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So, where do you get your news from? If your answer is the "Fair and Balanced" Fox News Channel, I feel sorry for you. Using news aggregators is the way of the future, and they help you tailor your daily feed of information. There are hundreds of news sites online, from major newspapers, to blog commentaries. If you want to see what I am reading, take a look at my blogroll there on the right. Also, check out my saved articles to see what daily items really got my attention.
Apparently we can chalk up photography, along with feeling free to read whatever you please, as one of the many lost liberties America has suffered since September 11th. Ian Spiers is a photography student in the Seattle Area. His website BrownEqualsTerrorist.com has a well-written article about his encounter with local officials who, after identifying him as a non-caucasian man photographing a public place, determined he simply must have terrorist intentions. This article is a must-read, since it really casts light on the current situation America is facing: where anything one does that, to a normal observer seems harmless enough, looks suspicious in the paranoid eyes of the Thought Police.
I am in this business law class right now, and our first assignment was to brief a case. I chose the case of the atheist who challenged the Pledge of Allegiance and it's inclusion of the words "under God" as unconstitutional. I found this case very interesting, as I am a big supporter of the "separation of church and state." It is interesting to note that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals actually ruled that the Pledge, with those words, actually does violate the Establishment and Free Exercise clauses in the Constitution. However, the Supreme Court reversed the Appeals Court's ruling on a technicality. Anyway, while doing research on this topic, I came across some good quotes and interesting websites. First, a quote from the U.S. Supreme Court in the case WEST VIRGINIA STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION v. BARNETTE, 319 U.S. 624 (1943):
"If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or
force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein."
That pretty much sums it up right there. Now, many these days don't realize the actual origins of the Pledge. Take a look at this site and be enlightened.