June 2003 Archives

Today the Supreme Court ruled that governments do not have the authority to outlaw sodomy or punish those who “commit” it. This is a great boost for gay Americans who, in some states, can be prosecuted for consensual sex in the privacy of their own homes. Texas officials (the defendants in the case) claim that the Texas sodomy ban protects “institutions of marriage and family” and that “communities have the right to choose their own standards” this is clearly false as the actions of two people in their own homes has no affect whatsoever on the institutions or marriage or family. My neighbors do not suddenly evaporate or get divorced because I choose to live a certain way.

Furthermore, any law that attempts to regulate the morals of a community is completely beyond the authority of government within the US framework of democracy. The job of government as articulated by the founders of the US is to protect the physical well-being of American citizens, they did not intend the government to involve itself in matters of conscience, morals, or religion. Quite the contrary, they made explicit the separation of church and state and further guaranteed the right to privacy and the right to be left alone.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this matter, email me and let me know what you think.

The Jordon City School Board (Jordan is a Suburb of Salt Lake City, Utah) is going to allow teachers with a valid permit to carry concealed weapons on to school campuses.

What craziness is this? Teachers do not need weapons on campuses, especially not in Jordan, Utah. Guns have no place in education and therefore do not belong on teachers at school, security officers and police are sufficient to maintain order in a school without untrained teachers wielding guns. I predict that gun crimes will escalate as a result of this new authority.

UPDATE: A friend of mine, Neill Gorman, a staunch Republican, argued that if “the students are packin’ then the teachers should be packin’”. If Neill had any idea what kind of city Jordan, Utah is he would understand how reidiculous this argument is. The worst thing the kids in Jord do is skive off of elease-time seminary to go by caffinated soda at the 7-Eleven. The teachers in Jordan are not in danger, from guns or from much else I suspect.

Over the past few weeks I have been reading Don’t Know Much About History by Kenneth C Davis. He tries to fill in the gaps and correct some of the misconceptions from America’s history education. One thing I don’t think they ever mentioned in school was the feeling of the vast majority of the founders of the US regarding religion in government: it is dangerous and unnecessary.

Interestingly enough men like Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin were atheists or at least deists. They felt that religion had no place in government, that sectarian concerns and beliefs should not factor into the policies of ruling groups, and that inclusion of such religious ideology would lead to dangerous policies.

Politicians regularly invoke the supposed religiosity of the Founding Fathers as a precedent for laws to “protect” marriage and family (read: homosexuality is a sin), legalize school prayer (read: God cares who wins the football game, but he doesn’t), etc. However, if one consideres the facts one finds that if Jefferson, et al were alive today those are exactly the kinds of laws they would argue against.

I happen to agree that religion has it’s place in society, but it does not belong in the halls of government. The role of government is tp protect the temporal well-being of citizens and it should leave the spiritual well-being and morality to families, churches, and other private groups.

This weekend I got my copy(s) of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It’s the fifth Potter book and it’s been a long time coming too, so I have spent a great deal of time reading and rereading it so as to relish the wonderfulness and excitement. Originally I had pre-ordered a copy from BN.com but I wasn’t convinced that it would get to me on Saturday as promised (surely not Saturday first thing), so i went out Friday at around 12:30 am to a Barnes & Noble and bought both the hard back and the audio-book on CDs. Everything Harry Potter was half off so it was a steal! On my way home I was so excited I thought my head was going to explode if I didn’t cop a squat right on the sidewalk and start reading. Luckily I made it home where I could read until 5 in the morning without the threat of being mugged and risking the theft of my book!

My impressions so far is that this is going to be a great book. I was less impressed with the second and fourth books, the plot didn’t appeal to me as much I think. This book is—as reported—much darker and scarier than the others. And since Harry is 15 his teenage angst is beginning to show through in his attitude and thoughts, while the development of the characters and readers has produced some… er… surprising language.

According to Ananova the police in Sofia, Bulgaria (the capital) police took 10 hours to capture an Ostrich that escaped from a circus.

How many of us agree that it probably would have taken the NYPD a week?

The ever-controversial (and popular) Ann Coulter has struck again with a book entitled Treason: Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism. Read more about the book here.

Personally, I find Ann to be simultaneously offensive, bombastic, entertaining, witty, and often-correct; but this book offers a DEFENSE of Senator McCarthy and his Red hunt of the 50s, for this she loses serious point with me. But I withhold judgment until I have read her latest work.

A friend of mine sent me this picture this morning and I thought it was pretty interesting.

Everyone check out Neill’s weblog and read all the interesting insights he has into life, politics, sec, religion, drinking, drugs, Jenna Bush, etc. It’s great fun, but I fear for his job i he doesn’t start doing some actual work instead of updating his blog every five minutes.

I have proof in the form of an email I recieved from her that katie Connor is in fact a disgusting freak of a human being. The email reads,

And i think you’ve been cheating on the Harry Potter questions. SOme of that shit is hard. Kinda like the time i pooped in Prague and my butt bled…HARD SHIT.

I think that it speaks for itself.

It’s been a few weeks since I posted anything new, but a lot has happened during the interval. My sister, Kjirsten Levie, is know Kjiirsten Stults having married Tommy on 31 May. The ceremony was beautiful; I cried when I saw how gorgeous Kjirsten was walking down the aisle. I am very happy for her! After a week in Texas visiting with my family and some friends I came back to New York to start a new job with the Department on Culture and Communication at NYU. I am runnning to the new media lab as well as acting as webmaster and inhouse computer repair guru. It’s a great job, with flexible hours and a friendly and relaxed staff.

Other than work I have been hanging out with Katie and the Prague crew going out a bit and mostly sitting in Katie’s room watching bad movies and making fun of her outfits (only I do that actually).