So Let it Be Written...... And Other Rantings

I had a super cute picture of Jon with his face painted like the Cat in the Hat for a belated Dr. Seuss' birthday celebration. However, I have not yet downloaded the picture from my camera, and as my camera is currently on a layover in Frankfurt on its way to London and I am in the mood to rant a bit anyhow, you get this instead.

I am on my political soap box. If you continue reading, don't say I didn't warn you.


It is Sunday morning, and later today is the big House vote on the Senate Health Care Bill. Yesterday, the House announced that they would not use the controversial deem and pass method to get this bill passed through the House. While I want to believe they chose not to do this, because it is an appallingly bad thing to do, I suspect it is more likely that they made this decision because they have the votes to pass the bill otherwise.

Deem and pass would allow them to deem the bill as passed without actually voting on the bill itself. They would deem it passed pending a vote on the reconciliation bill (those things the House is changing in the Senate Bill). This is a procedure that is used traditionally for more procedural and uncontroversial things. The very idea of using a deem and pass method to pass a bill that is very controversial, that has questionable support among the American people as a whole, that very few members of Congress have actually read in its entirety, and that will have a huge effect on the American populace and the American economy is abhorrent. In my opinion, it shows a blatant disregard for the concept of government by of and for The People and borders on the tyranny of the majority discussed often in The Federalist Papers.

In the late 18th century, while debating the Constitution prior to ratification, John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison published several articles under pseudonyms now compiled and known as The Federalist Papers. England was a situation where there was a tyranny of the minority. A minority were in charge and were able to decree anything and everything. Of equal concern was the tyranny of the majority. Majority rules is a sensible concept, however, anyone who has ever given a good look at most mobs probably understands the concern of mob rule or tyranny of the majority. That is why there are rules in place in Congress to allow the minority attempts to debate, to dissuade and to possibly block the passage of legislation. The idea is for legislation passed to have bipartisan support or to at least have passed after whatever dissension was presented. To deem a bill of this importance and magnitude passed without an actual vote on it is appallingly irresponsible to the purposes of our government. We have checks and balances instituted for a reason. Let's operate within those boundaries and NOT try and wiggle around them please.

The biggest reported hurdle for the House Democrats at this moment are the pro-life Democrats who won't vote for this bill because of abortion provisions within it. There is dissent within the majority. When isn't there on something this big and important? The latest proposed answer to placate said pro life democrats is an Executive Order to counteract the abortion legislation in the Senate Bill. So let it be written, so let it be done says President Obama. This President has amazed me with what he thinks can be decreed with an executive order, but this takes the cake. Either he really is ignorant and thinks he has far more power than the Constitution gives him, or he thinks House Democrats (and more likely the American People who would hold said Democrats responsible for their vote) are stupid. An executive order affects the Executive Branch of Government. That is it. It can be revoked at any time by this President or any President that comes into office after him. As it only affects the Executive Branch, it can have little if any effect at all on the legislation passed through the House and Senate. President Obama has shown himself arrogant before, but this is something else. Does he fancy himself Pharaoh able to make anything happen with the quick issuance of an executive order? This is not the kind of accountability this American wants from her elected officials. I wanted better communication than we received during the previous administration. Instead, there have been even more closed doors and less explanation. Furthermore, there has been at times, in my opinion, actual disdain for the checks and balances within our governmental system. They can surely be frustrating, but do we really want to be without them? Do we really want that much power in anyone's hands? This American still believes in a Lockean/Jeffersonian contractual view of sovereignty and government, and I don't want my government to have that much unchecked power. That is my power, and I care how you use it.

It's All Greek To Me

Back when the trailer for Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief came out, I bought the first book for Ashley. I thought for some time that they looked like a series she might like.

It took awhile, but she picked up the Lightening Thief a few weeks ago. She started reading the names of the chapters and thought they were so amusing, that she read the first two chapters to me while I was making dinner. After that, she got tired of waiting for me to have time, and she took to reading her book at bed time. Once again we found ourselves in that place where we had to remind her that it is 9:00 and then 9:30 and to turn out her light and go to sleep. She took her book to school to read during free time and so forth. When she got near the end of the book, she read it while walking home from school and then plopped down on the couch and finished it up. She absolutely raved about it and is now reading the second book in the series.

In typical Ashley fashion, she is so into this series that her books she brings home from the school library on her library day are often about Greek mythology.

I have talked with several people recently whose children loved the series and who have read it and loved it themselves. All decry the movie as awful, which is a shame, because Ashley is looking forward to seeing it with her Dad. That being said, the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series gets a major 2 thumbs up from our little reader. I will have to check them out myself when I finish the rest of my reading.