Oxymorons Still In Charge

At this time of year, people often ask if you've made any Resolutions for the New Year. My annual reply is "that I am going to learn how to juggle this year." Perhaps 2010 will be the year....

One Resolution that I've made is to be "more positive" in these blog posts this year.

Oh, don't worry, that doesn't mean that I won't continue to be cynical and sarcastic. But, in addition to my usual rants, I hope to offer some more positive suggestions or ideas along the way. Or if nothing else, I hope to add at least a little food for thought.

In reflecting upon topics for future blogs, I kept thinking of how many things are broken and how we really need to look at things with new eyes and new ears if we are going to right our ship.
One recurring thought was how language is cleaverly and deceptively used to lull us into submission or to distract us from real agendas.

It's scary how many of these words are really oxymorons, specifically designed to make us think something completely different. "Move along folks....nothing to see here...."

So, I offer these oxymorons as a starting point for some ideas of things you may want to think about and focus upon in the coming year. Pick a topic (or pick several) and think about how you can get active in trying to push things in a different direction. (It is up to each of us to bring about change.) Begin to look at these with new eyes and new ears and begin to speak up, with new ideas and new approaches, for none of these are what they appear to be at first blush, and none of these are headed in the right direction.

"No Child Left Behind"

"Health Care Reform"

"Clean Skies Initiatives"

"Hiking the Appalachian Trail" (Sorry... I couldn't resist the Gov. Sanford reference....)

"Military Intelligence"

"A Public Option"

"Medicare Advantage"

"Clean Coal"

"Safe Drilling"

"Compassionate Conservative"

"Homeland Security"

"Enhanced Interrogation Techniques"

"Campaign Finance Reform"

"Preemptive War"

"Deficit Spending"

"Transparency"

"Right to Privacy"

"Accountability"


Let's make 2010 the year when we decided that we weren't going to let the oxymorons stay in charge....Get Active!