May 31, 2006

hmm. no responses to my last post ;)

Filed under: Entries — arglor @ 9:23 pm

I hope it wasn’t the content. Because i’m coming at you again with dark disconcerting news. This time i’m going to focus on one issue at hand. This is our nations idea that speaking against the government is a “bad” thing. We have seen a growing progression toward the limitation of negative statements regarding our government as a whole, which interestingly enough has not spurned much response from our fellow citizens. Perhaps i’m wrong, perhaps the response is there just muted by our government. I will not judge… yet.

Exhibit A:
The first ruling i disagree with issued by the new supreme court.

Exhibit B:
Here is the actual opinions.

My personal favorite is the dissenting opinions drafted by Justice Stevens. My favorite line is this:

The notion that there is a categorical difference between speaking as a citizen and speaking in the course of one’s employment is quite wrong.

He is responding of course to this quote:

When a citizen enters government service, the citizen by necessity must accept certain limitations on his or her freedom. See, e.g., Waters v. Churchill, 511 U. S. 661, 671 (1994) (plurality opinion) (“[T]he government as employer indeed has far broader powers than does the government as sovereign”). Government employers, like private employers, need a significant degree of control over their employees’ words and actions; without it, there would be little chance for the efficient provision of public services. Cf. Connick, supra, at 143 (“[G]overnment offices could not function if every employment decision became a constitutional matter”). Public employees, moreover, often occupy trusted positions in society. When they speak out, they can express views that contravene governmental policies or impair the proper performance of governmental functions.

It expresses a notion by the assenting opinion regarding the fact that an individual can act in a sort of dualist notion, at one point the individual may act as a citizen of the state, and at another point he may act as an employee of the state that allows for a restriction to the rights granted by the consitution, i.e. freedom of speech.

My biggest concern regarding this whole excersise is a concern for the academic world. It is largely a part of the public government, and so one would hope they would still be afforded the rights granted previously.

Exhibit C:
When confronted regarding this issue:

Second, Justice Souter suggests today’s decision may have important ramifications for academic freedom, at least as a constitutional value. See post, at 12-13. There is some argument that expression related to academic scholarship or classroom instruction implicates additional constitutional interests that are not fully accounted for by this Court’s customary employee-speech jurisprudence. We need not, and for that reason do not, decide whether the analysis we conduct today would apply in the same manner to a case involving speech related to scholarship or teaching.

No real answer seems forthcoming, but worry not they have a whole set of old fart’s lifetimes to go before they run out of time for considering this idea.

Oh woe is me, now that big brother has come home.

May 29, 2006

let me begin with an apology.

Filed under: Entries — arglor @ 8:18 pm

I know, i promised more frequent updates, and if there is anyone paying attention to this little voice in the middle of cyber space, it can offer no explanation for the drought in publishing.

I will call it writer’s block, and move on.

I actually have something to write about now. Three news peices struck my interest over the course of the past days.

The first is a news piece about abortion, here is a quote:

‘Every rational person, no matter what his or her stance on the rights of the unborn child, has to agree that the ideal for any woman and the health of any nation is fewer, or better still no, abortions,’ a spokeswoman said.

She is absolutly correct, but she is also blind to the full context of the picture. Not to mention she is being horribly generalistic in her approach to summing up “rational people.” I love the idea that in her mind the abortions are the problem, and not large amount of unwanted pregnancies.

Humanity always surprieses me sometimes. I’m just wondering why. I usually don’t track personal activities of insanity like this, I like to believe that individuals can do strange things and the media often disseminates too many images of humanity doing the most odd things in the world. BUT this story struck me, because it just begs the question why. He seems successful, family and kids. Why kill the kids? Maybe they should have had the abortion pill available for him during her pregnancy?

Speaking of insufferable acts, you see one of the main reasons i’m struck with an urge to write is because of the news recently. God hates Bush, but it isn’t for the the deaths of an immense amount of individduals (website accuracte not yet determined), the destruction of America’s image to the world at large, sinking America farther into debt, or even the destruction of any barrier between church and state. No it is because America is showing good will toward homosexuals.

And so i leave you, with this in mind. No matter how much our society comits self-destruction, Modern science never ceases to surprise this little (perhaps i’m considered large) man from louisiana. Perhaps I could be a superhero now.

lazyness

Filed under: Entries — arglor @ 10:10 am
Your Linguistic Profile::
55% General American English
20% Yankee
15% Dixie
5% Upper Midwestern
0% Midwestern
What Kind of American English Do You Speak?
May 27, 2006

I teetered on the brink of posting this… (Politics)

Filed under: Entries — arglor @ 5:58 pm

only because i’m not exactly sure it is accurate.

but here we go.

You are a
Social Liberal
(80% permissive)

and an…
Economic Liberal
(16% permissive)

You are best described as a:

Socialist

Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid
Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

May 3, 2006

why is it the case…

Filed under: Entries — arglor @ 11:33 pm

new song rinse repeat…
the lyrics continue on the cold low down beat.
washing over me…

the end is never the end, merely a begining of a new thing.

Like a car, i am repaired, but in the process i’ve lost my soul.

monotony. rutt.

nevermind.

today was a bad day. that is the most clear understantement i can give.