I found it!

If you've been reading my blog, you've probably caught my references to what I have said were the original meanings of the terms Democratic and Republic. There are two types of Republics, Aristocratic (elections) and Democratic (lottery). I finally found a reference that refers to this (I'm waiting to find a translator for some French and Italian for more...). From kid's education on New York state

The first government of New York State grew out of the Revolution. The State Convention that drew up the Constitution created a Council of Safety which governed for a time and set the new government in motion. In June 1777, while the war was going on, an election for the first governor took place. Two of the candidates, Philip Schuyler and George Clinton, were generals in the field. Two others, Colonel John Jay and General John Morin Scott, were respectively leaders of the aristocratic and democratic groups in the Convention.

Nope, doesn't say whether the Dems supported public office by lot, public referendums, or universal membership in the lower House. On all tax bills, the entire adult population of Switzerland forms a body of Congress, and as progressive as that sounds, they are often considered quite conservative, when one notes that women got full voting rights in the entire Confederacy only in 2000.

The Lesson of America

How ever much I believe, however positive most of the record is, elections can fail to bring about a good deal, or better yet, a great deal, one hundred percent of the time. The lesson of America is that there is no perfect system, and therefore the more we have "one" system, the worse things might possible get if we've made a poor choice. The number of ways it can go wrong, remember, seems far more limitless than the ways it can go right. We could have a Twelve Monleys like scanrio (minus the time travel), we could have some sort of outer-space based catastrophe (remember that asteroid we didn't know about until it had passed?), we could have a terrestrial climate problem (too hot? too cold?) or what often seems like the most likely, an intersection of desires of non-divisible goods.

I hope I don't die tonight

It's just one of those things, living in NYC. Please remember Iraq.

Dean on Sunday

At the Center in Ames, Iowa. Saw it on C-SPAN. Fantastic. I'm worried he might be slaughtered by the media (i.e. converted into McGovern), I'm worried the Democratic machine will choose Hillary (i.e. Dean = McCarthy '68), I'm worried he might have some skeleton in the closet which will make me regret my support, I'm worried he speaks too intelligently for the media to catch on, or for his ideas to filter into the national psyche, I'm worried his performance in the debates will be shaky until he gets his footing. I'm worried that I might not have learned anything in the last four years. By the way, it was a Sunday, between Christmas and New Year's, and Dean got 400 people to come out for him in Iowa.

It Is Certainly Possible

That one of Valerie Plame's old co-workers in the CIA leaked the story, isn't it? One who knew she was on the left, perhaps? Or even resented her she-ness? I'm just saying it wouldn't really 100% have to be the Bush administration, or even anyone appointed by them.

Jesus the Nazarene and America

Just the snip from TomPaine.com

"And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?" A good quote for your shield... or for your Christmas card, which is where Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife, Lynne, decided to put it. I find myself wondering how the Cheneys’ pastor reacted to their Christmas card. This, of course, is not the first hijacking of "Him" for the needs of empire. In 312, before the great battle at the Milvian Bridge at Rome, Hijacker the Great—also known as Constantine—saw a cross in the sky with the words "In Hoc Signo Vinces" ("In This Sign You Will Conquer"). Constantine had a cross inscribed on his soldiers’ armor. The new "Christians" won the battle and lost Jesus’ message of nonviolence. Several centuries later, "Deus Vult" ("God wills it") was the inscription chosen by St. Peter’s successors as they dispatched crusaders to war in the Holy Land. And "Gott Mit Uns" decorated Nazi belt buckles. So "He" was hijacked long ago, with countless imperial and other brutalities carried out in "His" name.

It's enough to bum one out in "His" season.

Anti-US DVD 4 Sale, Cheap

This can't be good. The resisitance in Iraq has a theme song. Thanks to Media Revolution for the link.

The Confederacy and Slavery

As if anyone needed to bring the Civil War up again, but, if you don't believe the South and Slavery were inextricably intertwined, just take a peak at the first official act of the Confederate Congress...

Resolved, First. That this convention do appoint a commission to proceed to each of the slaveholding States that may assemble in convention, for the purpose of laying our ordinance of secession before the same and respectfully inviting their cooperation in the formation of a southern confederacy

(italics in original, emphasis mine) Non-slaveholders will not be invited..

Stop Afghani Literacy!

Imagine what would happen if they learned to read and they read the writings of American luminaries like Thomas Jefferson!

Shall ... any other nation come at pleasure into our territory, and lay hold of whomsoever she pleases, under the pretence that this man is her subject, and that man is in her employ; that here there is a felon, and there a deserter? Our national ships are our territory, in whatever quarter of the world they are found; much more so, then, when within our own acknowledged limits and juridiction. We care not who the men that were demanded from the Chesapeake; we care not whence they came [ed: not even Saudi Arabia], where they were born [ed: not even Yemen], nor who claimed allegiance from them [ed: not even Talebani Afghanistan]. Had they fled from Europe [ed: or the WTC] stained with blood, no foreign force had a right to invade our territory; no foreign officer, civil or military, had a right to exercise his functions without our limits, or to transport the supposed offender to the precincts of a distant tribunal

(emphasis mine) The last thing in the world we would want is Afghanis thinking that foreigners oughtn't come into their country and grab whomsever they please. From a letter from President TH. Jefferson to the Congress, October 27th, 1807 Here's a website with all the old congressional records.

Do I Believe This?

Corporations Aren't Person. Well, surely they aren't. Corporations must all die, or divide, after 115 years, and there better be a good reason if they are not after ninety. Hey, wait, corporate regulation talk isn't going to get me ratings! Teenagers in Love Frolicking on the Beach Threatened by Saddam Hussein! The living dead are rising and telling Americans to vote against President Bush! God has sent the message out to the Faithful(R)(tm) to look busy, because Jesus is coming! Life could be a whole lot more exciting, with a ton more factions, half of them militarized, all of them angry... or we could just take boring. Too bad McGovern didn't win, because Watergate had already happened, the inevitable was coming on that score. Too bad "boring" Gore didn't win, because the plans for the most succesful attack on America in history were already on their way, maybe even would have been stopped. In this light, the choice of currently hawkish Senator Joe Lieberman for VP in 2000 makes sense, doesn't it? Gore wouldn't have been sitting on some council of Dove's, his own VP was one of the guys gunning for both the Afghan and Iraqi wars. I'm sorry I'm dreaming so much.

Overacharges? Not a problem

We've already heard that President Bush, upon hearing about gasoline-overcharging by his Vice President's former firm, assured America, and the defenders of America, that any excess charges will be reimbursed by Halliburton. There should be no effort by any crypto-communists or terrorist-sympathizers to make any connection between this overcharging and the Ken Lay/Enron overcharging in California. Thanks to J. Bradford DeLong for the link.

Lessons on Iran for Potential Warmongers

Three major things.

For over seven years, at a cost of hundreds of thousands of lives and billions of dollars, Iran fought Saddam Hussein, with little or no help from the outside world, although Ronald Wilson Reagan, a former President of the United States, did manage to sell them a few anti-aircraft systems in that period.

The Iranians have free elections, where super-majorites (i.e. far more than half, in this case, more than three quarters) vote for the pro-Western "reform" candidate, Khatami. Factually, Iran is saddled with a very conservative Constitution which drastically limits opportunity for rapid change in Iran.

In the late 1990s and 2000-01, Iran was arming and funding the Northern Alliance in an effort to overthrow the Taleban

I repeat, Iran fights Iraq, Iran fights the Taleban, super-majorities of Iranians are pro-Western.

The American Media is Mum

But the rest of the English speaking world is on the story UK (left and right) India Australia (100% right wing, basically) and Taiwan for good measure. Paul Bremer said Blair was lying. Whoops, you mean Blair said that? I mean to say that whoever said that was correct. Thanks to a C-SPAN caller for bringing it up.

Do you live in New York State?

Do you realize your budget, and a lot of other state functions, are handled by three men in a room? That the New York State Constitution, being quite old and all, and drafted during a time of relative commercial power in NY politics, is actually one of the most conservative US State constitutions (and that Texas has the most liberal one?) Well, thank the NY Times for having a special section on the NY State Capitol, Albany.

What did Jesus Nazareth look like?

Do you mind if I call him that? I hope not. The renaissance depicted Jesus as almost Irish. Much more recently, it's been wondered if he weren't from Egypt, specifically with charcoal melanin. But, considering modern nearby Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt, and the various subgroups in the area, he had to look Palestinian, no?