The Mack Attack

Thought-provoking clap-trap for the skeptic-minded

Friday, March 24, 2006

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Two tastes that don't go well together...

WASHINGTON – In an unusual move, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice telephoned Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday, March 23, seeking a “favorable resolution” of the case of an Afghan man on trial for his life for converting to Christianity from Islam.
It is important for the Afghan people to know that freedom of religion is observed in our country and yours..., Rice's spokesman, Sean McCormack, said in reporting Rice's call to Karzai.
In deference to the country's sovereignty, Rice evidently did not demand specifically that the trial be halted and the defendant released but she flexed her state department muscles.
Her direct appeal to a foreign leader in a proceeding in his country is a very unusual move, especially in light of recent religious persecution in the U.S.:

In an extremely dangerous precedent, The Bush administration recently won an initial Supreme Court decision limiting the religious freedom of a church in New Mexico. The administration had been in a legal battle with the South American based
church over its use of Hoaska Tea in its religious ceremonies. The tea, which has been used for centuries in Brazil as a spiritual aid, contains naturally produced DMT, which when produced synthetically, is a controlled substance in the U.S.
The church beat a lower-court injunction but the Bush administration appealed and meanwhile flexed its establishment muscle by having Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer (on behalf of the entire Supreme Court) issue a temporary stay. The stay prohibited the church from performing its traditional religious tea ceremony until the matter was resolved.
To get an idea of what this must been like for this church—and the precedent that it sets—imagine a court-ordered ban on baptism or communion.

Although the supreme court just last month ruled the practice to be a legal religious ceremony and ruled any governmental interference as unconstitutional, it shows the two-faced religious bigotry of this administration especially when put up next to Rice's recent plea to Afghanistan. Does anyone need further proof that this administration is comprised of Christian right-winged zealots rife with their own hypocritical agendas?

1 Comments:

At 11:52 AM, Blogger G. Mackster said...

I feel you Bluewild. What makes it all so exasperating to me is the fact that it isn't just the feeling of powerlessness as this administration does as it pleases at the expense of our country's integrity, but that they get so much support from these imbeciles that--face it--are in the majority.
I guess this is what it feels like to be a minority.
If the world doesn't end first, I fear that we as a country are headed for another civil war.
Did you read the SLOWPOKE cartoon attached to this post?
The dichotomy between "red" and "blue" states is growing to the extent of laws from state to state becoming so radically different as to imply soveriegnty.
It used to be that we were the "United" states and one could move from state to state with little if any consequence but these days, don't let the sun set on your ass in South Dakota if you are from Massachusetts,etc.
With the Supreme Court right-loaded as it now is and "red" state laws such as those which give full parental rights to rapists being upholded (true story),I really can't see "blue" states like Vermont, etc. honoring and upholding the word of the federal government for much longer.
Have you seen "V for Vendetta" yet? In the movie,which is set in the "near future", The United states is in civil war in the midwest. Science fiction? or prescience?

 

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