Daily Archives: December 28, 2010

The Grand Rapids Press: “As she opens the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) first office in West Michigan, Miriam Aukerman still doesn’t have an Internet connection. Most of her files and law books are still in boxes.”

“The U.S. Senate on Wednesday gave final approval to lesbian law professor Chai Feldblum as President Obama’s nominee to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.”

UKPA: “A new law legally recognising gay couples comes into effect on January 1, securing a range of rights over shared homes, maintenance payments and pensions.” | More from the Irish Times.

Alliance Defense Fund attorneys, along with Americans United for Life and ADF-allied attorney Randall Wenger, submitted a friend-of-the-court brief to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in the first-ever review of that court of a law requiring parental consent for a minor’s abortion.

The Portland Press Herald: “Baldacci signed the bill into law May 6 — about an hour after the Senate took final action. He invited reporters into his office to announce his decision only after he had signed it — explaining that, while he once opposed gay marriage, he had ‘come to believe that this is a question of fairness.’”

Indian Express: “Though Section 377 of the IPC was amended last year which has decriminalised non-heterosexual sex between consenting adults, civil rights for homosexuals have a long way to go: this is the underlying theme of a new initiative started by the Indian Law Society’s Law College (ILS) in Pune along with Samabhavana Society, an NGO for gay men which will commence next year.”

Arizona Republic: “Gov. Jan Brewer and the Legislature made the benefit change as part of budget cuts in 2009. They intended to eliminate benefits for a much broader group, including adult children and gay partners of state employees. However, the new federal health-care law and a court ruling have forced the state to continue covering those groups, leaving opposite-sex partners the only class impacted by the cuts.”

The Daily Telegraph editorial: “Muslims have migrated to Britain in enormous numbers over the past 40 years; one of the heaviest waves of immigration was encouraged by the last government. The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life estimates that there are 2,869,000 Muslims in Britain, an increase of 74 per cent on its previous figure of 1,647,000, which was based on the 2001 census. No demographic statistics are reliable in an era of open borders, but such an expansion is unprecedented . . . [A]t a time when – according to some surveys – around 40 per cent of the Muslim community support the establishment of Sharia, fears of social fracture are understandable.”

TVGuide.com: “‘It’s complicated. There’s still a tremendous amount of homophobia in our culture. It’s regrettable, it’s stupid, it’s heartless, and it’s immoral, but there it is,’ he tells The Advocate. ‘For an actor to be working is a kind of miracle, because most actors aren’t, so it’s just silly for a working actor to say, “Oh, I don’t care if anybody knows I’m gay” — especially if you’re a leading man. Personally, I wouldn’t advise a gay leading man—type actor to come out.’”

San Francisco Chronicle: “Through a combination of procrastination and bad timing, many baby boomers are facing a personal finance disaster just as they’re hoping to retire. Starting in January, more than 10,000 baby boomers a day will turn 65, a pattern that will continue for the next 19 years.”

The Gazette: “Sen. David R. Brinkley (R-Dist. 4) of New Market, the Senate’s minority leader, said the makeup of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee is key to this issue.”

ABA Journal: “Rep. Scott Kawasaki is calling for both a law school and a medical school to be established at the University of Alaska, reports the Tundra Drums.”

Orin Kerr Orin Kerr writing at The Volokh Conspiracy: “One of the interesting arguments raised in the litigation over the individual mandate is whether courts should adopt a new activity/inactivity distinction in Commerce Clause doctrine . . . If the child pornography laws are an unconstitutional mandate, must the child pornography laws be struck down at least as applied to innocent possession? In other words, is it beyond the reach of Congress to require those who come into innocent possession of child pornography to take reasonable steps to destroy it or report the matter to law enforcement?”

Kuwait Times: “A women’s group campaigning to stop polygamous marriages among Israeli bedouin is running into strong resistance from Islamic groups and even some politicians.”

The Tribeca Trib: “Leaders of the tiny St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, once seated at the foot of the World Trade Center and destroyed on Sept. 11, are hoping the threat of a lawsuit will force the Port Authority to honor a deal it struck in 2008 to rebuild the church.”

Christian Science Monitor: “The story is the same in practically every Middlesex, village and farm community. States and municipalities spent more than they could afford. They ran up pension obligations. They borrowed for stadia and swimming pools. And now, like Ireland and Greece, they can’t keep up with the payments.”

“Bob Vander Plaats . . . says Gronstal’s politically vulnerable because Gronstal promises to continue blocking a proposed amendment to the Iowa Constitution which would ban gay marriage.”

WorldNetDaily: “[W]hether it affects him or not, octogenarian billionaire George Soros’ funding of a media ‘monitor’ that routinely attacks traditional and conservative media is becoming a focal point. The report by Matthew Vadum, editor of Organization Trends, is scheduled to be released by the Capital Research Center in January . . . Vadum’s report documents how for a long time Soros’ has been buying up media properties and funding ‘left-leaning’ websites and groups, many of which try to keep their ties hidden.”

AP: “The Economic Policy Institute, a Washington think tank, says American companies have created 1.4 million jobs overseas this year, compared with less than 1 million in the U.S.”

“Governor-elect Terry Branstad will not comment on news that three Republicans who’ve been elected to the Iowa House plan to try to impeach the four remaining Iowa Supreme Court Justices.”

Baptist Press: “Joining Southern Sudanese Christians and political leaders weeks prior to an important national referendum on independence, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary President Phil Roberts participated in prayer vigils and voiced encouragement to believers during a recent visit to Juba, Southern Sudan.”

Associated Press: “The last remaining police officer in the Mexican border town of Guadalupe has disappeared, and prosecutors in northern Chihuahua state said Tuesday they have started a search for her.”

“Apple has rejected an iPhone/iPad ‘app’ that had been resubmitted by signers of the Manhattan Declaration, further frustrating Christian leaders who fear the controversy signals a growing societal intolerance of orthodox Christianity.”

The Hill: “The massive overhaul of healthcare approved by Congress earlier this year will begin to take effect in 2011, though some of the biggest changes prompted by the law — including the mandate that everyone buy insurance, the state insurance exchanges and subsidies to help most Americans buy insurance — don’t kick in until 2014.”

Detroit Free Enterprise: “Oakland County prosecutors, relying on a Michigan statute typically used to prosecute crimes such as identity theft or stealing trade secrets, have charged Leon Walker, 33, with a felony after he logged onto a laptop in the home he shared with his wife, Clara Walker.”

The Philippine Star: “The European Union (EU) hopes the House of Representatives and the Senate will approve the Reproductive Health (RH) bill despite lawmakers’ pronouncements that the measure is not among the priority legislations in 2011.”

Michael J. New writing at National Review Online: “This focus on the economy as the reason for the teen-birthrate decline is rather puzzling . . . The benefits of abstinence-only sex education and greater sexual restraint, as always, received scant coverage from nearly all mainstream media outlets.”

Omaha World-Herald: “Nebraska abortion rights opponents hope that what happens in Iowa, stays in Iowa. To make sure, they plan to pursue legislation next year that would prevent a pioneering Iowa telemedicine program from crossing the Missouri River.”

SCOTUSblog: “The Supeme Court on Wednesday released the schedules of oral argument for the next two sittings — the February and March public sessions. The February calendar is here; the March calendar is here. The Court will have one further argument session scheduled this Term, beginning on Monday, April 18. The morning arguments begin at 10 a.m.; any afternoon argument begins at 1 p.m.”

The Columbian: “Catholic Community Services of Lane County will stop accepting money from United Way because the organization gives money to Planned Parenthood of Southwest Oregon.”

Irish Times: “The abortion issue should be dealt with by an all-party Oireachtas committee, according to Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny, who has ruled out giving any pre-election commitment to hold a referendum on the matter.”

Kansas City Star: “A northeast Kansas county prosecutor who has represented missionaries detained in Haiti and former state Attorney General Phill Kline will be Gov.-elect Sam Brownback’s top staff lawyer. Jefferson County Attorney Caleb Stegall will become the general counsel for the governor’s office when Brownback is sworn in Jan. 10.”

Washington Post: “A gay coal miner is suing a Massey Energy Co. subsidiary, charging that management didn’t protect him from abusive co-workers.”

Hurriyet Daily News: “Turkey is unable to train enough religious clerics and to solve the problem religious education should be assigned to the Religious Affairs Directorate, according to a consultant in the governmental department.”

Verde Independent: “The dust-up over the process of nominating candidates for the Independent Redistricting Commission is giving new ammunition to those who want to scrap Arizona’s merit selection process for judges. Several key state lawmakers say they would welcome the chance to revisit the 1974 constitutional amendment, which took away the right of voters to directly elect judges to the Arizona Supreme Court, the state Court of Appeals and the superior courts in Maricopa and Pima counties.”

Deutsche Welle: “Religious leaders in Germany have spoken out against recent moves by parliamentarians to force a relaxation of laws on the genetic screening of embryos as part of in vitro fertilization.”

Wesley J. Smith writing at The Corner: “The new regulation is not alarming in and of itself. In fact, we should all have these discussions with our doctors and loved ones, and we should all prepare advance medical directives . . . The original policy became controversial out of the reasonable fear that in the drive to cut costs, the ‘counseling’ could become ‘pressure’ to refuse care.”

James Taranto at the Wall Street Journal: “But there is also a substantive reason why the administration and its allies wanted to keep this quiet: It reminds people that ObamaCare’s promise to deliver ‘universal health care’ while saving money can be kept if the government assumes the power to deny medical treatment in the name of controlling costs. Death panels are intrinsic to the ObamaCare scheme.”

Wall Street Journal: “The German government’s latest move to crack down on groups that promote extremist Muslim teaching came earlier this month, as dozens of police raided homes, offices and religious schools in the western German cities of Bremen, Braunschweig and Mönchengladbach. The security forces were seeking evidence that could lead to the banning of two organizations that officials say are calling for imposing Islamic law in place of German law.”

The Daily Republican: “The Freedom From Religion Foundation sent a letter of complaint Dec. 20 to Mayor Robert Butler, objecting to a nativity scene and menorah on the public square. Their complaint refers to the life-sized figures of Jesus, Mary, Joseph and angels, and the star above the display that is affixed to the clock tower. Religious music is played on a sound system around the square, the organization points out, and there’s a large menorah on the opposite side of the square.”

Jennifer Marshall writing at The Heritage Foundation: “The key to America’s religious liberty success story is its constitutional order. The Founders argued that virtue derived from religion is indispensable to limited government. The Constitution therefore guaranteed religious free exercise while prohibiting the establishment of a national religion. This Constitutional order produced a constructive relationship between religion and state that balances citizens’ dual allegiances to God and earthly authorities without forcing believers to abandon (or moderate) their primary loyalty to God.”

The Jakarta Globe: “Religious tolerance groups have lambasted the government over its lack of response to the intimidation of a Christian congregation forced to hold its Christmas service out on the street in Bogor.”

LifeNews: “New regulations the Obama administration will put in place starting January 1 essentially put the controversial death panels back in the much-maligned ObamaCare law . . . a new Medicare regulation taking effect at the beginning of the year will have the federal government paying doctors to advise patients on possible end-of-life care treatment options.”

The Hill: “Senate Republicans’ ‘Dr. No’ spending hawk warned Sunday that America would experience ‘apocalyptic pain’ with between 15 percent and 18 percent unemployment and that the middle class would be ‘destroyed’ if it didn’t get its fiscal house in order.”

Bluegrass Policy Blog: “In the House, Kentucky Represenative Brad Montell has already pre-filed a bill, (Bill Request 180), which apparently will be known during the session as House Bill 103, to introduce a five-year pilot program of 20 charter schools.”

Associated Press: “Home prices are dropping in the nation’s largest cities and are expected to keep falling next year, as fewer people purchase homes and millions of foreclosures come on to the market.”

Jennifer Rubin writing in the Washington Post: “The lack of serious action by the administration on this issue, however, is not an isolated event. Earlier this year the USCIRF issued a report documenting that religious freedom was of ‘shrinking importance’ in the Obama foreign policy agenda. That has contributed, according to the USCIRF, to the ‘disturbing trends that threaten freedom of religion across the globe.’”

Reuters: “‘We hope the Vatican can face the facts of China’s religious freedom and the development of Catholicism in China, and take concrete actions to promote positive conditions for China-Vatican relations,’ ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a regular news briefing. She did not elaborate.” More from The Daily Telegraph.

Wall Street Journal Editorial: “No part of President Obama’s agenda has been as thoroughly repudiated as the one regarding terrorist detainees . . . Mr. Obama has discovered the difficult dilemmas involved in handling captured killers who refuse to obey the rules of war, much less of civilized society. We’re now waiting for House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers to call for Mr. Obama’s impeachment.”

The Daily Telegraph: “Lynne Featherstone, the Liberal Democrat Equalities Minister, is expected to announce that same-sex civil partnership ceremonies will be allowed in churches and other religious settings for the first time. The move, likely to come early next year, could be a prelude to overhauling the law on marriage itself, which currently applies only to the union of a man and a woman.”

RealClearPolitics: “On Monday night’s edition of ‘Hardball,’ host Chris Matthews talked about putting the birth certificate controversy surrounding President Obama to rest.”

Christian Today: “The Rt Rev Michael Scott-Joynt told the BBC’s World This Weekend there was an ‘imbalance’ in the legal system with regards to the freedom of Christians and people of other faiths pursuing the calling of their faith in public life.”

“[The judge] said abortion practitioners should not face prison sentences for failing to comply with it. He also removed a section allowing parents to file a civil lawsuit against abortion practitioners who don’t comply seeking financial damages.”

FindLaw (AP): “The Ohio Supreme Court has upheld a state sales tax for satellite TV providers that cable competitors don’t have to pay.”

WorldNetDaily: “Two of the nation’s premier moral issues organizations, the Family Research Council and Concerned Women for America, are refusing to attend the Conservative Political Action Conference in February because a homosexual activist group, GOProud, has been invited.”

“Gay former conservative strategist and author David Brock, who changed sides in 2002 to become a champion of LGBT equality and progressive causes, announced the founding this week of a new initiative aimed at exposing ‘right-wing bigotry and homophobia wherever we find it.’”

WorldNetDaily: “Although China is called a major trading partner, it treats U.S. companies like suckers, cheating them coming and going. Beijing even intimidates U.S. businessmen so they don’t dare criticize China’s unfair trade tactics.”

OneNewsNow: “The North Carolina Council of Churches has elected an openly homosexual man as its incoming president.”

OneNewsNow: “The Washington Board of Pharmacy says it won’t provide conscience protections for pharmacies or pharmacists after all . . . Joseph Backholm of the Family Policy Institute of Washington tells OneNewsNow the board has stopped the rule-making process . . . ‘It was a lawsuit against the state on behalf of several pharmacists that will now likely move forward,’ Backholm explains. ‘It had been suspended once it looked like the Board of Pharmacy was going to provide a right of referral.’”

“The institution of marriage has undergone significant changes in recent decades as women have outpaced men in education and earnings growth. These unequal gains have been accompanied by gender role reversals in both the spousal characteristics and the economic benefits of marriage.”

National Journal: “A day after President Obama signed legislation repealing the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ ban on openly gay troops, Defense Secretary Robert Gates had a different message for senior Pentagon officials: The restrictions remain in effect, and service members who violate the 17-year-old law could still face ‘adverse consequences.’”

CatholicCulture.org: “At a December 21 news conference, Bishop Thomas Olmstead of Phoenix, Arizona, explained his decision to lift the ‘Catholic’ designation from St. Joseph’s Hospital after hospital officials declined to offer adequate guarantees that they would abide by Catholic moral directives.”

Washington Post: “[Nebraska legislator Mike Flood] believes that [Gonzales v. Carhart] offers hope for him and other state legislators looking for ways to restrict abortion. Using that decision as a road map, this spring Flood wrote and won passage of legislation that bans abortions after 20 weeks. Introducing into law the concept of ‘fetal pain,’ it marked the first time that a state has outlawed the procedure so early in a pregnancy without an exception for the health of the woman.”

Christian Science Monitor: “The study, ‘Are Bad Schools Immortal?,’ examined more than 2,000 of the worst-performing district and charter schools in 10 states over five years. It found that very few of them closed, and even fewer – about 1 percent – truly ‘turned around.’”

Catholic San Francisco: “San Francisco Archbiship George Niederauer ‘intends to initiate a dialogue’ with the leadership of Catholic Healthcare West regarding questions raised by Phoenix Bishop Thomas Olmsted over CHW affiliate St. Joseph’s Hospital’s compliance with the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services used by the U.S. bishops to govern moral choices in Catholic health care.”

LifeNews: “Republican Party chairman candidate Maria Cino is coming under fire for releasing a new statement over the weekend that touts her pro-life views but avoids her past connections to a pro-abortion group.”

Tim Drake writing at his National Catholic Register blog: It would behoove the military to take a look at how such an open policy toward homosexuals worked in another male fraternity, that is, the Catholic priesthood . . . Rose describes the ‘lavenderization’ of seminaries such as Chicago’s Mundelein Seminary and the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium, and the homosexual culture present there even into the 1990s.”

Robert Shibley writing at Pajamas Media: “There are 296 American public officials at grave risk of being personally sued for civil rights violations. The names of those who may soon be paying out of pocket for civil damages include some of America’s most respected citizens, who every day manage multi-million dollar budgets and massive numbers of government employees with little oversight and even less accountability. Can you guess who they are? They are the presidents of many of America’s largest and most prestigious public colleges and universities.”

Guardian: “Teachers and pressure groups are urging the education secretary to scrap a law requiring pupils in England to take part in a daily act of collective religious worship. The National Secular Society (NSS) has written to Michael Gove arguing that the legislation, dating from the 1944 Education Act, infringes children’s human rights and discriminates against pupils of no faith and non-Christians.”

Shira Goodman and Lynn A. Marks writing in the Philadelphia Inquirer: “Even if the public’s concern about judicial bias is over-blown, judges know that the true power of the courts is rooted in the public’s perception and public confidence in fair and impartial justice. When that confidence is undermined – whether for good reason or not – the foundation of our justice system is shaken.”

Traverse City Record-Eagle: “Weaver, a Republican who stepped down in July after 36 years as a judge, including 16 on the high court, said she enjoys a certain satisfaction when clearing her drive and walkways . . . She negotiated a deal with Gov. Jennifer Granholm to step down six months before her term ended in exchange for the appointment of a northern Michigan judge. Granholm picked Alton Davis, Weaver’s choice and a well-respected appeals court judge from Grayling.”

Washington Times: “President Obama won two Supreme Court nominations in his first Congress, but his overall stamp on the federal judiciary has been muted as fights over judges have taken a lower profile than in recent years.”

Rasmussen Reports: “The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that only 21% of Likely U.S. Voters want the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to regulate the Internet as it does radio and television. Fifty-four percent (54%) are opposed to such regulation, and 25% are not sure.”

Election Law Blog: “You can read the opinion here. In a unanimous, unsigned (per curiam) opinion, the Alaska Supreme Court said that nothing blocked the state of Alaska from certifying the U.S. Senate race for Lisa Murkowski.”

Religion Clause: “Earlier this month, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order granting an en banc rehearing in Morgan v. Swanson. A 3-judge panel in the case refused to grant qualified immunity to two Plano, Texas elementary school principals who were sued for refusing to allow elementary school students to hand out religious-themed items during school parties and at other non-curricular times.”

Pat Buchanan writing at Townhall: “What American schools are failing at, despite the trillions poured into schools since the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act, is closing the racial divide. We do not know how to close the gap in reading, science and math between Anglo and Asian students and black and Hispanic students.”