"More law, less justice" - Cicero

I've been following a court case in Ohio since it started about two years ago. My interest was piqued then by the fact it involves a particularly strict group of the Amish. When I was teaching and doing a lot of bike riding I spent a week one summer cycling in Ohio riding through Amish country and engaging them in conversation when circumstances allowed. I had some fascinating visits and learned a lot - including that we romanticize a lifestyle that is hypocritical and judgmental (think: Pharisees).

The leader of this particular sect decided others in their fellowship had broken some rules and needed discipline, so along with his adult sons the disobedient members were basically attacked. Because Amish women don't cut their hair and Amish men don't cut their beards that was the punishment. The women had their long hair cut off (not shaved, just severely trimmed) and the men had their beards chopped way down.

The attacked members called the cops, the D.A. pressed charges, the father and sons were convicted of a hate crime (religious persecution) and imprisoned. Yesterday their appeal was denied and the father - who got the longest sentence and is the only one still serving time - remains behind bars.

Two things seem particularly crazy here. The first: the defendants' appeal was based on mistakes they thought their original defense attorney made that consisted primarily of not presenting this as a family dispute. The state called it a hate crime because it involved religious persecution and the father said he was just disciplining his family (There is lots of intermarriage involved, so the victims were all related in some way. The fact the father was the sect leader is, he says, coincidental.) This at least suggests that if it had been a family matter it would have at least been less serious than the free exercise (albeit thoroughly bogus) of their religion. Hmmmm. Seems to raise some constitutional issues.

The other thing that caught my attention when the case first hit the news was the name of the father and primary defendant: Samuel Mullet Sr.
You can't make this stuff up.

A headline on USAToday.com says that carbon dioxide levels are at the highest they've been for 800,000 years. In the article it says they're the highest "since records have been kept."
Anybody else's suspicions raised here?

About a year and a half ago I built a small extension to the goat barn so our does would have an isolated place to give birth and for their kids to be safe for the first few days. It's separated from the main section by a knee wall with a door. But it's come in handy for an unexpected problem.

Goats are a herd animal and like other social animals have a herd hierarchy. Sundae is oldest, biggest, and at the top of the order. Dolly is the youngest, smallest, and at the bottom. Oddly, Sundae and Dolly are BFF's and Sundae will let Dolly stick her head in the feeder to eat some of Sundae's ration.

In between is Stella. I get along fine with Stella but she definitely does NOT get a check in the box next to "Plays well with others." She and Sundae have a detente that's only broken if Stella comes too close to Sundae's food. She'll immediately get pushed away for Sundae who probably weighs half again as much and knows how to throw a hip check with the best of them.

There is NO detente between Stella and Dolly. For whatever reason Stella acts like a bully toward Dolly who is thoroughly intimidated by her and gives Stella a wide birth, a lesson learned from brutal experience. It's hard to watch when Stella butts at Dolly mercilessly, chasing her if she gets too close. So I've used that "birthing suite" for Dolly, letting her eat her grain and sleep in there so she has a measure of peace, safe from Stella.

Sundae will give birth in three weeks, which means she'll need that enclosed area. I didn't say anything to Dolly; couldn't see any reason to increase her anxiety about what's inevitable. But I decided it was best to start the shift before the kids are born and not have too much drama all at once. So tonight all three goats had their evening feed in the main section and they're all enclosed there for the night. Dolly doesn't have the safety of the smaller enclosure.

To say Dolly is skittish would be an understatement. As I was closing up the barn I could see the panic in her eyes and behavior. "Where do I go to escape?!" She darted from one corner to another depending on which way she imagined Stella was going to move.

Once the sun sets I'll go down to see how they bedded down. I'm guessing Dolly will be as close to the door to that smaller room as possible and/or will be positioned with Sundae in between her and Stella.

I've got three cubic yards of gardening soil being delivered tomorrow afternoon, most of which will go into the additional raised veggie beds I made for Pam's garden. My wheel barrow has been feeling ignored.