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This site is a member of WebRing. To browse visit here. Wednesday, April 13, 2005 Justice, American style "[Stalin] had a slogan, and it worked very well for him, whenever he ran into difficulty: 'no man, no problem,'" said lawyer Edwin Vieira, speaking at a forum presented by a group calling itself the Judeo-Christian Council for Constitutional Restoration.Vieira presumably was talking about impeachment, but the full quote from Stalin is: "Death solves all problems; no man, no problem." Stalin, of course, was not talking about natural death in one's elder years, and for Vieira to use that quote now, after the recent murders of one judge and another judge's family, is reckless at best. At worst, it stops just short of inciting to violence.This is why the founding fathers were so opposed to mixing religion and politics. Religion appeals to emotion, regardless of any valid historicity or documentation. It is a survival mechanism. Whether you believe we evolved to need a spiritual life or you believe that God created us that way, the fact is that for many people, religion fills a deep-felt emotional need. The best of religious emotion feeds the hungry, clothes the naked, shelters the homeless, educates the ignorant, finds work for the jobless. The worst picks up a gun to defend its emotional territory. We see it every time we turn on the news. "I'm right and you're wrong, and you're going to burn in hell," is how it starts, but often it becomes, "God wouldn't mind if I helped you along a little faster." What was heartfelt belief in the pulpit becomes murder in the streets. Or it becomes the astonishing spectacle of a self-declared Christian lawyer quoting the communist dictator, Stalin, to recommend removing a judge for a decision in conflict with the lawyer's religious beliefs.Our founding fathers knew that religion and politics both flourished best when they stayed out of each other's precincts. No two people can ever agree completely on religion or on politics, but political practice can at least be codified. That may not remove the strong emotions, but it does put the procedures at one remove, fenced about with the law. If you have to change the law in order to change the politics, you're likely to do it with much more reason and consideration than if you can just pick up a gun, or wave a fist. Keeping religion and politics out of each other's pockets means that reason may prevail in at least one of the emotion-laden venues of human activity. But this is precisely what the radical rights wants to change. Michael P. Farris, who is chairman of the Home Schooling Legal Defense Fund and who spoke at the forum, favors the impeachment of judges with different religious beliefs than his own. "If about 40 of them get impeached, suddenly a lot of these guys would be retiring," he said."Leave, or we're gonna kick you out," is the explicit threat in that statement. The implicit one that came out of the forum is: Stalin would say it was easier, faster and less expensive to just shoot you. posted by Liz @ 12:05 PM | The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section RSS Feed PERSONAL Send email toliz at life-as-a-spectator-sport.com Home I'm a mother, grandmother, a computer professional, Democrat, Christian. I welcome politely worded comments and email, my spam filter throws the rest away, so don't bother to flame me WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT' "If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart. 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"[Stalin] had a slogan, and it worked very well for him, whenever he ran into difficulty: 'no man, no problem,'" said lawyer Edwin Vieira, speaking at a forum presented by a group calling itself the Judeo-Christian Council for Constitutional Restoration.Vieira presumably was talking about impeachment, but the full quote from Stalin is: "Death solves all problems; no man, no problem." Stalin, of course, was not talking about natural death in one's elder years, and for Vieira to use that quote now, after the recent murders of one judge and another judge's family, is reckless at best. At worst, it stops just short of inciting to violence.This is why the founding fathers were so opposed to mixing religion and politics. Religion appeals to emotion, regardless of any valid historicity or documentation. It is a survival mechanism. Whether you believe we evolved to need a spiritual life or you believe that God created us that way, the fact is that for many people, religion fills a deep-felt emotional need. The best of religious emotion feeds the hungry, clothes the naked, shelters the homeless, educates the ignorant, finds work for the jobless. The worst picks up a gun to defend its emotional territory. We see it every time we turn on the news. "I'm right and you're wrong, and you're going to burn in hell," is how it starts, but often it becomes, "God wouldn't mind if I helped you along a little faster." What was heartfelt belief in the pulpit becomes murder in the streets. Or it becomes the astonishing spectacle of a self-declared Christian lawyer quoting the communist dictator, Stalin, to recommend removing a judge for a decision in conflict with the lawyer's religious beliefs.Our founding fathers knew that religion and politics both flourished best when they stayed out of each other's precincts. No two people can ever agree completely on religion or on politics, but political practice can at least be codified. That may not remove the strong emotions, but it does put the procedures at one remove, fenced about with the law. If you have to change the law in order to change the politics, you're likely to do it with much more reason and consideration than if you can just pick up a gun, or wave a fist. Keeping religion and politics out of each other's pockets means that reason may prevail in at least one of the emotion-laden venues of human activity. But this is precisely what the radical rights wants to change. Michael P. Farris, who is chairman of the Home Schooling Legal Defense Fund and who spoke at the forum, favors the impeachment of judges with different religious beliefs than his own. "If about 40 of them get impeached, suddenly a lot of these guys would be retiring," he said."Leave, or we're gonna kick you out," is the explicit threat in that statement. The implicit one that came out of the forum is: Stalin would say it was easier, faster and less expensive to just shoot you.
The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section
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PERSONAL
WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT'
"If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart.
THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME
Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3
KNITTING BLOGS
Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits
FINISHED PROJECTS
SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE
POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES
BOOKS I'M READING
How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising
ARCHIVES
February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002
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