History is largely made up of stories of men and women struggling for power. Our history books are filled with battles between someone was king and someone who wanted to be king. It’s been written often that George Washington easily could have become king of the very young America. His refusal to grasp at power is such a historical anomaly that he stands out as one of the greatest historical figures in the history of man.
Presidents have limited power because a great man like Washington limited his own power. Unfortunately, Justice Anthony Kennedy is not a great man.
Hey, America went two centuries without a king. It was time we got one, right? Justice Anthony Kennedy is the new king of America. Unelected. Legislating without limit. And cool robes.
Appointed by Republican President Ronald Reagan, Kennedy acts as the Court’s swing vote in many cases, and as a result has held special prominence in many politically charged 5–4 decisions.
The past week offers two examples of 5-4 decisions which show that Kennedy is now the most powerful man in America.
In writing the majority opinion, Justice Anthony Kennedy noted that child rapes may be “devastating,” but don’t compare to murder. He didn’t get that from The Constitution. Justice Kennedy wrote that, “Evolving standards of decency must embrace and express respect for the dignity of the person, and the punishment of criminals must conform to that rule.” Now, of course, pro-lifers will scoff a little at a justice who allows abortion to wax poetic about “the dignity of the person.” But it’s the “evolving standards” line which also irks me. He’s supposed to be basing his opinion on the Constitution, not evolving standards which exist in the mind of Justice Kennedy.
Here’s the thing -I’m pretty sure that if you took a poll you’d get a pretty good consensus that the death penalty for child rapists might be a good thing.
What also troubles me is another ruling issued yesterday where the RIGHT to bear arms was up in the air yesterday. Mind you, it is an enumerated right yet it was nearly taken away yesterday but for the opinion of one justice – Anthony Kennedy.
I get a little worried about a man who can “disappear” a right. It seems rights are no longer from our Creator but are derived from Justice Anthony Kennedy.
And in the many 5-4 rulings by the Supreme Court, Kennedy is often the swing and decisive vote.
Abortion in the ninth month of pregnancy is likely legal in every state in America currently because Anthony Kennedy is pro-choice.
Terrorists have habeas right because Kennedy has deemed it so.
We have the right to own a gun because Justice Kennedy has deemed it.
Students can’t raise a banner saying “Bong hits for Jesus” because Kennedy said so.
Anthony Kennedy ruled that local governments have more or less unlimited authority to seize homes and businesses in his eminent domain concurrence.
Partial-birth abortion can be limited because Kennedy joined the constructionists of the Court in Stenberg v. Carhart.
Now, mind you I sometimes agree with Justice Kennedy just as I would likely agree with the actions of a well meaning monarch. The problem I have is that he has the power to make those decisions. A tyrant can do many good things. That is not the question. I question from where his power is derived in America.
George Washington shunned an excess of power. Justice Anthony Kennedy seems to accrue it.
Justice Kennedy’s actions seem to shine a light on the importance of the power of the President to nominate justices, making this election of even more importance. Justice John Paul Stevens is 88. Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 75. David Souter, who is only is 68, is reportedly interested in retiring. If McCain is elected we could possibly curtail the power of the judiciary and return power to the people and their elected representatives.
July 4, 2008 at 10:51 pm
Oh, and people who claim to be Catholic yet can’t consent to the Church’s teachings, including those laid out in the Catechism, should be added to the “You might not be Catholic if…” list.
July 5, 2008 at 8:30 pm
My old Mom was incenced with Richard Speck’s display in Illinois prison – breast implants, cocaine, reefer, sex.
These videos were the act of a desperate man (Speck). “There is more in Heaven and Earth than dreamt of in your philosophy, Horatio.”
It may be wise for us pundits to consider the effect such prison displays as Speck’s have on younger viewers. “Prison wouldn’t be so bad,” kids may say.
Could there be a segment of society willing to kill people in exchange for a DOC’s fake tits, coke, pot and mano-a-mano oiled leg wrestling?
Correction Officers will tell you, those prison extravagences are never a substitute for freedom. US of A Freedom is the most precious object in my life. It allows me to choose my actions rather than others’. How can you replace it?
By executing people, you are setting them free from these surly bounds. Imprisonment is the most harsh form of punishment.
The effect of executions: substantial deterrence? mysterious? incalculable? expensive? problematic?
In Pike County, Pennsylvania, there is no law (book) at the library; nope, none that are current. How are people expected to follow it, then?
CD-ROM’s must inculcate public libraries. The law is alive, settles conflicts, though it is ubiquitous and elusive.
Mathew Bender / LEXIS-Nexis abound at the Pike Co. Jail – When will they donate last years’ to the Co. Library?!
-Pete Moss, lawmeister, Esq.
July 6, 2008 at 2:12 am
I have no problem with the tenants of the law needing to be made available to the general public.
My problem is that prison does not necessarily strip away freedom. Freedom is something we own by virtue of being born. It does not necessarily mean not being shackled, but we can choose between right and wrong, good and evil, with or without chains.
Read Victor Frankl’s “Man’s Search for Meaning”. He was a Holocaust survivor and though the Nazis took away every freedom that he could outwardly possess, they could not take away his inner life, where our true freedom lies.
To the crowds and the soldiers, it looked as though Christ was not freely choosing to die. Yet He did. Why? Because He still possessed the inner freedom to choose to do so, even though all His outward freedoms were taken away.
Imprisonment is not the highest punishment possible. It is still the allowance of life and the ability to choose and live. Death is the highest punishment (hence the term, capital punishment) because it takes those away. No more life to live. No more ability to choose and make better with our lives. Death brings us into immediate judgment. Hence why the Church teaches that the death penalty must be used in extreme rarity.
July 6, 2008 at 3:08 am
It is told in Reader’s Digest that the death penalty spurred on Ted Bundy, because he wanted to be stopped from killing, and so chose Florida as his last murder site. It stopped him, alright. He changed his tune later, to no avail.
Such Death Wishes are self limiting except in the case of vigilante Paul Kersey, whom a police chief backed up. OK, it’s just a film. But he was justified, as opposed to Bundy’s psychology.
The Science of Psychology is the key to labeling and verbalizing and predicting emotions, but people are too busy purchasing crap they don’t need to read a psych textbook.
I follow Lucy Van Pelt, setting up my KoolAid / “The Psychiatrist is IN – 5 cents” stand at the end of the block.
Those words of yours are almost comforting; but Christ gave over his will to God’s. He did not want to die. Many critics of Christianity use that opinion he had a death wish, but there’s more to the pix than meets the eye. God’s will prevailed, and He raised Him again, so defeating the Romans’ and Jews’ desire to extinguish the truth, way, life of the cross, Christ defeated death altogether.
Mel Gibson is the rock star. He makes allot of the truth in these pious tales palatable for average, ordinary peeps.
I don’t understand why the New York Post was against it & him. Hype? He is so filled with the truth, it overflows.
The USA fighting over control of Jeruslaem is such a waste of our resources when we have the New World, today [“Apocalypto.”]
-Pete Moss
July 6, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Pete…you’re skirting the issue of the death penalty.
Otherwise, you make good points.
So if Christ extinguished death, who are we to turn people over to it? He died so we wouldn’t have to. And I know this means eternal death, not earthly death, but by giving people over to death we subject them to the judgment that comes.
We don’t get to decide who lives and who dies. That was part of the fault of the Romans and the Jews. That’s why the Church teaches the death penalty should only be used in times of extreme necessity.
And I love the Peanuts. That part of your post made me smile.
July 6, 2008 at 9:02 pm
Pete…you’re skirting the issue of the death penalty.
Otherwise, you make good points.
So if Christ extinguished death, who are we to turn people over to it? He died so we wouldn’t have to. And I know this means eternal death, not earthly death, but by giving people over to death we subject them to the judgment that comes.
Hmmmm; Stipendium pecarti mors est.
But if we believe God raised the Son again, we have eternal life, then we are subject to the rules of life and better start doing it right, right? There’s no escaping life, in other words. “We are doomed to be free,” (J.P. Sartre).
We don’t get to decide who lives and who dies. That was part of the fault of the Romans and the Jews. That’s why the Church teaches the death penalty should only be used in times of extreme necessity.
And I love the Peanuts. That part of your post made me smile.
OK. I think the judgment of which you speak has already been meted out by a court, case by case, and convicted child rapist/muderers are then eligible for Christian salvation before the end.
But who cares? They certainly are in no capacity to cause further harm, so on to the next task, right? Not so fast. The parents of the child/victim probably need these cons dead, quick, and that’s where I’d agree that the death penalty is warranted – for the parents sake, so they can sleep at night.
Some do change their ways like David Berkowitz, but he is villified, and not trusted, nor with parole.
I wonder if Manson will be paroled; would he crave sex, drugs, rock ‘n roll again at his age?
-Pete Moss P.S. Someday maybe I’ll get paid for writing polished opinions, but aren’t you kinda polished yourself, now that I’ve clued you in?
Ars longa, vita brevis
July 7, 2008 at 3:32 am
you’re right.
but you raise a good point. parents of the victim need to sleep at night. and they think that killing the convicted will justify them and their child, thus allowing them to sleep. well here’s where a little issue of personal pride and anger come in. neither of which are good and both of which are destructive and can lead to sin. we have to be able to trust God enough to know that when it is that person’s time to end his earthly journey and be subject to the final judgment and eternity, that God will take care of him- either punish him eternally or purify him (which is painful) and allow him to enter into eternal paradise with Him.
the problem is, parents of children who have been raped can’t bear the thought that the rapist could possibly go to heaven. they don’t want him to be able to- they want to see him suffer eternally. and that’s just not the way things work. we have to be willing to let go of our anger and heal from our wounds so that we can draw closer to Christ Who holds no grudges and wants to see us all come to Him. we should want every person to go to heaven and be with Christ, otherwise we are not acting very Christ-like. even Christ said of those Who were crucifying Him, “Father forgive them for they know not what to do.”
let’s let the justice system take care of earthly punishment and leave the rest up to God. and in the meantime, we should work on perfecting ourselves and allow God to work in others.
July 9, 2008 at 9:57 am
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July 9, 2008 at 3:42 pm
I’m from Crawford County, PA, northwestern PA, and have heard of your county’s antics. I think you judge a little harshly (“and when it comes to light, it would be better for them if they had never been born”) but it’s hard not to in your situation. Keep persevering and take consolation in the fact that Pike Co. is not where you have to spend eternity, that there is, in fact, more to life than just the here and now.
That being said, your use of profanity is really out of place. I can get the point very clearly without your use of it, and you’d sound more intelligent without it. And I think your whole discussion has been based on personal vendetta.
July 9, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Pete…Pete…Pete…
What were you thinking? No can drop f-bomb on CMR.
Thanks Maria for pointing it out. I missed it before.
Bad Pete.
July 9, 2008 at 8:25 pm
That being said, your use of profanity is really out of place. I can get the point very clearly without your use of it, and you’d sound more intelligent without it.
I’m sorry about the g*d*mn dirty mouth/fingertips. I’m ok, alright now; no more, promise. You see, I did what I did before love came to town — the echoes in the trees, wind in the willows mad me think while working on Miss Chevy under the pines – a little faith courtesy of The Boss. I hope you don’t mind, but this is the final piece in my puzzle: there’s really no life in the forbidden zone, certain county courts, nor Badlands, so I’ll keep pushin’ ’till it’s understood …
Lights out tonight, trouble in the heartland.
Got a head-on collision, smashin in my guts man.
Im caught in a crossfire that I dont understand.
But theres one thing I know for sure girl:
I dont give a damn for the same old played out scenes
I dont give a damn for just the in-betweens.
Honey I want the heart, I want the soul, I want control right now.
You better listen to me baby:
Talk about a dream; try to make it real.
You wake up in the night with a fear so real.
You spend your life waiting for a moment that just dont come.
Well dont waste your time waiting
Badlands you gotta live it every day
Let the broken hearts stand
As the price youve gotta pay
Well keep pushin till its understood
And these badlands start treating us good
Workin in the field till you get your back burned
Workin `neath the wheels till you get your facts learned.
Baby I got my facts learned real good right now.
You better get it straight darling:
Poor men wanna be rich, rich men wanna be kings,
And a king aint satisfied till he rules everything.
I wanna go out tonight, I wanna find out what I got.
Now I believe in the love that you gave me.
I believe in the faith that could save me.
I believe in the hope and I pray that some day it
Will raise me above these
Badlands…
For the ones who had a notion, a notion deep inside
That it aint no sin to be glad youre alive.
I wanna find one face that aint looking through me
I wanna find one place, I wanna spit in the face of these
Badlands…
-PM