A Letter on Religious Clarification

To whom it may concern:

As a result of hundreds of debates on hundreds of topics, I've heard a very common theme during my adult life in the Deep South of the US: 

"Blah blah blah. Separation of Church and State is nowhere in the US Constitution. Blah blah blah."

How can a bleeding.heart.commie.bastard like myself ever argue that point to the holy.rolling.bible.thumpers around me since that above statement is, in fact, true? Budget battles over the funding of Planned Parenthood or court battles over the Ten Commandments displayed in public offices always seem to take the route of the "Christian Principles" that our country's founders had in mind for the new nation. The argument of separating the 'will of God' from 'American Liberties' is simply lost in the mix. After all, the Constitution never expressly says "separation of church and state." This always seemed like a real paradox since, in my opinion, the Constitution is one of the most profoundly ingenious documents ever written.

Then I realized something funny. While nowhere in the Constitution, that phrase actually was first coined by none other than Thomas Jefferson--the walking contradiction that directed the writing of the Constitution. He used that phrase to refer back to what is now known as an "establishment clause" in the First Amendment. 

Meaning? 

The government will not pick one religion over another. 

Ever. 

So stop it.

-MDS

A crudely fictionalized rendition of: The Press Conference

I decided to attend my first “press conference” this past Monday. I wasn't quite sure what I was getting myself into, but I can't become a journalist if I don't do journalist things—and at the time it seemed more proactive than watching TV in my bedroom. I found myself driving through the other side of this strikingly segregated southern town towards the sheriff's office to meet with Leigh, the coincidental associate with me on this expedition.


We met in the parking lot and wandered into the belly of the beast together. I was going based on nothing more than a feed from the newspaper which said the sheriff was to hold a press conference at 2pm as I walked to the counter with my pathetically small camcorder bag in tow. The rather husky woman with a fantastic perm behind the glass wasn't aware of any press conference in 15 minutes, but she diligently trudged into the deep recesses to formulate a reply for me. After the delivery of convoluted directions that sent us across the building (and from my personal experiences within the sheriff's complex, closer to prisoner intake and the womans' wing), Leigh and I soon found ourselves in a foul-smelling conference room with two middle-aged men in polo shirts as they stood behind a pair of broadcast cameras and gave us a quick look.


We blatantly looked like college kids—Leigh bearing a striking resemblance to that cute chick in that one movie, myself sporting a tacky “Mexico: I'm just here for the beer” t-shirt—as we walked to the back of the silent and uncomfortably large room to put our bags down. During the next 20 minutes or so, cameramen from every TV station from the area filed in, set up their respective cameras, and idly shared war stories from the field amongst themselves. Once I realized the camera's were blocking my every view of the podium in the corner, we went to the 4th and final row of fold-out chairs to take a seat as I hit record on my camcorder and discreetly placed it on my knee.


The sheriff arrived fashionably late, greeted the lawyers with a warm handshake; the media with a cold handshake; and a random guy with a politician's handshake before he took the stage. He apologized for his tardiness and made sure the dozen or so in the room were cozy before letting everyone know he wasn't actually holding a press conference. The speech he read hit all the talking points one would expect to hear from this model city: family, friends, and Jesus Christ. The coup de gras came in the form of some crazy conspiracy against the masses involving the media.


The sheriff ended his speech by reading from the Good Book before he floated away into a dark abyss in the far corner of the room. This left me standing confused while the shuffle of cameramen picked up momentum and shook me out of my stupor. I was disappointed into shock by the lack of acquired knowledge during the half-hour spent in that room. Leigh shared this sentiment. We shuffled out with the mix of journalists into the hallway which led to the exit when Leigh caught the ear of a photographer from the newspaper. Stories that concerned a fraud scheme disguised as official state business were shared between the two of them. Only halfway listening, I eventually reeled from the sheriff's barbaric waste of time before the photographer parted ways.


Leigh and I walked to the car where the camera was ditched and a cigarette lit in defeat. I had learned nothing about the story and nothing about journalism—then I saw the same random guy from earlier, another random old guy, and a familiar TV face setting up a camera. I threw my cigarette down in a panic and headed across the parking lot in hopes of watching a spur-of-the-moment interview but arrived to find nothing more than confused looks from all 3 men. We all shared a few awkward words and the TV reporter got some great footage of a brick wall. The lesson was complete and I decided to end this learning experience and head home. Leigh gave me a transcript of the speech and a hug. The press conference was over.


I replayed the video as soon as I got in the car, looped it as I sped home, and analyzed every word for some time afterward—the story never made sense. The sheriff had damning video evidence stacked up against his department and himself and only replied with a nonsensical response that pins any wrongdoing of his own actions haphazardly upon the lack of ethics practiced by a newspaper. Furthermore, the sheriff refused to speak to anyone before slinking back into his fortified compound to hide from the haze of reality. From a plethora of failed experiences, I can assure anyone that his method of defense isn't the most effective.


The only other defense for the sheriff and his posse comes from the typical woodwork in the area. Those who live in a world where the incriminating video doesn't exist are accompanied by crudely assembled responses from newspaper readers that insist the sheriff was simply teaching the boy an old-fashioned lesson in a room that smells like the YMCA locker-rooms. Along in the mix of madness are those angered at the sheriff who want him to reimburse the family of a single victim. Spare the shackles, launch the lawsuit: no better device to teach the sheriff a not-so-old-fashioned lesson in a courtroom that smells much nicer. In the end, his paycheck as been paid by the voters of the county. That story makes sense, but one crucial annoyance continued to linger.


The sheriff mentioned that the newspaper had put the boy “in danger” when the identity of said boy was released. I began a quest to find the truth behind this claim. My frustration with this led to a #WINNING moment when my total time spent behind enemy lines culminated into an epic blunder of menial proportions—I was a guy without a chance in the fight against this beast as the shank instinctively lunged forward. I used the sheriff's method of defense and went slinking back to hide from the haze of reality. The real story was so close, but all of the wounds sustained were enough to cause a failure of the task at hand.


It always comes so close to making sense, but then I find out I have 3 tests in a few hours. Back to the haze of reality.


-MDS

Madness in Calhoun County

In response to: Anniston Star - Video shows sheriff using manual force but sheriff says it s not the whole story


Laws are not only in place to prevent parents from exercising this type of discipline on children, but to also prevent grown men from using unwarranted physical force on anyone. Whether or not the kid deserved that type of treatment, Sheriff Amerson had no right, reason, nor excuse to ever display that kind of force in that kind of situation.


In the strictly controlled environment that is the Calhoun County Jail, ask yourself if you would ever feel intimidated enough to lunge at a handcuffed teenager. Why would a sheriff with almost four decades in law enforcement feel intimidated or threatened?


For such a blatant disregard of rules at any workplace, immediate termination of the violator is typically the standard operating procedure. But this is a different story: we're talking public officials. It sounds like the time to “lawyer up” is upon us.


Lawsuits scare the pants off of anyone, but what will that solve in the end? No matter which side of the aisle you're on, Amerson or the anonymous whistle-blower would pay a lewd amount of money to someone else and the whole thing magically goes away—or would it?


Rational people usually use physical force against things they fear. Perhaps Amerson proves that; perhaps the growing number of “hoodlums” prove that. The only thing this video proves to me is that there doesn't seem to be too much rationality within the Calhoun County Sheriff's Office.


While this fierce online debate has raged, not one single comment has actually praised the fantastic work of our local law enforcement. Coming from my half-dozen experiences on both sides of the law, some members of the CCSD seem to be at least semi-rational and professional. I hope the intentions of the anonymous person that submitted this tape to the Anniston Star are of the rationality we should expect.


From the aspect of a taxpayer, I simply ask for a rational and professional sheriff to protect and serve my community. Irresponsibility is to be expected from a teenager—not from an elected official.


-MDS

REPORT

Unrest in Arab nations continues to grow. During the confusing stream of information from Syria, relief was never found on US news networks.


The following is my personal interpretation of the most credible accounts of the past week's events...


...during which, the host of MSNBC's “The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell,” presented to his viewers some interesting information about the title of Operation: Odyssey Dawn. The US Armed Force assistance offered to the Libyan freedom fighters was named based on rules set forth by the Pentagon. O'Donnell reported “the first word...must begin with 'O'. The second word must start the with [a] letter 'A' through 'F'.” O'Donnell asked for viewers' ideas for alternative titles—Obama Cares, Opportunity Freedom, and Overwhelming Courage were some viewer responses.


This fierce Libyan debate (one among many) has raged within American circles while madness from southern Syria filled the internet. The main source has been from apparent victims at the al-Omari mosque in Daraa, a town just outside the Syrian capital of Damascus. For weeks, the number of people on the streets grew from hundreds to thousands and protested the imprisonment of fifteen children jailed for writing anti-government slogans on school walls. The intentions of the jailed teenagers is obviously perceived by some as an alleged terrorist threat, but more people have seemed to find the graffiti was something more.


They had gathered on the "Friday of dignity" to display their disgust of school-age political prisoners and as a result their groups grew to form a protest officially described as a “sit-in” by the government. Police, national security forces, and even Syrian military forces were dispatched the following Tuesday to control the exploding sea of peaceful protesters. Violence was soon injected into Daraa as the government presence grew, and by 8:00 PM the city was surrounded by armed gunmen. Protesters had settled around a mosque that was established as a hospital for victims recovering from teargas and gunshot wounds. Some injuries were severe enough to warrant additional doctors to travel into the city.


As the following day rolled into it's second hour, electricity and cell phone service had already been lost around the al-Omari mosque. Dr. Ali Ghassab al-Mahamid rode in an ambulance as it traveled through Daraa when an attack launched upon the vehicle killed everyone aboard. Bullets soon cracked through the streets around al-Omari and struck unarmed men in search of adequate cover. These attacks continued throughout the day as tales began to escape the confines of a newly-isolated city.


Bus loads of armed men rolled into the city during the day and searched for anyone documenting the events. Hundreds of students and journalists were arrested by the government in hopes of silencing the crowds. Despite bullets that sliced through the air, some protesters were seen as they tried to recover the dead bodies that littered the streets. What started as a peaceful sit-in which called for the release of teenagers from prison soon turned into something widely considered a massacre; one delivered by snipers hidden on rooftops and controlled by military checkpoints in and out of the chaos.


The story of Daraa has been difficult to grasp for anybody even remotely linked to it. As a result, the struggling freedom fighters in Syria have become nothing more than a 20-second blurb on the evening news for many Americans—everything caught between a convoluted political truth and a quick message from the sponsors.


This submission to “The Last Word” adheres to the Pentagon's rules of naming the military actions in Libya yet is inspired by words from the the forgotten stories from Syria. Not to necessarily condone violence through military action or otherwise, I instead want to compliment a growing general attitude—one shared not only in northern African and the Middle East but around the world—in terms that can easily be understood by most Americans that has transcended political, racial, religious, and generational gaps...


OPERATION: Overcome Fear


-MDS

Syrian protests seem to continue as information struggles to leave the area

Twitter is still ablaze concerning the details in Daraa while major US news outlets wait to confirm reports.


23 March 2011 - 1355 CDT: After almost a week of otherwise peaceful protests in Daraa, Syria, clashes between civilians and government forces are becoming more violent after an alleged attack on a mosque by the Syrian military. Protesters were using the Omari mosque as a makeshift hospital Tuesday night when gunfire sent the crowds running for shelter. Phone service in the area has remained down and Syrian officials have already reported to Al Arabiya their disconnection of electricity in and around Daraa just before the raid early Wednesday morning.


The protesters have been calling for president Bashar al-Assad to push for more meaningful political reform despite the Emergency Law that has been in effect since 1963. The almost 40 year old law makes participation in such protests a crime, and government officials are claiming the violence is in response to “the armed gangs that terrorize civilians.” Videos reportedly from the area showed a number of vans, trucks, and cars entering a neighborhood as they deployed dozens of armed men—mostly in black but some in plain clothes. These men then flooded into the streets to detain a number of unarmed protesters and quickly put them into vehicles.


Many larger news outlets are not giving the detailed reports from Daraa. Unlike the reports from other Middle Eastern protests, confirmation from Syria is severly limited. Most networks do have confirmed reports of at least 15 deaths since yesterday, but some accounts on social networking describe “hundreds of dead bodies” in and around the city. Allegations of Syrian forces targeting doctors, nurses, and ambulances have grown in numbers as night falls on the city, but none of which can be validated by pictures or first-hand accounts.


The crackdown on information out of the area is also becoming more apparent. Mohammad al-Abdullah, a former Syrian political prisoner in exile in the US, is urging citizen journalists and bloggers in Daraa to be careful as the number of their arrests grows. The Syrian Human Rights Committee has also condemned the execution of Khaled el-Masri, a soldier in the Syrian army sent to Daraa. After he refused to participate in the early morning raid of the Omari mosque, el-Masri was subsequently shot three times by Syrian authorities.


-MDS

Crackdowns in Syria Make Daraa Details Fuzzy

Many major news outlets can't independently verify many of the details coming out of Syria. Good thing I'm not one of them


23 March 2011 - 0415 CDT: The Omari mosque in downtown Daraa, Syria has been used since Friday by protesters who have been calling for the release of 15 children arrested on March 6^th. The children—all under 17—were arrested for writing anti-government slogans on school walls. As the number of supporters grew into the thousands by Tuesday, military forces began firing tear gas and live ammunition to disperse the crowds.

By 8pm local time the city was surrounded by Syrian military forces after government officials had "given the protesters until three in the morning to end the sit-in." Just after 3am early Wednesday morning, Syrian military entered the area near the makeshift hospital to confront the crowds. Video reportedly from the area just outside of the mosque shows unarmed civilians fleeing from the sounds of nearby gunfire and explosions. Along with reports of phone service being unavailable in the area around the Omari mosque, government officials have admitted to cutting power to the city. Other reports also claim the Syrian military prevented ambulance access to the mosque where there are reports of injuries and up to 6 deaths of protesters and doctors.

The newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi reports Syrian officials sent security forces to encounter an “armed gang” at the Omari mosque. According to the officials, the gang had attacked an ambulance and killed at least two before security forces near the scene intervened and made arrests—bringing the death toll to 11 since Friday. Syrian officials went on by saying “the security forces will continue to pursue armed gangs that terrorize civilians.”

Protests have been occurring in the country west of Iraq since late January after the self-immolation of Hasan Ali Akleh. By February 5^th, hundreds of protesters gathered in Hasan's hometown in northeast Syria and called for the departure of president Bashar al-Assad. Protests soon spread to the city of Damascus as they gained thousands of supporters and resulted in dozens of arrests. Due to an emergency law enacted in 1963, any anti-government organization is illegal in Syria as result of ongoing war with Israel.

This is the third major uprising in the past 35 years. Many protesters in Daraa fear a repeat of the Hama Massacre of February 1982, when tens of thousands of Syrian civilians and soldiers were killed in a failed uprising against president Hafiz al-Assad. There was also Damascus Spring, a pro-democracy group which began summer 2000 after the death of al-Assad. Damascus Spring looked to discuss matters between different smaller groups which included democratic, communist, and Ba'athist views in hopes of political reform. However, Hafiz al-Assad's son and successor Bashar al-Assad quickly suppressed Damascus Spring months later with the arrests of several key figures.  


-MDS

Sketchy reports from Daraa, Syria

A growing number of tweets show signs of a possible massacre at a mosque by Syrian forces

23 March 2011 – 00:05 CDT: The Omari mosque in downtown Daraa, Syria has been used since Friday by protesters who have been calling for the release of 15 children arrested on March 6^th. The children—all under 15—were arrested for writing anti-government slogans on school walls. As the number of supporters grew into the thousands by Tuesday, security forces began firing tear gas and live ammunition to disperse the crowds.

By 8pm the city was surrounded by Syrian security forces. Just after 2am early Wednesday morning, they stormed the mosque and opened fire while close to 2,000 protesters slept. These forces have since been preventing ambulances to the mosque where there are reports of injuries and anywhere from 4 to 6 deaths.

Protests have been occurring in the country west of Iraq since late January after the self-immolation of Hasan Ali Akleh. By February 5^th, hundreds of protesters gathered in Hasan's hometown in northeast Syria and called for the departure of President Bashar al-Assad. Protests soon spread to the city of Damascus, gaining thousands of supporters and resulting in dozens of arrests.

While there have been reports of violence and arrests, news from Daraa is the first to include fatalities since Hasan Ali Akleh. In an interview with ABC's Jess Hill, former Syrian political prisoner Mohammed al-Abdullah says “[t]omorrow you are going to witness thousands—hundreds of thousands—protesting,” and that the government will soon “lose any control.” The stability of the protests, however, is still uncertain since no major international networks are reporting on these events and all of my sources are only a growing number of third/fourth-hand accounts...

...but regardless, I'll try my darnedest to follow it.


23 March 2011 - 0200 CDT: More news is coming from Al Jazeera, BBC, NYT, CNN, et. al. concerning the clash between military forces and protesters in Daraa, Syria. 


Arabic-language videos are surfacing online which show what appear to be groups of 5 to 7 armed men standing a few blocks away from protesters. Panic spreads as shouting begins, followed bright flashes and sounds of gunfire as the protesters run for cover. No return fire is heard. I'm not quite sure how to get that translated beyond waiting on the major news networks. (http://youtu.be/B91tAQaH7zk)

Power has been cut to the city and phone service in the area around the Omari mosque, which was being used as a makeshift hospital. At least one doctor has been killed in an attack by the Syrian army. The time of the attack is now estimated to have been closer to 0330 Syrian local (2030 CDT) and involved live rounds as well as explosives.

Still nothing live from CNN, msnbc, FoxNews, or AJE. However, I'm still digging...

-MDS