Daily Archives: November 23, 2010

CitizenLink: “We all knew that President Obama’s Department of Justice was doing everything it could to undermine federal law prohibiting open homosexuality in the military, as well as the Defense of Marriage Act. But to hear DOJ Assistant Attorney General Tony West openly admit that they are vetting their arguments with their ‘liaison’ to the gay activist community, and promising not to make any ‘offensive’ arguments, goes beyond the pale.”

Ramesh Ponnuru writing at National Review Online / The Corner: “She’s still at it. According to Harvard Magazine, in a lecture earlier this month “Greenhouse reminded the audience that at the founding of the country, abortion was not a crime.” Wrong. Abortion after quickening was considered a crime everywhere. ”

Leader-Telegram: “City Plan Commission members agreed Monday that adult-oriented businesses should be prohibited from locating in one zoning category.”

The Raw Story: “The CEO of one of the two companies licensed to sell full body scanners to the TSA accompanied President Barack Obama to India earlier this month, a clear sign of the deep ties between Washington politicians and the companies pushing to have body scanners installed at all US airports.”

Radio Iowa: “About 300 people packed Monday night’s city council meeting in Council Bluffs to voice opposition to the possibility a parcel of land might be sold to a man looking to build a clinic where abortions would be performed. Dr. LeRoy Carhart, of Bellevue, Nebraska, who once performed late-term abortions in Nebraska, recently said he plans to open an abortion clinic in Council Bluffs.’

Full text via the Christian Science Monitor. An excerpt: “A beloved American tradition, Thanksgiving Day offers us the opportunity to focus our thoughts on the grace that has been extended to our people and our country. This spirit brought together the newly arrived Pilgrims and the Wampanoag tribe – who had been living and thriving around Plymouth, Massachusetts for thousands of years – in an autumn harvest feast centuries ago. This Thanksgiving Day, we reflect on the compassion and contributions of Native Americans, whose skill in agriculture helped the early colonists survive, and whose rich culture continues to add to our Nation’s heritage. We also pause our normal pursuits on this day and join in a spirit of fellowship and gratitude for the year’s bounties and blessings.”

Bangkok Post: “Abortion pills worth more than 30million baht have been seized from a Bangkok shophouse in a raid led by the Public Health Ministry. The operation in Bang Kae district yesterday, led by Public Health Minister Jurin Laksanavisit, was part of extended action following the discovery of 2,002 foetuses at Wat Phai Ngern Chotanaram in Bangkok last week.”

Yahoo (AP): “Cabinet secretaries, top congressional leaders and an exclusive group of senior U.S. officials are exempt from toughened new airport screening procedures when they fly commercially with government-approved federal security details.”

Legal Profession Blog: “The Illinois Administrator has filed a complaint alleging that an attorney falsely certified that he had completed online CLE courses (including several on ethics topics). According to the complaint: ‘Each online course set forth above, required the user to respond to prompts during the course, at approximately ten minute intervals, to insure that the user was actively participating in the course.’”

Marquette Warrior: “Dr. Ronni Sanlo, a college administrator and LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) activist will be coming to campus on Thursday, October 28th to meet with various members of the Marquette community.”

Cardinal Newman Society: “Yesterday Cardinal Francis George, O.M.I., Archbishop of Chicago and former President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, urged the Illinois legislature to reject a ‘same-sex union’ bill that could violate the religious liberty of Catholic colleges and other religious institutions.”

Los Angeles Times: “Its members handcuffed and taken to prison, the Muslim Brotherhood is facing an extensive police crackdown that appears certain to weaken the standing of Egypt’s largest opposition group in Sunday’s parliamentary elections.”

Stanford: “In France, a Christian citizen is two-and-a-half times more likely to get called for a job interview than an equally qualified Muslim candidate, according to new research by political science professor David Laitin.”

Belfast Telegraph: “Catholic education is seen as a threat by some members of the DUP, their partners in government have claimed . . . ”

Chillicothe Gazette: “The law would require anyone operating a sexually oriented business, such as a strip club, to obtain a license. The law also would require workers to register with the city and get a license to perform.”

Reuters: “Pakistan will not repeal its controversial blasphemy law but may amend it to prevent abuse because scrapping the legislation could fuel Islamist militancy, a government minister said on Tuesday.”

People for the American Way, Right Wing Watch: “The proposed solution that they hit upon is to create a lottery through which residents can request to fly any flag approved by the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs at one week intervals . . . Local residents clearly are not happy wtih the proposal and [Joe Infranco], the ADF attorney assisting the town, responded by blaming the entire thing on the ACLU and Americans United.”

Evanston Review: “Aldermen will give religious leaders a chance to suggest language changes on a controversial proposal that seeks to make worship centers subject to special zoning in the city’s business and commercial districts.”

Related:

Evanston debates special use permits for churches

CNN: “The developer behind the controversial Islamic community center and mosque planned for Lower Manhattan has requested federal funding through the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation to support the project known as Park51.”

The Shorthorn (University of Texas at Arlington): “Rep. Dan Flynn, R-Van, pre-filed a bill which would allow prominent display of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms around the state . . . ‘The bill gives them an opportunity to display it if they want to,’ Flynn said. ‘It’s sad that we have to do it, but the teachers deserve that kind of protection. They shouldn’t be worried about being taken to task.’”

Gettysburg Times: “Four days after a Texas-based legal firm launched a campaign to save a Civil War chapel in Gettysburg, the nine-member Borough Council voiced displeasure Monday night with misinformation in the national media . . . ‘It’s not an issue with God. It’s an issue with the Uniform Construction Code,’ said Council President John Butterfield.”

Trading Markets: “An Ohio man filed a federal lawsuit yesterday against Home Depot, claiming the company discriminated against him because his religious beliefs don’t allow him to work on Sundays.”

Sydney Morning Herald: “THE state government’s plans to introduce ethics classes into primary schools are in disarray after the Coalition announced it would not support them as an alternative to scripture if it wins power next year.”

“Today, the Second Circuit ruled that a private individual does not have a right to sue her employer after being forced to participate in an abortion.”

Chicago Tribune / Hinsdale: “In response to a spate of e-mails, phone calls and face-to-face input from concerned members of the community, Hinsdale-Clarendon Hills Elementary District 181 placed its revised religious holiday calendar policy on display for the public.”

Wall Street Journal: “Iran’s parliament revealed it planned to impeach President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad but refrained under orders from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, exposing a deepening division within the regime.”

The Iona Institute: “A judge who has given permission to the HSE to administer drugs to a baby at risk of HIV against the wishes of the mother said it was not a question of the State ‘acting as a superpower’ or ‘nanny knows best.’ The case shows once again that the law as it stands already allows the State to override the wishes of parents in certain circumstances.”

CNS News: “Whether you use the Office of Management and Budget’s earmark numbers or Citizens Against Government Waste’s earmark numbers, eliminating 100 percent of earmarks in fiscal 2010 would have cut the federal budget by less than one-half of one percent.”

William A. Jacobson writing at Legal Insurrection: “SPLC is at it again, with a list of 18, ‘anti-gay’ groups, 13 of whom also will make SPLC’s upcoming ‘hate group’ list . . . All these groups, with one exception below, were included for having a fundamentalist Christian view of homosexuality and gay marriage. Oddly, no Orthodox Jewish or Muslim groups were included, even though those religious affiliations have views not much different from fundamentalist Christians.”

“Today the European Parliament voted in favour of a report calling for mutual recognition of civil status documents. This means that the current discrimination against same-sex couples in the form of non-recognition of their marriages/partnerships should be removed when a same-sex couple is exercising their freedom of movement within the European Union.”

Providence Journal / Projo 7 to 7 News Blog: “Same-sex marriage opponents mounted a post-election effort to try to change Gov.-elect Lincoln D. Chafee’s mind . . . ‘The governor elect feels that the issue should be addressed as soon as possible by the General Assembly, and does not believe that the question should be decided by a ballot referendum . . . Marriage equality is a basic right that should be extended to all Rhode Islanders.’”

Boise Weekly / City Desk: “Ross, 37, is accused of representing herself as a doctor and performed breast exams on two women in local night clubs. Ross also happens to be a transgender woman. How her gender identity was portrayed in court, and subsequently by local media, is what has the trans-community upset. Mamani stated in court, ‘The most concerning facts here are that the defendant is not a doctor and that the defendant is a male touching a woman’s breast under the guise of being a female.’”

Dallas Voice: “A gay couple has filed a discrimination complaint against The Dallas Morning News for refusing to publish their same-sex wedding announcement. Mark Reed-Walkup and Dante Walkup, who were legally married in Washington, D.C., in October, filed the complaint on Friday. The couple’s wedding has made international news in recent weeks because it was held in Dallas but officiated from D.C. via Skype.”

Michael A. Lindenberger writing at TIME: “Are federal courts the best hope for gay rights? Even with Harry Reid promising to bring the repeal of ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ to a Senate vote after Thanksgiving, many activists feel the judiciary is still their best avenue to win change. But could court victories end up backfiring and slowing the trend toward a wider acceptance of gays into American life?”

Reuters: “Russia’s top judge said it may no longer honor judgments handed down by Europe’s influential Court of Human Rights, but a Kremlin official played down the idea, calling it a ‘backwards’ step.”

In-depth Africa: “A Ugandan high court judge on Tuesday extended a ban on the publication in the media of pictures identifying people as homosexuals, sparking the ire of a leading anti-gay pastor.”

The Columbus Dispatch: “On the night the Columbus City Council approved extending health benefits to the gay and unmarried partners of city employees, more people showed up to talk about the Columbus Clippers.”

Crain’s New York Business: “The push for gay marriage in New York has a lot riding on the three undecided state Senate races . . . [The] Republican opponents [are not] expected to support marriage equality . . . Even if Democrats won the undecided races, marriage equality would still lose, 33 to 29, if every other senator voted the same as in 2009. But supporters believe several senators could change their votes.”

Star Observer: “The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) will hear a complaint challenging the Australian Government’s ban on same-sex marriage. Community activist and International Lesbian and Gay Association representative for Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, Simon Margan, submitted the complaint on Wednesday.”

Pioneer Press: “The ACLU is suing the Tarek Ibn Ziyad Academy, or TiZA, in federal court, alleging the school blurs the boundary between religion and public education. On Monday, U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank dismissed a motion by the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, or MAS-MN, to disqualify Minneapolis law firm Dorsey & Whitney from representing the ACLU in the case.”

LifeNews: “When members of the Senate return from their Thanksgiving break, the pro-life movement will immediately face a key legislative showdown over the issue of abortions at military bases. The Senate will consider the legislation funding the Defense Department, which currently contains the Burris amendment, a measure that overturns the longstanding pro-life policy against abortions at taxpayer-funded military bases.”

LifeSiteNews: “A draft report from President Obama’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform has concluded that the entire office under controversial ‘safe schools czar’ Kevin Jennings, a radical leader in the homosexualist movement, is a financial waste and should be dissolved.”

Reuters: “An estimated 33.3 million people worldwide have the HIV virus that causes AIDS, but the global health community is starting to slow down and even turn the epidemic around, a United Nations report said on Tuesday.”

OneNewsNow: “With the second disappearance of a human rights attorney in China, family members are concerned and are hoping to find help in the U.S. The Jubilee Campaign has been working on the case of Gao Zhisheng since he was taken captive and held incommunicado for more than a year by the Chinese government in 2009.”

ACLU Blog of Rights: “On Friday, the ACLU joined with Planned Parenthood and the Center for Reproductive Rights in challenging a law that requires a teen to notify a parent or go to court before having an abortion. It is critical that laws like this don’t go unchallenged. I know from my own experience how bad these laws can be.”

Daily Mail: “More than half of younger people have never heard of the King James Bible, a survey shows. Fifty-one per cent of under-35s did not know what the Authorised Version was, compared with 28 per cent of over-55s. The Authorised King James Version, which will be 400 years old next year, took the English language around the world and is thought to be the biggest-selling book ever.”

Ed West writing in the Telegraph: “Last night’s Panorama about Islamist schools in Britain was disturbing and necessary, and a vital reminder of what public service broadcasting is all about . . . Contrast this with what they can learn in ‘normal schools’, such as the ‘sex’ qualification for 11-year-olds that asks ‘outline two things it’s important to remember when using a condom’. There you have it in a nutshell – barbarism and decadence, the two sides of modern British life from its minority and majority communities.”

David Lindsay writing at The American Conservative / Post Right: “Certain people might consider applying some journalistic or scientific objectivity to the question of where in Africa the condom use relentlessly promoted by Western NGOs and compliant governments has ever arrested, never mind reversed, the rate of HIV infection. There is nowhere. However, such a reversal is under way in Uganda, where the government’s message is the same as the Catholic Church’s: ‘Change Your Behavior.””

Tim Bueler reviews America’s War on Christianity at EducationNews.org: “A timely and well-documented new book, ‘America’s War on Christianity,’ presents compelling evidence that the continuing attacks on America’s Christian values constitute a real and present danger to one of our bedrock principles.”

Telegraph: “The report draws on best practices by liberal democracies like Denmark, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands which are way ahead of us in grasping this extremist nettle. Among its sensible suggestions are the establishment of a due diligence unit with counter-extremist expertise – accountable to the Secretary of State – to vet those seeking to set up schools and academies and impose on them ‘a commitment to core British values of democracy, tolerance and patriotism’. This unit’s remit could be extended to cover part-time schools.”

Jeffrey Miron of the Mercatus Center, via NCPA: “The U.S. national debt currently stands at 62 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) — its highest level since WWII. Under plausible assumptions, this ratio will rise to at least 80 percent and possibly 185 percent of GDP by 2035 and continue increasing thereafter. As the debt ratio increases, the country’s creditors will demand higher and higher interest rates to continue financing this debt.”

US Department of State: “On November 22 the Department of State released a $4.5 million grant for FY2011 to the Special Court of Sierra Leone. This grant demonstrates the U.S. commitment to ensuring that those most responsible for the atrocities committed during the war in Sierra Leone are brought to justice. This grant was expedited due to the financial crisis the Court is currently facing. By all calculations, the Court would have run out of money by early December which could have jeopardized the continuation of the Charles Taylor trial before the Court reached a verdict.”

Australian Broadcasting Corporation: “The Northern Territory branch of the Labor Party is urging the Federal Government to support gay marriage.”

Baltimore Sun: “Under the plan, clients choose to pay $350 or $550 a month — depending on the level of service they want — and get unlimited access to legal advice through phone calls, e-mail and correspondence.”

Associated Press: “No U.S. service members have been discharged for being openly gay in the month since the Defense Department adopted new rules surrounding the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy, a Pentagon spokeswoman said Monday.”

Religion Clause: “In a 6-1 decision last week, the Montana Supreme Court held that school officials violated the free speech rights of a graduating senior when it censored on the basis of viewpoint her proposed valedictory remarks. Griffith v. Butte School District No. 1, (MT Sup. Ct., Nov. 19, 2010)”

Catholic News Agency: “The situation for Christians in Iraq is becoming bleaker. The violence directed against them is no longer limited to the capital city Baghdad, but has been spreading throughout the country.”

Catholic News Agency: “The head of the Church of England, Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury met privately in Rome with Pope Benedict XVI on Nov. 18 . . . Asked about the Pope’s invitation to Anglicans and his creation of personal ordinariates, Archbishop Williams said: ‘I don’t see it as an aggressive act, meant to destabilize the relations of the churches, and it remains to be seen just how large a movement we’re talking about.’”

Associated Press: “She arrived in Saudi Arabia a high-spirited 23-year-old, eager to start work as a maid to help support her family back home. Four months later, Sumiati was Indonesia’s poster child for migrant abuse, alone and staring vacantly from a hospital bed, her face sliced and battered.”

Religion Clause: “Of the 6,598 single-bias incidents in the latest report, 19.7% were motivated by religious bias. Of these 1303 incidents motivated by religious bias, 931 were anti-Jewish, 107 were anti-Islamic, 51 were anti-Catholic, 38 were anti-Protestant and 10 were anti-Atheist/ Agnostic.”

Associated Press: FBI: Hate crime incidents, victim numbers down

Cal Thomas writing at Townhall: “Setting aside war, which was imposed on America, the eclipse of liberalism’s American dream has been largely caused by expanding, encroaching, over-taxing, over-spending and over-regulating government. This has produced a country of government addicts with an entitlement mentality. These twin maladies have eroded self-reliance, individual initiative and personal accountability.”

Bobby Jindal writing at Townhall: “The problem is that many Washington decision makers are either seriously misinformed or willfully ignorant about energy. Republicans seem instinctively to oppose cultivating energy sources favored by the environmental movement, such as solar and wind power. Likewise, Democrats often stridently oppose the expansion of traditional energy sources such as oil, coal, and nuclear power. Here’s an idea: how about we do it all? That’s not a Republican or Democrat solution. That’s an American solution.”

CNN: “A legislator from Thailand’s ruling party said Tuesday that he is proposing a new abortion law there after police found thousands of illegally aborted fetuses in a Buddhist temple . . .”

Michael Totten writing in the New York Post: “Terrorists have yet to use the same weapon twice, and the TSA isn’t even looking for whatever they’ll try to use next. I can think of all sorts of things a person could use to wreak havoc on a plane that aren’t banned. Security officials should pay less attention to objects, and more attention to people. The Israelis do. They are, out of dreadful necessity, the world’s foremost experts in counterterrorism. And they couldn’t care less about what your grandmother brings on a plane.”

Associated Press: “A Christian lawmaker called on Iraq’s government Tuesday to better protect its dwindling Christian community, lambasting the nations that have offered asylum to the minority as meddling in Iraq’s problems.”

ACLU: “The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled today that defendants with limited English proficiency (LEP) have a constitutional right to court interpreters in criminal trials. The ruling came in a case in which the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Georgia and Legal Aid Society – Employment Law Center (LAS-ELC) filed a friend-of-the-court brief asserting that denying LEP defendants interpreters violates the U.S. Constitution and civil rights laws.” Decision is here.

The Hill: “Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) is threatening to block additional Obama administration officials and toss up other procedural roadblocks if Interior Department officials do not follow through on promises they have personally made to her on speeding up the issuance of drilling permits.”

The Hill’s Pundit Blog: “In what is left of the Democratic caucus in the House, there are virtually two parties. . . Pelosi has a choice — bring the conservative Democrats back to the table and into the process or allow her party to further purify its ranks, ala DeMint. The purer the caucus becomes the longer they will be in the minority.”

The Hill: “An acrimonious fight for the gavel of one of the House’s most powerful panels has marred an otherwise seamless transition for Republicans taking power. Republicans are jockeying fiercely for position in a race to lead the Energy and Commerce Committee — a battle that, at times, has resembled a GOP primary where candidates run to the right.”

The Hill: “The incoming class of House Republicans is being urged to re-read the Constitution, carefully deal with the press and become very familiar with congressional ethics rules. In a 144-page how-to House guidebook titled Hit the Ground Running, House Republican leaders advise the soon-to-be-freshmen on a range of issues both big and small.”

Catholic News Agency: “Archbishop Jose Maria Arancedo of Santa Fe de la Vera Cruz, Argentina has denounced a proposal to remove religious symbols from public places in the country’s province of Santa Fe.”

Christian Post: “The trial of an Afghan convert to Christianity was delayed from Sunday to possibly as early as sometime this week, depending on when officers figure out how to judge the case . . . officers are currently deciding if Musa should be tried under sharia law. Sharia or Islamic law says a convert from Islam can be punished by death.”

ADF Attorney David French writing at Speak Up Movement / University: Last week’s post on the Crushing Burden of Divorce generated more than a little push-back, both in the comments section of the post itself (which was cross-posted on our companion church site) and on Facebook . . . How, you ask, can parents be so much happier when their children are so much worse off? Wouldn’t the emotional and sexual collapse of their own children cripple the parents’ emotional well being? Not if they long ago shifted their life priorities — away from the Biblical model of self-denial and to the world’s model of personal fulfillment.”

News 14: “Leaders say tentatively the policy calls for only King residents to decide which religious flag will fly each week. They will use a lottery system to choose who will decide what flag is flown . . . ‘By doing that the city will have created a limited public forum where the speech becomes the speech of individuals and not the city itself,’ said [Joe Infranco], of the Alliance Defense Fund.” Article includes video of Infranco.

My Fox 8: “King residents can request to fly a religious flag for a week at the city’s Veteran’s Memorial to honor relatives who served in the armed forces under a policy city officials are considering . . . Attorney [Joe Infranco] with the Alliance Defense Fund.explain the new policy, one that’s details are still being worked out, but could lay the ground work for others towns and cities across the country.”