Dispatches from the Culture Wars

Van Dyke's Definition of "Good Faith"

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:30:16 -0500

After making a first attempt to reply to my challenge concerning conservative originalism and the Loving v Virginia decision, Tom Van Dyke then left a comment at American Creation accusing me of not arguing in "good faith." Here is what he had to say:

Ed, I'm afraid that my suspicion you might not be proceeding in good faith was confirmed by your reply to Jon over at your blog:
http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2009/11/conservative_originalism_and_i.php#comment-2093729

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Bush DOJ Officials Defend KSM Civilian Trial

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:23:40 -0500

While the right wing loses its collective mind over the decision to try Khalid Sheik Mohammed and a couple other 9/11 conspirators in federal court in New York, two former Bush DOJ officials puncture their empty fear mongering and defend the decision in the Washington Post. Jim Comey and Jack Goldsmith, deputy attorney general and assistant attorney general respectively during the Bush administration, first debunk the "this makes New York a target" nonsense:

A trial in Manhattan will bring enormous media attention and require unprecedented security. But it is unlikely to make New York a bigger target than it has been since February 1993, when Mohammed's nephew Ramzi Yousef attacked the World Trade Center. If al-Qaeda could carry out another attack in New York, it would -- a fact true a week ago and for a long time.

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Dumbass Quote of the Day

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:16:26 -0500

From an old friend of Dispatches, Utah State Sen. Chris Buttars:

I meet with the gays here and there. They were in my house two weeks ago. I don't mind gays. But I don't want 'em stuffing it down my throat all the time. Certainly not in my kid's face.

I bet he even lets them use his bathroom. But not for shoving something down his kid's throat.

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Our Mere Existence is Offensive

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:09:12 -0500

It has been fascinating watching the response, city by city, where the advertisement that says "Not religious? You're not alone" has gone up. We've seen bus drivers refuse to drive buses with that ad on them (and get fired for it). In Cincinnati, death threats forced the removal of a billboard with that message.

And now in Nashville, the local yokels are up in arms about an identical billboard. And offering the usual brilliant reasoning to support their position:

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New Church/State Lawsuit in Tennessee

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:02:48 -0500

A new lawsuit has been filed against the Cheatham County, Tennessee school system over a range of church/state violations including allowing Bible distribution in classrooms, teacher-endorsed prayer at football games and school-sponsored prayer at graduation ceremonies and the teaching of intelligent design, among other things. You can see the complaint here (PDF). Among the allegations:

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Conservative Originalism and Interracial Marriage

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 09:23:22 -0500

An interesting conversation has begun on American Creation, where my friend Jon Rowe blogs along with several others from every side of the question of religion and the founding fathers (including frequent Dispatches commenter King of Ireland). The discussion is largely with Tom Van Dyke, who has commented here as well. The discussion is over conservative originalism in its various forms vs. the kind of liberal originalism (or more accurately original principle originalism) that I and others (Jack Balkin, Randy Barnett) advocate.

Let me give some of the background on this discussion so you can see how the discussion has developed so far. This is the partial text of a comment I had left in response to a post by King of Ireland:

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The Kirk Cameron Action Kit

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 09:16:35 -0500

FunnyOrDie has an amusing video in response to Kirk Cameron's crusade to hand out 50,000 copies of The Origin of Species with a creationist introduction. Video below the fold.

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Right Wing Rap: Just Stop. Please.

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 09:09:38 -0500

Yet another right wing rapper has shown up on the scene at the tea parties. His name is Hi Caliber and he sucks as bad as all the previous ones.

"Patriotic people throw your hands in the air, and wave them around like you just don't care."

Seriously, is that the best he can do? I imagine it is.

Just stop. Please.

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Missouri Republicans Call For Violent Revolution

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 09:02:23 -0500

And they're quite proud of doing so, announcing it on their blog. The Lafayette County, MO Republicans have put up a billboard calling for revolution. And the banner on the billboard says "PREPARE FOR WAR--LIVE FREE OR DIE!" Here's the picture:

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Cert Denied in Religious Graduation Speech Case

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 09:23:41 -0500

The Supreme Court has denied cert in the case of McComb v. Crehan, the 2006 case where a valedictorian had her microphone cut off by the school during her speech at a graduation ceremony because she began to talk about her Christian faith, a deviation from the script they had approved (they had rejected the original script and forced her to take out the religious elements).

The district court had dismissed her case and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that dismissal. Now the Supreme Court has refused to hear the appeal, leaving the lower court rulings in place. That means there were not 4 votes on the court to hear the appeal and that is the end of the case.

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Cops: Break the Law, Change Departments

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 09:16:58 -0500

The Charleston Gazette of West Virginia documents a whole bunch of police officers breaking the law over and over again and just changing to a new department. The chief example is a cop named Matthew Leavitt, who was finally sentenced to two years in prison for assault after a long history of illegal behavior - none of which ever kept him from getting a new job at a different police department.

A second article gives the timeline for Leavitt, which shows just how easy it is for a police officer to continue to get jobs no matter how many times they get caught breaking the law.

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Oh Ye Of Little Faith

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 09:09:06 -0500

This will show you just how strong the faith is for many Catholics. An Italian man has invented a hands-free holy water dispenser for Catholic churches because congregants were afraid of dipping their hands in the holy water urns:

Clever Catholic inventor Luciano Marabese created the electronic holy water dispenser -- a terracotta wall-mounted urn with a sensor-controlled spigot underneath -- after hearing that fellow Italians, wary of contracting the swine flu, were afraid to dip their fingers in the holy water fonts at the entrance of their churches.

So, uh, what exactly makes holy water different from regular water? Surely if it has divine properties, at the very least it should be sterile and free of viruses that can kill you, right?

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Hilarious Onion Article

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 09:02:05 -0500

About 8 people emailed me a link to this article from the Onion: Area Man Passionate Defender Of What He Imagines Constitution To Be. If you haven't seen it, it's worth a read. It's just barely a parody.

Spurred by an administration he believes to be guilty of numerous transgressions, self-described American patriot Kyle Mortensen, 47, is a vehement defender of ideas he seems to think are enshrined in the U.S. Constitution and principles that brave men have fought and died for solely in his head.
"Our very way of life is under siege," said Mortensen, whose understanding of the Constitution derives not from a close reading of the document but from talk-show pundits, books by television personalities, and the limitless expanse of his own colorful imagination. "It's time for true Americans to stand up and protect the values that make us who we are."

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52% of Republicans Think Obama Not Really Elected

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:30:15 -0500

Just when you think things can't get any more loopy on the right, a new poll has found that a majority of Republicans actually believe that Obama is not the real president because ACORN stole the election for him. TPM Muckraker reports:

The poll asked this question: "Do you think that Barack Obama legitimately won the Presidential election last year, or do you think that ACORN stole it for him?" The overall top-line is legitimately won 62%, ACORN stole it 26%.
Among Republicans, however, only 27% say Obama actually won the race, with 52% -- an outright majority -- saying that ACORN stole it, and 21% are undecided. Among McCain voters, the breakdown is 31%-49%-20%. By comparison, independents weigh in at 72%-18%-10%, and Democrats are 86%-9%-4%.

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USCIRF Blasts Defamation of Religion Resolutions

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:23:47 -0500

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom issued a strongly worded policy document (PDF) blasting the various defamation of religion resolutions that have been passed by the United Nations over the last few years. It begins:

Although these resolutions purport to seek protection for religions in general, the only religion and religious adherents that are specifically mentioned are Islam and Muslims. Aside from Islam, the resolutions do not specify which religions are deserving of protection, or explain how or by whom this would be determined.
The resolutions also do not define what would make a statement defamatory to religions or explain who decides this question. For its part, the OIC appears to consider any speech that the organization, or even a cleric or individual, deems critical of or offensive to Islam or Muslims to automatically constitute religiously defamatory speech. This view goes far beyond the existing domestic legal concept of defamation, which protects individuals against false statements of fact that damage their reputation and livelihood. Implementing this approach would violate provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and various human rights treaties that protect, with only narrow exceptions, every individual's right to receive and impart information and speak out.

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