Published By: All Right Magazine on October 30, 2009
By K.L. KRAEMER
In reading that the swine flu may be Obama’s Katrina, flashes of a “Shame on America” sign held up by Oprah during Katrina came to memory. I got to thinking about reasons why I would ever believe such a sign was warranted. Katrina isn’t one of them. That storm caused more damage than it should have because the locals didn’t prepare well or move fast enough if at all, and the residents didn’t leave the area in spite of warnings.
No, the sign didn’t exactly ring true for me in regard to Katrina. Closer to the mark would be in disappointment that over half the country voted for a man because he was outwardly attractive yet had so little experience that it was impossible to tell just exactly who he was. So, too, I am saddened that the media has successfully painted the lovely, honest, caring, intelligent, and essentially good Sarah Palin as a figure of scorn, as a blithering idiot. And how did they do that? Just by saying and repeating that that’s what she is and over-using Tina Fey and a Katie Couric interview as their evidence.
And, too, more shameful than Katrina it is that the state has the power to seize a citizen’s private property without the owner’s consent through eminent domain, not to mention it is legal to shamefully throw away the lives of unborn infants through abortion. Even though the heart and soul of America through the majority of its people are against those two policies, they are still part of legal America. Our judiciary system has over the years been infiltrated by non-traditional American thinkers–socialists, Darwinists. Because we did not give proper attention in keeping America beautiful through elected officials that reflect what was to be our heritage, we are paying the price.
We, the Americans who love the principles upon which our country is founded, have allowed shysters to guilt us with rhetoric of political correctness; and, therefore, we have put up with many annoyances that are the seeds toward destruction of our Christian roots and common sense. I find it appalling and shameful that our most celebrated holiday is robbed of its joy by a small group of zealots telling us to be thoughtful of atheists. The anti-American ACLU has businesses and fire stations thinking twice before they display a nativity scene or a Christmas tree or even saying the word, “Christmas.” Schools and parades avoid genuinely holy Christmas carols.
The Boy Scouts and Salvation Army are denigrated while the founders of Hustler and Playboy are elevated. Gay hooligans proudly crash and mock private church proceedings, but churches are not to have any public presence during gay day at Disneyland. A pause for the smallest of prayers is prohibited at football games and graduation ceremonies where even the pledge of allegiance is questionable in today’s climate. Crosses long-time established on a government seal or within public view if used in honor of our military are a violation of who-knows-what. What I do know is that these hot-air prohibitions melt the glue of our fiber as a nation, and they are indicators of how far we are straying from our original roots.
There are four cases that occurred in my lifetime which dampened my belief in the strength of America’s goodness. In 1962, a prayer in a public school was found to be in violation of the Constitution’s First Amendment because it promoted a religion, even though that promotion was not coercive:
Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers and our country. Amen.
The defense for the prayer said that the proposed ruling prohibits freedom for those who want to pray together and that the ‘wall of separation’ is nowhere in the Constitution. Furthermore, the prayer does not establish any religion. The Supreme Court decided that even though the prayer didn’t specify a particular religion, the school was promoting an ‘Almighty God,’ and so it called the prayer unconstitutional. That decision was all that was needed to easily ban God and prayers in several subsequent cases led by a handful of God-haters. Thank you Justice Hugo Black/Warren, Douglas, Clark, Harlan, Brennan (Potter Stewart dissenting) for giving this one small ruling with great impact in Engel v Vitalee.Another shameful case that took place in my lifetime was the 2003 debacle over a Ten Commandments monument in an Alabama courthouse. Judge Roy Moore had by then been targeted for years as a threat to the agenda of groups seeking to take God away from our public arena. Moore experienced first hand the push to slowly remove reminders and knowledge of the clear connection between God and law.
His platform in the run for Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court was a promise in trying to fight the increase in crime, violence, and immorality by restoring the Christian foundation of our laws. It won him the Republican nomination; and he easily went on to defeat the Democratic candidate. He pledged to remember the preamble of the Alabama Constitution that established justice by ‘invoking the favor and guidance of Almighty God.’ He believed the monument of the Ten Commandments symbolized that connection saying that although the church and state must keep their affairs separate, they both owe allegiance to God.
He was not surprised when in 2001 another suit was filed against him asking that the Ten Commandments be removed from the state judicial building. The complaint announced it was wrong for people to see that monument as it might encourage Christianity or prayer to the God upon whom our nation was built. Moore fought valiantly in court and there were large rallies to support him, but he ultimately lost the case and then his job for refusing to comply with court order. From that ruling I suppose we can take away that George Washington didn’t know what he was talking about when he carefully uttered, “It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and Bible.” And never mind what Madison said about the Ten Commandments.
The third case in my lifetime because of which I felt a sick shame was in 2005 when the request to keep Terri Schiavo alive was denied. Even though the Senate, including Barack Obama, and House of Representatives passed a bill and transferred jurisdiction of the Schiavo case to the federal courts, and even though President Bush cut his vacation short to sign the bill into law, the impact of its hope ended with the Supreme Court. Those efforts along with public outcry including the support of Reverend Jesse Jackson were not enough to deter Florida judge George Greer from his decision to remove Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube; and she died of dehydration. I read later that, as a judge, Greer’s rulings were reportedly overturned 3 out of 4 times on appeal. Also, interestingly enough, Obama later characterized his vote for the bill as his biggest professional mistake and that as a constitutional law professor, he knew better than to let Congress intrude where it shouldn’t. It would seem that even Obama’s voting record can’t tell us who he really is.
The fourth and last case fresh in my mind where I was dismayed by, if not ashamed of, America was the nightmare experienced by Ramos and Compean. Patrol agent Compeán while in the line of duty to protect our country spotted a man crossing the border in a van which turned out to contain 743 pounds of marijuana. As the suspect started to run, it looked to Compeán as though he was going to shoot so Compean fired at him first. His shot missed and his partner, hearing gunfire, quickly fired in order to defend Compeán. It appeared that he also missed as they lost sight of the man but a little later saw him on the Mexican side of the border. They did not report the incident. Illegal Mexican drug smuggler Aldrete Davis had been shot in the buttocks and was granted immunity to testify against the two agents.
In summary, let me say that my constant love for America has over-ridden the disappointment I have felt over certain judgments, probably because I know the majority of American citizens in mind and soul still cling to our foundational principles. We are still the country Tocqueville observed when he said that “America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great,” As I watch the tea party patriots giving their all in speeches against the radical changes fraught by our liberal leadership, I have hope that we’ll turn the tide, starting with this next election, to eventually restore our legal system toward a truer reflection of our collective heart. And if I should lose that hope, it will be because we have voluntarily given up our Christian goodness, exceptionalism, and courage to become an unrecognizable country, one in which the vulnerable are no longer hydrated, one in which there is no border protection, one in which prayer and adherence to the Ten Commandments is forbidden. That’s when in silence I will engrave a mental sign held up to say, ”Good bye, America. I’m sorry we couldn’t keep you alive.”
This entry was posted on Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 9:51 am and is filed under The Constitution. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Responses to “Four Court Cases that Ruined America”
Advocate54 Says:
October 30th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
I fail to see why the case of Ramos and Compean is a shame on America. To the contrary, it shows the rule of law applies to all.
C did not see Aldrete-Davila crossing the border in a van of drugs.
They encountered Davila driving in the town of Fabens Texas and decided to make a traffic stop.
Davila turned and headed back for the Rio Grande and C pursued, in violation of BP policy. Not allowed in an off road vehicle.
Davila abandoned the van and started running towards the river.
At this point, R & C know nothing about the man.
They pursue, Campeon corners the suspect and tries to butt stroke him with his shotgun. He misses and falls on his butt and Davila flees.
Compean in anger, discharges his service weapon 15 times without hitting Davila. Ramos, hearing the shots, see his partner and shoots once, hitting Davila in the butt.
By this time, other agents have arrived, including supervisor Richardson.
When asked if anything had happened, they replied no. A lie and contrary to BP policy
They sanitized the scene.
They failed to report the incident.
They were only caught after an IA investigator confiscated all the agents weapons and by the process of elimination, zeroed in on Ramos weapon.
They were rightfully convicted. No shame on America in that. Davila was also convicted of a subsequent crime and remains in prison.
These two are not heroes, but common criminals and convicted felons.
All they had to do was report the shooting at the scene, and anything subsequent, it would have been their word against Davila’s.
They could have justifies their actions with lies and still be on the job.
But they didn’t!
K L Kraemer Says:
October 31st, 2009 at 5:28 pm
Our government, for the first time I ever heard of, went out of its way to prosecute agents who were serving their nation in a drug war zone. Aldrete Davila was sought out in Mexico and offered immunity for his crime in return for testimony against our agents. Our officials actually launched a public relations campaign to paint our two agents as rogue cops.
The alien illegally on our soil ran from the border patrol agents and was a drug smuggler. (The smuggler lied in saying it was a first offense. It was not.) You say what the agents did wrong is lie in not reporting an incident. You go on to say they could have reported the incident and then lied about what happened. And for their not reporting an incident, you think it is only fair that they serve a mandatory ten-year sentence? From what I read they weren’t even charged under the right law.
This ruling reflects something new that was happening in America. It came at a time when liberal Americans were moaning over treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo, yet they shrugged their shoulders when Ramos was severely beaten. It came at a time when Bush called our minutemen ‘vigilantes.’
The case was shameful but I don’t say ’shame on America,’ because most of us agree in sentiment with Tom Tancredo, Duncan Hunter, John Cornyn, Glenn Beck –men who know the case very well. Most Americans will support our fine border patrol agents any time, any day over an illegal alien trying to bring more drugs into America.
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