Gay men and lesbians need not apply!

Instead of ordering a Domino's pizza, 009 is making a donation to the American Civil Liberties Union!

NAPLES, Fla. - If Domino's Pizza founder Thomas S. Monaghan has his way, a new town being built in Florida will be governed according to strict Roman Catholic principles, with no place to get an abortion, pornography or birth control.

The pizza magnate is bankrolling the project with at least $250 million and calls it "God's will."

The Dondon009 Bull Shit Meter!

Civil libertarians say the plan is unconstitutional and are threatening to sue.

The town of Ave Maria is being constructed around Ave Maria University, the first Catholic university to be built in the United States in about 40 years. Both are set to open next year about 25 miles east of Naples in southwestern Florida.

The town and the university, developed in partnership with the Barron Collier Co., an agricultural and real estate business, will be set on 5,000 acres with a European-inspired town center, a massive church and what planners call the largest crucifix in the nation, at nearly 65 feet tall. Monaghan envisions 11,000 homes and 20,000 residents.

During a speech last year at a Catholic men's gathering in Boston, Monaghan said that in his community, stores will not sell pornographic magazines, pharmacies will not carry condoms or birth control pills, and cable television will have no X-rated channels.

Homebuyers in Ave Maria will own their property outright. But Monaghan and Barron Collier will control all commercial real estate in the town, meaning they could insert provisions in leases to restrict the sale of certain items.

"I believe all of history is just one big battle between good and evil. I don't want to be on the sidelines," Monaghan, who sold Domino's Pizza in 1998 to devote himself to doing good works, said in a recent Newsweek interview.

Robert Falls, a spokesman for the project, said Tuesday that attorneys are still reviewing the legal issues and that Monaghan had no comment in the meantime.

"If they attempt to do what he apparently wants to do, the people of Naples and Collier County, Florida, are in for a whole series of legal and constitutional problems and a lot of litigation indefinitely into the future," warned Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union.

By BRIAN SKOLOFF, Associated Press Writer

Who's the Boss?

A Woman's right? What right?

Mississippi One Step Closer to Criminalizing Abortion

Following the example set by South Dakota last week as reported here and here, on Tuesday, the Mississippi House Public Health Committee passed an anti-abortion bill that would allow abortion only to save a women's life. The bill does not include an exception for rape or incest cases.

The measure came as a surprise. It was accepted in Committee as a substitution amendent to S.B. 2922, which originally required abortion practitioners to allow women considering an abortion to see an ultrasound of their unborn child beforehand. The Mississippi House is expected to vote on the S.B.2992 next week and it would then go to the Senate. The AP is reporting that Mississippi Govenor Haley Barbour is inclined to sign the bill.


SECTION 1. Section 41-41-33, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

41-41-33. * * * No abortion shall be performed or induced in the State of Mississippi, except in the case of a medical emergency or the presence of a life-threatening condition in the mother that would be worsened by continuing the pregnancy.

* * *

SECTION 2. Section 41-41-39, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

41-41-39. Anyone who purposefully, knowingly or recklessly performs or attempts to perform or induce an abortion in the State of Mississippi, except in the case of a medical emergency or the presence of a life-threatening condition in the mother that would be worsened by continuing the pregnancy, shall, upon conviction, be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine of Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), by imprisonment in the county jail for a period of time not to exceed one (1) year, or both such fine and imprisonment.

SECTION 3. The State of Mississippi shall be responsible for the medical and educational needs of any child born to a citizen of this state if the mother has received family counseling during the gestation period and chose to continue the pregnancy to delivery, and the child will be entitled to these services until the child reaches the age of nineteen (19) and the mother agrees to allow for these services to be provided to the child.

SECTION 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2006.

What First Amendment?

BUSH PAYS SURPRISE VISIT TO REALITY

President Calls Two-Hour Stop in Real World 'Informative'

President George W. Bush departed from his planned itinerary today to make a surprise visit to reality, later calling the two-hour stop in the real world "informative."

For Mr. Bush, the visit to reality, while brief, was still significant because it represented his first visit to the real world since being elected President in 2000.

"The President has not visited reality the entire time he's been in the White House," one aide said. "The closest he's come is watching 'Survivor.'"

Mr. Bush touched down in the real world a little after dawn, delivering a brief address on the airport runway in which he attempted to put the best face on his relationship with reality, a relationship which has been frayed in recent years.

But beneath the smiles and positive statements, Mr. Bush's aides seemed well aware that the President's relationship with reality is complicated at best, since his approval rating in the real world currently hovers at an all-time low.

"The President deserves a lot of credit for making this visit to reality," one aide said. "He doesn't have a natural constituency here."

On the whole, though, when the President's two-hour visit was over, most of his staff seemed relieved that the potentially perilous tour of reality had passed without incident.

"It'll be good leaving reality and going back to Washington," one aide said.

Elsewhere, after a new study showed that only one in 1,000 Americans know what the First Amendment is, Vice President Dick Cheney said, "Good, then no one will notice when it's gone."

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