Daily Archives: December 17, 2010

Thomas More College of Liberal Arts: “On Saturday, December 4, the Thomas More College of Liberal Arts was privileged to host Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke, Archbishop Emeritus of Saint Louis, and Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura. The cardinal, a long-time friend of the College, chose the occasion to issue a major address on ‘on the nature and ends of Catholic higher education from the Magisterium of the Venerable Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI.’” Video at link. Full text of Cardinal Burke’s address is here.

Politico: “The Senate unanimously confirmed four of 38 pending judicial nominations Thursday evening, the first of President Barack Obama’s judicial nominees to be approved since September. The nominees—Catherine Eagles, Kimberly Mueller, John Gibney, and James Bredar—are the longest delayed district court nominees, who were each reported out of the Judiciary Committee unanimously. The nominations for Eagles, Mueller and Gibney were sent to the full Senate in May and Bredar was reported out of the committee in June.”

Politico: “President Barack Obama celebrated the spirit of compromise Friday as he signed a controversial $858 billion tax-cut and unemployment insurance extension into law – but warned that bipartisan comity could be fleeting.”

Wall Street Journal Law Blog: “On Wednesday, a state lawyer argued before an appeals court on Wednesday that a District Judge Scott Jenkins violated state law when he granted a divorce earlier this year to a same-sex couple. Click here for the story, from the Austin American-Statesman. James Blacklock, a lawyer in the attorney general’s appellate division, said that Texas law forbids any action that recognizes or validates a same-sex marriage granted in another state, even if the point of the action is to dissolve such a marriage.”

First Amendment Center (AP): “A shore town will have to cease its practice of allowing individual borough council members to say a prayer before meetings, a judge ruled today in a decision that likely won’t end a dispute that has inspired vigorous debate among residents and advocates.” | ACLU Press Release

LifeSiteNews: “The American Civil Liberties Union has attacked Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix after news broke this week that the bishop had taken further steps against a Catholic hospital that had performed a direct abortion.”

ACLU: “Attorneys are no longer required to seek permission from the government to provide uncompensated representation to individuals the government has placed on a list of designated terrorists, following a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) in August.”

KansasCity.com (AP): “A state board of education member says the Kansas Department of Education should not participate in an HIV/AIDS conference because it promotes safe sex rather than abstinence.”

Des Moines Register: “Abortion opponents continue pressing state medical regulators to stop Planned Parenthood from using a remote-control system to provide abortion pills at small-town clinics around the state.”

Michael J. New writing at National Review Online: “Earlier this week, the Washington Post ran an article about a new study disputing the contention that abortions increase the risk of mental-health problems among women. This study, conducted by Julia Steinberg of UC–San Francisco and Lawrence Finer of the Guttmacher Institute, appeared in the October 2010 issue of Social Science and Medicine. It is somewhat surprising that the authors decided to publish this study in an independent, peer-reviewed journal. All too often, researchers who support legal abortion are content to have their analyses appear in the Guttmacher Institute’s own publications.”

Study is here.

Associated Press: “Arizona regulators have posted preliminary rules for users and sellers of medical marijuana intended to make sure only those who truly need pot can get it.”

Associated Press: “Todd is the only openly gay member of the Legislature and she asked Wednesday if the bill would apply to the woman that is her spouse considering that Alabama law does not recognize gay marriages. Todd said she and her partner were married in another state.”

Gay Politics: “California Assemblymember Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, an out lesbian in her first term as a state legislator, has been named majority whip by Speaker John Pérez.”

ADF Attorney Travis C. Barham writing at Speak Up Movement / University: “On Wednesday, [WVU-Parkersburg] issued a press release, which is notable primarily for its efforts to evade the actual decisions that caused the nursing students to contact ADF in the first place . . . the University claims to ‘respect[] its students’ right of religious choice.’ That is, it respects that choice unless those students choose—by a more than 90% margin—to express their religious beliefs publicly. As long as they make the choice the University likes (i.e., to keep their prayers silent, to keep their religion out of sight and out of mind), the University respects their choice.”

ADF Attorney Casey Mattox writing at Speak Up Movement / University: “I’ll bring you my picks for all 35 bowl games based on the universities’ respect for the First Amendment. The first installment today is for those games played through December 27. Later posts will cover the remaining games – including the BCS National Championship. But I’m still persuadable. If you know of First Amendment problems on a bowl team’s campus that you think should factor into my analysis please let me know. And if you’re a student at one of the universities below and would like to work to eliminate unconstitutional policies on your campus, contact us.”

“We are pledging today to endorse, and help fund, conservative primary challengers to any U.S. Senator who votes during the lame-duck session to overturn ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’”

News and Record (video): “Gov. Bev Perdue told reporters that she did not think North Carolina needed a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.”

ABC: “FIFA’s president Sepp Blatter apologized Friday for his remarks that gay fans should abstain from sex during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.”

Philadelphia Enquirer: “The city’s proposed sale of the historic Boy Scouts of America local headquarters to the group was back on track Thursday, but a formidable coalition of gay-rights and other civic leaders has lined up against it.”

Tim Muldoon writing at Patheos: “Most significant is what we know about the practice of adoption: those who experience infertility are up to ten times as likely to adopt as those who have not. To put it differently: the experience of infertility leads many from that landscape of heartbreak to the hope of adoption. The promise of IVF, I would argue, interrupts that painful yet transformative process. For some 70 percent of couples who attempt it, it represents a money-swallowing hole and therefore another painful detour en route to parenthood.”

Salt Lake Tribune: “Due to escalating unrest and political instability in the wake of the Ivory Coast’s contested presidential election, the LDS Church is pulling its non-African missionaries out of the small West African nation and relocating them in Benin and Togo, which are all part of the same LDS mission.”

Reuters: “The Netherlands could ban the burqa, the full-body covering worn by some Muslim women, as soon as next year, Dutch anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders told Reuters in an interview Thursday.”

Montreal Gazette: “Canada’s fertility laws are driving infertile couples who are desperate for babies into the black market or abroad and need to be reformed, critics say. The 6-year-old law prohibiting payment for sperm, eggs or surrogacy services has Canadians seeking paid surrogates in India.”

DNA India: “Three weeks ago in Mumbai, opponents of the legislation formed the Maharashtra Temple and Religious Institution Federation (Mandir ani Dharmik Sanstha Mahasangh) which, among other things, will oppose plans to give the state more control over the management and finances of the state’s Hindu, Jain, Sikh and Buddhists shrines.”

Daily News Journal: “Plaintiffs’ attorney Joe M. Brandon Jr. submitted a response today, printed below, to a November court ruling related to his clients suing Rutherford County for approving Islamic Center of Murfreesboro’s Veals Road site plans.”

Ventura County Star: “An Oak Park synagogue’s bid to double its occupancy limit was denied for a second time Thursday when a panel ruled the county had not violated a federal law protecting religious exercise.”

CBC: “A French court has ruled against a woman who sued a private child-care centre that fired her for wearing an Islamic headscarf and cloak to work.”

Reuters: “Rahul Gandhi, seen as an India prime minister in waiting, told the U.S. ambassador radical Hindu groups could posed a bigger threat to the country than the Islamists who attacked Mumbai in 2008, a leaked cable showed. The comments made to Timothy Roemer last year were immediately criticised by the main opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), adding to political sparring that has deadlocked parliament and pushed policymaking into limbo.”

Palladium-Item: “Franklin County’s courthouse Nativity scene will stay in place this Christmas season, despite a complaint by the Freedom From Religion Foundation.”

Nashua Telegraph: “Churches in Merrimack and Goffstown have sued their respective communities for religious discrimination, charging that the towns’ zoning and planning boards have violated their federal rights by refusing to let them build.”

Complaint filed in Merrimack Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses v. Merrimack (D.N.H.)

Complaint filed in Goffstown Harvest Christian Church v. Goffstown (D.N.H.)

Daily Mirror: “The Education Ministry has decided to reprint certain school textbooks because some of the facts mentioned in them offend the religious sensitivities of people as pointed out by religious dignitaries.”

Reuters: “Pope Benedict’s invitation to address German parliament during his visit to his homeland next September 22-25 has not sat well with some members of the opposition. Volker Beck, the Green party floor leader, has protested that inviting a religious leader to address parliament, the Bundestag, is unprecedented and the wrong place to speak about religion.”

Mercury News (AP): “An organization called Concerned American Citizens filed the appeal Thursday, arguing that the panel showed favoritism to the Islamic Center of Temecula Valley.”

ABC 7: “‘Reason’s Greetings’ and ‘Yes Virginia, There Is No God’ is what the Freedom From Religion Foundation billboards will proclaim for the next two weeks.”

CBC: “The Canadian Press has obtained documents from the Quebec Family Ministry that indicates the province will ban most forms of religion in centres that receive government money starting next June.”

CTV: Quebev gov’t confirms

The Detroit News: “In a carefully worded letter sent home to parents Thursday, school officials said they value ‘the right of all students to practice their religion and wear religious symbols,’ but that any religious emblems that resemble a weapon are now ‘strictly prohibited.’”

Eagle Tribune: “A Democratic Party attack on Rep. David Bates, R-Windham, is attracting national attention and demands the party apologize for ‘religious intolerance.’”

Seattle Times: “Washington’s Board of Pharmacy voted Thursday to not move forward with changing a rule that prohibits pharmacies from refusing to dispense all legal drugs, including the morning-after contraceptive ‘Plan B.’”

Agenzia Fides: “An alliance among radical Islamic groups – which includes religious parties, Islamic movements, organizations allied with terrorist groups – has called a large mass national demonstration entitled Namos-e-risalat, that is, defending the honour of the Prophet Muhammad on 24 December, after Friday prayers, to say ‘no’ to the release of Asia Bibi and any changes to the blasphemy law.”

Ken Connor writing at The Christian Post: “Perhaps to the chagrin of some conservatives who would have relished an ideologically-driven, politically-charged decision (and despite the wild accusations among some on the far left that this decision signals the first step towards a judicial imposition of a ‘libertarian utopia’), Judge Hudson doesn’t second guess or venture an opinion about the wisdom or merits of the legislation. His analysis is a constitutional one, not a political or sociological one, and the question he considered is simple: Does the Constitution confer on the Congress the power to penalize individuals for not purchasing a particular good or service in the marketplace?”

Spero Forum: “The Right to Life (Derecho a Vivir) of Spain’s southern region of Andalucía denounced the apparent increase in the number of abortions of children thought to be handicapped or deformed. The group expressed the fear that a eugenic policy was arising in Spain that would lead to the extermination of the handicapped.”

LifeNews: “Late Thursday, pro-abortion Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid gave up on trying to pass the 1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill that contains numerous goodies for the abortion industry.”

Asia News: “On the evening of December 15 armed militants abducted a young Christian female student from her home in Iraq’s northern city of Mosul.”

Christian Post: “Ashraf Thabet, 45, is charged with defaming a revealed religion, Article 98f of the Egyptian Penal Code. The charges stem from Thabet’s six-year search for spiritual meaning that eventually led him to become a Christian. During his search, he shared his doubts about Islam and told others what he was learning about Jesus Christ.”

Tehachapi News: “. . . ‘The letter to the TUSD is about the anti-gay climate that’s going on in the school district and the steps the district can take to change that climate,’ said lead attorney San Francisco-based Elizabeth Gill of the ACLU Foundation of Northern California . . . The ACLU wants to provide sensitivity training that will lead to “tolerance, acceptance and celebration,” Gilliam said. “Attitudes and behavior can be changed with proper education.”

Vatican Radio: “Fr. Rafic Greische is the director of communications for the Catholic Church in Egypt. Speaking from Cairo, he told Tracey McClure Copts and Muslims have organized small protests calling for the release of the many children who were among those arrested. ”

Associated Press: “The Vatican accused China on Friday of spurning efforts for improved ties with the Holy See, condemning the government-backed church as violating religious freedom and human rights.”

Associated Press: “Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says she is distressed by calls from some Republicans to reduce foreign aid.”

Associated Press: “The U.N. criticized Sweden on Friday for deporting five Iraqi Christians back to their homeland as Iraq’s Christian community comes under severe threat of militant attacks.”

Los Angeles Times: “More than 12,000 people have died this year in Mexico’s drug war, officials said Thursday, making it the deadliest year since President Felipe Calderon launched a government crackdown against traffickers in 2006.”

Washington Post: “Equality Maryland, the state’s largest gay-rights advocacy group, has hired Alexander & Cleaver, an Annapolis lobbying firm, to help push for legalization of same-sex marriage in the upcoming legislative session.”

Chicago Tribune: “In a letter to school district officials, the ACLU says there’s no proof that separating girls from boys will result in a better education. The union says it doesn’t oppose the public charter school as an alternative to Madison district schools, rather it objects to providing males with different opportunities by separating the genders.”

Socialist Workers Party: “We call on the government to immediately legislate for abortion in line with X case judgement. There should be no question of a further referendum. There have been two referendums on the X case judgment and in both case the electorate rejected the government’s attempts to further restrict abortion.”

Peter N. Kirstein, professor of history at Saint Xavier University in Chicago, writing at his blog: “Kenneth Howell is an University of Illinois faculty member who teaches Roman Catholic theology who was briefly fired due to an e-mail that some construed as hate-speech and virulently homophobic. NAS on their blog defended him, noted my defence of Mr Howell but proceeded to critique many of my points either inaccurately or with ideological animus . . . ‘The Alliance Defense Fund and FIRE call for Howell’s immediate reinstatement. Cary Nelson has called for a department-level review of the decision. The National Association of Scholars believes reinstatement is the right answer.’”

Mercury News (NYT): [T]he reaction from believers has been harsher than anyone in the nonbelievers’ club expected. Some black ministers organized a boycott of the buses, with limited success. Other clergy members are pressing the Fort Worth Transportation Authority for a ban on all religious advertising on public buses. In addition, a group of local businessmen paid for the van with the Christian message to chase the buses with atheist messages around town.”

NCPA: “Young Americans vary vastly in their aptitudes, their motivations, their interests. National policy prescriptions like ‘everyone should have a postsecondary education” ignore the vast differences between people. If the public objective is to use higher education as a means to form human capital and expand national productive capabilities, it appears much of the recent ‘investment’ in colleges is misdirected.” Stude is here.

Dave Andrusko writing at the National Right to Life Committee News and Views: “Years ago we ran a lot of stories in National Right to Life News about ‘selective reduction’ (or ‘fetal reductions’)–the euphemism for aborting one, two, or more babies of mothers carrying multiple unborn children. The technique, I gather, hasn’t changed much if, at all . . . The number of such ‘selective reductions’ is growing, not for medical reasons, but for socio-economic/lifestyle reasons.”

National Right to Life Committee News and Views: “More than 50,000 unborn babies have been killed in Minnesota with taxpayer funds since a Dec. 15, 1995, Minnesota Supreme Court ruling required taxpayers to fund abortions, according to the Minnesota Department of Human Services (MDHS). The Doe v. Gomez ruling established the most extreme abortion-on-demand policy in the nation.”

“[T]he campaigners will argue that the current ban on gay marriages is a breach of the Human Rights Act, specifically the right to respect for private and family life, the right to marry, and the prohibition of discrimination.”

Ilya Somin writing at The Volokh Conspiracy: “If [Dikötter's revised figure] of 45 million withstands scrutiny, Mao will have definitively surpassed Joseph Stalin’s overall record as a mass murderer (Stalin’s death toll was more evenly spread between several different episodes of mass murder than Mao’s) . . . it is . . . inexcusable that the mass murders inflicted by Chinese communism remain so little known in the West . . . few Western intellectuals are aware of the scale of these atrocities, and they have had almost no impact on popular consciousness.”

itnews: “The United Nations is considering whether to set up an inter-governmental working group to harmonise global efforts by policy makers to regulate the internet.”

Minneapolis Star Tribune: “Both locally and across the country, district and charter leaders are wisely setting aside their differences and teaming up to put their best ideas to work to improve student learning . . . Despite their differences and inherent competition for students, it’s in the best interest of all children for educators to identify and deploy the most effective instructional methods, whether they come from district schools or charters.”

Hugh Hewitt writing at Townhall: “The divide in the GOP is deep and, while largely unreported, it will have consequences far more profound for the party than the divide among Democrats that has gotten most of the attention since President Obama announced the ‘compromise’ on Monday, December 6 . . . Simply put, the base wants to fight it out now, and the D.C. GOP does not want a battle they don’t think they can win against the combined forces of the president, Harry Reid backed by the rules of the Senate and the MSM.”

Brent Bozell writing at Townhall: “You may have never heard of the 17-year-old actress Taylor Momsen, but she represents everything that’s wrong with pop culture today . . . Momsen may be extreme, but the trend is well established — the marketing of teenage temptresses for much older men. Oh, let’s stop the niceties. It’s not ‘teenage’ anything. These are young girls. Children. And it’s the glorification of statutory rape.”

Rexburg Standard Journal: “A new policy in Switzerland that would effectively ban all missionaries from non-European Union countries from serving in the country beginning in 2012 . . . A recent decision by a Swiss court has established that missionary work is ‘gainful employment’ and is thus subject to foreigner employment quotas. The law restricts missionaries from all religious denominations.” Via Religion Clause.

Religion Clause: “Religion Dispatches reports that the White House yesterday hosted a call for reporters with four members of the clergy who are supporting passage of the DREAM Act. The Act offers citizenship to young people brought to the U.S. illegally as children who pursue higher education or join the military.”

Charleston Daily Mail: “Controversy has erupted over a graduation ceremony at West Virginia University-Parkersburg after administrators decided to forgo prayer during the event . . . [Jeremy Dys' group, the Family Policy Council of West Virginia] was alerted by a national group called the Alliance Defense Fund and quickly rallied to support the students who favored the public prayer and call media attention to the university decision to skip it.”

OneNewsNow: “‘The fact is the court specifically states that the European Convention of Human Rights, which covers 47 member states, does not contain a right to abortion. That’s very important to remember,’ [Roger Kiska] explains. ‘It states that member states alone — these 47 member states — have the right to define when life begins and the protections afforded to it.’”

Pat Buchanan writing at WorldNetDaily: “In the April-May-June quarter, foreign-born workers in the U.S. gained 656,000 jobs. And native-born Americans lost 1.2 million . . . Query: Why are we importing a million-plus workers a year when 17 million Americans can’t find work? Whose country is this? Why do we not declare a moratorium on all immigration, until our unemployment rate falls to 6 or 5 percent? Charity begins at home. Ought we not take care of our own jobless first before we invite in strangers to take their jobs?”

The Christian Institute: “The Alliance Defense Fund, a pro-life legal group, had intervened in the case. ADF lawyer [Roger Kiska] said: ‘The court was right to reassert that there is no right to abortion under the Convention, but it’s regrettable that Ireland lost on the third count despite such a lack of judicial record, physician consultation, or recourse to Irish courts.’”

Catholic News Agency: “Its success or failure depends upon whether it is scheduled for a Senate vote as Congress comes to a close . . . [Daniel Blomberg] of the Alliance Defense Fund, a repeal opponent, told CNA in November that chaplains are concerned that religious faith ‘will be discriminated against in favor of the new political correctness that will be imposed by the Obama administration.’”

OneNewsNow: “‘I think it’s another story of the Grinch who stole Christmas,’ says [David Cortman], senior counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF). According to the attorney, the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee sent a letter to every school district in The Volunteer State.”

WorldNetDaily: “The plan being offered by officials with the Home School Legal Defense Association is for people around the globe to send a polite and direct message to the judge in the case . . . ‘Despite the ill-advised decision on the part of Mr. Johansson, the only menace here is a government drunk with its own power,’ said [Roger Kiska], legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund.” Article includes embedded ADF Weekly Update for the week of Dec. 13th.

PR Newswire (FRC): “In a decision involving challenges to Ireland’s abortion laws, the European Court of Human Rights today held that the European Convention on Human Rights does not contain a general right to abortion . . . In November, 2008, Family Research Council, the Alliance Defense Fund (FRC’s counsel), the European Centre for Law and Justice, and the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children filed an amicus brief supporting Ireland.”

Instead of wrestling with the repeated warnings from chaplains, endorsing agencies, and service members that military religious liberty will suffer if the existing law on homosexual behavior is dismantled, the recent Pentagon “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” report only gives it lip service . . .