The Original Musings

… contains a “but only if you’re not breaching the peace” clause?

I didn’t either.  So let’s think about this. Have you ever seen a protest up close and personal?

• I’ve seen protests at nuclear plants and military bases, electric companies and boards of education.
• I’ve seen protests outside of abortion clinics where people were screamed at and names were called, people were blocked and horrific photos were displayed for all the world to see.
• I’ve seen people protest at the funerals of American soldiers where grieving widows, children, siblings and parents were taunted and placards declaring “God Hates Fags!” were displayed in proclamation that God allows the deaths of soldiers to somehow make a point about gays being sinners.
• I’ve seen protests outside of businesses with strikes going on where workers are screaming at customers and non-striking employees.
• I’ve seen the KKK march down the street screaming about how they hate blacks while angry crowds shout and protest their “freedom of speech” that allows them to be so openly offensive.
• I’ve seen angry customers picketing businesses complete with shouting and exhortations not to patronize the offending store/vendor/whatever.
• I’ve seen gays gathered to demand their right to equal protection, right to marry, right to raise children, etc. I’ve seen the crowds of protesters demanding no consideration for what they deem “lifestyle choices.”
• I’ve seen teachers try to block students from attending school, and substitute teachers harassed and blocked as they try to report to work.
• I’ve seen people gathered outside the homes of suspected criminals — especially murderers and child molesters — and I’ve seen their innocent families taunted and tormented with no recourse.

I could go on and on but I think my point has been made.  People get passionate and heated about their beliefs.  Their beliefs are not always noble or just; they’re not always right and sometimes not even understandable. They’re not always quiet about it and they’re not often friendly, nice or polite about it.  ”Peaceable” protest is not often exercised, no matter what the topic du jour may be.

And yet, not once have I ever seen the cops show up and do more than insure that the protesters (and counter-protesters) don’t physically assault someone, interfere with the conduction of business, trespass onto private property or block traffic.

I don’t care how big a whackjob you are, how stupid your protest, or how wrong you may be, as long as you are not crossing the line into violence or property destruction, you’ve got a guaranteed right to do it and that’s how it should be.

So why, then, is a Pastor being denied the right to protest outside of an Islamic Center in Dearborn on the grounds that it *may* (not has, not did, not even “is likely to” but simply *might*) breach the peace and/or incite violence?

This is not right. You cannot penalize someone for something that *might* happen. That’s like saying “you can’t drive a car because you might run someone over” or “you can’t own a gun because it could kill someone.” You cannot punish someone for something — anything — that *could* happen, only for what *does* happen.

WXYZ Action News

Show me the term “separation of church and state” in the Constitution.

Please.  Show me where the term appears.  Actually, don’t bother wasting your time trying, because you can’t since there is no such clause. The clause widely touted as the separation clause (more accurately, the establishment clause) reads:

“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.”

That’s what the Bill of Rights says. There is nothing about “separation.” Article VI establishes the Constitution as the supreme law of the land and the first amendment prohibits Congress from establishing an official US religion or preventing citizens from their own personal beliefs about religion — be they atheist, agnostic, Christian, Judaic, Muslim or the worship of pink unicorns in leotards.

Although the Supremacy and Establishment Clauses might seem to preclude the judiciary from grounding a decision on Scripture or religious doctrine, state and federal courts have numerous times referred to various sources of divine law.  The  tenets of religious law can be (and are) applied in courts of law provided they do not violate any state or federal statutes.

And for the record:  That doesn’t mean “no school prayer,” “no ten commandments in the courthouse” or “no nativity scenes on the statehouse lawn.”  It doesn’t mean you have the right to never see a Star of David or feast your eyes upon a fifty foot tall cross.  It doesn’t mean the Muslims can’t build a mosque at ground zero or that the Druids can’t hold a parade down Main Street.

It also doesn’t mean that “Sharia law” cannot be legally applied in this country if the portion of law in question does not conflict with state or federal laws.  While one would think much (all?) of Sharia law would be in conflict with some existing law, there is no such guarantee (did you know Sharia covers a WHOLE lot more than just men’s supremacy over women?  Did you know it even has rules for doing business and so on?).  While it seems silly of Oklahoma to have passed a bill stating that Sharia law cannot be applied in the state of Oklahoma, and while it seems ludicrous for Missouri to be debating the very same thing, it’s not.  It’s also not Islamophobia or freaking out about nothing, since CAIR has stated that one of their goals is for Sharia law to be legally acknowledged and respected in the US.

Incidentally, in Missouri, the constitutional amendment sponsored by Don Wells, a Cabool Republican, stipulates that Missouri courts “shall not look to the legal precepts of other nations or cultures” and specifically bars judicial consideration of Sharia law.  Protecting the state from being influenced by legal precepts of other nations or cultures is not just a good thing, it’s common sense.

Apparently it takes more than 33 years …

An Indiana restaurant, Hacienda, thought they’d hit on a clever marketing scheme.   On billboards showing an alcoholic beverage (with the words “to die for” written beside it), they proclaimed themselves “like a cult with better Kool-Aid.”

That earned the eatery quite a bit of negative publicity.  Complainants were not amused by the implied references to the Jonestown cult massacre back in 1978.

The offending billboards have been removed now.

FOX News.

Bastards

I really don’t think they should be permitted to do this. I despise censorship, and I’m a firm believer in the first amendment … but sometimes I really want there to be an exception, and just about anything coming out of these assholes’ mouths should be censored.

Members of a Kansas-based church group that opposes homosexuality plan to protest at the Tuesday funeral of Army Spc. Jesse Snow, the 25-year-old Fairborn High School graduate who was killed in Afghanistan two weeks ago, according to the group’s website.

Members of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., travel the country picketing military funerals, claiming that God kills U.S. troops because of America’s acceptance and tolerance of homosexuality.

“God is now America’s enemy, and God Himself is fighting against America,” a release announcing the protest states.

They plan to protest Snow’s military funeral, which will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Mary, Help of Christians Parish, located at 954 N. Maple Ave. The public viewing will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Monday at the Fairborn High School, his alma mater.

[snip]

Jesse Snow, a member of the 101st Airborne Division out of Fort Campbell, Ky., was one of five soldiers to die Nov. 14 in a fire fight in the Kunar province, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.

[snip]

The Westboro Baptist Church, which organizes multiple anti-gay protests across the country each day, was last in this region in early October, when they picketed outside of Meadowdale High School in Harrison Twp., before heading to The Ohio State University for another protest.

Church members garnered more attention in 2008 when they protested at the funeral of Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach, the pregnant Vandalia resident who was murdered by a fellow Marine.

Seriously, just make them STFU.  I’d be tempted to head over that way to give ‘em a piece of my mind, but (a) that’s what they want, is attention and (b) I’m afraid I’d be too tempted to risk damaging my car by running one of ‘em over.

Dayton Daily News

If you’ve never seen the Sistine Chapel up close and personal …

Here’s the next best thing to being there.

Virtual tour of Sistine Chapel.  You can use your mouse to change the angle, zero in on things using the + and – in the lower left corner … thanks to Sue for passing it along.

You should enjoy these!

A FOX News article tells how 7,500 people sold their souls because they didn’t read the fine print.

A computer game retailer revealed that it legally owns the souls of thousands of online shoppers, thanks to a clause in the terms and conditions agreed to by online shoppers.

The retailer, British firm GameStation, added the “immortal soul clause” to the contract signed before making any online purchases earlier this month. It states that customers grant the company the right to claim their soul.

“By placing an order via this Web site on the first day of the fourth month of the year 2010 Anno Domini, you agree to grant Us a non transferable option to claim, for now and for ever more, your immortal soul. Should We wish to exercise this option, you agree to surrender your immortal soul, and any claim you may have on it, within 5 (five) working days of receiving written notification from gamesation.co.uk or one of its duly authorised minions.”

GameStation’s form also points out that “we reserve the right to serve such notice in 6 (six) foot high letters of fire, however we can accept no liability for any loss or damage caused by such an act. If you a) do not believe you have an immortal soul, b) have already given it to another party, or c) do not wish to grant Us such a license, please click the link below to nullify this sub-clause and proceed with your transaction.”

The terms of service were updated on April Fool’s Day as a gag, but the retailer did so to make a very real point: No one reads the online terms and conditions of shopping, and companies are free to insert whatever language they want into the documents. [...]

The company noted that it would not be enforcing the ownership rights, and planned to e-mail customers nullifying any claim on their soul.

A surprising (at least to me) 88% of shoppers did not check the box which would have negated the soul-selling whilst keeping the transaction. That’s scary. I’m guess I’m anal or something because I actually DO read all the fine print. I almost got burned one time on eBay when I didn’t read all the terms and conditions of the sale which stated that if the winning bid was under a certain figure the postage and handling for the $10 item was $99. Since then, I go looking for crap in the fine print before I virtually sign on the dotted line.

From Hit & Run comes this notice of a challenge: the First Annual Everybody Draw Mohammed day, to be specific. Michael writes:

Via Dan Savage’s blog at The Stranger, some clever chappie (I don’t know who) has declared May 20, 2010 “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day,” in support of Matt Stone and Trey Parker and in opposition to religious thuggery.  [...]

I will be employing my tremendous skill as an illustrator, of course, and expect that my colleagues will do the same. If they refuse, they will be declared weak-kneed, namby-pamby, quisling infidels and will be shamed on this blog (Though such idle threats rarely work these days; perhaps I could threaten them with a painful death, which seems to do the trick). If readers would like to show their solidarity, please email your Mohammed masterpieces to me here: [obscured by me - go to his site to get the address, I don't want to contribute any fodder for spambots! I already admitted I'm paranoid about crap like this.] The best ones will be published on Hit & Run, which, along with the concomitant death threat, is reward enough.

I have to confess, I’m kind of surprised by Comedy Central pulling the episode. I didn’t realize they were that wimpy. You can’t honestly tell me there haven’t been dozens upon dozens of more offensive South Park episodes — why weren’t they pulled? I’ll tell you why: because Censorship = BAD. Shame on Comedy Central for caving.

Finally, you’ll get a kick out of this one … From the BBC News, an interesting little typo occurred on one page of a cookbook. Seems that although almost every recipe in the cookbook called for “salt and freshly ground black pepper,” one recipe had a tiny faux pas …

An Australian publisher has had to pulp and reprint a cookbook after one recipe listed “salt and freshly ground black people” instead of black pepper.

Penguin Group Australia had to reprint 7,000 copies of Pasta Bible last week, the Sydney Morning Herald has reported.

The reprint cost A$20,000 ($18,000; £12,000), but stock in bookshops will not be recalled as it is “extremely hard” to do so, Penguin said. [...]

The publisher professed amazement as to why anybody would be offended by the “silly mistake” but has assured that anyone who complains will be offered a replacement of the corrected edition. Has this dude read a newspaper lately?  Does he not realize how tight people’s knickers are wadded these days?  Personally, mind you, I’d like to get hold of one of the misprints!

… what he said! …

I was reading an American Spectator article by Ben Lerner which talked about the three Navy SEALs who are currently facing courts martial.

On the off chance you’re not familiar with the case, in a nutshell, the SEALs captured Ahmed Hashim Abed. Whilst so doing says Abed, one of them allegedly punched (some accounts say “slapped”) him, while the other two purportedly made false statements helping to cover up the incident. Bear in mind that this whole mess began with an unsubstantiated complaint levied by an al Qaeda terrorist who was wanted for the torture and murder of four American contractors in Fallujah back in 2004. Further, I might point out that as a part of his training, our friend Abed was instructed to be sure to make false allegations of abuse and torture if he was ever captured.

So, regarding the SEALs, Mr. Lerner was remarking that more than 170,000 American signatures were delivered to the Pentagon requesting that courts martial proceedings be dropped, as they of course should be. (In an ideal world, they never would have been brought up on charges based on unsubstantiated allegations by a known terrorist in the first place, but whatever.) Mr. Lerner recently returned from a week-long media tour in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba “where some of our finest soldiers and sailors are tasked with a difficult and thankless job: guarding dangerous detainee enemy combatants captured in the course of the Global War on Terror.” He went on to draw some parallels between Gitmo and the case of the Navy SEALs.
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Next stop, Delhi, India

My second daughter, Maggie and her husband, Joel, are on their way to India for a two-week mission trip. They’re traveling with their friend Josh (who is also the youth minister at their church) and I just got the text confirmation that their flight from Chicago’s O’Hare airport left on time at 7:15 p.m. (central time, 8:15 our time). They’re due to arrive in Delhi tomorrow at 9:45 p.m. tomorrow — I don’t know if that’s Delhi time or our time though. All I know is they’re on a non-stop flight on the way there, and then coming home they’ll have an overnight layover in London.

On the one hand I wish they were going somewhere a little less worrisome – how about Topeka, Kansas? — on the other hand, though, I have to admit a bit of envy. I’ve been many places but never India, and I think this will be a wonderfully memorable trip for them.

Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

I don’t know them, but I love them

I drive down 675 four times a week — and back four times a week — and every year at Christmastime the Zink family wishes us a “Merry Xmas” on the side of their barn, which we can see from the highway.

This year, though, the Zink family is wishing us a “Merry Christmas” — and not only that, but the letters aren’t all the same color.  I’m going to try to get a picture of it (well, Missy is) tonight but I don’t know how well it’ll work from a moving car.  Anyhow, the words are written as follows:

Merry Christmas

from the Zink Family

While I’m surrounded by people who are removing any reference to Christmas, people who wish me a “Happy Holiday Season” or “hope your winter season is happy,” who insist that all nativity scenes be hidden away lest they offend a non-Christian (who probably couldn’t care less), who insist that I acknowledge Ramadan, Kwanza, Winter Solstice and whatnot (how come the Jews don’t insist I acknowledge Hanukkah? Oh, wait, I’ll tell you why — they don’t CARE what I believe as long as I let them believe what they want to believe.  Those silly Jews are missing their chance to be righteously indignant and mortally offended by my wishing them a “Merry Christmas” because they know it’s the sentiment that counts), while all this is going on around me, it’s nice that the Zink Family is wishing me a Merry Christmas.

I wish them one as well.