this morning contains a piece by Robert D. McFadden on the Binghamton, N.Y., immigration center shootings. Here's the first sentence: "A gunman invaded an immigration services center in downtown Binghamton, N.Y., during citizenship classes on Friday and shot 13 people to death and critically wounded 4 others before killing himself in a paroxysm of violence that turned a quiet civic setting into scenes of carnage and chaos."

A paroxysm of violence? Since paroxysm means: "a sudden violent emotion or action," this phrase says: a sudden violent action of violence. If ya wanta to show off your big vocabulary to us yokels, ya really oughta use the words properly.

Interestingly, the front page lead to this story was: "A gunman invaded an immigration services center in Binghamton, N.Y., on Friday, killing 13 people and himself in a paroxysm of violence, the police said." So, we're really supposed to believe the police spokesperson was the one who said "paroxysm of violence"? I'm not buying it. Oh, and I'm also not buying the NY Times. For me, this is a good example of why newspapers are experiencing severe declines in circulation--- declines in credibility. If the NY Times can't get it right, who will?

Obama's Ethics: After Geithner, Lynn

"In a written statement released moments ago, Armed Service Committee Chairman Carl Levin said the administration '"has removed an obstacle to the confirmation of Bill Lynn to be Deputy Secretary of Defense by waiving the provisions of President Obama's Executive Order on Ethics Commitments that would have precluded Mr. Lynn's service.'"

So, that stuff about ethics, Mr. President? You really didn't mean it, huh?

Geithner Should Not Be Allowed Cabinet Post

Geithner failed to pay some of his taxes until he was caught. When caught he paid only those taxes and penalties for which he could be prosecuted. He did not pay those taxes he owed for which the statute of limitations had run. He is, therefore, a successful criminal.

Geithner adhered to the letter of the law, but not to its spirit. While this is acceptable behavior for the average person in our society, it is not appropriate for a nominee for high office with significant fiduciary, law enforcement and legal responsibilities.

His nomination should be withdrawn by the President who has made ethics a primary value of his administration. Failing that the Senate should vote against his nomination.

President Obama's Inaugural Address - A Minor Issue

When President Obama said in his inaugural address (paragraph 2), "Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath," the lady to my left, my wife, said, "That's not right."

According to my lights, she's right. While President Obama is considered president number 44, that is because Grover Cleveland is considered numbers 22 and 24. So, as she says, the correct statement is "Forty-three Americans have now taken the presidential oath."

The Best Day in the Last Eight Years

When I awoke this morning I knew it was a special day: Bush would be gone and Barack Obama would be President of the United States. I stepped outside. A thin blanket of white covered everything. It was light, fluffy. What a beautiful sight. Clean. What a beautiful feeling. Pure.

Filled with hope for the first time in more than eight years, I embraced the day, enjoying the freshness, but determined to watch carefully, prepared to speak up.

As the Door Closes on Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, et.al.

A rousing chorus as the door hits each one in the butt:

Ding! Dong! The monster's gone...

How Quickly Things Change

In The End of America, published in 2007, Naomi Wolf says:

But we are not wracked by rioting in the streets or a major depression here in America today. That is why the success that the Bush administration has had in invoking "Islamofascism" is so insidious: We have been willing to trade our key freedoms for a promised state of security in spite of our living in conditions of overwhelming stability, affluence and social order. This is quite a feat in the annals of such victories: It is unprecedented to strip people of key freedoms in an atmosphere of bourgeois equilibrium. It takes potent mythologizing.

How quickly things change. The Bush administration has managed to create a major depression in America by first looting or allowing looting of the banks and other financial institutions, then disgorging trillions from the U.S. Treasury giving them more to disappear. Ms. Wolf is a clear and critical thinker. I wonder what she's thinking today.