What's up with the prayer lawsuit? (Fun excerpts—including emails!)

     I offer a brief update on “Westphal v. Wagner,” our celebrated case against (some) prayers—in violation of the 1st Amendment’s “establishment clause”—at the SOCCCD:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

A "heathen," evidently

     Our lawyers tell us that, of late, there’ve been lots of filings in the district court. By both sides.
     Plaintiffs (that’s us!) have filed a Motion of Summary Judgment on the religious-purpose prong of the Lemon test (the government's action must have a secular purpose, etc.). We’ve also filed a Motion to Amend that Order, asking for clarification re relief, etc.
     Meanwhile, defendants (i.e., Wagner, Mathur, et al.) filed a Motion for Judgment, arguing against the Court’s decision to deny them summary judgment “on the religious-purpose prong.”

"Heathen," agnostic
division

     I wanted to provide you with sections of these briefs that are understandable, and that ain’t easy, man. I have chosen to provide excerpts from our “reply on plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment,” filed on the 13th, for a hearing on Dec. 27—that's a little more than a week from now.
     Don’t try to make sense of that language. The verbiage in the brief (below) makes the issue at hand clear:
     (Click on these graphics BELOW to enlarge them. They should be readable then.)

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[Be sure to check this one out (above).]

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[I've excerpted nothing from section II.]

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Winning and losing and winning

Photo: New York Times

● Measure to End ‘Don’t Ask’ Wins Approval in Senate (Chronicle of Higher Education)

The U.S. Senate approved legislation to repeal the military’s controversial “don’t ask, don’t tell” by a 65-to-31 vote Saturday afternoon. The repeal, already approved by the House of Representatives, now President Obama for his signature. Repealing the law, which bars openly gay people from service, could greatly reduce tensions between the military and university faculty members and students who oppose the policy.

• See also Senate Repeals ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ (NYT)

● Deferred Again: Senate Vote Is Latest Setback for 'Dream Act' (Chronicle of Higher Education)

For the second time in three months, the U.S. Senate has tried, and failed, to pass legislation that would provide a path to citizenship for undocumented college students. ¶ Saturday morning Democratic leaders fell short of the 60 votes necessary to overcome a threatened filibuster and move to a vote on the bill, known as the Dream Act. The House of Representatives passed the bill earlier this month.
. . .
The bill's most-recent defeat in the Senate was the latest setback in the 10-year effort to enact the Dream Act. The measure enjoys bipartisan support but has never made it through both chambers of Congress.

• See also DREAM Act dies in Senate (Politico)

This is kinda sappy. But still....

Rebel Girl's Poetry Corner: "new stars are being born"

Toward the Winter Solstice
by Timothy Steele

Although the roof is just a story high,
It dizzies me a little to look down.
I lariat-twirl the rope of Christmas lights
And cast it to the weeping birch's crown;
A dowel into which I've screwed a hook
Enables me to reach, lift, drape, and twine
The cord among the boughs so that the bulbs
Will accent the tree's elegant design.

Friends, passing home from work or shopping, pause
And call up commendations or critiques.
I make adjustments. Though a potpourri
Of Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Jews, and Sikhs,
We all are conscious of the time of year;
We all enjoy its colorful displays
And keep some festival that mitigates
The dwindling warmth and compass of the days.

Some say that L.A. doesn't suit the Yule,
But UPS vans now like magi make
Their present-laden rounds, while fallen leaves
Are gaily resurrected in their wake;
The desert lifts a full moon from the east
And issues a dry Santa Ana breeze,
And valets at chic restaurants will soon
Be tending flocks of cars and SUV's.

And as the neighborhoods sink into dusk
The fan palms scattered all across town stand
More calmly prominent, and this place seems
A vast oasis in the Holy Land.
This house might be a caravansary,
The tree a kind of cordial fountainhead
Of welcome, looped and decked with necklaces
And ceintures of green, yellow , blue, and red.

Some wonder if the star of Bethlehem
Occurred when Jupiter and Saturn crossed;
It's comforting to look up from this roof
And feel that, while all changes, nothing's lost,
To recollect that in antiquity
The winter solstice fell in Capricorn
And that, in the Orion Nebula,
From swirling gas, new stars are being born.

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