Blogging Blue

This link came to my emailbox, courtesy of my friend Kevin.

The link itself takes you to Bad Science, and it highlights an exchange between Richard Lenski, a biologist who recently found evidence for the emergence of new traits among E.coli bacteria, and Andrew Schlafly, a right wing christian activist who also happens to run Conservapedia. The exchange centers around an ongoing experiment run by Lenski, the results of which seem to look a bit like evolution. In the interest of not posting the entire exchange here, I’ll just encourage you all to click the link above and enjoy for yourselves, and if you’re interested in reading more about the experiment itself, here’s a good link that’s not too hard to to read.

Now go….click the first link; you won’t be disappointed!

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Earlier today this blog had its 15,000th visitor, and July 1, 2008 marked the one year anniversary since I submitted the first post here on Blogging Blue. From the inception of Blogging Blue back in July of 2007, it took 10 months to hit our 10,000th visitor, and since hitting 10,000, it’s only taken two months to hit 15,000. Each month more and more folks are visiting Blogging Blue, and I wanted to take a minute to thank my three regular readers for sticking with me, as well as all those other folks who have visited.

It’s been a great first year, and here’s hoping to an even better second year.

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What is patriotism?

How do you define it?

Is patriotism defined by which politician wears a flag pin on his lapel more consistently, or is patriotism defined as a blind obedience to one’s country and its leaders, no matter the circumstances?

A recent article by Peter Beinart in TIME Magazine prompted me to start thinking about how I define patriotism, and I can’t think of a more fitting day than today - our nation’s Independence Day - to both share my thoughts and have a discussion about what constitutes patriotism.

In his article, Beinart discusses two types of patriotism: a patriotism of affirmation, which he says appeals more to conservatives, and a patriotism of dissent, which is particularly cherished by liberals. Of course, I consider myself a patriot precisely because I choose to dissent when I believe my leaders are wrong, just as our nation’s founding fathers chose to dissent - and ultimately revolt - when they believed their British rulers to be wrong. I believe dissent and debate are patriotic because they’re precisely what our founding fathers had in mind when they created our democracy, and so I believe dissent and debate to be at the very heart of patriotism.

What’s more, I believe the love and defense of the ideals set forth in the Declaration of Independence that constitutes the true meaning of patriotism:

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.

These are the ideals upon which our nation was founded - life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness - and I believe anyone who loves and defends those ideals, regardless of party affiliation or political ideology, is a true patriot.

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I don’t ordinarily brag about how great my family is - but rest assured, they’re positively phenomenal - but I wanted to take a minute to brag about my stepdaughter Alexis. Alexis was one of three students chosen to give demonstrations at Summerfest on behalf of her dojo, and she did a great job. There’s a few pictures after the break:

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As jay said, I’ve got a seven word eulogy, but this is a clean blog.

However, I will say that as someone who’s always taken pride in his own comedic talents, I’ve always admired George Carlin’s acerbic wit and humor, and I know his talents will be missed.

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