Straight From The Hart

Seeking Justice For The Justice Just when you think there couldn’t possibly be any more room under the bus for the president  to throw another political dissenter, it looks like the administration is thinking about trying to squeeze somebody else under there, someone about the size of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.   The White House has been hinting strongly  through its numerous minions that it is time for Ginsburg to retire.  After all, she could die any day they reason, due to her ripe old age of 81, and they are saying she should be loyal enough to the president and his party to get out of the way so this president can appoint a younger person who has the potential to carry his liberal banner many years into the future. In a recent interview with Jessica Weisberg in  the lifestyle magazine “Elle”,  the Justice said “Who do you think President Obama could appoint at this very day, given the boundaries that we have? If I resign a...

A TERRORIST GLOSSARY Watching the news has become an educational challenge for me lately.  Even though I am a word and language person, I find myself constantly confronted with  a new word or phrase I have not encountered before, so I thought I would use this column to share some of my language research with you if you are having the same problem.  I guess we can call it a glossary for the times in which we are living. Let’s start with ISIS or ISIL.   They are both used as an acronym to describe the terrorist organizations we are currently facing.    You may also see IS or DAISH. As best I can determine, IS stands for Islamic State.   ISIS stands for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.  ISIL stands for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.  The Levant is a word for a region including but not necessarily limited to modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, parts of Cyprus, Turkey, Iraq an...

It is September 11, 2014. I’ve listened to the roll call of names. I’ve heard the bell being rung. I’ve seen the wreath being laid. I’ve sat through several moments of silence. I’m sitting right now where I was sitting on that fateful morning 13 years ago - working at my computer with my favorite news channel streaming live news in the background. Little did I know that I would never use a news channel as just background noise again. My entire world changed that day, as did yours, and coverage of current news events became a part of the fabric of my life. But it is not just September 11, 2001 that I’m remembering today. I am also thinking about September 11, 2012. The contrasts are chilling. In 2001, the skies were blue with beautiful clouds in New York City. People were going about their regular daily routines, never dreaming what would happen at 8:46 that morning. In 2012, it had been a beautiful quiet day in Benghazi. Ambassador Stevens had been in meetings most of the day. The ...