Craig Constantine

I stand, despite →

Published September 27, 2016 · All posts on Sep 27

I stand loving America, aware that I often fall short of what that love should mean. When I say I love America I mean I love certain shared values and founding ideals like the rule of law and equality before it, liberty, and self-determination, and what people have done to achieve them. I love the values as lofty as the right to speak and worship and as humble as the right to raise a family and work and live as I see fit. I love it knowing that these ideals are more aspirational than descriptive, more a to-do list than a resume. They are what Lincoln called “unfinished work” and “the great task remaining before us.”
~ Ken White from, «https://popehat.com/2016/08/30/i-stand-despite/»

I happen to be that sort of middle-aged-softie who is deeply moved by our National Anthem.

…but, when I stand for the National Anthem, I do not judge those who do NOT stand (even if they are in the row behind me talking loudly). I love America all the more for its ensuring their right to a freedom of expression; An America where they should never be forced to declare their adoration for the State as a precursor to watching some random sporting event.

The individual and the herd →

Published June 22, 2015 · All posts on Jun 22 · Society

Here’s what it boils down to: Human beings are simultaneously individuals and members of society, not fundamentally one or the other. Some issues (like free speech) are easier to understand from the individual point of view, while others (like traffic) require a social point of view.
~ Doug Muder from, The Individual and the Herd | The Weekly Sift

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This is a long read and it’s *gasp* “thinky.” It’s also about *swoon* vaccination, but it’s really about individual rights and social responsibility. Repeat this phrase over and over, “an intelligent person can consider an idea without accepting it,” and give this a read.

A new deal for copyright →

Published June 13, 2015 · All posts on Jun 13

If you have to understand the law to read a book, we have failed. If you have to enter into a contract – any contract, even a ‘‘good’’ contract – to read a book, we have failed.
These are cultural, not industrial activities. It’s insane to ask people to sign contracts to read books. Seriously, who actually thinks this is a good idea?
Maybe we do need rules for culture, and maybe we even need laws for culture, but they shouldn’t – and can’t – be the rules we designed for industry.
It’s not always easy to tell the difference between culture and industry, but there are plenty of cases where it’s totally obvious. For those fuzzy cases in the middle, come up with some guidelines and let the courts apply them.
It’s a wildly imperfect system, but at the very least, it isn’t the grossly Kafkaesque idea that you should have to enter into a 22,000-word agreement with Apple, AT&T, and Random House audio in order to listen to a 15,000-word novella.
~ Cory Doctorow from, Cory Doctorow: A New Deal for Copyright – Locus Online

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The NSA behemoth →

Published January 28, 2014 · All posts on Jan 28

The spate of new NSA disclosures substantially raises the stakes of this debate. We now know that the intelligence establishment systematically undermines oversight by lying to both Congress and the courts. We know that the NSA infiltrates internet standard-setting processes to security protocols that make surveillance harder. We know that the NSA uses persuasion, subterfuge, and legal coercion to distort software and hardware product design by commercial companies.
~ Yochai Benkler, from Time to tame the NSA behemoth trampling our rights

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About the Aaron Swartz case →

Published May 8, 2013 · All posts on May 8

There are three things people get wrong about the prosecution and heartbreaking suicide of Aaron Swartz. Two of those things are about the criminal justice system. They’re disturbing, but not difficult to talk about. The third thing is about depression. It’s very difficult to talk about.
~ Ken White from, «http://www.popehat.com/2013/03/24/three-things-you-may-not-get-about-the-aaron-swartz-case/»

As usual, Ken at Popehat is a shining beacon of sanity and reason. Here he is talking about the Aaron Swartz Case.

A Grain of Salt →

Published April 16, 2013 · All posts on Apr 16

If the FBI, and CNN, and NBC, and the New York Post, and the Atlanta Journal Constitution, and All Of Us, could get the Atlanta bombing so tragically wrong in 1996, they, and we, can do it today. In the days to come, it would behoove All Of Us to take what the FBI, and CNN, and NBC, and the New York Post, and their ilk, have to say about suspects and motives with a grain of salt.
~ Patrick Clark from, «http://www.popehat.com/2013/04/16/richard-jewell-cannot-accept-our-apology/»

Hear! Hear!

Nice. Attorney General Says President Can Kill Citizens →

Published March 6, 2013 · All posts on Mar 6

… Just to review, the Attorney General just said yes, the President does have “the power to authorize lethal force, such as a drone strike, against a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil, and without trial.” That’s funny, because I’m looking at some amendments here (I’m thinking IV, V, VI, and VIII) that say he doesn’t.
~ Lowering the Bar from, Can the President Kill a U.S. Citizen in the U.S. Without Trial? Attorney General Says Yes

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…and before you get all, “Craig you’re splitting hairs!” on me: Reasoned and pragmatic analysis is exactly what our [U.S.] governmental system of checks and balances is about.

Why, it’s almost as if the founders thought the executive branch might get out of control and created the judicial branch on purpose. And then down the road some more smart people felt the Constitution should be amended to make things even more clear.

Freedom →

Published February 28, 2013 · All posts on Feb 28

There are two kinds of freedom. Freedom fromto (positive freedom). The splitting of freedom into this binary framework can be traced at least back to Kant, was articulated by Erich Fromm in his 1941 work, Escape from Freedom, made famous by Isaiah Berlin’s 1958 essay, “Two Concepts of Liberty,” and explored more modernly by Charles Taylor.
~ Brett McKay from, Freedom From…Freedom To

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