Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Stephen Maturin · 07-25-2003, 04:42 PM

Speaking of defending the Ten (or thereabouts) Commandments, Hostettler also signed on as a sponsor of this malodorous mountain of rotting fish guts:

Quote:

108th CONGRESS

1st Session

H. R. 2045
To defend the Ten Commandments.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

May 9, 2003
Mr. ADERHOLT (for himself, Mr. AKIN, Mr. BACHUS, Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland, Mr. BEAUPREZ, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mr. BONNER, Mr. BRADY of Texas, Mr. BROWN of South Carolina, Mr. BURGESS, Mr. CANNON, Mr. CANTOR, Mr. CHOCOLA, Mr. CRANE, Mr. DELAY, Mr. DEMINT, Mr. DOOLITTLE, Mr. FEENEY, Mr. GOODE, Mr. GOODLATTE, Ms. HART, Mr. HAYES, Mr. HAYWORTH, Mr. HERGER, Mr. HOEKSTRA, Mr. HOSTETTLER , Mr. ISTOOK, Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. JONES of North Carolina, Mr. KING of Iowa, Mr. KLINE, Mr. LEWIS of Kentucky, Mr. LUCAS of Kentucky, Mr. MCINTYRE, Mr. MILLER of Florida, Mrs. MUSGRAVE, Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. OTTER, Mr. OXLEY, Mr. PENCE, Mr. PITTS, Mr. ROGERS of Alabama, Mr. RYUN of Kansas, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. SHUSTER, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. SOUDER, Mr. STENHOLM, Mr. TERRY, Mr. TIAHRT, Mr. TIBERI, Mr. VITTER, Mr. WAMP, Mr. WHITFIELD, Mr. WICKER, and Mr. WILSON of South Carolina) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A BILL
To defend the Ten Commandments.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Ten Commandments Defense Act of 2003'.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

The Congress finds the following:

(1) The Declaration of Independence declares that governments are instituted to secure certain unalienable rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, with which all human beings are endowed by their Creator and to which they are entitled by the laws of nature and of nature's God.

(2) The organic laws of the United States Code and the constitutions of every State, using various expressions, recognize God as the source of the blessings of liberty.

(3) The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States secures rights against laws respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof made by the United States Government.

(4) The rights secured under the first amendment have been interpreted by courts of the United States Government to be included among the provisions of the fourteenth amendment.

(5) The tenth amendment reserves to the States respectively the powers not delegated to the United States Government nor prohibited to the States.

(6) Disputes and doubts have arisen with respect to public displays of the Ten Commandments and to other public expression of religious faith.

(7) Section 5 of the fourteenth amendment grants the Congress power to enforce the provisions of the said amendment.

(8) Article I, section 8, grants the Congress power to constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court, and article III, section 1, grants the Congress power to ordain and establish courts in which the judicial power of the United States Government shall be vested.

SEC. 3. RELIGIOUS LIBERTY RIGHTS DECLARED.

(a) DISPLAY OF TEN COMMANDMENTS- The power to display the Ten Commandments on or within property owned or administered by the several States or political subdivisions thereof is hereby declared to be among the powers reserved to the States respectively.

(b) EXPRESSION OF RELIGIOUS FAITH- The expression of religious faith by individual persons on or within property owned or administered by the several States or political subdivisions thereof is hereby--

(1) declared to be among the rights secured against laws respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise of religion made or enforced by the United States Government or by any department or executive or judicial officer thereof; and

(2) declared to be among the liberties of which no State shall deprive any person without due process of law made in pursuance of powers reserved to the States respectively.

(c) EXERCISE OF JUDICIAL POWER- The courts constituted, ordained, and established by the Congress shall exercise the judicial power in a manner consistent with the foregoing declarations.

So THAT'S the trouble with those Decalogue cases. All this time the federal courts have been applying the WRONG AMENDMENTS. Good thing Congress is around to tell those silly judges where the bear shit in the buckwheat. :banghead:

Prediction for this bill: quiet death in committee.

Edit - And just so this post isn't completely off-topic, here's the Americans United press release discussing the appropriations bill amendments.

RufusAtticus · 07-25-2003, 07:14 PM

"(a) DISPLAY OF TEN COMMANDMENTS- The power to display the Ten Commandments on or within property owned or administered by the several States or political subdivisions thereof is hereby declared to be among the powers reserved to the States respectively."

LOL. Do these nuts even read their own bills? This provision declares that the federal government has no power to display the 10c. Therefore, all versions of the 10c on federal property must be removed or destroyed. I wonder how many statues or murals in federal courthouses will be affected?

beejay · 07-25-2003, 07:36 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Stephen Maturin
Speaking of defending the Ten (or thereabouts) Commandments, Hostettler also signed on as a sponsor of this malodorous mountain of rotting fish guts:

Ah, yes. Indiana is well-represented in this group:

Mr. CHOCOLA,
Mr. HOSTETTLER,
Mr. PENCE

Does any other state do a better job of supporting rotting fish guts?

Stephen Maturin · 07-29-2003, 05:34 AM

More on the appropriations bill from law.com:

Quote:

Government experts disagreed on how much effect the amendment, if it survives, would have on the enforcement of the appeals court decisions.

"Congress can't prevent the president from enforcing core executive functions," one of which is enforcing court rulings, said Ronald Klain, a partner at O'Melveny & Myers in Washington, D.C., and a former counselor to Vice President Albert A. Gore Jr. and Attorney General Janet Reno.

But Griffin B. Bell, a former federal appeals court judge and attorney general, said Congress regularly uses its power over government money to stop executive programs lawmakers do not like: "They have that power."

Nobody has absolute power in the government, added Bell, a senior partner at Atlanta's King & Spalding. He noted that neither Congress nor the courts control the U.S. Marshals, who were used throughout the 1960s to enforce civil rights rulings.

As for the House's vote, Bell said, "It's not showing a great deal of respect for the law.

manderguy · 07-29-2003, 09:51 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by beejay
and of course Hostettler is from Indiana.

Hostettler is a raging idiot. He made the dim bulb list that someone puts out about our reps.

He was (tragically) my rep for a short time. One of his campaign slogans was "Hostettler, in your heart, you know he's right." (gah) He probably gets a special joy from raising the ire of those liberal acadmics at IU.

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07-25-2003, 07:14 PM	#12
RufusAtticus Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: NCSU Posts: 5,853	"(a) DISPLAY OF TEN COMMANDMENTS- The power to display the Ten Commandments on or within property owned or administered by the several States or political subdivisions thereof is hereby declared to be among the powers reserved to the States respectively." LOL. Do these nuts even read their own bills? This provision declares that the federal government has no power to display the 10c. Therefore, all versions of the 10c on federal property must be removed or destroyed. I wonder how many statues or murals in federal courthouses will be affected?

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