If you're going to start down the road of pointing out the thousands of silly, dangerous, oppressive, preposterous, contradictory and totally unbelieveable things found in the texts of the world's popular religions, I'm with you all the way brother. Ready to pile on, but let's not exclude the majority religion of the USA. Here are a few passages from the King James version of the Christian Bible that most Congressmen take the oath on:
"He that blasphemeth the Lord must be killed." Leviticus 24:16
"There are many whose mouths must be stopped." Titus 1:10,11
"Whoever does any work on the Sabbath will be killed." Exodus 31:15
"But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me." Luke 19:27
"The Lord is coming with thousands of his holy ones. He will bring the people of the world to judgment. He will convict the ungodly of all the evil things they have done in rebellion and of all the insults godless sinners have spoken against him." Jude 14, 15
"False prophets are also to be executed." Deuteronomy 13:1-5
Consider your boy Romney, potential US presidential candidate. In addition to having a closet full of special Mormon undies, as a church elder he has pledged that he believes that Joseph Smith, directed by the angel Moroni, unearthed a book of golden plates buried in a hillside in Western New York in 1827. The plates were inscribed in "reformed" Egyptian hieroglyphics — a nonexistent version of the ancient language that had yet to be decoded. Smith was able to dictate his "translation" of the Book of Mormon first by looking through diamond-encrusted decoder glasses and then by burying his face in a hat with a brown rock at the bottom of it. He was an obvious con man and it sounds to me like he had found a good patch of mushrooms. Some people might say this belief makes Romney insane, dangerous, and unfit for pubic office. But because I think every citizen in this country gets to believe in whatever they want, I do not care (I just would not vote for a fanatic). I don't hold Mormons, Muslims, or Methodists personally accountable for the literal words in their holy book of choice.
I do agree with Goode that our immigration policy needs fixing, but I am not seeing how that issue has anything to do with an American citizen exercising their freedom of religion. I don't give a crap which collection of superstitions a democratically elected US congressman wants to put his dirty hand on. If the Muslim congressman lies about something important I have no doubt he will lose his job or go to jail. Swearing to uphold the constitution is the only mandatory part of taking office - the traditional oath on the Bible that comes after it is an elective photo opportunity and means less than nothing to me. GOD FORBID there is ever a godless atheist elected to congress with no ability to judge right from wrong. I would take the oath on a copy of Cycle World and vote for immediate and retroactive beer subsidies.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Everyone Celebrates Christmas in their own special way...
BARCELONA, Spain - The Virgin Mary. The three kings. A few wayward sheep. These are the figures one expects to find in a traditional Christmas nativity scene. Not a smartly dressed peasant squatting behind a rock with his rear-end exposed. Yet statuettes of "El Caganer," or the great defecator in the Catalan language, can be found in nativity scenes, and increasingly on the mantelpieces of collectors, throughout Spain's northeastern Catalonia region, where for centuries symbols of defecation have played an important role in Christmas festivities.
During the holiday season, pastry shops around Catalonia sell sweets shaped like feces, and on Christmas Eve Catalan children beat a hollow log, called the tio, packed with holiday gifts, singing a song that urges it to defecate presents out the other end. These traditions, in the case of the caganer dating back as far as the 17th century, come from an agricultural society where defecation was associated with fertility and health. While the traditional caganer is a red-capped peasant, more modern renditions have gained popularity in recent years.
During the holiday season, pastry shops around Catalonia sell sweets shaped like feces, and on Christmas Eve Catalan children beat a hollow log, called the tio, packed with holiday gifts, singing a song that urges it to defecate presents out the other end. These traditions, in the case of the caganer dating back as far as the 17th century, come from an agricultural society where defecation was associated with fertility and health. While the traditional caganer is a red-capped peasant, more modern renditions have gained popularity in recent years.
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Benjamin Franklin
Love the Ben Franklin - he's one of my heroes.
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin
*He also said the existence of beer is proof that god loves us.
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin
*He also said the existence of beer is proof that god loves us.
Monday, December 18, 2006
ACLU
The majority of the cases the ACLU gets involved in are amicus briefs, designed to remind a court of the individual rights guaranteed by the constitution, and to fund research into the legal logic needed to explain a court decision that passes constitutional muster. It seems clear to me that their written legal opinions are meant to protect one person's views (no matter how unpopular) against the censorship of the majority. The cases are simple examples of victories for the little man and free speech rights. You may disagree with their extreme-free-speech position if you believe "freedom was taken too far". Looking at their entire 87 year body of work, I just don't agree with the popular rightwing assessment that the ACLU is some evil and subversive movement that threatens the very existence of the good old USA. Some people like O'Reilly act as if every idea coming out of the ACLU becomes the law of the land. If you end up disagreeing with their argument, then come up with a better argument for Christ's sake! Again, there is absolutely no doubt that the 3 founders of the organization in 1920 were communists. I would argue however that any efforts to convince this country to convert this country to communism have failed miserably. Should we outlaw arguments? After all a law case is decided by a judge (or 9 of them in appeals courts).
The Most Important United States Supreme Court Victories Involving The ACLU, Either As Direct Counsel Or As A Friend-Of-The-Court:
1920s
1925 Gitlow v. New York Our first Supreme Court landmark. Though upholding the defendant's conviction for distributing his call to overthrow the government, the Court held, for the first time, that the Fourteenth Amendment "incorporates" the free speech clause of the First Amendment and is, therefore, applicable to the states.
1927 Whitney v. California Though the Court upheld a conviction for membership in a group that advocated the overthrow of the state, Justice Brandeis explained, in a separate opinion, that under the "clear and present danger test" the strong presumption must be in favor of "more speech, not enforced silence." That view, which ultimately prevailed, laid the groundwork for modern First Amendment law.
1930s
1931 Stromberg v. California The ACLU argued successfully that the conviction of a communist for displaying a red flag should be overturned because it was based on a state law that was overly vague, in violation of the First Amendment.
1932 Powell v. Alabama This first of the "Scottsboro" cases to reach the high Court resulted in the decision that eight African Americans accused of raping two white women lacked effective counsel at their trial -- a denial of due process. For the first time, in this case, constitutional standards were applied to state criminal proceedings.
1935 Patterson v. Alabama In this second "Scottsboro" decision, the Court sent the defendant's case back to state court on the ground that he had been denied a fair trial by the exclusion of African Americans from the jury list.
1937 DeJonge v. Oregon A landmark First Amendment case, in which the Court held that the defendant's conviction under a state criminal syndicalism statute merely for attending a peaceful Communist Party rally violated his free speech rights.
1938 Lovell v. Griffin The Court held, in this case involving Jehovah's Witnesses, that a local ordinance in Georgia prohibiting the distribution of "literature of any kind" without a City Manager's permit, violated the First Amendment.
1939 Hague v. CIO An important First Amendment case in which the Court recognized a broad freedom to assemble in public forums, such as "streets and parks," by invalidating the repressive actions of Jersey City's anti-union Mayor, "Boss" Hague.
1940s
1941 Edwards v. California In this major victory for poor people's right to travel from one state to another, the Court struck down an "anti- Okie" law that made it a crime to transport indigents into California.
1943 West Virginia v. Barnette A groundbreaking decision, made more resonant by its issuance in wartime. The Court championed religious liberty with its holding that a state could not force Jehovah's Witness children to salute the American flag.
1944 Smith v. Allwright An early civil rights victory that invalidated, under the Fifteenth Amendment, the intentional exclusion of African Americans from Texas' "white primary" on the ground that primaries are central to the electoral process even though the Democratic Party is a private organization.
1946 Hannegan v. Esquire A major blow against censorship. The Court severely limited the Postmaster General's power to withhold mailing privileges for allegedly "offensive" material.
1947 Everson v. Board of Education A trailblazer: The Court found school boards' reimbursement of the public transportation costs incurred by parents whose children attended parochial schools constitutional, but Justice Black's statement -- "In the words of Jefferson, the clause...was intended to erect a `wall of separation between church and State'..." -- was the Court's first major utterance on the meaning of Establishment Clause.
1948 Shelley v. Kraemer An important civil rights decision that invalidated restrictive covenants -- contractual agreements between white homeowners in a residential area barring the sale of houses to black people.
1949 Terminiello v. Chicago Protection for offensive speech expanded with the Court's exoneration of an ex-priest convicted of disorderly conduct for giving a racist, anti-semitic speech that "invited dispute."
Justice William O. Douglas, for the Court, noted that "the function of free speech under our system of government is to invite dispute."
1950s
1952 Rochin v. California Reversing the conviction of a man whose stomach had been forcibly pumped for drugs by a doctor at the behest of police, the Court ruled that the Due Process Clause outlaws "conduct that shocks the conscience."
1952 Burstyn v. Wilson Artistic freedom triumphed when the Court overruled its 1915 holding that movies "are a business, pure and simple," and decided that New York State's refusal to license "The Miracle" violated the First Amendment. The state censor had labeled the film "sacrilegious."
1954 Brown v. Board of Education In perhaps the most far-reaching decision of this century, the Court declared racially segregated schools unconstitutional and overruled the "separate but equal" doctrine announced in its infamous 1896 decision in Plessy v. Ferguson.
1957 Watkins v. United States Under the First Amendment, the Court imposed limits on the investigative powers of the House UnAmerican Activities Committee, which had found a labor leader in contempt for refusing to answer questions about his associates' membership in the Communist Party.
1958 Kent v. Dulles The Court ruled that the State Department had exceeded its authority in denying artist Rockwell Kent a passport because he refused to sign a "noncommunist affidavit." The right to travel, said the Court, is protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment.
1958 Speiser v. Randall Arguing before the Court on his own behalf, ACLU lawyer Lawrence Speiser won his challenge to a California law requiring that veterans sign a loyalty oath to qualify for a property tax exemption.
1958 Trop v. Dulles An American stripped of his citizenship for being a deserter in World War II suffered cruel and unusual punishment, said the Court, in violation of the Eighth Amendment.
1960s
1961 Mapp v. Ohio A landmark, in which the Court ruled that the Fourth Amendment's Exclusionary Rule, first applied to federal law enforcement officers in 1914, applied to state and local police as well.
1961 Poe v. Ullman Though unsuccessful, this challenge to Connecticut's ban on contraceptive sales set the stage for the Griswold decision of 1965. In a 33-page dissent, Justice John Harlan argued that the challenged law was "an intolerable invasion of privacy in the conduct of one of the most intimate concerns of an individual's private life."
1962 Engel v. Vitale In an 8-1 decision, the Court struck down the New York State Regent's "nondenominational" school prayer, holding that "It is no part of the business of government to compose official prayers."
1963 Abingdon School District v. Schempp Building on Engel in another 8-
1 decision, the Court struck down Pennsylvania's in-school Bible-reading law as a violation of the First Amendment.
1963 Gideon v. Wainwright An indigent drifter from Florida made history when, in a handwritten petition, he persuaded the Court that poor people had the right to a state-appointed lawyer in criminal cases.
1964 Escobedo v. Illinois Invoking the Sixth Amendment right to counsel, the Court threw out the confession of a man whose repeated requests to see his lawyer, throughout many hours of police interrogation, were ignored.
1964 New York Times v. Sullivan A victory for freedom of the press.
Public officials could not recover damages for defamation, ruled the Court, unless they could prove that a newspaper had impugned them with "actual malice." A city commissioner in Montgomery, Alabama, had sued over publication of a full-page ad written by civil rights activists.
1964 Jacobellis v. Ohio Justice Potter Stewart's famous statement, that although he could not define "obscenity," he "knew it when he saw it,"
crowned the Court's overturning of a cinema owner's conviction for showing "The Lovers," by Louis Malle.
1964 Reynolds v. Sims An historic civil rights decision that applied the "one person, one vote" formula to state legislative districts, and that was regarded by Chief Justice Earl Warren to be the most important decision rendered during his tenure.
1965 U.S. v. Seeger In one of the first anti-Vietnam War decisions, the Court extended conscientious objector status to those who do not necessarily believe in a supreme being, but who oppose war based on sincere beliefs that are equivalent to religious faith.
1965 Lamont v. Postmaster General A unanimous Court found unconstitutional, under the First Amendment, a challenged Cold War law that required the Postermaster General to detain and destroy all unsealed mail from abroad deemed to be "communist political propaganda"
-- unless the addressee requested delivery in writing.
1965 Griswold v. Connecticut Among the 20th century's most influential decisions. It invalidated a Connecticut law forbidding the use of contraceptives on the ground that a right of "marital privacy," though not specifically guaranteed in the Bill of Rights, is protected by "several fundamental constitutional guarantees."
1966 Miranda v. Arizona This famous decision established the "Miranda warnings," a requirement that the police, before interrogating suspects, must inform them of their rights. The Court embraced the ACLU's amicus argument that a suspect in custody has both a Sixth Amendment right to counsel and a Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
1966 Bond v. Floyd The Court ordered Georgia's legislature to seat the duly elected state senator, Julian Bond, a civil rights activist denied his seat for publicly supporting Vietnam War draft resisters.
Criticizing U.S. foreign policy, said the Court, does not violate a legislator's oath to uphold the Constitution.
1967 Keyishian v. Board of Regents A Cold War-inspired law, requiring New York public school teachers to sign a loyalty oath, fell as a violation of the First Amendment. The decision, capping off a series of unsuccessful challenges to both federal and state loyalty and security programs, rejected the doctrine that public employment is a "privilege"
to which government can attach whatever conditions it pleased.
1967 In re Gault The most important landmark for juveniles, it established specific due process requirements for state delinquency proceedings and stated, for the first time, the broad principle that young persons have constitutional rights.
1967 Loving v. Virginia A civil rights landmark that invalidated the anti-miscegination laws of Virginia and 15 other southern states. The Court ruled that criminal bans on interracial marriage violate the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause and "the freedom to marry," which the Court called "one of the basic civil rights of man"(sic).
1968 Epperson v. Arkansas The Court ruled that Arkansas had violated the First Amendment, which forbids official religion, with its ban on teaching "that mankind ascended or descended from a lower order of animals."
1968 Levy v. Louisiana The Court invalidated a state law that denied an illegitimate child the right to recover damages for a parent's death.
The ruling established the principle that the accidental circumstance of a child's birth does not justify denials of rights.
1968 King v. Smith The court invalidated a "man in the house" rule that denied welfare to children whose mother was living with a man, unmarried. The decision benefited an estimated 500,000 poor children, who had previously been excluded from aid.
1968 Washington v. Lee Alabama statutes requiring racial segregation in the state's prisons and jails were declared unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment.
1969 Brandenburg v. Ohio After the ACLU's 50-year struggle against laws punishing political advocacy, the Court now adopted our view of the First Amendment -- that the government could only penalize direct incitement to imminent lawless action -- and invalidated, in one fell swoop, the Smith Act and all state sedition laws restricting radical political groups.
1969 Tinker v. Des Moines A landmark lift for symbolic speech and students' rights. The Court invalidated the suspension of public school students for wearing black armbands to protest the Vietnam War, writing that students did not "shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate."
1970s
1970 Goldberg v. Kelly Setting in motion what has been called the "procedural due process revolution," the Court ruled that welfare recipients were entitled to notice and a hearing before the state could terminate their benefits.
1971 Cohen v. California Reversed the conviction of a man who allegedly disturbed the peace by wearing a jacket that bore the words, "Fuck the draft," while walking through a courthouse corridor. The Court rejected the notion that the state can prohibit speech just because it is "offensive."
1971 U.S. v. New York Times The Pentagon Papers, a landmark among prior restraint cases. The leaking of the Papers to the press for publication by Daniel Ellsberg, a former Defense Department official, did not, said the Court, justify an injunction against publication on national security grounds.
1971 Reed v. Reed A breakthrough women's rights decision that struck down a state law giving automatic preference to men over women as administrators of decedents' estates. For the first time, the Court ruled that sex-based -- like race-based -- classifactions violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
1971 U.S. v. Vuitch The Court's first abortion rights case, involving a doctor's appeal of his conviction for performing an illegal abortion.
The Court upheld the constitutionality of the statute used to convict, but expanded the "life and health of the woman" concept to include psychological well-being, and ruled that the prosecution must prove the abortion was not necessary for a woman's physical or mental health.
1972 Eisenstadt v. Baird Extending Griswold, this decision overturned the conviction of a reproductive rights activist who had given an unmarried woman in Massachusetts a contraceptive device. The Court held that allowing distribution of contraceptives to married, but not unmarried, people violated the Equal Protection Clause.
1972 Furman v. Georgia In this seminal case, the Court found that the "arbitrary and capricious" application of state death penalty statutes violated the Eighth Amendment's stricture against cruel and unusual punishment. Hundreds of executions were held up while states tried to fashion new laws that would pass constitutional muster.
1973 Frontiero v. Richardson Another victory for women's rights. The Court struck down a federal law that would not permit a woman in the armed forces to claim her husband as a "dependent" unless he depended on her for more than half of his support, while a serviceman could claim "dependent" status for his wife regardless of actual dependency.
1973 Holtzman v. Schlesinger A dramatic lawsuit, brought by the ACLU for a New York congresswoman, to halt the bombing of Cambodia as an unconstitutional Presidential usurpation of Congress's authority to declare war. After a federal order to stop the bombing was stayed on appeal, the ACLU sent a lawyer across country to the remote vacation hideaway of Justice William O. Douglas -- who vacated the stay and, though later overruled, succeeded in halting the bombing for a few hours.
1973 Roe v. Wade/ Doe v. Bolton One of the Court's most significant decisions, Roe erased all existing criminal abortion laws and recognized a woman's constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy. In Doe, the companion case, the Court ruled that whether an abortion is "necessary"
is the attending physician's call, to be made in light of all factors relevant to a woman's well-being.
1974 U.S. v. Nixon This test of Presidential power involved Nixon's effort to withhold crucial Watergate tapes from Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski. In the only amicus brief filed, the ACLU argued: "There is no proposition more dangerous to the health of a constitutional democracy than the notion that an elected head of state is above the law and beyond the reach of judicial review." The Court agreed and ordered the tapes handed over.
1975 Goss v. Lopez A victory for students' rights that invalidated a state law authorizing a public school principal to suspend a student for up to ten days without a hearing. The Court ruled that students are entitled to notice and a hearing before a significant disciplinary action can be taken against them.
1975 O'Connor v. Donaldson The Court's first ruling on the rights of mental patients supported a non-violent man who had been confined against his will in a state hospital for 15 years. Mental illness alone, said the Court, could not justify "simple custodial confinement" on an indefinite basis.
1976 Buckley v. Valeo Freedom of speech and association won a partial victory in this challenge to the limits on campaign spending imposed by amendments to the Federal Elections Campaign Act. The Court struck down the Act's restrictions on spending "relative to a candidate," and its required disclosure of $100-plus political contributions.
1978 Smith v. Collin The peculiar facts of this, one of the ACLU's most controversial First Amendment lawsuits ever, attracted enormous
attention: American Nazis wanted to march through a Chicago suburb, Skokie, where many Holocaust survivors lived. The ACLU's challenge to the village's ban on the march was ultimately upheld.
1978 In re Primus An ACLU cooperating attorney -- a sharecropper's daughter and the first black woman to finish the University of South Carolina Law School -- was reprimanded for "improper solicitation" by the state supreme court after she encouraged some poor women to challenge the state's sterilization of welfare recipients. Exonerating her, the high Court distinguished between lawyers who solicit "for pecuniary gain"and those who solicit to "further political and ideological goals through associational activity."
1980s
1980 Prune Yard Shopping Center v. Robins A victory for freedom of expression. The Court rejected shopping mall owners' claim that their property rights compelled reversal of the California Supreme Court's requirement that a shopping center allow distribution of political pamphlets on its premises.
1983 Bob Jones University v. United States The Court rejected two fundamentalist Christian schools' claim, supported by the Reagan Justice Department, that the First Amendment guarantee of religious liberty forbade the denial of income tax exemptions to educational and religious institutions that practice racial discrimination. Instead, the Court held that the IRS is empowered to set rules enforcing a "settled public policy" against racial discrimination in education.
1985 Wallace v. Jaffree This important church-state separation decision found Alabama's "moment of silence" law, which required public school children to take a moment "for meditation or voluntary prayer," in violation of the First Amendment's Establishment Clause.
1989 Texas v. Johnson This First Amendment invalidation of the Texas flag desecration statute provoked the newly inaugurated George Bush to propose a federal ban on flag burning ormutilation. Congress swiftly obliged, but the Court struck down the law a year later in United States v. Eichman -- in which the ACLU also filed a brief. Both rulings were big victories for symbolic political speech.
1990s
1990 Cruzan v. Director of the Missouri Department of Health The Court's first "right-to-die" case, in which the ACLU represented the family of a woman who had been in a persistent vegetative state for more than seven years. Although the Court did not go as far as the ACLU urged, it did recognize living wills as clear and convincing evidence of a patient's wishes.
1992 R.A.V. v. Wisconsin An important First Amendment victory. A unanimous Court struck down a local law banning the display, on public or private property, of any symbol "that arouses anger, alarm or resentment in others on the basis of race, color, creed, religion or gender."
1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey A critical, though less than total, victory for reproductive freedom. While upholding parts of Pennsylvania's abortion restriction, the Court also reaffirmed the "central holding" of Roe v. Wade: that abortions performed prior to viability cannot be criminalized.
1992 Lee v. Weisman The Court ruled that any officially-sanctioned prayer at public school graduation ceremonies violates the Establishment Clause.
1992 Hudson v. McMillian The Court upheld a Louisiana prisoner's claim that three corrections officers had violated his Eighth Amendment right to be spared cruel and unusual punishment by beating him while he was shackled and handcuffed. The Court held that the unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain is an appropriate standard in prisoners' Eighth Amendment cases.
1993 J.E.B. v. T.B. In this women's rights victory, the Court held that a prosecutor could not use peremptory challenges to disqualify potential jurors based on their gender.
1993 Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye v. Hialeah A religious freedom victory for unusual, minority religions. The Court held that local ordinances adopted by the City of Hialeah, banning the ritual slaughter of animals as practiced by the Santeria religion, but permitting such secular activities as hunting and fishing, violated the First Amendment's Establishment Clause.
1993 Wisconsin v. Mitchell The Court agreed with the ACLU that Wisconsin's "hate crime" statute, providing for additional criminal penalties if a jury found that a defendant "intentionally selected" a victim based on "race, religion, color, disability, sexual orientation, national origin or ancestry," did not violate the First Amendment because the statute punished racist acts, not racist thoughts.
1994 Ladue v. Gilleo Unanimously, the Court struck down an Ohio town's ordinance that had barred a homeowner from posting a sign in her bedroom window that said, "Say No to War in the Gulf -- Call Congress Now!"
1995 Lebron v. Amtrak Extended the First Amendment to corporations created by, and under the control of, the government in the case of an artist who argued successfully that Amtrak had been wrong to reject his billboard display because of its political message.
The Most Important United States Supreme Court Victories Involving The ACLU, Either As Direct Counsel Or As A Friend-Of-The-Court:
1920s
1925 Gitlow v. New York Our first Supreme Court landmark. Though upholding the defendant's conviction for distributing his call to overthrow the government, the Court held, for the first time, that the Fourteenth Amendment "incorporates" the free speech clause of the First Amendment and is, therefore, applicable to the states.
1927 Whitney v. California Though the Court upheld a conviction for membership in a group that advocated the overthrow of the state, Justice Brandeis explained, in a separate opinion, that under the "clear and present danger test" the strong presumption must be in favor of "more speech, not enforced silence." That view, which ultimately prevailed, laid the groundwork for modern First Amendment law.
1930s
1931 Stromberg v. California The ACLU argued successfully that the conviction of a communist for displaying a red flag should be overturned because it was based on a state law that was overly vague, in violation of the First Amendment.
1932 Powell v. Alabama This first of the "Scottsboro" cases to reach the high Court resulted in the decision that eight African Americans accused of raping two white women lacked effective counsel at their trial -- a denial of due process. For the first time, in this case, constitutional standards were applied to state criminal proceedings.
1935 Patterson v. Alabama In this second "Scottsboro" decision, the Court sent the defendant's case back to state court on the ground that he had been denied a fair trial by the exclusion of African Americans from the jury list.
1937 DeJonge v. Oregon A landmark First Amendment case, in which the Court held that the defendant's conviction under a state criminal syndicalism statute merely for attending a peaceful Communist Party rally violated his free speech rights.
1938 Lovell v. Griffin The Court held, in this case involving Jehovah's Witnesses, that a local ordinance in Georgia prohibiting the distribution of "literature of any kind" without a City Manager's permit, violated the First Amendment.
1939 Hague v. CIO An important First Amendment case in which the Court recognized a broad freedom to assemble in public forums, such as "streets and parks," by invalidating the repressive actions of Jersey City's anti-union Mayor, "Boss" Hague.
1940s
1941 Edwards v. California In this major victory for poor people's right to travel from one state to another, the Court struck down an "anti- Okie" law that made it a crime to transport indigents into California.
1943 West Virginia v. Barnette A groundbreaking decision, made more resonant by its issuance in wartime. The Court championed religious liberty with its holding that a state could not force Jehovah's Witness children to salute the American flag.
1944 Smith v. Allwright An early civil rights victory that invalidated, under the Fifteenth Amendment, the intentional exclusion of African Americans from Texas' "white primary" on the ground that primaries are central to the electoral process even though the Democratic Party is a private organization.
1946 Hannegan v. Esquire A major blow against censorship. The Court severely limited the Postmaster General's power to withhold mailing privileges for allegedly "offensive" material.
1947 Everson v. Board of Education A trailblazer: The Court found school boards' reimbursement of the public transportation costs incurred by parents whose children attended parochial schools constitutional, but Justice Black's statement -- "In the words of Jefferson, the clause...was intended to erect a `wall of separation between church and State'..." -- was the Court's first major utterance on the meaning of Establishment Clause.
1948 Shelley v. Kraemer An important civil rights decision that invalidated restrictive covenants -- contractual agreements between white homeowners in a residential area barring the sale of houses to black people.
1949 Terminiello v. Chicago Protection for offensive speech expanded with the Court's exoneration of an ex-priest convicted of disorderly conduct for giving a racist, anti-semitic speech that "invited dispute."
Justice William O. Douglas, for the Court, noted that "the function of free speech under our system of government is to invite dispute."
1950s
1952 Rochin v. California Reversing the conviction of a man whose stomach had been forcibly pumped for drugs by a doctor at the behest of police, the Court ruled that the Due Process Clause outlaws "conduct that shocks the conscience."
1952 Burstyn v. Wilson Artistic freedom triumphed when the Court overruled its 1915 holding that movies "are a business, pure and simple," and decided that New York State's refusal to license "The Miracle" violated the First Amendment. The state censor had labeled the film "sacrilegious."
1954 Brown v. Board of Education In perhaps the most far-reaching decision of this century, the Court declared racially segregated schools unconstitutional and overruled the "separate but equal" doctrine announced in its infamous 1896 decision in Plessy v. Ferguson.
1957 Watkins v. United States Under the First Amendment, the Court imposed limits on the investigative powers of the House UnAmerican Activities Committee, which had found a labor leader in contempt for refusing to answer questions about his associates' membership in the Communist Party.
1958 Kent v. Dulles The Court ruled that the State Department had exceeded its authority in denying artist Rockwell Kent a passport because he refused to sign a "noncommunist affidavit." The right to travel, said the Court, is protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment.
1958 Speiser v. Randall Arguing before the Court on his own behalf, ACLU lawyer Lawrence Speiser won his challenge to a California law requiring that veterans sign a loyalty oath to qualify for a property tax exemption.
1958 Trop v. Dulles An American stripped of his citizenship for being a deserter in World War II suffered cruel and unusual punishment, said the Court, in violation of the Eighth Amendment.
1960s
1961 Mapp v. Ohio A landmark, in which the Court ruled that the Fourth Amendment's Exclusionary Rule, first applied to federal law enforcement officers in 1914, applied to state and local police as well.
1961 Poe v. Ullman Though unsuccessful, this challenge to Connecticut's ban on contraceptive sales set the stage for the Griswold decision of 1965. In a 33-page dissent, Justice John Harlan argued that the challenged law was "an intolerable invasion of privacy in the conduct of one of the most intimate concerns of an individual's private life."
1962 Engel v. Vitale In an 8-1 decision, the Court struck down the New York State Regent's "nondenominational" school prayer, holding that "It is no part of the business of government to compose official prayers."
1963 Abingdon School District v. Schempp Building on Engel in another 8-
1 decision, the Court struck down Pennsylvania's in-school Bible-reading law as a violation of the First Amendment.
1963 Gideon v. Wainwright An indigent drifter from Florida made history when, in a handwritten petition, he persuaded the Court that poor people had the right to a state-appointed lawyer in criminal cases.
1964 Escobedo v. Illinois Invoking the Sixth Amendment right to counsel, the Court threw out the confession of a man whose repeated requests to see his lawyer, throughout many hours of police interrogation, were ignored.
1964 New York Times v. Sullivan A victory for freedom of the press.
Public officials could not recover damages for defamation, ruled the Court, unless they could prove that a newspaper had impugned them with "actual malice." A city commissioner in Montgomery, Alabama, had sued over publication of a full-page ad written by civil rights activists.
1964 Jacobellis v. Ohio Justice Potter Stewart's famous statement, that although he could not define "obscenity," he "knew it when he saw it,"
crowned the Court's overturning of a cinema owner's conviction for showing "The Lovers," by Louis Malle.
1964 Reynolds v. Sims An historic civil rights decision that applied the "one person, one vote" formula to state legislative districts, and that was regarded by Chief Justice Earl Warren to be the most important decision rendered during his tenure.
1965 U.S. v. Seeger In one of the first anti-Vietnam War decisions, the Court extended conscientious objector status to those who do not necessarily believe in a supreme being, but who oppose war based on sincere beliefs that are equivalent to religious faith.
1965 Lamont v. Postmaster General A unanimous Court found unconstitutional, under the First Amendment, a challenged Cold War law that required the Postermaster General to detain and destroy all unsealed mail from abroad deemed to be "communist political propaganda"
-- unless the addressee requested delivery in writing.
1965 Griswold v. Connecticut Among the 20th century's most influential decisions. It invalidated a Connecticut law forbidding the use of contraceptives on the ground that a right of "marital privacy," though not specifically guaranteed in the Bill of Rights, is protected by "several fundamental constitutional guarantees."
1966 Miranda v. Arizona This famous decision established the "Miranda warnings," a requirement that the police, before interrogating suspects, must inform them of their rights. The Court embraced the ACLU's amicus argument that a suspect in custody has both a Sixth Amendment right to counsel and a Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
1966 Bond v. Floyd The Court ordered Georgia's legislature to seat the duly elected state senator, Julian Bond, a civil rights activist denied his seat for publicly supporting Vietnam War draft resisters.
Criticizing U.S. foreign policy, said the Court, does not violate a legislator's oath to uphold the Constitution.
1967 Keyishian v. Board of Regents A Cold War-inspired law, requiring New York public school teachers to sign a loyalty oath, fell as a violation of the First Amendment. The decision, capping off a series of unsuccessful challenges to both federal and state loyalty and security programs, rejected the doctrine that public employment is a "privilege"
to which government can attach whatever conditions it pleased.
1967 In re Gault The most important landmark for juveniles, it established specific due process requirements for state delinquency proceedings and stated, for the first time, the broad principle that young persons have constitutional rights.
1967 Loving v. Virginia A civil rights landmark that invalidated the anti-miscegination laws of Virginia and 15 other southern states. The Court ruled that criminal bans on interracial marriage violate the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause and "the freedom to marry," which the Court called "one of the basic civil rights of man"(sic).
1968 Epperson v. Arkansas The Court ruled that Arkansas had violated the First Amendment, which forbids official religion, with its ban on teaching "that mankind ascended or descended from a lower order of animals."
1968 Levy v. Louisiana The Court invalidated a state law that denied an illegitimate child the right to recover damages for a parent's death.
The ruling established the principle that the accidental circumstance of a child's birth does not justify denials of rights.
1968 King v. Smith The court invalidated a "man in the house" rule that denied welfare to children whose mother was living with a man, unmarried. The decision benefited an estimated 500,000 poor children, who had previously been excluded from aid.
1968 Washington v. Lee Alabama statutes requiring racial segregation in the state's prisons and jails were declared unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment.
1969 Brandenburg v. Ohio After the ACLU's 50-year struggle against laws punishing political advocacy, the Court now adopted our view of the First Amendment -- that the government could only penalize direct incitement to imminent lawless action -- and invalidated, in one fell swoop, the Smith Act and all state sedition laws restricting radical political groups.
1969 Tinker v. Des Moines A landmark lift for symbolic speech and students' rights. The Court invalidated the suspension of public school students for wearing black armbands to protest the Vietnam War, writing that students did not "shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate."
1970s
1970 Goldberg v. Kelly Setting in motion what has been called the "procedural due process revolution," the Court ruled that welfare recipients were entitled to notice and a hearing before the state could terminate their benefits.
1971 Cohen v. California Reversed the conviction of a man who allegedly disturbed the peace by wearing a jacket that bore the words, "Fuck the draft," while walking through a courthouse corridor. The Court rejected the notion that the state can prohibit speech just because it is "offensive."
1971 U.S. v. New York Times The Pentagon Papers, a landmark among prior restraint cases. The leaking of the Papers to the press for publication by Daniel Ellsberg, a former Defense Department official, did not, said the Court, justify an injunction against publication on national security grounds.
1971 Reed v. Reed A breakthrough women's rights decision that struck down a state law giving automatic preference to men over women as administrators of decedents' estates. For the first time, the Court ruled that sex-based -- like race-based -- classifactions violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
1971 U.S. v. Vuitch The Court's first abortion rights case, involving a doctor's appeal of his conviction for performing an illegal abortion.
The Court upheld the constitutionality of the statute used to convict, but expanded the "life and health of the woman" concept to include psychological well-being, and ruled that the prosecution must prove the abortion was not necessary for a woman's physical or mental health.
1972 Eisenstadt v. Baird Extending Griswold, this decision overturned the conviction of a reproductive rights activist who had given an unmarried woman in Massachusetts a contraceptive device. The Court held that allowing distribution of contraceptives to married, but not unmarried, people violated the Equal Protection Clause.
1972 Furman v. Georgia In this seminal case, the Court found that the "arbitrary and capricious" application of state death penalty statutes violated the Eighth Amendment's stricture against cruel and unusual punishment. Hundreds of executions were held up while states tried to fashion new laws that would pass constitutional muster.
1973 Frontiero v. Richardson Another victory for women's rights. The Court struck down a federal law that would not permit a woman in the armed forces to claim her husband as a "dependent" unless he depended on her for more than half of his support, while a serviceman could claim "dependent" status for his wife regardless of actual dependency.
1973 Holtzman v. Schlesinger A dramatic lawsuit, brought by the ACLU for a New York congresswoman, to halt the bombing of Cambodia as an unconstitutional Presidential usurpation of Congress's authority to declare war. After a federal order to stop the bombing was stayed on appeal, the ACLU sent a lawyer across country to the remote vacation hideaway of Justice William O. Douglas -- who vacated the stay and, though later overruled, succeeded in halting the bombing for a few hours.
1973 Roe v. Wade/ Doe v. Bolton One of the Court's most significant decisions, Roe erased all existing criminal abortion laws and recognized a woman's constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy. In Doe, the companion case, the Court ruled that whether an abortion is "necessary"
is the attending physician's call, to be made in light of all factors relevant to a woman's well-being.
1974 U.S. v. Nixon This test of Presidential power involved Nixon's effort to withhold crucial Watergate tapes from Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski. In the only amicus brief filed, the ACLU argued: "There is no proposition more dangerous to the health of a constitutional democracy than the notion that an elected head of state is above the law and beyond the reach of judicial review." The Court agreed and ordered the tapes handed over.
1975 Goss v. Lopez A victory for students' rights that invalidated a state law authorizing a public school principal to suspend a student for up to ten days without a hearing. The Court ruled that students are entitled to notice and a hearing before a significant disciplinary action can be taken against them.
1975 O'Connor v. Donaldson The Court's first ruling on the rights of mental patients supported a non-violent man who had been confined against his will in a state hospital for 15 years. Mental illness alone, said the Court, could not justify "simple custodial confinement" on an indefinite basis.
1976 Buckley v. Valeo Freedom of speech and association won a partial victory in this challenge to the limits on campaign spending imposed by amendments to the Federal Elections Campaign Act. The Court struck down the Act's restrictions on spending "relative to a candidate," and its required disclosure of $100-plus political contributions.
1978 Smith v. Collin The peculiar facts of this, one of the ACLU's most controversial First Amendment lawsuits ever, attracted enormous
attention: American Nazis wanted to march through a Chicago suburb, Skokie, where many Holocaust survivors lived. The ACLU's challenge to the village's ban on the march was ultimately upheld.
1978 In re Primus An ACLU cooperating attorney -- a sharecropper's daughter and the first black woman to finish the University of South Carolina Law School -- was reprimanded for "improper solicitation" by the state supreme court after she encouraged some poor women to challenge the state's sterilization of welfare recipients. Exonerating her, the high Court distinguished between lawyers who solicit "for pecuniary gain"and those who solicit to "further political and ideological goals through associational activity."
1980s
1980 Prune Yard Shopping Center v. Robins A victory for freedom of expression. The Court rejected shopping mall owners' claim that their property rights compelled reversal of the California Supreme Court's requirement that a shopping center allow distribution of political pamphlets on its premises.
1983 Bob Jones University v. United States The Court rejected two fundamentalist Christian schools' claim, supported by the Reagan Justice Department, that the First Amendment guarantee of religious liberty forbade the denial of income tax exemptions to educational and religious institutions that practice racial discrimination. Instead, the Court held that the IRS is empowered to set rules enforcing a "settled public policy" against racial discrimination in education.
1985 Wallace v. Jaffree This important church-state separation decision found Alabama's "moment of silence" law, which required public school children to take a moment "for meditation or voluntary prayer," in violation of the First Amendment's Establishment Clause.
1989 Texas v. Johnson This First Amendment invalidation of the Texas flag desecration statute provoked the newly inaugurated George Bush to propose a federal ban on flag burning ormutilation. Congress swiftly obliged, but the Court struck down the law a year later in United States v. Eichman -- in which the ACLU also filed a brief. Both rulings were big victories for symbolic political speech.
1990s
1990 Cruzan v. Director of the Missouri Department of Health The Court's first "right-to-die" case, in which the ACLU represented the family of a woman who had been in a persistent vegetative state for more than seven years. Although the Court did not go as far as the ACLU urged, it did recognize living wills as clear and convincing evidence of a patient's wishes.
1992 R.A.V. v. Wisconsin An important First Amendment victory. A unanimous Court struck down a local law banning the display, on public or private property, of any symbol "that arouses anger, alarm or resentment in others on the basis of race, color, creed, religion or gender."
1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey A critical, though less than total, victory for reproductive freedom. While upholding parts of Pennsylvania's abortion restriction, the Court also reaffirmed the "central holding" of Roe v. Wade: that abortions performed prior to viability cannot be criminalized.
1992 Lee v. Weisman The Court ruled that any officially-sanctioned prayer at public school graduation ceremonies violates the Establishment Clause.
1992 Hudson v. McMillian The Court upheld a Louisiana prisoner's claim that three corrections officers had violated his Eighth Amendment right to be spared cruel and unusual punishment by beating him while he was shackled and handcuffed. The Court held that the unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain is an appropriate standard in prisoners' Eighth Amendment cases.
1993 J.E.B. v. T.B. In this women's rights victory, the Court held that a prosecutor could not use peremptory challenges to disqualify potential jurors based on their gender.
1993 Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye v. Hialeah A religious freedom victory for unusual, minority religions. The Court held that local ordinances adopted by the City of Hialeah, banning the ritual slaughter of animals as practiced by the Santeria religion, but permitting such secular activities as hunting and fishing, violated the First Amendment's Establishment Clause.
1993 Wisconsin v. Mitchell The Court agreed with the ACLU that Wisconsin's "hate crime" statute, providing for additional criminal penalties if a jury found that a defendant "intentionally selected" a victim based on "race, religion, color, disability, sexual orientation, national origin or ancestry," did not violate the First Amendment because the statute punished racist acts, not racist thoughts.
1994 Ladue v. Gilleo Unanimously, the Court struck down an Ohio town's ordinance that had barred a homeowner from posting a sign in her bedroom window that said, "Say No to War in the Gulf -- Call Congress Now!"
1995 Lebron v. Amtrak Extended the First Amendment to corporations created by, and under the control of, the government in the case of an artist who argued successfully that Amtrak had been wrong to reject his billboard display because of its political message.
Amateur Research on World Muslim Demographics
According to the CIA World Factbook data for 2006:
Estimated world human population = 6,553,628,950. In 2006, the United Nations estimated that the world's population is growing at the rate of 1.14% (or about 75 million people) per year. According to data from the CIA's 2005-2006 World Factbooks, the world human population currently increases by 203,800 every day.
Estimated world Muslim population = 1,461,813,559 (that is approx 22%) *I thought there were more Muslims in the world today than any other religion - there are actually more Christians (33% of the world). Just 2.5% of the world are atheists. The US population surpassed 300,000,000 in late 2006. Less than 2% of Americans are Muslims.
Current estimates on violent (Jihadist) Muslims worldwide posted by conservative media outlets whom I think are least likely to understate the number (National Review, Weekly Standard, NY Post), are 1%-2% of the total world Muslim population - that would be approx 29,236,270 people if you use 2%, (roughly equal to the population of Texas). Of course the percentage of Jihadists vs Moderate is highest in a relatively small number of countries such as Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iran, Yemen, and the Indonesian archipelago. Those are the best estimates I could find on the people actually willing to wage jihad. The numbers on the Muslim population who claim to support the jihadist cause however are much higher - anywhere between 50%-75% in most of the Middle Eastern Countries - highest in Saudi Arabia (94%!). That's some effective religious brainwashing.
Estimated world human population = 6,553,628,950. In 2006, the United Nations estimated that the world's population is growing at the rate of 1.14% (or about 75 million people) per year. According to data from the CIA's 2005-2006 World Factbooks, the world human population currently increases by 203,800 every day.
Estimated world Muslim population = 1,461,813,559 (that is approx 22%) *I thought there were more Muslims in the world today than any other religion - there are actually more Christians (33% of the world). Just 2.5% of the world are atheists. The US population surpassed 300,000,000 in late 2006. Less than 2% of Americans are Muslims.
Current estimates on violent (Jihadist) Muslims worldwide posted by conservative media outlets whom I think are least likely to understate the number (National Review, Weekly Standard, NY Post), are 1%-2% of the total world Muslim population - that would be approx 29,236,270 people if you use 2%, (roughly equal to the population of Texas). Of course the percentage of Jihadists vs Moderate is highest in a relatively small number of countries such as Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iran, Yemen, and the Indonesian archipelago. Those are the best estimates I could find on the people actually willing to wage jihad. The numbers on the Muslim population who claim to support the jihadist cause however are much higher - anywhere between 50%-75% in most of the Middle Eastern Countries - highest in Saudi Arabia (94%!). That's some effective religious brainwashing.
Monday, November 13, 2006
Humans
Among the many ways the internet can entertain, this is the funniest description of humans I have ever read:
Consider for a moment living human bodies, each one a big sack of guts and fluids so highly compressed that it will squirt for a few yards when pierced. Each one is built around an armature of 206 bones connected to each other by notoriously fault-prone joints that are given to obnoxious creaking, grinding, and popping noises when they are in other than pristine condition. This structure is draped with throbbing steak, inflated with clenching air sacks, and pierced by a Gordian sewer filled with burbling acid and compressed gas and asquirt with vile enzymes and solvents produced by the many dark, gamy nuggets of genetically programmed meat strung along its length. Slugs of dissolving food are forced down this sloppy labyrinth by serialized convulsions, decaying into gas, liquid, and solid matter which must all be regularly vented to the outside world lest the owner go toxic and drop dead. Spherical, gel-packed cameras swivel in mucus-greased ball joints. Infinite phalanxes of cilia beat back invading particles, encapsulate them in goo for later disposal. In each body a centrally located muscle flails away at an eternal, circulating torrent of pressurized gravy.
Consider for a moment living human bodies, each one a big sack of guts and fluids so highly compressed that it will squirt for a few yards when pierced. Each one is built around an armature of 206 bones connected to each other by notoriously fault-prone joints that are given to obnoxious creaking, grinding, and popping noises when they are in other than pristine condition. This structure is draped with throbbing steak, inflated with clenching air sacks, and pierced by a Gordian sewer filled with burbling acid and compressed gas and asquirt with vile enzymes and solvents produced by the many dark, gamy nuggets of genetically programmed meat strung along its length. Slugs of dissolving food are forced down this sloppy labyrinth by serialized convulsions, decaying into gas, liquid, and solid matter which must all be regularly vented to the outside world lest the owner go toxic and drop dead. Spherical, gel-packed cameras swivel in mucus-greased ball joints. Infinite phalanxes of cilia beat back invading particles, encapsulate them in goo for later disposal. In each body a centrally located muscle flails away at an eternal, circulating torrent of pressurized gravy.
Monday, November 06, 2006
Flat Tax
I've been reading all the flat tax articles on the internet I can find. I agree with you that progressive income taxation is not objectively fair. I want to continue to be unfair to the rich people until we are out of motherfucking debt. After that, I would likely support a flat tax in conjunction with a consumption tax on luxury items. On a per capita basis, each of our sons technically owe about $30,000+ already - that pisses me off tremendously. If you spent $1 million per day, it would take you 2,800 years to reach $1 trillion. We are in the hole that much times 10 - it's absolutely insane. When I see Dick Cheney quoted as saying "deficits don't matter", I say "Would you please call VISA for me, jackass?"
Fear of Al-Qaeda
Do you really think Al-Qaeda and the other Islamic terrorists have a chance to conquer the United States? Or could they invade us to the point that America surrenders? I don't - I think their only options for any kind of victory over America are to scare us into bankrupting ourselves by launching horribly expensive military overreaches like the Iraq disaster, or by scaring us into supporting laws that slowly reduce our freedom and violate the Constitution and Bill of Rights, or by scaring us into supporting a president that does the same damage to the Constitution illegally behind closed doors. (or nuke us - please read on) Nearly all of the experts on Constitutional law not in Bush's back pocket agree that calling a program "Terrorist Surveillance" does not mean it isn't "Illegal Wiretapping". Bush critics like me are not against wiretapping terrorists, we are against violating the law to do it (and then lying about it). I agree with Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up a little liberty for the promise of security deserve neither". Another wise man said "Facism will come to this country wrapped in the flag". That is what is happening to America. I was as completely enraged at the sight of the 9/11 disaster as anyone - I rode the motorcycle to work for a week with a 6-foot flag flying proudly on the back. But would you not agree that those attacks were symbolic and not strategic? Killing innocent civilians while attacking the symbol of the US economy and the symbol of the US military (and the symbol of US democratic government if Flight 93 had hit its intended target) will not kill America. It will however obviously make people's assholes tighten up in fear so much that they will be willing to sacrifice the meaning of America for a false sense of security. We should be fighting terrorists strategically and not symbolically. Namely, stopping people who want to hurt us from getting the weapons that actually could physically destroy this country. It's all about the WMD's. If we did not owe China so much money, I think we could have pressured them to help cripple N. Korea's nuclear program. There are lots of things we could be doing to account for and secure the world's nuclear weapons. You know what the most strategically successful action we have taken to prevent another 9/11? It's not confiscating nail files at the airport. It's reinforcing the cockpit doors so no one can get in - the company that makes them is here in Greensboro 1 mile from my office. I don't give a damn if they hate us, only if they have the means to do anything about it. You're right that there's probably very little we can do to change their motives, but we can take steps to remove the means.
As far as the Geneva Conventions not covering terrorists and whether waterboarding is torture, the U.S. Supreme Court does not agree with you. Geneva was written with specific details covering enemy combatants not in uniform. There is no new threat that requires a new set of rules. See the Court's Hamdan decision confirming Geneva protections for all classes of terrorist or other captured enemies. As I said before, if these tactics are ruled illegal, then you're providing a weapon to the enemy during their trial. I'm sure you know from your days as a cop about inadmissable evidence that the judge throws out. I think waterboarding and other physically brutal techniques are gutter tactics and nothing we can be proud of. We have fought against enemies who used torture - we tried the Japanese for war crimes after WWII because they waterboarded US prisoners. We cannot let our rage at terrorist brutality cause us to redefine America.
I was also thinking about your frequent question: (Given the current situation, what is your plan for Iraq now?) If I were president, I would pull most troops out of central Iraq (all except some spies remain) and move them to Kurdistan or along the border with Iran so we can monitor the situation and react quickly if Iran tries to sieze the oil fields, smuggle in weapons, or influence the nominal Iraqi government. Maintain complete control of all airports. The national guard is for this nation, not Iraq - bring them home immediately. For once, ask the American people to make a sacrifice for this cause. Reverse Bush's tax cuts to pay for the $4 billion per week we're spending, and instead of lowering military enlistment standards and kicking out gay Arabic translators, institute a draft. Minimize all violent conflict with the militias because their civil war is not our fight.
I cannot stand to watch him president bush wave the bloody shirt of 9/11 during every election campaign. The lying and incompetence and cronyism will produce such opinions in this militant libertarian atheist. New Hampshire has a great motto - "Live Free or Die". I am not a pacifist, just a realist who gets riled up when anyone says I have to choose between Bush or the terrorists - I believe there is a better way. If I call the exterminator because I have rats, then tell him using a hammer is not the best way to kill them, that does not mean I'm with the rats.
I voted early on Saturday. I voted for the Democratic Congressmen because I am a legislative conservative and I want a check on the RINO radicals running this country.
As far as the Geneva Conventions not covering terrorists and whether waterboarding is torture, the U.S. Supreme Court does not agree with you. Geneva was written with specific details covering enemy combatants not in uniform. There is no new threat that requires a new set of rules. See the Court's Hamdan decision confirming Geneva protections for all classes of terrorist or other captured enemies. As I said before, if these tactics are ruled illegal, then you're providing a weapon to the enemy during their trial. I'm sure you know from your days as a cop about inadmissable evidence that the judge throws out. I think waterboarding and other physically brutal techniques are gutter tactics and nothing we can be proud of. We have fought against enemies who used torture - we tried the Japanese for war crimes after WWII because they waterboarded US prisoners. We cannot let our rage at terrorist brutality cause us to redefine America.
I was also thinking about your frequent question: (Given the current situation, what is your plan for Iraq now?) If I were president, I would pull most troops out of central Iraq (all except some spies remain) and move them to Kurdistan or along the border with Iran so we can monitor the situation and react quickly if Iran tries to sieze the oil fields, smuggle in weapons, or influence the nominal Iraqi government. Maintain complete control of all airports. The national guard is for this nation, not Iraq - bring them home immediately. For once, ask the American people to make a sacrifice for this cause. Reverse Bush's tax cuts to pay for the $4 billion per week we're spending, and instead of lowering military enlistment standards and kicking out gay Arabic translators, institute a draft. Minimize all violent conflict with the militias because their civil war is not our fight.
I cannot stand to watch him president bush wave the bloody shirt of 9/11 during every election campaign. The lying and incompetence and cronyism will produce such opinions in this militant libertarian atheist. New Hampshire has a great motto - "Live Free or Die". I am not a pacifist, just a realist who gets riled up when anyone says I have to choose between Bush or the terrorists - I believe there is a better way. If I call the exterminator because I have rats, then tell him using a hammer is not the best way to kill them, that does not mean I'm with the rats.
I voted early on Saturday. I voted for the Democratic Congressmen because I am a legislative conservative and I want a check on the RINO radicals running this country.
Thursday, April 20, 2006
OK - I've finally recovered from the result of presidential election 2004 - I can now sit up in a chair and reach for the keyboard at the same time. Extreme dissillusionment with my fellow Americans prevented me from forming complete sentences without profanity until this very moment. I'm feeling much better, but still not well. Back soon...
Thursday, March 09, 2006
Hard to be a Pimp?
Needed: A Replacement for 'Pimp'
By Jabari Asim
Washington Post
Thursday, March 9, 2006
The best thing about Three 6 Mafia winning an Oscar for Best Song is the likelihood of "pimp" losing its luster of hipness.
While the prospect of previously oblivious whites adopting the word is a nauseating probability, the mainstreaming of "pimp" should reduce its popularity in the black communities where it first shucked its cobwebs and regained its currency. Its anticipated lapse in popularity creates an opportunity to suggest new lingo to my fellow African-American city dwellers, who often originate the nation's catchiest slang.
My first suggestion: "scholar."
Imagine yourself amid all the men who used to gather aimlessly on street corners, lounge on the steps of other people's houses and hang out with the rest of the worshipful congregations outside package liquor stores -- all of you deeply absorbed in library books.
Except you can top them all by trundling down the street with -- you guessed it -- a wheelbarrow almost overflowing with the latest volumes by our nation's best authors.
You'll help to popularize an exciting new trend. Once it catches on in "urban" neighborhoods, it will inevitably "cross over" into white ones and, before you know it, openly building one's intellectual muscles will be known as "acting black."
You can win friends and influence people -- plus earn the undying admiration of the women in your neighborhood who are pining for an intelligent, well-read mate -- by handling your load with a mixture of staunch self-discipline and weary resignation.
"Say, brother," one of your fellow intellectuals might say, "looks like you have quite a bit of studying to do this fine evening."
"You're right," you might reply. "I could be off luring vulnerable women into an exploitative economic relationship based on the trading of sex for money -- behavior that would benefit neither myself, the hapless women or all those desperate, duplicitous and disease-spreading customers who should be home with their wives and children (see below). But what can I tell you? It's hard out here for a scholar."
A second suggestion: "husband."
American society seems perfectly poised for the reintroduction of a once-revered but fading tradition -- and you, my trend-savvy friend, can be at the forefront! It's really not so hard to picture yourself in a committed relationship with one -- just one -- of those smart, attractive African-American women who have spent their single years dreaming of a faithful, loving and hard-working scholar (see above). I can see you now, hurrying home with your briefcase or lunch bucket in tow, rushing to keep pace with that growing assembly of black men striding with similar briskness home to their wives and children (see below).
"Say, brother," one of your equally dedicated peers might say, "looks like you're doing your utmost to keep those home fires burning. And might I also say that you are carrying one lovely bouquet?"
"Why, thanks," you might reply. "A dozen roses for my sweet, but that's not all." Here you lean forward with a conspiratorial wink. "I also have a paycheck in my breast pocket." After a mutually celebratory chuckle, you could add: "I guess I could have chosen a less disciplined life of slacking, stealing and engaging in exploitative relationships that involve the trading of sex for money (see above), but what I can say? It's hard out here for a husband."
Finally, a word that, like our previous suggestion, seems to have lost much of its prestige during an era in which 68 percent of African-American children are born out of wedlock: "father."
It could go like this:
Minutes after rushing home with your briefcase and/or lunch bucket, library books and bountiful bouquet, you change into loose clothing and take your children to the park with your wife (see above) while there's an hour or two of daylight left.
One of the other dads pushing his sons on the swings or tossing a ball with his daughters might turn to you and say, "It's a perfect evening for family fun, is it not?"
"Right on, my brother," you might say in response. "I'll admit to feeling a tad fatigued after a long day of rigorous, engaging and lawful labor, but my night's rest will be well earned."
"I suppose I could have chosen a different lifestyle," you could add while keeping a loving eye on your beautiful family. "Perhaps I could have been a slacker, thief, deadbeat dad or participant in the trading of sex for money, but what can I say? It's hard out here for a father."
It may indeed be tough going for pimps these days. But what can I say: It's also hard out here for all of the above.
By Jabari Asim
Washington Post
Thursday, March 9, 2006
The best thing about Three 6 Mafia winning an Oscar for Best Song is the likelihood of "pimp" losing its luster of hipness.
While the prospect of previously oblivious whites adopting the word is a nauseating probability, the mainstreaming of "pimp" should reduce its popularity in the black communities where it first shucked its cobwebs and regained its currency. Its anticipated lapse in popularity creates an opportunity to suggest new lingo to my fellow African-American city dwellers, who often originate the nation's catchiest slang.
My first suggestion: "scholar."
Imagine yourself amid all the men who used to gather aimlessly on street corners, lounge on the steps of other people's houses and hang out with the rest of the worshipful congregations outside package liquor stores -- all of you deeply absorbed in library books.
Except you can top them all by trundling down the street with -- you guessed it -- a wheelbarrow almost overflowing with the latest volumes by our nation's best authors.
You'll help to popularize an exciting new trend. Once it catches on in "urban" neighborhoods, it will inevitably "cross over" into white ones and, before you know it, openly building one's intellectual muscles will be known as "acting black."
You can win friends and influence people -- plus earn the undying admiration of the women in your neighborhood who are pining for an intelligent, well-read mate -- by handling your load with a mixture of staunch self-discipline and weary resignation.
"Say, brother," one of your fellow intellectuals might say, "looks like you have quite a bit of studying to do this fine evening."
"You're right," you might reply. "I could be off luring vulnerable women into an exploitative economic relationship based on the trading of sex for money -- behavior that would benefit neither myself, the hapless women or all those desperate, duplicitous and disease-spreading customers who should be home with their wives and children (see below). But what can I tell you? It's hard out here for a scholar."
A second suggestion: "husband."
American society seems perfectly poised for the reintroduction of a once-revered but fading tradition -- and you, my trend-savvy friend, can be at the forefront! It's really not so hard to picture yourself in a committed relationship with one -- just one -- of those smart, attractive African-American women who have spent their single years dreaming of a faithful, loving and hard-working scholar (see above). I can see you now, hurrying home with your briefcase or lunch bucket in tow, rushing to keep pace with that growing assembly of black men striding with similar briskness home to their wives and children (see below).
"Say, brother," one of your equally dedicated peers might say, "looks like you're doing your utmost to keep those home fires burning. And might I also say that you are carrying one lovely bouquet?"
"Why, thanks," you might reply. "A dozen roses for my sweet, but that's not all." Here you lean forward with a conspiratorial wink. "I also have a paycheck in my breast pocket." After a mutually celebratory chuckle, you could add: "I guess I could have chosen a less disciplined life of slacking, stealing and engaging in exploitative relationships that involve the trading of sex for money (see above), but what I can say? It's hard out here for a husband."
Finally, a word that, like our previous suggestion, seems to have lost much of its prestige during an era in which 68 percent of African-American children are born out of wedlock: "father."
It could go like this:
Minutes after rushing home with your briefcase and/or lunch bucket, library books and bountiful bouquet, you change into loose clothing and take your children to the park with your wife (see above) while there's an hour or two of daylight left.
One of the other dads pushing his sons on the swings or tossing a ball with his daughters might turn to you and say, "It's a perfect evening for family fun, is it not?"
"Right on, my brother," you might say in response. "I'll admit to feeling a tad fatigued after a long day of rigorous, engaging and lawful labor, but my night's rest will be well earned."
"I suppose I could have chosen a different lifestyle," you could add while keeping a loving eye on your beautiful family. "Perhaps I could have been a slacker, thief, deadbeat dad or participant in the trading of sex for money, but what can I say? It's hard out here for a father."
It may indeed be tough going for pimps these days. But what can I say: It's also hard out here for all of the above.
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