popular logistics

Every sect, as far as reason will help them, make use of it gladly; and where it fails them, they cry out, “It is a matter of faith, and above reason.”
- John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690) (Click Here) or (Here)

“A religious sect may degenerate into a political faction.”
- James Madison, the Federalist papers. (Click Here)

“With the radical Right, we have a political faction disguised as a religious sect and the president of the United States is heading it. Bush uses a religious blind faith to hide what is actually an extremist political philosophy with a disdain for social justice that is anything but pious by the standards of any respected faith tradition.”
- Al Gore, The Assault On Reason. (Click Here)

I had intended to poke fun at Mike at Okiedoke – complaining that Oklahoma had one of the most restrictive ballot access laws in the country. After all, here in New York, the nominal, family-controlled lines – like the Liberty Party – are worth a lot just because getting on the ballot is so hard.

 But not, apparently, as hard as in Oklahoma.

Check out this post;  and this link to Oklahomans for Ballot Access Reform.

Some of our regulars may wonder why we’re paying attention to something happening not only on the Mainland (i.e. the Continental States), but so far inland. Let’s remember that in my house alone, fully one-third of eligible voters are from states bordering Oklahoma.

And that’s not counting the rest of the building.

What’s more - to quote the late Dr. King - “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

And New Yorkers - especially because we hear so little news from the rest of the country, “news” being one of our principal exports - might do well to know what’s happening “out there.”

Paul Greenberg writes at Beyond Katrina:

This past weekend, the post-Katrina malaise that has swept the nation took an ugly turn towards full-on insensitivity. Representative Tom Tancredo (R-CO) had this to say about New Orleans: “It is time the taxpayer gravy train left the New Orleans station.”

Specifically, he urged an end to the federal aid to a city largely still in ruins. “The amount of money that has been wasted on these so-called ‘recovery’ efforts has been mind-boggling,” said the Congressman who is running a long-shot presidential campaign. “Enough is enough.”

And just to be absolutely certain that you and I understood what he was trying to say, he added this: “At some point, state and local officials and individuals have got to step up to the plate and take some initiative. The mentality that people can wait around indefinitely for the federal taxpayer to solve all their worldly problems has got to come to an end.”

Tancredo (just as gentle reminder) is the legislator who voted against the renewal of the historic Voting Rights Act in 2006.

We’ve just learned about The Albany Project, a blog which “seeks to return New York State Government to its rightful owners - the people.” Its very existence implicitly makes the point that we can’t write off state politics as a lost cause. And the Albany Project looks like a useful resource for understanding what’s happening up there.

We’ve read - but haven’t yet posted about - New York’s new emergency response bill - but we’re hoping to do so soon, along with a backlog of other posts that have been simmering. There’s a lot that needs to happen in this state to make us reasonably ready to address emergency preparedness and public health. State government can make it easier, or harder. In the end, of course, it’s up to the population - citizens and non-citizens alike - to address preparedness issues. With or without government help.

The Second Amendment to the Constitution, as ratified:

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

The Constitution. Wikipedia.
The Bill of Rights. Wikipedia.

If 10 or 20 other students or their professors at Virginia Tech were “packing heat” then they would have opened fire on Cho after he shot his first few victims. But the problems with that idea are obvious. Some innocent people, perhaps only 2 or 3, would still have been killed Monday, April 16. And I don’t know if I’d feel comfortable seeing guns become as prevalent as cars.

Speaking of cars, I have a right to drive, however, in order to exercise that right in New Jersey I must meet certain prerequsites - pass a road test which proves that I am capable of operating a motor vehicle, pass a written test which proves that I know the rules, maintain my car such that it is “road safe,” and carry liability insurance at or above certain minimums.

We take away driver’s licenses from drunk drivers and people who drive without insurance. We put repeat offenders in jail. You can buy a car without a license and without insurance, but you can’t drive it off the lot. And people buy cars every day.

Shouldn’t we do the same for gun ownership? Shouldn’t we ask gun owners to maintain their guns in a safe and secure manner? And carry insurance in case the guns are used irresponsibily? And disallow certain individuals from obtaining or carrying guns?
And finally, given the right to keep and bear arms because a well armed militia is necessary to the security of a free state, do I have the right to own an F 15 fighter or my own personal nuclear bomb? If not, what arms can I keep and bear? Muskets of the type that were in use during the American Revolution? The rifles of the Civil War era? Or the M16’s of today?

Has Lee Iacocca, former CEO of Chrysler, who 5 years ago started building electric cars, become a spokesman for the American Left?

In “Where Have All the Leaders Gone?” posted on Depression 2 and referenced on the Daily Kos, Iacocca thunders against the mistakes of the Bush Administration, the ‘do nothing Congress in session 97 days in 2006 (hey that’s more than 1 day out of 4) , the media which sees no evil, speaks no evil, and hears no evil, and the citizens who work, watch tv, and hope they don’t get sick cause of the medical insurance situation.

Excerpt: Where Have All the Leaders Gone?
By Lee Iacocca with Catherine Whitney

“Had Enough? Am I the only guy in this country who’s fed up with what’s happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We’ve got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we’ve got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can’t even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, “Stay the course.” Stay the course? You’ve got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned Titanic. I’ll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out! You might think I’m getting senile, that I’ve gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore. The President of the United States is given a free pass to ignore the Constitution, tap our phones, and lead us to war on a pack of lies.Congress responds to record deficits by passing a huge tax cut for the wealthy (thanks, but I don’t need it). The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we’re fiddling in Iraq, the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is wavng pom-poms instead of asking hard questions. That’s not the promise of America my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for.”

What’s next? Will Jack Welch build wind turbines? Will an oil company build solar panels? (Wait a minute – GE is building wind turbines and is using Donovan’s “Catch the Wind” to advertise them. British Petroleum is building solar panels. I can feel the paradigm shifting.)

Ann Coulter’s function may be to be so unreasonable that anyone not quite as unreasonable seems reasonable by comparison. So points out Rebecca Blood in a post explaining the “Overton Window” - something you might have suspected existed - but didn’t know the name for.

the Overton Window is related to my usual argument in favor of certain radical groups: they open up an avenue for discussion and consideration. People may reject PETA’s premise, for example, that animals should never be used in testing of any kind. But in doing so, those same people may decide that—while medical testing on animals is acceptable—certain forms of testing on animals in the manufacture of cosmetics should be eliminated. Come to think of it, I suppose this is the purpose Ann Coulter serves for the far right. She’s so very extreme that almost anyone else appears to be reasonable by comparison. See? I told you this was an idea that kept on giving.

I believe I recall Dave Foreman of Earth First making this point in an article published in Whole Earth Review - but haven’t been able to locate it.

Link to Rebecca Blood’s post here.

The Overton Window explained at the Mackinac Institute, where he worked.

Via KottkeÂ