Daily Archives: March 26, 2009

Alabama Policy Institute: “Gambling interests, under the innocent name the Sweet Home Alabama Coalition, have launched this massive TV, radio and direct mail ad campaign to confuse and mislead Alabamians into believing that legalizing casinos will not only end illegal gambling, it will be the answer to every financial problem in this state. Based on this logic, the Mexican drug cartels should launch a multi-million dollar ad campaign to eliminate illegal drugs by getting the Alabama State Legislature to legalize crack houses.”

Providence Journal: “The gunman accused of opening fire at the Sportsman’s Inn strip club and shooting three people has a lengthy criminal record with a well-documented propensity for violence.”

The Hill: “Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has introduced legislation that would ‘bar the dollar from being replace by any foreign currency.’”

Breitbart (AFP): “A UN panel of expert economists pressed Thursday for a new global currency reserve scheme to replace the volatile, dollar-based system and for coordinated steps by rich countries to stimulate their economies.”

Related post:

Geithner ‘open’ to Chinese proposal for new global currency

LifeNews reports: “A federal appeals court has issued a decision agreeing with a lower district court ruling upholding the right of Missouri residents to purchase Choose Life license plates for their vehicles. The proceeds from the sales of the plates will fund pregnancy centers that help women avoid abortions.”

AP: “The Alliance Defense Fund sued in June 2006 on behalf of Choose Life of Missouri and the group’s president. The suit alleged lawmakers violated free speech, due process and equal protection rights by rejecting Choose Life’s application for the specialty plate, while approving other proposals.”

ADF attorneys win victory in decision that upholds ruling against state’s unconstitutional license plate approval process

CBC reports: “Doctors in the U.S. are reporting an increased demand for abortions or vasectomies during the recession.”

Austin American-Statesman:
“In January, the board voted to move away from that language but approved standards requiring students to study the “sufficiency or insufficiency” of evolutionary theory. The board also approved other changes that qualify statements about evolution and the Earth’s creation.

Some board members have said they want the standards to require a more critical approach to the teaching of evolution, saying that the theory that species evolved from a common ancestry lacks the empirical data required to be taught without discussion of any insufficiencies.

“The board’s decision is very simple: Are you for science or censorship? Are you for scientific progress or a ban on critical discussion?” said Jonathan Saenz, director of legislative affairs at Free Market Foundation, a Plano-based conservative lobbying group.”

But today the abortion movement is getting governments to compel killing of the preborn rather than to prevent it or allow it, and to pursue their compulsion while accepting federal funds. Pro-abortion legal theory has no limit on its willingness to force abortion participation in order to guarantee “access.” (For that matter, pro-abortion views also lead to a woman’s “duty to abort.” This duty will start with disabled babies, multiple pregnancies, and will progress to teenage pregnancy “vaccinations” and beyond)

The Desert Sun: “Among likely voters, 45 percent favor same-sex marriage and 49 percent are opposed, according to a poll conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California.”

Public Policy Institute of California press release: Special Election Ballot Propositions Face Tough Road

Boston Globe (AP): “Organizations that provide abortion advice and referrals could run TV and radio ads in Britain for the first time under proposed changes to the nation’s advertising codes . . . Groups that offer pregnancy-related services but don’t discuss abortion would also be allowed to advertise — but they would have to spell out that the advice they provide excludes abortion-related information, to avoid confusion.”

Baptist Press: “Despite recent media reports that young adults are running from churches in droves, the beliefs of many younger unchurched people are more connected to historic Christian beliefs than many suspected.”

The Joplin Globe: “Local opponents of sexually oriented businesses said Wednesday that an appellate-court decision upholding county regulation of such operations should remove any obstacles for new rules by Jasper County and the state . . . ”

AP: “The Hawaii Senate rejected an effort Wednesday to force a vote on same-sex civil unions, essentially killing the measure, even though a majority had indicated it supports the unions.”

David Ingram writes at the Legal Times:
“The Senate Judiciary Committee this morning endorsed three of President Barack Obama’s nominees for top positions at the Justice Department, and senators signaled they’re moving closer to agreement on expansive changes to the nation’s patent system.”

“The bill, which passed the House 186-179, next goes to the Senate, where its future is uncertain. Democratic Gov. John Lynch opposes gay marriage but has not said specifically that he would veto it . . . ”

“Human rights protect people, not ideas,” said L. Bennett Graham, Becket Fund representative to the UN presently in Geneva. “The passage of this resolution by the Human Rights Council is a disaster for people of all faiths.”

Deal W. Hudson writes at LifeSiteNews: “If you think the pro-life movement has run out of energy and new ideas, you should meet Lila Rose. You may not know her name, but you very likely have seen the media coverage of her various sting operations at Planned Parenthood clinics around the country.”

Bishop Thomas Olmsted of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix has sent this email/letter to the President of Notre Dame.

“Christian student groups shouldn’t be discriminated against for their beliefs,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel David Cortman. “The First Amendment and federal law prohibit such actions on the basis of religion, and this has been established by decades of court precedent.”

LifeNews: “Attorneys for late-term abortion practitioner George Tiller finished questioning witnesses on Thursday as both sides prepare to present their closing arguments tomorrow. The case involves 19 charges against Tiller for allegedly violating the state’s laws regulating law-term abortions.”

One News Now: “A self-proclaimed bisexual male teacher in New York has invited his seventh-grade students and their parents to witness his commitment ceremony to another man.”

Reuters:
“Some 200 secular, religious and media groups from around the world on Wednesday urged the United Nations Human Rights Council to reject a call from Islamic countries for a global fight against ‘defamation of religion.’ . . . Such a resolution, the statement said, ‘may be used in certain countries to silence and intimidate human rights activists, religious dissenters and other independent voices,’ and to restrict freedom of religion and of speech . . .”

Alliance Defense Fund attorneys sent a letter to FEMA officials on behalf of the church Wednesday.

The ACLU of Pennsylvania has issued this press release and link to the complaint in connection with its suit against the Wyoming County DA. It begins:
“The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania filed a lawsuit today against the Wyoming County district attorney for threatening three high school girls with child pornography charges over digital photos in which they appear topless or in their underwear. The district attorney has demanded that in order to avoid the charges, the girls be placed on probation, participate in a five-week re-education program and be subject to random drug testing. The photos were among several discovered by Tunkhannock School District officials on students’ cell phones.”
Miller v. Skumanick

Related ADF Alliance Alert posts

FoxNews:
“There are roughly 80 portraits hanging in the halls and offices of the Justice Department — one for every attorney general dating back to George Washington’s administration.

Upon taking office, Holder was able to pick any four to hang in his conference room, which hosts administration officials, foreign dignitaries and anyone else who has business with the nation’s top cop. Holder chose portraits of these past attorneys general: Robert Jackson, Elliot Richardson, Robert F. Kennedy and Edward Levi.”

Regarding the recent 9th Circuit ruling in Christian Legal Society v. Kane, Rob Boston writing at Americans United for Separation of Church and State concludes: “This should be a lesson to the Religious Right about the dangers of unintended consequences, as well as a reminder – as if another one were needed – that access to public funds brings imposition of significant regulations too. ” Boston mentions ADF and quotes ADF attorney Jeremy Tedesco. Related: David French: Ninth Circuit ruling on Christian student groups lacks common-sense and is legally “out of step”;
9th Circuit: Law school can discriminate against religious club that refuses to allow open voting membership

Religion Clause Blog: “In Hermandad Y Asociados, Inc. v Movimiento Misionero Mundial, Inc., (NY Sup. Ct., March 6, 2009), a New York state trial court interpreted Sec. 12 of the New York Religious Corporations Law. The section requires court approval for the sale, mortgage or long-term lease of church property.”

NY Times:
“Today, SurroGenesis’ main office, in Modesto, Calif., is closed. So is an escrow company, Michael Charles Independent Financial Holding Group, that was supposed to be safeguarding the clients’ money. It turns out that many of the SurroGenesis locations were post office boxes . . .

On the heels of the birth in January of octuplets, conceived by in vitro fertilization, to a California woman, the case highlights the lack of oversight in the business of creating babies. There is no licensing requirement for egg donor and surrogate brokers . . .”

WDTV.com:
“The Family Policy Council of West Virginia is pushing for a popular vote to define marriage in West Virginia. Wednesday officials with that organization held a meeting to encourage discussion and support. Jeremiah Dys is part of the Family Policy Council, he contends that as the laws read now, judges could potentially rule that marriage is something other than a union of a man and woman. He is leading a campaign to encourage state lawmakers to bring the issue up for popular vote.”

NJ Star-Ledger:
“The state’s public education system covers up failure, deprives students of a quality education and fosters a false sense of high achievement, the head of New Jersey’s Black Ministers Council said yesterday.

‘New Jersey spends more on education than any other state in the nation and we are getting so little in return for the money we are spending,’ said the Rev. Reginald Jackson, executive director of the council, at a statehouse news conference. ‘We’ve come today to pull the covers off this coverup.’”

Reuters: “Tajikistan, a Muslim nation bordering Afghanistan, introduced a new religion law on Thursday which the United States has criticised as highly restrictive. The law empowers the government to impose stricter control of religious groups in the former Soviet republic which tolerates only the state-approved version of Islam.”

SSRN: “There can be little doubt that the institutional press is an interest group to be reckoned with in the Supreme Court, its aversion to such a designation notwithstanding. Over the past century, and especially since 1964, the press has secured for itself the greatest legal protection available anywhere in the world. While some of that protection has come from Congress, by far the greatest share has come from the Supreme Court’s expansive interpretation of the First Amendment’s Press Clause.”

Boston Globe (AP): “The House is expected to vote today whether to make New Hampshire the third state allowing gays to marry.”

The Enquirer-Journal (password required): “The county hired, at no cost, a conservative organization called the Alliance Defense Fund, to defend against the lawsuit after being contacted by the fund. …”

Staten Island Advance: “Gay marriage has not been legalized in New York, and the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative legal organization, has challenged Paterson’s move to extend spousal rights to gay couples wed elsewhere. The Scottsdale, Ariz.-based alliance says only the Legislature, not the governor, has authority to recognize out-of-state gay marriages.”

WorldNetDaily: A lawyer spearheading the effort in Washington state to bring light to the issue of Barack Obama’s eligibility to be president says he was shadowed all day today by officers with the federal Department of Homeland Security, the Snohomish County sheriff’s office and the Everitt city police department . . . Pidgeon told WND today he contacted his personal defense attorney, and also was in contact with the Alliance Defense Fund, a national organization advocating for civil liberties and religious and personal freedoms.”

Robert Spencer writing at Front Page Magazine: Front Page Magazine: “An unlikely alliance of the American Civil Liberties Union and the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian lawyers’ group that usually fiercely opposes the ACLU, along with several other groups, is contesting a proposed Bureau of Prisons rule that prohibits “materials that could incite, promote, or otherwise suggest the commission of violence or criminal activity” from being placed in prison chapel libraries.” Also at Jihad Watch.

OneNewsNow: “Another court challenge against a privately-owned post office in Manchester, Connecticut, has been heard . . . ADF attorney Jeff Shafer explains the situation. “This business had been humming along nicely. There were some plaintiffs, however, who filed a lawsuit against the Postal Service because there was religious speech to be found on the church’s contract postal unit property — not surprisingly so,” he notes.”

A Living Commentary: “I’ve been working this month at Exodus in preparation for the Day of Truth on April 20th. For those who may not know about this event, it was established by the Alliance Defense Fund in order to counter the homosexual agenda in schools and present an alternative viewpoint from a Christian perspective.”

The Underground Conservative: “The Alliance Defense Fund via Stop The ACLU tells us that disabled children will not be allowed to attend private schools through a special voucher program.”

Stop the ACLU: “One person’s agenda shouldn’t diminish the sacrifices made by America’s veterans and their families,” said ADF Senior Counsel Joe Infranco. “The ACLU claims to be ‘the foremost defender of the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights.’ Most Americans know, however, that title really belongs to the veterans whose memorial the ACLU is attacking.”

From a European Union press release: “The European Commission has today adopted two proposals for new rules to step up the fight against trafficking in human beings and child sexual abuse, sexual exploitation and child pornography. These new proposals replace existing legislation which has been in place since respectively 2002 and 2004. The new proposals will guarantee full alignment with the highest European standards, provide better assistance for victims and tougher action against criminals responsible for child sexual abuse and trafficking. The proposals also deal with the rapidly changing technologies in the cyberspace.”

The Columbia Spectator reports: “This campaign is meant to remedy the lack of acknowledgment of the LGBTQ population in the Housing office, and to change the institutionalized heteronormative assumption that all Barnard students are straight and therefore should live with women because that isn’t who they are attracted to,” Batta explained.

Daily Mail:
“And while the financial crisis continued to deepen across the globe, the 78-year-old still managed to make $1.1 billion last year. ‘It is, in a way, the culminating point of my life’s work,’ he told national newspaper The Australian. Soros is one of 25, top hedge fund managers from across Wall Street who have defied the credit crunch crisis to reap a total of $11.6billion (£7.9bn) last year.”