Pitch a Fit

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I thought it would be appropriate to give a bit of history on Dagwood Bumstead, since this expression is the second in succession from that comic strip. Wikipedia says Dagwood was the “…heir to the Bumstead Locomotive fortune, but was disowned when he married a flapper (originally known as Blondie Boopadoop)…” Dagwood went to work for the J.C. Dithers & Company as the office manager.

In the recent Sunday comic Dagwood inquires, “Has Dithers pitched a fit about anything lately?” The Urban Dictionary says the expression, “pitch a fit” describes “…an emotional outburst using verbal and animated expression normally seen in the Southern United States.” In baseball the pitcher throws the ball, which is apparently the source of the variation to “throw a fit.” There is an expanded definition of “fit”, which can be caused by both physical ailments or emotional reactions given in the explanation “fits and starts” posted previously.

Which President Authorized Wiretaps?

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George W. Bush faced a storm of criticism and threats of impeachment because he authorized the National Security Agency to use warrantless wiretaps on foreign enemies, but those enemies were communicating with U.S. citizens. Regardless of your position on his actions, his name isn’t the only possible correct answer. The question posed in the title is a trick, because it should say “Which President didn’t authorize wiretaps?” The Time Magazine archives contain several articles on the matter. An article dated May 10, 1976 says there had been six Presidents beginning with FDR who had taken the liberty to authorize wiretaps on suspected “subversives.” I think they missed one, because Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon are mentioned. I’ve found references that Eisenhower was receiving reports from the FBI providing him intelligence collected on his critics. Perhaps he just left authorization from Truman in place. Ford authorized warrantless wiretaps,  so that makes it seven of seven for the time period covered.

Roosevelt’s Attorney General and J.Edgar Hoover had resisted doing wiretaps, but the President overcame their objections with a memo he sent to Attorney General Jackson on May 21, 1940. The book “Roosevelt’s Secret War” says the memo acknowledged the Supreme Court had ruled against the legality of wiretaps. FDR then writes, “I am convinced the Supreme Court never intended any dictum in the particular case which it decided to apply to grave matters involving the defense of the nation.” He then proceeded to authorize wiretaps “of persons suspected of subversive activities.” He did implore that the wiretaps be limited to “…to a minimum and to limit them insofar as possible to aliens”

Not all of the wiretapping was done under the guise of national security. “A squad of FBI men used informants, undercover agents, and bugging to let Lyndon Johnson know what was happening behind the scenes at the 1964 Democratic convention in Atlantic City.” The Nixon administration “…was installing illegal wiretaps and using the Internal Revenue Service to hound its domestic ‘enemies’…”

I haven’t found a President since FDR that didn’t authorize or accept results of warrantless wiretaps “under certain conditions.” President Obama even took the position to maintain the secrecy of the wiretapping authorized by George W. Bush. The thorny issue of how far a President should or can go in infringing on individual rights in the name of national security undoubtedly is not resolved. I’m confident that the Presidents were doing what they thought was necessary to protect the country (except for maybe Johnson and Nixon). However they weren’t listening to Benjamin Franklin’s warning when he said, as listed in Wikiquotes, “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”  We’ll have to guess what his ghost would say about the actions of many Presidents.

Pull Your Chain

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Phrases, Clichés, Expressions, and Sayings says this slang expression, which Dagwood used in a recent comic to describe why he thought his barber had given him a bad haircut, originated in the 1980s to describe someone trying to annoy or get a reaction. The story given is that the female mayor of Ottawa was introduced to the mayor of London. She had a flower in her lapel, and he was bedecked in medals and chains. He asks haughtily, “If I sniff your rose, will you blush?” She replied, “And if I pull your chain, will you flush?”

Tall Trees Catch the Wind

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My interpretation of what is given in Yahoo Answers is that people who keep their heads down (the shorter trees) experience less conflict than those who draw attention (the taller trees that catch the wind, or in a slightly different version, catch much wind.) The person mentioning the expression gave the impression they were alerting me that I should be prepared for criticism of my book about Rocky Flats and my contention in the blog that the wildlife refuge surrounding the former plant location would be safe to visit with my family.

The Health Hazards of NOT Going Nuclear

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This book written by Dr. Petr Beckman was published in 1976, which was several years before I had the pleasure of meeting him. He escaped from Czechoslovakia during the Cold War, and knew plenty about repression. He was Professor of electrical engineering at the University of Colorado in Boulder, and therefore also knew plenty about the generation of energy. I was a subscriber to his “Access to Energy” forum, which advocated that plentiful, inexpensive energy was and is the key to maintaining the incredible freedoms created by a powerful economy. Access to Energy continues to be an excellent pro-energy forum, and it is currently published by Dr. Arthur Robinson.

Dr. Beckman’s acid wit shows up in his dedication of this excellent book, “To Ralph Nader and all who worship the water he walks on.” He then proceeds to discredit Nader’s positions opposing nuclear energy.

The primary point of the book is that there is no safe way to make energy. “Energy is the capacity for doing work, and as long as man is fallible, there is always the possibility that it will do the wrong type of work; to ask for safe energy, therefore, is much the same as asking for incombustible fuel.” However, nuclear energy is “far safer than any other form of energy.” Continue reading →

Holy Mackerel

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Wiktionary says the expression was first recorded in 1803, and was perhaps a euphemism for Holy Mary. Yahoo Answers describes it as one of many “mock” or “silly oaths” used to express surprise, emotion, or anger in a non-offensive manner. The expression apparently originated from the term “mackerel snappers,” a mock term for Catholics and their practice of eating fish on Fridays. There is an endless list of companion expressions, such as holy cow, holy buckets, and holy almost anything else. The list was expanded by the Batman and Robin television show in which Robin would exclaim something such as, “Holy felony, Batman,” or some other variation depending on the situation.