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<p class=MsoNormal><st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><font size=3
face=Georgia><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Georgia'>Gary</span></font></st1:place></st1:City><font
face=Georgia><span style='font-family:Georgia'> writes:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Georgia><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Georgia'>Hansen, there's nothing wrong with my reading skills and
firearms have yet to be brought to bear. I am simply curious about how the end
result of some peoples community betterment campaign always results in the
same usual suspects. I am curious how looking at a petition that
circulated within the last six months resulted in statistics that cover the
last six years. I am curious as to why all this concern for <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Moscow</st1:place></st1:City>'s zoning regs has netted miscreants
from outlying communities and the county. I am afraid that the explanations so
far seem a trifle contrived. Please don't take this the wrong way but the
answers to my questions are, perhaps, best left to someone with a little more
intellectual horsepower then you can muster. Nuff said?</span></font><font
face=Georgia><span style='font-family:Georgia'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Georgia><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Georgia'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Georgia><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Georgia'>Me:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><font size=3
face=Georgia><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Georgia'>Gary</span></font></st1:place></st1:City><font
face=Georgia><span style='font-family:Georgia'>, I can sympathize with this way
of stating your concern—and I applaud your tone here, outside of
insulting Tom’s cognitive abilities. However, your one sided
approach to these issues (which I assume you would grant) still perplexes
me. For the sake of argument, let’s say that you are right here. Wouldn’t
it still matter whether or not the underlying motivations are guided by legitimate
‘discriminatory’ thoughts? The extent to which public
discrimination is wrong would seem to be at least partly a function of what is
motivating the discrimination in the first place. For an intentionally exaggerated
example: if you were in Nazi Germany before WWII, would it be wrong to use
existing laws or codes to weaken the moral of those Germans affiliated with the
anti-Jew sentiments? <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Wayne</st1:place></st1:City>
is right after all about the de facto legitimacy of current, working law.
These codes are not fossils from another age that need to be stricken by the
state’s Supreme Court are they? If the housing codes are bad and
not in the best interest for our public good, or if they are unjust, or
infringe on our rights, then we should be actively seeking to change the code,
right? I’m confronted with the code as a home builder on a weekly
basis, yet I understand both the wisdom within the code (generally speaking)
and also the need to apply it indiscriminately, which in practice usually means
enforcing it whenever a complaint is raised. Think of another example: What
of the use of tax law to finally take down the Cult law firm in the movie ‘The
Firm’? Was this a wrong use of tax law since it was the only lawful
way of exposing more serious sociological and legal problems? <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Georgia><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Georgia'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Georgia><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Georgia'>These are tricky questions; but I think they illuminate
the problem in taking such a simplistic critical stance. There is a
difference between discrimination and ‘religious persecution.’
The latter only reveals the fact that CC is willing to create any kind of
rhetorical smoke available to them. One of the important questions is
that IF there is some kind of discrimination, WHY would there be this kind of
discrimination? I just don’t see how a balanced criticism could get
off the ground without carefully seeking to answer this question. If
Wilson does hope to turn Main street into New Oxford, which based on my own
discussions with him, is a strong likelihood, and if CC is uniquely marked by
imposing violent sociological categories, arrogance, and alignment with elitist
ideology, then it would seem you should temper your critiques of the ‘intolerista’s’
actions. If all this is true, their ability to continue reasoning with
anyone from CC till the cows come home, stay off of Wilson’s Blog, and
not do any sort of violence should be applauded. It would seem that you
owe them some respect. If on the other hand, CC is a humble, innocent
protestant lamb being led to the slaughter because of their preaching of Christ
crucified, then it seems you should be much more serious about your
criticism. In other words, the truthfulness of the underlying concern
that would possibly motivate any discrimination, if there be any in the first
place, is something that should drastically effect your position and approach
in all of this. Yes? No? <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Georgia><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Georgia'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Georgia><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Georgia'>Thank you<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Georgia><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Georgia'>Michael Metzler <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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