Thursday, March 08, 2007

soprano

soprano - the uppermost part or voice; the highest singing voice in women and boys

Bet you didn't see that one coming!

baller

baller - n. - an implement for shaping food into a ball or removing a core

reactionary


reactionary - adj - Of, pertaining to, marked by, or favoring reaction, esp. extreme conservatism or rightism in politics; opposing political or social change.

That describes me fairly enough, although I'm in favor of major social and political change. I started out as a New Leftist, evolved into a standard liberal Democrat, and then into a conservative Republican. I now favor a sharp about-face and march backward. Let's see if we can find the point where we went wrong. It's probably too late, but I may be wrong.

Here's a trivia question. Name the United States president who started a war without congressional approval, suspended habeas corpus without congressional approval, imprisoned literally thousands of suspected traitors and opponents of the war (without charges and without legal representation), shut down hundreds of opposition newspapers, prevented at least one state legislature from convening, attempted to arrest the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, saw his cakewalk war turn into a prolonged bloodbath, and generally treated the Constitution as though it had been printed on perforated tissue. (See my comment for the answer.)

My latest Exquisite is William Bougereau's Little Gourmet (1895). Yes, I know she's just a little girl, but she's all the more exquisite for that. (I'm not at all embarassed to admit that I enjoy looking at pretty girls. The female of the species is intrinsically more attractive than the male. If that be sexism, make the most of it.)