Giuliani's Ten Commandments of New York
At the end of his 2/10/2000 City Hall press conference Mayor Rudolph Giuliani introduced a slide showing two stone tablets inscribed with Roman Numerals 1-10. Media reports made it appear as if the Mayor had proposed putting the original Ten Commandments in New York City's public schools, an act which would clearly violate the First Amendment's separation of church and state. Fortunately, it was all a misunderstanding. Giuliani didn't mean the original Ten Commandments of Moses. but his own, Ten Commandments of New York. Here are each of the Mayor's Commandments with the date on which he first uttered them.
1. "Freedom is about authority." Mayor Giuliani, NY Times 3/17/94
2. "You don't have a right not to be identified". Giuliani-N.Y. Times 12/17/98 "Giuliani Backs DNA Testing of Newborns for Identification"
3. "An exhibition of paintings is not as communicative as speech, literature or live entertainment, and the artists' constitutional interest is thus minimal."
- Giuliani appeal brief's argument against street artists having First Amendment rights, Giuliani v Lederman et al and Giuliani v Bery et al, filed with the U.S. Supreme Court 2/24/97.
4. "Civilization has been about trying to find the right place to put excrement." Giuliani quoted in NY Times, 10/13/99 Civilization, Sanitation and the Mayor
5. "The whole school system should be blown up, and a new one put in its place. I feel like a prophet today." Giuliani-Daily News 4/23/99 "Rudy Unveils 35B Budget Plans school vouchers, tax cuts & more cops"
6. "When they make the decision to shoot they have to shoot to kill". Mayor Giuliani on NYPD policy CBS News 9/2/99
7. "When people ask me about my private life, I don't tell them about it. It's none of their business". Giuliani -NY Times 8/29/99, "Unusual Scrutiny for a Senate Race: This Time It's Personal"
8. "Let's say somebody is acquitted, and it's one of those acquittals in which the person was guilty, but there is just not quite enough evidence beyond a reasonable doubt," the Mayor said. "That might be a situation in which the car would still be forfeited." - Giuliani, NY Times 2/23/99 "Police Seize Three Cars in Crackdown"
9. "Streets do not exist in civilized cities for the purpose of people sleeping there. Bedrooms are for sleeping." Giuliani -Daily News 11/20/99 Enough, Rudy Says Vows he'll rid streets of sleeping homeless people
10. "The comparisons to Adolf Hitler and fascism have to stop". -Giuliani. NY Times 3/28/99
[Giuliani: I support Ten Commandments in schools NEW YORK (AP) - Mayor Rudolph Giuliani says public schools should be free to post the Ten Commandments in classrooms - even though it's illegal. "If teachers want to put up the Ten Commandments, they should be allowed to do that," Giuliani said during a City Hall press conference Wednesday." -Associated Press 2/10/2000] . Robert Lederman, President of A.R.T.I.S.T. (Artists' Response To Illegal State Tactics) ARTISTpres at aol.com (718) 743-3722 http://www.openair.org/alerts/artist/nyc.html
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