|
|
Click Item for More
Information
|
|
Tax funded
Abortions in NS [FAQ's]
|
|
|
Oh! Canada
Contact: clcns@clcns.com |
|
 |
1. Abortionist Who Killed Christin Gilbert Attacks Man With Car - February 11, 2007
BELLEVUE, Nebraska, Feb. 11 /Christian Newswire/ - Abortionist LeRoy Carhart was caught on video on Sunday, February 11, 2007, after he drove his car over a curb and into a sidewalk counselor who was peacefully and legally standing on the public sidewalk outside his Bellevue, Nebraska, abortion mill.
Click here to watch video
http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=aj6yq7bab.0.t8ezq7bab.tuqepibab.948&ts=S0226&p=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo.google.com%2Fvideoplay%3Fdocid%3D7987214910742992230%26pr%3Dgoog-sl.
Sidewalk counselor Joe McDaniel said, "Entering his abortion clinic this morning, Dr. Carhart deliberately drove over the curb and public sidewalk and into me. We waited ten minutes for Bellevue police officer Jarvis to arrive. Leroy and his wife took lots of photos, advised me I was breaking FACE act by standing on public sidewalk three to four feet from [the] drive entrance. Officer Jarvis asked me to move upon arrival, and Dr. Carhart continued over curb and sidewalk, through snow bank, into garage. Officer Jarvis advised me Carhart could drive in to his property any way he chose and I should stay out of his way."
"It is outrageous that any person could deliberately attack someone with a motor vehicle, then have the police intentionally look the other way," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "We urge the public to contact the Bellevue Police Department and ask them to file charges against Carhart. If he is not held accountable for his actions, he might just kill someone next time."
If that were to happen, it would not be the first time Carhart was responsible
for someone's death. In 2005, Carhart killed 19-year old Christin Gilbert
http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=aj6yq7bab.0.xszs5rbab.tuqepibab.948&ts=S0226&p=http%3A%2F%2Fjusticeforchristin.com%2F
during a botched 3rd trimester abortion at George R. Tiller's http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=aj6yq7bab.0.u8ezq7bab.tuqepibab.948&ts=S0226&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.operationrescue.org%2F%3Fp%3D536
late-term abortion mill in Wichita, KS. He avoided testifying before a grand
jury
http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=aj6yq7bab.0.ljc5rxbab.tuqepibab.948&ts=S0226&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.operationrescue.org%2F%3Fp%3D445
that investigated the death by dodging a Kansas subpoena. Tiller is currently
under suspicion of having committed illegal late-term abortions.
Carhart is perhaps best known for his rabid defense of the live partial-birth abortion procedure. His grisly testimony http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=aj6yq7bab.0.v8ezq7bab.tuqepibab.948&ts=S0226&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mttu.com%2FArticles%2FThe%2520Abortionist%2520Speaks.htm coldly describing the brutal deaths of still squirming, partially delivered babies stands as a horrific low-water mark in the moral history of our nation.
Bellevue Police Department Contact Information:
Sergeant Matt Jarvis
1-402-293-3084
mjarvis@bellevue.net
John W. Stacey, Chief of Police
1-402-293-3048
jstacey@bellevue.net
Operation Rescue is one of the leading pro-life Christian activist organizations in the nation. Operation Rescue recently made headlines when it bought and closed an abortion clinic in Wichita, Kansas and has become the voice of the pro-life activist movement in America. Its activities are on the cutting edge of the abortion issue, taking direct action to restore legal personhood to the pre-born and stop abortion in obedience to biblical mandates.
Christian Newswire
http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=aj6yq7bab.0.del6yxbab.tuqepibab.948&ts=S0226&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.christiannewswire.com
2. Convention On The Elimination Of Discrimination Against Women - February 15, 2007
Dear Fighter for the Unborn,
If you are going to help fight CEDAW, you must act now. CEDAW is the UN treaty that is being used by radicals to change laws on abortion around the world. It was just used in Colombia to overturn some of their abortion laws. This dangerous treaty is coming to the US thanks to pro-abortion Senators in the US Senate. We need your help and we need it now and there is only one more week to sign the petition.
I urge you to go to www.c-fam.org/cedawpetition.php sign the petition and then send this note to all of your friends and family. Here is more information about CEDAW….
CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women) is touted by supporters as the International Women's Rights Treaty. The treaty itself is full of nice sounding language about women's equality, something we are all for. But the implementing committee of the treaty, a body that governments must appear before every few years, is as radical as you can get. Here are a few examples of their work.
· The treaty condemns prostitution but the committee has directed governments
to legalize prostitution.
· The CEDAW committee has directed 37 pro-life governments to change
their laws on abortion, even though the treaty is SILENT on abortion.
· The CEDAW committee has criticized Ireland for allowing the Church
to have too strong a voice on public policy.
· The committee has directed Libya to reinterpret the Koran to fall within
committee guidelines (how long before they try that on Christian countries).
The outrages of this out of control committee go on and on and on. Just this past week we watched them berate pro-life Poland on the question of abortion (I repeat, even though the treaty is SILENT on abortion).
Dozens of countries have ratified CEDAW but so far the US has resisted. The US must continue to resist because as long as it does, it remains a beacon of hope for all those who are resisting this dangerous treaty. The US must not ratify CEDAW. So I turn to you.
I ask you to go to www.c-fam.org/cedawpetition.php and sign our petition to the US Senate not to ratify CEDAW. All Americans with a conscience should sign this petition, but all people of goodwill around the globe should also. The US is ever more sensitive these days about what people around the world think. The radicals will be telling the Senate that there is overwhelming support for CEDAW around the world. We must let them know that this is not true.
I urge you to go immediately to www.c-fam.org/cedawpetition.php and sign the petition against US ratification of CEDAW. We will deliver this petition with thousands of signatures directly to the US Senate. Go to www.c-fam.org/cedawpetition.php now and sign. And then send this message to all of your friends. We must get thousands and thousands from all over the world to sign this petition.
Once you sign this, please send this email to your entire address book. This treaty must be stopped and it can only be stopped by many many voices.
Yours sincerely, Austin Ruse; President, C-FAM
PS: Last summer your signature on our World Cup prostitution petition got global attention. You can make a real difference today by signing our petition against CEDAW.
PPS: Please send this message to all of your friends
and family, to your entire email address book. Urge all of them to sign the
treaty against CEDAW.
3. Days After It Stops,
NYC Teen's Heart Begins To Beat Again - February 12, 2007
Truly an amazing story that speaks
volumes about the need to take life seriously. One can only imagine that this
story could have easily had another ending and likely does happen daily. - Herm
NEW YORK (AP) - Daniel Walker was
on his final lap jogging in his high school gym class when he collapsed, his
flawed heart giving out on him.
Days later, his heart at a standstill,
kept alive by a bypass machine, it began beating again. The 17-year-old's parents
called it divine intervention. His physicians were no less amazed.
"I've been a surgeon for 10
years, and this is probably one of the most incredible things I've ever seen,"
said Dr. Abeel Mangi, one of Walker's cardiac surgeons at New York-Presbyterian
Hospital Columbia.
Walker's father described his son's
recovery in spiritual terms. "God turned around, put His hand on my son,
and recharged him," said William Walker, 58, a retired sanitation worker.
His son's ordeal began Jan. 19
when he collapsed in gym class. The younger Walker suffered from a rare congenital
heart flaw that left his coronary artery pinched, giving him only 10 percent
of normal heart capacity. He was shuttled to two hospitals before finding himself
at Columbia, waiting for a heart transplant, attached to the bypass machine.
Walker's cardiac surgeons said
they could not account for the young man's recovery.
"It's a miracle," Mangi
said. "There's really no other way to put it."
Two days after it began to beat
on its own, surgeons were able to fix the flaw in Walker's heart, increasing
its capacity to 60 percent.
Information from: Daily News, http://www.nydailynews.com - Copyright 2007 Newsday Inc.
4. European Demographic Crisis And The Pope By Joseph A. D'Agostino - February 1, 2007
Dear Colleague:
At Christmas, Pope Benedict made extensive comments about Europe's demographic decline, raising our hopes that he will author an encyclical on this most fundamental issue. As Shakespeare put it, "The world must be peopled."
Steven W. Mosher, President
PRI Weekly Briefing - 12 January 2007, Vol. 9, No. 2
The European Demographic Crisis and the Pope - By Joseph A. D'Agostino
Many believe that the College of Cardinals chose Joseph Ratzinger as Pope in a final effort to rescue Europe from the secularism, hedonism, and anti-procreationism that threaten to obliterate it over the next few decades. Cardinal Ratzinger even chose the name of St. Benedict, the Father of Europe, as his papal name. Unless Pope Benedict XVI succeeds in this task, which is an unlikely eventuality, the next Pope will probably come from another continent and focus his energies elsewhere than on the fast-dying Old World.
In the meantime, Pope Benedict has had much to say about the decadence of the wellspring of Western Christendom. I believe that low birthrates will become a more and more prominent part of the debate over Europe's future (or lack thereof), and an ever-more-acknowledged piece of evidence damning the post-modern secularist project. On a few occasions in public fora, the Pope has highlighted collapsing birthrates and explored their meaning. Most recently and perhaps most extensively, he did so during his annual Christmas speech to the Roman Curia on December 22.
The speech, given in the Clementine Hall of the Vatican, recapped notable events of the year, including the Pope's trip to Spain. "The visit to Valencia, Spain, was under the banner of the theme of marriage and the family," said His Holiness. "It was beautiful to listen, before the people assembled from all continents, to the testimonies of couples - blessed by a numerous throng of children - who introduced themselves to us and spoke of their respective journeys in the Sacrament of Marriage and in their large families. They did not hide the fact that they have also had difficult days that they have had to pass through periods of crisis. Yet, precisely through the effort of supporting one another day by day, precisely through accepting one another ever anew in the crucible of daily trials, living and suffering to the full their initial 'yes,' precisely on this Gospel path of 'losing oneself,' they had matured, rediscovered themselves and become happy."
Benedict used the recollection of this experience to muse upon the nature of Europe's demographic crisis. Even the inflated statistics of the United Nations Population Fund put Europe's total fertility rate at a fatal 1.4 and assert that Europe's population is already shrinking.
"Before these families with their children, before these families in which the generations hold hands and the future is present, the problem of Europe, which it seems no longer wants to have children, penetrated my soul. To foreigners this Europe seems to be tired, indeed, it seems to be wishing to take its leave of history," the Pope said, referencing the suicidal impulse of that apostate continent. "Why are things like this? This is the great question. The answers are undoubtedly very complex… In mentioning these difficulties, perhaps the reasons also become clearer why for many the risk of having children appears too great. A child needs loving attention. This means that we must give children some of our time, the time of our life. But precisely this "raw material" of lifetime - seems to be ever scarcer. The time we have available barely suffices for our own lives; how could we surrender it, give it to someone else? To have time and to give time - this is for us a very concrete way to learn to give oneself, to lose oneself in order to find oneself."
In modern societies, organized around production - economic production, not the production of the next generation of human beings - and infected with the feminism that has led to two-income households as a necessity for middle-class lifestyles, people haven't the time for children. Could many more deeply critical observations of modern life be made than this?
In addition, the Pope noted, adults no longer have a clear idea of how to raise children. "In addition to this problem comes the difficult calculation: What rules should we apply to ensure that the child follows the right path and in so doing, how should we respect his or her freedom?" he said. "The problem has also become very difficult because we are no longer sure of the norms to transmit; because we no longer know what the correct use of freedom is, what is the correct way to live, what is morally correct and what instead is inadmissible. The modern spirit has lost its bearings, and this lack of bearings prevents us from being indicators of the right way to others."
The Pope explained that the situation is even worse than this. "Indeed, the problem goes even deeper," he said. "Contemporary man is insecure about the future. Is it permissible to send someone into this uncertain future? In short, is it a good thing to be a person? This deep lack of self assurance - plus the wish to have one's whole life for oneself - is perhaps the deepest reason why the risk of having children appears to many to be almost unsustainable."
When doubt whether it is 'a good thing to be a person' becomes widespread in a civilization, what can save it but a profound spiritual renewal? Given the risible self-destruction of Europe's moribund Protestant churches, can any force other than the Catholic Church provide this renewal for Europe? Or perhaps Europe's fast-growing, high-fertility Muslim population will provide its own spiritual reformation for the continent.
"In fact, we can transmit life in a responsible way only if we are able to pass on something more than mere biological life, and that is, a meaning that prevails even in the crises of history to come and a certainty in the hope that is stronger than the clouds that obscure the future," continued Benedict. "Unless we learn anew the foundations of life - unless we discover in a new way the certainty of faith - it will be less and less possible for us to entrust to others the gift of life and the task of an unknown future. Connected with that, finally, is also the problem of definitive decisions: Can man bind himself forever? Can he say a 'yes' for his whole life? Yes, he can. He was created for this. In this very way, human freedom is brought about and thus the sacred context of marriage is also created and enlarged, becoming a family and building the future." The Pope went on to criticize the conditional yeses blessed by the state in civil unions for unmarried couples and to deplore the anti-human nature of same-sex 'marriage.'
Those in favor of sodomy have no respect for the human body, he said. "Such theories hold that man - that is, his intellect and his desire - would decide autonomously what he is or what he is not. In this, corporeity is scorned, with the consequence that the human being, in seeking to be emancipated from his body - from the 'biological sphere' - ends by destroying himself," asserted Benedict. Looking at the undisputed trends in the Western world, how can anyone disagree?
The Pope has made other, less extensive public references to declining birthrates as well. To a group of Canadian bishops on their ad limina visit May 20, he said, "Central to the cultural soul of the nation is Christ's immeasurable gift of faith which has been received and celebrated over the centuries with deep rejoicing by the peoples of your land. Like many countries, however, Canada is today suffering from the pervasive effects of secularism. The attempt to promote a vision of humanity apart from God's transcendent order and indifferent to Christ's beckoning light, removes from the reach of ordinary men and women the experience of genuine hope. One of the more dramatic symptoms of this mentality, clearly evident in your own region, is the plummeting birthrate. This disturbing testimony to uncertainty and fear, even if not always conscious, is in stark contrast with the definitive experience of true love which by its nature is marked by trust, seeks the good of the beloved, and looks to the eternal."
On Aug. 31, 2005, during a Wednesday public audience, the Pope said, "The Psalmist extols in particular 'the sons of youth': The father who has had sons in his youth will not only see them in their full vigor, but they will be his support in old age. He will be able, therefore, to face the future confidently, like a warrior, armed with a quiver of those victorious pointed 'arrows' that are his sons. The purpose of this image, taken from the culture of the time, is to celebrate the safety, stability and strength found in a large family, such as is presented anew in the subsequent Psalm 128, in which the portrait of a happy family is sketched. The last picture shows a father surrounded by his sons, who is welcomed with respect at the city gates, the seat of public life. Begetting is thus a gift that brings life and well-being to society. We are aware of this in our days in the face of nations that are deprived, by the demographic loss, of the freshness and energy of a future embodied by children."
Birthrates are low not only in Europe and Canada, but in most of the rest of the Christian world including Latin American nations and the United States. Our societies are aging rapidly. This disaster is so grave, and its metaphysical roots so deep in the souls of Christian men and women, that we can hope that the Pope will write an encyclical solely about this crisis. Such an encyclical will raise this issue to the level of importance and awareness that it deserves, and perhaps prompt a solution before it is too late. And aren't the low birthrates of every Western nation proof of the wisdom of the Church's teachings on secularism, marriage, feminism, contraception, and abortion?
Islamic jihad and 'global warming' are often presented as the most dangerous threats to the Western world today, yet they pale in comparison to the demographic crisis since, of course, without people, nothing else matters. We can await such a papal document with hope.
Joseph A. D'Agostino is Vice President for Communications at 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) 2007 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."
5. Euthanasia Prevention Coalition Questions Direction Of CHPCA - January 19, 2007
Response to the position of the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association's position on euthanasia and assisted suicide - January 9, 2007
The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition questions the direction of the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association (CHPCA) concerning their statement on Physician Assisted Dying that was approved by their Board of Directors - November 22, 2006.
The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition exists to prepare a well-informed, broadly based, network of groups and individuals who support measures that will create an effective social barrier to euthanasia and assisted suicide. We are a national voice that represents nearly 4000 groups and individuals.
The CHPCA appears to be asking for further consultation over the next two years from their membership concerning a new policy on euthanasia and assisted suicide. In the meantime they have established a set of principles that their membership is asked to consider in relation to these issues.
The documents guidelines have been worded in a neutral manner. There is no way to indicate whether the CHPCA supports or opposes euthanasia and assisted suicide, but rather recognizes that it is currently illegal and health-care providers should have the right not to participate in such acts. Therefore the CHPCA appears to have changed their position to a neutral position until 2008 when they will once again review their position.
Even the title of their Policy Alert was: Physician Assisted Dying (PAD) Issues Document, represents a change in direction based on language. At the World Federation of Right to Die Societies International Conference that was in Toronto - September 2006, their was a commitment by the Right to Die community to change the language in the debate concerning euthanasia and assisted suicide so their message would appeal to more people. The CHPCA has changed its language to the preferred language of the Right to Die lobby.
The CHPCA also states in its draft CHPCA Statement: "However, despite access to high quality end-of-life care, a small number of Canadians may still choose to have control over their own death. As hospice palliative care practitioners, we will respect their right to choose and will not abandon them."
When analyzing the reasons why the small number of Canadians may still choose to have "control over their own death", that if you respect their "right to choose" you are in fact abandoning them. You are abandoning them to their fears, to their depression, to their family pressures, and to their existential questioning, rather than affirming them as a valued member of society. This statement is a direct threat to our most vulnerable members of society, who even question the value and dignity of their own life.
Our primary concern lies with the inconsistency of the CHPCA position in relation to their Recommendations. They state: "Before considering legalizing euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, Canada has a responsibility to ensure that comprehensive, compassionate hospice palliative care is available to all, and that Canadians are aware of these services and how to access them."
Considering the lack of access to hospice palliative care that many Canadians face, and considering the lack of awareness of existing services and options for end-of-life care, we wonder why the previous statement was not enough for the CHPCA to renew their opposition to legalizing euthanasia and assisted suicide, at least until the time when all Canadians have access to comprehensive, compassionate hospice palliative care.
The position of the CHPCA should state: Until every single Canadian can be guaranteed quality end of life care, so that they have a legitimate choice to make, then we cannot start the debate on euthanasia and assisted suicide. And we are not there yet. And we are a long way from being there.
Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
Phone: 1-877-439-3348
E-Mail: _info@epcc.ca
6. Feminism's Triumph: The Extermination of Women - 19 January 2007
Sex-selective abortion is threatening the stability of major Asian nations. In America, our elected representatives should not only combat this scourge abroad, they should ensure it doesn't become common here. - Steven W. Mosher, President
PRI Weekly Briefing - Vol. 9, No. 3 - 19 January 2007
Feminism's Triumph: The Extermination of Women - By Joseph A. D'Agostino
In the last two years, international organizations and Asian nations have stepped
up their efforts to eliminate sex-selective abortions, which have created a
massive dearth of girls in many nations over the past 20 years.
With the new year, some new statistics have been released. The result of these efforts? The sex imbalance continues to worsen, not improve, thanks to the ever-increasing spread of cheap abortion and ultrasound technology into more and more areas of China, India, and other countries.
One expert who spoke at the United Nations estimates that up to 200 million women and girls are missing worldwide because of sex-selective abortion and female infanticide. Some experts put the figure as low as 60 million. All agree it gets bigger every day.
With rapidly growing Asian and Muslim immigrant communities in the United States, will a sex ratio imbalance soon emerge here, unless sex-selective abortion is outlawed? Last year, a Zogby/USA Today poll found that 86% of Americans oppose sex-selective abortions. Sex imbalances have already been documented among Canada's Asian immigrant communities.
Feminists like to blame this rapidly-worsening situation on 'patriarchy', but that has been around for thousands of years and is less powerful today than ever before. What is new is the access to abortion in so many places. And this has long been a paramount goal of feminists: To grant the 'right to control her own body' to each woman on Earth via unrestricted abortion. That, combined with falling prices for the ultrasound machines that can reveal an unborn child's sex, has produced the disastrous situation that the Asian world is in now.
And just how, exactly, are men on the whole supposed to benefit from being unable to find wives? By 2020, 30 million Chinese men of marriageable age are expected to be in that situation because of 30 million 'missing' young women. Many historians warn that a large number of unmarried men in a society is a recipe for social unrest and war. The kidnapping of women for forced marriage and prostitution is already increasing exponentially in Asia. This is a disaster for both sexes and society as a whole.
The great experiment of feminism, just 40 years or so old as a social force, has produced this wonder: The ever-growing elimination of more and more girls worldwide. And so far, nothing can stop it. Indeed, from the feminist perspective, how or why should it be stopped? If women have a right to an abortion, why can they not exercise it on the basis of sex selection? Is the abortion her choice, or the government's?
Also, beyond mere personal preference, many women and their husbands have rational reasons for preferring sons over daughters. For example, most Chinese still live on farms barely above subsistence level. A son is better able to perform the hard work that farm life demands than a daughter. Sons and sons' wives traditionally care for the sons' parents, while daughters join their husbands' families.
When you consider that China's Communist government forcibly limits Chinese families to one or two children, it's no surprise that Chinese couples employ abortion to ensure having a son while staying under the limit. They murder their own children to comply with the law while ensuring their own survival in old age. Some Indian states, too, employ coercive practices to limit family size to two. Western feminists supported population control from the very beginning, believing that fewer children would liberate women from the 'oppression' of motherhood. And tax, spending, and economic pressures all over the developed world have made child-raising very expensive.
Outlawing sex-selective abortion has not made any difference in China and India. There is no way to enforce such a ban when abortion laws are so permissive. The only solution, of course, is a return to a culture that values all human life, and legal protection for unborn children. Growing sex ratio imbalances provide strong evidence for the practical arguments against abortion, separate from moral ones. Some large societies could simply fall apart if abortion is not restrained.
Let's look at some of the statistics for the sex imbalances that the brave new world of abortion has wreaked in just two decades. According to China Daily, 118 Chinese boys were born for every 100 Chinese girls last year, up from 110 just five years earlier. The maximum natural imbalance is 107 boys per 100 girls. The 118-100 Chinese split is just for births and doesn't account for the far greater number of girls than boys who are allowed to starve to death as children, or who are sent off to ill-managed government orphanages (95% of Chinese orphans are girls). In prosperous Guangdong province in southern China, the ratio has reached 130 boys per 100 girls, proving that financial hardship is not the primary cause of this phenomenon. UNICEF estimates that there are only 832 girls per 1,000 boys in China, making the world's largest country also its most sex-imbalanced.
India, the world's second-largest nation, has the second-worst sex ratio, with 927 girls for every 1,000 boys. Again, poverty is not the primary root cause: In the Indian state with the highest per capita income, Punjab, the imbalance is 793 girls for every 1,000 boys. Fifteen years ago, when India was poorer and abortion and ultrasound less affordable, it was 874 per 1,000 in Punjab. Sex imbalances in China and India really matter, because together, these two countries have over one-third of the Earth's population. UNICEF, no opponent of abortion in general, says 7,000 fewer girls are now born in India each day than nature would dictate, and ten million have been killed during pregnancy or just after in the past 20 years.
Taiwan has 110 boys born for every 100 girls, and South Korea has 108.
The Toronto Globe & Mail has noticed a slight tendency toward sex-selection among South Asian immigrant communities. Focusing on the areas in which many of these immigrants have chosen to settle, the newspaper reported, "Figures from the 2001 census supplied by Statistics Canada suggest a slight skew in the usual gender ratio among people with South Asian backgrounds... According to the 2001 census data, the proportion of girls under 15 in the South Asian communities of Mississauga and Brampton is two percentage points below the ratio for the rest of the population in those municipalities."
That's not nearly as bad as in India, where the difference is 6%, or China, where it is 12%. Yet, as these communities grow rapidly and become less and less assimilated with their host country - which the Globe & Mail says is the trend - will sex-selective abortion increase?
Sex imbalances are worsening in Middle Eastern and African countries as well, with abortion and ultrasound gradually penetrating traditional cultures there. Can Europe, with its expanding immigrant communities and shrinking native populations, be immune?
Reliable data on the United States' immigrant communities is hard to come by. Certainly, the United States as a whole has no unnatural imbalance in her boy-girl ratio.
Should we wait for this problem to develop into a substantial one here before
taking action? As Americans, we should ensure that this immoral and socially
destructive habit does not become entrenched here as our Chinese and other immigrant
communities continue their rapid growth.
China and India outlawed sex-selective abortion years ago, to no effect, and their societies are headed over a cliff. Here in the United States, with our more effective regulatory structure, we should outlaw this practice and seek to eliminate it elsewhere around the world before this crisis gets any worse.
The worsening sex ratio of the world in general, and Asia in particular, is proof that abortion-on-demand isn't practical.
Joseph A. D'Agostino is Vice President for Communications at the Population Research Institute.
PRI
P.O. Box 1559
Front Royal, Va. 22630
USA
Phone: (540) 622-5240 Fax: (540) 622-2728
Email: jad@pop.org
Media Contact: Joseph A. D'Agostino
(540) 622-5240, ext. 204
Website: www.pop.org
(c) 2007 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 email 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."
7. International Perpetual Rosary For Life - February 21, 2007
Priests for Life Canada
P.O. Box 43, Cumberland, ON
1-613-732-3950
In an effort to defend human life, Priests for Life Canada has initiated an International Perpetual Rosary for Life. Those who sign on are requested to do their best to pray the Holy Rosary (using pro-life intentions) at a specific time of choosing - either daily or once a week (similar to Perpetual Adoration). Priests for Life Canada will mail to participants a package of information, which is complete with suggested pro-life prayer intentions. The initials and city of the participant will also be included in an on-line schedule (see link on the Rosary page).
As prayer is our number one defense in an effort to restore our society to a culture of life, the International Perpetual Rosary for Life will go a long ways to defend life from conception to natural death. We beg for your assistance in promoting this effort.
Yours for Life,
Anne,
For Priests for Life Canada
"International Perpetual Rosary for Life"
Coordinator.
anne@priestsforlifecanada.com
8. Lifeissues.net Newsletter #308 - January 27, 2007
Greetings from LifeIssues.net (http://www.lifeissues.net/)
Dear Friends for Life,
Since its decriminalization in the US (Roe vs. Wade) on January 22, 1973, abortion has grown into billions-of-dollars-a-year enterprise worldwide, and has become the most frequently performed surgical operation. Abortion is a spiteful business. And it is also a colossal business. The mind-numbing enormity of the market and the shattering effects on the social fabric have hurtled abortion to the forefront of our social, economic, political, and ethical concerns.
Abortion is not as safe as the pro-abortion advocates would like us to believe. A number of studies conducted by some of the finest medical research institutions all around the globe confirm that "there is no such thing as safe and legal abortion": in Hungary, Japan, Greece, Great Britain, Czechoslovakia, Netherlands, Norway, Israel, Yugoslavia, and the United States at the Johns Hopkins University Medical School, The Vanderbilt University Medical School, the University of Maryland Medical School, the UCLA Medical School, and the North Carolina Medical School. In every case, abortion was found to dangerously risk maternal mortality, perinatal fitness, congenital malformation, and future fertility. All this evidence flies in the face of what Planned Parenthood has repeatedly maintained over the past 34 years.
The fact is, every one of the procedures and techniques that Planned Parenthood utilizes in its booming abortion trade involves two victims: the murdered unborn child and the mutilated, violated, and uninformed mother. The decision to abort cuts deeply into the true essence and integrity of womanhood itself, and society should never attempt to pressure mothers into such an unnatural, unmotherly, and horrible decision.
God Bless, Marlon Castillo Ramirez, Assistant Editor
(A Thought) "Most of the women who have had an abortion consider it as an ugly and painful memory" Most have many regrets about their abortions, even if they believe it to have been their 'only choice.' This is why they don't support the radical agenda of pro-abortion special interest groups. They've been there, done that, and hated it." (Dr. David Reardon)
Lifeissues.net Newsletter #308 - January 27, 2007
Table Of Contents:
1. Women Hurt By Abortion Speak Out On The Anniversary Of Roe V. Wade
2. CBS News Poll: Majority Of Americans Want Abortion Illegal, Restrictions
3. China To Repeal Policy On Sex-Selection Abortions
4. British Catholic Adoption Agencies Not Likely To Be Exempted From Gay Law
5. Funding For Stem Cell Research No Longer Needed
6. The Mystery Of The Chinese Baby Shortage
7. HPV Vaccine Statement From The American College Of Pediatricians
8. Catholic Church And The Unborn Among Most Discriminated In Argentina
9. "Roe V. Wade Week" At Yale Features Do It Yourself Abortions
10. Us Doctors Plan Womb Transplant
11. Catholic Politicians Cannot Support Abortion, Say Chilean Bishops
12. The Attack On Kids With Down Syndrome
Focus On Asia: China admits gender imbalance problem could take 15 years to solve. Days after saying they would step up efforts to stop sex-selection abortions and the use of ultrasounds to determine the sex of an unborn child for non-medical reasons, leading Chinese officials have said it could take as much as 15 years for it to resolve its gender imbalance problems. China currently has a male-female ratio of 119-100 while the number is closer to 103-100 in most industrialized nations. The figure is as high as 130-100 in some rural areas where a preference for boys is stronger to carry on the family name and work the family farm. (http://www.lifenews.com/int169.html)
Item #1. Women Hurt by Abortion Speak Out on the
Anniversary of Roe v. Wade
January 22nd marks the 34th anniversary of Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, the
two Supreme Court cases that brought legal abortion to America. When abortion
became legal in 1973, we were told it was a safe, simple solution. This is not
the truth. Thirty-four years and over 45 million abortions later, another reality
is evident: Abortion has devastating, long-lasting and far-reaching effects
that include grief, fear, guilt, anxiety, paralyzing depression, drug and alcohol
abuse, infertility, breast cancer and fear of breast cancer, suicidal thoughts
and attempts, nightmares, relationship problems with children and spouses, and
self-destructive behaviors.
"We are speaking out because we want to tell America about the tragic and harmful effects of abortion to women, men, children, the family, and the culture," said Caron Strong, National Director of Operation Outcry. "The Supreme Court's decisions in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton brought devastation to us when we chose abortion," she added.
View full file at Christian Newswire: http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/299302022.html
Item #2. CBS News Poll: Majority of Americans Want
Abortion Illegal, Restrictions
A new CBS News poll finds that a majority of Americans want to prohibit abortions
in all or most cases or want greater restrictions on abortions. The poll results
are consistent with the results from 2006 when more than half of those polled
wanted to make abortion illegal all or most of the time.
The poll was conducted from January 18-21 and it surveyed 1,168 adults nationwide. The survey asked respondents to give their "personal feeling" about abortion and asked them whether they wanted abortion to be always permitted, subject to greater restrictions, allowed only in cases of rape, incest or saving the life of the mother, or only allowed to save the life of the mother.
CBS News did not ask respondents whether they thought abortion should never be allowed, although it tabulated the results of those who volunteered that answer.
View full text at CBS News: http://www.lifenews.com/nat2897.html
Item #3. China To Repeal Policy On Sex-Selection
Abortions
The Chinese government has committed to do more to end sex-selection abortions
and to correct a growing gender imbalance in the country.
The official Chinese news agency, Xinhua, reported on Monday that the government
will increase enforcement of laws designed to prohibit the use of ultrasounds
to determine the sex of an unborn child.
A government document states that the gender-ratio imbalance "amounts to 'a hidden danger' for society that will 'affect social stability.'"
View full text at CNA News: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=8447
Item #4. British Catholic Adoption Agencies Not
Likely To Be Exempted From Gay Law
Yesterday, British news media were speculating that Prime Minister Tony Blair
could favour an opt-out clause in legislation that would otherwise force Catholic
adoption agencies to act against their principles and place children with homosexual
partners.
Reports today show, however, that a compromise to preserve Catholic social aid agencies is likely not in the offing.
Alan Johnson, Secretary of State for Education and Skills with responsibility for adoption told BBC radio, "I don't see a case for exemption and I don't think the prime minister does."
Johnson, a Labour politician known from early in his career for his ideological alignment with the Communist Party of Great Britain, said, "To me this is legislation to prevent discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and you cannot do that and at the same time allow discrimination in one area."
View full text at LifeSite News: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/jan/07012401.html
Item #5. Funding For Stem Cell Research No Longer
Needed
Without conclusive findings on the effectiveness of embryonic stem cells, it
is irresponsible for Congress to authorize additional federal funding. Embryonic
stem cell research has failed to offer a cure for a single disease.
The House of Representatives passed legislation last Thursday, Jan. 11th to broaden federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, which requires the killing of human embryos. The president promises to veto the bill, should it pass the Senate. Stem cells are cells that scientists can specialize, or differentiate, into any type of cell to replace damaged cells.
Human embryos are not the only source of stem cells. Embryonic germ cells, umbilical cord cells, adult cells and amniotic cells are other sources of stem cells. But embryonic stem cells are the only source that requires the destruction of human life.
View full text at The Graphic: http://graphic.pepperdine.edu/perspectives/2007/2007-1-25-stemcells.htm
Item #6. The Mystery Of The Chinese Baby Shortage
According to a State Department report released this week, American citizens
adopted 6,493 children from China in 2006, a decline of 18 percent from the
previous year's total of 7,906. And yet, just over a month ago, this newspaper
reported that China had prepared strict new criteria for foreign adoption applications
because the country claimed it lacked "available" babies to meet the
"spike" in demand.
China has always limited foreign adoptions, and it does not publish reliable statistics on the number of children in its orphanages. So how is one to know whether the decrease in adoptions reflects a lack of supply or a lack of demand?
See the full article at The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/23/opinion/23russell.html?pagewanted=print
Item #7. HPV Vaccine Statement From The American
College Of Pediatricians
The American College of Pediatricians applauds the availability of HPV vaccine.
We strongly oppose requiring students to obtain the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV)
vaccine as a requirement for public school attendance.
HPV is spread only by intercourse. Keeping children out of school because they have not been vaccinated with the HPV vaccine is a serious, precedent-setting action. It replaces parental medical decision-making with government regulation, which should be reserved for the improvement of the general public health. HPV cannot innocently be 'caught' in a classroom as measles or other vaccine preventable diseases can.
It is not known how long the HPV vaccine will provide protection against HPV disease. Because of this and because all potential side effects are not yet known, the College also calls for the establishment of a vaccine registry for HPV vaccine recipients.
View full article at Christian Newswire: http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/345172026.html
Item #8. Catholic Church And The Unborn Among Most
Discriminated In Argentina
An investigation by the group Pro-Life in Argentina has revealed that the Catholic
Church and the unborn are the two groups that are the most discriminated against
in that country.
In the case of the Church, the report cites various cases, such as the attacks against the Cathedral of Buenos Aires, vandalism at the Cathedral of Corrientes, church burnings in Misiones, the removal of the images of Our Lady from courtrooms, the attack on a church in Santa Fe, and the constant ridicule of the Church in media, which is subject to government oversight.
With regard to the unborn, the report focuses on the deaths of babies authorized by provincial courts in Mendoza and Buenos Aires and requested by the grandmothers, who said their pregnant daughters were battling handicaps and were unable to carry the children to term.
View full article at CNA: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=8437
Item #9. "Roe V. Wade Week" At Yale Features
Do It Yourself Abortions
Celebrations for "Roe v. Wade Week" at Yale University on Thursday
featured a workshop sponsored by pro-abortion clubs teaching students about
the "simple procedure" of abortion; a procedure made complicated and
"emotionally traumatic" by "media attention."
The Yale Daily News reports that The Yale Medical Students for Choice invited medical students and other Yale undergraduates to a demonstration on abortion via manual vacuum aspiration - a surgical abortion method using a syringe to remove an aborted or miscarried baby or miscarriage from a woman's womb - using papaya as a model uterus.
View entire text at LifeSite News: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/jan/07012503.html
Item #10. US Doctors Plan Womb Transplant
A team of doctors in New York says they are planning to perform the first womb
transplant in the US. The procedure would potentially allow women who have had
their wombs damaged or removed to develop a pregnancy and give birth.
The plan is use a womb from a woman who has died. A womb transplant has been tried once before, in Saudi Arabia in 2000, but then the womb came from a live donor, and was rejected after three months.
View full text at BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6269791.stm
Item #11. Catholic Politicians Cannot Support Abortion,
Say Chilean Bishops
A politician who claims to be Catholic, whether of the left or of the right,
cannot support abortion, warned Archbishop Alejandro Goic, president of the
Bishops' Conference of Chile, after the Chilean parliament took up a measure
last Friday that would legalize "therapeutic" abortion under any circumstances.
On Thursday of last week, the president of the Chilean House of Representatives, Antonio Leal, sent a bill to reestablish therapeutic abortion to the floor put forth by lawmakers from the ruling party, although Representative Francisco Chahuan of Parliamentarians for Life said the bill could be declared unconstitutional for constituting an attack on human life.
Read full article at CNA: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=8439
Item #12. The Attack On Kids With Down Syndrome
Jan. 29, 2007 issue - What did Jon Will and the more than 350,000 American citizens
like him do to tick off the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists?
It seems to want to help eliminate from America almost all of a category of
citizens, a category that includes Jon.
Born in 1972, Jon has Down syndrome. That is a congenital condition resulting from a chromosomal defect that causes varying degrees of mental retardation and some physical abnormalities, such as low muscle tone, small stature, a single crease across the center of the palms, flatness of the back of the head and an upward slant to the eyes (when Jon was born, Down syndrome people were still commonly called Mongoloids). There also is increased risk of congenital heart defects, childhood leukemia and Alzheimer's disease. Down syndrome, although not common, is among the most common congenital anomalies - 47.9 per 100,000 births (compared with 77.7 with cleft lips or palates, which also can be diagnosed in utero, and which sometimes result in abortions).
See the full article at Newsweek: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16720750/site/newsweek/
Get Involved:
1. Pray daily that we all may have the courage
to be God's presence in society and strongly support those who have been deemed
"unworthy of life".
2. Be informed at Lifeissues.net website: http://www.lifeissues.net/.
3. Think about participating in Fr. Jerry's "2007
Speaking Tours" to poorer countries in Asia. 'Journey for Life into the
Heart of Asia' is a project, which appeals for donations to help finance travel
expenses. The lectures this year will continue to place emphasis on "The
Asian Family at Crossroads: Trends and Challenges". Kindly send your donations
directly to: Fr. Jerry Novotny, OMI; LifeIssues.net, Editor; Akebono-cho 1-15-9;
Kochi City, Japan, 780-8072; (or transfer donation directly to ProLife bank
account: Jerome Novotny, Shikoku Bank, Asakura Branch, No. 102-1-0080824)
4. Prior issues of LifeIssues.net Newsletter available
online. http://lifeissues.net/newsletters/mojo.cgi?flavor=archive&list=lifenews&start=0.
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
Contact Assistant Editor: Mr. Marlon Castillo Ramirez; Author of Book: "The Sights and Soul of Life"; E-Mail: mcr4lifeissues@gmail.com
Websites by Editor:
English LifeIssues Site: http://www.lifeissues.net,
Japanese LifeIssues Site: http://www.japan-lifeissues.net,
OMI Site: http://www.omijapankorea.net/index.html
9. Lifeissues.net Newsletter #310 - February 11, 2007
Greetings from LifeIssues.net (www.lifeissues.net)
Dear Friends for Life,
A Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor lecturing in Canberra, Australia, has stated that embryonic stem cell research is "no where close to helping patients." This is because injecting these cells into another human causes tumors and cancers made up of "lots of different kinds of tissues." Since tumor formation is an inherent feature of these cells, "it is possible that the problem will be solved down the road, but it is going to be a very long time coming, if ever."
Another Fraudulent Embryonic Stem Cell Experiment! In the journal, Nature, there was a recent report by Robert Lanza, of Advanced Cell Technology stating that they had created embryonic stem cells, during which the embryo was in no way harmed or destroyed. This was a total fraud. It now comes out that all of the embryos were killed in the process, and none were viable. This makes two ACT "miracle breakthrough" articles that have been withdrawn.
Scientists at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore are treating heart attacks with adult stem cells. They have taken the cells from healthy heart tissue and are using them to repair other areas in the heart that have been damaged by heart attacks. Note: These are adult, not embryonic stem cells.
God Bless, Jerry Novotny, OMI
(A Song:) It only takes a spark to get a fire going, / And soon all those around can warm up in its glowing; / That's how it is with God's Love, / Once you've experienced it, / You spread the love to everyone / You want to pass it on. Listen and Meditate: http://my.homewithgod.com/heavenlymidis2/pass.html
Lifeissues.net Newsletter #310 - February 11, 2007
Table Of Contents:
1. Rent-A-Womb In India Fuels Surrogate Motherhood Debate
2. Study: More Kids Exposed To Online Porn
3. Why Do We Murder Down Syndrome Babies?
4. Chinese Survey Finds Religion Booming
5. Parents Sue Over Daughter's Suicide
6. Deprived Of Love, Play And Hope, The 250,000 Children Still Fighting
7. The Rise Of Infanticide Consciousness
8. New Zealand May Ban Euthanasia Book
9. Questions On Stem Cells
10. Asia Faces 'Growing Poverty Gap'
11. Suicides Surge In South Korea
12. Australia Alarm At Rises In HIV
Focus on Asia: Karnataka Government in India is introducing law on compulsory HIV test before marriage. Following the footsteps of Goa, the Karnataka government in its efforts to control the dreaded disease AIDS is toying with the idea of bringing in a law to make HIV tests mandatory before marriage.
The objective of the law is to control the spread of AIDS in the state. Karnataka Health Minister R Ashok said, that there are several cases in which innocent people unknowingly marrying to HIV positive are becoming unfortunate victims to AIDS. "Hence our plan to bring in this law. It will call for mandatory HIV test reports of all the 'to-be-married' candidates to confirm their HIV free status", he said.
Karnataka State AIDS Prevention Society 2005 surveillance figures show that Bagalkot in north Karnataka is among the 12 high prevalence districts when it comes to HIV/AIDS cases in the state. The prevalence in the district alone is 2.88 per cent. It is 3.19 per cent in rural limits and 2.34 per cent in the urban limits. The Devadasi system, migrant labourers and child marriages are said to be root causes for such a high rate of prevalence in the district and the other being the wealthy agriculturalists who indulge in high risk behaviour.
Item #1. Rent-A-Womb In India Fuels Surrogate Motherhood
Debate
Jyoti Dave is pregnant, but when the 30-year-old gives birth in March the baby
will not be taken home to bond with her other child, but will instead be handed
over to an American couple unable to conceive.
For her trouble, the Indian surrogate mother will be paid. She won't say how much, but she says it's money she desperately needs to feed her poor family after an industrial accident left the family's only breadwinner unable to work.
View full file at Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/inDepthNews/idUSDEL29873520070205
Item #2. Study: More Kids Exposed To Online Porn
More children and teens are being exposed to online pornography, mostly by accidentally
viewing sexually explicit Web sites while surfing the Internet, researchers
say.
Forty-two percent of Internet users aged 10 to 17 surveyed said they had seen online pornography in the past year. Of those, 66 percent said they did not want to view the images and had not sought them out, University of New Hampshire researchers found. Their conclusions appear in February's Pediatrics, due out Monday.
View full text at MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16981028/
Item #3. Why Do We Murder Down Syndrome Babies?
Legalizing euthanasia in Australia would put elderly people at risk of being
"bumped off", federal Health Minister Tony Abbott has warned, after
an Australian man travelled to Switzerland to legally end his life.
As the death of Sydney doctor John Elliott reignited debate on euthanasia, Mr. Abbott said he would oppose any law that encouraged or allowed someone to deliberately end another person's life.
"If euthanasia were legalized there's a whole range of old people who would suddenly be at risk of being bumped off," Mr. Abbott told The Age.
View full text at theage.com.au: http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/abbott-hits-out-at-new-push-on-euthanasia-laws/2007/01/28/1169919213433.html
Item #4. Chinese Survey Finds Religion Booming
China has three times as many religious believers as previously thought, according
to a new survey that suggests this nominally atheist nation has never been more
open to the "opium of the masses". Professors at East China Normal
University estimated that about 300 million people - equivalent to more than
30% of the adult population - followed Buddhist, Taoist, Christian, Muslim or
other beliefs.
The new figures cast doubt on official statistics, which claim China has only 100 million religious worshippers, as well as calling into question the government's assertion that superstitious beliefs will wither away under communist rule. Many religions have flourished since the end of the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution, when temples, churches, mosques and shrines were desecrated.
View full text at The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,2007690,00.html
Item #5. Parents Sue Over Daughter's Suicide
Bullying, a perennial problem in Japanese schools, grabbed headlines late last
year after a series of suicides by school children that were blamed on bullying.
More than a dozen children have killed themselves since September.
View full text at news.com.au: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21186754-38196,00.html
Item #6. Deprived Of Love, Play And Hope, The 250,000
Children Still Fighting
Using children in war was supposed to have been banned 10 years ago. But 250,000
children as young as six are still involved in more than a dozen conflicts worldwide,
seven of them in Africa, and others are still being recruited.
See the full article at Telegraph.co.uk: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/06/wuganda06.xml
Item #7. The Rise Of Infanticide Consciousness
I have been warning that infanticide is being normalized among the intelligentsia
and in medicine. This story from Australia is more evidence that this is true.
Apparently one-third of Aussie doctors would kill babies born with severe disabilities.
And here's an interesting twist that demonstrates that would be disabled baby
killers do not come at this from an objective view: "The survey found that
doctors who fear a slow and painful death are more likely to hasten the death
of sick infants in their care."
In light of recent stories, such as the Swiss court permitting assisted suicide of the mentally ill, can anyone seriously believe that assisted suicide is really about "choice" when nothing else can be done to alleviate the suffering of competent, dying patients? - Wesley J. Smith
Source: http://www.wesleyjsmith.com/blog/labels/Infanticide.%20%20Euthanasia.%20%20Assisted%20Suicide.html
See related coverage:
One-Third Of Doctors Would Hasten Death Of Ill Newborn
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/onethird-of-doctors-would-hasten-death-of-ill-newborn/2007/02/06/1170524094673.html
Swiss Allow Assisted Suicide Virtually On Demand
http://www.wesleyjsmith.com/blog/2007/02/swiss-allow-assisted-suicide-virtually.html
Item #8. New Zealand May Ban Euthanasia Book
New Zealand authorities have warned a controversial book written by Australian
euthanasia advocate Philip Nitschke could be banned if it promotes suicide.
Dr Nitschke, known for his strong views on assisted suicide, arrives in Auckland on Friday to hold workshops on assisted suicide and, on Sunday, to launch his book The Peaceful Pill.
View full article at news.com.au: http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,21186525-5001028,00.html
Item #9. Questions On Stem Cells
Mark O'Rourke, M.D., responds to the basic questions concerning the humanity
of the embryo.
View entire The State.com: http://www.thestate.com/mld/state/news/opinion/16584750.htm
Item #10. Asia Faces 'Growing Poverty Gap'
The president of the Asian Development Bank has warned of increasing inequality
across Asia.
View full text at BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6342599.stm
Item #11. Suicides Surge In South Korea
· South Korea ranks among world's top nations for suicides
· Surge in suicides fueled by economic, online boom
· Celebrities also part of trend
Read full article at CNN.com: http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/02/09/skorea.suicides.ap/index.html
Item #12. Australia Alarm At Rises In HIV
HIV is again casting an ominous shadow across Australia's gay community.
See the full article at BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6332073.stm
Get Involved:
1. Pray daily that we all may have the courage
to be God's presence in society and strongly support those who have been deemed
"unworthy of life".
2. Be informed at Lifeissues.net website: http://www.lifeissues.net.
3. Become a missionary for human life: "Journey
for Life into the Heart of Asia" is a project which appeals for donations
to help finance travel expenses for talks to undeveloped countries in Asia.
Fr. Jerry's lectures this year will emphasis "The Asian Family at Crossroads:
Life Issues, Trends and Challenges". For Lectures in Asia: contact Fr.
Jerry. To become a Missionary for Human Life in Asia, kindly send your donations
directly to:
Fr. Jerry Novotny, OMI; LifeIssues.net, Editor; Akebono-cho 1-15-9; Kochi City,
Japan, 780-8072; (or transfer donation directly to ProLife bank account: Jerome
Novotny, Shikoku Bank, Asakura Branch, No. 102-1-0080824)
4. Prior issues of LifeIssues.net Newsletter available
online. http://lifeissues.net/newsletters/mojo.cgi?flavor=archive&list=lifenews&start=0.
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
Contact Assistant Editor: Mr. Marlon Castillo Ramirez; Author of Book: "The Sights and Soul of Life"; E-Mail: mcr4lifeissues@gmail.com
Websites by Editor:
English LifeIssues Site: http://www.lifeissues.net,
Japanese LifeIssues Site: http://www.japan-lifeissues.net,
OMI Site: http://www.omijapankorea.net/index.html
10. Lifeissues.net Newsletter #311 - February 18, 2007
Greetings from LifeIssues.net (www.lifeissues.net)
Dear Friends for Life,
Our headlines this week provide a gripping snapshots of how humanists and their bureaucratic allies are on an ideological rampage, determined to expunge traditional marriage and bulldoze families. The family shapes the nation because it shapes the lives of those who make up the nation. It is within the family that we either gain or fail to gain our sense of belonging, our sexual identity, and our sense of self-worth.
Dr. Nick Stinnett, chairman of the Department of Human Development and the Family at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, believes that history clearly illustrates the relationship between the strength of families and the strength of nations. "As we study some of the ancient cultures such as that of Egypt, Rome and Greece," says Stinnett, "we see a common pattern: When these cultures were coming into the peak of their power and glory as nations, the family was strong. It was important and was valued very highly. Family members cooperated with one another. They depended on each other.
"Then, as these nations progressed along their paths of destiny, the family came to be not so highly valued, the culture became extremely individualistic. It was a 'do your own thing' philosophy to an excessive degree. The families deteriorated. When that happened, the societies themselves fell."
What happened before is regrettably happening now. But there is hope for humanity to recover. And that hope can only be rediscovered and nurtured in strong family relationships.
God Bless, Marlon Castillo Ramirez, Assistant Editor
(A Quote) The madness of modernity consists in this: it offers only bondage yet advertises it as freedom; it offers only tyranny, yet parades it as a choice. This surely is no moral business. - Hilaire Belloc
Lifeissues.Net Newsletter #311 - February 18, 2007
Table Of Contents:
1. Most Doctors In Portugal Oppose Abortion
2. 'Gay' Groups: We Have Rights To Your Children!
3. France: Religious Leaders Sign Joint Statement Defending Traditional Marriage
4. Malta Government Leaders: EU Won't Bully Us To Legalize Abortion
5. 300 Babies A Year Damaged By Alcohol
6. 'I Want' Abortion Generation Criticized
7. Pill Under Attack
8. Network Of Homosexual Political Donors Influencing State Election Campaigns
9. Study: Sex Of Any Kind Can Harm Teens Emotionally
10. Cuyahoga Co. To Allow Organ Harvest Before Brain Death
11. Puerto Rican Bishop Says Proposed Bill Against The Family Is 'Aberrant'
12. Swedish Proposal To Abort Children Of Foreign Nationals Draws Criticism
Focus on Asia: Maternity services are under pressure in Chinese hospitals as the next Chinese year (beginning 17th February) brings a 'baby boom'. Because the year will be a 'year of the pig', and also a 'golden year' in the Chinese calendar cycle, babies born during it are popularly believed to be extra lucky. Hospital authorities say many parents have deliberately targeted this year to have the one child permitted them under China's population control authority, and 150,000 babies are expected in Beijing alone (as compared to 129,000 last year). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/11/wchina11.xml
Item #1. Most Doctors In Portugal Oppose Abortion
The Dean of the College of Medicine of Portugal, Pedro Nunes, said this week
that the Physicians' Code of Ethics defends human life from conception and that
most doctors oppose abortion. Nunes said that doctors, therefore, have the right
to exercise conscientious objection in the event that abortion is imposed on
the country.
In statements to the EFE news agency, Nunes recalled that the College of Medicine did not take an official position during the recent referendum on the legalization of abortion. Nevertheless, he emphasized that most doctors defend life from the moment of conception.
View full file at CNA: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=8653
Item #2. 'Gay' Groups: We Have Rights To Your Children!
A collection of 'gay' organizations has filed a friend-of-the-court brief in
a Massachusetts lawsuit, claiming they have every right to teach their doctrine
to grade school students.
Parental rights, according to the brief filed this week, "have never meant that a parent can demand prior notice and the right to opt a child out of mere exposure to ideas in the public schools that a parent disapproves of." That includes, according to the brief, religious or any other ideas.
View full text at World Net Daily: http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52311
Item #3. France: Religious Leaders Sign Joint Statement
Defending Traditional Marriage
Christian, Jewish and Muslim religious leaders in France came together last
week to sign a statement proclaiming the fundamental place of marriage in human
society and their opposition to same-sex unions, Zenit News Agency reported
Feb.13.
Signatories of the statement included the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Lyon, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin.
"The question is to know today if the law can authorize the marriage of two persons of the same sex," the statement said, signed on Feb. 6 in Lyon. "It is not a question of a simple debate in society, but of a greater choice, unprecedented in the history of humanity. It is not a gift that should be given to future generations."
View full text at Lifesite News: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/feb/07021403.html
Item #4. Malta Government Leaders: EU Won't Bully
Us To Legalize Abortion
Government leaders in Malta say the island nation will not cave in to pressure
from the United Nations and European Union leaders to legalize abortion. The
statement comes just days after Portugal voters defeated an abortion referendum
and government leaders responded by saying they would legalize the practice.
A local news story carried on the General Workers' Union daily l-orizzont said the government is considering legalizing abortion. However, a representative of the Malta Foreign Affairs Ministry told the Malta Independent newspaper that's not the case.
In a statement, the government said it has always told the UN and EU that abortion must be left for individual countries to decide on and that it will continue to keep abortions illegal. Officials said the Maltese people remain resolutely opposed to legalizing abortion.
View full text at Life News: http://www.lifenews.com/int183.html
Item #5. 300 Babies A Year Damaged By Alcohol
Thousands of children in Scotland may be suffering the damaging effects of alcohol
exposure in the womb, but most are undiagnosed, experts have warned.
More than 300 babies a year could be born with impairments caused by their mothers' drinking during pregnancy.
View full text at Scotsman.com: http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=226152007&format=send
Item #6. 'I Want' Abortion Generation Criticized
Campaigners and church heads in Wales have condemned the large number of women
they say are using abortion as a form of contraception, despite being in long-term
relationships. Figures published today reveal more than one in five Welsh women
in their late 20s and early 30s have had an abortion while in a long-term relationship.
Half of those questioned had become pregnant after failing to use contraception.
Pro-life campaigners said the research reflected the selfish attitude of an "I Want" generation who are determined not to let pregnancy interfere with their career plans.
The poll of more than 1,000 women aged 26-34 across the UK found of those who'd had an abortion, 25% of Welsh woman had forgotten to take the contraceptive pill, while 25% were not using any contraception at all.
See the full article at ICWales:
http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200wales/tm_method=full%26objectid=18609440%26siteid=50082-name_page.html
Item #7. Pill Under Attack
A specialist in women's health, responding to Schering's survey on contraception,
has claimed that the research shows that many women might be better served by
long-term contraceptive methods than the daily oral pill. Dr Dawn Harper "These
methods can usually be fitted in five minutes by a healthcare professional.
Once fitted, they can be forgotten about for anything up to ten years, leaving
women free to enjoy their lives in the knowledge they are protected from pregnancy".
A LIFE spokesman said "We are not surprised that a contraceptive company
is calling for increased sales of contraception... we must be cautious about
this research which is interesting because of who commissioned it rather than
what it tells us about crisis pregnancy."
Read more details at NetDoctor: http://news.netdoctor.co.uk/news_detail.php?id=18058043
Item #8. Network Of Homosexual Political Donors
Influencing State Election Campaigns
A powerful initiative to influence American politics toward pro-homosexual policies
was recently exposed in extensive coverage by The Atlantic Monthly's Joshua
Green, in an article published in the March 2007 issue.
Green's article revealed a network of wealthy homosexual philanthropists, led by Colorado technology billionaire Tim Gill, who joined forces in the last election to target state level politicians opposed to homosexuality by donating to competing candidates.
The campaign was conducted 'stealthily', says Green, with little fanfare to alert those targeted by the nationally based campaign working against them.
View full article at Lifesite News: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/feb/07021304.html
Item #9. Study: Sex Of Any Kind Can Harm Teens
Emotionally
(Reuters) - Teenagers often suffer emotional consequences from having sex, even
when it's "only" oral sex, a study published Monday suggests. Researchers
at the University of California San Francisco found that up to one-half of the
sexually active teenagers in their study said they'd ever felt "used,"
guilty or regretful after having sex.
Though such feelings were less common among teens who'd had only oral sex, about one-third reported some type of negative consequence. Dr. Sonya S. Brady and Bonnie L. Halpern-Felsher report the findings in the journal Pediatrics. The study, according to the researchers, suggests that parents should be sure to talk with their kids about the potential negative effects of having oral sex, not only intercourse.
View entire CNN News: http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/02/05/sex.teens.reut/index.html
Item #10. Cuyahoga Co. To Allow Organ Harvest Before
Brain Death
Prosecutors in Ohio's most populous county said they'll no longer block the
local organ bank if it wants to remove organs from people who are not yet brain
dead.
Most organs are removed for donation only after the brain ceases all activity. But nationwide there has been growing use a more complicated procedure to remove the organs after the heart stops working.
Three such donations were done in Akron last year.
Cuyahoga County prosecutors for the past decade have clashed with the LifeBanc over removing organs after cardiac death. At one point they threatened homicide charges.
But Prosecutor Bill Mason has written a legal opinion endorsing a revised procedure that does not include use of a blood-thinning drug that prosecutors believed would hasten death.
View full text at Newsnet5.com: http://www.newsnet5.com/health/10980232/detail.html
Item #11. Puerto Rican Bishop Says Proposed Bill
Against The Family Is 'Aberrant'
Bishop Felix Lazaro of Ponce said recently that new changes to the Civil Code
regarding the family scheduled to be debated in the Legislative Assembly this
week "are an aberration, an attack on human dignity."
"I think that the statutes on the family in the proposed Civil Code are full of aberrations, in the sense that they degrade the family, they degrade the person and the dignity of the human being," he said.
"Let it be said that I have great respect for all persons, whether they are homosexuals or transsexuals. Each person deserves my greatest respect, but I do not understand why a transsexual, if he was born male, would want to become a woman," he added.
Read full article at CAN News: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=8618
Item #12. Swedish Proposal To Abort Children Of
Foreign Nationals Draws Criticism
An impending amendment to the current Abortion Act in Sweden will allow Swedish
abortionists to abort the children of women from other countries, including
countries which protect the right to life of their unborn citizens. The controversial
measure, which would offer abortion-on-demand during the first eighteen weeks
of pregnancy, has drawn criticism from a noted professor of EU legislation and
international pro-life leaders.
Swedish Minister of Health and Social Affairs, Mr. Göran Hägglund announced the coming legislation last month. In response, Ulf Bernitz a professor of European Union Law at Stockholm University was quoted in the nation's second largest paper, Svenska Dagbladet, Friday referring to the proposed abortion amendment as lacking in "judicial reason".
See the full article at Lifesite News: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/feb/07021202.html
Get Involved:
1. Pray Daily that we all may have the courage to be God's presence in society and strongly support those who have been deemed "unworthy of life".
2. Be Informed at Lifeissues.net website: http://www.lifeissues.net.
3. Become A Missionary For Human Life: "Journey for Life into the Heart of Asia" is a project, which appeals for donations to help finance travel expenses for talks to undeveloped countries in Asia. Fr. Jerry's lectures this year will emphasis "The Asian Family at Crossroads: Life Issues, Trends and Challenges". For Lectures in Asia: contact Fr. Jerry. To become a Missionary for Human Life in Asia, kindly send your donations directly to: Fr. Jerry Novotny, OMI; LifeIssues.net, Editor; Akebono-cho 1-15-9; Kochi City, Japan, 780-8072; (or transfer donation directly to ProLife bank account: Jerome Novotny, Shikoku Bank, Asakura Branch, No. 102-1-0080824)
4. Prior Issues of LifeIssues.net Newsletter available online. http://lifeissues.net/newsletters/mojo.cgi?flavor=archive&list=lifenews&start=0.
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
Contact Assistant Editor: Mr. Marlon Castillo Ramirez; Author of Book: "The Sights and Soul of Life"; E-Mail: mcr4lifeissues@gmail.com
Websites by Editor:
English LifeIssues Site: http://www.lifeissues.net,
Japanese LifeIssues Site: http://www.japan-lifeissues.net,
OMI Site: http://www.omijapankorea.net/index.html
11. Media Release From The Dignitas Suicide Clinic In Switzerland - February 3, 2007
The following article is a media release from the Dignitas suicide clinic in Switzerland. The release explains that a person who was denied a prescription for Sodium Pentobarbital because of that person's mental illness has now been granted the right to have the prescription. This means that a decision to end one's own life is not limited to people with physical illness but now based on whether a person believes that their life is "not worth living anymore."
The Swiss Federal Court has now granted all people in Europe the right to die based on a principle of radical personal autonomy. This philosophy holds that someone not only has a right to commit suicide but the state has the obligation to assist that suicide, if the person wishes.
There are no safeguards or concerns for people with disabilities and other vulnerable people. The only caveat is that the person must be able to: form his/her will freely and act thereafter.
The Swiss have now opened the door of free-fall into the abyss of the culture of death. The end of this free-fall is the societal pressure and culture that demands an obligation to die for the weakest members of society who are seen as lacking the quality of life or too stupid to recognize that their life is not worth living.
Alex Schadenberg
Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
Toll free: 1-877-439-3348
info@epcc.ca
12. Physicians Applaud Alternative To Ethically Controversial Childhood Vaccine - February 1, 2007
Physicians applaud Alberta's decision to provide alternative to ethically controversial childhood vaccine
Ottawa - In response to our campaign for an alternative to vaccines derived from aborted fetal tissue, Canadian Physicians for Life has received a letter from Alberta Health and Wellness confirming that the Alberta Government will make Pediacel available in publicly funded immunization programs after March 2007.
Until this announcement, the only combined infant vaccine (diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio and Haemophilus B) available to Canadian parents was Pentacel, which is partly derived from a cell line created from aborted fetal tissue. Pediacel (same diseases) is not derived from fetal tissue. Pentacel has been publicly funded in the regular childhood vaccination programs.
In November, Canadian Physicians for Life sent a letter to each provincial health minister and the federal health minister, requesting that a choice between Pentacel and Pediacel be provided to parents who are morally troubled by the origins of the Pentacel vaccine.
Canadian Physicians for Life applauds Alberta's decision to provide an alternative to the ethically controversial Pentacel vaccine and requests other provinces to follow Alberta's lead in providing a choice to Canadian parents.
-30-
For more information contact: Rene Leiva, MD; Canadian Physicians for Life; rene.leiva@mail.mcgill.ca
Canadian Physicians for Life; PO Box 1289; Ottawa ON; K0A 2Z0; Ph/Fax: 613-728-5433; www.physiciansforlife.ca
Canadian Physicians for Life is an educational organization representing physicians who hold that reverence for every human life lies at the root of all medical tradition. Through the ages, this tradition has been expressed in the Oath of Hippocrates. It was rephrased in modern times in the Declaration of Geneva (1948), which says in part, "I will maintain the utmost respect for human life, from the time of conception; even under threat, I will not use my medical knowledge contrary to the laws of humanity."
See PDF document - Pediacel Response From Alberta
13. Pilgrimage - Departing In May 2007 - Posted November 6, 2006
Sponsored by CLC NS.
Departing May 6th, 2007 (7 days)
Motor coach transportation (Air Conditioned). Accommodations for 6 nights, 1
dinner, 6 breakfasts and portage - Travel Insurance Available.
Triple Occupancy $529.00 / person
Twin Occupancy $629.00 / person
Single Occupancy $829.00 / person
All Taxes included.
May 6
Leave NS for Edmundston, NB with stay at the Days Inn. Lunch enroute not included.
May 7
Breakfast included. Travel to Quebec City and Beaupré. Stop at Albert
Gilles Copper Art Museum allow yourself to be seduced by "The Life of Christ"
in 50 hand wrought silver panels (15 years of labour). Check into the Basilica
Inn. Time for prayer and tour sanctuary and attend mass.
May 8
Breakfast included. Travel to Trois-Rivières, and overnight at the Madonna
Inn. Evening dinner and breakfast at the Inn are included. Evening Mass and
weather permitting, participate at the candlelight procession and the
Way of the Cross.
May 9
Morning mass. After included breakfast motor to Ottawa. Afternoon arrival at
Welome Inn. 7:30 pm Pro-life Mass at St. Theresa's followed by a Candlelight
Vigil at 9PM.
May 10
Breakfast included. Meet at Notre Dame Cathedral for 10 am Mass. Gather on Parliament
Hill for 10th Annual March for Life, which begins at 1:30 pm. Silent No More
presentation at 2:45 pm. There is a cocktail and Rose Dinner Banquet at Ottawa
congress Hall at 6 pm. Tickets are not included in package and will have to
be ordered separately. Time permitting either today or on Friday a visit to
Sts. Peter and St. Paul Melkite Church.
May 11
After breakfast included. depart for Montreal, Quebec City and with a late afternoon
arrival at Edmundston, NB at Days Inn.
May 12
Depart to NS after included breakfast. Expect late afternoon arrival in Halifax.
Contact for information and reservations, contact Herm at 1 902 864 1464 or Evangeline Tours PO Box 1149, Middleton, NS B0S 1P0 Don Kelly at Tel. 1-902-825-4506 Toll Free 1 -866-765-2725.
http://www.clcns.com/ or http://www.evangelinechartertours.com/
14. President Bush Proclaims National Sanctity Of Human Life Day, 2007 - January 19, 2007
America was founded on the principle that we are all endowed by our Creator with the right to life and that every individual has dignity and worth. National Sanctity of Human Life Day helps foster a culture of life and reinforces our commitment to building a compassionate society that respects the value of every human being.
Among the most basic duties of Government is to defend the unalienable right to life, and my Administration is committed to protecting our society's most vulnerable members. We are vigorously promoting parental notification laws, adoption, abstinence education, crisis pregnancy programs, and the vital work of faith-based groups. Through the "Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2002," the "Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003," and the "Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004," we are helping to make our country a more hopeful place.
One of our society's challenges today is to harness the power of science to ease human suffering without sanctioning practices that violate the dignity of human life. With the right policies, we can continue to achieve scientific progress while living up to our ethical and moral responsibilities.
National Sanctity of Human Life Day serves as a reminder that we must value human life in all forms, not just those considered healthy, wanted, or convenient. Together, we can work toward a day when the dignity and humanity of every person is respected.
Now, therefore, I, George W. Bush, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim Sunday, January 21, 2007, as National Sanctity of Human Life Day. I call upon all Americans to recognize this day with appropriate ceremonies and to underscore our commitment to respecting and protecting the life and dignity of every human being.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this eighteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-first.
George W. Bush
E-mail to a Friend: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/sendtofriend.html?articleid=07011901
15. Rights Groups To Tell Parliament To Keep Consent At 14 - February 1, 2007
In recent conversations and virtual meetings with national organizers, the thought is that the public has had enough of the "marriage issue" and is tired of hearing it. It sort of says the other side has won by wearing down the public on the issue. Some call it the shelf life of the issue has worn out. The current government has done little to appease social conservatives and this issue deserves our support to protect young lives. Not sure what can be done since apathy has generally set in and the media is totally mum on the issue from where I sit.
Here is the push from the homosexual lobby to retain the age of consent for anal sex at 14.
Our MP's need and must here from the silent majority on this issue.
Herm
"But these people tell the rest of us that we have to live what they believe. And that's why they don't belong in government."
Capital Xtra - January 11, 2007
http://www.xtra.ca/public/viewstory.aspx?AFF_TYPE=2&STORY_ID=2534&PUB_TEMPLATE_ID=2
Taking it to the Hill - YOUTH RIGHTS / Rights groups to tell Parliament to keep
consent at 14 - Gareth Kirkby
Canada's leading gay groups are gearing up to fight the proposed Conservative bill to raise the age of sexual consent. The Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Rights in Ontario (CLGRO), the Sex Laws Committee, the Age of Consent Committee and the Committee to Abolish the 19th Century are all planning briefs or presentations to the Parliamentary Justice Committee as it considers Bill C-22. Egale is also expected to make a presentation. Youth activist Andrew Brett is expected to lead the charge of queer opposition to the bill raising the age of consent to 16 from 14 (while keeping the age of anal consent at 18). Brett is a leader of the Age of Consent Committee, a group of queer youth and other activists who believe young people have the right to make their own choices about when they have sex and with whom.
Bill C-22 will criminalize youth sexuality and also make it difficult to reach young people with important information about safe sex and contraception, says Brett. But he sees it as part of a larger law-and-order agenda pursued by Stephen Harper's Conservatives. Raising the age of consent plays well with the hardcore social- conservative rightwing while still sounding reasonable to many middle-of-the-road Canadians who are not getting exposure in mainstream media about why it's a bad idea, suggests Brett. The Justice Committee might not even get to the matter before the Conservative government is toppled and an election called, says Brett, noting former Justice Minister Vic Toews has over-filled the committee's agenda with a deluge of law-and-order bills. But Harper might like not getting to Bill C-22, says Brett. Then he can claim the other parties are stalling on legislation that would "protect" youth from sexual predators.
Tom Warner, longtime activist and CLGRO member, says the group has already written a brief opposing raising the age and distributed it to all members of Parliament last fall. They also intend to make a presentation to the Justice Committee as it debates the issue this spring - if an election doesn't intervene. And CLGRO will try to keep the issue alive in the gay community through the next federal election. And if it's not adopted, but re-introduced after an election, CLGRO will be there to speak out in opposition, says Warner.
Leading gay activists are determined to stay on the issue, despite general public support for raising the age, he adds. And they're not accepting mealy-mouthed platitudes from most Liberal, NDP and Bloc politicians afraid of voting against the bill. "I don't think you can compromise on this issue. If you support the notion of sexual self-determination for youth, you have to vote against this," says Warner. Richard Hudler says the Sex Laws Committee is working on a submission and is planning to make a presentation to the Justice Committee "if it comes to that."
He's hoping for the long-shot options: the Conservatives withdrawing the legislation because of an over-full committee agenda, then an election being called and the Conservatives losing and the Liberals choosing not to bring in similar legislation. After all, the Liberals long opposed raising the age of consent, though they've lost the courage of their convictions when pushed on Bill C-22. Hudler is frustrated by NDP suggestions of minor amendments, such as one that would allow health professionals to keep confidential information about sex practices of sexually active youth.
The important point, says Hudler, is that studies show that "by age 13, young people are able to make decisions about their sexuality. "If they're physically astute enough, we should be making sure they're socially astute enough to make the decision. If not, we need to educate them."
Peter Bochove says the Committee to Abolish the 19th Century will also speak
to the Justice Committee in opposition to raising the consent age. "It's
so wrong. It's a civil liberties issue. They're criminalizing an activity that
for the last 100 years hasn't been criminal." Gays and lesbians need to
see through the coded language and word play in the consent debate, says Bochove.
"When they're talking about pedophiles, they're really talking
about us. If they were really concerned about child rape, they'd take people
out of the home [where studies show most sexual exploitation of children occurs]."
The law already outlaws child exploitation, notes Bochove. He's disappointed
that the political parties that claim to be progressive are so far largely backing
the bill. "Fourteen-year-olds are being stripped of their civil liberties
and are in no position to defend themselves because they can't vote, and mommy
and daddy can vote. Mommy and daddy have been scared into supporting it, petrified
into it. [And the political parties are] looking at public opinion polls that
are coming out of sensationalist news stories."
If the Harper Conservatives survive the next election, "you're going to see more" socially conservative legislation, Bochove predicts. Religious values are creeping back into Canadian politics, he says. And even the NDP now has a faith caucus, and their Justice critic, Joe Comartin - the politician who should be leading that party's charge against Bill C-22, but instead supports it - is a committed Roman Catholic. "Church and State are separate entities and should remain that way," says Bochove. "I think people are entitled to believe any fairy-tale that they wish and if it gives them comfort, that's great. But they should keep it in their church, not my Parliament. "You can be progressive and Christian and it's not mutually exclusive. But these people tell the rest of us that we have to live what they believe. And that's why they don't belong in government."
Egale is "ramping up" for the issue, says acting executive-director Kaj Hasselriis. "It's not like there's a whole campaign ready to roll." But the organization last year took a stand against raising the age of consent and the legal issues committee is continuing to discuss it. They'll make a presentation before the Justice Committee, says Hasselriis.
For resources www.ageofconsent.ca
16. SkyAngel - Christian And Family TV & Radio Channels - February 15, 2007
I hope everyone recalls an email sent re: SkyAngel in Canada, well here is a sample of what they are doing in relation to the Super Bowl. - Herm
Athletes in Action Super Bowl Breakfast Outreach to Air Super Bowl Sunday in U.S. and Canada on Sky Angel TV Service's Special Events Network, Angel Two Sky Angel to broadcast other AIA sports outreach events in the coming days, weeks and months, including Legends of the Hardwood, NBA All-Star Breakfast, Night of Champions and Legends of the Rodeo
NAPLES, Fla., Feb. 1 /Christian Newswire/ - Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy and Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame quarterback Bart Starr will take center stage at the 2007 Super Bowl Breakfast telecast airing multiple times throughout the day this Super Bowl Sunday, February 4, on Sky Angel's Angel Two network.
Angel Two is among the 30-plus Christian and family TV and radio channels carried on the Sky Angel direct-to-home satellite service http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=ho7og7bab.0.bth8asbab.tuqepibab.948&ts=S0229&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.skyangel.com%2F serving the continental U.S. Angel Two is also carried on Sky Angel's new Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) service http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=ho7og7bab.0.nfto78bab.tuqepibab.948&ts=S0229&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.skyangel-iptv.com%2F recently launched in Canada. Owned and operated by Sky Angel, Angel Two was created to host special faith-based events, including conferences, documentaries and debates.
The NFL(TM)-sanctioned Super Bowl Breakfast http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=ho7og7bab.0.hfyqg7bab.tuqepibab.948&ts=S0229&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.superbowlbreakfast.com%2F
is sponsored by Athletes in Action
http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=ho7og7bab.0.ifyqg7bab.tuqepibab.948&ts=S0229&p=http%3A%2F%2Faia.com%2F
(AIA), the sports outreach ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. Now in its
20th year, the event is held in the Super Bowl host city during Super Bowl week
and showcases life stories and personal faith testimonies of Dungy, Starr, and
football stars from both Super Bowl teams. A highlight of the breakfast is the
presentation of the Bart Starr Award to a current NFL player who exemplifies
outstanding character and leadership in the home, on the field, and in the community.
Sky Angel will air the 2007 Super Bowl Breakfast this Sunday from 10 to 11:30 a.m. ET/7 a.m. PT with encore broadcasts before and after the Super Bowl game at 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT and 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT. The event will re-air Sunday, February 18, at 12 p.m. ET/9 a.m. PT.
Sky Angel will also be broadcasting other Athletes in Action sports outreach events in the coming weeks and months on its Angel Two network, including NBA(TM) All-Star Breakfast on February 25; Legends of the Hardwood on April 1; and Night of Champions on May 18, 19 and 20. In addition, an encore presentation of last December's 2006 Pro-Rodeo Breakfast, a.k.a. Legends of the Rodeo, will be airing this Sunday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT, on Angel Two.
Christian Newswire
http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=ho7og7bab.0.del6yxbab.tuqepibab.948&ts=S0229&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.christiannewswire.com
17. Take Back The Culture! - Sunday, January 14, 2007
Take back the culture! http://humanlifematters.blogspot.com/2007/01/take-back-culture.html
In my last blog entry for Saturday January 13th, I ended it by saying, "It
is against this bleak backdrop that Christians of the 21 century must stand.
Do not be afraid, Christ is with us. It is not too late. Work to strengthen
the things that remain of a previous Christian consensus and reclaim that which
was lost." After reading that blog posting some Christian readers may have
felt overwhelmed. May I remind you that previous generations felt overwhelmed
too. There were forces bent on dismantling Christian civilization. It was not
so long ago. My
father's generation was called to stand against a daunting threat and what appeared
to be overwhelming odds against them. Many of them laid down their lives to
stop the Nazis.
In the summer of 1940, on the eve of the Battle of Britain, Winston Churchill rose in the British Parliament and said:
"…I expect the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life and the long continuation of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. …If we can stand up to him, [Hitler] all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age, made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted by the lights of perverted science."
A War Of Ideas
That was then, this is now. Once again, the Christian civilization of the western world is under attack. This time, the attack is not from tanks and guns, but rather from ideas: the pernicious, stubborn, stonehearted ideas of 21st century secularism. The secularists are hostile to the foundational ideals of western Christian civilization, which is based on the reality of Jesus Christ. In recent years, the basic Christian belief in the sanctity, dignity and equality of human life has come increasingly under attack. We are in a war of ideas, and the battle is intensifying.
Euthanasia and a New Dark Age
The prospect of a new Dark Age again looms large! Abortion acceptance was the first dark wave of devaluing human life. Millions upon millions of unwanted lives have been sacrificed on the altar of convenience. The second wave came in the form of societal abandonment of our previous sanctity of human life cultural ethos. The third wave coming is euthanasia and assisted suicide for people with disabilities and incurably illnesses. Other waves will follow. People (like me) are to be relegated next to the abyss of the new Dark Age.
Orthodox and evangelical Christians must stand up for Biblical truth as truth, and Christ-like agape love. That's what being salt and light in a culture means. Shoe-leather Christianity. Don't be daunted, at least we have shoes.
There are a number of ready resources listed below for Evangelical and Catholic Christians to equip themselves to be knowledgeable, effective and connected to stand against the spread of secularism in their community. Evangelical & Catholic Christians must set aside denominational differences for a season and work together to save the culture.
Resources available
I say it again, - work to strengthen the things that remain of a previous Christian consensus and reclaim that which was lost. There are wonderful resources listed below.
You see? God has provided resources. Take advantage of them. The hour is late!
Canada's EUTHANASIA PREVENTION COALITION, London, ON: Information available at their website (http://www.epcc.ca/) Telephone toll free at 1-877-439-3348, Email: info@epcc.ca. EPC Executive Director, Alex Schadenberg, is on of Canada's foremost experts of euthanasia.
HUMANLIFEMATTERS, Beaumont, AB, Canada. (http://www.humanlifematters.com/) Take a tour of the website. If you would like me to address your church or community, I can be contacted by telephone (780) 929-9230, or E-Mail MPickup@shaw.ca. Remember I use an electric wheelchair for mobility so venues must be accessible.
NATIONAL RIGHT TO LIFE COMMITTEE, Washington,
DC (http://www.nrlc.org/) Tel: 202)
626-8800, E-Mail: NRLC@nrlc.org. Look
up your state affiliate at http://www.nrlc.org/states/index.html
and get
involved in your state to reclaim the sanctity of human life.
UNITED STATES CONFERENCES OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS, Pro-Life Secretariat, Washington, DC (http://www.usccb.org/prolife/intro.shtml) Tom Grenchik, Executive Director, E-Mail: prolife@usccb.org.
NATIONAL CATHOLIC BIOETHICS CENTER, Philadelphia, PA, Rev. Dr. Tadeusz Pacholczk, Director of Education. Tel: (215) 877-2660, E-Mail: frtad@ncbcenter.org.
AMERICAN LIFE LEAGUE, Stafford, VA, (http://www.all.org/)
A strong uncompromising Catholic pro-Life voice. ALL President, Judie Brown,
is a member of the Pontifical Council on the Family. Tel: 540-659-4171,
E-Mail: info@all.org.
FOCUS ON THE FAMILY, Colorado Springs, USA & Vancouver, Canada: American evangelicals can visit the Focus website at Tel toll free: (719) 531-5181. Visit the resource center at (http://resources.family.org/category/id/100421.do?KickerID=100182&KICKER
Canadians evangelicals visit (http://www.fotf.ca/), Tel: 604.539.7900, E-Mail: letters@fotf.ca, US office is E-Mail: http://family.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/family.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=14190
EVANGELICAL FELLOWSHIP OF CANADA'S CENTRE FOR FAITH
AND PUBLIC LIFE,
Ottawa, ON: (http://www.evangelicalfellowship.ca/social/index.asp).
Contact Doug Cryer, Director of Public Policy, Tel: (613) 233-9896, ext. 224.
E-Mail: cryerd@efc-canada.com.
CENTER FOR BIOETHIC AND HUMAN DIGNITY (Trinity University), Bannockburn, IL (http://www.cbhd.org), Tel: 847.317.8180, email: info@cbhd.org.
CENTER FOR BIOETHICS AND CULTURE: (http://www.thecbc.org/) Founder and National Director Jennifer Lahl, E-Mail: Jennifer.Lahl@cbc-network. Director of Public Relations is Robyn Spitzer, E-Mail to: Robyn.Spitzer@thecbc.org.
As a last note, I want to bring Canadian Christians' attention to a critically important and timely conference on euthanasia and end of life issues in the Spring of 2007, Edmonton, Alberta, May 25-26. (http://www.eeolioconference.com), registration tel: 1-780-464-5488, E-Mail: eeoli@shaw.ca.
Mark Pickup
"For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.
The weapons we fight with are not of this world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." - Saint Paul (2 Cor.10.4-5.)
Posted by Mark Pickup at 12:08 PM
http://humanlifematters.blogspot.com/2007/01/take-back-culture.html
http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=5391279681387978528&postID=3482403192266807928
Labels: Christian/pro-Life
http://humanlifematters.blogspot.com/search/label/Christian%2Fpro-Life
18. The Idler By David Warren - February 15, 2007
The Canadian Dioceses
I am overwhelmed by large statistical surveys of anything, though it strikes
me that the comparative survey of American dioceses, reviewed elsewhere throughout
this issue, in fact confirms what we'd expect from good sense. Bishops do make
a difference, and have great power to lead their flocks toward life or toward
death.
I write from Canada, where they also certainly make a difference, though I'm
aware of no survey up here that can give statistical surrogates to the morale
of the presbyterate, the replenishment of vocations, and the strength of evangelization,
diocese by diocese. While the toxic solvent of postmodernity dissolves glue
across all borders, the historical situation of the Church in Canada is much
different.
The United States had no region like Quebec, which was once what Protestants
would consider a Catholic "theocratic state-within-the-state." Maryland
was never comparable, nor New England with its relatively high Catholic proportions,
supplied from the first by a mix of immigrants. Quebec was a Catholic North
American culture sui generis; and the collapse of Church authority and allegiance
in Quebec, during the Silent Revolution of the 1960s, was like nothing ever
seen. It was a dam bursting, leaving in its wake an abject spiritual wasteland.
The Catholic experience in English Canada is more easily comparable to the
United States, though with its own national peculiarities. Catholics are a significant
minority in most Canadian regions, forming distinct ghettos here and there.
But they have related to the larger society in a different way, because the
majority of Protestants belong to one of only four large, mainstream denominations.
The Catholics thus easily won status as "another big church," while
in the States, where the principle of free enterprise applied as much to religion
as to economy, Catholics stood out more distinctly as a small and exceptional
tribe of non-schismatics.
That was then, but this is now. The huge Canadian Anglican, Presbyterian, Lutheran,
and "United" (chiefly Methodist) federations are all now on the path
to extinction, each having fully embraced the vacuum of contemporary feel-good
and moral relativism. Canadian Protestantism is increasingly a minority, conservative,
evangelical phenomenon. And with the help of immigration from southern Europe
and third-world countries, the Catholic Church has emerged more visibly as the
Christian sine qua non, even while cradle Catholics have been following their
mainstream Protestant brethren through the "post-Christian" bowels.
The Catholic contraction has been helped along by more than our share of what
I would characterize as rogue bishops, seemingly more interested in media posturing
than in the fate of their flocks. The post-Vatican II liturgical collapse also
destroyed cradle continuity here, so that the average living native-born English-
or French-speaking Catholic in Canada carries few resonances from his cultural
past, no haunting memories of the Mass, and has precious little idea what his
Credo might mean.
This will change, and I think largely because of bishops. Our Canadian primate,
Marc Cardinal Ouellet, is a powerful rekindler of faith, and the newly designated
archbishop of the key diocese of Toronto, Thomas Collins, is a fine "Ratzinger
appointment." As the U.S. survey shows, there are many good, solid, and
industrious bishops the media ignore, who respond well to the increasing seriousness
of the call from Rome.
A shakeout is in progress, as the Church throughout the West begins to peel
the mud of late modernity from its garments, and a new arrangement is sought
in which Catholic authorities emerge as the natural earthly spokesmen for the
Triune God-and, signally, practice what they're preaching.
David Warren is a Canadian journalist who writes mostly on international affairs. His Web site is www.davidwarrenonline.com.
19. Where Are The Answers To Those Hard Questions - February 12, 2007
MEDIA ADVISORY, Feb. 12 /Christian Newswire/ - Time has run out. The answer to your prayer has not arrived. The child is dead. The job is lost. The marriage is over. Grief overwhelms you. Despair quickly sets in. Someone mentions that God will find a way to bring good to you despite your losses. You can't imagine how that would be possible, but you long for some kind of relief. Years pass by and the torment continues. Your next child is chronically ill. You hate your new job. Another failed marriage. Where is the good that was supposed to arrive?
Jennifer Brost has felt overwhelming grief and despair. She also knows the heart wrenching pain of the sudden death of loved ones, including her unborn child. In her book, How I Suffered From My Theology and Regained My Faith by Questioning Three Beliefs (Deliverance Publishers, April 2006) author Jennifer Brost works to answer the difficult questions that many of us struggle with.
When tragedy strikes, one can't help but ask where is God's goodness in all of this? One night Jennifer opened her broken heart to God in desperation and prayed, "Please God, help me to understand my pain."
This is not a book of tired platitudes. It's a story of how one pastor's wife suffered from her so-called Christian beliefs and regained her faith by questioning them.
How I Suffered From My Theology and Regained My
Faith by Questioning Three Beliefs.
Deliverance Publishers; Paperback 160 pgs. $13.00 ISBN:0-9774136-0-8; www.deliverancepublishers.com.
At least 50% of sales from this book are given to charities such as World Impact,
Shared Hope International, and The Job Foundation.
Forward this press release to another reporter or news producer
National Desk; Contact: Helen Cook, 979-922-1512, 800-792-1512, helen.cook@primestarpublicity.com
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25. Secular Franciscan Order (SFO)
The First, Second and Third Quarter Newsletters have been posted and the Fourth Quarter will be done soon. Thank you for your patience.
26. 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: $582,085.92
27.
28.
