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Religious Reasons and Secular Laws

I stumbled upon a year-old exchange (at the Huffington Post) between Geof Stone and Eugene Volokh debating the legitimacy of using religious reasons as a basis for lawmaking.

Volokh states:

[I]t shouldn't matter whether someone supports [laws banning -- or allowing -- abortion, infanticide, the destruction of embryos or chimpanzees for medical purposes, or the killing of members of endangered species might be sound or unsound] because of his belief that laws should turn on the greatest good for the greatest number, his belief that we are all sons and daughters of Gaea and must thus protect our environment, or his belief in the Bible. For most, quite possibly all, of us, our moral beliefs ultimately rest on unproven and unprovable moral axioms.

But Volokh is eliding a distinguishing feature of religious beliefs. It's not that they are merely unproven and unprovable. It's that they are claimed to emanate from an infallible, totalizing authority. Once you factor that in, it's not hard to see why religious reasons are peculiarly inimical to a secular, pluralist democracy.

Ripped Like Stalin

I don't go to Planet Fitness. So I was at the gym one morning, hearing some very prominent "AAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGggggghhhhhhhhh!"s emanating from this chap about ten feet away, as he did his lying triceps raises.

Presently, his exertions waxed even more conspicuous as between sets he began to chant "Push!"

But he breached the bounds of mere peculiarity during his next set, which went like this:

[Rep]
"Schwarzenegger!"
[Rep]
"Schwarzenegger!"
[Rep]
"SCHWARZENEGGER!!"

...and so forth.

He finished off the set with some remarks that were inaudible to me--except for this cadence, which he greatly emphasized: "Like STALIN!"

Oh, and he was wearing a Bush-Cheney t-shirt.

Say this for the guy: He does know how to pick his role models.

The Name Game

This post is the first in which I will mention the vulgar term 'fucktard.'*

I take it the linked-to post should be construed as a Beware to Senators John McCain, Jeff Sessions and David Vitter, among others. (And just think of the religious implications.)

Then again, it's a rather self-defeating game for a guy named Ed Roberts to be playing, isn't it?

* Note that I didn't use the term in question. This shields me from the dreaded charge of incivility. On the other hand, anyone actually retarded enough to think use in this instance would be uncivil can go screw themselves.

Let's Carve This Turkey

I wake up and read blog posts at Talking Points Memo about (1) 99,000 Katrina families who are living in FEMA trailers, (2) more than 130 dead in car bombings today across Bagdhad, and (3) the 140 tortured and mutilated bodies that have turned up around Baghdad over the past three days.

I turn on CNN to get more of the story. And I get:

• Safety tips for prepping that turkey!
• The Macy's Parade to proceed--despite rain!
• Viewer emails celebrating turkey, cranberries, and the blessings of being American (accompanied by the allegro from Vivaldi's Spring)!

To be fair to CNN, this is only a 10 minute sample of their coverage, randomly selected; I'm sure at some point they'll find the time to get to those other stories.

Operation Elephant Pull

If only.

(Via Talking Points Memo.)

Fashion Trends in Journelision

Jeez Louise--and you don't suppose that if she'd dressed down we'd be hearing accusations of sartorial Zeligism, do ya? (Cf. Al Gore's wardrobe woes.)

Celebrating 13 Moons

I'm not too keen on observing anniversaries. They just seem arbitrary to me (and often invidiously so).

Still, in a compromise nod to conventional mores of notalgia, I'll note that this month saw the passing of the 13th moon since this blog began. (Here is the inaugural post.)

Look Out!

From CBS/AP:

In a new TV interview and book, O.J. Simpson discusses how he would have committed the slayings of his ex-wife and her friend "if I did it."

The two-part television interview, titled "O.J. Simpson: If I Did It, Here's How It Happened" [my emphasis] will air Nov. 27 and Nov. 29 on Fox....

You gotta love that shift from the counterfactual to the conditional. Do you think the book's publishers are trying to tell us something? (The title of the Fox show is from the tentative title of the book.)

God's Existential Crisis

God was happy until one day he realized an awful truth: Even he could not conjure up objective meaning and purpose in a world that doesn't already contain it.

And on that day he realized that his existence was objectively meaningless, that all he could do was postulate a meaning for himself...

A Legal Jam

My legal training sometimes comes in handy in resolving domestic disputes...

The Enchantress: Don't you eat all my Powidl.
Me: I didn't eat all your Powidl.
The Enchantress: Well, don't.
Me: I didn't. Hey, and you already had a lot of the Powidl.
The Enchantress: Well, it's my Powidl. My dad brought it for me.
Me: Honey, we're in California. California is a community property state. We obtained the Powidl in the course of our marriage. Therefore, the Powidl is community property.
The Enchantress: [Pause] So that means I can use your guitar then.
Me: Er...

...but not every time.