[stratos]

$1:

And yet, if I pasta law right now declaring myself dictator of Canada for life, it would have no effect.

Yet if you tried enforcing your laws and hand out fines and punishments by setting up courts, demanding that all adherents to your faith abide by your courts rulings then in essence you would be doing exactly what the new law prevents from you doing. This is exactly what was being attempted under Sharia Law here in Texas.

[BartSimpson]

BeaverFever BeaverFever:

David Koresh and the Branch Davidians were also from Texas. Oddly enough, even though he declared his laws as sovereign, molested and force-married children, stockpiled military grade weapons and opened fire on police officers, there wasn't the same reaction from Texans and Republicans. And when Clinton sent in the ATF and military to raid the place, the republicans howled "remember the tragedy at waco!" for years! Just illustrates the level of cognitive dissonance here.

The actions of the government in conducting that raid, the siege, and then ending the siege with the illegal use of US Army equipment and soldiers, and the deployment of illegal CS gas was what horrified people like myself.

Given that the Congressional investigation found recorded and written evidence that Koresh himself had invited the ATF to visit the property and inspect the weapons (in compliance with regulations concerning FFL holders) the raid itself was deemed excessive.

As to opening fire on the agents (there were no police officers present) the preponderance of evidence indicates the ATF opened fire first and shot Koresh when he answered the front door in response to agents banging on it. The ATF destroyed the front door to cover up the evidence that they fired first.

And if the raid was supposedly about child welfare then that was a matter for Texas authorities and not the Feds who didn't make any assertions about the children in their search warrant request. That's just ex post facto PR spin that plays well with soft-minded people.

[BartSimpson]

andyt andyt:

N_Fiddledog N_Fiddledog:

In any case you'd have to be pretty desperate for a side to your argument to claim there's something analogous between that one and this one.

Yep. Koresh was far worse.

Care to take me up on my offer of a vacation in Syria?

[N_Fiddledog]

Speaking of actual anti-sharia events though, apparently they're putting a "Round Two" draw Mohammed protest outside the mosque where the 2 dead Garland Texas jihadis were radicalised.

Armed Bikers to Hold Mohammed Contest Outside Cartoon Gunmen’s Mosque

[BartSimpson]

N_Fiddledog N_Fiddledog:

Speaking of actual anti-sharia events though, apparently they're putting a "Round Two" draw Mohammed protest outside the mosque of the 2 dead Garland Texas jihadis.

Armed Bikers to Hold Mohammed Contest Outside Cartoon Gunmen’s Mosque

Sweet!

[Regina]

Another Texas picnic!!

[Lemmy]

On the topic of similar legislation proposed in Florida:

$1:

Simply put, this kind of legislation runs afoul of basic tenets of constitutional law and overriding principles of American jurisprudence. Moreover, its sponsors haven't demonstrated any tangible need for it.

The American Bar Association generally opposes such legislation because it's "duplicative of safeguards that are already enshrined in federal and state law. ... Initiatives that target an entire religion or stigmatize an entire religious community, such as those explicitly aimed at 'sharia law,' are inconsistent with some of the core principles and ideals of American jurisprudence."

At best, SB 58 is unnecessary legislation that civil libertarians, conservatives and liberals share cause to oppose.

Barkey; Carlos Osorio, with the International Law Section of The Florida Bar; and Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, also observed in a column they co-authored for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that the bill "threatens to derail Florida's role as an international trade hub by complicating and destabilizing the personal and commercial lives of foreign nationals sent here from such important partners as Israel, Latin America and elsewhere."

The potential impact upon trade and economic development should not be underestimated.

Joel Hunter, senior pastor at Northland Church in Orlando, asserted "Senate Bill 58 will do more harm than good if enacted. Its effect will be to increase bias rather than protection. It seems to me to be a cure without a disease. Existing law and judicial precedent have proved sufficient to deal with any concerns addressed by this proposed law. ... As a conservative evangelical Christian, it is unusual for me to side with the ACLU, but I think objecting to unnecessary law is a conservative principle as well as a libertarian one."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/parvez-ahmed/florida-anti-sharia-law-is-simply-bad-law_b_3094926.html

[N_Fiddledog]

Regina Regina:

Another Texas picnic!!

Except this one's going to be in Arizona.

CNN has the story now.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/29/us/mohamm ... n-contest/

[PublicAnimalNo9]

Lemmy Lemmy:

On the topic of similar legislation proposed in Florida:

$1:

Simply put, this kind of legislation runs afoul of basic tenets of constitutional law and overriding principles of American jurisprudence. Moreover, its sponsors haven't demonstrated any tangible need for it.

The American Bar Association generally opposes such legislation because it's "duplicative of safeguards that are already enshrined in federal and state law. ... Initiatives that target an entire religion or stigmatize an entire religious community, such as those explicitly aimed at 'sharia law,' are inconsistent with some of the core principles and ideals of American jurisprudence."

At best, SB 58 is unnecessary legislation that civil libertarians, conservatives and liberals share cause to oppose.

Barkey; Carlos Osorio, with the International Law Section of The Florida Bar; and Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, also observed in a column they co-authored for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that the bill "threatens to derail Florida's role as an international trade hub by complicating and destabilizing the personal and commercial lives of foreign nationals sent here from such important partners as Israel, Latin America and elsewhere."

The potential impact upon trade and economic development should not be underestimated.

Joel Hunter, senior pastor at Northland Church in Orlando, asserted "Senate Bill 58 will do more harm than good if enacted. Its effect will be to increase bias rather than protection. It seems to me to be a cure without a disease. Existing law and judicial precedent have proved sufficient to deal with any concerns addressed by this proposed law. ... As a conservative evangelical Christian, it is unusual for me to side with the ACLU, but I think objecting to unnecessary law is a conservative principle as well as a libertarian one."

Of course he objects to it. With that law it would be easy for a group of legislators to do the same thing with Christianity. For example, making it illegal for states to pass dumbfuck laws that allow a certain group to legally discriminate against another certain group.

[Lemmy]

PublicAnimalNo9 PublicAnimalNo9:

Of course he objects to it.

Anyone with at least half a brain in their head would!

[N_Fiddledog]

Well, I don't know where Parvez Ahmed keeps his half (although I could guess ), but one must acknowledge that in his linked Blog post from the Huffington Post he does forecast horrors of great consequence as a result of this little Texas legislature "we won't be influenced by Sharia" bill.

Time will tell.

[PublicAnimalNo9]

Lemmy Lemmy:

PublicAnimalNo9 PublicAnimalNo9:

Of course he objects to it.

Anyone with at least half a brain in their head would!

Uh huh. You'll notice there's nothing in that legislation that prevents Christians from trying to turn their beliefs into law though. back at ya.

It's not impossible to be right about something or agree with something for all the wrong reasons.