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1. Nova Scotia approaching a winter time in demographics.
2. 25 Years Of AIDS: Have We Learned Anything Yet? - By George Will - Jun 5, 2006
``In the period October 1980-May 1981, 5 young men, all active homosexuals, were treated for biopsy-confirmed Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia at 3 different hospitals in Los Angeles, California. Two of the patients died.'' - Centers for Disease Control - June 5, 1981
WASHINGTON - Those words 25 years ago announced the arrival of something most Americans thought anachronistic - an infectious disease epidemic. At first it was called GRID - gay-related immune deficiency. In September 1982, CDC renamed it acquired immune deficiency syndrome - AIDS.
Its worldwide toll has already exceeded the 20 million killed by the 14th-century bubonic plague. By 2020, it probably will have killed more than has any epidemic in history, with most fatalities in sub-Saharan Africa, where it probably began about 75 years ago after some people who ate wild chimpanzees in Cameroon became infected with a low-virulence progenitor of the virus that causes AIDS.
An epidemic requires both a microbe and an enabling social context. In Africa, aspects of modernity in a primitive setting became a deadly combination: HIV was spread by roadside prostitutes serving truckers and soldiers traveling on modern roads. Africa's wars caused population dislocations; economic development caused migrations of workers across porous borders. Both weakened families and dissolved traditional sexual norms. Jet aircraft integrated Africa into the world flow of commerce and tourism. In 1980s America, the enabling context included a gay community feeling more assertive and emancipated, and IV drug users sharing needles.
AIDS arrived in America in the wake of the Salk vaccine, which, by swiftly defeating polio, gave Americans a misleading paradigm of how progress is made in public health. Pharmacology often is a small contributor. By the time the first anti-tuberculosis drugs became available in the 1950s, the annual death rate from TB had plummeted to 20 per 100,000 Americans, from 200 per 100,000 in 1900. Drugs may have accounted for just 3 percent of the reduction. The other 97 percent was the result of better nutrition and less urban crowding. Thanks to chlorination of water and better sanitation and personal hygiene, typhoid, too, became rare before effective drugs were available.
Which suggests that the most powerful public health program is economic growth. And the second-most powerful is information.
The 14th-century Black Death killed one-third of Europe's population, but it was in the air, food and water, so breathing, eating and drinking were risky behaviors. AIDS is much more difficult to acquire. Like other large components of America's health care costs (e.g., violence, vehicular accidents, coronary artery disease, lung cancer), AIDS is mostly the result of behavior that is by now widely known to be risky.
The U.S. epidemic, which so far has killed 530,000, could have been greatly contained by intense campaigns to modify sexual and drug-use behavior in 25 to 30 neighborhoods from New York and Miami to San Francisco. But early in the American epidemic, political values impeded public health requirements. Unhelpful messages were sent by slogans designed to democratize the disease - ``AIDS does not discriminate'' and ``AIDS is an equal opportunity disease.''
By 1987, when President Reagan gave his first speech on the subject, 20,798 Americans had died, and his speech, not surprisingly, did not mention any connection to the gay community. No president considers it part of his job description to tell the country that the human rectum, with its delicate and absorptive lining, makes anal-receptive sexual intercourse dangerous when HIV is prevalent.
Twenty years ago a San Francisco public health official explained death's teaching power: Watching a friend die, like seeing a wreck along a highway, is sobering. But after driving more slowly for a few miles, we again speed up. AIDS has a more lasting deterrent effect.
There has, however, been an increase in unsafe sex because pharmacological progress has complicated the campaign against this behavior-driven epidemic. Life-extending cocktails of antiviral drugs now lead some at-risk people to regard HIV infection as a manageable chronic disease, and hence to engage in risky behavior. Furthermore, the decline of AIDS mortality means that more persons are surviving with HIV infection - persons who can spread the virus. And drugs like Viagra mean that more older men are sexually active.
Still, even with no pharmacological silver bullet, AIDS deaths in America have been declining for a decade. In Africa, where heterosexual sex is the primary means of transmission, the death rate is steady relative to population growth, and the age of beginning sexual activity is rising, as is the use of condoms. Human beings do learn. But they often do at a lethally slow pace.
George F. Will is a 1976 Pulitzer Prize winner, whose columns are syndicated
in more than 400 magazines and newspapers worldwide. Copyright © 2006
- Washington Post Writers Group
Find this story at: http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/georgewill/2006/06/05/199794.html
Please visit us at our website: www.robertjason.ca
E-mail address: bobeva@vaxxine.com
3. Bishops To Vote On New Order Of Mass In English - By Jerry Filteau
WASHINGTON (CNS) - The U.S. bishops will be asked to approve a new translation of the Order of Mass when they meet in Los Angeles June 15-17.
If the new translation is adopted as proposed and subsequently approved by the Vatican, Catholics will have to learn a number of changes in their Mass prayers and responses. Among the more obvious will be:
- Whenever the priest says "The Lord be with you," the people will respond, "And with your spirit." The current response is "And also with you."
- In the first form of the penitential rite, the people will confess that "I have sinned greatly... through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault." In the current version, that part of the prayer is much shorter: "I have sinned through my own fault."
- The Nicene Creed will begin "I believe" instead of "We believe" - a translation of the Latin text instead of the original Greek text.
- The Sanctus will start, "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God of hosts." The current version says, "Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might."
Approving a new text of the Order of Mass is only the first step in a long process of considering and approving a new translation of the entire book of prayers said at Mass. In the United States that book has been called the Sacramentary since 1970, but the Vatican wishes to restore the name Roman Missal, since it is an English translation, with minor adaptations, of the normative Latin "Missale Romanum."
Officials of the bishops' Secretariat for the Liturgy told Catholic News Service May 23 that it is uncertain whether the bishops will seek to publish the new Order of Mass for U.S. use as soon as possible or wait until they have the new English translation of the entire Roman Missal completed. Completing the entire Roman Missal is likely to take at least two more years.
Once the bishops adopt new liturgical texts, they must also be confirmed by the Vatican before they can be authorized for use.
In general, people will find many of the Mass prayers in the new version slightly longer and fuller, as the new translation is based on rules for liturgical translations issued by the Vatican in a 2001 instruction. Unlike the previous Vatican rules - which encouraged freer translations more adapted to the language into which one was translating - the new rules require closer adherence to the normative Latin text.
In a recent letter Cardinal Francis Arinze, prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, told the head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops that if a current text does not conform to the new translation norms it must be changed.
"It is not acceptable to maintain that people have become accustomed to a certain translation for the past 30 or 40 years, and therefore that it is pastorally advisable to make no changes... The revised text should make the needed changes," he wrote.
He said his congregation is open to dialogue about "difficulties regarding the translation of a particular text," but the 2001 instruction calling for translations more faithful to the Latin text "remains the guiding norm."
His letter, dated May 2 and addressed to Bishop William S. Skylstad of Spokane, Wash., USCCB president, was posted on the Catholic World News Web site in late May.
In response to a query from CNS, Bishop Donald W. Trautman of Erie, Pa., chairman of the USCCB Committee on the Liturgy, said Bishop Skylstad sent the letter to all Latin-rite bishops in advance of the June meeting.
"I see this letter as a clarification and further restatement of criteria for translation previously authored by the congregation," Bishop Trautman said. He said it "offers additional input for the deliberation of the bishops."
The Order of Mass, found at the center of the Roman Missal, consists of the prayers recited every day at Mass, as distinct from the Scripture readings and prayers that are proper to the day's feast.
Thus what the bishops are to vote on in June are new versions of the prayers that Mass goers are most familiar with because they hear or say them so regularly.
Within the Order of Mass are some prayers for which there are a limited number of alternatives, such as the forms of the penitential rite, the four different Eucharistic prayers or the various acclamations following the consecration.
The text the bishops are to vote on in June does not include the prefaces, solemn blessings, prayers over the people or elements found in the appendix that also form part of the Order of Mass.
The International Commission on English in the Liturgy, which prepared the text to be voted on, is still consulting with English-speaking bishops' conferences around the world on the translation of the prefaces and other elements and does not have a final version of them yet.
Churchgoers will have to learn a different version of the Gloria when the new texts are put into use because part of the current prayer in English does not follow the structure of the Latin version.
In the Nicene Creed, where the current version refers to Christ as "one in being with the Father," the new ICEL translation says, "consubstantial with the Father." In the documentation sent to the bishops before the meeting, however, the Committee on the Liturgy has recommended keeping the "one in being" translation in the United States.
The new ICEL text for the people's prayer before Communion says, "Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed."
The committee proposed that the bishops seek to keep the current shorter version of the beginning of that prayer, "Lord, I am not worthy to receive you." The committee did not, however, propose a change from the ICEL translation at the end, where the people currently pray, "but only say the word and I shall be healed."
The bishops will also vote on several American adaptations in the Order of
Mass, such as adding the acclamation, used in the United States since 1970 but
not found in the Roman Missal in Latin, "Christ has died, Christ is risen,
Christ will come again."
4. CLC-DMC - See Marriage Vote Action Alert - June 9, 2006
"I haven't had a single person come up to me to talk about it. It certainly isn't in line with the five priorities that we're set out." Peter MacKay, quoted in the Kitchener Waterloo Record recently. Other MP's have been quoted as not receiving any letters, emails, etc on the subject. Here in NS, Gerald Keddy, Bill Casey and Peter McKay, could this be a CPC Strategy?
When marriage, family and children are devalued in any society it seems, that society is in decay and once that society accepts homosexuality as a norm, then it is in extreme decay. One only has to review the works of Pitrim Sorokin, J.D.Udwin and others.
Marriage has been the time-tested arrangement that has fostered generations and given stability to countries.
The USSR, France, Australia have opted against recognizing homosexual marriage, and 20 USA, States have placed in their constitutions laws to protect marriage as between one man and one woman.
Please take the time to visit your MP, E-Mail, Fax or phone and the time to do it is now this summer.
Herm Wills, Campaign Life Coalition NS
PS. Campaign Life Coalition is a partner in the Defend Marriage Coalition.
Note from Jim C.
Hi Herm,
This is a neat tool that can help you contact your
MP. If people want to write letters by e-mail to ALL the MPs at once, with each
one appearing to be a unique one, they can use this wonderful site: http://www.friendsoffreedom.org/action.php?op=ActionLetterBlank
5. CLF - July 2006 E-Newsletter
E-Newsletter Summary - Highlights of July 2006 E-Newsletter:
New: Law & Grace Radio Program -
Faith FM 94.3, Kitchener, ON
Praise: Hugh
Owens Positive Court Of Appeal Result Will Not Be Challenged At Supreme Court
Of Canada
Law Watch
Classified Ads
Prayer & Praise
Executive Director Note
That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that
perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour
and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: - 1 Peter 1:7 -
Dear CLF Members & Friends:
Feeling the heat? I'm not referring to rising summer temperatures that spur us to draw on air conditioning or fans. I'm thinking of the mental and emotional pressure accompanying increased responsibility and reduced relaxation. Or maybe its unexpected deaths; financial strain or health problems. Have you ever wondered why God allows us to go through times of distress? It is natural to recoil from the pain source but this internal resistance rather than humble surrender to God's purposes often disorients and causes us to stumble in the darkness longer than we should. I am inspired by the words of a paraplegic, Joni Eareckson Tada: "God is more concerned with conforming me to the likeness of His Son than leaving me in my comfort zones. God is more interested in inward qualities than outward circumstances - things like refining my faith, humbling my heart, cleaning up my thought life and strengthening my character."
Indeed He is.
Together in His Service,
Ruth Ross
Executive Director, CLF
What's God Up To?
Praise God for this God-sized development...
New: Law & Grace Radio Program - Faith FM 94.3, Kitchener, ON
Lowell Hunking is hosting a one-hour, weekly radio show called "Law And Grace" on CJTW Faith FM 94.3 in Kitchener. The show can be heard live on webcast at www.faithfm.org every Tuesday evening from 10:00 to 11:00 p.m. In this radio show, Lowell will interview Christian lawyers, by telephone or on site, asking them what it is like to be in their field; what God is doing in their life; how God is moving in their area of law, etc. He will also interview quasi-legal individuals such as members of parliament and people representing organizations with intervenor status in current cases. Periodically there will be a "round-table" discussion with a small group of interviewees featuring issues before the courts and Parliament. CLF is partnering with Lowell on this exciting project. The first show will air on August 1st and Ruth Ross is honoured to be the first guest. Please write CLF with your suggestions or offers, which we will pass along to Lowell.
2006-07 CLF Law Student Directory
CLF's Student Ministry is growing significantly! With a record 108 students, CLF is excited to announce the publication of its third CLF Law Student Directory complete with pictures, personal profiles and contact information of student members. Based on the positive feedback from our members, this has been a very helpful resource for networking, mentoring and career preparations. Plans are quickly progressing to publish the 2006-7 Student Profile Directory this summer. All student members currently attending law school and those who are articling are asked to submit their information for the Student Profile Directory before July 31. Advertising is available as well. Contact Sylvia Wittmaier (sylvia.clf@mts.net) for requirements or more information.
Event Report
CLF Meetings in British Columbia With Tim Stonhouse
Newly appointed Western Director Tim Stonhouse was delighted with the turnout and enthusiasm of CLF members at recent meetings in Vancouver and Victoria as they met to discuss the CLF 2007 National Student Conference (below), mentoring opportunities and ongoing CLF activities. Tim welcomes your comments and suggestions in support of CLF ministry at: tims@telusplanet.net.
Upcoming Events
Date Set: 2007 CLF National Student Conference University of British Columbia - February 15-18, 2007
Plans are steaming ahead for the next national student conference at the University of British Columbia. The confirmed dates are February 15-18, 2007. We encourage students and local lawyers to mark your calendars and plan to join the action. More details will follow.
Postponed: Calgary Church Leadership & the Law September 28, 2007
After prayerful consideration of the potential of hosting a Church Leadership & the Law (CL&L) event in Calgary & an evaluation of the resources available, CLF board and staff have concluded that the timing is not appropriate for hosting this event in 2006 in conjunction with the national conference.
CLIA Training Mini-Academy September 30 - Calgary, AB
The Christian Legal Intervention Academy (CLIA) invites Christian lawyers and upper year law students to attend an intensive, one-day Mini-Academy training event to take place September 30 in Calgary, Alberta in conjunction with the CLF National Conference (see below). CLIA will provide training to practicing lawyers and upper year law students who seek to make a difference in Canadian society by advocating on behalf of truth and life. The day will help participants to proactively prepare for, and provide quality legal representation in important constitutional and human rights cases relating to issues of religious freedom. Click here for more information.
2006 CLF Annual Conference September 28 - October 1
Delta Bow Valley - CLF
2006 National Conference
Here Am I, Use Me: Deciphering the Voice of God - Purposing to Obey -
Don't miss the Calgary action including inspiring speakers, encouraging fellowship,
opportunities to invest in law students and refreshing worship. CLF has arranged
for an optional Friday night Alberta ranch experience in the foothills of the
Rocky Mountains. Many prominent speakers will address CLF guests: Ambassador
Dennis Ignatius, Eugene Meehan, Roger Magnuson, Sam Solomon, Dr. William Bennett
and many more, Click here
to register and see find other conference information, or contact ross.clf@primus.ca.
Interventions
The Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission has decided it will not appeal to the Supreme Court over an ad placed by Hugh Owens in a Saskatoon newspaper in 1997. Mr. Owens placed the ad and printed bumper stickers to express disagreement with the homosexual lifestyle. A commission board of inquiry initially found that the ad violated the Human Rights Code, a decision upheld by Saskatchewan's Court of Queen's Bench in 2002. However, the Court of Appeal overturned that lower court's decision in April, saying while the ad was bluntly presented and upsetting to many, it didn't violate the code. CLF is grateful that an important precedent has been established and expresses gratitude for the quality work of CLF member Tom Shuck who was legal counsel in this case.
Click here
to view CLF Press Release, April 13, 2006.
Click here
to view the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal Decision
Click here
for CLF's case summary and analysis, April 22, 2006.
Three Parent Family Case Update
CLF was granted intervener status in this case as part of the Alliance for
Marriage and Family. The definition and understanding of "parent"
and "family" as well as the rights of children are at issue in this
case which is of grave concern to CLF. There is no precedent for a child to
have three parents (in this case the biological father and two lesbian mothers).
On June 29, the Ontario Children's Lawyer requested and was granted a court
appointment as counsel for the five-year-old child in the proceeding and has
until August 8 to file its factum.
Click
here for more information
Read
the lower court decision here
Read article "How
Many Parents Can A Child Have?"
Don Spratt & Abortion Bubble Zone Appeal Update
CLF is expected to file its intervention factum shortly having been granted intervener status on May 11. On December 17, 1998 Mr. Spratt was convicted under the B.C. Access to Abortion Services Act, on charges of making a "protest" and "sidewalk interference" and given a 30-day sentence. The issue of expression of one's religious beliefs is directly in issue, and therefore one, which is of serious concern to CLF. Legal counsel is Julie Owen of Vancouver.
Click here to view decision of granting intervenor status.
Law Watch
Due to the high volume of cases, we have changed our format to provide headlines
and links. Please let us have your feedback.
Freedom of Speech
· Opposition
To Margaret Somerville's Honorary Doctorate Award From Ryerson University
(Catholic Civil Rights League - 20 June, 06)
Freedom of Religion
· Camp
Closed Over Gay Worker?
(Canadian Press - 20 June, 06)
Traditional Definition of Marriage & Family
· Harper
Promises Marriage Vote This Fall
(Today's Family News - 7 June, 06)
· More
Than 10% Of Canadians Do Not Believe Pedophilia Immoral
(LifeSiteNews - 7 June, 06)
· Federally
Funded National Tourism Agency Encouraging Homosexuals To "Wed" In
Canada
(LifeSiteNews - 16 June, 06)
· Concern
Over New BC Curriculum - Education Or Pushing A Lifestyle?
(Today's Family News - 21 June, 06)
· Marriage
Issue Won't Go Away - By Bishop Fred Henry
(Calgary Sun - 25 June, 06)
· Ontario
Superior Court Rules in Favour of Parental Rights for Four Lesbian Couples
(Can L II - Ontario Superior Court - 6 Jun, 06)
Parental Rights
· Bill 52 Passes
Second Reading In Ontario - Pushing Compulsory School Age In Ontario To 18
(Home School Legal Defence Association of Canada)
· International
Law Increases Threat To Home Schooling (LifeSiteNews.com - 25 May, 06)
Sanctity of Life
· Late
Term Abortion Bill Tabled - Bill C-338
(Evangelical Fellowship of Canada) Islam
· Curb
Donations to Religious Institutions: Muslim Group
(CBC.ca)
Miscellaneous
· Age
Of Consent Bill Introduced
(Evangelical Fellowship of Canada)
International
· Marriage
Amendment Stopped In U.S. Senate
(World Congress On Families - 7 June, 06)
· Australia
Strikes Down Law Recognizing Same-Sex Unions
(World Congress on Families - 15 June, 06)
Articling Recruitment
Carters Professional Corporation in Orangeville, Ontario, is a full service
law firm with a focus on charity and not-for-profit law. The firm has 14 lawyers
and 26 supporting staff, and is looking for 2 articling students for the 2007/2008
articling term, starting (date to be determined) in 2007, or as soon thereafter
as possible. Interested students should forward their resumes, references, undergraduate
and law school academic transcripts by July 30, 2006 to: D. Ann Walters, 211
Broadway, P.O. Box 440, Orangeville, Ontario L9W 1K4; awalters@carters.ca.
Christian Youth Worldview and Leadership (CYWAL) Conference
July 23-28 - Crief Hills Retreat & Conference Centre, Cambridge, ON
Instruction in apologetics, worldview and leadership training for 16-19 year
old Christian youth.
Contact: gbaribeau@on.aibn.com
or 1-519-268-8531.
Praying for the Justice Gate: Ruth Ross Praying at Global Day of Prayer - Air Canada Centre, Toronto
On June 4th, Ruth was honoured to be asked to participate in the largest prayer meeting in history - The Global Day of Prayer. Scheduled on Pentecost Sunday, the core objective of this event was to see our nation and the world transformed by a powerful move of God as believers come together in unity. It was moving experience to join thousands of people in worship and humble prayer before God.
We ask that you now join your hearts in prayer for the following:
· Canada Day - July 1st! It's time to praise God for our freedom
and our nation's prominence in the world. Let's honour those who fought and
died that we might be free. Pause & pray that God will heal our land and
give us a fresh filling of the love of freedom.
· Please pray for CLF members, Rebecca Chan & Peter Cho (&
daughter Annalisa) as they travel to Pohang, South Korea to co-teach a 30-hour
intensive International Business and Trade Law Seminar at Handong International
Law School (HILS) from July 24 - August 4. HILS is Korea's first English-speaking
law school and is part of Handong Global University, a Christian institution
(www.handong.edu).
· Please pray for Ruth Ross and all those who will be taking religious
freedom advocacy training provided by the Alliance
Defence Fund (ADF) July 3-8 in Dana Point, California. ADF is a legal
alliance defending the right to hear and speak the Truth through strategy, training,
funding, and litigation. Uniquely, it empowers allies and recognizes that
together far more can be accomplished than alone.
· Please pray for the critical Law Watch & Intervention
issues herein.
Elizabeth F.C. Davis, J.D.
Director of Communications
Christian Legal Fellowship
l'Alliance des chrétiens en droit
Phone: (519) 641-8850
Fax: (519) 641-8866
www.christianlegalfellowship.org
Copyright 2006 Christian Legal Fellowship. Christian Legal Fellowship shall not be liable for any errors or omissions in the content, or for any actions taken or not taken in reliance upon the content of the Christian Legal Fellowship e-Newsletter.
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6. Drug 'Reverses' Vegetative State; Terri Schindler Schiavo's Family Comments
The Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation Center for Health Care Ethics Calls For a Moratorium of Ordinary Care Removal From Persons Diagnosed in a Persistent Vegetative State
ST. PETERSBURG, Florida, May 24 /Christian Newswire/ - Following reports that the drug Zolpidem can temporarily revive people in a permanent vegetative state (PVS) to the point where they are able to speak, The Foundation is calling for a moratorium of all potential ordinary care removal for persons diagnosed in a PVS condition.
Zolpidem is usually used to treat insomnia. However, South African researchers,
writing in the Neuro Rehabilitation, looked at the effects on three patients
of using the drug for up to six years.
They reported that "All patients were aroused transiently every morning
after Zolpidem."
Their conclusion was that Zolpidem appeared to be effective in restoring some
brain function to patients previously determined to be in a persistent vegetative
state.
Terri's family pleaded for years with Terri's guardian, Michael Schiavo, and
the courts to try and use different treatments or medicines that could possibly
help improve Terri's condition, but were denied. The Foundation has been contacted
by dozens of families with similar stories of patients improving significantly
after being wrongly diagnosed in this PVS condition.
In December 2000, Patricia White Bull, after given the drug Amantadine (used
to stimulate people with Parkinson's disease and brain damage) awoke after 16
years of being in what doctors were calling a persistent vegetative state. Sadly,
we will never know if any of any of these drugs or treatments that were available
would have improved Terri's condition.
This recent finding and other studies in the past demonstrate the dangers of
this subjective and often incorrect diagnosis. A report released by the British
Medical Journal in 1996, found that 43% of the diagnosed cases of PVS they studied
were, in fact, misdiagnosed.
"We at the Foundation are seeing that the PVS diagnosis is being commonly
misdiagnosed. Consequently, it has become very obvious we don't know enough
about this so-called diagnosis, and common sense dictates that the removal of
food and water based on this misclassification must end until further studies
can be conducted." Robert Schindler, Sr.
About the Schindler Family: Mary and Robert Schindler as well as Suzanne Schindler
Vitadamo and Bobby Schindler now work for The Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation
Center for Health Care Ethics in St. Petersburg, Florida, an organization dedicated
to ensuring the rights of disabled, elderly and vulnerable citizens against
care rationing, euthanasia and medical killing.
To: National Desk - Contact: Bobby Schindler,
The Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation Center for Health Care Ethics, Inc.,
727-490-7603, info@terrisfight.org
7. In The U.K., Aborting A Baby Is Legal, But Depicting It Is A Crime, By Steven W. Mosher - May 30, 2006
The persecution of pro-lifers in the U.K. is intensifying. Peaceful pro-life activist Edward Atkinson is going to jail for having sent a picture of an aborted baby to a hospital administrator. He was charged with - if you can believe it - sending "offensive materials" through the mails.
PRI Weekly Briefing
30 May 2006
Vol. 8 / No. 20
Our cousins in Great Britain, from whom we inherited a language, a political
culture and, most specifically, the principle of freedom of speech, are going
off the deep end, to judge from the jailing of Edward Atkinson.
Here's the background. Last year, the U.K. was rocked by a high-profile abortion
case. This was because the demise of "Baby A," as she became known,
was photographed and videotaped. This evidence of her brutal end was widely
distributed in the U.K.
The abortion took place at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kings Lynn, Norfolk,
not far from where Mr. Atkinson lives. This veteran pro-life campaigner decided
to educate the Hospital's chief executive, Ruth May, in the horrors of such
events. He sent copies of the photographs and other literature to Ms. May.
Upon receiving the pictures, Ruth May complained to the authorities. The Director
of Public Prosecutions, as district attorneys are known in the U.K., promptly
ordered his arrest on the charge of "sending offensive materials through
the mails." The policy then dragged the 75-year-old Catholic, who is nearly
crippled with arthritis, from his home and held him in prison until his court
date.
In court, the hospital staff recounted how the photographs had upset their delicate
sensibilities. Ruth May's secretary, Christine Rogers, said she was "upset"
when she opened the letter from Atkinson containing a picture of Baby A. The
hospital's "Complaints and litigation manager," Karl Perryman, said
that as a father of two daughters he had been quite disturbed" by the images
he had been shown. Ms. May herself opined that "It is upsetting for everyone."
She went on to say that "I believe people who work for the National Health
Service, and particularly at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, are passionate about
providing excellent care for their patients."
All except for those they abort, of course. In that case their "passion"
is reserved for those who have the courage to remind them of what they are doing
to tiny babies. Such pricks to their (perhaps guilty) consciences make them
"upset" and "disturbed."
Atkinson himself said that he had sent the images "to educate," adding,
"I accept that the documentation was highly distressing. It's horrendous,
monstrous and sickening but it represents the truth of what is going on in our
world. Everyone in this courtroom knows that abortion is murder and no one has
the guts to say it."
On the basis of the hospital staff's testimony, Mr. Atkinson was convicted and
ordered to serve a month in jail. In sentencing Mr. Atkinson, District Judge
Phillip Brown said "It is clear that you intended to shock and I am certain
that your purpose was to cause distress and anxiety."
Somebody ought to tell the BBC, which specializes in broadcasting shocking footage
from Iraq intended to cause distress and anxiety among the British public over
the British troop deployments there, that these are now punishable offenses
in once jolly olde England.
Mr. Atkinson was also fined 500 English pounds in court costs to be deducted
directly from his pension and given a five-year anti-social behaviour order.
Judge Brown warned that disobeying the order would result in five years in jail.
In that case, the stalwart Mr. Atkinson replied, "you may as well lock
me up and throw away the key."
He has been punished in other ways as well. The Norfolk hospital boss, Ms. May,
struck him off the waiting list for a hip replacement, and now formally denies
him all medical treatment save for life-threatening illnesses.
All this for having exercised his right to freedom of speech on behalf of the
voiceless unborn.
I have some advice for our English cousins, at least those of the pro-life variety:
someone ought to organize a postcard campaign directed at the offended hospital
staff - whose hospital apparently continues to authorize abortions, by the way.
Let them complain to the police about the thousands, if not tens of thousands
of postcards that they are receiving.
Ms. Ruth May
Chief Executive
Queen Elizabeth Hospital
Gayton Road, Kings Lynn
Norfolk, England
PE30 4ET
Now is the time to stand with Mr. Atkinson. They can't arrest you all.
Steven W. Mosher is President of the Population Research Institute.
PRI
P.O. Box 1559
Front Royal, Va. 22630
USA
Phone: (540) 622-5240 Fax: (540) 622-2728
E-mail: jad@pop.org
Media Contact: Joseph A. D'Agostino
(540) 622-5240, ext. 204
Website: www.pop.org
(c) 2006 Population Research Institute. Permission to reprint granted. Redistribute
widely. Credit required.
If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation to PRI, please go to http://pop.org/donate.cfm.
All donations (of any size) are welcomed and appreciated.
To subscribe to the Weekly Briefing, go to: http://pop.org/subscribe-weekly.cfm
or e-mail us at pri@pop.org and say
"Add me to your Weekly Briefing."
The pro-life Population Research Institute is dedicated to ending human rights
abuses committed in the name of "family planning," and to ending counter-productive
social and economic paradigms premised on the myth of "overpopulation."
8. Lifeissues.net Newsletter #280 - July 09, 2006
Greetings from LifeIssues.net (www.lifeissues.net)
Dear Friends for Life,
Euthanasia in Switzerland is turning into an industry. Neighbors of the Dignitas Euthanasia Clinic in Zurich report that "almost everyday the bodies of people who have chosen to kill themselves are taken down in the lift" (Daily Record 20, May). Since it is not large enough to hold a coffin, the bodies are put into body bags and manually carried down to the waiting hearses in the street. If this continues, Switzerland may soon replace Holland as the center of euthanasia killing in Europe.
South Korea is now turning to Adult Stem Cells. The major research clinic at Seoul National University in Korea, where the disgraced Dr. Hwang's team was based, has announced that it will now use the site and the equipment as a gene therapy clinic that will focus on adult stem cell research. Let's hope this message gets to those zealots who are still pursuing tax funding for embryonic stem cell research, which kills five-day-old human embryos, when research into adult stem cell therapy is producing new discoveries every week.
New Genetic Screening: when will the adult killing of babies stop? The London Times reported on January 6 that researchers in Britain have developed a new technique that will allow doctors to screen embryos for up to six thousand genetic disorders. If and when an embryo is found to have a major abnormal gene pattern, common practice is to abort that embryo.
Jerry Novotny, omi
(Quote) Speaking to a Vatican conference on ethics and human embryos, Pope Benedict XVI, told participants that God's love for human beings knows no boundaries when it comes to age. "The love of God does not distinguish between the newly conceived still in the womb of his mother, the child, the youth, the man, or an elderly person. This moral judgment is valued already at the beginning of the life of an embryo whether or not it is implanted in the maternal womb". After the conference it was made very clear that the church stands firm on its position condemning all forms of experimentation on human embryos.
Lifeissues.net Newsletter #280 - July 09, 2006
Table Of Contents:
1. Alarm At Japan Population Trends
2. Britain: Doctors Reject Making Euthanasia Legal
3. Souls On Ice
4. Malaysia: Gov't Won't Allow 'Designer Babies': Chua
5. Switzerland Attorney: Euthanasia Group Has Arranged 573 Assisted Suicides
6. Genocide Of India's Daughters
7. Media Misreport Catholic Embryonic Stem Cell Research Excommunication
8. Dying Cancer Mum's 4lb 12oz Miracle
9. Woman Tells Court Frozen Embryos Have Right To Life
10. Abortion Of "Excess" Babies Common With IVF
11. Where There's Life, There's Hope
12. Ban On Homosexual "Marriage" Introduced In Philippines Parliament
[Website: SLMFs] http://www.contenidosemf.com/portada_en.htm. SLMFs are short but powerful texts that capture the essence of what the Magisterium of the Church teaches about human sexuality, love, marriage and the family. They are available for you in the Contents section, through the programs Magister and Sources of Strength. They have also been turned into a range of multimedia products which you will find in the other sections.
Item #1. Alarm At Japan Population Trends
Preliminary figures from last year's Japanese census show that the number of
people aged 65 and over reached 21%, overtaking Italy for the first time.
The ratio of children under 15 is also lower than anywhere else in the world.
Japan keeps breaking records, but for all the wrong reasons. These latest figures provide more evidence of the difficulties the country faces.
Japan now has a greater proportion of older people than anywhere else on the planet - almost 27 million of them.
View full text at BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5132024.stm
Item #2. Britain: Doctors Reject Making Euthanasia
Legal
Doctors today decisively rejected the legalization of euthanasia and physician-assisted
suicide.
In a debate at the British Medical Association meeting in Belfast, representatives overturned policy that was only formulated last year, and joined other leading medical bodies in opposing any change in the law.
The vote was clear-cut, with two thirds of the doctors present rejecting both physician-assisted suicide - when doctors provide a lethal draught but do not administer it - and voluntary euthanasia, in which the doctor does the killing
These were taken as separate votes, because some have suggested that are ethical distinctions between them. But both were rejected by almost equal majorities: physician-assisted suicide by 165 to 88, and voluntary euthanasia by 163 to 88.
Non-voluntary euthanasia - where the patient has no choice - was not surprisingly rejected by a much bigger margin, 236 to 16. Calls for the whole issue to be put to a ballot of the entire BMA membership were rejected.
View entire article at Times Online: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2249581,00.html
Item #3. Souls On Ice
Aanis Elspas is a mother of four. Unlike most parents, she had three of her
children simultaneously. The nine-year-old triplets were born in 1997 after
Elspas underwent a series of in vitro fertilization treatments for infertility.
Her oldest child, 10, is the happy result of a prior IVF treatment round. Elspas
worked hard to get her children, and is grateful to have them. But four, thanks
very much, are plenty. The problem is that Elspas also has 14 embryos left over
from the treatment that produced her 10-year-old. The embryos are stored in
liquid nitrogen at a California frozen storage facility - she is not entirely
sure where - while Elspas and her husband ponder what to do with them.
Give them away to another couple, to gestate and bear? Her own children's full biological siblings \ raised in a different family? Donate them to scientific research? Let them... finally... lapse? It is, she and her husband find, an intractable problem, one for which there is no satisfactory answer. So what they have done - thus far - is nothing. Nothing, that is, but agonize.
"I don't have the heart to thaw them," says Elspas, who works as media relations director for a multi-birth networking group called the Triplet Connection. "But then again, I don't have the will to do something with them."
Elspas is by no means alone, either in having frozen human embryos she and her husband must eventually figure out what to do with, or in the moral paralysis she feels, surveying the landscape of available choices. In fact, she is part of an explosively growing group. In 2002, the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology - the research arm for U.S. fertility doctors - decided to find out how many unused embryos had accumulated in the nation's 430 fertility clinics. The rand consulting group, hired to do a head count, concluded that 400,000 frozen embryos existed - a staggering number, twice as large as previous estimates. Given that hundreds of thousands of IVF treatment rounds have since been performed, it seems fair to estimate that by now the number of embryos in limbo in the United States alone is closer to half a million.
View full text at Mother Jones: http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2006/07/souls_on_ice.html
Item #4. Gov't Won't Allow 'Designer Babies': Chua
The creation of "designer babies" will not be allowed in this country
except for medical reasons, Health Minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek said Monday.
As such, he said the Ministry is drafting a new Act which includes guidelines on the matter and was expected to be announced by the end of this year.
"According to the guidelines being drafted, sex selection for social reasons is not permitted.
"Sex selection is, however, allowed if a particular sex predisposes a serious genetic condition like haemophilia and Down's Syndrome," he told reporters at the Parliament's lobby.
View full text at Daily Express: http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=42814
Item #5. Switzerland Attorney: Euthanasia Group
Has Arranged 573 Assisted Suicides
A Swiss lawyer who is the head of a euthanasia group that runs assisted suicide
centers says 573 people from all over the world have died at Dignitas centers.
Ludwig Minelli plans to create a chain of centers across Europe and he claims
in a recent interview that the group has saved more lives than it has taken.
Minelli says Dignitas has been able to break social taboos over suicide, which he called "a marvelous possibility" for people who want to end their lives through assisted suicide.
He claims the group has saved lives by helping people to talk more about end of life issues, which has resulted in fewer people committing assisted suicide who might have otherwise.
"We are the biggest suicide preventing organization," Minelli claimed in an interview with Reuters, alleging that 70 percent of the people who Dignitas clears to kill themselves don't follow through.
"I have always been a person who helps people," he added, rejecting criticism from pro-life groups and others that his group encourages people to use assisted suicide.
Minelli told Reuters he wants everyone across the world to be able to access a local Dignitas center to kill themselves.
"People all over the world should be given an opportunity to have an assisted suicide with instructed helpers, preventing every risk, for a death without any pain," Minelli said.
"I think that within about 50 years, most parts of the world will accept it... so there are no longer any lonely suicides and just assisted suicides," he said.
But Wesley J. Smith, a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute and a special consultant to the Center for Bioethics and Culture, says Dignitas is doing a disservice to the disabled and elderly.
View full text at LifeNews.com: http://www.lifenews.com/bio1588.html
Item #6. Genocide Of India's Daughters
At least 10 million female unborn children have been illegally aborted in India
over the last 20 years by women desperate to bear a son. This means that each
year half a million girls are aborted. According to a 1994 law medical staff
are not allowed to use ultrasound scans to determine the sex of the unborn child,
but this is widely ignored. Boys are considered socially desirable, while women
who have girls are often shunned or even abused. States with the lowest ratios
of girls to boys (820 girls to 1000 boys) are also the wealthiest.
Source of article at Daily Mail:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=393896&in_page_id=1770
Item #7. Media Misreport Catholic Embryonic Stem
Cell Research Excommunication
When a leading Vatican spokesman last week said scientists who engage in embryonic
stem cell research would be excommunicated because their research involves the
destruction of human life, that should have been an easy concept for media outlets
to report. However, some news agencies reported simply that the Catholic Church
would expel researchers who engage in stem cell research in general.
The London Telegraph's headline, "Vatican vows to expel stem cell scientists from Church," makes it appear the Catholic Church opposes all stem cell research, even though it has no problem with adult stem cells.
"We get a lot of careless references to stem cell research" that don't explain the difference between adult and embryonic stem cells, explains David Prentice, a former life sciences professor at Indiana State University and current advisor at the Family Research Council.
Prentice told Inside Higher Education magazine that the Catholic Church's stance applies only to scientists who are actually destroying human embryos - days-old unborn children - to obtain their stem cells.
View full text at LifeNews.com: http://www.lifenews.com/bio1587.html
Item #8. Dying Cancer Mum's 4lb 12oz Miracle
A dying mother in Britain who was told by doctors to abort her baby because
it was too risky to continue the pregnancy has given birth to a daughter. Sam
Jackson 36, who has advanced lung cancer, was told that her chemotherapy treatment
would leave the baby open to infection and that it was better to have an abortion.
However, the baby, Zoë, survived and was delivered at 28 weeks by caesarean
section. Ms Jackson said, "Words can't describe how it feels to see my
little girl alive and well. I couldn't settle until I'd seen her. And she's
beautiful."
View full article at Mirror.co.uk: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=17332763&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=dying-cancer-mum-s-4lb-12oz-miracle--name_page.html
Item #9. Woman Tells Court Frozen Embryos Have
Right To Life
An Irish woman who is prosecuting her husband over the use of their three frozen
embryos has said that they have a right to life. Giving evidence in the High
Court in Dublin, the 41-year-old said, "They are our children. They are
our children's brothers and sisters, just in the beginning of their life. The
right place for them is to be back inside their mother who's me." The woman
and her husband separated after the creation of the embryos by IVF treatment
in 2001. The case continues.
View full article at Evening Echo News: http://www.eecho.ie/news/bstory.asp?j=80399648&p=8x39995x&n=80400028
Item #10. Abortion Of "Excess" Babies
Common With IVF
Abortions are routinely carried out after multiple conceptions through IVF according
to an American report. The study published in the Virginian-Pilot examined the
problems associated with multiple births caused by IVF and showed how "excess"
babies are usually recommended for abortions by fertility clinics under the
name of "selective reduction." Elizabeth Simpson, author of the report,
wrote: "In a world where debate storms on legislative floors over stem
cell research and abortion, embryos are culled with quiet regularity from the
wombs of women for whom fertility procedures were too effective."
View full text at LifeSiteNews.com: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jul/06070402.html
Item #11. Where There's Life, There's Hope
There is growing evidence that seemingly hopeless cases of individuals with
severe brain injuries may be able to recover with therapy and other kinds of
assistance if given a chance instead of being sent to a hospice to die by dehydration.
Renowned radiologist and a specialist in nuclear medicine Dr. Maxfield, founder
with his brothers of the American College of Hyperbaric Medicine, testified
at the Schiavo II evidentiary hearing in October 2002 there had been improvement
in Terri's brain scans between 1996 and 2002. It's conceivable that improvement
would have continued and while speculative, possible that had she received therapy
in addition to Zolpidem or other drugs, that she may have recovered to a stage
similar to Terry Wallis.
http://www.hyperbaric-care.com/hyperbaric_maxfield.htm
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/052306PVSReverse.html
View full article at North Country Gazette: http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/070506SchiavoHope.html
Item #12. Ban On Homosexual "Marriage"
Introduced In Philippines Parliament
(LifeSiteNews.com) -
Legislation that would prevent marriage between transsexuals, and would remove
current recognition of existing same-sex unions from Philippines law have been
introduced in both the Congress and the Senate. The measures have been brought
forward as legislators react to recent local court rulings allowing transsexuals
to change their legal status from male to female.
House Bill 1245, introduced by representative Rozzano Rufino Biazon, "prohibits marriages between two men, one of whom had a sex exchange [sic.] operation and between two women, one of whom also had a sex exchange [sic.] operation." The bill would only allow marriage between "natural born males and natural born females."
Transsexual marriages, Biazon said, would violate the laws of God, of man and of nature.
"This bill seeks to amend the Family Code to prohibit such marriages. Aside from being against the laws of God and the laws of nature, marriages under these circumstances are against the interest of society in general. Not only does it stretch the limits of custom, tradition and social norms, it endangers the interests of those entering into marriages who might not realize that the person they intend to marry, have children and spend the rest of their lives with, is originally of the same biological make up as they."
Rozzano Biazon's father, Senator Rodolfo Biazon, introduced an identical bill to the Senate as counterpart.
A Senate bill that would prevent transsexual marriages performed outside the country from receiving legal recognition was also brought forward. Legislation currently in place left room for the recognition of foreign same-sex unions by failing to specify gender requirements. Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, who sponsored the measure, said, "marriage is a union founded on the distinction of sex. That contracting parties must be of different sex is, in fact, a requirement under the provisions on legal capacity."
The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines has urged lawmakers to refuse recognition to homosexual civil unions. Following the Vatican's 2003 release of a document on homosexual unions, stating that such unions are not morally acceptable and may not be given legal recognition, the secretary-general of the CBCP, Msgr. Hernando Coronel, said the Philippine bishops "value and share the Vatican's stand."
"[T]he bishops' conference urges the legislature to consider the law of God [and] natural law in formation of human law. The bishops appeal to the members of Congress not to legalize what is immoral, to legitimize what is unethical, to make human law that is contrary to divine law."
See related LifeSiteNews coverage: Philippine Congress Passes Gay Rights Law: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/feb/04020505.html
Philippine AIDS Rate Has Doubled Coinciding with Increase of Condom Use: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/feb/06020308.html
South African, Polish and Philippine Bishops
Praise Vatican Document on Homosexual Unions: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2003/aug/03081802.html
New Vatican Document on Homosexual Unions:
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2003/jul/030731a.html.
Action:
1. Pray that we all may have the courage to be God's presence in society and
support those who have been deemed "unworthy of life".
2. Stay informed at Lifeissues.net website: http://www.lifeissues.net.
3. Consider participating with a financial donation to help pay travel expenses
for Fr. Jerry's Speaking Tours to poorer countries in Asia. (Purpose - Journey
for Life into the Heart of Asia. Series of lectures on - The Family at Crossroads:
Trends and Challenges.) Remaining 2006 schedule: August - Sri Lanka; October
- Philippines; November - China. Thank you for your active participation for
making this missionary project possible by your financial assistance. Kindly
send donations directly to: Fr. Jerry Novotny OMI, LifeIssues.net, Editor, Akebono-cho
1- 15-9, Kochi City, Japan, 780-8072.
4. All past issues of LifeIssues.net Newsletter available online. Click here:
http://lifeissues.net/newsletters/mojo.cgi?flavor=archive&list=lifenews&start=0.
(These newsletters are an extension of the Website.)
Contact Editor:
Jerry Novotny OMI; Akebono-cho 1-15-9; Kochi City, Japan 780-8072; Tel/Fax:
088-843-0406; E-mail: jerry@lifeissues.net
Websites by Editor:
English site: http://www.lifeissues.net,
Japanese site: http://www.japan-lifeissues.net,
OMI site: http://www.omijapankorea.net/index.html
9. Marriage Vote Action Alert - June 6, 2006
I heard an MP today tell me he received no emails or faxes or anything on terrorism today, but he got about 300 emails on marriage, all telling him to leave it alone and not revisit the issue. The SSM forces are mobilized. Are we going to be running just to catch up again? - Tim B.
Prime Minister Harper has confirmed that Parliament will be asked to deal with
the marriage definition and the impact of Bill C 38 "same-sex" marriage
in the fall 2006 session. A free vote will be held, asking MPs if they want
to re-visit this issue.
Some MPs are already using the excuse that they have not heard any complaints
from constituents about the marriage issue, which must mean that nobody cares
and it should be left alone. Other MPs are saying they are getting many emails
asking them to leave the marriage issue alone. If that is true, then it seems
the advocates for homosexual marriage are active and vocal. We know that last
time the issue was raised, some MPs received thousands of emails - many from
people who were not their constituents and many from people living in other
nations, lobbying in favour of homosexual marriage. In all likelihood, this
is what is happening again. It proves how e-mail communication can be abused
by some activists.
Now is the time for advocates of the one-man one-woman definition of marriage
to let their voice be heard. Summer is an excellent time to visit your MP, since
they are in their home constituencies. I encourage you to make an appointment,
keep them busy over the summer, go in pairs if necessary, and let YOUR
VOICE be heard on marriage. Please be respectful and polite whenever
communicating with your MP, and clearly and concisely state your views. This
one call to action is perhaps all you need
to do this summer.
Let us not allow anti-family MPs to create excuses for voting against revisiting
the marriage issue.
However, even if Parliament votes against revisiting the marriage issues -
the marriage issue is NOT dead. There will be another Parliament and another
time. And until the definition of marriage as between one man and one woman
is restored to its proper significance and honour, we will not give up the battle.
The results of how Parliament deals with the marriage issue this fall will also
influence future nomination meetings, and the next election.
CFAC's Call to Action - A, B, C
A) Call your MP and request a meeting. To obtain MP contact information,
visit www.familyaction.org/
click - YOUR MP. MPs of every party must allow their constituents to meet with
them. Your MP must be held accountable for representing the position of his/her
constituents, not that of their party, their leader, nor their conscience. If
an MP is anti-marriage and anti-family, one might question what kind of conscience
they have. Your MP must be committed to finding out what the constituents want,
and represent the constituents. A visit is worth more than e-mails.
CFAC is also calling for a full and comprehensive investigation/study into the impact that changing the legal definition of marriage is having on children, taxation, education and even health care issues. Please ask your MP to call for a study on this matter in preparation for new future legislation. A French white paper has very revealing evidence that was recommended to the French government http://familyaction.org/Articles/issues/family/marriage/marriage-for-childrens- sake.htm
B) E-mail your own MP. E-mails may serve limited purpose as a result of the abuse in the last round of the marriage debate, but email your MP anyway. Ensure you note that you live in their riding and you do vote, and your vote in the next election will be influenced by how the MP votes on marriage.
C) Ask others in your riding to take these actions also. Many Canadians
are very concerned about the negative impacts that same sex "marriage"
has already had on the social structure, health care and benefits, children,
and public education. Inform them and ask them to let their position be known
to their MP.
We know summer should be a time of enjoyment, and I hope you get some rest and
enjoy time with family and friends. But please keep in mind the crucial importance
of the institution of marriage and its impact on our culture. The social and
national legacy we leave to our children and future generations will in part
depend on what this generation of voters does to preserve traditional marriage.
Please - take a few minutes this summer to invest into Building
the Future for Canada.
Dr. Brian Rushfeldt, Executive Director
Canada Family Action Coalition
Leading citizen action making a difference
P.S. a new high quality bumper sticker is now available at $5. Order via phone
or mail with payment. Look at www.familyaction.org
- see what is new.
10. MPAA Places Christianity In Same Category As Sex, Violence, Profanity
Be sure to forward this to your friends and family!
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is now warning parents of movies which contain a reference to the Christian faith, equating Christianity as being on the same level of sex, violence and profanity when it comes to objectionable material.
The MPAA is controlled by Hollywood moguls known for their bitter opposition to Christianity.
A new family film featuring miracles and a pro-God theme has earned the PG rating because it would offend non-believers. The MPAA refuses to give movies which promote the homosexual lifestyle a similar warning. In other words, MPAA warns parents if a movie has Christianity presented in a positive manner but refuses to warn them if homosexuality is presented in a positive manner.
Facing the Giants is the story of a Christian high school football coach who uses his undying faith to battle the giants of fear and failure. Due to the Christian content, the MPAA rated it PG, placing it in the same offensive category as sex, violence and profanity.
Click Here to read a good Scripps Howard News Service article about this issue. http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=RELIGION-FAITH-06-07-06
The plot includes several prayers being answered, a medical miracle, and a mystic who delivers a message from God. The scene which MPAA found most offensive was a discussion between the football coach and a boy named Matt. The coach says the boy needs to stop bad-mouthing his father and get right with God.
The boy replies: "You really believe in all that honoring God and following
Jesus stuff? Well, I ain't trying to be disrespectful, but not everybody believes
in that."
The coach responds: "Matt, nobody's forcing anything on you. Following Jesus Christ is the decision that you're going to have to make for yourself. You may not want to accept it, because it will change your life. You will never be the same."
That, says the MPAA, is very objectionable and parents need to be warned.
Take Action
Send an e-mail to the MPAA asking them to stop their anti-Christian bigotry.
Click
Here to E-Mail the MPAA Now!
Or paste this link to your browser: https://secure.afa.net/afa/afapetition/takeaction.asp?id=201
If you think our efforts are worthy, would you please support us with a small gift? Thank you for caring enough to get involved.
Sincerely,
American Family Resource
Center - Everything for the family! Books... Music... Videos... Gifts,
etc.
American Family Filter
- Strong, Internet filtering software and porn blocking technology.
11. National Post Confirms Tories Sank Benoit Bill Over Abortion Issue Fears
Freedom of Information enquiry reveals real reasons unborn victims of violence type bill stopped - By Steve Jalsevac
OTTAWA, August 8, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The National Post, in an article today by Peter O'Neil, confirmed what many had suspected was the real, withheld reason the Conservatives killed Conservative MP Leon Benoit's Bill C-291 in May. The revelation has Campaign Life Coalition's national coordinator Mary Ellen Douglas fuming about what she believes has been Prime Minister Stephen Harper's deviousness in the affair.
C-291 proposed making it a separate offence to kill or injure an unborn child while committing a violent crime against its mother. A Freedom of Information enquiry by the Post revealed that Justice Minister Vic Toews was warned in an unsigned briefing note on C-291 from government bureaucrats that, "Any change to the definition of a 'human being' in the Criminal Code could have the effect of criminalizing abortion."
The note goes on, reports the Post, to state, "The government has no plans to propose any reforms in this area of the law." O'Neil links the latter sentence to Harper's Jan. 17 statement, "I'll use whatever influence I have in Parliament to be sure that such a matter doesn't come to a vote."
Toews' instruction to the parliamentary committee that subsequently declared
the bill unvotable, however, did not mention abortion, despite that being the
real reason the government wanted the bill killed. Instead the Justice Minister's
written advice vaguely stated that the bill "clearly" violated the
Constitution including the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It gave
no indication how the pro
posed
bill violated the Charter.
Benoit's bill was drafted in response to the violent deaths of two pregnant Edmonton women, 19-year-old Olivia Talbot and her unborn child Lane, who were shot and killed when the Edmonton woman was 27 weeks pregnant with baby Lane, and Liana White, who was killed along with her unborn child. In both cases the deliberately murdered babies were treated during sentencing as non-entities by the courts.
Mrs. Mary Talbot, the mother of Olivia Talbot who was six months pregnant when
her assailant shot her once in the head and her child in utero three times,
traveled from Alberta to speak to the committee, but was denied the opportunity
to do so. She was also denied the opportunity to have the committee consider
a powerful photo of her deceased daughter together with her also murdered granddaughter
who appeared as much of a baby as many newborns.
Photo of Olivia Talbot and her baby Lane
together in casket after their murders
Olivia Talbot was six months pregnant when her assailant shot her once in the head and her child in utero three times.
Campaign Life Coalition's Mary Ellen Douglas told the Post's Peter O'Neil that the government's reasons for scuttling the bill were "legally flawed". She also indicated that the Conservatives were acting in a "devious" way in trying to kill C-291 to appease Prime Minister Harper's determination to totally avoid the abortion issue, while also trying not to offend his substantial social conservative base. "It's all Harper pulling strings," Douglas told the Post.
In an interview today with LifeSiteNews.com Douglas emphasized that Leon Benoit had thoroughly done his homework on the bill to make sure it was constitutionally sound. She charged that "Harper was protecting himself and didn't have the courage to say that, in his opinion, this (the bill) is just the social conservatives trying to slip in abortion through the back door."
Douglas emphasized that "C-291 was not about abortion. It was about justice for victims of a crime. This was not about a woman on the way to an abortion clinic. The Alberta murders had absolutely nothing to do with abortion. Olivia Talbot was well on her way to having a baby."
Douglas continued that C-291 was not a "pro-life" bill per se. She emphasized it rather addressed the legal discrimination of unborn murder victims being treated in law as non-entities, thereby denying justice to next of kin over the violent loss of their young relatives.
Vic Toews' parliamentary secretary Rob Moore argued during the one hour debate on C-291 that the law would be ruled as unconstitutional by courts because a killer might be unaware of a woman's pregnancy and, therefore, have no idea he was ending two lives. Douglas responded to LifeSiteNews that in the case of Olivia Talbot and similar murders, the unborn child was in fact clearly targeted. As well, Douglas, noted, "when someone shoots through a door and kills an intended victim and/or others, the killer is charged for every death, regardless of intent. Why should it be so totally different because one of the victims is not yet out of the womb?"
See related LifeSiteNews.com reports:
The Inside Story on the Kibosh of the Canadian Unborn Victims of Violence Bill: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jun/06062804.html
Canada Unborn Victims of Violence Bill Loses Appeal to be Declared Votable: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jun/06060608.html
Canada Unborn Victims of Violence Bill to be Resurrected in Coming Months Says MP: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jun/06061608.html
Canadian Prime Minister Big Improvement Over Liberal PMs But Clearly Not Pro-life: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jun/06062702.html
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper Not Pro-Life - The Evidence: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jun/060627a.html
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12. PM Adviser Sees 'Have Nots' As The New 'Haves' In Court System - By Tonda MacCharles
The Toronto Star - May 13, 2006
Most Canadians probably don't know or don't care about Ian Brodie's view of the country's top court. He is not an MP. He is a political scientist, a tenured one at that. But his opinions are far from academic. In fact, they may warrant more attention than any of the musings of MP Maurice Vellacott or others seen as on the fringe of this new Conservative party. Because Ian Brodie is right at the centre. He is on leave from academia, and is chief of staff and top adviser to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
In writings before he took leave from the University of Western Ontario - he organized the Draft Harper campaign to replace Stockwell Day as Canadian Alliance leader - Brodie showed he is a tough-minded observer not just of the Supreme Court of Canada, but also of the way "traditionally disadvantaged groups - official language minorities, feminists and homosexual rights advocates" - have gotten their way when they appear before it. In a 2003 paper, Brodie wrote with Ted Morton that those "have-nots" are the new "haves" in Canadian society. The two argue that official language minorities, feminist groups and gay rights activists are the ones who acquired the money (courtesy of federal funding) and the political clout to advance their cause. And they say central governments, from Pierre Trudeau on, helped the courts become political actors when it furthered their own political prospects.
Sound familiar? It's not put as indelicately as Harper did when he said Liberal governments pushed gay marriage rights "through back channels" by appointing judges to do it for them. Brodie doesn't say the courts are stacked. But he argues the odds are. And those odds don't favour socially conservative groups or those who dispute liberal interpretations of rights in the Constitution, and its Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
It is a view shared by other political scientists and law professors who think judges go too far, are too "activist" in drawing on principles underlying the law that are not explicitly written in legislation, and using those unwritten principles to overturn or invalidate democratically enacted laws. It is a view popular among the "Calgary School" of conservative academics who mentored Brodie and Harper at the University of Calgary. (It is, however, a view disputed by many who argue that Charter rights litigants are losing far more challenges to government legislation than they win.)
But it's a view Brodie has developed in several publications. In Political Dispute and Judicial Review, a 2000 compendium of essays, Brodie writes that before Trudeau gave the Supreme Court more control over its docket, appointed reform-minded law deans to the bench, and brought in the Charter, "Canadian Supreme Court judges did not think of their role as 'creative.' They did not make new law. They thus avoided having to decide whether government policies were advisable, since they could accept the law as it was established by legislatures or other courts." In the Canadian Journal of Political Science in 2001, Brodie argued Trudeau consciously set about enlisting the courts as allies in his fight to institute bilingualism at a provincial level. In a piece for the Fraser Forum in 2002, Brodie wrote "Pro-life and traditional family groups ... have been consistently denied (federal) funds" to take their arguments before the Supreme Court, calling it "strange" and "unfair."
Now that Brodie is in a position of power, will his theory - about how central governments use the courts or federal funding to advance a political agenda - be put into practice, in this case to advance a conservative one? Brodie declined a request for an interview for this article.
No surprise after last week's furor over the views expressed by Vellacott.
On the political left, Vellacott's comments re-awakened suspicions that the
Conservative government has its sights on eroding the independence of what it
sees as a too-activist, too-liberal judiciary. Vellacott denounced the "God-like
powers" judges take upon themselves, attributing the description to Chief
Justice Beverley McLachlin - wrongly, as it turned out. He called for "judicial
restraint." The federal Liberal party says there's a trend. "The Prime
Minister himself has expressed similar disdain for the Supreme Court,"
MP Anita Neville said in a news release. But in an interview with the Star's
Bruce Campion-Smith yesterday, Harper denied having an agenda for the role of
the courts beyond the recent introduction of parliamentary scrutiny for judicial
appointments.
13. Pro-Life Boot Camp Equips Teens and Young Adults for Activism
LOS ANGELES, May 26 /Christian Newswire/ - Soon young people from across the
nation will travel to Southern California for what is best described as the
Pro-Life Boot Camp. Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust, a pro-life youth organization,
will hold their 9th annual Leadership Training Camp, featured in such magazines
as Jane and Teen People. This high-energy, ten day camp beginning June 26th
is for high school and college age young people who want to be trained to be
effective and courageous in their pro-life efforts.
"I have always felt that abortion is wrong," says 14- year-old Angelique
Guaraneri, who will be attending the camp for the second time this year. "But
until I attended the camp last year, I didn't feel like I could articulate why."
"Survivors have helped me to see that my age is not an obstacle to my
voice being heard on critical issues such as abortion. Instead I feel that my
age is an asset. Who better to speak about abortion than someone who had a 1
in 3 chance of being a victim themselves? Because of Survivors Camp, I now feel
confident enough to speak to anyone about this controversial issue. Whether
it's to a professor at Harvard or a passerby on the street, the truth about
abortion remains the same and I am ready to share it with them."
The Survivors utilize the first few days of camp to equip themselves with the
tools they will need for effective activism. Students complete basic and advanced
training from nationally recognized pro-life advocates, engaging in challenging
seminars and skill- building exercises.
The extensive training includes learning the basics of the scientific issues
behind the question of when life begins, how to speak to women who find themselves
in a crisis pregnancy, using the media to get out your message, planning and
executing a successful activist event, and knowing your rights in the public
square.
James Conrad, a Survivor veteran and current camp leader, speaks about its
unique purpose, "Survivors camp is not your average nature hike, water
balloon games, hotdogs and fireside songs camp experience. The purpose is to
take 50 young people and give them the training and tools needed to go back
to their communities and take an active stand against the worst evil of our
day, the slaughter of innocent children through abortion."
The second part of the camp is the hands-on portion of the learning experience.
With the encouragement of experienced advisors, the Survivors are placed in
leadership positions at camp activism events. All Survivors are given opportunities
to practice their skills, whether as event leader or media spokesperson. The
goal is to prepare the Survivors for their own events and activities back at
home.
"We believe that it is not enough to know that abortion is wrong, but
we are called to expose the horrific truth to the world," said Cheryl Conrad,
Director of Survivors. "The Survivors ministry was founded to educate and
equip young people who have a heart for the pre-born and are willing to be used
by God to defend those unjustly sentenced to death."
Christian
Newswire - Forward
this press release to another reporter or news producer.
To: National Desk
Contact: Arianna Grumbine, Public Relations Coordinator for Survivors of the
Abortion Holocaust, 909-744-7283, arianna@survivors.la
Survivors
of the Abortion Holocaust
14. Restore Marriage Canada - July 5, 2006
A Critical Vote on Restoring Marriage
in Canada is Coming in the Fall
It May Be Our Last Chance! We Need Your Help to Win!
Dear Friend of Marriage,
Prime Minister Harper has vowed that he will keep his campaign promise and bring before Parliament this fall the question of whether to reconsider the legalization of same-sex marriage in Canada. This will not be a vote to actually change the same-sex marriage law, but only to decide whether to take such a vote in the future.
What this means in the simplest terms is that if this measure passes Parliament, then we will still have a showdown over marriage itself at some future time. But if it fails, it is unlikely that Parliament will consider restoring traditional marriage in Canada until the damage to the very fabric of our society is obvious. By then, it will be too late to reverse that damage.
And make no mistake. Unless we restore traditional marriage, that damage to our society is inevitable. Throughout history and across cultures, marriage between a man and a woman has always been an essential cornerstone of every successful society. No successful society has ever subjected future generations to live with the consequences of so radically redefining this fundamental and essential social institution.
The only way to avoid this damage is to restore marriage in Canada as only the union of a man and a woman. And the only way we will have even the chance to do this is by first winning this upcoming vote to reconsider this issue at some point in the future.
Simply and bluntly put, our future as a society and a country depends on winning this vote in the fall. And to win we will need the help of every Canadian who understands the importance of restoring marriage.
Specifically, we are asking everyone to personally contact their
MP on this vote during the next two and a half months when Parliament is in
recess.
1. As a former MP myself, I can tell you that the most effective
thing you can do is to make an appointment and meet with your MP (if you are
nervous about doing this, then invite a couple of friends to join you). Express
gratitude if he/she is on side. If not, provide him or her with information
and request that he/she vote in favour of man/woman marriage. We have provided
some questions and points to discuss and some background information to help
you. Click here.
2. The next most effective thing you can do is to phone your MP
riding office giving your name and address so they know you are a constituent
and requesting to speak with him/her. If you can only speak to staff person,
request them to pass on your message to your MP. You can find complete contact
information for your MP here. At this same site maintained by the Library of
Parliament you can also determine who your MP is by simply entering your postal
code.
3. Sending a personal letter to your MP is also an effective way
to communicate your support for marriage and your request that your MP vote
this fall to reconsider legalizing same-sex marriage.
4. At the very least, send your MP an e-mail. Again, you can find
their e-mail address through the Library of Parliament site.
5. Spread the word to as many others as possible by forwarding
this alert.
Unless you speak with your MP personally, we encourage you to ask them to let you know how they intend to vote on this issue. Also, it would help if you would let us know what response you get. Please e-mail us at this special e-mail account.
Prime Minister Harper has promised that the vote in Parliament will be a true free vote, at least as far as the Conservatives are concerned. It is unclear whether the NDP will allow their members a free vote.
Similarly, it is not clear what the Liberals or the Bloc will do on this vote. If it is a true free vote for all parties, we have an excellent chance of winning. (In fact, the reason the Liberals did not allow a true free vote on C-38, the bill that legalized same-sex marriage last year, is because it is unlikely they would have won.)
The best way we can encourage all of the parties to allow their members a true conscience vote is to put the maximum pressure on your MP on this issue, regardless of their party.
Please do everything you can to let your MP know of your concerns and to ask them to commit to vote to reconsider the issue of same-sex marriage when it comes before Parliament this fall.
Sincerely,
The Hon. Dr. Grant Hill, P.C.
Coordinator, Restore Marriage Project
P.S. During this recess, most MPs are back in their ridings and will likely be participating in many public events, such as parades, local celebrations, fairs and so on. These are good opportunities to speak briefly with your MP on this issue.
Special Reminder!
Please Sign the Restore Marriage Petition
Over 25,000 Canadians have already signed our National Petition to Restore Marriage. This petition will be presented to every MP before the critical vote Prime Minister Harper has promised on whether to reconsider the legalization of same-sex marriage in Canada.
If you have not yet signed this petition, please click here and do so. It takes just a few minutes. If you have signed it, please pass urge others to do so as well. You can do that by forwarding this newsletter on to others on your list with a short note from you or you can use the special feature on our Web site which makes it easy to send a suggested alert to them. Click here to access this feature.
Please forward this on to others
15. Post-Abortion Images Prompt Outrage - July 26, 2006
Today's Family News
An Ontario pro-life group is making no apologies to people in the Maritimes
who are angry at being forced to view enlarged, graphic pictures of aborted
babies.
"We're called Show the Truth (link contains graphic images that may not be suitable for children) and that's exactly what we're doing. It's the visual truth of abortion," executive member Rosemary Connell told Canadian Press.
"There are no pretty pictures of abortion," she added. "Everyone is into reality television, well this is it. This is what it looks like to murder babies. People should be appalled that stuff like this happens every day."
Fredericton was Show the Truth's first stop on what Connell described as "a mission to go across the Maritimes to show people the reality" of abortion.
For several days, about 60 Show the Truth members and local residents lined
some of Fredericton's main streets holding up large placards so passing motorists
could see for themselves what abortion does to unborn children.
Yet it appeared that more people were upset with the messengers than the message,
including Fredericton Mayor Brad
Woodside. He told CBC
that he had received about two-dozen calls at home and that police had received
hundreds of calls from angry residents demanding that action be taken to halt
the demonstration.
But while conceding that since no laws had been broken, there was nothing anyone could do, Woodside nonetheless told the Daily Gleaner that the images "were not much worse than pornography."
"I don't know what the moral standards are in the community where these people come from, but they've certainly crossed a moral line here," he said. Woodside also told CBC that "it's time for them to get back on their bus and get back to Ontario."
During Show the Truth's stay in Fredericton, the Gleaner also reported, four front windows of the New Brunswick Right to Life Mother and Child Centre were smashed in and a large sticker with the single word "choice" stuck on the door.
Peter Ryan, the centre's executive director, said he believed the vandalism "most likely was triggered by the Show the Truth demonstration."
At a demonstration in Halifax last Friday, the Daily News reported that staff from a women's health centre attempted to block the images from passing motorists by holding "umbrellas, blankets and cardboard signs in front of Show the Truth protesters."
But apart from "a few bad reactions," Connell said she "got a call from a woman who said our sign saved her unborn child's life."
In fact, Connell describes the public reaction as being for the most part positive.
"Many people driving by are honking their horns in support," she
told LifeSiteNews.
"Many are even lining up and waiting until they get their pamphlets, or
stopping on the streets and thanking us."
Canadians prefer stay-at-home childcare
Today's Family News - July
26, 2006
Once again, Canadians have expressed a clear preference for having one parent
stay home to look after his or her pre-school children.
As a new survey done for the Ottawa-based Institute of Marriage and Family Canada discovered, over three-quarters (77.9 per cent) said that was their preferred option. Just one in five (20.5 per cent) said they preferred to let a "competent caregiver" take on that responsibility.
The results were much the same regardless of whether the respondents were male or female, old or young, urban or rural, or whether or not they had a university degree.
Those similarities also held true regardless of marital status. Support for
the stay-at-home option was highest among respondents who were married (85.6
per cent). But it also garnered strong support from those who lived common-law
(76.1 per cent), were separated or divorced (75.1 per cent) or had never married
(75.6 per cent).
Across the country, support varied from a high of 90.7 per cent in Alberta to a low of 74.7 per cent in Quebec, despite that province having its own government-subsidized childcare system.
"Without a doubt," IMFC executive director Dave Quist told Today's Family News, "it is abundantly clear that a vast majority of parents would prefer to have a parent stay at home with their children."
For those families where the stay-at-home option was not viable, more than half (52.7 per cent) said they preferred to have a relative look after their children. By contrast, the daycare option received little support, regardless of whether it was in a neighbour's home (20.4 per cent), non-profit (16.6 per cent) or for-profit (6.9 per cent).
Only in Quebec did respondents favour by a very slight margin a neighbour's daycare (35 per cent) over a relative (33 per cent).
Carried out in May 2005, just weeks after the federal government had announced plans to spend $5 billion over the next five years on a national childcare and early education program, the survey also asked Canadians how they would "instruct the government" to spend this money.
In reply, two-thirds (67 per cent) said they would prefer some other option.
A majority said they would favour giving every parent either a tax deduction
(62 per cent) or a cash payment (57 per cent), while a minority endorsed either
lower taxes in general (45 per cent) or government subsidies for childcare centres
(38 per cent).
And when offered some policy alternatives for helping families raise young children, seven in 10 said they thought that giving all parents of newborns three years' paid leave was either a good idea (33 per cent) or a very good idea (36 per cent). Support was highest in Quebec (46 per cent) as well as among women (42.1 per cent) and those living common-law (42.9 per cent).
"The overall results," Quist said, "clearly indicate that parental choice is paramount in the minds of Canadians. They prefer to either take care of their children themselves or have a family member do it for them."
The survey was conducted for IMFC Canada by GPC Research, now known as Fleischman-Hillard
Canada.
VLT restrictions working: Nova Scotia
Today's Family News- July 26, 2006
The Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation is claiming that new measures to make it harder for people to spend excessive amounts of time and money on video-lottery terminals (VLTs) have been a success, the Daily News reported Saturday.
"The combined impact . . . appears to be quite positive," according to an independent study undertaken on behalf of the corporation. "There have been some initial declines in both terminal accessibility and over VLT play activity."
The four initiatives were phased
in a year ago in response to concerns about the growing number of problem
gamblers. They included reduced hours of operation, the removal of 1,000 VLTs,
disabling the "stop button" - which gave players a false sense of
control over their machine - and a 30 per cent reduction in the play speed.
Based on telephone interviews with 4,324 Nova Scotians, Corporate Research Associates found that players, especially problem gamblers, are spending less money and time at the machines now compared to before the restrictions were put in place.
"Not only are [problem gamblers] the most likely to have reduced their spending, but they have reduced their spending by the largest amounts," the report stated.
"We're on track to see a $60 million drop in revenue," corporation
spokeswoman Margaret McGee told the Daily News.
"[The researchers] are absolutely confident.
Forbidden Grief:
The Unspoken Pain of Abortion
By Theresa Burke with David C. Reardon
Dr. Burke has counselled hundreds of women for abortion-related emotional
problems. From that experience, she writes about the obstacles to healing, discusses
the full range of post-abortion adjustment problems, and offers personal and
societal solutions. This sensitively written resource will help minister to
post-abortive women and men.
Support a Local Pregnancy Resource Centre
Pregnancy resource centres are located in towns and cities across the country,
providing care and resources to help women choose life for their unborn child.
These centres rely on volunteers and financial support from their communities.
Click here to find
a listing of these centres across Canada and contact the one in your community
to find out how you can help them.
Hiding the Truth
"I was totally uninformed of available alternatives to abortion. I never recommended adoption or keeping the child. Furthermore, I was completely unaware of the medical facts, including the development of the fetus. I received no training in factual matters - my job was just to keep women happy and make sure they went along with an abortion."
[Source: Quote from a former abortion clinic counsellor
included in the book ProLife
Answers to ProChoice Arguments by
Randy Alcorn, accessed from Eternal Perspective Ministries, epm.org]
TFN welcomes your feedback on our stories and the new look. Click
here to send us a comment.
Today's Family News; TFN Archives; Institute of Marriage and Family Canada; Focus on the Family (Canada)
Phone: 1.800.661.9800
Mail: Box 9800 Station Terminal, Vancouver BC, V6B 4G3
E-mail: research@fotf.ca
16. Reuters News Agency Reported - California Lawmakers Reject Assisted-Suicide Bill - June 28, 2006
California lawmakers narrowly rejected a bill on Tuesday that would have allowed the terminally ill to enlist doctors to help them commit suicide.
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 3-2 to block the measure. Committee Chairman Sen. Joe Dunn, a Democrat from Santa Ana, California, cast the deciding vote, siding with two Republicans.
Dunn said he could not trust that future lawmakers would refrain from expanding the bill to allow persons not suffering from terminal illnesses to hasten their deaths.
The bill mirrored an Oregon law allowing doctors to prescribe a lethal prescription to terminally ill patients.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger suggested earlier this year he would not sign such a bill because the issue of physician-assisted suicide is of such importance it should be left to voters.
Today the 'San Francisco Chronicle' reported in more detail on the same hearing in Sacramento, California.
Legislation to allow doctors to help terminally ill patients end their lives was defeated Tuesday after an emotionally charged hearing that drew 120 people to testify about life and suffering and whether modern medicine should be called upon to hasten death.
The bill failed in its first legislative hearing when the senator chairing the committee that held the hearing surprised supporters and voted against it. The action in effect ends chances of passing the measure this year.
Sen. Joe Dunn, a Santa Ana Democrat, said he wrestled with his position on the controversial measure. During the past week, Dunn consulted with Orange County's Catholic bishop, who opposed the measure, and a UC Davis bioethics expert, who supported it.
Ultimately, Dunn said, he was afraid that in the future, "the power of money" would expand the application of doctor-assisted suicide beyond terminally ill patients.
"In this society, in California and the United States, more often than not public policy decisions are driven unfortunately by money concerns," Dunn told the packed hearing room where the Senate Judiciary Committee met. "With a heavy heart, I will be a 'no' vote."
Later, Dunn said money's influence could come from any number of sources:
HMOs, health insurers, even the state's unwillingness to appropriate money for more end-of-life care.
Dunn's vote was critical for supporters. Dunn had previously said he was undecided on the bill, and he said he remained so at the beginning of Tuesday's hearing.
Without Dunn's vote, supporters could not get the three "yes" votes needed to clear the five-member committee. The remaining two Democrats voted for it. Republicans opposed it.
"It's a crushing disappointment," Assemblywoman Patty Berg, D-Eureka, one of the bill's co-authors, said after the vote. "To have this bill fail because one senator has no faith in the legislators who will come after us is truly devastating. Terminally ill patients in California deserve better than this."
The emotionally charged issue of whether terminally ill patients should be able to avoid further suffering and end their lives has been debated in the California Legislature almost since Oregon became the first state in the nation to allow the practice eight years ago.
The bill defeated Tuesday, AB651, was modeled after Oregon's law and would have allowed a doctor to prescribe a lethal prescription to a terminally ill patient diagnosed with no more than six months to live.
It has been opposed by the California Medical Association, the Catholic Church, some disabled advocates and hospice operators, among others.
Supporters include individual doctors, advocacy groups for seniors and the state Commission on Aging.
So contentious is the issue that coalitions have formed on either side: Californians for Compassionate Choice supports the idea. Californians Against Assisted Suicide opposes it.
"It's about the freedom of the individual to make choices. It is not a freedom without limits. It's appropriate only for those whose death is imminent and unavoidable," Berg said in presenting the bill.
Tom McDonald, a 76-year-old retired electronics technician from Lake Oroville, near Chico, provided the hearing's most wrenching moment.
"Passing this bill this year means more to me than most because I've been placed in death row," said McDonald, who was diagnosed in January with terminal melanoma. "My doctor told me I'd know when I'm near the end because I'll be coughing up blood. I'm not too thrilled with the prospect of ending my life drowning in my own blood. I do not want my loving wife to endure such a sight. Nor do I want my daughter, my son or my grandchildren subjected to such horrors. Nor do I want to lose control of my dignity and my faculties, but at this point I will be out of options."
Opponents were sympathetic to McDonald but argued that doctors should care for patients rather than help them take their lives.
"Suicide is not medical care. It is its antithesis," said Holly Swiger, a hospice nurse who serves on the board of the California Hospice and Palliative Care Association.
Marilyn Golden, an analyst for the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, told the committee that legalizing assisted suicide would "distort the attitude of doctors toward their sickest patients."
Opponents also said that sometimes dying people learn valuable lessons about life and love and care, lessons they would have missed if they had hastened their end.
Supporters countered that the measure had even more safeguards than Oregon's law and that patients enduring intense suffering should be given the option to end that suffering.
"I'm very disappointed. Seventy percent of Californians consistently support this," said the bill's other co-author, Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, D-San Fernando, acknowledging that the bill cannot be revived this year.
Even if the measure had passed the Legislature, it was unlikely to be signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
At a Sacramento Press Club luncheon in January, the Republican governor, who is running for re-election in the fall, said the decision on whether California embraces such a law should be left to the voters.
"This is a decision probably that should go to the people, like the death penalty or other big issues," Schwarzenegger said. "I don't think that we, 120 legislators and I, should make that decision."
17. Russia's First Pro-Life Maternity Ward A Stunning Success - Three More in the Works - By Peter J. Smith
Balashikha, Russia, July 25, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The successful beginning of Russia's first pro-life maternity hospital may hold the answer for saving Russia's dying population from plummeting into a demographic catastrophe and finally reversing the culture of abortion in Russia, claims a story in Crisis Magazine.
According to Tom Murray, the author of the Crisis article, an experimental pro-life hospital in Balashikha, a city near the Moscow area, has won the support and encouragement of President Vladimir Putin's government, which is facing the problem of Russia's alarming decline in population. Russia's low birthrate (1.28), staggeringly high abortion to birth rate of 2-1, and a life-expectancy rate hovering just beneath 60, have caused an alarming annual population decline of 700,000 persons per year.
Murray, a Catholic who has worked in Russia in the past 20 years, approached the Russian government with the possibility of American collaboration in encouraging an increase in the birthrate. His solution was a test-pilot pro-life maternity hospital that would provide Russian mothers with modern health facilities that would promote birth and discourage abortion, and offer a pro-life model for the nation in maternal health care.
Speaking to Health Minister Dr. Yuri Chevchenko, Murray said, "Although your government is committed to improving these causes of the problem, we believe that the best strategy in the long run is to substantially increase new births above replacement levels; and that will require a radical reduction in abortions."
Dr. Chevchenko conveyed to Murray that Vladimir Putin, whom he described as "a man of deep religious faith," even during the Soviet period, keeping a crucifix belonging to his mother next to his heart, also desired to discourage abortion in Russia. He said Putin gave him his personal assurance of the government's complete support for the project.
Murray's project owed its success to the joint effort between Americans and Russians in establishing the pro-life hospital. Murray and his wife Anne founded the Future of Russia Foundation (FOR) in 2002, a not-for-profit group which raised money for the pilot program. The Russian government provided them with a dilapidated 220-bed Soviet-era maternity hospital, which was serving a region about the size of Ohio. The hospital was reputably the best in the area, although Murray says the birthing suites looked more like "torture chambers." Nevertheless they developed an unused 5,000-square-foot wing of the hospital into an antenatal clinic, and provided renovated birthing suites and nurseries with state-of-the-art medical equipment.
The health ministry selected a team of Russian doctors, nurses, and technicians for special training in the United States. FOR established an education fund for training this team, which now in turn has trained 300 Russians to serve in the region's health care system.
Today the Balashikha maternity hospital has become the foremost model in renewing Russia's maternity-care system, and has enjoyed tremendous success in increasing the birthrate in the area. The number of live births at Balashikha has nearly tripled, and hundreds of women per week, including many women from the Moscow area, visit the hospital for its maternal care. In addition, the adjoining abortion clinic, which used to perform more abortions than births at the hospital, has been closed.
The success of the hospital has so encouraged the Russian authorities that the government established a new health-care district, extending the project to serve the 700,000 people in the area surrounding Balashikha. The pro-life model developed at the Balashikha hospital will be implemented in three other district hospitals. It is the hope of Tom Murray that the continued success of the pro-life model at the Balashikha hospital will become the model for Russia, and help Russia emerge from "the valley of the culture of death - to lead the world to a culture of life."
To learn more about Future of Russia Foundation, or how to support the pro-life work in Russia, contact Tom Murray at the following address: Tom Murray; 111 Shoreline Dr.; Sandusky, OH 44870. http://www.futureofrussia.org/
Read the original story by Tom Murray in Crisis Online: "Saving Lenin's
Children: Russia's First Pro-Life Maternity Ward": http://www.crisismagazine.com/may2006/murray.htm
18. Sample Of News That Sometimes Gets Noticed By Web News Services But Not The Mainline Media
This is a sample of news that sometimes gets noticed by Web News services but not the mainline Media. This is a picking from my recent inbox. - Herm
· Mother Teresa Nuns Arrested By Hindus
· Christianity Under Attack - Soon Coming Here?
· Judge; Navy Right To Punish Chaplain For "Exclusive" Prayer
· School's Jesus Portrait Challenged
· Vatican Worried That Speaking The Truth May Become Illegal
· Getting The Brush Off - Christians?
· Catholic Misunderstood Do-Gooders
· Mother Teresa Nuns Arrested By Hindus
UPI Religion & Spirituality Forum
Hyderabad, June 30 (UPI) - A crowd of Hindus set upon four sisters of Mother Teresa's order in a hospital and had them arrested for allegedly trying to convert patients.
The four Missionaries of Charity were attacked earlier this week as they went about their weekly visit in a hospital in the city of Tirupati, a Hindu pilgrimage place, in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, AsiaNet reported Friday.
The four sisters, all aged around 35, were in the government hospital of Ruia, where they usually spend time with patients who are terminally with AIDS. A group of around 50 members of the Hindu Dharma Parirakshana Samithi, which is a group for the defense of the Hindu religion, broke into the hospital, blocked the four sisters and accused them of trying to convert patients.
The crowd swelled rapidly and soon there were around 300 people. They forced the sisters to remain in the hospital until 8.30 p.m. Then police officials arrived and took the women to the local police station. The women were released about two hours later, but only after Catholic officials intervened with authorities. The sisters denied trying to convert anyone.
Christianity under Attack:
Attorneys Scramble to Defend Historic Symbols of Faith - by Pete Winn, Associate
Editor:
http://vocusgr.vocus.com/GRSPACE2/dotnet/WebPublish/controller.aspx?SiteName=FOTF&Definition=Home&XSL=Home&SV_Section=Home.
Judge: Navy Right to Punish Chaplain for 'Exclusive' Message, Prayer
A Navy judge has ruled that Chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt should not have quoted from the Gospels when he preached a funeral message at a Navy chapel 18 months ago - and that his protest of the punishment was "without merit."
The judge, Anita K. Baker, endorsed a decision reached earlier by Rear Adm. F.R. Ruehe, who ruled that the chaplain's commander was right to reprimand Klingenschmitt in March 2005 for preaching a 2004 message that was "exclusive" - meaning it excluded people of other faiths.
Klingenschmitt told CitizenLink he preached the message in a chapel, with voluntary attendance, which mentioned salvation and Jesus Christ at the funeral of a believer. His main text was Romans 8.
"I quoted the Bible in the chapel, and I quoted it in a memorial service," Klingenschmitt said. "I also quoted John 3:36 - 'If anyone has the Son, he has eternal life. If anyone does not have the Son, he does not have eternal life, because God's wrath remains upon him.'"
Klingenschmitt said his commanding officer, Capt. James R. Carr, took umbrage at both the message and the fact he prayed "in Jesus Name" - and took measures to punish him.
School's Jesus Portrait Challenged
School officials in Clarksburg, W.V., have been sued for refusing to remove a portrait of Jesus that has hung in Bridgeport High School for at least three decades.
Vatican Worries Speaking Truth May Become Illegal
The Vatican has expressed concern that taking a public stand on moral issues may one day lead to legal trouble, The Associated Press reported.
Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, head of the Pontifical Council for the Family, noted that the church's position on abortion, embryonic stem-cell research and same-sex marriage are in direct opposition to laws in many countries.
"We worry especially that, with current laws, speaking in defense of life and the rights of families is becoming in some societies sort of a crime against the state," he said. "The church is at risk of being brought before some international court if the debate becomes any tenser."
Getting the Brush-Off
http://www.christianity.ca/news/weblog/2006/6.28.html
Since the change in Canada's definition of marriage, religious freedom has not been respected. What is the Christian response when our concerns are brushed off?
Compiled by Janet Epp Buckingham | Posted 6/28/06
Have you ever felt that your concerns are just not being heard? I think we all have.
The basic message seems to be that religious people are discriminatory…
When Bill C-250, the bill to add "sexual orientation" to the hate propaganda section of the Criminal Code, was being debated, Evangelicals sent huge volumes of mail and email to their MPs but it did not seem to make a difference.
When Bill C-38, the bill to redefine marriage to "between two persons," was being debated, Evangelicals sent huge volumes of mail, signed thousands of petitions, attended numerous demonstrations, met with the MPs but it did not seem to make a difference.
And for the past several months, I have been in correspondence with several
provincial Ministers of Justice asking them to legislate protection for religious
freedom with respect to the change in the definition of marriage.
The province of Ontario is the only one to date that has legislation specifically to protect religious freedom for clergy and churches in relation to the change in the definition of marriage. Ontario passed this legislation in 2005, in advance of Bill C-38 passing. It was part of an omnibus bill in which gender, as in husband and wife, were entirely eradicated from Ontario law.
But who knew at the time that other provinces would be so reluctant to protect even clergy in legislation?
In 2005, the province of New Brunswick introduced a bill, Bill-76, that would have protected all marriage officials, religious or civil, from being required to solemnize a marriage if it violated their religious beliefs. The bill died on the order paper and was not reintroduced in the current Parliament although the Minister of Justice promised to do so.
Even in Alberta, MLA Ted Morton was stonewalled when he tried to pass a private members bill, Bill 208, to protect religious freedom. Remember that Bill-202 passed in 2000 in Alberta that invoked the notwithstanding clause to protect the definition of marriage in that province.
The more troubling provinces are Manitoba and Saskatchewan, which have categorically refused to protect religious freedom. In fact, these two provinces sent notices to civil marriage commissioners ordering them to solemnize same-sex marriages or their commissions to marry would be revoked.
These provinces take the position that marriage commissioners are "statutory office holders." This means that they forfeit any right of conscience and must provide their services to all without distinction. While I do not agree that anyone should be denied a right of conscientious objection, I at least understand the argument.
What concerns me, though, is the underlying tone of the response I received to my inquiries. The Minister of Justice of Saskatchewan, Frank Quennell, writes:
The sad reality is that in the past, religious beliefs have sometimes been invoked to justify discriminatory treatment against others, for example, based on their race, religion or sex. To be sure, such beliefs are not as prevalent as they once were, however, it would be naïve to assume they no longer exist. If the Government permits public servants to stand on their religious beliefs and refuse to provide public services to an individual because of his or her sexual orientation, it would have to tolerate other religiously based refusals by public servants to provide public services.
The basic message seems to be that religious people are discriminatory and we can't allow that.
But hang on a minute. Isn't the whole reason we have protection for freedom of conscience and religion in the Charter so that people's various beliefs will be respected?
Generally, the courts have been very generous with employees, granting them a broad right of conscientious objection. In Newfoundland, a hospital was required to accommodate a clerk who was a Pentecostal and did not want to sell tickets to a social event at which liquor would be served. In British Columbia, a Shoppers Drug Mart could not require a clerk who was a Jehovah's Witness to arrange a display of poinsettias because it violated his beliefs about Christmas.
The message is getting pretty clear… "You are not welcome in our society."
If employees have such a broad right of conscience, it seems very hypocritical to deny the same rights to certain types of employees.
When I asked to meet with Mr. Quennell, thinking that perhaps a personal meeting might dispel some of his rather stereotypic views of Evangelicals, I received a reply that it would "not be productive."
Nice brush off.
The message is getting pretty clear, both from people like Mr. Quennell and from those who turned their backs on Dr. Margaret Somerville as she received her honorary doctorate at Ryerson: "You are not welcome in our society."
When the marriage cases were being heard in the courts, when Parliament was considering Bill C-38, we argued that those of us of deep religious convictions would be marginalized and excluded from society. "Oh no, not so," we were assured. What, did they have their fingers crossed?
But we are in a Catch 22. If we sit back and take the discrimination that is being dished out, we will get more. And if we push back, they will say, "See, we were right about you." So what do we do? How do we respond when we get the brush off?
The best we can do is to point out the hypocrisy. Would it be acceptable for the Ryerson faculty to turn their backs on someone receiving an award on the basis that the person was gay?
And we can point out our rights guaranteed in the Charter and in human rights codes. When we get the answer back that they don't apply in this situation, we can point out the hypocrisy.
And we can take courage from the examples of those who came before us. Jesus was judged and condemned under two of the best, and fairest, legal systems of the day, those of Rome and Israel. And the apostle Paul was wrongly imprisoned for more than two years by Felix, who was hoping for a bribe. Clearly, Christians do not always receive fair treatment.
Paul is a very helpful model for us today. He used every legal means available to him. He defended himself at every opportunity. But when he was treated unjustly, he used it as an opportunity to share the Gospel. But he never urged retaliation, either in word or deed.
We would do well to follow this model, and there are many legal means available
to us. But even if we do not receive justice, and even if nothing seems fair,
we must continue to follow Paul's model in grace and humility.
Janet Epp Buckingham is director of Law and Public Policy and general legal
counsel for the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada in Ottawa.
Used with permission of author. Copyright © 2006 Christianity.ca.
Copyright © 2003 The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, All Rights Reserved.
Catholicism's misunderstood do-gooders - Barbara Kay
National Post
Published: Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Opus Dei, the real-life Catholic fellowship Dan Brown mauls to fictional shreds in his novel The Da Vinci Code, has profited from the public's fascination with the Code phenomenon by opening its "secret" chambers to journalists, revealing the group's benign modern face.
A slew of media interviews with candid, urbane numeraries has done much to roll back the negative stereotypes - not altogether undeserved in the past - of an inward-dwelling cadre of ultra-conservative spiritual elites.
I've been interested in Opus Dei for a while - not because of The Da Vinci Code, but as the result of a friendship with Monique David, director of the Canadian women's branch of OD. I interviewed Monique and five of her colleagues at their Montreal headquarters last week.
Most of them have been numeraries for many years. (Numeraries are Opus Dei members committed to celibacy for apostolic reasons, as opposed to usually married supernumeraries.) Monique is 46, and she embraced OD when she was 18. Like the others, she comes across as mature and self-assured, a far cry from the unhinged, pathological Silas of Brown's invention. They spoke enthusiastically about their faith, and their sense of vocation for mentoring spiritual growth in others.
The core concept of OD is the fusion of religious and secular life into an organic whole. Monique says explaining OD remains tough slogging amongst Catholics, who understand traditional Catholicism and lapsed Catholicism, but not this seemingly paradoxical marriage of religion and secularism.
(Curiously, Monique reported, Jews seem to understand OD's mission easily. That's no coincidence. Judaism is a holistic moral system: There may be a dichotomy between the observant and the non-observant, the believing and the agnostic, but the imperative to seek holiness through righteous behaviour - Opus Dei's purpose in microcosm - cannot be compartmentalized.)
With its approximately 85,000 members, Opus Dei represents just a tiny slice of global Catholicism. Here in Canada, there are but 600 members, of which only 150 - 60 men, 90 women - are numeraries.
The group's centres serve the dual function of numeraries' living quarters and teaching forums. The three centres I have visited - two in Montreal, one in Jerusalem - are all mansions in affluent neighbourhoods, in which the public spaces are opulent, while the private quarters are monastically Spartan. Such disparities make it difficult for outsiders to understand the nature of this unique institution.
What's known as a "personal prelature," OD might be called Catholics Without Borders. It is the only Catholic diocese with no geographical boundaries. Apart from the 2% who are priests, OD members are all laity. Most numeraries work for pay at some other job. As they see it, no employment is so lowly it can't be sanctified and made holy through the pursuit of excellence.
Additionally, as spiritual "coaches" continuously seeking greater "friendship" or "filiation" with God themselves, numeraries work one on one or in small groups with potential recruits - or anyone else - striving to realize their spiritual potential. They're doing what they consider to be "God's Work" (English for the Latin Opus Dei).
The optics, however, do not favour OD. Numeraries' lives are humble, but the outsider sees only their elegant homes. They are lay people, but because they live together in one house, hold to a daily routine of mass, corporal mortification and frequent group activities, numeraries present superficially like nuns or monks. Women and men are spiritual equals, but only women serve as domestic numerary assistants, and only women sleep on boards all the time. Finally, numeraries are consecrated to a life of spiritual sharing with others, but seem curiously passive about outreach, relying principally on word of mouth for new contacts.
In responding to the calumnies of The Da Vinci Code, Opus Dei has proved communications-savvy, opening a window of opportunity for a more permanent reciprocal relationship with the public. Very soon, their 15 minutes of fame will be up, but they will need to maintain their PR offensive.
For Opus Dei's faith is big, and their mission, helping people integrate their faith in day-to-day life, is noble; yet their signage is small, and even admirers like me are forced to concede that their message, crystal clear to themselves, remains, to the untutored masses, stubbornly opaque.
bkay@videotron.ca
http://www.liquidlewis.com/barb/archive/20060517dogooders.html
© National Post 2006
This is excellent news. Last year the British Medical Association (BMA) decided
to take a neutral stand on assisted suicide. The BMA tremendously influences
the Canadian Medical Association (CMA). The renewal of opposition by the BMA
gives us great hope in Canada that the CMA will not move to neutralize its position
on assisted suicide.
Alex Schadenberg - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
Latest On British Medical Association Vote Opposing Physician-Assisted Suicide
And Euthanasia - June 29, 2006
Today, the British Medical Association voted overwhelmingly to oppose the legalization
of physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia. Commenting on this result, the
campaign director of Care NOT Killing, Dr Peter Saunders, said:
"This is a fantastic result for the many organizations campaigning against
euthanasia. It is a very important result in terms of political and public opinion.
It means that the medical profession in the UK is now firmly united in its opposition
to any form of euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide. This sends a very clear
message to the public and to MPs - doctors who care for dying patients understand
the serious dangers that would arise from legalizing euthanasia. They have come
a clear conclusion today at the BMA conference that legalized killing would
create more problems than it would solve.
"Their verdict - that we need better palliative care for the terminally
ill - sends a clear message that what we need to do is to kill the pain and
not the patient. The argument that decided this vote and the similar vote in
the House of Lords last month is a simple one. For sick and vulnerable patients
the danger is that the right to die could become a duty to die as they feel
pressure, whether real or imaginary, from family, carers and society at large
to request early death.
The BMA vote has rescued patients from embarking upon the slippery slope towards
full blown euthanasia in the UK".
ENDS
Motions
That this Meeting:
Notes for Editors
Care NOT Killing is a new UK-based alliance bringing together human rights groups, healthcare groups, palliative care groups, faith groups and concerned individuals.
Care NOT Killing has three key aims:
· To promote more and better palliative care
· To ensure that existing laws against euthanasia and assisted suicide
are not weakened or repealed during the lifetime of the current Parliament
· To inform public opinion further against any weakening of the law
Care NOT Killing seeks to attract the broadest support among health care professionals, allied health services and others who are opposed to euthanasia. It is campaigning on the basis of powerful arguments underpinned by the latest, well-researched and credible evidence.
Key groups that have already signed up to join Care NOT Killing include: The
Association for Palliative Medicine, the British Council of Disabled People,
RADAR, the Christian Medical Fellowship, the Catholic Bishops Conference of
England and Wales, the Church of England and the Medical Ethics Alliance. 32
organizations have joined the alliance.
For more information, broadcasting bids and media inquiries
Nick Wood of Media Intelligence Partners
07889 617 003 or 0203 008 8146
Katie Perrior
07958 459 398
20. United Mothers, Fathers & Friends Newsletter - August 9, 2006
Please Print Or Forward This Newsletter Along To Others
I) Key to Winning the Fall Vote for Marriage
- You!
II) "Golden" Contact with Your MP
III) Marriage Toolkit - Powerful information to share
with others
"I haven't had a single person
come up to me to talk about it."
- Conservative MP, Peter MacKay -
"I'm getting very few letters
or cards on this. I think those who were opposed fought the good fight, but
it is over."
- NDP MP, Tony Martin -
I) Key to Winning the Fall Vote for Marriage - You!
Imagine over 500,000 Canadians speaking out to their MPs in support of marriage over the next few months.
That's our goal!
If each of our 50,000 supporters contacts their MP in a meaningful way and engages 10 others there won't be a single MP able to say marriage is a "non-issue."
Most importantly, we will have a much stronger chance of winning the fall vote to re-visit marriage in Parliament, and take our first critical step towards restoring marriage.
II) "Golden" Contact with Your MP
Have you made a golden contact with your MP this summer? (Remember, the most effective means of communicating with politicians are a personal visit, direct telephone discussion, or short, legible, handwritten letter.)
Your voice matters! Most politicians do listen to their constituents. Let your MP hear from you today!
III) Marriage Toolkit
We have joined forces with www.PreserveMarriage.ca to put together a comprehensive toolkit to help you in your efforts to become informed and inform others.
To help us reach our goal of mobilizing 500,000 Canadians, we need you!
Download, or order, a toolkit today!
What's in the toolkit? Powerful information that most Canadians and MPs have not yet considered in the marriage debate - information that will strengthen on side MPs, and which may give undecided MPs and those supportive of same-gender marriage sufficient reason to change their position.
In addition to valuable resources, the toolkit contains two different flyers for you to share with friends, family, colleagues, and neighbours. One is specially designed for supporters of marriage; the other is for you to share with those who are undecided or supportive of same-gender marriage.
How much time is involved? It only takes a few minutes to inform others by sharing these flyers. It is as easy as keeping a few on hand in your kitchen, car, briefcase, or purse and sharing as opportunities arise.
How can one person make a difference? Not only will you inform others, but also chances are you will share it with someone who, in turn, will download or order a toolkit and your efforts will be multiplied exponentially!
How do I get a toolkit?
i) Download Option: Select and print the portions of the toolkit that will assist you at www.PreserveMarriage.ca/eng/posters.htm (English) or www.PreserveMarriage.ca/fr/posters.htm (French)
ii) Ordering Option: We would also be happy to mail you a free toolkit. (Please allow 2-3 weeks for delivery.)
Simply write to: kits@UnitedMothers.ca, (or if you would prefer the kit in French, E-mail your request to info@PreserveMarriage.ca)
Please send us the following information to ensure that we send the toolkit that is right for you.
1. In the subject line of the E-mail please type your Province & Constituency, followed by the Kit size that would best meet your needs:
i) Small (25 flyers, plus additional resources)
ii) Medium (100 flyers, plus additional resources)
iii) Large (400 flyers, plus additional resources)
Sample Email Subject Line: "Québec: Outremont - Medium Kit"
2. In the body of the E-mail please provide your:
i) Name
ii) Mailing Address
iii) E-mail Address
iv) Phone Number (and best time of day to reach you.)
Although not necessary, if you are able to make a donation to help our efforts and cover the cost of the toolkit and postage, it would be greatly appreciated. Support can be made through our secure on-line server at http://www.unitedmothers.ca/donate.php
Cheques can be mailed to:
United Mothers Inc.; P.O. Box 234; 339 10th Avenue S.E.; Calgary, Alberta; T2G 0W2
Thanks to all of you who have responded so generously to our campaign. To date we are a quarter of the way towards our goal of $80,000.
Kind regards, Michele Dow
President
United Mothers, Fathers & Friends
21. We Need Your Help
It is a known fact that some MPs who once voted against the re-defining of marriage are now leaning the other way and want the issue to go away during their stay in Ottawa. It is estimated that we are about 20 votes short. In Nova Scotia, it is reported that Bill Casey and Peter MacKay who voted against redefinition are listed as two MPs who are leaning the other way.
During the election it was assumed from all the rhetoric that the Conservative Party would have a free vote on the same-sex marriage issue, however it seems that the wind has shifted and now the question is: "Is the house in favour of opening the issue for debate and vote?" Because the last parliament was not, is the opinion of many, a free vote, since ministers and their parliamentary secretaries had to vote with the government or lose their jobs, it was a vote full of duress and intimidation and not free.
We need to ask our MPs to vote in favour of opening the discussion, debate and vote to ensure that Parliament is allowed to be democratic and allow the freedom of conscience without intimidation from the Prime Minister's Office or the ruling party of the day.
Please call your MPs today and ask them to support any resolution that would allow a free, open debate and vote, without strings attached. The future of Canada depends on it.
PS: I am adding a note from RealWomen and will be sending more information on talking with your MP.
In their latest July-August 2006 magazine, in an article to prep their readers
for lobbying and addressing the upcoming marriage vote, provided an article
on "Some Common Objections and Possible Responses," where
they wrote:
OBJECTION: "You would be fine with the whole thing if they just called it something other than marriage because you don't think you should be in the same category?"
RESPONSE: No. It's not just a matter of terminology ...the relationship between a man and a woman in a married relationship is qualitatively different from two men or two women living together and engaging in a sexual relationship. Marriage - one man and one woman, excluding all others - is intended at its core for the bearing and rearing of children. That makes it quite different! Taking away a business enterprise's ability to make a profit means it ceases to be a business. Require a charity to make a profit and it's no longer a charity. In a similar way, taking away the heterosexual character of marriage causes it to cease being a marriage.
With Thanks and hoping you are having a good summer. - Herm Wills
22. Woman Surgeon Stresses Abortion & Breast Cancer Link at Ottawa Press
Conference - By Gudrun Schultz
OTTAWA, May 16, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com)
- An expert in the field of breast cancer presented strong evidence linking
breast cancer to abortion, in a press conference held by members of the Parliamentary
Pro-Life Caucus last Thursday.
Dr. Angela Lanfranchi is clinical assistant professor of surgery at Robert
Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey and co-founder of the Breast Cancer
Prevention Institute.
"The link between abortion and breast cancer is simply the result of a
woman's biology," said Dr. Lanfranchi, citing multiple scientific studies
that link induced abortion with a significant increase in breast cancer rates.
Breast cancer rates have increased by 40% over the 30 years since abortion was
legalized.
"It's the women of the Roe v. Wade generation that account for most of
this increase. Dramatic lifestyle changes brought about by the sexual revolution
and the women's liberation movement are largely responsible for the rampant
breast cancer we see today," she said, reported the Globe and Mail.
Liberal MP Paul Steckle and Conservative MP Maurice Vellacott invited Dr. Lanfranchi
to speak in an effort to raise awareness of the dangerous effects of abortion
on women's health.
"Breast cancer is the most common cancer among Canadian women, according
to the Canadian Cancer Society, yet that organization is not telling women about
a well-documented preventable risk-factor," said Mr. Vellacott, Conservative
co-chair of the PPLC, in a press release. "Women have a right to be told
about this increased risk."
Since 1957, over 40 studies worldwide have shown a link between induced abortion
and breast cancer. A 1996 meta-analysis conducted by Dr. Joel Brind, professor
of endocrinology at Baruch College, City University of New York, established
abortion as a significant independent risk factor for developing breast cancer.
(See Dr. Brind's review of studies conducted over the last 9 years at: http://www.jpands.org/vol10no4/brind.pdf)
According to the Canadian Cancer Society, 102 Canadian women will die of breast
cancer every week. "Withholding from women information about this preventable
risk factor could literally be a matter of life and death," said Steckle.
"This is an important women's health issue," said MP Paul Steckle,
Liberal co-chair of the PPLC. "We are doing women a disservice by ignoring
the epidemiological and biological evidence that shows women who have had abortions
are at an increased risk for developing breast cancer."
Despite mounting well-documented evidence, leading cancer research centres
such as the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada, the Canadian
Cancer Society and the Canadian Breast Cancer Network, (along with their U.S.
counterparts), have refused to acknowledge a connection between the effects
of abortion on women's bodies and their subsequent development of breast cancer.
See related LifeSiteNews coverage:
U.S. Breast Cancer Foundation Funding Abortion Provider Planned Parenthood:
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/feb/05022203.html
Canadian MP says Cancer Society Withholding Pill/Cancer Link: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/mar/06031707.html
23. Secular Franciscan Order (SFO)
The First and Second Quarter Newsletters have been posted and the Third Quarter will be completed soon. Thank you for your patience.
24. Sobey's Receipts Are Valuable
Please don't throw away your Sobey's receipts. Click here and see why!
Amount of receipts collected to date: $485,615.84
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