All posts by Jack

General

Strange links

I used the phrase “Enquiring Minds want to know” in a previous post and thought that “Enquiring Minds” would be a good blog title so I googled and found this site:alt.usage.english.FAQ.

I found they have lots of interesting tidbits of english usage and origins of phrases and words. I thought their explanation of using verbs with group nouns (e.g. company, herd, flock, pod) was very edifying.

I didn’t see an EM blog pop out of the google search but I didn’t look past the first page and it had 44,000 hits.

Oh yes, The EM phrase I started with was a result of the National Enquirer ad campaign in the ’80s.

General, Politics

Making Light: From correspondence

Making Light: From correspondence An intresting discussion on Teresa Nielsen Hayden’s blog about what to call “Christian Fundamentalists” who don’t seem to accept the teachings of Christ. The Sermon On the Mount may be considered “Liberal” preaching, by some. There is a growing interest in ‘Leviticans’ since they seem to take their core beliefs from Leviticus. I am partial to some derivitive of Pentateuch, a collective name for the first five books of the bible, (should that be capitalized?) the books of Moses. “Pentatookies”, “Pentations”, “Pentatents”? Mosaics? Maybe something will come of it.

Whatever, these are the folks with the moral values to support torture, suppression of rights, and general warlike nastiness, if the Republican Press can be believed and it is the “Moral Values” that made a difference in this past election.

Satellite

The Big Ugly Dish

I have a big 8′ satellite dish which can receive signals from a number of C-Band and Ku-band satellites. I have a 4DTV receiver as well as an MPEG/DVB receiver, so I can receive a large gamut of the broadcast TV signals. I can see satellites from the PAS 9 sat at 58 degrees to AMC 7 at 137 degrees. I could probably get AMC 8, a little further west, but it doesn’t look to have anything of interest. There are several places on the web to find what’s up there.

A lot of channels are subscription based and there is so much flux in the market with channels and networks moving to different satellites that I let my subs lapse for the rest of the year. I’ll look at the smoking carnage next year and decide if it is worth renewing. I find I only watch a few channels, regularly.

But the free to air stuff is pretty extensive. If I understood Arabic I could watch Kuwait TV, Bahrain TV, Iran TV Morrocco TV, Saudi TV , and several others. As well as German TV, Croatian TV, Thai TV, Jeevan TV (Malyalam), Romanian TV and others. And there are various Chinese, Japanese and Korean channels. The BBC signals are scrambled for some reason, as well as the Canadian channels. It’s hit or miss but you can get news from around the world. And if there isn’t a TV channel, there may be a radio channel, in English. It was interesting to get another perspective on the Iraqi Invasion.

Not sure what Rang-A-Rang TV is all about.

Geek Stuff

Ditherings

I am busy getting the new Firefox installed. I have been using the preview viewer for the past two months and I have been happy with it. We’ll see what this version does. And, I need to see what these extensions can do. There’s one for expanding images for viewing. That sounds useful.

The Firefox Site is very busy at the moment. I think I will come back later.

General, Politics

Duty

“We have a duty, a solemn duty to protect the American people, and we will. ” Source: GWB Press Conference Nov 4, 2004

I was double checking the President’s duties and I don’t see this one there. Check out Article II, Section 1, clause 8. I think that’s the only ‘duty’ the president has. No, also “he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States.” (II,3) But if I read this right, Congress has the duty to protect the American People (I,8,1). The President is merely Congress’s agent to do so. And if Congress doesn’t mandate protecting the people then it isn’t the President’s ‘duty’.

Of Course, I am interpreting the Article 1, Section 8, Clause 1 wording: “provide for the common Defence”, to mean some protection of the American People.

From Constitution
Article. II.

Section. 1.

Clause 1: The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows

Clause 2: Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.

Clause 3: The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each; which List they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of the Government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number of Electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such Majority, and have an equal Number of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately chuse by Ballot one of them for President; and if no Person have a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House shall in like Manner chuse the President. But in chusing the President, the Votes shall be taken by States, the Representation from each State having one Vote; A quorum for this Purpose shall consist of a Member or Members from two thirds of the States, and a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to a Choice. In every Case, after the Choice of the President, the Person having the greatest Number of Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal Votes, the Senate shall chuse from them by Ballot the Vice President.

Clause 4: The Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States.

Clause 5: No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

Clause 6: In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, (See Note 9) the Same shall devolve on the VicePresident, and the Congress may by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the Disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.

Clause 7: The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be encreased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them.

Clause 8: Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:–“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

Section. 2.

Clause 1: The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.

Clause 2: He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.

Clause 3: The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.

Section. 3.

He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States.

Section. 4.

The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.

General, Politics

Mandate

Vice President Cheney said that Bush had run on a clear agenda and that “the nation resounded by giving him a mandate.” Source: WP

Main Entry: man·date
Pronunciation: ‘man-“dAt
Function: noun
Etymology: Latin mandatum, from neuter of mandatus, past participle of mandare to entrust, enjoin, probably irregularly from manus hand + -dere to put
1 a : a formal communication from a reviewing court notifying the court below of its judgment and directing the lower court to act accordingly b : MANDAMUS
2 in the civil law of Louisiana : an act by which a person gives another person the power to transact for him or her one or several affairs
3 a : an authoritative command : a clear authorization or direction b : the authorization to act given by a constituency to its elected representative

Source: Merriam-Webster Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.

So indeed, a majority vote does give Bush a mandate, under definition 3b:, except that the President is not an elected Representative, especially of the constituency of American Voters. Representatives are in Congress.

But I think most people think of ‘mandate’ in terms of 3 a : an authoritative command : a clear authorization or direction. I don’t see where a 51-48 edge between some rather conflicting philosophies provides any clear authorization or direction. Of course, Bush does not need a mandate from the electorate since he has one from a higher power…