Bush U.N. ambassador says he's 'caving' on world court: Bolton sees blocking of death sentence for Mexican rapist-murderer 'ridiculous'
Former U.N. ambassador John Bolton says the Bush administration is caving in to global opinion by siding with Mexico and the International Court of Justice in their attempt to overturn the death penalty of an illegal alien convicted of raping and murdering two teenage girls…
From WorldNetDaily (dated October 11, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends October 18, 2007 (US/GI/MO)
Married parents 'in the minority by 2031'
Married parents could be outnumbered by single mothers and cohabiting couples within a generation, with serious implications for the health and education of children, official figures show. A report on family life by the Office for National Statistics suggests that Britain is only 24 years away from married couples being in the minority…
From The Telegraph (London) (dated October 5, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends October 18, 2007 (BR/MO)
Groundbreaking Study Affirms “Gays” Can Change
Psychologists Mark A. Yarhouse and Stanton L. Jones may have just hammered the final nail in the mythical “born ‘gay’ and stuck that way” coffin. In a first of its kind comprehensive study, Yarhouse and Jones determined over a four year period that men and women suffering from unwanted same-sex attractions can re-“orient” themselves through Christian counseling and/or reparative therapy to their natural and God-given heterosexual state…
From Concerned Women for America (dated September 19, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends October 18, 2007 (MO)
Study: Marijuana may increase psychosis risk
Using marijuana seems to increase the chance of becoming psychotic, researchers report in an analysis of past research that reignites the issue of whether pot is dangerous. The new review suggests that even infrequent use could raise the small but real risk of this serious mental illness by 40%...
Associated Press story in USA Today (dated July 26, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends October 18, 2007 (ST/MO)
The Persistence of Islamic Slavery
Besides being practiced more or less openly today in Sudan and Mauritania, there is evidence that slavery still continues beneath the surface in some majority-Muslim countries as well -- notably Saudi Arabia, which only abolished slavery in 1962, Yemen and Oman, both of which ended legal slavery in 1970, and Niger, which didn’t abolish slavery until 2004. In Niger, the ban is widely ignored, and according to a Nigerian study, as many as one million people remain in bondage there. Slaves are bred, often raped, and generally treated like animals…
From Robert Spencer at FrontPage Magazine (dated July 20, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends July 25, 2007 (ME/AF/RE/MO)
Americans Remain Negative on State of Nation's Moral Values
Gallup's annual Values and Beliefs poll finds Americans are very pessimistic about the current state of moral values in the United States, as has typically been the case in recent years. Only about one in six Americans describe the state of moral values in the country in positive terms, and perceptions that moral values are "poor" in the country are at their highest point, edging closer to the 50% mark. More than 8 in 10 Americans think morality is getting worse, representing a slight increase in the past three years. The groups of Americans who are most negative about moral values in this country include senior citizens, blacks, women, conservative Republicans, Protestants, and weekly churchgoers…
From The Gallup Poll (dated June 4, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends June 8, 2007 (US/RE/MO)
American Christianity -- Laodicean church in the making, says Barna
More than 20 years of research, says The Barna Group, has revealed a disturbing trend among Americans' spiritual beliefs and behavior: their commitment to orthodox biblical perspectives is "slipping." The director of a recent Barna study says the findings reflect a "spiritual profile" among Americans similar to that of the early church at Laodicea -- a church which Jesus admonished for being "neither hot nor cold" and called to repentance…
From One News Now (dated May 23, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends June 8, 2007 (US/RE/MO)
Scientists allowed to create hybrid embryos
Scientists will be allowed to create hybrid animal-human embryos for stem cell research after the Government dropped its opposition to the procedure. In what is seen by many as a U-turn, the Government published a draft bill that effectively sweeps away last year's ban…
From The Telegraph (London) (dated May 19, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends June 8, 2007 (BR/ST/MO)
America's Insidious Descent Towards the Third World
America's future can be seen in the formerly tidy and wholesome town of Lexington, Nebraska, situated as it is in the prime of the Heartland. Over the years, it metamorphosed to a horrendous degree…In 1986, New Holland [tractor factory] outsourced, and the plant was subsequently sold and converted to a meat packing facility, whereupon the local workers were systematically supplanted by a massive importation of illegals. Initial changes to the character of the town were subtle…As the influx increased however, the degree to which the former charm of Lexington was eventually eradicated was astounding. Its fate should send shudders through the spine of any throughout the rest of the nation, who hope for a country to bequeath to their children. Much of the town now reflects the squalor not previously seen this side of the Mexican border…It is all but impossible for American youths to gain employment at the local fast food franchises, since virtually all business behind the counters is conducted in Spanish, making it difficult to avoid the disturbing notion that businesses might eventually post signs saying: "Americanos need not apply." The town has inarguably become Balkanized. Yet Lexington is hardly an isolated example. Nor is it among the most severe that has ravaged traditional America. Rather, it is striking only in that it so starkly represents the plight of much of America's southern border, while being vastly separated from that region. If this can happen in Nebraska, no part of the country remains immune to the ravages of such an incursion. A similar disaster looms over America's food supply, and may be much more far reaching since it is not confined to any geographical location…
From Christopher Adamo at Cybercast News Service (dated June 7, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends June 8, 2007 (US/LA/MO)
Towards a White Minority
It is quite possible that Americans alive today will live to see the nation become majority Hispanic. Did anyone ever think this would happen, prior to a few short years ago?... If there is any large general historical lesson to be taken from all this, it is that a population as prosperous, secure, well-employed, and well-entertained as the white Anglos of late 20th-century America, and as confident of its own cultural superiority, cannot be made to care much about matters of ethnic identity, and may altogether lose the habit of thinking in such terms. Whether this ethnic insouciance [i.e. nonchalance] will survive the coming great demographic changes, I don’t know. Things have gone so far now that there is very little we can do but wait and see…
From National Review columnist John Derbyshire (dated May 25, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends June 8, 2007 (US/LA/MO)
There is only one acceptable way to talk about homosexuality -- SILENCE!
Christians arrested merely for handing out pamphlets which call homosexuality a sin? Postal workers refusing to deliver mail they deem to be "homophobic?" A pastor forced to pay for police protection after gay activists threatened to picket a church event? What ever happened to free speech? More and more, in the U.S., Canada and Europe, homosexual activists and their straight sympathizers are trying to ensure that the only speech that's tolerated is the pro-gay kind…
From American Family Association Journal news editor Ed Vitagliano at One News Now (dated May 31, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends June 8, 2007 (US/RE/MO)
Houses Passes 'Hate Crimes' Bill, Religious Leaders Praise Veto Threat
The U.S. House of Representatives Thursday passed a bill that would extend "hate crimes" protection to homosexuals and other specified groups, but religious leaders were already praising the White House for issuing a threat to veto the bill if it passes… The White House pointed out that "almost every state in the country can actively prosecute hate crimes under the state's own hate crimes law." It did not address concerns raised by religious leaders who fear that the law would have a chilling effect on their right to preach Biblical teachings, including opposition to homosexuality…
From Cybercast News Service (dated May 3, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends May 9, 2007 (US/RE/MO)
Gonorrhea ‘Superbug’ Spreads Across Country, Treatment Ineffective
In less than five years, gonorrhea cases jumped from below one-percent to more than 13-percent of the population. American’s affinity for taking antibiotics, whatever the reason, allows STDs like gonorrhea to develop resistance quickly. And that is just what’s happened…If the last remaining class of drugs doesn’t work, [Christian Medical Association Dr. David] Stevens says the problem may reach epidemic proportions…
From Focus on the Family (dated April 16, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends May 9, 2007 (US/MO/ND)
President Bush Commemorates National Day of Prayer
Since the days of our founding, our nation has been called to prayer. That's exactly what our first President did, George Washington. "It's the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and to humbly implore his protection and favor." It's interesting that the first President said those words. For two centuries, Americans have answered this call to prayer. We're a prayerful nation. I believe that makes us a strong nation. Each day, millions of our citizens approach our Maker. We pray as congregations in churches and in synagogues, and mosques, and in temples. We welcome people of all faiths into the United States of America. We pray as families, around the dinner table, and before we go to sleep. We pray alone in silence and solitude, withdrawing from the world to focus on the eternal, spending time in personal recollection with our Creator. We pray for many reasons. First, we pray to give thanks for the blessings the Almighty has bestowed upon us. We pray to give thanks. We give thanks for our freedom. We give thanks for the brave men and women who risk their lives to defend it. We give thanks for our families who love and support us. We give thanks for our plenty. We give thanks for our nation. Second, we pray for the strength to follow God's will in our lives, and for forgiveness when we fail to do so. Through prayer, each of us is reminded that we are fallen creatures in need of mercy, and in seeking the mercy and compassion of a loving God, we grow in mercy and compassion ourselves. We feel the tug at our souls to reach out to the poor, the elderly, the stranger in distress. And by answering this call to care for our brothers and sisters in need, our hearts grow larger and we enter into a deeper relationship with God. Third, we pray to acknowledge God's sovereignty in our lives and our complete dependence on Him. This is probably the toughest prayer of all, particularly for those of us in politics. In the humility of prayer we recognize the limits of human strength and human wisdom. We seek the strength and wisdom that comes from above. We ask for the grace to align our hearts with His, echoing the words of Scripture, "Not my will, but thine be done." We ask the Almighty to remain near to us and guide us in all we do, and when He is near we are ready for all that may come to us. Finally, we pray to offer petitions, because our Father in heaven knows our cares and our needs. We trust in the promise of a loving God: Ask and it shall be given to you; seek and ye shall find. Inspired by this confidence we pray that the Almighty will pour out His blessings on those we love. We ask His healing for those who suffer from illness, for those who struggle in life. We ask His comfort for the victims of tragedy, and that the injured may be healed and the fallen may find comfort in the arms of their Creator. We implore His protection for those who protect us here at home and in far away lands. We pray for the day when His peace will reign in every nation and in every land until the ends of the earth. The greatest gift we can offer anyone is the gift of our prayers, because our prayers have power beyond our imagining. The English poet Tennyson wrote, "More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of." Prayer has the power to change lives and to change the course of history. So on this National Day of Prayer, let us seek the Almighty with confidence and trust, because our Eternal Father inclines his ear to the voice of his children, and answers our needs with love...
Text of U.S. President George Bush’s speech (dated May 3, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends May 9, 2007 (US/RE/MO)
How Not to Teach Children About Sex
British authorities promote sex education programmes that would make a sailor blush - and achieve record rates of disease and pregnancy…
From British journalist William Keenan (dated April 4, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends May 9, 2007 (BR/MO)
HPV infections seen in over quarter of U.S. women
More than a quarter of U.S. girls and women ages 14 to 59 are infected with the sexually transmitted human wart virus, which causes most cases of cervical cancer, U.S. health officials estimated on Tuesday. That means human papillomavirus or HPV infection is more common than previously thought, particularly among younger age groups, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers said. Its prevalence was highest among those 20 to 24, with 44.8 percent infected, and nearly a quarter of teenagers aged 14 to 19…
From Reuters (dated February 27, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends March 1, 2007 (US/ST/MO)
Scientists triumph in battle over ban on hybrid embryos
Plans to outlaw the creation of human-animal hybrid embryos for potentially life-saving stem cell research are to be dropped after a revolt by scientists. The proposed government ban on fusing human DNA with animal eggs, which promises insights into incurable conditions such as Alzheimer’s and motor neuron disease, will be abandoned because of concerns among senior ministers that it will damage British science. While ministers will not endorse the research in full yet, they are no longer seeking legislation to prohibit it…
From The Times (London) (dated February 27, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends March 1, 2007 (BR/ST/MO)
Judge orders 'gay' agenda taught to Christian children
A federal judge in Massachusetts has ordered the "gay" agenda taught to Christians who attend a public school in Massachusetts, finding that they need the teachings to be "engaged and productive citizens." U.S. District Judge Mark L. Wolf yesterday dismissed a civil rights lawsuit brought by David Parker, ordering that it is reasonable, indeed there is an obligation, for public schools to teach young children to accept and endorse homosexuality. Wolf essentially adopted the reasoning in a brief submitted by a number of homosexual-advocacy groups, who said "the rights of religious freedom and parental control over the upbringing of children … would undermine teaching and learning"…
From WorldNetDaily (dated February 24, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends March 1, 2007 (US/MO)
Diss a 'gay'? Go to jail!
Two Christians in Australia have been indicted for criticizing Islam, and another for criticizing Zionism. A filmmaker has been threatened with arrest for using the word "homosexual" rather than "gay." Now a German priest faces jail time for publicly criticizing abortionists, and in Holland, "fornicators" and "adulterers" are protected classes and cannot be criticized. All courtesy of the concept of federal "hate crimes" legislation, which unless defeated soon could be mandatory in the United States, warns a rising chorus of critics…
From WorldNetDaily (dated February 15, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends March 1, 2007 (BR/EU/US/RE/MO)
Sexualizing girls
The American Psychological Association has discovered that too early sexualization of children, particularly girls, is damaging. How about that? Because I have well-developed views on this subject, I almost didn't read the long article about it in the Health section of The Washington Post this week. But I'm glad I did because just when you think you're up to date on cultural decline, you are surprised…
From columnist Mona Charen at Townhall.com (dated February 23, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends March 1, 2007 (US/MO)
Watchdog Worried About U.S. Meetings With Canada, Mexico
A government watchdog is calling for more transparency in talks between U.S., Canadian and Mexican officials who are discussing a "vision of North America" that some critics worry are the first step toward a North American Union. Judicial Watch this week released documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request that include U.S. officials' notes from the North American Forum, a September 2006 meeting with Canadian and Mexican officials that explored ways to create "genuine partnerships." That meeting followed the March 2005 creation of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP), which the U.S. government calls a "trilateral effort to increase security and enhance prosperity among the United States, Canada and Mexico through greater cooperation and information sharing." Several points of discussion at the September meeting worried Judicial Watch, most notably a note in one set of documents referring to "evolution by stealth." The discussions also touched on integration of energy supply, easing immigration among the three countries and closing the "income gap" between Mexico and the U.S. and Canada. "I don't know that there's an appreciation or an understanding that this is what the American government is busy spending its time doing," Chris Farrell, Judicial Watch's director of research and investigation, told Cybercast News Service. "I think it's curious ... when they advocate in their own documents that a position of stealth should be adopted in trying to integrate the three countries," Farrell said. "That's rather extraordinary"…
From Cybercast News Service (dated February 2, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends February 5, 2007 (US/LA/MO)
Canadian City Councillor Fined $1000 for Saying Homosexuality “not Normal or Natural”
A Catholic city councillor in Kamloops, British Columbia, who was himself the victim of the crime of vandalism due to his faith, has been forced to apologize and pay a homosexual activist couple $1000. The couple filed a complaint with the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal which was accepted and was to go to the hearing stage. Strangely, it was councillor who was shown true discrimination worthy of a human rights complaint. In June, the councillor opposed a homosexual pride proclamation, after which his barber shop was vandalized with "Homophobia Die" scrawled on the door of his business…
From LifeSiteNews.com (dated January 19, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends February 5, 2007 (BR/MO)
Boys of the Taliban
Just recently, the Taliban issued a new set of 30 rules to its fighters. Many of the instructions were to be expected…But there is a curious rule that the Western media has typically ignored. Rule No. 19 instructs that Taliban fighters must not take young boys without facial hair into their private quarters…Rule No. 19 obviously indicates that the sexual abuse of young boys is a prevalent and institutionalized phenomenon among the Taliban and that, for one reason or another, its widespread practice has become a problem….That a mass pathology such as this occurs in a culture which demonizes the female and her sexuality -- and puts her out of mind and sight -- is only to be expected. To be sure, it is a simple given that the religious male fanatic who flies into a violent rage even at the thought of an exposed woman’s ankle will also be, in some other dysfunctional and dark secret compartment of his fractured life, the person who leads some poor helpless young boy into his private chambers. The key issue here is that the demented sickness that underlies Rule No. 19 is by no means exclusive to the Taliban; it is a widespread phenomenon throughout Islamic-Arab culture and it lies, among other factors, at the root of that culture’s addiction to rage and its lust for violence, terror and suicide…In the dysfunctional and morbid paradigms of this culture, the idea of love is, obviously, completely absent from men's understanding of sexuality. Like the essence of Arab masculinity, it is reduced to a form of prison sex: hurting others with violence. A gigantic rupture inevitably develops between men and women, where no harmony, affection or equality is allowed to exist. The sexual confusion, humiliation, and repression that develop in the mindset of many males in this culture are excruciating. And it is no surprise that many of them find the only avenue for personal gratification in the act of sexually abusing young boys and, of course, in humiliating the foreign "enemy," whose masculinity must be violated at all costs -- just as theirs once was…
From Frontpage Magazine managing editor Jamie Glazov (dated January 1, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends February 5, 2007 (ME/RE/WT/MO)
Teen Sex Leads to Depression and Drug Use
Researchers have long recognized that risky behavior and depression are linked for adolescents; prevailing theories assumed that depressed teens turned to drugs and sex for self-medication. Now there is solid evidence that teen girls who experiment with risky behaviors (i.e., sex and drugs) are more vulnerable to depression and that teen boys who engage in binge drinking and heavy marijuana use are prone to depression…
From Concerned Women for America think tank Beverly LaHaye Institute senior fellow Dr. Janice Shaw Crouse (dated January 30, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends February 5, 2007 (US/MO)
Young women opt for abortion
More than half of ethnic Norwegian women under age 25 choose abortion if they get pregnant, according to a new study…
From Aftenpost (Norway) (dated January 09, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends January 18, 2007 (EU/MO)
The Truth About Londinistan
Should the warnings in these books be dismissed as right-wing hysteria, or is the danger in Europe so great as to warrant the charged language? Put another way, is "Londonistan" just a catchy title for a book, or is the Islamification of Britain already well under way? The facts paint the truest—and most alarming—picture…
From Aaron Hanscom at FrontPage Magazine (dated January 18, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends January 18, 2007 (BR/RE/MO/WT)
Politics: The new religion
There is a sense that the Messiah…is rapidly being supplanted in the public consciousness by a new American religion called politics. Consider the number of "messiahs" who present themselves as redeemers and who claim the ability to deliver the masses from their "deplorable" conditions - conditions from which only government can save them…What puzzles me is why so many people put their hopes in politicians, when politicians (and politics) repeatedly let them down. Has politics become a God-substitute? Have political "messiah figures" become false gods?…
From columnist Cal Thomas at Townhall.com (dated December 20, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends January 18, 2007 (US/RE/MO)
Casual sex is a con: women just aren't like men
Former groupie Dawn Eden explains how she realised morality made more sense for women than free love…
From author Dawn Eden in The Times (London) (dated January 14, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends January 18, 2007 (MO)
Most Americans have had premarital sex, study finds
Of those interviewed in 2002, 95% reported they had had premarital sex; 93% said they did so by age 30. Among women born in the 1940s, nearly nine in 10 did. At the same time, people are waiting longer to marry; 2005 data show median age at first marriage is just over 25 for women and 27 for men…
From USA Today (dated December 19, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends January 10, 2007 (US/MO)
Pot linked strongly to mental illness
The use of cannabis, particularly among young people, substantially increases the risk of mental illness and worsens existing mental health conditions, a major report has found…
Australian Associated Press story at News.com.au (dated December 13, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends January 10, 2007 (ST/MO)
Study Finds New Evidence that Childhood Family Factors Influence Sexual Orientation
A major study published last month in the prestigious peer-reviewed journal, Archives of Sexual Behavior, provides striking new evidence for the influence of childhood family factors on sexual-orientation development…
NARTH (National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality) story at LifeSiteNews.com (dated November 29, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends January 10, 2007 (ST/MO)
It's the worldview, stupid
I believe the main animating difference between conservatism and liberalism is that the former believes in the Biblically revealed sinful condition of mankind. Our Constitution's framers established a system of government around their belief that man-operated government had to be limited and held in check in order for freedom to flourish. Liberalism generally embraces a secular humanist (or enlightenment) faith in the general goodness, perhaps even perfectibility of man. Conservatives accept that government exists as a necessary evil, to prevent anarchy, establish order and maximize but not absolutize freedom. Human beings within this context will be freer to minimize, but never completely solve society's problems. By contrast, liberals place their secular faith in government to wholly eradicate societal problems…
From columnist David Limbaugh at Townhall.com (dated January 5, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends January 10, 2007 (US/RE/MO)
Pagan Christmas ritual pressed on young kids
Elementary-age children given handout pushing heathen 'Yule' ritual tomorrow…The celebration of Christmas is a major cultural battleground in the U.S., dating back to colonial America when Christians in New England outlawed Christmas, saying it was based more on ancient pagan traditions than instruction from the Bible. Today, followers of ancient paganism strive to remind the public about the heathen origins of traditions that many may never have questioned…
From WorldNetDaily (dated December 8, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends December 12, 2006 (US/RE/MO)
First Comes Junior in a Baby Carriage
Four in 10 kids [in America] are now born to unmarried moms…
Newsweek story at MSNBC (dated December 4, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends December 12, 2006 (US/MO)
Israeli high court orders 'gay marriage' recognition
Israel's Supreme Court Nov. 21 ordered the government to begin recognizing "gay marriages" from other countries, such as Canada. Although the decision doesn't give homosexual couples the ability to "marry" within Israel's borders, it nonetheless puts Israel at odds with countries such as Great Britain and the United States, neither of which recognizes foreign "gay marriages"…
From Baptist Press (dated November 21, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends December 12, 2006 (ME/MO)
Germany’s Rising Anti-Semitism?
Right-wing adolescents and young Muslims are displaying levels of anti-Semitism that were long considered unthinkable in Germany. At many German schools, the word "Jew" is becoming an insult again. German politicians don't seem to know how to respond…
From FrontPage Magazine (dated December 12, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends December 12, 2006 (EU/RE/MO)
S. Africa Parliament OKs Gay Marriages
The South African parliament on Tuesday approved new legislation recognizing gay marriages -- a first for a continent where homosexuality is largely taboo…
Associated Press story at Breitbart.com (dated November 14, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends November 17, 2006 (AF/MO)
Outrage as Church backs calls for severely disabled babies to be killed at birth
The Church of England has broken with tradition dogma by calling for doctors to be allowed to let sick newborn babies die. Christians have long argued that life should preserved at all costs - but a bishop representing the national church has now sparked controversy by arguing that there are occasions when it is compassionate to leave a severely disabled child to die…
From The Daily Mail (London) (dated November 12, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends November 17, 2006 (RE/MO)
Terrorists are recruiting in our schools, says MI5 boss
Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller said Islamic militants linked to al-Qa'eda were recruiting teenagers to carry out suicide attacks and will use chemical, biological or nuclear weapons if they get the chance…
From The Telegraph (London) (dated November 11, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends November 17, 2006 (BR/MO)
New Evidence Found for Childhood Family Factors Influencing Sexual Orientation
A major study is being published in the prestigious peer-reviewed journal, Archives of Sexual Behavior, which provides striking new evidence for the influence of childhood family factors on sexual-orientation development…
From the National Association of Research and Therapy of Homosexuals (dated October 27, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends November 17, 2006 (ST/MO)
Gay Marriage Ban Rejected in Arizona
In a triple setback for conservatives, South Dakotans rejected a law that would have banned virtually all abortions, Arizona became the first state to defeat an amendment to ban gay marriage and Missouri approved a measure backing stem cell research…
Associated Press story at My Way News (dated November 8, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends November 8, 2006 (US/MO)
Cloning human embryos becomes 'constitutional right'
A ballot initiative in Missouri written to enshrine in the state constitution the right to clone human embryos for "research" was approved by voters by a single percentage point, and pro-life organizations have said they expect a court challenge to the plan. The state's Amendment 2 was advertised as a human cloning ban, however, the 2,000-plus word document bans only the process of actually creating a live human being from cloning and inserts the right to clone human embryos in the constitution…
From WorldNetDaily (dated November 8, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends November 8, 2006 (US/MO)
Australia Senate Lifts Ban on Cloning
Australia's Senate narrowly voted to end the country's four-year ban on cloning human embryos for stem cell research, ruling Tuesday that the potential for medical breakthroughs outweighed moral doubts. The decision - a rare conscience vote in a country where lawmakers are expected to follow the party line - sets the stage for the ban to be lifted entirely. The measure now goes to Australia's House of Representatives, but lawmakers had expected the Senate to pose the biggest hurdle…
Associated Press story in the Pittsburg Post-Gazette (dated November 7, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends November 8, 2006 (BR/MO)
Islamic teaching could resolve world problems -- Prince Charles
Prince Charles Tuesday said that the world problems could be resolve by following Islamic teachings, as Islam is a religion of peace and brotherhood…He said that clash of civilizations could be averted by following the teaching of Islam and Quraan…
From Kuwait News Agency (dated October 31, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends November 8, 2006 (BR/RE/MO)
'King' Charles, the defender of faiths
Prince Charles plans to include a multi-faith ceremony in his coronation, it was claimed last night. He has told courtiers that he wants a separate service involving Muslims, Jews and Buddhists to show he represents people of all religions. This means that Charles will effectively be crowned twice. The first ceremony will be a Christian coronation in Westminster Abbey in which he will be made King "by the grace of God". But, turning his back on 1,000 years of tradition, he will insist on a second service in Westminster Hall…It also emerged last night that the Prince is insisting his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, should become Queen when he becomes King…
From the Daily Express (London) (dated October 26, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends November 8, 2006 (BR/RE/MO)
For first time, unmarried households reign in US
It is by no means dead, but for the first time, a new survey has shown that traditional marriage has ceased to be the preferred living arrangement in the majority of US households…
Agence France-Presse story at Yahoo News (dated October 15, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends November 8, 2006 (US/MO)
Stem cells two ways
The vagueness of the term "stem cell research" is one of the biggest problems in the ongoing stem cell debate. Writers, debaters, scientists, public figures and politicians should differentiate between "embryonic stem cell research" and "nonembryonic stem cell research" in order to keep the meanings clear. What is the truth behind the claims of embryonic versus nonembryonic stem cells?...
From Grove City College Center for Vision and Values fellow for medical ethics Durwood Ray in The Washington Times (dated November 8, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends November 8, 2006 (ST/MO)
Ahmadinejad and the Liberalism of Fools
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran not only spoke at the UN – from the very podium used just a few hours before by the leader of the free world – he was also invited to hold forth as a visiting statesman by the prestigious Council on Foreign Relations. So now the world Jewish community must contend with the sad truth that sixty years after the Holocaust a man can declare himself the new exterminator of the Jews and still be treated with respect… All this is done, of course, in the name of freedom of expression. The argument goes that the best way to change evil is to engage in a dialogue with it: If only Ahmadinejad would be exposed to reason he might be won over; if only we could logically point out to him the error of his ways and the insensitivity of his remarks, he would never utter them again. But tolerating the intolerable is the liberalism of fools and gives a safe haven to evil in a world that is sorely embattled…
From Jewish rabbi Shmuley Boteach in The Jewish Press (dated October 4, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends November 8, 2006 (GI/MO/WT)
Is America Becoming a Sick Society?
On this Halloween, the No. 1 movie in the USA is "Saw III," a sadistic slasher flick designed solely so its audience can enjoy graphic depictions of human suffering…Enough is enough with this dehumanizing trash. It is wrong, it is evil and it demeans America — period…
From Fox News host Bill O’Reilly (dated November 1, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends November 8, 2006 (US/MO)
The World We Leave Behind
Today, we live in a country that is obsessed with its economic prosperity. We are comfortable enough to spare ourselves the rigors of moral striving. Same-sex marriages, eroding family values, ambushing innocent children in class rooms, elected officials with a fetish for underage kids, absentee fathers—these things cause concern but little more. We proceed with the knowledge that American life will go on. We are confident that we are the greatest empire in the history of empires. This belief in the inevitability of our way of life breeds certain carelessness to the truly important stuff of life. This is the decadence that precedes the fall. We need to continue passing the torch of moral excellence to our children so that, down the road, they may realize something greater than violence, sexual promiscuity, making celebrities out of a former Governor who had secret and openly gay liaisons while married, and disintegrating family values. For the true measure of our success is the world we leave for our children...
From columnist Armstrong Williams at Townhall.com (dated October 9, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends November 8, 2006 (US/RE/MO)
Britain must regain a pride in its identity, Chief Rabbi warns
A crisis of national and social identity is undermining Britain's efforts to integrate its immigrant population, according to the Chief Rabbi. Sir Jonathan Sacks told The Sunday Telegraph that multiculturalism had led to segregation and a country that was no longer confident of what it stood for. It needed to regain a sense of pride in being British, he said, but must be less afraid to allow ethnic minorities to contribute to society, or risk marginalising them…
From The Telegraph (London) (dated September 17, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends September 22, 2006 (BR/MO)
We the Sheeple? Why Conspiracy Theories Persist
Conspiracy theorists allege that the events of 9/11 are not adequately explained by the "official story" fingering Osama bin Laden and his network as the culprits…The problems with such theories have been pretty thoroughly exposed by now. Here is just a sample: If the aim of the conspirators was to motivate the American people to go to war, why wouldn't the crashing of airplanes into the World Trade Center suffice? What was the point of secretly placing explosives throughout the towers - no small task - and thereby risking exposure? If the government was really willing and able to orchestrate such a massive conspiracy here at home, why couldn't or wouldn't it also carry out the far easier task of planting evidence of WMD in faraway Iraq? If the cell phone calls made from the hijacked planes were faked, how did the government find people capable of so perfectly mimicking the voices of the victims, and how did they acquire the detailed knowledge of their personal lives that would enable the hoaxers to deceive so many of the victims' loved ones and friends? If it was really a cruise missile that hit the Pentagon, why do so many eyewitnesses report having seen an airplane crashing into it? If it was also really a missile, and not an airplane, that crashed in Pennsylvania, then why did eyewitnesses report seeing an airplane in that case too? And what really happened to the airplanes in question and their passengers? If even a third rate burglary like the one committed at the Watergate hotel couldn't be kept secret, why hasn't someone, anyone involved in this massive plot, or with knowledge of those who were involved, come forward to reveal what he knows? And so on and on. Of course, conspiracy theorists have tried to provide answers to some of these difficulties for their case, but the "answers" are even more ridiculously far-fetched and unfounded than the original theories themselves…
From Edward Feser at Tech Central Station (dated September 20, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends September 22, 2006 (US/MO)
Conspiracy nation
I am referring to the seditious dementia of conspiracy theories, the death of faith not in some mere administration or Congress but in America itself. Haven’t you heard? The U.S. government blew up the World Trade Center. Oh, sorry, that’s not right. The planes did knock down those buildings, but the White House was in on it. Oh, no, sorry again, that’s not what happened. It was the Jews. They razed it without leaving any fingerprints — save for the 4,000 Zionist co-conspirators who were tipped off in advance — in order to frame the peace-loving Muslims of al-Qaida…Here’s a question: How is a president willing — and able! — to bring down the World Trade Center, murdering nearly 3,000 Americans without inspiring a single whistle-blower or attracting a solitary eyewitness, somehow morally or logistically incapable of planting some exculpatory WMDs in Iraq?…
From National Review Online editor Jonah Goldberg (dated September 13, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends September 22, 2006 (US/MO)
How Britain is turning Christianity into a crime
How long will it be before Christianity becomes illegal in Britain? This is no longer the utterly absurd and offensive question that on first blush it would appear to be. An evangelical Christian campaigner, Stephen Green, was arrested and charged last weekend with using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour. So what was this behaviour? Merely trying peacefully to hand out leaflets at a gay rally in Cardiff. So what was printed on those leaflets that was so threatening, abusive or insulting that it attracted the full force of the law? Why, none other than the majestic words of the 1611 King James Bible. The problem was that they were those bits of the Bible which forbid homosexuality. The leaflets also urged homosexuals to ‘turn from your sins and you will be saved’. But to the secular priests of the human rights culture, the only sin is to say that homosexuality is a sin…
From columnist Melanie Phillips, reprinted from the Daily Mail (dated September 7, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends September 22, 2006 (BR/RE/MO)
Gov. Arnold tosses school moral codes: Bill forces condoning of homosexuality, critics say 'the gates of hell are prevailing'
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has tossed out all sexual moral conduct codes at colleges, private and Christian schools, daycare centers and other facilities throughout his state, if the institutions have any students who get state assistance. The governor yesterday signed a bill that would require all businesses and groups receiving state funding -- even if it's a state grant for a student -- to condone homosexuality, bisexuality and transsexuality. There is no exception for faith-based organizations or business owners with sincerely held religious convictions, critics note…
From WorldNetDaily (dated August 29, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends September 6, 2006 (US/RE/MO)
Five Years Later: 9/11 Attacks Show No Lasting Influence on Americans’ Faith
A new study by The Barna Group… shows that despite an intense surge in religious activity and expression in the weeks immediately following 9/11 the faith of Americans is virtually indistinguishable today compared to pre-attack conditions. Barna’s tracking surveys looked at 19 dimensions of spirituality and beliefs. Remarkably, none of those 19 indicators are statistically different from the summer before the attacks!…
From The Barna Group (dated August 28, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends September 6, 2006 (US/RE/MO/WT)
|
