Daily Archives: April 15, 2011

“A federal judge has ruled in favor of an Upstate school district in a lawsuit that challenged the constitutionality of giving high school credit for Bible courses taken off school grounds.”

LifeNews: “Can we finally dispense with the myth of the pro-life Democrat?” he said. “In the Senate last night, three “pro-life” Democrats voted in lockstep with America’s Official Abortion Party to maintain federal funding to Planned Parenthood in a stand alone vote.”

“Don’t be deceived. This bill is a precursor to same-sex marriage,” Napier said.

EarnedMedia.org: In response to Mayor Vincent Gray’s protest and arrest for the right to use taxpayer dollars on abortion, a coalition of Washington, D.C. pastors are challenging the Mayor to stand up for “the tiniest of constituents who truly cannot speak for themselves” — the unborn.

Reuters: Idaho’s governor said on Thursday he signed into law a measure banning abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, making Idaho the third state to enact such a late term abortion prohibition.

Charleston Daily Mail: But an anti-abortion group that has consistently endorsed Manchin in elections, West Virginians for Life, scorned his proposal as “irrelevant” and “a cover,” saying the former governor isn’t really interested in stopping taxpayer-funded abortions.

East Valley Tribune: Assistant Attorney General Tony West told U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton she has no legal authority to review the state’s contention that Arizona is under invasion and that the federal government is not doing its job. He said issues of what the federal government is – and is not – doing to secure the border are “non-justiciable political questions.”

AP: GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios said his organization will advocate zero-tolerance policies for anti-gay slurs at sports events, similar to a policy adopted by the New York Yankees at the new Yankee Stadium.

Reuters: The New York State court system will lay-off as many as 500 workers in the coming weeks, according to a union memo released on Friday, as the state works to close a $10 billion budget gap.

Boston Globe: Opponents of Ohio’s new collective bargaining law won approval Friday to move forward with their effort to get a referendum on the ballot this November, and they say they have 10,000 volunteers ready to gather signatures.

The Telegraph: A Spanish GP who opposes abortion has been refused the status of “conscientious objector” in a landmark ruling in Spain.

Daily Mail: Baby boomers have become a generation of loners, with millions living without partners or children.The numbers of those in their late 40s to early 60s who live by themselves has risen by almost a third in a decade, official figures showed yesterday.

BBC: Police say they are continuing to investigate an incident in which the alleged burning of a Koran was filmed.

Blog of the Legal Times: “A House Judiciary subcommittee held a hearing today on the Defense of Marriage Act, highlighting the Obama administration’s decision in February not to back the law in court . . . Click here for copies of the witnesses’ written testimony.”

LifeNews: Indiana Right to Life is applauding the Indiana Senate for passing a bill yesterday that would help ensure abortions are reported when done on teenage girls who are apparently victims of statutory rape.

LiveScience.com: A new study led by Keith Barrington, chief of neonatology at Sainte-Justine UniversityHospital in Montreal, has measured how extreme the causation is: While IVF accounts for only 1 percent of Canadian births, 17 percent of babies admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) where Barrington works were IVF babies. An American doctor confirmed that the numbers are similarly disproportionate in the United States. In his paper, published in the upcoming Journal of Pediatrics, Barrington advocates legal intervention to reduce the risk.

Gary McCaleb at the Speak Up Movement Church Blog: The 1960s blockbuster movie Seven Days in May recounted a fictional plot by military leaders to overthrow a president who pushed for nuclear disarmament . . . Recently, House committees have been asking hard questions of some generals and admirals—and much to their shame, those active duty commanders tap danced around the hard truths that were set forth months ago by almost 1200 senior veteran officers—retired flag and general officers who can speak without career fears hanging over them. But their evasion did not go unnoticed, and now some of the best minds in America are rebelling against this radical “repeal” of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

David Hacker at the Speak Up Movement University Blog: In other words, the federal appeals court that has jurisdiction over Sen. Lautenberg’s home state of New Jersey, has already ruled that much of the language in his bill violates the First Amendment. Universities have enough trouble writing harassment policies that comply with the First Amendment. The Tyler Clementi Act doesn’t help.

ADF attorney Jordan Lorence at the Speak Up Movement University Blog: Self-rule for the District of Columbia is an important topic for consideration, but many will find it difficult to support if it means more abortions and fewer children able to attend private schools.

ADF attorney David Hacker at the Speak Up Movement Blog: According to FIRE’s report, a paralegal student distributed literature linking abortion and breast cancer to her fellow students after her Probate Law I class in October 2010. (October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.) She gave some flyers to students directly and placed other flyers on the desks of students who had left their seats. A couple weeks later, Sinclair’s Paralegal Program Chair met with the student about the flyers. (Here’s where the story follows the usual university plot line.) The Program Chair told the student that another student complained that the flyers were…drum roll please: “offensive.

Forbes: Third District Judge Denise Lindberg has been ordered appear Monday and explain why she sought to block a federal court ruling giving the trust back to church leaders.

Fides: Human rights trampled and denied freedom of religion, more than 50 thousand Christians in prison camps for their faith, victims of a judicial system based strictly on ideology of the regime: this is the picture of the situation in North Korea, a country, according to the 2011 Report of the Ong “Open Doors”, holds the “black shirt” in terms of respect for freedom of conscience and religion in the world.

Catholic Culture: Citing several examples, the Fides news agency reports that hundreds of Christian girls in Pakistan have been abducted, forced to convert to Islam, and raped or forced into marriages.

Washington Blade: In a letter dated April 8, Geithner writes to gay Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) that officials in the Treasury Department have been working against LGBT human rights violations as well as abuses against religious minorities

Providence Journal: House Minority Leader Robert Watson, in a contentious exchange with Democratic leaders on the House floor Tuesday, called for full House vote on a bill that would allow gay couples to marry in Rhode Island, even offering to use his powers as the head of the chamber’s Republican caucus to do so.

One News Now: “Once again, Chinese police enforcing the government’s official one-child policy have used violence to force a pregnant woman to abort a second child.”

“Brewer nixed House Bill 2581 on Tuesday, citing worries that it would drain the general fund. The bill passed the Senate, 21-7, and the House, 39-21. Lawmakers could call for a vote to override the veto but would need at least one more vote to get the required two-thirds support.”

Lambda Legal: Today Lambda Legal and Morrison & Foerster LLP filed an amended complaint challenging the constitutionality of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in its case representing Karen Golinski, a federal court employee denied spousal health benefits for her wife.

ACLU: “A letter to principals and educators explaining the Day of Silence, ways to support students who are participating and obligations schools have to protect students’ safety and freedom of speech.” | The Letter

WorldNetDaily: “Public officials should be able to participate in public prayer activities just as America’s founders did,” said Kevin Theriot, senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund. “The 7th Circuit has clearly understood that the Freedom From Religion Foundation simply had no legal standing to attack the federal statute setting a day for the National Day of Prayer simply because the group is offended by religion.” The ADF represented the private, nonprofit National Day of Prayer Task Force in the case and the ACLJ represented a long list of members of Congress.

CBN (includes video): The Alliance Defense Fund also represented the non-profit National Day of Prayer Task Force in a friend-of-the-court brief. “Public officials should be able to participate in public prayer activities just as America’s founders did,” ADF Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot said. “The 7th Circuit has clearly understood that the Freedom From Religion Foundation simply had no legal standing to attack the federal statute setting a day for the National Day of Prayer simply because the group is offended by religion,” he said.

Times-Herald.com: “ADF attorneys argue that the county’s refusal is once again in violation of the U.S. Constitution and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, a federal law that prevents zoning officials from singling out churches for discriminatory treatment,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Erik Stanley. “Churches shouldn’t be singled out for discrimination by a county’s ongoing decisions,” said Stanley. “This is especially true when the church has already received all the recommended approvals through the appropriate channels and no other legitimate reason for denial has been given. “The county must learn to abide by the U.S. Constitution and federal law, which prohibits this kind of discriminatory treatment of churches.”

Dakota Voice: “Public officials should be able to participate in public prayer activities just as America’s founders did,” said ADF Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot. “The 7th Circuit has clearly understood that the Freedom From Religion Foundation simply had no legal standing to attack the federal statute setting a day for the National Day of Prayer simply because the group is offended by religion.”

Newsworks.org: Douglas Napier, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative religious rights organization, told the chamber the bill is riddled with all sorts of unintended consequences and is a precursor to same-sex marriage. “For the first time in the history of this state you have created a new civil right,” he said. “But you have done it at the expense of the long-standing institution of marriage, I think you’ve done it at the expense of children who deserve a Mom and a Dad, and you’ve done it at the expense of the taxpayers who have no clue what they’re buying.”

Christian Post: ADF Litigation Staff Counsel Matt Sharp also agrees that Christian students should express their opinions. In a blog he wrote, “Christians who oppose the blatant promotion of the homosexual agenda are often labeled as bullies. But respectfully speaking the truth is never an act of bullying. In fact, speaking the truth is the greatest act of love we can show to others.”

AnnArbor.com: Wa[r]d lost in the lower courts, but Ward and her attorneys, the Alliance Defense Fund, a legal organization that works to uphold the rights of religious college students and faculty, have asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth District to step in.

LifeNews: Fresh from a victory in the Senate to preserve its massive taxpayer funding, a local affiliate of the Planned Parenthood abortion business announced today it plans to expand in Nebraska and Iowa.

DelmarvaNow.com (includes video): House Republicans called Doug Napier, senior attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, a group that advocates for traditional marriage policy, to raise several legal questions. He had scathing remarks for the bill. You have created a new civil right, but you’ve done it at the expense of the institution of marriage, at the expense of children and at the expense of taxpayers who have no clue what they’re buying,” he said. “A vote for civil unions is a vote against marriage in Delaware. And that will be your voting record.” (Doug Napier is not in the video)

TheOnline.com (AP): Mark my words, there will be litigation over this,” said Douglas Napier, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative religious rights organization.

LifeSiteNews: Doug Napier, a senior attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, excoriated the chamber for approving SB 30. The News Journal reports Napier was called to testify and raise a number of legal objections to the bill by House Republicans. “You have created a new civil right, but you’ve done it at the expense of the institution of marriage, at the expense of children and at the expense of taxpayers who have no clue what they’re buying,” Napier said. “A vote for civil unions is a vote against marriage in Delaware. And that will be your voting record.”

Sherif Girgis at Public Discourse: December 2010, Sherif Girgis sat down with Arthur Caplan, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and unofficial “dean” of liberal bioethicists, and Robert P. George, a professor at Princeton University and a conservative member of President Bush’s Council on Bioethics, to discuss the current state of bioethics in America.  Today we present the second part of an adaptation of that interview. Part one may be read here.  – Ed.

Alliance Defense Fund attorneys representing several community members in a “moms group” filed a lawsuit Friday against the Garfield Heights Board of Education for prohibiting the distribution of one of the group’s fliers.

Religion Clause Blog: “In Florence, South Carolina yesterday, the Florence School District 1 board unanimously but reluctantly banned administrators from sending religious messages to school employees.”

Religion Clause Blog: . . . A European Parliament group says that while the new document prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, sex, disability, language, religion, political views, national or social origins, ownership of assets, or birth, it does not ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Among the other controversial provisions are ones that protect the life of the fetus beginning at conception and a provision that defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman . . .

Canada.com: The Supreme Court of Canada decided Thursday to allow an appeal involving a legal challenge of prostitution laws by a group of sex trade workers in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

SCOTUS Blog: The judge who presided over the Proposition 8 trial on same-sex marriage in California is accused of defying a Supreme Court order against any public broadcast of videotapes of that trial. UPDATE: The judge responded on Thursday, without mentioning the charge of defying the Court.

ABC: The gold standard, a monetary system in which the dollar is valued against a certain weight of gold, lasted until the Great Depression, when the Federal Reserve confiscated gold held by the public. President Nixon abolished the conversion of dollars to gold at a fixed rate in 1971.

The Hill: Two House Republicans weighing 2012 presidential campaigns voted against a long-term budget deal Thursday that has garnered opposition from grassroots conservatives.

Vulnerable senators in both parties could be haunted by their votes Thursday on a pair of resolutions demanded by House Republicans.

Minnesota Independent: But the ADF told the Minnesota Independent there’s is no confusion. “There is no reason for the school district to be ‘surprised’ as it has been violating the club’s constitutional rights for several months now,” said ADF’s senior counsel David Cortman. “The district is currently taking the same position that they have throughout this entire process.

AZ Republic: The Arizona Legislature has become the first in the nation to pass a measure requiring presidential candidates to provide proof of citizenship in order to get on the state’s ballot. House Bill 2177 got final approval Thursday night . . .