Listen to the voice of wisdom and reason in a wilderness of partisan rhetoric -- No political insanity, no conservative hypocrisy, no liberal foolishness -- Just straight talk, straight at you, and that’s no bull!!
UPDATE IV: A new family-less Christmas card from Tiger:
UPDATE III: And more Tiger humor:
And just in time for Christmas, the Tiger Woods Mistress Commemorative Plate Collection:
UPDATE II: Source unknown:
Al Sharpton Blasts Tiger Woods for Lack of Mistress Diversity
The Rev. Al Sharpton held a press conference today to blast Tiger Woods for the lack of diversity among his mistresses. Sharpton claims that the lack of African-American women among Woods' harem will have a negative affect on the black community, specifically young black girls.
"Why is it that a man who calls himself black can't bring himself to cheat on his wife with a black woman?" said Sharpton, speaking to a group of supporters in Harlem. "What does it say to young black girls everywhere when you pass them over? Shame on you, Tiger Woods. What would your daddy say?"
Sharpton, who has long championed taking black women as mistresses, said that today's black athletes need to stop neglecting black women when it comes to extramarital affairs, and should follow the examples of positive black role models such as Jesse Jackson and Martin Luther King, Jr., both of whom cheated on their wives with black women. Sharpton also stressed that cheating with African-American women would help the black community financially by giving black girls the chance to sell their stories to tabloids and gossip magazines.
Added Sharpton, "I'm not asking you to not cheat on your wives, I'm just asking you to give back to your own community."
UPDATE: Some more jokes:
Tiger's trouble started when he made a rookie error by playing the wrong hole. Followed that up with a bad drive and ended up in a horrible "lie."
What is the difference between Santa Clause and Tiger Woods? Santa Clause stops at 3 Ho's.
Ping just offered Elin Woods an endorsement contract pushing her own set of drivers. They said to named Elin Woods..."clubs you can beat Tiger with."
News travels fast. The Chinese are already making a movie about Tiger Woods' crash. They are calling it, "Scratching Swede, Lying Tiger," or how about "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Hydrant"?
What do you buy a Tiger for Christmas? A new windshield!
Tiger crashed his car because he was in a rush to move on to the second hole.
Just because you're the world's no. 1 golfer, it doesn't mean you can't be beaten by your wife.
Tiger Woods wasn't seriously injured in the crash, but he's still below par
What were Tiger Woods and his wife doing out at 2.30 in the morning? They went clubbing.
I thought the Republi-cons opposed filibusters and favored up-or-down votes in the Senate. Not any more. Now, they hope for misfortune on a Democrat or two, perhaps one of them might die. Read the Washington Post, An ugly finale for health-care reform.
If that fails, there is always the 2010 election strategy:
Listen to the voice of wisdom and reason in a wilderness of partisan rhetoric -- No political insanity, no conservative hypocrisy, no liberal foolishness -- Just straight talk, straight at you, and that’s no bull!!
Listen to the voice of wisdom and reason in a wilderness of partisan rhetoric -- No political insanity, no conservative hypocrisy, no liberal foolishness -- Just straight talk, straight at you, and that’s no bull!!
1. Fascists, both in America (see: Pat Buchanan, Robert Stacy McCain, etc.) and in Europe (see: Vlaams Belang, BNP, SIOE, Pat Buchanan, etc.)
2. Bigotry, hatred, and white supremacism (see: Pat Buchanan, Ann Coulter, Robert Stacy McCain, Lew Rockwell, etc.)
3. Throwing women back into the Dark Ages, and general religious fanaticism (see: Operation Rescue, anti-abortion groups, James Dobson, Pat Robertson, Tony Perkins, the entire religious right, etc.)
4. Anti-science bad craziness (see: creationism, climate change denialism, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, James Inhofe, etc.)
5. Homophobic bigotry (see: Sarah Palin, Dobson, the entire religious right, etc.)
7. Conspiracy theories and hate speech (see: Alex Jones, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Birthers, creationists, climate deniers, etc.)
8. Right-wing blogosphere that is almost universally dominated by raging hate speech (see: Hot Air, Free Republic, Ace of Spades, etc.)
9. Anti-Islamic bigotry that goes far beyond simply criticizing radical Islam, into support for fascism, violence, and genocide (see: Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer, etc.)
10. Hatred for President Obama that goes far beyond simply criticizing his policies, into racism, hate speech, and bizarre conspiracy theories (see: witch doctor pictures, tea parties, Birthers, Michelle Malkin, Fox News, World Net Daily, Newsmax, and every other right wing source).
11. A movement that claims to believe in limited government but backed an unlimited domestic and foreign policy presidency that assumed illegal, extra-constitutional dictatorial powers until forced by the system to return to the rule of law.
12. A movement that exploded spending and borrowing and blames its successor for the debt.
13. A movement that so abandoned government's minimal and vital role to police markets and address natural disasters that it gave us Katrina and the financial meltdown of 2008.
14, A movement that holds torture as a core value.
15. A movement that holds that purely religious doctrine should govern civil political decisions and that uses the sacredness of religious faith for the pursuit of worldly power.
16. A movement that is deeply homophobic, cynically deploys fear of homosexuals to win votes, and gives off such a racist vibe that its share of the minority vote remains pitiful.
17. A movement which has no real respect for the institutions of government and is prepared to use any tactic and any means to fight political warfare rather than conduct a political conversation.
18. A movement that sees permanent war as compatible with liberal democratic norms and limited government.
19. A movement that criminalizes private behavior in the war on drugs.
20. A movement that would back a vice-presidential candidate manifestly unqualified and duplicitous because of identity politics and electoral cynicism.
21. A movement that regards gay people as threats to their own families.
22. A movement that does not accept evolution as a fact.
23. A movement that sees climate change as a hoax and offers domestic oil exploration as the core plank of an energy policy.
24. A movement that refuses ever to raise taxes, while proposing no meaningful reductions in government spending.
25. A movement that refuses to distance itself from a demagogue like Rush Limbaugh or a nutjob like Glenn Beck.
26. A movement that believes that the United States should be the sole global power, should sustain a permanent war machine to police the entire planet, and sees violence as the core tool for international relations.
UPDATE: Sorry can't make it. Class will be a tape replay.
Listen to the voice of wisdom and reason in a wilderness of partisan rhetoric -- No political insanity, no conservative hypocrisy, no liberal foolishness -- Just straight talk, straight at you, and that’s no bull!!
When a lab-monkey declares that President Obama wasn't born in America, he becomes Patient Zero for a new brand of fear-based news virus - Fearus Ignoramus. Watch as the virus goes ear-borne, spreading from Rush Limbaugh to CNN to the mainstream-media to the general public. America devolves into panic, convinced its President is an illegal alien anti-Christ:
Usually on Fridays you can listen to me, the voice of wisdom and reason in a wilderness of partisan rhetoric -- no political insanity, no conservative hypocrisy, no liberal foolishness -- just straight talk, straight at you, and that’s no bull!!
I can't make it today but I'll be back next week to deprogram you. Until the next show, post a comment or two.
I was thinking about how a status symbol of today is those cell phones that everyone has clipped onto their belt or purse. I can't afford one. So, I'm wearing my garage door opener. I also made a cover for my hearing aid and now I have what they call blue teeth, I think.
You know, I spent a fortune on deodorant before I realized that people didn't like me anyway.
I was thinking that women should put pictures of missing husbands on beer cans!
I was thinking about old age and decided that old age is 'when you still have something on the ball, but you are just too tired to bounce it.'
I thought about making a fitness movie for folks my age, and call it 'Pumping Rust'.
I've gotten that dreaded furniture disease. That's when your chest is falling into your drawers!
When people see a cat's litter box, they always say, 'Oh, have you got a cat?' Just once I want to say, 'No, it's for company!'
Employment application blanks always ask who is to be notified in case of an emergency. I think you should write, 'A Good Doctor'!
Why do they put pictures of criminals up in the Post Office? What are we supposed to do...write to these men? Why don't they just put their pictures on the postage stamps so the mailmen could look for them while they deliver the mail? Or better yet, arrest them while they are taking their pictures!
I was thinking about how people seem to read the Bible a whole lot more as they get older. Then, it dawned on me, they were cramming for their finals.
As for me, I'm just hoping God grades on the curve.
Listen to the voice of wisdom and reason in a wilderness of partisan rhetoric -- No political insanity, no conservative hypocrisy, no liberal foolishness -- Just straight talk, straight at you, and that’s no bull!!
Enjoy the following, allegedly first said by Will Rogers:
1. Never slap a man who's chewing tobacco..
2. Never kick a cow chip on a hot day.
3. There are 2 theories to arguing with a woman...neither works.
4. Never miss a good chance to shut up.
5. Always drink upstream from the herd.
6. If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.
7. The quickest way to double your money is to fold it and put it back in your pocket.
8. There are three kinds of men: The ones that learn by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence and find out for themselves.
9. Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.
10. If you're riding' ahead of the herd, take a look back every now and then to make sure it's still there.
11. Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier'n puttin' it back.
12. After eating an entire bull, a mountain lion felt so good he started roaring. He kept it up until a hunter came along and shot him. The moral: When you're full of bull, keep your mouth shut.
Usually on Fridays you can listen to me, the voice of wisdom and reason in a wilderness of partisan rhetoric -- no political insanity, no conservative hypocrisy, no liberal foolishness -- just straight talk, straight at you, and that’s no bull!!
I can't make it today but I hear that Mike will substitute. I'll be back next week to deprogram you. Until the next show, post a comment or two.
UPDATE IV: Still unsure what to do in Afghanistan, then consider some a historical lesson courtesy of the former Soviet Union. Read The New York Times, Transcripts of Defeat.
UPDATE III: To Republi-cons, manliness is "quickly invad[ing] a country on the basis of half-baked intelligence." Read the Washington Post, Think before surging.
Tell me, who dithered through five draft deferments to void duty in Vietnam?
UPDATE II: After 7 years of 'dithering' and uncertainty on Afghanistan, Republi-cons are now armchair hypocrites. Read the Washington Post, Armchair Quarterbacks.
Republi-cons have no shame, and very short memories.
1. Two antennas met on a roof, fell in love and got married. The ceremony wasn't much, but the reception was excellent.
2. A jumper cable walks into a bar. The bartender says, "I'll serve you, but don't start anything."
3. Two peanuts walk into a bar, and one was a salted.
4. A dyslexic man walked into a bra.
5. A man walks into a bar with a slab of asphalt under his arm, and says: "A beer please, and one for the road."
6. Two cannibals are eating a clown. One says to the other: "Does this taste funny to you?"
7. "Doc, I can't stop singing The Green, Green Grass of Home." "That sounds like Tom Jones Syndrome." "Is it common?" "Well, It's Not Unusual."
8. Two cows are standing next to each other in a field. Daisy says to Dolly, "I was artificially inseminated this morning." "I don't believe you," says Dolly. "It's true; no bull!" exclaims Daisy.
9. An invisible man marries an invisible woman. The kids were nothing to look at either.
10. Deja Moo: The feeling that you've heard this bull before.
11. I went to buy some camouflage trousers the other day, but I couldn't find any.
12. I went to a seafood disco last week... and pulled a mussel.
13. What do you call a fish with no eyes? A fsh.
14. Two fish swim into a concrete wall. The one turns to the other and says, "Dam!"
15. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft. Not surprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can't have your kayak and heat it too.
16. A group of chess enthusiasts checked into a hotel, and were standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories. After about an hour, the manager came out of the office, and asked them to disperse."But why?" they asked. "Because," he said. "I can't stand chess nuts boasting in an open foyer."
17. A woman has twins, and gives them up for adoption. One of them goes to a family in Egypt, and is named "Ahmal." The other goes to a family in Spain ; they name him "Juan." Years later, Juan sends a picture of himself to his birth mother. Upon receiving the picture, she tells her husband that she wishes she also had a picture of Ahmal. Her husband responds, "They're twins! If you've seen Juan, you've seen Ahmal."
18. An old priest walked barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little, which made him rather frail and with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath. This made him a super-calloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.
19. A dwarf, who was a mystic, escaped from jail. The call went out that there was a small medium at large.
20. And finally, there was the person who sent 20 different puns to his friends, with the hope that at least 10 of the puns would make them laugh. No pun in 10 did.
Listen to the voice of wisdom and reason in a wilderness of partisan rhetoric -- No political insanity, no conservative hypocrisy, no liberal foolishness -- Just straight talk, straight at you, and that’s no bull!!
Republi-cons like to claim that if Obama would only __________ (fill in the blank), it would settle the matter. But the truth is, they will never quit making things up, no matter how outrageous, to feed their base. Case on point, from the Washington Post:
For all you non-Republi-cons, learn more about the issue of end-of-life care and advance care planning as it related to health care reform by reading the Washington Post, Easing The 'Death Panel' Fear.
Will Obama be another one term Democratic president?
UPDATE: Updating an October 2008 post, it looks like it may be little more than 40 weeks (Tuesday, September 29th was 47 weeks since the election) in the wilderness for those wasklyRepubli-cons. Read the Washington Post,A Republican Comeback?
Only a Naive-ocrat could blow the last election as badly.
It looks increasingly bleak for the Republi-cons. The current generation deserves to be exiled from political office for a decade or more for fraud.
UPDATE: As recommended by Ron on today's program, for a non-partisan plan "to evict the 435 career politicians in the U.S. House of Representatives and replace them with everyday Americans just like you" see Get Out of Our House!
Listen to the voice of wisdom and reason in a wilderness of partisan rhetoric -- No political insanity, no conservative hypocrisy, no liberal foolishness -- Just straight talk, straight at you, and that’s no bull!!
Who will be the first to say to the American public that enough is enough and demand a return to responsibility? Read The New York Times, The Reality Moment.
I think the award is more a rebuke of Bush, in other words an "award for simply not being Bush. That alone is worthy of an award from the world" (quoted from an email I received). If that is the case, the award should have gone to the American public.
Otherwise Obama will prove that he is just another politician full of himself.
P.S. I wonder who even nominated him. Hope it wasn't someone from his staff.
P.P.S. Maybe next year I'll nominate Santa Claus, he brings peace to my house every Christmas Eve.
Final P.S. Mike thinks that Obama's win based on 12 days as president and the fact that Reagan never won the award, "coupled with Al Gore's win in 2007 is proof that the prize is nothing but a political prize from Leftists to Leftists." What do you think?
What has Obama done on global warming, immigration reform, gays in the military, limits on executive powers, torture prosecutions, closing Gitmo, withdrawing from Iraq, improving the status of the fight in Afghanistan, health care reform, etc.?
Listen to the voice of wisdom and reason in a wilderness of partisan rhetoric -- No political insanity, no conservative hypocrisy, no liberal foolishness -- Just straight talk, straight at you, and that’s no bull!!
Maybe he foresaw the private equity firms, former executives and Wall Street investment banks that would profit by bankrupting businesses, bilking bondholders and firing employees. Read The New York Times, Profits for Buyout Firms as Company Debt Soared.
Just a part of the Republi-con war on the middle class.
UPDATE: Cheering America's defeat, because they "retain their belief that they, and only they, should govern." Read The New York Times, The Politics of Spite.
What was he thinking? Obama should not have made in-person plea to hold the 2016 summer games in his hometown of Chicago. I always expected Rio de Janeiro to win, mostly because the Olympics have never been held in South America. But to be eliminated in the first round of voting. Now his political enemies will talk about nothing else for a week, and it makes Obama look politically weak(er).
Usually on Fridays you can listen to me, the voice of wisdom and reason in a wilderness of partisan rhetoric -- no political insanity, no conservative hypocrisy, no liberal foolishness -- just straight talk, straight at you, and that’s no bull!!
I can't make it today but I hear that Ken will substitute. I'll be back next week to deprogram you. Until the next show, post a comment or two.
UPDATE: "Could it be that the conservative culture warriors who portray Hollywood as a cesspool of moral bankruptcy have been right all along?" Read the Washington Post,Hollywood's Shame.
The Washington Post should fire columnist Anne Applebaum.
But the truth is he never left, Republi-con DNA is Rovian by nature.
More on how Republi-conFear, Anger, Hatred = Violence, a Virginia Republi-con candidate's fierce call to resist President Obama's political agenda -- with bullets, if necessary :
Listen to the voice of wisdom and reason in a wilderness of partisan rhetoric -- No political insanity, no conservative hypocrisy, no liberal foolishness -- Just straight talk, straight at you, and that’s no bull!!
After the not guilty in the criminal contempt trial against Lay and Freeman (see the Pensacola News Journal, Lay, Freeman found not guilty), I noted that there was no Roy Moore defense, rather as I predicted the defense used the prayer was "an old habit" defense.
It made me wonder if God was thrown under the bus to get the not guilty. Seems I'm not the only one who thinks so. Read this week's Chuck Baldwin Live column (written this week by his son Tim Baldwin), Another LAY Case.
Tim Baldwin will be a guest today at 4:30 p.m. at NoBullU on WEBY.
You might remember that $160,000 was found in a safe inside the home, but that money "will be going toward estate taxes" says an attorney.
But the estate tax exemption for 2009 is $3.5 million.
One commentor wrote: "What BS this is. No way there will be any taxable estate OR Estate tax--no way. I'm betting that these folks raked in at least 100 grand a year in FL adoption assistance and SSI from the feds, and that's why these children are where they are."
With "FL adoption assistance and SSI from the feds," why does Ashley need more money?
I'd like to know if the state took the kids from the parents before any court hearing. I've seen that done in Florida, and unless the situation is an emergency, it is illegal.
There has been talk of limits on medical malpractice lawsuits, but shouldn't the objective of health care reform be to reduce medical malpractice. Read this good, but somewhat misleadingly titled, artice in The New York Times, Medical Malpractice System Breeds More Waste, which notes from a recent study that:
"The direct costs of malpractice lawsuits — jury awards, settlements and the like — are such a minuscule part of health spending that they barely merit discussion, economists say. But that doesn’t mean the malpractice system is working.
The fear of lawsuits among doctors does seem to lead to a noticeable amount of wasteful treatment. Amitabh Chandra — a Harvard economist whose research is cited by both the American Medical Associationand the trial lawyers’ association — says $60 billion a year, or about 3 percent of overall medical spending, is a reasonable upper-end estimate. If a new policy could eliminate close to that much waste without causing other problems, it would be a no-brainer.
At the same time, though, the current system appears to treat actual malpractice too lightly. Trials may get a lot of attention, but they are the exception. Far more common are errors that never lead to any action.
After reviewing thousands of patient records, medical researchers haveestimated that only 2 to 3 percent of cases of medical negligence lead to a malpractice claim. For every notorious error — the teenager who died in North Carolina after being given the wrong blood type, the 39-year-old Massachusetts mother killed by a chemotherapy overdose, the newborn twins (children of the actor Dennis Quaid) given too much blood thinner — there are dozens more. You never hear about these other cases.
So we have a malpractice system that, while not as bad as some critics suggest, is expensive in all the wrong ways.
Of course, the debate over medical malpractice isn't about reducing medical malpractice, but don't try to explain that to the Republi-con's unholy alliance.
UPDATE II: Not guilty -- the violation was not willful because "to say the prayer was nothing more than an old habit." Read the Pensacola News Journal, Lay, Freeman found not guilty.
You might remember that I predicted the prayer was "an old habit" defense. No Roy Moore defense here. Makes me wonder if the defense threw God under the bus to get the not guilty.
And where was the national media?
We'll discuss today during class at NoBullU.
UPDATE: Expect a crowd tomorrow at the federal courthouse in Pensacola. Until then, another opinion focusing on religion:
September 16, 2009
Viewpoint: Prayer dispute is disturbing, sad
The controversy over prayer in public schools is both sad and disturbing. It is sad because it involves people who sincerely want to follow and obey Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and who think that is why they must stand firm in their resistance to the ruling of the court.
It is sad because many have been taught and encouraged by their pastors to think this way, and to insist on their right to pray whenever, wherever and however they believe they are called by God to do so.
It is sad because nowhere in Holy Scripture are those of us who seek to love and serve the Lord, and to follow and obey Jesus Christ, taught that prayer is a right, or that it is to be used as a way to witness.
We who would follow Jesus are taught what the consequences of honest prayer will be: We will "do justice, and love kindness, and walk humbly with our God.''
We are taught by Jesus that prayer will lead to a transformation of our hearts and minds to reflect more of the compassion, mercy, forgiveness and generosity of God.
We are taught that by prayer, which is the opening of ourselves to the Holy Spirit, we will be led and empowered to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, and soul, and mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves.
Paul teaches the followers of Jesus that the liberty we have in Christ is not to be used willfully if, by so doing, we might lead astray a weaker brother or sister, or a non-believer.
The sad and disturbing aspect of the controversy is that the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America is being used as a higher authority than the teachings of Jesus by many who insist on their right to pray as they want in the public schools.
Jesus was specific when he taught his followers not to make a public issue or spectacle of prayer, but to "pray in secret, and our heavenly Father who hears in secret will reward us,'' and will hear and respond to us.
If we who profess to follow Jesus put constitutional rights ahead of his teachings and example, and demand our right rather than allowing prayer to be the way God works his Grace in our lives, blessing, reconciling, healing and loving others through us, then we will most likely not encourage anyone who is on the fence when it comes to believing in God to draw nearer to the throne of Grace.
And we will probably convince those who gave up on God long ago that they were right.
The Rev. Robert Graves is priest associate at Christ Church of Pensacola.
As I said before, given that the clerk was cleared in the prayer suit, where her actions were clearly more planned and deliberate than an impromptu blessing of the food and the standard of proof in her civil contempt case was substantially less than a criminal contempt case, the U.S. Attorney's Office should save everyone time and money and just dismiss the criminal contempt proceeding against Lay and Freeman.
The local debate continues to focus on the religious aspects of the case with a series of opinion pieces in the local paper, the Pensacola News Journal, which I republish here, in chronological order, in case you missed them (and because after two week the articles are removed from public access):
I shall not argue the prayer issue in Santa Rosa County schools, now reaching federal criminal velocity, an unnecessary legal twist in which few will be pleased. Forging lawsuits and standing before the bar of justice for uttering a Christian prayer on school grounds grinds down to more emotion than trying to understand and accept the Jeffersonian essence of religious freedom, a true gift to American governance.
After many debatable years since the high court prevailed in limiting prayers in schools, validating Thomas Jefferson's appreciation for a wall of separation between church and state, I'm amazed by the misunderstood religious freedom phrase in the American Bill of Rights, an outgrowth of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom written in 1779 by Jefferson and enacted by the Virginia General Assembly in 1786.
The religious freedom act is one of only three accomplishments Jefferson instructed be put in his epitaph, included authorship of the Declaration of Independence and founder of the University of Virginia.
His friend James Madison said the Virginia law "extinguished forever the ambitious hope of making laws for the human mind."
Jefferson's First Amendment idea flows from the Virginia law: "No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burdened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities. We are free to declare, and do declare, that the rights hereby asserted are of the natural rights of mankind, and that if any act shall be hereafter passed to repeal the present, or to narrow its operation, such act shall be an infringement of natural right."
Naturally, Jefferson gained a reputation as an enemy of religion. Thirty years later he wrote that "the priests indeed have ... thought it proper to ascribe to me ... anti-religious sentiments. ... They wished him to be thought atheist, deist, or devil, who could advocate freedom from their religious dictations."
Religious belief, or non-belief, is important to every person's life; freedom of religion affects every individual. Religious institutions that use government power in support of themselves and force their views on persons of other faiths, or of no faith, undermine all our civil rights. Moreover, state support of an established religion tends to make the clergy unresponsive to their own people, and leads to corruption within religion itself.
Erecting the "wall of separation between church and state" is absolutely essential in a free society.
Jefferson replied to the critical Baptists in 1808: "We have experienced the quiet as well as the comfort which results from leaving every one to profess freely and openly those principles of religion which are the inductions of his own reason and the serious convictions of his own inquiries." He also wrote, "The constitutional freedom of religion is the most inalienable and sacred of all human rights."
I hope we Americans understand that public schools are for educating American youth for life's journey; churches, without governmental hindrance, are free to offer worship to free Americans who choose to believe.
Next a response which it appears from the following opinions to have been written by our veritasphobia Congressman:
August 22, 2009
Viewpoint: J. Earle Bowden sidesteps on Jefferson, Pace prayer
After reading J. Earle Bowden's Aug. 8 column ("Learn in school, worship in church"), one would think that Thomas Jefferson was the final and only authority on all church and state issues during the founding years of our country. We are left to believe that the First Amendment came out of the "Jeffersonian essence of religious freedom."
But what Bowden fails to mention is that there were 90 framers of the First Amendment, and Thomas Jefferson was not one of them. While Jefferson was serving as minister to France, Congress debated the wording of the Bill of Rights. According to the Congressional Record from 1789, not once during the months of debate did the framers mention the words "separation of church and state."
The origination of this phrase comes from a letter newly elected President Jefferson penned to a group of Baptists in Danbury, Conn., in 1802 regarding religious freedom. There is probably no other occasion in history where a sentence from a personal note, taken out of context, has become the foundation for U.S. policy.
When we put the Danbury letter in perspective, we see that Jefferson was responding to the question of religious establishment. The Baptist congregation specifically questioned the government's interference in the church, not the religious principles of our governmental leaders. Jefferson accurately responded that the First Amendment precluded the government from establishing a religion or denomination. Jefferson did not state that religion has no place in our government.
The "wall of separation between church and state" is a one-way wall. It was not the founders' intent to keep God out of the government, but to keep the government out of the church.
There are hundreds if not thousands of documented expressions of the importance of religion and Christian principles by our Founding Fathers. From the Mayflower Compact to the Declaration of Independence and beyond, early American leaders believed as George Washington believed that "it is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and Bible."
It was not until the late 1940s when a liberal Supreme Court began to misinterpret Jefferson's words. Earlier courts held that the government may step in only when religious principles turn into dangerous actions such as polygamy or human sacrifice. But the government has no right, and is in fact prohibited from interfering with religious practices and beliefs, whether that be in the church or in the classroom.
Although Bowden sidesteps the issue of Pace High School and prayer in our schools, I will not. Precluding prayer at student events is wrong. Prohibiting a class president from speaking at graduation because she might mention God is offensive. And prosecuting a man as a criminal for offering a prayer before a meal is abhorrent.
I am proud of the Pace community for standing up for our country's founding principles of a faith in God that cannot be broken. Americans must be free to worship when they please, free to pray where they please, and free to speak what they please. These are the very basics of our American liberties and the foundation upon which this country was built.
For as Thomas Jefferson argued, "The constitutional freedom of religion is the most inalienable and sacred of all human rights."
Followed by an opinion written by Bruce Partington, a partner at the law firm of Clark Partington Hart (where I believe Judge Rodgers once worked) and a member of the vestry at Christ Episcopal Church in Pensacola:
September 5, 2009
Viewpoint: Miller got it wrong on church, state
Congressman Jeff Miller's viewpoint on the debate about prayer at Pace High School, and the doctrine of the "separation of church and state," is incorrect both historically and theologically ("J. Earle Bowden sidesteps on Jefferson, Pace prayer," Aug. 22). Unfortunately, the fundamental aspects of this debate seem to have been largely ignored, with the focus being principally on the political arguments.
Theologically, the concept of separation between church and state finds its genesis in the Gospel itself. At the time of Christ, the Romans, recognizing the importance of their faith to the Jewish people, granted the Jews an exemption from the requirement that the emperor be regarded as divine. In Mark we find Christ's direction to give the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and God the things that are God's — in short, a direction by Christ himself to observe a distinction between government and faith.
During the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther published in 1523 his work "On Secular Authority" which articulated what is now known as the "Doctrine of the Two Kingdoms" and urged that church and state confine themselves (or be confined) to their separate realms. In 1599, John Calvin urged the same in his "Institutes of Christian Religion." In 1644, Roger Williams, the forbear of the Baptist traditions, spoke of "a hedge or wall of separation between the garden of the Church and the wilderness of the world."
The founders of our nation were not only steeped in the Reformation, but mindful that the new nation had foundational traditions of religious tolerance and diversity. Indeed, the Puritans, Quakers and others had come to our shores to escape religious persecution and found a nation free of the constraints of a government-imposed faith.
In 1773, Isaac Backus, a prominent Baptist minister, wrote that when "church and state are separate, the effects are happy, and they do not at all interfere with each other: but where they have been confounded together, no tongue or pen can fully describe the mischiefs that have ensued."
In 1779, Thomas Jefferson authored the Virginia "Statute for Religious Freedom" which was, in part, the model for the "Establishment Clause" of the Bill of Rights. Likewise, James Madison wrote of the importance of the "total separation of the church from the state." Madison also declared that the "practical distinction between Religion and Civil Government is essential to the purity of both, and as guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States." In a letter, he wrote "We are teaching the world the great truth that Govts do better without Kings and Nobles than with them. The merit will be doubled by the other lesson that Religion flourishes in greater purity, without than with the aid of Govt." These writings came squarely in the period (1789-1791) during which the First Amendment was being ratified by the states.
Finally, we arrive at the Treaty of Tripoli, ratified by the U.S. Senate in 1797 (when many of those who developed our Constitution and Bill of Rights were still serving) which states in Article 11 that "the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion. ..."
In short, the debate about the propriety of religious advocacy by governmental employees must be considered in the full historical and theological context.
First, the founders were unequivocal about the separation of religion from the process of governing. Second, that view comes not from the desire to impose atheistic views on the populace or to squelch religion, but was originated and espoused by theologians to avoid demeaning the Christian faith they were striving to reform.
Finally an opinion by Ken Bell, also a partner at the law firm of Clark Partington Hart, and a former justice of the Florida Supreme Court:
September 15, 2009
Federal courts wrong on the issue of prayer
Bruce Partington is a brilliant lawyer and great friend; but, I cannot agree with his viewpoint on the theological and historical understanding of the "separation of church and state" in 1791, when the First Amendment was ratified ("History, theology elude Rep. Miller," Sept. 6).
Bruce expresses well the underpinning of the recent judicial decisions that apply the extra-constitutional phrase "separation of church and state." But this perspective is far from the theological understanding and political theory of our Founding Fathers and the church reformers.
The Founders (and the reformers) would explain the "separation of church and state" by using the "sword/key" dichotomy described in the Westminster Confession of Faith (as modified in America in 1789, two years before the First Amendment was ratified). They believed that God established "civil magistrates to be under Him, over the people, for His own glory and the public good; and to this end, has armed them with the power of the sword, for the defense ... of them that are good, and for the punishment of evil doers."
These civil magistrates could not assume "the administration of the Word, and sacraments; or the power of the keys of the kingdom of heaven; or ... interfere in matters of faith. Yet, as nursing fathers, it is (their) duty ... to protect the Church ... without giving the preference to any denomination of Christians above the rest, in such a manner that all ecclesiastical persons whatsoever shall enjoy the full free, and unquestioned liberty of discharging every part of their sacred function without violence or danger."
This separation of church and state under God without giving preference to any denomination was our Founding Fathers' church/state perspective.
Importantly, the First Amendment itself was written more narrowly. It provides that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." The constitutional proscription was solely against Congress' legislative powers.
The Founders' understanding of church/state (both under God) and the narrower constitutional proscription on legislative powers are mirrored in our state constitution. The preamble to the Florida Constitution states, "We the people of the State of Florida, being grateful to Almighty God for our constitutional liberty, in order to secure its benefits ... do ordain and establish this constitution." Article I, section 3 provides that, "There shall be no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting or penalizing the free exercise thereof."
So how did we get to a federal court proceeding where governmental employees face criminal charges for the non-legislated expression of gratitude to God for sustenance? "Incorporating" the First Amendment through the post-Civil War 14th Amendment, the federal courts expanded its express limitation on congressional legislation to the states. Once incorporated, the courts exceeded the plain text and original intent by prohibiting non-legislative "religious" activities. In other words, the courts made a policy decision to go beyond the constitutional text and apply the "separation of church and state" doctrine to curtail non-legislative actions of state government employees. Relying on a revisionist history, the courts have erected a "wall of separation" that extends far beyond the separation originally understood and intended by the Founders.
Let me be clear: I write solely to explain that our Founding Father's doctrine of "separation of church and state" was starkly different than Bruce's and the recent federal courts. And, more importantly, no matter how far the First Amendment case law has strayed from the plain constitutional text and its original intent, every trial judge must follow and apply the applicable case law.
Finally, Bruce and I have enjoyed a spirited but respectful discussion on this contentious issue. We remain good friends. We hope that those on either side will do the same.
All very interesting, but I think they miss the point of the contempt proceeding -- whether Lay and Freeman violated the Court's preliminary injunction/order:
Court Order It should be noted that Lay was personally named as a defendant in the original lawsuit and specifically "admitted liability" in that lawsuit and agreed to the Court's preliminary injunction/order, which enjoined him from "[p]romoting, advancing, aiding, facilitating, endorsing, or causing religious prayers or devotionals during school-sponsored events."
For everything you need to know about contempt of court, which is the issue (the issue is not religion), read the U.S. Attorney's Manual, 9-39.000 Contempt of Court.
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