Pro-Life Americans Outnumber Pro-Choice
For the first time in 15 years, Gallup Polls has found a majority of Americans self report as pro-life, up sharply from just one year ago. The annual Values and Beliefs survey found 51% of Americans say they support life while 42% claim they are pro-choice.
In another poll conducted by the Polling Company for Americans United for Life, 68% of respondents said they knew someone personally who had had an abortion, and believe that abortion hurts women.
Local Community College Student Council Passes Vote to Oppose LGBT Day of Silence
In a Council Chamber overflowing with students, the Sacramento community college, American River College, voted 11-5 to pass a resolution putting the 42,000-student school on record as officially opposing the Day of Silence, an annual observance by the LGBT community.
The audience was packed with students who spoke out in favor and against this resolution. Those in favor argued that the controversial obersvance was an attempt to silence Christians while those opposed stated the day was about protecting homosexuals and transsexuals from violence.
The hour long meeting ended with the majority cote siding in favor with students arguing for religious protection from censorship associated with the Day of Silence, meeting the required 2/3rds vote to pass.
Nomination of Sotomayor
THE NEW YORK TIMES
May 27, 2009
Obama Hails Judge as ‘Inspiring’
By PETER BAKER and JEFF ZELENY
President Obama announced Tuesday that he would nominate Sonia Sotomayor, a federal appeals judge in New York, to the Supreme Court, choosing a daughter of Puerto Rican parents who was raised in a Bronx public housing project to become the nation’s first Hispanic justice.
In making his first pick for the court, Mr. Obama emphasized Judge Sotomayor’s “extraordinary journey” from modest beginnings to the Ivy League and now the pinnacle of the judicial system. Casting her as the embodiment of the American dream, he touched off a confirmation battle that he hopes to wage over biography more than ideology.
Judge Sotomayor’s past comments about how her sex and ethnicity shaped her decisions, and the role of appeals courts in making policy, generated instant conservative complaints that she is a judicial activist. Senate Republicans vowed to scrutinize her record. But with Democrats in reach of the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster, the White House appeared eager to dare Republicans to stand against a history-making nomination at a time when both parties are courting the growing Hispanic vote.
“When Sonia Sotomayor ascends those marble steps to assume her seat on the highest court of the land,” Mr. Obama said as he introduced her in the East Room of the White House, “America will have taken another important step towards realizing the ideal that is etched above its entrance: Equal justice under the law.”
Iranian Election Sparks International Debate
Iranians went to the voting booth on Friday, June 12th, for their 10th presidential election since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. After election results were prematurely announced, naming Mahmoud Ahmadinejad president again, riots erupted in the street alleging election fraud. This riot, led by the nation’s youth (over 66% of Iranians are under the age of 30) has spurred international attention. Rallies, protests, and violent squalls have ravaged throughout the country as Iranians citizens ask, “Where is my vote?”
Ahmadinejad’s chief opponent, Mir Hossein Mousavi, has declared himself the true winner of the election. In previous elections, tallies began to trickle in hours after the polls closed; this year millions of votes poured in almost immediately from a huge turnout of about 85 percent of Iran’s 46.2 million voters. The final outcome: 62.6 percent of the vote to Ahmadinejad and 33.75 for Mousavi, a former prime minister from the 1980s. Much of the electorate, however, are unsatisfied with the results.
Ahmadinejad accused the foreign media of producing coverage that harmed the Iranian people, saying “a large number of foreign media … organized a full-fledged fight against our people.”
Authorities also called foreign journalists with visas to cover the elections, including members of The Associated Press, and told them they should prepare to leave the country. Italian state TV RAI said one of its crews was caught in the clashes in front Mousavi’s headquarters. Their Iranian interpreter was beaten with clubs by riot police and officers confiscated the cameraman’s tapes, the station said.
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California Most Hostile State to Life
Shortly after the 36th anniversary of America legalizing abortion comes news that California is the most hostile state to life. Americans United For Life released its annual ranking of the most pro-life states in America; California is at the bottom of the list.
The AUL determines rankings based on the laws in each state regarding abortion practices, parental notice or consent, taxpayer funding of abortion, and regulations on abortionists. Pennsylvania, Lousiana, and South Dakota received the top ranking while California, Hawaii and Vermont ranked lowest.
American Flag Unwelcome in California Capitol
Tea Parties protesting our government’s fiscal irresponsibility took place throughout the nation on Tax Day, April 15th. Sacramento hosted one of the largest events with over 150,000 citizens in attendance.
Despite the peaceful display of the right to assemble, there was also a display made by the Capitol security forces. Capitol security responded to the commotion outside by assuring that no sign of political disagreement would cross the threshold of the state Capitol, including the illustrious American flag.
Outrage has broken out due to this political action made against patriotism by Capitol security. Capitol Resource Institute distributed hundreds of flags to attendees only to be notified that they would have to be discarded in order to enter the public building. Karen England of CRI writes, “It is hard not to conclude that there is an aversion to patriotism.”