I never heard Rush Limbaugh say anything racist.

[Cyrus]

I wrote "When the wrong usage becomes the norm, the wrong becomes right."

Apologies for not putting the word "wrong" in brackets. There's no such thing as "wrong" or "right" in this field.

M wrote "That is true to some extent, BUT it isn't going to happen with "ask"/"ax" and "boil"/"burl". Obviously."

Again, how can you know? I'm not saying it is going to happen or it is not going to happen, because, very simply, I don't know. The factors that will determine this in the future are too many to allow me to make predictions. And the history of the English language (a language that has had three major influxes of "foreign" languages in it --Norse, Frnech, Normand--, to the extent that very few words from the "original" English now survive) tells us that much, much "greater" changes in English words have happened than the mere bagatelles you worry about.

...Even going backwards, linguists have serious problems in tracing roots. The quest for the "original language" has some amusing tridbits.

[hetron]

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If it's that simple, please explain to me what looting and blowing up a movie theater have to do with skipping school to watch a movie about an influential figure, please.

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Sure. If you encourage kids to defy rules and laws, then it has a decent chance of encouraging them to defy other rules and laws. Such as looting or shooting people. The misbehavior will often only get worse as they grow older and have more freedoms. Some of that may have been hyperbole, but it is to show a point.

To turn it around, you could tell me why a kid should be encouraged to skip school to see a movie, whether that movie is about an influential figure or not. I don't think you can, because kids should not be encouraged to skip school.

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Oh please. It's such a stretch it is ridiculous...you must be naive or brainwashed to think that the "looting and blowing up the theater" comment had nothing to do with ethnicity. Kids miss school all the time, for field trips, for religious reasons, for cultural holidays, whatever...that doesn't translate into kids blowing up movie theaters and looting. By the way, did you ever see X?
It's a good movie, you should watch it some time.

PS I know kids who skipped school to watch it. None of them blew up the movie theaters or looted.

[hetron]

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you don't have to burn crosses on someone's lawn to be a racist -

but don't tell Rush or his followers - let them find out the hard way when they become the minority race in the country....LOL

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I doubt they'd care. Look at how many minorities Republicans try to elect to positions or how many Bush has in his cabinet. Then look at how many Clinton had. Did anyone call Clinton "racist?" Nope. Democrats have shot down plenty of Republican minority appointees. If the tide was turned, everyone would be calling Republicans racist for doing the same thing.

Some people just don't get it. For good (true equality) or bad (no affirmative action), conservatives DON'T CARE what color someone is. It is liberals who try to separate everyone based on class or skin color.

When Rush thought Spike Lee was a nutjob for telling kids to skip school to go see his movie and put money in his pocket, it wasn't because Rush doesn't think the movie has merit or the figures involved don't have merit, but because of the simple fact that the more you encourage kids to lack discipline and defy rules, the more they will do it as adults. If Spike had told the kids to go see his movie on a weekend, I doubt Rush would have said anything. What kind of dumbass encourages kids to skip school and defy rules, no matter the reason? If you want to promote misbehavior and crime, that's a good start.

I'll say it again because so many people don't get it. Conservatives DON'T CARE what color someone is. Liberals separate this class from that class, this race deserves this more than that race, etc. Liberals are constantly segregating people. If you're a black moviemaker moron who encourages kids to skip school, you're not a moron because you're black or because you're a moviemaker. You're a moron because you encourage kids to skip school.

Next thing you know, someone will say not giving driver's licenses to illegal aliens is "racist"....

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So Strom Thurmond, Jesse Helms, and Trent Lott were never concerned about people's skin color? Could have fooled me...

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How about Robert Byrd? Oh yeah he's allowed to recant his KKK membership and people are expected to move on. I think in 2002 Byrd used the term "white nigger" trying to justify his former allegance. According to Byrd "nigger" is a term that transcends race. Puhleeze. Disgraceful really. Why can a douche bag like Byrd disavow his past and someone like Lott can't? And while we're on the subject are there any blacks in the Democratic party who are racist? Oh I forgot it's not politically correct to point out that there are indeed blacks that are racist. I love it when the Democrats play the race card in such high and mighty tones because it's so much baloney. The problem is that they're dealing that card from the bottom of the deck.

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LOL, adios, you must be joking here. Robert Byrd was the member of the KKK as a teenager, and the "white nigger" comment I'm sure was his way of trying to explain how some confused boy from West Va got messed up with the Klan. To compare that to people who were hard core segregationists throughout their careers as politicians and WHO CHANGED PARTIES BECAUSE OF THEIR SEGREGATIONIST BELIEFS is ridiculous. Don't ever try to compare Jesse Helms Trent Lott and Strom Thurmond to Robert Byrd in THAT sense. Read up a little more on their political careers and get back to me.

As to the Democrats "playing the race card", that wasn't what Kenrick was talking about. He stated that Republicans "don't see race". I'm stating that some very influential members of the party still do (see Trent Lott's comments a few years back) care about race, quite a bit.

[Kenrick]

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Wow, are you really this dumb, or just for the sake of argument?

And why defend RL anyway? The man is a mental midget and a moral microbe.

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If this is the best you've got, you better keep trying. Your following non-specific replies don't help your point of view, either.

Limbaugh loves America and doesn't care much about how it got here because it's here and there's not much that can be done about the past. The future of America is more important than people trying to tear it down by bringing up things from 500 years ago.

[Kenrick]

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PS I know kids who skipped school to watch it. None of them blew up the movie theaters or looted.

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You are missing the bigger picture. Encouraging kids to be scofflaws as kids encourages them to be even worse scofflaws as adults. I would think this is obvious. All Spike had to do was tell them to go see the movie on a weekend.

I think school is important and that kids should not be encouraged to break rules and skip school. If you think school isn't important and that kids should be encouraged to break rules and skip it on ocassion, so be it.

[Kenrick]

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As to the Democrats "playing the race card", that wasn't what Kenrick was talking about. He stated that Republicans "don't see race". I'm stating that some very influential members of the party still do (see Trent Lott's comments a few years back) care about race, quite a bit.

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I think I said "conservatives," not "Republicans." Either way, doesn't matter since I was talking about the typical/general conservative. There are always examples who don't fit the norm. I could name my state's Democratic governor as one. He's been cutting taxes and stopping spending as good as anybody. Every time I read an article on what he's up to, I wonder why he runs as a Democrat. He is an atypical Democrat, and he helps restore my faith in that party. I think Democrats' main problems are the leaders of the party and not the typical Democrats themselves.

I could do without a few Republican leaders, but overall I think the party has the right idea. When I talk about not caring about race, maybe I speak too locally. Honestly, no one around here gives a rat's ass what race you are. People here have more important things on their mind, such as making sure their kids don't skip school to go see a movie.... [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[MMMMMM]

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Kidding aside, though, it's that kind of thinking, taking out the words "on average," that has made the Middle East the fine place it is today.

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That is why I included the words "on average".

[MMMMMM]

Cyrus, there are some future things one may not be able to know with absolute certainty, but one can stlll be pretty damn sure of them. And "ask" not turning into "ax" and "boil" not turning into "burl", across most of America, are two of them.

[BCPVP]

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I could name my state's Democratic governor as one. He's been cutting taxes and stopping spending as good as anybody. Every time I read an article on what he's up to, I wonder why he runs as a Democrat. He is an atypical Democrat, and he helps restore my faith in that party.

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Yikes. I think you need to read more about Doyle's tax "cuts". Especially look at his "property tax freeze" and where the money is coming from to do that. You'll notice that the man has only increased fees on damn near everything significantly as well as robbing the transportation fund by about $500 million not to mention various other segregated programs. Here for more info on these "fund transfers" . I believe Doyle's plan cuts taxes by about $12 million but raises fees about $300 million. Some tax cut!

Sorry about the aside, but to consider Gov. Doyle anything but a tax and spend liberal is laughable.

One more quick tangent: what part of GB are you from Kenrick? I live in Ashwaubenon, but go to college at UW-Whitewater.

[Dead]

Yes cutting people off essential social services is so laudable!

Republicans loooooveeee to cut, cut, CUT, unless it involves FARMERS or the MILITARY. In those cases, it's spend, spend, spend.

Gotta love those rich Republican good Christian Iowan farmers who can't make it on their own in the business world.