[Vision2020] The Wrong Bunch of Fanatics?

[Melynda Huskey]

Doug Farris writes:

"Get your statements on the same page boys, one might think that you are 
not speaking out of the same side of your mouths..."

Or one might imagine that Tom Hansen and Joseph Keim Campbell aren't coordinating their statements, and consequently didn't intend to convey a pre-concerted idea.  That sometimes happens, here in the world.

Speaking of vandalism, I've been mourning the callous destruction of the cast iron chicken which used to adorn the corner antique shop on the way to Rosauers.  In a failed heist, it was chained and dragged to its own destruction, and then abandoned, footless and combless, in the street.

The action appears to be unrelated to the religious affiliation of the owner, who has also refrained from writing to the paper to complain that she's the victim of a demonic conspiracy.

Vandalism is lamentable, like all acts of disregard for public order and well-being.  The famous "broken window" theory of urban decline posits that when a small breach in the body politic is tolerated, such as a single broken window in a building, a torrent of bad behavior is likely to follow.  

So, for example, when several coffee shop/bookstores are located within a few blocks, and one of them agitates for a tax exemption on the grounds that they sell coffee and books for religious reasons (and anyway, they don't make much money), while others must continue to pay their fair share, there's a little dent in public order--a broken window in the body politic.  

And when that coffee shop then rents part of its premises to an elementary school operating without inspections, permits, or certificates,  thus creating public safety, traffic, zoning, and fairness issues, there's a further breach.  

And then if a citizen or two tries to demur, using the city's complaint-based model, those folks are accused of Satanic designs on Christ's tender and humble representatives on earth, which certainly causes a decline in the quality and civility of public discourse.

And then innocent chickens suffer.

Who speaks for the chickens, people?  Who?

Melynda Huskey