House votes to remove "lunatic" from US law

[Ed W]

President Obama is expected to sign a bill that eliminates the word "lunatic" from our laws.  The word is considered demeaning and old fashioned.  The bill passed on a 398 to 1 vote.

The single no vote was from Rep Louie Gohmert, a (gasp!) Republican from Texas:

The lone "no" vote was cast by Representative Louie Gohmert, Republican of Texas, who said in a statement that "not only should we not eliminate the word 'lunatic' from federal law when the most pressing issue of the day is saving our country from bankruptcy, we should use the word to describe the people who want to continue with business as usual in Washington."

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/06/us/house-votes-to-eliminate-lunatic-from-laws.html

[Red Arrow]

President Obama is expected to sign a bill that eliminates the word "lunatic" from our laws.  The word is considered demeaning and old fashioned. 

So we'll come up with a new fashioned word that in a few years will be demeaning and old fashioned.  In the mean time, we will spend a half ton of money rewriting a bunch of laws that will need to be re-written again in a few years.  Business as usual, nothing really accomplished beyond a feel good move.

[Ed W]

So we'll come up with a new fashioned word that in a few years will be demeaning and old fashioned.  In the mean time, we will spend a half ton of money rewriting a bunch of laws that will need to be re-written again in a few years.  Business as usual, nothing really accomplished beyond a feel good move.

I hadn't thought of this last night, but we could substitute "gohmert" for lunatic.  There's a grand tradition in it.  We have quisling, mud, hooker, and many more.