U.S. govt. commits $2 million to back Kenya constitution permitting abortion and Islamic courts

The U.S. government's attempts to promote abortion are well known enough. The Cairo conference, population control efforts, and Mexico City Policy

Less known are the U.S. government's efforts to promote Islam, such as its ensuring that Islam was recognized in the Iraqi constitution.

And now the Obama administration has combined the two efforts, in the president's ancestral homeland no less.

The proposed Kenyan constitution would both broaden the cases in which abortion is permitted and would establish state-funded Islamic Kadhi Courts as part of the judiciary, Catholic News Agency says.

The U.S. government has pledged $2 million to promote the proposed constitution, which will be voted on in an upcoming referendum.

Some U.S. Congressmen have charged that this violates the Siljander Amendment, which prohibits lobbying for or against abortion using the funds made available in the appropirations act for the State Department and Foreign Operations.

While these congressmen have called for a federal probe to establish whether laws were violated, it appears not to have much traction yet.

The double standard is so common it is cliched to point it out: a U.S. effort to promote Christianity or pro-life clauses in a foreign country's constitution would not be tolerated by the chattering class or the State Department bureaucracy.

For those of us who still believe America is a good country, it is increasingly difficult to imagine that we are still a force for good.