Author Archive
Unalienable Rights
Unalienable Rights Means Universal Human Rights
Yesterday, President Barack Obama took the road never before traveled before by a sitting U.S. president: universal support of unalienable rights in a whole new way. In short, President Obama openly stated in the run-up to a historical presidential re-election campaign, that he supports codifying, at the state level, the rights of individuals to enter into civil union contracts, marriages if you will, for same-sex couples. So how is same-sax marriage, or gay marriage, an issue or opportunity to clarify the definition, and even differentiation, of the terms unalienable rights and inalienable rights?
Unalienable Rights Basis for America’s Founding
In case it has been a while, or you slept through your last U.S. history course, the term “unalienable rights” may sound familiar because it is the profound thesis of Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
This preamble thesis statement sets up one of the most treasured historical documents of human rights throughout the world, despite its youth, that will lead to an equally time-honored declaration of people-centered governance, the U.S. Constitution. While these documents were not perfect, it is noteworthy that upon these and their predecessors (most notably John Locke), we still continue to thrive today. Jefferson astutely places Locke’s definition of unalienable rights as our necessity – and justification – for this declaration of our independence from what we perceive as an oppressive government. So what are these unalienable rights?
Unalienable Rights Defined
In short, unalienable rights means those rights which a person has that cannot be transferred, sold, or surrendered to or by another, whether it be an individual person, or in the case of our Declaration of Independence, Jefferson was obviously saying that a government (or king) has not the right to infringe upon these “natural” rights. While our Declaration calls these “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” we have further defined and protected these rights in the Constitution, its Amendments and other laws protecting civil rights and liberties; additionally, these have usually been further defined and codified to be more inclusive of life, liberty, happiness and the rights of the individual.
Upon this foundation we built our lighthouse of democracy to be a beacon, not a siren. This fundamental freedom of unalienable rights gave us the confidence, right and might to demand the ability to choose a religion (or none) of our own, to be able to speak out against our government, to be able to face our accusers in open, to be able to defend ourselves, to be represented in our government imposing laws, and the list goes on! Unalienable rights is not an archaic or antiquated term; we still have and demand them today – or so I hope. Remember, unalienable rights are those rights which one is born with, they are “natural” rights that everyone has or possesses.
Inalienable Rights Defined
While unalienable rights are those which everyone is born with (for example, “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” in the U.S. Declaration of Independence) and cannot be taken away or transferred, inalienable rights can be sold or transferred, but generally only with the consent of the person holding the privilege or right. So I may be born with the unalienable right to practice a religion of my choice and not the government’s, but I can transfer the ownership of my inalienable rights to my cemetery plot to someone when I later choose to be cremated. Okay, morbid example maybe, but you get the point hopefully.
Gay Marriage Unalienable Right
The BLUF (bottom line up front) is that marriage is an unalienable right. Yes, marriage between a man and a women, or between two men, or between two women, or between two transgendered persons, or … I really don’t care, for the most part, so long as they’re two consenting adults. Why? First, how do you begin to codify love? Is that not a human emotion that everyone is born with and impossible to define, codify or regulate; hence, an unalienable right? Because you cannot make the argument in the United States that it must be protected as a religious institution as that would be a violation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. To protect one group of people and not another would be a violation of the equal protections of the Constitution. The fact is, on most every logical, objective level of basic human rights, denying the same rights, privileges and protections to same sex or transgendered couples cannot be justified.
Final Thoughts
I was married for over 14 years and never once was my marriage threatened by a homosexual, bi-sexual or transgendered person. However, mine, like many marriages, did suffer from adulterous heterosexuals. The LGBT community is neither destroying the “nuclear family” nor is it a threat to the stability society or procreation – we breeders our doing our part in both those arenas amply.
Finally, if President Obama held a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden honoring Seal Team Six for their actions in the successful elimination of UBL, no doubt all the world would be in virtual attendance and we Americans would be full of pride for all that these silent professionals represent. Undoubtedly they would be worthy of our praise (and I hope they all got to split the reward money though I know it was the last thing on their minds) and more over most the world holds them, unknown though they may be, as heroes. But what if … what if one of those big, buff, bad ass special operation soldiers with a chest full of muscles and medals all of sudden announced he was a homosexual? Would he still be a hero? Would he still be worthy of your praise? Should he be afforded less rights than you or your spouse? I think not …
Customers Count – Not to Comcast
After a long hiatus from Internet blogging and other activities, with pushing from Ryan coupled with ever growing technologies making it more tolerable and finally after being pissed off to the point of action, I am going to be getting more active online again. So, with much gratitude to my family, friends, medical care team, speak-and-type technology, and to the Comcast Customer Care Fails for getting me to a level of pissificity rarely reached in my 40-plus years I intend to put some vigor back into my previous vitality and vinegar back into my prior restraint. That’s not to say that I still do not subscribe to being professional, patient, persistent, polite, protocol, and the like … but sometimes you gotta be willing to tell ‘em to go to hell too!
I don’t fancy myself some kind of underdog champion prize fighter by no means, but done wrong, backed into a corner and given no other option, I will come out swinging until one of us is exhausted or dead. One of my favorite NCO’s in the Army, 1SG Perry, called me his bulldog because when given an issue to work or advocate on behalf of a soldier, I wouldn’t let go of it until it was completely dead. I was a great human resources NCO, not because I had a photographic memory for regulations or was the smartest, but because I gave a damn. I didn’t go to seminars to memorize specialized BS psycho babble terms in fake attempts to show sympathy and empathy with customers while giving them the run around and no help or answers. I learned my job and even the jobs of others so that neither I nor my soldiers couldn’t be given BS answers and therefore get faster resolution, better services and overall reach greater efficacy levels in cohesion, production, retention, and the list easily goes on!
So why don’t more people have that attitude? Apathy! Why is apathy so rampant in the workplace? Apathy is infectious! However, apathy can be avoided, reversed and even eradicated from the workplace if a company truly fosters a healthy environment where rhetoric and reality at least attempt to meet. Huh? Companies like Comcast cable talk a good game in the public relations about their customer service commitments, customer service guarantees, on-time appointments, customer relationship management and the rhetoric goes on. But here’s a reality check, Comcast: How much CRM money are you wasting when you aggravate (piss off!) your customers by asking for the same information time and time again when they are prompted for it by the automated answering service, then asked again by a representative, then if transferred that information is not transferred to the next rep as the customer now gets to give her information all over again to another person – well done. How much did that cost you to piss off all those people?
That is just a small case in point that I bring up. I’m picking on Comcast because they recently picked on me, so to speak, and it’s reanimated my need to get off my duff and get myself and others talking again. Please join me and others over at Customers Count for a discussion about Comcast Customer Care (or that’s what they call it anyway) and other consumer advocacy issues facing us today. Thanks!
Cliche Has It Wrong
[Author's note: the opinion editorial below was submitted to and printed by The News Enterprise; sadly, their website leaves a lot to be desired so in case this link does not work or display the full content, the article in its entirety appears below. Also this is NOT the image the newspaper ran above my opinion article, though theirs was pretty good, I just liked this was equally well, but it edged out a bit more powerful on its statement and it was in color lol!]
Cliché has it wrong
Ignorance is not bliss; and certainly when it is arrogantly portrayed as blatant bigotry, the cliché becomes an all too-readily available excuse by others for another’s words or deeds. No, in fact ignorance is divisive, delusional and deadly, but rarely is it blissful.
Recent letters about Sharia law, immigrants and foreign language speakers, coupled with the news about current bills being debated in Congress that may allow U.S. employers to opt out of certain insurance coverage(s) under moral or religious grounds provide perfect examples of the hypocrisy by which most view, filter, act and react. It seems you’re welcomed if it’s my God, if you speak my language, if you believe my ideology.
It’s too bad writing wasn’t more widespread a few hundred years ago, that our ancestors didn’t keep better diaries or accounts and those that did weren’t more honest about their struggles. Then maybe, xenophobia, prejudices and even violence — or ignorance — wouldn’t be so rabid.
Political correctness or incorrectness has nothing to do with being right or wrong. You can be completely brash but still be fully spot on; conversely, you can be polite, speak well and even smile but be wholly wrong and profusely offensive.
Yes, many, if not most, Americans do believe in God, but that includes not just the hundreds of Christian denominations, but also His children who worship through Judaism or submit unto Him under Islam. Despite this overwhelming commonality and seeming majority, that gives us not the right to opine or oppress others to our ways in every way.
Should we force the Amish into our public schools and shun them for not taking a pledge to our flag because they consider it sacrilege? Should we call Jehovah’s Witnesses out for jury duty just to see if they’ll take an oath and then jail them when they won’t? Would Teddy Roosevelt, who protested “In God We Trust” on money as sacrilege, approve of Congress limiting healthcare for women under moral grounds while providing Viagra to men without question? What is the ancestry of 99 percent of Americans? I wonder what language [my] the Mignot family spoke when they emigrated to the U.S. in 1856 from France?
If we want ignorance to be blissful, then be humble enough to know we don’t always really know; ask more questions before purporting to espouse the answers, please.
W. R. Mineo
In the Line of Duty
As I poured over the Internet for news this morning about the devastating storms that ripped through the South and Southeast overnight, I learned about a Louisiana police officer who died as a result of the storms; he died in the line of duty, not as a law enforcement official, but from a higher, more powerful calling – in the line of duty as a parent. While the NY Daily News article did not have or release the father’s name, National Park Service supervisor Kim Korthuis stated the father, camping with his 9-year old daughter in Choctaw County Mississippi, used his body to shield the girl when a tree fell on their tent. A bystander and campsite volunteer confirmed the girl was unharmed, only wet, and obviously scared.
It is always tough to read about a soldier, police officer, fire fighter, first responder, or others who willing serve others so that we may all live with more assurance, who dies in the line of her or his duties; however, and no doubt being a parent is in and of itself a bias, there is something so striking, so innately primal and instinctive about the protection of a child – especially your own – that in some instant, bizarre and macabre thought, I began to question how not to rank but to recognize this level of “service”.
When a soldier or police officer dies, especially in the line of duty, very rightful, respectful and solemn honors are paid to the fallen. I have seen many memorial services for people from many backgrounds of service and duty over the years, but I cannot begin to fathom a rightful, respectful and honorable service for a parent who dies in the line of duty; nothing seems to come close to honorific enough. A flag may drape his coffin, bagpipes may play Amazing Grace or Taps, guns may fire in salute to his service, but what will truly honor his ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty as a parent?
I know it is a huge digression from the devastation and other sad news surrounding the storms in the area for many, but I think some of those who have served and some of those who are parents too will understand the philosophical dilemma so to speak. When my time is up, military and masonic honors conveyed and that folded flag presented to my children, I certainly want them to be cognizant and hopefully proud of my service, but I hope I have done them a better service simply as their parent.
Maybe there is no appropriate honor we can bestow upon this yet named champion, but rest assured that no one will ever be able to define amply terms like sacrifice, hero, service, and parent to his little girl that her father’s line of duty and ultimate deed as a parent has taught and will resonate with her and others for lifetimes to come.