No-Fly Zones and Naming Rights

Rant alert - if you aren't in the mood to listen to a rant this early on a Monday morning, just skip the next two paragraphs and get to the funny stuff. Here we go ...

The good news is that the Arab League has approved imposing a "no-fly zone" over Libya to support rebels fighting dictator Moammar Whatzizname. The bad news is that, having taken that brave and foresighted step, they are punting to the UN Security Council to enforce it. This means, of course, they want to have their cake and eat it, too ... they want Whatzizname overthrown, but don't want to dirty their hands doing it. They'd rather have someone to blame if (when) something goes wrong. That would, naturally, be The Evil Western Powers - aka, us.

I say, fine. Impose the no-fly zone. Every member of the Arab League has its own air force which - while no match for a modern professional Western air force - is perfectly capable of attacking its own population. Learn a new trade. Police the no-fly zone your own damn selves. Take some responsibility for your useless corner of the world instead of bitching and complaining about how the rest of the world oppresses and exploits you.

End of rant. Thank you for your attention.

Now for the fun stuff.

The Style Invitational Contest is a weekly feature of The Washington Post in which readers get to provide their funny answers to the question of the week. In the contest results published this past Saturday, entrants were asked to "award 'naming rights' for some institution or person to some public facility or part of one." The results were wonderful. These are my favorites ... you can read the full list here:

This was the winner: "The Washington Redskins Defensive Line Center for Nonviolence."

Other classics:

"The Jimmy Dean Breakfast Links Senate Visitors Gallery."

"The Marian Anderson Side Entrance at DAR Constitution Hall."

"The AARP Old Executive Office Building."

"The Viagra Elevator in the Washington Monument."

"The Hu Jintao-Marion Barry-Gunga Din Grant's Tomb" or, for short, the "Hu-Barry-Din Grant's Tomb." (This one gets prime groaning rights)

"The Donald Rumsfeld Tomb of the Known Unknown and Unknown Unknown Soldiers."

And finally,

"The Werner Heisenberg Departure-Time Board at Dulles Airport."

Okay, we've gotten both the serious stuff and the fun stuff out of the way. Now it's time to face a new work week. Sigh.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo