Aaron Anspaugh

So I was at the Greyhouse coffee place today for the first time, and I was actually impressed.  I had some iced Earl Gray tea, which was quite satisfying, and the look and decorations of the place were interesting as well.  But I encountered something new (to me at least), something that had a very evident purpose but a clear lack of forethought: paper straws. Read More »

At a speech she gave this morning about her plans to ram through health care, Nancy Pelosi said: "But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy."

The circular reasoning in this single line is staggering.  Here are some other suggestions from that line of thinking:

- You think the milk is bad, so rather than looking at it or smelling it, you take a big drink to find out if the milk is bad. Read More »

Rather than waiting for the end of his term, New York Congressman Eric Massa has decided to resign on Monday.  This sounded very similar to the whole Mark Foley thing to me, with a married Congressman being caught doing something immoral, texting sexual messages to pages in Foley's case, and sexually harrassing a male staffer in Massa's case.  Also, in both cases, the Congressman was from the party currently in power, right before a huge election where many Americans were mad about Read More »

As a collector of coins, I am especially concious of who has been on our nation's money over the years.  The last major change to currency came in 1964 when John F. Kennedy (one year since his assassination) was put on the half-dollar coin.  Before that, the last change was in 1946, when Franklin Roosevelt was put on the dime (also a year after death).  Our paper currency has been even more static, with no changes to the faces on the front since 1929, when bills became their current size. Read More »

A current definition of Machiavellianism would be "the ends justify the means."  To call one's opponent Machiavellian is a very common argument in politics today, but who really follows this theory?  Read More »

Our nation has undergone quite a few language changes over 200+ years.  When the nation first formed, people were reluctant to even call it a nation, only a confederacy of independent states.  As time went on, our country was called "The United States of America", and was referred to in the plural.  After the Civil War, the term "United States" no longer was referred to in the plural.  This represented our union as states and citizens, coming together to form one great nation. 

In the last couple decades, another change has occurred: The change from "we" to "I".  Looking back at the speeches of many Presidents throughout the 20th century, the pattern was typical:

Calvin Coolidge: "We need more of the Office Desk and less of the Show Window in politics. Let men in office substitute the midnight oil for the limelight."

Franklin Roosevelt: "If we can boondoggle ourselves out of this depression, that word is going to be enshrined in the hearts of the American people for years to come."

John F. Kennedy: "Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty."

Ronald Reagan: "Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have." Read More »