Just Blowing Smoke...: The "Stuck on Stupid" Dictionary #25

Quotes of the Week

... because the sharpest curve that many of us will ever have to negotiate is that of a well-turned phrase

“Reader, suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.”
― Mark Twain

“Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.”
― Groucho Marx

“I predict future happiness for Americans, if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.”
― Thomas Jefferson

“The first duty of a man is to think for himself”
― Jose Marti

“Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.”
― Ronald Reagan

“Our great democracies still tend to think that a stupid man is more likely to be honest than a clever man, and our politicians take advantage of this prejudice by pretending to be even more stupid than nature made them.”
― Bertrand Russell

Thursday, August 19, 2010

The "Stuck on Stupid" Dictionary #25

I know that it has been far too long since proper additions to this reference tome have been made, but it appears that the humble scribbler in charge of such work often suffers from almost criminal laziness. While there is apparently no cure for this condition, occasionally beating of the wretch does seem to reap positive results from time to time.

Now for those of you who have somehow managed to miss previous postings in this area (shame on you, now go back and read all of the postings under the title of dictionary), the SOS dictionary is a reference guide to terms which nominally mean something to the rest of the English speaking world, but appear to mean something entirely different to those us understand the vernacular of Toledo and Northwest Ohio.

Inconsistency:
1. Statements given or actions taken that are at variance with previous statements or actions.
2. Declaring "exigent circumstances" and requesting a give back from city labor unions in March, only to fail to reject a fact finder report giving one of those unions a 17% raise and 8.5% pension pick up the following August. (See Fiscal Responsibility)
3. Raising trash fees in an attempt at city budget balancing in March only to increase the cost of picking up trash in the city through contract negotiation with refuse workers later that same year. (See Stupidity)