Daily Archives: September 21, 2010

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “A 16-year-old who officials said continued to proselytize outside a library after officials warned him to stop has been banned from the Chattahoochee Valley Regional Library System for six months.”

WRAL: “A member of the Sikh religious faith says a Durham-based chain of convenience stores crossed a line by telling him to get a shave and a haircut.”

Common Dreams: “Late last night, the Office of Management and Budget and the Department of Health and Human Services released pre-regulatory model guidelines for the implementation of the anti-abortion rights provisions tacked on to the Affordable Care Act in order to secure the votes of a handful of religious fundamentalists serving in Congress.”

The Garden City Telegram (AP): “The state has asked a federal judge to toss a legal challenge to a constitutional amendment ratified by voters more than a half-century ago that addressed a controversy over how Supreme Court justices are nominated in Kansas. Attorneys for the state filed a motion Friday asking U.S. District Judge Monti Belot to dismiss the lawsuit, which claims that the state’s judicial nominating process gives lawyers too much power and violates voting rights.”

Deseret News: “While a number of Americans cite religion as the most important influence on shaping their opinion on key social issues such as same-sex marriage, abortion and the death penalty, religious attitudes play a substantially lesser role when it comes to opinions on poverty, immigration and the environment . . . Same-sex marriage is the leading issue where respondents say religion belief is the most important influence in their opinion — at 35 percent, including 60 percent of those identifying themselves as conservative and 5 percent of liberals. Following that are abortion and the death penalty, at 26 percent and 19 percent, respectively.” | The Pew Forum Report Link

Alliance Defense Fund attorneys are ready to defend, free of charge, students who are prevented by public school officials from participating in the ‘See You at the Pole’ event Wednesday.”

Wisconsin State Journal: “Dane County has agreed to allow an adult entertainment club in the town of Middleton to provide nude dancing, but a County Board proposal would make it more difficult for similar clubs to open in rural areas.”

WorldNetDaily: “There are more than 3,000 mosques in the U.S., and work is being done on several major projects that have neighbors alarmed to the point of resistance . . . American Family Association policy analyst Bryan Fischer says 80 percent of the mosques being built are funded by Middle Eastern money. Most are also acting as training academies.”

“A Pentagon survey has shown US Marines are ‘predominantly’ opposed to lifting a ban on gays serving openly in the military, a top general said Tuesday. General James Amos, nominated to lead the US Marine Corps, revealed the survey results to lawmakers as the US Senate weighed whether to end the ban.”

The Christian Post: “Overall, 80 percent of those who responded to a poll by the First Amendment Center said they think student speakers should be able to give a public prayer. Also, the majority (59 percent) of those who said they do not practice religion support allowing student speakers to pray at school events.”

U.S. Department of State: “The United States joined Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, East Timor, Finland, France, Ireland, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania and Slovenia in sponsoring a high-level panel discussion ‘Ending Violence and Criminal Sanctions on the Basis of Sexual Orientation’ on September 17 at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.”

SWVA Today: “Proposed changes to the ordinance include requiring the business owner to have a security system installed by a specialist licensed by the Department of Criminal Justice and giving written consent for law enforcement officers to inspect at anytime the entire building where the business is located. The other change calls for the business owner to lose his license if an employee has a criminal conviction from an onsite offense during a 12-month period.”

Brisbane Times: “A reluctant father violently tried to cause his partner’s miscarriage because he feared they could not afford another baby, a court heard yesterday. A Brisbane District Court jury heard Tyrone Phillip Strong, 30, said ‘I’m going to kill this baby’ as he violently pushed his hands on Kylie Long’s abdomen, two days after he learned she was pregnant with her fourth child.”

Statesman.com / Salud: “Travis County residents, religious organizations and others took their fight against using public money for abortions to the Travis County Commissioners Court Tuesday, but the court did not relent. The commissioners gave final approval to the $109.6 million Central Health budget, including $450,000 in contracts for abortion services for needy women. The vote was three in favor — Travis Couny Judge Sam Biscoe, Commissioners Sarah Eckhardt and Karen Huber — and Commissioner Ron Davis abstaining. Commissioner Margaret Gómez was absent.”

CitizenLink: “The majority of state governors – three out of every five – applied for Title V money to support abstinence-centered programs in their states. The deadline to apply for Title V block grants to teach abstinence education was August 30, 2010. See the list of states that accepted – and did not accept – Title V funds.”

Der Standard [modified Google translation]: “[I]n an interview in the Catholic weekly ‘gosc Niedzielny’, [The Polish Minister for Equality, Elzbieta Radziszewska] declared that a lesbian . . . could not take [a Catholic school] to court if [the school] did not want to employ them. ‘The new law clarifies these situations. Catholic or denominational schools can follow their own values and principles,’ said the Minister.”

Nigeria (AP): “A police commissioner says members of a radical Muslim sect killed two people in northern Nigeria, the latest motorcycle slayings by the group.”

Reuters: “Berlin’s Ministry for Education, Science and Research has just published a guide called ‘Islam and School’ giving practical advice on how to resolve these issues and encourage ‘people to live together respectfully and peacefully’, which you can find in German here.”

Associated Press: “A ballot measure that would legalize marijuana in California won the support Tuesday of the largest union in the state. The 700,000-member Service Employees International Union California has 15 locals representing workers in health care, building services and state and local government.”

This morning the Drudge Report carried this headline:  HILLARY TO GIVE UN $50 MILLION FROM US TAXPAYERS — FOR COOKING STOVES. Throughout the day, the Secretary of state has issued the following: -09/21/10  Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves: The United States …

Family Research Council: “Family Research Council President Tony Perkins today praised Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK) and those senators who voted to stop the Senate Defense Authorization bill by voting against the motion to proceed.”

“The Senate voted largely along party lines against the cloture motion to end the filibuster and allow debate and a vote on the bill. The vote was short of the 60 votes necessary to stop a filibuster and proceed to consideration of the legislation.”

Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) writing at Big Government: “The U.S. Senate may soon take action to overturn long-standing policy by sanctioning the performance of abortions in domestic and overseas military facilities–effectively turning military hospitals and other facilities into abortion clinics. This would be the largest expansion of abortion availability since the original Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision in 1973. Overnight, your tax dollars will create 423 new abortion clinics.”

Liberty Counsel: “Liberty Counsel filed its Initial Brief at the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia, on behalf of the Christian Educators Association International (‘CEAI’). CEAI sought to intervene in a federal trial court to defend the rights of the faculty and staff of the Santa Rosa County School District, but the court refused the request and refused to dismiss the case brought by the ACLU, even though the case had become moot following the graduation of the two high school seniors who brought the suit under the pseudonym of ‘Doe.’”

“Under the scheme, state legislative candidates receive between $500 and $19,000 in initial funding, plus additional “matching funds” of up to $38,000 if they are outspent by their opponent and independent groups.”

“Senate Democratic leaders fell short of the 60 votes they needed to proceed to the 2011 defense authorization bill and overcome objections to repealing the Clinton-era ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ law.”

“A federal judge refused on Monday to interfere with a new Minnesota law that revealed political donations from Target Corp. and other companies, saying the public has an interest in knowing who speaks and who pays for those messages as the election approaches . . . The lawsuit from Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, the Taxpayers League of Minnesota and a travel agency contended that the reporting requirements were so burdensome that they amounted to a ban on free speech.”

Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, Inc. v. Swanson, No. 10-2938 (D. Minn. Sept. 20, 2010)

ABC: “Senate Republicans appeared poised Tuesday to block a major defense bill that includes a controversial, conditional repeal of the military’s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy . . . But despite unprecedented popular and legislative support for allowing openly gay and lesbian individuals to serve in the military, it appeared increasingly likely Democrats would fall short without the support of two Republican senators from Maine.”

Shreveport Times: “Five medical facilities and one doctor who provide abortions have sued Louisiana over a new law that gives state authorities expanded power to suspend or revoke abortion clinics’ licenses . . . The federal lawsuit filed Monday by the Center for Reproductive Rights alleges the state law is unconstitutional because it is vague and encourages arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement.”

Bossier City Medical Suite, Inc., et al, v. Greenstein, No. 10-CV-3199 (E.D. La.) [complaint]

Center for Reproductive Rights press release

Shreveport Times: “A state court judge in Baton Rouge has ruled that a Shreveport abortion clinic can remain open while a lawsuit against state health officials makes it way through the court system.”

ADF Attorney Jordan Lorence writing at Speak Up Movement / Church: “The celebrity I want to bring forth to match Lady Gaga would be someone else who likes to wear wigs made of white hair – George Washington. And he was a ‘rock star’ in his own way back in the late 1700’s. Did you ever wonder what he thought about soldiers serving in the military who engage in homosexual conduct? He was against it. For example, on March 14, 1778, he issued an order separating a soldier from active duty for attempting homosexual conduct with another soldier . . .”

J. Michael Waller writing at Big Peace: “After initially staying away from the controversy, the Muslim Brotherhood has embraced the cause of the Ground Zero mosque and some of its US-based front groups are now engaged . . . Support for the Ground Zero mosque is part of what the Muslim Brotherhood calls ‘civilization jihad,’ a ‘pre-violent’ form of warfare against civil society that operates generally within the law to infiltrate shariah attitudes and practices in Western democratic societies.”

Joel Mandelman writing at Pajamas Media: “The U.S. Senate will soon consider two of Barack Obama’s worst judicial nominations: Goodwin Liu for a seat on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, and Robert Chatigny to the 2nd Circuit. Both nominees have shown an arrogant contempt for the law, a total disregard for the limited role of the judiciary in a democracy, and a brutal inclination to abuse judicial power to impose their own peculiar left-wing ideologies on the American people.”

Times of India: “Two Algerian Christians were tried on Tuesday for breaking Ramadan fasting rules, with hundreds of people protesting outside the courtroom against judicial authorities.”

Department of Justice: “The Justice Department today issued a report marking the 10th anniversary of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), showing that the law has had a positive impact on protecting the religious freedom of a wide range of faith groups, and had a particularly significant impact protecting the religious freedom of minorities.” | The report

Michael Klarman writing in the Los Angeles Times: Historically, American presidents have rarely gotten far ahead of public opinion on civil rights issues, and the few times they have, they’ve paid a substantial price for doing so . . . Having seen that gay marriage was politically toxic for Democrats, Obama ran for the presidency in 2008 on a platform of repealing ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ and enacting federal employment and hate-crimes legislation to protect gays and lesbians from discrimination. But he steadfastly refused to support gay marriage, both during his campaign and throughout the first 18 months of his presidency, even as two federal district judges ruled in favor of a federal constitutional right to same-sex marriage.”

Canada.com: “Putting the ‘hopeless’ in hopeless romantics, a new study of more than 1,400 spouses concludes that one of the flimsiest foundations for a marriage is, incredibly, love . . . ‘Marriage is about a long-term commitment, thick and thin, kids, money — all that stuff,’ says study co-author W. Bradford Wilcox, director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia. ‘But in our day and age, as people have developed more independence, there’s been much more focus on just the emotional dimensions of married life.’”

Reuters AlertNet: “Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will announce on Tuesday a U.S. contribution of more than $50 million toward providing clean cooking stoves in developing countries to reduce deaths from smoke inhalation and fight climate change.” | Secretary of State press release

Reuters AlertNet: “Police broke up a small protest on Tuesday and detained at least eight gay rights activists calling for the resignation of Moscow’s mayor, who is locked in a battle with the Kremlin over his job after 18 years in office.”

Rasmussen: “A plurality of Americans (43%) believe that government programs increase poverty in America. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 22% of the nation’s adults believe that those programs decrease poverty. Twenty-three percent (23%) say they have no impact.”

New York Times: “There are no statistics about how many Afghan girls masquerade as boys. But when asked, Afghans of several generations can often tell a story of a female relative, friend, neighbor or co-worker who grew up disguised as a boy. To those who know, these children are often referred to as neither ‘daughter’ nor ‘son’ in conversation, but as ‘bacha posh,’ which literally means ‘dressed up as a boy’ in Dari.”

LifeSiteNews: “The 88 pro-lifers (known as the ND88) who were arrested on the campus of the University of Notre Dame last year during President Obama’s controversial visit have won the right to have their own individual jury trials, thanks to the efforts of the Thomas More Society. The prosecution had sought instead to consolidate the cases, and thus expedite the legal process – a request that was denied by Chief Judge Michael Scopelitis.”

ADF Attorney Austin Nimocks spoke at a Family Research Council press conference on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

Center for Responsive Politics: “The newly formed ‘super PAC’ of abortion rights advocacy group EMILY’s List drew most of the $430,000 it raised in August from just five sources, a Center for Responsive Politics review of campaign finance reports filed Thursday shows. Last month, the PAC, known as Women Vote!, raised $250,000 from the Service Employees International Union and another $95,000 from four wealthy women philanthropists and investors who have been prolific political donors over the years, according to a Center for Responsive Politics analysis.” Via Timothy P. Carney at the Washington Examiner:

Politics.uk: “The Liberal Democrats further cemented their distinct party political identity today with vote backing gay marriage. The motion, which passed, would allow straight couples to have civil ceremonies and gay couples to become married. It is sure to anger faith groups, coming just days after the Pope’s visit to the UK, where he spoke out against the country’s ‘aggressive secularism’.”

Las Cruces News-Sun: “Reactions to two electronic billboard messages Perez has paid to have displayed have ranged from appalling to agreement, with many expressing surprise and shock. The message that has drawn reactions from many who have seen it: ‘More Mosques, Less Jobs, Vote Democratic???’”

The Jakarta Globe: “Lawmakers and the government failed to come to a consensus on Tuesday over what to do with a controversial decree that activists say fans the flames of religious conflict. The decree, issued by the Ministry of Religious Affairs and the Ministry of Home Affairs, obliges a congregation to obtain approval from at least 60 households in the immediate vicinity before building a house of worship.”

Barun S. Mitra writing in The Wall Street Journal: “The mosque in question is in the small Indian town of Ayodhya, in northern Uttar Pradesh state. Six decades ago the mosque became the subject of a contentious lawsuit. The conflict sparked some of the most vicious riots in modern Indian history and the mosque was torn down. Yet now, with a verdict in the lawsuit over ownership of the former mosque’s site due this week—yes, it has taken 60 years—not many seem to care. This lack of interest is a sign of progress for India.”

IBN Live: “Nepal’s deposed king Gyanendra was prevented from attending an ancient religious function to honour the ‘Living Goddess’ at his former palace today, amid speculation that he has stepped up his public appearances in face of the deepening constitutional crisis in the country.”

ChristianNewsWire: “The Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) has released a policy position that details the importance of preserving faith-based hiring rights for churches and other religious organizations at a time when Congress and the courts are questioning these rights. Available for free viewing at www.ecfa.org, the policy position is the first in a series that ECFA will release in coming weeks. Topics also will include charitable deductions and tax-exempt status.”

Christian Science Monitor: “‘Milan civil institution must guarantee everyone religious freedom,’ Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, the church’s highest authority in town, told La Repubblica daily newspaper on Sept. 4. ‘Muslims have the right to practice their faith while respecting the law. Often the mosque issue has been distorted for political reasons, while it could become a instrument for civil coexistence.’”

Turkish Weekly: “Kuwait has stripped an exiled Shiite man of his citizenship, accusing him of provoking sectarian tensions and defaming Islam by insulting a wife of the Prophet Muhammad, reported Kuwaiti newspapers Tuesday.”

CNN / Belief Blog: “Welcome to homeschooling 2010. It’s no longer a solitary exercise for many parents– it’s communal. Many families are now sharing ideas about teaching and taking turns as teachers. In effect, they’re creating their own ‘shadow schools’ . . . According to the US Department of Education , 1.5 million children are taught by Mom and Dad. That’s up 74% since 1999 . . . Studies used to show that most parents decided to homeschool for religious reasons, but that’s not the case anymore. In a 2008 study, 36% of families listed religious and moral values as the main reason for homeschooling. But, another 38% said the primary reason they homeschool is because they don’t like the school environment or the way teachers teach—those numbers are also way up from a few years ago.”

EducationNews.org: “As a Muslim who grew up going to Texas public schools — and sees challenges facing today’s Muslim students — Imam Islam Mossaad said he was taken aback by a resolution to be considered Friday by the State Board of Education asserting the need to fend off a pro-Islamic, anti-Christian bias in textbooks.”

LifeNews: “As pro-life advocates launch a campaign to warn pharmacists about the newly-approved abortion drug ella, the marketer of the so-called ‘emergency contraceptive’ pill says it does not cause abortions. The new drug is billed as a more effective morning after pill but its chemical makeup is similar to the dangerous RU 486 abortion drug.”

Newsweek: “Two conservative federal judges have now voiced cautiously sympathetic views on legal challenges to the 2,400-page health-care law that President Obama signed into law in March. But such preliminary skirmishes shed little light on whether the Supreme Court will in the end strike down the law, a law that raises a completely novel legal issue: can Congress require millions of individuals to buy a commercial product (in this case health insurance) in the name of regulating interstate commerce.”

Minneapolis Star-Tribune: “Minnesota uses elections and appointments to fill vacancies on the state Supreme Court, but when it comes to the chief justice, the voters haven’t had a say since 2000 . . . A three-judge federal Appeals Court panel held a special session Monday because two lawyers want an election before 2012, when Gildea’s term expires. They argued the departures and appointments were intended to stave off an election against one of the attorneys, Greg Wersal, who was a candidate for the post each time.”

The Hill: “Republican leaders are angry with Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) for jeopardizing their chances of winning the Senate. Murkowski’s decision to mount a write-in campaign risks splitting the Republican vote between two candidates and could cost her party a safe GOP seat.”

Goldwater Institute: “A new Goldwater Institute report, written by Senior Fellow Robert Natelson, shows the country’s Founders rejected drafts of Article V that contemplated a wide-open convention that could ‘run away.’ Instead, the authors of the Constitution intentionally picked language that calls for conventions of limited scope so state legislatures could target specific topics, such as a restriction on the federal government’s ability to borrow money . . . State Senator Chuck Gray of Arizona and U.S. Senator John Cornyn of Texas are right to urge state legislatures to reconsider invoking Article V to limit the federal government’s ability to take on more debt.”

Miami Herald: “If an appeals court reverses a South Florida judge and rules that Florida’s ban on adoptions by gay couples is valid, the state’s child welfare agency won’t remove the two children at the center of the challenge, the head of the agency said Monday.”

Religion Clause: In State v. Hardman, 2010 Mont. Dist. LEXIS 209 (MT Dist. Ct., May 21, 2010), the court concluded that the pastor’s report to police of the confession was admissible because the pastor told defendant before he began to confess that if he was disclosing anything illegal the pastor was obligated to notify authorities.

Associated Press: “A Southern California man faces 25 years to life in prison for paying two men $500 to stage a robbery and punch his pregnant girlfriend so she would have a miscarriage.”

Public News Service: “Investigative reporter Jesse Zwick found the Knights openly spent millions in support of California’s gay marriage ban. He says the group also fought marriage equality in Maine, but tried to do so below the radar.”

San Francisco Chronicle: “‘If the current society wants to outlaw discrimination by sex, you have legislatures,’ Scalia said during a 90-minute question-and-answer session with a professor at UC Hastings College of the Law. He said the same was true of discrimination against gays and lesbians.”

Associated Press: “Heavily armed Islamic militants ambushed a military convoy in eastern Tajikistan, killing at least 23 soldiers and dealing a severe blow to this impoverished nation on Afghanistan’s poorly secured northern border.”

Bloomberg: “The U.S. has fallen behind emerging markets in Brazil, China and India as the preferred place to invest, a Bloomberg survey shows, though the world’s largest economy still ranks highest of all major developed countries.”

“Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins says she’ll vote against a bill that would allow gays to serve openly in the military unless Democrats agree to extend debate so that her colleagues can weigh in on other issues.”

The Sacramento Bee / Capitol Alert: “The Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund, part of the team appealing Walker’s ruling, said in its brief, posted here, that the judge’s ruling ‘defames as anti-gay bigots not only seven million California voters, but everyone else in this county, and elsewhere, who believes that the traditional opposite-sex definition of marriage continues to meaningfully serve the legitimate interests of society.’”

The Colorado Springs Business Journal: “Citizens Project, a local nonprofit that champions religious freedom, will distribute information to 400 churches and religious organizations today clarifying IRS laws about electioneering . . . The distribution is meant to counter the ‘Pulpit Initiative,’ a 2008 program promoted by the Alliance Defense Fund . . .”

MAARS News: “‘The district court decision is an attack on the many judges and lawmakers and millions of Americans who rightly and reasonably understand that marriage is the unique union of a man and a woman,’ said Alliance Defense Fund attorney [Brian Raum], who is part of the legal team fighting to uphold Proposition 8.”

Christian Web News: “‘The district court decision conflicts with every other appellate court ruling on the federal constitutionality of marriage, including the U.S. Supreme Court,’ said ADF Senior Counsel [Brian Raum]. ‘The decision is an attack on the many judges and lawmakers and millions of Americans who rightly and reasonably understand that marriage is the unique union of a man and a woman.’”

El Paso Inc.: “Retired El Paso firefighters and police officers among others plan to fight Brown at the ballot box Nov. 2, over his ballot proposition to deny city health insurance and other benefits to domestic partners . . . Retirees are afraid that their benefits will be cut off, too . . . Last year, City Council approved extending health insurance and other benefits to domestic partners, and now 19 domestic partners are now covered by the provision . . . Brown told Cook that the group couldn’t find a lawyer, Cook says. But Brown now says that a conservative organization in Arizona, the Alliance Defense Fund, will take up its cause if the proposition leads to lawsuits.”

Standard Newswire: “Family Research Council President and Marine veteran Tony Perkins will join Bishop Harry Jackson, Alliance Defense Fund Senior Counsel [Austin Nimocks] and African American pastors from five states at a news conference Monday at 2 p.m. ET in Washington, D.C. The speakers will address religious liberty concerns on the eve of the U.S. Senate vote to overturn the law against the practice of open homosexual behavior in the military.”

WorldNetDaily: “The filing today came from the Alliance Defense Fund, which noted that the ruling from Judge Vaughn Walker, a homosexual, violates every precedent around. ‘The district court decision conflicts with every other appellate court ruling on the federal constitutionality of marriage, including the U.S. Supreme Court,’ said senior counsel [Brian Raum] . . . The brief even quoted Obama in establishing the body of authority that a moral issue such as marriage certainly can be addressed in the law.”

Lansing State Journal: “A lawyer in the state attorney general’s appellate division has been criticized by his boss over anti-gay blogs aimed at the University of Michigan Student Assembly’s openly gay president.”