Surreptitious Opinionation

At the next constitutional convention, perhaps we should give some real thought to the duties of citizenship, and how just luck of birth is not enough.

Luck of birth (ius sanguini, ius soli) should be sufficient for permanent residence, and all the constitutional guarantees to liberty (freedom of speech, of religion, etc). But citizenship, most notably the right to vote, should entail some educational prerequsites. And the oath previously mentioned ought to be something all voters, as well as all office holders, have to swear at some point, preferably repeatedly.

It is interesting how this little phrase pops up in oaths for all CA state employees, all military personnel, and the oath of citizenship for naturalized citizens.

“support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” (emphasis added)

It’s interesting that it’s not the government, or even the nation, but the Constitution they swear to uphold and defend. It seems painfully relevant these days.

Why, what is this, there’s a guy standing there, smiling and staring openly at me, there is no smoke, and for that matter, no alcohol, and there are trains whizzing by. And I’m underground. Plus, I’m not wearing a coat, but I’m not cold. So, yeah, some guy sorta picked me up on BART. Always flattering. I saw this bizarre play that makes me feel utterly sane. I played much frozen throne, and am learning Junta. I talked with Luke, my bus companion to Phoenix. It’s good to be back, even if only for entirely too short a time. Yay for tom, and simon (no longer single!), and , and nathan, and …

I kinda miss Ro. Ah well. =)

It is still good to be back, even if only for a little while.

[this entry was originally made yesterday afternoon but decided to backdate itself to january. Do not ask me why. Reposted]

in response to: http://www.livejournal.com/users/cheerfulchaotic/260005.html?thread=723365#t723365

I’m not proposing we compromise on our values. I’m saying that the truth doesn’t advertise itself. It simply exists. As any good scientist knows, discovering and understanding the truth is rarely easy, and explaining it is often even harder. Insulting the population of most states is terrible marketing. And whether or not we mean it as a joke doesn’t mean that people aren’t listening and seeing deeper meaning in what we casually toss off. If we want people to listen to us, we have to construct a message that appeals to everyone and put it out there. This is important.

“Hatred is not a family value” is good, but “Loving _all_ our children is a _real_ family value,” is better.

The truth is, we probably care more about the well being of most Bush’s voters than Bush does. And that’s a truth that isn’t being marketed. A truth, I might add, that is a much more important message than a probable urban legend.

The thing that ultimately pulled me back from considering Canada as an option is that I may be able to help change the tenor of the country enough to keep one more fundamentalist’s painfully depressed, angst ridden, teen homo child from slitting his or her wrists in alabama or minnesota, or california. But it’s also worth considering that Bush bas been hurting America in a big way, he probably won’t be slowing down, and we have a responsibility to help stop the hurting, to the extent we can. Failing because we can’t be bothered to reach out to people of differing, even hostile, viewpoints and beliefs is a pretty damning failure, and not one I’m willing to accept.

visited states map

in response to: http://www.livejournal.com/users/cheerfulchaotic/260005.html?thread=723365#t723365

[reposted for stupid date of post reasons: http://www.livejournal.com/users/cheerfulchaotic/260932.html
if you want to comment, do so there]

I’m not proposing we compromise on our values. I’m saying that the truth doesn’t advertise itself. It simply exists. As any good scientist knows, discovering and understanding the truth is rarely easy, and explaining it is often even harder. Insulting the population of most states is terrible marketing. And whether or not we mean it as a joke doesn’t mean that people aren’t listening and seeing deeper meaning in what we casually toss off. If we want people to listen to us, we have to construct a message that appeals to everyone and put it out there. This is important.

“Hatred is not a family value” is good, but “Loving _all_ our children is a _real_ family value,” is better.

The truth is, we probably care more about the well being of most Bush’s voters than Bush does. And that’s a truth that isn’t being marketed. A truth, I might add, that is a much more important message than a probable urban legend.

The thing that ultimately pulled me back from considering Canada as an option is that I may be able to help change the tenor of the country enough to keep one more fundamentalist’s painfully depressed, angst ridden, teen homo child from slitting his or her wrists in alabama or minnesota, or california. But it’s also worth considering that Bush bas been hurting America in a big way, he probably won’t be slowing down, and we have a responsibility to help stop the hurting, to the extent we can. Failing because we can’t be bothered to reach out to people of differing, even hostile, viewpoints and beliefs is a pretty damning failure, and not one I’m willing to accept.

The title of this website is “Was the election stolen? Here are the facts, you decide.” Though, it may be argued that the url is suggestive of an answer. =)

http://www.solarbus.org/stealyourelection/

Blackbox voting maintains that there definitely was fraud, and are attempting to ascertain the scale of it with hard data.

Home

And a site promoting a book discussing the modern tenor of public debate.

http://www.newsisfree.com/iclick/i,59738707,5879,f/

People. I don’t care if the IQ thing was handed down to you by god or by whatever your source of ultimate truth is. It’s self-congratulatory bullshit. How many of you who are crowing about it think that IQ means a damn thing? You would be the real idiots in the crowd. Don’t be dicks, people. Please.

[for total clarity, I’m talking about the “average state IQ v which presidential candidate won a majority” thing.]

give me scissors and duct tape & get out of my way.

Power is now restored, all systems within normal operating parameters. =)

Google is my shepherd, I shall not want.

It seems our fundamentalism was a homegrown response to the enlightenment. I would be interested in more detailed information on what particular sects it sprang up in, and how their pre-fundamentalist culture differed from the post, as well as a tracing of their lineage. I still have a suspicion that they are largely drawn from the memetic stock of europe’s displaced religious radicals, but I’d be eager to see someone who, unlike myself, knew what they were talking about on that topic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamentalist_Christianity

http://www.sullivan-county.com/news/