Daily Archives: July 15, 2009

Sandra Haros reports at KTAR: “A day after Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed a bill putting restrictions on abortions, Planned Parenthood is taking action.”

Ed Whalen writes at the National Review Bench Memos Blog:  ”A follow-up to my post about Judge Sotomayor’s remarkably confusing answer yesterday: Below (in full) is the exchange this morning between Senator Coburn and Judge Sotomayor on use of foreign law. Is …

Journalgazette.net: “City Council delayed introducing a series of ordinances that would require massage businesses, adult novelty shops and strip clubs to obtain licenses from the city to operate . . . Instead, they asked for more time to study the proposals and to send comments or suggested changes to the city attorney before introducing them.”

CBS4denver.com: “Vice Mayor Larry Small has issued a personal letter of support for PrideFest, which will include a parade and interfaith religious service Sunday.”

Forbes: “Fetuses that are only 30 weeks old may already possess short-term memory, Dutch researchers report.”

Boston Globe (AP): “The chorus of smiling Muslims and Han Chinese wore matching yellow polo shirts and appeared on television Wednesday, singing: ‘We are all part of the same family.’”

BizJournals.com: “Smith said the churches plan to ask the Ohio Supreme Court to declare that the slots plan is unconstitutional because the machines are a different classification of gambling that the Ohio Lottery doesn’t have the authority to authorize.”

Boston Globe (AP): “Legislation to extend federal hate crimes protections to gays and the disabled reached the Senate floor Wednesday with the best prospects in years to become law.”

The Herald News: “About a dozen business owners and officials told the City Council Tuesday that an adult entertainment district in the Industrial Park could keep businesses from moving in, costing jobs and investment in the city.”

Morality in Media on the Christian Newswire: “This evening, at 8 pm Central Time, CNBC will air a special entitled, ‘Porn: Business of Pleasure’ . . . orality in Media President Robert Peters commented: ‘Even in an industry where there are virtually no ‘taboos’ (standards) left, I don’t anticipate anytime soon seeing a news program on cable TV entitled: ‘Child Porn: Business of Pleasure.’”

Halimah Abdullah reports in the Miami Herald: “‘I’ve watched the defense authorization bill move its way through Congress and occasionally, including at other times, I’ve seen amendments put on the bills which are non-germane,’ McCain said on the Senate floor. ‘But I haven’t seen the majority leader of the Senate, whose responsibility is to move legislation through the Senate, take a totally non-relevant, all-encompassing controversial piece of legislation and put it on a bill that is as important to the nation’s security as this legislation is.’”

Louis Klaveras and Christine Buckley, writing at FindLaw: “Sex Trafficking: Usually, this involves the exploitation of females for purposes of prostitution or pornography – although lately, the number of reports of males being sexually exploited seems to be on the rise. Prostitution and pornography do not necessarily involve human trafficking. However, forcing people into the commercial sex industry against their will constitutes trafficking. Sex trafficking, then, often involves either a form of involuntary servitude or a form of debt bondage, but with the added horrors of sexual assault and/or exploitation.”

Associated Press: “The Students’ Religious Liberties Act (H.B. 2357) prohibits schools from discriminating against students or parents on the basis of religious viewpoint or expression. It requires that schools not ‘penalize or reward’ students for including religious content or views in a classroom assignment.”

“A drug called Sutent slows the spread of the cancer and may give you an extra six months, but at a cost of $54,000. Is a few more months worth that much?”

WCAX.com: “Traffickers face up to 30 years in prison if the victim is under 18. The law also outlines procedures for the state to take property used in the illegal activity. It takes effect Jan. 1″

LifeNews: “White House officials have confirmed that President Barack Obama’s nominee for Surgeon General may be a Catholic, but agrees with his pro-abortion position.”

“And it’s not because you start to get on one another’s nerves. Rather, the researchers figure the shared abode could lead to marriage for all the wrong reasons.”

Ayone who believes these confirmation hearings represent much beyond empty political theater should consider . . . the only people speaking the truth are being systematically tackled and dragged screaming from the room.

Religion Clause Blog: “The panel is evenly divided between social conservatives and more moderate or liberal in-state university faculty with expertise in education or social sciences.”

Alliance Defense Fund attorneys have obtained a settlement from city of Wildwood officials that will allow citizens to distribute religious literature on public sidewalks, in parks, and in all other public forums without obtaining a permit.

Religion Clause Blog: “Rock for Life- UMBC v. Hrabowski, (D MD, July 8, 2009), a Maryland federal district court rejected claims by a student anti-abortion group that its 1st and 14th Amendment rights were violated by university restrictions on the location of a display sponsored by the group.

The Atlantic‘s Bob Cohn interviews Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. They discuss the departure of Justice Souter, Breyer’s own confirmation hearings, the difficulty of being on the Supreme Court, the “flexible” interpretation of the Constitution, and the polarization of the Court.

One News Now: “The National Education Association has thrown its full support behind homosexual ‘marriage.’”

Jimmy Walsh reports in the Irish Times: “The Defamation Bill was passed by a single vote after the Government nearly suffered a defeat on an amendment by Fine Gael’s Eugene Regan which would have deleted the offence of blasphemy from the Bill.”

Carl Hulse reports at the New York Times Politics and Government Blog: “With a possible fight brewing in Congress over repeal of the Pentagon’s ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy on gays in the military, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, came down on Tuesday solidly in favor of eliminating the ban.”

Reuters: “Ukraine has banned ‘Bruno,’ Sacha Baron Cohen’s comedy about a gay Austrian fashion reporter, objecting to its scenes of nudity and homosexual sex, the culture ministry said on Wednesday.”

The Australian reports: “Hoping to contribute to the end of the use of embryos in research, the Catholic Church is offering a $100,000 grant for research into the medical use of adult stem cells. The Sydney Archdiocese announced the grant today, saying it is still vehemently opposed to embryonic stem cell research but approves of the use of adult stem cells.”

Marshall County-Tribune Carrier: “In last week’s issue of the Tribune-Courier, Marshall County School System’s Director of Pupil Personnel Ledonia Williamson outlined her concern for some of the area’s home schooled children. Williamson stated she intended to keep closer tabs on home schools and would be making random checks to those in the county.”

The Alliance for School Choice: “Brewer signed legislation that eliminated the “sunset” provision on the state’s Corporate School Tuition Organization Tax Credit . . . In signing another bill, Brewer allowed individuals to make paycheck contributions to School Tuition Organizations on a weekly or monthly basis—instead of in just one sum of $500.”

Drew Zahn reports at WorldNetDaily: “A day before the Massachusetts Legislature plans to review a controversial gender identity bill, Blogger.com blocked the blog of MassResistance, an organization that exposes the increasingly open agenda of the homosexual movement in Massachusetts, with a warning that some of the content may be ‘objectionable,’ requiring readers to confirm their intent to visit.”

Gateways to Better Education and the Alliance Defense Fund are working together to promote greater awareness of the U.S. Department of Education’s guidelines on students’ freedom of religious expression in public schools.

Mannix Porterfield reports in the Register-Herald: “But Jordan Lorence, senior counsel for the Alliance Defense, argued that West Virginians need to vote on the matter, and that it is wrong to assume DOMA will stand up in a court challenge. ‘It’s like saying, we don’t need a vaccination for swine flu, because we haven’t had an epidemic yet,’ he added.”

If you subscribe to the ADF Alliance Alert “International” category by either RSS or email, please note that the subscription address will be changing effective 11:30 am (MST) on Wednesday, July 15, 2009. The “International” category is being renamed to “Global”.

The new address will be available on the ADF Alliance Alert subscription page here:
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We apologize for the inconvenience.

Jake Jones reports in the Evangelical Examiner: “Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed the complaint in Bloedorn v. Grube with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia. ADF-allied attorney Charles Stebbins, III, of the Augusta law firm Warlick, Tritt, Stebbins & Murray, LLP, is serving as local counsel in the lawsuit.”

Lawrence Messina reports for the Associated Press: “But Dys and Alliance Defense Fund counsel Jordan Lorence both argued that the statute remains vulnerable to a lawsuit. Lorence targeted the sort of stance taken by Gov. Joe Manchin. While endorsing marriage as being between a man and a woman, the Democratic governor has questioned the need for a constitutional amendment absent any pending challenge.”

Nicholas Riccardi reports in the Los Angeles Times: “‘It’s frankly a little bit astonishing,’ said alliance attorney Gary S. McCaleb, contending the case violates the church’s 1st Amendment freedom to practice its religion. ‘It’s very clearly an expression and outworking of their faith.’”

Drew Zahn reports at WorldNetDaily: “‘Professor Matteson clearly violated Mr. Lopez’s free speech rights by engaging in viewpoint discrimination and retaliation because he disagreed with the student’s religious beliefs,’ said ADF Senior Counsel David French in a statement. ‘Moreover, the district has a speech code that has created a culture of censorship on campus. America’s public universities and colleges are supposed to be a “marketplace of ideas,” not a hotbed of intolerance.’”

Rapid City Journal: “Meade County’s ordinance regulating adult-oriented businesses passed first reading July 7, but some changes might be in order before the proposal is enacted. The ordinance would apply to a business that knowingly allows, encourages or advertises certain activities, including nudity or semi-nudity, within its boundaries.”

NY Times: “The Episcopal Church voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to open the door to consecrate more bishops who are openly gay, a move that is likely to send shock waves throughout the Anglican Communion, the global network of churches to which the Episcopal Church belongs.”

Houston Chronicle: “Mayor Mike Moncrief apologized for a raid on a gay bar that sparked claims of brutality and procedure violations after several members of a gay rights group were escorted out of a City Council meeting Tuesday.”

Breitbart.com (AP): “It took a half-dozen Capitol Police officers to remove the struggling protester from the hearing room Tuesday after he yelled, ‘She’s a baby killer.’”

Northwestern University Law Review: “There is a serious originalist inquiry to be made into the meaning of the Establishment Clause, but none of the ‘originalist’ judges on the Court appear to have the slightest interest in undertaking that inquiry.Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justices Scalia and Thomas have each followed very different strategies in their efforts to unmoor the clause from its original purposes. Their efforts have, however, had two characteristics in common: they rest on dreadful historical scholarship, and they conveniently coincide with the agenda of the Republican party.”