Do You Mind? If I hear one more person describe Monday's tornado damage as "unbelievable," I will scream. Television news reporters and anchors. Survivors. Witnesses. Governor Henry. Surely our language provides alternatives: Stunning. Incredible. Awesome. Fearful. Frightening.
The Gadfly's Mind Is Not Open
By Mike McCarville
Open Mind: Senator Tom Coburn says he's keeping an open mind about Elena Kagan's nomination for the U. S. Supreme Court. He voted to confirm her as solicitor general 15 months ago. Check her record, senator.
Closed Mind: Senator Jim Inhofe, meanwhile, has closed his book on Kagan; he'll vote against confirmation, for many of the same reasons I've cited as being cause for her nomination to be denied. To Inhofe (and me) the overriding reason to oppose her is her anti-military militancy while at Harvard. She not only opposed recruiters on campus, she joined the battle against the military by those in Ivy League academe. And then there are her socialist leanings....
Minding My Ps and Qs: I have just discovered, via the Internet, that I am a criminal. What I discovered and what I now confess to you, I am certain, will be cause for PETA to file a complaint. Seems a guy up in northern Oklahoma has been arrested for shooting a neighbor's cat with a bb gun. The cat, the guy says, kept trying to get into his house. So he grabbed his non-lethal bb gun and shot the critter. He then pursued it into his yard and shot it again. The cat's owner saw this. Called the police. Now, I am not into cruelty to animals, the charge against this guy. I am, however, guilty of the same thing. I have a beautiful back yard, complete with gardens. There are a couple of neighborhood cats that befoul my gardens and try to catch all the song birds I encourage to visit by putting out seed for them. I do not like cats. I am allergic to cats. I do not want cats in my yard. I don't want stray dogs in my yard either, but isn't it funny that I've never had a stray dog...but I have had dozens of stray cats? If my neighbors don't want their cats shot with my bb gun, I suggest they do what dog owners are required to do...pen them up or keep them on leashes. That would be the neighborly thing to do. But what do I know about being neighborly? I shoot trespassing cats in their rumps with my bb gun.
Closed Mind: Senator Jim Inhofe, meanwhile, has closed his book on Kagan; he'll vote against confirmation, for many of the same reasons I've cited as being cause for her nomination to be denied. To Inhofe (and me) the overriding reason to oppose her is her anti-military militancy while at Harvard. She not only opposed recruiters on campus, she joined the battle against the military by those in Ivy League academe. And then there are her socialist leanings....
Minding My Ps and Qs: I have just discovered, via the Internet, that I am a criminal. What I discovered and what I now confess to you, I am certain, will be cause for PETA to file a complaint. Seems a guy up in northern Oklahoma has been arrested for shooting a neighbor's cat with a bb gun. The cat, the guy says, kept trying to get into his house. So he grabbed his non-lethal bb gun and shot the critter. He then pursued it into his yard and shot it again. The cat's owner saw this. Called the police. Now, I am not into cruelty to animals, the charge against this guy. I am, however, guilty of the same thing. I have a beautiful back yard, complete with gardens. There are a couple of neighborhood cats that befoul my gardens and try to catch all the song birds I encourage to visit by putting out seed for them. I do not like cats. I am allergic to cats. I do not want cats in my yard. I don't want stray dogs in my yard either, but isn't it funny that I've never had a stray dog...but I have had dozens of stray cats? If my neighbors don't want their cats shot with my bb gun, I suggest they do what dog owners are required to do...pen them up or keep them on leashes. That would be the neighborly thing to do. But what do I know about being neighborly? I shoot trespassing cats in their rumps with my bb gun.
Labels: Gadfly's Columns
posted by Mike McCarville @ 12:50 AM
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