by Kelley Rouse
File Foolery
Just how did the files of 341 people, many of them Republicans, come to be sent to the White House? A House subcommittee will start to untangle that particular web of intrigue next week.
There hasn't appeared to be such zealots in the White House since Richard Nixon was there. Perhaps now that the tables have turned, so to speak, there will be safeguards put in place to offer better protection of everyone's privacy!
The Burning Times
It's not churches that are burning in South Africa. It's women. Police believe as many as 300 women in the last decade have been killed because they were believed to be witches.
Police blame ignorance for the killings, saying there are many people who still believe a woman can conjure a lightning strike or a crop failure.
As part of the culture that gave us the hit movie "The Craft" with its mindless Hollywood-style portrayal of Wiccans, it doesn't surprise me that in parts of the Third World women are still being burned for being witches.
Finally, Freedom for Fauziya
YES! There is enlightment. The nation's highest immigration court has ruled that female genital mutilation is indeed persecution, and is reason for seeking asylum.
Promise Me Anything
I thought this was rather humorous in a twisted way. The governor of Arizona was indicted this week for fraud involving his business as a real estate developer. The irony is that when Fife Symington ran in 1991, he ran on the promise that he would run the state with the same savvy that he ran his business. Uh-oh.
I Can't Sit on the Jury
It's had to have been a long four years for Dr. H. DeWayne Whittington. Monday, his suit against the Somerset County Board of Education goes to trial in U.S District Court in Baltimore. However it turns out, I hope Dr. Whittington is able to reclaim the public appreciation and respect that he so justly deserves for the nearly 40 years of his life that he devoted to the people of Somerset County.
It's getting to be a pretty common theme around here: so many people these days give decades of service to organizations only to be dismissed when they near retirement. The Somerset County Board of Education dealt shabbily with a man who had dedicated his life to the betterment of education for all children in Somerset, and Whittington deserved more than the bum's rush he received. Maybe the courts will give Whittington back the one thing that means most to him: respect. Good luck, Dr. Whittington.
Ode to Joy
Finally, a reminder of what a gifted and graced man Beethoven was comes from his lyrics in Ode to Joy. It suggests to me that this genius truly believed we are all one in this warped world of ours.
"You millions, I embrass you.
This kiss is for all the world!"
June 16, 1996 Kelley Rouse All Rights Reserved