The likelihood of another attempted terror attack is "certain," From CNSNews
By Susan JonesA conservative civil liberties group is challenging the constitutionality of the recently enacted federal Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009.
The new law, attached to a defense authorization bill that President Obama signed on October 28, 2009, makes it a federal crime to attack someone because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. The Michigan-based Thomas More Law Center says it elevates people engaged in deviant sexual behaviors to a special, protected class of persons under federal law.
The lawsuit naming U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder was filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on behalf of three pastors and the president of the American Family Association of Michigan.
All of the plaintiffs “take a strong public stand against the homosexual agenda, which seeks to normalize disordered sexual behavior that is contrary to Biblical teaching,” the Law Center said in a news release.
“There is no legitimate law enforcement need for this federal law,’ said Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Law Center.
“This is part of the list of political payoffs to homosexual advocacy groups for support of Barack Obama in the last presidential election,” Thompson continued. “The sole purpose of this law is to criminalize the Bible and use the threat of federal prosecutions and long jail sentences to silence Christians from expressing their Biblically-based religious belief that homosexual conduct is a sin. It elevates those persons who engage in deviant sexual behaviors, including pedophiles, to a special protected class of persons as a matter of federal law and policy.”
According to the Law Center, of the 1.38 million violent crimes in the U.S. reported by the FBI in 2008, only 243 were considered to be motivated by the victim’s sexual orientation.
The four plaintiffs are Michigan Pastors Levon Yuille, Rene Ouellette, James Combs, and Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association of Michigan.
The lawsuit alleges that the new law violates the plaintiffs’ rights to freedom of speech, expressive association, and free exercise of religion protected by the First Amendment, and it violates the equal protection guarantee of the Fifth Amendment. The lawsuit also alleges that Congress lacked authority to enact the legislation under the Tenth Amendment and the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution.
The lawsuit says the Hate Crimes Prevention Act “provides law enforcement with authorization and justification to conduct federal investigative and other federal law enforcement actions against Plaintiffs and others deemed to be opponents of homosexual activism, the homosexual lifestyle, and the homosexual agenda,” thereby expanding the jurisdiction of the FBI and other federal law enforcement and intelligence gathering agencies.
Robert Muise, who is handling the case, said the new law promotes two Orwellian concepts: “It creates a special class of persons who are ‘more equal than others’ based on nothing more than deviant, sexual behavior. And it creates ‘thought crimes’ by criminalizing certain ideas, beliefs, and opinions, and the involvement of such ideas, beliefs, and opinions in a crime will make it deserving of federal prosecution."
He said it gives government officials the power "to decide which thoughts are criminal under federal law and which are not.”
The Thomas More Law Center describes its mission as defending and promoting “America’s Christian heritage and moral values, including the religious freedom of Christians, time-honored family values, and the sanctity of human life.”
In response to a demand by Sarah Palin that Obama fire White House Chief-of-Thugs Rahm Emanuel for describing the strategy of Senate liberals as "fucking retarded," Emanuel has apologized to Tim Shriver, the chief executive officer of the Special Olympics.“I would ask the president to show decency in this process by eliminating one member of that inner circle, Mr. Rahm Emanuel, and not allow Rahm’s continued indecent tactics to cloud efforts. Yes, Rahm is known for his caustic, crude references about those with whom he disagrees, but his recent tirade against participants in a strategy session was such a strong slap in many American faces that our president is doing himself a disservice by seeming to condone Rahm’s recent sick and offensive tactic.
The Obama Administration’s Chief of Staff scolded participants, calling them, “F—ing retarded,” according to several participants, as reported in the Wall Street Journal.
Just as we’d be appalled if any public figure of Rahm’s stature ever used the “N-word” or other such inappropriate language, Rahm’s slur on all God’s children with cognitive and developmental disabilities – and the people who love them – is unacceptable, and it’s heartbreaking.
A patriot in North Andover, Massachusetts, notified me of Rahm’s “retarded” slam. I join this gentleman, who is the father of a beautiful child born with Down Syndrome, in asking why the Special Olympics, National Down Syndrome Society and other groups condemning Rahm’s degrading scolding have been completely ignored by the White House. No comment from his boss, the president?
As my friend in North Andover says, “This isn’t about politics; it’s about decency. I am not speaking as a political figure but as a parent and as an everyday American wanting my child to grow up in a country free from mindless prejudice and discrimination, free from gratuitous insults of people who are ostensibly smart enough to know better… Have you no sense of decency, sir?”
Mr. President, you can do better, and our country deserves better.
"When Americans are suffering economically and millions need jobs, it's shocking that the Administration is focused on its ultra-liberal militantly homosexualist agenda forcing the highlighting of homosexuals and homosexuality on an unwilling military. This is the equivalent of the spiritual rape of our military to satisfy the most extreme and selfish cadre of President Obama's kooky coalition.
We agree with Eileen Donnelly of the Center for Military Readiness that this will hurt the cohesiveness of the military, cause many to leave the army, and dramatically lower the number of recruits, perhaps leading to the reinstatement of a compulsory draft.
"Thirteen months before 9/11, on the day New York City passed homosexual domestic partnership regulations, I joined a group of Rabbis at a City Hall prayer service, pleading with G-d not to visit disaster on the city of N.Y. We have seen the underground earthquake, tsunami, Katrina, and now Haiti. All this is in sync with a two thousand year old teaching in the Talmud that the practice of homosexuality is a spiritual cause of earthquakes. Once a disaster is unleashed, innocents are also victims just like in Chernobyl.
"We plead with saner heads in Congress and the Pentagon to stop sodomization of our military and our society. Enough is enough."
Today Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser announced that over 50,000 Americans have submitted comments of support to football star Tim Tebow through the Susan B. Anthony List website, www.blockhardfortebow.com. The comments support the Tebow family's decision to share their story in Focus on the Family's pro-life Super Bowl advertisement. The National Organization for Women (NOW) is leading feminist groups in a campaign demanding CBS pull the ad from its Super Bowl schedule.Pope Benedict XVI confirmed plans for his visit to Great Britain in September-- and offered some unusually blunt reflections on the situation facing the Church there-- in a February 1 address to a group of visiting British bishops.
The Pope told the bishops, who were in Rome for their ad limina visit, that he looked forward to his trip to their country. Although he did not mention specific dates, informed Catholic sources in London have confirmed that the trip will take place in September.
The Pontiff went on to say that the Church leadership in England and Wales "needs to speak with a united voice." His words appeared to be a reference to the friction within the episcopal conference, and the willingness of some British prelates to countenance open dissent from Catholic teaching. In an even more evident reference to that problem, the Pope went on to say:
In a social milieu that encourages the expression of a variety of opinions on every question that arises, it is important to recognize dissent for what it is, and not to mistake it for a mature contribution to a balanced and wide-ranging debate.Later in his address the Pope prodded the English bishops to be prepared to receive Anglicans entering the Catholic Church under the terms of the new apostolic constitution. In the past many English bishops have resisted pleas from Anglicans looking for corporate reunion with the Holy See. The Holy Father tacitly acknowledged that resistance, saying: "I would ask you to be generous in implementing the provisions of the apostolic constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus, so as to assist those groups of Anglicans who wish to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church. I am convinced that, if given a warm and open-hearted welcome, such groups will be a blessing for the entire Church."
Pope Benedict voiced his strong support for the bishops of England and Wales in their stand against an "Equality Bill" that would have threatened sanctions against the Church for failing to ordain women as priests and for resisting same-sex marriage. " In some respects," the Pontiff said, the legislation-- which encountered defeat in the House of Lords-- "actually violates the natural law upon which the equality of all human beings is grounded and by which it is guaranteed." A headline in the Guardian reported that the Pope "condemns gay equality laws." The Times, with the flagrant bias that characterizes that paper's treatment of Catholic affairs, made the sensationalistic claim that the Pope had "attacked Britain's move towards equal rights in its secular democracy."
The Vatican traditionally does not formally announce plans for a papal trip until a few weeks before it occurs. But Pope Benedict has now, on several occasions, spoken openly about plans for foreign travel before the "official" announcement is made.
Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.
- Pope Speaks of Forthcoming Apostolic Trip to Great Britain (VIS)
- Pope Confirms Great Britain Trip (Vatican Radio)
- Pope Benedict confirms first papal UK visit since 1982 (BBC)
- Pope Benedict XVI confirms first state visit to UK (Times)
- Pope condemns gay equality laws ahead of first UK visit (Guardian)
- Pope tells English and Welsh bishops to get their act together (Telegraph)
- Pope to Visit UK; Urges Church to Accept Anglicans (AP)
