List of Words To Be Banished

Here is the annual list of irritatingly annoying words that should be banished from the English language. "Cool" and "awesome" should make the all-time list.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Here is a New Year's Prayer:

"May you get a clean bill of health from your dentist, your cardiologist, your gastro-entomologist, your urologist, your proctologist, your podiatrist, your psychiatrist, your plumber and the I.R.S. May your hair, your teeth, your face-lift, your abs and your stocks not fall; and may your blood pressure, your triglycerides, your cholesterol, your white blood count and your mortgage interest not rise. May New Year's Eve find you seated around the table, together with your beloved family and cherished friends. May you find the food better, the environment quieter, the cost much cheaper, and the pleasure much more fulfilling than anything else you might ordinarily do that night. May what you see in the mirror delight you, and what others see in you delight them. May someone love you enough to forgive your faults, be blind to your blemishes, and tell the world about your virtues. May the telemarketers wait to make their sales calls until you finish dinner, may the commercials on TV not be louder than the program you have been watching, and may your check book and your budget balance - and include generous amounts for charity. May you remember to say "I love you" at least once a day to your spouse, your child, your parent, your siblings; but not to your secretary, your nurse, your masseuse, your hairdresser or your tennis instructor. And may we live in a world at peace and with the awareness of God's love in every sunset, every flower's unfolding petals, every baby's smile, every lover's kiss, and every wonderful, astonishing, miraculous beat of our heart."

Best Quote of the Day

The son of assassinated Benazir Bhutto says, "Democracy is the best revenge".

Haveil Havalim #147 is Up!

Haveil Havalim #147 is up at the always-reliable Soccer Dad. Once again, there's a great deal of excellent reading here.

"Mental Whiplash"

Great satire from The People's Cube: "Iowa Man Sues Clintons For Mental Whiplash."

A Winning Smile

This is proof that people today are willing to lie, cheat, and steal to get what they want.

Mail Call

This is a list of the commemorative postage stamps coming out in 2008. I can't wait to get the Bette Davis stamp.

Funny Turns Serious

Little Green Footballs links to this great piece by Scott Ott, who is known for his satire at Scrappleface. But the assassination of Benazir Bhutto calls for great seriousness, and he has eloquently met that challenge.

A Politically Correct Year

This is yet another article about political correctness, this time from the UK. Among many ludicrous examples is this one:

"For decades, children have enjoyed singing about the little donkey which is said to have carried the pregnant Mary to Bethlehem. But one group of young singers was ordered to change the traditional lyrics of the Christmas song - because they were said to be 'too religious'.Instead of 'Little donkey, carry Mary safely on her way', the youngsters were told to sing 'carry Lucy' for fear of offending non-Christians."

Lucy???

Tragedy in Pakistan

Michelle Malkin says: ""They tried and failed when she returned to Pakistan in October. They tried and failed with a baby suicide bomber. Yesterday, they stopped a 15-year-old with a bomb packed full of nails trying to kill her. Today, they succeeded. Dammit, dammit, dammit." And Mark Steyn writes in
NRO's The Corner: "Benazir Bhutto's return to Pakistan had a mad recklessness about it which give today's events a horrible inevitability. As I always say when I'm asked about her, she was my next-door neighbor for a while - which affects a kind of intimacy, though in fact I knew her only for sidewalk pleasantries. She was beautiful and charming and sophisticated and smart and modern, and everything we in the west would like a Muslim leader to be - though in practice, as Pakistan's Prime Minister, she was just another grubby wardheeler from one of the world's most corrupt political classes"