A big "pet peeve" and "congratulations"

I'm both annoyed and amused by the proliferation of "unnecessary quotation marks" in current English usage. I'm no purist on language issues, and it's likely that my participles sometimes dangle dangerously, but quotation mark usage has gotten hilariously out of control.

Oh, and congratulations to "gentle reader" Bill, who just received his "J.D." from the "University" of Utah--with very good "grades," I might add--and who will be attending New York University this next academic year to obtain his LL.M. in tax law. Dammit, that boy is going to be more "educated" than I am.