So, I am currently reading about constitutional law which is a fascinating topic, and this has prompted me to write this post.  This is actually something I have thought of a long time ago before I started to read about this topic, but I thought I would now put ‘pen to paper’ so to speak to get this idea out there. I do not have a problem with post facto repeals of law as a principle, since they are definitely needed, but my problem is that there are so many of them and sometimes it make take years for them to come to light resulting in damage to people and their rights to which laws and our legislators, and other officials, are entrusted to protect.

I have a problem with laws that are passed and eventually are found unconstitutional or have other problems, and are subsequently repealed with those, whose rights have been violated, have exactly no recourse or reparations for their violated rights and/or destroyed lives, beyond the repealing of the offending law. I think that this is a grave injustice to the American peoples whose lives and livelihood have been adversely affected.

The fact that there is no real recourse for the American people, or punishment per se for those that enacted such negligent laws, allows the perpetuation of such practices. There is a no real punishment or deterrent to our lawmakers for walking this path. They have the potential of not getting elected again or being impeached, right, but that potential is so small and not enough of a deterrent especially when they cater to a majority in trampling the rights of the minority. There is no real deterrent to not pass these unconstitutional laws. By the time that it comes around for the government to deal with the law those that passed the offending law may not even be in office and besides, someone else will be fighting both sides of the battle – not the legislators – the ones who sanctioned the law. State and Federal government is one thing, and I understand that local governments are in some ways a different story, but still there is something that needs to be done about that too.

Post Facto Repeals

I realize that our founding fathers, in light of the common governmental philosophies and examples of the time, think that having the judicial branch  as a post facto (after the fact) method of solving these deficiencies is enough, but the post facto nature means that damage is already done to those people’s rights who have been violated. The communities then were smaller and word traveled quickly about such things, and the revolution and standing up for your rights was the thing to do then, but now a days  our communities are huge, spread apart, and disconnected, and long past the forgotten revolutionary mindset. The United States is huge and the common people are far removed from the law creation process and our legislators. We live in a very different world than our founding fathers could have ever imagined.

One of the very foundational principles of  our government is that government is there to ensure the protection of our Life, Liberty, and Property (LLP). I belive that the passing of these unconstitutional laws and their subsequent need to be repealed as gross negligence on the part of our governmental and civil leaders, and their passing of these laws is a violation of their oaths and a violation of our rights to LLP. I understand that there are going to be some laws that are going to make it through which are borderline and need to be dealt with, but there should not as many as there are.

There are some laws that take decades for someone to say something about and finally do something about it. There is a lot of social pressure to not rock to boat. If you take a look at the animus and violence surrounding the gay rights movement, the school prayer, and ten commandments issues then you will know what I mean. People are afraid to stand up for their rights due to potential  adverse social reactions regardless of how right they are. This fact allows for the perpetuation of violations to our rights out of fear and that is an unAmerican result.

When these unconstitutional laws are passed and several years go by and damage is done to the US citizens. This is wrong and a violation of our government’s job of protecting our rights and not being apart of the violation process.

Pre Facto

Now, I cannot imagine that our lawmakers do not have some sort of judicial opinions being thrown at them as they are legislating new laws, but with as many laws as there are that need to be repealed I find it hard to see that there is. Perhaps it might be because I am more active in thinking and reading about civil rights stuff that I may be more sensitive to it, but still there are these laws that are getting passed and they are hurting people who have no recourse or reparations besides the agonizing process of pursuing a repeal.

There needs to be more pre facto work done on these laws so that they either never get passed or that they are reformed to be made constitutional prior to be being submitted for approval. I understand that many of these laws get passed in the heat of the moment and under great socio-polical pressure where legislators are more concerned about keeping their jobs than doing things right, or they maybe caught up in the emotion of the “national” moment, but they still have an obligation to protect our rights and to not be  part of violating them.

What can be done?

I understand that our government officials can not be held directly liable else they will be not allowed to do their job out of fear, but we need some way to hold them accountable for their actions or install a deterrent for them to be party to passing such laws, but here are some of my thoughts and I know for obvious reasons that most of these will not work, but here is what came to mind:

• 3 strikes rule –  government officials who pass 3 laws that need to be repeal loose there jobs.
• fines - government officials who pass laws that need to be repealed are fined
• reparations - those people whose rights are violated are compensated by the government and the violations are corrected. Sort of a class action lawsuit against the government.
• amicus briefs - allowing for the filing of amicus briefs from all interested parties so that legislators can have more informed opinions from those outside the legislative process and the potential legal consequences
• open content - posting laws to a public website for comment
• subpoenaing legislators - during the repealing process require the legislators who passed the bill to testify and defend their actions

Perhaps you people have better and more elegant ideas about this?

California’s Appellate Court granted a stay on Judge Vaughn’s ruling pending appeal. This was, in my opinion, to be expected since this is such a high profile case and precedent setting case,  so nothing drastic there. However, there is some good news as far as this process is concerned as is covered here BREAKING: 9th Circuit STAYS Judge Walker’s ruling; Appeal scheduled December 6 on Prop 8 Trial Tracker:

• the appellate court is expediting the the appeal of the ruling of the unconstitutionality of Prop 8 and set the date for the week of 6 December, which is awesome. The sooner the, hopefully, better.
• they are also specifically asking the Prop8′ers: In addition to any issues appellants wish to raise on appeal, appellants are directed to include in their opening brief a discussion of why this appeal should not be dismissed for lack of Article III standing. which is huge. Judge Vaughn said that they do not have standing for a stay or appeal, if I remember correctly, and the appellate court obviously pretty much agrees with them, but are giving them a chance to sound at least a little rational and try to retain some self respect.

In the scheme of things this is pretty huge. The appeal process could end up being pretty short (comparatively speaking) since they do not have standing for appeal, so this may most likely get dismissed with prejudice, which would prevent a Supreme Court Appeal. This will be a massively huge win and precedent for gay rights all throughout the US if this does happen, since there will be a court ruling stating that banning gay marriage is unconstitutional and they have no standing.

If  the Supreme Court does not dismiss out of hand due to lack of standing, which would rock, then the appellate court’s decision will be appealed to the Supreme Court.

Cross your fingers everyone. History and justice is happening. =)

Transcripts and Evidence from the Proposition 8 Trial available online now! Yea!

• Evidence (US Courts) – includes some video testimony which is very important
• Transcripts (Equal Rights Foundation)

If you have not taken a look at some of this please do.

In light of the ignorance spewed here by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s  niece, Alveda King, below, I feel compelled to publish the following excerpt while Dr. King rolls in is own grave in embarrassment and furious anger.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s letter from Birmingham Jail (more info at Wikipedia) that is quite pertinent to todays gay-rights movement:

…

We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was “well timed” in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word “Wait!” It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This “Wait” has almost always meant “Never.” We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that “justice too long delayed is justice denied.”

We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God given rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we still creep at horse and buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, “Wait.” But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six year old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five year old son who is asking: “Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?”; when you take a cross county drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading “white” and “colored”; when your first name becomes “nigger,” your middle name becomes “boy” (however old you are) and your last name becomes “John,” and your wife and mother are never given the respected title “Mrs.”; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of “nobodiness”–then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience. You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainly a legitimate concern. Since we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court’s decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in the public schools, at first glance it may seem rather paradoxical for us consciously to break laws. One may well ask: “How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?” The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that “an unjust law is no law at all.”

…

I just posted and more in depth article on the Prop 8 findings for the Milwaukee Examiner-  California’s Proposition 8 is found unconstitutional by Judge Vaughn Walker.

Holy thank God! =)

As I fully expected, and if you followed the transcripts you will know what I mean, California’s proposition 8 was ruled unconstitutional via Prop 8 Trial Tracker (full decision)! Judge Vaugh Walker dropped the big metal hammer of constitutional justice upon this sordid issue. Happy Days!

Now the long process of appeals begins for the Prop8′ers.

Take a look at the Live BLogging of the Closing Arguments for the Proposition 8 trial via Prop 8 Trial Tracker.  I have been very patiently waiting for this day.

You can find my previous comments on the Prop 8 atrocity them here if you are curious.

OK, so I was reading a post on Prop 8 Trial Tracker where the following quote was rendered which spawned the creation of this post:

There’s two lenses here. One’s a biblical world view and the other is basically more of a secular humanist world view, and that’s why there never seems to be agreement,” said the Rev. Pastor Brad Cranston, of Burlington’s Heritage Baptist Church. “They’re not going to be reconciled with one another.”

Iowa – One Year Later (Proposition 8 Trial Tracker)

Now, my recent post A problem with conservative religions is that Dogma and tradition is more important than People really touched upon this, but having read that quote I realized that I realistically could take this a step further. I have stated before quite a bit, perhaps not specifically on this BLog, that modern (fundamentalist and Conservative) Christianity is not really “Christian”. They have lost their way. Jesus’ teachings were about love, compassion, mercy, and acceptance and many of the contemporary Christian teachings, especially fundamentalist and conservative Christian teachings, have nothing to do with these ideals, and in some way are antithetical to them, which saddens me greatly. In that post I also state flatly that for them dogma is more important that humans which is something that they need to move on from, especially if they are to remain relevant and not part of the problem.

Now, the above thought brought me to the create the idea of Biblical Humanism. Fortunately, I am not the only one to ever have considered this possibility. It was first (as far as my currently limited research shows) was thought up in the late 1400’s with Erasmus of Rotterdam’s’ writings. Erasmus was a monastic Catholic priest of sorts and was heralded in his time for his enlightenment and writings. He was, shall we say, the father of contemporary Biblical/Christian/Theological Humanism.

A more humanistic approach to religious practice and teachings less zealous, blind, irrational, and tyrannical. The heaven hell model and the extreme religious tyranny are why Christianity is slowly dying and why people for many years have been defecting from Catholicism and other orthodox religions to other more humanistic faiths. These conservative or fundamentalist faiths enforce their dogma with fear – fear of going to hell, fear of sinning, fear of not getting presents on Christmas, fear of not being saved. This sort of fear based propaganda stresses the psyche and emotions and eventually there is going to be a break down, and we are seeing that, especially in Europe an Asia, and also here in the United States. These religions are killing themselves and they are too proud and arrogant to see it. Historically they have changed only when they see that they have had no real choice, but perhaps this time… they may not be able to fully recover, unless they embrace a more humanistic view of Christianity – a view that is more “Christian” than what is being taught in many churches today. A Humanism Theology may be the only way to save contemporary Christianity.

Resources

• Why bother with the Bible? … Interpret, or others will do it for you (by John Buehrens @ UU World, April 2003 )
• Protestantism and Christian Humanism – Fundamental Differences Between the Two Movements of the Reformation
• Society for Humanistic Judaism
• Biblical Humanism: The Tacit Grounding of James Clerk Maxwell’s Creativity (The American Scientific Affiliation)
• Humanism in Scripture and Culture – Recovering a Balance (by Dennis Bratcher @ The Voice)
• Humanism
• Christian Humanism
• The Christian Humanist
• Some Reasons Why Humanists Reject the Bible (by Joseph C. Sommer)
• The Rennaisance Bible: Rewriting the Vulgate (University of California E-Books Collection)
• Humanist Theology

A major problem with many religions, especially conservative or fundamentalist religions,  is that, for them, their dogma, tenets, traditions, and beliefs are more important than people. Following their tradition and teachings is more important than the harm that they cause. It is easy to forget that people are affected by your teachings when the teachings themselves allow for the dehumanization of the public in a very similar way that militaries train soldiers. It is about the enemy, soldier, sniper, hand-to-hand combat in a similar fashion as it is about sin, immorality, sinner, faith and salvation.

The entire point of theses religions seems to be the propagation of their religion and it is not really about people. Religions need to shift their focus from being dogmatic faiths to being more humanistic faiths where people are what is important.  Until then we are all going to suffer because “we” are not the focal point of conservative faith and teachings, the dogma and tradition is.

A great example of this hypocrisy is where the Catholic Church in Washington DC threatened to stop all of their social services if gay marriage was passed. Another great example is the Uganda issue which I posted about a while back. With the concerted effort of the Anglican Church and some Fundamentalist Senators they have effectively achieved a death sentence for homosexuals and anyone who helps them in Uganda.  Let us also look at the Stupak amendment to stop abortion for health insurance which is the only real reason that health care reform is not passed. Then there is also the abstinence only education issue too. It has been well proven what damage this causes.

Read More

• Religious Institute to D.C. Catholic Charities: These are NOT Family Values
• Angry But Not Surprised About Stupak
• Wikipedia article for the “Stupak–Pitts Amendment” to the Heath Care Reform package
• Dec ‘09 Milestone: Abstinence-Only Education
• Abstinence-only-until-marriage sex education — It’s back…

Constance McMillen, an 18-year-old senior at Itawamba Agricultural High School, has petitioned her school to allow her to take her girlfriend as her date to prom, and to be be able where a tux. The school board has responded by saying  no and then canceling prom so that they do not have to deal with it. It is not that I would not expect something like this from happening,especially in the conservative South,  but it is sad that it does. Prejudice and fear being acceptable and tolerated keep people from being free.  The ACLU, of course, has filed a lawsuit against the school.

I am proud of Constance and the bravery that she has shown to stand up for what she believes in and to be proud of  who she is. The school board should be very ashamed of their actions.

More Reading

• Canceled Mississippi prom attracts national attention (Clarion Ledger, 12 Mar 2010)
• Let Constance Take Her Girlfriend to Prom (Prop 8 Trial Tracker, 13 Mar 2010)
• Let Constance Take Her Girlfriend to Prom (Facebook, started by the ACLU)
• Student Nondiscrimination Act of 2010 introduced in US House (Human Rights Campaign, 27 Jan 2010)

I have been following the Prop 8 Trial for the last week or so via the Prop 8 Trial Tracker and I can say I am really confused with the Defendants – the Pro-Prop 8 people. Their witnesses were to our advantage and their cross-examination of our witnesses yielded pretty much nothing of really use. Both of the witnesses they called came off as incompetent and/or sleazy. It was sad to see … in a good way.

I know that they do not have a rational or logical argument against Same-Sex Marriage, but this was sad almost to the point of hoping that they declare a mistrial because their counsel seemed completely inept and out classed by the Olson/Boise juggernauts. I am happy to see that, because it reinforces the legitimacy of Same-Sex Marriage issue, but it also makes me worry as to what they are really up to.

I am pretty sure they were expecting an appeal regardless of who won this first round, so perhaps they have something more vicious planned for the appellate court. They cannot add new evidence or testimony there, but perhaps they are planning on hiring competent counsel to argue their case. The evidence and testimony that they submitted was not too inspiring. Perhaps they may leave it at losing here at the District Court level and not take it too the Supreme Court to minimize the damage, in hopes that this case will not be used as further precedent for other cases across the country? I am not sure what is going on here, but it is worry-some.

Our evidence and testimony was pretty much on target and unflappable. With Loving vs Virginia and Brown vs Board of Education in our courts to show that marriage is a fundamental right, and separate is not equal, respectively, I am thinking that we have a great case in our favor.

Now we wait for the judge to review the testimony and evidence given, and then the court will take on filings for Amicus Briefs, and then Closing Arguments. I do not like this wait at all. There is so much at stake here, but I am quite hopeful.

If you think that what I am about to write does not affect you please take a look at this quote:

Texas is the nation’s second-largest textbook market and one of the few biggies where the state picks what books schools can buy rather than leaving it up to the whims of local districts, which means publishers that get their books approved can count on millions of dollars in sales. As a result, the Lone Star State has outsized influence over the reading material used in classrooms nationwide, since publishers craft their standard textbooks based on the specs of the biggest buyers. As one senior industry executive told me, “Publishers will do whatever it takes to get on the Texas list.”

Mariah Blake

This article titled Revisionaries: How a group of Texas conservatives is rewriting your kids’ textbooks by Mariah Blake from the Washington Monthly is very saddening to me. I had heard off-handedly through the news that it was pretty bad down there (i.e.  teaching creationism in schools movement), but I did not realize how bad it was until I read this article. There is an all out assault on education to, again, enshrine Fundamentalist Christianity into our culture and education while totally ignoring scientific facts and historical accuracy.

Again, they wish to impose upon the public their theological view points when we, most assuredly, do not ask for it. Our public education system needs to be free from religious interference or view points, for our education system is for everyone regardless of your religious preference. If you want religious knowledge go to church or a seminary, buy a book, or talk to your parents and family. The public education system is not the place for a theological bias.

Religion is a personal choice and our public schools are not. By virtue of teaching Fundamentalist Christian view points we are discriminating against everyone who does not share that view point, and are ensuring prejudice and bigotry towards non-Christians in the next generations. Perhaps a student attending a public might be Hindu, Muslim, Mormon, or Jewish? Should they be subjected to heavily conservative and Christian colored history lesson.

I do believe that we do need to teach about religion in our schools so people know about the different religions out there. We need to teach and not preach a Comparative Religion class.

Who do you want writing your public schools’ text books?

Other Articles

• Why You Should Worry About Texas Education
• One more time
  Texas education board yet again promotes ideology over academics
• Texas Board Delays Vote; Defends Christian Influence in U.S. History

The more I read of the Proposition 8 Trial Tracker BLog’s account of the trial’s testimony the more I believe that there is really no valid argument against gay marriage.  Their Questioning, and their expert witnesses are crushing the pro- Prop 8 people. It is a blood bath in there. The historical evidence supporting the homosexuality has been to subject to demonizing, discrimination, and bigotry throughout history is huge and painful to recount, but consistent. There is also plenty of historical evidence of changing marital laws with slaves, interracial marriage, etc…  I am impressed with the legal work here.

I see good things to eventually come.  Yea!

I just received word the the Supreme Court has affirmed a block on televising the Prop 8 court proceedings. I am saddened by this. Transparency to the public in such a high profile case is important, especially to let the world see the bigotry and lies that are spread by the pro Prop 8′ers. They want to keep this as hidden as possible so they do not look so bad. They are trying to keep as much of their commercials and other propaganda and so on from being admitted for similar reasons.  They hate to have their own work used against them.

New York Times Coverage

• Two Ideological Foes Unite to Overturn Proposition 8
• YouTube Moment on Hold in Same-Sex Marriage Case in San Francisco
• Personal Focus as Same-Sex-Marriage Trial Opens in California (Day 1)
• Same-Sex Marriage Case, Day 2: History Lessons
• Same-Sex Marriage Case, Day 3: The Defense Pushes Back

Here is a link to a live blog detailing the happenings at the Proposition 8 trial: Proposition 8 Trial Tracker BLog from the Courage Campaign.

Read it and get involved. This is one of the most important civil rights issues of our time.