I think someone commented last week about the LTE's being rehashes. I hope you like hash, because we have a few more servings today.
Major problems
C. ROBIN DEAN
Clemmons
Simple solution
I have followed the attempts of the ACLU to remove certain prayers from public government meetings and the removal of Christian flags from veterans cemeteries. This is at the cost of lawsuits to squelch the eroding of our basic religious freedoms. I believe people with an IQ of 2 could agree the following would satisfy both sides — a sign posted at such functions in places that state this:
"No government entity on any level in the United States of America can endorse or establish a certain religion. However, to uphold the free exercise of religion guaranteed in the United States Constitution, unedited and uncensored prayers before local, state or federal government functions will be allowed on a rotating basis." (That should include all legitimate religions.) Pranksters and show-boaters could easily be screened out ahead of time.
None of us Christians should fear other religious beliefs, because we know Christianity has the power to stand on its own.
A similar sign could be posted at places such as federal cemeteries, etc. If anyone would disagree with this simple solution, I believe it would expose their true agendas.
WILLIAM VANCE NICHOLS
Purlear
The worst of leaders
On Aug. 24, the Journal published an honest editorial: You implored for leadership from our president ("Lead, Mr. President").
I do disagree with its premise, "… America has been fortunate enough to have its worst presidents in its best times and its best presidents in its worst times." Unfortunately, we now have our worst president in the midst of our worst of times. He is a community organizer elevated to an office far beyond his abilities to lead, to guide or to govern. I am almost 73 years old, and he is by far the worst of leaders that I have ever seen.
That is why most of your letters are so critical of President Obama. They are right!
HAROLD COLLINS
Kernerville
Volunteers
Earthquake Tuesday. Hurricanes coming. Human sacrifice may be necessary. Any volunteers? I am taking nominations.
JEANNE MATTHEWS
Clemmons
Wise to appeal
The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners is to be commended for appealing the 4th Circuit of Appeals' decision to uphold the ban on sectarian prayer.
Since 2009, there have been five other federal court rulings regarding sectarian prayer at government meetings. In all five cases, the prayer policies were declared to be constitutional. The fact that the majority of invocations were Christian was attributed to the demographics of the region.
In his dissent in the Forsyth County case, Circuit Judge Paul V. Niemeyer strongly opposed censoring legislative prayer. As he wisely observed, "The ruling today intermeddles most subjectively without a religiously sensitive or constitutionally compelled standard. This surely cannot be a law for mutual accommodation, and is surely not required by the Establishment Clause."
BRUCE BEDINGER
Winston-Salem
The Piedmont Authority for Regional Transportation, by trying to run before it could walk and trying to promote more unsustainable growth when it can't even support its existing service areas, has found itself with major cash-flow problems. So the PART executive directors suggest joining forces with the Piedmont Triad Regional Council, another government organization, to come up with a solution to PART's funding problems ("PART considers merger in effort to save money," Aug. 11).
The merger sounds like just another way of making sure that those who failed to safeguard the taxpayers' investment in PART stay on the government payroll.
The PART payroll will be reduced, but as usual it probably won't be the decision-makers who end up standing in the unemployment line.
As a European who grew up using mass transit before residing in this area for 37 years, I've always been a mass-transit advocate and don't want to see PART fail. Unfortunately, however, from its inauguration in 1998, PART has always had leadership that wanted to sound progressive and look good but made poor decisions about how the taxpayers' investment in mass transit was spent.
Large buses for a handful of riders, more routes than could be realistically funded and financially supporting the promotion of the business communities' unsustainable development projects, such as the Heart of the Triad and the Aerotropolis, have denied the taxpayers once again what is always promised by government: a return on their tax investment in our transportation system.
C. ROBIN DEAN
Clemmons
Simple solution
I have followed the attempts of the ACLU to remove certain prayers from public government meetings and the removal of Christian flags from veterans cemeteries. This is at the cost of lawsuits to squelch the eroding of our basic religious freedoms. I believe people with an IQ of 2 could agree the following would satisfy both sides — a sign posted at such functions in places that state this:
"No government entity on any level in the United States of America can endorse or establish a certain religion. However, to uphold the free exercise of religion guaranteed in the United States Constitution, unedited and uncensored prayers before local, state or federal government functions will be allowed on a rotating basis." (That should include all legitimate religions.) Pranksters and show-boaters could easily be screened out ahead of time.
None of us Christians should fear other religious beliefs, because we know Christianity has the power to stand on its own.
A similar sign could be posted at places such as federal cemeteries, etc. If anyone would disagree with this simple solution, I believe it would expose their true agendas.
WILLIAM VANCE NICHOLS
Purlear
The worst of leaders
On Aug. 24, the Journal published an honest editorial: You implored for leadership from our president ("Lead, Mr. President").
I do disagree with its premise, "… America has been fortunate enough to have its worst presidents in its best times and its best presidents in its worst times." Unfortunately, we now have our worst president in the midst of our worst of times. He is a community organizer elevated to an office far beyond his abilities to lead, to guide or to govern. I am almost 73 years old, and he is by far the worst of leaders that I have ever seen.
That is why most of your letters are so critical of President Obama. They are right!
HAROLD COLLINS
Kernerville
Volunteers
Earthquake Tuesday. Hurricanes coming. Human sacrifice may be necessary. Any volunteers? I am taking nominations.
JEANNE MATTHEWS
Clemmons
Wise to appeal
The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners is to be commended for appealing the 4th Circuit of Appeals' decision to uphold the ban on sectarian prayer.
Since 2009, there have been five other federal court rulings regarding sectarian prayer at government meetings. In all five cases, the prayer policies were declared to be constitutional. The fact that the majority of invocations were Christian was attributed to the demographics of the region.
In his dissent in the Forsyth County case, Circuit Judge Paul V. Niemeyer strongly opposed censoring legislative prayer. As he wisely observed, "The ruling today intermeddles most subjectively without a religiously sensitive or constitutionally compelled standard. This surely cannot be a law for mutual accommodation, and is surely not required by the Establishment Clause."
BRUCE BEDINGER
Winston-Salem
LTE1: Interesting analysis of PART. It is a good idea. I think it could be used more, but people do not like giving up their cars. PART should be modified, however, and cut back but not eliminated. The economy will recover. As it does, fuel prices will rise, and PART's buses may become more attractive.
ReplyDeleteLTE2: This subject is quite shopworn, and this LTE writer has gone the long way around his backside to get to his elbow. Any sort of prayer before the meeting is government establishment of religion. Pray privately before and after, and silently during. It's that simple. Remember what JC said about public displays.
LTE3: I believe President Obama is over his head, and some of his policies anger me. Others do not. However, whether he is a community organizer who exemplifies the Peter Principle is irrelevant until Election Day 2012. In the meantime, we must work within the framework of his being President.
His exemplification of the Peter Principle also may be irrelevant after Election Day if the R's run a real gobbler for the office. Several turkeys are in the running at the moment.
LTE4: Thank you. I have had a list of candidates for quite some time.
LTE5: This LTE writer is a nice guy and a devout member of one of the local Baptist churches (his dad was a director of the WS Chamber of Commerce, years ago). I disagree with him, though, reiterate my comments re LTE2.
Stab, looks like you are right, a big plate of SOS.
ReplyDeleteGood AM, WW!
ReplyDeleteYes, SSDD. Perhaps I can find some more interesting items for The Leopard's Limb. Or continue our refreshing discussion re beer.
Jeanne Matthews makes a "I wonder point".Another plague like the two she mentioned and I say it is time to free the Israelites.
ReplyDeleteStab, maybe. We didn't exactly burn it up yesterday either.
ReplyDeleteLTE #2..." However, to uphold the free exercise of religion guaranteed in the United States Constitution, unedited and uncensored prayers before local, state or federal government functions will be allowed on a rotating basis."
ReplyDeleteWould you allow in your own church, unedited and uncensored opening prayers being made on a rotating basis from any "legitimate religion" (and who gets to choose what is an isn't legitimate)? If not, then why would you force upon the general public that which you would not allow in private? Perhaps when the "legitimate religions" of the world begin accepting each others prayers, then the general public might be more willing to accept rotating prayers.
BTW, what are the criteria for making a religion legitimate?
This is just madness. Chris Wallace may be concerned that Bachmann is a “flake,” but anyone who thinks the federal budget prompted God to send a hurricane that killed 20 Americans has issues that far exceed flakiness.
ReplyDeleteHi Bob!
ReplyDeleteWhere are you seeing that? Give me the link, and I'll wake the Leopard and post it on his limb.
Mr Collins...has it occured to you that we have a "President" that is doing what he set out to do? Crush the small business private sector, make more people dependent on government, use the existing bureacracies to advance more of his Statist agenda through over regulation. Spread the wealth you know. Social justice and all that government knows best claptrap. Mr Obama is leading in his own mind.
ReplyDelete'
Yawn...
ReplyDeleteI know Bedinger as well. His statement about circuit court decisions is not truthful.
In the latest half dozen or so such cases, only one found that such prayer was permissible, and their definition simply ignored the established USSC decision. Consider that this was the 11th District, which encompasses Florida, georgia and Alabama, and that is not surprising.
As mentioned repeatedly by me, the key Supreme Court case is Marsh v. Chambers, 463 U.S. 783 (1983), which spells out the rules for such matters in three simple statements.
When the bill for all this nonsense arrives, we will expect Mr. Bedinger to cough up his fair share.
Hey, Bob, give Bachmann a break. She's just preaching to her base. And Pat Robertson, one of America's leading intellectuals, is in total agreement with her, so how dumb is that?
ReplyDeleteWell said O.T.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_08/bachmann_sees_irene_as_divine031851.php
ReplyDeleteThere ya go, Stab.
My sister and brother-in-law, who is on the Board of Directors of the ACLU in Illinois and chaired it, go to Wyoming every summer for vacation. In 1992, they decided to go to a dude ranch. This was the week after that year's contentious Republican convention. My sister relates that's when she realized there must be a god, because low and behold at their meal table for 8 were assigned Pat Robertson with his new silver spurs given to him at the convention,Pat's wife, and a gay couple from San Fransisco. :)
Good AM, Arthur and OT!
ReplyDeleteI saw last where Huntsman said he would be open to running as Bachmann's VP, diluting his credibility somewhat.
Well, Stab, that spot is already spoken for. Bill Clinton said he would run as her VP after seeing this pic:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bagnewsnotes.com/2011/08/bachmann-sex-act-with-corn-dog-telegraph-editor-should-be-fired/
Oh my, O.T., lol. The eyes on the man in the bottom left hand corner were sure lit up.
ReplyDeleteWell, I understand Clinton's tendency toward bipartisanship in this instance :D
ReplyDeleteMichelle should have known better, and eaten it as if it were an ear of corn, perhaps.
I have posted the Bachmann/God's wrath item on The Leopard's Limb. Comment there or here.
ReplyDeleteBob re Roberson: I came home from work at American Express sometime after midnight, years ago, cut on the set to find some show playing about professional ladies in Rio. I wondered what on earth had gotten into my devout Baptist wife (my ex- attends same church as Bedinger).
That coverage ended, replaced with a panel discussion led by Roberson and his sidekick Ben Kinchloe (apparently my wife had been watching the 700 Club earlier). Anyway, they discussed the sordidness of these ladies' lives, and announced that they needed to raise $250K for a crusade to Rio.
Crusade to Rio? A-MEN! How are you guys going to sell that that to your flock? But, in short order the calls came and the pledges started piling up. I changed the channel to more wholesome fare, a war movie with a high body count, no doubt.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI would be glad to lead that Rio crusade. I have noticed that there are many poor girls there on the beaches who cannot afford to buy decent clothes...some only wear half a bathing suit, poor things.
ReplyDeleteApparently, Ricky Boy also got in on the action in Iowa:
http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Perry.Rick_-620x465.jpg
And even the other Rick, Santorum, seems to swing the same way:
http://www.bilerico.com/images/SANTORUM-eating-ice-cream.jpg
You think Bubba might switch his registration?
I wish Bev. Perdue would just stay off TV. I don't want the rest of the world to know we've got a rube for a governor. She makes Jesse Helms look like he was a sophisticated statesman.
ReplyDeleteThese Democrats continue to demonstrate that they should be working in a circus, not government.
Just look at the list of Democratic freaks:
Nancy Pelosi-lunatic
Harry Reid-weasel
Janet Napolitano-muppet
Hillary Clinton-Tammy Wynette wanna be
Barack Obama-socialist leader in training
Exalted Senor Buckman, I would post a list of the hilarious clowns representing the Republican Party, some of whom we have just been discussing above, but I do not have the two days that it would take to type the list.
ReplyDelete¡perdón!
Good afternoon folks!
ReplyDeleteLTE 1: Public transport does make a lot more sense economically in high density areas where its cost/convenience outweighs the cost/convenience of car ownership. In sprawling or low density centers, it's really more of a nice public service for those who don't drive or who want to save on gas money. It will not be a money maker (the govt is a non-profit entity anyway), but hopefully the new arrangement will allow PART to at least meet its expenses.
LTE 2: The only agenda is seeing that the local govt. adheres to the Constitution. That requires more than merely posting a sign.
LTE 3: The country is actually doing about as well as could be expected considering the circumstances coming into 2009. Yes, it could be better, but it also could be far worse (see the 1930's). I would have preferred a more experienced candidate be elected President in 2008. Unfortunately, the "R"'s seem fixated on candidates who are interested in being Minister in Chief rather than Commander in Chief.
LTE 4: LOL..may want to talk Ms. Bachmann about the ritual.
LTE 5: The majority may have been Christian in the cited cases, but in the Forsyth's case, ALL have been Christian. That's the difference and it's why the appeal was denied and why the SC won't hear it. If there actually were Muslim or Jewish or Hindu prayers said along with the Christian prayers, I think they would have a case because no preference would have been shown. The fact that Judge Wilkinson wrote the majority opinion tells me the appeal stands very little chance of being heard.
Actually, the circuit court ruling is in compliance with Marsh v. Chambers, 463 U.S. 783 (1983), which, with a very narrow exception, forbids specific mention of any deity other than the generic god.
ReplyDeleteEven within the narrow exception, which would allow what you suggest, the balance would be crucial and there would still be a problem of who represents a "legitimate" religion and who does not.
Christians, particularly, have a very narrow view of what is "legitimate" and what is not. Courts have ruled in the past that Wiccans and atheists are NOT legitimate, as if a judge somehow should have the power to make that determination.
Some years ago the ACLU had to make a case for a Santaria group when local authorities told them that they could not do animal sacrifices at their services. The ACLU made the argument that if the county allowed hunting, it certainly had to allow animal sacrifice as a part of religious ritual as well and won the case.
I heard there's a new movie out called 'Our Idiot Brother'. It's about a family that had one of its family members vote for Barack Obama. You gotta love real life stories.
ReplyDelete27% of people that voted for Obama in the last election are now saying that they will not vote for him again. See...there is hope for humanity.
Distinguished Senor Buckman, you are a moron.
ReplyDeleteActually, about 80% of Obama voters say that they will vote for him again. And, of course, the problem for your side is that the likely Republican candidates are such a bunch of lunatics that no one in their right mind would vote for any of them.
Of course, we know that you will. But that is the most encouraging sign for Obama supporters in 2012...the intellectual level of the so-called opposition.
I say, Bachmann for president! Bachmann for president! Bachmann for president!
Rather than watch our great nation die by slow strangulation, let's get it all over with in one fell swoop.
Bachmann for president!
Kitty....kitty.....how are you tonight? I love your imbecilic logic. Where have you been?
ReplyDelete