Blogging the world around me.
Coverage of the meetings of the Macon County Board of County Commissioners.
Coverage of the meetings of the Franklin Town Board of Aldermen.
Coverage of the meetings of the Macon County School Board.
Photos from my photoblog.
IN 1989, the first hijab incident in Europe took place in Creil, a suburb of Paris, when three high school girls tried to go to class wearing the Islamic headscarf. The students were expelled. Fifteen years later, with the hijab spreading fast among Muslims in France, the government formally banned the wearing of religious symbols in public schools. At the time, most European countries criticized French "intolerance" and deemed the issue a uniquely Gallic problem. But it wasn't. Today most European countries--and a number of Muslim countries--are debating what to do about this increasingly problematic sign of Islamization.
The British were among the most vocal critics of the French ban--back when they were still quite pleased with their own multicultural model. But on October 5, ex-foreign minister Jack Straw revealed that he regularly asked women who came to see him wearing face veils to take them off. Straw pointed out that veils are bad for community relations, and Prime Minister Blair added that the veil is a "mark of separation." This debate coincided with the decision of a British principal to fire an assistant teacher who refused to remove her full-face veil, or niqab, while teaching. Joining the fray was author Salman Rushdie, whose elegant contribution was the statement, "Veils suck." Tensions are rising, fueled by accusations of Islamophobia from some Muslim officials. There is fear that race riots could break out in some British suburbs.
Danish residents use pig blood to deter building of mosque
Njalsgade Copenhagen 4 December 2006 — Last night some people protested against the construction of Mosques on European soil by defiling a proposed site with pigs blood.
A bag filled with Pig’s blood was splattered at the ground of a planed mosque in Copenhagen.
A video of the act — showing the men pouring a red liquid on the ground, and speaking in English, was released to the media, anonymously…
Flatulence brought 99 passengers on an American Airlines flight to an unscheduled visit to Nashville early Monday morning.
American Flight 1053, from Washington Reagan National Airport and bound for Dallas/Fort Worth, made an emergency landing here after passengers reported smelling struck matches, said Lynne Lowrance, a spokeswoman for the Nashville International Airport Authority.
The plane landed safely. The FBI, Transportation Safety Administration and airport authority responded to the emergency, Lowrance said.
The passengers and five crew members were brought off the plane, together with all the luggage, to go through security checks again. Bomb-sniffing dogs found spent matches.
The FBI questioned a passenger who admitted she struck the matches in an attempt to conceal body odor, Lowrance said. The woman lives near Dallas and has a medical condition.
The flight took off again, but the woman was not allowed back on the plane.
"American has banned her for a long time," Lowrance said.
Declaration of Arms | ||
Preamble | ||
| A declaration by the representatives of the united colonies of North America, now met in Congress at Philadelphia, setting forth the causes and necessity of their taking up arms. | ||
Declaration | ||
| If it was possible for men, who exercise their reason to believe, that the divine Author of our existence intended a part of the human race to hold an absolute property in, and an unbounded power over others, marked out by his infinite goodness and wisdom, as the objects of a legal domination never rightfully resistible, however severe and oppressive, the inhabitants of these colonies might at least require from the parliament of Great-Britain some evidence, that this dreadful authority over them, has been granted to that body. But a reverance for our Creator, principles of humanity, and the dictates of common sense, must convince all those who reflect upon the subject, that government was instituted to promote the welfare of mankind, and ought to be administered for the attainment of that end. The legislature of Great-Britain, however, stimulated by an inordinate passion for a power not only unjustifiable, but which they know to be peculiarly reprobated by the very constitution of that kingdom, and desparate of success in any mode of contest, where regard should be had to truth, law, or right, have at length, deserting those, attempted to effect their cruel and impolitic purpose of enslaving these colonies by violence, and have thereby rendered it necessary for us to close with their last appeal from reason to arms. Yet, however blinded that assembly may be, by their intemperate rage for unlimited domination, so to sight justice and the opinion of mankind, we esteem ourselves bound by obligations of respect to the rest of the world, to make known the justice of our cause. Our forefathers, inhabitants of the island of Great-Britain, left their native land, to seek on these shores a residence for civil and religious freedom. At the expense of their blood, at the hazard of their fortunes, without the least charge to the country from which they removed, by unceasing labour, and an unconquerable spirit, they effected settlements in the distant and unhospitable wilds of America, then filled with numerous and warlike barbarians. -- Societies or governments, vested with perfect legislatures, were formed under charters from the crown, and an harmonious intercourse was established between the colonies and the kingdom from which they derived their origin. The mutual benefits of this union became in a short time so extraordinary, as to excite astonishment. It is universally confessed, that the amazing increase of the wealth, strength, and navigation of the realm, arose from this source; and the minister, who so wisely and successfully directed the measures of Great-Britain in the late war, publicly declared, that these colonies enabled her to triumph over her enemies. Towards the conclusion of that war, it pleased our sovereign to make a change in his counsels. -- From that fatal movement, the affairs of the British empire began to fall into confusion, and gradually sliding from the summit of glorious prosperity, to which they had been advanced by the virtues and abilities of one man, are at length distracted by the convulsions, that now shake it to its deepest foundations. -- The new ministry finding the brave foes of Britain, though frequently defeated, yet still contending, took up the unfortunate idea of granting them a hasty peace, and then subduing her faithful friends. These colonies were judged to be in such a state, as to present victories without bloodshed, and all the easy emoluments of statuteable plunder. -- The uninterrupted tenor of their peaceable and respectful behaviour from the beginning of colonization, their dutiful, zealous, and useful services during the war, though so recently and amply acknowledged in the most honourable manner by his majesty, by the late king, and by parliament, could not save them from the meditated innovations. -- Parliament was influenced to adopt the pernicious project, and assuming a new power over them, have in the course of eleven years, given such decisive specimens of the spirit and consequences attending this power, as to leave no doubt concerning the effects of acquiescence under it. They have undertaken to give and grant our money without our consent, though we have ever exercised an exclusive right to dispose of our own property; statutes have been passed for extending the jurisdiction of courts of admiralty and vice-admiralty beyond their ancient limits; for depriving us of the accustomed and inestimable privilege of trial by jury, in cases affecting both life and property; for suspending the legislature of one of the colonies; for interdicting all commerce to the capital of another; and for altering fundamentally the form of government established by charter, and secured by acts of its own legislature solemnly confirmed by the crown; for exempting the "murderers" of colonists from legal trial, and in effect, from punishment; for erecting in a neighbouring province, acquired by the joint arms of Great-Britain and America, a despotism dangerous to our very existence; and for quartering soldiers upon the colonists in time of profound peace. It has also been resolved in parliament, that colonists charged with committing certain offences, shall be transported to England to be tried. But why should we enumerate our injuries in detail? By one statute it is declared, that parliament can "of right make laws to bind us in all cases whatsoever." What is to defend us against so enormous, so unlimited a power? Not a single man of those who assume it, is chosen by us; or is subject to our control or influence; but, on the contrary, they are all of them exempt from the operation of such laws, and an American revenue, if not diverted from the ostensible purposes for which it is raised, would actually lighten their own burdens in proportion, as they increase ours. We saw the misery to which such despotism would reduce us. We for ten years incessantly and ineffectually besieged the throne as supplicants; we reasoned, we remonstrated with parliament, in the most mild and decent language. Administration sensible that we should regard these oppressive measures as freemen ought to do, sent over fleets and armies to enforce them. The indignation of the Americans was roused, it is true; but it was the indignation of a virtuous, loyal, and affectionate people. A Congress of delegates from the United Colonies was assembled at Philadelphia, on the fifth day of last September. We resolved again to offer an humble and dutiful petition to the King, and also addressed our fellow-subjects of Great-Britain. We have pursued every temperate, every respectful measure; we have even proceeded to break off our commercial intercourse with our fellow-subjects, as the last peaceable admonition, that our attachment to no nation upon earth should supplant our attachment to liberty. -- This, we flattered ourselves, was the ultimate step of the controversy: but subsequent events have shewn, how vain was this hope of finding moderation in our enemies. Several threatening expressions against the colonies were inserted in his majesty's speech; our petition, tho' we were told it was a decent one, and that his majesty had been pleased to receive it graciously, and to promise laying it before his parliament, was huddled into both houses among a bundle of American papers, and there neglected. The lords and commons in their address, in the month of February, said, that "a rebellion at that time actually existed within the province of Massachusetts- Bay; and that those concerned with it, had been countenanced and encouraged by unlawful combinations and engagements, entered into by his majesty's subjects in several of the other colonies; and therefore they besought his majesty, that he would take the most effectual measures to inforce due obediance to the laws and authority of the supreme legislature." -- Soon after, the commercial intercourse of whole colonies, with foreign countries, and with each other, was cut off by an act of parliament; by another several of them were intirely prohibited from the fisheries in the seas near their coasts, on which they always depended for their sustenance; and large reinforcements of ships and troops were immediately sent over to general Gage. Fruitless were all the entreaties, arguments, and eloquence of an illustrious band of the most distinguished peers, and commoners, who nobly and strenuously asserted the justice of our cause, to stay, or even to mitigate the heedless fury with which these accumulated and unexampled outrages were hurried on. -- equally fruitless was the interference of the city of London, of Bristol, and many other respectable towns in our favor. Parliament adopted an insidious manoeuvre calculated to divide us, to establish a perpetual auction of taxations where colony should bid against colony, all of them uninformed what ransom would redeem their lives; and thus to extort from us, at the point of the bayonet, the unknown sums that should be sufficient to gratify, if possible to gratify, ministerial rapacity, with the miserable indulgence left to us of raising, in our own mode, the prescribed tribute. What terms more rigid and humiliating could have been dictated by remorseless victors to conquered enemies? in our circumstances to accept them, would be to deserve them. Soon after the intelligence of these proceedings arrived on this continent, general Gage, who in the course of the last year had taken possession of the town of Boston, in the province of Massachusetts-Bay, and still occupied it a garrison, on the 19th day of April, sent out from that place a large detachment of his army, who made an unprovoked assault on the inhabitants of the said province, at the town of Lexington, as appears by the affidavits of a great number of persons, some of whom were officers and soldiers of that detachment, murdered eight of the inhabitants, and wounded many others. From thence the troops proceeded in warlike array to the town of Concord, where they set upon another party of the inhabitants of the same province, killing several and wounding more, until compelled to retreat by the country people suddenly assembled to repel this cruel aggression. Hostilities, thus commenced by the British troops, have been since prosecuted by them without regard to faith or reputation. -- The inhabitants of Boston being confined within that town by the general their governor, and having, in order to procure their dismission, entered into a treaty with him, it was stipulated that the said inhabitants having deposited their arms with their own magistrate, should have liberty to depart, taking with them their other effects. They accordingly delivered up their arms, but in open violation of honour, in defiance of the obligation of treaties, which even savage nations esteemed sacred, the governor ordered the arms deposited as aforesaid, that they might be preserved for their owners, to be seized by a body of soldiers; detained the greatest part of the inhabitants in the town, and compelled the few who were permitted to retire, to leave their most valuable effects behind. By this perfidy wives are separated from their husbands, children from their parents, the aged and the sick from their relations and friends, who wish to attend and comfort them; and those who have been used to live in plenty and even elegance, are reduced to deplorable distress. The general, further emulating his ministerial masters, by a proclamation bearing date on the 12th day of June, after venting the grossest falsehoods and calumnies against the good people of these colonies, proceeds to "declare them all, either by name or description, to be rebels and traitors, to supercede the course of the common law, and instead thereof to publish and order the use and exercise of the law martial." -- His troops have butchered our countrymen, have wantonly burnt Charlestown, besides a considerable number of houses in other places; our ships and vessels are seized; the necessary supplies of provisions are intercepted, and he is exerting his utmost power to spread destruction and devastation around him. We have rceived certain intelligence, that general Carleton, the governor of Canada, is instigating the people of that province and the Indians to fall upon us; and we have but too much reason to apprehend, that schemes have been formed to excite domestic enemies against us. In brief, a part of these colonies now feel, and all of them are sure of feeling, as far as the vengeance of administration can inflict them, the complicated calamities of fire, sword and famine. [1] We are reduced to the alternative of chusing an unconditional submission to the tyranny of irritated ministers, or resistance by force. -- The latter is our choice. -- We have counted the cost of this contest, and find nothing so dreadful as voluntary slavery. -- Honour, justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our innocent posterity have a right to receive from us. We cannot endure the infamy and guilt of resigning succeeding generations to that wretchedness which inevitably awaits them, if we basely entail hereditary bondage upon them. Our cause is just. Our union is perfect. Our internal resources are great, and, if necessary, foreign assistance is undoubtedly attainable. -- We gratefully acknowledge, as signal instances of the Divine favour towards us, that his Providence would not permit us to be called into this severe controversy, until we were grown up to our present strength, had been previously exercised in warlike operation, and possessed of the means of defending ourselves. With hearts fortified with these animating reflections, we most solemnly, before God and the world, declare, that, exerting the utmost energy of those powers, which our beneficent Creator hath graciously bestowed upon us, the arms we have been compelled by our enemies to assume, we will, in defiance of every hazard, with unabating firmness and perseverence, employ for the preservation of our liberties; being with one mind resolved to die freemen rather than to live slaves. Lest this declaration should disquiet the minds of our friends and fellow-subjects in any part of the empire, we assure them that we mean not to dissolve that union which has so long and so happily subsisted between us, and which we sincerely wish to see restored. -- Necessity has not yet driven us into that desperate measure, or induced us to excite any other nation to war against them. -- We have not raised armies with ambitious designs of separating from Great-Britain, and establishing independent states. We fight not for glory or for conquest. We exhibit to mankind the remarkable spectacle of a people attacked by unprovoked enemies, without any imputation or even suspicion of offence. They boast of their privileges and civilization, and yet proffer no milder conditions than servitude or death. In our own native land, in defence of the freedom that is our birthright, and which we ever enjoyed till the late violation of it -- for the protection of our property, acquired solely by the honest industry of our fore-fathers and ourselves, against violence actually offered, we have taken up arms. We shall lay them down when hostilities shall cease on the part of the aggressors, and all danger of their being renewed shall be removed, and not before. With an humble confidence in the mercies of the supreme and impartial Judge and Ruler of the Universe, we most devoutly implore his divine goodness to protect us happily through this great conflict, to dispose our adversaries to reconciliation on reasonable terms, and thereby to relieve the empire from the calamities of civil war. | ||
Sounds interesting. The blogger, Peacemonger, is a barking moonbat:
A group called Israel IDEA is sponsoring a visit to Ann Arbor by Brigitte Gabriel on Monday, December 4, 2006 at 8 PM in Auditorium C of Angell Hall, University of Michigan. Reports of Israel IDEA's activities have appeared on the web sites of the David Project and standwithus.com. and the group is, apparently, led by UM undergrads Jessica Risch and Brad Stulberg.
Brigitte Gabriel is the founder of the American Congress for Truth and the author of Because They Hate: A Survivor of Islamic Terror Warns America. Gabriel is a popular speaker on the pro-Israel lecture circuit and is a member of the Jewish National Fund Speakers Bureau. Muslims, Arabs, and their friends and allies should give Gabriel a proper welcome.
An anti-Zionist, and Anti-Israeli. That this person has compared Zionism to Nazism tells me all I need to know about the well of hate they dip their water from, and they have a nice little graphic on the sidebar identifying how to tell if a product was made in Israel, so that it may be boycotted. I hope they know a goodly fractional of computer chips, especially for mobile phones, and laptops are made in Israel. Since they may trackback to this post, I won't give the full list, but it is quite extensive.The purpose of this blog is to expose Zionists subverting the peace movement, especially in Michigan. 'Progressive Zionism' is to Zionism what 'progressive Nazism' would have been to Nazism.
The United Nations are also full of anti-Zionists, anti-Israelis, and thuggish Dictators. We would be better off out of the U.N. and with the U.N. located elsewhere.
56% of Israelis support negotiating with the Palestinian Hamas-led government
75% of Israelis believe Israel is struggling for its survival
63% of Palestinians support adopting Hezbollah's methods of attacking Israeli towns with rockets
57% of Palestinian said they support the bombing of Israeli civilians
75% of Palestinians said they support the kidnapping Israel Defense Force soldiers
80% of Palestinians believe that Israel and Palestine cannot coexist
Number of Jews worldwide: approximately 14 million
Number of Jews in the US: approximately 6 million
Number of Jews in Israel: approximately 5 million
Number of Jews killed in the Holocaust: approximately 7 million
Palestinian Refugees seeking the "Right of Return" to Israel: over 4 million
Jewish Refugees expelled from Arab countries: over 1 million
Number of times Palestinians have been offered a state of their own and have refused: at least twice (in 1948 and 2000)
Number of Israel's neighbors' active armed forces: over 2 million
Number of Israel's active armed forces: 170,000
Number of times Jerusalem is mentioned by name in the Bible: 811
Number of times Jerusalem is mentioned by name in the Koran: 0
Number of terrorist attacks worldwide from August 1998 to August 2003 according to the Associated Press: 15
Number of terrorist attacks in Israel included in that list: 0
Number of terrorist attacks in Israel during that period: over 800
Length of time after the establishment of the United Nations before the word "anti-Semitism" was first mentioned in a UN resolution: 50 years
Number of UN Security Council resolutions condemning Israel: over 50
Number of UN Security Council resolutions condemning Palestinians: 0
Number of UN General Assembly resolutions condemning Israel: over 300
Number of UN General Assembly resolutions condemning Palestinians: 0
No, the Barking Moonbat Progressives are not for peace. They are for the suicide of Western Civilization, and replacing it with their vision of Utopia, which has, and always will, fail where ever it is tried. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Communist China, Communist Cuba, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, just to name the most notorious examples.
Every single day, hundreds of African tribesmen are killed in Darfur by militias acting with the blessing of Sudan's Arab Islamist government. Each day, Hamas bombs from Gaza deliberately target innocent Israeli civilians in Sderot: although the weapons are crude, they occasionally find their mark -- last week a Qassam killed Fatima Slutsker, a 57-year-old (Muslim) Israeli woman who was waiting for her (Jewish) Israeli husband at a bus stop. Hezbollah, backed by Iran and Syria, has ratcheted up its campaign of violence this week, assassinating a Maronite Christian cabinet minister in Lebanon in a blatant attempt to provoke a constitutional crisis. (As of this writing, under the Byzantine Lebanese constitution, the terrorist group needs to eliminate only one more minister to bring about the collapse of the government.) The life-span of Zimbabweans is 34 years, and 550,000 have died over the past three years due to deliberate policies of the Mugabe dictatorship.All of these barbaric crimes are human and moral tragedies that call for international action, prioritization, even obsession. But that self-proclaimed source of international legitimacy, the United Nations is not obsessed or even particularly concerned with any of them. None of these abuses of human rights by authoritarian regimes or movements was the object of the General Assembly resolution "condemning the military assaults...which have caused loss of life and extensive destruction...of property...in particular the killing of many... civilians, including children and women." For none of these violations of the right to life did the UN summon righteous indignation to "emphasize the importance of the safety and well-being of all civilians" and demand "the immediate cessation of military incursions and all acts of violence, terror, provocation, incitement and destruction."Rather, since November 7, the UN has been obsessed with one accident, committed in self-defense, by the world body's favorite pariah, the democratic State of Israel.
Commentary
Violence erupted at a Michigan law school
Thursday when protestors tried to block a speech by Colorado Congressman Tom
Tancredo.
Police were called after protestors pulled a fire alarm prior
to the speech on immigration policies. There were at least three violent
incidents with protestors targeting student backers of the event, Tancredo,
R-Littleton, said today.
"One was spit on, one was kicked, and one was
punched," Tancredo said in an e-mail. "Tires were also slashed."
Michigan State University College Republicans and Young Americans for
Freedom sponsored the event.
Tancredo went to Michigan State University
College of Law as part of a visit to the state to talk about immigration. He
leads the group that opposes legal status for illegal immigrants.
Protestors interrupted the speech with loud shouting.
..."That is definitely a slap in the face," said Allam.. Now before you go thinking Craig Baker is unfair, or full of hate, or somehow racist, hear him out. Baker has long roots here. His family named the road and when the new neighbors moved in, he tells us, they asked him to move out. "Basically that I should package up my family and my business and find a place elsewhere," said Baker. "That's ridiculous, they just bought the place one week prior and he's telling me I should think about leaving."Read the story here.That new owners deny they ever said anything like that, but Baker isn't budging.
Baker admits the pigs are a message he is not leaving. The 11-acre property is sandwiched between a pricey subdivision and Craig Baker's business. K.I.A. eventually plans to build a mosque, a gym and a school there. There's no date for the groundbreaking ceremonies, or the first pig race.
URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
438 PM EST THU NOV 30 2006
NCZ033-048>053-058-059-062>065-501-503-505-507-509-010600-
/O.NEW.KGSP.WI.Y.0021.061201T0500Z-061202T0500Z/
AVERY-MADISON-YANCEY-MITCHELL-SWAIN-HAYWOOD-BUNCOMBE-GRAHAM-
NORTHERN JACKSON-MACON-SOUTHERN JACKSON-TRANSYLVANIA-HENDERSON-
CALDWELL MOUNTAINS-BURKE MOUNTAINS-MCDOWELL MOUNTAINS-
RUTHERFORD MOUNTAINS-POLK MOUNTAINS-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...NEWLAND...SPRUCE PINE...CHEROKEE...
WAYNESVILLE...ASHEVILLE...SYLVA...FRANKLIN...BREVARD...
HENDERSONVILLE...LAKE LURE
438 PM EST THU NOV 30 2006
...WIND ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO MIDNIGHT EST
FRIDAY NIGHT...
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED
A WIND ADVISORY FOR MOST OF THE NORTH CAROLINA MOUNTAINS...WHICH
IS IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO MIDNIGHT EST FRIDAY NIGHT.
A STRONG COLD FRONT WILL APPROACH THE MOUNTAINS OF NORTH CAROLINA
LATE TONIGHT AND WILL PUSH EAST ON FRIDAY MORNING. WINDS WILL
INCREASE AHEAD OF THE FRONT AFTER MIDNIGHT AND COULD GUST UP INTO
THE 40 TO 50 MPH RANGE AT ELEVATIONS ABOVE 4000 FEET BY DAYBREAK.
AS THE FRONT PASSES IN THE MORNING...SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS
ASSOCIATED WITH THE FRONT SHOULD BRING A FEW WIND GUSTS OF 50 MPH
DOWN TO THE SURFACE. THE WIND WILL SHIFT TO THE WEST AND NORTHWEST
BEHIND THE FRONT IN THE AFTERNOON...AND WILL GRADUALLY WEAKEN ON
FRIDAY EVENING. UNTIL THAT HAPPENS...ADDITIONAL STRONG WIND GUSTS
AROUND 50 MPH ARE EXPECTED...MAINLY AT THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS.
A WIND ADVISORY MEANS THAT WIND GUSTS OF 50 MPH ARE EXPECTED.
WINDS THIS STRONG CAN MAKE DRIVING DIFFICULT...ESPECIALLY FOR HIGH
PROFILE VEHICLES. USE EXTRA CAUTION.
$$
MOORE
Then, I found more that led me to a local blogger, who keeps the WLOSers fan club informed, just scroll down past the racy photos to the sex offender news section:
Asheville, North Carolina, Nov. 19 (AGR)— Asheville Chief of Police Will Annarino presented a proposed anti-begging, sleeping outdoors ordinance at approximately 10:30pm at the Asheville City Council meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 12. The ordinance was passed unanimously by city council members despite requests from a vocal majority of citizens at the meeting asking the council to seek more community-oriented solutions to the area’s homelessness problem instead of resorting to legal measures.
All types of solicitation are now illegal in the central downtown area, including those of the Salvation Army, the Girl Scouts, and street musicians with open guitar cases or hats asking for tips. Although inquired about by council members Holly Jones and Jim Ellis, permits are unlikely to be a possible alternative for such groups. According to city attorneys, it is necessary to ban all forms of solicitation to avoid an unconstitutional restriction on speech content.
Bruce Elmore, representing the WNC American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) at the council meeting, called the criminalization of begging or sleeping in public an infringement on First Amendment freedom of speech and assembly rights. In the judiciary, restrictions on the content of speech must survive a “strict scrutiny” review — meaning that in order to pass constitutional muster, a compelling government interest must be present. Elmore stated he felt the court would find attractiveness to tourists and the free flow of pedestrian traffic to be important but not compelling governmental interests.
The sex offender news
Michelle Boudin, who rode the sex offender news last year hard, got back on the train again. There must be something in the WLOSer manual that says that every infotainment-cast must contain at least one sex offender story. Just look at how much mileage NBC has gotten out of their little sting operation, where they pose as a 13-year-old girl looking for sex and invite any and all pervs to meet with them. That makes for some damn good video.Anyway, all Boudin had was news about a bill proposed in the state House that would keep convicted sex offenders from living with 1,000 feet of a school, and prevent convicted sex offenders from going with 500 feet of a school, unless there was special permission. Michelle talked to attorney Bruce Elmore, a member of the ACLU, who said the bill wasn't fair.
A Superior Court judge Tuesday upheld a Woodfin ordinance barring sex offenders from the town’s three public parks.
David Standley, 43, a registered sex offender living in Woodfin, sued the town in August 2005. The N.C. chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union backed his case.
Standley argued in his lawsuit the ordinance was too broad, in part by including people who have never committed sex crimes against children.
He was convicted in 1987 in Florida of attempted sexual battery with a weapon against an adult and served three years and six months in jail, according to the N.C. Department of Justice sex offender registry.
“I think it’s likely that we’ll appeal,” said Bruce Elmore, Standley’s attorney. “I think he had a strong constitutional case.”
We need to keep the pressure on, and enact change that would result in longer sentences for those convicted of sex crimes, most especially those against children, whom the ACLU seem to have forgotten. We need to keep reminding them, over and over and over. Perhaps we need to take a page from our "progressive" friends and protest, with signs in hand...as I understand is happening as I type this. I hope WLOS gets some good shots, and finally give this story the coverage other national media will.
Western civilization – life as we know it – is under attack, and
indeed has even reached a very dangerous point. Some may even think it
is a point of no return.
Not just because in recent months Muslim groups around the world
insisted that the pope apologize for merely quoting someone else. No,
not just because the prime minister of Denmark had to grovel to the
Muslim nations for a cartoon that appeared in a Danish newspaper, over
which he had no control whatsoever. No, not even just because
President Bush rushed into a Muslim mosque in Washington, D.C., after
Sept. 11, 2001, declaring that Islam is a religion of peace.
CROWD FUNDING
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Currently, 20 people have pledged $99 a month. This is a tremendous help. Please visit www.patreon.com/MaconMedia for more information on how to contribute.
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