Sure, I'm going to talk about Obamacare. But let's start with two other recent decisions.
First the good news: the Supreme Court does seem to have read the 4th Amendment. That protects against UNreasonable searches and seizures. Reasonable searches and seizures? No Constitutional bar exists. What defines reasonable? The court, quite properly, left that question (mostly) alone.
But the bad news begins. The 1st Amendment gets overused a lot, and abused a lot. The abuse is only going to get worse now that the court has ruled that lying about military service and decorations is protected speech. Yes folks, it is legal to lie. Politicians everywhere breathed a sigh of relief, you can be sure. This second ruling I'm rather conflicted about. On the one hand it is, just barely and strictly by the letter of the law, Constitutional. On the other... legal to lie about military service and awards for valor!?! If that's OK, little things like whether you supported issue X or voted for issue Y seem pretty trivial. Someone running for Senate can claim the Medal of Honor and 10 years in the Marines without ever having spent a day in uniform... and its legal.
And things don't stop there. The liberal media went crazy after the ruling on Obamacare, saying "See? Its a tax!" Oddly, an argument they did not make while trying to get the measure through Congress. Gee, I wonder why. But, see, we're not abusing the already tortured-to-death Commerce clause, oh no. We're just exercising our power to Tax! All is well.
Um... no. See Congress does indeed have the power to "lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises..." All well and good. But, OOPS! "...all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States."
But wait, that didn't say Taxes have to be uniform. We're still good, right?
Sure... if it were a tax. Taxes, however, go after something you HAVE. An income tax is on the money you have. A sales tax is on the product you (are about to) have. Paying a fee for NOT having something, which is what Obamacare does, ISN'T A TAX. That, my friends, is what is called a PENALTY.
The liberal media has also roundly derided the 'broccoli' idea, where someone suggested that Obamacare would be a precedent that would allow Congress to require you to eat broccoli. Well, they're half right. It isn't. What it IS, is a precedent that says Congress can make you pay money for NOT eating broccoli, or, let's get this important bit clear: not eating ENOUGH broccoli.
See, Obamacare doesn't just require you to have health insurance. No, you've got to have acceptable insurance. In other words, ENOUGH insurance. Who decides what's enough? The government. Who decides how much you pay if you don't have 'enough'? The government. Who decides what's enough broccoli? The government.
Can the government, based on the precedent of Obamacare and the supreme court ruling, fine me $1,000,000 for not having ten tons of broccoli?
Yes.
They.
Can.
All they have to do is say it is a tax. But that's OK, because lying is legal now.
Friday, June 29, 2012
Thursday, June 28, 2012
From the Frontlines: Ursulmas XXX
At Ursulmas, I struck gold.
OK, I helped strike gold. A gold coin, to be precise.
Gold, unlike pewter, needs to be ‘hot struck’. This means that the metal blank needs to be heated (literally red-hot) just prior to striking. We used a three-man crew: one heating the blank (a little bit of antique gold found by a prospector with a metal detector), one holding the die ready to place it on the coin (me) and one ready to swing the hammer. We did two practice strikes on a metal called ‘merlin’s gold’ (which has very little actual gold) to get the technique right.
Why is striking gold such a big deal for a moneyer? Well, we don't get to do it much. Economics is a harsh master. Pewter, our usual medium for coins, runs around $30 a pound, give or take. Silver, the most common period metal and what we pretend our pewter actually is, runs around $30 an ounce.
Gold is currently around $50... a GRAM. That one tiny coin we struck had a metal value of several hundred dollars.
I did a whole bunch of other moneying stuff, including something new to me: making blanks by pouring pewter into round molds in order to make early-period coins. This produces a larger and rougher blank than the rolling/hammering process I’ve gotten used to, but on the plus side requires much less in the way of materials.
I danced with Emerald Rain, doing a stick dance with Misty (mock combat, each of us armed with two wooden sticks about two and a half feet long).
OK, I helped strike gold. A gold coin, to be precise.
Gold, unlike pewter, needs to be ‘hot struck’. This means that the metal blank needs to be heated (literally red-hot) just prior to striking. We used a three-man crew: one heating the blank (a little bit of antique gold found by a prospector with a metal detector), one holding the die ready to place it on the coin (me) and one ready to swing the hammer. We did two practice strikes on a metal called ‘merlin’s gold’ (which has very little actual gold) to get the technique right.
Why is striking gold such a big deal for a moneyer? Well, we don't get to do it much. Economics is a harsh master. Pewter, our usual medium for coins, runs around $30 a pound, give or take. Silver, the most common period metal and what we pretend our pewter actually is, runs around $30 an ounce.
Gold is currently around $50... a GRAM. That one tiny coin we struck had a metal value of several hundred dollars.
I did a whole bunch of other moneying stuff, including something new to me: making blanks by pouring pewter into round molds in order to make early-period coins. This produces a larger and rougher blank than the rolling/hammering process I’ve gotten used to, but on the plus side requires much less in the way of materials.
I danced with Emerald Rain, doing a stick dance with Misty (mock combat, each of us armed with two wooden sticks about two and a half feet long).
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
From the Frontlines: Good Yule / Last Hunt
Note: Good Yule / Last Hunt took place December 3rd, 2011. Yeah, I'm THAT far behind.
After six years, basically the same period of time I’ve been in the Barony, Hauk and Rosamund stepped down as Baron and Baroness. I’m sad to see them go – I felt they were very good leaders for our Barony, and their stability stands in stark contrast to the King and Queen, where we get a new one every six months. That makes it hard for me to connect with them or feel any real loyalty; I’ve gone entire reigns without even seeing the King or Queen. Luckily at the same event they were made Court Baron and Baroness by Their Majesties, so I can keep calling them “Your Excellency”.
It is an interesting insight into feudalism; my first loyalty is to Aquaterra, though I certainly consider myself a citizen of An Tir as a whole. The reverse is true of my mundane loyalties; despite being a fanatical constitutionalist, and thus highly supportive of the independent roles of the state and local governments, my first loyalty is to the United States as a whole, not Washington State and certainly not Snohomish County or the town of Lake Stevens. But in the SCA, even when I compete for An Tir against the West or some other kingdom, I’m still highly conscious that I’m doing so as a representative of Aquaterra.
I helped make a presentation to the new Baron and Baroness on behalf of the moneyers guild; scattering our off-strikes to the crowd while Raymond presented the good ones to Their Excellencies (a special minting for their ascension, many of which I’d helped strike earlier in the event).
Somewhat to my chagrin, I was awarded the Order of the Plate (the Barony’s first level Arts and Sciences award). Chagrin, because they first tried to find me to present it to in June! Apparently I’ve missed quite a few courts.
After six years, basically the same period of time I’ve been in the Barony, Hauk and Rosamund stepped down as Baron and Baroness. I’m sad to see them go – I felt they were very good leaders for our Barony, and their stability stands in stark contrast to the King and Queen, where we get a new one every six months. That makes it hard for me to connect with them or feel any real loyalty; I’ve gone entire reigns without even seeing the King or Queen. Luckily at the same event they were made Court Baron and Baroness by Their Majesties, so I can keep calling them “Your Excellency”.
It is an interesting insight into feudalism; my first loyalty is to Aquaterra, though I certainly consider myself a citizen of An Tir as a whole. The reverse is true of my mundane loyalties; despite being a fanatical constitutionalist, and thus highly supportive of the independent roles of the state and local governments, my first loyalty is to the United States as a whole, not Washington State and certainly not Snohomish County or the town of Lake Stevens. But in the SCA, even when I compete for An Tir against the West or some other kingdom, I’m still highly conscious that I’m doing so as a representative of Aquaterra.
I helped make a presentation to the new Baron and Baroness on behalf of the moneyers guild; scattering our off-strikes to the crowd while Raymond presented the good ones to Their Excellencies (a special minting for their ascension, many of which I’d helped strike earlier in the event).
Somewhat to my chagrin, I was awarded the Order of the Plate (the Barony’s first level Arts and Sciences award). Chagrin, because they first tried to find me to present it to in June! Apparently I’ve missed quite a few courts.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Catching Up
Yes, it has been six months since my last update, but this blog isn’t dead, it was just napping.
Work continues to draw far too much of my time, but I’ve been getting to several SCA events, including some notable accomplishments. I’ll be posting the backlog over the next few days, and will try to keep a little bit better up to date going forward.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Where were you?
"December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy..."
9/11/01.
I'm not the first to play compare/contrast with these two events.
But let's add two more:
11/22/63.
1/28/86.
I bet even if you don't recognize either date immediately, you can figure both of them out without looking them up.
Each of these events defines a generation. I'm just old enough to remember two. There are still people alive who remember all four.
So what do the raid on Pearl Harbor, JFK's assassination, the Challenger tragedy, and the 9/11 attacks have in common?
Well, aside from being massive media events, almost nothing.
It's easy for me to dismiss the middle two as not being in the same category as the first and last, but I don't. The loss of life was tiny - orders of magnitude lower, in fact. The real, immediate consequences were far less - neither event started a war (accepting the War on Terror as a war, despite the lack of a formal, and legally required, declaration to that effect).
But each event, in its own way, was a greater tragedy. In both cases, a tragedy of lost potential, rather than lost lives.
On 11/22/63, we lost one of if not the best President of the United States of the 20th century. He'd already set us on the path to the moon and defused one of the most serious crisis of the Cold War. He still had a full year left in office, and it is hardly a stretch to imagine him being re-elected had he lived. What might he have done?
On 1/28/86, a combination of cowardly management, hasty engineering, and bad luck broke the dream of space into pieces. The Space Shuttle, already questionable on its technical and economic merits, received the final nail in its coffin, and in a very real sense mankind turned its back on space. It has yet to truly return. What if the culture of yes-men in aerospace management had broken the ranks formed only two generations ago and said STOP? Might we have recovered from our stumble and continued on our path to the stars?
We'll never know, of course, just as we'll never know what a crewman on the USS Arizona or a passenger on United Flight #93 might have done with the balance of their life.
About midway between Pearl Harbor and 9/11 sits a positive event that will also be remembered. Optimistically, I think it will be remembered even when all four of the others are forgotten. That assumes the human race survives the death of Sol, but, well, hence the optimism.
Know what I'm talking about?
7/20/69. How about now?
"One small step for man..." What Neil Armstrong and 'Buzz' Aldrin did that day was, admittedly, a stunt. They were on the moon for less than 24 hours, and they never returned. But they were the first humans to set foot on the ground of someplace other than Earth.
So remember 2011 as the 10th Anniversary of 9/11, the 70th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor, or even the Centennial of the Colt 1911 if you will.
But remember also it is the 42nd Anniversary of "...one giant leap for mankind."
Where were you?
9/11/01.
I'm not the first to play compare/contrast with these two events.
But let's add two more:
11/22/63.
1/28/86.
I bet even if you don't recognize either date immediately, you can figure both of them out without looking them up.
Each of these events defines a generation. I'm just old enough to remember two. There are still people alive who remember all four.
So what do the raid on Pearl Harbor, JFK's assassination, the Challenger tragedy, and the 9/11 attacks have in common?
Well, aside from being massive media events, almost nothing.
It's easy for me to dismiss the middle two as not being in the same category as the first and last, but I don't. The loss of life was tiny - orders of magnitude lower, in fact. The real, immediate consequences were far less - neither event started a war (accepting the War on Terror as a war, despite the lack of a formal, and legally required, declaration to that effect).
But each event, in its own way, was a greater tragedy. In both cases, a tragedy of lost potential, rather than lost lives.
On 11/22/63, we lost one of if not the best President of the United States of the 20th century. He'd already set us on the path to the moon and defused one of the most serious crisis of the Cold War. He still had a full year left in office, and it is hardly a stretch to imagine him being re-elected had he lived. What might he have done?
On 1/28/86, a combination of cowardly management, hasty engineering, and bad luck broke the dream of space into pieces. The Space Shuttle, already questionable on its technical and economic merits, received the final nail in its coffin, and in a very real sense mankind turned its back on space. It has yet to truly return. What if the culture of yes-men in aerospace management had broken the ranks formed only two generations ago and said STOP? Might we have recovered from our stumble and continued on our path to the stars?
We'll never know, of course, just as we'll never know what a crewman on the USS Arizona or a passenger on United Flight #93 might have done with the balance of their life.
About midway between Pearl Harbor and 9/11 sits a positive event that will also be remembered. Optimistically, I think it will be remembered even when all four of the others are forgotten. That assumes the human race survives the death of Sol, but, well, hence the optimism.
Know what I'm talking about?
7/20/69. How about now?
"One small step for man..." What Neil Armstrong and 'Buzz' Aldrin did that day was, admittedly, a stunt. They were on the moon for less than 24 hours, and they never returned. But they were the first humans to set foot on the ground of someplace other than Earth.
So remember 2011 as the 10th Anniversary of 9/11, the 70th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor, or even the Centennial of the Colt 1911 if you will.
But remember also it is the 42nd Anniversary of "...one giant leap for mankind."
Where were you?
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