obfuscate - 1. to cloud over; obscure; make dark or unclear 2. to muddle; confuse; bewilder., obfuscation, noun.

Speaking plainly is clearly out of style by some in Washington, D.C., and politics. Of course one ought to have sensed this if you have ever read the line in Shakespeare, "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." (Check this quote for yourself in Google for the real context.) I once worked for a person who plainly recommended, "Don't ever get in a position from which you can't back out." He may not have used those exact words but when you weighed the meaning of his words with the facts, this was the gist of his ethics. Sadly I sense this same rule of ethics in much of the dribble we are being exposed to almost daily about the financial fiasco in Washington..

Perhaps we could say "honor and ethics have been trivialized" -- say anything and maybe no one will not know you are speaking regnostically. It doesn't matter if a word is unfamiliar, unknown or non-existent because there is a process at work to "dumb down" the populace and who cares? Watching C-Span has been an education and hopefully an eye-opening experience for our nation. In fact, I am surprised that some effort hasn't been made to censure such broadcasts. One thing is sure, you will never see any of the more common networks allow such "reporting" as we see on C-Span. Pardon me for using a word I have heard a lot of lately, but the hearings that are going on in Washington are clearly a transparent presentation of the lack of ethics, value and honor in institutions (businesses and organizations)--there is no honor or ethics, that is the point! Let the singer say the words, "I can see clearly now!"

Instead, daily we are exposed to words and phrases that are designed to obfuscate the issue. What words? How about this for a starting list: derivative credit, bundling, institutional confidence, bail out, systemic, liquidity risks, earmark, property casualty, hedge fund, melt down, retention bonuses, performance bonuses and economic tsunami. Come on folks, let's face it, few other than economists, salesmen or lawyers can catch the meanings of these buzz words. While the common person is trying to run such a word through their brain the conversations continue and by the time we parse the words in the sentence they change the subject. Even the senators and members of congress have gotten a little out of sorts when those being interrogated side step the issue or avoid it completely and have blurted out, in street talk terms like, "How in the hell did this ever happen?" Yes, TELL US, how was this ever ALLOWED to happen, Washington? You yourselves are supposed to be the guardians of justice, the watchers of the wall, the defenders of justice and now the companies and agencies spawned in Washington have made the expression, "What goes around comes around." come to life again. In other words, folks it has always mattered, "Whose ox is being gored!" Now Washington, D.C., itself has been gored and they are uncomfortable!

I believe there are some senators and members of congress who are honestly astonished that some of the shenanigans have been going on and now the truth has come [home] to roost and it is not a happy scene.

In case one of our readers feels I have used one of those "fancy" words, the very first line at the beginning of this essay defines "obfuscation". The fancy words Washington and its economists and lawyers have used trying to salve the reality of their significance have not included more explicit words which in truth are what caused them to dig up these convenient terms--how about swindle and greed? It is a despicable situation when the very people who we are to trust and depend on doing what is good and best for their constituents have been caught with their grimy fingers in the cash box. But this is not news either is it? How about the Social Security funds and how new places for those monies to be squandered into misplaced dole which disappoints every participant who was brainwashed into believing the government was qualified and concerned about their [life's] savings?. The term "bail out" is as despicable--and an even further attempt to dull or dumb down the real meanings of expressions. Anyone who has ever been in a boat taking on water knows "bail out" means something is seriously wrong. Unfortunately our current administration is hoping we are too dumb to know what a bail is and what it is used for in emergencies. Further in the exchange of words, what is the criteria we are to use with the lip service from government's leaders --- will what they have said be the same in days to come? Why is it that all the brains that are supposed to be at work use such words as "try"? When I have a need for surgery I would like to believe the surgeon is capable of doing more than try to remove the body part - it is close to where it is supposed to be isn't it? Surgeons have been doing this for a few years haven't they? Finances in the past worked pretty good when a loan was only given upon the basis of a down payment and secure collateral. And don't let our senators and members of congress try to obfuscate the issue in talking about the "last eight years" -- political experts are saying this mess started a bit earlier.

Besides, this is not all about finances either, is it? What about trying to erase the spiritual values in our land? What about the importance of ethics and morality? True, ethics and morality appear in other writings than the Bible, but scholars who know the religions of the world are a small percentage of our populace--most people in our land, if the have any spiritual values, got it from their churches which had a commonality in teaching such values. We have seen judges vilify the Bible, the Ten Commandments and still try to believe the lip service of using the Bible in "the right places" like inaugurations and other instances where an oath is to be repeated will make us feel good. There is a paid clergyman in the congress and one cannot help but wonder what kind of legal mumbo jumbo is used to harmonize such dichotomies? The Bible is either OK or not OK - and let's not bother with the argument, just now, as to whether it is in fact the Word of God. If it is good enough to use in Washington (where they want it used) why is logic all of a sudden discounted and courts of our land can make laws to remove the Ten Commandments from public places?

Is this one of those cases where we are just seeing the tip of an iceberg?

THE WORDWRIGHT

Post script: This situation is being further aggravated by the ever present "do gooders" out there in e-mail land who think "getting together" with meaningless lists saying, "when the number reaches a thousand signatures, forward same to a specific address..." Such efforts are not reliable or significant methods or procedure to get the job done. Citizens must have guts enough to accept their responsibility of citizenship to study the issues and vote, and then "vote out the bums" if they do not do their jobs! We need to get serious about limiting political terms. Long terms might just have a dulling influence on politicians' minds and they forget why they were "sent" to Washington.