- During my web-scavenging today, I ran across this opinion piece by Geoff Nunberg at NPR.org, discussing the inclusion of the phrase "under God" contained in the pledge of allegiance. Now, before everyone draws up battle lines, just wait. Geoff actually does a great job of asking the right question regarding why the words are there in the first place. He files the phrases "under God", and "pledge allegiance" as "...hapax legomenon, or hapax for short — an expression that only occurs in a single place in the language..." Point being, the phrase "under God" doesn't represent American values because it doesn't appear anywhere else in our language or culture outside of it's calculated placement in the pledge itself years after it was originally written. I'm sure Nunberg has plenty of bias in his ideas (I do not buy his arguments wholesale), but I enjoy his addressing the singular matter at hand. If you'd like to argue the merits of the United States as a Christian nation founded by bible-believing men, let's do that. It's just a different discussion is all.
- In other "I-wish-had-more-stuff-to-be-afraid-of" news, this post from the Freakonomics Blog speaks of possible new terrorist-favorite chili grenades supposedly packed with massive doses of the most potent chili pepper in the world. Apparently the most recent extremist weapons chatter is all abuzz on breast implants packed with explosives. (Insert adolescent anatomy joke here, if you must)
- Conspiracy theory alert! - Is it possible this "chatter" is coming from bored TSA agents who are tryin to get their grope on? After all, weren't they just claiming they needed to see folks nekkid to ensure "security"? I'm just sayin...
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