Opinion A6 • Sauk Valley Media
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THE CARTOONIST’S VOICE
Monday, May 16, 2016
WASHINGTON SPOTLIGHT
Transgender discrimination will not stand North Carolina’s bathroom bill is disgraceful
Dave Granlund, GateHouse News Service
EDITORIALS FROM YESTERYEAR | 1891
From our archives: Flying humanity? Not likely on earth Note to readers – Sauk Valley Media reprints editorials and articles from the past as a regular Monday feature. The following items appeared in the Telegraph between May 15 and 18, 1891.
What we thought: 125 years ago
Man unlikely to navigate the air
S
ince a citizen of Dixon named Sprague, a shoe dealer, made a flying machine which was perfect in all its parts except the parts that were to do the flying, The Telegraph has lost confidence in the ability of man to navigate the air. It has been a sort of fixed principle with us that what a Dixon man could not do was not worth bothering about. For this reason, we never have had much confidence in that Chicago flying machine about which the newspapers have talked so much. There seems to be two sides to the flying machine question. It has been argued by learned philosophers that the animal man is too large to fly. The eagle and the condor are the largest birds that fly, and it is argued that the size of the latter is the limit. It may be urged on this side of the question that the ostrich was really intended by nature as a bird of passage, but nature made the mistake of making that stupid thing too big to fly. This is the pessimistic side of the question. Then there comes the more hopeful philosopher who has an abiding confidence in the ability of man to accomplish anything except to head off death and taxes. Man can work out any sort of a mechanical invention not excepting an air ship; and it is argued, as soon
EDITORIAL BOARD Jim Dunn Sam R Fisher Sheryl Gulbranson Jennifer Heintzelman Jeff Rogers Kathleen Schultz Tom Shaw
ate laughter which interrupts his talk on this, to him, pleasant reminiscence, but if you have time, it will be worth your while, if Ben will sober down long enough to relate it, to hear him tell how the flotsam of the three disciples of Isaac Walton became the jetsam of the lone fisherman. – May 15, 1891
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Orville Wright pilots the Wright Flyer during the first successful heavier-than-air flying machine flight in North Carolina on Dec. 17, 1903, while brother Wilbur Wright watches. Twelve years earlier, on May 15, 1891, the Telegraph editor wrote that he had “lost confidence in the ability of man to navigate the air.” as some fellow finds time to work it out, that it will be as easy as falling off a log. Well, why, under the rules of logic, should it be impossible for man to do what a goose accomplishes with such ease? The Telegraph refers to a wild goose, as the tame variety is not really a success, as any ornithologist with philosophical turn of mind can learn by a visit over in Goose Hollow any day. Why can’t man with his mighty intellect accomplish what the blue jay and woodpecker does with graceful ease? Man has no wings. That is true. But will he not make a set that shall work to his benefit on earth? However, we fear that when we shall behold a flying humanity, it will be when our editorial labors are at an end, and we shall be gathered with the good and truthful editors. – May 15, 1891
Fine fish story While Ben Switzer was angling down the river on Sunday last, he had the most marvelous luck that mortal fisherman
ever enjoyed since the days of – good fishing. The most charming feature of Switzer’s fish story is that it is true. He had not enjoyed very good luck all the day and was really coming to the pious conclusion that it would have been better had he attended church and read the good book; but while in that thoughtful mood, there came floating down by the side of his boat a splendid string of large line fish. He lifted the string into his boat and paddled for home a happy man. Strange catch, truly; but it was not a miracle as we shall see. A fish miracle in these days by some other name would sound more reasonable. On that same day, it will be remembered, as The Telegraph heretofore stated, Messrs. Underwood, Clark and Prescott, while fishing in that vicinity, lost from their boat a valuable string of fish, which exactly corresponds with the elegant floaters found by Switzer. It will take him some time to accomplish it on account of the immoder-
Put your money in Dixon Real Estate! It’s a safe investment. I have some choice bargains in lots and houses! If you have property to sell or trade, call on me. Loans made & insurance written up, at lowest rates! Geo. C. Loveland – May 16, 1891
You’re invited The several committees having in charge the arrangement for Decoration Day are desirous of having all civic and military societies take part, and they hereby extend a cordial invitation to all such societies, including the children of the schools and students at the colleges. – May 16, 1891
Enough to share A number of cases of measles are reported today. There is no cause for alarm, as there are probably enough measles to go round. – May 18, 1891
Big stump speech At Tulare, California, President [Benjamin] Harrison in his recent trip made the only stump speech of his life. He stood on the stump of big redwood, and there was room on it for fully one hundred persons to stand. It was the biggest stump speech of his life. – May 18, 1891
THE FIRST AMENDMENT
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Editorials represent the opinions of the Sauk Valley Media Editorial Board.
WASHINGTON – It started with bedrooms. Now it involves bathrooms. What is it about other people’s private lives that make some people go nuts? What causes legislators to create laws to solve problems that don’t exist? Why do some people hate government action – except when it suits their purposes, immoral though those may be? We are talking about the ridiculous new law in North Carolina that says that transgender men and women must use public bathrooms of the sex stated on their birth certificates, not the sex with which they identify. For once, Donald Trump said something sane. To wit, Caitlyn Jenner may use whatever bathroom she wants to use in Trump Tower. Ted Cruz, who to our great relief exited the race for president, tried to stir people up about the North Carolina law. “It is simply crazy … that grown men would be allowed alone in a bathroom with little girls – you don’t need to be a behavioral psychologist to realize bad things can happen.” Being transgender has nothing to do with pedophilia, for heaven’s sake. And bathroom stalls have doors for a reason: privacy. Does federal law, especially the Civil Rights Act, bar discrimination against transgender men and women? Yes, says the federal government. No, says the state of North Carolina. Consequently, we are proud of Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who gave a brilliant defense of the Obama administration’s position that North Carolina’s law is no better than Jim Crow laws that discriminated against black Americans. SHE SAID THAT North Carolina’s bathroom law provides no boon to society. All it does is strip individuals of their dignity and respect, she said. States cannot legislate people’s identity. She asked us to write a different story from the past chapters of intolerance: America must never again rob its people of their innate dignity or treat them as second-class citizens. That is the America we should all want, not a country that permits some states to write laws that cruelly discriminate against people for something beyond their control, for behavior that hurts nobody. States should not be able to pass laws that humiliate and discriminate against someone because of their color, their religion
“In a democracy, public discussion is a political duty.” Louis D. Brandeis, former U.S. Supreme Court justice, 1926
Quotes brought to you courtesy of
annMcFEATTERS Ann McFeatters has covered the White House and national politics since 1986. Contact her at amcfeatters@nationalpress.com.
or their gender. Whether or not you are a Christian conservative or a committed religious believer of any other sort, you should not be able to demand that you should be able to throw stones, humiliate or destroy the life of someone just because you don’t understand the path he or she walks. That is what the Taliban does. That is what the Islamic State does. THIS IS A COUNTRY that does not impose religious beliefs on others. At least, that was the intent of the Founding Fathers. And mothers, bless their unsung hearts. Attorney So North General Carolina’s Loretta Lynch absurd bathColumnist Ann r o o m law McFeatters is going to quotes the courts. Lynch as saying to the North Carotransgender lina insists it community: “We see you. has the right to pass whatWe stand with you. And ever laws it we will do wants. The everything we can to protect federal government you going forward.” insists North Carolina may not pass laws that inherently discriminate, and, if push comes to shove, it may withhold billions of dollars it gives North Carolina each year in benefits. The courts will not rule to uphold discrimination. Meanwhile, businesses and entertainers by the score are warning North Carolina that they will not do business in a state that attempts to legalize impermissible discrimination and hatred by embarrassing laws that can’t and won’t be enforced. Lynch noted correctly that change is discomforting and that people fear what they do not know or understand. But that does not give them the right to impose pain and suffering, humiliation and denial of civil rights and lack of respect on others. It is distressing that with all our problems, causing misery and inciting anger and hatred are still front and center in U.S. politics. As Lynch pledged to the transgender community: “We see you. We stand with you. And we will do everything we can to protect you going forward. History is on your side. … It may not be easy. We will get there together.”
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