Prop 8. Was it Un-American?

It’s fair enough if people want to call the passing of California’s Proposition 8 ‘Bigoted” “Mean-Spirited” or ‘Discriminatory”. I’ll even let you call it ‘Superstitious’ ‘Hateful’ and ‘fearful’. Choose whatever spin-word you want to define it.

But I won’t tolerate it when people define it’s passing as “Un-American”.

Back in the days of the original 13 colonies, one of the issues that set the stage for revolution was the fact that even though the American Colonies paid it’s due taxes to the Crown, they had no direct representation in the British Parliament. The Governors, for the most part, were chosen by the Crown to over see each state. In other words, the Crown could impose any burdensome tax as it deemed fit without any consideration of it’s subjects. It was reasonable to assume that the Crown could also impose any law without those being subject to it to have representation in it’s implementation. The colonies felt that their rights, as Englishmen, had been directly violated. At what point would the Crown stop? Where did it’s power end and the power of it’s citizens begin? Could corruption be kept in check and could subjects to The Crown be protected from that corruption? It opened the doors to tyranny.

As history shows, revolution occurred, and America prevailed in building a government for the people, by the people.

As tax payers, we are entitled to representation. Proposition 8, and it’s support, was legal, and the right of the citizens that supported it to represent themselves within that states government. Likewise, those who were against it’s passing mobilized and represented themselves, and their cause, to the state. The citizens of that state were then given a right to vote on how they wanted their laws to represent them, and their values. Proposition 8 was passed, and the voice of the people was heard. They chose to define Marriage as between a man and a woman, and nothing else.

A few days ago, the courts were asked to either uphold the vote, or strike it down as unconstitutional. Looking it over, they knew that proceedure had been followed, the people has spoken and they didn’t have the authority to deny any law that the people it represented had voted for. Government for the people, by the people.

It doesn’t get any more American than that.

I would have considered it Un-American if the courts made their own decisions on the matter and disregarded the voice of the people in order to satisfy their own personal agendas and beliefs. I would have been highly suspicious of that outcome. I would have wondered who was getting paid, blackmailed or otherwise leveraged to go against the principles that it was sworn to uphold. That is Un-American.

“Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” isn’t specifically defined. We aren’t told what that ought to mean to us, and for good reason. It’s up to American Society to define it’s laws, based on it’s values. We, as taxpayers and citizens, have the right to have our fair representation as to what laws we base our society on, and to have it honored by our government. This puts the responsibility squarely on us. If America goes down the shitter, it’s the peoples fault. We have an accountability. We have a stake in the structure of our society. We have the liberty to choose, have our voice be heard, and ultimately, chart our own course for our nation.

So, whether it be a ban on gay marriage, the right to bear arms, the right to a fair trial, the right to free speech or any of our other precious freedoms, what those freedoms mean will be defined by the people.

It was not a Nazi plot, it was not religious tyranny, it was not unethical financial support of one party or another. It was the choice of the people.

So, define the law as whatever you will. You can spin it as a reflection of a hateful Californian society or you can call it a triumph of family values in the face of an ever increasing surge of immorality. Either way, it was American, and GOD BLESS AMERICA!!

My country, my society, my responsibility to have a voice in it’s course, and my accountability for it’s success or failure. It doesn’t get any more liberating than that.

“Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.” -Benjamin Franklin

Dropped a few marbles again

Having to sort out what all of this is about is driving me to the brink of a type of madness. I like to delve into metaphysics, the paranormal, and the things that don’t appear. I like to ponder human behavior and try to make sense of why people do the things they do.

It’s like falling into an infinite expansivness and I’ll never find a destination. One fork in the road leads to another road with infinite divergences. Pick one and make your next infinite choice with infinite outcomes. It’s not over. It’s never over. There is no point b. There is always point next, destination infinity.

So I’m not doing so well holding onto this idea that at some point in my existence I’ll be “somewhere”. There is nowhere but here. And I think I’m slowly deteriorating into a little insanity. I can’t fathom reality anymore.

The Process Person

 

The Process Person

After reading a certain blog, I was inspired to write about “Process People” and my opinion as to what makes a person ‘Process’ oriented.

When I say that a person is a Process Person, I mean they are actively engaged in something productive at all times, always moving forward, always taking actions, always growing and expanding what they know, and what they experience. A process person is often seen as eccentric, and sloppy. They can be seen as obsessive about doing something that they care about. They keep moving forward leaving a mess behind them. They can’t be bothered to clean up the projects of the past, but always have that focus to move forward and accomplish something else, learn something new, grow a little further, reach a little farther. 

In a world that teaches us to maintain the status quo, to perpetuate “proven and safe methods of success”, to take the road most travelled, the process person sees the hidden, unrevealed potential of life and the experience it has to offer. They are often called day dreamers, silly, idealistic and non-conforming. In truth, they are looking to either build on current ideas to improve them in unconventional ways, or they are willing to make a complete break with established modes of thought and revolutionize the world. They never ‘fail’, they only learn, and move forward never dwelling on the past.

Are you a maintenence person, or a process person? The world needs both, and there is no shame in either.

Christian Blog Fun

Sometimes my smart ass nature gets out of hand. I posted this comment on a christian blog about a teenage girl that was rejected from a christian dance team because her breasts were too large.

This was my response.–

“They made the right decision.

Large breasts have brought down several righteous men. Samson, David, Solomon, Lot… I don’t have any documentation to back up the fact that these women had large breasts, but it’s safe to assume as such. Isn’t there a proverb that says “thou breasts that tease my eye, shall be the downfall of my lust, lest they be modest and demure. Then shall I observe thy dance in righteousness” I could be wrong….”

Maybe it was out of line……….. NAH!!!

Wednesday lunch.

Sitting at the table with a group of people that are typically pissed at me for one reason or other. The sluggish conversation is getting oppresively slow and is making us all uncomfortable. The clinking of glasses, utensils on cheap ceramic plates, and the twitter of incompehensible conversations invade the silence of our table. Every few moments, a short lived discussion pops up. The weather, politics, kids these days. All of the things I don’t give a damn about. I should have stayed at work.

Monday morning.

After the daily hazing ritual, I’m already caught up on plating. However I have a brochure to layout and get going.

I don’t know why my coworkers are so into confessing each others sins, but you get weary of it after a while. I’ve just learned to play happy and create my own micro world. Just turn on some music and sing along. When the office energy begins to heat up with the negative vibe, I pick a sing along song. Carpenters do the trick. Colin Hay, Frank Black, and of course, Frank Zappa. After a few rounds of my own personal kareoke party, I feel like I can swim through the deluge of petty concerns.

Sunday Morning

Woke up this morning with a sense of peace. Sunday mornings are usually that way for me, but today it was an unusual kind of peace. That peace that you feel when you have nothing pressing on you that needs to get done. You know that you are ‘caught up’ so to speak on nearly everything. Of course, I walked out to the kitchen and realized that a load of dished needed to be done. That was ok, dishes are nothing to me. It takes 10 minutes to fill the dishwasher and be done with it.

Then, as I was eating a bowl of generic Corn Pops, The realization that I wasn’t going to be at work until 9am tomorrow crept up on me. This means that I have to have plates ready for the press guys. This means I have to, GASP, do some work on my weekend. No big. I just have to run the plates and it will take an hour tops. So I hop in the car, have a peaceful drive to work, come in, and my computer is ready and waiting. I click the “Plot” button in RAMpage and BAM! Plates are rolling through the imagesetter. So, I’m sitting here waiting for the color proofs to come out of the proofer, and the final plates to finish in the imagesetter.

What do I do for the rest of the day? Normally I would be going to church, but today is a satellite broadcast for our region of Utah, and when the kids go to church and they see TV, they are impossible to manage. So I bagged it for today. Now.. what do I do for the REST of the day?

Maybe I’ll take one of the kids out for a walk, or take some pictures with the trusty iPhone. It’s quality of image sucks, but it’s better than most other phone cameras.

Gearing up to go home.

It’s been a slow day. That’s a good thing for my job. I’m a one man prepress/design department. I’m usually stressed out, but today has been nice. Hardly any customers called, actually got to take both breaks today. I even managed get caught up on the design work. Gotta say it was a good day. Didn’t even have to use my AK.

Testing

Testing another blog app. It seems harder to use. Need landscape keyboard. I like that I can post pictures on the fly though. Cool.