Category: Politics

Four Texas abortionists associated with the Whole Women’s Health abortion chain are facing disciplinary action based on complaints filed by Operation Rescue.

The Texas Medical Board notified Operation Rescue President Troy Newman that William Watkins West Jr., Robert E. Hanson Jr., Pedro J. Kowalyszyn and Sherwood C. Lynn will appear before an Informal Settlement Conference/Show Compliance hearing on Oct. 28 to determine what, if any, disciplinary action should be taken against them.

They join five other Texas abortionists who are also facing disciplinary action based on Operation Rescue complaints.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday urged 19 visiting diplomats to oppose a drive by the Palestinians to win unilateral recognition of statehood at the United Nations without negotiating a peace agreement with Israel.

The delegation of 18 Washington-based ambassadors from four continents and one other senior diplomat met Netanyahu on day two of a five-day fact-finding mission to Israel and the West Bank organized by The Israel Project.

“I am going to ask you not to support this resolution,” Netanyahu told the group. He said the resolution, which Palestinian leaders are expected to bring to the United Nations General Assembly next month, could seriously damage the peace process and make future negotiations much more difficult.

Republican presidential candidates former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and former Sen. Rick Santorum (Pa.) are set to participate in a … Read More

The Air Force has suspended a course that was taught by chaplains for more than 20 years because the material included Bible passages.

The course, called “Christian Just War Theory” was taught by chaplains at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., and used Scripture from both the Old and New Testaments to show missile launch officers that it can be moral to go to war.

The American Civil Liberties Union has demanded a Georgia school district to deactivate its Web filter that currently blocks student … Read More

News that the first hard-core porn company is now in business on the XXX domain caused Morality in Media Tuesday to call for an investigation of ICM Registry, the company behind the XXX domain, for possible violations of federal laws prohibiting distribution of hard-core obscene Internet pornography.

“Title 18 United States Code Sections 1462 and 1465 prohibit distribution of hard-core, obscene Internet pornography. Yet, isn’t that the purpose of the XXX domain?” asked Patrick A. Trueman, president of Morality in Media and former chief of the U.S. Department of Justice Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Criminal Division in Washington, D.C.

“Further, Title 18 U.S. C. Section 2 prohibits aiding and abetting a federal crime and title 18 U.S.C. 371 prohibits a conspiracy to commit a federal crime. The U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder should review the activities of ICM Registry in relation to these federal  criminal laws immediately,” said Trueman.

The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) says the ACLU has no legal standing to challenge an Ohio courtroom display containing the Ten Commandments. In a brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court, the ACLJ contends that an appeals court erred in its decision declaring unconstitutional a judge’s poster on legal philosophy that included the Ten Commandments.

“The Supreme Court has a perfect opportunity to make it clear that a governmental affirmation of moral absolutes, symbolized here by the Ten Commandments, does not violate the Constitution,” said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the ACLJ, which is representing Judge James DeWeese in DeWeese v. ACLU. “It’s time for the high court to set the record straight: the display by Judge DeWeese is a constitutionally-permissible method of explaining his legal and moral philosophy – the same philosophy embraced by our founders.”

Over the weekend on Saturday, Florida Gov. Rick Scott held a ceremonial bill signing for a package of four pro-life bills in the library of the Governor’s Mansion, marking the culmination of one of the most successful legislative sessions the pro-life movement in Florida’s history.

Scott was joined at the ceremony by the legislative bill sponsors and representatives from the Florida Family Policy Council, the Florida Baptist Convention and the Florida Catholic Conference. Legislators present included State Representatives Dennis Baxley, Rachel Burgin, Larry Ahern, Keith Perry, Mat Gaetz, Kelli Stargel and Elizabeth Porter.

In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit on Friday upheld a district court’s ban on prayers by clergy that may mention a particular deity prior to public meetings in Forsyth County, N.C.

The Alliance Defense Fund, a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith, is representing the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners. ADF attorneys point out that the decision of the lawsuit Joyner v. Forsyth County is in conflict with other federal court decisions and out of step with the history of invocations in America.

“America’s founders opened public meetings with prayer. There’s no reason that today’s public officials should be forced to censor the prayers of those invited to offer them simply because secularist groups don’t like people praying according to their own conscience,” said Mike Johnson, an ADF-allied attorney and founding dean of Louisiana College’s Pressler School of Law, who argued before the 4th Circuit in May. “The legal team will confer with the county about the process of appealing [Friday’s] decision.”

A Tennessee man was peacefully distributing Christian literature in front of an Oakland, Tenn., post office when he was arrested for trespassing. At the request of the postmaster, Michael Choate was arrested for handing out tracts on a public sidewalk 40 feet from the entrance of the building.

Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed a lawsuit Friday against the United States Postal Service for the unconstitutional treatment of Choate. The ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith.

“Christians shouldn’t be arrested and silenced for peacefully sharing their beliefs on public property,” says Nate Kellum, ADF senior counsel. “The post office isn’t above the law and cannot take away citizens’ constitutionally protected rights just because it or its customers might not agree with the content of someone’s speech or literature. Our client isn’t harassing anyone; he’s simply desiring to quietly share his faith in a completely public forum.”

North Carolina pro-life supporters are celebrating as a new measure will be enforced to discourage women from getting abortions.

On Thursday the North Carolina Senate overrode Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue’s veto of a mandatory ultrasound bill in a 29 to 19 vote.

Doctors in the state will now be required to give an ultrasound to women seeking an abortion before performing the procedure. They also must describe the fetus in detail. Women will have to wait 24 hours before being allowed to kill their baby.

After withstanding much persecution, Texas Gov. Rick Perry will be allowed to attend his scheduled prayer and fasting event next … Read More

As the Senate Judiciary Committee was set to vote on President Obama’s nomination of Steve Six to the Federal Appeal Court on Thursday, committee chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) issued a statement that the nomination would not be considered by the committee.

That move essentially scuttled Six’s nomination.

Operation Rescue was the first to express opposition to Six’s nomination, noting his interference in abortion investigations and his efforts to gag a District Court judge and bury incriminating evidence against Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, which faces 107 criminal charges. On June 27, Operation Rescue called on Obama to withdraw Six’s nomination.

“Six repeatedly allowed his personal and political biases to influence his professional judgment, and that alone makes him unfit for the Federal Appeals Court,” says Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. “Today we are celebrating this victory for the cause of justice.”

A federal judge’s Wednesday ruling allows the federal government to continue funding embryonic stem cell research.

As U.S. District Judge Royce Lambreth sees it, his hands are tied by an appellate court decision that reversed his August 2010 order to stop funding based on a federal law prohibiting the practice.

“While it may be true that by following the Court of Appeals’ conclusion as to the ambiguity of ‘research,’ this Court has become a grudging partner in a bout of ‘linguistic jujitsu,’ … such is life for an antepenultimate court,” Lambreth wrote in his ruling.  “Therefore the D.C. Circuit’s conclusion that the term ‘research’ in the Dickey-Wicker Amendment is ambiguous binds this Court.”

The World Trade Center Memorial seems like a logical place to erect a symbol of Christianity. But an atheist group is challenging the cross at this historic location.

American Athiests wants to tear down the World Trade Center cross at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York City and has filed a lawsuit, American Atheists v. Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, in New York state court Monday. But Christian legal experts say the attempt is completely out of step with the Constitution.

“One atheist group’s agenda shouldn’t diminish the sacrifice made by the heroes of 9/11,” says ADF Senior Counsel Byron Babione. “A cross like this one simply does not amount to a government establishment of religion under either the U.S. Constitution or the New York Constitution.

Displays of the Ten Commandments continue to offend secular humanists. But Christian legal groups continue to defend the right to allow them in the public square.

The Liberty Council on Tuesday filed a Notice of Appeal on behalf of Dixie County, Fla., at the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals to defend the county’s Open Forum policy. The policy allows private displays of law and history, including the Ten Commandments.

Liberty Counsel represents Dixie County in a federal lawsuit the ACLU filed in 2007 after the county permitted a local resident to erect a Ten Commandments monument outside the county courthouse, where other private displays are also allowed.

Right to Life of Kansas released a report analyzing the most recent U.S. abortion data. The report assesses nearly 40 years of American pro-life political strategy.

“As the pro-life movement prepares to enter its fourth decade of fighting abortion, it is imperative that it look in the mirror and assess its progress towards ending abortion,” it reads. “The findings of this report are devastating to analyze.”

Information for the report was gathered from a 2011 Alan Guttmacher Institute paper, as well as a recent Barna Group Survey and Gallup poll results. The Guttmacher Institute follows trends such as annual number of abortions, abortion rate and the number of states using taxpayer funds to pay for abortions. Of the 10 indicators of the status of abortion in America, the report notes that every category is either “stable” or “increasing.”

As presidential hopefuls continue declaring their intentions to battle President Obama in 2012, the American Center for Law and Justice is still battling one of Obama’s initiatives in court.

The ACLJ on Monday urged a federal appeals court to reinstate its lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of ObamaCare, explaining that its position is both “grounded in the Constitution” and Supreme Court precedent.

In a reply brief filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the ACLJ contends the arguments put forth by the Department of Justice “lack support in the text, history or related Supreme Court jurisprudence of the Commerce or Necessary and Proper Clauses” of the U.S. Constitution.

The battle over gay marriage in New York isn’t quite over yet. That’s because Liberty Counsel has discovered what it calls “flagrant violations” of the New York state constitutional and legal procedures in connection with the bill’s passage.

Armed with proof of these violations—which include alleged strong-arm tactics—Liberty Counsel filed a law suit  in the New York Supreme Court for declaratory and injunctive relief against the same-sex marriage law Gov. Cuomo signed on June 24.

“New York law requires that the government be open and transparent to keep political officials responsible. When government operates in secret and freezes out the very people it is supposed to represent, the entire system fails,” says Mathew Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel and dean of Liberty University School of Law. “The back-room tactics were rampant in the passages of this law. The law should be set aside and the process should begin again to allow the people a voice in the process.”

Opponents of Senate Bill 48 have worked quickly and vigorously to create a referendum that will temporarily halt the controversial Fair, Accountable, Inclusive and Respectful Education Act (FAIR Act).

The FAIR Act, written by self-admitted homosexual state Sen. Mark Leno of San Francisco, will force all California schools to use textbooks and instructional materials that include homosexual, bisexual and transgender teachings.

The bill passed the Assembly Education committee on June 22, and on July 5 the state Assembly sent it through to Gov. Jerry Brown on a 49-25 vote. Brown signed the bill on July 14, making California the first U.S. state required to teach students about the contributions of homosexuals, bisexuals and transgenders.

Blind activist Chen Guangcheng, reportedly suffering malnutrition under house arrest for exposing forced abortions in China, may soon find relief.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee unanimously passed Rep. Chris Smith’s amendment to the State Department 2012 appropriation bill, which amendment supports Guangcheng and his wife.

“We thank Rep. Chris Smith for his leadership in sponsoring this far-reaching amendment, which urges the Chinese government to stop harassing the Chen family, to release them from house arrest and to arrange for immediate medical treatment,” says Reggie Littlejohn, president of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers.

“It further urges the Obama administration to arrange diplomatic visits to the Chen family. Beyond this, it highlights the issue of forced abortion and coercive family planning in China.”