Politics
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Monday February 13, 2006
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Print- New San Francisco Archbishop Thinks Gay Propaganda Film Brokeback Mountain is "Very Powerful"
- “Life Begins At Conception,” Indiana Law Would Inform Women Seeking Abortion
- U.S. Investigates Four Deaths Linked to Abortifacient RU-486
- RU-486 Will Lead to Australia Becoming Muslim Country by 2050 Says Liberal MP
- Vandals Hit Site of “Love Won Out” Conference on Homosexuality
- Gay "Marriage" Activist Running for Ottawa Mayor
- Activist Groups for Disabled Protest California Assisted-Suicide Bill
- Israeli Family Court Rules Lesbians and IVF Children a Family
- London Catholic Hospital Referring for Abortions says Labour Peer
- New Jersey Supreme Court Could Legalize Gay “Marriage” This Week
New San Francisco Archbishop Thinks Gay Propaganda Film Brokeback Mountain is "Very Powerful"
TODAY'S HEADLINES
By John-Henry Westen
SAN FRANCISCO, February 13, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Questions have swirled about Pope Benedict XVI's appointment of former Utah Bishop George Niederauer to be Archbishop of San Francisco, a post Archbishop Niederauer took up this week. With its reputation for being a hotbed of the "gay subculture" many were looking at how the new archbishop would address the matter.
From recent indications, some Catholics are now especially concerned about the archbishop.
The San Francisco Chronicle has posted an interview with the incoming archbishop, conducted by the paper's 'gay and lesbian issues' newsman Wyatt Buchanan. During the interview, Archbishop Niederauer makes a disturbing statement which could easily imply that while pedophilia is abnormal, homosexuality is certainly not.
In the interview Wyatt questions Niederauer about a statement noting that homosexuality cannot be seen as the cause of the sexual abuse scandal. Niederarer responds, "People who see the sex abuse scandal as having as 'the' cause the sexual orientation of the priests, I felt they are mistaken. Because when we're talking about pedophilia we're talking about a sickness, an illness, an aberration."
In response, Catholic World News' famed blogger Diogenes points out that the Catholic Church considers homosexuality itself as abnormal (http://www.cwnews.com/offtherecord/offtherecord.cfm?task=singledisplay&recnu... ). According to the Catechism, the Church teaches, "Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that 'homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.' They are contrary to the natural law." It adds that even the inclination itself is "objectively disordered." (see the reference http://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a6.htm )
The interview also reveals a strange interpretation of what the Vatican meant when it barred from ordination to the priesthood men with "deep seated homosexual tendencies".
While most have interpreted the Vatican statement literally to mean that those who have lasting and non-fleeting homosexual tendencies cannot enter seminary, the archbishop interprets it very differently. According to the new archbishop's understanding "someone who is going to be a priest has to be able and willing, and this has to be tested by time of course, has to be able and willing [sic] to subordinate all relationships and conduct all relationships with others in a way that's compatible with a celibate lifestyle . . . And I think that would be true also for the heterosexual candidate." The interviewer then asks the obvious question, "Then why single out homosexuals?" That's because, says the archbishop, the issue is much more front and center "since Stonewall."
Beyond that, Niederauer had this to say when asked what he thought of the film Brokeback Mountain. While the film has been condemned by pro-family groups as a dangerous homosexual propaganda film, Niederauer admitted to seeing the film and remarked on it saying it was "very powerful". He added that "one of the lessons (of the film) is the destructiveness of not being honest with yourself and not honest with other people and not being faithful, trying to live a double life."
The interview is available for download here:
http://www.streamload.com/Deliver/Deliver.asp?cxInstID=45740628&nodeID=10128...
See LifeSiteNews.com coverage of Brokeback Mountain
USCCB Changes Rating on Brokeback Mountain to Morally Offensive
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/dec/05121607.html
Back to Top“Life Begins At Conception,” Indiana Law Would Inform Women Seeking Abortion
INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana, February 13, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Under a new law proposed in the state of Indiana, women seeking an abortion would hear from their doctors that human life begins at conception, They would also hear that their baby might be able to feel pain.
The law would go farther than almost any other legislation in the country in requiring that women be fully informed about the act of abortion. Only South Dakota has brought in a similar law, which has been blocked by court proceedings.
Current law in Indiana requires doctors to tell women about the age of their baby and its potential viability, and to offer to show an ultrasound of the child. They must also provide information on risks and alternatives to abortion.
Dorothy Timbs, of the National Right to Life Committee, told the Associated Press that many women seeking an abortion are told the fetus is nothing more than "a blob of tissue." She says women need to understand the consequences of an abortion on both the fetus and themselves.
"This is a decision that profoundly affects both forever and is irreversible," she said. "Women deserve this information. The more they have, the better off they are."
29 states have “informed consent” laws in place that ensure women seeking an abortion receive information about the procedure beforehand. In most states the information is limited to resources available for them if they decide to carry the child to term. Three states, Arkansas, Nevada and Wisconsin, offer information about the potential psychological damage to the woman caused by abortion.
In Arkansas, Georgia and Minnesota, women must be told that their baby may be able to feel pain, but only for abortions sought at 20 weeks gestation or later. Indiana’s legislation would require that information be given to women for an abortion sought at any period.
Planned Parenthood of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota challenged South Dakota's law, saying it infringed on doctors' First Amendment rights. No trial date has been set, but U.S. District Judge Karen Schreier of Rapid City granted a preliminary injunction last year blocking enforcement of the law, saying the plaintiffs have a good chance of winning.
Jack M. Balkin, Yale Law School professor, told the AP Indiana's proposal could withstand free-speech challenges if doctors tell women the information is required by the state and might not necessarily reflect their own views.
"If a doctor can put it in those terms, then he's acting as a conduit from the state to the woman," he said.
The proposed changes cleared the Republican-controlled House on a 70-30 vote the first of February. A Senate committee will consider the bill this month.
See related LifeSiteNews article:
Abortion Activists in U.S. Say They Are Losing the Battle
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jan/06013008.html
U.S. Investigates Four Deaths Linked to Abortifacient RU-486
By Gudrun Schultz
WASHINGTON, D.C., United States, February 13, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The U.S. government has called for a special scientific investigation into the deaths of four California women, who died from a rare bacterial infection after taking the dangerous abortion drug RU-486.
Up to 20 scientists, who have studied the deadly bacteria Clostridium sordellii that caused the deaths, will look into the connection between the effects of the abortion pill and the bacteria’s presence in the women’s blood stream.
The abortion pill has been a source of intense controversy since it first appeared in France over 20 years ago. Opponents say it was never properly tested for safety although it has received extensive support from abortion advocates.
Ten women have died after taking the pill, including the four California deaths. There have been multiple cases of severe side effects, including haemorrage, with over 600 cases reported in the U.S. alone.
Questions around the safety of the abortion pill RU-486 have caused such intensive controversy in the U.S. that security for the May 11th conference will be unusually tight, an FDA official told the New York Times. Backlash from activists for the abortion pill has led to threats against officials for speaking out against the drug.
The conference, which will be held at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, will also look at a closely related bacteria, C-difficile, which has caused severe intestinal illness among residents in hospitals and nursing homes. The National Institutes of Health will also participate.
See related LifeSiteNews coverage:
Abortion Drug RU-486 Company Admits to Death of Five Women
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/jul/05071905.html
Public Documents Reveal Numerous RU-486 Complications
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/jan/05012403.html
RU-486 Will Lead to Australia Becoming Muslim Country by 2050 Says Liberal MP
by Hilary White
SYDNEY, February 13, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – An Australian Liberal MP has warned that the introduction of the abortion drug RU-486 could lead Australia to becoming a predominantly Muslim country.
Danna Vale Liberal MP for Hughes in Sydney, said, “When you actually look at the birth rates and when you look at the fact that we are aborting ourselves almost out of existence by 100,000 abortions every year and that's only a guesstimate.”
Vale said she was referring to a comment made by an Australian Imam who claimed that Australia would be a Muslim country in 50 years. “You multiply that by 50 years, that's five million potential Australians we won't have here,” Vale said.
Health Minister Tony Abbot is fighting to keep control of the deadly abortion drug in the hands of Parliament while the Therapeutic Goods Administration is lobbying along with the Australian medical establishment for its general distribution. Democrats have pushed an amendment to the Therapeutic Goods Act that would remove the restrictions on the drug and MP’s are preparing for a conscience vote this week.
While Vale is being criticized for her comments, the numbers bear out her suggestion. The Australian Bureau of Statistics says that the general Australian population is aging and birth rates remain low.
Worldwide, statistics are showing that people with strong traditional religious beliefs, whether Muslim or Christian, tend to have more children. In a time when Christians have followed the general secularizing trend, birth rates in traditionally Christian societies such as Australia have dropped precipitously.
While 1996 statistics show that although just over 70% of Australians listed themselves as Christian, only 6.6% of Catholics and 4.7% of Anglicans aged 15-19 attend church services weekly. Other surveys have shown that only a tiny fraction of Australia’s Christians hold traditional Christian beliefs about life and family, and abortion rates are as high among Christians as among the general population.
The Australian Muslim population, while relatively small, has been increasing steadily with immigration. More significantly, birth rates among Muslims, while starting to show a slight decline worldwide, are still significantly higher than non-Muslims. Although Muslims make up only 1.12% of the Australian population, the demographic shift is tilting sharply away from Australia remaining even a nominally Christian country.
High rates of birth among Muslims also mean that while the general population of Australia is aging, Muslims are starting to make up significantly higher proportions of youth. The 1996 census showed of Muslims in New South Wales, 52.5% were under 25 years of age. In the general population of New South Wales, only 35.6% were under 25.
Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Abortion Pill a No Go in Australia says Health Minister
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/nov/05111503.html
Australian Survey Defines "Homophobia" as Belief that Homosexuality is Immoral
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/jul/05072705.html
Vandals Hit Site of “Love Won Out” Conference on Homosexuality
By Terry Vanderheyden
ST. LOUIS, Missouri, February 13, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Hours after the media announced the location of an international Love Won Out conference for St. Louis to be held Feb. 25, the location was vandalized.
The vandalism to First Evangelical Free Church of St. Louis County (First Free) occurred just hours after radio announcements of the location for the event began there Thursday evening. At least a dozen eggs were found spattered over the front of the building when employees arrived there early Friday. Billboards for the event began to appear along St. Louis highways as early as Tuesday. The one-day event is designed to educate and equip attendees on the issues surrounding homosexuality and provide help for those struggling – and those whose loved ones struggle – with unwanted same-sex attractions.
First Free said that the intimidation will not deter them from hosting an event, “designed to equip the church to respond with love and compassion to those who are living homosexually.”
“This only underscores the need for Love Won Out more than ever and, sadly, suggests that those who talk the loudest about tolerance seem the least able to exhibit it,” the church said in a statement, according to a Focus on the Family CitizenLink report. “We are honored to stand for righteousness in the face of ridicule – a small taste of the ridicule our Lord suffered.”
“Love Won Out’s cornerstone continues [to] be the hope and healing that is found in Jesus Christ,” said conference speaker Melissa Fryrear, herself a former lesbian. “Many attendees are struggling to maintain the balance between holding onto their beliefs and loving a gay family member or friend. The conference will encourage and equip them to do just that.”
The St. Louis conference will feature Dr. Nancy Heche who will share her own experiences as a parent and spouse who was confronted with homosexuality in her home. Heche will offer insight and hope to those who have a loved one involved in homosexuality.
“Families are often in the dark about how to respond when homosexuality hits home,” said Fryrear. “Many of our attendees struggle with how to love a family member who is gay while not compromising their beliefs in Biblical truth – Nancy’s message is one of hope for those struggling to maintain this balance.”
In addition, Focus on the Family's psychologist-in- residence Dr. Bill Maier will address the controversial topic of same-sex unions in a breakout session entitled “Straight Thinking on Gay Marriage.” Maier will discuss how the legalization of same-sex marriage will impact the current generation of children by intentionally denying them a mother and father.
See the group’s web site for more information:
http://lovewonout.com/
Gay "Marriage" Activist Running for Ottawa Mayor
By John-Henry Westen
OTTAWA, February 13, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Alex Munter gained himself a controversial reputation during the recent federal election by pretending to be an unbiased third party while handing a hungry media an eight-year old speech by Conservative Leader Stephen Harper which was used to harm Harper on the night of a televised leaders' debate. After the Canadian Press (CP) discovered that Munter was in fact working for the Liberals while requesting anonymity and claiming non-partisanship in handing in the speech that he 'just happened to find' on the net, CP published another full story pointing our Munter's falsehoods.
With that recent notoriety under his belt, Munter has decided to run for Ottawa mayor. The announcement came from CBC, which although it too ran the story on Harper speech, never did come clean on Munter having been the partisan source for the speech. CBC should have known better than most however, about Munter's political interests since Munter is, according to, CBC Watch (the organization created to point out the massive bias at the national public broadcaster http://www.cbcwatch.ca ), a contributor to CBC radio in English and French.
Alex Munter, was also one of the main quarterbacks for the homosexual activist movement in the effort to have Canada forced by the courts to legalize homosexual "marriage". Munter was the national coordinator of the homosexual activist group, Canadians for Equal Marriage.
The CBC story on Munter announcing his candidacy for mayor notes Munter was a former Ottawa city councillor but notably fails to mention his more controversial recent activities.
See the CBC coverage here:
http://www.cbc.ca/ottawa/story/ot-munter200602013.html
Activist Groups for Disabled Protest California Assisted-Suicide Bill
By Gudrun Schultz
SACRAMENTO, California, February 13, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Activists for the rights of the disabled are joining up with religious and conservative lobby groups to protest a proposed assisted-suicide bill in California.
Assembly Bill 651 would allow doctors to prescribe lethal drugs to terminally ill patients.
"There are the folks who see it as a right-to-life issue, and there are the folks who see it as a right-to-death issue," Teresa Favuzzi, director of the California Federation of Independent Living Centers, which opposes the bill, told the Sacramento Bee. "And for the disability community, it's about the right to live, to be seen as valuable."
Advocates for the disabled blame societal bias against the physically impaired, together with cost-cutting efforts in the health-care industry, for creating a favorable climate for the bill. With an assisted-suicide law in place, doctors who are under pressure to keep costs down and avoid expensive care may be more likely to prescribe lethal drugs to disabled patients.
Members of the disabled lobby groups have said they receive different treatment from the medical profession, they believe because of their physical disabilities. Doctors are quick to suggest that disabled patients sign “do not resuscitate” forms, some activists have said.
"We get reports from around the country that individuals with disabilities go into hospitals for some kind of treatment and hospital staff pressure them to sign (do not resuscitate) orders," Paul Longmore, a history professor at San Francisco State University and an expert on disability studies, said to the Sacramento Bee. "That's really serious discrimination."
Advocates for the disabled are also concerned over drawing lines between chronic illness and terminal disease, saying it is often too difficult to say confidently that an illness is terminal.
"It is the experience of disability that a lot of us have defied medical science," Navarro said.
Opponents of the bill fear that last month’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold Oregon’s physician-assisted suicide law will allow the bill easier passage.
See related LifeSiteNews coverage:
US Supreme Court Upholds Oregon Physician Assisted Suicide Law
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jan/06011706.html
Israeli Family Court Rules Lesbians and IVF Children a Family
by Hilary White
JERUSALEM, February 13, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Israel’s family court ruled on Sunday that two lesbians, Tal and Avital Yarous-Hakak must receive adoption papers that listed them as the mothers of their three children.
This follows a High Court ruling that declared same-sex relationships must be treated in law the same as normal marriage. The pair acquired their three children through in vitro fertilization.
In Israel, as in nearly every other jurisdiction in the western world, the homosexual political machine has worked through the courts one case at a time to create legal equivalency to normal family life for homosexual relationships. Sunday’s ruling is being hailed as another step in a systematic process that started with demanding equivalence for homosexual partnerings in inheritance laws. The Jerusalem Post noted that the two women said that the decision will create a precedent for others.
A separate lawsuit is currently working its way through the Israeli courts that demands that homosexual relationships be treated the same as normal marriage in every way.
The move to adopt children by the homosexual movement is being eagerly adopted by jurisdictions around the world. This January, the Scottish Cardinal of Edinburgh condemned the move of the Scottish Parliament to allow the practice saying it made children into “guinea pigs in some distorted social experiment.”
The American Medical Association voted in 2004 to support same-sex adoption at the same time more and more studies showed that growing up in the inherently unstable homosexual environment is harmful to children.
Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Scot Cardinal: Gay Adoption Makes Children “Guinea Pigs in Some Distorted Social Experiment”
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jan/06011608.html
Experts Worldwide Find Gay Adoption Harmful for Children
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/may/05053106.html
London Catholic Hospital Referring for Abortions says Labour Peer
By Hilary White
LONDON, February 13, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A fashionable London Catholic hospital is referring for abortions and distributing abortifacient drugs according to a labour peer who investigated on behalf of the Catholic Church. This week, Lord Brennan reported his findings on an investigation into St John and St Elizabeth Hospital that found the hospitals were referring women for abortions or prescribing the morning-after pill.
Lord Brennan has informed Cormac Murphy O’Connor the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster and head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, saying the hospital was in violation of its own ethics code.
The hospital has defended itself, arguing that, although it was “proud of its Catholic heritage, it was committed to an ecumenical philosophy and was responsible for the care of all.”
Dr Helen Watt, the director of the Linacre Centre, a Catholic bioethics think tank, said she hoped that the Brennan report would help secure "the serious changes needed to keep the hospital to a Catholic ethos.”
“Many take a consumerist view of health care as 'giving people what they want'. The Church takes a very different view - as, indeed, do those of other faiths who welcome the Church's insistence on respect for every human being.”
“Women should be referred for advice only to individuals and institutions that will genuinely respect them and their unborn children. They are free to seek other, pro-abortion advice, but should never be aided in doing this by anyone who cares about their welfare.”
New Jersey Supreme Court Could Legalize Gay “Marriage” This Week
By Terry Vanderheyden
TRENTON, February 13, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The New Jersey Supreme Court could legalize same-sex “marriage” for the state as early as Wednesday, when it hears the case of Lewis v. Harris, in which seven same-sex couples who were denied marriage licenses filed a lawsuit claiming the denials violated their rights of privacy and equal protection under the New Jersey Constitution.
The Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court affirmed 2 to 1 last June a trial court decision that said limiting marriage to members of the opposite sex does not violate the New Jersey Constitution.
The same Supreme Court struck down parental notification for abortion in 2000 and in the 1970s decided in favor of allowing brain-damaged Karen Ann Quinlan to be euthanized by her doctors.
The Alliance Defense Fund filed a friend-of-the-court brief in December. “Same-sex ‘marriage’ has become an extremely divisive and emotional issue because we’re focused on the wrong things,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Chris Stovall. “Legally, marriage is not about two people being in love and it’s not about getting benefits. For the state, marriage is about protecting children by ensuring that as often as possible they are raised by their mother and father. Because same-sex couples cannot procreate, there exists no interest for the state to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.”
Stovall explained that there exists a misperception that protecting marriage as a union between one man and one woman is winning only in the legislature and not in the courts. He pointed to the majority of cases in the appellate courts in the past few years where judges ruled in favor of protecting marriage as a union between one man and one woman.
“Except for the Goodridge opinion in Massachusetts, every American appellate court that has evaluated laws protecting marriage as one man and one woman in the last 10 years has found those laws to be legitimate, appropriate, and constitutional,” said Stovall.
“When others say that many courts have ruled otherwise, they are referring to the trial courts, where some activist judges have embedded their own personal views into their decisions,” Stovall added. “This is not the case at the appellate level, such as the excellent appellate decision we are asking the New Jersey Supreme Court to affirm in this case, Lewis v. Harris.”
New Jersey Family Policy Council President Len Deo told the Philadelphia Inquirer, “We’re hopeful the court will save us aggravation and leave things the way they are. But if they overturn laws here, we’ll seek whatever remedy is in our realm, including a state constitutional amendment.”
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
New Jersey Appeals Court Rules for Real Marriage Against Same Sex 'Marriage'
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/jun/05061501.html
New Same-Sex Civil Union Law for New Jersey
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/jan/04010910.html
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