Monday, February 22, 2010

No Wonder I Never Understood Norwegian

A former colleague of mine was married to a girl from Norway. He would vacation to Norway to see her parents, stink up the office with Norwegian cuisine and inform coworkers of various Norwegian customs. He also spent a great deal of time learning Norwegian to help with his visits to his in-laws, as they spoke little English.

He never told me if the Norwegian words for hero and lunatic were similar but if this story is accurate they must be.

Tax-protesting pilot Joe Stack's daughter is caling her father a hero for his anti-government views. Sure, she gives the obligatory denounciation of his final act, but it's hard to reconcile her statement "Yes. Because now maybe people will listen." with anything resembling sorrow for the life lost in Austin last week.

It seems like the Norwegians give a pretty big award to people who advance the cause of 'peace'. Joe Stack's destruction seems minimal in comparison to Yassar Arafat, so maybe the committee ought to give him consideration.

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