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Sitaram Site Admin


Joined: 14 Sep 2005 Posts: 1079
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Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2005 7:38 pm Post subject: The Acronym Hall of Fame |
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Date: Sun Apr 27, 2003 8:30 am
Subject: The Acronym Hall of Fame
http://www.sulekha.com/chpost.asp...eeHouse&cid=330307&show=0
The following list of acronyms was compiled and annotated by Rich
Hartzog of:
AAA Historical Americana
http://www.liongate-armsandarmour.com/Acronyms.htm
Mr. Hartzog's list is, in a sense, an "Acronym Hall of Fame."
Sitaram writes:
As I was composing a post for Sulekha this morning, an acronym
suddenly jumped into my mind.
MMM (for Murderous Muslim Minority)
Before anyone takes umbrage, may I say in my defense that the
newsworthy events of the past several years certainly offer some
justification for the coining of such an acronym.
Certainly, there no shortage around the world of Muslims who ARE
murderous with regard to terrorism and suicide missions. And
certainly, I am being generous and kindly and conservative to add the
word "minority" to my acronym. I do sincerely believe that it IS a
minority. But then, as Jesus said, "a little leaven (yeast)
leaveneth the whole loaf (of bread.)" After all, yeast is composed
of living cells. A few cancer cells are all it takes. It is ironic
that the term "cell" was used to describe Al-Qaida activities. Every
sort of ideology, whether Islam or Communism or Postmodernism, lives
and grows and spreads as a "meme", and takes on a life of its own.
It's a shame that ideologies like Compassion and Modesty and
Moderation and Charity and Nonviolence have not been more virulent.
Well, perhaps they HAVE their own virulence, but their carriers are
not as newsworthy as the Saddams and Hitlers of this world. I'm
beginning to sound like Andy Rooney in this post. Come to think of
it, I am beginning to feel like Andy Rooney. Perhaps Andy Rooney is
a virulent meme in his own right. Let us not forget that CBS and NBC
are three letter acronyms.
One is particularly struck by the murderous violence and depravity in
Saddam and his family, uncovered and brought to light in the
aftermath of the Iraq invasion. And yet we read that Saddam donated
a number of pints of blood over a period of years so that a scribe
might use it as ink to make a special copy of the Qu'ran. To be
brutally candid, I do personally notice a number of parallels between
the personalities of Saddam and his sons and the personality of the
Prophet Muhammad which I glean from Qu'ran and Hadith. And there
obviously exists a sizable minority of people willing to idolize and
support such hideous personalities. Though I should not be unfair
and single out Islamic societies for such a shortcoming. After all,
Germany was guilty of the same error in judgment. Their affectionate
term for Hitler was "Uncle Addie" (a nickname for Adolph.)
The fact that there are three letters in my infant acronym intrigues
me, since it reminds me of the K.K.K. acronym, as well as K.G.B.
I searched in google.com hoping to find a whole slew of three letter
acronyms denoting organizations of terror and violence. Well, I
suppose there is also the F.B.I., the C.I.A., and the I.R.S.
If this acronym which I have just given birth to falls into common
parlance and usage, then you can say that you saw it first on
Sulekha. And perhaps one day, M.M.M. will even find a place of honor
in Mr. Hartzog's
"Acronym Hall of Fame."
=======================
Andy Rooney
Born January 14, 1919
Albany, New York
Writer and humorist. Best known for his commentary on "60 Minutes,"
his newspaper column appears twice a week around the country. He was
a reporter for "Stars & Stripes" during World War II.
(Sitaram comments: The real message of the article which follows, and
the glory of a secular democracy, is that someone like Andy Rooney
HAS THE FREEDOM to insult President Bush on national television, yet
not wind up tied to a lamppost with his tongue cut out bleeding to
death the next morning.)
http://www.mediaresearch.org/cyberalerts/2001/cyb20011005.asp
USA Today's Peter Johnson reported Thursday that Rooney "will
apologize for noting in his commentary two weeks ago that President
Bush didn't sound too swift when he said that America's enemies in
Afghanistan think their `harbors are safe. But they won't be safe
forever.'" On the September 23 60 Minutes Rooney had
countered: "Afghanistan is landlocked. It doesn't have a harbor."
Johnson relayed the content of some of the letters Rooney
received: "`If you didn't know the meaning of 'safe harbor' you
probably thought the 'underground railroad' had tracks.' Said another
writer: `If he really thought Bush meant seaports, Andy must
think 'wildlife preserves' are breakfast jams.'"
Johnson explained Rooney's realization: "Upon reflection, Rooney said
Wednesday that he realized that Bush -- or whoever wrote the speech
for him -- was probably speaking metaphorically, not literally. And
that he, Andy Rooney, was wrong."
"Upon reflection"? It was obvious to everyone in the world in the
first place except to Rooney, or whoever wrote that commentary for
him.
On Sunday night, Johnson reported, Rooney will concede: "Look. George
W. Bush is your president and he's my president. I feel bad about
what I said, and I apologize for saying it."
Rooney's foolishness is not news to CyberAlert readers. The September
28 edition asked: "Andy Rooney: Mean-spirited cheap shot, bad humor
or, after he questioned President Bush's intellect, is he not too
bright himself? Last Sunday on 60 Minutes Rooney showed a clip of
President George Bush declaring that `this is an enemy that thinks
its harbors are safe, but they won't be safe forever.' Rooney claimed
that demonstrated Bush is `not too smart' since `Afghanistan is
landlocked, it doesn't have a harbor.'"
For a complete transcript of Rooney's September 23 commentary, and a
RealPlayer video clip of the portion in which he mocked Bush's
intellect, go to:
http://www.mrc.org/cyberalerts/2001/cyb20010928.asp#3
http://www.mrc.org/cyberalerts/2001/cyb20010928.asp
Now for the rest of what Rooney opined, picking up where we left
off: "Only one of three of the 25 million people in Afghanistan can
read. How can we understand people so different? One in a hundred
owns a car. They have 10 television sets for every thousand people.
We have about a thousand television sets for every ten people. The
country is smaller than Texas. Do we really want to kill Afghans?
It's convenient for us to lay this all on Osama bin Laden because
we'll get him eventually but our enemy is more than one man. The
Taliban, the fundamentalist Muslim ruling party is the enemy. Its
leaders make Jerry Falwell look like an atheist. They tore down the
great Buddhist statues because they're intolerant of any other
religion. In August, they arrested 24 people for teaching
Christianity. The 19 men who killed themselves killing 7,000 people
didn't think they were evil. They were religious. They were assuring
their entry into heaven by getting in good with Allah. How do you
bomb that? President Bush was careful to be politically correct about
Islam in his speech."
Bush: "It's teachings are good and peaceful, and those who commit
evil in the name of Allah blaspheme the name of Allah."
Rooney: "The fact is though, a small minority of fundamentalist
Muslims are more fanatic about Islam than most fundamentalist
Christians are about Christianity. I hope we aren't about to do more
harm to ourselves than the terrorists did to us. We're massing
weapons for an attack without knowing what to attack. We're
initiating security measures that will restrict our freedom without
making us secure. If we lose our freedom to move freely, I'm not
going anywhere and neither, I'm afraid, is our country."
Andy Rooney Quotes:
Computers make it easier to do a lot of things, but most of the
things they make it easier to do don't need to be done.
Don't rule out working with your hands. It does not preclude using
your head.
Making duplicate copies and computer printouts of things no one
wanted even one of in the first place is giving America a new sense
of purpose.
For most of life, nothing wonderful happens. If you don't enjoy
getting up and working and finishing your work and sitting down to a
meal with family or friends, then the chances are that you're not
going to be very happy. If someone bases his happiness or unhappiness
on major events like a great new job, huge amounts of money, a
flawlessly happy marriage or a trip to Paris, that person isn't going
to be happy much of the time. If, on the other hand, happiness
depends on a good breakfast, flowers in the yard, a drink or a nap,
then we are more likely to live with quite a bit of happiness.
Can you believe how many award shows they have now? They have awards
for commercials. The Cleo Awards. A whole show full of commercials. I
taped it and then I fast-forwarded through the whole thing.
Did you know that it costs $40,000 a year to house each prisoner?
Jeez, for $40,000 apiece I'll take a few prisoners into my house. I
live in Los Angeles -- I already have bars on the windows. I don't
think we should give free room and board to criminals. I think they
should have to run 12 hours a day on a treadmill and generate
electricity. And if they don't want to run, they can rest in the
chair that's hooked up to the generator.
Have you ever noticed? ... Anybody going slower than you is an idiot.
And anyone going faster is a maniac.
Have you ever noticed that they put advertisements in with your bills
now? Like bills aren't distasteful enough, they have to stuff junk
mail in there with them. I get back at them. I put garbage in with my
check when I mail it in. Coffee grinds, banana peels ... I
write, "Could you throw this away for me? Thank you."
If dogs could talk it would take a lot of the fun out of owning one.
May the forces of evil become confused on the way to your house.
My grandmother has a bumper sticker on her car that says, "Sexy
Senior Citizen." You don't want to think of your grandmother that
way, do you? Out entering wet shawl contests. Makes you wonder where
she got that dollar she gave you for your birthday.
My wife uses fabric softener. I never knew what that stuff was for.
Then, I noticed women were coming up to me. (Sniff.) "Married." (Walk
off.) That's how they mark their territory. You can take off that
ring, but it's hard to get that April fresh scent out of your
clothes.
The average dog is a nicer person than the average person.
You know those shows where people call in and vote on different
issues? Did you ever notice there's always, like, 18 percent "I don't
know"? It costs 90 cents to call up and vote, and they're voting "I
don't know." "Honey, I feel very strongly about this. Give me the
phone. (Into phone) 'I don't know!' (Hangs up, looking proud)
Sometimes you have to stand up for what you believe you're not sure
about." This guy probably calls up phone-sex girls for $2.95. (Into
phone) "I'm not in the mood."
=======================
http://www.brainyquote.com/infominister.html
55 Great Quotes from the outlandish Iraqi Information Minister,
Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf. Dubbed "Comical Ali" and "Baghdad Bob" by
some, the Iraqi Info Minister is now a cult figure because of his
outlandish claims
Quotes from Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf
Are these the Americans? People remain silent and placate the
Americans. By God, they only deserve scorn. We slaughtered them
yesterday and we will continue to slaughter them.
As for the mercenaries who advanced to the perimeters of Saddam
International Airport, I would like to remind you of something. I
will mention something that will make the picture clear for you and
help you to understand what took place at Saddam International
Airport. Most of you probably saw the American movie "Wag the Dog". I
hope you remember it. Some of their acts that took place at dawn
yesterday and today are similar to what happened in "Wag the Dog". If
we succeed in keeping them isolated on that island, and we are
determined to do so, we might let them taste a second mini Dien Bien
Phu tonight. The European journalists remember it well. Our estimates
are that none of them will come out alive unless they surrender to us
quickly. They are completely surrounded now.
Blair... is accusing us of executing British soldiers. We want to
tell him that we have not executed anybody. They are either killed in
battle, most of them get killed because they are cowards anyway, the
rest they just get captured.
God will roast their stomachs in hell at the hands of Iraqis.
God willing, I will provide you with more information. I swear by
God, I swear by God, those who are staying in Washington and London
have thrown these mercenaries in a crematorium.
I blame Al-Jazeera - they are marketing for the Americans!
I can assure you that those villains [American's and British] will
recognize, will discover in appropriate time in the future how stupid
they are and how they are pretending things which have never taken
place.
I can say, and I am responsible for what I am saying, that they have
started to commit suicide under the walls of Baghdad. We will
encourage them to commit more suicides quickly.
I told you yesterday that the shock has backfired on them. Indeed,
they are shocked because of what they have seen. No one received them
with roses. They were received with bombs, shoes and bullets. Now,
the game has been exposed. Awe will backfire on them. This is the boa
snake. We will extend it further and cut it in the appropriate way.
I would like to clarify a simple fact here: How can you lay siege to
a whole country? Who is really under siege now? Baghdad cannot be
besieged. Al-Nasiriyah cannot be besieged. Basra cannot be besieged.
Iraqi fighters in Umm Qasr are giving the hordes of American and
Brtish mercenaries the taste of definite death. We have drawn them
into a quagmire and they will never get out of it.
It has been rumored that we have fired scud missiles into Kuwait. I
am here now to tell you, we do not have any scud missiles and I don't
know why they were fired into Kuwait.
Just look carefully, I only want you to look carefully. Do not repeat
the lies of liars. Do not become like them. Once again, I blame al-
Jazeera before it ascertains what takes place. Please, make sure of
what you say and do not play such a role.
My feelings - as usual - we will slaughter them all.
No, I am not scared and neither should you be!
Now even the American command is under siege. We are hitting it from
the north, east, south and west. We chase them here and they chase us
there. But at the end we are the people who are laying siege to them.
And it is not them who are besieging us.
One hundred infidels commited suicide as they entered the holy city
of Bagdhad. Their tanks will become their tombs.
Our initial assessment is that they will all die.
Saddam Hussein's soldiers and his great forces gave the Americans a
lesson which will not be forgotten by history. Truly.
Search for the truth. I tell you things and I always ask you to
verify what I say. I told you yesterday that there was an attack and
a retreat at Saddam's airport.
The authority of the civil defence... issued a warning to the
civilian population not to pick up any of those pencils because they
are booby traps. I am not talking about the American people and the
British people. I am talking about those mercenaries. They have
started throwing those pencils, but they are not pencils, they are
booby traps to kill the children.
The Cruise missiles do not frighten anyone. We are catching them like
fish in a river. I mean here that over the past two days, we managed
to shoot down 196 missiles before they hit their target.
The fact is that as soon as they reach Baghdad gates, we will besiege
them and slaughter them. Until now they have refused to do battle
with us. They are just going places. One can describe them as a boa:
when it feels threatened, it runs to somewhere else.
The simple fact is this: they are foreigners inside a country which
has rejected them. Therefore, these foreigners wherever they go or
travel they will be rained down with bullets from everyone. Attacks
by members of the resistance will only go up.
The United Nations [is] a place for prostitution under the feet of
Americans.
Their forces committed suicide by the hundreds. The battle is
veryfierce and God made us victorious. The fighting continues.
Their infidels are committing suicide by the hundreds on the gates of
Baghdad. Be assured, Baghdad is safe, protected.
There are no American infidels in Baghdad. Never!
There is no presence of American infidels in the city of Baghdad.
These flops are hitting places which are mainly civilian. Their
strikes against Baghdad increase proportionally with their failures
on the war front.
These images are not the suburbs of Baghdad. From what I glimpsed,
these gardens with rows of palm trees on the side, which you saw in
the images, are located in the south of Abu Ghreib, where we have
surrounded the Americans and British.
They are sick in their minds. They say they brought 65 tanks into
center of city. I say to you this talk is not true. This is part of
their sick mind.
They are superpower of villains. They are superpower of Al Capone.
They fled. The American louts fled. Indeed, concerning the fighting
waged by the heroes of the Arab Socialist Baath Party yesterday, one
amazing thing really is the cowardice of the American soldiers. we
had not anticipated this.
They [the Americans] are going to surrender or be burned in their
tanks. They will surrender, it is they who will surrender.
They're not even [within] 100 miles [of Baghdad]. They are not in any
place. They hold no place in Iraq. This is an illusion... they are
trying to sell to the others an illusion.
This boa, the American columns, are being besieged between Basra and
other towns north, west, south and west of Basra. The Americans are
the people who are under siege. This is what should be understood
here: Faltering forces of infidels cannot just enter a country of 26
million people and lay besiege to them!
Today, the tide has turned, we are destroying them.
Today we slaughtered them in the airport. They are out of Saddam
International Airport. The force that was in the airport, this force
was destroyed.
Tonight, we will do something unconventional against them. This
means: not by the military. We will do something that I believe will
become a pretty example for those mercenaries. I would not be giving
out a secret when I say that action in the dark against such
mercenaries is effective, not through the action of armies.
W. Bush, this man is a war criminal, and we will see that he is
brought to trial.
Washington has thrown their soldiers on the fire.
We are in control, they are in a state of hysteria. Losers, they
think that by killing civilians and trying to distort the feelings of
the people they will win. I think they will not win, those bastards.
We blocked them inside the city. Their rear is blocked.
We butchered the force present at the airport, we are destroying
them.
We defeated them yesterday. God willing, I will provide you with more
information. I swear by God, I swear by God, those who are staying in
Washington and London have thrown these
We have crushed the whole force which dared to venture there [the
airport]. Now they're outside the wall and the heroic Republican
Guard is now in control of the whole area. So where are those
villainous louts, those mercenaries?
We made them drink poison last night and Saddam Hussein's soldiers
and his great forces gave the Americans a lesson which will not be
forgotten by history. Truly.
We will push those crooks, those mercenaries back into the swamp.
We will welcome them with bullets and shoes.
We're giving them a real lesson today. Heavy doesn't accurately
describe the level of casualties we have inflicted.
What they say about a breakthrough [in Najaf] is completely an
illusion. They are sending their warplanes to fly very low in order
to have vibrations on these sacred places... they are trying to crack
the buildings by flying low over them.
When we were making the law, when we were writing the literature and
the mathematics the grandfarthers of Blair and little Bush were
scratching around in caves.
Yesterday, we slaughtered them and we will continue to slaughter
them.
You can go and visit those places. Nothing there, nothing at all.
There are Iraqi checkpoints. Everything is okay.
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