The Secular Coalition for America (SCA) released their scorecards on the 109th Congress on September 7th. It is interesting to note that 7 members of the House got a 100% rating while 18 Senators got a 100% from the SCA. It pretty much confirms my observation that the Senate are a bit more rational in their duties than the House. The other interesting point is that members of Congress who support the SCA positions on many of the issues cross party lines – unlike our religious right friends.
Secular Left Posts
One would think that an election involving judges would not suffer from any illegal activities – after all, judges start out as lawyers and they should know the law. It seems some Republicans in Texas need a refresher course.
It has been a bad week for the Republicans in Congress. On Friday it got worse. In what seems like an episode of “My Name is Earl”, karma bit the GOP in the ass.
The bill I mentioned in my previous post, the so-called “Public Expression of Religion Act”, was passed by the US House on Tuesday and now moves to the Senate as S.3696 and it has a new title to further mask its true intention. It is now called “Veterans’ Memorials, Boy Scouts, Public Seals, and Other Public Expressions of Religion Protection Act of 2006”. It is still a bad bill and does nothing but to give special protection to Christians. It is now to be used to “protect” crosses at Veterans’ Memorials and on local government seals as well has give the Boy Scouts an exemption from federal rules against discrimination when they get aid and comfort from federal agencies.
Back in March, I posted about an effort, supported by the American Legion, to pass a law that would stifle religious liberty by prohibiting the winner of a consitiutional violation case from collecting legal fees from the loser – as is done in most civil cases in the US. H.R. 2679 — the “Public Expression of Religion Act” — would amend a portion of the current U.S. Code and eliminate attorney fees in legal cases where government violated the constitutional separation of church and state. A vote is expected in the US House on Tuesday 9/26.