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Monthly Archives for February 2006

Good news on the Free Speech front

While you probably won’t hear it reported quite this way anywhere else, today the Supreme Court voted 8-0 (Alito didn’t vote, probably because he was too new to have reviewed the case) on a case that upholds our freedom of speech. Nearly everyone else will report this as good news for anti-abortion activists, which it is – but, I’m more thrilled about the protection of our free speech, and related freedoms.

In SCHEIDLER et al. v. NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR WOMEN, INC., et al., the Supremes ruled that federal extortion and racketeering laws don’t apply to organized demonstrations and protests.

If you recall, the NOW had filed suit against a pro-life group, claiming they were in violation of the RICO and Hobbs Acts, resulting in a federal injunction against the protesters, which in my opinion was a travesty. After 20 years, it appears that uncommon sense has finally prevailed.

Not that I’m in favor of burning down clinics or injuring medical “professionals.” Violence is violence, and there are laws in place to deal with those issues. What NOW had done was to block organized protests. Various social activist groups, as well as the AFL-CIO, had joined with the anti-abortion groups to fight this ruling.

Again, this will probably get more press under the “abortion” heading, but I think that the real victory is for our right to organized free speech.

Here’s a link to the AP article: MSNBC, and a link to the court’s opinion: Findlaw.com

Written on 28 February 2006 by me under Politics/Current Events, The Freedom of Speech Awards with No Comments

Where’s Chico when you need him?

Chico is the ponytailed electrician on “Divine Design,” our favorite HGTV design show. He always does way cool things with light fixtures, and always makes it look so easy. So, after a few years of my wife wishing our ugly bathroom fixture was a recessed light, I decided to give it a shot.

I already knew the risks – cutting the hole too big, running into hidden things above the ceiling, totally messing up the wiring – but I’d watched enough TV to figure out I could do it. And, I asked a number of people if installing retrofit can lights was as easy as the instructions made it look, and they all said, “yeah.”

Well, my easy project turned into a two-day job, involving several trips to both Home Depot and Lowe’s (and 3 help calls to Paul at Home Depot), and a large gash in my finger before I got it to work. It was worth it, but it wasn’t easy – in fact, it was just about as hard as it looked before I watched HGTV.

Taking the old fixture out was no problem – but revealed my first challenge: the existing hole was cut about 3/8″ past the edge of the ceiling joist, meaning I had to cut the hole just big enough, or the lip of the light trim wouldn’t cover the old hole.

The next challenge was that every time I did anything (even breathe), I’d get a load of blown-in insulation dropped on me. It kept coming, and coming – it was like there was someone up there waiting until my face was upturned. I kept thinking, “why doesn’t this ever happen to Chico?”

The old wiring was indeed a mess – 4 romex cables coming together exactly at that spot, with very little play room. I had to enclose this web in a junction box, and hope I could push it out of the way enough for the can to fit.

Then, I noticed something else – a black PVC pipe running just above the edge of the hole. I figured out that this was the vent pipe, so I wasn’t too concerned, except that it might put too much pressure on the other side of the can.

Then, there was connecting the wiring. I had cut the j-box so I wouldn’t have to redo the web, I could just slip the box over the cables. I connected another strip of romex to run to the light, and shoved it over as far as I could, and connected the light for a test. It was weird- the lights came on, but only dimly. That’s when I started calling Home Depot for help. After 3 calls and a few trials, we figured it out.

I was finally ready to push the can in place – but it wouldn’t go. The pipe wouldn’t move far enough. I decided to crawl up to the attic and see what the deal was, and found that it was anchored too well and there was nothing I could to about it.

I decided to try to enlarge the hole just a bit, and as luck would have it, that was all it took. The light went in, and all I had to do was lock the clips in place and install the trim. That’s when I gashed my finger. I finally resorted to a band-aid when the blood started running down my hand. But, after that the trim went on without a hitch.

It looks good. My wife is thrilled. And, I feel victorious. Wounded, but victorious.

So, next time you look up at some recessed lighting and ask, “how did they do that?” just know that it is just as hard as it looks. Although, I really am curious to know how easily Chico would have handled it.

Written on 27 February 2006 by me under Random Thoughts with No Comments

Blog is the new cave-painting

Blogging is all the rage these days, and for good reason: writers have finally regained the ability to publish themselves. Since the invention of the printing press, writers have, for the most part, relied on others to distribute their words to the world. Scribes were no longer good enough – to be competitive, you needed the power of the press, and that marginalized a great many writers. Even before the press, of course, you still needed help, such as a company of scribes and some type of distribution network in order to be successful.

With a few notable exceptions, of course. Moses, for example, seemed to do okay, seeing as how he’s probably the most published author ever. However, I suspect his success as an author was for the most part post-humous. The Apostle Paul also did okay, having established a pretty good network of churches by which to distribute his letters (not that this was his intention, necessarily). Martin Luther’s blog was the now-famous door of Castle Church in Wittenberg. Luther knew his target audience, to be sure, and got more attention than he probably expected.

But, for the most part, your ordinary thinker/writer either had to have money or a publisher to avoid fading into literary oblivion.

Blogs, with the assistance of today’s search technology, have changed all that. Anyone with access to a computer has a chance at blog success. Bloggers may even render the mainstream news media obsolete (one can only hope…), if they haven’t already.

The other day, I was thinking about how the blog is not unlike the prehistoric cave-painting. Of course, the phrase “prehistoric cave-painting” is probably an oxymoron, as the cave-painting probably qualified as history, at the time. All a cave-dwelling philosopher needed was a good wall and whatever they used for paint, and his ideas were there for all the known world to see. It didn’t matter whether it met someone else’s editorial guidelines or marketability analysis (unless the cave belonged to someone else…).

Some parallels have been made between cave-painting and modern-day graffiti, but I disagree. Graffiti is typically done on someone else’s property, without their permission. No self-respecting tagger would waste his time on his own wall. With cave-painting and blogging, however, there’s no vandalism – it’s just plain, legitimate self-publishing.

Blogging is, in a very real sense, freedom of speech. It’s free from financial constraints, free from editorial controls (and even free from acceptable grammar and spelling rules, and unfortunately even free from good taste and morality). Cave-painting, all over again.

Thanks for visiting my cave.

Written on 20 February 2006 by me under Random Thoughts with 1 Comment

The Consequences of Free Speech

Okay, I haven’t written for a while – not that I haven’t a lot to say, it’s just being “in the moment” and the moment is usually ill-timed. Yeah, I know, that doesn’t make any sense at all, but neither does much of what I read, so I figure I’m okay.

I’ve been thinking of bestowing a Free Speech Award to Denmark because of the whole cartoon-Allah thing. I know they’re not even Americans, but you have to admit, this whole thing has given us a great object lesson about Freedom of Speech: As the Apostle Paul said, “all things are permissable, but not all things are beneficial” (my translation). Or, as someone else has said, “Your freedoms stop where my freedoms begin.”

You see, we can guarantee the right of free speech, but we can’t guarantee that others won’t be offended, or throw some free speech right back at you. They may even decide to trample on some of your freedoms in retaliation, not to mention your face. Sure, there are laws against things like that, but the reality is that it hurts just the same. You can say what you want, but just watch out for what comes back at you.

As another wise man once said, “discretion is the better part of valor.”

My own quotable quote on the subject: “Be free, but don’t be stupid.”

Written on 19 February 2006 by me under Politics/Current Events, The Freedom of Speech Awards with No Comments

Another Freedom of Speech Award – for “Selective Free Speech”

I think this award could be shared by a number of people who spoke at Coretta Scott King’s funeral, and used the platform for their own purposes, mainly to throw stones at the Bush Administration. Apparently nothing is sacred to the Left. However, due to a truly standout performance, I will give the award to none other than former President Jimmy Carter.

Carter has excelled lately at saying stupid things in public, and yesterday was no exception. Besides his comment that Hurricane Katrina was a civil rights issue, he slammed the President on the current spying issue, mentioning that King and her family were once, too, victims of wire-tapping.

He failed to mention, of course, that the wire-tapping had been ordered by Bobby Kennedy during the Kennedy-Johnson administration. So, I guess this award should be given for the best use of “selective free speech.”

Honorable mention should go to the Rev. Joseph Lowery, for the best dramatic presentation of rambling, illogical free speech, and to the brave person who invited Michael Bolton to sing.

Written on 08 February 2006 by me under Politics/Current Events, The Freedom of Speech Awards with No Comments

Today’s Thoughts: Vote for Elliot, the Year of the Dog, and the abuse of the 2-second delay

I have nothing really important to say, except that certain people give me a hard time when I don’t have something new every day, so “this one’s for you.”

Actually, this is important: My son, Elliot, is in a t-shirt design contest, and at the moment has a very slim lead. So, go to www.whatsyourfactor.com and vote for him (“PanicFactor“).

On a completely different note, this weekend I happened to drive by this Chinese restaurant that has a fairly large sign out front where you can change the letters, like some churches have. It said:

Chinese New Year’s Special!
New Menu Items
The Year of the Dog

I’m thinking perhaps I’ll wait until the year of the chicken…

And, last but not least, did you happen to catch the Stones at half-time yesterday? I wasn’t watching, but heard them from the other room. So much for aging gracefully. You’d think perhaps they would have practiced for a gig like that. It kind of makes you appreciate lip-synchers.

But, here’s the strangest thing about the Stones’ appearance: they had apparently agreed with ABC that there’d be a time-delay and bleep-control, and it seems to me that they purposefully included words that they knew would be bleeped. What’s the deal – was this the Stones’ statement in favor of censorship? Or, are they so old that they now have to conspire with corporate America to stage a phony faux pas to try to maintain their bad-boy image? Either way, the whole thing was pretty sad.

Have a great day.
(and remember to vote for Elliot!)

Written on 06 February 2006 by me under Random Thoughts with No Comments

Happy Groundhog’s Day!

Groundhog’s Day is by far my favorite of all holidays, probably because, in the words of Audioslave, “it doesn’t remind me of anything.” It’s a nice, little holiday, without any baggage – which is also probably why it sneaks up on me. There are no Groundhog’s Day sales, no parades (except in Punxsutawney), no Hallmark Groundhog’s Day cards (well, to be honest, I haven’t checked), and no one gets the day off. But still, it’s a nice, clean little holiday.

It does, however, have one of the great holiday movies, aptly titled Groundhog’s Day, starring, of course, Bill Murray. It’s one of those holiday movies that you can watch anytime, over and over again. It’s just a great, nearly perfect movie, with a good message (and lots of humor).

Groundhog’s Day (the holiday, not the movie) is apparently derived from an old German superstition that if a hibernating animal casts a shadow on Candlemas, it will mean 6 more weeks of winter. How the groundhog became the official hibernating animal, or how Punxsutawney Phil became the official American groundhog, I don’t know. Perhaps Phil – who must be about 150 years old now – knows, but he just isn’t talking. I wouldn’t, if I were him – it’s a great gig for a large rodent. Canada also “celebrates” Groundhog’s Day, but I don’t know if they have their own Groundhog, or have adopted ours.

According to Wikipedia, the holiday originated in Punxsutawney, PA in 1887, but records show that the first note of the day, referencing the German superstition, was in a storekeeper’s diary for Feb 2, 1841. However, it appears the holiday actually originated with the Romans, who celebrated February 2nd as Hedgehog Day.

Whatever. I think I’ll stick with the German tradition, and celebrate with a little sausage, a little beer, and a little Bill Murray.

Written on 02 February 2006 by me under Random Thoughts with 1 Comment