More good news from Tennessee! The news is nearly a week old, but is worth reporting since on April 5 I noted that the Tennessee senate had voted 19-8 to make the Bible the Official State Book, sending that bill for signature to governor Bill Haslam. But last Thursday Haslam, a Republican, vetoed the bill. The Washington Post reports:
“In addition to the constitutional issues with the bill, my personal feeling is that this bill trivializes the Bible, which I believe is a sacred text,” Haslam (R) wrote in a letter to the speaker of the statehouse.
“If we believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God, then we shouldn’t be recognizing it only as a book of historical and economic significance,” continued Haslam. “If we are recognizing the Bible as a sacred text, then we are violating the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Tennessee by designating it as the official state book.”
Well, that sounds a bit like making a virtue of necessity, but I’ll take what I can get!
And, thanks to reader Phil, I saw this cartoon, titled “Thankfully,” by liberal op-ed artist Clay Bennett in the Times Free Press of Chattanooga (Tennessee). Bennett won a Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning, and this shows why:
Isn’t that nice?
Not over until it’s over!
The Fat Lady votes on the veto override this morning.
Will she sing or will she croak?
I wonder how much time it will take the regional GOP party to censure him for it, a la Nathan Deal governor of Georgia.
This just in: override failed!
The Fat Lady has sung!
From the local TV station.
A catchy tune I might add:
“La donna è mobile
Qual piuma al vento,
muta d’accento
e di pensiero.
Pur mai non sentesi
felice appieno
chi su quel seno
non liba giustizia!”
Woohoo! But these things never die, it will come back next year.
This is why I feel that we are the least stupid of the stupid states.
That is a position from which you can never be dislodged, just so long as the definition of ‘the stupid states’ is judiciously adjusted when requisite.
🙂
cr
Excellent point!
📚
Here’s a good summary of the constitutional problems with the Bible bill:
http://www.tennessean.com/story/opinion/contributors/2016/04/18/q-government-religion-first-amendment-intersect-bible-bill/83193406/
Recommend Tennessee select a certain book on Evolution instead. Kind of a make up for that crazy court case back in the 1920s. You know, show a little progression and that things have evolved in Tennessee.