Federal Court Rules Against Catholic Litigants in Challenge of Resolution Condemning Vatican Adoption Policy

There is an interesting ruling out of the Ninth Circuit. The Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled 8-3 against Catholic organizations that charged that former San Francisco Supervisor Tom Ammiano violated the First Amendment with a 2006 resolution condemning the Vatican for prohibiting Catholic Charities from placing adoptive children with lesbian and gay couples. The Church argued that the resolution violated the prohibitions on establishment of religion. The opinion, however, is remarkably fractured.

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Deutsch Tweet: Wisconsin GOP Candidate Criticized for Calling Hitler a “Strong Leader”

Just days after another GOP candidate was criticized for prancing around in a Nazi uniform, Wisconsin Republican state Senate candidate Dane Deutsch has been criticized for calling Adolph Hitler a “strong leader.”

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Quadriplegic Suffers Severe Brain Damage After Nurse Is Shown Turning Off Ventilator

A family in England is looking at a possible torts case with a rare piece of evidence. The family of quadriplegic Jamie Merrett, 37, was already concerned about what they viewed as shoddy nursing care from staff supplied by the NHS Wiltshire Primary Care Trust. To satisfy their concerns, they set up a camera shortly before an incident that left Merrett severely brain damaged. To their shock, the footage showed nurse Violeta Aylward turning off the ventilator system.
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Wilders Trial Thrown Into Disarray After Judges Found To Be Biased

The trial of Dutch politician Geert Wilders for his anti-Islamic views has been thrown into disarray after his judges were found to be themselves biased — against Wilder. A verdict from the panel of three judges at the Amsterdam district court was due next week. A re-trial will be scheduled with new judges.
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Banned For Life: English Teaching Council Bans Teacher For Life For Incompetence

For those of us clinging to life tenure as teacher for dear life, Nisar Ahmed is like a nightmare from a parallel universe: he has been banned for life from teaching. General Teaching Council for England decided that it could not risk Ahmed, 46, from ever teaching again so it issued the only known lifetime suspension after a 13-year teaching career.

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Viva Il Talibano: Italian Town To Pass Anti-Blasphemy Law and Ban Both Sunbathing and Miniskirts

Castellammare di Stabia appears eager to join the forces in the West cracking down on free speech and expression. The city is moving toward the passage of a blasphemy law — the subject of prior columns and blog entries on a trend against free speech in the West. The city is also planning to ban miniskirts, sunbathing, and playing football in public places. If nothing else, the move will finally give the Taliban a seaside vacation spot to get away from it all.

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Introducing Our New Guest Bloggers

I am happy to report we will be implementing another one of your suggestions for improving the blog. Various people suggested a year ago that we have guest blogging to allow regulars a chance to make entries on the blog. With my upcoming speech in France, I thought it would be a great time to try this out for a week from October 31st to November 6th. I have selected three of our best known and most respected regulars: David Drumm (aka Nal), Elaine Magliaro (aka Elaine M) and Mark Esposito (aka Mespo). They will be blogging every day for that week (including on November 7th if they have any material left). They will be signing their entries and will have the full run of the blog. I am very grateful to them and I am very excited to see their work in the coming week.

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“You Say You Want a Revolution . . .” GOP Candidate Suggests Rebellion Is Option If Elections Fail To Achieve Changes

In Texas, Stephen Broden, a pastor and Republican congressional candidate, appears to have a back-up plan if he loses to Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson in Dallas 30th Congressional District. Broden refused to rule out armed rebellion if the elections to do result in a suitable change in leadership.
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Colgate Palmolive Accused of Patenting Ancient Indian Recipe For Toothpaste

We have previously discussed how some of us view the patent, trademark and copyright laws as running out of control in this country. Now, there is an interesting fight between the United States and India over a move by Colgate Palmolive to patent an ancient recipe for herbal toothpaste. The Indians say that the recipe has been used for hundreds, if not thousands, of years by Indians and would now be claimed as the property of the company.
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Cafe Owner Ordered To Remove Extractor Fan As Offensive To Muslims Due To Smell Of Bacon

Councillors at Stockport Council in Greater Manchester have a rather broad notion of accommodating religious sensitivities. Acting under its authority of “residential amenity,” the Council has ordered a cafe to remove an extractor fan because the fan blows the smell of food outside, including the smell of bacon that offends Muslim neighbors.
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Randy Quaid and Wife Seek Canadian Asylum To Evade “Hollywood Star-Whackers”

Oscar-nominee Randy Quaid, 60, and his wife Evi, 47, have appeared in Canada with a novel claim for refugee protection — claiming that someone is killing off Quaid’s friends and that the couple needs protection from “Hollywood star-whackers.” Evi has a much better sense of taking a good mugshot.

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