LifeSiteNews Daily News for Monday February 9, 2009

SHARE THIS PAGE: E-mail Print

Italy’s “Terri Schiavo” Dies Suddenly

By Matthew Cullinan Hofman

ROME, February 9, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Eluana Englaro, Italy’s “Terri Schiavo,” has died only four days after doctors began a “gradual” reduction in her food and water intake with the intent to cause her death.

The announcement was made by Italy’s Health Minister on the floor of the Italian Senate, which was debating a bill that would have saved Englaro’s life.

Although no cause of death has been announced, earlier news reports indicated that Englaro’s intake of nutrients was being replaced with a heavy dose of sedatives. Palliative medication in high doses can cause a patient to die prematurely.

The news follows public statements by Englaro’s physician that she has enjoyed almost perfect physical health during the 16 years following her car accident in 1992, which left her bedridden and in a minimal state of consciousness. She was 38 years old.

Although euthanasia is illegal in Italy and Englaro’s body functions were not dependent on machines, her father received a decision from Italy’s final appeals court in 2008 allowing him to remove hydration and nutrition in order to kill her. The ruling was based on the notion that food and water constitute “medical treatment,” which can be withheld at the patient’s discretion.

Englaro’s father claims that his daughter would not have wanted to live as a “vegetable.”

The decision to allow Englaro’s dehydration death was met with protests throughout Italy during the weekend, and over the past few weeks. The Italian government under Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi attempted to pass emergency legislation through the Italian Parliament to save Englaro’s life after an earlier attempt was blocked by the country’s president, a former communist. However, the legislation was still in process when Englaro’s death was announced.

Bobby Schindler, the brother of Terri Schindler, commented to LifeSiteNews.com about Eluana’s death saying, “I’m very sad to hear about Eluana. Our family grieves for her.” He added that he was “surprised at how quickly she has passed away.”

Alex Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition International denounced Englaro’s killing and expressed puzzlement at her quick death.

“To intentionally dehydrate a person to death dehumanizes them because it denies them the basic care due to a human person. We turn them into an object,” he told LifeSiteNews. “Everybody deserves basic care, which includes food, fluid, and warmth as long as it is necessary to sustain life. This is not extraordinary treatment.”

“We ask the question, how did she actually die? She wouldn’t have died in just a few days of dehydration,” he added.

| Send Letter to Editor

Rallies and Protests Continue as Bill to Save Eluana moves into Senate

Signs erected saying, “Eluana, do not be afraid; Rome has not deserted you”

By Hilary White
(Note: shortly after this story was published it was reported that Eluana had died suddenly)

ROME, February 9, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – While food and hydration are being withdrawn “gradually” from Eluana Englaro in a nursing facility in Udine, Italy’s legislators continue to scramble for ways to block her killing. A bill put forward on Saturday by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to save Eluana’s life at the eleventh hour has reached the Senate and hope remains that it can be implemented within a few days. On Friday, President Giorgio Napolitano had blocked an emergency measure that would have made the removal of food and hydration from helpless patients illegal.

Franca Alessio, a lawyer for Beppino Englaro, remained defiant, however, saying that even if Prime Minister Berlusconi’s law is passed it will not create an obligation for doctors to stop the dehydration. “This ban is not retroactive, and cannot compel Eluana’s assisting doctors to resume feeding,” he said.

Meanwhile, members of the pro-euthanasia movement are praising the fact that the issue is being discussed in Parliament, calling it a victory for their cause, even if the laws being discussed are not favorable to their cause. Silvio Viale, a doctor and manager of the Luca Coscioni and Exit-Italia, a member of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies, said the bill is “still a step forward, and a victory for Eluana, regardless of whether it is a bad or prohibitionist law, because it breaks the taboo and the hypocrisy” of the “right to life” movement.

The bill “opens the way for future discussions … for future changes to the law” in favor of legalizing euthanasia, he said.

Eluana Englaro, who is often called the “Terri Schiavo of Italy,” has been in a state of diminished consciousness since a car accident in 1992. Since then, her father, Beppino Englaro, has fought through the courts to have her food and water removed so that she can be killed by dehydration.

In November, the Court of Cassation, Italy’s highest appeals court, upheld an earlier ruling by a Milan court that granted his request. Early last week, Beppino Englaro had his daughter removed from the care of the Misericordine sisters in Lecco, who had refused to participate in her killing, to a private facility in Udine where the starvation and dehydration “protocol” was put into effect starting Friday. As long as the Court of Cassation ruling stands and the bills intended to save her life continue to be delayed, the dehydration protocol continues.

The outcry against the slow killing of Eluana Englaro is spreading throughout Italy. Giuseppe Del Barone, former president of the National Federation of the Order of Doctors and current president of the Union of Italian doctors, denounced the euthanasia killing as “murder.” He said that the suspension of hydration and nutrition to Eluana Englaro is “an unprecedented act of a cruelty.”

This weekend, the political group, Il Popolo Della Vita, held a rally protesting the attempted killing of Eluana at Castel Sant Angelo, on the banks of the Tiber, steps away from the Palazzo Di Giustizia (Palace of Justice), where the Court of Cassation handed down the ruling in November. On Monday morning, Rome’s commuters were greeted with posters from the organization, reading, “Eluana, do not be afraid, Rome does not desert you.”

In today’s edition of the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, Lucetta Scaraffia, a professor of modern history at the La Sapienza University in Rome writes that with the removal of Eluana to the La Quieta clinic in Udine, the reality of what is being done has hit home for many in Italy.

“Even those who had not wanted to inquire seriously, who thought it was simply a case of aggressive treatment, begin to have doubts. The fact that this woman is alive and not kept alive by machines, that she is not a dying patient, finally jumps in the eyes of all.”

It is no longer, he wrote, just the “words of one doctor against another,” but the reality of what is happening that speaks.

“Deprived of the protection of the law that considers the human being even in conditions of persistent vegetative state … Eluana is conducted to a death that is much closer to euthanasia than a refusal of ‘extraordinary measures’.”

| Send Letter to Editor

Obama May Pick Extreme Pro-Abortion KS Gov. Sebelius for HHS: Reports

By Kathleen Gilbert

WASHINGTON, D.C., February 9, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Obama may choose Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, friend of notorious late-term abortionist George Tiller and one of the most pro-abortion governors in America, to become Secretary of Health and Human Services, according to news reports citing a senior official in the Obama administration.

If Sebelius is chosen to replace Tom Daschle, who withdrew his bid in disgrace over unpaid taxes and connections to health organizations, she will bring an even more radical pro-abortion record and a dark history of her own to the top of the HHS.

According to Operation Rescue, Sebelius held a secret party at the governor’s mansion for George Tiller (whom OR claims has secretly funneled hundreds of thousands in donations to Sebelius’ campaign) and his entire abortion clinic staff in April 2007. Tiller has been charged with 19 counts of illegal abortions and faces trial next month.

Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann has publicly forbidden Sebelius from presenting herself for Communion until she makes “a public repudiation of her previous efforts and actions in support of laws and policies sanctioning abortion.” (https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/may/08051001.html)

Sebelius has also opposed or vetoed several abortion-accountability bills, including popular clinic regulation legislation in 2005. She appointed a former abortion clinic “escort” John Carmichael, a militant supporter of Tiller’s Political Action Committee, ProKanDo, to the Human Rights Commission. His name was quietly withdrawn ten months later.

Sebelius also appointed political supporter and abortionist Howard Ellis to serve on the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts after he surrendered his medical license in Missouri rather than face disciplinary action. Ellis resigned under pressure, and two months later was charged by the Board with attempting to persuade a physician to falsify records.

“Sebelius is joined at the hip with the abortion industry,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. “She owes them her political career and has been more than willing to pay them back with personal favors that have shielded them from legislation and criminal prosecution. Her corrupt abortion politics make her unfit to serve.”

Sebelius, who has been called the “national pro-choice poster girl,” would mark yet another in a long list of pro-abortion “Catholics” Obama has chosen for top government positions, if indeed she is chosen. (https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jan/09010603.html)

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Obama Selects Yet another Pro-Abortion “Catholic” for Leading Office
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jan/09010603.html

Catholic Kansas Gov. Sebelius Vetoes Restrictions on Late-Term Abortion
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/apr/08042203.html

Sebelius Issues “Laughable” Defense of Secret Party at Governor’s Mansion Honoring Abortionist Tiller
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/may/08052904.html

Archbishop Publicly Tells Pro-Abortion Kansas Governor Not to Receive Communion
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/may/08051001.html

| Send Letter to Editor

Tony Blair Being Plugged by Nicolas Sarkozy for President of Europe

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski

VERSAILLES, France, February 9, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A report by the UK Daily Mail has revealed that a senior aid to French President Nicolas Sarkozy told a private gathering of senior British and French politicians that Sarkozy intends to promote Tony Blair for the yet-to-be-established job of President of Europe.

The statement by Alain Minc, a member of Sarkozy’s inner circle of advisors, was made at a meeting last month of the Franco-British Colloque, a group of influential British and French politicians and businessmen.

Mr. Minc told the gathering, attended by French Prime Minister Francois Fillon: “When the Lisbon Treaty is ratified, Europe will move into a new phase. Europe will need a strong leader and Nicolas Sarkozy will nominate Tony Blair for the position,” according to the Mail report.

Minc concluded his remarks by stating that Sarkozy was determined to promote Blair because, “we cannot afford not to have Tony Blair, who will be a strong figurehead, is entirely respected around the world and will be a commanding leader at the helm of Europe.”

Tony Blair, the former U.K. prime minister, is well known to pro-life and pro-family activists as one of the most anti-life and anti-family political leaders in the world. Despite his oft-touted Christianity, and highly public “conversion” to Catholicism after stepping down as prime minister, the U.K. under Blair distinguished itself for pursuing radically liberal policies on the life and family issues.

The April 2003 cover issue of the UK Spectator covered Blair’s stand on life issues. Peter Oborne wrote: “The Prime Minister (Blair) has never once voted with the pro-life lobby and has voted 14 times for the pro-choice lobby in Parliament. In 1990, during the debates leading up to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act, he voted on three occasions to extend the time limit for abortion to birth on grounds of handicap. In December 2000 he gave personal backing to regulations permitting stem-cell research on human embryos; and his government enthusiastically promotes the morning-after pill.”

On family issues, Osborne noted: “The married-couples allowance has been abolished, funding has been switched from groups backing marriage to those taking a relaxed view of any kind of relationship, the benefits system has been changed to target all money for children regardless of family structure, etc., etc. Far from being morally neutral on the family, the Blair government has actively discriminated against it.”

Despite Blair’s “conversion” to Catholicism, he has never publicly repudiated any of his former anti-life and anti-family activities.

The new position of President of the EU’s Council of Ministers is dependent on all of the EU nations ratifying the controversial Lisbon Treaty. The treaty, however, has been rejected by Ireland and the Czech Republic, although a “re-vote” is reportedly in the works in Ireland.

Should the Lisbon treaty pass, the EU president will be a full-time official, serving a two-and-half-year term, in contrast to the current practice of six month rotation of presidents. The president would be aided by a foreign minister and diplomatic service that critics have said will not be subject to scrutiny by the member nations or accountable to the electorate.

Read related LSN stories:

Ireland Rejects EU Treaty by Wide Margin
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jun/08061307.html

Ireland to Hold Second Lisbon Treaty Referendum: Prime Minister Confirms
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/dec/08122202.html

UK to Hand Sovereignty to EU without Referendum
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/mar/08030606.html

EU Leadership’s Shocking Intolerance at Dissent from Leftist Agenda Unveiled
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/dec/08121509.html

| Send Letter to Editor

Pro-Life Short Film “Volition” Now Being Sold on DVD

By John Jalsevac

(To watch “Volition” online, go to: https://www.thedoorpost.com/hope/film/?film=420351f1aefa2b42b1772fe9d5cc044a)

February 9, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – “Volition,” the moving pro-life short film created by brothers Tim (23) and Matthew (21) Morgan, is now for sale on DVD. (To purchase Volition: https://www.rockyfarmstudio.com/volition.html)

Volition came into being after the Morgan brothers were selected as finalists in The Doorpost film competition, and were given a budget of nearly $18 thousand to make a film of their choice. The film has been viewed nearly 50,000 times online at The Doorpost website, and, due to its popularity, is now being made available for purchase.

The DVD includes behind the scenes footage, production stills, and the original short film that got the Morgans selected as finalists in The Doorpost film competition.

In an interview with LifeSiteNews.com Tim Morgan, who wrote and directed the film, recounted how the inspiration for the film came to him.

Morgan told LSN that for most of his life, while he had always been “pro-life,” he had never given much thought to the issue – that is, until last year when he attended the massive prayer rally, “The Call.” “That’s when it really hit me, hit my heart,” he says, “that there is a need for just some sort of voice in the arts, in the entertainment world, in defense of these unborn babies.”

Following his experience at The Call, Morgan came up with the idea for Volition, and wrote the script. But, despite his best efforts to find an investor to finance the film, he was met without success, until he received an unexpected call from The Doorpost telling him that he had been selected as a finalist.

“It was like a door opening out of nowhere,” Tim says. “All of a sudden I have this budget for a movie I’ve been looking to get the budget for.”

Volition places its central character, who goes unnamed, in the historical contexts of what the filmmakers clearly believe to be three of the greatest human rights violations in history: the holocaust, slavery, and abortion.

In each of the vignettes the protagonist is placed in a position of some authority, with the promise of more to come, and in each he is forced to the breaking point, where he must either become complicit with the evils of the age, or stand up and make a choice to oppose it. While the viewer is not shown the protagonist’s ultimate choice in Nazi Germany or in the American South, the film movingly depicts his choice in regard to the third – abortion.

The film’s webpage at The Doorpost is full of the praise of those who have watched the film and been moved by its beautiful and poignant treatment of the difficult subject.

“Having had an abortion pre-Roe v. Wade and having fell for the ‘blob of tissue’ lie, I am profoundly impressed by the truth of this film. In a technically brilliant way, the Morgan brothers have produced a profound film,” wrote one viewer.

Another wrote, “As a post abortive woman that regrets ‘my choice’, I am sending this link to my address group. This film needs to be shown in Church’s, pregnancy centers as schools. Young people must understand that killing our unborn children must stop. Women and men that abort their children lock ourselves in the ‘abortion prison,’ but Jesus Christ has the key and will unlock those jail cell doors, just ask. Thank you!”

“Likely one of the most powerful movies I have seen to date,” wrote another.

To watch “Volition” online, go to:
https://www.thedoorpost.com/hope/film/?film=420351f1aefa2b42b1772fe9d5cc044a

To find out more about “Volition”:

Film Review: Volition – A Film that Demands a Radical Choice
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/nov/08112501.html

Behind the Scenes of Volition: Coincidences and Startling Circumstances
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/nov/08112708.html

To find out more about Tim and Matthew Morgan, go to:
https://www.rockyfarmstudio.com/volition.html

| Send Letter to Editor

Pro-Life Event at St. Mary’s U Told to Disband after Protesters Disrupt

By Kathleen Gilbert

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, February 9, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – When pro-abortion protesters descended upon a pro-life presentation at St. Mary’s University (SMU) in Halifax, Nova Scotia, disrupting the event with chants and yells, the pro-life presenter was astonished that a SMU administration representative, rather than stopping the pro-abortion group, ordered the pro-life presentation to end.

Jose Ruba, co-founder of the pro-life Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform and former executive director of the National Campus Life Network, visited SMU Thursday evening as part of a speaking tour to campuses across Canada. The nascent Students for Life club furnished a room for the presentation, entitled “Echoes of the Holocaust,” through the chaplaincy.

Less than a minute into his speech, however, a group of men and woman entered the room and began loudly chanting, “Not the church, not the state, women must decide their fate!” Ruba asked the protesters to save their objections until after his talk, but was drowned out by chants of, “Pro-life men have got to go, when you get pregnant let us know!” and, “No hate speech in our school!”

The protestors especially took issue with Ruba’s comparisons between the millions killed by abortion and the holocaust. They continued to shout until Ruba was forced to type on the projected screen in order to get his message to the audience, which included both pro-life and pro-choice students.

According to Ruba, campus security did not stop the protests. After forty minutes of continued shouting, Halifax police were called, who quieted the group, until Ruba began showing pictures of aborted babies, at which point the mob began shouting again.

The police threatened the protesters with arrest. Instead, however, the pro-life presentation was shut down by an administration official before action could be taken against the protesters.

“What looks worse, shutting down a university-approved presentation or arresting people who are unlawfully disrupting that presentation?” asked Ruba, who said he was appalled the university gave in to mob rule.

“St. Mary’s should be ashamed of itself for showing students they need only scream when they don’t like something, rather than dialogue respectfully.” Ruba claimed that in his eight years of speaking he has never been met with such hostility.

The presentation relocated to private property at the nearby Canadian Martyrs Catholic Church, where Ruba was able to finish without incident.

One audience member caught the first five minutes of the disruption on video, which is now posted on Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eulKIaVM9DE). Further video footage is expected to be uploaded on Youtube soon.

According to an article in the Chronicle Herald, Lesley-Anne Steeleworthy, chairwoman of the board at SMU’s women’s centre at the university, said her group is considering a human rights complaint against the chaplain for allowing the talk in the first place.

“The chaplain is supposed to be there for all students on campus, and yet he’s advocating anti-choice,” Ms. Steeleworthy said.

Ruba told LifeSiteNews.com that the comparisons between the legalized killing of abortion to the Holocaust, which comparisons the protestors objected so strongly to, are inevitable.

“If the unborn are not human beings, then comparisons to the Holocaust are insensitive,” said Ruba. “Really that’s the crux of the question that we need to ask them: are they [unborn children] human beings? In order for them to accuse us of being hateful, they have to prove that the unborn are not human beings. And they don’t want to engage in that debate.”

Ruba also noted that if there had been no Catholic Church nearby, the presentation would have been permanently silenced.

“A lot of the students who came to ask questions were pro-choice students,” he said, noting that he welcomed the peaceful questions from pro-choicers that arose after the talk. Of the protestors he said, “We were willing to listen to them, they were not willing to listen to us.”

Calls and emails made by LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) to SMU’s women’s center, conflict resolution office, and chaplaincy were not answered as of press time.

Saint Mary’s University was established in 1802 by the Jesuits, the Roman Catholic Community of Halifax, and the Irish Christian Brothers. In 1970 the Jesuits formally gave all administrative and academic duties to the Board of Governors and Academic Senate.

To contact St. Mary’s University:

Dr. J. Colin Dodds, President
McNally Main 118A
923 Robie Street
Halifax, Nova Scotia
B3H 3C3 Canada
(902) 420-5401

| Send Letter to Editor

Minnesota Catholic School Backs Down on Giving Award to Pro-Abortion Catholic Legislator

By Kathleen Gilbert

RICHFIELD, Minnesota, February 9, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Minnesota Catholic high school has decided against giving a state legislator an award he was scheduled to receive after the school learned he has consistently supported abortion legislation.

Rep. Paul Thissen, who is running for Minnesota governor, was expecting to be presented with the Academy of Holy Angels (AHA) Activities Hall of Fame Alumnus Award last month, when he received a call from AHA president Jill Reilly asking him to withdraw his name.

When he refused, he was told the award would be revoked due to his position on abortion.

According to the school, the primary criterion for the award is the alumnus’ record at the academy, but the committee also takes into account later conduct and professional record.

“Mr. Thissen had an outstanding activities career at Holy Angels and has had much success beyond,” the school’s president, Jill Reilly, said in a prepared statement.

“That being said, the nominating committee was not aware of Mr. Thissen’s voting record in the Minnesota legislature regarding right-to-life issues. As a result of Mr. Thissen’s public and professional position to actively support pro-choice issues, with regret, AHA has chosen not to include Mr. Thissen among this year’s inductees.”

“It’s not the biggest thing in the world, but the school was and is important to me,” Thissen told the Star Tribune.

“When I heard about this, I really was disappointed, not so much because of the award, but because the award was for something that had nothing to with my position on giving women the choice of what to do during a pregnancy.”

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in 2004 directed that pro-abortion politicians “should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions” by Catholic schools. Such politicians are considered automatically excommunicated from the Church.

Thissen, a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, has reportedly supported state funding for embryo-destroying stem cell research, and opposed legislation to block taxpayer funding of abortion providers.

To see the USCCB document, go to: https://www.usccb.org/bishops/catholicsinpoliticallife.shtml

| Send Letter to Editor

Federal Politicians Set To Review Hate-speech Provision of Canadian Human Rights Act

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski

OTTAWA, February 9, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Federal MP’s will be looking today at proceeding with curtailing or scrapping Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act and will consider the misuse of the Section by the Canadian Human Rights Commissions.

Section 13 of the Act gives the CHRC and its tribunals the authority to regulate, receive, investigate or adjudicate complaints related so-called “hate messages.” It has been the subject of widespread criticism in recent years, with critics charging that the Commission has focused its energies almost entirely on prosecuting Christians and conservatives, and accusing it of using suspect investigation tactics.

At the Conservative Party convention in Winnipeg last fall, Resolution P-203, a resolution to remove Section 13 from the Act, was passed with almost unanimous consent.

Conservative MP Brian Storseth initiated the review when he asked the Commons Justice Committee last week to examine how Section 13 has been used by the CHRC and to investigate the mandate of the CHRC itself.

“Concerns have been raised regarding the investigative techniques of the Canadian Human Rights Commission and the interpretation and application of Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act,” Storseth said.

In light of what are seen as numerous shocking Human Rights Commission rulings, as well as the growing boldness of HRC opponents such as Canadian publisher Ezra Levant, and RCMP investigations into allegedly unscrupulous CHRC tactics, pressure is increasing on MPs on both sides of the House to take a stand to protect free speech in Canada.

A report released last November by University of Windsor law professor Richard Moon recommended that the Canadian government scrap Section 13 of the Human Rights Act. Ironically, the report was commissioned by the Commission itself, which has consistently denied any abuse of power in the face of mounting opposition.

Also last year, Liberal MP Dr. Keith Martin introduced a motion in the House of Commons calling for a public examination of the Canada Human Rights Act and the Commission and Tribunal that stems from it.

“I had just returned from the Canadian Association of Journalists AGM in which I attended a debate with a member of the CHRC,” said Dr. Martin at the time. “After the debate it became even more obvious that the Act needs to be modernized. The CHRC member had little understanding of the deep flaws and misuses of the Act by the Commission and the trampling of free speech that the Commission sometimes engages in.”

Martin commented on the need for accountability on the part of the Commission: “Some of the actions that they’ve been taking of late have been very disturbing I think to a lot of us and to a lot of Canadians. So that’s why I put forth the motion to remove Section 13(1) but I think taking it to the Justice Committee, having a public and televised assessment of the proceedings, having an examination of the Canada Human Rights Act and the Commission will serve the Canadian public and serve the fundamental rights that are the pillars of our democracy.”

The Globe and Mail reported that Liberal MP Brian Murphy said his party is not in favorr of removing Section 13 from the Canadian Human Rights Act, while NDP justice critic Joe Comartin said that though he opposes repealing Section 13, he believes the act has been used as a “blunt instrument” and that it requires significant amendments.

Read related LSN articles:

Canadian Human Rights Commission Consultant’s Report Calls For Repeal of “Hate Speech” Law
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/nov/08112508.html

Canadian Human Rights Commission Employees Admit to Misconduct
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/mar/08032601.html

Liberal MP Motion Calls for Public Examination of Human Rights Commission
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jun/08060301.html

| Send Letter to Editor

Troubling “Gender-Mainstreaming” Bill Advances in the Philippines

By Piero A. Tozzi

NEW YORK, NY, February 9, 2009 (C-FAM) – A radical, feminist-inspired “gender mainstreaming” bill has been voted out of the Philippine Senate and is now before the Bicameral Conference Committee, which will likely meet next week in order to reconcile the upper and lower house versions of the bill. (For background info on this bill, see: “Gender Mainstreaming” Legislation Brewing in the Philippines https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jan/09011512.html)

Both pro-family and pro-feminist Senators tacked on their preferred language to the “Magna Carta of Women,” reflecting two divergent ideological perspectives, with the result being that the bill is often muddled and contradictory.

Radical feminist legislators added a provision saying, “No one shall invoke religious beliefs or customary norms as a means of evading compliance with this Act.” This language echoes a 1994 report by the United Nations (UN) committee that monitors compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

Pro-family legislators then were able to have a proviso adopted which states that “each individual shall make their own decision based on their respective religious, moral and cultural beliefs.”

The highly-problematic definition of “gender” that appears in the House of Representatives version, positing that gender is purely a sociological construct not grounded in biology, has been remedied in the Senate bill, albeit inelegantly. The Senate definition states that, “Gender refers to the physiologico-social differentiated roles, characteristics, and expectations attributed by nature and culture to women and men.”

Fenny C. Tatad, the Executive Director of the Bishops-Legislators Caucus of the Philippines, said better draftsmanship and stronger provisions for reducing maternal death by emphasizing access to emergency obstetric care would improve the bill. “A clear and honest definition of gender that reflects the religious, cultural and ethical values of Filipinos, rather than as dictated by foreign ideologies,” would help, Tatad added.

The ambiguities and contradictions apparent in the draft legislation enhance the likelihood of a lawsuit, opening the door to expansive interpretations of any statute that is eventually passed.

Perhaps foreseeing such an outcome, the bill’s feminist proponents inserted a provision stating, “The State shall keep abreast with and be guided by progressive developments in human rights of women under international law and design of policies, laws and other measures to promote the objectives of this act.” Critics note that such open-ended reference to “progressive developments” sets up an argument that “evolving” human rights norms require judicially-imposed liberalization of laws restricting abortion and the creation of “rights” based on novel concepts like “gender identity.”

The Constitution of the Philippines has very strong pro-family and pro-life clauses, however, which could check impulses to legislate from the bench. It requires that the State shall safeguard “the sanctity of family life and shall protect and strengthen the family as a basic autonomous social institution.” The Constitution further provides for protection of “the life of the unborn from conception.”

Article 15 of the Constitution further obligates the State to defend the “rights of the spouses to found a family in accordance with their religious convictions.” This language was also added to the proposed legislation.

Critics allege that the bill was shadow-drafted largely by members of the radical feminist organization CEDAW Watch Philippines, several of whose members have been affiliated with the CEDAW committee and the UN Development Fund for Women, also known as UNIFEM.

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

| Send Letter to Editor

Christian Nursing Home Funding Restored after “Sexual Orientation” Flap

By Hilary White

BRIGHTON, UK, February 9, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A UK Christian nursing care home that had been threatened with loss of funding for having the wrong opinions about homosexuality, has had its grant restored. The Brighton & Hove city council backed down as Pilgrim Homes, the 200-year-old Christian charity that runs the home in question, as well as nine others, was preparing for legal action for religious discrimination.

In early January, it was revealed that the city council had revoked a £13,000 (Cn. $23,652.96) grant to Pilgrim Home in Egremont Place, Brighton, after elderly residents, some of whom are retired Christian missionaries, had refused to answer questions about their “sexual orientation,” saying the questions were “intrusive.” The residents were branded as being “closed to the gay community” by the council, and the home was accused of being guilty of “institutionalised homophobia.”

Andrew Jessop, chief executive of the charity, which has 10 Christian homes across the UK, said he was “delighted” that the council had backed down. “We are a Christian organisation for older Christians,” he said, “and our chief concern has always been to protect their best interests.”

“When they come into residential care or even sheltered housing they deserve the peace, comfort and security of an organisation that supports their dearly-held religious beliefs. We do not think our Brighton home – and others like it – should be denied access to public funding just because of those beliefs.”

The council claimed that it had been acting according to the requirements of the Labour government’s Equality legislation and Sexual Orientation Regulations.

The questionnaire that led to the controversy, which is issued to residents four times a year, asked them to reveal whether they were “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or unsure” of their sexuality. The council also had plans to invite the homosexualist activist organisation Stonewall to make a presentation at the home and had instructed the charity to include depictions of homosexuals in its promotional literature.

The Christian Institute’s Mike Judge said, “Elderly Christians shouldn’t be penalised just because of their religious beliefs. Christians pay their taxes too and they should have equal access to public grants without being required to drop their Christian ethos. I hope other councils take note.”

He added, “There have been a number of recent cases where Christians are being treated less favourably than others. Nurses, grandparents, firemen, registrars, adoption agencies, care homes are all finding themselves in the firing line for nothing more than hold (sic) the same harmless beliefs that Christians have had for 2,000 years.”

An editorial in the Daily Telegraph said that this was a case in which the concept of “respect” for homosexuality was being used to suppress the expression of religious, particularly Christian, ideas.

“Religious toleration is the cornerstone of every free society, and of course it is right that faiths other than Christianity should be treated respectfully. But toleration must not become an excuse for the persecution of Christianity – which, it should not be forgotten, is still the official state religion of this country.”

“How many other cases of such stupid, blinkered and pointless ‘regulation’ are there? No one knows, but the anecdotal evidence from homes and individuals that have faced aggressively punitive action from the authorities merely for demonstrating their Christian convictions suggests that the number is far from small.”

Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Funding Cut for U.K. Christian Care Home Accused of “Institutionalised Homophobia”
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jan/09010804.html

| Send Letter to Editor

LifeSiteNews.com NewsBytes for February 9, 2009

* 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.

LIFE ISSUES

40% of coma patients in a ‘vegetative state’ may be misdiagnosed, says a new report
https://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article3004892.ece

Exorcist: Devil Influences Abortion Industry
“Abortion is a demonic industry,” he told The Bulletin. “Abortion is blood sacrifice of innocent blood to the devil. The clinics are like temples, the doctors are like priests, the medical table is like their altar. It’s a ritualized sacrifice. They have a dogma called choice, a hierarchy called Planned Parenthood, and guardian angels in the form of police guards that will arrest you if you try to stop them.”
https://thebulletin.us/articles/2009/02/03/news/local_state/doc4988101b9f01874317…

California training midwives to perform abortions – Pilot project suspends rules to allow ‘suction aspiration’ procedures
https://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=88097

Time has run out; the abortion scandal has hit the United States Catholic Church full force – by Marjorie Campbell
https://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&…

Controversial Florida Bishop Robert Lynch Dismisses FOCA Threat to Catholic Hospitals by Deal W. Hudson
https://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&…

Cardinal Justin Rigali, chairman of the bishops’ Committee for Pro-life Activities.
Protests Taxes-for-Abortions
https://www.zenit.org/article-25026?l=english

Bishop Martino accuses Sen. Bob Casey of “cooperating with … evil”
https://www.thetimes-tribune.com/articles/2009/02/06/news/sc_times_trib.20090206….

Nebraska discusses new ultrasound law – If passed, it would be one of the toughest laws in the country,
https://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=410668

Lawsuit says abortionist made mom watch ‘murder’ – ‘Breathing live child’ swept into biohazard bag to die
https://www.worldnetdaily.com/?pageId=87977

A botched abortion in mother’s own words
https://www.thefloridacatholic.org/mia/2009_mia/2009_miaarticles/20090205_mia_sha…

Former Santa Clara University president and current chancellor Fr. Paul Locatelli is scheduled to accept an award on Feb. 20 that will be presented to him by one of California’s most ardent supporters of Planned Parenthood.
https://www.calcatholic.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?id=3d9333f2-cbb2-47e5-907f-758d…

Why is the U.S. Exporting Death Instead of Life?
https://www.citizenlink.org/CLtopstories/A000009276.cfm

Britain ‘must set population limit to safeguard national security’ say experts
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1105255/Britain-set-population-limit-saf…

Psychology Today Blog: Ban Having Children for 5 Years
https://newsbusters.org/blogs/erin-brown/2009/02/09/psychology-today-blog-ban-hav…

How Birth Control Changed America for the Worst by Kathryn Jean Lopez
https://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&…

Genetic mapping of babies by 2019 will transform preventive medicine
https://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article5689052.ece

RELIGION

A Bishop in the Tradition of Cardinal O’Connor by Deal W. Hudson
https://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&…

Archbishop Chaput urges Catholics to stand up for Christian values in society
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=15018

Pope ‘wants personal prelature’ for ex-Anglicans – could lead to a flood of converts
https://www.catholicherald.co.uk/articles/a0000469.shtml

Fewer Catholic campuses performing ‘Vagina-Monologues’
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=14988

Boston College’s Iconic Gesture
https://www.ncregister.com/daily/boston_colleges_iconic_gesture/

Germany’s Benedict Backlash
https://www.ncregister.com/daily/germanys_anti_benedict_backlash/

No matter what the Pope would do, it wouldn’t be enough for this lot
https://wdtprs.com/blog/2009/02/no-matter-what-the-pope-would-do-it-wouldnt-be-en…

Bishop Richard Williamson, the Holocaust-denying bishop, has left his job as a seminary director
https://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/damian_thompson/blog/2009/02/07/holocaustdenying_bi…

Link TV Mocks Catholicism; Video produced with federal funds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuwgHNtyD54

OBAMA

Black Pro Lifers Find Obama’s Faith Based Initiative Thin on Faith, Fat on Abortion
https://www.christiannewswire.com/index.php?module=releases&task=view&rel…

Instructive 2004 debate between Barack Obama and Alan Keyes – Video
https://www.4marks.com/videos/details.html?video_id=1029

Left-Wing Activists Line up to Lead Justice Department
https://www.citizenlink.org/CLtopstories/A000009315.cfm

The gulf between the audacity of hope and the reality of pork yawns ever wider. Mark Steyn
https://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YTZhNzZhZmI0NWIzNmM4MjMwNmNjYzRjZDhiNmMxMDM…

Obama, oaths and the end of constitutional government
https://www.undergroundjournal.net/members/theunderground

Obama may become a disaster – now we are seeing an ominous pattern of actions by the O administration
https://www.americanthinker.com/printpage/?url=https://www.americanthinker.com/200…

Obama’s Recent Nomination Puts Families At Risk, Undermines Law
https://www.cwfa.org/articles/16375/LEGAL/pornography/index.htm

Douglas Kmiec and his misinformation offensive for Barack Obama
https://www.catholicworldreport.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article…

Obama’s Faith-Based Approach
https://www.ncregister.com/daily/obamas_faith_based_approach/

Justice Candidate a Threat to Parental Rights
https://www.hslda.org/docs/news/200902060.asp

With his fiery rhetoric, the new president runs the risk of terrifying consumers and investors, which could depress the economy even further.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/09/ramped-up-obama-rhetoric-could-b…

US POLITICS

Republican Defeat By Moderation
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/02/republican_defeat_by_moderatio.html

Republican “moderate’ Senators who’ll vote for the alleged stimulus bill are just more bodies in a conga line of Republican useful idiots.
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/02/republican_defeat_by_moderatio.html

Senator Boxer Asks State Department to Expedite the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child
https://www.parentalrights.org/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={C483C563-EBDC-40F1…

The Meaning of Sarah Palin
Palin’s reformism, like McCain’s, was essentially an attitude devoid of substance. She was a mirror image of John McCain. She was not a visionary politician, or a programmatic politician, but an attitude politician with an appealing biography. It seemed to matter not a whit that Palin had never taken any action on abortion in her time as governor, and rarely had much to say on the subject.
https://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/the-meaning-of-sarah-palin-14…

HOMOSEXUALITY

Wyoming House Defeats Marriage Amendment
https://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000009312.cfm

Sore Losers – Whenever gay-rights groups are challenged democratically and lose, they complain of being victims of entrenched bigots.
https://www.newoxfordreview.org/note.jsp?did=0209-notes-losers

Civil unions lead to same-sex marriage law – Innocuous-looking bill has history of yielding result many don’t want
https://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20090206/OPINION03/902060337/1104/opin…

Transsexual janitor in MA elementary school – School sends letter to inform parents that male employee is now a “woman”
https://www.massresistance.org/docs/gen/09a/tran_custodian/index.html

A gay pride flag has been flying above a police headquarters
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/4428021/Gay-pride-flag-flies-at-police-HQ…

Homosexual lobby files 8 bills in Legislature to push agenda even further this year
https://www.massresistance.org/docs/govt09/bills/homo_bills_0205.html

Massachusetts now allows people to declare “gender you consider yourself to be” on drivers licenses and official state IDs.
https://www.massresistance.org/docs/gen/09a/rmv_trans/index.html

GLOBAL WARMING

Pro-Global Warming Study Receives Worldwide Headlines; Discovery of Error in Study Garners Op-Ed in One Paper
https://newsbusters.org/blogs/amy-ridenour/2009/02/06/pro-global-warming-study-re…–

Over Half the Nation Thinks Media Are Exaggerating Global Warming
https://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2009/02/06/over-half-nation-thinks-me…

Gore preaches global warming, uses private jet and limo
https://www.onenewsnow.com/Politics/Default.aspx?id=412170

Al Gore: Don’t listen to your parents – Ex-VP tells kids’ conference ‘older people don’t know’
https://www.worldnetdaily.com/?pageId=88112

MISCELLANEOUS

Slow Kill … Abstinence Education’s Last Ragged Breaths
our tax dollars will fund only dangerous comprehensive sex education from this point forward.
come March, Title V abstinence education funding will be lost.
https://www.cwalac.org/article_831.shtml

Powerful Video: A Life Ruined by the Gardasil Vaccine
https://www.rockymountainnews.com/videos/detail/ashley-story/

Oklahoma, New Mexico Consider Academic-Freedom Legislation
https://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000009313.cfm

Exposure to Sex on TV May Increase the Chance of Teen Pregnancy
https://secularheretic-st.blogspot.com/2009/02/exposure-to-sex-on-tv-may-increase…

Holiday Inn closed to travelers during ‘sex-fest’ – ‘Sadomasochism’ event also force motel to hire extra security
https://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=88191

| Send Letter to Editor

SHARE THIS PAGE: E-mail Print