Tree, at Sunrise

Hmmmmm.....

From the Seattle Times comes a story that leaves me, well, uncertain. The story (Truth-in-campaign law struck down) details a decision by an appeals court in the state of Washington.

After the first paragraph, I was aghast.

A state law prohibiting political candidates from lying about their opponents is an unconstitutional violation of free speech and chills political discourse, a state appeals court ruled yesterday.

The court ruled that the law does not include some provisions of the related libel/slander laws that require that a plaintiff to prove that they were damaged by the false claims, and added that "because the law allows candidates to "proclaim falsehoods about themselves", the state cannot argue that the law meets its interest "in promoting integrity and honesty in the elections process."

So, I'm left sort of agreeing with the court; it sounds like this was a flawed law, especially if it allowed candidates to lie about themselves. But, still, shouldn't we expect some standards?

Apparently not. The appeals court used an earlier state Supreme Court Ruling in which the justices wrote:

"In this field every person must be his own watchman for truth, because the forefathers did not trust any government to separate the true from the false for us."

I guess I agree with that, but I'd still like some way to punish candidates who lie in election campaigns.

Stoning them seems too extreme. I guess we need to step up our efforts at public ridicule.

Here's an Idea....

From Idea a Day, the notion of a mouse that helps manage your time at the PC, to avoid things like... blood clots:

Develop a mouse for computers that has a timer on it which the user can set for the maxium [sic] period of time they would like to be sitting at the computer. Once this time lapses the mouse will begin squeaking like a rodent. If the user persists, the squeaks will turn into mutterings of 'computer geek' to warn the user that they are in danger of becoming an anorak.

Sounds like a good idea, but, how do you become an anorak?

First Day of School, 2005/2006

Colleen and Christina strike their traditional first-day-of-school poses as they get ready to start the 2005/2006 school year. Here's that same pose from last year.

Today was the fist day of school for the girls. Colleen in 8th grade and Christina in 4th grade. Most schools started last week, but the school districts closest to the resort areas on Delaware traditionally hold off until after Labor Day.

Happy Birthday, Mike's Musings!

This blog started one year ago today. I began, as one does, with a test post. I also tested uploading a picture (this was well before I discovered Flickr), linked to an odd story I found out on the web, and late that night discovered that I’d chosen a name too much in haste.

Over the past year I’ve had a great deal of fun with this thing. I have reviewed books and movies and blogged about music. I have tracked and memorialized old friends. I have touched on issues, both local and national. I have lamented lamentable events such as the tsunami and the recent hurricane.

I’ve explored my family history. And reported on family present. I have given weather reports. I have given travelogues.

I have become a braggart.

I have bragged about my car, bragged about my kids and the neat things they do, and bragged about my work. I have (painfully) documented a year’s worth of health and dental woes. I find that bragging about forbearance helps me bear up in the face of things that otherwise scare me.

Behind all of it is the patience and love of my wonderful wife, Karen. It is her considered opinion that I spend too much time on line. She’s right of course, and I will try to mend my ways.

As soon as I finish this post!

I Know it Seems Odd, But I'm Proud of This

Today, I took this collection of used syringes back to the pharmacy for proper disposal. These were the syringes I used to give myself injections of one of the drugs my doctor had me on in the first phase of my treatment for my Blood Clot. I'm done with that now and on a daily pill.

I really didn't think I would be able to give myself shots, but I could. I know it's not much, but I'm proud to have overcome my needle-phobia.

Which Worker's Rights?

Someone paid for a pro-union message to be flown over the Delaware beaches on Labor Day week-end. No one specified spell-checking, though.

The banner reads "ABC 7 DESPARATE TO DESTROY WORKER'S RIGHTS." (And no, I have not changed anything. Click-though to the larger size to check my reading of this.)

We assume this refers to Channel 7, which is the ABC affiliate in the Washington, DC, television market. Many of the people on the beaches of Delaware on a holiday week-end would be from the DC area.

The effect is spoiled, though, by a glaring misspelling and a misplaced apostrophe. Karen was the first to notice that they had mangled "desperate" into "desparate." It was Dad, I think, who caught the wandering apostrophe.

Unless it is the copy editor whose rights are threatened?

Is It Time to Redefine Labor Day?

There's an editorial in today's New York Times (A Day On [Reg. Req.]) that suggests we change Labor Day from a day off to a day on, a day on which we work as communities on projects that benefit our communities, those less fortunate, or he nation as a whole.

It may be time to recycle the idea of Labor Day. Instead of a day off, perhaps it should become a day on, a day devoted, across the nation, to helping out - a day, in fact, of national service. Many Americans already volunteer their time in good causes. But what was lost with the sacrifice we were never asked to make after 9/11 was a sense of collective effort, the awareness that this was something we were all in together. That feeling makes a difference, and it helps us to make a difference. Labor Day is now just a pause at summer's end. Perhaps we can turn it into something more important.

The editors suggest, rightly I think, that this would be a sizable departure from our current take on Labor Day which, for most, is a day to "take the day off and consider ourselves entitled to do so."

They also suggest, less strongly, that their idea may conflict with the original intent of the holiday to celebrate unions and the labor movement. I think that a day of community work, properly organized, would be entirely within the spirit of the original labor movement; working together, we are stronger. Working together, we are a community.

I think this is a great idea.

Watching News Coverage from New Orleans

The CNN reporter is wearing a bullet-proof vest. How did we get to this point?

I've Been Here

This is a photo that I found in one of the fascinating collections of pictures from the group of network administrators at direcNIC.com who stayed in New Orleans to keep their company's web-hosting systems up and running. They have also been blogging their experience and have attracted thousands of readers and comments.

This shot struck me and I had to post it because the fire that's burning is just behind Mother's Restaurant, the first place Karen and I visited when we went to New Orleans six years or so ago. That's Mother's there, on the corner. It's a cramped little deli that served (and I hope will serve again) a sloppy mess of a sandwich called a Po'Boy. I admit that food is my weakness; this place impressed me.

Off to the right, just out of the picture, is a large, newer hotel (I can't remember which) in which Karen and I stayed for that week-end. Straight ahead, down the street, is the French Quarter.

I've been heartbroken by what I've seen and read out of Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi. We've donated to the Red Cross and our prayers have gone out. This photo brought me back to my few visits to New Orleans; with Karen and for a conference. My sadness deepens.