onfocus

Instead of auto-posts from del.icio.us, I'm going to post links in batches—maybe once a week. (?) This time around I'm focusing on the three P's: Politics, Parenting, and the iPhone.

If I detach from the mess our federal government is in, watching the gears grind is fascinating. In school they'd throw out wild scenarios just to show that the framers built a robust system with multiple redundancies that couldn't possibly be toppled by one of the branches loosing their collective minds. We have a system for Presidential succession, checks and balances, and an orderly justice system that can ferret out corruption even in the halls of power. With the administration pushing the limits of our system, reading the news everyday is like a civics lesson. Follow along:

• Washington Post: Broader Privilege Claimed In Firings: "...administration officials argued yesterday that Congress has no power to force a U.S. attorney to pursue contempt charges in cases, such as the prosecutor firings, in which the president has declared that testimony or documents are protected from release by executive privilege." This article mentions congress' power of inherent contempt not used since the 30's.
• Harper's: A Republic, If You Can Keep It: "...they will argue that the president, because he controls the apparatus of the administration of the law—the Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorneys—can do exactly as he likes, and the Congress can do nothing about it." This article puts the current swing toward authoritarianism in historical perspective.
• Why bother with impeachment? That's the question Bill Moyers put to Bruce Fein in a fascinating interview. Bill Moyers: Tough Talk on Impeachment.

Like I mentioned, if I emotionally detach from the situation at hand, it'll be interesting to see if the American system can handle the strain. I'm not giving up hope yet.

Here are a few parenting-related bookmarks:

• Alternatives to mainstream baby paraphernalia? Every single thing we've received from the hospital has been branded—diaper brands, mostly. And the diapers themselves are branded with children's TV show characters. So this question about finding non-branded baby stuff is something I've been wondering for a while.
• We're still considering names, and for a while I had the Baby Names Voyager up more than Google. The other day sk found Nymbler, a nice Ajax-y interface for name recommendations. I wish it had a bit more information about each name, but it's a great start.
• Megnut: How I ate while pregnant: "Believe me when I tell you the pressure to ensure everything you eat isn't going to kill or permanently damage your unborn child is intense."

I'm loving my iPhone. Related:

• TUAW: ssh on iPhone. Hackers have found a way to get SSH working. This is early, but ssh would let me do administrative crap on my servers via the iPhone. I hope this gets solid soon.
• iPhone VNC. A remote desktop tool that runs in the iPhone browser. Very nice hack, but I'm not sure I trust running a modified VNC on my servers.
• I've been trying to figure out if I like the standard Google interface on the iPhone, or the mobile interface better. And now there's this: Google iPhone Search. Too many choices.

And we're up to date.

Tonight sk and I went to hear Susan Jacoby speak at OSU. She's written a history of American secularism called Freethinkers. She was quick to point out that the secular American government was the first of its kind. The American constitution says that the power of the government comes from "we the people" rather than the divine. I couldn't help but think of the scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail where King Arthur runs into some peasants working in the field and has some trouble when he asks for info:

Arthur: I am your king!

Woman: Well, I didn't vote for you.

Arthur: You don't vote for kings.

Woman: Well, how did you become King, then?

Arthur: The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water signifying by Divine Providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. That is why I am your king!

Dennis: Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.

Arthur: Be quiet!

The scene is funny because it points out that ideas about government have changed over the centuries. Of course this has little to do with Jacoby's talk, and I'm not doing her talk justice with a Python quote. But it was great to hear her speaking strongly for freedom of thought, and pointing out the reasons why we have a secular government today. Even though discussing secularism isn't in vogue right now, I do believe it's important to remember that separation of church and state—ending the idea of a compulsory state religion—has been a key element in the success of the American experiment. I picked up her book, and I'm looking forward to learning more.