News Updates, 7/11-12

The Little Green Book (behind the scenes at the meeting between Obama and the Pope)
The Pope gave a little book to US President Barack Obama after their meeting today in the Vatican. “This is a document about bioethics,” the Pope said. And the president replied, “Oh, what we discussed earlier. I’ll have some reading to do on the plane"...

CDF Clarification on Abortion in Wake of Fisichella Controversy
The Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano has today published a clarification from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) reiterating the Church's stand against abortion. The clarification notes that it comes after the CDF received communications from political and church leaders expressing concerns about an article published in the same newspaper by the new head of the Pontifical Academy for Life, Archbishop Salvatore (Rino) Fisichella...

Groups demand that jail stop censoring religion
Civil and religious rights organizations are demanding that a Virginia jail stop removing Bible passages and other religious material from letters written to inmates.

Court: Conscientious pharmacists must sell 'Plan B'
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled against pharmacists exercising their conscience.

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Other Issues
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0bama's Information "Czar" Would Gag Bloggers & Others
"Cass Sunstein, a Harvard Law professor who has been appointed to a shadowy post that will grant him powers that are merely mind-boggling, explicitly supports using the courts to impose a "chilling effect" on speech that might hurt someone's feelings. He thinks that the bloggers have been rampaging out of control and that new laws need to be written to corral them."...
[Claiming that Obongo pals around with terrorists (Bill Ayers) would be a "falsehood" even though it was true - 1984 has arrived, get ready!]

Gore: U.S. Climate Bill Will Help Bring About 'Global Governance'
Gore touted the Congressional climate bill, claiming it “will dramatically increase the prospects for success” in combating what he sees as the “crisis” of man-made global warming...

The Fed Under Increasing Fire
A must watch introductory clip by the American News Project which summarizes well the current push to unmask the inner workings of the Federal Reserve, the urgency of increasing transparency and the groundbreaking nature of Ron Paul's HR 1207 bill.

Summers: Worst isn't over yet
...the Financial Times sat down with Larry Summers, director of Obama's National Economic Council, for a wide-ranging talk. When the conversation turned to the current recession in the U.S., Summers did not exude optimism: Onward, then, to the toughest economic challenge Summers faces today: the recession. Here, Summers turns sombre: "I don't think the worst is over ... It's very likely that more jobs will be lost. It would not be surprising if GDP has not yet reached its low...

CIT Hires Bankruptcy Advisers After Rejection by FDIC, WSJ Says
CIT Group Inc. hired the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP as an adviser as it prepares for a possible bankruptcy filing after failing to win access to government guarantees for its borrowing, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter...

Most Banks said No to California IOU's