Guns and the Kansas Constitution

Issues surrounding the question of firearms have been swooshing around the country recently in the form of a failed gun bill in the Senate, and more entertainingly, Kansas' legally questionable Second Amendment Protection Act, Attorney General Eric Holder's letter to Governor Brownback, and Secretary of State Kris Kobach's apparently independent, certainly unprecedented, and almost polemic response.

Whatever you think of the matter, you might enjoy reading a bit about Kansas' somewhat unusual constitutional provision concerning the right to bear arms as selected from Francis Heller's (1992) The Kansas State Constitution: A Reference Guide:

Bear arms; armies.  The people have the right to bear arms for their defense and security; but standing armies, in time of peace, are dangerous to liberty, and shall not be tolerated, and the military shall be in strict subordination to the civil power.

    This section, like some others in the Kansas and other state constitutions, is cast in affirmative terms ("[t]he people have the right") as against the negative phrasing ("the right of the people . . . shall not be infringed") in the Second Amendment (and others) to the federal Constitution.  It is also noteworthy that, differing from the language of the Second Amendment, the Kansas constitution does not tie the right to bear arms to the existence of a militia.  On the other hand, the Kansas court has held that the wording "[t]he people have the right" means that the right is collectively held and not one enjoyed by the individual.  Hence, a prohibition of the promiscuous carrying of arms does not violate this section (Salina v. Blaksley, 1905; City of Junction City v. Lee, 1975).

    The result appears to be that the individual owner or prospective owner of firearms may enjoy less protection under the state constitution than is accorded by the present [1990's] interpretation of the federal constitution. (50-1)

If you'd like to read more, I certainly encourage you to find a copy of  it.  Heller does an almost brilliant job of expressing "how state constitutional history can illuminate changes in political thought and practice, providing a basis for theories about the dynamics of political change in America." (Tarr, 1992, foreword to The Kansas State Constitution, xvii).  This work should be considered mandatory reading for any student with an interest in our State's legal and/or political history.

"Failed to Delete" Facebook Note - Solution

Alright, so you've grown tired of what you've written in a Facebook note five years ago, or perhaps even more importantly you've inadvertently shared copyrighted material.  Either way, that note has got to go.

Unfortunately, some users may encounter the error "failed to delete note" when attempting to delete especially old or imported content via a web browser such as Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Chrome.  Worry not! I have a solution for some of you, and it worked more recently than two years ago.

Here's what you need:  A smartphone and the Facebook App.

Got it? Good. Let's get started

First, you want to open the Facebook App and travel to your profile's home screen.  It's the one with your cover photo, wall and etcetera.  Once there, you need to scroll to the right a bit in search of an icon which appears similar to this:

Find it?  Good - select that sucker!

We should now be looking at a page containing the note or notes you wish to delete.  In my case, it's just this one note I wish to delete, but you may have more.  Don't Panic because the images are not 100% similar.  Your screen will appear more-or-less like this:

Choose the note you wish to delete by selecting it's title (boxed in red).  This will take you to the content of the note itself.  Once there, scroll to the bottom of the post and locate the "Delete" button:

Once you select "Delete" you'll be taken to a final "Are You Sure" page:

Hells yeaahh!

At any rate, this is all it took for me to avoid the "failed to delete note" error occurring on my browser (Firefox)  I hope it works for you as well!

Cats Are Wicked, Man

It's hardly ever the wrong time for a funny quote concerning the disposition of many cats:

I have known some horses and a good many more pigs who I believed harbored evil intent in their hearts. I will go further and say all cats are wicked, though often useful. Who has not seen Satan in their sly faces? Some preachers will say, well, that is superstitious 'Claptrap.' My answer is this: Preacher, go to your Bible and read Luke 8: 26-33.

Mattie Ross, True Grit

President Obama's 23 Executive Orders

I don't rightly know which astute news service made the mistake first, but I do know this: almost every single major news outlet followed down the same road.  Of course, we're talking about President Obama's infamous "23 Executive Orders" which in some way amounted to tearing the Constitution to pieces.  Whatever you feel about the Second Amendment debate argument shouting match, I assume you'll benefit from a tidy civics lesson and some clarification.  So let's get started.

The confusion appears to have begun over some jackass neglecting to understand that "Executive Action" is not equivalent to "Executive Order."  For the record.  Here's the formal, you heard it from a political scientist, definition of Executive Order:

• directs an agency or agencies to engage in some course of action pursuant to the law. (Hamilton, C., 2011, interview)

It's really that straightforward.  Here's the definition of Executive Action:

• There isn't one.

Even more telling, and indeed the thing which caught me on to this mistake, is the fact that despite having apparently issued "23 Executive Orders," not a single one is listed on the White House website. Indeed, the most recent Executive Order was published (as of this writing) December 27, 2012, and has not anything to do with firearms.  

So what's going on?  Well, it turns out that a bunch of confused people confused a whole bunch of additional people.  Here's what's really happened:

On January 16, 2012 President Obama presented a proposal titled Now Is The Time: The President's Plan to Protect Our Children and Our Communities by Reducing Gun Violence (whew).  The proposal included the issuing of three Presidential Memorandum, which he signed at a table surrounded by a bunch of children.  So what the hell is a Presidential Memorandum? Here's what it is:

• "a public veto statement, or a definition to the public or to an agency of what the President understands legal policies to be." (Hamilton, C., 2011, interview)

The three Memorandum signed that day may be read by visiting the White House's website.  They are individually titled: "Engaging in Public Health Research on the Causes and Prevention of Gun Violence," "Improving Availability of Relevant Executive Branch Records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System," and "Tracing of Firearms in Connection with Criminal Investigations."

So, if there are only three Memorandum, none of them are actually Executive Orders, and the proposal istself lists 41 bullet points for areas of action, where the hell did the number "23" come from?  Your guess is as good as mine, really.  From what I've gathered reading through the proposal, the "23" marks the fairly random number of points media outlets chose to run-with after scanning the document for concise statements (aka laziness).

So there you have it: a miniature civics lesson, and a bit of clarification.

In Praise of Contemporary Music (Back by Popular Demand)

I wrote this years ago, and people have asked about it since.  Do enjoy.

*  *  *

I often find myself so moved by the expressiveness of contemporary musical scores, I can hardly contain my existence. For this very reason, and other quasi-existential things, I have been moved to write a contemporary score of my own. However, I fear that too many people lack the intricate power of expressive thought to appreciate the piece for its true genius. Alas, I publish it in hopes that at least one of you among the fickle mass will emancipate yourself from those terribly heavy intellectual bonds. And now my humble offering upon the pyre of knowledge . . .

An Occurrence of Morning Dew Upon The Spirit of Mankind or How a Nest is Best De-birded

Op. 69, N.P.S. (No Particular Scale)

Movement The First
Time Signature: 3/17, affettuoso

[Plant face in center of keyboard] rest half beat [Drag face along keyboard to left]; [Grab person closest and make the sound of a turtle].

Second Movement
Ibid. a fortiori
[Do nothing for 35 minutes]; [Return face to keyboard (center)]; [Pluck string of harp (scowl)]; [Play middle C on piano (smile)].

Movement The Third
Time Signature: 17/3, larghetto con brio
[Grab person closest and make the sound of a turtle]; rest half beat [Plant face to left of keyboard (look confused)]; [Reenact your birth].

fin.

I do hope you enjoy this piece; as I have put much love and thought into it. For those of you who are competent, there may be some question as to my choice at the end of the piece. Some might say reenacting one's birth is a form of resolve, but this is not so. Rather it should be viewed as the beginning of becoming. This becoming implies the birth of man from chaos, and forebodes difficulty thereafter.

You may also notice the title has very little to do with the piece itself. Indeed; as the living will find life often has nothing to do with anything.

As a final note; keys stroked during the dragging of your face will no doubt create a visual image upon the screen of the computer used. I recommend printing this image off on an aged piece of parchment and displaying it. The paper will no doubt serve as a fine piece of contemporary artwork worthy of any astute gallery. However, be wary - the parchment must only be hung in opposition to classical works. Otherwise, the universe would surely collapse in and upon itself by virtue of confusion. I therefore recommend the piece be hung upon the floor or ceiling.  One might also consider placing it in the trashcan; for this will surely throw the observer off, and add salience to points obscured . . . heretofore.

Now, I'm off to film a man eating a cheeseburger, so be sure to leave a like and share this genius with your intellectually challenged friends.  It will be good for them.