It's looking more and more like Palin and The Old Dude '08 and here's a reason...

"jeff miller" wrote in message
. ..


mccain isn't fit to shovel ****...but palin seems qualified.

Whatever her technical skills, it seems to me she lacks the requisite
herculean physique.

Wolfgang
and then there's the whole issue of which way to shovel in the interest of
stable government.

"Wolfgang" wrote in message
...
Whatever her technical skills, it seems to me she lacks the requisite
herculean physique.

Wolfgang
and then there's the whole issue of which way to shovel in the interest of
stable government.
Having known and seen many a woman very capable of mucking stalls, I think
she is perfectly qualified to shovel ****. It may even be a preferable job
option for her, over being VP, given the current complexities......
Tom

"Tom Littleton" wrote in message
...

"Wolfgang" wrote in message
...
Whatever her technical skills, it seems to me she lacks the requisite
herculean physique.

Wolfgang
and then there's the whole issue of which way to shovel in the interest
of stable government.

Having known and seen many a woman very capable of mucking stalls, I think
she is perfectly qualified to shovel ****. It may even be a preferable job
option for her, over being VP, given the current complexities......
Tom

Hm........28 hours. Oh well....

About 17 years ago (my how time flies!) I spent a year working at a "youth
ranch" in southeastern Missouri. The central tenet governing the
organization that ran this bizarre enterprise was some sort of garbled
half-notion that at risk youngsters could somehow be taught how to function
properly within a modern post-industrial society by constant and intense
exposure to horses and the pitifully self-deluded latter day "cowboy"
misfits who mistakenly thought they were smarter than their
charges......whether bi- or quadru- pedal. My affiliation with this outfit
necessarily resulted in a great deal of personal experience in shoveling
manure out of a horse barn, as well as witnessing others of all ages and
both sexes engaged in the same exercise. I guess I know about as much as
most folks, and more than most folks really need to, about the job
requirements and who (generally speaking) might be qualified.

Meanwhile.......

The adjective "herculean" is usually found affixed to the noun "task" or
some synonym therefor. It derives (indirectly) from the Romanized name of a
hero of Greek mythology, Hercules:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hercules

who is famous for (among other things which need not concern us here) having
completed a series of monumental assignments......or tasks.....deemed to be
beyond the means of ordinary mortals. Thus, a "herculean" undertaking is
one of stupendous proportions, and a "herculean" physique is, by extension,
one which would allow its bearer to do things that most others would find
impossible. One of the tasks assigned to Hercules was the cleaning of the
Augean stables in a single day. Details are sketchy but it is safe to
presume that the job was of suitably herculean magnitude.

All of this, of course, is mythology and can thus be considered as extended
metaphor, allegory, trope or what have you. Not surprisingly, the metaphor
is frequently applied, whether directly or more obliquely, to many
situations to this day. That's what I did, above. I had thought the mere
use of "herculean" in a response to references to shoveling **** would make
it clear that Ms. Palin's literal qualifications for this particular
activity were not seriously in question and that something else was being
not so subtly suggested. I had further thought that the reference to "which
way to shovel in the interest of *stable* government" would clinch the
matter for those who still had doubts. To further clarify, for those who
STILL don't get it...

ALL natural human languages suffer to one degree or another from inherent
ambiguity. Ask any linguist......or any mathematician. However, this is
not necessarily ALWAYS bad news. Sometimes, very often in fact, ambiguity
is extremely useful. It makes possible a whole host of constructions which
would otherwise be either absolutely impossible or at least greatly
diminished. Poetry comes readily to mind. So does metaphor. Thus, "stable
government" might in some circumstances be taken as a reference to the sort
of government one might expect to emanate from a place inhabited for decades
by a succession of groups of horses' asses, a byproduct of which might
require periodic removal by one means or another. Naturally, simple hygiene
(as well as other beneficial outcomes) would require the services of someone
who was not only up to the "herculean" physical demands of the job at the
locale in question, which while not explicitly named here should be clear
enough, but also capable of remembering that efficiency (let alone other
considerations) requires shoveling the already present offending matter
out........and not adding more to it.

Wolfgang