The ruling by Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker touched off a celebration outside the courthouse. Gay [...]]]> SIN FRANCISCO – A federal judge overturned California’s gay-marriage ban Wednesday in a landmark case that could eventually force the U.S. Supreme Court to confront the question of whether same-sex couples have a constitutional right to wed.

The ruling by Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker touched off a celebration outside the courthouse. Gay couples waved rainbow and American flags and erupted with cheers in the city that has long been a magnet for gays.

Shelly Bailes embraced her wife Ellen Pontac as Bailes held a sign reading, “Life Feels Different When You’re Married.”

In New York City, about 150 people gathered in front of a lower Manhattan courthouse. They carried signs saying “Our Love Wins” as organizers read portions of the ruling.

Walker made his decision in a lawsuit filed by two gay couples who claimed the voter-approved ban violated their civil rights.

The ruling “vindicates the rights of a minority of our citizens to be treated with decency and respect and equality in our system,” said former U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson, who delivered the closing argument at trial for opponents of the ban.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger also praised the ruling as an important step toward equality and freedom.

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My duty [...]]]> [ The size of this man's ego is literally planetary... Hey, let's put Mr. Obama and Prince Charles in the ring to fight it out for the title of "world savior."  The winner can then join the ranks of Caligula, Nero, Amenhotep II, and other disasters of the human spirit...  ]

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My duty is to save the world: Prince Charles believes he was born for a purpose

The Prince of Wales says he believes he has been placed on Earth as future King ‘for a purpose’ – to save the world.

Giving a fascinating insight into his view of his inherited wealth and influence, he said: ‘I can only somehow imagine that I find myself being born into this position for a purpose.

‘I don’t want my grandchildren or yours to come along and say to me, “Why the hell didn’t you come and do something about this? You knew what the problem was”. That is what motivates me.

‘I wanted to express something in the outer world that I feel inside… We seem to have lost that understanding of the whole of nature and the universe as a living entity.’

His impassioned comments come during a film about his belief that unbridled commerce has led to the destruction of farmland and countryside.

The documentary, called Harmony, is due to be aired on the U.S. network NBC in November to coincide with the launch of a book of the same name by the prince.

Charles is understood to have waived his author’s fee, and all royalties will go to his charity, the Prince’s Trust.

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CBS President: Network Adding More Gay Characters to Its Shows

CBS will introduce more gay characters on its scripted programs in response to recently receiving a failing grade from GLAAD, CBS President Nina [...]]]> [ Because it's good for Americans to get mentally sodomized by such political correctness propaganda, saith the elitists... ]

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CBS President: Network Adding More Gay Characters to Its Shows

CBS will introduce more gay characters on its scripted programs in response to recently receiving a failing grade from GLAAD, CBS President Nina Tassler said Wednesday.

“I’m very disappointed in our track record so far,” Tassler said at the Telvision Critics Association fall previews. “We know and we will do better.”

Tassler said The Good Wife will introduce the gay brother of Julianna Margulies’ Alicia in the new season. She also added that there would be a recurring gay character on S#*! My Dad Says and that Jeff and Audrey (Patrick Warburton and Megyn Price) will choose a lesbian surrogate on Rules of Engagement.

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That’s the question a Massachusetts public school is facing as they have come under fire for making condoms available to all students, even those in elementary school.

Children start first grade between 5 and 7 years old.

Kris Mineau, president of the conservative Massachusetts [...]]]> PROVINCETOWN, Mass. (CBS/AP) — How young is too young?

That’s the question a Massachusetts public school is facing as they have come under fire for making condoms available to all students, even those in elementary school.

Children start first grade between 5 and 7 years old.

Kris Mineau, president of the conservative Massachusetts Family Institute, calls the idea absurd.

But Provincetown School Board Chairman Peter Grosso defended the policy, saying there is no set age when sexual activity starts.

Under the policy, any student requesting a condom from a school nurse must first receive counseling, which includes information on abstinence. The policy does not require the school to contact parents.

The policy was approved by Provincetown’s school committee June 10. It takes effect in the fall.

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AUGUSTA, Ga. – An Augusta State University graduate student sued the university in federal court Wednesday asserting professors told her to change her religious beliefs in order to remain in her counseling program.

According to the lawsuit filed by the Alliance Defense Fund, Jennifer Keeton, 24, has voiced her Christian beliefs inside and [...]]]>

AUGUSTA, Ga. – An Augusta State University graduate student sued the university in federal court Wednesday asserting professors told her to change her religious beliefs in order to remain in her counseling program.

According to the lawsuit filed by the Alliance Defense Fund, Jennifer Keeton, 24, has voiced her Christian beliefs inside and outside the classroom on homosexuality and other biblical teachings. ASU faculty has ordered her to undergo a remediation plan, which would include diversity sensitivity workshops, or face expulsion from the counseling program. Keeton plans to become a school counselor and says she refuses to change her religious beliefs.

“While I want to stay in the school counseling program, I know that I can’t honestly complete the remediation plan knowing that I would have to alter my beliefs,” Keeton said in a video produced by the defense fund. “I’m not willing to and I know I can’t change my biblical views.”

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Augusta, names ASU President William Bloodworth and professors Mary Jane Anderson-Wiley, Paulette Schenck and Richard Deaner as defendants.

Keeton is suing the university for actual and nominal damages to vindicate her “constitutional injuries,” according to court documents. She is also requesting that the university pay her attorney fees.

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Taxpayers have paid out nearly $1 million per year in settlements to congressional employees who have been harassed or otherwise treated badly by their political bosses over the past 14 years, according to records from the Office of [...]]]> US Taxpayers Shelling out $1 Million a Year to Staffers Abused by Members of Congress

Taxpayers have paid out nearly $1 million per year in settlements to congressional employees who have been harassed or otherwise treated badly by their political bosses over the past 14 years, according to records from the Office of Compliance.

The payouts stem from hundreds of complaints from employees, some of whom may have been sexually harassed or treated so poorly that third-party mediators were brought in to negotiate cash payoffs to settle the cases.

In fiscal year 2007, for example, the OOC — an agency that administers a confidential dispute resolution system — settled 38 cases, with 25 resulting in monetary awards worth $4 million. In fiscal year 2009 — the most recent year reported by the OOC — the office settled 13 cases for nearly $830,000.

These settlements may be especially relevant if aides who were allegedly abused by former Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) seek restitution. Massa resigned under allegations that he sexually harassed male staffers. Quite often, the harassment cases, after a secretive mediation process, can land staffers retroactive raises, vacation time and cash payouts for their perceived pain and suffering.

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“I think there is spending fatigue,” said Steny. “It’s tough in both houses to get votes.”

Hoyer was referring to Obama’s weekend letter to Capitol Hill calling for a $50 billion bailout of state [...]]]> Even lifelong Democratic pol Steny Hoyer, majority leader of the U.S. House, is balking at Barack Obama’s latest bailout proposal.

“I think there is spending fatigue,” said Steny. “It’s tough in both houses to get votes.”

Hoyer was referring to Obama’s weekend letter to Capitol Hill calling for a $50 billion bailout of state and city governments, to spare our elected politicians the pain of balancing their budgets with their own tax revenues.

Obama calls it an “emergency” measure to prevent “massive layoffs of teachers, police and firefighters.” Yet, none of the 20 million state, county or municipal workers can lose their job unless an elected legislature and a chief executive agree that they should go.

Obama is calling for a taxpayer rescue of the political class to which he belongs, to spare it the painful duty tens of thousands of business executives have had to perform. Private employees – 25 million of whom are out of work, underemployed or have given up looking for jobs – may be expendable, but government workers are not.

As America is running a second consecutive deficit of $1.4 trillion, however, the U.S. government has no tax revenue to send to the cities and states. We would have to borrow the $50 billion from China, Japan and the Persian Gulf nations.

Obama is thus asking Congress to deepen America’s fiscal crisis and put the next generation on the hook for another $50 billion so today’s mayors and governors can get an exemption from their political duty.

Where is the justice here?

Government workers enjoy far greater job security than private-sector workers. At the state and local level, their average pay and benefits, about $40 an hour, far exceed the $27 per hour in the private sector. The federal worker has it even better, receiving $30,000 a year more in pay and benefits than the average worker in the private sector.

Obama’s proposal is thus about taking care of his own and the Democratic Party’s political base.

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By David Derbyshire

At the age of six months babies can barely sit up – let along take their first tottering steps, crawl or talk.

But, according to psychologists, they have already developed a sense of moral code – and can [...]]]> Babies know the difference between good and evil at six months, study reveals

By David Derbyshire

At the age of six months babies can barely sit up – let along take their first tottering steps, crawl or talk.

But, according to psychologists, they have already developed a sense of moral code – and can tell the difference between good and evil.

An astonishing series of experiments is challenging the views of many psychologists and social scientists that human beings are born as ‘blank slates’ – and that our morality is shaped by our parents and experiences.

Instead, they suggest that the difference between good and bad may be hardwired into the brain at birth.

In one experiment involving puppets, babies aged six months old showed a strong preference to ‘good’ helpful characters – and rejected unhelpful, ‘naughty’ ones.

In another, they even acted as judge and jury. When asked to take away treats from a ‘naughty’ puppet, some babies went further – and dished out their own punishment with a smack on its head.

Professor Paul Bloom, a psychologist at Yale University in Connecticut, whose department has studied morality in babies for years, said: ‘A growing body of evidence suggests that humans do have a rudimentary moral sense from the very start of life.

‘With the help of well designed experiments, you can see glimmers of moral thought, moral judgment and moral feeling even in the first year of life.

‘Some sense of good and evil seems to be bred in the bones.’

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McConnell’s not dangerous because he knows anything about SQL injection hacks, but because he knows about social engineering. He’s the nice-seeming guy who’s willing and able to use fear-mongering [...]]]> The biggest threat to the open internet is not Chinese government hackers or greedy anti-net-neutrality ISPs, it’s Michael McConnell, the former director of national intelligence.

McConnell’s not dangerous because he knows anything about SQL injection hacks, but because he knows about social engineering. He’s the nice-seeming guy who’s willing and able to use fear-mongering to manipulate the federal bureaucracy for his own ends, while coming off like a straight shooter to those who are not in the know.

When he was head of the country’s national intelligence, he scared President Bush with visions of e-doom, prompting the president to sign a comprehensive secret order that unleashed tens of billions of dollars into the military’s black budget so they could start making firewalls and building malware into military equipment.

And now McConnell is back in civilian life as a vice president at the secretive defense contracting giant Booz Allen Hamilton. He’s out in front of Congress and the media, peddling the same Cybaremaggedon! gloom.

And now he says we need to re-engineer the internet.

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No presidential statement or White House press briefing was held on it. In fact, all that can be found about it on the official White House Web site is the Dec. 17 announcement and one-paragraph text of President Obama’s Executive Order 12425, with this innocuous headline: “Amending [...]]]> Obama gives Interpol free hand in U.S.

No presidential statement or White House press briefing was held on it. In fact, all that can be found about it on the official White House Web site is the Dec. 17 announcement and one-paragraph text of President Obama’s Executive Order 12425, with this innocuous headline: “Amending Executive Order 12425 Designating Interpol as a public international organization entitled to enjoy certain privileges, exemptions, and immunities.”In fact, this new directive from Obama may be the most destructive blow ever struck against American constitutional civil liberties. No wonder the White House said as little as possible about it.

There are multiple reasons why this Obama decision is so deeply disturbing. First, the Obama order reverses a 1983 Reagan administration decision in order to grant Interpol, the International Criminal Police Organization, two key privileges. First, Obama has granted Interpol the ability to operate within the territorial limits of the United States without being subject to the same constitutional restraints that apply to all domestic law enforcement agencies such as the FBI. Second, Obama has exempted Interpol’s domestic facilities — including its office within the U.S. Department of Justice — from search and seizure by U.S. authorities and from disclosure of archived documents in response to Freedom of Information Act requests filed by U.S. citizens. Think very carefully about what you just read: Obama has given an international law enforcement organization that is accountable to no other national authority the ability to operate as it pleases within our own borders, and he has freed it from the most basic measure of official transparency and accountability, the FOIA.

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