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Author Message
25 new of 526 responses total.
edina
response 340 of 526: Mark Unseen   Mar 3 16:02 UTC 2006

I always find it kind of funny - if someone is creating an environment where
they don't want certain things, why would someone want to live there simply
to prove a point?  No one is going to change Tom Monoghan's mind.  They
aren't.  Why do people insist upon getting in the faces of those they disagree
with, screaming how wrong the other person is?  If you think Monoghan is
wrong, don't live there.
richard
response 341 of 526: Mark Unseen   Mar 3 16:04 UTC 2006

nharmon said:

"Oh, I also wanted to add that nothing Richard has said yet shows that a    
private citizen, on his/her own property, is required to grant every       
other citizen all of their rights on said private citizen's property. "

nharmon, even on a private citizen's private property, he cannot enslave 
any other citizen.  you can't own a restaurant and serve only white 
people, or require that your customers all be christians, or require that 
they only say certain things.  This is a free country and you must respect 
the rights of all citizens at all times.     
johnnie
response 342 of 526: Mark Unseen   Mar 3 16:27 UTC 2006

>you can't own a restaurant and...require that your customers...only say
>certain things.

Sure you can.  Discriminating on the basis of race and religion is a big
no-no, of course, but if, say, you're a Yankees fan, you could kick
somebody out for wearing a Mets t-shirt, or for praising the Mets aloud.
-----

If the residential part of town is structured as a homeowner's
association, all manner of otherwise-unconstitutional rules could likely
be enacted.  While I doubt they could forbid non-Catholics from buying a
house, they could forbid them from putting any sort of non-Catholic
displays in their front yard.  No idea whether they could require every
yard to have a Caholic shrine or somesuch.  They might be able to
prevent a non-Catholic church from being built in town, but they
probably couldn't prevent someone from holding private non-Catholic
services in their home (but they could likely restrict the number of
visitors allowed at one time).

Shopping malls have a lot of power to restrict free speech and other
rights (you can be kicked out for wearing a t-shirt that mall management
objects to, for example, and you can't collect signatures on a petition
without prior approval).  If the commercial district is given the same
leeway, it's likely the town fathers could keep out all sorts of
behavior and general riff-raff.
nharmon
response 343 of 526: Mark Unseen   Mar 3 16:34 UTC 2006

Richard, what about private country clubs that deny membership to women?
rcurl
response 344 of 526: Mark Unseen   Mar 3 18:35 UTC 2006

Re #335: Jep says "The ACLU, of course, is opposed to the Ave Maria 
community", but I haven't been able to find any statement of opposition 
endorsed by the ACLU - at least, not yet.

All the Exec Dir of the ACLU is alleged to have said is that "If they 
attempt to do what he apparently wants to do, the people of Naples and 
Collier County, Florida, are in for a whole series of legal and 
constitutional problems and a lot of litigation indefinitely into the 
future," Simon said nothing about ACLU pursuing such litigation.

Of course, they may well get involved if any US citizens living in the 
community sue because they feel they are not accorded their Constitutional 
rights
richard
response 345 of 526: Mark Unseen   Mar 3 20:12 UTC 2006

jep said:

"The ACLU, of course, is opposed to the Ave Maria community because Tom 
Monaghan is Catholic and conservative.  If the same concept was startedby 
any group of reliable Democratic voters (say, if Jerry Brown startedup 
something based on the ideas of Timothy Leary), they'd be defending it.        
                                                                               
                                      


Why do you say that when you know the ACLU has willingly defended Rush 
Limbaugh, the KKK, and any other number of right wingers in the past.  
Sheesh.
rcurl
response 346 of 526: Mark Unseen   Mar 3 20:15 UTC 2006

jep has this "thing" about the ACLU. Facts don't appear to matter.
jep
response 347 of 526: Mark Unseen   Mar 3 20:36 UTC 2006

From the article in the Ann Arbor News: http://tinyurl.com/o87lk

---
"If they attempt to do what he apparently wants to do, the people of 
Naples and Collier County, Fla., are in for a whole series of legal and 
constitutional problems and a lot of litigation indefinitely into the 
future,'' said Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil 
Liberties Union of Florida. 
---

But I guess I shouldn't read too much into that, such as an ACLU 
position against the community, or that they'd ever participate in such 
a lawsuit.
richard
response 348 of 526: Mark Unseen   Mar 3 21:00 UTC 2006

re #335 I view it as a threat because one "private catholic town" could become
ten thousand "private catholic towns"  It would be rich right wingers try to
buy their way around the Constitutional separation of church and state.  You
have to draw a line somewhere.  

richard
response 349 of 526: Mark Unseen   Mar 3 21:04 UTC 2006

There used to be and still are towns in Utah entirely owned by the Mormon
church.  There was time in the 19th century that people in those towns
practiced polygamy, because it was endorsed by the church and the church owned
the town.  But then Utah wanted to become a state.  Congress told them, if
you want to be a state, you cannot have the mormon church superimposing its
rules over the laws of the land.  You are either a part of this country or
you are not.  If you want to become a state, you MUST make polygamy illegal.
So they did.  But I suppose JEP thinks they should have been allowed to
continue being openly polygamous in these "private church owned" towns?
edina
response 350 of 526: Mark Unseen   Mar 3 21:11 UTC 2006

Wow Richard.  There you go again.  You know, the more you rant and rave and
obfuscate, the more seriously I look at Jep (who I know, like and personally
disagree with quiet a bit) and the less seriously I look at you (who I don't
know, I somewhat like, and I agree with nearly 85% of the time).  

Look, take this as friendly advice.  Learn to argue without throwing shit in
the fan.  All you are doing is getting it on yourself.

Oh, and the Church of LDS doesn't endorse polygamy by any stretch of the
imagination at this time.  
richard
response 351 of 526: Mark Unseen   Mar 3 21:14 UTC 2006

edina read my post again, I didn't say they endorse polygamy, I said there
was a time IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY when they did, or some sects of the
church did.  

I thought it was a good analogy, not throwing shit on the fan.

Monaghan's town is only acceptable to jep because he's not threatened by it.
But if it was some other faith he felt threatened by, if Al Queda was setting
up a private town here and not some conservative catholic millionaire,
wouldn't it be different?  
kingjon
response 352 of 526: Mark Unseen   Mar 3 21:17 UTC 2006

The *actual* point of the events explained #349 is that Congress had to make
the Church of LDS sign the agreement; "Congress made them sign a deal
eliminating X to become a state" doesn't imply that "X would have been/is
unconstitutional", but if anything the opposite.

edina
response 353 of 526: Mark Unseen   Mar 3 21:19 UTC 2006

Richard, you remind me of the defense counsel in the case I'm on.  The defense
cousel who is losing.
richard
response 354 of 526: Mark Unseen   Mar 3 21:23 UTC 2006

Monaghan doesn't want to live in the United States.  He wants his own kingdom
where he can make his own laws.  Is he any different than the Rev. Jim Jones
and his cult back in the 70's?  The only difference is Jones didn't have
enough money to buy his own town in Florida so he went to Guyana to form
"Jonestown"
jep
response 355 of 526: Mark Unseen   Mar 3 21:26 UTC 2006

re resp:349: I see.  Richard, suppose your al'Qaeda example was the 
only group capable of preventing a Nazi genetic engineering group from 
resurrecting Hitler.  Suppose no one else even knew about this Nazi 
group, because al'Qaeda has a technique for developing mind rays that 
give them that kind of information.  No one would believe them... 
because the PRESIDENT might secretly be a Nazi genetic engineer HIMSELF!

So that means you're in favor of Nazi Hitler resurrectionists, right?  
Because you hate Jews, because when were a little boy someone told you 
a story about how someone attacked a family, and the person in the 
story thought Jews were really cool.

It all proves you're a secret Nazi.

Right?

(Yes, you really are just as preposterous with some of this garbage you 
make up.)
jep
response 356 of 526: Mark Unseen   Mar 3 21:28 UTC 2006

I think there may be some differences between Tom Monaghan and Reverend 
Jim Jones of Kool-aid fame.
edina
response 357 of 526: Mark Unseen   Mar 3 21:30 UTC 2006

John stop - he's on a roll.
richard
response 358 of 526: Mark Unseen   Mar 3 21:33 UTC 2006

re #355 huh?

re #356 Both Monaghan and Jones wanted to form their own towns so their
"followers" could follow laws dictated by their personal beliefs, and not
dictated by the laws of the United States.  Today its a good catholic who
wants to set up a "private town", tomorrow it will be the next Jim Jones. In
these things you want to prevent them before they start, because once
precedent is set, it becomes that much harder to stop the wrong guy from being
the next guy to try the same thing.  
cyklone
response 359 of 526: Mark Unseen   Mar 3 21:33 UTC 2006

You weren't much better making up that bit about "The ACLU, of course, is 
opposed to the Ave Maria community because Tom Monaghan is Catholic and 
conservative." You seem to read minds as well as Richard did on the 
filibuster issue. Of course I'll feel differently if you can show a quote 
from the ACLU stating they oppose Monaghan's plans because he's a 
conservative Catholic, though I doubt you can.

cyklone
response 360 of 526: Mark Unseen   Mar 3 21:34 UTC 2006

<richard snuck in ahead of my response to jep>
richard
response 361 of 526: Mark Unseen   Mar 3 21:39 UTC 2006

re #359 and actually I know a conservative catholic aclu lawyer.  heck I even
know a republican aclu lawyer.  its the same guy.  dpc (dave cahill) here on
grex is an aclu lawyer too, and I would hardly call him a liberal.
jep
response 362 of 526: Mark Unseen   Mar 3 22:04 UTC 2006

re resp:360: I think the ACLU is a heavily politically biased group.  
I've said so many times, so I expect that part doesn't come as any 
surprise to anyone here.

I expect the ACLU to oppose conservative values and positions.  When 
they oppose a novel venture by Tom Monaghan, it is what I expect, 
because he is conservative and pretty prominent.  When they do so, it 
reinforces my view that they're politically motivated to support left-
leaning causes.

When the ACLU takes up causes such as Nazis, KKK, etc., I believe it is 
more to emphasize in people's minds that there are people like that, 
who are generally described as conservatives, than out of any concern 
for anyone's rights.

Their support for Rush Limbaugh was:
1) Designed to embarrass Limbaugh, beause he is a prominent conservative
2) Lucrative for the ACLU
3) Consistent with a liberal position regarding illegal use of drugs

But no doubt about it, I very deeply distrust the ACLU.  I very rarely 
find myself in agreement with any of their positions or actions.  When 
I do find myself agreeing with the ACLU on something, I evaluate 
whether I am really on the right side.  Currently I agree with their 
position regarding the president's wiretap policy without court 
supervision, but I can't think of anything else.
richard
response 363 of 526: Mark Unseen   Mar 3 22:26 UTC 2006

when grex fronted the aclu's lawsuit against the state of michigan over its
communications decency act, did you think the aclu was on the right side? 
or should the aclu have sided with the Engler administration?
richard
response 364 of 526: Mark Unseen   Mar 3 22:32 UTC 2006

re #363 I think the case was "Cyberspace Communications v Engler", with Grex
as lead plaintiff in case entirely handled and paid for by the ACLU.
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