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Contra-tution
Bacon cheeseburgers are delicious. All restaurants should serve them. In fact, the government should force Indian restaurants and Kosher delicatessens to serve them too. Better still, the government should force Hindu and Jewish business owners to give free bacon cheeseburgers to their employees. Wouldn’t that be great?
Of course that would never happen because the First Amendment protects the religious liberty of Hindus and Jews. They would never be forced to violate their religious beliefs. However the government has ordered all employers to offer types of health insurance that violate Catholic beliefs. Catholic bishops want an exemption for Catholic-owned institutions.
It doesn’t matter whether you believe pork is edible or unclean. You still respect the beliefs of those who disagree. There’s no valid reason for the government to force a Catholic school or hospital provide free contraception to its employees. It could be that the government believes contraception is a good thing that must be forced on those who disagree. Or it could be sinister plot to force Catholics out of the hospital and charity business. Either way, the government is forcing Catholic institutions to disobey the law.
My friend Frank Weathers has created a petition on the White House’s website for those who object to this clear violation of the First Amendment. It’s not about whether or not you believe in contraception. It’s about whether or not you believe in the Constitution.
Virginia Real
Shortly after Northern Virginia was rocked by an earthquake, my sister called to tell me about it. She felt a violent shaking, as opposed to the rolling motion that characterizes many California quakes. She wanted to know what to tell her kids in case of aftershocks. Should they run outside or stand in a doorway? I told her to have them stay away from windows that might break or any bricks that might fall.
When I lived in California, they advised people to get under a desk or table during a quake. A doorway was a good second choice. My daughter remembered that advice and crawled under her desk when the quake struck. She works on the third floor of an office building in Northern Virginia and her cubicle is next to some large windows. She yelled out to her co-workers to do the same thing. The building was evacuated as a precaution and the employees got to go home early.
My daughter had a hard time making cell phone calls or even sending a text message. Her call to me was the first that went through. I suggested that she send a text to her boyfriend while she was still on the phone with me. I figured that it might be more likely to go through since she had a connection with a local cell tower while we talked. It worked.
After the two phone calls, I tuned in to WTOP.com on my WiFi clock radio and looked online for updates. My Facebook and Twitter feeds were loaded with comments about the quake. Many of my friends live in the D.C. area and wrote about their experience. One of my college friends posted that she was changing clothes at the time and was only concerned with getting dressed in case they had to pull her from the rubble. Fortunately her home in historic Fredericksburg was unscathed.
There was an abundance of jokes online. Many of my Democrat friends posted that the GOP was blaming Obama for the quake. Many of my Republican friends posted that Obama was blaming George W. Bush. One of my Libertarian friends re-posted a joke that the quake was caused by the founding fathers turning over in their graves. Knoxvillians got into the game by adding to the currently popular Stephen A. Burroughs meme: “The Earthquake Felt Him.”
Dakota of Many Colors
When planning a road trip, one of the first things I do is check RoadsideAmerica.com. As a result, the World’s Largest Buffalo in Jamestown, North Dakota, was on our agenda from the beginning. “Dakota Thunder” is easy to find from I-94. You pass through a re-created Frontier Village to get to it. They also have a Buffalo Museum and gift shop. We were surprised that downtown Jamestown is home to St. James Basilica. The specially recognized churches are not that common, yet we saw one in Iowa and one in North Dakota on consecutive days.
On the evening of July 4th, my wife and I attended a free concert at the state capitol in Bismarck. The building is known as the “skyscraper on the prairie.” The “alleged” (just kidding) governor and both U.S. Senators all made very similar remarks that honored flood victims, soldiers, the founding fathers and the North Dakota spirit. I liked the Bismarck-Mandan Symphony but I couldn’t relate to the doleful songs by “North Dakota’s Troubadour” Chuck Suchy. The late northern sunset meant that the fireworks wouldn’t start until after 10:30 p.m. Mountain Time. My wife and I left the concert and watched the fireworks from our nearby hotel.
The staff at the Fargo-Moorhead Visitors Center had suggested we see Salem Sue and the Enchanted Highway. We dropped our plans for the Enchanted Highway after talking with a couple at the Independence Day concert. Their daughter is a violinist with the Bismarck-Mandan Symphony and we happened to spread our blanket on the lawn near them. Their advice sent us to one of the best places we visited on our entire trip, Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Details tomorrow!
Statue of Limitations
Of all the valuable artwork visible during my tour of the U.S. Capitol, the statues of famous Americans were the most memorable to me. Sure, I looked up at “The Apotheosis of Washington,” which was discussed in Dan Brown’s “The Lost Symbol,” but the statues were my favorite thing to see. Each state has two statues. Our tour guide, an intern named Logan from Congressman John J. Duncan, Jr.’s office, pointed out that Tennessee technically has three famous sons represented: John Sevier, Andrew Jackson and Sam Houston, who was governor of Tennessee before becoming governor of Texas.
The two figures from California interested me. The states are allowed to replace their statues. The addition of Ronald Reagan sent some other guy into cold storage. The base of his statue in the Rotunda includes a visible ribbon of rubble from the Berlin Wall. Later, our tour guide was pointing out something else in Statuary Hall when he said, “it’s over by the guy with the cross.” My wife and I didn’t need to see the name on the base to recognize the iconic figure of Fr. Junipero Serra, who founded a string of Catholic missions along El Camino Real. Our kids had to each choose a mission and build a model of it in fourth grade at St. Finbar School.
A “portrait monument” honoring three women’s suffrage leaders, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony and Lucretia Mott, appears to be unfinished. Our tour guide said that the rumor around Capitol Hill is that the hunk of unhewn marble will someday be carved into the likeness of our first female president. He also told us that no living person can be represented by a statue in the Capitol.
Astronaut Jack Swigert died of cancer after being elected to Congress but before taking office. His colorful statue, one of the two from Colorado, is on display in the Capitol Visitor Center. He is best known as one of the three crewmen aboard Apollo 13. Kevin Bacon played him in the movie.
In the crypt under the Rotunda, we could stand in the exact center of Washington and simultaneously be in all four quadrants of the city. We were told that many lawmakers rub their foot on the spot for good luck before one of their bills is voted on. Nearby is a model of the Capitol grounds, which we were studying when I looked up to see freshman Congressman Scott DesJarlais of Tennessee’s 4th district. I knew that his incumbent opponent had waged a brutal and misleading mudslinging campaign, which obviously failed. I congratulated the congressman on “fighting the good fight” with a fist-bump on his shoulder. In hindsight, I felt stupid about touching a congressman, even if I had momentarily thought of him as a regular guy from Tennessee.
Congressional Records
Congressman John J. Duncan, Jr. took time to visit with about a dozen constituents from back home on Thursday, including my wife and me. We had arranged for a staff-led tour of the U. S. Capitol, which began in our congressman’s office.
The view from Duncan’s office in the Rayburn Building is spectacular. He was elected to congress in 1988 and got the better space as he moved up in rank. I asked his staff, who told me this is the third office Duncan has occupied.
The congressman went around the room asking each of us, kids included, a little about ourselves. He had an anecdote for every situation, having visited every school in his district. He told my wife and me that he attended Bishop Stika’s 25th anniversary Mass.
I asked Rep. Duncan about his famous vote against the Iraq war. He said the vote would have made his father, a loyal Republican, roll over in his grave. However Duncan also talked about the fiercely independent spirit of East Tennessee, dating back to the Civil War. He told us he had originally voted to support the war in Afghanistan but now wanted it to end. Duncan recapped to us his speech on the floor of the House that morning on the same topic.
I also asked about the drinking water the congressman provides at the Tennessee Valley Fair. He said that the late Tim Russert came to Knoxville for a speaking engagement. During his remarks, Russert said he had some time to kill earlier in the day and that he visited the fair. He was amazed that Duncan could get political capital by giving away water.
Since we were there on St. Patrick’s Day, it made perfect sense that a random bagpiper would be playing Irish tunes as he walked along 1st Street, past the Capitol Hill Club.
Caul and Response
No wonder Grandma was such a fan of Liberace. According to Wikipedia, he was born with a veil, meaning his head was covered with the amniotic sac. Her husband, a/k/a my grandfather, was also born “in the caul.”
Earlier this week, I recorded an interview with Jon Jefferson and Dr. Bill Bass that will air on Sunday morning. After the half-hour show ended, I kept recording for a few more minutes to ask them for some advice on what do do with a package my mother sent me. How do an old Huyler’s Cocoa tin and a Wendell Willkie campaign button factor into the story? Click below to find out.
Media file: FrankMurphyInterviewsJefferson&Bass-BonusFootage-03-08-11.mp3
Frank Murphy Interviews Jon Jefferson & Dr. Bill Bass - bonus footage Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadManure Maneuver
Governor-elect Bill Haslam hopped out of a car and started walking down Gay Street just after passing us at the Christmas parade in downtown Knoxville last night. The grand marshals were Ashley and Sherry Johnston from “The Biggest Loser.” Members of the Knoxville City Council didn’t mind riding on a float with some real airheads. They were surrounded by balloon sculptures.
My wife heard someone say they were most impressed by the actual ring from Tennessee Mountain Wrestling. I enjoyed a rockabilly band doing Christmas songs. I looked but saw nothing to identify them. Do you know who they are?
Carter High School has a very large band and sounds great. Christian Academy of Knoxville has a much smaller band by comparison and also sounds great. As they passed us, only Grainger High School played a non-secular Christmas song. The band from West High School had to dodge a pile left by a horse with a faulty diaper. The crowd watched intently to see what would happen. Cars and floats veered right to keep it between their wheels. Several entries later, a dance team was the first to step in it.
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