Word: blanchardisms
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Peacetime deaths in the military always seem in some degree senseless. In the case of Captain Ernie Blanchard, the U.S. Coast Guard's top spokesman, that was even truer than usual. Blanchard, it appears, died from a few offensive jokes...
...last year, he strode to the podium of the Old Wardroom dining hall at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, to inspire the 118 cadets of Bravo Company and their guests with tales of Coast Guard glory. Aiming to start on a light note, Blanchard promised to "dispense with the political correctness" and opened with several risque jokes as guests finished their strawberry-covered cheesecake. Blanchard said he had seen a cadet's fiance wearing a brooch featuring maritime signal flags. Blanchard's joke: "She said the flags meant, 'I love you.' They really said, 'Permission granted...
School officials and cadets, including many of the 25 women who had been present, complained about Blanchard's poor taste. Three days after the dinner, Stillman called Blanchard to express formally the academy's displeasure. Within hours, Blanchard faxed a letter of apology to the academy, where he taught political science from 1977 to 1981. "Us old sea dogs need to adapt," he conceded, "and change the way we have always done things." With the letter, Blanchard and Stillman thought the subject was closed...
...ALICIA SILVERSTONE be lured back into the role of Cher for the TV series based on the film? As zif! So producers found a reasonable facsimile. A lick of makeup, a smattering of hair product and Cher is reborn in the body of 19-year-old Toronto native RACHEL BLANCHARD, right, who has been on two TV series before but has visited Beverly Hills only a few times. "I don't think it's a conscious thing to make me look like Alicia," says Blanchard, who hadn't seen the movie when she auditioned. "I wear different clothes." Whatever...
Engler's beast-to-beauty story began in 1990, when he defeated Democratic incumbent James Blanchard by a margin of less than 1%. Engler was not particularly popular, but he promised to dig a strapped Michigan out of a $1.8 billion deficit without raising taxes. He lost no time starting. Half a year after his election, he shocked observers by eliminating Michigan's general-assistance program for the state's 83,000 childless, able-bodied poor. Then he moved on to civil servants, cutting 20 boards and commissions and 5,000 state jobs...