Archives for May 2006

Add this to the list of embarrassing things I have done in my life. A coffee stain on my crotch. Not a little one, but a big one. I won’t bore you with how it got there, but I will acknowledge it.

I had hoped that it would have faded and gone away, but it didn’t happen. Now I am stuck wearing a pair of pants that look like I am a walking Rorschach test. Great, that is just great.

If I was single I might approach women and ask them what it looked like to them. Ok, I am exaggerating, I wouldn’t do that. In fact I have never done anything remotely like that, not now, not ever. And not even that one time at band camp either.

Can’t go home. This begs the question of do I wear it proudly or just pretend that it is not there. Or should I walk down the street and try to purchase a new pair of pants. It is a dilemma, a stain on my morning.

Well, I suppose that it could be worse. I do have stories that are far more embarrassing, but I don’t think that I’ll be sharing any of them right now.

Excuse me, I have to go slink behind a desk.

The wonks over at Stop the ACLU are among a group of bloggers who are cheering over this story. I am not impressed by any of this. Let me set the scene:

“RUSSELL SPRINGS, Ky. (AP) – The senior class at a southern Kentucky high school gave their response Friday night to a federal judge’s order banning prayer at commencement.

About 200 seniors stood during the principal’s opening remarks and began reciting the Lord’s Prayer, prompting a standing ovation from a standing-room only crowd at the Russell County High School gymnasium.

The thunderous applause drowned out the last part of the prayer.

The revival like atmosphere continued when senior Megan Chapman said in her opening remarks that God had guided her since childhood. Chapman was interrupted repeatedly by the cheering crowd as she urged her classmates to trust in God as they go through life.

The challenge made the graduation even better because it unified the senior class, Chapman said.

“It made the whole senior class come together as one and I think that’s the best way to go out,” said Chapman, who plans to attend the University of the Cumberlands with her twin sister Megan.

The graduation took place about 12 hours after a federal judge blocked the inclusion of prayer as part of Russell County High School’s graduation ceremonies.

U.S. District Judge Joseph McKinley granted a temporary restraining order sought by a student who didn’t want prayer to be part of the graduation exercises at the south-central Kentucky school, about 110 miles southeast of Louisville.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky filed suit on behalf of the unidentified student on Tuesday.

ACLU attorney Lili Lutgens said she was pleased with the judge’s order and “very proud of my client for standing up for the Constitution.” Lutgens said prayer would be unconstitutional because it would endorse a specific religion and religious views.

“He did not feel that he should have to sit through government-sponsored prayer just to receive his diploma,” Lutgens said of the student.

The student, through his attorney, had previously appealed to Russell County High principal Darren Gossage to cancel the prayer, a request Lutgens said the principal denied.

Keith Ellis, an assistant principal at Russell County High School, said the school has a long tradition of prayer at graduation, something that will change with the judge’s ruling.

“It will definitely change what we’ve done in the past,” Ellis said.”

Ok. So what we have here is a student who asked that the legal separation of church and state be upheld and in response to the legal order to do so a group high school students rebelled. A rebellion that is being cheered by a number of bloggers.

I don’t find it particularly interesting or unusual to see that high school students rebelled against authority. By itself it is not evidence of their having a deeper understanding of the issues or why they should take a particular stance. The fine superintendent of schools disagrees with me.

“Russell County School Superintendent Scott Pierce called himself a “person of faith” and said he was pleased with the response to the ruling by the senior class.

“This was a good learning process for them as far as how to handle things that come along in life,” Pierce said. The response of the students showed an ability to be “critical thinkers.”

“They exhibited what we’ve tried to accomplish in 12 years of education – they have the ability to make these compelling decisions on their own,” Pierce said.”

Sorry, I don’t buy into that spin. That doesn’t mean that I think that it is impossible for high school students to engage in critical thought, but without more support this comes across as simple rebellion.

Part of the reason why I am against prayer in public school is that it doesn’t protect the minority. There is such a thing as tyranny of the masses. It is possible for the many to terrorize and oppress the few and it is UnAmerican to support that. Let’s return to the article for a moment.

“Before the graduation ceremony, some students said they weren’t upset with the classmate that brought the legal challenge, just disappointed that there wouldn’t be a sanctioned prayer during the ceremony.

“There’s no hard feelings toward him whatsoever. That was his opinion and it was something that he felt,” graduating senior Mandy Chapman said.

Gabe McNeil said during a rehearsal on Thursday, other students booed the student suspected of filing the challenge when he walked across the stage.

“They’ve been giving him crap,” McNeil said.”

There may be a difference of opinion here, but it doesn’t take any imagination to see that this student was unfairly and unreasonably attacked for their beliefs. They didn’t do anything wrong. All they asked was that the law was upheld.

I am not impressed with the reactions of others in the blogosphere or in the story.

“A sign across the street from the high school at a garden center declared “We believe in prayer” in response to the judge’s ruling.

“In our little town, we’ve always had that prayer at commencement,” said Brenda Hadley, owner of Anna’s Garden. “Why not? That’s part of our everyday life.”

People used to think that slavery was ok and that the earth was flat too.

A felllow at the gym is preparing to take a trip to Canada and has asked for my help. He heard from another guy that I have spent some time in Toronto and thought that I might be able to assist him with something.

It seems that he is concerned about America’s image abroad and wants to know How To Deal With Angry Canadians as he is sure that they are going to want to speak with him I know that this sounds ridiculous, that is what I thought. On the other hand I have been playing ball with him for about three years now and know that he is a bit of a wingnut.

So the man approaches me with his concerns and asked me a couple of pointed questions. He opened with a short little diatribe about how no “Dudley Do-right” was going to be able to get the better of him because he was going to use his preemptive strike ability. Apparently this means that he was going to start cursing first.

Don’t forget that this guy is more than just a little wacky. Anyway, he tells me that part of his plan involves being able to curse at them in their own language.

“Jack, give me five or six really good curse words in Candian. I don’t need any more than that because I am really good at combining them.”

In case you are wondering he is a former candidate for Mensa, but I digress.

“Jim, just use your standard American terms. You don’t need any more than that.”

Don’t ask me why I didn’t ask him why he assumed that he would have trouble. I must have been caught in the moment, or maybe stupidity is contagious, in which case you better take two steps back from your computer monitor.

“Really? Isn’t there something better?”

“Not really, just choose from your standard package of your favorite four letter words.”

For a moment this sufficed and then he thought about it. While the smoke poured out of his ears I tried to think of something that would hold his immense attention span for more than two minutes.

“Ok, if you feel that you really must insult them say something about them being the 51st state or some sort of extension of the US. Ask them if they ride a moose to school. But be careful.“

Apparently this worked as he trotted off into the locker room as happy as a clam. Of course now if there is some kind of international incident I may be partially responsible, as if I needed any more complications in my life.

There are times in which I feel like I am drowning in ideas for things to blog about and then there are those moments in which I experience the exact opposite.

At the moment I am treading water on a number of different ideas as it seems silly to throw 17 posts up at once. Anyway, here is what happened here the last couple of days.

Remember When- Alan Jackson
I Want A Castle
You Asked Me To Blogroll You
I Still Laugh at This
The Name Game
Countries/Places I Want to Visit
It is Better Than Toilet Paper
Darth Vader Reports- Death Star Destroyed

And the little post that could is still garnering more comments.

What Do You Call Your Blog?

Remember when I was young and so were you
and time stood still and love was all we knew
You were the first, so was I
We made love and then you cried
Remember when

Remember when we vowed the vows
and walked the walk
Gave our hearts, made the start, it was hard
We lived and learned, life threw curves
There was joy, there was hurt
Remember when

Remember when old ones died and new were born
And life was changed, disassembled, rearranged
We came together, fell apart
And broke each other’s hearts
Remember when

Remember when the sound of little feet
was the music
We danced to week to week
Brought back the love, we found trust
Vowed we’d never give it up
Remember when

Remember when thirty seemed so old
Now lookn’ back it’s just a steppin’ stone
To where we are,
Where we’ve been
Said we’d do it all again
Remember when
Remember when we said when we turned gray
When the children grow up and move away
We won’t be sad, we’ll be glad
For all the life we’ve had
And we’ll remember when

This is a picture of Kilkenny Castle in Ireland. As I mentioned in the title one of my dreams is to live in a castle.

To me there is just something very cool and captivating about it. I don’t need a fancy title. No need to be a Duke, Earl or Marquis. I could care less about being Lord Jack of the Shack.

But I do care about having my very own castle. It would be a lot of fun and I suspect that it might help with the discipline in the house.

Just think, if the kids didn’t listen I could offer them an extended stay in the dungeon.

Now all I have to do is win the lottery and find a nice plot of land. The question is where to build. Decisions.Decisions.Decisions….