UPDATE: Compromise on Snowplows?

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They are going to use a disclaimer. Sorry, but this won’t hold up in court. Huether give it up.

Here is a copy of the letter the attorney from Freedom From Religion Foundation sent to the city attorney: Freedomfromreligion

As you can see, he states several cases that show this is unconstitutional.

disclaimer

A little inspirational reading for the mayor (click to enlarge):

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plow

IMAGE: READER SUBMISSION

Heck, with a snowplow like this, the snow would melt at impact!

As any intelligent person that understands the US Constitution and 1st Amendment, and Jon Arneson would know, you can see where this is headed;

Arneson believes having those painting on city property puts the City into a corner where, by law, it would be seen as an endorsement of religion. He says U.S. Supreme Court rulings dealing with religion and government over the past 30 years support that.

Duh?!

I guess we are supposed to hear a resolution today from the city, I suspect if we don’t hear one by the weekend, that the city decided to quietly paint over the plow blades. We will see. I did notice it is already circulating the national news that our Mayor is Constitutionally inept. There was a blurb about it in the USA Today.

 

 

UPDATE: Mayor Huether proves once again he doesn’t understand the US Constitution

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christ-plow

Triple-M doesn’t realize the Lutheran School doesn’t own the snowplows, we do, the taxpayers, while they can practice their ‘freedom of expression’ on government owned property, they cannot promote a particular religion (it really is that simple). If they want to paint privately owned school property, more power to them;

But Huether seemed adamant that the plow blades wouldn’t be removed.

“We are not going to be painting over those plow blades. We will not be painting over them unless I get some Supreme Court case that says that I have to,” Huether said.

Heuther is also reluctant to suggest changes to the “Paint the Plows” program for fear of trampling on the First Amendment rights of participating schools.

“That’s one of the things we’re struggling with,” said Huether. “How do we move forward and still allow people to have freedom of expression?”

Mr. Huether may just get his wish. Watch for the ACLU to be all over this. I also suspect the NCAC may jump into this. So now the mayor is willing to waste tax dollars on Supreme Court cases because he doesn’t have a clue about our US Constitution. How did I know he was going to take this stance?

During the recent informational today, Staggers was defending the plows, calling it a ‘political issue’. No Kermit, it is a Constitutional issue. It is one thing to ‘express’ yourself about a season (winter) and it seems all the other schools figured it out, it is entirely another issue to be disguising ‘artistic expression’ with a ‘Biblical message’.

Also, last I checked, artistic expression relates to somewhat original ideas, there was nothing original from stenciling already existing designs. Someone else also expressed to me we may be opening up ourselves to copyright infringement laws with Coca-Cola.

I will give city attorney Fiddle-Faddle credit, he told councilor Staggers that it was a ‘legal’ issue, and it is, a Constitutional legal issue. And Fiddle should be well-versed in them, he has plenty of case law proving the city doesn’t understand Constitutional law.

Welcome to South Dakota, where the Constitution doesn’t apply

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When I see stuff like this, I just shake my head, especially when a governmental body doesn’t understand the US Constitution, ESPECIALLY a school board. Apparently in Miller, SD, they don’t teach any civics courses;

Zacher said he was disappointed the board was forced to change its policy and disallow the Bible distribution.

First off, NO one forced the board to do anything. Following the US Constitution should be a duty of any governmental body, it shouldn’t be something you should even have to think about or second guess, it should come naturally. I bet if someone tried to take away your guns in good ol’ Miller, the Constitution would rear it’s ugly head and be on your side. But like most Hicks, you like to pick and choose what parts of the Constitution you think should apply.

“Our founding fathers felt God very strong in this country,” he said.

Zacher, you are absolutely correct. In fact they thought so highly of God and religion, they wanted to keep government OUT of their personal beliefs on God. The US Constitution’s view on this is to protect people from government’s intrusion into your religious beliefs. When are you going to figure this out?! Does somebody have to hit you upside the head with a bible or better yet a copy of the Constitution. Geez!

Why is the city paying for something the state should cover?

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I got a surprise yesterday while attending the City Council working session. As some of you may or may not know, while the state shares revenue with alcohol sales, they don’t reimburse the city police department for conducting alcohol sale stings. I think a solution would be the city PD to stop doing the stings and require the Highway Patrol (which gets state funding) to do the stings.

Kenny Anderson says the problem is that people who fail the stings are not the owners or managers in most cases, it’s the clerks. While this is true, it is also the responsibility of the company to properly train their employees AND hire responsible people.

I have often said the solution is simple. Require anyone who is purchasing alcohol or tobacco to put their ID in a scanner. If they don’t or if the ID is incorrect, the cash register would refuse the sale. Of course, this would piss off a lot of older people who clearly look old enough to purchase. This would also probably get blow back from the malt beverage industry. I know a few years ago I read a study that said over 30% of beer that is consumed in this country is drunk by underage people. That’s a lot of lost revenue if roadblocks are put for these people to purchase.

Texting Ban – Still pointless & Unneeded

When the city decided to pass a texting ban, I agreed with councilor Staggers and some members of the Highway Patrol and SFPD, that it was unneeded because there are already laws in place like distracted driving and reckless driving that cover texting and driving. If you cause an accident while texting or talking on your phone, or  eating a hamburger or scratching your butt while driving, you will get one of these tickets. Don’t get me wrong, I think texting while driving is idiotic, but since the Supreme Court’s ruling yesterday about getting a warrant to search someone’s phone, it is going to be a lot harder to prove someone was texting and driving. That pesky US Constitution and 4th Amendment prevailed once again. Just wondering when our state legislature and city council are going to bother reading it and stop passing pointless laws and ordinances?

My mixed feelings about the ‘invocation’ and the Supreme Court Ruling

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Screen shot 2014-05-05 at 9.30.03 PM

Believe it or not, as a deist, I support it, to a degree. Ben Franklin, my favorite founding father, convinced me that a ‘prayer’ or a time of ‘reflection’ helped calm lawmakers. He felt that before the debates and disagreements in the Congressional Congress started, they essentially ‘broke bread’ together, they shared a time of common good, and reflection, and how our fellow man is our brothers and sisters and while we may want to strangle each other over the next several hours, we will meet in peace first, go fist-a-cuffs, then enjoy some barley pop afterwards.

Of course, our fine mayor must twist it into being about water, wine and tennis;

“Whether it be a motivational reading or a prayer, we have stewards of all denominations actively engaged to help represent the increased diversity of our town,” Huether said.

I wonder if anyone has told Mike that Dale Carnegie wasn’t the son of gawde?

This isn’t about religion, as much as people want to make it about that on both sides, I will say this is about getting along.