The Dodo Bird Society

It's been a month or so since I wrote a spoof piece hoping to spark a movement to run smart people out of our state.

I'm thrilled and honored that folks have responded on this page and in person in kind and generous ways. With a view far more worldly than my own, Lynn Fleming pushed the underpinnings of my satire to broader realms of thought. Encouraged, I took the liberty of naming our fledgling organization "The Dodo Bird Society." I can see it now. In our meeting room, our sanctuary, the club name will be emblazoned on the podium above an artist's rendering of our long-extinct flightless friend and mentor, and captioned below, our motto in proud letters: Even the Dumb Shall Speak. Notice, I lifted that right out of the Bible. Conservatives aren't the only ones who can co-opt religion and use it for their purposes. Two can play that game.

I felt smug, certain the future of the group was secure. But then, a disheartening thought swept over me. What will become of our cause if my call to arms is answered only by smart people? Come on, fellow Dodo Birds, I know you're out there ...

We may make a go of it yet, but another early indicator doesn't look good. After reading a couple of stories in the Press recently, I've been forced to conclude there is little danger of smart people taking over any time soon, As a member of the Kootenai County Republicans, Hans Neumann thought it would be a great idea to declare Idaho a "Christian State." I guess he forgot that freedom of religion is one of the founding principles of our nation, that it is guaranteed in the constitution and is universally taught in school as a basic tenet of democracy. He later wrote an op-ed defending his idea saying, in part, he understood the need for "separation of church and state." Just one question, Hans, when you say the term, "Christian state," gosh, aren't you kind of lumping them together? In the same issue of the paper, Rep. Vito Barbieri asks if the action of the morning-after pill can be photographed if the woman swallows a tiny camera. A teenage boy on his first date is less confused by the female anatomy. I'd like to suggest as a theme song for the Kootenai County Republicans that classic feel-good ode to blissful ignorance that goes, "Don't know much about history. Don't know much of biology..."

Anyway, I think we can take a break as there appear to be no threatening changes on the horizon. As the orator for The Dodo Bird Society, I promise to squawk over the next big dust-up.

Russ Fahlgren is a Worley resident.