Monthly Archives: December 2014

To heal

New York City Police Commissioner, William J. Bratton

New York City Police Commissioner, William J. Bratton

New York City Police Commissioner, William J. Bratton, spoke at an officers’ funeral, over the coffin of Officer Rafael Ramos.  Ramos was killed, shot from behind, by a criminal drifter, while Ramos was in his squad car on duty in Bedford Stuyvesant.  Of all the speakers remembering Officer Ramos, it was “the Commish” who struck the precise correct tone to remember the officer and his slain partner, Officer Wenjian Liu, and to rally those assembled to go forward – and not just to go forward in New York – but across the nation.

Commissioner Bratton said: “We don’t see each other, the police officers and the people mad at the police. If we can learn to see each other, then we will heal, as a department, as a city, as a country. And wouldn’t that be an honor to these officers’ lives?”

At the funeral, Governor Cuomo invoked “the rule of law,” posturing in my opinion, pandering, as he’s more nuanced and able in politics than just to inflame the crowd, especially since the protest following the killing of an unarmed Staten Island resident, Eric Garner, 43, was not about disregarding the law but about the law applying to a police officer who killed an unarmed man, and how he was found blameless, despite the eye witness video and audio recordings of the officer choking the victim to death, and the autopsy confirming the cause of death.

No question that the “rule of law” would have applied to the heinous, cowardly, depraved and addled gunman who ambushed Officer Ramos and his partner in a squad car, had the gunman not taken his own worthless life – and become another catalyst for demagogic trash talk.

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani led the “trash parade” when he said, “We’ve had four months of propaganda, starting with the president, that everybody should hate the police.” Continue reading

Peace on earth

Peace on Earth – that’s what this season is all about.

Yet, we’ve witnessed from afar how in a matter of minutes Pakistani school children can be killed en masse by Taliban terrorists.

francisDoveWe wonder whether peace is an elusive idea that perhaps cannot be achieved on earth.

Our leaders raise their voices in hymns of hate.  Words of killing, conquering, overcoming other peoples, fall too easily from the tips of tongues, untested in tasting words of peace, except to justify the wars they wage, preferring death and suffering instead, and often of the truly innocent, dismissed as the collaterally damaged.

It’s hopeful, therefore, when we can seize upon a peace overture that succeeds.

It shows that we are better than the mad impulse to war.

Pope Francis, 78, became Pontiff in March 2013.  Almost from his first day in the Vatican, he worked in secrecy to enable President Barack Obama of the United States and President Raul Castro of Cuba to set aside past distrust and convene a dialogue for peace.   Continue reading

The constitution as a palimpsest

Palimpsest – a document written over leaving traces of the original

Palimpsest – a document written over leaving traces of the original

A palimpsest is an old writing scraped from the original manuscript material to make room for a later over-writing, leaving only traces of the original.

We have witnessed an erosion of the plain meaning of the words found in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibiting any government, federal, state or local, from “establishing” a religion.  We have a federal appellate decision as recent as this year plainly re-stating that religious worship in schools is an activity that violates the First Amendment.  Yet some government entities have embraced practices establishing religion, in effect, over-writing the plain meaning of the First Amendment.

In the past week, I invited our local government agencies to stop using public buildings for religious worship as a plain and blatant constitutional violation.

In response, some agreed that they couldn’t understand how or why the County permitted church services in our public schools.  One wrote, “I have been bothered by the Grace Church sign on Harmony Middle School for some time.  Wrote a letter to LCPS Administration but didn’t even receive a reply.” Continue reading

Church in school

graceBibleHarmony

US Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black in 1947 explained in his opinion in Everson v. Board of Education that a government “establishes” a religion in violation of the First Amendment when it’s “set[ting] up a church,” and aiding any religion; Justice Black cautioned that “the wall [separating church and state] must be kept high and impregnable” against even “the slightest breach.”

In past years, around December, we discussed whether we may have crèches, menorahs, and symbols of religious worship displayed on public common grounds when seeking to skirt this prohibition.

We haven’t, however, spent an instant in public dialogue with the county school superintendent, school board or board of supervisors about whether we have been violating the establishment clause of the First Amendment when we have transformed our schools into houses of religious worship on “the Lord’s Day.”

About 40% of our public schools (34 out of 87 schools) in Loudoun County host Masses and religious worship every Sunday.

The gyms, cafeterias and libraries in our public schools have served as the nave and transept for various church denominations going back 12 years or more.  We’ve had these religious services without a murmur of inquiry or dissent, and now suffer from an inertial indifference to question what’s become an unquestioned practice – “don’t rock the boat” – “after all, the services are not during regular school hours” – “the churches pay to lease the space you know” – even though the established practice appears wholly unconstitutional.

It’s time to declare that religious worship is an impermissible use of our public schools. Continue reading

Probable cause for murder in Ferguson

michaelbrowngunshotsDorian Johnson was on Canfield Street in Ferguson, Missouri on August 9 when Officer Darren Wilson stopped Dorian and Mike Brown walking in the middle of the street.

Dorian testified under oath before the grand jury on September 10, 2014.  Dorian’s statement was sufficient probable cause for a judge, magistrate or the grand jury to vote a true bill for a homicide by Officer Wilson.

Probable cause is the standard that governs a grand jury proceeding.

Dorian’s testimony was corroborated by witnesses, physical evidence and autopsy reports.  Yet, Officer Wilson was exonerated and the killing found “justified.”

Johnson swore under oath that Officer Wilson “got right directly on the side of us …” and said, “Get the F ___ on the sidewalk” (p. 45)(G. Jury Transcript, pg, 9/10/14).

Johnson said we “continued to walk … but almost a split second [later] we heard the tires screech, and the Officer [Wilson], he pulled back in the truck [SUV] very fast to the point at an angle – if we didn’t hear his tires screech, the back of his cruiser would have struck one of us … (p. 47)” and “it was very aggressive” (p. 74).  Officer Wilson’s “door was thrust open … real hard,” said Johnson, and “it hit” Mike Brown (p. 49).

Wilson’s “arm came out the window [and] … grabbed ahold of [Brown’s] shirt around the neck area” (p. 49).  Brown was “trying to pull off the officer’s grip” (p. 51).  Johnson said, “the officer [was] trying to pull him inside the vehicle through the window … but [Brown was] pulling away” (p. 53).  Johnson said he heard their “cuss words” and “it [was] escalating” (p. 54).  Wilson then threatened, “I’ll shoot.” (p. 100). Continue reading