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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: greenspirit who wrote (133644)	3/27/2001 1:51:18 PM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

Karen, one of the main reasons the secular left is so dangerous is because they have accepted the notion that, what we can't win in the arena of ideas, (public support) we will win in court. One of the key roles of our court system is to protect the unpopular among us from the majority. The majority can become callous about those who are different or below their radar. When the majority forgets the Constitution, it's the job of the courts to set them straight. The left got into the habit of using the court system to protect those forced to sit at the back of the bus. That was an appropriate use of the courts and a noble cause. The seculars got into the habit of using the courts to protect people from institutional proselytizing. It seems to me that both developed a bad habit of over-relying on the courts like it's the only tool in the toolbox and that has sometimes distorted things. But until the majority learns to be fair, I don't see that changing. I just posted you an article highlighting the desire of the left to distribute pornography to our children via the library system. I know you don't mean that. No sane person wants to distribute pornography to children. Although 75 percent of American parents are concerned about children accessing Internet pornography and want the government to do something about it, and though most human beings with a modicum of commonsense recognize that a public library is not the place for pornography of any kind, a majority of the opinion-shaping elite emphatically disagrees and shouts "censorship." The librarians are just upholding the principle that public libraries shouldn't censor. It's an important principle. I can't believe that there isn't a reasonable way to protect children and avoid censorship at the same time, perhaps separate computers reserved for adults. It's just hard to find reasonable solutions when zealots shout past each other. Part of the problem is with the filters, which don't work all that well. An adult should be able to research breast cancer on the internet in a public library. Filters can't seem to make fine distinctions. I encountered my employer's filter quite innocently recently when my search for a dictionary turned up a dictionary of sexual slang. Lights flashing. IP address recorded. Ouch. Perhaps soon the filters will be smart enough to know smut when they see it and be better able to protect children while allowing legitimate research. our pledge of allegiance is being altered to remove the words, "Under God". Is it really? I was in grammar school when the "under God" was added. Are they really going to take it back out? I hadn't heard that. one of the main reasons the secular left is so dangerous Michael, I'm having some difficulty dealing with all your issues with the "secular left." I understand "secular" and "left," but sometimes it seems like your villain is seculars and other times it's the left. By secular left do you mean those who are both secular and left, or do you mean all the seculars regardless of their position on the political spectrum plus all the lefties regardless of their religiosity? Karen