GOP Hootenany 2004 speaker

I was in Books-A-Million tonight passing the time while the wife shopped. On the way out, I noticed a book by Zell Miller, the Democratic Senator that spoke at the 2004 GOP convention, slamming his party. This was an interesting quote that was on the back of the dust jacket:

"There have been ten generations of Americans since this nation was founded….Each left this nation in a little better condition than they had inherited it from their parents. This is the first generation at risk of doing the opposite. Why? I have come to believe that it is because we failed to acknowledge and discipline ourselves with the spiritual truths that have made us great for these two hundred years—faith, family, country, values. This book is about how one man thinks they may be restored and yet save this great civilization from itself."

Now, I haven't read this, so I'm not sure what Generation he is talking about. Who the hell does he think he is, to pass any judgement on a generation. This guy started public service in the Sixties. I can almost definitivley state that any surpassed generation says the same things about the currently ascended generation. Those kids and thier Jazz music. Those beatniks with the long goatee's. Them hippies with their marijuana and free love. Those statanic heavy metal rockers. Those kids with their rap crap music, spraying grafiti and selling drugs.

Decency is in the eye of the beholder.
I think the problem now is that the boomers, as they decline into the surpassed generation, are becoming hesitant to relinquish beholder status. The problem is that the boomers will still out number us, not accepting their diminished generational currency.

If you don't like it, sit on your porch and yell at kids for walking on your lawn. There is no such thing as the "Good Old Days". Time erases the bad old days. The low crime, white bread, better living through chemistry, decent america is a myth, and it always has been. There was less crime because blacks and hispanics were oppressed through legilated discrimination. The chemistry that improved life thinned the egg shells of condors and bald eagles. Decent America had their cross dressing J Edgar Hoovers and just as many homosexuals (albeit more were closeted).

I don't know why all of a sudden there is this culture war between fundies and the rest of us non-zealots. Fundies have a specific forum for their religiously masturbatory ideologues. It is called a Church. Leave the government to the secular humanists, just as the secular humanists leave the Church to the fundies. The first amendment protects the fundies from any restrictions on religious practices. Perhaps there needs to be a new book in the bible that prohibits fundies from imposing on those that choose to live differently.

Something rotten in Denmark

This whole thing with the Repubs threat of the Nuclear Option is, according to my conservative friend Gabe, just sour grapes over Roe v. Wade. Pro-Lifers are resentful that they were not given a voice over the decision. For that I have two thoughts: the first is the doctrine of Judicial Review, and the second is the amount of time since 1973 that legislators have failed to act to fulfill their wishes democratically.

The judicial review doctrine is outlined in the Constitution, and allows judges to strike down laws that they feel are contrary to the Constitution. This is not called writing laws from the bench, it's call throwing out laws that are garbage. Judges are not activists; they either follow a strict interpretation of the Constitution, or try to apply the Constitution to modern problems that weren't necessarily considered in the times of our forefathers. One of the things that make this country work is the doctrine of judicial review. If legislators want to override the Supreme Court, they can either pass a law that addresses the concerns in ruling, or they can attempt to pass an amendment to the Constitution. The other issue is that the legislature has had 32 years to pass an amendment to the Constitution or another law that dodges the Courts objections. It has not been able to achieve the needed number of votes in any case.

This is the democratic process as it exists in the United States. The Repubs, neo-cons and pro-lifers claim that judges striking down laws on the basis of unconstitutionality are undemocratic and activistic. They are not. Republican Senators attempting to subvert the Constitutional protections of the minority by undermining the filibuster is activistic and undemocratic. When the cloture rule was added to parliamentary procedure, it was the most democratic method of ending a filibuster.

This is dirty pool because the Repubs cannot convince enough people to confirm the President's appointments, and are afraid that they do not have enough support for a cloture movement in the event of a filibuster. Democratic means to resolve the current situation are already in place. What is going on now is an underhanded attempt to change the rules mid-game to favor the majority. This whole activist judge thing is an attempt at riling up a certain conservative part of the populace that are too simple minded or just plain ignorant of what is written the Constitution. They rely on talking heads like Painkiller Limbaugh or Pretty-blonde Coulture to tell them what the Constitution says, instead of reading it for themselves.

Live by the sword and what not

Kohl's Frozen Custard - Everything Else Is Just Ice Cream!

The latest finger biting incident at Kohl's frozen custard, (isn't that gelato?) has enabled another get rich scheme, I mean tort. The workers fingertip was sliced off, and being preserved in frozen custard, could have probably been reattached. But instead, this understandably upset customer chose pursue the get rich route over the compassion route. The finger biter refused to return the severed tip to the GM so that he could try and have it reattached to its rightfull owner.

If I were a lawyer, I would personally offer my services to the short fingered worker, so that I could sue the shit out of the asshole that wouldn't give the finger back.

It's this attitude that tort reform needs to fix, not caps on malpractice. It should be done in a supply side manner, punishing lawyers who encourage victims to with hold fingertips from being sewn back on, so that they can get their fee from whatever settlement.

Latest email to My Rep.

Judge Poe,

 

   I recently read your explanation to your vote against returning to House ethics rules. While I think your explanation is well intentioned, I can't help but think that our elected Representatives should be held to a higher standard. You talked about the Constitutional protects for the alleged, but I can't seem to draw the same parallels between the requirements for a Representative to step down from a committee while under indictment, and the loss of liberty associated with the criminal justice system.

 

I do see this as ironic that when the Republicans passed the "Old Rules", it was in their best interest, as it is now, when they are trying to hang on to the more lenient rules that they have recently brought about. I also see that the Honorable Tom Delay, who redistricted you into office, is the reason why the Republicans are against the rules.

 

I want to believe you voted for the reasons you give, but because of the Delay debacle, the Schiavo meddling, and the threat of the Nuclear Option, I have almost no faith in Republicans to do what's right for democracy, instead of furthering their own self interests.

 

v/r,

Charles F Presley II

Strawberry desert

Last night I made this kickass desert. I mixed a chopped up pound of strawberries with a 1/4 of sugar, 1/2 tblspoon of lemon juice and 1oz of vodka and let it steep for an hour. Once it had gotten juicy, I spread it all over a giant, dinner plate sized sponge cake. After the juices soaked in I sliced it, and then put whipped cream on top.
I'll have to make it for a party next time, because it isn't nearly as good the second day.

Exercised the Nuclear Option today.

I had the perfect opportunity to insert a Simpson's quote into modern life, but it fell on deaf ears as I went to lunch by myself today.

I donated a bag of the ole O-Neg, and afterwards, I drove to the Bowling Alley on base and got a bite to eat. I ordered a fillet o'fish sandwich, and as I went up to the counter, I said to myself, Let the fools have thier Tar-Tar Sauce.

I got a good laugh about it, and I consider it a high point in the day, although I had just bled out a pint of blood, so it was probably just the wooziness.

a drink I would like to call Death in Venice.

One of the stories I had to read in the recently concluded World Lit II class in meatspace at Troy was Death in Venice by Thomas Mann. It is a story about a man who discovers a pederastic yearning for a young teenage polish boy he sees on the beach of Venice. One time he drinks Pomegranate Juice and Soda. I thought I would give it a try and bought some POM pomegranate juice at the Yuppiemarket and some diet Sprite. It tastes pretty good, especially if you add rum or vodka.

Finals Over

I have now officially finished Spring Term 2005. I took my last final at around 2:30. I am really loving Troy U's online classes. They are easier than the real thing, and I don't have to drive an extra 20 miles to go to school.

I now have a 3 week break that I will need to utilize to study for Microeconomics. I really need to CLEP it, so that I don't waste my summer spinning wheels on prereqs.

New reader base expands to 4!

I now have a subscriber base of 4!
Wendy May, who I met a mutual friends dinner party.
Dallas Smith, my cuz.
Some anonymous reader that tracked back my blog from a comment I posted on another blog.
And my friend Gabe, who hasn't really posted any comments, and I'm not really sure if he blogs.

Mr. Smith goes to Washington or How I learned to stop filibustering and approve the crazy republican judges.

Got an all American classic that, just like It's A Wonderful life on Christmas, every good red blooded patriot should be forced to watch annually, lets say 4th of July.

I think that during this current debacle in the Senate, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is especially appropriate to watch.

Saw Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

Brought along the wife and kid. Sophie liked it. It had been sufficiently long enough since I read the book, that I didn't nitpick over any missing details, like a real life embodiment of The Simpsons' Comic Book Guy pointing out incongruencies between the X-Men movies and the comic book plot.

miscellanea

miscellanea: Definition and Much More From Answers.com

Thought I would just save time and put all my ramblings into one post, but decided against it in favor of Quantity over quality.

I decided to keep it though because of the URL to the pronunciation was amusing.
http://www.answers.com/main/content/ahd4/pron/M0330500.wav I think that this must be the first time I've ever seen 'pron' used for a legitimate purpose.

Cheaper to Keep Her.

A meme?

I heard a song on good blues shoutcast I discovered tonight, Winamp Link
Windows Media Player Link. The song sounded like it was by Elwood Blues, titled Cheaper to Keep Her. The same phrase was used last night at a party we went to at a friend's house.

It's always funny how I'll notice something unique, then all of a sudden, I'll notice it all over the place. It could be that I just never heard it before, but I don't think that's the case. Kind of like deja vu but not. Babelfish tells me it would be called juste revu.

I just googled, and it looks like 'Cheaper to Keep Her' was indeed sung by Elwood on Blues Brothers 2000. I wonder if that's where the person I heard if from got it.