OurColony.net

Customer Rating:
Summary: Buy this book, and a highlighter at the same time.
Comment: This former, republican judge from Texas spells out her argument clearly and passionately how the
religious right is attempting to change the US Constitution while claiming to support it. According
to Crier the religious right takes a hypocritical stand on judicial issues. Any judge who makes a
decision they do not like is legislating from the bench i.e. changing the law in their decision
rather than interpreting it. She reveals this hypocrisy in the Terry Schiavo case where the
evangelical Christian judge followed the law, and ordered life support removal. The Christian right
vilified this judge because he failed to change the law in his decision! But, this is only one of
many issues for which Crier provides convincing evidence.

The Christian right startegy
for taking over our courts include: 1) (Very short) term limits, 2) jurisdictional stripping i.e.
remove the courts from hearing challenges to religious-based decisions, 3) impeachment 4)
congressional veto of supreme court decisions the congress doesn't like! 5) congressional funding or
defunding of courts that are too liberal in their decisions, 6) abolition of courts whose decisions
that congress does not like. These strategies are aimed at intimidating judicial decisions. />
The Christian movement goes even further. Although fully 80% of the country, Christians are
now claiming to be persecuted. They are attempting to revise history claiming that the founders
intended the country to be Christian. Serious students of American history already know that
Madison, Franklin, Jefferson and Adams and others were actually wary of religion dominating or being
a part of politics.

According to Crier, the conressional right-wing and religious
zealots are planning daily to bring Christian influence into our courts and our constitution on
abortion, marriage, right-to-die, stem-cell research, intelligent design, gun control, statues of
the Ten Commandments, etc.

This books present facts that may surprise you:
/>The republicans charge that their judicial candidates are not given a [fair] chance, yet of the
229 candidates President Bush nominated to the bench, only 10 were blocked, making Bush's approval
rate for nominees the highest in years.

Under President Clinton, the
republican-controlled senate denied "sixty-three nominees even a hearing, let alone a vote." />
In the 20 years prior to 1997, it took 97 days from nomination to confirmation. By 1998,
the republicans stretched the nomination to confirmation time to 232 days.

While some
critics of this book make a point of her lack of footnotes, or that she described one zealot
mistakenly as a psychiatrist rather than a psychologist, the evidence she presents is a matter of
public record. This book is too well researched to simply be dismissed.

Only people on
the extreme right will discount this book. No one likes their beliefs or opinions challenged by the
facts, but this is one you may find yourself reading over and over again.

It also
provides a powerful reminder that there is nothing more threatening or dangerous than the
self-righteous.

Customer Rating:
Summary: He who increases knowledge increases sorrow
Comment: Ms. Crier's book is journalism, not scholarship. Its tone is political, even polemical, not
judicial. She makes no effort to weigh the pros and cons of the subject matter. Having said that,
her book is important because most people in America are not readers, and those few who read prefer
romance novels and other fiction to non-fiction. One of the most popular categories of
"non-fiction" is religious and inspirational, which by its nature is intended to reinforce beliefs
the readers already hold. Scholarly books are available from the universities where they are
published or sometimes at bookstores at deep discounts to the cover price, and often remain unsold
for long periods of time. Her book, although apparently written to reach a popular audience,
perhaps the same people who watch her on television, is likely to reach very few people, certainly
not those who need to read it. I became aware of it on a public library display in Fort Worth and
picked it up because I was curious to see what she had written. I am a practicing attorney and I
knew Ms. Crier slightly when she was an assistant D.A. and later as a judge in Dallas.
/>Unfortunately, her "warning flare" or "political stun grenade" may be doomed to have little effect
on the political process, and not only because few people will probably read the book. It is the
very nature of those opposed to the "religious right" to have a wide variety of viewpoints that do
not necessarily coalesce naturally into a political agenda. When an ACLU lawyer, for example,
represents Nazis to protect their right of "free speech," he may find the political content of that
speech personally repugnant, but he thinks that preservation of the constitutional principle is
paramount. Not so with the religious right. Crier's book summarizes evidence that the religious
right is organized to achieve certain specific political goals without regard to whether the methods
are strictly "constitutional," as we understand that concept today. If they achieve their
objectives, we will indeed live in a very different country in the future.

Let me
suggest, therefore, that readers of her book need to discuss with others the issues raised in
Crier's book, of course. But more is required. Those who do not want America to become what the
religious right has envisioned must become more active politically to ensure that it does not
happen.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Salient points lost amid excessive/extremist/hard-line/rabid/etc. language
Comment: This is a hysterical book. Unfortunately, I don't mean funny.

Catherine Crier may have
some valid points in this book. However, the over-the-top language quickly becomes so distracting it
took my concentration off the premise. By chapter 10, I was counting adjectives instead of analyzing
her arguments.

My list from this 13-page chapter (Chapter 10):
-
ultraconservative - 13 times
- hard-line - 6 times
- archconservative - 5 times
-
extreme/extremist - 4 times
- reactionary - 3 times
- radically conservative - 2
times
- hard right - 1 time
- rabidly conservative - 1 time
- ultra-right - 1
time

And I reserve the right (um, is that the hard right or the ultra-right?) to have
missed one or two.

Furthermore, the author's use of attributions is ... interesting, to
say the least. Because she uses no footnotes or endnotes, one does not know whether she is culling
her information from the pages of The National Review or The Nation. Or maybe even The National
Enquirer. I much prefer books with a more careful listing of sources so I can judge for myself the
political leanings of the source. The book contains no bibliography, which I also found
disappointing as I often read the author's sources for myself after I finish a book. Of particular
note is the lengthy (4-line) quote on page 105 attributed only to "a senator." How strange that a
book about politics would not name the quoted senator. Does the author believe her readers are not
savvy enough to recognize the name of a sitting senator? Or does she fear she will destroy the
credibility of her argument if readers know it is the senior senator from Massachusetts who called
Robert Bork an extremist? But perhaps I am wrong in assigning her deceitful motives. It is a fairly
well-known quote, so perhaps she assumed anyone politically aware enough to read a book about our
courts would automatically know the condemnation came from that maven of moderation, Ted
Kennedy.

Finally, I noticed sloppy fact checking. (For example, James Dobson is a
psychologist, not a psychiatrist.) These were easily verifiable facts had the author taken the time
to check. I could only wonder how many other factual errors I would have uncovered had I bothered to
check the author's data in depth.

This book breaks no new ground. It is in the same
style as the dozens of similar books put out by the radical left and ultra right. (Sorry, couldn't
resist.) It is a "preaching to the choir" book. If you are a radical leftist, it will confirm your
belief that conservatives are out to get you. If you are an ultraconservative, it will verify your
belief that liberals are out to get you. And if you are a moderate, it will make you wish you'd
spent your money at Starbucks instead.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Very good book...VERY
Comment: After reading Catherine Crier's book "CONTEMPT", I'd have to say the woman has my utmost respect.
Crier's input into this book and, to expose what's happening in America's judical system today, is
to be greatly admired. I'm certain, if it's at all possible for them to do so, she will feel the
full force of the angry wrath that would expected from the far-right conservatives. Although the
Good Book tells us that, "Revenge is mine" saith the Lord, we all know The Lord has nothing to do
with the dirty extremes our conservative administration often likes to take. If you believe that,
just try reading "Fortunate Son" by J. H. Hatfield, published in 2001. Mr. Hatfield, the author, is
no longer with us. And the foreward by Mark Crispin Miller pretty well sums up what happened to Mr.
Hatfield. So yeah, if I was Catherine Crier, I'd be a tad bit concerned. Both books, Hatfield's
"Fortunate Son" & Crier's "Contempt" will not only upset you, but break your heart. Crier, a Judge
herself, has no qualms about telling it like it is as to what's happening to the judicial system
today. Appointments made by this administration will have a major affect for many years to come. As
an avid reader, a writer, and an American, I don't appreciate the idea of a "fixed" court system
that bends the rules at the whim of major politicos and big business. Most Americans are agreeable
to play by any set of given rules, as long as it's understood that EVERYBODY plays by the same set
of rules. This is just not, nor has it ever been, the way things are. I once had a Judge tell me,
and not too long ago, that he believed in the near future every American citizen would have to
report to the authorities exactly what time they planned to leave the house, their destination,
their business, and what time they planned to return. And if you want to drink a beer, go through
the liquor store's drive-thru window, buy a six-pack, take it home, go in the bathroom and sit there
and drink it. And don't come out until you've finished. Then go to bed. Unimaginable, isn't it? Read
Crier's book and see if it doesn't scare the hell out you. It does me.
I give this woman a
5-star rating for her spirit and bravery. She deserves it. The book is excellent.

Customer Rating:
Summary: A warning to North Americans!
Comment: While I write this as a Canadian, I dread the possibility of arch-conservative, religious
fundamentalist fanatics dictating public policy, and what happens in the United States often follows
in Canada - maybe about 5-10 years later. Catherine Crier's book is a warning to fair-minded
Americans of all stripes & religions. It tells explicitly how the conservative 'Christian' right, in
the form of the Republican Party, the Federalist Society, the Family Research Council, Focus on the
Family, etc., want to force-feed fundamentalist religious values down your throat using the power of
the judiciary to do so. She also points out the galling hypocrisy of these organizations and the men
at the head of them - when judges make rulings they disagree with they are called 'activists who
should be removed', but if they make rulings favorable to these people's agenda, they 'deserve to be
on the bench'. She reveals the sick methods advocated by certain Republican politicians & their
supporters to get rid of judges who do not support their warped view of Christianity.
/>This book is a wake-up call to all fair-minded people - including religious folks who do not share
the sickening views of these patriarchal men who want to take North America back to the 8th century!