Daily Archives: September 23, 2008

The Washington Blade reports: “Steven Spielberg and his wife, Kate Capshaw, are the latest celebrity donors to the fight against California’s November ballot initiative that would overturn the state Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage.”

Dallas schools will be safer for gay students, teachers and parents, says a new agreement between the Dallas Independent School District and Lambda Legal.

Broadcast television will have 16 gay and bisexual regular characters in prime-time series this fall, more than double the seven of a year ago, a new study has found.

The Coalition for a Secular Government has prepared this 19 page report titled: Amendment 48 is Anti-Life: Why It Matters That a Fertilized Egg Is Not a Person. Hat tip: How Appealing

ADF attorney Jonathan Scruggs appeared on WTBN with Bill Bunkley discussing the case involving a pastor who was denied his right to share the Gospel on a public sidewalk and told he had to get a permit. The mp3 file …

ADF Attorney Erik Stanley appeared on KSRO Talk Radio to discuss ADF’s Pulpit Initiative. The mp3 file runs just under four minutes.

ADF attorney Erik Stanley appeared on Talk from the Heart with Rich Buhler to discuss ADF’s Pulpit Initiative. The mp3 file runs just under 13 minutes.

Above the Law reports: “Coming into this week, Harvard Law School had placed 58 federal clerks, leading all law schools. That is not altogether surprising, given the Cretaceous size of HLS classes. . .  But look at how difficult it …

The August 2008 edition of the Community Defense Reporter is now available online via the Community Defense Counsel.

The AP reports: “Proposed bans on same-sex marriage are on the ballot in three important states this fall, rousing passions on both sides, yet neither John McCain nor Barack Obama seems eager to push the issue high on their campaign …

“The Yes on Prop. 8 campaign has raised $17.8 million, compared to its opponents’ $12.4 million.”

The NY Times reports: Could Senator Barack Obama’s popularity among black voters hurt gay couples in California who want to marry? That is the concern of opponents of Proposition 8, a measure on the November ballot that would amend the …

FRC has issued this press release: “Family Research Council, will host a women’s health book lecture with Michaelene Fredenberg, founder and creator of Abortion Changes You, and author of Changed: Making Sense of Your Own or a Loved One’s Abortion …

In front of a busy supermarket on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, a handful of protesters on Saturday stood up against Bolthouse Farms, a produce grower whose founder contributed $100,000 to get Proposition 8 — the initiative that would ban same-sex marriage in California — on the ballot.

The Hill reports: Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich said Tuesday that any lawmaker who votes for the Bush administration’s $700 billion bailout package, which he called a “dead loser,” will face defeat in November . . . “I …

FoxNews reports: “An 11-year-old in Aurora says his first amendment rights are being trampled after he was suspended for wearing a homemade shirt that reads ‘Obama is a terrorist’s best friend.’”

LifeNews.com reports: “A new report from the research group associated with Planned Parenthood expands on its previous report showing abortions at their lowest point since 1974. The new Alan Guttmacher Institute report finds abortions are more likely to be done …

LifeSiteNews.com reports: “Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart has warned that, in the event that a new bill passes the Victoria Parliament requiring that all medical personnel either perform abortions or give abortion referrals, all Catholic hospital maternity and emergency departments could …

Liberty Counsel has issued this press release that reports: The Kentucky Court of Appeals has strongly rebuked an activist lower family court for allowing a lesbian woman to illegally adopt her female companion’s child, in clear violation of both Kentucky …

Mollie Ziegler has this commentary in the Wall Street Journal. She writes: The reality is that the New Atheist campaign, by discouraging religion, won’t create a new group of intelligent, skeptical, enlightened beings. Far from it: It might actually encourage …

LifeNews.com reports: “The head of pro-life outreach for the nation’s Catholic bishops has sent a letter to members of Congress warning them about a bill that could be the most extreme measure on abortion ever introduced. The so-called Freedom of …

The AP reports: “Communist authorities in Hanoi have threatened to take legal action against the city’s archbishop unless he immediately disbands illegal prayer vigils to demand the return of former church lands, state media reported Monday.”

The Denver Post has this editorial that begins: Colorado voters should reject a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would define a fertilized human egg as a human being. Such a change would usher in a host of legal …

The AP reports: . . . As opening statements were under way at Ira Isaacs’ trial in June, the Los Angeles Times reported that Judge Alex Kozinski had posted sexually explicit materials on his personal Web site. He recused himself …

Reuters reports: As financial workers suffer through tumultuous times on Wall Street, some are turning to an old source of solace: religion . . . People are just sitting there, praying or crying and definitely exhausted. There has definitely been …

CBN reports: Currently, abortion in Ireland is illegal in most cases. But three Irish women who traveled out of the country to get abortions are hoping to overturn the law. The case could impact abortion laws throughout the entire European …

“The only wall that prevents religious expression is the ACLU’s, not Thomas Jefferson’s,” Cortman added. “Our government and courts have already spoken: Students have a constitutional right to peacefully participate in ‘See You at the Pole’ . . .

. . . 125,000 children (added to the existing 1.3 million abortions) . . . will be killed . . . every year after FOCA is passed. FOCA is indeed a staggering expansion of abortion, both in principle and in actual lives lost.

This paper was written for a conference on third wave feminism. Third wave feminism recognizes the importance of “raising the floor,” and this paper – from two second wave feminists – helps in developing an agenda for achieving that goal.

It suggests that the Court’s new reliance on examining the context of the public display of original symbols assumes an observer who ignores a reading of historical intent…

Thou Shalt Use the Equal Protection Clause for Religion Cases (Not Just the Establishment Clause) Susan Gellman and Susan Looper-Friedman, 10 U. Pa. J. Const. L. 665 (2008) (An excerpt is below. To view the full text, please use Westlaw, …

“The point is not whether pastors actually will speak on the issues of candidates and elections . . ., but whether the government has the right to tell them they cannot under threat of losing their tax-exempt status, which is not a gift but a right.”

Given where we are, at the demise of the marital regime and the potential rise of the biological one, it seems appropriate to ask some fundamental questions about why the law should care about biological parenthood.