Definition of a conservative.

One of the commenters at Ace O'Spades HQ mentioned that he had been talking with his wife and she had asked him for a concrete definition of conservatism, and he was wondering what the Horde's definition would be. Another commenter came up with

"Conservatives recognize that human beings are inherently flawed and are not perfectible outside of miraculous/ supernatural means and there will never be a utopia of human making. Therefore, we seek to strike the balance between having just enough in the way of law and authority to hold together a stable coherent society, but not so many as to make tyranny easy. Because people in government are still people, just as susceptible to flaw and selfish impulse as are the regular citizens. "

Which I think covers a lot of the world view, although I would add that conservatives also realize that each human has a value beyond their perceived usefulness to the whole.

Eat your heart out Zeke Emmanuel

Well! I hadn't realized the "lifeboat exercise" had made a comeback. I never had to do it in my mediocre public school and so had made the mistake of assuming that it had gone the way of the dodo. Imagine my surprise then when my high school sophomore Eldest Kidlet is telling me about her day and mentions that in speech they did an exercise where each student had to decide the fate of 22 people in an 18-person "fall-out shelter" (and it was very much "who gets tossed outside" not "how do you make this work").

Given my background (a belief in the value of every human being as loved by G-d who sent his Son to die in atonement) and the fact that *my* immediate value in many situations is not readily apparent, it's hardly surprising that I am not a fan of utilitarianism. Besides being simply immoral, I believe it is very short-sighted and often prevents long-term good from ever developing because whoever could have produced that good was abandoned before their benefit could be realized or became applicable. I got a chance to discuss this with both older kids (two younger weren't home at the time), which is good, but it left Eldest Kidlet feeling very uneasy about how readily she accepted the premise of an assignment that was by it's very nature evil.

RIP Norma Khan.

       RIP Norma Khan. On the plane that hit the Pentagon. My across-the-street neighbor. Is the comment from NaCly Dog at the HQ. When asked he provided more detail. 

"She was Venezuelan, married to a Pakistani who deserted her and her son after she became a citizen. She was vivacious, with a winning smile. 

She kept a well-maintained home and a small flower garden. I remember her always volunteering to help clean up the Reston neighborhood during the annual cleanup day. 

She was a reliable worker, and someone who could be depended upon to help when the local community needed assistance. Her son was well behaved. 

Others had more memories. http://tinyurl.com/nnx3rvv"

It is a small thing to copy that to here, but I firmly believe that the more people who know at least something about each of those who was murdered 13 years ago the more "real" they will stay in our collective memory. It is right that the "normal" people be remembered for the lives that were taken from them by a brutal, cowardly, and ultimately (please G-d) futile attack.

Almost time

To turn in the paperwork to get a CHL. I took the class in February but, due to various rules here in TX, it made the most sense to wait until just after my next birthday which is coming up quickly. I think I know what handgun I want, a 9mm Bersa, and need to start calling around to find out who has the best price. A neighbor has taken Son and myself to his gun club a couple of times since the class, which has been very helpful. I didn't get to go last month because of schedule conflicts and was surprised at how much I missed it.

A Parable

By commenter "Dang" at the HQ.

So you live outside of town and your house catches on fire. You call the fire department and they tell you they can't make it there in time to put out the fire and the fire chief goes to bed while your house burns to the ground and members of you family die. When you try to find out what the hell just happened the deputy fire chief asks, "What difference, at this point, does it make?" And then that deputy fire chief gets an award for her service.

This is the state of the nation at the moment.

Happy birthday to the Marines.

Although my real-life experience is woefully short on Marines (clearly I've made a mistake somewhere in life) I truly, deeply believe that they are indeed *the* single finest and greatest force for good and peace in the world. My kids and I do indeed sleep soundly knowing that these rough men stand ready and I am grateful everyday that they have chosen to do so.

There has been progress

Although my impression is that the overwhelming majority of Americans still know nothing about the on-going fight for the protection of *every one's* free speech, there has been progress made in bringing the issue to the attention of  both federal level legislators and the media.  Sen. Saxby Chambliss and Rep. Ken Marchant   have both written letters to the DOJ asking for investigations into the "SWATing of several bloggers including a contributor to CNN.  Da Techguy's post CNN scooped again goes into more detail about ABC having broken the story on the networks and also gives a lot of links to help get completely caught up on the story.  Popehat has a very good post on what precisely "SLAPPing" and anti-SLAPP are as well as a link so anyone can find out whether their state has anti-SLAPP laws, and if so how good they are. Through the link I found that, although MO *does* have anti-SLAPP legislation, it seems to be only for the protection of *specifically* political speech, which makes it nearly useless against the type of abuse which is currently at issue.