Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Where To Draw The Line

I read an interesting little article in the paper about Blogger Hal Turner of North Bergen, New Jersey who had been arrested after commenting on Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford and state rep. Michael Lawlor, D-East Haven and their attempts to register Catholic Churches as Lobbying groups. You'll recognize the story because I blogged about it a month or so ago. Bear with me as I post the article in question;

Hartford, CT (TRN) -- The State of Connecticut is considering a Bill forcing the Catholic Church to change itself internally and another CT agency is trying to force the Church to register as a Lobbying group!
In a direct violation of the First Amendment, Bill 1098 proposed by the co-chairmen of the Legislature's Judiciary Committee, Rep. Michael Lawlor, D-East Haven, and Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford, would reorganize the internal structure of local parishes to remove priests and bishops from financial oversight to replace them with boards of laypeople.
It turns out that Lawlor and McDonald are adamant advocates of same-sex marriage legislation and are apparently trying to punish the church for standing against their agenda.
When the Archbishop of Bridgeport found out about this effort, he wrote about it on his blog and shortly thereafter, Catholics began exercising their right to petition representatives for redress of this grievance.
Six weeks ago, 4,000 Catholics arrived at the State House to protest the Bill and that's when things got worse. The state of Connecticut didn't like having such a protest turnout, so they got another agency of government, the Office of State Ethics (OSE), to open an investigation of the church.
The Diocese of Bridgeport received a letter from OSE informing it that an investigation was underway to ascertain if the diocese had violated state law by failing to register as a lobbyist organization. investigate whether or not the Catholic Church must be forced to register as a lobbying group!
"Following the surprise introduction of Bill 1098," said Bishop William E. Lori in a statement, "a proposal that singled out Catholic parishes and would have forced them to reorganize contrary to church law and the First Amendment, our diocese responded in the most natural, spontaneous, and frankly, American, of ways: we alerted our membership – in person and through our website; we encouraged them to exercise their free speech by contacting their elected representatives; and we organized a rally at the State Capitol.
In a meeting with church representatives one month following the investigation letter, the ethics enforcement officer of the state OSE, Thomas K. Jones, told church representatives that the rally in Hartford and statements on the diocese website constituted a sufficient basis to file a complaint.
The complaint from Jones could lead to imposition of a $10,000 fine and even possible criminal charges against the diocese. Furthermore, to become a registered lobbyist, the diocese would have to comply with reporting requirements, submit to audits and wear badges at the Capitol.
In response, the Archdiocese filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court last week contending that Jones' actions result in a direct "chilling" effect on the church's First Amendment rights.
"(Jones') application of the state lobbying laws is pressuring the (diocese), which from time to time is compelled by its faith to take stands on legislation, to tailor its communications and scale back its religious mission to avoid being treated as a 'lobbyist,'" the lawsuit states.
In a letter sent to diocese churches over the weekend to be read at services, Bishop Lori made an even stronger argument. "This new action cannot be seen as anything other than an attempt to muzzle the church and subject our right of free speech to government review and regulation," Lori wrote. "This government action tramples on the First Amendment freedoms of speech, assembly and religion, and should shock the conscience of all citizens of the Constitution State."
He concluded the letter by calling for church members to contact state legislators this week "to discuss why state lobbying laws, which are designed to protect the integrity of the legislative process and monitor and control backroom manipulation of that process, are now being used to stifle our freedoms of speech, religion, and assembly."
According to the lawsuit, Jones contends the diocese acted as a lobbyist organization in two ways: first, by listing the actual bill number of RB 1098 and second, by spending in excess of $2,000 – an amount established by Connecticut lobbying laws – to bus Catholics to the Capitol.
Carol Carson, the executive director of OSE, has declined to make comments to the press, citing the pending litigation.

Turner's comment is as follows;

This is a direct government assault upon the Catholic Church, in absolute violation of the First Amendment to the Constitution for the United States.
It is very clear to us at the Turner Radio Network that the state of Connecticut has become tyrannical and abusive. It is actively and aggressively attempting to directly interfere with the internal governance of a church and the free exercise of religion. It is retaliating against citizens for exercising their right to petition for redress of grievances. This is tyranny and it must be put down.
While filing a lawsuit is quaint and the "decent" way to handle things, we at TRN believe that being decent to a group of tyrannical scumbags is the wrong approach. It's too soft.
Thankfully, the Founding Fathers gave us the tools necessary to resolve tyranny: The Second Amendment.
TRN advocates Catholics in Connecticut take up arms and put down this tyranny by force. To that end, THIS WEDNESDAY NIGHT ON "THE HAL TURNER SHOW" we will be releasing the home addresses of the Senator and Assemblyman who introduced Bill 1098 as well as the home address of Thomas K. Jones from the OSE. After all, if they are so proud of what they're doing, they shouldn't mind if everyone knows where they live.
It is our intent to foment direct action against these individuals personally. These beastly government officials should be made an example of as a warning to others in government: Obey the Constitution or die.
If any state attorney, police department or court thinks they're going to get uppity with us about this; I suspect we have enough bullets to put them down too.The state pushed; it is about to get pushed back. Elected and other government officials sometimes need to be put in their place. They serve; they do not rule. They need to learn their place or be put there by force.

NOW, I do admit that Hal Turner's comments are harsh. Telling people to muder political figures, police officers and the like is MORALLY wrong. But was it his RIGHT under the First Amendment to say/write it?
Hartford Police Chief Michael Fallon called Turner's comments "...above and beyond the threshold of free speech."
But are they??
The First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States reads, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
Obviously, McDonald and Lawlor are breaking the First Amendment by trying to pass a Law on a religious establishment i.e. the Catholic Church. They are also trying to prohibit the free exercise of said religion.

So, where do you draw the line on Free Speech? Where do you draw the line?

More to follow...

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Here, There be Pirates!

Stop me if you've heard this one before.

Three Somalian pirates walk into a bar. They meander up to the bartender. He looks at the three men and says, "What'll it be." The three pirates look up at the bartender...and each one gets a bullet in his head from a U.S. Navy Seal sniper.

Think about what those snipers accomplished and you'll realize that the Navy Seals ARE the best in the world at what they do! Worth every penny of the 3/4 of a million dollars it takes to train each and every one. I mean, come on. Three snipers on the back of a ship, which is rolling up and down on the open sea, in the dark, from 100 feet away. Each sniper had one shot AND it HAD to be a kill shot. If any one of those snipers missed, well, it wouldn't have been pretty for Captain Phillips.

God Bless America!

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Cheap, limitless energy...that you'll NEVER see!

Scientists at a US Navy laboratory have unveiled "significant" evidence of cold fusion, that's fusion happening at room temperature. Supposedly, the possibility of cold fusion has been around for 20 years or so and it has the "potential" to be a cheap, limitless and enviromentally-clean source of energy.

So why aren't we investigating this? Why aren't we investigating ALL alternative energy sources? Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the Universe and you mean to tell me we can't figure out a way to use it as a source of energy? We can invent a Wii but not a car that runs on water?? Come on! Do I really need to tell you why? Think about it.

Since 1962, Dr. Paul Moller has been trying to get people to recognize his flying cars. I want one of these! Hey, if they can produce enough of these you're looking at about $80,000 a pop. Not bad. Sign me up! I can just imagine the headaches the DOT will have when they try and come up with flying lanes for these babies!

A sidenote: Did you know that eating causes cancer? Go figure.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

More Threats to your Liberty!

So the Co-Chairs to the State's Judiciary Committee (Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford, and Mike Lawlor, D-East Haven) must have nothing else to do. So they knock their heads together and come up with this great idea of submitting Bill 1098 that not only tramples on the Constitutions First Amendment and, in extension, the Fourteenth Amendment, but it makes me scratch my head in trying to figure out how the laypersons of a Catholic Church could be MORE responsible with the Church's money than the Priest and Diocese!

In THIS day and age!!!

Now there's some rumblings that the Bill was a kind of revenge idea directed toward the Church over their opposition to gay marriage because both of these lads are supposedly gay. That makes it even more of a no-brainer in just trashing this Bill tomorrow without even talking any more about it.

They also have a law that requires people to put a fence around their pools,hot tubs and spas more than 24 inches deep because "this ordinance is needed to keep people, especially children, safe." The state law does allow for "grandfathering" of older pools but Stamford's city law does not AND they're going to start fining owners $200 a DAY for every day that they don't do it.

These laws, combined with my undying hatred of Connecticut's Seat Belt Law, are pretty much the reason why this country is going to Hell-in-a-handbasket. What kills me is that the people themselves WANT these laws so that they can do less in their oh-so-busy lives. Give me a break. What made the United States of America great is that we had the Freedom of Choice, note the word 'had.' If I wanted to take my life in my hands and drive down the street without wearing my seat belt then it was MY choice to do so. My individual right.

Keeping children safe? What happened to the good old days when PARENTS KEPT THEIR CHILDREN SAFE. What, now we have to have LAWS to take the place of parents?
Lawmakers tug at the heartstrings by using lines like, "It's all for the good (safety, etc.) of the people." Yeah, Hitler said that, too. Next thing you know we'll be burning piles of books in the middle of the street while the local Gestapo comes breaking down our front door to see our State-given ID Cards.

Only then will people realize what they've done.

Unfortunately, then will be too late.

Website of interest; this one's pretty good if you're paranoid, like me ;-)

Commenting on a Comment

Donna says, "What really gets me is that everyone is mad at Israel! They didn't start it. They have every right to defend their stste and I don't care how many civilians they kill. Hamas needs to get a life."

The funny thing is...that IS Hamas' life! Trying to destroy Israel is their life!! They're like The Terminator, "They can't be bargained with! They can't be reasoned with! They don't feel pain or pity or remorse and they will not stop EVER until Israel is dead!" Well, they do feel pain when those Israeli bullets turn their bodies to swiss cheese but you get my point.

They have about as much chance of destroying Israel as I have of becoming President of the United States!

Monday, January 12, 2009

War is Hell...Among other things

I can't help but laugh when I turn on the television and see American newscasters crying like a bunch of newborn babies about the civilians that are getting hurt and dying as Israel kicks the crap out of Hamas...again. Let me try and be as concise as I can here;

War is an ugly thing. Countries can make up all the rules about combat that they want but when it comes right down to it, War has no rules. There is no such thing as a "surgical" strike. Two sides go at each other until either one side is completely wiped out or surrenders. They use cities and towns as their battlefields. You know, where civilians live. So, logically, in the due process of War, yes, civilians will get hurt and/or killed.

Don't even sit there and think about telling me that in all the wars that the United States has participated in that we've never killed civilians. Hell, in Nagasaki alone we fried about 75,000 civvies, give or take a few. So, Israel has a way to go to match us.

I support Israel's right to exist. I support what they're doing. How many times does Israel have to listen to the United Nations and agree to a ceasefire, only to have Hamas fire rockets into Israel again. Purposely targeting civilians, I might add. Somehow, that doesn't make the news, though. Waaahhhhh! Give those babies a bottle already!

As for the UN, don't even get me started. That is the most useless body in the world. They're like the appendix of Countries, everyone knows it's there, but no one knows what it does! And guess what, you can live without an appendix!