399,999 - 1

To quote the late George Carlin -- I love words.

As the late comedian said there were 400,000 words in the English language, and only seven you could not say on television -- that was 399,993 - 7.

I'm not sure if there there are still 400,000 words in the English Language, but there was only one that really caught my eye when I read Pioneer Press' coverage of the recall petitions being filed.

In their coverage, the paper quoted embattled trustee Lisa Stone "... called the effort "an attempt at a political assassination."

So what word caught my eye? Assassination.

Check it out -- As a verb, it means to murder (a prominent person) by surprise attack for political reasons, so if Stone really thinks it's a political assassination, she's telling us people are out to murder her for political reasons. Nonsense.

If her retort is that it's really character assassination, then she better, once again, look in the mirror. Records show that she is the one who did a Freedom of Information Act request to expose former Bill Brimm's personnel records and she is the one who filed a police report claiming her safety was endangered by a resident who had the audacity to yell at her during a village board meeting.

Oh look, the shoe is on the other foot.

If she is trying to make herself a martyr by crying assassination, she is once again off base.

When I think of political assassinations, I think of the amazing people who were murdered because they sought to make things better. John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert F, Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln, Julius Caesar, Mohandas Gandhi, James Garfield and Yitzhak Rabin just to name a few.

If Stone is trying to feign fear to get the sympathy vote, it probably will not work.

If Stone is using assassination to achieve martyrdom by associating herself with famous assassination victims, it surely won't work. Those people worked with people for their causes, those people listened to people and respected people, even those with opposite viewpoints.

Stone contends that the movement to oust her began before she was elected. That appears to be speculation, and there are more rumors about the last village election then there are excuses why the Cubs haven't won a World Series in 102 years.

The reality is the election in the past and the effort to put the recall of Stone on the November ballot is due to her performance as a trustee.

Stone continues to bring up the past, whether from her own insights, or at the urging of others.

The reality is this. According to that eminent philosopher, Mike Ditka -- the only people who live in the past are losers and cowards. You can decide which label fits Stone better.

All I know is she needs to work on her vocabulary.