Conversations With a Rabbit: Way Too Much Information !"

Ms Rabbit came hopping up, just as I settled down on the patio with my coffee and newspaper. She seemed rather...agitated. Perhaps, "wildly indignant" would be a better description. Click on her image (It's safe to do so),and you can judge for yourself.

"I did not ", she declared. biting her lip. " I did not have sex with that rabbit ! " There was a brief ( hopefully,not pregnant ) pause.

" Roger Rotter" , she added , biting her lower lip again.

I glanced at her obvious distress, and decided to be non-committal. " Ummm."

" Yes !", she shouted. " We did gambol in the moonlight , and Yes : I did sing "The Wedding Song" to Roger; and yes : he did clasp me in his brawny-yet-supple paws, and Yes ! It was heavenly, but - we did not have sex : at least not in the strictest definition of the word. What we did was..."

"Whoa !", I exclaimed. " Too much information !"

"But don't you want to hear what we did ?"

" No ! Way too much information !!"

I picked up my newspaper , and discovered I wasn't the only one suffering from information overload.

Justices Mc Kee, Barry, and Fisher, at the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia heard arguments yesterday in a First Amendment case involving an East Brunswick,NJ high school coach, who had previously won the right to bow his head or kneel during student-led prayer at athletic banquets and games.

An appeal against the coach's previous court victory had been filed - on behalf of the school board - by Americans United for the Separation of Church and State : a group made up primarily of atheists and agnostics . Americans United had predicted a "slam - dunk" victory the day before : noting (through a sympathetic reporter) Justice Mc Kee was well known for his advocacy of separation. and Justice Barry-who favors abortion rights-was considered quite likely to agree with Mc Kee.

The slam-dunk didn't go quite as anticipated. Justice Barry was openly critical: describing the school board's policy as "vague and overbroad."

Justice Mc Kee, while expressing concerns about whether the Coach had stepped over the line in the matter of student prayer, downplayed the significance of the case: describing it as "...a matter of some local school board politics."

" We are trying to get a handle on the First Amendment," Judge Mc Kee complained," By a handful of smoke".

The Judge was also unhappy with the Americans United brief: noting it contained 70 pages - when 20 would have done - and that much of the extraneous material consisted of personal attacks on the coach. " This is not the World Wrestling Foundation," Mc Kee told the AU attorney. " You don't need to get down in the gutter and start throwing garbage at somebody."

There are hints the appeal may be rejected on the grounds it is moot. (A ruling is expected in a few weeks.)

I put down my paper and looked around for Ms Rabbit. She was hunkered down in the back of the yard, giving one of the squirrels the lowdown on her "big date".

Some say we live in the Information Age. I'm beginning to think we live in the Way-Too-Much-Information age.