I just wanted to explain a change I'm making on this site.
Recently, a message was left on a comment that was directly for me, but because of the way I set up my blog, it's available for everyone.
I originally set my blog to not moderate any comment left here in the effort to maintain the fast erroding Freedom of Expression. I've always felt that the best responce to expressions that I don't like is more expression that I do like.
But, I realized today that by choosing that setting, I'm also taking away someone's option to say something in private if that's what they prefer to do. And that's as offensive as not allowing someone to speak. I'm sorry I didn't realize that before.
So, as of once I figure it out, all comments left here will be screened by me before they are made available on the site. I will post everything except the following:
-messages requesting that it not be posted
-spam
-things I deem offensive or malicious
I also reserve the right to change the above list however I wish.
Maimun
20060408
20060407
more rude behavior
Once upon a time, to be conservative meant maintaining a certain level of constaint whether in clothing, behavior or language. Liberalism was supposedly the outrageous and attention-seeking.
So of course in this alternative universe of the current administration, the VP says "f you" (actually, that's not what he said. He said the whole word. I'm being as family-friendly as I can and still quote him) on the Senate floor where you would think some decorum would be expected from the people who work there. After all, if a visitor can get arrested for wearing a shirt with numbers, what's the consequence of swearing? At the very least, it used to be soap for lunch.
Then Justice Scalia, of the Supreme Court, aka Court of the Supreme Deity, does the above. Now, growing up in Utica where Italian food is considered just food, not ethnic food, we know what that means. It's not used in polite conversations. It does fit in before or after the VPs above comment though.
And now, During his testimony, Gonzales said he was constrained in what he could disclose about the highly classified program. "I do not think we are thumbing our nose at the Congress or the courts," he said."
No, he wasn't thumbing his nose. They don't do that. Yet.
Perhaps they're working their way down the list of inappropriate Kindergarten classroom behavior? By the end of this Badministration, the debates will be down to "you are too" "no I'm not, you are" "no, you are" "no, you are"
Though I guess after that comes a long whiny pathetic "MMMOOOOOOOMMM!!"
Which, I think, is exactly how we got into this nightmare to begin with.
You know though... I rather wish that this administration's offenses were limited to trash talk. Unfortunately for the rest of us, they turn their talk into action.
Secret action, though.
So what's the program that Gonzales' comments should or should not be taken as indicators of its existence or non-existance or whether such a program, if it does or does not exist is legal or not legal.... Are you distracted yet or has your migraine kicked in?!
This is why no one taps their phones... Listening to all that double speak would make heads explode or brains melt.
Domestic wire tapping without judicial oversight.
Before, this Badministration kept insisting that non-Americans didn't deserve the rights that Americans had. That just because we were safe from intrusion by our own goverenment, no one else had that protection. Well, now, Americans have become just like everyone else.
And the Badministration can tap our phones without anyone else knowing, not even the judges who by design in the Constitution (remember that piece of paper?) were a balance and therefor our reassurance that the cause was just and legal.
What's the next right we have taken away? How much freedom must we give up in order to remain free?
Any society that trades freedoms for security deserves neither and will lose both.
There are ways for wiretaps to be used domestically now, legally and justly. There's no reason to think that the process is failing. Rather, our District Attorney Michael Arcuri knows it works and how it works and has used it. He says, "[on] Wiretapping. As a district attorney who has had to apply for many wiretaps, I know that liberty and security are not mutually exclusive, and there are lawful ways that we can protect both."
We need more people in Washington who are interested, able and willing to protect the rights of Americans.
Maimun
20060406
and politics
I've been trying to be a better alumna these days and keep up a bit more with what's going on at my alma mater. Tuesday, I was reminded that I had no business being surprised that I'm into politics now. I got a "campus alert email." They just wanted me to know that according to mid-day exit polling, it looked like there would be run-off elections for Student Government President.
EXIT POLLING???!!!! MID-DAY EXIT POLLING???? RUN-OFF ELECTIONS????
for student government?!!!
Yea, GWU's like that.
There's a saying at my old college that everyone there ends up in politics. Granted, I lived 3 blocks from the White House even though Reagan repeatedly ignored us until he needed a hospital. But I was a psychology major with a minor in sociology. The most political things I remember was
1) waiting to cross the street in front of the Law library when Raisa Gorbachev's limo went by and we waved to each other
2) attending a lecture by Abby Hoffman, a childhood hero, along with Batman, and walking away sad at how angry and frustrated he seemed to be at how little things had changed
3) sitting at the window at the end of the hallway in my dorm just enjoying the night sky over the Washington Monument when police cars screamed down the roads and blocked off 19th Street. America had just bombed Libya and because we were the closest college to the White House, we either just became a target or a threat.... still don't know which.
and 4)helping a guy run for student government for all the wrong reasons
Like I said, I was a psychology major concentrating on children to boot. My friend Sarah never did manage to get me to a College Democrats meeting (it's her revenge now that I advise them). Nope, I insisted.. politics wasn't my thing. I was going to counsel children and families. No, no politics for me.
Clinton-Gore 92, Arcuri for District Attorney 93, Cuomo for Governor 94, Dwyer for County Judge 95, Clinton-Gore 96, Arcuri for District Attorney 97, Spitzer for Attorney General 98, Clinton for Senate 00, Cooley for Town Supervisor 01, (Arcuri for DA 01 was unopposed, so there was nothing for me to do there), McCall for Governor 02, Sullivan for County Executive 03, Miller for Congress 04, Murad for Surrogate Judge 05, (Arcuri for DA 05 was again unopposed as was Dwyer for Judge 05) and now Michael Arcuri for Congress 06. I have no idea why I can't remember what I did in 98. And somewhere in there was a Sheriff's race that I can't pin down.
Yea, so no politics for me. Absolutely not.
I can rationalize though. After all, as a counselor, I help people improve their lives. Politics should improve my corner of the planet, however big that might be. It's applied to many instead of one, that's all.
It's genetic too. My grandfather, who I only met once before he passed, and I was too young to appreciate him, was active in politics back in the old world. When I first got active, my mother was pretty angry at me for missing a family trip with my uncle who was visiting from London. She only quieted down after Uncle told her to stop nagging me as I was just doing what their father did.
But probably more than anything else, I do it because I can. I've been assisted along the road.. doctors who kept me alive and walking... teachers who taught me how to learn... even the guy who plows the roads on snowstormed days. But getting all that requires giving too.
EXIT POLLING???!!!! MID-DAY EXIT POLLING???? RUN-OFF ELECTIONS????
for student government?!!!
Yea, GWU's like that.
There's a saying at my old college that everyone there ends up in politics. Granted, I lived 3 blocks from the White House even though Reagan repeatedly ignored us until he needed a hospital. But I was a psychology major with a minor in sociology. The most political things I remember was
1) waiting to cross the street in front of the Law library when Raisa Gorbachev's limo went by and we waved to each other
2) attending a lecture by Abby Hoffman, a childhood hero, along with Batman, and walking away sad at how angry and frustrated he seemed to be at how little things had changed
3) sitting at the window at the end of the hallway in my dorm just enjoying the night sky over the Washington Monument when police cars screamed down the roads and blocked off 19th Street. America had just bombed Libya and because we were the closest college to the White House, we either just became a target or a threat.... still don't know which.
and 4)helping a guy run for student government for all the wrong reasons
Like I said, I was a psychology major concentrating on children to boot. My friend Sarah never did manage to get me to a College Democrats meeting (it's her revenge now that I advise them). Nope, I insisted.. politics wasn't my thing. I was going to counsel children and families. No, no politics for me.
Clinton-Gore 92, Arcuri for District Attorney 93, Cuomo for Governor 94, Dwyer for County Judge 95, Clinton-Gore 96, Arcuri for District Attorney 97, Spitzer for Attorney General 98, Clinton for Senate 00, Cooley for Town Supervisor 01, (Arcuri for DA 01 was unopposed, so there was nothing for me to do there), McCall for Governor 02, Sullivan for County Executive 03, Miller for Congress 04, Murad for Surrogate Judge 05, (Arcuri for DA 05 was again unopposed as was Dwyer for Judge 05) and now Michael Arcuri for Congress 06. I have no idea why I can't remember what I did in 98. And somewhere in there was a Sheriff's race that I can't pin down.
Yea, so no politics for me. Absolutely not.
I can rationalize though. After all, as a counselor, I help people improve their lives. Politics should improve my corner of the planet, however big that might be. It's applied to many instead of one, that's all.
It's genetic too. My grandfather, who I only met once before he passed, and I was too young to appreciate him, was active in politics back in the old world. When I first got active, my mother was pretty angry at me for missing a family trip with my uncle who was visiting from London. She only quieted down after Uncle told her to stop nagging me as I was just doing what their father did.
But probably more than anything else, I do it because I can. I've been assisted along the road.. doctors who kept me alive and walking... teachers who taught me how to learn... even the guy who plows the roads on snowstormed days. But getting all that requires giving too.
politeness and poetry
It's happening... after way more nights than I care to admit of searching through blogs and getting at best too annoyed to sleep, I'm finding that community that I do want to be a part of.
Remember how once upon a time, people talked, shared ideas, even debated... and kept civility and dialog in their interactions? There's a saying in my circles... "Good manners have become so rare, I'll fall in love with them now."
And I've been politely prodded for some poetry and though these days, they tend to start like
there was an idiot from texas
who once....
Instead, I'll post an old one:
There. Thank you, YouGoMike and Utican... now this blog's fitting it's title.
-Maimun
Remember how once upon a time, people talked, shared ideas, even debated... and kept civility and dialog in their interactions? There's a saying in my circles... "Good manners have become so rare, I'll fall in love with them now."
And I've been politely prodded for some poetry and though these days, they tend to start like
there was an idiot from texas
who once....
Instead, I'll post an old one:
Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations
Roses next to orchids next to daisies in a garden;
violet, indigo, blue, green, blend into a rainbow;
stars, the moon, the sun forming the heaven above;
consonants and vowels joining into words.
Differences combining to form meaning;
variations bringing forth beauty,
as grains of sand become a beach
only through the centuries
of working together
creating the world.
Diversified
entities
forming
One.
Roses next to orchids next to daisies in a garden;
violet, indigo, blue, green, blend into a rainbow;
stars, the moon, the sun forming the heaven above;
consonants and vowels joining into words.
Differences combining to form meaning;
variations bringing forth beauty,
as grains of sand become a beach
only through the centuries
of working together
creating the world.
Diversified
entities
forming
One.
There. Thank you, YouGoMike and Utican... now this blog's fitting it's title.
-Maimun
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