Freedom FROM the Press – ‘It’s The Law!’ week #3

by | Apr 5, 2012 | It's the Law! - 2012 | 0 comments

ALERT THE MEDIA! It’s day #3 of ‘It’s The Law!’ week at the NDD!

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Freedom FROM the press

I read a great article this morning by a writer friend I haven’t ever met, Monica Bielanko.  She writes for a celebrity oriented website and has been struggling with the issue of reporting on celebrity’s children.  It got me thinking about the current state of affairs in our media culture and this is what I wrote in response to her article.  Go read the article if you have time, it’s worth it.  It gave me a great deal of respect for Monica.

Snarky judgment is the single worst cultural development of the last 20 years and I hate it. I know both have been around forever but we as a culture have embraced it and made it hip and cool in the past few decades. It’s not hip, it’s not cool. It’s sophomoric, it’s mean-spirited, and it’s demeaning to both the speaker and the object of the attention.

Any ongoing attitude you have in life, good or bad, is sort of like a chronic disease. It will increase and change into something fatal. If you focus on loving, forgiving, being compassionate and kind, you become more of those things over time. You end up being one of those fantastic grandparents that has more love than you can possibly comprehend someone having. If you focus on being sarcastic (even if it is funny, which much of it is) judgmental and purposely get a kick out of inflicting pain on others then you will end up being mean, bitter, hurtful and angry at the world. I choose the former set of attitudes to work on and pay attention to in others.

What do you think of the current media world we live in? Do you watch certain shows you actually hate yourself for watching? I watched both The Soup and Fashion Police for quite a while. I have stopped watching both because the judgment and mean-spiritedness was not what I wanted to pay attention to. Anyone want to produce a positive version of Fashion Police? I will watch it in a second!

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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman, who wants to be a kind old grandpa one day.

Quote by Mark Twain, who was if I remember correctly.

 

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It’s All About The Teeth – ‘It’s The Law!’ week #2

by | Apr 4, 2012 | Anonymous, It's the Law! - 2012 | 4 comments

I am biting my lip knowing it’s day #2 of ‘It’s The Law!’ week at the NDD!

It's All About The Teeth

It makes for some pretty useless laws at times.  It does seem that laws are often passed for the egos of the legislators more than the needs of the citizens.  As a result, when there are teeth to the law they seem like dentures, easily removed and put on the night stand.

Law Trivia Question:
What is the basic difference between libel and slander?  Answer tomorrow if you don’t get it first.

Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman, who was once caught stealing gum in 9th grade.

Quote by Anonymous, who has been arrested for many, many things over the years.

Bad Law Enforcement – ‘It’s the Law!’ Week #1

by | Apr 3, 2012 | It's the Law! - 2012 | 0 comments

Make no mistake, ‘IT’S THE LAW!’ week at the NDD!

Bad Law Enforcement - It's the law! #1

I read a quote* by Hillary Clinton this morning that made a lot of sense. It started me thinking about the law and next thing I know, voila, I am doing a law series.

So, here is a bad law idea. Kick out all 11 million illegal immigrants from the USA and send them back to Mexico and other locales.  Some knuckleheads actually think that is a desirable and feasible plan. It’s not.  How can we tell? Well, we could start with the logic of removing 11 million people all at once from all areas of society. It would sort of be a rapture situation, you know? Well, except probably there wouldn’t be any planes, trains and automobiles still moving without someone in control.  But in essence it would do the same thing.  The social, economic and relational damage to the US would be overwhelming if this were to happen.

But of course there are those who will argue all sorts of reasons my prognostication is not true.  So, how do we find out? We enforce the bad law to the letter, kick them out and see the results first hand.  Of course, by then it would be too late and the damage would be done and couldn’t be undone.

But we can look to a bad law example that was enforced with terrible results. That was prohibition.  All the best of intentions turned out to be one of the worst social and economic disasters in the history of the US.  And it was the enforcement that led to the repeal.

That is why bad and unworkable laws shouldn’t be passed in the first place and that is why it is important to pay attention to who it is you elect and what the hell they are doing on your behalf.

Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman, who should have been a lawyer.

Quote by Abraham Lincoln, who was one.

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“In many places, including my own country, legal protections have preceded, not followed, broader recognition of rights. Laws have a teaching effect. Laws that discriminate validate other kinds of discrimination. Laws that require equal protections reinforce the moral imperative of equality.  And practically speaking, it is often the case that laws must change before fears about change dissipate.”