Kerry Compares Situation in Afghanistan to Vietnam

Court: Christian School Can Expel Girls Over Alleged Lesbian Relationship

Calif. Court Finds School Not Covered Under State Anti-Discrimination Law

By SCOTT MICHELS

Jan. 28, 2009

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A private Christian high school has the right to expel students who it believes are having a lesbian relationship, a California appeals court has ruled.

The Fourth District Court of Appeals upheld California Lutheran High School’s right, as a private, religious organization, to exclude students based on sexual orientation.

A lawyer for two girls who were expelled said he would appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Court.

“They’re giving private religious schools carte blanche to discriminate on any basis,” said Kirk Hanson, the lawyer for the two girls, who were identified in court papers only as Jane Doe and Jane Roe.

The appellate court found that the school was not considered a business under the state’s civil rights law, which bans discrimination by businesses, but not by private social or religious organizations. Anti-discrimination laws also apply to public schools.

The court relied on a 1998 California Supreme Court ruling that held that the Boy Scouts of America was a social organization that had the right to exclude gays and atheists.

“Ugly American”? Spy Boss Allegedly Drugged Muslim Women, Made Secret Sex Videos
By BRIAN ROSS, KATE McCARTHY, and ANGELA M. HILL

January 28, 2009

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The CIA’s station chief at its sensitive post in Algeria is under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department for allegedly raping at least two Muslim women who claim he laced their drinks with a knock-out drug, U.S. law enforcement sources tell ABC News.

Officials say the 41-year old CIA officer, a convert to Islam, was ordered home by the U.S. Ambassador, David Pearce, in October after the women came forward with their rape allegations in September.

Watch “World News with Charles Gibson” TONIGHT at 6:30 p.m. ET for the full report.

The discovery of more than a dozen videotapes showing the CIA officer engaged in sex acts with other women has led the Justice Department to broaden its investigation to include at least one other Arab country, Egypt, where the CIA officer had been posted earlier in his career, according to law enforcement officials.

The U.S. State Department referred questions to the Department of Justice, which declined to comment.

“It has the potential to be quite explosive if it’s not handled well by the United States government,” said Isobel Coleman, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations who specializes in women’s issues in the Middle East.

Gingrey’s Apology to Limbaugh – For Remarks (see below)

Responding to President Barack Obama’s recommendation to Republican congressional leaders last week that they not follow Limbaugh’s lead, Limbaugh said on his show that Obama is “obviously more frightened of me than he is Mitch McConnell. He’s more frightened of me than he is of, say, John Boehner, which doesn’t say much about our party.”

Gingrey came to his leaders’ defense.

“I think that our leadership, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner, are taking the right approach,” Gingrey said.

“I mean, it’s easy if you’re Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh or even sometimes Newt Gingrich to stand back and throw bricks. You don’t have to try to do what’s best for your people and your party.You know you’re just on these talk shows and you’re living well and plus you stir up a bit of controversy and gin the base and that sort of thing. But when it comes to true leadership, not that these people couldn’t be or wouldn’t be good leaders, they’re not in that position of John Boehner or Mitch McConnell,” Gingrey said.