John Adams / Thomas Jefferson Correspondence

So funny I almost bust a gut laughing... literally!

Pics From Our Trip to Monticello and Montpelier

Here are a few of the pics from our recent trip to Monticello and Montpelier, a sidetrip from our Washington trip.

Here's Monticello. The thing is, they don't allow photography inside the building. What bullshit! I read a great book a few years ago called Jefferson and Monticello, and I want to read it again now.

Here's Montpelier, home of one of Jefferson's neighbors, James Madison. (Actually, James Monroe is an even closer TJ neighbor, but we didn't have time to go to his house that day.) It's undergoing a little reno.

The inside is getting a makeover too. Below is the room in which Madison studied many of the political systems of different nations throughout history to determine which elements he wanted to include in the Constitution.

Archaeology is one of my interests (I helped on a dig waaaay up in the Rockies one summer). Here is a group methodically going through Madison's front lawn.

He had this kind of temple thing in his backyard. I thought this was a cool shot. Anyone know what kind of tree that is?

A Few Things

Several things:

• Amba on writing about ideas vs. narrative: Call it Mercator's Dilemma. Ideas are global in structure. Sentences and paragraphs are linear, and pages are planar. That makes the problem of writing out an idea so that it reconstitutes itself fairly faithfully in the reader's mind a lot like the problem that preoccupied early cartographers -- how to map the globe onto a flat piece of paper. Misrepresentations and distortions are unavoidable.
• Slight mistake with a few non-English characters on the Wikipedia logo. They'll be fixed soon, I'm sure.
• Thomas Jefferson had his libraryies organized according to three broad areas: Memory, Reason, and Imagination. This was an idea he got from Francis Bacon, and one that is hat-tipped by the Library of Congress. The subcategories are detailed here. I'm keeping this in the holster in case I ever tire of having the books in my house Deweyed.

Sweet Home Chicago

Back from our Washington D.C./Virginia trip -- Jefferson, Madison, Library of Congress, Embassy Row, Spy Museum, lots of stuff. Pictures and comments to follow.

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.

Odds and Ends

A few things of interest lately (cleaning out some favorites links):

• I freakin' LOVE this Black Sabbath/Kurosawa mash-up in which War Pigs is synched up with a trailer for Seven Samurai.
• I also have to enthusiastically point you towards this renditon of Sunday Bloody Sunday by George "Double-U2" Bush. You didn't know he could sing? Check him out on Imagine too.
• Attention, scholars: Here's a collection of Greek, Roman, Germanic, and 19th-Century American documents from the University of Chicago.
• Attention, fans of Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot! This site is for you!
• Nominations will start being accepted this Friday (Nov. 10) for the 2006 Weblog Awards. Put it on your to-do list! Oh yeah, regular voting is tomorrow, btw.
• Did I list this before? The Wikipedia Blog? Well, if not, there it is. If so, there it is again.
• Here are some Action Philosophers! free previews. (Did I list that before? If so/not so, etc. etc.)