The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

It may sound like an oxymoron for a person to say they're politically logical (this is often times the case), but it is definitely possible. I'm sure most everyone could point to two positions of another individual and rightfully state that the positions don't line up or mesh well with one another. However, while this may be the case with me on occasion, I try to stay as consistent and logical as possible. I know other people whom are the same way, yet know many whom often times make less sense to me with their political logic and rationale than quantum physics to a pre-schooler (Sheldon Cooper possibly being the lone exception). This is especially the case with extreme right-wing conservatives. Allow me to provide some examples. Issue: Abortion Even though the majority of self-described conservatives are anti-abortion (or "pro-life" in their view), they also often times support abstinence-only education and disapprove of contraception coverage on women's ...

Remember Obamacare? The town hall uproars? The conspiracies? The Supreme Court decision? If you answered no, apparently you're not alone. The Kaiser Family Foundation just released a poll showing that 42% of the American public don't know Obamacare is still law. That's right, less than 3 in 5 Americans know the bill was upheld by the Supreme Court and is still the law of the land. Here's a breakdown of the poll: - 59% know Obamacare is still the law of the land - 12% think it has been repealed by Congress - 7% think it has been overturned by the Supreme Court - 23% don't know I wonder what percentage of the population would have selected the most recent American Idol or Bachelor winner correctly. In even thinking there's a chance the percentage may be higher than that which correctly said Obamacare is still the law of the land, I may need to take some Advil. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/04/30/poll-42-percent-of-americans-u...

Some people like to speak in clichés. Others like to speak in metaphors. Certain special people even like to speak in tongues. All of these forms of communicating language to another person are either annoying or frightening on a certain level. That brings me to another type of annoyance with regard to language and that's people who speak in pronouns. It's perfectly alright to begin a story with a person's name, we'll say, Chuck Willard-Foolhardy, and then refer to this individual as "he" in the succeeding sentences, so long as no other character is identified. However, if a new character makes his or her presence known in a story, we can't go back to that pronoun, especially if the other character is also male. If we were to refer to one of them as "he," we may not know which one is being talked about. This brings me to a couple people I know, one in particular, whom basically speaks in pronouns. He or She (this information has yet to be ...

No, I'm not Jeff Foxworthy. I'm not even a Jeff Foxworthy-wannabe. I'm not going to even list a bunch of funny lines like Foxworthy does about Rednecks. But a few recent e-mails (and past ones) that an old friend of mine sent have prompted me to write this. No, we're not friends anymore, which is why I'm more comfortable in writing this. For you adults and young adults out there, have you ever read or tried to the best of your abilities to read an e-mail by someone around your age that appeared to be typed by a 1st grader? It's painful, isn't it? I can hear the nails against the chalkboard right now just from thinking about it. First off, there's poor punctuation (if any at all). They may neglect to use periods and commas, so when you try to read the dang thing, you may have to re-read a sentence two or three times, because you find yourself reading quickly from one sentence to the next without much pause. This is when I mutter quietly to myself, ...

This word isn’t considered vulgar by the vast majority, but in my mind, it can be as vulgar as any other four-letter word in existence. The word I'm speaking of is "like”.  I know, I know the word is just when used properly, such as when one shows an interest or pleasure in something. It's also just when used as a simile. But I’m not referring to such scenarios. I’m referring to when every other word that comes out of a person’s mouth is “like”. It doesn't matter whether or not it makes sense. It doesn't matter if he or she sounds stupid when speaking. All that seems to matter is that they include the word "like" into the conversation at least thirty-eight times in the span of five minutes. I would like to give a brief example of what I'm talking about in a made-up dialogue between a girl, whom is quite excited about a date she had, and her male friend. I call it, “The Valley Girl Complex”: Bruce: “So, how was your date over the weekend?” Trisha...