SOCIAL CONSERVATIVE REVIEW

The Social Conservative Review: The Insider's Guide to Pro-Family News--May 24, 2012

The Family Research Council does superb work in assembling these articles.  For previous issues of the Social Conservative Review, click here.  The items below are found here.

Educational Freedom and Reform
Homeschooling

• "Papal Delegation Says Homeschoolers Must be Free," Home School Legal Defense Association
• "Homeschooling Doesn't Mean Always Staying at Home," Lindell Kay, The Daily News

Legislation and Policy Proposals
Check out our new website, Save Me from College Debt, for more up-to-date information on the student loan crisis.

• "Congratulations, Grad, You're Unemployed," Karin Agness, Values and Capitalism
• "The Culture of 'Can't' in American Schools," Rick Hess, Education Week
• "Some States Reconsider Common Core Involvement," Lindsey Burke, The Heartlander
• "Bill expanding charter schools in Missouri goes to governor," Virginia Young, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
• "Arizona Gov. Brewer Expands USA's Most Innovative School Choice Model," Lindsey Burke, The Heritage Foundation

Government Reform
Regulation

• "Regulation top risk seen by energy companies: U.S. study," Reuters
• "Tax Reform That Is Simple, Transparent, Fair," Mike Razar, American Thinker

Waste/Fraud/Abuse

• "Catholic Social Teaching and the Ryan Budget," Thomas V. Berg and James C. Capretta, The Public Discourse
• "Great Moments in Government Waste: Stimulus Spending on...um...Stimulus," Daniel J. Mitchell, Townhall
• "Public-Sector Pensions: The Transition Costs Myth," Andrew G. Biggs, The American

Health Care
Abstinence

• "Tenn. sex-ed more focused on abstinence," Bob Kellogg, OneNewsNow
• "Sex, Contraceptive Education 'Urgently Needed,' 60 Percent Of Young Adults Are Misinformed About Birth Control's Effectiveness: Study," The Huffington Post
• "Under Obama administration, abstinence-only education finds surprising new foothold," Ezra Klein, The Washington Post

Conscience Protection

• "BREAKING: Cardinal Dolan of NY, Cardinal Wuerl of D.C., Notre Dame--And 40 Other Catholic Dioceses and Organizations--Sue Obama Administration," Terence P. Jeffrey, CNSNews.com
• "Brownback signs 'conscience act' letting pharmacists refuse to provide drugs they believe might cause abortion," Brad Cooper, The Kansas City Star
• "Conscience Clause at Issue in Defense Bill Vote," CBNNews.com
• "Sebelius' Georgetown address refers to protecting religious freedom," Emily Belz, WORLD Magazine

Health care reform: Political and Legislative efforts

• "Catholic university drops student insurance," Associated Press
• "HSAs Could Bring Health Costs Down; Too Bad Obamacare Destroys Them," Alyene Senger, The Heritage Foundation
• "Study: Health care costs on rise," J. Lester Feder, The Politico

Homosexuality

• "Clarifying the Count of Marriage Amendments and Referenda," Peter Sprigg, Family Research Council
• "Made in Heaven," Roger Scruton, The American Spectator
• "Why Young Voters Won't Tip the Gay Marriage Debate Anytime Soon," Lazar Berman and Daniel Berman, The American
• "Gay "Marriage" is a Losing Issue...For Democrats," Daniel Horowitz, RedState
• "Explaining Obama's Evolution," Thomas Haine, The Public Discourse
• "Will Gay Marriage Oust Military Chaplains?," Jonathan S. Tobin, Commentary Magazine
• "Higher and Lower Nature: The Christian Duty to Stand Against Gay Marriage," John Harris, The Intellectual Conservative
• "Will the Supreme Court Decide Same-Sex Marriage?," Justin Shubow, The FedSoc Blog

Human Life and Bioethics
Abortion

• "A Constitutional and Wise Way to Protect the Unborn: A Response to Paul Linton," Teresa S. Collett, The Public Discourse
• "Abortion Legal for Any Reason Until Birth in Nation's Capital," Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com
• "Ivy League Profs Call Docs to Civil Disobedience over Pro-Life Laws," Matthew Archbold, National Catholic Register
• "Abortion and disability," Rose Woodhouse, The League of Ordinary Gentlemen
• "States restrict abortion like never before," Anita Wadhwani, The Tennesseean
• "Maine says 'no' to Planned Parenthood," Charlie Butts, OneNewsNow
• "Obama Campaign Video: Girls' Dreams Require HHS Mandate," Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com
• "The 'War on Women' Implodes," Janice Shaw Crouse, The American Thinker
• "Breaking the 'Spiral of Silence'," Alan Sears, Townhall
• "Guttmacher Inflates Abortion Numbers In Latin America," Stefano Gennarini, Turtle Bay & Beyond

Bioethics and Biotechnology

• "Science vs. PR," Robert McHenry, The American
• "UNIQUE DONATION: Iowa Couple Helps Families," Krystle Kacner, WHOtv.com
• "Faith and Science In a Fallen World," Chris Robertson, The Acton Institute
• "The age of in vitro," Emily Belz, WORLD Magazine

Euthanasia and End of Life Issues

• "Palliative Sedation Not = To Terminal Sedation/Euthanasia," Wesley J. Smith, Secondhand Smoke
• "Georgia bans most late-term abortions, assisted suicide," David Beasley, Reuters

Stem Cell Research

To read about the latest advances in ethical adult stem cell research and keep up with leading-edge reports from FRC's Dr. David Prentice, click here.

• "Central nervous system stem cells shed light on mechanism that controls asymmetrical division," Physorg
• "First stem cell drug approved for systemic disease treatment," Fox News

Human Trafficking

• "United States - Human Rights Abuser?," Austin Ruse, The Catholic Thing
• "Sex Trafficking In California: State And Tech Companies Build Alliances To Combat Crime," Shoshana Walter, The Huffington Post

Women's Health

• "A Strong Note of Caution on Reproductive Health and Family Planning," Austin Ruse and Stefano Gennarini, First Things
• "Obama's Julia," Herbert I. London, Freedom Politics

Marriage and Family
Adoption

• "The Three Stooges, Kung Fu Panda, Despicable Me . . . and Adoption," Nancy French, National Review Online
• "Fixing the international adoption mess," Kelly Ensslin, Global Post

Family Economics

• "A Tax Increase without the Pain," Steve Conover, The American
• "Capitalism is Honest," Isaac Morehouse, Values and Capitalism
• "The Poverty Life Lesson Plan," Rod Dreher, The American Conservative
• "How far away are states from a jobs recovery?," James Pethokoukis, The Enterprise Blog

Family Structure

• "Marriage: Not a Right, but an Office," Elizabeth Scalia, First Things
• "Therapists Try Tough Love for a 'Nation of Whiners'," Nancy French, National Review Online
• "What America Is and What It Will Be - Shades of Ozzie and Harriet," Kate Pitrone, Postmodern Conservative
• "Are Dads the New Moms?," Susan Gregory Thomas, The Wall Street Journal
• "Marriage is not a Contract, it is a Covenant," Steven Osbourne, Bearing Drift

Media
Pornography

• "Hunger Games Are Real: Children Sacrificed to Porn Now a Legal Spectator Sport," Cathy Ruse, Family Research Council
• "The Tennessean Investigates Books-a-Million Stores for their Pornographic Displays," Nancy French, National Review Online

Internet

• "Facebook Inc. valued above McDonald's Corp.: What does that mean for your kid?," Jessica Prol, Family Research Council
• "Mark Zuckerberg and the Biblical Meaning of Success," Joe Carter, The Acton Institute
• "Apple, Google, Facebook, and Censorship," Gregory S. Baylor, Alliance Defense Fund

Religion and Public Policy
Religious Liberty

• "Amendment Protects Religious Liberty of Military Members," National Catholic Register
• "Defending Religious Freedom in Full: A Generation's Challenge," George Weigel, Ethics and Public Policy Center
• "John Adams and Religious Liberty: What Our Second President Can Teach us About Constitutional Compromise," Richard Samuelson, Library of Law and Liberty
• "Second Circuit Finds NY Town Meeting Prayers Unconstitutional," Justin Shubow, The FedSoc Blog
• "Court: Colorado Day of Prayer Is Unconstitutional," Morgan Feddes, Christianity Today

Religion in America
Check out Dr. Kenyn Cureton's feature on Watchmen Pastors called "The Lost Episodes," featuring how religion has had an impact on our Founding Fathers.

• "The "Other Religious Right"," Rob Schwarzwalder, Family Research Council
• "The Future Will Be More Religious and Conservative Than You Think," Eric Kaufmann, The American
• "The Law of the Gift: 123rd Annual Commencement Address," Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Catholic University of America
• "Modern but Not Liberal," David S. Yeago, First Things
• "If Christ is Lord, Everything Matters," Mindy Hirst, The Acton Institute
• "Douthat on Orthodox Christianity's Implications for Markets," Joy Pullmann, Values and Capitalism

Secularism

• "Secularists Threatening to Wipe Out Christians, Says Senior British Cardinal," Stoyan Zaimov, The Christian Post

International
Israel

• "How History Weighs on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict," Seth Mandel, Commentary Magazine
• "Let us embrace our friends," Caroline Glick, CarolineGlick.com

International Economy and Family

• "Reflections on the French Election," Dr. Mark W. Hendrickson, The Center for Vision and Values
• "The Hayek Effect: The Political Consequences of Planned Austerity," Lee Harris, The American
• "Britain, "Austerity," and the Lessons of Economic History," Kyle Latham, The Center for Vision and Values

Religious Persecution

• "Anti Forced Abortion Activist Chen Guangchen Released by Chinese Tyrants," Wesley J. Smith, Secondhand Smoke
• "The Most Godless Place on Earth," Joe Carter, The Acton Institute
• "The new Egyptian wilderness," Jamie Dean, WORLD Magazine

Sharia law -- U.S., foreign

• "Are Islam and Liberal Democracy Compatible?," Kishore Jayabalan, The Acton Institute
• "Kansas lawmakers pass anti-Islamic law measure," Fox News

The Courts
Constitutional Issues

• "The Upside-Down Constitution by Michael S. Greve," Robert R. Gasaway, The Federalist Society

Judicial Activism

• "High Court Humpty Dumptys," Lester Jackson, American Thinker
• "Solomonic Wisdom from Another Federal Judge," Michael Avramovich, Touchstone Magazine

Other News of Note

• "The Flags at the Cemetery," Dr. Paul G. Kengor, The Center for Vision and Values
• "Yankees First Baseman Mark Teixeira on the Importance of Fatherhood," Trent Beattie, National Catholic Register
• "We are all Culture Warriors Now(?)," Matthew Lee Anderson, Mere Orthodoxy
• "Tocqueville on Julia," David Foster, The Ashbrook Center
• "Nanny State: School Fined $15,000 For Selling Soda," Daniel Doherty, Townhall

Book reviews

• "Tyrannosaurus Ecs," Michael M. Rosen, The American
• "Not Understanding Nothing," Edward Feser, First Things
• "Os Guinness on Virtue in a Free Republic," Ray Nothstine, The Acton Institute
• "Food Rules!," Jerry Weinberger, City Journal
• "Q Reviews | Young Adult Fiction," Byron Borger, Qideas
• "Intellectual debts," Marvin Olasky, WORLD Magazine