Carnival of the Decline of American Democracy - Round Five

Welcome to Round Five of the Carnival of the Decline of Democracy - Blogging 'till the secret police take us away.

John Rozewicki, of Supreme Narcissism, brings us The United States Supreme Court is Frozen, part of a series he's writing "detailing how broken the United States government system is." In this installment, John suggests that Sandra Day O'Connor's resignation from the Court sets a bad precedent. "Requiring justices to die before appointing new ones is the only thing that keeps the political makeup of the supreme court shifting and changing," writes John. Allowing them to choose the President that will appoint their successor ensures stasis and opens the door (according to John) to dictatorship.

Jon Swift, in The New American Empire, suggests "how can we spread the blessings of democracy around the world without actually letting people vote." The problem (as Jon sees it) is we've been busy bringing democracy around the globe but, "One of the problems with democracies in the Middle East is that the people seem to vote for the wrong parties." ... "Iraq was at one time a democracy. Immediately before it was a democracy, it was a colony of England. And what was the United States before it was a democracy?" You see where this is going, right? Mr. Swift very rationally explains how building a new American Empire will be bring peace and prosperity (and eventually, maybe, democracy) to all who need it. And, yes, it's satire.

This week Hell's Handmaiden gives us Godless, UnConstitutional Rulings! - a potent rant against - and rebuttal to - the "American View" and others who use fake quotes and made-up history to push "the myth – the Big Lie – that the United States was founded 'under God.'" "There is not a single mention of God in our Constitution or Bill of Rights, and while there is a mention of the Creator... in the Declaration of Independence it serves more to ground Jefferson’s natural rights justification for rebellion than it does to indicate a particular religious sentiment."

Listed above were the submittals that best fit our theme of "the decline of American democracy." A couple of honorable mentions this week go to What They Want From Us in Mexico, regarding rampant corruption in the Mexican government, and Preston - Capital City of Undemocratic Planning, regarding the continued struggle of the "Save the Ribble" campaign in England.

I also received an entry entitled Oh, By the Way, They Found WMD in Iraq. I was going to leave it out as a non-story. The "WMD" found were nothing new; just the remains of the chemical weapons used against the Kurds over a decade ago. The recent findings were not the "current threat against the U.S." that the administration swore we'd find. But, I didn't want to be accused of being part of the "liberal cover-up" so it's here. See, I gladly post links to opposing viewpoints - that's how a discussion - and democracy - works.

Thank you for joining us on our bi-weekly look at the decline of democracy (and occasionally hopeful responses to it). The next edition of the Carnival will be posted on Monday, August 14th, with entries requested by Saturday, August 12th, at midnight.

Submit your blog post for the next edition of the carnival of the decline of democracy using our carnival submission form. More information on future carnivals can be found on our carnival home page.

Tags: carnival of the decline of democracy, blog carnival, politics, American government, Supreme Court

Random Quotes Day @ the Blog

From time to time I like to keep my own opinions to myself and just post a few quotes I've collected over the previous months. This is one of those days...

"Faith is, at one and the same time, absolutely necessary and altogether impossible." - Stanislaw Lem

"Ours is the age that is proud of machines that think and suspicious of men who try to." - Howard Mumford Jones

"The trouble with jogging is that the ice falls out of your glass." - Martin Mull

"But once I had brains, and a heart also; so, having tried them both, I should much rather have a heart." The Tin Woodman (L. Frank Baum, The Wizard of Oz)

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts." - Winston Churchill

"It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men" - Fredrick Douglas

"If your happiness depends on what somebody else does, I guess you do have a problem." - Richard Bach

Tags: quotations, Stanislaw Lem, Howard Mumford Jones, Martin Mull, L. Frank Baum, Wizard of Oz, Winston Churchill, Fredrick Douglas, Richard Bach

Another Kneejerk Reaction?

Reading the blogs (too many to list and link) it seems there are three basic reactions to the current situation in Southern Lebanon:

1. Championing Israel and anything it sees fit to do in its battle against terrorism,
2. Slamming the Zionist Entity and anything it inflicts upon the innocent Palestinians/Lebanese/Arabs/etc., or
3. Scratching one's head (or ass) and wondering what the F is going on.

If forced to chose among only those three reactions, I suppose I'd have to choose #3. I just wish that somebody - anybody - could find some balance between #1 and #2 without assuming that one side has to be completely "right" and the other side completely "evil."

Let me tell you a little of what I know about Hezbollah - or, at least, what I believe I know about them. The reason they exist - their mission statement, if you will - is to destroy the state of Israel. Their tactics and methods of operation make them a terrorist organization. Over many years they have killed Israeli soldiers (soldiers, it seems, should expect to die) and civilians as well.

There are also many who consider them heroes. They testify before CNN's cameras that in the chaos that has often described Lebanon, Hezbollah has been the community's savior. They have provided food and services for a population in need.

I have no reason to doubt these "hero" accounts. That doesn't justify terrorism, however. Whatever good they may do in the communities where they set up shop, it doesn't change that their ultimate purpose is the murder and elimination of Jews from the region.

I am an American Jew, and I support the right of Israel to exist. Technically, I suppose, that makes me a Zionist. I do not, however, support the current actions of Israel. Nor do I believe that they are justified in the their current campaign to destroy all of Southern Lebanon in order to weaken Hezbollah.

Just as I believe our current war in Iraq only fuels the fans of hatred for America (and the recruitment of anti-American terrorists), so do I believe that Israel's current actions will fuel anti-Semitism and bring more people to join Hezbollah (etc.).

I believe that the international community is correct in calling for an immediate ceasefire and a return to multi-party talks. But let's be clear: any discussions between Israel and Hezbollah are not a discussion among equals. One is a recognized nation with the right of self-defense and internationally accepted borders. The other is a terrorist organization that refuses to recognize the legitimacy of that nation.

Ceasefire, yes. But where are also the calls to disarm Hezbollah and all other terrorist groups? A lasting peace along the Israeli-Lebanese border requires that the armies of Israel and Lebanon are the only ones who are armed.

If Lebanon allows the launching of missiles from its territory by third parties, it must be assumed that they condone those attacks and are a party to them. And that is an act of war. Enough of war, already. Let's challenge each other to a peace.

Tags: Israel, Lebanon, Hezbollah, war, peace, ceasefire

"Yesterday, it was so hot that..."

California is in the 12th straight day of record heat, with the death count at an estimated 41-50 people, and countless animals including thousands of dairy cows (get ready for a spike in the price of milk).

The weather forecast originally called for a cooling trend to start on Monday, then Wednesday, now they're saying maybe today. Maybe.

We have no air conditioning, and I work at home several days a week. Not so this week. With outside temperatures breaking 100 (even up here in the tree covered mountainside), the temperature at my desk is more like a sauna. Yesterday, I packed up the laptop and went to work at the cafe inside of the Border's book store. Leslie can with me and read all day.

We were not the only ones to seek such refuge, as competition for the "better" seats was fierce. We returned to Border's after dinner and found many of the same people we had seen much earlier in the day.

Some statistics:
* "State officials said it was the worst heat wave to hit Northern and Southern California simultaneously in 57 years." (SFGate.com)
* The first six months of 2006 were the warmest of any year in the United States since record keeping began in 1895. (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Climatic Data Center)
* Globally, January-June was the sixth warmest first half of a year on record, about 0.90 degrees above normal. (ibid)
* Between 1901 and 2000, the average daytime temperature in Southern California has gone up by three degrees. But nighttime averages have risen by seven degrees. (LATimes.com)

The reason for that last little bit of information is development. All the stuff we build in urban areas traps the day's heat and doesn't allow for the natural cooling of the earth's crust.

So, are all these statistics and heat waves the result of human actions (or inaction)? Is it just a coincidence, or is it the climate change we've warned about? Scientists are "divided." Taken individually, each heat incident could have many natural causes. Taken as a group and a trend, ... well, you reach your own conclusions.

And now, with apologies to the late Johnny Carson, "It was really hot yesterday." - "How hot was it?"

"It was so hot that I saw a dog chasing a cat... and both were walking."
"It was so hot that Michael Jackson went out for ice cream by himself."
"It was so hot that a flock of birds burst into flames from spontaneous combustion."
"It was so hot that two dogs pretended to have sex just so they could be hosed down."
"It was so hot that I noticed a bum's whiskey was refluxing as he sat on the street drinking."
"It was so hot that birds were using oven mitts to pull worms out of the ground."
"It was so hot that if you ordered at Burger King, they said 'if you want it your way, make it yourself.'"
"It was so hot that chickens were laying hard-boiled eggs."
"It was so hot that my grand slam breakfast at Denny's was still warm when it was delivered to the table."
"It was so hot that cows were producing evaporated milk."
"It was so hot we were going to fry eggs on the sidewalk... but couldn't because the sidewalk had melted."
"It was so hot that undiscovered Easter eggs were melting in the grass."
"It was so hot that Al Gore changed the topic of his speech yesterday from 'Global Warming and the World In Peril' to 'I'd Trade My Mother For a Glass of Iced Tea.'"

Sources: Scientists split on heat wave cause - Some think culprit is global warming, but jury is still out -- Heat wave not ready to ease up on state - Weather death toll rises to 41 - forecast cooldown didn't kick in -- How Hot Is It? And Why? --High Nighttime Temperatures Set Records Too

Tags: heat wave, global warming, climate change, Johnny Carson, jokes, California, weather, it was so hot that

Getting Around Tax Fairness

Over the last decade or so, the chances of a low-income American being audited by the IRS has gone up by about a third. In the same period, the chances of the wealthiest Americans being audited has decreased by about 90 percent. As it stands today, your odds of an audit are now higher if you earn under $25,000/year than if you earn over $100,000/year.

And it's about to get even easier for the rich to cheat on their taxes: the IRS will be cutting the staff responsible for enforcing the estate tax nearly in half.

IRS commissioner Kevin Brown says it's because fewer people are required to pay the estate (and other) taxes, thanks to the Bush tax cuts. The NY Times, however, reports that, "Over the last five years, officials at both the I.R.S. and the Treasury have told Congress that cheating among the highest-income Americans is a major and growing problem."

It turns out that poor people don't have quite the same incentive to cheat on their taxes as rich people do, and focusing the majority of audits on them is just a waste of time.

Quite clever really. When you can no longer get away with giving your buddies big tax breaks through the legislative process, you just gut enforcement so they can write their own rules.

Sources: PERRspectives Blog & TomPaine.com

Tags: taxes, fairness, IRS, estate tax, cheating

Rhythm that Kills

If a report in the Journal of Medical Ethics on the rhythm method and embryonic death is correct, then pro-life advocates and the Catholic Church might need to re-think their support of this form of "birth control."

These groups have traditionally protested any form of birth control that allows an ova to be fertilized, but then prevents it from becoming viable (such as IUDs, "morning after" pills, etc.). They object to these on moral grounds, saying that once fertilized, the ova is a person, and to deliberately prevent it from coming to term (even if after only a few hours in the womb) is equivalent to murder.

It turns out, however, that their preferred method of enjoying "relations" without becoming pregnant also relies on preventing fertilized ova from becoming viable. The JME found:

We know that even conscientious rhythm method users get pregnant. ... Rhythm method users try to avoid pregnancy by aiming at the period in which conception is less likely to occur and in which viability is lower. So their success rate is due not only to the fact that they manage to avoid conception, but also to the fact that conceived ova have reduced survival chances. ... it remains the case that millions of rhythm method cycles per year globally depend for their success on massive embryonic death.

Do we expect these pro-life advocates to withdraw their support for the rhythm method? Do we expect them to raid the homes of anybody with a calendar hanging on the bedroom wall? Will they be passing laws preventing doctors from discussing women's cycles with their patients?

Of course not. To do so, they would have to admit that embryonic death is a normal, usual part of the cycle of life. According to the JME, "There are estimates that only 50% of conceptions actually lead to pregnancies." The other 50%? A natural process that results in embryonic death.

This is not a good or happy thing. But it is a very real and natural thing. To pretend that every embryo is an independent, living person is a fantasy.

Tags: rhythm method, birth control, ova, embryos, pro life, pregnancy

Bloggers on Blogging About Blogs

Yes, we're a narcissistic bunch, us bloggers. Write a report about us and we'll all link to you obediently. The latest (which you've undoubtedly already read about) is the Pew Research Center's new Blogger Portrait (Also see article in SFGate.com). I just wanted to take a moment here to answer a few of the questions (pdf) for myself.

How many years have you been an internet user? - 11 or 12

How many years have you been blogging? - 5

Before you started blogging, did you have a personal website, or not? - Yes, several, since 1996

How many blogs do you have online? - 2 main blogs (personal and business, plus a couple of experiments and such floating around out there

How often do you read other people's web diaries or blogs? - Several times a day

What would you say is the MAIN topic of your blog? - These days, it seems to be politics, but that's really not my intent. Officially, it's an open space for whatever I happen to thinking about, from a really good meal, to personal health issues, to popular entertainment, to the world going to Hell in a handbasket.

Has your blog ever received attention from or been mentioned by any of the following?
* Public officials, politicians, or political campaigns - Yes
* The news media - Yes
* Other bloggers - Yes
* Local community members - Yes
* Colleagues, coworkers, or bosses - Yes
* Family members - Yes

Overall, do you consider your blog a form of JOURNALISM, or not? - No. I comment on journalism, but I do not pretend to be a journalist. I do not conduct original research, formally interview people, or put much effort into verification other than checking a few basic news and hoax-busting sites. When I comment on the news or political events I filter my information through sources that I have already learned to trust for their journalistic skill and fact checking veracity. What you see here is my opinion on broader issues and facts from my personal experience only.

Aside from your blog, have you ever published your own writing or media creations anywhere else, either online or offline? - Yes - My short stories and essays have appeared in a few tiny journals over the years. I have also self-published books of fiction, on nonprofit fundraising, and other smaller projects

If you had to say, do you think you'll still be blogging a year from now, or not? - Yes (assuming it's still legal)

(There are many other questions - some of which you can deduce the answers to just by looking around this page, I.E., I use Blogger, I have RSS feeds, comments enabled, blogrolls, etc. - and others that are none of your business.)

There. I'm glad I got that off my chest.

Tags: blogging, Pew Research Center, survey