Daily Archives: June 18, 2010

“Ms. Kagan apparently made no public objection to a $20 million gift from a Saudi prince in late 2005, even though Saudi Arabia’s shariah law provided flogging or death as punishment for any individual caught engaging in homosexual activity.”

“The Legislature has given final approval to a bill that denies medical malpractice coverage to doctors when performing ‘elective’ abortions . . . ”

CNN: “A March 1996 document is likely to stir conservative anger. In it, she labeled the Ku Klux Klan and the National Rifle Association as ‘bad guy’ organizations.”

LifeNews: “The Obama administration is again proposing that taxpayers foot the bill for more embryonic stem cell research beyond what President Barack Obama’s executive order has already funded. That’s despite the fact that scientists are no closer to correcting problems with the cells to actually help patients.”

York Dispatch: “About a dozen people attended the Eastern York school board meeting Thursday night to find out why the senior class president was not allowed to read a poem during his commencement speech last Friday. Aaron Mackley wanted to read ‘The Graduate’s Prayer’ by Helen Seiner Rice, but was told he could not because the poem was a prayer, those residents said . . . ”

Business Week: “Medvedev, who has repeatedly called for a supranational currency to match the dollar, said discussions with China are continuing on broadening the global options. Russia sold U.S. Treasuries for a fifth consecutive month in April, the U.S. Treasury Department said June 15. The world may need as many as six reserve currencies, Medvedev said.”

Bloomberg Business Week: “Massachusetts could expect an annual revenue jackpot of up to $460 million by licensing three resort-style casinos in each of three regions of the state, according to an economic report released by the state senate Friday.”

KITV.com: “Lt. Gov. James “Duke” Aiona said on Thursday Gov. Linda Lingle will put the civil unions bill on the veto list Monday when she informs lawmakers about bills she might veto. Aiona said that does not mean the governor will veto the bill . . . ”

Charlotte Observer: “The Charlotte Observer reported Friday that Alcohol Beverage Control officials said the topless dancers are charged with violating a state law that prohibits them from performing nude. The arrests are part of a six-month undercover investigation into eight adult-entertainment clubs in Charlotte. Most of the clubs involved are operated by M.A.L. entertainment, a company owned by Charlotte businessman David “Slim” Baucom . . . ”

Boston Globe: “Filings say Republican Snowe and her husband, former Maine Gov. John McKernan, have assets worth between $12 million and $46 million. The couple’s largest asset is common stock in Education Management Corp. and falls in the category of being worth between $5 million and $25 million.”

LifeSiteNews: “On the last day of their annual meeting, U.S. leaders of Southern Baptists, a Christian denomination boasting 16.16 million members, approved resolutions recommitting themselves to promoting vigorously the institution of marriage and the family in their churches. The Baptist leaders condemned especially the scandal of divorce and legislative attempts to normalize homosexuality in the military and the workplace.”

MSNBC: “Abortion opponents have begun campaigning for an Indiana law that would restrict coverage for the procedure by a state health care exchange created by the federal health care overhaul . . . ”

Forum 18: “Human rights defenders and religious communities are highly concerned about a religious studies textbook introduced earlier this year for teenage school students which, in the words of one local specialist, contains ‘aggressive, sometimes insulting and even offensive’ language about some Kazakh religious communities. Among those telling Forum 18 News Service of their concern are Ahmadi Muslims, Protestant Christians, Hare Krishna devotees and Jehovah’s Witnesses – all of whom have state registration. Even the Culture Ministry’s Religious Affairs Committee expressed some concern over the textbook to Forum 18.”

The Alernative Press: “They also decided to work with Planned Parenthood of Northern New Jersey (PPNNJ) in creating a sexual education class curriculum for these same students . . . One concerned mother explained that she had heard a fourth-grade child ask questions such as, ‘I think it’s weird that moms marry moms,’ and, ‘the teacher told us that babies are made by having sex.’ These statements, along with other sexual comments reportedly heard by fourth-grade students, contributed to the public discourse.”

Breitbart (AP): “The bureau said the material—confiscated during a search of the man’s home—shows children under the age of 14, including babies, being sexually abused. Some of the scenes are violent, it said . . . The man, currently in pretrial detention, is also alleged to have sexually abused two young daughters of a Thai woman who lived with him for a while . . . ”

OneIndia.in: “Currently, President of the Council reads same two-part prayer every sitting day. One part of the prayer is ‘Lord’s Prayer’, a well-known prayer in Christianity, while the other part besides other things, seeks the advancement of ‘the honour of Her Majesty’. Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that in view of increasing diversity of Western Australia, it would be a step in the right direction to open the Council with prayers from various religions/denominations.”

Boston Globe: “The new ‘Choose Life’’ plate, which features an illustration of a woman cradling an infant, becomes one of 18 Massachusetts tags that provide publicity and funding for causes, including breast cancer research, youth hockey, and environmental preservation. They cost drivers $90 every two years.”

NY Daily News: “Public school kids soon should think twice before pulling out their cell phones: The city Education Department is set to ban ‘sexting’ – even on students’ own time. Under proposed new rules, kids face suspensions of up to 90 days for texting each other suggestive pictures or notes, even outside school hours.”

Reuters: “Britain on Friday banned from entering the country an Indian preacher who has expressed radical views about Islam, including some that appear to justify acts of terrorism.”

PR-USA.net: “Today, the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) voted 9-5 to complete its review and updating of social studies educational standards for the state, as scheduled for K-12 courses, except for the Economics standards, which passed by a unanimous vote, 14-0 (one abstention). Additionally, the SBOE, in a bipartisan vote, passed an amendment to the social studies educational standards comparing and contrasting the phrase ‘separation of church and state’ with the Founding Fathers’ reasons to protect religious freedom . . .” (Liberty Legal institute attorneys quoted)

Heritage Foundation Morning Bell: “‘The principal cause of child poverty in the U.S. is the absence of married fathers in the home,’ Robert Rector, senior research fellow in domestic policy studies at The Heritage Foundation, writes in a new paper. ‘Marriage is a powerful weapon in fighting poverty. Being married has the same effect in reducing poverty as adding five to six years to a parent’s education level.’”

Tulsa World: “The City Council voted 6-3 on Thursday to add sexual orientation to the city’s personnel nondiscrimination policy. The action adds sexual orientation to the list of protected classes, which now are race, color, sex, religion, political beliefs, national origin, age, ancestry and disability . . . ”

Forbes: “The ABA filed a brief Monday arguing that Congress’ periodic withholding of the judicial cost-of-living increases has resulted in compensation that is ‘now so low that it seriously compromises the independence that life tenure was intended to ensure, and is insufficient to attract and retain well-qualified jurists from diverse economic and societal backgrounds.’”

Washington Post: “Unlike recent changes to federal personnel policy that apply only to same-sex partners, the changes also apply to opposite-sex domestic partners. The policy change – published in Monday’s Federal Register — is part of reforms ordered last year by President Obama when he extended fringe benefits to the same-sex partners of gay federal workers. Government lawyers concluded that opposite-sex partners did not need to be included in those changes because heterosexual couples may obtain such benefits through marriage.”

The Christian Institute: “A controversial Ofsted report on home education has been slammed by the new Chairman of the influential House of Commons Education Select Committee. Conservative MP Graham Stuart said comments made by Ofsted’s chief inspector Christine Gilbert defending the report were ‘deeply concerning’.”

Christian Today: “According to the Sydney Morning Herald, England striker Wayne Rooney was prevented from sharing more about his faith as he answered a question in an off-camera briefing about why he wears a cross and rosary beads around his neck outside of official matches. Rooney has often been seen sporting the religious items during training.” | Related: Paraguayan priests blast FIFA ban on faith gestures

B-92: “A news conference at the Palace of Serbia announced that the council’s mission is affirming religious freedom and culture, as well as reviewing and interpreting tendencies of public life in the country. . . . Minister of Religion and Chairman of the newly-set Council Bogoljub Šijaković said that the tasks of the body include giving public statements regarding the most important social issues, organizing scientific conferences, panels, round tables, and affirming citizens to practice religious freedoms and contribute to the community by developing their religious identity.”

Fox News: “They’re back. A radical Islamist group critics say has links to Al Qaeda is gearing up to host its second annual U.S. recruiting event. The group, Hizb ut-Tahrir America, which is committed to establishing a caliphate, or international Islamic empire, kicked up controversy in Chicago last year with its first U.S. conference, ‘Fall of Capitalism & Rise of Islam . . . ‘”

LifeSiteNews: “The homosexuals reportedly came on the eve of the ‘World Day Against Homophobia’ in May to kiss each other in front of the cathedral, presumably in protest against the Catholic Church’s 2,000-year-old condemnation of homosexual sex acts.”

Dutch News: “The number of reported deaths by euthanasia rose 13% last year to 2,636, following an increase of 10% in 2008, the NRC reports, quoting figures due to be published at the beginning of July.”

Irish Times: “A spokesman for Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern said he had stated time and again that the Bill has been carefully drafted, on the advice of the Attorney General, to ensure that it does not undermine the constitutional position of marriage. He added that the provision of civil partnership for same-sex couples is a civil rights issue and is supported by all parties in the Oireachtas. Mr Ahern also said there were no proposals to allow a free vote on ‘this important legislation’.” | Full text of the Civil Partnership Bill.

Gary Bauer writes at the Christian Science Monitor: “Anti-abortion advocates have long contended that abortion produces two victims: the unborn child, and his or her mother, who, a mounting body of research affirms, risks physical and emotional injury. But there is evidence that abortion often involves a third victim, one who is typically dismissed when he is acknowledged at all: the child’s father . . . ”

The Christian Institute: “Irish Senators have spoken out strongly against a Civil Partnership Bill which could see registrars sent to prison if they refuse to carry out same-sex civil partnerships. The Irish Bill goes even further than UK legislation on civil partnerships as it lays out fines of up to €2,000 and/or up to a six month jail term for those who flout it.”

Sunshine State News: “Gov. Charlie Crist clarified on Thursday that he thinks judges ought to be allowed to decide on a case by case basis whether gay couples can adopt children rather than continuing a statewide ban, the only one in the nation.”

Suburban Journals: “The Collinsville City Council last week banned advertising from mobile platforms in the city. The ordinance is largely intended to limit so-called ‘stripper-mobiles,’ or trucks with glassed-in portions where half-clothed dancers perform.”

LifeSiteNews: “A court battle is brewing between the Canadian agency in charge of collecting blood donations and an active homosexual that could result in a court decision that removes the ban on homosexuals giving blood. Canada Blood Services (CBS), which collects, screens and ensures the safety of the blood supply, sued homosexual Kyle Freeman last fall after he admitted he lied in the pre-donation screening process and gave blood despite the lifetime ban on men who have sex with men (MSM) giving blood.”

LifeNews: “House Democratic leaders canceled a planned vote for today on the DISCLOSE Act, campaign finance legislation pro-life groups oppose because it would place stringent new limits on their ability to operate. They say the limits would curtail communications on legislation and politicians’ voting records.”

Cincinnati Enquirer: “Thirteen dancers and three managers at the Déjà Vu strip club in Clermont County face charges ranging from prostitution to illegally operating a sexually oriented business as a result of a police raid Thursday.”

Wall Street Journal: “The National Rifle Association is taking fire from its conservative brethren for withdrawing its opposition to a campaign-finance bill in exchange for an exemption . . . ”

Houston Chronicle (AP): “The U.S. Justice Department has sued a San Antonio abortion protester under a little-used federal law that prohibits blocking access to reproductive health services.”

San Antonio Express: Feds sue abortion opponent from S.A.

Huffington Post: “Mosque pray-ins are springing up across the U.S. They’re orchestrated by a group of Muslim women wanting to end gender segregation in nearly two-thirds of American mosques. To get their point across, some of these women are literally walking out from behind the seven-foot barrier separating men and women in some mosques to pray side-by-side men . . .”

“I was asked recently how it is that 60% of weekly church attendees support repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (according to a Gallup Poll from last year). The answer is simple: many pastors rarely if ever address the morality of homosexual behavior (or any other current controversial issues) from the pulpit . . . ”

Thomas More Law Center: “A federal appeals court has granted an emergency motion to allow a pastor to distribute Christian literature to Muslims in Dearborn, Michigan. Pastor George Saeg immigrated to the United States from Sudan — but according to senior attorney Robert Muise of the Thomas More Law Center, he is being denied the very rights that caused him to emigrate . . . ”

NY Times: “In contrast to the Obama vision, the plan here preserves a central role for coal — the dirtiest fossil fuel in terms of emissions of greenhouse gases, but a resource that China has in abundance. And while Mr. Obama voiced goals of addressing climate change and improving national security at the same time, the discussions in China have been focused almost entirely on security issues, people inside and outside the government said . . . ”

TIME: “Israel’s domestic culture war between religious communities and the secular courts took to the streets on Thursday as tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Ashkenazi (European) Jews paralyzed the streets of Jerusalem and the Tel Aviv suburb of Bnei Brak in a protest march. The target of their outrage was the imprisonment of 43 couples for refusing to allow their daughters to attend a religious school where they would have to mix with the daughters of religious Mizrahi Jew . . . ”

ADF attorney Jordan Lorence appears in this Fox 12 Video clip discussing the Proposition 8 Trial. | MP4 49 seconds

ADF Attorney Heather Gebelin Hacker writing at Speak Up Movement / University: “Earlier this year, I posted about a new case we filed against Oregon State University officials because of their censorship of an independent student newspaper on campus. . . . The good news is that after being sued, the university finally relented, changed their policy, and allowed The Liberty to replace their distribution bins on campus, giving them access equal to the other student newspaper on campus. The bad news is that despite the fact that the paper’s distribution bins were banned from most areas of campus for nearly an entire year pursuant to OSU’s policy, the judge found that the students had suffered no constitutional harm and dismissed the case.”

Washington Blade (“lgbtq community news source”): “In a statement, Jim Campbell, an attorney for Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative legal firm working on the case, said defendants would emphasize arguments they made throughout the trial. ‘The team of attorneys defending Proposition 8 will highlight all the reasons why Proposition 8 is constitutional,’ he said. ‘In doing so, they will emphasize the reasons why Proposition 8 is not only rational, but also why preserving marriage as one man and one woman is good social policy.’”

Rasmussen carries this video report full of polls and statistics.

OneNewsNow: “Alliance Defense Fund attorney Joel Oster tells OneNewsNow the Boston Centers for Youth and Families established a policy of refusing to allow groups to use its facilities to express religious speech. . . . ‘[O]ur client used this room for an after-school Bible club, and they also were planning to use it this week for a vacation Bible school,’ Oster explains, ‘but they were told that they cannot have the Bible at vacation Bible school because of the religious content.’ . . . ADF wrote a demand letter outlining the constitutional rights of Calvary Chapel’s ‘Calvary Kidz’ — and the city relented.”

Worthy News: “A Christian is serving 15 years in a Moroccan jail for evangelism, a Christian rights groups said, while American Christian leaders praised Morocco Thursday, June 17, for its “long history of friendship and religious cooperation.” . . . ‘Christians shouldn’t be targeted for deportation simply because of their beliefs,’ said Kiska, who was scheduled to appear before the Human Rights Commission Thursday, June 18. ‘None of the preconditions for lawful deportation under Moroccan law was met by the government officials in this case. ‘It is vital that no precedent be set that will lead to more human rights violations of this sort, where Christian volunteers can be mass expelled simply because they are Christian,’ he said.”

“I was privileged to sit in the San Francisco courtroom of Judge Vaughn Walker on Wednesday, June 16, to hear the final arguments in the California marriage amendment case, Perry v. Schwarzenegger.”

AP: “The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee says the Senate likely will vote in July on confirming Elena Kagan to a seat on the Supreme Court.”

S. Michael Craven writes at The Center for Christ and Culture: “A rather obscure but large and important study conducted by the Swiss government in 1994 and published in 2000 revealed some astonishing facts with regard to the generational transmission of faith and religious values. (The full title of the study is: ‘The demographic characteristics of the linguistic and religious groups in Switzerland’ by Werner Haug and Phillipe Warner of the Federal Statistical Office, Neuchatel. The study appears in Volume 2 of Population Studies No. 31, a book titled The Demographic Characteristics of National Minorities in Certain European States, edited by Werner Haug and others, published by the Council of Europe Directorate General III, Social Cohesion, Strasbourg, January 2000.) In short, the study reveals that ‘It is the religious practice of the father of the family that, above all, determines the future attendance at or absence from church of the children.’”

Bradford Wilcox writes at the Wall Street Journal: “That view ran into some major trouble this month, with the release of the report, ‘My Daddy’s Name is Donor,’ by the Commission on Parenthood’s Future (of which I am a member). The report is the first study to compare a large random sample of 485 young adults (18-45) conceived through donor insemination to 563 young adults conceived the old-fashioned way. The study, which was co-authored by Elizabeth Marquardt, Norval Glenn and Karen Clark, paints a troubling portrait of the children conceived by single mothers who chose donor insemination. Young adults with maverick moms and donor dads report a sense of confusion, loss and distress about their origins and identity, and about their inability to relate to their biological father and to his kin . . . ”

AP: “Ever wish you could rifle through a public figure’s e-mail? Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan’s e-mails are about to go public as part of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s preparations for her confirmation hearings in a little more than a week.”

McClatchy DC: “McCaskill, a first term Democrat, apparently has persuaded enough of her colleagues to back her effort to take the ‘secret’ out of the Senate’s practice of secret holds. If her bill gets to the floor, which is appearing more likely since every Democrat supports it, plus enough Republicans to grease passage, no senator would be able to block on a nomination or a piece of legislation without leaving fingerprints . . . ”

Religion Clause Blog: “AP yesterday reported that the village of Sufferin, New York has settled a RLUIPA lawsuit brought against it by the Department of Justice chllenging the village’s refusal to grant a zoning variance to permit the operation of a ‘Shabbos House’ near Good Samaritan Hospital.”

AP: “A Japanese scientist who created the equivalent of embryonic stem cells from ordinary skin cells has won one of this year’s Kyoto Prizes and will receive a $550,000 prize.”

Fox News: “A Senate Republican is accusing Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan — who protested the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy as an influential dean at Harvard — of remaining silent about the university receiving $20 million from a Middle East country that sanctions the oppression of gays.”

SCOTUS Blog has issued this special report.

“With the support of Sen. Chris Dodd, D.-Conn., the federal government has awarded $54 million to Connecticut’s politically well-connected Mohegan Indian tribe, which operates one of the highest grossing casinos in the U.S.”

Breitbart (AFP): “Dozens of Israeli men were in jail on Friday a day after ultra-Orthodox Jews staged their largest protest in 10 years in support of parents who defied a supreme court ruling on school integration.”

Bloomberg: “Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the U.S. may soon face higher borrowing costs on its swelling debt and called for a ‘tectonic shift’ in fiscal policy to contain borrowing.”

Prakash Shah, Inconvenient Marriages, or What Happens When Ethnic Minorities Marry Trans-Jurisdictionally (June 2010). Utrecht Law Review, Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 17-32, 2010. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1625649

“This article presents evidence of a trend in the practice of British immigration control of denying recognition to marriages which take place trans-jurisdictionally across national and continental boundaries and across different state jurisdictions. The article partly draws on evidence gleaned from the writer’s own experience of being instructed as an expert witness to provide opinions of the validity of such marriages, and partly on evidence from reported cases at different levels of the judicial system. The evidence demonstrates that decision making in this area, whether by officials or judges, often takes place in arbitrary ways, arguably to fulfil wider aims of controlling the immigration of certain population groups whose presence in the UK and Europe is increasingly seen as undesirable. However, and quite apart from the immigration control concerns underlying such actions, the field throws up evidence of the kinds of legal insecurity faced by those whose marriages are solemnized under non-Western legal traditions and calls into question respect for those traditions when they come into contact with Western officialdom.”

Daniel Sperling, Commanding the ‘Be Fruitful and Multiply’ Directive: Reproductive Ethics, Law and Policy in Israel (June 16, 2010). Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, Vol. 19, pp. 363-371, 2010. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1625699

“The article provides an up-to-date overview of reproductive ethics, law and policy in Israel and discusses cultural and social factors explaining the fact that Israel has one of the highest fertility and birth rates in the World, especially within the developed countries. The article concludes with three observations on the future of reproductive law and policy in Israel.”

Adriaan Bedner and Stijn Van Huis, Plurality of Marriage Law and Marriage Registration for Muslims in Indonesia: A Plea for Pragmatism (June 1, 2010). Utrecht Law Review, Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 175-191, June 2010. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1625684 This …

Barbara M. Oomen, Joost Guijt, and Matthias Ploeg, CEDAW, the Bible and the State of the Netherlands: The Struggle Over Orthodox Women’s Political Participation and Their Responses (June 2010). Utrecht Law Review, Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 158-174, June 2010. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1625682

“The case of the SGP essentially concerned the question whether the Netherlands should take measures against a Bible-based political party that bars women from its list of candidates. Against the theoretical background of human rights sociology, the rise of rights as a framework for moral discussions and the role of NGOs in rights implementation, this article assesses how ‘rights talk’, in particular based upon the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), became the language in which the discussion over orthodox women’s political rights came to be framed in the Netherlands. It makes use of extensive quantitative and qualitative data to assess how this particular form of rights realization – via court cases lodged by outside NGOs – impacted upon discussions within the communities concerned, particularly amongst the women themselves. It argues that this particular form of rights realization can also have undesired effects, such as reinforcing more conservative positions and strengthening a general sense of isolation from society and relates these findings to more general discussions on ‘talking rights’ in a context of religious diversity.”

Susan Rutten, Protection of Spouses in Informal Marriages by Human Rights (June 2010). Utrecht Law Review, Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 77-92, June 2010. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1625657

“This article deals with one of the aspects of a pluralistic society: the existence of informal marriages. These are marriages concluded in accordance with religious or cultural traditions that do not comply with the requirements of the formal secular legal order. Two aspects of those marriages will be discussed: primarily, whether and to what extent spouses in informal marriages should be regarded and protected by law as spouses, and secondly, whether spouses who are involuntary kept in their informal marriages should be released by and protected by formal law. With regard to both aspects the question will be raised whether human rights could and should serve as a means to offer spouses of informal marriages their desired protection. From recent case law both from the European Court of Human Rights and the national courts, it becomes clear that human rights have only recently and very cautiously started to demand a role in the informal legal orders.”

Matthijs De Blois, Religious Law Versus Secular Law: The Example of the Get Refusal in Dutch, English and Israeli Law(June 2010). Utrecht Law Review, Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 93-114, June 2010. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1625658

“The tension between religious law and secular law in modern democracies is illustrated in this article by a discussion of the different approaches to the get (a bill of divorce) refusal (based on Jewish law) under Dutch, English and Israeli law. These legal orders share many characteristics, but also display important differences as to the role of religion and religious law in the public realm. The Dutch system is the most secular of the three; it does not recognize a role for religious law within the secular system as such. The English legislation provides for means that to a certain extent facilitate the effectuation of a religious divorce. In Israel, finally, the law of marriage and divorce is as such governed by the religious law of the parties concerned; for the majority of the population that is Jewish law. An evaluation of the different approaches in the framework of human rights law reveals the complexities of the collision of the underlying values in terms of equality, religious freedom and minority rights, also having regard to the diversity of opinions within religious communities.”