loliticz.com

Iz way to much water for teh kitteh’s. Pleeze to halp if u can? Uze dees peeps. kthxbai.

A partial list of organizations accepting donations to assist victims of flooding in Tabasco.

Red Cross: Call 800-HELP-NOWor 800-257-7575 (Spanish). www.redcross.org

Catholic Relief Services:877-HELP-CRS or www.crs.org

UNICEF: 800-4-UNICEF or www.unicefusa.org

World Vision:888-56-CHILD or www.worldvision.org

Operation USA:800-678-7255 or www.opusa.org

Commercial banks with relief-fund accounts set up by the Mexican government.

Scotiabank
Account 00100911240

HSBC bank
Account 4000943274

Wells Fargo bank
Account 599253401

Bancomer bank
Account name: Ayuda Tabasco 2007.
Account number: 2280300127

Source: Los Angeles Times, wire services, aid organizations.
Compiled by John Aubrey, staff researcher

Our thanks to the Los Angeles Times, wire services and the aid organizations. Also to John Aubrey. U GETZ CHEEZBURGER!

Freedom of Speech, SRSLY

So, it seems that folks out in the world have some problems with the first Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Loliticz will attempt to address these problems in our usual way of pedantically stating what the rules are, and how and why they work for everyone who is a citizen of the state wherein they apply. Extension of these rules to other folks may be good press, but if they don’t possess citizenship or the right to live in the United States, they don’t, and should not (under laws designed to protect citizens of the United States) really get to enjoy all the freedoms that those who do live here possess. There is a reason we live here, and yet another reason why some folks flee other first world countries to become citizens here. Citizens of the United States can sue under our rules to change how we apply our own laws, but that is a whole ‘nother article.

The First Amendment to the Constitution is expressed as follows:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

What does this mean? In the case of the clause on Freedom of speech, it means, that there shall be no law that curtails a person’s ability to express what he/she/it thinks. This is generally true, but there are some expressions that have been curtailed by the courts over time. It is not a free speech exercise to stand up in a crowded theater and yell “FIRE!” It is not a free speech exercise to stand up on a soapbox, or other kind of platform, and exhort a crowd to harm others. It is a free speech exercise to express ones convictions about a political party, or other visible, or invisible group so long as that expression stays within the bounds set forth by law and ratified by Supreme Court decision.

What does this mean in todays society?

It means the policy’s and beliefs of a single group should not be censored by other groups simply because they hold positions of power currently within institutions or organizations. It means unpopular positions have the right to be heard. It means unpopular opinions also have the right to be debated, or refuted, or protested. What it does not mean is that unpopular opinions should be silenced, by threat or by action, and when such threats are voiced, they need to be retracted. We have legal remedies when they are not, and those should be exercised against whatever side the threats were issued from.

Below is an example of the stifling of Free Speech on one college campus, George Washington University.

Recently a conservative student group, Young America’s Foundation, made a decision to hold a “Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week” at George Washington University. This decision is quite within the freedom of assembly and freedom of expression sentiments of the Framers. Quite possibly the Framers were able to envision completely silly ways in which their document would be used, but they felt it better to have open debate on ideas than to have back-room conspiracies. The more liberal elements on the same campus became somewhat incensed about this expression, and denounced the event in no uncertain terms.

At some point after all this denunciation, posters went up around the campus that stated “HATE MUSLIMS? SO DO WE!” and included other anti-Muslim statements. Now we begin to enter the gray area of Free Speech… Inciting Hatred is not protected speech, depending on the form and the method of communication. Student groups and Officials of George Washington University began a concerted effort to place the Young America’s Foundation at a remove from the University, and in statements, spoke openly of expelling the students responsible for the posters. Still in the Freedom of Speech category, but Officials have a more stringent set of rules placed upon their utterances than do mere students, and consequences for their actions in speech and deed.

After some investigation, it was found that the originators of the posters, and the hateful references were a small band of liberal students at odds with the Young America’s Foundation student group.

What to do? The socially liberal officials of George Washington University, having stated their position that the perpetrators should be expelled when they believed that said perpetrators were members of the conservative organization now are faced with having to either A) backpedal and prove that their interest was completely biased, or B) continue and destroy the careers of 7 students whose views they really do support, although not in such an active way as to tack up posters, or C) stall, keep their heads down, and hope that this whole issue blows over and they can keep their positions and students intact. None of these seem to be palatable, but the Young America’s Foundation which has been the target of all of the vituperation and threats should at the very least get a public apology from the people who sought to revile them.

Given the behavior of one member of the campus student organizations, Bridgette Behling, director of student involvement at George Washington University, it is unlikely that either of the above courses will come to pass. In fact, given the seriousness of the charges against the conservative organization, I would suspect some legal actions and court rulings may be in the future. Freedom of Speech is not freedom to suppress speech, but to hold it out to the light of debate. To do that, organizations such as Universities must tolerate open debate from all sides, not just the sides that they like, or agree with.

There is much more to this debate on freedom of expression, and I will leave you with some reading on the subject. Gentle Reader, you may not agree, but you have the freedom to rebut in a reasonable manner at least here in the United States. George Washington fought for that freedom and you should at least respect the efforts he and the other Framers put into the legal system you live under. In my not so humble opinion.

Visit:

• whizbangblog for the original reporting that I stumbled upon.
• Indoctrinate-U for an in-depth look at how unpopular opinions are being suppressed by “speech codes” in many of the United State’s universities and colleges.
• ACLU the original organization for the protection of free speech. The ACLU practices what it preaches and has a large archive of past court decisions and current free speech issues.
• Brain Terminal dot com for a review of a conservative movie on suppression of conservative values.

They no unnerstand truth of history, they doomed to repeet

U DID GUD

“You shameless militarist, we will transform your country into a sea of fire!”
Propaganda from the mouth of Kim Ill Jung

Found on an Exceptional Site
http://www.nk-news.net/extras/insult_generator.php

Actual propaganda available from the North Koreans and promulgated here in America in the attempt, probably futile, that world opinion might have an effect on the luxury loving dictator, who rewards top aides and military supporters with luxury goods from the West while a large portion of his population is on the verge of starvation. Excellent place for research into the use of propaganda and dictatorial policies.

ARE YOU A ZOMBIE?
Are you one of the politically challenged?

• Can you identify the last 3 Presidents of the United States ( or the head of state for the country in which you live)?
• Can you name at least one decision by your topmost legal body, in the US it’s the Supreme Court?
• Do you know how to vote (are there rules about how you get to exercise your right, is it prove you are a citizen, resident, pre-register)?
• Did you vote in your last election if you were able to (being old enough, resident, citizen)?
• Can you engage in a reasonable discussion, without resorting to fallacious arguments, or shouting, about issues that concern you?

If you can say yes to at least 3 of the above questions, consider yourself a political lightweight, if 4 is the number, a political middleweight, and all 5 means you can be considered a candidate (just kidding).

If you cannot answer even one, consider watching, or re-watching Shaun of the Dead, and enjoying the role of bitten/infected. If you would prefer to take up violence against those who argue with you, consider professional help, or immigrating to a country that has similar attitudes, Syria, Iran, Afganistan all seem to have many folks like that, Northern Ireland as well, but they seem to be getting better, and forget South Africa, they’ve beaten that plague and seem to be most healthy these days.

Most people will end up using the dictionary to look up the word fallacious, and most politicians will employ them where ever they seem to provide the most advantage for them. However, being able to spot when they are used is helpful in making informed decisions about who you should vote for, or against.

If you are not a zombie, or worse, a victim of maninquinism run rampant, congratulations, and thank you. It is hard work to maintain a sense of integrity, participation and rationality in these times.

propagate the meme!

bonafide

Satire

Satire is the form of use taken by using the logic pattern of the ancients and applying it to everyday problems. Reductio ad absurdum is the proper name, and it means to reduce to absurdity. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, it seems to me that satire in the form of pictures, with comments to help the humor or politically impaired, is perfect. Its true purpose is really not humor per se, but rather criticism of an event, an individual or a group in a clever manner.

In ancient times the Socratic method of discovering truth by asking questions very often leads to satire and absurdity just by virtue of the kinds of questions that are asked. We here at loliticz.com try to attain the little child question mindset for as long as we can while looking for images to use to send a little truth and a lot of humor out into people’s lives. People who voluntarily put their lives into the public spotlight have little to complain about when the folks they are trying to influence are critical of their actions and intentions.

As many of the most famous satirists of history have done, pseudonyms are used to protect the identities of the writers. Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay, used the pseudonym Publius while writing The Federalist Papers. Benjamin Franklin’s use of Richard Saunders to publish Poor Richards Almanac, and many others are well established as “nome de plume”, or in reality “nome de guerre”

Here at loliticz.com we take on the precocious nature of cats, in the internet tradition of lolcat, icanhazcheeseburger, and 4chan speak. Cats are insufferably arrogant, haughty, superior beings by nature, and we strive to emulate them as much as possible. They are also awesomely funny, clever, whimsical creatures as well, and we strive to elicit as much of that as we can as well. They are after all, able to define some of the forces of nature, like quantum physics, (Schrödinger’s human did some work in that area) and they possess wisdom we mere humans do not.

It is not enough to simply have an image of a politician doing something silly, although some politicians do have some awe inspiring talents for getting photographed doing amazingly silly, stupid, bone-achingly, pig-ignorant things.

We strive to point out the folly’s of the past and the present in a cohesive non partizan way that will educate, amuse and enlighten out viewers/readers. As Wikipedia says, “Often the target is examined by being held up for ridicule, typically in the hope of shaming it into reform.”

bonafide

WE NVR FORGET INJURY

Presidential Images

Here at www.loliticz.com we are overly concerned with images of politicians, but the truth is, people everywhere are concerned with images of politicians. It seems as if that’s how people decide on election day. Politicians are more concerned with their images than everyone else. Image is everything!

From an article at http://smartmoney.com/smallbiz the following information can be considered relevant to the Presidential Candidates.
“The right image. When launching a new business — and struggling with late nights, stretched budgets and a cramped home office — focusing on artsy matters might seem downright absurd. But as any celebrity publicist will tell you, image is everything, darling. That doesn’t mean you need to be developing detailed brand marketing campaigns when you’ve barely got a product. But it does mean you need to pay attention to things like your company name, logo and basic marketing materials, like your Web site. Muck this up, and you’ll have to work that much harder in the future to set it right.”

Unfortunately, most people who become politicians are not all that clever about consistency, since they have to endlessly compromise everything to get anything done (or so I’ve been told by career politicians). As for having a product, I leave that up to the gentle reader to decide whose product is the superior one. From a strictly constitutional point of view, the President of the United States has only these powers.

From http://www.usconstitution.net/constop_sepp.html
“The following are the powers of the Executive: veto power over all bills; appointment of judges and other officials; makes treaties; ensures all laws are carried out; commander in chief of the military; pardon power.”

So what we really need is someone who is: level headed, has good judgement about people and consequences, who can talk to other heads of government and who understands what a foriegn policy really is, and who can give an inspiring speech to the troops. Oh, and who can see when injustice is done and pardon people when it has.

Presidential Candidates everywhere need to consider their audiences. Here in the US both the Republicans and the Democrats should remember that we are out there, carefully waiting for just the right combination of photo and comment to skewer them on their own petards, so to speak. The rest of the world is fair game too, but we are too busy sometimes to check in with them about how silly their games are.