Texas Bureaucrats Say Homeschool Scrutiny Needed

The Texas Education Agency is suspicious that the 22,620 high school students whom local school administrators categorized in 2008 as homeschool transfers are actually dropouts.

-- From "Home-school is so popular, some are getting suspicious" by Jennifer Radcliffe, Houston Chronicle 5/10/10

While home-schooling's popularity has increased, the rate of growth concentrated in Texas' high school population is off the chart: It's nearly tripled in the last decade, including a 24 percent jump in a single year.

Texas' lax documentation and hands-off practices [of homeschooling] make it impossible to know how many of these students are actually being taught at home. It also opens the door to abuse of the designation, which could help school districts avoid the sanctions that come with high dropout rates, experts said.

In some states, parents are required to file sworn affidavits when they withdraw their children. Many states also require families to submit curriculum, attendance records or test scores when they opt to home-school.

In Texas, the Texas Education Agency requires a “signed statement from a parent/guardian or qualified student” or “documentation of an oral statement by the parent/guardian or qualified student made within 10 days of the time the student quits attending school in the district, signed and dated by an authorized representative of the district” noting that they intend to attend home-school.

To read the entire article, CLICK HERE.

ENDA bill: Libs Shaky Pushing Drag Queens

Recent conservative swing in polls gives caution to Democrats on Gay Agenda ENDA legislation.

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) consoles fellow liberals worried about supporting a bill that permits any man in a dress to use the ladies room: "People aren't going to be disrobing" in the bathroom in front of colleagues, Frank said.

-- From "Frank battles for transgender workers’ rights" by Jeremy Herb, Boston Globe Correspondent 5/14/10

Representative Barney Frank has vowed to keep transgender rights in his bill to protect gays and lesbians in the workplace, despite opposition from some key moderates that could derail the proposal.

For decades, the Newton Democrat has led congressional efforts to help gay workers, and three years ago he similarly included transgender rights in the Employment Nondiscrimination Act. But he wound up removing that provision in order to get the legislation passed in the House, a move that divided the gay rights community. That bill died in the Senate.

Now Frank says he will keep transgender rights in the current bill, and gay rights activists appear united in support.

. . . Democrats have expressed concerns about voting on the transgender provision with the midterm elections approaching.

. . . Opponents deride laws that include transgender rights as "bathroom bills," over concerns about males who identify as a female demanding the right to use the women’s bathroom.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Top backers of gay/transgender nondiscrimination bill push for a vote" by Mary Ann Akers, Washington Post Staff Writer 5/15/10

As the Obama administration reviews whether to discard the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, House Democratic leaders are quietly pushing another sensitive issue in the culture wars: civil rights for transgender workers.

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), one of three openly gay House members, is the lead sponsor of the bill, which would provide federal job protections based on sexual orientation and sexual identity. Frank, his co-sponsors and gay rights activists have been wooing members of the so-called Blue Dog Coalition -- a group of moderate and conservative Democrats -- as well as socially liberal Republicans who voted for a 2007 bill limited to sexual orientation.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Click here for background on ENDA.

Pope's Words Accentuate the Christian Challenge in Society

Pope Benedict XVI referred to abortion and same-sex marriage as "insidious and dangerous" threats to humanity, yet people claiming Jesus as King hide from those in need.

-- From "Pope Declares Abortion and Same-Sex Marriage Most 'Insidious and Dangerous' Threats Facing the World" by Nicole Winfield, Associated Press 5/13/10

Benedict made the comments to Catholic social workers, health providers and others after celebrating Mass before an estimated 400,000 people in Fatima. The central Portuguese farming town is one of the most important shrines in Christianity, where three shepherd children reported having visions of the Virgin Mary in 1917.

[The Pope stressed] core church teachings in the largely Roman Catholic country, where abortion on demand has been available since 2007 and where Parliament in January passed a bill allowing same-sex marriage. In addition, a judge in 2008 made it easier to obtain divorce even when one spouse objects.

Benedict told the gathering of lay Catholics that he appreciated their efforts fighting abortion and promoting the family based on the "indissoluble marriage between a man and woman" -- the Vatican's way of expressing its opposition to divorce and same-sex unions.

Such initiatives "help respond to some of the most insidious and dangerous threats to the common good today," he said. "Alongside numerous other forms of commitment, such initiatives represent essential elements in the building of the civilization of love."

"In suffering, you will discover an interior peace and even spiritual joy," he said.

To read the entire article, CLICK HERE.

Obama's Base Support is the Unchurched (barely)

A new Gallup poll shows that a narrow majority of non-church goers approve of the Obama presidency. Among those who attend church a little or a lot, the ratings are abysmal.

UPDATE 8/30/10: Even Unchurched Losing Faith in Obama

-- From "Americans Who Don’t Attend Church Form Base of Obama’s Support, Gallup Polling Indicates" by Terence P. Jeffrey, CNSNews.com Editor-in-Chief 5/13/10

Gallup reports the breakouts from its presidential approval survey for three different types of church-goers: people who attend church weekly, people who attend church nearly weekly or monthly, and people who seldom or never attend church. Among these three groups, Obama’s approval rating tops 50 percent only among those who seldom or never attend church. In fact, among this group it was at 56 percent for the week ending May 8.

Obama’s approval rating among people who attend church weekly was only 43 percent during that week; and among those who attend church nearly weekly or monthly it was 47 percent.

Obama’s approval rating dropped to a low of 38 percent among weekly church-goers in the week that ended on April 4.

To read the entire article, CLICK HERE.

IL Girls School Basketball Controversy Harkens Homosexual Scandals

Highland Park High School is one school in upper middle class north suburban Chicago School District 113 (Superintendent George Fornero) that is no stranger to running amuck in liberal elite political agendas.

UPDATE 5/15/10: Exposing the leftist domination of our public schools

UPDATE 5/18/10: Indoctrination works - News reports of last night's Board meeting indicate only students support liberal administration; adults oppose. Read Chicago Tribune, and CBS-TV2, and WBBM Radio.

-- From "School Official in Basketball Flap Is No Stranger to Controversy" by Jana Winter, FOXNews.com 5/13/10

The school official who nixed a girls' high school basketball team's planned trip to Arizona once supported a controversial program that required ninth-graders to attend a “freshman advisory” class at which gay upperclassmen shared stories of their high school experiences.

Parents who were unhappy with the class were even more outraged to learn that students who attended were asked to sign a statement promising not to tell others -- including their parents -- about what was said in class.

Parents were not allowed to attend the panel discussions, leading some to call it an attempt to indoctrinate students into a homosexual lifestyle.

Suzan Hebson, assistant superintendent of Highland Park, Ill., School District 113, killed the hoop dreams of the Highland Park High School girls' basketball team this week when she canceled their plans to participate in a tournament in Arizona in December. The decision has some parents and residents of the district crying foul over what they say was a politically motivated protest over the Grand Canyon State's recently passed immigration law.

But Hebson is no stranger to controversy. She’s been criticized for making decisions based on politics numerous times in the past.

To read the entire article, CLICK HERE.

Click headlines below for details of this school district's sexcapades:

School Superintendent's Gay Agenda Exposed in Lawsuit

Mother Sues Public School for Defamation

Deerfield High School English Classes Offer Students Homosexual Porn

Deerfield High School: Who's to Blame for Teaching Porn?

What Do a Black, Homosexual Drag Queen, a Gay Couple and an Angel with 8 V****as Have in Common?

Public Schools Education Replaced by Indoctrination

Deerfield H.S. -- Freshman Sign Confidentiality Agreement Before Hearing 'Gay' Student Panel

Deerfield Superintendent Calls Confidentiality Agreement a 'Mistake'

Deerfield High School: Concerned Parents and Taxpayers Take a Courageous Stand...

Deerfield High School: Required Class for Freshmen Advocates Liberal and Pro-Gay Propaganda

Deerfield High School: Parent Barred From Observing Pro-Homosexual Classroom Lesson

The Laramie Project - Propaganda for Public High School Kids

Liberal Media See Immigration as Evangelical Wedge Issue

[A] growing chorus of conservative evangelical leaders has broken with their traditional political allies on the right. They're calling the Arizona law misguided and are attempting to use its passage to push for federal immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

-- From "New force for broad immigration reform: conservative evangelicals" by Dan Gilgoff, CNN 5/10/10

The group, which includes influential political activists such as Richard Land, head of the Southern Baptist Convention's public policy wing, and Mathew Staver, dean of the Liberty University School of Law, will soon begin lobbying Republican leaders in Washington to support comprehensive immigration reform under President Obama.

But a big part of their job is to first persuade rank-and-file evangelicals to get on board.

Staver and Land have partnered with the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, an influential Hispanic evangelical figure, and Rick Tyler -- former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's longtime spokesman and head of Gingrich's new values-based organization -- to try to draft a consensus evangelical position on immigration reform.

"After securing our borders, we must allow the millions of undocumented and otherwise law-abiding persons living in our midst to come out of the shadows," reads a recent draft of the document, which is still being finalized. "The pathway for earned legal citizenship or temporary residency should involve a program of legalization for undocumented persons in the United States. ..."

Many conservatives say illegal immigrants should be forced to return to their home countries and start the process of legally coming to the U.S. from scratch.

Rodriguez, who heads the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference -- which represents about 16 million Latino evangelicals in the U.S. -- says he'll soon start presenting the document to Republican leaders like Gingrich, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Florida Senate candidate Marco Rubio in hopes that they sign on.

"If the conservative evangelical community looks to the Republican Party and says, 'We demand integration reform, we demand a just assimilation strategy,' that may be the tipping point in getting substantial Republican support for comprehensive immigration reform," Rodriguez said.

Still, Rodriguez and the handful of conservative evangelical leaders promoting comprehensive immigration reform have yet to persuade some of the country's most powerful evangelical groups -- including Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council -- to come on board.

To read the entire article, CLICK HERE.

Men Without Sperm: Empowering Women

Recent studies showing 20% of otherwise healthy young men producing inadequate sperm gives ammunition to feminist dreams of civilization without men.

The study shows that a woman can control her male offspring's sperm production, and thus future potency, during pregnancy and infancy -- what power!

UPDATE 6/29/10: Drinking alcohol while pregnant 'affects sperm'

-- From "The infertility timebomb: Are men facing rapid extinction?" by Tamara Sturtz, Daily Mail 5/10/10

Professor Niels Skakkebaek, of the University of Copenhagen, describes the issue 'as important as global warming'. Last week, one science writer even suggested, in starkly terrifying terms, that if scientists from Mars were to study the male reproductive system, they would possibly conclude that man was destined for rapid extinction.

And if it continues, this trend could indicate men are on a path to becoming completely infertile within a few generations.

Only 5 to 15 per cent of their sperm is good enough to be classed as 'normal' under World Health organisation rules - proving that infertility is not just a female problem. Indeed, among those experiencing difficulty with conception, a male fertility problem is considered important in about 40 per cent of couples.

[There's] growing evidence that although the process of sperm production - known as spermatogenesis - starts in adolescence, the crucial preparations are made in the few months before and after birth.

Factors such as women eating a lot of beef during pregnancy - which means they have consumed a diet rich in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) that are potentially damaging chemicals - to the issue of obesity during pregnancy and a woman's exposure to smoke, pesticides, traffic fumes, plastics and even soya beans are all thought to have a bearing on a male foetus's future fertility.

Experts talk of a 'window' of testicular development that begins in the growing foetus and ends in the first six months of life. Problems in this period mean that the baby boy may never be able to produce babies of his own.

To read the entire article, CLICK HERE.

Click headlines below for related articles:

UK: Women Win Right to Children Without Fathers

Designer Babies with Three Biological Parents

Pennsylvania Court Finds Three Adults Can Have Parental Rights

Homosexuality and Contracting for Children

Children Must be Taught Immorality

Six-month-old babies exhibit instinctive morality; can tell difference between good and evil.

Useful information for public school indoctrination!

-- From "Babies know the difference between good and evil at six months, study reveals" by David Derbyshire, UK Daily Mail 5/10/10

An astonishing series of experiments is challenging the views of many psychologists and social scientists that human beings are born as 'blank slates' - and that our morality is shaped by our parents and experiences.

Instead, they suggest that the difference between good and bad may be hardwired into the brain at birth.

Professor Paul Bloom, a psychologist at Yale University in Connecticut, whose department has studied morality in babies for years, said: 'A growing body of evidence suggests that humans do have a rudimentary moral sense from the very start of life.'

To read the entire article, CLICK HERE.

Supreme Court 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'

Concerning President Obama's nomination of Elena Kagan, the pervasive question whispered today is, Can a homosexual serve openly on the Supreme Court?

UPDATE 5/13/10: Argued in Washington Post, 'Sexual orientation' matters in public office

UPDATE 5/12/10: Kagan's girlfriends say she dated men 30 years ago, but now fear offending gays

UPDATE 5/11/10: KETK-TV (NBC) brings Kagan's 'sexual orientation' to the fore

-- From "The question everyone's whispering about Kagan" by Art Moore © 2010 WorldNetDaily 5/10/10

"Liberal cowardice" and "conservative discomfort" are burying the question many privately are posing about Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, asserts noted political commentator and blogger Andrew Sullivan, who identifies himself as a gay Catholic.

"So is she gay?" Sullivan asks on his Atlantic magazine blog.

Deriding the "homophobia of liberal mainstream journalists," Sullivan said the press has only one professional option, to "ask a factual question that deserves a factual answer."

From the other side of the cultural divide, Peter LaBarbera, president of the evangelical Christian group Americans For Truth About Homosexuality, sounded a similar note.

"In an era of ubiquitous pro-gay messages and pop culture celebration of homosexuality, it's ridiculous that Americans should be left guessing as to whether a Supreme Court nominee has a special, personal interest in homosexuality," LaBarbera said.

The White House tried to quash the issue last month when it criticized CBS News for running on its website a piece by blogger Ben Domenech that said Kagan is an open lesbian.

Domenech wasn't alone in his belief that Kagan is a lesbian. Numerous blogs familiar to the homosexual community, such as 365gay.com, Queerty and On Top Magazine, have identified Kagan as "openly gay."

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "The Kagan Rope-A-Dope?" by Andrew Sullivan, The Atlantic 5/11/10

There are three possibilities, it seems to me, behind the kerfuffle over Elena Kagan's emotional orientation. The first is that her orientation is heterosexual and she is merely a dedicated career person who never had time for a date. The second is that she is lesbian, and she remains in a glass closet, and the Obamaites, revealing their usual tone-deafness on gay issues, never asked and blundered into this. The third is that she is a highly cautious political lesbian who has drawn a line around her real life in order to prevent her orientation being used against her - especially by the Christianist right.

The reason I doubt the first is that the administration had a clear opportunity to say so yesterday and punted. The reason I doubt the second is that the president had a dry run on this a while back in the Domenech incident. He could not have been surprised by the press questions yesterday and he cannot be that politically dumb.

So what if the third option is correct and Obama is actually being extremely shrewd?

The president can say, appealing to the middle, that he respects privacy and has reluctantly allowed Kagan to come out under despicable pressure from [leftist] people like me. Then he dares the Christianist right to vote against her merely because she is a discreet lesbian. And so his jujitsu becomes a triumph for gay rights, and his nominee, who I suspect is far more left-liberal than anyone now believes, helps shape the court for a generation.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Tea Party Forces School Back on Gay Agenda

"We monitor the school boards, the county freeholders, the New Jersey Legislature. There's a lot of people out there fed up with what's going on. It's important they understand the issues before they start doing something. That's where we come in."

-- From "Burlco school board bans book on homosexuality" by James Osborne, Philadelphia Inquirer Staff Writer 5/5/10

A Burlington County school board voted Tuesday night to pull a book depicting teenage homosexuality from its high school library shelves after protests from a local conservative group.

The Rancocas Valley Board of Education, which oversees a regional high school serving the Mount Holly area, was concerned that the book was too graphic for children, said school board member Jesse Adams.

The controversy began at a school board meeting in March when a group of 18 residents, who later identified themselves as part of the 9.12 Project, a nationwide government watchdog network launched by the talk-radio and television personality Glenn Beck, called for the banning of three books, all dealing with teenage sexuality and issues of homosexuality, said Superintendent Michael Moskalski.

The books are Revolutionary Voices: A Multicultural Queer Youth Anthology; Love and Sex: 10 Stories of Truth; and The Full Spectrum: A New Generation of Writing About Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, and Other Identities.

The proposed ban carried with it political undertones. The national 9.12 group has called for the resignation of Kevin Jennings as assistant deputy secretary for the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools in the U.S. Department of Education. Jennings, who is openly gay, is the former head of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Activists see momentum in book ban" by James Osborne, Philadelphia Inquirer Staff Writer 5/6/10

The campaign at Rancocas Valley Regional High School to pull Revolutionary Voices: A Multicultural Queer Youth Anthology and two other books dealing with teenage homosexuality is unlikely to be the last time county residents hear from [Gerry] Grabinski and his members - 358 according to the group's Web site [Burlington County 9.12].

They're already looking at petitioning the removal of the same book from the Lenape Regional High School District, which with four high schools and about 7,500 students is the county's largest school district.

In addition, 9.12 members are campaigning for such changes as an alternate teaching of global warming - the state considers Al Gore's documentary film, An Inconvenient Truth, an educational resource - and a requirement that high schools teach civics as a stand-alone class.

The path to the book's ban at Rancocas Valley began last year when Beverly Marinelli, a widely known activist in Lumberton who joined 9.12 last year, was poking around online and found a list of books recommended by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.

"We decided to see if these books were here, and, lo and behold, they were," Marinelli said. "There's stuff that's appropriate for children and stuff that's not. People wish to distract from the real issue by going into the 9.12 thing."

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Obama's Supreme Court, re: Mojave Christian Cross

The recent Supreme Court decision in the Salazar v. Buono case of the war memorial cross may not be representative of the bench filled by President Obama: The lineup does not bode well for other challenges to religious symbols, such as San Diego's 29-foot cross and war memorial on Mount Soledad.

UPDATE 11/11/12: New cross placed on 1-acre plot in Mojave, not on federal land

UPDATE 6/25/12: Federal Appeals Court Rules Cross Unconstitutional at Mt. Soledad, San Diego - Supreme Court Declines to Consider Case

UPDATE 5/11/10: Cross mysteriously stolen

-- From "Supreme Court overturns objection to cross on public land" by Robert Barnes, Washington Post Staff Writer 4/29/10

A splintered Supreme Court displayed its deep divisions over the separation of church and state . . . with the court's prevailing conservatives signaling a broader openness to the idea that the Constitution does not require the removal of religious symbols from public land.

A 5 to 4 decision by the court overturns a federal judge's objection to a white cross erected more than 75 years ago on a stretch of the Mojave Desert to honor the dead of World War I.

Six justices explained their reasoning in writing, often using stirring rhetoric or emotional images of sacrifice and faith to describe how religion can both honor the nation's dead and divide a pluralistic nation.

The bottom line, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote, is that "the Constitution does not oblige government to avoid any public acknowledgment of religion's role in society." Although joined in full only by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., Kennedy's opinion will be closely parsed as courts across the country consider challenges to religious displays in public settings.

But it is a narrow ruling, offering less guidance for the future than a stark acknowledgment of the fundamental differences between the court's most consistent conservatives and its liberals in drawing the line between government accommodation of religion versus an endorsement of religion.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "When Is a Cross a Cross?" by Stanley Fish, New York Times 5/3/10

. . . Notice what this paroxysm of patriotism had done: it has taken the Christianity out of the cross and turned it into an all-purpose means of marking secular achievements. (According to this reasoning the cross should mark the winning of championships in professional sports.) It is one of the ironies of the sequence of cases dealing with religious symbols on public land that those who argue for their lawful presence must first deny them the significance that provokes the desire to put them there in the first place.

It has become a formula: if you want to secure a role for religious symbols in the public sphere, you must de-religionize them, either by claiming for them a non-religious meaning as Kennedy does here, or, in the case of multiple symbols in a park or in front of a courthouse, by declaring that the fact of many of them means that no one of them is to be taken seriously; they don’t stand for anything sectarian; they stand for diversity. So you save the symbols by leeching the life out of them. The operation is successful, but the patient is dead.

To read the opinion column above, CLICK HERE.

From "Supremes raise bar for non-Christians 'offended' by faith" by Bob Unruh © 2010 WorldNetDaily 4/28/10

In the majority opinion delivered by Justice Anthony Kennedy, the court said, "The goal of avoiding governmental endorsement does not require eradication of all religious symbols in the public realm. A cross by the side of a public highway marking, for instance, the place where a state trooper perished need not be taken as a statement of governmental support for sectarian beliefs. The Constitution does not oblige government to avoid any public acknowledgment of religion’s role in society."

Kennedy was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Samuel Alito. Roberts and Alito filed additional concurring opinions. Antonin Scalia filed a concurring opinion that was joined by Clarence Thomas. Opposing the ruling were John Stevens, Ruth Ginsberg, Sonia Sotomayor and Stephen Breyer.

According to the Alliance Defense Fund, one of the organizations that has worked on the issue, the focal point of the case was whether someone who has suffered no harm but only claims being "offended" can sue to destroy religious references on public monuments and memorials.

"The ACLU and its allies should not be able to demolish war memorials based on the objection of one person who can't seriously claim to have suffered harm from it," said ADF Senior Counsel Jordan Lorence.

"A passive monument acknowledging our nation's religious heritage cannot be interpreted as an establishment of religion," added ADF Senior Counsel Joseph Infranco. "To make that accusation, one must harbor both a hostility to the nation's history and a deep misunderstanding of the First Amendment."

Mathew D. Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel and dean of Liberty University School of Law, said the issue is bigger than a single monument – or even all the monuments.

"If the courts returned to the original understanding of the Constitution, then these First Amendment religion cases would be easy. The next justice on the Supreme Court must be committed to upholding the rule of law and the original intent of the Constitution.”

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

'The Pill' Reaches Age 50, but Do the Women Who Use It?

As the mainstream media hype the 50th anniversary of the birth control pill, the "benefits" are touted, but not all of the negative health (and other) effects.

UPDATE 11/10/10: Birth control pills may have caused 30-year-old's stroke


UPDATE 5/11/10: 69-year-old actress Raquel Welch blames the Pill for the decline of the institution of marriage. The widespread use of oral contraceptives had led to a breakdown in sexual morality and fuelled the growth of rampant promiscuity among the young.

-- From "Women on birth control pill may live longer" Associated Press 3/12/2010

Women who took the birth control pill beginning in the late 1960s lived longer than those never on the pill, a new study says.

British researchers observed more than 46,000 women for nearly four decades from 1968. They compared the number of deaths in women on the pill to those who never took it.

Slightly higher death rates were found among women under 30 on the pill, but that began to be reversed by age 50.

Doctors aren't sure exactly why the pill may lower death rates. It contains synthetic hormones to suppress ovulation, which may have some role in preventing certain diseases.

Because the study only observed women on the pill compared with those who weren't, researchers weren't able to make any hypotheses about cause and effect.

But he said the findings might not be projected to women using modern contraceptive pills, which may have a different risks than earlier products. The risks may also be higher depending on when women start taking the pill and how long they are on it.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "The Pill Turns 50: Taking Stock" by Dr. Christiane Northrup (ob/gyn), The Huffington Post 4/22/10

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the birth control pill, a development that ushered in the sexual revolution of the 1960s and gave women unprecedented freedom to explore their sexuality without having to worry about pregnancy [except in France?].

. . . The pill is the most-studied medication in history. Unfortunately, because it's made from synthetic non-bioidentical hormones, it has more side effects than it should! Though we have the science and technology to make safer oral contraceptives (OCs) from bioidentical hormones, there is no profit in doing so--and therefore no support for it. None are currently available.

. . . Ironically, research shows that oral contraceptives might actually contribute to long-term sexual dysfunction in some women.

. . . Of all the side effects, what concerns me the most is the potential adverse long-term effect on libido.

. . . Although the announcement didn't get much press in the U.S., the World Health Organization has classified birth control pills with combined estrogen and progestin (as well as combined-hormone HRT) as carcinogenic.

. . . Yet other authorities don't think the slightly increased relative risk for breast cancer is significant.

. . . the pill is also associated with mood swings, weight gain and decreased sex drive in many women.

. . . Going off the pill makes many women feel much better, although not all symptoms always subside.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Click headlines below for more health effects:

Lawsuits over Birth Control Pills' Health Risks

Lawsuits: Planned Parenthood, Johnson & Johnson Killing Women

International Religious Freedom not on Obama Radar

The bipartisan U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) says that President Obama is failing to defend and promote religious freedom around the world.

For background, read Obama Inaction re: Christian Persecution Worldwide

UPDATE 11/25/11: Religious freedom commission granted brief extension by Congress

UPDATE 9/22/11: White House, Senate satisfied to allow USCIRF to close down

-- From "US defense of global religious freedom wanes under Obama, panel says" by Howard LaFranchi, Christian Science Monitor staff writer 4/29/10

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) used the occasion of its annual report unveiled Thursday to question the Obama administration’s commitment to worldwide religious freedom. This year’s report – which named 13 countries including China, Iraq, Nigeria, and Saudi Arabia as serious violators of religious freedom – had stinging words for the US government, saying the place for religious freedom in US foreign policy “seems to shrink year after year for the White House and the State Department.”

The USCIRF was created by Congress in 1998 as part of a broader effort to require the government to include religious freedom in its foreign-policy goals. One feature of the 1998 legislation was creation of an ambassador-at-large for religious freedom – a post Obama has yet to fill, as the commission annual report notes.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "U.S. Fails to Stick Up for Victims of Religious Violence in Nigeria and Elsewhere, Commission Finds" by Pete Winn, CNSNews.com Senior Writer/Editor 4/30/10

“Presidential references to religious freedom have become rare, often replaced at most with references to freedom of worship,” said USCIRF Chairman Leonard Leo, announcing the release of the 2010 commission report. “The same holds true for many of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s speeches.”

Failing to talk about religious freedom “could well be viewed by human rights defenders and officials in other countries as having concrete policy implications.”

The bipartisan commission hit the administration hard for failing to take action against nations where crimes against religious freedom are routine and go unpunished.

“Countering impunity is among the greatest challenges the United States government faces as it develops policies to effectively promote and protect freedom of religion or belief around the world,” members of the federal commission said in a 380-page report.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Prayer Win in Lawsuit Against Calif. College

A lawsuit against a California college that threatened to suspend a student caught offering a prayer for a sick teacher – and another student who happened to be nearby – has been settled with a college admission that prayer is allowed on campus.

-- From "College students who pray won't be punished" by Bob Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer 5/7/10

An East Bay community college district has agreed to respect students' freedom of religious expression in settling a lawsuit filed by two women who were threatened with suspension after one of them prayed with an ailing teacher in an office at the College of Alameda.

In the settlement, announced this week, the four-campus Peralta Community College District recognized the right to "non-disruptively pray on campus." The district also agreed to remove all records of disciplinary action against the students and pay their attorneys' fees, said Kevin Snider, a lawyer with the Pacific Justice Institute, which represented the students.

Students still won't be allowed to lead organized prayers in class, but can pray in other campus locations "to the same extent that they may engage in any other free speech," Snider said.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "College backtracks on discipline for prayer" by Bob Unruh © 2010 WorldNetDaily 5/7/10

The announcement comes from Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute, which worked on the case on behalf of the students, Kandy Kyriacou and Ojoma Omaga.

The case against the College of Alameda was brought after the school threatened the students with expulsion after Kyriacou was spotted by another faculty member praying with the teacher.

The incident developed in December 2007 when an instructor at the college complained about a private, consensual prayer in a shared faculty office between a student and a sick teacher.

The institution issued formal notices of intent to suspend both the student and a bystander, held disciplinary hearings and imposed written warnings.

Pacific Justice Institute staff attorney Matthew McReynolds sent multiple demand letters advising the college of the students' rights, but the administration declined to respond. A lawsuit then was filed in federal court against the institution.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Archbishop Blames Pro-homosexual Culture for Priest Abuse

He said: 'When sexuality is trivialised, it's clear that this is going to affect all cases. Homosexuality is such a case. When we begin to say they have rights, rights to demonstrate publicly, pretty soon, we'll find the rights of paedophiles.'

-- From "We're all potential paedophiles, says archbishop who claims children are 'spontaneously gay'" by [UK] Daily Mail Foreign Service 5/6/10

An archbishop [Brazilian priest Dadeus Grings] has defended the child sex scandal that has engulfed the Roman Catholic Church by claiming it reflects the behaviour of society at large.

He said: 'Society today is paedophile, that is the problem. So people easily fall into it. And the fact it is denounced is a good sign.'

The archbishop also said it was important to help children avoid homosexuality.

'We know that the adolescent is spontaneously homosexual. Boys play with boys, girls play with girls.

'If there is no proper guidance, this sticks. The question is - how are we going to educate our children to use a sexuality that is human and suitable?'

[His comments] come just three weeks after Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican's second in-command, said the Church's international sex scandal is linked to homosexuality and not celibacy among priests.

To read the entire article, CLICK HERE.

Nancy Pelosi Thanks God for Nuns' Support for Abortion Bill

On the National Day of Prayer, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.), praised a small minority of Catholics for supporting ObamaCare legislation, which was opposed by pro-life Democrat congressmen and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops because of the bill's funding of abortion. In addition, Pelosi appealed to Catholic clergy to preach immigration reform from pulpit.

UPDATE 8/5/10: Pelosi Won't Say if Christ Had a Right to Life



-- From "Nuns, Nancy Pelosi are rock stars to progressive Catholics" USA TODAY 5/7/10

In the final days of the contentious health care reform debates, [Sister Carol] Keehan, head of Catholic Health Association, and nearly 60 other nuns and leaders of religious orders found the [ObamaCare] legislation's numerous anti-abortion funding provisions -- provisions which did not satisfy the Catholic bishops -- were indeed sufficient. They came out in favor of the bill, saying it was "life affirming" legislation. This gave pro-life legislators enough cover to allow them to vote for the bill.

[At a Washington briefing for the Nation’s Catholic Community, sponsored by the National Catholic Reporter and Trinity Washington University, attendees] gave Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi a standing ovation on Thursday afternoon for her role in drop-kicking health reform through the House. When she mentioned Keehan and the nuns, also rock stars among social-justice-focus Catholics, cheers of "Thank you!!" rang out.

As columnist E.J. Dionne later told the group, "Everyone in this room has been told at least once in their lives, 'Listen to the nuns!'"

Pelosi spoke of how her Catholic faith informs her life, saying how she prays morning and night for the poor hungry children of the world, and how she believes is it the job of legislators to "live the Gospels" with policies that care for them.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Pelosi: 'Thank God for the Nuns' Who Helped Pass a 'Life-Affirming' Health Care Bill" by Nicholas Ballasy, CNSNews.com Video Reporter 5/7/10

"We believe that the health care initiative was respecting the dignity and worth of every person," Pelosi, a Catholic, told the Catholic Community Conference Thursday on Capitol Hill. "I thank so many of you who helped get that passed. Thank God for the nuns. Thank God for the nuns.”

Pelosi continued, “Thank God for the nuns -- and nuns, imagine, 15, 16 leaders of orders representing 59,000 orders -- and I didn’t realize it was Dominican, Benedictine and Franciscan, Notre Dame de L’Amour, Notre Dame School Sisters, every possible kind of name you can think of, there they were on the list. And they wrote to us saying, ‘We support this life-affirming legislation.’ We were so proud of them and they helped us do just that."

The bill ultimately passed in March without language that specifically prohibits federal funds from going to health insurance plans that cover abortion.

In a statement following passage of the bill, the head of the USCCB, Cardinal Francis George, wrote: “(F)or whatever good this law achieves or intends, we as Catholic bishops have opposed its passage because there is compelling evidence that it would expand the role of the federal government in funding and facilitating abortion and plans that cover abortion. The statute appropriates billions of dollars in new funding without explicitly prohibiting the use of these funds for abortion, and it provides federal subsidies for health plans covering elective abortions. …

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Pelosi Urges Catholic Church to Play 'Major Role' in Immigration Overhaul" FOXNews.com 5/7/10

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday urged Catholic leaders to "instruct" their parishioners to support immigration reforms, saying clerics should "play a very major role" in supporting Democratic policies.

"The cardinals, the archbishops, the bishops that come to me and say, 'We want you to pass immigration reform,' and I said, 'I want you to speak about it from the pulpit. I want you to instruct your' -- whatever the communication is," said Pelosi, who is Catholic, speaking at the Nation's Catholic Community conference sponsored by Trinity Washington University and the National Catholic Reporter.

"The people, some (who) oppose immigration reform, are sitting in those pews, and you have to tell them that this is a manifestation of our living the gospels," she said.

While it's not unusual for clergy to speak about politics from the pulpit, it is uncommon for a lawmaker to openly encourage them to preach a specific policy.

Asked for clarification, a Pelosi spokesman issued the statement: "From health care to energy security to immigration reform, the speaker believes the faith community has played and will continue to play a critical role in our national debate."

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Government Forces Late-term Abortion on Teen

A Department of Human Services caseworker pressured a pregnant Mayfair [Pennsylvania] teenager to undergo a late-term abortion by threatening to take away either her toddler or her unborn baby if she had the child, according to the teen's foster mother.

UPDATE 5/6/10: Girl's 'forced' abortion blamed on government 'death panel'

-- From "Did DHS pressure teen to get abortion?" by Regina Medina, Philadelphia Daily News 5/3/10

The alleged strong-arm tactic happened one day after DHS learned of the pregnancy, when the girl was about 22 weeks pregnant, according to her foster mother and the girl's social worker, Marisol Rivera.

The foster mother did not want to be identified in order to protect the girl's identity.

The Daily News also learned that:

* DHS got a Family Court judge's order allowing it to take the girl for an abortion, after the girl's birth mother refused to approve the procedure.

* By the time DHS arranged for the abortion - in March - the girl was 24 weeks pregnant. She had to undergo the procedure in New Jersey because abortions in Pennsylvania are illegal at 24 weeks.

* Although it is DHS policy that a DHS worker accompany any minor who has a court-ordered medical procedure, this did not happen on the girl's first attempt to have the abortion. That attempt failed when the clinic wouldn't accept her Medicaid card and wanted cash, according to the foster mother. A DHS worker did accompany the girl on a later, successful, attempt.

* Rivera, the girl's social worker, said that she was fired by Concilio, which subcontracted with DHS to provide care, after she initially refused to accompany the teen for the abortion.

"They hired me to work in child protection, not to kill children," Rivera told the Daily News.

To read the entire article, CLICK HERE.

Christians Responsible for Loss of Religious Liberty: Franklin Graham

Evangelist Franklin Graham prayed today outside of the Pentagon, in defiance of the Army's booting him from the National Day of Prayer event. Graham is warning that America's freedom of religion "is being eroded every day" and is on the brink of extinction lest Christians "have the guts to stand up."

-- From "Franklin Graham says 'religious rights' denied" by Andy Barr, Politico 5/3/10

During an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Graham said that his speaking slot in conjunction with Thursday’s National Day of Prayer was unjustly dumped over his saying that Islam is “evil.”

The only reason his invitation was dropped, Graham said, was that “a couple members of the Pentagon who are Muslim objected about me coming.”

“I feel my religious rights are being denied here because of what I believe,” the evangelist said. “I believe Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life…I believe that because of my beliefs, that’s why I’m not being given the opportunity to speak.”

“I love Muslim people…I love them and care for them,” he insisted, adding that he does not “believe what they believe.”

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Franklin Graham soldiers on, prays at Pentagon" USA TODAY 5/6/10

Rev. Franklin Graham prayed outside the Pentagon Thursday -- not inside leading an official National Day of Prayer service. Instead, he and a half-dozen others stood on the sidewalk and bowed their heads in prayer for about five minutes, according to Associated Press.

Normally, it's not news when an evangelist prays or a father of a soldier prays for the troops and their leaders (Graham's son is on his fourth tour in Afghanistan).

And he's news today because Graham is the honorary chairman of the private Task Force that leads national events where all the prayers are strictly Christian.

So, undaunted, Graham said his prayers and chatted up the media. According to Andrea Stone at AOL News, the service inside the Pentagon was led by the head of the Armed Forces Chaplain Board (a Protestant) along with Catholic, Jewish and Muslim chaplains who were "hastily added to the program" after the Task Force was dropped.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Franklin Graham: Christians Will Lose the Power to Pray Outside Church Walls ‘Maybe in My Lifetime’" by Pete Winn, CNSNews.com Senior Writer/Editor 5/5/10

“We’re living in a time where we cannot compromise, we cannot back up, we cannot retreat,” Graham said Wednesday during a live Webcast from the Washington, D.C. offices of the Family Research Council.

“The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is to be preached to the ends of the Earth – that’s what He’s called us to do,” he said.

He alluded to Eastern Europe under communism, where Christians and others were allowed to pray only within their homes or inside the officially sanctioned churches that were allowed by the state.

“I think its coming to this country where we (will) have the freedom to preach inside a church wall, but we will lose the freedom to do it outside. That day will probably come – maybe in my lifetime,” Graham said.

“(In the United States) we see everyday our rights being eroded. Just a little at a time, but its happening. Everyday. So let’s preach while we can. Let’s stand up and holler ‘Jesus Christ! King of Kings, Lord of Lords!’to the top of our voice,” the younger Graham said.

“The secularists are going to get ticked off, the news media’s going to hate it. I don’t know, maybe the people in the White House are going to be mad. But you know what, I don’t care. Because God has called us to take the Gospel -- His Gospel, the power of God and His Salvation -- unto the ends of the Earth.”

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Click headlines below to read how America is losing religious liberty:

Obamanation: Secularized Like Europe, Spiritualized Like Oprah

Employment Non-Discrimination Act will end freedom in Christian Schools

Another California City Restricts Home Bible Studies

Christian Arrested for Casual Conversation about God in Mall

Pastors Tell White House 'Hate Crimes' Law (Gay Agenda) Unconstitutional

Pastor Jailed for Saying Homosexuality is Sin

Homosexualists Issue Death Threats to Christians

Christian Talk About Bible Banned at School

Christian Programing Banned from National Public Radio

Christians Sue School over Collusion with ACLU

A Florida school district is being accused in a lawsuit of making a deal with the ACLU to criminalize "protected religious expression," banning students from saying "God bless" and forcing teachers to "hide in closets to pray."

UPDATE 7/2/11: Freedom of religion restored at Florida school

UPDATE 3/21/11: Federal judge grants preliminary injunction against school and orders trial

-- From "Group sues School Board over prayer decree" by Louis Cooper, Pensacola News Journal 5/5/10

A conservative activist group on Tuesday sued the Santa Rosa County School District, seeking to overturn an agreement between the district and the American Civil Liberties Union that bans staff-led religious activities in schools.

The ACLU, on behalf of two unnamed students, sued the district in 2008, claiming that Pace High School officials violated the U.S. Constitution by regularly promoting their personal religious beliefs and leading prayers at school events.

District officials admitted the claims and entered into a consent decree with the ACLU, agreeing that school officials would not take part in religious activities involving students. The prohibitions include participating in prayers, promoting religious services and holding school functions in religious institutions when other adequate facilities are available.

The Orlando-based Liberty Counsel filed suit Tuesday in federal court in Pensacola seeking to overturn the decree, which was approved by federal Judge Casey Rodgers,

The group says in a news release that the decree violates the First Amendment rights of "two dozen individuals, including teachers, staff, students, former students, parents, volunteers and pastors, all of whom have been silenced, censored, intimidated or harassed."

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "School sued after teachers hide in closets to pray" by Bob Unruh © 2010 WorldNetDaily 5/4/10

The original issue was that two students – whose names were withheld – complained that staff or faculty members were expressing their religious views at places such as off-campus dinners to honor school workers.

Liberty Counsel lawyers said they volunteered to work for free for the school to protect the First Amendment rights at issue.

"But the school district decided instead to shake hands with the ACLU, pay the ACLU $200,000 in legal fees, and voluntarily enter into the Consent Decree that obliterates religious freedom and makes a mockery of the First Amendment," Liberty Counsel said in its description of the conflict.

Since then, three school officials have faced civil and criminal contempt charges demanded by the ACLU and the school district but have been cleared.

The decree, however, still is having impacts.

"Students can no longer say 'God Bless,' teachers must hide in closets to pray, parents cannot communicate frankly with teachers, volunteers cannot answer any questions regarding religion, Christian groups cannot rent school facilities for private religious functions benefiting students, and pastors are dictated how they can and cannot seat their audiences at private, religious baccalaureate services held inside their own houses of worship," Liberty Counsel said.

The dispute remains volatile. WND reported only days ago that Liberty Counsel confirmed it was "game over" because the ACLU admitted in court documents that the two anonymous plaintiffs graduated from the district's Pace High School in May 2009, effectively ending the court's jurisdiction in the case.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Adultery a Crime in N.H. - Sodomy in 'Marriage' Legal

Although the centuries-old adultery law has not been enforced, the legislature has failed to repeal it, but recently succeeded in passing the same-sex 'marriage' bill.

-- From "Senate keeps 200-year-old adultery law on the books" by Garry Rayno, New Hampshire Union Leader Staff 4/29/10

The state's 200-year-old statute making adultery a crime remains after the Senate voted to kill a bill repealing the unenforced law.

The Senate also yesterday voted to give the secretary of state greater flexibility in setting the date for the New Hampshire Presidential primary in order to maintain its first-in-the-nation status.

Although the House already approved repealing the criminal adultery law, Sen. Bette Lasky, D-Nashua, said the civil statute is vague. "Repealing the statute is problematic without first changing the civil code," she said.

When the law was first passed, the penalty included standing on a gallows with a noose around the neck.

To read the entire article, CLICK HERE.

ELCA Lutherans Pardon Homosexual 'Pastors'

An Atlanta couple of homosexual men, defrocked in years past, have been reinstated as clergy now that the denomination has voted to include sexual deviants as shepherds of the flock.

UPDATE 7/25/10: New York Times praises ELCA as largest denomination to elevate sexual deviants

UPDATE 7/24/10: Seven ELCA sexually deviant 'pastors' in the San Francisco Bay area pardoned

-- From "Largest Lutheran group reinstating 2 gay ministers" by Kate Brumback, Associated Press Writer 5/4/10

The Rev. Bradley Schmeling and his partner, the Rev. Darin Easler, have been approved for reinstatement, the Chicago-based Evangelical Lutheran Church in America said in a news release. Their reinstatement comes about eight months after the denomination voted to allow gays and lesbians in committed relationships to serve as clergy, and about three weeks after the ELCA's church council officially revised the church's policy on gay ministers.

Schmeling, who serves as pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church in Atlanta, was removed from the church's clergy roster in 2007 for being in a same-sex relationship with Easler. A disciplinary committee ruled that Schmeling was violating an ELCA policy regarding the sexual conduct of pastors.

Even though Schmeling had been removed from the ELCA clergy roster, he remained pastor at St. John's, putting the church in violation of ELCA guidelines, said the Rev. H. Julian Gordy, bishop of the ELCA Southeastern Synod.

Easler left United Redeemer Lutheran Church in Zumbrota, Minn., in 2003 to serve as a chaplain. He and Schmeling met at a church conference in Minnesota in 2004, and he moved to Atlanta to be with Schmeling the following year.

Easler was removed from the clergy roster in 2006 after having been without a parish for three years, the church said in a statement. He transferred to the United Church of Christ, which is a full communion partner of the ELCA, and worked in hospice care as a bereavement coordinator.

He recently applied to the candidacy committee of the ELCA's Southeastern Minnesota Synod in Rochester and was approved April 30. He plans to continue his hospice work under the auspices of the ELCA.

To read the entire article, CLICK HERE.

Related story: Schism Looms for ELCA Lutherans

Funding IVF Next? Insurance Coverage Advocated

"Infertility is a disease, and we need more ways in which we can combat it as a disease," said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Florida Democrat and co-sponsor of a "family building" bill that would require insurance companies to cover infertility services.

-- From "Insurance-plan coverage for infertility urged" by Cheryl Wetzstein, Washington Times 4/29/10

Infertility affects a "staggering" one in eight couples, the congresswoman said, but just 15 states require such health insurance coverage.

A companion family-building bill has been offered in the Senate by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, New York Democrat.

Federal data show that an estimated 7.3 million women, aged 15 to 44, struggle with "impaired fecundity," which means they have trouble getting pregnant or sustaining a pregnancy.

Of married women in that age group, about 2 million are infertile, which means that they have not become pregnant despite 12 months of sexual activity without contraceptives.

Leading causes of infertility include sexually transmitted diseases, especially chlamydia and gonorrhea, which result in infections that scar delicate reproductive organs.

To read the entire article, CLICK HERE.

NY Hospital Reverses Mandatory Abortion Work for Nurses

Nassau University Medical Center on Long Island admitted it was wrong to have disciplined eight nurses for refusing to participate in an abortion.

-- From "NY hospital apologizes to nurses over decision" by Associated Press 4/28/10

The nurses cited moral reasons for not taking part in the procedure involving a patient whose water broke prematurely on March 31. The doctor told her she possibly faced a life-threatening infection if her pregnancy wasn't terminated.

Under federal law, health care workers can opt out of a procedure for moral reasons, except in a life-threatening situation.

The doctor did not feel the patient was in immediate danger. The procedure was performed a few days later.

To read the entire article, CLICK HERE.

Here is a similar incident.

Pentagon Tells Congress to Maintain Ban on Homosexuals

Senior Pentagon leaders on Friday warned Congress not to tamper with the ban on gays serving openly in the military until they can come up with a plan for dealing with potential opposition in the ranks.

Ummm . . . 99% of the mainstream media aren't reporting this news

-- From "Military tells Congress to keep gay ban for now" by Anne Flaherty, Associated Press 4/30/10

In a strongly worded letter obtained by The Associated Press, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen told the House Armed Services Committee that forcing policy changes on the military before it's ready would be a mistake.

Gates says he supports lifting the ban but wants to survey the troops first on how it should be done. He has ordered a study by Dec. 1 that will look at whether housing arrangements would have to be altered and gay partners would be allowed military benefits.

Gay rights advocates want an immediate freeze on military firings of openly gay service members, and some senior Democratic senators have said they want to offer such a bill. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday said the Obama administration should suspend enforcement of the law until the Defense Department completes its study and Congress can act to change it.

But other lawmakers, including Skelton, have said they are uneasy about lifting the ban and don't want to act before the force is ready.

The letter provides Skelton and other unsettled Democrats political cover not to press the issue until after this year's midterm elections. Earlier this week, Skelton asked Gates in a letter to outline his views as the House committee prepares the 2011 defense authorization bill.

In a statement released late Friday, White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said Obama's commitment to repealing the law remains "unequivocal" and that Obama "is committed to getting this done both soon and right."

To read the entire article, CLICK HERE.

Pastor Jailed for Saying Homosexuality is Sin

A [UK] Christian street preacher was arrested and locked in a cell for telling a passer-by that homosexuality is a sin in the eyes of God.

UPDATE 7/9/13: Another Preacher Arrested in London for Quoting Bible on Homosexual Sin

UPDATE 12/20/10: Court awards pastor more than $11,000 for violation of his rights by police

UPDATE 5/16/10: Under public pressure, police suddenly drop charges

UPDATE 5/11/10: Trial scheduled for September

-- From "Christian preacher arrested for saying homosexuality is a sin" by Heidi Blake, London Telegraph 5/2/10

Dale McAlpine was charged with causing “harassment, alarm or distress” after a homosexual police community support officer (PCSO) overheard him reciting a number of “sins” referred to in the Bible, including blasphemy, drunkenness and same sex relationships.

The 42-year-old Baptist, who has preached Christianity in Wokington, Cumbria for years, said he did not mention homosexuality while delivering a sermon from the top of a stepladder, but admitted telling a passing shopper that he believed it went against the word of God.

Police officers are alleging that he made the remark in a voice loud enough to be overheard by others and have charged him with using abusive or insulting language, contrary to the Public Order Act.

Christian campaigners have expressed alarm that the Public Order Act, introduced in 1986 to tackle violent rioters and football hooligans, is being used to curb religious free speech.

Mr McAlpine was handing out leaflets explaining the Ten Commandments or offering a “ticket to heaven” with a church colleague on April 20, when a woman came up and engaged him in a debate about his faith.

During the exchange, he says he quietly listed homosexuality among a number of sins referred to in 1 Corinthians, including blasphemy, fornication, adultery and drunkenness.

After the woman walked away, she was approached by a PCSO who spoke with her briefly and then walked over to Mr McAlpine and told him a complaint had been made, and that he could be arrested for using racist or homophobic language.

To read the entire article, CLICK HERE.

Pro-life Physicians to Jail in Mexico

Doctors who fail to inform their pregnant patients that they have the legal right to have an abortion -- or who refuse to refer women to doctors who perform abortions -- could be thrown into jail for up to four years . . .

From "Proposed Law in Mexico Would Send Doctors Who Don't Suggest Abortion to Jail" by Jana Winter, FOXNews.com 4/29/10

A bill has been co-introduced by the city's Health Committee chairwoman and a leading legislator that would mandate that all pregnant women in Mexico City be informed that they have the right to have an abortion in their first three months.

The bill, which is being debated in the legislature and is expected to pass, has the support of more than a dozen members of Mexico City’s ruling Democratic Revolution party -- the same party that passed the 2007 law that legalized abortion in Mexico’s capital city.

If passed into law, doctors who do not discuss abortion with their pregnant patients will be subject to penalties that include one to four years in prison, heavy fines and the loss of their medical licenses.

“This law, it’s to try to break the back of the religiously inspired who’ve really become a national resistance,” [John Ackerman, a legal analyst and professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, said]. “This is a response to extremely aggressive moral religious politics that’s taken off since approval of this [pro-abortion] law and the way politicians and [the] religious right have tried to undermine the application of this law.”

To read the entire article, CLICK HERE.

Media Focus on States' New Abortion Restrictions

[States'] new laws represent some of the most aggressive abortion legislation passed in recent years, leaving some to wonder: are these new laws isolated incidents or signs of a larger shift?

UPDATE 6/2/10: NY Times reports liberals' fear of onslaught of state-level abortion restriction laws

-- From "States test abortion limits" by Sarah Kliff, Politico 4/28/10

“On the one hand, they’re part of an onslaught of restrictions that we see constantly,” says Nancy Northup, President of the Center for Reproductive Rights, of the two new laws. “But, that being said, these are both going farther that what we’ve seen before.” This year alone, the Center has filed lawsuits against six abortion-related laws—two in Oklahoma, two in Alaska, and others in North Dakota and Arizona—a caseload that Northup describes as “higher than we’ve seen since the late 1990s. It’s a total uptick.” They’re currently tracking about 500 state-level bills that would curtail abortion rights.

Fourteen other states do require the provision of an ultrasound prior to abortion, but Oklahoma goes further by requiring both the description of the fetus and that the ultrasound monitor be in sight. Oklahoma’s more restrictive law passed despite objections from Gov. Brad Henry (D), who had previously vetoed the bill.

These anti-abortion victories are a marked shift from just two years ago, when all three of the 2008 abortion-related voter initiatives failed. One in Colorado—arguably the most far-reaching of the three, as it would have declared personhood as beginning at conception—lost by a 46-point margin. Moreover, Nebraska and Oklahoma’s new laws are significantly more restrictive than the abortion restrictions that usually pass through state legislatures, measures that require parental notification for minors or a daylong waiting period prior to abortion.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Oklahoma House Overrides Veto of Law Mandating Ultrasounds Before Abortions" by Associated Press 4/26/10

The Oklahoma House voted overwhelmingly Monday to override vetoes of two restrictive abortion measures Gov. Brad Henry has called unconstitutional intrusions into citizens' private lives and decisions.

The Senate was expected to follow suit Tuesday, after which the bills would become law. [Update: The Senate did so last Tuesday.]

One of the measures requires women to undergo an ultrasound and listen to a detailed description of the fetus before getting an abortion. The other prohibits pregnant women from seeking damages if physicians withhold information or provide inaccurate information about their pregnancy.

Supporters said the second measure was aimed at preventing women from discriminating against fetuses with disabilities. The [House] votes were 81-14 and 84-12.

Supporters of the legislation said they do not share the governor's concerns about its constitutionality, which they say should be left to the courts to decide.

This month alone, Henry has signed laws requiring clinics to post signs stating a woman cannot be forced to have an abortion, saying an abortion will not be performed until the woman gives her voluntary consent and making abortions based on child's gender illegal.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Women seeking abortions could face forced ultrasounds" by Dara Kam, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer 4/28/10

Florida's Republican-dominated legislature is poised to pass a bill that would force any pregnant woman considering an abortion to first have an ultrasound - and pay for it - even if she was raped.

The measure, if signed by Gov. Charlie Crist, would result in one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the nation. It also would require a woman to view the ultrasound unless she signs a form saying she was not coerced into having the abortion.

Opponents say that even then, the bill may require women to hear a medical professional's description of the fetus from that ultrasound before having an abortion unless they can prove they have been raped, are a victim of domestic violence or became pregnant under other extreme circumstances.

The Senate also attached a provision to the same bill (HB 1143) that would ban nearly all private insurance companies from paying for abortions - coverage that currently is included in more than 85 percent of all insurance policies, according to abortion rights advocates.

Senate President-designate Mike Haridopolos sponsored the amendment that would bar any tax dollars from being used to pay for abortions except in cases of rape or incest. Opponents of his proposal argued that it would apply to most private employers who are expected to receive tax credits or other benefits under the federal health care overhaul.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Judge Rules Gay Agenda Trumps Right of Conscience

A senior [British] judge ruled yesterday that Christian beliefs have no place in the law and no right to protection by the courts . . . [he] said religion above the law was incompatible with a democracy.

-- From "Judge rules Christians have NO special rights as he throws out case of sex therapist who refused to work with gay couples" by Steve Doughty, Daily Mail (UK) 4/30/10

Lord Justice Laws said that Britain would become a religious dictatorship if the views of a single faith were given a priority over others in legal matters.

In a landmark case, the appeal judge told relationship guidance counsellor Gary McFarlane, a Christian, that he had no right to refuse to give sex therapy to gay couples.

The Appeal Court judgment is a resounding rebuff for Christian workers who had hoped to persuade employers that they should be allowed to exercise their religious rights by not recognising the legitimacy of homosexual partnerships or by wearing crosses with work uniforms.

And it means that gay equality legislation, however controversial, will in future take precedence over individual conscience.

Lord Justice Laws rejected the plea by Mr McFarlane, 48, from Bristol, against an employment tribunal ruling that Relate Avon had been right to sack him in 2008 after five years' service.

The father of two was asking for the right to appeal against the tribunal's decision that he had not suffered religious discrimination.

But the judge said legal protection for views held on religious grounds was 'deeply unprincipled'.

'This must be so, since in the eye of everyone save the believer, religious faith is necessarily subjective,' he said.

'Law for the protection of a position held purely on religious grounds cannot therefore be justified. It is irrational, as preferring the subjective over the objective. But it is also divisive, capricious and arbitrary.'

To read the entire article, CLICK HERE.