Hearing ‘Under God’ in Pledge of Allegiance Does Not Violate Rights of Atheist Students, Judge Rules

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Photo Credit: mrsdkrebs

Photo Credit: mrsdkrebs

Hearing the Pledge of Allegiance at school every day – including the words “under God” – does not violate the constitutional rights of atheist students, a state judge has ruled.

A student filed a lawsuit last year against the Matawan-Aberdeen school district in Monmouth County, arguing that the phrase “under God” fostered a climate of discrimination in the classroom because it exalted religion and made non-believers feel like “second-class citizens.”

The student and his parents – who are not identified in court papers – filed suit along with the American Humanist Association, a national group of atheists that teaches social responsibility. Attorneys argued that the student felt marginalized hearing the pledge every day “just as America’s Jews, Hindus, and Muslims would feel excluded, marginalized and stigmatized if they were told by their government on a daily basis that the United States is one nation ‘under Jesus.’”

State Superior Court Judge David F. Bauman dismissed the case in February, noting that the student was free to skip the pledge. The judge upheld a New Jersey law that says pupils must recite the Pledge of Allegiance unless they have “conscientious scruples” that do not allow it.

Quoting George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Dwight D. Eisenhower and the New Jersey Constitution, Bauman said the United States for centuries has woven small aspects of religion and references to God into its customs and traditions – not as an endorsement of any faith, but as an acknowledgement of the role religion played in the country’s founding. (Read more from “Hearing ‘Under God’ in Pledge of Allegiance Does Not Violate Rights of Atheist Students, Judge Rules” HERE)

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Feds Order Insurance Companies to Provide Mammogram Coverage for Men Who Have Undergone Sex Change Ops

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Denee-Mallon-638x425[Editor’s note: the following fair-use excerpt is from ultra-liberal Thinkprogress.org] Transgender people face two prominent hurdles to equitable health care: coverage of procedures related to their actual gender transition (hormones, surgery, etc.) and coverage of sex-specific procedures that are as important for transgender people as for others, like mammograms, prostate exams, and cervical Pap tests. New guidance issued this week from the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and the Treasury affirms that insurance companies must provide the services in this second category without discriminating on the basis of gender identity.

When a doctor or other health care provider determines that an exam is medically appropriate for a patient, the guidance instructs, “the plan or issuer must provide coverage for the recommended preventive service, without cost sharing, regardless of sex assigned at birth, gender identity, or gender of the individual otherwise recorded by the plan or issuer.” A talking point memo accompanying the guidance offers, “This means, for example, that a transgender man with an intact cervix can get coverage without cost sharing for a pap smear, if recommended by his provider. . .”

In the 2011 National Transgender Discrimination Survey, a full 50 percent of respondents reported that they had postponed pursuing preventive care services because they could not afford it. This included a transgender man who was told by Blue Cross of California, “Unfortunately we are unable to process claims for one member under both genders,” and thus he could not be covered for procedures related to his anatomy. One 55-year-old transgender man was denied coverage for a bone density scan because according to the insurer’s policies, only women could qualify as “at-risk” for osteoporosis. Another transgender man sought treatment for an infection from an LGBT-friendly health provider; when he asked for additional preventive services, he was told that because his documents identify him as male, it wasn’t possible to submit a claim for a Pap test without compromising coverage for the other tests and treatments he received related to the infection. (Read more from “Feds Order Insurance Companies to Provide Mammogram Coverage for Men Who Have Undergone Sex Change Operations” HERE)

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Catholic University Investigated for Offending Muslims by Having Too Many Crosses

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Pope-Francis-Reuters-640x480“Complaint says crosses at Catholic school offensive, prevent Muslim prayers,” reads the headline at BeliefNet.

It’s one of those headlines that sounds like a bad joke, but it isn’t. It’s not exactly a serious complaint, either, and it isn’t coming from actual Muslim students in any event. “Baffled Catholic University officials say they have never received a complaint from any of the schools Muslim students,” writes BeliefNet.

In fact, the university expressed its bafflement in a full-length statement: “Catholic University’s faithfulness to our Catholic tradition has also made us a welcome home to students of other religions. No students have registered complaints about the exercise of their religions on our campus. We understand that a professor unaffiliated with Catholic University has made public allegations claiming that we are discriminating against our students on religious grounds, but we have not seen any legal filing – and will respond to them if we do.”

The sixty-page complaint was filed with the Washington, D.C. Office of Human Rights by a one-man nuisance-lawsuit factory, George Washington University Law School Professor John Banzhaf. Muslim students are but pawns in Banzhaf’s game against Catholics. Taken to its logical conclusion, his lawfare would wipe out mosques and Islamic learning centers as well. The rules of engagement in the Establishment’s War on Religion have a funny way of changing to accommodate Islam, however, so perhaps those hypothetical logical conclusions will never be reached.

Banzhaf’s complaint alleges that the large amount of Catholic imagery draping the halls of Catholic University creates an “offensive” environment in which Muslims are intimidated out of proper reverence for their own religion. (Read more from “Catholic University Investigated for Offending Muslims by Having Too Many Crosses” HERE)

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Charges: Arizona Woman Made up Cancer Story to Qualify for Tax-Funded Abortion

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Photo Credit: ABC 15

Photo Credit: ABC 15

A convicted con artist duped the state into paying for her late-term abortion, a procedure which otherwise would not have been funded with public money, according to court records.

Chalice Renee Zeitner made up a story about having cancer in order to qualify for an abortion while on Arizona’s Medicaid insurance, and forged a doctor’s note to support her claim, according to charging documents.

A doctor performed the abortion when Zeitner was 22-weeks pregnant.

Arizona’s Medicaid, known as AHCCCS, will only pay for an abortion in cases of rape or incest or “medical necessity,” which include cases where the pregnancy causes or worsens a serious health risk to the mother.

Zeitner, 29, received “what was thought to be a medically necessary late-term abortion,” court documents state. (Read more from “Charges: Arizona Woman Made up Cancer Story to Qualify for Tax-Funded Abortion” HERE)

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House Will Vote on 20-Week Abortion Ban on Day Kermit Gosnell Convicted of Snipping Babies’ Necks [+video]

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gosnell5By Steven Ertelt. LifeNews has confirmed that the House of Representatives this week will indeed vote on the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act — the bill to ban abortions after 20 weeks, on the anniversary of the conviction of Kermit Gosnell. That anniversary and the vote will take place on Wednesday.

On this day two years ago, Gosnell was found guilty of killing Baby A, Baby C and Baby D by snipping their necks in brutal abortion-infanticides still legal in the United States. He was also convicted on hundreds of lesser charges ranging from infanticide to running a corrupt organization.

Leading pro-life groups are working hard to generate calls and emails to members of Congress to support the bill.

National Right to Life told LifeNews: “The bill is the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (H.R. 36), which would extend general protection from abortion to unborn children beginning at 20 weeks fetal age — nationwide. This bill could save the lives of thousands of babies each year. This federal bill was developed from model legislation developed by National Right to Life, which has been enacted so far in 11 states.” (Read more from “House Will Vote on 20-Week Abortion Ban on Day Kermit Gosnell Convicted of Snipping Babies’ Necks” HERE)

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Abortion Doctor Who Did 1,200 Abortions Tells Congress to Ban Them

By Steven Ertelt. This week, the House of Representatives is voting on a bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The last time the House considered this bill, a former abortion practitioner urged members of Congress to pass it.

Dr. Anthony Levatino is a pro-life physician from New Mexico but, before having a change of heart on the issue of abortion he was an OBGYN who also performed abortions. Levatino did as many as 1,200 abortions — some of them after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Then, after his daughter died in a tragic automobile accident, he re-evaluated his position on abortion and stopped doing abortions.

Dr. Levatino told members of a Congressional committee that they should support the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act and ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

(Read more from this story HERE)

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Naked Final Exam at UC San Diego Sparks Mom’s Outrage [+video]

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Photo Credit: Holly Eskew

Photo Credit: Holly Eskew

Arriving naked at a final exam is one of the most common nightmares for students, according to Psychology Today. At the University of California San Diego, however, the naked final exam is a requirement for a class in the visual arts department.

Students are required to perform “a gesture that traces, outlines or speaks about your ‘erotic self(s),’” according to the course syllabus. In the performance, all of the students are naked, along with the professor, Roberto Dominguez, who has taught the class for 11 years.

“It’s the standard canvas for performance art and body art,” Dominguez told local ABC News affiliate KGTV. “It is all very controlled…If they are uncomfortable with this gesture, they should not take the class.” He was defending the class after one mother spoke out, claiming the requirement was not clear and was a “perversion.”

(Read more from “Naked Final Exam at UC San Diego Sparks Mom’s Outrage” HERE)

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104-Year-Old Woman Shares Her Secret to Longevity, and It’s Great

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Photo Credit: Life News

Photo Credit: Life News

This month, Con Mac celebrated her 104th year of life. Mac credits her long life to exercise, family, clean eating and praying every day. In Florida, she’s a member of the YMCA and goes in seven days a week to exercise along with her daughter. A friend of the woman, Judi Greenburg, said, ““I think she’s a wonderful, wonderful image to follow. We’re so proud of her.”

CBS Miami reports that Con Mac moved from Vietnam to the United States in 1975. She was a widow and raised her two children by herself. Mac’s daughter, Bich-De Lu, says her mother has lived so long because she knows how to relax and find time to watch the moon. Additionally, Mac is a vegetarian and loves to cook.

The woman has nine grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren, and has always encouraged her children to pursue education. Remarkably, five of her grandchildren are doctors and one is a pharmacist. Her great-granddaughter, Kristy Nguyen, said, “She is just an amazing woman. I can’t believe that she is turning 104 and I just think that she’s probably the most amazing people I know.” (Read more from “104-Year-Old Woman Shares Her Secret to Longevity, and It’s Great” HERE)

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Michelle Obama Complains of Emotional Toll of Being First Black First Lady

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MichelleObama-1Michelle Obama gave a candid view Saturday of the challenges and emotional toll of being the country’s first black first lady.

Obama, speaking to graduates at Tuskegee University in Alabama, described insensitive media questions and derogatory remarks from political pundits that she said have kept her up at night.

“You might remember the on-stage celebratory fist bump between me and my husband after a primary win that was referred to as a ‘terrorist fist jab,’ ” she said.

And over the years, folks have used plenty of interesting words to describe me. One said I exhibited ‘a little bit of uppity-ism.’ Another noted that I was one of my husband’s ‘cronies of color.’ Cable news once charmingly referred to me as ‘Obama’s Baby Mama.’ ” . . .

“But, as potentially the first African-American First Lady, I was also the focus of another set of questions and speculations; conversations sometimes rooted in the fears and misperceptions of others. Was I too loud, or too angry, or too emasculating? Or was I too soft, too much of a mom, not enough of a career woman?” (Read more from “Michelle Obama Speaks of Emotional Toll of Being First Black First Lady” HERE)

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10 Children of Homeschool, Off-Grid Family Placed in Strangers’ Homes in 4 Counties

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Photo Credit: Off The Grid News

Photo Credit: Off The Grid News

By Off The Grid News Staff. The rural Kentucky parents at the center of a custody battle that has shocked the homeschool and off-grid communities are staying upbeat and hope to get their 10 children back soon, a family friend says.

“They’re being positive. They want to get their kids back. They’re not trying to be overly critical of the authorities,” family friend Pace Ellsworth told Off The Grid News.

The 10 children were seized Wednesday from the parents, Joe and Nicole Naugler, following an anonymous tip that apparently related to their style of off-grid living. The family is also part of the “unschooling” movement, a type of homeschooling.

A hearing is scheduled for Monday. As of now, officials have placed the children with four families in four different counties, and as of Friday morning, the parents had not spoken with them. The four families are families that Kentucky’s version of CPS chose – families the Nauglers don’t know.

The ease with which sheriff deputies were able to take the kids may have been the most shocking. (Read more from “10 Children of Homeschool, Off-Grid Family Placed in Strangers’ Homes in 4 Counties” HERE)

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Police Seize 10 Children From Homeschool Family Because They’re Off-Grid

By Off The Grid News Staff. An off-grid homeschool family of 12 in rural Kentucky was raided, the mother arrested, and the 10 children seized simply because the government disagrees with their lifestyle and their educational choices, family members and friends say.

Until Wednesday, Joe and Nicole Naugler lived with their 10 kids in a cabin on 26 acres in Breckinridge County, about an hour southwest of Louisville.

“They are an extremely happy family,” family friend Pace Ellsworth told Off The Grid News.

Acting on an anonymous tip about the family’s off-grid lifestyle, sheriff’s officers entered the property and home Wednesday, and even blocked the access road to the family property, the family says. Joe and eight of the children were away, but Nicole – who is five-months pregnant – was home with the two oldest kids. Sheriff deputies then seemingly allowed Nicole and the two children to drive away but they got only a short distance before deputies pulled them over and took the two children away from the mom, who was arrested for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. (She says the arrest took place after she did not passively allow deputies to take the children.) Nicole was able to contact her husband and have a brief conversation. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Michelle Obama Says Minorities Are Not Welcome in These Places

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Photo Credit: WSJ

Photo Credit: WSJ

In a pandering speech this week, Michelle Obama addressed an unavoidable issue in today’s cultural climate: racism. Rather than use the forum to enumerate the myriad ways – an obvious example being her husband’s two terms as the nation’s chief executive – blacks have progressed in America, she chose to further stoke racial tension by declaring “museums and concert halls” unaccommodating to minorities.

“You see,” she told an audience at New York City’s Whitney Museum, “there are so many kids in this country who look at places like museums and concert halls and other cultural centers and think to themselves, ‘Well, that’s not a place for me, for somebody who looks like me, for somebody who comes from my neighborhood.’”

She went on to “guarantee” that, within a mile of the location, there is a population of children “who would never in a million years dream that they would be welcome in this museum.”

Without mentioning exactly how she came to the conclusion, Obama instead opted to appeal to the audience’s emotion by sharing a chapter from her own past.

“So I know that feeling of not belonging in a place like this,” she said. “And today, as first lady, I know that feeling limits the horizons of far too many of our young people.” (Read more from “Michelle Obama Says Minorities Are Not Welcome in These Places” HERE)

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