Scrolling around...May 21, 2013

How much news has the Obama administration successfully suppressed?
On the heels of news that the Obama administration Department of Justice was spying on reporters at the Associated Press, Monday brought the startling disclosure by the Washington Post that the DOJ had also targeted Fox reporter James Rosen for surveillance in an effort to plug up leaks.

Additionally, the New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza obtained the full application for a search warrant of Rosen’s personal email account, in which the DOJ accused him of being “an aider and abettor and/or co-conspirator.” As Lizza put it, “Rosen was not charged with any crime, but it is unprecedented for the government, in an official court document, to accuse a reporter of breaking the law for conducting the routine business of reporting on government secrets.”...

First they came for Fox News
How Hope and Change Gave Way to Spying on the Press...

A Crisis of Authority: The deeper meaning of the Obama scandals
Democracy is in peril: That is an emerging theme of the liberal left's response to the Obama scandals. The argument misses the point, no doubt deliberately. What we are witnessing now is not a crisis of democracy but a crisis of authority. The administrative state, in thrall to a decadent cultural elite, has lost the consent of the governed...

Moore tornado:
Reporter's notebook: 'You can't fathom it'

AP Photographer On Moore Tornado: 'All I Could See Was Destruction' (PHOTOS)

Crews search through the night after tornado slams Oklahoma City suburb image


Elderly woman finds dog under rubble of her house live on air after tornado hit

Wash. Florist Who Refused to Make Same-Sex Wedding Decorations Countersues
...ADF attorneys say forcing the florist to go against her beliefs in this instance would violate both the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution as well as the Washington State Constitution, which protects "freedom of conscience in all matters of religious sentiment" and says "no one shall be molested or disturbed in person or property on account of religion."...

UK: “Young Christians fear for jobs over gay marriage”
In a letter to The Daily Telegraph, 17 ministers and one archbishop expressed their concern about the consequences if the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill is passed in its current state.
The letter said: “If the Bill passes into law without much clearer protections for freedom of speech and freedom of belief, teachers and public-sector workers will have to choose between their conscience and their career, as many will be deterred from a public-service career or from charity involvement.”

Nova Scotia: School Nixes Mother’s Day And Father’s Day For More Inclusive ‘international Day Of Families’ ...“They weren’t allowed to make a card or a craft at Mother’s Day,” Allaby told the outlet. “So, I asked my friends that go to schools in the neighboring area, and they said yes, that their child had come home with a Mother’s Day card or craft, and it was a little upsetting to me.”...

Abortion Doc Who Kept Remains of 35 Aborted Babies Loses License  ...“In view of the fraudulent and deceptive nature of Dr. Riley’s criminal conduct, her demonstrated lack of candor and integrity on her application to the Board and to Utah and Wyoming, and her demonstrated propensity for dishonesty and misrepresentation, Dr. Riley’s unprofessional conduct is not remediable,” stated the Board. “In light of the unprofessional manner in which she treated this critically damaged patient, the Board does not believe that Maryland patients would be safe in the hands of this physician. Dr. Riley’s fraudulent acts and unprofessional treatment of the patient merit the permanent revocation of her medical license in this State.”...

DOJ on Gays: ‘Silence Will Be Interpreted as Disapproval’
...Our sources have provided Liberty Counsel an internal DOJ document titled, “LGBT Inclusion at Work: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Managers.” It was emailed to DOJ managers in advance of the left’s so-called “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Pride Month.”

The document is chilling. It’s riddled with directives that grossly violate—prima facie—employees’ First Amendment liberties.

Following are excerpts from the “DOJ Pride” decree. When it comes to “LGBT” employees, managers are instructed:

• “DON’T judge or remain silent. Silence will be interpreted as disapproval.” (Italics mine.)

That’s a threat.

And not even a subtle one.

Got it? For Christians and other morals-minded federal employees, it’s no longer enough to just shut up and “stay in the closet”—to live your life in silent recognition of biblical principles (which, by itself, is unlawful constraint). When it comes to mandatory celebration of homosexual and cross-dressing behaviors, “silence will be interpreted as disapproval.”...