Scrolling around...August 3rd, 2012

Weekly Standard: The Silent Majority Eats Chicken
...Of course, you don't have to oppose same-sex marriage to feel that politicians threatening business owners because of their private religious beliefs is the far more dangerous attitude. And that's regardless of the fact Cathy's beliefs on marriage are held by a majority of Americans, and the president himself publicly agreed with Cathy until a few months ago...

Robert P. George: There can be no compromise on same-sex ‘marriage’
It was only yesterday, was it not, that we were being assured that the redefinition of marriage to include same-sex partnerships would have no impact on persons and institutions that hold to the traditional view of marriage as a conjugal union? Such persons and institutions would simply be untouched by the change. It won’t affect your marriage or your life, we were told, if the law recognizes Henry and Herman or Sally and Sheila as “married.”...

UK:Neighbours may be forced to pay church upkeep
As the cost rises to repair 12,000 English churches that are protected as historic buildings, Anglican authorities are hoping to use an ancient law that forces nearby homeowners to foot part of the bill...

A most satisfying taste of free speech
What the cluck just happened? Neither Chick-fil-A nor the cultural Left nor the mainstream media were prepared for what hit them yesterday.
It was a bona fide feeding frenzy — and one of the most remarkable, peaceful and massive First Amendment protests in modern American times...

Cohabiting women having more babies
...The number of births overall to cohabiting women increased from 14% of all births in 2002 to 23% in 2006-10, according to the first federal report on intended and unintended births since 1990...

Obama's Signature Move: Unsealing Private Records
Mitt Romney presents one enormous problem for Barack Obama's campaign: No divorce records. That's why the media are so hot to get their hands on Romney's tax records for the past 25 years. They need something to "pick through, distort and lie about" -- as the Republican candidate says.
Obama's usual campaign method, used in 100 percent of his races, has been to pry into the private records of his opponents...and Awesome new scoop on Romney — his high school report card and List of Obama's sealed and unreleased records

Obama Campaign Sues to Restrict Military Voting
President Barack Obama, along with many Democrats, likes to say that, while they may disagree with the GOP on many issues related to national security, they absolutely share their admiration and dedication to members of our armed forces. Obama, in particular, enjoys being seen visiting troops and having photos taken with members of our military. So, why is his campaign and the Democrat party suing to restrict their ability to vote in the upcoming election?...

Turning the last page: 90K Jews at MetLife Stadium celebrate end of 7 years of Talmud study
Wednesday night, in what was billed as the largest celebration of shared Jewish learning in history, some 90,000 people crowded into MetLife Stadium to read portions of the Talmud’s 2,711th — and final — page.
The celebrants, mostly Orthodox Jews from across the United States and beyond, closed out the 7½-year cycle with prayer, speeches and, when the final line was read, an explosion of jubilation that literally shook the cavernous stadium for more than 20 minutes.

Pope Finishes 'Jesus of Nazareth' Trilogy, May Pen Encyclical
Pope Benedict XVI has concluded the third and final volume of Jesus of Nazareth dedicated to the Gospels relating to Jesus’s childhood, and a new encyclical may follow it, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state, said last night...

When Hyphen Boy Meets Hyphen Girl, Names Pile Up

United Methodist Church Continues to Decline in America, but Gains in Africa
...According to the reports, in 2011 the UMC suffered a decline of nearly 72,000 members, with 18 conferences reporting membership losses of 2 percent or more.
Mark Tooley, president of the Institute on Religion & Democracy and a practicing Methodist, told The Christian Post that he did not feel confident in the survival of the UMC in America.

WSJ: Why Did Unemployment Rate Increase?
The U.S. unemployment rate was rose to 8.3% in July and a broader measure ticked up to 15%, even as the economy added 163,000 jobs. Why the increase?
The key reason is because the two numbers come from separate reports. The number of jobs added — the 163,000 figure — comes from a survey of business, while the unemployment rate comes from a survey of U.S. households. The two reports often move in tandem, but can move in opposite directions, especially in months such as July where there are big seasonal issues at play. This month, the household survey was telling a darker tale than the poll of establishments.

Woman faces death by stoning in Sudan for adultery
A 23-year-old Sudanese woman, mother of a six-month-old baby, has been convicted of adultery and will be stoned to death, Sky News reported.
Laila Ibrahim Issa Jamool is being kept shackled to her baby in Omdurman women's prison after she was convicted by a court in the capital Khartoum on July 10...

Christian girls in Pakistan continue to be kidnapped, abducted and forcibly converted to Islam
In the recent months there have several reports about the ongoing persecution, kidnapping and abduction of the Christian women and girls in Pakistan...

Taxpayers to recover only $24 million from Solyndra.
In a little-noticed move, Solyndra LLC officially released it bankruptcy plan this week. The official word from it is that taxpayers will recover only $24 million of the about $527 million that the failed solar panel company drew from its $535 million federal loan guarantee, according to a report from Dow Jones newswire...

Israeli scholars claim possible evidence of Samson
Scholars in Israel say they may have uncovered the first archaeological evidence of Samson, the Biblical slayer of Philistines whose might was undone by his lust for the temptress Delilah...