Struggling against the almighty tides of eventuality

I don’t pray. I haven’t in years. For me, the issue of whether or not to pray today was a complete nonsense kind of question. If you went to my house and tried to find some Christian memorabilia, you’d be hard-pressed, and the closest thing you’d find is old wedding and funeral programs, along with some religious music I’m paid to play at such occasions.

With all that being said, I don’t care about the national day of prayer. I don’t consider it an affront to my non-believing ways that people want a proclamation of a day of prayer. Here’s the code, in case you’re curious (emphasis mine):

The President shall issue each year a proclamation designating the first Thursday in May as a National Day of Prayer on which the people of the United States may turn to God in prayer and meditation at churches, in groups, and as individuals.

You’ll note the “may.” It’s splitting hairs, but then if we’re going to parse the law (i.e. the first amendment) that everyone’s getting their panties in a twist over, then we’re going to parse the damn law. Note that “may” means we don’t have to pray, we just can if we want to. Here’s what the first amendment text is:

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.

You can point directly at this thing and say that Congress is respecting Christianity by giving it a special day all to itself. Of course, you can also point at Christmas break and talk about how the federal holidays recognize it as well, but people are suspiciously less outspoken against a day off work.

And that’s the thing, really. This law has hardly any force and effect, other than mandating a proclamation from the President, who, to date, has been a Christian of some variety exactly 44 times. If the law were suddenly repealed, I’d be doubtful that it’d stop the President from issuing some sort of proclamation, and therefore I also doubt it’d shut up the critics of the day. And that’s assuming the law could get repealed in the first place. For it to be challenged up to the Supreme Court, at which point I’d assume you’d have to have a case, at which point I’d assume you’d need to prove that this law adversely affected you directly, that hearing the words cascading from the President’s mouth asking people to honor something you simply don’t believe in has caused you literal harm. The only way I can see this is if people get beaten for not praying on this, our day of prayer, and somehow convert that to “it’s the law’s fault” (as though people who are nonsensical enough to beat someone for not praying are rational every other day without such a proclamation).

Aside from that avenue, which feels unlikely, it seems equally unlikely that Congress will overturn it by virtue of the fact that the Christian base is pretty damn strong in elections. Basically, what I’m saying is: “They’re here, they fear [God], get used to it.”

And that little play on words is where I really get to the meat of why the criticism I’ve heard thus far bothers me: I know plenty of atheists. Some of them are even, dare I make this joke, gaytheists (they’re gay and atheists). And that last pun represents the only people I’ve seen up in arms about this. Just a few months ago, I could have dropped some article about Proposition 8 in front of them and they’d get royally heated, how the Government stripped people’s rights. They might even say “Hey, if the people who hate gay marriage don’t like it, they just shouldn’t get married to another person of the same sex.”  That argument is perfectly valid. Then they’d go on about challenging such an unjust thing in the courts.

And they wouldn’t see any parallels.

The problem with Proposition 8, is that it was an amendment to California’s constitution. Now, I don’t know the process in California by rote, but it stands to reason it’s like US Government Jr., as are most state constitutions. That means that it’d be pretty difficult, if not impossible, to mount any sort of legal challenge. But that won’t stop people from arguing that it violates some basic legally-guaranteed rights. Well, in California, it technically doesn’t.

And that’s the thing, fighting against this religious thing while fighting against that anti-gay thing is cherry-picking your battles. You either respect a Constitution, or you don’t. And you either recognize people’s right to do things their way, or you don’t. I don’t pray. I haven’t in years. This law has no force and effect to make me pray, so I just plain don’t see why we have to fight this battle.

I’ve had a mishmash of thoughts today, so, what better place to toss them than a blog no one reads? Sure, why not!

First off: Free Comic Book Day was today, and it was fine. I went to Amazing Spiral in the Rotunda shopping center and picked up a couple of trade paperbacks (The Sandman vol. 6: “Fables and Reflections“, and Cable and Deadpool vol. 6: “Separation Anxiety“). While The Sandman series strikes me more like a heady novel-type read, the Cable and Deadpool has already been consumed as “lighter” fare, and was delicious. I know the sacrifice at the end has been undone via comic book magic but it was still pretty poignant, and the balance of the book was pretty hilarious. Still have yet to start the other one.

I picked up a couple of freebies too: War of the Supermen and Thor #1 (I think the second one the guy just threw in cause he was nice, not cause it was meant to be free). I’ve never been big on Norse mythology, and Marvel’s watered-down version certainly doesn’t make me leap for joy, but Thor #1 definitely makes me want to read more of this. Fortunately, it’s a year or two old, so I already can!

Second off: I got in a debate with someone over Steve Jobs’s recent “open letter” on Flash. She lauded him for standing firm on “this controversial issue.” Of course, it ain’t exactly health care and human rights we’re talking about here. It’s about an asshole sitting on top of a mountain of money and guarding it like a rabid Doberman. At any rate, he’s being douchey and claiming to be only acting in the best interests of consumers everywhere.

Hey Steve: shove your concerned protection, please. Thanks.

I don’t think, with a five-minute review process, that any app gets the entirety of its code checked for all possible security threat vectors, nor do I think it’s fully put through its paces to make sure it doesn’t crash (I use a couple relatively “popular” apps that crash all the fucking time). 3D games, lauded on the system, are complete energy whores. At no point does he acknowledge that his “it’s buggy and crash-happy” (paraphrased) argument holds water only when you admit that the entire ecosystem is built around such buggy, crash-happy, energy-sucking apps, mixed in with an overwhelming pile of shitty flashlight and fart apps. You’ve got a few gems, like Foursquare, but a lot of that 100,000+ library is pretty terrible. Anyway, I like my internet with Homestar Runner, and why the fuck do you think I need to be protected from what I want in the first place?

Oh yeah, that’s right, cause you’re a self-centered whiny little bitch. Adobe has been getting smacked around by your financial muscle, strong-armed by a skinny black-turtle-necked jackass who used them up and now that he’s done with them, is posting all the nude photos for everyone to laugh at. Yes, even the one with the bunny ears. Especially the one with the bunny ears. Like I said with the bullshit about Gizmodo, they’re allowed to be just as douchey as the market allows them to be with regards to their closed ecosystem and completely arbitrary approval process, but the key word, underlined and bolded for your convenience, is douchey. This is why I hate those guys, and that’s not even getting into how they’re playing at being Magnum P.I. and trying to go around the police (who are already banging down doors in a highly-suspect potentially-illegal action for them). They’re assholes through and through. The only argument that jumps out at me as logical in the whole tirade was “flash was designed for mice,” and even then it doesn’t have to use that idiom, it just does right now. It’s all preference, and Steve Jobs, in classic “I have the best brain ever, BOOM” douchebag fashion, is cramming his down everyone else’s throats.

Third, and finally, off: I think I’ve figured out what I want to call this blog. It references the blog post I wrote several months ago when I was just starting out. It’s part of a quote I feel really proud of, and that’s what I’d really like this blog to be about: writing I can later look back on and hopefully, for the most part, be proud of. Not all of it will be, of course, as I’ll probably look back on this post later and the inevitable back-and-forth about how justified Apple is in doing whatever it damn well pleases, or that maybe Deadpool is a lot more “deep” than I gave him credit for (anybody?!), and regret that I ever said anything.

Whatever.

The new title of the blog, in case you’re curious (and also stupid, cause it’s now in the header) is “An Oak In The Fall.”

Welcome.