State Legislatures - Hate Crime - and the NEA
In 1866 Fyodor Dostoevsky published his immortal work Crime and Punishment.
Today one wishes for a novelist of equal caliber to rebut the chorus-line of State politicians and social activists who are steamed up over the issue of hate-motivated crime. Now even the National Education Association is getting on board that train.
Boiling the Frog
In October of last year I made my first post to this site. It was about a riot on an NCAA football field, and in it I noted that the descent into our current cultural state has occurred in small steps, over long periods of time. And like the proverbial frog in the slowly heated pot of water, we have become insensitive to our cultural water temperature.The recent discussion on the topic of oral sex, in curriculum intended for eleven year-old students, is representative of this.
Picking up the Pieces
Two years ago this Saturday I drove to Pine, Louisiana with a group of fifteen people from our Church. Located about ninety miles north of the Gulf Coast, it was just three weeks after Katrina. We also spent one day in Biloxi, Mississippi located right on the Gulf, and toured the unimaginable devastation there. I reflected on the trip and the people I came to know in an April 4 article. The title of that piece was Katrina and Miss Molly, derived from the names of two “women” that I will never forget.
I won’t repeat the things I first wrote of; those were personal reflections. This article is about pubic policy, and in particular, the nature of government relief efforts related to large-scale natural disasters.
