Thursday July 24, 2008

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Last Abortion Clinic in South Dakota Closes after Law Requires Patients be Informed of Possible Side Effects

SIOUX FALLS, SD, July 24, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - On Monday, July 21, eight women arrived at the Planned Parenthood office in Sioux Falls in South Dakota for abortions, but were instead met with locked doors and a hand-written note indicating the only abortion clinic in South Dakota was closed.

Planned Parenthood closed its doors after their abortionists, who are flown in from other states, refused to work under the new law that went into effect last Friday. The law orders abortionists to inform patients of the humanity of their babies and that the procedure could affect their mental health two hours before the abortion is set to be performed. The law also provides that abortionists can be sued if they do not comply.

This law was the brain-child of attorney Harold Cassidy and passed with the help of determined pro-life leaders Dr. Alan and Leslee Unruh, who pushed for the regulation in the face of opposition, even from some in the pro-life movement. The Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals cleared the way for the law's enactment last week.

It remains unclear if the Planned Parenthood office has permanently ceased the practice of abortion. However, several women who were scheduled for abortions this week went to a pro-life center instead, where some have reportedly changed their minds about having abortions.

"The closing of this clinic is historic in that South Dakota is, for the time being, the first abortion-free state," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "It didn't take the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and it didn't take a new President or a new Supreme Court. It took the courageous determination of pro-life heroes like Mr. Cassidy and the Unruhs who saw an opportunity to save lives and pressed on until their dream became victory."

"We applaud their efforts and encourage other states to emulate their campaign," said Newman.

The Unruhs are currently involved in the Vote Yes For Life Campaign, which would effectively ban abortions in South Dakota, putting the finishing nail in the coffin of the abortion industry there.

Text of the new law and links to the court decision can be found at www.voteyesforlife.com

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Sex-Selective Abortions Happening on Wide Scale in United States: Population Research Institute

FRONT ROYAL, VA, July 24, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Steven Mosher, president of the Population Research Institute (PRI), says that America has a hidden problem of sex discrimination, but a form of discrimination that feminists refuse to address.

In PRI's latest YouTube video, Mosher decries the practice, common in East and South Asian countries, of sex-selective abortion. According to the United Nations, this practice has already claimed the lives of over 100 million girls worldwide. The video goes on to cite a recent study published by the National Academy of Sciences, saying that many American groups, particularly those of Asian descent, have the same skewed birthrates as found in their country of origin. Many of the sexist customs and practices that have led to these skewed birthrates are being imported into the United States.

In China, India, and other Asian countries, there is a strong preference for boys, Mosher says. This combination of a preference for boys and modern technology - the ultrasound machine - has proven deadly for millions of baby girls. The video goes on to detail exactly how serious the problem is, and how it can only be explained by the selective abortion of baby girls.

"Where are the feminists when you need them?" asks Mosher. According to Mosher, the widespread slaughter of unborn girls has failed to raise concerns in the feminist community. American feminists, he alleges, are so wedded to abortion-on-demand that they are unwilling to oppose any abortion, however egregious. This is true, he says, even when the practice involves the killing of hundreds of millions of girls for the sole reason that they are girls.

"I challenge the National Organization of Women," says Mosher, "and other feminist groups, to join us in the battle to ban this terrible form of sex discrimination that is killing so many unborn baby girls. Their continued silence only facilitates the killing."

PRIs new video is available at www.youtube.com/colinpri1, or on PRIs web site: www.pop.org.

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Internet Service Providers Unite to Shut Down Child Pornographers and Predators

NEW YORK, July 24, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Last week, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) AT&T and AOL-Time Warner joined Time Warner, Sprint, and Verizon in shutting down child pornography Web sites from their servers. The announcement came through New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

Time Warner, Sprint, and Verizon have donated $1.1 million to the Attorney General's ongoing child pornography investigations.

Officials initiated an eight-month investigation into child pornography on the Internet and found 88 different news groups that were devoted to child porn. All 88 of these news groups are being shut down by the aforementioned cable/Internet providers.

Child pornographers and pedophiles have been dealt two major defeats in the past six months, as the U.S. Supreme Court recently upheld a federal ban on child pornography, and now, as cable providers have begun removing such sites from servers. In the past, ISPs have refused to take action against blatant purveyors of child pornography, and neither federal nor state prosecutors have tried to force ISPs to act.

The New York Attorney General's office has created a new Web site, www.nystopchildporn.com, which provides details on which ISPs have signed agreements with his office to eradicate access to child porn on their servers.

Matt Barber, Director of Cultural Affairs with Liberty Counsel, commented, "This is an encouraging initial first step, spearheaded by some of the world's leading ISPs. They are to be commended for moving in the right direction. Hopefully, other ISP's will follow suit and take similar measures to protect children.

"Still," he continued, "much more needs to be done. ISPs must take the logical next step and begin blocking the very adult obscenity which, through the law of diminishing returns, often leads to consumption of child pornography. Research has established that, like a gateway drug, adult obscenity can ultimately lead to child abuse. Internet obscenity, at every level and every stage of production, destroys those it touches. Men, women, children, families and larger society are demonstrably harmed by such smut. It's simply undeniable."   

Liberty Counsel is encouraging concerned citizens to "let these companies know you appreciate their actions":
 
AT&T  (210) 821-4105

Time Warner (212) 484-8000

AOL  Email Feedback
http://feedback.aol.com/rs/rs.php?sid=aolcom

Sprint Email Feedback  (800) 877-4646
http://search.sprint.com/inquiraapp/contact.jsp 

Verizon Email Feedback 
http://www22.verizon.com/Residential/Support/contactus/

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Under Influence of Harry Potter, Kids are Being Drawn into the "Language and Mechanics" of the Occult

"Sorcery and witchcraft have become the hottest themes in youth culture and education for the first time in modern Western civilization."

By Hilary White

JULY 24, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A book that gives instructions to teenage girls on witchcraft sells 150,000 copies. Films and television shows about teenagers and young people involved in witchcraft and the occult begin to proliferate. Bookshops begin to carry large sections on "esoterica" next to the religion and philosophy sections. And then Harry Potter bursts on the scene and becomes the best selling children's book of all time.

This progression is described by Linda P. Harvey a Christian and publisher of Mission: America, a quarterly Christian newsletter and Internet web site, who claims that in the last number of years there has been an unprecedented explosion of occult material aimed directly at children and teenagers. However, anyone who objects that Potter and other witchcraft and magic-oriented children's fare draws kids into the world of the occult, she says, are dismissed as giving in to "pure hysteria".

As of June 2008, the seven book Potter series has sold more than 400 million copies and the books have been translated into 67 languages. The phenomenal success of the books has made their British author, J.K. Rowling, the highest-earning novelist in history. Three years after Harry Potter, Harvey writes, a review of television programs, major children's book publishers, and popular youth websites, "should more than confirm our initial warnings."

"Sorcery and witchcraft have become the hottest themes in youth culture and education for the first time in modern Western civilization."

Harvey is the author of an influential article, "Heresy in the Hood: Teen Witchcraft in America" published in 1999. Since the publication of that article, she says, the number of self-professed young witches and occult practitioners has grown markedly.

The kids are taking a cue from the homosexual activist handbook, equating any criticism of their interests as "hate." Similarly, such rhetoric is pushing the adult publishing and bookselling world to proliferate books and materials on the occult. "Without protectors, the profit-driven media is both responding to interest in witchcraft and creating it in a rapid feedback loop," Harvey writes.

Harvey cites plenty of television and film infiltration as well. Mentioning the wildly successful Buffy the Vampire Slayer series, Harvey warns that "all but the most discerning" parents can be beguiled by the tongue-in-cheek nature of the shows on offer. Following in the footsteps of Buffy, which featured a lesbian witch as a main character, is Charmed and Sabrina the Teenage Witch - all featuring hip, well-dressed teens with special powers that set them apart, and above, their peers.

Despite the usual criticisms of the media-savvy left, Christian concerns over the proliferation of occult offerings for young people, are not the objections of "unenlightened dullards," she says.

"Children are being lovingly primed to embrace paganism by movies, games, TV, the internet and countless sorcery-friendly books."

Even a brief internet search will reveal an entire book publishing sub-industry of occult materials aimed at teens. They abound on bookshop shelves and are being published not only by small independents but by large mainstream publishing houses. Large chain bookshops like Indigo in Canada and Borders in the US, and WHSmith and Blackwell's in the UK, routinely feature large sections on the occult with plenty of practical how-to manuals.

"Spell Craft for Teens; a Magickal Guide to Writing and Casting Spells," published in 2002, offers "fifty-five chants and incantations for young adults, a twelve-step guide to casting a magick circle, an in-depth look at the moon phases, along with the magical properties of colors, herbs, and charms. It also addresses how to tell parents about your interest in Wicca and how to deal with gossiping classmates." It can be bought at any major book outlet in the UK including Blackwell's, Waterstone's, WHSmith and at Amazon.co.uk.

With titles like "Be a Teen Goddess!: Magical Charms, Spells, and Wiccan Wisdom for the Wild Ride of Life," the books address the psychological needs of teenagers to find an identity independent of their families.

Others play upon the rootlessness of post-modern society by offering a connection to an imaginary ancient pre-Christian European cultural heritage. The Teen Spell Book; Magick for Young Witches," says, "Teens who desire personal empowerment, a connection to old traditions, or an alter-native spirituality will be enchanted with this definitive volume of spells and Wiccan lore written especially for teenagers."

They appeal directly to specific teen issues. The Teen Spell Book offers to teach spells to "get on the team," "deal with teasing," "free yourself from depression," "attain a perfect complexion" and "make colleges beg for you."

Father Thomas J. Euteneuer, the Catholic priest who heads Human Life International, told an audience in 2007 he had been involved in exorcism ministry for five years.

He warns that books geared to children and adolescents indoctrinate, or socialize "young souls in the language and mechanics of the occult." Harry Potter in particular, he said, introduces the elements of witchcraft "in a glorified state" so that "our kids' minds are being introduced to and imbued with occult imagery."

HLI Head Says Harry Potter Indoctrinates Young Souls in Language and Mechanics of Occult
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/nov/07110611.html

Potter Author JK Rowling Equates Christians Who Avoid Potter with Islamic Fundamentalists
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/mar/08031204.html

Harry Potter Author Gets Quebec Anti-homophobia Award
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/may/08052005.html

Harry Potter Fanatics Lash Out at Pope, Michael O'Brien, LifeSiteNews Over Criticism of Novels
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/aug/07082303.html

Harry Potter and "the Death of God" - by Michael D. O'Brien
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/aug/07082003.html

Harry Potter Fan WebSite Lauds Rowling Stating a Main Character Is Gay
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/oct/07102204.html

US Christian Groups React Strongly to Harry Potter Books’ Homosexual Character
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/oct/07103003.html

Vatican's Chief Exorcist Repeats Condemnation of Harry Potter Novels
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/mar/06030104.html

Canada Opens First “Hogwarts” Witchcraft School
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jan/06011809.html

Harry Potter Feature Page:
http://www.lifesite.net/features/harrypotter/

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Dr. Henry Morgentaler and "the Goddess with the Golden Breasts"

January interview gave intimate insights into the mind of Henry Morgentaler

By John Jalsevac

July 24, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - "My God is a Goddess with golden breasts, dripping milk and honey. A suckling baby am I, nursing at the golden breast." So writes Dr. Henry Morgentaler, Canada's father of abortion, in one of the poems found in his self-published book of poetry, "Freedom is my Passion."

With Morgentaler having burst once again onto the public stage in recent weeks, after being awarded Canada's highest civilian honor, the Order of Canada, many people are questioning who exactly Henry Morgentaler is, and what his legacy has been.

While news coverage of the abortion doctor over the years has typically limited itself to his remarks on his role in securing abortion-on-demand in Canada, in recent months there has been an increasing emphasis on exploring Morgentaler the man, catalyzed by the release late last year of the intimate documentary "Henry."

One particularly revealing interview was aired this past January, on the day before the 20th anniversary of the decriminalization of abortion in Canada. In the hard-hitting program, CBC interviewer Evan Solomon delved into some of the more controversial personal details of Morgentaler's life, particularly his relationships with women. It was during that interview that Morgentaler recited his poem, "Goddess With Golden Breasts."

Morgentaler is well know for being a philanderer, having been married three times, and having had affairs with many other women while married. "I'd say my whole life has been devoted to doing things to get me the love of women," the abortionist candidly admitted in one clip in "Henry."

When asked why he has had so many relationships over the years, Morgentaler - who told Solomon later in the interview that he has been receiving Freudian therapy for "a long time" - responded: "What explains it is my inordinate need to be loved by women.

"Some time along my emotional development," he continued, "I got the impression that my mother didn't love me, because there was a younger baby that she devoted a lot of attention to, which happens in many families I guess. I personally believe that she neglected me and that she didn't love me. So, to be loved by women was emotionally to me very important."

"Many people describe you as a womanizer," pressed Solomon. "Do you think that's fair?"

"Well, I think it's reasonably fair, yes," responded Morgentaler. "I like women. And there's no reason why I should apologize for that."

"Even for cheating on your wives?"

"Well, I'm not very proud of that," the abortionist answered. "It's part of my personality. I can't say I led a perfect life. But on the whole I think I led a very good life."

Solomon then observed that to some people there might appear to be a contradiction between Morgentaler's treatment of women as individuals, and his declarations of love and concern for the female sex on the whole.

"I just asked," explains Solomon, "because so much of your life is about women. And you talk about the love of women, protecting them. And yet, some might see that as respect for women as well. And that kind of life may not have exhibited the kind of respect that your practice exhibited. How do you reconcile those two things Henry?"

In response the abortionist admitted that the two apparently contradictory attitudes towards women may very well be irreconcilable.

"That's a difficult question. But in my mind I reconcile that quite well. But maybe I deluded myself. Maybe there was an inconsistency there," he said.

Solomon then switched subjects, bluntly asking the man who has become one of Canada's most well-known and notorious figures, "Do you think that one of the drivers for your life was an ego, a need to be the center of attention?"

Morgentaler responded candidly. "Yeah, probably yes. Being the center of attention validates you. It means I'm important. I do important things. I can be recognized for that. And yeah, that was like a leitmotif in most of my life."   

Ironically, the abortion doctor, who says he has personally ended the lives of countless thousands of unborn children, answered questions about his recent close brush with death after a stroke and a heart operation, by saying that he feels like "a newborn baby."

"I'm sort of a newborn baby now," he said. "Basically, I enjoy being alive."

Solomon then pressed Morgentaler on the question of how the holocaust survivor, who had seen so much evil and death in the Nazi death camps, then went on "to fight for a cause like abortion, which many people believe is a form of killing. How do you choose, of all the areas to make a difference, that one?"

"It was logical for me, as a survivor of concentration camps," responded the abortionist, "to offer help that women needed to protect their life, the health of their future fertility, and it was almost like a natural progression."

Morgentaler closed off the interview by reading "Goddess with Golden Breasts," a poem which Solomon described as being deeply revealing of who Morgentaler is. The poem is reproduced in full (without the line breaks that appear in the printed text) below:

"My God is a Goddess with golden breasts, dripping milk and honey. A suckling baby am I, nursing at the golden breast. The whole world is one big breast, and I am the suckling. I lie in the Caribbean sun, and the pores of my skin suck in the rays of the sun. I lie in the warm sea, and the pores of my skin suck in the softness and caresses of the water. The sea is a sea of milk, the mountains are giant nipples. The earth in splendor is a mother's body, producing milk.

"Sometimes I would like to devour the breast that is feeding me, to tear at the nipple and bite it, but could not stand losing it. It feels so good to suck and suck and suck. Sometimes I feel that the nipple drips poison that goes straight to my heart and by a magic power keeps me from growing up, growing out of needing the breast. I spit and reject the poison milk. I hit and curse the breast and mother. I smash the goddess to bits, and then I look at myself, helpless, small and hungry and cry. And the mother goddess appears, the golden nipples full of milk and honey and I suck again, and drink again, and again I'm a little suckling."    

To see the complete CBC program with Evan Solomon, see:
http://www.cbc.ca/sunday/2008/01/012708_5.html      

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Neurologist Calls Withholding Hydration from Patients in "Vegetative State" "Euthanasia by Omission"

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski

VATICAN CITY, July 24, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Withholding artificial nutrition and hydration from a patient in a persistent vegetative state amounts to "euthanasia by omission," said the former president of the World Federation of Catholic Medical Associations, Dr. Gian Luigi Gigli.

Dr. Gigli, a professor of neurology at the University of Udine, Italy, spoke to the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, yesterday about the case of an Italian woman who has been in a vegetative state for 16 years.

The woman, now 37, was injured in a car accident in 1992. She needed a respirator for three months, but since then has been breathing on her own. She opens and closes her eyes but otherwise shows no signs of awareness.

Milan's civil Court of Appeals ruled July 9 that nutrition and hydration could be withheld because of the "extraordinary duration" of her vegetative state; however on Tuesday the Milan procurator general announced he was taking the court's ruling to the Supreme Court, which could block removal of the feeding tubes for up to one year.

At the International Congress on Life-Sustaining Treatments and Vegetative State: Scientific Advances and Ethical Dilemmas, held in Rome in 2004, Dr. Gigli stated that the removal of nutrition and hydration from people in a vegetative state who are not otherwise dying is done only to end their lives and is in fact euthanasia. He stated that the removal of nutrition and hydration to intentionally end a life is the Trojan horse to active euthanasia.

Dr. Gigli said, "After society rejected euthanasia under Nazism, we are now accepting euthanasia for freedom or compassion or pain or choice. I will fight this as long as I live and with all of my strength."

He continued, "If we open the door to nutrition and hydration removal, something else will come. It will make life a disposable good and life will be only a good based on its quality. If we accept this we will accept that there is a life not worthy of life. It will lead to the notion - 'wouldn't it be better, faster and more compassionate to give them an injection'."

In a Zenit interview (http://www.zenit.org/article-12384?l=english), Dr. Gigli warned that the vegetative state is a "pejorative term" which implies lack of humanity.

"The patient, alternating sleep with wakefulness, does not give answers that seem to make sense. It is not a terminal illness and does not require machines to guarantee vital functions."

"Hydration and nutrition must be considered as ordinary and proportionate means for the objective that they intend, i.e. to nourish the patient. As such, they are morally obligatory, even if they are administered through a tube."

"The fact that there is a high probability that the patient will not recover consciousness cannot justify the interruption of basic care, including hydration and nutrition. Otherwise, there is euthanasia by omission," Dr. Gigli concluded.

Related LifeSiteNews.com article:

Report from the International Congress: "Life-Sustaining Treatments and Vegetative State": Scientific Advances and Ethical Dilemmas"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/apr/040420a.html

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Anglican Communion Suffering Spiritual Alzheimer's and Ecclesial Parkinson's: Vatican Observer

By Hilary White

CANTERBURY, July 24, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Anglican Communion is suffering from a form of spiritual Alzheimer's and ecclesial Parkinson's disease, said a Vatican official in a speech that was described by Damien Thompson, a British Catholic journalist as "one of the rudest things a Vatican prelate has said to Anglicans since the dawn of the ecumenical era."
 
Ivan Cardinal Dias told the Anglican bishops gathered at the Lambeth Conference that the current state of chaos and disunity, brought on by the member churches from the wealthy western nations abandoning their Christian moral and scriptural basis, is damaging Christian credibility in the wider world.

Cardinal Dias told the assembled bishops, "Much is spoken today of diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. By analogy, their symptoms can, at times, be found even in our own Christian communities."

"For example, when we live myopically in the fleeting present, oblivious of our past heritage and apostolic traditions, we could well be suffering from spiritual Alzheimer's. And when we behave in a disorderly manner, going whimsically our own way without any co-ordination with the head or the other members of our community, it could be ecclesial Parkinson's."

In his speech, Cardinal Dias decried the "culture of death" of abortion, divorce, and "materialism and moral aberrations, which suffocate the joy of living and lead often to profound psychic depression."

He noted the damage done to the evangelical work of Christians by the Anglican crisis. Indeed, what has been called the "slow-motion train wreck" of the Anglican Communion, has been at the forefront of international religious news since the consecration in 2003 by the American branch of an unrepentant active homosexual as bishop of New Hampshire.

"When [Christians] are of one mind and heart notwithstanding their diversity, their missionary thrust is indeed enhanced and strengthened. But, when the diversity degenerates into division, it becomes a counter-witness which seriously compromises their image and endeavours to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ," Dias said.

"The world today needs Christian apologists, not apologisers," the Cardinal continued. He cited the examples of towering 19th and 20th century Christian defenders John Henry Cardinal Newman, G.K. Chesterton, Hilaire Belloc, and C.S. Lewis. Apologists should live in the world, but they should not be of the world, he said.

The Times religion correspondent, Ruth Gledhill says that Dias is one of the Vatican leadership known to support the reception of Anglicans into communion with Rome. Traditionally minded Anglicans are reported to be in talks with Rome to organise a means by which they can be received into the Catholic Church en masse while retaining their liturgical traditions.

Many observing the meeting, held at the University of Kent's Canterbury campus until August 4, believe that this fourteenth Lambeth Conference will be the last. The reports of "chaos" and disillusionment growing from the meeting support the theory that the failure of the bishops realistically to address the problems of growing secularism in their church will spell the end of the Anglican Communion as a unified global religious body. At the moment, with over 77 million followers around the world, Anglicanism claims the place of the world's third largest Christian denomination.

Five of the 38 Anglican primates from around the world, as well as the bishops of the diocese of Sydney, Australia, have boycotted the Lambeth Conference over their opposition to the growing acceptance of homosexuality and other secularist incursions. These five represent the provinces of Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and the Southern Cone of the Americas. These provinces represent the great majority of the 77 million practising Anglican communicants.

In June, 1148 lay and clergy delegates, including 291 Anglican Bishops, met at an alternate conference in Jerusalem to discuss a way forward for the Anglican Church. These delegates collectively represented three fourths of the world's Anglican laity.

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Congressional Olympic Resolution Urges China to Halt Forced Abortion

WASHINGTON, July 24, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - With just two weeks to go to the Olympics, the House Foreign Affairs Committee has unanimously approved legislation calling on the Chinese government to immediately "end abuses of human rights of its citizens" in order to ensure that the Olympic games take place "in an atmosphere that honors the Olympic traditions of freedom and openness."

Rep. Chris Smith, the lead Republican cosponsor of the bill (HRes 1370), urged his colleagues to support the resolution and added two amendments: one which calls on the Chinese government to abandon its coercive population control policy that includes forced abortion and a second amendment which urges the release of at least 734 political prisoners.

"China's coercive population control program has imposed unspeakable violence, pain and humiliation on hundreds of millions of Chinese women, many of whom suffer lifelong depression as a consequence.  Massively violated by the state, it is no wonder more women commit suicide in China than anywhere else in the world," said Smith, who held more than 25 hearings on human rights abuses in China as chairman of House human rights committees.

"As a direct result of the government's one child policy, tens of millions of girls are missing today - dead due to sex selection abortions - creating a huge gender disparity.  The lost girls of China is gendercide.  With its heavy reliance on forced abortion, involuntary sterilization and ruinous fines for illegal children, the policy, in effect since 1979, constitutes one of the greatest continuous crimes against humanity in human history," he said.

"My amendment seeks to bring some additional focus on the barbaric, cruel and hideous crime of China's coercive population control program," Smith said.

"Human rights are indivisible," continued Smith.  "We need to emphasis all human rights violations. This resolution is a comprehensive listing of those violations whether it be against the Uighurs, the Tibetans, religious liberties, political prisoners. It seems to me that when you have the gravest atrocity - and I believe it is the largest violation of women's rights in the history of human kind - we need to robustly combat it, and impress upon the Chinese government that they must abandon their coercive population control policy."

Smith also offered an amendment urging the release of political dissidents many whose only crime is advocating religious freedom and democracy.

"A couple of weeks ago Frank Wolf and I presented a list of 734 political prisoners to the Chinese government.  The list has been very carefully vetted by the Congressional- Executive Commission on China.  With the Olympics coming up, the Executive Branch, and President Bush, in particular, needs to raise the cases of these individuals so that they can find freedom and be let out of the horrific Lao Gai prison system where many have been tortured and beaten."

Both Smith amendments were adopted and the bill is expected to be on the floor next week.

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California Public Guardian Attempts to Dehydrate Woman to Death over Wishes of Family

Commentary by Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

FRESNO, CA, July 24, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Janet Rivera, 46, is the center of a new battle over the ethics of intentionally dehydrating a person to death.

Rivera has been in coma for the past two years, resulting from a heart attack.

Rivera's husband was recently replaced as her public guardian, after he experienced medical problems. The appointed Fresno County Public Guardian, David Hadden, decided that because she is unlikely to recover, Rivera's fluids and food would be removed. This decision was against the wishes of the Rivera family and Janet's husband.

Yesterday, Judge Debra Kazanjian granted an injunction and ordered medical staff to resume fluids and food for Rivera through a tube and to provide ventilator support, if necessary.

The case will return to court next week when a hearing will determine who has the right to make medical decisions for Rivera.

This is a very important case.

If the courts decide that the Public Guardian has the right to make medical decisions for Rivera, and that the Public Guardian can dehydrate Rivera to death against the wishes of the family, then everyone who does not have a legal advanced directive will be able to be killed by dehydration.

Remember, Rivera is not otherwise dying; she is cognitively disabled and unlikely to return to a cognitive condition. If people who are cognitively disabled can be dehydrated to death, then the lives of many people with cognitive disabilities will be directly threatened when they experience significant health problems.

To express concern:

Fresno Public Guardian/Public Administrator/Coroner
David M. Hadden M.D.'s office number
559-268-0139

FRESNO COUNTY
David M. Hadden, M.D.
P.O. Box 11867
Fresno, CA 93775

FAX (559) 445-3370
OFFICE (559) 445-3202

See the ABC coverage of the story: http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=news/local&id=6280841

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UN Secretary General Nominates Abortion Advocate for Top Human Rights Post

By Samantha Singson

NEW YORK, NY, July 24, 2008 (C-FAM) - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is expected to name abortion advocate Navanethem "Navi" Pillay of South Africa as the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) this week, despite reservations from the United States.

According to the New York Times, the United States has privately raised concerns about Pillay's nomination to the top human rights post because of her strong support for abortion. Pillay is a founding member of the international non-governmental organization Equality Now, a group that has spearheaded campaigns for abortion access in Poland and Nepal. Pillay remains on the board of the organization which receives major funding from pro-abortion foundations, including George Soros' Open Society Institute and the Ford Foundation.
    
In her interview with the Judicial Service Commission in 1994 when she was being considered for membership to South Africa's Constitutional Court, Pillay expressed concern that including a "right to life" article in the South African Constitution would create problems in relation to abortion. "This is the one clause [the pro-life lobby] are going to latch on to for their cause," Pillay said.
     
During that interview, Pillay also expressed concern that the constitutional article did not define whether or not such a right begins at conception, leaving it "open to litigation" which could potentially threaten women's "reproductive rights." When pressed on why she would be so opposed to a reasoned debate on the issue, she responded with the question, 'Why have not other rights been put in there as patently as this one which would be the woman's right to, reproductive rights, for instance?'"
    
Pillay became prominent for her role as presiding judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, a post she occupied from 1995 until her appointment to the International Criminal Court in 2003. Pillay has been a favorite among women's groups and is consistently endorsed by feminist NGOs for top level jobs at the UN, including Secretary General. Radical feminist NGOs first endorsed Pillay for the High Commissioner on Human Rights post four years ago, but the job went to Canada's Louise Arbour.
    
The High Commissioner is the principal UN official with responsibility for human rights and is accountable to the Secretary-General. According to UNHCR definition, the High Commissioner is charged with the task of leading the international human rights movement by acting as a "moral authority" and coordinating and streamlining human rights within the UN system. This would include all of the human rights treaty monitoring bodies which have increasingly overstepped their mandates to pressure more than 60 sovereign nations on their abortion laws in recent years.
    
Critics are concerned that Pillay will adopt the same positions on social issues as her predecessors, Canada's Louise Arbour and Ireland's Mary Robinson. Both Arbour and Robinson support abortion as a human right. Both also enthusiastically endorse the "Yogyakarta Principles," a document claiming homosexual rights as binding human rights, including same-sex "marriage," adoption by homosexual couples and state-funded sex change operations.
    
A formal announcement from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Pillay's nomination is expected this week.

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Appeals Court Approves City Council Ban on Prayer 'In Jesus' Name'

WASHINGTON, July 24, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals today ruled that the city council of Fredericksburg, Virginia had proper authority to require "non-sectarian" prayer content and exclude council-member Rev. Hashmel Turner from the prayer rotation because he prayed "in Jesus' name."

Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, writing the decision, said: "The restriction that prayers be nonsectarian in nature is designed to make the prayers accessible to people who come from a variety of backgrounds, not to exclude or disparage a particular faith."

Ironically, she admitted Turner was excluded from participating solely because of the Christian content of his prayer.

Gordon James Klingenschmitt, the former Navy chaplain who faced court-martial for praying "in Jesus name" in uniform (but won the victory in Congress for other chaplains), defended Rev. Hashmel Turner:

"The Fredericksburg government violated everybody's rights by establishing a non-sectarian religion, and requiring all prayers conform, or face punishment of exclusion."

He continued, "Justice O'Connor showed her liberal colors today, by declaring the word 'Jesus' as illegal religious speech, which can be banned by any council who wishes to ignore the First Amendment as she did. Councilman Rev. Hashmel Turner should run for mayor, fire the other council-members, and re-write the prayer policy. And if he appeals to the Supreme Court, I pray he will win, in Jesus' name."

A full text copy of the decision is here:
http://pacer.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinion.pdf/061944.P.pdf

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New Book Exposes Eugenics Mandate in Reproductive Rights Agenda

Part III: Feminist "Reform" Makes Population Control More Coercive

See Part I: New Book Exposes Eugenics Mandate in Reproductive Rights Agenda  http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jul/08071007.html )

Part II: New Book Cites US and UN-Manufactured Scares over Population Growth
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jul/08071709.html

Susan Yoshihara
     
July 24, 2008 (C-FAM) - A new book by Columbia University professor Matthew Connelly documents the way the "reproductive rights" leaders at the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) rose to power by exposing the abuses of the population control movement, but then supported even larger and more coercive programs.
    
In 1973, twenty years after formally establishing global population control, the movement's leaders believed it was spinning beyond their control. In response to bad press about out-of-control sterilization campaigns in India and elsewhere followed by a groundswell of popular backlash, John D. Rockefeller was persuaded to re-brand the movement from a "war" on population to a campaign for women's rights. Likewise, General William Draper's Population Crisis Committee sponsored the "feminist unity" platform at the 1974 World Population Conference in Bucharest.
    
In Connelly's view, "reproductive rights" advocates exploited protests against population control beginning with the Bucharest conference and managed to gradually take over the movement by the time of the UN's 1994 population conference in Cairo. Connelly believes the feminist focus on abortion rights essentially returned the movement to Margaret Sanger's original vision of eugenics, which maintained that poor women needed government-funded birth control and abortion because they could not be left alone to make their own choices about fertility.
    
According to Connelly, it is for this reason that UNFPA and IPPF supported China's one child policy "with eyes wide open" from its inception in 1980.

"As the IPPF and UNFPA stepped up support, China's program became ever more coercive," he says, citing eyewitness reports of women "handcuffed, tied with ropes or placed in pig baskets," while "every day hundreds of fetuses arrive[d] in the morgue."

IPPF officials, "untroubled" by the reports, reassured donors that Chinese government policies were not compulsory, even during a campaign that resulted - in 1983 alone - in 16 million women and 4 million men undergoing mandatory sterilization, 18 million IUD insertions (required for all mothers) and 14 million abortions of "unauthorized pregnancies." Connelly says IPPF and UNFPA did not even issue "a pro forma injunction to avoid coercion - something that was standard in previous campaigns," and senior UNFPA staff argued against "too narrow an interpretation of voluntarism."
    
That same year, UNFPA awarded the architect of the one child program, Soviet-trained army general Xinzhong Qian, its first Population Award. Indira Gandhi, whose reelection as India's prime minister was thwarted by a populace outraged over her government's abusive population policies, was the co-winner. UN Secretary General Perez de Cuellar offered them his "deep appreciation" for "marshal[ing] the resources necessary to implement population policies on a massive scale."
    
Connelly concludes that the entire population control movement was not just brutal but unnecessary, since fertility rates have fallen equally in countries with or without population programs. He wrote the book in hopes that his account of the world's first transnational movement will make readers skeptical of other global governance movements. Unaccountable to people, he says, they too can bring great human suffering in the name of making the world a better place.

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