Uncategorized

ANN ARBOR, MI – The video produced by an abortion mill, Northland Family Planning Clinics, “Every Day, Good Women Choose Abortion” sought to persuade young women facing unwanted pregnancies that abortion is a “good” and “normal” decision.    However, when two pro-life organizations, Center for Bio-Ethical Reform (“CBR”) and The Apologetics Group produced parodies of their video, the outraged abortionists filed a federal lawsuit in a California Federal District Court claiming violations of the Copyright Act.

The entire purpose of crafting the parodies was to use clips of the Northland Video to transform the work and expose its deadly lies.

The Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, came to the defense of CBR and The Apologetics Group.   And on Friday, June 15, 2012, Federal District Court Judge James V. Selna of the Central District of California dismissed the abortionist’s case.

Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Law Center commented, “This is a tremendous victory for the Pro-Life movement and their constitutional rights to free speech.  Abortionists don’t want the public to know the truth, that abortion is the taking of innocent human life.  So they do everything they can to squash that truth, including using the courts.  In this case they utterly failed.”

Some versions of the pro-life videos included quotations from the Bible and George Orwell, and original musical scores.  The judge referenced CBR and The Apologetics Group’s “abundantly clear message is that deciding to have an abortion is anything but a ‘normal decision’ made by ‘good women,’” and stated that their videos exposed “the gruesome and seemingly savage ‘reality’ of an abortion procedure.”

Judge Selna noted in his opinion that “before this lawsuit was filed, communication between the Defendants [CBR and The Apologetics Group] shows that the purpose of the Videos was to dispel the ‘falsities’ of the Northland Video, and to create a ‘parody’ contrasting the ‘soothing lies of the narrator . . .and the terrible truths of abortion.’”

In his opinion, Judge Selna discussed the character of videos created by the Thomas More Law Center’s clients, “The narrative from the Northland Video continues while the screen shows graphic, up-close images of the surgical procedure of dismembering and removing fetuses, many of which have discernible limbs or appear to be nearly viable. . . [the] [v]ideo closes with Northland’s name, telephone number, and the words ‘Your Dead baby at 10 to 12 weeks,’ superimposed over a bloody, dismembered fetus” because the most common time for women to undergo abortion is during 10 to 12 weeks into the development of the baby.

Northland Family Planning Clinics complained that CBR and The Apologetics Group’s videos killed the demand of their “Every Day, Good Women Choose Abortion” video and ruined their potential sale and licensing pursuits.  The Court, in adopting the Thomas More Law Center’s position, responded by quoting the United States Supreme Court, “when a lethal parody, like a scathing theater review, kills the demand for the original, it does not produce a harm cognizable under the Copyright Act.”

An attorney on the case, Erin Mersino, commented, “Our clients’ videos were clearly transformative.  The court made the right decision by throwing out this baseless lawsuit filled with wrongful accusations.”

Click here to read Judge Selna’s decision.

ANN ARBOR, MI – The Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, announced today that it submitted a letter to Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette asking that he conduct a grand jury investigation into the Farmington Public Schools sale of Eagle Elementary School to the Islamic Cultural Association (ICA), which has ties to terrorist organizations.

The Law Center informed Attorney General Schuette that “a fog of corruption has indeed enveloped the Farmington Public Schools relating to its 2011 agreement to sell Eagle Elementary School to the Islamic Cultural Association, and that this fog of corruption can only be pierced by a grand jury investigation and the use of other investigative tools in the law enforcement arsenal of the Attorney General’s Office.”  Click here to read entire letter.

Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, commented, “By agreeing to sell Eagle Elementary to the ICA under these suspicious circumstances, Farmington Schools sacrificed the interest of their children and taxpayers to bring into their community an organization with ties to terrorist organizations.”

According to the real estate broker who represented ICA in the purchase of Eagle Elementary, ICA owns and operates the HUDA, an Islamic school in the Village of Franklin, Michigan. The Council of Islamic Organizations of Michigan, reports that ICA shares direct ties to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (hereinafter “CAIR”) and the North American Islamic Trust, Inc. (hereinafter “NAIT”), both of which were named as unindicted co-conspirators/joint venturers in U.S. v. Holy Land Found. for Relief & Dev. (“HLF”), the largest terrorism funding trial in U.S. history.   Federal prosecutors proved that HLF worked closely with the U.S. designated terrorist organization Hamas to fund terrorist activities.

Moreover, during the HLF trial, several FBI agents testified to the unmistakable financial connections and dealings between HLF, CAIR, and NAIT.  After the trial, the FBI severed ties with CAIR and NAIT due to their status as unsuitable liaison partners.  Steven Pomerantz, the FBI’s former chief of counterterrorism, even noted that “CAIR, its leaders, and its activities effectively give aid to international terrorist groups.”

Organizations such as CAIR and NAIT defend such criticism by diverting attention away from their misdeeds and financial ties to Islamic terrorism through accusing those who criticize their associations and actions as being “Muslim bashers” or “Islamophobes.”

Dawud Walid, Executive Director of CAIR-Michigan, testified in support of ICA during the Farmington Public Schools board meeting relating to the purchase of Eagle Elementary.

The interconnected relationships of ICA, CAIR and NAIT serve as a partial backdrop for the real estate transactions orchestrated by Farmington Public Schools.

The June 13, 2012 Thomas More Law Center letter to the Attorney General letter with 442 pages of exhibits was written on behalf of concerned citizens from West Bloomfield, Farmington and Farmington Hills.  According to the letter, these concerned citizens have information, which supports claims of bribery, illegal campaign contributions, and violations of the Open Meetings Act and governmental practices dealing with the sale of public property.  Click here to read the 22-page Summary of Allegations.

In creating a new Public Integrity Unit last year, Attorney General Schuette stated: “[e]nriching yourself at public expense is not only shameful, but compromises the integrity of government and violates the public trust.  Weeding out corruption is top priority.”  Information compiled through various sources indicates that the Farmington Public Schools (FPS) secretly negotiated a No-Bid, below-market, sale of valuable district property against the recommendations of its legal counsel, a specially-convened internal committee, and district residents. Click here to see video clips of residents addressing  FPS Board.

While the District repeatedly rebuffed parties interested in purchasing the vacant elementary school telling them it was not for sale, FPS was exclusively negotiating behind closed doors in apparent violation of the Open Meetings Act, for many months with their favored buyer, the Islamic Cultural Association.

Not only did FPS conceal its dealings from the public, it apparently misrepresented the status of the property to municipal officials from Farmington and Farmington Hills. On May 3, 2011, less than three weeks before it would publicly announce the Islamic Cultural Association’s offer to purchase Eagle Elementary, in a joint meeting with Farmington and Farmington Hills City Councils, FPS represented that Eagle was slated for demolition.

On October 16, 2011, two days prior to FPS’s determinative vote on whether to extend the expiration date of the purchase agreement for the ICA to obtain Eagle Elementary, Dr Nabil Suliman, who does not reside in the Farmington School district nor does he have any children in Farmington Public Schools, contributed $2,000 ($1,000 over the legal limit) to FPS Board member Karen Bolsen.

 Concluded Thompson, “Our letter to the Attorney General focused on a catalog of suspicious circumstances dealing with corruption that can best be resolved by a citizens grand jury.  A grand jury with the power to subpoena witnesses and compel testimony would insure that the guilty are brought to justice and the innocent exonerated.”

On March 14, 1778, George Washington, then Commander in Chief of the Continental Army, approved the sentencing of LT Enslin on attempted sodomy of another soldier.  General Washington called it an infamous crime to be viewed “with Abhorrence and Detestation”.  He ordered Enslin “to be drummed out of Camp tomorrow morning by all the Drummers and Fifers in the Army never to return.”

Morality in the military is changing.

This week, Pentagon officials announced they will participate in June’s Gay Pride month and host a first-ever event honoring gay and lesbian troops.  Defense Secretary Leon Panetta feels it is important to recognize the service of gays in the armed forces. Details of the Pentagon event have not been released.

Since the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT), homosexual activists have accelerated advances of their homosexual agenda within the Armed Forces, including recognition of gay marriages, performance of marriages in military chapels, and gay pride celebrations at U.S Military academies.

Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, commented, “We will continue our fight to overturn the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and are ready to represent those chaplains who refuse to perform same-sex marriages on religious grounds.  This new law will ultimately destroy unit cohesion and morale, reduce the number of heterosexual volunteers, and considerably degrade the ability of the military to defend our nation, their first responsibility.”

Since November 2010, the Thomas More Law Center has submitted 41 Freedom of Information Act requests to all branches of the Armed Forces, including the Inspector General’s Office, to assist in overturning the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.

Allowing open homosexuality in the Armed Forces had nothing to do with enhancing the combat effectiveness of our military, and everything to do with pandering to the homosexual lobby.  To accomplish this political objective, Pentagon officials utilized rigged public opinion polls, leaks of false information and muzzling of combat commanders who opposed the repeal.

In its findings supporting the 1993 Don’t Ask Don’t Tell law, Congress affirmed:

•  there is no constitutional right to serve in the armed forces;
• military life is fundamentally different from civilian life;
• the prohibition against homosexual conduct is a long-standing element of military law;
•  the presence of persons who demonstrate a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts would create an unacceptable risk to the high standards or morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability.

Concluded Thompson, “Those findings have not changed, but the law has.  Our military men and women, our sons and daughters, should not be subjected to an involuntary social experiment which will damage our national security. That’s why we will continue our efforts to oppose this immoral law.”