National & International LAW & Islamic Sharia Why "Hate Crime" laws ban Biblical Christianity From Freedom to Servitude - Part 1: The Power and Perversions of Law Adapting the Constitution to a Global Consensus | Rifqa & Honor Killing Whose Rights & "Safe-guards"?  | Homeland Security Ban truth - Reap tyranny |

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August 2010

Sharia for Dummies: 1- Jihad, defined as to war against non-Muslims to establish the religion, is the duty of every Muslim and Muslim head of state...

2- A Caliph [ Muslim head of state] can hold office through seizure of power meaning through force.

3- A Caliph is exempt from being charged with serious crimes....

4- A percentage of Zakat (charity money) must go towards jihad.

5- It is obligatory to obey the commands of the Caliph, even if he is unjust.

6- A caliph must be a Muslim, a non-slave and a male.

7- The Muslim public must remove the Caliph if he rejects Islam.

8- A Muslim who leaves Islam must be killed immediately.

9- ....honor killing is acceptable.

12- Sharia dictates death by stoning, beheading, amputation of limbs...

ICE Union employees: ICE Director won't let us enforce U.S. immigration laws: "While ICE reports internally that more than 90 percent of ICE detainees are first encountered in jails after they are arrested by local police for criminal charges, ICE senior leadership misrepresents this information publicly in order to portray ICE detainees as being non-criminal in nature to support the Administration's position on amnesty and relaxed security at ICE detention facilities." See Scriptures on Lawlessness

Nationalizing marriage: "A federal district judge in California has ruled that it's unconstitutional to define marriage as a covenant between a man and a woman." See Webster's definition for marriage

Who Makes the Laws, Anyway? "...a draft memo surfaced from the Homeland Security Department suggesting ways to administratively circumvent existing law to allow several categories of illegal immigrants to avoid deportation.... This was being proposed 'in the absence of Comprehensive Immigration Reform.' In other words, because Congress refuses to do what these bureaucrats would like to see done, they will legislate it themselves."

July 2010

Obama says he still supports climate legislation: "Last week, Senate Democrats abandoned plans for a sweeping measure that would cap greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.... Instead Democrats hope to pass a narrower bill that responds to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and takes steps to improve energy efficiency."

DOJ adopts socialist logo, slogan: "The logo at the Department of Justice used to feature red, white and blue motifs. ...the classic pattern has been replaced with an all-black backdrop, and now virtually every page of the DOJ website features a quote from a man who believed in the global 'workers rights movement' and did everything in his power to facilitate a greater role for socialists and communists at the U.N. ....If your definition of justice is 'social justice' as defined by Marxists and socialists, you’ll love Obama’s Department of Justice." See The Power and Perversions of Law

Kagan promoted sharia law at Harvard: "At Harvard, Elena Kagan 'proceeded to forge the law school's 'Islamic Finance Project.' It's purpose, according to McCarthy, was 'to promote Shariah compliance in the U.S. financial sector.' Indeed, when Harvard President Larry Summers -- now in the Obama administration -- accepted a $20 million donation for the creation of a program of studies of Islam's history and Shariah Law, Kagan raised no objection."

Challenged! Court using 'feelings' as case decider: "A district judge's decision that the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional is being challenged on the argument...that never before has any court decided that 'hurt feelings' are grounds for making a claim'..." Why "Hate crime" laws would ban Biblical Christianity

Investigation of 'anti-white bias' grows: "The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights today suggested it is expanding its review of claims that the Department of Justice has implemented a ban on prosecuting defendants who are black....[R]ecent Obama administration DOJ appointees have reinforced this notion by making such racial discrimination a formal departmental policy. ...an Obama appointee at the top of the department, announced at a policy meeting that 'the voting section will not bring any other cases against blacks and other minorities.'...

       "...Kirsanow asked Adams 'to what extent' the department believes equal treatment before the law applies to all voters. 'That's the problem,' replied Adams. 'They assume Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act doesn't apply to white voters.'...'Based on my firsthand experiences, I believe the dismissal of the Black Panther case was motivated by a lawless hostility toward equal enforcement of the law. Others still within the department share my assessment." See The Power and Perversions of Law

Praise. Judge agrees to grant asylum to ex-Israeli spy [Mosab Hassan Yousef]: "The son of a Hamas founder who became a Christian and an Israeli spy will be granted U.S. asylum after he passes a routine background check.... Mosab Hassan Yousef [32] got the news during a 15-minute deportation hearing after a U.S. Department of Homeland Security attorney said the government was dropping its objections. The agency denied Yousef's asylum request in February 2009.... 'I will keep fighting the ideology that is behind terrorists because I know how they think,' he said outside the courtroom." Background information at Homeland Security

Kagan's Commerce Clause: "...with the Obama Administration's radical expansion of government, fundamental questions about the limits of federal power deserve to come to the fore. The Supreme Court has a vital role to play in defending individuals and the states against excessive Washington control. If Ms. Kagan believes the Commerce Clause can justify nearly any Congressional decision, this is reason alone to justify a vote against her confirmation."

Schlafly: Elena Kagan Should Be Rejected: "Obama revealed his goal for the Supreme Court when he complained... that the Earl Warren Court wasn't 'radical' enough because 'it didn't break free from the essential constraints placed by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution' in order to allow 'redistribution of wealth.' Now that Obama is president, he has the power to nominate Supreme Court justices who will 'break free' from the Constitution and join him in 'fundamentally transforming' America....

      "When Kagan was dean of Harvard Law School, she presented a guest speaker...: [Judge Aharon]Barak has written that a judge should 'make' and 'create' law, assume 'a role in the legislative process,' and give statutes 'new meaning that suits new social needs.' Barak wrote that a judge 'is subject to no authority' except himself." See Adapting the Constitution to a Global Consensus

A Plague of Vagueness: "In too many areas where the daily life of commerce intersects with public policy, people feel they are flying blind, uncertain of what a law or regulation requires, uncertain of how the bureaucracies empowered to enforce this morass will interpret them. One sensed it was heading this way when landowners were prosecuted under the Endangered Species Act for violating the 'habitat' of odd creatures found on their property.... If the Supreme Court can demand clarity on behalf of convicted felons, how about adopting it on behalf of everyone else, who until their luck runs out, remain innocent?" See Ban truth - Reap tyranny

June 2010

Kagan’s Abortion Distortion: "When President Obama promised in his inaugural address to 'restore science to its rightful place,' he never explained what that rightful place would be." [Perhaps his hindering rather than helpful responses to the people most affected by the oil spill gives us a clue.]

Pro-Black Panther prejudice: "...lawyer, J. Christian Adams, had been ordered by his Justice Department superiors, quite improperly, to ignore a subpoena by the commission. Mr. Adams instead resigned from the department effective two weeks ago, largely in honorable protest over its handling of the Black Panther case. ...Mr. Adams' testimony surely will shed light on how the unreasonable decision was made.

     "...the case involved two New Black Panther Party members - one a local Democratic Party official and poll watcher - who used racial epithets and threats while standing at the entrance to a Philadelphia polling place on Election Day, 2008. One Panther brandished a nightstick like a weapon. ...political appointees of President Obama's dismissed or reduced all charges or sanctions against the defendants, and then they stonewalled multiple inquiries about the case from Congress, the media and the Civil Rights Commission....

    "...much of Justice's Civil Rights Division rejects the notion that any discrimination case should be filed against black defendants' for any reason. In short, a double standard exists in which only whites and Asians can be guilty of illegal discrimination.... while blacks can only be victims but never charged as perpetrators....If Americans of different races cannot receive equal justice from the Justice Department, there is no real justice."

Police, firefighter unions see chance to expand collective bargaining rights: "...a House Education and Labor Committee subpanel held a hearing on legislation that would direct federal authorities to review state laws and issue regulations regarding collective bargaining rights for public safety officers." Stepping stones to tyranny?

DeMint: Over 90 Percent of Bills Passed Secretly With No Debate, No Vote: "U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina) voiced concerns that the Senate passes over 90% of legislation without any debate, without amendment, and without a roll call vote.

       "Comment: 'The issue is that they're spending the people's money, acquiring debt in the people's name, and threatening the people with force if we don't go along with it. The people have a limited amount of money, they're losing jobs, their assets are becoming worthless, and the Government thinks their presumed authority allows them to spend even more, to tax even more, to acquire more debt (in our name), and to initiate additional forces in order to coerce and collect."

Meanwhile, instead of saving money to help pay America's huge dept, Obama Pledges New Aid for Palestinians: "President Obama promised a $400 million aid package for the West Bank and Gaza on Wednesday." Gaza and the Hamas actually have plenty of supplies. See Signs of the Times.

Crisis and Corruption? ‘Major Part’ of Democrats’ Cap-Trade Bill ‘Essentially Written by BP’: “The problem for Democrats is that debating the Democrat cap-and-trade bill might not fit neatly into the White House messaging plan since it’s been widely reported that a major part, a major part of the Kerry-Lieberman bill was essentially written by BP,' McConnell said on the Senate floor on Wednesday...

      "'...we see the administration using a crisis--in this case the disaster in the gulf--as an opportunity to muscle through Congress another deeply unpopular bill that has profound implications for small business and struggling households.'” See Rules for Radicals

Obama Admin May Have Illegally Spent $10 Million Promoting Abortion in Kenya: "...the Obama administration has spent $10 million potentially illegally promoting a pro-abortion constitution in Kenya.... Lobbying for or against abortion is prohibited under a provision of federal law known as the Siljander Amendment."

Kenya: Abortion in the Draft Constitution: "Opponents of the clauses on abortion in the draft constitution have not drawn attention to the extraordinary process by which the majority of traditionally anti-abortion Kenyans have suddenly been convinced that dramatically increased accessibility to abortion is in the nation's best interest. ...almost two-thirds of Kenyans are ready to endorse a document that will, for all practical purposes, introduce abortion on demand in Kenya.

     "...in their revision of 23 February, abortion is permitted for health reasons, which in effect amounts to abortion on demand.... Moreover, 'health' is a term open to ready change, easy expansion, and widely variant interpretations. Just consider the famous WHO definition of health: a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being.... From a November draft with no mention of abortion, we have moved to a draft that allows abortion on the basis of mental well-being....The media are not interested in informing Kenyans about the incontrovertible consequences.... And the politicians are the politicians." See The UN Plan for Your Mental Health and the next link:

Obama promises to visit Kenya after referendum: "...US President Barack Obama has finally disclosed he will visit Kenya....Obama urged Kenyans to take part in the August referendum on the Proposed Constitution. He observed the new constitution could help establish the rule of law, protect human rights, and reduce the possibility of ethnic violence that erupted after the disputed 2007 presidential election."

May 2010

The First Amendment under 'progressive' siege: "Once upon a time we could count on lawyers and law school professors to defend the First Amendment.... ['Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press..."]

     [Elena Kagans] argued that the government can employ Orwellian restrictions on speech if it thinks such speech might 'harm' others, either by direct action or inciting someone else to take direct action. Who gets to decide when such restrictions are imposed for the greater good? Why, the government, of course....

     "She does not identify, exactly, what speech the government could regard as inflicting such 'harm' as to justify suspending the Constitution, but she offers as examples incitement to violence, 'hate speech' and 'fighting words.' Since certain friends of the White House have suggested that 'tea party' activists may have already been guilty of sedition, we can imagine what some of the violations might one day be." See Adapting the Constitution to a Global Consensus

 

Kagan: Some speech can be 'disappeared': "President Obama's nominee for the Supreme Court, Elena Kagan, argued certain forms of speech that promote 'racial or gender inequality' could be 'disappeared.' In her few academic papers, Kagan evidences strong beliefs for court intervention in speech, going so far as to posit First Amendment speech should be weighed against 'societal costs.'... In a 1996 paper, 'Private Speech, Public Purpose: The Role of Governmental Motive in First Amendment Doctrine,' Kagan argued it may be proper to suppress speech because it is offensive to society or to the government." Washington's Farewell Address, 1796

Powerful forces calling for a Constitutional Convention: "Today there is massive ignorance among the American people about the Constitution. Worse, there are powerful forces who consider that document to be antiquated and a hindrance to their vision of an all powerful government.... After a convention is convened, it will be too late to stop the convention if we don’t like its agenda....

      "So, what will the criteria for eligible delegates be? All of these choices would be made by Congress – that same one now controlled by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.... Keep in mind, these are the people who just managed to ram through a health 'reform' bill that the overwhelming majority of Americans opposed.... Do you think Pelosi and Reid would pass up an opportunity to set their own rules to guarantee a Constitution to their liking? Do you think for one minute that they would take any steps to protect our Constitution?

      "We live in an era when the Supreme Court looks to foreign laws to assure our own laws are worthy. We live in an era when many believe that the Constitution is out of date ....These are the reasons why I, and many others around the nation, adamantly oppose a Constitutional Convention at this time....The Con Con delegates could literally put the Constitution on an operating table and use their scalpels to slice it up, creating an entirely new form of government."

Muslim daubs war memorial with 'Islam will dominate the world': [UK] "A Muslim protester who daubed a war memorial with graffiti glorifying Osama Bin Laden and proclaiming 'Islam will dominate the world' walked free from court after prosecutors ruled his actions were not motivated by religion. Tohseef Shah, 21, could have faced a tougher sentence if the court had accepted that the insults - which included a threat to kill the Prime Minister - were inspired by religious hatred.... Roy Whenman, 78, who fought in the Korean War, said: 'If what he wrote on the memorial wasn't evidence of racial or religious hatred then what is? 'The memorial commemorates people of my generation who died for our freedom...

     "The case comes after a senior judge ruled on Thursday that Christian beliefs had no right to protection by the courts....Gary McFarlane he had no right to appeal after he was sacked for refusing to give sex therapy to a gay couple."

April 2010

Justice Clarence Thomas: We're 'evading' eligibility Does testimony hint at division behind Supreme Court's doors? "U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas told a House subcommittee that when it comes to determining whether a person born outside the 50 states can serve as U.S. president, the high court is 'evading' the issue." See Election 2008

March 2010

Roberts: Scene at State of Union 'Very Troubling': "U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts says the scene at this year's State of the Union address by President Obama was 'very troubling.'... Roberts told law students at the University of Alabama that anyone is free to criticize the court, but he was troubled the remarks came during that setting. Roberts says the State of the Union address has 'degenerated to a political pep rally.'"

Hearing Delayed for Obama Judicial Nominee Who Supported Serial Killer: "U.S. District Court Judge Robert Chatigny gained notoriety in 2005 for his role in trying to fight the execution of convicted serial killer and rapist Michael Ross, also known as The Roadside Strangler, whom Chatigny had described as a victim of his own 'sexual sadism.'"

February 2010

Muslims Exempt from Death Penalty in U.S.? "Last October there was another in the growing number of Islamic honor killings in the United States when a Muslim in Peoria, Arizona... ran down his twenty-year-old daughter Noor, as well as her boyfriend’s mother, Amal Khalaf.... If a cold-blooded, premeditated murder doesn’t warrant the death penalty, what murder does?...

      "...Islamic groups in the U.S. were working in the courts, businesses, and educational institutions to secure special privileges for Muslims, in accord with Sharia provisions that give them a place above non-Muslims in Islamic societies." Honor Killing and Sharia Law

The Census and the Constitution: "The Census Bureau estimates that the life cycle cost of the 2010 Census will be from $13.7 billion to $14.5 billion, making it the costliest census in the nation's history....The Census Bureau tells us that this year, it will use a shorter questionnaire, consisting of only 10 questions. From what I see, only one of them serves the constitutional purpose of enumeration."

Geert Wilders and the Death of Free Speech: "Wilders, the Dutch Parliamentarian who produced the film Fitna, went on trial January 20 for charges including having 'intentionally offended a group of people, i.e. Muslims, based on their religion.' Fitna is a film which compellingly links images of terrorist attacks with passages from the Koran which incite Muslims to jihad. The idea that intentionally offending someone is a criminal offense should be a matter for Kafka or comic opera, but such is the advance of multiculturalism in the Netherlands today, and the rest of Europe is not all that far behind.

     " The real purpose of the Wilders trial is twofold: first, the Dutch political establishment hopes to use it to stop the meteoric rise of the upstart Wilders, who challenges so many of the core assumptions upon which current Dutch and European Union policy are based.... Wilders has stated the problem plainly: 'I am being prosecuted for my political convictions.... If a politician is not allowed to criticise an ideology anymore... it will lead to the end of our freedom.' And not just in the Netherlands." See Seeds of Persecution

 Anti-Islam Dutch Lawmaker Says He’s Being Denied a Fair Trial: "The Amsterdam District Court ruled that Geert Wilders could only call three witnesses.... In a statement released after the brief hearing, Wilders said, 'This court is not interested in the truth. This court doesn’t want me to have a fair trial.... This court would not be out of place in a dictatorship.' ....Wilders and his supporters say the case is much more than the trial of one man accused of discrimination and inciting hatred. They say the right of Europeans to speak what they believe to be the truth about Islam is at stake. 'This is not merely a lawsuit against Geert Wilders [but] … a trial against all freedom-loving people.'" See Wilders' video Fitna

Parents of Muslim-turned-Christian teen back out of deal: "The parents of teenager Rifqa Bary, who fled from her family after abandoning Islam to become a Christian and warned authorities in Florida she might be killed... are demanding permission to back out of an agreement they reached with child protective services in Ohio over her custody....

     "'Children's Services is endangering the family's chance at reconciliation by allowing Rifqa to have contact with the [Christian] people who helped her run away,' the parents have submitted in a motion to the court.... But instead of 'helping' her run away, they responded to the emergency needs of a teen who already had fled....

     "Bary's Muslim parents gave up their fight, according to Ohio court documents, avoiding a trial that could have put Islam's law barring 'apostasy,' on penalty of death, in the national spotlight." See Glossary of Islamic terms

Whose Rights?  Mosque University: "I’m also glad I don’t teach at Temple University in Philadelphia, where students now have to pay an unconstitutional after-the-fact security fee levied by the university... for hosting none other than Geert Wilders....

      "The notion that it is permissible to charge a student group extra fees for security simply because a speaker's views are controversial (read: not approved of by university administrators) might be acceptable at the University of Havana or the University of Beijing. But it should never happen in America....

      "Geert Wilders came to Temple University on October 20, 2009. Wilders was invited in the wake of a controversy surrounding his film 'Fitna' which was released in 2008. The film was controversial because it features passages of the Koran interspersed with scenes of violence on the part of Muslims."

Moderate Muslim wife beheader says the beheading was justified because his wife was mean to him: "'He [the founder of an Islam-oriented television station] chopped her head off. ...Mr. Hassan's apparent defense that he was a battered spouse.'... 'The spouse was the dominant figure in this relationship,' attorney Frank Bogulski said outside the courtroom. 'He was the victim. She was verbally abusive. She had humiliated him.' Nancy Sanders... was skeptical of the abuse claim, noting the stocky Hassan stood over 6 feet tall and 'filled a doorway,' while Aasiya was slender and several inches shorter. 'I never ever heard her disparage him in the workplace at all,' Sanders said. 'It just did not seem to be in her nature. She was very gentle.'"

White House Chief of Staff Emanuel's Joke - 'The First Amendment: Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said, "When you think about the First Amendment, you think it's highly overrated." Watch it on this video.

The First Amendment of our Constitution: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

TORTURE: Where’s the Conservative Skepticism? "Many Americans might not particularly care whether torturing terrorists produces any useful information or not... For some, torturing the occasional innocent bystander might be the price we have to pay to keep America safe. But that line of reasoning -- the end justifies the means -- is a treacherous road to go down. It might start with the ticking time-bomb hypothetical: Would you torture one guilty person to save a million innocents? Most people would say yes. (How about a thousand innocents? Fifty? Two?) It ends with the organ-donation hypothetical: Would you kill one innocent person to harvest his organs and save five others? Most people would say no. Yet it's hard to draw a bright line that stops movement from one pole to the other."

Facebook Fatwa on Rifqa: "Facebook is full of death threats and other vicious material about Rifqa Bary, the teenage convert from Islam to Christianity who is in a fight for her life in juvenile court on Franklin County, Ohio.

     "...the first Rifqa Bary Facebook Fatwa: a Facebook group... said openly, 'we need to kill her,' and was full of Muslim members. Now add this to the list of fatwas and death threats against Rifqa Bary: a Facebook group, again with numerous Muslim members, proclaiming, Don’t save Rifqa Bary, let them kill her.'... It has 64 members, all of them apparently Muslims.... Imagine, these are just the ones we catch....

      "Another Facebook group screams, '[A profanity]...RIFQA BARY !!! SHAME FOR ISLAM !!!!' It has 57 members – once again, all Muslims. This one openly admits what CAIR and other front groups in America lie about: 'In Islam, yes, apostasy is the death penalty.'...

      "Muslim Brotherhood/Hamas front CAIR has found out where Rifqa is living. ... How? What Islamist enemy leaked her location to CAIR? She must be moved at once....

      "All communication to Rifqa was cut off. It was decided that a counselor would determine if she could have contact with friends. The counselor said she could, but nothing has happened. She is literally being treated like a prisoner.... This isolation is a form of psychological torture. ...why is a girl in America, guilty only of freedom of religion, allowed to be psychologically tortured?... Rifqa’s parents are fighting dependency with every dishonest crooked tool in the Islamist toolbox....The nature of the conflict is Islam, yet Rifqa’s lawyers will not present any religious evidence. Ex-Muslims such as Wafa Sultan, Nonie Darwish... would testify. None are being called." Why?

Executive Orders. New council to advise on 'military activities' in U.S.: "The recent order, posted on the White House website, was accompanied by the explanation that the group is to work 'to protect our nation against all types of hazards.' It comes just weeks after the president issue a similarly obscure order vastly expanding INTERPOL's privileges in the U.S. ...Can the council recommend 'military activities' and can the governors, who already are in command of their own state guard units, mandate activities outside of their areas of jurisdiction?...

     "'...it was the 'first step towards martial law in America' because it sets up the 'use of federal troops and the combination of state and federal agencies under the Defense Department.' ...the order appears to be in defiance of posse comitatus, which restricts U.S. military action within the United States."

Elected officials bail on U.S. marriage law: "In a case with implications for the entire country, California's Proposition 8 defining marriage as between one man and one woman goes on trial Monday." See Cultural Corruption

Interpol Given Immunity in U.S. - Why? "...a White House executive order was signed that gives Interpol complete immunity from American law.... Interpol is the International Criminal Police Organization, which was first established in 1923. It operates in 188 nations around the world - and has had limited privileges in the U.S. up until now....Interpol investigates international crimes like human trafficking and smuggling, which on the face of it is a good thing. But they also work closely with international tribunals like the International Criminal Court [ICC]. Up until now, the United States has refused to join the ICC due to the provisions that would cause us to surrender much of our sovereignty.

       "Brett D. Schaefer of the Heritage Foundation wrote back in 2005: ...'The U.S. opposes the ICC because it is an international legal body that lacks prudent safe­guards against political manipulation, possesses sweeping authority without accountability to the Security Council, and violates national sovereignty by claiming jurisdiction over the nationals and military personnel of non-party states.

        "...current top White House officials are in favor of our joining up with the ICC.... In other words, the U.S. Constitution, the foundation of the laws of this nation, must take a back seat to international law.... (Koh also, by the way, believes that in certain 'appropriate' cases, Sharia law has a place in the United States.)" See Trading U.S. Rights for UN Rules

Corruption?  State can take, keep newborns' data -- 'Blood samples are biological, not genetic, information': "A judge in Minnesota has ruled the state can routinely collect, analyze, store and retrieve biological samples that include DNA from all newborns even though a state law specifically requires prior written authorization.... 'After my grandchild was born, a different nurse took the baby. My daughter heard my granddaughter start crying. She found out her heel was getting pricked...'" See Ban Truth - Reap Tyranny

Judge orders compensation for gay couple denied benefits: "A federal judge today ordered compensation for a Los Angeles couple denied spousal benefits by the federal government because they are gay men.... Levenson married his longtime partner, Tony Sears, on July 12, 2008, during the five-month period when same-sex marriage was legal in California." See Human Nature

Italians Outraged As European [regional] Court Rules Against Crucifixes in the Classroom: "Italians reacted with outrage on Tuesday after a European court ruled that displaying crucifixes in the country's schools violated the principle of secular education.... Italy's education minister condemned the judgment by the European Court of Human Rights, saying that the Christian cross was a symbol of the country's Roman Catholic religion and cultural identity.....

     "The influx of foreigners has led to deep-seated tensions.... Schools in Spain, France, and Britain have also debated whether crucifixes should be allowed in public schools. The landmark ruling could prompt a Europewide review of the use of religious symbols in state-run schools....

     "The decision was handed down by a panel of seven judges ... [who] said that the display of crucifixes, which is common but not mandatory in Italian schools, violated the principle of secular education and might be intimidating for children from other faiths." See International Courts Mock Sovereignty

County apologies for citing pastor's home Bible studies: "San Diego County has rescinded its citation and apologized to a pastor who was warned that he needed a permit to hold weekly Bible studies in his home. David Jones and his wife Mary had been warned that they could be fined $100 to $1,000 if they held religious assemblies without a major use permit.... Chief Administrative Officer Walter Ekard apologizes and assures the couple that steps are being taken so that similar religious gatherings won't be issued citations in the future."

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