(427) ANNIVERSARY & AMISH

We just had the 10th Anniversary of 09/11. We have used this disaster to promote three wars, with more on the horizon. The ordeal started when Immigrations allowed militant Muslims into the country with the assigned label: “To be watched.” That astounds me. Who was going to do the watching and reporting? It is further confounding because no one has been fired as result of any of the investigations that were conducted into the World Trade Center attacks. The CIA and the FBI and various other agencies were not sharing information about the potential attack.

Instead of looking at the real cause, we are now installing flight-deck doors which cannot be opened and can withstand bullets. We are also trying to keep people with firearms from getting on airplanes (except pilots and air marshals, of course) and we are also working hard to keep people with explosives from getting on airplanes. This has turned into a dark comedy–or a dystopian science-fiction. It accomplishes very little, but inconveniences us mightily. I was so happy when the Homeland Security Act was going to expire, but the terminally fearful mounted an offensive, and we are still stuck with it. Big Brother is watching . . .

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In other news, the Amish in Kentucky have found themselves afoul of the law. Nine Amish men have been sentenced to three to ten days in jail, depending on the severity of their crime. What, pray tell, have they done? It seems that they have taken their buggies out on the highway without an orange triangle on the rear end. For reasons that are difficult to explain, the Amish are opposed to bright colors and reflective surfaces, thus, at least some sects of Amishism are opposed to vivid colors. To avoid jail, they could have paid a fine, however, according to one of the Defendants, that would be an indication that they approved of the law and were willing to comply with it. The sentencing Judge said, ‘Do you intend to pay the fine?’ The Defendant shook his head, ‘No.’ ‘Do you intend to put the bright orange triangle on the back of your buggy?’ And the Defendant shook his head ‘No.’ Thereafter, sentences were imposed. In offering an explanation about why some Amish have the bright orange triangle and others do not, the person answering the question said, ‘We are members of the Old Order Swartzentruber group of Amish.’

If they had just said that to begin with, that would have solved all the problems. I am sure that even the Judge knows about the Old Order.

Respectfully submitted,
Donald M. Heavrin,
A concerned Citizen