Teachable moment or GOP attack ad for 2010?

If all three of these men can manage to be humble and see things from each others' perspective, something great could happen.

(P.S. - Tell Al Sharpton and Bill O'Reilly to stay out of it.)

4-20 rolls around again...

Another year, another April 20th, and another president who used the stuff, and yet marijuana use and possession is still a crime in practically all circumstances in this country. I will repeat myself from a couple years ago:

Now we just need to think of clever double-entendre annual dates for protests in favor of minimal restrictions on immigration, abolishment of tariffs, allowances for gay marriage, and decriminalization of prostitution, and then we'll be getting somewhere.

What they need is to make Ron Paul the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Welcome, House Surfer

Welcome to NOTM, anonymous House of Representatives surfer. My hope is that you were visiting so that you can better relay my thoughts on civil liberties, free trade, open immigration, decriminalization of pot and prostitution, etc. to your colleagues and/or bosses.

What's interesting is that this person clicked onto the blog from my Wikipedia page. Their I.P. address (shared by many many users) (143.231.249.141) is well known to Wikipedians because it almost assuredly means "beware of edits to politicians' pages." Specifically, scandals associated with their opponents magically appear. Scandals associated with their bosses and allies disappear.

Safeguard Liberty; Bloggy Neighborhoods; Geometry; Writing

Items:

• I've been watching V: The Original Miniseries lately, and the other night we watched Children of Men. I know that V had some sappy early-80s haircuts and the special effects are primitive by today's standards, but I just get choked up over the old guy who survived the Nazi Holocaust showing the kids with the spray paint how to deface the Visitors' propaganda posters... "If you're going to do it, do it right. I'll show you." (Spray paints a "V" over one of the posters.) "You understand? For Victory! Go tell your friends." As for CoM, I really liked the look and feel of it, but IMHO the anti-globalization philosophy elucidated upon in the extras was contradictory to the anti-anti-immigration scenes depicted in the film. Both good reminders to be vigilant in our efforts to demand our civil liberties from the state. Speaking of which, check out this Agitator post. Excerpts: The Ocala, Florida Sheriff's Department shows off its new toy. You know, in case North Korea ever decides to invade Central Florida... ...I can't really think of any reason for a paramilitary police team to wear camouflage other than to mimic the military. Which, for the umpteenth time, isn't a healthy aspiration for the domestic peace officers charged with protecting our rights to have. All goes back to that "mindset" problem.
• America's Top 10 Bloggiest Neighborhoods, via S.B. Johnson.
• Here's a fun way to learn about geometry.
• Via Bookworm, Writers and writing:

Excellent Wikipedia Article on Use of Koran During House Swearing-In

There's a fantastically comprehensive series of Wikipedia articles on the recent controversy(ies) surrounding Congressman Keith Ellison taking his ceremonial oath (i.e., photo-op) on the Koran, Congressman Virgil Goode's letter to his constituents about why we need more immigration restrictions to avoid this happening in the future (even though Ellison was born and raised in the U.S. of A.), and commentator Dennis Prager's strong opinions on the matter.

My whole take on this? Virgil Goode is an asshole. (And I resent him all the more, because the other day at lunch we were watching the voting in of Nancy Pelosi as Speaker, and I told my lunchmates that as of that moment my blogposts would shift from being pejorative towards G.O.P. congressmen to being pejorative to the bleeding-heart pinkos on the other side of the aisle. But, I just couldn't help myself...)

See, if I have an issue with any of this, it's that they use religious symbols at all. Give them all a framed copy of the Constitution to use for their swearing in, and then make them memorize it so that they don't try and pass a bunch of nonsense into law. Prager and others have said that using the Bible is important because of its symbolism in the context of the Judeo-Christian tradition in America. (This nugget of social conservatism seems like it should be tremendously insulting to those who place their faith in biblical teachings, especially considering that the New Testament itself prohibits oath-taking. Another way of stating this position of certain social conservatives is to say that the unique divinity of Jesus Christ is not the most important aspect of the Bible, but the fact that holding it shows you are on the same ball team as the rest of America is.)

However, assuming the religious texts are still going to be used, let 'em use what they want. Prager asked if a white supremicist got elected, would we permit him to use Mein Kampf as a book on which to take an oath. Answer: YES! If somebody ends up getting elected who thinks Mein Kampf is appropriate for such a ceremony, don't we want to know that that person thinks that way?

But in any event, the xenophobic conformism Prager and Goode displayed really pisses me off.

Ellison used the Koran once owned by Goode's fellow Virginian, Thomas Jefferson. (Jeffersonian quotes on freedom of religion here.) I think it'd be fucking hysterical if two years from now, Goode got re-elected and decided to show off by using Jefferson's Bible.