During recent Fourth of July ceremonies, I was reminded that I was taught that it was disrespectful to applaud after the national anthem for several reasons. You don’t applaud after an anthem or hymn. And you don’t applaud the performer because the point is to honor the country’s symbol, which requires no applause, not to praise the performer. I am willing to bet, however, that many people think they are doing right when they clap after the last bar.
Mark Clague in his interesting book O Say Can You Hear? A Cultural Biography of The Star-Spangled Banner suggests that each week at NFL games different patriotic songs be played starting with the National Anthem. In following weeks perhaps America the Beautiful, Lift Every Voice, God Bless America, This Land Is Your Land, and My Country ’Tis of Thee would accompany the raising of the flag. I think that this is a good idea for all American sports and should also be the norm for baseball’s seventh inning stretch’s patriotic song.
It seems odd to me that hospitals now release patients after giving them a goody bag containing a toothbrush, warm socks, maybe soap, etc.. But I use some of the stuff I received recently.
Who was the innovator who first started mowing patterns onto sport fields?
“It takes two to speak truth—one to speak and another to hear.” Thoreau.
I wrote the following in this blog’s post of June 30, 2023, titled “The Job Comes with Pay, Power, Prestige . . . and Criticism . . . and Billionaires’ Gifts”:
“Congress has a limited sort of check on the Supreme Court. It can pass a new law if the Court has wrongly interpreted a statute. I am pretty sure that this has happened, but I can’t come up with an example. Perhaps someone can help me out.”
My friend Dean came to my rescue, referring to the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009. Ledbetter worked as a supervisor for the Goodyear Tire Company for nineteen years. As she neared retirement, she learned that she was being paid significantly less than men doing the same work with equal or less seniority. She sued Goodyear under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Supreme Court overturned her trial court victory. The Civil Rights Act contained a statute of limitations that required a suit for pay discrimination within 180 days of the discrimination. The Court held that the clock started ticking with the first discriminatory paycheck even if employees had no way of knowing they were being screwed. Of course, in a place where employee pay is not public knowledge few would know immediately of the discrimination against them. Ledbetter was working for Goodyear for over a decade before she learned that she was being shortchanged in comparison to men. Under the Court’s interpretation, if a company could keep its discrimination hidden for half a year, it was in the clear. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pact Act of 2009 in essence overruled the Supreme Court by amending the Civil Rights Act so that the 180-day statute of limitation starts anew with each discriminatory paycheck or compensation. And, oh yes, the Supreme Court Justice who wrote the opinion that allowed corporations to discriminate was Samuel Alito. He was joined by John Roberts, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, and Clarence Thomas.
The time, alas, has come to consider moving to a “retirement” community. We were at an open house for such a facility along with a half-dozen other couples. I started chatting with a man in a beautiful blue shirt. After we introduced ourselves to each other, we drifted apart to get some cheese cubes and meet others. After the illustrated presentation, the blue-shirted attendee came over to me and said, “It was nice talking with you. I hope we meet again, but, sorry, my memory isn’t what it once was. What was your name again?” I paused for quite a bit and finally replied, “When do you need to know?”
