Court claims exorcism protected

"The Texas Supreme Court on Friday threw out a jury award over injuries a 17-year-old girl suffered in an exorcism conducted by members of her old church, ruling that the case unconstitutionally entangled the court in religious matters."

"Schubert said she was pinned to the floor for hours and received carpet burns during the exorcism,"

I suspected that kidnapping and assault were religious matters, but it's good to have that confirmed

"The 2002 trial of the case never touched on the religious aspects, and a Tarrant County jury found the Colleyville church and its members liable for abusing and falsely imprisoning the girl."

"Justice David Medina wrote that finding the church liable "would have an unconstitutional 'chilling effect' by compelling the church to abandon core principles of its religious beliefs.""

When they start sacrificing the firstborn, that'll be ok too. I'll be very happy when the words "It's our RELIGION" or "It's our CULTURE" no longer have standing in law. Beating your kids, abusing your wife (submission!), forbidding same-sex marriage, disallowing women's autonomy over their bodies, unnecessary whale/eagle hunts. All Gone

Current Mood: annoyed
Current Music: Imagine

Or, just how far everyone wants to go to keep illegal brown people out of this country.

link

Chief among their concerns is the possibility that the fence will despoil the environment. In early April, wielding authority Congress granted him in 2005, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff waived three dozen laws that he said interfered with his ability to build the fence. Among them: the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Air Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Wouldn't want to interfere with the fence. The health and safety of the citizens can only be protected by keeping out illegal brown people.

The fence's proposed path would slice through parts of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge

The irony in this is staggering.

For instance, a Nature Conservancy preserve east of Brownsville that's populated by stands of sabal palms and rare birds like chachalacas would wind up on the Mexican side of the fence.

We're cutting off slices of our own country in this endeavor.

Farmers worry about losing access to irrigation water. Local business owners fret that Mexican nationals, many of whom cross over legally to go shopping, may decide to stay home. And consider the predicament of Bob Lucio, who poured his life savings into a deal to run the Fort Brown Memorial Golf Course at the University of Texas at Brownsville. The fence would leave all 18 holes on the Mexican side of the barrier.

Take this money and beef up patrols if you must, but is the hatred for illegals so strong that they are willing to destroy the land so that no others can touch it?

Current Mood: angry

Too many people in the legal system pull shit like this:

secret could free client after 26 years

"when Andrew Wilson told his lawyers that he, and not Alton Logan, had killed the guard, they felt powerless - aware of information that could free a man they believed to be innocent, but unable to do anything with that knowledge. And for decades, they said nothing."

"Now the lawyers had two big worries: Another killing might be tied to their client, and "an innocent man had been charged with his murder and was very likely ... to get the death penalty," Kunz says.

But bound by legal ethics, they kept quiet."

Legal ethics my ASS. Ethics are not about lying by omission, not when someone's life is on the line.

"The lawyers say it was about their client - Wilson - not about their jobs, and they maintain that the prosecutors and police are at fault.

Kunz says he knows some people might find his actions outrageous. His obligation, though, was to Andrew Wilson."

If I had ratted him out ... then I could feel guilty, then I could not live with myself," he says. "I'm anguished and always have been over the sad injustice of Alton Logan's conviction. Should I do the right thing by Alton Logan and put my client's neck in the noose or not? It's clear where my responsibility lies and my responsibility lies with my client."

The obligation should be to the truth of the case

Current Mood: angry

link

Khalida's father says she's 9—or maybe 10....The trafficker found them anyway and demanded his opium. So Shah took his case before a tribal council in Laghman and begged for leniency. Instead, the elders unanimously ruled that Shah would have to reimburse the trafficker by giving Khalida to him in marriage. Now the family can only wait for the 45-year-old drugrunner to come back for his prize. Khalida wanted to be a teacher someday, but that has become impossible. "It's my fate," the child says.

Local farmers say more than one debtor has been bound hand and foot, then locked into a small windowless room with a smoldering fire, slowly choking to death.

In the two districts she studied, approximately half the new brides had been given in marriage to repay opium debts. The new brides included children as young as 5 years old; until they're old enough to consummate their marriages, they mostly work as household servants for their in-laws.

. "I pray that God doesn't give me a daughter if she ends up like me."

Tags: feminism, politics
Current Mood: angry

There's so many ways to title this:

For the one I love, the gift of dihonesty

It's not real and pure if the first time doesn't hurt

Why let a pesky thing like reality get in the way?

Religion screwed me, but I won't let anyone else! Again.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: frustrated

From Feministing:

Tennessee state Sen. Doug Henry:

“Rape, ladies and gentlemen, is not today what rape was. Rape, when I was learning these things, was the violation of a chaste woman, against her will, by some party not her spouse. Today it’s simply, ‘Let’s don’t go forward with this act.’ ”

Let's see what we learn from this:

A sexually active woman cannot be raped, including stranger rape. Again, this is the least common form of rape. A woman is much more likely to be raped by someone she knows, including family members.

If a woman's husband forces her to have sex, it's not rape.

If your partner (even if you aren't married to them) continues to force sex on you after you've told him to stop, it isn't rape.

First Bill Napoli and his fantasies discussions about sodomizing Christian virgins, and now Doug Henry the violation of chaste women. Tells you what they think about, doesn't it.

Tags: feminism
Current Mood: angry

Without the rhetoric and talk about who's most inspiring, CNN has a chart of where each candidate stands on the issues.

link

Since McCain is almost definitely the Republican nominee, I'll mention his stances.

Clinton's definitely strongest on women's issues, promising to code Roe into federal law and overturn the global gag rule on family planning/abortion. She voted against the Partial Birth Abortion act (a misnomer, btw).

McCain, would overturn Roe.

Clinton's also the only one of the candidates that will go for national health care.

I wish she was less hawkish and agree with Obama more on stances on Iran and Iraq. He supports diplomatic efforts.

I wish one of the main candidates would pony up and support gay marriage. At least both are in favor of civil unions. McCain would support a federal marriage ban if the courts overturn state requirements.

All 3 are ok on stem-cell.

Snort. All 3 want that ridiculous 700 mile fence.

Both Dems are willing to revise NAFTA. McCain is a fan.

I prefer Clinton on economic stimulus. She's not talking tax cuts, and I like the 90-day moratorium on subprime lending.

I don't know what Obama thinks a $250 tax cut is going to do. That will help slightly in the very short term.

Nobody has anything about restoring the personal liberties taken by the Patriot Act. McCain wants to increase numbers in the military...guess that'll be needed with so many of our soldiers suffering from PTSD. No one has anything to say about additional help for Vets either.

Guns, I don't worry about too much. There's such an underground trade in them that any effort at restriction is essentially meaningless. If you want a gun, you can get one.

On the issues, I have to go with Clinton.

Tags: politics
Current Mood: thoughtful

( Bill will rescue you )

Current Mood: thoughtful

( The Messengers and Premonition )

Current Mood: bored

Tomorrow night features the premiere of Flash Gordon on scifi. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the glory of Super Whitney. I have high hopes of a wrecked pickup truck to provide that all-important sense of transition and continuity.