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Preaching the Gospel Would be Against the Law! (And Other Hate Crimes Myths) (via Politics Daily - Disputations (religion news and comment))
With a Senate vote expected soon to expand federal hate crimes laws to include sexual orientation, religious conservatives are ramping up the rhetoric
RELIGION IN AMERICAN HISTORY: In Guns We Trust
A great piece by historian Jon Pahl reflecting on the murder of Meleanie Hain, the Lebanon, PA mother who became a gun rights cause celebre when she open-carried her loaded pistol at her five-year-old's soccer game. (The local sheriff subsequently revoked her permit for showing "poor judgment; a judge reinstated it.) Hain was recently killed in her home by her husband, who was also a gun enthusiast.
Monica Yant Kinney: Firearms the problem, not answer | Philadelphia Inquirer | 10/11/2009
Meleanie Hain, an unusual character (she was a Hare Krishna) who became famous for bringing a loaded pistol to her five-year-old daughter's soccer game about a year ago, was shot and killed by her husband, also a gun enthusiast, in their home last Friday (Oct. 9, 2009). The children reportedly ran from the house shouting, "Daddy shot mommy!" The husband then committed suicide with a shotgun. So much for guns keeping you safe.
Parents given jail terms for relying on prayers to save dying daughter | World news | guardian.co.uk
Sentencing for Dale and Leilani Neumann (of Wisconsin), whose 11-year-old daughter died of diabetes after her parents attempted to treat her using prayer alone. It's a remarkably mile sentence -- one month for each parent for second-degree homicide.
US court: Prison okay to stop man's kosher meals - Israel Jewish Scene, Ynetnews
Here's the article's dek: "Michigan appeals court rejects lawsuit filed by inmate who stopped receiving costly kosher meals at St. Louis Correctional Facility after he being caught buying non-kosher munchies at prison store." Sums it up pretty well. The inmate in question has not received a kosher meal since 2005, apparently.
Ex Ursinus student writes letter of remorse - The Mercury News: Pottstown, PA and The Tri County areas of Montgomery, Berks and Chester Counties (pottsmerc.com)
The letter of apology by John Bame, the ex-Ursinus student busted just weeks before he was to graduate (April 2006) for dealing pot out of his dorm room, written as part of a sentencing agreement (he got probation instead of prison). The news story about the events is here: http://bit.ly/FZwQ0
Former Ursinus student gets probation for dealing pot on campus - The Mercury News: Pottstown, PA and The Tri County areas of Montgomery, Berks and Chester Counties (pottsmerc.com)
From the article: "A former Ursinus College student who blew a $160,000 investment in his education by running a marijuana operation from his dorm room has become a poster child for 'the horrors' of drug dealing. John Edward Bame, 25, of Lansdowne, Delaware County, was sentenced Monday in Montgomery County Court to five years' probation after he pleaded guilty to charges of possession with intent to deliver marijuana in connection with incidents that occurred while he attended Ursinus in Collegeville in April 2006." This guy was in my World Religions class. His letter of apology is here: http://bit.ly/bjI9D
Richard J. Norton, "Feral cities: the new strategic environment," Naval War College Review (Autumn 2003)
The US military must equip and train for operations in urban environments where centralized law enforcement, basic service delivery, and legitimate economic activity has collapsed (e.g. Johannesburg).
Irish Question Catholic Identity After Abuse Report : NPR
On the far-reaching reverberations of the latest clerical child-abuse revelations in Ireland.
UN v. USA re: Death Penalty | Human Rights Now - Amnesty International USA Blog
Report highlights: "legal limitations preventing inmates from access to DNA tests once they have already been convicted," "structural disincentives for vigorous capital defense" (i.e., low pay for public defenders); correlation of death sentences to "the imminence of judicial elections"; and "racial bias behind the imposition of the death penalty."
"Mother convicted in prayer-death trial: ound guilty of reckless homicide for letting sick daughter die," MSNBC (May 22, 2009) - Crime & courts- msnbc.com
From the article: "[Defense attorney] Linehan said Neumann didn't realize her daughter was so ill and did all she could do to help, in line with the family's belief in faith-healing. He said Neumann was a devout Christian who prays about everything and took good care of her four children. 'Religious extremism is a Muslim terrorist,' Linehan said. 'They are saying these parents were so far off the scale that they murdered their child. The woman did everything she could to help her. That is the injustice in this case.'"
Mark Danner, "US Torture: Voices from the Black Sites (review of ICRC Report on the Treatment of Fourteen "High Value Detainees" in CIA Custody by the International Committee of the Red Cross)," The New York Review of Books 56.6 (April 9, 2009)
In case there was any doubt, yes, the U.S. did use torture during the Bush administration (and yes, Bush lied about it). According to Danner, the resulting intelligence gains were probably not all that significant, and are outweighed by the devastating moral effect on U.S. standing abroad. In addition, most torture victims are now legally immune from prosecution, since their long-term treatment has rendered them unfit for trial.
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The political damage to the United States' reputation, and to the "soft power" of its constitutional and democratic ideals, has been, though difficult to quantify, vast and enduring. In a war that is essentially an insurgency fought on a worldwide scale—which is to say, a political war, in which the attitudes and allegiances of young Muslims are the critical target of opportunity—the United States' decision to use torture has resulted in an enormous self-administered defeat, undermining liberal sympathizers of the United States and convincing others that the country is exactly as its enemies paint it: a ruthless imperial power determined to suppress and abuse Muslims. By choosing to torture, we freely chose to become the caricature they made of us.
Coatesville: Latest Fire Ruled Arson - News- msnbc.com
Today's update on the string of thirty arsons (one fatality so far) that have taken place over the past six weeks or so in Coatesville, PA, not far from where I live. According to the article, "[t]he mayor has ordered people in Coatesville to remove cardboard, cushions and chairs outside their homes that could catch fire." That gives you an idea of how scared people are. The arsonist or arsonists are beginning to hit neighboring towns as well.
US Conference of Catholic Bishops: statement condemning workplace raids as immigration enforcement tactic (Sept. 10, 2008)
The head of the immigration subcommittee of the US Catholic Bishops conference criticizes the increasing use of large-scale armed workplace raids by the ICE as a tool for immigration enforcement. He doesn't say this explicitly, but due primarily to demographic and economic factors, Catholic churches have often borne the brunt of the massive humanitarian relief costs that arise in the wake of these raids, particularly in caring for abandoned children and other dependent family members (many of whom, not that it should matter, are actually U.S. citizens).
The Lavender Panthers - TIME
An article from the 1973 about a gay vigilante group called the "Lavender Panthers."
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