". . . science itself has ended the debate . . . Nowadays, everyone wants a bailout. Embryo-destructive scientists are only the latest group to claim they're too big to fail, when in fact they've never succeeded . . . "

"The Obama administration announced today that it will appeal a federal judge's decision striking down President Barack Obama's executive order forcing taxpayers to fund embryonic stem cell research."

Los Angeles Times: "Proposition 39, which was passed by voters in 2000, requires school districts to provide charter schools with facilities that are reasonably equivalent to those of other schools in the district. About 60,000 students in L.A. Unified have opted to attend charter schools. But administrators have in no way tried to meet the 'reasonably equivalent' standard . . . When charter schools manage to get funding to build their own schools independent of the district, they do so for far less money than the LAUSD does."

"The Americans leave behind 'an Iraq worse off than the one they found seven years ago,' said Warduni, who’s widely regarded as the most charismatic voice among the Iraqi bishops . . . . Now there’s only rubble. We’ve become targets, we’re afraid to even leave the house. The situation is worse for everyone, but especially for us Christians. The withdrawal of the United States is a disastrous flight from responsibility . . . "

"In a ruling involving a mentally disabled man whose legal guardians sought the power to end his medical care, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has determined that state law requires life-preserving treatment for people who are not near death and have not refused treatment."

"'We feel disturbed when we hear that a minaret has been banned in Europe. We should be protecting freedom of religion for different religions in our own territory."

"Recognizing that the current Congress could change the provision relied on by the court to strike down the Obama policy, Nikas encouraged states legislatures to consider enacting complete prohibitions on embryonic stem cell research and human cloning similar to the BDF-drafted bill recently enacted in Arizona."

"High unemployment rates, hate crime, poverty, poor housing, lack of access to health care and discriminatory hiring practices are among the challenges the report identified as affecting blacks, Latinos, Muslims, South Asians, Native Americans and gays and lesbians in the United States."

"A federal court Monday issued an order that prevents the Obama administration from carrying out its embryonic stem cell research policy while a lawsuit against it proceeds in court. The court concluded that the policy, which allows such research, is likely to be in violation of a federal law known as the “Dickey/Wicker Amendment” that prohibits federal funds from being used on research that involves the destruction of human embryos."

The complaint alleges: "[T]he State of Wyoming denies its gay and lesbian residents access to marriage by providing in its state law that only a civil marriage 'between a man and woman' is 'valid or recognized in Wyoming.'"

"A Ninth Circuit panel issued three very interesting opinions on this subject today . . . in Spencer v. World Vision, Inc. . . .

"A U.S. district court issued a preliminary injunction on Monday stopping federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research, saying it involves the destruction of human embryos."

New York Daily News: Mayor Bloomberg was eloquent in his defense of religious freedom when he spoke up for the mosque near the World Trade Center site. We wish his fervor extended to the small church congregations that only want to rent vacant public school auditoriums in New York City for Sunday services . . . The Bronx Household of Faith got its start in 1971, in a poor neighborhood not far from Yankee Stadium. Its dogged attorney, [Jordan Lorence] of the Alliance Defense Fund, has represented the church since 1995, and states the purpose of the congregation this way: 'to demonstrate how the Gospel of Christ could transform the community - reducing crime and drug use, rebuilding families and ultimately benefiting the entire neighborhood' . . . some 60 congregations have taken root in city school auditoriums across the city, their future anything but secure."

"[S]ome researchers compare the evolution in thinking about gender to the struggle that began a generation ago for gay and lesbian rights."

"The number of civil partnerships being registered annually has fallen and dissolutions have almost doubled, according to official figures. Newly released figures from the Office for National Statistics show that during 2009 6,281 civil partnerships were formed in the UK, a 12 per cent reduction from 2008 when there were 7,169."

"[Walker's] decision is by no means neutral between competing moral viewpoints. It effectively writes a rejection of natural law theory into the constitution."

HRC: Today President Obama appointed Richard Sorian as Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, Department of Health and Human Services. | White House press release

"San Diego sheriff’s deputies cuffed and removed several protesters at the County Clerk’s Office on the day that same-sex marriages were supposed to resume . . . Three people sat in front of one door and blocked several heterosexual couples from entering."

"Walker simply rules out the notion that there may have been reasons for turning away from the homosexual life. Homosexuals were simply 'disliked,' an aversion without reason. 'Moral judgments' come down in the end to irrational beliefs; and they could supply then no justification for the law. In this way, the wave of relativism inverts language and dissolves any moral ground for the law."

"The taxpayer-supported survey from 2008 found that around 70 percent of parents and their teenagers believed that teens should wait until marriage to have sex."