I agree Rudy, but I am sure glad that Dave DID start it!  Thank you Dave.
Ann

-----Original Message-----
From: Rudy Caris [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: January 11, 2001 4:09 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Law penalizes the able?


Dave, thanks a whole bunch, fella.... See what you've
started!

I have neglected to feed my dogs, clean my house, and do
the laundry just to read and answer the 23 (?) messages
on this subject cluttering my e-mail.  Remind me to
return to you the favor.

Now MY heart is pounding and blood pressure is up.

Rudy
.
.
.
> 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---