It sure is, the subject fascinates me. I've always tried not to pick up the NYC accent. My mom still has hers but it has faded a LITTLE bit since they've retired to the Catskill region. My sister's NY accent has faded greatly since she's lived in a suburb of Albany, NY. And now my niece has a genuine upstate NY accent, she says "oar-ange" and "caam-ra."
The funniest of all of us is my dad, people tell him he has a southern accent and when he goes "home" to Virginia, his family all tell him he sounds like a yankee. He says he's just a misfit now! I remember growing up, many of my friends used to tell me "your dad has an accent" and I'd say, no he doesn't YOU do!
IT'S ALL BUSH'S FAULT . . .
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS:
BUSH, VIETNAMESE PRIME MINISTER TALK TRADE
by Deb Riechmann
Tue Jun 21, 5:37 PM ET
WASHINGTON - President Bush opened the Oval Office on Tuesday to the highest-ranking official from communist Vietnam to visit since the end of the war that divided America and claimed the lives of more than 58,000 U.S. troops.
Bush said he would visit Vietnam next year.
The president and Prime Minister Phan Van Khai talked about the continuing search for American soldiers' remains to close what Bush called a "sad chapter." But they focused their attention on Vietnam's desire to join the World Trade Organization as well as its human-rights record, which some lawmakers say remains tainted.
. . . The president also noted the Vietnam Religious Freedom Agreement, an accord signed in May that Bush said would make it easier for people to worship freely in Vietnam.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050621/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_vietnam;_ylt=AsTkheGkIpZULkerMOzuW.Rp24cA;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl
WAR ON TERROR:
WHITE HOUSE REBUFFS INDEPENDENT PROBE OF GUANTANAMO
By Adam Entous
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Tuesday rebuffed Democratic calls for creation of an independent commission to investigate treatment of foreign terror suspects at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/security_guantanamo_investigation_dc;_ylt=AklMWfZhAB8ZGFzqOfP1RJUEtbAF;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl
FREE AUSTRALIAN APOLOGIZES TO BUSH
By Rod McGuirk
ASSOCIATED PRESS
June 21, 2005
MELBOURNE, Australia -- An Australian engineer held hostage in Iraq for nearly seven weeks arrived in his home country yesterday and apologized for his televised plea for coalition forces to withdraw from Iraq.
Douglas Wood, 64, who lives in Alamo, Calif., told reporters at Melbourne's airport that he supported the coalition forces' role in Iraq.
"Frankly, I'd like to apologize to both President Bush and Prime Minister [John] Howard for the things I said under duress," said Mr. Wood, with his American wife, Yvonne Given, and his brothers, Vernon and Malcolm, and their wives by his side.
"I actually believe that I am proof positive that the current policy of training the Iraqi army ... works because it was Iraqis that got me out," he said.
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20050620-115844-4630r.htm
NO TIME TO GO WOBBLY
The goal in Iraq is victory, not withdrawal.
By Brendan Miniter
Tuesday, June 21, 2005 12:01 a.m. EDT
The last thing we need in Iraq is a timeline for withdrawal. Victory sets its own schedule, and it's not contingent on the U.S. election calendar. Arbitrarily forcing a timetable on the battlefield will only aid the enemy. Yet a growing number of politicians are now calling for just that--or, at least, a better (read more negative) official accounting of what's happening in Iraq. With polls showing less support for the war and pols parroting that public opinion, we're in danger of losing sight of how to defeat the enemy.
Sen. Joe Biden, a Delaware Democrat, joined the parade over the weekend while also bluntly saying he's looking at a presidential bid in 2008--although he was careful to add that he thinks the next presidential election will turn on national security. Rep. Harold Ford Jr., normally a somewhat sensible Tennessee Democrat, has also joined the procession and hopes his call for a timeline will help win him the Senate seat Bill Frist is vacating. And it's not just Democrats. Sen. Chuck Hagel is making similar noises as he considers his own presidential bid.
In addition to reading the rest of the article, I strongly encourage you to read the 'reader responses'!
http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/bminiter/?id=110006848
FAITH-BASED/LIFE INITIATIVES:
BUSH PROMOTES FUNDING FOR RELIGIOUS GROUPS
WASHINGTON - President Bush on Tuesday told the Southern Baptist Convention a compassionate society would rely more on religious groups to provide social services and oppose expanded embryonic stem cell research.
Bush renewed his call for Congress to pass a law that would allow religious groups with federal contracts to consider questions of faith when making employment decisions. With such legislation long stalled, the president has bypassed Congress and made more money available to such groups through executive orders and regulations.
"Congress needs to pass charitable choice legislation to forever guarantee equal treatment for our faith-based organizations when they compete for federal funds," Bush told the Baptists meeting in Nashville, Tenn., via satellite.
Quoting the hymn "Great Is Thy Faithfulness," Bush said, "Thy compassions, they fail not."
On "culture of life" issues such as stem cells, the president said, "A compassionate society protects and defends its most vulnerable members at every stage of life."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050621/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_baptists;_ylt=AkXSliZq1SQbNMub0bhcJdSyFz4D;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl
FUNDRAISING
DEMS RAISE $22.6M SO FAR, LAG BEHIND GOP
By Will Lester, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - The Democratic National Committee has raised $22.6 million this year through fundraisers, direct mail and online, but still trails the national GOP by a 2-1 margin, Democrats said Tuesday.
DNC Chairman Howard Dean has been traveling to fundraisers around the country in recent days — including events in several cities in Texas to Atlanta to an event Tuesday night event in Washington attended by more than 1,000 donors that raised about $700,000, said DNC spokeswoman Laura Gross.
Despite these efforts, the DNC still trails the Republican National Committee, which reported last week that it raised almost $53 million through the first five months of the year. That compares with $22.6 million raised by the DNC over the same period.
The RNC reported it had $32.6 million on hand at the end of May. Democrats had $8.2 million.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050622/ap_on_re_us/party_money;_ylt=Ah2iJ.xPLcjxbnzIg4DqvOus0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3OXIzMDMzBHNlYwM3MDM-
It sure is, the subject fascinates me.
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I have really noticed lately that under 25s hardly have any regional accents any more. Whether for good or ill, probably for good, I think it is a result of this generation of kids having TV , videos, DVDs, as their constant companion from the cradle