If it's Sunday, then it must be time for another stream of unconsciousness. ...
William Penn inspired today's column. On this date in 1681, King Charles II of England granted Penn a deed to what is now our commonwealth. All that to satisfy debt.
Since Penn probably wasn't familiar with title insurance, he may not have realized his sylvan property also was claimed by various groups of native people - who probably weren't familiar with deeds, let alone title insurance. Perhaps decades of carnage between European settlers and Native Americans could have been avoided if Penn had ordered a title search to see if he had been granted a good deed.
This brief history lesson sort of leads us to the theme of today's outbursts - 'No good deed goes unpunished,' subtitled 'Good intentions can have unintended consequences.' Enjoy.
Affirmative action - a euphemism for affirmative racism - may be dead. The well-intentioned plan to end racism with racism essentially has been declared unconstitutional. In a recent case, the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal of a lower court ruling that an Ohio program providing construction contracts for minority-owned businesses is unconstitutional. Finally, we may have evolved to the point where even the government cannot play favorites.
Richard S. Baumhammers' father may have been trying to do a good deed for his incarcerated son. The accused mass murderer received a care package from his dad that included pictures of different angles of the lower level of the Allegheny County Jail and the parking lot. In defense of his dad, at least the package didn't include any bed sheets knotted together.
At the time, it seemed like a good idea when a state police official called for a crackdown on the interstate highways. However, after constantly seeing state troopers pulling over drivers along interstates 70 and 79 this past week, driving 54 mph may have very limited appeal to you.
Since the residents of Shotgun Road in Unity Township in Westmoreland County want to change the name of their road to something less violent, may I suggest the politically correct Group Hug Highwayâ¢
While organizers of Penn State's graphic feminist sex fair, and the University of Pittsburgh's rally featuring hate-monger Rev. Al Sharpton, may have had the best of intentions, you have to wonder which was the bigger waste of education funds. And the bigger disgrace.
Did Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy create the H&R Block rapid refund program⢠A court ruling has stopped the income tax preparation company from using 'rapid refund,' claiming it was intended to fool customers into getting expensive loans while they waited for their refunds. Murphy's plan to 'grow the city out of debt' through tax increment financing and heavy subsidizing while waiting - and waiting - for a return to the taxpayers sounds like a Grant Street version of 'rapid refund.'
Since Gov. Tom Ridge's tax-free weeks spurred computer sales, why not tax-free weeks for home and car buyers to really jump- start the commonwealth's economyâ¢
Dimitri Vassilaros is the morning radio talk host on News Radio 1170 WWVA. His e-mail address is dimitriv@stargate.net .
