Month: June 2005

As Kathleen notes, Peter will be real busy for a bit. In the interim, I’ll be breaking out the old But I Digress… columns we keep in the BIDcave for just such occasions.

Please note that I expect a certain degree of civility. I don’t want to have to break out the lead shielding in the comment threads, and I’m much more inclined to keep things quiet so that Peter doesn’t have to deal with the grief and he can concentrate on writing. To paraphrase Josh Lyman, Peter’s a good man. He’s got a good heart. He doesn’t hold a grudge. That’s what he pays me for.*

If you need a refresher course, I recommend viewing the filmstrip Posting And You.

So let him finish, and he can have most of what he needs to have done in time for Shore Leave. (Did we mention he’d be at Shore Leave? Get your tickets now. Did I mention I’ll probably be at Shore Leave too? Like anybody cares.)

* You may note that Peter does quite well at holding a grudge on his own. This is why I get paid so little.

Peter will be AFTK (away from the keyboard) for the next couple of days as he works on a project that he has been working on for a while but needs his undivided attention for a few days.

I am asking everyone to play nice while he is not online.

thanks-
Kathleen

Remember the Spike pages I put up here a while? Well, they’re up and lettered and everything over on Newsarama.com, along with a short interview with me about the comic. Feel free to check it out.

PAD

Wired News: Blue Law Makes Webmasters See Red

SAN DIEGO — An adult industry trade association plans to head to court this week to fight new federal enforcement efforts that could catch thousands of online pørņ sites with their pants down.

Under penalty of federal prison terms, new interpretations of existing regulations would require sites that feature photographs or videos of sexual activity to keep records confirming that performers are of legal age.

So if you’re having trouble seeing profiles on Gay.com or even Yahoo.com, this is why… Gay.com has announced that they’ve had to take down ALL photos until they’re checked, because the maximum penalty is 10 years in prison per violation.

UPDATE 9/29/05: Closing comments, as this thread attracts a lot of adult spam.

We’ll make a deal: we’ll stop desecrating the flag and the Pledge of Allegiance when they stop desecrating the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Star Trek pledge of allegiance gets kid suspended: “Cory Doctorow:
A young Star Trek fan was suspended from school for reciting his own version of the Pledge of Allegiance, in which he pledged to the United Federation of Planets. His mom has posted the hilarious story:

‘So, anyway. What did he do?’ I picked at the hem of my sweatshirt, looked just to the right of her face. I couldn’t meet her eyes. I felt nervous. I felt underdressed. I wondered where 8 was.

So she told me what he did. And as she told me, I started to laugh. I didn’t laugh a little, either, but I belly-laughed and grabbed my stomach. My son stood with his class this morning, put small right hand over heart, faced the American flag, and recited his own personal pledge of allegiance:

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United Federation of Planets, and to the galaxy for which it stands, one universe, under everybody, with liberty and justice for all species.

‘Mrs. Jaworski. This isn’t humorous. The Pledge is an extremely important and patriotic moment each morning in the classroom. I am ashamed of your son’s behavior, and I hope you are, too.’

Link“

(Via Boing Boing.)

It’s baaaaaack. The proposed brand new amendment that makes a mockery out of the First One:

“The Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States.

I mean, this concept should be elementary. This should be American Citizenship 101. The flag stands for a nation with freedoms, including the freedom to burn the flag in protest.

I’ve always said that I wasn’t a fan of flag-burning as a means of protest, because it’s such a (pardon the expression) incendiary visual that whatever other point you wanted to make is going to be obscured by that action. So I don’t think it’s terribly effective in terms of convincing others. But the Congress…you know, the ones who shall make no law interfering with freedom of expression?…apparently didn’t get the memo.

And hey…all those articles of clothing with the flag adorning it? Notebooks? Forget it. What about decals or bumper stickers, with the image of the American flag getting spattered by mud and dirt. Pull that SUV over, fella…you with that foul bumpersticker and your girlfriend with the stars and stripes bikini top! You’re under arrest courtesy of Congress!

You can’t burn the flag of the United States by burning a representation of it any more than you can burn the Declaration of Independence by burning a copy of it.

You can, however, incinerate the concept of freedom of speech in this country by making a constitutional amendment banning a form of expression for the worst possible reason: It upsets people. No other reason. No one’s reputation stands to be defamed, no money lost. No child’s delicate mind is going to be threatened from the sight. No panics from “fire” falsely cried in a crowded theater (indeed, nowadays the major challenge is finding a theater that’s crowded.) There’s no cover here. It’s naked censorship, a throttling of free expression by the very governmental body that’s sworn to protect it.

Plus the GOP’s gotta love it because liberals must either embrace the notion–which is antithetical to anyone who has a grasp of free speech, to say nothing of making them indistinguishable from conservatives–or else they must spend countless man hours explaining why they value free expression above cheap political opportunism…and lose the vote of every schmuck who can’t wrap his tiny mind around defending to the death one’s right to express an opinion that that same person may find personally repellant. Puts them in a nice position for the next election.

And, of course, anyone opposed to a flag burning amendment is deemed “out of touch” with the citizenry. You know what? I’d rather be out of touch with the citizenry than out of touch with the concept of free expression.

PAD

UPDATE:

Specific quotes:

‘Ask the men and women who stood on top of the Trade Center,’ said Rep. Randy (Duke) Cunningham, R-Calif. ‘Ask them and they will tell you: pass this amendment.’

‘If the flag needs protection at all, it needs protection from members of Congress who value the symbol more than the freedoms that the flag represents.’ said Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., whose district includes the site of the former World Trade Center. –GH

I seem to have come in late on this whole “Who’s the Greatest American?” thing. I haven’t seen any lists or anything, so I’m just talking off the top of my head.

Even after all the intervening centuries, and even with what we know of some of the more dubious activities in his private life, I’d still go with Thomas Jefferson.

Runners up to my mind would include FDR, Jonas Salk, Martin Luther King, and my wife. I’d also put my mom and dad, but they weren’t born in this country so I’m not sure they’d be eligible.

PAD