Scott Bradford: Off on a Tangent

‘Full Faith and Credit,’ CHP’s, and DOMA

Posted

Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof.—U.S. Constitution, Article IV, Section 1

I have a state-issued driver’s license and motorcycle endorsement. It was issued by the government of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and it authorizes me to operate an automobile or motorcycle on public roads. It also authorizes me to operate an automobile or motorcycle in the neighboring jurisdictions of Washington, D.C. and Maryland. In fact, it authorizes me to operate these types of vehicles anywhere in the United States, as it should. Imagine the chaos if Illinois decided it wouldn’t recognize Virginia driver’s licenses, or if California wouldn’t recognize Oregon’s, or if Texas wouldn’t recognize New Hampshire’s.

Each of the fifty states are required by the U.S. Constitution to afford ‘full faith and credit’ to the official actions of each of the other states. When I travel to any other state in the country, their governments have no authority to question my Virginia-issued driver’s license. It is perfectly valid, no less so than if my license had been issued by the state in-which I am traveling. And that is that.

This recognition is not, and should not be, completely unlimited. For example, if I actually move to a different state, my new state government has every right to require that I get a new license issued by them, and that I follow their rules. For example, let’s say (for the sake of argument) that South Dakota will only issue driver’s licenses to people over the age of twenty-one, while Virginia will issue them to anybody over sixteen. If I happen to be a Virginia resident with a Virginia license, South Dakota must recognize it if I happen to be passing through . . . even if I am only eighteen. But if I move to South Dakota, they may require that I obtain a South Dakota license within sixty days (or whatever) to maintain my driving privileges. As a resident of South Dakota, they have every right to refuse to issue a new license until I comply with their requirements—that I be twenty-one or older, in this example.

Although it is not explicitly stated by the U.S. Constitution, it is certainly implied that the ‘full faith and credit’ clause must also apply to federal acceptance of state records and decisions. For example, the federal government must accept a state-issued birth certificate as evidence of a political candidate’s age and citizenship. The federal government must also accept my Virginia-issued driver’s license as valid identification, and as valid authorization to operate an automobile or motorcycle in national parks, military bases, and other federal properties.

Read more . . .

Goose Creek Stone Bridge

Posted

Melissa and I went for a nice afternoon drive down some of the wonderful country roads in Loudoun, Prince William, and Fauquier Counties today. Along the way we stopped at the Goose Creek Stone Bridge, which is located just north of the Loudoun/Fauquier border to the west of Middleburg, Virginia. It was built some time between 1801 and 1803 to carry the Ashby’s Gap Turnpike, and it is among the oldest and longest remaining stone turnpike bridges in Virginia. In June 1863, it was the site of a battle between advancing Union and retreating Confederate troops.

When U.S. 50 was built, replacing the Ashby’s Gap Turnpike through this area, it was routed slightly further south on a modern bridge . . . but thankfully, unlike countless other historic bridges, this one was not torn down. The property is now owned and maintained by the Fauquier-Loudon Garden Club and is open to the public.

‘Gallery Shortcode Style to Head’ Version 2.3

Posted
Plugin Settings Screen
Plugin Settings Screen

I’ve just released an update to the ‘Gallery Shortcode Style to Head‘ plugin for WordPress, bringing the version to 2.3.

WordPress places the CSS styles for its galleries directly into the post content, which breaks XHTML validation. This plugin moves the styles into the header of the page where they belong. It also gives you the option to modify the default gallery style CSS or disable the gallery styles entirely (so you can control them from your template CSS files).

This update is a small maintenance update that corrects an ‘undefined variable’ error that was occurring with new versions of WordPress. As a result of the changes, the plugin now requires WordPress 3.0 or higher.

As always, contact me if you find any bugs or issues!

Papal Conclave to Begin Tuesday, March 12

Posted

The College of Cardinals has voted in their eighth General Congregation to begin the papal conclave on Tuesday, March 12, 2013. The College will vote in that conclave, which is held privately in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel, to elect a new Roman Pontiff to lead the Catholic Church.

A new pope must receive a two-thirds super-majority vote. At the 2005 papal conclave that followed the death of Blessed John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI was elected after four ballot cycles, with at least two ballots held each day during the conclave. As such, it is possible (though not certain) that a new pope will be elected before the end of next week.

Of the 117 cardinals under the age of eighty who are eligible to vote in the conclave, 115 will participate. The other two cardinals have excused themselves from the proceedings for personal or health reasons.

Pope Benedict XVI resigned the papacy at the end of February, the first pontiff to do so in nearly six hundred years. Once elected, his successor will be the 266th Bishop of Rome—an office first held by Saint Peter, whom Christ had appointed head of the church (cf. Matthew 16:19)—and will be responsible for shepherding the world’s 1.16 billion Catholics.

North Korea Vows to Re-Cancel 1953 Armistice

Posted

I read with some amusement this morning that North Korea has vowed that, effective March 11, it is cancelling the 1953 armistice agreement that ended the Korean war. In and of itself, this kind of saber-rattling isn’t very funny. The two Korean states are still technically at war with one another, and nobody wants the Korean peninsula to erupt into violence again. But I laughed when I saw the headline because I distinctly remember that the government of North Korea already announced that the armistice was over back in May 2009.

The reclusive government of North Korea has always had a penchant for brinkmanship and has regularly violated the armistice anyway. In November 2010, for example, the North Korean military launched a full-on artillery attack on Yeonpyong Island in South Korea that killed four and injured nineteen. The South Korean military returned fire while the bombardment went on, but otherwise did not engage in serious military retaliation.

Among all the ‘trouble spots’ in the world, Korea has always been the one that scares me the most—even more so now that North Korea has nuclear weapons. Aside from the North Korean pattern of belligerence, their government just seems to be wholly disconnected from reality. Other belligerent states like Iran and the Hamas government of Gaza are dangerous, but they are somewhat predictable and they are motivated by ideologies that, though irrational, can be analysed and understood.

North Korea, on the other hand, can’t even keep its story straight from day to day about whether the 1953 armistice is still in effect or not . . . there isn’t even solid ground from which we could begin having serious negotiations. It’s reminiscent of George Orwell’s 1984, where ‘truth’ is constantly shifting based on the leader’s whims at the moment. I just hope Kim Jong-un doesn’t decide on such a whim to start a nuclear war. . . .

Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.