"Surely Watts Radio can do better.": You've got to be kidding ?
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James Williamson and the First Amendment
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Stonewall
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Posted - July 25 2005 : 00:28:38
I can't remember exactly what day it was last week, but I had one of the best laughs that I've had in a long time at James Williamson trying to explain the First Amendment.
First, he started off on a rant about it starting with the works "Congress shall make no law . . ." and of course then launched into a diatribe that the First Amendment applied only to the federal government. His point was to condemn a federal judge who has ordered that a 46 foot cross erected in San Diego on public land outside a military cemetery be taken down. So his point was that the San Diego could do whatever it wanted to do.
In the very next breath, he starts ranting about a school district in Kentucky (I might have the wrong state) that has banned kids from reading the Bible on the play ground during recess. (The facts are a little different on this one. The kids were telling other kids that they would go to hell if they didn't join the Bible reading. Young Judge Roy Moores in training). James of course condemned the local officials for violating freedom of speech and freedom of worship.
Notice the beautiful irony in his flawed logic. If his first point is correct, the First Amendment applies only to laws passed by Congress, then his second point is obviously flawed, because states and local governments would be free to do whatever they wanted.
The truth of course is that the First Amendment is applied to the states and local governments through the Fourteenth Amendment, which is why there are so many religious liberty cases involving school districts.
"News and Views" reminds me of the old Russian adage about Pravda (which means truth) and Izvestia (which means News): Pravda isn't truth and Izvestia isn't News. Applied to this program: News isn't News (its propaganda) and Views isn't Views (it's View as in one-sided).
Surely Watts Radio can do better.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." Benjamin Franklin
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