Daily Archives: September 15, 2009

Specter tells AFL-CIO he backs organizing bill

Public Religion Research: First Ever Polls Comparing Conservative and Progressive Religious Activists
Show Divergent Identities and Strategies, Common Commitment to Political Involvement

Faithful, Engaged, and Divergent: A Comparative Portrait of Conservative and Progressive Religious Activists in the 2008 Election and Beyond
Public Religion Research, John C. Green, Robert P. Jones, and Daniel Cox, September 2009

The Hill: “The House passed a ‘resolution of disapproval,’ considered the mildest form of punishment for a member, by a 240-179 vote that fell largely along partisan lines. Seven Republicans voted to rebuke Wilson, while 12 Democrats voted against the measure. (READ THE FULL TEXT HERE)”

KHOU: “A nightclub in Spring had to shut its doors after a judge’s ruling. The judge said D.B. Cooper’s Mansion, located on I-45 near Spring Stuebner Road, is an unlicensed sexually oriented business.”

Bay Windows: “‘We have pending four major pieces of [LGBT] legislation which have a serious chance to pass,’ Frank said Sept. 14 in a phone interview. Those, he noted, are the Matthew Shepard hate crimes bill, attached to a bill authorizing defense spending; the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA); a bill to give equal benefits to the partners of gay federal employees as provided to straight spouses; and a bill to repeal the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” (DADT) policy.”

ABP: “The head of Uzbekistan’s Baptist union and two colleagues face up to three years in prison on charges of tax evasion and teaching children about religion without permission from their parents — a crime in the predominantly Muslim Central Asian country.”

Columbus Dispatch: “Five Republicans joined all Democrats in attendance in backing the measure, 56-38. It now goes to the Senate.”

H.B. 176

NCRegister: “The Catholic Archbishop of Moscow has given a remarkably upbeat assessment of relations with the Orthodox Church, saying unity between Catholics and Orthodox could be achieved ‘within a few months.’”

Boston Globe (AP): “President Barack Obama urged Pennsylvania voters on Tuesday to support the re-election bid of Sen. Arlen Specter in a personal appearance here for the Republican-turned-Democrat who represents an important test of the White House’s political apparatus.”

Baptist Press: “More than 3 million teenagers in 20 countries are expected to participate Sept. 23 in the 19th annual ‘See You At the Pole’ school prayer rally . . . Resources for planning and conducting both emphases are available on the event’s website at www.syatp.com/resources.”

Petoskey News-Review: “A House bill would soon require every school district to teach students more about sex education than just abstinence. The proposal, sponsored by Rep. Alma Wheeler Smith, D-Salem Township, would mandate that public schools teach contraceptive techniques as a method of birth control.”

Press of Atlantic City: “During the Q-and-A, Corzine was asked about gay marriage. He smiled and put his hand to his forehead before answering. ‘I look forward to signing marriage equality legislation,’ Corzine said. ‘I think that will be this year.’”

The Hill: “I urge the Speaker not to bring any legislation to the floor that will repeal DOMA and instead consider my Marriage Protection Amendment so that the American people and their elected officials determine the law of the land – not activist liberal judges.”

The Spectrum: “During a recent pub­lic meeting at the Murray library, [Rep. Lynn Hemingway, D-Salt Lake City] shared his reasons for writing the bill. He states that chang­ing the law to allow teach­ers to educate students on methods of birth control is important because of the rise in sexually transmitted diseases and teen pregnan­cies in the state.”

Blog of the Legal Times: “Congressional leaders today told the Judicial Conference today that increasing judicial salaries is still a ‘serious and pressing issue’ that deserves the attention of Congress even at a time of economic woe for the nation.”

FoxNews: “It’s a new school year, but an old fight is brewing in American classrooms. Teachers and administrators around the country are scratching their heads once again over the Pledge of Allegiance.

The Bilerico Project: “The White House announced Monday that it will nominate Chai Feldblum, LGBT rights scholar and advocate, to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission . . . Jesse Helms is long gone, but the Alliance Defense Fund already has set its sights on Feldblum.”

FoxNews: “Florida authorities’ investigation into a teenager’s claims that her life is in danger for converting from Islam to Christianity found no credible threats to 17-year-old Rifqa Bary, according to a newly unsealed report.”

Proposition 8 and the Right to Marry Blog: “OPM’s proposed regulations would extend long-term care insurance, and certain types of leave, to same-sex partners of federal employees.”

GovernmentExecutive.com: Draft rule opens long-term care, leave programs to domestic partners

Boston Globe (AP): “Operation Rescue has told its supporters it is facing a ‘major financial crisis’ and is very close to shutting down unless emergency help arrives soon.”

Americans United for Life Blog: “As the American public debates the inclusion of a public (or government) option in any health care reform package, NHS’s abject failure to care for premature infants gives us yet another example of how government-run healthcare all too often does not protect or respect life.”

Fox News: “Secretary of state warns that human trafficking is flourishing in the shadows of the global economic downturn.”

Justice Earl Wilson will take up the case of a pastor punished by the Alberta Human Rights Commission for letters-to-the-editor published in a newspaper regarding his Christian views on homosexual behavior.

OneNewsNow: “The U.S. Sentencing Commission is holding meetings about child pornography around the country . . . ‘I think the sentences are good; however, they are very long. And it reflects society’s judgment that people who will take advantage of children for sexual purposes, these people are predators, and you can’t trust them on the streets,’ [Patrick Trueman] points out. ‘You’ve got to lock them away — and for a long time.’”

Friday, the Alabama Supreme Court upheld. . . a state statute that criminalizes, among other things, “knowingly distribut[ing] … any device designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs for any thing of pecuniary value” . . .

Richard L. Hasen writing at Slate Magazine: “Here are three strategies of the moment for avoiding a bad loss, taken from my experience with election law cases . . . 1. Stay out of the Supreme Court, even if you lose in the lower court . . . 2. Try to pick off one of the five conservative justices to issue a narrower opinion . . . 3. Pray the liberal justices on the court can weaken conservative opinions from the inside.”

Capital Times: “Kicking off his re-election bid last June, Gov. Jon Corzine passionately described a vision for New Jersey that includes giving ‘people the freedom to marry whomever they love.’ Corzine’s high-profile embrace of same-sex marriage demonstrates how politicians’ calculations are changing. A growing number see supporting gay rights – slowly also marriage – as a campaign booster.”

Washington Post: “Gay advocates say they plan to use ‘A Census that Reflects America’s Population,’ as the Census Bureau calls its plan to report same-sex marriage statistics, to push for legislative and policy initiatives, while groups opposed to same-sex marriage weigh a counteroffensive.”

Jeffrey Rosen writes at the NY Times: “Likewise, if the Roberts court issues a sweeping 5-to-4 decision in the current case, Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission, striking down longstanding bans on corporate campaign expenditures, it would define John Roberts as indelibly as Miranda defined Earl Warren. And there is no reason for the court to do so: it would be easy for the justices to rule narrowly in the Citizens United case, holding that the corporate-financed political material in question — a documentary called “Hillary: the Movie” — isn’t the kind of campaign ad that federal law was intended to regulate.”

AP: “The first woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court says there’s a serious problem with the government in Washington and many other states: They elect their judges.”

How Appealing links to numerous reports about the nomination of Virginia Supreme Court Justice Barbara Milano Keenan to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Washington Post: “Civil liberties advocates have pressed Obama to keep the promise he made in July 2008 when he told an audience in Zanesville, Ohio: ‘If you get a federal grant, you can’t use that grant money to proselytize to the people you help and you can’t discriminate against them — or against the people you hire — on the basis of their religion.’”

OneNewsNow: “The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit against Mississippi to halt religious messages that are part of abstinence-only sex-education programs.”

AP: “A closer reading of an adoptions law promoted by Uruguay’s gay rights groups suggests it might not enable adoptions by gay and lesbian couples after all.”

OneNewsNow: “A chaplain at a Michigan veterans’ hospital has been invited to return and minister to patients . . . ‘One day back in February he was just summarily thrown out of the hospital because he had a Bible in his hand and he had been meeting with a patient,’ Blomberg explains. ‘And on February 13, he received a letter saying he wasn’t welcome to come back except to receive his own veteran’s benefits because he was a wounded warrior himself.’”

David French, Director of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom, writing at National Review: “With the latest research showing that four in ten college students are binge drinkers, and with the “hookup culture” continuing unabated, it may be time for conservatives to recalibrate their campus critiques. Yes, we should continue to decry (and challenge) speech codes, thought-reform programs, and threats to free association, but we need to challenge with equal vigor the warped alternatives presented by the Tucker Maxes of the world. For conservatives, it would be a hollow victory indeed if we decisively defeated the ideologues only to make the world safe for the Thursday-to-Sunday party circuit.”

Cleveland Plain Dealer: “Even if the Cleveland Catholic Diocese goes ahead with the planned closing of St. James Church, the twin-towered building may be protected. Proposed legislation in Lakewood City Council would prohibit the diocese or any future owner from tearing down the church or gutting its ornate interior.”

Hat tip: Religion Clause Blog

The Jim Pfaff Show: “Colorado Charter Schools were on The Jim Pfaff Show docket on Monday. Today I talked with James Griffin, President of the Colorado League of Charter Schools, about the past, present and future of Charter Schools in Colorado and the surprising support for them from the Obama administration. Two articles for and against Charter Schools appeared in the Denver Post this weekend, and they put a light on this debate which Coloradans need to take note of.”

2theAdvocate.com: “A private citizen paid to have a molded-concrete depiction of tablets bearing the Ten Commandments erected on city property Wednesday, Mayor Harold Rideau said.”

Center for Arizona Policy Press Release: “Center for Arizona Policy will be vigorously working to oppose the lawsuit filed today by Planned Parenthood to challenge Arizona’s new abortion laws.”

azcentral.com LiveWire blog: “The Alliance Defense Fund, an alliance of Christian attorneys, has received a $9.2 million anonymous donation earmarked for the fight against free speech in higher education. The alliance will match the gift, bringing the total to just under $20 million.”

he Big Idea behind learning styles is that kids vary in how they learn: Some learn best by looking (visual learners), some by listening (auditory learners), and some by manipulating things (kinesthetic learners).

NOW: “The National Organization for Women is proud to stand with Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) in support of legislation to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) — a discriminatory law that is deceptive and harmful . . . ”

Google News (AP): “Democratic aides said House leaders were preparing to introduce a resolution of disapproval Tuesday afternoon, with a vote likely later in the day.”

LifeNews: “Sunstein was confirmed by the Senate last week as administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. Now, reports indicate Sunstein holds pro-abortion and pro-human cloning views that are upsetting for the majority of Americans who are pro-life.”

Telegraph: “Both bank credit and the M3 money supply in the United States have been contracting at rates comparable to the onset of the Great Depression since early summer, raising fears of a double-dip recession in 2010 and a slide into debt-deflation.”