Links as food for thought and discussion

A number of news stories and opinion pieces have caught my attention and brought strong reaction over the last several days.

I wanted to share them without commentary for now. If you know me, you'll probably know where I fall in the discussion, but don't sweat that.

You should, hoewever read well into the stories, because there is a lto of stuff in each.

What do you think?

I am presenting the headline/title and at least one paragraph so you know what it's about.


1. Phils, police discussing use of taser on fan

PHILADELPHIA -- A Phillies fan who made a bold move Monday night found himself in the middle of controversy Tuesday, as debate raged whether a Philadelphia police officer should have used a Taser gun on him.

Philadelphia police said the officer who tasered 17-year-old Steve Consalvi on Monday night after he ran onto the field at Citizens Bank Park in front of a sellout crowd during the Phillies game against the Cardinals acted appropriately. But the department is reviewing whether police officers should be involved in those incidents, according to The Associated Press.

2. Students kicked off campus for wearing American flag tees

On any other day at Live Oak High School in Morgan Haill, Daniel Galli and his four friends would not even be noticed for wearing T-shirts with the American flag. But Cinco de Mayo is not any typical day especially on a campus with a large Mexican American student population.

Galli says he and his friends were sitting at a table during brunch break when the vice principal asked two of the boys to remove American flag bandannas that they wearing on their heads and for the others to turn their American flag T-shirts inside out. When they refused, the boys were ordered to go to the principal's office.

3. Viva `Los Suns' Little reaction to jersey protest

PHOENIX — Suns fans wore "Los Suns" jerseys and T-shirts and a group of four even entered the arena with sombreros for their team's playoff game against the San Antonio Spurs.

4. Holder defends decision to read Miranda rights to Times Square suspect

Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr. told a Senate panel Thursday that Faisal Shahzad, the suspect in Saturday's attempted car bombing in Times Square, is continuing to cooperate with federal agents as they try to unravel a plot with potential foreign origins.

Appearing before a subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Holder strongly defended a decision to read Shahzad his Miranda rights within hours of his arrest late Monday, saying interrogators had already obtained useful information from him and that he continued to talk afterward.

5. The Franklin Crusade

In an interview with Newsmax TV, Franklin Graham said the Pentagon's decision to rescind his invitation to Thursday's National Prayer Day event was "a slap at all evangelical Christians and he blamed the Obama administration.

6. Idaho girl causes controversy by joining boys' lacrosse team

Her name is Sara. She is a sophomore, and she is on the cheerleading squad. This is her first year at a new school, Borah High in Boise, Idaho, and like most girls her age, she did not plan to go against the flow. It just kind of happened that way.

It happened because Sara Maras is not just a cheerleader. She also likes to hit people. She's already 5-foot-8. When she was younger, she played basketball, which is not always a contact sport, but Sara essentially turned it into one. So when a coach at her old school, McCall High, started up a lacrosse team, she decided to try it out. That she was one of only two girls on the team (the other played goalie) didn't really bother her. That they played by the rules of boys' lacrosse rather than girls' lacrosse didn't really bother her, either. In fact, she liked it better that way because there was more contact (in boys' lacrosse, body checking is legal). Fewer players on a shorter field. More helmets. No skirts. In fact, when Sara did see the way girls' lacrosse was played, it didn't interest her much at all.

I am adding a paragraph from lower in the story for content purposes

Yet the real problem was not with her classmates; the real problem arose when the adults got involved. Jones petitioned the board of the Treasure Valley Lacrosse League to allow Sara to play, citing the non-discrimination clause in his school's constitution. But in Sara, certain people, including many of the coaches and parents who make up the board, saw a troublesome precedent. They worried about her getting hurt, and they worried about boys being afraid to play at full speed, and they worried about dozens more girls choosing boys' lacrosse over girls' lacrosse -- an unlikely occurrence, but one that could weaken both sports. This is Idaho, an overwhelmingly conservative state, and Sara's petition, according to league commissioner Stephen Smith, raised all kinds of social and political red flags. In Idaho, according to the rules of the state high school athletic association, if you're a girl and a sport is offered for both boys and girls, then you are required to play the girls version of the sport.

7. National Day of Prayer becomes a cultural flashpoint

Today is supposed to be a time when Americans come together to pray in one voice. Instead, it's turning into a shouting match among splintered voices.

The National Day of Prayer, an annual civic and religious ritual established by Congress in 1952, has become a flashpoint in the national culture wars, pitting evangelical Christians against secularists of various stripes and religious minorities.