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BUSH BACKS TEN COMMANDMENTS

The Bush administration has filed a brief in The Ten Commandments cases currently before the United States Supreme Court.

In its brief, the Justice Department observes, “Official acknowledgement and recognition of the Ten Commandments’ influence on American legal history comport with the Establishment Clause.” They even comport with the court’s current misinterpretation of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.

The case (expected to be heard next month) involves two Kentucky counties that displayed framed copies of the Decalogue – along with other historical documents – in their courthouses. The Cincinnati-based 6th. U.S. Circuit Appeals Court ruled the displays served a predominantly religious purpose, and so were unconstitutional.

The truth of the Justice Department’s argument is all around us. One small example may be seen in the Supreme Court Building itself. Besides a mural of Moses delivering The Ten Commandments tablets, on the door leading to the courtroom, the Roman numerals one through ten are engraved, to represent the Decalogue.

America is blessed with a president who understands that the laws of this country – including the Constitution – get legitimacy only from God’s law.

THE TWELVE RULES OF CHRISTMAS

As a public service to harassed Christians, The Rutherford Institute has published handy guidelines for the celebration of Christmas -- in the public schools and the public square.

Increasingly, administrators are purging even the mildest manifestations of Christmas from our schools, under the mistaken belief that any religious expression violates the First Amendment.

This is a gross distortion of Supreme Court rulings on the matter.

For instance, the Institute notes that a school may not prohibit written or spoken expressions of the significance of Christmas (like a student’s T-shirt that says, “Jesus is the Reason for the Season”), unless it can be shown that the message would cause substantial disruption.

Schools may teach about the religious meaning of Christmas, as long as the instruction is objective and stresses the holiday’s historical or cultural significance, and isn’t intended to promote Christian doctrine.

Public schools may include religious-themed Christmas music in holiday programs, as long as songs relating to other holidays, like Hanukkah, are also included.

Schools may not prevent students from distributing literature about Christmas or invitations to church services, if they are allowed to hand out other material not related to school activities.

The guidelines in their entirety may be viewed online at http://www.rutherford.org. In disseminating the same, the Institute is performing an invaluable service.

Still, it’s unfortunate that -- to make constitutional muster -- Christmas must be treated as just another holiday, instead of the only one celebrated by 96% of the American people at this time of the year.

The Founding Fathers were guided by the faith that began on Christmas Day. While they intended to establish freedom of religion for all, the Founders viewed Christianity – the birth of whose founder we will soon celebrate – as the undisputable truth.

NEW SENATE MINORITY LEADER RENDERS AN OPINION ON CLARENCE THOMAS

In a recent interview on “Meet the Press,” Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the incoming Senate Minority Leader, blasted Associate Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

“I think he has been an embarrassment to the Supreme Court,” Reid declared. “I think his (Thomas’) opinions are poorly written. I just don’t think he’s done a good job as a Supreme Court Justice.”

While I’m sure Justice Thomas – who’s discussed as a successor to Chief Justice William Rehnquist -- isn’t losing any sleep over this assessment by constitutional scholar Harry Reid, the Senator’s pronouncement is typical of his party’s arrogance and blind allegiance to liberal dogma.

In the same vein, Reid said that over the past 4 years, “We have approved 207 federal judges and turned down 10. The president should be happy with what he’s gotten.”

But the 10 who weren’t approved were all for the crucial Court of Appeals. (Most of those approved were for the far less important District Court.) Moreover, most of the 10 weren’t actually rejected. Reid and his colleagues, a minority of Senators, prevented their names from reaching the floor, through an unconstitutional filibuster.

The president should be forewarned: Democrats learned nothing from the last election. He’ll have to fight for each of his more important judicial nominees – especially his Supreme Court appointments.

Republicans should consider putting up billboards all over Nevada with pictures of Tom Daschle (the last Minority Leader, who was defeated this year) and the words: “It Could Happen To You.”

TRUTH IN ADVERTISING?

Five Los Angeles television stations have wisely declined to air an ad that transcend tasteless.

It features a lumpy red cartoon character called “Phil the Sore,” who follows two men home together. When they part (as one says, “Let’s do it again sometime”), Phil calls in his cousins carrying boxes labeled “blindness,’ “brain-damage,” etc.

The ads were produced by Los Angeles County Department of Health, which thought they were a terribly clever way to warn homosexuals of the perils of syphilis – a disease that increased almost 400% among gay men in Los Angeles, between 2000 and 2003. By the way, that statistic says a lot.

Does anyone actually believe that a cartoon character is going to teach restraint to homosexuals? Rather, the campaign is intended to legitimize sodomy – with money from California taxpayers.

Promoting a so-called lifestyle that’s led to an explosion in the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases? In Los Angeles, they call it public health.

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