In a decision that likely will set the stage for a high-stakes showdown at the U.S. Supreme Court, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down California’s Proposition 8 ballot measure that banned gay marriage, saying there is no “legitimate” reason to keep same-sex couples from marrying.

Prop 8 supporters immediately announced plans to appeal Tuesday’s (Feb. 7) 2-1 ruling to a larger panel of the 9th Circuit and, ultimately, to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“No court should presume to redefine marriage. No court should undercut the democratic process by taking the power to preserve marriage out of the hands of the people,” said Brian Raum, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, which is representing an umbrella group of Prop 8 supporters known as ProtectMarriage.com.

The appeals court’s decision upheld a 2010 ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker, saying that “although the Constitution permits communities to enact most laws they believe to be desirable, it requires that there be at least a legitimate reason for the passage of a law that treats different classes of people differently.

“There was no such reason that Proposition 8 could have been enacted.”

The Prop 8 amendment to the state Constitution was approved by 52 percent of California voters in 2008, just five months after the state Supreme Court ruled that a state ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional.  An estimated 18,000 same-sex couples tied the knot before Prop 8 was passed.

The court also found no evidence that Walker was biased in his initial ruling because he was gay and in a committed relationship. The court did, however, side with Walker in maintaining a stay on all same-sex marriage ceremonies until the case is decided.

Prop 8 supporters, led by the National Organization for Marriage, immediately tried to use the decision as a plea for fresh funding.

“This sets up an all-or-nothing showdown at the United States Supreme Court,” NOM said in an email blast just minutes after the decision was announced.

“But the costs of litigating a Supreme Court case will run into the millions of dollars over the next year. We must have the resources to put on the best possible defense.”

Prop 8 opponents, however, including the Rev. Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said “no American’s right to marry should be subjected to a veto from aggressive and well-funded religious groups. Our nation is a democracy, not a theocracy.”

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Even as evangelical Christian Rep. Mark Souder, R-Indiana submitted his resignation letters already, his 19 staff members will continue to work as normal.

Mark_Souder

According to FOX news, Souder submitted his resignation letters to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, and Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels  on Thursday.

An evangelical Christian, Souder resigned over an extramarital affair he had with a staffer with whom he made a video touting the benefits of abstinence education.

However, even in his absence his 19 staffers will continue to work as they normally do. They will be supervised by the clerk of the House until a replacement is selected in a special election this year, according to FortWayne.com.

According to FortWayne.com, at least half a dozen times in a year, a House member may die or resign, sometimes in scandal and other times to run for another office.  However a backup procedure referred to as a caretaker provision exists so the office can continue its normal functions.

Under this provision, no one can cast a vote on the House floor or ask a question in a committee meeting.  Any administrative work that would require an elected official’s signature will be handled by someone from the clerk’s office, FortWayne.com said.

Other functions will include inquiries from constituents which may range from people with sewer system issues who don’t know where to call, or navigating constituents on how to deal with federal agencies.  They may also referee misunderstandings that may arise between a constituent and a federal agency, FortWayne.com said.

Souder, 59, was known for his outspoken views on religion.  In a news conference at his Fort Wayne office, he apologized for his actions, and expressed regret for hurting those he loves and for letting his friends down.

He had an affair with Tracey Jackson, who had been working for Souder since 2004, according to the Associated Press.

After a 2008 hearing on abstinence-only education, Jackson recorded a video interview with Souder in which the congressman said the only fully reliable way young people can protect themselves from pregnancy and STDs is by “abstaining from sex until in a committed, faithful relationship,”  according to the AP.

Potential replacements for Souder include State Sen. Marlin Stutzman, a tea party favorite who finished second in the GOP primary for the U.S. Senate two weeks ago.  Other possibilities are two Republicans Souder defeated in the primary — Bob Thomas and Phil Troyer — as well as state Rep. Randy Borror of Fort Wayne and Fort Wayne City Councilwoman Liz Brown, the AP said.

According to the AP, Souder’s resignation follows that of Democratic Rep. Eric Massa of New York in March amid an investigation into whether he sexually harassed male staffers and admissions of extramarital affairs by South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford and Nevada Sen. John Ensign — both Republicans who have held onto their offices.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Two weeks after the Supreme Court ruled to protect the Mojave Desert War Memorial, thieves stole the Sunrise Rock cross. 

On May 10, a Park employee noticed the cross was missing and said it was probably removed during the night, according to CityWatch (CW).  

An anonymous caller who clamed to know who stole the cross sent an email to a reporter saying the cross was “lovingly” removed and would be returned after a non-sectarian memorial is placed on the site, CW reported.

CW cited US Reps Buck McKeon, Ken Calvert and Congressman Jerry Lewis who condemned the theft of the cross.  Calvert called it an act of vandals and an insult to anyone who had served in the US Armed Forces. 

Calvert also promised that he, Congressmen Lewis, McKeon, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Liberty Institute will work with all involved entities to recover the cross and replace it on its rightful place on Sunrise Rock, CW reported.

Wanda Sandoz, who with her husband Henry were longtime caretakers of the cross said, “Whoever did this either cut it off or put a chain around it a dragged it off with their vehicle,” according to CW.

The memorial was first set up in 1934 by a group of World War I veterans.  It has been torn down and replaced twice, and 10 years ago received the ire of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), according to The Press Enterprise.

The Park Service has collected some physical evidence from where the cross was located, and investigators are reviewing messages left on a tip hot line that was set up after the theft, The Press Enterprise said.

Liberty Institute is also offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons who vandalized the area and stole the cross, according to CityWatch.

In 1999, the ACLU sued to have the cross removed after a former employee of the park, Frank Buono, retired and moved to Oregon, then claimed that it offended him to see the cross on public land, according to the Tulsa Beacon.

In 2002, the U.S. District Court in Riverside, California ruled in favor of the ACLU case.  An appeal was immediately filed to forestall the cross’ removal, but it was covered by a wooden box, the Tulsa Beacon reported.

Congressman Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.), helped the Legionnaires get the cross legally designated as the “National WWI Veterans Memorial” and worked in Congress to transfer a one-acre tract of land containing the cross to private ownership through a land swap deal, the Tulsa Beacon reported.

The ACLU complained that this was done solely to evade the District Court’s order for the cross to be removed. In the appeal, the 9th Circuit Court upheld the lower court’s decision and invalidated the congressional act in transferring the land to private ownership, according to the Tulsa Beacon.

However when the case was raised to the U. S. Supreme Court, the decisions of both lower courts were overturned by a 5-4 vote, and the SC refused to order the removal of the cross, the Tulsa Beacon noted.

Justice Kennedy, who wrote the majority opinion, said “The goal of avoiding governmental endorsement (of religion) does not require the eradication of all religions’ symbols in the public realm.”

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Human trafficking. Sex slaves. Child slavery.

It’s something Americans associate with a few European or third world countries. But the U.S. State Department’s 2009 “Trafficking in Humans” Report documents problems in 175 nations.

Girls, women, children and even teen boys are being deceived, kidnapped, trapped and shipped everywhere from America to Africa.

And it could be happening at our neighborhood mini-market.

The wholesale trafficking of humans

From California to New England, the problem is spreading within the United States. It’s becoming as uncontrollable as the drug war that has raged for decades, despite the government’s best efforts.

The estimated FBI numbers from sources as varied as ABC Primetime in 2006 to Christianity Today in 2010 show 100,000-300,000 teens and children under the age of 18 have been trafficked within the states per year.

It is harder to obtain statistics for adult victims, because of a finer line between “voluntary” and forced prostitution or sexual slavery.

In April 2010, the U.S. Attorney’s office brought sex trafficking charges against the Gambino family, notoriously reputed to be part of the elusive “mob” in America.

With the arrest of 14 people, the charges include trapping girls to sell for sex at high stakes poker games in the middle of busy Manhattan.

Engaging in human trafficking is a new low even for the mob, U.S. Attorney’s office representatives stated in a press conference covered by MSNBC.

Also in April, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement reported that human trafficking has become the biggest “invisible” crime in the state. Florida House Bill 633 and Senate Bill 966 are currently being proposed to help law enforcement push back against the sex slavery trade.

How can this happen in America?
The massive amounts of money to be made through human trafficking is a powerful aphrodisiac that has enticed more people, even women, to deal in such crimes. In the Gambino case, one of the people arrested was a woman known to be involved in luring the victims.

The process of obtaining victims for human trafficking:
For most teen girls and women, if they are not outright kidnapped, they’re being enticed by the possibility of modeling or acting jobs. The Hollywood dream of obtaining fame and fortune at a young age through television and movies has become an obsession.

When they get to their destination, they are thrown into vehicles or locked in back bedrooms and sold to countless customers for sex acts, sexual abuse, and to appear in pornographic movies against their will.

They may be starved, drugged, verbally abused to the point of having no self-esteem, and threatened with death if they attempt to escape.

For girls and boys who do run away from home, criminals recognize their vulnerability, hunger and brokenness and are able to entice them into prostitution and porn films with the promise of money. The victim may receive tiny payments to keep them involved.

For children, it often starts with simple nabbing from neighborhoods.

A U.S. Government grant helped reveal the child trafficking problem:
In 2008, an organization called Shared Hope International (SHI) applied for and received a government grant to study the suspected nationwide crisis of child trafficking between states. Their resulting survey revealed that many of the children were often being misidentified as delinquents, and  punished for crimes when they were actually victims.

Since then, the FBI and agencies such as the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children & Families have started training personnel to recognize when a person is a human trafficking victim instead of a runaway or criminal themselves (HHS Fact Sheet here).

See the Underground’s previous report, “Sex + Money,” about the ongoing production of a new movie aimed at exposing the U.S. sex slave industry.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

After recent successive issues that have reached the courts over Christian symbols such as the cross and an army emblem, some are asking, “Are Christian symbols under attack?”

The most recent issue, as reported by the Associated Press (AP) involves an army emblem of a Colorado hospital.  The emblem contains a cross and the motto, “Pro deo et humanitate” or “For God and humanity.”

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) has asked the Army to change the emblem of Evans Army Community Hospital at Fort Carson, Colorado noting it could violate the constitutional requirement for separation of church and state, the AP reported.

The AP said the MRFF is the same group that persuaded the Pentagon to rescind their invitation to evangelist Franklin Graham to speak on the May 6 National Day of Prayer, because in 2001 Graham had said that “Islam is evil.”

In a separate incident, a judge had ruled recently that the National Day of Prayer, which is an annual event that has been held since 1952 is unconstitutional.  The Obama administration expressed plans to appeal the ruling and the Justice department filed a formal notice of its plans for appeal, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported.

With regard to the hospital emblem, Lt. Col Steve Wollman said Fort Carson commanders will review the MRFF complaint.   However he noted that the motto on the emblem, approved in 1969 by the Army Institute of Heraldry, dates back to pre-Christian, Hippocratic times.  Hippocrates is renowned as the father of medicine, the AP said.

Wollman also said the cross with the spiked base was used by pilgrims to mark the ground of their campsite.  Mikey Weinstein, president of the MRFF said he filed his complaint on behalf of 43 people in Fort Carson.  However, Weinstein said the 43 did not want to be identified, according to the AP report.

In another incident, the Supreme Court (SC) overturned a federal court ruling which sought to remove a 75-year-old, seven foot tall cross from the Mojave National Park in California, the AP said.

The SC, through a slim 5-4 vote said the cross honored military veterans from WWI and furthermore, the land on which the cross stood on had already been transferred to private ownership.

Two similar cases are currently filed in the Federal courts.  One involves a 29-foot cross on Mt. Soledad, San Diego.  The other involves the state of Utah, which uses 12-foot high crosses that are placed along the roadside as memorials to honor deceased highway patrol officers, according to the AP.

The Supreme Court decision that overruled a lower court regarding the cross in the Mojave National Park noted that separation of church and state “does not require eradication of all religious symbols in the public realm,’’ the Boston Globe reported.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

A Jet Propulsion Laboratory worker filed recently a case in the Los Angeles county against his superiors for a demotion which he said was discriminatory of his views on intelligent design.

David Coppedge, an information technology specialist on the Cassini space mission exploring Saturn, claims he was demoted after he distributed religious DVDs in his office.  Coppedge had been a leader on the system administrator team for the Cassini mission.

Coppedge discussed intelligent design with JPL scientists, a theory that believes an intelligent being – not evolution or random processes – created life and the universe.

His supervisors sent him a memo telling him to stop discussing religion.  Coppedge claims he stopped talking about intelligent design with his coworkers in March 2009.  However, he was demoted the following month, in April.  The Defendants in the lawsuit include his supervisor, JPL and the California Institute of Technology, which runs JPL.

Coppedge also claims he met with his supervisors, who told him that the written warning was inappropriate, and that it would be removed from his file.  The suit calls this as an admission of liability of religious discrimination and retaliation under California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act.

JPL’s spokeswoman, Veronica McGregor, said that the firm hasn’t received the lawsuit so it can’t comment yet.   JPL is a federally funded research firm that is also a NASA contractor.

Coppedge is active with creationist Web sites.  He edits the blog, “Creation-Evolution Headlines” and sits on the board of directors of Illustra Media, the group that publishes the DVDs he distributed.

His lawyer William J. Becker said, “I think it’s unfortunate that JPL, which is interested in exploring the origins of the universe would be hostile to the argument of intelligent design. If anything, JPL is the premier space exploration resource in the world.  It ought to have openness to this theory.”

Sources:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gMJEWENPHiOAPxtwNwVz2cpeURwwD9F69K9O3

http://sensuouscurmudgeon.wordpress.com/2010/04/19/update-david-coppedge-vs-jpl-19-apr-2010/

http://www.sgvtribune.com/news/ci_14909557

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

People are lining up for the “Cash for Clunkers” program.

The Cash for Clunkers program offers vouchers of up to $4,500 to vehicle owners to trade in their old, gas-guzzling cars and trucks for newer, more fuel efficient vehicles.

So many people have lined up that the program is running out of money and needs another $3 billion dollars to keep going strong.

Though cash for clunkers seems like a good thing—and it is—stimulating and boosting the sales of the United States’ automotive industry, there are some down sides.

The most obvious being the affect of the program on independent auto repair shops, used car lots and junk yards.

As people trade in their clunkers, there won’t be an immediate need for non-warranty repairs, so that counts the mom and pop shops out.

And if people can get a new car with government help, why buy a used one? 

As people trade in old cars for new, car dealerships have to render the clunkers inoperable, often by using sodium silicate to lock up the engine.

Neil Kopit, of Criswell Chevrolet in Gaithersburg, Md., told NPR that, even if they are used cars, it’s hard to get rid of your bread and butter.

"We sell [cars] for a living," he said. "It’s like shooting a horse; you don’t feel good about it, but sometimes that’s what’s got to be done."

After the auto dealerships disable the cars, the junk yards get them.

These places often have those hard to find parts that allow people to keep patching up their clunkers to get from A to B.

But under Cash for Clunkers, the mandate to disable a clunker’s engine and transmission decreases the salvage value of a vehicle by as much as 60 percent, according to the Automotive Recyclers Association.

Bruce Luther of Rock And Roll Auto Recycling in Pleasanton, Calif. told Jalopnik.com that “the current scrap value is $140 a ton, which means a two-ton vehicle is only worth $280 as scrap. Subtract out the estimated cost of $200 to detox the vehicle as required by law and the total value is only $80 per car if nothing can be sold on it.”

Besides these obvious short-term losers in the Cash for Clunkers program, there’s another group that will lose out—the homeless.

"One man’s clunker is another man’s coat" said Ron Marlette, executive director of Mission Solano.

Mission Solano operates a charitable car lot on North Texas Blvd. in Fairfield, Calif.

In exchange for tax write-offs, people donate their old vehicles to the organization. The mission then sells the cars to fund its homeless outreach.

"It is too early to know how much we will be hurt by the Cash for Clunkers program, but we know we can’t compete with the government’s checkbook" said Marlette.

"Our donations were already down due to the economy as people are driving their old cars longer or brokering a sale themselves. The Cash for Clunkers program could shut us down."

In addition, Marlette pointed out that since the Cash for Clunkers requires that donated "clunkers" be destroyed, options for cash-strapped buyers looking for low-priced transportation will be lessened.

"We often sell our cars to individuals who cannot afford anything else,” he said.

“In some cases these are men and women who have been helped off the streets by the mission. Now they have a job and need cheap wheels to get there. They can’t buy a new car. What are they supposed to do?"

Be Sociable, Share!

•