Daily Archives: March 4, 2011

“The 12-to-10 vote by the House Judiciary Committee sends the bill to the floor next week for what is expected to be a dramatic debate on the highest-profile issue being considered in the General Assembly this year. ”

Christian Science Monitor: “As in France and Germany, Mr. Cameron’s declaration seems aimed at one group – Muslims. More precisely, it taps a growing public concern in Europe about those from Islamic backgrounds who are increasingly numerous and becoming a permanent part of Europe’s social fabric. In Britain and across the Continent, that unease is fueling right-wing parties but also influencing mainstream electorates worried that Europe is losing its traditional identity.”

“I said it was simple,” said the archbishop, “I didn’t say it was easy. Be ready to pay a price.”

CNN: “But he might also need to compromise — and that’s going to be a tough sell to Republican freshmen and other conservatives who didn’t think cuts in the plan passed earlier went deep enough. They’re also standing firm on policy changes in the House-passed bill, such as defunding health care and stripping all federal money from Planned Parenthood.”

Yahoo News: “Nebraska women with private health insurance will find it much more difficult to get an abortion, thanks to the advancement of Legislative Bill 22 this week in the Nebraska Unicameral.”

CNSNews: “. . . the four-hour session leading up to the vote was a contentious discussion with the Republicans focusing on the need to not force Americans to pay for abortions through taxation and the Democrats insisting any restriction on abortion reflects the GOP’s efforts to deny women’s rights.”

The Hill: “A long-term spending bill pitched by the Senate will not include language to strip federal funds from Planned Parenthood and implementation of the healthcare reform law, according to new highlights released by the Senate Appropriations Committee on Friday afternoon.

CNA: A Colombian senator recently proposed a constitutional amendment that would raise “an absolute and complete barrier” against abortion in the country.

Dan Gainor writes at Fox News: “The Kochs openly support things they believe in – especially free markets and limited government. To media types, those beliefs are suspect or even audacious. To the left, they’re criminal or anti-American. Both groups claim to question everything.
Everything, that is, except who funds the left. When that gets mentioned, there is either complete silence or cries of conspiracy at the mere mention of the name George Soros. Yet Soros has given billions around the globe for decades to push his own beliefs. His impact on liberal politics here in the U.S. is unparalleled. ”

ABC: “The mere fact that Arizona law has sprung up in over 24 other states within a few months of passage, I believe, is historic,” said William Gheen, president and spokesman of Americans for Legal Immigration, a group that supports stricter immigration laws.

Colbert King writes at the Washington Post: President Obama is catching a fair amount of grief from theologically conservative African American pastors for his decision to no longer defend the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which bans the recognition of same-sex marriage. “The president has harmed himself on this issue” said the Reverend Anthony Evans, who heads the National Black Church Initiative. “He has openly offended the black church, and he didn’t need to do it.”

KGW.com: “Oregon lawmakers are considering a bill that would keep picketers a certain distance away from funerals . . . In Oregon, HB 3241 would create 300-foot and one-hour buffer zones between picketers and memorial services.”

“I will convene a meeting of the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group for the purpose of initiating action by the House to defend this law of the United States, which was enacted by a bipartisan vote in Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton.”

Trib.com: “But state Sens. John Hines, R-Gillette, and Bill Landen, R-Casper, who cast the deciding votes against HB74 on Wednesday, said they opposed it because it didn’t guarantee same-sex couples access to Wyoming courts to get a divorce or for other disputes.”

Wall Street Journal: “The latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll appears to vindicate Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels‘s repeated insistence that the country needs a “truce” on fights over social issues while it grapples with its mounting economic challenges.”

Christian Science Monitor: “Pakistan’s prime minister joined mourners at today’s funeral service for slain Christian minister Shahbaz Bhatti. Critics say a timid government has emboldened militants and allowed extremists to shape the country’s future.”

Kirsten Powers writes at the Daily Beast: “Planned Parenthood says funding cuts will only increase America’s abortion rate. Kirsten Powers asks: So why have abortions multiplied while access to contraception has greatly improved?”

Times-News MagicValley.com: “A bill that would prohibit women from getting an abortion 20 weeks after pregnancy has cleared its first hurdle in the Idaho Senate.”

QCTimes.com: Questions are being raised about separating church and state government following a prayer given before the Iowa Legislature that sought God’s forgiveness for abortion and asked lawmakers to “have courage to rescue those being led away to death.”

ADF Attorney David French writes at National Review Phi Beta Cons: “I was thrilled to see Harvard step up and assume the right kind of cultural leadership by bringing ROTC back to campus so quickly after DADT repeal. To be clear, I’m happy not so much because I believe the military needs Harvard but because Harvard — and by extension, our broader culture — needs more exposure to our military.”

Reuters: “U.S. Republicans denounced as inadequate on Friday a White House proposal to cut an additional $6.5 billion out of this year’s federal budget, as the battle over spending cuts headed toward Senate votes next week.”

The Hill: “More than 1 million anti-abortion activists are demanding that House Republicans stick to their plan to prohibit federal funding for Planned Parenthood in their stop-gap spending bill for the rest of the year.”

Reuters: “Women seeking an abortion would have to first get an ultrasound under a measure approved on Thursday by the Texas House of Representatives.”

AP: “A convicted child molester in Louisiana has undergone surgical castration to win release from prison on parole.”

LifeSiteNews: Perkins said he was “troubled by the lightning-fast integration of concepts and actual language” from the Attorney General announcement and the motion to stay. “Even the appearance of collusion between the Department of Justice and litigants is highly damaging to the rule of law in America,” he said.

LifeNews: “The American Center for Law and Justice, a pro-life legal group, is now helping the parents of Baby Joseph Maraachli, who is suffering from a terminal illness that will soon take his life.”

LifeNews: “President Barack Obama would veto the House-approved long-term spending bill for the federal government that contains the Pence Amendment, a measure that would de-fund the Planned Parenthood abortion business.”

AP: “With the American labor movement newly energized by its most serious threat in years, the Democratic Party’s decision to hold its 2012 convention in the least union-friendly state is causing friction with a key constituency.”

NCPA Policy Digest: “In fiscal year 2010, the federal government spent $3.6 trillion dollars, or 24.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), well above the historical average . . . at its current trajectory, spending will increase to 25.9 percent of GDP in 2020 and to 32.2 percent in 2030. The harsh reality is that if the country does not deviate from its current path, the majority of future federal spending will finance the spending of the past. ”

CNN: “From her chambers in Phoenix, Arizona, the chief judge of federal judicial District of Arizona warns a bulging criminal caseload is being exacerbated by three unfilled bench seats, which the Obama administration and the Senate have, until recently, shown little urgency to address.”

California is poised to take a step sure to sharpen the debate. A bill introduced in December by State Senator Mark Leno, Democrat of San Francisco, would require all of the state’s history textbooks to include figures and events in gay history and portray them “in a positive light.”

Christian Institute: Austin R Nimocks, Senior Legal Counsel at the Alliance Defense Fund, said: “The American people have a right to expect their laws to be defended by the very people whose job it is to do so: their government officials.

C-FAM: The European Union was founded on respect for national sovereignty,” Roger Kiska, Legal Counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, told the Friday Fax. “If the Advocate General’s opinion is followed, it destroys this sovereignty making all European nations vulnerable to legislation promoting anti-life and anti-family laws despite the national will of that country. It is not the role of the ECJ to legislate for all of Europe without Europe having a say in the matter,” said Kiska.

Mercator.net: ADF filed an emergency appeal yesterday with the European Court of Human Rights, calling for Mrs Wien’s immediate release. Legal counsel Roger Kiska, based in the Slovak Republic, says the Wiens are well within their rights under the European Convention of Human Rights and other laws. ADF is representing four similar cases before the ECHR. “These types of cases are crucial battles in the effort to keep bad decisions concerning parental rights overseas from being adopted by American courts,” says Mr Kiska.

LifeSiteNews: The students were represented by attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF). “Christian students shouldn’t be discriminated against for expressing their beliefs,” said ADF Senior Counsel Nate Kellum. “The 7th Circuit has, once again, rightly recognized the First Amendment-protected …

One News Now: Dale Schowengerdt is an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, which is standing with voters against homosexual marriage. “The court wisely stayed the case several months ago because it doesn’t want legal pandemonium as same-sex couples get marriage licenses — and then when the district court’s decision is overturned they have to revoke those licenses,” he shares. “That’s not fair to anybody and is just a really bad idea… and we’re hopeful that the Ninth Circuit’s going to see it the same way.”

One News Now: ut the appeals court ruled against the Indian Prairie School District, stating that the school should not have stifled the students’ response to the Day of Silence — which Kellum argues has in fact silenced Christians’ voices. “It has worked to effectively silence them and their viewpoint about homosexual behavior,” he states, explaining that the decision establishes a precedent “that in an environment where a school freely allows speech that promotes homosexual behavior, the school cannot crush the opposing viewpoint

Argus Leader: “Gov. Dennis Daugaard is inclined to sign the bill that would require a 72-hour waiting period for an abortion, he said this morning. “I’m pro-life and I’m inclined to sign it at this stage,” he said.”

ADF attorney David Cortman writes in the Washington Times: How many U.S. Supreme Court cases risk eliminating a child’s ability to get a quality education with completely private dollars? Not many, but if a case that will be decided by that court any day now goes the wrong way, that’s precisely what it will mean for many children – and for no good reason. | ADF Media Resource Page

StarTribune.com: “A Presbyterian minister says she was fired after she criticized an evangelical Christian program used in prisons.”

The Sun News: “A Fort Bragg soldier canceled a concert with a secular theme and no ties to religion, saying Thursday that base leadership failed to honor promises to support his show as it had a Christian rally last fall.”

Religion Clause Blog: n Indonesia, the governor of the province of West Java yesterday issued a gubernatorial regulation (No. 12 of 2011) banning all public activities by the 17,000 members of the Ahmadiyah sect in the province.  Today’s Jakarta Globe reports that the action is seen as implementing an Indonesian 2008 joint ministerial decree that bars the Ahmadiyah from spreading their faith.

SCOTUS Blog: “Florida federal judge who struck down all of the new federal health care law ordered the Obama Administration on Thursday to stop enforcing any part of the 2,700-page statute — but then immediately put his ruling on hold on condition that the Administration move quickly to appeal to a higher court — a federal appeals court or the Supreme Court.”

NBCNewYork.com: Three union workers who called out sick to attend a labor rally at the New Jersey Statehouse last week have been suspended. The move comes a day after Gov. Christie told NBC New York in an interview that “people who call in sick better be sick.” Christie issued his warning ahead of another labor rally that drew thousands on Thursday.

Wall Street Journal (full text access via Google): “Wisconsin’s donnybrook pitting taxpayers against public-sector unions and their Democratic clients continues to unfold, but it looks as if Ohio may now pass an even more ambitious agenda. There are some lessons here for the GOP, namely about political resolve, which is the only way to modernize government amid opposition from the usual pro-spending constituencies.”

Richard Land writes at the Wall Street Journal: There once was a promising Republican presidential candidate known for being an economic guru and master of the numbers: Sen. Phil Gramm. At one point in 1996, he had raised more money than any other candidate. Like Gov. Daniels, Sen. Gramm had a sterling social conservative voting record and his lack of telegenic charisma was seen as an advantage, in contrast to President Clinton’s slick persona. But Sen. Gramm’s candidacy went down in flames after he dismissed a question about social issues by saying: “I’m not running for preacher, I’m running for president.”