great now crime is going to sky rocket there

As to date, to my understanding....nothing has been put into place to make "legalized" discrimination against anything......


www.supemecourtus.gov:

"EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER LAW”—These words,
written above the main entrance to the Supreme
Court Building, express the ultimate responsibility of
the Supreme Court of the United States. The Court is
the highest tribunal in the Nation for all cases and
controversies arising under the Constitution or the
laws of the United States. As the final arbiter of the
law, the Court is charged with ensuring the American
people the promise of equal justice under law and,
thereby, also functions as guardian and interpreter of
the Constitution.
The Supreme Court is “distinctly American in concept
and function,” as Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes
observed. Few other courts in the world have the same
authority of constitutional interpretation and none have
exercised it for as long or with as much influence. A
century and a half ago, the French political observer
Alexis de Tocqueville noted the unique position of the
Supreme Court in the history of nations and of jurisprudence.
“The representative system of government
has been adopted in several states of Europe,” he remarked,
“but I am unaware that any nation of the globe
has hitherto organized a judicial power in the same
manner as the Americans. . . . A more imposing judicial
power was never constituted by any people.”
The unique position of the Supreme Court stems, in
large part, from the deep commitment of the American
people to the Rule of Law and to constitutional government.
The United States has demonstrated an unprecedented
determination to preserve and protect its
written Constitution, thereby providing the American “experiment in democracy” with the
oldest written Constitution still in force.
The Constitution of the United States is a carefully balanced document. It is designed
to provide for a national government sufficiently strong and flexible to meet the needs of
the republic, yet sufficiently limited and just to protect the guaranteed rights of citizens;
it permits a balance between society’s need for order and the individual’s right to freedom.
To assure these ends, the Framers of the Constitution created three independent and
coequal branches of government. That this Constitution has provided continuous democratic
government through the periodic stresses of more than two centuries illustrates the
genius of the American system of government.
The complex role of the Supreme Court in this system derives from its authority to
invalidate legislation or executive actions which, in the Court’s considered judgment,
conflict with the Constitution. This power of “judicial review” has given the Court a crucial
responsibility in assuring individual rights, as well as in maintaining a “living Constitution”
whose broad provisions are continually applied to complicated new situations.
While the function of judicial review is not explicitly provided in the Constitution, it
had been anticipated before the adoption of that document. Prior to 1789, state courts had
already overturned legislative acts which conflicted with state constitutions. Moreover,
many of the Founding Fathers expected the Supreme Court to assume this role in regard
to the Constitution; Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, for example, had underlined
the importance of judicial review in the Federalist Papers, which urged adoption of the
Constitution.


AND from same website:

The Court and Its Procedures
A Term of the Supreme Court begins, by statute, on the first Monday in October.
Usually Court sessions continue until late June or early July. The Term is divided between
“sittings,” when the Justices hear cases and deliver opinions, and intervening “recesses,”
when they consider the business before the Court and write opinions. Sittings and recesses
alternate at approximately two-week intervals.
With rare exceptions, each side is allowed 30 minutes argument and up to 24 cases
may be argued at one sitting. Since the majority of cases involve the review of a decision of
some other court, there is no jury and no witnesses are heard. For each case, the Court has
before it a record of prior proceedings and printed briefs containing the arguments of each
side.
During the intervening recess period, the Justices study the argued and forthcoming
cases and work on their opinions. Each week the Justices must also evaluate more than
130 petitions seeking review of judgments of state and federal courts to determine which
cases are to be granted full review with oral arguments by attorneys.
When the Court is sitting, public sessions begin promptly at 10 a.m. and continue until
3 p.m., with a one-hour lunch recess starting at noon. No public sessions are held on
Thursdays or Fridays. On Fridays during and preceding argument weeks, the Justices
meet to discuss the argued cases and to discuss and vote on petitions for review.
When the Court is in session, the 10 a.m. entrance of the Justices into the Courtroom
is announced by the Marshal. Those present, at the sound of the gavel, arise and remain
standing until the robed Justices are seated following the traditional chant: “The Honorable,
the Chief Justice and the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United
States. Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! All persons having business before the Honorable, the Supreme
Court of the United States, are admonished to draw near and give their attention, for the
Court is now sitting. God save the United States and this Honorable Court!”
Prior to hearing oral argument, other business of the Court is transacted. On Monday
mornings this includes the release of an Order List, a public report of Court actions including
the acceptance and rejection of cases, and the admission of new members to the
Court Bar. Opinions are typically released on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings and on
the third Monday of each sitting, when the Court takes the Bench but no arguments are
heard.
The Court maintains this schedule each Term until all cases ready for submission have
been heard and decided. In May and June the Court sits only to announce orders and
opinions. The Court recesses at the end of June, but the work of the Justices is unceasing.
During the summer they continue to analyze new petitions for review, consider motions and
applications, and must make preparations for cases scheduled for fall argument.

[The foregoing was taken from a booklet prepared by the Supreme Court of the United States,
and published with funding from the Supreme Court Historical Society

So, people, perhaps now you can understand the workings of the US Supreme Court better and stop 'opining' of why it does or does not hear a case.

Lindyy


OH AND PLEASE NOTE THE WORD "INTERPRETATION" OF THE "US CONSTITUTION".

That is why Amsterdam is cracking down.....because of the crime the prior governmental attitude used to have.

Lindyy

Do you justify how the American military POW's were tortured in that same war? How about how our POW's were tortured in Viet Nam, Iraq, Afghanistan?

Do you approve of that? DO YOU APPROVE OF HOW OUR TROOPS WERE BEHEADED, BODIES RAVAGED AND DISMEMBERED, BEHEADED IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN?

Why not support our troops instead of belittling them?

This has been on the news, some people just want to dismiss it or say they deserved it....my neighbor's son who was killed in April in Iraq, told of what took place in Iraq....so I have first hand knowledge...

Such pathetic pity that our troops are treated with such disrepect.....

Lindyy

This thread and it's direction over time really amazes me.

Arguments against gay marriage have been based in several areas.

The "behavior" or psychology of gay people and other health related issues have come up. To support these arguments posters have quoted some bad science or substituted opinion in the place of science. The science on homosexuality and on heterosexuality is still unfolding and the truth is no one knows with scientific certainty what the causes of homosexuality are.

I do find it funny when the religious right point to bad science to support their opposition to gay marriage. After all this is a bunch that rejects the science that clearly shows that the earth is just a tad older than the 10k years that many creationist say it is.

Biblical based arguments have come up as well. The Bible speaks quite clearly in it's prohibitions against some behaviors think about murder or adultery. These activities get more than one mention. On the issue of homosexuality the Bible is somewhat vague. This is quite interesting. Especially because people who lived in biblical times would have been quite familiar with homosexuality. After all it was known historically among ancient Greeks, pre-Roman Germanic, Ottoman Turks and others.

These two objections, the health related and Bible based arguments, against gay marriage, as they've appeared in this forum seem badly supported and poorly argued.

If you are going to persist in arguing against gay marriage let's see some real science from some accredited sources please.

Oh and I have to say, the "I don't hate gays because I like Celebrity So-n-so or because I know a gay person" assertions of some here really amaze me. They echo the self defensive lines I've heard my whole life from people who are trying to assuage the guilt and inner doubt I think is born from living with festering prejudice, insecurity and hatred. I've heard it from both black and white people who still cling to racial prejudices. After all you don't have to face the ugliness of your prejudices that way. You can keep telling yourself, "I'm not really so ugly"

VAGUE? I posted MANY SCRIPTURE TO SUPPORT THE POSITION GOD HAS ON HOMOSEXUALITY......IT SO BLATANTLY CLEAR..................GOD HATES IT..............TO THE POINT WHERE HE DESTROYED SODOM AND GOMORRAH...........HOW MUCH CLEARER CAN THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY BE?

Lindyy

seriously why do some of u all here care so much??? I dont!!!!!! let people do watever they want!!! its a free country!!!

Maybe God should have used CAPS LOCK?

You are saying Sodom and Gomorrah was all about homosexuals eh? What do you think about this take?

From http://www.religioustolerance.org/hombibg194.htm

Conservative Christians: Many believe that the story of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19, like passages elsewhere in the Bible, refers to homosexuality as a forbidden, detestable practice deserving of the most serious punishment -- not only death to those attempting the homosexual act but also a mini-genocide of the entire cities of Sodom and Gomorrah including adults, youths, children, and infants. God created the institution of heterosexual marriage as the only valid relationship for humans within which sexual activity can be performed without sin.
bullet

Liberal Christians: Many believe that texts in Genesis and the rest of the Bible make it clear that Sodom was punished because of the violent, abusive, inhospitable, greedy, and unsympathetic behavior of its citizens towards visitors, widows, the poor and other disadvantaged persons. Liberals often interpret Genesis 19 as condemning homosexual rape simply because it is rape. It would then be consistent with Deuteronomy 22:25-29 which condemns heterosexual rape. The passage does not impact on consensual homosexual activities between consenting adults, and is totally unrelated to loving, committed, same-sex relationships, civil unions and marriages. Most religious liberals are are faced with the inescapable and rather surprising conclusion that the condemned activities in Sodom probably had nothing to do with sodomy -- i.e. anal sex. As one Christian editor wrote: "To suggest that Sodom and Gomorrah is about homosexual sex is an analysis of about as much worth as suggesting that the story of Jonah and the whale is a treatise on fishing." 1

There is ironic aspect to this passage that is rarely discussed: To judge by other biblical references to Sodom, God seems to condemn the citizens for insensitive treatment and harassment of others. But, this is the very passage that many conservative and some mainline Christian faith groups use to verbally attack gays and lesbians.

The real story of Sodom may well have involved a mob who mistook the angels for ordinary humans. Driven by fear, suspicion, and/or hatred there intent was to humiliate, by rape, what they assumed were stranger people visiting their city. The Sodom situation has many parallels to gay-bashing today, with homophobes trying to assault gay and lesbian strangers.

The purpose of the Politics, Current News & Events is to discuss, debate issues.....pro and con......that is why people are on here.....to express themselves.....to have the opportunity to discuss with others different issues....

That is merely one individual's INTERPRETATION/OPINION.....far from the interpretation/opinion of the Christian faith as a whole.......

I wholeheartedly agree with your take on Sodom and Gomorrha.

That is exactly what I got from this story, but most people simply ignored it when I said so.

BUT, what happened to the original poster of this thread? Have not heard a peep from the original poster......

Ummm....where did I ever say that I approved of other countries' form of torture? Ummm...where did I say that I didn't support our troops? Sheesh.

The topic I was talking about was how we treated Japanese-Americans after the Pearl Harbor attack. Your post takes through every war since that event.

sh!t how we treated the japanese americans,what about the innocent japanese we nuked.japan attacked a naval base not los angeles.jmo

That is Great... God can hate Gay... So, don't be Gay.
But as for Society... we have a Gov't that is run by man in man's affair called Politics. And Politics is not nice at all... it is not constant and always changing with the environment and times. It is not Perfect like God's laws.

We shouldn't use the Bible to limit others Freedom or to ROB them of their Free Will and Choice. Satan does that as a Legalist. We cannot Law Christianity into People.

Man's Affair (no pun intended.. hehe) is Man's Affair.
I was told I am to READ the Bible to myself and apply it to myself and I am NOT to point to someone else and say... "see what it say in the Bible and you are a Sinner and going to Hellllll".

It is IMPOSSIBLE to subjectgate (sp?) every single Bible laws into society of MAN. It is just not Possible. If it does we would be just like a Muslim state and a reflection of lack of our most Prized "Freedom".

Just because we allow Gay marriage, it doesn't mean a bunch of people becomes GAY. If the World allows it, so be it. YOu are still to be an Alien to this Planet.

Obviously for Christians there is a difference between freedom and freedom.

IMO - all people are different. There are different religions, different races, different beliefs, different ways of living, different ways of loving, different ways of working, different ways of sleeping, different ways of just about anything and everything.

So, my question to everyone is, How come some people think that THEIR way of the aforementioned is the RIGHT way? Who has the right to say what should be wrong? We are all different and that is what makes us human. Do what YOU want to do and let others do what THEY want to do. As long as it is not harming anyone else, who cares.

Here is analogy.

It isn't martyrdom, if you kill yourself and others for God... Martyrs were being killed by others for their beliefs.

So, You come into my country and start dictating how MY COUNTRY should still be a FRENCH Colony so the French can continue to ROB my country's RESOURCEs without the benefits of my people and then running counter against a FREEE Election didn't agree with your AMERICAN AGENDA and then KILLED millions of my people, my brothers, my sisters, my neighbors, my parents, etc... what GOD given right are you allow to do this to another man???

So, why do you think you were in Vietnam for???

The Troops... support the Troops... yeah.. I support the TRoops by holding the Gov't responsible and accountable for their decisions. Being a Cheerleader on the sideline and hanging a magnet yellow ribbon is not supporting the Troops. The Troops cannot ask our gov't the question "WHY"... they are focused and brainwashed in the effort and getting their job done no matter what. They are an instrument and caught in the middle. It is the PEOPLE... We the People must step up and if want to wave a flag, great have at it... but the best and most important thing is to hold the Gov't ACCOUNTABLE for ALL things. Don't get Propagandized by words like Communism, Loyalty, Honor, Jesus, and Terrorist. These words along with FEAR are used to keep us from thinking and questioning "WHY".

Sorry about the Confusion..
I was trying to point out the difference between Man's Law for a functioning Society of different people vs.. God's Law for Christians, in which no man can ever follow completely.

Gee, is there an opening for a new Pope?

Maybe I missed it? Is there a President of Christian thought that speaks for all Christians? Or can even say what most or many Christians can, should or do think?

Maybe I missed it but I was under the impression that God's greatest gift was free will.

I know many fine Christian people who might resent being told what many Christians think.

I mean gosh, when I make generalizations about some Christian groups I am soundly called out and told I cannot and should not make those sorts of generalizations.

Guess it's okay for others to do so.

The facts are that among Christian groups there are broad schools of thought about God's will, creation, evolution, homosexuality, divorce, the environment, the Bible and almost every other issue.

There are days when, I admit, I would like to see the judgment as described by some Christians. I would like to sit back and watch, to see who receives what eternal reward and why. Perhaps those who are so sure theirs is the one true way and who condemn all others who do not embrace their path might be surprised.