Bang and Whimper

Okay, so I’m getting a bit tired of hearing people’s uninformed reactions to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision regarding the Pledge of Allegiance. If you haven’t actually read the opinion, then chances are that you have no idea about whether Judges Goodwin and Reinhardt were correct. The media certainly haven’t reported well, and the almighty Senators and Representatives in Washington seem equally uninformed. Please, people, if you’re going to spout off about somebody being wrong, make sure you know what it is they’ve actually said. Tobias Wolff discusses the matter rather clearly.

I say this without stating my own opinion on the ruling.

On a related note, shortly after the Circuit court decision was announced, a bill was introduced in the US Senate (S2690, passed 99-0) to “reaffirm the reference to one Nation under God in the Pledge of Allegiance.” The only Senator not to vote in favor was Jesse Helms (R-NC), who missed the vote for health reasons. Of special note is finding 16 in section 1 of the bill:

(16) The erroneous rationale of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Newdow would lead to the absurd result that the Constitution’s use of the express religious reference “Year of our Lord” in Article VII violates the First Amendment to the Constitution, and that, therefore, a school district’s policy and practice of teacher-led voluntary recitations of the Constitution itself would be unconstitutional.

This is an insidious, intentional misreading of the 9th Circuit ruling, which specifically acknowledges a distinction between the Pledge, taken as a whole, and the 1954 Act, the sole purpose of which was to introduce the words “under God” into the Pledge so schoolchildren would “daily proclaim in every city and town, every village and rural schoolhouse, the dedication of our Nation and our people to the Almighty.” (statement of Sen. Ferguson incorporating signing statement of President Eisenhower, 100 Cong. Rec. 8618, 1954). Judge Goodwin writes:

The flaw in defendants’ argument is that it looks at the text of the Pledge “as a whole,” and glosses over the 1954 Act. The problem with this approach is apparent when one considers the [Supreme] Court’s analysis in Wallace. There, the Court struck down Alabama’s statute mandating a moment of silence for “meditation or voluntary prayer” not because the final version “as a whole” lacked a primary secular purpose, but because the state legislature had amended the statute specifically and solely to add the words “or voluntary prayer.” 472 U.S. at 59–60.

Those are your elected representatives, folks. They criticize a ruling they haven’t read. Sure, it was a great opportunity for Republicans to ride the wave of patriotism to political success, and for Democrats to suck the wind from Republican sails. But not one Senator in the land bothered to offer a simple, “Well, the decision was consistent with previous Supreme Court rulings…” or even just a, “Oh, lets not be so hasty to condemn a ruling we haven’t read… let us read it first, then condemn it.” Nope. They’re no better than the yahoos on the street whose knee-jerk reactions to the ruling is mirrored so well by those in the Senate—truly, government of the people by the people…. For the Senators, though, unreflective unfurling of the sails to catch the public’s political gale is a bit more dangerous. It is easy to lose course in stormy weather. Unfortunately, getting things right doesn’t matter a whit to any of our Senators when it might conflict with getting votes. God Bless the USA.

NP: DangerMouse sound clips

The Mates of State are playing in Denver when I’m in Colorado—21 June 2002 at the Bluebird. Tickets here.

[Actually, I missed them by a few days due to poor planning—ed.]

NP: The Greg Johnson Set, Isabelle

Can you say environmental disaster? Why anyone would need individually wrapped tic-tac is beyond me…

NP: Mates of State, Hoarding it for Home

Normally I don’t enjoy my work very much (the people are great, but it is work), but I’m abusing the newly installed media player on my government workstation by listening to KEXP, a Seattle, WA radio station that broadcasts a WMA stream over the web. They consistently have the best playlists of any radio station I’ve ever heard. They’re about to play the Magnetic Fields, they agreed to play my request for Stars (though they said they play them fairly often, anyway), and I’m currently listening to the colorful crooning of Jeff Buckley. Thank you, KEXP.

NP: Jeff Buckley, Hallelujah

Happy Birthday to me
Happy Birthday to me
Happy Birthday dear Michael
Happy Birth… oh, whatever.

NP: The Trash Can Sinatras, The Genius I Was

I’ve been meaning for months to put up a link to Wil Wheaton’s site. You may remember Wil as one of the kids from Stand By Me, or as Wesley Crusher from Star Trek: The Next Generation, but it turns out that nowadays ol’ Uncle Willie keeps himself extra busy by, among other things, maintaining his own website. And it also turns out that Wil Wheaton is one cool kid. Seriously. Check out the site and tell me he isn’t farking cool.

NP: Stars, The Aspidistra Flies

What a drag. I’m finally feeling up to some real physical activity after having surgery on my shoulder/back on Tuesday, so my roommate and I went to the gym today to do a bit of climbing at the wall (I was looking forward to trying out my new harness). As luck (ever my friend) would have it, the wall was closed. It was also closed last weekend, so I haven’t done any climbing in over a week. My strength is waning, I’m beginning to lose my balance, my focus, my fearlessness, and all those qualities I have been cultivating to make me the ultimate climbing machine I was last week before the surgery. Now, I’m sure, I’m back to being a novice.

I popped up to NYC Friday to see a good friend who’s getting married in June. She lives in England now, but was on a layover on her way back to Colorado, where the wedding will occur. I drove into the city Friday morning and miraculously found parking on 57th St. We tooled around Central Park for an hour or two and walked down to the Russian Vodka Room. It wasn’t open yet, so we had some coffee and a cannoli at a non-Starbucks™ (dear lard, Starbucks™ is everywhere in NYC!) to pass the time. We then had some deliciously wonderful flavored vodkas at the ol’ RVR and called it a day. And what a day it was…I love NYC.

NP: Belle and Sebastian, If You’re Feeling Sinister

Well, it’s shaping up to be a wonderful day. After having a delicious breakfast at Pete’s Grill [ed: all that is Good in Baltimore embodied in a greasy spoon], my good friend and I wandered around the farmers’ market, buying baguettes from the French woman and delicious dried fruit rolls. Why is it that in America one has to find a French baker to get decent bread?

We then drove downtown a bit to the wonderful Charles Theater to watch a noon showing of The Wizard of Oz. It was great fun to finally see it on the big screen, in all its Technicolor™ glory, with the children laughing and crying (and switching back and forth with alarming rapidity), and a rather cute girl with a pixie laugh sitting in the next seat… But having seen the movie countless times before, I found myself from time to time paying too close attention to the technical details of the movie. When the Wicked Witch of the West leaves Munchkinland, the smoke machine and trap door are clearly visible. The wire holding up the Scarecrow: clearly visible. The wire controlling the Lion’s tail: clearly visible. The set paintings were clearly distinguishable from the foreground in a disconcerting lack of perspective continuity. And perhaps most disturbing were the words the “brainy” Scarecrow spews upon the conference of his diploma:

The sum of the square roots of any two sides of an isosceles triangle is equal to the square root of the remaining side. Oh, joy, rapture! I’ve got a brain! How can I ever thank you enough?

Need I point out the distinct lack of brains displayed in such an utterance? Oh, but strangely enough, I now find myself amazed that such a poorly made movie could hold such magic for me as this one has since I first saw it, and love it all the more for it.

Now, I take a break to sip a cup of Irish tea and read a bit before heading out to wander through Spring Fair, Hopkins’ annual gathering of food and knick-knack vendors in an attempt to distract the locals from the dreariness of life in Baltimore. I picked up a new book two days ago: a psychological analysis and biography of Nietzsche, written by a woman to whom he once proposed marriage—Lou Salomé. I’m giddy with anticipation.

NP: Billy Bragg, The Only One

[Photo courtesy 3BP.com]

Sometimes I feel as if any turn I make will be a mistake. Sometimes I feel like running away to Monaco. Sometimes includes today.

NP: Monaco, What Do You Want From Me?

To people named Teague:

This is a (failed) test. My clever CSS idea wasn’t so clever. Quelle surprise! [ed: actually, it does work in compliant browsers]

To everyone who is not named Teague:
Ignore this update. You know, like you normally do.

NP: The Anniversary, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter