hmmm. John, Me too and many have. My problem though is the damage
that is done.
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Gardner" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: January 11, 2001 2:58 PM
Subject: Re: Law penalizes the able?
While I may disagree with this opinion, I defend to the death any
person's
right to make a complete --hole of himself.
John Gardner
At 09:59 AM 1/11/01 -0800, you wrote:
>Hi folks,
>I found this one during my search this morning.
>I'm still trying to get my heart rate and blood pressure to
>come down. It's amazing to me that some people still think this way.
>
>http://www.aynrand.org/medialink/op-eds/martin_case.txt
>---Original Text Follows---
>SHAME ON CASEY MARTIN
>Disabled Golfer Asks Supreme Court to OK His Forced Entry into
Tournaments,
>via Law
>That Penalizes the Able
>
>By Thomas A. Bowden
>
>When a supporter of Tonya Harding attacked Olympic skating rival
Nancy
>Kerrigan
>back in 1994, clubbing Kerrigan's right knee and leaving her writhing
in
>pain, the
>legal system sprang to the victim's defense. The attacker was caught
and
>punished
>for his disgraceful attempt to eliminate a superior competitor
through brute
>force.
>
>But now, seven years later, as golfer Casey Martin appears before the
>Supreme
>Court asking approval for his own forced elimination of superior
rivals, the
>legal
>system appears poised to punish the victims and reward the attacker.
This
>sad
>reversal is made possible by a federal statute that penalizes ability
in the
>name
>of helping the disabled.
>
>Casey Martin is a talented golfer whose rare circulation disorder
prevents
>him from walking the length of a golf course. This handicap
disqualifies him
>from
>competing in events run by the PGA Tour, a private organization whose
rules
>require
>each athlete to walk from shot to shot.
>
>Golf is a game of extreme precision. Tiny variations in the swing of
a club
>determine whether a shot lands on the green or in a sand trap,
whether a
>tricky
>putt falls in or rims out. Only golfers with great stamina can
maintain this
>precise control while fighting the fatigue that sets in after walking
many
>miles,
>sometimes over rough terrain, and standing for many hours. The PGA's
rules
>require
>and reward such stamina.
>
>But instead of gracefully accepting his inability to beat able-bodied
>opponents under the rules of an organization he voluntarily joined,
Martin
>chose to
>force his way into PGA competition by invoking the Americans With
>Disabilities Act,
>a law requiring "reasonable modifications" to accommodate the
handicapped.
>At
>Martin's request, a federal court forced the PGA Tour to change its
rules
>and let
>Martin ride in a motorized cart, while everyone else walked.
>
>If the Supreme Court rules in Martin's favor, as seems likely, it
will
>probably not even pause to identify the innocent victims of such a
decision.
>The
>first victim is the PGA Tour, which should have an absolute right to
set its
>own
>rules for its own tournaments. The next victims are the spectators,
who want
>to see
>professional golf played at its highest level, in PGA competitions
winnable
>only by
>the ablest athletes.
>
>And there is yet another victim, nameless but equally deserving of
>sympathy--
>the able-bodied golfer who is cut from the tournament to make room
for
>Martin, and
>who is expected to pick up his broken dreams and go quietly home. No
>newspaper
>photographs will show the pain in this man's face, the way they
showed Nancy
>Kerrigan's anguish after she was assaulted, but one can imagine his
torment
>at the
>injustice of being penalized simply for having abilities that another
man
>lacks.
>
>The legal and moral principles at stake here extend far beyond the
realm of
>spectator sports.
>
>Under the ADA, which was designed by disability advocates who
resentfully
>describe healthy people as "temporarily abled," no employers may
simply fire
>disabled employees--or even hire able ones--so long as "reasonable
>accommodations"
>might help the handicapped compete. The list of bureaucratically
required
>accommodations, from wheelchair ramps to sign-language interpreters,
is
>endless--
>and all at the employer's expense.
>
>In a recent case, a Pennsylvania elementary school fired a psychotic
>secretary who missed deadlines, forgot to deliver messages, and
couldn't
>cope with
>rearranged furniture. When she sued under the ADA, a federal court
ruled
>that
>instead of firing her, the school should have engaged in an "informal
>interactive
>process" to identify "reasonable accommodations"--such as slowing
down the
>rate of
>change in the office.
>
>The ADA's backers count on decent people to support the statute as a
>sympathetic expression of benevolence. But genuine benevolence toward
the
>disabled
>is possible only through voluntary good will; it cannot be achieved
by
>coercion,
>which results in punishing the able.
>
>This last point would be more obvious if the government were simply
handing
>Casey Martin a baseball bat and letting him take a swing at Tiger
Woods's
>knee. Yet
>the ADA achieves the same end through government force, penalizing
mentally
>and
>physically superior candidates by making it illegal for employers and
other
>organizations to prefer them over the disabled.
>
>In a rational society, everyone's life and happiness depend upon
finding and
>rewarding the very best people--the best athletes, the best teachers,
the
>best
>surgeons. To recognize this simple fact is to see why the Americans
with
>Disabilities Act must be repealed--and why Casey Martin deserves to
lose his
>case.
>
>Thomas A. Bowden practices law in Baltimore, Maryland, and is a
senior
>writer for
>the Ayn Rand Institute in Marina del Rey, Calif.
http://www.aynrand.org The
>Institute promotes the philosophy of Ayn Rand, author of Atlas
Shrugged and
>The
>Fountainhead.
>
>THE AYN RAND INSTITUTE
>4640 Admiralty Way, Suite 406
>Marina del Rey, CA 90292
>Phone: 310.306-9232 x224 TEAR SHEET REQUESTED
>Fax: 310.306-4925
>E-mail: [log in to unmask]
>Contact: Jason Sagall
>
>This Op-Ed and a photo of Thomas A. Bowden can be found at:
>www.aynrand.org/medialink/martin_case.shtml
>---End of Article---
John Gardner
Professor and Director, Science Access Project
Department of Physics
Oregon State University
Corvallis, OR 97331-6507
tel: (541) 737 3278
FAX: (541) 737 1683
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
URL: http://dots.physics.orst.edu
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