A bunch of guys, wearing camouflage, hanging out in the woods with an unnatural affinity for powerful ballistics would probably be called a militia these days. At the very least you have to admire the hardware they collect. (I have a bad case of Hummer envy myself.)
The "Militia Movement" (that doesn't exist but does) consists of pissed-off guys who think the way "They" run "That" Government in Washington D.C. just aint right -- 'specially iffin you take a hard look at our Constitution there bud.
From what I can tell, militia members feel their freedoms are being threatened. They have a point. Where in the Constitution does it say that the government can force me not to develop land I own because an occasional owl flies over it? To say nothing of secure borders and usuary taxation.
Thanks to the spectacular nature of their craziness, nuts like The Freemen may be shaping public perception of the militia movement. The media is happy to play along. Meanwhile, there are some very angry and frustrated "patriots" who have some arguable Constitutional points to make.
Their approach just seems a little extreme, but their Hummers are way cool.
Does your boss's boss's boss make too much money? What IS too much money anyway? Personally I don't want anyone telling me how much money I can make a year, or in my lifetime for that matter.
Can we compare a professional athlete's value to our economy to a venture capitalist's--or a doctor's? There are people who feel we should limit what hard-working individuals can earn. We measure success by wealth, and then punish those who achieve it.
What gets everyone angry are huge salaries and bonuses for shiny-shoed executives who don't really deliver. The AFL-CIO thinks this kind of earning power is an insult to the lowly employee who, in some cases, would have to work literally thousands of years at their present wage to earn what the Big Guy gets in just twelve months. (Not counting perks and options, of course.)
The rank and file are beginning to use the internet to expose the "obscene" (as seen by some) compensation received by top executives. The AFL-CIO constructed a website that reveals the take-home pay of over one hundred Captains of Industry with more to follow. Good show!
Finding old friends online is exciting enough, but I cannot imagine how amazing it would be to meet your own flesh and blood through a website. Thirty-two years after separating herself from her own baby Joni Mitchell was electronically located by her own daughter via the internet.
Back in 1965 abortions weren't all that popular (neither were unwed mothers). Canadian folksinger Joni Mitchell had to make a choice. She quietly put her newborn daughter up for adoption as she pursued a career in the music business. (Both her career and her daughter did just fine, thank you.)
Controversy surrounds the (sometimes unwelcomed) reuniting of birth-mother and adopted child. There are organizations that provide assistance in locating a bio-family member and organizations that promote the total protection of privacy. Kilaren Gibb of Toronto was curious about her natural origin but the only clue the authorities would offer was that her biological mother was a "successful Canadian folksinger." (So what, that's like. . . five people maybe? Tops? And that's counting Neil Young!)
There was always a melancholy undertone to Mitchell's best work (her 1971 album "Blue" for example). By allowing the public to share in this very special mother and child reunion, Joni has not only made a powerful statement about love, but about the internet's power to find it.
the munchies, Slang. hunger, esp. a craving for sweets or snacks
(I wonder who has the job at Webster's describing to some stodgey old Protector of Tradition what the munchies are. "It's, uh, like wow, like, you're so totally HUNGRY dude.")
You know you're getting old when slang once used as a teenager ends up in Webster's latest dictionaries. It was secret code when we used to giggle about having "the munchies." Now you can use the phrase in an English 101 final exam.
There was no confusion, in 1969, that if you scarfed a burger you had The Munchies.
scarf, Slang, to eat, esp. voraciously (often followed by up or down) to scarf down junk food.
Where the special use of a word like "scarf" came from, or how it spread into the vernacular is unknown. This slang curiosity started in my head when I instinctively used the word "glom" in a sentence. "Glom?" I asked myself.
glom onto, to take hold or possession of
("I got the munchies so bad I gotta glom onto a burger and scarf.")
Watch as the dictionary swells to contain all the new words the world wide web has added to our vocabulary.
Human cloning is already big business. Angst-ridden yuppie couples too uptight to reproduce yet wealthy enough to afford the treatment provide a fertile market.
Fertility drugs are becoming as popular as baked brie for anxious over-achievers. Recently, Beverly Boniello of Stony Brook N.Y. gave birth to a litter of six children, fathered in tandem by her loving husband and the fertility drug Metrodin.
I wonder how proud the father of this batch can be. His contribution was just kind of a catalyst. Am I the only one who thinks six kids in a single womb as a result of modern medicine is kind of sick?
This isn't the miracle of life this is a chemical horror show. Instead of a test tube we're using fallopian tubes. This scientific kick-start to life scares me.
Can someone tell me, if ending a life artificially through abortion is bad why is beginning a life artificially with chemicals good?