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A Light-Hearted Derby Week In Louisville, Free Speech, Dave Barry’s History of America, and The C-J’s Hawpe

By Theresa Fritz Camoriano

1.       This week has been a beautiful pre-Derby week in Louisville, KY.  The parade went off well, with the very deserving young men of the World Champion Valley Little League getting prime billing.  The boat race was a success, and we hope you selected the winning horses all day long.  My daughter Andrea and I visited the local Kroger store, which was displaying this year’s trophy, and which was preparing the blanket of roses for the Derby.  We are posting photos of the trophy and the blanket in this week’s issue and invite you to check them out. 

2.       The D.C. Court of Appeals has come down with a 1700 page decision on the campaign finance law case.  It seems at least to have struck down some of the law’s most outrageous attacks against free speech.  What will really count is what the Supreme Court ends up doing.  Here’s hoping the Supremes appreciate the importance of free speech, free press, and the competition of ideas when it considers how the first amendment applies to this very dangerous and unconstitutional law.

3.       Since history was always my least favorite subject in school, I did not learn much of it.  Therefore, I have found myself trying to make up for lost time as an adult, reading much more interesting books than we were allowed to read in school.  This week, I have decided to read Dave Barry Slept Here – A sort of history of the United States.  Here are a couple of quotes from Dave:

About the colonial era:  “The most famous novelist of this era was Cliff, the author of the famous Cliff Notes, a series of works that are still immensely popular with high school students.  The best known, of course, is The Scarlet Ladder, which tells the story of a short man named Miles Standish, who lived in a tall house with seven people named Gable, only to be killed in a sled crash with an enormous white whale.  This was to become a recurring theme in colonial literature.” 

…and…

“But getting back to the Boston Patriots:  Later that night, they boldly carried out Bob’s bold plan of dressing up as Native Americans and throwing tea into the harbor, but for some reason this did not result in Independence.  ‘Maybe we should also toss in some lemon,’ somebody suggested.  And so they did this, and then they tried some Sweet ‘n Low; still no sign of Independence.  Also the harbor was starting to look like a toxic-waste dump, which did not go unnoticed by early ancestors of future president George Herbert Walker Piedmont Harrington Armoire Vestibule Bush.”

If only history had been taught this way when I was in school!

4.       Last, but not least, one of the socialist editors of The Courier-Journal wrote a column last week that begged for a response from an engineer like me.  Here it is:

Dear Sir:

Your David Hawpe seems to be surprised that a concrete boat could float.  He should not be surprised, as it is in perfect accordance with the laws of nature and with practical experience.  (I have even seen a concrete ship floating in Galveston!)  Similarly, Hawpe seems to be surprised that his beloved forced "redistribution of the wealth" plan never results in harmony and justice but always results in misery and strife.  Again, he should not be surprised, as the forced "redistribution of wealth" violates the laws that govern human nature (Thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not covet), and it has always resulted in misery and strife whenever it has been tried.  (Remember the Soviet Union, Mao's China, and even our own Plymouth settlement prior to establishing private property rights there?)  It surprises me that a person like Hawpe, who prides himself in being so intelligent and well-educated, continues to promote the defiance of the laws of human nature, to ignore the clear historical evidence, and to expect that somehow, this time, things will be different.  But what would really surprise me would be if a big gas bag like Hawpe were not able to float!

Sincerely,

Theresa Fritz Camoriano

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