A Question of Purpose

This is America's purpose:

"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

Should these separate components of our purpose be ranked in importance, or are they all equally important?

Here is how they are currently prioritized:

1. common defense


2. domestic tranquility


3. establish justice


4. promote the general welfare


5. secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity


6. form a more perfect union

The current emphasis (conventional wisdom) seems to be that the only priority in this "uniquely scary and dangerous" period of our history is for us to be safe and unified. And until we are, well, then, justice, liberty and the general welfare will just have to be put on the back burner. We aren't hungry enough or confident enough to have our full purpose on our plates at the same time. That would take more courage than we can currently muster.

My view is that all are equally important, and when we hold up specific components as more important than others, then we are failing to realize our great American purpose and we regress to a less perfect union. Progress requires that we truly stay "the land of the free, and the home of the brave."

Think About It

What good is democracy without a Bill of Rights?

More Legal Child Abuse

Just part of the marketplace of ideas.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

But do they have to use the children?

Legalized Murder

"An 11-year-old girl died after her parents prayed for healing rather than seek medical help for a treatable form of diabetes, police said Tuesday. . . . The girl has three siblings, ranging in age from 13 to 16, the police chief said.

"They are still in the home," he said. "There is no reason to remove them. There is no abuse or signs of abuse that we can see.""

Source

Science, Evolution and Creationism - what are we teaching our children?

Science, Evolution, and Creationism ...
Read this FREE online! Full Book PDF Summary Podcast

The National Academy of Sciences released a book early this year to explain evolution. Here is a pdf summary brochure.

Legal Child Abuse

When it comes to the education of children, I assert that it is child abuse to fill their heads with crazy lies. Yet because the indocrination of children into their parents or teacher's religious faith gets a pass, there is little outrage. For example:



For a respectful dialog between an athiest/scientist and an intelligent believer, check this out.

The Struggle to Understand Black Culture

I think a lot of folks still think of "black culture", and even "Mexican culture" to a lessor extent, in ways they no longer think of Irish, Italian or Polish culture - that anything more than a mix of parades, good food, green beer and quaint customs might be scary. Of course, there's a constant parade of crazy, wacky, infuriating and exciting things going on all over the place and it's all but a part of the complex and colorful tapestry of our constantly evolving "American culture."

Some people boldly stake out their position in this struggle. I'll just note that it's a thin line between understanding and judgement, between fear and hate:

"On the other hand, I am sick to death of black people as a group. The
truth. That is part of the conversation Obama is asking for, isn't it? I live in
an eastern state almost exactly on the fabled Mason-Dixon line. Every day I see
young black males wearing tee shirts down to their knees -- and jeans belted
just above their knees. I'm an old guy. I want to smack them. All of them. They
are egregious stereotypes. It's impossible not to think the unthinkable N-Word
when they roll up beside you at a stoplight in their trashed old Hondas with
19-inch spinner wheels and rap recordings that shake the foundations of the
buildings. . . .
Here's the dirty secret all of us know and no one will
admit to. There ARE niggers. Black people know it. White people know it. And
only black people are allowed to notice and pronounce the truth of it. Which
would be fine. Except that black people are not a community but a political
party. They can squabble with each other in caucus but they absolutely refuse to
speak the truth in public. And this is the single biggest obstacle to healing
the racial divide in this country.
I'm not proposing the generalized use of
the term, just trying to be clear for once, in the wake of Obama's call for us
to have a dialogue about race. However much they may scream and protest, black
people will know what I mean when I demand they concede that the following
people are niggers:
- Jeremiah Wright
- O.J. Simpson
- Marion Barry
- Alan Iverson
- William Jefferson
- Louis Farrakhan
- Mike
Tyson . . .
You see, you've just given life to the suspicion that black
people in America are, and have long been, a fifth column -- unanimously hating
the very country that has afforded the highest standard of living ever achieved
by black people in human history. We're teetering at the edge of believing that
you're a secret society, a massive collection of sleeper cells just waiting for
your chance to do serious harm to the rest of us. You've made it possible for us
to believe that. Because you're never outraged by what the worst black people
do. Because you continue to make excuses for what should be inexcusable to
everyone."

Witness

the renewed struggle before the eventual racial reconciliation, perhaps still years away. But we have progress.

Even Fox has some adults with integrity trying to engage the issue. This is good news. Mass shallowness is on the outs, insofar as race goes.

Gross National Progress perhaps?

Classic Zeitgeist

The elite opinion in summer '03.

So sad for the dead of Iraq.

President Bush Crosses the Line

Bush in a speech yesterday: "Now the question is, should these lawsuits be allowed to proceed, or should any company that may have helped save American lives be thanked for performing a patriotic service; should those who stepped forward to say we’re going to help defend America have to go to the courthouse to defend themselves, or should the Congress and the President say thank you for doing your patriotic duty? I believe we ought to say thank you."

Like many of my fellow Americans, I am strongly against retrocative immunity for the telecoms. There are broad principles at stake here, including the rule of law.

In my opinion, this is mostly about keeping secret those actions that Bush asserts are national security secrets. This would close to loop to any and all oversight, forever. No courts, no Congress - down the memory hole.

Bush's rhetoric is tantamount to calling us unpatriotic. He's done it before. It's happened again.