Defensive Vatican, Celibacy does not cause sex abuse
Topic: Porn, Prostitution, and Sexual Freedom
Source: Yahoo News
The Vatican on Sunday denied that its celibacy requirement for priests was the root cause of the clerical sex abuse scandal convulsing the church in Europe and again defended the pope's handling of the crisis. Suggestions that the celibacy rule was in part responsible for the "deviant behavior" of sexually abusive priests have swirled in recent days, with opinion pieces in German newspapers blaming it for fueling abuse and even Italian commentators questioning the rule. Much of the furor was spurred by comments from one of the pope's closest advisers, Vienna archbishop Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, who called this week for an honest examination of issues like celibacy and priestly education to root out the origins of sex abuse. (03/14/10)

UK, Brown woes female vote
Topic: Gender Discrimination
Source: The Independent
Gordon Brown wooed female voters yesterday by promising a new legal right for mothers to choose where they have their babies, including home births for those who want them. The Prime Minister previewed a Government plan to improve maternity services to be published tomorrow during an online chat on the Netmums website. Women could hold the key to the general election, as many have moved away from Labour since 1997, and the party has identified 53 seats where mothers could make all the difference. (03/15/10)

Oz Clarke tells kids drinking is heavenly
Topic: Political Correctness
Source: Telegraph
Clarke, who won a prize for Oz and James Drink to Britain, the BBC series that he presents with James May, a columnist on The Daily Telegraph, added: "Kingsley Amis, I think it was, said 'getting drunk is heavenly, being drunk is hell'. It is absolutely right. The one thing about drinking is you've got to learn how to do it. You can't just go in as some bloody kid and say 'let's hoover back the vodka'. "Learning how to do it is part of growing up. Growing up is about risk; dare; challenge; mistakes. James and I do believe we are standing up in this rather politically correct world where suddenly people are saying 'you mustn't drink and you mustn't have fun'." [Ed.: how refreshing!] (03/13/10)

Important Catholic endorsement of health care bill
Topic: Abortion
Source: Huffington Post
A group representing Catholic hospitals Saturday rallied behind President Barack Obama's health care bill ahead of a House vote in which anti-abortion lawmakers could play a decisive role. The chief executive of the Catholic Health Association, Carol Keehan, wrote on the group's Web site that although the legislation isn't perfect, it represents a "major first step" toward covering all Americans and would make "great improvements" for millions of people. The more than 600 Catholic hospitals across the country do not provide abortions as a matter of conscience. [Ed.: the lines that are going to be crossed and drawn on this health care bill will be amazing.] (03/13/10)

GA may outlaw abortions based on race, gender
Topic: Abortion
Source: FOX News
Georgia lawmakers are poised to take up a controversial bill that would outlaw abortions prompted by the baby's race or gender, an issue that has inspired a billboard campaign claiming a racial conspiracy is behind the termination of pregnancies. (03/10/10)

Conservatives carry Texas curriculum
Topic: Children and Family
Source: Pittsburg Post Gazette
After three days of turbulent meetings, the Texas Board of Education on Friday approved a social studies curriculum that will put a conservative stamp on history and economics textbooks, stressing the superiority of American capitalism, questioning the Founding Fathers' commitment to a purely secular government and presenting Republican political philosophies in a more positive light. The vote was 10-5 along party lines, with all the Republicans on the board voting for it. The board, whose members are elected, has influence beyond Texas because the state is one of the largest buyers of textbooks. But in the digital age, that influence has diminished, as technological advances have made it possible for publishers to tailor books to individual states. (03/13/10)

Canada, Muslim child brides on rise
Topic: Children and Family
Source: Toronto Sun
Federal immigration officials say there’s little they can do to stop “child brides” from being sponsored into Canada by much older husbands who wed them in arranged marriages abroad. Top immigration officials in Canada and Pakistan say all they can do is reject the sponsorships of husbands trying to bring their child-brides to Canada. The men have to reapply when the bride turns 16. The marriages are permitted under Sharia Law. Muslim men, who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents return to their homeland to wed a “child bride” in an arranged marriage in which a dowry is given to the girl’s parents. Officials said some of the brides can be 14 years old or younger and are “forced” to marry. The practice occurs in a host of countries including: Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and Lebanon. (03/11/10)

NY, Sex off. who served sentence indefinitely jailed
Topic: Porn, Prostitution, and Sexual Freedom
Source: Greenwish Time
A convicted sex offender who last year completed his federal prison sentence for molesting two young boys while working as a nanny in Greenwich and Armonk, N.Y., has remained in custody in New York state and could be held there indefinitely as a result of a new civil confinement law in that state, officials said. The Sex Offender Management and Treatment Act, signed into New York state law in 2007 by former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, allows for sex offenders who demonstrate a mental defect and are deemed dangers to themselves or society to continue to be held and supervised upon completion of their criminal sentences. [Ed: the trend is toward indefinite imprisonement of sex offenders who no longer have any constitutional or due process rights upon which they can depend.] (03/13/10)

ND, Insurers report on use of abortion riders
Topic: Abortion
Source: Washington Post
In North Dakota, where insurers can cover abortions if customers pay a separate premium, the state's largest provider says it sells no abortion policies because no one has asked to buy one. Amid a high-stakes debate over abortion that could determine the fate of President Obama's health-care initiative, North Dakota's law offers a test because it is much like the language favored by antiabortion lawmakers on Capitol Hill, notably Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.). "There's not a lot to tell. We have no member who elected to have abortion riders," said Denise Kolpack, vice president of Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota, which covers about 80 percent of the North Dakota market. (03/14/10)

Pope backed sex abuse priest transfer
Topic: Children and Family
Source: Reuters
Pope Benedict was involved in a decision to move a priest suspected of child abuse to his diocese for therapy when he was an archbishop in 1980, his former diocese in southern Germany said on Friday. The priest was moved to the diocese of Munich and Freising in January 1980 at the request of the diocese of Essen, and still works in the southern district, the Munich diocese said. "The then archbishop took part in this decision," said the Munich diocese, of which the pontiff -- then Joseph Ratzinger -- was archbishop from 1977 to 1981. The priest was supposed to undergo therapy at a rectory. "On the basis of the archive records, the ordinariate's working group has to assume that it was known then that this therapy should probably be carried out due to sexual relations with children," the diocese said in a statement. However, rather than sending the priest for therapy as had been agreed, the diocese's then general vicar, Gerhard Gruber, assigned him to a Munich parish without restrictions. (03/12/10)

US avoids anti abortion debate at UN meeting
Topic: Abortion
Source: Yahoo News
A U.N. meeting to assess progress in advancing the fight for women's equality that ended Friday had a dramatically different slant than a similar session held five years ago: This time, the United States was not trying to make an anti-abortion declaration a crucial theme. Much of the 2005 meeting to take stock of what countries had done to implement the landmark platform of action adopted at the 1995 U.N. women's conference in Beijing was consumed by the Bush administration's demand that the final declaration make clear that women are not guaranteed a right to abortion. (03/13/10)

Tiger Woods, it was DV committed v. him
Topic: Gender Discrimination
Source: FOX News
The ambulance crew that responded after golfer Tiger Woods crashed his SUV would not allow his wife to ride with him to the hospital because they thought it was a case of domestic violence, documents released Friday by the Florida Highway Patrol show. But a police officer who responded said he didn't know where the crew got that information because he never heard it from anyone at the scene. The reports also show Woods' wife, Elin, turned over two bottles of pain pills to troopers after the Nov. 27 crash outside the couple's suburban Orlando home. (03/12/10)

Andrew Young imprisoned over sex tape
Topic: Porn, Prostitution, and Sexual Freedom
Source: Huffington Post
On Tuesday, former John Edwards aide Andrew Young and his wife Cheri were ordered to spend up to 75 days in jail for contempt of court. The contempt charge stems from the couple's handling of an alleged sex tape filmed during Edwards' campaign featuring the former presidential candidate and his mistress Rielle Hunter. Hunter sued Young for possession of the purported sex tape, which Young claims involves Edwards performing oral sex on a pregnant Hunter. The judge handling the case, Abraham Penn Jones, now believes that the Youngs are withholding relevant items from the court including additional copies of the tape, ABC News reported. (03/10/10)

UK, Shocking failure of Child Protection Services
Topic: Children and Family
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
A father was free to use his daughters as sex slaves for three decades because more than 100 care workers were too scared to stop him, a devastating report revealed yesterday. The two sisters suffered more than 1,000 rapes, became pregnant 18 times and had seven children by their perverted father. Yet for ten years they were on the Child Protection Register, supposedly being monitored by social services. Astonishingly, care workers were aware of repeated allegations of incest but did nothing because they wrongly feared they could be sued for breaching confidentiality. (03/11/10)

First gay marriages in Mexico City
Topic: Gay/Lesbian Issues
Source: Associated Press
Two glowing brides in matching white gowns and four other same-sex couples have made history in Mexico City as they wed under Latin America's first law that explicitly approves gay marriage. Mexico City's legislature passed the first law explicitly giving gay marriages the same status as heterosexual ones in December. The legislation also allows same-sex couples to adopt children. For now the law applies only to residents of Mexico City, though a marriage performed in one state must be recognised in the rest of the country. (03/12/10)

Kansas City to close 26 schools
Topic: Children and Family
Source: Christian Science Monitor
Education experts say they can’t recall when so many of a district's schools have been closed. The Kansas City school district has struggled for years with declining enrollment and integration issues. The board of education voted 5 to 4 Wednesday to close 26 schools and several other sites, including its headquarters. The consolidation will also involve cutting hundreds of teaching positions and support staff. The closure decision has been “difficult ... and emotional” for the community, superintendent John Covington acknowledged at a press conference Thursday. But he and the board decided that his “Right Sizing” plan is necessary to save about $50 million and stave off bankruptcy. [Ed.: this is likely to occur in many cities.] (03/11/10)

Laws, lies and the abortion debate
Topic: Abortion
Source: New York Times
It has been three years since the Supreme Court’s conservative majority abruptly departed from precedent to uphold a federal ban on a particular method of abortion. Emboldened, foes of reproductive freedom are pressing new attacks on women’s rights and health. In Utah, Gov. Gary Herbert, a Republican, has signed a bill that would criminalize certain behavior by women that results in miscarriage. It was prompted by a sad and strange case last year in which a teenager who was seven months pregnant sought to induce a miscarriage by hiring a man to beat her. The measure exempts lawful abortions, and particularly worrisome language about “reckless” acts has been removed. But the law still raises concern about zealous prosecutors using a woman’s difficult choices to open an investigation. In Oklahoma... (03/08/10)

Why I reject the governments help
Topic: Children and Family
Source: WorldNetDaily
Author: Patrice Lewis
I don't like the idea of letting strangers into our home to "teach" me what they think I should know about raising kids. I didn't like it when we had our first baby, and I like it even less now. Our home life is our business, no one else's. Our children are healthy, happy, respectful and loving. We don't ask anyone to raise, educate or discipline them, just as we don't ask anyone to supply us with money, food or health care. All we ask is to be left alone. But that's not what the government wants. The government wants to help. Purely from the goodness of its heart, don't you know. We dodged the home-invasion bullet 14 years ago. But now we learn that helpful "home visitations" are part of the Obamacare package. This time the social workers won't be through our local hospital; they'll be federal bureaucrats who will judge whether we're living up to their requirements in raising our children and maintaining our health. (03/13/10)

No racism just kids being kids
Topic: Political Correctness
Source: Spiked
Author: Helene Guldberg
Teachers in Britain are obliged, under the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, to record the number of racist incidents in their schools. This has resulted in the reporting of an estimated 250,000 such incidents, and race relations officials claim this is just the tip of the iceberg. Yet Adrian Hart, a community filmmaker and tutor, argues in The Myth of Racist Kids: Anti-Racist Policy and the Regulation of School Life that ‘the notion of racist kids is in large part a myth’. Hart became concerned about today’s anti-bullying and anti-racist policies while working on a government-funded educational film about racism in schools. (03/12/10)

Obama aupports DNA sampling upon arrest
Topic: Political Correctness
Source: Wired
Josh Gerstein over at Politico sent Threat Level his piece underscoring once again President Barack Obama is not the civil-liberties knight in shining armor many were expecting. Gerstein posts a televised interview of Obama and John Walsh of America’s Most Wanted. The nation’s chief executive extols the virtues of mandatory DNA testing of Americans upon arrest, even absent charges or a conviction. Obama said, “It’s the right thing to do” to “tighten the grip around folks” who commit crime. (03/11/10)