Part-Time Pundit: Friday Fax / Culture & Cosmos Archives

September 22, 2005

Culture & Cosmos: Kennedy Using Katrina to Attack Private Schools

The area affected by Hurricane Katrina has a much higher than normal percentage of students in private (usually Catholic) schools. This is because of the imfamously poor state of public education in the area. If you want to be left behind and assured of no resources with which to get out of New Orleans because of a Hurricane, public schooling is your best bet.

Because of the amount of people displaced who would otherwise go to private schools, President Bush proposed to give them assistance in getting into private schools where they ended up. Instead, Kennedy insists that all children must be put in public schools unless the families (who now have no jobs) can come up with a second set of tuition money to pay on their own.

I agree, it is ironic that the opposition to the Bush plan is coming from 4 Irish Catholic senators.

=====
One of the Senate's best known Catholics has worked to reject a proposal by President Bush that would have given families displaced by Hurricane Katrina financial aid to send their children to private or parochial schools. A bipartisan student relief package put forth by Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy and Wyoming Senator Michael Enzi did not include a provision that would have given students up to $7,500 because Kennedy opposed the provision, according to a high level Congressional staffer who spoke with Culture & Cosmos.

Culture & Cosmos also learned that a prominent Church prelate said he was furious that aid to private schools had been kept out of the package and he was especially angry that it is being blocked by "four Irish Catholic Senators."

The proposal for financial aid came from the Bush administration and the Department of Education and noted that, "Communities in Louisiana significantly impacted by the hurricane had an above average number of children enrolled in private schools — 61,000 students in private schools compared to 187,000 in public schools in four severely impacted parishes. These significantly impacted Louisiana communities averaged 25% of students attending private K-12 schools — much higher than the 11% national average of private school students." Out of the 61,000 students in private schools, 81%, or 50,000 attend Catholic schools. In fact, New Orleans public schools have long had a reputation for poor quality and the Catholic school system there is seen as an affordable refuge.

The total price tag for the Education Department's proposal which aims to cover most of the cost of educating students displaced by Katrina is $1.9 billion. The administration estimates that of that total, 25% or $488 million would be needed for educational support if their proposal was implemented.

Kennedy publicly criticized aid for private schools yesterday in a statement: "But I am extremely disappointed that [President Bush] has proposed providing this relief using such a politically-charged approach. This is not the time for a partisan political debate on vouchers." Despite the high percentage of New Orleans students who attend private school, Kennedy said "we need to focus on rebuilding the public school systems which are the cornerstones of the Gulf Coast communities and economies."

Catholic League president William Donohue praised the proposal. "This is more than an education issue – it is a matter of fundamental civil rights. Having been ravaged by Hurricane Katrina, the residents of New Orleans want to put their lives back together as soon as possible. What they don't need now is for federal lawmakers to stand in their way by playing politics with the choices they make."

Legislators are still hashing out the final details of the relief package they will send to the president so it is still possible that money for vouchers will be added back into Senators Enzi and Kennedy's legislations.

One observer pointed out that "it is a joke that Kennedy still thinks he is the preeminent Catholic politician in America. He is a disgrace on this and other issues important to Catholic."
Culture of Life Foundation
1413 K Street, NW, Suite 1000
Washington DC 20005
Phone: (202) 289-2500 Fax: (202) 289-2502 E-mail: clf@culture-of-life.org
Website: http://www.culture-of-life.org

Posted by John Bambenek at 8:09 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

August 16, 2005

NARAL: All Legitimacy Left Behind

NARAL has hit rock-bottom...

And they've started to dig.

They pulled the commercial but are still insisting Roberts supports violence against abortion clinics. Read more from Culture & Cosmos below.

=================

NARAL Website Still Portrays Judge John Roberts as Defender of Violence

Despite their decision to pull a misleading television ad that accuses Judge John G. Roberts of defending violence against abortion clinics, NARAL Pro-Choice America remains strongly opposed to Roberts' nomination to the Supreme Court. Their website, ProChoiceAmerica.org, features a special section devoted to providing talking points and other documents designed to hurt Roberts' confirmation chances including one that continues to portray him as a defender of clinic violence.

NARAL has come under intense criticism for a recent television ad that implied that Roberts defended the perpetrators of 1998 bombing of a Birmingham, Ala. abortion clinic. The accusation stems from an amicus curiae brief Roberts co-authored seven years before the bombing when he was Deputy Solicitor General in the administration of President George H.W. Bush. In a brief for the case Bray v. Alexandria Women's Health Clinic, Roberts argued that protestors at an abortion clinic could not be prosecuted under a Civil War era civil rights law. In his oral argument before the Supreme Court, Roberts makes it clear that the protesters should be prosecuted for any state laws they violated such as trespassing, disturbing the peace or inciting a riot.

The ad came under a barrage of criticism, including from supporters of abortion like Frances Kissling, president of "Catholics" for a Free Choice. After a letter denouncing it was sent to NARAL by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, who is pro-abortion, the ad was pulled. In a letter to Specter, NARAL president Nancy Keenan did not apologize for the ad's content but did say she regretted "that many people have misconstrued our recent advertisement about Mr. Roberts' record."

The day after pulling the ad, NARAL communications director David E. Seldin announced he was resigning immediately. In an e-mail to coworkers he said, "I've been thinking for a while that I would most likely leave after the Supreme Court nomination fight was over, and by leaving now I can spend the next two weeks in Cape Cod with my family relaxing, instead of trying to find a place with good cell phone reception." A Washington Post report said Seldin was among a group of Democrats who thought they should be tougher on Roberts.

Despite pulling the ad, NARAL is using the same rhetoric as the ad in its online campaign to stop confirmation of Roberts saying he "argued in support of the violent clinic protesters at Operation Rescue who have tried to block women's access to basic health care services with bombs and threats of murder." The document accuses Roberts of being "so driven by ideology that he will excuse lawless conduct against women and other Americans."

In a list of talking points on the website, NARAL says that the "Bush administration owes it to the American public to disclose all relevant information about John Roberts, including his taxes, records from his job as Deputy Solicitor General, and the radical right's role in his selection."

Culture of Life Foundation
1413 K Street, NW, Suite 1000
Washington DC 20005
Phone: (202) 289-2500
Fax: (202) 289-2502
E-mail: clf@culture-of-life.org
Website: http://www.culture-of-life.org

Posted by John Bambenek at 2:46 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

August 9, 2005

Culture & Cosmos / Liberal Pundits on Roberts: No Catholics Allowed

Liberal pundits, like they did in Europe, are seeking to exclude orthodox Catholics from public life. The following is Culture & Cosmos on the subject.

=========

Pundit Class Says Roberts' Faith Open for Questioning

A number of prominent pundits have written columns saying it is entirely legitimate to question Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts about whether his Catholic faith would interfere with his ability to serve on the bench. And in a recent interview former New York Governor Mario Cuomo went so far as to say that Congress should get assurance from Roberts that he will uphold the Constitution even if the pope tells him to do otherwise.

Writing for the online magazine Slate.com, Christopher Hitchens says that Catholic judges and the effect their beliefs would have on the way they carry out their duties are deserving of special scrutiny. "Why should this question be asked only of Catholics? Well, that's easy. The Roman Catholic Church claims the right to legislate on morals for all its members and to excommunicate them if they don't conform. The church is also a foreign state, which has diplomatic relations with Washington." Hitchens also takes a swing at the Catholic Justice Antonin Scalia. Noting a speech Scalia gave in Baton Rouge in which he called on audience members to be "fools for Christ" Hitchens remarks, "Whether for 'Christ' or not, Scalia is certainly a fool. He should have fewer allies and emulators on the court, not more."

Self-identified Catholic E.J. Dionne wrote a column for the Washington Post titled "Why It's Right to Ask About Robert's Faith." In it Dionne asks, "If Roberts's religious views are important to him, why should they be off-limits to honest discussion?" Writing for beliefnet.com Amy Sullivan accuses Republicans of hypocrisy saying they were the ones to make faith an issue. "It was conservatives who spent much of last year arguing that John Kerry’s religious beliefs were insufficiently reflected in his position on abortion," she writes though conservatives never argued that Kerry's faith would prevent him from carrying out the duties of the presidency.

One of the more outspoken proponents of the notion that Roberts' faith should be a potential target of criticism is Cuomo. Speaking this Sunday on Meet the Press, he said, "Everybody takes an oath to support the Constitution, including especially judges. So why not ask them: Will you, Judge, apply a religious test to the Constitution? Will you start by saying, 'I'm not going to support the Constitution if my pope tells me not to'?" Cuomo reiterated the point that assurances should be obtained from Roberts that he was not taking directions from the Pope. "Here, ironically, if you want to say religious test, the question for Judge Roberts is, Are you going to impose a religious test on the Constitution? Are you going to say that because the pope says this or the Church says that, you will do it no matter what? You will overturn Roe against Wade."

Conservative constitutionalists and Catholics are increasingly concerned at what appears to be a growing religious test for the Supreme Court. They are reminded of what happened a few months ago in Europe where noted Italian statesman Rocco Buttiglione was denied a seat on the European Commission because of his Catholic beliefs. As one observer put it, "Let them question him on his political positions, or on his judicial philosophy, fine, but asking him about possible religious underpinnings of these positions is establishing an unconstitutional religious test for public office. It is particularly appalling that this is coming from supposed Catholics like Cuomo."

Culture of Life Foundation
1413 K Street, NW, Suite 1000
Washington DC 20005
Phone: (202) 289-2500
Fax: (202) 289-2502
E-mail: clf@culture-of-life.org
Website: http://www.culture-of-life.org

Posted by John Bambenek at 4:51 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

August 2, 2005

Justice's Nomination Brings Issue of Catholic Faith to Forefront

Are Catholics welcome to serve in the offices of this country or are they banned and condemned to second class status?

=====================
Supreme Court justice nominee John G. Roberts has begun to face increased scrutiny over his Catholic faith and the role it would play were he to be confirmed by the Senate. Whether or not Catholic bishops will weigh in on the question remains unknown but it seems likely that many of the issues surrounding Catholic politicians, Catholics in the voting booth and reception of the Eucharist that arose during last year's election will once again become prominent.

Following the resignation of Sandra Day O'Connor from the high court, Spokane Bishop William S. Skylstad wrote a letter on the vacancy to President Bush. In the July 6 letter, Bishop Skylstad, who serves as president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, wrote that while the bishops could not endorse nominees they did urge him "to consider for the Court qualified jurists who, pre-eminently, support the protection of human life from conception to natural death, especially of those who are unborn, disabled, or terminally ill."

Since then, Roberts, a practicing Catholic, was nominated and people have begun to ask whether or not his Catholicism will interfere with his ability to carry out the duties of a Supreme Court justice. Opinion pieces appeared yesterday in the Los Angels Times and Boston Globe both saying Roberts' faith should not be off limits. Writing in the Times, Michael McGough said, "Catholic antiabortion activists and some bishops have suggested that canon law requires that Catholic politicians who support abortion rights be denied Holy Communion." McGough asks if the same reasoning would be applied to a judge who rules to uphold Roe v. Wade.

During last year's election many Catholic bishops spoke out against pro-abortion Catholics who hold public office saying they should not receive communion prompting numerous news stories. One bishop even said those voting for pro-abortion candidates should not receive the Eucharist. The question of Catholics in political life was even addressed by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, who wrote a memo to Washington Cardinal Theodore McCormick saying Catholics are obligated to oppose laws that permit abortion and euthanasia. A Catholic politician "consistently campaigning and voting for permissive abortion and euthanasia laws" is guilty of formal cooperation according to the memo. In such a situation the politician's pastor ought to explain the Church's teaching and tell him not to receive Communion, "warning him that he will otherwise be denied the Eucharist."

Though the bishops themselves have not spoken out, the National Committee for a Human Life Amendment, an organization that operates under the oversight of the bishops, has led several efforts dealing with the Supreme Court. In April, in anticipation of a vacancy in the Court, the NCHLA distributed some 7 million postcards to 70 percent of the nation's dioceses urging senators to reject making support for Roe v. Wade a prerequisite for being confirmed. They are now directing their efforts to promoting the website EndRoe.org. Visitors to the site can send their senator an e-mail telling them not "to require support for Roe v. Wade as a condition for determining a nominee's fitness for judicial office." According to Loretta Fleming, field coordinator at NCHLA, they hope the site becomes a one-stop educational resource advocating the end of Roe v. Wade. "People think that Roe is the law of the land and that it's never going to change. We want to change the mindset," she said.

Culture of Life Foundation
1413 K Street, NW, Suite 1000
Washington DC 20005
Phone: (202) 289-2500
Fax: (202) 289-2502
E-mail: clf@culture-of-life.org
Website: http://www.culture-of-life.org

Posted by John Bambenek at 1:02 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

June 8, 2005

Friday Fax / Let's Keep Trying the Same Failed Strategies til We Get Different Results

Despite the fact that these programs have no ability whatsoever to contain AIDS, they keep trying them anyway, expecting different results. The only difference is that want even MORE money with which to fail with. That's the UN for you, the potential for so much good, but insists on being a big hole in the center of Manhattan you sink money into and never get any results.

==============
UN Calls for Closer Links Between AIDS Prevention Programs and Abortion

Yesterday the UN wrapped up a high-level conference to evaluate the progress achieved in combating the spread of HIV/AIDS since the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS. While the UN acknowledged a failure to make significant progress and admitted that it was unlikely to reach its original goal of containing the disease by 2015, the blame was apportioned to insufficient funding rather than ineffective strategies. The UN called for more financial support for its current strategies, including the integration of HIV/AIDS prevention programs and "reproductive health services," which in UN speak include abortion.

The UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan admitted that HIV/AIDS is still expanding at an accelerating rate, and last year saw more new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths than ever before. There are now 39.4 million people worldwide living with HIV. The hardest-hit region continues to be sub-Saharan Africa, which accounts for 64 percent of all HIV infections. In Swaziland, the most affected country, 42.6 percent of pregnant women tested HIV-positive last year.

Jean Ping, the President of the General Assembly, also stated that the threat of HIV/AIDS today is far greater than four years ago. By the end of 2006, 11 countries in sub-Saharan Africa are expected to lose more than 10 percent of their workforce due to AIDS.

Speakers focused on the shortfall of funding for current efforts rather than questioning the effectiveness of current UN strategies to battle HIV/AIDS. Peter Piot, the Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), claimed that UN programs would succeed if the current amount of funding were doubled from $8 billion to $14-16 billion annually.

Access to conference proceedings was mostly restricted, and the final recommendations were not made public but were summarized at the closing session by Jean Ping, the President of the General Assembly. However, the proceedings merely reaffirmed the need for a scaling-up of current UN efforts, rather than recommending new strategies.

The preparatory document on HIV/AIDS prevention stressed the need for "linking sexual and reproductive health and HIV/AIDS." According to Ping, the actual discussion recommended the breaking down of "taboos" regarding sexuality and high-risk behavior, and called for a closer link between "sex, hygiene and procreation" programs and HIV/AIDS prevention efforts.

Among the papers circulated at the conference was the Stockholm Call for Action, a radical manifesto created on April 12 at a conference sponsored by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Government of Sweden. This Call declares that "access to reproductive and sexual health information and services is integral to efforts to curb the HIV/AIDS epidemic" asks for young people to have "access to gender-sensitive reproductive and sexual health . . . education and services," and supports the inclusion of "universal access to reproductive health by 2015 as a target for MDG 5" at September's Summit at the UN on the Millennium Development Goals, the UN's current major initiative.

Permission granted for unlimited use. Credit required.

Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute
866 United Nations Plaza, Suite 427
New York, New York 10017
Phone: (212) 754-5948 Fax: (212) 754-9291
E-mail: c-fam@c-fam.org Website: www.c-fam.org

Posted by John Bambenek at 10:37 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Culture & Cosmos / Senator Brownback

The latest from C-FAM...

============
Brownback Devotion To Life, Other Issues Makes Him A Standout Senator

Since coming to Congress in 1994 and the Senate in 1996, Kansas Republican Sam Brownback has distinguished himself as one of the most stalwart defenders of human life while simultaneously developing a diverse legislative portfolio that includes efforts to defend religious freedom around the globe, to stop genocide in Darfur and even to build a museum honoring African-Americans on Washington DC's Mall.

One of the causes to which Brownback has lent his leadership is a total ban on human cloning. Brownback has led the charge in the Senate for a total ban by sponsoring legislation that would make cloning illegal not only in instances when a cloned embryo is carried in a pregnancy, brought to full term and delivered but also in cases when a human embryo is created for the purposes of being destroyed for scientific research such as for embryonic stem cells.

Brownback has also threatened to filibuster a recent bill that gained passage in the House that would provide federal funding for embryo destructive research if it reaches the Senate floor. He has also led the way in cleaning up the pop-culture airwaves by sponsoring legislation that would increase the amount of money the Federal Communications Commission can fine TV and radio stations for broadcasting indecent content.

Though his principled stands on these issues as well as his good standing with Christian conservatives might lead some to stereotype as only a social conservative, Brownback has put considerable effort into developing bipartisan initiatives, a fact illustrated by his work with Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu on cloning. He has even won the accolades of Nicholas Kristof, a liberal columnist with one of the left's favorite institutions, The New York Times. In a December column Kristof praised the senator for taking the lead on a number of international human rights issues including most notably his efforts to intervene on behalf of Sudenese citizens in the region of Darfur who are, according to many, experiencing genocide. "Members of the Christian right, exemplified by Brownback, are the new internationalists, increasingly engaged in humanitarian causes abroad — thus creating opportunities for common ground between left and right on issues we all care about," Krstof wrote. ". . . I’m embarrassed to say that Democrats have been so suspicious of Republicans that they haven’t contributed much on those human rights issues where the Christian right has already staked out its ground."

Brownback may have his eye beyond representing Kansas in the US Senate. In recent months, he has made has made visits to Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, states where the first presidential primaries are held. He recently told RightWingNews.com that he is examining a presidential run but that, "No final decision has been made. . . . It’s quite a challenge and so I’m taking time and looking at it quite carefully."

Brownback may harbor high aspirations, but he is not like the usual politician. He believes that government can be a force for moral good and personally demonstrates a profound interior life of faith. At a recent address to the graduates of Christendom College makes it clear that Brownback approaches his work with humility and awareness of its limitations. "The temptation that many of us in public life face is to treat public policy issues as if they were of transcendent importance. In fact, that can become a handy excuse for treating people as means to an all-important end, as well as all sorts of other omissions of responsibility," he said. "But it is this constant interior struggle to do our work well and to fulfill our obligations with the right intention that will have the most profound effect on society. This is the re-evangelization in action: the positive influence we can have on the souls we touch each day."

Permission granted for unlimited use. Credit required.

Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute
866 United Nations Plaza, Suite 427
New York, New York 10017
Phone: (212) 754-5948 Fax: (212) 754-9291
E-mail: c-fam@c-fam.org Website: www.c-fam.org

Posted by John Bambenek at 8:33 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 26, 2005

Friday Fax - Ok we lied, we really are trying to push abortion

This Friday Fax brings us a document that admits people are pushing for legalized abortion as a human right everywhere by abusing the Beijing conference that explicitly did not make abortion a human right. They continue to parrot the lie that strict abortion laws lead to higher maternal mortality despite the fact that even they don't believe that any more. Here it is.

===========================================================
New Report Shows How Beijing Document Promotes Abortion

Merely two months after the close of the "Beijing +10" conference at the United Nations, where pro-abortion lobby groups and delegates from several countries vehemently denied that the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action supports a right to legal abortion, a prominent abortion advocacy group has released two briefing papers admitting that Beijing promotes legalized abortion.

In "Abortion and the Law: Ten Years of Reform," the Center for Reproductive Rights, the world's only organization of human rights lawyers focusing exclusively on abortion, states that Beijing "provides vital support to advocates seeking abortion law reform in their countries."

The report explains that Beijing, while not directly calling for legalized abortion, provides a "global commitment to stopping unsafe abortion." The report highlights Beijing's call upon governments to "to deal with the health impact of unsafe abortion as a major public health concern." According to the report, Beijing thus "link[ed] women's health to abortion law reform" and "affirmed what has become increasingly clear to governments and advocates worldwide: that removing legal barriers to abortion saves women's lives, promotes their health, and empowers women."

In its second recent briefing paper, "Beijing and International Law: UN Treaty Monitoring Bodies Uphold Reproductive Rights," CRR explains how Beijing supports the activities of other UN bodies that are pressuring countries to legalize their abortion laws. CRR states that Beijing "focuses primarily on the impact of unsafe abortion," and various UN treaty monitoring bodies have found illegal abortion to be unsafe.

According to CRR, such committees have "made the important connection between illegal, unsafe abortion and high rates of maternal mortality." According to these committees, "maternal mortality caused by unsafe abortion [is] a violation of women's rights to health and life." Thus, these committees argue that women's rights to life and health mandate legalized abortion.

CRR highlights activities of the Human Rights Committee (HRC), which monitors implementation of the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Covenant, created at a time when most countries banned abortion, does not refer to abortion in any way. However, HRC has nonetheless frequently used its ICCPR mandate to pressure countries to liberalize their abortion laws.

For example, in March 2005 HRC told Kenya that it is concerned about the "maternal mortality…caused, inter alia, by a high number of unsafe or illegal abortions," and stated that Kenya "should review its abortion laws."

In 2004 HRC told Poland that it "reiterates its deep concern about the restrictive abortion laws in Poland, which may incite women to seek unsafe, illegal abortion…the State Party should liberalize its legislation and practice on abortion."

Permission granted for unlimited use. Credit required.

Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute
866 United Nations Plaza, Suite 427
New York, New York 10017
Phone: (212) 754-5948 Fax: (212) 754-9291
E-mail: c-fam@c-fam.org Website: www.c-fam.org

Posted by John Bambenek at 2:03 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

May 19, 2005

Friday Fax - Racist UN Continuing To Try To Exterminate Africa with AIDS

There is one thing that has proven to work to stop AIDS, sexual fidelity. Condoms and sexual education programs have only INCREASED the AIDS infection rate in Africa. The UN knows this but still supports sex education, more abortion, and more condoms. Is it because they want to kill off Africans?

====
FRIDAY FAX

May 20, 2005
Volume 8, Number 22

UN AIDS Conference Threatens to Push for Increased Access to Abortion

On June 2, the UN will host a high-level conference to evaluate the
progress achieved in combating HIV/AIDS since 2001, when countries adopted
the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS. An emerging strategy by
abortion advocates has been to seek liberalization of abortion laws as
what they claim is a necessary step to HIV/AIDS prevention. The conference
threatens to result in further pressure on governments to forge linkages
between access to abortion and efforts to halt the spread of HIV.

A discussion paper for the conference advocates the "integration of
sexual and reproductive health and HIV/AIDS" and states that "sexual and
reproductive health services is a clear strategic entry point for
maximizing the impact of HIV prevention efforts." The paper also ties
abortion rights to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the UN's major
current initiative, stating that "ensuring access to sexual and
reproductive health information and services...is essential for achieving
the Millennium Development Goals."

"Reproductive health services" and similar expressions are understood
by the UN to include abortion. For example, the UN Millennium Project
study on ways to increase progress towards the MDGs states in a report,
under the subtitle "Full access to sexual and reproductive health
information and services...," that " A comprehensive district health
system...includes safe abortion services."

The discussion paper for the June 2 conference cites the Millennium
Project study to recommend that "Governments incorporate universal access
to reproductive and sexual health services as an integral part of their
response to AIDS."

The paper also cites as authoritative two recent manifestos produced by
the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) together with abortion activists and other
UN agencies. The Glion Call to Action urges countries to "strengthen
commitment to achieving universal access to reproductive health services,
including family planning, and recognize and support the contribution of
these services to HIV/AIDS prevention efforts."

The New York Call to Commitment further calls for "strengthening of the
policy and programme linkages between HIV/AIDS and sexual and reproductive
health" and states that the MDGs "will not be achieved without ensuring
universal access to sexual and reproductive health services and
programmes."

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in his preparatory report for the June
2 conference, also approves of the New York Call to Commitment, saying
that it "articulates a comprehensive framework to maximize the use of
sexual and reproductive health services to strengthen the global AIDS
response." Earlier, in a report for the Conference on Population and
Development, Annan had stated that "The United Nations and its partners
are expected to intensify programme linkages between HIV programmes and
sexual and reproductive health services."

Copyright 2005 - C-FAM (Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute).
Permission granted for unlimited use. Credit required.

Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute
866 United Nations Plaza, Suite 427
New York, New York 10017
Phone: (212) 754-5948 Fax: (212) 754-9291
E-mail: c-fam@c-fam.org Website: www.c-fam.org

Posted by John Bambenek at 6:05 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 11, 2005

Culture & Cosmos / Pro-Life Democrats have a plan but...

Why is it that in this pro-choice world that those who support abortion see the need to take away the choice of providers in choosing not to offer it? What's so wrong with choice for providers when it is so good for women?

===

CULTURE & COSMOS
May 10, 2005
Volume 2, Number 40

Pro-Life Democrats Offer Mixed Bag of Proposals Designed to Reduce
Abortions

A series of legislative proposals aimed at reducing abortions by 95
percent in the next 10 years was recently announced by pro-life Democrats
at the Democratic National Committee headquarters. It is a move that may
indicate the party is taking seriously recent polling data indicating the
party's unwavering support for abortion to be politically damaging. But
the proposal contains a provision that would require insurance companies
to provide coverage for contraceptives. Such a provision could make it
difficult for the proposal to gain the support of stalwart pro-life
Republicans that it would need to gain passage.

Called the 95-10 Initiative, it is made up of 17 individual proposals
aimed at reducing the number of abortions. The proposals are expected to
be introduced as a single piece of legislation by Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan, one
of about 29 pro-life Democratic members of Congress. Jennifer Moore, a
legislative assistant to Ryan, told Culture & Cosmos that the proposal was
largely crafted by Kristen Day, executive director of Democrats for Life
of America. The goal of ending 95 percent of abortions was arrived at
because it is thought to be the percentage of abortions obtained for
reasons other than rape, incest or the health of the mother.

The plan would attempt to encourage adoption through several
measures. It calls on tax credits for adoptive parents that are temporally
in place to be made permanent. The proposal would also require states to
create advertising campaigns that provide a toll free number "to
organizations that provide support services for pregnant women who want to
carry their children to term" or "direct women to adoption centers." The
plan stipulates that such organizations must "not provide abortion
referral services."

Other elements of the initiative include a requirement that insurance
companies remove pregnancy from their lists of pre-existing conditions.
The plan also calls for "grants to nonprofit, tax-exempt organizations for
the purchase of ultrasound equipment to provide free examinations to
pregnant women needing such services." Staffers at pregnancy crisis
centers report that many pregnant women decide against having an abortion
after seeing their unborn child or hearing his or her heartbeat.

The plan calls for "grants to school districts that are in need of
funds to administer effective, age-appropriate pregnancy prevention
education" which could be interpreted to mean funding for sex-ed programs.
The proposal does not state whether such programs would have to be
"abstinence only" in order to receive the funds. More disturbing to
pro-lifers is the proposal's call for "Contraception Equity" which would
"[r]equire insurance coverage of contraception approved by the Food and
Drug Administration." The text of the 95-10 Initiative states that the
idea is based on "Missouri legislation that was supported by both pro-life
and pro-choice groups." But it is unclear how such a proposal could gain
pro-life support given that "the pill" can act as an abortifacient. More
broadly, some pro-life experts have noted that the widespread use of
contraception is always accompanied by an increase in abortions.

Moore said it was a positive sign that Howard Dean, president of the
Democratic National Committee, gave permission for the 95-10 Initiative to
be announced at the DNC headquarters. Since the November election some
Democrats have indicated that the party's unqualified support for abortion
on demand should be tempered. Most notably, New York Senator Hillary
Rodham Clinton, who is held in high reverence by radical feminists,
recently delivered a speech in which she called abortion a "tragic
choice." Research by the liberal Democracy Corps revealed that Democrats
are losing white Catholics to the Republican Party because of the abortion
issue.

Culture of Life Foundation
1413 K Street, NW, Suite 1000
Washington DC 20005
Phone: (202) 289-2500 Fax: (202) 289-2502
E-mail: clf@culture-of-life.org
Website: http://www.culture-of-life.org

Posted by John Bambenek at 2:17 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 5, 2005

Friday Fax - UNFPA Tried to Subvert Muslim Teaching on Abortion

Latest from the Friday Fax on the UNFPA and IPPF trying to undermine Islam's teaching against contraception and abortion by bringing together "scholars" to "discover" that it's all really ok to kill your unborn kids.

-----------

FRIDAY FAX

May 6, 2005
Volume 8, Number 20

UNFPA, IPPF Organize Pakistani Conference to Undermine Muslim Teaching on
Abortion/Contraception

A three-day international conference of Muslim scholars that portrayed
contraception and even abortion as acceptable to Islam wraps up today in
Islamabad, Pakistan. The International Ulama Conference on Population and
Development was the first of its kind, bringing together Muslim teachers
to explore whether Islam could approve of family planning and
"reproductive health" programs. The Conference was organized by Pakistan's
Ministry of Population Welfare with support from the UN Population Fund
(UNFPA).

Pakistan's Prime Minster Shaukat Aziz gave the inaugural speech, urging
religious scholars to draw guidelines in the light of Islamic teachings
for changing societal opinions on family planning, in Pakistan as well as
throughout the Muslim world. Religious scholars (Ulema) are key figures in
Islam, as they are responsible for interpreting the Koran and establishing
Islamic jurisprudence.

The Minister for Population Welfare, Shahbaz Hussain, explained that
Pakistan's government has been working to gain the approval of religious
scholars for Pakistan's recent embrace of population control programs
based on family planning and "reproductive health." Hussain explained that
the government has established "Mobile Service Units" that provide
door-to-door "family planning and reproductive health services," and has
expanded "reproductive health services centers," as well as running a
media campaign to promote family planning.

The conference was attended by several key members of Pakistan's
government, the representatives of at least 18 countries, including Egypt,
Turkey, Malaysia, and Saudi Arabia, and important Muslim scholars from at
least 29 countries.

Ms. Hong Ping of the Chinese chapter of the International Planned
Parenthood Federation (IPPF), who presented at the conference, explained
in her paper that currently there is "misunderstanding and misperception
of reproductive health and family planning prevailing among the Muslims,
such as...'abortion is life-killing,' etc. All of [this] traditional
ideology tends to result in resistance to reproductive health services and
acceptance of family planning measures."

In her paper, "Promotion of Reproductive Health Through Religious
Leaders Among the Muslim Population," Ping said "it is crucial to develop
a sound partnership with the religious leaders should reproductive health
be improved and family planning program[s] be accepted among the Muslim
concentrated populations."

Ping elaborated on a pilot program of this kind in China, where the
IPPF chapter "initiated a project on promoting reproductive health among
[the] Muslim population via religious leaders in April 1999." The leaders
are "encouraged" "using relevant statements in [the] Koran and Hadith" to
explain that "reproductive health was necessary and feasible," thus
"integrating the doctrines from the Koran and Hadith with reproductive
health and family planning."

Undermining traditional religious teachings of many faiths has long
been the desire and goal of UNFPA and other proponents of UN-style family
planning. UNFPA executives consistently have misstated Catholic teachings
on contraception.

Copyright 2005 - C-FAM (Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute).
Permission granted for unlimited use. Credit required.

Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute
866 United Nations Plaza, Suite 427
New York, New York 10017
Phone: (212) 754-5948 Fax: (212) 754-9291
E-mail: c-fam@c-fam.org Website: www.c-fam.org

Posted by John Bambenek at 10:06 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 3, 2005

Hostility to Religion Doesn't Pay

Culture & Cosmos has the latest polling showing that frequency of attending church services is a better indicator of what party people vote for. The more people go to church, the less they vote Democrat.

====================

CULTURE & COSMOS
May 3, 2005 Volume 2, Number 39

Religious Commitment Is Lead Voting Indicator According to New Pew Study

Polling data continues to show that people committed to their faith are
abandoning the Democratic Party in historic numbers. The shift has become
so significant that according to a report from the Pew Research Center,
church attendance is a greater indicator of how one voted in the 2004
presidential election than "such demographic characteristics as gender,
age, income and region" and is "just as important as race."

The Pew study, "Religion & Public Life: A Faith-Based Partisan Divide,"
reports that in the last election people who attend church more than once
a week, such as Catholics who go to daily Mass or Evangelicals who attend
Wednesday night services, supported President Bush over Sen. John Kerry 64
percent to 39 percent. Such voters made up 16 percent of the electorate.
For those that attend church weekly, support for President Bush was 58
percent versus 41 percent for Kerry. Among those who never attend church,
62 percent voted for Kerry; 54 percent of those who attend church a few
times a year voted for the senator. Monthly church goers evenly split
their vote.

The study notes that while this so-called "God Gap" has become
conventional wisdom in American politics, it is a historically unique
trend. The twist is that the new data reveals that the level of commitment
to one's faith is a more significant indicator of how one will vote than
what one's specific religion is, a break from the past trends.
"Historically, religious fissures in the political arena have tended to
break along denominational lines rather than by level of religious
commitment."

One poll divided Christians of various denominations into
traditionalist, centrist and modernist classifications. Traditionalist
Catholics, it found, are "closer to traditionalist Evangelicals than to
modernist Catholics in their views on issues such as abortion or embryonic
stem cell research. The survey also found that traditionalists in all
three major faith groups [Catholics, Evangelicals and Mainline
Protestants] overwhelmingly identify with the Republican Party. . ."
Traditionalists were identified as "those with the most orthodox
theological beliefs within their respective traditions."

In 1960, 71 percent of Catholics identified as Democrats largely
because of the New Deal policies of the party. In 25 years that number as
dropped a stunning 27 percent with Catholic party identification being
split almost evenly with 44 percent of Catholics identifying as Democrats
and 41 percent as Republicans.

The Pew study reports that the shift was precipitated by two key
Supreme Court rulings and continues to be centered on cultural issues.
"[A] trigger was a pair of U.S. Supreme Court decisions: the 1962 decision
that banned organized prayer in public schools, and the 1973 Roe v. Wade
decision that guaranteed the right to an abortion. Those rulings generated
a backlash among religious conservatives that reverberates to this day.
For the past generation, the Republican Party has become the
standard-bearer of a social conservative agenda and the natural home for
those who are traditionalist in their religious views. In particular, the
GOP has embraced the antiabortion movement, making it a central pillar of
the party's platform." Issues such as same-sex marriage, abortion, and
prayer in schools have "pushed the religiously observant into one
political corner and the more secular into another," according to the
study.

Culture of Life Foundation
1413 K Street, NW, Suite 1000
Washington DC 20005
Phone: (202) 289-2500 Fax: (202) 289-2502
E-mail: clf@culture-of-life.org
Website: http://www.culture-of-life.org

Posted by John Bambenek at 5:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Petition for John Paul the Great

Just got this from the C-FAM folks, they have a petition to declare John Paul as John Paul the Great... sign it...

=====

Friends,

In less than 24 hours more than 2,000 people from all over the world have
signed the petition to proclaim that Pope John Paul II should be known
henceforth and forever as John Paul the Great. Not bad. But we need many
more.

We need a million names. So, it will take more than the faithful readers
of the Friday Fax to make this happen.

Each of you who read this message must send this to all of your family and
friends. And each of them must send it to their family and friends.

If you run an email report, send this out to your readers. If you have a
radio show, mention this on air. We can generate a million signatures and
these millions names will make a global splash.

Direct your family, friends, colleagues, strangers to
http://www.c-fam.org/cgi-bin/jpthegreat.pl
and have them sign the petition. Then have them send their own alert to
their family and friends to get them to sign.

Do it now, friends.

Best regards,

Austin Ruse
President
C-FAM

PS Remember, the title "Great" is not bestowed by the Church. It is
bestowed by the people, by public acclamation, and by historical use.
Let's start this right now!

Posted by John Bambenek at 9:17 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 21, 2005

Friday Fax - Abortion Doesn't Lower Maternal Mortality (Duh)

Today's Friday Fax reports that the UNFPA has gotten the obvious, that women
killing their babies has nothing to do with maternal mortality, certainly not
anything that would LOWER it.

=============================

Friday Fax

April 22, 2005
Volume 8, Number 18

UN Admits that Access to Abortion Not Effective at Reducing Maternal
Mortality

Earlier this month, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
released its annual report on maternal mortality around the world. The
report shows that the most important means of reducing maternal mortality
is the presence of a skilled birth attendant with access to adequate
emergency obstetrical care. The report contradicts UNFPA's earlier
strategy of focusing on access to contraceptives and legalized abortion as
the main means of reducing maternal mortality.

The report, entitled "Maternal Mortality Update 2004: Delivering Into
Good Hands," states that some 529,000 women died in 2000 as a result of
complications in pregnancy and childbirth, with 95 percent of deaths
occurring in Africa and Asia. Only 2,500 maternal deaths occurred in
developed countries, where the risk of maternal death is one in 2,800,
compared to one in 16 in sub-Saharan Africa.

The report acknowledges that "almost all maternal mortality is
avoidable," because "all five of the most life-threatening complications
can be treated by a professional health worker." Thus, "We know that
efficient emergency interventions for complications are key to saving
women's lives."

Dr. George Mulcaire-Jones of Maternal Life International, an
international provider of maternal health care, says that the report
"largely validates what the pro-life community has said all along: that
reducing maternal deaths comes down to the kind of skilled obstetrical
care given women - adequate training and clean, well-supplied birthing
facilities - and has little to do with introducing notions of reproductive
rights."

Yet the report states that alongside the provision of emergency
obstetric care and birth attendants, UNFPA's "three-pronged strategy" of
reducing maternal mortality focuses on "contraceptive services to prevent
unwanted pregnancy." A "rights-based approach" to maternal mortality,
which "promotes the empowerment of women," continues to "guide the design
and implementation of UNFPA's maternal mortality policy and programming."

According to Mulcaire-Jones, UNFPA's "three-pronged strategy is
flawed at the outset," because UNFPA channels the bulk of its funding into
contraception. "Contraceptive services should be separated from maternal
health and obstetrical services � both in terms of funding, accounting,
and program implementation. Only in this way will skilled care and safe,
clean and well-supplied health facilities receive the attention and
funding required to meaningfully reduce maternal death."

Mulcaire-Jones also stated that UNFPA's "rights-based approach" is
flawed for lack of "universal acknowledgment of the most fundamental right
of all � the right to life . . . UNFPA's stated policies in support of
abortion immediately create a conflict of rights by negating the right to
life of unborn children."

Copyright 2005 - C-FAM (Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute).
Permission granted for unlimited use. Credit required.

Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute
866 United Nations Plaza, Suite 427
New York, New York 10017
Phone: (212) 754-5948 Fax: (212) 754-9291
E-mail: c-fam@c-fam.org Website: www.c-fam.org
--------

Posted by John Bambenek at 5:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack