Articles for Month: January 2004

IRONDALE, January 14, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – EWTN Global Catholic Network has scored another exclusive interview with Academy Award winning actor and director, Mel Gibson.  In a sneak preview of the interview, EWTN reveals that commenting on the controversy surrounding the film Gibson said, “I don’t know if I will ever work again. I’ve said that this is a career killer and it could well be, but that doesn’t matter because I don’t care.”  On The World Over Live program Gibson explains to host Raymond Arroyo that the film is unique in that “it reflects my beliefs-I’ve never done that before.”  […]

IOWA, January 14, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – It appears Democratic candidates cannot accuse each other of much without their accusations rebounding with vengeance.  In a speech in Iowa today, Congressman Richard Gephardt harshly criticized Howard Dean as inconsistent, stating, “To me, there is no room for the cynical politics of manufactured anger and false conviction.  I believe in standing for something, and I think all of you do too.” In response, the National Right to Life Committee released a copy of a letter written by Gephardt in 1984, in which Gephardt wrote, “As you know, I have always been supportive of […]

PARIS, January 14, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – French Health Minister Jean-Francois Mattei appeared in a debate on a euthanasia case on the France 2 television channel.  The case involved a young man who became a quadriplegic after an accident and whose mother campaigned for euthanasia and then gave him an overdose.  “The case has become a kind of caricature of our society’s response to human suffering. I do not accept the term murder,” said Mattei.  “There is a prohibition which we have held since time immemorial ‘thou shalt not kill’. For a long time this rule has been applied blindly… But […]

MONTREAL, January 14, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Montreal Cardinal Jean Claude Turcotte may have politically corrected himself into a corner with the Human Rights Commission.  In announcing the Montreal seminary plans to institute HIV testing for applicants, the Cardinal seemed to suggest the testing was not to identify actively homosexual candidates but to test for healthy candidates.  Following news of this the Quebec Human Rights Commission said it had launched an investigation to determine if the seminary testing violated the provincial human rights code.  Ginette L’Heureux a spokesman for the Quebec Human Rights Commission said that the code would probably allow […]

OTTAWA, January 14, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Vancouver Alliance MP Keith Martin (Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca) has announced that he will run as a Liberal in the next election and sit as an independent prior to the election.  Martin, a staunch abortion supporter formerly threatened to leave the Alliance if the party gave concessions to social conservatives.  Reacting to the news, John Hof, President of Campaign Life Coalition British Columbia said of Martin, “He has always been a Liberal, he was out of place within the Alliance and Reform and could never be called a conservative.  The people of Esquimalt will now […]

HARRISONBURG, Va, January 13, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The James Madison University Board of Visitors voted Friday to authorize the JMU Health Centre to resume dispensing emergency contraception pills. Last April, by a 7-6 vote, the board had directed the health centre to cease distributing the pills. In June, the terms of five members of the board expired, leaving space for Democratic Gov. Mark R. Warner to appoint their successors. The successors provided enough support to reverse the earlier decision by a margin of 10 to 2.  Victoria Cobb, a Family Foundation lobbyist, told Associated Press that “It comes as no […]

WASHINGTON, January 13, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – One of the numerous events being held during next week’s U.S. National March for Life events will be the Silent No More Awareness Campaign. Women who regret their abortions will speak out with guests Dr. Alveda King, niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., actress/singer Melba Moore and actress, model, author Jennifer O’Neill the group’s national spokesman.  The Campaign, a joint project of Priests for Life and NOEL seeks to raise awareness about the harm abortion does to women and their families, and about the many healing programs available. It is coordinated by Janet […]

SAN FRANCISCO, January 13, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Not satisfied with California’s domestic partnership legislation, San Francisco homosexual activist Assemblyman Mark Leno announced Tuesday he will introduce a bill to grant legal marriage status to homosexual couples in February. Were he to follow the example of homosexual activist Canadian legislator Svend Robinson, that legislation can be expected on St. Valentine’s Day.  Leno commented “For too long, the right to marry has been denied to thousands of Californians based on their sexual orientation, giving in to the destructive stereotype that same-sex relationships are inherently inferior to opposite-sex relationships.”  Meanwhile in Indiana, the […]

BRUSSELS, January 13, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Belgian Cardinal Godfried Danneels, 70, the left-leaning media favourite to become the next pope, has unleashed another firestorm by publicly advocating the use of condoms as protection from HIV/AIDS.  “When someone is seropositive and his partner says: I want to have sexual relations with you—he doesn’t have to do that, if you ask me—but when he does, he has to use a condom…,” said Daneels in a radio interview Sunday.  Speaking on the Kruispunt programme of Dutch Catholic broadcaster RKK, Daneels said, “This (the use of condoms) comes down to protecting yourself in a […]

MONTREAL, January 13, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Montreal’s Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte fielded questions from reporters on the news that the city’s Grand Seminaire would be performing HIV tests on applicants.  “For us, HIV is a disease like any other, but it’s a very serious disease,” he said. “The question is not whether he is homosexual. It is whether or not he has an active sexuality. Whether it is hetero or homo, it’s the same thing. To live in celibacy you cannot have an active sexuality.”  The Cardinal compared discovery of HIV infection to discovery of any other serious health problem.  “It’s […]