Politics
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Friday February 29, 2008
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Print- Pro-Family Forces Achieve Compromise to Allow Continuation of Abstinence Education in Massive US AIDS Program
- Head of Pontifical Academy for Life Reconfirms Morning After Pill Cannot be Used Even in Cases of Rape
- Custody Battle Threatens Health and Life of Aging Priest
- British Group Criticizes "Misleading" Headlines about End to China's One-Child Policy
- Virginia Cuts All Government Funding to Planned Parenthood
- William Buckley: A Voice against Liberalism and for Life
- Pro-Abortion Catholic Politicians Should not "Publicly" Receive Holy Communion: Ottawa Archbishop
- Renowned French Pro-Life Abbott Dies at Age 80
- Legal Expert Claims that Unborn Babies are Really Chimpanzees
- Massachusetts Bills Would Dramatically Advance Homosexual Power in State
- Nova Scotia Young Liberals Want Province To Cover Sex-Change Surgeries
- Archbishop of Mexico Calls Abortion and Sterilization "Abominable"
- LifeSiteNews.com NewsBytes
Pro-Family Forces Achieve Compromise to Allow Continuation of Abstinence Education in Massive US AIDS Program
PEPFAR program extended and budget tripled to $10 billion annually for next five years
TODAY'S HEADLINES
By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman
February 29, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Pro-family forces in the U.S. House of Representatives hammered out an agreement on Wednesday to maintain abstinence education programs in a bill to extend President Bush's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which has been credited with effectively reducing the rate of HIV transmission in Africa during its five year existence.
Programs that prioritize abstinence education have been very successful in Africa, in one case reducing teen pregnancy by 61 percent. In Uganda, where such programs have been used for years, HIV infection rates have fallen from 15% to under 5%.
The new bill extends the PEPFAR program beyond its previous expiration date set for this year, and more than triples its budget, increasing it to $10 billion annually for the next five years, and requires a "balanced" approach that includes teaching abstinence, marital fidelity, monogamy, delaying sexual debut, and reducing numbers of sexual partners.
The original PEPFAR was controversial among social liberals because it required that one third of the money be spent on programs that teach abstinence as the most effective way to avoid HIV and AIDS. In the current bill House Democrats attempted to remove abstinence education requirements and restrictions that disallow funding for groups involved in prostitution. The compromise bill eliminates those changes.
The new PEPFAR drops the one-third funding requirement for abstinence-only programs,and substitutes this requirement with a more general one that states that program coordinators will provide "balanced funding for activities for sexual transmission of HIV/AIDS and shall ensure that behavior change programs, including abstinence, delay of sexual debut, monogamy, fidelity and partner reduction, are implemented and funded in a meaningful and equitable way in the strategy for each host country."
If a coordinator waives the requirement, by spending less than 50 percent of funds to promote abstinence approaches, he must issue a special report to Congress explaining why. Under the previous PEPFAR regime the one-third abstience funding requirement was sometimes waived, but no report was required.
Opponents of abstinence education were happy with the huge increase in funding for the international AIDS establishment, which is largely devoted to condom distribution and "sexual education" that tends to legitimize extramarital sexual relations. However, they were discouraged by the fact that a portion of the funding would continue to go to abstinence education.
Scott Swenson, writing for the liberal, pro-abortion website "Reproductive Health Reality Check" called the abstinence education provisions "bad news" and wrote, "The abstinence earmark is gone, but the tone set by the new requirement is easily misinterpreted by the time these restrictions get to the field level, especially on the heels of the abstinence-only earmark under which these providers have been working."
Although Swensen claims that there is no evidence to show the effectiveness of abstinence-only programs, Rep. Chris Smith, in a recent house floor speech, quoted a joint statement by the U.S. Department of State, USAID, and Health and Human Resources, who said that "Congressional directives have helped focus U.S. Government (USG) prevention strategies to be evidence-based. Because of the data, ABC is now recognized as the most effective strategy to prevent HIV in generalized epidemics." "ABC" stands for "Abstinence, Be Faithful, use a Condom", prioritizing the first two options.
Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council said that the legislation was "not perfect" but seemed tentatively satisfied with the results. "I applaud the House Foreign Affairs Committee for passing an HIV/AIDS bill free of troubling provisions contained in earlier drafts. Previous drafts would have funded international abortion groups, undermined abstinence and faithfulness programs, removed an anti-sex trafficking provision, harmed faith-based groups and would have done nothing to require transparency in the Global Fund. This bill is a marked improvement and is aimed at protecting life, not destroying it."
Related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Abstinence Program Making Huge Impact in Africa: 61 Percent Reduction in Teen Pregnancy
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jun/06063004.html
New U.S. Government Health Department Study Confirms Abstinence Education Effective
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/jun/05061407.html
Ugandan Anti-AIDS Activist Demands UN Fire Lewis For Pushing Condoms
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/sep/05090701.html
Back to TopHead of Pontifical Academy for Life Reconfirms Morning After Pill Cannot be Used Even in Cases of Rape
By John-Henry Westen
VATICAN CITY, February 29, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Bishop Elio Sgreccia, President of the Pontifical Academy for Life, spoke with LifeSiteNews.com Tuesday on the subject of the use of the morning after pill in cases of rape. Catholic hospitals in several dioceses in North America are currently administering the pill (Plan B) to patients who claim to be victims of rape.
According to Bishop Sgreccia, however, the morning after pill may not be administered by Catholic physicians. The only Vatican opinion on the subject, absolutely prohibiting the use of the pill, was released by the Pontifical Academy for Life in 2000. Since then, however, the Catholic Health Association, advisor to many bishops conferences, has suggested that there is no moral impediment to using the pill in cases of rape. Several bishops conferences have followed the advice and permitted administration of the drugs in Catholic hospitals in cases where rape is asserted.
LifeSiteNews.com spoke with Bishop Sgreccia about the issue at the conclusion of a two day conference of the Pontifical Academy for Life, which took place February 25-26 in Vatican City. Speaking in English, Bishop Sgreccia affirmed that the position of the Church on the matter has not changed since the 2000 publication of the Pontifical Academy's document.
"But the position of the church is the same," he told LifeSiteNews.com. "The morning after pill is dangerous; is an abortifacient when there is a conception and so illicit to prescribe by doctors."
"Thus," added the Bishop, "there is the same position from the beginning of the presentation of this pill. It is not medicine, not a composition for health, so physicians are not obliged to prescribe it. It is forbidden for Catholic doctors to prescribe it and also to be requested by Catholics."
LifeSiteNews.com asked Bishop Sgreccia if there was an exception in cases of rape. The President of the Pontifical Academy for Life replied, "No. It is not able to prevent the rape. But it is able to eliminate the embryo. It is thus the second negative intervention on the woman (the first being the rape itself)."
Monsignor Andrew R. Baker, a professor at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (the Angelicum) in Rome, told LifeSiteNews.com that the unchanged published opinion of the Pontifical Academy on the question is the "highest level" of advice given by the Holy See.
Monsignor Baker explained that the possibility that the pill could abort a child made its administration absolutely prohibited. Speaking of the abortifacient nature of the morning after pill, he said, "If it is in any way that possibility it cannot be used because it does attack life."
While the manufacturers of the morning after pill and several studies have noted a possible abortifacient effect of the pill, a few studies have also suggested that the pill works to halt ovulation when ovulation has not already occurred, and is not therefore abortifacient. The science is not conclusive on the point, with different studies having come out on either side of the debate.
And therefore, says the Professor at the Angelicum, "if we're dealing with human life and there is some reasonable doubt placed in the equation we should not use (the pill). "If there's reasonable doubt whether or not there is a child then it should not be used."
Baker, quoting a classic example of St. Thomas Aquinas on the matter, explained: "It's the same as that classic case. If you're out hunting and you see something moving in the bush and you don't know if it's the deer or your fellow hunter, then you don't shoot."
The ethical problems with Plan B, however, goes beyond the abortifiacient effects of the pill, especially if the drug is to be administered in Catholic hospitals.
The Catholic Church teaches that contraception in itself is an "intrinsic evil" and thus, argues renowned theologian Fr. Peter Damian Fehlner, a Doctor of Theology who has taught at universities and seminaries for forty years, would prohibit Catholic hospitals from administering Plan B even if it acted as a contraceptive rather than causing abortions.
"Prevention of procreation is intrinsically evil prior to and independently of any good end which might be achieved thereby, such as avoiding further violence at the hands of a rapist", explains Fr. Fehlner. "The woman may certainly resist and should resist to the limit permitted by divine law any sexual assault. But she may not do this by using a means which is intrinsically evil, in this case considering the conception of a child an act of violence justifying the use of contraception." (see coverage: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/oct/07102305.html )
Moreover, Plan B has many negative side effects which will be inflicted on the victim of rape should it be administered. According to the manufacturer Plan B’s side effects include “nausea, abdominal pain, fatigue, headache, menstrual changes, dizziness, breast tenderness, vomiting, and diarrhea.”
See the Pontifical Academy for Life Document on the Morning After Pill here:
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_academies/acdlife/documents/rc_pa_a...
Custody Battle Threatens Health and Life of Aging Priest
Family of priest claims woman seized temporary guardianship under false pretext, claiming priest's "mental incompetence"
By John Connolly and Peter J. Smith
PASADENA, California, February 29, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A terminally ill Roman Catholic priest is the center of a tempestuous legal battle between a court-appointed temporary guardian - who has demanded his return to an Arizona care center - and family and friends - who believe such a move could kill him.
Fr. Bernard "Brian" Gallagher, 76, a retired priest from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Yakima, Washington, is the focus of a custody struggle between his family and a woman acting as his legal emergency guardian. Imelda Guadalupe "Lupe" Kowalczyk has insisted to authorities that Fr. Gallagher is mentally incompetent and cannot make his own decisions, among which is Fr. Gallagher's well-documented desire to live with fellow religious in California and to finish his days with constant access to the Mass and the sacraments.
Earlier this week, Fr. Gallagher was taken, at his own urgent request, and over the objections of Kowalczyk, from a nursing home in Payson, Arizona to the well-equipped cancer care facilities at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, California. Once there it was discovered that Fr. Gallagher was suffering from an infected bladder, the beginnings of aspiration pneumonia from poor feeding tube treatment, as well as other symptoms. He had also lost a considerable amount of weight.
But sources say Arizona law enforcement is now exerting pressure to return Fr. Gallagher into the custody of Kowalczyk, who had deprived him of all contact with friends and family and the right to the Catholic Church's sacraments. Those who are close to the terminally ill priest say any move from the hospital could jeopardize his life.
An attorney representing Fr. Gallagher, has instructed the hospital that the priest "not be moved and certainly not be moved at the behest of the very person whose motives and legal actions we are questioning in the California courts."
Power of Attorney
In January, Fr. Gallagher was diagnosed with a stage IV brain tumor while undergoing treatment for a broken arm he suffered from a fall in Arizona. Fr. Gallagher, a California resident, had been visiting the Kowalczyk family in Arizona for a few days when he fell.
Family and friends close to Fr. Gallagher said Kowalczyk then took charge of his health care, while repeatedly deceiving those closest to him. Kowalczyk had power of attorney, which Fr. Gallagher had given to her and a friend, David Picella, in 2006. Kowalczyk, however, did not at any point notify Picella of Fr. Gallagher's condition and misled him as to the priest's whereabouts.
Those family and friends who are now fighting to keep Fr. Gallagher in California claim that Kowalczyk gave them the impression that the priest had been airlifted to Phoenix to undergo major brain surgery, but that doctors were unable to remove successfully the cancerous tumor.
However, when family members and friends made a surprise visit to the priest at the Payson Care Center, where Kowalczyk's had had him moved, they found Fr. Gallagher had a full head of hair, with no sign of major brain surgery. The priest's right to access the Catholic sacraments also had not been respected.
At the time of their visit friends and family were unable to convince Kowalczyk to let Fr. Gallagher go home to California for treatment. Instead they were informed that she planned to take care of Fr. Gallagher until he died and that she would receive caregiver money. She told Nicolas Gallagher, the priest's brother in Ireland, that she was building an extension in her house for the priest, using the caregiver monies.
"It looked like the nurses weren't paying close enough attention to take care of things," Marian Bower, Fr. Gallagher's cousin told LifeSiteNews.com. "He didn't have any clothes, just a blanket over him. They didn't want to help him up to go to the bathroom, they just told him to use the bedpan."
LifeSiteNews.com attempted to contact the Payson Care Center, but was told, "We have no comment. Thank you."
Power of Attorney Revoked, Emergency Guardianship Seized
Documents obtained by LifeSiteNews.com show that Kowalczyk seized emergency legal guardianship of Fr. Gallagher shortly after learning that the priest, dissatisfied with her unwillingness to return him to California, relieved her of her power of attorney and reassigned any health-care directive and legal control over his finances to his cousin James Logsdon.
"I, Father Brian T. Gallagher, fully revoke the Power of Attorney from Lupe Kowalczyk from St. John's, AZ as having power of attorney over my affairs," reads the letter, signed by Fr. Gallagher and also signed by witnesses on February 16, 2008. Again on February 19, Fr. Gallagher repeated this instruction before witnesses, which was recorded by friend Denise Riggio. (Listen to recording: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/audio/frgallagher.wma)
The priest also expressed his wish to return to San Juan Capistrano or live in a religious institute, "so that I may be with the Blessed Sacrament daily as well as receive the sacraments daily till the end of my days."
Kowalczyk, however, sought and obtained Temporary Guardianship and Temporary Conservator over Fr. Gallagher after she asserted that the priest was mentally incompetent. A hearing to review guardianship is scheduled for March 13 in Apache County, Arizona, where she resides. The same day that she obtained emergency guardianship, Kowalczyk ordered Payson Care Center staff to cut off Fr. Gallagher from all visitors and all means of communication, including reception of the sacraments.
Several of Fr. Gallagher's friends had traveled from California to visit him on February 23, but were abruptly turned away by several nurses following Kowalczyk's "no visitor" orders. The visitors observed other signs of neglect, including a mattress on the floor to catch the priest if he fell off the bed, lack of bed sheets, insufficient clothing on his body, and the fact that he was lying flat on his back with his feeding tube installed, which can cause aspiration pneumonia.
Those closest to the priest claim that Fr. Gallagher is by no means mentally incompetent. Friend Eileen Querubin, a social worker for over 18 years, faxed a letter to Payson Care Center administrators stating that the priest's patient rights were being violated. She related the many conversations he had with her and other visitors, saying, "Based on my professional judgment, Father Gallagher is not incompetent," adding that she feared for the priest's "safety and best interest."
Priest's Wishes Finally Honored Above Temporary Guardian
Kowalczyk is now fighting with the help of Arizona law enforcement to return Fr. Gallagher to her custody, but Fr. Gallagher's legal counsel say they intend to protect the priest and expose the fraudulent grounds of her guardianship status.
LifeSiteNews.com contacted Kowalczyk for comment on February 25, but she denied any knowledge of Fr. Gallagher and hung up on our reporter. She declined to comment when called again on February 28, instead directing reporters to contact her lawyer. She did not provide a name or phone number for her legal counsel.
"All we want for him is the dignity that every human being regardless of their station in life has," said Bower. "He's not getting that with [Kowalczyk]. And I can't-I can't stand by and allow that to happen. I can't ignore that my cousin was being so mistreated, and he deserves all the dignity in the world."
"When Fr. Gallagher was moved [from Arizona to California] he was very happy, smiling from ear to ear, saying 'I'm home now, even though I'm in the hospital, I'm in California now,'" said Denise Riggio, a long-time friend of Fr. Gallagher's who visited him earlier this week. "He is in a comfortable room, being monitored, has an IV, and is open to all visitors. The change was from bad to wonderful."
Listen to Audio Recording of Fr. Gallagher Rescinding Kowalczyk's Power of Attorney:
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/audio/frgallagher.wma
British Group Criticizes "Misleading" Headlines about End to China's One-Child Policy
Says announcement is ruse to gain more support for Beijing Olympics in face of criticism of China's human rights abuses
By Hilary White
LONDON, February 29, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Reports appearing yesterday in Reuters and the Guardian alleged that the Chinese government, worried about demographic trends, may begin "incrementally" to phase out its one-child policy, condemned for years by western observers for its use of forced abortion and sterilization. But the London-based Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, says the announcement is a ruse to secure more public support for the upcoming Beijing Olympics in the face of criticism of China's human rights abuses.
Vice Minister of the National Population and Family Planning Commission, Zhao Baige, told reporters in Beijing, "We want incrementally to have this change." She said the government will "study" the issue "seriously and responsibly," but still wanted to avoid any changes that might cause a sudden increase in the birth rate.
Currently, according to 2007 statistics, China's overall fertility rate stands at 1.75 children born per woman, well below the rate necessary to maintain a steady population. Recent news reports have said that the Chinese one child policy - which has been in place since the 1970's and, despite recent changes to the law, still involves forced or coerced abortion and sterilizations - has caused a dangerous gender imbalance in a society that prefers boys to girl babies.
Zhao claimed that the policy has been softened in recent years, saying, "Minority groups already have two children, even three, and in the cities like Shanghai and Beijing, a lot of only children are already released (to have two).
"But the most important is those in the middle like in Henan... nearly a hundred million people, but strongly influenced by the classical way, they want a son, and they are already very fragile environmentally," she said.
But the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) warns that the headlines, reading, "China could scrap its one-child policy" and "China considers ending one-child policy", are more supposition than fact and that nothing in the minister's comments directly suggests such a move.
Anthony Ozimic, SPUC political secretary, said that the experts on China's policy know that the Communist regime is in the habit of making "misleading statements about human rights" to mollify international opinion whenever the spotlight is on the country, as it is now in the run-up to the Olympics.
"Such statements" he said, "are intended for Western consumption only and specifically designed to mislead Westerners into wishful thinking that the regime's crimes against humanity, such as the one-child policy, are coming to an end."
"The false claim by the Guardian's Tania Branigan that the one-child policy's 'enforcement' system is far less punitive than in the 80s and early 90s' is one such example of how the Chinese regime has been successful in planting such misinformation into the Western media," Ozimic continued.
SPUC Director John Smeaton, writing on the SPUC weblog, said that the Beijing Olympics are being criticised, with some Hollywood stars boycotting it for China's failure to act against genocide in Darfur. But Smeaton said the event might as easily be called the "Forced Abortion Olympics".
Smeaton wrote of western governments "turning a blind eye to China's appalling systematic attacks on the rights of unborn children, on women's rights, and on the rights of families, with its inhuman one-child policy".
This ought not to be a surprise, however, because, "many western governments, including our own UK government, are complicit in the policy." The UK, Smeaton points out, is the fourth highest financial backer of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) that has been heavily involved in the Chinese population control policy.
Formost China expert Stephen Mosher has emphasized that the Chinese are committed to not only slowing their rate of population growth but to also cutting the current population in half. At a talk in Toronto in 2005 Mosher reported that the government is determined to follow all the way through on the recommendations of a government White Paper calling for its brutal policy to continue to about 2050 in order to reduce the country’s population to 600 million from its then current 1.2 billion level.
Given that reality it appears highly dubious to experienced pro-life China observers that the Communists are now considering ending their one-child policy. They are seen to be more likely to become increasingly ruthless in the years ahead in order to meet the extraordinary target of shedding 600 million people from the Chinese population.
Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
China Labels Stanford Researcher "International spy" For Exposing Forced Abortion Policy
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/aug/050826a.html
China's One-Child Policy to Cripple Chinese Economy
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/feb/04021806.html
China Admits its Girl Shortage Caused by One Child Policy is a "Major Threat"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/may/04051107.html
Thousands of Chinese Peasants Riot over Brutal Birth Control Campaign
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/may/07052202.html ;
Virginia Cuts All Government Funding to Planned Parenthood
Senate surprisingly follows House in opposing abortion funding
By Michael Baggot
RICHMOND, VA, February 29, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Virginia Senate decided to end taxpayer funding to abortion provider Planned Parenthood on Wednesday. Lt. Governor Bill Bolling cast the tie-breaking vote and approved the amendment to the state budget following the 20-20 tie vote among senators.
Attorney general hopeful Sen. Ken Cuccinelli II introduced the amendment. He explicitly attacked Planned Parenthood's abortion programs. "What we are doing is financing an abortion-mill operator," Cuccinelli said. "This will deny them that money."
The decision was a surprise, given the Senate's Democratic majority. Democrat Sen. Charles J. Colgan's vote in favor of the amendment led to the tie vote, which was decided by the Lt. Governor's vote. Despite pressure from fellow Democrats, Colgan sided with 19 Republicans, stating, "I ran on a pro-life platform, and most of my constituents are pro-life." Colgan cited fidelity to his conscience as a major reason for opposing funding to Planned Parenthood.
Democratic opponents of the amendment claimed that Planned Parenthood's programs actually decrease abortion, and that cutting funding to PP would hurt PP's HIV prevention and pregnancy prevention programs.
Sen. Janet D. Howell, argued that Planned Parenthood's contraceptive programs lead to a decreased number of abortions. "The irony is, Planned Parenthood probably prevents more abortions than any other organization in the country," said Howell.
Senate Majority Leader Richard L. Saslaw expressed fears that the Wednesday decision will lead to further funding cuts to groups that supply abortion. "Once we start down this road, there will be no stopping," said Saslaw.
Last summer, Planned Parenthood revealed that it had received $305.3 million in tax-payer funding in 2006, 12 percent more than in the previous year. Planned Parenthood admitted that 34 percent of its 2006 income came from taxpayer funding. The organization also reported a $55.8 million profit for the year.
The Republican-controlled House has already eliminated Planned Parenthood funding from its budget.
Planned Parenthood's abortion support was a clear reason for House opposition to funding. "We should shut off all federal dollars to any organization that provides abortion services or counseling," Rep. Stephen King told Cybercast News Service.
Representatives also cited the inappropriate sexual material on Planned Parenthood's teenwire.com site as reason to end taxpayer support of the group. The site tells teens that viewing pornography is normal. "I don't believe taxpayer funding should be going to groups that put sexually explicit material on the Internet targeted at minors" said Rep. Joseph Pitts.
The final state budget will be decided during the next week in light of both House and Senate proposals.
Lifesitenews.com recently reported an undercover investigations that showed Planned Parenthood's racist tendencies (http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/feb/08022802.html). An actor playing a white racist was able to give money to the group for the specific purpose of eliminating a black baby who might someday rob the apparent donor's son of a spot in college because of "affirmative action".
Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, once stated, "We do not want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population."
In another case from last year, Lila Rose, editor of The Advocate pro-life magazine, who also organized the recent racism investigation, posed as a 15 year old seeking an abortion at Planned Parenthood. In a recorded conversation, she was encouraged to change her birth date so that the organization would not have to report her pregnancy as statutory rape.
In light of undercover recent investigations, Rose argues that "young girls are at risk and Planned Parenthood is receiving federal tax money. The federal government should investigate this and Planned Parenthood, like any other corporation, should be held accountable."
See other related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Undercover Investigation Reveals Planned Parenthood's Racism
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/feb/08022802.html
U.S. Planned Parenthood Reports Record Profit, Record Amount of Taxpayer Funding
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/jun/07060811.html
William Buckley: A Voice against Liberalism and for Life
By Michael Baggot
February 29, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - On Wednesday February 27, 2008 William Buckley Jr. left this world after 82 years of life. During his life it seemed that practically every person familiar with Buckley or his work, whether political friend or foe, had strong words of praise for the recently deceased hero of conservatism.
“For people of my generation, Bill Buckley was pretty much the first intelligent, witty, well-educated conservative one saw on television,” said William Kristol, editor of the influential conservative Weekly Standard, in 1999. “He legitimized conservatism as an intellectual movement and therefore as a political movement," added Kristol.
Liberal historian Arthur Schlesinger, in words that delighted Buckley, called him the “scourge of liberalism.”
However, while many of Buckley’s achievements regarding political and economic thought are well documented, his contributions to the cause of life and family are less well known.
For instance, the National Review magazine that Buckley was pivotal in founding and guiding has been one of the most prominent pro-life voices among magazines without explicit religious connections.
Buckley himself used his column in the National Review to speak out with typical eloquence for the cause of life. For instance, during John Kerry’s 2004 campaign for president, Buckley lambasted the supposedly Catholic democratic candidate for his purported private opposition to abortion yet public promotion of child slaughter.
Criticizing those who would reduce opposition to abortion to a sectarian view based on religious faith, Buckley wrote that the Catholic Church does not oppose abortion because of the Gospels, but because of “the proposition that human beings are human beings even if they have not yet been born. Those who are helpless are, it is all but universally held in America, to be protected. The one-day-old child is protected with the full force of the law. The proposition that he is without rights when he is minus one day old is nothing more than a social convention conflating various concerns.”
Hence, Buckley continued to make clear that the pro-life cause was not one to be reserved to Catholics, or those who are religious, but could and should embrace any person of good will still convinced of the fundamental equality of each human being.
As late as May of last year, Buckley urged his readership to recognize the serious moral question of the rights of pre-born children. In an article reflecting on Mitt Romney’s position on abortion, Buckley recounted how he had argued in 1966 that Catholic’s could not dictate their abortion opposition to non-Catholics by opposing state legislation allowing abortion. A response from a fellow founder of the National Review prompted Buckley to reflect on his position and prompted him to deeper pro-life convictions. Subsequently, Buckley articulated a pro-life stance in natural law language accessible to those without the Catholic faith.
In the same Romney article, Buckley writes “We need to remind ourselves that deep moral questions have at other times in American history engaged public thought.” He goes on to cite slavery and the civil rights movement as instances of political issues that required moral principles to access and could not be left to the prejudices of the ruling majority. He reminded readers that perfectly good, kind, intelligent, and well-read people accepted the institution [of slavery] many without question, for years.” Thus, anti-life practices like abortion cannot be accepted merely because they have long been permitted by the law of the land.
Buckley goes on to attack the efforts of the Democratic Party to stifle serious moral reflection on life issues. He criticizes the party for forbidding the Pennsylvania governor from speaking at its 1992 convention due to his pro-life stance. Buckley exhorts all men to regain their moral conscience in the midst of intellectual tyranny.
Buckley also used his column in the National Review to call attention to life issues that were shaping the world. In a November 2007 article, Buckley highlighted the growing interest in contraceptives shown in Afghanistan and the different contraceptives available in the United States. Buckley also commented on the nature of the morning after pill and its abortifacient capacities. He encouraged voices of natural law to address concerns about the growing availability of various contraceptives.
While many may remember William F. Buckley Jr. for his support for Barry Goldwater or Ronald Regan, the voice he offered on behalf of the voiceless children at risk of abortion due to leftwing political dominance should not be forgotten.
Pro-Abortion Catholic Politicians Should not "Publicly" Receive Holy Communion: Ottawa Archbishop
Did not say he would deny communion to pro-abortion politician
By Hilary White
OTTAWA, February 29, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Given their "stubbornness" in support of legal abortion, Archbishop Terrence Prendergast of Ottawa has said that politicians who refuse to change their minds should cease to receive Holy Communion.
Canadian Catholic News reports that the Archbishop was speaking at a local pub during a "Theology on Tap" event, a popular lecture programme started in Chicago, in which Catholic speakers are invited to speak in an informal setting.
In his comments, however, the Archbishop did not indicate he is ready to issue a prohibition against pro-abortion Catholic politicians receiving Communion or that he would actually deny Communion to such a politician.
Prendergast said he would have to put the best possible interpretation on what the politician was doing and "engage in dialogue" with him. "As I get to know the politicians I will speak to them on these issues and hopefully we'll be able to make progress".
Seeming to echo the approach of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick in his 2006 address to the Canadian bishops on the issue, Prendergast continued, that if the attempts to teach fail he would say, "Given your stubbornness on this particular issue, you should not publicly receive the Eucharist until you've changed your mind."
"The bishop is not a policeman," he said. "He is a father in Christ, a Shepherd of his flock."
Prendergast emphasized that the Catholic laity have a role as well. "We all have to live our lives as faithful Christians in politics, in public life, in the schools and in every area of life," he said.
Such announcements, while not uncommon from US Catholic bishops, are extremely rare from the leadership of the Canadian Catholic Church.
Calgary Bishop Fred Henry and over a dozen US bishops, however, have gone the next step, following the direction of Pope Benedict in a 2004 letter to the US bishops while he was still a cardinal heading the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
In that letter, regarding situations such as those indicated by Archbishop Prendergast where a politician obstinately refuses to stop publicly supporting abortion, Ratzinger directed that "the minister of Holy Communion may find himself in the situation where he must refuse to distribute Holy Communion to someone."
In April 2004, the Vatican's leading prelate - second only to the Pope - on the Sacraments, Cardinal Francis Arinze, declared unequivocally that unambiguously pro-abortion politicians should be denied Holy Communion. Cardinal Arinze said such a politician "is not fit" to receive Communion. "If they should not receive, then they should not be given," he added.
Arinze also addressed the matter directly in an interview on EWTN. Asked if pro-abortion politicians should be denied communion, Arinze responded, "The answer is clear. If a person says I am in favour of killing unborn babies . . . then the person turns around and say I want to receive Holy Communion. Do you need any Cardinal from the Vatican to answer that? Simple, ask the children for First Communion, they'll give you the answer."
See related LifeSiteNews.com articles:
Pope Supports Excommunication for Pro-Abortion Politicians - "Incompatible with Receiving Communion"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/may/07050901.html
Second U.S. Bishop Says Vatican Letter on Pro-Abort Politicians Withheld from Bishops
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/aug/04080603.html
Cardinal McCarrick Continues to Conceal Rome's Insistence that Pro-Abort Politicians Be Denied Communion
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/oct/06102310.html
Renowned French Pro-Life Abbott Dies at Age 80
In 1990's he and other monks jailed for procession to French abortion clinic
By Pete Vere
Dom Gerard Calvet, the retired abbot of Ste. Madeleine du Barroux monastery and France's former international consultant to Human Life International, passed away yesterday at the age of 80.
His death came after years of declining health due to a stroke he suffered during the late 1990's.
Dom Calvet, who founded the Benedictine branch of the world-wide traditional Catholic movement, was one of the first prelates to reconcile with Pope John Paul II under the 1988 papal document Ecclesia Dei adflicta, and was a life-long advocate of Christian culture an morality.
His 1986 book Demain, la Chretiente (Tomorrow Christendom) presented one of the first post-Vatican II indictments of the culture of death and its effect on Europe. The book also offered a blue-print for restoring Christian culture and morality in Europe.
Dom Calvet first became known to the international pro-life community in the 1990's after he and several of his monks were jailed during the Christmas season.
Dressed in full monastic garb, and carrying rosaries and specially galvanized chain, Dom Calvet had led an early-morning procession of traditional Benedictine monks to a French abortuary.
Moments after the abortuary opened, the monks rushed into the operating room and barricaded themselves inside.
They then chained themselves to the equipment and began to chant the monastic office of prayer in Latin.
The monks spent the day praying the rosary and chanting old Gregorian hymns.
It took the combined effort of the local police and the fire department over 10 hours to break through the barricade, cut through the chains, and arrest the monks.
No abortion was performed in the abortuary that day.
Dom Calvet and his monks were subsequently jailed, however, French authorities released the monks after the arrest sparked massive protests among the country's devout Catholics.
The monastery requests prayers for the repose of Dom Calvet's soul, as well as for the members of the community.
Legal Expert Claims that Unborn Babies are Really Chimpanzees
MEXICO, February 29, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A former attorney general and human rights commission chairman is claiming that unborn children in the earliest stages of development are not human, and are in fact chimpanzees.
Dr. Jorge Carpizo McGregor claims that "for the topic of abortion, there are very important scientific advances that prove that the DNA of chimpanzees is 99 percent identical to that of a human being. The difference between ourselves and chimpanzees is one percent, this quantity that makes the difference is the central nervous system."
"Before twelve weeks of gestation, there is no cerebral cortex, that is to say, there is no human being, the cortex is formed around the 25th week. This is a very important piece of information because those who attack abortion say that a human being is being killed and it isn't true."
"That's ridiculous," said Dr. John Shea, medical advisor to Canada's Campaign Life Coalition. "This is the most ignorant remark I think the man could possibly make. He must be totally ignorant of science."
Dr. Shea was shocked to hear that a prominent attorney was claiming that the only difference between a chimpanzee and a human being was in the nervous system. "That's so ignorant that I don't know where to begin," he told LifeSiteNews. "The organism is different in every single way" he said, and added that "a person is different in a trillion different biochemical ways. It's ludicrous, ludicrous. It's on it's face, ridiculous."
In reality, the nervous system begins to form well before the 25th week. During the first four weeks, the neural tube begins to form, which is the beginning of the central nervous system. During the fifth week, the brain begins to grow.
Carpizo, who is a former attorney general of Mexico and former head of Mexico's human rights commission, has acted as a legal advisor to the government of Mexico City, which is defending its recent legalization of abortion before the nation's Supreme Court. The current head of the National Human Rights Commission is one of the parties disputing Mexico City's law. A decision on the matter is expected within days.
Carpizo is planning on putting forth his ideas in a new book, which he will introduce in March, called "Human Rights: Abortion and Euthanasia".
Massachusetts Bills Would Dramatically Advance Homosexual Power in State
Would abolish definition of marriage, add "Transgendered" to hate crimes, allow public gay sex
By Hilary White
BOSTON, February 29, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Pro-family activists in Massachusetts warn that a series of bills pending in the state legislature are pivotal for the future of the legal institution of marriage in the state and across the US. The group Mass Resistance writes that, due to the work of homosexual activists in the courts, proposed changes to Massachusetts law regarding the definition of marriage, will necessarily bleed into the laws of other states.
Two Senate Bills, S1029, S800 and House Bill 1728 propose to repeal Sections 11, 12, 13 and 50 of the General Laws that make it illegal for out-of-state couples to marry in Massachusetts if that marriage would be considered illegal in the parties' home state. The repeal would remove from Massachusetts law what is the norm in most jurisdictions in the US.
The current Section 12 requires the licensing officer to ascertain if the applicants for marriage licences are "not prohibited from intermarrying by the laws of the jurisdiction where he or she resides." Section 50 levies fines and possible prison terms against any licensing officer or minister who knowingly allows couples to marry whose marriage would be prohibited in their home state.
A major strategy of the homosexual activist movement to abolish legal recognition of natural, heterosexual marriage, has been to encourage activists to "marry" in one jurisdiction and then use the courts at home to force recognition in jurisdictions where the practice is not legally recognized. "Anti-discrimination" legislation, that is enacted in most jurisdictions in the western world in various forms, have been especially useful for this.
Even more important, Mass Resistance says, is House Bill 1722 that amends current legislation on "hate crimes", that the group calls, "Probably the most radical bill ever seriously considered by the Massachusetts legislature".
The bill would amend the law to say that crimes motivated by "bigotry and bias" on the basis of "gender identity or expression prejudice" as a new condition for a hate crime. This, Mass Resistance says, means that the "transgendered" will become a protected class of people who may not be discriminated against under the hate crimes statutes.
Bill H1722 was drafted by Gay & Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD), the legal advocacy group behind the Goodridge homosexual "marriage" lawsuit in Massachusetts, on behalf of a radical lobbying organization called Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition (MTPC).
Governor Deval Patrick pledged at a candidate forum in September 2006, to support whatever the "transgendered" community asked for, while admitting that he knew nothing about the issue and asked the activists present to teach him.
Bill H1722, is set for a hearing before the Joint Judiciary Committee sometime in early 2008. At least 25 state representatives and senators have signed on to co-sponsor the bill. Mass Resistance warns that the bill would affect schools, government, private businesses, health clubs, and all public accommodations, including churches and religious institutions.
In addition, a pair of bills, H1710 and S918, propose to change the marriage statutes to say, "Any person who otherwise meets the eligibility requirements of this chapter may marry any other eligible person regardless of gender."
Bill H1709 would repeal the state's sodomy laws and overturn several other sections of Massachusetts General Laws including Chapter 272 on "Crimes Against Chastity, Morality, Decency, and Good Order," and laws against "resorting to restaurants or taverns for immoral purposes" and committing "unnatural and lascivious acts".
Homosexual activists, according to the gay newspaper, Bay Windows, are interested in repealing these laws because they "have historically been used to target gay men in cruising areas" where gay men meet to have anonymous sex in public. These commonly include public parks, rest areas, wooded areas, stores, and public men's rooms.
Nova Scotia Young Liberals Want Province To Cover Sex-Change Surgeries
By Thaddeus M. Baklinski
HALIFAX, February 29, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Provincial funding for sex-change operations will be one of the topics discussed at this weekend's Young Liberals annual meeting in Halifax.
Resolution 11 says transsexualism is a congenital birth condition where there is a mismatch between the physical outward appearance of a person's gender and his or her inner perception.
"Other congenital birth conditions, such as limb malformation, heart and nervous system defects and genetic disorders such as a predisposition to a heart attack or heart disease, are currently covered under the Nova Scotia health-care system," so tax dollars should be used for "gender reassignment surgery for transsexual individuals, along with pre- and post-surgery care and counseling," says the resolution.
In a report in the Halifax Chronicle Herald today, Health Department spokeswoman Pamela Hafey said the surgery is not an insured service under the province's Health Services and Insurance Act.
"We don't cover it because it is not considered a necessary surgery," she explained.
The same report quoted J.T. Davis, a spokeswoman for the pro-homosexual group Youth Project, saying that gender confusion is a psychological problem.
"It's a serious mental health issue to have your body not feel right," Ms. Davis said.
As reported previously by LifeSiteNews.com, the existence of "gender dysphoria" (a state of unease or dissatisfaction with one's gender) is contentious even in the mainstream medical community. Dr. Paul McHugh, a professor of psychiatry and Director of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and a member of the President's Council on Bioethics, contends that gender dysphoria does not exist but that the disorder is purely psychological in nature.
In the 1970s, McHugh halted sex-change operations at Johns Hopkins, calling them "perhaps with the exception of frontal lobotomy, the most radical therapy ever encouraged by 20th-century psychiatrists."
Although human rights tribunals in BC, Ontario and Quebec have ruled that the province must pay for gender reassignment surgery, Ontario delisted the surgery from the provincial health plan in 1998.
A report in Tuesday's Globe and Mail said that sex-change surgery in the US can cost up to $150,000, plus additional costs for hormones and other drugs. In Canada, the report said the surgery costs between $12,000 and $18,000, but in reality the costs can be vastly higher.
In British Columbia, the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal ruled the health services ministry had to pay $30,000 for previous operations done in California on a woman wishing to change her gender, plus another $93,028 to complete the gender-reassignment surgery.
Read related LifeSiteNews.com articles:
"Sex-Change" Lunacy and Judicial Activism Cripple Canadian Correction Facilities
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/oct/05101701.html
Boy, 12, Given Questionable Sex-Change Therapy after "Diagnosed" as Transsexual
Leading US psychiatric researcher strongly criticizes such procedures
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/jan/07012902.html
Archbishop of Mexico Calls Abortion and Sterilization "Abominable"
MEXICO CITY, February 29, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Cardinal Archbishop of Mexico City, Noberto Rivera Carrera, denounced abortion and sterilization as "abominable" in his sermon for the fourth Sunday of Lent, and connected such practices to the abuse of women.
"Discrimination, sexual abuse, and domineering masculinity" go against God's plan, said the prelate, who denounced the fact that women are sometimes considered an "instrument of death and violence, following the invitation of those who want to justify abortion."
"The woman who gives and defends life is denied a dignified life, for this reason the Church feels called to be on the side of life and to defend it in the woman in every circumstance and at every moment," the Cardinal said.
"The follower of Christ cannot accept the new forms of marginalization that women experience in a consumeristic and hedonistic society, in which she is transformed into an object of consumption, disguising her exploitation under the pretext of the changing times."
The Cardinal's words follow the recent revelation that a woman had died from a legal abortion in Mexico City, where local government authorities have legalized the practice. More than 6,200 abortions have been done since the law came into effect in April of last year. It is currently being contested by the federal government before Mexico's supreme court.
LifeSiteNews.com NewsBytes
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They are presented only for your information.
Obama: A Harsh Ideologue Hidden by a Feel-Good Image - effectively voted for infanticide By Rick Santorum
http://www.eppc.org/publications/pubID.3290/pub_detail.asp
Obama: If elected I will use the bully pulpit for gay causes
http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=27510
McCain Campaign Learns Its Lesson About Catholics
http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=McCain-Cam...
The Conservative Age is Dead?
http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=The-Conser...
'Ridiculous' Agreement Lets Judge Censor Planned Parenthood Abortion Records
http://christiannewswire.com/news/911045843.html
Biotech Firm to Provide Ethical Alternatives to Aborted Fetal Vaccines
http://christiannewswire.com/news/848045840.html
Killed for Organs? The Preliminary Hearing
http://www.wesleyjsmith.com/blog/2008/02/killed-for-organs-preliminary-hearing.h...
Fausto Bertinotti, President of the Italian Parliament Lower House says current discussion of abortion law is "a useless and misleading one". Supports women's sole right to make abortion decision
http://www.agi.it/italy/news/200802291156-pol-ren0027-art.html
Calgary Herald says of Latimer - "His release on parole is an affront to the dignity of disabled Canadians; ...Let's hope he does not morph into a poster boy for the 'mercy' killing movement and take to the lecture circuit"
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/theeditorialpage/story.html?id=f9992890...
Montral Gazette approves of Latimer release
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/editorial/story.html?id=f9ca06a4-3c45...
State community college backs down in its attempt to censor graphic signs in pro-life demonstration
http://www.calcatholic.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?id=149a9d63-7b80-454f-8238-d40c...
Bill Buckley's Conservatism will endure if it is rooted in truth, and in the truths of life. Buckley said "Despair is a mortal sin." By PEGGY NOONAN
http://online.wsj.com/article/declarations.html
The world's best George W. Bush imitation
http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=VIDEO-The-...
Ukulele Magic
http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=The-Ukelel...
Sex Differences Extend into the Brain
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/538212/?sc=dwhn
2 Jewish families sue school over pervasiveness of Christian prayer on campus
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/28/us/28delaware.html?ei=5065&en=3558307b4352...
Pro-life Matt Drudge: world's most powerful journalist
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/28/wdrudge128.xml&a...
Feds admit vaccine 'aggravated' autism - critics say ruling major concession after years of government denials
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=57629
Chaldean bishop of Mosul abducted; three people in a car with him were killed.
http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=11657&size=A
Kansas City's Catholic Leaders Object to Traveling Bodies Revealed Display
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,333353,00.html
No party defends the family in Spain, report asserts
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=11941
Openly-gay U.S. AIDS ambassador given Catholic award in India
http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?id=14635&t=AIDS+ambassador+given+...
New Montgomery Countylaw would allow men and women who are confused about their sexual identity to use the bathroom or public shower facility of their choice.
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/14790/CFI/family/index.htm
Catholics to Picket Cdl. Roger Mahony's Huge Pro-'Gay' Dissent-Fest
http://christiannewswire.com/news/286815850.html
An MP has called for an investigation into British schools which teach subversive notions like lifelong marriage
http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/sheer_silliness_about_british_schools/
Most students — male and female — are accepting of pornography study finds
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLtopstories/A000006685.cfm
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