Update on word definitions -- "resigned"

Whatever happened to ol' whatshisname? Ah, "Brownie", yeh that's it. As in President Bush's post Katrina assessment, "Brownie, you're doing a helluva of a job!" Yeh, that Brownie, Michael D. Brown--Antoinette, former FEMA Director who resigned because of his agency's total ineptness in the face of castrophe.

Despite on-the-ground-FEMA-warnings from Marty Bahamonde in New Orleans that “the situation is past critical” and that evacuees had no food or water and “estimates are many will die within hours,” was told to just hang on while Director Brown went to dinner. I guess that looked a little callous to victims on rooftops without food and water as bodies floated by.

"Heads must roll!" was the reaction of many who viewed with disgust the nonresponse of Bush's multi-billion dollar preparedness agencies. And some felt placated by Brown's resignation. It appears now, however, while Brown "resigned", his head simply rolled--under the table.

According to the Chicago Tribune in an article this past Friday, FEMA spokesperson Nicol Andrews reveals "Brownie" is still on FEMA's payroll-- as a consultant! Ol' Brownie is working out of his home (in his "jammies", Dada wonders?), where he is "pulling all the documentation together" to aid in the investigations into the government's response to Katrina, according to Andrews.

In other words, Brown is investigating himself. And although he stepped down, he "resigned", I'm wondering if anyone else, like myself, is reminded of Bush administration's weird take on such word definitions by the lyrics of an old Eagles' Song, "Hotel California," that say, They stab it with their steely knives, But they just can't kill the beast?

I think it illustrates the evolution of language under the Bush regime. Words don't always mean what they used to. Things aren't always as they seem. Resigned doesn't necessarily mean someone's gone, deposed, "We're rid of that son of a bitch!" like it used to. Vice president Cheney's Halliburton "resignation" is another good example.

Other words evolving with the aid of the Bush administration? Well, when 3,000 innocent civilians die in this country, it's called "terrorism." If a similar number die in, say, Iraq, from US "friendly fire", it's called liberation.

ter·ror·ism (tĕr'ə-rĭz'əm), n., synonyms - liberation, freedom.

Democracy as illustrated by Iraqi elections emulating our own, means vote counting fraud and manipulated election outcomes.

de·moc·ra·cy (dĭ-mŏk'rə-sē) n., pl. -cies, synonyms - voter fraud, bloodless coup.

If some of these old words and their new meanings have you confused, don't feel too badly. This is just the normal growth of the language as being tweaked by Bush. Just think of it as an exciting time to be alive. To actually witness evolution!