“Holy Space Banana, Batman!”

Posted on February 6, 2007

It’s a…. a….. space banana?

A Geostationary Banana Over Texas, to be exact. That’s right. Wired News reports that a Canadian artist, in an artistic expression of the kookiness of American politics, is going to fly a 300m long helium-filled banana over the Lone-Star State.

This is one high-tech banana. César Saez says his million dollar astro-fruit will employ advanced technology to keep its banana-shape and steer itself across the Texas sky in a boomerang-like motion. To observers on the ground the banana will appear roughly 1/4 the size of the moon.

Gotta Hand it to the Dems…

Posted on January 4, 2007

… if they stay true to their word, that is. A contributing factor to the democratic take-over of congress was their aggressive campaign against the “Republican culture of corruption”– and the Republicans made sure to give them plenty of fuel to add to their fire. According to the New York Times, the newly empowered Democrats’ first order of business is to “change the way business is done” in United States Congress– starting with legislation reform aimed at severing the ties between lobbyists and lawmakers and controlling the messy flow of money on the hill, whether for campaigning or pork-barrel spending. Are their initial efforts merely lip-service to satisfy a fed-up public, or will they actually make good and change some things in D.C.? I personally have a hard time believing anything will change, mainly because the lawmaker-lobbyist relationships in the Republican party are they same as those of their Democratic counterparts– the only difference is the dems haven’t been caught (recently, anyway) doing anything stupid. But now I’m just being cynical.

A Whistleblower’s Story

Posted on January 4, 2007

The NSA’s “secret room” in an AT&T data center

This is slightly-old news, but it is the first time I’ve come across a concise accumulation of the evidence brought against AT&T and the NSA. When I first heard the hype over Bush’s condonement of domestic spying, I just thought some over-zealous journalists had been reading a little to much George Orwell, but this Wired Blog post clearly presents the evidence provided by former AT&T technician Mark Klein, including actual AT&T internal documentation and photographs detailing the installation of equipment used to assist the US Government in domestic spying. Scary.

US to Declassify Documents After 25 Years

Posted on December 21, 2006

At midnight on December 31st, hundreds of millions of pages of classified documents will be the first to be “automatically declassified” in accordance with an executive order issued by President Bill Clinton, and enforced by the current administration. The order calls for the automatic declassification of any material more than 25 years old. Exemptions may be requested by government agencies, and indeed they have– this first time around more than 100 million documents were allowed to be kept classified past their 25 birthday. Among the declassified documents available on January 1, 2007, is some juicy reading on the Cold War, the Camp David Accords, and the Vietnam War.

Get a Grip

Posted on December 18, 2006

It’s good to know that Ralph Nader is “an advocate for all workers; no matter their salary.” And it’s even better to know that in the midst of all his political duties he has time to stand up for the little guy. The millionaire-basketball-player who should never, never have to use an inferior basketball.

LA Times article here 

Is Freedom of Speech in Danger?

Posted on December 9, 2006

You’ve heard the term “hate crimes” before; and more recently “hate speech” is all the rage. Since Michael Richard’s recent tirade, many (rightfully) upset members of the African-American community and others have been clammoring for some type of justice for Richad’s “hate speech” crime. What many don’t know is that there is nothing illegal about hate speech.

Our first amendment rights are in danger. Why? Because there are well-meaning (or maybe not) individuals out there who desire to see free speech limited to only the kind of speech they like. I don’t agree with Richard’s use of racial slurs and hateful speech, but he has a right to them. He can’t be arrested for what he said. This doesn’t mean that their aren’t social consequences, however. Michael Richards will never again perform at the Laugh Factory. He may never land another gig period (except maybe in Jasper, TX).

Selwyn Duke at Renew America has written a very interesting piece about the peril of free speech in the name of stopping “hate speech”. He likens it to the concept of the separation of church and state, which most American’s believe is a constitutional mandate but in actuality appears no where in US law.

There are social engineers in our time… who are trying to imbue the American mind with the notion that so-called “hate speech” is not protected under the First Amendment…As long as you continually condemn “hate speech” and juxtapose it with “free speech,” more and more people will assume that it already is illegal. And once enough Americans believe this, all that is left is to make it official…Just as [judges] were able to perform the intellectual contortions necessary to read the separation of church and state into the First Amendment, so will they read freedom of speech out of it.

It’s a great read. Check it out here.

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Supreme Court Will Hear the “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” Banner Case

Posted on December 2, 2006

Today in the U.S. a major question looms regarding the rights of students and the authority of school officials to remove or ignore those rights. By June next year we should have a ruling by the Supreme Court regarding the school systems ability to violate students’ rights to free speech.

“A school cannot censor or punish students’ speech merely because the students advocate a position contrary to government policy”

-Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

Article Here 

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A living Constitution… or not

Posted on November 26, 2006

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on the concept of a “Living Constitution”:

“If you believe, however, that the Constitution is not a legal text, like the texts involved when judges reconcile or decide which of two statutes prevail; if you think the Constitution is some exhortation to give effect to the most fundamental values of the society as those values change from year to year;… if you think it is simply meant to reflect the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society — if that is what you think it is, then why in the world would you have it interpreted by nine lawyers? What do I know about the evolving standards of decency of American society? I’m afraid to ask.”

We’ve all heard the term “living constitution” and thought, “yeah, sounds like a good idea”. I’ll be the first to admit I’ve excitedly boasted of our Constitution’s living, breathing nature without really understanding what a “living constitution” implies.

On March 14, 2005 Justice Scalia gave a speech at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in which he addressed the notion of a “Living Constitution”. He makes a compelling argument for the need to “reasonably interpret” the constitution in the context of the Framers’ original intent.

READ THE TRANSCRIPT HERE

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A Jerusalem Gay-Pride Clash Is Averted

Posted on November 10, 2006

Now this is interesting…. We’ll leave it at that.
TIME.com Article

Feel free to comment below.

Filed Under Faith and Spirituality, News, Politics | Leave a Comment

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