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Far right continues to hold state budget hostage
Posted Sep 06, 2008 11:48am
by Robert Cruickshank, Courage Campaign
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Posts with the tag Religious Right
On May 5th 2008 the Los Alamitos City Council put on their agenda an item that seemed innocent enough. It was a decision to add a plaque with In God We Trust to the walls of the City Council. This is part of an effort led by Christian fundamentalist Bakersfield Councilwoman Sullivan from her non-profit, In God We Trust - America. A number of cities in the State of California have fallen to this attempt to de-secularize city government, a few have stood up for secular government and said "No."
I decided to stop it in Los Alamitos.
Alone.
Something silly to do with the state being secular. You know, that kind of silly stuff pushed by those old fogies Madison and Jefferson way back in the 1770's.
Below the fold are the speeches I have given in the Council Chamber (and the reactions from the Los Alamitos City Council if there was any). Read More »
I decided to stop it in Los Alamitos.
Alone.
Something silly to do with the state being secular. You know, that kind of silly stuff pushed by those old fogies Madison and Jefferson way back in the 1770's.
Below the fold are the speeches I have given in the Council Chamber (and the reactions from the Los Alamitos City Council if there was any). Read More »
The Bush Administration recently demanded that air carriers collect broad personal information, including a traveler's sexual orientation, by threatening to turn planes away from Europe, and the European Union caved in.
That's right. Micheal Chertoff just said that the 9/11 hijackers were gay. Or at least that if we had known conclusively if they were gay or not, we would have been able to prevent 9/11. Or something.
The government will retain information on your sexual orientation for at least 15 years (but they leave the door open to keeping it forever):
The data is only supposed to be used for counter-terrorism and law enforcement. Which means that if the army of lawyers at Focus on the Family are successful in overturning Lawrence v. Texas, the government will have a huge forever database of gay people it can arrest en masse. One and only one protection exists to prevent the government from arresting and jailing gay people, and it is in the hands of the likes of John Roberts and Sam Alito.
Even if Lawrence is never challenged, Bush and Chertoff could right now black list gay people from traveling, because there is no federal law that protects gay people from profiling or discrimination.
If you think I'm being alarmist, ask yourself why the government would be collecting information about someone's sexual orientation if they had no intention of ever using it.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff praised the pact as an "essential screening tool for detecting potentially dangerous transatlantic travelers." If available at the time of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Chertoff said, such information would have, "within a matter of moments, helped to identify many of the 19 hijackers by linking their methods of payment, phone numbers and seat assignments."
That's right. Micheal Chertoff just said that the 9/11 hijackers were gay. Or at least that if we had known conclusively if they were gay or not, we would have been able to prevent 9/11. Or something.
The government will retain information on your sexual orientation for at least 15 years (but they leave the door open to keeping it forever):
Although Homeland Security has said it will move passenger information to "dormant" status after seven years and "expects" to erase it after 15 years, it notified the E.U. that expiration of data will be subject to "further discussions."
The data is only supposed to be used for counter-terrorism and law enforcement. Which means that if the army of lawyers at Focus on the Family are successful in overturning Lawrence v. Texas, the government will have a huge forever database of gay people it can arrest en masse. One and only one protection exists to prevent the government from arresting and jailing gay people, and it is in the hands of the likes of John Roberts and Sam Alito.
Even if Lawrence is never challenged, Bush and Chertoff could right now black list gay people from traveling, because there is no federal law that protects gay people from profiling or discrimination.
If you think I'm being alarmist, ask yourself why the government would be collecting information about someone's sexual orientation if they had no intention of ever using it.
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