Daily Archives: November 16, 2010

Corruption Chronicles: “As the U.S. government retaliates against an American for refusing to allow airport security to grope his genitals, the nation’s Homeland Security secretary considers waiving the intrusive ‘pat-downs’ for Muslim women who consider them offensive.”

Mercator Net: “[T]here are tell-tale signs that a particular type of pollutant, the endocrine disruptor, is wreaking havoc on our ecosystems. And as the world’s rivers are in a crisis of ominous proportions, we are witnessing the alarming effects wrought by estrogenic substances on aquatic life. Feminized male fish that lay eggs and/or have lost their reproductive abilities have been found near waste water effluent areas . . . why are environmental crusaders hounding plastic manufacturers and the canned foods industry while ignoring the most obvious culprit: pharmaceuticals in our water supply? Not just what is dumped by manufacturers or consumers, but more importantly, what is flushed down the toilet after human consumption.”

The Rutherford Institute: (links to the complaint) “In a case involving the continuing encroachment of modern technology upon personal privacy, The Rutherford Institute has filed a Fourth Amendment lawsuit in federal court against Janet Napolitano, secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and John Pistole, administrator of the Transportation Security Agency (TSA), on behalf of two airline pilots who refused to submit to airport security screening which relies on advanced imaging technology that exposes intimate details of a person’s body to government agents.”

“France’s highest court of appeal on Tuesday asked the Constitutional Council to rule on whether gay marriage should remain illegal after individuals asked a court to examine the legality of the articles in French law that ban same-sex marriage.”

Navy Times: “A bill recognizing proxy marriages involving service members in immigration cases passed the House of Representatives on Monday. The bipartisan legislation is aimed, specifically, at helping the Japanese widow of a Marine killed in Iraq come to the U.S. to raise the couple’s child — but it would change the law for other military couples as well.”

Lebanon Daily News: “A federal judge in Pittsburgh must decide whether abortion leaflets are litter or ‘litter’-ature protected by the First Amendment.”

The Hill: “Defeated Rep. Steve Driehaus (D-Ohio) has withdrawn his complaint against the anti-abortion rights group Susan B. Anthony List for claiming that he ‘voted for taxpayer-funded abortion.’”

National Post: “The student association at Carleton University has decided that any club that is opposed to abortion has no place on campus and would have its funding as a student club cut off. On Monday, Carleton Lifeline, an anti-abortion group, was told by CUSA, the Carleton University Student Association, that it was in violation of CUSA’s anti-discrimination policy.”

LifeSiteNews: “Pro-life journalist Mariska Orbán de Haas says that she has received hundreds of death threats and more than ten threats of torture following the publication of an open letter she wrote to a pro-abortion parliamentarian asking her to reconsider her position on the subject.”

Interfax: “The Moscow Patriarchate urges Catholics to give an unbiased opinion of transferring the former Catholic Church to the Russian Orthodox Church . . . ‘It should be remembered that the legal owners of Holy Family Church have left the city for good when it was included within the USSR. The postwar migrants, therefore, have no direct interest in this building,’ Fr. Dimitry stated.’

Interfax: “The organizers of the European Parliament hearings on religious freedom in Russia have not allowed President of the Russian Association of Centers for Religious and Sectarian Studies and prominent Orthodox authority in present-day religious sects Alexander Dvorkin to attend the hearings on Monday, the Russian specialist told Interfax.”

Herald Sun: “Toy shop bosses removed a plastic pig from a children’s toy farm set because they feared it would upset Muslim and Jewish parents. A mother who complained to toy store Early Learning Centre (ELC) when she found the pig missing was told it had been removed for ‘religious reasons,’ British newspaper The Sun reported.”

Baltic Times: “Lithuanian parliament defeated by just two votes a controversial law that would have banned pride parades and, in the words of one MEP, ‘effectively made homosexuality illegal.’”

Armenia News: “Armenian Apostolic Church will not get status in Georgia. ‘We will not give status to Etchmiadzin,’ Yelena Tevdoradze, Georgian Deputy Minister of Reintegration, said in the course of ‘Armenian society in Tbilisi: problems and prospects’ conference.”

The Christian Institute: “The Welsh Assembly has announced that primary schools in Wales will not be forced to teach sex and relationship education (SRE) if they don’t want to. But the Welsh Assembly Government is set to inject yet more funding into its controversial sexual health programme.”

Charisma Mag: “Imprisoned since May, father of six has yet to learn charges against him. An Afghani amputee in prison for his Christian faith since May will face a judge this Sunday (Nov. 21) without legal representation or knowledge of the charges against him, according to local sources.”

Murfreesboro Post: “Both sides in a long battle over the construction of a mosque near Murfreesboro wrapped up their case Monday and will make closing arguments Wednesday.”

Catholic News Agency: “The president of the Peruvian bishops’ committee on the family has warned the country’s Congress that lowering the age of sexual consent will turn Peru into a ‘sexual paradise’ for tourists interested in child prostitution. The Peruvian Congress is currently debating a measure that would lower the legal age of sexual consent from 18 to 14 years old.”

CNSNews

New York Times / The Caucus: “Mr. Obama had declared ratification of the New Start treaty his ‘top priority’ in foreign affairs for the lame-duck session of Congress that opened this week. But the chances of winning the two-thirds vote required for passage of the treaty appeared to collapse with the announcement by Jon Kyl of Arizona, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate and the party’s point man on the issue, that the Senate should not vote on it this year.”

Timothy P. Carney writing at The Washington Examiner: “The degradations of passing through full-body scanners that provide naked pictures of you to Transportation Security Administration agents may not mean that the terrorists have won — but they do mark victories for a few politically connected high-tech companies and their revolving-door lobbyists.” | George Soros is also profiting off controversial new TSA scanners | Bush’s Homeland Security Secretary flacking for nudie-scanners, too

Khaled Abu Toameh writing at Hudson New York: “Those who fund the Palestinian Authority must put pressure on its leaders to respect freedom of speech and refrain from imposing Islamic Sharia laws in the West Bank. Otherwise, it will be only a matter of time before Palestinians in the West Bank are beheaded or have their hands amputated or are stoned to death for adultery and theft. If the Palestinian Authority is not made to understand the repercussions of its actions, the West Bank will be turned into another radical Islamic entity like the one that already exists in the Gaza Strip.”

WorldNetDaily: “The situation in Houston erupted after workers with a volunteer organization called True the Vote investigated the work of a Houston Votes group and found that of the 25,000 voter registrations submitted, only 7,193 apparently were actually valid.” James Bopp, Jr. of the James Madison Center for Free Speech and Kelly Shackelford of the Liberty Institute are quoted.

OneNewsNow: “A bestselling author and terrorism expert thinks Germany’s proposal to outlaw forced Islamic marriages is another sign that Europe is beginning to clamp down on the religion’s controversial practices.”

Politics Daily: “‘I also wanted to send a very clear message to Republicans across the country; if you take a stand against the family, we will take a stand against you,’ Perkins said. ‘These squishy Republicans need to know that we will come after them, just like the Democrats.’”

San Francisco Chronicle: “Victoria Kolakowski declared victory Monday in a tightly contested race for Alameda County Superior Court, making her what is believed to be the nation’s first transgender judge.”

Boston Herald: “Gov. Deval Patrick says he’ll use his second term to try to implement the rest of an advisory panel’s recent recommendations on immigration reform, including in-state tuition for illegal immigrant students and more English classes.”

Peter Augustine Lawler, Ph.D. writing at The Family in America: “That our principles are primarily Lockean is not all good or all bad, but it is a problem that should receive scrutiny from conservatives in a friendly and loyal but nonetheless real criticism of the Founders as theorists . . . The embedded family of Western civilization, however, was clearly under assault by Locke. Consequently, a defense of the family, the church, and the local community in our time has to be in opposition to the application of his principles in every area of life. More than anything else, Americans cannot turn to Locke or even Jefferson to learn why the family and religion are good for their own sakes as the core of who we are; we cannot learn from them the whole truth about who we are as social and relational persons created in the image of God.”

Edge Boston: “The Defense of Marriage Act faced a two-pronged attack on Nov. 9 as two separate organizations and sets of lawyers, representing different plaintiffs, filed lawsuits in federal court challenging the federal definition of marriage.”

The Hill: “A House ethics panel has convicted Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) on 11 of 13 counts of violating House ethics rules . . . ”

David van Gend writing in The Courier-Mail: “The most serious objection to gay marriage is that it means gay parenting, and gay parenting means depriving a child of either his mother or his father. The gay marriage debate, at its heart, is not about the rights and needs of the adults, but of the child.”

Daily Telegraph: “The Government will support a Greens motion on gay marriage which calls on all MPs to canvass the issue with their constituents. However, it has forced an amendment to the motion which won’t leave MPs voting in conflict with Labor’s policy which opposes gay marriage.”

“The court said Montoya’s arguments that the traditional definition of marriage violates the right to equality, as well as the right to not be treated cruelly, were insufficient.”

NewsChief.com (AP): “None, though, will be as contentious as an abortion bill that was one of two vetoed measures the Legislature last overrode on March 11, 1998. Nor will the Legislature consider hot-button bills on teacher merit pay and retention, elections and abortion that Crist vetoed.”

Christian Today: “International Christian Concern (ICC) reported that Prem Singh Gurung has been sentenced to three years imprisonment for showing the film. He has been jailed in the town of Gelephu.”

Reuters: “China will unveil food price controls and crack down on speculation in agricultural commodities to contain inflationary pressure that its central bank governor highlighted as a risk on Tuesday.”

Priscilla Coleman, Ph.D. writing at LifeNews: “Over 30 studies have been published in just the last 5 years and they add to a body of literature comprised of hundreds of studies published in major medicine and psychology journals throughout the world . . . ”

Jane Smiley writing at The Huffington Post: “When I asked my older daughter what she thought of my divorce from her father (she is 32), she said, ‘Do you really think I wish we had remained in that suffocating little four-person family?’ . . . It was divorce that gave her the tribe of peers that she wanted, and she has never seen a downside . . .”

LifeNews: “Archbishop Timothy Dolan defeated Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson, Arizona in a surprise victory, receiving 54 percent of the vote to 46 percent for Kicanas on the third round of balloting.”

Iona Institute: “The Chief Justice, Mr Justice John Murray in the foreword to the latest edition of Geoffrey Shannon’s Child Law, writes that ‘the State should proceed with caution in protecting the interests of children, in order to ensure as far as possible that the integrity of the family unit is not unduly undermined.’”

Arizona Republic: “La Casa de Cristo Lutheran Church in northeast Phoenix voted to leave the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America because it employs gay and lesbian clergy in committed relationships.”

Christian Post: “Last year, about 2,900 people made their way to the democratic South, and over 2,000 have arrived so far this year, said Jong-joo Lee, an official with the Unification Ministry. Each month, an average of 200 North Koreans make it to the South, according to the Ministry.”

“Planned Parenthood received $349.6 million in tax dollars in the fiscal year ending on June 30, 2008, and it paid its president, Cecile Richards, $385,163, plus another $11,876 in benefits and deferred compensation.”

The Hill: “Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) announced Tuesday that he wants to rein in the Federal Reserve’s mandate and have it focus exclusively on price stability. The Senate Banking Committee member said that the Fed’s current dual responsibilities to maintain full employment while keeping inflation low represent an ‘overly broad’ agenda, and that it should be solely focused on price stability.”

LifeNews: “Rep. Heath Shuler said on Sunday that he will run against Pelosi if she officially decides to run for the Minority Leader position leading Democrats after Republicans defeated them overwhelmingly for control of the House.”

LifeNews: “The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on Thursday on the CEDAW treaty that has been used to pressure nations to legalize abortions. While the treaty is meant to promote women’s rights, United Nation’s agencies have used it to promote abortion.”

LifeNews: “The Michigan legislature has taken the first step in responding to the dumping of the bodies of babies killed in abortions at abortion centers in the state . . . ‘The news created more interest in a package of bills in the Michigan legislature that would require that the remains of aborted or miscarried children to be disposed of in a dignified manner,’ Right to Life of Michigan indicated.”

ChristianNewsWire: “Many countries now supporting the resolution are the Islamic-majority countries of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC). The group says the bill focuses on promoting tolerance and protecting religious freedom. However, it does the exact opposite for Christians, other religious minorities and even Muslims who do not adhere to government-approved versions of Islam. In effect, the Defamation of Religions Resolution is an international blasphemy law. If the resolution passes again, it would give international legitimacy to Pakistan’s blasphemy laws and restrictive legislation in other mostly Muslim countries.”

LifeSiteNews: “Youth Defence, the Republic of Ireland’s leading pro-life group, this week launched a billboard and public education campaign calling on the current government to halt all plans to legalize embryonic stem cell research.”

Center for Reproductive Rights: “Today, the Center for Reproductive Rights filed a motion for contempt against the Food and Drug Administration for failing to follow a court order regarding access to emergency contraception for women of all ages. On March 23, 2009, Judge Edward Korman of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York found that the FDA’s decision to limit over-the-counter access to the emergency contraceptive Plan B to women over 18 was based on politics rather than science. He ordered the agency to reconsider that decision.”

Breitbart: “Gunmen burst into a home in northern Iraq and killed two Christian men as they sat in their living room, continuing a string of attacks again spreading fear through the dwindling religious minority.”

Washington Post: “As President Obama pushes for ratification of his signature nuclear treaty with Russia in coming days, all eyes are on one Republican. Sen. Jon Kyl (Ariz.) has been his party’s leading voice on the treaty and has pressed the administration to commit to a major modernization of the country’s weapons labs in exchange for approval of the pact.”

At The Heritage Foundation / The Foundry, Conn Carroll comments: “Gates has already offered Kyl an extra $4 billion in spending on nuclear programs in exchange for his vote. This is on top of the existing $10 billion Administration pledge. This deal is bad policy and deplorable politics.”

Breitbart: “[The National Inflation Association] believes that if the U.S. stays on its current path, we are guaranteed to see hyperinflation this decade. The only way it will be possible to prevent hyperinflation is if the U.S. government dramatically cuts spending across the board immediately and if the Federal Reserve raises interest rates from near zero percent (where they have been for nearly two years) to a level that is higher than the real rate of price inflation. ”

Chuck Colson writing at LifeSiteNews: “While economic realities are forcing the Chinese to rethink that disastrous and cruel policy, many Americans seem to be voluntarily adopting a one-child policy of their own . . . On the surface, there doesn’t seem to be a problem: America’s average fertility rate is 2.06 births per woman . . . the difference is almost entirely the result of high levels of Hispanic immigration . . . This reprieve probably won’t continue: As Hispanic immigrants and their children become more assimilated into American culture, they, also, will have fewer children.”

Boston.com / Dedham: “Also winning quick approval was a new ‘adult use’ zoning district, which includes all of the Legacy Place shopping complex and nearby Stergis Way. The zoning would allow strip clubs and stores selling sex toys and X-rated materials.”

World News Australia: “The bodies of more than 340 human foetuses, apparently from an illegal abortion clinic, were discovered inside a Buddhist temple in central Bangkok, Thai police said on Tuesday.”

Talking Points Memo: “Democrats still control the Senate. So while the House passes legislation the Senate has no interest in considering, Majority Leader Harry Reid will have much more time, if he chooses, to devote to confirming a large backlog of Obama’s judicial and executive branch nominees — particularly numerous non-controversial picks, who will have to be renominated next year.”

NPR: “The wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is reportedly stepping aside from her job as CEO of Liberty Central, a conservative political advocacy organization that describes itself as linked to the Tea Party.”

New York Times: “But to the media conglomerates, athletes, actors, First Amendment advocates and others who have recently weighed in on the case, Keller’s lawsuit is about much more than video games. The outcome of a recent appeal filed by Electronic Arts, their lawyers say, could rewrite the rules that dictate how much ownership public figures have over their images — and the extent to which outside parties, including media and entertainment companies — can profit from them.”

Keller v. Electronic Arts Inc, et al. No. 10-15387 (9th Cir.)

Complaint filed in Keller v. Electronic Arts Inc. et al., No 4:09-cv-01967 (N.D. Cal. May 5, 2009)

Religion Clause: “Last week, in a rule change that is to be published in the Federal Register today (full text), Attorney General Eric Holder delegated that authority to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights and, in some cases, to the Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division, of the Justice Department.”

Religion Clause: “Threat Matrix yesterday published the full text of a lengthy Eid al-Adha statement by Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar . . . ‘As a young generation of this Islamic country, you have an Islamic and Afghani responsibility to confront these hostile anti-Islamic and anti-Afghan endeavors of the enemy with all your capability of tongue and pen and indefatigable struggle. Do not let your historical, religious and cultural enemy succeed.’”

The Daily News: “The Victory Center filed a civil suit in federal court Friday against the city of Kelso, alleging the city’s zoning laws that prohibit the Christian ministry from operating downtown are unconstitutional because they infringe upon religious freedom.” | See Religion Clause for more information.

White House: “Michelle and I extend our greetings for a happy Eid-ul-Adha to Muslims worldwide and wish safe travels to those performing Hajj. This year, nearly three million pilgrims from more than 160 countries – including the United States – have gathered in Mecca and neighboring sites to perform the Hajj rituals and stand together in prayer.”

Associated Press: “Sen. Lisa Murkowski is holding a lead in Alaska’s still-undecided Senate race as election workers prepare to count more write-in ballots.”

Minnesota Public Radio: “A student newspaper at a suburban Catholic school has sparked a debate over free speech by criticizing a Catholic DVD and defending gay teens. The DVD denouncing same-sex marriage was sent by Minnesota’s Catholic bishops to parishioners prior to the Nov. 2 election. The student newspaper of Benilde-St. Margaret’s in St. Louis Park deleted two student editorials over the weekend and shut off the online comments.”

Fox News: “Michigan high school teacher Jay McDowell says he didn’t like where the discussion was going after a student told his classmates he didn’t ‘accept gays.’”

Politico: “Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid plans to overhaul the Senate Democratic leadership next year, handing New York Sen. Chuck Schumer an expanded role spearheading the party’s messaging efforts.”

USA Today: “Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Monday that the agency has an ‘open ear’ to any ‘adjustments’ to security measures in place at the nation’s airports, as some groups and individuals continued to call for a boycott of full-body scanning machines that they complain are invasive.”

Argus Leader: “The documentary ‘Two Spirits’ will be shown at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Siouxland Libraries’ main branch. The free showing is sponsored by the ACLU of South Dakota as part of an ongoing visibility initiative for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) individuals across the state.”

George Gilder writing in the Wall Street Journal: “The massive vote against repeal of the California law—62% to 38%—supports an economy-crushing drive to suppress CO2 emissions from natural gas and everything else . . . Their economic model sees new wealth emerge from jobs dismantling the existing energy economy and replacing it with a medieval system of windmills and solar collectors. By this logic we could all get rich by razing the existing housing plant and replacing it with new-fangled tents.”

Thomas Sowell writing at Townhall: “Another deficit reduction commission has now made its recommendations. My own recommendation for dealing with deficits would include stopping the appointment of deficit reduction commissions. It is not the amount of money that these commissions cost that is the issue. It is the escape hatch that they provide for big-spending politicians . . . ”

ReligionenLibertad.com [Google Translate]: “ADF’s attorney, [Joel Oster]. stated that ‘Christians should not live in fear of being punished by the Government for being Christians. It is absurd to punish a Christian single looking privately for a roommate in the church, an activity clearly legal and protected by law.’”

ADF Attorney Erik Stanley writing at Speak Up Movement / Church: “Last week, ADF sent a letter to La Paz County Arizona Treasurer Leah Castro, asking her to protect a rural Arizona church from an abuse of power so wrong you have to suspend disbelief when you hear about it . . . In 2006, The Church of the Isaiah 58 Project bought property in Quartzsite, Arizona for its church. The church promptly applied to the La Paz County Property Assessor, George Nault, for a property tax exemption . . . Mr. Nault refused to grant the property tax exemption. He began to assess property taxes against the Church. By 2008, the Church was already on the hook for thousands of dollars in property taxes which it could not pay.”

OneNewsNow: “Focus on the Family is taking over the program formerly known as the ‘Day of Truth.’ Last month, Exodus International decided to step away from leading the annual campaign that was created in 2005 by the Alliance Defense Fund. Exodus spearheaded the event last year and had supported it for several years prior.”

OneNewsNow: “After a property assessor sat on an Arizona church’s paperwork for three years, the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) is helping the church as it faces foreclosure . . . ‘The church had a tax lien filed against it and is facing potential foreclosure in February of next year, all because of a property assessor’s office that sat on an application and denied it for those three years for absolutely no reason at all,’ laments ADF attorney [Erik Stanley].”