Dispel the Illusion

In recent weeks, as he has courted voters in South Carolina and talked to conservative media outlets, Giuliani has highlighted a different element of his thinking on the abortion debate. He has talked about how he would appoint "strict constructionist" judges to the Supreme Court — what abortion rights advocates say is code among conservatives for those who seek to overturn or limit Roe v. Wade, the 1973 court ruling declaring a constitutional right to abortion.

Over the next week, we will contact hundreds of organizations throughout the nation informing them of the kind of people that John Edwards is proud to have on his payroll. We will give them the exact comments made by Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan—nothing will be censored. They will read for themselves the most hate-filled, blasphemous and obscene remarks—all of which were brought to the attention of Edwards—that have ever been written by any employee of a presidential candidate.

Churches whose teachings fail to conform to the Charter should be denied charitable status in Canadian tax law and exemption from property taxes. To my knowledge it was the first time the tax threat was seriously levied. It will seek to force the churches to accept gay rights, abortion and (in the case of the Catholic and Orthodox churches) female priests.

Canada's Charter exists to protect us from ourselves - and it's not doing a very good job. That's partly because it was born too late. Individual freedom is a liberal idea, and by 1982 the age of liberalism was gone.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has attacked the United States for what he said was its "almost uncontained" use of force around the world. America's "very dangerous" approach to global relations was fuelling a nuclear arms race, he told a security summit.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America said Thursday it is removing from the clergy a gay minister from Atlanta who announced he has a partner. The Rev. Bradley Schmeling, who has led St. John's, Atlanta's oldest Lutheran church, since 2000, will be removed from the roster effective Aug. 15, according to a report from the ELCA's disciplinary committee.

Two national pro-life leaders have met with members of the Kansas Congressional delegation and the Department of Justice to ask for a federal investigation into why Kansas officials are not prosecuting late-term abortionist George R. Tiller on thirty criminal charges brought by the former Kansas Attorney General ... (They) ask for a federal inquiry into the lack of willingness by certain Kansas officials to uphold Kansas laws. The leaders expressed concern that by not enforcing the abortion laws, women’s civil rights have been placed “at serious risk and jeopardy.”

A former youth pastor was sentenced to death Wednesday for killing a teenager and her fetus in what is believed to be the first such order in Texas, the nation's busiest death penalty state. Adrian Estrada, 23, was convicted Friday of one count of capital murder for the death of Stephanie Sanchez and the fetus, of which he was the father.

A new government-sponsored survey on spirituality in China has found that the number of religious believers among the country's 1.3 billion people is far higher than generally known, amounting to as many as 300 million. The findings, based on a poll of 4,500 people conducted by professors at East China Normal University in Shanghai, supported growing indications that many Chinese are searching for new value systems to replace the communist doctrine that has been jettisoned in favor of market economics and a race for prosperity.

A series of concerts "bigger than Live Aid" is being planned for July, in a bid to put the subject of climate change before an audience of a global audience of 2bn. The event, scheduled for July 7, will feature co-ordinated film, music and television events in seven cities including London, Washington DC, Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town and Kyoto, with major broadcasters and media owners aiming to extend the reach of public awareness of global warming.

In a brief but firm communiqué Thursday morning, Father Federico Lombardi S.J., Director of the Holy See’s Press Office, denied the validity of a story in the Italian daily "La Stampa." Lombardi said the story’s purported “revelations” which claimed that the Vatican Secretary of State has agreed to a request from the government of Italy to keep quiet on social issues and that the Holy See is receiving pressure from certain bishops over the appointment of the next President of the Italian Episcopal Conference are both false.

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion is prepared to take “extraordinary measures” to boost the ranks of women candidates in the next election, including barring men from seeking nominations in some ridings.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says he hasn't ruled out including income-splitting for families in his coming federal budget. Flaherty says the option is still on the table for the budget, expected March 20, despite media reports that he had decided not to pursue it.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper warned China today not to threaten Canada on economic issues in the hope of getting his government to back off on human rights criticisms, including the case of Huseyin Celil. Speaking with reporters in Halifax, Mr. Harper suggested China has more to lose if the economic relationship between the two countries becomes fractured.

For eurosceptics, the European Court of Justice ruling in September 2005 was like giving a child a loaded gun. It opened the way for the European Union to designate a new class of pan-European crimes, and how they should be punished.

Yesterday at Mantua, in an amazing echo of that heartrending story, archaeologists revealed the discovery of a couple locked in a tender embrace, one that has endured for more than 5,000 years.

For years, Orthodox clerics believed that they had defeated Greeks wishing to embrace the customs and beliefs of the ancient past. But increasingly the church, a bastion of conservatism and traditionalism, has been confronted by the spectre of polytheists making a comeback in the land of the gods.

The Rev. Ted Haggard emerged from three weeks of intensive counseling convinced he is "completely heterosexual" and told an oversight board that his sexual contact with men was limited to his accuser. That is according to one of the disgraced pastor's overseers, who on Monday revealed new details about where Haggard has been and where he is headed.

The teen pregnancy rate in the United States is at an all-time low, while the rate of Caesarean deliveries is at an all-time high. At the same time, the birth rates for mothers aged 30 and older rose in 2005 to levels not seen in nearly 40 years.