Daily Archives: November 7, 2011

NYTimes.com: The pastoral mood in the hills of Tennessee offered a stark contrast to the storm raging around the country over the Pearls’ teachings on child discipline, which advocate systematic use of “the rod” to teach toddlers to submit to authority. The methods, seen as common sense by some grateful parents and as horrific by others, are modeled, Mr. Pearl is fond of saying, on “the same principles the Amish use to train their stubborn mules.”

LifeNews.com: The Prime Minister, John Key, has forfeited his right to govern New Zealand because of his support for legislation that would permit doctors to kill their patients or assist in their suicide.

CNSnews.com (Video): Mark Levin warned attendees at AFP’s Defending The Dream conference Saturday that Americans now live in “a Post-Constitutional government” heading into tyranny.

LifeNews.com: A new federal whistle blower lawsuit filed in Federal Court in Texas on October 28th alleges Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast (PPGC) engaged in prolonged and coordinated fraud to bilk federal and state programs of millions of dollars. PPGC operates 8 clinics in Texas and 2 in Louisiana.

Religion Clause: The Supreme Court today denied certiorari in Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc. v. Segardia de Jesus, (Docket No. 11-26, cert. denied 11-7-2011).

Abdullah Saeed at Article | First Things: The words of the Qur’an and hadith contain rich resources for supporting the democratic order. If Muslims are to embrace modernity, including life in a pluralistic, democratic society, without abandoning their faith, they must take up the argument for religious liberty that is embedded in their history and that stands at the center of their most sacred texts.

Christian Today: Churches are among the targets in a series of bombs attacks that have left 63 people dead in the northeastern Nigerian town of Damaturu.

The Christian Institute: Under the Bill, it will become a crime punishable by up to five years in prison to falsely claim legal jurisdiction over criminal or family law.

The Christian Institute: The poll, conducted by ComRes, has revealed that 83 per cent of churchgoers are opposed to Mr Cameron’s plans to rewrite the definition of marriage.

Philly Magazine: The 11th grader – Kasey Landrum, 16 – was handed a suspension by his Lexington High School for supposedly violating the school’s dress code, which loosely says teachers can use discretion about questions of wardrobe appropriateness

Chesterton Tribune: Students from 182 of Indiana’s public school districts have moved to private schools under the state’s new education voucher program, although only seven districts lost more than 100 kids. In all, 3,919 students . . .

WOKV.com: Against the wishes of the Clay County school district, a Green Cove Springs pastor held a prayer ceremony at the flag pole outside Clay Hill Elementary School.

Rebecca Burgoyne at Cal. Family Policy Council: Transgender activism is crossing all social lines with the argument that gender is flexible – merely a hindering social construct – and youth are being heavily influenced by the idea.

Arkansas News: Two Arkansas state legislators who own state-funded preschools say their schools include religious instruction in the curriculum but are not violating any state or federal law by doing so.

Balkinization: In response to posts I have been writing about the broken economics of attending law school today, I have heard from several law professors (and a dean) who are skeptical that law school debt is as much of a problem as I make it out to be. In the hope that law professors will be persuaded that the situation is indeed severe, I am reprinting below a comment on one of my posts by a visiting fellow currently on a law faculty (I have confirmed this) . . .

The Washington Post: Nigeria faces a shapeless, shifting threat from a radical Muslim sect that has killed more than 100 people in recent days. While the country boasts one of Africa’s strongest armies, a military crackdown could drive more supporters into the extremists’ ranks.

The Washington Post: owever, let us focus on being expansive and creative in how we re-imagine legal education, rather than embracing counterproductive measures that would only make the state of the legal profession much worse.

News from The Associated Press: GOP presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann says too many Republicans aspire to be “frugal socialists” and the party can’t afford a nominee who isn’t a rock-solid conservative.

The Washington Post: Those potential unintended consequences are what makes Initiative 26 — or MS-26 — a powder keg. If passed, the abortion debate could hit a pitch not seen since the passing of Roe v. Wade. That’s because the “personhood” law would be unprecedented, and its backers have said they intend to take the issue to other states.

A judge will hear oral arguments today in the case of two mothers who sued the state to list both names on their child’s birth certificate.

LifeSiteNews.com: U.S. Rep. Chris Smith has announced that he is attempting to make an emergency visit to China to meet with pro-life human rights activist Chen Guangcheng, who rumors suggest may already have been killed at the hands of Chinese authorities.

Telegraph: The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, raises concerns about David Cameron’s plans to allow the monarch to marry a Roman Catholic.

Eastern Iowa Government: Based on PPP’s survey of 878 likely voters from Nov, 4-6, Mathis leads Golding 52 percent to 46 percent. The margin of error for the survey is +/-3.3 percent.

A special election on Tuesday for an Iowa State Senate seat could change the balance of power there and encourage Republicans to try to overturn the state’s approval of same sex marriage.

Eastern Iowa Government: At a rally with the Family Research Council Action’s Values Voters Bus Tour and the National Organization for Marriage, a day ahead of an election to fill a vacancy in Iowa Senate 18, Republican Cindy Golding told supporters not to accept media attempts to make the race about any one issue, especially same-sex marriage.

Ilya Somin at The Volokh Conspiracy: Brooklyn resident Levy Itzhak Rosenbaum recently became the first person convicted of brokering the sale of kidneys in the United States [HT: George Mason law student Michael Mortorano]. The real tragedy here is not what Rosenbaum did, but the fact that organ sales are illegal to begin with. Legalizing them would save thousands of lives every year by increasing the supply of kidneys available to those suffering from organ failure.

Atlanta J. Constitution: Georgia’s highest court on Monday will hear a challenge that seeks to strike down the state’s assisted-suicide law, passed by the Legislature almost two decades ago to punish people like the late Jack Kevorkian who helped people kill themselves.

Politico: According to a new Public Policy Polling survey on Monday, 45 percent of Mississippi voters support the amendment, while 44 percent oppose it. A tenth of the state’s voters, 11 percent, said they were undecided on the issue.

MI AG press release: AG Refers Evidence Suggesting Possible Regulatory Violations for Improper Medical Records Disposal, Failure to Obtain Proper Surgical Facility License to Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs

BabyCenter: According to the article, an increasing number of grandparents are challenging state visitation laws, which they believe are overly restrictive, yet, at the same time, inconsistent from state to state.

CSMonitor.com: A ballot measure expected to pass in Mississippi this week would define ‘personhood’ as beginning at the moment of fertilization or cloning. Abortion rights groups are fighting the measure, which could end up in the US Supreme Court.

ADF Attorney Erik Stanley at the Speak Up Movement Church Blog: Every time I mention Pulpit Freedom Sunday, I generally get two basic objections to the concept of Pulpit Freedom. Yet these objections in some way are either misguided or just flat out wrong.

ADF Attorney Jordan Lorence at the Speak Up Movement University Blog: A recent survey of the religious affiliations of students at Yale Law School in New Haven, Connecticut shows that more students identified as atheist or agnostic than any other group, edging out those who identified with any Christian group by a nose.

ADF Attorney Greg Baylor at the Speak Up Movement Blog: Shorter University, a Christ-centered institution of higher education in Georgia, recently adopted a Personal Lifestyle Statement for university employees.

SCOTUS Blog comments on the cases accepted for review. The order list is here.

Religion Clause: The Summum organization has been attempting for several years to obtain permission to put up a Seven Aphorism’s monument in a park in Pleasant Grove City, Utah.

Colorado Springs Gazette, CO: Academy critic Mikey Weinstein accused commanders of crossing the line by promoting “Operation Christmas Child” a program sponsored by an evangelical Christian group that sends toys and toiletries in shoe boxes to needy kids around the globe. The group includes a Christian message with the gifts.

Religion Clause: On Friday, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour posted a statement on his official website indicating that he supports Initiative 26, the Personhood Amendment that will appear on the ballot in Mississippi this week.

Religion Clause: Utah’s Senate Bill 314, signed by the governor last March, imposes new limitations on liquor licenses and the sale of alcoholic beverages.

Religion Clause: As previously reported, church-state questions are being raised in Kentucky regarding the agreement for the proposed merger of Louisville’s University Hospital with two other Kentucky health care systems to create a state-wide network that would be controlled by Catholic Health Initiatives.

ADF Attorney Matt Sharp appeared on the Zeb Bell Show to discuss this. | MP3 audio 16:56 mins

Seventy employers are represented in the brief, including Microsoft, Starbucks, Google, NIKE, Levi Strauss and Co., CBS, Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mass., Time Warner Cable, Xerox, Zipcar, and Stonyfield Farm. The cities of New York, Boston, and Cambridge are also represented.

CBN.com: “We need to protect religious liberty and the right of conscience. And legalizing same-sex marriage creates these kinds of conflicts,” ADF Attorney Jordan Lorence said. “And it would be better and more in line with our American constitutional tradition, protecting religious liberty and right of conscience, to protect these town clerks,” Lorence said.

The Republic (AP): Harris said the Alliance Defense Fund, a nonprofit Christian advocacy group based in Scottsdale, Ariz., that handles cases related to the First Amendment’s freedom of religious exercise clause, will represent Growing God’s Kingdom if the school needs legal counsel.

NRL News Today: According to the Alliance Defense Fund, which is defending the twelve nurses, “The order also prohibits any acts of employment discrimination against the nurses until that matter is resolved.” The ADF filed suit Monday in U.S. District Court in New Jersey, on behalf of the nurses who “possess strongly held religious and moral beliefs that she may not participate in the process of an abortion that causes the death of a preborn child,” according to ADF Legal Counsel Matt Bowman.

Christian Post: “The hospital has been relentless in demanding that these nurses participate in abortion procedures,” Alliance Defense Fund attorney Matt Bowman told The Christian Post. “It’s indisputable that the hospital is seeking to break both federal and state laws. The sole purpose of passing laws was to protect people after Roe v. Wade became the law of the land.”

Christian Post: David Cortman, senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, agrees with Jones. Cortman told The Christian Post that: “There is no need to give preference to certain categories, such as sexual orientation, when all bullying should be banned. Students in such politically correct categories should not be singled out for special recognition or protection, as it necessarily leaves out equal protection for all other students who may be experiencing bullying.”

Ryan T. Anderson at Public Discourse: Conservatives shouldn’t ignore or attack social justice, but must articulate sound principles of social justice.

Catholic News Agency (CNA): “Pro-life nurses shouldn’t be forced to assist or train in services related to abortions. Federal and state law both prohibit this,” said Alliance Defense Fund attorney Matt Bowman.

OneNewsNow.com: Attorney Matt Bowman laments the fact that the hospital continues to push the issue, despite the federal restrictions. “These … nurses have encountered threats to their jobs at this hospital ever since a policy change required them to participate in the abortion cases, regardless of their religious and moral objections,” the attorney explains. “The court’s order prevents that until the November 18 hearing, but it is disturbing that the hospital may fight to continue violating laws that clearly protect conscience rights.”

TheHill.com: Unions are feeling confident heading into a crucial vote next Tuesday on an Ohio state referendum dealing with collective bargaining rights.

TheHill.com: This strange fact occurs almost entirely because of our tax laws. If a company wants to bring back money it has made in China or India, it must pay a 35 percent U.S. tax on that repatriation.

News from The Associated Press: Two people were killed in a suspected al-Shabab attack at a church in an eastern Kenyan town, a police official said Sunday.

News from The Associated Press: The state Department of Education is taking public comments until 4 p.m. Tuesday about the 75-page student conduct and disciplinary policy that the Board of Education will consider Dec. 14.

Petition of the day : SCOTUSblog.

The typical U.S. household headed by a person age 65 or older has a net worth 47 times greater than a household headed by someone under 35, according to an analysis of census data released Monday.

SCOTUSblog: The Obama Administration has filed the last key document in the constitutional cases in the Supreme Court on the new federal health care law, urging the Justices not to grant review of Virginia’s attempt to get back into the controversy. The Court, Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli, Jr., suggested in a filing Thursday, should simply hold Virginia’s petition until after it rules on other pending cases that the government wants reviewed.

UPI.com: The U.S. Supreme Court turned its collective face from two linked cases last week, rejecting them without comment other than a blistering dissent from Justice Clarence Thomas, who caustically told the rest of the justices their guidance in religious display cases was a mess.