The love of money may be the root of all evil.

I like money.  With money I can clothe myself, pay for my grandchildren’s piano lessons, drive a reliable car, eat some great food, and visit friends in faraway places.  I don‘t want a barter economy, especially since I have nothing physical to barter for necessities, unless you count the endless reams of paper I can generate.  But this American drive to get rich, and get rich now with a minimum of effort, is doing us in.

Some people use the lottery.  Lotteries, or gambling in general, do not particularly offend me.  I do think they are the resort of people who failed 6th grade math, and I dislike the false advertising claiming the lottery benefits our school systems (the percentage going to education is way too low to make that an advantage of lotteries).   But I don’t think they ought to be illegal (funny how they don’t pass laws requiring that we eat our Brussels sprouts, everyone is too busy trying to outlaw the fun things, like alcohol, sex, etc.).

Some people “collect” things, believing that if they buy every coffee mug with a logo on it, someday their ‘collection’ will be worth millions.  I think collections are junk that gather dust and requires me to buy shelves or boxes or storage space to put it (think of George Carlin’s monologue on buying so much stuff that you have to buy stuff to put your stuff in or sell some stuff to buy other stuff).  That doesn’t seem to be …

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…Across This Beautiful Land!

The Missouri supreme court has ruled that a law banning sexually explicit billboards is--gasp!-- unconstitutional. This should come as a surprise to no one.  But of course religious groups are stunned.  They will try to appeal.  Personally, I resent all the JESUS! billboards and the propagandistic ones that declare Pornography…

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Moral Values…hmm

 In 2004, George Bush was reelected.  We can debate endlessly over whether or not he stole that election, but it’s beside the point for this rant.  Besides, four million popular votes seems like a big wad to steal.

What we need to figure out if we want to have any possibility of turning this misdirected ship around is WHY SO MANY PEOPLE VOTED FOR THE REPUBLICAN RIGHT?  Not even just Republicans–there are decent Republicans that I would support (Arlan Spector comes to mind, as does a pre-2004 John McCain)–but the rabid fundie far right wing of the party, the wing that is destroying it and trying to turn this country into something like a theocracy. 

So what was it?

    The factor listed by most exit polls in Middle America was–is–Moral Values.  Not in California or the Northeast corridor, but in the Heartland.

    Moral Values.

    I had thought for a long time that the issues driving Bush supporters floated between abortion, school prayer, and taxes. I’m now not so sure tax cuts are that important–these people have got to realize that if Bush continues his policies, at some point a huge bill is going to come due.

    The furor over gay marriage in the last months of the campaign underscores the exit polls. Moral Values.

    If I thought the votes were driven by the deep morality stemming from a Kantian apprehension of the nature of the right, the good, and the universalizable as determined by a focused application of the categorical …

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Stop and think about sex offender registries.

In a political climate drenched with debate as well as petty fighting, many people embrace bipartisan cooperation when it makes one of its rare appearances. A no-brainer of a bill feels like a relief, and it indicates that Congress actually has the ability to conduct business in a productive way. The uncontested passage of a bill feels particularly sweet when the bill deals with an emotionally gratifying issue, like the recent creation of a national sex offender registry.

No one urged President Bush to veto this bill. Named for the America’s Most Wanted host’s kidnapped son, Adam Walsh, this bill had all the trappings of legislative gem: widespread bipartisan support, quick, painless passage, and the emotional pull that only arresting child molesters for 25 years can elicit.

The law establishes a national-level database of past sex offenders’ names and locations. Many states have implemented databases of this kind before, but this law penalizes past offenders more harshly for not providing current information, and increases criminal penalties for child predators as well. It certainly sounds like a Congressional slam-dunk, providing all Americans with more access to information, and better protecting the nation’s children from proven sex criminals. Most people would support such a piece of legislation without a moment’s thought.

But any issue that prompts you to think with your heart rather than your head can have disastrous results. Botched legislation has enjoyed widespread gut-reaction support before, after all. And sex offender registries have not had a shining history.…

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No fireworks for President Bush today

The Bush Administration has viciously attacked the press (e.g., the New York Times) for daring to question some of the Administration’s many abuses of power.  The current scandal reported by the NYT concerns the Bush Administration’s decision to secretly monitor bank records.

Today, however, we celebrate the right of the American people to do far more than criticize their government.  Today, Bush himself undoubtedly waved a flag and admired some fireworks to celebrate, as patriotic, the rights of the people to violently overthrow their government when their government fails them.  In short, the Fourth of July is about recognizing that there is no more fundamental American right than the right of the citizens to violently overthrow their our own government when their government attacks their fundamental rights.  On the Fourth of July, many people even celebrate the Fourth of July by references to God, suggesting that even God approves of revolution to take down unjust governments.

Given this undeniable meaning of Independence Day (what else could it mean), it is ironic that President Bush would criticize the right of the citizens and their free press to do something actually much less threatening to those holding powerful office: the right to investigate and promulgate information about government abuses. 

But this is only one of the many abuses of this Administration.  For others, see here and here and here, three of many extensive lists available on the Internet.

In this context, I found it interesting to review some of the …

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