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Dems focus on homosexual agenda

Jim Brown - OneNewsNow -

Democrats are currently undertaking two major efforts in Congress to enact key parts of the political agenda of homosexual activists. Today liberal Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-New York) plans to introduce a bill that would repeal the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The bill, which already has 69 co-sponsors, would create federal recognition of same-sex "marriages."

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Politics/Default.aspx?id=681852

Grandparents yearn to meet donated progeny

Carolyn Moynihan

We recently noted that would-be grandparents in Britain are paying for their grown-up children’s IVF treatments. Now we learn that Canadian women whose daughters -- and sons -- have donated gametes to other couples are pining for their unknown grandchildren. The grand-parenting urge is apparently very strong, especially when you know that the grandchildren are out there somewhere, and artificial begetting brings mixed blessings.

It's estimated that about one million donor offspring worldwide have been born, most of them through anonymous donations. In some cases grandparents and donor grandchildren do meet; in others not. A man who donated sperm for almost 10 years says he now sees that grandparents ought to be considered. "His own parents were delighted when two teenage donor daughters surfaced a few years ago." Imagine how many more there could be…

http://www.mercatornet.com/family_edge/view/grandparents_yearn_to_meet_donated_progeny/

A More Perfect Death

By ROSS DOUTHAT

As if there weren’t enough end-of-life anxieties floating around the health care debate, the Montana Supreme Court has chosen this month to weigh whether their state should join nearby Oregon and Washington in endorsing physician-assisted suicide.

What’s at stake is the right to voluntary euthanasia, not the sort of involuntary plug-pulling that some Republicans have claimed is concealed in the finer print of the current health care reform proposals. But you don’t have to share Sarah Palin’s death panel fears to see perils lurking at the intersection of physician-assisted suicide and health care reform.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/07/opinion/07douthat.html?_r=1

A new agenda for the world’s women

Carolyn Moynihan

What’s behind the discovery that women are the world’s greatest unexploited resource for fighting poverty and terrorism?

If you think the world is going to hell in a handcart, stop worrying; there are plenty of would-be saviours around. Philosopher Peter Singer, as we noted on this site last week, says a voluntary transfer of cash from the rich to the poor would save the world from poverty. New Scientist is working on a “Blueprint for a better world” starting with such bright ideas as scepticism about common sense, legalising drugs, and entrusting everyone’s DNA to the police. And The New York Times believes that “Saving the World’s Women” is the way to go. It probably is, so let’s see what’s new on the women’s agenda.

Admittedly, we hear a lot about saving the women of the developing world. Usually, it is from the “sexual and reproductive health” crowd, whose answer to dangerous childbirth, infant mortality, hunger, disease the abuse of women -- and practically everything else -- is contraception, sterilisation and abortion. Just this month they gathered in Berlin to complain about lack of progress on that front in many countries and to call for “universal access to sexual and reproductive health information and services by 2015”.

http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/a_new_agenda_for_the_worlds_women/

Trashy tees - A&F at it again

Allie Martin - OneNewsNow -

The American Family Association and OneMillionMoms.com is spearheading an e-mail campaign to a popular clothing store over a new line of T-shirts. According to OneMillionMoms.com director Monica Cole, Abercrombie & Fitch is pitching a new line of trashy tees. "A few of their little slogans are pretty offensive to women in general, so you wouldn't want your daughters or nieces wearing these shirts," she contends.

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=678784

HR 3200 provides taxpayer-funded abortions

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow -

The healthcare reform bill puts taxpayers in the position of paying for abortions. The House version of H.R. 3200 would drastically change long-standing federal policy, according to Susan Muskett, senior legislative counsel at the National Right to Life Committee. "It creates a nationwide insurance plan run by the federal government that is explicitly authorized to cover all abortions," she explains. "The federal government would be running a nationwide abortion plan."

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=675732

"Called to Eternal Life": Babies and Rights

Fr. James V. Schall, S.J.

Dr. J's favorite quote:
Our culture rejects, for the most part, the best and most exalted way in whichchildren should come among us. Thus, we have a society filled withpeople who have not known what was naturally due to them. That is, eachchild is to be born in a home in which each child has a father and a mother whobegot him and accepted him in love and generosity as a gift they did not plan ordevise. The actual child was not even in the thoughts of parents, whoseattention was on each other. Yet, they were prepared and happy to accept thattheir relation naturally led to something beyond themselves, something seen inthe faces of their own children.

http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/features2009/schall_rightsbabies_sept09.asp

An Affair to Forget

by Kathryn Lopez

Reality-show star Jon Gosselin did it. Country singer Shania Twain, whose "One" has become a wedding standard, wound up a victim of it. An endless parade of politicians has done it, and those are the ones we wind up knowing about. Adultery does happen. It always has and it always will. But I think we may have crossed a threshold.
While watching the president of the United States declare that we can legislate away hardship, during his joint-session of Congress health-care address, I was lured away from my hyper-blogging, Tweeting, Facebooking analysis by a commercial for ashleymadison.com. To the soundtrack of a snoring woman in bed with a man, the announcer says: "Most of us can recover from a one-night stand with the wrong woman." The narrator continues: "But not when it's every night. For the rest of our lives."
The husband gets out of bed and heads, presumably, to the computer. We see a cartoonish wedding picture. We are made aware of what this restless spouse must be craving: an online dating site for those who are married, but itching for something more, with someone else.

"Life is short. Have an affair." is the motto for this no-frills facilitator. There's no need for confession or guilt. It's all straightforward and out in the open, at least to those in the know. And that's it: enticement, information and get your credit card ready.

http://townhall.com/columnists/KathrynLopez/2009/09/11/an_affair_to_forget?page=full&comments=true

My scattered grandchildren

Their children may consider it a personal decision, but parents of egg and sperm donors rarely see it that way. Many struggle with longing for branches of the family tree they may never meet.
Alison Motluk

When Kathie Harris spotted a newspaper ad a few years back recruiting egg donors, she passed it on to her daughter. “I was kind of joking,” she says.
But her daughter, Melissa Braden, ended up donating six times. Now Ms. Harris, 53, has mixed feelings about it all.
“It's kind of hard,” she says. There are grandchildren out there that the family will never meet, she says. “They're a part of you. Because they're Melissa's eggs, they're a part of everybody in Melissa's family.”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/family-and-relationships/my-scattered-grandchildren/article1286201/

ObamaCare circumvents confession of abortion funding

Pete Chagnon and Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow -

Three pro-life leaders are voicing concern over President Obama's healthcare plan. They believe President Obama may not be telling the truth about taxpayer-funded abortion as it pertains to his healthcare reform plan.

For the twenty-ninth time, Obama has tried to drum up support for his healthcare reform proposal. In a speech delivered on Wednesday evening, Obama tried to quell division over his plan concerning taxpayer-funded abortion.

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Politics/Default.aspx?id=677860

Marriage movement makes waves in New Zealand

Carolyn Moynihan

The marriage movement is making itself felt in Australia and New Zealand with the publication of a report, 21 Reasons Why Marriage Matters, this week. A coalition of marriage and family advocacy groups is backing the report, which is based on local and international research showing the benefits of marriage over alternative arrangements for family life.

“This edition has 146 researched footnotes including NZ-based research and presents strong evidence that marriage is more than a private emotional relationship. It is a social good and we should develop policies, laws, and family and community interventions to help strengthen marriages. The weakening of marriage is one of the most important social issues we are facing in NZ,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ.

http://www.mercatornet.com/family_edge/view/marriage_movement_makes_waves_in_new_zealand/

Damage control for teens of divorce

Mark Gregston

When parents split up, it can cause a number of problems in the life of their children; especially if the children are in the pre-teen or teen years. I would never say divorce is responsible for every problem for the kids from split families who come to our teen-counseling program at Heartlight, but it is a major factor for many. Divorce piles on emotional problems for a teen a little higher than there would normally be for an already emotional adolescent.

While there is no real way to fix the problems that divorce can bring into a teen's life, there are ways to do damage control to help them through one of the most painful experiences they will ever encounter. Since half of all marriages end on divorce, I thought it may be helpful to provide a few ways for the parents to address the after-effects of divorce on a teenager. It can help them better deal with the hand they were dealt.

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Perspectives/Default.aspx?id=675470

Studios now see value in family-friendly films

Allie Martin - OneNewsNow -

A noted entertainment critic and author says Christians are making a difference when it comes to the availability of family-friendly movies. Ted Baehr is president of MovieGuide, a magazine and Internet site offering in-depth reviews of movies from a biblical perspective. Baehr says the box-office success of recent movies such as Facing the Giants, Fireproof, and The Passion of the Christ have shown Hollywood executives there is a market for movies with a biblical worldview.

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=673972

Myths or Facts in Feminist Scholarship?

An exchange between Nancy K.D. Lemon and Christina Hoff Sommers

Christina Hoff Sommers, in her essay "Persistent Myths in Feminist Scholarship" (The Chronicle Review, online edition, June 29), criticized Nancy K.D. Lemon, a lecturer in domestic-violence law at the University of California at Berkeley's School of Law, for publishing errors in the popular textbook she edits, Domestic Violence Law, and for not taking seriously her continuing criticisms of the book. "One reason that feminist scholarship contains hard-to-kill falsehoods is that reasonable, evidence-backed criticism is regarded as a personal attack," Sommers charged. Following is Lemon's response to those criticisms and Sommers's rebuttal. Sommers is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

Nancy K.D. Lemon: Christina Hoff Sommers accused me of being a "scholarly merchant of hype" for material in my popular textbook, Domestic Violence Law. In fact, she is the one whose assertions are untrue and who is impervious to correction.

http://chronicle.com/article/Domestic-Violence-a/47940/

How Facebook Ruins Friendships

Notice to my friends: I love you all dearly.

But I don't give a hoot that you are "having a busy Monday," your child "took 30 minutes to brush his teeth," your dog "just ate an ant trap" or you want to "save the piglets." And I really, really don't care which Addams Family member you most resemble. (I could have told you the answer before you took the quiz on Facebook.)

Here's where you and I went wrong: We took our friendship online. First we began communicating more by email than by phone. Then we switched to "instant messaging" or "texting." We "friended" each other on Facebook, and began communicating by "tweeting" our thoughts—in 140 characters or less—via Twitter.

http://sbk.online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204660604574370450465849142.html

Britain needs a middle-class baby boom

A growing population is a blessing so long as everyone joins in, argues Melanie McDonagh By Melanie McDonagh

When I was born, I was, though I didn't know it at the time, part of the great Sixties baby boom. It was quite inescapable in Ireland. I was the sole only child in my class – everyone I knew came from families of around five. A proper big family had 12 children, which was the case with one friend of mine. When her grandmother was asked how many grandchildren there were now, she'd answer: "Twelve, at least last time I counted." It meant that, whenever you went to play in someone's house, you'd always find yourself being shushed up because you might wake the baby.

And you know what? It was good fun being around big families, even though those children were reared by mothers for whom family life was synonymous with hard labour. By definition, a society that has lots of children is fundamentally optimistic.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/6103250/Britain-needs-a-middle-class-baby-boom.html

FAMILY DIVERSITY AND POLITICAL FREEDOM: HOW CAN PEOPLE WITH DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO FAMILY LIFE LIVE TOGETHER IN FREE SOCIETIES?

Patrick Fagan, Ph.D.
SUMMARY
The "monogamous" and the "polyamorous " cultures have totally different approaches to life, with the religious worship and monogamous marriage being the defining differences in their different approaches to the sexual act. Coexistence necessitates that the differences be observed by giving parents of both cultures control over the programs that cause conflict: education, adolescent health and sex education. Monogamous men need to act to obtain this for the sake of their own children.

The following speech was given by Pat Fagan to the World Congress of Families in Amsterdam on August 12, 2009. The World Congress of Families is the world's largest conference of pro-family leaders and grass-roots activists.

http://www.frc.org/atthepodium/family-diversity-and-political-freedom-how-can-people-with-different-approaches-to-family-life-live-together-in-free-societies

Australian surrogacy laws lead to complications

Surrogacy is a minefield for black-letter lawyers, not just for emotional parents, as a recent case in Australia shows. Australia has a federal system, and each state has its own laws, even though there are constant attempts to harmonise them. In New South Wales, where Sydney is located, there is no law specifically governing surrogacy. This led to some unexpected results for Sharon, Paul, Michael, Lauren and Clive.

Before having chemotherapy, Sharon had some of her eggs stored. In October 2008, after these had been fertilised with her husband Paul’s sperm, her own mother Lauren gave birth to Michael. For Lauren, it was easy to hand over the child and she felt no emotional involvement.

http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/8677/

Doctors could pressure women who have pre-natal diagnosis

Recent breakthoughs in pre-natal diagnosis raise serious ethical questions, notes an article in the journal Nature Reviews Genetics by German doctors. It now seems possible to detect foetal problems with just a sample of the mother’s blood. Sequenom, an American company, plans to release its test later this year.

Women will probably be offered this test routinely in the first trimestre. Doctors will offer them the opportunity to abort the child if it has Down syndrome or other defects. But this might "reduce the reproductive autonomy of the woman". The authors foresee that women might not be able to make informed choices because they will be under intense emotional pressure to choose an abortion.

http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/8676/

Europe's demographic and cultural time bomb

Carolyn Moynihan

In Brussels, the top seven boys names recently were Mohamed, Adam, Rayan, Ayoub, Mehdi, Amine and Hamza. Mohamed is also the most popular name in Holland’s four biggest cities. Is anyone surprised?
Perhaps not, but a recent London Telegraph article suggests, with a certain note of alarm, that a “Muslim Europe” is emerging while policy-makers refuse to discuss the potential problems of this “demographic time bomb”. It reminds one a bit of Inspector Clouseau avowing, “It is not my Behm.”

http://www.mercatornet.com/demography/view/europes_demographic_and_cultural_time_bomb/

How informed the choice?

Sheila Liaugminas

The legal wrangling over South Dakota’s informed consent law hasbeen both bizarre and revealing. At core, it’s a battle between thepowerful abortion movement which operates under the mantle of ‘choice’,and the pro-life movement which is working mightily to give womenenough information to make an informed choice.

When South Dakota legislators passed a law requiring abortionproviders to inform women that they are carrying not a blob of tissue,but an already existing human being, among other highly relevant factsand the possiblerisks ass ociated with the procedure. PlannedParenthood got an injunction to prevent that law’s enactment byconvincing judge Karen Schreier that such disclosure violates theabortionists’ rights of free speech. Schreier decided that outweighedthe women’s right to information.

http://www.mercatornet.com/sheila_liaugminas/view/how_informed_the_choice/q

California Legislature Passes 'Harvey Milk Day' Bill

California Family Council Issues Statement Regarding Legislature's Passage of "Harvey Milk Day" Bill

SACRAMENTO, Sept. 8 /Christian Newswire/ -- Today the California State Legislature sent Senate Bill 572, authored by Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for his signature. SB 572 would require the governor of California to annually proclaim May 22 as Harvey Milk Day to honor the first openly homosexual politician. The bill would also encourage schools to conduct "commemorative exercises" and programs that focus on Milk's contributions. The controversial measure was approved by the State Assembly and Senate on party-line votes, with Republicans opposing.

http://www.christiannewswire.com/

The fight to enforce parental notification laws

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow -

Officials from a Christian legal society in Chicago are urging the Illinois Supreme Court to implement parental notification when a child is seeking an abortion. A parental notification law was passed in Illinois nearly 15 years ago, but court challenges and other maneuvering has prevented implementation. Most recently, a state medical board gave abortion doctors a reprieve from a court order for 90 days before they will be required to comply.

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Legal/Default.aspx?id=662340

Great comment on "My Sister's Keeper"

Approximately 90% of all parents who learn their child will have Down Syndrome choose to abort, with the help of their closed-minded (and, in many cases, ignorant) doctors. With new testing, we will likely have even fewer of these special children and adults in our midst, just as we are beginning to learn how much they can experience and accomplish with proper support.

As a parent, I am aware of all the love and joy these kids bring to our lives and theirs. Its sad to see science playing God, whether its choosing who's worthy to live or using and abusing others for personal gain or life enhancement. Its sadder still that we let them!

Thanks for all you do to keep us aware and on guard.

-A Reader

Great sites for being Black and Married!

http://blackandmarriedwithkids.com/

http://www.happilyeverafterthemovie.com/

http://www.dailypress.com/news/opinion/dp-op_malonecolon_0830aug30,0,3101162.story

Why the black community can't talk about marriage
by Malone-Colon

Ask yourself: When is the last time you heard a public leader talk about the crisis in marriage and family and why it is urgent that as a country we give our attention to this crisis and its consequences? The answer is probably never or rarely.
What is being proposed by these leaders to address the dramatic increases in children born out of wedlock (72 percent for African-Americans), divorce, cohabitation, those who never marry and the decline in marital quality?

Defending Marriage in Troubled Times

by Harry R. Jackson, Jr.

Recently the Obama administration filed court papers claiming a federal marriage law, called The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), discriminates against gays. This was surprising because at the same time government lawyers have been instructed to defend it. In fact, Department of Justice Department lawyers are seeking to dismiss a suit brought by a gay California couple challenging the 1996 Act. The administration's legal strategy so angered gay activists that they claimed the president is backtracking on campaign promises.

http://townhall.com/columnists/HarryRJacksonJr/2009/09/02/defending_marriage_in_troubled_times?page=full&comments=true

Gay Marriage, Democracy, and the Courts

The culture war will never end if judges invalidate the choices of voters.

By ROBERT P. GEORGE
We are in the midst of a showdown over the legal definition of marriage. Though some state courts have interfered, the battle is mainly being fought in referenda around the country, where “same-sex marriage” has uniformly been rejected, and in legislatures, where some states have adopted it. It’s a raucous battle, but democracy is working.

Now the fight may head to the U.S. Supreme Court. Following California’s Proposition 8, which restored the historic definition of marriage in that state as the union of husband and wife, a federal lawsuit has been filed to invalidate traditional marriage laws.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204619004574322084279548434.html

Caritas in Veritate: The Truth about Humanity

This is part of a series by Jennifer Roback Morse. This installment focuses on the introductory chapter.

Many commentators read Pope Benedict XVI’s Caritas in Veritate as if it were a think tank white paper, and ask whether he endorses their particular policy preferences. It is a mistake to read the encyclical in this way. A close look at the document’s introduction makes plain that Benedict is not a man of the Left or of the Right: He is a non-ideological man of God.

The opening sentence soars above any political platform: “Charity in truth, to which Jesus Christ bore witness by his earthly life and especially by his death and resurrection, is the principal force behind authentic development of every person and of all humanity.” This is our first clue that we are not dealing with a technocrat or ideologue. “Authentic development” points away from the deliberations of politicians and policy wonks. Benedict does not define his objectives in material terms, such as maximizing GDP. Neither does he conduct focus groups or consult experts to figure out what people want. Rather in this encyclical, Benedict reflects on what it means to be authentically human and what the human good actually entails. That is to say, he seeks the truth about man in society.

http://www.acton.org/press/caritas_in_veritate_truth_about_humanity.php

Wintery Knight blog

Thanks, Wintery Knight, for linking to our blog on yours. Right back atcha.

Here's another good site, readers: http://winteryknight.wordpress.com/

De Facto Parents

Now children can have multiple legal parents without biology, adoption, or marriage.
By William C. Duncan

In his 1988 book Silent Revolution, Herbert Jacob described how one of the most significant changes to family law in the 20th century, no-fault divorce, began in California and spread through the states with very little public debate or controversy. This remarkable transformation was presented, and largely accepted, as routine policymaking in the domain of legal experts.

Similarly, a revolution in the legal understanding of parenthood seems to have quietly begun with little or no public debate or discussion. This dramatically transformative development is the statutory recognition of “de facto” parenthood — the notion that an unrelated individual (usually the unmarried partner of a biological parent, but potentially any adult) can be designated as the legal “parent” of a child by virtue of an agreement with a biological or adoptive parent, or even just a relationship with the child. In some cases, three or more people may be designated “parents” of the same child. While a handful of state courts have endorsed the idea in the context of disputes between same-sex couples jointly raising children, not until very recently has a legislature endorsed it.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YzcwZjA0ODk2NzM2NzY4N2IyYTQwYmY1NGQ3NGUyODc

Ben & Jerry's ice cream honors same-sex 'marriage'

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow -

An ice cream company is celebrating homosexual "marriage" in Vermont (see related article). Same-gender marriage is now legal in The Green Mountain State, and Ben & Jerry's has announced that it will temporarily change its "Chubby Hubby" ice cream to "Hubby Hubby" in honor of homosexual marriage. Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth about Homosexuality tells OneNewsNow that companies like Ben & Jerry's neglect to talk about the dangers of the lifestyle.

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=661990

Pro-union bill contrary to pro-family movement

Chad Groening - OneNewsNow -

A former presidential candidate and conservative activist says the proposal known as the Employee Free Choice Act -- if enacted into law -- would pose a substantial threat to the interests of the pro-family movement.

Critics say the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) is really not about free choice at all. It would allow unions to take away workers' rights to secret ballot votes and to be certified only after a card-check campaign. These signed cards could be obtained through harassment and intimidation.

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Politics/Default.aspx?id=662066

Normalizing transgenderism in schools

Pete Chagnon - OneNewsNow -

A New England-based pro-family organization is concerned about a situation in Vermont involving bathroom arrangements at schools. Brian Camenker of MassResistance says the homosexual movement in Vermont is using a transgender-rights law to force middle schools and high schools to provide unisex bathrooms. He notes that a 16-year-old transgendered teen has asked the Vermont Human Rights Commission to lend its support to the effort.

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Education/Default.aspx?id=661996

Parenting pathways

Carolyn Moynihan

If your parents were negative and harsh with you growing up, that’s theway you will be with your kids. And if they were positive andaffectionate, well, lucky for your kids. That’s the assumption behind apopular theory of parenting, but researchers who have done long-termstudies say it’s wrong. Read more...

NEA reveals true stance on homosexual marriage

Pete Chagnon - OneNewsNow -

Does the NEA support same-sex marriage?

In early July, OneNewsNow was contacted by the Conservative Educators Caucus, an organization within the National Education Association (NEA) made up of conservative teachers. They claimed that the NEA threw their full support behind the homosexual marriage during their annual meeting in California. Concerned teachers within the NEA contacted their local officials, who denied any such support. However, Jeralee Smith of the Conservative Educators Caucus says those officials are playing "liberal word games." She directs concerned teachers to the NEA's website, which has posted the resolution.

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Education/Default.aspx?id=661894

Calling all monogamous men

Carolyn Moynihan

Family scholar Patrick Fagan has come up with an elegant schema contrasting “monogamous” culture with other kinds of sexual culture which he calls, collectively, “polyamorous”.

Speaking at the World Congress of Families recently in Amsterdam, he highlighted the gulf that exists between the two cultures in terms of values and practical consequences. And he proposed a solution.Fagan, who is with the Family Research Council, argued that these cultures can only co-exist in once society if parents in both are given control over the programs that cause conflict: education, adolescent health and sex education.

http://www.mercatornet.com/family_edge/view/calling_all_monogamous_men/

The UN’s sex-ed plan for kids

Carolyn Moynihan

Some years ago I saw a cartoon whose subject becomes more real by the day. It showed a Brave-New-Wold nursery in which newborns were being instructed via a loudspeaker: “Today you will be going home, but before you go, here is your first sex education lesson...” I was reminded of it by a Fox News report of a new universal sex-ed curriculum from UNESCO.

The UN’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation has decided that, “in a world affected by HIV and AIDS”, it is “imperative” to teach children as young as 5 about masturbation as well as “gender roles, stereotypes and gender-based violence”.

http://www.mercatornet.com/family_edge/view/the_uns_sex-ed_plan_for_kids/

Lesbian custody trial continues

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow -

A court custody battle continues between a born-again Christian mother in Virginia and her former lesbian partner in Vermont. Lisa Miller's daughter Isabella is now seven-and-a-half years old.

Miller ended her lesbian relationship with Janet Jenkins and set up residence in Virginia when Isabella was an infant. Miller is now a Christian, while Jenkins is still a practicing lesbian.

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Legal/Default.aspx?id=660402

Conservatism reigns in Croatia

Pete Chagnon - OneNewsNow - Abstinence education is celebrating a legal victory in Croatia. Roger Kiska of the Alliance Defense Fund says the case was particularly dangerous because it involved a charter body of the Council of Europe. That body polices compliance with the European Social Charter -- a binding human-rights document on all states within the Council of Europe.

The case involved a lawsuit against the Christian nation of Croatia, which Kiska says has a low rate of teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. The suit alleged that the country was not teaching appropriate sexual education in their schools because they focused on abstinence.

"So the potential of this case was to completely liberalize sexual education throughout Europe," he explains. "And thankfully the committee agreed with our arguments, agreed with the arguments of Croatia, that because of the cultural sovereignty of Croatia, because of the low prevalence of sexual transmitted diseases and teen pregnancies, obviously the program was working" the attorney notes.

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=660524

Abortion, breast cancer link confirmed again

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow -

Another study confirms a link between abortion and breast cancer. The latest research was done in Turkey and is widely available on the Internet, according to Karen Malec of the Coalition on Abortion-Breast Cancer. "This study found that...Turkish women who have abortions...have a statistically significant 66-percent increase in breast cancer risk," she notes.

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=657946

Abstinence, yes, but what about marriage?

Carolyn Moynihan

The abstinence-until-marriage movement in the United States has been a positive and courageous response to the sexual revolution. As the basis for sex education it has met with determined opposition because of adult scepticism, and probably dislike of the very idea of abstinence. Now a sociologist who is also an Evangelical Christian is suggesting another reason for reviewing the way Christians promote abstinence.

…[A]fter years of studying the sexual behavior and family decision-making of young Americans, I've come to the conclusion that Christians have made much ado about sex but are becoming slow and lax about marriage—that more significant, enduring witness to Christ's sacrificial love for his bride. Americans are taking flight from marriage. We are marrying later, if at all, and having fewer children.

http://www.mercatornet.com/family_edge/view/abstinence_yes_but_what_about_marriage/

DC court ruling affects ex-'gays'

Pete Chagnon - OneNewsNow -

A landmark court decision in Washington, DC, could have far-reaching ramifications for those who have left the homosexual lifestyle. Regina Griggs, executive director of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays, tells OneNewsNow that former homosexuals now have protection under sexual orientation non-discrimination laws. According to the ruling [PDF], handed down by the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, ex-"gays" are now a protected class that must be recognized under the DC Human Rights Act.

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Legal/Default.aspx?id=659000

Abortion 'explicitly' covered under ObamaCare

Pete Chagnon - OneNewsNow -

FactCheck.org says the National Right to Life Committee is correct concerning abortion provisions in ObamaCare. According to FactCheck.org, President Barack Obama was right to a "limited extent" when he stated that his healthcare reform plan does not allow for "government-funded abortion." Although FactCheck.org states that under H.R. 3200 federal money is not used to fund abortion, under the public insurance option there is a provision for abortion coverage -- as well as provisions for government-subsidized public and private insurance plans that cover what are described as "reproductive services."

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Politics/Default.aspx?id=657860

My Sister’s Keeper

Jennifer Roback Morse

The screen version of Jodi Picoult's novel poses the question: how much are we entitled to use each other? The use and misuse of artificial reproductive technology (ART) is a subject that deserves more attention than it commonly gets. My Sister’s Keeper is a thought-provoking dramatization of one of the most troubling ethical issues of the ART industry: the creation of “savior siblings”.

http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/my_sisters_keeper/

In defence of moral absolutes

Richard Bastien

Forget the modern orthodoxy, there are real moral absolutes worth defending. Throughout the 19th century, theories abounded in the English-speaking world about the relativism of human knowledge and, therefore, the difficulty in establishing moral standards. John Stuart Mill, notably, reduced the idea of morality to a form of subjective ideal. In the early 20th century, Einstein’s theory of relativity, for all the wrong reasons, gave a semblance of justification to the idea that there were no such things as absolutes. This led to an increasing acceptance of the notion that all cultures and moral ideas are conditional and that none can pretend to be any “better” than any other.

http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/in_defence_of_moral_absolutes2/

All shall be poor

Barbara Kay

How today’s sexual narcissists insist on propagating their dreary values.

A hot new must-read book making the rounds is Frenchwoman Corinne Maier's No Kids: Forty Good Reasons Not To Have Children. Having read her embarrassingly superficial Maclean's interview and perused the jejune list of what constitutes "reasons" for Maier --kids cut into your "fun," kids are "conformists" --I'll pass on actually reading the book. Yet, because it would seem there was both money and celebrity to be gleaned from time Maier might otherwise have idly frittered away in an afternoon nap, I'm tempted to give the idea a whirl myself.

http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/all_shall_be_poor/

Opposing Gay Unions With Sanity & a Smile

By Monica Hesse

The nightmares of gay marriage supporters are the Pat Robertsons of the world. The James Dobsons, the John Hagees -- the people who specialize in whipping crowds into frothy frenzies, who say things like Katrina was caused by the gays.

The gay marriage supporters have not met Brian Brown. They should. He might be more worth knowing about.

Brown is the executive director of the National Organization for Marriage, the preeminent organization dedicated to preventing the legalization of same-sex marriage. For two years, Brown has been traveling across the country. He moved his wife and six kids to California, where NOM was instrumental in passing Proposition 8, the state constitutional amendment defining marriage as an institution only between a man and a woman. Before that, Connecticut, where his cause was hurt when the state Supreme Court legalized gay marriage.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/27/AR2009082704139.html