Bogus “Religious Liberties Act” Passes Senate
By Vince Leibowitz on May 25, 2007 in 80th Legislature
Smear me with anointing oil, point me in the direction of the nearest burning bush, and start speaking in tongues:
The Senate on Wednesday approved legislation to clarify the rights of public school students to deliver public prayers at athletic games or graduation ceremonies, distribute religious messages and hold religious meetings in school.
The Schoolchildren’s Religious Liberties Act, which passed on a 28-2 vote, would shield school districts from lawsuits by establishing guidelines for students to express their religious views in school and at extracurricular events.
Come on, now. With all of the real needs facing Texas this session, it is an embarrassment to our state that so much time was wasted debating bills like this, the Bible curriculum bill and the pledge bill.
If lawmakers (led by Republicans) hadn’t been so hell-bent on trying to impose religion upon public policy and slathering the words “in God we trust” on anything that would stand still for five minutes perhaps something would have been accomplished this session that was actually meritorious.
Don’t get me wrong: a few good things have been accomplished this session. But, far more good things could have been accomplished if the calenders and committees hadn’t been clogged up with the legislative agenda of the Religious Right.
Of course, for R’s, this was their last chance to fully Jesusify Texas before they are returned to the minority in the Texas House after the 2008 elections.
It is called pseudo-religious legislation, based on emotion without any substance. This reminds the outside world of the
“Faye Harris Amendment” or SB 599 that was never debated. A Jacksonville, TX woman was murdered by her estranged husband while he was out of bond for burning her house down. He repeatedly threatened to kill her and continually stalked her. Apparently he was seeking drug treatment at the time in the Rusk State Hospital. The Cherokee County District Attorney, Elmer Beckworth was so proud of this woman’s murder, he and the then State Rep. Todd Staples (R) wrote a bill stating a defendant on bond could have his bail revoked.
The rest of the country knows that the concept of bail and bond is conditional and the “law” or bill has been on the books since the conception of the Magna Carta.
But leave it took the weak-kneed reps and senators to fall for the ruse.
I know: let’s have a bill outlawing drug dealers. Oh yeah, we already have about 10,000 laws prohibiting it.
If these idiots don’t have their local papers reporting on their committment to religious principles, then some other religious nerd will replace them in the primary. Their also trying to cover their own illegal activities by blanketing themselves in the bible.
Take for instance sitting TX Court of Appeals justice Charles Holcomb.
{From reading your 2006 articles on the TX CRIM APP race, place 8 with Charles Holcomb (R), Terry Keel (R) and Robert Francis (D). }
This guy convicted an innocent Nacogdoches man for murder, after Holcomb himself accepted insurance payoffs from the widow. The widow had a $800,000 insurance policy out on her husband, as she had an affair with a local Cherokee County Constable. The widow, the constable and Holcomb all split the deceased’s estate in 1992. This paved his way to Austin, where now he distances himself from his hometown and Cherokee County. Read Holcomb’s state bar profile at:
http://www.texasbar.com/Template.cfm?Section=Home&Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=1209
Holcomb doesn’t mention the fact that in his “last big case in Alto, TX” that the innocent man he convicted was released 5 years into the life sentence. No mention on the $800,000 Holcomb split with the widow. Read closely: Holcomb calls the murder a “botched robbery” and a “staged burglary.” He has also called it a “murder for hire.” Charles Holcomb never investigated the widow who did the “hiring.” That’s East Texas politics for you.