Daily Archives: December 30, 2009

Associated Press: “Medical marijuana patients have a constitutional right to buy pot, not just use it, according to ruling Wednesday by a judge.”

Clay Country Progress: “A draft ordinance to govern adult book stores, peep shows, adult motels and other adult-themed businesses is ready for public comment. It is based on one used in Macon County and permits these establishments provided a license is obtained.”

“We have consolidated for decision two cases presenting the recurring issue of the rights of religious organizations to avoid having to comply with local land-use regulations.”

Ghana News Agency: “Mr Amos Adu Okyere, Official of the Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana (PPAG), has called for increased promotion of condom use to reduce the spread of the HIV/AIDS infection.”

Wall Street Journal: “A Hanoi court on Monday convicted former army officer Tran Anh Kim of ‘carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the people’s administration’ and sentenced him to five-and-a-half years in prison. His ‘crime’ was to post pro-democracy articles on his Web site. The presiding judge dubbed this a ‘violation of national security’ under Article 79 of the penal code.”

LifeNews: “Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion business in the United States, doing 305,310 abortions in its own facilities or just under one-third of all American abortions. But the billion-dollar abortion giant faced a tough year in 2009 as it saw abortion centers close at a higher rate than normal.”

Assyrian International News Agency: “The head of the Eastern Orthodox Church Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople said in an interview on a American television show last week that Turkey’s leaders, including the prime minister, have been unresponsive to concrete concerns he raised about religious inequality in the country.”

The Tampa Tribune: “In a letter to Mayor Pam Iorio and council members, the Freedom From Religion Foundation calls on the city to end the practice of opening council meetings with prayer and argues that council members should not ‘worship on the taxpayers’ dime.’”

“In a letter to Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, lawyers defending Proposition 8 argued that allowing cameras in the federal court trial would violate federal rules and expose their side to threats, intimidation and harassment from gay marriage advocates.”

AP: “Former Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul’s son has officially entered the GOP Senate primary in Kentucky.”

WorldNetDaily: “‘It’s ridiculous that people have to think twice about whether it’s OK to publicly celebrate Christmas,’ ADF Senior Counsel Nate Kellum said about the dispute . . . ‘Banning Christmas displays is clearly out of sync with the beliefs of the American people, common sense, and the Constitution,’ said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Joel Oster. ‘Eradicating the Nativity scene … sends a hostile message to the more than 90 percent of Americans who celebrate Christmas.’”

LA Times: “Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) objected, temporarily halting the confirmation, as part of his opposition to unionizing the TSA, which he believes Obama will push. ”

Julie Hilden writes at Findlaw: “Can a public high school ban its students from wearing T-shirts bearing printed messages, unless those messages support the school or its teams, clubs, or activities? A Texas case raises this interesting question and the high school student who brought that case, Pete Palmer, would like to see the case go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. If the Court does take the case, Palmer should prevail.”

Google News (AFP): “Iranian police said on Wednesday that they are still holding 300 of the 500 “rioters” they arrested at the weekend when opposition supporters staged protests during a Shiite religious commemoration.”

Reuters: “Hundreds of thousands of government supporters rallied across Iran on Wednesday, swearing allegiance to the clerical establishment and accusing opposition leaders of causing unrest in the Islamic state.”

CNSNews: “A bill passed by the Baltimore City Council in November and signed into law on Dec. 4 will require pregnancy resource centers operating within the city to post signs stating what services the facilities do not offer. Signs — to be posted outside the centers — must state that they do not provide or give referrals for abortion or contraceptives.”

San Francisco Chronicle: “Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger filled nine Superior Court judgeships today in San Mateo, Santa Clara and Solano counties.”

The Hill: “Rep. George Radanovich (R-Calif.) is set to announce Tuesday that he will not seek reelection, according to House Republican aide.”

Christian Post: “The Florida pastor who sheltered runaway teen convert Rifqa Bary formally denied Tuesday that he knowingly broke the law to hide the Muslim-turned-Christian girl from Ohio.”

AP: “A study group of government officials and scholars is preparing a report that calls for establishing a legal provision to restrict parental rights as a way to curb child abuses, sources familiar about an outline of the report said Wednesday.”

NewsMax: “Most Catholic Americans wrongly assume that Catholic hospitals are dedicated to fighting abortion. In fact, many of the most important people running those hospital systems, and representing them before government, have spent fortunes supporting some of the most powerful pro-abortion politicians in America.”

UPI: “Residents of Pittsford, N.Y., appear split regarding the decision to quiet a local church’s bells during late night hours, church officials say.”

LifeNews: ‘Sen. Ben Nelson will run a television commercial during a college football bowl game to defend his decision.”

“Obama has granted Interpol the ability to operate within the territorial limits of the United States without being subject to the same constitutional restraints that apply to all domestic law enforcement agencies such as the FBI.”

DelawareOnline.com (AP): “A suburban Philadelphia man already convicted in federal court in a child pornography case pleaded guilty in county court to sexually assaulting four children, including infants. John Jackey Worman . . . ”

OneNewsNow: “Peters conducted a lengthy research project on the problem and discovered that one of the major factors in men seeking children is adult pornography.”

OneNewsNow: “A federal appeals court has backed a Louisiana town in an abortion protest case. The Alliance Defense Fund filed suit against Columbia, Louisiana . . . ‘One of the folks was actually arrested by the police and a whole bunch of other folks were threatened with arrest if they didn’t put away the signs and leave,’ explains Randall Wenger, the attorney who defended the pro-lifers.”

At SCOTUS Blog, Lyle Denniston reviews Frank J. Colucci, Justice Kennedy’s Jurisprudence: The Full and Necessary Meaning of Liberty, University Press of Kansas (Lawrence, Kan., 2009), 186 pp. (cloth), $34.95. Deniston reports: “Few understand him [ie. Justice Kennedy] in the way that virtually everyone can, and does, understand the more accessible philosophy of, say, his colleague, Justice Antonin Scalia . . . Now, the gap in understanding has been at least partly — and nicely – filled, by Frank J. Colucci, an assistant professor of political science at Purdue University-Calumet . . . ”

Religion Clause Blog: “Last week in Office of the State Public Defender v. McMeekin, (MT Sup. Ct., Dec. 23, 2009), the Montana Supreme Court issued a writ of mandamus ordering the jail revise its policy so that attorneys can have face-to-face visits with pretrial detainee clients . . . Apparently no one challenged the suspension of religious activities . . . ”

OneNewsNow: “A Swedish family is faced with the prospect of losing their children simply because they home school . . . Earlier this month, a Swedish court sided with the officials. HSLDA, along with attorneys from the Alliance Defense Fund, will be defending the family.”

Christian Science Monitor: “Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum – a Republican running for governor – says a federal healthcare bill that forces everyone to buy health insurance or pay a penalty could be unconstitutional. If it passes, he is considering a legal challenge.”

Nevada Appeal: “Ron Parraguirre will assume the position of chief justice of the Nevada Supreme Court in 2010.”

AP: “An Ohio school district says a teacher accused of burning the image of a cross on students’ arms also surveyed them about religion.”

The Hill: “The senior Democrat [Sen. Dianne Feinstein] on the Senate intelligence committee wants no more Guantanamo Bay detainees released to Yemen in the wake of a Christmas day terrorist attack hatched in that country . . . In addition, two of the planners behind the Christmas Day bombing plot had been released to Saudi Arabia from Guantanamo Bay in 2007 and ended up rejoining terrorist ranks in Yemen, according to a report by ABC News’s Brian Ross.”

Walter Williams writes at Townhall: “For a president and congressman to shamelessly propose something like the Pre-existing Condition Patient Protection Act demonstrates just how far we’ve gone down the road to perdition. The most tragic thing is that most Americans have no idea that such an act violates every principle of insurance and it’s something that not even yesteryear’s lunatics would have thought up.”

“A group of citizens formed RTAO in July 2008 because they wanted to provide accurate and useful information about then-candidate Barack Obama. Specifically, RTAO wanted to broadcast an ad explaining Obama’s support of abortion. RTAO also planned a website and wanted to distribute a letter in order to raise money for the ad. However, if RTAO had proceeded, it was in danger of an enforcement action and civil and criminal penalties by the Federal Election Commission.”

Con Couglin writes at the Wall Street Journal: “What began as anger over a stolen election has grown into a revolt against Iran’s system of Islamic government.”

Jay Matthews writes at Education News: “Most of the rest of the world has made great strides in improving English language instruction. Just because our mother tongue has become the leading language of international discourse doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be trying to make as many of our citizens as possible bilingual, at least. Mandarin Chinese . . . is taught in only 3 percent of elementary schools and 4 percent of high schools with foreign language programs.”

Same-Sex Divorce Jurisdiction: A Critical Analysis of Chambers v. Ormiston and Why Divorce is an Incident of Marriage That Should Be Uniformly Recognized Throughout the States
Danielle Johnson, 50 Santa Clara L. Rev. 225 (2009)

“First, Part II of this comment will discuss the current state of the law regarding same-sex marriage, the evolution of those laws, and general principles and approaches to marriage recognition. Part III of this comment will introduce the problems posed by the current lack of uniformity, and Part IV will analyze how these problems should be resolved by discussing pertinent cases and use of an “incidental approach” to marriage recognition. Ultimately, this comment proposes that courts should use an incidental approach to marriage recognition when considering a divorce petition in order to avoid unreasonably burdensome, illogical results.”

Behind Closed Doors: Impotence Trials and the Trans-Historical Right to Marital Privacy
Stephanie B. Hoffman, 89 B.U. L. Rev. 1725 (2009)

“Part III analyzes the role that impotence trials play in challenging traditional conceptions of marital privacy. The impotence trial represents what today is an inherently suspect action by the court: an investigation of the marital bedroom. Trans-historical accounts consistently protect the marital bedroom from government or judicial oversight. However, the impotence trial did not just peek into the marital bedroom; it threw the curtain wide open. And the subsequent popular publications invited the public in for a full viewing.”