Author: Alice

For Justice Day 7 – Freedom of Religion

I take this subject personally and have a hard time editing for brevity.  I have composed an essay that draws shamelessly from and combines the excellent work of Susan Jacoby,
Maria Luisa Tucker,
Tom Peters, and David Kirkpatrick  (access denied by NYT gatekeeper.)  See also About the First Amendment.  You will probably want to delete and edit my personal declarations in the first part, please make changes as you wish.

Click here for members of the Judiciary Committee, and click here for your senators.

Dear Senator:

I was born an American.  Among all the blessings of my birth, that one has had the most powerful influence on my life.  My parents did their best to educate me in their religion, but as I grew older I came to see that it was a matter of choice.  The sacred documents of my country assured me that I was free to develop my own personal version of what God is.  I am free to join a church, to worship or not, to pray or not, to believe what I will.

The creeds of America became my religion, I share them with anyone who tries to convert me to his own version of the truth.  I have faith that all men are created equal, that we are alike even though each is different.

I am proud to belong to a nation that functions by the rule of law, with nobody above that law.  I believe in the concept of fairness, and of opportunity shared by all.  I believe that what is between my god and myself is a private matter.

The founders of the United States very deliberately gave us a democratic republic that eliminated class distinction and religion.  As Noah Webster told us in 1783  “The very idea of a system of religious principles…is totally repugnant to the spirit of christianity.  Every establishment is only a milder term for tyranny… It is an insult to humanity, a solemn mockery of all justice and common sense….”

This view has been opposed since our beginning when the Rev. John Mason warned Americans that they would “have every reason to tremble, lest the Governor of the universe…crush us to atoms in the wreck.”

The founders shared the belief that Europe’s melding of religion and government had been bad for both, so they guaranteed our basic freedoms with the Bill of Rights; separating our state from any established religion.

Religious reactionaries have been relentless in their attacks on our secular state.  In the 1820’s Senator Richard M. Johnson had to defend the Post Office from accusations of sacrilege.  President Lincoln ignored demands that the Constitution be amended to declare Jesus Christ lord of the land.

Now, we are subjected to the threats of Pat Robertson and his comrades of the cross, along with the so-called `war on Christmas.’  As Esther Kaplan points out in her book  “With God on Their Side”
      “You cannot underestimate the extent to which the Christian Right feels like this is the culmination of their work.  This is the moment they’ve been waiting for.  Roe v Wade was the single most important factor in the rise of the Christian Right as a social movement, and the brass ring has always been to stack the Supreme Court so they can overturn that decision.  They have the Senate, they have the presidency.  This really is their moment and they are going to pull out all the stops.”

Fundamentalists thrive on creating adversity, chaos and strife. Dominion is their goal, never peace.  I am deeply frightened of the extreme animosity that smolders in our country, and dread that the confirmation of Samuel Alito could be the spark that sets it off.

Inevitably, a Justice will be influenced by his private morality and religion;   but Judge Alito seems to believe it is constitutionally permissible to disregard the rights of both unbelievers and unorthodox believers.  A man such as this does not belong on the Supreme Court.                              

This is my Day 6 letter in our Twelve Days For Justice series opposing Judge Alito.  It was my hope to write a sincere letter rather than a legal brief, so did not cite any cases.  

If you want to verify his opinions here is a summary of  Alito’s 3rd Circuit religion decisions provided by Professor Howard Friedman  of the University of Toledo College of Law.  This link will take you to his page of links to each case.  My letter for day 6 follows this list.  Please alter as you wish.

Click here for members of the Judiciary Committee, and click here for your senators.

Child Evangelism Fellowship of N.J., Inc. v. Stafford Twp. Sch. Dist., 386 F.3d 514 (October 15, 2004) OVERVIEW: Preliminary injunction properly ordered a school district to treat a child evangelism group like other community groups with regard to distribution of literature; group was likely to succeed on viewpoint discrimination claim under Free Speech Clause.

Blackhawk v. Pennsylvania, 381 F.3d 202 (August 20, 2004) OVERVIEW: Native American’s free exercise rights were violated when he was denied a religious exemption from permit fees required because he owned two black bears. The fee regime’s provisions were underinclusive and thus not generally applicable.

Fraise v. Terhune, 283 F.3d 506 (March 13, 2002) OVERVIEW: New Jersey prison policy that allowed correctional officials to designate “security threat groups” (STGs) did not violate equal protection in view of greater propensity for violence demonstrated by members of the STG.

Abramson v. William Paterson College, 260 F.3d 265, August 3, 2001, Concurrence by Alito, J. OVERVIEW: In religious discrimination suit, appellate court reversed summary judgment for the employer because the employee established a prima facie case for hostile work environment, religious discrimination, and retaliation.

ACLU-NJ v. Township of Wall, 246 F.3d 258 (April 3, 2001) OVERVIEW: Taxpayer plaintiffs failed to establish standing in their First Amendment holiday display claim where the record established that both the nativity display and the menorah at issue were donated to defendant Township.

Saxe v. State College Area Sch. Dist., 240 F.3d 200 (February 14, 2001) OVERVIEW: Public school district’s student-on-student anti-harassment policy was unconstitutionally overbroad because it prohibited non-vulgar, non-sponsored student speech and did not satisfy the Tinker substantial disruption test.

C.H. v. Olivia, 226 F.3d 198 (August 28, 2000), cert. denied June 18, 2001. Dissent by Alito, J. OVERVIEW of majority opinion: Where it was not alleged that the removal of a student’s poster occurred as a result of any school policy against the exhibition of religious material, judgment for school officials was remanded to allow plaintiff to amend her complaint.

FOP Newark Lodge No. 12 v. City of Newark, 170 F.3d 359 (March 3, 1999) cert. denied October 4, 1999. OVERVIEW: Police department’s policy, which prohibited beards, was found to be in violation of the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment because it refused to make exemptions for religious reasons, even though medical exemptions were made.
ACLU NJ v. Schundler, 168 F.3d 92 (February 16, 1999) OVERVIEW: A city’s display of predominantly religious symbols in holiday display was unconstitutional under the Establishment Clause; however, addition of secular and cultural symbols diluted the display’s message of endorsement of religion.

Edwards v. California Univ. of Pa., 156 F.3d 488 (August 10, 1998). cert. denied February 22, 1999. OVERVIEW: University professor did not have First Amendment right to choose classroom materials and subjects in contravention of university’s dictates, and his suspension with pay did not violate procedural due process where he was not deprived of employment.

Dear Senator:

Samuel Alito wants to become the fifth Roman Catholic on our Supreme Court.  Chosen by a president who believes himself an instrument of God, Alito’s ascension to the Supreme Court would jeopardize the predominance of our Constitution.

Threatened by the religious right over his nomination of Harriet Miers, President Bush  selected their preferred choice.  This nomination has been applauded by Christian fundamentalists who fear a loss of their power.

Pat Robertson said he “can see the majority shifted on the court, instead of 4 to 5 against the Lord, going 5 to 4 in His favor.”  Television ads placed by religious groups hail Alito as a savior and protector against evil forces such as “The ACLU’s attempt to scrub away our religious heritage.”

Every decision by Judge Alito has favored the public display and proselytizing of the religious.  He has indicated in meetings with Senators that he believes the Court has gone too far in separating church and state.

I would suggest two questions for Judge Alito:  
Do you agree with Associate Justice Scalia that the Constitution permits “disregard of polytheists and believers in unconcerned deities, just as it permits the disregard of devout atheists?”

Do you agree with Thomas Jefferson’s discussion of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom when he said: “The proposal to insert “Jesus Christ” was rejected by a great majority in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, The Christian and Mahometan, the Hindoo, and infidel of every denomination.”

America was never a nation of Christians, though they hold the majority.  The Puritans began by outlawing religious practices of the native peoples.  Too many American Christians feel entitled to dominion over people who view the world differently.  I don’t want my country to become a fundamentalist-dominated theocracy like a middle-eastern nation.

While I don’t know how Judge Alito would rule in first amendment cases, I do fear that he will be unduly influenced by fanatical fundamentalists, powerful politicians, corporate masters and the Pope in his decisions.

Our Constitution deliberately avoids mention of God.  We depend upon the Supreme Court as the last bastion of hope for the protection of an individual’s rights.  Please don’t let it become dominated by a group of men who share a religious viewpoint.

Thank you for your consideration of this matter.

 The Supreme Court is the prize right-wing fundamentalists have been aiming at capturing ever since Nixon’s departure.  The people of the USA have been distracted with useless criticism and judgement of each other.  We need to work together to stop the seizure of our Constitution by fanatics and corporate slave-masters.  George Bush was threatened by his fundamentalist base when he nominated Harriet Miers.  Then he offered their champion, and the fanatics are mighty pleased.  Just stop and think about who you’re gonna call when you’re down and out.  The makeup of the Supreme Court is more important than the figurehead who lives in the white house.

You can help our Twelve Days of Justice group to defeat the nomination of reactionary Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court.  You’ll find a prepared letter to Senators here on Booman Tribune in a diary called ‘For Justice.’  

The website Congress.org makes emailing your Congresspeople so easy.  On their homepage just click on `US Congress’ on the left side.  Enter your zip code and you’ll be shown your own representatives.  At the top of the page is an alphabetical directory that will take you to the Senators on the Judiciary committee.  They are: Specter- Pa,  Hatch- UT,  Grassley- IA,  Kyl-AZ,  DeWine-OH, Session -AL, Graham-SC, Cornyn-TX, Leahy-VT, Kennedy-MA, Biden-DE, Kohl-WI, Feinstein-CA, Feingold-WI, Schumer-NY, Durbin-IL.  These senators will decide the fate of the president’s nominee.
You can paste your letter in the contact form provided, and they will save your address and fill in the forms for you repeatedly.  Try it, I wrote my two senators and the whole committee in about a half an hour.

Letters to Congress are delayed because they go through an inspection process.  The best way to reach them is by email, fax or telephone.  Congress has been bought and paid for by the lobbyists.  It’s important that they hear how their voters feel about things only from the people themselves.  If you care about the direction America is going in, please help us save our last protection against plutocracy, the courts.  It’s not too late to join in the first days of our action for justice.

Can you please give your country an hour a day from now until Christmas?  

Twenty years after the worldwide ban on commercial whale fishing, Japan continues to kill whales under the pretense of `scientific research.’  In defiance of  pleas for mercy  from the rest of the world, the Japanese kill and eat hundreds of whales every year.

One of those American companies that claims your trust as a consumer is Gorton’s of Gloucester which is now a wholly owned subsidiary of a Japanese whaling company.  This year Japan has announced plans to double the number of whales it kills, including the endangered fin whale, and next year they will hunt the humpbacks.

Gorton’s has a heartwarming website where you can meet their employees and share fish recipes.  They don’t offer a recipe for whale flesh.  There is a suggestion box where we can perhaps reflect some shame upon them.

Greenpeace offers an online letter to the CEO of Gorton’s that you can sign onto here.   Please help put some pressure on this company.

Robert Kennedy was a great man, as was Martin King Jr. and all those other famous guys.  I want to talk about one of the “ordinary people” who helped my country in its progress.  

Mario Savio left us almost exactly nine years ago.  I remember watching him as a young girl in upstate New York when the Reagan-infested board of regents of the University of California moved to suppress civil rights and political activism on campus, and because of him, I was willing to put myself on the line at my own University.  He was magnificent in his unpolished passion.

Mario was an inspiration that we were privileged to hear speak to us on our televisions.  Those glory days of our youth in a free society have disappeared into the maw of corporate greed.  But those of us who were inspired have not forgotten. By remembering his lessons  we carry his spirit forward in America.

Internet Modern History Sourcebook tells us:

 Savio is remembered for the words he spoke on Dec. 2, 1964, from Sproul Plaza in front of Berkeley’s main administration building, to a large crowd of protesters, many of whom took part in a sit-in inside the building and a campus strike.

“There is a time,” he said, “when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can’t take part; and you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus and you’ve got to make it stop. And you’ve got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you’re free, the machine will be prevented from working at all.”

The police arrested 800 of the protesters in what was the largest mass arrest in California history.

I believe that record will soon be broken because we have returned to that same point on the circle of our evolution.  I’m remembering the spirit of Mario because the time has come for the people to rise up again.  Maybe even by just repeating his words I can throw a little sand into the machine.

I am a member of an action alliance called the People’s Email Network.  They create email forms so that you can just fill in your name and send a protest letter off to the government.  Join us – it’s easy!  This is their letter for today:

ATROCITY THREATENS TO BECOME OFFICIAL U.S. FOREIGN POLICY

The Senate amendment to the new Defense Appropriations Act would explicitly
prohibit the U.S. government from subjecting those in its custody to cruel,
inhumane, or degrading treatment or punishment.  It’s pretty straightforward
stuff.  Yet despite a rousing 90-9 vote for its passage, there are still dark
forces at work trying to subvert the intent of this measure, the language of
which must survive the conference committee in the House of Representatives.

If the morality perverters have their way, there will be a carve-out to exempt
the CIA from this prohibition.  They are seeking this with the express knowledge
that sadists (acting under the color of CIA authority) have been responsible for
the horrific abuses which made necessary further action and clarification of
existing law.  This exemption would in fact turn the measure on its head to
AUTHORIZE torture by a particular agency, diametrically contrary to the
amendment’s intent.  They might as well appoint a “Torture Czar” and make it a
cabinet level position.

Actually, for all practical purposes we already have a torture czar . . . it’s
the Vice President of the United States, Dick Cheney.  Yes, it is Cheney himself
who is PERSONALLY pressuring the conference committee to rescind the McCain
amendment in this way (just as he was pressuring CIA analysts in the cooking of
the justification for war with Iraq).  It has been Cheney himself who has taken
a lead role from the beginning, talking in 2002 about the need to revive the
“dark arts.”  Since they could no longer keep the abuses at Guantanamo and Abu
Ghraib and elsewhere classified, they have prosecuted a couple of selected
patsies for these crimes, while their agency handlers right up through the chain
of command have continued in their unconscionable ways.

This is not to let the president himself off the hook.  In the first place there
is Bush’s own overreaching lust for absolute dictatorial power.  Indeed, his
longtime attorney and ally, Alberto Gonzales, put his name on the infamous Jan
25, 2002 memo, referring to the Geneva convention as “quaint.”  But what many
people do not realize is that the heart of that reprehensible legal pretzel job
was drafted by David Addington, the staff attorney closely associated with Dick
Cheney.  And would anybody like to guess Mr. Addington’s current title in the
White House?  That’s right.  He just replaced the indicted “Scooter” Libby as
Cheney’s Chief of Staff.

There isn’t a “talking head” out there not drinking their own “talking points
Kool-Aid” who believes the Fitzgerald investigation is remotely close to being
finished.  If anything, the allegations in the Libby indictment, which identify
Cheney as the one who specifically advised Libby that Valerie (Plame) Wilson
worked under the covert wing of the CIA, suggest that the Vice President is at
least one of the big game that the Special Counsel is still pursuing.  The
tight-lipped Fifth Amendment-type reactions given by Cheney in the aftermath of
the indictment to explain his own role in the leak scandal do nothing to dispel
the intrigue.  Instead the administration is circling the torture-advocate
wagons even tighter with the promotion of Addington, while the shadow of
Traitorgate continues to darken over their heads.

Especially now, with the chickens of treason coming home to roost in the nest of
the chicken hawks themselves, this is the last time in history for the authors
of torture as official American policy to be allowed to push for largesse for
even wider atrocities.  We must all immediately contact our senators and members
of the House of Representatives who might have influence on the conference
committee to demand that the overwhelmingly approved language of the McCain
amendment remain intact in the final Defense Appropriations Bill.

ACTION FORM: McCain Amendment

We must also recognize that this is profoundly related to the selection of a
replacement for Harriet Miers as Supreme Court nominee.  Remember — one of the
talking points of the neocons (before they turned on her for not being
sufficiently and demonstrably loyal to their causes) was that she would support
the president’s policies in the deceptively dubbed “war on terror.”   But the
universal common denominator of all Bush appointees is their submissive
endorsement of the unlimited expansion of the president’s power to do whatever
he likes in defiance of Congress and even the people themselves.

In his own confirmation hearing Roberts refused to say (among other things)
whether the Congress would have the power to stop a war if the president ignored
their authority.  That case might come before him, he argued, as if he knew
something we didn’t.  And it most certainly will if Bush is not stopped from
making any more such appointments.  Roberts and his ilk will not legislate from
the bench (as if that were the boogie man to be feared).  No, instead they will
UN-legislate from the bench, perhaps even to remove the McCain language from
American law by court order on the grounds that it would interfere with the
power of the president to play God.  Remember also that in his first day on the
bench of the high court Roberts left the sheep’s clothing in his chambers to ask
aggressively why they should not overturn the TWICE-expressed will of the people
in the Oregon “Right to Die” case.

For all of these reasons we must demand that the next nominee to the Supreme
Court be a true moderate and a true nonpartisan.  One of the truly beautiful
things about Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald is that the American people can
look at his work and agree that it will be based entirely on the facts and the
law.  Even opposing attorneys of those he has indicted must concede that he is
unwavering in his fairness and his integrity, favoring neither side by any
inherent bias.  We can demand no less from the next justice to be appointed to
the Supreme Court.

ACTION FORM: Supreme Court

If we all speak out, we can remove the Vice President from his position as the
torture czar.  It’s not as if he doesn’t have enough other black hats to wear;
he’s already serving in the capacity of treason czar as it is.  Sheriff
Fitzgerald is working on that last one.  The rest is up to we the people.

Please click on the links and participate in this cyber-protest march.

Recently, I diaried about the unhappy fate of nearly 100,000 American horses every year.  Our Congress has now acted to protect American horses from slaughter by an amendment to the Agriculture Appropriations Bill.  The bill has moved into a Conference Committee where it can be altered before being sent on to the President.  Ten members of that committee have supported the amendment, but seven have opposed it.  

If you are a resident of MS, MO, MT, ID, KS, ND, or SD, your Senator opposed the amendment.  These men have the power to remove the amendment from this bill and saddle our beautiful horses with a terrible fate.  It could happen this week.

Please visit this action page to contact your Senators on the Conference Committee, and help protect America’s wild horses.

America is better than this.  Animal rights activists celebrated a victory recently when both the Senate and House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to ban horse slaughter in the USA, through amendments to an agricultural appropriations bill.  But now we learn that the bill is likely to be stripped of these amendments while it is in committee awaiting a final vote by the Congress.

From the Humane Society of the United States:

The Ugly Truth of Horse Slaughter
More than 90,000 horses are slaughtered for food yearly in the United States. Many thousands of live horses are also transported across the border to Canada for slaughter. Show horses, racehorses, foals born as a “byproduct” of the Premarin© industry (a female hormone replacement drug), wild horses, carriage horses, and family horses are victims of the horse slaughter industry. Horses have never been raised for human consumption in America. However, American horses are being killed to feed the palates of overseas diners in Italy, France, Belgium, and Japan.
Irresponsible owners seeking an easy and profitable means of disposing of their animals provide the slaughter industry with horses. Thousands more are stolen every year for the horsemeat trade. Documents obtained from the Bureau of Land Management, the agency responsible for protecting America’s wild horses, show that federally protected wild horses have been sent to slaughter for years. Still others are purchased at auction, where equines have been found for sale who are sick, sore, lame, disabled, blind, or pregnant. Killer-buyers and slaughterhouse operators would like you to believe that all of the horses they slaughter are old and past recovery and have arrived there legally. In truth, some horses may be sick or injured because of neglect but many more are sound and in good health.
Horses bound for slaughter plants are shipped, frequently over long distances, in inhumane conditions. They are typically given no food, water or rest. Often, terrified horses and ponies are crammed together and transported to slaughter in double-deck trucks designed for shorter animals such as cows and pigs. The truck ceilings are so low that horses are not able to hold their heads in a normal, balanced position. Inappropriate floor surfaces cause slips and falls, and sometimes even trampling. Some horses arrive at the slaughterhouse seriously injured or dead. Transportation accidents where upper floors have collapsed or double-deckers have overturned have caused human fatalities as well as terrible suffering and death for the horses.
Under federal law, horses are required to be rendered insensible to pain prior to slaughter, usually with a captive bolt pistol, which shoots a metal rod into the horse’s brain. However, undercover footage has shown that some horses–struggling as they are shackled and hoisted by a rear leg–are improperly stunned and may still be conscious when their throats cut.

Action opportunity follows:

Sweeney-Spratt-Rahall-Whitfield and Ensign-Byrd Amendments
On June 8, 2005, the U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on an amendment sponsored by Reps. John Sweeney (R-NY), John Spratt (D-SC), Nick Rahall (D-WV), and Ed Whitfield (R-KY) to the House Agriculture Appropriations bill that defunded U.S. Department of Agriculture inspections at the three U.S. horse slaughterhouses as well as border inspections of slaughter-bound horses. All three slaughterhouses are foreign-owned companies.

The Senate followed suit on September 20 and approved an identical amendment sponsored by Senators John Ensign (R-NV) and Robert C. Byrd (D-WV).

Together, these measures will effectively stop horse slaughter for food exports for one year. However, the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act is still needed to ensure a permanent ban on horse slaughter is enacted.

Please contact your Senators and Representative and insist that they follow the will of the people and protect our horses from this terror.

https://community.hsus.org/campaign/2005_slaughter_ban
(In case the link doesn’t work) Please phone or email soon.

I’m up early, waiting for Diane to open the cafe.  Already selected the song for the day.  Can’t decide what part to cut out, so I’ll post it’s entirety.  Maybe reading the whole thing will help implant the seed.
Our dear John Lennon should have been 65 today.  This is his song, and ours now: Instant Karma

Instant karma’s gonna get you
Gonna knock you right on the head
You better get yourself together
Pretty soon you’re gonna be dead
What in the world you thinking of
Laughing in the face of love
What on earth you tryin’ to do
It’s up to you, yeah you
Instant karma’s gonna get you
Gonna look you right in the face
Better get yourself together darlin’
Join the human race
How in the world you gonna see
Laughin’ at fools like me
Who in the hell do you think you are
A super star
Well, alright you are

Well we all shine on
Like the moon and the stars and the sun
Well we all shine on
Everyone come on

Instant karma’s gonna get you
Gonna knock you off your feet
Better recognize your brothers
Everyone you meet
Why in the world are we here
Surely not to live in pain and fear
Why on earth are you there
When you’re everywhere
Come and get your share

Well we all shine on
Like the moon and the stars and the sun
Yeah we all shine on
Come on and on and on on on
Yeah yeah, alright, uh huh, ah

Well we all shine on
Like the moon and the stars and the sun
Yeah we all shine on
On and on and on on and on

Well we all shine on
Like the moon and the stars and the sun
Well we all shine on
Like the moon and the stars and the sun
Well we all shine on
Like the moon and the stars and the sun
Yeah we all shine on
Like the moon and the stars and the sun

Today is the birthday of F. Scott Fitzgerald.  With our dear friends off in Washington fighting the good fight, I thought it appropriate to share Fitzgerald’s description of another American autumn day:

Most of the big shore places were closed now and there were hardly any lights except the shadowy, moving glow of a ferryboat across the Sound.  And as the moon rose higher the inessential houses began to melt away until gradually I became aware of the old island here that flowered once for Dutch sailor’s eyes – a fresh, green breast of the new world.  Its vanished trees, …had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all human dreams; for a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder.

And as I sat there brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock.  He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it.  He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night.

Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us.  It eluded us then, but that’s no matter – tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther….And one fine morning –
     So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

If you haven’t read `The Great Gatsby’ lately, I recommend reading it again for a wonderful submersion in an exquisite work of art.