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Well, that's interesting
The Tucson Citizen's website is down. I'm sorry for that, because I wanted to check a story posted on The Smirking Chimp. Since I can't check it and link to the source, I've taken the liberty of reproducing the Chimp's posting here.
Onward Christian totalitarians: Religious right in DC to target judicial system
Posted on Thursday, April 07 @ 09:46:11 EDT From Gannett News Service
WASHINGTON - The political and religious storm brought on by the Terri Schiavo ordeal isn't over yet.
Today, just one week after the brain-damaged Florida woman died, Christian conservatives will converge on Washington to launch what they promise will be an aggressive new campaign against state and federal judges.
The goal is to rein in judges who have undermined democracy and family values with recent decisions on same-sex marriage, the Ten Commandments, school prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance, said Rick Scarborough, a Texas Baptist minister.
"This is a response to a growing infringement by activist judges on people of faith and their right to acknowledge God," said Scarborough, founder of Vision America, an organization that promotes Christian values in U.S. politics.
Scarborough will lead a two-day conference of the Judeo-Christian Council for Constitutional Restoration, a newly minted umbrella group whose members make up a Who's Who of the religious right.
The movement's standard-bearer is House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who denounced state and federal judges as "arrogant" and "out-of-control" for not ordering Schiavo's feeding tube reinserted.
DeLay was to deliver the keynote address to the conservative leaders but canceled his appearance because he is traveling to Rome to attend the funeral of Pope John Paul II.
The conference brings together evangelical activists and more secular social conservatives who also were energized by the role the courts played in Schiavo's fate.
Gary Marx, executive director of the Judicial Confirmation Network, said federal judges in the Schiavo case "thumbed their noses" at the law passed by Congress and signed by President Bush that gave Schiavo's parents the chance to argue in federal court that their daughter should be kept alive.
"If judges can overturn state laws and ignore what Congress and the president say, it sends a very dangerous message to the American people," Marx said.
Many conference activists claim they want to put God and Jesus back into the courtroom, classroom and public life because that's what the Founding Fathers intended.
But critics warn that such thinking is historically inaccurate and misleading.
"The whole purpose of this meeting is to whip up hysteria among religious conservatives," said Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. "These people who are speaking at the conference, in general, have utter contempt for the judicial system."
The Declaration of Independence contains several references to God, but the Founding Fathers deliberately kept such beliefs out of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, said Derek Davis, director of the J.M. Dawson Institute of Church and State Studies at Baylor University.
"They had every opportunity to formally create a Christian nation but intentionally declined to do so," Davis said.
Public opinion polls indicate mainstream America won't support a movement to weaken the judicial branch of government, said Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass.
Most polls show Americans believe Congress was wrong to intervene in the Schiavo case with special legislation. Frank said many of those people have had to face the right-to-die issue within their own families.
"This is going to make people say, 'I need the judges. Thank God for the judges,' " Frank said of how judges handled the Schiavo case.
From Ganette News Service:
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/index.php?page=national&
story_id=040705b1_christianjudges
While I'm being grumpy, everybody check out Theocracy Watch, why not?
EDITED TO ADD: The Tucson Citizen site is back up as of 5:306 p.m. EDT
Onward Christian totalitarians: Religious right in DC to target judicial system
Posted on Thursday, April 07 @ 09:46:11 EDT From Gannett News Service
WASHINGTON - The political and religious storm brought on by the Terri Schiavo ordeal isn't over yet.
Today, just one week after the brain-damaged Florida woman died, Christian conservatives will converge on Washington to launch what they promise will be an aggressive new campaign against state and federal judges.
The goal is to rein in judges who have undermined democracy and family values with recent decisions on same-sex marriage, the Ten Commandments, school prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance, said Rick Scarborough, a Texas Baptist minister.
"This is a response to a growing infringement by activist judges on people of faith and their right to acknowledge God," said Scarborough, founder of Vision America, an organization that promotes Christian values in U.S. politics.
Scarborough will lead a two-day conference of the Judeo-Christian Council for Constitutional Restoration, a newly minted umbrella group whose members make up a Who's Who of the religious right.
The movement's standard-bearer is House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who denounced state and federal judges as "arrogant" and "out-of-control" for not ordering Schiavo's feeding tube reinserted.
DeLay was to deliver the keynote address to the conservative leaders but canceled his appearance because he is traveling to Rome to attend the funeral of Pope John Paul II.
The conference brings together evangelical activists and more secular social conservatives who also were energized by the role the courts played in Schiavo's fate.
Gary Marx, executive director of the Judicial Confirmation Network, said federal judges in the Schiavo case "thumbed their noses" at the law passed by Congress and signed by President Bush that gave Schiavo's parents the chance to argue in federal court that their daughter should be kept alive.
"If judges can overturn state laws and ignore what Congress and the president say, it sends a very dangerous message to the American people," Marx said.
Many conference activists claim they want to put God and Jesus back into the courtroom, classroom and public life because that's what the Founding Fathers intended.
But critics warn that such thinking is historically inaccurate and misleading.
"The whole purpose of this meeting is to whip up hysteria among religious conservatives," said Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. "These people who are speaking at the conference, in general, have utter contempt for the judicial system."
The Declaration of Independence contains several references to God, but the Founding Fathers deliberately kept such beliefs out of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, said Derek Davis, director of the J.M. Dawson Institute of Church and State Studies at Baylor University.
"They had every opportunity to formally create a Christian nation but intentionally declined to do so," Davis said.
Public opinion polls indicate mainstream America won't support a movement to weaken the judicial branch of government, said Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass.
Most polls show Americans believe Congress was wrong to intervene in the Schiavo case with special legislation. Frank said many of those people have had to face the right-to-die issue within their own families.
"This is going to make people say, 'I need the judges. Thank God for the judges,' " Frank said of how judges handled the Schiavo case.
From Ganette News Service:
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/index.php?page=national&
story_id=040705b1_christianjudges
While I'm being grumpy, everybody check out Theocracy Watch, why not?
EDITED TO ADD: The Tucson Citizen site is back up as of 5:306 p.m. EDT
no subject
DeLay goes and Jimmy Carter can't? Sheesh--
I'm tired already, and the 2006 elections are far away. I actually uttered the fatal words "I'm thinking about running for the Senate in TX just to make sure a real Democrat is running" today. I'm already researching the stock market and investments--I don't know if I can get up to speed on the national question.
I hope someone worthwhile runs. All the real idiots (Perry, Hutchinson, the comptroller) want to be governor.
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Doesn't seem fair, does it? OTOH, DeLay did refer to His Late Holiness as a "warrior-saint." Can't quite hear that phrase tripping off Jimmy's tongue...
And, no -- nobody could ready Theocracy Watch all the time. But it's a great place to read when you're feeling ugly for no reason. Hey, presto! Lots of reasons!
no subject
LMAO!
Kinky is our only hope
Re: Kinky is our only hope
Good heavens. Things will be even more lively in Texas this cycle. Can we stand the excitement? 8^)
Re: Kinky is our only hope
no subject
I'm not sure I can read this regularly--my low blood pressure will go up.
Of COURSE KBH is on their sweetheart list!
ARGH--