#18 - SCALIA AND YOGA, ASHLEY MADISON

SCALIA AND YOGA
It begins with a guy named Scalia who says that the Constitution is a dead document.

"If you somehow adopt a philosophy that the Constitution itself is not static, but rather, it morphs from age to age to say whatever it ought to say — which is probably whatever the people would want it to say — you've eliminated the whole purpose of a constitution. And that's essentially what the 'living constitution' leaves you with."

 What about precedents that Scalia believes are wrongly decided?


"I just say, 'Let's cut it out. Go back to the good, old dead Constitution'."

Clear as crystal, correct?

So you tell me. How do we get to the point that corporations are people if we begin with the good, old dead Constitution? And even if we accept that corporations are people based on corporate law precedent, where does the Constitution so much as imply that money equals speech? Apparently, it does. At least, Scalia believes that it does. But it doesn't end there. No.

Corporations have deeply held religious beliefs. At least, closely held corporations do. (Did you know that six Justices are Catholic?) Enter Hobby Lobby. A good, Christian corporation that opposes abortion. (A Catholic corporation, perhaps?) Let's exempt them from the healthcare legislation that is supposed to be universal. That's what's meant by freedom of religion, isn't it?


Are you getting the picture? Do you agree that the dead Constitution is one hell of a flexible cadaver? Maybe for the past 230 years or so, the Constitution has been practicing yoga.


At least, that's what Kim Davis hopes.




ASHLEY MADISON
I am reminded of the hack that resulted in nude photos of starlets popping up all over the internet. There's nothing inherently illegal about having an Ashley Madison account. The illegality is the hack that makes the names of account holders public. So it's a privacy issue, right? The account holders are the aggrieved parties. Right?


I don't buy it. Yes, you have a perfect right to be naughty and stupid. But if you decide to be naughty and stupid on the internet, people who are naughty and smart are going to enjoy exposing you. It's a given. If you refuse to blame yourself for being naughty and stupid, you can't blame them for being naughty and smart.