Daily Archives: March 11, 2011

The February 2011 Marriage Law Digest, edited by Bill Duncan of the Marriage Law Foundation, is now available here [pdf].

Havre Daily News: Senate Bill 268, sponsored by Sen. Joe Balyeat, R-Bozeman, would place a referendum on the 2012 ballot. The proposal splits the state into seven districts, similar to the way representation by district is set up for the Public Service Commission. A judge must reside in the district for the seat up for election, with each justice selected from the separate districts.

Hartford Courant: Judge Lubbie Harper told his life story Friday to the legislature’s judiciary committee, which later approved his nomination to the Connecticut Supreme Court.

“Supporters said they didn’t think they had the 71 votes needed to pass the bill Friday, and it was sent back to committee in a procedure that will allow them to to continue with the legislation next year.”

The NY Times has titled its piece: The Road to the White House Is Paved With Pizza

WV Gazette: “West Virginia will not add sexual orientation to its anti-discrimination laws, at least not this year. Lawmakers didn’t act in time on a pair of bills (SB226, HB2045) . . . ”

Persecution Blog: “The head of the Russian Orthodox Church in Turkmenistan announced in a speech on Feb. 2 that the government ban on religious literature for the Orthodox Church has been lifted, according to Forum 18 News. No other church group in the country has the same freedom. Religious publishing is allowed only with government approval, and very little is allowed.”

Persecution Blog: Human rights and Christian leaders said a West Java court’s light sentence for Islamic extremists who injured a church pastor and an elder will encourage more violence and religious intolerance.

Above the Law: “The University of Chicago Law School today announced a complete redesign of its Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP), making it the most generous program of its kind. The three most important changes to the program are that it now offers the opportunity for any graduate staying in public interest for ten years to go to law school for free, that all graduates who serve as judicial clerks will be eligible for the program, and that a generous $80,000 salary cap will make the program more inclusive than ever.”

“That the new CR doesn’t contain the pro-life provisions has upset some Republican lawmakers and one pro-life group that says it will score votes on the short-term bill as pro-abortion vote because the pro-life policy measures are not included.”

“Today, three leading organizations in the conservative movement made clear their opposition to any additional short-term continuing resolutions and announced their intent to key vote the next such measure.”

Christian Telegraph: “A recent survey done by OpinionWay on abortion and contraception mentalities in French women found that 92 percent consider abortion a traumatic event, and 83 percent say abortion is physically painful, reports LifeSiteNews.com.”

KTTS.com: “The measure would prohibit cities, counties and schools in Missouri from adopting policies to prevent prayer or any other religious demonstrations in public places.”

NY.Curbed.com: In angry letters to the State Liquor Authority from the Greenwich Village Little League and Downtown Little League, according to The Villager. The problem, say the letters, is that kids on their way to practice at Pier 40 will be traumatized by “sexualized ‘red light district’ imagery, rowdy partygoers and alcohol consumption

Lake Norman WBTV: “Developer Terrell Hinson has presented a proposal to build an adult club along Oates Road, behind the Fat Boy’s restaurant.”

Tulsa World: An Ottawa County strip club remains open despite the arrest of its owner on several alcohol and nudity complaints.

Columbian.com: “King County Superior Court Judge Suzanne Barnett on Friday granted an order sought by city attorneys who say the club violates a zoning buffer because it’s within 200 feet of a school, child care center, community center and park.”

Europe News: “An Egyptian-born imam lost a court fight Wednesday to stave off his expulsion from Germany after he was accused of preaching hatred towards Christians and Jews.”

CheboyganNews.com: A group that advocates for the separation of church and state has objected to a reported mealtime prayer that takes place at the Cheboygan Senior Center.

CNN: “Thousands of Christian Copts in Cairo protested outside the offices of the Egyptian state broadcaster, witnesses said on Friday. It was the seventh day.”

KDVR.com: “On Thursday morning, with far less fanfare, the measure cleared its second legislative hurdle, passing out of the Senate Finance Committee on a 5-4 party-line vote.”

Seattle Weekly: “An autopsy had been performed on the child that showed he was alive when he was decapitated. The fact that he was born only 21 weeks into his development will not matter in terms of criminal charges, Meyer says.”

Readmedia: “In February, the House voted to slash the LSC budget by $70 million, or 18 percent. Because the Senate rejected this cut, negotiations now are taking place.”

At the Wall Street Journal, Laura Landro has this report: How to Keep Going and Going. It begins: What can 1,500 Americans born a century ago, most of them long dead, tell us about the secret to a long life? Plenty, according to Howard S. Friedman and Leslie R. Martin, two psychologists who, in “The Longevity Project,” mine an eight-decade research effort for answers to the kinds of questions that sent Ponce de León searching for the Fountain of Youth.

NJ.com: “One week. That’s how long Michael Patrick Carroll lasted as a Superior Court nominee. Gov. Chris Christie, who has previously gone to the mat with Democrats to battle for his choices, quietly yanked the Republican assemblyman’s nomination to become a judge today.”

One News Now: A Christian educator says a recent investigation into how socialism is creeping into public school curriculum is another wake-up call for parents to be vigilant when it comes to their child’s education.

AP on Boston Globe: “The bill now goes to the Senate, where it is not expected to pass. Republicans who support the bill control the House, while Democrats have a majority in the Senate.”

The Christian Century: As Gushee puts it, evangelicals — but especially younger evangelicals who have little taste or patience for the political battles of their parents’ generation — are looking for a course correction. “We can’t have the name of Jesus certainly associated with hatred or contempt for homosexuals,” Gushee said. “And in general we should be known by what we’re for rather than what we’re against.”

Douglas Farrow at First Things: The definition of gender-related discrimination and of “hate crimes” is becoming ever more imaginative on both sides of the forty-ninth parallel. Witness, for example, Bill H1728 in the state of Massachusetts, An Act Relative to Gender-Based Discrimination and Hate Crimes, or its Canadian counterpart, Bill C-389. The ostensible purpose of this legislation is to extend legal protection to “sexual minorities.” The strategic intention, however, is something more ambitious.

LifeNews: A pro-life group that uncovered how the University of North Carolina was requiring students to pay for abortions under a student health care plan says the Obama administration may be ignoring the Hyde Amendment.

LifeNews: “President Barack Obama has nominated a pro-abortion former Kansas state attorney general to serve on the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, setting up another battle over abortion and a top judicial pick.”

U.S. News and World Report carries opposing pieces by Tony Perkins of Family Research Council and Joe Salmonese of the Human Rights Campaign.

Christian Today: The application of law has moved far beyond non-discrimination and tolerance to the effective enforcement of a particular morality.

Peter Saunders writes at his blog: David Cameron, by his comments yesterday about homosexuality, demonstrates that he does not understand what true tolerance actually is.

The judges think it is wise and humane to assert that there is no hierarchy of values, and that all creeds are equal. But this is both absurd and nihilistic. Some values will always trump others.’

“The Courts are so set against religious freedom for Christians that an appeal is likely to only make matters worse.”

Washington Post: “Recalling the incident in her office a few days later, Alston tried to explain what had motivated her to co-sponsor a bill to legalize same-sex marriage only to leave the Maryland House Judiciary Committee hearing room last week just before it came up for a vote.”

The Republic: Planned Parenthood says it will sue South Dakota if Gov. Dennis Daugaard signs an abortion bill passed by the Legislature.

WorldNetDaily: “More than 50 churches, nearly 30 houses, a school and an orphanage along with other Christian-owned buildings have been destroyed by rampaging Muslims in Ethiopia’s Jamma region, according to reports from the Christian news service Compass Direct and others.”

AP: “Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker succeeded Friday in taking away nearly all collective bargaining rights from the vast majority of the state’s public employees, quietly capping weeks of contentious debate and delivering an epic defeat to the labor movement with a private bill signing.”

Philly.com: Students are free to pray alone or in groups as long as the activity is not disruptive and does not infringe on the rights of others,” according to a resolution adopted unanimously in Council yesterday at Blackwell’s request. It calls for Council’s Education Committee, headed by Blackwell, to schedule hearings on prayer in Philadelphia public schools.

ADF attorney Matt Sharp appeared on the Raffaele Report: ADF attorneys file suit against Pocono Mountain School District over discriminatory policy barring 5th-grader from inviting schoolmates to church event. | MP3 audio 4:22 mins

ADF attorney David French appeared on the Hugh Hewitt Show to discuss this: Victory for Catholic student group: U.S. Supreme Court says no to U. of Wis. appeal.  | MP3 audio 8:21 mins

ADF attorney Joe Infranco on the Drew Mariani Show to discuss this: NH town: Christian roadside sign more distracting, dangerous than gas station signs. | MP3 audio 11:12 mins

Ozarksfirst.com: “The ACLU of Texas has promised a lawsuit if the legislation passes.”

Detroit Free Press: “Following criticism from the ACLU and other civil liberties groups, the University of Michigan is considering reforms to a controversial practice that allows university public safety officers to ban people from its Ann Arbor campus.”

Wall Street Journal: “Even as state battles rage, the Obama administration has been facilitating the largest federal union organizing effort in history. Tens of thousands of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screeners are now casting votes to choose a union to collectively bargain for cushier personnel practices on their behalf . . . Here’s the fundamental problem with public-employee unions: They exist to compete with, and undermine, public priorities.”

Andrew Cochran writes at the Injury Board Law Network: “For instance, when the University of Illinois threatened to fire a professor for his invoking Christianity in his class, a lawsuit filed by the Alliance Defense Fund forced the university to back down. But a 1992 law review article (available on Lexis) reported on a survey of plaintiffs’ firms that found that “concern with Rule 11 (the 1983 Rule) led them to decline to present the claim or defense that they believed to be meritorious.” So LARA could scare away nonprofits or small firms specializing in religious liberty cases from filing suits against large entities, for fear that a judge could impose costly sanctions.” | Related ADF press release

Michael Foust writes at Baptist Press: Alliance Defense Fund senior counsel Brian Raum said the American people “deserve to have their laws defended” and that the “House has stepped up to the plate where the Department of Justice has shirked its responsibility.” The organization supports the law.

Providence Journal: A number of opponents also focused on the bill’s proposed protections for religious institutions. Anthony R. Picarello Jr., general counsel of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, argued that no exemption language could possibly cover all the potential religious-freedom conflicts that a gay marriage law would create. “At best, the legislature would be playing catch up for years, passing new area-specific exemptions to address these new conflicts as each one arises,” he said in written testimony. Jordan Lorence, senior counsel of the Alliance Defense Fund, suggested that Perry’s bill did not take into consideration the impacts on small businesses, professionals, private organizations that receive state funding, and even public school education.

Mercator.Net: The president may have decided against it, but the defense of traditional marriage is being taken up by assorted other people who wield power. Here are two . . . “The American people deserve to have their laws defended. The House has stepped up to the plate where the Department of Justice has shirked its responsibility,” said Alliance Defense Fund Senior Counsel Brian Raum. “The House of Representatives has the legal authority to intervene in these lawsuits to defend the federal DOMA statute. Even though Congress passed it with overwhelming bipartisan support, the DOJ won’t defend it. That means that a rigorous defense by Congress is the best possible option.”

LJWorld.com: “Lawrence resident and former Kansas Attorney General Steve Six was nominated Wednesday by President Obama to serve on the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.”

Crosswalk Religion Today Summaries: The religious liberty group Alliance Defense Fund is now asking the European Court of Human Rights to overturn the mother’s sentence, although the father has already served his. Roger Kiska, ADF legal counsel, said, “Irene Wiens was well within her rights under the European Convention of Human Rights to opt to teach her children a view of sexuality that is in accord with her own religious beliefs, instead of sending them to four days of classes and an interactive play that she found to be objectionable.”

Religion Clause Blog: “A lawsuit filed in 2009 by a coalition of state attorneys general challenging the health care provider conscience rules promulgated by the Bush administration was dropped last week.”

Religion Clause Blog: “Human Rights Watch yesterday released a report titled You Dress According to Their Rules: Enforcement of an Islamic Dress Code for Women in Chechnya (full text). Here is a summary from the text of the report . . . ”

The Hill: “Frustrated Senate Democrats gave senior White House advisers an earful Thursday afternoon during a private meeting, telling them that President Obama needs to get more involved in the budget battle, according to Democratic sources.”

SCOTS Blog reports: “The Fourth Circuit Court on Thursday scheduled oral argument for Tuesday, May 10, for cases testing the constitutionality of the new federal health care law — focusing especially on the law’s requirement that virtually all Americans must obtain health insurance by 2014.  In an order issued in one of the cases, Liberty University v., Geithner (Circuit docket 10-2347), the Court noted that its hearings normally allow 20 minutes per side.”

AP: “Labor unions at the heart of a burning national disagreement over the cost of public employees want to frame the debate as a civil rights issue, an effort that may draw more sympathy to public workers being blamed for busting state budgets with generous pensions.”

AP: “A British court has ruled that a transgender woman is not entitled to have breast enlargement surgery paid for by the state-funded National Health Service.”

AP: “Some Nevada lawmakers want the state to be the first to regulate the multibillion dollar, quasi-legal Internet poker industry.”

Politifact.com: “In other words, he was saying the poorest 60 percent of U.S. households had $1.22 trillion in net worth, which is less than the $1.27 trillion in net worth for the Forbes’ 400 wealthiest Americans . . . h that caveat, our assessment indicates that as of 2009, the net worth of the nation’s 400 wealthiest individuals exceeds the net worth of half of all American households. We rate Moore’s statement True.”

AP: “Jordanians demanding democratic reforms protested in the capital for the 10th street week following Friday’s Muslim prayers, defying an edict by the kingdom’s religious leaders not to demonstrate.”

From labor to education, unions have been walking in lock-step with the liberal agenda and this administration. We witnessed it with ObamaCare, as unions spent millions endorsing a law that many have since been exempted from. At the National Education Association (NEA), the radical politicking is legendary. The NEA officially supports same-sex “marriage,” abortion, and more recently, kids’ programs on sexual satisfaction. It even has its own Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Caucus. When Planned Parenthood made headlines for supporting child prostitution, Service Employees International Union rushed to the organization’s defense.

LA Times: “By 53-42, the GOP-controlled Assembly approves a measure to sharply curb collective-bargaining rights for most public employees. The plan now goes to Gov. Scott Walker, who has said he will sign it. Democrats are expected to fight the plan in the courts.”

The amendment, sought by Del. John A. Olszewski Jr. (D-Baltimore County), would tweak language intended to provide protections to religious organizations whose beliefs are not compatible with same-sex marriage.