Daily Archives: November 4, 2009

Reuters: “Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi said on Wednesday a European Court of Human Rights ruling that called for crucifixes to be removed from Italian classrooms was a nonsensical attempt to deny Europe’s Christian roots.”

Finding Dulcinea: “The ECHR, headquartered in Strasbourg, France, was established in 1959 to supervise enforcement of the European Convention on Human Rights, drafted in 1950 by the Council of Europe . . . Member states [including Italy], by ratifying the Convention and its protocols, have committed to offering their citizens the rights provided by the Convention, and ‘have undertaken to “abide by the final judgments of the Court in any case to which they are parties” (Article 46 paragraph 1, of the European Convention on Human Rights).’”

Pajamas Media: “Like two prize fighters, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Alliance Defense Fund are preparing to go at it as the ACLU begins its annual season of silly lawsuits . . . The Alliance Defense Fund’s prepping a phalanx of attorneys to go to battle has brought a touch of sanity to the annual festival of PC insanity by ensuring that government bodies realize trampling on the rights of citizens out of ACLUaphobia will have consequences.”

NaplesNews.com: “He had expected opposition, a discussion and maybe even a fight. But on Wednesday morning, Naples City Council members gave him exactly what he wanted – another five years in Cambier Park – without any of that.”

ABC News: “For the first time anyone can remember, a religious leader was convicted of disturbing the peace. The bishop was given a 10-day jail sentence, which was suspended, and three years probation — a misdemeanor for ringing church bells.”

Freedom from Religion Foundation: “The company that operates a privately owned parking ramp in Jersey City, N.J., has agreed to stop giving religious discounts to ramp users after the Freedom From Religion Foundation complained on behalf of one of its more than 300 members in New Jersey.”

Freedom from Religion Foundation: “First-graders in a Hondo, Texas, public elementary school will no longer be saying prayers at the direction of their teacher, said the school principal in response to a complaint from the Freedom From Religion Foundation on behalf of one of its Texas members.”

“The court offered no explanation in an order issued Tuesday . . . The group’s attorneys, Richard Esenberg and Michael Dean, issued a statement saying they were disappointed but the they could now bring the suit at the trial court level.”

Washington Post: “Obama nominated Judge Albert Diaz, a North Carolina superior court judge who handles complex business cases, and Judge James Wynn, of North Carolina’s state Court of Appeals, to serve on the federal appeals court.”

ABP: “Russian Baptist leaders have raised concerns about proposed revisions to the nation’s religion law — changes they contend would greatly curtail religious freedom in Russia.”

“As you may know, the R-71 count is very close. As of 11:11pm this morning, our opponents hold a slight lead of 51.03% – 48.97%. Please do not be discouraged by the liberal media folks prematurely pronouncing victory for the other side, ‘cuz this race ain’t over ’til it’s over’.”

Becket Fund: “Today, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty issued an official commentary on proposed IRS regulations which affect the First Amendment rights of religious organizations. The proposed regulations, issued in response to a court decision striking down the IRS’s approval process for auditing churches, do not include any requirement for the IRS to consider the rights of churches under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act or the First Amendment.”

Ms. Magazine: “The ordinance was challenged in 2006 by the Alliance Defense Fund on behalf of Mary Kathryn Brown, a longtime Pittsburgh clinic protestor.”

Boston Globe: “Revere voters turned down a controversial ballot initiative yesterday that would have ended the practice of allowing high school students to get contraception, including condoms and the morning-after pill, at the school’s health clinic.”

ADF Attorney Austin R. Nimocks appeared on NewsTalk WLOB with Ray Richardson and Ted Talbot to discuss the case of a Maine Social Worker whose livelihood has been threatened for defending marriage. Related ADF Media Information page here.

The MP3 runs just under 7 minutes.

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: “Democrats tried to pass a bill Tuesday that would require schools that teach sex education to instruct students about birth control, but Republicans blocked final passage of the measure.”

San Francisco Weekly: “Yet, contrary to common lore,” Josh Sides writes, “nothing in San Francisco’s history determined it to become an internationally renowned bastion of sexual libertinism. Instead, sex radicals created it, despite fierce resistance from several generations of the city’s residents.”

The Register: “British parents can be reassured that a newspaper picture of a man and woman having sex at the base of tree to advertise a film which “Contains strong real sex, bloody violence and self-mutilation” is not pornographic. The Advertising Standards Authority made the ruling after seven complainants turned to it in horror after seeing ads for the film Antichrist which appeared in the Guardian, The Times and the Independent.”

Rob Warlick writing in The Maryland Family Protection Lobby eNews reports:

“The Pregnancy Center Harassment Bill (09-0406), focused only on pro-life pregnancy centers, passed the city’s Judiciary and Legislative committee this past Monday. The bill now moves to second reader before the entire City Council, scheduled for Monday, November 16th.”

CCFON: “The case of a Christian registrar, who claims she was discriminated against by her council employers for refusing to conduct homosexual civil partnerships as a matter of religious conscience, was heard in the Court of Appeal on 2 and 3 November 2009.”

Calgary Herald: “Six members of an antiabortion group that defied University of Calgary officials by refusing to alter a campus billboard campaign depicting dead fetuses will not go to trial on charges of trespassing.”

LifeSiteNews: “Planned Parenthood is suing the state of Missouri in an attempt to keep Missouri’s citizens from voting on a pro-life ballot initiative that would define ‘person,’ as used in certain sections of the Missouri state constitution, to include every human being ‘from the beginning of the biological development of that human being.’”

Boston Globe: “Proponents of same-sex marriage vowed today to continue their fight in Maine a day after voters narrowly shot it down. Opponents of gay marriage said they, too, would keep up their efforts.”

Breitbart Big Hollywood: “Big Hollywood has already posted a couple disturbing videos of young school children singing/speaking praises to President Obama, but when eleven more dropped in our email box it came as quite a shock. What seemed like an aberration now appears to be a troubling pattern. Maybe ‘epidemic’ is a better word. Each one of the videos below is creepier than the last . . . ”

ABC: “On Wednesday, an Illinois medical panel cleared the way for the state to start enforcing the law, which requires parental notification for teenagers who want to have an abortion.”

National Post: “More than 50 years after the words “under God” were inserted into the U.S. pledge of allegiance a new court case could help settle once and for all if those words violate the American tradition of the separation of church and state.”

Christian Science Monitor: “Eight federal judges argue that Congress violated the Constitution when it nixed scheduled judicial pay hikes. They want an appeals court to overturn its own precedent or let the case move to the Supreme Court.”

AP: “An Ohio woman who was implanted with the wrong embryo says she hopes to visit soon with the baby boy she delivered and turned over to his biological parents.”

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: “The case centers on the technical process of amending the constitution and does not hinge on the merits of whether gay couples should be allowed to marry or enter into civil unions. If the court eliminates the constitutional ban, gay marriage would still be illegal because of a state law.”

The Hill: “Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who serves as deputy GOP whip, told The Hill that the number of Republicans supporting the sweeping legislation will be ‘very, very close to zero.’”

Religion Clause Blog: “Forum 18 reported yesterday that in Nagorno-Karabakh, the General Court of First Instance in Stepanakert has upheld the denial of registration under the country’s Religion Law to Jehovah’s Witnesses.”

Mercury News: “With Tuesday’s election, Maine becomes the fifth state to allow dispensaries where marijuana can be distributed to medical patients.”

Dr. Jeff Mirus writes at Catholic Culture: “The proposed law in the District of Columbia that would require institutions to provide the same treatment to same-sex couples as to married couples is just the latest in an apparently endless series of initiatives to enable same-sex individuals to claim the civil benefits of marriage. At the risk of restating the obvious, let me explain again the two simplest reasons why this makes no sense—though much more can be said about the interrelationship between marriage and society than I intend to convey here.”

WorldNetDaily: “‘We agree with the court’s conclusion that the ordinance violated the free speech rights of pro-life advocates by zoning them out of the areas where they have a First Amendment right to speak,’ said David Cortman, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, which argued the case.”

“Senior Legal Counsel Erik Stanley [the 'hate crimes' bill] ‘provides special penalties based on what people think, feel, or believe. ‘ADF has clearly seen the evidence of where ‘hate crimes’ legislation leads when it has been tried around the world . . . ()

Johann Hari writes at the Independent: “The fight to win legal equality for gay people is almost won in Britain – yet the taste of champagne has been tainted by an unexpected dash of blood. In the past few years, gay people have finally begun to exercise the same rights as their straight siblings, yet there has been a sharp surge in violence against us.”

Americans United for Separation of Church and State Press Release: “The issue of church politicking has become more controversial in recent years. The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), a Religious Right legal group, has been urging pastors to violate the “no politicking” rule by endorsing or opposing candidates from the pulpit. The ADF hopes to spark a new test case and challenge federal tax law in court.”

The Human Rights Campaign Backstory Blog has this post and includes to a “Garden State Equality” Video Commercial.

“All but one of Washington’s 39 counties vote by mail and ballots can be postmarked as late as Election Day.”

“Opponents of patenting human gene sequences were handed a rare court victory Monday, when a federal judge refused to dismiss a suit challenging patents for two genes tied to cancers in women.”

Yahoo News (AP): “For the gay rights movement, which has gained a foothold in New England, it was a stinging defeat. Gay marriage has now lost in every state — 31 in all — in which it has been put to a popular vote. Gay-rights activists had hoped to buck that trend in Maine, framing same-sex marriage as a matter of equality for all families in a campaign that used 8,000 volunteers to get out the message.”

Deed of Mistrust?: The Use of Land Transfers to Evade the Establishment Clause
David C. Peet, 59 Am. U. L. Rev. 129 (2009)

“This Comment argues that courts should not adopt a presumption of validity in favor of the government when determining whether land transfers have remedied a violation of the Establishment Clause. The risks of continuing government action through manipulation of property designations necessitate more searching judicial review than the limited presumption test currently provides.”

News & Observer: “The liberal establishment held off a band of businessmen trying to change the town’s course. Two-term councilman Mark Kleinschmidt, a death-penalty defense lawyer and gay rights activist, narrowly defeated colleague Matt Czajkowski to take the reins as mayor. Kleinschmidt had just 49 percent of the vote in the four-person mayoral race.”

AP: “Parker, who would be the first openly gay mayor of Houston, collected nearly 31 percent of the vote Tuesday.”

Detroit Free Press (AP): “Voters in Kalamazoo have approved a measure banning discrimination based on sexual orientation or identity.”