Amendment V No governmental, private, corporate or commercial entity shall deny to any enfranchised citizen the rights or privileges accorded to others. The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. Rationale Sadly, America has a long history of discrimination. Some of our ancestors were slaves and our
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Amendment IV No corporate, commercial, private or governmental entity shall be licensed, accredited or incorporated absent a binding commitment to serve the public interest; nor shall any collective entity be accorded the rights and privileges attending citizenship, which are reserved expressly for individuals. Rationale In 1919, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled in the Dodge v. Ford case that Henry Ford had a
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Amendment III The government of the people shall be expressly secular. Congress will make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; nor shall any individual, religious or quasi-religious entity or collective engage or seek to influence the course of legislation or policy in accordance with theological creed. Rationale It seems more than evident that
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Amendment II No corporate, commercial or other private or publicly held entity shall abridge an individual’s freedom of speech or the rights of a free and unfettered press; the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition for a redress of grievances will not be infringed. Rationale In modern America, nothing poses a greater threat to individual liberties
Read moreFaye Hunter, founding member of the highly influential Let’s Active, is dead of suicide at 59. Thx to John Cavanaugh and Jeffrey Dean Foster.
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Lonelyman walks into Ernie’s a pizza and Italian in Northwest Denver. The hostess, a pleasant enough looking blonde woman, greets him and asks “how many?” Lonelyman has always dreamed of responding to this sort of query with some wiseassery, like motioning to either side and saying “just the six of us” or “table for 8 – I like to move
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In the immortal words of Reese Bobby, if you ain’t first, you’re last. He isn’t the only one who thinks that, either. I once listened to a radio interview as the host tried to engage Tiger Woods on the topic of his legacy, with the general thrust being “what if you don’t break Jack Nicklaus’s record for most majors?” Repeatedly
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Amendment I No political party representing at least five percent of the electorate shall be denied direct representation in the legislature. All legislative bodies shall be comprised proportionally according to the populations represented and all elected officials shall be selected by direct vote of the people. Rationale American politics is built on a two-party system, despite the fact that there
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Tomorrow morning I begin my New Constitution series, in which I set forth a blueprint for a more just, free and prosperous future for the citizens of the United States. The project is audacious, perhaps, but I have always felt that if you’re going to complain, you should perhaps offer some ideas toward a solution. And I have complained loud
Read moreIn February of 2005 we lost Hunter S. Thompson, one of the brightest lights of his generation. In eulogizing him, I concluded this way: Although I never heard him say it in these words, Hunter S. Thompson I think understood the artificial Red/Blue, Conservative/Liberal divide that most Americans seem to have bought into for the cynical construction that it is
Read moreWe launched Scholars & Rogues in April of 2007. In the six-plus years since I have been responsible for over 1,500 posts, with more than 500 of them touching upon politics (see them all here and here). Before that I led the charge at S&R’s now-defunct predecessor, The 5th Estate, and probably was doing about the same volume there that I have over the past
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Our buddy Greg Thow (one of the mainstays at S&R’s sister site 5280 Lens Mafia) and I were guests on episode #28 of the E Wilks Show last night. Okay, mainly Greg was the guest. I tagged along because I had nothing else to do. Eric and sound engineer/sidekick extraordinaire Tony are genuinely funny guys and it was an absolute
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WikiPedia’s List of Hobbies page is a long one – over 170 entries. Included are some you’d expect: cooking, birdwatching, knitting, stamp collecting, all manner of sporting activities, etc. There are also some you may not have thought of. For example: Chainmail making Conlanging (artificial language construction – think Esperanto and Klingon) Locksport (the sport or recreation that aims to
Read moreIf you haven’t see this video yet, strap in. Hilarity is a’fixin’ to ensue. SFGate has the gory details here. The key, it seems, is this part: KTVU Channel 2 News owned this breaking news story with a number of firsts! – First on-air. – First on-line. – First with alerts to mobile devices. – First on Twitter & Facebook.
Read moreEdward Snowden issued an official statement today in Moscow, and I think it’s worth a read. It begins: Hello. My name is Ed Snowden. A little over one month ago, I had family, a home in paradise, and I lived in great comfort. I also had the capability without any warrant to search for, seize, and read your communications. Anyone’s
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