Daily Archives: December 2, 2011

Wendy Wright at Turtle Bay and Beyond: A researcher from Sweden argues that if two parents are good, then why not three? In a paper in the Journal of Medical Ethics, Daniela Cutas is heavy on “may” and “might” conjectures and – as you’d expect – light on any evidence. As timing would have it, Cutas’ silliness was slapped down by a Canadian court when it ruled recently that polygamy is detrimental to women, children and society – basing its decision on solid evidence.

NYTimes.com: In the aftermath of New York’s legalization of same-sex marriage this summer, gay men and lesbians lionized Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, showering him with gratitude, praise and awards. Now, they are rewarding him with something more tangible: campaign cash.

TIME.com: “Two Lesbians Raised A Baby And This Is What They Got.” If you’ve been on Facebook during the last few days, you might have seen this headline, which has been shared over one million times (as of this writing) since it was posted Wednesday on MoveOn.org.

CSMonitor.com: The European Court of Justice overturned a Belgian court’s injunction in what experts say is a victory for Internet providers and users over proponents of tighter copyright controls online

CBC News: Police are warning dozens of Nova Scotia teenagers that sharing nude photos of themselves could lead to criminal charges.

Andy Stern at WSJ.com: Andy Grove, the founder and chairman of Intel, provocatively wrote in Businessweek last year that, “Our fundamental economic beliefs, which we have elevated from a conviction based on observation to an unquestioned truism, is that the free market is the best of all economic systems—the freer the better. Our generation has seen the decisive victory of free-market principles over planned economies. So we stick with this belief largely oblivious to emerging evidence that while free markets beat planned economies, there may be room for a modification that is even better.”

BBC News: Zhai Meiqing has had an extraordinary career. She is now the president of Heung Kong Group, a huge conglomerate with interests which include finance, metals, retailing and real estate.

Montreal Gazette: Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak on Friday backed a controversial regional bill proposed by the ruling United Russia party to issue fines for “propaganda of homosexuality.”

Catholic News Agency (CNA): “We’ve got to find the ways of speaking to people about the positive values of marriage as it’s always been understood, while not getting boxed off by somehow being accused of being homophobic,” Archbishop Nichols told CNA on Dec. 1 in Rome.

Western Courier: Macomb’s City Council quickly introduced, discussed and unanimously passed Ordinance No. 11-36, a set of licensing regulations for “sexually oriented business activities.”

The Christian Institute: The Speaker of the House of Commons has been criticised for squandering over £20,000 of taxpayers’ money on his new coat of arms, which features a prominent ‘equality’ rainbow.

MSN Money: Two lawsuits challenging attempts by Kansas to impose special regulations for abortion providers are moving more slowly than initially expected, with the state still blocked from enforcing its rules by judges in federal and state courts.

LifeSiteNews.com: According to The Tablet, the Archbishop of Westminster, England, has publicly expressed support for homosexual civil unions, a move that appears to put him at odds with a clear Vatican decree against supporting such unions confirmed by Pope John Paul II and then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict) in 2003.

LifeSiteNews.com: “The homosexual movement has created a situation in society in which it is virtually impossible to criticize the movement without being portrayed as hateful, almost like a racist,” said Hoffman. “They have created an image of themselves as an oppressed minority group, and if anyone criticizes their movement they are hateful, they are cruel, they are advocating violence against homosexuals” so that “it is virtually impossible in society today, or people perceive it as impossible, to oppose their movement.”

LifeSiteNews.com (includes video): ParentalRights.org released a 36-minute docudrama on November 17th titled “Overruled: Government invasion of your Parental Rights,” featuring three reenactments of real cases where American parents lost their rights to parent their children as they saw fit.

Federation for Children: “We vote you in!” “We’ll vote you out!” The chant was at first a bit difficult to hear, but after a few refrains—and a steady increase in volume—the message to the men and women working in the building in front of the crowd couldn’t be denied.

LifeSiteNews.com: The Diocese of St. Petersburg, Florida will be forced to end health insurance coverage for its 2,300 employees if the Obama administration presses forward with its plan to force Catholic employers to cover contraceptives and abortifacients, insisted Bishop Robert Lynch on Wednesday.

Lee E. Ohanian at American Enterprise Institute: There may be considerable savings from state and local government reforms that systematically develop competitive compensation analyses. Bringing public sector wages closer in line with private sector wages by reducing them by 5 percent can reduce state fiscal deficits considerably. Compensation analyses should also take into account other beneficial components of public sector employment, including much greater job security. Public sector unions must understand that taxpayers will no longer accept uncompetitive agreements with unions.

Cleveland Plain Dealer: The effort, while still in the preliminary stages, has in-vitro fertilization doctors and abortion-rights groups digging in for a fig

The New American: Regions Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota, has announced that it will cease performing abortions in December, becoming the first abortion clinic to close in the state in two decades.

OregonLive.com: Cornilles said that, contrary to Right to Life, he supports allowing abortion in cases of rape and incest. His campaign manager, Mary Anne Ostrom, said Cornilles also parts way with Right to Life on two other controversial issues. She said he supports in vitro fertilization and embryonic stem cell research, both of which have been opposed by Right to Life because it leads to the destruction of embryos.

Breaking from groups that believe human life begins at the moment an egg is fertilized — also the position of the Catholic Church, of which he is a member — former House Speaker Newt Gingrich told ABC News he believes life begins at implantation.

MSN Money: Two lawsuits challenging attempts by Kansas to impose special regulations for abortion providers are moving more slowly than initially expected, with the state still blocked from enforcing its rules by judges in federal and state courts.

ADF Attorney Steven Aden at Townhall: Perhaps one of the most novel aspects of the recently released iPhone 4S is the Siri app, which allows you to ask your phone questions and then hear your phone answer them – a nascent form of artificial intelligence. However, as great as this technology is, the ACLU is quite upset over the fact that the app doesn’t appear to be abortion friendly. While the app will quickly tell where to find the best Thai food, the closest ExxonMobil gas station, or a Presbyterian church, it won’t answer questions about abortion.

This is Gloucestershire: Prayers have been banned from full council meetings at Shire Hall – causing fury from Gloucester’s Sheriff.

The saying of tradition prayers before local council meetings is being challenged in the High Court today. The National Secular Society is arguing that the religious ritual is ‘archaic’ and ‘inappropriate’ and a breach of human rights.

Digital Journal: Two organizations in the United States, the Christian Defense Coalition and the Faith and Action, have defied recent court challenges of Nativity scenes in public premises, by displaying a live Nativity scene in front of the Supreme Court building.

Catholic Culture: The Irish government will create a blue-ribbon committee to review the country’s laws regarding abortion, in response to a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights questioning Ireland’s ban on abortion.

Catholic Culture: A leading Canadian newspaper is demanding that the government of Ontario compel Catholic schools, which receive public funding, to allow gay-straight student clubs and alliances.

The Washington Post: But concerns about the job or personal views of a justice’s spouse are not the same as concerns that a justice may have been involved in a matter before it reached the high court.

Senate Democrats: This evening Senator Reid filed cloture on the nomination of Caitlin Joan Halligan, to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia

OneNewsNow.com: Did you hear about New York City’s comprehensive drug education program for all students in middle school and high school? The teachers inform the students that abstaining from drug use is best, but since it’s impossible to stop them from doing drugs, the teachers give out cards that list the most common drugs, explaining which are the most dangerous. They also distribute needles to kids who are involved in shooting drugs to help them avoid getting contaminated needles, thereby reducing their chances of contracting or passing on communicable diseases.

Evansville Courier & Press: Local gay advocates say the Evansville City Council’s amendment of the city’s municipal code this week to include provisions against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity will make the community more diverse and attractive to business.

The Australian: THE Labor Party’s national conference will today reject Julia Gillard’s position on marriage equality by amending its platform to support same-sex marriage.

Religion Clause: In Fields v. City of Tulsa, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 136522 (ND OK, Nov. 28, 2011), an Oklahoma federal district court rejected an attempt by a Tulsa police officer to file a second amended complaint in his suit against the Tulsa Police Department.

Religion Clause: In Iron Wing v. Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls, (SD Sup. Ct., Nov. 30, 2011), the South Dakota Supreme Court held that a lawsuit filed in 2008 by a victim of clergy sexual abuse committed over 40 years earlier is barred by the statute of limitations.

Christianity Today: Evangelical abstinence campaigns have shifted their emphasis from “just say no” to sex before marriage to “just say yes”—within marriage, that is, says Christine Gardner. In Making Chastity Sexy (University of California Press), the Wheaton College communications professor examines the rhetoric of three evangelical abstinence organizations, comparing them with an abstinence campaign in sub-Saharan Africa, where HIV/AIDS is a common threat

Bioedge.org: One parent is good. Two parents are better. Three parents might be better still. So argues a researcher from Sweden, who published a paper in the Journal of Medical Ethics on multiparenting. Daniela Cutas, of the University of Gothenberg and the Karolinska Institute, challenged “the necessity of the max-two parents framework”.

FRC Washington Update: The Obama State Department has an interesting interpretation of “diplomacy.” From Kenya to El Salvador, ambassadors are tasked–not with advancing America’s interests–but the interests of the President’s radical social agenda. In most cases, this aggressive strategy has made more enemies of nations than friends.

KTVI: The court case pitting the long time, same sex partner of a dead state trooper against the state of Missouri will go on at least a few months longer. A Jefferson City judge wants to hear arguments from both sides in the case some time in February.

ABA Journal: A federal appeals court is criticizing lawyers who ignore or downplay precedent in an opinion that includes two photos to illustrate:

Orlando Sentinel: The ACLU announced today it’s come out with a free pamphlet laying out citizens’ rights to video- and audio-record police and public officials in public places

LifeNews.com: Nancy Pelosi is simply unable to honor the Catholic Church to which she claims to be a member — as she has put her foot in her mouth again by claiming the nation’s Catholic bishops are lobbyists because they oppose an Obamacare mandate.

ADF attorney Joel Oster appeared on the “Pratt on Texas” show to discuss the situation. | MP3 audio 14:14 mins

LifeSiteNews: Following the filing of the complaint, the Cardinal Newman Society commissioned and released a legal memo in July from Alliance Defense Fund attorney Dale Schowengerdt which demonstrated that CUA’s dorm decision was not a form of discrimination. The memo argued, “As long as a college does not subject either men or women to particular disadvantages or unequal burdens, there is no sex discrimination. Moreover, a religious school’s right to maintain separate living quarters for men and women is protected by the Constitution and federal law.”

News from The Associated Press: China wants to convert some of its mountain of U.S. government debt into investment in renovating American roads and subways, the commerce minister said Friday.

The Hill: Doctors and healthcare executives on Thursday slammed a set of expert recommendations on how to define “essential” health benefits.

News from The Associated Press: Egypt’s ultraconservative Islamist party plans to push for a stricter religious code in Egypt after claiming surprisingly strong gains in the first round of parliamentary elections, a spokesman said Friday.

NCPA Policy Digest: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced plans to ban 20 rat and mouse control products because they use loose bait.

Israel National News: Islamist parties are expected to control Cairo’s parliament by the spring with the Muslim Brotherhood projected to be in the driver’s seat.

Bloomberg: Payroll gains in the U.S. picked up last month and the jobless rate unexpectedly fell to the lowest level since March 2009, a decline augmented by the departure of Americans from the labor force.