Friday's Odds and Ends

Hello, my name is Maryann, and I am a parent who spanked her children. Primarily with my hand and sometimes with a hot-wheel track - my boys can attest to how that stung without injuring them - but never with a weapon that would bruise them or make them bleed. And corporal punishment was reserved for serious infractions such as lying or stealing.  What could a four-year-old child have possibly done that was so terrible it warranted the discipline that NFL player Adrian Peterson inflicted on his son, beating him with a switch until the child bled?

Since the news of what Peterson did broke last week, people are speaking up in defense of his actions, espousing the old adage, "spare the rod spoil the child." His mother was quoted as saying he did it out of love for his child. "When you whip those you love it's not about abuse, it's about love."

Sorry Ms. Jackson, but whipping a four-year-old until he bleeds is not love.

This is a father's love.

Enough about that. Have you heard about the new website for the wealthy among us, Netropolitan? To join, one must ante up $9,000, and the site is billed as "The online country club for people with more money than time." The direct link to the site didn't work when I tried it, maybe because I didn't pay my $9,000, so I linked to an article that has more information. Just in case you might want to join. (smile)

Last Sunday in the Dallas Morning News, Steve Blow's column was about the ongoing debate about the separation of church and state that gains new fuel every time someone objects to a religious symbol in a public place or the religious right petitions to allow prayers at public gatherings. Steve's column mentioned two recent issues in the Dallas area that stirred the embers of the debate. First was a plaque mounted on a school building dedicating the school to "...the education of God's children and to their faithful teachers in the name of the holy Christian Church."

I'm a Christian, but I object to the plaque since some of the students and teachers there might not be Christian. Steve suggested the religious leaders in the town go to the school board and say, "In hindsight, those plaques really do represent public monies promoting one religion over others. That is not the American way and they should be removed."

The other flap is over a request by a group of atheists to be allowed to do an invocation before a city council meeting in Rowlett on a rotation basis with the religious representatives. The hue and cry that elicited has been loud and strong, and I'll admit that when I first heard about the request I wondered why an atheist would want to do an invocation. Who would they be invoking? Then I read Steve's column, reminding us that "Our cherished freedom of religion includes the freedom to choose no religion." He urged the religious leaders in Rowlett to speak those words to the City Council members and ask them to "...allow them (atheists) to bring a secular word of inspiration periodically."

The final point in Steve's column was about why our founding fathers were so careful to keep religion and politics apart. "Just look around the Middle East at what happens when they merge into one.
It’s a mess. A bloody mess.

"Some see the problem as Islam itself. In truth, much of the problem is simply the mixture of church and state into one toxic brew."

So true.

Now to close with some fun from the funny papers. This one is from Crankshaft. Rose is visiting with a lady friend telling her, "My lungs seem to be bothering me. And there's something wrong with my bladder. But those things aren't as bad as the pain I get in my back. I don't know if it's my pancreas, my spleen or my liver. And then I get these heart palpitations that just seem to go on and on."

Her litany of ailments goes on through several panels, then Crankshaft walks into the kitchen and says to his daughter, Pam, "You're missing Rose's organ recital."

Hope everyone has a great weekend. Do you have plans for something fun? I'm going to a play Friday night and will have our monthly writers' group meeting on Sunday.