not fade away
underside
of the red canvas awning
not faded
in the appliance store doorway
calling a Maytag box
home
city lights
trying to make out
the constellations
Carolyn Hall - from the haibun “Protective Coloration”
in The Loose Thread: RMA 2001; orig., stone frog.
potluck
Why does Prof. Bainbridge have to go and ruin a perfectly valid
point by needlessly slinging mud? Today, in a post concerning
the firing of Michael Graham by ABC Radio, he correctly explains:
“The First Amendment limits only the power of government,
in general. The First Amendment, absent state action,
therefore generally does not prohibit a private employer
from firing one of its employees.”
“BainbridgePix” But, then, Steve just had to say:
“This sort of rights talk, claiming to have Constitutional protections
one obviously lacks, is particularly disappointing coming from a
conservative. . . . My point is only that I hate to see conservatives
invoking the lex-centric rights language of the left rather than
relying on markets and politcs for redress.”
The mistaken invocation of the First Amendment against private action is
something that every American has heard since birth. [Try living with a
teenager and see how often you face such arguments.] Those who
erroneously believe that all Americans have the right to say whatever they
want whenever they want come from all walks of life and all ideologies and
parties. Indeed, most of the 1st Amendment ignorati wouldn’t know an
ideology if it bit them on their bainbridge. It is basic ignorance of the
meaning of the Bill of Rights [which Prof. B appears to believe was given
that name by a leftwing cabal, which hoped to indoctrinate the populace
and fool a few judges] and not some liberal worldview that causes most
Americans to decry private forms of “censorship” as unAmerican.
“Scientists Speak Up on Mix of God and Science” is quite evenhanded.
(by Cornelia Dean, Aug. 23, 2005).
