AFTER SCHOOL RUMBLE!!!!
(H/T Scissorhead Dennis Cole)
The theocratic majority on the totally illegitimate and undemocratic (little dee) Chief Justice John Roberts’ SCOTUS decided that public tax money would be well-spent paying for-profit religious schools in the State of Maine (and now by precedent, everywhere):
The Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down a Maine tuition program that does not allow public funds to go to religious schools, the court’s most recent decision elevating concern about discrimination against religion over constitutional worries about the separation of church and state.
The vote was 6 to 3, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. writing for the majority and the court’s three liberals in dissent.
The only surprise here is that Sam Alito —the Torquemada of Trenton— didn’t write the majority, but he’s saving up his energy for doing a little witch hunting at the end of the session when he bans abortion.
A few thoughts here:
- If I were a Satanist, I’d start a school in Maine and demand they fund it.
- Tax the churches, and all religious organizations at full rates, including property taxes. They are now no longer separated from the State, they should pay for this privilege.
- This is what happens when you have a majority of Opus Dei on the court: they are going for broke while they still can.
Last word to Keith Olbermann:
Mock Paper Scissors 
The long game here is to demolish public schools (and their unions).
American churches have bought in to that. They own it. And they own everything that goes with the forty pieces of silver.
So it’s a time of choosing – church or country. Can’t have both anymore.
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This is the problem. I don’t get a choice in this matter. They have decided it is ‘church’ and ‘country’, and only they belong. This has long been the aim of the Dominionists: to control everything: Church, Government and Society.
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Good news for madrasas?
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Baby steps for Sharia Law.
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We’re past baby steps now.
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Just gonna drop this off…
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Well, it’s not without precedent; they’re now ignoring half of the First Amendment just like they ignore half of the Second.
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Hey spothedog and rocket, kindly lay off the bashing of muslims and focus ffs and name the problem homegrown white American Christian Fascism. Let’s not smear and demean innocent bystanders in the process when calling out fuckery.
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I dunno, madrasas sounds like a good idea about now. They can partner up with the Satanic Temple. The SCOTUS will have to refuse the case or write in pretzels to explain why they won’t allow tax money to be spent on madrassas while they are having taxpayers cover expenses for Catholic schools – or, more likely, evangelical schools only.
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I get what’s being said, and I agree that all should ‘get on the gravy train’ until Christian theocrats see what they’ve wrought. But it is a little discomforting that we go for Islam right off the bat.
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Point taken. The Satanic Temple is in the business of challenging this bs, so they still seem a good go-to.
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Laura –
This is my fault, too.
I thought a Madrassa was the equivalent of a parochial school.
I should have caught the Sharia thing.
I’ll try to do better. I put Sharia and Madrassa into the keywords that will put them into the moderation queue.
Rgds
TG
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Ten, I thought that also, What is it, then?
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Umpire Roberts has a huge strike zone for the democrats (aka, constitutional democracy) and a rather tiny one for the theocratic fascists.
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An awful lot of folks who have opinions about this haven’t read the court’s decision.
This decision applies to a very narrow set of circumstances in which a school district doesn’t offer a public school education AND the private school in question has met state educational requirements. The state offers parents in these districts a stipend to help offset the cost of private school. The court has ruled that the state can’t limit how parents spend that stipend.
There’s still room for principled disagreement with the decision: see Sotomayor’s dissent. But the opinion doesn’t say the state is now required to support religious education statewide.
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It’s at least a foot in the door.
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Quaker, it’s the first crack in the dike.
Rgds,
TG
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I’ll go with “it’s the canary”. Why isn’t there a valid public school option here? Should be available if kids are still required to attend school, don’tcha think?
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