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The Story of My Dissent | 25 comments (25 topical, 0 hidden)
By the way (5.00 / 2)
Your speaking out like that is the sort of thing needed in the churches.  Obedience is a tool of oppression, and that includes being silent as a sign of respect when someone says something totally wrong.

I admire what you did!!!


by ArchaeoBob on Mon Mar 07, 2011 at 10:27:08 AM EST
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Thank You, But... (5.00 / 1)
...I am no champion. Instead, I just want my fellow Catholics -- many who hold similar positions -- to understand what actually may be going on.

by Frank Cocozzelli on Mon Mar 07, 2011 at 11:43:10 AM EST
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Obedience (5.00 / 1)
Thank you for your kind comments. But I must disagree somewhat; obedience to just and fair law is not oppression. What is oppressive is the top-down, shut up and obey nature of this agenda.

by Frank Cocozzelli on Mon Mar 07, 2011 at 12:21:12 PM EST
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True, I guess. (5.00 / 1)
My experiences have made me very distrustful of the legal system, because of all the times they've selectively enforced the laws against the poor and using them to repress people.  Law enforcement serves (at least in this area and many others) to enforce the status quo and to protect the interests of the rich and powerful, and any other "justice" that comes from them either is incidental or somehow furthers the interests of a rich person.

Long ago I'd gotten to the point where I tensed up whenever I see a "cop" (I'll be nice), because of all of the injustice I've seen and all of the times I've been pulled for bogus reasons.   I am scared of the police because of their desire for 'obedience to authority' and abuses.

Present-day example of selective enforcement:

I've been reporting on the situation here with the Atheists of Florida and their attempts to get the governments in Polk County to respect separation of church and state.  A couple of days ago it was reported that their legal coordinator was arrested for "unauthorized practice of law".  Of course, the paper was all over her for being 'dishonest'.

http://www.theledger.com/article/20110303/NEWS/110309893

She has a degree in law, and was on the Pennsylvania Bar and worked as a lawyer in that state.  She moved to Florida, and is not a member of the bar here.  She'd been using Esq. after her name, and that alone was considered "unauthorized practice of law".  According to the law, you are not permitted to even hint that you're a lawyer unless you're a member of the Bar.

My immediate response was outrage.  There were lawyers (not on the Florida Bar) in the churches that I used to attend, and to my knowledge they ALL signed their name Esq, and often also had official-looking letterheads and told people they were lawyers.   They'd moved down here to retire or had stopped being members of the Florida Bar for one reason or another.

Even though they'd retired or stopped officially practicing, they were still giving legal advice left and right - even pushed me to go to "Good Christian" lawyers they recommended when I faced problems with dishonest people in my business.  I lost tens of thousands of dollars because of all the bad legal advice I got from those "Good Christian" lawyers, and I am very offended that those jackasses with their bad advice are treated with respect, while the legal coordinator for the Atheists of Florida has been arrested (one friend said that they had 8 police cars present when they went to her house to arrest her).

If the laws are just and fair (and applied that way), and they don't cause undue hardship for innocent people, then obedience to them is OK (and in some cases, common sense).  However, the way they are applied...

by ArchaeoBob on Mon Mar 07, 2011 at 12:48:52 PM EST
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The Story of My Dissent | 25 comments (25 topical, 0 hidden)

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