09/12/2007
Iowa Group Moves to Impeach Judge Who Allowed Gay Marriages
A group of Iowans led by pig farmer Bill Salier has launched a campaign to impeach District Court Judge Robert Hanson, after his ruling last month briefly legalized gay marriage in the state.
Salier, seen below leading Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo around his pig farm, runs the group, called "Everyday America".
Salier told Radio Iowa: "[Hanson is] using his own political agenda to advance what he wants to see out of his own social norms and his own personal viewpoints. That's legislating from the bench and overriding the authority of the elected individuals that the people of the state of Iowa put in charge. It's a mess beyond all portion (sic) all because they decided they were going to take the will of the people and they were going to take the law of the legislature and thwart it for their own agenda. This is an attempt to bring the judiciary back into check underneath its constitutional moorings and we're going to take this petition drive....to the leadership of the both the Republican Party and the Democrat Party in the House and Senate as well as the governor and encourage them to reestablish themselves as the leaders of the law in this state -- the ones who actually create the law in this state."
"Everyday America" proudly posts the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence on its website, yet doesn't seem to espouse the view that all men are created equal.
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Posted 1:30 PM EST by Andy Towle in Gay Marriage, Iowa, News | Permalink
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Somebody should inform this hick that when judges rule on court cases those rullings sometimes result in changes to the laws of the districts in which the ruling happens. Those new laws are called 'case law', and case law is just as valid as a law created by the legislature. Case law has always been a by product of the judicial system carrying out its responsibilities.
Posted by: peterparker | Sep 12, 2007 1:43:14 PM
I guess salier is against civil rights for blacks, mexicans, women, etc
The majority of civil rights came from the bench and not the lgistlature first.
This should be stressed to disarm the "against activist judges" BS
Posted by: jimmyboyo | Sep 12, 2007 1:46:20 PM
I find it funny that the judiciary defying the "will of the people" is somehow cause for alarm. It's their job, dammit!
Posted by: scientitian | Sep 12, 2007 1:47:46 PM
ah, just give PETA his address and they'll take care of him. maybe they can disembowel him and turn his intestines into some nice pork stuffed sausage.
Posted by: amanda | Sep 12, 2007 1:48:42 PM
Peter...LOL we were thinkign along the same lines of thought.
Anyway; it should also be stressed that the founders considered the masses ignorant and too easily swayed by falsehood and demagouging thus why fed judges are NOT elected and subject to the will of the masses. not sure on the Iowa state judge thing though.
Posted by: jimmyboyo | Sep 12, 2007 1:49:22 PM
So he runs a pig farm, how appropriate, considering what a disgusting pig he is proving himself to be. Just because he has certain bigoted veiwpoints about rights for the LGBT community, he believes that anyone who differs from him is wrong. Now he is trying to oust a judge simply because he does not agree with the judge's pro-gay rights position. Absolutely disgusting and sad.
Posted by: matthew | Sep 12, 2007 1:54:10 PM
The biggest absurdity in this is that the same part of the Bible most often quoted to condemn gays, Leviticus, is the same one that condemns having anything to do with pigs; hence the Jewish kosher prohibition of eating pork.
"And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be clovenfooted, yet he cheweth not the cud; he is unclean to you.
Of their flesh shall ye not eat, and their carcase shall ye not touch; they are unclean to you." - Leviticus 11; 7, 8.
Proving yet again that pseudo-Xtian bigots cherry pick the religious laws they want to follow.
Posted by: Leland Frances | Sep 12, 2007 2:08:53 PM
I love how these asswipes always call their groups something purportedly patriotic like "Everyday America." to validate their bigotry.
I am an American every single day, too you fucking asswipes.
Posted by: marco | Sep 12, 2007 2:13:10 PM
This pig farmer must have skipped civics lessons. Oh wait, they don't teach that till high school.
Posted by: Vi Agara | Sep 12, 2007 2:16:49 PM
LOVE the Leviticus quote Leland!
Also, judges are SUPPOSED to uphold the law DESPITE the will of the majority. It's how a civilized society protects itself from mob rule. Equal rights for black Americans were forced on many states despite the vast majority of their citizens being against them.
Hope he loses big time.
Posted by: Strepsi | Sep 12, 2007 2:17:29 PM
Leland - that is fucking hysterical!
How do these people profess to "love America" but then hate the very government system that makes America what it is? Have they never heard of the 3 branches of the Federal Government?
Posted by: Gregg | Sep 12, 2007 2:18:52 PM
leland
LOL
^5
I didn't even think of that.
ROFLMAO
Gays in iowa shoudl picket his pig farm with plackards decrying the sinfulness of eating pig meat.
Posted by: jimmyboyo | Sep 12, 2007 2:21:30 PM
I think he just wants a few more caterers at gay weddings to order the pork.
Posted by: Mike | Sep 12, 2007 2:26:24 PM
As a Canadian who regularly reads your column (and other gay-related blogs) i have to scratch my head and wonder how you put up with all the crap that happens in your country (all in the name of God)... at what point do you throw your hands up in the air and say "i give"... when you tire of fighting the good fight move up here and sleep well knowing that in Canada "everyone's welcome and everyone belongs"...
p.s. this is in no way a condemnation of the U.S.... i'm just feeling your pain.
Posted by: james | Sep 12, 2007 2:31:01 PM
Leland...the guy has a website on which you can post comments...I think you should post what you have written here regarding Leviticus.
xo,
peterparker
Posted by: peterparker | Sep 12, 2007 2:36:23 PM
Everyday America is simply a tool of the tyrannical straight, ignorant and misguided majority.
Posted by: Bill | Sep 12, 2007 2:37:17 PM
James...I would *love* to move to Canada because I'm thoroughly sick of my government engaging in discrimination against me and mine...and I'm just as sick of the efforts by right wing Christians to continue to deny LGBT people of our rights...unfortunately, in order for me to become a Canadian citizen I would have to marry a Canadian...consider this a proposal.
xo,
peterparker
Posted by: peterparker | Sep 12, 2007 2:43:32 PM
Good one, Leland!
They seemed perfectly normal in the video, so I guess you really have to scratch the surface to find the polemical desuetude beneath. The backlash is not entirely unexpected given the current rhetoric on the political right.
Posted by: anon (gmail.com) | Sep 12, 2007 2:55:48 PM
You can post comments on the Everyday America forum http://www.everydayamerica.com/boards/index.php?showtopic=11
Posted by: Gregg | Sep 12, 2007 3:06:06 PM
Wow, 19 comments so far and no words of wisdom from Stephen? He must be burning crosses somewhere today. Or sodomizing republican senators in an airport bathroom.
Posted by: crispy | Sep 12, 2007 3:38:38 PM
Stephen has probably married some sow, and is makin' bacon right now.
Posted by: Mike | Sep 12, 2007 4:22:24 PM
oink oink... I smell a redneck.
Posted by: Wes | Sep 12, 2007 4:28:51 PM
I think it's pretty elitist to judge this guy based on the fact that he's a pig farmer. He's savvy enough to have a political group and website, and he's getting press, so he's probably not a total redneck. Judging how small farmers are being put out of business every day, this guy is more likely a successful businessman than a small town rube rolling around in mud.
I'm just wary of writing off our enemies as stupid or silly, only to find them sneaking up and biting us in the ass (no pun intended).
Let's dismiss him as an ignorant fool because of his repugnant political stance, not because of what he does for a living.
Posted by: Gregg | Sep 12, 2007 4:36:47 PM
Maybe it's just me but this Pig Farmer sounds a little gay to me. Perhaps another self hating homo?
Posted by: Jake | Sep 12, 2007 5:29:15 PM
he's up to his nostrils in pig shit with this one. where's my rectal pig prod? i found me anutha porker!
Posted by: sean | Sep 12, 2007 6:50:17 PM