Daily Archives: November 12, 2010

Associated Press: “Defense Secretary Robert Gates has ordered an investigation into the leak of details from a draft study about gays in the military.”

Salt Lake Tribune: “A newly published compilation of LDS guidelines — used by all church leaders worldwide when dealing with their members — has softened the language about gay Mormons . . . Like most recent LDS Church statements, this new handbook makes a clear distinction between same-sex orientation and behavior. It eliminates the suggestion, mentioned in the previous 2006 edition, that same-sex relationships ‘distort loving relationships’ and that gays should repent of their ‘homosexual thoughts or feelings.’”

Bloomberg: “Barclays Plc, Britain’s third- largest bank, is joining Google Inc. and a small number of companies in reimbursing U.S. employees for federal tax they pay on health benefits provided to same-sex domestic partners.”

Yorkshire Evening Post: “A teacher who had lesbian sex with a 15-year-old pupil is facing jail. Louise Yeoman, 29, admitted carrying out 10 offences against the teenage pupil while working at a Wakefield school in 2009 and 2010.”

Helsingin Sanomat: “The Synod of the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church voted on Friday morning to authorise the holding of prayer services for the union of same-sex couples.”

Gibraltar Chronicle: “The Supreme Court will today consider the thorny question of whether Gibraltar wrongly discriminates against homosexual men by forbidding them from having sex before the age of 18.”

The News-Press: “Cape Coral Mayor John Sullivan believes the moral character of the country is deteriorating, so he wants to put the Ten Commandments inside a government building as a reminder to straighten up. Sullivan has asked the city attorney’s office to look into the emotionally charged issue that has pitted religious leaders, politicians and others against one another in a battle that calls into question the separation of church and state.” | Freedom From Religion Foundation Press Release

The Heritage Foundation: “Canada might be perceived as having ‘socialized’ education, akin to its ‘top down’ health care system. In reality, several Canadian provinces have a flourishing ‘bottom up’ choice-based primary and secondary education system. The province of Alberta has been especially supportive of school choice. Under the Canadian constitution, education is a provincial responsibility, with which the federal government has not interfered. In Alberta, parents expect—and have—a wide variety of educational options for how to educate their children, a policy outcome that American states should emulate.”

Illinois Family Institute (via Insider Online): “Charter schools are a new kind of public school, attended solely by choice. They must take all comers, irrespective of past performance in school or on tests. Through state law, charter schools are given the freedom to create ‘new look’ schools that break with the outworn, bureaucratic policies of inner city education. Several studies have shown that charter schools in Chicago are outperforming the norm at district-run public schools; there are more than 15,000 students on waiting lists as a result.”

“We hold that the New Hampshire School Patriot Act and the voluntary, teacher-led recitation of the Pledge by the state’s public school students do not violate the Constitution.”

Todd Hartch writing at Public Discourse: “We have watched, though, as our campuses veered farther and farther off course. Sexual license is now taken for granted. Mentions of abortion, homosexuality, and even bestiality hardly merit a second glance in our campus papers. Many students have never heard a rational conservative argument about any moral issue. Our colleagues now scoff even at the idea of truth, as if it were some quaint notion from the Middle Ages. Discipline after discipline has lost its mooring and drifted into irrelevance or outright idiocy.”

Virginia Law Weekly: “On Monday, the Law School hosted Jordan Lorence of the Alliance Defense Fund and Matt McGill of Gibson Dunn for a debate on Proposition 8, California’s recently passed constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. A U.S. District Court recently held that Proposition 8 violated the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution in Perry v. Schwarzenegger. The 9th Circuit will hear the case on appeal on Dec. 6.”

Christian Science Monitor: “If the bill becomes law, it will give responsibility for family planning to the state. Part of that would include the distribution of free contraception for the poor, maternity care, and family planning. It would also break new ground for the relationship between the government and the Church . . . The Catholic Church, meanwhile, views the bill as an attack on life, Catholic values, and as a gateway to legalizing abortion.”

Elizabeth Marquardt writing at the Huffington Post: “[S]ocial science research shows that about two-thirds of marriages that end in divorce are low conflict. These marriages may feel troubled to the one or both of the spouses, but they are not struggling with the kinds of serious or frequent conflict many imagine when they picture a marriage on the rocks. It is these marriages — what some call ‘good enough’ marriages — that matter so much. To any still-married parent who is considering divorce who may be reading this, I want to affirm that your ‘good enough’ marriage is doing a world of good for your kids.”

ADF Attorney David French writing at Phi Beta Cons: “I’d submit that a significant amount of the much-vaunted youth support for same-sex marriage is less the result of considered cultural change than years of one-sided, often inaccurate indoctrination . . . Regardless of whether the topic is Islam, marriage, ‘torture,’ war, economics, or any other issue of real consequence, the ideological monoculture of the academy is better suited for producing partisans, activists, and Internet comment board trolls than informed and thoughtful citizens.”

Colombia Reports: “Colombia’s Constitutional Court on Thursday ruled against a lawsuit to legalize civil marriage for same-sex couples. The Consitutional Court ruled that the request filed by two attorneys for equal rights for gay couples was flawed and presented in an irregular manner, La FM Radio reports.”

Colombia gay rights groups protest after court’s gay marriage decision

The Sun News: “The economy dominated the fall campaign, but leaders among North Carolina’s social conservatives believe the Republican sweep at the Legislature should finally permit a vote on a state constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.”

Dutch News: “Amsterdam court has appointed three new judges for Geert Wilders’ trial on inciting hatred and discrimination charges and hopes to restart the process as soon as possible.”

The Blog of LegalTimes: “The Supreme Court today let it be known that it will hand down the first signed opinion of its term on Monday. As is the custom, the Court did not announce which case it will hand down first, even though other high courts like California’s do so routinely, and others like Canada’s sometimes give the press an advance peek.”

Grainne De Burca, The Road Not Taken: The EU as a Global Human Rights Actor (November 8, 2010). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1705690

“This paper challenges the traditional account of the EU’s engagement with human rights. The classic narrative begins with the silence of the EEC Treaty in 1957 and depicts a gradual engagement with human rights over the decades, culminating in the establishment of a substantial EU human rights regime in recent years. The paper provides an alternative account of the EU’s trajectory by returning to its origins in the 1950s and comparing the ambitious but long-forgotten plans for European Community engagement with human rights drafted in the early 1950s with today’s EU human rights framework. The paper argues that the current EU human rights system is in several ways less robust and less ambitious than that envisaged in the 1950s, and that the two main causes for criticism of today’s EU system – namely that it lacks a serious human rights mechanism, and that there is a double-standard as between internal and external human rights policies – have survived the changes introduced by the Lisbon Treaty and have to some extent been enshrined by those changes. The paper concludes by suggesting that the EU’s aspiration to be taken seriously as a global normative actor is hindered by its exceptionalism in this field.”

Kanstantsin Dzehtsiarou, Comparative Law in the Reasoning of the European Court of Human Rights (November 4, 2010). University College Dublin Law Review, Vol. 10, pp. 109-140, 2010. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1703120

“This paper explores how comparative research is done and applied by the European Court of Human Rights. This is a working draft of the paper published in UCD Law Review.”

Rex D. Glensy, The Use of International Law in U.S. Constitutional Adjudication (August 15, 2010). Emory International Law Review, Forthcoming. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1701508

“This Article seeks to untangle part of the debate concerning the use of international law as persuasive authority within the context of U.S. constitutional interpretation. It begins by noting that international law is being used comparatively within the framework of constitutional analysis but such usage lacks structure and context. It then posits that U.S. courts should only use international law as persuasive authority when this fits within the goals of the comparative enterprise. By combining comparative theory and historical practice, the Article concludes by proposing a methodology for employing international law as persuasive authority by U.S. Courts.”

Steve Cohen writing in City Journal: “For judges hearing high-profile cases, this lack of juror anonymity can present serious problems. The most obvious is outright jury tampering. Though that isn’t common, more than a few instances have been uncovered . . . And then there’s the media. Most newspapers and television networks won’t attempt to contact a juror during a trial. But after a verdict comes down, juror privacy is irrelevant for a determined reporter . . . No right in the U.S. Constitution guarantees defendants access to juror information. Federal case law and judicial practice make that clear.”

The Northern Virginia Daily: “After months of debate, the Warren County School Board on Thursday entered a first reading of an amended religious exemption regulation to gain release for compulsory school attendance . . . Homeschooling advocates and parents had consistently protested the required letter explaining religious beliefs, saying it was potentially restrictive to religious freedoms.”

The Straits Times: “Malaysia’s top court on Friday sidestepped a ruling on whether children can be converted to Islam by one parent, a lawyer said, in a case closely watched by the nation’s non-Muslim minorities.”

Medical News Today: “An Albuquerque, N.M., Public Schools committee voted in favor of a revised policy that will allow contraception to be dispensed at school-based clinics by clinic staff who are not APS employees, the Albuquerque Journal reports.”

The Valley News: “A Temecula Planning Commission hearing to review plans for a proposed 25,000-square-foot mosque — which is being challenged over its size and symbolism — has been delayed because of a misplaced sign, it was reported today.”

Deccan Herald: “An Egyptian national was today arrested for allegedly distributing pamphlets and booklets at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) here, inviting people to convert to Islam, police said.”

The Age: “Federal Labor member for Melbourne Ports Michael Danby has called for any same-sex marriage legislation to provide protection for religious ministers so they are not forced to perform those marriages. As parliament prepares to debate a Greens motion on same-sex marriage next week, Mr Danby said he agreed with Labor Right powerbroker Mark Arbib that change was coming.”

Taiwan News (AP): “Germany’s orthodox Jewish community is accusing the government of discrimination for not funding the orthodox Rabbinical Seminary in Berlin while providing money to the country’s only other seminary, which is more liberal.”

Bradenton.com (PRNewswire): “A prominent national Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization is calling on a Virginia-based convenience store chain to offer an apology to a Muslim woman who was allegedly denied service at one of the chain’s stores in that state because she wore an Islamic head scarf, or hijab.”

Telegraph: “Omar Bakri Mohammed, known as the ‘Tottenham Ayatollah’, was on the run after a court in Beirut found him guilty of funding al-Qaeda and starting a militant group to weaken the Lebanese government.”

Sun News: “The request for the preliminary site plan was approved by the planning commission and it will now move on to be presented to city council, said John Patta, council representative for the planning commission.”

Guardian: “The attacks came nine days after al-Qaida stormed one of Baghdad’s most prominent cathedrals, slaughtering more than 40 worshippers who had just arrived for mass and horrifying a city that is no stranger to terrible acts of violence. The ramifications have been enormous. Now, more than any time before, Iraq’s Christians are reconsidering their futures in a land where they have prospered since biblical times.”

TriValleyCentral.com (AP): “Tom Prichard, president of the Minnesota Family Council, says his group will push for a statewide vote in 2012 to ban gay marriage and civil unions in Minnesota’s Constitution. Previous efforts to do so in 2004, 2005 and 2006 met a firewall in the strongly Democratic state Senate, but that liberal majority crumbled Nov. 2.”

UPI: “The proposed measure for the November 2011 ballot would amend the city’s police code ‘to make it a misdemeanor to circumcise, excise, cut or mutilate the foreskin, testicle or penis of another person who has not attained the age of 18,’ The (San Francisco) Examiner reported.”

The Oklahoman (AP): “A former corrections officer in New Jersey has reached a settlement in a federal lawsuit over her right to wear a Muslim head scarf at work.”

Washington Post: “A Pentagon study group has concluded that the military can lift the ban on gays serving openly in uniform with only minimal and isolated incidents of risk to the current war efforts, according to two people familiar with a draft of the report, which is due to President Obama on Dec. 1.”

Associated Press: “Cindy McCain, the wife of 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain, is speaking out against the ban on gays serving openly in the military while her husband is working to maintain it.”

The Australian: “Amazon quietly stopped sales of the self-published electronic book The Paedophile’s Guide to Love & Pleasure: A Child-Lover’s Code Of Conduct yesterday, a day after defending it on the grounds of free speech.”

Associated Press: “Police are investigating whether the author of a guide for pedophiles did anything illegal even as they try to protect him from a threat posted on a local website.”

Author confident e-book ‘Paedophile’s Guide’ will be back on Amazon

KSBW: “A Stanislaus County school is forcing a student to take an American flag off of his bike . . . officials at Denair Middle School told him he couldn’t fly it. He said he was told some students had complained.”

Eugene Volokh comments at The Volokh Conspiracy: “[I]f there is a reasonably predictable likelihood (not just a bare conjecture) that speech or expressive conduct will cause substantial disruption — which is not clear under these facts — then the school may legally restrict it without violating the First Amendment.”

Chicago Sun-Times: “A push to recognize civil unions among same-sex couples is near having enough votes to pass the Illinois House, its main legislative backer predicted Tuesday.”

Marci A. Hamilton writing at FindLaw: “Most Americans understand Sharia law to be the motivating doctrine behind the violently radical Islamicists, and one can hardly fault the Oklahomans for seeking to build a legal barrier around their state to keep terrorism out. While the prohibition on the use of international law also presents interesting issues, I will focus here on the Sharia law prohibition. It is problematic.”

FindLaw (AP): “A mysterious blogger who set off an uproar in the Arab world by claiming he was God and hurling insults at the Prophet Muhammad is now behind bars – caught in a sting that used Facebook to track him down.”

FindLaw (AP): “Saul Anuzis made his plans known Friday in an e-mail in which he says the party can win in 2012 only if the chairman steps out of the limelight and allows the candidates to become the voice and face of Republicans.”

New York Times Editorial: “If the Supreme Court renders justice in a case it heard this month, Schwarzenegger v. Entertainment Merchants Association, it will strike down a California law barring the sale or rental of violent video games to anyone under 18. That would end a violation of free expression — but not prevent the states from finding other ways to support parents who do not want their children to play violent games.”

Religion Clause: “According to the Tacoma (WA) News Tribune, yesterday the Board of Pharmacy took the next step, voting 3-2 to ask the Board staff for recommendations on drafting a rule allowing facilitated referrals to other pharmacies for ‘time sensitive’ medications that the pharmacy will not or cannot fill.”

“The court did not comment in denying a request from the Log Cabin Republicans.”

Pacific Justice Institute: “A federal judge has ruled that an unusual belief system called Anthroposophy is not a religion, so public schools can continue to utilize its methodology . . . Kevin Snider, Chief Counsel of Pacific Justice Institute, commented, ‘This ruling illustrates the double standard that many people see in public education: widely-held beliefs like Christianity and Judaism are excluded, while unusual beliefs like Anthroposophy are promoted. We believe this dichotomy is legally untenable, and we look forward to appellate review.’”

Washington Post: “During the darkest days of the Depression, Time magazine spied a ray of light: Congress passed the 20th Amendment, which ‘promised to eliminate the legislative influence of Senators & Representatives whose constituencies have already repudiated them’ . . . Why, then, is the lame-duck Congress coming to Washington on Monday? Because of a dispute between the House and Senate over the text of the amendment.”

LifeNews: “A UN panel last week lambasted US human rights policy, as an enormous American delegation traveled here to endure the dressing down . . . The US delegation pledged that it remained ‘strongly committed’ to ratifying the CEDAW women’s treaty and a disabilities treaty. The delegation pointed out, though, that ratification required two-thirds approval of the US Senate.”

LifeSiteNews: “The family is under sustained attack from new ideologies that ‘trivialize the human body,’ and distort the purpose and meaning of marriage, Pope Benedict XVI said in a document released by the Vatican today.”

LifeSiteNews: “The world’s leading abortion provider is continuing to promote a graphic brochure advocating casual sex among youth. According to International Planned Parenthood Federation, the brochure called ‘Healthy, Happy and Hot’ has become their most popular publication.”

Associated Press: “Staking his ground in the global fight over the world’s major currencies, President Barack Obama on Friday disputed claims that the U.S. was deliberately weakening the dollar while accusing China of manipulating its yuan.”

Associated Press: “But her voice still gave her away – callers would refer to her as ‘sir’ when she answered the phone. So Hatch came to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where speech pathologists teach transgender people how to speak like the people of the sex they’re becoming or have become.”

LifeSiteNews: “The U.S. administration’s emphasis on promoting homosexual ‘rights’ on the international level drew considerable attention during the review. Some European countries asked about homosexual ‘rights,’ prompting the U.S. delegation to stress its ‘important initiatives to ensure more robust protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals.’ They include seeking the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act and the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ military policy.”

USA Today: “A research team from the University of Chicago and Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., studied 501 masters of business administration students (348 men and 153 women) and found the romantic bond of being in a committed relationship alters hormones that can buffer against stress.”

Yahoo (LiveScience): “The research, reported online Oct. 22 in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior, finds that both men and women are more satisfied when having sex out of love and commitment, while mercenary types don’t have much fun in bed – having sex to get material goods or to get ahead was associated with a less satisfying experience.”

LifeNews: “New documents uncovered about the Planned Parenthood Federation of America reveal the president of the national abortion business makes almost $400,000 annually in combined salary and benefits.”

LifeSiteNews: “An Angus Reid poll, published on Thursday, found that 67 percent of 2,015 adult respondents support legalizing outright euthanasia in the UK.”

Associated Press: “Stocks are falling as investors worry China might try to slow its surging economy to combat inflation.”

Michigan Family Forum Policy Brief: “A woman’s marital status at the time of pregnancy is a significant factor in putting her child at risk. Nearly two-thirds of out-of-wedlock births and many of the subsequent health problems are paid for with public funds. Furthermore, unmarried mothers are more likely to depend on public assistance years after the child is born. While most out-of-wedlock pregnancies are unintended and to young women, a surprising number are intentionally conceived.”

Pat Buchanan writing at Townhall: “The Fed is committed to buy $600 billion in bonds from banks and pay for them by printing money that will then be deposited in those banks. The more dollars that flood into the economy, the less every one of them is worth.”

FRC: “Family Research Council (FRC) today called upon the Department of Defense (DOD) to publicly disavow and formally investigate leaks to the media regarding the content of a forthcoming report on the issue of homosexuals in the military.”

Associated Press: “Leaders of 20 major economies on Friday refused to back a U.S. push to make China boost its currency’s value, keeping alive a dispute that raises fears of a global trade war amid criticism that cheap Chinese exports are costing American jobs.”

Islamist Watch: “By shielding Islamic people, religion, ideologies, governments, and societies from the open criticism routinely applied to all others, these rights groups effectively favor oppressors over victims . . . Their unwillingness to apply the same standards to critics of Islam, Islamists, and the Muslim world as to those supporting them amounts to hypocrisy and dereliction of a self-imposed duty to promote rights standards evenhandedly. In the struggle against Islamist attempts to claim special privileges at others’ expense, victims are well advised to seek help from alternative sources to vindicate their rights.”

USA Today: “The number of federal workers earning $150,000 or more a year has soared tenfold in the past five years and doubled since President Obama took office, a USA TODAY analysis finds.”

Helen Alvaré writing at Public Discourse: “[I]t is becoming increasingly apparent that abortion is about family relationships, not simply a contest between the state and a woman who happens to be pregnant. Scientific discoveries about human development and the testimonies of women who have had or have considered an abortion suggest that it is family law rather than constitutional law that provides the best means of understanding the issue of abortion.”

Associated Press: “At least seven people, including a former senior health ministry official, are suspected of involvement in an international network that falsely promised poor people payment for their kidneys and then sold the organs for as much as euro100,000 ($137,000).”

USA Today: “Expanding the obscenity umbrella would have a dramatic impact on America’s popular culture. Highly violent films or television programs without a hint of nudity or sexual content could potentially lose First Amendment protection. And if we decide that some ideas are so horrendous that they can be added to the obscene list, how can we ever put a cap on government intrusion?”

Mike Dorf writing at Dorf on Law: “Federal district courts have recently taken action on gay rights on three fronts: (1) Perry v. Schwarzenegger found a right of same-sex couples in California to marry; (2) Gill v. Office of Personnel Management and its companion case invalidated the provision of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) that denies federal recognition to same-sex marriages that are legal under state law (there Massachusetts); and (3) Log Cabin Republicans v. United States invalidated Don’t-Ask-Don’t-Tell (DADT). Each case is currently pending on appeal. The issue presented in each case will probably make it to the Supreme Court within the next few years. Does the order in which they arrive matter? Possibly.”

Lyle Denniston reports at SCOTUSblog: “The Obama Administration, continuing its defense in court of the ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the U.S. military, urged the Supreme Court on Wednesday not to interrupt that policy while its constitutionality is being tested in lower federal courts. A California federal judge’s worldwide order against enforcement of the 1993 law and Pentagon regulations should not be allowed to take effect in the meantime, the government contended. The opposition document in Log Cabin Republicans v. U.S. (application 10A465) is here.”

Conn Carroll writing at the Heritage Foundation / The Foundry: “The crisis facing states across the country is that Obamacare forces states to massively expand their already burdensome Medicaid rolls. Starting in 2014 states must expand Medicaid to all non-elderly individuals with family incomes below 138 percent of the federal poverty level. At first, Obamacare picks up the first three years of benefit costs for expansion. But in 2017 states begin to shoulder a larger and larger share of these benefit costs, maxing out at 10 percent by 2020.”

Brent Bozell writing at Townhall: “[I]f the issue isn’t indecency, but instead, say, obesity, so many of those titans of ‘tolerance’ suddenly become the censors. Behold San Francisco, the paradise of permissive sexual attitudes. The city council may welcome flowers in your hair, but they have just voted to ban ‘Happy Meal’ toys unless the ‘happy’ menu is low in fat and sodium, and includes fruits and vegetables.”

The Hill: “Almost 90 percent of the first round of write-in ballots counted in Alaska on Wednesday were unchallenged votes for Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R). Repubican challenger Joe Miller’s campaign observers challenged 8.5 percent of the ballots, but were only successfully in setting aside 1.44 percent of the 19,203 write-in votes counted, according to the Anchorage Daily News.”