Immoral behavior

[Shammu]

"The bare facts of the law are that if you knowingly show yourself naked with the intent to alarm and offend people that's illegal, said Sergeant Sean Whitcom, of the Seattle Police Department. "Just being nude is not against the law."

And they are saying that they don't stop people walking around nude unless they get into lude behavior?

I truly don't understand LIBERAL LOGIC. By definition gallivanting around NUDE is OFFENSIVE, ALARMING and INDECENT!!

Common sense and decency is sadly lacking in these people. This is, very sad and disturbing, but all these things happening are just the start of things to come..

[Shammu]

Pastor Preaches Sex That is Free from Sin

The Song of Songs is said to be the most erotic and exciting book in Scripture yet its contents are hardly preached on. When the book is taught in church, it is usually taught as an allegory, and not literally as an intimate relationship between a husband and a wife.

Thu, Nov. 13, 2008 Posted: 12:44 PM EST

The Song of Songs is said to be the most erotic and exciting book in Scripture yet its contents are hardly preached on. When the book is taught in church, it is usually taught as an allegory, and not literally as an intimate relationship between a husband and a wife.

Although sex and intimacy are subjects many ministers feel uncomfortable with, Mars Hill Church pastor Mark Driscoll says they exceedingly important to preach on especially at a time when Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, and Lindsay Lohan are promoted as examples for girls and porn stars like Jenna Jameson are featured in video games for boys.

"At Mars Hill Church, we believe that 'all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable' (2 Tim. 3:16), therefore we do not hesitate to discuss anything that the Bible addresses," stated Mark Driscoll, preaching pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle.

And that includes sex – of course, within the context of marriage.

"We got a whole book of the Bible talking about this issue, and even sometimes good faithful Bible teachers won't touch this book and I've asked them why. And they're like 'because it's got some parts in there that are pretty dicey,'" Driscoll said early on in his "The Peasant Princess" sermon series, which launched in September.

Sex sermons are nothing new but more pastors have decided to deal more frankly and openly with the issue, some even advertising their teaching series to the public and others challenging the married couples in their congregations to be intimate every day for a week or a month.

But Mars Hill's Driscoll is hitting more touchy topics through the study the Song of Songs, giving "MH-17" warnings for some of his sermons.

In his latest sermon last Sunday, Driscoll preached on what he believes is the "most erotic, passionate, free section in all of Scripture" – Song of Songs chapter 6.

"Before we get into the details, this is a Bible, OK?" Driscoll made clear, as he reiterated the church's belief that all Scripture is divinely inspired by God.

In this chapter, the wife dances for her husband and is "exceedingly visually generous to her husband," Driscoll explained. All the while, the husband is verbally generous as he pays her compliments of her body and then "proceeds forward."

"Your first reaction: this is inappropriate," Driscoll said to thousands of congregants in Seattle and at satellite campuses.

"It's in the Bible," he stressed. "This is an example of marital freedom."

The 10-week "Peasant Princess" sermon series comes at a time when traditional marriage is being challenged in courts, Americans are daily inundated with sexual images, and more money is being spent on pornography than foreign aid.

Driscoll believes sex is the greatest threat to Christianity and wants to replace Christian porn, adultery and divorce with "hot, hetero, covenantal monogamy."

According to Driscoll, sex has three "denominations," which are Straight, Gay and Bisexual, each of which have websites, "houses of worship" (bars, clubs, strip joints), and "followers who vigorously evangelize and recruit new members."

Through the Song of Songs study, he says people can learn "how to have sex that is free – free from sin, idolatry, guilt, shame, condemnation, death, and separation from God – by having free and frequent marital intimacy." At the same time, Christians can learn "how to worship God the Creator and enjoy his creation and not worship his creation (our bodies and their pleasures) as a false god."

"Our study of the Song of Songs is meant neither to kill our desires nor permit them to flow into deadly sin. Rather, this series is an attempt to cultivate our desires and channel them toward our spouse according to the wisdom God gives us in his Word," he explained.

In addition to preaching, Driscoll and his wife, Grace, are taking questions from congregants via text and e-mail immediately after each sermon – a daring session of unscripted answers that began at Mars Hill in January. With a no-holds-barred attitude, Driscoll has answered some of the more explicit sex questions on his blog.

Pastor Preaches Sex That is Free from Sin

[Shammu]

Gay advocates protest marriage ban across nation
By JAY LINDSAY, Associated Press Writer Jay Lindsay, Associated Press Writer Sun Nov 16, 3:30 am ET

BOSTON – Gay rights supporters waving rainbow colors marched, chanted and danced in cities coast to coast Saturday to protest the vote that banned gay marriage in California and to urge supporters not to quit the fight for the right to wed.

Crowds gathered near public buildings in cities large and small, including Boston, San Francisco, Chicago and Fargo, to vent their frustrations, celebrate gay relationships and renew calls for change.

"Civil marriages are a civil right, and we're going to keep fighting until we get the rights we deserve as American citizens," said Karen Amico, one of several hundred protesters in Philadelphia, holding up a sign reading "Don't Spread H8".

"We are the American family, we live next door to you, we teach your children, we take care of your elderly," said Heather Baker a special education teacher from Boston who addressed the crowd at Boston's City Hall Plaza. "We need equal rights across the country."

Connecticut, which began same-sex weddings this past week, and Massachusetts are the only two states that allow gay marriage. The other 48 states do not, and 30 of them have taken the extra step of approving constitutional amendments. A few states allow civil unions or domestic partnerships that grant some rights of marriage.

Protests following the vote on Proposition 8 in California, which defined marriage as between a man and a woman, have sometimes been angry and even violent, and demonstrators have targeted faiths that supported the ban, including the Mormon church.

However, representatives of Join the Impact, which organized Saturday's demonstrations, asked supporters to be respectful and refrain from attacking other groups during the rallies.

Seattle blogger Amy Balliett, who started the planning for the protests when she set up a Web page three days after the California vote, said persuasion is impossible without civility.

"If we can move anybody past anger and have a respectful conversation, then you can plant the seed of change," she said.

Balliett said supporters in 300 cities in the U.S. and other countries were holding marches, and she estimated 1 million people would participate, based on responses at the Web sites her group set up.

"We need to show the world when one thing happens to one of us, it happens to all of us," she said.

The protests were widely reported to be peaceful, and the mood in Boston was generally upbeat, with attendees dancing to the song "Respect." Signs cast the fight for gay marriage as the new civil rights movement, including one that read "Gay is the new black."

But anger over the ban and its backers was evident at the protests.

One sign in Chicago, where several thousand people gathered, read: "Catholic Fascists Stay Out of Politics."

"I just found out that my state doesn't really think I'm a person," said Rose Aplustill, 21, a Boston University student from Los Osos, Calif., who was one of thousands at the Boston rally.

In San Francisco, demonstrators took shots at some religious groups that supported the ban, including a sign aimed at the Mormon church and its abandoned practice of polygamy that read: "You have three wives; I want one husband."

Chris Norberg, who married his partner in June, also referred to the racial divisions that arose after exit polls found that majorities of blacks and Hispanics supported the constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.

"They voted against us," Norberg said.

In Salt Lake City, where demonstrators gathered just blocks from the headquarters of the Mormon church, one sign pictured the city's temple with a line adapted from former Republican vice president candidate Sarah Palin: "I can see discrimination from my house."

More than 500 demonstrators in Washington marched from the U.S. Capitol through the city carrying signs and chanting "One, two, three, four, love is what we're fighting for!"

A public plaza at the foot of New York's Brooklyn Bridge was packed by a cheering crowd of thousands, including people who waved rainbow flags and wore pink buttons that said "I do."

Protests were low-key in North Dakota, where people lined a bridge in Fargo carrying signs and flags.

Mike Bernard, who was in the crowd of hundreds at City Hall in Baltimore, said Proposition 8 could end up being a good thing for gay rights advocates.

"It was a swift kick in the rear end," he said.

In Los Angeles, protesters gathered near City Hall before marching through downtown. Police said 10,000 to 12,000 people demonstrated.

Supporters of traditional marriage said the rallies may have generated publicity but ultimately made no difference.

"They had everything in the world going for them this year, and they couldn't win," said Frank Schubert, co-manager of the Yes on 8 campaign in California. "I don't think they're going to be any more successful in 2010 or 2012."

In Chicago, Keith Smith, 42, a postal worker, and his partner, Terry Romo, 34, a Wal-Mart store manager, had photos of a commitment ceremony they held, though gay marriage is not legal in Illinois.

"We're not going to wait for no law," Smith said. "But time's going to be on our side and it's going to change."

Gay advocates protest marriage ban across nation

[HisDaughter]

Gay advocates protest marriage ban across nation


"We are the American family,
 we teach your children,
"We need equal rights across the country."

Not if I have anything to say about it!

[Shammu]

Another atheist group takes the billboard route
November 12, 2008 - 7:36 PM
MARK BARNA
THE GAZETTE

Colorado Springs is about to get another dose of atheism.

Later this month, an umbrella organization of 11 atheist groups from Colorado will begin to pepper the Front Range with 11 billboards that say, "Don't Believe in God You are not alone." One will be in Colorado Springs and 10 will be in the Denver area. The billboards will be up four weeks, but their exact locations won't be announced until Monday.

On Nov. 5, in an unrelated campaign, the Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation erected a billboard on North Academy Boulevard proclaiming "Imagine No Religion." That billboard will be up through Dec. 4.

The Colorado Coalition of Reason, which is responsible for the 11-billboard campaign, is hoping its message will reach out to like-minded people.

"Some of the people who adhere to no religion think they are all alone," said coalition head Marvin Straus, who founded an atheist group in Boulder. "But they are not. Nonbelief is on the rise."

In recent years, atheists have become more vocal in questioning long-held beliefs within the Abrahamic faiths. Atheist books by Christopher Hitchens, Daniel C. Dennett, Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins have had long runs on the New York Times Best Sellers list.

Other signs of the times include the Freedom from Religion Foundation's efforts to install anti-religious billboards in 46 states, and the American Humanist Association's so-called "Godless Holiday Campaign," which it launched Monday with ads in two major newspapers reading "Why Believe in God Just be good for goodness sake."

The latest U.S. Census and other studies suggest that about 30 million Americans follow no religion.

Groff Schroeder, president of the 33-member Freethinkers of Colorado Springs, which is part of the coalition, compares the rising atheist movement to gays who have come out of the closet.

"For people who are closeted nonbelievers, we want them to know there are other people out there who think the same way," Schroeder said.

The Colorado Coalition of Reason is renting its billboards for $5,000 from CBS Outdoor after cutting a deal to buy up its unused space, Straus said.

Similar billboard campaigns have been waged by other groups in New Jersey, Philadelphia, Kansas City and Los Angeles.

Another atheist group takes the billboard route

[Shammu]

We sure are getting popular, here of late.

Psalm 74:22-23 Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily. 23 Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually.

[Shammu]

'Israel Liberation Week' Ends Violently at Berkeley
Cheshvan 20, 5769 / November 18, '08   
by David Shamma

(IsraelNN.com) Israel Liberation Week, which was organized last week by the Zionist Freedom Alliance (ZFA) at the University of California at Berkeley, ended violently Thursday night in an altercation between ZFA activists and anti-Israel students. The incident took place during a concert featuring Black, Jewish and Mexican hip hop artists promoting, according to the organizers, "freedom for the nation of Israel from Western pressure and influence."

As Zionist rapper Kosha Dillz was performing before a crowd of Berkeley students, members of the SJP (Students for Justice in Palestine) draped PLO flags from a balcony directly over the stage. When ZFA activist Gabe Weiner attempted to remove the flags, he was punched in the head, he says, by SJP member Husam Zakharia who was then beaten to the ground by Weiner and Yehuda De Sa.

Local ZFA member Yehuda told Israel National News: "Several other members of SJP, including female students, attempted to attack Weiner and De Sa but when three more ZFA activists entered the scene, the male members of SJP – who regularly use physical intimidation to silence Zionist students – hid behind female members of their group and refused to step forward and fight."

The local student press published the SJP version of events on Friday but would not quote any of the ZFA activists interviewed following the incident. UC Berkeley Dean of Students Jonathan Poullard has asked for student leaders from both groups to attend a meeting with one another but ZFA students have told Israel National News that they will make their attendance conditional on the University dropping its double standard when disciplining pro-Israel and anti-Israel student groups.

Meanwhile, the anti-Israel group is planning to file a petition to remove pro-Israel Student Senator John Moghtader from office, who tried to break up the fight.

Israel National News spoke with ZFA director Yehuda HaKohen, who said that although he had initially discouraged his activists from responding to the flags and would have preferred to have avoided the conflict altogether, he believed that ZFA’s victory in the physical altercation will show the anti-Israel activists that some Jews cannot be intimidated.

“In many ways it felt very similar to how things go down in Israel. Arabs attack Jews and then hide behind women. When Jews take defensive action, a biased media paints us as aggressors. The fact that our students at Berkeley had to experience this gives them a better appreciation for some of the challenges confronting us in our own country. Even though I wanted to avoid the altercation, I recognize the value in anti-Israel activists getting put in their place by the very students they so often try to bully into silence.”

HaKohen said that he generally tries to reach out to Muslim and Arab students when running programs on campuses but that the Muslim Student Association and SJP at Berkeley were completely unwilling to dialogue on any level.

“ZFA hosted Israel Liberation Week at Albany a week before and there, we were able to hold meaningful discussions with the MSA [Muslim Students Association]. We obviously didn’t agree on every issue but they recognized the Jewish people’s national rights. They acknowledged that there really is no distinct Palestinian Arab nation and that in order for Jews and Arabs to make peace we need to halt Western interference in the Middle East. They even gave me a head covering as a gift for my wife.”

“But at Berkeley there was no interest in dialogue at all. Instead, the SJP and their supporters tried to paint Israel as a Western power and accuse us of occupying another people’s homeland. They refused to listen to anything we had to say, which is unfortunate because our message is in no way anti-Arab. We simply demand that our rights to self-determination be respected. This was our first event at Berkeley. We expected the campus to be more hostile than others, but we didn’t expect the level of ignorance or close-mindedness that we encountered.


"Anti-Israel students at Berkeley can spit out the exact number of Arab villages they claim were destroyed during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War but they can’t name the countries that participated in that war. None of them knew that Jewish freedom fighters drove the British from our soil and none had even known that the British had oppressed us and tried to prevent the re-establishment of a Jewish state. None of them had even heard of the British White Paper. They knew nothing outside of their anti-Israel propaganda and they were completely unwilling to listen to a different view or acknowledge that Jews are an indigenous Middle Eastern people. But they’re entire cause is based on lies. Husam Zakharia [the SJP student who had initiated the violence] told me on Tuesday that his family lived in Gaza city until 1994 and then moved to California. What kind of Arabs left Gaza in 1994? Obviously people who were relatively fine living under Israel but had to flee from Gaza once Arafat took power. So now Husam, the phony revolutionary whose family most likely fled from Arafat, attacks Israel from the safety of California and tries to bully Jewish students into silence. ZFA might not have started the violence but we definitely finished it. I hope Husam and his crew think twice next time they want to get physical with any of our students.”

'Israel Liberation Week' Ends Violently at Berkeley

[HisDaughter]

Here is another aricle in connection to one posted in "Politics"......

Sparks fly as 'gay' activist mob swarms Christians
Residents of homosexual district: 'We're going to kill you. We know who you are'
By Chelsea Schilling
© 2008 WorldNetDaily


Hundreds of homosexual activists rushed out of bars and swarmed a group of Christians who were singing songs in San Francisco's Castro District – and some even threatened to kill the worshippers.

A group of Christians had been singing and praying in the "gay" district for several days, but they never expected an angry mob would run them out. However, that's what happened Friday night.

One woman who was attacked told her story with Pastor Lou Engle at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City. She said the group's fellowship had been peaceful for several nights before the riot.

"People would come stand with us and join us," she said. "We got to pray for some people."

But then angry men began yelling profanities and warning the Christians to leave the district.

One asked, "Why are you here?"

The leader of the group said, "We're here to worship God, and we're here because we love you."

A group of men approached the Christians and covered them with a large cloth, backing them into a corner. Then the angry mob began swearing and growing larger. The bars began emptying out, and a crowd completely surrounded the Christians.

The worship group began singing "Amazing Grace," while an estimated 500 "gay" advocates sang, "We Shall Overcome."

The woman said she and her friend were doused with hot coffee. One man took a Bible from her friend, hit her on the head with it, pushed her to the ground and began kicking her. People began lunging at the Christian group, blowing whistles in their ears.

"They started saying, 'We're going to kill you,'" she said. "They started taking our pictures and saying, 'We're going to kill you. We know who you are."

Then she said a man jumped through the crowd and pushed her forehead.

Just then, a squad of police officers arrived in riot gear, surrounding the Christians and forming a protective human wall.

She said the police told them, "You have to leave if you want to make it out."

When the group continued praying, an officer came back and said, "You don't have a choice anymore. We're going to escort you out."

The officers then took the Christians to their cars. The angry mob began lunging at them through the riot gear and chanting "Shame on you!"

Some yelled, "We are going to follow you all the way home!" Others called the Christians "hypocrites."

One man screamed into a camera, "We don't ever want them coming back. Do you understand that, other Christians? Do you understand that, other Mormons? I'm talking to you, people. Yeah, you. Stay out of our neighborhood if you don't like us. Leave us alone!"

[Shammu]

Sparks fly as 'gay' activist mob swarms Christians
Residents of homosexual district: 'We're going to kill you. We know who you are'
Posted: November 17, 2008
10:16 pm Eastern

By Chelsea Schilling
© 2008 WorldNetDaily

Hundreds of homosexual activists rushed out of bars and swarmed a group of Christians who were singing songs in San Francisco's Castro District – and some even threatened to kill the worshippers.

A group of Christians had been singing and praying in the "gay" district for several days, but they never expected an angry mob would run them out. However, that's what happened Friday night.

One woman who was attacked told her story with Pastor Lou Engle at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City. She said the group's fellowship had been peaceful for several nights before the riot.

"People would come stand with us and join us," she said. "We got to pray for some people."

But then angry men began yelling profanities and warning the Christians to leave the district.

One asked, "Why are you here?"

The leader of the group said, "We're here to worship God, and we're here because we love you."

A group of men approached the Christians and covered them with a large cloth, backing them into a corner. Then the angry mob began swearing and growing larger. The bars began emptying out, and a crowd completely surrounded the Christians.

The worship group began singing "Amazing Grace," while an estimated 500 "gay" advocates sang, "We Shall Overcome."

The woman said she and her friend were doused with hot coffee. One man took a Bible from her friend, hit her on the head with it, pushed her to the ground and began kicking her. People began lunging at the Christian group, blowing whistles in their ears.

"They started saying, 'We're going to kill you,'" she said. "They started taking our pictures and saying, 'We're going to kill you. We know who you are."

Then she said a man jumped through the crowd and pushed her forehead.

Just then, a squad of police officers arrived in riot gear, surrounding the Christians and forming a protective human wall.

She said the police told them, "You have to leave if you want to make it out."

When the group continued praying, an officer came back and said, "You don't have a choice anymore. We're going to escort you out."

The officers then took the Christians to their cars. The angry mob began lunging at them through the riot gear and chanting "Shame on you!"

Some yelled, "We are going to follow you all the way home!" Others called the Christians "hypocrites."

One man screamed into a camera, "We don't ever want them coming back. Do you understand that, other Christians? Do you understand that, other Mormons? I'm talking to you, people. Yeah, you. Stay out of our neighborhood if you don't like us. Leave us alone!"

Learn about the intimidating tactics and brilliant marketing techniques being used by "gay rights" activists – read David Kupelian's controversial blockbuster, "The Marketing of Evil: How Radicals, Elitists, and Pseudo-Experts Sell Us Corruption Disguised as Freedom."

The woman said her group had merely organized a peaceful fellowship and wasn't there to condemn homosexuals.

"We hadn't preached," she said. "We hadn't evangelized. We worshipped God in peace, and we were about to die for it."

"Their rights were respected," Joe Schmitz, an opponent of Prop. 8, told San Francisco's KTVU Channel 2. "They got a chance to go ahead and pray on the sidewalk, and I had the opportunity to express my freedom of speech, which is telling them to get out of my neighborhood."

The following day, approximately 20,000 people marched in San Francisco to protest passage of California's Proposition 8 protecting traditional marriage. Several thousand people conducted other protests around the nation in cities such as Manhattan, Chicago and Los Angeles. According to reports, many protesters feeling emboldened by the recent election chanted, "Yes we can!" – a slogan popularized by the Barack Obama campaign.

[Shammu]

That is very disturbing!! We are getting ready for some dark days ahead, I pray y'all have put on the full armor of God


If this kind of thing is going on now, I can't imagine how bad it will be for the believers during the tribulation!! These people have no fear of God, but they will learn in time I pray. Sceptically since they live on top of a fault line.......... Fools rush where angels fear to tread.

They absolutely believe, no, DEMAND their right to have gay pride parades marching down Main Street and if anyone protests, we're called bigots.

[HisDaughter]

eHarmony.com to match 'gays'
Dating site promoted by James Dobson bows to lawsuit, creates special service
© 2008 WorldNetDaily


Internet dating service eHarmony has officially agreed to begin matching homosexual couples, beginning next year.

The popular California-based service has been known for focusing on long-term relationships, especially marriage, which has been said to align with founder Clark Warren's early work with Focus on the Family's evangelical Christian base and perspective.

Warren, a psychologist with a divinity degree, has had three of his 10 books on love and dating published by Focus on the Family. It was an appearance on James Dobson's radio program, in 2001, that triggered a response of 90,000 new referrals to the website, starting a climb of registered participants on the site from 4,000 to today's 20 million clients.

As WND reported, the company originally said it was " based on the Christian principles of Focus on the Family author Dr. Neil Clark Warren." It stood firm on its decision to reject homosexuals from its profiling and matching services. Its entire compatibility system is based on research of married heterosexual couples.

In 2005, Warren told USA Today the company's goal is marriage and that same-sex marriage is illegal in most states.

"We don't really want to participate in something that's illegal," he said.

But now the company has been compelled to changed its nationwide policy as part of a New Jersey lawsuit settlement.

On March 14, 2005, Eric McKinley filed a lawsuit against eHarmony, claiming the company discriminated against him when it refused to accept his advertisement for a "gay" partner.

McKinley's complaint triggered a state investigation into the dating service.

Last week, eHarmony agreed to begin providing an eHarmony-affiliated "Compatible Partners" service to gays and lesbians, with listings labeled "male seeking male" and "female seeking female" by March 31, 2009.

For complying, the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights has dismissed the complaint against eHarmony, and Warren is considered "absolved of liability." Also, the dating site has been ordered to pay the division $50,000 for investigation-related administrative costs and give McKinley $5,000. It has agreed to provide a free one-year membership to its "gay" service to McKinley, plus free six-month memberships to "the first 10,000 users registering for same-sex matching within one year of the initiation on the same-sex matching service," according to the settlement.

A new release by New Jersey's Office of the Attorney General reveals that eHarmony has also agreed to the following terms:

eHarmony, Inc. will post photos of same-sex couples in the "Diversity" section of its website as successful relationships are created using the company's same-sex matching service. In addition, eHarmony, Inc. will include photos of same-sex couples, as well as individual same-sex users, in advertising materials used to promote its same-sex matching services

eHarmony, Inc. will revise anti-discrimination statements placed on company websites, in company handbooks and other company publications to make plain that it does not discriminate on the basis of "sexual orientation"

The company has committed to advertising and public relations/ marketing dedicated to its same-sex matching service and will retain a media consultant experienced in promoting the "fair, accurate and inclusive" representation of gay and lesbian people in the media to determine the most effective way of reaching the gay and lesbian communities.

In addition to McKinley's complaint, a California lesbian also filed a lawsuit against the company in May 2007.

Linda Carlson submitted her complaint to Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging discrimination based on sexual orientation. Lawyers have attempted to turn it into a class-action lawsuit on behalf of homosexuals who wanted to use eHarmony's services.

Carlson's lawyer told Reuters the complaint was "about changing the landscape and making a statement out there that gay people, just like heterosexuals, have the right and desire to meet other people with whom they can fall in love."

Antone Johnson, vice president of legal affairs at eHarmony, said the new settlement could compel California complainants to drop their lawsuit.

"We believe that this case is now essentially moot, and we're confident that we will prove that in court," Johnson said. "Now that we're entering the same-sex matching market, we fail to see what the Carlson plaintiffs could achieve through further litigation."

Former U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson, outside counsel to the company, said, "Even though we believed that the complaint resulted from an unfair characterization of our business, we ultimately decided it was best to settle this case with the Attorney General since litigation outcomes can be unpredictable. eHarmony looks forward to moving beyond this legal dispute, which has been a burden for the company, and continuing to advance its business model of serving individuals by helping them find successful, long-term relationships."

An attorney for eHarmony told WND legal battles required a great deal of effort and resources from the dating organization.

"The company spent three years defending against this proceeding," he said. "It was a burden in terms of the high costs of litigation and the time and resources management devoted to it."

[Soldier4Christ]

One by one the dominoes are falling.

[Shammu]

One by one the dominoes are falling.

Right into a cesspool or sewer brother.

[HisDaughter]

Teacher suspended for letting class vote out autistic boy
Mother now homeschooling son, claims instructor violated his civil rights

© 2008 WorldNetDaily

A Florida kindergarten teacher was suspended for polling her students on whether an autistic boy should remain in class.

Alex Barton, 5, lost the vote 14 to 2.

Barton, a former student at Morningside Elementary School in Port St. Lucie, Fla., had received two discipline referrals to the principal's office May 21, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported. The school was aware that Barton was in the process of being tested for Asperger's Syndrome.

This week, the St. Lucie County School Board voted unanimously to suspend his tenured teacher, Wendy Portillo, for one year without pay. Superintendent of Schools Michael Lannon recommended discipline after Portillo took Barton to the front of the class and asked students to tell the boy what they didn't like about his behavior and how it impacted them.

Barton said the teacher allowed his classmates to call him "disgusting" and "annoying."

The teacher then asked her students to vote on whether Barton would be allowed to stay. When Barton lost the vote, he was instructed to spend the rest of the day in the nurse's office.

According to a police report, "Portillo said she did this as she felt that if (Alex) heard from his classmates how his behavior affected them that it would make a bigger difference to him, rather than just hearing it from adults."

But Lannon said Portillo's actions "caused community and, in fact, worldwide outrage and condemnation." He said her attempt to influence a 5-year-old's behavior by subjecting him to the scrutiny of his peers was "fatally flawed" and violated professional ethics.

"Causing 5- and 6-year-old peers to pass judgment on one of their own, to state the reasons for their 'vote' and then to act on the outcome is a true failure to apply professional judgment at best," Lannon wrote. "Very often we, as teachers, provide the safest and most protective environment many children have. We cannot abandon that duty."

Portillo has been re-assigned to district offices and plans to contest the vote with the state's Division of Administrative Hearings, according to the report. If she is successful, she will resume teaching and receive back pay.

Criminal charges will not be filed against Portillo, because authorities determined the incident did not amount to emotional child abuse. However, the boy's mother, Melissa Barton, said she plans to file a civil lawsuit, claiming discrimination and violation of the child's civil rights.

"This woman needs to be fired," she said. "There is no reason for someone with that mentality to be around children. I think nothing less than her being terminated needs to happen."

She is now homeschooling her son, and claims his self-esteem has seriously suffered. He begins screaming when she brings him with her to drop his siblings off at school.

"It's going to be very, very hard to get him in a classroom setting," she said. "He does not want to go."

[David_james]

God bless the two who said no