2 posts tagged “halleluja”

By Zachary Gorchow and Ben Schmitt
Free Press Staff Writers
May 21, 2008

Gov. Jennifer Granholm responded quickly today to the Detroit City Council’s request that she remove Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick from office, by sending a letter to Kilpatrick and the council asking them to name their legal representatives.

In a one-page letter faxed and mailed to Kilpatrick and Council President Ken Cockrel Jr. — one day after the council submitted its request to her office — Granholm made the request that they name “counsel or a representative to speak for you in this matter.

“I ask that this designation be made quickly, as soon as today, if possible,” she said.

Granholm press secretary Liz Boyd said the governor’s office is simply beginning review of the council’s request.

“We are asking the respective parties to identify representatives we can work with so we can begin our review of that request,” she said.

In the letter, first reported at freep.com this afternoon, Granholm said she wanted each side to name legal representatives because the process is like a trial and she would be “functioning in a manner similar to that of a judicial officer.”  

The first step in the process is for Granholm and the Department of Attorney General to determine whether the council’s request meets proper protocols and asserts charges that on their face constitute official misconduct.

Granholm’s letter does not address whether those thresholds have been met. Rusty Hills, spokesman for Attorney General Mike Cox, declined to comment.

If the thresholds are met, the next step would be to schedule a hearing where Kilpatrick would have the opportunity to defend himself. The hearing would function like a trial with each side having the opportunity to present evidence and witnesses.

If the governor decides sufficient evidence was submitted showing Kilpatrick is guilty of official misconduct, she must remove him from office.

The statute governing the process provides no timetable for each step.

The council voted 5-4 last week to ask Granholm to remove Kilpatrick from office for his handling of an $8.4-million whistle-blower settlement with three former cops.

Kilpatrick did not tell the council about a secret deal he struck with the cops to settle the case in exchange for having their attorney, Mike Stefani, turn over text messages Stefani obtained showing that Kilpatrick and former chief of staff Christine Beatty lied under oath at the trial.

Kilpatrick and Beatty have been charged with perjury, obstruction of justice, misconduct in office and conspiracy. Beatty resigned Jan. 28.

The council has charged Kilpatrick with violating the city charter’s prohibition on the use of public office for private gain, failure to disclose the entire settlement agreement to it and the spending of public money while violating the charter.

Detroit attorney James Thomas, a member of Kilpatrick’s legal team, said this evening that he will disclose which attorneys will be handling the matter Thursday.

The council’s independent attorney, Bill Goodman, served Thomas with notice of the charges filed against Kilpatrick.

As for the governor’s demand for immediacy, Thomas said: “I think she’s going to consider what her options are and she’s going to make a decision. She can act or let the legal process work its way through. I’ve known her for years, and I’ve supported her and I think that she’ll do the right thing.”

Jim Parkman, another Kilpatrick lawyer, said Thomas would most likely handle the matter.

Parkman said he’s not concerned that Granholm asked for the information immediately.

“The only thing I know is that she just got out of surgery,” he said. “I guess she’s feeling better, and she wants to get going on it. I wouldn’t think it would be anything strange for her to ask for it right away.”

Granholm underwent surgery last month to repair a blocked intestine.

Goodman, who delivered the removal request to Granholm’s office, said Cockrel sent a letter to Granholm on today notifying her that Goodman would be his representative. Messages left with Cockrel this evening were not immediately returned.

Goodman said he was heartened by Granholm’s quick response.

“It certainly appears as though she’s serious about it,” he said.

Survey Of 35,000 Finds Religious Landscape Changing
February 25, 2008

The U.S. religious landscape is extremely fluid, with more people switching religious affiliation or breaking religious ties altogether, according to a new survey.

The survey released Monday by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life is based on interviews with more than 35,000 American adults.

Much of the study confirms that mainline Protestant churches are in decline, non-denominational churches are gaining and the ranks of the unaffiliated are growing.  

However, it also delves deeper into those trends.

The U.S. Religious Landscape Survey estimates that the United States is 78 percent Christian and about to lose its status as a majority Protestant nation, at 51 percent and slipping.

The survey found that about 44 percent of adults have either changed affiliation, moved from a nonaffiliation status to being affiliated with a particular faith, or cut all religious ties.

One in four adults ages 18 to 29 claim no affiliation with a religious institution, the survey found.

Twelve percent of the overall population is unaffiliated, and atheists or agnostics account for 4 percent of the total population, the survey said.

Of the nearly one in three Americans raised Catholic, fewer than one in four say they're Catholic today. That means about 10 percent of all Americans are former Catholics.

However, an influx of immigrant Catholics, mostly from Latin America, has kept the portion of the population that identifies as Catholic fairly stable in recent decades.

On the Protestant side, changes in affiliation are swelling the ranks of nondenominational churches, while Baptist and Methodist traditions are showing net losses.

Curious: no mention of neither the Church of Dagon nor the Church of Starry Wisdom.