Recently seen in email

In an effort to keep content here "fresh," I'm resorting to putting interesting email posts in the blog.

These come from me Mum:

Cows
Is it just me, or does anyone else find it amazing that our government can track a cow born in Canada almost three years ago, right to the stall where she sleeps in the state of Washington. And they tracked her calves to their stalls. But they are unable to locate 11 million illegal aliens wandering around our country. Maybe we should give them all a cow.

DHR, are you listening?

Constitution
They keep talking about drafting a constitution for Iraq. Why don't we just give them ours? It was written by a lot of really smart guys, it's worked for over 200 years, and we're not using it anymore.

OUCH! Mr. Bush, are you listening?

Ten Commandments
The real reason that we can't have the Ten Commandments in a Courthouse: you can't post "Thou Shalt Not Steal," "Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery," and "Thou Shall Not Lie" in a building full of lawyers, judges, and politicians! It creates a hostile work environment!

Interesting. Speaking of Constitutions...

I just read an article about a recent Pennsylvania Western Federal District Court decision (this is a PDF file) where Extreme Associates, Inc. (a company that sells adult videos and toys) was given protection under the First Amendment for their actions.

I don't necessarily support the company (notice I've not linked to them -- though pornography, the adult film industry, adult toys and videos, and the like don't cause me any angst), but I do support the decision as it furthers the idea that what two consenting adults do in the privacy of their own home is their business and not the business of the Law.

However, at the same time, religious icons (statues, images, etc.) are being challenged because of the overzealous application of the High Court decision Lemon vs. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. 602. This case gave us the Lemon Test, as well as the precedent that Federally funded agencies can't engage in religious activities. This is being interpreted to extend to the display of traditional and historic religious iconography. Statues, paintings, the Pledge of Allegiance, and myriad other traditional and historic "artifacts" are coming under fire from the hard-core secular left (aka the ACLU).

In a Brief Amicus Curiae ("Friend of the Court Brief") submitted to the High Court by the American Family Association, Center for Law & Policy, the AFA makes a case (another PDF) to overturn, or at least to modify the application of, Lemon v Kurtzman.

Simply put: I agree.

Though I'm hardly a religious man (I'm passionately disinterested in the subject, in fact), I do believe that this country was, in part, founded on religious grounds - or at least the free participation and expression of religion. There are many historical religious artifacts that come to use from the past. Today, they have more historical significance than they have religious significance. I don't understand why the secular left believes it must attack such artifacts.

Get a life.