There must be a class that all politicians must take called Prestidigitation 101. W must have a Master's in this for the way he convinced Congress there were WMD's in Iraq.

And the taxpayers pay for the course.

Cheer up from the hidden message in today's word:"legerdemain".
As in our language we have the habit of making as many compound words as we can, such as "langetermijnplanning" = "long term planning", I read today's word as a compound of "leger" (light, easy) and "demain" (tomorrow).
So, things will be easier tomorrow. (with or without politicians)

"langetermijnplanning" = "long term planning"

We have compounds like this, too, except we insert spaces to make them easier to read.

[Inserted a space that needs insertion.]

. True. That's why English is easier to learn. Though I like the confusion and dubble meanings those compounds often give.
Edit: makethem? A new compound ? Or an Egyptian word?

>makethem? A new compound ? Or an Egyptian word?

or an ironic typo?

I thought he'd done it on purpose.

one never knows!

ironically, typos ain't always accidental.

typos ain't always accidental

Sorry to say that one was, and I have since corrected it, although it leaves its trace to remind me ofitself.

Apparently the best seller in our government and military circles these days is "Lessons in Disaster", a book about the US path to involvement in Vietnam. Perhaps in the future we can be free of the mortmain of ideology that has sent us down these paths to involvement in conflicts which cannot be resolved by outsiders.

Hi,kah454
As we are not supposed to drift off to politically tinted items here, I can only add that today's (again French derived) compound word made me think: mortmain >> 'mainly deaths'.
( mainly, because as I listened to the pronunciation of it, it sounded like: 'mordmaine'.)