Monthly Archives: November 2009

First Amendment fun fact

Because of decisions made by the Federal Trade Commission, radio and television are the only areas of American life not protected by the First Amendment.

I’ll repeat that, because (in the words of George Carlin), that sounds vaguely important:

Radio and television are the only areas of American life not protected by the First Amendment.

The FTC, a group appointed by the executive branch and answerable only the White House, made the unilateral decision that audio and video on the airwaves was not subject to freedom of speech.

This spoke volumes to me about the content and quality of U.S. radio and TV.

(Thank you, Mr. Carlin, for bringing this additional chipping away of American freedoms to my attention. I really miss you.)

A fable

Once upon a time, man did not ride horse.

Horse was a proud, fleet creature who shunned all but his own kind. Man was a tool-builder who had made weapons and fire.

Man and horse were both plagued by predators, particularly the wolf. Man had spears and arrowheads, but could not outrun the wolf. The horse had speed and could avoid the wolf, but had no weapons with which to defend its young.

One day horse came up to man and said, “Let us cooperate. I will lend you my speed by allowing you to ride on my back. You will wield your weapons and vanquish our enemy the wolf. Together we will make a safer world to live in.”

Man agreed. He jumped onto horse’s back, spear and bow in hand, and together they easily killed the wolf.

Horse sighed a happy sigh and said, “We have done well! You may climb off of me now.”

Man grabbed the reins, applied spurs to horse’s flank, and said, “The hell you say. Giddyup, dobbin.“

(I think I first read this in a Bob Heinlein novel, but I can’t remember. In any event, I can’t take credit for it.)

Cowardly cowardly custard!/Stick Rupert’s head in the mustard!

Poor Rupert Murdoch. He threatens to prevent Google from aggregating news items from sites he owns, and at the same time threatens to put his news sites behind pay-to-view portals.

And with typical California cool, Google threatens, “Cool. Do what you have to do.”

UPDATE: Murdoch adds that Glenn Beck was right back in July to say that President Obama is a racist–”though he shouldn’t have said so”. Better get a wider shovel, Rupert; that hole you’re digging is getting deeper.

 

The idea is to keep an open mind, not to sink a hole in your skull

Tea party wingnuts promote Igor Panarin’s theories that the United States will break up in 2010.

House of Representatives minority leader John Boehner and well-known Minnesota wingnut Representative Michelle Bachmann appear at the tea party rally on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, where abound multiple Nazi-like shouts and racial slurs on handmade signs. Boehner read aloud from the Declaration of Independence (after claiming it was from the Constitution), and wingnuts galore wander the halls of the Rayburn Office Building, seeking Congresscritters to harass and finding unhappy security and police personnel.

Sarah Palin, the GOP’s Princess-in-Waiting, abandons her party during a NY representative election in favor of the Conservative Party candidate.

Orly Taitz.

One step forward, one step back

Yesterday Maine voters chose to discriminate against an estimated 10% of the state’s citizens by repealing the law giving gay people the right to marry each other. Imagine having to get the permission of half of 536,000 people in order to marry the person you love.

Maine voters also chose to allow the sale of marijuana for medical purposes. Imagine how long racial desegregation of schools in Alabama and Mississippi would have taken in the 1960s if it had been put to a popular vote.

There’s a reason why the U.S. employs representative government instead of a pure democracy.

I’ve always been a big believer in social change by evolution rather than by revolution. You cannot healthily force social change; attempts to do so often lead to totalitarianism. In the latter case above, we’ve evolved one small step toward legalizing the use of a substance with no known toxicity effects and proven medical benefits. In the former, evolution still has a long way to go.

That being said, I begin to understand why revolutionaries tire of waiting.