Daily Archives: May 12, 2009

Rick Karlin reports at the Times Union‘s Capitol Confidential blog: “The Assembly is about an hour into the same sex marriage debate and its expected to go on for a while . . . The bill is expected to pass and the focus will then turn to the Senate.”

Patrick Worsnip reports in the Washington Post: “The United States won election to the U.N. Human Rights Council for the first time on Tuesday, joining 17 other nations picked for the body, after the Obama administration ended a U.S. policy of boycotting it.”

Steve Chapman writing at Reason Magazine: “Federal law enforcement officials are not plagued by idleness these days, thanks to the demands on their time from terrorists, drug traffickers, human traffickers, Ponzi schemers, and crooked politicians. But Congress never stops trying to ensure full employment for FBI agents and U.S. attorneys. The latest stimulus is the Matthew Shepard Act, billed as an overdue effort to prevent violence against gays and lesbians.”

Kimball Perry reports in the Cincinnati Enquirer: “The family of a Sycamore High student who hanged herself after nude pictures she took on her cell phone were disseminated without her permission is suing the school, the city of Montgomery and several students they believe are involved.”

ADF attorney Kevin Theriot appeared on the Vicki McKenna show to discuss hate crime legislation.

The mp3 file is here and runs just over 15 minutes.

Ross Douthat writing in the New York Times: “Among their many aspirations for his presidency, Barack Obama’s admirers nurse a persistent hope that he might be able to end the culture wars. And by end, they generally mean win. The real hope is a final victory for cultural liberalism, and social conservatism’s permanent eclipse.”

Reuters: “A lesbian couple challenged the Russian legal system on Tuesday when they applied for a marriage license but it was swiftly rejected on the grounds that such a union must be between a woman and a man.”

LifeSite reports: “The Internal Revenue Service has found that pastors who gathered for a series of public policy conferences did so within their rights, and did not violate tax laws governing non-profit organizations, Liberty Legal Institute announced today.”

AFP: “A Cairo court issued a ruling on Tuesday calling on the Egyptian government to ban foreign pornographic websites, the lawyer filing the suit told AFP.”

Angus Reid: “The topic of same-sex marriage continues to split public opinion in the United States, according to a poll by Angus Reid Strategies. 36 per cent of respondents think same-sex couples should be allowed to legally marry.”

Jona Ison reports in the Chillicothe Gazette: “Traditionally, the school has had a reverend deliver an invocation and benediction at the ceremony, but the practice recently was challenged by senior Jacob Davis. Davis, who raised his concerns in a Letter to the Editor at the Chillicothe Gazette, had conducted a petition of classmates for a moment of silence instead, gathering about 44 signatures.”

AP: “Gibbs says the policy does not serve the national interest and that Obama is working with lawmakers for what Gibbs calls a ‘durable legislative solution.’”

Anglican Mainstream carries the interview:
“. . . Then in high school I got involved in a relationship with a young man a year older than me. It started off well, everything was great–and then he started to physically, mentally and sexually abuse me. I went downhill from that point, doing a lot of things that I regret, and now I spend my time sharing my testimony with others, in hopes that they won’t fall victim to the things that I did . . .

Q: So at this point you decided to check out lesbianism as an alternative to this abusive relationship with your boyfriend.

A: Yes, basically, that’s how it happened. I already had sexual feelings for the same sex, so I thought, why not act on them? . . . ”

Here is the current marriage crisis: contemporary societies still need marriage and family, but this need is no longer intuitively obvious to the individual or the community . . .

Palm Center Study: Obama Can Halt Gay Discharges with Executive Order
A study released today by a team of military law experts shows that the president has the legal authority to end gay discharges with a single order. The idea of ending the ban by executive order has gained momentum in the wake of news that mission-critical personnel, including Arabic language speaker Dan Choi, continue to be fired under the Obama administration because they’re gay. Congressman Rush Holt endorsed an executive order to end the ban on Saturday and National Security Adviser James Jones was asked about it by George Stephanopoulos on Sunday morning. The report, “How to End ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’: A Roadmap of Political, Legal, Regulatory, and Organizational Steps to Equal Treatment,” is sponsored by the Palm Center at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Navy Times: Obama still aims to repeal policy on gays

NY Times: “Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell wants desperately to persuade his colleagues to legalize gay marriage. Here is how he has pursued Republican Assemblyman Greg Ball’s vote . . . With the Legislature set to take up the bill to legalize same-sex marriage on Tuesday, Mr. O’Donnell, the gay older brother of the comedian Rosie O’Donnell, has emerged as a tenacious, ingratiating, playful and sometimes prickly leader of the effort to pass the legislation.”

LifeSiteNews: “The chief executive of a homosexual youth group and another homosexual ‘rights’ activist have been found guilty, along with six other men, of being part of a large pedophile ring uncovered in Scotland.”

LifeSiteNews: “The Spanish government announced yesterday that pharmacies will be required to sell the abortifacient ‘morning after pill,’ without a prescription and without an age limitation, throughout Spain.”

LifeNews: “The New Zealand Court of Appeal today dismissed the appeals of the Abortion Supervisory Committee and Right to Life, which are disputing a court ruling it is allowing abortions for unlawful reasons.”

AP: “Gov. Charlie Crist confirmed Tuesday he will run for U.S. Senate instead of re-election next year, a decision that gives Republicans their best shot at maintaining the seat Mel Martinez is leaving after one term.”

ennis Prager writes at Townhall:
“The issues that preoccupy most Europeans are overwhelmingly material ones: How many hours per week will I have to work? How much annual vacation time will I have? How many social benefits can I preserve (or increase)? How can my country avoid fighting against anyone or for anyone? Why has this happened? There are two reasons: secularism and socialism (aka the welfare state). Either one alone sucks much of the life out of society. Together they are likely to be lethal.”

“The BBC yesterday appointed a Muslim as its head of religious programming in a radical departure from broadcasting tradition.”

The Religion Clause Blog: “Yesterday the Oklahoma House of Representatives passed 61-28 and sent on to the state Senate House Concurrent Resolution 1033 (full text Word doc).”

AP: “Carrie Prejean appeared by Trump’s side as he made the announcement at New York’s Trump Tower.”

Jeffrey Young writes at the The Hill: “President Obama’s unusual move to forge an early but important alliance with powerful industry groups on Monday has significantly increased the chances that healthcare reform will pass this year.”

Politico: “It’s the same answer that the president of the United States gave,” Trump said. “She gave an honorable answer. She gave an answer from her heart.”

KFOR Oklahoma City reports: “Folks who live near N.W. 10th and Council are fighting to keep a new business from ever opening its doors. The building, which used to be the Lamplighter Club, has been closed for years. The new owners have applied to reopen the club without adult entertainment, but some folks who live nearby fear it could reopen as a strip club.”

WorldNetDaily: “‘Ed Meese worked harder and more successfully behind the scenes than any other person to make sure that the Reagan legacy of freedom has continued,’ Alan Sears, president of Alliance Defense Fund, told WND. ‘And even today as we debate who will sit as justices to decide the future of our children in areas related to religious freedom, sanctity of life, marriage, family and economic areas, judges that were put on the Court because of the freedom philosophy that Ed espoused are going to protect our children.’”

CNSNews: “The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAA), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will pay $2.6 million in U.S. tax dollars to train Chinese prostitutes to drink responsibly on the job.”

Christian Law Journal: “‘The First Amendment is our permit to engage in free speech on public property,’ said ADF Attorney Heather Gebelin Hacker. ‘It’s unbelievable that the National Park Service would deny freedom of speech at our national parks, especially at the foot of Mt. Rushmore, where four men who represent America’s freedoms are immortalized.’”

Kenneth Lovett and Glenn Blain report in the New York Daily News: “Same-sex marriage in New York is expected to inch closer to legalization Tuesday when the Assembly takes up the controversial measure . . . ‘Any time people have had the opportunity to vote, they voted to maintain the traditional definition of marriage,’ said Brian Raum, of the Alliance Defense Fund.”

John Fund writes at the Wall Street Journal: “State and city Democratic officials — who’ve been contending with its many scandals — are moving against it. Washington Democrats are still sweeping Acorn abuses under a rug. On Monday, Nevada officials charged Acorn, its regional director and its Las Vegas field director with submitting thousands of fraudulent voter registration forms last year. Larry Lomax, the registrar of voters in Las Vegas, says he believes 48% of Acorn’s forms ‘are clearly fraudulent.’”

Harry R. Jackson, Jr. writes at the Washington Post: “In a predominantly black city that has lived through the worst facets of discrimination, a strange brand of reverse bigotry is being perpetrated. Defenders of virtue and protectors of family and age-appropriate education of children are being called ‘bigots.’ This is ironic in a city that was built by slave labor and that has a bronze statue on top of the U.S. Capitol called ‘Freedom.’ Today the District of Columbia is less democratic, less free and less just because it sanctions same-sex marriage reciprocity.”

Herald Tribune: “Police say a Palmetto mother neglected to provide her child with needed dental care, which led to severe tooth decay. Tamika S. White, 19, was arrested Wednesday on a felony neglect charge.”

“Christians are not required to request permission from the government before exercising their First Amendment rights. We are pleased that Norfolk officials have agreed to respect the constitutional rights of Christians citizens . . . ”

Becket Fund: “This panel seeks to uncover what the implications of the U.N. resolutions on ‘defamation of religions’ are on U.S. policy and what it seeks to defend, specifically when the weapons of choice are language, law, and financial institutions

“Swedish health authorities have ruled that gender-based abortion is not illegal according to current law and can not therefore be stopped, according to a report by Sveriges Television.”

lliance Defense Fund Senior Legal Counsel Austin R. Nimocks will be available for media interviews Wednesday following his testimony before the Delaware Legislature arguing against the passage of H.B. 5. If enacted, the law would equate a range of sexual behaviors with legitimate protected classes such as age, race, and handicap, is a serious threat to fundamental liberty.

CitizenLink: “Then-District Attorney Phill Kline first charged Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri with 107 criminal counts — including 23 felonies — in October 2007. The charges include illegal late-term abortions, failure to determine viability for late-term abortions, failure to maintain records, and filing false information related to late-term abortions.”

Stephanie Simon reports in the Wall Street Journal: “Ten men from a polygamist ranch in west Texas will be in court this week for a crucial hearing ahead of their trials on criminal charges including bigamy and felony sexual abuse of girls allegedly pressed into marriage.”

CBN David Brody File: “Because of President Obama’s appearance and speech at Notre Dame this Sunday, some seniors will not attend their own graduation ceremony and instead join a University prayer service on the grounds at Notre Dame. No indication yet as to how many seniors will forgo the graduation ceremony.”

The May 2009 Verizon Wireless Newsletter is promoting parental control options for family telecommunications that include various blocking and filtering options.

Cardozo Law Review: “This article seeks to incite a change in the rules of marital property. If these substantive rules are not reversed entirely, family law scholars and lawmakers should, at a minimum, begin to focus calls for reform on modifying the rules to remove the perverse incentives to divorce that they carry.”

Journal of Medicine and Philosophy: “This paper is one of the first to explore how the disciplines of bioethics and international human rights law may interact in the UDBHR to advance the policy relevance and health impact of technology transfer and transnational benefit principles. It investigates their normative ancestry in the UDBHR, as well as relevant conceptual differences between bioethics and public international law in this respect and how these may be relevant to their conceptual evolution and application.”

West’s Education Law Reporter: “This paper analyzes Illinois’ moment of silence statute, recently overturned by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, in light of previous caselaw and state statutory language. First, this article provides a brief historical review of school-sponsored speech and Establishment Clause litigation. Section two addresses previous moment of silence cases, including the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Jaffree and subsequent Circuit court decisions. The paper concludes with an analysis of Illinois’ law in light of previous and current moment of silence litigation, and provides an overview of the recent District Court decision.”

West’s Education Law Reporter: “It has long been settled that states have the legal authority to require parents to have their children vaccinated before they can attend school in order to reduce or eliminate the risk of illness from the most common communicable diseases. Vaccinations are typically administered in a series to young children, with public health authorities suggesting that youngsters be inoculated before reaching the age of two in order to combat such diseases as diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus, measles-mumps-rubella, polio, hepatitis B, the flu, and the chicken pox. Yet, more than a century after the Supreme Court first upheld mandatory student vaccinations as a condition for attending K-12 schools, controversies continue to surface on this topic.”