Daily Archives: July 10, 2009

Rutherford Institute: “The Rutherford Institute, in conjunction with the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Virginia, the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, Prison Fellowship, the Friends Committee on National Legislation and the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, has demanded that officials at the Rappahannock Regional Jail immediately end their illegal practice of censoring religious material sent to detainees.”

Great Falls Tribune: “Great Falls police arrested former Mayor and Cascade County Commissioner Gayle Morris on Thursday afternoon on charges that he promoted prostitution at his Sun Prairie strip club.”

ACLU: “The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas Thursday called for an official investigation of the El Paso Police Department response to a June 29 incident when a group of men were reportedly ejected from Chico’s Tacos, an El Paso restaurant, apparently because two of the men kissed each other.”

The Indiana Law Blog: “The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana has launched a class action against that state’s board of law examiners, asserting that inquiries into the mental health of those seeking a law license violate federal disabilities law.”

“Yesterday . . . Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) introduced an amendment . . . to forc[e] taxpayers to pay for abortions for the first time in 30 years.”

Eric Young reports in The Christian Post: “According to P. Victor Gonzalez, the former PP employee that the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) is representing in this case, PP affiliates in California had marked up the supposed cost of various birth control drugs when seeking government reimbursement, resulting in tens of millions of dollars of overbilling-at taxpayer expense.”

Phil Sarata reports in the Times & Democrat: “It has become more likely that a state GOP official’s lawsuit against the City of Orangeburg over an abortion protest will go to trial. The Rev. Charles Butler and the city had both asked U.S. District Judge Margaret B. Seymour to rule on the lawsuit without a trial. She denied those motions during a hearing Thursday.”

Sabrina Salas Matanane reports at KUAM: “After several controversial town hall meetings were held on legislation that would allow for same-sex civil unions on Guam, Acting Speaker of the 30th Guam Legislature B.J. Cruz has introduced an amended version of Bill 138. But the question remains where the changes in the bill will be enough to garner support from the Catholic Church, which staunchly opposes any union involving same-sex couples.”

Catholic League: “Catholic League president Bill Donohue says U.S. Supreme Court Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg needs to explain her recent comment on abortion and eugenics . . . There is another reason why Ginsburg needs to clarify her remark. Before she was seated on the Supreme Court in 1993, she hired 57 law clerks over a period of 13 years. All were white . . . ”

Forum Online, the online newsletter of the, The Michigan Family Forum reports:

Democratic state lawmakers have introduced a package of bills they say will help deal with the rising rate of STDs and unplanned pregnancies among teens. However, the bills will also promote abortion, sex ed programs that do not emphasize abstinence, and override the conscience rights of medical professionals. Controversial aspects of this legislative package include . . .

“. . . would grant the partners of gay and lesbian federal workers access to the full range of benefits . . currently available to the spouses of heterosexual employees.”

Kathleen McGrory reports in the Miami Herald: “The Miami-Dade school district wants to be a national leader in combating teenage ‘sexting,’ the practice of sending sexy or nude photos over a cellphone. On Thursday, Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said he would like to work with government and law enforcement agencies to develop a cutting-edge School Board policy — and preach the dangers of sending racy pictures.”

Associated Press: “Retail giant Toys R Us has apologised to a mother and her eight-year-old daughter after they came across pornographic images on a computer in one of its stores.”

WSFA 12 reports: “The Houston County Commission is considering legislation to regulate adult entertainment in the county. The proposed law could also ban future establishment from opening.”

Scott Monroe reports in the Morning Sentinel: “A month after the town of Vassalboro adopted an ordinance to regulate sex-oriented businesses, Winslow town officials plan to discuss whether they should join Waterville and China in debating a similar law.”

Amy Renczkowski reports in The Day: “The Zoning Commission unanimously voted Thursday to regulate adult businesses in East Lyme and tacked on more than a few restrictions.”

Nima Reza reports at CitizenLink: “The U.S. House of Representatives is considering a so-called bullying bill that would require public schools to spell out special categories in their discipline policies, including ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity’ . . . The name of the bill is Safe Schools Improvement Act.”

Dr. Jan F. Dudt, Jonathan D. Moore, and Dr. Durwood B. Ray write in Philadelphia’s Bulletin: “Christians committed to the sanctity of human life should look with favor on technologies that preserve and/or improve human life. Consequently, non-embryonic stem-cell advances should be embraced when they: 1) respect the consent and preserve the dignity of the stem-cell donors, 2) enhance the health of the stem-cell recipient, and 3) protect human life at every stage of development. Embryonic stem-cell harvesting remains problematic because the procedure destroys the smallest and most helpless members of the human family: embryos.”

AFP reports: “In 2005 South Korea’s parliament approved a law that required a quarter of directors at private schools to be from outside the organisation.”

Rebiya Kadeer writes at the Wall Street Journal: “When the Chinese government looks back on its handling of the unrest in Urumqi and East Turkestan this week, it will most likely tell the world that it acted in the interests of maintaining stability. It will most likely forget to explain why thousands of Uighurs risked everything to speak out against injustice, or why hundreds of Uighurs are now dead for exercising their right to protest.”

Dale Carpenter writes at the Volokh Conspiracy: “The federal complaint in Commonwealth v. HHS was filed yesterday by Massachusetts, which is asking for federal recognition of its same-sex marriages, not for the invalidation of all state laws limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples. Massachusetts makes two federalism-based constitutional claims against Section 3 of DOMA, which defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman for purposes of federal law . . . ”

The Bilerico Project reports: “Rockstar will be donating $100k to three LGBT organizations and has agreed to make a significant donation to the LGBT Bloggers Initiative as well.” Radio talkshow host Michael Savage is mentioned in the article.

“. . . the core belief in ‘too many people’ . . . really shows that this is a political outlook in search of a social or scientific justification. It is an already-existing prejudice, held by certain kinds of people . . . ”

Kristina Fiore reports in MedPage Today: “The FDA has approved Adiana, a noninvasive, permanent contraception system intended to serve as an alternative to tubal ligation, according to manufacturer Hologic.”

Rebecca Hagelin writes at Townhall: “It makes sense when you think about it. When your children know that your being with them is a priority for you, they feel valued and loved. They also begin to understand that the sacred bonds of family will sustain them through any challenge life throws at them.”

Stacy Forster reports in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Family planning services available through state health programs will be offered to men, under a provision in the two-year budget signed by Gov. Jim Doyle last week that included a handful of changes to family planning policies. The budget also requires that pharmacies have someone available to dispense contraceptives and that health insurance plans include contraceptive coverage.”

Guttmacher Institute Press Release: “‘In his recent budget proposal, President Obama had the option of calling on Congress to end the funding restrictions imposed by the federal Hyde Amendment. We are disappointed that he did not do so,’ says Heather Boonstra, a Guttmacher senior public policy associate. ‘It is time for Congress to repeal the Hyde Amendment and restore Medicaid coverage for abortion so that every woman, regardless of her economic circumstances, has the right to decide when and whether to have a child.’”

PR Newswire: “The American people continue to move to the pro-life perspective on abortion according to the latest Moral Compass survey by the Knights of Columbus and Marist Poll . . . 86% of Americans would significantly restrict abortion . . . 60% of Americans would limit abortion to cases of rape, incest or to save the life of a mother – or would not allow it at all.”

Associated Press: “The County Commission voted unanimously Thursday to approve a new ordinance that prohibits adult ‘arcades, cabarets and theaters’ from being with 2,000 feet of churches, schools, daycare facilities, public parks, restaurants, hotels, campgrounds, residential dwellings or businesses with liquor licenses.”

“The National Law Journal’s ongoing coverage of the confirmation process of Sonia Sotomayor as U.S. Supreme Court Justice . . . compilation of news and commentary from around the Web on the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court.”

http://religionclause.blogspot.com/2009/07/house-passes-resolution-calling-for.html”>Religion Clause Blog: “The House of Representatives yesterday, by a vote of 410-8, passed H. Con. Res. 131, directing the Architect of the Capitol to engrave the Pledge of Allegiance and the National Motto, ‘In God We Trust,’ in the Capitol Visitor Center . . .

Religion Clause Blog: “While the U.S. media have given a good deal of attention to the FLDS Church members living in the twin towns of Colorado City, AZ and Hildale, UT, there is also a group of FLDS members in the Canadian town of Bountiful, in British Columbia. This week reports surfaced on two rather interesting developments affecting that community . . . ”

Leigh Jones writes at the National Law Journal (Law.com): “The two lower courts had found that repaying the ‘shockingly immense’ debt would create an undue hardship for Jesperson. But the appeals court on Wednesday determined that his ‘self-imposed limitations,’ which resulted in a gross income of $48,000, were no excuse for nonpayment.”

Daily Mail: “A multi-million pound initiative to reduce teenage pregnancies more than doubled the number of girls conceiving. The Government-backed scheme tried to persuade teenage girls not to get pregnant by handing out condoms and teaching them about sex.”

CNSNews: “The right to an abortion is not different than any other ‘fundamental right,’ according to a legal brief issued by the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund (PRLDEF), in a case regarding Missouri state funding restrictions on abortion from 1988 when attorney Sonia Sotomayor was a member of the group’s governing board.”

The Independent reports: “One child a week is being murdered in Britain, in cases which echo the horrific death of Baby Peter, because clear warning signs that they live with a potential killer are being ignored or go unreported by key public service workers from police officers to GPs, according to new figures.”

Bioethics Defense Fund: “With an outline of 10 Myths and Facts, Bioethics Defense Fund, neurobiologist and stem cell researcher Dr. Maureen L. Condic and Fr. Thomas Berg of the Westchester Institute for Ethics and the Human Person submitted official comments to the Obama NIH regarding the ‘Draft NIH Guidelines for Human Stem Cell Research.’”

A joint committee of the West Virginia Legislature will hear testimony Tuesday on the need for an amendment to the West Virginia Constitution defining marriage as one man and one woman.

Wesley J. Smith writing at Secondhand Smoke (First Things): “A three panel Court of Appeals panel reversed an injunction and sent the case back to the trial court for further consideration. But in finding that Washington regulations requiring pharmacists to carry and dispense all legal drugs and medications is a rule of general applicability–thus precluding religious conscience-based exemptions–it also means that all pharmacists in the state must dispense death to terminally ill patients in Washington who receive lethal prescriptions.”

Martin Finucane reports in The Boston Globe: “‘The government cannot single them out for punishment simply because they want to share their message with people entering the clinic,’ Chandler said in a statement. ‘The government simply cannot create censorship zones where the First Amendment does not apply in order to silence a particular viewpoint.’ He said the fund and its allies were evaluating the ‘next legal step.’”

Matthew J. Frank writes at Public Discourse: “If we want to lower the stakes of winner-take-all Supreme Court battles, we must search for justices who reject the notions of judicial activism and judicial supremacy. The second in a two-part series.

Tres Baldas writes at the National Law Journal (Law.com): “A Michigan trial judge will decide that next week in a controversial employment dispute involving Ave Maria School of Law, which is trying to declare law professors as ministers to avoid a wrongful termination suit from proceeding.”

AP: “Boisterous crowds turned up at mosques in riot-hit parts of this western Chinese city, ignoring orders canceling Friday prayers due to the ethnic violence, and police quickly broke up a small protest nearby.”

The Business Review: “The stalemate broke on July 9, and senators passed 135 bills in an overnight session that ended just before 2 a.m. on Friday. The bills are expected to be sent to Gov. David Paterson for his signature.”

Debra Cassens Weiss reports in the ABA Journal: “The Nevada Supreme Court says a Las Vegas man should be able to get the word ‘hoe’ on his license plate, despite an Urban Dictionary definition that says it is slang for ‘whore.’”

Nathan Black reports in The Christian Post: “Concerned that public education has often ‘gone too far’ in excluding religious influences, the officials are hoping to restore balance to the issues and allow for the inclusion of religious expression in their public school. ‘This nation was founded on the idea of religious liberty,’ the proposal states. ‘A well rounded education must include an understanding of the ideas which molded the nation, many of which were religious.’”

The Christian Post: “Members of the Huria Kristen Batak Protestan Church (HKBP) in Cinere village, Depok, West Java appeared in court on June 29 to contest the mayor’s revocation of their building permit in March, while students of the shuttered Arastamar School of Theology (SETIA) demonstrated in Jakarta on June 15, asking officials to honor promises to provide them with a new campus.”

SSRN: “This Article discusses the framework modern democratic governments must begin to institute if they are to protect freedom of religion and effectively respond to a unique threat to safety. Five countries – the United States, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Israel and the Netherlands – will be examined. My primary thesis is that civil societies cannot afford to continue to treat religion as an “untouchable” subject – we must begin to understand what religion is in order to know when and how it may be appropriately limited for the benefit of society.”