Today's Cultural Warfare Update
Feb. 9th, 2007 11:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
solarbirdFinally, another CWU; there will be another this weekend, as well. Sorry for the late; excuses are in the previous post, if you care. There isn't too much new in this one; I've got more in tomorrow's that has some jucier bits, particularly a nice spot of crankiness with fundamentalists complaining about how the UN pressures countries to decriminalise lesbians.
But for now, I'll stop wasting time and get to the news!
Woman arrested after reporting rape for an unpaid juvenile-theft fine; while in prison, they denied her emergency birth control on religious grounds. God damn, Florida's a piece of work, but keep in mind: this kind of control over the woman's birth control choices is exactly what the theocon movement is demanding. (Courtesy![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rmd);
I'm mostly reporting this because it got reported badly by CBS; the Snickers ad that created the controversy wasn't so much the one aired - I've had it described to me, it seemed kinda funny with the chest-hair and all that - but the versions on the web that people were voting for next, one of which included double-suicide by drinking motor oil and antifreeze, and another of which featured the two men brutally attacking each other with car parts and wrenches; there were also clips of NFL players talking about queers are disgusting and "ain't right" and such;
"Evangelicals Wage Anti-Evolution War" - in Kenya. I reported an earlier story on this; they're trying to get natural history museums there not to display fossil artifacts;
Islamists get in on the Creationism movement, in France;
Polls show majority support allowing gay and lesbian people to serve in the military;
Focus on the Family article condemning attempts to remove 10 commandments postings from government courthouses;
FotF: man who attacked a woman and caused a miscarrage ("killed her preborn child" - she was three months pregnant) gets a murder conviction and the death sentence; I'm fine with increased penalties for attacks which cause miscarriage, but the real (and stated) point here is moving towards abortion bans;
Anti-gay activist gets comment "that amounted to a death threat" on a blog comment; omg t3h int4rw3bz!;
Focus on the Family roundup on anti-abortion state legislation;
"Tonia and David Parker" sue a Lexington, Massachusetts school after it "equated same-sex unions with traditional marriage" - note that same-sex marriage is legal in Massachusetts, so in the eyes of state law, they are equal; they want that stopped and pre-notification if "homosexuality was to be discussed";
FotF: "Liberals Protect Chickens Over Children";
University of Georgia changes rules in response to lawsuit, allows clubs to engage in religious discrimination - while receiving state funds; the club claimed that if they couldn't discriminate on the basis of religion that they were being discriminated against, and by the way, we demand funding from the university and state. We have two versions of this story:
FotF pleased that Mr. Bush's budget proposal "flatlines" comprehensive sex ed education funding while boosting "abstinence education" funding;
FotF loves reporting on Episcopalian churches splitting off, because of their female US leadership and their generally pro-GBLT policies;
FotF happy about "chilling effect" on speech of increased "indecency" fines;
FotF promotes abortion "waiting period," at the end of which women would be required to sign a document saying they weren't coerced into having an abortion;
FotF reports on anti-abortion-rights legislation in Virginia;
GOP to continue to push theocon-friendly judicial nominee confirmations;
Hm, this is neat; the same organisation that sued the University of Georgia to get a club which explicitly discriminates on religious grounds recognised and state funded also has this same shtick succeed in Missouri;
Court: Michigan State University cannot offer employees' same-sex partners health insurance under their new anti-marriage constitutional amendment; this was, of course, part of the goal;
Focus on the Family condemns including HPV vaccine in the mandatory school vaccination regimen in Texas;
Focus on the Family news report on anti-marriage amendment under consideration in the Indiana legislature; the American Family Association of Indiana says "the amendment would stop those who want to make marriage meaningless" - by participating in it as GBLT couples;
Faith and Freedom Network launches its new Washington State legislative strategy.
----- 1 -----
Woman jailed after reporting rape
By PHIL DAVIS, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 51 minutes ago
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070130/ap_on_re_us/jailed_rape_victim
TAMPA, Fla. - A woman who told police she had been raped was jailed for two days after officers found an old warrant accusing her of failing to pay restitution for a 2003 theft arrest. [Ed. Note: She was underage at the time; it was a juvie offense. See below.]
While she was behind bars, according to the college student's attorney, a jail worker refused to give her a second dose of the morning-after contraceptive pill because of the worker's religious convictions.
[...]
She reported the rape Saturday afternoon, and officers took her to a rape crisis center where she was given the first of two doses of the morning-after pill, McElroy said. The second dose is supposed to be taken within 24 hours.
Later, as she was riding in a patrol car trying to locate the crime scene in the dark, police found the warrant stemming from a 2003 juvenile arrest for grand theft and burglary. It said she owed $4,585.
"They stopped the investigation right there," and put her in handcuffs, Moore said.
[...]
Moore said his client believes she paid the fine for what he described as a childish mistake. He didn't have details of that arrest, but the woman has no criminal history as an adult, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
The sheriff's office, which runs the jail, said in a statement Tuesday that it is investigating the complaint and declined to comment further.
[More at URL]
----- 2 -----
Snickers Superbowl Web site promotes violence against gays and lesbians. Bears & Colts players react in disgust, on camera, to gays.
by John in DC - 2/05/2007 12:37:00 PM
AMERICAblog
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2007/02/snickers-superbowl-web-site-promotes.html
UPDATE: Snickers pulled the Web site containing the homophobic ads and commentary. Still no word from Snickers about the entire affair.
UDPATE: The largest gay civil rights group has called on Mars to remove the offensive content.
UPDATE: The Mars family, that produced the violently homophobic ads, is one of the top billionaire Republican activist families in the country. More here.
TAKE ACTION: Contact Snickers here.
If you thought the Snickers ad during last night's Superbowl was somewhat homophobic, you ain't seen nothin' yet. My good friend Andy Towle alerted me this morning to the fact that the Snickers' Web site outright endorses violence against gays.
A bit of background. The ad in question showed a mechanic eating a Snickers bar. Hi co-mechanic is so desirous of the Snickers that he starts eating it from the other end of the same bar that's already in the other guy's mouth. The two butch guys eat their way down the bar, like the dogs eating the same string of pasta in the Disney movie - until they're accidentally kissing. The guys, naturally, recoil in disgust - then, oddly, start ripping out their chest hair with their hands. Yeah it's homophobic, but it's also kind of funny, though a bit weird, so I was going to let it go. Well...
[Much more at URL]
----- 3 -----
Evangelicals Wage Anti-Evolution War
The East African Standard (Nairobi)
NEWS
January 12, 2007
By Eric Wamanji
Nairobi
http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/200701120826.html
A bronze sculpture at the entrance of the Museum. It details the development of man.
Kenya's world-class collection of hominid bones - primates belonging to a family of which the modern human being is the only species still in existence - is at the centre of a silent but intense war being waged by a section of the evangelical churches.
The priceless National Museums of Kenya (NMK) fossils pointing to man's evolution risk being relegated to the abyss as a section of the Church renews its war on science insisting that the evolution theory contradicts the biblical story of creation.
Bishop Boniface Adoyo of Nairobi Pentecostal Church (NPC), Christ is the Answer Ministries, is championing the 'hide-the-fossils' campaign, which has left scientists and historians perplexed.
[More at URL]
----- 4 -----
ISLAMIC CREATIONISM INVADES FRANCE (Updated)
February 03, 2007
Direland
http://direland.typepad.com/direland/2007/02/islamic_creatio.html
An article in yesterday's edition of Le Figaro, the conservative French daily, brings news that a new book written from an Islamic Creationist perspective, ""L'Atlas de la Création" (cover, right) is making waves in France. According to the newspaper, dozens of thousands of free copies of this diatribe against Darwinism were sent from Turkey and Germany to nearly all French schools and universities. The article does not say who paid for this expensive, lavishly-illustrated, 770-page anti-intellectual propaganda tome to be so massively distributed (although it asks the question.). Nor how whomever sent it was able to get a list of the "dozens of thousands" in educational establishments to whom it was individually addressed.
The French Education Ministry reacted by advising all educational establishments that the book does not conform to the national science-based curriculum and "should not be included in the centers of documentation and information in scholarly establishments," and commissioned a dissection and refutation of the book.
The book's pseudonymous author, a Turk named Harun Yahya ( photo left -- real name: Adnan Oktar), makes a number of astonishing claims -- including that Charles Darwin is "the real source of terrorism." For example, a photo of the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers carries a caption reading, "Those who perpetuate terror in the world are in reality the Darwinists. Darwinism is the only philosophy which validates and encourages conflict." Yahya also pretends to portray "the secret links between Darwinism and the bloody ideologies of fascism and communism."
[More at URL]
----- 5 -----
Gays Should Be Allowed to Serve Openly in Military, Poll Finds
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE
February 2, 2007
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB117035477766895153-tt5sKNkAY6_opz6nqIbr9rTV3Q0_20080202.html?mod=blogs
A new poll from Harris Interactive found that 55% of Americans think gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve openly in the military.
By comparison, 19% of the 2,337 Americans polled said gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve "only if they keep their sexual orientation a secret," and 18% said they should "not be allowed to serve in the military at all."
The survey, conducted online between Jan. 11 and 18, also measured American attitudes toward the U.S. military's "Don't Ask, Don't tell" policy, which prohibits the military from asking personnel about their sexual orientation, but allows homosexuality to be a cause for discharge from the military.
[More at URL]
----- 6 -----
Florida Courthouse Ten Commandments Under Attack
The ACLU wants the granite monument removed.
by Wendy Cloyd, assistant editor
Focus on the Family
February 8, 2007
[Received in email; no URL]
Florida Courthouse Ten Commandments Under Attack
by Wendy Cloyd, assistant editor
The ACLU wants the granite monument removed.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida filed a suit Tuesday in federal court that claims a Ten Commandments display in front of a county courthouse is unconstitutional.
According to the North Country Gazette, the granite monument was placed on the steps of the Dixie County Courthouse in November 2006 with the full endorsement of the County Commission.
But Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU Florida, said the Ten Commandments belong only in churches and synagogues.
"The Constitution prohibits the government from endorsing religious messages such as this one," Simon said. "In addition to the commonly held secular commandments about murder, stealing and honoring one's mother and father, the Ten Commandments also include strictly religious statements."
Bruce Hausknecht, judicial analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said even though it has lost several similar cases, the ACLU never tires in its relentless campaign to replace hometown values with its own rigid vision of a secularized America.
"Since the Supreme Court ruling in 2005 upholding a display of the Ten Commandments at the Texas Capitol," he said, "the ACLU has been on the losing end of at least six other such court challenges around the country."
In one defeat, Hausknecht said, a federal appeals court labeled as "tiresome" the ACLU's argument that the displays violate the separation of church and state.
David Cortman, senior counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund, said that's why the ACLU bullies small towns with the threat of expensive legal battles.
"Small towns don't have the budget, so rather than fight for something they have a right to do," he said, "it's more practical for them to cave in to the ACLU's demands and not to fight it."
Cortman said the facts surrounding each case differ, because each community has different laws about accepting donated monuments, and judges must determine the motive for placement, as well. But the ACLU seems to have only one motive in mind.
"One only needs to look at the cases that the ACLU takes across the country," he said. "Whether it's opposing Ten Commandments monuments like the one we have in this case, war memorials like the one in California, opposing the Boy Scouts -- the ACLU stands against anything that's sacred. It's an attempt to erase the religious history that we have in our country. "
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Learn more about the ACLU's attacks on religious liberty in The ACLU vs. America ( http://resources.family.org/product/the+aclu+vs.+america.do?search=basic&keyword=aclu&sortby=shortdesc&asc=true&page=1&refcd=CE07BCZL&tvar=no )
----- 7 -----
Texas Man Sentenced to Death for Killing Woman and Preborn Baby
Focus on the Family
February 8, 2007
[Received in email; no URL]
A 23-year-old Texas man who killed a teen and her preborn child was sentenced to death Wednesday, The Associated Press reported.
Adrian Estrada was convicted of capital murder in the death of Stephanie Sanchez and her baby. Sanchez was three-months pregnant when she died, Estrada confessed to the murder the next day.
This is the first death-penalty conviction for the murder of a preborn child in Texas. In 2003, the state Legislature amended the definition of the word "individual" to include an "unborn child at every state of gestation from fertilization until birth."
DNA evidence showed Estrada was the father.
----- 8 -----
Family Advocate Target of Online Death Threat
Focus on the Family
February 8, 2007
[Received in email; no URL]
Peter LaBarbera, founder of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, reports that someone posted a comment on a lesbian activist's blog that amounted to a death threat.
LaBarbera said the January 13 comment on a blog called Pam's House Blend
apparently gave out his home address and noted, "It's across from a park in an area with cul de sacs . . . Snipers take note."
The writer, who reportedly identified himself as "Barry G. Wick," also wrote: “If I were Azerbaijani and living in Russia right now, I’d want to advocate violence against skinheads … (LaBarbera) and others like him ought to know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, what future awaits them from a cadre of selected defenders willing to give up everything in order to protect the lives of gay and lesbian citizens. The greatest thing ever to happen to the (Martin Luther King) movement was the Black Panthers. Americans were shocked by an open display of firearms and Black Pride . . . Pushing back verbally . . . or with selected action isn’t dishonorable, it's necessary."
Blog owner Pam Spaulding removed the postings, LaBarbera said, and indicated she would have removed them earlier had she known they were there.
He said he notified the FBI of threat.
----- 9 -----
Roundup: State Pro-Life Legislation Sees Much Success, Some Failure
Focus on the Family
8 February 2007
[Received in email; no URL]
The Mississippi Senate passed three pro-life bills Wednesday, WLBT-TV reported. The first would ban abortion except in the case of rape and incest or if the mother's life is in danger. Additionally, lawmakers approved another that would require abortionists to offer women the chance to view an ultrasound image of their babies before the procedure. The third requires minors to seek a court order to get an abortion if they do not have parental consent.
Oklahoma lawmakers introduced legislation that would restrict abortions in state medical facilities and tighten enforcement of federal regulations concerning use of Plan B, the so-called morning-after pill, the Examiner-Enterprise reported.
Republican Rep. Lance Cargill, speaker of the Oklahoma House, said the proposal builds on a state parental-consent law passed last year.
"We're committed to building a culture of life in Oklahoma," he said. "Every human life is precious and worthy of protection."
The New Hampshire Senate Health and Human Services Committee rejected a bill Thursday that would have stopped Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers from receiving federal funding, The Dartmouth reported.
----- 9 -----
Mass. School Asks Judge to Drop Case Over Same-Sex Discussion
Focus on the Family
8 February 2007
[Received in email; no URL]
Officials from a Lexington, Mass., school district asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit claiming parental rights were violated when a kindergarten teacher discussed homosexuality in class, The Associated Press reported.
Tonia and David Parker file the suit after their son brought home "diversity curriculum" that equated same-sex unions with traditional marriage. They had requested the school send notification if homosexuality was to be discussed.
Though Massachusetts law requires parental notification when a teacher intends to discuss issues of sexuality, Superintendent Paul Ash said the school district had no obligation, because the topic of homosexuality is not about human sexuality, but about "tolerance and respect."
John Davis, attorney for the school district, told U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf that teaching diversity is a "legitimate state interest."
"The parents do have rights," he said. "But they don't have the right to dictate to the public school system what their children can be exposed to in the way of ideas."
Parker said parents do not want to dictate curriculum, but do want to be able to remove their children from discussions of homosexuality.
"When the teacher puts it forward, it becomes the gospel according to the teacher," he said. "The children are so young, they can't reflect on that idea. They're too young to put it in context."
----- 10 ------
Liberals Protect Chickens Over Children
Focus on the Family
8 February 2007
[Received in email; no URL]
The House Judiciary Committee considered a bill Monday to increase penalties for transporting animals across state lines for fighting -- largely an effort to oppose chicken fights.
Reps. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., and Peter King, R-N.Y., saw it as an opportunity to make an important point. They attempted to amend the bill with the language of the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act. It would make it a crime to circumvent state parental-notification laws by transporting a young girl across state lines for an abortion. That bill passed both chambers in the last Congress, but failed when Democratic leadership took the unusual step of refusing to appoint members to a conference committee to work out differences between the two versions.
The Democratic Judiciary Committee leadership ruled the pro-life amendment "non-germane" -- leading to a series of three procedural votes on whether to allow it. Each vote was down party lines, and, in the end, Democrats saw fit to give roosters more protection than parents, their daughters and preborn babies.
----- 11 -----
University of Georgia Affirms Christian Group
Focus on the Family
2-9-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000003862.cfm
University of Georgia officials approved a policy Thursday to allow a Christian fraternity to have members who reflect the organizations' beliefs, the Athens Banner-Herald reported.
Beta Upsilon Chi (BYX) -- for Brothers Under Christ -- had filed a discrimination suit after the university denied it recognition, access to funding and other support because of its membership rules.
[...]
Tim Tracey, an attorney with the Christian Legal Society's Center for Law and Religious Freedom who is representing BYX, said his clients will drop the lawsuit if the policy change provides a permanent exemption for religious student groups.
[Editor's note: I don't know, but I strongly suspect that the "membership rules" are discriminatory on the basis of religion, and the school had a rule saying clubs can't do that. ... ah, I'm right. Their claim is specifically that if they can't discriminate against people on the basis of religion, then their freedom of religion is being repressed and they are being discriminated against.]
----- 12 -----
Single-faith clubs allowed at UGA
By Rebecca K. Quigley| Morris News Service
Saturday, February 10, 2007
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/021007/met_116017.shtml
ATHENS, - President Michael Adams' cabinet approved a policy Thursday that allows religious student groups to restrict membership to people of the same faith, a move that likely will prompt a Christian fraternity to drop a discrimination suit against the University of Georgia.
The cabinet approved a policy amendment at its Thursday meeting that will allow faith-based student organizations that restrict membership to students of the same faith to register for state funds and other support from UGA's Campus Life office.
Beta Upsilon Chi, known as BYX or Brothers Under Christ, sued UGA leaders in federal court in December, claiming "religious discrimination" because university staff refused to register the group because it requires its members to be Christians.
[More at URL]
----- 13 -----
President Proposes More Funding for Abstinence Education
His budget flat-lines comprehensive sex ed.
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
2-9-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000003859.cfm
If President Bush gets his way, more money will be on the way to faith-based groups for abstinence education.
His budget proposes a $28 million increase for abstinence, but no boost for comprehensive sex education.
If the President's numbers stand up, the total contribution from the government to faith-based abstinence programs would reach as high as $191 million.
Many experts thought the president would back off abstinence programs in his final two years in office, but Leslee Unruh, president of the Abstinence Clearinghouse, said he must see that abstinence works.
"He wants to start really giving more to the grassroots so we can continue this," she told Family News in Focus.
[More at URL]
----- 14 -----
Virginia Episcopal Bishop Sues Exiting Churches
Exodus centers on how leadership views Scripture.
by Pete Winn, associate editor
Focus on the Family
2-9-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLtopstories/A000003868.cfm
A split within the Episcopal Church has begun and is on its way to court -- something akin to "divorce court," it seems.
More than 100 Episcopal parishes -- and some dioceses -- have either left the denomination or requested alternative oversight within the worldwide Anglican Communion. One of them is St. Stephen's Church in Heathsville, Va.
"We left the Episcopal Church because we could no longer be under the leadership of people who have the attitude that they did about the authority of Scripture," said the Rev. Jeffrey Cerar, rector of St. Stephen's. "Starting several years ago, the Episcopal Church elected and put in place a homosexual bishop and did so in disregard of the Scriptures. It was just a symptom of a much larger problem, which is that the leadership of the Episcopal Church does not regard Scripture as authoritative in the same sense that Christians always have before."
[More at URL]
----- 15 -----
Network Decisions Influenced by Threat of Higher Indecency Fines
Media watchers say that's how it's supposed to work.
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
2-9-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000003858.cfm
An increase in maximum fines for broadcast indecency seems to be getting the attention of network television executives.
Since Congress raised the maximum fine from $32,500 to $325,000 last year, Pat Trueman with the Alliance Defense Fund said he has noticed more care being taken by networks.
"What you've got is appropriate screening of the material they put out to the public, and that's appropriate," he said. "That's what indecency law was supposed to accomplish."
[More at URL]
----- 16 -----
Wisconsin Legislature to Debate Coerced-Abortion Measure
Focus on the Family
2-7-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000003842.cfm
If pro-life Wisconsin lawmakers have their way, women seeking an abortion would have to sign a statement saying they have not been pressured into taking the action, the (Madison, Wis.) Capital Times reported.
A bill suggested by Wisconsin Right to Life -- the Coercive Abortion Prevention Act -- would require women to sign a statement at the end of the required 24-hour waiting period.
[More at URL]
----- 17 -----
Virginia Lawmakers Pass Two Pro-Life Bills
Focus on the Family
2-7-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000003847.cfm
The Virginia House of Delegates approved two measures designed to ensure abortion-minded women are informed about the risks and outcomes of such a decision, LifeNews.com reported.
Republican Del. Kathy Byron sponsored a bill that would require abortionists to offer a client the chance to see an ultrasound of her preborn baby.
"It's medically responsible. It's logically responsible," she said. "It's also very important for women to have this information."
Republican Del. Ben Cline sponsored another pro-life bill that would require a doctor to inform women that an abortion after the 20th week of pregnancy will likely cause preborn babies to feel intense pain -- and to offer anesthesia for the baby. [Editor's note: I have been informed that this isn't actually true, as pain centres in the brain haven't developed yet at the 20th week. However, it is now part of the anti-abortion-rights activist mythos.]
[More at URL]
----- 18 ------
GOP Senators Make Judges Top Priority
Republican leader lays out a course.
by Pete Winn, associate editor
Focus on the Family
5 February 2007
[Received in email; no URL]
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he will personally lead efforts to make sure Democrats allow confirmation votes for President Bush's judicial nominees. He said judges will top the Republican legislative agenda.
"I'm deeply interested in this," McConnell told CitizenLink. "I'm not going to reveal any tactics, but I've been pressing (Democrats) at the beginning of the session to treat us fairly."
He said Republicans set a minimum number of 17 judges to be confirmed and added that Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has agreed to that number.
"We think that President Bush should be treated just as well as President Clinton was and President Bush 41 and President Reagan were in their last two years of their terms when the Senate was controlled by the opposition party " McConnell said. "Each of them had at least 17 judges confirmed."
Bruce Hausknecht, judicial analyst at Focus on the Family Action, said McConnell's focus was welcome news to pro-family conservatives.
"One of the key issues for conservatives has been the courts," he said. "Ever since President Bush took office in 2001, he has made the appointment of 'strict constructionists' -- judicial conservatives -- a high priority for the federal bench."
Hausknecht said strict constructionists view the Constitution as the Founders intended.
"They don't tend to come up with seat-of-the-pants decisions like Roe v. Wade, and others which have plagued the nation for decades," he added.
Roe v. Wade was the 1973 Supreme Court decision which legalized abortion throughout the U.S.
Republican senators also plan to focus on taxes, the budget and spending policy, health care, energy, national security and immigration reform.
Tom McClusky, vice president of government affairs at the Family Research Council, is pleased with the direction they seem to be taking.
"It's a very good start for what's going to be a very defensive Congress for social conservatives," he said.
McClusky said the number of judicial nominees blocked by Democrats has dwindled, because nominees have either asked to be pulled or the president did not renominate them.
Still, there was a lot Senate Republicans could have done to advance those nominations, he added.
"They could have allowed for more debate last time around," McClusky said. "They could have held hearings for some nominees who had not had hearings and not caved into the Democrats by having hearings for those who had numerous hearings."
McConnell, meanwhile, said he has good news about one blocked nomination. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has blocked Idahoan Randy Smith's appeals court nomination for months, claiming the seat belongs to a California nominee, rather than one from Idaho.
"We believe that we will get a confirmation of a 9th Circuit judge, which has been one of the most liberal and outrageous circuits," McConnell said, "before we take a break for the Lincoln recess at the end of next week."
----- 19 -----
Missouri University to Recognize Christian Fraternity
Focus on the Family
February 5, 2007
[Received in email; no URL]
The University of Missouri agreed to allow a Christian fraternity to register as a student organization after the Christian Legal Society (CLS) contacted campus officials. The fraternity had been denied because it would not agree to a religious nondiscrimination policy.
Beta Upsilon Chi (BYX) -- or Brothers Under Christ -- requires members to profess faith in Jesus Christ.
Timothy Tracey, litigation counsel for the CLS Center for Law & Religious Freedom, said Christian student groups have the same constitutional rights as other groups.
"Student groups like BYX are an asset to campus life," he said, "and should be encouraged, not discouraged."
----- 20 -----
Court Rules No Same-Sex Benefits in Michigan
Focus on the Family
2-2-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000003803.cfm
The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled today that public universities and state and local governments cannot offer health insurance to domestic partners of gay employees without violating the state constitution.
According to The Associated Press, a three-judge panel ruled that a 2004 constitutional amendment protecting marriage also applies to such benefits. It defined the union of a man and a woman as the only agreement recognized as a marriage "or similar union for any purpose."
[More at URL]
----- 21 -----
Texas Governor Mandates HPV Vaccination
Parents in every state need to speak up to protect their rights.
by Linda Klepacki, analyst for sexual health
Focus on the Family
2-2-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000003806.cfm
Texas Gov. Rick Perry made Texas the first state to require every schoolgirl to be vaccinated for the sexually transmitted Human Papillomavirus (HPV). The plan takes away the right of parents to decide whether their daughters will receive the vaccine.
The HPV vaccine -- marketed as Gardasil -- has the capability of saving lives around the world. But mandating vaccination for pubescent girls raises several important concerns.
Mona Passignano, state issues analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said, as the first in line, Perry had a chance to do this right, but instead he chose an 'opt out' provision.
[More at URL]
----- 22 ------
Indiana Legislature Considers Marriage Amendment
Focus on the Family
2-01-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000003792.cfm
A Hoosier State Senate committee approved a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as the union of one man and one woman. The state Legislature passed the amendment two years ago, but it must be passed a second time before going on the ballot for voter approval, The Indianapolis Star reported.
As the Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony in favor of the amendment from Republican Sen. Brent Steele, a group of protestors began to loudly sing "We Shall Overcome." After being gaveled, the protestors moved to the hall outside the gallery.
Micah Clark, executive director of the American Family Association of Indiana, said the amendment would stop those who want to make marriage meaningless.
[More on URL]
----- 23 -----
New FFN 2007 Legislative Agenda
Faith and Freedom Network
February 1, 2007
[Received in email; no URL]
Dear XXXXX,
We have revised our 2007 Legislative Agenda.
Our revised Agenda will be addressing the following: Marriage and Family, Child Protection Laws, Parental Responsibility, Stewardship and Conservation, and Honoring our Soldiers and Veterans.
We have just added to the website a 2-page flyer detailing the bills that Jon Russell, FFN Lobbyist is addressing with lawmakers everyday in Olympia.
This flyer is designed for you to download and distribute among your circle of influence. It is imperative that as many people as possible contact elected officials expressing their support or opposition for these bills.
If possible, please distribute these in your church this weekend.
To vote in the new FFN poll, click here.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD FLYER!
[Ed. Note: I'd include the flyer text in another message, but their site is broken right now.]
God bless you,
Gary Randall
Faith and Freedom Network & Foundation
But for now, I'll stop wasting time and get to the news!
Woman arrested after reporting rape for an unpaid juvenile-theft fine; while in prison, they denied her emergency birth control on religious grounds. God damn, Florida's a piece of work, but keep in mind: this kind of control over the woman's birth control choices is exactly what the theocon movement is demanding. (Courtesy
rmd);I'm mostly reporting this because it got reported badly by CBS; the Snickers ad that created the controversy wasn't so much the one aired - I've had it described to me, it seemed kinda funny with the chest-hair and all that - but the versions on the web that people were voting for next, one of which included double-suicide by drinking motor oil and antifreeze, and another of which featured the two men brutally attacking each other with car parts and wrenches; there were also clips of NFL players talking about queers are disgusting and "ain't right" and such;
"Evangelicals Wage Anti-Evolution War" - in Kenya. I reported an earlier story on this; they're trying to get natural history museums there not to display fossil artifacts;
Islamists get in on the Creationism movement, in France;
Polls show majority support allowing gay and lesbian people to serve in the military;
Focus on the Family article condemning attempts to remove 10 commandments postings from government courthouses;
FotF: man who attacked a woman and caused a miscarrage ("killed her preborn child" - she was three months pregnant) gets a murder conviction and the death sentence; I'm fine with increased penalties for attacks which cause miscarriage, but the real (and stated) point here is moving towards abortion bans;
Anti-gay activist gets comment "that amounted to a death threat" on a blog comment; omg t3h int4rw3bz!;
Focus on the Family roundup on anti-abortion state legislation;
"Tonia and David Parker" sue a Lexington, Massachusetts school after it "equated same-sex unions with traditional marriage" - note that same-sex marriage is legal in Massachusetts, so in the eyes of state law, they are equal; they want that stopped and pre-notification if "homosexuality was to be discussed";
FotF: "Liberals Protect Chickens Over Children";
University of Georgia changes rules in response to lawsuit, allows clubs to engage in religious discrimination - while receiving state funds; the club claimed that if they couldn't discriminate on the basis of religion that they were being discriminated against, and by the way, we demand funding from the university and state. We have two versions of this story:
Focus on the Family's, "University of Georgia Affirms Christian Group," and;This pair of stories is mostly notable because of the "if we can't discriminate against people and get government funding, we're being oppressed" line they've been building; OH WAIT - look below; this same story happened a few days before in Missouri. Interesting;
The Augusta Chronicle, which talks about the state funding and religious discrimination.
FotF pleased that Mr. Bush's budget proposal "flatlines" comprehensive sex ed education funding while boosting "abstinence education" funding;
FotF loves reporting on Episcopalian churches splitting off, because of their female US leadership and their generally pro-GBLT policies;
FotF happy about "chilling effect" on speech of increased "indecency" fines;
FotF promotes abortion "waiting period," at the end of which women would be required to sign a document saying they weren't coerced into having an abortion;
FotF reports on anti-abortion-rights legislation in Virginia;
GOP to continue to push theocon-friendly judicial nominee confirmations;
Hm, this is neat; the same organisation that sued the University of Georgia to get a club which explicitly discriminates on religious grounds recognised and state funded also has this same shtick succeed in Missouri;
Court: Michigan State University cannot offer employees' same-sex partners health insurance under their new anti-marriage constitutional amendment; this was, of course, part of the goal;
Focus on the Family condemns including HPV vaccine in the mandatory school vaccination regimen in Texas;
Focus on the Family news report on anti-marriage amendment under consideration in the Indiana legislature; the American Family Association of Indiana says "the amendment would stop those who want to make marriage meaningless" - by participating in it as GBLT couples;
Faith and Freedom Network launches its new Washington State legislative strategy.
----- 1 -----
Woman jailed after reporting rape
By PHIL DAVIS, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 51 minutes ago
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070130/ap_on_re_us/jailed_rape_victim
TAMPA, Fla. - A woman who told police she had been raped was jailed for two days after officers found an old warrant accusing her of failing to pay restitution for a 2003 theft arrest. [Ed. Note: She was underage at the time; it was a juvie offense. See below.]
While she was behind bars, according to the college student's attorney, a jail worker refused to give her a second dose of the morning-after contraceptive pill because of the worker's religious convictions.
[...]
She reported the rape Saturday afternoon, and officers took her to a rape crisis center where she was given the first of two doses of the morning-after pill, McElroy said. The second dose is supposed to be taken within 24 hours.
Later, as she was riding in a patrol car trying to locate the crime scene in the dark, police found the warrant stemming from a 2003 juvenile arrest for grand theft and burglary. It said she owed $4,585.
"They stopped the investigation right there," and put her in handcuffs, Moore said.
[...]
Moore said his client believes she paid the fine for what he described as a childish mistake. He didn't have details of that arrest, but the woman has no criminal history as an adult, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
The sheriff's office, which runs the jail, said in a statement Tuesday that it is investigating the complaint and declined to comment further.
[More at URL]
----- 2 -----
Snickers Superbowl Web site promotes violence against gays and lesbians. Bears & Colts players react in disgust, on camera, to gays.
by John in DC - 2/05/2007 12:37:00 PM
AMERICAblog
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2007/02/snickers-superbowl-web-site-promotes.html
UPDATE: Snickers pulled the Web site containing the homophobic ads and commentary. Still no word from Snickers about the entire affair.
UDPATE: The largest gay civil rights group has called on Mars to remove the offensive content.
UPDATE: The Mars family, that produced the violently homophobic ads, is one of the top billionaire Republican activist families in the country. More here.
TAKE ACTION: Contact Snickers here.
If you thought the Snickers ad during last night's Superbowl was somewhat homophobic, you ain't seen nothin' yet. My good friend Andy Towle alerted me this morning to the fact that the Snickers' Web site outright endorses violence against gays.
A bit of background. The ad in question showed a mechanic eating a Snickers bar. Hi co-mechanic is so desirous of the Snickers that he starts eating it from the other end of the same bar that's already in the other guy's mouth. The two butch guys eat their way down the bar, like the dogs eating the same string of pasta in the Disney movie - until they're accidentally kissing. The guys, naturally, recoil in disgust - then, oddly, start ripping out their chest hair with their hands. Yeah it's homophobic, but it's also kind of funny, though a bit weird, so I was going to let it go. Well...
[Much more at URL]
----- 3 -----
Evangelicals Wage Anti-Evolution War
The East African Standard (Nairobi)
NEWS
January 12, 2007
By Eric Wamanji
Nairobi
http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/200701120826.html
A bronze sculpture at the entrance of the Museum. It details the development of man.
Kenya's world-class collection of hominid bones - primates belonging to a family of which the modern human being is the only species still in existence - is at the centre of a silent but intense war being waged by a section of the evangelical churches.
The priceless National Museums of Kenya (NMK) fossils pointing to man's evolution risk being relegated to the abyss as a section of the Church renews its war on science insisting that the evolution theory contradicts the biblical story of creation.
Bishop Boniface Adoyo of Nairobi Pentecostal Church (NPC), Christ is the Answer Ministries, is championing the 'hide-the-fossils' campaign, which has left scientists and historians perplexed.
[More at URL]
----- 4 -----
ISLAMIC CREATIONISM INVADES FRANCE (Updated)
February 03, 2007
Direland
http://direland.typepad.com/direland/2007/02/islamic_creatio.html
An article in yesterday's edition of Le Figaro, the conservative French daily, brings news that a new book written from an Islamic Creationist perspective, ""L'Atlas de la Création" (cover, right) is making waves in France. According to the newspaper, dozens of thousands of free copies of this diatribe against Darwinism were sent from Turkey and Germany to nearly all French schools and universities. The article does not say who paid for this expensive, lavishly-illustrated, 770-page anti-intellectual propaganda tome to be so massively distributed (although it asks the question.). Nor how whomever sent it was able to get a list of the "dozens of thousands" in educational establishments to whom it was individually addressed.
The French Education Ministry reacted by advising all educational establishments that the book does not conform to the national science-based curriculum and "should not be included in the centers of documentation and information in scholarly establishments," and commissioned a dissection and refutation of the book.
The book's pseudonymous author, a Turk named Harun Yahya ( photo left -- real name: Adnan Oktar), makes a number of astonishing claims -- including that Charles Darwin is "the real source of terrorism." For example, a photo of the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers carries a caption reading, "Those who perpetuate terror in the world are in reality the Darwinists. Darwinism is the only philosophy which validates and encourages conflict." Yahya also pretends to portray "the secret links between Darwinism and the bloody ideologies of fascism and communism."
[More at URL]
----- 5 -----
Gays Should Be Allowed to Serve Openly in Military, Poll Finds
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE
February 2, 2007
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB117035477766895153-tt5sKNkAY6_opz6nqIbr9rTV3Q0_20080202.html?mod=blogs
A new poll from Harris Interactive found that 55% of Americans think gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve openly in the military.
By comparison, 19% of the 2,337 Americans polled said gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve "only if they keep their sexual orientation a secret," and 18% said they should "not be allowed to serve in the military at all."
The survey, conducted online between Jan. 11 and 18, also measured American attitudes toward the U.S. military's "Don't Ask, Don't tell" policy, which prohibits the military from asking personnel about their sexual orientation, but allows homosexuality to be a cause for discharge from the military.
[More at URL]
----- 6 -----
Florida Courthouse Ten Commandments Under Attack
The ACLU wants the granite monument removed.
by Wendy Cloyd, assistant editor
Focus on the Family
February 8, 2007
[Received in email; no URL]
Florida Courthouse Ten Commandments Under Attack
by Wendy Cloyd, assistant editor
The ACLU wants the granite monument removed.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida filed a suit Tuesday in federal court that claims a Ten Commandments display in front of a county courthouse is unconstitutional.
According to the North Country Gazette, the granite monument was placed on the steps of the Dixie County Courthouse in November 2006 with the full endorsement of the County Commission.
But Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU Florida, said the Ten Commandments belong only in churches and synagogues.
"The Constitution prohibits the government from endorsing religious messages such as this one," Simon said. "In addition to the commonly held secular commandments about murder, stealing and honoring one's mother and father, the Ten Commandments also include strictly religious statements."
Bruce Hausknecht, judicial analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said even though it has lost several similar cases, the ACLU never tires in its relentless campaign to replace hometown values with its own rigid vision of a secularized America.
"Since the Supreme Court ruling in 2005 upholding a display of the Ten Commandments at the Texas Capitol," he said, "the ACLU has been on the losing end of at least six other such court challenges around the country."
In one defeat, Hausknecht said, a federal appeals court labeled as "tiresome" the ACLU's argument that the displays violate the separation of church and state.
David Cortman, senior counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund, said that's why the ACLU bullies small towns with the threat of expensive legal battles.
"Small towns don't have the budget, so rather than fight for something they have a right to do," he said, "it's more practical for them to cave in to the ACLU's demands and not to fight it."
Cortman said the facts surrounding each case differ, because each community has different laws about accepting donated monuments, and judges must determine the motive for placement, as well. But the ACLU seems to have only one motive in mind.
"One only needs to look at the cases that the ACLU takes across the country," he said. "Whether it's opposing Ten Commandments monuments like the one we have in this case, war memorials like the one in California, opposing the Boy Scouts -- the ACLU stands against anything that's sacred. It's an attempt to erase the religious history that we have in our country. "
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Learn more about the ACLU's attacks on religious liberty in The ACLU vs. America ( http://resources.family.org/product/the+aclu+vs.+america.do?search=basic&keyword=aclu&sortby=shortdesc&asc=true&page=1&refcd=CE07BCZL&tvar=no )
----- 7 -----
Texas Man Sentenced to Death for Killing Woman and Preborn Baby
Focus on the Family
February 8, 2007
[Received in email; no URL]
A 23-year-old Texas man who killed a teen and her preborn child was sentenced to death Wednesday, The Associated Press reported.
Adrian Estrada was convicted of capital murder in the death of Stephanie Sanchez and her baby. Sanchez was three-months pregnant when she died, Estrada confessed to the murder the next day.
This is the first death-penalty conviction for the murder of a preborn child in Texas. In 2003, the state Legislature amended the definition of the word "individual" to include an "unborn child at every state of gestation from fertilization until birth."
DNA evidence showed Estrada was the father.
----- 8 -----
Family Advocate Target of Online Death Threat
Focus on the Family
February 8, 2007
[Received in email; no URL]
Peter LaBarbera, founder of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, reports that someone posted a comment on a lesbian activist's blog that amounted to a death threat.
LaBarbera said the January 13 comment on a blog called Pam's House Blend
apparently gave out his home address and noted, "It's across from a park in an area with cul de sacs . . . Snipers take note."
The writer, who reportedly identified himself as "Barry G. Wick," also wrote: “If I were Azerbaijani and living in Russia right now, I’d want to advocate violence against skinheads … (LaBarbera) and others like him ought to know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, what future awaits them from a cadre of selected defenders willing to give up everything in order to protect the lives of gay and lesbian citizens. The greatest thing ever to happen to the (Martin Luther King) movement was the Black Panthers. Americans were shocked by an open display of firearms and Black Pride . . . Pushing back verbally . . . or with selected action isn’t dishonorable, it's necessary."
Blog owner Pam Spaulding removed the postings, LaBarbera said, and indicated she would have removed them earlier had she known they were there.
He said he notified the FBI of threat.
----- 9 -----
Roundup: State Pro-Life Legislation Sees Much Success, Some Failure
Focus on the Family
8 February 2007
[Received in email; no URL]
The Mississippi Senate passed three pro-life bills Wednesday, WLBT-TV reported. The first would ban abortion except in the case of rape and incest or if the mother's life is in danger. Additionally, lawmakers approved another that would require abortionists to offer women the chance to view an ultrasound image of their babies before the procedure. The third requires minors to seek a court order to get an abortion if they do not have parental consent.
Oklahoma lawmakers introduced legislation that would restrict abortions in state medical facilities and tighten enforcement of federal regulations concerning use of Plan B, the so-called morning-after pill, the Examiner-Enterprise reported.
Republican Rep. Lance Cargill, speaker of the Oklahoma House, said the proposal builds on a state parental-consent law passed last year.
"We're committed to building a culture of life in Oklahoma," he said. "Every human life is precious and worthy of protection."
The New Hampshire Senate Health and Human Services Committee rejected a bill Thursday that would have stopped Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers from receiving federal funding, The Dartmouth reported.
----- 9 -----
Mass. School Asks Judge to Drop Case Over Same-Sex Discussion
Focus on the Family
8 February 2007
[Received in email; no URL]
Officials from a Lexington, Mass., school district asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit claiming parental rights were violated when a kindergarten teacher discussed homosexuality in class, The Associated Press reported.
Tonia and David Parker file the suit after their son brought home "diversity curriculum" that equated same-sex unions with traditional marriage. They had requested the school send notification if homosexuality was to be discussed.
Though Massachusetts law requires parental notification when a teacher intends to discuss issues of sexuality, Superintendent Paul Ash said the school district had no obligation, because the topic of homosexuality is not about human sexuality, but about "tolerance and respect."
John Davis, attorney for the school district, told U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf that teaching diversity is a "legitimate state interest."
"The parents do have rights," he said. "But they don't have the right to dictate to the public school system what their children can be exposed to in the way of ideas."
Parker said parents do not want to dictate curriculum, but do want to be able to remove their children from discussions of homosexuality.
"When the teacher puts it forward, it becomes the gospel according to the teacher," he said. "The children are so young, they can't reflect on that idea. They're too young to put it in context."
----- 10 ------
Liberals Protect Chickens Over Children
Focus on the Family
8 February 2007
[Received in email; no URL]
The House Judiciary Committee considered a bill Monday to increase penalties for transporting animals across state lines for fighting -- largely an effort to oppose chicken fights.
Reps. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., and Peter King, R-N.Y., saw it as an opportunity to make an important point. They attempted to amend the bill with the language of the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act. It would make it a crime to circumvent state parental-notification laws by transporting a young girl across state lines for an abortion. That bill passed both chambers in the last Congress, but failed when Democratic leadership took the unusual step of refusing to appoint members to a conference committee to work out differences between the two versions.
The Democratic Judiciary Committee leadership ruled the pro-life amendment "non-germane" -- leading to a series of three procedural votes on whether to allow it. Each vote was down party lines, and, in the end, Democrats saw fit to give roosters more protection than parents, their daughters and preborn babies.
----- 11 -----
University of Georgia Affirms Christian Group
Focus on the Family
2-9-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000003862.cfm
University of Georgia officials approved a policy Thursday to allow a Christian fraternity to have members who reflect the organizations' beliefs, the Athens Banner-Herald reported.
Beta Upsilon Chi (BYX) -- for Brothers Under Christ -- had filed a discrimination suit after the university denied it recognition, access to funding and other support because of its membership rules.
[...]
Tim Tracey, an attorney with the Christian Legal Society's Center for Law and Religious Freedom who is representing BYX, said his clients will drop the lawsuit if the policy change provides a permanent exemption for religious student groups.
[Editor's note: I don't know, but I strongly suspect that the "membership rules" are discriminatory on the basis of religion, and the school had a rule saying clubs can't do that. ... ah, I'm right. Their claim is specifically that if they can't discriminate against people on the basis of religion, then their freedom of religion is being repressed and they are being discriminated against.]
----- 12 -----
Single-faith clubs allowed at UGA
By Rebecca K. Quigley| Morris News Service
Saturday, February 10, 2007
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/021007/met_116017.shtml
ATHENS, - President Michael Adams' cabinet approved a policy Thursday that allows religious student groups to restrict membership to people of the same faith, a move that likely will prompt a Christian fraternity to drop a discrimination suit against the University of Georgia.
The cabinet approved a policy amendment at its Thursday meeting that will allow faith-based student organizations that restrict membership to students of the same faith to register for state funds and other support from UGA's Campus Life office.
Beta Upsilon Chi, known as BYX or Brothers Under Christ, sued UGA leaders in federal court in December, claiming "religious discrimination" because university staff refused to register the group because it requires its members to be Christians.
[More at URL]
----- 13 -----
President Proposes More Funding for Abstinence Education
His budget flat-lines comprehensive sex ed.
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
2-9-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000003859.cfm
If President Bush gets his way, more money will be on the way to faith-based groups for abstinence education.
His budget proposes a $28 million increase for abstinence, but no boost for comprehensive sex education.
If the President's numbers stand up, the total contribution from the government to faith-based abstinence programs would reach as high as $191 million.
Many experts thought the president would back off abstinence programs in his final two years in office, but Leslee Unruh, president of the Abstinence Clearinghouse, said he must see that abstinence works.
"He wants to start really giving more to the grassroots so we can continue this," she told Family News in Focus.
[More at URL]
----- 14 -----
Virginia Episcopal Bishop Sues Exiting Churches
Exodus centers on how leadership views Scripture.
by Pete Winn, associate editor
Focus on the Family
2-9-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLtopstories/A000003868.cfm
A split within the Episcopal Church has begun and is on its way to court -- something akin to "divorce court," it seems.
More than 100 Episcopal parishes -- and some dioceses -- have either left the denomination or requested alternative oversight within the worldwide Anglican Communion. One of them is St. Stephen's Church in Heathsville, Va.
"We left the Episcopal Church because we could no longer be under the leadership of people who have the attitude that they did about the authority of Scripture," said the Rev. Jeffrey Cerar, rector of St. Stephen's. "Starting several years ago, the Episcopal Church elected and put in place a homosexual bishop and did so in disregard of the Scriptures. It was just a symptom of a much larger problem, which is that the leadership of the Episcopal Church does not regard Scripture as authoritative in the same sense that Christians always have before."
[More at URL]
----- 15 -----
Network Decisions Influenced by Threat of Higher Indecency Fines
Media watchers say that's how it's supposed to work.
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
2-9-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000003858.cfm
An increase in maximum fines for broadcast indecency seems to be getting the attention of network television executives.
Since Congress raised the maximum fine from $32,500 to $325,000 last year, Pat Trueman with the Alliance Defense Fund said he has noticed more care being taken by networks.
"What you've got is appropriate screening of the material they put out to the public, and that's appropriate," he said. "That's what indecency law was supposed to accomplish."
[More at URL]
----- 16 -----
Wisconsin Legislature to Debate Coerced-Abortion Measure
Focus on the Family
2-7-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000003842.cfm
If pro-life Wisconsin lawmakers have their way, women seeking an abortion would have to sign a statement saying they have not been pressured into taking the action, the (Madison, Wis.) Capital Times reported.
A bill suggested by Wisconsin Right to Life -- the Coercive Abortion Prevention Act -- would require women to sign a statement at the end of the required 24-hour waiting period.
[More at URL]
----- 17 -----
Virginia Lawmakers Pass Two Pro-Life Bills
Focus on the Family
2-7-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000003847.cfm
The Virginia House of Delegates approved two measures designed to ensure abortion-minded women are informed about the risks and outcomes of such a decision, LifeNews.com reported.
Republican Del. Kathy Byron sponsored a bill that would require abortionists to offer a client the chance to see an ultrasound of her preborn baby.
"It's medically responsible. It's logically responsible," she said. "It's also very important for women to have this information."
Republican Del. Ben Cline sponsored another pro-life bill that would require a doctor to inform women that an abortion after the 20th week of pregnancy will likely cause preborn babies to feel intense pain -- and to offer anesthesia for the baby. [Editor's note: I have been informed that this isn't actually true, as pain centres in the brain haven't developed yet at the 20th week. However, it is now part of the anti-abortion-rights activist mythos.]
[More at URL]
----- 18 ------
GOP Senators Make Judges Top Priority
Republican leader lays out a course.
by Pete Winn, associate editor
Focus on the Family
5 February 2007
[Received in email; no URL]
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he will personally lead efforts to make sure Democrats allow confirmation votes for President Bush's judicial nominees. He said judges will top the Republican legislative agenda.
"I'm deeply interested in this," McConnell told CitizenLink. "I'm not going to reveal any tactics, but I've been pressing (Democrats) at the beginning of the session to treat us fairly."
He said Republicans set a minimum number of 17 judges to be confirmed and added that Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has agreed to that number.
"We think that President Bush should be treated just as well as President Clinton was and President Bush 41 and President Reagan were in their last two years of their terms when the Senate was controlled by the opposition party " McConnell said. "Each of them had at least 17 judges confirmed."
Bruce Hausknecht, judicial analyst at Focus on the Family Action, said McConnell's focus was welcome news to pro-family conservatives.
"One of the key issues for conservatives has been the courts," he said. "Ever since President Bush took office in 2001, he has made the appointment of 'strict constructionists' -- judicial conservatives -- a high priority for the federal bench."
Hausknecht said strict constructionists view the Constitution as the Founders intended.
"They don't tend to come up with seat-of-the-pants decisions like Roe v. Wade, and others which have plagued the nation for decades," he added.
Roe v. Wade was the 1973 Supreme Court decision which legalized abortion throughout the U.S.
Republican senators also plan to focus on taxes, the budget and spending policy, health care, energy, national security and immigration reform.
Tom McClusky, vice president of government affairs at the Family Research Council, is pleased with the direction they seem to be taking.
"It's a very good start for what's going to be a very defensive Congress for social conservatives," he said.
McClusky said the number of judicial nominees blocked by Democrats has dwindled, because nominees have either asked to be pulled or the president did not renominate them.
Still, there was a lot Senate Republicans could have done to advance those nominations, he added.
"They could have allowed for more debate last time around," McClusky said. "They could have held hearings for some nominees who had not had hearings and not caved into the Democrats by having hearings for those who had numerous hearings."
McConnell, meanwhile, said he has good news about one blocked nomination. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has blocked Idahoan Randy Smith's appeals court nomination for months, claiming the seat belongs to a California nominee, rather than one from Idaho.
"We believe that we will get a confirmation of a 9th Circuit judge, which has been one of the most liberal and outrageous circuits," McConnell said, "before we take a break for the Lincoln recess at the end of next week."
----- 19 -----
Missouri University to Recognize Christian Fraternity
Focus on the Family
February 5, 2007
[Received in email; no URL]
The University of Missouri agreed to allow a Christian fraternity to register as a student organization after the Christian Legal Society (CLS) contacted campus officials. The fraternity had been denied because it would not agree to a religious nondiscrimination policy.
Beta Upsilon Chi (BYX) -- or Brothers Under Christ -- requires members to profess faith in Jesus Christ.
Timothy Tracey, litigation counsel for the CLS Center for Law & Religious Freedom, said Christian student groups have the same constitutional rights as other groups.
"Student groups like BYX are an asset to campus life," he said, "and should be encouraged, not discouraged."
----- 20 -----
Court Rules No Same-Sex Benefits in Michigan
Focus on the Family
2-2-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000003803.cfm
The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled today that public universities and state and local governments cannot offer health insurance to domestic partners of gay employees without violating the state constitution.
According to The Associated Press, a three-judge panel ruled that a 2004 constitutional amendment protecting marriage also applies to such benefits. It defined the union of a man and a woman as the only agreement recognized as a marriage "or similar union for any purpose."
[More at URL]
----- 21 -----
Texas Governor Mandates HPV Vaccination
Parents in every state need to speak up to protect their rights.
by Linda Klepacki, analyst for sexual health
Focus on the Family
2-2-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000003806.cfm
Texas Gov. Rick Perry made Texas the first state to require every schoolgirl to be vaccinated for the sexually transmitted Human Papillomavirus (HPV). The plan takes away the right of parents to decide whether their daughters will receive the vaccine.
The HPV vaccine -- marketed as Gardasil -- has the capability of saving lives around the world. But mandating vaccination for pubescent girls raises several important concerns.
Mona Passignano, state issues analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said, as the first in line, Perry had a chance to do this right, but instead he chose an 'opt out' provision.
[More at URL]
----- 22 ------
Indiana Legislature Considers Marriage Amendment
Focus on the Family
2-01-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000003792.cfm
A Hoosier State Senate committee approved a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as the union of one man and one woman. The state Legislature passed the amendment two years ago, but it must be passed a second time before going on the ballot for voter approval, The Indianapolis Star reported.
As the Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony in favor of the amendment from Republican Sen. Brent Steele, a group of protestors began to loudly sing "We Shall Overcome." After being gaveled, the protestors moved to the hall outside the gallery.
Micah Clark, executive director of the American Family Association of Indiana, said the amendment would stop those who want to make marriage meaningless.
[More on URL]
----- 23 -----
New FFN 2007 Legislative Agenda
Faith and Freedom Network
February 1, 2007
[Received in email; no URL]
Dear XXXXX,
We have revised our 2007 Legislative Agenda.
Our revised Agenda will be addressing the following: Marriage and Family, Child Protection Laws, Parental Responsibility, Stewardship and Conservation, and Honoring our Soldiers and Veterans.
We have just added to the website a 2-page flyer detailing the bills that Jon Russell, FFN Lobbyist is addressing with lawmakers everyday in Olympia.
This flyer is designed for you to download and distribute among your circle of influence. It is imperative that as many people as possible contact elected officials expressing their support or opposition for these bills.
If possible, please distribute these in your church this weekend.
To vote in the new FFN poll, click here.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD FLYER!
[Ed. Note: I'd include the flyer text in another message, but their site is broken right now.]
God bless you,
Gary Randall
Faith and Freedom Network & Foundation
