-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
That’s the kind of science nonsense that Louisiana’s taxpayers are going to be funding this upcoming school year. Governor Bobby Jindal’s bill will divert public school funds to pay for vouchers for students to attend private Christian schools like Eternity Christian Academy, in Westlake, LA.
The Eternity Christian Academy follows the Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) curriculum. What comprises the ACE science curriculum?
We previously discussed the decision of prosecutors to grant ultra-Orthodox Jewish defendants anonymity — denied to other defendants — in facing sex-crime charges. It is, in my view, a highly problematic form of favoritism shown to a powerful community in Brooklyn. Moreover, as discussed earlier, it is highly unlikely in this tight-knit community that the identification of both the accused and victims would not be known. Now, four Hasidic men have been arrested for alleged harassment and obstruction of witnesses, including the offer of a $500,000 bribe to refuse to testify against a Hasidic leader. The prominent accused man in the Satmar Hasidic community, Nechemya Weberman, has been accused of 88 counts of sexual misconduct, including oral sex with a child younger than 13 years old. In addition to the money, the men are accused of threatening to withdraw the kosher certification from the restaurant of the boyfriend, Hershy Deutsch, unless the woman dropped her claims.
Continue reading “Four Hasidic Men Charged With Attempted Coercion and Bribery Of Victim To Protect Prominent Hasidic Defendant in Child Abuse Case”
ConAgra is facing a legal challenge over its claim that its popular Hebrew National hotdogs are kosher. Employees at the company’s third-party kosher certifier for ConAgra claim that they have witnessed serious breaches in kosher rules at the company’s meat plants.
Saudi Arabia’s Sharia-based courts continued their application medieval notions of justice this week with the execution of another person accused of “witchcraft and sorcery.” Muree bin Ali bin Issa al-Asiri was beheaded after he was found in possession of books and talismans. He was also accused of adultery.
Below is today’s column on the continued use of state controls over alcohol in the United States. With the decision this month of Washington state to embrace the free market system and drop controls, citizens in other states are rightfully asking why officials keep this form of central planning, including officials in conservative states that purportedly favor free enterprise over government regulations.
Respectfully submitted by Lawrence Rafferty (rafflaw)-Guest Blogger
We have discussed the alleged War on Women in past blog articles here on Prof. Turley’s blog, as well as the Roman Catholic Church’s attempts to silence the Nuns over their support of Obamacare. The Vatican is now battling the good Sisters over the alleged evilness of Masturbation! The Vatican’s watchdog office called “The Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith” has come out against a book written by Sister Margaret Farley’s in 2006 titled, Just Love: A Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics, because, among other evil statements, the female author states that masturbation never hurt anyone. Such heresy! Continue reading “The Vatican Goes to War Against the Nuns over the “M” Word”
Submitted by: Mike Spindell, guest blogger
Liber: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
“In ancient Roman religion and mythology, Liber (“the free one”), also known as Liber Pater (“the free Father”) was a god of viticulture and wine, fertility and freedom. He was a patron deity of Rome’s plebeians and was part of their Aventine Triad. His festival of Liberalia (March 17) became associated with free speech and the rights attached to coming of age. His cult and functions were increasingly associated with Bacchus and his Greek equivalent Dionysus, whose mythologies he came to share.”
Lib·er·ty: [lib-er-tee] noun, plural lib·er·ties. 1. freedom from arbitrary or despotic government or control.2. freedom from external or foreign rule; independence. 3. freedom from control, interference, obligation, restriction, hampering conditions, etc.; power or right of doing, thinking, speaking, etc., according to choice. 4. freedom from captivity, confinement, or physical restraint: The prisoner soon regained his liberty.5. permission granted to a sailor, especially in the navy, to go ashore. (from Dictionary.com)
With the ongoing discussions, cum arguments, that have flowed back and forth for years on our various threads between our Libertarian, Rand influenced commenters and people of other perspectives, I’d like to explore the similarities and differences that distinguish those three title words all obviously flowing from the same Latin Root. As we see Liber was a Roman God associated with freedom. With the definition of Liberty above we can see that the suffix ty (meaning state of) converts this freedom loving God into a concept of freedom. Al as a suffix which means pertaining to, added to Liber creates a noun connoting someone who believes in Liberty, in other words the political view called Liberal.
Now Tarian as a suffix connotes: “A believer in something. An advocate of something. (rare) A native or inhabitant of somewhere.” Thus we see that Libertarian connotes by its’ structure a noun which means an advocate of freedom. These three title words therefore all have the same root and each is evocative of the support of freedom, so how come there are not only numerous internecine battles between advocates of Liberty? Dropping etymology, which is not my area of expertise, I’d like to opine on why this disagreement between advocates of Liberty, thus in some ways disciples of Liber, have led to such angry disputations. Continue reading “Liberty, Liberal, Libertarian”
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
We have previously discussed how black magician Pandit Surinder Sharma repeated attempted to kill rationalist Sanal Edamaruku (the James Randi of India) with a death-causing tantra, here. The still very much alive Edamaruku recently went to an Irla (suburb of Mumbai) Catholic church where he debunked a “miracle” where water was seen trickling down Jesus’ feet. Edamaruku identified the source of the water as a leaky drainage pipe and explained that capillary action was the cause of the water reaching Jesus’ feet.
Continue reading “Indian Rationalist Arrested For Blasphemy”
Police in St. Petersburg, Florida, have arrested a popular teacher in a bizarre alleged crime. Danielle Harkins, 35, is accused of telling students that they have demons inside them and that the only way to be rid of them is to cut themselves and then burn the wounds. They proceeded to do so and she is now charged with child abuse.
New York is facing a couple of religious challenges to barring recruits from the police academy. The first is a Jewish applicant who was fired for failing to cut his beard to a proscribed length. The second is a Muslim applicant who was fired for saying that he believed homosexuals should be locked up in answering a series of questions on a police form.
Continue reading “NYPD Facing Religious Challenges From Jewish and Muslim Applicants”
Remember Terry Jones’s Dove World Outreach Center with his penchant for burning Korans? He is now turning his hate-filled message of healing to people with an Obama effigy hanging from gallows in front of his church. For those who seem to embrace religion as an excuse to hate, it is the perfect recruitment message.
Continue reading “Florida Pastor Hangs Obama In Effigy As Latest Hate-Filled Message”
Once again, I find myself reading a translation of a Muslim cleric and trying to confirm that this is not a hoax. London-based Kuwaiti Shiite Cleric Yasser Al-Habib is shown on the video below reportedly saying that Satan turns certain babies by sticking his finger in the anus of babies and that gays crave “penetration” due to a “worm.” As with the recent Christian minister calling for death camps of gays, I am often left skeptical on such hate-filled nonsense could be espoused by even the most extreme religious figures. However, this translation is appearing on various websites.
This story is one of the saddest statements of the reality in our public schools. Jake Balthazor, 15, of Coon Rapids, Minnesota was told to take off a rosary that he wore as a sign of support of his cancer-ridden grandmother. The reason? No, not the separation of church and state. It is because a gang uses the rosary as a gang symbol and teachers did not want any trouble.
Continue reading “Minnesota Student Ordered To Remove Rosary As Gang Symbol”
Submitted by: Mike Spindell, guest blogger
My father had a favorite saying with which was to excoriate me on the many occasions when I had misbehaved. “The Road to Hell is paved with Good Intentions”. He used this to chastise me for some bad behavior, but more importantly to give me guidance of the “slippery-slope” that I was on when I behaved badly. Although it’s been 50 years since his death his words have remained with me even though I’ve aged into a man who’s lived far longer than he had. It’s been my observation that there is truth to this cliche, yet it does represent a form of logic, the “slippery-slope”, which can often also be specious. When I read this New York Times Article: “Slippery-Slope Logic, Applied to Health Care” by Economist Richard H. Thaler, Published: May 12, 2012http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/13/business/economy/slippery-slope-logic-vs-health-care-law-economic-view.html , I was again reminded of my Father’s admonitions and began to think about the use of “slippery-slope” logic. As it relates to SCOTUS and health care Mr. Thaler’s critique of the “slippery-slope” logic being applied by Justice Scalia did ring true:
“Consider these now-famous comments about broccoli from Justice Antonin G. Scalia during the oral arguments. “Everybody has to buy food sooner or later, so you define the market as food,” he said. “Therefore, everybody is in the market. Therefore, you can make people buy broccoli.” ”
“Justice Scalia is arguing that if the court lets Congress create a mandate to buy health insurance, nothing could stop Congress from passing laws requiring everyone to buy broccoli and to join a gym.”
“Please stop! The very fact that a slippery slope is being cited as grounds for declaring the law unconstitutional — despite that “significant deference” usually given to laws passed by Congress — tells you all that you need to know about the argument’s validity. Can anyone imagine Congress passing a broccoli mandate law, much less the court allowing it to take effect?”
These are excepts from Mr. Thaler’s article. His short column is well worth reading for his examples of the problem with “slippery-slope” logic. My piece though, is neither about health care, nor SCOTUS. I’d like to explore the question of the validity of “slippery-slope” arguments that have been commonly used in public discourse and whether we would be better off as a society if we ignored them. Continue reading “The Slippery Slope”
This morning, the Idaho Attorney General and Director of the Idaho State Liquor Division was informed that Ogden’s Own Distillery has retained my services to challenge the decision to block sales of “Five Wives Vodka” in Idaho. The businesses in Idaho were denied the right to “special order” the vodka because it was viewed as offensive to the large Mormon population in the state. The state also denied “general listing” to allow stores to sell the product. As on our other cases, I have to be circumspect on what I can say about the case in light of the pending litigation.
Continue reading “Utah Distillery To Challenge Idaho Ban On “Five Wives Vodka””