Late

I know they say better late than never, I'm not always sure about that. Either way, I'm late posting... again. I promised some real commentary today, so here it is.

You've all heard by now the curfuffle involved with the inauguration and the Oath of Office. It was taken twice by the President just to make sure because Chief Justice John Roberts flub. When he retook the oath, President Obama (its going to take a while to get sick of typing that), started off by saying: "we're going to do it very slowly." This is good, this is an amusing historical anecdote.

Here's what wasn't really talked about; part of the oath stated on January 20th, may have, in fact, been illegal. On December 31, 2008 American Attorney and Emergency Medical Physician (is there anything this guy can't do?) Michael Newdow along with 17 other people and 10 seperate groups filed an injunction against Chief Justice Roberts. The contention of the suit was that it was illegal for him to add the words "so help me God" at the end of the Oath. At no time did they claim it was illegal for President Obama to confirm the Oath by adding those four words at the end, only that the one administering the Oath could not require it.

Both Article Two, Section One, Clause Eight and the 22nd Amendment make reference to the President assuming the duties of the office. For purposes of this discussion I'll only be reviewing Article Two, since Amendment 22 only talks about timing of assuming office. This section requires this specifically:

Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Of note is the possibility of Affirmation in place of Oath. An Oath is typically considered to have religious impact. Since 1695 British law has included the ability to affirm rather than swear, primarily as a concern over Quakers who refused to swear due to religious objections. This is also used by atheists who wish to avoid the same religious implications.

So, this has not been difinitively ruled on yet. The Circuit Court stopped the injunction from proceeding, in part because US District Court Judge Reggie Walton in an oral ruling believed he did not have the authority to stop the Chief Justice from prompting the words, or to keep Obama from saying them. There will be an appeal.

So, what do you think?

Just as a side note, Franklin Pierce, in possibly the best thing he ever did while in office, affirmed rather than swore.

Lost

Tonight, is many things, or at least a few. My daughter is back at the house tonight, an event I look forward to each Wednesday. We have our first "offical" gathering at the house tonight. And the reason for said gathering, The Season 5 Premiere of Lost is on ABC at 9 pm. To commememorate this, I have added a new gadget to my sidebar. Lost fans, enjoy.

Up next, commentary on the Oath of Office of President of the United States of America. As I have more time around lunch I'll work this up.

For Tuesday

I know I promised to post more often, but haven't yet. This week has been super crazy at work. I DID want to post this, though for use on Tuesday. Live, streaming coverage of the Obama Inaugeration from Hulu.

Enjoy.

Post-Catharsis

Doing much better, by the by. I think the post did serve to purge some of the demons. Now the new twist is getting used to living with new people. I'm used to a lot more quiet and alone time. Let me say clearly that this is not necessarily a bad thing, just very different.

I watched Death Bed, The Bed That Eats the other night. Irredeemable crap.

Now I like bad movies, I especially like bad horror movies, and I am grateful that I watched this movie because I think it has helped explain what it is that I like about bad horror movies. Most of the time when a bad movie is made you can sense one of two distinct feels, perhaps motive is a better word: either they know that they are setting out to make a bad movie and attempt nothing better (Slither, Zombi 2) or they would like to make a good movie and are forced to make decisions due to lack of experience or funding (Night of the Living Dead (and yes I'll argue this is a bad and a good movie), Evil Dead).

Death Bed was somewhere in between. Some will argue that it falls into the latter category mentioned above (good intentions, bad funding), but I disagree. Give Romero or Raimi a bigger budget and a skilled effects crew and they could remake those movies to incredible effect (the rest of the Dead series and Evil Dead 2). Writer-Director-Producer George Barry no doubt thought he was in the latter category, but there is no way you can plant that seed and have anything prosper. The premise is incomprehensible, the script is nonsensical, the magical narrator seems to have no way of knowing what he knows, and much of it is an excuse to re-use the effects they had or to show one of the women with her shirt off. Kidnap Spielberg at gunpoint and force him to make this movie and you wouldn't get anything better, just a larger budget. This movie fails on all fronts. Rocket Time was better.

That's all for this rant. Next time... poodles. Or something.

Breaking out

I mentioned in my last post that some things would change, and, although you may not be aware of it, I have already started. Previously, other than my intermission posts, all posts were titled with an R.E.M. song. Back in the 90's, I was a huge fan and really got into the band. When I built this blog, the first post's title was inspired by a song of their's and I decided to keep it up. But I am throwing that off, not because I don't like the band, but, really, because I'm discarding some of my former baggage, and that seems to be a good metaphorical start.

I'm going to talk a bit about how I feel lately. As I'm sure you are aware, I moved from my home in Southington, to a new home in Bristol. Currently we have a contract to close on the house for January 30, so I am hoping I can close that chapter behind me soon. I made the first drop off of Gwen to her mother at the new house she is renting with some others on Saturday. I had no Christmas tree this year. I spent Christmas without any family around me. I went to someone else's house for New Year's Eve.

All of these things have conspired together to leave me very far outside of my element. I am scared and I am sad. All of this transition at once has left me close to depressed. While I am intellectually aware that getting back together with Jenn would be a bad idea were such a thing even possible (which, again, I am intellectually aware it is not), knowing that Jenn was not coming back and sleeping in the same house as me ever again brought me to tears. Knowing that I won't accidently see Gwen at the house on days that she's with her mother made me cry. I'm angry and sad, and I want my family back, and I know I'm not going to get that. I came very far during my therapy this summer, and now I'm starting to feel like I'm headed in the wrong direction.

But I will not let it get me.

I've been thinking a lot about a great many things in my life. Things I waste time and money on. This will come as a disappointment to some of you, but I am going to be cutting back on my gaming. I will no longer be doing anything game related that takes place outside of the day of game. I will most likely be discontinuing playing some of the LARPs I play in now, and may not replace them with others. I am very sick of the disfunctional relationships that build up around LARPs. I am sick of player drama ("I don't get enough plot", "My chracter can't accomplish anything", "The ST has it out for me", etc). I am sick of ST ego trips. I am sick of the elitism that seems to accompany each group who thinks they are better than another for some reason or another. Frankly, I am sick of people forgetting that it is an activity we choose to do to have fun.

I will be, more than likely, playing more tabletop games, spending time writing for and filming for Elmwood, learning puppetry, working on my productive hobbies, and trying to excel in my career and in those things that bring me true pleasure. Above all I plan to be even more dedicated to my daughter's well-being. I'd like to work on more projects for her, spend more quality time together.

I know this sounds like a depressing post, and for that, I apologize. For me its not depressing, in fact, its been cathartic. I've worked through it, feel better and I am moving on.

To all of you who have read through all of this. Thank you, and know that you are loved.