M. Sneed Videographer

I was monkeying around with the new feature that Blogger added that allows uploads of video. Pretty cool, but very slow. This riveting video is of our fountain. I am waiting for word from the Cannes people about a spot in next year's festival. I used to chlorinate the waterfall to keep the algae under control, but I discovered that if I just let the pump run all the time the water stays clear without chlorine. Plus Lacey the Wonder Dog, thinks that fountain is her water bowl. She refuses to drink from a regular dog bowl. I occasionally have to remember to clean the filter around the pump, or the water will slow to a trickle. I was listening to Alan Dershowitz on the Point of Inquiry podcast over the weekend. Dershowitz has a new book called Blasphemy, in which he makes the case that the religious right has hijacked the Declaration of Independence in the name of Christianity and that the United States is not now nor ever was a Christian nation. He makes a compelling case that the Founders were largely deists, not Christians and that their understanding of God was as a god of nature and not the God of the Bible. In making his case for the separation of church and state, Dershowitz points to the 1796 Treaty of Tripoli which was approved by the first President Adams and ratified unanimously by the US Senate. Article 11 of that treaty says, "As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries." That seems fairly compelling to me, since a handful of the first Senators, were also signers of the Declaration of Independence. Dershowitz also has a very interesting position on the idea of the sanctity of marriage. He believes that marriage is a religious sacrament, in the same way that circumcision is to the Jews and baptism is to Christians. Dershowitz thinks it is time to concede marriage to the religious communities. Let them handle marriage in the same way they handle baptism. No one would suggest that the state regulate baptism afterall. Mr. Dershowitz's idea is that all unions be civil and not bound by religious restrictions. Every person entering into a cilvil union would enjoy equal protection under the law. The purpose of the civil union would be to recognize a legal arrangement. If you think about it, that is what we are doing anyway by requiring a state license to marry. It is just that we have allowed the churches to butt their noses into it and restrict who can marry. Should a couple want to make a religious commitment to one another, then it would be up to them to find an appropriate clergy person to do that. A religious commitment would not change the underlying legal basis for a union. This arrangement provides legal protection for all parties and a spiritual component for those so inclined. You might wonder how this differs from the idea of civil unions that crop up now, only to be crushed by the state's support of religion. The difference is that civil unions would not be the default position, but the primary one. Everyone would get a civil union recognized as legitimate by the state. Marriage would be optional. I like it. In other matters, the municipal golf courses here in our fair city are closed for over-seeding this week. Over-seeding is the practice of seeding over the soon-to-be-dormant Bermuda grass with a winter Rye grass. This keeps the grass green and the snowbirds happy. They didn't used to do this, but since the city courses are watered with treated effluent now, they can grow Rye grass over the winter, without worrying about the water consumption. In cooler climates, Rye grass is a perennial, so you don't have to reseed every year. Here in our climate it is too hot for Rye to make it over the summer, so we endure a two-week dead period in our golf play. This closing of the golf courses has thrown a monkey wrench into my routine. Things in this blog represented to be fact, may or may not actually be true. The writer is frequently wrong, sometimes just full of it, but always judgmental and cranky.