March 07, 2008
"Parents do not have a constitutional right to home school their children,"
(Tim Jones)
A California state appellate court judge has said "Parents do not have a constitutional right to home school their children.".
We don't need it, you idiot. We have a natural right to home school our children. We hold this truth to be self-evident. the Constitution, and specifically the Bill of Rights is not anything like an exhaustive list of the rights of individuals, but is meant as a modest hedge against oppressive government encroachment like the nonsense you are trying to pull. You can't expect the founding fathers to list everything that people have a right to do.
I want to join Mark Shea in encouraging active resistance to this ruling... street protests, walk-outs by public school families who support the home schoolers, bake sales... what have you.
Here is Governor Schwarzenegger's web page, through which you may e-mail him. Below is traditional contact information. Tell him what you think, but be more respectful than I am in this post. Heh.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-445-2841
Fax: 916-558-3160 ( new number )
Posted by Tim Jones in Government | Permalink | Comments (44)
May 11, 2006
St. President
(Michelle Arnold)
In Italy, where they are still trying to elect a president, votes have been cast for a rock singer, the daughter of Italy's last king, and for St. Pio of Pietrelcina who is better known as Padre Pio.
"With no hope of immediately electing a president, lawmakers have been throwing away votes for the past two days while party leaders negotiate a consensus candidate. A secret ballot has allowed them to get creative.
"For one elector, the political deadlock offered a rare chance to vote for Padre Pio, a 20th century mystic monk who had the stigmata -- bleeding wounds in the hands and feet similar to those of Christ -- and was made a saint in 2002.
"The speaker of Italy's lower house of parliament immediately annulled the ballot paper. Padre Pio died in 1968."
Italy's current scramble for a president kind of reminds me of California's 2003 recall election, in which candidates included everyone from former child star Gary Coleman ("Diff'rent Strokes") to porn pusher Larry Flynt (Hustler) to the eventual winner, muscleman turned movie star turned Kennedy kin Arnold Schwarzenegger. The only difference is that the votes in the California election were not a joke but all too real.
Posted by Michelle Arnold in Government | Permalink | Comments (4)
November 08, 2005
Red State Blues
(Michelle Arnold)
BIG RED DISCLAIMER: What's mine is mine. The blog belongs to Jimmy, of course, but the opinions in my posts on JimmyAkin.org belong to me, Michelle Arnold. Not to Jimmy Akin, not to Catholic Answers, but to me. (Even though JA.org has been a group blog for some time now, there is still some confusion on this point, so it bears repeating, especially in a post like this one.)
Today is Election Day in California, which means that I am willing to use the occasion to answer a reader's question, one I would ordinarily have ignored as it was phrased in a rather snarky manner and was placed in the combox of a a post that had nothing to do with the subject. Here was the dialogue:
Reader: "You're not a red stater, Michelle. You're a wannabe at best."
Michelle: [Flippantly] "Very true.... I'm a native Californian who wants her blue state to be red."
Reader: "Okay, so exactly which issues are you 'red' on? By the way, Mark Shea is right about everything political, and he says he hasn't found a political home.
[Less than 24 hours later, previous paragraph repeated and this comment appended] "Michelle is afraid to respond."
I cannot speak for Mark Shea, although I imagine that he would appreciate the vote of confidence for his political views.
As for my political views, that is something that I can speak about.
On social issues I am solidly red state (e.g., abortion, embryonic stem-cell research, human cloning, euthanasia, homosexual marriage). Because of the preeminent importance of these issues, I place them over and above other issues such as the economy, the environment, the war, etc. My first concern is the life issues and I will do my best to vote for the candidate or proposition that best furthers the cause of life. Failing that, I will do my best to vote for the candidate or proposition that does the least damage to the cause of life.
On the secondary issues, I am more blue state. For example, I plan to vote today to thwart Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's "reform initiatives," apparently so-called because they mask what I believe to be a power grab. At the same time, I will be voting an emphatic "Yes!" on Proposition 73, a California state initiative that seeks to require parental notification of the planned abortion for a minor.
I don't know whether or not Mark Shea has found a "political home" -- I haven't read what he may or may not have said on the issue -- but I do know that I don't have such a "political home," if by such is meant a political party affiliation. Since I turned 18 some fifteen years ago, I have not been a Republican, a Democrat, or a member of a non-influential Third Party. I am a non-affiliated registered voter, and plan for the foreseeable future to remain that way.
BIG RED DISCLAIMER: What's mine is mine. The blog belongs to Jimmy, of course, but the opinions in my posts on JimmyAkin.org belong to me, Michelle Arnold. Not to Jimmy Akin, not to Catholic Answers, but to me. (Even though JA.org has been a group blog for some time now, there is still some confusion on this point, so it bears repeating, especially in a post like this one.)
Posted by Michelle Arnold in Government | Permalink | Comments (20) | TrackBack
October 25, 2005
One Nation Under ... Christ?
(Michelle Arnold)
It's 1860 all over again ... if Cory Burnell and his group Christian Exodus have anything to say about it. You've heard Revelation 18:4 ("Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins") used in reference to the Catholic Church, right? Mr. Burnell's group has identified a different woman who should be abandoned.
The United States.
"Cory Burnell wants to set up a Christian nation within the United States where abortion is illegal, gay marriage is banned, schools cannot teach evolution, children can pray to Jesus in public schools and the Ten Commandments are posted publicly.
"To that end, Burnell, 29, left the Republican Party, moved from California and founded Christian Exodus two years ago with the goal of redirecting the United States by 'redeeming' one state at a time.
"First up for redemption is South Carolina.
"Burnell hopes to move 2,500 Christians into the northern part of the state by next year and to persuade tens of thousands to relocate by 2016. His goal is to fill the state legislature with 'Christian constitutionalists.'
[...]
"Burnell picked South Carolina partly for its Christian majority and conservative politics.
"'Historically, Southerners do have a states' rights mentality,' he said. 'Christians in the North are experiencing the most liberalism, or you could say persecution.'"
Uh huh.
One of these days I'm going to write that essay I've been thinking about on the evangelistic value of silence. One of the major points of that essay will be to discuss how credibility can be destroyed when someone makes public an "outside-the-box" pet brainstorm that, as they say on "Saturday Night Live," is not yet ready for primetime.
Posted by Michelle Arnold in Government | Permalink | Comments (12) | TrackBack
March 02, 2005
How Good *AIN'T* Your State Government?
(Jimmy Akin)
(Click to enlarge.)
My state-of-residence (California) got a C-, tied for worst in the nation!
YEE-HAW!!!
More a-that good ol' Californazi governmental inefficiency!
It gets even better when you break it down by the categories that are averaged to get the overall figure:
- California's ability to manage it's money? A BIG, FAT D! (Shoulda been a F!)
- California's ability to manage its state employees? C-.
- California's infrastructure? C. (Yeah, okay. CalTrans does keep the roads in good order compared to other states. Hear me, Pennsylvania? Yeah, New Jersey, I see you hanging your head in shame.)
- California's use of information? C. (They have poor strategic planning, but what info there is can be easily downloaded by a citizen from the Internet.)
It all adds up to a C-, and that's being generous to my mind.
Take that, California!
These grades, incidentally, are produced by some folks who call themselves the Government Performance Project. I don't know much about them, but as long as they're pointing out the problems with California's state government, they gotta be on the side of the angels.
FIND OUT YOUR STATE'S RANKINGS.
(Cowboy hat tip: Southern Appeal.)
Posted by Jimmy Akin in Government | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBack
