POLITICAL

1. Obama’s Likes and Dislikes - Hold the Mayo - NYTimes.com - He dislikes mayonnaise. He must be our next president.
2. Sound familiar? - So why are the pundits not calling Ahnold a looney-tune for his ding-bat fuel economy suggestions? 
3. Limbaugh Falsely Claims America Is A ‘Conservative Nation' - Actually, I know some liberals who would argue the same thing. In my opinion, the nation, as a whole, is "conservative" in values, but progressive/liberal in desires and aspirations. The GOP keeps playing the values card, with healthy dollops of fear-mongering, and paper over the rest with promises of tax cuts (or accusations of tax increases).
4. Video of attendees at AT&T's "thank you for letting... - Which serves as a reminder that money knows no political party, and politicians are politicians no matter which party they hang their hat on.
5. Will McCain Poke The Right in the Eye? - I actually think Lieberman is the most likely pick, and that the conservative Right's posturing about whether or not they will back McCain is just that, posturing. They will no more stay home than the Clinton supporters will.
6. Being a Former POW is No Excuse - Amen, sister.
7. Why I Will Not Vote for John McCain - And amen, brother. Can we please put this "He's a POW, thus he is instantly gifted with whatever insight we wish to give him and immune to any sort of criticism for anything he says" rhetoric away? Please?
8. Fox News reporter Griff Jenkins tasked with ‘causing... - "Fair and Balanced," right?
9. Alan Fein: On The Amtrak To Wilmington With Joe Biden - Worth a read.
10. Military Draft Required To Catch Bin Laden? - Is that really what McCain thinks? Or was it just another one of those off-the-cuff gaffes he seems to make on a regular basis? In either case ... is that what we want from a president?

APOLITICAL

1. Google's File-Not-Found Helper Widget - Marking for future reference for my own custom 404 pages.
2. USB Office Showdown: Tiny USB Office vs. Portable... - I've never had much need for living off a USB drive ... but if I did, this would be a useful article.
3. Adding reCAPTCHA to Movable Type - Marking for future reference. I like TinyTuring, but the concept behind reCAPTCHA is so incredibly cool, I can't stand it.
4. “A Free Thinker is Satan’s Slave” - And that is precisely why Christians are looked at askance by so many people.

Filed under :: Blogging - Technical :: Elections 2008 :: Environment :: Food & Drink :: Fourth Estate :: Hi-Tech :: Homeland Security :: Politics & Law :: Potpourri :: Religion
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POLITICAL

1. McCain Features Moron In Ad - Well, not really. But I do think any Clinton supporter who is so ticked off that they are going to vote for John McCain is showing ... profound lack of reasoning. (I'd feel the same about a Huckabee supporter who decided to shift his vote to Obama.)
2. Warren Vs. Dobson: The Difference is Tone - And that's a quote from Rick Warren himself. Though he comes off as a lot more warm and fuzzy and cheerful than James Dobson, on fundamental Religious Right items he's still rock-solid in the conservative side of things.
3. New Poll shows slight majority favors keeping religion... - The Pew Poll actually indicates that a slight majority favors keeping churches out of politics, as well as less bragging by candidates about how religious they are.
4. The Right (Over)Reacts to Biden - See, you don't need to worry about Democratic religious themes because, see, Obama is a "fake Christian" and Biden is a "fake Catholic." 
5. Get Excited Again - There are a couple of articles linked here I need to read more closely, but it's nice to see something about Obama that's not an attack from McCain or coverage about the convention.
6. Even More Political Chutzpah [Dispatches from the... - "Celebrities don't have to worry about family budgets. But we sure do." Says the campaign of Mr. "Let My Staff Get Back To You On How Many Houses We Own." I also love this line from the comments: "The Republicans have Obama portrayed as a Muslim member of a crazy Christian church; a marxist celebrity who wants to raise their taxes and doesn't care about their problems; an unqualified elitist" -- without any consideration about how contradictory those items all are.
7. McCain Flip-Flops On Women's Lives - In yet another position shift from only 8 years ago, McCain will not fight against the GOP platform against abortion even in cases of rape, incest, or risk of death to the mother. This one clearly falls into the "political expediency" category.
8. And so goeth the Eisenhower wing of the party... - Literally the Eisenhower wing.

NON-POLITICAL

1. Writer who photographed HP Lovecraft's headstone ordered... - If you can't baton-stroke people for anything they're doing, you can always win Security Guard Points by accusing them of stealing taking a picture.
2. Memo to Windows Vista [Uncertain Principles] - Programs that change configuration settings I have explicitly made, and without warning, bug the living hell out of me. In addition to this case, I hate it when MS applications (esp. Office) change settings I have personally and intentionally made about programs not seizing focus from other programs.
3. Oh, this looks like it has a ton of potential - Adding Virtuality to my list of shows to watch when they start.
4. IESB.net - Movie News, Reviews, Interviews and More!... - What The Hobbit by Hellboy director Del Toro probably won't include (but it's still cool).

Filed under :: Elections 2008 :: Hi-Tech :: Homeland Security :: Media - Movies :: Media - TV :: Politics & Law :: Potpourri :: Religion
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Happy-happy

• See what Obama, McCain and leading political pundits... - A nice use of the Google Reader metadata. Though I'd like to know if they really read this stuff, or just have it flagged by some staffer that they should read it.
• wake n’ bacon alarm clock - Not sure, though, that I want to associate something wonderful like bacon with something awful like having to get up so early in the morning.
• RIAA has to pay $107,951 for court costs in failed... - Yay!
• How To: Locate Someone Competent At Comcast [Success... - Next up ... how to locate Pigs that Fly and how to locate Friendly DMV Workers.

Sad-sad

• The Associated Press: Debate coaches lose cool, 1... - Man, debate was so boooring when I was in high school, compared to this.
• McCain’s embrace of ‘Judeo-Christian values’ - Which is a mantra I'm sure is soooooo encouraging for folks out there who are neither Jewish nor Christian, both in the US and elsewhere.
• Olympic logo cops enforce stupid rules with masking... - It's difficult to say who's harder-line -- the PRC or the IOC.
• Immigration Is Snaring U.S. Citizens In Its Raids... - Well, if she just had an American last name, these sorts of things wouldn't happen
• Man whose US immigration notice was sent to the wrong... - Even if you're not a fan of immigration, I would hope you wouldn't think this is the way to run an immigration agency.
• Human rights worker: JFK's secondary screening procedures... - It's not a very good way to run border security, either. People have no idea the harm we are doing to ourselves in the world.

Filed under :: Big Business :: Blogging :: Elections 2008 :: Food & Drink :: Homeland Security :: Media Moguls :: Potpourri :: Religion :: School Daze
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More stuff I've been gathering up in the side bar of late.

1. Deserving More Attention: ‘Great Wall of Duh’: It certainly seems like the GOP leadership and political pundits have decided that stupidity and ignorance are far better tactics than intelligence and nuance. Never mind the myriad costs to the country ... 
2. Dispatches from the Culture Wars: Dildos at the Supreme...: Tell me again why a state should be allowed to block the sale of something that it is not illegal to possess? Especially something that doesn't harm anyone else because it, literally, only, um, affects the owner?
3. Cenk Uygur: How is John McCain's Affair Different...: Edwards is no better, no worse, than McCain in this. But I guess McCain's adultery has gone past the political statute of limitations. Y'know, it'd almost be worth seeing Edward picked as Obama's running mate, and any time someone brings up his betrayal of his wife, they launch into a laundry list of GOP/Conservatives who've done exactly the same thing, with McCain at the top of the queue. Not that it would make it right, but it would make it damned uncomfortable.
4. Mukasey Refuses To Prosecute Officials Who Politicized...: Well, if they've been hurt by "negative publicity" over their breaking of the law, who could have the heart to actually take legal action against them? I mean, let's not get all "justicey" over them, right?
5. Oliver Willis: Barack Obama Joins 2.5 Million Fellow...: Yeah, because the guy who married into a massive fortune, is the 4th richest man in the Senate, and has a "compound" to vacation in is less of an elitist than a guy who goes to Hawaii for a vacation.
6. We’re Not Against Christians; We’re Against Ignorance: If you openly declare that your science textbooks are based on religion not science, and that in any conflict between the two they will present as true what's in the Bible, then don't be surprised when your curriculum is not accepted as, well, science.
7. Guest Columnist - Optimism in Evolution - Op-Ed -...: Along the same note, it is utterly insane that we, in 2008, are still having to argue about the reality of the evolutionary process and why it's beneficial (not to mention necessary) to teach it in school.
8. "The Peace of the Gun.": Another step in the "we're more than happy to trade off (a little more) liberty for (an unproven amount of) security." Total curfews? Explaining to the police why you're out at night? Next thing you know, some guy in a German accent will be asking for your papers, like in the old movies. Of course, given how the mayor of this burg handled the animal shelter problem, it's not surprising he's blissfully ignorant of what is or isn't constitutional. What's surprising is that people are letting him get away with it.
9. You Still Can't Write about Muhammad.: I don't necessarily think that Random House is being "craven" here -- but it is a sad and infuriating situation.
10. Little League's Not For Atheists: Sorry -- tell me again why Little League has a pledge, and why "belief in God" is a key pledging part of playing baseball? Yeah, sure, it's an artifact of the 50s/60s, and nobody wants to be the one to edit out God -- so why not just get rid of a pledge that nobody actually uses?
11. Focus Tries to Hide Its “Pray for Rain” Video: What Would Jesus Do? I don't recall him ordering a rain storm to defeat his political opponents -- not even as "a joke."
12. Anthrax is in the News, But Which Bacteria Should...: Hmmmmmm ... sexy bioweapon that causes Massive Terror Headlines? Or simple disease-resistent bacteria that could kill zillions from a variety of mundane causes? Yeah, guess which one gets all the press time (and research money).
13. In a Generation, Minorities May Be the U.S. Majority...: Actually this is neither "good" nor "bad," it just "is." It will only be "bad" if some folks decide to make a big brouhaha about it. Generally speaking, the more you get angry at demographics, the more they bite you in the butt.

Filed under :: Elections 2008 :: Homeland Security :: Love and Marriage :: Media - Sports :: Politics & Law :: Potpourri :: Religion :: School Daze :: Science :: Travel :: ZT & PC
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John McCain on choosing a running mate:

IN A WIDE-RANGING INTERVIEW aboard his campaign plane this morning, John McCain said that he is open to choosing a pro-choice running mate and named former Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge as someone who merits serious consideration despite his support for abortion rights. [...]

"I think that the pro-life position is one of the important aspects or fundamentals of the Republican Party," McCain said. "And I also feel that--and I'm not trying to equivocate here--that Americans want us to work together. You know, Tom Ridge is one of the great leaders and he happens to be pro-choice. And I don't think that that would necessarily rule Tom Ridge out."

McCain's comments came in response to a question about comments he made to several reporters during the Republican primary season. During that exchange, McCain was asked whether New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg would make a good running mate. McCain offered strong words of praise for Bloomberg but said that Bloomberg's position on abortion--he is also pro-choice--would make it difficult to choose him as a vice presidential candidate.

In the interview this morning, McCain suggested that Ridge would be more palatable to social conservatives than Bloomberg. "I think it's a fundamental tenet of our party to be pro-life but that does not mean we exclude people from our party that are pro-choice. We just have a--albeit strong--but just it's a disagreement. And I think Ridge is a great example of that. Far moreso than Bloomberg, because Bloomberg is pro-gay rights, pro, you know, a number of other issues."

So, if I follow McCain here, the GOP, and the social conservatives (and, perhaps, McCain) would be willing to tolerate someone who, by pro-life lights, advocates the killing of innocent babies, and is a supporter of a greater mass slaughter than the Holocaust (I mean, that is their rhetoric, right?) -- but if that person also is willing to accept two men or two women who want to live loving, committed relationships together ... well, that's just un-American crazy talk? 

Explain it to me again slowly, Senator ... I really don't understand.

Filed under :: Elections 2008 :: Gay Stuff :: Religion :: ZT & PC
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Traditional Jewish law dictates that the four-letter name of God, rendered as YHWH, must not be spoken or bandied about lightly (it's sometimes called the Tetragrammaton because it's, well, four letters long). Instead, Jews used other terms instead, such as "Adonai" (either directly writing it, verbally substituting the word when "YHWH" was in the text). 

Christian churches have generally not adhered to that dictate. While in the past they would following the Jewish example (putting in "the LORD" rather than "Adonai, or omitting letters such as in "G-d" and "L-rd"), referencing the sacred name was not seen as quite so taboo, as the centuries wore on, and so it's been rendered in English as as everything from the traditional Reformation-era "Jehovah" to the more recently popular "Yahweh," and often used in various hymn.

Interestingly enough, the Catholic Church is now cracking down on the use of "Yahweh" in church music and prayers. 

In the not-too-distant future, songs such as "You Are Near," "I Will Bless Yahweh" and "Rise, O Yahweh" will no longer be part of the Catholic worship experience in the United States. At the very least, the songs will be edited to remove the word "Yahweh" -- a name of God that the Vatican has ruled must not "be used or pronounced" in songs and prayers during Catholic Masses.

Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli of Paterson, N.J., chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Divine Worship, announced the new Vatican "directives on the use of 'the name of God' in the sacred liturgy" in an Aug. 8 letter to his fellow bishops.

He said the directives would not "force any changes to official liturgical texts" or to the bishops' current missal translation project but would likely have "some impact on the use of particular pieces of liturgical music in our country as well as in the composition of variable texts such as the general intercessions for the celebration of the Mass and the other sacraments."

I don't recall, from my Catholic youth, whether there were any hymnal songs that used "Jehovah" (though there are many in the Episcopal hymnal), but that term is out, too.

I dunno. I'm sure there are many to whom it seems an odd thing to get upset about.  Using any of the terms doesn't bother me, per se, though being a liturgical guy I can understand about things being good or bad "form." It does seem, looking at the announcement, and what underlies it, to be more of a case of a Dictate from Above, ostensibly for reasonable and educational purposes, but with the heavy-handedness ("Thou Shallt Not!") that the Vatican always seems to wield, rather than the "Here's why you might want to think about doing this differently" kind of thing I've grown more used to in the Episcopal Church.

Anyway ... interesting.

Filed under :: Media - Music :: Religion
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Various things I can't afford to write full blog entries about right now, but that passed by while I was on vacation.

THE GOOD

• How To Discover Classic Doctor Who In 3 Easy Steps... - To the extent that I know Doctor Who, I agree with these recommendations. 
• Magic teaches us about human cognition -- UPDATED - This is very cool ... how neurology and cognitive studies are illuminated by how we respond to stage magic.
• EFF forces spoon-bender Geller to eat crow over bogus... - Gleeful clapping both for slamming Geller and tossing a goofy copyright/DMCA claim.
• O’Reilly Rejects Right-Wing Defense Of Big Oil’s Massive... - Yes, nearly unheard of that I'd agree with Bill O'Reilly on anything. I'm also amused that Karl Rove would conveniently cite the virtues of government programs that Bush and the Senate GOP have been blocking.
• BgPatterns Generates Tiled Desktop or Web Site Backgrounds... - Marked for reference.
• How it Feels to Fly a Jetpack [Jetpack Flight] - I'll never actually get to do it, I'm sure, but it sounds so cool!
• Suburboddity - Small doings in small towns.
• Eureka Carpark Melbourne - Very cool to see, though I'm not sure it wouldn't be way too confusing.
• New OTA site [denialism blog] - What? A non-partisan governmental office that can offer advice on science and technology to Congress and the White House? Where's the fun in that?

THE BAD

• DMCA does not apply to US government, which can crack... - On the bright side, maybe that means that the Library of Congress can legally break copy protection as part of their charter.
• On Desecration and Perjury, Libel, and Desecration - The whole brouhaha has been intensely annoying, as disingenuous and explicit rudeness vie against a woeful lack of understanding about what Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion actually mean. It's ironic that folks who insist that Freedom of Religion means their beliefs have to be respected have no trouble vocally and fervently condemning others as immoral and damned.
• Clueless Gingrich Claims Inflating Car Tires Properly... - It's unclear whether the GOP leadership is being just stupid or assuming the American people are. There's a pending blog post about this ...
• Fiscal Conservative - While it's a simplistic analysis, if you're going to claim the title be prepared for the nuance. Either it's just rhetoric or you need to expect ot be judged by results.
• Abortion protest ethics - It's a lot easier to simply argue that Evil Abortionists should be sent to prison; easier, at least, than having to face what should be done to the Evil Abortion-Seeking Ex-Mothers. Maybe because the protesters know too many sisters, mothers, daughters, or friends who've made that hard decision ...
• Hershey's "Kissables" No Longer Legally Considered... - Given how dubious Hershey's "milk chocolate" (or milk chocolate in general) already was, this is saying something.
• The Sky Is Falling … On American Values! - Yeah, heaven forbid that Muslim workers in a pretty awful business should be allowed to negotiate what holidays they get to take off.

THE UGLY

• Damn, now we’ll never find out - It will take decades for paranoia about this Administrations penchant for secrecy and anti-science to subside to the normal level of suspicions about any government.
• DHS border policy: we can steal anything from you,... - I feel safer! Really!
• Cheney’s argument for not releasing innocent detainees:... - Feeling safer! Safer!

Filed under :: Big Business :: Blogging :: Elections 2008 :: Food & Drink :: Homeland Security :: Media :: Media - TV - Doctor Who :: Media Moguls :: Politics & Law :: Potpourri :: Religion :: Science
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Catching up from a bit ...

The Good

1. Scientific daydream - DOF waxes at length on what scientific education should be, and how to bring it about.
2. Notes from the Field | Robert X. Cringely® | InfoWorld... - Even the RIAA can't stand before a few good mothers banding together.
3. What's For Lunch? - I knew there was a reason I had my Mom make me PB&Js every day for lunch when was in school.
4. Star Wars photoshopping contest - Classic (and some not-so-classic) art given a Star Wars theme. Some delightful bits here.
5. Wherein your host removes all dobut of his royal geekiness... - What other former Companions could the Doctor turn to in times of need?

The Bad

1. Washington Wire - WSJ.com : Nevada GOP Cancels Convention,... - It's a bad sign when the delegates just, um, phone it in.
2. Study finds AMBER Alerts are great drama, but have... - Have lives been saved? Very few. Has the general level of fear in the general populace been ratcheted up a notch? Yup. What's the trade-off?
3. DRM Deja Vu: Yahoo! Music shutting down. Any music... - Once again, unless you actually own it, it can be taken away.
4. Michigan women must pay out of pocket for birth control... - ... while Michigan men can get insurance coverage for Viagra. Bzzzzzt!

The Ugly

1. Ben Stein goes off the deep end. Suggests Obama is... - Ben Stein was fun on Win Ben Stein's Money. Ben Stein as political commentator the last few years has been a rhetorical train wreck.
2. Tom Delay says: God made America to spread the Gospel! - It says so right in the Constitution, right?
3. WSJ op-ed claims “The Dark Night” is actually a homage... - ... to George W. Bush? As is, evidently, Lord of the Rings. Riiiiiiight.
4. CIA memos say ’specific intent’ of ‘pain and suffering’... - Remember, if you weep as you torture them, not only is it not torture, but you get a full remission of your sins.
5. CNN reporter says bad things about the TSA, gets hassled... - I feel much safer!
6. Police Infiltrating, Spying on Leftist Groups - Didn't they learn back in the, oh, 60s? It's not about the actual useful intel or danger, it's about justifying a big budget and feeling like J. Edgar Hoover (with or without dress).
7. An Interactive Guide to Bush Administration Lawbreaking - Can't tell your players without a program.

Filed under :: Elections 2008 :: Food & Drink :: Health :: Homeland Security :: Media - Movies :: Media - TV - Doctor Who :: Media Moguls :: Parenting :: Politics & Law :: Potpourri :: Religion :: School Daze
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The Good

• Jesus - The Awkward Years -- Jesus' life (well, not really) as a goofy Archie comic, complete with lame laugh lines and bad puns (and a bit of sacrilege, if that sort of thing upsets you). Now if only its RSS feed weren't frelled.
• Outlook vs. Gmail—The Definitive Comparison [Lifehacker... -- This actually deserves a full post, but no time at the present. So, in the meantime, check out this review of using Outlook vs Gmail for your Internet mail client. I can't imagine using a resource hog like Outlook for that, but clearly some people find it useful.
• The Pope's interest in Lambeth -- You'd think that the Catholic Church would be salivating over snatching up all sorts of dissident conservatives from the current Anglican brouhaha, but evidently the Pope gets along well with the Archbishop of Canterbury, and has an interest in stability more than upping the Catholic rosters. Plus, y'know, folks who make lots of disturbance and question how the denomination is run and teaches aren't exactly high on the list of people the Pope wants to see ...
• The Archbishop of York -- Sounds like a cool guy.

The Bad

• Pocket watch gun -- TSA to ban all pocketwatches on airline flights -- film at 11.
• Dadburn gub’mint regulations! -- The free market is a great way, by and large, to encourage innovation and maximize net profit in a society. But just like Darwin's natural selection means you can end up with dangerous monocultures -- not to mention lots of dead bunnies and burnt-down forests and mass extinctions -- so too is it a Good Idea to have regulatory checks on the market to protect things that aren't included in "net profit," like health and safety and pollution and labor practices.
• Electrocuted -- As an example of the previous bullet ... As someone who works for an engineering firm with a strong safety culture, and someone who has a lot of respect for electricity, I find this apalling.
• He Said What? -- Evidently John McCain has forgotten all he once knew about operational security.

The Ugly

• Kid at your door with a sob story selling magazines?... -- All the more reason to smile, say you're not interested, and close the door. 
• Police smash car window to "rescue" reborn baby doll -- Creepy on many levels.
• Homophobic politician sends self-published comic book... -- Okay, he gets points for creativity (only to lose them all for being a jerk).
• Woman credits God for allowing bullet to hit only... -- I have my own theological problems with requests for intercessory prayer. I have more problems with ex post facto "God protected me" attributions, especially when it's a matter of a bad outcome that's "good" because it could have been worse.
• DeMint: Freedom of Speech Threatened by Disagreement -- Sorry, but having your speech criticized, objected to, or ridiculed is not "censorship" or "stifling" of your Freedom of Speech, unless it's the government that's doing it to you. If people think you're being a cretinous bigot (or even that your points are poorly stated and have many counter-arguments to them), that's what free speech is all about.

Filed under :: Big Business :: Elections 2008 :: Geopolitical Brouhaha :: Homeland Security :: Jokes :: My Computer :: Potpourri :: Religion :: ZT & PC
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Much amused outrage out there over Congress -- faced with gasoline prices, war issues, security and privacy concerns, and, heck, even an election -- instead devoting time to worrying about This Year's Number One Threat to the United States: American flags that are made in China.

Congress can't halt the flow of Chinese-made flags, but lawmakers can try to control where they are flown. The House declared Monday that any flag flown on federal property should be made in the U.S.A.

"It's not a major problem facing the nation," admitted Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif. "But it's an irritant."

Chinese-made flags seemed to pop up everywhere after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. People rushed to show their sense of patriotism by buying American flags, and U.S. manufacturers couldn't keep up with demand. Foreign imports of American flags, worth around $1 million annually at the time, surged to nearly $52 million in the weeks that followed.

Wow! That's, like, 0.008% of the US trade deficit! Those sly Chinese SOBs ... there oughta be a law! 

Well ... there's a problem with that solution.

Filner, chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, wanted to force the government to buy only American-made flags. "But we were told that this mandatory stuff runs into trade agreements," the eight-term congressman said. That is because the U.S. has gone to great pains to hammer out trade deals with other countries and can't impose new limits after the fact.

Now, normally that would be just a one-off fun-poke, but, being of a theological bent, it occured to me that this whole brouhaha reminds me of ... the Donatist Heresy, one of those old Christian church things from the 4th-5th Centuries. Put briefly, the Donatist Heresy (well, what was eventually Officially Judged to be a heresy) said that sacraments (baptism, communion, marriage, etc.) that were administered by someone unworthy to do so were, in fact, not valid sacraments. 

In other words, that deathbed confession you gave to someone you thought was a holy priest but was actually an unrepentant pedophile? Sorry, doesn't count, no sins forgiven, and the Fiery Furnace for you, my lad!

The church's ultimate decision on what the Donatists were putting forward was called ex opere operato, which is Latin for "it's a frelling sacrament, which means God's mojo overrides the minister being a putz." In other word, the validity of the sacrament comes from God's grace, not the "mere conduit" of the minister, and even if the priest giving you communion is an axe murderer in his spare time, it's still the Holy Eucharist, etc. 

So, what does this have to do with goofy Congressional nativist resolutions?

What makes an American flag a (secularly) sacred item? Is it where it was made? Is it whether the cloth (or vinyl) was sourced in the US, and made by US workers, and sold in US stores and carries with it the imprimatur of "Made in the USA"? 

Or is it what it represents -- the freedoms, the aspirations, the sacrifices, the meaning of what America stands for? Does the actual object interfere with the symbolism? Is the medium the message? Does a flag's Chinese origin mean it's actually not an American flag at all, but a Yellow Peril CommSymp Autocratic Tibet-Suppressing Flag of Evil? Does it having been made by Chinese workers being paid $0.10 a day in a sweat shop outside of Shanghai make it less holy than it being made by Mexican immigrants being paid $10.00 a day in a sweat shop outside of Los Angeles?

Or, put another way that will no doubt twist conservatives' guts into knots -- if someone burns an American flag that was made in China, should they be sent to jail under a flag-burning amendment, or congratulated for being a patriotic hero? 

And that is enough ideological geekiness for the morning.

Filed under :: Politics & Law :: Religion :: ZT & PC
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