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Wednesday May 7, 2008

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CAUGHT ON VIDEO: Wisconsin U Student Senator Vandalizing Pro-Life Display of Crosses

ARLINGTON, VA, May 7, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - On Thursday, May 1, 2008, a peaceful Cemetery of the Innocents display at the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point (UWSP) was vandalized by a Student Senator, Roderick King.

After having their display vandalized on the night of April 30th, several members from the UWSP pro-life group, Pointers for Life, were repairing the display around 11am on the morning of May 1st when a group of angry students, lead by UWSP Student Senator Roderick King, began to walk though the rows, taking crosses from the ground and throwing them.

King began to voice his complaints and said that Pointers for Life had "no right" to display the crosses, and that it was "his duty as a paying student" to take them down. 

When the campus Protective Services officer arrived, most of the students stopped vandalizing the display; however, Senator King did not stop.  He claimed, "The freedom of speech does not cover these signs and symbols!" Only after the Protective Services officer threatened to make him pay for damages did Senator King stop.

Bob Tomlinson, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, apologized to Pointers for Life for the disrespect and vandalism by the students. Student Senators Katie Kloth and Erica Wardle came to the display and clearly defined the university's policies, asserting that Pointers for Life had correctly reserved the space and were allowed to host the display.

That night, Pointers for Life submitted a complaint to the Student Government Association (SGA) and asked for Senator King to resign or be disciplined appropriately under the student government Constitution. However, the student government has yet to force Senator King to resign.

Jackie Kryzkowski, the Pointers for Life President, said, "Student Senators should be helping to defend our freedom of speech, not trying to take it away because of personal beliefs. If students had a problem with the display, they could exercise their freedom of speech maturely by protesting it peacefully, not by defacing our display."

Ryan Wrasse, another member of the group pointed out: "As we filed our official complaint with the UWSP Student Government Association, we also issued a strong ultimatum: The SGA could either vote to retain Senator King and condone this type of behavior, or remove him from Senate and send a clear message to UWSP students and faculty that this type of behavior will not be tolerated."

Kristan Hawkins, Executive Director of Students for Life of America, remarked: "This event shows that our country is not immune to the situation going on in Canada right now, where campus pro-life groups are being singled out and excluded from the guaranteed freedom of speech and expression on college campuses. This is not the first time that a student group has had this same type of peaceful display vandalized or has faced discrimination on a college campus. SFLA is here to make sure all college pro-lifers are guaranteed their rights to demonstrate on behalf of those who have no voice."

Students for Life suggests that citizens take action on the matter and call the University of Wisconsin -Stevens Point Chancellor of Student Affairs, Linda Bunnell, at 715-346-2123 or email her at lbunnell@uwst.edu "to let her know you want the school to remove Roderick King from the Student Senate for vandalizing a legal, peaceful display."

WATCH:  See the video of the vandalism here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5NeLyMZUYM

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Evangelical and Catholic Groups Express Support for March for Life in Ottawa May 8

By John Jalsevac

OTTAWA, Ontario, May 7, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - With what is promising to be the largest Canadian March for Life since the event began 11 years ago set to take place tomorrow afternoon, leaders of various Christian denominations are encouraging their members to drop everything and show up in full force to support a cause that transcends particular religious affiliation.

Don Hutchinson, director of law and public policy and general legal counsel for The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, told LifeSiteNews.com, "Evangelical Christians are encouraged to join in Thursday's March for Life rally on Parliament Hill followed by the march itself."

"This is an opportunity to express our agreement on the sanctity of human life with Catholics and representatives of other faith communities."

At the same time, the Catholic Civil Rights League has announced that it is proud to support the national March for Life.
 
"The right to life is the most fundamental of all civil rights, and the League has always recognized that where this right is not supported and upheld, all other rights are weaker," said League Executive Director Joanne McGarry. "We're pleased to be able to provide recognition and some support to events focused on this issue."

The Catholic Organization for Life and Family (COLF), the organization founded and supported by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, has also called on "all Canadian citizens who respect human life to walk in support of the first of all human rights: the right to life" in Ottawa on May 8. With respect to the right to life, the COLF message says, "our country is in need not only of legislative reform, but also of a great cultural renewal . . . the building of a new awareness of the worth and dignity of every human life from conception to natural death."

Organizers of this year's March for Life say that they expect a record-breaking crowd of pro-lifers from all across Canada.

The event that is quickly becoming one of the central highlights of the annual March, the youth conference, has already registered close to 800 participants, smashing the records of attendance for previous years. 

The '08 March for Life, with the motto "Life - the FIRST human right", begins this evening with a Catholic Mass at 7:30, and at 9:00 a candlelight vigil at The Canadian Tribute to Human Rights Monument at Lisgar and Elgin Streets.

Tomorrow participants will gather on Parliament hill at around noon, following a Catholic Mass and a Protestant prayer service, both of which will take place at 10:00am. The March itself will begin at 1:30pm after speeches by prominent Canadian pro-life activists, religious figures, and politicians.

For more information visit the March for Life website at http://www.campaignlifecoalition.com/events/Marchforlife/200...


See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Canadian Bishops' Life Office Calls on All Canadians to Attend March for Life May 8
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/may/08050104.html

Over 760 Registered to Date for Canadian National March for Life Youth Conference May 9
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/may/08050112.html

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Sacrilegious Display Continues Disturbing Pattern of Hate at Rockford Abortuary

By Michael Baggot

Rockford, IL, May 7, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A Rockford abortuary has made the demonic side of the abortion industry readily apparent to the public by decorating its facility with a nun in a coffin, a crucified rubber chicken, and a set of sacred images arranged in a voodoo-style altar.

Kevin Rilott, an Illinois pro-life activist who has often prayerfully protested in front of the Rockford Northern Illinois Women's Center (NIWC) abortuary that features the sacrilegious display, hopes that images of the offensive exhibition will expose the evil carried out at the facility.

"This clinic affects the lives of thousands of Rockford women and children.  The issue here isn't even primarily abortion.  What we believe the people of Rockford and the country have a right to see is a medical facility that promotes a bizarre form of racism, bigotry, and hatred," Kevin Rilott told LifeSiteNews.com.

The sacrilegious exhibit is part of a trend of disturbing events associated with NIWC.

A video released last month records Keith Sterkeson, a friend of NIWC clinic owner Wayne Webster, spewing profanities and threats at peaceful pro-life protestors in front of the same Rockford abortuary.

Sterkeson repeatedly calls the pro-life cameraman a "degenerate" and a "ni**er" and warns the harassed cameraman that his pit bull will bite if the cameraman gets too close.

During an especially disturbing section of the footage, Sterkeson admits that the law lets abortionists kill children and claims to be sexually aroused by the smell of burned fetal carcasses emanating from the mill's chimney.

Thanks to a police scanner and loudspeaker system that lets abortionist Webster communicate with those outside the abortuary, Webster warns Sterkeson that law enforcement has been called.

"Hey Keith, this a**hole just called the cops.  I just heard it coming over the scanner.  They called the cops because Keith is down here, yelling and screaming at people, and he has a pit bull with him and he's threatening people.  You're not acting any crazier than those other a**holes (the pro-life activists)," Webster announces from inside the clinic.

"I know, I know, Wayne. I know, buddy. I'll talk to you later, Wayne," Sterkeson shouts back before departing while hurling further insults and profanities at the pro-lifers.

"The blatant racism, anti-Christian hate, and even the expression of pleasure at the abortion of children in this video and at this clinic are beyond description. The fact that this is being done at what is supposed to be a medical facility in our city is extremely disturbing," Rilott told LifeSiteNews.com.

"The vile nature of the hatred expressed in the windows of this local so-called medical facility and by the clinic's owner working with his associate should offend every decent person no matter his stand on abortion."

Rilott noted that NIWC has so far escaped punishment for its hateful actions.

"If any other hospital, clinic, doctor's office, or business promoted the racism, bigotry, and contemptuous hatred directed at religious people in the way this facility belittles the Christian faith and African Americans, the public would be outraged."

Rilott, who was present during the taping of Sterkeson's verbal attack upon his pro-life friend, was also the victim of a physical assault during an earlier visit to NIWC. In August 2007, an abortion supporter hit Rilott in the chest, ribs, and stomach while.  After Rilott called 911, it took officers over 20 minutes to arrive.

Webster told police that he had forgotten to start his surveillance system that day, but that he did notice Rilott attack a man outside with a sign.

Rilott asked the officer, "If I attacked the guy why did I call 911 three times asking for help" and "why did the guy go in to the safety of the clinic then decide to run away before the police got there?" The officer did not respond.

Rilott and fellow Rockford pro-lifers are currently pursuing a complaint with the Thomas More Society against the city of Rockford for violations of free speech, due process, and equal protection (http://www.thomasmoresociety.org/Rockford/Amended_Complaint_...). 

The compliant argues that Rockford's noise ordinance laws have been unfairly used against pro-lifers to silence them in efforts to counsel women as they enter NIWC.

The complaint also criticizes the state's failure to address a paid pro-life bench advertisement's consistent vandalism, including a photographed instance of a uniformed city bus driver defacing the ad.

Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Rockford Pro-Lifers Sue City for "Arbitrary, Capricious and Invidious Censorship" of Pro-life Message
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/apr/08041405.html

Pro-Lifer Violently Assaulted Outside Abortion Clinic, Police Take Time After Repeat 911 Calls
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/aug/07082310.html

CAUGHT ON VIDEO: Abortion Clinic Escorts Sexually Abuse Praying Pro-Life Activists
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/nov/07113002.html

Abortionist Inflicts Demonic Psycho-terror on Pro-life Protestors in Vienna
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jan/08012515.html

Learn more about the situation in Rockford:
http://www.prolifecorner.com

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Bella Producer Leo Severino Talks About Bella DVD, "the Entertainment Ultrasound"

New promotion tagline, "Can a movie really save a life?", inspired by The Passion tag line

By Steve Jalsevac

May 7, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - On Monday LifeSiteNews.com interviewed Bella producer Leo Severino about the DVD release of the movie on Tuesday.

LifeSiteNews: You are now at the stage where the Bella DVD's are coming out. Bella was intended to fill what you saw was a need for ethical and inspiring Hollywood quality films that would appeal to general audiences. The movie has several themes, but tell us why you see the DVD release is so important for women with distressed pregnancies.

Leo: Well, what is beautiful is that we have heard many stories but one recently - through a crisis pregnancy center.  There are a lot of stories, in short - where people watch the film, not knowing what it was about, having already scheduled an abortion - but after seeing the movie, decide not to abort their child. 

In some cases, there is an example where there is a crisis pregnancy center that had counseled a young lady and who had decided to go through with her abortion. She had an appointment and they decided to give her a copy of Bella. They gave her the copy and the next day she came in and let them know she decided that she was going to keep her child as a result of watching the film.  So, Jason Jones came up with the idea to have what we call the Bella10 campaign, where people not only purchase and view the film but contact 10 other people to ask them to do the same.  For him, his idea wasn't just for people to send our email to their entire database - which obviously helps - but to physically contact 10 people and be responsible for 10 people getting the film but also passing on that 10 campaign so that they in turn reach out to 10 more people - with the intent to continue that on and on and on. 

Through a foundation Jason has decided that he is going to give crisis pregnancy centers copies of Bella to give to the young ladies that come to the centers.  He loves the initiative, as obviously everybody does. Jason always called Bella the entertainment ultrasound.  There are a lot of young ladies who may be a week pregnant and can't really see their child yet but if they see Bella, it is like an ultrasound because they see the face of their child in Bella.  They realize that the choice is a child - not a bag of cells.

LifeSiteNews:  So it is another way of informing them.

Leo: Another way to heighten their awareness to see what is really living inside of them and the consequence of their choice which, at least in Bella, is the child.  This little girl personifies the child that is living in their womb that many people want them to think is not a child.  So, anyways, that was a cool idea, I thought.

LifeSiteNews: This seems to be a very unusual movie DVD promotion campaign but as you explained, it has some very specific objectives for doing that.

Leo: Well, the tag-line for The Passion when it came out - one of the first trailers - said, "Can a movie really change your life."  So, you know when all the stories came out about all the children's lives that have been saved by Bella, we were just talking with Steve McEveety (producer of The Passion) about that tag-line and thought the tag-line for Bella should be: "Can a movie really save a life?"  And, at least in Bella's case, we know of 13 and probably 2 more children so far who were scheduled to be aborted and when their mother saw the film, they decided to have their child.

So, that is the beauty of the story - it inspires people to first of all see the beauty of the life that lives inside of them but also to be selfless - even if it means offering their child for adoption - choosing 9 months of sacrifice so their child can live forever. 

This movie is a weapon of mass instruction.  There is a magic to it - 90 minutes in a dark room with a screen that is big - people allow that information to come into their mind and heart and influence them.

LifeSiteNews:  So, the video gets released tomorrow (Tuesday May 6)?

Leo: Tomorrow Eduardo is on the Today show with Kathie Lee Gifford who has been incredibly supportive and the DVD - it is also released tomorrow.  He is taping Neil Cavuto tonight - it's on either tonight or on tomorrow night and Eduardo is also going to be on Bill O'Reilly tonight.

LifeSiteNews: Have you received many orders to date for the video?

Leo: I don't know the very latest numbers but what is really cool is that we emailed our database.  We have a huge database with over 1 million people and over the weekend Bella became the number one top-selling romantic movie on Amazon.com and that is pre-order.  We beat Pride & Prejudice and Atonement.  We were number one in our category which was Romance.  We were 29 over-all.  They group not just film - they group all film and television.  So, we were 29 overall of all DVDs in their database which is pretty wild.

LifeSiteNews:  The plans were to go into other countries - South America and Europe and so on.  Has anything moved on that aspect regarding theater showings?

Leo:  This past weekend it launched in Latin America and it has been launched in many countries from Canada to Australia and in August it will be in Spain.  Spain is our last stop.

LifeSiteNews: The DVD is currently available in how many languages?

Leo: The DVD is currently available in English and Spanish.

LifeSiteNews: Any more movies in the works?

Leo: You know, we have a lot of films in development and our director has been working on those but we haven't come to a conclusion yet but the rest of the team - myself, Eduardo and Sean have just been 100% focused on this international release of the DVD so I would say, by the end of the May, we are going to spend more time on deciding what our next film is.

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McCain Promises to Nominate Conservative Justices

Democratic pundits fear appointments will bring limits to abortion "rights"

 By Michael Baggot

WINSTON-SALEM, NC, May 7, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - With numerous federal benches free and an aging Supreme Court, presumptive Republican nominee John McCain told a Wake Forest University crowd on Tuesday that he pledges to nominate conservative judges to the federal courts and the Supreme Court when elected President.

"Senators Obama and Clinton have very different ideas from my own. They are both lawyers themselves, and don't seem to mind at all when fundamental questions of social policy are preemptively decided by judges instead of by the people and their elected representatives," McCain told the college crowd.

"My nominees will understand that there are clear limits to the scope of judicial power, and clear limits to the scope of federal power."

As opposed to liberal judges, conservative justices are primarily concerned with the original intended meaning of the law, and typically fail to find relatively modern "rights" to abortion or homosexual "marriage" in the Constitution.

McCain specifically chided Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama for supporting liberal activist judges rather than Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.

"Apparently, nobody quite fits the bill except for an elite group of activist judges, lawyers and law professors who think they know wisdom when they see it - and they see it only in each other," said McCain.

The Obama campaign expressed fear that McCain's judicial appointments will challenge hallowed liberal values, including access to abortion.

"The Straight Talk Express took another sharp right turn today as John McCain promised his conservative base four more years of out-of-touch judges that would threaten a woman's right to choose, gut the campaign finance reform that bears his own name, and trample the rights and interests of the American people," said Obama campaign spokesman Tommy Vietor.

The Obama campaign's main Democratic rival echoed Vietor's displeasure with McCain's promise.

Hillary Clinton campaign Policy Director Neera Tanden criticized McCain for supporting "extreme conservative judges like Justice [Clarence] Thomas."

"In an effort to pander to conservative voters, Sen. McCain has signaled his intention to appoint right-wing judges who are committed to rolling back women's rights and civil rights, elevating the interests of big business over the rights of workers and consumers, affirming executive branch power grabs, and undermining our common core freedoms," Tanden added.

McCain gave concrete examples of the sort of judges he would support.

"I will look for people in the cast of John Roberts, Samuel Alito, and my friend the late William Rehnquist, They would serve as the model for my own nominees if that responsibility falls to me."

While the full implications of McCain's nominations are uncertain, the presidential hopeful has connected conservative judicial restraint with the pro-life cause in the past.

"The ruling ensures that an unacceptable and unjustifiable practice will not be carried out on our innocent children.  It also clearly speaks to the importance of nominating and confirming strict constructionist judges who interpret the law as it is written, and do not usurp the authority of Congress and state legislatures," said McCain of the April 2007 Supreme Court decision to uphold the ban on partial-birth abortion.

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Bush, Clinton, Obama, Giuliani, etc. React to Partial Birth Abortion Ban Ruling
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/apr/07041902.html

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APPEAL DENIED - Ruling that New York Must Recognize Foreign Same-sex "Marriages" Stands

 By Michael Baggot

ALBANY, NY, May 7, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The New York Court of Appeals on Tuesday declined to hear a challenge to an appeals court case that required the state to recognize same-sex "marriages" legally contracted outside of New York.

Tuesday's ruling lets stand the February 1 Appellate Division of State Supreme Court decision that Monroe Community College must extend health care benefits to Lisa Ann Golden due to her legally contracted Canadian "marriage" to Monroe employee Patricia Martinez.

The February ruling overturned State Supreme Court Justice Harold Galloway's August 2006 decision to dismiss Martinez's case on the grounds that New York "currently defines marriage as limited to the union of one man and one woman."

The February appellate judges argued that the state should recognize legally contracted homosexual "marriages" until the New York legislature decides to explicitly prohibit their recognition.

State same-sex "marriage" proponents, however, see the recognition of foreign same-sex "marriage" as an intermediate step towards full embrace of homosexual "marriages."

"Despite today's good news, the state of marriage for same-sex couples in New York is still unsettled," announced Alan Van Capelle, Executive Director of Empire State Pride Agenda.

"Until a law is passed by the New York State Legislature, there will always be the possibility that another court decision could undo Martinez v. County of Monroe and strip away from otherwise legally married same-sex couples all of the 1324 state-based rights and responsibilities that come with a marriage license in New York."

New York's recognition of foreign same-sex "marriages" was also solidified in late February when Supreme Court Justice Laura Drager ruled that a lesbian known as Beth R. could pursue a divorce from Donna M., the woman that she "married" in Canada.

Although the Court of Appeals declared in 2006 that the "Constitution does not compel the recognition of marriages between members of the same sex," it left open the possibility that future legislation could enable same-sex "marriages" to be conducted in the state.

New York Governor David Paterson is expected to decriminalize same-sex "marriage" if the necessary legislation reaches his desk. Upon receiving the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Leadership Award on April 9, Patterson pledged to work to bring "full marriage equality to New York State."

"If you will join with me and if we work hard enough we can change the face of New York, which will be the catalyst to changing national policy," Paterson assured his listeners.

New York Judge Permits Lesbian Divorce Despite State's Non-Recognition of Same-sex "Marriage"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/feb/08022801.html

New York Court Rules State Must Validate Canadian Homosexual "Marriages"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/feb/08020406.html

New York's Highest Court Rules 4-2 In Favour Of Traditional Marriage
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jul/06070601.html

Learn more about the case against same-sex "marriage":
http://www.family.org/socialissues/A000000464.cfm

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Telecommunications Company Has Donated Nearly $1 Million to Pro-life and Other Charities

Sienna Group formed to provide telephone and related services to pro-life and Catholic Americans

By Steve Jalsevac

May 7, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Twelve years ago three young men not long out of university decided to channel part of their strong pro-life convictions to support and improve the Culture of Life through telecommunications. They saw a need for such a service given that almost all the major companies in the field were in some way tied to abortion or anti-family organizations. And so in 1996 they founded what is now called the Sienna Group, a Cincinnati, Ohio based company offering a wide variety of competitively priced and quality telephone, mobile phone and Internet services.

David Condit spoke to LifeSiteNews about the unique company. Condit related that he and current president Timothy Bischel are two of the three founders still active in Sienna. They are strongly Catholic and have always been pro-life. That was their upbringing, he says.

Condit says that the founders saw forming Sienna as "an opportunity to merge two things that we like to do together as opposed to just being in business or just continuing on as pro-life volunteers." He did a lot of volunteering for pro-life and his father and brother, both attorneys, represented pro-lifers free of charge at the time when there were numerous protests on the 1980s. "It gave us a lot of exposure to the injustice of the legal system on those issues."

Sienna offers services of comparable quality and price to end users who in turn designate a pro-Life or Catholic charity or cause of their choice. LifeSiteNews, for instance, as part of its fundraising efforts, is encouraging readers who sign up for Sienna services to make LifeSiteNews their designated charity. Other charities would likewise promote Sienna to their membership in order to gain continuing funds from the Sienna program.

Sienna then sends a percentage (depending on services and plans chosen) of each user's paid monthly bill to their designated charity. This money comes out of Sienna's profits as opposed to increasing the price to the customer.

Condit says Sienna has sent contributions over its 12 year history of close to $1 million to over 2,000 organizations. He said there have been several companies who tried to run a similar but slightly different operation over the years, but they floundered whereas Sienna has experienced steady growth in each year of its existence.

The quality of Sienna's services is comparable if not identical in many instances to the major carriers because they use the same networks as the major carriers. Condit says Sienna focuses more on residential and small business markets and their customer care / support staff are in the U.S allowing the service to be more friendly and personal.

The services provided are: mobile Service (Voice/Text/Picture Messaging/Data/Web), 1 + Long Distance, Toll Free Service, Conference Calling (On Demand 24/7), Travel Cards and soon they will offer Nationwide DSL via Aircard.

"In summary", Condit says, "we offer quality, commonly used services to customers who can designate a Pro-Life, Pro-Family organization to receive much needed funds from their usage on a monthly basis. We tell people, "don't change your habits, simply change providers."

See the Sienna Group website http://www.sienna-group.com/

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UK Government Job Centres Advertising for Prostitutes

By Hilary White

LONDON, May 7, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - MPs of the Commons Home Select Committee were said to be shocked last week to learn that poor women and girls in the UK are being lured into the sex trade by job advertisements at job centres run by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Denise Marshall, director of a government funded anti-trafficking organization, the Poppy Project, told the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee that the government was acting as a "pimp" for the sex trade.

The jobs listed include stripper, webcam stripper, adult show hostess, lap dancing and work with an escort agency. Some vacancies listed the ability to "discuss sexual fantasies" as a useful skill. One ad, called "admin work" by the Jobcentre Plus website, said successful applicants would earn £10 an hour to "talk dirty" and perform sex acts live in front of a webcam.

"When you are offering £20 an hour to be a webcam stripper to a 17-year-old, the chances are they may be naive," Marshall said.

Outside the hearing, Marshall said, "It's the government as pimp. It's just dreadful. I'm appalled that the government is giving women entree into the commercial sex industry."

Despite claims by the job centres of "safeguards" to prevent young people from being drawn into prostitution, the database system does not ask applicants to confirm their age before displaying the vacancies. The jobs are offered to women on the government's jobseekers allowance of less than £4,000 a year.

The Department for Work and Pensions, however, said it is obliged to carry the ads because of a High Court decision in 2003. A spokesman for the department said, "Jobcentre Plus has a duty to advertise any legal job. Legal vacancies within the adult industry come within this." The spokesman said Jobcentres Plus was required to carry such ads after the High Court overturned their previous policy "which did not accept certain types of adverts connected with the sex and personal services industries".

"We have safeguards in place to ensure customers are fully aware of the nature of these jobs. Our advisers always check on the full details of any vacancies notified to us. Jobcentre Plus customers can choose whether or not to pursue these vacancies." The department's spokesman said that customers do not risk the loss of benefits if they do not apply for such positions.

"I am not happy at the government promoting this sort of inappropriate work for women," said Labour MP Ann Cryer. "I did not know this was happening and I hope the job centres will rethink it."

Anna Bowden from the Poppy Project told LifeSiteNews.com, "This issue has been going on for quite some time; at least a year." She said that MPs had only recently learned of it. 

In Britain, Poppy Project research shows that "off street" prostitution goes on in all of the 33 London boroughs, with an estimated 80 per cent of the women being non-British nationals working in brothels, saunas and massage parlours.

Bowden said that despite a push from outside government to legalize prostitution, those who work directly to stop trafficking know that such a move would be disastrous for vulnerable women. This is coming to be so widely acknowledged, she said, that even countries like the Netherlands that has had legal brothels for years, is "scaling back their red light districts" to combat the problem.

Traffickers, the project says, are being encouraged to move into Britain because of a "piecemeal" approach to the problem by law enforcement and the expansion of the sex industry into areas such as lap dancing clubs and pornography that "has created a climate of tolerance of commercial sex".

The Poppy Project supports efforts to make buying sex a crime in Britain, saying that this approach has worked well in Sweden where it has all but halted the trade in women for prostitution.

To contact the secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Rt. Hon. James Purnell MP
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA
e-mail  purnellj@parliament.uk

Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Britain Awakens to New Slave Trade in Bordellos
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/jan/07011109.html

Critics Condemn UK Proposal to Legalize Northern Ireland Brothels
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/nov/06112401.html

Young Women Forced into Prostitution in the UK - More Evidence that Prostitution Leads to Sex Slavery
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/oct/05100304.html

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Newmarket Lutheran Church to Ordain Active Homosexual to Ministry

 By Hilary White

NEWMARKET, Ontario, May 7, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Christian doctrine pertaining to sexual morality held by the Evangelical Lutheran Church In Canada (ELCIC) is "discriminatory" and "unjust", according to Holy Cross Lutheran church in Newmarket, Ontario. The small church congregation is issuing a direct challenge to the ELCIC and is breaking with the doctrines of the Christian religion by announcing it will ordain to the ministry an active homosexual who is "married" to another man.

Lionel Ketola, will be ordained to the Lutheran ministry on May 16th. Their ceremony, Holy Cross admits, is an act in defiance of the policy of the ELCIC that says those who are "self-declared and practicing homosexuals" may not serve as ordained ministers.

The willingness of Holy Cross to ordain Ketola can be seen as a direct challenge to the ELCIC, which refused to accept him as a candidate in 1988 because of his refusal to give up his sexually active lifestyle. In a grant application to cover the cost of Ketola's internship, the Holy Cross council wrote that they saw their efforts as a corrective "witness to the ELCIC as well as to the communities in which we serve".

The church has affiliated itself with a group, Lutherans Concerned In Canada, that is pursuing the goals of the homosexual movement's agenda within the Lutheran Church.

The ELCIC responded in a letter, saying that the action of Holy Cross "marks a serious breach" of the church's obligations to abide by the ELCIC constitution.

Bishop Michael J. Pryse wrote to the Holy Cross Council "with a heavy heart," but made no direct objection on moral grounds to the church's determination to endorse homosexuality. He wrote, "With you, I am committed to work toward ending practices that preclude the full participation of all God's people in the life of the church, regardless of sexual orientation".

Pryse said, however, that the process should go more slowly and with greater consultation, objecting only that the action may "do irreparable damage to the already fragile connecting fabric of our church".

In 2006 Holy Cross announced that the "openly queer-identified" Ketola would be allowed to serve a year long internship as vicar. The church secured financial assistance to fund the internship from a group called Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries (ELM) that promotes the ordination to the Lutheran ministry of persons "of all sexual
orientations and gender identities in Lutheran life and ministry".

Ketola is supported by the Extraordinary Candidacy Project (ECP), a homosexual activist organization which certifies the credentials of openly lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender candidates for ordained ministry in Lutheran Churches. Holy Cross calls the ECP "a hopeful alternative for openly queer people who wish to serve in public ministry and refuse to comply with the ELCIC's unjust policy" that requires that pastors conform to traditional Christian sexual morality.

Holy Cross proudly announced that "Lionel and his husband Steve Loweth, a 42-year-old music publisher, were married on New Years Eve 2003. Steve is active in leadership in a downtown Toronto congregation of the Anglican Church of Canada."

The willingness of Holy Cross to embrace the homosexual doctrine will not surprise some who have watched as the ELCIC has "progressed" into greater liberalism.

In a letter dated May 1st, Astrid Neumann, a member of Mount Olive Lutheran Church in Surrey, British Columbia, wrote that she was leaving the congregation and that the church's slide away from the traditional doctrines of Christianity was "the most horrific experience of my life, bar none".

Neumann wrote of the Lutheran church's questioning of core Christian beliefs. "I can't fathom that there are debates about whether or not Mary was a virgin when she conceived Jesus, if Jesus is or isn't the only way to the Father, that hell may or may not exist, that everyone will go to heaven regardless of their beliefs or unbelief, etc., and many other debates about what I mistakenly thought were core beliefs".

"Everything has become iffy. We are left with the end result that the Bible can't be trusted, there is no Truth, and everything is relative."

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New Study Shows Contraceptive Pill Increases Risk of Heart Disease, Stroke

May 7, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A new study published in the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology has revealed that the newest version of the contraceptive pill increases the risk of heart disease.

The study, which was conducted by the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Technologies at the University of Udine, in Italy, concludes that the new, "third-generation" oral contraceptives elevates the levels of  "C-reactive protein" (CRP) in women, which in turn raises their risk of cardiovascular disease.

In comparing healthy women who used the pill with a group that didn't, the study found that pill-users were more than four times more likely to have high levels of CRP in their bodies, "posing a high risk of cardiovascular disease".   Pill-users were also 3.9 times more likely to have levels of CRP posing an "intermediate risk" for heart disease.

Elevated CRP levels are associated with a condition known as "low grade inflammation" which, the study's abstract says, "could affect the risk of venous thromboembolism, cardiovascular disease, and other oral contraceptive-associated adverse conditions in young women."  "Venus thromboembolism" is the medical term for blood clots, a problem that has long been associated with oral contraceptives.

The study also found that pill-users were more likely to have elevated "bad" cholesterol levels (high density lipoprotein) relative to "good" cholesterol (low level lipoprotein), another risk factor for heart disease and stroke.

Dr. John Shea, medical advisor to Canada's Campaign Life Coalition noted that, ironically, "third generation oral contraceptives were first introduced in 1994 in order to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease".

"Third generation oral contraceptive use increases low-grade inflammatory status which could increase the risk of arteriosclerosis that could, in turn, increase the risk of arterial or venous blood clots, heart attack, stroke, hypertension, liver cancer, and non cancerous liver tumours and an increased risk of bone loss," Shea told LifeSiteNews.com.

"It should be noted that the use of ordinary oral contraceptives is associated with a four-fold increased risk of blood clots and that the use of third generation oral contraceptives increases that risk by a factor of 1.5. All oral contraceptive use is also associated with increased risk of breast cancer and cancer of the cervix of the uterus."

The study matches the results of another study published in April, which found that oral contraceptive use was associated with "hardening" of the arteries due to plaque buildup (see LifeSiteNews.com coverage at http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/apr/08040807.html).

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From BC to PEI Most Canadian Provinces Holding Regional Marches for Life this Week

By Hilary White

OTTAWA, May 7, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Canada's March for Life, started only 11 years ago, has grown into a nation-wide event and attracts record numbers of young people every year.

Organised by the various local branches of Campaign Life Coalition, the March is being carried on from coast to coast in early May from the 2nd to the 11th. In picturesque Victoria, B.C., in Alberta, in Regina and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and even tiny Prince Edward Island pro-life Canadians, especially young people, will make a public outcry against Canada's lawless abortion regime.

March organisers emphasise the lack of any legal restrictions on abortion in Canada and the poor reporting and information available on the subject to Canadian women.

Statistics Canada routinely admits that the lack of adequate medical records on abortion make an exact abortion count impossible. Of the 47,005 abortions performed in private clinics in 2004, only Alberta provided detailed medical records for their 6,125 clinic abortions. But some estimate that, of Canada's annual pregnancies, fully one-third end violently in abortion every year.

"Why should women be kept in the dark?" asked organiser, Natalie Hudson.  "Why aren't they told? Women deserve to know the risks involved in serious medical procedures which will affect them for the rest of their lives."

The March, as it continues to grow as a nation-wide phenomenon, aims to bring these issues into the public eye and onto the radar screen of legislators. Hudson echoes the hope that the March will be a catalyst for change. "Abortion is harmful to women and fatal to their unborn babies. We are tired of abortion being the catch-all for unplanned pregnancy. We believe that our society can do much better." 

The March is increasingly becoming a youth event. Organisers of the March in Ottawa say that the number of high school age students signed up for the youth conference at the March as of last week was 760, making it the largest pro-life conference in recent Canadian history.

The March has grown since its inception in 1999 when about 2,300 gathered to the 7000 mostly high school and college age marchers in 2007.

Read coverage of 2007 March:

Canadian March for Life Hits New Attendance Level of 7,000 With 75% Youth
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/may/07051108.html

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Ex-Gays Afraid to Come Out for Fear of Persecution: ABC News Report

By Michael Baggot

ARLINGTON, VA, May 7, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Individuals who once considered themselves homosexuals but who have since left the lifestyle, often remain silent about their past life due to persecution from homosexual activists, an ABC News video revealed on Monday.

"A person may not be happy being gay, has anyone ever thought of that?" asked "David," an anonymous man who has overcome his homosexual inclinations, on ABC News.

"I've found feelings could change," David added.

Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX) observed that "David's" desire for anonymity reflects the wide-scale persecution individuals like him face from those supportive of homosexuality.

"Many ex-gays are afraid to come out of the closet because of the harassment they will receive - their names, phone numbers and personal information posted on gay websites, attacked at ex-gay exhibit booths, press releases issued against them, etc," stated PFOX.

"The tactics of gay activists are to go after anyone who comes out publicly as ex-gay, force them back into the closet, and then claim that ex-gays don't exist because there aren't any out in public."

The ABC report was sparked by the American Psychological Association's decision to cancel an important forum scheduled for Monday on the relationship between religion and homosexuality. The forum was to have included discussion of reparative therapy used to help individuals overcome unwanted homosexual tendencies.

Gay activists feared that the panel would challenge the APA's official 2000 opposition to reparative therapy, itself rooted in the organization's 1973 decision to remove homosexuality from the list of mental disorders.

The ABC report also featured footage of lesbian protestors who banged pots and pans, chanted, and danced in front of conservative author Ryan Sorba, forcing him to cut short his April 29 "The Born Gay Hoax" lecture at Smith College.

Observers observed that the Sorba incident is characteristic of the "gay rights" movement's intolerance towards any discussion of the possibility that individuals may freely abandon the homosexual lifestyle if they so choose.

"This is exactly how the homosexual movement views free speech and civil rights in their march to force their social and sexual agenda on others and intimidate and terrorize anyone who would criticize or disagree.  Truth and freedom become subjected to the whims of thought police and rioters," commented the conservative Massachusetts organization MassResistance.

PFOX argues that individuals seeking to abandon their homosexual lifestyle should be afforded the freedom from discrimination that gay activists demand for themselves.

"Homosexual activists are talking about personal choice, freedom, and so forth, but they deny personal choice and freedom for those who wish to seek change," Peter Sprigg of PFOX told ABC News.

Watch the ABC report:
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4797243

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

APA Cancels Landmark Panel to Discuss Homosexual Therapy and Religion
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/may/08050606.html

Lesbian Break-in and Riot During College Speech on "Born-Gay Hoax" Forces Cancellation
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/may/08050205.html

Message from "Ex-Gays" to American Psychological Association: Don't Ban Therapy
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/dec/07120407.html

View the ABC video:
http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0508/517023_video.html?ref=...

Learn more about therapy for individuals with homosexual inclinations:
http://www.narth.com

Learn more about PFOX:
http://www.pfox.org

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Education Minister's Coming Guidelines May Ban Students from Wearing Crucifixes in Northern Ireland

By John-Henry Westen

BELFAST, May 7, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Education Minister Caitriona Ruane, a member of the Sinn Fein Party, is importing school uniform policies from London which led to schools being able to ban students from wearing crucifixes and Sikh religious bangles. 

Gregory Carlin, a pro-faith campaigner in the UK who has fought for the religious rights of students in England to wear crucifixes and religious symbols of other faiths, told LifeSiteNews.com that Ruane's measures would mean the "Anglization of Ulster's schools."

Over the last two years many students in England have been forbidden by principals from wearing crucifixes and similar religious items as infractions of school uniform policies.  The schools were empowered to prohibit crucifixes by guidelines issued by the Department for Children Schools and Families (DCFS).  Concerned about the possibility of similar incidents happening in Northern Ireland, Carlin contacted Minister Ruane to ensure freedom of religion for students.

In response, however, Minister Ruane divulged that she was in fact "currently working on similar guidance" for schools in Northern Ireland, to be issued "before the end of the current school year."  Ruane noted in her letter that while schools are asked to give reasonable accommodation to religious requirements, the "freedom to manifest a religion or belief does not mean that an individual has the right to manifest their religion or belief at any time, in any place, or in any particular manner."

Carlin reacted to the statement, saying, "The anti-faith policies being adopted by teachers in England and Wales should be avoided by the profession in Northern Ireland. The DCSF advice which is to be brought over from London by Minister Ruane will probably be applied the same way it is used in England and that means anti-faith measures."

Having helped families in England attempt to exercise freedom of religion Carlin, a native of Northern Ireland, said, "Children in Ulster have an absolute entitlement to manifest their faith in their schools"

"Ulster's parents," he said, "will not tolerate a policy of anti-faith Anglization in our schools by a discredited Sinn Fein politician. I intend to challenge Ms Ruane's decision to adopt the English guidance."

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