Dispel the Illusion

Debbie will no longer do Dallas, but instead will do Dundas. And Brandon, Kitchener, Perth, Red Deer and everywhere else in Canada. It's odd that entertainment aimed at people with extraordinarily immature attitudes towards sex should be described as adult. Pornography is many things, but it is never adult. And the true obscenity is less the simulated or actual exchange of bodily fluids than the fact that Canadians died in North Africa, Dieppe and Normandy for freedoms that we have transformed into moral anarchy.

If you want to boost your teenager's grade point average, take the kid to church. Or, a new study suggests, find some similar social activity to involve them in. Researchers found that church attendance has as much effect on a teen's GPA as whether the parents earned a college degree. Students in grades 7 to 12 who went to church weekly also had lower dropout rates and felt more a part of their schools.

Far from being religious zealots, a large number of those involved in terrorism do not practise their faith regularly. Many lack religious literacy and could actually be regarded as religious novices. Very few have been brought up in strongly religious households, and there is a higher than average proportion of converts. Some are involved in drug-taking, drinking alcohol and visiting prostitutes. MI5 says there is evidence that a well-established religious identity actually protects against violent radicalisation.

A 12-count warrant has been issued against a Lathrup Village abortion clinic for improperly disposing of medical records, according to Southfield's 46th District Court. The clinic, WomanCare, was under investigation by police and state officials since the spring after an anti-abortion group found biomedical waste, fetal remains and medical documents in garbage receptacles outside of the facility. According to a court clerk, no arrests have been made.

Pensioners outnumber children for the first time as more and more people live longer, new figures show. The fastest-growing pensioner group is the over-80s, who are benefiting from improved diets and healthcare. Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that the future is grey, with the pensioner population projected to grow to more than 12 million within two years. The long-term implications of the pensioner population rising to 11,561,000 and the number of under-16s falling to 11,509,000 last year will affect housing, health and education in the years to come.

Research by consultancy Deloitte shows that over a third of the public do not trust television, with a further third expressing no view either way, while only two per cent "strongly agree" that they trust British TV. Last year saw a spate of scandals on some of the BBC’s biggest charity shows, Channel 4’s Richard and Judy, ITV’s Saturday night shows and a mis-leading BBC1 clip of the Queen. ITV was fined a record £5.67 million in May for cheating viewers out of millions of pounds in premium-rate phone-in competitions.

The study for the think tank Civitas claims that the middle-classes are made to feel guilty about the impact on the environment and the damage to their careers if they have large numbers of babies. Everything from house prices to car tax makes it far more expensive for them to raise more than two children, it says. The report says that this "anti-natal" prejudice against large families is misplaced, however, and that young people who have lots of brothers and sisters grow up happier and better-adjusted than only children.

Two vaccines against cervical cancer are being widely used without sufficient evidence about whether they are worth their high cost or even whether they will effectively stop women from getting the disease, two articles in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine conclude ... “Despite great expectations and promising results of clinical trials, we still lack sufficient evidence of an effective vaccine against cervical cancer,” Dr. Charlotte J. Haug, editor of The Journal of the Norwegian Medical Association, wrote in an editorial in Thursday’s issue of The New England Journal. “With so many essential questions still unanswered, there is good reason to be cautious.”

The newest controversy over exports from China has caused nightmares for researchers documenting the abuse inflicted on animals bred and raised in tiny cages and then skinned alive for their fur. WND has reported multiple times on problems with exports from China, with poison found in pajamas, consumers warned against using ginger, an alert about the dangers from China's pickled vegetables and even the dangers from honey and fireworks.

A website sponsored by Planned Parenthood, the biggest player in America's billion dollar abortion industry, is promoting oral sex and casual encounters in the name of encouraging the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, critics say. "This website is engineered to reach the youth of America and undoubtedly will be featured in their health curriculum that is in many of our public school systems," warned Rev. Clenard H. Childress Jr., of the Life Education And Resource Network.

Chinese security forces opened fire on a crowd this week in eastern Tibet and may have killed 140 people, the Dalai Lama told a French daily on Thursday. "The Chinese army again fired on a crowd on Monday August 18, in the Kham region in eastern Tibet," he told Le Monde. "One hundred and forty Tibetans are reported to have been killed, but the figure needs to be confirmed."

The prefect of the Apostolic Signature, Archbishop Raymond Burke, said this week that Catholics, especially politicians, who publically defend abortion should not receive Communion, and that ministers of Communion should be responsibly charitable in denying it to them if they ask for it, “until they have reformed their lives.” In an interview with the magazine, Radici Christiane, Archbishop Burke pointed out that there is often a lack of reverence at Mass when receiving Communion. “Receiving the Body and Blood of Christ unworthily is a sacrilege,” he warned. “If it is done deliberately in mortal sin it is a sacrilege.”

A new study from Statistics Canada suggests fewer teenagers are having sex, especially teen girls. The 2005 survey found 43 per cent of teens reported having sex, down from 47 per cent in 1996-1997. The reason for the slide seems to be the number of young women that reported they were sexually active. Forty-three per cent of young women aged 15 to 19 reported having sex at least once, compared to 51 per cent in 1996-1997.

Former prime minister Jean Chrétien's criticism of Canada's current China policy reflects his personal financial interest in clients who do business there, not Canada's interest, Conservative cabinet minister Jason Kenney says. And Mr. Kenney, the Secretary of State for Multiculturalism, asserted that when he was in office, Mr. Chrétien's China policy was influenced by his post-politics business plans, and the interests of rich and powerful friends.

When it comes to saving lives, God trumps doctors for many Americans. An eye-opening survey reveals widespread belief that divine intervention can revive dying patients. And, researchers said, doctors "need to be prepared to deal with families who are waiting for a miracle." More than half of randomly surveyed adults — 57 percent — said God's intervention could save a family member even if physicians declared treatment would be futile. And nearly three-fourths said patients have a right to such treatment.

The woman underwent an abortion and the baby, weighing 610 grams, was extracted from her womb without a pulse, hospital officials said. A senior doctor pronounced the baby dead and she was transferred to the cooler. Five hours later, the woman's husband came to the hospital to take what he thought was his dead baby girl for burial. When the baby was taken out of the cooler, she began to breathe. The premature baby was then taken to the intensive care ward, where doctors were attempting to save her life.

An organization founded by a man who escaped from China after being persecuted for his Christian faith says it has uncovered a secret Chinese government document demanding that churches shut their doors for 90 days around the Beijing Olympics. "Should church members violate these rules they will be subject to the disciplinary actions of the Chinese government," said the report from China Aid Association, an organization dedicated to helping persecuted Christians.

Reveling in his status as an intimate of George Bush, Dick Cheney, and John McCain, and America's lone democratic ally in the Caucasus, Saakashvili thought he could get away with a lightning coup and present the world with a fait accompli. Mikheil did not reckon on the rage or resolve of the Bear. American charges of Russian aggression ring hollow. Georgia started this fight Russia finished it. People who start wars don't get to decide how and when they end.

The recent report by the Interception of Communications commissioner, Sir Paul Kennedy notes that 519,260 requisitions of communications data from telephone companies and internet service providers were made in Britain last year. It is very mysterious who is doing the bulk of this spying, since no statistical breakdown is offered. But Sir Paul suggests the procedures may be a bit much for local authorities and things ought to be made easier for them.

Nearly 600,000 people never convicted of any crime now have their details stored on Labour’s DNA database, shock figures reveal. More than 400,000 of those were added in the past two years, further fuelling the belief that the Government is building a genetic record of the entire population by stealth.

With every telephone call, swipe of a card and click of a mouse, information is being recorded, compiled and stored about Britain's citizens. An investigation by The Sunday Telegraph has now uncovered just how much personal data is being collected about individuals by the Government, law enforcement agencies and private companies each day. In one week, the average person living in Britain has 3,254 pieces of personal information stored about him or her, most of which is kept in databases for years and in some cases indefinitely.

The Report dismisses many of the studies of post-abortion trauma on the grounds that women were already traumatized by the time they showed up to the abortion clinic. This is surely true, but doesn't it then follow that it's highly irresponsible to simply give them surgery and then send them home? If we have clear and undisputed information that a disproportionate amount of traumatized women (domestic abuse, substance abuse, etc.) are showing up at any medical location, how can it be reasonable medical care to not screen for this and provide opportunity for intervention?

Tanya Hayes, a student from Croydon in Melbourne, died on Monday, hours after collapsing in a car park. Ms Hayes had been taking an oral contraceptive - recommended for patients using acne medication Roaccutane - for about four months. Busy working and studying, Ms Hayes had ignored symptoms including "breathlessness" and "a nasty, hard cough" for about a fortnight.