Judge James DeWeese of Ohio was found to be in violation of the constitution when he hung a poster of the Ten Commandments in his courtroom in 2000. It was a pretty obvious finding, one the Supreme Court let stand. But did that stop DeWeese? Of course not. He’s Christian and American. Just like Jesus. He ought to have special privileges. Or not.
A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a federal district court’s ruling that Richland County Common Pleas Judge James DeWeese violated the constitutional separation between church and state by displaying [a second] poster…
The latest poster titled “Philosophies of Law in Conflict” shows the Ten Commandments in a column listed as “moral absolutes” and secular humanist principles in another column listed as “moral relatives.”
DeWeese attached a commentary to the poster that said he sees a conflict of legal philosophies in the United States — between moral absolutism and moral relativism — and that he believes legal philosophy must be based on fixed moral standards. At the bottom of the poster frame, readers are invited to obtain a pamphlet further explaining DeWeese’s philosophy.
It seems the only real conflict here is between DeWeese and the reality of the constitution. Let’s just hope he never gets to rule on a case trying to weasel creationism into the classroom.
Now that there’s a growing consensus that Sarah Palin does indeed suck, can we all finally admit that her big intro speech to the nation in 2008 sucked just as much? People were fawning over the whole thing, but c’mon. It was terrible. The context around it – an attractive conservative white woman no one knew – created an atmosphere of excitement, but the speech itself? It was rendered poorly. Let’s just admit it.
I’ve always wondered what it felt like to be a Yankees fan. I think this is as close as I’ll get. Minus being surrounded by all the bandwagon fans.
Bill Belichick is closing in on Don Shula.
The New England coach Bill Belichick won The Associated Press 2010 NFL Coach of the Year award on Wednesday, the third time Belichick has earned the honor. Belichick, who also won in 2003 and 2007, now trails only Don Shula, a four-time winner of the award.
For leading the Patriots to a 14-2 record, the best in the league, Belichick received 30 votes from a nationwide panel of 50 media members who regularly cover the NFL. That easily beat Raheem Morris, who led a turnaround in Tampa Bay and got 11 1/2 votes.
New York City on Wednesday moved a step closer to ban smoking in parks, beaches and other outdoor public spaces, amid grumbling that the city government may have gone too far in its war on salt, fat and smoke.
The city council voted 36 to 12 in favor of the smoking restrictions, extending an existing ban on smoking in restaurants and bars.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said he would sign the bill, and it would come into effect 90 days later.
This is excellent news. But for all the paranoid people out there, don’t worry. It’s a cigarette ban. Your rights haven’t suddenly vanished in some apocalyptic march of anti-freedom; the skyscrapers will still stand:
You can still drive the streets:
And you can still visit your museums:
You just can’t poison other people as often is all.
Here are just a few of the recent news stories concerning gay marriage:
Dubya’s daughter, Barbara, has come out in support of gay marriage. She is helping the fight for basic equality in New York. Currently, thousands of families with gay heads of the house are being forced into unnecessary financial difficulties while they face bigoted social stigma. It ought to stop.
New Hampshire lawmakers are trying to turn the state back. They’ve attached the banning of incest to a law that would ban gay marriage. I find this repulsive for two reasons. First, the most obvious reason is that it associates two separate ideas, as if it’s okay to say homosexuality and incest go hand in hand. Second, this is simply logically offensive. It’s a classic “When are you going to stop beating your wife?” fallacy. That is, it’s asking two questions but seeking one answer. (Remember that famous Watergate inquiry, “What did Nixon know and when did he know it?”) On the plus side, it is destined to fail.
Any serious reader ought to be pleased with Christopher Hitchens. His logic, his intelligence, his persuasion – it’s all superior to the average person, and certainly to the vast majority of believers – but those things are not my point. My point is that his literary style is almost overwhelming excellent. He knows how to write well and he isn’t afraid to show us.
Chicken sandwich giant Chick-fil-A has come under fire over the past week for sponsoring anti-gay marriage seminars. The New York Times reports a local restaurant in Pennsylvania donated some lunch baskets to a program called “The Art of Marriage” in Harrisburg, Pa. The seminar is sponsored by the Pennsylvania Family Institute, a conservative Christian group which sponsors programs and promotes policies regarding Christian values such as right to life and anti-gay marriage.
Yeah, one good reason is the blatant promotion of irrational hatred. Or just the fact that I generally avoid fast food because it’s unhealthy. Or it could simply be that the chain isn’t common to my area. But I think there’s one reason that stands heads and shoulders above all this – above the endorsement of bigotry, above the unhealthy nature of fast food, above the sheer distance:
When Harry Coates campaigned for the Oklahoma state Senate in 2002, he had one approach to crime: “Lock ’em up and throw away the key.”
Now, Coates is looking for that key. He and other tough-on-crime lawmakers across the country, faced with steep budget shortfalls, are searching anxiously for ways to let inmates out of prison faster and keep more offenders on the street.
Oklahoma’s preferred answer for crime has collided head-on with a budget deficit estimated at $600 million, and prison costs that have increased more than 30 percent in the last decade.
And this is common all across the country. As a result, prisoners are being released early, others are only being put on probation, and still others are receiving treatment for drug addiction. This is helping the problem somewhat. No, no. Not the money. I mean, yes, that is being helped, but the real problem – the one where non-violent offenders go to prison to lose years of their lives, where they lose any real chance at becoming better, where they go to learn how to be better criminals – that is being helped.
For the Sake of Science 