Daily Archives: September 9, 2010

The Duke Chronicle: “In a meeting that lasted more than four hours, the Duke Student Government Senate defunded the Duke College Republicans and took the first step toward de-chartering the group on the basis that the club has demonstrated a ‘culture of discrimination’ . . . For senior Justin Robinette, a student affairs senator and former DCR chair who was impeached last Spring allegedly because he is gay, the decision is a move in the right direction . . . The resolution included claims that the DCR violated SOFC rules—such as the responsibility to not be selective in membership—and the Duke Community Standard, non-discrimination and harassment policies and DSG rules.”

Washington Post: “Sarrazin, a board member of the German Central Bank, has divided the nation by postulating the theory that Germany is being ‘dumbed down’ by Muslim immigrants and their children. Wielding statistics and scientific arguments both in his book and in public comments, he delves into territory largely taboo here since the Holocaust, suggesting that ‘hereditary factors’ are at least partly to blame. Turks and Kurdish immigrants, he asserts, are genetically predisposed to lower intelligence than Germans and other ethnic groups, including Jews.”

Christian Post: “A South Korean pastor was indicted Thursday on the charge of violating South Korea’s National Security Law after returning from an unauthorized trip to North Korea . . . South Korea forbids its citizens from making unauthorized trips to the north and supporting Pyongyang’s repressive regime. Han, a pro-unification activist, could face up to seven years in prison if convicted of violating the security law.”

Freedom From Religion Foundation: “On behalf of military members who strongly object to official prayers on board U.S. Navy ships, the Freedom From Religion Foundation has drafted and sent a letter, co-signed by several other groups, to Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus to stop the unconstitutional prayers.” | The letter

“Imam Muhammad Musri tells The Associated Press that what he offered was a meeting among the Rev. Terry Jones, the New York imam planning the Islamic center and himself to talk about the mosque location.”

Philadelphia Inquirer: “For 104 years, the bell at St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church in hilly, blue-collar Manayunk has joyfully summoned the faithful to prayer, celebrated marriages, and marked the ends of wars . . . The Rev. James A. Lyons, pastor of St. John’s, received a warning letter last week from the city Health Department. The missive threatened the 179-year-old church with fines of up to $700 per day if the pealing bell is found to violate the city’s 2006 noise law.”

Tom Strode writing at Baptist Press: “When they resume business, the Senate or House, or both, will have the opportunity to advance not only the lifting of a ban on homosexuals in the armed services but other proposals opposed by pro-life and pro-family advocates. Such measures that could receive votes this fall include the authorization of federal funds for stem cell research that destroys embryos; elimination of a restriction on elective, privately funded abortions in military health-care facilities; solidifying repeal of a ban on government grants for organizations that perform or promote abortions overseas, and legalizing Internet gambling.”

USA Today: “An aging population and the need for more workers have prompted China’s Communist Party to consider relaxing the decades-long ban that restricts most couples to one child, a harsh policy marked by forced abortions, sterilizations and fines for those who have more than one.”

Wall Street Journal: “Donald Trump is offering to buy out one of the major investors in the real estate partnership that controls the site near Ground Zero where a Muslim group wants to build a 13-story Islamic cultural center.” | AP:  NY mosque investor declines Trump’s buyout offer

UCanNews.com: “A Catholic priest has urged Indian religious leaders to help protect girl children following news of a man leaving his newborn in a gutter. ‘Religious leaders, be they Christian, Muslim, Hindu or others,’ must provide their followers ‘with the necessary attitude and courage to save and celebrate the girl child,’ said Jesuit rights activist Father Cedric Prakash.”

CatholicCulture.org: “Mahatma Gandhi University ordered Newman College to reverse the firing of Professor T. J. Joseph, saying that the administration of Newman Collage ‘failed to follow procedures.’ Newman College, a Catholic school, is an affiliate of Mahatma Gandhi University.”

Ocala.com: “Westboro Baptist Church, the small Topeka, Kan., church that pickets funerals of American soldiers to spread its message that God is punishing the country for being tolerant of homosexuals, has vowed to hold a Quran burning if Gainesville’s Dove World Outreach Center calls its off.” | The Hill: AP will not distribute ‘images or audio’ of burning Qurans | Baltimore Sun: Fox News says it will not cover burning of Quran

Family Research Council: “According to Religious Practice and Educational Attainment, a synthesis paper produced by Family Research Council Senior Fellow and Director of the Marriage & Religion Research Institute (MARRI) Dr. Pat Fagan, ‘Education is widely recognized as the way to maintain the well-being of those born into the middle class. It is also a powerful tool to raise individuals out of poverty. If religious practice were to have a significantly positive role in education, then the practice of religion would have profound implications for world economies and societies.’ The paper details both the direct and the indirect effects of religion in the home on educational accomplishment.”

Associated Press: “Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell says the state is suing to overturn the federal suspension of offshore drilling in Arctic Ocean waters.”

Associated Press: “The number of U.S. children being raised by their grandparents rose sharply as the recession began, according to a new analysis of census data. The reasons, while somber, were not all economic.”

“Pastor Terry Jones said Thursday that he decided to cancel his protest because the leader of a planned Islamic Center near ground zero has agreed to move its controversial location. The agreement couldn’t be immediately confirmed.”

“Being a ‘conservative for same-sex marriage’ is now the maximum meme. Which makes the political failure it obscures all the more emblematic. Political evidence past and present renders the advice of men like Mehlman and Schmidt not only suspect but downright foolhardy.”

LifeNews: “Haley Barbour is the latest potential Republican presidential candidate to suggest that social issues like abortion should be taken off the table while making the economy the main focus. Despite the fact that polls show Americans strongly oppose the pro-abortion health care law, Barbour says fiscal issues should take priority.”

At Chronicles, Tom Piatak comments in Social Conservatives to the Back of the Bus Again: “Barbour’s statement follows former GOP chairman Ken Mehlman’s recent announcement that he is gay and is now fundraising to support gay marriage, an effort supported by the manager of John McCain’s presidential campaign, Steve Schmidt. Of course, the legal case for gay marriage is being made by George W. Bush’s solicitor general, Ted Olson. How long will social conservatives continue to play Charlie Brown to the GOP’s Lucy, or will they eventually learn something from the fact that the football is pulled away every time they go to kick it?”

Irish Central: “Father Piero Gheddo, a senior Vatican official said the low European birth rate of indigenous European’s along with the influx of Muslim migrants with large families would mean that Europe would soon be dominated by Islam . . . He said ‘If we consider ourselves a Christian country, we should return to the practice of Christian life, which would also solve the problem of empty cradles.’”

Soeren Kern writing at Hudson New York: “During his recent two-day state visit to Italy, Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi declared that ‘Islam should become the religion of the whole of Europe.’ He also said that Europe’s conversion would become a fait accompli ‘when Turkey becomes a member of the European Union.’ Europeans mostly dismissed Gaddafi’s proselytizing as ‘Islamic propaganda,’ and as a ‘non-solicited provocation lacking seriousness’ . . . Gaddafi’s vision of an Islamicized Europe is closer to becoming a reality than many Europeans are willing to admit . . . ”

Reuters: “German Chancellor Angela Merkel risked angering Muslims by speaking at an awards ceremony on Wednesday for a Dane [Kurt Westergaard] whose cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed provoked sometimes violent protests by Muslims five years ago.”

Via Breitbart.tv

New York Times / Motherlode: “Does [Oxytocin] stimulate bonding in new fathers as it does in new mothers? A new study in the journal Biological Psychiatry, the first to look at what its authors describe as ‘the transition to fatherhood,’ suggests that it does. And it also suggests a biological basis for the fact that men and women so often relate differently to infant and toddlers, with women more often cooing and cuddling and men tickling and tossing.”

Family Research Council: “The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. today allowed the Obama administration to continue funding embryonic stem cell research while the Department of Justice appeals Judge Royce Lamberth’s decision preventing it.”

“The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decided Thursday to suspend a district court’s prohibition on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, allowing the Obama administration to continue with a policy that is in violation of federal law while the court considers additional arguments over suspending the policy.”

ChristianNewsWire: “Christian leaders in Muslim-majority nations, including Pakistan Christian Congress president Nazir Bhatti, have appealed to the small Florida congregation’s leaders not to go ahead with the event. Bhatti said the Quran burning would provide radical Islamists with another excuse to attack already at-risk Christians in Pakistan, Iraq, Egypt and elsewhere.”

ABC News: “Barbara Ann Wilson says she is surrounded by men surfing the Internet for porn who sometimes grope her and perform lewd acts in front of children, according to a federal lawsuit she has filed against her employer -– the Birmingham Public Library in Alabama.”

ADF attorney Erik Stanley appeared on Ramble and Rumble with Rabbi to discuss pastors, pulpits, and politics. | MP3 audio 15:05 mins | ADF pulpit initiative

ADF attorney David French appeared on the Mike Gallagher Show to discuss threats to liberty on campus. | MP3 audio 12:58 mins

HRC Back Story: “This week, we shipped off thousands of postcards, petition signatures and handwritten letters that we have generated during our repeal DADT campaign.”

Winona Daily News: “Winona County employees can no longer stay in hotels that offer pay-per-view pornography, under a policy adopted Tuesday by county commissioners.”

Denver Post: “With the ban on gays serving openly in the military inching closer to repeal, gay soldiers and their advocates scheduled a dinner this November on the Air Force Academy campus, planning to invite the academy’s superintendent and a member of Congress. The two groups sponsoring the event signed a contract and put down a deposit, but the dinner was canceled last month by the academy’s alumni organization, which controls the venue where it was to be held.”

“Because the public image campaign at issue in this case is germane to those constitutionally legitimate purposes, however, we affirm the judgment in favor of the state bar.”

International Women’s Day March Planning Committee v. City of San Antonio, No. 09-50692 (5th Cir. Sept 8, 2010)

“We find that San Antonio is not engaging in content or viewpoint-based discrimination, at least not by waiving fees for the limited number of events under consideration in this case . . . San Antonio’s provision of financial support for certain processions does not demonstrate that it bears any animus against the viewpoints expressed by the plaintiffs in the International Women’s Day Parade or other marches. San Antonio is not singling out disfavored viewpoints for sanction; instead, it is singling out a limited number of favored messages for special treatment . . . ”

Christian Science Monitor: “Soon after the 9/11 attacks, President George Bush made a strategic decision that the United States would embrace an interpretation of Islam as a peaceful religion . . . Those who support a burning of the Koran – as the Dove Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla., has planned to do on this 9/11 anniversary – obviously didn’t get the memo . . . ”

The Tampa Tribune: “The pastor with a plan to torch more than 200 copies of the Quran on Saturday will get a bill from city officials for the cost of policing the event at the Dove World Outreach Center, according to the Gainesville Sun.”

Washington Post: “Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) on Thursday suggested that he would sign a bill supporting gay marriage if reelected and one passed the state’s General Assembly, which has so far been reluctant to do so.”

CNN: “The Muslim community in Gainesville, Florida, has been largely quiet on the hot-button issue of the planned Quran burning on Saturday that has triggered reactions from across the world. They are not staging a massive rally, hesitant to give Pastor Terry Jones any bigger platform than he already has.”

CNSNews: “At the end of fiscal year 1989, which ended eight months after President Reagan left office, the total federal debt held by the public was $2.1907 trillion, according to the Congressional Budget Office. That means all U.S. presidents from George Washington through Ronald Reagan had accumulated only that much publicly held debt on behalf of American taxpayers. That is $335.3 billion less than the $2.5260 trillion that was added to the federal debt held by the public just between Jan. 20, 2009, when President Obama was inaugurated, and Aug. 20, 2010, the 19-month anniversary of Obama’s inauguration.”

Law.com: “A Manhattan judge has ordered the New York City Police Department to shine a light on the hazy legal line separating bondage, domination and sadomasochism from prostitution. In a decision last week, New York County Supreme Court Justice Carol R. Edmead directed the NYPD to provide the Urban Justice Center’s Sex Workers Project with documents regarding police investigations of several Manhattan bondage, domination and sadomasochism clubs between 2006 and 2008.”

KBZK: “Several members of the Big Sky Tea Party Association have resigned after the weekend removal of the group’s president. The association’s board voted to remove president Tim Ravndal after a Facebook exchange appeared to condone violence against homosexuals.”

KDVR (AP): “Relief and skepticism both are greeting Colorado’s next member of the state Supreme Court. Monica Marquez is the first Latina and the first openly gay jurist on the state’s high court.”

Fremont Tribune: “U.S. District Judge Laurie Smith Camp filed documents Tuesday establishing the wording for a question she will submit to the Nebraska Supreme Court regarding Fremont’s illegal immigration ordinance . . . Smith Camp wrote in Tuesday’s filing that if the supreme court determines the ordinance is valid under state law, she will then exercise jurisdiction over the federal questions presented.”

CBC: “A gay Toronto man who concealed his sexual history on a blood donor questionnaire and was sued for negligence by Canadian Blood Services has lost in Ontario Superior Court. In a decision released Thursday, the court sided with CBS in its suit against Kyle Freeman for ‘negligent misrepresentation.’”

New York Times: “A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled that former prisoners of the C.I.A. could not sue over their alleged torture in overseas prisons because such a lawsuit might expose secret government information.” Mohamed v. Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc., No. 08-15693 (9th Cir. Sept. 8, 2010)

E. Christian Brugger, D.Phil, writing at the Culture of Life Foundation: “To be consummative (i.e., to be an act by which the spouses become one flesh), intercourse must be ‘marital.’ To be marital, it must be performed ‘in a human way’ and must be ‘in itself suitable for the procreation of children’ . . . To be performed ‘in a human way,’ requires at a minimum that the performance is not contrary to human freedom . . . Those who contracept aim to render their act of intercourse non-procreative (i.e., unsuitable for the procreation of children). So they intend a non-marital and hence non-consummative act. It follows that should they conceive a child contrary to their intentions, they do so by means of a non-marital act. It is important to see that contraception as a moral act is not defined merely by some physical outcome. Rather, it is defined by what one intends as an end or a means.”

LifeSiteNews: “The Slovenian government is planning to legalize same-sex ‘marriage’ and adoption of children by same-sex couples, according to The Slovenian Civilian Initiative for Family and the Rights of Children (CIFRC).”

LifeSiteNews: “The Catholic Archbishop of Southwark, Peter Smith, met today with anti-Catholic campaigners to ask them to ‘show respect’ to Catholics celebrating Pope Benedict’s visit to London. The first official state visit of a reigning pontiff to the UK, starting September 16, will likely be marred by demonstrations by secularist and homosexualist protesters. Anti-Catholic sentiment has rarely been higher in Britain since the repeal of laws restricting Catholic practice in the mid-19th century.”

The Copenhagen Post: “Copenhagen’s culture and leisure administration has approved the establishment of a culture house where homosexuals, bisexuals and transvestites can feel at home, reports Politiken newspaper.”

LifeSiteNews: “A Paraguayan city council member has drawn the wrath of the homosexualist organization Amnesty International by proposing that discussions of homosexuality be eliminated in the local media during prime time.”

Get Reading: “Labour leadership hopeful Diane Abbott made a pledge to Reading’s gay community on Saturday that she would make ‘genuine gay marriage’ a priority.”

LifeSiteNews: “A bill is advancing silently through the Panamanian legislature that would fine perpetrators between $500 and $5000 dollars for making fun of or speaking ‘disrespectfully’ of a homosexual, according to the Panamanian newspaper Critica.”

LifeNews: “Another state is going after abortion practitioner and abortion business owner Steven Chase Brigham. He operates abortion centers known as American Women’s Services in Voorhees, New Jersey as well as facilities in Pennsylvania and Maryland, where he has also been disciplined for numerous problems. New Jersey authorities yesterday filed the papers required to start the process of potentially suspending Brigham’s medical license.”

Rasmussen Reports: “Heading into the final weeks of the congressional election season, 62% of Likely U.S. Voters believe that no matter how bad things are, Congress can always make them worse. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 19% disagree, with 19% more not sure.”

The Sydney Morning Herald: “A bill giving same-sex couples the right to adopt has been passed by the NSW parliament, after the Legislative Council voted in support of a last-minute amendment to the legislation. The bill passed [46 in favour and 43 against] its final hurdle in the upper house just after 6.30pm (AEST) on Thursday, after MPs backed the lower house amendment.”

Los Angeles Times editorial: “The heated legal and political battle over Proposition 8 might suggest that marriage equality is the last barrier to full participation in society for gays and lesbians. In fact, blatant discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation remains permissible in workplaces across the nation, an injustice Congress must rectify . . . That would change with enactment of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act . . . Democratic leaders in both houses should expedite consideration of the bill as this Congress nears its conclusion. If they don’t, President Obama should press them to act. Gays, lesbians and transgendered employees are still subjected to unequal treatment and harassment. Enacting ENDA is a moral as well as a political imperative.”

“U.S. Appeals court on Thursday delayed a judge’s ban on federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research to consider the merits of the Obama administration’s request for a stay.

KATV: “The trial of two men and their corporation accused of promoting obscene material ended in a not guilty verdict late Friday night at the St. Francis County Courthouse . . . The brothers and J&W Investments, Inc., were charged in November of 2008 with two counts of selling or promoting obscene materials after confidential informants with the sheriff’s department purchased movies from Adult World locations on Hwy. 38 near Interstate 40 at Widener.”

John Stossel writing at Human Events: “Every day, federal, state and local governments stifle small businesses to privilege well-connected incumbent companies. It’s a system of protectionism for influential insiders who don’t want competition. Every locality has its share of business moguls who are cozy with politicians. Together, they use the power of government to keep competition down and prices high.”

ilsussidiaro.net [modified Google translation]: “[He is a Catholic Italian-American lawyer who was an] architect of the defeat of Barack Obama on . . . funding to research on embryonic stem cells . . . [Piero Tozzi] and the Alliance Legal Defense Fund (ADF), an association that has dared to challenge legally the power of the American president . . . [Q.] How did you manage to win this first battle against Obama [in] the difficult field of stem cells? [A.] Like Italy, the law of the United States decided to protect life in its early stages from research that aim to destroy it. The court ruled that the Obama administration, with guidance issued in April 2009 for funding for research using embryonic stem cells derived from human embryos created through in vitro fertilization ‘clearly violated the law.’”

NJ.com: “The state’s top appellate judge will temporarily fill a seat on the state Supreme Court left vacant by a political spat between Gov. Chris Christie and the state’s top Democrat . . . The court has had only six members since May, when Gov. Chris Christie declined to renominate former Justice John Wallace. Wallace would have been able to serve two more years before reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70.”

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: “U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia offered frank advice Wednesday to the hundreds of faculty and students who turned out for the dedication of Ray and Kay Eckstein Hall, Marquette University Law School’s new $85 million building . . . ‘The reality is that the part of your academic career that will have the most lasting impact and that will be remembered after you are long gone is those hours you spent producing a living intellectual legacy in the classroom,’ Scalia said. ‘I hope Marquette will always be a teaching law school.’”

Des Moines Register: “Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor praised Iowa’s merit-selection process for judges Wednesday as the best way to pick fair and impartial jurists. She said Iowa’s current system shields judges from political pressure and money at a time when courts nationwide are under attack.”

“Is polyamory the new gay? That’s what John Ince and the Canadian Polyamory Advocacy Association would have us believe . . . It’s an anything-goes kind of relationship, as long as everyone is a consenting adult, participating in a spirit of love and harmony . . . what Ince and the association want is nothing less than the sweeping legal and social reform that occurred in 1967.”

Associated Press: “A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that Hazleton, Pa., may not enforce its crackdown on illegal immigrants, dealing another blow to 4-year-old regulations that inspired similar measures around the country, including Arizona.” | Lozano v. City of Hazleton, No. 07-3531 (3rd Cir. Sept. 9, 2010) [Google Viewer]

USA Today: “At age 80, O’Connor . . . balances multiple roles as she tries to influence public debate. She says she’s making progress — despite hurdles — on her priorities of civics education and the selection of state judges through merit appointments rather than public elections . . . She also hears more U.S. appeals court cases. (Retired justices have the option to hear and vote on lower-court cases.) . . . She has let her opinion [of the Roberts Court] slip on occasion, complaining last October that some of her decisions were ‘being dismantled’ and lamenting in February a ruling a few weeks earlier allowing greater corporate and union spending in elections.”

Associated Press: “A jury will have to determine whether a man’s failure to disclose $150,000 on federal tax forms was an effort to smuggle money to Muslim fighters in Chechnya or just an oversight by an accountant.”

Associated Press: “The third Mexican mayor in a month was slain by suspected drug gang hitmen on the same day the U.S. secretary of state raised hackles in Mexico by saying the country is ‘looking more and more like Colombia looked 20 years ago.’”

Associated Press: “A blind, self-taught activist lawyer who documented forced abortions and other abuses was released from a Chinese prison Thursday and promptly confined in his rural village with limited access to communication, a relative said.”

WorldNetDaily: “With a court deadline looming in just days, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown have filed court documents to fight demands from the Pacific Justice Institute that the state defend a constitutional amendment defining marriage as being between one man and one woman – only . . . According to Staff Counsel [Jim Campbell] of the Alliance Defense Fund, one of the organizations arguing on behalf of traditional marriage advocates ProtectMarriage.com, the case really has just begun with Walker’s ruling.”

LifeSiteNews: “A federal judge has denied the U.S. Justice Department’s request to stay his order stopping the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) embryo-destroying stem-cell research, dismissing their allegations that scientific research over the past decade would be irreparably harmed . . . The attorneys litigating the case against the NIH are Advocates International, Alliance Defense Fund, and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.”

Edge Boston (Warning: ads advocating homosexual conduct): “Anti-gay groups worried that efforts to promote safe schools and counter bullying say that Christians who believe gays are ‘sinners’ are being sidelined and ‘belittled’ . . . ‘We feel more and more that activists are being deceptive in using anti-bullying rhetoric to introduce their viewpoints, while the viewpoint of Christian students and parents are increasingly belittled,’ [Focus on the Family's] education expert, Candi Cushman, said . . . The Post noted that Cushman had created True Tolerance, a website that purports to help parents ‘respond in a loving and fact-based way’ . . . to ‘homosexual advocacy’ in schools. The site offers materials prepared in conjunction with anti-gay groups the Alliance Defense Fund . . . and Exodus International . . .”

“The planned Koran burning has illuminated liberal hypocrisy.”

AP: “The group of Muslims planning to build a 13-story Islamic center and mosque near ground zero appears plagued by divisions that raise questions about the future of the project, with one major investor saying he is prepared to sell some or all of the site if the price is right.”

AP: “The Tea Party Express is asking supporters to raise $250,000 for its preferred candidate in Delaware’s contentious Senate primary.”