A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day....08-25-03....Showdown In Montgomery

Aquamarine; Billie | Aquamarine

[Aquamarine]

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day

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Showdown in Montgomery

After hearing the pleas for people to go show their support for the Ten Commandments controversy in Montgomery last Wednesday, my husband and I loaded up the dog and went on down. Listening to the radio on the way, we learned that Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore lost a last-ditch appeal to keep a Ten Commandments monument in the state judicial building, thus clearing the way for its removal.

We arrived about 5:30 that afternoon. Upon hearing the Supreme Court refused to intervene, some Moore supporters kneeled while others stood at the monument, which is directly across from the entrance to the rotunda.

The Courthouse was closed at 4 o'clock (an hour early) and protesters were told to leave. After refusing to leave, they were handcuffed by Montgomery police and led, one by one, out of the rotunda. Several of the protesters refused to walk and were dragged from the rotunda.

About a hundred Moore supporters sang and prayed outside the building as those inside were removed from the rotunda. A total of 21 protesters were arrested and taken to the Montgomery County Jail.

We parked below the courthouse and walked up on an unsettling scene of police and media. A man told me that the the protesters that had been arrested would be coming out via the basement of the Courthouse in a bus any minute.

I was able to snap these pictures while applauding the people on the bus for the sacrifices that they were making. You can't see their faces in the pics but I have to tell you that I could, and they looked like angels!

We then walked to the front door of the Courthouse up a flight of marble steps and took some pictures of the monument through the glass front door. They had just finished a big interview and the cameramen still had their lights on, making it very hot and stuffy. Could actually feel the sadness and frustration lingering in the hot southern Alabama air.

As night wore on, more and more people came to this area to give support. Many of the women were sitting on the steps crying. A local minister sitting on the ground next to me said that few religious leaders in Montgomery have supported Moore publicly.

More protesters began to pour into the area in front of the courthouse as a Christian Youth band set up their instruments and played modern Christian music, which changed the mood of the crowd, and the scene became more uplifting. Several minister's from different parts of the country went to the microphones and gave pep talks and prayed with the crowd. One special moment was when a Minister from New Jersey had everyone kneel and pray.

It was an unforgettable experience and we left that night feeling a combination of shock over what's happening to the underpinnings of our country and a sense of optimism that people were starting to wake up to the threats to our freedom and liberty and are beginning to take their stand.
~ Aquamarine

"This case is not about a monument, it's not about politics or religion, it's about the acknowledgment of God.
We must acknowledge God because our constitution says our justice system is established upon God." ~ Judge Roy Moore

With thousands in attendance on August 18, 2003, Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore delivered the following poem:

Our American Birthright
One nation under God was their cry and declaration,
Upon the law of Nature's God they built a mighty Nation.
For unlike mankind before them who had walked this earthen sod,
These men would never question the Sovereignty of God.
That all men were "created" was a truth "self-evident,"
To secure the rights God gave us was the role of government.
And if any form of government became destructive of this end,
It was their right, their duty, a new one to begin.

So with a firm reliance on Divine Providence for protection,
They pledged their sacred honor and sought His wise direction.
They lifted an appeal to God for all the world to see,
And declared their independence forever to be free.
I'm glad they're not here with us to see the mess we're in,
How we've given up our righteousness for a life of indulgent sin.
For when abortion isn't murder and sodomy is deemed a right,
Then evil is now called good and darkness is now called light.

While truth and law were founded on the God of all Creation,
Man now, through law, denies the truth and calls it "separation."
No longer does man see a need for God when he's in full control,
For the only truth self-evident is in the latest poll.
But with man as his own master we fail to count the cost,
Our precious freedoms vanish and our liberty is lost.
Children are told they can't pray and they teach them evolution,
When will they learn the fear of God is the only true solution?
Our schools have become the battleground while all across the land,
Christians shrug their shoulders—afraid to take a stand.

And from the grave their voices cry the victory has been won.
Just glorify the Father as did His only Son.
When your work on earth is done,
and you've traveled where we've trod,
You'll leave the land we left to you,
ONE NATION UNDER GOD!

THE WEEKEND THREAD 08-23,24-03 Week in Review

Opinions by our own 'King of Ping' The guy's good, folks!

Thanks, Mixer!

1) Click on the graphic to open the Calendar.
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[Billie]

What a cutie! He's growing so, 'nad. (I think it's cute when they suck their thumb) :) I know you're out there - nice to have you check in when you can. Gosh, how far is Montgomery from where you are in Missouri?

What level substitute teaching? High School, I bet! Or possibly Jr. High. Remember it's not Boot Camp. LOL!

[MeekOneGOP]

I know. I hope they are punished, but I will not get my hopes up too much.
They are 'RATS after all ...

:O(

[deadhead]

God Bless your baby boy, he is precious!

[deadhead]

Monday evening "hello" to the both of you. Excellent thread today.

Colleen

[g'nad]

I said high school... gotta feelin' I'd traumatize little ones... and jr. high is just too squirrely fer me...

It'd be a drive to AL... gotta figure out if there's anything I can do down there... wouldn't be the first time I'd spent the night in jail...

yeah... I'm still here... on a stinkin' 56k dial up... takes ferever fer this page to load...

[g'nad]

thank yuh dh...

[Dubya]

Monday, August 25, 2003 Posted: 5:54 PM EDT (2154 GMT)

Judge pledges to stop Ten Commandments removal
Moore tells supporters: 'I've kept my oath'

MONTGOMERY, Alabama (CNN) --Suspended Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore vowed to fight to keep his job and to keep a massive Ten Commandments monument in the state judicial building's rotunda after police barricaded the building's doors Monday.

"I stand before the Court of the Judiciary because I've done my oath. I've kept my oath. I have acknowledged God as the moral foundation of our law," Moore told cheering supporters outside the building Monday afternoon.

Other Moore supporters filed a lawsuit Monday in federal court in Mobile in a last-ditch bid to prevent the carved stone monument from being moved.

They argue that removing the monument would amount to a government endorsement of a "religion of non-theistic beliefs," according to the complaint.

Moore argues that the Ten Commandments are the foundation of the U.S. legal system and that forbidding the acknowledgment of the Judeo-Christian God violates the First Amendment.

"It's not about a monument," he said. "It's not about religion. It's about the acknowledgment of almighty God," he said.

Last week, Moore's colleagues on the Alabama Supreme Court overruled his defiance of a federal court order demanding the 2.6-ton granite monument's removal, and the state's Judicial Inquiry Commission suspended him from office.

Monday afternoon, police put up metal barricades to keep people who have gathered in support of Moore away from the building's glass doors.

"Christians are offended at many things in today's society," Moore told about 150 supporters. "They're offended at abortion, at sodomy in our streets, at kids getting killed in school.

"And yet, we seem to be ashamed at standing up and speaking the truth -- of acknowledging that we are created in the image of God and endowed by him with our rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," he said.

The Judicial Inquiry Commission charged Moore with six ethics violations for defying a federal court order to remove the monument.

One of Moore's lawyers, former state Supreme Court Justice Terry Butts, said the chief justice's defense team will "actively mount a very vigorous defense of the allegations that have been made against the chief justice."

Commission spokeswoman Margaret Childers said Moore has 30 days to respond.

The state's Court of the Judiciary could decide to punish Moore, and could even remove him from the bench.

Many backers waited outside the building through the weekend, threatening to block efforts to remove the monument.

Patrick Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition, said one company contacted about removing the monument has refused to do so, and he urged Moore's supporters to boycott any company that took the job.

"Today let it be known that any engineering company or any company that would transport furniture or move heavy materials, if you move this monument, we will call for a nationwide boycott of you," he said.

"We see the First Amendment to protect religious liberty, not crush religious liberty," Mahoney said.

Moore installed the monument in August 2001 without consulting the other justices.

Three Alabama lawyers who often had business at the judicial building sued, and U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson ruled that the monument was an unconstitutional promotion of religion.

Moore appealed the decision, but the U.S. Supreme Court refused to stay Thompson's order demanding the monument's removal by midnight Wednesday.

Moore refused to comply, prompting the state Supreme Court's other justices to overrule him.

With Thompson threatening to impose fines up to $5,000 a day, Moore's colleagues ordered the monument removed "as soon as practicable."
http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/08/25/ten.commandments/

[Dubya]

Robert Reed of Mobile prays Monday on the steps of the Alabama State Judicial Building in Montgomery.

[lonestar]

You won't ever catch me in a burka!

Hmmmmm Do Re Me...

Give me that old time religion, give me that old time religion....

....it's good enough for me.

Weinie

[Dubya]

Washington's First Inaugural Address
At his first inauguration, George Washington took the oath of office for the presidency on April 30, 1789. He was standing on the balcony of Federal Hall in New York City with his hand on an open Bible. After he finished taking the oath, the audience in attendance gave a thunderous ovation and bells of the various churches began ringing in his honor. After his oath of office was completed, he went to deliver his inaugural address to Congress.

---

"Such being the impressions under which I have, in obedience to the public summons, repaired to the present station, it would be peculiarly improper to omit, in this first official act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations and whose providential aide can supply every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States a Government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes; and may enable every instrument employed in its administration to execute with success, the functions allotted to his charge.
In tendering this homage to the Great Author of every public and private good, I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less than my own; nor those of my fellow-citizens at large, less than either. No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States.

Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency; and in the important revolution just accomplished in the system of their United government, the tranquil deliberations and voluntary consent of so many distinct communities, from which the event has resulted can not be compared with the means by which most governments have been established, without some return of pious gratitude, along with an humble anticipation of the future blessings which them past seem to presage.

These reflections, arising out of the present crisis, have forced themselves too strongly on my mind to be suppressed. You will join with me I trust in thinking, that there are none under the influence of which the proceedings of a new and free Government can more auspiciously commence.

We ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained; and since the preservation of sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered as deeply, perhaps finally, staked of the experiment...

I shall take my present leave; but not without resorting once more to the Benign Parent of the Human Race, in humble supplication that, since He has been pleased to favor the American people with opportunities for deliberating in perfect tranquility, and dispositions for deciding with unparalleled unanimity on a form of government for the security of their union and the advancement of their happiness, so His divine blessings may be equally conspicuous in the enlarged views, the temperate consultations and the wise measures on which the success of this Government must depend."

[Temple Owl]

It was a great report. You betcha. Take care Billie. You are special.

[lonestar]

I think it's great!

[Calpernia]

Oh how sweet! Makes me want another!

oops....I didn't really say that, did I?

[Calpernia]

"Weinie outlaws Burkas"

[sport]

The main cast of characters are:
1. the alcu
2. the southern poverty law center
3. people for the american way

A more seedy gang of scoundrels you will never find.

They make bill and hillary clinton seem like honest individuals.

[Dubya]

Comments made in the year 1957:

"I'll tell you one thing, if things keep going the way they are, it's going to be impossible to buy a week's groceries for $20."

"Have you seen the new cars coming out next year? It won't be long before $5000 will only buy a used one."

"If cigarettes keep going up in price, I'm going to quit. A quarter a pack is ridiculous."

"Did you hear the post office is thinking about charging a dime just to mail a letter?"

"If they raise the minimum wage to $1, nobody will be able to hire outside help at the store."

"When I first started driving, who would have thought gas would someday cost 29 cents a gallon. Guess we'd be better off leaving the car in the garage."

"Kids today are impossible. Those duck tail hair cuts make it impossible to stay groomed. Next thing you know, boys will be wearing their hair as long as the girls."

"I'm afraid to send my kids to the movies any more. Ever since they let Clark Gable get by with saying 'damn' in 'Gone With The Wind,' it seems every new movie has either 'hell' or 'damn' in it."

"I read the other day where some scientist thinks it's possible to put a man on the moon by the end of the of the century. They even have some fellows they call astronauts preparing for it down in Texas."

"Did you see where some baseball player just signed a contract for $75,000 a year just to play ball? It wouldn't surprise me if someday they'll be making more than the president."

"I never thought I'd see the day all our kitchen appliances would be electric. They are even making electric typewriters now."

"It's too bad things are so tough nowadays. I see where a few married women are having to work to make ends meet."

"It won't be long before young couples are going to have to hire someone to watch their kids so they can both work."

"I'm just afraid the Volkswagen car is going to open the door to a whole lot of foreign business."

"Thank goodness I won't live to see the day when the Government takes half our income in taxes. I sometimes wonder if we are electing the best people to congress."

"The drive-in restaurant is convenient in nice weather, but I seriously doubt they will ever catch on."

"There is no sense going to L.A. or San Francisco anymore for a weekend. It costs nearly $15 a night to stay in a hotel."

"No one can afford to be sick any more; $35 a day in the hospital is too rich for my blood."

"If they think I'll pay 50 cents for a hair cut, forget it."

[Dubya]

Thanks for the info. They are shady or what I could find on them makes be believe they are.

[sweetliberty]

Hi Mama Bear. Nice to see you too. I've just been real busy with work and all. I would really like to be able to go to Alabama and I have next week off, but now I need to go to Colorado. My ex-husband passed away last night and I really need to go be with my daughter.

[Mama_Bear]

My ex-husband passed away last night and I really need to go be with my daughter.

Oh, so sorry to hear this. My heart goes out to your daughter.

Have a safe trip back to Colorado.

[sweetliberty]

Thank you.