Daily Archives: July 14, 2009

Kathleen Gilbert reports at LifeSiteNews: “Pro-life groups and lawmakers are continuing to raise the alarm over the healthcare reform package President Obama is aggressively pushing through both the House and the Senate. The groups are urging Americans to oppose the healthcare overhaul, as pro-abortion lawmakers are insisting that abortion must be included in the basic healthcare package that all public and private insurers will eventually be required to cover.”

Independent Catholic News: “A senior London teacher, suspended and threatened with the sack for expressing his Christian beliefs at work will be back at work next term. Kwabena Peat, 54, was suspended after he complained that a staff training day was used to promote homosexual rights, and to marginalise and label those who disagreed with homosexual practice. His case follows a number of others which have left Christians feeling sidelined in the workplace.”

Associated Press: “The request made during Tuesday’s City Council meeting comes about a week after five gay men were asked to leave a popular taco shop after two of them kissed.”

UPI: “Students in the Houston public schools caught sexting — sending sexual images via cell phone — could soon face punishment, officials say.”

Associated Press: “‘The First Amendment mandates that no individual should be required to affirm, in act, word, or deed, that a man is a woman, or a woman is a man, against their sincerely held religious beliefs,’ Tracey said. ‘Yet this is precisely what (the bill) will do.’”

MetroNews reports: “‘There’s been nine states that have had their courts strike down their marriage laws and, basically, impose a same sex marriage on the entire state so the only way, really, to prevent that is with state Constitutional Amendments which 30 states have done already,’ Lorence says.”

Hilary White reports at LifeSiteNews: “‘This case could be the Roe v. Wade of Europe, so its importance should not be underestimated,’ said Roger Kiska of the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), the public-interest legal alliance that is acting to protect the existing law.”

“‘No one should be allowed to decide that an innocent life is worthless. Ireland’s constitutional amendment defending innocent life is under attack, and now the stakes have just gotten higher,’ [Kiska] said. ‘With the case moving to the Grand Chamber, the ramifications of the decision that is eventually reached in the case are massive.’”

ADF Attorney Jordan Lorence appeared on Hoppy Kercheval’s radio show to discuss a West Virginia constitutional marriage amendment. The mp3 is online here. It runs about nine minutes.

Madison’s WKOW reports: “Madison-based Freedom From Religion is seeking to block the words “In God We Trust” from making it’s way to the Capitol Visitor Center in Washington.”

Paolo Gallini reports at Religious Intelligence: “The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today expressed its alarm at the recent spate of bombings of churches in Baghdad and Mosul and called on the Iraqi government to provide protection to all of the country’s citizens, especially its vulnerable Christian minority.”

Associated Press: “Gov. John Lynch has until midnight Wednesday to decide whether to sign a bill that prohibits human trafficking in New Hampshire.”

Kevin Leininger reports in The News-Sentinel: “McDonald is expected to introduce an ordinance at tonight’s City Council meeting that would mark the beginning – but not end – of renewed efforts to define and regulate sexually oriented businesses.”

“As a result of the court’s decision in Zbaraz v. Hartigan, for the first time Illinois law will entitle parents to notification before their minor daughters are taken for abortions.”

Scott Monroe reports in the Morning Sentinel: “Town Manager Michael Heavener said he brought the topic before the council because he’s received inquiries from several residents about whether Winslow has such an ordinance that regulates sex-oriented businesses. The town does not. Heavener said an ordinance would be a good idea so the town has guidelines in place, even though no such business has been proposed.”

LifeNewsa: “Tim Chandler, legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, responded to the ruling and told the Boston Globe pro-life advocates “shouldn’t be penalized for expressing their beliefs.’ He said ADF and the pro-life advocates are evaluating the ‘next legal step,’ which would likely involve appealing the decision to the Supreme Court.”

Associated Press: “Britain’s National Health Service has a message for teens: Sex can be fun. Health officials are trying to change the tone of sex education by urging teachers to emphasize that sexual relations can be healthy and pleasurable instead of simply explaining the mechanics of sex and warning about diseases.”

Julie Rovner reports at NPR: “Already in the House, 19 Democrats have written House Speaker Nancy Pelosi vowing not to vote for any health bill that includes abortion funding.”

Philip Klein writing at The American Spectator: “Even as California struggles with a catastrophic fiscal crisis and other states scramble to avoid the same fate, Democrats in Washington are proposing health care measures that would add hundreds of billions of dollars of spending to state budgets.”

LifeNews reports: “A crisis pregnancy center in Eugene, Oregon was hit by vandals last week who left pro-abortion messages on its building. The incident comes weeks after an abortion advocate attacked the national headquarters of the pro-life group Operation Rescue.”

LifeSiteNews reports: “A new survey published this weekend in the pages of the Rzeczpospolita daily newspaper states that fully three quarters of Poles are against same-sex ‘marriage’ and that 87 percent are against homosexual couples adopting children.”

Pearl Forss reports at Channel NewsAsia: “Of the 12,000 births terminated every year, about half are done by married women.”

Charles Lewis reports in the National Post: “A gay man has filed a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal against a Catholic bishop after he was removed from his volunteer job as an altar server because of his sexual orientation.”

Associated Press: “A Miami-Dade circuit court judge who ruled Florida’s gay adoption ban is unconstitutional has been demoted.”

Associated Press: “Lithuania’s Parliament on Tuesday approved a censorship bill that aims to keep information about homosexuality away from children, angering gay rights activists who called the measure homophobic.”

Emily Power reports in the Herald Sun: “In the past year an extra 715 students have started do-it-yourself education over public and private schools. State Government records show 2279 students from 1257 families were registered as home schooled in June this year, up on the 1564 students from 859 families in June last year.”

OneNewsNow reports: “Memphis-based FedEx has agreed to implement a shareholder resolution proposed by Huffington Post blogger Sara Whitman that would add ‘gender identity’ to the company’s non-discrimination policy. Whitman is a self-proclaimed ‘married lesbian mother of three boys’ in Massachusetts.”

Carlos A. Bell writes at the Huffington Post: “1. The Administration has decided not to appeal a successful discrimination lawsuit brought by a transgendered person who was denied a position with the library of congress . . . 2. The Administration has decided that the 2010 census will count same-sex couples who are married . . . 3. The Administration has proposed eliminating the regulation that excludes HIV + immigrants . . . 4. The Administration has appointed several open LGBT people for relatively high positions.”

From the Office of Senator Leahy: “Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Monday announced his intent to introduce the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act as a bipartisan amendment to the National Defense Authorization bill this week.”

Sarah Birnbaum reports at Wicked Local: “The activists held a press conference on Beacon Hill to show their support for a transgender rights bill, a day before its first hearing. The bill (H 1728) would add ‘gender identity and expression’ to the state’s existing non-discrimination and hate crime laws. State Rep. Alice Peisch, D-Wellesley, whose district includes Wellesley, co-sponsored the bill.”

Jessica Garrison reports in the Los Angeles Times: “Despite insisting just a few months ago that they wanted to go back to the ballot in 2010 to try to amend the state Constitution to allow same-sex marriage, many of the state’s gay-rights groups now say that is too soon.”

Financial Times: “Jerzy Buzek, the former Polish prime minister, claimed the presidency of the European Parliament on Tuesday in a symbolic triumph for the formerly communist countries from central and eastern Europe that joined the European Union in 2004.”

Sarah Knoploh reports at the Culture and Media Institute: “Looking for wholesome familiy television oh, say, about 9 pm on July 15? Then make sure not to tune into CNBC. The network will air ‘Porn: Business of Pleasure,’ hosted by Melissa Lee. The special, as touted by the network, will give viewers a look at the pornography industry. But if the marketing is a reliable indication, ‘Porn: Business of Pleasure’ is nothing more than an attempt to normalize, and even promote, the porn industry.”

Rod Dreher writing at Crunchy Cons: “Porn is so ubiquitous and normalized among the (well-off) kids in his school that it’s considered the usual thing to partake of it. My friend went on to say that the situation was the same at the well-known (and relatively conservative) Christian university he’d attended. Among the male students, he said, ‘The question really wasn’t, “Do you use porn?” but rather “Do you feel guilty about the porn you use?”‘”

LifeNews reports: “Two members of the U.S. Senate who have been behind unsuccessful efforts to ban all forms of human cloning have introduced new legislation with a new approach. They want to ban the use of human cloning to make human-animal hybrids, the kind of research taking place currently in England.”

LifeSiteNews: “Pope Benedict warned on Sunday that the increasing power of artificial procreation and biotechnologies will presage ‘dark scenarios’ for the future of all the human race. These technologies, he said in his weekly Angelus address, are the ‘fruit of a ‘materialistic and mechanistic understanding of human life’ that reduces love without truth to ‘an empty shell, filled in an arbitrary way.’”

Tresa Baldas reports at Law.com: “Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals has been hit with four individual federal lawsuits — three in Ohio, one in Wisconsin — involving the safety of its popular birth control pills Yaz and Yasmin. And plaintiffs lawyers vow that plenty more are in the pipeline.”

Associated Press: “President Barack Obama on Tuesday declined to predict how high unemployment will climb but made clear he expects it to keep worsening for a while as hiring lags behind other signs of economic recovery.”

Associated Press: “British maestro Edward Downes, who conducted the BBC Philharmonic and the Royal Opera but struggled in recent years as his hearing and sight failed, has died with his wife at an assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland. He was 85 and she was 74.”

Associated Press: “Moving forcefully on his top domestic priority, Obama told Sen. Max Baucus he wants legislation ready by week’s end in the Finance Committee that Baucus chairs, according to numerous Democratic officials. These officials said Obama made his wishes known directly to Baucus, D-Mont., at a White House meeting Monday attended by administration officials and senior Democratic lawmakers.”

“A federal court Monday granted a motion filed by attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund Center for Academic Freedom to halt enforcement of a Los Angeles City College District policy that violates student free speech rights.”

Anne Mawathe reports in the BBC: “The Pharmaceutical Society of Kenya has also voiced concerned about long-term use of the e-pill. Besides side-effects, like nausea, heavy bleeding and cramps, regular use of the emergency contraception may cause infertility and in some instances increase the risk of cancer.”

Laurie Goodstein reports in the New York Times: “The bishops of the Episcopal Chresurch voted at the church’s convention on Monday to open “any ordained ministry” to gay men and lesbians, a move that could effectively undermine a moratorium on ordaining gay bishops that the church passed at its last convention three years ago.”

Michael Tracey reports in The Nation: “After speaking at the Campus Progress National Conference in Washington, DC, on July 8, the former president was asked if he supported same-sex marriage. Clinton, in a departure from past statements, replied in the affirmative.”

Bob Bernick Jr. reports in the Deseret News: “Utah Republican leaders stand strongly behind traditional marriage but say it is too early to decide whether the state should jump into federal court opposing a lawsuit that seeks to overturn the national Defense of Marriage Act.”

Reuters: “A couple’s age, previous relationships and even whether they smoke or not are factors that influence whether their marriage is going to last, according to a study by researchers from the Australian National University.”

Day Two of the Sonia Sotomayor confirmation hearings.

Collin Levy writing in the Wall Street Journal: “Like several of the judges on the left branch of the court, Judge Sotomayor has said she favors a broader consideration of foreign and international law in U.S. judicial opinions. While she rarely had occasion to dip into foreign sources during her time on the Second Circuit, she recently went out of her way to embrace the concept and its applications by the high court.”

Matthew Benson, Casey Newton and Amy B Wang report in the Arizona Republic: “Gov. Jan Brewer on Monday signed into law tight new restrictions on access to abortion in Arizona, imposing a 24-hour waiting period on women seeking the procedure and requiring that minors first receive written, notarized consent from a parent or guardian.”

Associated Press: “Supreme Court aspirant Sonia Sotomayor says she considers the question of abortion rights “settled law” and says there is a constitutional right to privacy.”

Associated Press: “The state Family Policy Council and the national Alliance Defense Fund both plan to weigh in Tuesday at a meeting of a joint legislative committee studying the issue.”

Cato Supreme Court Review: “Ever since Justice Holmes famously asserted that “the Constitution does not enact Mr. Herbert Spencer’s Social Statics,” academics have denied that the Constitution is libertarian. In this essay, I explain that the Constitution is libertarian to the extent that its original meaning respects and protects the five fundamental rights that are at the core of both classical liberalism and modern libertarianism.”