What did that say?

Just as the season is winding down, Ramel Bradley breaks his hand during practice. I don't know what this means for Kentucky basketball but it's not good.

Bush promotes alternative energy but who gets the money here?

Scott Rolen passed the audition down in Jupiter, Florida, for spring training.

Have you been following the situation in Indiana? Well, a judge upheld prayer limits in the state of Indiana. The Indianapolis JCRC sent the following message out:

Last Tuesday, the Indianapolis JCRC’s Jewish Lobby Day was held. Around 40 Jews from around the State of Indiana came to Indianapolis to lobby our state senators and representatives on a number of issues.

The day ended with a private meeting with Speaker of the House Bosma meeting our group in the beautiful House chambers. We asked questions about full day kindergarten, about the clinics, and a young member of the delegation asked about providing sexuality education in public schools that is more than abstinence based. He responded to everything we asked. Sometimes we liked what he said and sometimes we didn’t. Speaker Bosma wondered why we hadn’t discussed the controversy surrounding the issue of prayer in House chambers. He told us his version of what happened and what he believes, and a passionate exchange took place. The end of this exchange left us, the Jewish delegation, in shock. Speaker Bosma, defending the prayer issue, asked, "How many Jews are there in Indiana? About 2%? There are at least 80% Christians in Indiana." The implication of this statement was that our minority community doesn’t and shouldn’t have any say or any voice. It is about the majority and what the majority wants. The jaws of the delegation dropped to the floor. We were speechless. Everything we believed about this country had just been trampled. Gone was the belief of the constitutional protection of minorities. Gone was not feeling marginalized. Gone was the belief we were not strangers in this country. I am sure that Speaker Bosma is a fine man, but in that moment, for the first time in my life as a citizen of this country, I was scared. It is what I now call the 2% solution (and Jews are much less than 2% of this state) that if you are only 2% don’t even bother to speak up as the "Tyranny of the majority" will prevail.

I am sorry to bring such a depressing message as we prepare for Shabbat, but it needs to be said and addressed. I have been reminded about why we need to be vigilant. So I come to you on this Friday, February 17, 2006, to ask you to use this Shabbat to think about joining me and others at times to raise our voices. We might not agree on all the issues, but we agree that as Jewish residents of this State we should have a voice. 2% or less shouldn’t matter. It is not about the majority. It is about us.

Speaker Bosma has now apologized for his inappropriate comments.

Speaker Bosma (R) met with about 50 Jewish leaders last week and after the meeting a rabbi sent an email to his congregation. In it, Rabbi Jon Adland said, "Everything we believed about this country had just been trampled. For the first time in my life as a citizen of this country, I was scared."

The rabbi's e-mail is now the subject of several blogs including one that carries a cartoon showing Bosma blocking minorities from a gate labeled "freedom." It all stems from a discussion regarding prayer in the Indiana House where it was pointed out that two percent of the population is Jewish and 80 percent is Christian.

"I asked the group what percentage of the population in Indiana for demographic purposes was of Jewish tradition and faith and it was them who provided me with the two percent," said Bosma.

Rabbi Adland saw that as disregard for minority rights and said as much in an email sent to his congregation, which is now posted on several blogs.

On Monday afternoon Bosma held a second meeting with the rabbi and other Jewish leaders "and I gave a heartfelt apology if the implication of my words were offensive to him," said Bosma.

David Orentlicher (D), the only Jewish member of the General Assembly echoed the rabbi's concern about what he calls the "tyranny of the majority. That we are a democracy where the majority prevails but we're also a constitutional democracy where the majority prevails but important rights have to be protected for even small minorities," he said.

Speaker Bosma says he wanted the group to know that he values his ties to the Jewish community "and that they are very valued citizens and that anything that had said to cause them to think anything differently that I sincerely apologized for that and he accepted that."

"One of the most important things we can do as a state is assure that any minority is welcome in Indiana and that if we're gonna grow as a state we have to have that message," said Orentlicher.

Rabbi Adland referred questions to the Jewish Community Relations Council. Bosma considers the matter closed. "I did indicate to Rabbi Adland that I'd drop him a note and he said he would be happy to include that in his weekly missive on this coming Friday," said Bosma.

Did anyone see the Bridge last night? Apparently, the party may have a strong candidate running against Mitch McConnell in 2008 but we'll have to get through 2006 and 2007 before any of that happens.

Pennsylvania congressional candidate Chris Carney has called for an investigation of the outsourcing of port security. We need an investigation on this issue.

Best wishes to Don Haskins as he recovers from pneumonia.

Since I didn't watch 24 and Dave Barry did, was there any ice dancing in it?

OK, I read through the comments on last night's episode. Many of them were about ice dancing. I don't recall there being any ice dancing in 24 last night, but I am not ruling it out, either, because the spisode was very confusing (to me, anyway).