Weekly News

Further Betrayal Of The Children

By Bishop Fred Henry
Sun Media – October 2, 2005

In January 2004, The American College of Pediatricians concluded: "The research literature on child- rearing by homosexual parents is limited.

"The environment in which children are reared is absolutely critical to their development. Given the current body of research, the American College of Pediatricians believes it is inappropriate, potentially hazardous to children and dangerously irresponsible to change the age-old prohibition on homosexual parenting, neither by adoption, foster care, or by reproductive manipulation. This position is rooted in the best available science."(Human Parenting: Is It Time for Change?)

Despite the benefit of such social scientific evidence, and without adequate democratic deliberation and the normal process of judicial appeals, our federal government has repudiated the historic definition of marriage in favour of social re-engineering.

Their approach imposes uniformity in the name of equality, which means pursuing the erosion of marriage and the family by belittling the importance of the union of a woman and a man, a wife and a husband, a mother and a father.

The educational impact of laws on attitudes is undeniable. If Canadian law must henceforth teach marriage is the union of two persons, a majority of Canadians face the risk of a serious threat to their freedom of conscience, religion and expression through the imposition of an"orthodoxy"that is contrary to their values.

Same-sex marriage proponents use the language of openness, tolerance and diversity, yet the foreseeable effect of their success will be to usher in an era of intolerance and discrimination the likes of which we have rarely seen before.

In view of the passage of same-sex marriage legislation, must a majority of parents accept it as inevitable, that schools and the media will transmit a vision of marriage contrary to their own?

It will be argued that the Charter of Rights and the new law on same-sex marriages compel public schools to teach their students the moral equivalency of heterosexual and homosexual relations and marriages. Furthermore, to the extent that these concepts are explored in health and physical education classes, the exploration must be equivalent. The argument will be that any other approach would be discriminatory and contrary to the equality rights under s.15 (1) of the Charter and the numerous court cases that have led to the passage of Bill C-38.

The impact of the social re-engineering is bound to filter down to school classrooms.

Ordinary words such as 'husband' and 'wife' will be replaced by 'partner' and 'spouse.' Children will have to be taught about homosexual acts.

Every person and every religion that disagrees will be labelled as bigoted and openly discriminated against and dragged before Human Rights Commissions. Parents who complain will be branded as homophobes and their children will suffer.

A B.C. Human Rights Tribunal has begun hearing a case filed by a same-sex couple.

The complaint filed against the B.C. Ministry of Education in 1999, alleges that the ministry's curriculum does not adequately "address issues of sexual orientation.” The claim is made that "there is systemic discrimination through omission and suppression of queer issues in the whole of the curriculum."

To focus the human rights complaint, the complainants have selected the Social Studies curriculum for Grades 8 to 10 as an example of the discrimination.

They would like to see the curriculum changed to include: "Queer history and historical figures, the presences of positive queer role models – past and present, the contributions made by queers to various epochs, societies and civilization, and legal issues relating to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered people, same sex marriage and adoption."

Pro-family groups have raised the concern that permitting explicitly homosexual material in the curriculum would promote homosexuality as a normative and safe lifestyle option.

The complainants also desire to ensure the material is mandatory. If successful, the case would strip parents of the right to pull their children from the offensive portion of the curriculum.

Traditionally, only those matters on which there was a large measure of consensus in society would be taught in the public school system. The rest was left to the home, church or to other institutions.

The adoption of a new constitutional norm means, in respect of homosexuality at least, this strategy is to be abandoned and students confronted on the issues.

Consider Chamberlain v. Surrey School District No. 36. The Supreme Court struck down the decision of a B.C. school board to refuse approval for three books presenting positive images of same-sex families for use in junior kindergarten and Grade 1.

The refusal was on the basis a significant number of parents and others in the school district would consider them incompatible or inconsistent with their moral and religious beliefs on same-sex relationships.

The case marked a significant moment in the debate about parental rights in education.

Chief Justice Beverly McLachlin said that: "Parental views, however, important, cannot override the imperative placed upon the British Columbia public schools to mirror the diversity of the community and teach tolerance and understanding of difference."

In effect, therefore, it is parental views that are to be overridden by the new state religion to the detriment of children.

http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Columnists/Henry_Bishop_Fred/2005/10/01/1244369.html

(Dear Friends: Lee Duigon interviewed me on the phone the other day, and I'm pleased that my story is now being told far & wide. Last year, Janet Folger, the Christian radio talk show host, interviewed me by phone on her show and she may have put my story into her latest book, “The Criminalization of Christianity” – RJ)

As a writer, I can't imagine anything more chilling than for the police to come to my door and tell me I'd better stop writing about certain issues. As an American, I can't imagine a worse insult to my First Amendment rights.

But Robert Jason is a Canadian citizen, and he doesn't have to imagine a thing like that, because it really happened—to him.

Jason, 70, a retired high school teacher who supports himself by caring for mentally handicapped persons in his home, writes columns and collects news items in support of Christian, pro-family issues, such as the defense of marriage. He sends them daily to like-minded persons on his e-mail list.

On New Year's Day 2004, Jason and his wife received a visit from two plainclothes policemen.

“They were there because someone showed a homosexual activist one of my e-mails, and the activist complained to the police,” Jason said. "He told them he felt personally threatened by my e-mails. He convinced the police that I was threatening his life."

At the time, Canada's current "hate speech" law had not yet been enacted. That didn't stop the police from getting involved.

“The officers were quiet and friendly,” Jason said, “but just having them there was very intimidating to me and my wife. All the neighbors were watching, and we were terrified.”

The officers didn't tell him to stop writing, he said, but they “implied” that he should.

“I replied, how could I threaten this person? I'm only defending my values. And the e-mail wasn't sent to him.”

Jason said incidents like this will happen in the United States if “hate crime” legislation, followed by “hate speech” legislation, becomes federal law.

“If you give homosexuals special rights, they're just going to use them to threaten your rights,” he said. “Canada doesn't have a First Amendment, and it’s going to get worse here before it gets better. We're just hoping that someday there’ll be a backlash among people with common sense.”

In spite of his warning from the police, Robert Jason is still writing his columns and sending them to fellow Christians on his e-mail list.

To read more about the dangers of “hate crime” laws, see these new Special Reports by CWA's Culture & Family Institute:

Concerned Women for America
1015 Fifteenth St. N.W., Suite 1100
Washington, D.C. 20005
Phone: (202) 488-7000
Fax: (202) 488-0806
E-mail: mail@cwfa.org

New Birth-Control Pill Promises Freedom From Periods, PMS – Wed, 19 Oct 2005

From: "Tony Gosgnach" gosgnach@lifesite.net
Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 18:08:59 -0400 (EDT)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20051018/HPILL18/TPHealth/?query=birth+control
New birth-control pill promises freedom from periods, PMS
By ANDRÉ PICARD – Tuesday, October 18, 2005 Page A23 – Public Health Reporter

No more periods. And no more PMS.

That is what the next generation of birth-control pill is promising women.

Yesterday, the first scientific data were released for a low-dose contraceptive that is taken daily and, unlike traditional versions of the Pill, does not feature any dummy pills or days that are skipped to allow a menstrual period.

The new drug, a product of Wyeth Pharmaceuticals that will be marketed under the brand name Anya in Canada, has not yet been approved by Health Canada.

But experts have no doubt that it will be a hit.

"There will be a segment of the population that will be happy not to have a period," said Dr. Robert Reid, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Queen's University in Kingston.

In fact, he said, the new drug will simply formalize a practice that is popular among women, particularly those who suffer from premenstrual syndrome and dysmenorrhea (painful periods).

The method, called continuous use, involves taking the first 21 pills in a pack, throwing out the last seven (which are placebos, or dummy pills) and starting a new pack immediately.

Research released yesterday at the joint meeting in Montreal of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and the Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society, showed that the drug has a similar safety profile to other oral contraceptives and the added advantage of virtually eliminating the symptoms of PMS.

"In the PMS group, symptoms improved quickly and significantly," said Dr. Ellen Freeman, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Women with lesser "cycle-related symptoms," and those who suffered from menstrual cramps also benefited from the new version of the Pill, she said. All the benefit came from "levelling the hormonal fluctuations" – notably by suppressing menstruation, Dr. Freeman said.

Another study presented yesterday showed that the low-dose contraceptive effectively suppressed ovulation and, just as importantly, that ovulation resumed after women stopped taking the drug.

Dr. Julia Johnson, director of reproductive endocrinology and fertility at the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vt., presented data based on more than 2,100 women. She found the new version of the Pill was 98-per-cent effective at preventing pregnancy – meaning 19 women became pregnant during the study, a rate comparable to most oral contraceptives.

By three months, all the women taking the drug had stopped having menstrual periods, though there was some breakthrough bleeding and spotting, both common with continuous-use contraceptives.

Dr. Johnson said her research showed that women who took the new drug did not, compared to users of the traditional birth-control pill, experience changes in weight, blood pressure or liver function. The risk of blood clots, a risk factor with all birth-control pills, was similar.

More than $300-million in prescription contraceptives are sold in Canada each year, and that does not include over-the-counter products like condoms.

The sale of birth-control pills for contraception was only legalized in Canada in 1969. Today, as a third generation of women begins taking the Pill, it remains the single most popular method of contraception. An estimated 43 per cent of sexually active women use the contraceptive pill, and about 85 per cent of women have taken the Pill at some time.

Over the years, the level of hormones in birth-control pills has been reduced dramatically. The new version of the Pill, for example, will contain only 90 micrograms of levonorgestrel and 20 micrograms of ethinyl estradiol.

While most women take birth-control pills for contraceptive purposes, they are also used commonly to regulate menstrual bleeding and pain related to menstruation. Taking the Pill also reduces the risk of ovarian and endometrial cancer.

Oh Canada! A Nation Built On... Politeness

This is a WorldNetDaily printer-friendly version of the article, which follows.
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Saturday, October 29, 2005

A Nation Built On... Politeness – Posted: October 29, 2005 – 1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Ted Byfield – © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

One of the many earnest intellectuals who write in Canada's national media shared with the country last week his perception of the liberal paradise that Canada is becoming. It's the only country in the world, he writes, "where women can live in real equality, where it's OK to be gay, and where people pick up after their dogs."

This was the vision of John Ibbitson, a columnist for Toronto's Globe and Mail, who ran in that newspaper a précis of his new book on the Canada that is to come. It's titled "The Polite Revolution," politeness being Canada's "secret recipe." It is "the core of what we are, the means by which we accommodate each other."

In effect, the Globe and Mail allowed him to review his own book, a favor it bestows on very few authors – none whatever in my memory – and an indication of how wholly the newspaper endorses his vision.

What made the article noteworthy, however, was not its fundamental absurdity – i.e., that what ostensibly distinguishes Canada can also be found in virtually every country in the Western world – but rather two curious aspects. One was the complete absence of religion in the social composite of the envisioned country. It is mentioned only as a detriment currently preventing the election of the Conservative party, and obviously something that must be abandoned.

The other is the assumption that the real builders of the New Canada will be the Asian and African immigrants, "the millions of new arrivals who have landed at our docks and airports," and are already "transforming us." In other words, the force that will fuel this ultra-polite utopia of serial marriage, gay pride parades, childless households and godless hedonism is the immigrant.

A couple of developments seem to have escaped Mr. Ibbitson's notice. One is the fact that church attendance in Canada, for the first time in four decades, is rising. The second is that the chief factor making it rise is the overwhelming devotion to Christianity of the immigrants, particularly those from Asia and Africa.

Canadians must learn to see themselves, writes Mr. Ibbitson, "through the eyes of a young woman arriving here from Manila." One wonders: Has he ever actually met any young women arriving here from Manila. I've known at least a dozen. They are, every last one of them, either devout Catholics, or Protestants with a strong Evangelical bent. At least half have married Caucasian Canadians and have been raising relatively large and delightful families, with all the children going to church.

To my knowledge, none has ever taken part in a gay pride parade – in fact, they regard such things as objects of horror – though several are active in the pro-life movement. A number are professional women who have raised families and regained a career, but I don't think any would comfortably describe herself as "a feminist."

Perhaps Mr. Ibbitson has not noticed other things – for instance, the fact that the downtown Catholic Cathedral in Vancouver is crowded every Sunday with "people of color," and I suspect the same thing is true of the cathedral in Toronto. But on the other hand, if he examines the faces at human-rights seminars, judicial conferences or academic colloquies, the groups that are advancing this mythical New Canada, he will observe one dominant skin color and that is white. For the truth is the immigrant, far from being the engine of their social revolution, is already becoming its biggest obstacle.

And here is the point. Don't think that the builders of New Canada won't try to overcome that obstacle. They will, of course, be subtle. They will never attack Christianity per se, but they will stress that in Canada religion is a "personal thing" and doesn't really have a role in shaping their country. They will offer courses on "becoming Canadian" whose central intent will be to divorce them from their faith and instead embrace Canadianism," in which the religious element is as non-existent as it is in Mr. Ibbitson's article.

Above all, Canadians who have "made it" will be grandiloquently featured in the media. These will invariably be people who have "matured" beyond the antiquated simplicities of their former culture with its out-dated dogmas and taboos. They will have become thoroughly Canadian. That is, they will have three ex-wives, two sexual orientations and an unrestricted tolerance of every perversion known to man. But – most important – on all occasions they will be unfailingly polite.

There's good reason to bar gay priests – By Michael Coren – Sun Media – Saturday, October 29, 2005

It is fascinating to watch all the Catholic-bashers come out of the secular or sectarian closet. Their pretext is that the Roman Catholic Church is codifying its position on potential priests who are homosexual.

With a mingling of ignorance, self-delusion and trendy clichés, the same sort of people who in the past often denied Catholics civil rights and employment have found another stick with which to beat their foe.

Nobody should be surprised why this happens. Catholicism is an immutable guide and guard, standing firm against moral decay and materialistic extremism. It's a mirror, reflecting the absurdity of the modern world. And the modern world doesn't like it one little bit.

Critics react when the Church stands up for social justice, calls for an end to the arms trade, champions the poor, denounces war and racism and exposes the appalling economic chasm between the developed and undeveloped world. Yet none of this provokes the same response as the Church's stance on homosexuality, because to speak out against that is to break the shining commandment of contemporary liberalism.

But the Church has good reason for its reluctance to admit homosexuals into the priesthood. It regards homosexuality as "objectively disordered" but also believes homosexuals must "be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity."

Pure Christianity. The nature of God's plan for creation, the exquisite beauty of the difference between those He made man and woman, the use of sexuality not merely as a means of gratification but also as a way to glorify God.

The Hebrew and the Greek texts are abundantly clear, the teachings of the early church and the traditions of Christianity equally so. Those who reject this are in a long line of alleged Christians through history who have preferred the praises of the times to the truths of God.

The other reason the Church is so determined is that the most extensive and objective study of the abuse issue, by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, concluded that 80% of the victims of Roman Catholic clergy in North America in the past 50 years were males aged between 11 and 17. Not girls, not pre-pubescent boys. (By the way, the rate of abuse among Roman Catholic clergy, vile as it may be, is similar to the rate in any other walk of life. It is just that the media give so much attention to sexual crimes within the Church.)

While it is comforting for some people to speak of the pedophilia crisis faced by Catholicism, the reality is that the Church, in fact, faced a homosexual crisis. Most gay men do not desire sex with 12-year-old boys and are repulsed by the idea. Also, some heterosexual men and some heterosexual priests abuse young women and pedophilia is a heterosexual as well as homosexual perversion. Gay people must be treated with love and protected by the same law and civility as anybody else.

But this must not obscure the truth. Even though some people would prefer the truth to merely fade away.

The origin of the problem is to be found in the Second Vatican Council. Vatican II in the 1960s introduced many fine reforms and was supposed to initiate certain necessary changes. Tragically, groups of zealots exploited the opportunity to twist Church teachings. Some seminaries became centres of homosexual recruitment and doors were opened that had previously been firmly shut.

Until, that is, the pontificate of John Paul the Great and now his successor.

Now that the Church is rectifying the situation, it is accused of, yes, homophobia, by people who seem to care more about fashionable political causes than about the well-being of young and vulnerable men.

The New York Times – 2005.10.19 – Report Finds U.N. Isn't Moving to End Sex Abuse by Peacekeepers – By Warren Hoge

The United Nations has developed procedures to curb sexual abuse by peacekeepers, but the measures are not being put into force because of a deep-seated culture of tolerating sexual exploitation, an independent review reported Tuesday. "A 'boys will be boys' attitude in peacekeeping missions breeds tolerance for exploiting and abusing local women," said the report, by Refugees International, a Washington-based advocacy group. "This attitude is slowly changing, but the U.N. must go beyond strong rhetoric and ensure that the resources needed to change this culture are available."

The 32-page document provided an update on an attention-getting report in March by Prince Zeid Raad al-Hussein, Jordan's ambassador to the United Nations. His report was prompted by evidence that peacekeepers and civilian staff members had had sex with women and girls in Congo in exchange for food and money, and in some cases had committed rape. Prince Zeid, a former military officer and civilian peacekeeper in Bosnia, said in a briefing on Tuesday that even though his report had addressed a situation that undermined the credibility of the United Nations, influential member states greeted it with "utter silence." "The entire responsibility for this mess is with the member states," he said, adding that meetings he had scheduled after his report was published were only sparsely attended.

Sarah Martin, the author of the new report, said she had visited peacekeeping missions in Haiti and Liberia and had found that a "wall of silence" kept sexual abuse cases from being investigated. Rapes were often belittled as simple acts of prostitution. "They'd say, 'Why should we ruin someone's otherwise illustrious career over an act with a prostitute,"' she said in the briefing. She said Liberians had complained to her about some peacekeepers' conduct with the comment, "This behavior would not be accepted in the home country of these soldiers; why are these soldiers playing around with our children?"

Ms. Martin said guidelines adopted at headquarters were not being taken seriously in the field, adding: "Until there is a better understanding of the zero-contact rule, peacekeepers will continue to think of it as a rule that makes no sense. Fear of punishment is not enough to ensure compliance."

Among the changes called for were empowering local women, conducting public information campaigns to combat the "masculine culture that has developed," giving more importance to the so-called gender advisers who are now required on missions, giving victims access to the United Nations complaint system and guaranteeing that complainants are protected. As of September, only 10 of the 17 peacekeeping missions had a fulltime gender advisory position, the report said. According to United Nations figures, the 17 missions involve 80,000 people.

Anna Shotton of the United Nations peacekeeping department said that while "tremendous progress has been made over the past year to drive home the U.N.'s message of zero tolerance and zero impunity," the message had still not taken hold. She said that over the past 20 months, investigations had been completed on 221 accused peacekeepers, resulting in the firing of 10 civilian employees and the repatriation of 88 military men, including 6 commanders. Asked how that compared with previous periods, she said, "You had the occasional repatriation of uniformed personnel, but it was very rare."

Greetings from LifeIssues.net: www.lifeissues.net

Deadly ethics: "Princeton bioethics professor Peter Singer... is well-known for his longtime advocacy of infanticide, euthanasia, assisted suicide and bestiality. "He now predicts that, by 2040, 'the traditional view of the sanctity of human life will collapse' under the weight of science and technology, and 'only a rump of hard-core, known-nothing religious fundamentalists will defend the view that every human life... is sacrosanct.'

"When asked if it is ethical for parents to have a child just so they can kill her and use her organs for their ill, older child, Singer replied, 'It's difficult to warm to parents who can take such a detached view, [but] they're not doing something really wrong in itself.'?" – (from "Peter Singer: Sanctity of life will be destroyed," in the International Task Force)

Hawaii Defeats Euthanasia Effort: A pro-assisted suicide bill was introduced in Hawaii. Its sponsors asserted that assisted suicide was simply a choice people were entitled to and called it "compassion and choice." They labeled anyone opposed to it a religious fanatic. Over 250,000 USD were sent into Hawaii to fuel this fire. Happily the US based Christian Medical Association sent its team to oppose the bill. Led by executive director David Stevens MD, they interviewed extensively with media outlets, gave elected members and churches literature, a DVD and spoke at nine different issue briefings in the legislature testifying against this killing. Finally, during nine hours of testimony in the Health Committee, a dozen CMA members testified. After this, the assembled house committee voted the measure down decisively.

God Bless, Jerry Novotny, OMI

"Sitting on the fence, shooting from the bushes and cynical bystanding are not options for serious Christians. Fear and cynicism must give way to trust. Generous collaboration is called for from all." – Weisgerber

Abstinence, not condom, is the answer to AIDS
Africa Aids orphans 'may top 18m'
Sex is now a matter of health and the law, while morality is reserved for tobacco
Echoes of eugenics movement in stem cell debate
Weakening the rights of children
Singapore firm on death sentence
Internet outreach saves lives of unborn
Assisting suicides is bad law, policy
Disabled: The Abortion Debate No One Wants to Have
New Study: Abortion More Than Doubles the Risk of Child Abuse
It's obvious that Canada's birthrate has dropped far below replacement levels. What's harder to discern is why
Stem Cell Research: Resources for the Ongoing Debate

– Official Documents :http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=doc
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– Rene Henry Gracida:http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=grac
– Antun Lisec: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=lis
– James J. Mulligan:http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=mul
– John F. Harvey: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=harv
– Dianne N. Irving:http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=irv
– Peter J. Cataldo:http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=cat

(Website: Pro-Life Action Ministries) http://www.plam.org/main.html. Good Reasons NOT to live together unmarried. The trends, myths, types of, and explanations for cohabiting. Psychological, sociological, legal, health, and religious reasons are explored. Strategies for Counseling, Message Board, Surveys, Polls, Bibliography.

Item #1. Abstinence, Not Condom, Is The Answer To Aids

The Abstinence Be Faithful and Condom (ABC) approach has received many supporters in the media, but a number of writers have embarked on a campaign to present the worst form of biased information against Abstinence and Be Faithful (A&B) approach.

The ABC campaign is a moral issue and, despite our arguments, we cannot run away from the fact that there is a moral being inside each of us. That is why we are able to differentiate between good and bad or right and wrong. Every Ugandan should have intuition to clearly see abstinence as the best form of curbing HIV/AIDS. We always know the right thing to do out of instinct.

But we always find a way of getting close to the wrong thing without doing wrong. It seems today that what is morally right is determined by the group to which one belongs. In other words, the community demands have become the ethical demands, which eventually are the ethical values.

Condom advocates are so preoccupied with monitoring the number of condoms available on the market that they don't think about the shortcomings of condoms as a preventive measure.

For example some brands such as Engabu have been found to be defective but this group does not want to say so.

To read entire article at The New Vision: http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/459/462312

Item #2. Africa Aids Orphans 'May Top 18m'

Sub-Saharan Africa will be the main focus of the campaign

UN charity Unicef says 18 million children in sub-Saharan Africa could be orphaned by Aids by the end of 2010.

The warning comes as the children's charity launches a global campaign to help the disease's youngest victims.

Unite For Children, Unite Against Aids, will focus on Africa but also target central Asia and Eastern Europe.

Unicef says millions who lose their parents to Aids get no financial support and less than five percent of HIV-positive children get medical help.

The campaign, to be launched on Tuesday in New York, will enlist the help of goodwill ambassador Jemima Khan and special ambassador to Unicef, former James Bond actor Roger Moore.

View full text at BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4373576.stm

Item #3. Sex Is Now A Matter Of Health And The Law, While Morality Is Reserved For Tobacco

"Brookline High teens face charges of statutory rape," read the headline in last Wednesday's Boston Globe. The story below reported that two 17-year-old boys at Brookline High School – a celebrated institution whose graduates include former Governor Michael Dukakis, Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein, and CBS newsman Mike Wallace – have been charged with statutory rape for having sex with a 15-year-old girl, a classmate who said the sex was consensual. This is the third time since February that students at the school have been accused of having sex with a minor.

The Globe story ran about 1,000 words – roughly the length of the Page 1 report the same day on former Defense Secretary Melvin Laird's call for a gradual troop pullout from Iraq. But unlike the Vietnam-era Pentagon chief, who is almost never in the news, sex scandals involving students erupt so often they could almost justify a beat of their own.

"Scandals" is probably not the right word for them. Are you actually scandalized by news of high school kids having sex? Is anybody? Last month the National Center for Health Statistics reported that more than half of American teenagers 15 and older engage in oral sex; the story got a ton of coverage, but no one seemed terribly dismayed by the information. "At 50 percent, we're talking about a major social norm," Claire Brindis, a professor of pediatrics at the University of California, told The Washington Post. "It's part of kids' lives."

Oral or otherwise, sex among the young is clearly a "major social norm" in Brookline. "People weren't shocked," one Brookline High student told the Globe. "We've heard it before." Another student agreed: "It's like, 'Oh, my G-d' – but it's also like, 'Oh, this again.'" School administrators called an assembly "to remind teenagers about the criminal ramifications of underage sexual activity" – a theme, students said, that has "been drummed into them in recent months." If the girl had been 16 instead of 15, in short, there would have been no legal issue, no criminal charges, no news story: no big deal.

By definition, that's what a "major social norm" is: no big deal. But in fact it is a big deal – whether the grownups in their lives are prepared to say so or not – when kids too young to lawfully buy a pack of cigarettes engage in sexual activity that most of them don't yet have the maturity or understanding to handle.

View full text at Jewish World Review: http://jewishworldreview.com/jeff/jacoby102405.php3

Item #4. Echoes Of Eugenics Movement In Stem Cell Debate

Historians are drawing some intriguing connections between the contemporary debate over human embryonic stem cell research and California's unsavory, and mostly forgotten, eugenics movement of the last century.

Until Adolf Hitler thoroughly discredited any notion of creating a "master race," some prominent figures in California were enamored with the idea. A key backer of the pseudoscience was Charles W. Goethe, a wealthy conservationist and benefactor of what would become California State University's Sacramento campus.

Goethe, who backed preserving redwood stands as a way to enhance California's natural environment, also wanted to apply animal breeding concepts to the betterment of humanity – apparently to exclude most everyone who wasn't white and European.

An arboretum at the university was named for Goethe, who was born in 1875, until students and faculty learned more about his advocacy of border controls, mandatory sterilization of immigrants and "Nordic purity." Now, it's called "University Arboretum."

But sanitizing signs isn't the most effective way to come to grips with California's eugenics past, said Chloe Burke, a Cal State Sacramento historian and organizer of a daylong conference held Friday and billed as the first of its kind, called "From Eugenics to Designer Babies: Engineering the California Dream."

Burke said in an interview that the dark history of eugenics is worth more than a footnote. A look at the California eugenics movement, she said, adds some new dimensions to "today's excitement about stem cell research."

"Both are linked to a conviction that tampering with heredity or our genetic makeup can lead to solutions for a broad number of problems, both individual and social," she said.

View full article at San Francisco Chronicle: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/10/24/MNG2BFD15I1.DTL

Item #5. Weakening The Rights Of Children

Sure, adults deserve to have their fundamental human rights protected. But why don't we set the same standard for their children?

View entire article at: http://www.mercatornet.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=172

Item #6. Singapore Firm On Death Sentence

Singapore is standing firm with its plans to hang an Australian drug smuggler, as the federal government makes a last ditch attempt to save the Melbourne man.

The Singaporean government said today it could not make an exception for former businessman Nguyen Tuong Van, 25, after rejecting his appeal for clemency last Friday.

It said Nguyen had been given a fair trial and the decision to execute him was consistent with past cases involving Singaporeans and foreigners alike.

View full article at The Age: http://theage.com.au/news/national/singapore-firm-on-death-sentence/2005/10/27/1130382512835.html

Item #7. Internet Outreach Saves Lives Of Unborn

Harnessing the technology of the Internet to reach a generation much more likely to go online than use a phone book, a pro-life program is helping to educate pregnant young women about their options to abortion, saving countless unborn lives in the process.

The Life Donor Program places banner ads on the Internet on websites, chatrooms and search engines where girls and women who find themselves unexpectedly pregnant will see them. Clicking on the ad brings the Net surfer to OptionLine.org, a site that explains abortion and the alternatives available, offering personal help to those facing a crisis pregnancy. The goal of the program is to have the women visit a care center in their local areas to get the help they need to carry their babies to term.

Along with images of young women, the ad includes the text: "Pregnant? Scared? You have options. Click here now."

"Research has indicated that 70 percent of women contacting OptionLine and believing they may be pregnant are considering an abortion," the Life Donor Program website explains. "However, once they visit a Care Net pregnancy center, less than 10 percent follow through with terminating their pregnancy. Ninety percent will choose life!"

Care Net is a nationwide network of pregnancy centers that sponsors the program, along with Heatbeat International.

States the site: "Imagine a woman choosing an abortion because she was unaware of the caring support and alternatives already available to her. Now you can help save the lives of unborn babies by showing those with unplanned pregnancies that they do have options."

View full article at WorldNetDaily.com: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47040

Item #8. Assisting Suicides Is Bad Law, Policy By Wesley J. Smith

Advocates of assisted suicide label hastened death a "compassionate choice." But such gooey euphemisms seek to hide the harsh truth: Assisted suicide isn't about caring: It is about the intentional ending of human life – an act barred by the Hippocratic Oath for more than 2000 years.

We are told that assisted suicide would be restricted to cases of unbearable suffering. Yet, legislation in California to legalize assisted suicide – AB651 by Assemblywoman Patty Berg, D-Eureka – contains no such requirement. Nor does the law in Oregon, where doctors who assist suicides report that most patients do not seek death because of pain, but because they can no longer engage in enjoyable activities, fear losing dignity or are worried about becoming burdens.

Don't get me wrong: These are important issues that cry out for proper care. Thankfully, we have hospice – true death with dignity – to treat these needs. Indeed, studies show that when these problems are addressed, suicidal desires almost always disappear.

While acknowledging the truth of the previous sentence, assisted-suicide proponents contend there will always be a few people who want assisted suicide, anyway. But placing California's seal of approval on some suicides would send an insidious message to dying patients that they are burdens; that their illness does make them less worthy of being loved; that they will die in agony. And it would signal the broader society, including young people, that suicide is right in some cases.

Legalizing assisted suicide would also be very risky. The Netherlands proves that when mercy killing is allowed for the few, it steadily spreads. In the past 30 years, Dutch doctors have gone from killing the terminally ill, to the disabled, and even to the depressed who aren't physically sick. Recent headlines report that infanticide of dying and disabled babies will soon be legalized by the Dutch Parliament.

View full text at ocregister.com: http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/opinion/abox/article_730292.php

Item #9. The Abortion Debate No One Wants To Have

If it's unacceptable for William Bennett to link abortion even conversationally with a whole class of people (and, of course, it is), why then do we as a society view abortion as justified and unremarkable in the case of another class of people: children with disabilities?

I have struggled with this question almost since our daughter Margaret was born, since she opened her big blue eyes and we got our first inkling that there was a full-fledged person behind them.

Whenever I am out with Margaret, I'm conscious that she represents a group whose ranks are shrinking because of the wide availability of prenatal testing and abortion. I don't know how many pregnancies are terminated because of prenatal diagnoses of Down syndrome, but some studies estimate 80 to 90 percent.

View full text: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/17/AR2005101701311_pf.html

Item #10. New Study: Abortion More Than Doubles The Risk Of Child Abuse

For decades, evidence has existed showing abortion contributes to a rise in child abuse. Now a new study by a post-abortion research institute and Bowling Green State University professors finds that women who have abortions are more likely to abuse their children.

Published in the medical journal Acta Paediatrica, the study found that women who have had abortions are 2.4 times more likely to physically abuse their children. Pro-life advocates say it proves the need for providing women with post-abortion counseling to help deal with the emotional trauma of the abortion.

Led by Priscilla Coleman, a professor at Bowling Green, researchers looked at data taken from a survey of 518 low-income women in Baltimore who were receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children and who had at least one child aged 12 years or younger.

The data compared rates of child abuse and neglect among women who had experienced either an involuntary (miscarriage or stillbirth) or voluntary (induced abortion) pregnancy loss.

For more information check LifeNews.com: http://www.lifenews.com/nat1721.html

Item #11. It's Obvious That Canada's Birthrate Has Dropped Far Below Replacement Levels. What's Harder To Discern Is Why

Suppose that a law were passed tomorrow by Parliament forcing every pregnant woman to bring her child to term. Now suppose that were enforceable. We would still fall well short of the replacement level, and Canadians would still be on track for extinction sometime in the next century. Canada as a geographical entity is more robust: I should think the Canadian Shield would remain.

All trends are reversible, and I don't actually believe the birthrate will continue to fall indefinitely – even if it has been falling, consistently, for decades. Look at the numbers through appropriately tinted spectacles and you might confidently speculate that it is only the majority constituency that is determined to remove itself from the gene pool. At some point, those who have retained religious values, which invariably include fecundity, will begin replacing all the ancient and dying gliberals and leftoids. Assuming, of course, that the believers have not first fallen victim to pogroms, or that their children are not seized as part of some emergency project in social engineering.

Contraception is a large and changeable factor. Without a doubt it is more widely available today and more aggressively publicized than ever before in history. And the moral objection to it has been effectively removed by propaganda. In principle, the postmodern boy and girl are raised to believe that sex exists only for pleasure, and that its relation to childbearing is accidental. Promiscuity is encouraged alike in the schoolroom and pop culture.

View full text at Western Standard: http://www.westernstandard.ca/website/index.cfm?page=article&article_id=1116

Item #12. Stem Cell Research: Resources For The Ongoing Debate

In the midst of the important ongoing debate over stem cell research, I would like to bring to your attention a number of excellent resources that are available via the internet...

CBHD is involved in a collaborative effort entitled Do No Harm: The Coalition of Americans for Research Ethics, a partnership of researchers, bioethicists, academics, and others that serves as an information clearinghouse on the ethics and science of stem cell research. The centerpiece of the Coalition’s efforts is the Do No Harm website, www.stemcellresearch.org, which CBHD maintains.

A prominent feature on the homepage is a scoreboard that vividly highlights the fact that while treatments from embryonic stem cell research remain speculative at best, 65 diseases/conditions currently are being treated with non-embryonic or adult stem cells.

For more information: http://www.cbhd.org/resources/stemcells/eppinette_2005-07-29.htm

Action:

Donations: Please consider financially helping our work to spread the Life Issues message, Thank you:
Donation may be sent directly to: Fr. Jerry Novotny OMI, LifeIssues.net, Editor,
Akebono-cho 1-15-9, Kochi City, Japan, 780-8072.

National Pro-Life Conference On November 17-19

Make your reservations Now for the National Pro-Life Conference in Montreal Nov. 17-19. Co-sponsored by Campagne Quebec Vie, Campaign Life Coalition, Canada and Life Canada. For information or to register call 514-344-2686 or 416-204-9749 or 1-800-730-5358 Conference features Michael O'Brien, Stockwell Day, Archbishop Adam Exner, Rabbi Reuven Bulka, Peter Stockland and many more distinguished pro-life speakers.

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Dear Children Of Medjugorje, Praised Be Jesus And Mary!

More than a normal report, this is an announcement for our English-speaking friends and supporters, especially those in the US.

In 1990, I founded the Organization "Les Enfants de Medjugorje" in France. In 1995, we founded the American branch represented as Children of Medjugorje with Denis Nolan as the President. It has developed rapidly and by the grace of God it has been fruitful.

For some time now, Denis Nolan has felt called to begin the project of constructing a satellite up-link facility in Medjugorje, in order to spread the events of Medjugorje using the latest in modern communication technologies. As for me, I feel called to continue, as in the past, writing books and reports, recording DVDs and CDs and more – spreading the messages of Our Lady and the treasures offered through her coming to Medjugorje using all available media. In order to allow our respective charisms to flourish, like two trees in the same garden, the two missions are now registered as separate entities. Here are the details of both Organizations:

Children of Medjugorje, Inc. and its work that you already know, with a new President, Mrs. Christine O'Brien, and a new board of directors(I remain the Vice President).

New address:

Children of Medjugorje
2400 E. Main Street, Suite 103-156
St. Charles, IL 60174
Tel: (630) 406-5833
Fax: (630) 879-5375
Web Page: http://www.childrenofmedjugorje.com/ (unchanged)
e-mail: mailto:cobrien@childrenofmedjugorje.com

MARY TV
Denis Nolan, President
P.O. Box 899
Notre Dame, IN 46556
Tel: (574) 255-0209
Fax: (574) 255-0373
Web Page: http://www.marytv.tv/
e-mail: mailto:dnolan@marytv.tv

Since you are already a part of Children of Medjugorje and have signed up to receive Our Lady's monthly message and the report that I write once a month, you will remain on the Children of Medjugorje mailing list. If you would like to sign up to be on the mailing list for Mary TV, please subscribe to mailto:dnolan@marytv.tv (This is also Denis Nolan's personal email address).

During the transition period, all e-mails sent to the previous e-mail address for Children of Medjugorje ( mailto:dnolan@childrenofmedjugorje), will be automatically forwarded to mailto:cobrien@childrenofmedjugorje. The letters sent to the previous postal address of Children of Medjugorje will be automatically forwarded to the new address in St. Charles, Illinois.

Thank you for your dedication and support! Please, pray for Our Lady's plans to be fully realized, through both missions and each one of us.

May God bless you! May Our Lady Queen of Peace always keep you under her mantle!

Your Sister Emmanuel +

Collection Of Informative 'Life Related' Sites Collated By Interest And Subject

For a collection of sites collated by interest and subject go to Jim Christian's web site http://takebackcanada.com you'll find what you are looking for all in one place.

Please promote the online petition as soon as possible to enable us to inform our government leaders of our opposition to Bill C-407.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director
Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
1-877-439-3348

'Mercy Killing' Bill Must Be Snuffed

Society focuses on so-called rights while forgetting its responsibilities – By Bishop Fred Henry

On June 15 Bloc Quebecois MP Francine Lalonde filed a bill in the House of Commons that aims to modify the Criminal Code to give Canadians the "right to die with dignity."

Tomorrow, the Commons will debate Bill C-407, which is, in fact a new attempt to legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide.

One of the misguided reasons for the current attractiveness of this kind of legislation is the exaggerated role personal autonomy has come to play in human consciousness today.

Derived from the enlightenment movement of the 18th century, personal autonomy has erroneously developed into a concept that stresses so-called rights but forgets about responsibilities.

While the notion of patient autonomy has become an appropriate corrective on physician paternalism, which too long dominated the physician-patient relationship, it has nevertheless been carried to improper extremes.

The dying patient, like all human beings, is a person in relationship. The patient has responsibilities to others and to society. In our society, we have much to learn about our interdependence, about duties to family and the human community, from Asian, Native and some European cultures. It is characteristic of these cultures that important decisions in life are never made by the individual alone, but in the context of family and generally with special regard for the wisdom of the elders in the community.

The issue is one of pressing interest and concern but also widespread confusion.

A major cause of the confusion is what George Orwell in his essay, "Politics and the English Language," calls the language of "euphemisms, question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness." Some of the language used in the euthanasia debate appears "designed to make lies sound truthful and murder acceptable, and give an appearance of solidity to pure wind."

The rhetoric of "choice," "aid-in-dying," "compassion," "a new medical treatment," "self-determination," "autonomy," and "death with dignity" tend to cover up the reality euthanasia means a human life is deliberately destroyed at the hands of an-other, in many cases at the
hands of a loved one or a supposed professional healer.

This proposed legislation would reverse the reigning medical ethic, which for more than two millennia has insisted that doctors must heal and never kill. Legalizing physician-assisted suicide would irreparably damage the doctor-patient relationship. The patient's trust in the
doctor's whole-hearted devotion to the patient's best interests will be hard to sustain once doctors are licensed to kill. Furthermore, such legislation would put undue stress on the conscience of the physician pressured by patients and others to take part in killing.

The unmistakable issue is the intentional killing of a human being. It has nothing to do with natural death or dignity, and everything to do with killing.

We are not discussing letting someone die. A number of distinctions are necessary.

Euthanasia is not respecting a patient's refusal of treatment at any time in the course of treatment. Medical tradition and practice clearly distinguish between refusal of medical intervention and intentionally causing death by euthanasia.

Euthanasia is not discontinuing treatment when it serves no therapeutic purpose or the patient requests treatment to cease; nor is it abstaining from medically futile treatment.

All treatments that impose undue burdens on the patient without overriding benefits or that simply provide no benefits may justifiably be withheld or withdrawn. In making such decisions, the judgment is about the worth of treatment, not about the worth of lives.

The provision of adequate medicines to control pain is not euthanasia. The administration of high doses of painkillers and sedatives to terminally ill patients may lead to a shortening of their lives. It is, however, morally acceptable to administer such drugs in doses linked to their painkilling or sedative effects, and not to the termination of life.

It is not correct to call this "euthanasia" because there is no intention to shorten a patient's life.

Those favouring assisted-suicide have not given adequate attention to palliative care. The goal of palliative care is to give comfort and thereby enable the dying to live while dying. Letting life ebb away can in no way be equated with active euthanasia.

Allowing a person to die is a world removed from giving a lethal injection.

Palliative care also aims at assuaging the suffering of terminal patients. Often they feel helpless, lonely, in the way, and a burden to others. With empathy, comfort care, and affirmation, palliative care-givers accompany patients in their suffering and by their kindness
and compassion help the patient maintain a sense of worth and a feeling of belonging, and move from depression to hope.

The legislation of aid-in-dying would pose a threat to the elderly, the infirm, handicapped newborns and to all members of society unable to look after their own best interests. This kind of legislation says to them: "you're not important; you're not needed; in fact, you are a burden to others."

Canadian citizens should be assured that their dignity at every stage of life is recognized by government as important. They must be reassured by government their needs will be met humanely.

They must be shown true compassion in the care they receive from society, not through death-dealing, but by being looked after in a life-giving way.

As Canadians, we all have a duty to speak up for the rights and dignity of every citizen.

In short, it is Bill C-407 that must die!

Have a letter for the editor? E-mail it to webmaster@calgarysun.com
http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Columnists/Henry_Bishop_Fred/2005/10/29/1284390.html

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