Last week, there was this brief colorful exchange between two council folks in DC (it's best not to mention their names), where some brief but decent profanity was uttered in a public forum.
This brief uttered profanity greatly disturbed the city council.....so much so, that DC decided that it'd add an amendment to the city council's code of conduct. Basically....you can't cuss or utter profanity at any city council function.
I was kind of amazed by the action. They didn't run down the various phrases which would get you in trouble....which means dozens of phrases are probably acceptable because they don't fall in the f***, s***, or such listing. I'm guessing that a dozen special phrases have been passed around the city council chambers.....which would allow them to vent anger, and make other parties aware of their hostile feelings.
The impact of this? Well....the way that the rule works....someone will stand up and note that you cussed. They will ask you to stop. If you continue your cussing tirade, then the city council will ask that you leave the room, and if you don't.....they probably will note your bad behavior and maybe just end the session, period. This wasn't exactly clear on the end result.
So we can now bring our kids into city council meetings and be assured that no cussing will be uttered in front of them. It's a pretty nifty feeling. While profanity is uttered throughout the streets of DC.....we will be in a pure and clean environment. I expect unicorns to be handed out in future city council meetings. And eventually, some knight in shining armor will come to fix all the corruption in town. Well.....maybe.
Tuesday, 21 February 2012
Just a Satan Minute
At some point in 2008....Presidential candidate Rick Santorum announced: "Satan has his sights on the United States of America! Satan is attacking the great institutions of America, using those great vices of pride, vanity, and sensuality as the root to attack all of the strong plants that has so deeply rooted in the American tradition."
This came out today, and got a fair amount of media time from most of the top dozen TV news folks.
You can imagine Matt Lauer from the Today Show....trying to figure a way to discuss this and criticize it. First, he has declare there is no Satan, and then he has to make this all look pretty foolish. Course, around fifty percent of the women who are watching the Today Show.....show up each Sunday and pretty much have this pro-Satan existence view. So Matt starts to look fairly foolish in being anti-Satan.
Then you have the ABC crew.....who has to find some cartoon figure of Satan....trying to Rick Santorum and the Satan cartoon figure fit into the same photo. They come off looking pretty foolish.
Then you have the CBS crew, who has to project Satan as the 'good-Satan' and that Rick is bad for opposing poor Satan.
Then you have the CNN folks, who have to find a dozen experts on Satan....the so-called Satan think-tank....to come out and be interviewed by their folks all day long. For some of the Satan think-tank folks....it's the first time they've ever been on national TV, and they had to ask their cousin to loan them a decent suit or plain black tie.
Then you have Rush Limbaugh, who has to think of something flashy to say about being anti-Satan, and show how this fits into the Conservative view point. Eventually, he will connect Satan with Iran, Columbia, Cuba, and North Korea....confusing most folks, and then flipping over to a discussion of the Reagan era.
Finally, Fox News will just put sixty seconds of time onto the whole Satan thing....mostly saying that they'd give Satan a chance to speak.....as part of the fair and balanced thing....but so far, Satan hasn't accept the call to be on the O'Reilly Show.
To be blunt about this....when you start tossing Christian values around in politics....it's only a matter of time before Satan comes up, and at that point...the whole political angle with Christian values slides off the the side of discussions. You might as well bring up UFOs, Bigfoot, or Loch Ness as part of the Republican agenda, and that really won't help too much.
This came out today, and got a fair amount of media time from most of the top dozen TV news folks.
You can imagine Matt Lauer from the Today Show....trying to figure a way to discuss this and criticize it. First, he has declare there is no Satan, and then he has to make this all look pretty foolish. Course, around fifty percent of the women who are watching the Today Show.....show up each Sunday and pretty much have this pro-Satan existence view. So Matt starts to look fairly foolish in being anti-Satan.
Then you have the ABC crew.....who has to find some cartoon figure of Satan....trying to Rick Santorum and the Satan cartoon figure fit into the same photo. They come off looking pretty foolish.
Then you have the CBS crew, who has to project Satan as the 'good-Satan' and that Rick is bad for opposing poor Satan.
Then you have the CNN folks, who have to find a dozen experts on Satan....the so-called Satan think-tank....to come out and be interviewed by their folks all day long. For some of the Satan think-tank folks....it's the first time they've ever been on national TV, and they had to ask their cousin to loan them a decent suit or plain black tie.
Then you have Rush Limbaugh, who has to think of something flashy to say about being anti-Satan, and show how this fits into the Conservative view point. Eventually, he will connect Satan with Iran, Columbia, Cuba, and North Korea....confusing most folks, and then flipping over to a discussion of the Reagan era.
Finally, Fox News will just put sixty seconds of time onto the whole Satan thing....mostly saying that they'd give Satan a chance to speak.....as part of the fair and balanced thing....but so far, Satan hasn't accept the call to be on the O'Reilly Show.
To be blunt about this....when you start tossing Christian values around in politics....it's only a matter of time before Satan comes up, and at that point...the whole political angle with Christian values slides off the the side of discussions. You might as well bring up UFOs, Bigfoot, or Loch Ness as part of the Republican agenda, and that really won't help too much.
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