Minutiae

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The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.
--Cornelius Tacitus (c. 116 A.D.)

Thursday, November 28, 2002

Every day the government seems determined to top itself in my own personal list of "The Stupidest Shit I Have Ever Heard". I don't know what makes them so desperately competitive with Michael Jackson, Islamic fundamentalists, the EU, and certain people of my personal acquaintance, but on any given day the odds are that they've topped the list.

posted by Rachel 11/28/2002
. . .

Shameful. One of our nation's top secret installations can't keep track of their assets and the people who bring it to light are fired. After the treatment of the FBI agents on the whole 9-11 memo business, I have little faith that this new Homeland Security monstrosity will be any more effective. After all it will be made up of the same people.

posted by Rachel 11/28/2002
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Happy Thanksgiving.
What are you thankful for?
Me: I'm immensly grateful to live in a country that posseses and protects the Bill of Rights. No we don't do so perfectly. No civilization in the history of the world has ever perfectly lived up to it's ideals. But we try. We strive. We improve. Study a little history and realize just how precious a gift is citizenship in the USA. Journalists here do not fear official death warrants if they write something that enrages the mob. Pregnant women are not stoned to death on suspicion of adultery. Athiests are not forced to pay lip service to religion upon fear of execution. Our legal system assumes that you are innocent until proven guilty. Even if you dislike aspects of this country, take a moment to savor the fact that it recognizes your sacred right to try to change those aspects.

"Second, I'm thankful for the American talent for contradiction. The country that sustained slavery for longer than any other civilised country is also the country that has perhaps struggled more honestly for the notion of racial equality than any other. The country that has a genuine public ethic of classlessness also has the most extreme economic inequality in the developed world. The country that is most obsessed with pressing the edge of modernity also has the oldest intact constitution in the world. The country that still contains a powerful religious right has also pushed the equality of homosexuals further than ever before in history. A country that cannot officially celebrate Christmas (it would erase the boundary between church and state) is also one of the most deeply religious nations on the planet. Americans have learnt how to reconcile the necessary contradictions not simply because their country is physically big enough to contain them, but because it is spiritually big enough to contain them. Americans have learnt how to reconcile the necessary contradictions of modern life with a verve and a serenity few others can muster. It is a deeply reassuring achievement."
-Andrew Sullivan

posted by Rachel 11/28/2002
. . .

Andrew Sullivan kicks ass.
(The article is premium content but you can view it if you click through a Mercedes ad underneath.)

posted by Rachel 11/28/2002
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Dude! You have an American Attitude! Sweet!
You're a gun-toting, bar-dancing, ya'll-saying, t.v. show-copying,
war-waging, ass-patting, hamburger over-eater.
Take the What the Hell Kinda Attitude is That? Quiz at aka cooties

posted by Rachel 11/28/2002
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