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The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that New Line (a division of Warner Bros.) is developing a sequel to the “Vacation” franchise. There have been four movies (and a made-for-TV movie entitled “Christmas Vacation 2”). This new film would apparently focus on Rusty Griswold, who is now a father himself, as he takes his family on a road trip vacation. For the love of God, New Line, please bring original “Rusty” actor Anthony Michael Hall back! Otherwise, I want no part of this movie. This got me to thinking though: What is your favorite “Vacation” movie? Internet debate is fierce. Most...

Jun 23, 2006 Reflections on the 2006 General Convention of The Episcopal Church The Rt. Rev. Chuck Murphy Chairman, The Anglican Mission in America The actions and direction of the Episcopal Church, as evidenced in its just concluded General Convention, remain a continuing tragedy. The decisions reached, the language used, and the directions taken, are nothing new. Much of their rhetoric mirrors that of other groups that departed orthodoxy centuries ago, such as the Unitarian Universalists who continue to this day to present both the language and the theology of this latest Convention in their literature and on their webpage....

The Episcopalians are in disarray as their primate shows her feminist credentials THE Episcopal Church in America descended into chaos last night after leading bishops on both the liberal and conservative wings dissassociated themselves from a last-gasp effort to avert a schism with the worldwide Anglican Communion. Just hours after its newly elected woman head preached a sermon in praise of “our mother Jesus”, the Episcopal Church agreed to “exercise restraint” in appointing any more gay bishops after a tense day of debate and argument. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, welcomed the resolution with gratitude and what appeared...

The head of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. has endorsed a call for McDonalds to improve working conditions and raise the pay of its tomato pickers. In a letter released on Wednesday, the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the two-million-member denomination, challenged the fast food chain giant to “put an end to human rights violations” by bringing an “adequate solution to the grievous conditions and sub-poverty wages of farmworkers.” "Farmworkers are explicitly excluded from the National Labor Relations Act, which denies them the right to organize, the right to negotiate with their employers, and the right to appeal grievances to...

Frank Griswold preached at the convention of the Diocese of Southern Ohio recently.  His sermon happened to fall on the feast day of St. Martin of Tours, one of Frank's favorite saints.  After relating some famous incidents in the life of Martin, Frank gets to his point: Though Martin was much loved by his flock, his uncompromising witness to the gospel, his reforms and his unflagging concern for the wellbeing and faithfulness of the clergy and people of his diocese, provoked further hostility on the part of many of the bishops. And yet, at the center of his ministry was...

And that a "right to privacy" exists in the Constitution... Nothing more yet...

I repeat, so as not to be misunderstood, that this Court does have power, which it should exercise, to hold laws unconstitutional where they are forbidden by the Federal Constitution. My point is that there is no provision of the Constitution which either expressly or impliedly vests power in this Court to sit as a supervisory agency over acts of duly constituted legislative bodies and set aside their laws because of the Court's belief that the legislative policies adopted are unreasonable, unwise, arbitrary, capricious or irrational. The adoption of such a loose flexible. uncontrolled standard for holding laws unconstitutional, if...

August 09, 2005, Out of Nothing at All The myth of a right to privacy. When the Senate confirmation hearings for Judge John Roberts begin in a few weeks, his Democratic questioners are sure to obsess on something that doesn't exist: a generalized right to privacy. It was this non-right that was the focus of the successful attack on the nomination of Judge Robert Bork, when he was impolite enough to note that such a right appears nowhere in the U.S. Constitution. This prompted Democrats to warn that Bork wanted the sex police to patrol America's bedrooms. The right to...

A story by Mike Allen and R. Jeffrey Smith in the Washington Post on 3 August, 2005, reviewed many of the background documents just released concerning Judge John Roberts, nominee for the US Supreme Court. The article’s title got the subject right, “Judges Should Have 'Limited' Role, Roberts Says.” However, once the authors got into the basis of Griswold v. Connecticut and Roe v. Wade, their understanding of the subject evaporated. The article said, “The new documents disclosed by the archive that reflect Roberts' skeptical views regarding a ‘fundamental’ right to privacy include a lengthy article on judicial restraint that...

WASHINGTON - John Roberts pledged to keep an open mind and respect settled law if confirmed to the Supreme Court, telling Senate committee members in a questionnaire that precedent is important in “promoting the stability of the legal system.” The response, numbering about 100 pages and released by the Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, provides Roberts’ responses to a broad array of questions, including his work history, political ties and views on judicial activism. “A sound judicial philosophy should reflect recognition of the fact that the judge operates within a system of rules developed over the years by other judges equally...

"Yes, we should be knowing their judicial philosophy, we should be knowing their legal form of reasoning. There are lots of questions that are legitimate. . . . What's your view on the right to privacy, which was established in Griswold 40 years ago?" Sen. Charles Schumer, "Meet the Press"      I recently attended a legal symposium in Philadelphia organized by Philip K. Howard of Common Good. It ended a day or so before Justice Sandra Day O'Connor announced her resignation, followed by much praise for her 24 years on the Court. At the symposium, Mr. Howard's organization released a poll done for...

Frank, I'm beggin' ya.  Just don't:My prayers and those of the Episcopal Church in the United States embrace all who have died and have been injured in yesterday’s attacks in London. We pray as well for their families and friends. Through this tragedy we are put in mind once again of our common vulnerability.To radical Muslims who want to force the Islamic religion and sharia law on the entire world and don't mind killing or maiming every Jew or Christian they possibly can in the process. In order to win the "war on terrorism" we must address its underlying causes...

Legal scholar David Garrow was brought up short when a Connecticut audience seemed surprised to hear him say that Connecticut's law criminalizing birth control even for married couples led the Supreme Court to recognize the right to privacy 40 years ago. "Few people were aware of their state's role or the sweep of change since then," said Garrow, author of "Liberty and Sexuality: The Right to Privacy and the Making of Roe v. Wade." Advertisement It was Griswold v. Connecticut, decided June 7, 1965, in which the court first announced that individual rights spelled out in the Constitution's Bill of...

...or more specifically, Griswold v. Connecticut, the decision that was the basis of the Supreme Court's ruling in Roe. The question before the Court in Griswold seems rather innocuous by today's standards: was a Connecticut law banning the use of contraception constitutional. The Court, of course, said no, but why it said no set a precedent that has vexed conservative legal scholars and social activists to this day. On a 7-2 decision, Justice Douglas delivered the majority opinion, stating: "...the First Amendment has a penumbra where privacy is protected from governmental intrusion..." "The present case, then, concerns a relationship lying...

The titular head of the Episcopal Church now believes that the immediate threat of a schism in the worldwide Anglican Communion will come from within the U.S. church itself. Speaking to a group of Episcopal communicators in Salt Lake City recently, Griswold told them that there was no getting away from the controversy stirred when the church's 2003 General Convention confirmed the election of the Rev. V. Gene Robinson, an openly gay man as bishop of the New Hampshire diocese. "I would hope that the church can maintain its unity and remain as one. That's been a long-standing tradition, but...

Pity the Most Reverend Frank Griswold, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. He leads a fractious denomination, in a highly litigious society. His church has taken positions that place it well outside mainstream Anglicanism, as well as Christianity. While he no doubt agrees with the new positions of the Episcopal Church, he seems to do it more out of duty than a joyful sense of calling. He is a non-ideologue, trying to lead a church that is now driven by ideologues. I don’t know Griswold personally, so I’ll resist the temptation of offering an in-depth psychoanalysis of the man. But...

There is currently a struggle between two distinct Anglican ecclesiologies, each with its own camp, but the two need not be opposed, according to the Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold. The Presiding Bishop participated in a liturgical foot washing on Maundy Thursday, heard confession on Good Friday and performed confirmations on Holy Saturday this year at the historic Anglo-Catholic parish of St. Paul’s on K Street in Washington, D.C. Speaking to adult baptismal candidates on Holy Saturday in response to a question about the state of the Anglican Communion, the Presiding Bishop said he defined the two different doctrines as:...

Now that I’m somewhat over yesterday’s utter amazement at ++Griswold’s rant at the House of Bishops meeting, I have some thoughts. This confirms my past suspicions posted here that Griswold and his allies don’t give a flip about unity. If he did, why would he make such a statement? I think this is an important point. If you don’t want to get wiped out in a conflict, you must know your enemy. Before that, you must know who is your enemy. ++Griswold is not interested in unity with the orthodox. All his talk about reconciliation blah blah blah is a...

None of these cases rest on solid legal ground. As Justice Douglas acknowledged in Griswold, the right to privacy is to be found not in the Constitution but in its "penumbras" and "emanations." At the same time, there is a strong political consensus against the government intruding into people's bedrooms. If Griswold and Lawrence disappeared from the books tomorrow, it's unlikely any state would rush to re-enact laws against contraceptives or consensual sodomy. Abortion and same-sex marriahort ge, by contrast, do spark strong opposition, but not on privacy grounds. Abortion opponents argue that life before birth is worthy of legal...

HONOLULU (12-1-2004)--After a tumultuous year, the Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold -who presides over 2.5 million Episcopalians in 113 dioceses - may have hoped his first visit to Hawai'i would be full of fun, frolic and flowers. During a recent visit to the all-girls St. Andrew's Priory School, there may have been a lot of flowers ("I'm not sure I'm going to be able to see over these," he joked as lei were piled on by the presidents of the various grades), but when he sat down with 24 high school sophomores, the hardball questions came fast and furious. The...