Daily French Roast

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Forging Political and Policy Ties

Bill Clinton may be President Obama’s most important ally in his re-election campaign, in a burying of the ax that formally leaves behind the bitter days of the 2008 Democratic primary between Obama and Hillary Clinton. Huff Po quotes Terry McAuliffe, “a close adviser to both Clintons and one of the most ardent protectors of their political brand”:

“It makes absolutely clear that, to the extent that there were different wings of the Democratic party, there is now one wing of the Democratic party,” said Chris Lehane, a Clinton backer. “And it’s the president’s party.”

Senate Renews Violence Against Women Act

Fifteen Senate Republicans joined 51 Democrats and two independents to approve the stalled Violence Against Women Act with amendments that now expand the law to explicitly provide protection to gays, illegal immigrants and Native Americans.

New York Sen. Charles Schumer called today on House Republicans to renew the bill. Republicans are working on their own version of the bill, without the added protections for new constituencies not covered under the expiring act.

“I want to say, to the small group in the House of Representatives moving to stop this bill. Stop it. Pass this bill,” Schumer said, calling the renewal a “no brainer.” Schumer added that the House version doesn’t even contain the word “women”, writes the NY Daily News.

Last month Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance urged support for New York State’s Aggravated Domestic Violence Bill, reports the NY Daily News.

“As a result of outdated New York State domestic violence laws, a serial abuser who hurts his victim for the 100th time can receive the same sentence he did for his first conviction — a maximum of one year in jail for an A misdemeanor, the same crime level as not paying a subway fare. That is not justice for victims.”

DFR on Religion

The Atlantic asks if Catholic Schools should be able to fire teachers over fertility treatments.

Emily Herx was a popular literature teacher at St. Vincent de Paul School in Fort Wayne, Indiana, until she used her medical leave for in vitro fertilization. Herx lost her job and says a church official called her a “grave, immoral sinner.” When she appealed to Fort Wayne Bishop Kevin Rhoades, he told her IVF was “an intrinsic evil, which means that no circumstances can justify it.” The federal government saw things a bit differently. Herx filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and won — paving the way for a civil lawsuit.

Reverend Richard Sparks argues that the confusing “minefield” of Catholic teaching is more about Church teachings than politics. Perhaps, but in either case, it’s about bishops’ power over women.

Pope BenedictFaith and Analytical Thinking Skills

Researchers Will Gervais and Ara Norenzayan publish research experiments designed to measure the relationship between individual with strong analytical thinking skills and a person’s faith.

Prior research has suggested that religious beliefs are rooted in intuitive processing. In this new research, published in Nature, the authors conclude that there is a significant positive correlation between faith and analytical thinking skills. via Chicago Tribune

Related articles:

Georgetown University President: We Will Continue Providing Birth Control To Our Employees ThinkProgress

With High Premarital Sex and Abortion Rates, Evangelicals Say It’s Time To Talk About Sex Huff Po

We Are All Nuns Nicholas D. Kristof for NYT

Bishops Play Church Queens as Pawns Maureen Dowd for NYT

Iowa View: U.S. nuns are under attack from the pope The DesMoinesRegister.com

The Politics of Faith and American Exceptionalism Mugambi Jouet for Huff Po