1. I certainly didn't argue that every presentation of the Ten Commandments was the product of some right-wing agenda. That's YOUR fantasy, not mine. I argued that Roy Moore's sneaking a two-ton rock into a courthouse in the middle of the night, and following that up with daily prayer rallies by fundamentalists that were supported by groups like Jay Sekulow's ACLJ, damn sure were right-wing, Protestant fundamentalist events. I also argued that when guys like Savage screech about "religion," they mean only one particular part of one particular religion. Jews, Muslims, Catholics, Buddhists, etc., need not apply.
And oh, by the way, citing a Web dictionary that says "there is some truth in," the idea that we owe our legal system and government to Christian ideals is not exactly overwhelming evidence for your argument.
2. I wish folks would find out what the Constitution actually says, what our legal tradition in the matters has been, and what actually hppened in American history. (I really DO blame teachers for this, but that's another issue....) NO, "the local community," is not free to do whatever crackpot thing they decide would be nifty. UNFORTUNATELY, the history actually says that again and again, this, "state's rights," argument has been used to defend slavery and Jim Crow and segregation, book-burning in all its charming variety, and the whole panoply of rightist and wacko ideas. IN FACT, there are Constitutional and legal limits on what citizens can do, and what communities can do.
Roughly speaking, the Constitution actually says that you can't vote away your rights or anybody else's. In this particular case, the Constitution actually says (and two hundred years of legal tradition supports the idea, I might add) that neither the State, nor the federal government, is allowed to push for any particular religion, or for "religion," itself. As far as we can tell, the "original intent," of the Framers was to say that all that stuff is the People's business, NOT the government's. You and I are supposed to decide what we believe, what/who we worship, how we worship, who we get together with to worship. You and I, NOT THE LOCAL JUDGE.
And oh yeah, you and I do NOT get to get together with a mob, or with my sister the mayor, or with the local school board, or even with the Federal government, and start telling everybody else how to believe and to worship. We're Constitutionally barred from this, and the courts have pretty clearly been saying exactly the same thing for the last two hundred years. I don't get to have the school teach my religious views. Neither do you. I don't get to lead school kids is the Prayer to Joseph Stalin (just kidding); you don't get to lead schoolkids in the Lord's Prayer at school. Doesn't matter who's right, who's wrong, who's got the majority on their side.
In fact, the clear intent of the law and the Constitution seems to be that it doesn't matter a damn if ONE person in the tri-strate area worships differently--you don't get to have the government tell them to cut it out.
Just incidentally, this is so because the Framers wanted to protect YOUR rights to worsip as you wish.
Which is why this stuff ticks me off--far from what people seem to think, it's a radical redefinition of the Constitution and American history.
I realize that some of you will just read this as further evidence of liberal evil, or pointy-head intellectualism, or whatever. You may even see it as further proof of whatever pet theory you have about me personally. Fine.
But try to keep a few things in mind: 1) I'm not the one sneaking into the courthouse with the big rock; 2) I'm not the one getting on the radio and the TV and yelling that the ACLU and lesbians are bringing down the Great Punta's wrath on America; c) I'm not the one demanding that everybody recite whatever holy book I believe in every morning before they start school, and I'm not the one demanding that everybody get up and recite some Pledge that me and my buddies rewrote some year when we were making specially wacked-out politicial decisions because we were afraid of Joe McCarthy; d) I'm not the one thumping the Good Book while I run for office and screaming about traitors and flag-haters and everybody's going to he-double-hockey-sticks and anyway who are these intellectuals and on and on and on.
Basically, I want what the Constitution offers: to be left the hell alone by the flag-wavers and bully boys, to have my own religious beliefs without some clown in school telling me they're wrong every five minutes, to have my kids or whatever taught in schools that teach real science and real history, and leave the rest of it to the People.
So explain it to me: why do you HAVE to have the Commandments up everywhere, why do you HAVE to have kids reciting a pledge to your God, why can't you just leave it alone?
And oh yes--have you guys ever actually READ the damn Constitution, let alone an important Supreme Court decision?
Oh well. Me shut up now; taking self too seriously. Have at it.
, make perfect sense. The presence of *a big rock* with the Ten Commandments engraved into it displayed in a public place is symbolic of other agendae in this country, as Robert pointed out. In my opinion, it's inappropriate -- and potentially dangerous to (political) life as we know it. 
