Civil rights vs. the needs of the government to administer justice - keeping things in perspective

In all this talk of NSA spying and the Patriot Act, some critics of the President have said we have moved to living in "a police state" and called the president "a dictator". There are serious issues to be decided to be sure...but let's review a little Civics:

• The President can be removed from office by Congress at any time, for virtually any reason (the phrase "high crimes and misdemeanors" in the Constitution is left entirely up to Congress to interpret - the Supreme Court has consistently refused to weigh in on what this means).
• Congress, by getting a 2/3 majority, can pass any law they want, at any time, and there's nothing the President can do about it.
• Congress can effectively end any war by cutting off funding for the fighting of it - this is essentially what they did during the Vietnam War.

As far as turning the U.S. into a police state...it might be helpful to read a description in Parade Magazine of daily life in North Korea (published in Feb 2005):

• The Ministry of People’s Security places spies in workplaces and neighborhoods to inform on anyone who criticizes the regime, even at home.
• All radios and TV sets are fixed to receive only government stations.
• Disloyalty to Kim Jong Il and his late father, Kim Il Sung, is a punishable crime: Offenses include allowing pictures of either leader to gather dust or be torn or folded.
• The population is divided into “loyalty groups.” One-third belong to the “hostile class.” These people receive the worst jobs and housing and may not live in the capital, Pyongyang.
• Below the hostiles are the estimated 250,000 held in prison camps, some for crimes allegedly committed by relatives.
• Executions often are performed in public.

Student's Public Praying - Legitimate Expression or Dangerous Activity?

Where two or more students are gathered in God's name . . . there is controversy

This article in the Oregonian today piqued my interest. The basic facts are:

• Some students gathered to pray regularly in a “commons” area of the school.
• The principal, feeling it was blocking the way of students and teachers, asked them to move to a classroom to pray.
• They refused.

Of course, both sides are lining up for the show. Here’s an excerpt:

"The case has already been seized upon by national figures and advocacy groups.
The Liberty Counsel, a Florida-based conservative legal advocacy group aligned with The Rev. Jerry Falwell, has thrown its support behind the students, threatening to sue the district over the principal's suspensions. School officials received numerous complaints Thursday from radio listeners in Wisconsin, and a Christian radio station in Florida plans to air a discussion of the incident and issue, and area churches have phoned in solidarity.
On the other side is Heritage High and Evergreen Public Schools, whose administrators say they were just trying to get students to class safely and on time, and evenhandedly apply rules about student gatherings. The school, just north of east Vancouver, is nestled in a working-class neighborhood of modest homes. "

Not all the folks in the religious community in the area are lining up behind the students, however. Here is what Roger D. Miller, principal of Vancouver Christian High School, had to say:

Do I think students should follow policies for how to organize a group? Yes. Do I think sometimes religious groups in schools get unfair treatment? I'd probably agree with that, too. Whether this is one of those cases, I don't know.

My take

To me, it boils down to one basic question…were the students actually blocking reasonable access to areas of the school for other students and teachers? If so, it’s a no-brainer…they have to pray somewhere else. If the reverse is true, then this is clearly a case of an attempt to deny freedom of expression.