Religion & Law

Heritage Foundation: The Obama elite vs the American people

Posted on August 05, 2010
The Heritage Foundation / The Foundry: "This Tuesday voters in Missouri, by a 40-point margin, approved a ballot measure rejecting the individual mandate at the core of President Barack Obama?s health care law. Asked what the vote meant to the White House, press secretary Robert Gibbs said: 'Nothing...

California Senate: Boxer (D) 45%, Fiorina (R) 40%

Posted on August 05, 2010
Rasmussen Reports: "The latest Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey of Likely Voters shows Boxer picking up 45% support, while Fiorina earns 40% of the vote. Five percent (5%) prefer a different candidate, and 10% are undecided."

Arizona couple fulfills death pact

Posted on August 05, 2010
The Durango Herald: "An Arizona couple followed through with a decades-long plan to end their lives before the ravages of old age took their toll. Lansing C. Holden, 83, and his wife, Carol, 78, were found shot to death July 26 in a remote cabin south of Pagosa Springs in Archuleta County ...

The Volokh Conspiracy: Legal Insights on Perry v. Schwarzenegger

Posted on August 05, 2010
Round-up of The Volokh Conspiracy commentary on Perry v. Schwarzenegger.

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Newt Gingrich: No on Kagan

Posted on August 05, 2010
Newt Gingrigh writing at National Review Online: "As the confirmation process for Solicitor General Elena Kagan draws to a close, the question of whether Ms. Kagan is capable of conforming herself to the appropriate role of judge in the American system should be at the heart of the Senate?s decision ...

Russia: Ombudsman calls St. Petersburg sharia court a reckless scheme and promises to address the matter

Posted on August 05, 2010
Interfax: "St. Petersburg's human rights commissioner Alexey Kozyrev promised to address the issue of opening the sharia court in the city. 'I believe the court is a government structure above all. In this case, it is either some kind of a reckless scheme or fraud or challenge...

Russia: Two arrested for setting fire to church in Penza Region

Posted on August 05, 2010
Interfax: "Police in the Penza Region near the Volga river have detained two local residents suspected of setting fire to the wooden St. Michael Archangel Church in the village of Yevlashevo."

UK: Watchdog ruling upholds controversial abortion ad

Posted on August 05, 2010
The Christian Institute: "Britain?s first televised advert for abortion services has been cleared by the advertising watchdog despite the ad generating over a thousand complaints . . . the ASA has now released their ruling on the ad. It claims that the ad didn?t promote abortion and that MSI was justified in offering advice to pregnant women...

UK: Former ?locked-in? patient speaks of her will to live

Posted on August 05, 2010
The Christian Institute: "Kerry Pink was left suffering from a condition known as ?locked-in syndrome? by an undiagnosed neurological illness when she was just 35 . . . Mrs Pink, writing in the Daily Mail, said: 'My memories are blurred. But some things remain absolutely certain...

Hawaii gov pushes for Leonard as new Chief Justice

Posted on August 05, 2010
Honolulu Star Advertiser: "Gov. Linda Lingle plans a 'full-court press' for appeals Judge Katherine Leonard as Hawaii's next chief justice after hearing yesterday that the state Senate has serious concerns about her leadership and administrative abilities...

Ruth Bader Ginsburg raves as Elena Kagan is set to officially become third woman on Supreme Court

Posted on August 05, 2010
New York Daily News: "'To me, it's one of the most exhilarating developments,' Ginsburg told The Associated Press about the prospect of Kagan making it three women on the court for the first time, along with herself and Justice Sonia Sotomayor."

Florida won?t appeal campaign-finance ruling

Posted on August 05, 2010
Miami Herald: "Florida will not appeal a court ruling that struck a key provision of the state's campaign finance law. The decision Wednesday gave Republican candidate Rick Scott the ability to exceed the state's $24.9 million spending cap in his bid for governor without worries that his leading GOP rival Bill McCollum would benefit...

Pro-abortion Constitution passes in Kenya, opponents seek amendments

Posted on August 05, 2010
LifeNews: "With more than 70 percent of the vote counted, residents of Kenya appear to have approved a new constitution that would essentially allow unlimited abortions. Kenya has long protected women and unborn children but the zeal for a new constitution overtook concerns about preventing abortions...

Kenya passes new Constitution despite opposition from churches

Posted on August 05, 2010
New York Times: "Kenya?s new constitution, written to alleviate longstanding problems that have undermined good governance here for decades, received overwhelming approval from voters in a referendum on Wednesday, according to provisional results released by election officials on Thursday morning...

Prop 8 ruling drives strong religious reactions: Church statements

Posted on August 05, 2010
USA Today / Faith and Reason gathers statements from various religious leaders and organizations, including The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the California Catholic Conference, the "gay Episcopal group Integrity," Episcopal bishop Gene Robinson, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Rev...

Prop. 8 Ruling: ?Fantastic? decision or ?judicial activism??

Posted on August 05, 2010
CBS News: "Chuck Donovan of the Heritage Foundation called the ruling 'an example of extreme judicial activism' and 'an affront to the millions of California voters who approved Proposition 8 in 2008 after months of vigorous public debate.' . . . 'The "trial" ...

Vaughn Walker vs. President Obama on marriage

Posted on August 05, 2010
Chris Good writing at The Atlantic: "Now that federal district Judge Vaughn Walker has ruled dramatically against California's gay-marriage ban, it's worth remembering that President Obama, officially, is personally opposed to gay marriage. That was his stance throughout the presidential campaign, and it remains his stance today, as David Axelrod confirmed in an interview with MSNBC...

John Eastman: The predictable Vaughn Walker

Posted on August 05, 2010
John Eastman writing at The FlashReport: "For those who attended the trial or watched its proceedings from afar, it seemed all but certain that this 66-year-old single man, living in San Francisco and reported by the San Francisco Chronicle to himself be homosexual, would find a way to rule Proposition 8 unconstitutional ...

The Evangelical Christian case against contraception

Posted on August 05, 2010
Matt C. Abbott writing at Renew America: "Evangelical Christian, Bryan C. Hodge, has given the issue serious treatment in his book The Christian Case against Contraception: Making the Case from Historical, Biblical, Systematic, and Practical Theology & Ethics...

Officials tweet Prop. 8 ruling

Posted on August 05, 2010
The Hill's Twitter Room: "Officials used Twitter Wednesday afternoon to mark the ruling of U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker striking down California's Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in the state . . . House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif...

GOP could dominate state redistricting

Posted on August 05, 2010
The Hill / Ballot Box: "If the party?s gubernatorial candidates were to emerge with wins in Texas, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan ? all states where Republicans either lead or are tied in recent polls ? and the GOP holds or wins control of legislative chambers in those same states, Republicans could monopolize the post-2010 redraw...

WSJ: Civil rights groups choose the teachers unions over black kids

Posted on August 05, 2010
Wall Street Journal Editorial, "Morally Inexcusable" (full text via Google News): "In a speech to the Urban League's annual convention Thursday, President Obama was blunt: 'This status quo is morally inexcusable.' So is the fact that the nation's leading civil rights organizations are now siding with teachers unions and others working to preserve a public education system that is failing the millions of black families who can't afford an alternative...

GM donates $41,000 to lawmakers? pet projects

Posted on August 05, 2010
Washington Post: "When General Motors went through bankruptcy last year, it suspended its political donations. Now that it's owned by the U.S. government, it's donating to lawmakers' pet projects again."

Karl Rove: Will the GOP storm the Statehouses?

Posted on August 05, 2010
Karl Rove writing in the Wall Street Journal: "A quick survey of the political landscape shows six of the seven Democratic governors running for re-election are polling under 50% and in danger of losing, while all six GOP incumbents seeking re-election are expected to win...

In Prop 8 case, nearly all of plaintiffs? ?experts? were political activists for ?gay causes?

Posted on August 05, 2010
'Judge Walker makes little or no reference to the fact that nearly all of plaintiffs' "experts" are political activists for gay causes and that many or most are in same-sex relationships. They're just neutral experts.'"

What does the Prop 8 ruling mean in Washington?

Posted on August 05, 2010
Seattle Post-Intelligencer: "It would be up to the Washington Legislature to reconsider gay marriage, said Dave Ammons, a spokesman for Secretary of State Sam Reed. 'Whether a victory in California would prompt the issue to resurface in the Legislature is the next question,' he said...

?Gay marriage supporters say Prop 8 ruling hard to overturn?

Posted on August 05, 2010
On Top Mag ("gay advocacy website"): "'Only a trial court [like Walker's] can make factual findings,' lawyer Brian Devine said in his analysis, adding that Walker devotes 109 pages of his 138-page ruling to factual findings. 'A Court of Appeal must give great deference to the factual findings of the trial court, especially when those findings are based on the credibility of witness testimony...

Douglas Napier on the Mike Gallagher Show: Fired U of Illinois professor vindicated

Posted on August 05, 2010
Douglas Napier on the Mike Gallagher Show to discuss the the case involving Dr. Kenneth Howell.  | MP3 7:21 mins | ADF resource page: Fired U of I professor vindicated, will again be allowed to teach Catholicism class

ADF attorneys on radio just before and after the Cal. Prop. 8 marriage ruling

Posted on August 05, 2010
Jim Campbell on AFR Focal Point just before the ruling was handed down.  MP3  9:21 mins |  Jordan Lorence on the Janet Mefferd Show just before the ruling was handed down. Jordan indicated he was not on pins and needles before yesterday's ruling, because the Judge had tipped his hand well in advance of yesterday's ruling...

Daniel Blomberg: Why the California marriage decision must be appealed

Posted on August 05, 2010
"One San Francisco judge ordering it so was an arbitrary, heavy-handed act with no other basis than a demand from a powerful activist group. Unless this is overturned, the same playbook will be used to try to institutionalize group marriages, polygamy, and every other iteration of human relationships until marriage is utterly obliterated...

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