Daily Archives: December 15, 2011

Guardian.co.uk: General Medical Council says law is clear but additional guidance is needed to deal with any complaints against doctors

The Persecution Times: Abdol-Rahman Mohammad Pouri is one of a thousand Iranian youth who was born and brought up in a strict Islamic family, but chose not to follow his parent’s religion and converted to Christianity.

William Baude at The Volokh Conspiracy: First of all, even though the Clause mentions “public acts,” it has not been interpreted to apply to statutes (like a law stating which marriages are valid) or marriage licenses with the same force it has for judicial proceedings. Relatedly, states have traditionally refused to give effect to another state’s statute if they think doing so is against their “public policy,” and this has been thought to be okay under the Full Faith and Credit Clause.

Telegraph: The Health Survey for England found that men reported having 9.3 different partners on average, with a quarter of men boasting of more than 10 conquests.

The Charleston Gazette: Jeremy Dys, president of the conservative values group Family Policy Council, said he had “grave concerns” about the anti-bullying measure. Dys said it “unconstitutionally limits free speech” and gives “unbridled authority” to teachers to crack down on students who speak out against homosexuality.

WSJ.com: A top Chinese law firm intends to join forces with one of Australia’s oldest to create what would be among the biggest legal practices in Asia. King & Wood, an 18-year-old firm with headquarters in Beijing, and Mallesons Stephen Jaques of Australia said Thursday that the planned firm would have more than 380 partners and 1,800 lawyers in five countries.

Plaintiff Jeff L. Thigpen, as Register of Deeds of Guilford County, North Carolina, and as a citizen of North Carolina and the United States, objects and finds it morally and constitutionally repugnant to administer a system which requires all persons entering into marriage to have licenses that will be recorded; to oblige pastors, priests, and rabbis who are performing marriage ceeremonies to perform them pursuent to licenses issued by the state; and to require either the religious or civil solemnization of marriages.”

TNT Magazine: Religious groups in Scotland are mounting a campaign to block the Scottish government’s proposals to introduce same-sex marriage.

allAfrica.com: The Senate should be commended for criminalizing same-sex marriage in Nigeria

AZCentral.com: Planned Parenthood of Arizona will resume abortion services at its north Phoenix and Chandler clinics by the end of the month.

The Australian: Liberals agitating for a free vote on same-sex marriage have stepped up their campaign, with a key moderate arguing the party has never denied its MPs a conscience vote granted to their Labor rivals.

The Daily Caller: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used an international conference on religious freedom Wednesday as a platform to suggest that Islamic governments which suppress Christianity are secretly afraid Islam will lose out in a public debate.

Tulsa World: A beleaguered process that repeatedly has failed to put Oklahomans in key federal positions reportedly has produced a potential nominee to fill a year-old vacancy on the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Robert Bacharach, a federal magistrate in Oklahoma City, is being vetted for the post, according to sources familiar with the process.

Religion Clause: Yesterday Scotland’s Parliament passed the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Bill by a vote of 64-57, according to BBC News.

Religion Clause: In State of Idaho v. White, (ID App., Dec. 14, 2011), an Idaho state appeals court rejected defendant Cary White’s claim that his marijuana use is protected by the Idaho Free Exercise of Religion Protected Act.

Religion Clause: As previously reported, in March the United Nations Human Rights Council, in a major policy shift encouraged by Western nations, unanimously adopted Resolution 16/18 on Freedom of Religion or Belief which omits any reference to the concept of “defamation of religion” and instead focuses on the individual’s right to freedom of belief

AZ Republic: The U.S. Department of Justice this morning accused the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office of racial profiling in traffic stops and immigration operations and discriminating against Spanish speakers in the county jails.

Military.com: California Rep. Duncan Hunter has waded into the battle over the so-called Camp Pendleton cross — put up by leathernecks in honor of four buddies killed in Iraq — by asking the commander of Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton to let the cross stay.

LifeNews.com: A new video produced by a national pro-life organization shows the role pro-abortion HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius had in a document shredding scandal that saw her administration’s Attorney General shred documents important to a case concerning Planned Parenthood.

Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed a petition Wednesday with the U.S. Supreme Court that asks it to weigh in on a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit against Christian student organizations at San Diego State University.

Mercury News (AP): The December culture wars are here again and this year’s target sits squarely on Travis Air Force Base. At issue are a nativity scene and menorah sitting amongst a host of secular Santas and holiday signs at the corner of Travis Avenue and Skymaster Drive. The religious displays are the subject of a letter from a group called the Military Religious Freedom Foundation.

10News.com: A Marine widow has joined the fight to keep a cross at Camp Pendleton, saying it is the only place she can mourn the loss of her husband, who gave the ultimate sacrifice.

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Officials in Ellwood City, threatened with legal action from an atheist group over a holiday display at the borough’s municipal building, say they’re on the verge of an agreement that will result in a “happy ending” for the parties involved.

WHNT.com (includes video): There’s a holiday controversy with school children caught in the middle. Someone protested the use of ‘Silent Night’ in a Christmas program at G.W. Trenholm School in Tuscumbia.

Capitol Times: “This is all we do in November and December is Nativity scene violations,” says Annie Laurie Gaylor, the group’s co-president. “We tell our attorneys to get ready. It’s our busiest time of the year.”

ADF President and General Counsel Alan E. Sears appeared on the Hugh Hewitt Show. | MP3 audio 8:22 mins

KUAR.org: The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas is taking issue with a nativity scene displayed in a Paragould primary school. In a follow up to a story we brought you earlier in the week, the ACLU’s director Rita Sklar says although she wants to avoid a lawsuit, the school must obey the constitution.

Omaha.com: Lincoln lawyer Jeff Downing, who has defended schools and cities in cases involving religious expression, said the school probably overreacted by taking down the sign. “I think it’s a completely defensible thing to have on a school kiosk at this time of year,” he said. “It could have a meaning for one observer that’s completely different from the next observer who looks at it.”

WSLS 10: We have a right under federal and state law to make decisions consistent with our religious beliefs,” said Krystal Thompson, CEO of Commonwealth Catholic Charities, which placed 375 children in foster homes and handled 85 adoptions last year. “Virginians should not have to ask permission to perform faith-based acts of charity,” said Austin Nimocks, a lawyer with the national Alliance Defense Fund.

NCPA Policy Digest: There are about 4,500 criminal statutes, says Edwin Meese, attorney general under President Ronald Reagan and now with the conservative Heritage Foundation.

News from The Associated Press: The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights says governments should also outlaw all forms of abuse based on sexual orientation.

KIVA.com ABC 7: Brown’s lawyers said there’s a more practical explanation. “It was late in the day (when we got the subpoena), and it said that we had to produce all of these documents the very next morning. This is like an 18-paragraph request for documents. There was not enough time to file all of these documents, so we filed a motion for a protective order. Under Texas law, when you file a protective order, you don’t have to produce the documents unless the court says you have to produce the documents. Once the court said to produce the documents, we produced the documents. Where’s the controversy?” said Brown’s Alliance Defense Fund lawyer, Joel Oster.

AP: The National Transportation Safety Board declared Tuesday that texting, emailing or chatting while driving is just too dangerous to be allowed anywhere in the United States. It urged all states to impose total bans except for emergencies.

News from The Associated Press: The United States will hold talks with North Korea in Beijing on Thursday on the possibility of providing food aid to the impoverished country, the State Department said.

THOMAS MORE LAW CENTER 24 Frank Lloyd Wright Dr. Ann Arbor, MI 48105 PH: 734-827-2001, FX: 734-930-7160 NEWS RELEASE For Immediate Release: December 15, 2011 Contact: Kathleen L. Lynch, (734) 827-2001 Attached: PDF version Student Sues School District and Teacher …

News from The Associated Press: The number of homes in foreclosure and scheduled to be auctioned hit a nine-month high last month, foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac Inc. said Thursday.

News from The Associated Press: Squeezed by rising living costs, a record number of Americans – nearly 1 in 2 – have fallen into poverty or are scraping by on earnings that classify them as low income.

News from The Associated Press: The Southern Baptist Convention’s bookstores are recalling pink Bibles, saying some of the money raised through their sale was being given to Planned Parenthood.

Susan Brown Townhall : The Plan B pill debate has little to do with birth control and much to do with losing control. Parents, there is something strangely missing in this conversation. Shouldn’t we be talking about how 11 and 12-year- old girls are getting pregnant in the first place? Last time I checked, sex with a minor was a crime in every state in the union.

Sandy Rios at Townhall : In an interview with the Des Moines Register editorial board last Friday, the former Massachusetts Governor explained that it wasn’t the concept of having gays openly serve in the military that had troubled him…only the fact that the change was being made in a time of war. Now that the conflict is over, he would not, as Commander in Chief, do anything to change it.

The Hill: Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said Wednesday that he would begin restricting access to abortion during his first day in the White House.

A federal judge Tuesday said that a last-minute Food and Drug Administration response to a citizen petition seeking to relax FDA rules regarding a birth-control product rendered moot a complaint to hold the agency in contempt of court.

If tradition is not a good reason to limit marriage to a man and a woman, it is also not a good reason to limit it to only two people.

News from The Associated Press: Poland’s prime minister defended his government’s support for greater integration in the European Union during a lively parliamentary debate Thursday on the country’s relationship with the crisis-ridden bloc.