Dispel the Illusion

Though numerous pro-life lawmakers were defeated in the Congressional elections on Tuesday, pro-life groups say they did better than some political observers forecasted. They also say that pro-life candidates would have done worse if not for their stands against abortion.

Now that they have control of Congress, Democrats plan to make a bill that would force taxpayers to pay for embryonic stem cell research one of the first pieces of legislation they put forward next year. However, they may not have enough votes, even with Tuesday night's election results, to overturn a veto from the president.

As the results of the midterm elections sank in this week, religious leaders across the ideological spectrum found something they could agree on: The "God gap" in American politics has narrowed substantially.

After he successfully won a court order to kill Terri Schiavo via euthanasia, the disabled woman's former husband Michael pledged to take on pro-life advocates and formed a political action committee to defeat them. However, the candidates Michael campaigned for during the 2006 mid-term elections didn't fare very well.

The new study shows a significant divide between the nation’s young adults and its older residents ... Busters’ lifestyles took a less traditional – some would say less moral – path on 12 of those 16 areas ... Busters’ views are less conventional than that of their predecessors in 13 areas. In none of the 32 facets of lifestyle or attitude were Busters more likely to possess a conventional moral position when compared with the older crowd of “pre-Busters.”

SCOTT BRISON’S Liberal leadership campaign is like a dying calf wandering in the desert, and the buzzards are circling overhead.

Over the last 50 years, the way food animals are raised and fed has changed dramatically—to the detriment of both animals and humans. Many people are surprised to find that most of the food animals in the United States are no longer raised on farms at all. Instead they come from crowded animal factories, also known as large confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs).

Too many Americans harbor the illusion that we live in a democracy simply because we have the right to vote. But let us be clear about something: voting matters only where real choices are allowed. It is universally understood that special interest money runs the American political system and thus defines what the choices will be. So we are left to choose between candidates who are financed by special interest money, which any fool can see, is no choice at all.

Clement argued that Congress had held six hearings and concluded the so-called partial-birth procedure was never “medically necessary” ... Congress wanted to draw a “bright line” about what was abortion and what was infanticide. If a fetus was alive, Clement said, “if someone came in and ripped its head open, I think we would call that murder.”

Gay leaders on Thursday canceled a parade in Jerusalem amid security concerns and pressure from fundamentalist religious leaders who called such a public display in the holy city offensive. The Gay Pride parade scheduled for Friday drew opposition from Jews, Christians and Muslims, while hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Jews vented their disapproval by clashing with police and burning trash bins in the streets several nights over the past week.

Just days after his resignation, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is about to face more repercussions for his involvement in the troubled wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. New legal documents, to be filed next week with Germany's top prosecutor, will seek a criminal investigation and prosecution of Rumsfeld, along with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, former CIA director George Tenet and other senior U.S. civilian and military officers, for their alleged roles in abuses committed at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison and at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

A Quebec judge has authorized a ground-breaking class-action suit against pharmaceutical giant Merck Frosst, which, if successful, could expose the company to billions of dollars in damages. Justice André Denis removed an important barrier to the legal action yesterday by certifying the class and allowing a formal suit to be brought against the company, which manufactures the painkiller and anti-inflammatory drug Vioxx.

The fifth annual poll on Canadians' opinions on abortion has found that almost two-thirds of the 2,021 people surveyed by Environics Research Group support laws to protect human life before birth. Only three in ten support the current Canadian policy in which there is no legal protection for human beings at any stage of development before birth.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has decided to bring "Christmas" back this holiday season. After facing a barrage of criticism from religious groups for neglecting to mention the Christian celebration in its U.S. stores or advertisements last year, the world's biggest retailer announced yesterday it will rename its seasonal area "The Christmas Shop," instead of "The Holiday Shop," play Christmas carols in its stores and increase its overtly Christmas-themed displays by 60% this year.

Fresh from squeezing more tax dollars from income trusts, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says Ottawa is scrutinizing offshore tax havens and "significant tax avoidance" by some Canadians. At last count, Statistics Canada estimated Canadians have stashed $88-billion out of the country.

The Catholic Civil Rights League has urged all parliamentarians to consider the joint "Declaration on Marriage" issued today by religious leaders before the upcoming vote on revisiting the marriage issue. The declaration, signed by representatives of 40 faith groups, including the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, summarizes the historical understanding of marriage and its importance as the primary nurturer of children, and also notes the threat to freedom of religion and freedom of expression posed by the implementation of same-sex "marriage."

Beverley McLachlin, Canada's Chief Justice, along with a powerful council of the country's top judges issued an unprecedented rebuke yesterday to Justice Minister Vic Toews for hatching a plan to arbitrarily change the way judges are chosen. The Canadian Judicial Council expressed dismay that Mr. Toews is planning to introduce "significant changes to the composition and functioning of the Judicial Advisory Committees," secret groups which are set up in each region to vet candidates for the 1,100 federal judgeships across the country.

Each year, the people of the United States write a check to subsidize China, one of the most brutal, anti-American regimes in the world. Lately it has been in vogue for everyone in Washington to eagerly denounce the egregious abuses of the Chinese people at the hands of their communist dictators. Yet no one in (the) federal government has been willing to take China on in any meaningful way ...

The Inquirer and its sister paper, the Philadelphia Daily News, (have) both ... struggled financially in recent years. But The Inquirer and The Daily News are deep into contract negotiations with the principal union at the papers, the Newspaper Guild, and Mr. Tierney is believed to be considering new layoffs at the Inquirer that could reduce its newsroom staff by 30 percent or more. The Daily News staff had already been so diminished that there is no discussion of layoffs there. Advertising revenue at both papers has plunged and circulation continues to spiral downward.

A stunning new death count emerged Thursday, as Iraq's health minister estimated at least 150,000 civilians have been killed in the war _ about three times previously accepted estimates. Moderate Sunni Muslims, meanwhile, threatened to walk away from politics and pick up guns, while the Shiite-dominated government renewed pressure on the United States to unleash the Iraqi army and claimed it could crush violence in six months.

The method involves partially extracting an intact fetus from the uterus, then cutting or crushing its skull. Doctors most often refer to the procedure as a dilation and extraction or an intact dilation and evacuation abortion.

The Vatican asked Israel Wednesday to ban a gay pride parade this week in Jerusalem, saying the march in the city considered holy to Jews, Muslims and Christians would offend the faithful. Thousands of gay activists are expected to march in Jerusalem on Friday.

Some political questions utterly baffle me. For instance, why is it OK for a Catholic priest to run for federal office as a Bloc Quebecois candidate but not OK for an evangelical Christian to run the office of the environment minister?

Australia is close to legalizing human therapeutic cloning. It is close to allowing the creation of embryos in the lab for research into the fight against Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, diabetes, arthritis and other diseases. It is close to doing the right thing. Will others, including Canada, have the courage to follow?

The notion that abortion is "benign" has never been "the accepted wisdom in Canada." That was only a claim made by the physician who campaigned to change the formerly restrictive laws on abortion in Canada.

A McGill University lecturer is embarking on a nationwide tour next week to indoctrinate junior high and high school educators, as well as health care professionals, in the thorny art of teaching kids about sex in the era of Paris Hilton.

Wal-Mart has agreed to automatically donate 5% of online sales directly to the Washington DC Community Center for Gay, Lesbian Bisexual and Transgender People. The cash donation will come from ALL online purchases made at Wal-Mart through the homosexual group's Web site. This move follows Wal-Mart's joining the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce and agreeing to give generous financial help to that group.

Regardless of which party claims control of Congress, one thing’s for certain: this has been the most expensive midterm campaign in history. According to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, the price tag for this year’s election will reach at least $2.8 billion—about a 20 percent increase over the 2002 election cycle, the last midterm campaign. That total includes a conservatively estimated $30 million raised and spent by so-called 527 committees, issue-advocacy groups that are largely secretive about where they get their money and where they spend it. And those totals could climb higher since candidates, parties and political committees raised and spent funds at a record pace in the final days of the campaign ...

Ballot measures to ban same-sex marriage were winning in seven of eight states late Tuesday, with voters in Arizona poised to be the first in the nation to turn down such a measure. The measures, all constitutional amendments to limit marriage to heterosexuals and some to ban domestic partnerships, passed in Virginia, South Carolina and Tennessee and were winning in Colorado, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Idaho. A proposal to create domestic partnerships in Colorado appeared headed to defeat with just 45 percent of the vote when more than half of the state's precincts had reported their results ...

Conservative books are a tough institutional sell everywhere. A library-dependent Toronto reader wrote me, "It is frustrating to find that conservative books [in libraries] now require special pleading or determined searching." My curiosity piqued by her exasperation, I keyed "Regnery Publishing" into an electronic search of selected public library catalogues across Canada. Some less than encouraging results: Toronto - 16; Vancouver - 12; Calgary - 7 ...

Industrial chemicals have impaired the brain development of children, knocked down IQs, shortened attention spans and triggered behaviour problems, says a new report that is calling for better regulation of 201 chemicals with neurotoxic effects. In a report warning of "a silent pandemic in modern society," a team from the Harvard School of Public Health says millions of children may already have been affected ...

It is so pleasant to listen to Justin Trudeau speak that you can almost ignore what he is saying and still come away feeling enriched. He knows it, too. He considers his charisma a gift, but also a burden, foist upon him by a country still largely in thrall of his surname ...

It isn't hard to come up with a list of adjectives for a proposal that would allow scientists to create part-human, part-animal embryos in a lab. Frankensteinian comes to mind. So do repulsive, distasteful, grotesque and immoral. A group of British scientists has asked the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority to give them permission to mix up a batch of embryos that would be 99.9 per cent human and the other 0.1 per cent goat, rabbit or cow egg cells ...

Vaccine Dangers and Vested Interests A retired vaccine researcher goes public on what the pharmaceutical industry and the health authorities don't want us to know: that vaccines are unsafe, untested and one of the greatest frauds of our time ...

The hidden cost of 'choice' Andrea Mrozek National Post Tuesday, November 07, 2006 In Canada, having an abortion is supposed to be all about "choice." A woman's health after she exercises that choice is a subject no one wants to talk about. But things are different in other countries. On Oct. 27, 15 prominent signatories wrote a letter to the editor of the Times of London. The group included a past president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Others were some of the top general practitioners, psychiatrists and obstetricians and gynecologists in the country. They asked the official bodies regulating obstetricians and psychiatrists to revise their guidance on abortion as it pertains to mental health in young women ...

This photo was taken at a competition in June. The competition was between nine women who had to have makeovers. They had every possible beauty treatment available to them over a period of time. Look at the before and after photos ... top to bottom. Conclusion - there are no homely women, only poor women ... if you only have the money ...

Human-animal mixing going too far, report says Aug. 9, 2006 Courtesy Scottish Council on Human Bioethics and World Science staff Scientists are going too far in creating mixed human-animal organisms, a Scottish organization is warning. The Scottish Council on Human Bioethics, a professional group based in Edinburgh, has published a report on the ethical implications of the practice in the journal Human Reproduction and Genetic Ethics. The report is online at www.schb.org.uk ...

Christ is dumped from Christmas stamps 07/11/06 By Cyril Dixon BUNGLING mail chiefs were yesterday accused of taking the Christ out of Christmas. They unveiled this year’s festive stamps which unlike those of previous years, such as the one pictured, ignore the season’s holy background. Furious Christian politicians joined the Church of England to condemn the Royal Mail over its six faith-free designs ...

U.S. 'suburbs more violent than Iraq' By Jonathon Moran November 07, 2006 02:32pm MORE fighting goes on in parts of suburban US than Iraq, according to Australian filmmaker George Gittoes who has just finished a documentary set in a Miami "war zone". Gittoes' latest feature, Rampage, contrasts life for a family living in the blue-collar community of Brown Sub, Miami, with ongoing fighting in Iraq. "It is much worse in Miami than it is in Baghdad," Gittoes said in Sydney today ...

New York Plan Provides Freedom Of Gender Choice By DAMIEN CAVE The New York Times Published: Nov 7, 2006 NEW YORK - Separating anatomy from what it means to be a man or a woman, New York is moving forward with a plan to let people alter the sex on their birth certificate even if they have not had sex-change surgery. Under the rule being considered by the city's Board of Health, which is likely to be adopted soon, people born in the city would be able to change the documented sex on their birth certificates by providing affidavits from a doctor and a mental health professional stating why their patients should be considered members of the opposite sex, and asserting that their proposed change would be permanent ...

Older but Wiser We are finding spouses later in life, but marriage is alive and well BY CHRISTINE B. WHELAN Friday, November 3, 2006 12:01 a.m. EST ... Among Americans between the ages of 35 and 64, married couples still make up the majority of households ... Marriage is a priority for most Americans - more than 90% of American adults eventually marry - but these days it may not happen, as it so often did before, in the immediate post-high-school or post-college years. The truth is that we're marrying later - and marrying smarter. The institution of marriage is alive and well in 2006 ...

Bid to create part human part animal embryos By Nic Fleming, Science Correspondent Last Updated: 1:53am GMT 07/11/2006 Scientists have applied for permission to create part-human, part-animal embryos as part of research to create new treatments for debilitating neurological diseases. Two teams of researchers today submitted applications to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority for licences to be allowed to use therapeutic cloning to fuse human cells with rabbit, cow and goat egg ...

Meet the man who runs Bill Gates's money Investment guru oversees $50-billion PAUL WALDIE Michael Larson doesn't grant many interviews, and he certainly wasn't talking yesterday. But then again, someone who manages money for the world's richest man and the biggest charitable foundation on the planet probably doesn't need any extra attention. Mr. Larson, 46, runs Bill Gates Investments, or BGI for short. That includes handling Mr. Gates's personal portfolio, through a company called Cascade Investment LLC, and overseeing investments for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the largest private charity in the world. All told, Mr. Larson manages around $50-billion (U.S.), all from a small office outside Seattle identified only as "investments" by a friendly secretary. That amount will jump by at least another $30-billion in a few years once Warren Buffett finishes donating almost his entire fortune to the Gates Foundation ...

Most still wary of liberals 60 % say party not ready. Leader who wanted to recognize Quebec would cost Grits dearly, survey finds JULIET O'NEILL CanWest News Service Tuesday, November 07, 2006 Sixty per cent of Canadians say the Liberals aren't ready to govern again and 42 per cent are less likely to vote for the party if their new leader wants to recognize Quebec as a nation, a new poll made public yesterday suggests ...

Spector refuses to apologize for calling Stronach a 'b*tch' CanWest News Service Tuesday, November 07, 2006 VANCOUVER - Political pundit Norman Spector refused to apologize yesterday for calling Belinda Stronach a "b*tch" - a remark that set off a national controversy last week. Speaking on the Bill Good Show on Vancouver radio station CKNW, Mr. Spector said "the shoe fits and she should wear it" ...

Sunday, November 5, 2006 For many, organic is better Health, ecology issues drive the industry Gannett News Service The demand for organic foods — from fruits, pizza, breakfast cereals and cookies to pasta, ketchup, sirloin steaks and baby food — is growing stronger: Sales of organic food have grown about 20 percent during the last five years, with this year's tally expected to top $15 billion, the Organic Trade Association reports ...

The $$$ Behind Missouri’s Stem Cell Amendment 2 Friday, November 03, 2006 People in Missouri go to the polls November 7th to vote on Amendment 2, which would allow controversial embryonic stem cell research and would, some critics say, opens the door to human cloning. A billionaire couple, Jim and Virginia Stowers, has pumped $29 million “The Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures” – 97% of its financial support—in an effort to get the amendment passed. The Stowers’ millions are funding television, radio, print and billboard ads all over the state. But the couple, who is paying the most in an effort to pass Amendment 2, may stand to gain the most if it does. Jim Stowers is the founder & CEO of American Century Investments, a privately held asset management firm with a $100 billion portfolio. The firm invests significantly in the healthcare sector, including biotechnology, pharmaceutical and healthcare equipment & supply companies. If Amendment 2 passes, Jim Stowers’ company wo...

Plan to create human-cow embryos By Fergus Walsh BBC News, Medical correspondent UK scientists have applied for permission to create embryos by fusing human DNA with cow eggs. Researchers from Newcastle University and Kings College, London, have asked the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority for a three-year licence. The hybrid human-bovine embryos would be used for stem cell research and would not be allowed to develop for more than a few days ...

November 4, 2006 Gender-neutral bathrooms wanted Posters call for support at U of A By MAX MAUDIE, Edmonton Sun Posters stoking support for gender-neutral bathrooms at the University of Alberta are getting a lukewarm reception from students walking the halls. “I don’t think it’s necessarily a misdirected notion,” said history major Joe Nusse, 22. “I just don’t know if retrofitting buildings is really an option” ...

Polygamy: 82 percent of Canadians oppose legalization - poll Date: Nov 06, 2006 OTTAWA - A nation-wide poll conducted by COMPASS Inc. for the Institute for Canadian Values and the Vancouver Sun shows that Canadians "massively" oppose legalizing polygamy. The poll, conducted between October 18 and 27, 2006 found that 82 percent of Canadians oppose the legalization of polygamy. Only 9 percent favour its legalization while another 9 percent did not know. The numbers were similar among males and females, as well as among anglophones and francophones ...

Ivy League Professor Caught with Videos That Show Him Having Sex with Children, Feds Say August 28, 2006 6:10 PM Jack Date Reports: An Ivy League business school professor is in federal custody for allegedly having videos of himself engaging in sexual acts with children, ABC News has learned. Lawrence Scott Ward, 63, Professor Emeritus of Marketing at University of Pennsylvania's renowned Wharton School of Business, was caught with child pornography in his luggage and on his laptop computer after arriving at Dulles International Airport on a flight from Brazil, according to court documents ...

From ABC 7 News: ABC 7 Medical: Birth Control Patch Posted: November 02, 2006 4:00 PM EST URL: http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/1106/372649.html - WJLA Script - Anchor: MORE THAN 40 WOMEN SUED THE MAKERS OF A POPULAR BIRTH CONTROL PATCH. THEY CLAIM THE CONTRACEPTIVE CAUSED SERIOUS ILLNESSES AND AT LEAST ONE DEATH OF A LOCAL WOMAN ...

Former Soviet Dissident Warns For EU Dictatorship From the desk of Paul Belien on Mon, 2006-02-27 21:13 Vladimir Bukovksy, the 63-year old former Soviet dissident, fears that the European Union is on its way to becoming another Soviet Union. In a speech he delivered in Brussels last week Mr Bukovsky called the EU a “monster” that must be destroyed, the sooner the better, before it develops into a full-fledged totalitarian state ...

Expert shocks parents with teen drug use numbers NBC2 News Last updated on: 11/2/2006 7:35:14 AM COLLIER COUNTY: During a meeting in which a former agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration spoke about teenage drug use, parents say they were shocked to see figures detailing how severe the problem really is in Collier County. On Wednesday, former DEA agent Robert Stutman explained to parents that the problem is not solely with teens doing illegal drugs. He said that much of the problem lies with average kids that have started huffing the fumes from aerosol cans and other household products ...

Cell Phone War 6 min 32 sec www.safewireless.org The truth of cell phones has been buried by the industry, the health officials and governments. Health effects from radiation exposure is being allowed to continue ...

Tiller to Demand Incriminating Medical Records Confiscated Abortionist’s investigation request of O’Reilly, Kline is a desperate move to avoid indictment and confuse voters Contact: Troy Newman, President, 316-841-1700; Cheryl Sullenger, Outreach & Media Coordinator, 316-516-3034; both with Operation Rescue WICHITA, Kansas, Nov. 6 /Christian Newswire/ -- In what Operation Rescue is calling a desperate attempt to avoid impending indictments, attorneys for late-term abortionist George R. Tiller have promised to ask the Kansas Supreme Court today to confiscate medical records that the Kansas Attorney General’s office is now reviewing, which allegedly contain evidence of illegal late-term abortions ...

The Physicians' Crusade Against Abortion November 2006 By Frederick N. Dyer What is the legacy of the laws overturned by Roe v. Wade? You probably can see some of it when you look in a mirror. If through late immigration, early Catholic ancestry, or sheer coincidence you do not owe your own existence to these laws, you can still be sure that most people you know or know of in the U.S. would not be alive today had it not been for these laws. The laws were passed from 1860 to 1880 to counter an epidemic of induced abortions among married Protestant women. Physicians were largely responsible for their passage. However, abortion legislation was only one goal of the "physicians' crusade against abortion," as it was termed by historian James C. Mohr. The other was to convince women to continue unwanted pregnancies. The physicians were highly successful in enacting stringent anti-abortion laws. They were not as successful in preventing abortions, but most Americans can be im...

New Brunswick NDP leader quits Says can't continue in unpaid position Canadian Press Monday, November 06, 2006 FREDERICTON -- New Brunswick's New Democrat leader has quit the job, saying she can't continue in an unpaid position. Allison Brewer says she regrets the decision but there's no chance the position will have a salary in the foreseeable future ...

3m body bags could be ordered in flu alert By KIRSTY WALKER Last updated at 09:24am on 6th November 2006 Ministers are considering stockpiling more than three million body bags because of fears of an impending flu pandemic, a senior Government source has revealed. Experts have warned that a mass outbreak is 'overdue' - and when it arrives, 25 per cent of the population could be infected ...

November 6, 2006 Mouldy logic Law allowing police to seize children weakens society By Ezra Levant Police in Alberta now have the power to seize children as old as 17 from their parents if there are any illegal drugs in the house. Just to clarify: The kids might not even know about the drugs. Even the parents might not know the drugs are there. There might not even be any drugs -- just "a chemical or other substance" used to manufacture drugs. If any of these things are even in the house, police can seize the children. Without a trial ...

The Sunday Times November 05, 2006 Doctors: let us kill disabled babies Sarah-Kate Templeton, Health Correspondent ONE of Britain’s royal medical colleges is calling on the health profession to consider permitting the euthanasia of seriously disabled newborn babies. The proposal by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecology is a reaction to the number of such children surviving because of medical advances. The college is arguing that “active euthanasia” should be considered for the overall good of families, to spare parents the emotional burden and financial hardship of bringing up the sickest babies ...

November 4, 2006 Truth scarce in information overload By SALIM MANSUR ... We live paradoxically in an inverse relationship between information and knowledge. Particularly in the mainstream lib-left media, the inversion of information and knowledge is relentless ... We have thus become, despite our hubris -- it might be a fitting epitaph for our generation -- a class of people like those Eliot imagined: "We are the hollow men/We are the stuffed men/Leaning together/Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!

Canadians support re-visiting impact of marriage legislation, says League OTTAWA, October 30, 2006 – The Catholic Civil Rights League today cited a new opinion poll about Canadians’ views on religious freedom in the same sex marriage question as further proof of the need to revisit the matter. The poll, conducted by COMPAS Inc. for the Institute of Canadian Values and The National Post, shows that a majority of Canadians want Parliament to act to protect freedom of religion in the light of legislation redefining marriage to include same-sex couples. Sixty-four percent of respondents to the survey, conducted October 18-27, said that Parliament should review existing legislation to ensure that freedom of religion is protected while 24 percent opposed such an initiative ...