What's in a name? Shame, racism, pedophilia and much more

There sure is a lot of name expunging from public buildings and institutions these days. Yale students are protesting to rename Yale's John C. Calhoun's Residential College to someone a tad less offensive than the 19th century Senator and Vice President whose ideological support for Southern slave domination helped inspire the Civil War. All over the South, folks are seeking to replace the names of offensive Southern white supremacists such as KKK founder Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest from highways and buildings. Former Speaker Denny Hastert's portrait was quietly removed from the hallway adjoining the House chamber by incoming new House Speaker Paul Ryan based on the vague "it was time to rotate in a different portrait." And right here in Chicagoland, super Evangelical Wheaton College changed the name of the 'J. Dennis Hastert Center for Economics, Government, and Public Policy to the 'Wheaton College Center for Economics, Government, and Public Policy,' I can still remember back in '63-'64 when so many highways, schools, airports, streets and entities were quickly named or renamed for our slain president, we may as well called America the United States of Kennedy. Somehow naming anything after a novice leader who launched criminal regime change against a dot on the map, then spent his remaining 1,000 presidential days trying to whack its leader because of his coup's failure, is totally inappropriate. I'm reminded about this naming nonsense couple of times a week when I steer my car onto the Ronald Reagan Memorial Highway (formerly I-88) just 2 miles from my house. It's bad enough the Gipper got tens of thousands killed in Latin America fighting Communist phantoms, and began the 35 year long destruction of the Middle Class. But being forced to drive on his pavement adds roadway salt to the political wounds.

How 'bout ending this foolish and infantile naming practice for men and women who all possess feet of clay. Short of that, let's have a ten year cooling off period after the dude or gal dies and appoint a 'Devil's Advocate' to dig up the alternate person, like Speaker Denny's, locked away from public view.