Angry With Brett Favre?

He's done, he's not. He's retired, he's un-retired. He's too old, he'll never be too old. The Vikings want him, nobody wants him. The Brett Favre roller coaster has taken the NFL nation for a ride this off season and fans are understandably annoyed. Tempers seem to have reached a tipping point though with Favre's "surprise" signing with the Vikings yesterday. From what I've seen from the talking heads on TV and fans on-line, people are pissed. Everyone's tired of being jerked around and tired of the old man hogging the spotlight. I understand, really I do. But here's the thing: Brett Favre just signed a contract for $25 MILLION DOLLARS to continue to PLAY FOOTBALL. In other words he's going to be making a ton of money to do the thing that he loves most. Would any one of us do differently? Can we really be angry with him? Not me.

Fixing an Inherent Flaw of Democracy

Anyone who pays attention to the conservative-right is likely familiar with phrases such as “activist judges” or “legislating from the bench”. The basis for the terms lay in the claim that it is wrong for a judge or judicial body to release a legal decision or opinion that may be contrary to views held by the majority of the American public. The claim is that rulings that are out of line with the public consensus undermine democracy and threaten the Constitution. The misconception that these stances betray is the idea that democracy is somehow perfect. Put simply, these “activist judges” are a necessary component of a good democracy. They keep the majority in check.

I’m pro democracy, don’t get me wrong. Democracy is, without question, the most successful (in terms of human rights and freedoms) form of large scale government. But let’s not kid ourselves. Democracy has its own set of inherent flaws; the one most pertinent to this discussion being: the majority isn’t always right. Nobody doubts this. The majority of Salem, MA wasn’t right when it burned innocent men and women as witches in the late 1600’s. The white majority of the colonists weren’t right when owning black slaves during the founding of this nation. One day people will look back and know that the majority of American’s aren’t right to oppose equal rights for same-sex couples today.

The theory of our democracy is that we elect the best among up to represent us when governing this country. As we all know, these representatives spend the vast majority of their time pandering in order to stay elected. This pandering must involve pleasing the most constituents as possible (the majority). That’s how our democracy works. Politicians, more often than not, won’t do the right thing if it’s not the popular thing. So what’s the solution?

To help with this dilemma we have the appointed judicial; men and women who need not pander in order to maintain employment. This situation is specifically designed to fuel objectivity. The judicial minority can, and should when necessary, overrule the majority in order to right the wrongs of the mob. People as a whole are easily swayed. There are instances where a person or several persons can make a better decision as to how things should be. This isn’t some sort of oligarchial threat. It is a vital and integral part of our wonderful democracy.

Please remember this as we move into selection hearings for the next potential member of the US Supreme Court.

Thank you for reading.

Conservatives and Bestiality

What is with conservatives and bestiality? Somebody needs to explain this phenomenon to me. You can't go onto even a reputable conservative blog site or "protect family" site (don't even get me started about how pissed I am that conservatives have managed to give the word "family" a negative connotation) without one article or another bringing up bestiality; the prevalent claim being something along the lines of "if you legalize same sex marriage, soon they'll want to legalize bestiality". I really don't get it. How do the two even come close to ending up in the same boat. Gay marriage is about the union of consenting adults who love one another. Bestiality is, well, not consensual on both sides for one. And it's having sex with animals for another!!! For god's sake! They're not even close! Come on people, even though there aren't really any good arguments against gay marriage, you're embarrassing yourselves. Conservatives, lay off the animal love!

Thanks for reading.

The Boy Who Cried Swine Flu?

I saw this coming. After all the scare tactics, school closures, and hand washing, swine flu turns out to be no big deal. The government had to prepare for the worst and take all necessary precautions; after all, Mexicans were dropping right and left. And of course the media was going to jump all over this. 24-hour news kept the country up to date case by case, warning of impending doom as a nation of hypochondriacs clutched their hand sanitizer in anticipation of the next state to go red on CNN's infection map. None of this was surprising. Neither is it surprising that the swine flu ended up being no bigger deal than the "regular" flu. But what may be surprising are the long term consequences of crying wolf.

Like the towns people in Aesop's fable, will the public believe the Shepard-boy government and media the next time a potential pandemic rolls around? What about the time after that? Pandemics, real honest-to-god, 1/3 of Europe, knit your own death shroud pandemic have happened and will happen again. With the NASCAR pace of microbial evolution, antibiotic resistance, and the continued dependence on industrial animal operations, the next real-deal pandemic might very well look a lot like swine flu. The concern is that each time we go through one of these false alarms, people will become less wary and more complacent.

So how do we solve this problem? I'm not sure. The government has to be careful and the media has to be sensational (apparently). It's up to the public to take common sense precautionary measures and stay alert.

Thanks for reading.

Miss California’s Right to Wrong

I didn’t watch the Miss USA or Miss America or Damn Aren’t I Pretty Pageant or whatever it was. I didn’t see what happened. In fact, I had to search the web to find out what the Christian/Conservative radio stations were so up in arms over. Turns out Miss California lost what by all accounts was her crown to win by answering that she doesn’t believe in gay marriage. The Conservative Right is furious, saying that she had every right to express her beliefs. For once, I agree.

At Colorado State University, where I went to school, there is a common area next to the student center. Sitting to one side of these commons is an old wooden tree stump that unless you knew better, might look out of place. This is a famous stump; the free speech stump. Stand on this stump and you can say whatever you think needs to be said to your fellow students. Be it silly, motivational, controversial, or flat out wrong, you can’t be interfered with while you’re on the stump; it’s a school rule (for more about the CSU stump, visit http://www.today.colostate.edu/story.aspx?id=703 ). This stump is a material extension of the first amendment. The truth of the matter is that as much as I love that stump, there shouldn’t have to be a stump to stand on in order to assure free speech. I should be able to speak my mind, as should you, as should Miss California.

Of course in sharing her views on gay marriage, Miss California proved herself a bigot. I’m not a fan of these pageants, but I think it goes without saying that openly racist, sexist, or bigoted contestants probably shouldn’t go home with the title. Just because you have the right to free speech doesn’t mean that you won’t then be judged for what you say, especially when you’re standing in front of a panel of judges.

Thanks for reading.

Good Friday to a Non-Christian

I tend to be a little cynical about some religious holidays. If you're a Christian who thinks Christmas has become shallow and commercial, try it as a non-Christian. So you may wonder how a non-believer feels about Good Friday. If you don't believe in Jesus, it's no big deal, right? First off, not believing in Jesus is like not believing in Columbus or Alexander the Great. Jesus was a historical figure, just like you or I will some day be (we'll probably be slightly less well known). I just don't believe he was the son of God. So is Good Friday meaningless to me? To answer that, let's look at who Jesus really was. From everything I've read, Jesus was a good man who said some good things that did some real good in the world. Good Friday marks the unjust execution of this good man. As such, I mark Good Friday as a solemn day of remembrance for a good man.

Easter is a different story.

3 of 50

Iowa became the thirst state in the nation (after Massachusetts and Connecticut) to allow same sex marriage after the Iowa supreme court today struck down a law that previously banned it, citing the law as unconstitutional. I can only applaud the Iowa courts and note that this is another step in the right direction. I sincerely hope that justice prevails and the decision is upheld long term. Three down, forty-seven to go!