Daily Archives: December 14, 2010

Forum 18: “Seeking the return of the century-old Holy Family Catholic Church in Russia’s Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad in vain over nearly two decades has been the local parish of the same name, which still worships in a temporary structure. However, the church – as well as former Lutheran churches and several castles – was suddenly handed to the Russian Orthodox, who have never owned them, under two local Laws.”

William Saletan writing at Slate: “If gay sex is OK, how can incest be wrong? . . . The conservative view is that all sexual deviance—homosexuality, polyamory, adultery, bestiality, incest—violates the natural order . . . Mess with the family, and you mess up the kids . . . Liberals tend to recoil from such arguments. They fear that a movement to preserve the ‘family unit’ would roll back equal rights for homosexuals. But that doesn’t follow . . . ”

. . . ‘It’s an Alaska State Suggestion now, under the judge,’ he said.”

Christian Science Monitor: “The moral of these stories seems clear: If you want kids to succeed, don’t talk about their intelligence. That will only hold them back. Americans like to say that their country is a land of opportunity; that anyone can make it, if they just try hard enough. But our educational system tells another story altogether. By emphasizing who is smart – and who is not – we teach our kids that their inborn capabilities are more important than their sweat and toil.”

BusinessWorld: “REPRESENTATIVES OF the government and Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) hold today their third in a series of dialogue on reproductive health.”

The Standard: “Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun warned yesterday Catholic schools may be forced to close if an appeal to overturn the Education Bureau’s management policy is rejected by the highest court.”

New York Post: “Jamie Errico said she was told not wear crosses to work at Concepts in Time near Herald Square – and on one occasion when she did, store owner Saul Jemal pulled her aside and told her to ‘remove it or tuck it under her shirt, and never wear it again,’ Errico charged in a discrimination suit against the store.”

CNSNews: “Senate Democrats today introduced a 1,924-page omnibus spending bill for fiscal year 2011, forgoing a planned continuing resolution to fund the federal government until the next Congress could take up the issue after Jan. 3.”

CNSNews: “The Coast Guard has named the first female superintendent of its academy in Connecticut, and says she will be the first woman to lead a U.S. military service academy.”

Blog of LegalTimes: “U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said today he still wants to confirm more judicial nominees before adjourning for the year, but he gave no hints about what an agreement might look like.”

BBC: “A man from Wiltshire who wants to end his life is to give evidence to the Commission on Assisted Dying. Tony Nicklinson, 56, from Melksham, has ‘locked in syndrome’ after suffering a stroke in June 2005.”

California Catholic Daily: “A Catholic student group has compiled its ’2010-2011 List of Catholic Colleges with Pro-Homosexual Clubs,’ which includes nine colleges or universities in California.”

Bloomberg: “New Hampshire’s Democratic Gov. John Lynch is upbeat about working with the state House and Senate next month despite overwhelming Republican majorities in both chambers . . . But Lynch reiterated Tuesday that he will veto legislation that repeals gay marriage. Lynch signed a law last year legalizing the unions.”

Breitbart: “They call it the exodus. Thousands who emigrated to northern Mexico seeking better lives have recently fled its murder capital Ciudad Juarez to escape a bloody drug war.”

UPI: “The European community is ‘very concerned’ about the plight of members of the Christian minority in Iraq, the president of the European Parliament said.”

European Parliament resolution of 25 November 2010 on Iraq: the death penalty (notably the case of Tariq Aziz) and attacks against Christian communities | Press Release

Investor’s Business Daily: “The global warming prophets and propagandists, who enjoy living in style on other people’s money, gathered last month in the plush resort of Cancun, Mexico, where January temperatures usually hover around 80 degrees. God must have a sense of humor because Cancun was hit by its coldest temperature in a hundred years.”

Chicago Tribune / Local: “After months of debate, Evanston officials this week approved a scaled-back version of an ordinance requiring houses of worship to apply for special-use permits in the two business districts where officials have said their presence has had the most impact on economic development.”

Christian Post: “A Protestant pastor and human rights activist in Vietnam was beaten unconscious Tuesday morning by Ho Chi Minh City officials. His Bible school, located in the city’s District 2, was also bulldozed, according to Release International, which serves the persecuted church around the world.”

WSBTV: “On Monday, the Lilburn City Council voted 2-2, causing the council to deny the zoning request because the city’s legal counsel said that has the effect of a denial.”

BBC: “Judgement in a landmark case into the rights of a gay couple from Bristol who were refused a double room at a Cornish B&B has been deferred.”

Associated Press: “Federal authorities in California say they have broken up an international child pornography ring that spanned three continents and resulted in at least 16 arrests.”

Christian Today: “This afternoon the European Parliament voted to adopt the recently amended EU Directive on Human Trafficking. The current text is a result of agreement between the three EU decision making institutions – the Commission, the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament – and contains good provisions for victim care and compensation, training of officials, assistance to child victims and seizing trafficker’s profits.”

Alan E. Sears writing at the Alliance Defense Fund site: “In Hazel Park, Michigan, city authorities have been doing their red-tape best to gerrymander a local congregation, Salvation Temple Church, out of the district. Happily, a federal judge is making it his business to introduce the town fathers to the First Amendment.” | ADF News Release

Sydney Morning Herald: “THE incidence of parents killing their newborn is five times higher than previously thought, a French study has found. A team of paediatricians examined the court records of known infant homicides in three regions of France between 1996 and 2000 and found almost one third were cases of neonaticide, where the child was killed by their parent, often the mother, during the first day of their life.”

LifeNews: “The Iowa Supreme Court Attorney Disciplinary Board has launched a formal investigation into Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller for blocking an abortion investigation.”

LifeNews: “The Teenage Pregnancy Independent Advisory Group released a new report saying teen pregnancies will rise unless the government takes new actions to curb them. But, a leading pro-life group saying spending more money promoting contraception and birth control is a failed strategy that won’t reduce abortions.” | BBC

Seattle Post-Intelligencer [AP]: “An Aberdeen doctor who admitted misconduct with an abortion will keep his license under an agreement with Washington regulators.”

Former RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman interviewed at Big Think: “I hope that people like myself and others can try to persuade people in the Republican Party that if you think about some pretty important issues that we all believe in, whether it’s freedom, whether it’s, frankly, the value of community, that on issues like, for example, the freedom to marry, the right to marry, it’s consistent with the Republican philosophy to be supportive of two adults who love each other—whether they be gay or straight—having the right to get married.”

“The time line set forth today to pick three replacement justices for the Iowa Supreme Court officially eliminates the possibility that outgoing Gov. Chet Culver could make the appointments.”

Minneapolis Star-Tribune: “The lawsuit, filed in May by three same-sex couples, challenges state law requiring marriage to be between a man and a woman. The couples’ main claim is that the 1997 Minnesota ban on gay marriage violates their rights to due process, equal protection and freedom of conscience and association under the state Constitution.”

“Apparently Apple Computers ‘got the memo’ that it is ‘OK’ to discriminate against Christians.”

“The Iowa State Bar Association continues to fully support Iowa’s system of merit selection of judges and the current form of the State Judicial Nominating Commission.”

In the wake of an objection from a local resident, an attorney allied with the Alliance Defense Fund sent a letter Monday to Chillicothe City Council officials offering them an ADF-crafted invocations policy intended to ensure they can continue their constitutionally protected practice of praying before public meetings.

Servicemembers Legal Defense Network: “The U.S. House is scheduled to vote tomorrow to add repeal language to a bill that already once passed the House floor and the Senate Armed Services Committee – thus, helping chances that repeal passes as little time remains in the lame-duck session.”

Washington Post: “Persecution of gays is intensifying across Africa, fueled by fundamentalist preachers, intolerant governments and homophobic politicians. Gay people have been denied access to health care, detained, tortured and even killed, human rights activists and witnesses say.”

Frederick M. Hess writing at National Affairs: “These would seem to be dark days for the school-choice movement, as several early champions of choice have publicly expressed their disillusionment . . . To many who hold out hope that choice can help fix what ails America’s schools, these hedges and reversals have been startling. And yet, looking back, it is hard to see how they were not inevitable. . . The questions to focus on are when, how, and why deregulation and monopoly-busting improve the quality and cost effectiveness of goods and services — and whether they can do the same for K-12 schooling. What would a vibrant market in K-12 education look like? To what degree has it really been tried? What needs to change in order to bring about such a market, and how would we assess whether it is in fact improving the education received by children in America’s schools?”

Yuma Sun: “House Speaker Kirk Adams, R-Mesa, said Monday the only comment made last week about the nomination of Tucsonan Christopher Gleason to the commission was by one screening panel member who pointed to Gleason’s involvement with a Christian organization . . . Cathi Herrod, president of the Center for Arizona Policy, said a greater concern is that the panel that is screening applicants for the commission is the same one that nominates judges for the Arizona Supreme Court and the state Court of Appeals.”

AFP: “A Muslim group in India on Tuesday filed a petition with the Supreme Court challenging a ruling that divided a bitterly-contested religious site between Hindus and Muslims.”

BBC: “A Londonderry couple have won £24,000 in damages and costs after a European Court ruled that UK law breached their right to marry and enjoy religious freedom. Judges at Strasbourg’s Court of Human Rights said they had ‘grave concerns’ about the UK law designed to stop sham marriages.”

“Thirteen members of Congress are urging Swiss authorities to allow Mormon missionaries to continue serving in the country beyond 2012, when a new rule would forbid non-European Union citizens from serving as missionaries.”

Telegraph: “Official rankings published by the Department for Education showed almost two-thirds of primaries with top Sats results were Anglican, Roman Catholic or Jewish schools.”

The Hechinger Report: “The American Federation of Teachers (AFT), with 1.5 million members, has been a far more willing and sometimes even enthusiastic participant in reform efforts. In part, this is because the AFT is a more top-down organization, in which the national parent union can lead local affiliates to new ideas . . . The AFT is pressing forward with its reform agenda. In September, it received a $5 million federal grant to explore new ways of evaluating teachers in New York and Rhode Island.”

Liberty Counsel: “A federal court of appeals has ruled that the case of two employees who were fired for being ‘too religious’ should go to a jury.”

The Hill: “Republican Joe Miller is continuing his legal battle over the outcome of the Alaska Senate race.”

SCOTUSblog: “A federal judge in Richmond, Va., ruled Monday that Congress had no authority under the Constitution to require that nearly every American obtain health insurance by the year 2014 — a crucial part of the health care package promoted by President Obama. U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson, in a 42-page ruling, declared that ‘an individual’s personal decision to purchase — or decline to purchase — health insurance from a private provider is beyond the historical reach of the Commerce Clause.’”

LifeSiteNews: “A pro-family leader in Quebec is warning that parental rights are coming under attack yet again in the province following the government’s announcement last week that they will begin re-offering sex education.”

William McGurn writing in the Wall Street Journal: “In his nearly nine-hour remarks, excerpts of which are now going viral on the Internet, he framed the lack of a tax hike for the rich as a surrender to greed. In so doing, he inadvertently raised another question: How come Republicans have such a hard time speaking just as forthrightly about the moral underpinnings of their side of this argument?”

Richard Vedder writing in the Chronicle of Higher Education: “[A]pproximately 60 percent of the increase in the number of college graduates from 1992 to 2008 worked in jobs that the BLS considers relatively low skilled—occupations where many participants have only high school diplomas and often even less. Only a minority of the increment in our nation’s stock of college graduates is filling jobs historically considered as requiring a bachelor’s degree or more.”

VV Daily Press: “In a call to commemorate the religious history of United States government, the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors today is expected to approve displaying ‘In God We Trust’ on the council chambers dais in San Bernardino.”

Bloomberg: “Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazal, a religious party in Pakistan, quit the coalition government of Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, after he fired a minister from their party today. ‘We already had issues with the government and with this latest development we decided enough is enough,’ Maulana Fazal- ur-Rehman, the party leader, told reporters in Islamabad today.”

Associated Press: “The federal government sued a suburban Chicago school district Monday for denying a Muslim middle school teacher unpaid leave to make a pilgrimage to Mecca that is a central part of her religion.” | Department of Justice press release is here. | Eugene Volokh comments here.

Yahoo [Reuters]: “The United States vowed on Friday to seek to restore to a U.N. General Assembly resolution against unjustified executions a reference to killings due to sexual orientation, cut out by Arab and African states.”

Politico: “Last spring, a low-profile Colorado millionaire, Tim Gill, and other gay donors financed a quiet wave of polling in a state Senate district in Buffalo and another in a Hispanic section of Queens . . . The results gave courage to Gill and other top gay donors, producing a campaign that helped unseat three incumbent state legislators and opened a new phase in the politics of the gay rights movement that could have an even larger impact on the 2012 cycle.”

Chicago Tribune: “Justin Barnard, chairman of the Mississippi-based 9/11 Remembrance Foundation, says Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant asked if his group would sponsor the display. It features a barn that’s about 4 feet tall, with figures of Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus.”

Jeremy Dys writing at the Family Policy Council of West Virginia’s Engage Family blog: “Are we still on this debate? I mean, really, it seems like since I was a kid, the ACLU has been brainwashing people into thinking that their mythical wall of separation of church and state means that the public square must be completely whitewashed of any reference to God. So it seems at WVUP, anyway. According to our friends at the Alliance Defense Fund: ‘When WVU-Parkersburg nursing students voted 40 to 4 to include prayer in Thursday’s pinning ceremony, university officials responded by banning prayer completely because the vote was not unanimous.’” | FPCWV press release is here. | ADF news release is here.

Washington Post: “A prosecutor charged in court Tuesday that seven Kosovans on trial in Pristina were part of an elaborate international network that traded in the organs of people living in extreme poverty.”

Iowa Independent: “State lawmakers are seriously considering legislation that would for the first time mandate 501(c)4 nonprofits that spend money trying to influence elections to disclose their donors, an idea that has garnered support from both Democratic and Republican leaders.”

Zenit: “Threats to life, especially abortion, euthanasia and the destruction of embryos, have ‘introduced unheard of challenges for Christian social doctrine and call for adequate answers,’ says the president of the Vatican’s health care council.”

LifeNews: “The Obama administration is still working to overturn conscience rights for medical professionals on abortion that were put in place at the tail end of the Bush administration . . . ADF Legal Counsel Matt Bowman said the Obama administration ‘wants to dismantle’ the conscience protections ‘leaving little defense for the regulation and for health care workers.’”

My Fox Atlanta [AP]: “A Muslim woman who was arrested after she refused to remove her headscarf in a west Georgia courthouse has filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Douglasville and the officers who arrested her.”

Heritage Foundation: “The White House and their leftist allies were quick to try and minimize this body blow to Obamacare, arguing that 14 previous court challenges have been dismissed by the courts. This desperate spin doesn’t even pass the laugh test . . . But whether or not courts will invalidate just Obamacare’s individual mandate is rapidly becoming irrelevant. Obamacare simply may not survive that long. It is already collapsing under its own financial and bureaucratic weight.”

Baylor: “Baylor University President Ken Starr will discuss the role of the United States Solicitor General during a lecture at Baylor Law School. Starr’s lecture – ‘The “Tenth Justice”: The Solicitor General and the Supreme Court’ – will begin at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 14, in the Kronzer Courtroom. The lecture is hosted by the Student Bar Association.”

The Badger Herald: “University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics halted efforts to offer second trimester abortions at the Madison Surgery Center, citing the safety and privacy of patients as the main reason, officials announced Monday.”

How Appealing’s roundup is here.

Kenji Yoshino writing at Slate: “[T]he article’s more comprehensive elaboration of the argument reveals why the Proposition 8 defenders were right not to shine too bright a light on it. Closely examined, the common-procreation argument denigrates not only same-sex couples but several kinds of married opposite-sex couples . . . We all know that the common-procreation argument declares war on all same-sex marriages. But it is worth reviewing just how demeaning it is to opposite-sex couples who do not produce their own offspring.” George, Grigis, and Anderson’s article is here.

KSWT: “San Luis has approved regulations for adult stores that might set up shop in the southern Arizona community.”

Christian Post: “On Monday, 137 Tennessee school districts received letters from the Alliance Defense Fund encouraging them to continue to recognize Christmas despite threats from the American Civil Liberties Union . . . Urban legends about the offensiveness of Christmas are clearly out of sync with the American people, common sense, and the Constitution. The ACLU’s conclusions are without merit and are part of a tired, worn-out, and disproven campaign of fear, intimidation, and disinformation,” ADF Senior Counsel David Cortman affirmed in a statement.

In a new showdown on a volatile issue, the House this week will take up a bill that would overturn the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays, Democratic leader Steny Hoyer revealed Tuesday.

LifeSiteNews: “The obsession with pluripotent stem cells dominating America’s medical research is not only hindering the progress of far more cost-effective stem cell therapies, but flinging the country headlong toward human reproductive cloning, warns one biotechnology expert.”

LifeNews: “The University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics stopped a controversial plan to do second-trimester abortions at the Madison Surgery Center after ongoing protests from pro-life organizations.”

Rasmussen: “A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 74% of Adults say religious symbols like Christmas Nativity scenes, Hanukkah Menorahs and Muslim Crescents should be allowed on public land . . . Eighty percent (80%) of American Adults also favor celebrating religious holidays in the public schools, another area subject to repeated legal challenge.”

Jonathan Adler writes at the Volokh Conspiracy: “Many critics of Judge Hudson’s opinion in Virginia v. Sebelius have shorted his discussion of the Necessary and Proper Clause. (Even some of us who support the opinion have accepted this critique.) But Brooklyn Law’s Jason Mazzone suggests Judge Hudson’s critics are misreading his opinion, which was written more for Justice Scalia than legal academics.”

ADF Attorney Travis C. Barham writing at Speak Up Movement / University: “While the general story line may be familiar, the facts here are unique. During class in November, the graduating students were told that they would need to vote on three issues related to their pinning ceremony (the nursing equivalent to graduation). One of these issues was whether to include prayers in the ceremony as prior classes had regularly done. But when the students approved the prayers by more than a 90% margin (40-4) and selected a student’s father to give the prayers, the University suddenly decided majority rule would no longer apply.”

ADF Attorney Kevin Theriot writing at Speak Up Movement / Church: “A report issued on December 10, 2010 titled Shadow Report on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe chronicles many of the acts of discrimination against Christians in Europe in the last five years. I’ve listed some of these below.”

Chillicothe Gazette: “After an outpouring of concern from the local Christian community, invocations will continue to lead Chillicothe City Council’s agenda . . . At the meeting, Eddy gave council members copies of a letter from Columbus attorney Matthew J. Burkhart, a member of the Alliance Defense Fund, who offered some case law on the subject and offered to help the city develop a policy on prayer.”