A Trio Of Words For Thursday

I thought I would start with some words of the day~~to wake up our sleepy minds, and maybe learn something new!! Have A Great Thursday:

Ceilidh (noun)
Pronunciation: ['key-li]
Definition: (Scotland and Ireland) A social gathering, especially one at which hosts and guests participate in traditional music, dancing, or storytelling—or a professional "ceilidh" band might be hired for the event.
Usage: Today's word is clearly a Celtic one adapted for use in Ireland, Scotland, and northern England. It has no relatives in English, so all we have to worry about is the pronunciation: it sounds like 'Kay Lee' with the accent on the first syllable.
Suggested Usage: A ceilidh today is usually a party organized around folk music or folklore: "We're having a wee ceilidh at the house this weekend; would you mind telling your brother that he's invited?" However, it still may be a gathering, usually around a fire, at which the participants exchange stories: "Everyone at this quiet country ceilidh had a good story to tell about someone who wasn't there."
Etymology: Irish Gaelic céilidhe is from Old Irish célide "visit" from céile or céle "companion." The English spelling follows the Scottish. The stem here developed from Proto-Indo-European *kei- "beloved, dear" and also "bed, couch." The suffixed form *kei-wi- underlies "city," "civic," "civil" from Latin civis "citizen," probably originally referring to a member of a household. In Sanskrit, this stem became the name, "Shiva," one of the three figures in the Supreme Trinity of Hinduism, from Sanskrit s'iva- "auspicious, dear."

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Limen (noun)
Pronunciation: ['li-men]
Definition: The threshold beyond which a stimulus elicits a response.
Usage: The adjective here is "liminal." Now, most of us are familiar with the term "subliminal," as in "subliminal suggestion," generally used in the sense of "imperceptible but stimulating consciousness." That is not quite what it means. The precise meaning is "below (sub-) the threshold (of consciousness)." The difference is slight but significant, since we can speak of subliminal physical stimuli, too, as we will demonstrate in the next section. Remember the plural of today's word is "limina."
Suggested Usage: Here is how you may begin to explore the metaphorical potential of our old Freudian friend: "Hardy Flowers brought a subliminal wine that couldn't quite elicit a response from our taste buds." As for today's word itself, "I'm afraid that suggestion does not quite reach the limen of consideration." (Hopefully, it won't bring a sour response.)
Etymology: Latin limen "threshold" akin to limes, limitis "boundary," the origin of our word "limit."

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Vituperate (verb)ous (adjective)
Pronunciation: [vI-'tu-pêr-yet or -'tyu (British)]
Definition: To scold extremely harshly and with abusive language, to furiously verbally abuse.
Usage: The adjective is "vituperative" and the noun, "vituperation." One who vituperates is a vituperator. "Fulminate" originally meant "to explode," so this verb refers to an explosive verbal attack on someone. "Vituperate" also refers to an abusive verbal attack but one which is not necessarily loud.
Suggested Usage: Here is a scene I would have paid real money to witness: "The incensed priests . . . continued to raise their voices, vituperating each other in bad Latin" –Walter Scott, Ivanhoe (1819). Here is the intelligent substitute for "curse" (or worse, "cuss") you have been looking for: "Vituperate as much as you please; even if you fulminate, I will not change my mind."
Etymology: Latin vituperare "to censure, find fault" from vitium "fault" + parare "to prepare, furnish." "Vitium" developed into French "vice" whence English vice "bad habit, crime." It is unrelated to the prefix "vice-" which comes from Latin vicinus "near, neighboring." It is related to Russian vina "guilt, fault."

Please feel to share any new, unique, or odd words, that you may have and enjoy using. Thank You!!

Friday On The Campaign Trails

I went to several stories and have put together a compilation of what has been happening with the political candidates of both parties today, and a very busy day it was, from a top adviser resigning to a show of McCains famous Temper:

Obama adviser resigns after calling Clinton a 'monster' ... McCain repeatedly cuts off reporter in testy exchange ... Clinton, in Mississippi, again raises possibility of ticket with Obama ... McCain calls for tax cuts, job training to lift the faltering economy ... RNC names team to help elect McCain, other Republicans in fall.
Obama camp rejects adviser's comments
An adviser to Barack Obama resigned Friday after calling rival Hillary Rodham Clinton "a monster" and saying that Obama may not be able to withdraw all U.S. combat troops from Iraq within a year as he has promised.
Samantha Power, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, made the comments in two separate interviews with foreign media while promoting her latest book. The "monster" comment, which led to her resignation, came in an interview with The Scotsman. She immediately tried to keep it from appearing in print. "She is a monster, too — that is off the record — she is stooping to anything," The Scotsman quoted Power as saying. A few hours after the comments were published, Power, an unpaid adviser and Harvard professor, resigned. "I made inexcusable remarks that are at marked variance from my oft-stated admiration for Senator Clinton and from the spirit, tenor and purpose of the Obama campaign," she said in a statement distributed by the Obama campaign. Power told RTE, Ireland's public broadcast service, that she spoke with Obama by phone Friday. "He made it absolutely clear that we just couldn't make comments like this in his campaign. I really hope I haven't done him any harm because I know he's been trying to run such a clean campaign," she said.

Power's comments about Iraq came in an interview with the BBC. She said Obama's position is that withdrawing all U.S. troops within 16 months is a "best-case scenario" that he will revisit if he becomes president. Obama has actually shortened his original 16-month commitment to say he'll end the war in 2009. Obama advisers say President Bush's plan to draw troops down to 15 brigades this year means Obama could complete the removal in a year.
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McCain flashes temper at reporter
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Republican Sen. John McCain, showing a flash of the temper he is known for, repeatedly cut off a reporter Friday when asked whether he had spoken to Democratic Sen. John Kerry about being his vice president in 2004. "Everybody knows that I had a private conversation. Everybody knows that, that I had a conversation," McCain told the reporter. "And you know it, too. No. You know it, too. No. You do know. You do know."

The reporter, Elisabeth Bumiller of The New York Times, was following up on a question McCain had answered at a campaign event Friday morning in Atlanta. Asked if he might consider Kerry as a running mate, since Kerry asked him in 2004, McCain said no. Afterward, on a campaign flight, Bumiller said she looked in the Times' archives and that McCain had denied talking with Kerry in a May 2004 story. McCain interrupted, saying that everyone knew he had a private conversation, and he kept interrupting as she tried to follow up. McCain clearly was irate. "I don't know what you read or heard of, and I don't know the circumstances," McCain said. "Maybe in May of '04 I hadn't had a conversation."
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Clinton again raises running with Obama
Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday again raised the possibility that she might run with rival Barack Obama on the Democratic presidential ticket. Speaking to voters in Mississippi, Clinton said: "I've had people say, 'Well, I wish I could vote for both of you.' Well, that might be possible someday. But first I need your vote on Tuesday." It is the second time this week that she has hinted at a joint ticket with the Illinois senator; he has not ruled it out but says it is premature to be having those discussions.

The town hall meeting at a train depot in Hattiesburg was Clinton's second appearance in Mississippi, where 33 delegates will be allocated in its Democratic presidential primary Tuesday. Clinton has already sought to lower expectations in the state, where Obama is expected to do well, largely because of his increasing appeal among black voters. Mississippi's population is 37 percent black. "I know that I may have an uphill battle here in the state, I appreciate that," Clinton said.
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McCain calls for tax cuts, job training
Republican John McCain, who has said economics isn't his strong suit, said Friday that tax cuts and job training are needed to lift an economy that is either in recession or headed toward one.

McCain was responding to a report showing widespread job losses amid the housing and credit crisis. The Labor Department said employers cut jobs by 63,000 in February, the most in five years. "I think the fact of the matter is, many American families are hurting very badly, particularly those in states like Ohio, Michigan, parts of Illinois, those states that really relied on manufacturing jobs and saw those jobs leave," McCain told employees of Chick-fil-A Inc. at a town hall-style meeting in Atlanta. "And we as a nation have not done enough to help those workers find new employment, new training, new education," he said.

The Arizona senator said President Bush's tax cuts, passed by Congress over McCain's objections, should be made permanent so that families and companies do not see tax increases when the cuts expire in 2010. And he called for slashing corporate taxes and repealing the alternative minimum tax, which was originally aimed at the wealthy but threatens to hit millions in the middle class unless Congress continues to provide annual adjustments to it.
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RNC joins forces with McCain campaign
The Republican National Committee on Friday named four people who will help build support for the party's presidential nominee-in-waiting, John McCain, and other Republicans in the general election.

Frank Donatelli will serve as the RNC's deputy chairman and work as the liaison between the McCain campaign and the committee. Lew Eisenberg will lead the fundraising efforts, and Mike DuHaime will act as senior adviser for political operations. DuHaime served as Rudy Giuliani's campaign manager before the former New York mayor ended his bid for the White House. As "victory chairman," Carly Fiorina said she will promote McCain's business and economic policies on the campaign trail and remind voters why the Arizona senator is the best candidate for president. "This is a principled pragmatist," Fiorina said at a news conference where RNC Chairman Mike Duncan announced the positions. "He knows that to solve problems you have to reach across the aisle."
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THE DEMOCRATS
Hillary Rodham Clinton held a town-hall style meeting in Hattiesburg, Miss., before holding town-hall style meetings in Cheyenne and Casper, Wyo. Barack Obama also holds a town-hall style meeting in Casper, then a rally in Laramie, Wyo.
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THE REPUBLICANS
John McCain holds a town-hall style meeting in Atlanta and gives a speech in New Orleans.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY:
"She is a monster, too — that is off the record — she is stooping to anything." — Samantha Power, adviser to Democrat Barack Obama. She resigned Friday after the comment about rival Hillary Rodham Clinton was published in The Scotsman.
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STAT OF THE DAY:
Only two Democratic presidential candidates have won Wyoming in a general election in the last 60 years — Harry Truman in 1948 and Lyndon Johnson in 1964

Have A Great Weekend!!

SNL's Take On Election Is Better Than Most News Media

I found this interesting little story in my email this afternoon, from Alternet, and written by Carol Jenkins, of the Women's Media Center, and is about the way the news media has been handling Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama, and whether they have been unfair to Hillary!

She writes, "It was perhaps surprising to hear a presidential candidate reference the irreverent comedy workhorse, Saturday Night Live, in a nationally televised debate -- but for those who've been tracking Hillary Clinton's sometimes rough handling by the media, it made sense for her to bring it up in Tuesday's debate."

This past Saturday's SNL show (blessedly back, thanks to the end of the writers' strike) had a couple of hilarious skits: one portraying swooning CNN correspondents in the last debate asking Barack Obama a tough question: Was he comfortable? Did he need a pillow? -- while attacking Clinton. The other, a "Women's News" segment with guest host Tina Fey using the "B" word liberally and proudly, in defense of Clinton, closing with the shout that "B ... is the new black!" -- or totally chic.

The show recognized what many observers had come to feel: that the media has conducted itself poorly and are worthy of parody. And watching Tim Russert, parodying himself in Tuesday night's debate, scowling eyebrows, raised voice, blustery manner and slightly weird questions -- encapsulated what's wrong with the media. Tim seemed to have the mistaken belief that he was the third debater, an impression only heightened after the debate when Chris Matthews repeatedly lauded Russert on "reeling in" Hillary Clinton with a question on her war vote. Increasingly the media has become the story -- and not such a complimentary one. While the "serious" reporters and pundits were this morning condescending of Clinton's mention of the comedy show, SNL's take on the coverage seems at least as informative as what shows up on nightly cable shows.

Hillary Clinton and her supporters believe she has been unfairly covered. Howard Wolfson, Clinton's press secretary complained bitterly this week: "I think it is true, that every time the Obama campaign in this campaign has attacked Senator Clinton in the worst kind of personal ways, attacked her veracity, attacked her credibility, said that she would say or do anything to get elected, the press has largely applauded him."

This past weekend, the drumbeat of reporters who began to agree with them, if only slightly, grew louder. Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz, on his weekly CNN show Reliable Sources, tackled the subject and concluded that Clinton had grounds to complain, that there was indeed at least the impression of a "pro-Obama press corp." He was not alone: "There is a gathering sense in the media that Obama has gotten something of a free ride," Howard Fineman of Newsweek and MSNBC conceded, then went on: "But, fair or not, it is still up to the Clinton campaign to slow that train's momentum before it is too late, which it almost is."

Yet recognizing that a bias exists does little to correct the problem. Interestingly, NBC, the network that carried the debate on its cable outlet MSNBC Tuesday night, is a media petrie dish worthy of years of scientific study. The Women's Media Center has commended NBC for its groundbreaking weeklong coverage of African American women on Nightly News. NBC is also the home of Saturday Night Live, of course.

But MSNBC is also the home of Chris Matthews, David Shuster, and formerly Don Imus, the infamous bad boys of television who have all had to apologize for sexist remarks: Matthews for asserting Clinton's political career was made possible only because her husband cheated on her; Shuster for claiming Clinton was "pimping out" her daughter by using her in the campaign. In fact, it was Shuster's comments that briefly jeopardized last night's debate. Clinton threatened to boycott. Shuster took a two- week suspension and was back on the air last night to report on the debate. The relationship between the Clinton camp and MSNBC talent is described as "a grudge match."

In the run-up to the Tuesday debate, we watched Chris, Tucker, Keith, and Chris again, then Tim with Brian Williams (the only one of the evening, by the way, to come off looking journalistic.) What was wrong with this picture? As the Women's Media Center has pointed out before, and to NBC executives personally, we believe the absence of women in this prime time line-up does a disservice to viewers -- and to the information process. And knowing the history of line-crossing, it's hard not to read disdain on their faces as they describe Hillary Clinton.

The Women's Media Center submitted a series of questions to both NBC and CNN for the last two debates, including one about stemming the epidemic of violence against women. A little less personal grandstanding, and more thoughtfulness, might have allowed an opening for at least one new question for both candidates to answer.

But the media's problems are not confined to NBC, nor are they purely of sexism, or even the absence of women. The news profession is suffering from a more fundamental sickness that needs an immediate cure. The media needs to step back into its role of gathering the facts, doing the exhaustive research, and reporting to the citizens of this country what they need to know.

Have A Great Weekend!!

Good News From Iraq

The following story reports that there is good news from Iraq, and that violence is down. This would be a hopeful sign of progress if the Iraqi government was actually using this time to get itself together, but all accounts show that is not happening.

Rocket and mortar attacks in Iraq have decreased to their lowest levels in more than 21 months, the U.S. military said Monday. In the capital, Iraqi officials said a taxi driver was shot dead by a private security guard hired to protect U.S. convoys. Last month saw 369 "indirect fire" attacks, the lowest number since February 2006. October's total was half of what it was in the same month a year ago. And it marked the third month in a row of sharply reduced insurgent activity, the military said.

Unlike many of the Democratic candidates who wish for our troops to keep dying for "their" political benefit, I support the troops and hope they succeed. However, I still think we should leave as quickly as possible, because of the same reason I mentioned In August, when the Iraqi took a months long vacation, while our men and women were dying to protect their country. It seems that if they cannot or will not fix their own government, then the minute the surge ends and we draw down troops, the violence will ramp up again, and all the lives will have been lost for nothing!

Hopefully, the lull in violence will continue, and truthfully, maybe, just maybe, the Iraqi people really are tired of the killings, and they will take control from the ground up and fix the country themselves, in spite of the inaction of their government officials, that could be the best of all outcomes for everyone invested in seeing Iraq succeed!




good news