Daily Archives: January 23, 2009

The Scientific American: The Texas Board of Education has tentatively adopted new teaching standards that would make it more difficult to teach creationism in Lone Star state schools. Board members voted eight-to-seven last night to drop controversial language in the …

Leonard Link: “This one from last November 4 (2008) flew under the radar until it surfaced later in January on the blog of a tax law professor.  It is not totally clear from the facts whether this Tax Court decision …

“We remember the over 53 million beautiful, innocent unborn children who have been legally exterminated in our land . . By Your grace, guide us to transform this culture of death into a culture of life and a civilization of love.”

MSNBC reports on one woman’s story and: “. . . Special agents from the FBI said they are aware of human trafficking and that its a real issue in metro Detroit . . . “

GayPolitics.com carries this statement by Chuck Wolfe, President and CEO of the Victory Fund: . . . For more than a year we have coordinated the LGBT community’s Presidential Appointments Project.  At the helm of the Project, Mark Perriello spent …

The Foundation for Moral Law has issued this press release on the Christian Newswire that begins: Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore and the Foundation for Moral Law, a religious-liberties legal organization in Montgomery, Alabama, filed a legal brief defending …

The Post-Crescent: Broussard, previously known as Slade Michael Broussard, said she was twice denied entrance to Park Central, 318 W. College Ave., because of her race and her transgender status . . . A club manager told The Post-Crescent this …

FRC reports: “In as little words as possible, the Mexico City policy halts U.S. family planning funds from going to foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that perform abortions or ‘actively promote’ abortion as a method of family planning in other countries.”

The Blog of the Family Policy Council of West Virginia has this post that links to the ADF Alliance Alert reports: . . . we will continue to face in ever growing numbers is an entire generation of kids being …

CNSNews: There’s a growing demand in West Virginia for sheep and goats from Muslim residents tired of traveling hundreds of miles for meats prepared in accordance with their faith’s dietary requirements . . . But there are pockets of the …

The Huffington Post: “The American Civil Liberties Union, impacted by the unfolding economic crisis, laid off ten percent of its national workforce this week. Thirty-six staffers lost their jobs, including five in the Washington, D.C. legislative office, a source familiar …

By Matt Bowman, Esq. Today, major news outlets are reporting that newly-sworn-in President Barack Obama is set to issue an executive order to give federal funds international groups that advocate or perform abortion. If the executive order occurs as reported, …

The Christian Defense Coalition has issued this press release on the Christian Newswire: “A prayer vigil and memorial is to be lead by well known civil rights activist Alveda King, niece of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  The Vigil will …

WBOC-TV carried this report last week discussing Delaware’s new Senator: “Ted Kaufman, a Delaware Democrat who for decades has been a political adviser to Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., was sworn in Friday to fill the Senate seat Biden relinquished to …

Jonathan Adler writes on the National Review Bench Memos Blog: “As reported on BLT, three Democratic Senators will be joining the committee, Senators Ted Kaufman (DE), Amy Klobuchar (MN), and Ron Wyden (OR) . . .”

Mail Smith writes on the Americans United for Life Blog: Today the biotech company Geron will make an unprecedented announcement: the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has agreed to allow the company to conduct human trials utilizing human embryonic …

MSNBC: Police say prostitution has become a constant problem along Indiana highways. They say businesses along I-65 are attracting more than semi traffic, and that they’ve become a hotbed for prostitutes cruising for customers . . . But Tuesday, a …

ACLJ: The European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ) said today it was very pleased by an unanimous decision by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruling that Bulgaria violated the religious freedom of the Holy Synod of the …

Now comes the latest revelation about the congressional Democrats’ “stimulus” plan: it includes taxpayer funding for contraceptives and the abortion industry . . .

ALLIANCE DEFENSE FUND NEWS RELEASE January 23, 2009 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT ADF MEDIA RELATIONS: (480) 444-0020 or www.telladf.org/pressroom ADF attorney to debate same-sex ‘marriage,’ religious freedom at Georgetown Jordan Lorence will participate in panel discussion with Chai Feldblum, …

DayofTruth.org: The Alliance Defense Fund is transitioning its leadership of the Day of Truth initiative to Exodus International. Day of Truth was launched four years ago in response to GLSEN’s (Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network) “Day of Silence” national …

What’s Left of the Constitution? January 23, 2009 Watch the video at www.telladf.org/left “What’s Left of the Constitution?” is a periodic news digest featuring Alliance Defense Fund legal analysis of proposals, policies, and trends advanced by the federal government. On …

AP: “A full federal appeals court won’t hear a lawsuit by three Tennessee students threatened with suspension if they wore Confederate flag T-shirts . . . “

Amanda Shaw writes on First Things:  “. . . It goes without saying that there is no reasoned discussion of the ethical objections to the destruction of human embryos—all of which is now cast aside with a gasp of relief. …

TimesOnline: . . . The evidence of Down’s syndrome suggests that very high numbers of mothers-to-be opt for an abortion if pre-natal tests show that their child has the condition. In America it is as a high as 90 per …

BBC: A fresh attempt is to be made to reform a 308-year-old law which bars the monarch from marrying a Catholic. Liberal Democrat MP Evan Harris will present a bill to parliament in a bid to change the Act of …

Catholic Culture: “An 18-year-old has been charged with a hate crime in connection with a break-in at a Wisconsin parish this weekend . . . the teen is accused of scratching a pentagram onto a wooden table in the church.”

Karin Agness writes on Townhall: “The Obama Campaign dominated college campuses this fall . . . But the youth vote is not a lost cause for conservatives. Ronald Reagan won it in 1984 and a conservative candidate can win it …

Reuters: U.S. President Barack Obama lifted restrictions on Friday on U.S. government funding for clinics or groups which provide abortion services or counseling for the procedure overseas. The restrictions have been dubbed the “Global Gag Rule” by critics. Q: WHAT …

A Moore man will serve a term of 17 years in prison, following his sentencing Thursday on charges of rape by instrumentation, lewd acts with a child and 12 counts of downloading child pornography from the Internet.

A photographer has been arrested in Winchester on child pornography and drug charges after a meeting with undercover investigators.

Prime Minister Sócrates gained loud applause on Sunday on telling some 300 party members that he would propose the Socialists back gay civil marriage at the party congress next month.

One of the sticking points of the current ordinance is the amount charged for application and employee fees. A $5,000 toll is required for every performer at a live adult entertainment venue — such as a strip club — in the city.

“Sadly, Bundy was right,” Dr. Dobson said. “Pornography has been found in the possession of almost every killer where sex was the motivation.”

In a watershed moment for one of the most contentious areas of science and American politics, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared the way for the first-ever human trial of a medical treatment derived from embryonic stem cells.

Does science support our laws against incest and cousin marriage? If so, does it also support other laws that would restrict sexual or procreative freedom in the name of genetic health?

The Washington Times: “. . . A Washington Times review of lobbying disclosure reports found that 18 of the top 20 recipients of federal bailout money spent a combined $12.2 million lobbying the White House, the Treasury Department, Congress and …

Robert P. George writes on Public Discourse: “President Bush created a council that represented the range of viewpoints held by reasonable and responsible Americans on the most urgent and divisive bioethics questions facing the country. Will President Obama do the …

The Tribune-Democrat reports: “A member of the ultraconservative Swartzentruver Amish sect was held in contempt of court today by Judge Norman Krumencker for failing to bring school outhouses into compliance with municipal sewage laws . . . ”

Pacific Justice Institute: “In recent court filings opposing Prop. 8, more than fifty unions claim to speak for their combined two million members in support of gay marriage. Attorneys for Pacific Justice Institute, who regularly counsel employees frustrated by far-left …

. . . the 4th Circuit may be the best game in town. With the new numbers in the Senate, the temptation is there to go for an ideological makeover. Yet the tempting course would prove a misguided one . . .

WorldNetDaily: Planned Parenthood: Force doctors to do abortions Experts for the Alliance Defense Fund and Christian Legal Society are gearing up to defend three laws that allow medical professionals to follow their conscience and not participate in abortions. “Medical professionals …

Green Bay Press Gazette: Nearly one-quarter of Wisconsin lawmakers asked the University of Wisconsin Hospital today to back off a plan to provide late-term abortions at a private clinic . . . To create a situation in which the university …

Among other things, the court ruled that the Biologist failed to comply with the statute of limitations in his Title VII claim against the Institute.  The ruling: Abraham v. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, No. 08-1655 (1st Cir. Jan. 22, 2009)

AP: ” A three-judge panel has refused Democrat Al Franken’s request to block a lawsuit over the Minnesota Senate recount outcome.”

The NY Post: “Gov. Paterson, defying the liberal wing of his Democratic Party, has chosen little-known, NRA-backed, upstate Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand to succeed Hillary Rodham Clinton as New York’s junior senator, it was learned last night . . . ” …

Bloomberg: The U.S. government’s decision to pledge billions of additional dollars with strings attached to Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. may be nationalization by another name, according to former bankers and regulators . . . “When the Treasury …

“It will be today. He’s going to make an executive order (lifting the global gag rule),” the official said . . .

Buckles, Johnny Rex, Do Law Schools Forfeit Federal Income Tax Exemption When They Deny Military Recruiters Full Access to Career Services Programs? The Hypothetical Case of Yale University v. Commissioner (January 14, 2009). Arizona State Law Journal, 2009; U of …

Polygamy is a hotly contested practice and open to widespread misunderstandings. This practice is defined as a relationship between either one husband and multiple wives or one wife and multiple husbands. Today, ‘polygamy’ almost exclusively takes the form of one husband with multiple wives. In this article, my focus will centre on limited defences of polygamy offered recently by Chesire Calhoun and Martha Nussbaum. I will argue that these defences are unconvincing. The problem with polygamy is primarily that it is a structurally inegalitarian practice in both theory and fact. Polygamy should be opposed for this reason.

The goal of this paper is to demonstrate that possession of child pornography is not a victimless crime. It will illustrate the problem and explain the harm suffered by its victims. It will then trace factors that may have contributed to the perception that possession of child pornography is a victimless offense. The first factor is the dual nature of the child pornography laws that addresses both actual and future harm. When this duality is applied to possessors, their link to actual harm appears attenuated because the possessor is not involved in the acts of sexual abuse inherent in producing the images. The second factor is that a number of scholars have criticized generally possession offenses as a tool for preemptive prosecutions, but they have not exempted child pornography from their condemnation. Finally, technology itself is a cause. The growth of the Internet and the ability to find images from the comfort of one’s home further weakens the connection between the victim and the viewer; this distance is exacerbated by a general sense that nothing is real in cyberspace.