Posted on 12/29/2004 7:16:22 AM PST by floriduh voter
Bump!
http://imagicke.blogspot.com/2004/11/scalia-founding-fathers-never.html
Scalia: Founding fathers never advocated the separation of church and state
Scalia in shul: State must back religion
By URIEL HEILMAN
US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia used an appearance at an Orthodox synagogue in New York to assail the notion that the US government should maintain a neutral stance toward religion, saying it has always supported religion and the courts should not try to change that.
Speaking at a conference on religious freedom in America on Monday hosted by Manhattan's Congregation Shearith Israel, the oldest Jewish congregation in North America, Scalia said that the founding fathers never advocated the separation of church and state and that America has prospered because of its religiousness.
"There is something wrong with the principle of neutrality," said Scalia, considered among the court's staunchest conservatives. Neutrality as envisioned by the founding fathers, Scalia said, "is not neutrality between religiousness and nonreligiousness; it is between denominations of religion."
Scalia cited early examples of support of religion in the public sphere by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin, the last of whom went so far as to argue at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 for the institution of daily prayers.
Today, Scalia noted, the government exempts houses of worship from real-estate tax, pays for chaplains in Congress, state legislatures, and the military, and sanctions the opening of every Supreme Court session with the cry, "God save the United States!"
"To say that the Constitution allows the court to sweep away that long-standing attitude toward religion seems to me just wrong," he said. "I do think we're forgetting our roots."
Scalia's speech, at a conference marking the 350th anniversary both of Jews in America and of Shearith Israel, elicited a standing ovation.
Scalia was nominated to the nine-member Supreme Court in 1986 by president Ronald Reagan to fill the seat vacated by William Rehnquist, who became the chief justice after Warren Berger retired. Now, with speculation that Rehnquist is on the verge of retirement after a recent diagnosis of thyroid cancer, Scalia may be the leading candidate to take his place.
It is widely believed that President George W. Bush will appoint a staunch conservative as chief justice if he gets the chance, and the only other Supreme Court justice considered sufficiently conservative is Clarence Thomas, appointed by president George H.W. Bush.
Originally from New York, Scalia wore a black skull cap as he addressed the congregation with his back to the ark.
"The founding fathers never used the phrase 'separation of church and state,'" he said, arguing that rigid separation of religion and state – as in Europe, for example – would be bad for America and bad for the Jews.
"Do you think it's going to make Jews safer? It didn't prove that way in Europe," he said.
"You will not hear the word 'God' cross the lips of a French premier or an Italian head of state," Scalia said. "But that has never been the American way."
Most establishment Jewish groups, however, are staunch supporters of church-state separation. Earlier this month, for example, the American Jewish Committee was part of a coalition that won a lawsuit to block a Florida program allowing state aid to go to parochial schools. In 2000, the Anti-Defamation League led several Jewish groups in criticizing vice presidential candidate Sen. Joseph Lieberman for talking too much about God on the campaign trail.
Scalia said expunging religion from public life would be bad for America, and that the courts, instead, should come around to most Americans' way of thinking and to the founding fathers' vision for the US. He noted that after a San Francisco court last year barred the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools because it includes the phrase "under God," Congress voted nearly unanimously to condemn the decision and uphold use of the phrase.
FV SAYS: Governor Bush's appeal re: Terri's Law is awaiting acceptance or rejection at the U.S. Supreme Court at the moment. This is not to say that Terri has a STAY while Governor Bush awaits the SCOTUS's decision. Further, Terri's Law is about whether Jeb Bush should get a fair trial - Judge Baird denied Jeb Bush a trial COMPLETELY. NO DUE PROCESS FOR JEB. The US supremes will not be looking at the religious side of Terri's fight.
It becomes moot if Judge Greer doesn't grant Terri another STAY and Hospice of the Suncoast, Pinellas gets the word from loving husband (sarcasm) Michael to starve and dehydrate Terri.
As Scalia says "GOD SAVE THE UNITED STATES"
Thanks for the information!
Thanks for keeping up your activism for Terri.
You keep us motivated. I sent some email today on Terri's behalf.
I still have a good feeling about the US Supreme Court.
I'll be attending the January 28th Hearing. Hopefully, Terri will be granted an indefinite STAY in writing. Judge Greer often says things in Court, verbal orders but doesn't put them in writing.
That method is not helpful.
Indeed, such a method is not helpful.
Let us hope there will be other young adults who like Tiffany, will continue to take pro active roles to HALT any future wrongful acts like those inflicted upon Terri.
Tiffany's father sent me her email with the attached message:
" It's time for Americans to rise up against this evil on every front. Here is what we are doing today. My daughter Tiffany composed a letter to spread the word, as you have been doing. I thought you might be encouraged to read it, so here it is."
Greetings from wet Southern California!
Hey, it may be rainin' but it's still not that cold outside!
I'm writing about Terri Schiavo, the Florida woman whose delightful personality and decisive opinions have been hushed up by the American media- the attractive disabled woman whom Michael Schiavo, her estranged husband, is hoping to have put to death this month.
You may not recognize her story by name, because the mainstream media has brushed over her value as a person in their consistent coverage.
I've watched Terri react purposefully to her surroundings. I've seen her express love and appreciation to her parents. Not only is she a human, possessing opinions, feelings and emotions, but she is capable of learning, and improving her motor control, possibly even learning to eat on her own.
She was making steady progress, until her husband required all rehabilitative therapy be stopped, three years after her mysterious collapse in February, 1990, and four months after winning a medical malpractice lawsuit to pay for her continued rehabilitation. In August of 1992, Terri was awarded 250,000.00 in a medical malpractice settlement. In November of '92, Terri was awarded 1.2 million dollars toward rehabilitation, in a malpractice trial. Michael received $600,000.00 in the same malpractice trial. He stopped her rehabilitation in February of 1993.
Terri is no more a vegetable than I am the London Bridge. She is a living, thinking, feeling human being, who left behind no indication at all that she doesn't want to live on a feeding tube, which, by the way, she only uses when she needs to eat and drink.
The story that she would not want to be kept alive this way, was first told by her husband in '97- four years after he cut off all of her necessary rehabilitative therapy, and sometime after making remarks, such as, "When is that b--- gonna die?", and "Can’t you do anything to accelerate her death - won’t she ever die?” (Carla Sauer Iyer, R.N. in a thorough and conscientious deposition, under oath).
Covering Terri's plight without showing this part of the story is nothing short of telling a half truth. I mean, the media is lying to the American public.
Why do I care? (It wouldn't necessarily be the first time the media has only told us part of a story.)
Here's why. In Germany, just before 1938, there was no widespread public outcry against the idea that some people's lives were just not worth living, and that these people, with their inferior lives, should be efficiently disposed of. This is the concept at play here, in the situation of Terri Schiavo. And so far, there has been no widespread public outcry against this tragic thinking. And I really think there needs to be.
What did they say after Hitler fell, about the Germans who chose not to know what was going on? May they never need to say that about the Americans.
Is there anything you can do? Sure! Please visit www.terrisfight.org and fill yourself in on her story. Watch the video. Check out the timeline. And don't miss the touching deposition by Carla Iyer.
Then could you compose your own letter? And send it to everyone who you think should know about this. Of course you can use any part of my letter, or the whole thing- if you like it. Somehow, I think this situation warrants more than just a mass "forwarding" blitz, but, better that than nothing.
Once the whole country knows the whole story, the public outcry part should come naturally. And if it happens soon enough to save Terri's life, maybe her death will not be layed to our charge.
Sincerely,
Tiffany
dortignac@earthlink.net
If there are other YOUNG ADULTS out there who are willing to join Tiffany in her fight for Terri, please make contact with her at dortignac@earthlink.net
Tiffany will also be speaking on radio in California about ways she and others can help Terri.
Sincerely,
Cheryl Ford RN
FV: CITY WITHHELD FROM POST.
Bump!
You wrtoe:
"Not that it calms any one down, but Pinellas-Pasco Counties aren't the only place for judicial tyrants. A friends of mine who has diabetes and a degenerative neurological disorder was arrested last February 1) because he is an activist and challenges the government on the oath of office issue and 2) because he believes in the ADA 3) he has service animals and believes he has a right to be accompanied in public places by them. He began trial last Monday. On Thursday, he was taken to the hospital after he lost consciousness and he was in ICU for 6 days. He was sent home Tuesday because doctors said they couldn't do anymore--he is on high levels of pain medication and his blood sugar level cannot be stabalized. His doctor wrote a letter to the judge---Warren County Court Judge John S. Hall telling him that my friend was incompetent to stand trial. Hall didn't care---he ordered that my friend attend court today---when he was late because he doesn't drive and we had a ice storm here today, three patrol cars were sent to his house. They were called off when they were advised my friend "showed up" in court. My friend made it halfway through the trial today, he was removed from the courtroom by ambulance with a blood sugar level of 936 and is near coma. George Greer doesn't have a monoply on tyranny---John Hall is trying to kill this man and very may well have done it today."
Maybe you could get the local media to cover the case.
It's outrageous that the judge would make someone in his condition come to court for what must have been a minor offense.
My Reply: I can hardly believe a Judge made him actually show up in court and sent patrol cars after him. What city is this happening in? Geeze and I though Greer was baaaaad...
WHat station, and when in California?? Bookmarking this thread FINALLY........
Tiffany's email address is in the post above. I don't know what radio stations she's going to be on.
Any thoughts on what the sign on the back wall is advertising for sale?
I could be wrong but it looks like a Halloween party and that the sign may say "coffin for sale". Pretty sick if a nursing home would put up a halloween decoration like that.
I'll refrain from commenting on the cow.
If that is indeed what that sign says, it is an outrage in that environment!
Under the For Sale sign it says 'only mummies'.....something something ...i'll try to make out what the other words.
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