Fla. school advised that faculty can participate in, communicate about community-led prayer event

We read:

"The Alliance Defense Fund sent a letter Friday to Clay County School District officials informing them that voluntary faculty participation in a community-led, before-school prayer event is protected by the First Amendment despite the objections of the Freedom From Religion Foundation. The letter also explains that a school principal’s internal newsletter, which mentioned the event, is also constitutionally protected.

“Christian faculty acting in their private capacities do not lose their constitutionally protected right to free speech,” said ADF Senior Counsel David Cortman. “The Constitution guards the right of staff to participate in the voluntary prayer event just as other community members can. The inclusion of the event in the newsletter that the principal circulated is also fully protected. Neither amount to an endorsement of religion by the school in any way, shape, or form.”

The Freedom From Religion Foundation sent a letter to the School District of Clay County on Oct. 11 demanding cancellation of a weekly, community-led “Prayer Around the Flagpole” event at Clay Hill Elementary School that occurs before class time and is not sponsored by the school.

The letter also objected to Principal Larry Davis’s mention of the event in his internal newsletter. The newsletter, which he calls “The Bark,” also mentioned several other events and announcements of interest to school faculty and staff, the only recipients of the newsletter. The newsletter is not circulated to students.

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Canadian case sparks constitutional challenge

Christian campaigner attacks the law under which he was wrongfully charged

"The Supreme Court of Canada will hear a case today that challenges the constitutionality of the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code.

The case involves Bill Whatcott, who was found by a lower court to have violated the code by delivering hate-filled messages against gay people in flyers he distributed. However, that finding that was reversed by the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal in 2010.

Whatcott is questioning part of the code that allows the commission to charge people with hate speech. His lawyer has said human rights commissions have an obligation to protect freedom of religion.

Whatcott was found to have violated the code when he put pamphlets in mailboxes objecting to the teaching of same-sex relations in Saskatoon public schools.

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Whatcott pulls no punches, as you can see here, so Canada must be learning the meaning of free speech to let him continue with his leafletting.

Ad for gun training bars Muslims and Obama voters, PC police go ballistic

No freedom to teach?

A radio ad for a handgun training class that bars Muslims and Obama voters has sparked an investigation in Texas.

"We will attempt to teach you all the necessary information you need to obtain your [Concealed Handgun License]," the ad says. Then towards the end, it adds: "If you are a socialist liberal and/or voted for the current campaigner in chief, please do not take this class. You have already proven that you cannot make a knowledgeable and prudent decision under the law."

And then: "If you are a non-Christian Arab or Muslim, I will not teach you the class with no shame; I am Crockett Keller, thank you, and God bless America."

The ad ran for six days on KHLB, Mason's local station. It's also been heard tens of thousands of times on Youtube.

The Department of Public Safety said in a statement that certified instructors of handgun training are required to comply with all applicable state and federal laws, and added: "Conduct by an instructor that denied service to individuals on the basis of race, ethnicity or religion would place that instructor's certification by the Department at risk of suspension or revocation."

It seems unlikely that Keller will back down, though. "I'm not going to do it," he told the local news. "I will give up my license to teach before I will teach them," he said, referring to Obama voters and Muslims.

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South Africa bans deodorant advert showing angels falling from heaven... because it offends Christians

South Africa is a very Christian place in theory -- though not in practice

An advert which shows angels falling from heaven because they are attracted to a man's deodorant has been banned in South Africa after regulators ruled it could offend Christians.

The 60-second commercial depicts a group of provocatively-dressed young female angels descending to earth in what appears to be an Italian town.

Shocked locals then watch in amazement as the haloed women walk towards a young man who is preparing to ride his moped.

A final scene shows the women smashing their haloes on the floor as they advance towards the man, whom the viewers are informed is wearing Axe deodorant. A pay-off line at the end of the advert reads: 'Even angels will fall.'

However it became subject to a probe by the country's Advertising Standards Authority following a complaint from a Christian viewer. The male complainant told regulators he was angered by the suggestion that God's messengers could literally fall for a man on the basis of his shop-bought fragrance.

The ASA banned the advert earlier this month after ruling it was likely others would also be offended.

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One would think that the South African authorities would be using their employees more productively by doing something to tackle the country's huge rate of violent crime, robbery and murder.

Muslims say crosses at Catholic University Violate “Human Rights”

We read:

"The Washington, D.C. Office of Human Rights confirmed that it is investigating allegations that Catholic University violated the human rights of Muslim students by not allowing them to form a Muslim student group and by not providing them rooms without Christian symbols for their daily prayers.

The investigation alleges that Muslim students “must perform their prayers surrounded by symbols of Catholicism – e.g., a wooden crucifix, paintings of Jesus, pictures of priests and theologians which many Muslim students find inappropriate.”

Source

So why are they going to a private Catholic university? They will certainly find no crosses at a State university

No freedom to name your kids as you wish?

A name is evidence of child abuse? America is a very authoritarian place at times. The child welfare goons below sound like they are imitating Hitler rather than opposing him.

Parents who named two of their children "Adolf Hitler" and "Aryan Nation" lost custody of all three of their children Thursday, even though they say a New Jersey appeals court found no evidence of abuse, ruling the children have been taken away without cause

“Actually, the judge and DYFS told us that there was no evidence of abuse and that it was the names. They were taken over the children's names,” Heath Campbell told NBC 10 Tuesday.

However, the appeals court ruled last year that sufficient evidence of abuse or neglect existed because of domestic violence in the home, and removed the children from their Philipsburg, N.J.home.

In protest, Heath and Deborah Campbell picketed with three other people outside of child services offices in Flemington, N.J., Tuesday, saying that the state has no right to keep their children away from them now that the court allegedly ruled that the kids were taken away without cause, NBC 10 reports.

At the time both parents acknowledge the hate behind their children's names. But say that was not their intention. "This is America, they say it's free, you have the right to name your child whatever you want to name your child, no matter what," Heath Campbell said.

Source

Another Leftist Jew hater

He's a pro-Castro Cuban who is employed to teach Latin American history!

"A Kent State history professor, who has allegedly been linked to elements of Muslim extremism, reportedly lashed out at a former Israeli diplomat speaking at the university Tuesday night.

The event was co-sponsored by the undergraduate student government and entitled “An Evening with Ishmael Khaldi.” Khaldi spoke in regards to his book, A Shepherd’s Journey, which details his life journey from a small tent in a Bedouin village to the inner-circles of the Israel Foreign Service.

When his speech ended, Khaldi opened the floor to a Q&A, where History Professor Julio Pino rushed to be the first to question Khaldi.

Pino began to question how Khaldi could justify speaking of foreign aid given from Israel to countries like Turkey, when that aid was financed by “blood money that came from the deaths of Palestinian children and babies.”

The exchange ended as Pino stormed out of the auditorium shouting ‘Death to Israel!’”

Following the altercation, Khaldi remained calm and continued to take questions, telling the crowd “Let’s respect each other; it starts from there.”

Joshua Burton, Chairman of the Ohio College Republican Federation, has urged that Kent State officials investigate the educational practices of “this dangerous professor, to ensure this hateful and violent rhetoric is not being instructed in the courses he teaches.”

Source

He's a real nutcase. See here. Like old Karl Marx he seems to hate just about everybody. Another brilliant use of taxpayer dollars.

Atheist Group Sues Over Prayers at High School Football Games That Include ‘Jesus'

How does having a prayer said in your hearing hurt anyone? A real atheist would just think that the person praying was talking to himself. This is just Leftist hatred of Christianity.

"An Alabama school district has been accused of allowing prayers that invoke the name of Jesus during high school football games, according to a complaint filed by a national atheist organization.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation said the Lauderdale County school district has violated the First Amendment by allowing the prayers at Brooks High School.

The complaint was lodged by a single resident who objected to the student-led prayer before high school football games played on school property.

The Times Daily newspaper identified the complainant as Jeremy Green. In an email to the newspaper, Green said he was taking a stand for the so-called “separation of church and state in an effort to protect the constitutional rights of the non-religious.”

Valentine said that to his knowledge, no one has ever lodged a complaint with the school system about the prayers..... He said the complaint has generated lots of telephone calls – mostly in support of keeping the prayers.

McKelvey said he’s attended football games when students deliver prayer and to his knowledge they have always been benign – mostly prayers for the players, the coaches, the referees and the fans.

“They are in the Christian context with the student ending the prayer in Jesus’ name,” he said.

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Some more Leftist "civility"


The charming Mr Jones above

We read:

"Just when attacks — whether they are serious statements or jokes — against Sarah Palin and her family seem like they’ve reached an unprecedented climax, someone always seems to up the ante. On October 22, actor Orlando Jones (MADtv) tweeted
the following message:



While Jones is a comedian and typically tweets jokes out from his social media account, some see this one as going a bit too far over the line. Following the tragic shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, negative political rhetoric has been on the chopping block (or, at the least, there‘s been a fair share of rhetoric about the nation’s political discourse).

Source

A strange (female) Air Force veteran

We read:

"An Air Force veteran is outraged that her daughter’s school recently announced that students will be asked to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at the start of each day, the Seattle Times reports.

Haley Sides, 26, moved to Seattle after four years in the Air Force so her 6-year-old daughter could attend John Stanford International School, which promotes the same multiculturalism that Sides says she has tried to instill in her half-Jamaican daughter, according to the paper.

But Sides became angry when the school’s new principal announced that students will be asked to recite the Pledge of Allegiance each day before the start of classes. The policy, which has long been mandated by district policy but not traditionally observed at John Stanford , will start Monday.

Students who don't want to participate will be allowed to sit or stand respectfully.

At John Stanford's weekly coffee hour Friday, the pledge was a hot topic of conversation among the dozen or so parents in attendance. Janet Robinson, the PTSA treasurer, argued that its recitation would be an opportunity to talk about an important representation of American freedom and liberty. "It's a symbol of our country," she said.

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Texas Politicians Fight to Stop Confederate Flag License Plate

We read:

"A proposed Texas license plate created to honor Confederate veterans is under fire from elected officials who have vowed to protest the plate’s Confederate flag design, the Houston Chronicle reports.

"We cannot allow the state to issue a symbol of intimidation," U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, said to a crowd of community leaders outside the Civil Courthouse Saturday.

Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, said that allowing these license plates would be allowing the people who lost a war to write history. [So? Why not? Is there a specially privileged class who alone may write history?]

The controversial design was created to honor Confederate veterans on the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War.

According to the paper, the proposal is sponsored by Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson on behalf of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, a group that has won approval of the plates in nine other states, including Georgia, Maryland and Tennessee.

It has filed and won lawsuits in states where its requests were denied.

Source

Some background on Sheila Jackson Lee here

Christian Club Sues School Over Media Restriction

We read:

"An Oklahoma school district is facing a lawsuit for allegedly forbidding organizers of a Christian club from promoting events on campus. “This is a simple matter of a school district targeting a Christian organization,” said Matt Sharp, an attorney representing the “Kids for Christ,” a community-led Christian group suing the Owasso Public Schools.

Sharp, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, said the school district told the club it could no longer publicize its events – including discouraging organizers from spreading the word in the community and local media.

“They have a specific policy on the books that targets religious expression by community organizations,” he told Fox News.

School officials confirmed Monday afternoon they had received the lawsuit – but said they have not had time to review the contents.

Other groups, including the Boy Scouts and YMCA, are allowed to promote activities at the school, but the Christian group is not.

Source

Will Statue of Jesus Get Yanked From Federal Land on Montana Mountain?

We read:

"A statue of Jesus on U.S. Forest Service land in the mountains over a Montana ski resort could be evicted as out-of-state groups advocating for the separation of church and state have applied pressure on the Forest Service.

AP reports that the Forest Service gave supporters a small victory by withdrawing its initial decision to boot the Jesus statue from its perch above Whitefish Friday, but the agency warns that “court decisions are stacked against allowing a religious icon on federal land.”

Supporters tout the statue’s significance to the area since its placement in the 1950s, and popularity among skiers passing the statue on the mountain top

The Madison, Wisconsin-based, Freedom From Religion Foundation argues that the icon cannot be on public land, and is pushing the Forest Service to stand by its decision to remove the statue by next year.

The Billings Gazette writes that Flathead National Forest Supervisor Chip Weber announced that he had withdrawn an earlier decision to deny a special-use permit for the statue, based off new information that the statue may be eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The Gazette notes that overwhelming support has been shown for the statue from members of the public.

The special-use permit that originally allowed a local chapter of the Knights of Columbus to install the memorial was granted in 1953. The KOC installed the statue as a memorial to local veterans of World War II.

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Demoted for not backing gay marriage: British Christian's pay slashed for criticising proposed new law on Facebook

We read:

"A housing manager has been demoted, and his salary slashed, after he criticised a controversial new gay rights law.

Adrian Smith, a Christian, was found guilty of gross misconduct by his publicly funded housing association for saying that allowing gay weddings in churches was ‘an equality too far’.

He posted the comment in his own time, on his personal page on the Facebook website, which could not be read by the general public.

But after a disciplinary hearing, he was downgraded from his £35,000-a-year managerial job to a much less senior £21,000 post – and avoided the sack only because of his long service.

Campaigners attacked the housing association’s decision – the latest in a series of cases in which Christians have clashed with employers – as a ‘complete over-reaction’ by an organisation ‘drenched in political correctness’.

Lawyers for Mr Smith, whom friends describe as affable and non-confrontational, say his comments were merely expressing an ‘honest belief’ based on his Christian faith.

Source

He is now suing

Attempt to silence British anti-immigrant party

We read:

"A council has said it will cancel a village hall’s rate subsidy if it hosts a speech by British National Party leader Nick Griffin.

Mr Griffin is due to give a talk at Baldslow Memorial Hall in St Leonards, East Sussex, today. But Hastings Borough Council has told those who run the hall they will have to repay the £376 they received as a charity in rate relief if the speech goes ahead.

However the council has been accused of trying to 'blackmail' the village hall.

Hastings Borough Council leader Jeremy Birch said the local authority was 'committed to equality of opportunity and to community harmony. He added: 'We have no intention of providing financial subsidy to those who aim to undermine these principles.'

BNP party spokesman Simon Darby said: 'It's quite beyond belief what they are trying to do. 'They're basically seeking to tax people who don't agree with the Labour Party, which is not really the British way to do things.

'It's effectively blackmail, putting a gun to the people that run the hall by giving them a financial penalty if Nick is allowed to speak there. He's an MEP [Member of the European Parliament], he's not some person off the street.'

Source

Ten Commandments battle: ACLU versus small Florida county

We read:

"Residents in thinly populated Dixie County on Florida’s Gulf Coast are battling the American Civil Liberties Union over a Ten Commandments monument at their county courthouse.

The ACLU of Florida has sued on behalf of an anonymous non-county resident who wants to remove the five-foot tall, six-ton monument, which was paid for and is being maintained by a local businessman.

Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida, says Dixie County commissioners violated the First Amendment when they allowed the monument’s placement outside the courthouse. The case, he said, “is about the Dixie County Commission essentially endorsing a sacred religious document on a monument on the steps of the county courthouse with nothing else around it.”

Horatio Mihet, an attorney for Liberty Counsel, a religious liberty law firm defending Dixie County, counters that the county did not endorse the Ten Commandments, but simply created a forum in which residents could exercise their First Amendment free speech rights.

He charges that the ACLU is not defending constitutional liberties, but is silencing free expression. "Instead of promoting free speech, instead of trying to have as inclusive a forum as possible, what the ACLU is trying to do is come down and squelch, censor, speech that they don’t agree with,” said Mihet.

A federal judge sided with the ACLU in July and ordered the monument removed. Dixie County appealed and the monument remains in place pending the outcome.

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Federal Reserve Tries to Censor Infowars Video

I don't always agree with Alex Jones but this action seems to be censorship for censorship's sake and a probable breach of the 1st Amendment

"Alex Jones addresses the latest intimidation tactic from the private Federal Reserve bank, whose San Antonio branch has filed a privacy violation with You Tube demanding the removal of a video filmed at the location during an "occupy" rally.

Alex tells them cease and desist this action, which violates the First Amendment. Federal Reserve branches across the country have a long history of trying to stifle free speech and press coverage, from fraudulently claiming that filming its buildings is illegal to threatening arrest and more.

Source

The video concerned



Alex Jones responds

"Occupiers" abuse a black man as a "N*gger"

If anybody else had used that word there would have been hell to pay. But Leftists can say anything they like, of course

A man who displayed a handgun at Occupy Portland’s downtown encampment after a dispute with protesters has been arrested, police said in a statement Thursday. The argument took place Wednesday afternoon when 32-year-old Jason C. Parker was challenged verbally by protesters after filming tents, police said. One of the protesters used a racial epithet against Parker, who is black, police said.

A witness said Parker was filming inside tents without permission and displayed the gun more than once after protesters at the camp displayed knives. “He pulled his shirt halfway up and showed me he had a piece,” said Jason Kersten, who works in the camp’s security group. “This is a peaceful protest. You don’t bring a gun.”

Kersten acknowledged that someone used a racial epithet. “The N-word was used by some people in the camp,” he said.

Parker had a license to carry the concealed handgun. He was charged with second-degree disorderly conduct.

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Electric car maker runs out of charge

We read:

"US car maker Tesla has lost a crucial round of its high-profile libel case against the BBC's Top Gear motoring program.

The electric car specialist had launched legal action against Top Gear and lead presenter Jeremy Clarkson earlier this year after it alleged a 2009 episode of the show deliberately misled viewers regarding the battery range of its Roadster model.

The segment showed the film crew pushing the Tesla off the test track, with controversial host Clarkson claiming the Roadster had run out of charge after just 55 miles on its track. Tesla claims the Roadster can travel 200 miles on a full charge.

A British high court judge, however, this week dismissed Tesla's libel claim. "In my judgment, the words complained of are wholly incapable of conveying any meaning at all to the effect that the claimant [Tesla] misled anyone," Mr Justice Tugendhat is reported as ruling.

"This is because there is a contrast between the style of driving and the nature of the track as compared with the conditions on a public road [...] are so great that no reasonable person could understand that the performance on the [Top Gear] track is capable of a direct comparison with a public road."

Source

This is a bit childish on the part of Tesla. Any car uses up more juice when driven fast but that effect is much greater with an electric car. Driving it fast drastically shortens the distance it can go. Apparently Tesla thought Jeremy Clarkson should have emphasized that -- but there was no reason for him to do their PR.

Driving cars fast is one of the things he does. He has a test track especially for that -- and it was good information for his viewers to show them the effect of that. There is no way what he did was libel. It was in fact just showing the truth: Electric cars don't go far if you drive them fast.

Electric cars are just expensive Greenie toys anyway. People who buy them are just trying to prove that they are better than everyone else. But all the buyers really prove is that they've got more money than sense.

9th Circus rules against Memorial Cross

We read:

"The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has decided not re-hear the case of a memorial cross located in a public park in San Diego, Calif., that was deemed unconstitutional.

However, supporters plan to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Mount Soledad Memorial Cross was erected in 1954 to honor veterans of the Korean War and has been the center of a legal battle for the last 22 years. The 29-foot cross in the San Diego suburb of La Jolla sits on public land atop a mountain overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

The American Civil Liberties Union has fought to have the cross removed, saying a religious symbol should not be on public land.

Supporters of the memorial cross are hopeful about the final outcome of the case as the Supreme Court's conservative majority has shown a greater willingness to allow religious symbols on public land.

Just last year, the high court refused to remove a war memorial cross located in California's Mojave Desert.

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