Taking daughter to church could land daddy in slammer

Joseph Reyes (right) is seen taking his 3-year old daughter to church. Nothing wrong with that, right?

Except that Reyes did so in violation of a judge's order that he not expose his daughter to anything but Judaism. For taking her to church (after previously having her baptized there) Joseph Reyes is now possibly in "contempt".

Here's more on this very twisted story...

Joseph Reyes knew he could be accused of defying a court order barring him from taking his daughter to church. But he did it anyway and now he is facing contempt of court charges and jail.

The 35 year old, holding his 3 year old in his arms, walked into Holy Name Cathedral on January 17. A news crew videotaped the act of defiance.

"I have been ordered by a judge not to expose my daughter to anything non-Judaism," Reyes told a news reporter. "But I am taking her to hear the teachings of perhaps the most prominent Jewish Rabbi in the history of this great planet of ours. I can't think of anything more Jewish than that."

The prominent Jewish Rabbi that Reyes referenced was Jesus Christ.

Just before Christmas, a judge issued a temporary restraining order specifically barring Reyes from exposing his daughter to any religion other than Judaism after Reyes had his daughter Baptized without the knowledge of his estranged Jewish wife.

Now the lawyer representing Rebecca Reyes (formerly Rebecca Shapiro) has filed a Motion for Criminal Contempt, asking that Joseph Reyes face criminal charges for defying the judge's order.

The hearing date is set for February 16 and Reyes has launched a new Web site www.christianfatherdefensefund.com to raise money for his defense.

He hopes that he will receive contributions from sympathetic fathers and other individuals who find it unconscionable that a judge would tread into the area that seems to violate the constitutional right guaranteeing Freedom of Religion.

"My daughter is half Jewish," says Reyes. "Just because my marriage is ending should not mean that I can't go to church to worship with my daughter.

"I'm a Christian, and I was Christian when Rebecca and I got married. No judge should have the right to force me to attend a synagogue to be able to pray with my daughter and no judge should have the right to stop me from going to church with my daughter."

His attorney, Joel Brodsky, says they will fight.

"My client should be allowed to take his daughter to church," says Brodsky, who happens to be Jewish. "In every way this is wrong. Freedom of religion is absolute and no judge should be able to interfere with that freedom."

The judge is clearly respecting one establishment of religion over another in this matter, and is thus a most wild violation of the Constitution.

That said, the religious life of the child is something that should be the jurisdiction of the parents, regardless of the legal status between them. And it should be between the BOTH of them to resolve this out of mutual love for their daughter.

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Hacked electronic road signs warn motorists of Nazi zombies, velociraptors

High-tech practical jokers in three states have declared war on those electronic road signs that DMVs put out to relay information to drivers. Here's what one sign in Austin, Texas alerted motorists to...

But these weren't ordinary zombies, mind you. They were "Nazi zombies", from which people were urged to flee toward cooler climates. While Texas and Illinois got plagued with zombies, Indiana roadways suddenly became flooded with raptors from Jurassic Park.

Mash down here for the story and video about the highway highjinks!

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Redundancy is... (Blagojevich did business as usual, the wrong way)

Today's edition of the News & Record (the big newspaper in Greensboro) has a front-page story - like most other papers across the country this morning - about Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich getting arrested for corruption regarding the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama.

The headline in the News & Record reads: "Senate seat alleged for sale"

So when was the last time a Senate seat wasn't for sale in this country?

If he did this, then Blagojevich should be thrown in, no... under the jailhouse and left to rot. But let's get real folks: politics in the United States has become a high-stakes poker game with a buy-in that drastically exceeds the means of the average citizen. Unless you are filthy rich or otherwise have socially astute connections, you have no chance of running for high office.

Hell, it takes a fortune just to hire enough lawyers who will be able to go through all the legalities that are now on the books for a candidate to adhere to.

And it is precisely the mechanisms of modern American politics that not only allow, but even encourage the sort of corruption that we are seeing (again) happen around Chicago.

When the common man and his virtues are shut out of the process, then where will those virtues be found at all?

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