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EXCLUSIVE: African Hospitals Funded by U.S. PEPFAR Program Accused of Forcibly Sterilizing HIV-Positive Women

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

WINDHOEK, NAMIBIA, June 24, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - African AIDS patients say they are being forcibly sterilized in hospitals funded by the United States' international AIDS program PEPFAR, LifeSiteNews has learned.

Dozens of women in Namibia claim that personnel in the PEPFAR-funded public hospital system used various methods to force or coerce them into receiving tubal ligations because of their HIV-positive status. Women's activists in the country believe the total number of victims is far greater.

Amon Mgazateme, an attorney representing several of the women, told LifeSiteNews (LSN) that all of the victims who have approached him are HIV positive, and believe that they were sterilized because of it. All were sterilized in the government's public health system.

Out of the 20 women who have approached him so far, "we have so far been able to have concrete evidence ... for about 15 women," Mgazateme told LSN in a telephone interview. "We are beginning to institute legal action against the government for about 6 cases only, so far."

In some cases, the women say they were tricked into signing papers authorizing the procedure at delicate moments during their treatment. In others, they were told that they would not receive medical care if they did not agree to be sterilized.

Namibia's Ministry of Health receives tens of millions of dollars a year from the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), according to a U.S. government source.

In 2007, the last year for which data is available, PEPFAR gave over $16.6 million to the Namibian agency, which oversees the nation's public hospital system and implements PEPFAR-funded AIDS programs within the hospitals.

LSN has also learned that a group of U.S. House and Senate committee staff visited Namibia as late as 2008 to discuss the PEPFAR-funded AIDS program at Katatura State Hospital, one of the institutions accused of carrying out the sterilizations.   

PEPFAR was also a sponsor of a global meeting on AIDS in the Namibian capital of Windhoek, from June 11 to 14 of this year, hosted by the Namibian government, which also included UN organizations such as the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and others.

However, PEPFAR media spokeswoman Jennifer Peterson told LSN she was not aware of the allegations, and could not make an official comment about them, referring this news agency to the PEPFAR representative in the U.S. Embassy in Namibia. As of press time LSN has not been able to reach him for comment.

The accusations of forced sterilizations were first brought to light by the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW), a human rights group for AIDS patients active in Namibia.

The ICW says that it suspects the cases it has detected are "the tip of the iceberg." Out of 230 HIV-positive women they interviewed for a recent study on the issue, 40 said they had been sterilized by force or coercion in public hospitals in Namibia, or about 17 percent.

"They were in pain, they were told to sign, they didn't know what it was," Jennifer Gatsi-Mallet, an ICW official, told Britain's Guardian newspaper. "They thought that it was part of their HIV treatment. None of them knew what sterilization was, including those from urban areas, because it was never explained to them."

Hilma Nendongo, a victim who spoke to Britain's Globe and Mail newspaper about her experience, said she was devastated by the news that she would no longer be able to have children.

"It's because you are poor and you cannot demand your rights. You can't question a doctor. The doctor knows you can't report him -- he is protected by the government," she said. "My doctor did it to me because I was HIV positive and he thought I shouldn't have more children."

The women say the sterilizations were performed in three public hospitals overseen by the Ministry of Health: Katatura State Hospital, Central State Hospital, and Oshakati State Hospital, ICW reports.

"The reality of HIV-positive women's experiences in the health sector is drastically different from the standards that the Namibian government articulates in the National HIV/AIDS policy," the group states in its study on the abuses.

"Cases of forced sterilization have demonstrated that the Namibian government has failed to realize these rights or create an environment in which such rights could be realized," the organization writes, adding that its report "demonstrates that the government of Namibia is complicit in the unethical practice of sterilizing positive women."
 

Contact Information:

President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)
Jennifer Peterson:
Phone: 202 663 2708
Email: PetersonJL@state.gov

Ray Castillo (US Embassy, Namibia):
Phone: 264 81 128 0816
CastilloRA@state.gov

President Barack Obama, White House
Email: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461

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CCCB President on Websites Confronting D&P: "they're not part of the church, they're not Catholic"

By John-Henry Westen

OTTAWA, June 25, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Despite a June 22 press release stating that neither the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) nor Development and Peace (D&P) would be commenting on the results of a recent investigation of five of D&P's Mexican partners until the results were made public, the President of the CCCB, Archbishop James Weisgerber, has been making the rounds of the media in the last several days, giving numerous interviews on the topic. 

The archbishop has given separate French and English language interviews to Salt and Light Television, as well as interviews to Zenit News, the Catholic Register and Catholic News Service (CNS) on the results of the investigation into the CCCB development arm, which was caught by LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) funding numerous groups around the world engaged in pro-abortion advocacy.

Michael Swan,  with CNS reports that the archbishop reversed the decision not to comment prior to the release to all bishops saying: "This thing is heating up. Before we release all the recommendations, I'm just giving an overall impression, given the fact that the group found no difficulty."

In the interviews the archbishop stated that the recent investigation found nothing amiss with Development and Peace's funding of its Mexican partners. The Catholic Register, in an article also written by Micheal Swan, its associate editor, reported that the "Canadian Bishops clear Development and Peace of any wrongdoing." Lastly, a Zenit report by Salt & Light TV correspondent David Naglieri, was titled, "Probe Clears Canadian Agency of Funding Abortion."

The archbishop, who heads the Winnipeg Archdiocese, told Zenit: "I can tell you that the bishops' visit found no evidence that Development and Peace was in any way implicated in abortion services or abortion advocacy."

"[But] that really wasn't the allegation being made. The allegation is that they are funding people who are involved in other ways, and we found no evidence of that, either."

Even with the investigation having been limited to the first five groups in Mexico, the evidence against the D&P funded groups is incontrovertible in its own right, and has also been attested to by a major pro-life leader in Mexico. Even though some of the most compelling evidence was scrubbed from one of the Mexican group's websites shortly after LSN broke the story of D&P's funding of the group, the info is retained by LSN.

In addition, the evidence against the D&P groups throughout Latin America, Africa and Asia, has been confirmed by the head of the Peruvian Bishops Conference Family Commission, Priests for Life Canada, and a Member of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

Not all Catholic news services were as quick to accept unreservedly Archbishop Weisgerber's avowals. Catholic World News (CWN) reported, "Ironically, the CCCB statement was issued just as Vatican Radio aired a report on complaints from the Peruvian bishops, who said that the Canadian agency had indeed given support to groups agitating for unrestricted abortion in that country. The LifeSiteNews service has provided evidence that the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace also gave support to pro-abortion groups in Mexico and other countries. A series of exposés by LifeSiteNews has been sufficient to convince several Canadian bishops to suspend diocesan funding for the agency."

CWN also reported, quoting form the Salt and Light interview, "In an obvious slap at LifeSiteNews, the archbishop invoked the authority of the hierarchy as the basis for his sweeping statement. 'What is at issue is authority in the Catholic Church,' he said. 'Is it web sites or is it the Catholic Church?'"

Archbishop Weisgerber has repeatedly expressed the same sentiment in his other interviews.  

The Catholic Register reports: "The role of web sites in stirring controversy has become a challenge for bishops." Weisgerber told the Register: "These bloggers who claim to be more Catholic than anyone -- I think first of all they're not part of the church, they're not Catholic in the sense that they have no mandate, they have no authority, they have no accountability. And they speak very, very definitively about what it means to be Catholic, and they're followed by so many people."

Although there have indeed been a number of blogs regularly covering the scandal, LifeSiteNews, which has taken the lead on the issue, is neither a website nor a blog. It is a widely read international news service that disseminates its reports via email and its website. LifeSiteNews daily news reports are re-published and quoted around the world by numerous other news services and websites and in print publications and radio and television programs.

See the LifeSiteNews Feature Page, Development & Peace Funding of Pro-Abortion Groups 2009

Contact Info:

Archbishop Luigi Ventura,
Apostolic Nuncio to Canada:
724 Manor Avenue
Ottawa, ON.
KIM OE3,
Phone: (613) 746-4914

Congregation for Bishops
Giovanni Battista Re, Cardinal, Prefect
Palazzo della Congregazioni,
00193 Roma,
Piazza Pio XII, 10
Phone: 06.69.88.42.17
Fax: 06.69.88.53.03

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Court Upholds VA Partial-Birth Abortion Ban - Judge Says Future Generations Will "Shudder"

RICHMOND, VA, June 25, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ruled Wednesday to uphold the constitutionality of Virginia's partial-birth abortion ban. The full court reversed a previous decision by a three-judge panel that determined the ban was unconstitutional.

In the opinion issued Wednesday, the 4th Circuit concluded that "little or no evidence" exists to suggest the ban would prevent other types of abortions from being performed without subjecting doctors to criminal liability. 

The court wrote, "To hold the Virginia Act facially unconstitutional for all circumstances based on the possible rare circumstance presented ... is not appropriate under any standard for facial challenges. Moreover, the Virginia Act ... provides sufficient clarity as to what conduct is prohibited to enable a doctor of reasonable intelligence to avoid criminal liability under it, and therefore the Virginia Act is constitutional."

In his concurring opinion, Circuit Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson wrote, "The fact is that we - civilized people - are retreating to the haven of our Constitution to justify dismembering a partly born child and crushing its skull. Surely centuries hence, people will look back on this gruesome practice done in the name of fundamental law by a society of high achievement. And they will shudder."

"No one should be allowed to decide that an innocent life is worthless. Virginia has legitimately chosen to protect innocent life from a terrible procedure, and the court was right to uphold Virginia's law," said Alliance Defense Fund Senior Counsel Jordan Lorence. The ADF provided funding for friend-of-the-court briefs for the case. 

"The decision of the three-judge panel conflicted significantly with the Supreme Court's ruling two years ago that upheld the federal law banning partial birth abortion," he continued.

In light of its decision to uphold the federal partial birth abortion ban in Carhart v. Gonzales, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the 4th Circuit panel to reexamine its initial Sept. 7, 2007, decision that found the Virginia ban unconstitutional. The review resulted in a 2-1 split-panel decision, handed down May 20, which also ruled the ban as unconstitutional. Virginia then asked the entire 4th Circuit to hear the case.

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Nurse Joins Ranks of those Facing Anti-Christian Clampdown in Politically Correct Britain

By Hilary White

ROME, June 24, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Attacks by officialdom in the UK on public expression of Christian belief are continuing, with the emergence of the case a Christian nurse, Helen Slatter, who left her job after hospital administration told her to stop wearing her small gold crucifix necklace.

Nurse Slatter was told by her employer, the Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, that the 1-inch gold necklace could "harbour and spread infections" or be used as weapon. She refused the hospital's suggestion that she carry the necklace in her pocket and has resigned, saying she would not choose between her job and her religion.

The hospital has issued a statement saying that no staff is allowed to wear necklaces or chains due to hygiene and safety reasons. Despite this, Slatter, who had worked at the hospital for five years, said that she had always worn the necklace under her uniform. "I've worked here for 15 months and if it was an issue, why didn't they let me know in the interview?"

Slatter has joined a long list of Christians who work in various places in the public sphere in the U.K. who have clashed with their superiors over their religious rights. One individual that has become a household name in Britain is nurse Caroline Petrie, who was threatened with the sack for offering to pray for a patient. But dozens of cases continue to arise in which teachers, nurses, civil officials, policemen, school employees and even school children are threatened with job discipline, legal action or even arrest for the least expression of their religious beliefs.

Many of these clashes have been the result of action by homosexual activists and the help of the Labour government's "anti-discrimination" laws. Most recently, the General Teaching Council for England (GTCE) has issued draft "guidance" for schools that say teachers must hide their religion from students and colleagues. They must "promote equality and value diversity" by keeping their religious beliefs to themselves it said.

John Bowers QC, editor of a top employment law textbook, told the Christian Institute lobby group that the draft guidance will lead to a "chilling effect" and does not sufficiently safeguard the religious liberty of Christian teachers.

But a discrimination law expert has said that there is a more fundamental reason for this explosion of anti-religious sentiment than the homosexualist-inspired "equality and diversity" dogma. Britain has become obsessed with "political correctness" said Neil Addison in a lecture given at the Brompton Oratory in London on May 20. The persecution of religious people is being facilitated by a pervasive and growing "petty minded officiousness," he said.

"Obsession with rules, a tendency to take offence at simple conversations, a lack of any sense of proportion, a lack of any desire to live and let live and in general a lack of simple old fashioned common sense.

"Whether it is foxhunting, smoking, adoption agencies, or microchips in rubbish bins, we are in society which is increasingly intolerant, repressive, regulated and untrusting and in consequence we have officials who are dictatorial, interfering and untrustworthy," Addison said.

Addison particularly cited the cases in which the right of conscientious objection of doctors and nurses in the UK is being routinely dismissed. Ironically, Addison said, the reason given is the accusation that conscientious objectors are "imposing" their morality on others, which, he said, "ignores the fact that to make somebody do, or participate in, something they consider to be immoral is in itself to impose a view of morality."

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Porn to Purity: Christian Couple Shares their Battle with Sin in New Ministry

By Patrick B. Craine

RALEIGH, North Carolina, June 25, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Two years ago, Jeff and Marsha Fisher's world fell apart after their denominational leaders discovered Jeff's addiction to pornography. Jeff, who had been pastor of a plant church in Buffalo, had to leave his position, and they moved with their two young children from Buffalo to Raleigh.

Now, they are using their experience for God's glory through a new online ministry, Porn to Purity, where they share their story and their continued battle through a blog and podcasts.

About a year after starting the new church plant, Jeff was confronted by the director of the local denominational office and the pastor of the church that was helping to sponsor the plant, he tells listeners in a podcast. "They had a folder full of questionable websites that I had searched while in the office alone," he recalls. "It was an intervention."

Marsha knew about Jeff's struggles with pornography, and had already given him a second chance, but after this discovery, Jeff told LifeSiteNews.com (LSN), she "was understandably very angry with me."

But, rather than making him sleep on the couch or leaving him, Marsha eventually chose to embrace Jeff. "God really touched my wife and after a few weeks," he told LSN, "she saw how much I was hurting, and saw how we were being treated by our mentors and leaders and felt compassion for me. ... I would say, at some point, ... about two months in, she came to me and said that she realized that this is not just my problem, this is our problem."

"Think of this as a 'one flesh' problem," Marsha tells listeners in a podcast. "The Lord in his loving kindness gave me the ability to see Jeff's pornography problem as OUR marriage problem."

"[Marsha] embraced me," Jeff told LSN. "I know one of the driving things for her was that she didn't want us to be one of those failures, and be one of those statistics of a marriage that didn't work. So we both had to go into counseling, we both had to deal with the shock of this."

The Fishers have posted a list of statistics about pornography on their website, which reveal that pornography is a pervasive problem in the Church. According to ChristiaNet, for example, 50% of all Christian men and 20% of all Christian women are addicted to porn. And according to Pastors.com, 54% of pastors surveyed had viewed Internet pornography in the last year, and 30% within the last 30 days.

After the intervention from his leaders, Jeff realized that he had to deal with his addiction in a deeper way. "I had to start dealing with 'Okay, there's some deeper stuff here', and we need to take a look at this," he told LSN. "We need to go beyond just 'Do something different when you're at the computer', or 'Do something different with your hands' ... We had to deal with porn addiction in a deeper way."

"I had to start practicing truth," he said. "I had been covering it up. ... I needed to start having a network of people that I could talk to about it. It started with just talking to counselors and then I had my best friend, who I had not told about this, I called him and just confessed everything, and what had happened. And he's one of those friends ... that said, you know, 'Jeff, I'm a good friend, and we're gonna work this.' For ... at least the first month, he and I talked every day ... It's been almost two years now, and we still talk at least twice a week."

Jeff believes that churches are not dealing with pornography addictions well enough. "In the church circles, it's just not something that is talked about, it is very hushed," he said. "Most sermons that I've heard related to pornography are very condemning, in the sense of, 'If you are involved in this, then shame on you, a Christian wouldn't do that.' I just think that's the wrong approach."

"One of the things that Marsha and I intended when we started our website was, we want to talk about it," he said. "Every time that we share our story, people have responded, and people feel like they're not alone. I think that people who are in pornography feel like they're the only one ... A message that churches need to share is that this is a real problem in society, it's not what God wants for us, and here's how to work it."

Further, "parents have to create a safe environment where their children can feel like ... they can come talk to them," Jeff said. "There was an absence in my family and in Marsha's family with talking about sexual things."

The Fishers have already started opening up dialogue with their two children. Jeff said that they have begun speaking about the risks of internet use with their nine-year-old daughter. "I think we have to say that ... there are bad things out there," he said, "and things like nude pictures, and ... you're probably going to see those. Come see Mommy and Daddy and let us know immediately. And we're not gonna blame you, you're not in trouble." Jeff told LSN that he even has modeled this behavior by telling his wife and children when he accidentally sees pornographic images online.

Jeff and Marsha want people who are struggling with pornography to have access to the resources they need to conquer their addiction. Besides their blog and podcasts, they have listed a variety of resources on their website.

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

No, It is Not Okay for Christian Couples to View Porn Together as a Warm Up for Sex
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/mar/08031902.html

Study Proves "Pornography is Harmful"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2002/mar/02031203.html

Pornography "One of the Most Pervasive and Destructive Problems in Our Society" -- Philly Cardinal
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jun/06060908.html

Experts Link New Study on Aggressive Sexual Behavior to Pornography Usage
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/dec/07120406.html

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YouTube Bans New Video of Planned Parenthood Telling Customer Abortion Photos "Not Real"

By Kathleen Gilbert

LOS ANGELES, California, June 25, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Live Action Films, the investigative group responsible for uncovering the illegal practices of Planned Parenthood employees, has released another video showing a Planned Parenthood employee denying that widely disseminated photographs of aborted children are real. However, the video-sharing site YouTube quickly and without explanation removed the video, and the group says YouTube issued Live Action's account a "warning strike."

The video first plays undercover footage of a Planned Parenthood counselor from Tucson, AZ telling a patient that images of aborted fetuses are "not real." 

Following a warning for graphic content, photographs of first-trimester abortion victims, similar to those regularly used on pro-life signs and websites were displayed, along with the website for their documentation of authenticity. 

Acknowledging that Youtube does not permit "shock" videos, Live Action Films defended the video, saying: "Our video is clearly not a shock video as the graphic content is providing with a warning and a reasonable context for display. It is clear that our video passes the standard provided by the following YouTube Policy."

Lila Rose of Live Actions is calling on YouTube to re-instate the video in accordance with its own guidelines.

"Since the video we posted does not violate any terms of use, we expect YouTube to re- instate it immediately," said Rose. "YouTube's own 'Community Guideline Tips' advise that intense or disturbing imaging should be 'balanced with additional context and information,' which is exactly what Live Action has done."

YouTube has removed videos posted by Live Action without explanation before, including videos showing Planned Parenthood employees caught on tape sympathizing with donors with racist agendas who explain that they are donating to the organization to encourage the abortion of black babies. 

Live Action's videos use undercover tactics to expose fraudulent practices in the abortion industry and are similar to other "sting" investigations which journalists often post on YouTube. The most recent video is part of Live Action's Mona Lisa Project, which documents abusive practices in Planned Parenthood facilities across the nation.

Footage released to date has caught on hidden camera six Planned Parenthood facilities in three states ignoring their mandatory reporting responsibilities for statutory rape and protecting adult-child sexual relationships.

Recently the Tennessee State Legislature used undercover footage from Live Action to help divert nearly $1 million in taxpayer subsidies from Planned Parenthood, and in California the Orange County Board of Supervisors voted to end a nearly $300,000 contract with the abortion provider.

"New media is vital to educating the public about the shocking realities of abortion practice in America," said Rose. "Our videos show hard truths about the abortion industry that must be seen and dealt with.

"Lawmakers and their constituents are recognizing this, but YouTube does everyone a disservice when they cooperate with Planned Parenthood in burying the evidence of abuse."

For more information, visit Live Action's website.  

To contact YouTube:

YouTube, LLC
901 Cherry Ave.
San Bruno, CA 94066
Phone: 650.253.0000
Fax: 1.650.253.0001

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

YouTube Blocks Videos Exposing Planned Parenthood's Support for Race-Selective Abortion 

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Obama to Celebrate "Birthday" of Homosexual Movement - Stonewall Riots

By Kathleen Gilbert

WASHINGTON, D.C., June 25, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The White House has confirmed that President Obama has invited leaders of the homosexual lobby to the East Room of the White House on Monday to celebrate the "birthday" of the homosexualist movement. Obama is expected to make an appearance at the event.

The goodwill gesture, which the White House has not publicized, follows growing dissatisfaction from the homosexual lobby towards Obama's handling of various issues.

Activists have decried Obama's failure to aggressively attack the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy banning open homosexuals, both of which Obama promised to overturn. 

Following reports that several homosexualist leaders had received invitations, the White House confirmed the event celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. 

The riots of June 1969 at Stonewall Inn in New York City, where a group of homosexuals fought back against a police crackdown of a homosexual bar, is considered by many to be the formal beginning of the homosexualist movement.

"Next Monday's event is a chance for the White House to recognize the accomplishments of LGBT Americans," White House spokesman Shin Inouye said. "This event was long planned as a way to applaud these individuals during Pride month." 

Obama had also issued a proclamation on June 1 declaring June "LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) Pride Month."

"Due in no small part to the determination and dedication of the LGBT rights movement, more LGBT Americans are living their lives openly today than ever before," read the proclamation. 

"The LGBT rights movement has achieved great progress, but there is more work to be done."

Tim Goeglein, Focus on the Family's vice president of external relations, pointed out the irony of Obama celebrating the Stonewall Riots after refusing to participate in the National Day of Prayer.

"It's disappointing that after several years of celebrating the National Day of Prayer in the East Room at the White House, the day unfortunately in this instance does not get equal billing," said Goeglein.  

"It's a mistake not to be able to commemorate the National Day of Prayer at the highest possible levels, and we're very hopeful that this will be rectified next year." 

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

President Obama Declares June 2009 'LGBT Pride Month' 
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jun/09060208.html

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Abortion Proponents See Red after Senator Proposes "Office of Unborn Children's Health" in Healthcare Bill

By Kathleen Gilbert

WASHINGTON, D.C., June 25, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Abortion proponents are reacting with fury after Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) filed an amendment this month to the President's healthcare reform package authorizing the institution of an Office of Unborn Children's Health.

The Office is one of hundreds of amendments filed so far with the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee as they examine the Affordable Health Choices Act.

Abortion proponents lambasted the amendment by the "anti-choice" Coburn, who is also a medical doctor.

"With so many Americans lacking basic health care, it is unconscionable that Sen. Coburn continues to use legislation on this important issue as a means to continue his ideological attacks," wrote Molly Jackson on NARAL's "Blog for Choice." "Fascinatingly angering" was Amie Newman's description of the Office in a blog post at RH Reality Check.

Cecile Richards, the President of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, referred to Coburn's proposal in venomous terms in a column for the Huffington Post last week.

"We got a small taste of how much fun is in store when more than 30 amendments were filed in the Senate this week to alter the health reform legislation, and further erode women's access to reproductive health care," wrote Richards. "There was a lot of competition for the worst one, but our office favorite was Senator Tom Coburn's amendment to create an 'Office of Unborn Children's Health.'"

"No one's totally sure who would staff it or exactly what they would be doing - but suffice it to say the perennial assault on women's health care is upon us full force."

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Euthanasia Prevention Coalition Provides Package for Lobbying Canadian MPs over Euthanasia Bill

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski

OTTAWA, June 25, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC) has prepared an extensive package that includes information on euthanasia and assisted suicide to be given to Members of Parliament, talking points to share with one's MP, and a questionnaire to be completed during a meeting with an MP.

The package is a national response from the EPC to Bill C-384 - the bill to legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide for people who are physically or mentally suffering or terminally ill. The bill was introduced by Bloc Québécois Member of Parliament Francine Lalonde in May 2009.

This is Lalonde's third attempt to legalize euthanasia in Canada, with her first two attempts, Bill C-407 in June 2005 and Bill C-562 in June 2008, dying on the order table when elections were called.

Bill C-384 would add an exception to the criminal code, ensuring that doctors will not face criminal prosecution if they help a person die who is at least 18 years old and who, after being given or refusing treatment, continues to "experience severe physical or mental pain without any prospect of relief," or suffers from terminal illness.

Alex Schadenberg, the Executive Director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, has prepared an analysis of the new bill.

The bill calls for amendments to subsections 222(7) and subsection 241(2) of the Criminal Code which would allow euthanasia - a deliberate act by one individual with the intention of ending the life of another individual to relieve that person's suffering, where the act is the cause of death; and would allow assisted suicide - the act of intentionally killing oneself with the assistance of another who provides the knowledge, means or both.

Schadenberg points out that Bill C-384 does not restrict legalized euthanasia and assisted suicide (referred to as "intended death") to Canadian citizens, which could make Canada a destination for "suicide tourists" and "suicide clinics."

The bill also does not limit intended death to the terminally ill and it does not define terminal illness, but would allow intended death for people who experience depression or other chronic mental conditions.

Schadenberg is encouraging Canadians to obtain the response package and visit their local MPs to express their concern.

"We have asked our supporters to visit their member of parliament (MP) this summer and explain to them why we oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide and Bill C-384.

"Supporters should consider visiting their elected representative as their democratic right. You should also consider the summer months as the best time to visit your MP because they are available to the community."

"Our primary concern is that euthanasia and assisted suicide directly threatens the lives of the most vulnerable in society. We should not be focused on how to take the lives of the vulnerable but rather how we should be caring for them.

"To legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide represents the right of one person to take the life of another person. Our society should not be going there," Schandenberg concluded.

"Please contact us and ask us to mail you the package. When you have met with your MP we would ask you to send us a report to help us determine the expected vote in parliament this fall." 

To help the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition stop Lalonde's bill in Canada by donating by paypal online, and to order the response package click here.

Read previous LSN coverage:

Canadian MP Introduces Bill to Legalize Euthanasia Again

MP Introduces Euthanasia Bill into Canadian Parliament

Council of Canadians with Disabilities Opposes Euthanasia Bill C-384

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Quebec Court Hears Jesuit School Case against Quebec's Mandatory Religion Course

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski

MONTREAL, June 25, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Loyola Catholic High School has finished presenting its case in court against Quebec's mandatory Ethics and Religious Culture (ERC) program. The case was launched after the Department of Education refused to allow the school to continue teaching its own Catholic-centered religion course.

The private Catholic boys' school objects to the province's mandatory course on the grounds that it conflicts with the school's Catholic character and presents a relativistic world-view of religion.

"Our parents send their sons to us because of our mission and the values that we hold as a Catholic, Jesuit school," wrote Loyola High School principal Paul Donovan in a letter to the Department of Education. "It is our firm conviction that we cannot honestly undertake the program ... without compromising some of those values."

Quebec Education Minister Michelle Courchesne has denied all applications for exemption from the ERC and has made it clear that any religious education program that promotes one religion over any other is not acceptable.

"Part of the mandate of the course is to present religion in an even-handed way," said Daniel Weinstock, a professor who consulted in the drafting of the new program, in a recent MacLeans magazine report. "If a school has as its guiding intention to inculcate children into the Catholic faith, it clearly means a part of their mandate is not to present all religions in an even-handed way."

In a letter to the Montreal Gazette, Paul Donovan defended both Loyola's existing World Religions program as fully competent to fulfill the religious education requirements of its students according to Department of Education guidelines, and the school's motivation for taking the Department of Education to court.

"World Religions has been a course at Loyola for well over 25 years and mandatory for the last 12; we made the decision that no student should graduate from Loyola without a healthy knowledge and respect for other religions," wrote Mr. Donovan.

"We made this decision long before it was a popular thing to do, as it is completely in keeping with our educational philosophy. Every ethical issue and the variety of positions outlined in ERC has been a part of our program for as long as I can remember (which includes my time as a student).

"I would argue that by the time our students graduate, they are able to write any test on world religions or ethics that the ministry would like to create."

Recalling the school's request for exemption from the province's mandated program, Mr. Donovan said, "Our request to the Ministry of Education was simply to allow us to teach all of the competencies, content and goals of the program using a structure and methodology that is more in keeping with our Jesuit and Catholic identity. We were informed that these things cannot be taught "according to ministerial expectation" in a Catholic context. Our question to the courts, since the ministry would not talk with us, is quite simply, Why not?"

"Did Martin Luther King put aside his Baptist Christian roots to stand up for civil rights or did his stand flow out of his beliefs? Did Gandhi put aside his Hinduism to pursue non-violence in a secular way or did his philosophy flow from his spirituality? The common good is not secular; it is common. Can we not pursue these things from within our own traditions and beliefs or do we all need to become secularists first?"

Questioning the presumption of the authors of the ERC that the program would accomplish its laudable goals of "pursuit of the common good and the recognition of others," Mr. Donovan asked, "Are we not permitted to ask that question without being labeled 'fanatics or extremists'? So much for tolerant dialogue. We actually have far more experience with teaching and implementing programs like these than the ministry or any of the philosophers who have devised the ERC."

"Does the ERC's vision of pluralism mean that we must all think in the same reductionist way or can we all explore and contribute to the common good from the uniqueness and beauty in the diversity of our beliefs?" Donovan concluded. 

The Quebec court has not indicated when it will hand down a decision.

Read previous LSN coverage:

Quebec Parents Take School Board to Court Over Compulsory Relativistic Ethics and Religion Course

Quebec Kills Parents' Rights To Choose Religion Instruction

Quebec Mandates Relativistic Ethical and Religious Education For All Students in Province

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New Website Argues Nationalized Health Care Dangerous for Disabled

ARLINGTON, Virginia, June 25, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Students for Life of America's (SLA) Executive Director, Kristan Hawkins, launched a website Wednesday pointing out some of her concerns with nationalized health care.

In particular HealthcareforGunner.com highlights the reasons why Hawkins believes a nationalized health care plan would hurt her infant son, Gunner, who was diagnosed in March with the deadly genetic disease cystic fibrosis (CF).

The website walks readers through Gunner's disease, his current health care plan, and President Obama's proposed nationalized health care system changes. It provides arguments that national health care has failed cystic fibrosis patients in countries like Britain.  

The website states that nationalized health care would hurt baby Gunner because access to the cystic fibrosis specialists, drugs, and tests would be limited. Because of limited funding and long wait lines, argues the site, some of Gunner's care would be rationed or delayed, directly affecting his life expectancy.

"Jonathan, Gunner's father, and I created this website because we want people to understand what we are talking about when we talk about health care reform," said Hawkins. 

"We hear politicians and policy makers reference rationing care but there is never a face to rationing. Gunner can be that face. We want people to know."

Hawkins stated: "As a pro-life activist, I believe everyone should have access to quality healthcare that works to extend the life even those with chronic diseases.

"However, after researching President Obama's plan and what has happened in other nationalized countries, it's clear that nationalized healthcare will not achieve that goal."

For more information on the site, go here. For more information on Students for Life of America and their efforts to train and equip college pro-lifers, visit their site at http://www.studentsforlife.org/.

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Abortion and Contraception Key Tools in Black Genocide: New Film

By Hilary White

June 25, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Planned Parenthood and similar groups have been using abortion and artificial contraception to control and reduce the African-American population of the US in a slow but deliberate and planned "genocide" that has been ongoing for 150 years, a new documentary claims.

The recently released documentary, "Maafa 21," produced by Life Dynamics Incorporated, the Texas-based pro-life investigative group, traces the history of the contraception and abortion industry from its origins in the racist eugenics movement of the early 20th century that un-apologetically targeted the black population and other groups it regarded as inferior.

Planned Parenthood was targeted by Civil Rights movement activists in the 1960s and '70s for its involvement in a "black genocide" that had its origins in the early days of the eugenics movement in the 19th century. The film points out that since 1973, legalised abortion has been specifically aimed at the African-American population and has killed more than "cancer, diabetes, heart disease and gang violence combined."

"Every week, more blacks die in American abortion clinics than were killed in the entire Vietnam War. And the largest chain of abortion clinics in the United States is operated by Planned Parenthood."  

It quotes Frederick Osborn, a founding member of the American Eugenics Society, who said in 1973, "Birth control and abortion are turning out to be the great eugenic advances of our time."

Pastor Stephen Broden, of the Fair Park Bible Fellowship, says in the film that the first "anti-abortion groups" were started by civil rights activists who spoke out against the use of birth control and abortion to eliminate the black race "long before the contemporary pro-life groups of today existed." Support for the abortion movement among African-Americans, he said, came about in response to "powerful influentical African-Americans" who were "willing to sell out the community" and who looked the other way to "advance their own personal political agendas."

The release of the film comes at the same time as it has been revealed that racist eugenics ideas had been shared by the late President Richard Nixon, who endorsed abortion for "mixed race" babies. Dr. Alveda King, Pastoral Associate of Priests for Life and niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said that Nixon's comment is "one more reminder that abortion and racism are inextricably linked."

"Since its inception, the abortion movement has been eliminating people that it considers undesirable - people of colour or those with low income."
 

To watch the trailers:

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oV5eznv6ro

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds_VQMoD5MI

Read the LifeSiteNews.com paper,

"The Inherent Racism of Population Control" (Adobe Reader required)

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Amnesty International Tars Poland over Abortion Access

By Piero A. Tozzi, J.D.

NEW YORK, NY, June 25, 2009 (C-FAM) - Amnesty International recently issued its 2009 survey of what it considers to be the state of human rights throughout the world. Of particular interest to social conservatives is Amnesty's continued campaign to advance a "right" to abortion globally.

In its entry on Poland , Amnesty raps the country for its "Denial of access to abortion for eligible women," citing criticism that Poland received from the Human Rights Council (HRC) in May 2008. It further faulted the government for failing to implement a 2007 ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), Tysi¹c v. Poland, concerning a purported "duty to establish effective mechanisms for ensuring women have access to abortion where it is legal."

Critics charge, however, that both the HRC criticism and the 2007 ECHR decision highlighted by Amnesty underscore growing trends among "human rights" bodies that increasingly seek to impose obligations on countries based on social policy preferences rather than on hard jurisprudential principles.

The Tysi¹c decision, which resulted in a 25,000 euro fine against the government of Poland, concerned a severely myopic woman who claimed she would go blind if she could not get an abortion. Critics charge that her claims were unsupported by the facts and that the court ignored the opinions of eight experts, including gynecologists and opthamologists, who concluded that there was no connection between her pregnancy and her condition.

ECHR Judge Javier Borrego Borrego of Spain, in a spirited dissent, noted that the majority instead relied on the "isolated and muddled" opinion of a single general practitioner in order to achieve the desired outcome. This view was echoed in the International Journal of Human Rights by Jakob Corniedes, who wrote that the Court "simply ... failed to establish any link between the facts and the law."

By trumpeting decisions like Tysi¹c and statements emanating from United Nations agencies to advance a global abortion agenda, Amnesty International has adopted a strategy originally spearheaded by the pro-abortion public interest law firm Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR).

According to Susan Yoshihara of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, at the Women Deliver conference held in London in 2007, Amnesty's "reproductive rights" coordinator Stephanie Schlitt committed the group to partnering with CRR to get abortion recognized as a human right through litigation, in part by arguing that such a right could be found in existing human rights treaties. While conceding that treaties are silent on abortion, Schlitt stated that skillful advocacy could help create recognition of a new "right to abortion" among a "critical mass" of United Nations officials and global jurists.

Prior to 2006, Amnesty was neutral on the subject and took the position that "no generally accepted right to abortion in international human rights law" existed. Since abandoning neutrality, Amnesty has repeatedly intervened in internal debates in countries like Mexico and the Dominican Republic claiming -- incorrectly -- that international law requires countries to permit abortion.

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New UNFPA Annual Report Prioritizes "Reproductive Health"

By Samantha Singson

NEW YORK, NY, June 25, 2009 (C-FAM) - Last week, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) released its annual report for 2008, highlighting the organization's work on maternal health and its "continued efforts to ensure the universal access to reproductive health and the right of all people to decide the number and timing of their children."

Though UNFPA refuses to subject its books to an independent audit and also refuses to share specific budget reporting to its board of directors, its annual report asserts that in 2008, almost half of UNFPA's program expenses went to "reproductive health" programs, at a cost of $165.1 million, up from $146.6 million the previous year. In all five regions, more funds were spent on reproductive health initiatives than any other program.

UNFPA's 2008 activities to help achieve "universal access to reproductive health" include family planning promotion, particularly through "securing reproductive health commodities" such as condoms. UNFPA's report claims that its work has resulted in 80 countries having national budget lines for contraceptives and other reproductive health supplies.

UNFPA steadfastly denies its programs have anything to do with abortion and its report does not mention the word. However, critics at the UN suspect that UNFPA's use of the phrase "maternal mortality" shows adoption of what some call the "motherhood and apple pie approach to abortion rights."  By focusing on creating a new "right" to maternal health, reproductive rights advocates believe they can consolidate gains while avoiding scrutiny by abortion opponents. Then, once they are confident the new right to "maternal health" is established, they can assert the claim that abortion is part of the new right.

UNFPA continued its focus on mental health as an "integral aspect of reproductive health." UNFPA and the World Health Organization published "Mental Health Aspects of Women's Reproductive Health: A Global Review of the Literature" which seek to forge linkages between the biological, psychological and social factors to push for "an integrated approach to mental and reproductive health." In the United States and elsewhere "mental health" has been used radically to expand abortion rights beyond cases where a mother's physical well-being is at issue.

UNFPA's youth advocacy includes supporting "activities that led seven countries to ratify the Ibero-American Convention on the Rights of Youth."  The Convention is a document that worries Latin American social conservatives for references to "sexual and reproductive health" as well as "sexual orientation," which they feared would be used to promote abortion and homosexuality in the region.

Even though the leadership at UNFPA has expressed support for transparency and has spoken in favor of using international accounting guidelines in response to concerns from United Nations member states, the organization has not released detailed accounting of its programs. The 2008 annual report lacks the detailed financial tables commonly found in annual corporate filings, and only provides anecdotal descriptions of agency expenditures.

While the Bush Administration withheld funding from UNFPA over the agency's support of China's population program, which includes forced abortions and sterilizations, the agency can look forward to a cash injection from the Obama administration in 2009. Earlier this year, the United States announced it would reinstate UNFPA funding and pledged $50 million dollars for 2009 -- a figure that would put the US in the agency's top five donor countries alongside the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Norway.

(This article reprinted with permission from http://www.c-fam.org/)  

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LifeSiteNews.com NewsBytes - Obama, Obama and Truth, Obama Health Care Plan

* 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.

Compiled by Steve Jalsevac


OBAMA

Christians, here come the lions - The end of our religious freedom in America could be at hand.
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=100930

Are you freer today than you were before Obama? Survey shows grave concerns by Americans about Big Brother
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=101266

Worried about the involvement of ACORN, the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now, in next year's census.
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jun/17/exclusive-minn-lawmaker-fears-census-abuse/

Majority now cosponsors Ron Paul's Fed audit - Demand for transparency reaches 'crucial benchmark'
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=100855

Ron Paul: President Obama's goal is "economic collapse"
http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=Ron-Paul-President-Obama-s-goal-is-economic-collapse.-.html&Itemid=127

Government Implemented Thousands of New Regulations Costing $1.17 Trillion in 2008
http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=49487

Obama Plans New Huge Regulatory State
http://townhall.com/news/politics-elections/2009/06/17/new_financial_rules_major_changes_for_big,_small

What's Behind Obama's sudden Attempt to Fire the AmeriCorps Inspector General?
Senate sources now believe Obama is firing Walpin over Walpin's investigation of Kevin Johnson, a former NBA star and a prominent supporter of the president.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Whats-behind-Obamas-sudden-firing-of-the-AmeriCorps-inspector-general-47877797.html

Obama's AmeriCrooks and Cronies Scandal by Michelle Malkin
http://townhall.com/Columnists/MichelleMalkin/2009/06/17/obamas_americrooks_and_cronies_scandal

Bailing Out Sotomayor
It seems clear now that the Democratic leadership want to do with the nomination of Judge Sotomayor the same thing they did with the infamous bailout bill. The bill was thousands of pages long yet they demanded Senators vote on it, even without having a chance to read it.

The more Sen. Leahy and his cohorts want to rush this nomination through, the more suspicious it looks. The American people should therefore demand their Senators use every tool at their disposal to ensure that enough time is given. To let the Democratic leadership get away with this because it is "urgent" and "they have the votes to confirm her" is unacceptable.
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/17144/LEGAL/scourt/index.htm

Archbishop O'Brien on Sonia Sotomayor - Deal W. Hudson
http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=Archbishop-O-Brien-on-Sonia-Sotomayor.html&Itemid=127

Retreat into Apathy By Mark Steyn
I get a lot of mail each week arguing that, when folks see the price tag attached to Obama's plans, they'll get angry. Maybe. But, if Europe's a guide, at least as many people will retreat into apathy. Once big government's in place, it's very hard to go back.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MWVkNTBjM2M1NzFhZmY0ZWNjODc5ZWY3YWIwYzE0ZWQ=

Dept. of Justice defends Defense of Marriage Act, Obama wants it overturned
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=16298

Obama Supports Defense of Marriage Act ... but You Wouldn't Know It
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/zoe-ortiz/2009/06/17/obama-supports-defense-marriage-act-you-wouldn-t-know-it

When Are Gay Rights Groups 'Far-Left'? When They Criticize Obama
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/mark-finkelstein/2009/06/18/when-are-gay-rights-groups-far-left-when-they-criticize-obama

OBAMA AND TRUTH

Decoding Obama By Peter Wehner
It is hardly unprecedented for a politician to rely on contradictory, misleading, and intellectually dishonest statements. But in only five months, Barack Obama -- the man who campaigned on a new kind of politics, who ran on hope and against cynicism, and who insisted "words mean something" -- has set a pace that is going to be hard to match, and hopefully hard to sustain.
http://www.eppc.org/publications/pubID.3848/pub_detail.asp

Just Make Stuff Up - President Obama's War on the Truth
In the first six months of the Obama administration, we have witnessed an assault on the truth of a magnitude not seen since the Nixon Watergate years. On matters of history, we now know that much of what President Obama says is either not factual or at least misleading.

Here we see the omnipotent influence of Obama's multicultural creed: Western civilization is unexceptional in comparison with other cultures, and history must be the story of an ecumenical, global shared brotherhood.

Here we see the classic notion of the "noble lie," or the assumption that facts are to be cited or ignored in accordance with the intended aim. In Obama's way of thinking, his receptive youthful audiences are proof of his righteousness and wisdom — and empower him to pontificate on matters he knows nothing about...the real crisis in our brave new relativist world will be that those who demonstrate that he is untruthful will themselves be accused of lying.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OTAyNzFjMmMwOWJjYmFmMTA2ODdjODZmZmQ0MWE1Mzg=&w=MQ==

Obama's Rhetoric is Seductively Narcotic But His Lack of Principle is Disturbing
He is a stout advocate of civility in public discourse but has surrounded himself with political brutes. For him, America is a secular nation, as he told the Turks; or a Muslim one as he implied in his media-acclaimed Cairo speech. It is certain he does not consider it a Christian nation.

The political narcotic that is Barack Obama is not evil, only dangerous. And as the debasement of our political culture and loss of our national security continue, we serve neither ourselves nor our children well to be lulled by it.
http://www.frc.org/op-eds/obamas-rhetoric-is-seductively-narcotic-but-his-lack-of-principle-is-disturbing

Our Historically Challenged President - A List of Distortions
In the recent Cairo speech, Obama's historical allusions were even more suspect. Almost every one of his references was either misleading or incomplete. Obama also stated: "For centuries, black people in America suffered the lash of the whip as slaves and the humiliation of segregation. But it was not violence that won full and equal rights."

With all due respect to our president, this assertion is again not fully accurate. The only thing that ended slavery in the United States was the Civil War, which saw some 600,000 Americans — the vast majority of them white — lost in a violent struggle to ensure that nearly half the country would not remain a slave-owning society. Also, the massive urban riots of the 1960s and 1970s were certainly violent.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OGE1NGY2Y2I1MTExOTlkN2JjMzc0NTQ5YzUzZjYxNmQ=

OBAMA HEALTH CARE PLAN

House Health-Care Bill to Include $600 Billion in Tax Increases
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aqLNecbH0dcg

Obama Health Care Ambition Will Bankrupt Us - Wesley J. Smith
http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2009/06/17/obama-health-care-ambition-will-bankrupt-us/

Obama Health Plan Could Include Assisted Suicide
http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=Obama-Health-Plan-Could-Include-Assisted-Suicide.html&Itemid=127

Obama Supports Tort Reform in Medicine: More Proof of Plan for Government Control of Health Care - Wesley J. Smith
http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2009/06/15/obama-supports-tort-reform-in-medicine-more-proof-of-plan-for-government-control-of-health-care/

Beck on ObamaCare: A Plan Octomom Would Love
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/jeff-poor/2009/06/18/beck-obamacare-plan-octomom-would-love

Obama's Senior Moment
Also at the heart of President Obama's plan is the restriction of services for older people, people 65 and older who by virtue of modern medicine may actually be ten and fifteen years younger in terms of good health than they would have been a generation ago. Alas, they still have higher health risks and costs than younger people. Thus they are going to bear the brunt of the Obama Administration's cost cuts, for 27-30% of Medicaid spending is spent for caring for people at the end of their lives.
http://spectator.org/archives/2009/06/18/obamas-senior-moment

ABC Becomes Pravda: Pushes Obama Health Care From the White House, Rejects Opposition Voices -Wesley J. Smith
http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2009/06/16/abc-becomes-pravda-pushes-obama-health-care-from-the-white-house-rejects-opposition-voices/

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LifeSiteNews.com NewsBytes - Life Issues, Religion, Notre Dame, Climate Change, Homosexuality, Miscellaneous

* 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.

Compiled by Steve Jalsevac

LIFE ISSUES

The Basement of the Culture of Death by Deal W. Hudson 
With a pro-abortion president in the White House, new sub-groups in the broader "culture of death" are coming into view. Anyone who describes herself as pro-choice but has any impulse to protect the unborn is "anti-choice." Thus is revealed the darkest recesses in the "culture of death," when all compassion for the unborn child is reviled in the name of freedom.
http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6212&Itemid=48

The Abortion Movement's best-kept secret
Abortion advocates use skewed statistics and false reporting to give the impresion that pro-lifers are violent. The truth is hard for them to accept.
http://www.speroforum.com/a/19647/The-Abortion-Movements-bestkept-secret

Amnesty Int'l reveals an Achilles' heel of the anti-life lobby
http://spuc-director.blogspot.com/2009/06/amnesty-intl-reveals-achilles-heel-of.html

Scourging at the Tiller By George Neumayr
The fashionable left presides over a culture of death, using man-made legal parchments to mop up its encircling pools of blood. But the blood never comes out; the stain remains and grows more obvious with time.

As Abraham Lincoln said of legal slavery and the inexorable patterns of history that ripple from injustice, "every drop of blood drawn with the [slaveholder's] lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword." Do we really think that every drop of blood drawn with the abortionist's scalpel is exempt from the invisible laws of justice? The longer we permit this scourge to continue the more horrible America's fate will be.

The culture of death which they excuse and extend is essentially Hitlerite: the "final solution" to an inconvenient pregnancy is abortion; the "final solution" to soaring health care costs is euthanasia; the "final solution" to disease is experimenting on embryos; the "final solution" to disability is prenatal screening, etc., etc.

"Every child a wanted child" is a slogan Hitler himself could have devised. Instead, pro-abortion liberals did, and they have been killing "unwanted" children ever since. They are in no position to lecture "the right" on America's violence.
http://spectator.org/archives/2009/06/12/scourging-at-the-tiller

Missing from Tiller's eulogy: The A-word - Jill Stanek
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/?pageId=100680

"Destruction of 50 million students"
Pro-life groups call for pickets at National Education Association's convention in San Diego next month
http://www.calcatholic.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?id=e419ff2b-c5c8-4e92-8c65-0cb2db8c93b

Political party in Mexico airs pro-abortion campaign ads, says Church should keep its nose out of politics
http://www.calcatholic.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?id=979c3c59-6b38-45b8-a089-b2bfe1916926

Ulster sextuplet couple 'rejected advice to abort several foetuses'
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/ulster-sextuplet-couple-lsquorejected-advice-to-abort-several-foetusesrsquo-14338729.html

IVF treats embryos as expendable, bioethicist says, reacting to British story
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=16307

Paying Women to Risk Their Lives To Help Scientists Clone - Wesley J. Smith
http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2009/06/18/paying-women-to-risk-their-lives-to-help-scientists-clone/

It's Raining Stem Cells - Wesley J. Smith
Discarded fallopian tubes from hysterectomies could be a good source of donor stem cells, say researchers.
http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2009/06/17/its-raining-stem-cells/

Biological Colonialism Continues to Increase - Wesley J. Smith
http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2009/06/13/biological-colonialism-continues-to-increase/

Death As Social Responsibility?
http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_myblog&Itemid=127

Montana Doctors Refusing to be Complicit in Assisted Suicide - Wesley J. Smith
http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2009/06/17/montana-doctors-refusing-to-be-complicit-in-assisted-suicide/

Cristina Alarcon: Right to die? How about right to live
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/holy-post/archive/2009/06/10/c.aspx

Assisting Suicide is not "Free Speech" - Wesley J. Smith
http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2009/06/14/assisting-suicide-is-not-free-speech/

Family Research Council Hosts Premiere of 'The Demographic Bomb: Demography is Destiny' -- Demographic Winter, Part II
http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/1441010656.html

RELIGION

The Good News about Our Bishops by Deal W. Hudson
For those who may be lamenting the seeming resurgence of the Catholic Left in the Age of Obama, I would like to point out some good news: This year's spate of bishops' assignments have been quite heartening. Since the beginning of 2009, there have been ten appointments announced by the Vatican. All of them should be encouraging to those who grumble about the "bishops this" and the "bishops that."
http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6309&Itemid=48

The Douglas Kmiec Straw Man Factory Isn't in Recession
Kmiec makes key assumptions that simply don't hold up to any sort of scrutiny. Why is it contrary to the nature of a healthy and honest discussion to say, "I believe you are wrong about this or that, and I'm going to set out to show you why"? Would it be proper to avoid such an approach if the issue were slavery or racism? Kmiec insists it "is necessarily to acknowledge the good faith of the other," but in his recent public discussion with Robert George at the National Press Club, he did not extend that good faith to those bishops (among them Archbishops Chaput and Burke) who believe that Holy Communion should be withheld from pro-abortion politicians, authoritatively declaring, "No prelate should indulge the contrary view, especially since the bishops who have done so seem more aligned with partisan, than salvific, interests." Kmiec continually extends good faith to those publicly contradicting the Faith, while denouncing as partisan agents those Shepherds who (gasp!) think public actions and the Faith cannot be conveniently divorced from one another.
http://insightscoop.typepad.com/2004/2009/06/the-douglas-kmiec-straw-man-factory-isnt-in-recession.html

The Meaning and Future of the Catholic Church - Archbishop Charles J. Chaput
In effect, the structures of today's diocesan life sometimes work to block the very thing they were meant to help: a bishop's direct contact with his people. ...it is easy today for a bishop to delegate his missionary zeal to others, to become a captive of his own administrative machinery. This runs exactly counter to the example of Jesus and the first apostles.
 
In fact, many of the key problems bishops face as shepherds are not programmatic or resource-driven. They are problems of faith. Too often, those of us in the Church -- and sometimes even those of us who are bishops -- simply do not believe deeply and zealously enough.

...We bishops have plans and committees and projects and staffs. All these things are important in their proper place. But at the end of the day, are we apostles, or are we executives? And what do our people really need: managers or pastors?   
http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6215&Itemid=48

Bishops fear new Bill could force schools to take down crucifixes
http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/articles/a0000563.shtml

O'Reilly Highlights Far-Left Threats Against Church
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brad-wilmouth/2009/06/16/oreilly-highlights-far-left-threats-against-church

Vatican Newspaper Editor Digs Deeper Hole by Deal W. Hudson
http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6256&Itemid=48

Vermont Catholic school cancels anti-racism event over affiliate's abortion, gay marriage stance
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=3196

Pope deplores priests' infidelities to their vows
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g5ME9gcm5DDGEKMAwJI0aWgE0H1gD98T325G0

Irish archbishop reveals anger, disgust on reading abuse report
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=3233

Evangelical Editor Picks a Quarrel With his Cohorts
Argues that many, if not most, evangelical churches have lost their way. Instead of sticking with core biblical principles, rich traditions and church-as-community, he says, they promote feel-goodism, technological fads and church-as-entertainment.
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/faith/story/765051.html

In England, family size averages 1.8 children per couple. Compare that to 8.1 children per couple for Muslim immigrant families. The cultural transformation of Europe is driven entirely by Western society abandoning its biblical mandate to "be fruitful and multiply!"
Population experts say the trend is irreversible.
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Perspectives/Default.aspx?id=564868

Austria and China. The Bishops with the Lowest Grades
http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/1338939?eng=y

for two days in a row the Austrian bishops faced severe criticism.
http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/1338939?eng=y

Vatican: Report raises questions about internal debate
http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Religion/?id=3.0.3468546829

The First Apostolic Visitation of the Legionaries of Christ: 1956-1959
He uses "lies, distortions, exaggerations" and acts as if "the ends justify the means." He lacks the spirit of religious poverty, travels first class, eats luxurious food rather than that prepared for the community, spends more time in the houses of women donors than in his own religious houses. He considers his desire for sexual gratification to be a urological problem.
http://cassandrajonesing.blogspot.com/2009/06/first-apostolic-visitation-of_23.html

Nepal: Hindus Say Christians Must Leave
Hindu extremists are demanding that the 1 million Christians of Nepal should leave the country. This comes a week after a bombing at the Catholic cathedral in Kathmandu.
http://www.speroforum.com/a/19553/Nepal-Hindus-say-Christians-must-leave

Secret Chinese Document to Suppress Christians
A secret Communist Party document from Hubei indicates a nationwide campaign to 'normalize'- suppress underground Christian churches.
http://www.speroforum.com/a/19582/Secret-Chinese-document-to-suppress-Christians

On the Trail of the Ark of the Covenant
http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6314&Itemid=48

Mir-Hossein Mousavi has become the repository for the Iranian people's hopes. What seemed impossible last week seems very possible today. But we don't know yet what he believes or intends.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZGZhZDVjMDU3NjZlNTJlMzdjOGEyY2M1NDg0YjdmNTM=

NOTRE DAME

Taking the bishops' temperature on Obama-Notre Dame
The Notre Dame-Obama controversy was talked about everywhere
http://ncronline.org/news/taking-bishops-temperature-obama-notre-dame

Key US bishops: No ecclesiastical sanctions against Notre Dame
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=3255

At the Gates of Notre Dame by Joseph Bottum
We all knew this fight was coming. The Catholic Church and the Catholic colleges have been heading toward a crash since at least 1990. It is a horrifying fact, in many ways, that Roe v. Wade has done more to provide Catholic identity than any other event of the last fifty years. What the bishops should do now is not clear. They lack much of a weapon beyond the pinprick of a sharp letter and the atomic explosions of declaring that an institution is no longer Catholic and, I suppose, issuing an interdict that bans the sacraments on campus. The likelihood of interdiction at Notre Dame this spring is vanishingly small--but the bishops might remember that weapons remain valuable only if they get brandished every once in a while.

They might remember, as well, that the day is coming when they will have to take on a major Catholic university, and it won't be because they much want to. It will be because the ordinary sense of ordinary Catholics compels them to it.
http://www.firstthings.com/article/2009/05/at-the-gates-of-notre-dame-1243346487

Not to Notre Madame
http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6232&Itemid=48

HOMOSEXUALITY, Etc.

The disgraceful autobiography of Rembert Weakland By George Neumayr
It sounds like an over-the-top Tom Wolfe novel: a successor to the apostles conducts an affair with a male graduate student, is accused of "date rape" and emotional harm by said student, and raids the collection basket of the faithful to hush the student up, then, as the bishop settles into a cushy retirement, he pens a "coming out" memoir in praise of homosexual behavior, all the while retaining the canonical rights and privileges of a retired archbishop and receiving pats on the back from fellow clergy.
http://www.catholicworldreport.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=117:pilgrims-regress&catid=36:cwr2009&Itemid=53

Traditional Marriage Rallies Ignored by Media
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/warner-todd-huston/2009/06/15/traditional-marriage-rallies-ignored-media

Cher's daughter Chastity Bono is changing gender from female to male
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009/06/11/2009-06-11_chastity_bono_is_changing_gender_from_female_to_male.html#ixzz0IB8QLDf3&D

State-supported "Transgender Prom" for kids ("22 or younger") in Boston City Hall: Your worst nightmare
http://www.massresistance.org/docs/gen/09b/youth_pride/tranny_prom.html

Conscience Protections Sought for Nebraska Psychologistsis
Responding to concerns that psychologists might be required to counsel homosexual couples about strengthening their relationship, Catholic leaders in Nebraska are asking for conscience protections for psychologists who refuse to treat or refer clients because of religious or moral convictions.
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=16301

Guess who fired Miss California
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=101470

CLIMATE CHANGE, ETC.

The founder of The Weather Channel who wants to sue Al Gore for Global Warming fraud.
It is "an inconvenient truth" for Al Gore that the world is currently experiencing some of the coldest weather in decades.
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/p-j-gladnick/2009/06/15/will-widespread-global-cooling-reports-freeze-al-gore-media-credibilit

"Man is Not a Cancer On the Planet" - Wesley J. Smith
It isn't "bad tactics" that is the problem with the radicalization of naturalism: It is the movement's fundamental and fervent rejection of human exceptionalism.  Once you depose us as the unique and special species, it inevitably unleashes a drive to turn people into mere fauna , which leads directly to the self destructive nihilism against which Ball reacts.
http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2009/06/13/man-is-not-a-cancer-on-the-planet/

Global warming? Temps on an 8-year decline
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=567880

Commandeered by Climate Alarmists
Did the chief executives of a few Western states hijack the staff and resources of their regional coalition, against the will of most of their fellow governors, all to promote their vision for a regional cap-and-trade agreement? It sure looks that way.
http://spectator.org/archives/2009/06/19/commandeered-by-climate-alarmi

State Department Says China to Get U.S. Aid under New Climate Deal
http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=49542

MISCELLANEOUS

Rape is No Joke
Imagine turning on the television to your favorite talk show, and watching the host crack jokes about President Obama's daughters being raped and impregnated at a baseball game during the seventh-inning stretch. Can you even begin to fathom the legitimate outrage that President Obama and his family would feel, or how the liberals would prepare for the inevitable war against the host and conservatives in general?
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/17136/BLI/reports/index.htm

Dear David Letterman By Michelle Malkin
You called the married 45-year-old mother, grandmother and Alaska governor a "slutty flight attendant" on your national TV talk show because she happens to be a tall, beautiful and dynamic public figure who doesn't look, walk or talk the way you think she should.
http://www.gopusa.com/commentary/mmalkin/2009/mm_06121.shtml

Thousands of young women have been enslaved in Europe and the US because of permissive Western attitudes. 
http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/the_unfinished_emancipation/

Calvin Klein is under fire for a sexually explicit new billboard that's caught the eyes -- and turned the stomachs -- of many people who have seen it in New York.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,526491,00.html

Philippe Dufresne, CHRC and Ezra Levant on Canadian Human Rights Commissions. 12 minute video of excellent program!
http://watch.ctv.ca/news/power-play/friday-june-12/#clip182575

Human Rights Commission says it should probe online hate messages
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/06/11/internet-hate011.html

Conservatives Almost Double Liberals in U.S.
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000010247.cfm

Gallup: Conservatives are largest ideological group in America
http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_myblog&Itemid=127

Painting the Right as an undifferentiated blob of evil - By Jonah Goldberg
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YmM1MWY2NTljNWQwNjUzYzFjMGI3YTIwNTE0NDc1ODE=

Republicans are losing the demographic war.
Republican strategist Mike Murphy says the GOP is in for an electoral Ice Age.
http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=Republicans-are-losing-the-demographic-war..html&Itemid=127

Time for 'new world order': Brazilian President
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.db1c3a82d0827b5cdf05eea3ba146af8.511&show_article=1

A reality check about teens and virtual reality
The virtual worlds teens enter when they're texting under the table (or blogging, posting pictures online, leaving comments on people's Web pages, etc.) is harming them as much as, if not more than, it's helping them. Teens' "totally connected life" is shortening their attention spans, narrowing their worldview, damaging their ability to communicate, and leading some down a very dangerous path.
http://insightscoop.typepad.com/2004/2009/06/a-reality-check-about-teens-and-virtual-reality.html

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