Wednesday, June 26, 2002

Change is good. Still working out some kinks, but thanks for the great head start, Joe 7:54:24 PM

Thanks to FTC for the link to a Reuters article: A federal appeals court found the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional on Wednesday, saying it was illegal to ask U.S. schoolchildren to vow fealty to one nation "under God." Update: MetaFilter has a good discussion going on about the pledge. I fall squarely in the "I Never Paid Attention To The Words Anyway" Camp. My question is whether or not pledge itself is unconstitutional, or whether the removal of two words puts it back in the clear. As it relates to the issue of spanking, would we feel any differently about the pledge if it was forced on us instead of on our children? What if every day before your nine o'clock meeting, you were required to recite the pledge of allegiance? What if the only way your spouse felt he could "get through to you" or "get your attention" would be to slap or pinch or hit you? How old do you have to be before you're afforded basic human rights, or you can expect The Bill of Rights to apply to you? 4:41:25 PM

Great discussion about spanking on Metafilter this morning, with oodles of links and discussion. Turns out that CNN is also spotlighting this, with the results of a recent study: "Americans need to re-evaluate why we believe it is reasonable to hit young, vulnerable children, when it is against the law to hit other adults, prisoners, and even animals," [Elizabeth] Gershoff writes in the new edition of the American Psychological Association's bimonthly journal. This is an emotionally loaded discussion. Melissa and I would occasionally spank Esmé -- last resort kind of thing, hoping to "get through to her" -- between maybe two and three years. We never felt good about it, and it never really seemed to help anything. I sincerely doubt that a two or three or five year old is able to really draw cause and effect when spanking is involved. What does a child learn other than the world is an arbitrary place, where people you love and trust are allowed to hit you every once in awhile for any of a number of unrelated reasons? Mom hits me today because I didn't want to get my pajamas on and Dad hits me tomorrow because I was having so much fun running around the restaurant and that's just the way it is. Now I'm all for helping the girls understand the capricious nature of life, but it certainly won't include something as demeaning and disrespectful as a spanking. Looking back, I regret that we ever felt spanking was a viable option. But I'm also glad that we've completely eliminated the practice from our household. 9:53:54 AM

Just when you think you've heard the last of the various corporate scandals, along comes WorldCom's 3.8 billion (stressed like Dr. Evil, not Carl Sagan) dollar error in expense accounting. 12:23:06 AM