Here are a few interesting articles and videos I’ve run across lately. Most of them are hard news: a few, not so much.

The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday on an important case for freedom of religion. In Case #3 on my Top Ten List of SCOTUS cases this term, Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC, the Court held–in a decision that was, amazingly, 9-0–that:

The Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses of the First
Amendment bar suits brought on behalf of ministers against their churches, claiming termination in violation of employment discrimination laws.

In plain English, the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious freedom means that churches can pick–and fire–their ministers as they choose, without government interference, even if the case might ordinarily fall under the purview of employment discrimination laws.

Here is a fairly quick summary of and commentary on the decision from The Anchoress (Elizabeth Scalia, no relation to Hizzoner). Here is a long and meaty one from Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSblog.

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Here are three good articles on Romney. Leon H. Wolf at Red State argues that if worst came to worst and Romney got the nomination, he would still be the most conservative Republican candidate since 1988.

Here the former chair of the Right to Life caucus in the California State Legislature argues that Romney has:

one of the most liberal gubernatorial records compiled by any Governor of either party in modern history. Indeed, the evidence is strong that Romney can be said to be the father of gay marriage, of Cap and Trade, and of government-controlled health care.

And here is documentation of Romney’s “evolving” position on abortion from 1994-2007. Although he now says he had an epiphany on the subject in November 2004, he continued to both speak and act in support of abortion in Massachusetts for over a year … until he began positioning himself for a presidential bid.

The UK’s Melanie Phillips, by the way, opines:

If [Romney] does become the Republican presidential candidate, America will be forced to steer this November between the Scylla of national immolation and the Charybdis of vacuousness.

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Before the President goes any further in his secret talks with the Taliban, he needs to watch this video. Mina, a 13-year-old girl trained as a suicide bomber by the Taliban, describes watching her 9-year-old sister leave on a suicide bombing mission. “The Taliban,” says Mina, “should be burnt alive.” (A tip of the hat to Free North Carolina)

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It wasn’t enough for Obama to share British missile secrets with Russia last year. Now, The Washington Times reported last week, he’s set to give U.S. missile secrets to the Russians as well.

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Talking Points points out that CNN is waiving its own rules to let Rick Perry participate in their debate in South Carolina next week. As The Agitator points out, these are the same folks who left Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson out of the debates because he wasn’t polling high enough in their poll. ‘Course he probably would have polled higher if they’d included him in the poll. …

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On a lighter note, the New York Philharmonic stopped mid-performance Tuesday night to wait for a guy in the first row to turn off his cell phone. The admonishment from conductor Alan Gilbert was met with “vigorous applause” from the audience. (And a hat tip here to Kendall Harmon at TitusOneNine.)

Also, the Swedish Government has officially recognized a new religion. The Church of Kopimism holds communication to be sacred and worships the free flow of information online (a.k.a. illegal file-sharing).

Finally, here’s the perfect gift for the person who has everything: Harry Reid’s glasses.