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Codewords and Their Unspoken Meanings in American Politics

By Patrick   Follow   Thu, 5 Jul 2012, 12:46pm   8,750 views   127 comments
In Menlo Park CA 94025   Watch (0)   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike  

In a comment today I pointed out that "limited constitutional government" is code-speak for something very different from what it sounds like:

Limited = no Social Security or Medicare

Constitutional = letting states enact racist laws

What other codewords are used, and what are their unspoken definitions?

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1. bdrasin Follow Befriend 6 threads 490 comments Alameda, CA

   1   2:59pm Mon 9 Jul 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (5)   Dislike   Honest Abe says And the "no crime 30 seconds before and a criminal act 30 seconds after" scenario is codified in law. That makes it real, doesn't it? But you're right, early abortion is not considered murder (although it is still taking a human life). Under existing law, if I'm not mistaken, a women can terminate her zygote, fetus or baby any time up to partial birth. Once the baby is out of the birth canal, her "right" to terminate ends. At first you can terminate, abort, kill the baby...but now you can't. You are mistaken. Laws vary by state, but abortion is generally available on demand only in the first trimester, somewhat restricted in the second, and available only under extreme circumstances in the third trimester. Late term (post-viability) abortions are not allowed in most states under normal circumstances. There's nowhere in the country where a woman can have an elective abortion 30 minutes prior to delivery, nor should there be.

2. freak80 Follow Befriend (4) 52 threads 4,416 comments Corning, NY Premium

   2   1:00pm Thu 5 Jul 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (4)   Dislike (1)   Freedom = freedom for the powerful to enslave whomever they wish

3. errc Follow Befriend (7) 30 threads 1,267 comments 31 male Premium

   3   1:08pm Thu 5 Jul 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (3)   Dislike   Affordable = unaffordable

4. rootvg Follow Befriend (8) 1 threads 792 comments Danville, CA Premium

   4   7:37pm Thu 5 Jul 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (3)   Dislike   Real quick, someone from HS just posted that Obama's appearance and sleepover in Fairlawn this evening (suburb of Akron) isn't even filling up the parking lot in front of Macys. That mirrors what we heard about his appearing in Cincinnati some months ago and his staff not being able to fill up the room. If he doesn't win Ohio, it's over...and on November 6th, I think the race will be called before I leave work.

5. APOCALYPSEFUCK is Shostakovich Follow Befriend (28) 181 threads 4,597 comments Premium

   5   6:25am Fri 6 Jul 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (3)   Dislike   Nope. Saw these performances on TV news. Nothing new in some ways. She's studied the rhetorical style of cult leaders, the call to a lost, purer past, the identification of the audience as the faithful remnant and the call to arms against the enemy named or amorphous. When Fox dumps her and she can't get a mainstream book publisher to sell her latest hate and rage manual, she'll end up on the neonazi and neoconfederate speaking circuits, raging on and on about white power and taking back America for aryan America, etc. and writing as a guest columnist on Stormfront.org

6. APOCALYPSEFUCK is Shostakovich Follow Befriend (28) 181 threads 4,597 comments Premium

   6   7:55pm Fri 6 Jul 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (3)   Dislike   Actually, Veteran Combat Hair Stylist Mittycakes can truthfully report that Mormonism is a WHITE POWER faith. That should capture a lot of teabagger votes and some of the neoconfederate votes that may just stay at home during the primaries and general.

7. bdrasin Follow Befriend 6 threads 490 comments Alameda, CA

   7   1:43pm Wed 11 Jul 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (3)   Dislike   marcus says I don't judge students, but the fact is, there are also students who are just slower or of below average intelligence. For these students not trying gives them the belief that they are doing poorly because they choose to (not because they couldn't do much better if they really wanted to). Obviously, they always can do much better if they are willing to try. I think this is a really profound point. Convincing someone to work hard in order to excel is one thing, but "If you work very hard you'll be mediocre, but that's better than failing" is much harder. Americans don't really respect hard work as much as they claim to; what they respect is winning. And no matter how you slice it, there are only so many people admitted to top schools, and this same dynamic is to some degree reflected in the rest of society. If you have an economy where virtually all of the wealth and perks go to those at the very top and everyone else is just sharing varying degrees of loserhood, isn't this attitude to be expected? Just a thought.

8. freak80 Follow Befriend (4) 52 threads 4,416 comments Corning, NY Premium

   8   1:04pm Thu 5 Jul 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (3)   Dislike (1)   Free Market Capitalism = Big Banks get bailed out at the expense of everyone else

9. freak80 Follow Befriend (4) 52 threads 4,416 comments Corning, NY Premium

   9   1:12pm Thu 5 Jul 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (2)   Dislike   Adding Liquidity = printing money

10. CaptainShuddup Follow Befriend (1) 296 threads 5,268 comments

    10   1:39pm Thu 5 Jul 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (3)   Dislike (1)   Good Schools = Liberal sanctioned segregation and inequality

11. Honest Abe Follow Befriend (41) 91 threads 1,806 comments

    11   2:17pm Thu 5 Jul 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (3)   Dislike (1)   Quantitative easing = more inflation coming Social Security = Socialized Insecurity Department of Defense = Department of War For the children = more pay for teachers Mandate = tax Fee = tax Permit = tax FED open market committee = a committee to price fix interest rates, against open market forces. Our Esteemed Leaders = the crooks in office Affirmative action = reverse discrimination Fair share = the unequal apportioning of "fairness" Community Redevelopment Act = gut normal lending requirements, and make loans to unqualified borrowers, or else! Inheritance tax = death tax The Fariness Doctrine = censorship Welfare = dependency, votes Hatecrime = newspeak for "I know what you were THINKING before the crime". The Patriot Act = an Unpatriotic act perpetrated upon the American people. Oops, gotta' get back to work.

12. PockyClipsNow Follow Befriend 19 threads 1,536 comments Los Angeles, CA

    12   3:16pm Thu 5 Jul 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (2)   Dislike   It sure feels like republic of CA when sitting in CA. Good Schools is the most funny codeword ! Did anyone mention 'affordable housing' = code for propping up RE prices no matter what the cost?

13. rootvg Follow Befriend (8) 1 threads 792 comments Danville, CA Premium

    13   6:34am Fri 6 Jul 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (2)   Dislike   wthrfrk80 says rootvg says You cannot imagine how badly those people have been beat up in the past thirty years. It's sick. You mean the blacks or the white union thugs that still use the N word? All of the above, sir.

14. bdrasin Follow Befriend 6 threads 490 comments Alameda, CA

    14   9:53am Fri 6 Jul 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (2)   Dislike   CL says It's a really crappy job. And summers off is barely true, at least in the first few years and depending on the number of subjects taught. Teach (or babysit) all day. Lesson plans and grading at night. Prep all summer. And low pay/respect. Oh yeah? Then how do you explain this? We all know you're clowning around and farting through silk all day. You're not fooling anyone!

15. Honest Abe Follow Befriend (41) 91 threads 1,806 comments

    15   7:17pm Fri 6 Jul 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (4)   Dislike (2)   But they get tenure, TENURE, hahaha. You can't fire me, I got TENURE, now get outta my face.

16. thomas.wong1986 Follow Befriend 16 threads 4,426 comments

    16   8:09pm Fri 6 Jul 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (3)   Dislike (1)   APOCALYPSEFUCK is Shostakovich says LOL! we are going to have start calling you APOCALYPSEFUCK is WAGNER

17. marcus Follow Befriend (5) 171 threads 5,202 comments

    17   8:30pm Sat 7 Jul 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (3)   Dislike (1)   wthrfrk80 says Wow, what's with the "dislike" of almost every post? I noticed that too. Some child goes through and likes every right wingers post and dislikes all their "enemy's" posts. It wouldn't matter what I said. I could post something about how great mises.org is with a link to some article and it would get a dislike. The behavior speaks for itself.

18. marcus Follow Befriend (5) 171 threads 5,202 comments

    18   1:19pm Mon 9 Jul 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (2)   Dislike   Btw, I am not in favor of, nor do I approve abortion as a form of birth control (as some may infer from my comment above). In fact I detest abortions and would like to see them minimized. But I do not know that an early abortion is murder and I believe that it is an individuals choice. There are many individual choices that we allow people to make in this relatively free country. Some choices may be immoral to some and not immoral to others. There are some choices even that most people consider immoral, that we do not have government laws against. I personally reserve judging those who choose to have an abortion. That's above my pay grade. The fact that some right winger believe they know, often due to religion, and in this particular case, I don't even judge them, which makes this issue somewhat unique. I do think they are somewhat arrogant to think that they know that a zygote is a human with rights that transcend the rights of the woman carrying it. But once they do feel that they know, I can't really blame them for fighting it.

19. dublin hillz Follow Befriend 13 threads 834 comments Dublin, CA

    19   2:19pm Mon 9 Jul 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (2)   Dislike   Abortion is clearly an emotionally charged topic and righfully so. There are pros and cons to each position. For example, there is plenty of evidence that where abortion is illegal, orphanages, child abandonemt and level sof overall crime in society proliferate. At the same time, we can logically conclude that if the aborted fetus was allowed to continue its course that the creature would end up a living human being in an overwhelming amount of cases which makes abortion a de facto murder. The best thing that can be done is to not end up in this situation in the first place, such as use birth control - that will save the affected parties from having to make these very tough decisions.

20. Honest Abe Follow Befriend (41) 91 threads 1,806 comments

    20   9:56pm Mon 9 Jul 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (2)   Dislike   I stand corrected, thank you. Abe