Daily Archives: November 24, 2010

Celebrating Thanksgiving in America by David Barton (2008) posted at Wallbuilders.  It outlines the history of Thanksgiving in America with citations. Continental Congress Proclamation (1777) (Wallbuilders) Archive of Continental Congress Thanksgiving Proclamations (1777-1784) (Pilgrim Hall Museum) George Washington Thanksgiving Proclamation …

The ADF Alliance Alert Daily Categorical Email Digest will not be distributed on Nov. 25th and 26th in recognition of Thanksgiving.

Reports show that Planned Parenthood, America’s largest abortion provider, receives nearly one-third of its $1 billion annual budget from the federal government. And it’s about to get worse . . .

LifeNews: “The state Assembly approved a pair of bills to restore the funding pro-life Gov. Chris Christie revoked for financial reasons. However, the passage of the bills came seven votes shy of what is needed to override another expected gubernatorial veto.”

Winnipeg Free Press: “A lawyer at the court case on Canada’s polygamy laws says the prohibition against multiple marriage is unconstitutional and persecutes the residents of a small B.C. town that celebrates practice.”

“People heading to court to testify, get a restraining order, pay a ticket or answer criminal charges could also face a full-body scan at courthouses.”

Winnipeg Free Press: “The first-ever study of HIV rates among gay men in Vancouver has found 18 per cent of those surveyed have the disease and most of them are on anti-HIV medications.”

Iowa Independent: “But even with Democrats likely facing a slim 26-24 majority next session, it’s unlikely the GOP could bring a marriage bill to the floor for a vote.”

WHEC: “A report on sexually transmitted diseases reveals gonorrhea rates are down in the U.S. while Chlamydia and syphilis are on the rise.” Report is here.

Robert Morrison writing at LifeNews: “Greg claimed to be a ‘militant’ Libertarian (‘I’m pro-choice on everything’). He amended that slightly to say, non-violent Libertarian. Then he went on to say that while he supported much of what Planned Parenthood does, he agrees that it should be de-funded. First, he said, because millions of Americans should not be taxed to support something they morally oppose. Second, he added, it should be de-funded because it’s unconstitutional.”

The Christian Century: “The British government has warned a network of Islamic schools in the wake of a BBC investigation that claims extremist Shariah law is being taught to thousands of Muslim students.”

Bill Saunders writing at LifeNews: “The distortion of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is one example where the abortion lobby’s efforts have seen success . . . the UN committee charged with offering guidance on the obligations incumbent upon nations that have ratified CEDAW has repeatedly used the treaty to advance an abortion agenda.”

CBC: “Canada’s prohibition against polygamy does not criminalize women who have multiple husbands, a lawyer for the British Columbia government said Tuesday. Craig Jones told court the law was intended to only prohibit men from marrying multiple women.”

San Francisco Chronicle: “San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris will be California’s next attorney general, after her Republican opponent conceded today – a full three weeks after the Nov. 2 election.”

Associated Press: “The Air Force said Wednesday a lesbian flight nurse discharged under ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ must prove she is still qualified and pass a medical exam before it will consider reinstating her.”

The Globe and Mail: “Canada’s law against polygamy should be upheld to protect society from ill effects that include the expulsion of young men from polygamous communities, a lawyer representing the federal government said in her opening statements. Such expulsions can be a potentially destabilizing element to society and comes along with other harms associated with polygamy, such as teen pregnancies and early sexualizing of girls.”

Associated Press: “Anger and fear about Europe’s seemingly unstoppable debt crisis coursed through the continent Wednesday. Striking workers shut down much of Portugal, Ireland proposed its deepest budget cuts in history and seething Italian and British students clashed with police over education cuts.”

Michael Medved writing at Townhall: “With or without the current urgings of some Tea Party and gay rights personnel, Republicans should continue to emphasize the economic concerns and small government priorities that brought them their victories earlier this month. But the impulse to segregate fiscal and social issues ignores the way that economics and values inevitably interact, and the importance of sturdy middle class virtues as the basis for both durable families and free market prosperity.”

Washington Post: “Virginia has settled a lawsuit filed by a Muslim inmate who claimed the prisons system violated his rights by refusing him an Islamic newspaper and religious programs. Red Onion State Prison inmate Kelvin Brown, 37, sued the warden and other prison officials after numerous issues of the weekly Islamic newspaper The Final Call were banned beginning in 2009.”

The Herald-Sun: “A Durham defense lawyer has asked a judge to throw out a driving-while-impaired charge against one of his clients because he contends the Duke University Police Department for church-state-separation reasons can’t legally arrest anyone.”

Samuel Gregg writing at the Action Institute Power Blog: “Since the 1950s, many European Christians have gradually reduced their Christian faith to a vacuous humanitarianism worthy of the best EU-funded NGO. One difficulty with ‘liberal Christianity’ (or whatever’s left of it) is that it isn’t especially interested in affirming any Christian values that go beyond sentimental platitudes about tolerance and equality which are routinely emptied of any specific Christian content. It’s goodbye Thomas Aquinas, hello John Rawls. This makes it even more ironic that increasing numbers of secular European thinkers believe Europe can only reinvigorate its distinct identity and values through reengaging its Judeo-Christian heritage.”

The Mercury: “The head of the local Chamber of Commerce said Tuesday that her organization is prepared to work with the Chester County commissioners to insure that the traditional holiday tree that serves as a backdrop to the chamber’s annual Old Fashioned Christmas celebration will be located at the county’s Historic Courthouse again this year.”

Ross Douthat writing in the New York Times / Evaluations: “The problem with the abortion debate in America isn’t that the anti-abortion side won’t ever consider making compromises or taking half a loaf. It’s that the structure of constitutional law is tilted so egregiously toward abortion-on-demand that any plausible compromise is a non-starter.”

West Central Tribune: “The Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that it is illegal to possess khat, a plant commonly used in East Africa and parts of the Arabian peninsula that can give users a high when chewed . . . Attorneys for Ahmed and Adam, who are both East African, also argued that prosecution for possessing khat violated their clients’ religious freedoms.”

WNCT (AP): “The policy is being developed with assistance from the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal group.”

Katrina Trinko writing at National Review Online: “Pence identifies himself as a fiscal and social conservative and has the voting record to prove it. Elected in 2000, when compassionate conservatism was trendy, he has never been afraid to play the Grinch, voting against big-spending initiatives such as No Child Left Behind, Medicare Part D, and TARP. Pence has displayed the same kind of consistency on social issues, establishing a solidly pro-life record over the last decade.”

Associated Press: “An official Palestinian report claiming that a key Jewish holy site – Jerusalem’s Western Wall – has no religious significance to Jews evoked an angry response from Israelis Wednesday, threatening to further inflame tensions over the disputed city.”

Orlando Sentinel: “Orange County leaders joined the ranks of most other urban areas in Florida on Tuesday by voting 6-1 to expand anti-discrimination protections for gay people in the private sector.”

Vancouver Sun: “This story contains graphic descriptions that some readers may find objectionable. When lawyers talk about the harms of polygamy, there’s scarcely one that Kathleen and Rena Mackert haven’t personally endured. The sisters have had front-row seats in B.C. Supreme Court for the opening week of the constitutional reference case to determine whether Canada’s anti-polygamy law is valid.”

Washington Blade: “Supporters of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ repeal continue to fret about having enough time to pass a measure to overturn the military’s gay ban before year’s end even as Senate leadership has committed to a vote on the issue during the lame duck session of Congress.”

Sherry F. Colb writing at FindLaw: “Plainly, gay people in the U.K. would like to have the same ability to marry as straight people have. As it turns out, at least some straight couples also object to the existing regime and would like to be able to enter into civil partnerships, just as gay couples can. Is there any merit to straight couples’ claim that they ought to have the right to do so, as a matter of equality?”

Global News: “References are brought to determine whether controversial legislation is constitutional. Such reference cases aren’t technically binding, but the decision will constitute a legal precedent, the same way decisions of criminal cases do. Other courts would likely adopt the eventual ruling, particularly if it is heard by the Supreme Court of Canada.”

OneNewsNow: “The Christian Legal Society (CLS) is facing another setback in its religious liberty case against the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law, which refused to recognize a chapter of the society because of its Christian beliefs.”

Free Range Longmont: “The Douglas County School District (DougCo) is earnestly considering a voucher program . . . Beyond the evidence that charter schools fail to substantiate their proponents assertions, American United for the Separation of Church and State (AU) has registered their concerns with the Douglas County school board on the religious school component of this proposed Option Certificate Program.”

OneNewsNow: “Just published, The Truth About Marriage: Defending God’s Design for the Family lays out why marriage, as God made it, is indispensable to human civilization. Author Robert Knight, a family policy expert and senior writer for Coral Ridge Ministries, delves into what God says about marriage and homosexuality in an attempt to confront attacks on traditional marriage.”

OneNewsNow: “A Dutch journalist and a Catholic bishop are facing criticism and death threats for promoting a pro-life view. Joseph Meaney, spokesman for Human Life International (HLI), tells OneNewsNow a worldwide double-standard exists when it comes to conservative views and pro-life issues.”

Bristol 24-7: “A heterosexual couple from Bristol are to start a legal challenge after their application for a civil partnership was refused . . . Their bid is part of the Equal Love campaign, which seeks to overturn the twin prohibitions on gay marriages and heterosexual civil partnerships.”

John Guardiano writing at The Daily Caller: “Did you know that many American public schools have knowingly adopted policies to promote the harassment and persecution of gay students? You didn’t? Well neither did I until I read a piece by one Alex Morgan at FrumForum . . . Morgan’s rationales for school choice are unfair, dishonest and objectionable. Morgan propagandizes on behalf of the gay agenda and, in so doing, commits crimes against the truth.”

Associated Press: “A lesbian flight nurse discharged under ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ can rejoin the Air Force Reserve, even as the government appeals a judge’s ruling that returned her to the job, her lawyers said Tuesday . . . The Justice Department did not immediately say why it did not seek a stay of Leighton’s ruling.”

Related:

CitizenLink: DOJ won’t use arguments that offend “gay” groups

Human Rights First: “The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) today released its annual report for 2009 “Hate Crimes in the OSCE Region – Incidents and Responses,” concluding that hate crime continued to be a serious problem in many of the 56 countries in North America, Europe, and the former Soviet Union.” | Via Religion Clause.

LifeSiteNews: “Today the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a Catholic nurse who was forced by a New York hospital to participate in an abortion does not have the right to sue her employer . . . Alliance Defence Fund (ADF) attorneys had filed two suits in the case – one federal, filed in July 2009, and another state, filed earlier this year. ”

Cenzon-DeCarlo v. The Mount Sinai Hospital, No. 10-0556 (2nd Cir. Nov. 23, 2010)

Ilya Somin writing at The Volokh Conspiracy: “The United Nations General Assembly Third Committee recently passed another resolution urging nations to ban defamation of religion [HT: Elizabeth Cassidy of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, which criticized the resolution here] . . . As I have pointed out previously, this is an excellent example of the ways in which repressive governments seek to use international human rights law to suppress freedom rather than protect it, a problem I have written about in two articles coauthored with John McGinnis (see here and here). Most of the support for this resolution comes from authoritarian and repressive regimes, many of which have terrible records on religious freedom.”

Via The Volokh Conspiracy: “The case is Charara v. Yatim (Mass. Ct. App., decided today) [opinion can be accessed at this link]: ‘Following a trial, a judge of the Probate and Family Court concluded that no deference was due the custody order issued by a Jaafarite religious tribunal (Jaafarite Court) in Lebanon. The probate judge based his decision on evidence, including the testimony of experts, that the Jaafarite Court’s custody order was not made in “substantial conformity” with Massachusetts law regarding the best interests of the children . . . ”

FIRE: “An ‘anti-bullying’ bill introduced in Congress last week gravely threatens free speech on America’s college campuses. Despite the bill’s admirable intention of preventing future tragedies, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) has determined that the bill is at odds with the Supreme Court’s carefully crafted definition of harassment and would require colleges to violate the First Amendment.”

David Goodhart reviews Germany Abolishes Itself: How we are putting our country at risk by Thilo Sarrazin in Prospect Magazine: “The message of the book, in headline form, is that Germany is becoming smaller (thanks to the familiar story of a falling birthrate among native Germans) and stupider (thanks to the fact that educated Germans are having fewer children and the fastest growing part of the population are poorly-integrated Muslim immigrants).”

“Two prominent Pakistani Muslim leaders threatened Wednesday to call for nationwide protests if the president pardons a Christian woman sentenced to death for insulting the Muslim prophet Mohammed.”

CNN: “A decorated flight nurse dismissed under the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ military policy will be reinstated with the U.S. Air Force, the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington said.”

New York Times / The Caucus: “Make that an even 63 – for now at least. That would be the net number of House seats Republicans have picked up so far in this year’s midterms, after Representative Dan Maffei of New York became the second Democratic incumbent in as many days to throw in the towel.”

Washington Examiner: “While Republican leaders spent the last three weeks preparing an agenda for their Jan. 5 takeover of the House, a separate group of about two dozen GOP lawmakers have been scrutinizing the day-to-day operation of the House and are planning potentially significant changes aimed at cutting costs and improving efficiency, including a longer work week.”

Jennifer A. Marshall, director of domestic policy studies at The Heritage Foundation, writing at ConservativeHome: “Conservatives can set a bold new course on education, beginning with these three priorities for federal reform: Stop the Spending Spree . . . Restore Federalism . . . Promote Parental Choice in Education.”

Associated Press: “An Indonesian Muslim cleric who sparked a national outcry by marrying a 12-year-old girl was sentenced Wednesday to four years in prison.”

Wall Street Journal: “Here beginneth the chronicle of those memorable circumstances of the year 1620, as recorded by Nathaniel Morton, keeper of the records of Plymouth Colony, based on the account of William Bradford, sometime governor thereof.”

The Hill / Healthwatch: “Congressional Republicans who assailed the Democrats’ healthcare law in the run-up to the midterm elections are facing pressure to decline government-provided coverage when they take office. GOP Reps.-elect Bobby Schilling (Ill.) and Mike Kelly (Pa.), both opponents of the law, have already vowed to refuse government-backed health insurance when they come to Capitol Hill next year.”

Los Angeles Times / Money & Company: “On the eve of one of the nation’s busiest travel days, a poll has found that 61% of likely voters oppose the newly enhanced security measures at the country’s airports. The poll by Zogby International of 2,032 likely voters also found that 48% said they would probably seek alternatives to flying because of the new measures.”

China Daily: “China and Russia have decided to renounce the US dollar and resort to using their own currencies for bilateral trade, Premier Wen Jiabao and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin announced late on Tuesday.”

New York Times: “The Supreme Court ruling in the Citizens United case ranks with the woeful economy, the Tea Party and other forces that brought about tumultuous change in the recent elections. The case may prove more significant in the evolution of the court’s role in American law . . . Redefining itself as a constitutional court, this court seems limited only by limits it opts to recognize.”

Pacific Justice Institute: “A heated controversy in this Bay Area city over mandatory pro-gay curricula for all students has taken an unexpected twist that is leaving gay activists and the ACLU scrambling to explain why a film shown to elementary students portrays African-American families in a negative light.”

Associated Press: “Hundreds of Christians smashed cars and windows and tried to assault a municipal building in Cairo Wednesday after police violently stopped the construction of a church that left one person dead and underscored Egypt’s sectarian tensions.”

Associated Press: “Leaders of conservative Anglicans on Wednesday rejected a proposed covenant to hold their global communion together just as the Church of England gave preliminary approval to the plan.”

Associated Press: “The Vatican on Wednesday denounced China for ordaining a bishop without papal consent, accusing the government-backed church of gravely damaging the faith and warning that the bishop risked excommunication.”

Vatican Information Service: Communique on Episcopal Ordination in Chengde, China

The Stokes News: “[Joseph Infranco] with the Alliance Defense Fund backed the policy with strong words: ‘I understand how angry you feel. This is an emotional issue, but the events in King are not isolated . . . It wasn’t your councilmen who began this. Your officials are honorable; they were put in an extremely difficult position. They’re not attorneys. They’re just trying to do the right thing,’ Infranco said. The Alliance Defense Funds fights to preserve religious freedom but admits the law is ‘very muddy’ and unclear when it comes to this issue. Infranco recalled a similar case in California where the attorney fees alone reached nearly $1 million.”