You never caught Reagan rubbing down Thatcher. What the heck is this? Was this a decision born out of questionable intelligence? If that isn’t good enough, read the article on what the open mike overheard at the same summit. This is why I always hit the mute button on conference calls – unlike some people I know.

Predictably, people are talking the "keep the Christ in Christmas talk" which is followed by Young Joel‘s annual "keep the Saturn in Saturnalia talk."

Ironically enough, some churches are cancelling their Sunday morning service because Sunday happens to inconveniently fall on Christmas Day. You can read an article on it in the NYTimes. (Sorry you’ll have to register or something and this link will prolly only work for a week or so –talk to the NY Times about it.)

When Christmas Falls on Sunday, Megachurches Take the Day Off

You can add my church to the list. Good thing people are used to Easter falling on a Sunday.

Reminds me I haven’t posted the link to the "Keep the Chan in Chanuka" t-shirt.

[Link Courtesy of The Revealer] 

You’ve seen me post about the freedom to travel before. Here is another case that deserves scrutiny, checkout Deborah Davis,  Want to Ride, Papers Please. I’m shocked that anyone in the situation described would ever challenge the official asking for ID since most people are obedient to authority figures.

There is another hearing in the Gilmore case coming up you might want to check out. In the notice for the court date is says, "Friends and supporters of John are welcome to attend this historic hearing, but are asked to please dress appropriately for court." I need to have more friends who would need this sort of advice. I hope this case goes all the way to the Supreme Court. I hate secret regulations.

[Link Courtesy of Dave's Picks] 

Looks like the school levy for my school district, Centenial passed. I am very happy to see that happen. Not only did it pass, but it did so by a pretty wide margin (58% for, 42% against). If you know me, you know that I’m not fond of taxes and the amount I pay per day to stay in my own house staggers me. At the same time I don’t really want to live in a place with lousy schools. Having the lowest operating levy of any school in the metro area, I’m really glad my neighbors saw fit to restore some funding to our schools.

About a year ago I wrote a little post about Theo Van Gogh. If you don’t remember he was a Dutch film maker who died because he offended a religious fanatic.

It’s sad to me to think the world doesn’t seem to be a better place and there is no sign that it will be any better any time soon.

[Reminder courtesy of Metafilter.]

At one time, I honestly thought a wall separating Palestine and Israel was a very good idea. I had no idea people would create small islands of land, cut through orchards or any thing else that would make the situation economically unviable. On principle I still favor a wall, but not this one. I thought it would cool things down so that when people decide they can make a lasting peace they can tear it down just like they did in Berlin.

In the face of heartbreak occasionally great art is made. Check out this graffiti by Banksy. The last one where the girl is being lifted by the balloons especially speaks to me.

Adam Felber wrote recently about an editorial written by Pat Buchanan. His description of Mr. Buchanan was priceless.

I’ve been shocked at the number people that have rushed either to defend Mr. Nixon and his administration or to attack Mark Felt, aka “Deep Throat”.

Peggy Noonan

The Legend of Deep Throat, Was Mark Felt really a hero?

I was aghast that someone of Peggy Noonan would abandon a core conservative value like “personal responsibility” and blame Pol Pot’s murderous regime on Mark Felt. If any one is to blame for Cambodia, it is Pol Pot and his band of murderers. If anyone is to blame for the weakened presidency it is Nixon and his aides who conspired to keep their misdeeds in the dark. It just goes to show you that it’s not really a great cultural war about about values; it’s a game of us versus them. It’s like the republicans with short memories who think it’s ok to filibuster, but only when you are the minority party.

Chuck Colson

A Statement from Charles W. Colson on the Disclosure of “Deep Throat”

Chuck clearly is unhappy about the method and motives of Mr. Felt. It would really help if Mr. Colson and Mr. Nixon’s henchmen weren’t trying to do similar things like tampering with evidence, investigation and grand juries. I would also like to point out that going to prison seemed to have a done a world of good for Mr. Colson. I assume if he hadn’t gone to jail he would be a “hatchet man” for Mr. G.W. Bush right now. I think Mark Felt may not have had the purest motives but acted in the most effective ways available to him at the time. If Mr. Colson would have gone public with what he knew from his own conscience then perhaps I might agree more with Mr. Colson. Since Mr. Colson is engaged in christian ministerial work it seems like I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that whole “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone …” Mr. Colson please don’t rush to throw your stones at Mr. Felt.

In personal conversation with a relative the question has posed, had Mr. Felt broken his F.B.I. oath. I looked up the oath to see what I think.

I don’t think that Mr. Felt violated this in his role as “Deep Throat”. He may have in other roles for which he was later prosecuted, but we’ll ignore that for the moment.

If nothing else, can I just point out that defending Nixon just sounds idiotic. Buchanan, Colson, and Noonan all agree Nixon and others broke the law, so defending him is just dumb. Is this setting us up for the next presidential election being about Watergate in the same way that Bush versus Kerry was about Vietnam?

The Moderate Voice does a better job summarizing this than I ever will.

I really would like to have a political party that better represented me. There appears to be none at the moment.

I ran across an interesting read on the FBI attempting to get library records summarized on a web page of the Pen American Center. This was of particular interest in light of the recent FBI request for additional powers to get information without the approval of a judge.

The library article is especially interesting to me as it shows that the FBI, before securing a subpoena, will just ask for information. This confirms what I already believed. Most of your private information is in the hands of others for example your doctor, your bank, your travel agent, and your credit card company among others. You already are at the mercy of the whims of those organizations who just might decide to give your information away without a fight. The legal protections which require a subpoena can already be circumvented by the FBI just asking. The FBI wants more, they want to subpoena the few people and companies who stand up to them and say no to their fishing expeditions without a judge looking over their shoulder. Why are they afraid of tiny bit scrutiny and transparency? It’s not that I think a persons library record can’t be used in a court of law, it’s that I think there needs to be a legitimate, auditable process that incorporates checks and balances and resembles the 4th Ammendment to the constitution.

What kind of society do people want to live in? Do you really want Big Brother looking over your shoulder approving your reading material? I don’t. Unfortunately, at this moment I have no faith that either major party is willing to stand up for freedom so I can’t vote my conscience unless I choose to vote for fringe parties and candidates.

It’s time to pick a new pope. If you don’t know how the process works check out the wikipedia’s article on the procedure for picking a pope. I’m fascinated by how it has evolved over the centuries. In honor of the occasion I’ll also mention a post on Killing the Buddha.

I love that phrase, “mutual aesthetic destruction”. I suppose every relationship has some of this whether or not you live in a 10 x 10 dorm room. I love the idea of having an aesthetic of destruction.

So Young Joel wrote about Justice Scalia and the recent Supreme Court decision on the topic of the death penalty for juveniles.

Unlike Joel, I pretty much agree with Scalia.

I know this shocks my loyal readers.

Here is what I believe.

I’m not opposed to the death penalty in theory if it were carried out fairly. Since there are studies that seem to show the death penalty is always applied unfairly I would prefer it not be legal. I also see no justice in seeing the death penalty applied to people under some minimal age, probably 16. I also don’t see the mercy in sentencing a 16 year old to die of old age in prison. BTW, I’ve always lived in states without the death penalty and I’m happy about that.

But my opinion about the death penalty is outside the scope of the argument that Scalia makes.

Scalia’s criticism of the Supreme Court decision was because the court is making law, based on it’s perception of “evolving standards.” I, like Scalia, want the legislatures in each respective state to make laws not courts, especially not the federal courts. Then if the laws are lousy we can throw them out of office and get new people to make better laws. Scalia pointed out in a recent speech that it seems strange that anyone wants a world where laws are essentially made by nine unaccountable lawyers.

Now, if your issue is the death penalty, the court’s decision was a win, but only because the current set of juctices favor your position. The next set probably won’t favor your position. Then how happy are you going to be when they re-write your favorite laws. People on the current bench, like Justice Thomas, will be all to happy to have a conservative and activist court and will likely be achieving that goal in their lifetime.

Being a libertarian, I would like to see the maximum power aggregated in the smallest arena. So I prefer states to take up the important issues like when is it fair to apply the death penalty. If you can’t convince your fellow citizens move to a different state. The further away the decision is made, the less power you have to influence it.

I recognize this anti-federalist sentiment places me squarely in a quaint, nostalgic minority.

The problem is that if one starts talking this kind of “states rights” talk the next thing you know you accidentally sound like some wild eyed Dixiecrat trying to keep the people of color out of public universities.

This issue, as well as the Terry Schiavo case, are really making me think lately. Here is the most incendiary thing I’ve ever said on my blog. I’ll probably live to regret it.

How strange is the world when you have people who are desperate to keep Terry Schiavo alive and at the same time happy to bomb the hell out any muslim country and put juveniles to death? How strange is a world where people are upset that a cow, chicken, fish or sheep feels pain when slaughtered but are happy to legalize the purposeful ending of life of either an adult or an unborn fetus, a.k.a. a baby?