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November 30, 2004

Comments

Rookie49er

I read how another stupid and ridiculous decision has been rendered, this time in Illinois by Judge Robert Gettleman regarding the 'moment of silence' for school children. The stupid and ridiculous part of this decision stems from what he describes as (again) a violation of separation of church and state. Once again, THERE IS NO SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE mentioned in the Constitution. It DOES NOT exist, people! READ IT FOR YOURSELVES! Why do these judges continue not get it?!? Why do we the people continue to put up with it?!?

Ann

To Federal Judge Robert Gettleman,
You call yourself a judge???? You are nothing but a pompous arrogant self righteous ass!! NOWHERE in the US constitution does it state anything about the separation of church and state, what it does say is that the government shall not mandate a religion, what; you can't read? You are just another bigoted idiot attempting to make law instead of doing your job which I believe is to interpret the law, which you obviously have not done.

The forefathers of the great nation would be sickened by your feeble minded attempt to interpret what they wrote. You sir (and I say that choking) are just like the narcissistic jackass that put you on the bench and the joke we now call our president.

I would hate to be you when you meet your maker, God have mercy on your soul. You will need it!

Ann
Phoenix, AZ

John

To Federal Judge Robert Gettleman.

In my time of silence I pray to GOD that you are removed from office. How doesn't make much difference to me.

I always thought the majority overides the minority when it comes to what people want. Now I see the way it realy is. May be I should take out a law suit because I can't have a moment of silence in school. It's odd that a Muslum can pray in school but a Christian can't. What a joke.

John

Judge stops enforcement of silence law...........

You sir are an Idiot of the highest order. You can NOT control peoples mind.

Susan Little

Your Honor, in deciding your decision concerning the "Moment of Silence" instituted throughout Illinois, in addition to the law being costly, ineffective, and unconstitutional, it's important you consider exactly how this law is playing-out.

My daughter is in second grade. The school sent home the notice that the law had passed and of the statement they would read to the children. The next day the ambiguous statement "...this moment may be used for prayer or to reflect upon the events of the day" was read before they began the "Moment." The second graders went "huh?" When the moment begun, the second graders all looked around the room trying to figure-out what they were supposed to be doing. The teacher then crossed herself, bowed her head, and put her hands together in prayer. The second graders looked to the teacher and thought "oh, that's what I'm supposed to be doing." Most of the kids then crossed themselves, bowed their heads, and put their hands together in prayer. Problem is, my kid's Jewish.
This is the reality of this unconstitutional law. The absolute riduculousness of it would be funny if it weren't so scary. It's nothing more than another attempt by Christian zealots to push their beliefs upon others. Just consider this...although they might love the fact that my Jewish kid is now crossing herself, what if the teacher was a Muslim, Buddist or Wicken. These same parents would go off-the-wall if their children were being influenced by a religion other than their own or made to feel 'different.' Given the incredible peer pressure on kids these days regardless of their age, a Jewish child, for instance, who gets up and begins to doviding during prayer (rocking back and forth as is customary with Orthodox Jews), it may go over well in NY or FL, but in most parts of the country, IL included, this child is tagged as 'different than us.' The effect of this could be devastating. Either the child accepts the 'label' and learns to live with the ostrazation or begins to hide clues to what's making him 'different', i.e., his religion.
Please consider the above when making your decision. Thank you for your time and your dedication in protecting our constitution.

Carl

What a cool judge!
Erm calm down Some Guy, it's only a blog...

Some Guy

Interesting interview. By the way, for someone so interested in the righteous cause of accessibility for disabled people, you don't seem to have much interest in making your own website accessible!

Have you bothered to check it with one of the widely available accessibility programs? Or even one of the laughable online plugins? I know that the programs cost money, but as Judge Gettleman himself would be the first to tell you if you were in his court, you owe the disabled a duty not to discriminate in the provision of a public service, and you aren't relieved of this duty simply because you don't feel like spending your time and money on protecting their CIVIL RIGHTS! We're talking about CIVIL RIGHTS here, and you could be denying your three readers their CIVIL RIGHTS!

Are you thinking right now about how to avoid that duty? Thinking about citing Access Now v. Southwest Airlines and claiming that websites aren't covered by the ADA, so you're within your rights to discriminate so blatantly against the disabled? Arguable.

But, is it only us plebes who should have to spend time and money pursuing Judge Gettleman's pet causes? Seems your softball question has a hard side you didn't think about, but thousands of people get to deal with it every day.

(By the way, don't worry, I won't drop the dime on you to DOJ or one of the ADA litigation mills...)

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