another distinction

http://barelylegalblog.blogspot.com/2005/11/contest-winner.html

The Beauty of the South

November 28, 2005
2PM Deliver Invoices to Probation Office

Secretary: There was a black man who lived in my county. He was the only one. We called him Nigger Jim.
Co-worker: What?
Secretary: Oh, it was okay. He called himself that. He was retarded.
Co-worker: Where is he now?
Secretary: Prison.

130 East Main StreetCanton, Georgia

そしてあなたはであるかだれ

RIP

Mr. Miyagi--dead.

Thanksgiving Update

I’m thankful for many things and many people.

The blog hasn’t been updated in quite some time, so I figured I’d drop the peeps a line. Everything has been quite busy as of late. My semester is winding down and work is building up. Many people have been in and out of town which has been quite fantastic, the last left this week. Thanks mom and dad for a great weekend.

I always enjoy Thanksgiving. Did you know it’s an official U.S. religious holiday? I didn’t until recently and it strikes me as odd. This Thanksgiving I had many options, options in three states in fact. I had been planning to go out to NJ with some friends but due to an apparent lapse of communication this morning, it did not happen. Instead, I had dinner with friends on the UWS. The food was fine and it was the first time I had Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant. I really wanted to have the halibut with lobster risotto, but caved and had the turkey dinner—some traditions are hard to break.

My good line for today, “accident rules every corner of the universe, except, maybe, the chambers of the human heart.”

Happy Army Day, Zaire!

I've been and will foreseeably remain, quite busy.

Some things are just too much fun, take for example:
"Petitioner suggests that one consideration weighing in favor of finding the power to abrogate here is that the act authorizes only prospective injunctive relief rather than retroactive monetary relief." Simple, right? Agreed, the suggestion according to the jurisprudence is irrelevant. So the question must then be larger, when or where is there Congressional authority to abrogate unilaterally a state's sovereign immunity?
--for a hint, read Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Florida, 517 U.S. 44 (1996).

I really should get my own "wanna fuck with me?" code...all the good ones seem to be taken.

Wait, do I really need a code?

Panic!!

All of the following is true.

Emailer C: I also think I have the avian flu, I'll find out at 3:30 today – I'm gonna make the NEWS!
Okay maybe I just have bronchitis.

***
Emailer R: Good luck on the bird flu. While I have no desire for your death, I think it might be kinda cool to contract it--imagine the media coverage, you'd be on all the networks. It would be a great platform to rail and rally against the administration. Also, I could then start sentences with, "I have this friend who has bird flu..."

Then of course there would be bumper stickers, tee shirts and the speaking tour. You could follow that with a book (ghostwriters would sign up in a heartbeat) and then turn the book into a Lifetime original. Who knows, HBO might even do a Real Sex episode on it (given you promiscuous and lascivious history, they are sure to jump on board). Finally, space. That's right, space. The final frontier and all, yes, but the first woman in space with bird flu--damn! By the way, I'm reserving the advertising space on the forehead of your helmet now while the rates are cheap.

***
Emailer C: The worst part about all the media attention, fame and money (from all my appearances, endorsements, etc.) is that I’ll die sooner than I can spend it all because even though they could cure me (see Magic Johnson and AIDS) they would use me as an example to scare the masses and create a pandemonium (first time I’ve used that word, ever.)
*but thanks to you I will live on forever as I’ll specify in my will (note to have one created) that anyone I’m leaving my money to will have to first get a LifeGem of me and wear it proudly & prominently for all to see. I can’t wait to die.

Great idea...

Three die playing catch with grenade
Mon Nov 7, 2005 11:27 AM ET

BANJA LUKA, Bosnia (Reuters) - A hand grenade being used instead of a ball in a game of catch exploded early on Saturday killing three youths in this Bosnian town, police and news agencies said.

Two youths aged 19 and 20, one of them from neighboring Croatia, were killed instantly while a 20-year-old woman died on her way to hospital, police said. Her sister was slightly injured but two other youths suffered serious injuries.

The blast occurred at 2:00 a.m. in the western town of Novi Grad at a place in the town center frequented by youngsters. Police said an inquiry was under way and declined further comment. It was not clear why the grenade exploded.

ONASA news agency quoted witnesses as saying the youths tossed the hand grenade to each other before it exploded in the hands of one of them.

Bosnia is awash with illegal weapons left over from the 1992-95 war and tragic incidents are frequent despite several successful campaigns by international peacekeepers and police to get people to hand over illegal weapons.
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© Reuters 2005. All rights reserved.

Apparently, god doesn't like the "poor Mexicans"

God bless, now get the fuck out...

Someone please remind me why it is only the Mexicans...

THE BIBLE AND THE BORDER: ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION FROM A CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE
By Robert Klein Engler (11/07/05)

(CHICAGO--7 Nov. '05) Most social observers agree that the United States is a very religious country. By all measures of religiosity, the U. S. ranks high. At least 85 percent of the U. S. population claims they believe in God. Church attendance is high in the U. S. and so are donations to religious groups. With such a large number of citizens holding religious beliefs, it is little wonder that these beliefs are beginning to enter the debate over illegal immigration. To some observers it may seem that God and the border patrol are going to meet head-on.

If the U. S. is a very religious country, then it is also a predominantly Christian country. Some 80 percent of Americans identify themselves as Christians. Yale professor S. P. Huntington argues that Anglo-Protestant Christian beliefs are at the core of traditional American values. Anglo-Protestant beliefs, however, have changed and developed through the centuries since the founding of the nation. From the doorway of a storefront church on the south side of Chicago to the stained-glass windows of New York City's St. Patrick's Cathedral, the U. S. offers multiple expressions of the Christian faith.


Many Christians are now caught up in the debate about illegal immigration. Some do not know what to do to stop illegal immigration while at the same time living a faith that asks its believers to practice charity and forgiveness. Other Christians mistakenly believe that groups who are against illegal immigration, groups like the Minuteman Project, are immoral and dangerous. These Christians believe that illegal immigrants should be seen as people who need our assistance and compassion, not our judgment and condemnation.

Does the Bible and Christian theology have anything to add to the illegal immigration debate? Are Christians supposed to act one way or another on this social issue? I think Christianity does have some answers to the moral questions raised by illegal immigration. These answers are to be found both in Christian scripture and theology. In my view it is possible to be both a good Christian and have secure borders. It is also possible to demand illegal immigrants be deported and to practice Christian charity.

In chapter 13 of the apostle Paul's Letter to the Romans, the English translation reads, "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore he who resists the authorities resists what God has appointed..." (Romans 13:1-2). Clearly, this is advice to Christians to follow the laws of their nation and to respect the laws of other nations.

When people come to the U. S. illegally, they are committing a crime. They are doing something that is against the governing authorities of the U. S. Illegal immigrants are not good Christians from Paul's perspective. Illegal immigrants may have reasons for breaking U. S. laws, but those reasons do not excuse their illegal actions. We should not let charity and compassion blind us from the criminal act illegal immigrants commit.

Those who work in a law-abiding way against illegal immigration and those who ask that the laws of the U. S. be enforced are being good Christians in doing so. Likewise, those who demand that illegal immigrants be detained and deported respect the governing authorities of their nation. In line with Paul's argument, they are doing what good Christians ought to do.

This is not to say that illegal immigrants should be treated badly. Christians practice charity and respect for the individual, but they do not condone law breaking. Law-abiding citizens of the U. S. have every right to make sure their borders are secure and that illegal immigrants are removed from their country as quickly and humanely as possible.

There are ideas implied in Paul's other writings that also shed light on the contemporary issue of illegal immigration. In his Letter to Philemon, Paul address the issue of what is to be done about a runaway slave. In short, Paul sends back the runaway slave, Onesimus, and encourages his master, Philemon, to accept and forgive him. This may seem an unusual act by Paul to those who know that under Roman law, the master had absolute authority over the life and person of the slave.

Although illegal immigrants are not slaves the way Onesimus was a slave in the apostle Paul's time, we can see illegal immigrants today as persons running away from their moral obligations to improve their own country and not run down ours. If that is the case, then it is certainly a moral and Christian thing to encourage illegal immigrants to return home and make life better in their own country.

Moving from scripture to the domain of Christian theology, we learn that moral actions have both an objective and subjective component. The theologian Thomas Aquinas held that both subjective intention and objective consequence are necessary in making a moral judgment. In one of Thomas's examples, while out hunting it is better to kill your father believing he is a stag, than to kill a stag believing it is your father.

>From the point of view of the moral theology of Thomas Aquinas, we may judge illegal immigrants from Mexico from both a subjective and objective point of view. Objectively, illegal immigrants are breaking U. S. immigration laws, but do these criminals have a subjective intention that outweighs the objective criminal act? Is breaking U. S. immigration laws justified because it is the only way poor Mexicans can feed their families, or do illegal immigrants who come to the U. S. have another choice?

Coming to the U. S. illegally is not the only choice poor Mexicans can make to improve their lives. They could also choose to stay in Mexico and work to make Mexico a better country. In fact, as good Christians it is their moral obligation to do this. It is better to improve Mexico than to be a criminal in the U. S. Illegal immigration may be the easy way out, but it is not the moral way. Christians are supposed to do what is good, even if the good is difficult to do.

Although Christianity encourages acts of charity, we cannot be both charitable and law breakers. We cannot rob Peter to pay Paul. The Archbishop of Mexico City should be encouraged to prevent Mexicans from coming illegally to the U. S. He should encourage Mexicans to work for Christian social change in Mexico instead of criticizing U. S. immigration policies. Unless the Mexican state changes, many Mexican citizens will never be able to have a fulfilled life. Nor can they find fulfillment by breaking U. S. immigration laws. To push the poor from your door to your neighbor's door is not an example of Christian charity.

It remains to be seen what other religious questions will be raised about illegal immigration to the U. S. It seems clear for the moment that as the debate over illegal immigration grows, so, too will the theological and scriptural debate over this issue grow. It may very well be that just as liberal Christianity in the U. S. inspired the civil rights movement of the late 20th century, so, conservative Christianity will inspire the secure border movement of the early 21st century.


Page printed from: http://www.americandaily.com/article/10073

You could call it procrastination.

I haven’t written a personal note here in quite some time. As I have work due at today’s close of business and well, it’s today’s close of business and the work is not done. I might as well listen to N.W.A. and write a quick blog entry.

I took an ethics test today for the second time in a year. I truly hope that this time was the charm. I also plan on winning the Mega-Millions this evening. If all goes according to plan as I presume it will, this blogspace will probably get a whole lot more interesting.

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A couple of random thoughts:

Alito scares me. Further, a packed SCOTUS terrifies me.

I need to travel…soon.

The ellipsis is a fantastic tool.

The return of the NBA season will consume much of my time.

My external HD crashed—with it, 60+gbs of music. I am heartbroken.

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Bitch betta have my money…