FC: More on Loyalty Day Proclamation: Don't blame George W. Bush

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

---

From: "BobCat" <bob.cat () snet net>
To: <declan () well com>
Subject: Re: Are you a loyal U.S. citizen? President Bush signs Proclamation
Date: Wed, 7 May 2003 07:43:17 -0400
Organization: NYMPHS dot ORG

> Declan,
>   Have you seen this? I can't believe that I missed this in the press...
> http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/04/20030430-26.html
>
> Loyalty Day, 2003

Why didn't we see this in the press when *Clinton* did it? Oh, he's a
Democrat.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casecode/uscodes/36/subtitles/i/parts/a/chapters/1/sections/section_115.html

---

From: "BobCat" <bob.cat () snet net>
To: <declan () well com>
References: <5.2.0.9.0.20030507003721.0115e508 () mail well com>
Subject: Re: Are you a loyal U.S. citizen? President Bush signs Proclamation
Date: Wed, 7 May 2003 07:48:22 -0400
Organization: NYMPHS dot ORG

> Subject: loyalty day on may day?

http://mail.theholidayspot.com/mayday/loyalty_day.htm

"While the concept came into being quite early in the '30s giving rise to
various functions, it took until 1949 to proclaim the observance of Loyalty
Day. And this was when forty nine states and territorial governors joined
in. Thanks to the efforts of Senator Karl Mundt of North Dakota and
Representative James E. Van Zandt of Pennsylvania. In May 1, 1958, President
Dwight D. Eisenhower made it a day of national observance."

---

From: [a professor of political science]
To: "'declan () well com'" <declan () well com>
Subject: Re: FC: Are you a loyal U.S. citizen? President Bush signs Procla
        mation
Date: Wed, 7 May 2003 08:11:13 -0400

Declan,

Most of the time I can endure the sophomoric, simplistic beyond belief
anti-government muck on this listserve to get the few nuggets of thoughtful
commentary or insight that occasionally sift out.

This time I can't.

President Bush didn't create Loyalty Day.  He didn't even create the idea of
issuing a Proclamation.  Congress did in '95-'96, which means that President
Clinton signed it into law.  I suspect that it didn't get much press play
this year is that, like any number of "days" that the president must
proclaim, no one cares very much.

http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/36/115.html

For God's sake will someone use their JD? or even the power of the internet
to fact check occasionally?  And what the heck does Loyalty Day have to do
with technology or privacy other than to stoke the paranoia that elected
officials are out to climb into the beds of your readers?

Spare me the flame from your acolytes.  Don't use my name or address if,
perchance, you choose to correct the error contained in the email that I
respond to here.

With apologies for the pissy tone and best regards,

[Name deleted. In defense of list members, there are few folks here who are 
anti-government; that would make them anarchists. I'd guess that most would 
agree with our professor that government is necessary to provide public 
goods such as police and the courts. So the question becomes what *level* 
of government is necessary. --Declan]

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Date: Wed, 7 May 2003 07:27:31 -0400 (EDT)
From: <owens () nysernet org>
To: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
Subject: Re: FC: Are you a loyal U.S. citizen? President Bush signs 
Proclamation

This was news to me, but hardly new:

http://www.theholidayspot.com/mayday/loyalty_day.htm
"While the concept came into being quite early in the '30s giving rise to
various functions, it took until 1949 to proclaim the observance of
Loyalty Day. And this was when forty nine states and territorial governors
joined in. Thanks to the efforts of Senator Karl Mundt of North Dakota and
Representative James E. Van Zandt of Pennsylvania. In May 1, 1958,
President Dwight D. Eisenhower made it a day of national observance."

A quick search shows GWB issuing similar proclamations in 2001 and 2002,
as well as Clinton, Bush Sr., Reagan, Carter - I stopped looking at that
point.

Bill.

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Date: Wed, 07 May 2003 05:16:46 -0400
From: Nick Bretagna <onemug () bellsouth net>
Reply-To: afn41391 () afn org
To: declan () well com
CC: dfc () anize org
Subject: Re: FC: Are you a loyal U.S. citizen? President Bush signs 
Proclamation

Douglas F. Calvert wrote:

>
> http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/04/20030430-26.html
>
> Loyalty Day, 2003
> By the President of the United States of America
> A Proclamation
>
> <snip>
>
>  I also call upon government officials to display the flag of the United
> States on all government buildings on Loyalty Day
>
> <snip>
>
.... uh...

1) I am rather amused that this isn't standard practice for typical
government buildings **every** day. If they can put surveillance cameras all
over them, they ought to be able to deal with one flinkin' *flag*

2) Will this include -secret- CIA and NSA installations??? LOL.



--
------- --------- ------- -------- ------- ------- -------
Nicholas Bretagna II
mailto:afn41391 () afn org

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Date: Wed, 7 May 2003 02:30:50 -0700
Subject: Re: FC: Are you a loyal U.S. citizen? President Bush signs 
Proclamation
From: Ask Bjoern Hansen <ask () develooper com>
To: declan () well com
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

On Tuesday, May 6, 2003, at 21:40 America/Los_Angeles, Declan McCullagh wrote:

> http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/04/20030430-26.html

The Onion hacked the whitehouse.gov server!


 - ask

--
http://www.askbjoernhansen.com/

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To: president () whitehouse gov
Subject: Re: FC: Are you a loyal U.S. citizen? President Bush signs 
Proclamation
Message-ID: <1052308126.3eb8f29ecf694 () mail borderware com>
Date: Wed, 07 May 2003 07:48:46 -0400 (EDT)
From: Chris Blask <blask () borderware com>
Cc: declan () well com


Mr. Bush:

This is a little unsettling.

I am a pretty hard-core Ayn-Randian American capitalist individualist -
precisely the values I believe are the core value set of America, that make it
unique in the present world and in history, as well as what makes it worth
defending at almost any cost.

Let's not get Orwellian with this "Loyalty Day" theme.  Also, "nation" is not
capitalized when it does not appear at the beginning of a sentence, unless 
it is
a Dictatorial Nation or you speak German, which I'm almost positive is not the
case in America.

I believe that the way to strengthen America is to strengthen Americans: to 
show
them how to build confidence in themselves and their abilities, to appreciate
the uniqueness of their situation and encourage them to own and cherish their
responsibility for their lives and their actions.  By supporting the 
freedom and
individuality of each American citizen you are creating an environment which
will foster "loyalty" to the ideal and fact of the American nation.  By
declaring "Loyalty Day" you are artificially manufacturing a giddy groupism
which misses the whole point of being American.

As an American citizen who lives outside the country (I married the one 
Canadian
girl who thinks like a Yank ;-) I find myself with, I believe, an unusually
clear view of what makes America priceless.  My heart and soul support the
ideals of my country and my words and actions support the fact of my country on
a daily basis.

Please take this note in the spirit it is intended - that of one as supportive
of America and what it stands for as is likely to be found in the light of 
day -
 and consider the point I am making for the merit it has.  Do not place 
too much
emphasis on "Creating Loyalty to Your Nation": love cannot be forced and 
loyalty
is a characteristic that can only exist where it is unasked for.

-cheers

-chris blask




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