Daily Archives: October 15, 2010

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit Friday upheld an Illinois law that allows public school students to engage in voluntary prayer and reflection as part of a moment of silence during the school day.

Miami Herald: “A judge in Tallahassee has removed Republican Florida Senate nominee Jim Norman from the ballot in a Tampa area district for violating the state’s financial disclosure laws.” | More details and link to the ruling.

Lake Shore Times: “The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) sent a letter to Rowlett Mayor John Harper on Aug. 27 requesting that that the council disallow invocations during city council meetings.”

Less than a week after hearing oral argument, a California appellate court has upheld a jury verdict which found that four San Diego firefighters represented by an Alliance Defense Fund allied attorney should not have been forced to participate in the city’s “Gay Pride Parade.” The San Diego Fire Department had disregarded the firefighters’ numerous objections to taking part in the city-sponsored parade celebrating homosexual behavior.

Congratulations to allied attorneys Ian Benson, Jim Bopp, Dean Broyles, Peter Costea, Anthony Duprey, Steve Fitschen, Barry Hodge, Bill Kumpe, Chuck LiMandri, Casey Luskin, Alan Reinach, and Demetrios Stratis for their recent accomplishments and successes listed below. Please take time to congratulate them!

StarTribune.com: “The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire will take administrative action against a professor who sent an anti-gay e-mail to a student.”

Iona Institute: “The committee, in a report set to be published next week, says that the Lone Parent Allowance and “qualified adult” social welfare payment should be replaced by a single parental allowance payable to all low-income parents, the Irish Times reports.”

AZ Republic: “A group of liberal clergy and others who support gay rights are planning a protest Saturday morning outside St. Mary’s Basilica in downtown Phoenix.”

BioEdge: “Only half of all euthanasia cases in Belgium are reported, according to a study in the BMJ. Euthanasia has been legal since 2002 and three biennial reports have been published about all reported cases of euthanasia. No cases of abuse have ever been found.”

NECN.com: “The Ohio Department of Health said Thursday that 28,721 pregnancies were terminated in the state last year, down 3 percent from 2008.”

Karen Sloan writes at the National Law Journal: “Other countries face much larger problems when it comes to regulating the number of law students and quality of legal education. Legal educators from India, China, Japan and France spoke at Harvard Law School Friday during a panel discussion about the challenges they face in producing an appropriate number of good lawyers.”

LifeSiteNews: “A group of former Brazilian soldiers say that a lieutenant colonel sexually harassed and forced recruits to engage in sex acts with him in order to continue their military careers, according to the Brazilian television network R7.”

LifeSiteNews: “Legalizing same-sex ‘marriage’ in New York will be a number one priority in his administration, said Democrat gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo to homosexual activists Wednesday.”

Jay Sekulow writes at BeliefNet: “Let’s not forget that this IRS prohibition on endorsing or opposing candidates from the pulpit was not born out of some desire to bring constitutional clarity to the issue, or even to draw a bright line on church/state issues. No, this law was put in place for one simple reason: political payback.”

Catholic Culture: “In a significant victory for freedom of expression, the Hong Kong diocese has won approval to hold a prayer vigil for religious liberty in China, despite strong resistance from government officials.”

Breitbart: “A US soldier who captured a deadly 2009 rampage at Fort Hood with his cell phone camera testified Friday that he was ordered to erase the video by his commanders.”

Christian Post: “China’s government is preventing Christian leaders in the country from attending a major international gathering of mission-minded leaders by stopping them as they reach the airport and confiscating their passports.”

HeraldTribune.com: “A state legislator claims in a new message to supporters that Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott has pledged, if elected, to throw his support behind a bill that would make abortion illegal in Florida in nearly all instances, including rape and incest.”

“The Kansas Supreme Court ruled today that the mammoth 107-count criminal case against Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri may move forward and remanded the case back down to the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office for prosecution . . . ”

Yahoo News: “The Obama administration said Friday the federal deficit hit a near-record $1.3 trillion for the just-completed budget year.”

Telegraph: “The remarks from China’s ministry of commerce came hours before the US was due to release a report on whether it considers China a “currency manipulator” as fears grow that tensions over the currency could lead to a protectionist trade war.”

AP: “The Defense Department on Friday warned gay troops that if they disclose their sexual orientation now, they could still get in trouble.”

AP: “The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation says it reached out to Facebook last week after Internet bullies flooded a page it set up to honor teens who recently killed themselves in response to anti-gay hate.”

Omaha World Herald: “Nebraska’s one-of-a-kind law banning almost all abortions after a fetus reaches 20 weeks might not stand alone for long. Abortion opponents say they expect lawmakers in several states to introduce similar proposals next session. ‘This will take off like wildfire,’predicted Julie Schmit-Albin, executive director of Nebraska Right to Life.”

ADF President Alan Sears writes at TellADF.org: “It’s one pretty dependable sign that you’re doing the right thing when you find the ACLU, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the Atheist Alliance International, the Council for Secular Humanism, and the Freedom from Religion Foundation lined up against you in a single case. That’s just a sampling of the extraordinary opposition aggravated by and aggregated against the notion that parents should have the freedom to choose where their children go to school. And right now, that collective legal hostility is directed specifically toward destroying the choice permitted by the tuition tax credit in Arizona . . . ”

The Local: “Sweden’s schools agency wants all religions to receive equal treatment when taught in Swedish schools, but the government maintains that Christianity should continue to receive special treatment.”

ACLJ Trial Notebook: “Michala is enrolled at a public university on a music scholarship, and was required to take a musical theatre class. One course requirement was to participate in a performance that included two songs that Michala strongly objected to on religious grounds, one that used God’s name in vain and one that declares that the Bible is not necessarily true.”

“Fr Beck said children born to cohabiting couples should not be allowed to ‘displace’ pupils whose parents are married.”

Heritage Foundation The Foundry Blog: “Yesterday, Media Matters tried to refute a blog post in which I point out, among other things, that the impact of voucher use in the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program resulted in a 91 percent graduation rate compared to 70 percent in the control group. The findings are from the U.S. Department of Education’s final evaluation of the voucher program, authored by Dr. Patrick Wolf.”

KEYT News reports – the MP4 video runs 35 second. | ADF press release: Calif. school district threatens to terminate principal for endorsing prayer breakfast

“A group opposed to a September ruling that permits gay people to adopt children for the first time in over three decades is asking Florida’s Attorney General to overturn that decision.”

Andrea Stone writes at AOL News: “Prominent Republicans are increasingly speaking out in favor of gay rights or dismissing the dangers ascribed by religious conservatives to granting them . . . ”

The Ledger: “Appellate judges heard arguments Wednesday about whether children’s faces cut from photographs and pasted onto an images of adult nude bodies should be considered child pornography.”

Seattle Times: “Wiggins’ financial supporters include an abortion-rights group, victim’s-rights groups and police officers.”

AP: “President Barack Obama faces a deadline Friday that could test already fragile U.S.-China relations: He must decide whether to accuse Beijing formally of using its currency to gain unfair trade advantages against the United States.”

AP: “He said he plans to donate the car to an organization that helps abused Muslim women.”

TIME: “As Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands led the new cabinet onto the balcony of the Huis ten Bosch Palace in The Hague for a formal group photo, there was a conspicuous absence from the ceremony: Geert Wilders, the flamboyantly strident anti-Islamic politician who holds the balance of power in the country. As the government begins ruling, however, there’s no doubt Wilders’ influence will be felt. And that has many citizens in The Netherlands worried that the era of famous Dutch tolerance is coming to a close.”

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2025413,00.html#ixzz12OZ96IHC

KPHO: “Mexican drug cartels have plotted to send assassins into Arizona to murder bandits who are stealing drugs from the cartels, according to a U.S. Department of Homeland Security memo obtained by CBS 5 News.”

AP: “The slaying shocked the Turkish church and cast a cloud over Benedict’s visit. It was the latest in a string of attacks in recent years on Christians in predominantly Muslim Turkey, where Christians make up less than 1 percent of the 70 million population.”

BBC: “Two children born with darker skin than their white parents following an IVF treatment mix-up were not owed a duty of care during the fertilisation process, the High Court has ruled.”

AP: “President Barack Obama’s polygamist half brother in Kenya has married a 19-year-old woman more than 30 years his junior.”

Belfast Telegraph: “Pro-choice campaigners have called for Northern Ireland’s “restrictive” abortion laws to be modernised.”

JDSupra: “Pulpit Freedom Sunday is an annual event that takes place on the last Sunday of September and has been going on for the past 3 years. So far, the IRS has taken no pastor to court. The agency’s inaction has been taken by some pastors as proof that their stand on this issue is right . . . ”

One News Now: “In hopes of protecting students from religious discrimination, two U.S. lawmakers have introduced legislation that would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include religion to Title VI, which already prohibits discrimination based on ‘race, color, or national origin.’”

TheIndyChannel.com: “Geenwood Schools has settled a lawsuit brought by a former valedictorian who claimed a prayer planned for commencement was unconstitutional.”

Christian Post: Late last month, several Christian groups submitted a consultation paper to the U.N. Human Rights Council, urging it to protect religious expression, interpret “incitement” in a manner that protects religious minorities from “actual, imminent harm,” and reject the call for vague “hate speech” codes that penalize speech that merely makes the listener uncomfortable. The groups – which included Alliance Defense Fund, Christian Legal Fellowship, Jubilee Campaign, World Evangelical Alliance, and Advocates International . . . . Open Doors USA Advocacy Director Lindsay Vessey said it is “dangerous and alarming that a U.N. resolution provides legitimacy to national blasphemy laws that are used to persecute Christians and other minority faith groups . . . ”

Christianity Today: “An ADF statement said Exodus is ‘free to make decisions they deem best regarding the event.’ However, ADF objected to GLSEN’s calling the Day of Truth ‘inappropriate and divisive.’ ‘The event was always about the right of students to peacefully express their point of view on the subject of homosexual behavior,’ the group said.”

Findlaw (AP):  ”The “don’t ask, don’t tell” appeal will do little to help Democrats trying to inspire those voters and hold back a Republican tide on Nov. 2.”

Washington Post: The case was brought by Michael Boardley, who was distributing religious materials at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota in 2007 before a park ranger stopped him because he lacked a permit. His attempts to obtain a permit failed, and he later sued. “It was a bureaucratic nightmare,” said Nate Kellum, senior counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund, a nonprofit Christian legal defense group. “He was completely stymied from sharing his Christian views with anybody else.” (Kellum is further quoted . . . )

Andy Birkey writes at the Minnesota Independent: “A hundred miles to the southwest, in St. Peter, Pastor Stone says he’ll be endorsing candidates during services as part of Pulpit Freedom Sunday, an Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) campaign to encourage pastors to endorse candidates in direct violation of the law. ADF is the brainchild of Focus on the Family’s James Dobson. ADF hopes that the IRS will revoke the tax-exempt status of those churches that endorse so that it can address the ban on endorsements with its team of lawyers. The rationale is that churches across the country will be able to endorse socially conservative candidates for office, giving Republicans a massive boost in election years — all while keeping their tax-exempt status.” | On the contrary see:  The Pulpit Initiative: What it is – What it’s not. | More information: ADF Pulpit Initiative

Rasmussen Reports: “Buying a home used to be a major milestone in life and thought of as one of, if not the best investment for a family. Today, Americans aren’t quite as sure.”

One News Now: Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) is dubious about how committed the Justice Department really is to defending traditional marriage . . . ADF attorney [Daniel Blomberg] tells OneNewsNow he is pleased that the DOJ will move to protect traditional marriage, but notes its defense of DOMA in the lower courts was not well presented . . . (Daniel is quoted).

One News Now: “Foothill Elementary principal Craig Richter is being represented by the Alliance Defense Fund. ADF senior counsel Joseph Infranco tells OneNewsNow the school district disciplined the principal, who is a Christian, for making a 30-second appearance in a video promotion of the event.” (Joe is then quoted)

“What we know now we knew then: that this trial presented a watershed moment. Wilders, leader of a growing democratic movement to save his Western nation from Islamization, risks one year in prison for speaking out about the facts and consequences of Islamization. Such speech is prohibited not by the Western tradition of free speech Wilders upholds, but rather by the Islamic laws against free speech that he rejects. Wilders’ plight demonstrates the extent to which the West has already been Islamized.”

AP: “Dutch prosecutors are asking judges to acquit anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders of all charges of inciting hate and discrimination against Muslims.”

Rabbie Shmuley Boteach writes at the Wall Street Journal (full access via Google): “Who is harmed when two unattached, consenting adults are in a relationship? Homosexuality is akin to the prohibition against lighting fire on the Sabbath or eating bread during Passover; there is nothing immoral about it, but it violates the divine will. I am in favor of gay civil unions rather than marriage because I am against redefining marriage. But gay marriage doesn’t represent the end of Western civilization. The real killer is the tsunami of divorce and the untold disruption to children who become yo-yos going from house to house on weekends.”

Heritage Foundation Foundry Blog: “On October 23, 2009, a reporter asked Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA): “Madam Speaker, where specifically does the Constitution grant Congress the authority to enact an individual health insurance mandate?” Speaker Pelosi shook her head dismissing the question: ‘Are you serious? Are you serious?’ Pressed for a more substantive response later, Pelosi’s press spokesman admonished the reporter: ‘You can put this on the record. That is not a serious question. That is not a serious question.’ Yesterday, Roger Vinson, senior federal judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida, found it to be a very serious question indeed . . . ”

Ed Whelan writes at Public Discourse: “The Obama Administration has chosen to place political considerations over a proper defense of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell law.”

NCPA Policy Digest: “Everyone from President Reagan’s economic advisor Martin Feldstein to President Obama’s economic advisor Jonathan Gruber agree that this hidden cost of taxation is very real and very large. . . . When the federal government takes an additional dollar from taxpayers, the actual cost to society is generally $1.44.”

Islamist Watch:  ”Norwegian journalist Halvor Tjønn, who recently finished a biography of Muhammad for Oslo publisher Kagge, is the latest to experience a phenomenon that spans more than two decades: the sudden and mysterious cancellation of Islam-related books.”

Religion Clause Blog: “The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom this week sent a letter (full text) to President Obama urging him to highlight the importance of religious freedom during his upcoming visits to Indonesia and India.”

SCOTUS Blog: “A federal judge in Florida rules it is ‘not even a close call’ that there are serious constitutionali questions surrounding the new federal law’s requirement that all Americans must buy health insurance by 2014, or pay a penalty. This case thus goes on.”

SCOTUS Blog: “Judy Woodruff and Jeffrey Brown of PBS NewsHour recently spoke with two Justices about their out-of-Court projects.”

Christian Science Monitor: “When he first spotted the strange graffiti, Mushtaq Hussain thought it was a juvenile prank: Somebody had used bacon strips on a sidewalk in front of a Florence, S.C., mosque to spell out the words ‘PIG’ and ‘CHUMP.’”

“As Christie said about the duel with the NJEA, ‘If we don’t win this fight, there’s no other fight left.’ Melodramatic as this may sound, for many states, it is simply reality.”