From The Times February 5, 2009
Madonna syndrome: I should have ditched feminism for love, children and baking
A playwright who embraced the feminism espoused by her mother and flaunted by Madonna now feels betrayed
I never thought I would be saying this, but being a free woman isn't all it's cracked up to be. Is that the rustle of taffeta I hear as the suffragettes turn in their graves? Possibly. My mother was a hippy who kept a pile of (dusty) books by Germaine Greer and Erica Jong by her bed (like every good feminist, she didn't see why she should do all the cleaning). She imbued me with the great values of choice, equality and sexual liberation. I fought with my older brother and won; at university I beat the rugby lads at drinking games. I was not to be messed with.
http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/article5662099.ece
Thursday, February 26, 2009
FDA cracks down on pill’s lifestyle claims
Carolyn Moynihan
To some of us it may seem that the contraceptive pill has always promised too much. It’s chief claim, “99 per cent effective in preventing pregnancy when taken as directed”, depends on reading all the fine print, knowing all your contra-indications and never missing a day. But how many women do all that? Even granted that it prevents pregnancy, many women have been disillusioned by side effects ranging from weight gain to cancer risks, and have given up taking the pill.
http://www.mercatornet.com/family_edge/fda_cracks_down_on_pills_lifestyle_claims/
To some of us it may seem that the contraceptive pill has always promised too much. It’s chief claim, “99 per cent effective in preventing pregnancy when taken as directed”, depends on reading all the fine print, knowing all your contra-indications and never missing a day. But how many women do all that? Even granted that it prevents pregnancy, many women have been disillusioned by side effects ranging from weight gain to cancer risks, and have given up taking the pill.
http://www.mercatornet.com/family_edge/fda_cracks_down_on_pills_lifestyle_claims/
The carbon footprint of divorce
Carolyn Moynihan
He is not the first one to say it, but Australian senator Steve Fielding has made international headlines by pointing out that divorce increases the carbon footprint of a family because at least one member moves out and has to find new accommodation and new utility services. “We understand there is a social problem (with divorce), but now we’re seeing there is also an environmental impact as well,” he said in a speech on the government’s stimulus package. “Mitigating the effects of resource-inefficient lifestyles such as divorce helps to achieve global environmental sustainability and saves money,” he added.
http://www.mercatornet.com/family_edge/the_carbon_footprint_of_divorce/
He is not the first one to say it, but Australian senator Steve Fielding has made international headlines by pointing out that divorce increases the carbon footprint of a family because at least one member moves out and has to find new accommodation and new utility services. “We understand there is a social problem (with divorce), but now we’re seeing there is also an environmental impact as well,” he said in a speech on the government’s stimulus package. “Mitigating the effects of resource-inefficient lifestyles such as divorce helps to achieve global environmental sustainability and saves money,” he added.
http://www.mercatornet.com/family_edge/the_carbon_footprint_of_divorce/
Sex-ed leaflet: ‘Don’t mention morality’
Carolyn Moynihan
A leaflet urging parents not to put advice about sex to their children in a moral framework is about to be released through pharmacies in the UK with the support of the government’s minister for children, Beverley Hughes. It comes in the wake of the case of Alfie Patten, a 13-year-old boy who fathered a child with a 15-year-old girl.
http://www.mercatornet.com/family_edge/sex_ed_leaflet_dont_mention_morality/
A leaflet urging parents not to put advice about sex to their children in a moral framework is about to be released through pharmacies in the UK with the support of the government’s minister for children, Beverley Hughes. It comes in the wake of the case of Alfie Patten, a 13-year-old boy who fathered a child with a 15-year-old girl.
http://www.mercatornet.com/family_edge/sex_ed_leaflet_dont_mention_morality/
Boys behave better with a baby in the classroom
Carolyn Moynihan
Mothers are taking newborn babies into schools as part of a scheme being launched in Britain to help cut aggressive behaviour among pupils, including teenage boys. It is based on a programme called Roots of Empathy, which is running in 1579 schools across Canada and is reported to have helped children’s social and emotional knowledge. The programme, which involves monthly question and answer sessions with a mother and her baby, has also been taken up in Australia, New Zealand and the United States.
http://www.mercatornet.com/family_edge/boys_behave_better_with_a_baby_in_the_classroom/
Mothers are taking newborn babies into schools as part of a scheme being launched in Britain to help cut aggressive behaviour among pupils, including teenage boys. It is based on a programme called Roots of Empathy, which is running in 1579 schools across Canada and is reported to have helped children’s social and emotional knowledge. The programme, which involves monthly question and answer sessions with a mother and her baby, has also been taken up in Australia, New Zealand and the United States.
http://www.mercatornet.com/family_edge/boys_behave_better_with_a_baby_in_the_classroom/
Bebo brains may only be fit to twitter
Carolyn Moynihan
Earlier this month 17 leading web firms signed a European agreement to improve the safety of under 18s who use social networking sites -- a concern of experts and governments around the world. The European Commission, which brokered the agreement, praised the move saying: "Social networking has enormous potential to flourish in Europe, to help boost our economy and make our society more interactive - as long as children and teenagers have the trust and the right tools to remain safe when making new 'friends' and sharing personal details online.”
http://www.mercatornet.com/family_edge/bebo_brains_may_only_be_fit_to_twitter/
Earlier this month 17 leading web firms signed a European agreement to improve the safety of under 18s who use social networking sites -- a concern of experts and governments around the world. The European Commission, which brokered the agreement, praised the move saying: "Social networking has enormous potential to flourish in Europe, to help boost our economy and make our society more interactive - as long as children and teenagers have the trust and the right tools to remain safe when making new 'friends' and sharing personal details online.”
http://www.mercatornet.com/family_edge/bebo_brains_may_only_be_fit_to_twitter/
4 charged in multi-state suicide assistance probe
GREG BLUESTEIN- Associated Press Writer
ATLANTA- A wide-ranging investigation into an alleged suicide assistance ring led to charges against four people and raids in nine states as authorities looked into how many deaths might have been involved.
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Headlines/Default.aspx?id=429122
ATLANTA- A wide-ranging investigation into an alleged suicide assistance ring led to charges against four people and raids in nine states as authorities looked into how many deaths might have been involved.
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Headlines/Default.aspx?id=429122
Indiana marriage vote on hold
Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow
Indiana voters will not have a chance to amend their constitution to protect traditional marriage -- for now, at least.
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Politics/Default.aspx?id=426412
Indiana voters will not have a chance to amend their constitution to protect traditional marriage -- for now, at least.
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Politics/Default.aspx?id=426412
Homosexual activists lobby to overturn Prop. 8
Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow
California lawmakers are trying again to try to overturn Proposition 8, the constitutional amendment approved by voters that protects traditional marriage.
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Politics/Default.aspx?id=426386
California lawmakers are trying again to try to overturn Proposition 8, the constitutional amendment approved by voters that protects traditional marriage.
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Politics/Default.aspx?id=426386
CA minors can purchase adult-rated video games
Allie Martin - OneNewsNow
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has struck down a California law designed to prevent the sale of adult video games to minors.
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Legal/Default.aspx?id=426492
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has struck down a California law designed to prevent the sale of adult video games to minors.
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Legal/Default.aspx?id=426492
Pro-lifers get all over Guttmacher
Charlie Butts and Jody Brown - OneNewsNow
The Guttmacher Institute has completed a study that suggests Planned Parenthood needs more money. The American Life League, in response, calls the study a "well-timed and self-serving sales pitch" for the abortion provider.
Continue...
The Guttmacher Institute has completed a study that suggests Planned Parenthood needs more money. The American Life League, in response, calls the study a "well-timed and self-serving sales pitch" for the abortion provider.
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Terminal Patients Not Dying Fast Enough for Specter?
Check out this video of Arlen Specter from the Senate Floor on February 23, 2009, who stated that healthcare poses "the greatest problem for the deficit as we look to the future years." Is Specter suggesting that terminal patients are not dying fast enough? Watch for yourself below.
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Blog/Default.aspx?id=426486
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Blog/Default.aspx?id=426486
Mexican gov't petitioned to finance abortions
Charlie Butts and Marty Cooper OneNewsNow
Amnesty International is now demanding that Mexico force its doctors to do abortions and pay for them out of tax funds.
LifeSiteNews.com reports Amnesty International (AI) is denouncing Mexico's government for refusing to force physicians to give emergency contraception or perform abortions on rape victims. Population Research Institute president Steven Mosher is disappointed but not surprised by the move.
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Amnesty International is now demanding that Mexico force its doctors to do abortions and pay for them out of tax funds.
LifeSiteNews.com reports Amnesty International (AI) is denouncing Mexico's government for refusing to force physicians to give emergency contraception or perform abortions on rape victims. Population Research Institute president Steven Mosher is disappointed but not surprised by the move.
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Made to pay for defending life
Sheila Liaugminas
As the bioethics nurse who sent me this put it…..this is adding insult to injury.
The judge who ruled that physician-assisted suicide is legal in Montana has ordered the state to pay attorneys’ fees to the plaintiffs’ lawyers in an amount yet to be determined…
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As the bioethics nurse who sent me this put it…..this is adding insult to injury.
The judge who ruled that physician-assisted suicide is legal in Montana has ordered the state to pay attorneys’ fees to the plaintiffs’ lawyers in an amount yet to be determined…
Continue...
Don’t call it dignity
Sheila Liaugminas
And don’t call it the right to die. We’re all headed there anyway, no avoiding that. But the ‘right-to-die’ movement keeps re-naming themselves to sell death as a choice to avoid suffering.
Continue...
And don’t call it the right to die. We’re all headed there anyway, no avoiding that. But the ‘right-to-die’ movement keeps re-naming themselves to sell death as a choice to avoid suffering.
Continue...
Ten ways to be happy in marriage
By Jeff Herring
1. Often in marriage, especially in the early years, there is a choice: You can be right or you can be happy - not both. Choose wisely.
As a friend of mine said after his first year of marriage: "I finally figured out that the sun will come up tomorrow if we do it her way."
Continue...
1. Often in marriage, especially in the early years, there is a choice: You can be right or you can be happy - not both. Choose wisely.
As a friend of mine said after his first year of marriage: "I finally figured out that the sun will come up tomorrow if we do it her way."
Continue...
A Parent's Prayer
by Marcia Segelstein
Writing about the dangers of internet pornography and children for my column today reminds me what a frightening world we live in. My “St. Augustine’s Prayer Book” includes this wonderful prayer for parents trying to protect their children:
"O Heavenly Father, I commend the souls of my children to thee. Be thou their God and Father; and mercifully supply whatever is wanting in me through frailty or negligence. Strengthen them to overcome the corruptions of the world, to resist all solicitations to evil, whether from within or without; and deliver them from the secret snares of the enemy. Pour thy grace into their hearts, and confirm and multiply in them the gifts of thy Holy Spirit, that they may daily grow in grace and in knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ; and so faithfully serving thee here, may come to rejoice in thy presence hereafter. Through the same Chris our Lord. Amen."
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Blog/Default.aspx?id=426232
Writing about the dangers of internet pornography and children for my column today reminds me what a frightening world we live in. My “St. Augustine’s Prayer Book” includes this wonderful prayer for parents trying to protect their children:
"O Heavenly Father, I commend the souls of my children to thee. Be thou their God and Father; and mercifully supply whatever is wanting in me through frailty or negligence. Strengthen them to overcome the corruptions of the world, to resist all solicitations to evil, whether from within or without; and deliver them from the secret snares of the enemy. Pour thy grace into their hearts, and confirm and multiply in them the gifts of thy Holy Spirit, that they may daily grow in grace and in knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ; and so faithfully serving thee here, may come to rejoice in thy presence hereafter. Through the same Chris our Lord. Amen."
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Blog/Default.aspx?id=426232
Weekend roundup nets pimps, rescues teens
Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow
The FBI, joining with local authorities in "Operation Cross Country," has rescued dozens of child prostitutes during weekend roundups.
A total of 45 teenage prostitutes, ranging in age from 13 to 17, are now in custody, as are 50 alleged pimps. The goal of the three-night initiative, according to FBI deputy assistant director Daniel Roberts, was to recover children. "We consider them the child victims of prostitution," he told Associated Press.
Continue...
The FBI, joining with local authorities in "Operation Cross Country," has rescued dozens of child prostitutes during weekend roundups.
A total of 45 teenage prostitutes, ranging in age from 13 to 17, are now in custody, as are 50 alleged pimps. The goal of the three-night initiative, according to FBI deputy assistant director Daniel Roberts, was to recover children. "We consider them the child victims of prostitution," he told Associated Press.
Continue...
Abortion not necessary to treat breast cancer aggressively
Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow
Recently reported cancer research at Houston's M.D. Anderson Cancer Center is revealing some startling results that could reduce the number of so-called "therapeutic" abortions.
Current thinking is that pregnant women who are diagnosed with breast cancer have a more dangerous prognosis than do non-pregnant women with the same medical problem. But Dr. Joel Brind of Baruch College points out that recent research says something different.
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Recently reported cancer research at Houston's M.D. Anderson Cancer Center is revealing some startling results that could reduce the number of so-called "therapeutic" abortions.
Current thinking is that pregnant women who are diagnosed with breast cancer have a more dangerous prognosis than do non-pregnant women with the same medical problem. But Dr. Joel Brind of Baruch College points out that recent research says something different.
Continue...
What parents need to know about porn and their kids
Marcia Segelstein - OneNewsNow Columnist
Most people probably don't picture kids when they think about who's viewing pornography. But according to statistics cited by the non-profit advocacy organization Enough Is Enough, the largest group of viewers of Internet pornography is children between the ages of 12 and 17. And there's more. The average age of first exposure to Internet pornography is 11. Eighty percent of 15- to 17-year-olds have had multiple exposures to hardcore pornography. Nine out of ten children between the ages of 8 and 16 with Internet access have viewed pornographic websites, sometimes inadvertently in the course of looking up information for homework.
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Most people probably don't picture kids when they think about who's viewing pornography. But according to statistics cited by the non-profit advocacy organization Enough Is Enough, the largest group of viewers of Internet pornography is children between the ages of 12 and 17. And there's more. The average age of first exposure to Internet pornography is 11. Eighty percent of 15- to 17-year-olds have had multiple exposures to hardcore pornography. Nine out of ten children between the ages of 8 and 16 with Internet access have viewed pornographic websites, sometimes inadvertently in the course of looking up information for homework.
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Seven states pushing for 'personhood' rights
Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow
The national campaign for "personhood" rights for the pre-born is gaining momentum.
The personhood movement is designed to establish that conception is the point at which a human's life begins. North Dakota's House last week made progress on establishing that as law, although further action by that state's Senate is needed.
Continue...
The national campaign for "personhood" rights for the pre-born is gaining momentum.
The personhood movement is designed to establish that conception is the point at which a human's life begins. North Dakota's House last week made progress on establishing that as law, although further action by that state's Senate is needed.
Continue...
McCain insiders to speak before homosexual activists
Jim Brown - OneNewsNow
Two individuals who were intimately involved with John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign will be addressing an April gathering of homosexual activists in Washington, DC....
"I'm afraid that some Republicans are going to think, 'Hey, we have to go pro-gay and try to be hip to get the youth vote,'" suggests LaBarbera. "Look, the kind of youth who are going to be the long-term heroes in the Republican Party are going to be the principled youth of today -- and the principled youth don't want us to play around or go half-way on homosexuality, or just fight gay marriage and not anything else."
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Two individuals who were intimately involved with John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign will be addressing an April gathering of homosexual activists in Washington, DC....
"I'm afraid that some Republicans are going to think, 'Hey, we have to go pro-gay and try to be hip to get the youth vote,'" suggests LaBarbera. "Look, the kind of youth who are going to be the long-term heroes in the Republican Party are going to be the principled youth of today -- and the principled youth don't want us to play around or go half-way on homosexuality, or just fight gay marriage and not anything else."
Continue...
Obama asked to keep abstinence education funding
Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow
The campaign to retain federal funding for abstinence programs in public schools continues.
The Obama administration supports what is called "comprehensive sex education," which Valerie Huber of the National Abstinence Education Association believes encourages young people to be sexually intimate. She fears losing federal abstinence funding but notes her organization has found that many lawmakers, when informed of the truth about abstinence education, will listen.
Continue...
The campaign to retain federal funding for abstinence programs in public schools continues.
The Obama administration supports what is called "comprehensive sex education," which Valerie Huber of the National Abstinence Education Association believes encourages young people to be sexually intimate. She fears losing federal abstinence funding but notes her organization has found that many lawmakers, when informed of the truth about abstinence education, will listen.
Continue...
Catholic schools rebel against church doctrines
Pete Chagnon - OneNewsNow
The president of the Cardinal Newman Society says that while Catholic universities are legally independent of the Catholic Church, embracing a Catholic identity brings responsibility.
A recent controversy erupted at the Catholic school Misericordia University. Officials there allowed homosexual rights advocate Keith Boykin to speak about Proposition 8, the California law that bans homosexual "marriage."
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The president of the Cardinal Newman Society says that while Catholic universities are legally independent of the Catholic Church, embracing a Catholic identity brings responsibility.
A recent controversy erupted at the Catholic school Misericordia University. Officials there allowed homosexual rights advocate Keith Boykin to speak about Proposition 8, the California law that bans homosexual "marriage."
Continue...
Adult stem-cell use proves successful again
Charlie Butts and Marty Cooper - OneNewsNow
UCLA researchers report a major breakthrough using adult stem cells to treat Parkinson's disease.
LifeNews.com reports the results were published in the February issue of the Bentham Open Stem Cell Journal. Dr. David Prentice, a fellow with the Family Research Council, says the research features only one patient.
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UCLA researchers report a major breakthrough using adult stem cells to treat Parkinson's disease.
LifeNews.com reports the results were published in the February issue of the Bentham Open Stem Cell Journal. Dr. David Prentice, a fellow with the Family Research Council, says the research features only one patient.
Continue...
Internet safety for children, teens
Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 2/21/2009
The federal government is providing resources for parents and children to protect themselves from harmful Internet material. Laurie Nathan, a spokesperson for NetSmartz.org, says children continue to be victimized through the Internet, but her organization is offering children and parents tips for Internet safety.
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The federal government is providing resources for parents and children to protect themselves from harmful Internet material. Laurie Nathan, a spokesperson for NetSmartz.org, says children continue to be victimized through the Internet, but her organization is offering children and parents tips for Internet safety.
Continue...
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
More on OctoMom
I like Helen Alvare's analysis of the problems with OctoMom.
Read the whole post.
Where’s the dignity of new life in this story? Where’s the dignity of motherhood and of the family? Surveying the media carnage, there doesn’t seem to be a shred of dignity left to anyone involved with this story. We have an impoverished, multiparous, single mother with a baby-fetish, in an impoverished extended family, who meets up with an irresponsible fertility doctor willing to implant more embryos than can ordinarily safely develop or be carried to term. If you think about the scenario a bit more deeply, it is not difficult to conclude that once law and society allow human conception to take place in a retail setting, outside of an intimate marital relationship, and thus vulnerable to the tender mercies of the “laws” of the market and of fallible human desires, it’s not at all surprising that mothers and their children so conceived would be treated as legitimate objects of public commentary, scrutiny and even scorn. Decisions about how many children to have, whether to bear them serially or all at once, how to conceive them, who will be the daddy, and whether or not to get married first, all become like “preferences,” any of which can be acted upon legally, and each of which might alternatively appeal to or disgust different onlookers.
Read the whole post.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
CA Court Marriage Ruling Granted Gay Rights
CA Court Marriage Ruling Granted Gay Rights in addition to changing the marriage law. This is exactly what we were trying to deal with in the Prop 8 campaign.
I pointed this out, many times, in Prop 8 debates. The judge's ruling expanded the set of things over which dissenters from Gay Orthodoxy can be sued, and the ruling made it more difficult for such dissenters to defend themselves.
In fact, this article is inaccurate in one respect: sexual orientation now recieves greater legal protection in CA than does sex discrimination itself. I reported on this during the campaign. The point is, that this ruling significantly expanded the scope of the anti-discrimination law. I have often cited this as an example of how the marriage statutes and the anti-discrimination statutes can not be separated as neatly as some advocates of ssm seem to suggest.
Honestly, I thought that a Yes vote on Prop 8 would overturn the entire ruling by the judge, and I argued on that basis. I consider that reason enough for any fair-minded person to vote Yes on Prop 8.
On page 100 of the 124-page ruling, in dense legal prose, Chief Justice Ronald George ruled that a special constitutional protection applies to people based on their sexual orientation.
In essence, the court said discrimination against gays and lesbians was equivalent to racial, age or gender discrimination, giving same-sex-rights advocates a powerful legal weapon in the future.
Already the first echoes of that determination are being heard in some of the arguments that will be made in the upcoming challenge to Proposition 8, the voter-approved measure that rebuked the main aspect of the court's May ruling and declared that only marriages between men and women are valid.
The special protection the court gave in May – which Proposition 8 does not affect – means that any state law or policy that is alleged to discriminate against gays and lesbians now will be analyzed under the most stringent legal standard a court can apply. Few laws survive such a test, known as “strict scrutiny.”
No other state supreme court in the United States has gone so far in giving gays and lesbians such legal status.
I pointed this out, many times, in Prop 8 debates. The judge's ruling expanded the set of things over which dissenters from Gay Orthodoxy can be sued, and the ruling made it more difficult for such dissenters to defend themselves.
In fact, this article is inaccurate in one respect: sexual orientation now recieves greater legal protection in CA than does sex discrimination itself. I reported on this during the campaign. The point is, that this ruling significantly expanded the scope of the anti-discrimination law. I have often cited this as an example of how the marriage statutes and the anti-discrimination statutes can not be separated as neatly as some advocates of ssm seem to suggest.
Honestly, I thought that a Yes vote on Prop 8 would overturn the entire ruling by the judge, and I argued on that basis. I consider that reason enough for any fair-minded person to vote Yes on Prop 8.
Never Mind Sexual Morality
UK Minister says, talk to your kids about sex, but never mind morality.
Just what we need in the wake of the 13 year old father.
I wonder where you will come up with "clear guidelines" if you "don't know what is right and wrong." Do we know smart and stupid? I think we do. That's why I wrote a book called Smart Sex: as a protest against all the Dumb Sex going on in our world.
I think we can also recognize dumb health ministers...
PARENTS should avoid trying to convince their teenage children of the difference between right and wrong when talking to them about sex, a new government leaflet is to advise. ...
The leaflet comes in the wake of the case of Alfie Patten, the 13-year-old boy from East Sussex who fathered a child with a 15-year-old girl and sparked a debate about how to cut rates of teenage parenthood.
Just what we need in the wake of the 13 year old father.
The leaflet provides technical information on different forms of contraception, from condoms to implants, and will reignite the row over the government’s “value-free” approach to sex education. ...
Linda Blair, a clinical psychologist, said educating older children and teenagers about sex had to be a process of negotiation. “We do not know what is right and wrong; right and wrong is relative, although your child does need clear guidelines,” she said.
I wonder where you will come up with "clear guidelines" if you "don't know what is right and wrong." Do we know smart and stupid? I think we do. That's why I wrote a book called Smart Sex: as a protest against all the Dumb Sex going on in our world.
I think we can also recognize dumb health ministers...
Monday, February 23, 2009
Compromise on Religious Liberty and Same Sex Marriage
Maggie Gallagher has an insightful post over at The Corner.
I am inclined to agree with Maggie's bottom line: no civil union compromise is stable, because the gay lobby views all "compromises" not as stable outcomes where each party gives up something in exchange for social peace. Rather, the gay lobby views each concession by their opponents merely as stepping stones to their ultimate objective of same sex marriage.
As Maggie said: If it were easy, it would have happened by now.
The New York Times published an op-ed by David Blankenhorn and Jonathan Rauch, proposing a Big New Idea: Federal recognition of state-level civil unions and same-sex marriage but if and only if those states offer substantive religious-liberty protection — and the federal government offers substantive religious-liberty protection, too.
(Readers may not know: David Blankenhorn has previously endorsed the idea of civil unions in his book The Future of Marriage.)
It's a generous essay that acknowledges the serious impact same-sex marriage (and civil unions, too) can have on religious people and institutions who cannot accept same-sex unions as marriages. If this marriage debate were really about providing practical legal benefits to same-sex couples, it might represent a real breakthrough.
I don't think that's the debate we are in, sadly. From where I stand, it looks like the progressive/democrat position states: If you believe marriage means a husband and wife, you are not just wrong, you are downright wicked and deserve to have your home address put up on the internet so strangers can harass you. I think the pro-marriage side is going to have to demonstrate an ongoing capacity to organize far more effectively before the gay-marriage juggernaut is going to be looking for a way to compromise.
I am inclined to agree with Maggie's bottom line: no civil union compromise is stable, because the gay lobby views all "compromises" not as stable outcomes where each party gives up something in exchange for social peace. Rather, the gay lobby views each concession by their opponents merely as stepping stones to their ultimate objective of same sex marriage.
As Maggie said: If it were easy, it would have happened by now.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
University Uses God to Promote Condoms
by Marcia Segelstein
As part of its “Sexual Responsibility Week,” the University of Georgia recently placed posters in dormitories depicting a scene from the famous Michaelangelo painting on the Sistene Chapel ceiling, but with an added twist. The poster shows a close-up of the hand of God reaching out to Adam’s hand – with a packaged condom in between – as though God is handing it to Adam. The accompanying message urges students to open condom packages carefully.
Continue...
As part of its “Sexual Responsibility Week,” the University of Georgia recently placed posters in dormitories depicting a scene from the famous Michaelangelo painting on the Sistene Chapel ceiling, but with an added twist. The poster shows a close-up of the hand of God reaching out to Adam’s hand – with a packaged condom in between – as though God is handing it to Adam. The accompanying message urges students to open condom packages carefully.
Continue...
Firefighters win lawsuit over 'gay-pride' parade participation
Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 2/20/2009
Four San Diego firefighters have won a discrimination lawsuit.
Brian Rooney of the Thomas More Law Center points out that all four of the firefighters are Christians, husbands, and fathers. He explains the case. "The firefighters were ordered against their will by the fire chief of San Diego Fire Department, who is an open lesbian, to participate in a so-called gay pride parade that happens every year in San Diego," he notes.
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Four San Diego firefighters have won a discrimination lawsuit.
Brian Rooney of the Thomas More Law Center points out that all four of the firefighters are Christians, husbands, and fathers. He explains the case. "The firefighters were ordered against their will by the fire chief of San Diego Fire Department, who is an open lesbian, to participate in a so-called gay pride parade that happens every year in San Diego," he notes.
Continue...
Children having children: sex ed blamed
by Carolyn Moynihan
A gamin-faced schoolboy who has apparently fathered a child with his 15-year-old girlfriend is the talk of Britain, a country with the highest rate in Europe of pregnancies among unmarried teenagers. Alfie Patten, who is just over 4ft tall and looks younger even than his 13 years, was only 12 when he got Chantelle Stedman, who was then 14, pregnant. The birth of their child, Maisie Roxanne, last week has occasioned outrage and hand-wringing in equal proportions. The consensus among the more enlightened commentators is that the event is no surprise in a society saturated with sexual messages, including a type of sex education that talks almost exclusively about having sex “safely” and barely mentions “relationships” let alone the marital meaning of sex or abstinence.
Continue...
A gamin-faced schoolboy who has apparently fathered a child with his 15-year-old girlfriend is the talk of Britain, a country with the highest rate in Europe of pregnancies among unmarried teenagers. Alfie Patten, who is just over 4ft tall and looks younger even than his 13 years, was only 12 when he got Chantelle Stedman, who was then 14, pregnant. The birth of their child, Maisie Roxanne, last week has occasioned outrage and hand-wringing in equal proportions. The consensus among the more enlightened commentators is that the event is no surprise in a society saturated with sexual messages, including a type of sex education that talks almost exclusively about having sex “safely” and barely mentions “relationships” let alone the marital meaning of sex or abstinence.
Continue...
More German babies again last year
by Carolyn Moynihan
Germany’s Family Minister, Ursula von der Leyen, is happy to report that the number of babies born has increased for the second year in a row. From a 60-year low of 673,000 in 2006, births increased to 685,000 in 2007 and 690,000 last year. At 1.4, Germany’s birth rate is one of the lowest in western Europe.
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Germany’s Family Minister, Ursula von der Leyen, is happy to report that the number of babies born has increased for the second year in a row. From a 60-year low of 673,000 in 2006, births increased to 685,000 in 2007 and 690,000 last year. At 1.4, Germany’s birth rate is one of the lowest in western Europe.
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Not your mother’s birth rate
by Carolyn Moynihan
New Zealand demographers are scratching their heads over an increase in young women having babies. The proportion of girls aged 15 to 19 giving birth rose for the sixth year in a row in 2008, Statistics NZ reported, and the agency’s top demographer, Mansoor Khawaja, said young women appeared to be refusing to follow their mothers’ decisions to have few children later in life. “I reckon they just don’t agree with their mothers, which is not uncommon,” he said. The mothers of the baby-boomers had roughly four children on average, but the boomers have ended up with less than two children each, he pointed out.
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New Zealand demographers are scratching their heads over an increase in young women having babies. The proportion of girls aged 15 to 19 giving birth rose for the sixth year in a row in 2008, Statistics NZ reported, and the agency’s top demographer, Mansoor Khawaja, said young women appeared to be refusing to follow their mothers’ decisions to have few children later in life. “I reckon they just don’t agree with their mothers, which is not uncommon,” he said. The mothers of the baby-boomers had roughly four children on average, but the boomers have ended up with less than two children each, he pointed out.
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“Finding True Love in a Hook-up World”
Written by: Sean McDowell
If you were like King Solomon in the Bible and could have any one wish come true, what would you wish for? When I pose this question to my students they often say things such as, “to be rich,” “to be famous,” or “to find the perfect mate.” But of all the responses I have heard, the words of Ashley, an 18-year-old high school senior, stand out most vividly in my mind. After I spoke on sexual purity at a Tuesday-night youth group, she came up to me with tears in her eyes and said, “If I could have one wish in life, it would be to go back four years ago and hear this same message. I might not have ruined my life.” Ashley simply said thanks, and then walked away.
Continue...
If you were like King Solomon in the Bible and could have any one wish come true, what would you wish for? When I pose this question to my students they often say things such as, “to be rich,” “to be famous,” or “to find the perfect mate.” But of all the responses I have heard, the words of Ashley, an 18-year-old high school senior, stand out most vividly in my mind. After I spoke on sexual purity at a Tuesday-night youth group, she came up to me with tears in her eyes and said, “If I could have one wish in life, it would be to go back four years ago and hear this same message. I might not have ruined my life.” Ashley simply said thanks, and then walked away.
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Is Having More Than Two Children Selfish?
From OneNewsNow:
There's a new campaign in Britain to encourage couples to limit their family size to two children. See BBC News. The Optimum Population Trust (OPT) is launching the online pledge campaign, called "Stop at Two" this week.
Jonathon Porritt is a patron of OPT and says that parents who have more than two children are "irresponsible" for putting a burden on resources and damaging eco-systems. The OPT believes that the future of the planet should play a large part in planning a family, and Porritt says "I think we will work our way towards a position that says having more than two children is irresponsible."
Continue...
There's a new campaign in Britain to encourage couples to limit their family size to two children. See BBC News. The Optimum Population Trust (OPT) is launching the online pledge campaign, called "Stop at Two" this week.
Jonathon Porritt is a patron of OPT and says that parents who have more than two children are "irresponsible" for putting a burden on resources and damaging eco-systems. The OPT believes that the future of the planet should play a large part in planning a family, and Porritt says "I think we will work our way towards a position that says having more than two children is irresponsible."
Continue...
12-Year-Old's Pro-Life Presentation Saves A Life
From OneNewsNow:
Last week I posted a blog about a 12-year-old girl named Lia who gave a 5-minute speech for her 7th grade class at school articulating her pro-life views. Lia's speech impressed her teacher (who is pro-choice) and the school and Lia won the contest, which enabled her to go on to the regional level. Lia lost the regional speech contest, even though she presented her speech flawlessly. A video of her speech was ultimately posted on YouTube and drew over 200,000 views, although comments on the video had to be disabled because so many hateful people wrote in and posted vile threats against Lia.
However, I do have good news to report. Even though Lia ultimately lost the regional competition Monday night, LifeSite News is reporting that "she and her family are celebrating what they call the 'best trophy ever' - the saving of an unborn life, after Lia's words convinced a stranger not to abort her child." Yes, a complete stranger watched Lia's pro-life video and decided to keep her baby!
Continue...
Last week I posted a blog about a 12-year-old girl named Lia who gave a 5-minute speech for her 7th grade class at school articulating her pro-life views. Lia's speech impressed her teacher (who is pro-choice) and the school and Lia won the contest, which enabled her to go on to the regional level. Lia lost the regional speech contest, even though she presented her speech flawlessly. A video of her speech was ultimately posted on YouTube and drew over 200,000 views, although comments on the video had to be disabled because so many hateful people wrote in and posted vile threats against Lia.
However, I do have good news to report. Even though Lia ultimately lost the regional competition Monday night, LifeSite News is reporting that "she and her family are celebrating what they call the 'best trophy ever' - the saving of an unborn life, after Lia's words convinced a stranger not to abort her child." Yes, a complete stranger watched Lia's pro-life video and decided to keep her baby!
Continue...
Pope challenges Pelosi on abortion stance
Charlie Butts and Marty Cooper - OneNewsNow - 2/19/2009
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently had a 15-minute meeting with Pope Benedict XVI.
The meeting was held Wednesday in a small room in the Vatican after Benedict's weekly public audience. Judie Brown of American Life League tells OneNewsNow the meeting was private, but the Vatican did release a statement, noting the pope challenged Pelosi's stance on abortion issues.
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently had a 15-minute meeting with Pope Benedict XVI.
The meeting was held Wednesday in a small room in the Vatican after Benedict's weekly public audience. Judie Brown of American Life League tells OneNewsNow the meeting was private, but the Vatican did release a statement, noting the pope challenged Pelosi's stance on abortion issues.
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Pro-lifers take personhood amendment cross-country
Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 2/19/2009
Undaunted by a defeat in November, a national campaign is under way for the Personhood Amendment.
Campaign workers are touring states drumming up support for the amendment. One of them is pro-lifer Cal Zastrow, chairman of Michigan Citizens for Life, who explains the effort. "It amends the state constitution to define the word 'person' or 'persons' as a human being at the moment of fertilization or their biological beginning," he notes.
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Undaunted by a defeat in November, a national campaign is under way for the Personhood Amendment.
Campaign workers are touring states drumming up support for the amendment. One of them is pro-lifer Cal Zastrow, chairman of Michigan Citizens for Life, who explains the effort. "It amends the state constitution to define the word 'person' or 'persons' as a human being at the moment of fertilization or their biological beginning," he notes.
Continue...
ND measure says fertilized egg has human rights
By DALE WETZEL, Associated Press Writer – Wed Feb 18, 5:42 am ET
BISMARCK, N.D. – A measure approved by the North Dakota House gives a fertilized human egg the legal rights of a human being, a step that would essentially ban abortion in the state.
The bill is a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that extended abortion rights nationwide, supporters of the legislation said.
Representatives voted 51-41 to approve the measure Tuesday. It now moves to the North Dakota Senate for its review.
The bill declares that "any organism with the genome of homo sapiens" is a person protected by rights granted by the North Dakota Constitution and state laws.
The measure's sponsor, Rep. Dan Ruby, R-Minot, said the legislation did not automatically ban abortion. Ruby has introduced bills in previous sessions of the Legislature to prohibit abortion in North Dakota.
"This language is not as aggressive as the direct ban legislation that I've proposed in the past," Ruby said during House floor debate on Tuesday. "This is very simply defining when life begins, and giving that life some protections under our Constitution — the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
Critics of the measure say it will cost millions of dollars to defend. Ruby said the state has been willing to go to bat for other principles that were less important.
In Oklahoma, meanwhile, a state House committee Tuesday approved legislation that would prohibit physicians from performing abortions solely on account of the gender of a woman's fetus, even though the measure's author said there is no evidence the practice has ever occurred in the state.
The legislation passed 20-2 by the House Public Health Committee. The bill now goes to the full House for consideration.
The author of the bill, Rep. Dan Sullivan, R-Tulsa, said it is designed to stop couples from using the gender of a fetus as a reason to get an abortion. Sullivan said a doctor would be prohibited from performing an abortion if the mother specifically said the fetus' sex was the reason.
However, he said there is no evidence the practice has occurred in Oklahoma. "I haven't received any definite information that proves it," Sullivan said.
BISMARCK, N.D. – A measure approved by the North Dakota House gives a fertilized human egg the legal rights of a human being, a step that would essentially ban abortion in the state.
The bill is a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that extended abortion rights nationwide, supporters of the legislation said.
Representatives voted 51-41 to approve the measure Tuesday. It now moves to the North Dakota Senate for its review.
The bill declares that "any organism with the genome of homo sapiens" is a person protected by rights granted by the North Dakota Constitution and state laws.
The measure's sponsor, Rep. Dan Ruby, R-Minot, said the legislation did not automatically ban abortion. Ruby has introduced bills in previous sessions of the Legislature to prohibit abortion in North Dakota.
"This language is not as aggressive as the direct ban legislation that I've proposed in the past," Ruby said during House floor debate on Tuesday. "This is very simply defining when life begins, and giving that life some protections under our Constitution — the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
Critics of the measure say it will cost millions of dollars to defend. Ruby said the state has been willing to go to bat for other principles that were less important.
In Oklahoma, meanwhile, a state House committee Tuesday approved legislation that would prohibit physicians from performing abortions solely on account of the gender of a woman's fetus, even though the measure's author said there is no evidence the practice has ever occurred in the state.
The legislation passed 20-2 by the House Public Health Committee. The bill now goes to the full House for consideration.
The author of the bill, Rep. Dan Sullivan, R-Tulsa, said it is designed to stop couples from using the gender of a fetus as a reason to get an abortion. Sullivan said a doctor would be prohibited from performing an abortion if the mother specifically said the fetus' sex was the reason.
However, he said there is no evidence the practice has occurred in Oklahoma. "I haven't received any definite information that proves it," Sullivan said.
VA legislators tackle issue of fetal pain
Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 2/18/2009
The Virginia House has passed a bill on a woman's right to know about the pain unborn babies experience during an abortion.
LifeNews.com reports the bill hopes to convince women of the unborn child's humanity and deter an abortion or at least get them to provide the baby with anesthesia before continuing with an abortion. However, Chris Freund, vice president of policy and communication for The Family Foundation, believes the bill could face a stumbling block in the Senate Education and Health Committee, thus never reaching the floor for a vote.
Continue...
The Virginia House has passed a bill on a woman's right to know about the pain unborn babies experience during an abortion.
LifeNews.com reports the bill hopes to convince women of the unborn child's humanity and deter an abortion or at least get them to provide the baby with anesthesia before continuing with an abortion. However, Chris Freund, vice president of policy and communication for The Family Foundation, believes the bill could face a stumbling block in the Senate Education and Health Committee, thus never reaching the floor for a vote.
Continue...
Ask God What Your Grade Is
by Mike S. Adams
Jonathan Lopez is a Christian. He is also a student at Los Angeles City College (LACC) in Los Angeles, California. During the fall 2008 semester, Lopez took an Introduction to Public Speaking (Speech 101) class. It was taught by one John Matteson...
In November, Jonathan Lopez attempted to give his informative speech on God and the ways he has seen God act miraculously in his life and in the lives of others. In the middle of that speech, Lopez spoke of God and morality and read the dictionary definition of marriage. He also read two verses from the Bible.
But before Lopez was finished with his speech, Professor Matteson interrupted him. After calling Lopez a “fascist bastard” in front of other students, Matteson invited students to leave the class if they had been offended. When no one left, the professor dismissed the entire class.
Continue...
Jonathan Lopez is a Christian. He is also a student at Los Angeles City College (LACC) in Los Angeles, California. During the fall 2008 semester, Lopez took an Introduction to Public Speaking (Speech 101) class. It was taught by one John Matteson...
In November, Jonathan Lopez attempted to give his informative speech on God and the ways he has seen God act miraculously in his life and in the lives of others. In the middle of that speech, Lopez spoke of God and morality and read the dictionary definition of marriage. He also read two verses from the Bible.
But before Lopez was finished with his speech, Professor Matteson interrupted him. After calling Lopez a “fascist bastard” in front of other students, Matteson invited students to leave the class if they had been offended. When no one left, the professor dismissed the entire class.
Continue...
U.N. says no to Brazilian homosexual group; U.S. says yes
Jim Brown - OneNewsNow - 2/18/2009
A conservative activist who monitors the United Nations warns that the U.S. State Department is attempting to enable homosexual activists who are "flooding" the international body.
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A conservative activist who monitors the United Nations warns that the U.S. State Department is attempting to enable homosexual activists who are "flooding" the international body.
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Leaving the kids to the village idiot
by Erin Manning
Want to try something counter-cultural, try avoiding the TV.
"Um, Mom..." my oldest daughter said worriedly as we sat down.
The children had accompanied me on a recent visit to a doctor's office. The office was crowded, and the only place with enough seats for all of us was directly below a large screen TV, set to an all-news channel. Words like "assault," "stabbing death," and "arrested for possession of child pornography" blared out, repeating every so many minutes during our hour and a half wait. . .
I think about it now, though. And as flat screen technology has started to make television sets a common nuisance in stores, restaurants, doctor's offices, car repair shops, and many other places, more and more parents are having to deal with the consequences of this latest cultural intrusion.
When Hillary Clinton said that it took a village to raise a child, many conservatives howled at the notion. And rightly so, if by "village" is meant "increasingly socialist nanny-state," and if by "raise" is meant "usurp familial function and take over the role of the parents," which is what many were certain Mrs. Clinton did, indeed, mean by her words.
Continue...
Want to try something counter-cultural, try avoiding the TV.
"Um, Mom..." my oldest daughter said worriedly as we sat down.
The children had accompanied me on a recent visit to a doctor's office. The office was crowded, and the only place with enough seats for all of us was directly below a large screen TV, set to an all-news channel. Words like "assault," "stabbing death," and "arrested for possession of child pornography" blared out, repeating every so many minutes during our hour and a half wait. . .
I think about it now, though. And as flat screen technology has started to make television sets a common nuisance in stores, restaurants, doctor's offices, car repair shops, and many other places, more and more parents are having to deal with the consequences of this latest cultural intrusion.
When Hillary Clinton said that it took a village to raise a child, many conservatives howled at the notion. And rightly so, if by "village" is meant "increasingly socialist nanny-state," and if by "raise" is meant "usurp familial function and take over the role of the parents," which is what many were certain Mrs. Clinton did, indeed, mean by her words.
Continue...
Society and artificial reproduction
by Margaret Somerville
Should the state assist with conception where it would not approve an adoption?
Two cases -- one in California, the other in Calgary -- involving the use of new reproductive technologies have been the focus of intense media attention recently.
Nadya Suleman, a 33-year-old Californian single mother, just gave birth to octuplets. . .
Ranjit Hayer, a 60-year-old Calgary married woman, just gave birth to twin boys conceived from donated ova and her husband's sperm. She had been trying for decades, including using reproductive technologies, to have a child, but until now had been unsuccessful. Canadian physicians refused her access to IVF because of her age, so she underwent this procedure in India and returned to Canada for care during her pregnancy and giving birth to premature twin boys. Both required special care -- one, neonatal intensive care -- and serious medical complications ensued for Ms Hayer.
What ethical questions do these situations raise? And what insights or lessons might they provide?
Continue...
Should the state assist with conception where it would not approve an adoption?
Two cases -- one in California, the other in Calgary -- involving the use of new reproductive technologies have been the focus of intense media attention recently.
Nadya Suleman, a 33-year-old Californian single mother, just gave birth to octuplets. . .
Ranjit Hayer, a 60-year-old Calgary married woman, just gave birth to twin boys conceived from donated ova and her husband's sperm. She had been trying for decades, including using reproductive technologies, to have a child, but until now had been unsuccessful. Canadian physicians refused her access to IVF because of her age, so she underwent this procedure in India and returned to Canada for care during her pregnancy and giving birth to premature twin boys. Both required special care -- one, neonatal intensive care -- and serious medical complications ensued for Ms Hayer.
What ethical questions do these situations raise? And what insights or lessons might they provide?
Continue...
Were They at the Same Meeting?
The Pope and the Speaker in Rome
By George Weigel Posted: Wednesday, February 18, 2009 National Review Online
From the office of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi:
It is with great joy that my husband, Paul, and I met with His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, today. In our conversation, I had the opportunity to praise the Church's leadership in fighting poverty, hunger, and global warming, as well as the Holy Father's dedication to religious freedom and his upcoming trip and message to Israel. I was proud to show His Holiness a photograph of my family's papal visit in the 1950s, as well as a recent picture of our children and grandchildren.
From the Press Office of the Holy See:
Following the General Audience, the Holy Father briefly greeted Mrs. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, together with her entourage. His Holiness took the opportunity to speak of the requirements of the natural moral law and the Church's consistent teaching on the dignity of human life from conception until natural death, which enjoin all Catholics, and especially legislators, jurists, and those responsible for the common good of society, to work in cooperation with all men and women of good will in creating a just system of laws capable of protecting human life at all stages of development.
http://www.eppc.org/publications/pubID.3712/pub_detail.asp
By George Weigel Posted: Wednesday, February 18, 2009 National Review Online
From the office of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi:
It is with great joy that my husband, Paul, and I met with His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, today. In our conversation, I had the opportunity to praise the Church's leadership in fighting poverty, hunger, and global warming, as well as the Holy Father's dedication to religious freedom and his upcoming trip and message to Israel. I was proud to show His Holiness a photograph of my family's papal visit in the 1950s, as well as a recent picture of our children and grandchildren.
From the Press Office of the Holy See:
Following the General Audience, the Holy Father briefly greeted Mrs. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, together with her entourage. His Holiness took the opportunity to speak of the requirements of the natural moral law and the Church's consistent teaching on the dignity of human life from conception until natural death, which enjoin all Catholics, and especially legislators, jurists, and those responsible for the common good of society, to work in cooperation with all men and women of good will in creating a just system of laws capable of protecting human life at all stages of development.
http://www.eppc.org/publications/pubID.3712/pub_detail.asp
Pro-life Pastor Faces Jail
by Paul Steven Ghiringhelli Pro-life pastor Walter B. Hoye faces up to two years in prison and $4,000 in fines at sentencing today for offering sidewalk counseling outside a California abortion clinic.
Feb. 19, 2009 -- A pro-life leader faces up to two years in prison and as much as $4,000 in fines for offering sidewalk counseling at an Oakland, Calif., abortion clinic.
http://www.charismamag.com/index.php/component/content/article/18958/18958
Feb. 19, 2009 -- A pro-life leader faces up to two years in prison and as much as $4,000 in fines for offering sidewalk counseling at an Oakland, Calif., abortion clinic.
http://www.charismamag.com/index.php/component/content/article/18958/18958
AFRICAN AMERICAN PASTOR SENTENCED TO JAIL
OAKLAND, Calif.: Today the Rev. Walter Hoye of Berkeley, California was sentenced to serve 30 days in county jail and fined $1,130.00 by Judge Hing of the Alameda Superior Court after being found guilty on January 15, 2009, of unlawfully approaching a person entering an abortion clinic in Oakland. The court is allowing Rev. Hoye to serve his time by an alternative method like community service. Rev. Hoye was also ordered to stay away from the clinic. However, Rev. Hoye refused this term of probation and would not agree to a stay-away order. Nonetheless, the judge is having the order drawn up and refused to accept Rev. Hoye’s decision not to agree to the stay-away order.
http://lldf.org/articles/Press_Rel_090219_Walter_Hoye_Sentenced
http://lldf.org/articles/Press_Rel_090219_Walter_Hoye_Sentenced
Friday, February 20, 2009
Where in the World is OctoDad?
asks Kay Hymowitz in today's Wall Street Journal.
I had an idea this must be the case: if there were an actual dad, making babies in the good old-fashioned natural way, by having an actual relationship with the mother, there wouldn't be a set-of-octuplets-born-to-a-single-mother-on-welfare story to talk about.
read it all here.
Where is Octodad? Surely Ms. Suleman's babies have a father. Yet his role in the baby-palooza is barely mentioned. Not that this should surprise anyone. The reaction to Ms. Suleman and her brood typifies our cultural ambivalence about fathers, an ambivalence fed in no small measure by the fertility industry.
On first thought, Americans seem really keen on fathers. We fret about the emotional impact of father absence and insist "that responsibility does not end at conception," as then-candidate Barack Obama put it in a memorable speech last Father's Day. We excoriate "deadbeat dads" who fail to pay their share of their children's upbringing; in fact, the stimulus bill adds $1 billion to child-support enforcement. Married fathers who don't step up and share the burdens of diapers and pediatrician appointments are condemned, in the words of one much-discussed book of essays, as "bastards on the couch." After all, the argument goes, a father is just as much a parent as a mother.
Except when we decide he's not, as did Ms. Suleman and her medical enablers. According to media reports, the male friend who provided the sperm for all of Suleman's 14 children had begged her to stop after the first six -- to no avail.
I had an idea this must be the case: if there were an actual dad, making babies in the good old-fashioned natural way, by having an actual relationship with the mother, there wouldn't be a set-of-octuplets-born-to-a-single-mother-on-welfare story to talk about.
Having consented to the use of his sperm, he would have been expected to give up control over the future children created with them....
In recent years, medical science has also raised doubts about our frequent desire to wish fathers away. Every week, it seems, science confirms just how much genes matter. Everything from eye color, to propensity to high cholesterol, to a rotten disposition, to talent at math or tennis is encoded, to some degree, in the genetic material passed on from our two biological parents.
In Canada, donor children have brought a class-action suit demanding the same right to know their parentage that adoptive children there already have. For the same reason, Norway, the Netherlands and New Zealand have all banned donor anonymity, and Britain now requires donors to agree to be contacted when their children reach 18; unsurprisingly the country's sperm banks are now as depressed as its financial institutions. In the U.S., some sperm banks have begun to ask donors to volunteer to be identified to their children when they reach adulthood. Some agree; most do not.
And why would they agree? They know that even if fathers make good politics, they make dispensable parents.
read it all here.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
San Diego firefighters win their sexual harassment suit.
San Diego city firefighters won their case: the jury awarded damages to 4 firefighters who claimed that the treatment they recieved while on-duty during the gay pride parade amounted to unlawful sexual harrassment. They were required to be there as part of their job. The behavior they were subjected to fit the definition of sexual harrassment, created at the behest of Clinton era feminists.
BTW, attorney Charles LiMandri is a friend of the Ruth Institute.
The four sued the city because they were ordered to drive the truck in the 90-minute parade even though firefighters in previous gay-pride parades had reported being taunted with sexual innuendoes.
The jury ruled that each of the four should receive $5,000. One should receive an additional $14,200 because he felt compelled to transfer to a different fire station after the incident, and another will receive $100 as reimbursement for a co-pay for a counseling session.
"The amount itself is not important -- the city disrespected these men and violated their rights," said their attorney, Charles LiMandri.
The Fire Department violated its own anti-sexual-harassment policy by forcing the four into the parade over their objections, the jury concluded after two days of deliberation.
BTW, attorney Charles LiMandri is a friend of the Ruth Institute.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Giving Away Other People's Children
This case is creepy. Grandparents in the UK were taking care of 2 grandchildren, as well as their own children. Their local council removed the grandchildren (not the children) from the grandparents on the grounds that they were too old and unhealthy. The kicker is: they gave the kids to a gay couple, after threatening the grandparents against protesting.
Social engineering at its worst. Government at its most intrusive. I hope some gay libertarians will raise a stink over this. Actually, any and all libertarians should raise a stink over it.
Read about it here, here and here.
Last week, in a debate on same sex adoption, I said this:
At this point, I'm not so sure everyone does agree that the birth mother's stipulations should be respected....
The five-year-old boy and his four-year-old sister were being looked after by their grandparents because their mother, a recovering drug addict, was not considered capable.
But social workers stepped in after allegedly deciding that the couple, who are aged 59 and 46, were "too old" to look after the children.
They were allegedly stripped of their carer's rights and informed they would be barred from seeing the children altogether unless they agreed to the same-sex adoption. ...The case raises fears about state interference in family arrangements, and concerns about the practice of adoption by same-sex couples.
Social workers at the City of Edinburgh Council have been accused of waging a "two-year campaign" through the courts to strip the grandparents of their legal rights as carers of the children.
Social services intervened because of concerns over the age and health of the grandparents, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the children.
The grandfather is a farmhand who has angina while his wife is receiving medication for diabetes.
The children have been in foster care for two years while their grandparents battled the social services department in court.
However, the cost of legal bills forced them to drop the case and relinquish their rights.
The grandparents reluctantly agreed to adoption, provided the children were found a "loving mother and father".
They were told last Thursday that two homosexual men had been chosen as the adoptive parents.
Social workers dealing with the case told them that approved heterosexual couples had also been keen to adopt the children.
When he protested to social workers, the grandfather alleges he was told: "You can either accept it and there's a chance you'll see the children twice a year, or you can take that stance and never see them again."
On another occasion he was allegedly told: "If you couldn't support the children [back the gay adoption], if you were having contact and couldn't support the children, and showing negative feelings, it wouldn't be in their best interests for contact to take place."
Social engineering at its worst. Government at its most intrusive. I hope some gay libertarians will raise a stink over this. Actually, any and all libertarians should raise a stink over it.
Read about it here, here and here.
Last week, in a debate on same sex adoption, I said this:
Suppose a pregnant woman is interviewing prospective adoptive parents, and she says, perhaps within earshot of an ACLU lawyer, “I don’t want to give my child up for adoption to a same sex couple.” Do you sue her? ...
I imagine that most people would agree with me that a birth mother can place whatever stipulations she wants on prospective adoptive parents. And that policy cuts both ways: if birth parents are comfortable placing their child with a same sex couple, the state should not prohibit them from doing so.
At this point, I'm not so sure everyone does agree that the birth mother's stipulations should be respected....
What is Feminism?
What is feminism? What does this word mean to you? I gave a talk at the University of Virginia called, "Alternatives to Feminism," which was a free market, family friendly, pro-woman talk. I had the president of one of the feminist clubs come up to me afterwards and say that she had come to fight with me, but she concluded that I was, "a totally awesome feminist."
Wow. I decided years ago that I did not want anything to do with the feminist movement. My views have not changed that much. So now, I conclude I don't know what the word means.
Two other incidents suggest to me that the "old feminism" is pretty much shot. Not long ago, retired law professor and feminist philosopher Linda Hirshman declared that Obama's economic 'stimulus' package didn't do enough for women. Big yawn. No one under 55, Left or Right, cares. From the Right, I recently heard about a conservative woman whose goal is to help conservative women leaders break the glass ceiling, so that the first woman president will be a conservative. Equally Big Yawn. Young conservative women are not excited about the glass ceiling.
What do you think feminism means? And what do you think it means that we don't know what it means any more?
Wow. I decided years ago that I did not want anything to do with the feminist movement. My views have not changed that much. So now, I conclude I don't know what the word means.
Two other incidents suggest to me that the "old feminism" is pretty much shot. Not long ago, retired law professor and feminist philosopher Linda Hirshman declared that Obama's economic 'stimulus' package didn't do enough for women. Big yawn. No one under 55, Left or Right, cares. From the Right, I recently heard about a conservative woman whose goal is to help conservative women leaders break the glass ceiling, so that the first woman president will be a conservative. Equally Big Yawn. Young conservative women are not excited about the glass ceiling.
What do you think feminism means? And what do you think it means that we don't know what it means any more?
Monday, February 16, 2009
School board 'misled' by GLSEN
Allie Martin - OneNewsNow
A family advocacy group in Pennsylvania is blasting members of a school board for allowing the formation of a pro-homosexual club at a high school.
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A family advocacy group in Pennsylvania is blasting members of a school board for allowing the formation of a pro-homosexual club at a high school.
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Transgender janitor shocks elem. school parents
Pete Chagnon - OneNewsNow
A pro-family advocate says parents in one Massachusetts town were perplexed when they received a letter from the school district explaining changes the janitor made over the summer break.
At the beginning of the 2008-09 school year, parents at the Clara Barton Elementary School in Oxford, Massachusetts, received a letter from the principal and superintendent, informing them that one of the school custodians had "changed his gender role" and is now a woman.
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A pro-family advocate says parents in one Massachusetts town were perplexed when they received a letter from the school district explaining changes the janitor made over the summer break.
At the beginning of the 2008-09 school year, parents at the Clara Barton Elementary School in Oxford, Massachusetts, received a letter from the principal and superintendent, informing them that one of the school custodians had "changed his gender role" and is now a woman.
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Pro-marriage speech garners professor's profane wrath
Charlie Butts and Jody Brown - OneNewsNow
After being called a "fascist" by his professor, a Christian California student has filed suit against his college for violations of his free-speech rights.
Less than a month after voters in California decided to amend their state constitution and protect traditional marriage, Jonathan Lopez -- in a public speaking class -- shared his beliefs on faith and marriage. David French of the Alliance Defense Fund picks up the story.
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After being called a "fascist" by his professor, a Christian California student has filed suit against his college for violations of his free-speech rights.
Less than a month after voters in California decided to amend their state constitution and protect traditional marriage, Jonathan Lopez -- in a public speaking class -- shared his beliefs on faith and marriage. David French of the Alliance Defense Fund picks up the story.
Continue...
Pro-life pastor prepares for sentencing
Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow
An Oakland, California, pastor could face jail time for expressing his pro-life views.
Pastor Walter Hoye ran into trouble with an abortion clinic while doing an informational picket. Dennis Howard, leader of The Movement for a Better America, believes Hoye is innocent.
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An Oakland, California, pastor could face jail time for expressing his pro-life views.
Pastor Walter Hoye ran into trouble with an abortion clinic while doing an informational picket. Dennis Howard, leader of The Movement for a Better America, believes Hoye is innocent.
Continue...
Traditional marriage not a priority in Wyoming
Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow
Wyoming lawmakers have voted down a constitutional amendment to protect traditional marriage.
WyWatch Family Institute launched a major campaign for passage, but the vote was 35 in favor to 25 against. Becky Vandeberghe heads the organization.
Washington State hopes to keep marriage traditional
Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow
Traditional values organizations continue to work to stop a domestic partnership bill in the state of Washington.
The bill before lawmakers would provide domestic partnerships with basically the same benefits as married couples. Joseph Backholm, executive director of the Family Policy Institute of Washington, tells OneNewsNow there was a recent committee meeting in the House.
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Traditional values organizations continue to work to stop a domestic partnership bill in the state of Washington.
The bill before lawmakers would provide domestic partnerships with basically the same benefits as married couples. Joseph Backholm, executive director of the Family Policy Institute of Washington, tells OneNewsNow there was a recent committee meeting in the House.
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Dating guidelines for young Christians
Allie Martin - OneNewsNow
A Christian author says his children have been encouraged not only to stay physically pure but also emotionally pure before marriage. Chuck Black and his wife Andrea have six children, ranging in age from 12 to 21. When it comes to dating, he says his children have been brought up to embrace a biblical view on the subject. Black notes his children are not allowed to date, unless the dating is intentional and leading toward marriage. He adds that his children were prepared beforehand for the dating guidelines.
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A Christian author says his children have been encouraged not only to stay physically pure but also emotionally pure before marriage. Chuck Black and his wife Andrea have six children, ranging in age from 12 to 21. When it comes to dating, he says his children have been brought up to embrace a biblical view on the subject. Black notes his children are not allowed to date, unless the dating is intentional and leading toward marriage. He adds that his children were prepared beforehand for the dating guidelines.
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Green eugenics
by Bill Muehlenberg
Population control has gone from culling the ‘unfit’ to finding the whole human race a nuisance.
Who wants to be a eugenicist? Not President Barack Obama, I’m sure, and yet his reversing of the Mexico City Policy, which banned US foreign monies from going into organisations which perform or refer women for abortions, makes him an accomplice of a movement whose great aim, in the words of patron saint Margaret Sanger, is to stop the “unfit” breeding.
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Population control has gone from culling the ‘unfit’ to finding the whole human race a nuisance.
Who wants to be a eugenicist? Not President Barack Obama, I’m sure, and yet his reversing of the Mexico City Policy, which banned US foreign monies from going into organisations which perform or refer women for abortions, makes him an accomplice of a movement whose great aim, in the words of patron saint Margaret Sanger, is to stop the “unfit” breeding.
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Finding Mr Right
by Guiomar Barbi Ochoa
Is a traditional romance worth all the parties, book signings and online questionnaires? Trust me, it is.
...Furthermore, dating seems to have dissipated in the past few decades and this, in turn, has created a lot of confusion between men and women. By dating, I mean a man and a woman going out alone and getting to know each other. These days, there’s a lot more “hanging out” in groups and “hooking up” with various partners. All of this leads to ambiguity and lack of commitment. If there are no formal one-on-one outings or conversations of an exclusive nature taking place, nobody is held accountable for their actions and authentic relationships are never formed.
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Is a traditional romance worth all the parties, book signings and online questionnaires? Trust me, it is.
...Furthermore, dating seems to have dissipated in the past few decades and this, in turn, has created a lot of confusion between men and women. By dating, I mean a man and a woman going out alone and getting to know each other. These days, there’s a lot more “hanging out” in groups and “hooking up” with various partners. All of this leads to ambiguity and lack of commitment. If there are no formal one-on-one outings or conversations of an exclusive nature taking place, nobody is held accountable for their actions and authentic relationships are never formed.
Continue...
Career choice: spouse first
by Lea Singh
Mr Right is unlikely to just turn up while a girl is getting on with her own life.
An interesting article caught my eye this week with its catchy subtitle: "I should have ditched feminism for love, children and baking". In that article, Zoe Lewis writes about her regret at pursuing a career at the expense of relationships and children. Now nearly 37 and a successful playwright, she has woken up to the reality of an empty pot at the end of the feminist rainbow: "from what I see and feel, loving relationships and children bring more happiness than work ever can".
Mr Right is unlikely to just turn up while a girl is getting on with her own life.
An interesting article caught my eye this week with its catchy subtitle: "I should have ditched feminism for love, children and baking". In that article, Zoe Lewis writes about her regret at pursuing a career at the expense of relationships and children. Now nearly 37 and a successful playwright, she has woken up to the reality of an empty pot at the end of the feminist rainbow: "from what I see and feel, loving relationships and children bring more happiness than work ever can".
Florida makes effort to save, build marriages
Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow
A new campaign has been launched in Florida to give marriages a boost.
Florida Family Policy Council spent four years successfully fighting a battle for a constitutional amendment to protect the traditional view of marriage. Now, Council president John Stemberger says they are focusing on strengthening marriage through the three-year-long "Strong Marriages Florida" campaign.
Continue...
A new campaign has been launched in Florida to give marriages a boost.
Florida Family Policy Council spent four years successfully fighting a battle for a constitutional amendment to protect the traditional view of marriage. Now, Council president John Stemberger says they are focusing on strengthening marriage through the three-year-long "Strong Marriages Florida" campaign.
Continue...
Young woman booted from team for being straight
Pete Chagnon and Jody Brown - OneNewsNow
Central Michigan University is being sued after one of their women's basketball players said she was kicked off the team due to her heterosexuality.
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Central Michigan University is being sued after one of their women's basketball players said she was kicked off the team due to her heterosexuality.
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Teen media exposure linked with depression later
by Carolyn Moynihan
Over-exposure to television and other electronic media during the teenage years may contribute to depression in young adulthood, especially amongst young men, according to a report in the February issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry. Depression commonly begins in adolescence or young adulthood, and many factors have been identified, including genetic inheritance, temperament and parenting styles. Media exposure is another prime suspect as teens spend on average eight and a half hours a day with electronic screens and gadgets.
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Over-exposure to television and other electronic media during the teenage years may contribute to depression in young adulthood, especially amongst young men, according to a report in the February issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry. Depression commonly begins in adolescence or young adulthood, and many factors have been identified, including genetic inheritance, temperament and parenting styles. Media exposure is another prime suspect as teens spend on average eight and a half hours a day with electronic screens and gadgets.
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Motherhood is good for the brain
by Carolyn Moynihan
This seems like an old story but evidently some people still need convincing: pregnancy does not turn a woman’s mind to “mush”, a new study finds. Researchers at the Australian National University interviewed 2500 people between the ages of 20 and 24 in 1999 and then repeated the process in 2003 and 2007. Professor Helen Christensen said the results showed that neither pregnancy nor motherhood had a detrimental effect on mental powers such as memory and logic.
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This seems like an old story but evidently some people still need convincing: pregnancy does not turn a woman’s mind to “mush”, a new study finds. Researchers at the Australian National University interviewed 2500 people between the ages of 20 and 24 in 1999 and then repeated the process in 2003 and 2007. Professor Helen Christensen said the results showed that neither pregnancy nor motherhood had a detrimental effect on mental powers such as memory and logic.
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Bridezilla rises as weddings fall in England
by Carolyn Moynihan
Last year saw the lowest number of marriages in England and Wales for more than a hundred years. Just 231,450 people got married, a decrease of 3.3 per cent on 2006 and a drop of 34 per cent since 1981. The figures come from the Office for National Statistics and exclude civil partnerships. They confirm the trend of people waiting longer to marry, the average groom now being almost 37 years old and the bride nearly 34 -- figures influenced by second and subsequent marriages.
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Last year saw the lowest number of marriages in England and Wales for more than a hundred years. Just 231,450 people got married, a decrease of 3.3 per cent on 2006 and a drop of 34 per cent since 1981. The figures come from the Office for National Statistics and exclude civil partnerships. They confirm the trend of people waiting longer to marry, the average groom now being almost 37 years old and the bride nearly 34 -- figures influenced by second and subsequent marriages.
Continue...
'Fireproof' wins Christian movie award
Associated Press
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - Chalk up another honor for the moviemakers from Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia. Their drama Fireproof has won this year's Epiphany Prize for the Most Inspiring Movie of 2008.
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BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - Chalk up another honor for the moviemakers from Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia. Their drama Fireproof has won this year's Epiphany Prize for the Most Inspiring Movie of 2008.
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Wise Words From a 12-Year-Old
Check out the video below, which features a courageous 12-year-old who has very strong pro-life convictions. This video was posted on YouTube by a parent of the girl, who said that the speech was prepared for and delivered to her 7th grade class. "Even those who didn't agree with her loved it [in her class]" states the description.
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Pro-life leaders honored for service
Allie Martin - OneNewsNow
Six leaders in the pro-life movement were recently honored for their work to increase awareness about the horrors of abortion.
The Gerard Health Foundation recently awarded the 2008 Life Prizes, recognizing six people who have advanced the pro-life cause through a number of areas such as scientific research, outreach and public disclosure activities, and other achievements.
Continue...
Six leaders in the pro-life movement were recently honored for their work to increase awareness about the horrors of abortion.
The Gerard Health Foundation recently awarded the 2008 Life Prizes, recognizing six people who have advanced the pro-life cause through a number of areas such as scientific research, outreach and public disclosure activities, and other achievements.
Continue...
Hospital board OKs second-trimester abortions
Charlie Butts and Marty Cooper - OneNewsNow
In spite of solid opposition, the University of Wisconsin Hospital has decided to perform second-trimester abortions. Even though the hospital board voted 11-3 in favor of offering the abortions, the final decision will be made by the Madison Surgery Center board of directors. The surgery center would provide abortions for women who are 13 to 22 weeks pregnant, according to Wisconsin's Journal Sentinel.
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In spite of solid opposition, the University of Wisconsin Hospital has decided to perform second-trimester abortions. Even though the hospital board voted 11-3 in favor of offering the abortions, the final decision will be made by the Madison Surgery Center board of directors. The surgery center would provide abortions for women who are 13 to 22 weeks pregnant, according to Wisconsin's Journal Sentinel.
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IN AN ERA OF SHRINKING BROODS, LARGER FAMILIES CAN FEEL ATTACKED: NY Times
THE comment from the photographer at Sears was typical. “Are these all yours?” she asked, surveying Kim Gunnip’s 12 children.“No,” Mrs. Gunnip replied, “I picked some up at the food court.”
http://www.marriagedebate.com/2009/02/in-era-of-shrinking-broods-larger.htm
http://www.marriagedebate.com/2009/02/in-era-of-shrinking-broods-larger.htm
Prayers still needed in support of Prop 8
The California Supreme Court will be hearing oral arguments against Prop 8 on March 5th
There are three cases challenging the constitutionality of Prop 8.
Find out more details here:
http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/presscenter/newsreleases/NR08-09.PDF
There are three cases challenging the constitutionality of Prop 8.
Find out more details here:
http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/presscenter/newsreleases/NR08-09.PDF
Fabulously Observant: If not ex-gay, then what?
by David Benkof
For years, I have been a critic of the 'ex-gay' movement, particularly its Jewish manifestation. Many advocates of 'reorientation therapy' appear to exaggerate ex-gay transformation rates, and so far the non-gay leaders of the Jewish ex-gay movement have been utterly unable to produce success stories who are willing to be interviewed. Alarmingly, Jewish ex-gay organizers sometimes lead Jewish strugglers perilously close to Christian ideas at odds with Judaism.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1233304753469&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
For years, I have been a critic of the 'ex-gay' movement, particularly its Jewish manifestation. Many advocates of 'reorientation therapy' appear to exaggerate ex-gay transformation rates, and so far the non-gay leaders of the Jewish ex-gay movement have been utterly unable to produce success stories who are willing to be interviewed. Alarmingly, Jewish ex-gay organizers sometimes lead Jewish strugglers perilously close to Christian ideas at odds with Judaism.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1233304753469&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Sunday, February 15, 2009
IVF Success rates and the Suleman Octuplets
There is an interesting letter to the editor in today’s San Diego Union Tribune regarding the octuplets. An infertility patient wrote in to say that the mother of 14 IVF babies discredits the typically wonderful work done by the infertility industry.
This brings up an interesting point: what is the success rate for infertility treatment for couples who are actually infertile?
The nice lady who is a mother of 14 was not in fact infertile. She had perfectly healthy eggs. She did not have, as far as I can tell, a history of miscarriages. She was using IVF, not primarily because of a medical infertility problem. She was using IVF because of a social problem: she doesn’t have a husband.
I view the fertility industry’s claims for success with great skepticism. They inflate their success rates by including people like Nadya Suleman. Her success rate has nothing to do with the success rate likely to be achieved for a couple who is actually infertile.
As a former fertility patient, I'm outraged at the mother of octuplets and her fertility physician. I hope people will realize that she, without a doubt, is the exception to the rule in the world of fertility medicine and treatment.
I volunteered for years with a national infertility support organization and have met dozens of couples for whom treatment was expensive and miraculous when it was a success. The vast majority of people who seek fertility treatment are people who want to have one baby, possibly a second, but I find it interesting that my husband and I, both professionals, had to scrimp and save to pay for our in-vitro fertilization, and after five attempts, we were blessed with one healthy embryo that resulted in a healthy son born.
Our health insurance didn't cover it and because we were both hard-working and gainfully employed, we did not have state disability payments or welfare to supplement our fertility treatment, like the octuplets' mother. I am appalled that she has cast a negative light on the world of fertility medicine, which has helped so many thousands of women give birth around the world.
This brings up an interesting point: what is the success rate for infertility treatment for couples who are actually infertile?
The nice lady who is a mother of 14 was not in fact infertile. She had perfectly healthy eggs. She did not have, as far as I can tell, a history of miscarriages. She was using IVF, not primarily because of a medical infertility problem. She was using IVF because of a social problem: she doesn’t have a husband.
I view the fertility industry’s claims for success with great skepticism. They inflate their success rates by including people like Nadya Suleman. Her success rate has nothing to do with the success rate likely to be achieved for a couple who is actually infertile.
Monday, February 09, 2009
College wrong to host week of 'sexploration'
Pete Chagnon - OneNewsNow - 2/9/2009
The University of Cincinnati is coming under fire for hosting a weeklong event promoting pornography. "UC Sexploration" week was sponsored by Pure Romance and the University of Cincinnati Wellness Center. The event featured lectures by so-called sex experts, free sex kit giveaways, and a "Pizza and Porn" night. David Miller is the Vice-president of public policy with Citizens for Community Values (CCV), an Ohio-based family advocacy group.
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The University of Cincinnati is coming under fire for hosting a weeklong event promoting pornography. "UC Sexploration" week was sponsored by Pure Romance and the University of Cincinnati Wellness Center. The event featured lectures by so-called sex experts, free sex kit giveaways, and a "Pizza and Porn" night. David Miller is the Vice-president of public policy with Citizens for Community Values (CCV), an Ohio-based family advocacy group.
Continue...
TN: Adoption by married couples best for children
Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 2/9/2009
Tennessee lawmakers will consider a bill to ban adoptions by homosexual couples as well as unmarried heterosexual couples. The bill is sponsored by Senator Paul Stanley (R-Memphis) who tells OneNewsNow he discovered a problem with the adoption process.
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Tennessee lawmakers will consider a bill to ban adoptions by homosexual couples as well as unmarried heterosexual couples. The bill is sponsored by Senator Paul Stanley (R-Memphis) who tells OneNewsNow he discovered a problem with the adoption process.
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Pro-lifers pursue dialogue with abortion advocates
Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 2/8/2009
Several pro-lifers admit they don't know how to discuss their message with pro-abortion advocates. One activist group is forming a solution. Eric Scheidler, spokesman for the Pro-Life Action League, has produced a handbook which covers a variety of pro-life topics.
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Several pro-lifers admit they don't know how to discuss their message with pro-abortion advocates. One activist group is forming a solution. Eric Scheidler, spokesman for the Pro-Life Action League, has produced a handbook which covers a variety of pro-life topics.
Continue...
Response to Jon Weintraub
I don’t appreciate being called a liar. Jonathan has made 3 accusations on his blog.
1. I wrote a sarcastic article, in which I claimed to have model legislation. When he called for it, I couldn’t find it. Therefore, I am a liar.
2. I admitted that the California Supreme Court decision mandating same sex marriage created a “carve-out:” clergy are not required to perform same sex marriages. However, one of the more visible of the 100,000 volunteers on Prop 8 stated that “clergy could be forced to perform same sex weddings.” Therefore, I am a liar.
3. I stated that I didn’t expect Prop 8 to apply retroactively and invalidate the weddings that had taken place between June and the election. Because the defenders of Prop 8 have taken the opposite position, I am a liar.
Ahem.
Let me say a few words about each of these rather implausible accusations, in reverse order.
3. I didn’t expect Prop 8 to be applied retroactively. When asked this question on the campaign trail, I consistently said that I didn’t know what would happen to the marriages. Other spokesmen for Prop 8 said they expected the issue to be resolved by litigation. Well, in effect, that is still the case. The status of those marriages is being litigated. The Prop 8 campaign took the position that the marriages should be invalidated is that the judge asked them that question point blank. Why were they in court? Solely because the opponents of Prop 8 have launched a frivolous lawsuit to invalidate a perfectly legal election. The quote you have on your blog makes it sound as if Prop 8 defenders went to court to invalidate the existing marriages. As I understand it, they were in court in response to the challenge to Prop 8, and not on their own initiative.
Would the campaign have initiated a court case themselves to try to invalidate the existing marriages, in the absence of this challenge mounted by the opponents of Prop 8? I have no idea. And it doesn’t matter any more.
2. Many people have the idea that clergy are going to be required to solemnize same sex weddings. I have always done “due diligence” with people, to straighten them out on that point. I am not responsible for everything said by every person who worked for Prop 8.
The larger point is that the “carve out” exemption is completely inadequate to protect the religious expression of people who believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. Religious practice is threatened by the combination of same sex marriage and the ever-expanding anti-discrimination statutes. The position of the No on 8 campaign was in effect that people need not be concerned about religious liberty, on the basis of the exemption for clergy solemnizing weddings. This position is far more misleading than what you accuse me, and the Prop 8 campaign of doing.
1. Jon is quite correct on this one. I couldn’t find the model legislation that I had claimed to have in my article. As it happens, that turned out to be a blessing in disguise. When I asked the person who originally composed the legislation for another copy, she said that she did not want it to be released. She felt that the time was not right. In that sense, I didn’t really even have the right to mention it without talking to her first. I was mistaken in this instance. I told Jon as much when he called. I was embarrassed by my mistake. This is not the sign of a liar.
I should also say, in response to Jon’s blog, that I came to the conclusion that he was right about one other thing. Sarcasm is not a good thing as a rule. The reaction I got to that very article was one of the things that convinced me to try to avoid sarcasm.
Finally, I have to take issue with one of the claims Jon made in his post on the Ruth Youth wall. (By the way, it was very decent of you to make a post there: it alerted me to the fact that you had criticized me on your blog. I would not have known that otherwise.) “The whole point of the campaign was to eradicate the idea that a same-sex couple can be happy, well-adjusted and traditional.” I don’t believe that was the point of the campaign at all. If you go back and look at the ads, you will see nothing about gays and lesbians themselves. The campaign made a decision, at the highest level, to focus on marriage, not on the gay community. There was nothing in the advertising at all that suggested that “those people” are somehow unworthy or defective. The arguments were about marriage: the nature of marriage, and the consequences of redefining marriage.
The Prop 8 campaign was a very clean campaign in that sense. We did not demonize our opponents. We focused on how the changing the definition of marriage would affect the rest of society. That is not gay-bashing, under any reasonable definition of the term.
1. I wrote a sarcastic article, in which I claimed to have model legislation. When he called for it, I couldn’t find it. Therefore, I am a liar.
2. I admitted that the California Supreme Court decision mandating same sex marriage created a “carve-out:” clergy are not required to perform same sex marriages. However, one of the more visible of the 100,000 volunteers on Prop 8 stated that “clergy could be forced to perform same sex weddings.” Therefore, I am a liar.
3. I stated that I didn’t expect Prop 8 to apply retroactively and invalidate the weddings that had taken place between June and the election. Because the defenders of Prop 8 have taken the opposite position, I am a liar.
Ahem.
Let me say a few words about each of these rather implausible accusations, in reverse order.
3. I didn’t expect Prop 8 to be applied retroactively. When asked this question on the campaign trail, I consistently said that I didn’t know what would happen to the marriages. Other spokesmen for Prop 8 said they expected the issue to be resolved by litigation. Well, in effect, that is still the case. The status of those marriages is being litigated. The Prop 8 campaign took the position that the marriages should be invalidated is that the judge asked them that question point blank. Why were they in court? Solely because the opponents of Prop 8 have launched a frivolous lawsuit to invalidate a perfectly legal election. The quote you have on your blog makes it sound as if Prop 8 defenders went to court to invalidate the existing marriages. As I understand it, they were in court in response to the challenge to Prop 8, and not on their own initiative.
Would the campaign have initiated a court case themselves to try to invalidate the existing marriages, in the absence of this challenge mounted by the opponents of Prop 8? I have no idea. And it doesn’t matter any more.
2. Many people have the idea that clergy are going to be required to solemnize same sex weddings. I have always done “due diligence” with people, to straighten them out on that point. I am not responsible for everything said by every person who worked for Prop 8.
The larger point is that the “carve out” exemption is completely inadequate to protect the religious expression of people who believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. Religious practice is threatened by the combination of same sex marriage and the ever-expanding anti-discrimination statutes. The position of the No on 8 campaign was in effect that people need not be concerned about religious liberty, on the basis of the exemption for clergy solemnizing weddings. This position is far more misleading than what you accuse me, and the Prop 8 campaign of doing.
1. Jon is quite correct on this one. I couldn’t find the model legislation that I had claimed to have in my article. As it happens, that turned out to be a blessing in disguise. When I asked the person who originally composed the legislation for another copy, she said that she did not want it to be released. She felt that the time was not right. In that sense, I didn’t really even have the right to mention it without talking to her first. I was mistaken in this instance. I told Jon as much when he called. I was embarrassed by my mistake. This is not the sign of a liar.
I should also say, in response to Jon’s blog, that I came to the conclusion that he was right about one other thing. Sarcasm is not a good thing as a rule. The reaction I got to that very article was one of the things that convinced me to try to avoid sarcasm.
Finally, I have to take issue with one of the claims Jon made in his post on the Ruth Youth wall. (By the way, it was very decent of you to make a post there: it alerted me to the fact that you had criticized me on your blog. I would not have known that otherwise.) “The whole point of the campaign was to eradicate the idea that a same-sex couple can be happy, well-adjusted and traditional.” I don’t believe that was the point of the campaign at all. If you go back and look at the ads, you will see nothing about gays and lesbians themselves. The campaign made a decision, at the highest level, to focus on marriage, not on the gay community. There was nothing in the advertising at all that suggested that “those people” are somehow unworthy or defective. The arguments were about marriage: the nature of marriage, and the consequences of redefining marriage.
The Prop 8 campaign was a very clean campaign in that sense. We did not demonize our opponents. We focused on how the changing the definition of marriage would affect the rest of society. That is not gay-bashing, under any reasonable definition of the term.
Saturday, February 07, 2009
Abortion's other victims
Rebecca Grace - Guest Columnist - 2/6/2009
“In recent years, there were more than 16,000 homicides in the United States. Drunk drivers killed 17,000 innocent victims. All forms of cancer took half a million lives – nearly 1,500 a day. And yet the most prolific killer of our time remains an ugly secret, cloaked in darkness. It takes over one million lives each year, nearly 3,000 each day. And for each life taken, there can be overwhelming collateral damage.”
Continue...
“In recent years, there were more than 16,000 homicides in the United States. Drunk drivers killed 17,000 innocent victims. All forms of cancer took half a million lives – nearly 1,500 a day. And yet the most prolific killer of our time remains an ugly secret, cloaked in darkness. It takes over one million lives each year, nearly 3,000 each day. And for each life taken, there can be overwhelming collateral damage.”
Continue...
Nebraska discusses new ultrasound law
Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 2/7/2009
Nebraska's lawmakers are considering an addition to the state's pro-life ultrasound law.
If passed, it would be one of the toughest laws in the country, according to Julie Albin of Nebraska Right to Life.
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Nebraska's lawmakers are considering an addition to the state's pro-life ultrasound law.
If passed, it would be one of the toughest laws in the country, according to Julie Albin of Nebraska Right to Life.
Continue...
Is your state for or against life?
Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 2/7/2009
Americans United for Life has issued its sixth annual ranking of the most and least pro-life states, with Pennsylvania in the lead this year.
Maria Vitale of the Pennsylvania-Pro Life Federation believes her state received the top honor because of its Abortion Control Act, which she explains.
Continue...
Americans United for Life has issued its sixth annual ranking of the most and least pro-life states, with Pennsylvania in the lead this year.
Maria Vitale of the Pennsylvania-Pro Life Federation believes her state received the top honor because of its Abortion Control Act, which she explains.
Continue...
Reinventing campus sexual culture
by Ryan T. Anderson
Living a virtuous life can be a lonely struggle at college, but a new network of students and professors is changing that.
February 2005 saw the launch of a new student group at Princeton, the Elizabeth Anscombe Society, named for the famed Cambridge philosophy professor, star student and successor of Ludwig Wittgenstein, and intellectual defender of traditional sexual ethics. The Anscombe Society set for itself a lofty mission:
We aim to foster an atmosphere where sex is dignified, respectful, and beautiful; where human relationships are affirming and supportive; where motherhood is not put at odds with feminism; and where no one is objectified, instrumentalized, or demeaned. We aim to increase the level of respect among members of the university community who disagree on these issues as we explore our common understandings as well as our differences. Lastly, we hope to provide those students who strive to understand, live, and love their commitment to chastity and ‘traditional’ sexual and familial ethics with the support they need to make their time at Princeton the best it can be.
Read the entire article.
Living a virtuous life can be a lonely struggle at college, but a new network of students and professors is changing that.
February 2005 saw the launch of a new student group at Princeton, the Elizabeth Anscombe Society, named for the famed Cambridge philosophy professor, star student and successor of Ludwig Wittgenstein, and intellectual defender of traditional sexual ethics. The Anscombe Society set for itself a lofty mission:
We aim to foster an atmosphere where sex is dignified, respectful, and beautiful; where human relationships are affirming and supportive; where motherhood is not put at odds with feminism; and where no one is objectified, instrumentalized, or demeaned. We aim to increase the level of respect among members of the university community who disagree on these issues as we explore our common understandings as well as our differences. Lastly, we hope to provide those students who strive to understand, live, and love their commitment to chastity and ‘traditional’ sexual and familial ethics with the support they need to make their time at Princeton the best it can be.
Read the entire article.
Friday, February 06, 2009
Chicago schools - incubator for homosexual indoctrination
Pete Chagnon - OneNewsNow - 2/6/2009
An open homosexual has been chosen to head Chicago's public school system.
Ron Huberman has been chosen by Mayor Richard Daley as the new CEO of the Chicago Public School (CPS) system. Huberman replaces Arne Duncan, who was chosen by President Obama to fill the position of education secretary. But Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality has some concerns.
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An open homosexual has been chosen to head Chicago's public school system.
Ron Huberman has been chosen by Mayor Richard Daley as the new CEO of the Chicago Public School (CPS) system. Huberman replaces Arne Duncan, who was chosen by President Obama to fill the position of education secretary. But Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality has some concerns.
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Hawaii on deck to legalize same-sex unions
Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 2/6/2009
Hawaii could be the next state to legalize civil unions for homosexuals.
A majority in the state House recently signed the bill, sponsored by Majority Leader Blake Oshiro, giving it a good chance for passage this year. According to the Honolulu Advertiser, a presiding or retired judge as well as a clergy member could perform the civil unions for the same-sex couples. If the ordinance is passed, Hawaii would also recognize legal same-sex "marriages," domestic partnerships, or civil unions from other states.
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Hawaii could be the next state to legalize civil unions for homosexuals.
A majority in the state House recently signed the bill, sponsored by Majority Leader Blake Oshiro, giving it a good chance for passage this year. According to the Honolulu Advertiser, a presiding or retired judge as well as a clergy member could perform the civil unions for the same-sex couples. If the ordinance is passed, Hawaii would also recognize legal same-sex "marriages," domestic partnerships, or civil unions from other states.
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Heather has three parents
by Carolyn Moynihan
The tangled web of homosexual parenting has resulted in a Canadian court ruling that means a child could have three or four legally recognised parents. The players in the court case are a lesbian couple, a gay man (who is married to his partner), and the child born to one of the women using the man’s sperm. The man was known to the women and deliberately chosen as the donor.A contract was signed by the three adults before the child, a girl, was born in 2002, setting out his rights as a “co-parent” including regular access as well as full custody if both women were to die. It also included a promise to try for a “three-way” adoption, which was never followed through.
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The tangled web of homosexual parenting has resulted in a Canadian court ruling that means a child could have three or four legally recognised parents. The players in the court case are a lesbian couple, a gay man (who is married to his partner), and the child born to one of the women using the man’s sperm. The man was known to the women and deliberately chosen as the donor.A contract was signed by the three adults before the child, a girl, was born in 2002, setting out his rights as a “co-parent” including regular access as well as full custody if both women were to die. It also included a promise to try for a “three-way” adoption, which was never followed through.
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'Stop at two kids' campaign warms up
by Carolyn Moynihan
The population control movement in Britain has found a new and powerful voice in a top government adviser. Jonathon Porritt, who chairs the official Sustainable Development Commission, says people should have no more than two children. He says curbing population growth through family planning must be at the heart of policies to fight global warming. A report by the commission, to be published next month, will say that governments must reduce population growth by funding better family planning -- even if it means shifting money from curing illness to increasing contraception and abortion.
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The population control movement in Britain has found a new and powerful voice in a top government adviser. Jonathon Porritt, who chairs the official Sustainable Development Commission, says people should have no more than two children. He says curbing population growth through family planning must be at the heart of policies to fight global warming. A report by the commission, to be published next month, will say that governments must reduce population growth by funding better family planning -- even if it means shifting money from curing illness to increasing contraception and abortion.
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Cannabis use falls among teens who stay home more
by Carolyn Moynihan
Marijuana use is declining amongst young people in most European countries and North America, and the reason seems to be that teens are going out less, according to an article in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. Researchers who set out to find whether adolescents tended to “catch” the pot-smoking habit from unsupervised socialising with their peers, confirmed their hypothesis.
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Marijuana use is declining amongst young people in most European countries and North America, and the reason seems to be that teens are going out less, according to an article in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. Researchers who set out to find whether adolescents tended to “catch” the pot-smoking habit from unsupervised socialising with their peers, confirmed their hypothesis.
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Selfish adults ruining childhood, says UK report
by Carolyn Moynihan
Yet another British report on how bad things are for children in that country blames most of the problems now facing young people on a culture of "excessive individualism" that has developed in recent decades. The Good Childhood Inquiry says the "me-first" attitude of adults is causing family breakdowns, competition in eduction, a growing gap between rich and poor, unkindness among teenagers and premature sexualization through advertising.
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Yet another British report on how bad things are for children in that country blames most of the problems now facing young people on a culture of "excessive individualism" that has developed in recent decades. The Good Childhood Inquiry says the "me-first" attitude of adults is causing family breakdowns, competition in eduction, a growing gap between rich and poor, unkindness among teenagers and premature sexualization through advertising.
Continue...
Soft Core Porn in Urban Outfitters Catalogue
by Marcia Segelstein
Some of you may remember the uproar caused when teen clothing retailer Abercrombie and Fitch published a catalogue with outrageous photos of young men and women in various stages of undress.Well another clothier has followed suit.
Urban Outfitters, which sells clothes to teenage boys and girls, has just published a catalogue with photos any sane person would call soft core pornography, especially considering the age of the target audience.
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Some of you may remember the uproar caused when teen clothing retailer Abercrombie and Fitch published a catalogue with outrageous photos of young men and women in various stages of undress.Well another clothier has followed suit.
Urban Outfitters, which sells clothes to teenage boys and girls, has just published a catalogue with photos any sane person would call soft core pornography, especially considering the age of the target audience.
Continue...
Tucson abortuary gets stung
Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 2/4/2009
UCLA student Lila Rose has released another video of undercover work at a Planned Parenthood, this time in Tucson, Arizona.
Rose accompanied Jackie Stollar, who posed as a 15-year-old girl impregnated by a 27-year-old man, as they walked into the abortion facility and explained the circumstances. Rose explains what was captured on tape.
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UCLA student Lila Rose has released another video of undercover work at a Planned Parenthood, this time in Tucson, Arizona.
Rose accompanied Jackie Stollar, who posed as a 15-year-old girl impregnated by a 27-year-old man, as they walked into the abortion facility and explained the circumstances. Rose explains what was captured on tape.
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'Adultery' service targets married Texans
Charlie Butts and Jody Brown - OneNewsNow - 2/4/2009
A dating service is targeting its advertising at married people -- encouraging them to commit adultery.
The television commercials are from the Ashley Madison Agency. According to Bill Johnson of the American Decency Association, the commercials are "basically giving married people a place to find attachment with others who are available -- whether married or unmarried."
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A dating service is targeting its advertising at married people -- encouraging them to commit adultery.
The television commercials are from the Ashley Madison Agency. According to Bill Johnson of the American Decency Association, the commercials are "basically giving married people a place to find attachment with others who are available -- whether married or unmarried."
Continue...
Japan hopes to increase 'abysmal' birth rate
Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 2/3/2009
The professional culture of Japan is taking steps to increase the country's population.
When Margaret Sanger launched a clinic in 1916 that later became Planned Parenthood, Japan was the first nation to jump on the bandwagon as the biggest financial supporter. Jim Sedlak of American Life League's Stop Planned Parenthood, or STOPP International, reports the Asian nation promoted family planning and abortion.
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The professional culture of Japan is taking steps to increase the country's population.
When Margaret Sanger launched a clinic in 1916 that later became Planned Parenthood, Japan was the first nation to jump on the bandwagon as the biggest financial supporter. Jim Sedlak of American Life League's Stop Planned Parenthood, or STOPP International, reports the Asian nation promoted family planning and abortion.
Continue...
Justice sought in alleged murder of 'Baby Shanice'
Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 2/3/2009
A lawsuit has been filed in the death of "Baby Shanice."
Baby Shanice was born alive at an abortion clinic in the Miami area in mid-2006. Tom Brechja of the Thomas More Society tells OneNewsNow he believes there was panic among the medical staff immediately after the baby's birth while the mother waited in the clinic's recovery room area.
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A lawsuit has been filed in the death of "Baby Shanice."
Baby Shanice was born alive at an abortion clinic in the Miami area in mid-2006. Tom Brechja of the Thomas More Society tells OneNewsNow he believes there was panic among the medical staff immediately after the baby's birth while the mother waited in the clinic's recovery room area.
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Gov't employees petition Hillary for same-sex benefits
Charlie Butts and Jody Brown - OneNewsNow - 2/3/2009
A pro-homosexual group within the U.S. government is hoping its letter to Hillary Clinton last week will ignite a push for marriage-like benefits for same-sex partners of federal employees.
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A pro-homosexual group within the U.S. government is hoping its letter to Hillary Clinton last week will ignite a push for marriage-like benefits for same-sex partners of federal employees.
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Massive Nationwide Pro-Life Postcard Campaign Underway
WASHINGTON—The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has launched a national postcard campaign urging Congress to maintain widely-supported pro-life policies and to oppose the federal funding and promotion of abortion. Launched on January 24-25, the campaign is being coordinated through the USCCB's partner organization, the National Committee for a Human Life Amendment (NCHLA).
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How You Can Help Stop Future Intimidation
If you were among the many Prop 8 donors or volunteers who suffered any harassment or intimidation during and after the campaign to restore the definition of marriage in California, we need your help. Please send a confidential email to Sarah Troupis at the Law Offices of Bopp, Coleson, and Bostrom (stroupis@bopplaw.com). If you wish to contact her by phone, her number is 812-232-2434.
ProtectMarriage.com has filed a lawsuit in Federal court challenging the California law requiring the disclosure of personal information of campaign donors. This law has been abused by proponents of same-sex "marriage" in an effort to discourage future public opposition. Marriage supporters will not be intimidated. However, the law must be changed before the next election.
A request for a preliminary injunction to prevent the disclosure of donors who gave between $100 and $999 since October 18 was denied. This was not unexpected (see details below). However, the judge did grant a Protection Order to prevent public disclosure of names of people who report being subjected to harassment or intimidation.
The attorneys representing us want to file as many examples of harassment as possible to demonstrate how widespread was the harassment both during and after the campaign. They have asked me to appeal for your help. The examples they are looking for not only include those related to donations, but also examples of verbal or physical abuse, threats to persons and businesses, and destruction of signs and other property. Remember, under order of the court, you can do this on a confidential basis.
For more information and updates on this matter, click here.
ProtectMarriage.com has filed a lawsuit in Federal court challenging the California law requiring the disclosure of personal information of campaign donors. This law has been abused by proponents of same-sex "marriage" in an effort to discourage future public opposition. Marriage supporters will not be intimidated. However, the law must be changed before the next election.
A request for a preliminary injunction to prevent the disclosure of donors who gave between $100 and $999 since October 18 was denied. This was not unexpected (see details below). However, the judge did grant a Protection Order to prevent public disclosure of names of people who report being subjected to harassment or intimidation.
The attorneys representing us want to file as many examples of harassment as possible to demonstrate how widespread was the harassment both during and after the campaign. They have asked me to appeal for your help. The examples they are looking for not only include those related to donations, but also examples of verbal or physical abuse, threats to persons and businesses, and destruction of signs and other property. Remember, under order of the court, you can do this on a confidential basis.
For more information and updates on this matter, click here.
Thursday, February 05, 2009
About the octuplets' Mom
When the sexual revolution began, we were all excited about having sex without babies. Now, we have come full circle: we are having babies without having sex. (That's a little bit like skipping dessert and going straight for the brussels sprouts, but, never mind.)
Anyhow, more is emerging about Nadya Suleman, who has had 14 children, without having sex.
This is the stuff of which the bloggers howl: irresponsible, counting on others to help her, etc.
But some touching details have emerged that shed some light on her motives.
And in another interview, the most touching detail:
This is reminiscent of the motives I saw among the teen mothers I met in Reno last month. This is what I surmised from the girls themselves and from their social worker. "These girls get pregnant because they want to: they want to be loved by their boyfriends, and by their babies."
I wrote about them here:
My cyberspace friend, Dutch Martin, wrote to agree with me, though I don't see that he posted about it.
Anyhow, more is emerging about Nadya Suleman, who has had 14 children, without having sex.
It still isn't clear who their father is, or who fathered Suleman's other six children, who range in age from 2 to 7.
Suleman listed a David Solomon as the father on the birth certificates for her first four children but gave a different birthday for him on each certificate and listed both Israel and California as his place of birth. He could not be located for comment.
She listed no father on the birth certificates for her fifth and sixth children, twins born in 2006.
Suleman herself has been known by different names over the years, including Natalie Suleman, Natalie Gutierrez, Nadya Gutierrez and Nadya Doud.
Suleman was married to Marcos Gutierrez in 1996 and was divorced last year, according to public records. Gutierrez did not return calls to numbers listed for him, and his divorce lawyer, Roberto Gil, declined to comment.
Divorce papers state the couple split up in 2000 and had no children, although Suleman had given birth to her first six children by the time the divorce was finalized.
This is the stuff of which the bloggers howl: irresponsible, counting on others to help her, etc.
But some touching details have emerged that shed some light on her motives.
Public records show Suleman's father has used the last names Doud and Suleman. Her parents married in Las Vegas in 1974 and divorced in 1999. Suleman was their only child.
And in another interview, the most touching detail:
In her first interview since giving birth to octuplets, Nadya Suleman tells NBC she wanted a huge family to make up for the isolation she says she always felt as an only child.
In a brief excerpt of the interview released Thursday, the 33-year-old single mother tells "Today" show anchor Ann Curry she had a dysfunctional childhood and sought to erase that with the closeness children could bring. NBC says the full interview will air Monday.
This is reminiscent of the motives I saw among the teen mothers I met in Reno last month. This is what I surmised from the girls themselves and from their social worker. "These girls get pregnant because they want to: they want to be loved by their boyfriends, and by their babies."
I wrote about them here:
My cyberspace friend, Dutch Martin, wrote to agree with me, though I don't see that he posted about it.
Monday, February 02, 2009
Pro-homosexual bill 'everything but marriage'
Charlie Butts and Jody Brown - OneNewsNow - 2/2/2009
While it's unclear how the voters feel, lawmakers in the state of Washington apparently favor a domestic-partner bill that would grant homosexual men and women essentially the same rights as married heterosexuals.
The bill has the same sponsors as the one submitted in 2007 -- a measure that failed to pass. But according to Joseph Backholm of the Family Policy Institute of Washington (FPIW), the sponsors appear to have more momentum this time around.
Continue...
While it's unclear how the voters feel, lawmakers in the state of Washington apparently favor a domestic-partner bill that would grant homosexual men and women essentially the same rights as married heterosexuals.
The bill has the same sponsors as the one submitted in 2007 -- a measure that failed to pass. But according to Joseph Backholm of the Family Policy Institute of Washington (FPIW), the sponsors appear to have more momentum this time around.
Continue...
Wisconsin hospital pursues late-term abortion plan
Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 2/2/2009
Wisconsin lawmakers are pleading with the University of Wisconsin Hospital to abandon a plan to offer second-trimester abortions.
The school announced plans recently to set up an operation to do late-term abortions in Madison, and the Associated Press notes there has been a flurry of criticism. Twenty-eight Republican senators, along with one Independent, said second-trimester abortions are "barbaric" and "kill viable babies." Senator Glenn Grothman of West Bend calls it appalling that the university hospital would be affiliated with late-term abortions.
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Wisconsin lawmakers are pleading with the University of Wisconsin Hospital to abandon a plan to offer second-trimester abortions.
The school announced plans recently to set up an operation to do late-term abortions in Madison, and the Associated Press notes there has been a flurry of criticism. Twenty-eight Republican senators, along with one Independent, said second-trimester abortions are "barbaric" and "kill viable babies." Senator Glenn Grothman of West Bend calls it appalling that the university hospital would be affiliated with late-term abortions.
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Unions display their anti-marriage colors
Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 2/2/2009
California unions have combined forces in hopes to overturn Proposition 8. In November, voters in California passed Prop. 8, which amends the state constitution to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman. Now many of the state's unions have filed a brief before the California Supreme Court to overturn it. The brief, according to a Pacific Justice Institute press release, claims Prop. 8 "would strip one class of citizens of a fundamental right."
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California unions have combined forces in hopes to overturn Proposition 8. In November, voters in California passed Prop. 8, which amends the state constitution to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman. Now many of the state's unions have filed a brief before the California Supreme Court to overturn it. The brief, according to a Pacific Justice Institute press release, claims Prop. 8 "would strip one class of citizens of a fundamental right."
Continue...
Nigeria favors traditional marriage, loses funding
Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 2/1/2009
A division of the European Union that deals with "gay" rights has demanded that all foreign aid to Nigeria be suspended after the government voted not to recognize homosexual "marriage." The Nigerian vote to protect traditional marriage was unanimous. Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel says it is unfortunate the European Union adopted its stance.
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A division of the European Union that deals with "gay" rights has demanded that all foreign aid to Nigeria be suspended after the government voted not to recognize homosexual "marriage." The Nigerian vote to protect traditional marriage was unanimous. Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel says it is unfortunate the European Union adopted its stance.
Continue...
Idaho college reverses co-ed dorm decision
Thank goodness for this!
Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/31/2009
The University of Idaho has scrapped its plans to turn some of its dorm suites into co-ed apartments.
Bryan Fischer of Idaho Values Alliance (IVA) says the idea was short-lived because it would have required students of the opposite sex to share the same bathroom (see earlier story). After word surfaced about the school's plan, Fischer sounded the alarm and residents began contacting their state lawmakers.
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Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/31/2009
The University of Idaho has scrapped its plans to turn some of its dorm suites into co-ed apartments.
Bryan Fischer of Idaho Values Alliance (IVA) says the idea was short-lived because it would have required students of the opposite sex to share the same bathroom (see earlier story). After word surfaced about the school's plan, Fischer sounded the alarm and residents began contacting their state lawmakers.
Continue...
Why Marriage is Inherently Heterosexual
by Patrick Lee
A recent story in Newsweek claimed that the only reasons for opposing same-sex “marriage” are religious. But there are powerful arguments for marriage rooted not in faith but in reason.
In the December 15th edition of Newsweek, both Jon Meacham in his editor’s note and religion editor Lisa Miller in her front-page article mock arguments from scripture. At the same time, they invoke that same Bible’s authority for a “more general” message of “inclusivity,” in order to lobby for making gay marriage a sacrament. Meacham and Miller paint all opposition to the radical re-definition of marriage as hateful bigotry, comparing it to racism, and labeling appeals to the authority of the Bible against homosexual “marriage” and homosexual acts as fundamentalism. Indeed Meacham goes further: it is “the worst kind of fundamentalism.” How much worse than suicide-bombings and beheadings he does not make clear.
Continue...
A recent story in Newsweek claimed that the only reasons for opposing same-sex “marriage” are religious. But there are powerful arguments for marriage rooted not in faith but in reason.
In the December 15th edition of Newsweek, both Jon Meacham in his editor’s note and religion editor Lisa Miller in her front-page article mock arguments from scripture. At the same time, they invoke that same Bible’s authority for a “more general” message of “inclusivity,” in order to lobby for making gay marriage a sacrament. Meacham and Miller paint all opposition to the radical re-definition of marriage as hateful bigotry, comparing it to racism, and labeling appeals to the authority of the Bible against homosexual “marriage” and homosexual acts as fundamentalism. Indeed Meacham goes further: it is “the worst kind of fundamentalism.” How much worse than suicide-bombings and beheadings he does not make clear.
Continue...
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