by Eric H. Doss on 22 February 2010
This morning, I found this troubling and totally batshit crazy article on The Drudge Report. This lady, and I don’t pretend to understand her grief right now, describes her father’s attack on the IRS as “inappropriate”, but considers him a hero. Inappropriate? Inappropriate is farting at the table or flirting with your sister-in-law. A deranged man flying a plane into a building is, well, more than inappropriate.
Now, I don’t really care if you call people like this terrorists or criminals. I don’t care who interrogates them, assuming they are caught before they execute their attacks. My primary concern is getting them away from people they can hurt. If that’s done in a Navy brig in Charleston, a camp in Cuba, or a maximum security prison in Illinois, I really don’t care. Just make sure they stay in whatever lockup facility until they don’t present a risk to sane people. If that requires their entire natural life, so be it.
What does matter to me is that people are treated consistently. If John Doe is called a criminal for flying a plane into a building in an attack meant to create fear or even the score, then Mohamed Doe is also a criminal. But enough of that, this situation is a bit complex so I thought I’d create this handy-dandy (though not ready for FlowingData) visual:
|
Joe Stack |
Mohamed Atta |
| Problem |
Feels US Government is unjust and oppressive |
Feels US Government is unjust and oppressive |
| Action |
Flies plane into building |
Flies plane into building |
| Suicide Bomber? |
Yep |
Yep |
| Suicide Note/Martyr Video |
Yep |
Yep |
| Kills Innocent Civilians |
Yep |
Yep |
| Claims oppression and injustice justifies actions |
Yep |
Yep |
| Uses Internet to spread hate and fear |
Yep |
Yep |
| Reaction from supporters |
Righteous Justification |
Righteous Justification |
| Calls for demographically similar people to renounce actions? |
Nope |
Yep |
| Who’s to blame for his actions? |
The government |
The individual |
| Race |
White |
Brown/Black |
| Religion |
Christian |
Muslim |
I guess it all depends on point of view. Maybe it’s true that one man’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter…
by Eric H. Doss on 21 February 2010
Here’s something you don’t see everyday. Yep, that’s snow on a sago palm. On the 12th, we had about 2.5 inches of snow. Now, it only lasted overnight. By the next morning, the snow was gone.
This snowman made it another day or two, but was gone by Monday.
This is our snowman. Sad. Kinda an afterthought. The girls in the neighborhood built the first snowman and also made one for our 90 year old neighbor. So we couldn’t be the only ones on the street without a snowman…
We also finally started on the house.
That used to be a door to the back porch. The wall on the right is coming down next.
From outside. Now, if it would just seal and paint itself.
My classmate, Brendon Cooney, turned over command of the local National Guard unit.
by Eric H. Doss on 11 February 2010
Has anyone read this in the past few years? In class today, though focused on the separation of church and state, we did a bit of background on the Founding Fathers, Mr. Jefferson, Madison, etc.
For those of you who haven’t read the Papers in years, #10 is Madison’s warning on factions, or groups of people, who have interests contrary to the rights of others or the goodness of the nation. (Wikipedia) Honestly, this is really good stuff. I wish they’d make politicians read this stuff. Some parts are a bit dated and clearly off point, such as these:
In the first place, it is to be remarked that, however small the republic may be, the Representatives must be raised to a certain number, in order to guard against the cabals of a few; and that, however large it may be, they must be limited to a certain number, in order to guard against the confusion of a multitude.
By enlarging too much the number of electors, you render the representatives too little acquainted with all their local circumstances and lesser interests; as by reducing it too much, you render him unduly attached to these, and too little fit to comprehend and pursue great and national objects.
Madison just couldn’t have anticipated the expansion of the nation or the communication advances that we have seen in the past two hundred plus years.
Another fun quote that time has eclipsed:
The influence of factious leaders may kindle a flame within their particular States, but will be unable to spread a general conflagration through the other States. A religious sect may degenerate into a political faction in a part of the Confederacy; but the variety of sects dispersed over the entire face of it must secure the national councils against any danger from that source.
I wonder if Madison could even understand what Twitter is? I wonder who is today’s Madison equivalent? Where is s/he? When will we see real leaders again? If you had to revise #10 to solve the issues of faction facing our nation, what would it say?
