News Briefs June 19-07

Instructor May Be Fired For Talking Morality, Sex
The Prior Lake-Savage School Board decided Monday night to terminate the employment of a high school campus supervisor that had been talking about religion [read “religion, sexual orientation, abortion"] and morality to students inside and outside of school, according to the school board.

Generation Life Holds Sixth Annual Beach Weekend Along Jersey Shore
June is a popular time for thousands of recently-graduated high school seniors from the Philadelphia area to celebrate at the Jersey shore in what is commonly known as Senior Week.

It's no secret that many uninhibited seniors partake in excessive drinking, partying and licentious activities. In response, Generation Life spent two successive weekends - June 6-9 and last Wednesday through yesterday - traveling around the Jersey shore spreading the message of life and love by preaching the lifelong benefits of chastity as part of its sixth annual Beach Weekend.

The virtues of blackmail, misery and cheating…a liberal’s view of abortion in the UK
I should not, of course, dispute theology with a full cardinal, but abortion is not in the commandments at all. Or anywhere in the Bible. In fact its proscription by the Church is a comparatively late development, so you might have thought that those who believe that abortion is wrong would be more tentative in their condemnation of those who take a contrary view.

Media Advisory - Over 1000 Women's Health Experts Meet in Ottawa New mail-order tests now available to Canadians can determine the gender of a woman's baby just weeks into pregnancy. Outgoing SOGC President Dr. Don Davis will discuss the ethical questions raised by these tests and other technological advances that can potentially be misused for the purposes of selective abortion based on gender.

Barbaric Op-Ed piece
In this bizarre, barbaric op-ed piece by veteran Washington political reporter and columnist, Bonnie Erbe, she pines for the good old days of thoughtless abortions, days "when no self-respecting career-oriented peer who conceived out of wedlock would have considered bringing that pregnancy to term." Golly.

Protestant Sex Abuse Problems
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - The three companies that insure the majority of Protestant churches in America say they typically receive upward of 260 reports each year of young people under 18 being sexually abused by clergy, church staff, volunteers or congregation members.

Political Framing and the Pro-Life Mind
The crux of the matter is that innocent people are dying. At the end of the day, our movement is not about the laws, the judicial decisions, or the polls. Our movement is about human beings. Our hope lies in the fact that we are not just another interest group, using empty platitudes political posturing to mask our own vested interests. So, let them talk about choice; we will continue to talk about children. Let them talk about “empowerment;” we will stress love and respect. Let them talk about “quality of life;” we will speak of human dignity. Our convictions are what brought us to this fight, and we plan to leave the fight with them.

Infanticide, Abortion Responsible for 60 Million Girls Missing in Asia
This story seems to get more disturbing all the time.

There is a little-known battle for survival going in some parts of the world. Those at risk are baby girls, and the casualties are in the millions each year. The weapons being used against them are prenatal sex selection, abortion and female infanticide — the systematic killing of girls soon after they are born.

The Poisoning of America: China's Food and Drugs are Unsafe at any Price
The news that Chinese toothpaste brands sold in Panama, the Dominican Republic, and Australia contained diethylene glycol, a highly toxic chemical used in engine coolants, came as a shock to U.S. health officials.

It shouldn't have.

Why Moms and Dads Matter
In one sense, androgyny – the blending of the sexes and the denial of gender differences – has been part of ideological feminism from the beginning. The androgynous have denied basic gender differences by suggesting that distinct roles for men and women, along with distinctive gifts and abilities, are a product of oppressive social conditioning. The suggestion that men and women differ in any basic respect – other than the biological – has been roundly denied and denounced.

'Surely no woman uses abortion as a lifestyle choice, I thought ...
No, I thought. Surely no woman uses abortion for contraception as a deliberate lifestyle choice? I piped up to say this and the conversation erupted - six of us shouting over each other to be heard. The barman came over and asked us to keep it down. The sober friend who was driving diffused the situation by lightening the tone.

Contraceptive Love or Real Love
In our present culture of death society, many pro-life organizations are trying faithfully to defend and protect the unborn child and have focused primarily on the issue of abortion, leaving the issue of contraception on the back burner or even refusing to treat it at any level. Many think that closing abortion clinics will solve the problem when in reality this step is only part of the solution. Many have failed to see the connection between contraception and abortion and continue to ignore or deal with contraception in spite of the facts.

Two Churches, Same Politicians
In October of 2003 Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty visited a Catholic school only several weeks after publicly contradicting Catholic teaching on a serious matter of faith and morals by coming out in support of homosexual “marriage.”

Now, only several weeks after publicly contradicting Pope Benedict on a similarly serious matter of the Catholic faith, Dalton McGuinty has again made an appearance at a Catholic school.

Suffice it say that over 450 years later, we're still talking about the same thing: sex and how politicians deal with the consequences of it. There are those politicians who observe God's laws on sexual activity and those who prefer the Sodom and Gomorah plan.

Abortion and PCUSA: Fluff and Reality
So while the “Church’s One Foundation” paper may be technically correct in stating what the official position of the denomination (as determined by GA action) is, it is wholly disingenuous to claim that therefore PCUSA isn’t the bastion of radical abortion advocacy that it is. They put both personnel and money toward making sure that no one–absolutely no one–who ever wants an abortion for absolutely any reason is ever denied one.

An 'Unhooked' Culture
In the book "Unhooked: How Young Women Pursue Sex, Delay Love, and Lose at Both" by Washington Post journalist Laura Sessions Stepp, many stories are told about young women who have plunged headlong into the “hookup culture,” only to end up bruised, broken, scared, and isolated.

Joining America's Most Heated Debate
Not a pro-lifer's dream report but nevertheless offers insight

Perhaps the most revealing and dramatic moment of "Unborn in the USA" comes near the end, when an anonymous young woman confronts the Reverend Matt Trewhella. The director of an organization called "Missionaries to the Preborn," Rev. Trewhella travels the country with a group of supporters, many of them children, who hold up giant posters of aborted fetuses by the sides of busy highways.

What to do when Catholics consort with pro-aborts
We are blessed in San Diego with Catholics eager to respond to what our Protestant brothers refer to as a “Jeremiah call” (“…to whomever I send you, you shall go; whatever I command you, you shall speak.” -- Jeremiah 1:7). On Friday morning in front of the Clinica Medica abortuary in Chula Vista, we received a “Jeremiah call” when a sidewalk counselor informed me that extreme pro-abortion Congressman Bob Filner was scheduled to speak the next day at an immigration event at Our Lady of Guadalupe parish in San Diego.

Record Abortions, Profits for Planned Parenthood
Despite a drop in donations and the first fall in income from clinics in its history, the nation's biggest abortion provider made a high profit last year, thanks to the American taxpayer. Pro-lifers want this to stop. During its 2005-2006 fiscal year, the nonprofit Planned Parenthood Federation of America performed a record 264,943 abortions, attained a high profit of $55.8 million and received record taxpayer funding of $305.3 million.

Argentina: Bishop says government needs plan for the country
This Bishop is concerned but doesn’t seem to understand the role of good catechesis in the formation of the conscience of Catholic politicians. Perhaps it’s also because there’s no discipline in the Catholic culture of Argentina. Either way it sounds too much like Canada and the US. Bishops wake up!!

Catholic teaching on the Relations between the Church and the Argentinian government are somewhat strained, he [the Bishop] added. While the government does maintain contacts with some individual bishops, Bishop Rodriguez observed, this dialogue should instead be institutionalised. There were no discussions with the bishops' conference. There is serious conflict above all in the areas of abortion and family planning. "We bishops are not playing politics, but society must be established on an ethical footing", he added. The Church was offering the politicians her collaboration in this ethical discussion, he said.

Cancer drug to be used by abortion clinic NON-SURGICAL abortions will soon be more easily accessible for Victorian women, with a new clinic offering medical terminations of pregnancy using a cancer drug.

The clinic, run by Marie Stopes International, has been prompted to turn to the cancer drug methotrexate, after delays in accessing the abortion drug RU486.