Since I’ve been busy doing things that keep me away from the computer for the most part, I have been consuming my news in the more American way … listening to the talking heads on the TV. The level of stupid on all the channels remains excessively high.

One thing that is particularly peeving me at the moment is talking heads of all manner (including “experts” and elected officials) referring to the process of reconciliation in congress as the Nuclear Option. It is completely incorrect to apply that particular term to reconciliation.

In U.S. politics, the nuclear option is an attempt by a majority of the United States Senate to end a filibuster by invoking a point of order to essentially declare the filibuster unconstitutional which can be decided by a simple majority, rather than seeking formal cloture with a supermajority of 60 senators. Although it is not provided for in the formal rules of the Senate, the procedure is the subject of a 1957 parliamentary opinion and has been used on several occasions since. Senator Trent Lott (Republican of Mississippi) first called the option “nuclear” in March 2003.

During the 111th congress, opponents of Democratic legislative initiatives incorrectly began to refer to the budget reconciliation process as the nuclear option. For a discussion of the legislatively-enacted reconciliation process, which only requires a majority vote, but which – unlike the nuclear option – does not alter Senate rules, see Reconciliation (United States Congress).

It’s bad enough everyone seems to constantly feel the need to come up with new cutesy terms to describe things that already have terms to describe that work perfectly well, but applying the same term to more than one completely different thing is just stupidity … or, more likely, manipulation of the masses who can’t keep up with all the newly created terms and catch phrases.

I am looking forward to sitting at the computer at some point and catching up on some real news. The television appears to be worthless to me as a news gathering device. Boob tube, indeed.