The city of New York has settled a lawsuit brought by a man who was ejected from Yankee Stadium for getting up to go to the bathroom during a rendition of “God Bless America”. I believe in God, I believe in America and I even believe in the Yankees, but this is nuts! Is God insulted or America weakened by one guy’s need to pee during a collective round of “God Bless America” at Yankee Stadium?
The story should not be about the suit being settled, but that it ever had to come to this – that a NY City police officer would toss a guy out of the stadium for getting up to use the bathroom during a rendition of a patriotic song. It actually sounds like something out of Mussolini’s Italy or the former Soviet Union.
That the city had to pay for this, is entirely appropriate, but what about the cop who ejected the guy in the first place? And if he did not do so, then why not fight it?

What about the policy, at the old stadium, at least, in which ushers raised chains to block the aisles during the song? Does it really matter if they allowed people through in “emergencies”? Is that an usher’s call to make?
Why do we always try to make rules to address cultural issues, like lack of patriotism (if that really is a problem) which cannot be legislated away in any event?
What is it that makes people in authority, be it legal, religious, or any other kind, fail to see that conscience can not be legislated?