Daily Archives: May 28, 2010

Washinton Post: “Kagan was pursuing two courses at once: While staking out a tough stance against the recruiting, because of the military’s ban on gay men and lesbians serving openly, she simultaneously maneuvered to facilitate it behind the scenes. Those watching her up close were divided over whether she was hedging on hard choices or simply trying not to antagonize rival campus factions.”

GLBT Adoption information page at the Office of Children’s Issues, United States Department of State.

“Much work remains to fulfill our Nation’s promise of equal justice under law for LGBT Americans. That is why we must give committed gay couples the same rights and responsibilities afforded to any married couple, and repeal the Defense of Marriage Act . . . ”

Tom Strode write at the Baptist Press: “‘I’ve never known of a better excuse for a filibuster than to stop the Congress of the United States from essentially destroying the greatest military force our nation has ever known.’ said Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission . . . In other developments leading to Thursday’s votes: — The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) sent a letter to all members of Congress Wednesday saying repeal of the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ law does not resolve the religious liberty concerns that have been raised . . . ”

White House Statement on DADT votes: “I have long advocated that we repeal ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’, and I am pleased that both the House of Representatives and the Senate Armed Services Committee took important bipartisan steps toward repeal tonight. Key to successful repeal will be the ongoing Defense Department review, and as such I am grateful that the amendments offered by Representative Patrick Murphy and Senators Joseph Lieberman and Carl Levin that passed today will ensure that the Department of Defense can complete that comprehensive review that will allow our military and their families the opportunity to inform and shape the implementation process. Our military is made up of the best and bravest men and women in our nation, and my greatest honor is leading them as Commander-in-Chief. This legislation will help make our Armed Forces even stronger and more inclusive by allowing gay and lesbian soldiers to serve honestly and with integrity.”

Living in Peru: “The medical protocol for therapeutic abortion, to be used in public health hospitals, may be ready in another two or three months, said the Ministry of Health, Oscar Ugarte.”

LifeNews: “The Oklahoma state legislature will not attempt to override a veto by Governor Brad Henry of a fourth pro-life bill. This measure would have allowed the state to opt out of the massive abortion funding found in the government-run health care bill President Barack Obama signed into law.” | For more information see this ADF Alliance Alert compound tag: http://www.alliancealert.org/tag/state-oklahoma+topic-legislation+topic-abortion/

National Secular Society: “The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg will rule on 30 June on whether to overturn a seven-judge panel’s ruling that crucifixes may not be displayed in Italian classrooms.” | Lautsi v. Italy on Wikipedia.

Reuters: “Defense Secretary Robert Gates sought on Friday to ease concerns among U.S. troops about plans advancing in Congress to end the military’s ban on homosexuals, saying a long, careful review process lay ahead.”

Hartford Courant: “Enfield high school seniors may learn this weekend if a federal judge will allow their two high schools to hold graduation ceremonies in a mega-church that the board of education wants to rent for that purpose . . . ”

Religion and Ethics Newsweekly: “It’s graduation time at the Helping Up Mission, a nondenominational Christian ministry for poor and homeless men in Baltimore. On this day, several men are being recognized for reaching new stages of success in their recovery from drug and alcohol addiction. Helping Up believes that spirituality plays a key role in the recovery process, and it wants those who work there to reflect its values. The ministry relies largely on private donations, but it has received some public funding as well, and that raises a difficult question: If the mission takes government money, should it still be allowed to only hire people who share its religious beliefs?”

CBC: “Quebec’s education ministry is seeking a court injunction to shut down a private Jewish school in Montreal for not maintaining scholastic standards . . . The yeshiva receives no provincial funding and does not hold a permit to teach, which contravenes Quebec’s education law. The province’s education ministry has since 2006 pressured the school to comply with education regulations, after inspections revealed that it was emphasizing religious teachings to the exclusion of secular, provincially-sanctioned core curriculum such as history and geography.”

News 24: “Medical experts were joined on Friday by jurists, religious leaders and politicians in a first major bid to discuss what to do about clandestine abortions and unwanted pregnancies in Morocco.”

Christian Newswire: “Today, attorneys from the Thomas More Society filed an appeal in an effort to vacate the stay Judge Daniel Riley imposed on the implementation of the Illinois Parental Notice of Abortion Act, arguing that there is no legal basis to further delay the law.” | For more information see this ADF Alliance Alert compound tag: http://www.alliancealert.org/tag/state-illinois+topic-abortion+topic-legislation/ | Thomas More Society’s Parental Notice of Abortion in Illinois information page

The ADF Alliance Alert Categorical Email Digest will not be published on Monday, May 31st as we honor those who have sacrificed for our nation. Posts may appear on the website in the event of breaking news. Normal publication will resume on Tuesday, June 1st.

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: “U.S. District Judge Nora Barry Fischer on Thursday granted a request from Mary Kathryn Brown and ordered the city to pay $209,276 in attorney fees and costs, mostly to attorneys from The Alliance Defense Fund, for representing Brown in federal court.”

Greeley Gazette: “The executive director of the Christian Family Alliance and a conservative organization have initiated a lawsuit against Colorado Governor Bill Ritter and Jim Martin, the Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) . . . The lawsuit filed by Mark Hotaling, of the Christian Family Alliance of Colorado and the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), alleges the funding of these operations is in direct violation of the Prohibition Amendment.”

ACLJ Chief Counsel Jordan Sekulow writing at the Huffington Post: “Thirteen year-old Raymond Hosier, a seventh grader at Oneida Middle School in Schenectady, New York, who has never been considered a rabble rouser, recently began wearing a rosary around his neck . . . This school district is not only violating Raymond’s constitutional rights but also impeding his education. As it turns out, Raymond knows a lot more about his constitutional rights than the school’s officials and has decided to fight them in court. Supreme Court precedent and the American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ) are on his side, while the school has taxpayer-funded attorneys on theirs.”

Morgan Holcomb and Mary Patricia, When Your Body is Your Business (April 22, 2010). Washington Law Review, Vol. 84, No. 4, 2010; William Mitchell Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2010-10. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1594348

“Surrogacy in the United States is a multi-million dollar industry in which well paid professionals seek out highly specialized women to fulfill the difficult job of being a surrogate. Surrogates enter lengthy contracts in which they agree, in intricate detail, to provide a service for significant compensation – surrogates are paid well over $22 million dollars a year. This article argues that surrogates are also professionals in this for-profit industry and are required to report surrogacy compensation as income. As a corollary, surrogates may deduct most of their surrogacy related expenses as business deductions. Being a surrogate is a highly personal service and the expenses the surrogate incurs – such as for maternity clothes or medical care – are typically seen as nondeductible personal ones, but when your body is your business, the personal is business.”

The State: “Lawmakers are negotiating a compromise on a bill to extend the waiting period for an abortion from one hour to 24 hours, but they’re running out of time with only four days left in the regular session . . . The House version requires the wait to begin once an ultrasound test is performed and calls for a woman to be informed of the age of the fetus . . . The Senate would have the wait begin after a woman downloads mandated information from a state health website.”

The Pew Forum: “These days, when incense smoke rises at St. Mina Coptic Orthodox Church, it carries with it prayers of thanks from Nashville’s Egyptian community, who lost furniture and carpets to the flood instead of lives . . . In Middle Tennessee, they’ve grown from about 100 in the early 1990s to about 4,000 people today. One small Coptic church grew to four.”

The Underground: “The repeal had been opposed by chaplaincy organizations, many of which supply men for the chaplaincy corps and give official endorsement so they can serve as military chaplains, according to Advancing Religious Liberty (ARL) . . . A statement from the Alliance Defense Fund said, ‘If chaplains with beliefs that contradict the proposed policy are removed from roles that generate conflict, then they, the faith groups they represent, and the service members whose religious beliefs they serve will all be marginalized. The armed forces would effectively establish preferred religions or religious beliefs.’”

TampaBay.com: “The mother of a 16-year-old girl who ran away from home and worked as an adult dancer has filed a lawsuit against the club and a magazine that printed bikini-clad images of her.”

Zenit: “More than 50% of Italian families today do not have children and among those that do, almost half have only one child, the rest have two. Only 5.1% of families have three or more children.”

ADF Attorney Erik Stanley writing at Speak Up Movement / Church: “Over at Dakota Voice, Bob Ellis has an interesting post that details the history of politics from the pulpit in America. Bob does a good job of detailing many of the stories where pastors in American history spoke forcefully and with great conviction from their pulpits about political matters . . . History is replete with examples of churches and pastors speaking freely from their pulpits about the great social and moral issues of our day – including the selection of our national leaders. That all stopped with the passage of the Johnson Amendment through clearly illegitimate means. It is time to turn back the page of history to restore the constitutional rights of pastors and churches as active participants in our culture.”

ADF Attorney Casey Mattox writing at Speak Up Movement / University: “ADF allied attorneys Len Brown, Randy Wenger and Demetrios Stratis (with assistance from many more allies) sent letters to 5 schools – Rutgers, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Westmoreland Community College (PA), Cheyney University (PA), and Delaware State . . . I’m pleased to let you know that while none have been finalized yet, all five schools have acknowledged the need to revise their policies to protect students’ free speech rights.”

Christian Newswire: “Planned Parenthood has put up a fence around public property and threatened to arrest members of the pro-life community who attempt to pray and counsel on the public sidewalk and property. For years, people were allowed to pray, counsel and maintain a pro-life witness on the public property and sidewalk surrounding Planned Parenthood . . . ”

Christian Post: “In a Pentecost letter released by the Anglican Communion News Service Friday, the Archbishop of Canterbury proposed that The Episcopal Church play a lesser role in certain dialogues. He stopped short of asking the U.S. body to leave.”

The Economist: “THE market is not politically correct. It often assigns lower values to humans (their wages) based on their race or sex, even after controlling for education and experience. It’s just as cruel to children. A few years ago I was disturbed to learn that it’s cheaper to adopt black American children than white. I recently had lunch with NYU Stern School economist Allan Collard-Wexler, who has estimated adoption price sensitivity. He found just how much adoption fees are sensitive to the race and gender of a baby. It’s about $8,000 cheaper to adopt a black baby than a white or Hispanic child and girls tend to cost about $2,000 more than boys.”

Hat tip: IMAPP

Irish Examiner: “New data released today by the Central Statistics Office also reveals that 44% of all first births in Ireland in 2007 took place outside marriage.”

Christian Science Monitor: “Kenya’s efforts to pass a new constitution – aimed at preventing a repeat of 2007 ethnic violence – hit another hurdle this week, as judges ruled that it permits an Islamic ‘khadi’ court system that is discriminatory.”

GLAD: “GLAD filed an amended complaint this week in our lawsuit challenging Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), Gill v. OPM. The complaint updates the tax overpayments of three of the plaintiff couples due to their inability to file their federal income tax returns under the status ‘married filing jointly.’ Each couple must instead file as either a single individual or head of household when they have dependent children.”

ACLU: “The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Louisiana today filed an appeal brief in a case challenging the segregation of classes by sex in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana . . . ”

LifeNews: “A Senate committee yesterday approved an amendment to a bill that would turn U.S. military base hospitals into abortion centers.”

Record Gazette: “What is at stake in the Mojave Desert Veterans Memorial Cross case, and the companion Mt. Soledad National Veterans Memorial Cross case (now pending in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeal and is certain to go to the U.S. Supreme Court), is whether 300 million Americans will continue to have the right to choose how they will honor their war dead and other veterans, including by use of the cross or other symbols with a religious aspect; or whether the ACLU or single individuals who claim they are ‘offended’ by the sight of a cross at a veterans memorial will have a veto power over those decisions. Thus, the decision is a great victory for veterans and for Americans’ freedom of choice. Had the court ruled otherwise, there would be a tsunami of Establishment Clause attacks on veterans memorials by the ACLU and others.”

“Rees Lloyd is an attorney and past commander of Banning Post 428 and District 21. He also is director of the Defense of Veterans Memorials Project of the American Legion Department of California and ADF.”

“The 1st Circuit has stayed a lower court’s order compelling the National Organization for Marriage to reveal the identity of donors in the Maine marriage battle.”

LifeNews: “The latest national poll of thousands of Americans from Gallup finds people believe abortion is morally wrong, are split on assisted suicide, and believe research involving the destruction of human embryos is okay. The results show pro-lie advocates have more educational work to do on bioethics issues.”

Gallup: Stem Cell Rearch Polling

At View From the Right, Tim W. writes: “What we’re being told, indirectly, is that homosexuality is a more enlightened form of sexuality. We can’t allow young men to take girls camping because that would lead to pedophilia, but it’s no problem to let homosexual men take boys camping. We can’t let heterosexual males shower or bed down with females in the military. That would lead to sexual harassment, and the ladies would feel uncomfortable that a bunch of lustful guys are seeing them nude. But no one of either sex should have any problem with being in such a situation with a homosexual. Heterosexuals can be barred from situations where sexually improper behavior might result, but homosexuals cannot. Indeed, they have a right not to be barred.”

The American Life League has posted this video on YouTube.

“South Korea’s Constitutional Court has ruled that human embryos left over from fertility treatment are not life forms and can be used for research or destroyed, a court spokesman said Friday . . . ”

LifeNews: “Kansas Governor Mark Parkinson upset pro-life advocates today with a line-item veto of a state budget provision that would cut taxpayer funding of the Planned Parenthood abortion business . . . ”

LifeSiteNews: “One of Italy’s most outspokenly dissenting Catholic priests, Domenico Pezzini, has been arrested for abuse of a male teenaged victim. Pezzini, a 73 year-old priest of the diocese of Lodi, was arrested Monday in Milan. Police also revealed that a large quantity of child pornography had been found after a search of Pezzini’s residence.”

The Christian Institute: “Pro-lifers have won permission for a legal action against Northern Ireland health chiefs in the latest round of a battle against controversial abortion guidance. The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) claims the Department of Health has breached a court order for complete withdrawal of the guidance.”

The Moscow Times: “Gay activists on Thursday vowed to stage a weekend pride parade outside the European Commission’s building in central Moscow despite a court ruling upholding a City Hall ban on the gathering Thursday.” | For more information, see this ADF Alliance Alert compound tag: http://www.alliancealert.org/tag/country-russia+topic-homosexual-agenda/

LifeNews: “The Ohio Senate yesterday passed a bill to end the abuse of the judicial bypass provision in the Ohio parental notification law.” | S.B. 242

Albany Law School | Law of the Land blog: “The Walk in Love for Jesus Christ Church operated as of right in a residential district prior to a change in the zoning ordinance that now requires a special exception permit for religious uses . . . First, with respect to standing, the Court ruled that although the Church was initially incorporated as a charitable and not religious corporation, the Court will focus on the use itself and not the religious nature of the organization. Therefore, since the petitioner proposes to use the premises as a house of worship and to conduct regular services, it is a religious use. The Court then concluded that the Board’s denial was arbitrary and capricious.” | Capriola d/b/a/ Walk in Love for Jesus Christ v. Wright, 2010 WL 2000320 (N.Y.A.D. 2 Dept. 5/18/2010)

NY Daily News: “The state Assembly approved legislation early Friday to more than double the number of charter schools in the state, just in time to apply for up to $700 million in federal Race to the Top Dollars.”

The Christian Institute: “Christians’ views on marriage are being disregarded by a heavy-handed Irish Civil Partnership Bill, a commentator says. Those who refuse to comply with the controversial legislation could be given a six month jail term and a fine of up to €2,000.”

BBC: “The National Secular Society (NSS) believes religion should be separate from government. It is taking the action against Bideford Town Council, claiming the council is breaching human rights.” | For related information on the NSS campaign against council prayers, see this ADF Alliance Alert compound tag: http://www.alliancealert.org/tag/country-united-kingdom+topic-prayer/

Times Online: “Britain will review its aid to Malawi if the Government refuses to free two gay men who were sentenced to 14 years’ hard labour this week . . . ”

Newsweek: “. . . support a filibuster of the defense authorization bill (where the repeal language may be added) when it comes up for a vote, expected to take place late June or early July . . . ”

Keen News Service: “The Senate Judiciary Committee today (Thursday, May 27) recommended the nomination of openly gay Laura Duffy as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California. If confirmed by the full Senate, she would become the second openly lesbian or gay U.S. attorney. Jenny Durkan, the first, was confirmed in September as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington . . . ”

KPTM.com: “A proof of residency policy under consideration by Schuyler Community Schools is drawing criticism from the Nebraska ACLU. The proposal would require students in kindergarten, 4th and 9th grades to provide three, separate proof of residency documents.”

NY Times: “The technician told Laura she was at 11 weeks. ‘Do you want to see your ultrasound?’ she asked. ‘I’d rather not,’ Laura answered promptly. Laura, who asked that her last name not be used, had come to the New Woman All Women Health Care clinic in Birmingham with her mind set on having an abortion. And she felt that seeing the image of her bean-size fetus would only unleash her already hormonal emotions, without changing her mind. ‘It just would have added to the pain of what is already a difficult decision,’ she said later.”

ACLU Press Release: “The Senate Armed Services Committee today voted to include an amendment in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would repeal a ban on using private funds to obtain abortions on military bases. The amendment, offered by Senator Roland Burris (D-IL), would reverse a ban on almost all abortion services at U.S. military hospitals and medical facilities.” | Roland Burris Press Release

Legal Blog Watch reports on Adobes new eSignature service.

Religion Clause Blog: “On Monday, President Obama signed S. 1067, the ‘Lord’s Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act.’ In his Signing Statement . . . The Lord’s Resistance Army is Christian militant group based in northern Uganda . . . ” | Wikipedia: Lord’s Resistance Army

Thomas More Law Center: “A federal lawsuit was filed this afternoon over the refusal of a Detroit-area transportation authority to display an anti-Jihad advertisement on its buses. The ad stated, “Fatwa on your head? Is your family or community threatening you? Leaving Islam? Got questions? Get Answers!” | Complaint: American Freedom Defense Initiative v. Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation

Religion Clause Blog: “An Iowa administrative law judge has held that a fired Catholic school teacher is entitled to unemployment compensation benefits because the school failed to prove misconduct . . . The administrative law judge ruled, however, that the postings “did not involve publicly advocating principles contrary to the teachings of the church and did not involve immoral conduct.”

UKPA: “Major Russian internet hosting companies have signed a declaration on joint policies aimed at fighting child pornography and hate speech.”

SCOTUS Blog: “Political scientists Gregory Caldeira and John Wright have attempted to answer that question.  In a recent paper, entitled Organized Interests Before the Supreme Court:  Setting the Agenda, they have followed up on their influential 1988 article examining the role of amicus briefs in Supreme Court case selection.”

Minnesota Independent: “After pressure from church-state separation groups, House leaders rejected Rep. Michele Bachmann’s amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, which would’ve allowed chaplains to insert their personal religious beliefs into non-religious events.” | Related: [5.27.2010] Proposed Amendment Would Allow Military Chaplains To Close Prayers With Sectarian Language

. . . He pointed out that two-thirds of each new dollar provided to schools is consumed by health care and pension costs . . . ”

Washington Post: “Senior congressional Democrats and the Obama administration scrambled Wednesday to line up support for $23 billion in federal aid to avert an estimated 100,000 or more school layoffs in a brutal year for education budgets coast to coast.”

AP: “Suspected Islamist militants attacked two mosques packed with hundreds of worshippers from a minority sect in eastern Pakistan on Friday, holding hostages and battling police, officials and witnesses said. Some 80 people died, and dozens were wounded in the worst attack ever against the Ahmadi sect . . . ”

The Christian Science Monitor: “The stunning 16th-century fortified convent of Novodevichy, a pearl of Russian architecture nestled in a broad bend of the Moskva River about three miles from the Kremlin, is at the heart of a tense battle . . . ‘Novodevichy is an outstanding historical monument, and it should be left to professionals to preserve it,’ says Alexei Lebedev, with the Institute of Cultural Studies in Moscow, which is run by the Ministry of Culture. ‘This process of “demuseumification” that’s going on now is a sign of serious social illness. The church is not an institution dedicated to preserving the heritage of history and culture, it has a different mission. It’s not going to be their keeper, and that’s a potential tragedy.’”

ADF attorney David Cortman appeared on the Janet Mefferd Show to discuss Idaho’s censorship of the Great Books of Western Civilization in public charter schools. | MP3 13:09 mins

ADF attorney Daniel Blomberg appeared on radio before yesterday’s votes to discuss the impact of the normalization of homosexual behavior in the military on religious freedom. | AFR Focal Point with Bryan Fischer – MP3 25:24 | The Janet Mefferd Show – MP3 17:23 mins

ADF attorney Jeremy Tedesco appeared on KJJZZ’s Here and Now with Steve Goldstein. Tim Keller of the Institute of Justice and Paul Bender of the ASU College of Law also appeared on the program. | MP3 13:06 mins

AP: “A Swiss man fined for nude hiking has won an appeal of the 100-franc ($87) penalty because a court decided that the charge of ‘indecent behavior’ did not apply.”

NCPA Policy Digest: “Arizona lawmakers recently enacted some of the most far-reaching K-12 education reforms in the state’s history. Several of the bills that Gov. Jan Brewer has signed into law are modeled on Florida’s successful reforms implemented a decade ago, says Goldwater vice president of research Matthew Ladner . . . ”

R.J. Snell writes at Public Discourse: ” . . . We know that one specialist of sexuality, the pornographer, causes enormous damage. There is a good reaspn to believe that the other specialist, the sexual clinician and peddler of birth control, causes damage as well, perhaps even facilitating the success of the pornographer. And this damage occurs now, even before contraception has become almost entirely without thought, memory, or act. Already contraception has escaped the domain of rational reflection and deliberation in anything other than the domain of instrumental reason, but at least it still demands some thought, limited though it might be. What happens when our clinicians succeed in their enforced forgetting and we can, as a society, essentially cede our need for reflection and live in blissful forgetfulness that once, long ago, fertility required intelligence, thought, action, deliberation, memory, forbearance, patience, forgiveness, and love?”

DF, which represents MEPs from 11 different nations, argued in a legal memo that a lower chamber’s ruling last year in favor of an “offended” parent who wanted the crosses removed exceeded the European court’s authority over such matters within Italy.

Fox News (see the video): “Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the Guardian Angels and a radio talk show host, staged a one-man protest at the New York Democratic convention on Thursday. He called it a mock coronation of Andrew Cuomo . . . ”

Washington Post: “Senior White House advisers asked former President Bill Clinton to talk to Joe Sestak about whether he was serious about running for Senate, and to feel out whether he’d be open to other alternatives, according to sources familiar with the situation . . . ”