News Part 2 - Traditions suck.
Sometimes we do things because we've thought long and hard, and made a logical decision. Sometimes we do things because our intuition tells us it's a good idea. Sometimes we do things out of impulse. And sometimes, just sometimes, we do things because of tradition. No good reason. No bad reason. Just because that's the way we're used to it, or the way someone else older than us was used to it.
Take, for example, today's Supreme Court ruling on public displays of the Ten Commandments. Their split-ruling basically said that old displays were OK to keep, but they frowned on the creation of new displays. So, as long as the display had some amount of historical significance, it no longer counted as a religious endorsement. In other words, it's there because of "tradition."
There's a deeper issue regarding the historical and traditional significance of the Ten Commandments, though, that tends to run something like "The American judicial system is based around Judeo-Christian morals, the cornerstone of which are the Ten Commandements." So let's look at the commandments and see how much they've influenced our legal system.
1.
I am the Lord thy God. - More of a declarative statement than a commandment. Neither here nor there. There's the Establishment Clause, which seems to have been written by guys who weren't so sure that the Commandment was true, but also the later tradition of swearing people in over a Bible.
2.
Though shalt have no other Gods before me. - Historical note: this was written in times when even the Jews did not believe that only one God existed, they just believed that Yahweh, the Hebrew God, was THEIR God, and was the most powerful. Definitely runs afoul of the Establishment Clause.
3.
Though shalt not take the Lord's name in vain. - This is an interesting one. Taken literally, there is no law against this. However, a common interpretation of this commandment is that it's kind of a subset of the 9th commandment; that you can't make a promise to or in the name of God and not keep it. We do actually have laws against breaking contracts, so if you believe that's the context of the commandment, add one point at the end of the game.
4.
Remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy. - Certainly not a founding principle of the American justice system, but there were and still are "blue laws" that limit business activities on the Christian Sabbath.
5.
Honor thy Mother and Father - If this were a law, most of us would be serving 20 to life.
6.
Though shalt not murder - Usually this is incorrectly given as "though shalt not kill." There's a difference, though. Killing is like murdering, however it only refers to people outside your own ethnic group. I can murder a German, but I can only kill a Spaniard. For reference, see any book in the Old Testament. OK, murder is illegal. But to claim that murder is illegal solely because that's the way it is in the Ten Commandments is ludicrious; as if people thought that murder was perfectly acceptable until Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with chunks of rocks in his hands.
7.
Though shalt not commit adultery - Generally, not a law. Can be a factor in divorce settlements.
8.
Though shalt not steal - Another brilliant invention of the Ten Commandments, a law that no system of government could
possibly have come up with on their own.
9.
Though shalt not bear false witness - Lying is generally not illegal, except for cases of libel, slander, or contracts. If you tell that girl that you love her just so you can get in her pants...perfectly legal.
10.
Though shalt not cover thy neighbor's house, wife, goods, etc. - Orwell would have had a calf over this one. Karma police, arrest this man.
Counting up the number of Commandments that actually made it into the foundation of American law, I count only two clear overlaps: no murdering, no stealing, the two commandments that should fall less under "Commandment from God" and more under "Shit you just
know you're not supposed to do."
So instead of focusing on IF the 10 Commandments can legally be displayed in and around our courthouses, why don't we take it back just a little bit further and ask...why
would we display them in and around our courthouses?
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Steve on 06.27.05 @ 11:46 PM PST
News - I'm Sorry, But You're An Idiot.
So everyone's probably read about Jesstin Pagan, Daniel Agosto, and Anibal Cruz Jr., the three kids in Camden, New Jersey who went missing last week and were feared kidnapped.
After a few days of police searches and national media attention, the kids were found dead by a relative of Anibal Cruz Jr.'s; the boys had locked themselves in the trunk of an old car that the Cruz family had left in the corner of the yard, and apparently suffocated to death. I was upset to read this the other day, it is a terrible thing, these kids didn't deserve to die, and no family should ever have have to cope with the loss of a child.
But I read an update on the story today that really steamed me.
According to CNN, Anibal Cruz Sr. said yesterday that he "assumed that police looked in the trunk of the car that was parked just steps from where the boys were last seen playing. 'That was the first place to look,' Cruz said. '...Maybe they should have looked in the trunk.'"
Hey, jackass, if it was the first place to look, WHY THE FUCK DIDN'T
YOU LOOK THERE???"
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Steve on 06.27.05 @ 11:39 AM PST
