When the Press buy "Reform," the Battle is Already Lost

BrooklynDodger is totally frosted by “reform” being applied to anything in the Bush legislative agenda. Social Security “reform,” product liability “reform”, malpractice “reform”, OSHA “reform.” The frost got thicker when the Dodger looked “reform” up in the dictionary. As a literalist science type person, the Dodger thought “reform” meant changing in form, having acquire to implication of changing in a good direction. It turns out that the fundamental definition of the word is that. So by buying the Bush word, in a headline, the press from NY Times on down buys the premise. In fact, all this legislation is “deform” legislation.

In parallel to the Protestant Reformation of the renaissance, we are living through the Conservative Deformation of American society.

From the on line dictionary:

Main Entry: re·form
Function: verb
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French reformer, from Latin reformare, from re- + formare to form, from forma formtransitive senses1 a : to put or change into an improved form or condition b : to amend or improve by change of form or removal of faults or abuses2 : to put an end to (an evil) by enforcing or introducing a better method or course of action3 : to induce or cause to abandon evil ways

Main Entry: de·form
Function: verb
Etymology: Middle English, from Old French or Latin; Old French deformer, from Latin deformare, from de- + formare to form, from forma formtransitive senses1 : to spoil the form of2 a : to spoil the looks of : DISFIGURE b : to mar the character of 3 : to alter the shape of by stressintransitive senses : to become misshapen or changed in shape- de·form·able /-m&-b&l/ adjectivesynonyms DEFORM, DISTORT, CONTORT, WARP means to mar or spoil by or as if by twisting. DEFORM may imply a change of shape through stress, injury, or some accident of growth . DISTORT and CONTORT both imply a wrenching from the natural, normal, or justly proportioned, but CONTORT suggests a more involved twisting and a more grotesque and painful result .href="http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=warp+">WARP indicates physically an uneven shrinking that bends or twists out of a flat plane .