f/k/a . . .

 

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.

 

 

 

by dagosan:  

no impatiens this year –

resenting

the lazy neighbor

 

[Aug. 23, 2005]

                                                                           

 

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. 

 

 

sunlit shallows

a frog burrows deeper

into the mud

 

Carolyn Hall - Snapshots  #10 (2004)

 

   I think even Steve Bainbridge would agree that today’s NYT article

“Scientists Speak Up on Mix of God and Science” is quite evenhanded.

(by Cornelia Dean, Aug. 23, 2005).