Day: June 27, 2002

Meryl us to a scientifically interesting and morally heartwarming story from Jerusalem — it’s definitely worth a look.

I want one of

Wow. I feel like I’m “flying blind”. SiteMeter has been down all day, and I have no idea how many folks are visiting, or who’s linking to me.

Is anyone out there?

Hellloooooo…..?

Interesting filed against Gator for (effectively) putting pop-up ads on websites that it doesn’t own.

I’ll wait for the Blogospheric Legal Eagles to weigh in on this one, but seems to me there’s no case here. Gator’s agreement is with its users; if they agree that they are willing to have ads be served while surfing, the people who own the sites they happen to visit don’t seem to have much of a say about it.

Take an extreme example: What if I built a browser that had, covering the entire bottom half of a screen, a bigass add for Hair Club For Men. And I sold that browser to people to use.

So would the American Association of Sexy Bald Guys then have reason to sue me because people visiting their site with my new browser also see an add for the Hair Club? (Or try Ford on my browser and surfing to Toyatas site, if you want to keep it all strictly commercial).

Seems to me like that’s exactly what Gator is doing, just in a more sophisticated fashion…

Suman Palit takes a break off from subcontinental politics to give us insight into the twisted and sad world of software development.

Been there, done that, my friend. I feel your pain.

And while I’ve got your attention, Suman: could you help me understand Pervez’s little little changes — minor, minor things, so tiny nobody will ever notice, honest — that he’d like to make to Pakistan’s Constitution? Like, oh, giving him the power to sack the (elected) PM and his cabinet and replace them with people he thinks are prettier?

CNN quotes a ‘government document’ as explaining: “The objective of the proposals … is to prevent excessive concentration of authority, create a domain of state responsibility … provide checks against precipitate or autocratic use of authority…”

Ha-what?

Call me crazy, but I’m going to take a wild guess and say that you’re not going to tell me that they restore your faith that Musharaf is a paragon of virtue and democratic values…

Wow. I actually think is flat-out wrong on an issue. That doesn’t happen too often.

He’s right when he says that a functioning society requires manners and understanding; but he’s flat out wrong when he applies that principle to the Pledge case.

It’s a secular society, Stephen. Either you agree with that principle — in which case the ruling makes sense — or you don’t, in which case I’ll be expecting you to show up at a church / mosque / synagogue of my choice this weekend (and yup, that means you have to miss the Blogger Bash).

The attitude of some folks towards this fellow seems to be “Siddown and shaddup; what’s the big deal about one little phrase?”

To be clear: Stephen’s position is that everyone involved in this case — from Congress who enacted the “Under God” clause to the fellow bringing the suit to the appeals court — are idiots, for not ‘shrugging off the little stuff’. Which is indeed a more sensible position than just bashing the guy bringing the suit; Stephen seems to be squarely with the “it’s not a big deal one way or another” crowd.

But it is a big deal, and now more than ever. The man filing on behalf of his daughter shouldn’t have dropped the case after 9/11 — as some has suggested — he should have pursued it with even more vigor. Because we are at war with religious facism — a point that the Blogosphere, at least, has become relatively clear about for some time. We are at war with what happens when religious ideology runs amok and becomes all-consuming.

Do I think the phrase “Under God” in the Pledge is the first step towards a Taliban-like government? Of course not. But that’s a strawman argument. The real argument is that if we are a secular society — and I for one hope we are — then we should damned well act like one. It is a matter of principle. And like many matters of principle, sometimes they involve things that are trivial on their face, but symbolicly, extremely important.

Take a step back and remember, folks: what we’re talking about is, de facto, an oath which is sworn by young children every day in which they state their dedication to this country. Now, there’s an interesting debate to be had on whether that is a good idea in the first place.

But geez, if you’re going to have such an oath, I think it’s pretty important that you make it represent the true ideals of our society. The “under God” phrase in the pledge has been teaching kids for decades (me included) that the idea that the U.S. is secular has always come with a wink-wink nudge-nudge; of course we’re secular, it says, but in a very, you know, Judeo-Christian kind of way.

The decision may have been lousy law (it sounds like it was, based on prior judgements), and it may be struck down as soon as when the full Appeals court sits on it. But it was still right.