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News Ticker provided by LifeSiteNews.Com
Index of News Items
TOP
January 28, 2006 –Thoughts and concerns on the Federal Election 2006
Two or three years ago, I sent Jean Chretien, then prime minister an open letter,
encouraging him for the sake of history not to pursue 'Same-sex Marriage' for
it would spell the demise of Canada and be his legacy. The letter has shown
up on the Internet and other places. Subsequent to that letter I asked the new
Prime Minister (Martin) to hurry the path to destruction, so that we could rebuild
our county, with moral, spiritual, and family values, for these values have
withstood the test of time. Please read on to understand what I meant.
The letter spoke about the birth and death of societies. Societies have come
and gone over the centuries that phenomenon has been studied by some very enterprising
and astute individuals. They noted that societies die usually from within first
before succumbing to other forces. Studies of past great civilizations seem
to support this notion, observing that acceptance of homosexual behaviour is
often a visible element of that culture in demise. This was true in Noah’s day,
Sodom, Gibeah, Corinth, Rome, Germany and others. The noted researchers were
Dr. Pitirim Sorokin, Phd, Sociologist and author of the book, “The American
Sexual Revolution” and J.D. Udwin, noted British Historian, Carl Wilson and
even Will Durant “Lessons of History”. Their works were highlighted by others
and brought to light by Kerbie Andersen of Probe Ministries, whom I heard speak
on Focus on the Family with Dr. James Dobson a few years ago discussing “Living
Ethically in the Nineties”.
A weak but a bird’s eye view of collapse of society has just taken place within
the Liberal Party and the PC’s before that, they became corrupt from within
and weaken, and unable to defend themselves, and a new and more disciplined
order will be necessary for rebirth. In society it seems that moral certitudes
or absolutes are necessary for the preservation of the common good of society,
I believe protects us all.
These researchers mostly sociologist describe a process that was led by spiritual
decline and was reflected by certain characteristics and in which morality,
social and economics were affected and marked the end of society. The acceptance
of homosexuality, the reduced importance of family and children were noted.
Sex for pleasure both male and females with no support for families or desire
for children. You can read more on our website http://www.clcns.com/crisis of
the century.htm about the vary stages or the brief that was presented by Herm
Wills at the marriage hearing held in the year 2003. http://www.clcns.com/marriagebrief3.htm.
Herm Wills is a pro-life, pro-family activist without much formal education
nor training but a father and grandfather who care about Canada and the Family,
who would invite others to join in the battle.
If I could advise the new leader of Canada and those seeking public office,
it would be to learn more about families, the importance of families to the
security and future of our country. I would further advise them to learn to
evangelize in the sense that they should be able to articulate those values
of family, marriage and life without compromise and with prayer and support
from others, they could deliver the message to non-Christians or those hostile
to Christianity for that may be the first and only Gospel message they’ll ever
hear.
I would recommend that Vote Marriage Canada, Enshrine Marriage Canada and other
like minded organizations pool their efforts and move out in front by providing
training and leadership to people interested in strengthening and enriching
our Country through the preservation of traditional marriage and the traditional
families. There should be adequate training for spokespersons in all major media
cities in Canada singing from the same or similar songbooks.
This past election it was woefully apparent that the candidates did not know
how to articulate the defense for marriage, family and life. Love him or hate
him they should take a page from the book of George W. Bush. His message has
been consistent and to the point, framed in a manner that is easily understood
and in such a way that to challenge it would not look good for the challenger.
I would further recommend prayer warriors to pray for the success in changing
history that seems to repeat itself and restore Canada back to its moral anchors.
For at the present moral relativism is underpinning the security and future
of Canada.
It remains to be seen what Stephen Harper will accomplish, for he now can speak
eloquently for all conservatives who want to conserve the family, our Judeo
Christian heritage and the country or for those who unwittingly would see it
destroyed.
Recently, he has said that he would like to deal with the Same Sex Marriage
(Homosexual Marriage) issue. Likely, to see the current legislation stand and
move onward. He will keep his promise but won’t wait until the situation in
the house is fully assessed to its outcome. His promise is more to do with the
definition of a ‘free-vote’ than it has to do with the issue. Since he wants
to preserve the definition of marriage between one man and one woman, but accepts
civil unions. It will take time to assess the new parliament to see if there
is enough support to carry the vote for the traditionalist. It is difficult
to see how it can be done, for to win the vote would surely mean using Section
33 of the charter, which he has vowed not to use. This is why I think the vote
will be sooner rather than later and may only be on the definition of marriage.
We as family concerned citizens need to be fully aware of what is happening,
and our moral leaders have to stand up to the plate with us and help us to carry
the cross. It is time to speak loud and clear an action that was not done during
the past election. The reason being that those with social conservative views
were kept in check by the media and those seeking office were too intimidated
by their handlers and the media.
The real winners in this election was the ‘Media Party’, they controlled the
mindset of many people without ever trying to understand the social conservative
viewpoint and they won the day in the Maritimes. We do NOT have a public nor
a media voice, because of reasons cited above, we must prepare and engage this
war of values.
I am just a concerned father and grandfather, who come from a dysfunctional
background and was lucky enough to grow in love with family and life. I apologize
for my written word and poor use of language.
Herm Wills
TOP
UN Catholic Lobby Hoping for Less Hostile Canadian Representatives
By Hilary White
NEW YORK, January 27, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Catholic Family and Human
Rights Institute (CFAM), has congratulated Canadians on the Conservative victory
in Monday’s federal election and says it looks forward to a less hostile set
of UN appointees from Canada.
Calling the Liberal-appointed Canadian representatives to the UN, “notoriously
hostile” to UN supporters of life and family, Austin Ruse said, “Over the past
12 years, the Liberal Party's choices for Canadian Ambassador to the United
Nations and for membership in delegations to U.N. conferences have advanced
the pro-abortion, pro-homosexual marriage and pro-prostitution agenda.”
Wendy Wright, Executive Vice President of Concerned Women for America, told
the Friday Fax that under a Liberal Government the foreign social policy of
Canada "has been in the forefront" in supporting the "most radical
policies" that are considered at the UN.
These policies include the Canadian delegation's recent opposition to anti-prostitution
language being put into drafts of proposed UN treaties. Canada has a poor international
reputation in human sex-trafficking and under the Liberal government included
immigration provisions to improve what it saw as a shortage of “exotic dancers.”
In March, 2005, The Irish Anti-Trafficking Coalition (IATC) warned Monday that
legalizing prostitution in Canada would make the country a “magnet for human
trafficking.” Gregory Carlin, IATC Director said, “Canada is one of those countries
with legalized child sex tourism and remains a popular ‘holiday’ destination
for sex predators from the US,”
Although Prime Minister elect Harper did not recall him, Canada’s ambassador
to the US, Frank McKenna, resigned earlier this week. C-Fam’s Friday Fax speculates
that the radically pro-abortion “Catholic” ambassador to the UN, Allan Rock,
will also be recalled.
Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Even Stripper Industry Insiders Charging Canadian Government With Trafficking
in Women
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/may/05053107.html
------------------------------------------------------------------------
(c) Copyright: LifeSiteNews.com is a production of Interim Publishing. Permission
to republish is granted (with limitation*) but acknowledgement of source is
*REQUIRED* (use LifeSiteNews.com).
TOP
Washington Post - January 28, 2006
In New York, a Grisly Traffic in Body Parts
Illegal Sales Worry Dead's Kin, Tissue Recipients
By Michael Powell and David Segal
NEW YORK - Hundreds of very live Americans are walking around with pieces of
the wrong dead people inside of them. A macabre scandal has spread from a
body-harvesting lab in New Jersey to hospitals as far away as Florida,
Nebraska and Texas as hundreds of people discover that they have received
tissue and bone carved from looted corpses, not least the cadaver of
Alistair Cooke, the late and erudite host of PBS's "Masterpiece Theatre."
The Brooklyn district attorney and federal Food and Drug Administration
inspectors are investigating dozens of funeral homes in New York City and
Biomedical Tissue Services Ltd. of Fort Lee, N.J., which is run by a former
dentist who, his lawyer acknowledges, abused intravenous pain medications
while with patients. The former dentist came to funeral homes, investigators
say, and extracted bone, tendons and skin from corpses without the consent
of relatives. Later, Biomedical Tissue Services shipped coolers full of
tissue to hospitals for surgeries. A dead body can be worth tens of
thousands of dollars when it is dissected for parts. The scandal raises
questions about the safety and proper supervision of a billion-dollar-a-year
industry that supplies skin and tissue for 1 million tissue transplants each
year. But patients are most confounded by the skin-crawling fact that no one
knows from whom the bone and tissue was harvested.
Heather Augustin, 42, lives in southern New Jersey and had two disks in her
neck removed last year, supposedly replaced with bone taken from a youngish
corpse. Three months later, her surgeon told her that her new neck bone had
in fact come from rogue funeral homes, likely from the cadaver of a very old
person. Augustin hasn't slept particularly well since. "You think, 'I'm
carrying a bone in my neck from someone who didn't want to get chopped up,'"
she said. "I'm, like, in total shock. What am I supposed to do with these
thoughts?"
FDA spokesmen say risk of serious infection is fairly remote, though an
agency advisory adds the caveat that the "actual infectious risk is
unknown." A 41-year-old woman who underwent back surgery on Long Island
and
two patients in New Jersey say they contracted syphilis from stolen bone
tissue. The FDA forbids body-harvesting firms from cutting up cancerous and
diseased corpses. In all cases, harvesters are supposed to screen cadavers
based on age and cause of death, and harvested tissue is tested for disease
and treated with antiviral or antibacterial agents. "We know that they
obtained these bodies in a fraudulent way and off the scale of acceptable
practice," FDA spokesman Stephen King said. Bone can be transplanted whole
or fashioned into chips for spinal fusion surgery. Much harvested skin -
about 18,900 square feet of it in 2003 - goes to burn victims.
The Daily News broke the scandal in October, fingering several Brooklyn
funeral home operators who had harvested patients without the permission of
family members. In one case, reporters found that the English Brothers
Funeral Home had forged consent and cause-of-death documents and allowed
Biomedical Tissue Services to harvest the cancer-ridden body of Michael
Bruno, a 75-year-old former cabbie. That article ran under the headline
"They Carved Up My Father!" The funeral home did not return calls
seeking
comment. The New York City medical examiner's office in the past few months
has exhumed three bodies from cemeteries in Brooklyn and Queens.
Investigators discovered one female cadaver missing about half its body.
The New Jersey biomedical firm shipped large coolers filled with tissue to
five suppliers across the nation. No one knows how many patients are
affected. But the examples uncovered so far are suggestive:
Between early 2004 and September 2005, 60 surgical patients at Shore
Memorial Hospital in Somers Point, N.J., received implants said to have
originated with the corpse-snatching ring. Another 74 patients in Nebraska
received stolen bone tissue during surgeries in the same period.
Biomedical Tissue Services operated out of a third-floor office suite not
far from the George Washington Bridge, on the fringe of a large industry
with a low profile. Its president is Michael Mastromarino, who once had a
thriving dental practice off Fifth Avenue and a specialty in implant
surgery. Over the years, he struggled with drug abuse and was sued for
malpractice by several patients, one of whom accused Mastromarino of
deserting a patient under general anesthesia in mid-operation. Mastromarino
was found, according to the lawsuit, in his bathroom with a hypodermic
needle stuck in his arm, blood on the floor. Mastromarino surrendered his
dental license six years ago, went into rehab and two years ago went into
the tissue recovery business.
His lawyer, Mario Gallucci, said his client never broke the law. It's the
funeral parlor's job to obtain consent from prospective donors, he said.
Mastromarino and his employees would simply show up and harvest tissue,
taking a cursory look to make sure it was viable and the body as described.
"If you're told by the funeral home that it's a 45-year-old woman and you
show up and she's 90 years old, there's a problem," Gallucci said.
Biomedical Tissue Services was not an accredited member of the American
Association of Tissue Banks, nor did the company ever apply. But Robert
Rigney, who heads the association, said he doubted anyone now living with
tissue originating from the company is in any kind of health danger, because
the processors the company dealt with would have subjected any tissue to
screening. Still, Rigney is appalled. "If these people did what is alleged
here, what they have done is unconscionable," he said.
Alistair Cooke died of cancer at age 95 in March 2004. He wanted to be
cremated, and harbored a horror of being cut open. His daughter, a pastor in
Vermont, said district attorney's investigators contacted her recently to
say they had discovered forged papers, allegedly signed by Cooke's family,
allowing his bones and tissue to be removed. Investigators said they had
evidence his body parts had been implanted in patients but declined to
provide details. Cooke was far too old to be an acceptable candidate for
tissue harvesting, and his daughter, the Rev. Susan Cooke Kittredge, said
she had never given permission. "I am surprised by how upset I am,"
said
Kittredge, who said she favors organ donation. "You wanted to remember
your
loved one in the fullness of life. But I've lived with the image of his
cadaver pressed against my face now for a month. You have lives torn
asunder, and I hope the people responsible for these desecrations get their
comeuppance."
© 2006 The Washington Post Company
TOP
Our neighbor in the Great White North has elected a "Conservative"
Party
prime minister, Stephen Harper, for the first time in years. The
Conservative Party was formed from a merger in 2003 and gets most of its
support from western Canada (where Canada's economy still works). This time
the corruption of the Liberal Party was so widespread that the Conservatives
even drew support from out east.
While much of the press regards the new PM as a strict right-winger, he
supports a ban on handguns, legislative caps on smog-causing pollutants,
mandated "renewable" content in gasoline, increased farm-support money
and
abortion. Canada is not much of a federalized system (but then, neither is
the U.S. any more), so decisions are made centrally. Oh well, at least the
new guy will spend less time bashing us evil Americans, eh?
From:
27 January 2006
Patriot Post No. 06-04
Digest
TOP
Standing on Guard …
Post Election Update – January 27th, 2006
A New Day for Canada !
Dear Pro Marriage Friend:
This past Monday was truly an historic and very significant step towards real
and dynamic change in the political and cultural climate of our nation. It’s
been described quite well as the early dawn of a new day for Canada .
The very narrow victory serves to underscore the intensity of battle for the
soul of our nation.
In practical terms Canada switched from being governed by the most anti-moral/anti-religious
leadership in our history to what many describe as the most pro-family leadership
in at least two generations. Some very good people have been promoted to primary
leadership in our nation.
The election of this minority government is an important step towards a new
course of direction for our nation. IF handled with wisdom and patience, it
can become a stepping stone to a much bigger breakthrough in the very near future.
Our expectation of what this government can achieve must be realistic : you
can not undo the damage of 30 years of anti-family legislation in a single mandate,
especially in a minority government. It takes time to turn a big ship.
On the other hand : our new Prime Minister is a man who respects the role of
religion in society (also a practicing Christian), a family man and a leader
genuinely committed to restoring moral and democratic integrity to our nation.
In Canada, the Prime Minister has a great deal of power/responsibility including
appointments of Cabinet, Senators, Ambassadors, Judges and countless other powerful
administrative and legal entities that impact every aspect of our society.
On the marriage issue: We are still a few votes short of being able to reverse
Bill C-38. Unfortunately, we made great gains in some places while losing some
in others. We moved forward by about 20 and backwards by about 10, which means
we’re a few votes short of where we need to be. But there are a significant
number of persuadable MPs who are now free to vote their conscience.
IMPORTANT NEWS: www.VoteMarriageCanada.ca under the leadership of former MP,
Pat O’Brien will continue to build relationships with MPs and help develop multi-party
consensus/support to restore the definition of marriage. In fact, Pat O’Brien
has committed, with the support of others, to work full time on this effort
towards a winning vote to restore marriage.
OTHER ITEMS OF NOTE:
- The Lord reminded me of how great victories are often won - one step at a
time. In fact when Israel took possession of the Promised Land (Exo. 23) the
Lord specifically spoke to Joshua about the process; that He would not give
them the land in one year but that He would give them new territory as the capacity
of his people to occupy the land increased. I believe God is saying something
similar to us right now – our goal must be to activate people of faith in every
part of Canada including the three big cities (Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver)
and in every region (Atlantic Canada, Quebec and the North) as well as amongst
every people group (most notably our youth and our aboriginal brothers and sisters)
- Be encouraged and grateful that God is answering prayer: Let there be no
doubt, the prayers of God’s people and the pro-marriage campaign efforts did
make a huge difference. Without that effort it is very likely that the Liberals
would have managed yet another minority government. *** Where the faith community
put in a concerted effort to Get Out The Vote for a pro-marriage candidate and
where the race was reasonably close, the pro-marriage voters made a difference.
Case in point, the re-election of pro-marriage MPs in Regina, parts of BC, and
Southwest Ontario, the defeat of Anne McClellan in Edmonton and the defeat of
Reg Alcock in Winnipeg, the election of David Sweet in Ancaster (Ontario), the
election of new pro-marriage MPs in Quebec and Atlantic Canada etc. While the
numbers of victories seem small, without those numbers we would not have a new
Prime Minister.
- Of special interest for many of you a ‘prophetic word’ shared by Dick Dewert
of the Miracle Channel – just before the election was called. It confirms that
this election is (by God’s grace) a stepping stone towards a much bigger change
in the future of our nation. Take the time to hear this:
To View: Please right click and save to hard drive:
http://www.miraclechannel.ca/files/video/electionProphecy.wmv
It’s the early dawn of a new day – as we stay humble and faithful God will
grant us victory in the coming days for a truly good government that will be
a blessing to all.
Roy J. Beyer
Pro-Marriage Network
PS- I will keep you posted from time to time
Roy Beyer (204) 295-4416
Pro-Marriage Network
TOP
Greetings from LifeIssues.net (www.lifeissues.net)
UN Admission, Compares Abortion To "Torture". The Committee on the
Elimination of Discrimanation Against Woman (CEDAW) in its recent thirty-third
session, began its meeting with the same tired charges against Ireland and other
countries for not acknowledging women's right to abortion. But Kriztina Morval
of Hungary spoke, "One thing that is lost in this debate is that abortion
is bad for women. No woman wants to have an abortion. We have the illusion that
women have free choice, but abortion is terribly damaging psychologically, spiritually
and physically." She went ahead to say that she hopes one day "abortion
will be a thing of the past and considered like torture in the field of human
rights." She then focused on the responsibility of men, explaining that
the majority of women choose abortion because their partners did not support
their pregnancy. Talk about a breath of fresh air. Thank you Kriztina Morval.
RU486 Deaths Explained. Why have five women died recently from sepsis after
taking the abortion drug RU486? The drug company, Danco, denies any relationship.
The US Food and Drug Administration says they are. But now we have a very clear
explanation in the September issue of the Annuals of Pharmacotherapy, by Dr.
R. Miech of Brown University. He has shown that the anti-progesterone affects
of RU486 cause changes in the cervix. These allow a common vaginal bacteria,
C. Sordellii, to enter the uterus. This germ quote, "thrives in this low
oxygen environment and derives nutrition from the decaying fetal tissue."
He explains that, in the meantime, the drug has an anti-glucocorticoid action
that prevents the women's immune system from fighting off the bacteria, "and
in fact may help it spread. This combination can result in septic shock, the
kind that these women died of." Three of the five women who died had this
bacteria in their bodies. According to Dr. B. Miech, such infection
s are "rare outside of RU486 use." They are particularly dangerous
because women do not show many symptoms until it is too late. This very clear
explanation of the dynamics of how septic shock occurs sounds extremely convincing.
This is yet one more reason why this combination of drugs must be taken off
of the market before more women and babies die.
God Bless,
Fr. Jerry, omi
.
QUOTE: "Scientific theories that try to explain away the appearance of
design as the result of 'chance and necessity' are not scientific at all."
- Christoph Schonborn
.
****************************************
Lifeissues.net NEWSLETTER #258
January 15, 2006
****************************************
.
(TABLE OF CONTENTS):
1. Grieving raw 13 years after abortion
2. Archbishop Slams Attempt to Legalize Abortion In Jamaica
3. Using religion to prevent AIDS
4. Delhi's nearly 40% population at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS
5. Screening IVF Babies For Defects Poised to Leap to Whole New Level
6. Look into umbilical cord stem cell research
7. More Women Report Same-Sex Experience, at Younger Age
8. Philippines Bill Mandates Only Two Children, May Force Abortions
9. 500,000 Girls Aborted Per Year in India new Study Finds
10. Human Cloning, Embryonic Stem Cell Research Exploits Women
11. Animal eggs 'to grow stem cells'
12. Screening for Down syndrome
******************************************************* .
("NEW" ARTICLES POSTED RECENTLY at http://www.lifeissues.net)
--Emmanuel McCarthy: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=mcca
--Antonio P. Pueyo: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=pue
--Ron Rolheiser: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=ron
--Frank Enderle: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=end
--Dianne N. Irving: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=irv
--Jameson Taylor: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=tay
--John B. Shea: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=she
--Steven Mosher: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=mos
***********
(Website: Babies For Life Foundation) http://www.babiesforlife.org/index2.asp.
Please visit the Babies for Life Foundation's web site to learn about ethical
ways of using stem cells from cord blood.
*******************************************************
ITEM #1. Grieving raw 13 years after abortion
A Canterbury woman has spoken out about her experience of abortion, following
the release this week of research showing a higher level of mental ill-health
among women who had terminations.
Maria Parsons, who had an abortion 13 years ago, is now fighting for a change
to the way the law is applied.
She said she still cries every day for the unborn child she agreed to "kill".
At a vulnerable stage in her life, she says, she naively opted for an abortion
after an unplanned pregnancy in the dying stages of a relationship.
"It has destroyed the last part of my life. Inside, there is just a longing
to hold the baby and to see that 13-year-old standing here. I wonder what she
looks like.
"I can see those years in my mind like a photo album," a sobbing
Ms Parsons told the Weekend Herald.
Read entire article at The New Zealand Herald:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10362733
-----------------------------------------
ITEM #2. Archbishop Slams Attempt to Legalize Abortion In Jamaica
The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Kingston Lawrence Burke has come down heavily
on Jamaica's attempts to legalize abortions. The Jamaican government had called
for consultations on the matter and the consultation period is nearing its end.
It is thought that there will be certain liberal standards proposed on the
delicate issue of abortions and naturally the Catholic Church is upset about
this. "Prosecute the persons who do illegal abortions and shut them down.
If a person wants an illegal abortion, it is public knowledge where they are
done," said Archbishop Burke, "so prosecute those people and that
will decrease the maternal mortality rate." In an interview with the Sunday
Observer, Burke said that there was no need to change the laws. The Medical
Association of Jamaica (MAJ) is in favor of amending the existing laws and claim
that this can bring down the maternal mortality rate, which is fairly high in
the island. In Jamaica, abortions are illegal, but a host of quacks and other
"abortion" doctors carry on operating with impunity in unhygienic
conditions.
View full article at medindia.net:
http://www.medindia.net/news/view_news_main.asp?x=6917
-----------------------------------------
ITEM #3. Using religion to prevent AIDS
The International Inter-Faith Conference on Prevention and Control of AIDS
would be held at Indian Institute of Technology, on 7 and 8 January, targeting
various religious organisations to throw light on HIV/AIDS and insisting on
the need for them to take initiatives to prevent the disease.
Speaking to media persons in the city yesterday,Tomy K, Bel Air Hospital, Panchgani,
and also the secretary general of the organising committee, said they would
initiate dialogues with faith leaders of different religions in the State for
their partnership in efforts for prevention and control of HIV/AIDS.
He said that 85 per cent of this killing disease spread through sexual intercourse
and so it was the need of the hour to speak about it openly. 'Religious leaders
could do much in preventing the disease because they have more followers behind
them. Making them to speak about this disease will definitely have better impact',
he added.
View full text at News Today:
http://newstodaynet.com/06jan/rf9.htm
-----------------------------------------
ITEM #4. Delhi's nearly 40% population at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS
Even as Delhi's rapidly growing population becomes a cause of serious concern,
nearly 40 per cent of its people are at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS.
According to a Delhi State AIDS Control Society report Delhi's population,
nearly half of which is due to migration, presents a unique challenge in the
struggle against HIV/AIDS.
"The slum population, 40 per cent of the total, poses a special problem....
The slum population, characterised by low levels of literacy, poor health conditions,
poverty, and low status of women, offered HIV many opportunities to spread,"
the society said in its report 'HIV/AIDS in Delhi - Meeting the Challenge'.
The migratory population, nine lakh and growing, often arrived in the city
with little or no HIV knowledge also added to the risk factor, it said.
"Since Delhi is a major crossroad in India it has become an important
hub for trucks and transportation," it added.
View article at WebIndia123.com:
http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=213364&cat=Health
-----------------------------------------
ITEM #5. Screening IVF Babies For Defects Poised to Leap to Whole New Level
Screening unborn babies for birth defects is poised to leap to a whole new
level. Research by British scientists suggests it will soon be possible to screen
human embryos for thousands of genetic disorders.
In most cases, current screening techniques are carried out on babies conceived
through in vitro fertilization (IVF), before the child is implanted in the womb.
In such cases, a child carrying a recognized genetic disorder is "discarded."
The new procedure builds upon existing methods of testing babies, conceived
in vitro, for disease before they are implanted in the womb. These advances
in genetic screening are limited to children conceived through IVF techniques.
A study issued by the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) shows improved
estimates of birth defect frequencies in the U.S. population. The study has
provided more accurate estimates of the rates of 18 major birth defects.
While the study states that the purpose of improving estimate accuracy is to
help prevent birth defects, in fact pre-natal screening for disorders usually
results in death by abortion for the children who are identified with the potential
to develop a particular disease. In the U.S. 90% of all children with Down's
syndrome are aborted. In Canada the number is 85%.
View full text at LifeSiteNews.com:
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jan/06010606.html
-----------------------------------------
ITEM #6. Look into umbilical cord stem cell research
When it comes to cloning, all anyone can talk about lately -- and understandably
so -- is recently disgraced South Korean scientist Hwang Woo-suk. One of "Time"
magazine's most influential people of 2004 could prove to be one of the most
influential people of 2006, too -- but in ways he never intended.
Hwang, whose cloning claims have been unraveling in recent weeks, has been
exposed as a liar. At first, he delusionally thought he could save himself from
public disgrace, trying to talk his way out of revelations about unethical egg-procurement
practices. But soon we learned that he faked research, too -- even though he
tried to claim innocence and cry sabotage. And before 2005's end we learned
that in his most celebrated "success," Mr. Stem Cell had never, in
fact, created any embryonic stem cells from cloned embryos.
This is actually good news in one sense. Cloning -- even under frequently used
euphemisms: somatic cell nuclear transfer, therapeutic cloning, and simply "stem
cell research" -- would be a giant leap for mankind, and not a good one.
To create a life in order to destroy it, as so-called therapeutic cloning would
do, is a brave new world for us. A world that, although some states even here
have already invested money in pursuing, we have not quite arrived at. Phew.
View full article at TimesUnion.com [New York]:
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=437166&category=OPINION&newsdate=1/9/2006
-----------------------------------------
ITEM #7. More Women Report Same-Sex Experience, at Younger Age
(LifeSiteNews.com) - More women are experimenting with homosexuality, and doing
so at a younger age, according to a new report released by the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in September 2005.
The report, based on results from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth,
found that 11% of women age 18-29 reported having a same-sex experience within
the past year of the study. In a 1992 survey, only 4% of women in the same age
category indicated same-sex experimentation.
10% of women questioned in the study said they were attracted "mostly"
to men, opposed to 86% who indicated they were attracted only to men. In the
1992 survey, only 3% of women said they were attracted "mostly" to
men.
Researchers were surprised to discover that women in an older age category,
30-44, only reported about 10% same-sex experience in the past year. Dr. William
Mosher, lead researcher, said the high number for younger women was significant
because results of questions about life experiences are generally higher for
older subjects than younger ones. (NARTH)
The researchers said the higher number for younger women reflected a more common
experience of homosexual activity during college. The survey indicated that
those who reported sexual activity with members of the same sex did not necessarily
identity themselves as "homosexual."
The report also indicated an increase in male homosexual activity for young
men, although the increase was much less than that of the women. Six percent
of men in the similar age range said they had a same-sex experience, up from
4.9 percent in 1992. 2.3 percent of men surveyed indicated they would call themselves
homosexual.
The data were based on 12,571 in-person interviews with men and women 15-44
years of age.
-----------------------------------------
ITEM #8. Philippines Bill Mandates Only Two Children, May Force Abortions
Pro-life advocates in the Philippines are greatly concerned about legislation
coming up for a vote there later this month that would implement a rule prohibiting
familles from having more than two children. The idea conjures up images for
forced abortions and sterilizations that occur in China.
Just before Christmas, a bill was introduced in the Philippine legislature
which, if passed, will impose a two-child limit on families. A final vote is
expected on January 16.
Eileen Macapanas Cosby, Executive Director of the Filipino Family Fund, is
outraged.
She said the bill will "pave the way for the kind of human rights nightmare
that is already in China, with its coercive sterilization and contraception
practices."
"This Philippine version is really just 'China-light.' This is not a policy
growing from Filipino values, it is social engineering from the outside being
imposed on the Philippine people," she said.
View full text at LifeNews.com:
http://www.lifenews.com/nat1960.html
-----------------------------------------
ITEM #9. 500,000 Girls Aborted Per Year in India new Study Finds
A study published in the leading British Medical Journal, the Lancet, says
sex-targeted abortion is accountable for the deaths of up to half a million
girl babies a year and is creating in India, as in China, a severe demographic
imbalance in the population.
The study examined data from 134,000 births in 1997 among 6 million people
living in 1.1 million households in India. The researchers found that in 1997,
between 590,000 and 740,000 girls were aborted in India.
In 2001, the data showed that for every 1,000 male babies born in India, there
were just 933 girls. The imbalance is even more pronounced in second births
where the preceding children are girls; in those cases, the ratio of girls to
boys in second births was 759 to 1,000. When two preceding children were both
girls, the numbers fell to 719 girls to 1,000 boys.
Source: LifeSiteNews.com
http://www.lifeissues.net/news.php?newsID=00013717&topic=
-----------------------------------------
ITEM #10. Human Cloning, Embryonic Stem Cell Research Exploits Women
Junior scientist Park Eul-soon suffered the most personally devastating blunder
of her career when in 2003 she accidentally spilled a dish of human eggs while
conducting experiments in the South Korean lab of then-clone king Hwang Woo-suk.
For that mishap, Hwang coerced Park, a subordinate Ph.D. student in her mid-20s,
to replace the lost eggs with her own. After first saying no, Park relented
for fear Hwang would otherwise exclude her from academic recognition for her
work.
Afterward, according to Korean MBC TV, Park morbidly "went back to Hwang's
laboratory and conducted the cloning experiment on the eggs that she herself
had contributed that morning."
Park wrote in an e-mail to MBC, "I hope I can forgive myself for not being
able to stand up to the professor."
The unforgivable one is Hwang. Not only is he now accused of falsifying his
cloning feats and thereby "perpetrat[ing] the greatest scientific fraud,
not just of 2005, but of the admittedly still young 21st century," according
to MSNBC columnist Arthur Caplan, he is also accused of exploiting women on
just as grand a scale to obtain eggs for his cloning experiments.
View full text at LifeSiteNews.com:
http://www.lifenews.com/bio1273.html
-----------------------------------------
ITEM #11. Animal eggs 'to grow stem cells'
Stem cell researchers are looking to use animal eggs as 'hosts' to grow human
cells
A Chinese team has already claimed to have created human embryonic stem cells
using rabbit eggs which had had their genetic material removed.
UK experts said the option had to be considered because there were too few
human eggs for research.
Scientists say cells created using animal eggs would only be used in the lab,
but critics condemned the plan.
*****
[Note: You know, scientists need to really get a grip on their own field -
as required before doing any research by both the Declaration of Helsinki and
the Nuremberg Code. Not just "ethically", but also intellectually,
things have really gotten out of control. Aside from the other "key problems"
of creating and then killing innocent human beings for research fodder and victimizing
women for their "eggs", what about the mitochondrial DNA from the
rabbit "host"?? If it was ultimately the DNA fingerprinting for both
the nuclear DNA and the mitochondrial DNA involved in nuclear transfer that
brought Hwang down and empirically demonstrated his scientific fraud, how and
why do these other "stem cell researchers" continue to totally and
utterly ignore the reality of foreign mitochondrial DNA present in "stem
cells" that will be "therapeutically" injected into potentially
millions of desperate vulnerable human patients in global clinical trials -
causing severe immune rejection reac
tions? Even if Hwang had succeeded in producing such "stem cells"
for "therapies", wouldn't his scientific deception be exposed anyway
once these trusting patients began to suffer their demonstrable in-the-flesh
consequences? And if it is just to "study" various diseases in vitro,
what kind of reliable "scientific knowledge" would that really yield?
Think about it. That in vitro mix also contains foreign animal mitochondrial
DNA - genetic material that is especially involved in a host of very sophisticated
biochemical reactions, many of which are still not scientifically understood
to this day. It is also missing the human mitochondrial DNA - which functions
significantly differently than animal mitochondrial DNA. So how could such research
really yield significant "scientific knowledge" to produce applications
in real human patients? And couldn't some of those rabbit genes "accidentally"
cross-over into the nuclear DNA of the human donor cell? What about viral DNA
or RNA genetic "artifacts"? Etc. Etc. Even aside from all of the multiple
ethical and scientific dilemmas - what a horrendous waste of money. - Dianne
N Irving, Ph.D.]
*****
Read entire article at BBC News:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4605926.stm
-----------------------------------------
ITEM #12. Screening for Down syndrome
A series of research articles in the most recent edition of Obstetrics and
Gynecology makes it clear that "abnormal" preborn children are unacceptable.
Arguing that "if the patient desires voluntary termination of pregnancy,
the procedure can be performed early in gestation," the article focuses
on educating doctors so that such choices can be made earlier. A second article
affirms this by pointing out that a physician's job is "to inform couples
in a nonjudgmental manner of the available options."
COMMENT: No wonder that columnist Julia Gorin writes, "In America we don't
leave infants with disabilities on the side of the road or bury them in the
desert. We simply get rid of them before they are born."
Reading: "Screening for Down syndrome," Obstetrics and Gynecology,
1/1/06, http://www.greenjournal.org/cgi/content/abstract/107/1/11;
"Incorporating first-trimester down syndrome studies into prenatal testing,"
Obstetrics and Gynecology, 1/1/06, http://www.greenjournal.org/cgi/content/abstract/107/1/167;
"Progressives killed Corky," Jewish World Review, 1/5/06, http://www.jewishworldreview.com/julia/gorin010506.php3
.
*********************************************************** ***********************************************************
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==================================================
ZENIT News Agency, The World Seen from Rome
==================================================
Time to Defuse a Demographic Bomb
Concern Is Now About Population Decline
SOFIA, Bulgaria, JAN. 21, 2006 (Zenit.org).- A number of countries have published
data revealing a serious deficiency in the number of children being born. On
Jan. 9 a report by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences predicted that the country\'s
population will fall from 8 million in 2001 to 7 million in 2020, according
to Agence France-Presse.
If the current number of children being born per woman, 1.2 to 1.3, were to
continue in coming decades the population could even drop to 4.5 million by
2050. Some European countries have seen birthrates increase. But others, such
as Spain and Italy, are at the same level as Bulgaria.
Italy has seen a slight rise in its birthrate in the last couple of years,
but the situation is still grave. According to official data, reported in the
newspaper Corriere della Sera last Oct. 21, the average age of men when their
first child is born is now 33. The average age for first-time fathers in Spain
and France is 30 to 31.
Moreover, 40% of Italian men ages 30 to 34 still live at home with mom; the
comparable figure for women is 20%.
The effects on the age structure of Italy\'s population are becoming ever more
evident. On Nov. 4 Reuters reported that the ratio of those 65 years of age
and over to those under 15 reached 137.7 to 100 in 2004. Other European countries
-- Germany, Spain, Portugal and Greece -- also have more over-65\'s than under-15\'s,
but the disequilibrium is not as severe.
Russia also has serious problems. The British newspaper Guardian reported Dec.
29 that a combination of high mortality (especially for men), lots of abortions
and few births has led to an almost 7% drop in Russia\'s population in the last
15 years. Now at 143 million, it is predicted to drop by up to 20 million in
the next two decades.
The Guardian cited a report by a business lobby group, Delovaya Rossiya, warning
that the country will lose up to $400 billion in the next 20 years if it fails
to tackle the population implosion.
\"The deficit of labor is already being noticed,\" said Andrei Korovkin,
a labor resources expert. \"Even with a pessimistic view of economic growth,
by 2010 it will become the most serious fact limiting the development of Russian
industry.\"
Japan shrinking
Just before Christmas Japan announced that for the first time on record its
population dropped. A Health Ministry survey showed deaths outnumbering births
in 2005 by 10,000, the Associated Press reported Dec. 21. The current average
number of children per woman, 1.29, is also at a record low.
Just prior to the publication of the statistics a government report warned
that Japan\'s population could shrink by half by the end of the century, Reuters
reported Dec. 16.
\"Compared with nations that have recently boosted their birthrates, such
as France and Sweden, we cannot say that our nation\'s policies are really sufficient,\"
the report said.
In South Korea, government officials are also worried about the lack of children.
In fact, after decades of promoting birth control South Korea and other Asian
countries are now trying to persuade parents to have more children, the New
York Times reported Aug. 21.
\"In the next two or three years, we won\'t be able to increase the birthrate,\"
said Park Ha Jeong, a director general in the Health Ministry. \"But we
have to stop the decline, or it will be too late.\"
The average number of children per woman in South Korea has plummeted to 1.19.
Taiwan is not much better, at 1.22.
Not until last year did the South Korean government commit itself to raising
the birthrate. \"We should have started these policies in the late 1990s,\"
Park said, \"but we had been focused on decreasing the birthrate for 40
years and it was hard to change directions.\" It remains to be seen how
much success the government will have in reversing fertility trends.
Aging trends
The population is also aging rapidly in Canada, announced the official body
Statistics Canada. The number of people aged 65 and over will overtake those
under 15 by 2015, the Globe and Mail newspaper reported Dec. 15.
By 2031, the number of seniors is expected to be 8.9 million to 9.4 million,
almost 25% of the population compared with 13% now. The number of children,
by contrast, is projected to be 4.8 million to 6.6 million. At the same time,
the number of people of working age (15 to 64) will decline from the current
70% to about 60% in the years after 2030.
In the United States, the population is also aging. A Washington Times report
Dec. 26 noted that the first of 78.2 million baby boomers, defined as those
born from 1946 to 1964, are about to turn 60. And over the next 25 years the
whole country will start to have an age structure like that of Florida, where
20% of the population is 65 or older.
This change presents serious challenges for welfare programs and government
finances. The number of people receiving Social Security or Medicare will grow
by 27 million in the next two decades, while those working, and paying taxes
to finance these benefits, will grow by only 18 million.
Economic impact
\"On the path that we\'re headed on today,\" said David Walker, head
of the Government Accountability Office, a federal agency, \"either there
have to be dramatic changes in entitlement programs and other federal spending,
or dramatic tax increases to close the fiscal gap.\"
In fact, over the next half-century health and welfare benefits could reach
a combined level of around 24% of gross domestic product, which is about equivalent
to the entire amount of federal government spending in all sectors currently.
Aging costs were also examined recently by the Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development. An OECD study warned that global economic growth will decline
to about 1.7% a year over the next three decades, the Financial Times reported
Oct. 11. That growth rate would represent a fall of 30% compared with past decades,
unless older people are encouraged to work longer to offset declining birthrates.
By 2050 there will be an average of more than seven older, inactive people
supported by just 10 active workers in developed economies, compared with a
ratio of four to 10 in 2000. In Europe the ratio will be one to one.
Faced with these facts some erstwhile supporters of family planning have recognized
their errors. Adam Werbach, former national president of the Sierra Club in
the United States, published an article Oct. 5 on the Web site American Prospect
Online admitting that population control policies were a mistake.
In recent years a group within the Sierra Club attempted to adopt policies
against immigration, a move successfully resisted by Werbach and others. \"In
the population-control frame, the number of people and their placement on the
planet is the root problem that needs to be solved,\" he explained.
But, Werbach continued, this is not the key problem. He called upon \"population
activists\" to change course and concentrate instead on working for improvements
in conditions for women, and better health care and education. Instead of worrying
about population control we need to unleash human potential, Werbach explained.
A lesson many countries are only starting to learn as they face population decline.
ZE06012106
===================================================
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TOP
LifeSiteNews.com - Monday January 23, 2006
Conservative Candidate Physically Threatens, Harasses Family Handing
Out Pro-Life Election Sheet at Church
Audio Caught on Tape
By John-Henry Westen
SCARBOROUGH, ON, January 23, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - At about 11:30 a.m.
Sunday, the day prior to the federal election, Conservative candidate for Scarborough
South West (SSW) Vincent Veerasuntharam (VV) and campaign workers verbally harassed
and physically threatened a family who were distributing a pro-life candidate
evaluation sheet outside Our Lady of Fatima Shrine Catholic Church in Scarborough.
The family in question was that of LifeSiteNews.com director Steve Jalsevac,
who warned the candidate he was recording the incident.
Jalsevac, his wife and four children aged 11-16 were handing out pro-life candidate
evaluation sheets compiled by Campaign Life Coalition which detailed information
on candidates in the three ridings in which parishioners of the Church reside.
The sheet endorsed a Conservative in one, a Liberal in another and no candidate
in the third. (See the sheet here: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006_docs/evaluationletter.pdf
)
In the SSW riding, the sheet endorsed pro-life Liberal MP Tom Wappel since
VV refused to respond to the CLC questionnaire. On VV the sheet stated: "Vincent
Veerasuntharam, the CPC candidate and his campaign team, have consistently declined
to publicly commit his campaign to defending the preborn, sick, aged or traditional
marriage through not answering the Campaign Life Coalition questionnaire."
After objecting vehemently to the sheet's evaluation, the candidate took a
swing at Jalsevac but stopped short of connecting as Jalsevac withdrew to avoid
the blow. On the tape during the physical threat, the candidate can be heard
at the time saying, "what are you finding so funny, you want me to, you
want me to f..ah, go into jail, I don't mind, because you are sucking up to
Tom Wappel. You know Tom Wappel is the biggest, cunning bastard. Tom Wappel
is the biggest bastard in the planet." (Listen to the clip here:
Real Media Format
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/audio/swingatsj.rm
Quicktime mp3 format
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/audio/swingatsj.mp3 )
When warned that the exchange was being recorded, the candidate initially said
he did not care. On the tape Jalsevac can be heard stating: "Whatever you
are saying right now will be recorded." VV can be heard responding: "It
doesn't matter, record it. Tom Wappel is the biggest hypocrite, Tom Wappel is
the biggest crook." (Hear that exchange here:
Real Media Format
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/audio/recordit.rm
Quicktime mp3 format
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/audio/recordit.mp3 )
However, later in the incident VV's campaign workers can be heard on the tape
forcibly attempting to take the recorder away from Jalsevac. As the workers
attempted to physically remove the recorder one can be clearly heard on the
tape saying, "Take this recorder off his hands." (Listen to the clip:
Real Media format
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/audio/takerecorder.rm
Quicktime format
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/audio/takerecorder.mp3 )
The incident was witnessed by at least several parishioners as it occurred
at the top of the Church's front steps after a Mass as the church was emptying.
When police from 41 Division arrived, witnesses described the events and Mr.
Jalsevac said he wanted to press charges against VV and the campaign workers
accompanying him.
41 Division night staff sergeant Patterson told LifeSiteNews.com that a unit
had been dispatched to the church earlier today but only the day shift could
provide more details of the event.
Jalsevac told LifeSiteNews.com he is seeking to press charges over the altercation.
Jalsevac says that as the workers shoved him he was forced back into his wife,
knocking her to the ground. At this point, he relates, his sixteen-year-old
son ran to assist and he too was shoved by one of the campaign workers.
Developing . . .
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TOP
Remarks by President Bush in a Telephone Call to the March for Life Participants
WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 /Christian Newswire/ -- The following transcript is of
remarks by President Bush in a telephone call to the March for Life participants
:
12:40 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Nellie, thank you very much. I appreciate the invitation to
speak. I'm calling from Manhattan, Kansas. (Applause.) Sounds like you got some
good folks from Kansas there. (Applause.) I want to thank everybody there --
if you're from Kansas, or anywhere else in our country, for your devotion to
such a noble cause.
You believe, as I do, that every human life has value, that the strong have
a duty to protect the weak, and that the self-evident truths of the Declaration
of Independence apply to everyone, not just to those considered healthy or wanted
or convenient. These principles call us to defend the sick and the dying, persons
with disabilities and birth defects, all who are weak and vulnerable, especially
unborn children. (Applause.)
We're making good progress in defending these principles, Nellie, and you and
I are working together, along with others, to build what I've called a culture
of life. One of my first acts as the President was to ban the use of taxpayer
money on programs that promote abortion overseas. (Applause.) I want to thank
you all for getting that ban on partial-birth abortion to my desk, a bill I
was proud to sign -- (applause) -- and a law which we are going to defend --
and are defending -- vigorously in our courts. Because we acted, infants who
are born despite an attempted abortion are now protected by law. Thanks to "Laci
and Conner's Law," prosecutors can now charge those who harm or kill a
pregnant woman with harming or killing her unborn child, as well. (Applause.)
We're vigorously promoting parental notification laws, adoption, teen abstinence,
crisis pregnancy programs, and the vital work of our faith-based groups. We're
sending a clear message to any woman facing a crisis pregnancy: We love you,
we love your child, and we're here to help you.
There's more work to be done. The House has passed a bill to ensure that state
parental involvement laws are not circumvented by those who take minors across
state lines to have abortions. And the United States Senate needs to pass this
bill so I can sign it into law. (Applause.)
We also must respect human life and dignity when advancing medical science,
and we're making progress here, as well. Last month, I signed a pro-life bill
supporting ethical treatment and research using stem cells from umbilical cord
blood. I also renew my call for Congress to ban all forms of human cloning.
Because human life is a gift from our Creator and should never be used as a
means to an end, we will not sanction the creation of life only to destroy it.
By changing laws we can change our culture. And your persistence and prayers,
Nellie, and the folks there with you, are making a real difference. We, of course,
seek common ground where possible; we're working to persuade more of our fellow
Americans of the rightness of our cause. And this is a cause that appeals to
the conscience of our citizens, and is rooted in America's deepest principles
-- and history tells us that with such a cause, we will prevail.
Again, Nellie, thank you for letting me come to speak to you. Tell everybody
there that I ask for God's blessings on them and their families, and, of course,
may God continue to bless our grand country. (Applause.)
END 12:44 P.M. EST
Christian Newswire
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TOP
Conservative Minority government does not guarantee status quo on assisted
suicide.
Alex Schadenberg
The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition remains concerned that a bill to legalize
euthanasia and/or assisted suicide is still capable of passing through the newly
elected parliament, even though the Conservatives have won a minority government.
This is no time to relax and be complacent, the election of a conservative
minority may not have changed the configuration of support for euthanasia or
assisted suicide enough in order to create a climate where a bill to legalize
euthanasia and/or assisted suicide would be defeated in parliament.
Many Conservatives have indicated that they would not support a bill to legalize
euthanasia or assisted suicide, but not all of the Conservatives oppose euthanasia
and assisted suicide.
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper stated in the french leaders language debate
that he opposes assisted suicide and has no intention of raising the issue in
parliament. He would, however, allow a free vote on the issue if it were raised
in parliament. "I can simply say it isn’t the intention of our government
to propose this type of change to the law," Harper said. "I think
it’s important to resist the idea of giving the power to kill. I understand
the reasons some might want to propose this. If there is a proposal like this
in the House of Commons – a moral question – I would always allow my members
a free vote."
Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe stated in a letter to Alex Schadenberg,
Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, Executive Director that: In our view, however,
everyone has the right to make decisions about the health care they want to
receive, and to expect that their decisions about their own body will be carried
out. People should be able to choose freely to die if it is clear to them that
they no longer have any quality of life and that their suffering has become
intolerable. For some people, prolonging life involves a loss of independence
and control, which in turns means a loss of dignity that they cannot accept.
We have a moral obligation to respect the preferences of such people, in such
circumstances, as to when and how they wish to die.
The Liberal party members are divided. There is a small group of Liberal MP’s
who staunchly oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide but the question remains
whether there numbers are large enough to ensure that a private members bill
to legalize euthanasia and/or assisted suicide would be defeated.
The NDP party position supports the legalization of euthanasia and assisted
suicide. There may be a couple of NDP members of parliament who would oppose
a bill.
The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition is committed to Caring solutions to end
of life issues. We oppose any attempt to weaken the current protection the exists
in law for people with disabilities and other vulnerable Canadians. We urge
the government to move forward by ensuring every Canadians will receive the
necessary supports to enable people to live with dignity and thus mitigate the
demand for medical killing.
TOP
Letter to Editor,
Globe & Mail Online Tuesday, Jan 24th, 2006.
Canada needs what Harper and the CPC has promised to implement, improved crime
enforcement and performance of the judiciary, to reduce taxes generally, to
distribute assistance for childcare to parents not institutions, to reduce wait
times for healthcare treatment, to tackle the poverty of provinces versus the
federal surpluses, to respect provincial selections of Senators, and to hold
free votes on moral issues that arise as private members bills.
Only socialist ideologues would oppose these careful, fair, and reasonable
objectives, which brings up these questions, "Why did Paul Martin's Liberals
make crime enforcement harder by opening whole new classes of 'protected' species
in Canadian human rights law, why did they remove traditional marriage from
Canadian law, why did they fail to produce a substantial tax relief after promising
it in the 2004 election, why would they propose to legalize marijuana and prostitution,
and why would they protect child predators from prosecution for sex with 14
and 15 year-olds?"
The answer is not one most people would like to hear. It is simply this, mega-rich
champagne socialists, like the people Paul Martin admires, favour a socialist
dominated society because people who accept socialism are easier to control
and indoctrinate than are people who have been formed to reflect parental values
for themselves and their children. They have different values. Real people have
real values, like truth, justice, fairness and compassion for others. Socialists
have false values like choice, tolerance, and self-serving compassion.
Paul Martin's values ring hollow because they are shadows of truth, simulated
justice, relative fairness and false compassion. His is a pretend world of the
favoured few ruling the rest. Most Canadians, however, are descended from those
who escaped such a system and they still have enough residual memory to know
a phony when they see one.
TOP
Greetings from LifeIssues.net (www.lifeissues.net)
Dear Colleague,
Austin Ruse, Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute, writes that a hard-law
negotiation over disability rights just reconvened at UN headquarters in New
York. There is a chance that pro-abortion language could be approved in the
document. This would be the first time that a hard-law document contained such
language.
Of chief concern is the inclusion in Article 25 of language in the latest version
of the treaty granting persons with disabilities "the same range and standard
of affordable health services as provided other persons, [including sexual and
reproductive health services] and population-based public health programme."
The phrase "including sexual and reproductive health services" is
in brackets in the proposed text because it remains a point of debate among
negotiators. Such language has never appeared in a treaty which is binding on
all signatories and it is the only health right specifically mentioned in the
article.
Pro-abortion groups insist that sexual and reproductive services means abortion,
though this has never been agreed to by UN Member States. By placing sexual
and reproductive services in the context of rights guaranteed to all citizens,
the document could be used to enshrine abortion rights into international law.
Pro-abortion activists in signatory countries that restrict abortion may challenge
those laws by citing the convention.
Concerns about Article 25's language were raised during the sixth round of
negotiations by Patrick Buckley of the London-based Society for the Protection
of Unborn Children. Buckley received an unusual rebuke from the Chairman, Don
MacKay of New Zealand, who called Buckley's concerns invalid.
Article 10 is also of concern because it deals with the right to life. The
article declares "that every human being has the inherent right to life
. . ." But what that means and how the international community defines
"human being" are unclear. The article does not offer protection to
the unborn from being aborted because of a disability and there is nothing insuring
the right of the disabled to be protected from euthanasia. Considering the fact
the European Union backs this language whole heartedly and that a number of
EU nations have legalized euthanasia it is unlikely that this language would
prohibit euthanasia otherwise those nations would be unwilling to sign on.
Negotiations over the treaty have been contentious since they started in the
middle of 2002. This session is scheduled to conclude February 3 and another
session is slated for August. Negotiators hope to complete work by the end of
the year.
God Bless,
Fr. Jerry, omi
(ACTION: you may contact Austin Ruse with your concerns and vocal support at
c-fam@c-fam.org)
.
QUOTE: "In moral evaluation a distinction must be made between strictly
therapeutic manipulation, which aims to cure illnesses caused by genetic or
chromosome anomalies (genetic therapy), from manipulation altering the human
genetic patrimony. A curative intervention, which is also called 'genetic surgery,'
will be considered desirable in principle, provided its purpose is the real
promotion of the personal well-being of the individual, without damaging his
integrity or worsening his condition of life." -- Charter for Health Care
Workers, 12
.
****************************************
Lifeissues.net NEWSLETTER #260
January 29, 2006
****************************************
.
(TABLE OF CONTENTS):
1. Japan: Infertile ground
2. Commentary on the Women's Bioethics Project
3. UK Judge Denies Parents Right to Know About Abortions For Their Underage
Daughters
4. Abortion Leads to Substance Abuse for Significant Number of Women
5. Abortion Total in United States Since Roe v. Wade Now Over 47 Million
6. German leaders wake up to shrinking population
7. China warns AIDS spreading among general population
8. Pharmacist speaks out after fired for refusing to dispense emergency birth
control
9. A 'loveless society'?
10. The choice no parent ever wants to make
11. S Korea Probes Stem Cell Trials
12. Delaware House Passes Fraudulent Human Cloning 'Ban'
******************************************************* .
("NEW" ARTICLES POSTED RECENTLY at http://www.lifeissues.net)
--John B. Shea: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=she
--Antonio P. Pueyo: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=pue
--Ron Rolheiser: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=ron
--Frank Enderle: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=end
--Dianne N. Irving: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=irv
--Rebecca Taylor: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=tayl
--Theresa Burke: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=bur
--Doug McManaman: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=mcm
--Jameson Taylor: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=tay
***********
[Website: Useless Eaters]: http://www.regent.edu/acad/schedu/uselesseaters/
This is a very interesting and insightful multimedia presentation. It is interesting
history and has some very relevant application for today. Specifically it deals
with the attitudes towards disability and abnormality in Germany prior to and
during Nazi rule that contributed to the events of the Holocaust. Allow your
self some serious quiet time to check out this thought provoking website.
*******************************************************
ITEM #1. Japan: Infertile ground
Japan is shrinking. Government figures released in December 2005 indicate that
the population of Japan decreased: A report compiled by the Health and Welfare
Ministry estimates 1.067 million births in 2005, as compared to 1.077 million
deaths. Excluding the war-ravaged year of 1945, this is the nation's first recorded
net population loss since records began to be kept in 1899.
Experts predicted in 2002 that the nation's population would peak in 2007.
Now, according to The National Institute of Population and Social Security Research,
the decline has arrived earlier than expected.
One factor in the accelerated decline is the high number of deaths among elderly
who succumbed to an influenza epidemic in early 2005. But all agree that the
most significant factor has been the rapid fall of the birthrate. The average
number of babies born to a Japanese woman during her reproductive years dropped
to a record low of 1.289 in 2004, continuing a downward trend that started in
the early 1980s.
View full article at World Magazine:
http://www.worldmag.com/subscriber/displayarticle.cfm?id=11472
-----------------------------------------
ITEM #2. Commentary on the Women's Bioethics Project
A new pro-choice, pro-science think tank called the Women's Bioethics Project,
has released a report called, "Bioethics and Public Policy: Conservative
Dominance in the Current Landscape." I thought to myself: How is that possible?
Do conservatives dominate bioethics public policy? Is that like the mythical
"conservative" media bias?
After reading the report, I found that Kathryn Hinsch, the founder of the Women's
Bioethics Project, makes a strong case. She contends that conservative groups
dominate all areas of bioethics debate (i.e. euthanasia, cloning, stem cell
research, abortion, reproductive technologies.) She writes, "To date, only
extremely conservative and overtly religious groups have devoted substantial
resources to affecting bioethics public policy." She clearly equates any
group that is unequivocally pro-life as "extreme." She observes "at
the core of bioethics is the ultimate power struggle for the control of life
(and death) and our sense of ourselves as human beings." And, in her opinion
conservative groups "see bioethics as a way to extend their anti-reproductive
freedom, anti-science, pro-religion political agdenda." In addition, conservatives
"use bioethics as a way to galvanize their base, gear up the troops for
battle, divide progressives, and polish their image."
After several pages of speculating on what drives the conservative agenda,
Hinsch finally gets to the real reason that conservatives dominate the bioethics
landscape. It is because most conservative groups agree on the idea of human
dignity. She writes, [Conservatives] are incredibly adept at tying these [bioethics]
issues together in a unified conservative framework based on the concept of
'human dignity.' This defines their position on any given issue and resonates
with their audience."
View full commentary at LifeIssues.net:
http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/tayl/tayl_03womenbioethics.html
-----------------------------------------
ITEM #3. UK Judge Denies Parents Right to Know About Abortions For Their Underage
Daughters
(LifeSiteNews.com) - UK parents have been told they have no right to know if
their daughter is to have an abortion or contraceptive, according to a High
Court judgement.
Mr Justice Silber told Sue Axon, who brought the case, that forcing a girl
to tell her parents she is having an abortion "may lead her to make a decision
that she later regrets or seek the assistance of an unofficial abortionist."
Axon, a mother of five and post-abortion sufferer, said, "Having endured
the trauma of abortion, I brought the case to ensure that medical professionals
would not carry out an abortion on one of my daughters without first informing
me," according to BBC coverage.
I could then discuss such a life-changing event with her and provide the support
she would need." Axon said she had no plans for an appeal.
Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) said that parents will
be confused and angry at Silber's judgment today. SPUC general secretary Paul
Tully commented: "Abortion, as well as killing an unborn child, can have
long-term physical, social and psychological effects on young women - and this
is acknowledged and emphasised by the judge. We believe that the judgment was
right to stress these health risks, as well as acknowledging the social, moral,
religious and cultural issues at stake."
"However, abortions and abortion-inducing drugs are routinely provided
for under-16 year-olds by the Department of Health, flouting the 1985 legal
guidelines on provision of contraception and abortion to under-16s that the
judge said were valid and of great importance," Tully explained.
"The judgment is written in the assumption that the guidelines are widely
known and carefully observed," Tully added. "In effect the judge pays
lip-service to the 1985 rules, while ignoring the contempt in which they are
held by health officials."
"The demands from the pro-abortion lobby that it should be allowed to
provide young teenagers with abortions secretly (keeping GPs as well as parents
in the dark) shows how brazen it has become," Tully said. "Mr Silber's
judgment will encourage the pro-abortion lobby to become more vehement in its
demands. Mr Silber's inclusion of contentious statements, such as the claim
that a 'right to abortion' exists in English law, is disturbing. It suggests
that his thinking is dominated by those who campaign to create such a right
by asserting that it already exists, and ignores Parliament's decision in 1967
to legalise abortion only in specific situations, primarily of risk to the life
or health of the pregnant woman."
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Mother Challenges Teen Abortion, UK Parental Notification Law
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/nov/05110806.html
-----------------------------------------
ITEM #4. Abortion Leads to Substance Abuse for Significant Number of Women
(LifeSiteNews.com) -A recent study reinforces previous findings that women
who have abortions frequently turn to drugs and alcohol to cope with the aftereffects
of the trauma.
Author Pricilla Coleman, professor of Human Development and Family Studies
at Bowling Green State University, said studies show women who have abortions
are up to five times more likely to use drugs and alcohol, and to smoke, than
women who have not had an abortion, in a research review published in Current
Women's Health Reviews.
Coleman said studies show women are more likely than men to rely on drugs or
alcohol for help in dealing with severe personal trauma, such as physical or
sexual abuse, or illness and family dysfunction.
Dr. David Reardon, a post-abortion expert and director of research at the Elliot
Institute, an non-profit organization that tracks the impact of abortion, said
there are at least 21 studies linking induced abortion and substance abuse,
in an Elliot Institute press release.
"Many women who have experienced abortion have unresolved emotional issues
related to their abortion," he said. "Substance abuse can provide
an easily accessible way to self-medicate their pain and numb their emotions."
Reardon said mental health workers need to recognize the devastating effects
of abortion, and find ways of helping women deal with the buried fallout.
"If treatment for substance abuse or other mental health problems fails
to address underlying factors such as abortion, the treatment may be ineffective
and women are likely to continue to turn to substances such as drugs or alcohol
to cope," Reardon said.
Studies have also found significantly higher rates of depression, anxiety disorders,
suicidal tendencies, psychiatric hospitalization and poor bonding with and parenting
of later children, in women who have had an abortion.
See full report from the Elliot Institute here:
http://www.earnedmedia.org/elliot0121.htm
-----------------------------------------
ITEM #5. Abortion Total in United States Since Roe v. Wade Now Over 47 Million
Sometime during 2005, the United States reached an ugly new milestone: more
than 47 million abortions have been performed in the 33 years since the Supreme
Court's Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion throughout pregnancy for
virtually any reason.
The figure comes from analysis from the National Right to Life Committee, based
on data from the Alan Guttmacher Institute. AGI, a research group affiliated
with Planned Parenthood, compiles what both sides on abortion believe are the
most accurate abortion statistics.
While the number of abortions nationwide is on the decline, the total figure
of abortions since the landmark 1973 ruling continues to climb and is expected
to reach 50 million by 2008.
"It's an unspeakable tragedy," Dr. Randall O'Bannon, director of
education and research at National Right to Life, told Baptist Press.
"That [47 million] is higher than the population of some countries. That
would be wiping out a number of whole states," he explained.
View full text at LifeNews.com:
http://www.lifenews.com/nat2023.html
-----------------------------------------
ITEM #6. German leaders wake up to shrinking population
Stunning as it may seem, a steep decline in the German population since 1972
and fears the trend will gain pace have led demographers to warn of unsettling
consequences.
The number of Germans has declined by 3.2 million -- the population of Berlin
-- over the last 30 years but demographers' concerns have mostly been ignored
until now in a country scarred by the Nazis' nefarious procreation pressures.
German leaders have now lifted the birth rate to the top of the political agenda
for the first time since the Nazi era, and the two ruling parties are trying
to outdo each other with pro-family measures.
"Germans are at risk of dying out if the trend continues," said Harald
Michel, managing director of the Institute for Applied Demography. He fears
the German population could shrink from 75 million to 50 million by 2050 and
further after that.
"The birth rates have been below the replacement rate for 35 years --
a lethal development," he added. "Germans could become an 'endangered
people.' It's hypothetical now but we may have to think about 'the last German'
at some point. The problem is compounded each generation. Children not born
30 years ago obviously aren't there to have children now."
View full article at Reuters:
http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=lifeAndLeisureNews&storyID=2006-01-23T140239Z_01_L17246968_RTRUKOC_0_US-GERMANY-POPULATION.xml
-----------------------------------------
ITEM #7. China warns AIDS spreading among general population
China on Wednesday revised down an estimate of the number of people living
in the country with HIV/AIDS, but international health agencies warned that
with 70,000 new infections last year, there was no room for complacency. They
also warned that the virus was no longer restricted to drug users and those
who sold blood, but had begun to spread quickly among the general population.
"China's HIV infections have been linked to high-risk behavior. But now,
sex work is moving it toward the general population," WHO China representative
Henk Bekedam told reporters at a conference announcing the new figures.
By the end of last year, China had an estimated 650,000 people living with
AIDS/HIV, 75,000 of whom had full-blown AIDS, according to the study.
The World Health Organization, China's Ministry of Health and the United Nations'
AIDS agency jointly produced the study, an update on an earlier assessment of
the AIDS epidemic in China in 2003. Bekedam said that the new estimated infections,
roughly 200 a day, showed the situation in China was "more serious than
we thought."
Most of the new cases were injecting drug users and sex workers and their clients,
but there was a growing number of infected pregnant mothers and spouses of sex
workers' clients, the report said. While a ban on the sale of blood in the late
1990s reduced the number of infections through transfusions, Bekedam said unprotected
sex was becoming the new means for the virus' spread.
He called for greater HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns in China, and more free
testing and treatment for HIV-positive people. China had previously estimated
in 2003 that 840,000 people were HIV-positive and 84,000 people had full-blown
AIDS.
View full article at newsfromrussia.com:
http://newsfromrussia.com/world/2006/01/25/71730.html
-----------------------------------------
ITEM #8. Pharmacist speaks out after fired for refusing to dispense emergency
birth control
A local pharmacist said Tuesday she was fired for her religious beliefs.
"I feel really hurt, because I was always reliable," said Heather
Williams. "I loved my job. I did."
Williams is a pharmacist who lost her job not for something she did, but for
something she promised never to do - fill a prescription for the Plan B contraceptive
or, morning after pill.
Speaking out for the first time, Williams said she was fired last month from
a Target pharmacy in St. Charles because of her strong Baptist belief.
"It's moral and religious," Williams said. "I believe life begins
with two cells and I don't want to be part of the end of that life."
Williams said her beliefs were no secret for the last five years to Target,
but when the company wanted her to sign a letter promising to direct customers
to pharmacies dispensing Plan B, she refused.
The new Target policy was prompted by protests from Planned Parenthood.
"A pharmacist's duty is to fill the prescription and fill the legal prescription
and it needs to be filled without delay and without judgment." Mary Kogut
of Planned Parenthood said.
But Williams is standing up for what she believes is her right, even now planning
to file a federal discrimination charge against Target.
View full text at kmov.com:
http://www.kmov.com/localnews/stories/012406cckkKMOVPharmacist.3747ef5a.html
-----------------------------------------
ITEM #9. A 'loveless society'?
While the Supreme Court simply scratched the surface of the debate in opining
that the feds can't control narcotics to stop assisted suicide in Oregon, Suzanne
Fields digs deeper in deploring the loveless society that "celebrates suicide"
(Op-Ed, Monday).
With the elderly today often disdained or discarded by their own families,
consider the incentives for a state-sponsored suicide program like Oregon's.
Why fritter away an inheritance on expensive end-of-life care? Why care for
"useless eaters" who are no longer "productive" to society?
Don't the financial and emotional tolls of terminal illness suggest a "duty
to die"?
I spent several months conducting research in the Netherlands, which like Oregon
has legalized medical killing. I interviewed family members who were still grieving
over loved ones lost to state-sponsored euthanasia. In one case, Dutch doctors
withheld food and water from a beloved grandfather while administering overdoses
of morphine. He had never requested euthanasia. The family discovered the scheme
too late, and the grandfather died without goodbyes. Government-sponsored studies
reveal that nearly a thousand Dutch patients are terminated by doctors each
year without ever having requested euthanasia. Yes, euthanasia and assisted
suicide provide autonomy -- but for the doctors, not the patients.
The answer to state sponsored suicide includes more sophisticated and in certain
cases, more aggressive, pain-relief prescribing regulations. Hospice care and
tools to help alleviate the financial burdens of terminally can also help tremendously.
But the most powerful prescription for a terminally ill person is the unwavering
love of family and friends and the hope of a life to come in which "there
shall no longer be any death; there shall no longer be any mourning, or crying,
or pain."
Source: News and Views Jan 24 2006
http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20060123-093308-7346r.htm
-----------------------------------------
ITEM #10. The choice no parent ever wants to make
The Guardian newspaper has run a strongly pro-abortion article on couples who
make the 'agonising decision' to abort their disabled babies. [The Guardian,
26 January] Alison Davis, co-ordinator of the disability rights group No Less
Human, criticised the approach taken. "This article concentrates on two
such babies, one aborted for spina bifida and the other for heart problems,"
she explained. "The assumptions about the negative value of these babies
lives is truly breathtaking. Having been born with spina bifida and hydrocephalus
myself I was appalled to see that the baby with spina bifida was dismissed as
'a child who couldn't be anything.'"
View full text at The Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,1694855,00.html
-----------------------------------------
ITEM #11. S Korea Probes Stem Cell Trials
The South Korean government says it is investigating whether abuses took place
during clinical trials for stem cell treatments, which critics say exposed desperate
patients to unacceptable risks.
The government has been forced to rethink its hands-off approach to cutting-edge
stem cell medicine following the fiasco over the cloning pioneer, Hwang Woo-suk,
who was found to have fabricated research for his claimed breakthrough on cloned
stem cells.
*****************
[Note: The recent probe of the use of human embryonic stem cells as "therapies"
in South Korea discussed in the article below should be a very loud wakeup call
to all concerned - but especially patients and their families. It would seem
that all the protections (such as they are) afforded human subjects in research
by the Declaration of Helsinki and the Nuremberg Code went right out the window
in these South Korean clinical trials. Could the same disastrous human embryonic
stem cell experimental clinical trials happen here?
Just as the public has been required to learn more about stem cell research
than they ever wanted to know in order to ferret out the scientific truth, so
will they be required to examine, analyze and evaluate at least the recent history
of research clinical trials and regulations both here and abroad in order to
prevent the same human disasters on a global scale. The same mis-definitions
of the science involved in "selling" this research has long been used
in certain laws and regulations governing clinical trials. For example, in the
United States such clinical trials are required to follow the federal OHRP regulations
for the use of human subjects in research (formerly the OPPR federal regulations
mandated by the same 1975 National Research Act that mandated the "birth"
of bioethics in 1978 - the Belmont Report). Unfortunately these federal regulations
scientifically mis-define both "pregnancy" and "fetus" as
beginning at implantation. Thus if and when these federal regulati
ons are applied by IRBs in the real world, there is no human embryo (or its
stem cells) to consider or to protect as a human subject in vitro or in vivo
through 8 weeks of development - since these regulations don't acknowledge their
existence. Patients' capacities to give legally valid informed consent to be
injected with these embryonic stem cells as "therapies" are thus automatically
precluded. (Nor would women who have been impregnated with these embryos be
considered pregnant through 8 weeks.) It is also time to hold Congressional
hearings on such purely experimental research "therapies" (often bemusingly
called "innovative therapies") that are taking place behind closed
doors in the privacy of physicians' offices, thus bypassing even the federal
regulations. Considering the horrendous "hype" we've already seen
just to do the basic research, imagine what the "hype" will be to
patients to lure them into invalid, dangerous and premature clinical trials
involving human embryonic stem cell "therapies". - Dianne N. Irving,
Ph.D.]
*********************
View full text at BBC News:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4639992.stm
-----------------------------------------
ITEM #12. Delaware House Passes Fraudulent Human Cloning 'Ban'
One would think that by now people who are genuinely interested in banning
human cloning and who really care about protecting innocent nascent human beings,
patient safety, and women's rights would have gotten it right. But apparently
not. .. If Delaware politicians don't want to suffer the same ignominies as
South Korea's Hwang, they should seek their scientific information elsewhere
from more reliable sources. Hopefully the Delaware politicians will think for
themselves and pass a true total human cloning ban - protecting vulnerable innocent
nascent human beings, human patients and women alike.
View excellent article by Dianne N Irving, Ph.D. at LifeIssues.net:
http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/irv/irv_115delawareban.html
.
*********************************************************** ***********************************************************
ACTION:
1. pray that all may have the courage to be God's presence in society and support
those who have been deemed "unworthy of life".
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3. all past issues of LifeIssues.net Newsletter available online. Click here:
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---------------------------------
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---------------------------------
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---------------------------------
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TOP
The ACLU Loses Commandments Cases
WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 /Christian Wire Service/ -- The ACLU lost several cases
at the end of the year that were not reported by the main stream media. The
main stream media is for the ACLU and I guess they don't want to acknowledge
any of these ACLU loses.
The plain and simple truth is the ACLU LOST several important cases which were
not reported by the main stream media in late 2005.
One of the most important ACLU loses came on December 20, 2005 and involved
a Ten Commandments display in Mercer County Kentucky. This case involved the
same exact display from the McCreary County Kentucky case that was recently
ruled against by the US Supreme Court.
However, the US Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals handed the ACLU a significant
defeat when they ruled that this same exact display is CONSTITUTIONAL. The difference
between the two cases seems to be that Mercer County always included other historical
documents in their display and therefore it was more easily determined to have
a secular purpose.
The Court said, "Our concern is that of the reasonable person. And the
ACLU, an organization whose mission is to ensure that...the government (is kept)
out of the religion business, does not embody the reasonable person." The
Courts opinion also rejected the ACLU's "repeated reference to the 'separation
of church and state.' This extra- constitutional construct has grown tiresome.
The First Amendment does not demand a wall of separation between church and
state," the Court said.
"This case represents a huge victory and may signal the beginning of the
end of dangerous, ridiculous rulings in favor of the ACLU. Whether the ACLU
likes it or not this nation was founded upon the principles of Christianity.
We are better off because of the principles taught in the Ten Commandments,"
said Don Swarthout, President of Christians Reviving America's Values, aka CRAVE.
"The problem with the ACLU is that they do not offer anything concrete
for us to pattern our lives after. The Ten Commandments are a pretty simple
pattern for us to follow," Swarthout said.
Just as important was a case in the US Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals who
ruled that the same exact display as the one in the Mercer County Case was CONSTITUTIONAL
in Elkhart County, Indiana. After the loss the ACLU has indicated that they
will not appeal this case.
On December 2, 2005 the ACLU also lost its case against New York City where
they were trying to stop random searches of passenger's bags who were boarding
the subway system.
The ACLU had sued the City of New York after they instituted random bag searches
on July 22, 2005 following the bombing of London's transit system. The ACLU's
contention was that random searches of passenger's bags were an unconstitutional
invasion of privacy.
The ACLU seems to favor protecting the rights of terrorists who want to kill
law abiding citizens. "The truth is obvious. Terrorists and all others
who do not respect the American way of life must be stopped in order to protect
the life styles of law abiding American citizens," said Don Swarthout,
President of Christians Reviving America's Values.
"The ACLU wants to protect the rights of criminals and terrorists. Why
doesn't the ACLU want to protect the rights of law abiding citizens," Swarthout
asked?
"The main stream media never talks about these cases where the ACLU loses!
They seem to be quick enough to tell us about the cases where they have won,
but they will not even mention the many cases where the ACLU loses," Swarthout
added.
"We represent a large number of average people from all across America
and we are fed up with the unfair treatment we receive from the media and from
the ACLU who is a real danger to our nation's well being. Therefore, we have
now written to every US Senator asking for an investigation into the activities
and agenda of the ACLU. The ACLU was investigated by Congress in 1931 and it
is time for that to happen again," Swarthout stated.
Christian Newswire
TOP
Canada In Population Crisis - Seniors To Outnumber Children In A Decade
Despite frightening future scenario, report does not mention need to assist
families and encourage having children - By LifeSiteNews.com
Staff
OTTAWA, December 15, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com)
- Canada's population is ageing fast and senior citizens will outnumber children
in about a decade, according to new population projections released today by
the official government statistical organization.
In all growth scenarios considered for the study, Statistics Canada reports
that seniors aged 65 and over would become more numerous than children aged
less than 15 around the year 2015. A situation the report describes as "an
unprecedented situation in Canada."
By 2031, the number of people aged 65 and over would range between 8.9 million
and 9.4 million, depending on the scenario selected, while the number of children
would range between 4.8 million and 6.6 million.
While Canada's population is currently younger than the populations of most
of the G8 countries, it is expected to age more rapidly in the coming years.
This has been a direct result of the pronounced baby boom following the Second
World War and the rapid decline in fertility that followed with the legalization
and promotion of contraception and abortion and on-going, relentless implementation
of Canadian government anti-family policies.
SHRINKING WORKFORCE AND BALLOONING OLD-AGE POPULATION
The findings of the research present a nightmare scenario for Canadian old
age security and health care as the workforce shrinks and the percentage of
retired Canadians balloons.
The projections show that population ageing, which has already begun, would
accelerate in 2011 when the first baby-boom cohort (born in 1946) reaches the
age of 65. This rapid ageing is projected to last until 2031, when seniors would
account for between 23% and 25% of the total population.
In every projection scenario, the median age of Canada's population would continue
to rise. The current median age of the population is 39, that is, half the population
is older and half younger. By 2031, it would reach between 43 and 46. In 2056,
it would be between 45 and 50.
In addition, the proportion of older seniors, people aged 80 years and over,
would increase sharply in every projection scenario. By 2056, an estimated 1
out of 10 Canadians would be 80 years or over, compared with around 1 in 30
in 2005.
IMMIGRATION ALONE "CANNOT REVERSE"
The report stresses, "immigration alone cannot reverse this ageing trend."
However, the prospect of encouraging Canadians to have more children and assisting
families is typically nowhere mentioned in the report.
In every projection scenario, the proportion of the working-age population,
that is the population aged 15 to 64, would decline steadily in the 2010s and
2020s. Currently, the working-age population represents 70% of the total population.
By the beginning of the 2030s, it would decline to 62%, then level off at about
60%.
WORKING CANADIANS WILL BE REQUIRED TO PAY MUCH MORE IN TAXES
Also, in every projection scenario, the demographic dependency ratio would
increase rapidly until 2031. This ratio indicates the number of children aged
less than 15 years and the number of seniors 65 and over for every 100 working-age
people.
In 2005, for every 100 working-age people, there were 44 children and seniors.
According to the low-growth scenario, it would start decreasing in 2017.
15 YEARS TILL DEATHS OUTNUMBER BIRTHS
In all the scenarios considered, natural increase would eventually become negative,
that is, there would be more deaths than births. This would occur in 2020 under
the low-growth scenario, in 2030 under the medium-growth scenario, and in 2046
under the high-growth scenario. As a result, international net migration would
become the country's only source of population growth.
Immigration levels contribute heavily to the projected population growth at
the national level, as the fertility rate is assumed to remain below the replacement
level in all scenarios, a situation observed since the 1970s.
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