edshots

The 1st amendment to the constitution states that the government shall not establish a religion. That means forcing everybody to support that religion and/or practice it using the force of the state to make it happen. The old canard about a wall of separation between church and state is a wall that is supposed to protect religion from the government, not the other way around. The government has all the armies, not the church.

In Harrisburg, the news is focusing on the Dover School Boards decision to present Intelligent Design as part of the 9th grade biology lesson on evolution. The teacher is to read a statement of about 100 words that states, basically, "There are holes in the theory of evolution. Some people say that they are there naturally or that we just haven't found the things in between. Other people say that the jumps are the work of a designer."

There is no religion in that statement. There is the opportunity for students to find out more about it. (As if many 9th graders are going to want to sit through a slog of reading Of People and Pandas.) There is no statement that the children must believe that there is a creator. There is not even a mention of who this creator may be. For all that is in the statement, the designer could be Ralph Lauren.

Where is the entanglement of state and church? Even if, as alleged, the partiers behind the decision are motivated by Faith there is no coercion involved in this case further than the coercion of the kid having to be enrolled in school. If we want a reading of the first amendment big enough to make this 30-60 second statement the establishment of a religion, then the free association clause should be broad enough that mandatory school laws can be struck down because the students sure don't want to be forced to associate with the teachers. Of course, maybe that would be a good thing since it would finally break the government monopoly of the schools and parents would have better options to send their children to and could eliminate all the taxes that go to line the pockets of the teachers unions.

One of the news stories in the sports section over the past couple of days has been the report about Derek Jeter of the Yankees getting hate mail. The reports state that Jeter has gotten hate mail, including threats of physical violence and getting set on fire unless he stops dating white women. Having read this story in different papers on on different web sites I was struck by the paragraph that got left out in about half the stories.

The paragraph that gets left out is the one that also describes some more of what the letters say. The letters include that Jeter is a traitor to his race for what he is doing.

Think about that. A traitor to his race.

When you place this paragraph in the story it changes the context. When it says Jeter is getting threats for dating white women, the average person probably thinks that some redneck klanster is getting pissed off about this uppity black guy screwing white women. After all, according to the popular culture it is only white guys that can be racist. But with the additional paragraph about Jeter being a traitor to his race, it takes on a different perspective. This implies a black person is pissed at Jeter for dating outside the correct group. It changes the entire tenor of the story.

Maybe it's just me, but I think that particular fact is an important part of the story and shouldn't be edited out to save an inch of column. There were some other things in the story that could have been cut that weren't related to Jeter, such as a high school in Ohio getting simlar letters or some of the others that have received similar letters in the past or that the letters seem to be coming from the northwest PA and northeast OH areas.

I wonder why they left out the part that they did.

Don Adams, actor, performer and former Marine passed away recently.

Don Adams was known to most people as Maxwell Smart, agent for CONTROL, the agency keeping us all safe from the machinations of Bernie Koppell and KAOS. I remember watching the show as a youngster and laughing at how Max would mess up the situation and still be able foil the bad guys. It wasn't until I was older that I was able to appreciate just how funny the show was taking on all the Bond-esque aspects of the super spy trade. It became even more funny years later as I watched it late at night and was more aware of the political and cultural stuff that was also going on at the time.

Adams was also the voice of Tennessee Tuxedo as I recall. He and Chumly, the walrus, would get into some type of situation and need help. They would go to see Professor Whoopee and get the education on the situation that they needed so that they could save the day.

Adams hadn't done anything that I'm aware of in recent years. That's too bad. The world is a little less funny than it was a few days ago.

One of the guilty pleasures in the daily paper is getting the opportunity to read the horoscopes. I consider myself too scientifically grounded to put more than just a minimal faith in them, and that because I know how they are written so vaguely that anything may be able to be pounded into the phrasing of the prediction. But I wish that they were more reliable.

Each day for the past week at least one or more of the horoscopes that I've read have told me that today was my lucky day in love and fun. And each day, they've been wrong. IF I was getting half as much action as these forecasts were promising this week, I wouldn't be able to walk, much less do all the other things that the horoscope was promising. Now today, I look at the prediction and see it says that love is in the air and should get ready for the full bodied embrace of being in love with the world. I'll be happy if I get the embrace of a decent looking woman. And it wouldn't have to be a full bodied embrace.

But just in case the horoscope is right today, I did laundry and put on clean underwear.

Over the past three weeks there has been little but hurricane coverage on the TV. The situation with Katrina and the mess that is New Orleans, the coming of Rita, the hitting of Rita on LA and Texas, the levies in NOLA breaking and reflooding the ninth ward. Day after day there has been coverage of the mess and pain and mayhem.

I'm tired of it. I just can't bring myself to care about it like I should. And I have tried.

In social work there is a term that we call "compassion Fatigue." It is when you have been dealing with so many victims with so many problems you start to become vicariously traumatized as they are. The worker is tired because the work that has been done and there doesn't seem to be any change in the client, the client is still in pain or not changing and in the same rut. It causes the worker to care less, become hardened and not be as effective working with the client. It's also commonly referred to as burnout.

I think that I am dealing with Hurricane Compassion Fatigue. For three weeks I've seen little but the pictures of New Orleans residents running around in three foot of water, some with TV's and piles of clothes, heard nothing but tale after tale of governmental screw ups, and been told that there's another one coming that's going to do it all over again. As such, I can't get myself worked up the way I should. I look at the miles of cars on the Texas interstate and the satellite pictures of Rita and rather than saying "I hope they'll be okay,' I say better them than me. Instead of thinking how I can help I say that I've already given to the Salvation Army.

Hurricane Compassion Fatigue. I wonder if I can get a Federal grant to study it as part of the rebuilding package going through congress right now.

The Bucs played a double header against the Reds last night. They managed to win one of the games. While their record is still horrible, there is hope. They have brought up some of the players from the minors this season and many of them are turning out to be pretty good ball -players. If they can continue to develop, a big if in Pirates' history, they may turn into a good ball team down the road.

I admit I was a Lloyd McClendon supporter so I was mildly surprised when he got fired while I was on vacation. He did have all the chances to show what he could do over the years. Unfortunately what he was able to do was take a team that could play .500 ball for a big chunk of the season and then lose 25 of 30 games, taking a good team and turning it into one that's 20 games below even. I hope he makes out okay but it was probably a good decision to let him go.

The geniuses in the PA legislature are at it again. As if they haven't ticked off enough people by raising their pay in the middle of the night, bait-and-switch, illegal as all get out scheme, they are now trying to rationalize why they are worth being the second highest paid legislature in the land.

It's because of the cow milkers.

Yes, the cow milkers. House leader Perzel, who buy the way got a pay raise of up to $140,000, says that they are worth it because cow milkers in Lancaster County can make 60 grand a year, so he and his fellow civil servants in Harrisburg are easily worth 81 grand each.

Now notice he doesn't mention any of these 60,000 worth of milkers.

That's because there aren't any! He once again is lying! Fibs! Miscontruing facts! Lies!

Not that it would matter to one such as the good Rep. John Perzel. He, as do many in the state house and senate, does not care about what it right or wrong. He only cares about himself. And his $140,000, his free car, free health care, and super retirement plan.

By making statements like this, Perzel only helps to continue to fan the flames of anger about the pay hike. So I hope he keeps opening his mouth. Maybe that will help one of the two bills recinding the raise get to the house floor so we can see how our representatives in Harrisburg decide to vote. For themselves or for their constituents.

Today is the anniversary of the birth of one of my favorite writers of all time: Edgar Rice Borroughs. HE was the creator of several characters like Tarzan and John Carter, the Warlord of Mars. His writing was crisp, descriptive and well paced. Some of the concepts are very dated but when placed in context make sense. He did seem to have a racist view in some of the books, describing the blacks and arabs of Africa as slow witted and less advanced than the white man and as savages, but that was a common conception back in the early 1900s. His ideas of life on Mars were fun and imaginative with creatures born from plants, huge insectoid warriors and of course the most beautiful women in the universe.

Happy birthday ERB.