Obama's Justice Pick Supports Porn Rights

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CHANGING OF THE GUARD
Obama's Justice pick supports porn 'rights'
Ogden's clientele, legal arguments, raise alarms

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Posted: February 03, 2009
8:58 pm Eastern


By Bob Unruh
© 2009 WorldNetDaily


President Obama has expressed his belief the U.S. Constitution should be interpreted through the lens of current events and now he's apparently preparing to install as a senior official at the U.S. Justice Department a lawyer who goes one step further, advocating for constitutional protections for abortionists, pornographers and protesters.

The evaluation of Justice Department nominee David Ogden, who would be deputy to Attorney General Eric Holder, comes from Fidelis, a consortium of organizations working to promote religious freedom, values of human life and the institutions of marriage and the family.

"Ogden is an abortion-on-demand absolutist. He opposes common sense restrictions on abortion, including policies that have significant support from the American people, such as parental notification by minors," the organizations said in a report today.

Also, "Ogden is an absolutist on pornography and obscenity. He opposes common sense restrictions on the ability of pornography peddlers to sell their products. He believes pornography users have a constitutional right to view pornography at a public library."

Additionally, "He believes private property owners' right to exclude protesters from their property must yield to the protesters' free speech right."

And he "supports a 'living Constitution' that changes to fit the latest fad of the intelligentsia," the report said.

Ogden's belief system appears to align with the sentiments expressed by Obama earlier. WND has reported Obama believes the Constitution is flawed because it does not mandate redistribution of wealth and he says the Supreme Court should have intervened years ago to accomplish that.

Obama also repeatedly has stated his desire for empathetic judges who "understand" the plight of minorities. In a 2007 speech to Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider, he said, "We need somebody who's got the heart, the empathy, to recognize what it's like to be a young teenage mom. The empathy to understand what it's like to be poor, or African-American, or gay, or disabled, or old. And that's the criteria by which I'm going to be selecting my judges."

Fidelis called Obama's nomination of Ogden, who was described as a "skilled manager" when his name was suggested for the Justice Department's No. 2 post, a "major mistake."

"David Ogden is a hired gun from Playboy and ACLU," said Brian Burch, president of the pro-family group. "He can't run from his long record of opposing common sense laws protecting families, women, and children. The United States Senate has a responsibility to the American people to insure that Mr. Ogden's full record is fully reviewed before any vote on his nomination."

The group's extensive research on Ogden cites his work on behalf of homosexuality in Lawrence vs. Texas, for Playboy and Penthouse on issues involving pornography and his representation of a company that distributes videos titled "Bubblegum cuties," "Sweet young things," "Young girls" and "Fresh and young."

"He has opposed filters on library computers protecting children from Internet smut, and successfully defended the right of pornographers to produce material with underage children," Burch said.

"Ogden even sued the federal government in an attempt to publish Braille versions of Playboy magazine – at taxpayer expense, of course," he said.

The report said Ogden has argued for the treatment of traditional definitions of marriage as a "social prejudice."

"At a time when America's families are under increasing assault, Mr. Ogden is a dangerous choice for a position whose responsibilities include the enforcement of our nation's laws," Burch said.

Fidelis spokesman Joshua Mercer told WND one of the major worries is that children should be protected from online sex predators and Ogden's position goes beyond free speech absolutism.

"There is no such thing as free speech to yell 'fire' in movie theaters," he said. "Child porn is not free speech either. It's disheartening that the president would pick someone with that kind of radical views of human sexuality. You don't want him as the No. 2 at Justice."

According to the Washington Post, which reported on Ogden's work leading the transition team at the Justice Department, he has "sterling Democratic credentials" and knowledge of the department from his work as chief of staff to ex-Attorney General Janet Reno.

Ogden, a partner at WilmerHale in Washington, D.C., also ran the department's civil division under President Clinton.

But among other criticisms, LifeNews.com has reported Ogden authored a brief in the U.S. Supreme Court arguing there were no negative effects from an abortion.

He wrote, "When women do experience regret, depression, or guilt, such feelings are mild and diminish rapidly without adversely affecting general functioning." He blamed those who have "negative" responses to abortion on "pre-existing emotional problems."

That would align with Obama's campaign statement that he didn't want his daughters "punished" with a son or daughter.

Fidelis, which has a Catholic-based value system and includes a flagship 501c4 group for lobbying and public education, a political action group, a Center for Law and Policy and the Fidelis Media Fund, has released its research online, calling Ogden an "Obscene Choice."

The report, replete with links to Ogden's actual court pleadings, confirm he has sought to push homosexuals in the military, extend racial preferences, oppose parental abortion notification, fought the Children's Internet Protection Act and more.

"In all of these cases he has demonstrated a troubling approach to judicial decision-making. Ogden supports a 'living Constitution' that changes to fit the latest fad of the intelligentsia," Fidelis said. "He believes that judges should rely heavily on social science when making decisions, that they should be 'compassionate' and partial to 'suffering' litigants, that they need not follow the Founders' intent for the Constitution, and that they should consider 'worldwide consensus' and international law when making their decisions. Click Here For Remainder of Story at www. worldnetdaily.com

Abortion Bailout. Can you believe it?

Abortion bailout? Believe it! Stop it!!!

"WASHINGTON (BP)--More than 60 abortion rights groups have signed a 55-page report to President-elect Obama urging him to include abortion coverage in any national health care plan and to help roll back dozens of pro-life laws, including bans on taxpayer funding of abortion and partial-birth abortion in what one pro-life group says would amount to an "abortion bailout."" -- Town Hall.com

One of the groups who are among the signatories is the American Civil Liberties Union. As you may or may not know, this group tends to hide many of its outright agendas in the text of its site. However, dig a little, and here is what they say about abortion.

"ACLU Calls Again for Withdrawal of Regulations Jeopardizing Women’s Health (9/26/2008)
WASHINGTON - The American Civil Liberties Union and all its state affiliates, including Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico, submitted comments to the Department of Health and Human Services asking the administration to rescind regulations that could seriously undermine access to reproductive health services, including birth control and abortion." -- ACLU

Here is what Obama's site, Change.gov says regarding reproductive choice.

"Reproductive Choice
Supports a Woman's Right to Choose: Barack Obama understands that abortion is a divisive issue, and respects those who disagree with him. However, he has been a consistent champion of reproductive choice and will make preserving women's rights under Roe v. Wade a priority as President. He opposes any constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court's decision in that case.

Preventing Unintended Pregnancy: Barack Obama is an original co-sponsor of legislation to expand access to contraception, health information, and preventive services to help reduce unintended pregnancies. Introduced in January 2007, the Prevention First Act will increase funding for family planning and comprehensive sex education that teaches both abstinence and safe sex methods. The Act will also end insurance discrimination against contraception, improve awareness about emergency contraception, and provide compassionate assistance to rape victims."

While it is important for women to have access to affordable health care and be protected, destroying an unborn child's life it utterly despicable. Showing this disrespect for life is not an honorable thing. This kind of tolerance or belief, while we are all entitled to our personal beliefs, is not acceptable.

"Even though Obama's website makes it clear "the document was produced by an outside party and submitted" to the Obama transition team, pro-life groups nevertheless are concerned, in part because pro-choice groups made up part of Obama's election base, and also because Obama himself is a staunch pro-choicer who once told a likeminded audience he "will never back down" in his support of abortion rights." -- Town Hall.com I could not find any such document on the Obama site. I could only surmise from this that it had been removed because of the controversy. The following is a portion of the supposed document text according to Town Hall.com.

"As for Obama's first 100 days in office, the groups urge the president-elect to sign executive orders and back legislation that would force American taxpayers to pay for abortions. Among their priorities, the groups ask that Obama, in the first 100 days:

-- work with Congress to repeal the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits Medicaid and other federal funds from paying for abortions. Medicaid funded about 300,000 abortions in the year prior to the Hyde Amendment's enactment in 1976.

-- put forward a health care reform bill that covers a "full range of reproductive health services, including contraception, maternity care, and abortion care."

-- more than double funding (from $300 million to $700 million) for Title X, which funds Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider. Although the funds technically are prohibited from funding abortions, that has done little to persuade pro-lifers to support it.

-- include in his first budget $1 billion for international family planning programs, including $65 million for the controversial U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), which has been denied funding during the Bush administration based on the agency's support of China's coercive population-control policy."

Troubling? Yes. However, you can do something about this. Here is the information you need. The source is "Team Sarah", a site driven by Sarah Palin and her supporters.


"December 19, 2008

Dear Team Sarah,

Tired of bailouts?

Well they aren't going away anytime soon. Now the abortion industry wants one!

We all knew that Planned Parenthood (the number one abortion provider in the country) was going to have a special seat at the table in the Obama administration. Well it hasn't taken them long at all to roll out their extreme agenda.

Tell your Senator today that Planned Parenthood should not get a bailout.

Go to www.stoptheabortionbailout.com

Abortion groups have submitted their 50 page proposal to the Obama-Biden transition team. At the top of the list? More taxpayer dollars for abortion organizations like Planned Parenthood. How much more? Over 1.5 billion dollars more!

The Abortion Bailout Package:

**$1 BILLION dollars in taxpayer funding for International Abortion Groups like UNFPA, an international aid organization connected to coercive abortion as part of China's coercive one-child policy

**$700 million in taxpayer funding for "Title X" Health Clinics (aka your local Planned Parenthood affiliate)

**Repeal the Hyde Amendment -- Vastly expanding federal taxpayer funding for abortions

**Include Abortion coverage in any taxpayer-subsidized national health care program

**Expand taxpayer-funded abortions through the Peace Corps program

It is an outrage for Planned Parenthood to expect you to give your hard earned dollars to fund the destruction of innocent life.

Join citizens across our great country in telling their Senators to keep your tax dollars out of the abortion providers. Tell them to Stop the Abortion Bailout!

Sign the Petition today!

www.stoptheabortionbailout.com"