Daily Archives: August 7, 2009

“The federal court granted Bryan Brown’s motion in full, vacating both the injunction and the order of February 21, 1991 that saddled all three Defendants (Wendell Brane and one other) with the duty to pay the abortionists the devilish amount of $61,616.”

GayPolitics.com: “The full text of the letter to Ambassador Susan Rice can be found here.”

“Warren Throckmorton . . . said the APA believes if there hasn’t been a change in what Christians would call ‘temptation,’ then there hasn’t been true change . . . ”

U.S. v. Edward Curtis Bobb, No. 07-13252 (11th Cir., Aug. 6, 2009)

11th Circuit upholds conviction for “receipt” and “possession” against Double Jeopardy challenge because criminal conduct occurred on different days.

A summary of the case is available at the Community Defense Counsel.

People v. Mantos, 07CA2107 (Colo. App., Aug. 6, 2009)

The Colorado Court of Appeals found that that “downloading and saving sexually exploitative material in a share-capable computer file” does not “constitute the felony offense of sexual exploitation of a child.”

A summary of the case is available at the Community Defense Counsel.

CNSNews: “Republican senators who decided to support the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court said their job was to examine whether she was qualified and not whether they agree with every decision she has made and will make.”

BalkanInsight.com: “The leader of Bosnia’s Islamic Community, Mustafa Ceric, and Kosovo Mufti Naim Ternava have called on Muslims not to succumb to radicalism.”

Minneapolis Star Tribune: “According to the Williams Institute at the UCLA, the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area ranks 8th in terms of LGBT people per capita and Minneapolis is fourth among major cities for percent of LGBT people in the population. Minnesota ranks 10th in the nation for number of same-sex couples, and same-sex couples reside in every county of the state.”

“Although substantial evidence supports the decision of the Board that Kazemzadeh failed to prove a well-founded fear of persecution based on his political opinion, the Board failed to give reasoned consideration to Kazemzadeh’s evidence of a well-founded fear of persecution based on his religion.”

The Economist: “Because so many offences require registration, the number of registered sex offenders in America has exploded. As of December last year, there were 674,000 of them, according to the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children. If they were all crammed into a single state, it would be more populous than Wyoming, Vermont or North Dakota. As a share of its population, America registers more than four times as many people as Britain, which is unusually harsh on sex offenders. America’s registers keep swelling, not least because in 17 states, registration is for life.”

ABA Journal: “President Obama has nominated a lawyer known for her ERISA expertise and a federal judge from Pennsylvania for spots on two federal appeals courts.”

Reuters: “Iraq is considering blocking websites deemed pornographic or that incite violence or crime, triggering fears of a return to Saddam Hussein-style state censorship and government propaganda . . . ”

Reuters: “Hundreds of supporters of Iranian opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi chanted ‘death to the dictator’ in Tehran on Thursday, a witness said, a day after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was sworn in as president.”

One News Now: “A conservative Christian leader says a Senate bill that would ban job discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity ‘turns private sin into a public right.’”

AP: “The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals found Friday that The New York Times had not shown it has a First Amendment right to the material.”

In Re: Application of the N.Y. Times Co. to Unseal Wiretap & Search Warrant Materials, Nos. 09-0854-cv (L), 09-1164 (con) (2nd Cir. Aug. 7, 2009)

“The Idaho Department of Correction has settled lawsuits with two transgender inmates who castrated themselves after they were denied feminizing hormone therapy.”

BBC News: “A judge in north-west Poland ruled the 44-year-old woman had infringed Ryszard Giersz’s dignity by repeatedly verbally abusing him in public.”

ACLU: “The New York Civil Liberties Union today filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the Appellate Division, Second Department supporting Governor David A. Paterson’ s recent appointment of Richard Ravitch as lieutenant governor.”

Pocono Record: “‘Pole dancing is an exercise. It’s a therapy.’ Middle Smithfield Supervisor Bob Spano briefly tried to sell the benefits of strip clubs with that argument at Thursday’s board of supervisors meeting.”

LifeSiteNews: “The Irish government’s broadcasting regulator has told ‘No’ campaigners on the upcoming Lisbon Treaty referendum that there will be no equal time for both sides of the debate.”

Forbes (AP): “Malaysia may set up an Internet filter to censor pornography, a Cabinet minister said Friday, raising concerns among human rights and opposition groups that it may also be used to block dissent.”

The Times-Picayune: “‘If anything, they (state marriage and adoption laws) should be strengthened,’ Rep. Frank Hoffman, R-West Monroe, a member of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s 29-member Commission on Marriage and the Family, said. ‘Marriage is between one man and one woman, and we need to do all we can to support that.’”

Missoulian: “Montana is one of only five states that forbids the Children’s Health Insurance Program from paying for birth-control products – and, as part of the budget deal struck by lawmakers over the weekend, that ban will remain intact. Sen. John Brueggeman, R-Polson, this month inserted language into a pair of budget bills to allow CHIP to start paying for contraception for teenage children covered by the government insurance program.”

Catholic World News: “Catholic internet sites that have given prominent coverage to a Vietnamese government campaign against the Catholic Church– including CWN– are being blocked by government censors.”

The Oklahoman (Tulsa World): “Kevin Theriot of the Alliance Defense Fund, which is representing the commissioners, said he will ask the high court to hear the case within 90 days.”

WorldNetDaily: “Hawaii state Sen. Will Espero, a Democrat, has confirmed plans to introduce legislation through which the state’s lawmakers would force the public disclosure of all President Obama’s birth documents held by the Hawaii Department of Health, including President Obama’s long-form original birth certificate.”

LifeSiteNews: ” . . . Alberta recently announced it would no longer cover ‘sex-reassignment’ surgery as a cost-cutting measure, while Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan and B.C. have partial or full coverage for the procedures.”

The Hill: “Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) is resigning his Senate seat by the end of August, a year and a half before his term expires in January 2011, two Senate GOP sources said Friday morning . . . Crist is expected to appoint a caretaker to hold the seat until next year’s election.”

“Alliance Defense Fund Chief Counsel Benjamin Bull will be available for media interviews during his participation Wednesday in an international gathering of pro-family advocates, leaders, scholars, and parliamentarians Aug. 10-12 in Amsterdam. The Alliance Defense Fund is a partnership level member of the biennial event, named World Congress of Families V, whose participants have undergone threats and intimidation in the days leading up to the event.”

The Joplin Globe (AP): “Kevin Theriot of the Alliance Defense Fund says he will ask the high court to hear the case within 90 days.”

CitizenLink: “‘We have an administration in America taking a page out of a playbook that was written by the Khrushchev types in the 1950s,’ [McCaleb] said. ‘Why is the government asking neighbor to report on neighbor like the Russians asked their children to report on their parents?’”

Religion Clause Blog: “Martha L. Minow, who earlier this year was named Dean of the Harvard Law School, has now also been nominated by President Barack Obama to be a board member of the Legal Services Corporation.”

Religion Clause Blog: “. . . Council postponed Wednesday’s scheduled discussion of the policy to a special meeting scheduled for Sept. 30 . . . Meanwhile inside Methodist minister, Rev. Alan Kimber, delivered a non-sectarian invocation– a moment of silence and then thanks for our country’s freedom to express different beliefs. When he ended with a simple ‘Amen’, some members in the audience yelled out: ‘in Jesus name.’”

The National Law Journal: “California now has 19 fully accredited law schools. The American Bar Association has granted Western State University College of Law full accreditation. Final approval for the accreditation of the for-profit Fullerton, Calif., school was given by the Council of the Legal Section on Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar during the ABA’s annual convention in Chicago.”

EDGE: “The WFA, fronted by president Julaine Appling, filed the petition with the Supreme Court on July 23. Appling, along with representatives from the First Freedoms Foundation and Alliance Defense Fund, claim the registry undermines marriage.”

Times Online: “Their strategy will be to attempt to win the General Synod, the Church’s governing body currently dominated by evangelicals, over to the liberal cause. The opportunity will come next year when the quinquennial elections for a new synod are due.”

Des Moines Register: “The removal this week from transit buses of an advertisement promoting a Des Moines atheist group has gotten the attention of the American Civil Liberties Union.”

JournalStar.com: “The American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska wants to make sure parents know they can keep their high school students’ records from military recruiters – if they wish.”