Government

• Associated Press: National Association of Evangelicals condemns torture
  The National Association of Evangelicals has endorsed an anti-torture statement saying the United States has crossed "boundaries of what is legally and morally permissible" in its treatment of detainees and war prisoners in the fight against terror. Human rights violations committed in the name of preventing terrorist attacks have made the country look hypocritical to the Muslim world, the document states. [more...]
  
• Boston Herald: Let the legislators vote!
  Boston MA (July 7, 2006) Today the Boston Herald editorialized in favor of a vote by the legislature, and called on elected officials to allow the people to vote on marriage. [more...]
  
• Vote on marriage .org: Governor Romney urges: 'Let the people vote'.
  Boston MA (June 28, 2006) - Appearing today with a broad array of religious, civic and political leaders, Governor Mitt Romney urged the Legislature and its leaders to bring the Amendment to a "fair vote" during the Constitutional Convention on July 12. [more...]
  
• Washington Post: Religious Leaders Urge U.S. to Ban Torture
  Twenty-seven religious leaders, including megachurch pastor Rick Warren, Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel and Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick of Washington, have signed a statement urging the United States to "abolish torture now -- without exceptions." [more...]
  
• Pro Life Blogs: Commission reports - Haleigh Poutre was failed at every level
  

  Haleigh Poutre

  Boston MA (March 21, 2006) A panel appointed by the governor to review the case of a brain-injured Westfield girl released its report Tuesday, finding that a “systematic failure” by state agencies and the medical community contributed to her poor care before and after she was beaten into a coma. “As the Haleigh Poutre case demonstrates, errors in human judgment occur. What is unusual is how many people involved in Haleigh’s care - medical professionals, case workers and administrators from many disciplines - made errors,” Romney said in a statement outlining the panel’s findings. [more...]
  
• Boston Globe: Mass. loses ground in faith-based funding
  Religious groups in the state took in $19.6 million in federal grants under the program last year, down from $29.9 million in 2003. The decline in funding to Massachusetts has come as federal funding nationally to domestic faith-based programs has risen from $1.2 billion in 2003 to $1.6 billion in 2005, according to the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. [COMMENTS]
  
• Boston Herald: Haleigh responsive, DSS official says
  

  Haleigh Poutre

  Boston MA (Jan.28, 2006) An 11-year-old brain-damaged DSS ward, once given a diagnosis so hopeless the state wanted to remove her from life support, can act on simple requests and shows signs of improvement, officials say, but it remains unclear whether she will ever fully awaken. Haleigh Poutre of Westfield is “medically stable” at Franciscan Hospital for Children in Boston after a “second opinion” team of doctors examined her. DSS honcho Harry Spence says he watched Haleigh grasp toys on command and follow noises with her eyes Tuesday night, his spokeswoman, Denise Monteiro, said yesterday. [more...]
  
• Boston Globe: Miracle recovery? Haleigh Poutre moved to rehab facility!!!
  

  Haleigh Poutre

  Springfield MA (Jan.26, 2006) The 11-year-old Westfield girl who was close to being removed from life support has been moved to a rehabilitation facility. Haleigh Poutre was discharged Thursday from Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, said Denise Monteiro, a spokeswoman for the Department of Social Services. She had been in hospitalized since September, when authorities say she was beaten into a coma. [more...]
  
• Boston Globe: Bill requiring financial disclosures from religious groups defeated
  Boston MA (Jan.25, 2006) By a vote of 147-3 the Massachusetts House today soundly defeated legislation that would require religious organizations to file annual financial reports with the state, dealing a major blow to lawmakers who sought to make churches and other institutions more accountable to the public. [COMMENTS]
  
• Boston Harald: Governor announces independent review of Poutre case
  

  Gov. Mitt Romney

  Boston MA (Jan. 23, 2006) - Saying “errors in judgment were made” in the case of 11-year-old Haleigh Poutre, Gov. Mitt Romney on Monday announced an independent investigation into the state’s handling of the girl at the center of a right-to-die battle.
  
  DSS has been criticized for its handling of the case. Though there were signs of abuse even before Haleigh was hospitalized in September, Spence said last week that the agency did nothing wrong because every health professional involved believed the girl was injuring herself. “That was an error in judgment, apparently,” Romney said. [more...]
  
• NewNE.net Call to Action: Decisions to remove life support need to be made public
  The NewNE.net editorial board appeals to the Massachusetts legislature to no longer allow that judicial decsions to remove life support are kept a secret from the public. [more...]
  
• NewNE.net Investigation: Judges tried to keep secret their order to withdraw life support for Haleigh
  The original court who ruled in October to withdraw life support for Haleigh, wanted the decision to be kept secret from the public. The Supreme Judicial Court agreed with them. Only two judges (Spina and Cowin) dissented. Read the SJC decision in its entirety. Note especially the passages marked up in yellow. [more...]
  
• Boston Herald: Many concerned about rush to end Haleigh's life
  Boston MA (Jan 20, 2006) Daniel Avila, associate director for policy and research at the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, said the decision to take Haleigh off life support was hasty. Haleigh’s stepfather, Jason Strickland, who is accused of the abuse that put her in the hospital in September, asked the SJC for an injunction blocking the move.     “That appeal delayed the situation long enough for God to intervene and allow the child’s condition to become clearer,” Avila said. [more...]
  
• Boston Globe: DSS did not inform court that Haleigh was breathing on her own
  

  Haleigh Poutre

  Boston MA (Jan.20, 2006) The House chairwoman of the legislature's Committee on Children and Families said yesterday she thinks lawmakers should investigate how DSS handled Haleigh's case, from its acknowledgment that it missed signs of abuse to its actions in regard to her life support. DSS disclosed Wednesday that Haleigh was breathing without a ventilator. Yesterday, the agency said that Haleigh had been weaned off her breathing tube last week, before the Supreme Judicial Court ruling, and that DSS did not inform the court of that development. [more...]
  
• Boston Globe: Girl in vegetative state reported to improve after DSS asked judges to withdraw life support
  

  Haleigh Poutre

  Boston MA (Jan.19, 2006) A day after the state's highest court ruled that the Department of Social Services could withdraw life support from a brain-damaged girl, the agency said yesterday that Haleigh Poutre might be emerging from her vegetative state. DSS also said it has no immediate plans to remove her feeding tube. ''There has been a change in her condition," said a DSS spokeswoman, Denise Monteiro. ''The vegetative state may not be a total vegetative state." Monteiro said Haleigh is breathing on her own, without the ventilator she has depended on for four months.
  
  Domenico Bettinelli comments: "Which goes to show the medical inanity of something called “vegetative” state. You can’t be a partial vegetable, like you can’t be partially pregnant. Likewise, you can’t be mostly brain dead ..., you’re either dead or you’re not dead." [more...]
  
• Dr. Paul Jehle: Church financial disclosures - Prevention of Crime or a Violation of Religious Liberty?
  A Position Paper by Dr. Paul Jehle, Senior Pastor, The New Testament Church (December 2005)
  The present crisis in Church-State relations here in Massachusetts has been escalating in the minds of legislators. Instead of being satisfied with the conviction and punishment of the individuals who committed the crimes, however, the legislature is on a slippery slope of State intrusion into church affairs, basically punishing all churches for the crimes of a few individuals. [more...]
  
• Harvard Crimson: Boston's 'Holiday Tree' Sparks Controversy
  Last week the city of Boston officially renamed the giant spruce tree in Boston Common a “holiday tree” instead of a “Christmas tree.” This move has sparked controversy over the role of religion in municipal holiday celebrations. [COMMENTS]
  
• Lowell Sun: MA House tables bill to make church finances public
  Boston MA (Nov. 17, 2005) -- The MA House of Representatives had planned yesterday to debate a proposed law demanding that churches make their finances public. But leaders abruptly pulled the item off the House's calendar, leaving the bill in limbo until next year. State Rep. Byron Rushing, D-Boston, urged DiMasi to postpone the vote because he believes there are several “not insurmountable arguments” that need to be settled. Other legislators said the bill may have been put on hold because there were not enough votes to push it through. [COMMENTS]
  
• Boston Globe: Death penalty bill fails in MA House
  Boston MA (Nov. 16, 2005) The Massachusetts House yesterday soundly rejected Governor Mitt Romney's plan to reinstate the death penalty, defeating one of his signature 2002 campaign initiatives and affirming the Legislature's growing opposition to capital punishment. The House vote, 100-53, underscores how capital punishment has lost support among state lawmakers since it was a hotly contested issue in the 1980s and 1990s. [COMMENTS]
  
• The Republican: MA State House favors Pledge including 'under God'
  Boston MA (Oct.11, 2005) The Massachusetts House of Representatives is making a strong stand for keeping the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. In a resolution opposed by two local legislators, the House voted 115-31 to ask the Supreme Court to reject a bid to strip the phrase from the pledge as recited daily in public schools. [COMMENTS]
  
• Associated Press: Gay rights defenders report big financial push in Maine
  Augusta ME (Oct.11, 2005) --The umbrella group leading the campaign to defend Maine's pending gay rights law raised more than five times as much money between early July and the end of September as two major organizations seeking the law's repeal, campaign finance filings with state officials on Tuesday showed. [COMMENTS]
  
• Associated Press: Connecticut to offer Civil Unions on October 1, 2005
  Hartford, Conn. (Sep. 30, 2005) Connecticut joins Vermont on Saturday as the only states offering same-sex civil unions. Connecticut's law passed in April, making it the first state to recognize same-sex unions without court intervention. Civil unions will give same-sex couples the same legal protections that married couples enjoy, including spousal health care benefits. However, they will not be subject to any of the federal laws pertaining to married couples because the federal government defines a spouse as someone of the opposite gender. [COMMENTS]
  
• Boston Globe: State grants eyed for private students
  Catholic and Jewish school parents are joining Governor Mitt Romney in a push to give students in private schools the same chance as those in public schools to take the MCAS and win a scholarship to a state college or university. [COMMENTS]