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World News Digest

WEEK OF DECEMBER 31, 2007

Well Over One Million Spaniards Demonstrate for Marriage and Family
Between one and two million people gathered in Madrid's Colón Plaza and surrounding streets December 30th to affirm the values of marriage and family and to protest the socialist government's attacks on the institution. The gathering, held only three months before Spain 's presidential elections, was addressed by Pope Benedict XVI by video link from St. Peter's Square, where he told the crowds that "the family, founded on marriage, an indissoluble communion of man and woman, is the sphere where the life of man is protected."

Sex Lessons not Halting Rise in Teen Pregnancy
Figures released Thursday by the United Kingdom 's Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) revealed that underage pregnancies rose by four percent -- to 7,462 in 2005 -- the latest year for which data is available. This leaves England and Wales with the highest birth rates for under-16s in Western Europe. However, the DCSF said the number of under-18s becoming pregnant was now at its lowest in more than 20 years. There has been a tendency for the government's teenage pregnancy strategy to focus on the morning-after pill and other forms of family planning at school or clinics. The danger with this sort of approach is that it can lead to an increase in risky sexual behavior among some young people. There is now overwhelming evidence that such schemes are simply not effective in cutting teenage pregnancy rates.

Some Girls Fainting after Receiving HPV Vaccine
The groundbreaking vaccine that prevents cervical cancer in girls is gaining a reputation as the most painful of childhood shots, health experts say. Health officials have touted the Gardasil vaccine as an important new protection against a cancer-causing sexually transmitted virus. In recent months, they've also noted reports of pain and fainting from the shot. During its first year of use, reports of girls fainting from vaccinations climbed, but it's not clear whether the pain of the cervical cancer vaccine was the reason for the reaction.

Planned Parenthood Entices Teens with ‘Mile High Club'
Planned Parenthood Golden Gate, in San Francisco, has aired a new commercial featuring a homosexual man showering teens with condoms and contraceptive pills aimed specifically at 18- to 24-year-olds. The ads, aired on MTV, VH-1, Comedy Central and TLC, are set to a "Mile High Club" theme, where Stephen, a homosexual, "educates" the teenage passengers about “safe sex” by shoving contraceptives at them. At the end of the commercial, Stephen sits on the pilot's lap and hits on him. The commercial, which will run through February 2008, is the latest in a series of raunchy sex-obsessed commercials aired by the heavily-tax-funded Planned Parenthood and aimed at subverting teens and young adults.

Spanish Clergyman Investigated for Encouraging Heterosexual Child Development
Marcos Zapata, a protestant minister and president of the Dignity Association, was giving a seminar for the Evangelical Council of Aragon when he made the comments, at a talk titled "How to Raise Heterosexual Children." The Galician Vice President of Equality and Welfare responded to the reported remarks by announcing that he was initiating an investigation into Zapata's activities to discover "any type of proselytism or homophobic attitude" in his work with minors. Zapata's Dignity organization works in the province's schools to combat drug addiction and other social ills. Homosexual groups have responded by threatening to sue Zapata.

Oregon's Domestic-Partnership Law Placed on Hold
A federal judge placed a stay on Oregon's domestic partnership law, which would have gone into effect January 1. A hearing is set to take place in court in February. The law aims to give spousal rights to same-sex partners.

Same-sex Unions Now Legal in New Hampshire
Several homosexual couples waisted no time entering into civil unions in the early hours of 2008 in this northeastern state. More than three dozen homosexual couples took part in a mass civil union ceremony outside the New Hampshire legislature. The state legislature had legalized civil unions last year. Civil unions give same-sex couples the same rights and responsibilities as marriage.

WEEK OF DECEMBER 24, 2007

U.S. Government Extends Abstinence Education Funding for Six Months
The United States Senate unanimously passed a bill that extends Title V abstinence education funding for the first six months of 2008. The program applies to states that apply for it. It had been feared earlier this year that the Democrat-controlled Congress would eliminate funding for abstinence education. Most Democrats favor the comprehensive "safe-sex" condom education which has not flailed and failed at reducing sexually-transmitted diseases and teen pregnancies for the past 40 years.

Australia Mandates Internet Filters to Protect Children
Stephen Conroy, Australia's telecommunications minister, said new measures will be instituted to protect children from online pornography and violent websites. Any persons desiring uncensored access to the Internet would need to opt out of the restrictions.

United States Fertility Rate Increasing
Despite a world trend of declining fertility rates, the U.S. birth rate is at its highest level since 1971. The American fertility rate rose in 2006 to 2.1 -- matching replacement level. The U.S. fertility rate rose in every age group, with the largest bump in the 20-24 age group. The increase was accomplished without the incentive programs becoming popular in other nations around the world.

Jackson County, Michigan United Way to Discontinue Funding for Planned Parenthood
The local Planned Parenthood affiliate stood to gain a $10,000 grant from United Way until protest from Jackson Right to Life and Spring Arbor University, among others, caused United Way to change its mind. The grant would have been used for teen abortions.

WEEK OF DECEMBER 17, 2007

Malta Trying to Fight Off Abortion Amendment
Pro-lifers in Malta are trying to fight off abortion. The leading pro-life group on the island nation, the Gift of Life Foundation, is lobbying for Parliament to sponsor legislation that would protect unborn children in the nation's constitution. A proposed amendment would read: "No person shall intentionally be deprived of his life from conception.” If approved, the amendment would strengthen a clause prohibiting the deprivation of a person of his right to life without due process. Constitutional protection for the unborn in Malta is vital to international efforts to resist efforts to legalize abortion globally.

Florida Marriage Amendment Qualifies for 2008 Election Ballot
The Florida Marriage Protection Amendment has exceeded the number of signatures required to qualify for inclusion on the November 4, 2008 election ballot. The Florida Division of Elections last week indicated that marriage amendment petitions had been verified throughout the 67 counties of Florida . Floridians now have the opportunity to join with 27 other states who in recent years have said marriage is the union of one man and one woman. Opponents of the Florida Marriage Protection Amendment have already begun to disseminate false and misleading information about the amendment. Opposition should not be taken lightly because marriage opponents will always have the media on their side. Defenders of marriage need to work hard in the coming months to make the case for voters to protect marriage.

WEEK OF DECEMBER 10, 2007

Congress Gives Up on Hate Crimes Legislation
Lacking the support for passage, U.S. House and Senate leaders last Thursday dropped a hate crimes amendment they had attached to the 2008 Defense Authorization bill. The amendment attempted to create a new federal class of crime based on "actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity" – drawing a promised veto from President George W. Bush. Congress also realized it could not succeed with the hate crimes legislation without resorting to stealth tactics because the bill is too controversial to stand on its own. Hate crimes threaten personal liberties in the U.S. We salute the House and Senate for seeing the writing on the wall.

‘Baby Tax' Would Save Planet, Claims Aussie Academic
A West Australian professor called for new population control measures that would punish expectant parents with a $5,000-plus "baby levy" at birth and a yearly carbon tax of up to $800 per child. Writing in the Medical Journal of Australia, Barry Walters said every couple with more than two children should be taxed to pay for enough trees to offset the carbon emissions generated during child's lifetime. The professor of clinical obstetric medicine at the University of Western Australia and the King Edward Memorial Hospital in Perth called for condoms and "greenhouse-friendly" services such as sterilization procedures in exchange for “carbon credits.” He also called for the government to discontinue the $4,133 baby bonus and consider population controls like those in China and India. Such controls are inhumane and totally unnecessary for environmental or other reasons.

New Jersey Preserves Marriage
The legislature has been discouraged from attempting to legalize same-sex “marriage” during the upcoming session. Marriage advocates had recently launched a national campaign after the New Jersey Legislature introduced same-sex "marriage" legislation during its lame-duck session. People across the nation were urged to call New Jersey lawmakers and ask them to oppose the legislation and to support an amendment to protect traditional marriage. More than 200 phone calls an hour flooded lawmakers' offices, discouraging the legislature from tampering with marriage. The people have spoken and we agree with their message.

Indian Women in United Kingdom Targeting Girls for Sex-Selective Abortion
An Oxford University study reports that 1,500 girls have been subtracted from birth statistics in Wales and England in the years 1990-2005. For every 114 boys born to Indian parents now, just 100 girls are allowed to live. Male preference is widely accepted in Indian culture. The BBC reported that pressure to have sons is prompting some Indian-born women to return from the United Kingdom to India to abort unwanted unborn daughters. This is a sad and tragic plight for defenseless unborn girls; they deserve the right to life.

WEEK OF DECEMBER 3, 2007

U.S. House of Representatives Passes Sweeping Porn Law
The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday voted 409-2 in support of the bill Securing Adolescents From Exploitation-Online Act (SAFE), which requires that anyone offering an open Wi-Fi connection to the public must report illegal images including "obscene" cartoons and drawings. Failure to do so results in a finesof up to $300,000. The bill also covers individuals, coffee shops, libraries, hotels, some government agencies that provide Wi-Fi, social-networking sites, domain name registrars, Internet service providers and e-mail service providers such as Hotmail and Gmail. Passage of SAFE is a welcome development in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2004 demolition of the Child Online Protection Act (COPA), which banned commercial website operators from posting sexually explicit material that can be seen by those under age 17.

Food and Drug Administration Won't Investigate Issue of Gardasil Safety
Despite 28 reports of miscarriage among HPV vaccine Gardasil users, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will not investigate the drug's effect on pregnant women. The FDA did admit to concerns about Gardasil causing dizziness among users. Despite the agency's decision, the watchdog group Judicial Watch was concerned enough about Gardasil's safety that it sued the FDA. More than 3,400 adverse reactions, including eight deaths, were reported to the government since the FDA approved the drug. The FDA ought to re-consider its decision; the concerns about Gardasil's safety do merit government agency scrutiny.

Another Study Ties Abortion to Increased Risk of Breast Cancer
A new study published in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons reports that young women who had an abortion before having a child are at the greatest risk for developing breast cancer. Patrick Carroll, the study's lead author, calls abortion the single “best predictor” of breast cancer trends. Abortion-rights proponents argue Carroll's findings are weak and deny there is a connection between the rise in breast cancer and an increase in abortions. Dr. Jane Orient, executive director of the Association of Physicians and Surgeons, Inc. and managing editor of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons agrees with Carroll's findings. So do at least 28 other studies, and it is getting more and more difficult for the abortion industry to deny the risks that abortion poses to women. Other studies point to childbirth as a protector of women from breast cancer.

Ottawa Senators Hockey Wives Support Pregnancy Center
The wives of the hockey players for the National Hockey League team in Ottawa, Ontario, through their charitable group "The Better Halves," are collecting donations for a local pregnancy centre. One-third of the money they raise will support the First Place Pregnancy Centre, which helps women in crisis pregnancies who are considering abortion. Furthermore, the Sens Foundation, the team's registered charity arm, is matching every dollar the wives raise during the campaign through the selling of Christmas trees. These courageous women, along with the Ottawa Senators' Foundation, are persevering despite opposition from pro-abortion groups. This charitable effort is scoring a major “goal” in helping to protect women and children from the dangers of abortion.

WEEK OF NOVEMBER 26, 2007

Fetal Tissue Research Still Using Parts from Abortion Victims
A new report says fetal tissue researchers are still conducting research with the remains of abortion victims, with taxpayer funds supporting it. The experiments in question involve hybrid mice and an attempt to improve the treatment of diseases such as AIDS and some cancers. A report by the Cybercast News Service found that thousands of mice have been bred for experiments and that researchers are making chimera by combining them with tissue and parts from aborted human children. Research that exploits the most vulnerable of humans does nothing to represent progress in the fight to cure disease. Human beings should not be used as commodities for scientific experimentation.

Planned Parenthood-Endorsed Book for Young Children too ‘Sexually Explicit' for Prisoners
Excerpts from the sexually explicit book “It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex and Sexual Health,” published by homosexual activists for children ages 8-13, are banned from Internet sites and from a Washington state prison due to its “inappropriate content.” Planned Parenthood endorsed the book, which portrays sexual activities. describes homosexuality and bisexuality and attacks religious views on sexuality. The fact that prisons will not allow inmate populations to access the book ought to serve as an indicator that the material is also inappropriate for libraries, elementary and middle schools.
 
Poll: Floridians Support Traditional Marriag
Nearly 80 percent of Floridians polled support traditional marriage between one man and one woman. Also, 63 percent said abortion should be illegal or legal in just a few circumstances. These polling numbers indicate the continuing and rising opposition to attempts to change the definition of marriage. Marriage will be on the 2008 election ballot in Florida, and we expect voters to stand up for traditional marriage in a big way. Views also continued to trend more and more toward preserving life.

Technology Lets Gamblers Empty Bank Accounts from Their Seat
Many a family has been fractured due to a parent's obsession with gambling. A new feature called "powercash," developed by Cash Systems, allows gamblers to access their bank accounts and use credit cards for cash without having to leave their seat at the casino. The technology is available in a California casion and may spread across the United States. Families have already been ruined when a member physically goes to ATM machines or embezzles from an employer to feed gambling addictions. The new ease with which individuals will be able to drain valuable funds needed for family responsibilities can only bode poorly.

700 Portuguese Doctors Sign Petition Urging Medical Association to Continue Opposing Abortion
Members of the Portuguese Medical Association are running an Internet petition to urge the Association's leadership to maintain its anti-abortion ethical code, asking it to "maintain with the greatest rigor and commitment the intransigent struggle for the ethical independence and autonomy of the medical profession." The Portuguese government, which is currently headed by socialist president Jose Socrates, legalized abortion on demand earlier this year during the first trimester of pregnancy, and says  it is now initiating legal proceedings against the nation's doctors for refusing to alter their code of ethics, which prohibits abortion. The government ought to respect the Association's Code of Ethics, which states that "doctors must maintain respect for human life from its beginning," and "the practice of abortion constitutes a grave ethical failure."

Sierra Club Teams up with Planned Parenthood to Promote Abortion
The Sierra Club recently presented four conferences in California on “Sex and the Environment.” Planned Parenthood participated in the first two conferences. These organizations are promoting "global reproductive health," a strategy that places trees and rivers above the sanctity of human life. The thinking behind Sierra's strategy goes like this: “ One of the most effective ways to address population growth and work to achieve larger global sustainable development goals is to increase access to voluntary family planning programs and services - around the world and in the U.S. When women and men can choose the size and spacing of their families, they tend to have smaller, healthier families.” The truth is that babies and Ponderosa Pines have co-existed throughout the ages, and there is no justification in killing babies now. Abortions do nothing to save rain forests, beatles or whales.

Michigan Governor Adds Special Rights for 'Transgendered' State Workers
Governor Jennifer Granholm recently issued an order that grants special protection for state workers based on their "gender identity or expression.” Her action created special rights for people who behave, dress or identify as members of the opposite sex. The number of transgendered and questioning people is so low that it does not justify the creation of state law for a tiny minority. Granholm showed timidity in her timing: she signed the questionable order the day before Thanksgiving.

WEEK OF NOVEMBER 19, 2007

India Supreme Court: Men Forcing Women to Have Abortions Will Get Jail
Men forcing abortions on their partners will be jailed for life, the India Supreme Court ruled. The court ruled these men can't be acquitted even if they later marry the women in question, because “causing abortion without woman's consent” is a crime that carries a punishment of life term. Last week's ruling involved Assam villager Hasi Mohan Barman and a woman who became pregnant with his child. He asked her to abort the child, but she refused. Barman took her to a pharmacy and an abortion was forced on the woman. He kept her at the pharmacy against her will for nine days.

Growing Up in Homosexual Parent's Home Fraught with Difficulties for Children
Dawn Stefanowicz recounts her story of growing up in a homosexual home in Toronto, Canada, during the 1960s in Out from Under: The Impact of Homosexual Parenting (Annotation Press). Stefanowicz wrote the book back in 2004 after testifying before a Canadian Senate committee against hate crime legislation and expressing public opposition to sexual diversity curriculum in her country's schools. The author and speaker says it was a painful and also "healing" process to write down every detail she could remember of being raised by a father who welcomed numerous male sex partners into the family's home on a regular basis. Stefanowicz says her father's destructive homosexual behavior created sexuality confusion in her life. In the book, she chronicles how, as a young girl, she often wished she were a boy.

Human Rights Group Files Charges Against Nicaraguan Abortion Lobby
The Nicaraguan Pro Human Rights Association (ANPDH) pressed charges against members of the "Women's Network Against Violence,” a network of pro-abortion feminist groups, for their role in covering up the rape of a nine-year old girl and protecting her victimizer in an attempt to promote "therapeutic abortion" in Nicaragua. The Network used the pregnancy of Rosita to promote an abortionist agenda in Nicaragua, and in the process helped to cover up the girl's rape by her stepfather, who fled Costa Rican authorities with their aid. 

WEEK OF NOVEMBER 12, 2007

U.S. Sets Record in Sexual Disease Cases
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that sexually transmitted diseases have hit record highs in the United States. Gonorrhea rates have spiked, and an increasing number of “superbug” cases are resistant to common antibiotics. Syphilis is also increasing. Congenital syphilis—which can deform or kill babies—rose for the first time in 15 years. Chlamydia is the most common STD, with nearly 1,031,000 cases reported in 2006. The big implication about all these diseases is that comprehensive, condom sex education has failed.

Senators Call for Suspension of Planned Parenthood Funding
Thirteen U.S. senators favor the suspension of federal funding to groups that promote abortion, most notably Planned Parenthood. The senators sent a letter to key members of Congress who have the power to block the funds. In October, 60 pro-life organizations asked Congress to suspend Planned Parenthood funding following a 107-count indictment against the group's Kansas affiliate. Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., introduced a bill in the House on Thursday that would stop federal funding.

Virginia Governor Cuts Funding for Abstinence Education
Gov. Timothy Kaine pulled the plug on funding for abstinence-only sex-education programs. He said sex ed programs need to focus on information about contraceptives. The governor turned down a $275,000 matching grant for federal abstinence funding. Planned Parenthood of Virginia had lobbied for the change in policy, praised Kaine for joining its nationwide campaign to eliminate abstinence-only programs. Legislators plan to try to regain abstinence funding next year.

Marriage Brings Stability, Economic Well-Being
When compared to single or divorced counterparts, married households earn $12,000 more annually than cohabiting couples and they are less likely to default on bills. on that would suggest that marriage would have an impact on economic well-being.” Married couples are more apt to gain wealth.

WEEK OF NOVEMBER 5, 2007

U.S. House Passes Controversial ENDA Bill; Senate Passage, Veto Loom ahead
The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday passed the highly controversial Employment Non-Discrimination Act, a bill largely viewed as an attempt at incremental gains for homosexual pressure groups. The vote was 235-184. If the bill passes the Senate, it is likely to meet up with a fatal blow by the veto pen of President George W. Bush. The bill attempts to turn sexual preferences, namely homosexuality, into a civil rights issue, tying them to the 14 th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This is viewed as a stretch by conservatives and a threat to freedom of speech.

Uruguay Senate Approves Bill Legalizing Abortion, President to Veto
The Senate in the South American nation of Uruguay has approved a bill to legalize all abortion up to 12 weeks into pregnancy. The legislative chamber tied 15-15 on its last vote, but pro-abortion lawmakers forced a vote on a modified version of it. Abortion advocates worked overtime to try to get several Latin American nations to legalize abortion, and they were successful in Mexico City. The Senate ultimately decided to postpone the vote after a bomb threat late last month. But at the time the vote was halted, a 15-15 tie emerged and one lawmaker abstained from voting. The new vote was 18-13 in favor of the abortion law. Despite a membership in the party backing the bill in its Congress, Uruguayan president Tabare Vasquez has repeatedly promised to veto it -- and that could be the remaining hope for pro-life advocates there.

Utah Voters Crush Vouchers Proposition, Parental Rights
Voters decisively rejected the will of the Utah Legislature and governor Tuesday, defeating what would have been the nation's most comprehensive education voucher program in a referendum blowout. More than 60 percent of voters were rejecting vouchers, with about 95 percent of the precincts reporting, according to unofficial results. The referendum failed in every county, including the conservative bastion of Utah County. Utah 's voucher program, supported by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and Republican legislative leaders, attracted national attention because it would have provided tax-funded subsidies to any student, rich or poor, to enroll in a private school.

UK Boy Survives Abortion Attempt
England is abuzz about "The Boy Who Lived." Gabriel Jones was the weaker twin and had an enlarged heart. Doctors told his mother that they believed he would die in the womb, and if he did, they said, that would cause his brother to die, too. The despondent mother, Rebecca Jones, agreed to terminate Gabriel to save his twin brother, Ieuan. First doctors attempted to sever his umbilical cord, but according to published reports, the cord proved too strong. So they halved Jones' placenta to allow Gabriel to die without harm to Ieuan. Instead, the tiny boy thrived, and both children were born by caesarian section five weeks later. They are happy, healthy children, with the bright eyes, gummy smiles and wispy hair of adorable infants.

German Homeschoolers Facing $6,300 Fine
Government officials determined to stamp out "parallel societies" have in the past ordered police to take children from their homes to school and have placed a teenager involuntarily in psychiatric care for being homeschooled. Now they are fining a German husband and wife $6,300 for refusing to require their children to attend public schools. Tillman and Dagmar Neubronner run a small publishing house from their home, and home school sons Moritz, 10, and Thomas, 8. Authorities searched the family's home to determine whether there were items that could be confiscated to be sold to pay the fine, and authorities also were considering jailing the father, to see whether that would make him change his mind about home schooling.

Homosexual Activists Target Defense of Marriage Act
The Boston-based legal advocacy group that helped make gay marriage a fact of life in Massachusetts, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, is girding for a fight to expand the rights of same-sex married couples. GLAD is targeting the federal Defense of Marriage Act of 1996. The DOMA states that no state needs to regognize same-sex "marriage" from another state. The GLAD attack on DOMA will most likely either take the form of a lawsuit or pressure Congress to repeal the act.

WEEK OF OCTOBER 29, 2007

Pedophiles lure kids in virtual online world
Authorities in the United Kingdom are tracking child sex predators on virtual online fantasy sites like Second Life, where realistic 3-D video "games" include rape dungeons and sex playgrounds for kids. On these sites, investigators say, "avatars," or virtual personalities, are created where fantasies, including sexual ones, can be acted out in realistic fashion. On Second Life, where some 7 percent of young people between the ages of 12 and 24 regularly visit a virtual world, there is an area called "Wonderland," where children can be seen in a playground offering sex. Other areas offer characters a chance to rape women in clubs and dungeons. The Second Life site was created in 2003 in San Francisco and hosts advertising from major corporations including Coca Cola, eBay and Vodafone. Authorities in England are debating whether to outlaw computer-generated imagery of child abuse, hard-core porn and torture scenes. They believe people using the virtual world, especially pedophiles, might be led to carry out some of these activities in real life.

Pro-Life Movie ‘Bella' Draws Well on Opening Weekend
Bella, the highly-anticipated pro-life movie, opened this past weekend with $1.3 million in revenue in 31 cities. The film stars Eduardo Verastegui as a former soccer player who learns the value of human life and helps a pregnant waitress appreciate the value of the baby she's carrying.

Kansas Supreme Court Ignores Kansas Law and Blocks Tiller Grand Jury
The Kansas Supreme Court ruled Friday that a grand jury investigating late-term abortionist George Tiller will be delayed at least until November 16. Pro-life organizations say the Kansas Supreme Court is ignoring Kansas law that gives citizens the right to convene a grand jury to investigate criminal wrongdoing. Among the allegations against Tiller include late-term abortions from 2004-2007. The grand jury had already brought 19 counts of criminal charges against for 2003.

6th U.S. Circuit Court Decision May Lead to Increase in Child Porn
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, located in Cincinnati, Ohio, overturned a federal law requiring pornographers to record information on the age of their "actors." Overlooking the obvious harms of child pornography, the court was more concerned about the well-being of the pornography industry. The court ruling makes it unlikely for pornographers to police their industry in a way that will protect minors.

WEEK OF OCTOBER 22, 2007

Parents May Be Able to Block Children's Participation in Middle School Contraception Give-Away
A resolution submitted to a Portland, Maine school board Monday could give parents the right to block the school from dispensing contraceptives to their middle school students. The resolution will be considered by a committee meeting Nov. 7. The proposal would give parents the option to block access to prescription contraception if they enroll their children in the King Student Health Center. The committee's 7-2 vote last week would make King the first middle school in Maine to offer a full range of contraception in grades 6 to 8 -- creating a national uproar.

Norwegians Urge Sexual Exploration for Children in Daycare
A respected Oslo, Norway pre-school teacher and child psychologists are advocating for nudity and sexual exploration for young children (Debate flies over 'sex play' in kindergartens). Pia Friis, leader of the Bjerkealleen Barnehage school, encourages the children to engage in touching of each other and to know when it is or isn't appropriate to do so. Sexual exploration would allegedly enable small children to express their sexuality/ Family therapist Jesper Juul agrees with Friis that the children's sexual outlet should not be stifled. Friis said the children should be allowed to play doctor, play mother and father, dance naked and masturbate. However, masturbation would not be allowed at mealtime. Since this outlandish advocacy came to light, heated debate has ensued with many who say sexual games do not belong in daycare or school and that it could damage children's health.

WEEK OF OCTOBER 15, 2007

U.S. Senate Vote to Cut Funding for Abortion Centers Fails, 52-41
On Thursday night, the U.S. Senate rejected Senator David Vitter's bill that would have cut federal funding for family planning at abortion clinics. The funding in question does not directly fund abortions, but it does free up other funds for the express purposes of abortion. Republican senators Kit Bond, Sue Collins, Dick Lugar, Lisa Murkowski, Olympia Snowe, Arlen Specter and Ted Stevens joined Democrats in voting against the Vitter amendment.

Uruguay Senate Rejects Legalization of Abortion
The recent vote ended in a tie, and as a result, the Uruguayan Senate refused to legalize abortion. Abortion advocates pressured senators long and hard in an attempt to overturn pro-life law. This is the latest in an effort to persuade Latin American governments to relax standards protecting human life.

Amnesty International Pressures Dominican Republic to Legalize Abortion
The "human rights" pressure group Amnesty International is pushing the government of the Dominican Republic to legalize abortion. Amnesty International was for decades neutral on abortion, but is now pushing for abortion and sodomy right. As a result, Amnesty International is being boycotted by some pro-life people.

Angry Feminists Harrass Catholics in Argentina
Angry feminists took time out of a pro-abortion march Sunday in order to assault a group of Catholic people praying in front of a cathedral in the city of Cordoba. Marching in recognition of the annual National Women's Encounter event, the radical feminists threw trash at the prayer group and heaped obscenities upon them. The Catholics continued to pray as the feminists embraced each other in sexually provocative ways and exposed themselves. Furthermore, the angry women threw red paint over the heads of the Catholics, staining the walls of the cathedral. A small girl received a black eye during the melee. Feminist leader Suzana Carannza has a history of leading feminist thugs in physical assaults on those who disagree with their views.

Kansas Planned Parenthood Clinic Charged With Providing Unlawful Abortions
Johnson County prosecutor Phill Kline has filed 23 felony counts and 84 misdemeanor charges against a Wichita Planned Parenthood clinic for unlawful late-term abortions, false writing, failure to maintain records and failure to determine viability. The first hearing is set for November 16. The clinic is run by George Tiller, a controversial abortionist with a history of botched abortions.

California Group to Fight 'Sexual Indoctrination' Laws in Court
A pro-family organization in California plans to conduct a legal effort to overturn pro-homosexual bills signed into law last week by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger before they take affect. The California Family Council will challenge a bill that will result in further indoctrination of public school students with the homosexual agenda. The state education code will replace male and female genders with gender-neutral language as part of the growing transgenderism movement. The series of bills signed by the governor will directly challenge traditional family norms and undermine religious liberty.

Middle School Ponders Birth Control Pill for Students
Students who have parental permission to be treated at King Middle School's health center would be able to get birth control prescriptions under a proposal that the Portland, Maine School Committee will consider Wednesday. The proposal would build on the King Student Health Center's practice of providing condoms as part of its reproductive health program since it opened in 2000, said Lisa Belanger, a nurse practitioner who oversees the city's student health centers.

Abortion Consent Laws Cut Teen STD Rates
State parental involvement laws actually reduce the incidence of risky sexual behavior among teens, according to a study to be published in January. Florida State University law professor Jonathan Klick reports that the incidence of teen gonorrhea is significantly reduced -- by 10-15 percent relative to the nonteen gonorrhea rate -- in states with parental consent laws.The study will be published in the Journal of Law, Economics and Organization.

Homosexual Activists Can't get Same-Sex ‘Marriage' Bill Past Governor's Veto Pen
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday carried out his promise to continue to veto gay marriage bills. The Republican governor spurned a measure by Assemblyman and homosexual activist Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, that would have lifted the state's ban on same-sex “marriages” by defining marriage as a union between two persons, not just a man and a woman. “It would be wrong for the people to vote for something and for me to then overturn it,” Schwarzenegger said in September, referring to voters' approval of Proposition 22 in 2000. “So they can send this bill down as many times as they want, I won't do it.” Proposition 22 was intended to prevent California from recognizing gay marriages performed in other states or countries. In his veto message, Schwarzenegger said voters and the state Supreme Court should decide the issue. The high court is likely to rule next year on whether California 's ban on gay marriages violates the constitution.

Harmful, Anti-Family Bills Become Law in California
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday signed bills into law that were opposed by United Families California as anti-family and which have the potential to turn public schools into indoctrination centers for homosexual pressure groups:

WEEK OF OCTOBER 8, 2007

Farmington, New Mexico School Board Votes to Allow Gay-Straight Alliance
The Farmington Municipal Schools Board of Education was not prepared to get rid of all high school extracurricular clubs just to prevent the formation of the controversial Gay-Straight Alliance club. In a unanimous decision Thursday night, the board voted in favor of upholding its existing policies regarding non-curricular clubs, effectively allowing the Gay-Straight Alliance club to meet. Despite pressure from outraged parents and others, the board decided that the loss of other clubs and the loss of public use of the district's high school facilities was too great to forfeit.

Sexually Transmitted Infections Soar in California
An estimated 1 million young Californians had a sexually transmitted infection (STI) in 2005, including one in every four to five 15- to 24-year-olds in Los Angeles County, researchers said Tuesday.The study, reported in the Los Angeles Times, also found that the cost of treating the new infections is more than $1 billion a year. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in 2004 that 9.1 million new STIs occurred nationwide among 15- to 24-year-olds in 2000, with a direct medical cost of $6.5 billion.

Majority of Parents Support Abstinence Education over Failed Comprehensive Approach
A new poll by Zogby International indicates that the majority of parents in the United States support abstince education over the longstanding and failed approach of comprehensive sex education. In fact, the margin in favor of abstinence teaching is 2-1. Also, the majority of parents oppose the contraceptive, condom lessons promoted by Planned Parenthood, which have obviously not worked since first instituted in schools 40 years ago. The mixed message of the abortion industry is troubling to parents and students. By contrast, parents approve of the attention to relationships, self-control and values that come with abstinence education, which aims to prepare students for adulthood and marriage.

White Ribbon against Pornography Week Begins October 28
A national campaign will raise awareness about the dangers of pornography, for the 20th consecutive year, October 28-November 4th. The week aims to direct people's focus to what they can do to combat pornography. Among the actions citizens can perform are: reporting obscenity law violations to the U.S. attorney and state attorney general, educate community leaders, write letters to the editor and complain to businesses that distribute or advertise pornography. Supporters of the campaign are asked to wear white ribbons and sign their commitment to standards of public morality and enforcement of obscenity laws.

New United Kingdom Law Would Net Seven Years of Prison for Making Anti-homosexual Comments
Justice Secretary Jack Straw told Members of Parliament that a proposed homosexual harassment law will be included as an amendment to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill currently going before the United Kingdom 's lawmaking body. Stirring up hatred against homosexuals would become punishable with a seven-year jail sentence if the resolution is passed into law. Critics say the law goes too far and would actually amount to a thought crimes law, casting a chill upon basic liberties.

Massachusetts Law Protects Women by Deterring Egg Donation
State law has stopped human egg cell donation in its tracks. The Harvard Stem Cell Institute has not received any egg donations since a 2004 state law barred compensation for human eggs. Donors are given doses of hormones to trigger the production of more eggs than would normally be produced, and this hormone treatment can have various side effects. The surgery and the anesthesia pose risks to women's physical and psychological health. When presented with the information about health risks, women typically decline to donate their eggs.

Same-sex "Divorce" Movement Actually Aims to Promote SSM
Efforts by homosexual couples in various states to gain court-decreed divorces are actually part of an international movement to further the cause of same-sex "marriage." Lesbian couples have in recent years moved for "divorce" in states that do not legally recognize same-sex "marriage" -- including Oklahoma, Iowa and Rhode Island. Earlier this week, the Rhode Island Supreme Court heard oral arguments from a couple married legally in Massachusetts who now seek a divorce in their home state of Rhode Island. The same thing is happening in Oklahoma where a resident lesbian couple, married legally in Canada, now aims to force Oklahoma to recognize that "marriage" by granting a legal divorce.

WEEK OF OCTOBER 1, 2007

Abortion 'Best Predictor of Breast Cancer,' New Study Says
New research conducted by a British statistician showed that abortion is the "best predictor of breast cancer" among seven acknowledged risk factors, though fertility is also useful in anticipating the incidence of the disease. The study re-confirms what many scientists acknowledge in private but won't mention in public. Peter Carroll of London's Pension and Population Research Institute reports in "The Breast Cancer Epidemic: Modeling and Forecasts Based on Abortion and Other Risk Factors" that countries with high abortion rates, such as England and Wales, can expect a substantial increase in the number of cases of breast cancer over the next few decades.

Planned Parenthood Closing Five Clinics in Michigan
Five clinics owned by Planned Parenthood are in the process of closing. Abortion clinics in Hart and White Cloud closed earlier this week. By the end of the year, clinics will also close in Grand Rapids, Mount Pleasant and Muskegon. Cuts in state and federal funding have led to the closure decisions. Planned Parenthood was allocated $1 million in state and federal funding this year, compared to $1.7 million in 2006.

President Bush Extends Abstinence Education for Three Months
On Saturday, President Bush signed House Resolution 3668, the "TMA, Abstinence Education, and QI Programs Extension Act of 2007," which extends for three months the Transitional Medical Assistance, Abstinence Education, and Qualifying Individuals programs, and modifies other Medicare and Medicaid programs. This extends the program through the end of this year.

New Jersey Commission Expected to Push for Same-Sex 'Marriage'
The Civil Union Review Commission has launched its first of three bi-weekly meetings to hear complaints that civil unions are a “failed experiment” and carry a “second-class status.” This is part of a concerted move to push for same-sex “marriage” in the legislature.

WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 24, 2007

U.S. Senate Tacks Hate Crimes Bill onto Military Legislation
The U.S. Senate voted Thursday to add homosexuals and transgendered individuals to the classes protected under hate crimes laws. The vote was 60-39, with nine Republicans joining 51 Democrats. Supporters of the controversial measure gained its passage as an amendment to the Department of Defense authorization bill, purportedly to make it difficult for President Bush to veto. Nevertheless, the White House has promised a veto by the president, even if it is part of the Defense bill. Congress lacks the votes to over-ride a presidential veto. The House passed a hate crimes 237-180 in May.

Nova Scotia Removes ‘Father' from Birth Certificates
Nova Scotia 's Progressive Conservative government this week rapidly approved new regulations, effective immediately, allowing birth certificates to register a lesbian "spouse" of a birth mother as the "other parent." The decision was made in cabinet only four days after a lesbian couple launched a human rights complaint. Adjustments were made to the Vital Statistics Act after a "married" lesbian couple, Emily and Jamie O'Neill, filed a Human Rights complaint demanding the province recognize them equally as parents to Emily's newborn daughter, Jordyn. Since the old regulations listed a newborn baby's "father" and "mother," Jamie would have needed to adopt Jordyn in order to acquire the same legal rights as Emily.

New Study Reports Cancer Threatens Marriage
People who develop cervical or testicular cancer may face another harsh reality: they are more likely to get divorced, a new study says. In research presented Thursday at a meeting of the European Cancer Organization, Norwegian experts found that women with cervical cancer had a 40 percent higher chance of getting divorced than other women. Men with testicular cancer were 20 percent more likely to get divorced than similar men without cancer. Both types of cancer are curable and mainly affect young people.

New Mexico High School Club Hotly Debated: Parents, Students Speak Out on Gay-Straight Alliance
A deeply divided, passionate crowd of more than 300 people gathered to discuss the possibility of a Gay-Straight Alliance club at Piedra Vista High School, in Farmington, New Mexico. Dozens of parents, students and other residents shed tears, raised voices and shared personal stories as they spoke both for and against the club. The club's supporters said it would foster tolerance in the school and the community. Opponents of the proposed club said the issue of sexuality should not be the subject of a school club.

New York Rejects Abstinence Funding
New York state officials have rejected millions of dollars in federal grants for abstinence-only sex education, claiming it to be a "failed" Bush policy based on "ideology rather than on sound scientific-based evidence." In deciding not to re-apply for its annual $3.5 million in abstinence funding, New York joins 10 other states rejecting funding. The state's decision is tragic for teens who are being misled. Studies show that abstinence education is responsible for two-thirds of the decline in teen pregnancies.

WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 17, 2007

Irish Marriage Breakdowns Jump Fivefold in 20 Years
The number of people who have experienced marriage breakdown has increased fivefold over the last 20 years, new research shows. Marriage breakdown is most common in socially-deprived urban areas and among couples in their 40s and 50s. However, marriage breakdown rates decline sharply among people aged over 60. Total marriage breakdown was calculated by adding up the number of people who have divorced, separated or remarried and expressing this as a percentage of people in first marriages.

Maryland lawmakers begin preparing for 2008 marriage battle
Within minutes of Maryland 's high court upholding a ban on same-sex “marriage,” lawmakers from both sides of the aisle began preparing for what is sure to be a pitched battle in the next General Assembly session over what rights -- if any -- homosexual couples should be afforded. Conservative lawmakers promised to reintroduce a constitutional amendment that would make clear that marriage is an institution limited to heterosexual couples, an amendment that has stalled in committee in years past. Others said they intend to propose that same-sex couples be given the same state rights as their heterosexual counterparts, a concept that activists are calling civil marriage. Still others are already talking compromise, which could resemble the civil unions that exist in several other states or could look like something else altogether.

Amnesty International Organizes Worldwide Homosexual Protest against Nicaragua
After enshrining abortion as a human right in its humanitarian mission, Amnesty International has now stepped up its campaign to target nations that criminalize sodomy as grave violators of human rights, beginning with Nicaragua. Last week Amnesty International through its affiliates orchestrated international protests outside Nicaraguan embassies and consulates in Germany, Canada, Chile, Iceland, Mexico, Paraguay, Sweden and Taiwan, demanding the repeal of Nicaragua 's sodomy ban. Nicaragua has criminalized sodomy since 1992 under Article 204 of Nicaragua's criminal code, which stipulates that "anyone who induces, promotes, propagandizes or practices sexual intercourse between persons of the same sex commits the crime of sodomy and shall incur one to three years' imprisonment."

New Hampshire Legislators: Restore parental notification
Two New Hampshire legislators are sponsoring bills that would reinstate a law requiring parents to be notified in writing before a minor daughter had an abortion. Sen. Jack Barnes, R-Raymond, and Rep. Fran Wendelboe, R-New Hampton, said they want to bring back the law, slightly different from the version that was repealed three months ago. Their bills still are being drafted, and exact language is not available.

Marriage Bill Hits Governor Schwarzenegger's Desk
The homosexual community will have rallies all over the state Tuesday to pressure Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to sign a same-sex “marriage” bill into law. In San Francisco, a rally will take place at the Gay Community Center. The California Legislature has approved a same-sex “marriage” and is about to send the bill to the governor, who vetoed same-sex “marriage” last year. But since then, he has moved to more liberal positions on many issues. The Governor has until mid-October to make a decision on the issue.

WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 10, 2007

President Bush Again Withholds Funding From Pro-Abortion UN Group
President Bush has once again decided to withhold funding from a United Nations agency that is involved in the forced abortion campaign officials in China use to curb its population. This is the sixth year the Bush administration has said the U.N. Population Fund wrongly backs the one-child policy. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte recently sent a letter to Congress informing lawmakers of his decision. Congress voted to spend $34 million on the UNFPA program, but Bush revoked that funding under the Kemp-Kasten law that allows the president to remove taxpayer funding from any group that promotes forced abortions.

'Mom,' 'dad,' targeted by California bias ban
A new plan approved by the California Legislature could be used to ban the words "dad" or "mom" in all public schools as being discriminatory against "partner 1"' and "partner 2" in same-sex relationships, according to critics. The legislation, in fact, seeks to impose a radical homosexual indoctrination on the young children in the state. The plan, SB777, has passed the state Assembly on a 43-23 vote and it now moves forward to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who previously vetoed another similar plan, SB1437 from 2006. T he Los Angeles Unified School District has adopted many of the requirements being set up for statewide use now.

Australia Bans Pornography in Aboriginal Communities
The federal government will put its new pornography bans for Aboriginal communities into effect on Sept. 14. The government is using print and radio ads to warn Northern Territorians of the upcoming bans. The controversial ban, proposed by Australian Prime Minister John Howard, is an attempt to fight child sex abuse among the country's indigenous communities. Aboriginal leaders argue that the decision is discriminatory.

Russian province gets set for 'Conception Day'
A Russian province is readying for "Family Contact" day -- unofficially being called "Conception Day" -- in an effort to boost declining birth rates. The special day for encouraging procreation was ordered by the governor of Ulyanovsk province, Sergei Morozov, who awarded prizes ranging from a television to a Russian-made all-terrain vehicle for giving birth on Russia 's Constitution Day on June 12. President Vladimir Putin has made fixing Russia 's ongoing population slump a national priority. Conception Day is timed precisely nine months ahead of next year's Constitution Day so that mothers "ideally should give birth on June 12.

Senate Overturns Bush Policy Preventing Taxpayer-Funded Intl Abortions
The U.S. Senate last week voted to overturn a policy President Bush instituted on his first day in office in 2001 that protects taxpayers from funding international abortions. Senators voted to overturn the Mexico City Policy that prevents tax funds from going to groups that promote or perform abortions overseas. The vote occurred during the debate of the State Department/Foreign Operations appropriations bill for the next fiscal year. Senator Barbara Boxer, a pro-abortion California Democrat, sponsored an amendment that the Senate approved on a 53-41 vote. President Bush has already promised he would veto the bill if it nullified his abortion policy.

WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 3, 2007

Abortion Group Lobbies European Union for Increased Rights
The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) is pressuring leaders of the European Union to approve abortion rights issues while also acknowledging that reproductive laws are the responsibility of individual governments. This apparent contradiction is the IPPF's way of promoting abortion throughout Europe. The document praises non-binding statements released by EU bodies that advocate broader abortion rights in the region. It further calls for greater effort by international leaders to keep the issue at the forefront of public and parliamentary debate.

Mexico Supreme Court Begins to Tackle Mexico City Abortion Lawsuit
The Mexico Supreme Court is beginning to deliberate on a new law in the nation's capital allowing all abortions up to 12 weeks of pregnancy. The court agreed to hear a lawsuit filed in May by the federal government and pro-life groups challenging the law. The legislative assembly of Mexico City voted to approve the new abortion law but the nation's government argues that the assembly does not have the legal authorization to approve bills on health issues.

Sweden Cuts Aid to Countries that Oppose its Pro-Abortion Stance
Sweden announced on Tuesday that it would cut aid to several countries that oppose its pro-abortion policy, including Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, and Peru. Although the government of Sweden did not publicly attribute the decision to the abortion policies of the Latin American nations, the Nicaraguan newspaper La Prensa quoted anonymous sources who stated that the Swedish leadership, "was very concerned about the issue of therapeutic abortion. What happened is that they are very involved in the area of health. The announcement is for the purpose of seeing if the debate over therapeutic abortion will be reopened again," the newspaper was told.

WEEK OF AUGUST 27, 2007

Ecuadorans Battle over Abortion in their New Constitution

During the process of rewriting its national constitution, Ecuador has become entangled in a contentious debate over the rights of the unborn and the definition of marriage. Currently a commission of jurists is creating a draft of the new constitution, which will be voted on by a Constituent Assembly September 30. Right-to-life guarantees in the existing constitution and the heterosexual definition of marriage could potentially be eliminated from the new constitution.

Congresswoman Musgrave Pleads for Crackdown on Child Porn
Colorado congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave is advocating for passage of legislation that would close a loophole in federal law allowing pedophiles to view child pornography without downloading it. Her bill -- The Child Pornography Elimination Act of 2007 (HR 3148) -- would prohibit access of child porn. The bill would impose mandatory criminal penalties for possession of child porn and increase civil penalties for Internet service providers refusing to report child porn to law enforcement. Musgrave said that protecting children should be the highest priority of Congress.

AETNA Insurance Providing Unlimited Coverage of Abortion Costs

One of the largest health care insurance providers in the United States , Aetna covers the cost of abortion for any reason at any time during a woman's pregnancy. Regardless of the woman's circumstances or the age of the pre-born child, Aetna imposes absolutely no restrictions. Epiphany Funds, a company which was invested with Aetna , is encouraging Aetna to change this policy.

California's State Leaders Threaten Marriage
In legal briefs submitted to the California Supreme Court regarding same-sex marriage, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown both stated that a future legislature could abolish marriage and remove the rights now enjoyed by a husband and wife, a pro-family group charged on Monday. Regarding whether rights for a husband and wife can be eliminated by the California legislature, Schwarzenegger wrote that "except for the ability to choose and declare one's life partner in a reciprocal commitment of mutual support, any of the statutory rights and obligations that are afforded to married couples in California could be abrogated or eliminated by the legislature or the electorate for any rational legislative purpose."

Broken Homes in Spain On the Increase
The Institute for Family Policy (IFP) reported an alarming trend that one in four homes in Spain will be headed by a single parent by 2011. Mariano Martinez-Aedo, vice president of the IFP, pointed out that recent trends in Spanish families have caused increased "fragmentation" that has weakened the structure of society. He said, "The tendencies that show the evolution of homes in Spain reveal serious deficiencies in our future, as they are provoking a society that is more and more individualistic, where social fragmentation is isolating the person and makes the social fabric very fragile."

Virginia Commission Works to Strengthen Marriage
A newly-created Marriage Commission, consisting of 20 persons, will work to find policy solutions to the problem of divorce in Virginia. The state divorce rate is nearly 50 percent. The Marriage Commission aims to present proposals to the General Assembly, which convenes in January.

WEEK OF AUGUST 20, 2007

Vermont Marriage Panel Stacked with Supporters of SSM; Citizens Call for Boycott
Opponents of same-sex "marriage" are encouraging Vermonters to boycott the meetings and public hearings of the Vermont Commission on Family Recognition and Protection plan -- because opponents say the panel is stacked with same-sex "marriage" supporters. "This is a political farce that wastes Vermonters' time," said Craig Bensen, long-time leader in Take It to the People, a group that fought in 2000 to have the gay marriage and civil union questions put before voters.

Fonda's Feminist Radio Network Tanks
A feminist radio company whose founders include Jane Fonda and Gloria Steinem failed to attract an audience and it signed off the air for good Friday. The GreenStone talk radio network launched in September 2006 as a new left-wing radio network that planned to appeal to women listeners and counter the dominance of conservative talk radio.

Phyllis Schlafly: The NEA Lists its Goals and the Democratic Party Agrees
Never an organization to be trifled with actual education issues, the National Education Association (NEA) used its annual convention to state its support for federal hate crimes law with heavier penalties. The nation's largest teachers' union wants federal legislation to confer special rights on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity and expression. The NEA passed at least a dozen resolutions supporting the "gay rights agenda" in public schools. These cover employment, curricula, textbooks, resource and instructional materials, school activities, role models and language, with frequent use of terms such as sexual orientation, gender identification, and “homophobia.” The NEA enthusiastically supports all the goals of radical feminism, including abortion, the Equal Rights Amendment, school-based health clinics, the feminist pork called the Women's Educational Equity Act and letting feminists rewrite textbooks to conform to feminist ideology.

Young People Want Family Connections; Sex Makes Them Less Happy
Spending time with family was the top answer to an open-ended survey question asked of 1,280 people ages 13-24 conducted by The Associated Press and MTV on the nature of happiness among America's young people. Nearly three-quarters of young people say their relationship with their parents makes them happy. A lot of young people feel stress, particularly those from the middle class, and females more than males. Almost no one said "money" when asked what makes them happy, though people with the highest family incomes are generally happier with life. Being sexually active actually leads to less happiness among 13-17 year olds, according to the survey.

Texas Baptist seminary offers homemaking course

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, in Fort Worth, Texas, is now offering a new Bachelor of Arts degree program in homemaking. College officials say such courses are needed to arrest the collapse of the American family and society. Dr. Paige Patterson, president of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, said the family "is the basic unit to all social order ... It is a course of study whereby a woman can prepare herself intellectually and in her basic skills to be a better homemaker. … I am wary of the crusade against mothers ... who choose not to have a career but to devote themselves entirely to their homes. That's noble and our society is worse for not maintaining it as a noble cause.""


WEEK OF AUGUST 13, 2007

Study Says Abortion Lead to Higher Crime, Increased Murder Rates
A University of Maryland researcher has conducted a study that shows abortion is linked to higher crime and murder rates. These higher rates are due to the increased number of children living with only one parent after the Roe v. Wade decision. The researcher, John Lott, says that after the Roe v. Wade decision there were more births out-of-wedlock and more unmarried parents as a result of that court decision's influence on decisions of premarital sex. Researchers claim that more children growing up in single-parent homes will lead to higher crime rates as children in this situation are statistically more likely to become criminals.

Washington State Law May Do End Run Around Parental Rights
A new bill was passed this year in the Washington state legislature that gave the State Department of Health and the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction the job of creating sex-education curriculum for Washington public school students. Local school boards and parents no longer have a say in which curriculum is taught to students. The same bill also prohibits teaching abstinence-only sex education programs because it requires schools to use the Department of Health's more comprehensive program.

Pornography Industry Targets Ohio's Decency Law
The Ohio legislature recently passed a bill that placed limits on sexually oriented businesses. However, out-of-state pornographers have poured money and resources into collecting signatures in order to put an initiative on the ballot that would repeal the new law. Pornographers are organizing to collect signatures through groups with misleading names such as “Dancers for Democracy” and “Citizens for Community Standards.” They have also used deceptive tactics such as telling petition signers that they are protecting children and regulating sex industries by signing the petition.

Abortionists Apply Lethal Injections to Avoid Breaking Partial-Birth Abortion Ban
In response to the Supreme Court decision upholding the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, many abortion providers in Boston and around the country have adopted a defensive tactic. To avoid any chance of partially delivering a live fetus, they are injecting fetuses with lethal drugs before procedures. That clinical shift in late-term abortions goes deeply against the grain, some doctors say: It poses a slight risk to the woman and offers her no medical benefit.

British Researchers See Normal Brain Activity in Supposedly 'PVS' Patient
British researchers say that scans of the brain activity of a disabled woman there show normal levels despite a diagnosis from doctors that she is supposedly in a persistent vegetative state. This is the second time the researchers have found normal brain activity in a PVS patient. Adrian Owen and other scientists at Cambridge University reported on Monday about the findings of their new study, which shows that researchers may be able to predict which comatose patients can recover. Owen and his team used functional magnetic resonance imaging to look at the activity in the patient's brain and asked the female patient to imagine she was walking through her home. After the request, her brain lit up with activity in the parts of the brain expected to function. The Archives of Neurology journal article said the patient's brain showed about the same activity as healthy people.

 

WEEK OF AUGUST 6, 2007

President Bush Promised to Veto Hate Crimes Bill
The controversial hate crimes bill now before the U.S. Senate is headed for a promised veto by President George W. Bush. The bill passed the House earlier this summer. Democratic Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy and Republican Oregon Senator Gordon Smith reintroduced the "hate crime" bill, also known as the "Matthew Shepard Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act" into the Senate this July, buried as one of many amendments to the Defense Reauthorization bill.

Activists Pressuring TV Networks into Homosexual Programming
The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) has begun grading TV networks on their depictions of gay, lesbian and transgendered characters in prime-time programming. Walt Disney's network received the best grade of the five major broadcast networks included in the ratings. None of the networks were homosexual enough for GLAAD, but ABC received a grade of "good" with 171 hours of homosexual-inclusive TV last season, accounting for 15 percent of its prime-time programming. The youth-oriented CW network received the second-highest grade, a “fair” mark for its 12-percent homosexual-inclusive figure.

Misbehaving Girls Reap Consequences
Role model celebrities Paris Hilton, Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan, through their misbehaviors, are encouraging young girls to act inappropriately -- and not without negative consequences . Mental health experts say more and more youngsters are being influenced by the sexualization of celebrities. Research analyzing the content and effects of television, music videos, music lyrics, magazines, movies, video games and the Internet, advertising campaigns and merchandising of products aimed toward girls found that young girls are succumbing to several problems: some young girls are posting nude pictures of themselves on the Internet, while others demonstrate loss of self-esteem, eating disorders, shame, anxiety and poor self image.

Congressman Smith Pushes for Fetal Pain Law
New Jersey Congressman Chris Smith has reintroduced a bill in the U.S. House that would require doctors to inform abortion-minded women of the pain their pre-born child would feel during the process. A similar bill is also under consideration in the Senate. The bill requires doctors to inform patients of the pain a pre-born baby may feel during an abortion and to offer an anesthetic for the child prior to the procedure.

District of Columbia Plan would Teach Children about Homosexuality, Abortion
A proposed sex-education curriculum would require public middle-school students to study homosexuality in the District of Columbia. The "Health Learning Standards" say eighth-grade students should be taught the definition of sexual orientation "using correct terminology" and learn that some people "may begin to feel romantically and/or sexually attracted to people of a different gender and/or to people of the same gender." Ninth-graders would be taught about the availability of abortion, and sixth-graders would be taught about alternature sexual orientation and gender identities.

Families will No Longer Be Subject to Porn at UK Travelodge Chain
Out of respect for family guests, Travelodge is discontinuing its offering of television pornography, in its United Kingdom hotels. The adult channels will be replaced with family friendly material in order to encourage the growing number of parents and children who stay at its budget hotels.

 

WEEK OF JULY 30, 2007

Canada Pro-Abortion Leader, Abortion Practitioner Voted Worst Canadians
In an online poll posted by the history publication The Beaver, Canadians selected an abortion practitioner and a former prime minister who brought abortion to the nation as the worst Canadians ever. Former prime minister Pierre Trudeau was voted No. 1 among worst Canadians, and abortion practitioner Henry Morgentaler showed up in third place. In 1967, Canadian justice minister Pierre Trudeau presented a bill to legalize abortion and it became law two years later. In January 1988, Canada 's Supreme Court ruled sided with Morgentaler in backing Canada 's abortion law.

Australia Tries Chinese Man Who Illegally Distributed Abortion Drugs
A Chinese man who practiced medicine without a certified medical license in Australia, Yao Guo Lin, is on trial in Australia after being caught illegally distributing the dangerous abortion drug RU-486. Authorities caught Lin in an undercover sting operation. He pleaded guilty to 31 violations of the Medical Practice Act, at a hearing of the NSW Supreme Court. A conviction would earn Lin could a prison sentence up to 12 months.

German Government Publication Promotes Incestuous Pedophilia as Healthy Sex Ed
In a shocking example of state-sponsored incest, booklets from a from a subsidiary of the German government's Ministry for Family Affairs encourage parents to sexually massage their children as young as 1 to 3 years of age. The booklet claims that fathers do not devote enough attention to their daughters private parts and that "this is the only way the girls can develop a sense of pride in their sex." 

Pro-Life Advocates Say Doctor should have Spared Patients' Lives
Pro-family/pro-life advocates are criticizing a Louisiana grand jury which exonerated Dr. Anna Pou and two nurses who intentionally killed nine patients in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, in New Orleans in 2005. Dr. Pou and the nurses were arrested and accused of killing four patients with a lethal cocktail of drugs at Memorial Medical Center after the mega-storm. Attorney General Charles Foti investigated the matter and concluded that Pou and the nurses had intentionally ended the people's lives rather than evacuate them. A grand jury later concluded that Dr. Pou was innocent of the charges. In an op-ed published by USA Today, Foti said it is his job as attorney general "to make sure that the elderly are not abused, and to ensure the law was followed." Furthermore, he states in the piece "I will stand for human life and the victims of crime."

Russian Youth Group Encourages ‘More Sex' to Save Motherland from Dwindling Population
A Russian nationalist youth group is encouraging youth to have more sex in an effort to combat the nation's declining fertility rate. The Nashi youth movement, which sponsors a summer camp attended by some 10,000 Russian children, also designated a special area at the dormitories as the “Love Oasis” – a place for young men and women to engage in sexual intercourse. No birth prevention items are available to the youth. Twenty-five couples were married in the first week of camp, and 10 more were to be married in the second week.


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