Daily Archives: September 17, 2010

Baptist Press: “Planned Parenthood recorded nearly 20,000 more abortions and not even half as many adoption referrals in 2008, according to a new report.”

BusinessWeek: “Social pressure for gay parents to raise heterosexual children can cause stress for these families and make it harder for gay children of gay parents to get the support they need, says an expert.”

LifeSiteNews: “A Brazilian pastor is being threatened with ‘legal measures’ by government officials following a sermon condemning the ruling party’s support for decriminalizing abortion, the homosexual agenda, and infanticide committed by indigenous tribes in the Amazon rain forest.”

Borough of Sayreville v. 35 Club, LLC, No. A-3537-08T1 (N.J. Super. App. Div. Sept. 17, 2010)

Daily Chronicle: “A proposal by a campus ministry wishing to create a rooming house for Northern Illinois University students was rejected by the DeKalb Plan Commission.”

Gainesville Sun: “The cost of policing the Dove World Outreach Center for the planned Quran burning that never happened is expected to come to about $100,000 each for the Gainesville Police Department and the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office, officials say. And Gainesville City Manager Russ Blackburn said the city intends to present a bill for the costs to the church’s senior pastor, Terry Jones.”

Eugene Volokh comments: “Except that charging people money for extra policing, because of a fear that thugs would react violently to their speech, is unconstitutional, see Forsyth County v. Nationalist Movement (1992).”

Law.com: “Ave Maria School of Law — a Roman Catholic law school that moved in 2009 from Ann Arbor, Mich. to Naples, Fla. — agreed on Thursday to provide detailed employment data for its graduates to the nonprofit organization.”

International Humanist and Ethical Union: “Famous human rights activist, Board member of the Muslim Canadian Congress and International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) Representative Raheel Raza confronts Tariq Ramadan and the Pakistani Ambassador representing the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-e69vAW0wBg

Dallas Voice: “Attorneys for a gay Dallas man who’s seeking a divorce from his husband filed a motion this week requesting a re-hearing of the case by the full 5th District Court of Appeals.” PDF of the motion is here.

Businessweek: “German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle married his long-time partner Michael Mronz, Bild newspaper reported, without saying where it got the information.”

Guardian: “Two men were facing jail today after being convicted of running an illegal fertility company providing women with access to sperm donors. Nigel Woodforth, 43, ran the operation from the basement of his home in Reading, Berkshire, with 49-year-old Ricky Gage.”

“A federal appeals court has tossed out the lawsuit of a California community college student who claimed that a teacher illegally berated him in class for making a speech opposing same-sex marriage.”

And yet the fundamental questions at stake in Thomas More’s trial continue to present themselves in ever-changing terms as new social conditions emerge. Each generation, as it seeks to advance the common good, must ask anew: what are the requirements that governments may reasonably impose upon citizens, and how far do they extend? By appeal to what authority can moral dilemmas be resolved? These questions take us directly to the ethical foundations of civil discourse.

KULR 8: “The city of Bozeman is expected to adopt a resolution that supports seven gay couples who are suing the state for the same rights as married couples.”

Srdja Trifkovic writing at Chronicles: “Over the past eight years, Prime Minister Rejep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Islamist government and his AKP (Justice and Development Party) have been successful in undermining Mustafa Kemal’s legacy and the character of the state founded upon that legacy. What remained, until last Sunday’s referendum, was an increasingly empty shell of constitutional secularism . . . [O]n September 12 . . . Turkey’s voters approved, by a large margin, a 26-article package which will end the Army’s role as the guardian of secularism. On current form, there is but little doubt that Erdoğan will be reelected with a simple majority when he calls the general election next spring.”

WXII 12: “Religious leaders and local veterans have vowed to raise money to take on any potential legal challenge from the American Civil Liberties Union over the right to fly a Christian flag at a city owned veteran’s memorial in King.”

Related: NC: Christian flag removed from veterans park after ACLU inquiry

The National: “Although there is no federal law against playing music during prayers, the Department of Economic Development can issue fines in individual cases. Penalties include a warning with a follow-up for a first offence, a fine of Dh500 for a second and Dh1,000 for a third.”

ABC: “President Obama today selected Elizabeth Warren, who’s idolized by liberals but loathed by financial executives, to help create the controversial new consumer protection agency she first proposed several years ago . . . The president’s decision, first reported by ABC News’ Jake Tapper, will give Warren an important role in creation of the bureau, but will avoid a confirmation fight in the Senate, a political maneuver that has upset lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle.”

CNN: “According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), the United Nations agency that monitors employment, standards, and social protection issues, there are about 12.3 million victims of human trafficking around the world . . . Several cases have been successfully prosecuted in states, including Georgia and New York, against prostitution rings that operate in the same way. They lure women in Mexico with promises of a good job only to be forced into sexual slavery once here . . . ‘They were brought in with romantic promises, with job promises, young girls, from a certain state of Mexico, brought up, smuggled in, immediately forced into prostitution,’ [Immigration and Customs Enforcement Special Agent Brock Nicholson] said.”

The number of highly distinguished veteran chaplains expressing religious liberty concerns over any dismantling of the military’s policy against openly practiced homosexual behavior has increased with the addition of numerous signatures to a letter to President Barack Obama and Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates. The 66 signers, up from 41 in April, have given a combined total of nearly 1,700 years of U.S. military service.

“Just as Frank and Lisa Murkowski put their own interests ahead of the nation’s eight years ago with nepotism, Lisa will once again put political ambition ahead of love for country.”

Eamonn Butler: “Austrian School economists gave us the ideas of marginal utility, opportunity cost, and the importance of time and ignorance in shaping human choices and the markets, prices and production systems that stem from them. ‘Austrian’ economics has revolutionised our understanding of what money is, why economic booms invariably turn to damaging busts, why government intervention in the economy is a mistake, the importance of time and information in economic decision-making, the crucial role of entrepreneurship, and how much economic policy is just plain wrong.”

“Since marital decline drives up child poverty and welfare dependence, and since the poor aspire to healthy marriage but lack the norms, understanding, and skills to achieve it, it is reasonable for government to take active steps to strengthen marriage. Just as government discourages youth from dropping out of school, it should provide information that will help people to form and maintain healthy marriages and delay childbearing until they are married and economically stable. In particular, clarifying the severe shortcomings of the ‘child first, marriage later’ philosophy to potential parents in lower-income communities should be a priority.”

Ed Kilgore writing at The New Republic: “Perhaps because the national media tend to be secular, we are persistently underestimating the role that abortion plays in right-wing politics. Yet it is key to understanding some of the zealous opposition that caused GOP primary voters to overthrow Mike Castle [in Delaware]. Unless you are an aficionado of conservative blogs, you probably didn’t notice the deep opposition that many on the right were taking to Castle’s pro-choice views . . . Even if . . . many conservative voters now think of climate change legislation as a serious threat to American freedom, it is worth remembering that the [right-to-life] movement considers abortion analogous to the Holocaust, and pro-choice pols to be enablers of monstrous evil–at worst conscious advocates of genocide.” Via In Medias Res.

LifeSiteNews: “The stars of a controversial new TLC television show are gearing up to help change America’s idea of the family, encourage an end to what they call ‘discrimination’ and promote legal acceptance of a new definition of marriage.”

LifeSiteNews: “Pro-life candidates (not all of them Tea Partiers) won big Tuesday night in GOP primaries, putting them in competitive or underdog races against pro-abortion challengers in the upcoming November 2 election especially in New York. Here is a look at some of the political landscape for the pro-life movement in the Empire State.”

LifeNews: “The opinion poll shows a plurality of Americans (47 percent) oppose federal funding of stem cell research that involves destroying human embryos, while only thirty-eight percent (38 percent) support such funding.”

LifeNews: “Appearing at the Values Voters Summit on Friday, former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said he had a pro-life litmus test for political candidates. Without naming them, he took on other potential 2010 Republican presidential candidates who either said social issues need to take a back seat or promoted government-run health care.”

The Volokh Conspiracy: “CNN’s Larry King: ‘There’s no doubt that Pastor Jones, little church in Florida, had the right, he has the right to burn the Quran, doesn’t he?’ Breyer: ‘Yeah, I said it depends on what analogy you use, but the most one analogous case is that there was — you have the right to burn an American flag as a symbol . . .’”

Ilya Somin writing at The Volokh Conspiracy: “[I]n the DC Islamic Center case, the city has not in any required these Muslims to discriminate against women. It has merely protected their property rights, just as it would for any other resident who wanted to order a trespasser off their land . . . A free society must protect private individuals’ rights to make a wide variety of decisions that would be unconstitutional discrimination if made by the government itself.”

AFA / Rightly Concerned: “Christine O’Donnell started a fund-raising push after winning the GOP nomination on Tuesday. Her goal: $50,000. When I checked Wednesday morning, she already had 210% of that goal, according to a nifty graphic on her website. So, like any smart campaign, O’Donnell and co. raised the ante to $200,000…then $350,000…$500,000…$750,000…and now she’s going for a cool million.” Guardian: Christine O’Donnell’s shock Tea Party win puts $1m in war chest

Pat Buchanan writing at Townhall: “To the Republican establishment, tea party people are field hands. Their labors are to be recognized and rewarded, but they are to stay off the porch and not presume to sit at the master’s table. And what O’Donnell did, with her amazing victory, is to imperil that establishment’s return to power. That is why these Republicans went ballistic. O’Donnell’s conservative convictions and Castle’s social liberalism mean nothing to them. They are about power and all that goes with it.”

Mona Charen writing at Townhall: “In a city where only one in four jobs is held by a district resident and 44 percent of the population lacks a high school diploma, education should have been the highest priority. Sure, there are many reasons beyond the schools themselves for the pupils’ sad performance in D.C. But the reforms were working! . . . For most district children, who were just placing a foot on the proverbial ladder of opportunity, the election was a buzz saw — unresisted by the first black president.”

Associated Press: “Appeals court judges deciding whether to release a Guantanamo Bay detainee are asking: If once an al-Qaida member, always an al-Qaida member? . . . Salahi admitted he joined al-Qaida in the early 1990s to oppose communists in Afghanistan. But he says he stopped fighting for the organization before it turned against the United States.”

The Blog of LegalTimes: “Albert Diaz, a nominee for the 4th Circuit, has been waiting longer for Senate confirmation than any other pending appellate nominee. President Barack Obama nominated Diaz, a former military judge now on the North Carolina trial bench, in November 2009. Diaz (pictured above) has awaited a vote since getting the unanimous support of the Senate Judiciary Committee in January.”

The Hill: “House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence (Ind.) put the pressure on national leaders to not write off social conservatives’ concerns, especially if they retake control of the House and/or Senate after this fall’s elections.”

The Washington Post / D.C. Schools Insider: “‘Yesterday’s election results were devastating, devastating,’ Rhee said. ‘Not for me, because I’ll be fine, and not even for Fenty because he’ll be fine, but devastating for the schoolchildren of Washington, D.C.’ . . . she said the takeaway from the D.C. election for education reformers was that it was time to become even more aggressive in the push for measures such as tougher teacher evaluations using test score data and performance-based pay.”

Politico: “The Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins has written to National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn for his plan to stop by a fundraiser for the Log Cabin Republicans next week.”

Gay Politics: “With four incumbents and three newcomers victorious in all-but-determinative Democratic primaries Tuesday night, Maryland is set to join just a handful of states to have been served by seven openly gay or lesbian state legislators in the same legislative session.”

Matthew Cullinan Hoffman writing at LifeSiteNews: [The bill permits] the ‘interruption of pregnancy for any reason before 22 weeks of gestation, beginning from the first day of the last menstruation, and the product of conception has a weight less than 500 grams and a brain cavity height no more than 25 centimeters.’ In addition, the legislation establishes the right to ‘obtain sexual satisfaction according to one’s needs and preferences’ and requires that ‘sexual orientation discrimination’ be eliminated so that ‘the sexual rights of all people must be respected, protected, and exercised in their fullness,’ phrases that Miranda Sáenz warns will be used to create homosexual ‘marriage’ and adoption rights.”

Yaroslav Trofimov, Maria Abi-Habib, and Matthew Rosenberg writing in the Wall Street Journal, “Taliban Threats Dim Outlook for Afghan Poll” [full text via Google News]: “More Afghans are expected to stay away from the polls in Saturday’s parliamentary election than in any vote since the Taliban’s downfall, after a campaign marred by Taliban assassinations of candidates, intimidation of voters and fears of widespread fraud.”

Interfax: “The organizer of Moscow gay pride parades, Nikolay Alexeyev, has said that he was expelled from Russia and that he is currently in Minsk.”

ABA Journal: “TaxProf Blog alluded to new law school rankings by Forbes in an Aug. 19 post, saying the magazine reportedly will rank schools for their ‘return on investment.’ The Northwestern letter, published on the Law School Transparency website, confirms the Forbes survey and says the magazine is seeking information similar to that requested by the transparency group.”

The Daily Beacon: “Renowned Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas will join UT faculty and staff for a lecture and discussion Friday.”

The Augusta Chronicle: “Those who oppose Thomas’ appearance [at the dedication of Augusta's new Judicial Center and Judge John H. Ruffin Jr. Courthouse] cite his position on affirmative action, which he opposes. They say the man whom the new courthouse will be named after, the late Judge John H. Ruffin Jr., would oppose Thomas’ appearance at the dedication . . . It’s time to stop shunning the man because he’s a black conservative. Blacks fought too hard and too long for the right to have a seat at the lunch counter to deny one of their own a seat of power because he believes differently than others.”

St. Petersburg Times: “For the record, Hafeez, 26, is a Muslim of Pakistani descent. He moved to Florida when he was 3 years old with his parents, both physicians, who were born in Pakistan . . . Hafeez, a Democrat, has downplayed his religion for most of his campaign. But that changed last week, when it seemed to Hafeez that a terrifying wave of Islamophobia was sweeping America.”

Lex 18: “The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Kentucky have agreed to represent Khadar Ahmed, a resident of Mayfield, Kentucky, who was denied a permit last month by the Mayfield Board of Zoning Adjustment to operate a Muslim worship center in the town’s central business district.”

The Oklahoman (AP): “The New Hampshire Supreme Court has denied a sex offender’s request that he be allowed to go to church with a chaperone.” New Hampshire v. Perfetto, No. 2009-647 (N.H. Sept. 17, 2010)

The Murfreesboro Post: “Supporters of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro’s right to build had their say at Thursday’s meeting of the Rutherford County Commission as opponents filed a lawsuit to stop it.”

James Taranto writing in The Wall Street Journal: “The real problem here is that the liberal elite has responded to 9/11 in a totally inappropriate way. When the only tool you have is a hammer, the cliché goes, every problem looks like a nail. To American liberals, every problem looks like the civil rights struggle, the original one of which was their last real moral, cultural and governmental success. That is why the liberal elite sees 9/11 less as a national security challenge than as an imperative for a kind of affirmative action aimed at ensuring that ‘inclusiveness’ extends to Muslims . . . But whereas white Americans collectively had a great deal to atone for in their historical treatment of blacks, it is perverse and offensive to suggest that 9/11 leaves Americans with an obligation to atone to Muslims.”

“The liberal belief in Progress causes liberals to view any expression of what they regard as retrograde opinion to be a threat to the very foundations of their worldview. When such opinions begin to gain popular support, they raise the specter that History might be stopped in its benevolent course or even reversed.”

ADF attorney Matt Bowman appeared on KFUO Radio with Roland Lettner to discuss federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.  | MP3 audio 23:07 mins | Related ADF Media information

ADF attorney David French appeared on the Janet Mefferd Show to discuss defending faith on campus. | MP3 audio 18:50 mins | Speak Up Movement: Universities

ADF attorney Jeremy Tedesco appeared on The Mary Reichard Show on 1340 Ozarks to discuss freedom on campus. | MP3 audio 17:54 mins

Religion Clause: “On Monday, New York Governor David Patterson singed into law the Dignity for All Students Act. The new law prohibits bullying of students by other students or school employees, as well as discrimination against students, taking place on school property or at a school function when the bullying or discrimination is based on the victim’s actual or perceived race, color, weight, national origin, ethnic group, religion, religious practice, disability, sexual orientation, gender or sex.”

Ed Meese writing at The Heritage Foundation / The Foundry: “There are two different warring camps within our society, and the ongoing battle between those camps has been graphically illustrated in recent primary elections and by the vicious fight over the nationalization of our healthcare system. On one side are those of us, including the members of the Tea Party movement, who work hard to support their families, who love their country, and who understand and revere a document that has stood firm for 223 years to guide us . . . That other camp is made up of politicians who recognize no limits on their power, their liberal activist allies in the judiciary, and members of the media, Hollywood, and academia, who have been stretching, bending, and chipping away at the Constitution for decades.”

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) writing at The Hill: “Let’s be clear: I oppose repeal of the policy and have voted that way in the House. But at a minimum, before the Democratic-controlled Congress launches their latest social policy experiment, we should wait to hear the opinions of our military and their families. That is what the Secretary of Defense and our top military leaders have requested, and we owe it to them to see the process through.”

The Hill: “Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) does not plan to finish the defense authorization bill until after the election, freeing Democrats to debate taxes before Nov. 2. Reid has told colleagues he plans to take up the authorization bill and consider an amendment to add the DREAM Act, which allows certain children of illegal immigrants who come to the U.S. before the age of 16 a path to citizenship. Reid has also said Republicans would have a chance to vote to strike a provision from the authorization bill that would repeal the ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy, which bars gays from serving openly in the military.”

The Hill: “Republicans will not sign the new ‘Contract with America,’ and GOP candidates won’t be invited to the document’s unveiling, unlike in 1994 . . . because the new Contract is being pushed as a governing effort rather than an electoral one . . . Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who is playing a leading role in the formulation of the Contract, said, ‘This is a government document. We’re writing these bills now. Candidates are out campaigning. This is about legislation — doing it right now.’”

FRC Action: “Today (Friday) and Saturday, September 17-18, beginning at 8:00 a.m. ET, FRC Action is partnering with our friends the American Family Association (AFA) for a live webcast from the 2010 Values Voter Summit. The FREE webcast will feature all the action from the ballroom of the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C. Watch live as our stellar lineup of speakers address the critical issues facing our country today.”

Associated Press: “A security expert and China hawk, Japan’s new foreign minister has already taken a tough stance toward Beijing amid escalating diplomatic tension over a territorial dispute between the two Asian giants.”

Associated Press: “Gangs torched vehicles and a shop in Pakistan’s largest city on Friday after a senior politician from the local ruling party was stabbed to death in London.”

“But this is what conservatism is, in the end: The belief that there’s more to a flourishing society than just the claims of autonomous individuals, the conviction that existing prohibitions and taboos may have a purpose that escapes the liberal mind, the sense that cultural ideals can be as important to human affairs as constitutional rights.”

Guardian: “Speaking at St Mary’s University College in Strawberry Hill, south-west London, Benedict told an audience of religious leaders from different faiths that the human and natural sciences provided us with an ‘invaluable understanding’ of aspects of our existence. But he said science could not satisfy the ‘fundamental’ question about why we exist. ‘They cannot satisfy the deepest longings of the human heart, they cannot fully explain to us our origin and our destiny, why and for what purpose we exist, nor indeed can they provide us with an exhaustive answer to the question “Why is there something rather than nothing?”‘”

Wall Street Journal: “The downturn that some have dubbed the ‘Great Recession’ has trimmed the typical household’s income significantly, new Census data show, following years of stagnant wage growth that made the past decade the worst for American families in at least half a century.”

Spiegel Online: “The dramatic ascent of the Tea Party continued in America this week, with the conservative movement scoring another surprise victory in the Republican primary in Delaware. German editorialists digested the news on Thursday and warned that both Republicans and Democrats were right to feel uneasy.”

Breitbart (AFP): “‘Wall Street is, in my view, a bunch of greedy people who control a lot of money with large investment companies who can manipulate the market,’ he says. ‘I don’t have that ability, I am at the mercy of these people and with their automatic trading and the other things they can take advantage of, I don’t know what can happen to the market because, you know, it can happen in milliseconds with the automatic trading,’ he said.”

“As a result, Olson enjoyed unfettered airtime to communicate his message . . . So, as one of the attorneys defending the amendment approved by 7 million Californians, I thought it necessary to address some of the points made in the interview now that the case is nearing the 9th Circuit’s opening brief deadline of September 17.”

The Tech (MIT): “Arguments will be heard at 10 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 27. It had previously been expected the court would decide on the strength of briefs filed before it, the last of which is due Sept. 20. The court will probably rule a few days after oral argument . . . The lawyers for Sherley and Deisher, are all working pro bono, meaning free of charge, because they believe the work is in the public interest. The lead counsel is Thomas G. Hungar, a partner at the high-powered law firm of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher; five Gibson Dunn associates are also on the case. They are joined by Samuel B. Casey of Advocates International and Steven H. Aden of the Alliance Defense Fund.”

USA Today: “The Department of Justice and the National Park Service . . . have until Sept. 27 to ask for a temporary stay of the ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which last month struck down regulations requiring permission before handing out leaflets or carrying signs . . . [Nate Kellum], senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, an organization of Christian attorneys who defend the rights of people to express their faith, says the ruling ‘means the court has recognized that the First Amendment was all the permit you need to share your views on public property.’”

Herald Sun: “A plan to force families to cover up to avoid offending Muslims at a public event has triggered furious debate . . . VCAT [Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal] has approved a ban on uncovered shoulders and thighs for a community event to be held at the Dandenong Oasis, a municipal pool.”

Politico: “In interviews this week as part of a book tour, Breyer at first seemed to raise doubts about whether Quran burning would be protected — comparing it to shouting fire in a crowded theater and saying the court might have to work its way through such issues in the future. However, last night on CNN he came closer to asserting a right to burn the Quran. Breyer compared it to flag burning, which the Supreme Court has ruled to be constitutionally protected.”

Chicago Tribune / Clout Street: “Illinois Supreme Court Justice Thomas Kilbride, who is up for retention this fall, will become the new chief justice next month.”

Twin Cities Daily Planet: “Bishop John Quinn of the Winona Diocese gave parishioners a glimpse in a recent newsletter (PDF). ‘The bishops of Minnesota are alarmed by the continuing attacks on the institution of marriage, and we are taking action,’ he wrote.”

“They are said to be from a variety of nationalities including a number of Algerian origin.”