Daily Archives: May 13, 2009

Mark Bowes reports in the Richmond Times-Dispatch: “But Commonwealth’s Attorney Wade Kizer said he still hasn’t decided how Henrico authorities should handle such ‘sexting’ incidents, which aren’t really covered by law. His office and county police are still reviewing several cases involving students at Moody Middle School.”

CitizenLink: “As gay activists take aim at marriage across the country, other groups are raising their voices in the battle to redefine marriage. Polyamorists claim there’s no reason to confine a marriage to two people and are calling for ‘equal marriage rights.’”

Chelsea Schilling reports at WorldNetDaily: “The White House has scrubbed President Obama’s central pledge to the homosexual community from its website – his promise to quash the federal Defense of Marriage Act.”

Todd A. Heywood reports in the Michigan Messenger: “Introduced late last month, the legislation, HB 4835 and HB 4836, would add sentencing guidelines for violations of the state’s bias crimes act. That bill would make it illegal to target a person because of their real or perceived involvement in any of a variety of protected classes, such as sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, veteran’s status, race or religion.”

Seanna Adcox reports in the Charlotte Observer: “The Senate Judiciary Committee approved legislation that would revise the state’s 207-year-old gambling laws, which ban ‘any game with cards or dice.’ Interpreted literally, those include board games such as Sorry.”

LifeNews: “North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven has signed a couple of pro-life bills into law, including one that would allow mothers to see an ultrasound of their unborn child prior to an abortion. The other measure requires the lone abortion center in the state to tell women considering an abortion that it will destroy the life of an unborn child, a unique human being.”

Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed suit in federal court Wednesday against a radical anarchist group that openly advocates the use of riots and crime to further its views in favor of homosexual behavior.

LA Times: A Gallup poll finds that 64% say it ‘doesn’t matter’ to them if the president appoints a woman and that 68% and 74% do not care whether a Hispanic or black person, respectively, is named.

Julie Hilden writes at Findlaw:
There is no shortcut here: Legislators need to write new laws – and/or schools must write new policies — regarding sexting that are specifically geared toward the peculiarities of the practice as it exists among teenagers today. “Sexting” should not become a trap for the unwary; it should be addressed in a rational, consistent way, and in a way that eschews old categories to recognize its unique nature. Teens should also have clear prior notice of what they cannot do, and of what will happen to them if they break the rules.

The Religion Clause Blog: “The Santa Barbara Independent last week carried a long investigative article chronicling an attempt to create a Good News Club program at Cold Spring Elementary School in Santa Barbara, California.”

This liberal attempt to intimidate pastors has backfired,” said Kelly Shackelford, chief counsel of Liberty Legal Institute which represented event organizers. “There is now a clear IRS statement outlining these pastors’ events and approving them as valid under the law.” . . .

Bill Barrow reports in the Times-Picayune: “The 77-18 vote on House Bill 60 comes amid the state’s appeal of a December ruling from U.S. District Judge Jay Zainey, who sided with two California men seeking a revised birth certificate listing both of them as the fathers of the Shreveport-born toddler they adopted in a New York court in 2006. That case now awaits action by the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.”

AP: “The man who shot Pope John Paul II says he would like to convert to Christianity at a baptism ceremony at the Vatican soon after his release from prison in January, his lawyer said Wednesday.”

AZ Republic: “A religious leader went before a judge Tuesday morning to face criminal charges regarding his church bells.”

Wall Street Journal: “Republicans blocked Mr. Hayes mainly to protest the Interior Department’s decision earlier this year to cancel 77 leases to drill for oil and gas in wilderness areas of Utah.”

Ed News: “A three-year battle over whether Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps belongs in San Francisco schools ended Tuesday night with a 4-3 vote by the school board to restore the military leadership program weeks before its scheduled expiration.”

KEY PROVISIONS OF BILL: The bill requires that anyone sitting on State Supreme Court, courts of civil or criminal appeals be a licensed lawyer for at least 10 years. Circuit court judges will now need five years law license and District court three years law license. The legislation takes effect during the 2010 Alabama election cycle. Current incumbent judges will be exempted.

“In the hours leading up to the Assembly vote, lobbyists for New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms and the Alliance Defense Fund, an Arizona-based group that has sued the state for recognizing same-sex marriages performed elsewhere, were holding meetings with lawmakers.”

CBS2Chicago.com: “Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan says Craigslist is getting rid of its ‘erotic services’ ads and will create a new adult category that Web site employees will review.”

Daily Mail: “Chemicals in food, cosmetics and cleaning products are ‘feminising’ unborn boys and raising their risk of cancer and infertility later in life, an expert warns today.”

Seattle Times: “The new law gives newspaper printers and publishers a 40 percent cut in the state’s main business tax.”

OneNewsNow: “‘Back in 2004, the Ohio voters enacted a state marriage amendment which prohibited any local political subdivisions from creating or recognizing a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals that intends to approximate the relationship of marriage,’ [Jim Campbell] explains.”

CitizenLink: “‘Christians are not required to request permission from the government before exercising their First Amendment rights,’ said Nate Kellum, senior counsel for ADF. ‘We are pleased that Norfolk officials have agreed to respect the constitutional rights of Christians citizens, and that they can now express their faith freely and without fear of harassment or arrest.’”

SSRN: “This Article critiques the woman-protective anti-abortion argument from the perspective of healthcare law. It compares women’s healthcare decision-making under abortion law to patient decision-making under more general law. This Article is the first to demonstrate that the woman-protective argument against abortion is an anomaly in the law’s treatment of patient healthcare decision-making. It argues that the denial of pregnant women’s decision-making capacity in abortion law unjustifiably diverges from the law’s respect for patient decision-making capacity in both the tort law doctrine of informed consent and in constitutional law cases governing medical decision-making.”

SSRN: “In this paper, I explore how the deduction for extraordinary medical expenses, codified in I.R.C. section 213, furthers domination in American society . . . I explain how section 213 furthers the hegemony of the so-called traditional family and concomitantly contributes to the subordination of lesbian and gay families as well as many other nontraditional American families.”

New York Law Journal: “One of the more interesting and significant questions that has recently arisen in the courts and legislatures across the country is whether same-sex couples can be legally married and thus entitled to those benefits presently available to opposite-sex couples.”