Pace: the final frontier, chapter 10 — Taking it to the streets ... and Congress

On the eve of the bench trial to determine whether Pace (Fla.) High School principal Frank Lay and athletic director Robert Freeman should be held in criminal contempt for violating a federal injunction against organized prayer in their public school*, some of the biggest idiots on the planet are weighing in with their support (predictably) of the two educators. Unfortunately, those particular idiots all happen to be members of the U.S. Congress.

U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller and a group of federal lawmakers have pledged their support for Pace High School Principal Frank Lay and the school's athletic director, Robert Freeman, as they face federal criminal contempt charges on Thursday.

Miller, R-Chumuckla, along with U.S. Reps. J. Randy Forbes, R-Va., and Mike McIntyre, D-N.C., wrote Lay and Freeman on behalf of the 54-member Congressional Prayer Caucus.

"Please know that we are standing with you in prayer and support as you face your trial on Thursday because of offering a prayer," the letter reads.

Miller said Tuesday that 29 members of Congress, some of them members of the Congressional Prayer Caucus, had signed the letter of support.

The letter ends: "The tradition of offering prayer in America has become so interwoven into our nation's spiritual history that to charge someone criminally for engaging in such an innocent practice would astonish the men who founded this country on religious liberty."

Obviously, these members of Congress openly support violations of the U.S. Constitution, which clearly and unequivocally forbids religious activity of the type in which Lay and Freeman engaged -- specifically, a Christian prayer at a public school event.

But, as with all of the whackjob Christianists who have expressed their support over time for these two men who obviously hate America and its freedoms, these members of Congress are missing the point altogether.

Once again (I sound like a broken record): THE CHARGES ARE NOT FOR PRAYING!! Rather, the charges are for violating a court order prohibiting organized prayer in public school, an activity which itself would "astonish the men who founded this country." It is not a restriction of religious liberty -- rather, it is a protection of religious liberty in that it keeps non-Christians from having to endure Christian prayers being forced upon them! Why is this so difficult to comprehend, especially for members of Congress?

Later in the article, two of the congressional signatories to the letter supporting violations of the Constitution throw up a strawman, further bolstering the conclusion that they have no clue what they're talking about:

Miller, whose congressional district includes Pace, called the consent decree too broad.

"To think that a person can be held in criminal contempt for asking someone to say a prayer, it really concerns me and many members of Congress," he said.

Forbes formed the Prayer Caucus in 2005 with the intent to "recognize the vital role that prayer by individuals of all faiths has played in uniting us as a people," according to the group's Web site.

Forbes, an attorney who has been member of Congress since 2001, on Tuesday called the consent decree "unconstitutional."

"I think that's a dangerous road to go down in this country," he said.

What concerns me is the willingness of these members of Congress to ignore settled American law! Look, there are at least three salient points here:

1. To Rep. Forbes: Lay and Freeman are not being charged with violations of the consent decree, but rather with violating a temporary restraining order that preceded the consent decree. Maybe you should pay better attention, Rep. Forbes, Mr. Attorney.


2. If the consent decree (which is, as already established, irrelevant to the charges against Lay and Freeman) is unconstitutional, then maybe the Santa Rosa County School District shouldn't have signed it. But they did, and they now are bound by it, subject only to a court order overturning it ... which hasn't happened yet and most likely won't.


3. Finally, no matter what you may think of the consent decree or of the charges against Lay and Freeman, the ultimate point is that Santa Rosa County school personnel systematically and intentionally have ignored the First Amendment (which expressly prohibits any "establishment of religion" by governmental entities) for years. It's just that it took them a while to get caught.

It's a shame that so many people are using this issue as an opportunity for political grandstanding and hand-wringing over the loss of values and morals in America -- since there's nothing of the kind going on here at all. At the risk of redundancy, I'll remind those in Pace and elsewhere that prayer in public school is fine, so long as it's private and not organized or led by school officials. Seriously, you people are dense.

Wait, did I say "dense?" Perhaps that's too lenient, considering this billboard that appears prominently on U.S. 90 eastbound, heading into Pace from Pensacola:

Talk about misstating an issue ... how can you "return" something that never was there (at least not legally) in the first place?!? This sign, like its ubiquitous yard sign cousins proclaiming "IN GOD WE TRUST: Pray For Our Schools," is just another means to divert attention from the real issue here: the endemic violations of the U.S. Constitution and Lay and Freeman's intentional defiance of a federal court order. (And you can bet I won't be patronizing Advanced Dental Concepts anytime soon. If they want to go back to the Dark Ages in our schools, what kind of dental hygiene are they practicing, anyway?)

Tomorrow's contempt trial should be very interesting indeed. Stay tuned.

---

* Further background on the case is here, if you're new to the story or need a refresher. Please scroll past this post at the link to view previous entries.

Jefferson-Jackson Dinner 2009: liveblogging, page 3

Rep. Corrine Brown is speaking now. I forgot that she always starts speaking by saying, "God is good," waiting for the response "All the time," then she says "All the time" and people respond "God is good." The response was, well, tepid.

Anyway, she's talking about education, focusing on how Florida ranks 50th in public high school graduation rates. She met with Gov. Crist and discovered he did not even apply for a funding waiver from the federal government that would have meant literally billions of dollars. She says she is determined to work on changing Florida's direction.

Rep. Allen Boyd speaking now: "the most important function of our federal government is to make our homeland secure. We have the strongest military in the world ..." I'm not surprised to hear Blue Dog Boyd speak on this topic ... then again, they may have saved it for him, since each member of Congress is speaking about a different topic. He recounts how he returned from Vietnam to "an ungrateful nation." Therefore, we must make sure that those returning from war now are taken care of ... "but unlike the other party, we realize that will take money."

All Dem members of the state House have taken the stage. Looks a little crowded up there -- there are over 40 of them. Of course, they still represent less than a third of the entire House because of the completely disproportionate GOP majority under which we suffer ...

UPDATE (6:50 pm 5/30/09): Florida's Democratic state senate delegation just appeared on stage, or (as Mario Piscatella said) at least those who are running for higher office. Sen. Nan Rich spoke on their behalf ... sorry, I drifted for a while, so I wasn't really listening. So sue me.

Now there's a lull with music (no, I'm not the DJ, although I would have done it if asked) as they prepare for, well, I've really no idea what exactly. I'm sure it's going to be Very Exciting, though. Stay tuned.