Daily Archives: August 17, 2009

Candace De Russy writes at the National Review Phi Beta Cons Blog: “Now, as Winfield Myers notes, Yale is refusing to identify the “authorities” behind whose skirts it hid to excuse the suppression of the cartoon . . . ”

David French, Director of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom, writes at the National Review Phi Beta Cons Blog: “Over at Minding the Campus there’s an excellent essay by Michigan State professor Frederick Fico. Professor Fico details his ordeal after he had the temerity to serve as faculty sponsor for a group (College Republicans) that co-hosted a speech by the founder of the Minutemen. Because he was merely associated with the Republicans, he (and another professor who sponsored Young Americans for Freedom) found himself investigated by the “Office for Inclusion” for violating the campus’s expansive nondiscrimination policy . . . ”

CWNews: “Hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese Catholics in the Vinh diocese celebrated the feast of the Assumption on August 15 by marching in a rally with banners invoking the protection of the Virgin Mary and demanding the end to government persecutions. Meanwhile in Hanoi thousands of other Catholics organized their own protest against the conversion of property that was owned by the Church, and confiscated by the government, into a state park . . . ”

Boston Globe (AP): “In New Hampshire this year, the House held an assisted suicide bill for further study this fall and a vote in January. Judiciary Committee Chairman David Cote, D-Nashua, said Monday that committee work sessions probably will start next month. Cote said the committee as a whole will study the issue, rather than a subcommittee.”

Globe and Mail: “The ‘baptized pagans’ of Quebec, the most secularized society in the Western world, have less and less knowledge of the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church, but attempts to remove Catholicism’s symbolic presence in public places and on the school curriculum are greeted with howls of outrage.”

London Evening Standard: “A London council has backtracked on rules forcing swimmers to cover up at a public pool to avoid offending Muslims. Croydon council has removed the guidelines from its website after being criticised for barring non-Muslims if they refused to comply with the dress code.”

ThOnline.com: “Planned Parenthood’s opponents vowed to increase efforts to drive the organization from Dubuque.”

Arizona Republic: “Evangelical Lutheran congregations across the Valley are grappling with whether to accept new privileges for homosexual pastors that may become official policy soon for the national church . . . ”

Miami Herald: “The bill appears to open up education to political interference by the government. Among other provisions, it enshrines ‘Bolivarian doctrine’ as the basis of education and gives a major role in education to the so-called ‘communal councils,’ which are community assemblies mostly dominated by the ruling Unified Socialist Party of Venezuela.”

Americans United for Separation of Church and State Blog: “The Alliance Defense Fund had sent a memo in support of the charter school, informing the commission that the U.S. Supreme Court has held the Bible can be studied objectively in public schools . . . Although the commission has seemingly resolved the issue over Nampa Classical Academy’s use of the Bible, there still are plenty of other reasons to be concerned with this charter school.”

Washington Post: “School choice advocates are gearing up for a final push this week to try to get U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan to reverse his decision to rescind scholarships for 216 low-income District students.”

http://saveschoolchoice.com/

The Becket Fund reports that Singapore’s President is warning against agressive proselytism citing a Christian couple as an example.

Google News (AP): “U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison announced her run for Texas governor Monday with a sharp blast at Gov. Rick Perry, saying he has overstayed his welcome with an administration marked by arrogance and ‘tragic’ mistakes.”

The Blog of the Legal Times: “Dawn Johnsen is making a tentative return to the classroom . . . The seminar, which Johnsen has taught before, is aimed at 2Ls and 3Ls. It’s titled ‘Sexuality, Reproduction and the Law.’

Breakpoing carries this article and audio broadcast by Chuck Colson: “Are children a blessing from the Lord, or obstacles to prosperity? How societies answer that question will determine their futures. Just ask China.”

Today’s Zaman: “Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan promised democratic reforms on Saturday in a rare meeting with Turkey’s religious minority leaders, highlighting the issue of minority rights, a key stumbling block in Turkey’s European Union membership bid.”

Western Mail: “A council has become the first in Wales to impose a blanket ban on smokers adopting or fostering children. Anti-smoking campaigners last night welcomed the move by Merthyr Tydfil council, but critics have pointed out there are already not enough foster parents in Wales.”

LifeNews: “Responding to President Barack Obama and top Obama officials, House Democrats say they will keep the public option, the government-run health care system that will fund abortions and abortion coverage, in the health care bills.”

The Guardian: “The younger a person starts to view pornography, the earlier they have sex, but it’s likely that early viewing and early sex are both consequences of problems in upbringing. Hence, parents today should assume that nearly all children will be exposed to hardcore pornography at some point between 14 and 17, but how they react depends enormously on their gender and childhood history. The main negative effects are to encourage men to see women as meat and replacing real love and face-to-face contact with fantasy.”

LifeSiteNews: “20-year-old Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe has, in an interview with a homosexual magazine, expressed anger and intolerance for parents who oppose education about homosexual sex in the classroom.”

Matthew Cullinan Hoffman writes at LifeSiteNews: “The refusal of the organization to accept the increasingly strong evidence against its position is another reminder of how entrenched the sophistry of sexual hedonism has become among the leaders of the organization.”

“‘At 2pm, I was approached on more than one occasion by several police officers who falsely accused me, stating that I was inciting hatred with homophobic and racial comments,’ Mr Hayworth was quoted as saying by the newspaper.”

“President Barack Obama insisted Monday he still wants to scrap what he calls a discriminatory federal marriage law, even as his administration angered gay rights activists by defending the it in court.”

Catholic Herald: “A senior archbishop has called on Catholics to do their utmost to try to prevent the laws forbidding assisted suicide from being watered down. Archbishop Peter Smith of Cardiff said sick and disabled people would come under pressure to kill themselves if the law on assisted suicide was relaxed following a landmark House of Lords ruling.”

How Appealing links to the U.S. Supreme Court Order List.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “The Violence and Injury Prevention Program in Tampa Bay, Fla. estimated between 300 and 500 murder-suicide deaths nationally each year of people over the age of 55. The program, which is part of the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute at University of South Florida, has counted 138 elderly murder-suicide deaths in Georgia since 2001, including four this year.”

NY Times: ‘Public Option’ in Health Plan May Be Dropped
“‘The fact of the matter is, there are not the votes in the United States Senate for the public option,’ Mr. Conrad said on ‘Fox News Sunday.’ ‘There never have been. So to continue to chase that rabbit, I think, is just a wasted effort.’”

Anchorage Daily News: “Sullivan’s deadline arrives today for deciding if he will veto the compromise ordinance passed by a 7-4 Assembly vote last week. If he does veto, the Assembly would need an eighth vote to make the ordinance become law over the mayor’s opposition.”

Associated Press: “Idaho’s charter school commission told a Nampa academy late last week that it cannot use the Bible as an instructional text . . . ‘The Bible shouldn’t be singled out for censorship,’ ADF Senior Legal Counsel David Cortman told the Press-Tribune in a prepared statement. ‘Not only is the commission on safe constitutional ground to allow the school to use the Bible as an educational resource, it would be unconstitutional to deny the school the ability to include it as one resource among its many other texts.’”

Kenosha News: “The ACLU of Wisconsin issued a statement on Thursday urging the City Council to reject plans to amend the city’s obscene language ordinance to allow police and firefighters to issue warnings and, if necessary, tickets for profane, vile, filthy or obscene language that is observed by an officer or firefighter while they are in the line of duty.”

First Amendment Center (AP): “A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union against the public school systems in Knoxville and Nashville over access to gay Web sites after a settlement was reached. . . . The ACLU said the two school systems have agreed to stop using filtering software that blocks those sites.”

CNSNews: “At the same time, more Americans nationwide are saying this year that they are conservative than have made that claim in any of the last four years.”

Gallup Analysis

One News Now: “Kansas Attorney General Steve Six is being criticized for not pursuing a lawsuit that was filed against a state law that deals with adult-oriented businesses.”

“For one side . . . Proposition 8 was just the latest example of historical persecution of gays and lesbians based on sexual orientation. The other side says it’s not sure sexual orientation even exists.”

Washington Post: “. . . His fate was already written: Montgomery County says it is illegal to make money from forecasting the future. But Nefedro, who says he is a Gypsy, is determined to change that. He has enlisted the American Civil Liberties Union . . . ”

Religion Clause Blog: “Today’s Cape Cod Times editorializes on a recent 4-0 decision by the Falmouth (MA) Board of Selectmen to allow four local churches to combine to set up a “prayer station” in the parking lot at Old Silver Beach in North Falmouth.”

AP: “Former Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean, a leading figure in the liberal wing of his party, said Monday he doubts there can be meaningful health care reform without a direct government role.”

AP: “Women’s rights activists alleged Monday that Afghan President Hamid Karzai has used a constitutional loophole to enact a law that allows minority Shiite Muslim husbands to refuse food and money to their wives if they deny them sex.”

Kathleen Parker writing in the Washington Post:

When George W. Bush introduced the concept of a faith-based office . . . you’d have thought Bush was trying to install a caliphate. Indeed, most newspaper stories focused on the blurring of church and state.

By contrast, when Obama upgraded and renamed the program . . . Few, if any, headlines questioned whether Obama might be using his faith-based office to advance liberal policies, whereas Bush was under persistent fire for allegedly pushing (horrors) a pro-life agenda.

Parker references the recent Pew Study: Media Coverage of the Faith-Based Initiative in the First Six Months of 2001 and 2009

Jillian Bandes writes at Townhall: “What’s the best way to save the planet? Don’t have kids, say researchers from Oregon State University. ‘Clearly, the potential savings from reduced reproduction are huge compared to the savings that can be achieved by changes in lifestyle,’ the report states . . . ”

Mercury News: “The conflict, which until this summer percolated behind the scenes, went very public in recent weeks when the powerhouse group backing the latest lawsuit against Proposition 8 moved to block the direct involvement of gay rights groups that previously led the charge against gay marriage bans in California and other states. . . . Proposition 8 supporters are watching the feud from the sidelines, although they likewise oppose allowing the gay rights groups into the case, other than to file friend-of-the-court briefs. ‘It appears they’re taking the position that if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em,’ said Brian Raum, attorney for the conservative Alliance Defense Fund.”

OneNewsNow: “Alliance Defense Fund attorney Daniel Blomberg explains that Carrie Kafka’s case dealt with the fact that Christians do not get their free-speech rights taken away — even when the complaint comes from Planned Parenthood. ‘Thankfully, in a situation where the city of Overland Park had decided to prosecute my client [Kafka] for simply offering literature to people who are entering a clinic, the court found that charge was completely without a base and dismissed it,’ says the attorney.”

MLive.com (LifeNews): “A yearlong lawsuit between Wayne State University and a student right-to-life group has been settled . . . The pro-life students contacted the Alliance Defense Fund, a pro-life group that filed a lawsuit against the school and its student fee policy.”

Journal Record: “Haskell County commissioners must pay the attorney fees, costs and expenses of American Civil Liberties Union lawyers in the federal lawsuit over a Ten Commandments monument on the courthouse lawn . . . However, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, which represented the commissioners, has said the U.S. Supreme Court will be asked to hear the case during its next term.”

Idaho Press: “The Idaho Public Charter School Commission told the Nampa Classical Academy today it can’t use the Bible as a instructional text. . . . When asked if the school would seek assistance from the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian advocacy group, regarding the commission’s decision, Borger said he didn’t know.”

The Hill: “If Rep. Betsy Markey (D-Colo.) gets confronted by Tea Party Patriots next week, she’ll counter with a patriot of her own. Markey’s staff will be handing out a copy of George Washington’s ‘Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior’ to everyone at her public events.”

CitizenLink: “Although California’s governor and attorney general are tasked with defending state law, each suggested in separate court filings that the job should be handled by the Alliance Defense Fund. . . . ADF Senior Counsel Brian Raum said his group is happy to help. ‘The governor and the attorney general have taken the position that Prop. 8 is unconstitutional,’ Raum said. ‘It’s only appropriate that the proponents of Prop. 8 defend it in court.’”

Allen Hunt writes at Townhall: “I did not know Thomas Jefferson, and I am no Thomas Jefferson. But Jefferson rightly foresaw that slavery and the question of its morality and expansion would be America’s ‘firebell in the night.’ We are still coming to terms today with the awful legacy of slavery in a free land. However, Islam represents today’s ‘firebell in the night.’ The so-called ‘religion of peace’ stands as a small, but growing, presence in America, and its slowly increasing demands for accommodation have thus far generally met with acquiescence and ignorance.”

Julia Duin writes at the Washington Times: “Throughout the month of Ramadan, which begins Friday, the Cattaneo children won’t have to worry about explaining to teachers and friends why they’re fasting every day. That’s because they’re home-schooled, part of a growing trend among Muslim families.”

National Law Journal: “D.C. Court of Appeals Judge Vanessa Ruiz, who has been aggressively pushed by a number of well-connected Democratic lawyers for promotion to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, is being taken to task for having an excessive backlog of undecided cases.”

KTVB (AP): “The Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Alliance Defense Fund on Wednesday presented the document to the Idaho Public Charter School Commission on behalf of Nampa Classical Academy.”

The July 2009 Marriage Law Digest, edited by Bill Duncan of the Marriage Law Foundation, is now available online at http://www.marriagedebate.com.

This month’s topics include:

• WISCONSIN V. PRYES, 2009 AP2-CR, Wisconsin Court of Appeals District II, June 10, 2009 (challenge to statute distinguishing between married and unmarried sexual relations involving minors).

• EDVALSON V. DICKSON, Case No. 090901288, Utah District Court, Salt Lake County, June 20, 2009) (validity of contract between same-sex partners regarding child visitation).

• SHINEOVICH V. KEMP, A131083, Oregon Court of Appeals, July 15, 2009 (constitutionality of artificial insemination paternity presumption as applied to same-sex couple).

• PALAZZOLO V. MIRE, No. 2008-CA-0075, Louisiana Court of Appeal, Fourth Circuit, January 7, 2009 (visitation dispute involving same-sex couple).

• NICHOLS V. M.J., 2009 SQKB, S09F0132, Queen’s Bench for Saskatchewan, July 17, 2009 (duty of marriage commissioner to perform same-sex wedding despite religious exemption).

• Recent Law Review Articles (topics: California’s Proposition 8, preferential treatment of marriage, evangelicals and same-sex marriage, U.S. Supreme Court marriage decisions, marriage and gay rights, marriage and civil unions).

S. Michael Craven writes at the Center for Christ and Culture: “The day I have long dreaded has finally arrived. My oldest and only son, Tyler, left for the Marine Corps this morning . . . Both Britain and Australia are confronted with ‘Laddism’: Lads are simply Guys with British accents, consuming the same media, engaging in the same sorts of behaviors, and lubricating their activities with the same alcohol. In Italy, they’re called mammonis, or mama’s boys. In Italy ‘a whopping 82 percent of men aged 18–30 are still living at home with their parents’ (Mark Penn, Microtrends, [New York, NY: Hachette Book Group, 2007], 324).”

EdNews.org: “Holding out billions of dollars as a potential windfall, the Obama administration is persuading state after state to rewrite education laws to open the door to more charter schools and expand the use of student test scores for judging teachers.”

EdNews.org: “For example, the director of teacher education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Katherine Merseth, told a conference in March that of the nation’s 1,300 graduate teacher training programs, only about 100 were doing a competent job and ‘the others could be shut down tomorrow.’”

Mercury News: “What looks increasingly likely is that Boxer will be in for the re-election fight of her career. While she has yet to announce her candidacy, all signs point to a run by Republican Carly Fiorina, the charismatic ex-chief of Hewlett-Packard who was ousted from her job in 2005 and last year served as a top surrogate for John McCain’s presidential bid.”

The Sun: “The teacher is expecting six boys and six girls, according to reports. She conceived the tots following fertility treatment, after suffering a number of miscarriages.”

SSRN: “While scholars have begun to debate the meaning of the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Medellin v. Texas for the domestic status of treaties, the decision’s import for other significant questions of foreign relations law has been ignored in the literature. This Article fills that void by exploring Medellin’s significance (a) for treaty and customary international law (CIL) based claims under the Alien Tort Statute, (b) for the hotly debated issue of CIL’s domestic legal status, and (c) for the recent claim that a uniform doctrine governing the domestic status of both treaties and CIL is developing in U.S. foreign relations law.”