At a Senate Committee hearing, Sen. Dick Durbin advocated U.S. ratification of the United Nations CEDAW treaty (Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women) to force countries to legalize abortion.
-- From "Durbin, Geena Davis press for international women's treaty" by Bill Lambrecht, St. Louis Post Dispatch 11/18/10
[CEDAW] was negotiated by Jimmy Carter 31 years ago and most countries have ratified it.
The last time a ratification effort began, during the Bush administration in 2002, anti-abortion and pro-family groups organized against it, calling CEDAW "the Equal Rights Amendment on steroids."
Prior to a hearing underway now, Durbin . . . acknowledged that ratification was unlikely given that it would require 67 senators voting aye.
But Durbin said he felt it was necessary to keep the discussion alive and to hear testimony about discrimination and abuse suffered by women around the world.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Pro-Abortion CEDAW Treaty Gets Senate Committee Hearing" by Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com 11/18/10
. . . Sen. Dick Durbin made promoting the treaty a majority part of a hearing he held today featuring a who’s who of pro-abortion leaders and activists including representatives of the ACLU, Human Rights First and the National Women’s Law Center.
. . . President Barack Obama supports the controversial treaty.
Steven Groves, a fellow from the conservative Heritage Foundation, testified . . . “Ratification of CDAW would neither advance U.S. national interests within the international community nor enhance the rights of women in the U.S.,” he said.
Groves added that he worried the United States would face pressure from the UN and other nations in the same manner as have other countries.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
Showing posts with label Durbin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Durbin. Show all posts
Friday, November 19, 2010
Thursday, September 03, 2009
Rescinding 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Buried with Ted Kennedy
Democrats bracing for backlash from homosexualists: “We have a very heavy, busy agenda and a few months left to do it,” [Senator] Durbin said in an interview recently. “So it may not be now, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be soon.”
UPDATE 10/4/09: White House says now isn't the time (source: Associated Press)
-- From "Gay military question still up in air" by Manu Raju, Politico 9/2/09
When gay rights advocates march on Washington in October, they’ll be confronting a bleak political landscape in their effort to allow gays to openly serve in the military.
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) says the Senate is swamped and has little time on the schedule for this fight. The Pentagon brass is reticent and wants a go-slow strategy, while a majority of the rank and file in the military opposes changing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” law. With no Republican co-sponsors for a repeal, key moderate Democrats such as Sens. Jim Webb of Virginia and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas remain uncommitted.
And the Senate’s patron saint of this cause, Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), died before being able to introduce long-promised bipartisan legislation to overturn "don’t ask, don’t tell."
None of this is promising for a gay rights movement that raised a ton of money for President Barack Obama and believed that their moment was now.
Leading opponents of the policy, including Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), one of the handful of openly gay members of Congress, said there’s a better shot next year to overturn a ban that is widely opposed by the general public. But he admits the bill could pass the House but have a more difficult time in the Senate.
And absent a big push from the Pentagon and Obama, key Senate Democrats are signaling that there is little appetite to anger some of their more socially conservative voters at a time when election forecasters are signaling a tough 2010 election cycle for the party.
And Kennedy’s death — already felt in the health care debate — has reverberated in the gay-rights community. Over the years, he’s been on the forefront in advocating for bills sought by gay-rights activists, pushing for legislation to prevent hate crimes against gays and bills to prohibit employers from discriminating against homosexuals. Kennedy led the opposition in 1996 to the Defense of Marriage Act, pushed for expanded programs to curtail HIV/AIDS and wanted to play the lead role in the Senate to repeal "don’t ask, don’t tell."
To read the entire article, CLICK HERE.
UPDATE 10/4/09: White House says now isn't the time (source: Associated Press)
-- From "Gay military question still up in air" by Manu Raju, Politico 9/2/09
When gay rights advocates march on Washington in October, they’ll be confronting a bleak political landscape in their effort to allow gays to openly serve in the military.
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) says the Senate is swamped and has little time on the schedule for this fight. The Pentagon brass is reticent and wants a go-slow strategy, while a majority of the rank and file in the military opposes changing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” law. With no Republican co-sponsors for a repeal, key moderate Democrats such as Sens. Jim Webb of Virginia and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas remain uncommitted.
And the Senate’s patron saint of this cause, Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), died before being able to introduce long-promised bipartisan legislation to overturn "don’t ask, don’t tell."
None of this is promising for a gay rights movement that raised a ton of money for President Barack Obama and believed that their moment was now.
Leading opponents of the policy, including Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), one of the handful of openly gay members of Congress, said there’s a better shot next year to overturn a ban that is widely opposed by the general public. But he admits the bill could pass the House but have a more difficult time in the Senate.
And absent a big push from the Pentagon and Obama, key Senate Democrats are signaling that there is little appetite to anger some of their more socially conservative voters at a time when election forecasters are signaling a tough 2010 election cycle for the party.
And Kennedy’s death — already felt in the health care debate — has reverberated in the gay-rights community. Over the years, he’s been on the forefront in advocating for bills sought by gay-rights activists, pushing for legislation to prevent hate crimes against gays and bills to prohibit employers from discriminating against homosexuals. Kennedy led the opposition in 1996 to the Defense of Marriage Act, pushed for expanded programs to curtail HIV/AIDS and wanted to play the lead role in the Senate to repeal "don’t ask, don’t tell."
To read the entire article, CLICK HERE.
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Illinois Pro-abortion Congressmen Snub Citizens' Public Questions
A few average moms organized a town hall meeting for Senator Dick Durbin and representatives Mark Kirk (R-IL10) and Melissa Bean (D-IL8). These public servants didn't show up, but voters asked questions of their surrogates.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Senate Hate Crimes Hearing Conceals Attack on Christians
At today's hearing, liberal supporters of the bill repeated assurances that pastors won't be prosecuted for the shear act of speaking the truth about homosexual behavior, but they refuse to admit that the pastor CAN be prosecuted if some nutcase harms a homosexual allegedly BECAUSE he heard the pastor's words, subsequently committing the crime.
UPDATE 7/3/09: Attorney General Holder testifies 'Gays' protected, ministers not
UPDATE 6/30/09: Entire hearing video available
-- From "Holder tells Congress new hate crime law needed" Associated Press 6/25/09
Attorney General Eric Holder urged Congress to pass a new hate crimes law so the government could prosecute cases of violence based on sexual orientation, gender or disability.
At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Thursday, he cited the recent killing of a security guard at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. The alleged assailant is a white supremacist.
Lawmakers debated the possible effect of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, named after a gay man killed in Wyoming in 1998. It would allow federal prosecution of violence committed because of the actual or perceived gender, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity of the victim.
According to FBI data, the number of hate crimes per year is relatively unchanged in the past 10 years. In 1998, the FBI reported 7,755 hate crime incidents and 7,624 in 2007.
About half of all hate crimes are motivated by racial bias. The other two most frequent hate crimes are those motivated by religion or sexual orientation.
[Senator] Sessions, who opposes the bill, and Democratic Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois, who supports it, asked whether the law could be used to prosecute a church leader who speaks out against homosexuality, if a member of that congregation then assaults a gay person.
"This is a bill to hold people accountable for conduct, not for speech," Holder insisted.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Republican Senators Question Need for Hate Crimes Bill" by Andrea Fuller, New York Times 6/25/09
The House passed a version of the legislation in April, 249 to 175, and the Senate bill currently has 43 co-sponsors, including a handful of Republicans. Similar legislation has died in the past.
President Obama co-sponsored this legislation when he was in the Senate and has expressed his strong support for the bill, a fact reiterated by Attorney General Eric Holder when he appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee today.
Republicans on the judiciary panel, however, weren’t persuaded that the legislation was necessary, and questioned whether current state law enforcement was insufficient.
Senator Hatch also pointed out that the bill labels hate crimes as acts motivated by the perceived or actual status gender of a person. “This would make all rapes punishable as hate crimes,” he said.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
UPDATE 7/3/09: Attorney General Holder testifies 'Gays' protected, ministers not
UPDATE 6/30/09: Entire hearing video available
-- From "Holder tells Congress new hate crime law needed" Associated Press 6/25/09
Attorney General Eric Holder urged Congress to pass a new hate crimes law so the government could prosecute cases of violence based on sexual orientation, gender or disability.
At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Thursday, he cited the recent killing of a security guard at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. The alleged assailant is a white supremacist.
Lawmakers debated the possible effect of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, named after a gay man killed in Wyoming in 1998. It would allow federal prosecution of violence committed because of the actual or perceived gender, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity of the victim.
According to FBI data, the number of hate crimes per year is relatively unchanged in the past 10 years. In 1998, the FBI reported 7,755 hate crime incidents and 7,624 in 2007.
About half of all hate crimes are motivated by racial bias. The other two most frequent hate crimes are those motivated by religion or sexual orientation.
[Senator] Sessions, who opposes the bill, and Democratic Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois, who supports it, asked whether the law could be used to prosecute a church leader who speaks out against homosexuality, if a member of that congregation then assaults a gay person.
"This is a bill to hold people accountable for conduct, not for speech," Holder insisted.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Republican Senators Question Need for Hate Crimes Bill" by Andrea Fuller, New York Times 6/25/09
The House passed a version of the legislation in April, 249 to 175, and the Senate bill currently has 43 co-sponsors, including a handful of Republicans. Similar legislation has died in the past.
President Obama co-sponsored this legislation when he was in the Senate and has expressed his strong support for the bill, a fact reiterated by Attorney General Eric Holder when he appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee today.
Republicans on the judiciary panel, however, weren’t persuaded that the legislation was necessary, and questioned whether current state law enforcement was insufficient.
Senator Hatch also pointed out that the bill labels hate crimes as acts motivated by the perceived or actual status gender of a person. “This would make all rapes punishable as hate crimes,” he said.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Sen. Kennedy's Hate Crimes Bill Supported by Obama & Republicans
After the huge anti-christian passage in the liberal-controlled House, Kennedy's Senate version of the hate crimes bill garnered the sponsorship of Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and formerly Republican Arlen Specter (D-Pa.).
Illinois residents, click here to E-mail Sens. Burris & Durbin (sponsor of this bill)
-- From "Obama urges passage as Kennedy introduces hate crimes bill in Senate" by Chris Johnson, [pro-homosexual] Washington Blade 4/28/09
Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) introduced . . . The new Senate bill, called the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, is named after a gay college student who was murdered near Laramie, Wyo. [in a 1998 robbery, often erroneously reported as resulting from his "sexual orientation"].
President Obama issued a statement in support of the bill late Tuesday.
To read the entire article, CLICK HERE.
Illinois residents, click here to E-mail Sens. Burris & Durbin (sponsor of this bill)
-- From "Obama urges passage as Kennedy introduces hate crimes bill in Senate" by Chris Johnson, [pro-homosexual] Washington Blade 4/28/09
Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) introduced . . . The new Senate bill, called the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, is named after a gay college student who was murdered near Laramie, Wyo. [in a 1998 robbery, often erroneously reported as resulting from his "sexual orientation"].
President Obama issued a statement in support of the bill late Tuesday.
". . . I urge members on both sides of the aisle to act on this important civil rights issue by passing this legislation to protect all of our citizens from violent acts of intolerance – legislation that will enhance civil rights protections, while also protecting our freedom of speech and association. I also urge the Senate to work with my Administration to finalize this bill and to take swift action," he said.Hate crimes legislation would allow the Justice Department to assist in the prosecution of hate crimes committed against LGBT people that result in death or serious injury. The federal government could lend its assistance to local authorities or take the lead if local officials are unwilling or unable to prosecute cases.
To read the entire article, CLICK HERE.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Senator Durbin Supports Assault on First Amendment Rights
“It’s time to reinstitute the Fairness Doctrine." -- Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., June 26, 2007
From "Representatives Fight Assault on First Amendment Rights" by Jennifer Mesko, posted 6/29/07 at Citizenlink.org
Some Democrats want to revive the Fairness Doctrine, a 1949 policy that once required broadcasters to present different points of view in issues-oriented programs. In other words, along with Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, you'd receive a generous helping of Al Franken and James Carville.
From "Representatives Fight Assault on First Amendment Rights" by Jennifer Mesko, posted 6/29/07 at Citizenlink.org
Some Democrats want to revive the Fairness Doctrine, a 1949 policy that once required broadcasters to present different points of view in issues-oriented programs. In other words, along with Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, you'd receive a generous helping of Al Franken and James Carville.
Republican Reps. Jeb Hensarling of Texas, Mike Pence of Indiana and Jeff Flake of Arizona are working to prevent such an assault on free speech. On Thursday, the U.S. House voted 309-115 in favor of their amendment to a spending bill, which would bar the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from using certain federal funds to enforce the Fairness Doctrine, should it be reinstated.
Today, Pence introduced the Broadcaster Freedom Act of 2007, which would prevent the FCC from resurrecting the doctrine that was eliminated in 1987 after the agency found it had a "chilling effect" on free speech.
...Historically, when the Fairness Doctrine was in effect, many broadcast outlets – especially Christian radio stations – chose to avoid issues programming.
Democrats including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Sen. John Kerry reportedly have suggested that Congress should reinstate the doctrine.
Read the whole article.
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