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Missouri Family E-News

November 29, 2011


Investigation
Sought in Shredding
of Kansas Abortion Records

 

 

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt is calling for an investigation into the destruction of abortion records maintained by the state's Department of Health and the Environment.  Those reports provided crucial evidence in a lawsuit against Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri concerning alleged illegal late-term abortions.

 

Kansas State Judge Stephen Tatum recently dismissed all 23 felony charges that had been filed against Planned Parenthood by former Attorney General Phil Kline due to the destruction of the evidentiary records.   

 

Planned Parenthood had been accused of falsifying medical records to show that late-term preborn infants who were aborted were not viable.  Planned Parenthood was also accused of failing to report numerous instances of statutory rape. 

 

District Attorney Steve Howe says that it is impossible for him to proceed with prosecution in the absence of the state abortion reports.  He laid fault for the destruction of the records on former Kansas Attorney General Steve Six.  Six had been appointed to the post by former Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, a close ally of the state's late-term abortion industry.

 

Attorney General Schmidt is now asking the Shawnee County Sheriff's office to launch an investigation into the shredding of the state's late-term abortion reports.

 

Mary Kay Culp, executive director of Kansans for Life, says the state's actions are despicable.  "Only guilty people destroy evidence.  Not even we anticipated that Governor Sebelius and her administration could stoop this low to protect abortion industry criminality. "

 

Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue, welcomes the investigation into the shredding of the documents.  "This destruction may rise to the level of a criminal conspiracy to obstruct justice because the original records were destroyed just months after they had been subpoenaed.  The more we learn, the more apparent it becomes that Kathleen Sebelius is at the heart of this political corruption."

 

Sebelius now serves as the Director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  Steve Six has been nominated by President Obama to serve on the Tenth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.  The U.S. Senate has yet to confirm his appointment.                   



Jury to Decide
Fate of Fired NASA Worker

 

 

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge has ordered a jury trial in the case of a NASA employee who claims he was fired because of his belief in intelligent design.

 

David Coppedge was terminated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory earlier this year after being accused of "pushing his religion" on fellow employees.  Coppedge claims all he did was to distribute videos on the intelligent design theory to interested co-workers.

 

Coppedge is a 14-year employee of the Jet Propulsion Lab, and had served as the team lead computer administrator for the Cassini Mission to Saturn.  He had been demoted two years ago when the controversy over his intelligent design views began.

 

The Los Angeles Court found that there were "triable issues of fact" as to whether Coppedge's demotion, written warnings, negative performance evaluations, and termination were discriminatory employment actions. 

 

"It has become pandemic in this nation's scientific community to discriminate against people who hold views about the origin of life that are contrary to the 150 year-old theory of evolution," says Bill Becker,  Coppedge's attorney.   

 

Casey Luskin of the Discovery Institute believes Coppedge was fired because his views were not politically correct.  "They got rid of David because he didn't fit their philosophy.  Employees apparently are allowed to attack intelligent design, but are not allowed to support it."

 

Coppedge, 59, says he just wants his job back.  "I'm not ready to retire." 

 

U.S. Senate Leaders Mount Assault on
State Marriage Laws 


Democratic leaders in the U.S. Senate are pushing legislation to dismantle state laws preserving traditional marriage.  The Senate Judiciary Committee has advanced a bill which would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).  Senate leaders may seek to attach the DOMA repeal to annual legislation authorizing funding for the Department of Defense.

The proposal, deceitfully named the Respect for Marriage Act, is sponsored by California Senator Diane Feinstein.  It would eliminate the current provisions of federal law which protect states from being compelled to recognize same-sex unions legally established in other states.  Without DOMA, proponents of so-called same-sex "marriage" will argue that the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the U.S. Constitution requires that every state recognize the marriage laws of other states.

This would effectively negate state laws and constitutional provisions in 44 states including Missouri which define marriage as the union of a man and a woman.  Same-sex "couples" would simply travel to a state which recognizes same-sex unions and then return to their home state demanding that their "marriage" be recognized as valid in their home state. 

Feinstein's bill would also redefine marriage for the purposes of federal law.  DOMA stipulates that federal rules and regulations shall only acknowledge traditional marriages, and that federal benefits shall only be paid to "spouses" who are a person of the opposite gender who is a husband or a wife.

The DOMA repeal legislation was endorsed by the Senate Judiciary Committee on a party-line vote of 10-8.  All Democratic members of the committee voted yes, including Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, who is a co-sponsor of the bill.  All eight Republican members voted no.

Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, sharply condemned the reckless proposal.  "This debate is about stable families and good environments for raising children, and is not about discriminating against anyone.  Traditional marriage between a man and woman has been the foundation of our society for 6,000 years.  The Defense of Marriage Act protects this sacred institution, which I believe in, and attempts to dismantle this law will be met with a great deal of resistance."

Grassley represents a state where marriage was redefined to include same-sex unions through the dictatorial action of the Iowa Supreme Court.  Since that ruling,  Iowa press accounts report that as many as 45% of the same-sex couples who have been "married" in that state have been out-of-state residents.

Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council, says the Senate Committee action is an insult to American voters.  "The committee action disrespects the vast majority of Americans who want to protect marriage as the union of one man and one woman--and have done so in the 31 states which have passed referendums in favor of marriage."

"DOMA has stood the test of time, being upheld as constitutional by several courts, reflecting a national consensus on marriage, and ensuring that states will not have a radical redefinition of marriage forced upon them by other states," Perkins added.

Speculation abounds that Senate Leader Harry Reid may support efforts to attach the DOMA repeal to the annual Defense Department authorization bill.  Senate leaders employed that tactic before, when they successfully attached homosexual "hate crimes" legislation to the bill funding our nation's military.  That new law provided special protections to homosexual, "bisexual, and transgendered" individuals in federal criminal cases.

Legislation to repeal DOMA has also been introduced in the U.S. House, sponsored by Representative Gerald Nadler of New York.  That bill has 133 co-sponsors, including Missouri Congressman Emmanuel Cleaver.

"Gay marriage" proponents are also continuing their brazen efforts to redefine marriage in the federal courts.  The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is currently considering a lawsuit challenging Proposition 8, the voter-approved California constitutional amendment which preserved traditional marriage in that state.

The California Supreme Court recently ruled that supporters of Proposition 8 have standing to defend the law in federal court.  California Governor Jerry Brown and California Attorney General Kamala Harris have refused to fulfill their constitutional duty to defend Proposition 8, which was declared unconstitutional by U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker in an outrageous decision void of any legal basis or reasoning.

Writing for a unanimous California Supreme Court, Justice Joyce Kennard stated:  "Neither the Governor, the Attorney General, nor any other executive or legislative official has the authority to veto or invalidate an initiative measure that has been approved by the voters.  It would exalt form over substance to interpret California law in a manner that would permit these public officials to indirectly achieve such a result by denying the official initiative proponents the authority to step in to assert the state's interest..."

Homosexual activists are also mounting a challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act in federal court with the help of the state of Massachusetts.  A federal judge has ruled that the DOMA provisions limiting federal benefits to traditional marriage partners is unconstitutional.  President Obama announced earlier this year that the U.S. Justice Department would not defend that section of DOMA.  Since the President has abdicated his responsibility to defend the law, the U.S. House of Representatives has hired legal counsel to intervene in the case on behalf of DOMA.

We strongly encourage you to contact our two U.S. Senators to urge them to oppose efforts to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act.  You can contact Senator Claire McCaskill by clicking this link:
Senator McCaskill

You can contact Senator Roy Blunt by using this link:
Senator Blunt

The National Organization for Marriage is also conducting a petition drive in efforts to save DOMA.  You can sign that petition by following this link:
NOM 

 

Joe's Signature