Social philosopher and raspy-voiced raconteur George Carlin died on Sunday after a robust career in comedy. Carlin, who was once declared “indecent but not obscene” by the U.S. Supreme Court, had a notable take on what he called “soft language” and is essentially known as re-branding in the marketing world:

“You can't be afraid of words that speak the truth. I don't like words that hide the truth. I don't like words that conceal reality. I don't like euphemisms or euphemistic language. And American English is loaded with euphemisms because Americans have a lot of trouble dealing with reality. Americans have trouble facing the truth, so they invent a kind of a soft language to protect themselves from it. And it gets worse with every generation. For some reason it just keeps getting worse.”

Here's a clip (w/ occasional profanity, of course) from Carlin’s “soft language” monologue, in which he laments the turn of toilet paper into “bathroom tissue,” sneakers into “running shoes,” house trailers into “mobile homes,” and government lies into “disinformation.” RIP, George:



And speaking of disinformation, the Los Angeles Times published a bizarre, but well-researched 1,700-word story and interview with the infamous Iraqi informant known as “Curveball” last week.

The Times, which calls Rafid Ahmed Alwan the “con man behind the code name,” notes he has worked at McDonald’s, Burger King and a Chinese restaurant since giving up his discredited reports that helped the White House make a case for war with Iraq.

Using quotes from former co-workers throughout Alwan’s life, the Times does a bang-up job of, er, discrediting a discredited informant.

“Everything I said was true," Alwan told the Times. "And everything that's been written about me is wrong. It's all wrong. The main thing is, I'm an honest man."