There is a movie, released in 1996, entitled “Courage Under Fire,” starring Denzel Washington and Meg Ryan about an investigation into a friendly fire incident in the Gulf War/Desert Storm operations where a helicopter pilot (Ryan) was killed and a medal winner (Washington) is given the task of uncovering the truth of what happened to her in the sands of Kuwait.
Washington’s character discovers all that he thought he knew was false and the truth, and its subsequent cover-up, was far more harmful to everyone to be continued. People, simply, had to be told the truth.
The story from the Iraq-Afghanistan story that closely parallels this movie plot involves Ranger Pat Tillman, the former MFL player who chucked his gridiron future to follow his desire to perform his patriotic duty. What we were told about his death by the Pentagon has turned out to be utterly and totally false. Yet it was allowed to stand as fact until the truth was forced out, like a bad tooth from a mouth full of infected molars, by Washington Post reporters last December.
Yet no one, a civilian in the Pentagon or someone wearing a uniform, has been punished, reprimanded or even mildly scolded for this egregious act of deliberate deceit. That, of course, would follow the pattern where no one, other than knocked-up privates and hound-sniffing sergeants has been put on trial for torture and atrocities at Abu Ghraib prison. No one with any kind of authoritarian power has been so much as told, “Bad dog!”
Tillman was not only killed by friendly fire, but the exact circumstances of how that occurred resemble nothing like the account of his “heroic” battle against the enemy that allegedly led to his death and this country’s nationwide mourning. The posthumous awarding of the Silver Star was phony and was the testimonies to the events.
According to the Post, “soldiers in Afghanistan knew almost immediately that they had killed Tillman by mistake in what they believed was a firefight with enemies on a tight canyon road (near the Pakistan border). The investigation also revealed that soldiers later burned Tillman’s uniform and body armor.”
“Immediately, the Army kept the soldiers on the ground quiet and told Tillman's family and the public that he was killed by enemy fire while storming a hill, barking orders to his fellow Rangers,” the Post wrote.
The Pentagon, the Post revealed, not only knew of the truth, it deliberately allowed the proceedings to go forth. Tillman’s family is now as mad as a stirred hornet’s nest and well they should be. They were NOT told the truth about Pat Tillman’s sacrifice and that should have been priority number one. After all, it didn’t change the bottom line – Pat Tillman was dead.
There is a question to be asked: Why? Why allow this charade to continue? I suspect it was more for public relations and to use Tillman as a symbol for the country to support the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was a strong figure, square-jawed with a great story – tossing his riches into the river (figuratively) and going to fight for his country. It happened before; the story of Private Jessica Lynch’s rescue in Iraq went from fact to Hollywood fable inside the walls of the Pentagon.
And Pat Tillman was a white guy. I do not discount that aspect at all. Had Pat Tillman been an African-American, I wonder aloud if such homage would have been paid. Would an NBA player (not a star because Tillman was NOT Peyton Manning) who did the same thing have been similarly feted? I don’t think so; and THAT’S the truth. The country took a look at this soldier, saw footage of his time in an NFL uniform and cried its eyes out.
“After it happened, all the people in positions of authority went out of their way to script this,” said Patrick Tillman Sr. to the Post. “They purposely interfered with the investigation, they covered it up. I think they thought they could control it, and they realized that their recruiting efforts were going to go to hell in a handbasket if the truth about his death got out. They blew up their poster boy.
“Maybe lying’s not a big deal anymore. Pat’s dead, and this isn’t going to bring him back. But these guys should have been held up to scrutiny, right up the chain of command, and no one has.”
Sadly, President Bush perpetuated this fraud when he delivered a taped memorial message about Tillman at an Arizona Cardinal game prior to the November 2004 elections.
Had the complete truth been known immediately, the reaction would probably have been one of sadness for the family and anger toward others for how senseless Tillman’s death was. Merely having put himself into harm’s way for a cause he believed in made Pat Tillman a hero.
But it did not excuse the military brass and Pentagon officials for concocting such a fabrication to tell his family and the American public.
People, simply, have to be told the truth. Without it, nothing we do holds a drop of moral consciousness.
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
The United Faith State of America - At War!
It is with sadness, more than anger, that I observe a religious war having been officially declared against other minority religions and non-believing (or adhering) groups in the United States.
The concept of free thinking has been hijacked by several ultra-right, evangelical organizations, churches, individuals and groups who professed that only their vision of God knows what is right for everyone and they are the only ones endowed with the wisdom, message and power to force that vision upon all the rest of us.
As a member of one of those religious minorities, I can tell you it is a scary time in the U.S. We are drawing closer and closer to “one God” government, which is no different than the dreaded one world government these conservative fanatics rage against.
The targets are liberals (many of whom are Jewish and when evangelicals use code words like “those people” when referring to ACLU leadership, it is a covert form of anti-Semitism), homosexuals (because, for some reason, evangelicals believe all evils flows through same-sex relationships), Democrats (whom they lump together with the first two evils) and a xenophobic attitude toward Middle Eastern people.
By simply labeling all supporters as “people of faith,” meaning THEIR faith, any attack on their politics is an attack against God and righteousness. Hence, the ferocity of the counter-attack.
The intrusion into the political arena has been centered on the appointment of judges – and only for those who rigidly follow the evangelical way of thinking and who profess and confess to this doctrine prior to rulings.
Whether these conservatives give a good hoot about the president’s judicial nominations is questionable. It’s the power within the process that counts to them. They demand (no longer a matter of want) that Congress follow THEIR dictum or suffer the consequences at election time.
Kelly Shackelford, who leads the Plano-based Liberty Legal Institute of Plano, said in an article in the Dallas Morning News that "religious freedom, the misuse of the concept of separation of church and state, marriage and life” are under “attack.”
This is typical rhetoric from a group I now call the Persecuted Majority. It is unfathomable how Christians, who consist between 80-85 percent of all Americans, can claim that they are being persecuted for their religious beliefs when they are clearly in the majority. To suggest otherwise is a subtle form of bigotry against anyone who doesn’t believe in Christianity.
Ministers like Rick Scarborough, a Baptist pastor from Lufkin, and head of the poorly-named Judeo-Christian Council for Constitutional Restoration, are part of a nationwide network of ministries and churches, dead set on denying open dialogue and free thinking in this country. And all this verbiage is cloaked with terminology of war.
“We’re lost enormous ground in this country morally as a result of the acts of judges,” he said. “We as Christian conservatives have concluded that the warfare right now is more in the courts than at the ballot box.”
Scarborough has enlisted several thousand Christian ministers for his Patriot Pastor network (funny, there is NEVER a mention of any Jewish rabbis in these groups; that’s because you cannot be truly Jewish and be evangelical).
Ohio-based minister Rev. Rod Parsley of the World Harvest Church said at a recent gathering of 1,000 Patriot Pastors the issues surrounding the filibuster fight transcend partisan politics.
“We’re not Democrats; we’re not Republicans’ we’re Christocrats,” he declared in what could well become a third political party that has been sought in the U.S.
Others are prominent is this new war on ideology. You have the reprehensible Dr. James Dobson, who openly advocates paddling of children and strong methods for strict discipline, and his Focus on the Family (except for non-Christian or gay families) and Tony Perkins and his Family Research Council. Both groups were among a dozen or so organizations clearly labeled as anti-homosexual hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center of Montgomery, Ala. In its latest edition of “Intelligence Report.”
Why these people seem so hell-bent on destroying to lives of others who just want to be left alone is so mind-boggling. How can you profess to speak of a religion that profess to be about love when so much of the words concern hatred? It’s nothing more than bastardization of words for political power – pure and simple – as anti-religious as it comes.
There are so many other examples of religious warfare; it would take the entire New York library system to hold them all. One short example comes from the Kansas state school board’s hearing to force the teaching of “creationism” along side evolution in public school classrooms.
Of course, one is actual science, with data and evidence to demonstrate its validity and the other simply relies on faith, which is not universally shared by everyone – not even in Kansas. Belief in God is one thing, but to devalue science as a means to justifying a practice of faith is such a disservice, it is almost criminal.
The Kansas board deleted most references to evolution from the science standards in 1999, but elections the next year resulted in a less conservative board, which led to the current, evolution-friendly standards. Conservatives recaptured the board’s majority in 2004.
I could go on and on, from the evangelical takeover of the U.S. Air Force Academy and the breeding of hatred within the classes of potential officers to local issues, such as forcing non-Christians students in elementary grades to be forced to receive evangelical messages that run contrary to that individual student’s religion.
So when many people say that they might seek to live elsewhere, away from the United Religious State of America, if it gets worse, don’t laugh.
It IS getting worse. By the day.
The concept of free thinking has been hijacked by several ultra-right, evangelical organizations, churches, individuals and groups who professed that only their vision of God knows what is right for everyone and they are the only ones endowed with the wisdom, message and power to force that vision upon all the rest of us.
As a member of one of those religious minorities, I can tell you it is a scary time in the U.S. We are drawing closer and closer to “one God” government, which is no different than the dreaded one world government these conservative fanatics rage against.
The targets are liberals (many of whom are Jewish and when evangelicals use code words like “those people” when referring to ACLU leadership, it is a covert form of anti-Semitism), homosexuals (because, for some reason, evangelicals believe all evils flows through same-sex relationships), Democrats (whom they lump together with the first two evils) and a xenophobic attitude toward Middle Eastern people.
By simply labeling all supporters as “people of faith,” meaning THEIR faith, any attack on their politics is an attack against God and righteousness. Hence, the ferocity of the counter-attack.
The intrusion into the political arena has been centered on the appointment of judges – and only for those who rigidly follow the evangelical way of thinking and who profess and confess to this doctrine prior to rulings.
Whether these conservatives give a good hoot about the president’s judicial nominations is questionable. It’s the power within the process that counts to them. They demand (no longer a matter of want) that Congress follow THEIR dictum or suffer the consequences at election time.
Kelly Shackelford, who leads the Plano-based Liberty Legal Institute of Plano, said in an article in the Dallas Morning News that "religious freedom, the misuse of the concept of separation of church and state, marriage and life” are under “attack.”
This is typical rhetoric from a group I now call the Persecuted Majority. It is unfathomable how Christians, who consist between 80-85 percent of all Americans, can claim that they are being persecuted for their religious beliefs when they are clearly in the majority. To suggest otherwise is a subtle form of bigotry against anyone who doesn’t believe in Christianity.
Ministers like Rick Scarborough, a Baptist pastor from Lufkin, and head of the poorly-named Judeo-Christian Council for Constitutional Restoration, are part of a nationwide network of ministries and churches, dead set on denying open dialogue and free thinking in this country. And all this verbiage is cloaked with terminology of war.
“We’re lost enormous ground in this country morally as a result of the acts of judges,” he said. “We as Christian conservatives have concluded that the warfare right now is more in the courts than at the ballot box.”
Scarborough has enlisted several thousand Christian ministers for his Patriot Pastor network (funny, there is NEVER a mention of any Jewish rabbis in these groups; that’s because you cannot be truly Jewish and be evangelical).
Ohio-based minister Rev. Rod Parsley of the World Harvest Church said at a recent gathering of 1,000 Patriot Pastors the issues surrounding the filibuster fight transcend partisan politics.
“We’re not Democrats; we’re not Republicans’ we’re Christocrats,” he declared in what could well become a third political party that has been sought in the U.S.
Others are prominent is this new war on ideology. You have the reprehensible Dr. James Dobson, who openly advocates paddling of children and strong methods for strict discipline, and his Focus on the Family (except for non-Christian or gay families) and Tony Perkins and his Family Research Council. Both groups were among a dozen or so organizations clearly labeled as anti-homosexual hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center of Montgomery, Ala. In its latest edition of “Intelligence Report.”
Why these people seem so hell-bent on destroying to lives of others who just want to be left alone is so mind-boggling. How can you profess to speak of a religion that profess to be about love when so much of the words concern hatred? It’s nothing more than bastardization of words for political power – pure and simple – as anti-religious as it comes.
There are so many other examples of religious warfare; it would take the entire New York library system to hold them all. One short example comes from the Kansas state school board’s hearing to force the teaching of “creationism” along side evolution in public school classrooms.
Of course, one is actual science, with data and evidence to demonstrate its validity and the other simply relies on faith, which is not universally shared by everyone – not even in Kansas. Belief in God is one thing, but to devalue science as a means to justifying a practice of faith is such a disservice, it is almost criminal.
The Kansas board deleted most references to evolution from the science standards in 1999, but elections the next year resulted in a less conservative board, which led to the current, evolution-friendly standards. Conservatives recaptured the board’s majority in 2004.
I could go on and on, from the evangelical takeover of the U.S. Air Force Academy and the breeding of hatred within the classes of potential officers to local issues, such as forcing non-Christians students in elementary grades to be forced to receive evangelical messages that run contrary to that individual student’s religion.
So when many people say that they might seek to live elsewhere, away from the United Religious State of America, if it gets worse, don’t laugh.
It IS getting worse. By the day.
Saturday, May 14, 2005
The joy of petitioning
pe·ti·tion (noun) - a written request signed by many people demanding a particular action from an authority or government; (verb) to give or address a petition to somebody, especially somebody in authority or a representative of an organization; to urge for or against a course of action by presenting a petition.”
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
-- Article 1 – U.S. Constitution
In a democracy, the right to petition is not an evil thing; it is simply the avenue of access to get the people involved in deciding issues of importance. Contrary to some improper thinking, a petition is not a position paper nor is it a document one signs in blood and sells their soul to believe.
It is a mere vehicle by which citizens, who think they are left out of the democratic process and wish for their voices to be heard by particular governing bodies, can have their day at the ballot boxes. It is as American as apple pie, baseball and the Constitution. Yet it is as misunderstood as anything that exists today (except for Michael Jackson, of course).
In Collin County, we had three prime examples of petitions to seek voter approval on two important issues. In Frisco, Take Back Your Rights PAC, a group backed by Dr. David Becka, gathered enough signatures to attempt amending the Frisco city charter over the construction of new homes.
In Plano, the question was on $19 million in bond money originally approved by local voters to build a local arts center. In 2001, when additional money for a west Plano site was rejected, the city council looked elsewhere for its funding and its location. Eventually, a four-city consortium was established and voters in three of those cities were given the opportunity to vote “yes” or “no” on that project … willingly by those respective councils.
Not so by the Plano “leaders.” Only after being forced to do so, through the Constitutional right of petition, did that happen on May 7. And prior to that vote, certain elected officials, led by Mayor Pat Evans, veered well out of the traffic lane to demonize the petitioners as somehow being bad citizens and hating the arts on a local and countywide basis.
Major Evans didn’t get it. It was NEVER about support for the arts. It was a question about access to decision-making, which often can be done only through petition. I’d venture to guess that most petitions arise because people either want to right a perceived wrong and were never given the proper respect or time-of-day from their elected officials. When it appears to be a positive for a community (such as the third example – petitioning to change alcohol sales regulations in Plano), those leaders are ALL for it. When it goes against their pronouncements, they rage against the machine.
In Frisco, both ballot measures failed and in Plano, the arts hall support and changing alcohol sales were approved overwhelmingly. In all cases, PEOPLE got the right to vote on the question; which is all anyone can ask.
Some folks have a funny way of looking at democracy. It’s fine and dandy when winds blow your way, but when the acquisition and retention of power, on ANY level, seems to be in jeopardy, then things get downright nasty. These people then seek to snuff out dissent and contrarian thinking with such buzzwords as “Love it or leave it.”
I’ll say this: Recall petitions (and tax rollbacks) are different and should be held to a much higher registration standard. Every two years, votes can replace elected officials; but not the chance to be heard en masse about issues. Tax rollbacks are SO destructive to a community (i.e., Bedford), it is an action that should be of last resort.
Cities do not exist for the pleasure (or plundering) of certain individuals, interest groups, business people or organizations. They exist for the people – ordinary, everyday, hard-working, taxpaying, grocery-shopping, child-rearing, lawn-mowing, microwaving, dog-walking, child-hugging, newspaper-reading, free-thinking men and women of all races, genders, religious persuasions and personal orientation. Council people and school trustees aren’t royalty and citizens do not abdicate their rights every year in May.
If they want to petition their government to have more of a say in what’s happening in their lives, to exercise the public’s best check and balance on the system, no elected official should EVER stand in their way.
Chuck Bloom can be reached at chuckbloom@hotmail.com.
Friday, May 13, 2005
No backtracking allowed on Texas 10 percent admission law
The backtracking by the Texas House of Representatives on the top 10 percent rule for high school seniors for admission to a Texas state university is not good news if you live in a rural community, are less-than-wealthy or possessing skin OTHER than Caucasian.
Under House Bill 2330, which passed last Thursday (May 12) by a 73-69 margin, states that no college would have to accept more than HALF of its freshman class on the basis of senior class rank. Despite any kind of propaganda by the bill’s sponsor, Republican Geanie Morrison of Victoria, it is a step backward for diversity and a major step backwards for offering opportunity to a large segment of the state’s population.
Right now, following the UT-Hopwood decision, state law guarantees admission to the top 10 percent of Texas high school graduates. That means the top seven students from a small South Texas high school that graduates 70 students would have the same chance to enter the University of Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M or any state school as the top graduates from the largest high school classes – Plano, Plano East, Plano West, Highland Park and many, many more.
Thanks to the efforts of Dallas State Senator Royce West, that chamber has kept the 10 percent rule intact but strengthened academic requirements. Hopefully that would prevent an occurrence where one year, the salutatorian (second-ranked graduate) at Wilmer-Hutchins High School possessed less than an 80 grade average.
This stink started with the University of Texas at Austin people because, lo and behold, 72 percent of students admitted from Texas high schools for this summer and fall qualified under the top 10 percent rule.
And what exactly is WRONG with that? It produces student body diversity without forcing things like racial quotas into the equation. BUT it also pits those suburban students against urban minorities and rural students.
Morrison, during the debate, said the bill already included racial and geographical diversity as a goal for 2015 – which, my friends, is a LONG way away. She said she didn’t want to “get rid of the Top 10 percent law” and is not opposed to diversity.
“I think this bill achieves higher diversity, not lessens it,” she said.
Any retreat on the 10 percent law would be saying to those students that they aren’t good enough to go to Austin or College Station and that learn to love junior college or smaller schools.
That kind of bullying should not be tolerated in the Legislature or in the state by taxpayers.
Under House Bill 2330, which passed last Thursday (May 12) by a 73-69 margin, states that no college would have to accept more than HALF of its freshman class on the basis of senior class rank. Despite any kind of propaganda by the bill’s sponsor, Republican Geanie Morrison of Victoria, it is a step backward for diversity and a major step backwards for offering opportunity to a large segment of the state’s population.
Right now, following the UT-Hopwood decision, state law guarantees admission to the top 10 percent of Texas high school graduates. That means the top seven students from a small South Texas high school that graduates 70 students would have the same chance to enter the University of Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M or any state school as the top graduates from the largest high school classes – Plano, Plano East, Plano West, Highland Park and many, many more.
Thanks to the efforts of Dallas State Senator Royce West, that chamber has kept the 10 percent rule intact but strengthened academic requirements. Hopefully that would prevent an occurrence where one year, the salutatorian (second-ranked graduate) at Wilmer-Hutchins High School possessed less than an 80 grade average.
This stink started with the University of Texas at Austin people because, lo and behold, 72 percent of students admitted from Texas high schools for this summer and fall qualified under the top 10 percent rule.
And what exactly is WRONG with that? It produces student body diversity without forcing things like racial quotas into the equation. BUT it also pits those suburban students against urban minorities and rural students.
Morrison, during the debate, said the bill already included racial and geographical diversity as a goal for 2015 – which, my friends, is a LONG way away. She said she didn’t want to “get rid of the Top 10 percent law” and is not opposed to diversity.
“I think this bill achieves higher diversity, not lessens it,” she said.
Any retreat on the 10 percent law would be saying to those students that they aren’t good enough to go to Austin or College Station and that learn to love junior college or smaller schools.
That kind of bullying should not be tolerated in the Legislature or in the state by taxpayers.
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Kill the "wrong" Wright Amendment
There can be NO creedence put into the study commissioned by DFW Airport in support of keeping its own fanny out of the fire.
The Wright Amendment is one of the most anti-consumer, anti-capitalistic, anti-free enterprise pieces of legislation EVER enacted. Both political parties are equally guilty for passage and then unwavering, blind support. NO free-thinking conservative can justify this kind of stranglehold regulation while preaching about the virtues of solving problems through the "marketplace." It's laughable.
Remember the fiasco at Love Field, known as Legend Airlines and what sleazy steps were taken by American Airlines to insure of that business' demise. Once Legend announced its startup, AA then demanded (and received) gates at Love. Why would it, you might ask, when AA dominated its OWN hub?
It did everything to undercut and erase Legend from the scene (which skirted the Wright amendment by flying fewer passengers than the law's restriction and won that case in court). The MOMENT Legend disappeared, AA slithered back to DFW and closed its gates at Love.
So all this talk about protecting a vital economic engine in North Texas are just wasted words to protect a business which has been sorely mismanaged for years. The law was passed to protect one business (American) and help one man (Robert Crandall).
Funny, Southwest makes money while AA leaks like the Titanic after going for a little ice. If there is truly to be open competition in American business, then Wright must go. Perhaps that is the best move for all involved (consumer, worker, etc.) in order to force American to clean up its own mess through poor management and even worse passenger service.
Give Dallas and Fort Worth passengers the same equal access to service as every other city in this nation. It is a position each person should stand tall behind.
The Wright Amendment is one of the most anti-consumer, anti-capitalistic, anti-free enterprise pieces of legislation EVER enacted. Both political parties are equally guilty for passage and then unwavering, blind support. NO free-thinking conservative can justify this kind of stranglehold regulation while preaching about the virtues of solving problems through the "marketplace." It's laughable.
Remember the fiasco at Love Field, known as Legend Airlines and what sleazy steps were taken by American Airlines to insure of that business' demise. Once Legend announced its startup, AA then demanded (and received) gates at Love. Why would it, you might ask, when AA dominated its OWN hub?
It did everything to undercut and erase Legend from the scene (which skirted the Wright amendment by flying fewer passengers than the law's restriction and won that case in court). The MOMENT Legend disappeared, AA slithered back to DFW and closed its gates at Love.
So all this talk about protecting a vital economic engine in North Texas are just wasted words to protect a business which has been sorely mismanaged for years. The law was passed to protect one business (American) and help one man (Robert Crandall).
Funny, Southwest makes money while AA leaks like the Titanic after going for a little ice. If there is truly to be open competition in American business, then Wright must go. Perhaps that is the best move for all involved (consumer, worker, etc.) in order to force American to clean up its own mess through poor management and even worse passenger service.
Give Dallas and Fort Worth passengers the same equal access to service as every other city in this nation. It is a position each person should stand tall behind.
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
This and that from the news
Every so often, there is a news story so silly, so stupid, so "today" that the major media feels compelled to distribute it world wide.
So here it is (with a comment following), as reported in the Chicago Tribune by Peter Groner, the Karolinska Institute's Center for Gender Related Medicine reports that "powerful airborne chemicals emitted in male perpiration and associated with sexual reproduction trigger a heightened response in the brains of homosexual men similar to that seen in heterosexual women, researchers reported Monday.
Heterosexual men did not share the brain response to the chemicals in male sweat, according to a team of brain imaging specialists from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.
The current climate of debate over whether homosexuality is a matter of choice or is inborn makes such research extremely controversial, said team leader and neuroscientist Dr. Ivanka Savic of the institute's Center for Gender Related Medicine.
"I want to be extremely cautious — this study does not tell us anything about whether sexual orientation is hardwired in the brain," Savic said.
The subjects of the study smelled various compounds, among them two odorless substances closely related to the hormones testosterone and estrogen, as the researchers conducted PET scans that measure blood flow in different regions of the brain.
All three groups — 12 homosexual males, 12 heterosexual men and 12 heterosexual women — responded to common odors such as lavender in a similar fashion, engaging only the regions of the brain that process smell.
But the brains reacted differently to other chemicals.
A compound known as EST, derived from the female sex hormone estrogen, increased blood flow in part of the hypothalamus in heterosexual men but not in heterosexual women. Conversely, a testosterone-related substance known as AND lit up the brains of women and gay men, but not heterosexual men.
In another study also released Monday, researchers at the Monell Chemical Sciences Center in Philadelphia found that a person's preference for another person's body scent depends, in part, on the sexual orientation of both parties.
In the study, 82 heterosexual and homosexual men and women were asked to indicate their preference among samples of underarm sweat collected from 24 men and women of varied sexual orientation.
Gay men preferred body odors from other gay men and heterosexual women.
Odors from gay men were the least preferred choice of heterosexual men, heterosexual women and lesbians, said Charles Wywomensocki, who co-directed the research with Yolanda Martins."
You think?!!!!? Isn't that the definition of what makes people become attracted to each other?
Here's what I want to know: Who in the world wrote the copy to entice members of each group to participate? Join a study of sexual attraction by smelling the body odor of others? YUK!
As a regular, overweight, Playboy reading (yes, I read the movie reviews first), happily-married, appreciative of the female form GUY, there is nothing quite as stinky as a lockerroom fragrented by used socks and jock straps. If you like that smell and you are a male, YES, YOU ARE GAY! Duh!
We know that advertisers sell products based on sexual attraction and Old Spice specifically has a commercial where two guys are watching a sporting event while their women languish in conversation in the next room, looking very unhappy.
Suddenly, one guy hugs his woman after a touchdown (not as cool as anything Terrell Owens would do) and she just melts at the very smell of his deodorant - obviously turned on by whatever Old Spice is peddling.
I'm no genius but I know there are many reasons why men and women, men and men and women and women (I think that covers it) are attracted to one another ... so don't "sweat" it.
And does ANYONE trust someone with the presumed fake last name of "Wywomensocki?" Is that just as obvious of a set-up as it appears to me? Was the ghost writer a Mr. Wymenlykey?
And then there is this from Sydney, Australia, where a prison hostage situation in that nation's top-security prison was diffused, and ended, by ... the delivery of 15 pizzas. Boy, talk about Pizza! Pizza!
Twenty prisoners were involved in the situation on the southern island of Tasmania (trivia answer: home of the late Errol Flynn, perhaps the original Tasmania Devil). Risdon Prison had been the scene of violence and unrest, according to the Associated Press, where the most notorious convicts are held in a country originally populated by convicts (it was a penal colony, much like the U.S. state of Georgia). Included among the group is Martin Bryant, who went on a shooting rampage in 1996 at the Port Arthur historic penal settlement, killing 35 people.
Who knew that some pepperoni and Canandian ham would settle the whole thing?
So here it is (with a comment following), as reported in the Chicago Tribune by Peter Groner, the Karolinska Institute's Center for Gender Related Medicine reports that "powerful airborne chemicals emitted in male perpiration and associated with sexual reproduction trigger a heightened response in the brains of homosexual men similar to that seen in heterosexual women, researchers reported Monday.
Heterosexual men did not share the brain response to the chemicals in male sweat, according to a team of brain imaging specialists from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.
The current climate of debate over whether homosexuality is a matter of choice or is inborn makes such research extremely controversial, said team leader and neuroscientist Dr. Ivanka Savic of the institute's Center for Gender Related Medicine.
"I want to be extremely cautious — this study does not tell us anything about whether sexual orientation is hardwired in the brain," Savic said.
The subjects of the study smelled various compounds, among them two odorless substances closely related to the hormones testosterone and estrogen, as the researchers conducted PET scans that measure blood flow in different regions of the brain.
All three groups — 12 homosexual males, 12 heterosexual men and 12 heterosexual women — responded to common odors such as lavender in a similar fashion, engaging only the regions of the brain that process smell.
But the brains reacted differently to other chemicals.
A compound known as EST, derived from the female sex hormone estrogen, increased blood flow in part of the hypothalamus in heterosexual men but not in heterosexual women. Conversely, a testosterone-related substance known as AND lit up the brains of women and gay men, but not heterosexual men.
In another study also released Monday, researchers at the Monell Chemical Sciences Center in Philadelphia found that a person's preference for another person's body scent depends, in part, on the sexual orientation of both parties.
In the study, 82 heterosexual and homosexual men and women were asked to indicate their preference among samples of underarm sweat collected from 24 men and women of varied sexual orientation.
Gay men preferred body odors from other gay men and heterosexual women.
Odors from gay men were the least preferred choice of heterosexual men, heterosexual women and lesbians, said Charles Wywomensocki, who co-directed the research with Yolanda Martins."
You think?!!!!? Isn't that the definition of what makes people become attracted to each other?
Here's what I want to know: Who in the world wrote the copy to entice members of each group to participate? Join a study of sexual attraction by smelling the body odor of others? YUK!
As a regular, overweight, Playboy reading (yes, I read the movie reviews first), happily-married, appreciative of the female form GUY, there is nothing quite as stinky as a lockerroom fragrented by used socks and jock straps. If you like that smell and you are a male, YES, YOU ARE GAY! Duh!
We know that advertisers sell products based on sexual attraction and Old Spice specifically has a commercial where two guys are watching a sporting event while their women languish in conversation in the next room, looking very unhappy.
Suddenly, one guy hugs his woman after a touchdown (not as cool as anything Terrell Owens would do) and she just melts at the very smell of his deodorant - obviously turned on by whatever Old Spice is peddling.
I'm no genius but I know there are many reasons why men and women, men and men and women and women (I think that covers it) are attracted to one another ... so don't "sweat" it.
And does ANYONE trust someone with the presumed fake last name of "Wywomensocki?" Is that just as obvious of a set-up as it appears to me? Was the ghost writer a Mr. Wymenlykey?
And then there is this from Sydney, Australia, where a prison hostage situation in that nation's top-security prison was diffused, and ended, by ... the delivery of 15 pizzas. Boy, talk about Pizza! Pizza!
Twenty prisoners were involved in the situation on the southern island of Tasmania (trivia answer: home of the late Errol Flynn, perhaps the original Tasmania Devil). Risdon Prison had been the scene of violence and unrest, according to the Associated Press, where the most notorious convicts are held in a country originally populated by convicts (it was a penal colony, much like the U.S. state of Georgia). Included among the group is Martin Bryant, who went on a shooting rampage in 1996 at the Port Arthur historic penal settlement, killing 35 people.
Who knew that some pepperoni and Canandian ham would settle the whole thing?
Friday, May 06, 2005
The FOX and the good-looking hound
Oh, Jennifer Wilbanks; you need to be introduced to Bob Eubanks. Your “Newlywed Game” left a lot to be desired … except if you were a cable news network executive. Then little Jennifer was a dream come true.
I must admit that I have more than a tinge of forgiveness and plenty of sympathy for this Georgia woman. No one, I repeat, NO ONE, will fully know what pressure she was understand when she decided to take a hike … er, jog, all the way to Vegas, and then Albuquerque. Under normal circumstances, that would make for a NICE honeymoon (two excellent American west cities).
But, oops, we forgot to leave behind a trip itinerary. Or a forwarding address. Or anything.
Into the breach steps people like Fox News Channel with the following exchanges (thanks to Howard Kurtz’ Media Notes column from the Washington Post for this transcription):
Fox’s Bill O’Reilly: “Woman goes out for a jog and boom, she’s gone. Do you think there’s an epidemic going on here?” And: “This young woman – it’s almost like Laci Peterson. She just disappears from a place that’s Mainstream, USA.”
Fox’s Sean Hannity: “I agree with the father-in-law-to-be.”
Geraldo Rivera: “That there’s foul play.”
Hannity: “Yes.”
Rivera: “So do I.”
That, ladies and gentlemen, is how media hysteria begins, by jumping, like Carl Lewis at the Olympics, to conclusions WELL before anyone has a single fact, or a piece of evidence.
And that is why it is all so heinous, especially FNC, which actively seeks the most sensational stories to either play to the public’s fears or insatiable appetite for blood, guts and violence. It is old-school local TV journalism with “If it bleeds, it leads” mentality.
At Fox, the mantra is probably, “If we can yell, it will sell.”
Little Jennifer Wilbanks, she of the admitted pent-up sexual frustration (look out dude on YOUR wedding night!!!), made a mistake. Hell, Julia Roberts made a movie out of it and no one said “Boo!” Let this poor woman regain her faculties and rebuild her life.
Forget charges, forget jail time (for WHAT?!?). If we jailed everyone who told a fib, or lied to a cop, or on their taxes, there would just you and I left on this earth … and I’m not so sure about you.
I must admit that I have more than a tinge of forgiveness and plenty of sympathy for this Georgia woman. No one, I repeat, NO ONE, will fully know what pressure she was understand when she decided to take a hike … er, jog, all the way to Vegas, and then Albuquerque. Under normal circumstances, that would make for a NICE honeymoon (two excellent American west cities).
But, oops, we forgot to leave behind a trip itinerary. Or a forwarding address. Or anything.
Into the breach steps people like Fox News Channel with the following exchanges (thanks to Howard Kurtz’ Media Notes column from the Washington Post for this transcription):
Fox’s Bill O’Reilly: “Woman goes out for a jog and boom, she’s gone. Do you think there’s an epidemic going on here?” And: “This young woman – it’s almost like Laci Peterson. She just disappears from a place that’s Mainstream, USA.”
Fox’s Sean Hannity: “I agree with the father-in-law-to-be.”
Geraldo Rivera: “That there’s foul play.”
Hannity: “Yes.”
Rivera: “So do I.”
That, ladies and gentlemen, is how media hysteria begins, by jumping, like Carl Lewis at the Olympics, to conclusions WELL before anyone has a single fact, or a piece of evidence.
And that is why it is all so heinous, especially FNC, which actively seeks the most sensational stories to either play to the public’s fears or insatiable appetite for blood, guts and violence. It is old-school local TV journalism with “If it bleeds, it leads” mentality.
At Fox, the mantra is probably, “If we can yell, it will sell.”
Little Jennifer Wilbanks, she of the admitted pent-up sexual frustration (look out dude on YOUR wedding night!!!), made a mistake. Hell, Julia Roberts made a movie out of it and no one said “Boo!” Let this poor woman regain her faculties and rebuild her life.
Forget charges, forget jail time (for WHAT?!?). If we jailed everyone who told a fib, or lied to a cop, or on their taxes, there would just you and I left on this earth … and I’m not so sure about you.
Wednesday, May 04, 2005
Get me to the Cineplex on time
You can file this short little item under the “Duh?” file.
Loews Cineplex Entertainment has announced it will start advertising movie showtimes with a note stating that most movies actually start 10-15 minutes LATER because of all those commercials, previews and other screen clutter before the feature presentation commences.
No crap, Christopher Columbus. Who is their right mind BELIEVES that a stated time of 1:05 p.m. means the movies starts five minutes after one in the afternoon?
According to John McCauley, Loews’ senior VP for marketing, it was a policy change in response to complaints from moviegoers.
“We still think people enjoy coming early, getting their popcorn, finding their seats and talking amongst one another,” he added.
Hey, Mr. McCauley, that’s as big a load of crap as the soggy popcorn itself. You must arrive early to avoid sitting on such an angle as not to see anything; the popcorn costs as much as a steak dinner at Outback, people tend to step all over you to find a seat or they bunch together despite a totally empty theater and once they begin talking, they never cease, including during the movie.
As for the previews, keep them coming of coming attractions, but get rid of those commercials. You pay more than top dollar to experience “the cinema,” not a larger version of your television set. Ditch those commercials that are already seen on TV and get some theater-only exclusive spots … if you must have them at all.
And enforce the “no crying baby, no talking amongst one another during the movie and no cell phone” rule at your theaters. Kick those buttholes OUT and the message will be heard.
Even at the right starting time.
Loews Cineplex Entertainment has announced it will start advertising movie showtimes with a note stating that most movies actually start 10-15 minutes LATER because of all those commercials, previews and other screen clutter before the feature presentation commences.
No crap, Christopher Columbus. Who is their right mind BELIEVES that a stated time of 1:05 p.m. means the movies starts five minutes after one in the afternoon?
According to John McCauley, Loews’ senior VP for marketing, it was a policy change in response to complaints from moviegoers.
“We still think people enjoy coming early, getting their popcorn, finding their seats and talking amongst one another,” he added.
Hey, Mr. McCauley, that’s as big a load of crap as the soggy popcorn itself. You must arrive early to avoid sitting on such an angle as not to see anything; the popcorn costs as much as a steak dinner at Outback, people tend to step all over you to find a seat or they bunch together despite a totally empty theater and once they begin talking, they never cease, including during the movie.
As for the previews, keep them coming of coming attractions, but get rid of those commercials. You pay more than top dollar to experience “the cinema,” not a larger version of your television set. Ditch those commercials that are already seen on TV and get some theater-only exclusive spots … if you must have them at all.
And enforce the “no crying baby, no talking amongst one another during the movie and no cell phone” rule at your theaters. Kick those buttholes OUT and the message will be heard.
Even at the right starting time.
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
Waiting for a case of the ‘gramps’
The phone call that worries you most comes in the middle of the night … or as early as late in the evening – any time after you go to sleep. When you’re shocked out of a snoring slumber, you have the same thought that something has happened to your children – provided you HAVE children.
I always fear the same thing – hearing the words, “Mr. Bloom, we hate to tell you this, but … ” It is every parent’s worse nightmare.
But there is ONE phone call that I eagerly await – no matter what time of day it comes. Even if I am sound asleep, and my wife, Jodie, answers, uttering a few inaudible complaints and rolling over to say, “It’s for you,” I want to take the call.
Hopefully, it will be Amanda (my son, Robert’s wife) and she will say, “We thought you should know,” she will explain. “You’re going to be a grandfather.” Hopefully it will be followed by a tearful, cheerful giggle.
The call happened once before and my initial reaction was, “Chuck, you’re right. Nothing good can come with a phone call in the middle of the night.” But instantly, a sense of euphoria swept over me. Amanda was about to be a mother, Robert was going to be a father and I, the most unlikely of candidates, would become something I had always dreamed of being – a grandfather.
Unfortunately, things did not work out back then. It wasn’t meant to be … that time. Robert had sworn to me that he and Amanda would wait until she had gotten a job as a high school drama-theater teacher before starting a family. He also works and if “baby makes three,” everybody’s life is gonna change ... dramatically.
Can any set of new parents-to-be can be TRULY prepared? I tried on my end for a few weeks, rolling certain words around in my head to see which one would fit best - grandfather, granddad, grandpops, grandpa, poppy, opa.
I hold a special place in my heart for grandparents, especially grandfathers for a personal reason. I never had any as a child. Both of my parents’ fathers died before they were married. I never got the benefit of their experiences, their wisdom, their love or their nurturing.
My grandmothers lived until I got to college, but it wasn’t the same. They were Sunday night dinners, canasta games and that certain grandmotherly smell (the almond scent of Jergens lotion). They provided money for me to buy toys and visiting their apartments meant swimming or meeting former baseball players who lived down the hall.
Otherwise, it seemed that they exist to aggravate, in some sense, their own children. I was told stories about my grandfathers, but they had no relevance for me.
Unfortunately, my own children have suffered in a similar manner. My late father only saw his grandson twice in his lifetime and never, regretfully, saw his two granddaughters before his death. Dad always had some cockamamie tale about his failing health preventing him from playing with them. But they didn’t need him to be a playmate; they needed a mentor.
If am elderly man or woman can physically keep up with the incredible energy of a child, then a tip of the cap to them. However, all their knowledge and experience needs to be sent along the river of life. Oral history needs to be preserved in order to learn about the future, from what occurred in the past.
In modern times, both parents often must spend a significant portion of the day as wage earners, so caring grandparents can often fill the nurturing gap. All of it will benefit and positively influence our children.
I also worried that I was too young to earn the grandparent label. Nope, my driver’s license says I am 52 and while going to see U2 in concert still gets me jazzed, there is far more gray in my beard than any other color.
I’ll be ready. I’ll be pumped. I’ll be the Grandfather Man for the World Tomorrow.
So I can’t wait until the phone rings to announce the start of Amanda’s adventure. In fact, that call DID take place last week; she’s two months along and now we all hold our collective breath hoping that this time it will go full-term. I’ve given myself until month six before I invade Babys ‘R Us.
I’ll be there for Robert and Amanda and start my grandfatherly duty of spoiling this kid rotten from the opening moment of baby Bloom’s life.
Just try to stop me.
I always fear the same thing – hearing the words, “Mr. Bloom, we hate to tell you this, but … ” It is every parent’s worse nightmare.
But there is ONE phone call that I eagerly await – no matter what time of day it comes. Even if I am sound asleep, and my wife, Jodie, answers, uttering a few inaudible complaints and rolling over to say, “It’s for you,” I want to take the call.
Hopefully, it will be Amanda (my son, Robert’s wife) and she will say, “We thought you should know,” she will explain. “You’re going to be a grandfather.” Hopefully it will be followed by a tearful, cheerful giggle.
The call happened once before and my initial reaction was, “Chuck, you’re right. Nothing good can come with a phone call in the middle of the night.” But instantly, a sense of euphoria swept over me. Amanda was about to be a mother, Robert was going to be a father and I, the most unlikely of candidates, would become something I had always dreamed of being – a grandfather.
Unfortunately, things did not work out back then. It wasn’t meant to be … that time. Robert had sworn to me that he and Amanda would wait until she had gotten a job as a high school drama-theater teacher before starting a family. He also works and if “baby makes three,” everybody’s life is gonna change ... dramatically.
Can any set of new parents-to-be can be TRULY prepared? I tried on my end for a few weeks, rolling certain words around in my head to see which one would fit best - grandfather, granddad, grandpops, grandpa, poppy, opa.
I hold a special place in my heart for grandparents, especially grandfathers for a personal reason. I never had any as a child. Both of my parents’ fathers died before they were married. I never got the benefit of their experiences, their wisdom, their love or their nurturing.
My grandmothers lived until I got to college, but it wasn’t the same. They were Sunday night dinners, canasta games and that certain grandmotherly smell (the almond scent of Jergens lotion). They provided money for me to buy toys and visiting their apartments meant swimming or meeting former baseball players who lived down the hall.
Otherwise, it seemed that they exist to aggravate, in some sense, their own children. I was told stories about my grandfathers, but they had no relevance for me.
Unfortunately, my own children have suffered in a similar manner. My late father only saw his grandson twice in his lifetime and never, regretfully, saw his two granddaughters before his death. Dad always had some cockamamie tale about his failing health preventing him from playing with them. But they didn’t need him to be a playmate; they needed a mentor.
If am elderly man or woman can physically keep up with the incredible energy of a child, then a tip of the cap to them. However, all their knowledge and experience needs to be sent along the river of life. Oral history needs to be preserved in order to learn about the future, from what occurred in the past.
In modern times, both parents often must spend a significant portion of the day as wage earners, so caring grandparents can often fill the nurturing gap. All of it will benefit and positively influence our children.
I also worried that I was too young to earn the grandparent label. Nope, my driver’s license says I am 52 and while going to see U2 in concert still gets me jazzed, there is far more gray in my beard than any other color.
I’ll be ready. I’ll be pumped. I’ll be the Grandfather Man for the World Tomorrow.
So I can’t wait until the phone rings to announce the start of Amanda’s adventure. In fact, that call DID take place last week; she’s two months along and now we all hold our collective breath hoping that this time it will go full-term. I’ve given myself until month six before I invade Babys ‘R Us.
I’ll be there for Robert and Amanda and start my grandfatherly duty of spoiling this kid rotten from the opening moment of baby Bloom’s life.
Just try to stop me.
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Bush's plan to build new refineries on old military bases
President Bush’s proposal to build new refineries on abandoned military bases sounds quite desperate for someone having spent much of his life in the oil “bidness” in Texas. It has all the trappings of “let’s throw it against the wall and see if it sticks” political thinking by people who have no clue what to do to lower gasoline prices at the pump.
Aside from the shocking visual of belching smoke coming from places like Kelly AFB in San Antonio, or in the mountain states or at the Presidio in San Francisco, there are two practical problems.
First, it will take years to build refineries and will do nothing to halt the march toward $3 per gallon of unleaded gas. It simply isn’t practical and other options would be smarter.
Second … while it is true that the U.S. NEEDS more refining capacity, there probably ARE abandoned refineries that can be refurbished sooner than building new ones.
Point of example: I used to live in the small town Texas town of Nixon, 50 miles east of San Antonio and there, in a city of less than 2,000 where poultry processing is the major source of revenue, sits a refinery – closed for several years.
Built in the early 1970s, it was the first minority-owned refinery, financed by the Small Business Administration. Sadly, the truth revealed the owners to be fronts for a Dutch oil company, needing to get its hands on U.S. refineries (illegal at that time).
The refinery, which closed in the early 1980s during the recession, shut down a second time after the faux owners were indicted on federal fraud charges and the whole thing fell apart as the price of oil dropped like the temperature in Alaska in January.
There must be other small communities with idle refineries, made dormant because of economic conditions. However, many oil companies seem unwilling to invest big gobs of money to update these places (meeting stricter EPA standards), regardless of the price of crude.
THAT is where ONE solution lies. Then many capped wells will re-open when it becomes profitable to refine.
Perhaps NOT holding hands like a little girl with the Crown Price of Saudi Arabia would be a symbolic start to a practical solution. The image does NOTHING to dissuade critics who claim that the Bush family is in bed or cahoots with the Saudis.
After all, you go from holding hands (first base) to who knows what. But if the metaphor fits, and hitting home plate is you-know-what, then that’s already happened to many Americans, who are tired of getting screwed in the wallet.
Which is located too close to your …
Aside from the shocking visual of belching smoke coming from places like Kelly AFB in San Antonio, or in the mountain states or at the Presidio in San Francisco, there are two practical problems.
First, it will take years to build refineries and will do nothing to halt the march toward $3 per gallon of unleaded gas. It simply isn’t practical and other options would be smarter.
Second … while it is true that the U.S. NEEDS more refining capacity, there probably ARE abandoned refineries that can be refurbished sooner than building new ones.
Point of example: I used to live in the small town Texas town of Nixon, 50 miles east of San Antonio and there, in a city of less than 2,000 where poultry processing is the major source of revenue, sits a refinery – closed for several years.
Built in the early 1970s, it was the first minority-owned refinery, financed by the Small Business Administration. Sadly, the truth revealed the owners to be fronts for a Dutch oil company, needing to get its hands on U.S. refineries (illegal at that time).
The refinery, which closed in the early 1980s during the recession, shut down a second time after the faux owners were indicted on federal fraud charges and the whole thing fell apart as the price of oil dropped like the temperature in Alaska in January.
There must be other small communities with idle refineries, made dormant because of economic conditions. However, many oil companies seem unwilling to invest big gobs of money to update these places (meeting stricter EPA standards), regardless of the price of crude.
THAT is where ONE solution lies. Then many capped wells will re-open when it becomes profitable to refine.
Perhaps NOT holding hands like a little girl with the Crown Price of Saudi Arabia would be a symbolic start to a practical solution. The image does NOTHING to dissuade critics who claim that the Bush family is in bed or cahoots with the Saudis.
After all, you go from holding hands (first base) to who knows what. But if the metaphor fits, and hitting home plate is you-know-what, then that’s already happened to many Americans, who are tired of getting screwed in the wallet.
Which is located too close to your …
Monday, April 25, 2005
THE most dangerous man in America
If you ask me, the biggest threat to the security and welfare of the United States does NOT come from abroad. The most dangerous man is NOT Osama bin Laden, or the leader of North Korea or whoever is in charge of Iraq or Iran (So Faraway).
The most dangerous person sits in Colorado, claims to be a doctor and shows open disdain for anybody who disagrees with his personal perception of individual lifestyle, philosophy, religious doctrine or anything else.
I refer to Dr. James Dobson, leader of the ultra-right religious group, Focus on the Family, an oxymoron if there ever was one. Since the 2004 election, this blowhard thinks he has been personally empowered to dictate the nation’s morals and values to all of us who dare say “I don’t want to think like you.”
Among his targets are gay people, judges, non-Christians and liberal Americans. Which roughly covers half the country … maybe more.
Just a few examples of what I am writing about:
A McKinney (Tex.) woman was forced to cancel a special event concerning economic empowerment of women because she had the audacity to book that 1970s disco group, Sister Sledge to sing their one-hit wonder, “We Are Family.” Where’s the harm, Dr. Dobson?
Oops, one of Dobson’s most frequent targets is the We Are Family Foundation, which he claims to be pro-homosexual and helps promote a gay lifestyle. The validity of his argument is not relevant because the song and the foundation have NOTHING IN COMMON. However, his attack on the group was confused by potential conference attendees and tickets sales dried up, forcing cancellation and some economic hardship upon the organizers.
“My bad,” was all that a spokesman for Focus on the Family could muster.
A report two weeks ago from the Air Force Academy, just a couple of minute from FOF’s headquarters in Colorado Springs, found many complains that evangelical Christians have so much influence at the military school that anti-Semitism and other forms of religious harassment have become pervasive, according to the Associated Press reporter.
AP reported that 55 complaints of religious discrimination at the academy in the last four years have been made, including cases in which one Jewish cadet was told the Holocaust was revenge for the death of Jesus and another was called a “Christ killer” by a fellow cadet.
More than 90 percent of the 4,300 cadets claim to be Christian and a 2003 cadet survey revealed that half of them had heard religious slurs and jokes, and that many non-Christians believed Christians received special treatment.
“There were people walking up to someone and basically they would get in a conversation and it would end with, ‘If you don’t believe what I believe, you are going to hell,’” said Vice Commandant Col. Debra Gray.
“They are deliberately trivializing the problem so that we don’t have another situation the magnitude of the sex assault scandal. It is inextricably intertwined in every aspect of the academy,” said Mikey Weinstein of Albuquerque, N.M., a 1977 graduate who has sent two sons to the school. He said the younger, Curtis, has been called a “filthy Jew” many times.
Academy superintendent Lt. Gen. John Rosa conceded to civilian overseers that there was a problem.
“The problem is people have been across the line for so many years, when you try and come back in bounds, people get offended,” he said during a recent meeting of the Board of Visitors, the group that oversees the academy.
The commanding general acknowledged a problem, but not Dr. Dobson’s group.
Tom Minnery, an official with Focus on the Family, disputed claims that evangelical Christians are pushing an agenda at the academy, the AP said, and complained that “there is an anti-Christian bigotry developing” at the school.
From whom I ask! Just because a few Americans wish NOT to be bludgeoned over their non-Christian heads with teachings and philosophy they find contrarian does NOT constitute anti-Christian bigotry. If anything, the shoe is on the OTHER foot.
But there is more. Dobson has likened judges who disagree with him to the Ku Klux Klan and has called for the most drastic of measures to remove them from the bench … merely for disagreeing with their rulings. Regardless of the validity and the legal standing, if you disagree with Dobson, you are unpatriotic and should NOT be allowed to exercise the same freedoms as guaranteed in the Constitution.
Dobson is the main advocate of impeaching federal judges he does not like and eliminating all federal funding for their court’s operation in order to force them to comply to his will.
Sadly, many conservative Republicans, too afraid of Dobson’s ability to rally voter support from his sheep-like followers, condescend and follow in lock-step behind these fascist rantings. They are the weakest of the weak because of the potential power they wield and destroy lives.
Lipstick fascists like Ann Coulter are not the threat to many Americans; she is merely a sideshow in a mini-skirt who would rather drink and party than affect long-term change. Dobson is a true believer who wants to alter the axis of this earth toward his warped philosophy of exclusion and discrimination. Because he can command votes and raise money for that purpose, he IS dangerous.
It would be woeful for liberals, Democrats and ordinary free-thinking Americans to dismiss men like him. Each time in mankind’s history when THAT has happened, the result has been tragic and horrific.
The most dangerous person sits in Colorado, claims to be a doctor and shows open disdain for anybody who disagrees with his personal perception of individual lifestyle, philosophy, religious doctrine or anything else.
I refer to Dr. James Dobson, leader of the ultra-right religious group, Focus on the Family, an oxymoron if there ever was one. Since the 2004 election, this blowhard thinks he has been personally empowered to dictate the nation’s morals and values to all of us who dare say “I don’t want to think like you.”
Among his targets are gay people, judges, non-Christians and liberal Americans. Which roughly covers half the country … maybe more.
Just a few examples of what I am writing about:
A McKinney (Tex.) woman was forced to cancel a special event concerning economic empowerment of women because she had the audacity to book that 1970s disco group, Sister Sledge to sing their one-hit wonder, “We Are Family.” Where’s the harm, Dr. Dobson?
Oops, one of Dobson’s most frequent targets is the We Are Family Foundation, which he claims to be pro-homosexual and helps promote a gay lifestyle. The validity of his argument is not relevant because the song and the foundation have NOTHING IN COMMON. However, his attack on the group was confused by potential conference attendees and tickets sales dried up, forcing cancellation and some economic hardship upon the organizers.
“My bad,” was all that a spokesman for Focus on the Family could muster.
A report two weeks ago from the Air Force Academy, just a couple of minute from FOF’s headquarters in Colorado Springs, found many complains that evangelical Christians have so much influence at the military school that anti-Semitism and other forms of religious harassment have become pervasive, according to the Associated Press reporter.
AP reported that 55 complaints of religious discrimination at the academy in the last four years have been made, including cases in which one Jewish cadet was told the Holocaust was revenge for the death of Jesus and another was called a “Christ killer” by a fellow cadet.
More than 90 percent of the 4,300 cadets claim to be Christian and a 2003 cadet survey revealed that half of them had heard religious slurs and jokes, and that many non-Christians believed Christians received special treatment.
“There were people walking up to someone and basically they would get in a conversation and it would end with, ‘If you don’t believe what I believe, you are going to hell,’” said Vice Commandant Col. Debra Gray.
“They are deliberately trivializing the problem so that we don’t have another situation the magnitude of the sex assault scandal. It is inextricably intertwined in every aspect of the academy,” said Mikey Weinstein of Albuquerque, N.M., a 1977 graduate who has sent two sons to the school. He said the younger, Curtis, has been called a “filthy Jew” many times.
Academy superintendent Lt. Gen. John Rosa conceded to civilian overseers that there was a problem.
“The problem is people have been across the line for so many years, when you try and come back in bounds, people get offended,” he said during a recent meeting of the Board of Visitors, the group that oversees the academy.
The commanding general acknowledged a problem, but not Dr. Dobson’s group.
Tom Minnery, an official with Focus on the Family, disputed claims that evangelical Christians are pushing an agenda at the academy, the AP said, and complained that “there is an anti-Christian bigotry developing” at the school.
From whom I ask! Just because a few Americans wish NOT to be bludgeoned over their non-Christian heads with teachings and philosophy they find contrarian does NOT constitute anti-Christian bigotry. If anything, the shoe is on the OTHER foot.
But there is more. Dobson has likened judges who disagree with him to the Ku Klux Klan and has called for the most drastic of measures to remove them from the bench … merely for disagreeing with their rulings. Regardless of the validity and the legal standing, if you disagree with Dobson, you are unpatriotic and should NOT be allowed to exercise the same freedoms as guaranteed in the Constitution.
Dobson is the main advocate of impeaching federal judges he does not like and eliminating all federal funding for their court’s operation in order to force them to comply to his will.
Sadly, many conservative Republicans, too afraid of Dobson’s ability to rally voter support from his sheep-like followers, condescend and follow in lock-step behind these fascist rantings. They are the weakest of the weak because of the potential power they wield and destroy lives.
Lipstick fascists like Ann Coulter are not the threat to many Americans; she is merely a sideshow in a mini-skirt who would rather drink and party than affect long-term change. Dobson is a true believer who wants to alter the axis of this earth toward his warped philosophy of exclusion and discrimination. Because he can command votes and raise money for that purpose, he IS dangerous.
It would be woeful for liberals, Democrats and ordinary free-thinking Americans to dismiss men like him. Each time in mankind’s history when THAT has happened, the result has been tragic and horrific.
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Disgraceful persecution of US reporters over Plame
This past Tuesday, a full federal appeals court in Washington Tuesday continues to perpetuate a travesty of both justice and the U.S. Justice Department against two American reporters over a case that no one in Washington seems to want to address.
The court rejected a request from the two journalists who had asked the court to reconsider a decision by a three-judge panel.
Matthew Cooper of Time magazine and Judith Miller of The New York Times had refused to disclose their sources to the prosecutor investigating another reporter’s leak of the name of an undercover Central Intelligence Agency operative – the now-infamous Valerie Plame case.
Cooper and Miller still face up to 18 months in jail for failing to reveal their confidential sources to a federal grand jury.
The case may not move to the Supreme Court and with THAT group, all bets are off.
Here’s the background (notably coming from CNN reports): Justice Department special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has been investigating the source of a leak of the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame to news reporters. Her identity was revealed in a July 2003 newspaper column by Robert Novak of the Chicago Sun-Times (and a noted extreme conservative CNN commentator), who, in his column, cited two senior Bush administration officials as HIS sources.
In a 2003 op-ed piece in The New York Times, Plame’s husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, sharply criticized President Bush’s claim in his 2003 State of the Union address that Iraq had tried to obtain uranium in Niger.
The CIA had sent Wilson to Niger in 2002 to investigate and he had reported back that Baghdad hadn’t purchased uranium yellowcake, which can be used to develop enriched uranium for nuclear weapons. Wilson accused the White House of using discredited intelligence to justify the invasion in Iraq and said the leak about his wife was in retaliation for his criticism.
Now it gets interesting. Cooper wrote an article in Time about Novak’s disclosure of Plame’s identity; while Miller “researched” the topic but did not write about it. Read that again. One reporter wrote about ANOTHER reporter’s story and the other reporter RESEARCHED the topic.
Meanwhile, these two people face jail for refusal to disclose sources and Novak, nicknamed “The Prince of Darkness” for his extreme views, continues to rant and rave on CNN and in print without fear of anything. You have to wonder what HE has on these investigators and people in Washington.
Fitzgerald said in court papers his work was done except for resolving the issue of the two reporters’ testimony. New Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has left the matter to Fitzgerald to resolve and is playing Pontius Pilate on the entire matter.
So far, no one in the Bush Administration, State Department or any branch of government is being held accountable for the illegal disclosure of the name of an active CIA operative. The only serious threats have been made against one reporter who wrote a story about another reporter’s work and another reporter who conducted unpublished research.
Such actions are worthy of third-world dictatorships, not a nation that supposedly prides itself on freedom of the press.
It is disgraceful and should not be allowed to stand. But there is NO guarantee that the Supreme Court will side with the First Amendment.
The court rejected a request from the two journalists who had asked the court to reconsider a decision by a three-judge panel.
Matthew Cooper of Time magazine and Judith Miller of The New York Times had refused to disclose their sources to the prosecutor investigating another reporter’s leak of the name of an undercover Central Intelligence Agency operative – the now-infamous Valerie Plame case.
Cooper and Miller still face up to 18 months in jail for failing to reveal their confidential sources to a federal grand jury.
The case may not move to the Supreme Court and with THAT group, all bets are off.
Here’s the background (notably coming from CNN reports): Justice Department special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has been investigating the source of a leak of the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame to news reporters. Her identity was revealed in a July 2003 newspaper column by Robert Novak of the Chicago Sun-Times (and a noted extreme conservative CNN commentator), who, in his column, cited two senior Bush administration officials as HIS sources.
In a 2003 op-ed piece in The New York Times, Plame’s husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, sharply criticized President Bush’s claim in his 2003 State of the Union address that Iraq had tried to obtain uranium in Niger.
The CIA had sent Wilson to Niger in 2002 to investigate and he had reported back that Baghdad hadn’t purchased uranium yellowcake, which can be used to develop enriched uranium for nuclear weapons. Wilson accused the White House of using discredited intelligence to justify the invasion in Iraq and said the leak about his wife was in retaliation for his criticism.
Now it gets interesting. Cooper wrote an article in Time about Novak’s disclosure of Plame’s identity; while Miller “researched” the topic but did not write about it. Read that again. One reporter wrote about ANOTHER reporter’s story and the other reporter RESEARCHED the topic.
Meanwhile, these two people face jail for refusal to disclose sources and Novak, nicknamed “The Prince of Darkness” for his extreme views, continues to rant and rave on CNN and in print without fear of anything. You have to wonder what HE has on these investigators and people in Washington.
Fitzgerald said in court papers his work was done except for resolving the issue of the two reporters’ testimony. New Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has left the matter to Fitzgerald to resolve and is playing Pontius Pilate on the entire matter.
So far, no one in the Bush Administration, State Department or any branch of government is being held accountable for the illegal disclosure of the name of an active CIA operative. The only serious threats have been made against one reporter who wrote a story about another reporter’s work and another reporter who conducted unpublished research.
Such actions are worthy of third-world dictatorships, not a nation that supposedly prides itself on freedom of the press.
It is disgraceful and should not be allowed to stand. But there is NO guarantee that the Supreme Court will side with the First Amendment.
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Remembering Oklahoma City 10 years later
One of the more moving experiences I had in the past 12 months was seeing the Oklahoma City Memorial site in person during a driving vacation with my wife and youngest daughter. I thought of what I had seen during today’s 10th anniversary memorial service on television.
For anyone within driving distance of Oklahoma City, it is a trip well worth taking. The memorial itself is unique among American sites and is a tribute to the community, the state of Oklahoma and the U.S. Park Service, charged with its oversight. While we were unable to tour the actual museum inside the surviving structure, that was not as important as walking the grounds, looking into the reflecting pool, standing midway between the two arch-like structures with “9:01” and “9:03” inscribed on either side, seeing the 168 small chairs on the south side of the grounds (one for each of the victims inside the Murrah Federal Building that day) and the tree that survived at the blast site.
It was important that I was there with my daughter, Kelsey, a typical teenager in that she lives her life blessedly unaware of most world and national activities that don’t involve school, boys and … more boys. It was a rare opportunity for a father to impress and impart some wisdom about what happened in 1995 and why she needed to see it and learn from it.
She was told that there were, and are, people who are capable of doing this without funny Arabic-sounding last names. These things can be done by people who look like her, whom she might associate herself with and that she might have friends who had family in Oklahoma City that were affected by the tragedy.
The man who did this was a former soldier, allegedly sworn to defend the nation, not try to kill its own citizens, many of whom were too young to barely articulate what it meant to be an American, let alone to be alive.
We spent about an hour on the grounds, took dozens and dozens of photos on what was a gray, overcast summer Monday morning. It was quiet, with few visitors joining us. I thought at the time that such solitude was probably appropriate; one needed to be alone with his or her thoughts.
I know I did the right thing last year to take Kelsey to see this. She might not appreciate it today, or even understand it completely. I’m not sure anyone will fully understand what happened, but it DID happen. Before 9/11, there was Oklahoma City and in many, many ways, it was a more dangerous signal of what could happen to us … by us.
For anyone within driving distance of Oklahoma City, it is a trip well worth taking. The memorial itself is unique among American sites and is a tribute to the community, the state of Oklahoma and the U.S. Park Service, charged with its oversight. While we were unable to tour the actual museum inside the surviving structure, that was not as important as walking the grounds, looking into the reflecting pool, standing midway between the two arch-like structures with “9:01” and “9:03” inscribed on either side, seeing the 168 small chairs on the south side of the grounds (one for each of the victims inside the Murrah Federal Building that day) and the tree that survived at the blast site.
It was important that I was there with my daughter, Kelsey, a typical teenager in that she lives her life blessedly unaware of most world and national activities that don’t involve school, boys and … more boys. It was a rare opportunity for a father to impress and impart some wisdom about what happened in 1995 and why she needed to see it and learn from it.
She was told that there were, and are, people who are capable of doing this without funny Arabic-sounding last names. These things can be done by people who look like her, whom she might associate herself with and that she might have friends who had family in Oklahoma City that were affected by the tragedy.
The man who did this was a former soldier, allegedly sworn to defend the nation, not try to kill its own citizens, many of whom were too young to barely articulate what it meant to be an American, let alone to be alive.
We spent about an hour on the grounds, took dozens and dozens of photos on what was a gray, overcast summer Monday morning. It was quiet, with few visitors joining us. I thought at the time that such solitude was probably appropriate; one needed to be alone with his or her thoughts.
I know I did the right thing last year to take Kelsey to see this. She might not appreciate it today, or even understand it completely. I’m not sure anyone will fully understand what happened, but it DID happen. Before 9/11, there was Oklahoma City and in many, many ways, it was a more dangerous signal of what could happen to us … by us.
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Life in a fast food lane
I am sitting in this long, LONG line at a local sandwich joint, waiting patiently for a little movement toward obtaining something simple to eat.
Very patiently.
And getting longer.
I have been in line for such a long period of time that I have the opportunity to dictate this column while I wait. And that is NOT a good thing.
It is just a simple order - a sandwich with a few minor adjustments, a bag of chips and a soft drink of the diet variety.
Yet, I sit and wait while some child not yet out of high school decides if my order will arrive intact and in place. My money is on “not.”
So as this tape recorder whirls, I will whisper some thoughts about state of food service in America ... because yelling will only upset the other drivers (and lots of them) waiting behind.
Perhaps not as patiently as I.
First - Is it REALLY “fast” food if you are in line for 10 to 15 minutes?
I thought the entire concept was to make it real fast and deliver it even faster. There are sit-down restaurants where your order (especially at places like Bennigan’s and Applebee’s during the lunch hour) arrives far quicker than wasting gas in a fast food drive-through.
Second - If you sit for 10 minutes, why does it ALWAYS seem as if you order still comes late when you pull to the pay window?
Again, the dictionary says the word, “fast” should mean “lasting a short time.” And in my dictionary, short doesn’t mean late at the window.
To go with that thought, why can’t simple orders get delivered correctly? Is it THAT tough to leave off a slice of tomato when requested? Not when you are in such a hurry that the brain never makes the connection. As is the case with most things, failure to take five extra seconds to insure correctness often results in more anger and resentment toward a company/business.
Next - Why can’t fast food joints offer more than ONE diet drink? If more people (especially children) were weened off sugar, everyone would be better off. Besides, there might not be anything less tasteful than a diet drink from a fountain. The differences between a sweetened syrupy soft drink and the no-calorie variety is akin to the difference between Barry Bonds and any T-ball baseball player.
Fourth - Why don’t these places hire enough people to handle the customer load at the peak times? Do restaurants REALLY think they save money in the long run by short-staffing registers and cooking areas by forcing potential customers to turn away at the site of unmanageable and slow lines? All the best major sit-down restaurants (i.e., The Palm in Dallas) overwhelm you with service personnel. A customer need not wait for great food and makes him or her feel totally appreciated.
Fifth - Why aren’t prices the same at each outlet for each product? Should a Biggie drink at Wendy’s ALWAYS be the same price, instead of gouging the customer? Yet different outlets of the same franchise charge various prices. Instead of avoiding that particular outlet, people often avoid the entire chain.
And if you have a 99-cent menu, don’t list items for which you’ve hiked the prices past 99 cents! How rude!
Sixth - Why is it easier to throw a sponge ball through a brick wall than it is to get a straw into the blasted drink lids? Putting a straw into a drink can more of a traffic hazard than putting on makeup in the morning. My experience says Jack in the Box is the worst.
And why are some drive-through lanes so close to the main entrance that you have to dodge fearful pedestrians merely to exit? Whoever designed these some of these stores must have been playing one of the weird video games at the time.
Finally … a word to my other lane occupants: Bumper stickers with expletives as part of the message make you look really ignorant, cheap and trashy. Then again, class isn’t a product you can order through the drive-through, is it?
Ah, finally, at the window and ... oops, wrong order. Never asked for the lobster combo with potato cake and orange drink. Go back to the line, don’t pass “Go!” and don’t collect those freebie Beanie Babies that promotions promise, but stores never seem to stock.
Very patiently.
And getting longer.
I have been in line for such a long period of time that I have the opportunity to dictate this column while I wait. And that is NOT a good thing.
It is just a simple order - a sandwich with a few minor adjustments, a bag of chips and a soft drink of the diet variety.
Yet, I sit and wait while some child not yet out of high school decides if my order will arrive intact and in place. My money is on “not.”
So as this tape recorder whirls, I will whisper some thoughts about state of food service in America ... because yelling will only upset the other drivers (and lots of them) waiting behind.
Perhaps not as patiently as I.
First - Is it REALLY “fast” food if you are in line for 10 to 15 minutes?
I thought the entire concept was to make it real fast and deliver it even faster. There are sit-down restaurants where your order (especially at places like Bennigan’s and Applebee’s during the lunch hour) arrives far quicker than wasting gas in a fast food drive-through.
Second - If you sit for 10 minutes, why does it ALWAYS seem as if you order still comes late when you pull to the pay window?
Again, the dictionary says the word, “fast” should mean “lasting a short time.” And in my dictionary, short doesn’t mean late at the window.
To go with that thought, why can’t simple orders get delivered correctly? Is it THAT tough to leave off a slice of tomato when requested? Not when you are in such a hurry that the brain never makes the connection. As is the case with most things, failure to take five extra seconds to insure correctness often results in more anger and resentment toward a company/business.
Next - Why can’t fast food joints offer more than ONE diet drink? If more people (especially children) were weened off sugar, everyone would be better off. Besides, there might not be anything less tasteful than a diet drink from a fountain. The differences between a sweetened syrupy soft drink and the no-calorie variety is akin to the difference between Barry Bonds and any T-ball baseball player.
Fourth - Why don’t these places hire enough people to handle the customer load at the peak times? Do restaurants REALLY think they save money in the long run by short-staffing registers and cooking areas by forcing potential customers to turn away at the site of unmanageable and slow lines? All the best major sit-down restaurants (i.e., The Palm in Dallas) overwhelm you with service personnel. A customer need not wait for great food and makes him or her feel totally appreciated.
Fifth - Why aren’t prices the same at each outlet for each product? Should a Biggie drink at Wendy’s ALWAYS be the same price, instead of gouging the customer? Yet different outlets of the same franchise charge various prices. Instead of avoiding that particular outlet, people often avoid the entire chain.
And if you have a 99-cent menu, don’t list items for which you’ve hiked the prices past 99 cents! How rude!
Sixth - Why is it easier to throw a sponge ball through a brick wall than it is to get a straw into the blasted drink lids? Putting a straw into a drink can more of a traffic hazard than putting on makeup in the morning. My experience says Jack in the Box is the worst.
And why are some drive-through lanes so close to the main entrance that you have to dodge fearful pedestrians merely to exit? Whoever designed these some of these stores must have been playing one of the weird video games at the time.
Finally … a word to my other lane occupants: Bumper stickers with expletives as part of the message make you look really ignorant, cheap and trashy. Then again, class isn’t a product you can order through the drive-through, is it?
Ah, finally, at the window and ... oops, wrong order. Never asked for the lobster combo with potato cake and orange drink. Go back to the line, don’t pass “Go!” and don’t collect those freebie Beanie Babies that promotions promise, but stores never seem to stock.
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
More insanity from Florida
Why, oh why, does it seem that ALL the craziness in the country eminate from Florida? Must be all the sun, sand and water.
Now comes a story from Okeechobee about a woman arrested for allegedly forcing her 12-year-old daughter into becoming a prostitute and attempting to sell her 14-year-old daughter ... for a Mercury Cougar! (Don't think Alan Jackson had THAT in mind while singing the praises of Mercuries).
This idiot, all of 39, has been charged with aggravated child abuse (you think?!?) and sexual performance by a child for selling her youngest child for sex in order to get food and an occasional shower at the home sof the various men involved. And how low are these schmucks to have sex with a 12-year-old????????
The 14-year-old girl refused to go along with Mommy when she traded her for a Cougar. The guy who "bought" the girl WAS arrested but no word on these men who had illegal and illicit sex with a child.
The little girl was an A-B student when Mom yanked her out of school at 11, forcing her to hit the streets. She wants to go back to school but that might be difficult. It seems she is 3 months pregnant.
The dilemma is compounded. Do you force a child to have children? Isn't this, in effect, rape? Or do morals of other force her to be an incubator and go through labor at the age of 12?
The girls are in the "protection" of Florida Department of Children and Families, with its own dubious track record.
You need a license to drive a car, you need to register in order to vote and you have to apply for a credit card. But you don't have to take any kind of competency test to have a child. You have have to be fertile.
It seems so ridiculous as to make you cry. But apparently it happens time and again. Stupid parents hurting little children. When will it end?
Now comes a story from Okeechobee about a woman arrested for allegedly forcing her 12-year-old daughter into becoming a prostitute and attempting to sell her 14-year-old daughter ... for a Mercury Cougar! (Don't think Alan Jackson had THAT in mind while singing the praises of Mercuries).
This idiot, all of 39, has been charged with aggravated child abuse (you think?!?) and sexual performance by a child for selling her youngest child for sex in order to get food and an occasional shower at the home sof the various men involved. And how low are these schmucks to have sex with a 12-year-old????????
The 14-year-old girl refused to go along with Mommy when she traded her for a Cougar. The guy who "bought" the girl WAS arrested but no word on these men who had illegal and illicit sex with a child.
The little girl was an A-B student when Mom yanked her out of school at 11, forcing her to hit the streets. She wants to go back to school but that might be difficult. It seems she is 3 months pregnant.
The dilemma is compounded. Do you force a child to have children? Isn't this, in effect, rape? Or do morals of other force her to be an incubator and go through labor at the age of 12?
The girls are in the "protection" of Florida Department of Children and Families, with its own dubious track record.
You need a license to drive a car, you need to register in order to vote and you have to apply for a credit card. But you don't have to take any kind of competency test to have a child. You have have to be fertile.
It seems so ridiculous as to make you cry. But apparently it happens time and again. Stupid parents hurting little children. When will it end?
Betting on the perfect solution
Author's Note: This is the original version of the column published in the Dallas Morning News, Wednesday, April 13, 2005, in the Collin County section's Opinion Page.
So there I sat, listening to the spirited exchange between questioning citizens and feisty county commissioners over the level of health care provided to Collin County’s less-than-fortunate residents … and I began to think about the topic.
The forum, sponsored by the Plano/Collin County chapter of the League of Women Voters, covered many bases of a complicated subject and, for most of the attendees, without easy solutions.
Unless, of course, you possess a mind that seeks out the unusual, that gravitates toward the weird. A mind like mine.
As the volleying continued between the citizen/member critics and the astringent politicians, one of those thoughts took root, complete with choral introduction and orchestral arpeggio. A light suddenly shone through the room and put a spotlight on my legal pad.
Then a voice, which sounded very much like James Earl Jones (much more than Jerry Jones), whispered, “Build it and they will bet the come.” It was telling me that there was one of the cross-marketing solutions to provide better health care for the thousands of Collin Countians who are without any kind of coverage, or who are woefully underinsured.
Hey, gang, let’s build us our very own … casino (somewhere north of … Prosper, which would be appropriate, don’t you think?). And let’s earmark all the revenues from that establishment for county health care funding.
No mess, no muss, no waxy building streaks and no tax increase. Plus lots of fun to be had by all. As can be heard on the casino floor, “Winner, winner, chicken dinner.” Take it one step further and let’s dedicate the revenues from individual table games for specific causes.
People will be invited to play Mental Health Roulette (closer to the truth than people realize), Child Care Craps, Immunization Blackjack (you actually receive your shot with a “21”), Vision Care Video Poker, Geriatric Keno, Dental Care Bingo, and the rising star of our Weezers Palace, Indigent Care Texas Hold ‘Em Poker (actually it’s more like Blind Man’s Bluff).
Not only would the casino produce revenue without that dreaded tax hike, but here’s the real kicker. Employees would come exclusively from a pool of residents who fall below the U.S. poverty level. Those workers would, in turn, have a chance to actually the kind of living wage to afford decent coverage for their families. They’d be OFF the poverty list and no longer a factor for officials to worry about! How great is that?
Some of you might be wondering how kosher this plan actually sounds. True, some Republicans AND Democrats have demonstrated recently in Austin to stop casino gambling, or any other increased form, from polluting the state treasury to fund public education, highways, you name it. But our governor, Rick Perry, doesn’t seem to be one of them; at least not overtly. He DID float a trial balloon for more video slot machines at race tracks during the 2004 special session (it was shot down) and recently he was quoted as saying, “The idea that we’re not going to have any gambling in Texas, I think, is a fairy tale. You’ve got a substantial amount in this state. There’s probably a lot of gambling going on the golf course right now.”
While a four-ball canasta won’t fund much in Texas, it is obvious that many of Austin’s leadership are looking for “safe” reasons to approve the “distasteful.” My concept would simply localize it for a specific purpose (ring up that choral group again). A casino would also help that Nashville public relations firm help discover more things for outsiders to do around Plano, aside from parking all those Lexuses next to the Western Warehouse.
To solve difficult problems, a person, or a group, such as the county commissioners, need, at times, to think and act “outside the box.” Even if it is a craps table.
Ain’t inspiration wonderful? Ooh, there’s that orchestra again.
So there I sat, listening to the spirited exchange between questioning citizens and feisty county commissioners over the level of health care provided to Collin County’s less-than-fortunate residents … and I began to think about the topic.
The forum, sponsored by the Plano/Collin County chapter of the League of Women Voters, covered many bases of a complicated subject and, for most of the attendees, without easy solutions.
Unless, of course, you possess a mind that seeks out the unusual, that gravitates toward the weird. A mind like mine.
As the volleying continued between the citizen/member critics and the astringent politicians, one of those thoughts took root, complete with choral introduction and orchestral arpeggio. A light suddenly shone through the room and put a spotlight on my legal pad.
Then a voice, which sounded very much like James Earl Jones (much more than Jerry Jones), whispered, “Build it and they will bet the come.” It was telling me that there was one of the cross-marketing solutions to provide better health care for the thousands of Collin Countians who are without any kind of coverage, or who are woefully underinsured.
Hey, gang, let’s build us our very own … casino (somewhere north of … Prosper, which would be appropriate, don’t you think?). And let’s earmark all the revenues from that establishment for county health care funding.
No mess, no muss, no waxy building streaks and no tax increase. Plus lots of fun to be had by all. As can be heard on the casino floor, “Winner, winner, chicken dinner.” Take it one step further and let’s dedicate the revenues from individual table games for specific causes.
People will be invited to play Mental Health Roulette (closer to the truth than people realize), Child Care Craps, Immunization Blackjack (you actually receive your shot with a “21”), Vision Care Video Poker, Geriatric Keno, Dental Care Bingo, and the rising star of our Weezers Palace, Indigent Care Texas Hold ‘Em Poker (actually it’s more like Blind Man’s Bluff).
Not only would the casino produce revenue without that dreaded tax hike, but here’s the real kicker. Employees would come exclusively from a pool of residents who fall below the U.S. poverty level. Those workers would, in turn, have a chance to actually the kind of living wage to afford decent coverage for their families. They’d be OFF the poverty list and no longer a factor for officials to worry about! How great is that?
Some of you might be wondering how kosher this plan actually sounds. True, some Republicans AND Democrats have demonstrated recently in Austin to stop casino gambling, or any other increased form, from polluting the state treasury to fund public education, highways, you name it. But our governor, Rick Perry, doesn’t seem to be one of them; at least not overtly. He DID float a trial balloon for more video slot machines at race tracks during the 2004 special session (it was shot down) and recently he was quoted as saying, “The idea that we’re not going to have any gambling in Texas, I think, is a fairy tale. You’ve got a substantial amount in this state. There’s probably a lot of gambling going on the golf course right now.”
While a four-ball canasta won’t fund much in Texas, it is obvious that many of Austin’s leadership are looking for “safe” reasons to approve the “distasteful.” My concept would simply localize it for a specific purpose (ring up that choral group again). A casino would also help that Nashville public relations firm help discover more things for outsiders to do around Plano, aside from parking all those Lexuses next to the Western Warehouse.
To solve difficult problems, a person, or a group, such as the county commissioners, need, at times, to think and act “outside the box.” Even if it is a craps table.
Ain’t inspiration wonderful? Ooh, there’s that orchestra again.
Friday, April 08, 2005
God Bless Republicans!
God Bless Republicans! After SO many years of wanting unfettered rule in this country, and having succeeded in obtaining it, they quickly forget one of the golden rules about politics.
“Anything you say, can and will be used against you in the court of public opinion and disclosure.”
It crosses all state lines and all issues and simply means you MUST watch what you say and to whom, because in this day and age, with such instant access to every little tidbit of information and speech, one slip of the tongue will haunt you for awhile.
Example No. 1: Texas junior Senator John Cornyn. He was a nondescript state district judge, a nondescript attorney general and a nondescript State Supreme Court justice.
Today, he is a nondescript U.S. Senator with a nondescript personality. Ask almost ANY Texan, save the diehard GOP base, and no one can name him as a Senator. They’d have a better chance naming the leftfielder for the 1971 Washington Senators (Frank Howard).
But Senator Cornyn truly made a name for himself this past week with one of the most ridiculous utterances ON the Senate floor (to no one in particular since it was empty, like his thought).
Speaking about judges making “political” decisions rather than enforcing laws (such as the bogus thing that oozed out of Congress about Terri Schiavo), Cornyn said the following:
“I wonder whether there may be some connection between the perception in some quarters on some occasions where judges are making political decisions yet are unaccountable to the public, that it builds up and builds up to the point where some engage in violence.”
This from a former judge? Does he think ALL decisions were met with standing ovations?
A few days later, Cornyn mused, “I guess the other lesson I learned was not to wonder aloud on the Senate floor.” You think? Here’s a quote to chew on from Forrest Gump, “Stupid is as stupid does.”
Of course, Cornyn, though denying any connection, was carrying water for that branch of the GOP who wants to see judges reigned in when THEIR decisions are in lockstep with the extreme conservative Republican wing, led by the slimy likes of Tom DeLay.
Senor DeLay, a former exterminator, continued his deflection off his own ethical problems, before the Judeo-Christian Council for Constitutional Restoration, with a taped address. By the way, the leader of this organization is hawking a book called “In Defense of … Mixing Church and State.” Tell you all you need to know.
Quote Congressman DeLay: “Unelected, and all too often, unaccountable courts have invented out of whole cloth previously invisible and unasserted constitutional rights to privacy, abortion on demand and same-sex marriage.”
He thinks federal judges should be impeached for “wayward” decisions – in other words, if you disagree with me, regardless of the law, I want you gone. How democratic of you, Mr. DeLay.
Hopefully, people are seeing DeLay for what he is. All this guy is doing is wrapping himself in the bosom of his extreme supporters to shield him from all these “other” problems he claims to be conspiratorial against him. But a good bug man should know that there are reasons why roaches appear and you need to get rid of the prime source in order to eradicate the problem.
One of those conspiracies, according to DeLay, with this Schiavo legislation talking points unsigned memo that Republicans claimed was a fake. They, plus every muppet conservative pundit to be found, loudly suggested that it was a dirty trick from the Democrats.
Oops, wrong again! It was written by the LEGAL COUNSEL for Florida Senator Mel Martinez … a Republican! Martinez had the gem quote of the week when he said, in admitting the documents authenticity and origin, “I just took it for granted that we wouldn’t be that stupid.” You think?
None of this happens in Washington by accident. To think that Martinez had NO idea about this memo (hell, he gave a copy of it to Iowa Senator Tom Harkin), that DeLay has no idea why the press and other Washington insiders keep coming after him and that Cornyn’s statements would not be met with resistance is pure nonsense. It’s all part of the new game in D.C. and there are different rules in play.
“Anything goes” and “the end justifies the means” are the main rules, not just clichés. But my rule at the start of this piece still goes. Say it in public and it will bite you in the ass one day.
“Anything you say, can and will be used against you in the court of public opinion and disclosure.”
It crosses all state lines and all issues and simply means you MUST watch what you say and to whom, because in this day and age, with such instant access to every little tidbit of information and speech, one slip of the tongue will haunt you for awhile.
Example No. 1: Texas junior Senator John Cornyn. He was a nondescript state district judge, a nondescript attorney general and a nondescript State Supreme Court justice.
Today, he is a nondescript U.S. Senator with a nondescript personality. Ask almost ANY Texan, save the diehard GOP base, and no one can name him as a Senator. They’d have a better chance naming the leftfielder for the 1971 Washington Senators (Frank Howard).
But Senator Cornyn truly made a name for himself this past week with one of the most ridiculous utterances ON the Senate floor (to no one in particular since it was empty, like his thought).
Speaking about judges making “political” decisions rather than enforcing laws (such as the bogus thing that oozed out of Congress about Terri Schiavo), Cornyn said the following:
“I wonder whether there may be some connection between the perception in some quarters on some occasions where judges are making political decisions yet are unaccountable to the public, that it builds up and builds up to the point where some engage in violence.”
This from a former judge? Does he think ALL decisions were met with standing ovations?
A few days later, Cornyn mused, “I guess the other lesson I learned was not to wonder aloud on the Senate floor.” You think? Here’s a quote to chew on from Forrest Gump, “Stupid is as stupid does.”
Of course, Cornyn, though denying any connection, was carrying water for that branch of the GOP who wants to see judges reigned in when THEIR decisions are in lockstep with the extreme conservative Republican wing, led by the slimy likes of Tom DeLay.
Senor DeLay, a former exterminator, continued his deflection off his own ethical problems, before the Judeo-Christian Council for Constitutional Restoration, with a taped address. By the way, the leader of this organization is hawking a book called “In Defense of … Mixing Church and State.” Tell you all you need to know.
Quote Congressman DeLay: “Unelected, and all too often, unaccountable courts have invented out of whole cloth previously invisible and unasserted constitutional rights to privacy, abortion on demand and same-sex marriage.”
He thinks federal judges should be impeached for “wayward” decisions – in other words, if you disagree with me, regardless of the law, I want you gone. How democratic of you, Mr. DeLay.
Hopefully, people are seeing DeLay for what he is. All this guy is doing is wrapping himself in the bosom of his extreme supporters to shield him from all these “other” problems he claims to be conspiratorial against him. But a good bug man should know that there are reasons why roaches appear and you need to get rid of the prime source in order to eradicate the problem.
One of those conspiracies, according to DeLay, with this Schiavo legislation talking points unsigned memo that Republicans claimed was a fake. They, plus every muppet conservative pundit to be found, loudly suggested that it was a dirty trick from the Democrats.
Oops, wrong again! It was written by the LEGAL COUNSEL for Florida Senator Mel Martinez … a Republican! Martinez had the gem quote of the week when he said, in admitting the documents authenticity and origin, “I just took it for granted that we wouldn’t be that stupid.” You think?
None of this happens in Washington by accident. To think that Martinez had NO idea about this memo (hell, he gave a copy of it to Iowa Senator Tom Harkin), that DeLay has no idea why the press and other Washington insiders keep coming after him and that Cornyn’s statements would not be met with resistance is pure nonsense. It’s all part of the new game in D.C. and there are different rules in play.
“Anything goes” and “the end justifies the means” are the main rules, not just clichés. But my rule at the start of this piece still goes. Say it in public and it will bite you in the ass one day.
Thursday, April 07, 2005
TV tidbits
I have been a major league “West Wing” fan since Day One, but I was bitterly disappointed with the Season Six finale last Wednesday night.
It needed to be two hours in length in order to tie up more than a few loose plot lines (the stranded astronauts; rescue or not?) and to elicit more texture on how the writers reached the show’s climax. It all seems too rushed because it was just one hour long.
I hope Season Seven simply goes from the conventions through Election Day and takes its time getting there. Like the entire season. Then let the outcome (Bush v. Gore-like delay) be the next cliffhanger.
Also, I’m sad to see “Third Watch” cancelled but not surprised. It was a rare cop show these days; it dealt with the people involved more than CSI-like evidence chasing.
However, good news does appear (no, American Idol is NOT cancelled, dammit) as “Boston Legal” has been renewed by ABC. Other than Al Swearengen, as played by Ian McShane on “Deadwood,” is there a funnier main character than William Shatner’s Denny Crane?
Oh yes, “Deadwood” will return for a third season. Hooray! For HBO!
My personal CAN’T MISS shows (in no order) are: The Sopranos, Deadwood, ER, West Wing, 24, House, Lost, Alias, Third Watch and Carnivale. My guilty pleasure is “Las Vegas” … for obvious reasons.
It needed to be two hours in length in order to tie up more than a few loose plot lines (the stranded astronauts; rescue or not?) and to elicit more texture on how the writers reached the show’s climax. It all seems too rushed because it was just one hour long.
I hope Season Seven simply goes from the conventions through Election Day and takes its time getting there. Like the entire season. Then let the outcome (Bush v. Gore-like delay) be the next cliffhanger.
Also, I’m sad to see “Third Watch” cancelled but not surprised. It was a rare cop show these days; it dealt with the people involved more than CSI-like evidence chasing.
However, good news does appear (no, American Idol is NOT cancelled, dammit) as “Boston Legal” has been renewed by ABC. Other than Al Swearengen, as played by Ian McShane on “Deadwood,” is there a funnier main character than William Shatner’s Denny Crane?
Oh yes, “Deadwood” will return for a third season. Hooray! For HBO!
My personal CAN’T MISS shows (in no order) are: The Sopranos, Deadwood, ER, West Wing, 24, House, Lost, Alias, Third Watch and Carnivale. My guilty pleasure is “Las Vegas” … for obvious reasons.
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
Harder to cross the border
In the coming years, by 2008, any American citizen wishing to travel outside the borders will need to have a passport on their person at all times – much like one carries a driver’s license or their Sam’s Club card. While this has been the case to travel OVERSEAS (to Asia, Europe, South America), it has NOT been the case to step across the adjoining borders to neighbors Mexico and Canada.
That, my friends, is a drastic change in policy and, as has been the case in all things considered, is linked to the aftermath of 9/11. The announcement was not made by the state department but by the Office of Homeland Security, from which we see too much information about our personal lives flow.
The new policy is “designed” to keep terrorists from “exploiting the relative ease of travel in North America.” The next thing will be intrastate passports, I guess; people in Texas are automatically suspicious of ANYONE entering the state south of the Red River.
But truth be told, the policy is technically in place, at least where Canada is involved. Last summer, I spent three weeks driving through the Midwest with my wife and daughter, and one of the stops was in my old hometown of Detroit, Mich. (the answer to the trivia question of being the only spot in the U.S. which is NORTH of Canada).
It was my wife’s birthday and, on a whim, I thought it would be neat to eat dinner in a foreign land. So we headed through the U.S.-Canada tunnel to Windsor, Ontario for a nice, juicy steak.
Not so fast, we were told at the Canadian side. All we had were driver’s license and my 15-year-old daughter merely carried a student ID with her photo on it (let’s not rush her behind the wheel just yet). That vexed the Canadian border people to no end. We were herded to a holding area, had our Ford Escape swept by guards and dogs and taken to immigration officials, who admonished us for not having the proper documents.
When I mentioned the last-second aspect of the visit for a mere meal, some guy behind thick glass snapped back that next time, we needed full documents, meaning a passport. Driver’s licenses would not be adequate. I think I mumbled something about not being a “next time.”
I also noticed that people of Middle Eastern appearance, even those in Canadian licensed cars with Canadian papers, were also told to wait and had their vehicle searched. I guess skin color covers paper in a variation of that game.
At dinner, I asked the waitress about how Americans were being kept from Canada despite such attractions as casinos, restaurants, cheaper shopping and nightclubs. She said the impact on the Windsor economy could definitely be felt since 9/11 and it had gotten “worse” in the last year.
This is one of those sad effects of 9/11, where we have been forced to alter our way of life out of fear. One has to wonder how many people in Michigan, or across the U.S.-Canadian border (or those U.S.-Mexican border towns), have taken the attitude of not being a next time.
Will this eventually lead to a national ID card that will be required possession for ALL citizens, regardless of age? And where will THAT lead us to, Mr. Orwell?
That, my friends, is a drastic change in policy and, as has been the case in all things considered, is linked to the aftermath of 9/11. The announcement was not made by the state department but by the Office of Homeland Security, from which we see too much information about our personal lives flow.
The new policy is “designed” to keep terrorists from “exploiting the relative ease of travel in North America.” The next thing will be intrastate passports, I guess; people in Texas are automatically suspicious of ANYONE entering the state south of the Red River.
But truth be told, the policy is technically in place, at least where Canada is involved. Last summer, I spent three weeks driving through the Midwest with my wife and daughter, and one of the stops was in my old hometown of Detroit, Mich. (the answer to the trivia question of being the only spot in the U.S. which is NORTH of Canada).
It was my wife’s birthday and, on a whim, I thought it would be neat to eat dinner in a foreign land. So we headed through the U.S.-Canada tunnel to Windsor, Ontario for a nice, juicy steak.
Not so fast, we were told at the Canadian side. All we had were driver’s license and my 15-year-old daughter merely carried a student ID with her photo on it (let’s not rush her behind the wheel just yet). That vexed the Canadian border people to no end. We were herded to a holding area, had our Ford Escape swept by guards and dogs and taken to immigration officials, who admonished us for not having the proper documents.
When I mentioned the last-second aspect of the visit for a mere meal, some guy behind thick glass snapped back that next time, we needed full documents, meaning a passport. Driver’s licenses would not be adequate. I think I mumbled something about not being a “next time.”
I also noticed that people of Middle Eastern appearance, even those in Canadian licensed cars with Canadian papers, were also told to wait and had their vehicle searched. I guess skin color covers paper in a variation of that game.
At dinner, I asked the waitress about how Americans were being kept from Canada despite such attractions as casinos, restaurants, cheaper shopping and nightclubs. She said the impact on the Windsor economy could definitely be felt since 9/11 and it had gotten “worse” in the last year.
This is one of those sad effects of 9/11, where we have been forced to alter our way of life out of fear. One has to wonder how many people in Michigan, or across the U.S.-Canadian border (or those U.S.-Mexican border towns), have taken the attitude of not being a next time.
Will this eventually lead to a national ID card that will be required possession for ALL citizens, regardless of age? And where will THAT lead us to, Mr. Orwell?
Save us from booty-shaking cheerleaders
A bill that allows the state education commissioner to “intervene” when someone is offended by the antics and motions of high school cheerleaders somehow won unanimous approval last Tuesday in the Texas House Education Committee.
As crafted by State Rep. Al Edwards (D-Houston), the bill originally would have cut off funds to those schools that failed to discipline its dancers, cheerleaders or drama students for performing in ways that were “too sexually suggestive.”
After some House members insisted that the legislation was too harsh and it failed to define exactly WHAT was inappropriate, the whole thing was scaled back, but did not disappear.
This is yet another example of lawmakers trying to legislate individual morality while refusing to deal with the real important issues in Austin.
And, ladies and gentlemen, despite any claims to the contrary, this kind of legislation is potentially racist (despite Edwards being an African-American), and here’s why.
A few years ago, when poor little Wilmer-Hutchins ISD (it seems as if all bad news involves the same district) was a Class 4A school, it was redistricted with Lancaster into a grouping of East Texas communities, including Athens, Corsicana, Ennis and Palestine. Prior to that two-year period, the East Texas schools pretty much kept to themselves, avoiding those dreaded Dallas area schools and students.
“The Hutch,” as it is called in the Metroplex, is a minority majority district and views things … differently. Their band program was modeled after several successful black colleges, including Southern, Grambling, Florida A&M, Prairie View A&M and the kind of performances as shown in the movie, “Drumline.” Lots of motion, hip-shaking and upbeat music, compared to the stoic show tunes or military-style often seen in non-African-American marching bands.
When W-H played a football game IN Palestine, and the visiting band performed, it “horrified” the local patrons. It revived racist comments such as “jungle music” and the like and the Palestine school officials lodged a formal complaint with the district, asking that the Eagle band be banned from performing in Palestine again, as to NOT offend the fine Anglo folks of that community.
Nothing ever came of the complaint and W-H simply shrank down in classification to Class 3A.
But, as Bob Dylan wrote MANY years ago, the times they are a-changin’. Musical and performance expression should not be legislated from Austin. Besides, all any adult has to do is LOOK at the modern cheerleader’s uniform to know that very little of a high school girl’s body is covered up, which is suggestive enough for some of us fathers.
Here’s the real problem: Too many parents STILL think that football games are played in order to have a band march at halftime, to see girls wearing two tons of makeup dance at the 50-yard line and for cheerleaders to “shake their booty” to enhance school spirit.
No amount of legislation will change that type of mindset.
As crafted by State Rep. Al Edwards (D-Houston), the bill originally would have cut off funds to those schools that failed to discipline its dancers, cheerleaders or drama students for performing in ways that were “too sexually suggestive.”
After some House members insisted that the legislation was too harsh and it failed to define exactly WHAT was inappropriate, the whole thing was scaled back, but did not disappear.
This is yet another example of lawmakers trying to legislate individual morality while refusing to deal with the real important issues in Austin.
And, ladies and gentlemen, despite any claims to the contrary, this kind of legislation is potentially racist (despite Edwards being an African-American), and here’s why.
A few years ago, when poor little Wilmer-Hutchins ISD (it seems as if all bad news involves the same district) was a Class 4A school, it was redistricted with Lancaster into a grouping of East Texas communities, including Athens, Corsicana, Ennis and Palestine. Prior to that two-year period, the East Texas schools pretty much kept to themselves, avoiding those dreaded Dallas area schools and students.
“The Hutch,” as it is called in the Metroplex, is a minority majority district and views things … differently. Their band program was modeled after several successful black colleges, including Southern, Grambling, Florida A&M, Prairie View A&M and the kind of performances as shown in the movie, “Drumline.” Lots of motion, hip-shaking and upbeat music, compared to the stoic show tunes or military-style often seen in non-African-American marching bands.
When W-H played a football game IN Palestine, and the visiting band performed, it “horrified” the local patrons. It revived racist comments such as “jungle music” and the like and the Palestine school officials lodged a formal complaint with the district, asking that the Eagle band be banned from performing in Palestine again, as to NOT offend the fine Anglo folks of that community.
Nothing ever came of the complaint and W-H simply shrank down in classification to Class 3A.
But, as Bob Dylan wrote MANY years ago, the times they are a-changin’. Musical and performance expression should not be legislated from Austin. Besides, all any adult has to do is LOOK at the modern cheerleader’s uniform to know that very little of a high school girl’s body is covered up, which is suggestive enough for some of us fathers.
Here’s the real problem: Too many parents STILL think that football games are played in order to have a band march at halftime, to see girls wearing two tons of makeup dance at the 50-yard line and for cheerleaders to “shake their booty” to enhance school spirit.
No amount of legislation will change that type of mindset.
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