Daily Archives: April 11, 2011

Breitbart Big Government: Since donating over $1 million to the president’s campaign and building its online presence and fundraising base, the company has reaped continued returns on their investment, so much so, that Google’s former CEO is rumored to be on the shortlist to be the nation’s new Secretary of Commerce. In order to pad its bottom line, Google made a conscious effort to grow its influence in Washington . . .

Catholic Culture: The government of Malaysia has announced plans to allow the importation of Bibles, without the warning label that had been required under an earlier announced policy.

The Catholic Review: Virginia became the seventh state to bar abortion coverage from being offered by private insurance companies through the new state-run health insurance exchanges that were mandated by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the sweeping health-reform law passed last year by Congress.

MSNBC: Real estate developer Donald Trump blames President Obama for the rising price of oil, warning, “this country can never, ever recover” if oil prices continue to go up. “That’s really the life’s blood of the country,” Trump told CNBC in a phone interview on Monday.

Tennessean: State Sen. Mae Beavers, Tennessee’s abortion protections amendment’s main sponsor, said she will delay the vote one week because two co-sponsors will not be present for Monday’s Senate session.

Examiner: A New Jersey school district has removed filters that blocked lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender-related websites after the American Civil Liberties Union began asking questions.

China’s abuse of religious freedom, which often takes place behind the scenes, was on display for the entire world April 10 when approximately 200 members of an unregistered Protestant church were arrested and placed on a bus during broad daylight in Beijing, the nation’s capital.

In the interest of an informed debate about taxpayer funding of PPFA, a few omissions and potentially misleading statements are addressed below . . .

LifeSiteNews: New reports issued today on the exchanges between pro-abortion President Barack Obama and pro-life Speaker John Boehner show Obama refused to agree to Boehner’s demand to cut Planned Parenthood funding.

The Senate has scheduled a promised vote on whether to deprive the Planned Parenthood Federation of America of federal funding – a concession won by GOP budget negotiators this weekend, in exchange for their support for the federal budget bill.

ADF attorney Doug Napier appeared on Morning in America with Bill Bennett to discuss Decision Points: An Evening with President George W. Bush. | MP3 audio 4:17 mins

CTV.ca: A lawyer arguing against Canada’s law barring polygamy says the ban is a relic of another time that violates freedom of religion.

New American: . . . Babione said the court’s decision tells individuals that “you can go shack up with your boyfriend or girlfriend and that if you decide that you want to play house and have kids, the state has to allow you to come in and seek a child.” He added that it is “mind-boggling that we’ve come to a point in our society where you have a state Supreme Court basically saying that adult sexual desires and wants are the chief end of civil government at the expense of the best interests of children.”

Politico: “I don’t like them to use that argument – that believing in liberty means you can kill the unborn,” Paul said . . . “Life comes from our creator, not our government. Liberty comes from our creator, not from government,” he said. “Therefore, the purpose, if there is to be a purpose, for government is to protect life and liberty.”

National Review: So there wasn’t anything even remotely wrong with the voting itself. Nickolaus’s error was simply in the reporting of the legally cast votes. The votes are all there and safely accounted for — the only real issue is that when the AP says poll results are “unofficial,” nobody really seems to care.

Irish Times: Those in favour of the denominational nature of the Irish system have been heartened by last month’s ruling by the European Court of Human Rights in the Lautsi case.

SMU Daily Campus: Under the legislation, LGBT students would have the option to self-identify as LGBT through the Registrar’s office. Only those students who self-identify as LGBT could vote or run for the seat.

American Thinker: In this diabolical scheme, abortionists are far, far worse than tobacco companies could ever have been, if only for the single reason that abortion is controlled not by known capitalistic corporations, but by the very people whom the public trusts for its healthcare.

NewsMax: Police say they are continuing their investigating of Sion Owens, a high-ranking member of the far-right British National Party, over a video clip showing he burned a Koran, the Guardian reported.

IBTimes: In large urban cities, Muslims already account for a significant portion of the population For example, it is believed that one-fourth of the residents of Brussels, Belgium are Islamic. Moreover, at least three of Brussels’ 19 sections already have Muslim majorities.

Christian Institute: Labour and the Lib Dems in Scotland have both vowed to change the law to allow homosexual civil partnerships to be registered in churches, mosques or synagogues.

Christian Newswire: “Petition to Secretary of State Clinton Asks Protection for Religious Minorities . . . If this exodus is not stopped, Iraq will not have any Christians left in three years.”

TheStateColumn: The proposed measure would put Indiana among the states with the earliest pregnancy time at which abortions are illegal.

TheStar: Two of the veiled women were taken away by police for taking part in an unauthorized demonstration, Paris police authority said. They were released later Monday after questioning. Amnesty International condemned the detention of the two women and others at the protest. It was unclear whether the women were also fined for wearing a veil.

Radio Netherlands: The European Court of Human Rights is making too many inroads on democratically agreed legislation.

LifeSiteNews: “In the same way that a couple does not have a right to receive children naturally, a couple that is unable to have children does not have a right to receive children through adoption. Thus,to speak of the “right” of all couples to be treated equal with regards to adoption is misguided, because we cannot protect a right that does not exist.”

Christian Newswire: Liberty Temple Full Gospel Church of Bolingbrook a predominantly African American congregation is presenting an emergency motion before Federal Judge Harry D. Leinenweber set for April 12th in a lawsuit against the Village of Bolingbrook, asserting that the Village is discriminating against them in their effort to establish a permanent location for their congregation.

EU-Info-Thek (translation by Google): Currently, according to a recently published GfK survey in favor, half of the Turkish population to their country joining the EU. When, in October 2005, the EU decided to open negotiations with Turkey, there were almost 75 percent. In the meantime, the Turks have become visibly skeptical. This is particularly evident in the cities, where accession to the EU of less than 50 percent are considered positive.

Washington Post: Here is a look at legislation and debate about face-covering Muslim veils and Muslim headscarves in various countries . . .

The Telegraph: Police in France have admitted they will be enforcing the country’s new burka ban “extremely cautiously” because of fears of provoking violence.

Daily Mail: Increased life expectancy is to blame for dwindling church attendances, according to researchers. They say that longer lifespans bring with them the temptation to put off making peace with one’s maker. Not only do the young in wealthy nations begrudge spending a large proportion of their life at church, they see little point when death seems so far away.

SW Radio Africa: A group of pastors leading a prayer meeting, plus members of their congregation, are still being held in detention after the meeting was violently disrupted by police in Harare on Saturday.

Heritage Foundation: Friday night, House Speaker John Boehner (R–OH) secured a huge win for D.C.’s schoolchildren. In a triumph for low-income families in the nation’s capital, Boehner succeeded in reauthorizing the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (DCOSP) in the long-term continuing resolution.

LifeNews (links to the Cardinal Newman Society Report): A Catholic educational watchdog group released a new report today detailing the more than 150 connections various Catholic colleges and universities have with the Planned Parenthood abortion business . . .”

The deal restores language that prohibits federal taxpayer funding of abortions in the nation’s capital that President Barack Obama and Democrats removed in a previous budget. The deal also requires something Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said he would never allow — a vote in the Senate on revoking funding for the Planned Parenthood abortion business.

A federal appeals court is refusing to lift a stay blocking major parts of a tough Arizona law targeting illegal immigrants from taking effect.

The Hill: “Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) and Washington Mayor Vincent Gray will join a protest Monday on Capitol Hill to urge lawmakers to scrap from the budget compromise riders on D.C. abortion rights and a school voucher program.”

Smithsonian Mag: Why have young children’s clothing styles changed so dramatically? How did we end up with two “teams”—boys in blue and girls in pink? . . . Today’s color dictate wasn’t established until the 1940s, as a result of Americans’ preferences as interpreted by manufacturers and retailers.

The ACLU has posted this press release and it has also posted a map showing “Schools and Web Filtering State by State.”

Catholic Culture: Between 2003 and 2009, the fertility rate of the 27 nations of the European Union increased from 1.47 children per woman to 1.60– a figure that remains well below the replacement level of 2.1.

LifeSiteNews: A billboard company has rejected pro-life ads that were sponsored by the New Jersey pro-life group Life Education Council, requesting that the pro-life group remove a photo of a baby from the ad, because the image “might be deemed shocking, unsettling or even manipulative.”

Bloomberg: The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that states don’t have “power to enforce its citizens’ rights in respect to their relations with the federal government,” according to today’s filing. The individual-coverage mandate is a legitimate exercise of Congress’s power to regulate the interstate market in health care, the Justice Department said.

Journal-Sentinel: The campaign manager for Justice David Prosser said Saturday he was open to a recount of votes in Waukesha County. “If you need to do a recount in Waukesha (county) and Waukesha (county) alone to satisfy heightened interest, that’s fine,” said Brian Neimor. “We believe it will only affirm the margin of victory we now enjoy.”

UPI: “A relatively quiet but intense struggle in the fedeal courts will decide under what conditions a company can patent the building blocks of life — or in some cases the building blocks of death — for profit.”

The Tennessean: The Senate is taking up a constitutional amendment that would overturn the Tennessee Supreme Court ruling that has served as the foundation for abortion law in the state for more than a decade

Religion Clause Blog: Last week in Freshwater v. Mount Vernon City School District Board of Education, (SD OH, April 5, 2011), an Ohio federal district court invoked the Younger abstention doctrine and remanded the case to state court.

Concord Monitor: In response, the Alliance Defense Fund, a religious-freedom group representing Cusson, filed a federal lawsuit in Concord arguing that Cusson’s sign should be treated no differently than gas price signs at the same intersection.

Courier-Post Online (includes video): Alliance Defense Fund attorney Austin Nimocks warned that any civil unions bill would likely produce litigation, as such laws have elsewhere in the nation. He also warned that while the bill protects clergy from being forced to conduct civil-union ceremonies, it does not extend such protections to business owners and parachurch organizations.

AP: Beijing police on Sunday detained dozens of worshippers from an unapproved Christian church who were trying to hold services in a public space after they were evicted from their usual place of worship, a parishioner said.

Harvard Civil Rights Civil Liberties Law Review: The ACLU brought the suit on behalf of a group of families, while the Alliance Defense Fund, an alliance of Christian lawyers, defended the law in court.

Mike Adams at Townhall: Some told us we should just give up. Others told us we should simply accept the federal judge’s decision and resign ourselves to the fact that the First Amendment is now dead on our college campuses. But the Alliance Defense Fund took my case to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in January. And, last week, they issued a landmark defense of First Amendment rights for faculty at public colleges and universities. For the first time in years, I’m getting love mail from liberals.

AP: “China accused the U.S. on Monday of pushing for Internet freedom around the world as a way to undermine other nations, while noting that Washington’s campaign against secret-spilling website WikiLeaks showed its own sensitivity to the free flow of information.”

AP: Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster says Congress overstepped its constitutional powers when it mandated that most Americans should have health insurance or pay a penalty.

AP: A transsexual New Jersey man is suing the drug-treatment center where he worked, claiming he was discriminated against when he was fired from a job that required him to watch men urinate.

Wall Street Journal (via Google): Governor Pat Quinn recently added to his reputation as America’s most taxing politician by signing a law applying the state’s 6.25% sales tax to Internet purchases made in Illinois. Within hours, Amazon, the online book and merchandise seller, announced it would discontinue using any of its 9,000 Illinois small business affiliates to avoid having to collect the tax. Congratulations, Governor.

Washington Times: Soldiers offended by the sight of two male Marines kissing in public better not mention that fact to their superiors. Under President Obama, the new “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” rules turn the Clinton-era policy on its head. Now those who embrace traditional moral values are the ones being told to stay in the closet.

Erik Eckholm writes at the NY Times (3/21): Some evangelical churches, in particular, openly exclude single candidates; a recent posting for a pastor by a church on Long Island said it was seeking “a family man whose family will be involved in the ministry life of the church.” Other churches convey the message through code words, like “seeking a Biblical man” (translation: a husband and a provider).

Philip Jenkins writes at Real Clear Religion: But here’s the problem. In just the last thirty years or so, those very Middle Eastern countries that used to teem with children and adolescents have gone through a startling demographic transformation. Since the mid-1970s, Algeria’s fertility rate has collapsed from over 7 to 1.75, Tunisia’s from 6 to 2.03, Morocco’s from 6.5 to 2.21, Libya’s from 7.5 to 2.96. Today, Algeria’s rate is roughly equivalent to that of Denmark or Norway; Tunisia’s is comparable to France. Counter-intuitively, that remark about “the closer to Rome” also holds good on the southern, Muslim, side of the Mediterranean. Just what is happening here? Everything depends on the changing attitudes and expectation of the women in these once highly-traditional societies.

In order to protect American families from an onslaught of indecency on network television, the U.S. Department of Justice must appeal the July 2010 2nd Circuit decision in Fox Television Stations, et al., v. FCC (lead Circuit Court docket is 06-1760) which invalidated the FCC broadcast indecency policy, according to Morality in Media general counsel Robert Peters.

James L. Huffman at the Wall Street Journal (via Google): In the debates about campaign-finance regulation and the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision of last year, there seems to be widespread agreement on one thing: Public disclosure of political contributions is a good thing. That was my view as well, until I campaigned as the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate seat in Oregon in 2010. The reality is that public disclosure serves the interests of incumbents running for re-election by discouraging support for challengers. Here’s how it works.

AP: China has ordained a new Catholic bishop approved by the Vatican for the first time since ties between the sides soured last year, according to church figures with knowledge of the events.

Chicago Tribune: “To encourage healthful eating, Chicago school doesn’t allow kids to bring lunches or certain snacks from home — and some parents, and many students, aren’t fans of the policy.”

USA Today: While the president’s party still controls Washington, House Republicans have dragged a reluctant Senate and White House into taking this imperfect first step toward getting spending under control. The agreement will reduce government spending by $38.5 billion over the next few months — and by hundreds of billions of dollars in the coming decade

France24.com: Voters in Iceland issued a resounding “no” in a referendum on whether to approve a renegotiated deal to compensate Britain and the Netherlands over the 2008 collapse of Icesave Bank, leaving the issue to be settled in court.

Ira C. Lupu, David Masci, Jesse R. Merriam, and Robert W. Tuttle, Churches in Court: The Legal Status of Religious Organizations in Civil Lawsuits, Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, March 2011.

Engel, Christoph, Law as a Precondition for Religious Freedom (April 2011). MPI Collective Goods Preprint No. 2011/6. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1803254

Benson, Iain T. , That False Struggle between Believers and Non-Believers (December 12, 2010). Oasis, Vol. 12, December 2010 . Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1803246

This article discusses the role of religion and secularism in the public sphere.