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Project Gunwalker: ATF Weapons Smuggled Into Mexico, Possibly Used In Border Agents Killing

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Project Gunwalker: ATF Weapons Smuggled Into Mexico, Possibly Used In Border Agents Killing

The Intel Hub

By Alex Thomas

February 14th, 2011

David Codrea and Mike Vanderboegh have broken and covered this story from the beginning. This is a story that hits home for me as Arizona is my home state and I have personally witnessed the destruction of south Phoenix and the border.

What is happening on the border is nothing short of treason and this looks to be yet another case of ATF tyranny.

They have documented an ATF operation that has allegedly let high powered weapons into Mexico. David will be appearing on The Intel Hub Radio this Sunday at 5pm est to discuss this breaking story.

David has written a Journalists Guide to Project Gunwalker. Be sure to check David’s article on his site daily as he will be updating it as more information is released. I am posting this part of the article to get the information to our viewers so be sure to check back to the original article for the updates.

A Journalist’s Guide to ‘Project Gunwalker’

David Codrea

Gun Rights Examiner

February 2nd, 2011

The following is a summary and time line of articles appearing on the Sipsey Street Irregulars blog and Gun Rights Examiner, reflecting original reporting on the developing “Project Gunwalker” story by Mike Vanderboegh and myself. That’s the purposely ironic name I assigned it, a parody of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive’s “Project Gunrunner,” and it refers to allegations by whistleblowing ATF insiders that:


  • ATF management was allowing potentially hundreds of semiautomatic firearms to be walked across the Mexican border in order to pad statistics used to further budget and power objectives.

  • Mexican authorities were kept in the dark, and protests that they should be informed were overridden, first by the Phoenix ATF office, and ultimately by higher-ups in Washington, DC.

  • A gun used in this operation was involved in a December 2010 incident in which a Border Patrol agent was killed.

The original allegations were posted on CleanUpATF.org. Vanderboegh and I, who have a history going back years of documenting allegations posted there, and pressing for congressional hearings to investigate the claims, were both contacted independently by various ATF insiders claiming to have corroborating information and documentation.

Mike vetted his sources and I used my contacts to help validate that my informant was who he represented himself to be. Mike and I did what we could throughout our separate and coordinated investigations to test and corroborate what was being told. We also had a small circle of behind-the-scenes consultants, including firearms designer Len Savage, and a few other knowledgeable advisors, all with contacts and informed insights of their own, and all of whom have earned our trust over the years.

Our primary goal was to help arrange for protection for our sources, and quickly, as retaliation was feared. Because the allegations involved higher ups within the Justice Department, the added protection afforded by separation of powers was sought. Through various contacts and machinations that are documented in the following timeline, the whistleblowers came under the protective umbrella of Sen. Charles Grassley, a senior member of the Committee of the Judiciary.

Our secondary goal was to push this story outside our limited spheres of influence and into the “mainstream press,” so that it would be problematic to ignore or bury things. Again, making this happen has been an ongoing struggle, but we’ve seen the first cracks in the dam. The following time line will bring journalists just getting involved with this story up to speed by walking them though it, from its genesis to where we are today as major media outlets finally begin to take notice and get involved.

By way of a FAQ, two seem to be recurrent:


Will you have your sources contact us?


and


Will you provide us with copies of documentation?


The answer to both is “No.” The reason is one of protection. You will need to observe official proceedings and develop/consult sources of your own.

Here’s what’s happened so far, at least what I can publicly disclose:

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This post will be regularly updated with new links, so those interested in having a one-stop resource to keep up with Mike and my posts should bookmark it and return to keep apprised of new developments.

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Hereford priest accused of 'body-snatching' would-be saint

by Jeanette Oldham, Sunday Mercury

Witold Orlowski


HE was the 14 year-old boy tipped for sainthood after his mysterious death in a Mexican village in 1944.



As the local Catholic priest lay dying, devout Witold Orlowski prayed for days to God to take his life instead.



Incredibly, the previously healthy boy died a few days later – and the stricken priest made a full recovery.











Witold was laid to rest with a hero’s funeral and was tipped for sainthood for the Mexican ‘miracle’.



Now more than 60 years later he is at the centre of an extraordinary court case, which has seen a British Catholic priest effectively accused of body-snatching.



Wojciech Jasinski, 40, has been charged with illegally exhuming Witold’s remains from a Herefordshire graveyard. They were later secretly reburied.



The remains were eventually recovered by police and have now been officially reburied at Fawley Court in Oxfordshire.



The 17th Century mansion had been owned by Father Jasinski’s Polish religious order, the Marian Fathers, for many years.



But it has since been sold and is now the home of glamorous philanthropist Aida Hersham and her partner, Marks and Spencer heir Patrick Sieff.



Fr Jasinski appeared at Hereford Magistrates Court on January 10. The case was committed to Worcester Crown Court where he will appear on May 3 for a plea and case management hearing.



The priest was unavailable for comment last night and colleagues said he is currently in Rome, visiting the Vatican on official Church business.



Fr Jasinski was arrested last year after police received a complaint that Witold’s remains were missing from his grave at St Raphael’s Convent in Bullingham, Herefordshire.



The late teenager’s cousin, Zbigniew Mantorski, is believed to have travelled from Poland to visit the memorial site, which had long been a place of pilgrimage for Polish Catholics around the world.



He is alleged to have been told the remains had been moved to Fawley Court, but when he arrived there he could find no sign of them.



Fr Jasinski is accused of digging up and moving the 14 year-old boy’s remains from the convent around October 2009.





Wojciech Jasinski


The convent was later sold for housing.



West Mercia Police has headed the police investigation.



It is understood they recovered Witold’s remains at Fawley Court and arranged for them to be officially reburied at the sprawling mansion – in his late mother’s grave.



Our amazing pictures show the sombre occasion when members of the Marian Fathers’ Catholic congregation gathered to pay respects to the would-be saint.



Officers from Thames Valley Police, on behalf of West Mercia Police, attended the ceremony which included a service by a Polish priest.



The remains had been originally buried in a rusty metal box in Bullingham.



But after being recovered by police they were transferred to a modern, child-sized coffin and laid to rest in the grave of Witold’s mother, Zofia Orlowski.



Workers from Woodgrange Park cemetery in Newham, London, were asked to perform the exhumation prior to the reburial.



A spokesman said: “We exhumed the box to check that there were remains in it.



“Someone from the local health authority was there and five or six members of the family attended. A Polish minister did a proper service and we reburied the boy with his mother. Her grave is marked with a stone.”



Mrs Orlowski arrived in Britain in 1953 and is understood to have brought the box containing Witold’s bones with her.





She was apparently terrified that she would not be allowed to bring the remains into the country and so evaded customs on her arrival.



They were later buried in the grounds of St Raphael’s Convent. Witold was given a full funeral and buried “a bit like a saint”, according to sources close to the Marian Fathers’ community.



Mrs Orlowski moved to Oxfordshire in the 1960s and later worked at Fawley Court, when it was a Polish boy’s school.



She died in 1995, aged 90, and was buried in the mansion grounds.



Mystery surrounds the death of Witold, whose family had been hit by tragedies even before his death.







He and his relatives had fled Poland at the start of the Second World War and his father and sister died of typhus as they travelled through Ukraine and western Siberia.



It is unclear how Witold died, although one theory is that he may have contracted tetanus. But Polish Catholics believe he should be made a saint and it is understood they have approached the Vatican about a future Beatification.



A source said: “Witold is an enormously important part of Polish Roman Catholic history. The stories passed down the decade are that he saved a priest’s life by sacrificing himself to God.



“The story goes that the local priest in the Mexican village became very sick, and was believed to be dying.



“Witold went to the local church and prayed to God to take his life instead of the priest’s. The community was very devout, the priest was at the heart of the community, and it was feared that his death might destroy the community.



“The boy is said to have stayed at the church for two or three days, constantly praying for a miracle to save the priest. A few days later the boy died, while the priest made a miraculous recovery.



“Witold was buried in the village like a hero. He was apparently made a ‘saint-in-waiting’.



“He’s highly regarded by the Polish Roman Catholic community, not just in this country but all over the world. It’s long been hoped that he would be made a saint one day and in this devout community, his remains are sacred and very important.”



Vinny Bolina, spokesman for West Midlands Crown Prosecution Service, confirmed that Wojciech Jasinski had been charged with one count of removing a corpse from a grave, between 2008 and 2010.



He confirmed the priest is due to appear at Worcester Crown Court for a plea and case management hearing on May 3.



Fr Jasinski was unavailable for comment last night.



A representative for the Marian Fathers said the case was ongoing and could not comment further.



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Beware Dangerous Ideas Hiding In Plain Sight

Amplify’d from swtimes.com





Beware Dangerous Ideas In Hiding


I don’t mean to be an alarmist, but please keep a lookout for
dangerous ideas disguised as innocent ones. I spotted a dangerous
idea about two weeks ago, and it was hiding in plain sight on this
page.

The idea came from Curtis Mitchell. He said our elected officials
should carry out their duties with a primary emphasis on the will
of God. Mitchell said our politicians should pray loudly to Jesus
Christ, beg for mercy and forgiveness, and ask God for direction in
all matters that come before them (presumably including matters of
public policy). Furthermore, our politicians should do it on live
television, he wrote, adding, “They lead, we follow.”

Mitchell’s idea seems harmless, but it opens the door to theocracy,
a dangerous form of government with leaders who exercise power with
claims of divine guidance. In a theocracy, a citizen who dares to
confront his leaders is also confronting God and is therefore
regarded as an infidel who must be set straight, ignored or
punished. Modern theocracies include Iran, Saudi Arabia and the
Vatican.

Mitchell wants more morality in politics, to which I say amen. Yet
his letter raised a red flag when it implied our elected officials
should follow God’s instructions on how to run the
government.

The American government gets its power from the will of the people,
not the will of God. Mitchell’s letter demonstrates how a dangerous
idea can smuggle itself into good intentions. We should stay alert
for things like that.

David Woosley

Greenwood

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American Christians buy millions of Bibles they seldom read and don't understand

Recently I found myself explaining to a group of surprised friends from Protestant and secular backgrounds that, despite being educated in the Catholic faith up to the sacrament of confirmation at age 14, I didn't read the Old Testament until I was assigned it in a college literature course. Traditionally, the Catholic Church did not encourage its congregation to read the Bible; we had the priests to explain it to us. In fact, the church once took such a dim view of the idea that, in 1536, the English reformer William Tyndale was tried for heresy, strangled and burned at the stake, largely for translating the Bible into English for a lay readership. Tyndale House, a major American Christian publisher, is named after him.



Though I'm no longer a believer, and in principle I support the notion of adherents to a religion familiarizing themselves with its scriptures, it sometimes seems like the old Vatican had a point.

Amplify’d from www.salon.com

American Christians buy millions of Bibles they seldom read and don't understand

By Laura Miller

Recently I found myself explaining to a group of surprised friends from Protestant and secular backgrounds that, despite being educated in the Catholic faith up to the sacrament of confirmation at age 14, I didn't read the Old Testament until I was assigned it in a college literature course. Traditionally, the Catholic Church did not encourage its congregation to read the Bible; we had the priests to explain it to us. In fact, the church once took such a dim view of the idea that, in 1536, the English reformer William Tyndale was tried for heresy, strangled and burned at the stake, largely for translating the Bible into English for a lay readership. Tyndale House, a major American Christian publisher, is named after him.

Though I'm no longer a believer, and in principle I support the notion of adherents to a religion familiarizing themselves with its scriptures, it sometimes seems like the old Vatican had a point. In his new book, "The Rise and Fall of the Bible: The Unexpected History of an Accidental Book," religion professor Timothy Beal describes all the angst and doubt that Bible reading provoked in him during his youth, as well as the frustration many American Christians experience as a result of their own encounters with the book. This doesn't prevent them from buying truckloads of the things -- Beal notes that "the average Christian household owns nine Bibles and purchases at least one new Bible every year" -- but actually reading them is another matter. Beal believes that's because today's Christians are seeking a certainty in their holy book that simply isn't there, and shouldn't be.

"The Rise and Fall of the Bible" is a succinct, clear and fascinating look at two phenomena: what Beal calls "biblical consumerism" -- in which buying Bibles and Bible-related publications and products substitutes for more meaningful encounters with the foundational text of Western Civilization -- and the history of how the book came to be assembled. The latter story, albeit in a severely mangled form, came as a revelation to many readers of Dan Brown's bestselling novel "The Da Vinci Code." Beal, who teaches an introductory course in biblical literature at Case Western Reserve University, estimates that more than half of the students who come to his classes know more about the Bible from Brown's conspiracy-crazed potboiler than from "actual biblical texts."

For anyone with more than a passing familiarity with biblical history, however, the historical portions of "The Rise and Fall of the Bible" will be old news. The thing is, many Americans -- especially those raised in the less reflective Christian denominations -- know nothing about how the Bible was compiled. That's why so many of them were amazed to learn from "The Da Vinci Code" that the Old and New Testaments are assemblages of texts written at different times by different authors, most of whom were not eyewitnesses to the events they describe. In Brown's crackpot version, the Emperor Constantine gets cast as the arch-villain, ordaining that conservative texts be officially canonized, while more politically radical (and less misogynistic) works got kicked out of the scripture clubhouse. The real story is even more unstable than Brown's inaccurate potted version, with dozens of official and semiofficial variations (including or excluding certain marginal books) produced in the centuries after the death of Jesus.

The bestselling New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman, who, like Beal, was raised in a conservative evangelical family, has written in greater depth on early Christian texts; that isn't really Beal's purpose. Ehrman became an agnostic, but Beal is still a Christian, and with "The Rise and Fall of the Bible," he wants to argue against the common perception of the Bible as God's infallible handbook on how to live, "totally accurate in all of its teachings" -- a view, incidentally, that nearly half of all Americans (and 88 percent of "born again" Christians) claim to believe. Beal is the sort of Christian who doesn't want to raise his son to "think that creationism is a viable alternative to evolutionary biology or that homosexuality is sinful," but he is as skeptical of liberal attempts to simplify the Bible as he is of the more predominant right-wing reductionism. He would rather see his co-religionists embrace the fact that the Bible is full of contradictions and inconsistencies and come to regard it not as "the book of answers, but as a library of questions," many of which can never be conclusively resolved.

Some of the most interesting chapters in "The Rise and Fall of the Bible" explore the world of Bibles created for specific subcultures and needs: the manly Metal Bible and Duct Tape Bible, kicky handbag/Bible combos and special editions geared toward teenagers, African-American women and so on. These can contain as much as 50 percent "supplemental" material, "explaining" the scripture according to the taste of the intended audience. Then there are Biblezines, publications in which articles about how to grill steaks or talk to girls (in the case of a Biblezine for boys) share the page with biblical quotations. Well-meaning older relatives give this material to young Christians, hoping it will make the Bible itself seem more "readable." Beal thinks the kids just wind up reading the articles and skipping the quotations. He compares Biblezines to the "sweeter and more colorful roll-ups, punches, sauces and squirtable foams that I buy for my kids' lunches" in lieu of the unprocessed fresh fruit they refuse to eat. At least you can tell yourself you're giving them fruit.

Even more insidious, in Beal's eyes, is the trend over the past couple of centuries away from word-for-word translations of the Bible and toward "functional equivalence" and "meaning driven" translations. These considerably fiddled-with versions iron out the wrinkles and perplexities in the ancient texts and nudge them closer toward the advice, directives and "values" so many people expect from their Bible. Beal argues that the Bible industry resorts to this sort of thing precisely because the Bible doesn't offer cut-and-dried guidance -- or Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth, as one popular modern acronym would have it.

Much like the professor who assigned the Old Testament during my sophomore year of college, Beal would prefer that people read the Bible as if it were a work of art -- that is, as a text permitting multiple interpretations and as a spur to further thought and self-examination rather than as the last word on all of life's enigmas. Or, as he rather fetchingly puts it at one point: "This is poetry, not pool rules." His approach is, of course, more congenial to nonbelievers than the conviction that the Bible describes historical facts and constitutes the "inerrant" word of God. Still, even an optimistic secularist may find it difficult to credit Beal's prediction that his way of reading the Bible is just about to catch on, big time.

Beal thinks the current boom in biblical consumerism amounts to a "distress crop," the last great efflorescence of the old authoritative ideal before people move on and learn to embrace biblical ambiguity. I'm not so sure. Craving the certainty and absolutism of fundamentalism is a fairly common response (across many religious faiths) to the often terrifying flux of modern life. If certitude is the main thing American Christians are seeking when they turn to the Bible, then they're unlikely to tolerate, let alone embrace, Beal's "library of questions" model. You can learn a lot about how the Bible was created in the past 2,000 years, and about the many strange forms it has taken in the present, from "The Rise and Fall of the Bible." But where it's headed in the future is a mystery much harder to solve.

The Rise and Fall of the Bible

The Rise and Fall of the Bible

by Timothy Beal
  • $15.85
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Peaceful, neutral Switzerland cherishes its armed tradition

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Peaceful, neutral Switzerland cherishes its armed tradition
By Frank Jordans
(CP)

GENEVA — Neutral Switzerland is among the best-armed nations in the world, with more guns per capita than almost any other country except the U.S., Finland and Yemen.

At least 2.3 million weapons lie stashed in basements, cupboards and lofts in this country of less than 8 million people, according to the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey.

On Sunday, Swiss voters made sure it stays that way, rejecting a proposal to tighten the peaceful Alpine nation's relaxed firearms laws.

The decision was hailed as a victory by gun enthusiasts, sports shooters and supporters of Switzerland's citizen soldier tradition.

"This is an important sign of confidence in our soldiers," said Pius Segmueller, a lawmaker with the Christian People's Party and former commander of the Vatican's Swiss Guard.

In Switzerland, where all able-bodied men are required to perform military duty, many choose to take their army-issued rifle home with them even after completing military service.

Gun clubs, too, remain a popular feature of village life in rural parts of the country, with children as young as 10 taking part in shooting competitions.

Doctors, churches and women's groups tried and failed Sunday to require military-issued firearms to be locked in secure army depots. They also wanted the Swiss government to establish a national gun registry and ban the sale of fully automatic weapons and pump-action rifles, arguing this would help cut incidents of domestic violence and Switzerland's high rate of firearms suicides.

The clear defeat of the proposal — 56.3 per cent of voters rejected it — may seem surprising for a peaceful nation that hasn't been at war with its neighbours since Napoleon invaded two centuries ago. But this is a country that cherishes the myth of William Tell and its soldiers' supposed defiance of Nazi Germany in World War II.

The measure had little chance of winning over the independent-minded Swiss, who have resisted the lure of joining the European Union and recently shocked the world with a vote to ban the construction of minarets.

"Switzerland is different," said Dora Andres, president of the country's sport shooting association. "In many countries, the government doesn't trust its citizens and feels it has to protect them. In Switzerland, because we have a system of popular referendums, the state has to have faith in its citizens."

Martine Brunschwig-Graf, a national lawmaker with the left-of-centre Social Democratic Party, blamed the defeat of the measure on women's reluctance to vote on an issue she says affects them most.

Women are the main victims of domestic violence, and are also the ones left behind when their fathers, husbands or boyfriends commit suicide with an army weapon, she said.

About a quarter of Switzerland's 1,300 suicides each year involve a gun, and those calling for tighter rules claim military weapons, such as the army-issued SG 550 assault rifle, are used in between 100 and 200 suicides a year.

There are signs, however, that even in Switzerland attitudes to guns are changing. Young people are among those most likely to favour curbs on gun ownership.

In most shooting clubs the average age is "closer to 50 than to 40," says Gerhard Schneider, president of the pistol shooters association in Bueren an der Aare.

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Her worry? Students shunning politics

"He wanted to break into a country where prejudice against the Irish in general, Irish Catholics in particular, ran very deep," said Glendon.

In order to get his boss to consider his criticisms, he wrote in that report that the exclusion of Catholics from public office was "just and necessary,'" Glendon said.

Amplify’d from www.nj.com

Her worry? Students shunning politics

Abigail Greene

PRINCETON BOROUGH -- In a world where the political sphere
has gained a reputation as being corrupt, many capable
individuals are turning away from it, afraid they will be
powerless to effect change, Harvard law professor Mary Ann
Glendon told students and community members gathered in
Princeton University's Whig Hall earlier this month.


Glendon, formerly the U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, said
she chose to speak about politics as a vocation through the
lens of Ancient Roman philosopher and statesman Marcus
Tullius Cicero and 18th century Anglo-Irish philosopher,
politician and political theorist Edmund Burke because they
excelled in both politics and philosophy.




"What I'm concerned about is the kind of thing the
students say," said Glendon of law students who decide
to abandon their plan to enter politics. "Many wonder
whether they would have to compromise their principles to
get to a place where they had a position of influence."


Glendon, an ambassador from 2008 to 2009, discussed the
political training of Cicero and Burke, focusing on the
challenges they faced as politicians and philosophers.


"Both Cicero and Burke had to struggle with this
problem of when, whether, how much to compromise. And when
does political compromise, which might be acceptable, shade
off into moral compromise?"


Glendon recounted that Cicero underwent significant
struggles to try to ensure that his principles remained in
line with his political career.


"By his own account in his letters, there were
occasions when he didn't live up to his own standards,
and he often berated himself for that," said Glendon.
"Sometimes what looked right turns out to be wrong.


"Edmund Burke never rose so high in politics as Cicero
nor fell so calamitously, but his causes, too, forced him to
swim against the current," Glendon added.


For Burke, this struggle centered around his Irish heritage
and political career in England.


"He wanted to break into a country where prejudice
against the Irish in general, Irish Catholics in particular,
ran very deep," said Glendon.


Burke's first political assignment, according to
Glendon, was to write a position paper on Ireland for the
member of Parliament he was assisting.


"What he did in that report was go as far as he thought
he could in criticizing the penal laws, but in order to get
his boss to consider his criticisms, he wrote in that report
that the exclusion of Catholics from public office was
"just and necessary,'" Glendon said.


"Many people have criticized him for it but it enabled
him to make a little headway to keep his job."

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Virginia Politics Blog - Loudoun official's comments linking pat-downs, 'homosexual agenda' go viral

Loudoun official's comments linking pat-downs, 'homosexual agenda' go viral

By Caitlin Gibson



Loudoun Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio (R-Sterling) found himself at the center of a flurry of media attention this week after he authored a widely distributed e-mail claiming that the Transportation Safety Administration's pat down safety procedures at airports are part of a "homosexual agenda."



Delgaudio told The Post that he believes the resulting backlash (reports appeared on 9NEWS.com, DCist, WTOP.com and The Loudoun Times Mirror, among other sites and blogs) is really about the fact that he has two jobs -- one as the president of a deeply conservative organization that pays him a $150,000 salary, and one as an elected county official that pays $40,000. He said he is being "condemned" for his dual roles.



In the e-mail -- written for Public Advocate of the United States, a conservative nonprofit organization based in Sterling -- Delgaudio criticized TSA's nondiscrimination hiring policy:



"It's the federal employee's version of the Gay Bill of Special Rights. ... That means the next TSA official that gives you an 'enhanced pat down' could be a practicing homosexual secretly getting pleasure from your submission," Delgaudio wrote.



In online comments that ran with coverage of Delgaudio's e-mail, some of the most frequent criticisms were that it was an embarrassment to his constituents and the suggestion he primarily wrote it to get attention or appeal to specific voters.



Delgaudio told The Post that discussion of TSA's controversial security measures has dominated the media recently, with many others offering their thoughts on pat-downs and body scans, and many voicing opposition.



"They're against it," he said. "Well, I came up with a reason why I'm against it. Call it 'the Delgaudio version' of why one would be opposed to being patted down by a man ... they've only looked at one aspect of what's wrong with this. I'm looking at another aspect of it. I think it's my job to organize opposition to bad things and to seek the truth."



He added that there may be specific circumstances where he would understand the need for hands-on security measures.



"If there's probable cause, and the situation has to be investigated, okay," he said. "If you have real, serious reasons for it, fine, I'll get with the program."



But as for the flurry of attention surrounding his comments, he added, "it's all angst over a conservative having two jobs. A conservative should not be in public office, that's the attitude that I see here ... in my opinion, that's the motivation behind it."



Delgaudio, who has been known to make similar comments about gay and transgendered individuals in the past, maintained that his opinions should come as no surprise. After winning three elections, his constituents know that he's a "conservative's conservative," he said.



"They've heard it before," he said. "I think my constituents know that I have a novel way of looking at liberal orthodoxy."

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Virginia Politics Blog - Loudoun supervisor's comments on "Radical Homosexual" agenda go viral ... again

Reply RE: Radical Homosexual Pirates Invade Tampa FL. Roam Streets http://inquisitionnews.amplify.com/2011/02/09/radical-homosexuals-pirates-invade-tampa-fl-roam-streets/



Loudoun supervisor's comments on "Radical Homosexual" agenda go viral ... again

By Caitlin Gibson



Loudoun County Supervisor Eugene A. Delgaudio (R-Sterling) once again ignited the blogosphere Friday with online musings about the "Radical Homosexual" infiltration of an annual pirate festival in Tampa.



The Gasparilla Pirate Fest, an annual event for more than 100 years in the Tampa Bay area, features a parade, fireworks, games, activities, a pirate ship and hundreds of people in costumes reenacting a supposed historic pirate invasion of Tampa.



Delgaudio, who has a long history of public commentary decrying homosexuality, wrote on the Inquisition News site that the event has been transformed in recent years into "a two week alcohol fueled display of public debauchery," where organized events "are designed to prey upon unsuspecting college students."



He continued, "When the young men are sufficiently intoxicated, homosexuals dressed as pirates whisk them away to God knows where to take advantage of them sexually. There are even countless stories of any number of immoral sex act [sic] being performed by open homosexuals -- some even in broad daylight during the event."



One area mother, Delgaudio alleged, complained that her 3-year-old child had witnessed a man performing a sexual act with another man dressed as Jack Sparrow, Johnny Depp's pirate character from the "Pirates of the Caribbean" films.



Delgaudio concluded: "As long as the Radical Homosexuals run free in our streets, they will continue to spread their debauchery and corrupt our culture." He signed his commentary, "For the family."



Andrea Davis, a spokeswoman for the Tampa police, said she had not previously heard of such allegations in connection with the historic festival.



"From the police department's perspective, this has been an event that's been going on for years and years," she said. "It's a Tampa tradition."



Davis said there has always been a police presence at the event to help keep excitable crowds in line. Last year, a new zero-tolerance policy resulted in 342 arrests -- the vast majority of which involved people caught carrying an open container of alcohol outside the parade route, she said.



"There have been no sexual assaults or batteries, no abductions, no arrests for anything like that," she said.



Comments



Eugene Delgaudio appears to enjoy the product of a vivid imagination. What's up with that?



Posted by: Hellmut | February 11, 2011 9:00 PM | Report abuse



I think someone has a screw loose.



Posted by: waterfrontproperty | February 11, 2011 11:48 PM | Report abuse



"Unsuspecting college students"... what planet is this guy on???



Posted by: 303030 | February 12, 2011 8:45 AM | Report abuse



It sounds like someone has been neglecting their medication again. There are events in the US (Key West Fantasy Fest) and abroad (Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade) where you might see some over the top behaviour, but Mr. Delgaudio's ranting sounds like the urban legend about the business man waking up in a bathtub full of ice missing a kidney.



By the way, the Sydney parade is a must-see event which attracts a wide audience including families with young children and I don't recall ever hearing a complaint the people were being abducted and raped.



Posted by: AlligatorArms | February 12, 2011 9:42 AM | Report abuse



What business does Delgaudio have with Florida?



He's obviously been reading too many gay novels.



Maybe even working Craigslist for dates ... or something.





Posted by: lilhornie | February 12, 2011 4:53 PM | Report abuse



As long as it raises his profile and some campaign funds, Mr. Delgaudio will say or write just about anything that comes to his mind.



As for those of us here in Sterling, we're just tired of the negative publicity and the poor representation that results from odd ideological pursuits.



That's why I'm running against Mr. Delgaudio this year. Please support my campaign: http://tinyurl.com/al4sterling



Posted by: AlNevarez | February 12, 2011 7:28 PM | Report abuse

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Vail Valley Voices: What 14th Amendment says about religion and government

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Vail Valley Voices: What 14th Amendment says about religion and government

Henry Bornstein
Vail, CO, Colorado

Editor's note: Henry Bornstein, a retired attorney who handled constitutional cases and studies the Constitution from a historical as well as legal perspective, uses letters in response to previous commentaries as a foil to help explain the place of religion in the U.S. Constitution. This is part 8.

The 14th Amendment was introduced to the states on June 13, 1866, and ratified on July 9, 1868. Section 1 is the key section. Its significance and importance are equal to or possibly greater than that of the 1st Amendment. For those who have never read it, it states:

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

This section introduces three principles that expressly apply to the states: privileges or immunities; due process of law; equal protection of the laws.

Over the years, starting in the mid-1920s, the U.S Supreme Court began to apply, sometimes too subtly, some of the Bill of Rights-amendments limitations on the federal government to actions of the states.

Here, we are only concerned with “free exercise and establishment” clauses of the 1st Amendment. I will briefly discuss three landmark cases.

Cantwell vs. Connecticut, 310 U.S. 296 (1940): “Newton Cantwell and his two sons were members of a group known as Jehovah's Witnesses. They were arrested in New Haven, CT, and charged with five counts, including statutory violations and the common law offense of inciting a breach of the peace. On the day of their arrest, the appellants were engaged in going from house to house on Cassius Street with a bag containing books and pamphlets on religious subjects, a portable phonograph and a set of records, which when played, introduced, a description of one of the books. They solicited purchases and/or contributions.”

“Cassius Street is in a thickly populated neighborhood where about 90 percent of the residents were Roman Catholics. A phonograph record describing a book entitled “Enemies” included an attack on the Catholic religion. None of the persons solicited were members of Jehovah's Witnesses.”

“The statute under which the appellants were charged provided: “No person shall solicit money, services, subscriptions or any valuable thing for any alleged religious, charitable or philanthropic cause, from other than a member of the organization for whose benefit such person is soliciting or within the county in which such person or organization is located unless such cause shall have been approved by the state of secretary of the public welfare council.”

Justice Roberts delivered the opinion of the court: “We hold that the statute ... deprives them of their liberty without due process of law in contravention of the 14 Amendment. The fundamental concept of liberty embodied in that amendment embraces the liberties guaranteed by the 1st Amendment. (Footnote 3) The 1st Amendment declares that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. The 14th Amendment has rendered the legislatures of the states as incompetent as Congress to enact such laws. The constitutional inhibition of legislation on the subject of religion has a double aspect. On the one hand, it forestalls compulsion by law of the acceptance of any creed or the practice of any form of worship. Freedom of conscience and freedom to adhere to such religious organization or form of worship as the individual may choose cannot be restricted by law. On the other hand, it safeguards the free exercise of the chosen form of religion. Thus, the amendment embraces two concepts -- freedom to believe and freedom to act. The first is absolute, but, in the nature of things, the second cannot be. Conduct remains subject to regulation for the protection of society. (Footnote 4)” (P.303-304)

Footnote 3 refers to the application of the 14th Amendment to the states with respect to freedom of speech and press: “The freedom of speech and of the press secured by the 1st Amendment against abridgment by the United States is similarly secured to all persons by the 14th Amendment against abridgment by a State.” Schneider v. State, 308 U.S. 147 (1939) Footnote 4 refers to Reynolds v. United States, 98 U.S. 145, (1879).

McCollum vs. Board of Education 333 U. S. 203 (1948) and Everson v. Board of Education Township Ewing et al, 330 U.S. 1 (1947). That is, these cases applied the “establishment” portion of the 1st Amendment limitations without equivocation to the states.

Everson: “The New Jersey statute is challenged as a ‘law respecting an establishment of religion.' The 1st Amendment, as made applicable to the states by the 14th, Murdock v. Pennsylvania, 319 U.S. 105, commands that a state ‘shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ...' ” (P.8)

“The establishment of religion clause of the 1st Amendment means at least this: Neither a state nor the federal government can set up a church. Neither can pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion over another. Neither can force nor influence a person to go to or to remain away from church against his will or force him to profess a belief or disbelief in any religion. No person can be punished for entertaining or professing religious beliefs or disbeliefs, for church attendance or non-attendance. No tax in any amount, large or small, can be levied to support any religious activities or institutions, whatever they may be called, or whatever form they may adopt to teach or practice religion. Neither a state nor the Federal Government can, openly or secretly, participate in the affairs of any religious ... groups and vice versa. In the words of Jefferson, the clause against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect “a wall of separation between church and State.” Reynolds v. United States, supra at 164. (PP15-16)
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