Recent US News

By Peter J. Smith HARTFORD, Connecticut, June 8, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Connecticut Superior Court judge has ruled against two doctors who argued that a state law against assisted suicide did not prohibit them from prescribing lethal drugs to consenting patients who were expected to die anyway. The Hartford Courant reports that Judge Julia Aurigemma dismissed the case brought by Ronald Levine and Gary Blick, who asserted in their lawsuit against the state that “assisted suicide” is not the same thing as “aid in dying”– a claim Aurigemma flatly rejected. “[The statute] is aimed at precisely the situation presented by the […]

LOS ANGELES, June 8, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) — An amended complaint was filed Monday in a lawsuit against Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) on behalf of an employee who claims he was demoted, silenced, harassed, and threatened with termination for discussing his beliefs about intelligent design with co-workers.  The California Institute of Technology operates JPL under a contract with NASA. In March 2009, David Coppedge – who served as a high-level “team lead” technical specialist on JPL’s Cassini mission to Saturn since 2000 – was allegedly punished on the basis of “pushing [his] religion.” According to the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), the public interest […]

By Peter J. Smith NEW YORK, June 8, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Princeton philosopher Peter Singer one of the world’s foremost contemporary utilitarian philosophers infamous for his advocacy of infanticide, would like individuals to consider this question: would sterilizing the human race to spare future generations the pain of existence be a good idea? In a blog post for the New York Times entitled “Should this be the last generation?” Singer discusses in glowing terms the thought of South African philosopher David Benatar. Singer calls Benator the “author of a fine book with an arresting title: ‘Better Never to Have Been: The […]

Thursday June 3, 2010 Notre Dame Pres Jenkins: Visit to Notre Dame was Good for Obama By Kathleen Gilbert SOUTH BEND, Indiana, June 3, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In an interview with the Chronicle of Higher Education, University of Notre Dame president Fr. John Jenkins said that he thought inviting President Obama to the school’s commencement last year influenced the president for the better, and dismissed the heavy criticism over the invitation as a “scorched-earth strategy toward disagreement.” After Notre Dame invited President Obama to give the commencement address and receive an honorary law degree in May 2009, the school received […]

By Peter J. Smith WASHINGTON, D.C., June 7, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A number of memos have come to the fore with information about the views of President Barack Obama’s nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court, Elena Kagan, on abortion and assisted suicide. The memos show that Kagan opined against a federal ban on assisted suicide, and demonstrated political savvy in keeping the Clinton administration from endangering already liberal abortion laws by antagonizing a Republican-led Congress. When the Clinton Administration was faced by Oregon’s decision to legalize assisted suicide, Kagan, serving during this time as deputy director of Clinton's Domestic Policy […]

Friday June 4, 2010 Alaska Supreme Court Upholds Petitions for Parental Notification Initiative ANCHORAGE, Alaska, June 4, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) — The Alaska Supreme Court Wednesday upheld a trial court’s finding that petitions for a parental notification initiative do not contain confusing and misleading language and are therefore valid. The decision means that the measure, which would require parents to be notified if their minor daughter seeks an abortion, will go on the ballot for voter approval during the Aug. 24 primary. Planned Parenthood had filed suit to stop the initiative, claiming that the lieutenant governor’s summary of the proposed measure […]

Friday June 4, 2010 Alaska Gov Vetoes Child Health Insurance Program over Abortion Concerns By Peter J. Smith JUNEAU, Alaska, June 4, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Alaska’s governor Sean Parnell has nixed an expansion of the state’s child health insurance program (CHIP) after he discovered that the program pays for elective abortions and could end up financing more. Parnell struck out $2.9 million dollars for the program from Alaska’s eight billion dollar operating budget with a veto of SB 13, the Denali Kid Care program, which sponsors said would add 1,277 children and 225 pregnant women to the rolls of the […]

Wednesday June 2, 2010 Fed Court Vindicates Student Suspended for Wearing Rosary NEW YORK, June 2, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A federal court judge has ordered a New York school district to readmit a seventh-grade student suspended indefinitely for wearing a rosary to school after officials said the Catholic prayer beads violated the school’s dress code. U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence E. Kahn issued a temporary restraining order on Tuesday ordering Schenectady City School District to permit 13-year-old Raymond Hosier to return to classes at Oneida Middle School wearing his rosary. Kahn responded to a same-day request by the American Center […]

Thursday June 3, 2010 Over 800 Iowa Church Leaders Support the Traditional Family By James Tillman DES MOINES, Iowa, June 3, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) — A letter and a petition in support of traditional marriage, signed by a total of 834 Iowa pastors and church leaders, are being circulated throughout Iowa in anticipation of the November election. “We, the undersigned, affirm our strong belief that the traditional definition of marriage is fundamentally important and necessary for a stable society,” states one petition. “More than five thousand years of world history, more than two centuries of American history, and more than one […]

Thursday June 3, 2010 Pro-Life Ad Campaign Urges Black Women to Choose Adoption Over Abortion By Peter J. Smith ATLANTA, Georgia, June 3, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Fresh from their first success, a Georgia billboard campaign exposing the abortion industry’s deliberate targeting of the black community has begun phase two: informing black women that adoption, not abortion, is the answer for a crisis pregnancy. The new billboard campaign “Black and Unwanted,” launched by Georgia Right to Life and the Radiance Foundation, is continuing to hit home with black Americans by revealing that abortion is devastating their communities and dwindling their demographic […]