The site for ranting and reporting by John Masters
I keep saying how there are too many things in the Florida Constitution that should be handled by the legislature, but since they won’t, and Florida voters keep electing people based on whom they hate rather than who will work for them, this is how voters get what they want. So here we go. I’m voting “No” to all three.
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So there are six amendments for the Florida Constitution on this year’s ballot. I’m going to run through those pretty quickly. A couple of them are valid…a few are a waste of time or a political stunt.
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One of the most common arguments I have seen thrown around to do nothing about gun violence is “Well cars kill people too, let’s ban cars.” I suppose one can dismiss this argument out-of-hand for its stupidity, but I want to play along with them. I’m not sure they understand what they’re doing when they compare guns with cars. I’d actually very much like to treat guns and gun-safety much as we do with cars.
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So, by now everyone knows that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died over the weekend. As is usual, everyone is rushing to the airwaves to talk about what a nice and brilliant person he was. Of course I don’t know him personally, but certainly his public personae were not so nice, and I don’t think his legal reasoning, considered by many to be smart and original (pun intended), was all that brilliant. It was merely partisan and theocratic. Scalia was not really interested in the original intent of the framers. He was interested in creating a facade of intellectualism around his rulings. His genius was not in a new form of thought around the Constitution, but in a way to package his rulings so that people thought they had a grand origin.
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As a proud southerner, I know things move slower in the south, but sometimes it’s just a bit too slow. According to the Washington Times, Mississippi is only now getting around to ratifying the 13th Amendment banning slavery in the U.S. As a friend of mine said, “Best not to rush to judgement on these things. Let cooler heads prevail and all that.” According to state Sen. Hillma Frazier, the Democrat who introduced the ratification resolution in 1995, “We’re very deliberate in our state.”
Read moreOne can’t be as opinionated as I, and not post a message on Independence Day. As I have stated before, I remain concerned about the condition of our Republic. We no longer seem to be one nation…we have devolved into red and blue states, with the extreme right and left pulling the center apart. We’ve become a nation of “haves” and “have nots” We have lost touch with that primary Constitutional principle of “the common good.”
Read moreMr. President, I was finally prompted to write you after reviewing the Motion and Brief submitted by W. Scott Simpson, Chief Trial Counsel of your Department of Justice in the case of Smelt and Hammer v. United States. I’m no attorney, but even a layman can determine bigoted and hateful reasoning when it rears its head. I voted for you with high expectations that your administration would return this country to the principles of fairness, respect, and government of, by and for the people as set forth so eloquently by our founding fathers. Thus far, I am gravely disappointed in the actions of your administration.
Read moreIt’s not really surprising to find that a small group of Republican Senators re-introduced the Federal Marriage Amendment to write discrimination into the U.S. Constitution. After all, they are mostly behind in the polls, the base is distraught and disorganized, and even fund raising isn’t going so well. What you might find interesting though, is that two of original 10 sponsors is Larry “wide stance” Craig (R-Idaho) and David “I heart hookers” Vitter (R-LA).
Read moreWell, it’s the day after the first full day that gay marriage was legal in California, and gosh darn it, the sun came up, birds still sang, children were born, people died, there were even some heterosexual marriages, and I still had to go to work. In other words, if God is mad about it, he sure missed that wrath thing by taking it out on the mid-west. This raises a lot of questions, such as what happens next in California, what does this mean to Florida’s Amendment 2 initiative (and see a possible connection), and what does it mean for gay people around the country.
Read moreI have come across the continent to talk to you about two subjects close to my heart. I care about them as a journalist, a citizen and a grandfather who looks at the pictures next to my computer of my five young grandchildren who do not have a vote, a lobbyist in Washington, or the means to contribute to a presidential candidate. If I don’t act in their behalf, who will?
Read moreThe following letter was faxed yesterday to the campaign headquarters of Senator Bill Nelson. Today, I received an email from the office manager there saying she intended to put the letter in his nightly reading box. Let me know what you think.
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