What is So Google-able About Rick Santorum?

One of my very favorite political photos. That little girl is probably
driving by now. Photo from Wonkette.

You have no doubt heard that former Senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) has a bit of a "Google problem." You've probably even heard that the problem is unwise to research at work. This no doubt has spread (ahem) Santorum's problem even further. But I'm betting it has also scared a few people away from even looking. I mean, you only have to fall for a couple of "whatever you do, don't Google x" before you find out that you really shouldn't sometimes.

Santorum's Google problem really isn't that bad.  Oh, it's bad for him, but it's not so bad to look up. Unless you are a very squeamish or prudish sort, you are more likely to find it funny. If you'd like to see what all the fuss is about, by all means, click this link to find out. Do it from home, just to be safe about it, but honestly, you could air the page on broadcast television, and not be fined by the FCC.  Mmmkay?

Now, a little background. Rick Santorum is a notoriously homophobic politician, who has said some downright awful things about gay people. He's a bible thumper, and has other issues, but it was the gay thing that got this particular ball rolling. One particularly bad thing he said was comparing gay relationships to "man on dog sex." And I tell you, having your relationship compared to bestiality is pretty stinking harsh. Sex advice columnist Dan Savage (later of the "It Gets Better" project) thought it was pretty harsh too, and decided to use his forum to do something about it.

Unrelated image from Tide Detergent.

Savage hit upon the idea to attach an unpleasant "Urban Dictionary"-type definition to the word Santorum. Specifically a sex act, of which there are many with funny names. He had readers send submissions in to him, and people voiced their opinions on the matter. Finally, a definition was chosen, and Savage set up the http://www.spreadingsantorum.com/ web site. And in a rare case of a prank working spectacularly well, the number one result for "Santorum" on Google and other web browsers is almost always Savage's definition.

It's decidedly rare that something like this sticks. It's akin to "tea bagger" being stolen from the Tea Party as an insult of Democrats, and turned around as an insult of the Tea Party itself. It's not just satisfying that it's funny and that it stuck, it's also a good heaping helping of justice. Schadenfreude too.

If you'd like a little more background, here's an excerpt and link to the Wikipedia article.

[Excerpt]

Santorum (neologism)

The word santorum /sænˈtorəm/ is a neologism promoted by American advice columnist Dan Savage in response to statements regarding the US Supreme Court's decision in Lawrence v. Texas made by then Republican U.S. Senator Rick Santorum from Pennsylvania. . .

Read more at: Wikipedia

Selections from The Urban Dictionary: "Batshit Crazy"

[UPDATED to add a picture of Charlie Sheen, because (duh) that should have occurred to me before.]

I don't curse much on the blog. Not because I don't swear in real life, that's not even close to true. But when a person is writing, they should usually be able to express themselves more artfully than they do in extemporaneous speech. And because, let's face it, I don't want people sending complaints to Blogger! But there are exceptions. And there are off-color descriptions that are so perfect, I simply can't resist using them. Case in point: batshit crazy.

Exhibit A. Image from
Alan Colmes' LiberaLand

I use this term mostly for specific actions, or overall political behavior, and rarely use it to describe a person in specific. For example, a person may do something batshit crazy, and may or may not necessarily be batshit crazy. In fact, "crazy" is very often just a colloquialism, and I very rarely allege that a person is literally crazy. Except in the case of Michele Bachmann. She's nuts. "Batshit crazy" could have been invented just for her. If you Google search the term and her name, you get over 5,000 matches, and more than double that if you spell her name like it sounds, rather than the crazy way she spells it.

And as perfect a fit as the term and Bachmann are, the definition given at Urban Dictionary is so perfect, I felt I had to share it.  I don't even care if this is a case of Urban Dictionary cross pollinating with Urban Legends.

1. batshit crazy

Exhibit B.

A person who is batshit crazy is certifiably nuts. The phrase has origins in the old fashioned term "bats in the belfry." Old churches had a structure at the top called a belfry, which housed the bells. Bats are extremely sensitive to sound and would never inhabit a belfry of an active church where the bell was rung frequently. Occasionally, when a church was abandoned and many years passed without the bell being rung, bats would eventually come and inhabit the belfry. So, when somebody said that an individual had "bats in the belfry" it meant that there was "nothing going on upstairs" (as in that person's brain). To be BATSHIT CRAZY is to take this even a step further. A person who is batshit crazy is so nuts that not only is their belfry full of bats, but so many bats have been there for so long that the belfry is coated in batshit. Hence, the craziest of crazy people are BATSHIT CRAZY.


Dude that guy on the corner wears a tinfoil hat and ripped all the wires out of his house so the government couldn't listen to his thoughts.


Really?


Yeah, he's batshit crazy.

Source: Urban Dictionary

New GOP Urban Dictionary Definitions

Double-dipping into the Countdown with Keith Olbermann clips, because this one is just too entertaining. I do wish he'd included terms like Santorum and Vitter, though.

What's the 411 on 420?

Image from source, Huffington Post

Yes, I realize I'm a couple of days late with the 420 story, being that it is now 4/22. But whattayagonnado? As a signmaker, I was first made aware of the "420" business when we started to notice that we had to make--and remake, and make again--room number plaques in hotels with that number.

There were a whole lot of guesses as to what it means. Former and current stoners will insist that they know what it means. But most of them are wrong. The irony of the origins of this phenomenon is that while kids of today use the code as though they're getting one over on the older generation, the whole thing started with their parent's age group!

Anyway, in case you didn't already know. . .

[Excerpt]

What 420 Means: The True Story Behind Stoners' Favorite Number

. . .Depending on who you ask, or their state of inebriation, there are as many varieties of answers as strains of medical bud in California. It's the number of active chemicals in marijuana. It's teatime in Holland. It has something to do with Hitler's birthday. It's those numbers in that Bob Dylan song multiplied. . .

Read more at: Huffington Post