Clipmarks | wiccantexan's 'government' clips

Bush seeks to make "war powers" permanent

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 00:06:49 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan
clipper's remarks: "Tucked deep into a recent proposal from the Bush administration is a provision that has received almost no public attention, yet in many ways captures one of President Bush’s defining legacies: an affirmation that the United States is still at war with Al Qaeda. "

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Seven years after the Sept. 11 attacks, Mr. Bush’s advisers assert that many Americans may have forgotten that. So they want Congress to say so and “acknowledge again and explicitly that this nation remains engaged in an armed conflict with Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and associated organizations, who have already proclaimed themselves at war with us and who are dedicated to the slaughter of Americans.”

The language, part of a proposal for hearing legal appeals from detainees at the United States naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, goes beyond political symbolism. Echoing a measure that Congress passed just days after the Sept. 11 attacks, it carries significant legal and public policy implications for Mr. Bush, and potentially his successor, to claim the imprimatur of Congress to use the tools of war, including detention, interrogation and surveillance, against the enemy, legal and political analysts say.

Tags: bush, bush administration, war, government, legal

New Orleans repeating deadly levee mistakes

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 22:53:25 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Signs are emerging that history is repeating itself in the Big Easy, still healing from Katrina: People have forgotten a lesson from four decades ago and believe once again that the federal government is constructing a levee system they can prosper behind.

In a yearlong review of levee work here, The Associated Press has tracked a pattern of public misperception, political jockeying and legal fighting, along with economic and engineering miscalculations since Katrina, that threaten to make New Orleans the scene of another devastating flood.

They're not alone. A recent University of New Orleans survey of residents found concern about levee safety was dropping off the list of top worries, replaced by crime, incompetent leadership and corruption.

This sense of security, though, may be dangerously naive.

For the foreseeable future, New Orleans will be protected by levees unable to protect against another storm like Katrina.

Tags: hurricane, hurricane katrina, new orleans, federal, government

When government prays, religion loses

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 02:40:31 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.firstamendmentcenter.org

Not surprisingly, Rev. Turner wants to pray in the name of Jesus Christ — including when it’s his turn to offer the opening prayer at council sessions.

But on July 23, Turner lost the latest round in his battle to invoke Jesus when the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Fredericksburg City Council’s policy requiring that prayers at meetings be nondenominational.

In an opinion written by retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor (asked to take part in the case as a visiting judge), the court ruled that the prayers at issue are “government speech” and therefore the prayer policy does not violate Turner’s free speech or free exercise of religion.

If we must have an invocation at government functions, then let’s do it in silence. That way the Rev. Turners in the room can pray freely in the name of Jesus — and everyone else can pray (or not) according to the dictates of conscience.

Tags: government, religion, free speech

Gov’t says tornado-area housing can’t have basements

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 03:46:00 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.kansascity.com

Tell a town of Kansas tornado survivors that they can’t have a basement? Amy Bemis has a word for talk like that.

“Insane,” she says.

Like most residents of Chapman, Kan., Bemis huddled in her basement the night of June 11, when a tornado destroyed scores of homes in this town of 1,250.

But the efforts to rebuild the community now face an obstacle townspeople did not expect: Federal reconstruction rules are forcing many residents to rebuild without the basements that sheltered them through the storm.

Ninety-five percent of Chapman’s damaged homes lie in a floodplain created by a nearby river and creek. The floodplain cuts a large swath through much of the central residential part of town.

For those without basements, it means adding a few feet of soil below the new home’s foundation. But for those residents with basements, it’s either rebuild without them, or move.

Tags: government, tornado, weather, legal, federal

In marriage debate, divorce church from state

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 01:55:17 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.firstamendmentcenter.org

Suddenly this summer, the reality of same-sex couples lining up to get married in California has led some religious leaders to rethink their government role.

In a letter last month, Bishop Marc Handley Andrus of the Episcopal Diocese of California directed his clergy to “encourage all couples, regardless of orientation, to follow the pattern of first being married in a secular service and then being blessed in The Episcopal Church.”

The bishop’s missive illustrates what a tangled web we have woven when clergy intone “by the power invested in me by the state.”

Because the Episcopal Church doesn’t sanction same-sex marriage — but gives the option of blessing the union — the bishop appears to be seeking a way to bless all couples while distancing the church from legal arrangements sanctioned by the state.

“There are a lot of benefits in getting out of the legal marriage business,”

Tags: church, state, marriage, religion, legal, government

Obama says bin Laden must not be a martyr

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 04:45:21 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: abcnews.go.com

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Wednesday he would bring Osama bin Laden to justice in a way that wouldn't allow the terrorist mastermind to become a martyr, but he may be killed if the U.S. government finds him.

"First of all, I think there is an executive order out on Osama bin Laden's head," the Illinois senator said at a news conference. "And if I'm president, and we have the opportunity to capture him, we may not be able to capture him alive."

"What would be important would be for us to do it in a way that allows the entire world to understand the murderous acts that he's engaged in and not to make him into a martyr, and to assure that the United States government is abiding by basic conventions that would strengthen our hand in the broader battle against terrorism," Obama said.

"I refuse to be lectured on national security by people who are responsible for the most disastrous set of foreign policy decisions in the recent history of the United States,"

Tags: politics, terrorism, obama, government, 9/11

Church and State Collide On the Highway

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 00:17:25 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan
clipper's remarks: "More to the point: If your faith is so strong that it would inspire you to voluntarily stand in line at the DMV — and let’s face it, that’s strong — then why do you need it stamped in cold, hard metal on your vehicle’s ass?"

Clip Source: www.independent.com

This just in: Rational thought is backed up for miles along South Carolina’s roadways, where a serious traffic collision between Church and State has left our Constitution in critical condition.

The state recently approved a series of government-issued license plates bearing the words “I BELIEVE” and the image of a Christian cross in front of a stained-glass window. In addition to boasting their state-sanctioned love for square dancing, wild turkeys, and Dale Earnhardt Jr., South Carolina residents can now share their devotion to Jesus Christ with anyone lucky enough to be eating their dust.

The plate was proposed by Republican state Sen. Larry Grooms “to allow people of faith to have an expression of their belief.” Apparently ichthys fish and “God is my copilot” bumper stickers just weren’t converting heathens like they used to.

Critics, including the ACLU, say the state-issued plates are a government endorsement of religion.

Tags: church, state, cars, government, religion

Obama on religion and public policy

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 04:15:16 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

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Tags: obama, politics, religion, belief, government

Affirmative action ban heads for ballot

Sat, 08 Mar 2008 23:16:22 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

Ballot initiatives have been proposed in Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma that would give voters the chance to decide whether they want to do away with affirmative action in government-funded projects and public schools.

Ward Connerly, who heads the American Civil Rights Coalition -- a nonprofit organization working to end racial and gender preferences -- and the main backer of the ballot initiatives, says the 37 word initiative would read: "The state shall not discriminate against or grant preferential treatment to any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education or public contracting."

Connerly, who is of African-American and American Indian descent, said affirmative action causes resentment. He criticized cases in which a Caucasian student might be denied a college slot in favor of a black student with a lower grade-point average.

Tags: race, government, affirmative action, education, school

Laws Targeting Mediums Spot On

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 03:48:45 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.sundaysun.co.uk

HOW many psychics does it take to change a lightbulb? Just the one . . . but they need the help of a dead relative whose first name begins with the letter J.

We can all have a laugh at so-called mediums, but from where I’m sitting they fall into one of two categories.

They either truly believe themselves to be gifted, in which case I file them under “self-deluding nutters” or they’re the very worst kind . . . the nasty, manipulative, money-grabbing leeches who prey on vulnerable people.

Thankfully, the Government is at last waking up to the damage these charlatans can do and is in the process of introducing some form of regulation.

It plans to repeal the Fraudulent Mediums Act — are there any other kind? — which, co-incidentally, replaced the 1735 Witchcraft Act.

And, if approved by Parliament, new consumer protection laws will pave the way for disgruntled customers to sue psychics who fail to deliver the promise of good fortune, health or everlasting love.

Tags: law, government, england, psychic, fraud, witchcraft

China Calls for 'Patriotic Education' for Tibet Monks

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 04:58:49 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.washingtonpost.com

China's security chief called for stepping up "patriotic education" in Tibet's monasteries, the state-run Tibet Daily said Tuesday, as prosecutors for the first time charged demonstrators in the largely peaceful, monk-led protests that later exploded into riots in the region.

Public Security Minister Meng Jianzhu led the first high-level central government visit to Tibet since the riots broke out this month.

His call for broader "patriotic education" indicated the party would also move to exert greater control over religion in Tibet, requiring more Tibetans to accept the region as an inalienable part of China, denounce the Dalai Lama as a separatist and recognize the Chinese-appointed Panchen Lama. Such campaigns were first launched in 1996.

Tags: religion, china, tibet, dalai lama, monks, government

Texas border wall bypassing the wealthy?

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 02:41:15 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.texasobserver.org

Homeland Security won’t say why the border wall is bypassing the wealthy and politically connected.

As the U.S. Department of Homeland Security marches down the Texas border serving condemnation lawsuits to frightened landowners, Brownsville resident Eloisa Tamez, 72, has one simple question. She would like to know why her land is being targeted for destruction by a border wall, while a nearby golf course and resort remain untouched.

Tamez, a nursing director at the University of Texas at Brownsville, is one of the last of the Spanish land grant heirs in Cameron County. Her ancestors once owned 12,000 acres. In the 1930s, the federal government took more than half of her inherited land, without paying a cent, to build flood levees.

Now Homeland Security wants to put an 18-foot steel and concrete wall through what remains.

While the border wall will go through her backyard and effectively destroy her home, it will stop at the edge of the River Bend Resort and golf course,

Tags: texas, mexico, border, homeland security, politics, wealth, rights, home, government

Obama's Wax "Win"

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 03:58:22 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.nypost.com

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Sculptors at Madame Tussauds wax museum in Washington, DC, have immortalized the red-hot Obama looking poised, trim and supremely self-satisfied at the center of executive power.

"It's a glimpse of what could be happening in the future," said museum spokeswoman Rosemary Preta.

Tussauds also made a wax figure of Clinton, who was swept by Obama in five primary or caucus contests over the weekend.

But she is shown standing off to Obama's side, smiling, as if she's cheering him on, as a vice president might do.

Tags: obama, government, president, museum, clinton

Australia apologizes to Aborigines

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 04:02:40 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

The Australian government apologized Wednesday for years of "mistreatment" that inflicted "profound grief, suffering and loss" on the country's Aboriginal people.

New Prime Minister Kevin Rudd read the apology Wednesday to Aborigines and the "Stolen Generations" of children who were taken from their families.

"To the mothers and fathers, to the brothers and sisters we say sorry. And for the indignity and degradation on a proud people and a proud culture we say sorry."

For 60 years, until 1970, the Australian government took mixed-race Aboriginal children from their families and put them in dormitories or industrial schools, claiming it was protecting them.

As a result of the policy, "stolen" children lost contact with their families and heritage, received poor education, lived in harsh conditions, and often endured abuse.

Tags: australia, aborigine, family, children, culture, government, heritage

First Wiccan Chaplain in History To Meet With U.S. Commission On Civil Rights

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 23:22:35 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: bbsnews.net

A Wiccan Chaplain and Statewide California Department of Corrections, Patrick McCollum will speak at a briefing on prisoners' religious rights at the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights in Washington, DC on Friday, February 8, 2007. This marks the first time that a Wiccan expert has spoken on religious freedom issues at a Commission briefing.

"It is an honor to be invited to participate in the dialogue and to share a Wiccan's point of view," said McCollum. "Those in minority faiths are seldom given the opportunity to be heard, even when the issue concerns their rights. I am hopeful this invitation is indicative of what we can expect going forward and that there truly is a desire on the part of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights to ensure that inmates receive equal treatment, and a willingness to better serve minority religions."

Tags: wicca, religion, civil rights, prison, government, freedom