Daily Archives: August 16, 2010

“The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit Monday put the brakes on an Aug. 18 implementation date for U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker’s order overthrowing the will of 7 million California voters with regard to marriage.”

Zenit: “A conference at Princeton University will draw together people from opposite sides of the abortion issue to engage in ‘vigorous debate’ and explore ways of bridging the divide. Jennifer Miller, executive director of Bioethics International, who is co-chairing the conference, noted that most of the people who have already registered stand on the pro-choice side.”

Post-Dispatch (St. Louis): “A board member of a Catholic nonprofit organization who was told he could not become board president because he is gay is trying to rally support to modify the group’s rules. Jeffrey Goldone, who has been a vice president on the Society of St. Vincent de Paul of St. Louis board of directors for five years, was nominated for president in May. He accepted the nomination but was dropped from the running several weeks later.”

Yakima Herald-Republic: “The Yakima City Council is expected to set a date of Sept. 7 to hear an appeal from a businessman who was denied an adult business license for a strip club.”

WSIL TV: “Marion is considering a project that could spark some controversy. A local man wants to put a monument in the city square inscribed with the Ten Commandments.”

WSPA: “Monday night, Spartanburg County Council voted 4 to 3 in favor of adopting a prayer policy . . . The new policy says an invocation will continue, however, ‘no person shall proselytize or advance any one faith or disparage any other faith.’”

Inside the Issues with Alan Sears: “If allowed to stand, Judge Walker’s opinion will drastically rewrite all existing understandings of marriage. It states that, ‘Gender no longer forms an essential part of marriage,’ and asserts the U.S. Constitution provides a fundamental right to same-sex ‘marriage.’ In other words, despite the claims of those celebrating this decision, it is not a ruling just to promote ‘equality’ for those who practice homosexual behavior – it’s part of a calculated effort to completely reinvent our most fundamental institution.”

Reuters: “The U.S. Senate’s senior Democrat broke with President Barack Obama on Monday over the proposed Muslim cultural center and mosque in New York City, with Senator Harry Reid saying it should be built elsewhere.”

Sueddeutsche.de [Google translation]: “Papa and Dad buy a guinea pig. The pet store is the price of € 17.95 a discount of 20 percent. How much [muset] Jan’s fathers pay? Similar [word problems could] in [the] future be in Dutch mathematics [textbooks] . . . [This development is] a signal for German school books, says Verena Radkau by Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research in Braunschweig, which has about 170000 works of the world’s largest textbook library.”

Sudwest Presse [Google Translation]: “Contrary to the nationwide rule that same-sex couples can close their partnership only to District Offices, the responsibility was transferred [in] Stuttgart [to] the registry office . . . ‘It is the logical step [toward] the equal treatment of all people,’ says Klaus-Peter Murawski Mayor Administration. It speaks for the liberal attitude of the state capital. ‘There is no reason to treat [these as] different partnerships.’”

Connecticut Post: “After igniting a firestorm of controversy last week, a Christian gospel outreach group, Operation Save America Connecticut, said Friday it is not done preaching the gospel outside a Fairfield Avenue mosque.”

Allgemeine Zeitung [Google Translation]: “Ester Amunyela (21) . . . who last week allegedly initiated the birth of her seven months old fetus and . . . disposed of [the baby] in a garbage can, was [made her case before the] Magistrate Court in Swakopmund. She is on trial for abortion and concealment of birth. Amunyela testified that [she had] requested in a pharmacy a drug to regulate her menstrual disorder. She had been told that [regulation would occur] in the [breaking off] of blood clots. The [abortion] took place at night, it was pitch dark, and [she collected the 'blood clots'] in a bucket of water . . . and disposed of them in the dustbin.”

LifeSiteNews: “President Obama is slated to speak at Louisiana’s Xavier University, a Catholic institution of higher education, to mark the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina August 29 . . . However, a watchdog organization for Catholic higher education, the Cardinal Newman Society (CNS), has criticized the university’s decision to provide a platform for the strongly pro-abortion president.”

“Same-sex weddings in California are on hold indefinitely after a federal appeals court blocked the unions Monday while it considers the constitutionality of the state’s gay marriage ban.”

New York Daily News: UPDATE from our Sam Goldsmith, who’s been following this issue and just got off the phone with Sharif El-Gamal, the developer of the project: ‘That’s complete misinformation. That’s crazy,’ El-Gamal said. ‘That’s totally totally wrong. This is more misinformation in this web of misinformation.’ ‘We’ve never even talked about this as an idea. Everything is on track and moving forward at the same location.’”

Eagle-Tribune: “According to statistics from the Archdiocese of Boston, only 3,727 couples were married in Catholic churches last year, less than half the 8,343 marriages celebrated in 2000. Across the border in New Hampshire, figures from past years weren’t immediately available, but church officials said the 403 weddings celebrated last year in the Diocese of Manchester also represented a steep decline.”

Associated Press: “Target Corp. has decided against giving money to gay-friendly causes to quiet the uproar over a $150,000 donation that helped support a Minnesota governor candidate who opposes gay marriage, a national gay rights group said Monday.”

Religious Freedom Coalition chairman William J. Murray: “I am a personal witness to the double standard of forced Islamic domination in a large part of the world coupled with a demand for special rights fir Muslims that goes beyond tolerance in the United States. President Obama’s statement in favor of a mosque at Ground Zero is in deep contrast to ignoring the plight of St. Nicholas, the only church destroyed on 9-11. It has still not been rebuilt because of government red tape. The President’s jumping enthusiastically on the band wagon of the Ground zero mega-mosque was misplaced and equally ill-timed.”

Liberty Counsel: “The ACLU has allowed the time to expire without filing a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court requesting review of the Ten Commandments case in ACLU v. Grayson County, Kentucky. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling, which upheld the Ten Commandments in the ‘Foundations of American Law and Government Display,’ now stands. Since 2005, this is the fourth time the ACLU has lost a Ten Commandments case and refused to ask the Supreme Court to review the matter.”

Associated Press: “Father Luke Strand at the Holy Family Parish in Fond Du Lac says he has received a cease-and-desist letter from the electronics retailer. At issue is Strand’s black Volkswagen Beetle with door stickers bearing the name ‘God Squad’ in a logo similar to that of Best Buy’s Geek Squad, a group of electronics troubleshooters.” | See the photo here.

Christian Today: “Turkey allowed Christians to hold a rare service at a politically sensitive monastery for the first time since the modern-day country’s creation nearly nine decades ago.”

Breitbart: “The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers has recently granted the pornography industry with a domain dedicated solely to pornographic sites. Analysts are wondering if the same thing will happen in the online gambling industry as well.”

The Money Times: “Parents need not worry about their teenagers’ sex lives as long as the relationship is with the committed romantic partner, findings of a new research suggest . . . Such youngsters perform similar to the ones who abstain from having sex. ‘Females and males who have sex only with romantic partners are generally similar to abstainers on most of the education measures we examined,’ conclude the study authors.”

Breitbart: “Men who earn less than their female partner are more likely to cheat on her, a study published Monday found. Cheating may be a man’s way of trying to restore his gender identity when he feels it is under threat, Christin Munsch, a sociology doctorate candidate at Cornell University, says in the study, which she authored and presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association.”

Michael Foust reports at Baptist Press: “A leading pollster whose company favors liberal causes says most polls on “gay marriage” can’t be trusted because Americans — not wanting to be labeled intolerant — are hesitant to state their position on the issue to a live interviewer . . . Tom Jensen, director of the North Carolina-based Public Policy Polling, says automated polls — that is, polls in which a person does not talk to someone but instead can press buttons on a phone keypad — are more reliable. His company uses automated polling.”

Servicemembers Legal Defense Network: “Victor Fehrenbach’s attorneys have reached an agreement with the Air Force and DOJ. There are three key points: 1) The Secretary (or his designee) cannot reach a discharge decision until after August 27; 2) If the decision is discharge, Fehrenbach will have 21 day notice. He can move forward with an injunction in that time frame. 3) Air Force and DOJ are required to notify the court of their actions.”

ADF’s Weekly Update is on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqWRY3RGuvU.

The Champion Newspaper: “The city of Avondale Estates shut down the Christ Liberty Family Life Center – a church – in April because it didn’t meet the city’s acreage and frontage requirements. Now, the church is fighting back – with a lawsuit . . . The church is also represented locally by Kevin Theriot of the Alliance Defense Fund, which advocates for religious groups and is financially assisting the church’s case against Avondale Estates. City Manager Clai Brown did not immediately return a call for comment.”

NBC 10: “The Cranston school committee will discuss Monday night what to do about a prayer that’s been posted in Cranston West High School for more than 50 years.”

ADF Attorney Kevin Theriot writing at Constituting America: “For the most part, this Paper is relatively straightforward and unremarkable. The subject matter is not particularly complicated. If judges are to be as unbiased as possible, they cannot be tempted to adjust their decisions to conform with the views of the current majority in Congress – lest they have their salary cut . . . Perhaps this willingness to think in terms of decades, centuries, and ages, instead of just the next year or two, is why our form of government has survived relatively unchanged for over 200 years.”

Foundation of Human Understanding v. United States, No. 2009-5129 (Fed. Cir. Aug. 16, 2010) | Google Viewer | The Foundation of Human Understanding (“the Foundation”), which describes itself as “based upon Judeo-Christian beliefs and the doctrine and teachings of its founder, Roy Masters,” challenges a decision of the United States Court of Federal Claims that the Foundation did not qualify as a “church” under section 170(b)(1)(A)(i) of the Internal Revenue Code (“I.R.C.”), 26 U.S.C. § 170(b)(1)(A)(i), for the period from January 1, 1998, through December 31, 2000. We affirm.

LifeNews: “The U.S. Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services has uncovered a consistent problem with New Jersey-based family planning clinics run by the Planned Parenthood abortion business. They were found to be improperly billing Medicaid for services that did not qualify as family planning.”

LifeSiteNews: “A majority of American Hispanics oppose abortion and gay ‘marriage,’ according to a new poll carried out jointly by the Spanish-language television network Univision and the Associated Press . . . Overall, 39 percent of Hispanics said abortion should be mostly legal, while polls of the general population indicate that approximately 46-54% of Americans think abortion should be legal.”

John-Henry Westen writing at LifeSiteNews: “Appearing on The O’Reilly Factor yesterday, famed conservative Fox News host Glenn Beck may have shocked many Americans by noting that he was not very concerned about homosexual ‘marriage.’ See the complete 6 minute interview. . . . The Glenn Beck revelation comes on the heels of two other startling announcements by conservative celebrity pundits in the last couple of weeks.”

LifeSiteNews: “Statistics from the UK’s Department of Health disprove claims made by a Polish abortion lobby group that 10,000 Polish women are coming to Britain to abort their children annually. A researcher for the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) says the claims are nothing more than propaganda in a campaign to loosen abortion restrictions in Poland.”

Jennifer Saranow Schultz writing at The New York Times / Bucks: “Here’s a new option for those worried they’ll end up on the wrong side of the statistics that show so many marriages ending over time: divorce insurance. SafeGuard Guaranty Corp., an insurance start-up based in North Carolina, recently released what it’s billing as the first world’s first divorce insurance product.” | Via Kenneth Anderson at The Volokh Conspiracy.

Associated Press: “New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says it would be ‘a sad day for America’ if opponents successfully kill plans for a mosque proposed near the World Trade Center site.”

Andrew Tobias writing at eQualityGiving.org: “In its first 19 months, the Obama Administration has . . .” Tobias goes on to list 39 examples of the Obama administration’s “progress” on “LGBT equality.”

Thomas More Law Center (includes video): “Throughout history, Muslim conquerors have demonstrated their hatred and disdain for all other religions by purposefully erecting mosques over some of the most sacred and hallowed places of Judaic and Christian worship.”

The Iowa Independent: “Citing a desire to build upon the excitement that has already been generated by state and regional groups, American Atheists announced Monday that they will ‘caucus in the heartland’ when they bring their national convention to Des Moines in April 2011.”

Jonathan H. Adler writing at The Volokh Conspiracy: “I think that the defenders of Proposition 8 do have standing to appeal the decision, just as they had standing to intervene, and that even if they do not, the officials of Imperial County would, and should have been permitted to intervene. Although I generally support a rather narrow view of standing, I largely agree with Michael Dorf that it would be anomalous were state officials able to effectively nullify state ballot initiatives simply by refusing to defend such initiatives in Court. Further, I think the interest of the proposition’s defenders on appeal is equivalent to that of an initiative’s sponsors who could file suit to ensure their initiative appears on the ballot in the first place.”

New York Times: “The story of the tiny St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and its efforts to rebuild after the collapse of the World Trade Center is one of well-intentioned promises that led to endless negotiations, design disputes, delays and mounting costs . . . [T]he church exists only on blueprints. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the agency overseeing reconstruction, has not finalized the exchange of land needed to provide the congregation with a new home near ground zero.”

Haaretz: “Sources in New York said on Monday that Muslim religious and business leaders will announce plans to abandon the project in the next few days.”

Courthouse News Service: “A Roseville shopping mall can’t stop patrons from having peaceful conversations about religion, a California appeals court ruled . . . ‘[T]he rules allow conversation between strangers on matters relating to the Galleria, its tenants, and/or the non-commercial activities sponsored by the mall or its tenants while prohibiting peaceful, consensual, spontaneous conversations between strangers in common areas of the mall on topics unrelated to the activities of the mall,’ Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye wrote.” | Snatchko v. Westfield, LLC, No. C059985 (CA3, Aug. 11, 2010) | Pacific Justice Institute: Appeals Court Slams Mall That Arrested Youth Pastor

Wall Street Journal editorial, “The Mosque of Misunderstanding” (full text via Google News): “[T]he objection here is not about the right to religious free expression. It is about the prudence—and some would say effrontery—of seeking to build a symbol of Islamic faith at the doorstep of a site where terrorists invoking the name of Islam killed 3,000 Americans . . . Mr. Rauf’s insistence in building his mosque at Ground Zero reveals an obstinacy that suggests a desire to make a political, as much as a religious, statement. Other Manhattan sites were and are available for such a project.”

The Hill: “The Hill compiled a list, in alphabetical order, of 25 must-follow feeds for the inside scoop on Congress.”

San Mateo County Daily Journal: “Same-sex marriage may be a win for the heart, but local business hope it also proves to be a boon to the pocketbook when a whole new demographic begins saying I do to flowers, cakes and rings.”

Eureka Alert: “A study by Indiana University researchers found that terminology and efforts to frame an issue — often effective in influencing public opinion — have no effect on public opinion concerning the ongoing debate in the U.S. over legalizing same-sex marriage. Using an experimental approach involving a nationally representative sample, the researchers found that beliefs and values held sway, not rhetoric, such as the use of ‘same-sex couple’ instead of ‘homosexual couple’ or using the term ‘civil rights’ instead of ‘gay rights.’”

The Christian Institute: “Boots is planning to sell the controversial drug, usually sold under the brand name Levonelle, through a new website which enables people to buy certain medications without the need for a prescription.”

Associated Press: “Tired of government inaction, Christians and other religious minorities in Indonesia are pushing back against rising violence by Islamic hard-liners.”

Los Angeles Times / L.A. Now: “The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder’s office in Norwalk will be staying open late Wednesday to accommodate an expected rush in gay marriages.”

Bloomberg: “New York just made breaking up easier to do, passing a no-fault divorce law that stands to reduce long, cutthroat court battles over who’s to blame when marriages fail. The new law permits couples to split without assigning blame for the marriage’s collapse.”

Law.com: “The decision by Congress to strip ACORN and its affiliates of funding in reaction to an embezzlement and mismanagement scandal is not an unconstitutional bill of attainder, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday . . . The panel remanded the case of ACORN v. United States, 09-5172, to Judge Gershon for further proceedings on plaintiffs’ claims under the First Amendment and due process clause.”

Haaretz: “Two prominent Israeli-Arab literary figures yesterday launched Qadita.net, an Arabic-language politics and culture website they say will tackle issues widely considered taboo in the Arabic press.”

Wes Vernon writing at Renew America: “In an interview with this column, Dr. Codevilla makes it clear that — no, he does not merely wring his hands at the very problem of ‘America’s Ruling Class’, he has ideas on how to put our ‘betters’ in their place. Basically, here’s what the professor would say to the arrogant, faceless bureaucrats with ipso facto quasi-legislative or quasi-judicial powers as to how the rest of us are to live our lives: Let the voters decide whether you get to keep your job.”

OneNewsNow: “The African Union has bowed to pressure to promote abortion as a way to deal with maternal deaths . . . Joseph Meaney, director of international coordination for Human Life International (HLI), tells OneNewsNow why the issue should be inspected more deeply. ‘It’s very clear that the African Union is working in lockstep with the International Planned Parenthood Federation — and to a certain extent [with] the United Nations as well — to promote abortion in the context of maternal health,’ the pro-lifer suggests.”

The Christian Post: “The conservative and religious communities are fighting for the right to vote on the issue of same-sex marriage – rather than allowing legislature or the courts to rule on the issue. At the same time, they are also trying to defend their religious liberties. If same-sex marriage was to win out in states across the entire country, Christians would begin to see lawsuits brought against them, warned Bishop Harry Jackson, a pastor from Beltsville, Md., who has been on the frontlines of the marriage debate in Washington.”

Des Moines Register: “Former Gov. Terry Branstad intends to stay out of the debate over whether Iowa voters should oust Iowa Supreme Court justices for legalizing gay marriage. ‘This is a ballot issue, and Governor Branstad believes this is an issue on which people need to decide for themselves,’ spokesman Tim Albrecht said Wednesday. ‘He respects the secret ballot and believes people should vote their conscience.’”

The Boston Globe: “Not every military family has managed to ignore the painful intrusion of picketers from Westboro Baptist Church, who have made headlines around the country by asserting that US military deaths are divine punishment for the country’s sins, including tolerance for homosexuality . . . The case is a classic test of America’s commitment to protect what could be considered offensive speech or acts of expression, such as pornography or a public demonstration by a neo-Nazi group, say observers and participants.”

Investor’s Business Daily: “Americans are doing all they can to reduce their debts and put money away for rainy days, and the federal, state and local governments are doing all they can to pile debts onto our backs, reward borrowing and punish saving . . . Some White House officials and others, not content with the ways government policies already discourage saving, are trying to encourage people to spend more money, arguing it’s needed to grow the economy . . . Federal Reserve statistics disprove that claim. Between 1980 and 1994 the U.S. savings rate averaged 8%. Most of those were heady years for economic growth compared to what we see today.”

FindLaw (AP): “The Supreme Court has upheld a $20,000 fine against a leader of the movement challenging President Barack Obama’s citizenship.”

Religion Clause: “Yesterday’s Charlotte (NC) Observer reports on a new law signed last month by North Carolina’s governor that requires public schools and colleges in the state to adopt rules giving students a minimum of two excused absences each academic year for religious observances required by the student’s faith.”

Associated Press: “Foxhole strip club owner Tommy George says churchgoers with bullhorns have bothered his patrons. New Beginnings Ministries pastor Bill Dunfee calls the strip club a nuisance. They say they’ll negotiate for the first time Wednesday.”

Vikram David Amar writing at FindLaw: “In California, the unfolding gay-marriage episode has showcased this Attorney General autonomy. In the ‘same-sex marriage cases’ in the California Supreme Court in 2008, Attorney General Jerry Brown . . . filed briefs that were different from the Governor on the merits, asserting different, nuanced views of what state equal protection means . . . The Attorney General has declined to defend the state law in [Perry v. Schwarzenegger], and again has gone beyond a ‘clean hands’ approach of abstaining, and instead has formally attacked the law (as he had done in the most recent state court battles). The Governor, who has made a number of separate filings, has declined to weigh in on the merits of the case, saying that he lacks a basis for responding to the plaintiff’s legal arguments . . . Does he agree with the Attorney General’s refusal to defend state law? If so, why doesn’t he make that clear? If not, what is his position?”

Associated Press: “The moonlight practice is tailored for Restum and fellow Muslim teammates who make up a majority of the Fordson High School squad in the large Arab community of Dearborn. It’s a way for the players to practice football and their faith, and balance the fasting common during the 30-day holy month of Ramadan that started last week.”

Associated Press: “Taliban militants in northern Afghanistan stoned a young couple to death for adultery, which a rights group said was the first confirmed use of the punishment here since the hardline Islamist regime was ousted in 2001.”

Associated Press: “A White House spokesman says politics wasn’t a factor in President Barack Obama’s remarks about building a mosque near the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York City.”

WorldNetDaily: “Library ‘policy’ bans the use of the rooms for discussion of ‘religious’ books, according to the complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee by the Alliance Defense Fund. ‘It’s incredibly ironic that discussing a book would be prohibited in a library,’ said ADF Senior Counsel [Nate Kellum] of the complaint filed yesterday. ‘The government cannot discriminate against Christians just because of their religious viewpoint.’”

BosNewsLife: “Two Christian evangelists were free Sunday, August 15, after a court in Tanzania acquitted them of ‘illegal preaching’, trial observers said . . . They were arrested after Muslims invited them to participate in a religious debate at a neutral venue in the Kariakoo area of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s largest city.” | Via Religion Clause.

Dahlia Lithwick writing at Slate: “Kennedy himself has become the Rorschach test, with both sides importing their worst fears onto their assessment of his future vote. Still, it’s the only question anyone’s asking . . . For a bit of deeper insight, I turned to a 2004 paper called ‘The Gay Rights Jurisprudence of Anthony Kennedy,’ by Artemus Ward, a professor of political science at Northern Illinois University . . . [Ward] concludes that Kennedy’s ‘opinions in Romer and Lawrence can be considered precedent to expand gay rights, including gay marriage. At the same time, they could constrain his choices and he could be unwilling to extend his position to more controversial gay rights claims.’ And that’s pretty much the uncertain Kennedy landscape we’ve all come to recognize.”

Associated Press: “The figures underscore China’s emergence as an economic power that is changing everything from the global balance of military and financial power to how cars are designed. It is already the biggest exporter, auto buyer and steel producer, and its global influence is expanding.”

Associated Press: “New York’s Conservative Party is planning a television ad campaign to pressure a New York City utility to use its power to block a proposed mosque near ground zero that the ad says is planned by an ‘un-American’ Muslim leader.”

ChristianWebNews: “ADF Litigation Staff Counsel [Jim Campbell]: ‘The Protectmarriage.com legal team will appeal immediately to the 9th Circuit to stay the trial court’s decision until this case is concluded. This case has just begun, and ADF and the rest of the legal team are confident that the right of Americans to protect marriage in their state constitutions will ultimately be upheld.’”

Oakland Tribune editorial: “It would be a shame if the appeals court did not grant standing to the Alliance Defense Fund, which supports Prop. 8 and was a party that tried the case in Walker’s court. Walker delayed his stay on allowing same-sex marriage only until 5 p.m. Wednesday. If an appeal were denied due to lack of standing, same-sex marriage would be allowed at that time. That is hardly the best way to advance a major social and legal reform.”