Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Transcript of Miers 14 page 1993 speech to Executive Women of Dallas (pdf format)
Washington Post ^ | 1993 | Harriet Miers

Posted on 10/26/2005 7:54:50 PM PDT by USAConstitution

...when you hear the Courts blamed for activism or intrusion where they do not belong...Stop and examine what the elected leadership has done to solve the problem at issue and whether abdication to courts to make the hard decisions is a not too prevalent tactic in today's world....

Where else do we hear a lot today about the Courts.[sic] The law and religion... Abortion clinic protestors have become synonymous with terrorists and the courts have been the refuge for the besieged... The ongoing debate continues surrounding the attempt to once again criminalize abortions or to once and for all guarantee the freedom of the individual women's right to decide for herself whether she will have an abortion. Questions about what can be taught or done in public places or public schools are presented frequently to the courts.

The law and religion make for interesting mixture but the mixture tends to evoke the strongest of emotions. The underlying theme in most of these case is the insistence of more self-determination. And the more I think about these issues, the more self-determination makes the most sense. Legislating religion or morality we gave up on a long time ago. Remembering that fact appears to offer the most effective solutions to these problems once the easier cases are disposed of... Where science determines the facts, the law can effectively govern. However, when science cannot determine the facts and decisions vary based upon religious belief, then government should not act...

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: harrietmiers; miers; scotus
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 161-180181-200201-220 ... 241-259 next last
To: Sun
I just heard on the radio that Concerned Women of America came out against her.

Discussed here ...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1509796/posts

181 posted on 10/26/2005 9:37:26 PM PDT by Cboldt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 173 | View Replies]

To: Iconoclast2

[["Abortion clinic protestors have become synonymous with terrorists and the courts have been the refuge for the besieged"

There is no ambiguity here at all. The courts have been hammering abortion protestors with outrageous judgments, killing the first amendment. Those inside the clinics are "the beseiged" protected by the courts. She is approving the stifling of dissent with bogus RICO judgments because abortion protestors are her enemies too.]]

I suggest you consider history in making your evaluation, according to the Office of International Criminal Justice of the University of Illinois at Chicago, in 1996, there has been "over $13 million in damage caused by violent anti-abortion groups since 1982 in over 150 arson attacks, bombings, and shootings."

http://www.acsp.uic.edu/

Violent anti-abortion groups certainly did act like terrorists and tarred the peaceful pro-life movement. Need I mention Eric Rudolph ? There is plenty of ambiguity, you simply do not want to seek an honest explanation, your whole purpose is to condemn, distort, manipulate, defame and smear. Her statement, with the above consideration of historical fact, is accurate and unimpeachable.

I am leaning against her nomination, but the dishonest tactics being engaged in to crucify her are deplorable. And some of you have the gall to talk about principle ?


182 posted on 10/26/2005 9:37:36 PM PDT by KMAJ2 (Freedom not defended is freedom relinquished, liberty not fought for is liberty lost.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 76 | View Replies]

To: RegulatorCountry
From what I've read in the past several days of Miers

Whoa, what have I missed.. I thought I have stayed pretty much on top of all of the Straw-men being shoved out in front of the unknown facts.. That is the problem,. none of us seem to know what Miers is about, which is why I want to hear her out.. After all it is possible that I am the one that is wrong.. I know that is a real stretch, but anything is possible.. :)

183 posted on 10/26/2005 9:37:49 PM PDT by carlo3b (http://www.CookingWithCarlo.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 160 | View Replies]

To: carlo3b
Are you afraid you will be shone to have been wrong, again.. What was your early take on Roberts?

I will have been shone wrong if she shines in the hearing. I had no take on Roberts. You are welcome to find one post on that nomination under my name, post it on this thread, and shine me to be the lier I must certainly be.

184 posted on 10/26/2005 9:39:22 PM PDT by phelanw
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 176 | View Replies]

To: Torie

She was raised a Roman Catholic. She was *saved* by that rearing.


185 posted on 10/26/2005 9:39:29 PM PDT by Kryptonite (McCain, Graham, Warner, Snowe, Collins, DeWine, Chafee - put them in your sights)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 158 | View Replies]

To: carlo3b; jwalsh07; mrsmith; Sandy
If Miers had said, that the failure to honestly discuss hard issues, and make a decision after discussing and voting on them, leaves a vacuum, then however much we might decry it, given the vacuum, judges tend to have this irresistible impulse to fill it (whereas an intelligently debated and decided decision might give them pause before abusing their power), with their own values often, rather than those of the polity in general, then I would agree with you.

But she did not say that. She just didn't. She said, that if we don't do what is needed to be done, about inequality, segregation, housing, progressive taxation, funding for school districts, then the courts will do what we should have done, to "solve" the unmet business of the public square.

You might not like it, but that is a fair reading of her comments. It really is.

186 posted on 10/26/2005 9:39:32 PM PDT by Torie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 171 | View Replies]

To: Kryptonite; Cboldt


"I place more weight on her what she converted from - she was raised a Roman Catholic after all."

This was an initial piece of information that was put out, but it was incorrect:


"Contrary to reports, Harriet Miers was not raised as a Catholic"
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1506856/posts


187 posted on 10/26/2005 9:39:43 PM PDT by Stellar Dendrite ( Mike Pence for President!!! http://acuf.org/issues/issue34/050415pol.asp)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 179 | View Replies]

To: Cboldt

I love the last word, sigh.. I never got that with any of my ex wives.. thanks, you made my night.. :)


188 posted on 10/26/2005 9:40:19 PM PDT by carlo3b (http://www.CookingWithCarlo.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 177 | View Replies]

To: Kryptonite

Apparently she was raised an Episcolpalean. That is a plus in her favor. If I ever find religion, it will be as an Episcopalean. :)


189 posted on 10/26/2005 9:40:42 PM PDT by Torie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 185 | View Replies]

To: Cboldt
...I recoil from the notion of supporting legal arguments with faith-driven conclusions.

I'm not sure I follow you.

190 posted on 10/26/2005 9:40:51 PM PDT by I got the rope
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 174 | View Replies]

To: FastCoyote

This is how I wrote in college, when I didn't have any idea what I was talking about. We called it "BS". Was sometimes good for a "B" if you were lucky.


191 posted on 10/26/2005 9:41:04 PM PDT by ducdriver ("Impartiality is a pompous name for indifference, which is an elegant name for ignorance." GKC)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 62 | View Replies]

To: Torie
Torie, I respectfully disagree.. That is precisely what she is saying, only not as nearly so eloquently.. :)
192 posted on 10/26/2005 9:42:55 PM PDT by carlo3b (http://www.CookingWithCarlo.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 186 | View Replies]

To: Kryptonite
she was raised a Roman Catholic after all.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1506856/posts
Contrary to reports, Harriet Miers was not raised as a Catholic

Miers grew up in Dallas attending Catholic and Protestant churches, said her sister-in-law Elizabeth Lang-Miers [pretty close relative], a state appellate judge. Miers' mother "imbued" her children with a strong sense of Christian faith, said Lang-Miers, but she added that she wasn't sure whether Miers considered herself Catholic or Protestant growing up.

"My impression at the time and since was that she considered herself, if anything, Catholic. But she really didn't consider it very much," said Hecht. ...

Ron Key, a former minister at the church, said Valley View has supported Christian ministries that try to persuade unwed mothers to consider adoption over abortion. ...

But Hecht also said that both he and Miers have recently left the church, joining about 200 others who are forming another congregation after disputes about staffing, governance and worship style since the arrival last year of Barry McCarty as "preaching minister."

Miers attended a Sunday gathering of the disaffected group two weekends ago, said Key. He left the church staff this summer after more than 30 years and has been preaching to the as-yet-unnamed second congregation.

Wilson, the Valley View office manager, acknowledged that the split is painful for the church. "We're in transition," she said. She noted that Miers attended Valley View while visiting a few weeks ago. "She's still on the membership rolls here," Wilson said.

But Hecht, who has resigned as a church elder, maintained that Miers was joining him in leaving the church. Key said Miers called him and his wife, Kaycia, on the night before Monday's announcement that she would be the high court nominee. "She simply asked for us to pray for her. My wife asked, 'Could you tell us why?' She said, 'You know me better than that.' We said, 'OK, we'll pray for you.'"

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/176/story_17640_1.html


193 posted on 10/26/2005 9:43:19 PM PDT by Cboldt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 179 | View Replies]

To: af_vet_1981

Nice to see you finally dropped that disgusting tagline.


194 posted on 10/26/2005 9:43:19 PM PDT by diogenes ghost
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 117 | View Replies]

To: Stellar Dendrite

I stand corrected. Thanks.


195 posted on 10/26/2005 9:44:29 PM PDT by Kryptonite (McCain, Graham, Warner, Snowe, Collins, DeWine, Chafee - put them in your sights)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 187 | View Replies]

To: phelanw
I believe you.. I was throwing out my own stealth straw-man.. :)
196 posted on 10/26/2005 9:44:33 PM PDT by carlo3b (http://www.CookingWithCarlo.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 184 | View Replies]

To: Cboldt

Thanx. I'll check it out.


197 posted on 10/26/2005 9:45:00 PM PDT by Sun (Hillary Clinton is pro-ILLEGAL immigration. Don't let her fool you. She has a D- /F immigr. rating.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 181 | View Replies]

To: carlo3b

Keep hope alive. That is all that is left in Pandora's box. But I think in this case, Pandora's box is empty. That is my best judgment, and I was not part of the lynch Miers crowd over garbage.


198 posted on 10/26/2005 9:45:27 PM PDT by Torie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 192 | View Replies]

To: I got the rope

Re: mingling of legal principles with faith-principles - I think it makes bad law.


199 posted on 10/26/2005 9:45:40 PM PDT by Cboldt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 190 | View Replies]

To: Torie

If you ever find religion, it will be Kryptology.

As in a cold day in hell I imagine...:)


200 posted on 10/26/2005 9:45:51 PM PDT by Kryptonite (McCain, Graham, Warner, Snowe, Collins, DeWine, Chafee - put them in your sights)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 189 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 161-180181-200201-220 ... 241-259 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson