|
|
http://www.curmudgeonlyclerk.com/weblog/ No new entries will appear here. However, I will leave this site up a while in order to provide notice of my new address. I have imported/exported all of the entries on this site over to my new digs, so all posts can be viewed there as well. posted by Curmudgeonly Clerk at 11:03 AM Friday, September 05, 2003 UPDATE I: Professor Rasmusen is back at his university web address. He explains the situation here. UPDATE II: Professor Rasmusen has a lengthier post up on the controversy today. Interestingly, he defends Indiana University's conduct and maintains that the whole story was blown way out of proportion from the very beginning. He writes: Soon the Dean's Office at my business school was getting lots of complaints about my web-log. The Dean asked me to meet him late on a Thursday afternoon to talk about it. We talked, and I offered to move my web-log off the IU computers, and to keep fairly tight-lipped, until the Dean had time to reflect and to check with the University about whether my web-log was in violation of IU policy. He checked, learned that my web-log did not violate IU policy, and called me back the next day to say that I could move my web-log back, which I did. The student newspaper got hold of the story, and that (I imagine) alerted the local newspaper, the Associated Press, and a local radio talk show. The blogworld also learned about it. The University didn't actually shut me down, so the story isn't as big as it might have been. I haven't heard of any IU faculty members saying publicly I should be shut down (the student newspaper story "Faculty react to Web log decision" doesn't actually quote any faculty, just staff). If I remember correctly (it's hard because of the volume) I haven't gotten any emails from faculty members saying so (except perhaps one person whose signature said "PhD" but not "Professor"). There are many people calling for me to be shut down, but they are students or staff members. The IU Vice President for Student Development and Diversity wrote a student newspaper op-ed, "A teachable moment for us all," that made the good point that controversies like these are important to teach students the value of free discussion and so forth. The emphasis is mine. It seems to me that the entire incident was, more or less, a non-story that was created by some apparently inaccurate (and irresponsible) student reporting that maintained that Rasmusen's weblog had been removed at the university's request: Professor Eric Rasmusen, who teaches multiple courses in the Kelley School of Business, was asked to take his opinions off a University Web page by Kelley School of Business Dean Dan Dalton, Thursday. There are, of course, people on campus who do very much desire to shut Rasmusen down. However, Dalton is apparently not among them, nor is anyone else within the administration of Indiana University. The university's reputation for academic freedom has been unnecessarily and inaccurately tarred and feathered, and I regret having unwittingly assisted in the process by relaying the bogus charges. posted by Curmudgeonly Clerk at 2:52 PM In the most recent issue, Judge Sparks decided to associate each award with a song and headed to the Internet for inspiration. He reports: . . . [M]y investigation into sources of songs on the internet provided some interesting moments. One of my first searches yielded a list entitled "Worst Country Song Titles." If I had used any of these titles for an award, I would have lost my credibility—that is, you would not have believed such a song existed. I must share some examples with you . . . . Judge Sparks then produces this list of memorable ditties: "How Can You Believe Me When I Say I Love You, When You Know I've Been A Liar All My Life?" "How Come Your Dog Don't Bite Nobody But Me?" "I Bought The Shoes That Just Walked Out On Me." "I Want A Beer as Cold as My Ex-Wife's Heart." "If You Don't Leave Me, I'll Find Someone Who Will." "Get Your Tongue Out Of My Mouth, Because I'm Kissing You Goodbye." Rock n' Roll ain't got nothing on that, I suppose. posted by Curmudgeonly Clerk at 8:54 AM Thursday, September 04, 2003 —Al-Isra' (Qur'an 17:1) In modern times, this passage of the Qur'an is freighted with political import. The Sacred Temple is in Mecca. According to orthodox Islamic teaching the Farther Temple was located in Jerusalem. Muhammad's night journey to that destination figures in Muslim claims regarding the Judeo-Christian holyland, territory presently within Israel. Tim Cavanaugh at Reason's Hit & Run points to this very interesting article translated by The Middle East Media Research Institute. In it, a member of the Egyptian Ministry of Culture maintains that the Farther Temple was in Medina rather than Jerusalem. The author, Ahmad Muhammad 'Arafa offers both textual and historical arguments in support of this conclusion. Interestingly, 'Arafa equates the Night Journey with the Hijra, or Flight from Mecca to Medina. The historical record certainly supports the claim that the Farther Temple was not in Jerusalem. Indeed, it highlights the fact that the Farther Temple, or Al-Aqsa Mosque, was from the very beginning a quasi-political enterprise. Erected approximately sixty years after the death of the Prophet (circa 691-92 A.D.), The Dome of the Rock, along with its adjoining Aqsa Mosque, constituted the first great religious building complex in the history of Islam. It marked the beginning of a new era. The time for borrowing, for adaptation, for improvisation had passed. The Umayyad caliphate was no longer a successor state of Rome and Persia, but a new universal polity. Islam was no mere successor religion of Christianity, but a new universal dispensation. The place, style, and above all the ornamentation of the Dome of the Rock reveal its purpose. The style and scale were surely intended to rival and outshine the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, with the subtle changes needed for Muslim, not Christian, piety. The place was Jerusalem, the most sacred city on earth to both the predecessor religions, Judaism and Christianity. The choice is significant. Jerusalem is never mentioned in the Qur'an. Even the name 'Jerusalem' does not figure in early Muslim writings. When the city is mentioned at all—as for example on [Umayyad Caliph] 'Abd al-Malik's milestones—it is called Aelia, the name imposed by the Romans to desacralize the city and to obliterate its Jewish and also Christian associations. The choice of a site in Jerusalem for the first great Islamic shrine is the more remarkable. The site was the Temple Mount, the scene of major events in both Jewish and Christian sacred history. The actual spot was the rock on which, according to rabbinic tradition, Abraham had prepared to sacrifice his son, and on which in later times the Ark of the Temple had rested. This 'Abd al-Malik seemed to be saying, was the shrine of the final dispensation—the new Temple, dedicated to the religion of Abraham, replacing the Temple of Solomon, continuing the revelations vouchsafed to the Jews and Christians and correcting the errors into which they had fallen. The polemical purpose of the shrine is reinforced by the choice of Qur'anic verses and other inscriptions that decorate the interior. One verse occurs again and again: 'God is one, without partner, without companion.' The rejection of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity is clear, and is made explicit in other inscriptions: Praise be to God, who begets no son, and has no partner in [his] dominion: nor [needs] he any to protect him from humiliation: yes, magnify him for his greatness and glory! Another repeated inscription is the famous Sura 112 in its entirety: 'He is God, one, eternal. He does not beget, nor is he begotten, and he has no peer.' Another quotation addresses an explicit warning to the recipients of the previous revelations (Qur'an 4:171): O people of the book! Commit no excesses in your religion: and say nothing of God but the truth. Jesus Christ, the son of Mary, was indeed an apostle of God . . . Therefore believe in God and his apostles, and do not say 'Three.' Desist, and it will be better for you, for indeed God is one God, exalted above having a son . . . Yet another inscription emphasizes the warning to the Jews and Christians of the error of their ways (Qur'an 3:18-19): God bears witness that there is no God but he, and so too the angels, those who possess knowledge, and stand firm in justice. There is no God but he, the omnipotent, the omniscient. God's religion is Islam . . . Let whoever disbelieves in the signs of God beware, for God is swift in reckoning. The meaning of all this is at once political and religious. Only religion can justify empire. Only empire can sustain religion. Through his apostle Muhammad and his vicegerent the caliph, God has given a new dispensation and a new order to the world. In this first great religious structure dedicated to the new faith, its worldly head, the caliph 'Abd al-Malik asserted Islam's connection with the precursor religions, and at the same time made clear that the new dispensation had come to correct their errors and to supersede them. * * * . . . A Qur'anic verse (17:1) tells how God took the Prophet on a journey by night from the sacred mosque (in Mecca) to the farthest mosque (in Arabic, al-Masjid al-Aqsa). One early exegetical tradition places 'the farthest mosque' in heaven; another places it in Jerusalem. The latter of these interpretations came to be universally accepted by Muslims. This verse is not included among the inscriptions in the Dome fo the Rock. A conrtasting tradition, equally early, denied the sanctity of Jerusalem in Islam. According to this tradition, only Mecca and Medina are holy cities, and the veneration of the Temple Mount is a Judaizing error. The argument continued for centuries, and was only settled in comparatively modern times. Bernard Lewis, The Middle East: A Brief History of the Last 2,000 Years 68-71 (1995). posted by Curmudgeonly Clerk at 9:34 PM UPDATE: Grim Amusements provides some additional reason for pessimism. (Link via Ted Barlow at Crooked Timber.) posted by Curmudgeonly Clerk at 8:38 PM [Jan] Frandsen, 46, her daughter [who is 14] and eight friends, one in her 70s, are suing Brevard County to overturn its antinudity ordinance, as well as two state statutes that ban displaying the female breast in public. They're not strippers or nudists or thrill seekers. They're just convinced the laws violate their FourteenthAmendment guarantees of due process and equal protection. "Because of having to cover their breasts in places and at times when men do not cover their breasts," the suit states, "plaintiffs and all other women and girls are afflicted with a badge of second-class citizenship." Well, they may not be "strippers or nudists or thrill seekers," but they are odd to say the least. The Sentinel also reports that: The county ordinance was passed, in part, in response to nude sunbathing at Playalinda Beach in the Canaveral National Seashore. That's where Frandsen's husband, Marvin Frandsen, was arrested during a 1995 nude protest of the ordinance. * * * Asked whether she expects to win the suit, she said, "If I didn't believe that, I wouldn't be trying. A change has to start somewhere, and this is a very good place to start. Most of us will never give up until the day we die." People get worked up about the strangest things. Or, rather, strange people get worked up about the strangest things. Nonetheless, Tainted Law concludes that "they are probably right." I think that he's all wet. And so do the federal courts of appeals. See Ways v. City of Lincoln, 331 F.3d 596, 600 (8th Cir. 2003); Buzzetti v. City of New York, 140 F.3d 134, 141-44 (2d Cir. 1998); Hang On, Inc. v. City of Arlington, 65 F.3d 1248, 1256-57 (5th Cir. 1995); United States v. Biocic, 928 F.2d 112, 114-16 (4th Cir. 1991). posted by Curmudgeonly Clerk at 5:21 PM In discussing the apparent transition to active and open consideration of a nominee's political ideology, Solum makes this notable observation: But here is the thing about ideological selection of judges. If judicial selection is all about political ideology, there is a cost to be paid. Ideological judges are legal realists. They vote on the basis of their political preferences and not on the basis of the law. Ideological judges can be highly skilled in the craft of judging, but this is unlikely. If you see the law as a mere instrument of power, you are unlikely to care enough about the law to spend the long hours required to achieve true mastery of intricate and interconnected web of legal doctrine. Moreover, ideological judges are not likely to possess what I call the judicial virtues. And in particular, ideological judges lack the virtue of justice—the dispositon to decide according to law and to avoid the temptation of using judicial power to remake the law as one wishes it to be. * * * Both sides now seem committed to a judicial selection process that concieves of the federal judiciary as the third political branch. Not the least dangersous branch, but the most dangerous branch. The branch that carries out a political agenda with the security of life tenure and the power of final decision about Constitutional questions. The difficulty, of course, is that in practice the parties fervently believe that the excerpted quotation describes only their opponents and not themselves. Democrats argue that Bill Pryor's nomination, for example, is ideologically motivated and therefore must be blocked; Republicans argue that the Democratic refusal to confirm Pryor is ideologically motivated. In Solum's view, both sides are apparently right. Having diagnosed the problem thusly, Solum proposes a solution: legal formalism. He argues that: There is an alternative to the selection of ideological judges whose political orientation reflects the balance of power in and between the Presidency and the Senate. That alternative is to select judges who are legal formalists, who decide the cases before them on the basis of the rules laid down. If political conditions are right, then both parties have good reasons to support the selection of formalist judges. Of course formalist decisions have political implications, but the political tilt of formalist judges is simply a reflection of the political history that leaves its traces on the Constitution, statutes, and precedents that a formalist judge respects and attempts to follow in good faith. And formalist judging produces a very great benefit—the rule of law. I am not unsympathetic to Solum's case. But I must confess that I wonder about formalism's limits. What happens in those cases in which Solum's neoformalist principles fail to acheive a determinate outcome? It is hard to imagine that they alone might muster anything more than persuasive arguments about the meaning of the phrase "other rights" in Ninth Amendment, for example. Might the content of this provision be inherently political to one degree or another? What then? posted by Curmudgeonly Clerk at 2:43 PM UPDATE: It appears that we are not the only ones to think that FOXNews's conduct warranted sanctions. Tainted Law points to these posts by Roger Ailes, Sterling Silver, and Surreality Check, among others. Silver points out the fact that FOXNews's abandonment of the suit nixes any chance of sanctions under Rule 11. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 11(c). One wonders why Franken's lawyers did not beat FOX to the punch. posted by Curmudgeonly Clerk at 11:23 AM I have drawn my information from two particular MEChA chapters: MEChA de Brown and MEChA de Yale. I have relied on these sites because, unlike many other MEChA-related locations on the web, these two appear to be fairly up-to-date. I have viewed numerous such websites, however, and I have found the content on the two aforementioned sites to be representative of those MEChA chapters affiliated with the national organization. [Note: MEChA de Brown posts the documents referenced below on its own site. Mecha de Yale does the same, with the exception of the National Constitution, to which it simply links.] I. Introduction Chicano and Chicana students of Aztlán must take upon themselves the responsibilities to promote Chicanismo within the community, politicizing our Raza with an emphasis on indigenous consciousness to continue the struggle for the self-determination of the Chicano people for the purpose of liberating Aztlán. II. MEChA’s Documented Ideology We know that the two “Plans” referenced are also primary documents because the National Constitution tells us as much. See Nat’l Const. art. III, § 24A (requiring all MEChA chapters to “[o]rient all members by discussing and reading historical documents of our Movimiento including: El Plan de Santa Barbara, El Plan Espiritual de Aztlan, and the MEChA Position Papers of Philosophy, Constitutions, Relationship to Outside Organizations, and Goals & Objectives” in order to be recognized by the governing regional MEChA entity). El Plan de Santa Barbara dates from the founding of MEChA sometime around 1969. It is clear, however, that its tenets remain bedrock principles of the modern MEChA, as the National Constitution that provides for its study was first adopted in 1995 (and amended in 1996 and 1997). I have not found a date certain for the promulgation of El Plan Espiritual de Aztlan. A. El Plan de Santa Barbara It is clear enough that race and/or ethnicity is the basis of MEChA’s politics, but membership is not a genetic birthright. Being Hispanic or Latino would appear to be a necessary but not a sufficient condition of membership. Consider the following: Commitment to the struggle for Chicano liberation is the operative definition of the ideology used here. Chicanismo involves a crucial distinction in political consciousness between a Mexican American (or Hispanic) and a Chicano mentality. The Mexican American or Hispanic is a person who lacks self-respect and pride in one's ethnic and cultural background. Thus, the Chicano acts with confidence and with a range of alternatives in the political world. He is capable of developing and effective ideology through action. Mexican Americans (or Hispanics) must be viewed as potential Chicanos. Chicanismo is flexible enough to relate to the varying levels of consciousness within La Raza. Regional variations must always be kept in mind as well as the different levels of development, composition, maturity, achievement, and experience in political action. The now-familiar brand of racialism evidenced in the foregoing passage is also apparent in a passage discussing potentially sympathetic university administrators of Hispanic or Latino ancestry: This a delicate area since administrators are most interested in not jeopardizing their positions and often will try to act as buffers or liaison between the administration and the student group. In the case of Chicano administrators, it should not [a] priori be assumed, he/she must be given the chance to prove his/her allegiance to La Causa. As such, he/she should be the Chicano's person in the power structure instead of the administration's Mexican-American. A passage devoted to minority hiring echoes this notion of racial authenticity: The jobs created by these projects must be filled by competent Chicanos, not only the Chicano who has the traditional credentials required for the position, but one who has the credentials of the Raza. To often in the past the dedicated pushed for a program only to have a vendido sharp-talker come in and take over and start working for his Anglo administrator. The word vendido appears to be related to the Spanish verb vendedor, which may mean “to sell” or “to betray.” When used reflexively, the verb vendedor connotes “selling out to the enemy.” In other words, the foregoing passage effectively identifies Hispanics and Latinos who fail to adopt the proper politics as “race traitors.” MEChA does allow for temporary “political coalitions and alliances with non-Chicano groups” when advantageous. However, there can be no association with the aforementioned vendidos. Given MEChA’s underlying “struggle for liberation in [a] society where justice is but a word”: . . . [I]t becomes essential that each member pull his load and that no one be allowed to be dead weight. Carga floja is dangerous, and if not brought up to par, it must be cut loose. But even its allowance for alliances of convenience notwithstanding, MEChA is essentially separatist in nature, decrying: . . . this melting pot society, which seeks to dilute varied cultures into a gray upon gray pseudo-culture of technology and materialism. The reference to “materialism” is not accidental either. El Plan de Santa Barbara is also explicitly communist in orientation and links capitalism with Anglos. It states: The ethic of profit and competition, of greed and intolerance, which the Anglo society offers must be replaced by our ancestral communalism and love for beauty and justice. B. El Plan Espiritual de Aztlan In the spirit of a new people that is conscious not only of its proud historical heritage but also of the brutal "gringo" invasion of our territories, we, the Chicano, Mexican, Latino, Indigenous inhabitants and civilizers of the northern land of Aztlan from whence came our forefathers reclaiming the land of their birth and consecrating the determination of our people of the sun, declare that the call of our sangre [blood] is our power, our responsibility, and our inevitable destiny. It explicitly states that Aztlan does not belong “to the foreign Europeans” and declares MEChA’s refusal to “recognize capricious frontiers on the Bronze continent.” And then, following these remarks, the Plan goes further still, uttering those infamous words: . . . . [W]e declare the independence of our mestizo nation. We are a bronze people with a bronze culture. Before the world, before all of North America, before all our brothers in the bronze continent, we are a nation, we are a union of free pueblos, we are Aztlan. Por La Raza todo. Fuera de La Raza nada. Given this context, it is rather difficult to accept the translations of “Por La Raza todo. Fuera de La Raza nada” proffered by Joanne Jacobs or Mark Kleiman (who, in turn, relies on Mickey Kaus). In Jacobs’s case, if “people” were intended the writers would have likely used gente rather than raza in just about any context. But in this context it is unmistakably clear that the “people” the writers had in mind were members of the Chicano "raza" (i.e., generally right-thinking Hispanics or Latinos in the MEChA worldview). The would-be Kaus-Kleiman translations (“By means of the Race, everything. Outside the Race, nothing.” or “On behalf of the Race, everything. Outside the Race, nothing.”) are equally misplaced when the words are viewed in context. Frankly, these weirdly non-textual variants of the obvious contextual translation (“For the Race: everything. Outside of the Race: nothing.”) leads one to wonder if any of the three aforementioned persons bothered to research or read the text before opining on its meaning. The Plan follows this rhetoric up with an ambiguous call for political independence: |