National & International LAW & Islamic Sharia
Why "Hate Crime" laws ban Biblical Christianity
Adapting the Constitution to a Global Consensus | Rifqa & Honor Killing
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National & International LAW & Islamic Sharia Why "Hate Crime" laws ban Biblical Christianity Adapting the Constitution to a Global Consensus | Rifqa & Honor Killing |
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Roberts: Scene at State of Union 'Very Troubling': "U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts says the scene at this year's State of the Union address by President Obama was 'very troubling.'... Roberts told law students at the University of Alabama that anyone is free to criticize the court, but he was troubled the remarks came during that setting. Roberts says the State of the Union address has 'degenerated to a political pep rally.'"
Hearing Delayed for Obama Judicial Nominee Who Supported Serial Killer: "U.S. District Court Judge Robert Chatigny gained notoriety in 2005 for his role in trying to fight the execution of convicted serial killer and rapist Michael Ross, also known as The Roadside Strangler, whom Chatigny had described as a victim of his own 'sexual sadism.'"
February 2010
Muslims Exempt from Death Penalty in U.S.? "Last October there was another in the growing number of Islamic honor killings in the United States when a Muslim in Peoria, Arizona... ran down his twenty-year-old daughter Noor, as well as her boyfriend’s mother, Amal Khalaf.... If a cold-blooded, premeditated murder doesn’t warrant the death penalty, what murder does?...
"...Islamic groups in the U.S. were working in the courts, businesses, and educational institutions to secure special privileges for Muslims, in accord with Sharia provisions that give them a place above non-Muslims in Islamic societies." Honor Killing and Sharia Law
The Census and the Constitution: "The Census Bureau estimates that the life cycle cost of the 2010 Census will be from $13.7 billion to $14.5 billion, making it the costliest census in the nation's history....The Census Bureau tells us that this year, it will use a shorter questionnaire, consisting of only 10 questions. From what I see, only one of them serves the constitutional purpose of enumeration." See Washington's Farewell Address, 1796
Geert Wilders and the Death of Free Speech: "Wilders, the Dutch Parliamentarian who produced the film Fitna, went on trial January 20 for charges including having 'intentionally offended a group of people, i.e. Muslims, based on their religion.' Fitna is a film which compellingly links images of terrorist attacks with passages from the Koran which incite Muslims to jihad. The idea that intentionally offending someone is a criminal offense should be a matter for Kafka or comic opera, but such is the advance of multiculturalism in the Netherlands today, and the rest of Europe is not all that far behind.
" The real purpose of the Wilders trial is twofold: first, the Dutch political establishment hopes to use it to stop the meteoric rise of the upstart Wilders, who challenges so many of the core assumptions upon which current Dutch and European Union policy are based.... Wilders has stated the problem plainly: 'I am being prosecuted for my political convictions.... If a politician is not allowed to criticise an ideology anymore... it will lead to the end of our freedom.' And not just in the Netherlands." See Seeds of Persecution
Anti-Islam Dutch Lawmaker Says He’s Being Denied a Fair Trial: "The Amsterdam District Court ruled that Geert Wilders could only call three witnesses.... In a statement released after the brief hearing, Wilders said, 'This court is not interested in the truth. This court doesn’t want me to have a fair trial.... This court would not be out of place in a dictatorship.' ....Wilders and his supporters say the case is much more than the trial of one man accused of discrimination and inciting hatred. They say the right of Europeans to speak what they believe to be the truth about Islam is at stake. 'This is not merely a lawsuit against Geert Wilders [but] … a trial against all freedom-loving people.'" See Wilders' video Fitna
Parents of Muslim-turned-Christian teen back out of deal: "The parents of teenager Rifqa Bary, who fled from her family after abandoning Islam to become a Christian and warned authorities in Florida she might be killed... are demanding permission to back out of an agreement they reached with child protective services in Ohio over her custody....
"'Children's Services is endangering the family's chance at reconciliation by allowing Rifqa to have contact with the [Christian] people who helped her run away,' the parents have submitted in a motion to the court.... But instead of 'helping' her run away, they responded to the emergency needs of a teen who already had fled....
"Bary's Muslim parents gave up their fight, according to Ohio court documents, avoiding a trial that could have put Islam's law barring 'apostasy,' on penalty of death, in the national spotlight." See Glossary of Islamic terms
Whose Rights? Mosque University: "I’m also glad I don’t teach at Temple University in Philadelphia, where students now have to pay an unconstitutional after-the-fact security fee levied by the university... for hosting none other than Geert Wilders....
"The notion that it is permissible to charge a student group extra fees for security simply because a speaker's views are controversial (read: not approved of by university administrators) might be acceptable at the University of Havana or the University of Beijing. But it should never happen in America....
"Geert Wilders came to Temple University on October 20, 2009. Wilders was invited in the wake of a controversy surrounding his film 'Fitna' which was released in 2008. The film was controversial because it features passages of the Koran interspersed with scenes of violence on the part of Muslims."
January 2010
Moderate Muslim wife beheader says the beheading was justified because his wife was mean to him: "'He [the founder of an Islam-oriented television station] chopped her head off. ...Mr. Hassan's apparent defense that he was a battered spouse.'... 'The spouse was the dominant figure in this relationship,' attorney Frank Bogulski said outside the courtroom. 'He was the victim. She was verbally abusive. She had humiliated him.' Nancy Sanders... was skeptical of the abuse claim, noting the stocky Hassan stood over 6 feet tall and 'filled a doorway,' while Aasiya was slender and several inches shorter. 'I never ever heard her disparage him in the workplace at all,' Sanders said. 'It just did not seem to be in her nature. She was very gentle.'"
White House Chief of Staff Emanuel's Joke - 'The First Amendment: Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said, "When you think about the First Amendment, you think it's highly overrated." Watch it on this video.
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."The First Amendment of our Constitution:
TORTURE: Where’s the Conservative Skepticism? "Many Americans might not particularly care whether torturing terrorists produces any useful information or not... For some, torturing the occasional innocent bystander might be the price we have to pay to keep America safe. But that line of reasoning -- the end justifies the means -- is a treacherous road to go down. It might start with the ticking time-bomb hypothetical: Would you torture one guilty person to save a million innocents? Most people would say yes. (How about a thousand innocents? Fifty? Two?) It ends with the organ-donation hypothetical: Would you kill one innocent person to harvest his organs and save five others? Most people would say no. Yet it's hard to draw a bright line that stops movement from one pole to the other."
Facebook Fatwa on Rifqa: "Facebook is full of death threats and other vicious material about Rifqa Bary, the teenage convert from Islam to Christianity who is in a fight for her life in juvenile court on Franklin County, Ohio.
"...the first Rifqa Bary Facebook Fatwa: a Facebook group... said openly, 'we need to kill her,' and was full of Muslim members. Now add this to the list of fatwas and death threats against Rifqa Bary: a Facebook group, again with numerous Muslim members, proclaiming, Don’t save Rifqa Bary, let them kill her.'... It has 64 members, all of them apparently Muslims.... Imagine, these are just the ones we catch....
"Another Facebook group screams, '[A profanity]...RIFQA BARY !!! SHAME FOR ISLAM !!!!' It has 57 members – once again, all Muslims. This one openly admits what CAIR and other front groups in America lie about: 'In Islam, yes, apostasy is the death penalty.'...
"Muslim Brotherhood/Hamas front CAIR has found out where Rifqa is living. ... How? What Islamist enemy leaked her location to CAIR? She must be moved at once....
"All communication to Rifqa was cut off. It was decided that a counselor would determine if she could have contact with friends. The counselor said she could, but nothing has happened. She is literally being treated like a prisoner.... This isolation is a form of psychological torture. ...why is a girl in America, guilty only of freedom of religion, allowed to be psychologically tortured?... Rifqa’s parents are fighting dependency with every dishonest crooked tool in the Islamist toolbox....The nature of the conflict is Islam, yet Rifqa’s lawyers will not present any religious evidence. Ex-Muslims such as Wafa Sultan, Nonie Darwish... would testify. None are being called." Why?
New council to advise on 'military activities' in U.S.: "The recent order, posted on the White House website, was accompanied by the explanation that the group is to work 'to protect our nation against all types of hazards.' It comes just weeks after the president issue a similarly obscure order vastly expanding INTERPOL's privileges in the U.S. ...Can the council recommend 'military activities' and can the governors, who already are in command of their own state guard units, mandate activities outside of their areas of jurisdiction?..."'...it was the 'first step towards martial law in America' because it sets up the 'use of federal troops and the combination of state and federal agencies under the Defense Department.' ...the order appears to be in defiance of posse comitatus, which restricts U.S. military action within the United States."
Elected officials bail on U.S. marriage law: "In a case with implications for the entire country, California's Proposition 8 defining marriage as between one man and one woman goes on trial Monday." See Cultural Corruption
Interpol Given Immunity in U.S. - Why? "...a White House executive order was signed that gives Interpol complete immunity from American law.... Interpol is the International Criminal Police Organization, which was first established in 1923. It operates in 188 nations around the world - and has had limited privileges in the U.S. up until now....Interpol investigates international crimes like human trafficking and smuggling, which on the face of it is a good thing. But they also work closely with international tribunals like the International Criminal Court [ICC]. Up until now, the United States has refused to join the ICC due to the provisions that would cause us to surrender much of our sovereignty.
"Brett D. Schaefer of the Heritage Foundation wrote back in 2005: ...'The U.S. opposes the ICC because it is an international legal body that lacks prudent safeguards against political manipulation, possesses sweeping authority without accountability to the Security Council, and violates national sovereignty by claiming jurisdiction over the nationals and military personnel of non-party states.
"...current top White House officials are in favor of our joining up with the ICC.... In other words, the U.S. Constitution, the foundation of the laws of this nation, must take a back seat to international law.... (Koh also, by the way, believes that in certain 'appropriate' cases, Sharia law has a place in the United States.)" See Trading U.S. Rights for UN Rules
December 2009
Illinois town welcomes plan to house detainees: "The White House decision to move up to 100 Guantanamo Bay detainees to this dying Mississippi River town has folks here seeing dollar signs, not suspected terrorists. Many people in this rural community are hopeful that their willingness to house the prisoners in a nearly empty penitentiary will offer an economic boost."
November 2009
Corruption? State can take, keep newborns' data -- 'Blood samples are biological, not genetic, information': "A judge in Minnesota has ruled the state can routinely collect, analyze, store and retrieve biological samples that include DNA from all newborns even though a state law specifically requires prior written authorization.... 'After my grandchild was born, a different nurse took the baby. My daughter heard my granddaughter start crying. She found out her heel was getting pricked...'" See Ban Truth - Reap TyrannyJudge orders compensation for gay couple denied benefits: "A federal judge today ordered compensation for a Los Angeles couple denied spousal benefits by the federal government because they are gay men.... Levenson married his longtime partner, Tony Sears, on July 12, 2008, during the five-month period when same-sex marriage was legal in California." See Human Nature
Italians Outraged As European [regional] Court Rules Against Crucifixes in the Classroom: "Italians reacted with outrage on Tuesday after a European court ruled that displaying crucifixes in the country's schools violated the principle of secular education.... Italy's education minister condemned the judgment by the European Court of Human Rights, saying that the Christian cross was a symbol of the country's Roman Catholic religion and cultural identity.....
"The influx of foreigners has led to deep-seated tensions.... Schools in Spain, France, and Britain have also debated whether crucifixes should be allowed in public schools. The landmark ruling could prompt a Europewide review of the use of religious symbols in state-run schools....
"The decision was handed down by a panel of seven judges ... [who] said that the display of crucifixes, which is common but not mandatory in Italian schools, violated the principle of secular education and might be intimidating for children from other faiths." See International Courts Mock Sovereignty
October 2009
War Memorials and the Constitution: "Today, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in ... a case that will determine the fate of another moving monument to our fallen soldiers—a 75-year-old veterans' memorial located on public land in the vast Mojave National Preserve in San Bernardino County, Calif. ... In 2001, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued to have the memorial taken down....
"Far more is at stake than a single memorial. If the Supreme Court allows this cross to be destroyed, it could presage the destruction of thousands of similar memorials nationwide, inflicting sorrow on millions of Americans, especially veterans and their families. The theory being advanced by the ACLU is that no religious symbol can be allowed on public land. That is a radical notion that is contrary to the text of the Constitution." See Ban Truth - Reap Tyranny
September 2009
Two Christian girls. Two sets of distraught parents: "One of these courts is in New Hampshire, where a judge recently ordered that home-schooled Amanda Kurowski be sent to public school. ...
"...a state court in Florida was considering what to do with 17-year-old Rifqa Bary. Miss Bary fled to Florida from Ohio a few weeks back, where she sought refuge with a Christian couple ... She says she ran away from home because her father discovered she'd become a Christian—and then threatened to kill her. On Thursday, Circuit Judge Daniel Dawson ordered the girl and her family to try mediation." See Persecution
July 2009
Sonia [Sotomayor] Isn't Joe: "...her thinking is consistent and expresses a deeply-held belief that the law is fundamentally meant to be interpreted and applied in a non-constitutional, non-static and sociological manner. Later on in her speech at Seton Hall Law School, she does not rule out that women and people of color have 'different perspectives' because 'we have differences in logic and reasoning.' How can there be differences in logic? Logic, by definition, doesn't differ from one person to another. It uses set evidence, set assumptions and set relationships to reach a logical conclusion. Otherwise, the result is not logical conclusion, but an interpretation, an opinion." See New Emphasis in Schools and Culture
June 2009
County apologies for citing pastor's home Bible studies: "San Diego County has rescinded its citation and apologized to a pastor who was warned that he needed a permit to hold weekly Bible studies in his home. David Jones and his wife Mary had been warned that they could be fined $100 to $1,000 if they held religious assemblies without a major use permit.... Chief Administrative Officer Walter Ekard apologizes and assures the couple that steps are being taken so that similar religious gatherings won't be issued citations in the future."
May 2009
Lawyers tag nominee as 'terror on the bench': "Lawyers who have argued cases before Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor call her 'nasty,' 'angry' and a 'terror on the bench,' according to the current Almanac of the Federal Judiciary.... The withering evaluation of Judge Sotomayor's temperament stands in stark contrast to reviews of her peers."
Sonia Sotomayor 'La Raza member': "As President Obama's Supreme Court nominee comes under heavy fire for allegedly being a 'racist,' Judge Sonia Sotomayor is listed as a member of the National Council of La Raza, a group that's promoted driver's licenses for illegal aliens, amnesty programs, and no immigration law enforcement by local and state police. ... Sotomayor has been heavily criticized for her racially charged statement: 'I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life.'" See Aztlan and LaRaza
Sotomayor: "Empathy" in Action (Thomas Sowell): "Nothing demonstrates the fatal dangers from judicial 'empathy' more than Judge Sotomayor's decision in a 2008 case involving firemen who took an exam for promotion. After the racial mix of those who passed that test turned out to be predominantly white, with only a few blacks and Hispanics, the results were thrown out. ... Apparently she didn't have 'empathy' with those predominantly white males who had been cheated out of promotions they had earned.... That kind of empathy would for all practical purposes repeal the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which guarantees 'equal protection of the laws' to all Americans."
California Supreme Court Yields to 'We the People': "The California Supreme Court has finally yielded to the will of the majority of Californians who have voted consistently to preserve marriage for the union between one man and one woman. The Court also held that same-sex couples who wed in the state prior to the ruling will still be considered to be married." Listen to this video and see America's Spiritual Slide
Sotomayor Video: Judges Make Policy, Latinas Better Than Whites: "Judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama's pick to become the newest Supreme Court justice, is on the record with some controversial remarks about 'diversity,' 'judicial activism' and female judges vs. male judges.... 'Whether born from experience or inherent physiological or cultural differences,' she said later, regarding non-white, female judges, 'our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging.'
"...there is a 2005 video of Sotomayor, speaking with potential law clerks, saying that a 'court of appeals is where policy is made.' She added: 'And I know — I know this is on tape, and I should never say that because we don’t make law. I know. O.K. I know. I’m not promoting it. I’m not advocating it...”
H. R. 1966: Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act: Introduced in the House of Representatives, this bill includes these statements: Sec. 881. Cyberbullying `(a) Whoever transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication, with the intent to coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to a person, using electronic means to support severe, repeated, and hostile behavior, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both. `(2) the term `electronic means' means any equipment dependent on electrical power to access an information service, including email, instant messaging, blogs, websites, telephones, and text messages.'"
Like "Hate crimes," such a law would probably affect any website that criticizes any politically correct religion or lifestyle -- whether or not there is any intention to intimidate. See Ban Truth - Reap Tyranny
A question of allegiance: [Harold Koh, awaiting confirmation as legal adviser to the State Department. ] "The position of State Department legal adviser is unique. The person holding it helps formulate and carry out U.S. foreign policy; advises the Justice Department on cases with international implications; influences U.S. positions on issues considered by international bodies; represents the United States at treaty negotiations and international conferences; and has input into the drafting of Security Council resolutions and the interpretation of treaties.
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...[Koh] is an activist lawyer who knows what he wants the law to be. ...it is apparent Mr. Koh wants U.S. jurisprudence to be shaped by international law, European courts, foreign governments and international organizations such as the United Nations. ... He wrote, 'Transnationalists believe that U.S. courts can and should use their interpretive powers to promote the development of a global legal system.' ...The will of the American people will no longer matter if it is contrary to that of the world community." See Adapting the Constitution to a Global Consensus"Empathy" Versus Law: Part III by Thomas Sowell: "There is a reason why the statue of Justice wears a blindfold. There are things that courts are not supposed to see or recognize when making their decisions -- the race you belong to, whether you are rich or poor, and other personal things that could bias decisions by judges and juries. It is an ideal that a society strives for, even if particular judges or juries fall short of that ideal.
"Now, however, President Barack Obama has repudiated that ideal itself by saying that he wants to appoint judges with 'empathy' for particular groups. This was not an isolated slip of the tongue.... Nor is this President Obama's only attempt to remake American society....
"Appointing judges to the federal courts-- including the Supreme Court -- who believe in expanding the powers of the federal government to make arbitrary decisions, choosing who will be winners and losers in the economy and in the society, is perfectly consistent with a vision of the world where self-confident and self-righteous elites rule according to their own notions, instead of merely governing under the restraints of the Constitution. If all this can be washed down with pious talk about 'empathy,' so much the better for those who want to remake America." See next link:
"Empathy" Versus Law - Part 1 - by Thomas Sowell: "That President Obama has made 'empathy' with certain groups one of his criteria for choosing a Supreme Court nominee is a dangerous sign of how much further the Supreme Court may be pushed away from the rule of law and toward even more arbitrary judicial edicts to advance the agenda of the left and set it in legal concrete, immune from the democratic process. Would you want to go into court to appear before a judge with 'empathy' for groups A, B and C, if you were a member of groups X, Y or Z?...
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Appoint enough Supreme Court justices with 'empathy' for particular groups and you would have, for all practical purposes, repealed the 14th Amendment, which guarantees 'equal protection of the laws' for all Americans...."If you were German, would you be in favor of a law 'to relieve the distress of the German people and nation'? That was the law that gave Hitler dictatorial power.... He was not elected on a platform of war, dictatorship or genocide. He got the power to do those things because of a law 'to relieve the distress of the German people.' When you buy words, you had better know what you are buying." See Adapting the Constitution to a Global Consensus
Hawaii Lawmakers Create 'Islam Day': Hawaii's state Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill Wednesday to celebrate 'Islam Day" — over the objections of a few lawmakers who said they didn't want to honor a religion connected to Sept. 11, 2001.... The bill seeks to recognize [Islam's] 'rich religious, scientific, cultural and artistic contributions'..." See Spreading Islam through Christian & Public Schools
April 2009
Obama Nominee Wants U.N. Committees Setting U.S. Social Policy: "[Koh, top lawyer in Obama's Dept. of State] believes 'the only way most states can realize and express their sovereignty is through participation in the various regimes that regulate and order the international system.'... Koh sides with those Justices on the Supreme Court that he calls Transnationalists.... 'The Transnationalists believe that U.S. courts can and should use their interpretive power to promote the development of a global legal system.'...
"['...faceless U.N. committees that monitor compliance with U.N. treaties'] routinely take it upon themselves to reinterpret hard-law treaties.... Radical lawyers and judges around the world accept these personal views as 'decisions' like legal writ." See Trading US Rights for UN Rules
March 2009
Nigeria: The Battle for Shari'ah Supremacy: "In January 2000, Governor Ahmad Sani Yarima Bakura defied the Nigerian Constitution and enacted Shari'ah Law in his north western state of Zamfara. Other northern and middle-belt Muslim-majority states soon followed and it was not long before all 12 northern states were under Shari'ah Law: the constitution of the Islamic State. In religiously mixed middle-belt states such as Kaduna and Plateau, thousands -- mostly Christians -- died in Shari'ah riots and anti-Christian pogroms." See Her All for Him
Why I Hate "Hate-Crimes" Legislation: "...hate crimes legislation is the statutory framework for the forceful imposition of a political and social religion. The so-called liberals mean to institutionalize intolerance, even as they loudly proclaim Holy Tolerance as their all in all. Because we seek to protect a form of human life that they despise, they defame as bigots or religious fanatics people working to re-establish respect for the law against abortion. Meanwhile they move boldly to use the force of law to punish the thoughts and attitudes of any who move against the sacred untouchables of their new cult of sexual pleasure and self-indulgence." See Why "Hate Crime" laws ban Biblical Christianity
February 2009
Design for Despotism: "What struck me more was the unnecessarily arrogant fashion in which the Obama faction declared control over an activity that the Constitution clearly states shall be determined by law. Existing law places the Census bureau under the supervision of the Secretary of Commerce.... The Constitution's famous system of checks and balance works only on the assumption that the different branches of government will jealously guard their own Constitutional prerogatives....There will be a special danger in this regard if the executive in question has enough support in the Congress to make him confident that his abuses will not be challenged." See Washington's Farewell Address
December 2008
Beware Article V (on amending the U.S. Constitution): "...the absence of any mechanism to ensure representative selection of delegates could put a runaway convention in the hands of single-issue groups whose self-interest may be contrary to our national well-being." See Adapting the Constitution to a Global Consensus
President-elect would seek changes in Supreme Court -- 'Constitution a living, breathing document: "President-elect Barack Obama believes the U.S. Constitution needs to be interpreted through the lens of current events, and the U.S. Supreme Court needs to include empathy for the plight of minorities in its opinions.... Obama believes the Constitution is flawed, because it does not mandate redistribution of wealth, and he says the Supreme Court should have intervened years ago to accomplish that. ...In the 2001 interview, Obama said:'... It didn't break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution, at least as it's been interpreted.... [G]enerally the Constitution is a charter of negative liberties. Says what the states can't do to you. Says what the federal government can't do to you, but doesn't say what the federal government or state government must do on your behalf."' See Adapting the Constitution to a Global Consensus
November 2008
Amending the natural born citizen requirement: (February 2006) "The natural born citizen requirement in Article II of the United States Constitution has been called the 'stupidest provision' in the Constitution,1 'undecidedly un-American,' 'blatantly discriminatory,' and the 'Constitution’s worst provision.' ... policy-makers have once again started to discuss whether Article II of the United States Constitution should be amended to render naturalized citizens eligible for the presidency."
Fed Defies Transparency Aim in Refusal to Disclose: "The Federal Reserve is refusing to identify the recipients of almost $2 trillion of emergency loans from American taxpayers or the troubled assets the central bank is accepting as collateral.... Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in September they would comply with congressional demands for transparency in a $700 billion bailout of the banking system. Two months later, as the Fed lends far more than that in separate rescue programs that didn't require approval by Congress, Americans have no idea where their money is going or what securities the banks are pledging in return. ...the central bank has stepped into a rescue role that was also the purpose of the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, bailout plan -- without safeguards put into the TARP legislation by Congress."
September 2008
Denver cops get T-shirts that mock DNC protesters: "Denver's police union is facing criticism for printing a commemorative T-shirt that makes light of the use of violence by police.... 'We get up early, to beat the crowds,' the shirt reads...The words flank a grinning police officer holding a baton and wearing a hat with a crossed-out number '68.'... Detective Nick Rogers of the Police Protective Association said that the union predicts sales of about 2,000 shirts in addition to the ones given free to Denver police officers." [What an shameful reminder of Hitler's brutal brownshirts!] See Picture of the shirt and Human Nature
June 2008
Dad grounds daughter, but court ungrounds her: "The father had ordered the daughter, who was not identified by the report, to remain off the Internet. She didn't, chatting on websites her father had tried to block and then posting 'inappropriate' pictures of herself online, using a friend's Internet portal. As punishment, the father refused to let her go on a scheduled school trip, so the 12-year-old went to Canada's judicial system to get her way. ...the 12-year-old had access to the courts using a court-appointed attorney representing her in her parents' custody dispute." See What Happened To Parental Rights?
March 2008
[Good news!] International Law: "...its sordid origins trace to 1993, when José Medellín, a Mexican national, murdered two Houston teenagers. He was sentenced to death by a Texas jury, but his lawyers argued on appeal that he hadn't had access to Mexico's consulate before he confessed to his crimes. ... Mexican authorities made the case a referendum on capital punishment and international legal norms, ultimately suing the U.S. in the International Court of Justice at The Hague. The ICJ ruled in Mexico's favor.... The question before the Supreme Court was whether such international dictates must be enforced by sovereign state courts....
[Reversing the Clinton administration's shift toward compliance with international law, the current Supreme Court decision upheld national sovereignty!] "Treaty obligations, in other words, do not necessarily take on the force of law domestically. Rather, Congress must enact legislation for whatever provisions -- such as consular notification -- that it wants to make the formal law of the land. This distinction matters because it establishes a fire wall between international and domestic law. It also protects the core American Constitutional principles of federalism and the separation of powers. As Justice Roberts points out, the courts must leave to the political branches 'the primary role in deciding when and how international agreements will be enforced.'" See Adapting the Constitution to a Global Consensus
Clarence Thomas Mr. Constitution: "Interpreting the Constitution is the Supreme Court's most important and most difficult task. An even harder question is how to approach a Constitution that, in fact, is no longer in pristine form -- with the Framers' design having been warped over the years by waves of judicial mischief. There is an obvious temptation to redress the imbalance, which Associate Justice Thomas decisively rejects." See Adapting the Constitution to a Global Consensus
February 2008
A Craven Canterbury Tale: "...Rowan Williams -- the archbishop of Canterbury, spiritual leader of the Church of England, symbolic leader of the international Anglican Communion -- called for 'constructive accommodation' with some aspects of sharia law, and declared the incorporation of Muslim religious law into the British legal system 'unavoidable.'...
"What one British writer called the 'jurisprudential kernel' of his thoughts is as follows: 'In the modern world, we must avoid the 'inflexible or over-restrictive applications of traditional law' and must be wary of our 'universalist Enlightenment system,' which risks 'ghettoizing' a minority. Instead, we must embrace the notion of 'plural jurisdiction.' ... This was a call for the evisceration of the British legal system as we know it. ... Many explanations for the archbishop's statements have already been proffered: the weakness of the Church of England, the paganism of the British, the feebleness of Williams's intellect, the decline of the West..." See Adapting the Constitution to a Global Consensus
January 2008
Remarks on Violent Radicalization & Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act, HR 1955 (by Ron Paul, 12-5-07): "..this legislation was brought to the floor for a vote under suspension of regular order. These so-called 'suspension' bills are meant to be non-controversial, thereby negating the need for the more complete and open debate allowed under regular order.... The legislation specifically singles out the Internet for 'facilitating violent radicalization, ideologically based violence, and the homegrown terrorism process' in the United States.... Are we, for our own good, to be subjected to the kind of governmental control of the Internet that we see in unfree societies?...
"This legislation will set up a new government bureaucracy to monitor and further study the as-yet undemonstrated pressing problem of homegrown terrorism and radicalization. It will no doubt prove to be another bureaucracy that artificially inflates problems so as to guarantee its future existence and funding... at great further expense to our civil liberties.
"...it leaves the door wide open for the broadest definition of what constitutes 'radicalization.'... Legislation such as this demands heavy-handed governmental action against American citizens where no crime has been committed. It is yet another attack on our Constitutionally-protected civil liberties." 5 December 2007 Rep. Ron Paul, M.D. See Why "Hate crime" laws would ban Biblical Christianity
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