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Thursday March 27, 2008

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Doctor Says about "Brain Dead" Man Saved from Organ Harvesting - "Brain Death is Never Really Death"

Expert says, "Brain death was concocted, it was made up in order to get organs. It was never based on science."

By John Jalsevac

OKLAHOMA, March 27, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - 21-year-old Zack Dunlap, a man who was diagnosed as "brain dead" and who was mere minutes away from having his organs harvested, now says, four months after the accident that brought him to the brink of death, that he feels "pretty good." Dunlap's story was told in an NBC piece aired earlier this week, in which the young man himself was interviewed.

While Zack's case is being touted in the media as a "miracle", a neonatologist and expert on brain-death has told LifeSiteNews.com that Zack's case, while remarkable in a sense, is not as rare as the mainstream media's reporting makes it seem.

"The young man was never dead," said Dr. Paul Byrne, a former president of the Catholic Medical Association who began writing about brain death in 1977. What makes Dunlap's case unusual, though not unheard of, says Byrne, is that Zack was lucky enough to be found out to be alive before his vital organs were removed.

"While the story is put out as something that's miraculous," he told LifeSiteNews.com, "I don't want to take anything away from God, but it's not supernatural what occurred. If there is anything miraculous about it, it is that they didn't get his organs before someone was able to notice some sort of other response. He was always living - his heart was always beating, there was always blood pressure, he was always very much alive."

Dr. Byrne says that over the years he has collected information pertaining to numerous cases where patients labeled brain dead have "returned from the dead." The reason being, says Byrne, is that "brain death is never really death." 

Zack Dunlap suffered numerous broken bones and severe head trauma last November after he was involved in an accident, in which he lost control of the four-wheeler he was driving and flipped over. At the hospital doctors diagnosed the young warehouse worker as "brain dead". Oklahoma officials were informed that Zack was legally dead and that his organs were about to be harvested.

"We wanted to make sure that some lucky person got to live on through Zack's heart," Zack's mother Pam told NBC.

Plans to remove her son's organs, however, were put on hold in a dramatic fashion.

Two of Zack's cousins, both nurses, said that, in the final moments before the medical team that was to harvest Zack's organs arrived, they felt that their cousin wasn't truly gone. On a hunch Dan Coffin ran his pocket knife across Zack's foot. The supposedly brain dead patient reacted immediately by jerking back his foot. Coffin then dug his fingernail beneath Zack's fingernail, a particularly tender spot on the body, and his cousin once again reacted by drawing his arm across his body.

"We went from the lowest possible moment to, 'Oh, my gosh, our son is still alive!'" related Pam Dunlap.

Zack's grandmother said that she too felt, like Zack's cousins, that her grandson wasn't ready to go. Shortly before her grandson began to show signs of life again, she had gone into his room and prayed for a miracle. "He was too young for God to take him," she said tearfully in the NBC interview. "It wasn't time."

"I had heard of miracles all my life. But I had never seen a miracle. But I have seen a miracle. I've got proof of it," she said.

"We both feel that God has some big plan for Zack. We'll do everything in our power to help him pursue it - whatever it is," said Dunlap's mother.

The young man himself told NBC that he heard the doctors pronounce him brain dead, and said, "I'm glad I couldn't get up and do what I wanted to do." When asked what he wanted to do, he responded, "There probably would have been a broken window they went out."

"It just makes me thankful, it makes me thankful that they didn't give up," he said about his relatives' last attempts to find out if he was still alive. "Only the good die young, so I didn't go."

Zack's father, Doug Dunlap, says that he doesn't blame anyone, indicating that the doctors assured him that his son was dead, and that there was no blood-flow to his brain. "They said he was brain-dead, that there would be no life, so we were preparing ourselves."

48 days after Zack's accident, the young man returned home, walking on his own two feet. He still suffers some emotional problems, memory loss and other consequences from the accident, and a full recovery may take up to a year. But his parents say that are simply thankful that their son is alive.

Dr. Byrne, on the other hand, told LifeSiteNews.com that Zack's story should be taken as a warning about the insufficiency of the brain death criteria. "While this story tells the young man hearing them talking about his declaration of brain death, the question is, is how many of the other organ donors are in a similar situation, that the only thing is that they end up getting their organs?" he said.

"Brain death was concocted, it was made up in order to get organs. It was never based on science."

In 2007 Dr. John Shea, LifeSiteNews.com's medical advisor, wrote in agreement with Byrne's concerns about brain death, saying that the criteria of "brain death" is scientific theory, and not fact, adding that it is a theory that is particularly open to utilitarian abuse and therefore should be treated with extra caution. He also pointed out that there is the added trouble that there are a number of various sets of brain-death criteria, such that a person may be considered dead according to one, and not by another.

See previous LifeSiteNews.com stories on this issue:

Denver Coroner Rules "Homicide" in Organ-Donor Case
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/oct/04101208.html

Russian Surgeons Removing Organs Saying Patients Almost Dead Anyway
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2003/sep/03090906.html

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Brazil Teenager Murdered by Boyfriend for Refusing to Abort her Child

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

SÃO PAULO, Brazil, March 27, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Mariana Almeida Andrade, a sixteen-year-old resident of São Paulo, lost her life for refusing to abort her unborn child, according to local police.

After finding the teenage girl strangled to death in a vacant lot at a petrochemical plant in the São Miguel Paulista area, police interviewed her ex-boyfriend, who reportedly confessed that he killed her for refusing to have an abortion.  Almeida Andrade was three months pregnant at the time. 

According to the police, her 17-year-old ex-boyfriend, who remains unnamed in media accounts, said he did not want the baby because he had a new girlfriend.  When Almeida Andrade refused to agree to abort the child, he strangled her to death.

"He confessed to the crime in the presence of his parents.  He had a relationship with the girl and also with another girlfriend," said Marcos Carneiro of the police department's homicide division. "She was pregnant and he didn't want the child.  He wanted her to have an abortion.  During the argument, he said he lost his head."

An autopsy is being conducted to determine if Almeida Andrade was truly pregnant, and to confirm that she died by strangulation.

Due to the fact that he is a minor, Almeida Andrade's ex-boyfriend has been turned over to the custody Fundação CASA, which handles detention and supervision of criminals 21 years old and younger.

Abortion is illegal in Brazil except for cases of rape.

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Ecuador Churches Submit 100,000 Signatures to Prevent Constitutional Recognition of Abortion

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

QUITO, March 27, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A group of Evangelical Protestant churches in Ecuador have reportedly delivered a petition with over 100,000 signatures to prevent the legalization of abortion in Ecuador's new constitution.

The goal of the group is to gather a total of two million signatures, which they expect to accomplish within the next few days.

The group is also requesting that the new constitution continue the tradition of mentioning God explicitly, as does the preamble of the current constitution, and are seeking to exclude special "rights" for homosexuals from the new document.

Pastor Francisco Loor, commenting about the controversy in the Ecuadoran publication El Universo, asked the question "What kind of country do we want?"

"The country we want should include the name of God in which we believe. That is the feeling of 95% of the population, which is more than sufficient in a democracy.  That Almighty God is revealed in the Sacred Scriptures as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit," wrote Paster Loor.

"Should the country we want legalize and decriminalize abortion and convert itself into the intellectual author and silent accomplice of the slaughter of thousands of unborn children?  I don't think so.  The vast majority of Ecuadorans consider abortion to be a crime and should not be decriminalized."

The presentation of signatures on the petition was one of several activities undertaken by pro-life groups in Ecuador marking the "Day of the Unborn Child," which fell on March 25th, the same day as the Feast of the Annunciation.

Catholics in the country also organized pro-life events, including a March for Life under the banner of the Life and the Future of Ecuador in the diocese of Guayaquil, supported by the Archbishop.

Contact Information:
Embassy of Ecuador in Washington
2535 15th Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20009
Tel: (202) 234-7200
Fax: (202) 667-3482
Email: embassy@ecuador.org
Embassy of Ecuador in Canada

50 O' Connor Street, Oficina 316
Ottawa K1P 6L2, Ontario, Canada
Tel  (613) 563 8206
     (613) 563 4286
Fax  (613) 235 5776
Email : mecuacan@sprint.ca

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Survey Finds Pro-Homosexual Clubs at 96 Catholic Universities in the United States

Catholic group challenges university presidents to disband pro-homosexual groups

By Michael Baggot

SPRING GROVE, PA, March 27, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Volunteers for the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP) found that 45% of the websites of 211 major Catholic universities contained information about pro-homosexual clubs.

"Many of these clubs share in the movement's radical goal - to force social acceptance of unnatural vice on Christian America, and gag expressions of free speech that oppose the movement's ideological agenda," warns an official TFP statement.

The TFP statement cites two concrete examples of Catholic universities suppressing the free speech of critics of the pro-homosexual clubs. 

In November 2003, members of the TFP Student Action group were kicked off of campus for handing out flyers detailing the Catechism of the Catholic Church's teaching on the sinfulness of homosexual activity. 

In October 2005, Duquesne University cited Sophomore Ryan Miner for a violation against the school's anti-discriminatory policy for posting comments on his own blog opposing the formation of a "Gay-Straight Alliance" group.  When Miner refused to write a 10-page paper presenting viewpoints for and against homosexuality, he was threatened with expulsion.

Some Catholic universities with a history of pro-homosexual club activity have increased support for the homosexual movement.  Georgetown University, for instance, agreed in October 2007 to open and fully fund a center for homosexual students.

"Georgetown hosts mock same-sex "weddings," grants health benefits to the partners of homosexual employees, and provides services for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning Youth and their Families," notes Thomas Peters, on his American Papist blog. The Georgetown GU Pride website even includes photos of students of the same sex kissing at a campus event.

The TFP report also lists other prestigious Catholic universities, including Boston College, Fordham, Marquette, Notre Dame, Seton Hall, and Villanova.

The TFP report attributes the growth of the homosexual movement on Catholic campuses to "a gradual blurring of the distinction between good and evil, a generalized loss of the sense of sin, declining standards of public morality, and, as seen above, the persecutory actions taken by college officials against those who do voice their loyalty to Church teaching."

In response to the growth of pro-homosexual activities on Catholic campuses, the TFP is organizing a petition to Catholic university presidents calling on them to disband pro-homosexual groups on campus. 

The TFP report also encourages personal phone calls and letters to Catholic university presidents.  In addition, TFP is launching a Purity is the Answer Campaign to promote purity, modesty, and temperance as the antidote to disordered passions.

Reaffirming TFP's opposition to the hateful treatment of individuals with same-sex attractions, its report states, "In doing this campaign, we have no intention to defame or disparage anyone. We are not moved by personal hatred against any individual. In intellectually opposing individuals or organizations promoting the homosexual agenda, our only intent is the defense of marriage, the family and the precious remnants of Christian civilization in society."

"As practicing Catholics, we are filled with compassion and pray for those who struggle against unrelenting and violent temptation to sin, be it toward homosexual sin or otherwise," the report adds.

(news tip courtesy of Thomas Peters of American Papist blog)

See previous LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Catholic Georgetown University to Fully Fund Campus Gay Center
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/oct/07103008.html

Read the full TFP report:
http://www.tfp.org/student_action/activities/protests/homose...

Contact one of many Catholic universities listed about pro-homosexual activities on campus:
http://www.tfp.org/student_action/activities/protests/homose...

Send a prepared message to a Catholic university president:
http://saprotest.tfp.org/Protest.aspx?id=b2bc1010-6459-4ddd-...

Read Thomas Peter's coverage of the report:
http://www.americanpapist.com/2008/03/action-96-catholic-col...

Learn about Courage, a ministry completely faithful to the Church, dedicated to aiding men and women with same-sex attractions:
http://www.couragerc.net

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Brazilian Government Punishes Dissenters of Pro-Homosexuality Policy

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

March 27, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In the last month the Brazilian government has fined one organization and upheld the censorship of another for rejecting the socialist regime's endorsement of homosexual behavior.

On March 3 the Department of Justice fined the Association of Public Functionaries 14,800 reais (8,559 dollars), for "discrimination" for refusing to allow one of its homosexual members to register his sexual partner as his "spouse". 

The federal government of Brazil does not recognize same-sex "marriage", nor "civil unions" for homosexuals, and the only state that does so is Rio do Sul.  However, Brazilian judges often apply liberal interpretations of the law that conform to their particular ideology.

"Denying inclusion to a dependent of the same sex is at the very least conservative conduct on the part of the entity, which is unacceptable and is not supported by its own legal code," said Luiz Antonio Guimarães Marrey of the Secretariat of Justice, referring to the fact that the Association's code does not mention homosexual couples.

"It's important to consider that the severity of old forms of morality should give way to new social realities, to new customs," he added.

A court in the state of Paraíba also upheld a ruling against the Evangelical Protestant organization, National Vision for a Christian Conscience (VINACC), which was convicted in June of last year of "homophobia", a crime that does not exist in Brazilian law. 

The original ruling ordered VINACC to cease their campaign, In Defense of the Family, and to remove a billboard that stated "Homosexuality: And God made them man and woman and saw that it was good."

The new ruling, issued by Judge Emília Neiva de Oliveira, upholds the old ruling and decrees that the organization will be subject to a fine of 500 reais (287 dollars) per day if they violate the order.

See Previous LifeSiteNews.com Coverage:

Brazilian Homosexuals File "Hate" Charges Against Brazilian Christians
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/nov/07112805.html

Brazil Attacks Against Family Defenders Backed by Pro-Homosexual Regime of Nation's President
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/jul/07073108.html

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Pro-Life Investigators Charged for Evidence Removal, Abortionist Gets Slap on Wrist

By John Connolly

DETROIT, March 27, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The leader of an investigation that discovered bodies of unborn babies and private medical records in an abortion clinic dumpster has been billed by Michigan's Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) for the removal of the evidence. In the meantime, the abortionist has himself escaped without any significant punishment.

Dr. Monica Migliorino Miller, director of Citizens for a Pro-Life Society, has been billed $1,100 by the DEQ for the removal of evidence against the Lathrup Village Woman Care clinic, operated by abortionist Alberto Hodari. The evidence, discovered in dumpsters behind the clinic and videotaped by Miller, consists of the recognizable remains of at least 18 aborted children, numerous records with personal and detailed information of Hodari's patients, as well as other bio-hazardous waste material.

"I said I was willing to pay for the transport of the aborted babies to the funeral home," Miller told LifeSiteNews.com. But she says she never promised to pay for the removal of all the biohazardous materials, especially for over $1,000. Dr. Miller also told LifeSiteNews that she spoke with Robert McCann, spokesman for the DEQ and that he said he would look into the bill sent to Dr. Miller.

"Hodari doesn't get fined a single cent!" said Dr. Miller, "The state had the bill charged to me for the removal of the evidence from my property. Something doesn't seem right here."

"Hodari endangers the public and totally disregards patient privacy and he gets a slap on the hand, while the one who blew the whistle gets what amounts to a fine," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "That is just wrong. We hope that those who are concerned about human dignity will ring the phone lines at the DEQ and the DA's office. This sends the wrong message to an abortion cartel that already believes they are above the law."

At the same time Dr. Miller has been penalized for her role in acquiring the evidence, Hodari has been punished with a mere slap on the wrist. Hodari has been ordered to retrain his staff on the proper disposal of biohazardous waste, but has received no fine.

"Mere fines for this outrage would have been a grave injustice," said Judie Brown, president of the American Life League. "But the State of Michigan chose the regulatory equivalent of a slap on the wrist; no fines were leveled. This simply proves, once again, the need to protect the human dignity of preborn children through personhood is more urgent than ever."

Pro-life officials hope the Oakland County District Attorney's office will file charges against Hodari for the improper disposal of medical waste and records. The DA's office, however, has not yet taken any action in that direction.

"That Michigan authorities did not have the courage to bring the maximum penalty the law can afford against this abortionist sends a terrible signal to the abortion industry," said Brown. "Now that they have gotten away with it once, we can, unfortunately, be sure they will feel more emboldened in their grisly acts of violence against preborn babies."

To Contact John N. Gohlke, Program Specialist for the Medical Waste Regulation Department of the DEQ:

525 West Allegan St.
Lansing, MI, 48909
(517) 241-1320
gohlkej@michigan.gov

To call the Warrants Division of the District Attorney's office and request that criminal charges be filed against Alberto Hodari:

(248) 858-0656

View Dr. Monica Migliorino Miller's (WARNING GRAPHIC) Video :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfW2GU8a3BE

See previous LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Pro-Life Group Reports Fetal Remains Found behind Michigan Abortion Clinic
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/mar/08032502.html

VIDEO: Abortionist Tells Medical Students to Lie to Patients
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/dec/071212.html#7

Press Conference Friday at Detroit Area Abortion Center where Tamiah Russell Died
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/apr/040407.html#1

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Umbilical Cord Blood Cell Therapy May Reduce Signs and Symptoms of Alzheimer's Disease

TAMPA, FL, March 27, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Targeted immune suppression using human umbilical cord blood cells may improve the pathology associated with Alzheimer's disease, a new study in a mouse model of this currently untreatable neurodegenerative condition reports. The study, led by researchers at the University of South Florida, is published online in the peer-reviewed journal Stem Cells and Development (http://www.liebertpub.com/scd).

Following a series of low-dose infusions of human umbilical cord blood cells into mice with Alzheimer's-like disease, the amount of amyloid-ß and ß-amyloid plaques - hallmarks of Alzheimer's pathology in the brain - was reduced 62 percent. Amyloid-ß induces an inflammatory response in the brain associated with the interaction of CD40 and CD40L, two pro-inflammatory molecules. Researchers also reported an astonishing 86-percent improvement in cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA), another hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. CAA compromises the integrity of the blood-brain barrier, disrupting normal trafficking of various molecules and cells from and to the brain and is believed to be the main culprit for the brain inflammation observed in Alzheimer's.

Human umbilical cord blood cell therapy appeared to suppress CD40-CD40L activity, suggesting that this therapeutic approach offers the potential to target the pathogenic inflammatory response that contributes to Alzheimer's disease and other degenerative conditions.

Jun Tan, PhD, MD, and colleagues from USF (Tampa), Yale University (New Haven, CT), Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (Los Angeles, CA), Saneron CCEL Therapeutics (Tampa, FL), and Saitama Medical School (Japan), concluded that human umbilical cord blood cell-induced disruption of the CD40-CD40L interaction may alleviate the key pathologic changes in the brain associated with Alzheimer's disease.

"It has been well documented that altered immune functioning, characterized by the presence of molecules and cells that promote inflammation, can accelerate the progression of Alzheimer's disease," said senior study author Dr. Tan, Robert A. Silver Chair, Rashid Laboratory for Developmental Neurobiology at Silver Child Development Center, USF Department of Psychiatry. "Our study is the first to report that the potential therapeutic mechanism of umbilical cord blood cells is more through targeting and fixing this malevolent peripheral immune functioning rather than through direct interaction with neurons. We believe restoring the balance between molecules that promote and inhibit inflammation could play a big role in future treatment strategies against Alzheimer's disease."

"Our previous studies have shown HUCBC can provide protection to other organs as well as the brain. Their multifunctional capabilities have excited scientists who have identified a significant presence of stem cells among umbilical cord blood cells," said co-author Paul R. Sanberg, PhD, DSc, director of the USF Center for Aging and Brain Repair. "This study may open a door to a new field focusing on studying these molecular mechanisms in detail, and hopefully use them in the future not just for Alzheimer's disease, but for other neurological or systemic chronic diseases."

"Previously, challenging observations have reported phenomena suggesting the non-hematologic therapeutic potential of blood stem cells," said Graham C. Parker, Ph.D., editor-in-chief of Stem Cells and Development, and a research professor at Wayne State University School of Medicine, Children's Hospital of Michigan. "What is novel about this paper is its application to Alzheimer's disease, and a significant advance in characterizing the ameliorative mechanism of action."

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Why Canadians are Forbidden to Express Their Church's Teaching

Homosexualists desire to remake society, while denying Canadians the right to publicly oppose them

Editorial by Fr. Alphonse de Valk

TORONTO, March 27, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In the previous editorial I mentioned that in Canada, “opposing the homosexual lobby is a lonely task. Many Canadians are frightened, hostile, confused, or indifferent.” (http://catholicinsight.com/online/editorials/article_787.sht...)

One reason for their “fright” is the Human Rights Commissions who have lent their authority to silence opponents of homosexual practice and coerce the non-compliant who simply desire to be left alone. One reason for media “hostility” is the notion that an all-encompassing tolerance is the supreme virtue and that any restriction on it must be seen as intolerance, the supreme vice.

Finally, the reason for “indifference and confusion” is that the Supreme Court has legislated sexual orientation to be a Charter right. This newly coined “right” was “read” into the Charter by Justice Peter Cory in 1995. This new right of equality now conflicts with existing (Charter) rights such as freedom of the press and of religion (http://catholicinsight.com/online/features/article_788.shtml).

The last point answers at once the question why it is important, indeed necessary, in Canada to resist: our rights as citizens are at stake. This is true not only for Catholics and Evangelicals, but also for the Greek Orthodox, orthodox Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and anyone who holds to a traditional understanding of marriage in natural law, both as individuals and as supporters of such institutions as school, church, synagogue, mosque and temple. In order to understand why this is so, one must turn to the literature of the homosexual activists.

A good example is an article by André P. Grace & Kristopher Wells entitled, “The Marc Hall Prom Predicament: Queer Individual Rights v. Institutional Church Rights in Canadian Public education,” (http://www.csse.ca/CJE/Articles/FullText/CJE28-3/CJE28-3-gra...). The article quotes dozens of sources by “queer” (their word) writers. The two authors of the article, therefore, may be said to represent the views of the activist homosexual community at large.

The article’s summary introduction reads as follows:

In 2002 Marc Hall’s principal denied him permission to take his boyfriend to his Catholic high-school prom. In examining the politicization of the ensuing prom predicament, we critique Catholicized education and what we perceive to be the Catholic Church’s efforts to privatize queerness as it segregates being religious from being sexual. We situate this privatization as the failure of the Catholic Church to treat vulnerable queer Catholic youth with dignity and integrity as the church sets untenable limits to queer (p. 238).

The Catholic Church’s “institutional efforts to privatize queerness” is explained as – “to keep it hidden, invisible, silent, unannounced – in religion, education, and culture.” This is done, the authors note, “without regard for the broader public law,” as demanded by the Supreme Court ruling of 1995 which inserted sexual orientation as a new Charter right. The Church continues to ignore it.

The Church interprets everything from a “heterosexist” point of view. “In this light, heterosexism is the precursor of homophobia.” (240). It has a “pedagogy of negation” with an intention to “demean or dismiss or fail to protect (queer) youth.” The Church uses its constitutional denominational school rights (Section 93 of the Constitution Act, 1867) to block people’s rights.

The Church’s attempt to “privatize queer” is the equivalent of refusing that person “dignity and integrity” (242). The Vatican’s 1986 document, “ The pastoral care of homosexuals” is referred to as the “Halloween Letter” (244). The Church places itself “above civil law” (245). The school’s rejection of Marc Hall’s request was “discrimination”  (247). Both Bible and Tradition are “cultural technologies of control.” The Catholic religion is a  “political force seeking power for itself” (249).

Marc Hall was a “victim.” His activism was “not planned but provoked.” Because Bishop Anthony Meagher did not accept tolerance according to Freire (which culminates in “inclusive education”), therefore he was “anti-democratic,” and “discriminatory” (253). The article concludes with the note that Catholic ideology is oppressive (261) and that, “Institutional churches have no business in the classrooms of the nation” (265).

Finally, the authors provide proof that they fully understand what it is they seek, when they approvingly quote from Britzman’s, “Is there a queer pedagogy?” (1995):

“Gay and lesbian demands for civil rights call into question the stability and fundamentalist ground of categories like masculinity, femininity, sexuality, citizenship, nation, culture, literacy, consent, legality [religiosity] and so forth… (p.2).

In short, the homosexualists desire to remake society, while denying Canadians the right to publicly oppose them.

The public should know what we are up against.

This editorial was originally published in the April, 2008 edition of Catholic Insight Magazine. Fr. De Valk is the editor of Catholic Insight which is based in Toronto, Canada. 

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Embryo Bill in Northern Ireland Could Bring Legal Abortion in by "Back Door"

By Hilary White

BELFAST, March 27, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Pro-life groups in Northern Ireland warn that attempts to force Britain's Human Fertilisation and Embryology (HFE) bill into the country could result in a constitutional crisis. Northern Ireland's pro-life group, Precious Life, said the bill could be used to bring abortion into Northern Ireland by the back door against the wishes of the majority of the country's people.

Ian Paisley, the First Minister of Northern Ireland and leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), has also warned British Prime Minister Gordon Brown that the Labour government's bill must not be used to bring legalized abortion into Northern Ireland. Paisley said that the matter is one for the Northern Ireland Assembly, not Westminster to decide. Paisley reminded Brown that all political parties in Northern Ireland are opposed to the bill.

The HFE bill contains provisions that could allow amendments to the 1967 Abortion Act that could spill over into Northern Ireland.

Precious Life's director, Bernadette Smyth, cited a 2007 petition, signed by 120,000 people that helped to pass an Assembly motion opposing abortion. This sent "a clear message that the Northern Ireland Assembly opposes any attempt to liberalise the law on abortion," she said. "It would cause a constitutional crisis if Westminster was now to over-ride the motion passed by the Assembly and legalise abortion in Northern Ireland without the consent of the people."

Precious Life has campaigned against the HFE bill since January, distributing thousands of postcard petitions calling on the Secretary and Minister of State - Shaun Woodward and Paul Goggins - "to ensure Westminster acknowledges the clear pro-life message sent out from our Assembly". Smyth said that the group will be stepping up their efforts.

Smyth said, "Gordon Brown must acknowledge Northern Ireland 's opposition to abortion. Westminster cannot be allowed to over-ride the democratic process here by attempting to impose abortion on Northern Ireland . The law here regarding abortion must be dealt with by the Northern Ireland Assembly only."

Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Westminster Will not Meddle with Northern Ireland Abortion Laws says Secretary of State
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/jul/07072502.html

Brown Partially Caves as UK Bishops and Cardinals Denounce "Monstrous" Embryo Bill
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/mar/08032510.html

Britain's Labour Party to Force MP's to Support Embryology Bill
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/nov/07112308.html

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909 British Babies Born and Survive Under 24-Week Legal Age Limit for Abortion

But lowering legal age limit could be disastrous

By Hilary White

LONDON, March 27, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The so-called "viability limit" of 24 weeks for legal abortion in Britain has come under question since Department of Health data have shown that hundreds of children survive being born below this limit. In 2005 alone, 909 children were born in Britain between 22 and 24 weeks gestation. Of those, 250 survived for at least a year, the Telegraph reports.

Meanwhile, Britain's foremost pro-life group, the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) maintains that politically, efforts to lower the age limit for abortion would backfire, leaving virtually no restrictions on early term abortions, which comprise the great majority of "terminations" in Britain. Of the 201,173 abortions in England and Wales in 2006, only 1,262 were at 22 weeks or more.

Data for births in England and Wales obtained by David Amess, a pro-life Conservative MP, showed that eight of the 152 children born after 22 weeks' gestation lived for a year or more. At 23 weeks, 44 of 283 children survived. At 24 weeks, almost half - 198 of 474 - of babies survived.

Nadine Dorries, a Tory backbench MP has asked for a lowering of the legal age limit for abortion and has the backing of Conservative party leader David Cameron. But SPUC and members of the Parliamentary pro-life group have said that before any such legislation were passed, amendments would be introduced that would include the removal of the current requirement for two doctors to sign for approval, and that would allow for nurses to abort children and for the extending of the Abortion Act to Northern Ireland.

In addition, SPUC has pointed out that most MPs would only support a lowering of the age limit if abortion were continued to be allowed up to birth for disabled children. Pro-abortion sentiment is much stronger in Parliament than is the pro-life view and such amendments would be all but certain to pass. Attempts to lower the age limit, no matter how well intended, would likely act as a "Trojan Horse" to bring in a totally unrestricted situation with abortion in Britain says SPUC.

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Abortion Lawmaker Recommends Halving Legally Allowed Gestational Age for Committing "Social" Abortions
SPUC warns move is a "Trojan horse" agenda meant to allow "total deregulation of abortion."
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/jul/04070507.html

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Influential Abortion Advocacy Group at UN Calls on Committees to Pressure States on Abortion

Since 1995 over 100 cases where UN committees pressed over 65 nations to legalize or increase abortion access

By Samantha Singson

NEW YORK, March 27, 2008 (C-FAM.org) The Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) just released a new and updated version of their “signature” document that uses the non-binding recommendations of UN committees to argue that sovereign nations must legalize abortion as part of their international legal obligations.  “Bringing Rights to Bear ” claims that these recommendations reflect “the growing recognition among these UN bodies that reproductive rights are firmly grounded in international human rights treaties.”

For years, CRR has been at the forefront of a what some have called a "stealth strategy" to redefine longstanding human rights like the right to life, the right to privacy and the right to be free from discrimination and insert abortion rights into those broad provisions.  An integral component of the CRR strategy is to get the UN committees that oversee nations’ compliance with their treaty obligations to reinterpret the treaties to include abortion. 

UN compliance committees contain a large percentage of personnel from pro-abortion groups and have become increasingly active in reinterpreting UN documents and pressuring governments to follow their interpretations.

“Bringing Rights to Bear” catalogues the successes of the CRR strategy and cites numerous examples of UN committees calling for legalized abortion and widespread access to contraception.  Unlike the treaties themselves, the recommendations of the treaty monitoring bodies are non-binding, but the CRR paper argues that these non-binding recommendations must be used to “guide governments and advocates in further promoting human rights,” including abortion.  CRR calls for using these non-binding committee recommendations “to support legal challenges in national, regional, and international human rights institutions.”

The CRR document urges the UN committees to continue to “emphasize that abortion should be a safe and legal option for women in the case of an unwanted pregnancy, even where there is a disproportionate reliance on abortion due to the limited availability of contraceptive methods.” 

The document also urges the committees to issue detailed directions to tell states “how to overcome barriers to [contraceptive] access, such as lack of availability to certain methods, legal restrictions on contraception, excessive regulation (including requirements for third-party authorization), cost, lack of or inadequate insurance coverage, and coercion in the reproductive health context.”

Even though CRR and its allies call for these reinterpretations, in fact only the most recent UN human rights treaty, on the rights of persons with disabilities, mentions “sexual and reproductive health,” and only with the strict understanding that the term does not include abortion.

The left wing group Human Rights Watch notes that since 1995 there have been over 100 instances where the UN committees have pressed over 65 nations to legalize or increase access to abortion. Recently, though, some governments have begun to push back at the committees and stand up for their pro-life laws.

CRR is one of the most influential abortion advocacy groups at the United Nations and works worldwide to mount legal challenges to abortion laws.  CRR’s “expert litigation committee” and board of advisors include three UN special rapporteurs, as well as the former head of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Nafis Sadik.

The CRR will release briefing papers on maternal mortality as well as marriage and private life as part of its revised “Bringing Rights To Bear” series.

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Canada's Conservative Government Increases Funding for Status of Women Agency

However, now funding is open to all women’s organizations, not just feminists

Commentary from REAL Women of Canada Reality magazine, March 2008

OTTAWA, March 27, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Canadian federal government Minister Responsible for the Status of Women, Josée Verner, appeared before the House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women on February 5, 2008, to testify about what wonderful things the Status of Women was doing for women in Canada. She referred to the fact that the funding for the Status of Women has been increased by $8 million to $20 million (a 75% increase) in the 2007 budget, and that the funding was the highest ever received by the agency.

It is significant, however, that even though the Conservatives have poured such generous funding into the Status of Women, a traditionally feminist government agency, the strict guidelines for making grants by the agency, established in September 2006, prevent any funding going for advocacy work (lobbying) or for “research” for feminist groups.

As well, the government has changed the wording of the agency’s mandate so that “equality” rights will not predominate. The promotion of “equality” as the major objective on the old mandate was used to prevent organizations, such as REAL Women, from receiving funding because we are not, supposedly, an “equality” seeking organization, since we do not accept feminist policies.

Now, funding is to go only to hands-on projects. The Minister for the Status of Women, Josée Verner, stated at this hearing of the Status of Women Committee, on February 5, “We do not provide funding to groups on the basis of what they are, but rather, on the basis of the types of projects that they propose.”

The reason the Conservatives have poured so much money back into the Status of Women is that the feminists have planned to widen the voting gap between men and women (10% less women vote for the Conservative party than do men), by arguing that the Status of Women cutbacks and the cancellation of the Court Challenges Program were examples of the government’s lack of concern for women in Canada.
Hence, the Conservatives gave the Status of Women more money than ever.

However, at the same time, this government has continued to restrict the use of these funds for the promotion of feminist organizations and their policies. Now the funding is open to all women’s organizations, regardless of their perspective, providing that such groups are proposing useful projects to assist women. Just how “useful” these projects are is now the question.  

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LifeSiteNews.com NewsBytes

* Disclaimer: The linked items below or the websites at which they are located do not necessarily represent the views of LifeSiteNews.com. They are presented only for your information.

China's Strangulation of Tibet is Only Extension of Suffocation of Liberty in China Itself
Father Raymond J. De Souza writes in Today's National Post, "Is there any other regime that still imprisons and kills bishops, priests and monks who fail to swear loyalty to the state? Is there any other country where the entire population is subject to child-bearing control, with forced sterilization and abortions for those who decline to submit to state rules on family size?"
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=402256

Poland will ignore Council of Europe on abortion
http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=57460

Margaret Somerville on late-term abortion
http://bluewavecanada.blogspot.com/2008/03/big-blue-wave-exc...

Without Christianity, our society is doomed
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2...

UK Embryo Bill: How Catholics used their power
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&...

Malta Government resolute on anti-abortion stand
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080325/local/gov...

Arizona passes state partial-birth abortion ban
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=12161

Nat Hentoff Lays Into Obama on Schiavo
http://www.wesleyjsmith.com/blog/2008/03/nat-hentoff-lays-in...

What is lacking in Canada? The sorry state of the politics of abortion in Canada
http://catholicinsight.com/online/political/abortion/article...

Pregnancy top reason young women get fired in Spain
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=12157

UK Marriage hits lowest rate since records began almost 150 years ago
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23465208-details/...

Liberals Want Federal Abstinence Education Cut
http://www.citizenlink.org/content/A000006912.cfm

Polls: Democrats Love McCain
http://newsmax.com/insidecover/Polls_Democrats_McCain/2008/0...

U.S. Election Enthusiasm - Fr. Frank Pavone
http://www.catholicexchange.com/node/70918

Prominent conservative, a Catholic, and former counsel to President Reagan endorses Barack Obama
http://www.calcatholic.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?id=4270cee4...

Oprah labeled 'false prophet' and 'conduit ... to Hell'
http://onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=73537

Any serious discussion of race must address out-of-wedlock births - The connection between family breakdown and child poverty is well established
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/00...

Canadian National Prayer Breakfast to attract 1,000 in Ottawa
http://www.thehilltimes.ca/html/index.php?display=story&...

Most 'dyfunctional Parliament' since Pearson's minority governments, says Franks
http://www.thehilltimes.ca/html/index.php?display=story&...

Canadian byelection results put off election, for now, say top Liberal insiders
http://www.thehilltimes.ca/html/index.php?display=story&...

Sources at British Spy Agency Confirm Tibetan Claims of Staged Violence
http://en.epochtimes.com/news/8-3-27/68095.html

In Canada, Chinese Media Stir Up Anger Against Tibetans - airs on Rogers Cable
http://en.epochtimes.com/news/8-3-27/68105.html

Monks in tears cry out against lies while Beijing instructs foreign journalists
http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=11862&size...

Osama and The Pope
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=25661&s=rcme

Saudi Arabia Says No To A Catholic Church: The Islamic Fear of Freedom of Religion
http://www.pewsitter.com/view_news_id_7306.php

There will be more active Muslims than Christians or Catholics in Britain by the middle of the century.
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7010435649

Many Muslims Turn to Home Schooling
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/26/us/26muslim.html?ex=120719...

Allam & Allah
http://www.eppc.org/publications/pubID.3318/pub_detail.asp

Are secularism and Islam cousins? They are in effect profoundly united in their common denial of any link between faith and reason.
http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/are_secularism_and_islam...

Angry Vista Users Vent Over SP1 Driver Issues
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,143708/article.html

You're Not Alone: Microsoft Execs Struggled with Vista
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,142957/article.html

"Pregnant Man" Isn't a Man
http://www.wesleyjsmith.com/blog/2008/03/pregnant-man-isnt-m...

Catholics warn about gay-friendly teaching guide
http://communities.canada.com/vancouversun/blogs/reportcard/...

BC Catholics told to “resist, counter, and protest” new curriculum
http://noapologies.ca/?p=435

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