Age of Consent at 14 Makes Canada Favoured Sex Tourism Destination

A newly released report says that the age of consent for vaginal sex in Canada – currently set at 14 – has made this country a favorite destination for child-sex “tourism”. The Global Monitoring Report on the Status of Action against the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, says that Canada’s age of consent has made Canada a haven for pedophiles.

The CBC report quotes Toronto police constable, Paul Krawczyk, who said, “I've been in pedophile chat rooms that discuss Canada having such a low age of consent that they tell other pedophiles to travel to Canada because of that. Sixty-year-olds engaging in sexual activities with 14 or 15-year-olds is not appropriate.”

The proposed legislation includes a close-in-age clause that means young people 14 or 15 can have sexual relations with someone “less than five years older.”

The federal government’s proposal to raise the age of consent in Canada from 14 to 16 was vocally opposed by homosexual advocacy groups who accused the government of attacking the sexual freedoms of young people.

Following this, in November, a Liberal Party policy resolution, attributed to the British Columbia branch of the Party, called for the lowering of the age of consent for anal sex.

Excerpted from:
Age of Consent at 14 Makes Canada Favoured Sex Tourism Destination
By Hillary White
December 19, 2006

*****

What possible reason could homosexual rights groups have for opposing raising the age of consent?


For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Romans 21

Ukrainian Investigator Fired for Expanding Probe into Newborns Killed for Stem Cell, Organ Harvesting

An investigator into Ukrainian allegations of newborn baby murders for stem cell and organ harvesting says she was fired from the case after calling for an inquiry into all maternity hospitals in the country.

Irina Bogomolova, from the chief prosecutor’s office in Kiev, said she believes she was removed in order to prevent the magnitude of the trade in babies’ body parts from being exposed, the Telegraph reported on Sunday.

"I was sacked for political reasons. I demanded an investigation into all maternity wings in hospitals across Ukraine and I was relieved of duty after making that demand,” Bogomolova said. "A trade in stem cells exists here... I suspect there is a lot of bribery going on, right up to highest levels.

The Council of Europe is to begin an investigation February in the Ukraine, into charges that newborn babies, and preterm babies, have been killed in hospitals to provide stem cells and internal organs for the black market trade in experimental medical and cosmetic procedures. An earlier inquiry in 2004 by the Council was dropped for lack of evidence.

Mothers came forward with claims that they gave birth to live infants who were then immediately taken away from them.

"Pregnant women, especially from rural areas, are very vulnerable targets as they will obviously believe whatever the doctors tell them,” said Bogomolova. “It's easy to take their babies from them and tell them they died or were born dead due to complications."


God have mercy.

Read more at:
Ukrainian Investigator Fired for Expanding Probe into Newborns Killed for Stem Cell, Organ Harvesting
By Gudrun Schulz
December 19, 2006
LifesiteNews.com

Global Warming Fanatics Warming Up to Evangelicals

The producer of a movie on global warming that is being shown in Evangelical churches has admitted she believes earth's true problem is too many people.

Karen Coshof, producer of "The Great Warming," said in a Cybercast News Service interview, "Population is the underlying problem - the catalyst for the whole thing, but we didn't get into that in the film. That is the underlying problem - too many people - all in competition for the same resource."

"The Great Warming" has been endorsed by Christian organizations such as the National Association of Evangelicals and prominent pastors. They find themselves in a strange camp aligned with organizations that promote population control, an ideology that considers human beings a blight on the earth rather than creative and resourceful individuals with unique worth.

Read more:
Global Warming Fanatics Warming Up to Evangelicals
by Lindsay Randall
December 19, 2006
Concerned Women for America

The Saga Continues: Previously Tolerant German State Declares War on Home-schooling

Over the last several years disturbing stories have come out of Germany: stories about children being forcibly and suddenly removed from their homes by police in the middle of the day and dropped in state schools, about whole families fleeing from Germany to avoid arrest, about mothers being imprisoned, about intimidation tactics and threats of fines or imprisonment, and all for the “crime” of home-schooling.

In the most recent installment of Germany’s ongoing home-schooling saga, the Director of the Ministry of Education for the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg sent a letter to German homeschoolers that is in effect a declaration of war on home-schooling in the state.

In the letter K. Horstmann, the Ministerial Director, informs home-schooling families that “the Minister of Education does not share your attitudes toward so-called homeschooling.”

...Horstmann, rather than acknowledging the right of the parents to be the primary educators of their children, continues to indicate that instead the family must step in line with the ideology of the state, saying, “the education authority is in conversation with the affected family in order to look for possibilities to bring the religious convictions of the family into line with the unalterable school attendance requirement.”

Excerpted from:

The Saga Continues: Previously Tolerant German State Declares War on Home-schooling
By John Jalsevac
LifesiteNews.com

Good News! for Freedom of Speech...

A pro-life group calls it a "huge" win for free speech and grassroots lobbying: A federal court in Washington seems to have poked a tiny hole in the McCain/Feingold Campaign Finance Law by ruling that issue ads sponsored by grassroots groups may air within 30 days of an election.

At issue were three television and radio ads that Wisconsin Right to Life aired in 2004.

The ads informed the public that U.S. senators were filibustering President Bush's conservative judicial nominees, and the ads asked viewers to urge Sens. Russ Feingold and Herbert Kohl (Wisconsin Democrats) to oppose the filibusters.

The McCain/Feingold law established a blackout period 30 days prior to a primary election and 60 days prior to a general election where groups may not mention the name of a candidate on the ballot. In 2004, Senator Feingold was on the primary election ballot.

"Wisconsin Right to Life successfully argued that grassroots lobbying ads which do not mention or refer to elections should be allowed to be aired as a free speech right protected by the First Amendment, and the court agreed," said Barbara Lyons, executive director of Wisconsin Right to Life.

Excerpted from:

Pro-Life Group Hails 'Huge Win for Free Speech'
By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Senior Editor
December 22, 2006

Kansas Abortionist Charged but Judge Dismisses Case

The state of Kansas assembled evidence supporting 30 criminal counts filed against Wichita abortionist George Tiller, but the local district attorney intervened to have the charges dismissed, claiming she doesn't support prosecution of the case.

The complaint was drawn up by outgoing Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline and named George Tiller, noting he is accused of providing abortions to females ranging from 10-22 years of age, whose unborn babies were aged 25 to 31 weeks.

Further complicating the issue is the evidence that Tiller covered up instances of sexual child rape and violation of Kansas law which prohibits post viability abortion.

Kline also had raised the issue of state statistics from 2003, when there were 78 abortions on girls under the age of 15. In a state where the legal age of consent is 16, how could 78 girls become pregnant and obtain abortions without a single report of sexual assault, or rape, on a child, he wondered.

Kline will be replaced in three weeks by Democrat Paul Morrison, who during his election cited no need for investigating the abortionists.

Excerpted from:

Kansas abortionist charged but judge dismisses counts
December 22, 2006
Bob Unruh for WorldNetDaily.com

California Supreme Court Decides to Re-decide Marriage

In an act that epitomizes the problem with the American court system, the California Supreme Court has decided to re-decide the issue of marriage for Californians. In 2000, Californians went to the polls and voted to limit marriage to 1 man and 1 woman by an overwhelming majority.

Here's the key question: Whose morality should the laws reflect? That of the citizens of California? or 7 government appointed employees?
It doesn't take a constitutional expert to see the problem...

The only option left for Californians who want to see the laws reflect the morality of the majority is to pass a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman - a difficult and expensive proposition.

Read more at WorldNetDaily.com

Iranian President Prepares [Nuclear Weapons?] for Shiite Messiah Reign of Oppressive Seven Years, After Which, the World Will End

If the following excerpts are news to you, consider reading the full article:

Jesus, Mahdi both coming, says Iran's Ahmadinejad
Posted: December 19, 2006 11:52 a.m. Eastern
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

"I wish all the Christians a very happy new year and I wish to ask them a question as well," said Ahmadinejad, according to an Iranian Student News Agency report cited by YnetNews.com
"My one question from the Christians is: What would Jesus do if he were present in the world today? What would he do before some of the oppressive powers of the world who are in fact residing in Christian countries? Which powers would he revive and which of them would he destroy?" asked the Iranian leader.

"If Jesus were present today, who would be facing him and who would be following him?"

Ahmadinejad then made a connection between Jesus and the Imam Mahdi, believed by Shiites to have disappeared as a child in A.D. 941. When the Mahdi returns, they contend, he will reign on earth for seven years before bringing about a final judgment and the end of the world.

"All I want to say is that the age of hardship, threat and spite will come to an end someday and, God willing, Jesus would return to the world along with the emergence of the descendant of the Islam's holy prophet, Imam Mahdi, and wipe away every tinge of oppression, pain and agony from the face of the world," Ahmadinejad said.

Ahmadinejad has been urging Iranians to prepare for the coming of the Mahdi by turning the country into a powerful and advanced Islamic society and by avoiding the corruption and excesses of the West.

He sees his main mission, as he recounted in a Nov. 16, 2005, speech in Tehran, as to "pave the path for the glorious reappearance of Imam Mahdi, may Allah hasten his reappearance."

With Iran's continued development of nuclear technology in defiance of the West, some analysts fear Ahmadinejad's intent is to trigger the kind of global conflagration he envisions will set the stage for the end of the world.

Ahmadinejad hosted a conference last week examining whether the Nazi genocide took place, drawing Holocaust deniers from around the world. The Iranian president has described the Holocaust as a "myth" and called for Israel to be wiped off the map.

"The Zionist regime will be wiped out soon the same way the Soviet Union was, and humanity will achieve freedom." he said.

According to Harvard University, Religion 'is an American Anachronism . . . the Rest of the West is Moving Beyond it'

Here's how a Harvard professor of psychology critiqued the latest curriculum; excerpts from:

Harvard Redefines Education
By Steven Pinker
The Harvard Crimson
December 1, 2006

My . . . reservation concerns the “Reason and Faith” requirement.

First, the word “faith” in this and many other contexts, is a euphemism for “religion.” An egregious example is the current administration’s “faith-based initiatives,” so-named because it is more palatable than “religion-based initiatives.” A university should not try to hide what it is studying in warm-and-fuzzy code words.

Second, the juxtaposition of the two words makes it sound like “faith” and “reason” are parallel and equivalent ways of knowing, and we have to help students navigate between them. But universities are about reason, pure and simple. Faith -— believing something without good reasons to do so —- has no place in anything but a religious institution, and our society has no shortage of these.

Third, if this is meant to educate students about the role of religion in history and current affairs, why isn’t it just a part of the “U.S. and the World” requirement? Religion is an important force, to be sure, but so are nationalism, ethnicity, socialism, markets, nepotism, class, and globalization. Why single religion out among all the major forces in history?

There is also considerable disagreement over whether religion really is the driving force behind the conflicts that are commonly attributed to it. Many people in Ireland insist that the Ulster conflict is about British rule versus Irish unification, not about Protestantism versus Catholicism.

And among the Islam-aligned forces with which our country is currently entangled, Saddam Hussein’s Baathism is more secular and nationalist than it is religious. Whether or not religion is a major force is a question best left to our colleagues in history, government, and area studies, in the context of the broadest possible study of world affairs. This empirical issue should not be prejudged in the categories of a general education requirement.

Fourth, if the requirement is supposed to be about the clash in the history of ideas between religion and reason in Western thought, here again it seems far too arbitrary and specific a choice for a general education requirement. Why not rationalism and empiricism, or idealism and materialism, or the subjective and the objective?

Finally, if the requirement is meant to be the union of all or any of these (some students concentrate on Islamic jihad, others on the Reformation, still others on the argument from design or the ontological argument for God’s existence, still others on biblical history), it just doesn’t hang together as a coherent requirement.

Again, we have to keep in mind that the requirement will attract attention from far and wide, and for a long time. For us to magnify the significance of religion as a topic equivalent in scope to all of science, all of culture, or all of world history and current affairs, is to give it far too much prominence. It is an American anachronism, I think, in an era in which the rest of the West is moving beyond it.

About a week later, the above thought prevailed at Harvard, as you can read in the excerpts below from the Boston Globe:

Harvard panel sets aside plan on religion
By Marcella Bombardieri, Globe Staff
December 13, 2006

Professors designing a new curriculum for undergraduates at Harvard University have rescinded their proposal that all students take a class dealing with religion.

Instead, the faculty task force suggested a different, broader category, "what it means to be a human being," in a revised proposal released late last week. The human nature requirement would encompass religious thought, art, literature, and philosophy, as well as evolutionary biology and cognitive science.

Harvard made waves in October when the task force released a preliminary redesign for general education -- the requirements imposed on students outside their major -- that included a category called "reason and faith."

The original proposal said students often struggle to make sense of the relationship between their own religious beliefs and the secular and intellectual world they encounter in college.

It also noted that wars are fought in the name of religion and that the topic is central to some of the most contentious contemporary debates, over evolution, stem-cell research, and same-sex marriage. It said "reason and faith" courses were not meant to be "religious apologetics," but examinations of cultural and social context.

"What it means to be a human being" is an attempt to cover important aspects of the humanities that received less focus in the original proposal . . . and is not meant as a direct substitute for religion.

"I think secular and liberal Harvard rebelled," government professor Harvey Mansfield, one of the campus's most outspoken conservatives, said last night.

Marriage Unfashionable: British Liberals Worry about Unmarried Women and their Children

Excerpts from this article:

Wives are outnumbered by single and divorced women for the first time
By Sarah Womack
December 19, 2006

There are more single, divorced and widowed women than wives in England and Wales according to the Office for National Statistics.

The figures in the latest edition of Population Trends show that unmarried women became the majority in 2004.

Marriage has become particularly unfashionable for women in their 20s.

In the early 1970s, 85 per cent of women were married before their 30th birthday. Now fewer than one in three women in her late 20s is married.

Marriage projections have great implications for government policy, as well as significant sociological effects. For example, if current trends continue, there will be far fewer hefty divorce settlements in favour of women.

The number of cohabiting couples is projected to rise from two million to 3.8 million in 2031 and they will also be older on average.

Jill Kirby, of the Centre for Policy Studies, said: "The serious decline of marriage is a very worrying development. Cohabitation is an inherently fragile partnership.

"It is not divorce that will have a serious impact on children in the future but parents moving in and out of different relationships in which marriage is not a factor. A lot of women in their forties and fifties will be living alone, perhaps having had a relationship or two but never having been married, with all sorts of emotional and financial implications."

Andrew Beveridge, a demographer at Queens College of the City University of New York, said: "You used to get married to have sex. Now one of the major reasons to get married is to have children, and the attractiveness of having children has declined for many people because of the cost."

American Christian Episcopalians Flee Liberal Denomination to Join Southern Hemisphere Anglicans

Below are excerpts from this New York Times article:

Episcopalians Are Reaching Point of Revolt
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
December 17, 2006

As many as eight conservative Episcopal churches in Virginia are expected to announce today that their parishioners have voted to cut their ties with the Episcopal Church. Two are large, historic congregations that minister to the Washington elite and occupy real estate worth a combined $27 million, which could result in a legal battle over who keeps the property.

In a twist, these wealthy American congregations are essentially putting themselves up for adoption by Anglican archbishops in poorer dioceses in Africa, Asia and Latin America who share conservative theological views about homosexuality and the interpretation of Scripture with the breakaway Americans.

“The Episcopalian ship is in trouble,” said the Rev. John Yates, rector of The Falls Church, one of the two large Virginia congregations, where George Washington served on the vestry. “So we’re climbing over the rails down to various little lifeboats. There’s a lifeboat from Bolivia, one from Rwanda, another from Nigeria. Their desire is to help us build a new ship in North America, and design it and get it sailing.”

Together, these Americans and their overseas allies say they intend to form a new American branch that would rival or even supplant the Episcopal Church in the worldwide Anglican Communion, a confederation of national churches that trace their roots to the Church of England and the archbishop of Canterbury.

The archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, is now struggling to hold the communion together while facing a revolt on many fronts from emboldened conservatives. Last week, conservative priests in the Church of England warned him that they would depart if he did not allow them to sidestep liberal bishops and report instead to sympathetic conservatives.

Two weeks ago, the entire diocese in San Joaquin, Calif., voted to sever its ties with the Episcopal Church, a decision it would have to confirm in a second vote next year. Six or more American dioceses say they are considering such a move.

ACLU Sues Against Parental Rights in Favor of Homosexual Ideology

When it is said to you, "What harm is it to further homosexual rights?" show them the result of the following lawsuit.

Based on observances of the trial, it appears likely that homosexual advocacy will now eliminate the right of a parent to inquire of their own child's open behavior at school.

Below are excerpts from this article summarizing the case:

Fri, December 2, 2005 - 5:25 PM by Schirin

SANTA ANA, Calif. (Dec. 2) - A federal judge ruled that a lesbian student can sue an Orange County school district and her principal for revealing her homosexuality to her mother.

Charlene Nguon, 17, may go forward with her suit claiming violation of privacy rights, U.S. District Judge James V. Selna ruled in a decision dated Nov. 28 and announced Thursday by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California.

The Garden Grove Unified School District had sought dismissal of a portion of the suit, arguing that Nguon openly kissed and hugged her girlfriend on campus and thus had no expectation of privacy.

However, Selna ruled that Nguon had "sufficiently alleged a legally protected privacy interest in information about her sexual orientation."

"This is the first court ruling we're aware of where a judge has recognized that a student has a right not to have her sexual orientation disclosed to her parents, even if she is out of the closet at school," said Christine Sun, an ACLU attorney who brought the case on behalf of Nguon and the Gay-Straight Alliance Network.

Below are this week's excerpts from the ACLU website:

ORANGE, CA - The trial of an Orange County teenager who filed a lawsuit last year against the Garden Grove Unified School District in an effort to stop discrimination and harassment of gay and lesbian students on campus concluded Tuesday.

Charlene Nguon, 18, a honor society candidate and straight-A student, was singled out because of her sexual orientation and unfairly disciplined by school officials, who "outed" her to her mother. Nguon and her mother filed the lawsuit along with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and the Gay Straight Alliance Network.

Richard Dawkins Recruits Educators for Atheistic Indoctrination of Children

[Excerpts from]
Dawkins campaigns to keep God out of classroom
by Alexandra Smith, EducationGuardian.co.uk
Monday, November 27, 2006

The University of Oxford geneticist and campaigning atheist Richard Dawkins has established a foundation to keep God out of the classroom and prevent "pseudo science" taking over in schools, it emerged today.

The new Richard Dawkins Foundation for Science and Reason will subsidise books, pamphlets and DVDs for teachers to fight what the professor describes as the "educational scandal" that has seen the rise of "irrational ideas".

His foundation will also conduct research into what makes some people more susceptible to religious ideas than others and whether these people are particularly vulnerable.

Prof Dawkins' renewed push to counter what he perceives to be the religious indoctrination of young people comes amid revelations that dozens of schools are using teaching materials in science lessons that promote the creationist alternative to Darwinian evolution, condemned by the government as "not appropriate to support the science curriculum".

Prof Dawkins, Oxford's professor of the public understanding of science, is the author of several bestselling books extolling evolution, such as The Selfish Gene. His latest book, The God Delusion, is a sustained polemic against religious faith.

He has established foundations in both Britain and the US and is now applying for charitable status. They were founded in response to what he calls the "organised ignorance" that is promoting creationism, the belief that the Biblical account of the origins of man is true.

Prof Dawkins said: "The enlightenment is under threat. So is reason. So is truth. So is science, especially in the schools of America. I am one of those scientists who feels that it is no longer enough just to get on and do science. We have to devote a significant proportion of our time and resources to defending it from deliberate attack from organised ignorance."

He also plans to campaign against children being labelled with the religion of their parents. "It is immoral to brand children with religion," he said.

California City Council Employee Shuts Down Children's Christmas Carols in Progress

[Below are excerpts]

For the London Telegraph, Catherine Elsworth reports from New York
December 16, 2006

A school choir was told to stop singing carols at a show featuring a Jewish ice skater because officials feared she would be offended.

The Rubidoux High School Madrigals in Riverside, California, broke off in the middle of God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman at a rink where Sasha Cohen, a US Olympic medal winner, was performing in front of fans.

Staci Della-Rocco, the director of the choir, said she complied with the request by a city council employee and police officer to silence the children because "I didn't want to have a big old huge scene in front of my kids".

Cohen, 22, however, was "stunned" to learn the choir had been ordered to stop singing on her account, her mother said.

Ron Loveridge, the mayor of Riverside, has apologised to the choir. He called the incident "unfortunate".

[Yes, it's unfortunate that the suppression of religious freedom is so rampant!]

FDA Invites Commentary on Harvesting Tissue from Aborted Babies

The FDA has invited public response to the current and future practice of using aborted fetal cell lines in the production of vaccines.

Certain childhood vaccines were developed with cells extracted from the retinal, lung, skin, muscle, kidney, heart, thyroid, thymus and liver tissue of babies aborted electively up to 18 weeks gestation. Currently, the National Institute of Health is working with pharmaceutical companies to develop new vaccines for Ebola, Flu and Avian Flu in the event of a pandemic outbreak. Some companies are using aborted fetal cell lines although others are using ethical alternatives such as bacteria, insect cell lines and chick embryo.

Ethical alternatives can and should be pursued. The public comment period ends December 28, 2006. Please take the time to voice your opinion on this issue.

To register and send an email to the FDA go to:
http://www.cogforlife.org/fdaalert.htm

To mail in a response, write the FDA:

Division of Dockets Management
HFA 305
Food and Drug Administration
5630 Fishers Lane, Rm. 1061
Rockville, MD 20852
NOTE: You must include Docket Number 2006D-0383 on your US MAIL FDA correspondence.

Your action could dictate the direction pharmaceutical companies will move in the future.

“Science without conscience is the death of the soul.” (Rabelais 1537)

JESUS CHRIST AND THE AMERICAN GI

I was drying my nails in a salon, when a girl near me began ranting against America. She savaged our handling of Vietnam, railed against interference in other countries and our old fight against Communism. In every instance and in every way she derided and chided until I simply had to speak up.

“Excuse me, miss, but I lived through some of that and can tell you much of what you’re saying just isn’t true.” I asked where she attended school and she replied she was majoring in government at American University in DC . This was what her professors were teaching her. “Do they ever say anything positive about the U.S., I asked?” “No,” she said quietly…without defiance. “Then doesn’t that tell you something? Do you really think there is nothing good about our country?” She looked at me with silence in one of the few times in my life I felt a random challenge might have caused a light to glow.

The world hates America. We know this because all three networks, the Associated Press, the New York Times and their philosophical paper counterparts all tell us so. …as do professors … plus countless history teachers in high schools across the nation. Americans drove out and slaughtered the Indians…Americans bought and sold slaves…Americans tried to force their ways on other nations…Americans swallowed up global culture and waged wars to get its way. They write it, speak about and show it on A& E so it must be true.

A few years ago some Canadian friends pulled me aside and expressed with great passion that America was their last hope for the natural world. They talked of how our elections had given them encouragement…they spoke in amazement of electing a “Christian” president…of Americans standing against abortion and fighting homosexual marriage, battles they were losing in their beloved country. They told me that if America falls, the whole world will suffer.

Danesh D’Souza in his book “What’s so Great about America,” said it isn’t so remarkable that America bought and sold slaves, but that she corrected course and restored her black citizens to full rights and privileges. The Pilgrims came in part to tell the Indians about a saviour and in spite of her power, America never conquered a people to create an empire as well she could have. America has evangelized the world, clothed it, fed it, patched it up after wars and tsunamis.

French historian Alexis de Toqueville observed two centuries ago that “America is great because America is good. And if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.”

Recently asked by a member of Parliament why he is such a strong ally of America, England’s Prime Minister Tony Blair responded with this:

“A simple way to take measure of a country is to look at how many want in…and how many want out. Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you; Jesus Christ and the American G.I. One died for your soul, the other for your freedom.”

As we speak, American GI’s are still doing it….not because they are stupid, but because they are still great….willing to sacrifice for others when the rest of the world…lost and godless simply cannot understand.

Let us pray together that America’s goodness emanating from a very good God can overcome the evil that would cause Her never to be great again.

Ukraine Killing Newborns To Harvest Stem Cells Says BBC With Video Evidence

By Meg Jalsevac for LifesiteNews.com

KHARKIV, Ukraine, December 12, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Ukraine has long heralded itself as a leader in modern science’s embryonic stem cell quest. BBC News reports that video footage they obtained suggests that the Ukraine is no longer meeting the demand with just embryonic stem cells but is now also killing newborn babies to harvest cells from their more developed bodies.

The Institute for Problems of Cryobiology and Cryomedicine in Kharkov, Ukraine was founded in 1972 as a research facility in the little known field of stem-cell therapy. Techniques for freezing biological samples and cells were developed and publicized from this Institute. In the early 1990’s, researchers from Kharkov Institute, established EmCell, a stem-cell treatment center in the nation’s capital, Kiev, claiming to offer respite from numerous diseases and conditions.

Especially since the founding of EmCell, the Ukraine has been a leader in offering stem-cell therapy and supplying stem-cells to nations across the world.

Mothers who gave birth at certain Ukranian hospitals admitted that they delivered a live baby which was immediately whisked away by hospital staff. When asked about the babies, hospital staff would not answer and the hospitals in question have denied the allegations.

In 2003, a campaign to expose the barbaric practice was successful in forcing the hospital to exhume 30 bodies of dead babies. Footage from the ensuing autopsies was released to the BBC and the Council of Europe.
The BBC report tells of dismembered bodies and mature newborn bodies stripped of organs. Upon seeing the videos of the autopsies on the dead babies, a British forensic pathologist expressed concern that the tiny bodies had been dismembered. Such dismemberment is not a normal post-mortem practice and would suggest there was harvesting of stem cells from internal material such as bone marrow.

As reported previously by LifeSiteNews, Ukranian women have been paid USD$180 per fetus that can be used for harvesting stem-cells for, among other things, beauty treatments in Russia. Because mature fetuses are more ‘useful’, these women are convinced by their doctors that there is medical reason to wait until after 12 weeks gestation to have an abortion.

The hideous but logical result of godless ideology. Once you begin to weigh and measure the value individual human lives, human beings become nothing more than 'parts'. The belief that human life is sacred is neither obvious nor universal. It comes from a Judeo-Christian worldview.

May God have mercy on us.

Judge Copied ACLU Document in Anti-Design Ruling

A historic judicial ruling against intelligent design theory hailed as a "broad, stinging rebuke" and a "masterpiece of wit, scholarship and clear thinking" actually was "cut and pasted" from a brief by ACLU lawyers and includes many of their provable errors, contends the Seattle-based Discovery Institute.

One year ago, U.S. District Judge John E. Jones' 139-page ruling in Kitzmiller v. Dover declared unconstitutional a school board policy that required students of a ninth-grade biology class in the Dover Area School District to hear a one-minute statement that said evolution is a theory and intelligent design "is an explanation of the origin of life that differs from Darwin's view."

University of Chicago geophysicist Raymond Pierrehumbert called Jones' ruling a "masterpiece of wit, scholarship and clear thinking" while lawyer Ed Darrell said the judge "wrote a masterful decision, a model for law students on how to decide a case based on the evidence presented." Time magazine said the ruling made Jones one of "the world's most influential people" in the category of "scientists and thinkers."

But an analysis by the Discovery Institute, the leading promoter of intelligent design, concludes about 90.9 percent – 5,458 words of his 6,004-word section on intelligent design as science – was taken virtually verbatim from the ACLU's proposed "Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law" submitted to Jones nearly a month before his ruling.

"Judge Jones' decision wasn't a masterpiece of scholarship. It was a masterpiece of cut-and-paste," said the Discovery Institute's John West in a phone conference with reporters yesterday.

Read the rest of this report by Art Moore at WorldNetDaily

No Intention of Ever Saying No...

Some astute observations from bioethicisit Wes' Smith on the everchanging moral values of liberals...

The discussion about selecting embryos to have a disability reminded me of a column I have in my files written by the syndicated columnist Ellen Goodman in January 1980. It is a good reminder of how if we are willing to look, we can see the slippery slope literally slip-sliding away.

In "Making Babies," which ran in the Austin American Statesman on 1/17/80 (no link available), Goodman urged that IVF be permitted to proceed unhindered. "To some," she wrote, "it is just a small medical step, another helping tool which we will soon accept the way we now accept the once-diabolical diaphragm. To others, it is a step down the long road to a Brave New World, in which Aldous Huxley foresaw a human hatchery and fertilizing center in the middle of London."Both were right, in my view. And here is the slippery slope part: "A fear of many protesting the opening of this clinic is that doctors will fertilize myriad eggs and discard the 'extras' and the abnormal, as if they were no more meaningful than a dish of caviar. But this fear seems largely unwarranted."

After I ran across this column, Goodman wrote a column in favor of ESCR. I e-mailed her pointing out that she was supporting a policy that treats embryos as if they were no more meaningful than a dish of caviar, and asked her when she would finally say no. She wrote back, "My lines have changed."

Indeed. And thus the blithe assurances that we will know where and when to stop are just platitudes. The Establishment has no intention of ever, finally saying no.

Read the rest at Secondhand Smoke

Fundamental Secularists Furious over Video of Soldiers Discussing Their Faith While in Uniform

Don't miss the obviously misleading description of this organization by Reuters in the very first sentence.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A watchdog group that promotes religious freedom in the U.S. military accused senior officers on Monday using their rank and influence to coerce soldiers and airmen into adopting evangelical Christianity.

According to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, the video played for reporters was a promotional tool for Christian Embassy, a group that describes itself as a ministry helping national and international leaders blend faith and work.

... the Defense Department inspector general, the Pentagon's internal watchdog agency, received the letter requesting the probe, but noted it was the inspector general's policy not to say whether an investigation had been opened.

RELIGIOUS RECRUITING

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation said the officers on the video violated military rules by wearing their uniforms while discussing their religious beliefs, giving the appearance of official participation in a religious organization.

That appearance, according to the group, is particularly damaging in the military, where rank carries great influence.

"It associates the power of office with sectarian ideology," said MeLinda Morton, a Lutheran reverend and former Air Force chaplain who said her military career was hurt because she did not adopt evangelical views.

The religious freedom group also raised issues with the content of the video, including a comment from Air Force Maj. Gen. Jack Catton that he would discuss his faith with people who came to his Joint Staff directorate within the Pentagon.

Weinstein compared what he said was radical proselytizing within the military with the Islamist militants U.S. troops are confronting in wars overseas.

Read the whole sorry story at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061211/ts_nm/usa_pentagon_religion_dc

Canada's PM Won't Try Again on Marriage and has No Plan to Protect Religious Freedom

By John-Henry Westen (OTTAWA), December 8, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com)

Prime Minister Stephen Harper reacted to the vote in the House of Commons on the marriage issue yesterday saying: "The result was decisive and obviously we will accept the democratic result of the people's representatives."Groups supporting the traditional definition of the family unanimously rejected the notion that the vote was decisive on marriage since the wording of the motion required acceptance of same-sex 'marriages' already performed.

Harper was also asked by a reporter: "So it is over now? If you got a majority government, would you reopen the question?" Responding, the Prime Minister said: "I don't see reopening this question in the future."He was also asked if he saw the need for a defence of religions act, to which he replied: "The government has no plans in that regard. As I just said, if there ever were a time in the future where fundamental freedoms were threatened, of course the government would respond to protect them. The government has no plans at this time."


Harper's statement contradicts what he said about the law to legalize homosexual 'marriage' during the Commons debate over the legislation last year where he called current legal protection for religion "laughable" and vowed to attempt to amend the bill to include religious protection. "The so-called protection that the government has offered for even basic religious freedom is, frankly, laughably inadequate," said then Opposition Leader Harper on February 16, 2005. In the memorable speech in the House of Commons in response to the introduction of the same-sex 'marriage' Bill C-38., he added, "It is totally dishonest to suggest that it provides real protection."In that speech Harper enumerated many of the threats to religious freedom that would
ensue from the homosexual 'marriage' legislation if passed.

Already his predictions have been realized as marriage commissioners have been forced either to perform homosexual 'marriages' or resign. A Knights of Columbus hall was sued after it refused to host a homosexual 'wedding'. And school curricula at all levels are being altered to ensure the indoctrination of children in the 'equality' of homosexual 'marriages' and the legitimacy of homosexuality.

At the time, Harper promised, "Should the bill survive second reading, we will propose amendments in areas like these to ensure that in all areas subject to federal jurisdiction nobody will be discriminated against on the basis of their religious beliefs or practices regarding marriage."In September, Campaign Life Coalition asked the Prime Minister to honour those promises to protect religious freedom should the effort to restore traditional marriage fail. The Conservatives floated a 'trial balloon' Protection of Religions Act, but it apparently did not receive the press they desired.

Read the rest of this article at LifesiteNews.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, take a long hard look at Canada and consider the cost of indifference...

Taking the oath of office on Koran...

Keith Ellison, D-Minn., the first Muslim elected to the United States Congress, has announced that he will not take his oath of office on the Bible, but on the bible of Islam, the Koran.

Does it matter? Yes. It does. Radio talk show host and nationally sydicated columnist, Dennis Prager, explains why...

Devotees of multiculturalism and political correctness who do not see how damaging to the fabric of American civilization it is to allow Ellison to choose his own book need only imagine a racist elected to Congress. Would they allow him to choose Hitler's "Mein Kampf," the Nazis' bible, for his oath? And if not, why not? On what grounds will those defending Ellison's right to choose his favorite book deny that same right to a racist who is elected to public office?

So why are we allowing Keith Ellison to do what no other member of Congress has ever done -- choose his own most revered book for his oath?

The answer is obvious -- Ellison is a Muslim. And whoever decides these matters, not to mention virtually every editorial page in America, is not going to offend a Muslim. In fact, many of these people argue it will be a good thing because Muslims around the world will see what an open society America is and how much Americans honor Muslims and the Koran. This argument appeals to all those who believe that one of the greatest goals of America is to be loved by the world, and especially by Muslims because then fewer Muslims will hate us (and therefore fewer will bomb us).

But these naive people do not appreciate that America will not change the attitude of a single American-hating Muslim by allowing Ellison to substitute the Koran for the Bible. In fact, the opposite is more likely: Ellison's doing so will embolden Islamic extremists and make new ones, as Islamists, rightly or wrongly, see the first sign of the realization of their greatest goal -- the Islamicization of America.

When all elected officials take their oaths of office with their hands on the very same book, they all affirm that some unifying value system underlies American civilization. If Keith Ellison is allowed to change that, he will be doing more damage to the unity of America and to the value system that has formed this country than the terrorists of 9-11. It is hard to believe that this is the legacy most Muslim Americans want to bequeath to America. But if it is, it is not only Europe that is in trouble.

Read the rest of Dennis Prager's Column

More Raunchy Books! This time for 6th graders...

Excerpted from an article by RACHEL SCHEIER and CARRIE MELAGO

(QUEENS, N.Y.) Sixth-graders at a Queens school were getting quite an education - in homosexuality, French kissing and cursing - thanks to three books widely available in classroom libraries.

But after numerous complaints from parents at Public School 150 in Sunnyside, the books - a profanity-laced poetry book, short stories about homosexuality and a novel called "First French Kiss" - were pulled from the shelves last week.

Several parents learned of the racy books after overhearing their kids snickering about the sexual themes.

The poem "I Hate School" in a book called "You Hear Me?" includes the rhyme, "F--- this s---, up the a--. I don't think I'll ever pass."

Another poem compares eating an orange to having sex, while several passages repeatedly use vulgar slang for genitalia. And the book "Am I Blue?" is an anthology of stories about gay teenagers that parents found too adult-themed for 11- and 12-year-olds.

Parent Gladys Martinez wrote a letter to her son's teacher after hearing him talk about "First French Kiss," which chronicles a teen's bumbling first makeout session in a closet.

"I mean, he shouldn't be sheltered from the world, but if he's going to learn that stuff, it shouldn't be at school," Martinez said.

AMEN!

Read more at the New York Daily News Online

Democratic Opposition Buries Fetal Pain Bill

(AgapePress) - There's disappointment today in the ranks of the nation's pro-life movement as the House of Representatives has failed to pass a bill that would recognize the pain an unborn baby feels when it is being aborted. An overwhelming number of Democrats led the effort to defeat the bill.

The Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act (H.R. 6099) would require abortionists to inform women seeking abortions late in their pregnancy (20 weeks or more after fertilization) to be told their baby will experience pain. The bill would not require anesthesia; it would, however, protect a doctor's right to inform the woman of any risks to her according to the doctor's own best medical judgment.

The president of Washington, DC-based Concerned Women for America (CWA) was among the many pro-lifers on Capitol Hill who had hoped the House would pass the bill. Wendy Wright says women deserve to know the facts before making a decision that inflicts "extreme pain" on their baby, ending his or her life in a fashion akin to torture.

"Regrettably," says Wright, "congressmen -- many who denounced the use of torture against suspected terrorists -- have voted to not let women know that abortion will torture their innocent unborn babies. Abortion not only kills a baby, it tortures them."

Douglas Johnson, legislative director for National Right to Life, says it is no small thing that 60 percent of the House endorsed the bill. But he believes that the other 40 percent "will have to explain why they favor anti-pain laws for animals used for research or food, but not for unborn humans."

By Fred Jackson and Jody BrownDecember 7, 2006

Read the rest at AgapePress.org

Pagan Christmas Ritual Promoted to Young Kids

A public-school handout urging young children in Virginia to attend a "Pagan ritual" tomorrow to "celebrate Yule" is sparking objections from concerned parents.

"Amazing government schools ban orthodox Christianity, but allow an openly pagan organization to proselytize six-year-olds!" one observer who asked for anonymity told WND.

The concern has risen to such a level that the head of the Albemarle district in Charlottesville, Va., admits the policy allowing handouts may change, potentially eliminating them from all organizations.

The flyer in question is from a group called NatureSpirit from the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church, a Unitarian Universalist congregation that also teaches "Exploring Islam," "Women Weaving Wisdom," "Discovering the Healing Power of Dreams" and other religious subjects.

The specific promotion that went from teachers and principals to elementary-age students in the district states:

"Happy Holidays? Have you ever wondered what 'Holidays' refers to? Everyone knows about Christmas but what else are people celebrating in December? Why do we celebrate the way we do?

By Bob Unruh
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

Normalizing Pedophilia Continues: UK Police Chief Says 13-Year-Old in Porn Not Child Porn

LONDON, November 20, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Terry Grange, the leading officer on child protection of the UK's Association of Chief Police Officers' has ignited controversy by commenting in an interview with The Sunday Times that pornography featuring children at 13 years of age should not be considered child porn. Grange also said that the term "pedophiles" should only apply to adults who have sex with 12 and under.

Grange's comments match those of the pedophilia party launched recently, with court approval, in the Netherlands. The 'Charity, Freedom and Diversity' (NVD) party of the Netherlands formed last Spring introduced itself to Dutch politics as a champion of children's rights. In a press release, the NVD's spokesman and co-founder, Ad van den Berg said among their goals is lowering the age of consent for sexual activity from 16 to 12 and eventually eliminating it completely.

Grange told the Sunday Times: "Child porn is 12 and under." On pedophilia he said: "For me, that sort of thing, paedophilia, is [with] prepubescent children."

In the UK where the age of consent for sexual activity is 16, Grange says, "It is much more of an issue for me if a child is under 13. I think the closer they get to 16 the more it becomes a grey area and I think everyone in the field of dealing with sexual health and sexual activity acknowledges that."

He added: "I don't actually personally adhere to the 15-year-old being with a 20-year-old boyfriend being paedophilia, or even if the boyfriend is 30."

The ACPO incident is the latest in the ongoing normalization of pedophilia, which has picked up steam since homosexual 'marriage' has been mainstreamed.

In comments this weekend, Romeo and Juliet director Franco Zeffirelli made positive remarks about homosexual sexual contact with young boys. In the context of noting that as a boy he was sexually abused by a priest, Zeffirelli said, "(Homosexual experiences) are not always bad for boys. I don't think they make you homosexual. Sexual choice is made for you early on in life anyway - if you like girls, you like girls."

Read More of this article at Lifesite

Same-Sex Marriage is Just the Beginning...

Homosexual activists finally admit what they really want and it is appalling...

When GLBT activists released a manifesto called Beyond Marriage this last July, they weren't kidding. The manifesto, endorsed by a prestigious number of mainstream gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, and transgender activists, calls for legal recognition of polygamy, unmarried polyamorous groups and "queer couples who decide to jointly create and raise a child with another queer person or couple, in two households" - among other things...

In case you are tempted to dismiss this document as a pipe dream of the far, far, far left, please don't. The manifesto has been signed on to by large numbers of mainstream GLBT (gay, lesbian, Bi-sexual, and transgender activists) and professors (even law professors) from top schools like Harvard, Yale, Princeton, the University of Chicago, Columbia, Georgetown, Brown, Cornell, Williams, Smith, Bryn Mawr, Barnard, the University of Pennsylvania, NYU, Dartmouth, and U.C. Berkeley. In other words, the manifesto represents the aspirations of mainstream GLBT activists...

Matt Foreman, President of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, commented about the manifesto that “Of course we share its values, and I think its values and aspirations are something that gay and straight people can embrace because our nation needs to find ways to protect the reality of the American family, which is far beyond one man and one woman, or two men and two women.”

Did you catch that? "...the reality of the American family, which is far beyond one man and one woman, or two men and two women." The blog post below, 'Ontario Court Rules Five-Year Old Has Three Legal Parents - Father, Mother, Lesbian Partner' is a frightening illustration of what Mr. Foreman is talking about. In the circles in which Mr. Foreman travels, the 'family' has taken on dimensions never dreamed of by average Americans supportive of same-sex marriage out of sympathy for homosexual friends and relatives...

Stanley Kurtz, of National Review Online, has written extensively on this, and if you are one of the apparently few brave souls willing to face the ugly truth about where the GLBT rights movement wants to take us, please read The Confession and The Confession II.

It has received shockingly little attention.

If nothing else, GLBT activists are to be commended for their honesty. Do those of us who realize that this vision for the future is not progress, but regress into darkness, have the courage to speak out as honestly as they have? Or will we continue to stand idly by, wrapped in the comfortable cocoon of our indifference?

'ACLU Solstice Barn' Substitutes for Nativity

In tongue-in-cheek deference to the American Civil Liberties Union, students at the University of Texas displayed an "ACLU Solstice Barn" on campus, featuring politically correct figures.
"We've got Gary and Joseph instead of Mary and Joseph in order to symbolize ACLU support for homosexual marriage, and of course there isn't a Jesus in the manger," said Tony McDonald, chairman of the Young Conservatives of Texas branch on the Austin campus.

The group, whose plans WND had reported earlier, installed the "crèche" on the West Mall of the campus for display yesterday and today.
McDonald told WND today the reaction by students to the display was overwhelmingly positive.

"Even some liberals got the humor in it and conceded certain positions the ACLU takes are out of touch with the mainstream of Americans," he said.
One visitor turned out to be the ACLU's top official in Texas, who, according to McDonald, "had to admit that it was humorous."

McDonald said quite a number of students aren't even aware of the ACLU, and members of his group that manned the display throughout the day had to explain the acronym.
The three Wise Men in the display were Lenin, Marx and Stalin, McDonald told WND, because ACLU founder Roger Baldwin, while leading the organization, was a backer of Soviet-style communism.

Source: December, 6 2006 (wnd.com WorldNetDaily)

Abstinence Alone Protects Fully Against HIV, Ugandan First Lady Tells Youth

By Gudrun SchultzMUKONO, Uganda, December 6, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Janet Museveni, First Lady of Uganda, has continued her strong support for the country’s successful abstinence campaign against HIV/AIDS with a statement encouraging youth to live lives of “love, faith and purity,” New Vision reported December 2."I would not be caught advising you to take any shortcuts or compromise your lives by using any device invented by man, such as condoms, in order to facilitate any desire to go against God's clear plan for your life,” Mrs. Museveni told students at the Uganda Christian University, Mukono, for World AIDS Day. “God's plan for your life is that you should honour your body because it is His temple."

Ugandan President Museveni and his wife introduced a program encouraging sexual abstinence before marriage and fidelity afterwards, in an attempt to combat the scourge of HIV/AIDS. The program has been harshly condemned by international organizations promoting condom use, but in fact Ugandan HIV transmission rates dropped by as much as 75% in some regions after the program was introduced, down to 5-7% from a high of 18%.

Uganda is in an ongoing struggle with Western NGOs pushing condom use in the country. UNICEF, the UNFPA, the World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control are among those organizations relying on condom promotion for AIDS prevention in African nations. The UN has openly opposed the use of abstinence programs as a successful alternative to Western approaches on lessening virus transmission rates.

Art World Luminaries Rally to Curator Accused of Child Porn Exhibit

PARIS, December 6, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – More than 100 international figures of the art world have rushed to the defence of Henry-Claude Cousseau who is facing charges of displaying child pornography as art. Among the modern art luminaries defending Cousseau is England’s Sir Nicholas Serota, the curator of the prestigious Tate gallery.

Alfred Pacquement, director of the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris told the Times that Cousseau is a “serious figure” in the modern art world.The petition states, “We wish to express our dismay at this attack on the artistic and curatorial freedom of expression and offer our unconditional support for Henry-Claude Cousseau in the present circumstances, together with the exhibition curators Marie-Laure Bernadac (a curator at the Louvre) and Stéphanie Moisdon (an art critic).”

The exhibition called, Presumed Innocent: Contemporary Art and Childhood, held in 2000, displayed works that included video footage of children performing graphic sex acts and photos of young children with their eyes scratched out.

Pray 5 Times Daily to Allah, or Off with Your Head

Below are excerpts from this article:

Associated Press
Wednesday, December 06, 2006

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Residents of a southern Somalia town who do not pray five times a day will be beheaded, an official said Wednesday, adding the edict will be implemented in three days.

Shops, tea houses and other public places in Bulo Burto, about 124 miles northeast of the capital, Mogadishu, should be closed during prayer time and no one should be on the streets, said Sheik Hussein Barre Rage, the chairman of the town's Islamic court. His court is part of a network backed by armed militiamen that has taken control of much of southern Somalia in recent months, bringing a strict interpretation of Islam that is alien to many Somalis.

Those who do not follow the prayer edict after three days have elapsed, "will definitely be beheaded according to Islamic law," Rage told The Associated Press by phone. "As Muslims we should practice Islam fully, not in part, and that is what our religion enjoins us to do."