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Carl Strock THE VIEW FROM HERE
Carl Strock can be reached at 395-3085 or by e-mail at carlstrock@dailygazette.com.
RED-FACE DEPT.
    The other day I wrote about Gov. Spitzer’s proposal to sell tax stamps for marijuana as well as more serious drugs “like cocaine and heroine,” and do you think I could slip that by the astute readers of this column? Not a chance.
    One of them was especially merciless, pointing out that even a small “heroine” would weigh 120 pounds, so that, at $200 a gram, the tax on her would run to more than $10 million, and so on in that vein.
    I don’t know when I’ve been so humiliated. You’d think I would know by now that the drug is “heroin,” with no “e” at the end, as opposed to a heroic woman, who does carry an “e” behind, but it never seems to take.
WORD WATCH
    In the Homonym Hopper we have ABC News online reporting, “Obama accuses McCain of towing the Bush administration line on taxes,” though readers of this column know full well that you “toe” the line, with your toes, not tow it.
    In the Metaphor Mixer we have a television announcer saying, perhaps breathlessly, “The Giants are breathing down their throat,” which comes to me from my chief scout.
    We have a local businessman, explaining his pending move from one location to another, as reported in this newspaper, “We are busting at the scenes.”
    And we have the curious headline over a favorable dance review in this newspaper, “Mark Morris dance group fails to disappoint.” Oh, if only the same could be said of me at the end of my days, I would be content.