Comments for MY FATHER'S GHOST

Comment on Your Mission by bobbystevens

bobbystevens — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 16:22:43 +0000

Seems like Pope Francis may be entertaining the advice from Mary Eberstadt – “getting the church back into forward mode by embracing doctrinal orthodoxy”. AYFKM?

Comment on King Crocodile: a poem in prosey by Publius

Publius — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 00:56:34 +0000

"The Alice-in-Wonderland nature of this pronouncement is not lost on me; but after careful consideration, I find myself stuck in a paradoxical situation in which I cannot solve a problem because of contradictory constraints and rules–a veritable Catch-22. I can find no way around the thicket of laws and precedents that effectively allow the Executive Branch of our Government to proclaim as perfectly lawful certain actions that seem on their face incompatible with our Constitution and laws, while keeping reasons for their conclusion a secret." -Judge Colleen McMahon’s decision denying ACLU and NYT FOIA for targeted killing rationale I am reminded of what Oregon Senator Ron Wyden has said regarding the Administration's secret interpretation of the Patriot Act - which is secret exactly because the interpretation would not survive exposure to common sense understanding of the Constitution. Herein again is the virtual tyranny, founded in secret, idiosyncratically self-serving interpretations of law. It's interesting that you'd bring up Bill O'Reilly's redefinition of Christianity in reference to what I wrote but not make the connection between that and what the executive branch has been doing with constitutional law.

Comment on King Crocodile: a poem in prosey by Anonymouse

Anonymouse — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 20:57:36 +0000

I follow what you’re saying.

Comment on King Crocodile: a poem in prosey by Publius

Publius — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 08:48:48 +0000

i think the meaning of this usage becomes clearer in light of the pre-american meaning of the word 'constitution' to the English. in short, prior to the written Constitution, when the English referred to their constitution they were not referring to a written document but to the traditional distribution of powers within English society (between commoners, aristocracy and the crown), which the English regarded as the source and guarantor of their liberty and common good. tyranny, in this sense, doesn't need absolute lack of restraint but only lack of that appropriate restraint upon which the whole system (i.e. the constitution) depends. tyranny is more than a venial abuse of power, but a mortal threat to the well-being of the System. of course, since we now have a written Constitution, tyranny refers to violation of its specific terms. to understand this, though, i think we need to remember what those terms are supposed to mean; what it is that makes a Constitution different from normal law. it is that distinction that holds the difference between tyranny and mere abuse of power.

Comment on King Crocodile: a poem in prosey by Publius

Publius — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 08:21:20 +0000

i wouldn't label any abuse of power as tyranny, but rather (and i think this is traditional american usage) abuses of the constitution. Nepotism, for example, is an abuse of power, but i wouldn't call it tyranny. Embezzlement is another abuse of power that's not tyranny. perhaps the difference between venial and mortal sins provides an analog.

Comment on King Crocodile: a poem in prosey by Publius

Publius — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 08:11:40 +0000

2. odd. for me, text is white and background is grey.

4. i’m not sure how high of a level i need to grant you before you can do that. more below…

5. done.

i reset your AIL password and email, so it points to your afore-unmentioned email. you can login and post there.

let’s just move over there…

thanks

Comment on King Crocodile: a poem in prosey by Anonymouse

Anonymouse — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 20:48:14 +0000

I’m equally happy to post to AIL or here. I don’t want to over-represent how much time I have this go-around; my bandwidth is limited. Mostly I’m curious to hear what you had in mind when you pinged me in September 2012.

Summary of my logistics:
- I have a post awaiting moderation (‘What’s the Deal With Hamilton-Burr?’), but cannot approve it myself
- It would be nice if my posts didn’t require moderation before they appear on the site
- I can currently edit my (unpublished) post, but not my comments
- Comment box text is faint grey against white (difficult to read)
- I cannot upload images to media library, nor include in posts nor comments
- I would prefer that you delete all references to my j———— email
- The answer to Karly’s objection might be move the musings to AIL, keep this blog for the band?
- At some point I’ll be asking how to hide blocks of text behind a password-wall, like we once did on AIL, for any parts of our exchange which are not for publication

best,
Anonymouse

Comment on King Crocodile: a poem in prosey by Publius

Publius — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 05:05:34 +0000

it may be that the solution to all of these issues is to return to AIL.

Comment on King Crocodile: a poem in prosey by Publius

Publius — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 05:03:14 +0000

in multiple senses. the one i had most strongly in mind was politically and socially – as in, dissociated from the dominant culture. i meant for it to be vague, though. Karly, whom you can see in most of the band pics, has complained that the blog isn’t clearly related to the band… dissociated, you might say. So, I agreed that it would be good to somehow frame the writing on the blog, so as to connect it to the meaning behind the name “My Father’s Ghost”, while acknowledging the disconnect from the doings of the band. So, that’s my first attempt.

Comment on King Crocodile: a poem in prosey by Publius

Publius — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 04:55:40 +0000

ok. another thing i’ll look into.