The Straight Dope 03/16/2007

The Straight Dope -- By Cecil Adams
http://www.straightdope.com

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THE STRAIGHT DOPE 03/16/2007

Dear Cecil:

"And Avimelekh fought against the city, all that day, and he took the
city, and slew the people that were in it, and pulled down the city, and
sowed it with salt." This Avimelekh was clearly not a bloke to be
trifled with, but my question is about the sowing part. Did anyone
really get bags of salt and plow it into the ground just to prove what
total conquerors they were? Salt was a rare and valuable commodity for
most of history, so this would have been an expensive way to make a
symbolic point, no?--Sam, Singapore

I learned in elementary school that when the Romans sacked Carthage
during the final Punic war, they "salted the earth," so that nothing
could ever grow there again. However, here in Vermont we dump literally
tons of salt all over the roads every winter in the name of ice control.
This salt goes somewhere, washed by the spring rains into the soil by
the roadside, eventually into rivers, lakes, and ponds and the water
table. Yet every spring Vermont explodes into lush greenery, even right
by the side of the road. So how effective is salt as a herbicide?--Mark
Z, via e-mail

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Cecil replies:

We'll start with the easy question. How effective is salt as a
herbicide? If you use enough of it, real effective. I refer you to a
book I've mentioned before, Jared Diamond's Collapse: How Societies
Choose to Fail or Succeed (2005). A major environmental problem in
Australia, Diamond informs us, is soil salinization due in part to sea
salt carried inland by winds and inundation and then brought to the
surface by land clearance and irrigation. Looming result: in 20 years a
third of Australia's wheat belt may be sterilized by salt. Some
Australian soil holds more than 200 pounds of salt per square yard of
surface, which is surely more than you'll find by the roadside in
Vermont, but knowing the level of eco awareness in the average highway
department, my feeling is: give it time.

Did people actually sow fields with salt in ancient times? Hard to say.

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/070316.html

STAFF REPORT

Dear Straight Dope:

I enjoyed your explication of the Second Amendment. Could you please now
shed some light on the "freedom of religion" clause of the First
Amendment? Hell, I'm an atheist, but it seems pretty clear to me that
its only purpose is to prevent the government from establishing its own
state church, and from passing laws that ban minority religions. How on
earth did people with formal legal training leap from that premise to
deciding that singing Christmas carols in public schools (for example)
is unconstitutional? Please, Cecil. Talk some sense into these people.--C.
Turner, Newport Beach, CA

SDSTAFF Gfactor replies:

Words are hard to find   
They're only cheques I've left unsigned  
From the banks of chaos in my mind
And when their eloquence escapes me 
Their logic ties me up and rapes me 
"De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da,"
--Sting (1980)

Whoo boy, C., you sure know how to open a can of worms. The short
answer to your question is that the "people with formal legal
training" that counted didn't begin with the same premise that you
do--they were thinking of a "wall of separation" for reasons I'll
explain. And  courts have rejected constitutional challenges to carols
in school.       

Let's start with the basics. Strictly speaking there are two freedom of
religion clauses in the First Amendment: "Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof." Your question deals with the first part--the establishment
clause.

For more, see: 
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mfreereligion.htm

STRAIGHT DOPE CLASSIC - 10/22/1993

Dear Cecil: 

Is it true that there has never been a war between two democracies,
excluding civil wars? One part of my extended brain trust, a highly
unreliable source, claims that this is a natural fact, Jack, and I have
not yet thought of an instance in which one democracy declared war
against another democracy. In a quandary, we resolved to consult the
Dope, and now refer this question to your esteemed self. Prithee, O
ocean of fathomless learning, we sincerely and earnestly entreat you to
[additional fawning verbiage deleted] --J.S., Berkeley, California
 
Cecil replies:  

Don't gush, lad, it doesn't leave room for the cartoon. Cecil does not
dispute the general proposition that war between democracies is relatively
rare. Common sense alone suggests that embarking upon a military adventure
is simpler for a king or dictator than it is for a head of government
answerable to a parliament. But proponents of this idea argue that a war
between democracies has never occurred. One arrives at this comforting
conclusion chiefly by setting up the rules to exclude all the
non-conforming cases. The most egregious omission is civil wars, which
account for a high percentage of the world's violent conflicts--159 of 575
wars between 1816 and 1980, by one count. The spectacle of the American
Civil War, in which two popularly elected governments engaged in four
years of the most brutal slaughter, refutes the bald notion that citizens
will not vote for politicians who send them off to be killed. Clearly they
will if they think the stakes are high enough.

OK, you say . . .

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_328.html

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