Daily Archives: October 26, 2010

ADF Attorney Jordan Lorence will be on Fox and Friends tomorrow morning at 6:50am EST to talk about this: Mich. woman accused of civil rights violation for seeking Christian roommate at church

CatholicCulture.org: “Some 700 Catholic and Protestant churches have been attacked in Indonesia over the past decade, according to the Indonesian Christian Communication Forum. Between October 12 and October 17, a Catholic parish was attacked, another was threatened with attack, and a Protestant church was burned down.”

Fides: “The President of the Brazilian Bishops’ Conference (CNBB), Archbishop Geraldo Lyrio Rocha, expressed his support for the Bishop of Guarulhos, Bishop Luiz Gonzaga Bergonzini, who has received anonymous death threats for defending the right to life and for denouncing the pro-abortion position of the Workers Party (PT) during the election campaign. Both the current President Lula da Silva and presidential candidate Dilma Rousseff are members of the PT.”

WREG: “City Councilman Shea Flinn has proposed an ordinance that would prohibit city departments from discriminating against employees because of their sexual orientation. Flinn hates that the sex term has to be used at all in his proposal. ‘I’m not that curious about your activities,’ Flinn said. ‘I do care do live in a city where qualified applicants can be judged on the merits of their work and the service they produce.’”

Boston.com (AP): “An audit prompted in part by the loss of the Wright Brothers’ flying machine patent file and maps for the atomic bomb missions in Japan finds some of the nation’s precious historical documents are in danger of being lost for good.”

Breitbart: “European Union trade commissioner Karel De Gucht on Tuesday urged global partners to diversify mining sources for prized rare earths as a battle with China deepened over scarce supplies . . . The United States and Australia have 15 and five percent respectively of global reserves, but stopped mining them mainly because of cheaper Chinese competition.”

WMCTV (AP): “A federal judge has ordered a Mississippi school district to pay $81,665 in legal fees and expenses in a lawsuit filed by a lesbian student whose prom was canceled because she wanted to bring her girlfriend to the dance.” McMillen v. Itawamba County School District, No. 1 :10CV061-GHD-JAD (N.D. Miss. Oct. 26, 2010)

ADF President and CEO Alan Sears writing at Inside the Issues: “In its ruling, the appellate court said, ‘the record contains substantial evidence to support a finding that the sexual harassment experienced by the Firefighters during the Pride Parade was severe and pervasive, thus altering the conditions of employment and creating a hostile or abusive work environment.’”

Lansing State Journal: “State Rep. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge, plans a news conference Wednesday to announce that 17 aborted fetuses were found in a dumpster outside an abortion clinic in Delta Township and to unveil legislation to ensure the proper disposal of fetuses.”

LifeNews: “Kent county officials voted to remove abortion coverage from the taxpayer-funded health care plan county employees receive, but a union is now saying it opposes the move and will try to stop it. In September, the Kent County Commission voted 9-0 to remove abortion coverage from the county health insurance plans.”

City Watch: “The theft, a federal crime under the Veterans Memorial Preservation and Recognition Act of 2003, remains unsolved. The Mojave National Reserve has prohibited the replacement of a memorial on the VFW’s land, citing a court order . . . On October 5, FamilySecurityMatters.org sent a second letter . . . asking the White House to allow the VFW to replace their memorial . . . ‘If we are not allowed to replace memorial crosses that are stolen or destroyed, then your administration will rightly be seen as openly encouraging attacks on religious symbols.’”

The Hill: “Despite repeated requests from House Small Business Committee ranking member Sam Graves (R-Mo.) for how the IRS intends to implement the 1099 reporting rule, IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman continues to decline to provide him the information.”

Liberty Counsel: “Today Judge Malcolm Harrison ruled in state circuit court that Personhood Mississippi can be on the state’s ballot in the November 2011 election. This lawsuit was filed by the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, and the Center for Reproductive Rights, seeking to keep Initiative 26 off the ballot, in spite of the fact that it received more than the required number of signatures.” | Ballotpedia: Mississippi Life Begins at the Moment of Fertilization Initiative (2011)

Christian Post: “‘No one should be allowed to decide that an innocent life – especially one that belongs to someone else – is worthless,’ said Stephen Casey, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund.”

Ed Whelan writing at National Review Online / Bench Memos: “Do the ethics rules governing federal judges really permit a federal judge to robocall voters in support of a ballot initiative? That question is raised by the apparent decision by former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor—who has retired from the Supreme Court but who, rightly or wrongly, maintains that she now has senior status and can still sit on lower-court cases—to authorize use of her voice on robocall messages to Nevada voters in support of Question 1 (which would alter the state’s method of selecting its judges).”

Asbury Park Press: “The Point Pleasant Beach Borough Council has agreed to end the custom of saying the Lord’s Prayer at the start of public meetings, thus resolving a lawsuit with the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey.”

Peninsula Daily News: “The Jefferson County commissioners Monday approved extending a moratorium on the establishment of sexually oriented businesses for six months, after which time the county will be able to determine a permanent policy of regulation.”

“The split decision by a three-judge panel determined that the requirement to show proof of citizenship — passed by voters in 2004 — is not consistent with the National Voter Registration Act.”

The Sydney Morning Herald: “Australian Greens MP Adam Bandt wants his federal parliamentary colleagues to seek out the views of their constituents on same-sex marriage.”

Advocate.com: “A White House official tells The Advocate that pro-repeal groups are scheduled to meet Tuesday with White House officials to discuss the path forward on repealing ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ during the lame-duck session following the midterm election.”

Mercury News (AP): “Billionaire George Soros has thrown his weight behind California’s marijuana legalization measure with a $1 million donation a week before the vote.”

News on 6: “The heated debate over health care reform has added new fuel to the fire over another controversial issue — abortion. The News On 6 reported Wednesday the leaders at local Catholic hospitals are concerned the health care bills in Congress right now could fund abortions. But President Obama says that’s not true.”

CNSNews: “A New York City-born man was ordered to return from Hawaii where he was arrested on charges he tried to join the U.S. military at a Times Square recruiting station so he could he could be deployed to Iraq, desert and fight with anti-American insurgency forces.”

Christian Post: “The Prophet Muhammad defined the state of peace and tolerance as a moment when the entire world submits to Allah and embraces Islam, said Hirsi Ali, who fled from her Muslim family and an arranged marriage in her early twenties and sought asylum in the Netherlands.”

Al hdod: “Sponsored by the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative Christian legal group, the event was aimed at challenging the Internal Revenue Service, in hopes of sparking a legal battle on the constitutionality of the law enacted in 1954.”

CNSNews: “The CRS report finds that the two primary defenses of the mandate – that it is a tax and that Congress can impose it under the Commerce Clause – to be problematic . . .”  (Read the report here: Requiring Individuals to Obtain Health Insurance – A Constitutional Analysis)

Telegraph: “Earlier this year [Elton John] caused outcry among the gay community when he performed, for a reported fee of $1 million, at the wedding of the splenetic right-wing American commentator Rush Limbaugh . . . Limbaugh, he says, is against gay marriage – ‘But then so is President Obama. But Limbaugh’s not anti-civil partnerships, so maybe I can have a dialogue about that. I’ve put my foot in the water and so has he. I got on with him very well, got on very well with his wife. I don’t have the same politics, but that doesn’t really matter. And I think this year I can start to put things in motion by trying to get him on my side.’”

CNSNews: “On the campaign trail for Democrats in recent days, President Barack Obama said the word ‘Creator’ when quoting the Declaration of Independence, although he omitted the word in several earlier speeches this year. The addition of ‘Creator’ came after press reports noted the omission in Obama’s earlier speeches.”

Irish Central: “Over 1,000 packages of abortion drugs were seized by Irish authorities last year as evidence emerges that significant numbers of pregnant woman are taking illegal drugs to induce abortion in Ireland.”

ADF attorney Joel Oster appeared on the G. Gordon Liddy Show to discuss this: Mich. woman accused of civil rights violation for seeking Christian roommate at church. | MP3 audio 12:42 mins

Middle East Online: “SingleMuslim.com, an online interactive community of more than 500,000 members seeking potential marriage partners, recently polled its members to find out what they think about polygamy. The results revealed Tuesday show that 26.2 per cent of people who completed the survey believe that polygamy is legal with Islam and that all Muslims have the right to practise polygamy if they choose to (73 per cent of respondents to this question were male, with just 27 per cent of female respondents selecting this view).”

“The conflict between religious imperatives and the legal obligations one has as a citizen of a secular state — a state that does not take into account the religious affiliations of its citizens when crafting laws — is an old one . . . but in recent years it has been felt with increased force as Muslim immigrants to Western secular states evidence a desire to order their affairs, especially domestic affairs, by Shariah law rather than by the supposedly neutral law of a godless liberalism. ”

Asian Image: “For the first time in Pembroke College’s 500-year history, a Muslim, Dr Taj Hargey – from the Summertown Islamic Congregation in Oxford – was welcomed to deliver a sermon at its chapel.”

AFP: “The relaxing of a ban on Turkish students wearing the Islamic headscarf to college has done little to silence a debate about the limits to the enforcement of secularism on campus.”

Associated Baptists Press: “A judge in Uzbekistan refused Oct. 14 to overturn fines against five Baptists convicted of illegal worship, an international news service that specializes in religious freedom coverage reported Oct. 26.”

The Jewish Chronicle: “Populists ‘want a Sweden for the Swedes, France for the French and Jews to Israel,’ says Serge Cwajgenbaum, secretary general of the European Jewish Congress . . . Ron van der Wieken, the chairman of Amsterdam’s liberal Jewish congregation, says that ‘perhaps more Jews support Wilders than they openly admit,’ but ‘when his party fiercely opposes halal slaughter, kosher butchering will not exist much longer as well. And if headscarves would be forbidden, how about yarmulkes? And circumcision?’”

ocolly.com: “State Question 755 seeks to prevent Oklahoma courts from using international or Sharia law as precedents in deciding cases.” | Ballotpedia: Oklahoma “Sharia Law Amendment”, State Question 755 (2010)

The Morning Sentinel (ME): “The U.S. Department of Education issued guidance today to support educators in combating bullying in schools by clarifying when student bullying may violate federal education anti-discrimination laws.” | Department of Education Press Release

Crookston Times: “The board of the Anoka-Hennepin School District changed the anti-bullying and harassment policies to clearly list the protected classes, including race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, disability, age, poverty and sexual orientation. The measure passed unanimously.”

YLE: “Finland has decided not to regulate male circumcision. A bill legalising the practice has been in the works for seven years, but Minister of Health and Social Services Paula Risikko has decided not to bring it before Parliament. In Finland circumcisions are carried out for religious purposes by members of the Jewish, Muslim and Tartar communities. Estimates are that currently about 200 operations are performed annually.”

LifeNews: “A campaign postcard the Minnesota Democratic Party sent to voters in the Midwestern state is causing a strong reaction from pro-life advocates. It claims the Catholic Church is more concerned with abortion than helping the poor. The postcard features a large photo of a older but faceless Catholic priest holding a Bible and wearing the clearly-seen Roman Catholic collar.”

Joanna L. Grossman writing at FindLaw: “Florida’s Attorney General just announced that the state will not appeal a recent ruling in which an appellate court struck down the state’s longstanding ban on adoption by gays and lesbians. This ruling, In re Adoption of X.X.G. and N.R.G., puts an end to a forgettable era in which thousands of children were deprived of adoptive homes and thousands of adults were denied the opportunity to be parents — for no reason other than animus against homosexuals and unfounded assumptions about their abilities to care for children.”

The Hill: “Senate Republicans should repeatedly offer bills to repeal health reform even if it’s in vain, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) said Tuesday.”

Rev. Michael P. Orsi writing at CNSNews: “Religion has traditionally acted as a moral compass for society. Priests, ministers and rabbis at one time led crusades against public displays of indecent sexual expression. These interventions were welcomed since they helped enforce standards for good human behavior . . . Why the silence? There are three main reasons: First, secularization has caused many churches to lose a sense of their supernatural mission . . . Second, pastors are afraid of being disliked . . . Third, pastors are fearful that they will be labeled intolerant.”

ADF attorney Joel Oster and Nancy Hanes with the Fair Housing Center of West Michigan appeared on the Frank Beckmann Show to discuss this: Mich. woman accused of civil rights violation for seeking Christian roommate at church. | MP3 audio 17:29 mins

William C. Duncan, director of the Marriage Law Foundation and Ruth Institute Board Member, reviews “When Gay People Get Married: What Happens When Societies Legalize Same-Sex Marriage” by M. V. Lee Badgett: “The economist seems to think that personal interviews with thirty-four homosexuals, representing nineteen couples, can provide a quantitative understanding of the social consequences of Netherlands’ experiment with same-sex marriage . . . Consequently, the book offers little generalizable information and no conclusions verified by data about the effects of same-sex marriage on matrimony and society in Holland.”

Lambda Legal: “Lambda Legal today filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to leave in place pending appeal the injunction a federal district court judge issued against enforcement of the U.S. military’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ (DADT) ban on gays serving openly in the armed forces, saying that the policy’s impact extends far beyond those in uniform and that continuing it would do irreparable harm to lesbian, gay and bisexual Americans.”

Miami Herald: “Since the earthquake more than 7,300 boys and girls have been smuggled out of their homeland to the Dominican Republic by traffickers profiting on the hunger and desperation of Haitian children, and their families. In 2009, the figure was 950, according to one human rights group that monitors child trafficking at 10 border points.”

Americans United for Separation of Church and State: “In a friend-of-the court brief, Americans United advised the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that opposition to marriage equality for gay couples reflects the same baseless and inappropriate considerations that once were used to deny marriage rights to slaves and interracial couples.”

Sun Journal: “A Craven County voter says he had a near miss at the polls on Thursday when an electronic voting machine completed his straight-party ticket for the opposite of what he intended.”

Religion Link: “Anxieties over Muslims in America have emerged in a spate of hate crimes as well as in high-profile controversies like the one over the construction of an Islamic center near Ground Zero. Now some politicians and activists say Islam’s legal code, known as shariah, is another threat to the United States that must be countered.”

The Daily Caller: “Under constituents’ heat to deal with corruption exemplified by the multiple-count indictment of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D), Illinois legislators on Oct. 15 approved placing a recall of governors law on the November 2 ballot. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is rattling its sword, however, warning that the measure would lead to expensive litigation . . .”

Associated Press: “A federal judge says constitutional free-speech rights protect Amazon.com customers from North Carolina tax collectors who wanted to learn what they bought from the online retailer.” | Amazon.com LLC v. Law, No. C10-664 (W.D. Wash Oct. 25, 2010)

LifeSiteNews: “Pro-family leaders in Illinois are preparing for a battle to preserve traditional marriage in the state as supporters of a homosexual civil unions bill eye a post-election lame duck session as a golden opportunity to push the measure through.”

LifeNews: “MSNBC plans to air a program tonight exploiting last year’s shooting death of late-term abortion practitioner George Tiller to suggest a pro-life conspiracy was behind his murder.”

LifeNews: “A federal judge has issued a ruling essentially allowing a ‘pro-life Democratic’ congressman to shut down a pro-life group’s election effort. The Susan B. Anthony List purchased a set of billboards in southwest Ohio to notify voters that Congressman Steven Driehaus voted for taxpayer funding of abortions under the ObamaCare bill. Driehaus filed a criminal complaint with the Ohio Elections Commission saying that billboards the SBA List intended to purchase saying he voted for taxpayer funding of abortions was inaccurate.”

Law.com: “At issue in United States v. Mitchell is perhaps one of the most important privacy rights issues facing the courts: whether routine DNA sampling should be considered no different from fingerprinting or photographing, or whether the government ought to be required to get a warrant or wait for a conviction before taking a genetic sample.”

Associated Press: “Egyptian security detained 65 members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood on Tuesday while they were hanging election posters in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria for next month’s parliamentary vote, police said.”

Associated Press: “Pope Benedict XVI says all countries have the right to regulate immigration flows and protect their borders, and immigrants must respect the laws and national identity of their host nations.”

Religion Clause: “In Jones v. Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, (Sup. Ct. NY County, Oct. 7, 2010), a New York state trial court dismissed negligent hiring, breach of contract and deceptive business practice claims brought by a female student and her parents against the Roman Catholic Diocese of New York, the Church of St. Paul and the school it operates, growing out of sexual abuse of the student by a female part-time gym and music teacher.”

Courthouse News Service: “The Supreme Court late Friday refused to block three Maine campaign-finance laws, citing the ‘difficulties in fashioning relief so close to the election.’ Justice Anthony Kennedy rejected a second Supreme Court bid for an emergency injunction, saying the laws’ challengers failed to meet the heavy burden for an order blocking a “presumptively constitutional state legislative act.’”

Tara Servatius writing at Townhall: “Schiller, a former New York Times executive, is one of a few dozen power players working with the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Trade Commission and a leftist group called Free Press to ‘reinvent journalism.’ That’s how the FTC describes it. The FCC calls what they are doing the ‘Future of Journalism.’ Free Press, a think tank funded by leftist billionaire George Soros, among others, calls it ‘the new public media.’”

First Amendment Center: “An Ohio high school English teacher has no First Amendment right to make assignments about book-banning or to select particular books for her students, a federal appeals court panel has ruled . . . The 6th Circuit said Evans-Marshall must lose her case because a teacher’s choice of classroom assignments and curricular choices is official, job-duty speech not entitled to First Amendment protection under the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2006 decision in Garcetti v. Ceballos.”

OneNewsNow: “Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) has joined other groups in urging the United Nations to protect religious expression in a civil rights covenant . . . ‘One [provision] provides for freedom of expression. Another provision, however, would limit that,’ [ADF Attorney Piero Tozzi] explains. ‘It’s the following article that says: “Any advocacy of national, racial, or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility, or violence shall be prohibited by law.”‘”

OneNewsNow: “‘This is a case where a 16-year-old high school student was going to be forced to obtain an abortion by her parents, but attorneys allied with the Alliance Defense Fund were able to obtain a court order to protect her from having that innocent life destroyed against her own will,’ [ADF Attorney Matt Bowman] reports.”

ADF Attorney Gary McCaleb writing at Speak Up Movement / Church: [T]he Department of Justice appealed that deeply flawed decision in Log Cabin Republicans v. Gates—a decision that should never have been made. The lower court should have honored the constitutional separation of powers that vests Congress and the President with control of the military . . . [T]he leftist homosexual advocacy group, Servicemembers United . . . deemed the government’s decision to appeal the Log Cabin case while not appealing the ADF case to be ‘incomprehensible.’ But to borrow a line from The Princess Bride with regard to a similar term, ‘You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.’”

The Underground: “[Joel Oster] of the Alliance Defense Fund, who is defending the woman, called it a constitutional issue. He told WOOD 8, ‘They’re quibbling. She has a first amendment right to free speech. She has a first amendment right to the free exercise of religion. And what they’re basically telling her is she cannot go out there and seek out a Christian roommate.’”

ADF Attorney David Cortman writing at Inside the Issues: “Since the program operates no differently than a typical tax deduction for a donation to either a religious or secular charity, where’s the beef? As the Supreme Court said in a similar case, it is merely a religious difference.”

Mike Adams writing at Townhall: “[Joel Oster], an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) is representing the Christian woman free of charge. He says this case is simply ‘outrageous.’ So I plan to call the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to see if they will defend my right to live with a promiscuous heathen woman. I know they would not represent me if I were seeking a Christian roommate. Thank Government Almighty they aren’t morally consistent!”

Omaha World-Herald: “The top leadership of the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce said Monday that it opposes an effort to enact legal protections for homosexual and transgender people, although the chamber’s young professionals group endorsed the ordinance . . . The Christian organization, Family First, said the proposal is of statewide concern . . . Family First has ties to such groups as Focus on the Family and the Alliance Defense Fund.”

The New American: “The Obama administration has aligned the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the FBI with militant abortion advocates in a concerted effort to target peaceful pro-life activists as terrorists and to characterize their lawful, free-speech activities as ‘violence’ . . . [Matthew S. Bowman], legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, a pro-life/pro-family organization, told The New American he finds this “extremely disturbing” in that it indicates the FBI and DOJ are working hand-in-hand with the pro-abortion lobby to squash the constitutionally guaranteed right to peaceful political dissent.”

“Gay activists say the estimate of more than 150 appointments so far – from agency heads and commission members to policy officials and senior staffers – surpasses the previous high of about 140 reached during two full terms under President Bill Clinton.”

The Recorder (Law.com)“Phillips prefers to keep a low profile, and has for much of her career on the district court. But her ruling that “don’t ask, don’t tell” is unconstitutional and can’t be enforced has propelled her to the front of the fight over gays in the military, earning her hero status with gays and lesbians and condemnation in conservative circles. Even academics sympathetic on the merits suggest she may have acted rashly in issuing a worldwide injunction and refusing to stay that order pending appeal.”

“Unfortunately over the past several decades, leadership from both parties have concentrated more and more power into a select few leadership positions. This trend reached its zenith under Speaker Pelosi . . . ”

The Recorder (Law.com): “With the judges split into unusual voting blocs, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday issued an 8-3 ruling (pdf) in an Establishment Clause case that is thought to be prime for Supreme Court review . . . But in what’s seen as a possibly more important outcome of the case, a separate majority said the plaintiffs had standing to sue.”