Vanity: My Letter to Alabama Attorney General Pryor

Self | 11/11/2003 | Self

[farmer18th]

Dear Mr. Pryor:

Your actions with respect to Judge Moore confuse me.

Is "Thou Shalt Not Steal" offensive to you? (I'm glad I don't own property in Alabama)

Is "Thou Shalt Not Murder" problematic for you? (I'm glad I don't live in Alabama)

Is "Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery" hurtful to you? (I'm glad you don't know my wife.)

Is "Thou Shalt not Bear False Witness" repugnant to you? (I'm glad I never had to seek justice in your state.)

Is "Thou Shalt Have no Other Gods Before Me" distasteful to you? (What with lightning bolts and all, I'm glad I dont worship next to you.)

We are a nation of laws, Mr. Pryor, and not of men. I'm just confused as to which laws you follow.

[jwalsh07]

How does the 14th Amendment incorporate the third amendment when states are proscribed from having soldiers as distinct from militias?

Food for thought.

[Dante3]

Exactly.

[farmer18th]

There is absolutley no gain to be made in pitting Catholics against Evangelicals, Orthodox Jews or any other religion.

No offense was intended specifically to Catholics. I'm an equal opportunity critic of established branches of Christianity that don't think their faith should have a place in the public square. It's why we're in the mess we're in. Fair enough?

[farmer18th]

Um, Mr. History Major? Need I point out the troublesome detail of the fact that Catholic Italy wasn't buying the whole antisemitic thing

Um, Mr. Contemplative? Need I point out that while avoiding anti-semitism is a good thing, Mussolini's fascism isn't much consolation?

If religion had a place in the PUBLIC square, moral idiots like Mussolini might not have had the field day they did? Heah?

[jwalsh07]

Yup.

[farmer18th]

Pryor is AG of AL, not Bishop of Birmingham

Ergo, he simply must be a moral failure. I see where you're going.

[Looking for Diogenes]

How does the 14th Amendment incorporate the third amendment when states are proscribed from having soldiers as distinct from militias? Food for thought.

Rather meager food. The 3rd Amendment is the least debated section of the entire Constitution. It can stay that way, as far as I'm concerned.

[farmer18th]

The initial "pitting" by the way was done by Chancelor, who brayed warmly about his "contemplative" branch of Christianity over the "hick" theology of evangelicals, and, presumably, those who see justice in Judge Moore's fight.

[jwalsh07]

How about the seventh amendment? Obviously the 14th does not incorporate it yet your cite says the first 8 amendments are incorporated by the 14th.

Do you believe in the tooth fairy as well?

Now, you tell me when the "total incorporation" theory of the 14th as applied to the BOR came into being. I'm curious as to just how conversant you are in the subject.

[jwalsh07]

Chancellor Jackboot interests me not one whit. My blue collar can whip his counselor's arse without getting a sweat stain on it.

[EternalVigilance]

As an evangelical who is by no means anti-Catholic, I certainly took your comments in the spirit in which they were given.

Your actual point, ignored of course by your critics, about the difference between those who contemplate but don't act versus those who actually do something was well-taken and I think fair.

[jwalsh07]

I was referencing debate of course. :-}

[farmer18th]

Farmer18th: In the same way that Dred Scott resolved the issue of slavery? You think this is resolved?

Catspaw: For now it is.

I think you would have to admit that this is little more than legal proceduralism. The broader fight is about the truth, not about "law" as defined by lawyers. Some conservatives believe that God's ancient and immutable law should have a greater voice in public policy. Some purely economic conservatives--who prefer a more existential approach to their personal lives--think otherwise. Let the good fight begin. I know who's going to win.

[Looking for Diogenes]

How about the seventh amendment? Obviously the 14th does not incorporate it yet your cite says the first 8 amendments are incorporated by the 14th.

Don't you believe that the 7th Amendment applies to states? SCOTUS does. CAPITAL TRACTION CO. v. HOF, 174 U.S. 1 (1899)

Do you believe in the tooth fairy as well?

From someone who believes in fantastical legal arguments and mythical constitutional theories, that's an odd question to ask.

Now, you tell me when the "total incorporation" theory of the 14th as applied to the BOR came into being. I'm curious as to just how conversant you are in the subject.

What's my prize for answering your quiz?

[jwalsh07]

What's my prize for answering your quiz?

Knowledge.

[farmer18th]

From "The Acts and Laws of His Majesty's Colony of New Hampshire" 1759:

..if any person shall presume wilfully to blaspheme the holy name of God, Father, Son or Holy Ghost, either by denying, cursing or reproaching the true God, his creation or government of the world; or by denying , cursing, or reproaching the holy word of God, that is the canonical scriptures....every one so offending shall be punished by imprisonment, not exceeding six months, ...by setting in the pillory, by whipping, boardig throgh the tongue with a red hot iron, or setting upon the gallows with a rope about their neck..."

Interesting side-light: you are four times more likely to be the victim of violent crime in Massachusetts today than when the pillory and stocks were employed.

[jwalsh07]

Don't you believe that the 7th Amendment applies to states? SCOTUS does. CAPITAL TRACTION CO. v. HOF, 174 U.S. 1 (1899)

Wrong again Diogenes but hang in there.

[EternalVigilance]

Those darned Founders! They were SO uncompassionate and insensitive! Devisive and hateful and meanspirited, too...

/sarcasm

;-)

[jwalsh07]

But this all is getting us nowhere fast.

Lets look at what the judicial activist, thats you, view of the 14th Amendment has given us and what it will give us in the future.

Unfettered abortion from conception until the baby is partially born.

Justice Kennedys "transcendent liberty" theory removing the matter of sodomy laws from the states.

Taken to its logical conclusion Kennedys majority opinionleads directly to homosexual marriage.

The 14th Amendment was meant to procure fundamental rights to all AMerican citizens. It has been perverted to consolidate power in 9 lawyers sitting in a building in Washington.

When they rule that the 14th Amendment guarantees a "transcendent liberty" for all Americans to be free of the threat of firearms and applies that to the state as well, perhaps you'll stop building the Brideg Over the River Kwai, but I doubt it.

[farmer18th]

Those darned Founders! They were SO uncompassionate and insensitive! Devisive and hateful and meanspirited, too...

The galling thing--AND I JUST CAN'T BELIEVE THIS--is that they wouldn't have been troubled by someone inscribing "thou shalt not commit murder" on the wall of a court! Man, that frosts me! Foisting their RELIGIOUS beliefs on people like that!