Daily Archives: July 8, 2009

Lawrence J. Korb, Sean E. Duggan and Laura Conley write at the Christian Science Monitor: “The policy that keeps gays from serving openly undermines military readiness and does not make sense practically, financially, or morally. So what is holding the administration back?”

Pennsylvania Family Institute: “Community members can play a huge part in the zoning ordinance and/or licenses of sexually oriented businesses . . . ”

LifeNews: “Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal signed a bill Tuesday that gives pro-life doctors and other medical professionals more conscience protections on abortion under state law.”

Des Moines Register: “Public school students in Spencer will get to study the Bible and pray at graduation if school district leaders approve a proposed ‘religious liberties’ policy, the first of its kind in Iowa.”

LifeSiteNews: “According to the Alliance Defense Fund, a legal advocacy group representing the interests of D.C. marriage advocates, the HRA should remain no obstacle to putting such an initiative on the ballot. ‘While the Superior Court’s decision on the referendum disenfranchised the voters of D.C. with respect to the law that just went into effect, the decision specifically left open the possibility of the voters of D.C. filing a marriage initiative,’ stated ADF attorney, Tim Tracey. Tracey told LifeSiteNews.com, ‘ADF will continue to defend the right of D.C. residents to vote on this crucial public policy issue because their elected representatives and the D.C. courts have thus far refused to do so.’”

“Roughly a fourth of American women getting early abortions last year did so with drugs rather than surgery, statistics show, as a new study reported improved safety in using the so-called ‘abortion pill.’”

Dave Andrusko writes in National Right to Life News & Views: “As Congress races toward the finish line in its massive effort to “reform” our nation’s health system (accounting for a sixth of the entire economy), pro-abortionists are racing to embed abortion in any new system. As we discussed yesterday, the pro-abortion Democratic congressional leadership is stealthier about its plans than outside advocacy groups. But either way–blunt or cautious–the objective is the same: weave the destruction of unborn children into the very fabric of how health care is financed and delivered.”

LifeSiteNews: “The Population Research Institute (PRI) is turning up the heat on the Obama administration for handing $50 million to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) with news of yet another investigation confirming the UN group’s complicity in China’s coercive birth control policies

LifeSiteNews: “The Brazilian Supreme Court and a lower appeals court have nullified two sentences against child sex abusers in recent months on the grounds that their behavior did not constitute a crime under Brazilian law, sparking a protest from the United Nations.”

Blog of the Legal Times: “More than 1,100 law professors have signed a letter supporting the confirmation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court.”

The North Carolina Family Policy Council reports on a John Locke Foundation survey of private schools: “A new policy report from the John Locke Foundation shows that while most private schools in the state support expanded school choice options for North Carolinians, such as voucher programs or tuition tax credits, most express concern about any programs that expand the state’s control over private schools.”

CNSNews: “President Barack Obama wants to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and abolish the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy concerning homosexuals in the military, according to Elaine Kaplan, general counsel of the White House Office of Personnel Management.”

Caitlan Flanagan writes at TIME: “And so two more American families discover a truth as old as marriage: a lasting covenant between a man and a woman can be a vehicle for the nurture and protection of each other, the one reliable shelter in an uncaring world — or it can be a matchless tool for the infliction of suffering on the people you supposedly love above all others, most of all on your children.”

We must decide whether the district court [improperly] . . . enjoin[ed] the enforcement of new rules promulgated by the Washington State Board of Pharmacy (“Board”) that require pharmacies to deliver lawfully prescribed . . . medications . . .

Melissa Walker reports in the Des Moines Register: “A group of Des Moines religious leaders said Tuesday that it will open a private school this fall for children in urban neighborhoods, many from low-income families.”

Jon Walker reports in the Argus Leader: “‘We will not tolerate hate perpetrated against vulnerable populations,’ said Karen Mudd, a board member of Equality South Dakota, which backs lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents. . . . ‘This bill infringes on a Christian’s right to speak out on any type of sin. Christians should be able to speak in society and seek to change society,’ said pastor Matthew Haag of Grace Community Church.”

BBC: “A move to make it legal to help a terminally ill person to die has been defeated in the House of Lords. The measure would have removed the threat of prosecution from those who go abroad to help an ‘assisted suicide.’”

One News Now: “Senator Jim DeMint’s amendment calling for the addition of patriotic religious references to the new Capitol Visitors Center has been added to a key appropriations bill.”

One News Now: “Dr. David Prentice of the Family Research Council tells OneNewsNow those guidelines set up a system that creates an incentive for embryonic sacrifice. He goes on to say NIH simply did not listen to the public.”

ADF attorney Mike Johnson appeared on the Matt Patrick Show (WHLO) to discuss recent victories in Ohio involving the religious freedom of a Christian student group and an Ohio Supreme Court ruling upholding an abortion drug safety law.

The mp3 runs just over 11 minutes.

Related ADF press releases:

University reverses; recognizes Christian student group

Ohio Ruling Upholding Abortion Drug Safety Law Applauded by Pro-Life Groups

Jane Campbell writing in the Guardian: “Today I and hundreds of other disabled and terminally ill people want you to know, we do not want assisted dying to be legalised for ‘people like us.’ I will speak in the House of Lords against proposed amendments to the coroners and criminal justice bill that seek to set this country on the road to legalising assisted dying and, ultimately, euthanasia for people with terminal conditions.”

“Mark Mutty from the Stand for Marriage Maine coalition says it took only four weeks to gather the more than 55,087 signatures necessary to put gay marriage to a vote. ”

“The federal Defense of Marriage Act interferes with the right of Massachusetts to define and regulate marriage as it sees fit, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said.”

365Gay.com: “The National Education Association adopted two resolutions calling for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights at its annual conference last week.”

Nathan Black reports in The Christian Post: “In a lawsuit, filed by the Alliance Defense Fund, they asked to delay enactment of the law recognizing same-sex marriages performed elsewhere as they sought a referendum, which would allow voters to decide on the matter.”

Shannon P. Duffy writes at the Legal Intelligencer (Law.com): “In the high-stakes court battle over the constitutionality of a federal law that bans all Internet gambling transactions that would be illegal in the gambler’s state, a trio of federal appeals judges in Philadelphia appeared unlikely on Tuesday to strike the law down.”

LifeNews: “A House committee on Tuesday night defeated a pro-life amendment designed to stop President Barack Obama’s plan to fund abortions in the nation’s capital with taxpayer dollars. The House Appropriations Committee voted largely along partisan lines to prevent restoration of the funding ban.”

The Business Journal: “Cellular Dynamics International Inc., a firm founded by stem cell pioneer James Thomson of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said Wednesday that its researchers have generated pluripotent stem cells from small volumes of human blood samples.”

In fact, California is home to a handful of loosely affiliated attorneys who call their legal work ‘Christian.’ . . . Some lawyers define their Christian focus by pursuing high-profile “religious freedom” cases. Alliance Defense Fund, based in Scottsdale, Arizona, operates a branch office in Folsom, and its California clients include . . .

Adam Brickley reports at CNSNews: “In the case of Okwedy v. Molinari, decided in 2003, Sotomayor sat on a three-judge panel that upheld a lower court’s ruling (from 2001) against Keyword Ministries and its pastor, Kristopher Okwedy. The ministry had purchased billboard advertisements featuring Bible verses that condemned homosexuality. . . .

[Michael] DePrimo, now allied with the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Alliance Defense Fund, said the way in which Sotomayor and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals addressed the case is questionable.”

“Nineteen of them, including Ohio’s Marcy Kaptur and Steve Driehaus, sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that vowed opposition to any health care reform package that spends tax dollars on abortion.”

Eric Velasco reports in the Birgmingham News: “A Jefferson County judge dismissed two misdemeanor charges against a Birmingham abortion protester today who was twice arrested on a sidewalk in front of the New Woman All Women clinic.”

SwissInfo.ch: “Saudi Arabia’s powerful religious police plan a summer anti-vice drive to enforce prayer-keeping and modesty in the conservative Gulf Arab state, its head said in remarks published Wednesday.”