Columnist.
Apple's old logo was colored by the rainbow -- and it looks like their top management still is. Three years after taking the company over for an ailing Steve Jobs, Apple CEO Tim Cook confirmed what many people suspected: he identifies as a homosexual. Cook, the head of the tech world's colossus, said he made the announcement because his predecessor had urged him to "be himself" as the company's chief executive. "While I have never denied my sexuality, I haven't publicly acknowledged it either, until now," writes Cook. "So let me be clear: I'm proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me." Of course, the news was greeted with a huge round of media applause, as words of support and encouragement continue to pour in from the corporate world.
It may be Halloween, but even Mayor Annise Parker can't mask her real agenda. The Houston leader couldn't have been clearer [Wednesday] that while she may have withdrawn the churches' subpoenas, she has no intention of withdrawing from the battle over fundamental democracy. Remember, this whole saga began when the Mayor pushed a bad special rights ordinance, which morphed into a voting rights violation when she discarded over 30,000 signed citizen petitions. From there, it mushroomed into an attack on the First Amendment, and pastors started to challenge her totalitarian rule. "I didn't do this to satisfy them," an indignant Parker said. "I did it because it was not serving Houston."
Houston's launched plenty of things over the years -- but controversy seems to be its specialty these days. Houston Mayor Annise Parker has certainly put the city on the map where religious intolerance is concerned. In a [Thursday] morning press conference, the center of a nationwide First Amendment firestorm says the city council is withdrawing the church subpoenas because she "doesn't want to have a national debate about the freedom of religion." Parker stunned Americans last month with her demand for the private communications of certain Houston pastors -- none of whom were involved in the litigation over the city's radical new "bathroom bill." Now, she's trying to dodge the controversy by pulling back on her PR eyesore and focusing on the suit at hand. But, as FRC has said all along, the Mayor's motivation was never about the pastors' sermons or speeches, it was about political intimidation.
The media are scratching their heads that the wheels have come off of the "war on women" mantra. A CNN analysis suggests the changing "dynamic reflects the painstaking efforts among Republicans to avoid the mistakes of 2012." But there is a much bigger dynamic here. The Middle East is in turmoil, West Africa is battling a growing plague that threatens to go global, the border is in crisis, the economy continues to struggle and yet Democratic leaders think the future of the world hinges on contraceptives? All of this is happening while America sinks under the weight of the Left's failed policies. Can Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and company possibly be any more insulting to the female voters they claim to speak for? If liberals are such devoted feminists, why do they insist on reducing women voters to the sum of their reproductive organs? It's an offensive -- and now failing -- strategy for the party desperate to keep its grip on the Senate. The "war on women" obsession may have opened the wallets of hard-line Democratic donors, but those soccer moms the liberals thought they were scaring with their phony war have become security moms fearful of the nation's future because of the failed policies of the Left.
Coeur d'Alene, a small town in northern Idaho appears to be trying to rein in their earlier threat to put two ministers in jail for refusing to conduct same-sex weddings. As I outlined last week, Don and Lynn Knapps, two Evangelical ministers, own The Hitching Post, a wedding chapel in Coeur d' Alene. The Knapps, who have been operating The Hitching Post for over a quarter of a century, are ministers in the Foursquare denomination that holds to the biblical and historical definition of marriage. FRC's allies at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) quickly came to the Knapps' defense. Originally Coeur d'Alene city attorney Mike Gridley told ADF attorneys that the Hitching Post would have to become a not-for-profit to be "exempt" from the city's ordinance requiring compliance with its "anti-discrimination" law.
In a stunning move, California has upped the abortion ante by forcing churches to pay for elective abortion coverage. California's Department of Managed Health Care has ordered all insurance plans in the state immediately to begin covering elective abortion at the urging of American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which pushed for abortion to be considered a "basic health service". California bureaucrats no doubt feel emboldened by the Obama administration that has all but declared open season on people who seek to live their lives according to orthodox biblical teachings. On its face, this is clearly an illegal act by the state of California and violates the federal Hyde-Weldon Amendment, which bars states receiving federal funds from discriminating against people who object to paying for abortion coverage. One of FRC's Watchmen on the Wall pastors, Jack Hibbs, Senior Pastor of Cavalry Chapel Chino Hills, along with pastors from six other churches are now working with Alliance Defending Freedom and Life Legal Defense Foundation and have filed a formal complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
"In Kansas, we are not in culture war-fearing territory anymore, Toto." That's how U.S. News and World Report kicks off an interesting new piece about the importance of social issues in the heartland -- and how embracing the moral and social issues could be the deciding factor for candidates like Gov. Sam Brownback (R). For the mainstream media, it's a head-scratcher. While moderates treat life and marriage like radioactive material, the press seems surprised that real conservatives refuse to retreat. Unlike the Scott Walkers of the GOP, neither Sen. Pat Roberts nor Gov. Brownback are following the Establishment's retreat from fundamental values issues, rather they have the courage to stand up for what is right.
There's a lot more separating the U.S. and Puerto Rico than the Atlantic. Based on Tuesday's news, the two regions are also oceans apart on judicial activism. [Tuesday], the little island made a big splash in the marriage debate by becoming just the second federal court to uphold the local law. In an opinion that was a breath of fresh air to disenfranchised voters everywhere, Judge Juan Perez-Gimenez shocked everyone by following 40 years of legal precedent. Unlike his peers, who could win awards for their judicial gymnastics, Perez-Gimenez practiced what is becoming a lost art in U.S. courtrooms: self-restraint. After a year and a half of watching courts elevate political correctness above the rule of law, Perez-Gimenez dared to inject a little common sense into his ruling, writing one of the most unflinchingly pro-Constitution opinions on the subject in the last decade. Calling natural marriage "the fundamental unit of the political order," the judge argues that "Ultimately, the very survival of the political order depends on the procreative potential embodied in it."
For a constitutional law professor, President Obama still has a lot to learn about the 14th Amendment. After years of leading Americans on, the former states' rights, natural marriage defender finally came full circle [Monday], publicly defending the courts' activism on an issue that still fiercely divides the country. "Ultimately," the President told the New Yorker, "I think the Equal Protection Clause does guarantee same-sex marriage in all fifty states." The self-styled "gay rights President," Obama insisted that judges are right to trample the 41 million Americans who successfully enacted marriage protection amendments.
If homosexuals get their way, Pastor Donald Knapp won't be behind the pulpit -- he'll be behind bars. That's the stunning development in Idaho, where the day liberals promised would never come is already here. Two ministers -- a husband and wife team -- have been told by their city government that refusing to "marry" a same-sex couple will send them straight to jail. After 25 years of owning The Hitching Post wedding chapel, Donald and Evelyn are being faced with a situation neither of them thought possible: being imprisoned for their faith. Like the flood of state amendments steamrolled by activist judges, Idaho's fell earlier this month. And with it, religious liberty. Fearing the worst, the Knapps reached out to Alliance Defending Freedom, concerned that their chapel would be targeted. Less than a week later, the battle was at their front door.
Houston Mayor Annise Parker has been on quite a fishing expedition -- but it's her power that needs to be reeled in. Americans everywhere are appalled by the lesbian leader, who declared war on the First Amendment by barging into churches and demanding pastors' private communications. In a country still burning over the IRS's crackdown, Parker's missive became the subpoena heard 'round the world. Fed up with this administration's heavy-handedness, Houston has become a rallying cry for freedom-loving Americans tired of seeing their laws and liberties casually tossed aside in a liberal stampede.
It may be Boss's Day, but don't expect Houston's top leader to be flooded with well-wishes. Mayor Annise Parker hasn't exactly won Manager of the Year after her city-wide intimidation campaign of area churches. After subpoenaing the communications of local pastors, including their sermons and private messages, the Mayor got a few sermons herself from key leaders on the ridiculousness of her vendetta. Everyone from Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to the liberal Americans United for the Separation of Church and State have challenged Parker's naked abuse of government power. The Mayor "should be ashamed," Sen. Cruz told reporters before a local press conference this morning. "This is wrong. It's unbefitting of Texans, and it's un-American. The government has no business asking pastors to turn over their sermons."
Houston is home to one of NASA's most sophisticated space centers -- but even it would have trouble finding signs of intelligence in the local Mayor's office. The city's highest official is blowing past the First Amendment at warp speed -- and lighting a political powder keg in the process. After four years of forcing her extreme agenda on the city, Mayor Annise Parker may have finally picked a fight she's bound to regret. Five months after bullying her way into a Houston-wide "bathroom bill," Parker is furious that the city's voters won't roll over and accept it. Instead, America's fourth-largest city fought back, gathering three times the number of signatures needed to put the issue on the ballot. Furious with local pastors for leading the push-back, Parker decided to get her revenge by ordering a Soviet-style crackdown on area churches.
There isn't exactly a shortage of wedding chapels in Las Vegas -- and [Thursday] night, homosexuals kept the Elvis impersonators busy. The odds haven't exactly been in the Left's favor on marriage in Sin City -- but that all changed Monday with the Supreme Court's abandonment of state laws. And unfortunately, what happens in Vegas isn't staying in Vegas when it comes to trampling the will of the people. In Juneau, voters are hoping the Last Frontier doesn't become the final frontier for redefining marriage, as a fresh round of arguments kicked off in federal court [Friday] morning. For locals, the case is especially meaningful since Alaska was the first U.S. state to pass a constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of a man and woman. Like so many leaders, Alaska's are determined to keep fighting. "The definition of marriage," it insists, "is an issue for the states and the will of the voters of each state should govern -- regardless of whether the federal government or a federal court agrees."
A Kentucky company called "Hands On" wishes liberals would keep their "hands off!" Two years after the Christian outfitters turned down a t-shirt order for a local gay pride parade, the far-Left crowd is getting its revenge. After 24 months of back-and-forth, Lexington's Human Rights Commission finally issued its ruling this week, finding the business guilty of breaking the town's "fairness" ordinance. Their punishment? City-ordered reeducation known as "diversity training." The Commission's Executive Director, Raymond Sexton, says he agrees that it's time for Christians in the marketplace "to leave their religion at home." Otherwise, he warned, "you can find yourself two years down the road and you're still involved in a legal battle because you did not do so." Still, he tried to hedge, "We're not telling somehow how to feel with respect to religion, but the law is pretty clear that if you operate a business to the public, you need to provide your services to people regardless..." Sexton explained to Fox News's Todd Starnes.
The Supreme Court may be running away from the marriage issue, but conservatives certainly aren't. In the hours after [Monday's] non-decision decision, GOP leaders from governor's mansions to senate seats filled the silence left by the SCOTUS's justices with an indignation of their own. Most were incensed that the high court turned down -- not one, but *five* -- state marriage cases, leaving voters to fend for themselves against out-of-control judges who seem quite content substituting their own view for that of the law and those elected to make it. "Because of the Court's (actions) today," Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) fumed, "11 States will likely now be forced to legalize same-sex marriage: Virginia, Indiana, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Utah, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, Kansas, Colorado, and Wyoming. And this action paves the way for laws prohibiting same-sex marriage to be overturned in any state. This is judicial activism at its worst."
For once, it isn't what the Supreme Court said that's making news -- but what it *didn't* say. After weeks of speculation, the justices surprised everyone by sidestepping what most people thought was a sure thing: a hearing on state marriage laws. What was supposed to be the biggest political hot potato of Chief Justice John Roberts's 10th year was instead left in the laps of the appeals courts, where both sides continue to slug it out over state sovereignty and the rule of law. As usual, there was no explanation for the Court's decision, which will have an immediate impact on at least five states -- Virginia, Indiana, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, and Utah -- where "weddings" had been on hold in hopes the justices would intervene. While the Left races to spin the news as a victory for its cause, the reality is that yesterday's announcement doesn't mean that the justices would rule against marriage. What it does show is that the Court is hesitant to jump into the fray and impose a Roe v. Wade-type decision on a nation still sharply divided on the issue.
The world is imploding and the Left's focus is ... birth control? The Middle East is in turmoil, East Asia is erupting, West Africa is battling a growing plague that threatens to go global, and Democratic leaders think the future of the world hinges on contraceptives. Some Republicans, who've been wrongly accused of wanting to ban birth control, have suggested it be made available over the counter. Although FRC hasn't taken a position on birth control or contraceptives that don't harm human embryos, we do question the wisdom of making it available over the counter to young girls.
It wasn't enough for liberals to demand free birth control for adults. Now, the Left is gearing up for an even bigger sales pitch -- for young girls. America's daughters are the next stop on Congress's high-speed train of sexual irresponsibility, thanks to a new study from the Washington University School of Medicine. Researchers there insist that if teenage girls had access to free birth control implants like IUDs and hormones, the pregnancy rate would nosedive. "When costs are removed, young people and families will use these effective methods," said Dr. Mary Ott of Indiana University. Like the American Academy of Pediatrics, which just threw its support behind these more invasive kinds of contraception for kids, Ott is part of a growing movement of doctors determined to remove the barriers to early sexual activity. While researchers cheered the lower birth rates they saw from the free implants (35 out of 1,000 compared to the national average of 158 per 1,000), they were suspiciously mum on the rate of sexually transmitted diseases.
The Navy has plenty of destroyers -- but low morale may be the biggest one of all. Stressed and stretched thin, most sailors say they're fighting another kind of enemy: distrust and dissatisfaction. For most service members, the last six years have been an emotional roller coaster -- not only because of the external conflicts, but because of the internal ones that threaten to tear apart an already fragile fighting force. In a survey of 5,536 Navy personnel, only 27% say morale is "good" or "excellent," a freefall from past responses, where strained troops still managed to keep their spirits up. Now, a half-decade deep into the President's social experiment with the military, the scars are starting to show. Almost half of enlisted troops said they "distrust senior leaders" -- an opinion shared by 40% of officers. And the wave of pessimism threatens to affect more than just the Navy.
