Another Round for the Constitution

A federal appeals court tells the Bush administration it cannot simply lock a legal resident up without charging him with something. Those activist judges are at it again!

Questions I'd like to hear the candidates answer

Of course, I'm fantasizing here. Only the candidates who already know they are unelectable would attempt to answer most of these questions honestly and in detail. But here they are anyway:

• What do you specifically define as torture? Are any of the practices currently in use by our forces torture? Under what circumstances should they be using torture?
• What is your view of the Military Commission Act of 2006? Do you agree that Guantanamo detainees should be stripped of the right of habeas corpus?
• Is the separation of church and state a valid constitutional concept?
  
• Is destroying a blastocyst composed of 150 undifferentiated cells murder? If so, does the blastocyst have a soul? If so, what happens to the soul when the blastocyst is destroyed? Do you approve of embryonic stem cell research?
• In your view, what is the approximate age of the earth? Who do you think is most likely to be correct? Scientists who estimate 4.5 billion years or creationists who say 6000?
• Do the people of muslim nations have any valid reasons for being angry with the United States? What are they?
  
• In retrospect, was the invasion of Iraq a good idea? (Actually, this was asked in the last Republican debate and most of the answers were appallingly asinine.)
  

I'll get into the reasons why I'd ask these questions in a later post. Right now, I'm going to read Blogger Help and learn how to get fancy...

My Sopranos Prediction

Well, the day of the final episode has come, so I'll take my stab at predicting the outcome. The break out of the mob war in the last episode makes it appears that either Tony will get whacked by Phil Leotardo's crew, Tony will whack Phil and emerge victorious, or that they'll all go down guns a'blazing. I'm not buying any of these scenarios. I think the mob war is misdirection.

From the beginning of this half season one ominous thing after another has occurred, only to seemingly evaporate as a concern later. Episode one has Tony being arrested for a weapon he discarded seasons ago, but by episode's end, the charges are dropped. Christopher seems to be about ready to turn against the family, but then he dies early in the next episode. In one episode, it seems that Tony's gambling will spiral out of control, but by the end of that episode, he pays off his debt. The last episode brought about the final ominous happenings, and I don't think Tony will be laid low by them either.

But brought down he will be, as he must. So what is my prediction? Remember in episode one when Tony had Bobby Bacala carry out his first whacking? As Bobby finishes him off, the victim grabs a piece of Bobby's shirt. Then Bobby just stumbles away leaving the piece of shirt clutched in the victim's hand. Now you're thinking that you wondered about that too, but since Bobby was killed in the last episode, it's no longer important. But it is important, because Tony will get the rap anyway. Don't you remember what motivated Tony to assign Bobby the hit? It was because Bobby beat him in a drunken brawl. Tony was bleeding and I betcha Bobby was wearing the same shirt...

Please forgive me, I donated to Rudy Guiliani

Yes, I sent his campaign a check for a hundred bucks. Then I watched the debates. Geez, I wish I could get my money back... Now when I sent that check I thought the election of Rudy might just save the Republican party by bringing it backs towards the center. I also thought a pro-choice Republican president just might motivate many of the religious wackos to go form their own damn little fringe party. But in the last debate he actually said that invading Iraq was absolutely the right thing to do. Fareed Zakaria has him pegged correctly, I'm afraid.

Howl Number One

I finally decided to get into the blogging game, so I could vent my controversial opinions on my own corner of the web instead of annoying my email contacts. And I enjoy venting about just those topics you cannot get away with venting about unless your opinions are in lock-step with those of the recipients. Of course, I'm talking about politics and religion.

I guess I am one of those independent types the media calls the swing voter. Until recently, I was a life-long Republican. But the Bush administration changed my mind with its disregard for the constitution, its use of secret prisons, "alternative interrogation techniques", wild-ass spending, and its subversion of science. Religious fanatics hold too much sway over the Republicans and I've had enough.

Problem is, I don't care much for the Democrats, either. I don't want the government to try to solve our every problem. When it does, it often succeeds only in creating new problems. I'd rather government only concentrate on the big problems that only government can handle. I do think that it needs to act on environmental issues and health care. Otherwise, I'm for low taxes, fiscal discipline, free trade, liberal immigration policies, and human rights.

When it comes to religion, I won't mince words: I'm an atheist. Brought up as a fundamentalist Baptist, I finally broke free when I was twenty-one, and have stepped into churches only two or three times since. I was a thorough believer when I was young, but it bothered me that I could not experience the "filling of the spirit" that others professed to have. As my mind matured and I learned to think more critically, I realized that there was simply no basis in fact for what I believed. I realized that faith is no virtue when it is no more than an excuse to believe in something for no good reason. And I realized that the "filling of the spirit" was no more than pretense.

Being without religion gives me a feeling of freedom. I don't need to pretend to serve some egotistical celestial deity in order to have purpose. My purpose in life can be whatever I choose to make it. After twenty-six years of shedding the psychological residue of religion, many of my burdens have truly rolled away.

But I won't spout off only about politics and religion. I'm also a science geek, a PhD who mostly develops scientific software, so I'll probably post about geeky stuff I think is cool quite often. I'm also a watcher of too much television. Here are some of my favorite shows, in no particular order:

• The Sopranos
• House
• Dexter
• 24
• Boston Legal

And, since much of what I watch comes from netflix, I'll list some of my favorite movies:

• The Shawshank Redemption
• High Noon
• Pulp Fiction
• The Blues Brothers
• American Beauty
• The Usual Suspects

As for other things about me, I live in the dry part of Washington State, east of the cascades. I'm 47, happily married, no children, but have three cats to supervise me. I really like good beer and I was a cigar aficionado for a couple of years, but I gave up the cigars because I'm also an exercise and health nut.

Well, enough for now...