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Portrait of Roger Sherman by Ralph EarlBeing that today is Independence Day, it just seemed appropriate to feature as the topic a figure that was instrumental in the development of the Declaration of Independence.  I could, of course, choose Thomas Jefferson, its primary author, or Benjamin Franklin, or John Adams, but as I’m from Connecticut, it’d be silly of me to not pick Roger Sherman.

Sherman was a native of Massachusetts, but in early adulthood moved to Milford, and with his brother, opened the town’s first store.  He also became a surveyor for New Haven County, and was generally regarded among the top figures of the area. In 1754, he gained admission to the bar, and a year later was elected to the Connecticut House of Representatives, where he served three years. In later life, he was elected Mayor of New Haven, followed by four years total in the then-new U.S. House of Representatives and Senate.

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This week is all about fighting for freedom. How could I not include the folks in Egypt? The Egyptian situation is a very complex thing, but suffice it to say that Egypt is facing growing pains. The populace there is finding out what having a president such as Morsi is like.

One hopes that the protests will lead to a government that is more committed to freedom than the one that is currently there, but we will see. Like with the previous election, it will be up to the people.

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This just goes to show that everybody has a spark of creativity in them. Everybody. From The Daily Mail:

What makes her achievement even more extraordinary, however, is the fact she is autistic. She cannot speak, other children unnerve and distress her, the unpredictability of the world fills her with fear and panic. But art has soothed and calmed her — a source of delight and a therapy.

‘When Iris was diagnosed with autism, the key was to find something she loved to do,’ says her mum, Arabella Carter-Johnson. ‘I’d taken her to a playgroup,  but it had been disastrous.

‘There was one particularly noisy toy train that made her very distressed. She’d have a meltdown, an uncontrolled tantrum, any time a child played with it.

Then her parents found something that worked:

She stumbled on art almost by accident. ‘One day I drew some stick men and Iris found them really funny. My mum bought an easel and we got the paint out. Iris made one brush stroke and the paint dribbled down to the bottom of the page. She was furious and burst into tears. ‘But I figured out the problem: it wasn’t the paint, it was the fact she couldn’t control it. So I put a sheet of paper on a table instead of the easel and straightaway she filled the whole page. She seemed to know intuitively what to do.’

Now Iris’ paintings are being sold as prints to people who’d like a copy, and by all accounts it is helping her interact with other people more often.

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Every year I like to do a series called “Independence Week,” where I highlight either people who are doing good things, fighting for the freedom of their fellow person, or other good news.

The first entry this week is sad news, but I think still fits the theme well. These 19 firefighters from Arizona died selflessly trying to save their fellow people. May they rest in peace.

They were part of an elite squad confronting wildfires on the front line, setting up barriers to stop the spreading destruction. But in their unpredictable world, it doesn’t take much to turn a situation deadly.

In this case, a wind shift and other factors caused a central Arizona fire, which now spans 8,400 acres, to become erratic, said Mike Reichling, Arizona State Forestry Division spokesman.

Though the deaths are under investigation, the inferno appears to have proved too much, even for the shelters the 19 firefighters carried as a last-ditch survival tool.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/01/us/arizona-firefighter-deaths/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

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Today the Supreme Court will hand out their decision on California’s Prop 8 and section 3 of DOMA (or theoretically the entire law, I suppose).

The Court has shown recently that it’s willing to rule narrowly on many of the landmark cases. The affirmative action and Voting Rights Act were ruled as such in the last few days, and unless we see a liberal majority (perhaps joined by Kennedy and maybe the Chief Justice), I expect that will remain the trend.

I think it is at least somewhat unlikely that anyone is going to come out of tomorrow completely satisfied. There is the very real chance Prop 8 is upheld. There is also the chance is ruled unconstitutional, but narrowly limited to California, meaning no other anti-gay marriage laws are struck down). I don’t really see how section 3 of DOMA stands, given the implications in states that have legalized marriage, but the Court could potentially punt it back to Congress.

At the same time, the Court could go completely wide on their ruling and stuck down all the laws banning same-sex marriage as well as the entirety of DOMA. Highly unlikely, I think, but it is possible.

Once all is said and done, we may disagree with the ruling, but we should not question that integrity of the Court. The fact is, even if everything is upheld (the worst option) today, it’s not the end of the story. There are still legislative options to pursue. Legalization will take longer, but history is now fairly firmly on the side of same-sex marriage, and I think even the social conservatives know it.

I don’t think either side will help their case by engaging in a character assassination of the justices that rule in opposition to their preference. Don’t be that person. Take the ruling, indicate your acceptance or disapproval of it, and continue working to get your desired result some other way.

See you later today!

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As I was doing some brainstorming earlier at work, I had the weirdest stray thought. You know how sometimes you start to come up with an idea and it’s not fully formed at first, but over time fully develops?  Well, I likened this process to filling a container (bowl, storage box, whatever) with a liquid.  When you first pour it, there’s not enough to fill the bottom of the container, but as the container fills up it takes up the entire bottom and beyond.

In some cases memories seem to be much like this. The memory sparks, but not enough to fill whatever space the chemical substance that makes up memories occupies.  But as you flesh out the idea or concept or plan or whatever it is you’re thinking, the memory chemical continues to fill up its space until the area is full enough to make you feel like the memory is complete.

This doesn’t always happen — only with memories that you have to work on a bit before they’re complete. It is one of the most odd feelings I know.  It’s similar in nature to what happens when you remember something that’s on the tip of your tongue, but different, if only because your mind only feels fulfilled, but not rewarded.

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EqualityHere we go again! Today the media, no doubt feeling the need to amp up what were already interesting proceedings in the oral arguments for Hollingsworth vs. Perry, tried to make predictions on the ultimate ruling of the case, based solely on the questions asked by the justices to the lawyers from both sides.

The conclusion? That because some of the justices didn’t seem to be on board with a national ruling striking down laws banning gay marriage, that the case is somehow already decided.  Notably, that commentary made by some justices, even those on the liberal wing, may indicate that they will rule to toss the case entirely:

As the Supreme Court on Tuesday weighed the very meaning of marriage, several justices seemed to have developed a case of buyer’s remorse about the case before them. Some wondered aloud if the court had moved too fast to address whether gay and lesbian couples have a constitutional right to marry.

“I just wonder if this case was properly granted,” said Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, who probably holds the decisive vote.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor said there may be value in letting states continue to experiment. “Why is taking a case now the answer?” she asked.

These and other comments were used to pound the message that basically said: “It’s already doomed.”  Of course, that’s hogwash. It’s not doomed because no votes have been taken and no opinion has been written. And it’s not doomed even if the justices toss the case. That’s because there’s a few ways the case could be decided (major hat tip to Doug Mataconis at Outside the Beltway and Tom Goldstein of SCOTUSblog):

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dodd nancy_pelosi

We’re hearing a lot these days about the Republican Party.  We hear/read about where they’re were.  We hear a lot about where they’re supposedly going. Then we hear a lot about where they should be going, which is different depending on your exact political views.  It’s all exciting debate, and one that is necessary to ensure that the party is successful in the future.

What we don’t hear a lot about these days is the fortunes of the Democratic Party.  The assumption seems to be that there needs to be no discussion of this party’s future because they’re currently in power.  Yet, the actions of those inside the party, especially of those in positions of power, could have reverberations that affect the electoral success of the party come next year.  The only thing that is possibly more important than actions themselves is the response to those actions.

So far, the response to some of the scandals by party members has been pretty awful, and it could harm the Democrats in 2010.

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800px-lapd_police_car

So today the road in front of my house was full of police.  No, they weren’t there to investigate a crime.  Well, sort of, but more in a minute.  However, the crime wasn’t one of murder or even robbery.  No, the police were there to look out for cars, and specifically, drivers in those cars.  What kind of drivers?

Those not wearing seatbelts and those using cell phones while driving, of course.

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