EDITOR'S NOTE: I am in a special state of mind this weekend, the reason for which will become clear in the posting below. I've been trying to decide whether or not to mark this occasion with yet another lament on julieanewell.com. In that context, an article that popped up today prompted me to blur the lines between my two web sites and compose the following. Maybe this post will "get it out of my system". I shall return to the normal "mood" on Monday...

I have a friend...

Well, actually, I have many friends. In fact, many of my African American friends have gone out of their way lately to remind me of that fact. (Thanks for the hugs!) That's what happens when an interloper casts doubt upon "a family member" by making racially tinged statements in a racially charged environment.

So, hopefully without being confused with John McCain...Thank you, "my friends!"

Anyway...

I have a friend who has lent support over the past year...listening patiently to my "morose" laments on the passing MY BEST FRIEND...the love of my life...my wife, Julie. (Yes...Sunday will mark a full year since life as I knew it ended. Please excuse the digression...it's been on my mind of late. God, I miss her...)

Anyway...

My friend and I exchange banter concerning "signs" and various psychic phenomenon. As I have indicated in various posts on julieanewell.com, I have always been a skeptic...as has...and IS...my friend. During the past year, the fundamentals of MY skepticism have been shaken...as I grasp at butterflies, birds, Eagles' songs, or electric staplers that go snap in the night. (Okay...the stapler snapped during the daytime, but the other sounded better!) My friend - although "shaken" momentarily by an experience of her own - an outburst of purple butterflies in her classroom - has tried diligently to anchor me...to keep me from going downright doo dee doo dee doo dee doo dee.

My friend is also brutally honest. I guess "brutally" is a poor choice of adjective, as she does NOT inflict harm on me or others. In fact, her dedication to honesty would hurt none other than herself. In short, she will NOT tell a lie...even when it would benefit her.

What I'm trying to say is...when the refrain "Can I get a witness?" is voiced, my friend is unimpeachable.

So, when I say that the appearance of the article below is "in answer" to a question that I had just posed to her...an answer to which she deferred...despite her "younger, fresher brain", well, she would "testify" in my behalf!

Here is the article, which will then be followed by "the rest of the story"...

From the Red Room...

"Bush" may soon become a verb

October 17, 2008, 7:43 am

The way John McCain and Sarah Palin have been moving away from the ostensible leader of their party, you’d think George W. Bush had lice. Of course when a man presides over a long and unpopular war, the greatest economic collapse since the Great Depression, and moves into uncharted territory for presidential disapproval ratings, it gets very itchy for the heirs of his political mantle.

In fact, the president’s unpopularity has become so universal, it may only be a matter of time before his name becomes a figure of speech. I can hear it now…

“Man, you sure bushed that up.”

“You’re full of bush, dude.”

“Sorry, I totally bushed up.”

“That’s the worst bushing job I’ve ever seen.”

Just think of it. In much the same way the disgraced Roman general Sulla gave us the word “sully,” George W. Bush’s most enduring legacy may be to enrich our language with another term for incompetence.

Okay, what's this got to do with the price of stock on the market?

I went "into the trenches" this past week...to mingle with "my friends"...my former colleagues who continue to labor for Cairo School District Number One. Wanted to "take the pulse", so to speak.

And, THAT is when I heard it...a new verb that had entered the local lexicon. (For you "rubes" or "Hill Williams" who had to consult a dictionary this past week to read the latest missive from on high, I suppose a definition is in order: "In linguistics, the lexicon (from Greek Ëåîéêüí) of a language is its vocabulary, including its words and expressions.")