New meanings for old words

In the past week, I have discovered two words that have disappeared from our language and been replaced with other terms.  The days of watching police shows on TV and hearing them talk about a suspect are gone.  Nowadays, police speak of "persons of interest".  There are no longer suspects that police apprehend or question about some crime.  When did that change?

• From the Channel 13 Action News website, "Las Vegas Metropolitan Police have arrested a man that was being sought as a person of interest in the first homicide of 2012."
• From Channel 2 Florida Coast News, "Police in Maine who say they suspect foul play in the disappearance of Florida firefighter Jerry Perdomo have named Daniel Porter a person of interest." 
• From the VeroCoast News, "A person of interest is being interviewed in connection to the first homicide of the year in Indian River County. Sheriff Deryl Loar Monday morning called the homicide an "isolated incident."

Aren't these people suspects who will most likely be prosecuted for a crime?  According to Dictionary.com, the term suspect is a noun meaning "a person who is suspected, especially one suspected of a crime, offense, or the like".  The first time I can remember hearing the term"Person of Interest" was 1996 during the bombing at the Atlanta Olympic Games and police didn't want to scare their suspect away, so they called him a person of interest.  Now, it seems that people are to scared of slander, lawsuits, or just hurting people's feelings so police or seek persons of interests and not suspects.

The other word that I found out of place in the last week or so is the term "suspended".  Rick Santorum "suspended" his campaign for president of the United States last week. Once again, according to Dictionary.com, the verb suspend means, "to come to a stop, usually temporarily; cease from operation for a time".  Baseball games are suspended when the rain comes and then play resumes when the rain passes.  Same with golf tournaments. 

• With the weather radar showing storms littering the area and the forecast expecting rain through the night, tonight’s game has been suspended due to rain. The game will be resumed Saturday night at 8:37 p.m. in the bottom of the second inning, where tonight’s game left off.  

Does this mean that Rick Santorum real start his campaign again in a few weeks or months?  In case you were wondering, Herman Cain, Jon Huntsman, and Michele Bachman have also suspended their campaigns too.  So, why do presidential candidates "suspend" their campaigns instead of just saying, we have stopped running for President because the voters chose somebody else.  As with all things politics, it is about the money.  There is one candidate who terminated his campaign for president last week,  Tim Pawlenty announced that after supporters of mitt Romney had helped pay off over $500,000 dollars of debt his campaign had run up, then he finally terminated his campaign. 

So, I gues the only person who has used the word "suspended" accurately in regards to their Presidential campaign was Mitt Romney.  Mitt Romney suspended his campaign for President in February 2008, and then started again in Jun 2011.  Judging by that example, hang on to your lawn signs because Santorum, Bachman, and Cain will be running again in 2016.