Anti-Islamic Bill In Tennessee Legislature

In a continued fight of fearful, ignorant Bible-thumpers against the Islamic community of Middle Tennessee, members of the Tennessee General Assembly have now introduced a bill (SB 1028/HB 1353 -- you can follow it on the Gen. Assembly website http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/Default.aspx?BillNumber=SB1028) that would make following the Islamic Shariah code a felony. Yes, that's right -- it would make following a religious code that provides moral guidance such as "do not steal" a felony punishable by 15 years in jail. This is outrageous. The supporters of the bill claim it is needed because of the danger the Islamic code poses to homeland security. At this time, other states have considered anti-Shariah bills, and there is a federal lawsuit in Oklahoma (see http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/08/oklahoma-sharia-law-struck-down-_n_780632.html) over the constitutionality of such a bill. Tennessee's proposed criminal penalties go the furthest.

To provide some background, Shariah has been interpreted and applied differently throughout the world. In some extreme cases, it is used to justify female genital mutilation and death by stoning. At the other end of the spectrum, it is a moral code that is abided by while the citizens also abide by the legal code of that country. For more information, see http://www.cfr.org/religion/islam-governing-under-sharia/p8034. The Imam of Middle Tennessee has stated that Islam teaches its followers to abide by the legal code of their residential country, while the Shariah provides moral values, so there would not be conflict between the two codes.

I am at a loss for words. The nonsense that went on and that still goes on to block the Islamic center in Murfreesboro was and remains preposterous. This bill takes the fear and hate of some of citizens to a whole new level. We live in a country where we have the freedom of religion and where people are innocent until proven guilty for a particular crime. At what point did the fear drip into souls and minds so that someone practicing a different religion automatically makes that person a criminal? I feel that the proposed law would be one step further to creating Islamic Jim Crow laws -- have we come full-circle to where we cannot trust those who are different from us because of paranoia that we try to control them and separate ourselves from them? Why is there this need to persecute those who are different? As President Obama touched on in his State of the Union address, the diversity of ideas (which comes from the diversity of the idea-makers) creates the ingenuity of America. That is what makes our country strong. I'm ashamed of State Senator Bill Ketron and State Representative Judd Matheny, and I hope their bill resoundingly fails.

Google Art

This is not a law-related post, but it is about a really neat development. Google has applied its street-view cameras to major art museums all over the world. This means you can "walk" down the corridors of important museums and get close to extremely important pieces of art via your computer. AMAZING!!!

check out the story about it on the economist: http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2011/02/google_art_project

Highlight on Linda Greenhouse's Article -- Abortion and Racial Genocide

The abortion issue is coming into focus again after fading from the forefront for a couple of years. The current debate is over federal funding through Medicaid and Medicare and the new health care plan for terminating pregnancies. Since it is easier to incite riots based on falsehoods to polarize your opposition than to engage in a real discussion about issues with someone who you respect but who believes differently than you do, those against the funding have begun tying abortions to racial genocide. It is a classic ploy to shift the opposition into the devil position and muck the policy waters with irrelevant incendiary topics. I just read Linda Greenhouse's opinion article in the New York Times, and I think it is worth sharing -- take a gander and enjoy. Even if you don't agree with what she's saying, you should be able to acknowledge she's a fine writer.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/09/what-would-shirley-do/?ref=opinion

Backing Up 5 Yards and Punting

Tennessee, as other states, has been affected by the decision of the one US drug maker that makes sodium thiopental, the anesthetic used in executions, to stop making the drug. The State, facing upcoming executions, is considering using pentobarbital, an anesthetic used when euthanizing animals. Ohio has "committed" itself to the alternative, and other neighboring states are considering it. Tennessee would not need legislative approval to make the change, since the decision is regulatory in nature, and it would only need a change of policy within the Department of Corrections. As expected, inmates scheduled for execution have joined lawsuits challenging the use of the pentobarbital and any sodium thiopental obtained from overseas. We'll see how this plays out.

See http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110206/NEWS0201/102060376/1969/NEWS/Tennessee-has-few-options-execution-drugs?odyssey=nav%7Chead

Death penalty taken off the table

In a surprising turn of events in today's revenge-bent society, the family of three murder victims told the district attorney that they did not want to go through a capital case trial, and they wanted the defendants to be offered a plea deal. Two teenagers, William Angel and Matthew Wood, pled guilty this week to a triple murder (a mother and her two sons) in exchange for consecutive life sentences. They described in detail how they repeatedly stabbed and slit the throats of the victims while under the influence of drugs and alcohol. The nine-year-old victim pled with them to stop because he was "just a little boy." After killing the victims, they stole video games and then set the house on fire. The defendants actually had to wear bullet-proof vests to come to court because of the danger they faced for these killings.

I am amazed at the restraint the victims' family has shown, and I am pleased to see that they did not ask for these young mens' lives. Enough tragedy has been created that no more is necessary.

See http://www.wsmv.com/news/26674716/detail.html for more information

ohio facing its prisoners' issues

Ohio has begun looking at alternatives to forcing convicted defendants to serving hard time in prison. Its prisons are overflowing, and the State has no idea how many parollees it has. As a result, legislators, executives, and judges have created a proposal for restructuring the correctional program --- meaning, actually providing more instructions and programs to CORRECT the behavior of the defendant, as opposed to housing them for years at a time. This is a good step in the right direction.

See http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/02/03/copy/treatment-not-prison-now-is-looking-good.html?adsec=politics&sid=101