Signs and Wonders 03.19

Eatin' mor chikin. You may have heard that the student Senate at Boston's Northeastern University voted to end negotiations to bring fast-food chain Chick-fil-A to campus. Students protested over the company's affiliation with several Christian organizations the students say have an "anti-gay" agenda. The Atlanta-based company, dogged for months by accusations of homophobia, insists it is "not anti-anybody" but instead simply wants to "graciously serve great food and have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A." Its supporters believe that and have come to the company's aid. Some restaurants reported record crowds on the day the story broke in early March. Chick-fil-A has 1,540 restaurants in 38 states and annual sales figures topping $3 billion.

Judge blocks fraud law. A county judge in Wisconsin on March 6 blocked a new state law requiring voters to carry photo identification to the polls, just four weeks before the Republican presidential primary. The next day, the Republican Party of Wisconsin filed a complaint, asking the state Judicial Commission to investigate Dane County Judge David Flanagan for a conflict of interest. Flanagan ordered state officials to stop enforcing the law until April 16-two weeks after the primary. Liberals in Wisconsin are waging a recall effort against Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who championed the voter-identification law. Thirty-one states currently have voter-identification laws, designed to protect the election system from fraud. The Wisconsin Department of Justice is appealing the decision before the primary.

Defining the problem. Over the last few years, a few published studies have claimed that children raised by same-sex couples compare favorably on measures of self-esteem and academics to-and sometimes even better than-children raised by moms and dads. Those studies, in turn, have served as fodder for a media campaign that two loving parents are all children really need. But a closer look at the research, according to Glenn T. Stanton, Focus on the Family's director of family formation studies, shows that the studies are flawed. A study published late last year in the Archive of Sexual Behavior noted that girls raised by lesbian mothers are seven times more likely to consider a same-sex encounter, and twice as likely to identify as lesbian or bisexual than those raised by heterosexual parents. They are also seven times more likely to use "the "morning after" pill. Part of the problem is a bias of interpretation and media coverage: Those reporting on the studies don't see a higher incidence of homosexuality or use of an abortion pill as a "problem."

Taking a lawyer to court. You'd think the Seaside Public Library in Seaside, Ore., would have known better. Library officials denied a Christian group access to one of its meeting rooms for a public meeting. Maybe they thought the group would roll over and take it. What they didn't realize was that the group they had denied access was Liberty Counsel, a Christian organization that defends the rights of Christian groups that face this kind of discrimination. "They picked the wrong organization to discriminate against. But that's exactly what this library did," Liberty Counsel president Mat Staver said. "We are batting a thousand. We've never lost a case like this involving a library or something similar to this effect."

Will what goes up come down? The U.S. stock markets are at levels not seen in years, so the question on Wall Street is: Can it last? Lots of analysts are saying it can. It's true that Europe is still a mess, and China, Brazil, and India, three large developing countries, have revised downward their growth projections. But price to earnings ratios of U.S. stocks are at historically low levels, and a closely watched volatility index, called VIX, which is often seen as a measure of fear in the markets, is at a four-year low. All this means is that most analysts say, unless a war, natural disaster, or terrorist attack scares investors, they expect the U.S. markets to continue their upward climb. Of course, the legendary investor Sir John Templeton used to say that the time to buy was at the point of "maximum pessimism," and that when everyone is buying, it's the smart money that's selling.