What's in a Name? To Some, a Lot.

When "Fast and Furious" star Paul Walker died in a horrific car crash, initial reports said it was believed that the car he was in had been drag racing. His friends and family vehemently protested this initial conclusion. Now, the Coroner's Report has found no evidence of drag racing, but the evidence presented is that the car was traveling in excess of 100 mph on a city street having a speed limit of 45.

Either way, it is extremely reckless driving. Here is my question: what difference does it make if he was drag racing or simply driving horribly recklessly on a city street? Really, what difference does it make?

My second example is from a horrible train wreck recently, in which the engineer failed to slow down for a dangerous curve. Analysis showed that the train was going more than double the 35 mph speed limit.

Obviously, the engineer had fallen asleep. When it came time to give his account of events, the engineer's union representative was adamant that the guy hadn't fallen asleep. What he had done instead was "nodded off". Uh, Mr. Union Representative, how is "nodding off" different than "falling asleep"?

My third example is from the attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission building in Benghazi. Many Republicans castigated Obama for not clearly calling it "terrorism", although he did indirectly refer to it as such. What do these idiots think "terrorism" is? I suggest they all buy dictionaries so they could see that it was terrorism, pure and simple, whether the cause was a film or other reasons. Recent in-depth studies reveal the film did play a role, but regardless of that, attacking innocent people for political reasons is the very essence of terrorism.

This whole terrorism thing just drives me batty. Every time there is some sort of disaster, the first thing the government and media want to do is find out if terrorism was involved. When it turns that it wasn't involved, it's as if we're all supposed to breathe a huge sigh of relief, even though the damage is the same either way. After all, if the aforementioned train accident had been caused by terrorism, the dead would be just as dead, and the injured just as injured.

Shakespeare wrote "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.""  Apparently many today think he was wrong.