Last year, I wrote a post about UC Berkeley linguist George Lakoff, who became a Democratic Party guru a few years back when he wrote essays arguing that the main reason Democrats were then in the doldrums was because they weren’t good at framing issues. As an example, Lakoff said Dems should describe government spending as an “investment” and spending decisions as choices on where to “invest.” [...]In February 2005, Lakoff gave a speech on his theories at a retreat for California Democrats. But when I revved up the Nexis, I found the main person Lakoff seemed to have influenced wasn’t a pol but L.A. Times’ Sacramento bureau journo Evan Halper.
It is bad enough to try and tease out the real meaning and wrestle it back from politicians who use euphemisms to obfuscate. Clarity is kryptonite to the politico trying to pump more blood from a taxpayer — taxes become “revenue” or “revenue enhancement” or “user fees”. “Pay their fair share” preceeds any classist bigotry of confiscating the wealth and property of anyone with a few dollars more than you or engages in “vices” you don’t (taxes on snacks, soda, cigarettes). It gets worse when “reporters” do the same thing.
California is dominated by its blue urban areas and its print media, while occassionally rooting out the most blatant of corruption, rarely questions the policies and assumptions of solidly left, Democrat-dominated state legislature. No where is this more easily demonstrated than with the LATimes interview with state Assembly Speaker Karen Bass.
Q: How do you think conservative talk radio has affected the Legislature’s work?Bass: The Republicans were essentially threatened and terrorized against voting for revenue. Now [some] are facing recalls. They operate under a terrorist threat: “You vote for revenue and your career is over.” I don’t know why we allow that kind of terrorism to exist. I guess it’s about free speech, but it’s extremely unfair. [...]
Q: Some people on both sides say that we have to destroy state government in order to save it.
Bass: That’s definitely a school of thought: Let the state fall and then we’ll be able to convince the Republicans to vote for revenue.
It isn’t startling to hear Bass baldly call Californians exercising their Constitutional rights “terrorists” … the Left is certainly feeling they have nothing to hide any more with one of their own in the White House. But not once is Bass challenged by the LA Times reporter, either on the “terrorist” slander nor about her promiscuous use of the word “revenue.”
Tonight, California still doesn’t have a budget and a new fiscal year begins tomorrow. A state which brings in over 80 billion dollars a year in taxes is broke. A state with the sixth highest tax burden in the nation where its politicians and their dogma brethren in the MSM cry and berate its citizens for not being taxed “revenue enhanced” enough. A state that feeds the rest of the nation from its Central Valley, a valley being turned into a dustbowl because a tiny fish is more important than people.
Please pay attention what happens to us, for as California goes, so goes the nation. And the first step is rape of the language.
Comment by Joe on 6/30 @ 8:14 pm #
Talk Radio = Terrorism? But we can’t call the War on Terror the War on Terror any more.
So what is it? The continuing US imperialistic war of corporate greed and corruption? When you hear crap like that, you know some inner Chomsky just leaked out of someone on the left’s butt.
Comment by Joe on 6/30 @ 8:18 pm #
Talking about California Scum, The Stoning of Soraya M. just came out. And the media is throwing some stones of their own about that film. Apparently a film promoting female human rights and condemning religious extremism (based on a completely verified and true story) is wrong. Why? No evil Christianists. And Palin and Mel Gibson are no where to be found.
Comment by Hrothgar on 6/30 @ 8:34 pm #
Isn’t it obvious, the real terrorists are those who would dare to resist the incoming wave of liberal socialism.
Those Islamist guys are just very authoritative debaters.
Comment by Bob Reed on 6/30 @ 8:34 pm #
Imgagine that, politicians having to answer to the citizens they represent; what a novel idea! And that makes those citizens terrorists, eh…And imagine, that pesky first amendment, and Constitution thinger getting in the way of acquiring revenue…
Well I have a new suggestion Pee-Dub crew. From now on well consider the tax mongering politicians violent criminals too; committing violence against our personal wealth. And we’ll characterize them like the old construction forman used to his goldbrick employees…
Every morning he’d line them up, and lecture them about working hard. He typically began, “You’re holdin’ me hostage!, Holdin’ Me Hostage!“, he’d say as he steadily slapped his wallet into his other hand’s extended palm…
So from now on, when you picket at Tea parties, or write your representatives on a tax issue, make sure you remind them that they’re holding your wallet hostage!
And only criminals or terrorists take hostages…
QED
Comment by Big D on 6/30 @ 8:39 pm #
Imgagine that, politicians having to answer to the citizens they represent; what a novel idea! And that makes those citizens terrorists, eh…And imagine, that pesky first amendment, and Constitution thinger getting in the way of acquiring revenue…
I think you hit the nail on the head. Bob. They are no longer representing, they are now ruling. Big difference.
Comment by Bob Reed on 6/30 @ 8:46 pm #
They’ve gone from being our representatives, to being our betters, some kind of twisted aristocrats BigD.
The antithesis of what our country is all about; at least the way our founders concieved of it…
Comment by Big D on 6/30 @ 8:57 pm #
Very true, Bob. Here is something to clear your palate. I am assuming the footage is from “Bombcat?” Also, the traditional flash of black and yellow is gray due to combat?
Comment by Big D on 6/30 @ 8:58 pm #
Let’s try that again. HTML fail.
VF-84 Jolly Rogers.
Comment by geoffb on 6/30 @ 9:13 pm #
Another one over there is Jolly Rogers VF-84 Desert Storm 1. For you also Bob. I thank you, Big D, Mel, N. O’Brain’s son and all others who served for protecting our precious land and the freedom we have. 4th is almost here.
Comment by Big D on 6/30 @ 9:16 pm #
Here’s another one. I may have posted this before, but it’s always fun to watch. I remember this one as I was on the USS Guam cutting Gator Squares in the Med when the Captain told us over the PA what had happened. His words, “US Navy 1- Libya 0″ There was a cheer from the Marine contingent.
Comment by Daryl Herbert on 6/30 @ 9:20 pm #
Not allowing the California state government to raise the revenue it needs to pay for its massive investments in our future is a “man-caused disaster,” and that’s the definition of terrorism these days, right?
Comment by Big D on 6/30 @ 9:29 pm #
Well of course, Daryl. Dissent as the highest form of patriotism went out on January 20th of this year. You didn’t get the memo?
Comment by SBP on 6/30 @ 9:30 pm #
So advocating lower taxes is terrorism and being a global warming “denier” is treason.
What else could you expect from the people who claim that giving a woman a compliment is rape and calling someone articulate is racist?
Comment by Big D on 6/30 @ 9:44 pm #
For you also Bob. I thank you, Big D, Mel, N. O’Brain’s son and all others who served for protecting our precious land and the freedom we have. 4th is almost here.
It was both an honor and a privilege to serve this great nation and although I did not shed as much blood as some here, I will accept your thanks. Humbly, I might add.
Memorial Day and the 4th are nearly religious days at my house. I fly the flag of course. I also lay out a dress cover, dress gloves, and my NCO sword in the formal dining room.
Someone once asked me if I thought that the holidays had become too commercial. I replied that I could think of no better tribute to the fallen – that you could do whatever the heck you wanted over the holiday. That is what we were fighting for…..Freedom!
Comment by Big D on 6/30 @ 9:46 pm #
Spies! You magnificent bastard! Where’ve you been?
Comment by Will on 6/30 @ 9:52 pm #
So, Darleen, is this your site now?
Comment by Travis Monitor on 6/30 @ 9:52 pm #
“I don’t know why we allow that kind of terrorism to exist”
Citizens/voters expressing views = terrorism. gotcha.
I think George III had similar feelings about the treasonous rabble who opposed his taxes.
Comment by SBP on 6/30 @ 9:56 pm #
Lots of heavy shit going down in my life, Big D, which I don’t want to share with the trolls, plus I’ve been teaching summer courses (i.e., 4x normal speed).
It’s getting better, though, to the extent that it can get better, or will get better.
I concur with everything geoffb said in #9.
Comment by Bob Reed on 6/30 @ 10:06 pm #
Thanks for the palate cleansers guys! Those films take me back to another time and place…
BigD, you are correct that the flash is grey due to combat. But I only thought F-14A’s were on station during desert storm. We could fit them with bombs, and they were effective, but usually flew CAP for the A-6’s instead…
Here’s to all ovr the 4th of July holiday!
I may be off-line for a couple of days, we’re traveling to see some relatives in Maryland; some of my elderly uncles are coming up from NC.
So until then, Best Wishes to all
Comment by bh on 6/30 @ 10:14 pm #
Hey, SBP, good luck with it all. Hope things work out as best possible.
Comment by bh on 6/30 @ 10:16 pm #
“Good luck” might sound glib. I don’t mean it that way.
Comment by Big D on 6/30 @ 10:28 pm #
One thing the Air Force will never understand, Bob, is CAS. Every Marine infantry BN has its own FAC who is a pilot. As I understand it, to advance in Marine aviation you have to do a tour as a FAC. Hey, who better to direct aviators from the ground than another aviator? Makes sense to me. The best I ever served with with was Captain James Dixon, call sign Grouper. The guy could guide a pilot in like you wouldn’t believe.
He got the call sign by pickling a rack into New River. His plane captain placed a fish head on the rack his next time out. You guys in the air wing have your own rules!
Comment by happyfeet on 6/30 @ 10:28 pm #
Karen Bass is precisely the cunt Californians deserve. Quite precisely, really. These losers are going down.
Comment by Big D on 6/30 @ 10:29 pm #
I hear you Spies. Hope all is well.
Comment by happyfeet on 6/30 @ 10:31 pm #
be well Spies that sounds scary the way you put it
Comment by Big D on 6/30 @ 10:33 pm #
Holy crap, a happyfeet sighting!
I keed…..I keed….
Comment by Bob Reed on 6/30 @ 10:33 pm #
I’d just like to second BigD’s sentiments in #14.
It was truly an honor and a privilege to serve our nation for me as well; and I will do so today if called upon, in whatever capacity needed. And I would like to thank all of you for the support you have given all of us over the years…
Myself and many others don’t often talk too much about the past, save for the occasional amusing anecdote. And that is because a whole new generation are putting it on the line, carrying on that proud tradition, and protecting our freedoms-right now!
They are the ones we should all be saluting, especially on the fourth of July and memorial day; and for the God-bothery amongst us, remembering them in our prayers…
So hats off to them, and to all of you. Enjoy the 4th, and your freedoms!
May God Bless us all, and Bless the United States of America!
Gotta go now, see y’all soon…
Comment by Big D on 6/30 @ 10:34 pm #
Feets,
What have you done with JD? Haven’t seen him around.
Comment by Big D on 6/30 @ 10:37 pm #
Myself and many others don’t often talk too much about the past, save for the occasional amusing anecdote. And that is because a whole new generation are putting it on the line, carrying on that proud tradition, and protecting our freedoms-right now!
Well done, Bob! Hard to put into words, but I think you captured the sentiment.
Comment by happyfeet on 6/30 @ 10:39 pm #
i know… i have been so busy… i was away for a week and the week before that I had family here that brought me a LOT of stuff to get situated in my little apartment here in Los Angeles and I’m still working on that and my shoulder’s still bum and I’m putting on ferocious amounts of weight from the quitting of the smoking or it might be the insane eating and then I have to get ready for going away back to Chicago for another week soon and also I’m trying to buy a house in Texas and my little bank in Texas told me to fuck off cause I am too far away to buy an “investment property” so now I have to deal with strangers which, that’s kind of ok cause it turns out my little bank in Texas is sort of rife with bitches, and stupid ones at that
Comment by happyfeet on 6/30 @ 10:39 pm #
oh – JD has been around here a little and at Mr. Patterico’s too
Comment by pdbuttons on 6/30 @ 10:42 pm #
i always bank
on the kindness of strangers
Comment by happyfeet on 6/30 @ 10:45 pm #
ohnoes. It is a bad and terrible thing that augurs ill for freedom when this dimbulb natural born scapegoat is “put in charge” of Iraq policy. Good Christ what an asinine little nation we’ve become and Barack Obama is an evil fucked in the head defilement of what our little country once stood for.
Comment by Big D on 6/30 @ 10:46 pm #
Feets, get the hell out of LA and come back to Texas. Both you and the state will be better for it.
Comment by Big D on 6/30 @ 10:48 pm #
By state I meant Texas.
Comment by pdbuttons on 6/30 @ 10:49 pm #
Texas is a state of mind
California not so much..
Comment by happyfeet on 6/30 @ 10:49 pm #
maybe some day …
Comment by Big D on 6/30 @ 10:55 pm #
Anyone seen Jeff G lately? He should be here, I think.
Comment by geoffb on 6/30 @ 10:55 pm #
SBP,
Be well.
Have a
goodgreat 4th.Comment by SBP on 6/30 @ 10:58 pm #
Thanks all. I wish I could say more, but I’d hate to have to kill a bitch on top of everything else. I’ll fill everyone in once I come to terms with it myself.
SarahW just posted a link to a video taken at Sharif University in Tehran. Dinnerjacket was there for some do or other and exited to find an extremely hostile crowd. I guess Barry the Hungarian Muppet better not count on him showing up for his New Year’s Party. Or maybe even his Fourth of July party.
Comment by pdbuttons on 6/30 @ 10:58 pm #
sshhh
burning man festival is moving to
the west texas town of el paso…
trig palin is gonna liight the match..
that’s the rumour i’m starting
Comment by Big D on 6/30 @ 11:08 pm #
Reading between the lines, Spies, I feel for you. Been there, done that as they say. Sucks now, but you’ll come through. Unless I have misread the situation, in which case…..I got nothing.
Comment by happyfeet on 6/30 @ 11:08 pm #
that would’ve worked better with one of them question mark thingies stuck in there strategically I think
Comment by SBP on 6/30 @ 11:22 pm #
Is this the same SPB who has repeatedly rained taunts of “your wife’s a whore!”
Liar.
Comment by geoffb on 6/30 @ 11:29 pm #
From SBP’s link.
For once Obama has shown consistency. In so doing revealed his true allegiance, true love, the core of his being. Dictators make him wet, give him that special quivering, right there. No wonder thor loves him so, soulmates, always. It’s so tender, sweetly, sweetly sick.
Henry, is that you?
Comment by KarenT on 6/30 @ 11:42 pm #
Lakoff is not just a linguist, he’s also a professor of cognitive science. Scary that his analysis of The Obama Code, ” . . . a vision of America – a moral vision and a view of unity that the pundits often miss “, might be considered to be cognitive science. Notice the ways in which he linguistically strips “conservatism” of any power, moral value or connection with “American Values” in this piece. He thinks the president’s “bipartisanship” should be limited to accepting the support of Republicans on issues he already favors. A remarkable piece.
Lakoff is worried about Fox News and Rush Limbaugh. “Without a countervailing communications system on the Democratic side, they can create a lot of trouble, not just for the President, not just for the nation, but on a global scale, for the environmental and economic future of the world.”
First item in the comment thread recommends a return of the Fairness Doctrine because “we (people who agree with Lakoff) need a better presence on radio and network news shows”. Amazing.
Comment by geoffb on 6/30 @ 11:58 pm #
Oldie but a goodie, from March 19, 1993 and another new Presidency.
Investment, stimulus, intervention in the public and private sectors. Sounds familiar. Obama is just the new, improved, faster and much more expensive Bill Clinton. Same swarm, different package.
Comment by Adjoran on 7/1 @ 12:39 am #
There is nothing Bass could say which could shock anyone familiar with her. She typifies the current California Democratic Left which has been in full control of the state since Wilson left office.
I disagree that “as California goes, so goes the nation.” The state has already driven out many of the businesses which made it so economically prominent, with many residents following in exile. California is today more of a canary in a coal mine; her demise portend what lies ahead for America if we do not swiftly reverse the Obama spend-a-thon.
Comment by Big D on 7/1 @ 12:49 am #
You have never been the better man thor. I doubt your claims to be a Texan. Perhaps geographically, but spiritually you will always be somewhere else.
And spare me your false bravado. You’re not fooling anyone.
Comment by Big D on 7/1 @ 12:53 am #
Thor,
I used to like you and also tried to be nice to you. I learned fairly quickly that you are not worth the effort. The scorn you receive on this site is well deserved. You have brought it on yourself.
Comment by Big D on 7/1 @ 12:54 am #
And with that I am out for the next few days. Have a great 4th all! Remember to fly the colors.
Semper Fi.
-Dave
Comment by pdbuttons on 7/1 @ 1:31 am #
President Palin would kindly paddle boat
around the horn..
but by her greatness a certain canal would be
restorn..
renamed the Palin Canal {formerley known as the Panama canal)
a right was wronged..
and sarah palin shaved much time on her journey
to galveston
where she smiled and waved and the city was reborn..
but she had to split quick.,.
to travel up the mighty missisp…
Comment by Big D on 7/1 @ 1:59 am #
And again you prove that my efforts to treat you as a gentleman were misguided, thor. Find some happiness somewhere.
Comment by Big D on 7/1 @ 2:24 am #
So noted thor. As far as I’m concerned, we’re squared. I mean it this time, have a good day.
Comment by Big D on 7/1 @ 2:35 am #
Now, I’m off to promote childhood obesity by promoting carbonated soft drinks. I’m evil that way. Bwahaaaahaa. Pays the bills…
Comment by B Moe on 7/1 @ 5:38 am #
I am really getting tired of replacing these irony meters.
Comment by N. O'Brain on 7/1 @ 6:25 am #
“You’ve earned yourself a measure of scorn from me, so buck up and wear it well.”
You’re not good enough of a man to lick the sand from Big D’s combat boots, you slack-jawed mouth-breather.
Comment by alppuccino on 7/1 @ 6:25 am #
FYI thor,
Ohio whitetail bucks eat Texas deer to settle their stomachs after they’ve eaten Indiana deer.
That ought to bring Cowboy or JD out of the woodwork.
Comment by Salt Lick on 7/1 @ 7:01 am #
First item in the comment thread recommends a return of the Fairness Doctrine…
I’d really like to see them try this. Honestly. Right now they’re shaking the hive; trying to pass the Fairness Doctrine would be like hitting it with a bat.
Comment by Blacque Jacques Shellacque on 7/1 @ 9:17 am #
Bass: That’s definitely a school of thought: Let the state fall and then we’ll be able to convince the Republicans to vote for revenue.
That’s all these leftists idiots in Sacrmento seem to ever think about – revenue, revenue, revenue. It’s never about paring down the bloated state government and state spending, it’s all about trying to grab ever more amounts of taxpayer money.
Comment by B Moe on 7/1 @ 10:03 am #
Yeah, but where do thor’s bob-tail deer fit into that equation, al?
Comment by MarkD on 7/1 @ 10:19 am #
Meanwhile, private employers shed jobs at a rate that will take us to 5 million fewer employed by year end. I don’t think linguistic theory or a compliant media is going to be able to hide that one.
Comment by Sam Hall on 7/1 @ 10:42 am #
Yeah, but where do thor’s bob-tail deer fit into that equation, al?
Thor used to hunt bob-tailed deer in the glacier-haunted mountains of eastern Texas. Many was the time when he and his buddies from the Texas mounties would bring down a mughty-tusked bob-tail bull with their muzzle-load glock revolvers.
He knows this is true and it doesn’t matter what you think.
Comment by Ric Locke on 7/1 @ 11:03 am #
*sigh*
Yet another sign of getting old.
I can remember when “Texas brags” were known to be a joke by all concerned.
For the record: Yes, Texas deer are small, sometimes quite small compared to their fellows elsewhere. Having to live on mesquite thorns and blue grama will do that to you.
Regards,
Ric
Comment by Swen Swenson on 7/1 @ 11:55 am #
There’s some controversy surrounding Bergmann’s rule, as it doesn’t appear to apply to peckerheads like thor.
Comment by N. O'Brain on 7/1 @ 12:45 pm #
“Many was the time when he and his buddies from the Texas mounties would bring down a mughty-tusked bob-tail bull with their muzzle-load glock revolvers.”
The ones that used smokeless black powder?
Comment by Sam Hall on 7/1 @ 1:11 pm #
The ones that used smokeless black powder?
And “caps”. Maybe thor grew up during the civil war.
Comment by Sam Hall on 7/1 @ 1:18 pm #
Eh. You’re a know quantity now, thor. A foul-mouthed, juvenile little poser. Own it.
Comment by Sam Hall on 7/1 @ 1:39 pm #
Meh. You’re worse than obnoxious, you’re boring.
Comment by Sam Hall on 7/1 @ 1:51 pm #
I see your humiliation still stings. Get used to it, it won’t be the last time.
Comment by pdbuttons on 7/1 @ 1:56 pm #
used bingo cards affixed to the spokes in
my big wheel make me sound like motorcycle…
Comment by pdbuttons on 7/1 @ 2:06 pm #
if sammys tires were flat
he could still beat u in an uphill race..
backwards
Comment by pdbuttons on 7/1 @ 2:09 pm #
democrat tri-athalon
tax/spend
and blame republicans
Comment by Rusty on 7/1 @ 3:53 pm #
#63
No. Generally whitetails east of the Mississippi are larger than whitetails west. The exception might be in states west of the Miss. that grow corn with the bovine growth hormone. There is also the fact that ther midwest can sustain larger dear and more of them because they grow more food per acre. Texas deer have to compete with Texas cattle for their food as well. Then again, maybe Texas whitetails are a dwarf subspecies. Much like the Richardsons Race of Canada Goose.