Daily Archives: August 2, 2011

South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com: Angela West sees gay community critics of her husband as blinded by intolerance and unwilling to hear anything that might shake their preconceived notions.

Reuters: Moody’s Investors Service on Tuesday confirmed its Aaa rating of the United States, citing the decision to raise the debt limit, but assigned a negative outlook to the rating, pressuring lawmakers to create a long-term fiscal consolidation plan

TheStar.com: A dying woman is asking the B.C. Supreme Court to fast track her lawsuit so she can have a doctor-assisted suicide, reopening a debate that was last famously battled in the courts almost 20 years ago.

Forum 18: After a police raid in Azerbaijan’s port city of Sumgait in mid-June, a judge gave the leader of a Baptist church, Pavel Byakov, a verbal warning not to meet for worship without state permission

Forum 18 : An indictment has been filed against a Baptist in Uzbekistan’s capital Tashkent, Forum 18 News Service has learned. Konstantin Malchikovsky is accused of not paying in monies from church offerings and book sales. Baptists strongly dispute the charges, describing them as “absurd”, and noting that they “violate the Religion Law”. They also note that courts have ignored what they describe as “exhaustive proofs of falsification and forgery of documents by the tax authorities”.

LifeNews.com: Matt Bowman of the Alliance Defense Fund says Judge Garbis’ ruling was a correct one. “The judge ruled that the law’s attempt to burden speech unconstitutionally discriminated against noncommercial, unlicensed speech on the explicit basis that it came from a perspective disfavoring abortion,” he said, calling it a “monumental decision protecting free speech and women’s health.”

LifeNews.com: ADF Legal Counsel Matt Bowman commented on the law and the lawsuit in remarks to LifeNews.com. “Pro-life pregnancy centers, which freely offer real help and hope to women and their preborn children, shouldn’t be punished by political allies of those who make their money aborting babies,” he said. “This order keeps the city from enforcing a law that is specifically designed to deter pregnant women from receiving the help they need to make fully informed choices about their pregnancy while this lawsuit goes forward. The order also means that the court is likely to find the ordinance unconstitutional.” Bowman noted the court was also critical of the New York Civil Liberties Union’s defense of the city ordinance: “Given the New York Civil Liberties Union’s (“NYCLU”) usual concern for First Amendment rights, its amicus brief supporting Defendant’s expansive view of the commercial speech doctrine is puzzling.”

The New American: But attorney Mike Johnson of the Alliance Defense Fund, which represented the county in the case, noted that the ruling conflicts with similar federal cases, in which courts have decided that no conflict exists when Christian prayers are offered at government sponsored functions, as long as representatives of non-Christian faiths are offered equal opportunity to pray as well. “The idea that a legislative body would have to censor the speakers who come in on a rotational basis to offer an invocation is unprecedented,” said Johnson.

StarTribune.com: United Methodist leaders have filed a complaint against a Minneapolis pastor, calling for an investigation into whether he conducted ceremonies to bless same-sex unions during Gay Pride Week last month.

LifeSiteNews.com: he American Association of Pro-life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) announced today that they are appealing a federal court decision which blocked a Kansas law imposing new regulations on abortion clinics from going into effect.

LifeSiteNews.com: Two prominent Catholic bioethics commentators crossed swords over the morality of adopting frozen embryos, an issue that remains highly contentious as it has been left open by the Vatican.

A federal judge in Ohio ruled Monday that former Rep. Steve Driehaus’ defamation suit against the Susan B. Anthony List can go forward.

CNSnews.com: A car bomb outside a Christian church wounded 23 people on Tuesday morning, police said, as security forces found and disabled vehicles packed with explosives outside two other parishes in northern Iraq.

CNN.com: At least 21 federal prosecutors in Mexico have resigned in the past four days, an announcement that comes on the heels of a purge of agents and investigators in the attorney general’s office.

NJ Gov Chris Christie should heed voters on gay marriage | NJ.com: oday’s poll shows support for same-sex marriage in New Jersey. Other recent polls have found rising support among Catholics. With the support of many voters behind him, Gov. Chris Christie should consider taking a page out of Cuomo’s playbook.

KMGH Denver: Judge Michael Martinez is holding a three-day hearing starting Tuesday to consider whether the Choice Scholarship Pilot Program violates the state constitution.

ACLJ: We filed our Petition for Writ of Certiorari at the high Court a couple of months ago. Now, we have filed a reply brief arguing that the ACLU has no legal standing to bring a challenge against an Ohio courtroom display containing the Ten Commandments. An appeals court declared unconstitutional a poster displayed by Judge James DeWeese that included the Ten Commandments as part of an exhibit on legal philosophy.

Greg Pfundstein at National Review Online: Just as anti-lock brakes lead drivers to drive faster, follow closer, and brake later, the already nearly universal access to contraception seems to increase the number of sexual encounters, thereby increasing the number of contraceptive failures. We know risk compensation is at work with bicycle helmets, seatbelts, ski helmets, and skydiving gear. To deny its obvious role in the sex and mating markets is to let ideology triumph over reason and science.

Vancouver Sun: That’s the latest news from the land of Gen X parenthood. Apparently, these children of the divorce boom of the 1970s would rather put chocolate syrup in the baby bottles than put the children through a family break-up.

The Christian Institute: A Government inquiry into the rise of Sharia councils was abandoned after the Muslim courts refused to co-operate, it has been revealed. Politicians and pressure groups are becoming increasingly concerned at the growing influence of Sharia law in the UK. And there are fears that Islamist radicals will now be able to continue their activities unchecked.

AP: Muhammad Abdu Zango, Kano state coordinator of Journalists Against Polio, said Tuesday that more than 200 parents refused the vaccine in one district alone.

AP: An Italian parliamentary commission on Tuesday approved a draft law banning women from wearing veils that cover their faces in public.

Seattlepi.com: The Suquamish Tribe in Kitsap County has approved same-sex marriage. The tribal council extended marriage rights to same-sex couples on Monday, the Kitsap Sun reports.

RealClearPolitics: We’ve had too much talk the last few days of Republicans as early as this morning, Republican leaders in the Senate saying there will be no revenue. That’s not going to happen. Otherwise, the trigger is going to kick in.

JournalNow.com: Witherspoon was not on the board when it voted 4-3 along party lines to have the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative Christian organization active in church-state issues, represent the county for free. “I will possibly vote to appeal if there is no county money (spent),” Witherspoon said, adding that he believes the board should also do more for the poor than it has done . . . The ADF won’t pay the legal fees of the other side if the county ultimately loses in court . . . Linville said he wants to wait until meeting with Mike Johnson, the board’s attorney on the prayer case, before publicly announcing his stand. Johnson is with the ADF.

The Hill: Paul has argued for the last few weeks that the idea represents a quick way to make the growing fiscal crisis more manageable. Under his bill, H.R. 2768, the $1.6 trillion that the Treasury owes to the Federal Reserve would disappear.

NYTimes.com: A decade after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, a Gallup poll released on Tuesday found that the vast majority of Muslim Americans say they are loyal to the United States and optimistic about the future, even though they are more likely than other religious groups to say they recently experienced discrimination.

LifeSiteNews.com: “Although this new rule gives the agency the discretion to authorize a ‘religious’ exemption, it is so narrow as to exclude most Catholic social service agencies and healthcare providers,” said Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston and chairman of the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities.

LifeNews.com: In what has become an annual tradition, a group of black pro-life advocates shared the pro-life message with participants at the annual NAACP convention. This time, the pro-lifers shared copies of a documentary exposing how abortion adversely affects the African-American community.

Guardian.co.uk: This massively increased demand from biofuel is largely determined by the very large subsidies provided in many western countries, which have, ironically, been increasing their subsidisation of biofuel at the same time that they have reduced subsidies on food cultivation. Aside from a few producers, such as Brazil and Cuba, biofuel production in most locations would be completely unviable without these large subsidies.

Deseret News: Even though a new proposal emerging Sunday night would spare the country from going into default on its $14.3 trillion deficit, Utah’s two Senators are sticking to their guns and vowing to vote against the measure when it comes before the Senate.

Sen. Paul Statement on Debt Ceiling Increase Rand Paul | United States Senator: It never balances, and it will add at least $7 trillion in NEW debt on top of our current 14 trillion. This is not sustainable.

Reuters: The rising U.S. syphilis rate appears to be disproportionately striking minority gay and bisexual men, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported Monday.

The Daily Caller: According to official letters obtained by The Daily Caller, the gay conservative group GOProud and the ultraconservative John Birch Society won’t be co-sponsoring the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in 2012. The decision was reached by a full vote of the American Conservative Union’s board of directors. The ACU organizes and hosts CPAC each year . . .

The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release August 01, 2011 Statement by the President on the Occasion of Ramadan As Ramadan begins, Michelle and I would like to send our best wishes to Muslim communities in …

Religion Clause: WSFA reports that a federal lawsuit challenging Alabama’s new immigration law was filed yesterday by leaders of the Episcopal, Methodist and Roman Catholic churches in the state. The suit claims that the law (full text) . . .

Religion Clause: Time reported yesterday on a decision handed down last month by Mexico’s Federal Electoral Institute (IFE).

The Hill: The bargain —already passed by the House, 269 to 161, on Monday — will provide a $900 billion boost to the debt ceiling in exchange for a combination of $2.5 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade.

CNSnews.com: lasphemy laws are incompatible with a leading international human rights covenant ratified by most of the world’s countries, according to a new document released by an authoritative United Nations body of independent legal experts.

OneNewsNow.com: Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute says, “The city of San Leandro is attempting to have the U.S. Supreme Court water down the federal civil rights statute by getting it to come to a finding that a substantial burden for churches must be something real extreme in order for this federal civil rights statute to kick in to protect churches who are wishing to build or grow or expand to a new location.”

OneNewsNow.com: udy Bruns reports that hundreds of thousands of dollars in teachers’ union dues are going to homosexual organizations. “In just two year’s time, between $350,000 to $400,000 … was given . . . ”

Religion Clause: A memo from McDermott, Will and Emery reports that the recently issued federal guidelines on preventive health care services for women have been amended to provide an exemption for religious employers.

Chicago Tribune: The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois got the go-ahead Monday to intervene in a lawsuit and join the state’s battle against Catholic Charities’ policy of turning away prospective parents who are in civil unions.

Norcross, GA Patch: “School districts shouldn’t be bullied into exposing students to sexually explicit materials,” said ADF Senior Counsel David Cortman in an audio statement posted to its website. “This latest scare tactic — under the façade of illegal censorship — is just another act of intimidation designed to forward the ACLU’s radical sexual agenda for children.”

Charisma: “Christians shouldn’t be arrested and silenced for peacefully sharing their beliefs on public property,” says Nate Kellum, ADF senior counsel. “The post office isn’t above the law and cannot take away citizens’ constitutionally protected rights just because it or its customers might not agree with the content of someone’s speech or literature. Our client isn’t harassing anyone; he’s simply desiring to quietly share his faith in a completely public forum.”

JournalNow.com: Commissioner Gloria Whisenhunt said she would like to see the county appeal the latest decision to the Supreme Court. The Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative Christian organization, is representing the county for free. That does not include costs to pay the plaintiff’s legal fees if the county loses. A citizens’ group has said it will pay those costs. But if they fail to raise all the money needed, taxpayers — many of whom are against this fight — could ultimately be hit with a share of the bill. Game over, commissioners.

Dennis Prager at Townhall: After having studied Arabic at college and lectured on comparative religion for decades, and having devoted years to writing my upcoming book comparing American values with leftist and Islamist values, I have become convinced of two things regarding Islam: It must be reformed, and it can be reformed.

Kyle Olson at Townhall : The embarrassing attendance underlined one major truth – there is no mass movement to maintain the status quo in our nation’s public schools. The only people defending the current system are those who profit from it, like the leaders of the nation’s teachers unions.

GAVoice.com: School districts shouldn’t be bullied into exposing students to sexually explicit materials,” said ADF Senior Counsel David Cortman in a statement. “This latest scare tactic — under the façade of illegal censorship — is just another act of intimidation designed to forward the ACLU’s radical sexual agenda for children.” . . . “The idea that Internet filters somehow result in student suicides is preposterous, and the ACLU should be ashamed for making such a connection,” said ADF Legal Counsel Jeremy Tedesco in the statement.
“The ACLU cannot mask its attempts to turn school computers into porn portals for children with a supposed concern for bullying and suicides. Parents expect schools to be places where their children will learn knowledge, information, and skills that will make them productive members of society, not places where they can access pornography.” (includes full ADF letter)

World Net Daily: David Cortman, senior counsel for ADF, said the “latest scare tactic – under the façade of illegal censorship – is just another act of intimidation designed to forward the ACLU’s radical sexual agenda for children.” . . . The ADF pointed to the ACLU’s claim that there is an “epidemic” of LGBT youth suicides and bullying, noting not one case had been identified. “The idea that Internet filters somehow result in student suicides is preposterous, and the ACLU should be ashamed for making such a connection,” said ADF Legal Counsel Jeremy Tedesco. [more quotes]

Catholic League: In other words, the Obama administration is playing Catch-22 with religious employers. If they are too religious, Catholic social service agencies risk losing federal funds, but if Catholic hospitals are not sufficiently religious, they cannot be exempt from carrying health insurance policies that transgress their religious tenets.

LifeNews.com: Three pro-life legal groups have weighed in on the case — including the American Center for Law and Justice, Alliance Defense Fund and Thomas More Society — and they have said the law is constitutional.Planned Parenthood of Indiana in 2008 suspended an employee after a video showed the staffer covering up a girl’s statutory rape. The video was a part of an earlier series of undercover investigations Live Action performed with a UCLA student, Lila Rose, posing as a 13-year old girl who had sexual relations with a 31-year-old man.

The Anchor: The ongoing controversy at St. Cecilia’s Church in Boston over the scheduling, postponing and re-theming of a Mass originally planned to celebrate Boston’s gay “pride month” has brought to the surface issues that extend far beyond the boundaries of one parish or archdiocese. The controversy touches not only on the subject of the pastoral care of the Church toward those with same-sex attractions, but on the much larger matter of the purpose of the Church’s pastoral care to anyone and everyone: Whether the Church, her priests and parishes will faithfully, lovingly and courageously care for people with the fullness of the Gospel; or whether her ministers and ministries — perhaps out of too much fear to give offense, a lack of faith in the teachings of the Church, or a faint-hearted notion of what true love demands — will dilute the Gospel of its saving power by stripping it of the uncomfortable and countercultural teachings that some listeners most need . . .

FoxNews.com: A tomb believed to be that of St. Philip the Apostle was unearthed during excavations in the ancient Turkish city of Hierapolis.

AP: As of mid-July, at least 30 states had introduced bills that would use taxpayer dollars to send children to private schools, most limited to poor or special needs children, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Yahoo! News: Americans cut back on their spending in June for the first time in nearly two years and their incomes grew by the smallest amount in nine months, a troubling sign for an economy that is barely growing.

Bankrate.com: The Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation and the Treasury Department’s Office of Tax Analysis conclude that these retirement planning programs will cost the federal government about $600 billion in lost revenue over the next five years.

LifeNews.com: A statewide pro-life group in Massachusetts is starting an effort tomorrow designed to target the repeal of the individual mandate in Romneycare, the government run health care program Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney instituted.