Flying High At Lax

[HARDCORE]

Is it ?Equal Rights? or ?Selective Enforcement? at Los Angeles International Airport?

When is it all right to abandon or reinterpret the concept of ?Separation of Church and State? and what constitutes that separation, and who is immuned from same?

A headline in a local rag read: ?HARE KRISHNAS? win round at LAX!

A Federal Judge has barred ?Los Angeles International Airport? from enforcing its ?Solicitation Ordinance? against members of the Hare Krishna religious group, and the group itself is claiming that the ordnance is un-constitutional?

Now this in itself does not bother me, as the courts will have to determine what in the hell is fair and Constitutional, if even they know for sure? What does irk my ass, however, is what followed!!

An ?LAX Spokesperson?, after the judges baring order against the Airport, came back and said, and I quote AP: ?The Airport (LAX) will continue enforcing this ordnance against everyone, except the Hare Krishnas!??

Now I?m no lawyer, not by any stretch of the imagination (thank-you), but it seems to me that this amounts to a ?Selective Interpretation? of an ordinance, in that ?One religious faction can engage in activities at a public facility, and others can not?!? And if this, or any other airport, is owned, even in part, by a governmental agency (federal, state, county or city), and if this airport is subsidized by tax dollars in any way, why would one religious faction be accepted, and not another? Are some implying that the ?Powers That Be? are endorsing one set of religious beliefs over another? (Just a question?!)

I guess the part of the piece that I read that I did not fully understand (or appreciate) was the statement that: ?The airport (LAX) will continue to enforce the ordinance against everyone - EXCEPT THE HARE KRISHNAS!??

I am not endorsing, nor am I against for that matter, any given religious group. I do, however, find the remark (quoted above) by a spokesperson of a major, U.S. Based International Airport, especially one run by the City of Los Angeles, strange and disturbing at best! (Especially the part about enforcement being aimed at everyone, except one particular faction!?)

?What do you think??

VERITAS :cd: :cd:

[cstfe]

Personnaly I think it is a bunch of crap.......I used to fly out of LAX and if I had to go again it would be from LAX..but if the rules cover other organizations why not the Hari Karishnas?
Somebody is caving in for some reason and I'd be interested in finding out who.

I have been searched every time I've gotten on a plane since 9/11 and after the last trip vowed to never get on another plane. It's frustrating aggravating and it does not make me feel safer, it makes me feel violated...........

Esther

[catman]

Hardcore, this is very simular to what happen right here in my little part of God's Country. It seems that the powers to be in this town "Donated" $1000 to the Catholic Church for new playground equipment but refused to donate anything to the new public school or the k-6 program at the free church.

Seems to me that the only time church and state are separated is when it is convenient for those running things.

Trav

[janecallanan]

How many other religious groups were pan-handling at LAX? Each individual group should be able to follow through, by citing the Hari Krishna's as precedent in the law, or interpretation of it, if they so desire. God help the commuters if that flood gate ever opens!

[daniel topliffe]

like cstfe said, 'stay away' from any
place you don't feel comfortable...
i sure am lucky...i still love to drive my
automobile...and yes...GOD, help us.

dan t

[reconeil]

Well Friend and Friends,...re. the: "What do you think" question, I (no doubt many others also) would say; NONSENSE!!!

Granted, a day doesn't go by when some beaurocrat and/or someone having some power and authority in This Country doesn't come-off like A World Class Jerk, and unfortunately must be taken seriously (God only knows why?). But, so what?

Still, and anyway you cut-it Me Buckos, such pompous twits such as at LAX should be taken-out and keel-hauled (at minimum). After all, and besides, wrong being always wrong, such as stupid is always stupid,...is absolutely no different than the fact that NONSENSE will always be nothing better than NONSENSE.

Regardless, count your blessings. Be glad that such boobs don't usually carry a weapon,...or worse that that, fly a plane.

Neil

[cstfe]

Problem is, these jerks are in airports from LAX to Boston..been there, saw that. We need to reign in the government before we become another Nazi Germany
Too much power in the hands of politicians wanting to become part of history
Esther

[JeffL]

I remember that at O'Hare in Chicago these groups were relegated to a specific area. That might be changed by now, though.

Back in the mid- to late- 1980s, I used to have to fly to Podunks all around the country, which meant that I landed at almost every major airport. I reached the point where I had fun with these jerks. They'd offer to sell me a book, I'd ask to see it, then I'd flip them a nickle. Some of them actually cried when I refused to give them any more money. After the crowd had gathered, I'd throw the book on the floor and tell them to stay the **** away from me.

If you think I was rotten then, you should be with me today......

[HARDCORE]

Men far wiser than I realized that "Church and State" must be separated. I know not if the motivation for this was the Inquisition, in which the Church held absolute power over life and death, including the corpulent carcasses of many a royal rascal!

I too did a great deal of flying, but was lucky in that I rarely ran into problems at airports such as the one that began this debate at LAX. The gist of my feelings, however, at least in this particular instance, is that a 'Double Standard' exists here, and everyone knows that the government hates 'Double Standards' when they are not of their design or in their own best interests!

The biggest problem in my mind is not the Krishnas, nor any other individual group for that matter, doing their thing at LAX and points east, but rather the fact that almost anything is acceptable behavior in some, whereas some of these same traits are frowned upon in others?! "The law either applies to all men (and women) equally, or it most assuredly applies to none!"

Of course, we all realize that this "splendid-sounding 'ism'" is a fairytale day-dream, even though noble in intent! The law applies in degrees and is (unfortunately) tempered according to wealth and station. The OJ Trial certainly should have highlighted this fact! And Mr. Simp. was not alone in his finance and fame manipulations of the system either, in my opinion, as many a high profile case is governed by a far different law book than the one that applies to the average man!

"What was that old saying about the squeaky wheel and grease!" Well, a polished persona, even one shined with "shit and $$$$", is far less likely to suffer the slings and arrows of outraged fortune than the common also-ran with the name of Smith or Jones - DC and it's lemming-like entourage being a grand example of this preferential treatment agenda!

Getting back to this "I see the light of salvation" analogy, when this "Constitutionally Guaranteed" mind-set (religiously speaking), is being administered in public airports, that in itself, bothers me not! What I am saying, however, is that this "LAX-Granted, Selective Right (?)" of who will (and who will not) push their beliefs and solicit money in public places, must be applied on an "ALL Or Nothing" basis!? (opinion) "Either every religion, or any other cause for that matter, gets to haunt the airports, or they all keep their activities in the appropriate places, as is their right!

"No one's rights, however, should ever be allowed to infringe upon the rights of others, be they religious, political, or what have you (opinion)!" Everything has it's place, so to speak, like out in front of the Senate and House, where Lord knows, those political sorts need all the saving that they can muster!! I am told that "God saves heels as well as souls", and as such, Washington is a natural for a religious crusade of this kind!

For an exception to policy, mandate, ordinance, or anything else for that matter, to be injected into our system, and then limited to a select few, is not "Equal Justice Under The Law (What the hell ever that is), but rather a clear indication that some factions are considered more equal than others in the eyes of that law!!"

This LAX thing, however, is something else, and I believe that legal action will probably be forthcoming from other religious groups who also see the shortcomings of selectivity within the law! Besides, that sought of thing is taboo outside of the inner sanctums of the bureaucracy, is it not?!

Oh, and before I forget it - "BROTHER, CAN YOU SPARE A DIME!!" Only kidding of course, as all that a dime can buy these days is about a minute on a parking meter, or a half hour in an Iraqi Whorehouse!

VERITAS