Random Thoughts

I have been wanting to give my thoughts on this Duke University lacrosse team case in Durham. Briefly, I do not care that the woman was a stripper. Strippers can be raped. And, I do not care that the Duke lacrosse team are probably a bunch of pompous idiots. The evidence, if all is allowed, will point to the truth, and a jury will sort out what happened.

But Ann Coulter, whose last column you can access through the "Townhall.com" link on this page, must have telepathy with me, because her column is almost verbatim of what I have been thinking since I first heard of this story. How could this incident have been prevented?

Well, first of all, the chances of this woman being raped would have been minimized, or maybe eliminated in this circumstance, had she not agreed to come to a party with almost 100 hormone-crazed young men and take her clothes off. Second of all, assuming that the young men are innocent until proven otherwise, the tarnishing of their reputations because of this incident would not have happened if they had not hired a woman to come to their party and...take her clothes off.

We must all take responsibility for our actions. No one should be raped, but when you 100 young men with a naked woman and large amounts of alcohol in a room, you are courting disaster. As a matter of fact, common sense would tell a young woman that if she shows off enough of her body, she is going to get men excited. Again, and I reiterate so that I not be taken the wrong way, NO woman, regardless of her state of dress or undress, deserves to be raped. But it is kind of like standing in the middle of the highway, although the law says you, the pedestrian, has the right of way, you still are very likely to get hit by somebody.

On the other hand, the young men also knew that they were running risks as well. The best way to avoid even the appearance of evil is to keep yourself from those situations as much as possible. Those situations will present themselves without having to create them, as did these young men.

Responsibility is the code word. And both sides in this case want to be portrayed as the victim, when in fact, this situation was created by their own design.

And speaking of responsiblity, it never ceases to amaze me at what people think that their government should be responsible for. As I was traveling to work this morning, I caught a story on the radio. I do not remember what the story was about, I think maybe about gasoline, but what caught my attention was the line, "She says that the government should do more to educate people on this issue." The government is not an information clearinghouse. People should be responsible for their own education. I guess this is part of the price we pay for allowing the government a virtual monopoly on education and making an education available publically to all.

And, speaking of education, a Gwinett County, Georgia, mother is trying to get the "Harry Potter" series of books banned from schools. She is saying that the books promote evil. One little girl even stated that the Harry Potter books drove her to witchcraft!

I see no more harm in the Harry Potter books than I do Cinderella. In "Cinderella", the main character is transformed into a beautiful princess by a fairy, who uses a wand and casts spells on mice, dogs, and a pumpkin, to attract the prince's attention. It is make-believe, and so is Harry Potter. Grow up. If your elementary school child is into witchcraft, look in the mirror for the one to blame. I have read the first five books, and I see nothing in them that would compel me into witchcraft. My ten-year old son has read all of them, as has my wife. Ask him if Harry Potter is real or make-believe. And he has not tried witchcraft as a result.

Responsibility....