In Vitro Doctor Sued: Lesbian Couple Have An "Extra" Kid

Here's a squalid little story about a lesbian couple in Australia who wanted a baby to raise and, naturally (no, that hardly seems the right word, does it? Make that "unnaturally"), went to a friendly doctor and a Danish sperm donor for an in vitro fertilization procedure. But the doc inserted two embryos into the lesbian's womb instead of one. And so the gal gives birth to two girls. Now, because of career pressures, the "couple" only want one baby but they refuse to consider allowing one of the kids to be adopted. Instead, they sue the doctor for nearly $350,000.

Jerry Springer, call your office.

"Hurricane" Dan Rather Got No Respect

Golly. Who would have guessed I had something in common with the CBS brass; namely, a "desire to keep Mr. Rather off the air"?

"He was provided with very little staff support, very few of his suggested stories were approved, editing services were denied to him, and the broadcast of the few stories he was permitted to do was delayed and then played on carefully selected evenings, when low viewership was anticipated," the lawsuit states.

Especially offensive to Rather, the suit says, was CBS' refusal to send him to New Orleans to cover Hurricane Katrina two years ago.

"Mr. Rather is the most experienced reporter in the United States in covering hurricanes," the complaint reads. "CBS refused to send him…furthering its desire to keep Mr. Rather off the air."...

First it was Abortion; Now Amnesty International Includes "Homosexual Rights" as a Priority

Amnesty International truly has lost its way.

With coerced abortion, political repression, torture, forced conversions, tribal violence, corrupt regimes, religious and racial persecution, and more requiring AI's sustained attention, the organization is frittering away its resources (and reputation) as it concentrates instead on breaking down traditional sexual standards.

Amnesty International's history should be respected but Amnesty International no longer deserves our honor or our support.

Below is Peter J. Smith's report.

After enshrining abortion as a human right in its humanitarian mission, Amnesty International has now stepped up its campaign to target nations that criminalize sodomy as grave violators of human rights, beginning with Nicaragua.

Last week Amnesty International through its affiliates orchestrated international protests outside Nicaraguan embassies and consulates in Germany, Canada, Chile, Iceland, Mexico, Paraguay, Sweden and Taiwan, demanding the repeal of Nicaragua's sodomy ban. "Article 204 contradicts numerous provisions in international human rights law," said an Amnesty press release. It added that Nicaragua's law, "clearly violates all these articles as well as the provisions of other human rights instruments that Nicaragua has ratified on sodomy."

Nicaragua has criminalized sodomy since 1992 under Article 204 of Nicaragua's criminal code, which stipulates that "anyone who induces, promotes, propagandizes or practices sexual intercourse between persons of the same sex commits the crime of sodomy and shall incur one to three years' imprisonment."

Nicaragua remains one of the last Latin American countries to criminalize homosexual behavior, and is familiar with bullying tactics used by Amnesty and other international groups intent on destroying its pro-life and pro-family laws and culture.

The predominantly Catholic nation passed a total ban on abortion in all circumstances in 2006 and has endured mounting international pressure from the United Nations and pro-abortion nations resolved to make the government reject the pro-life will of its people.

Today's Posts

* Socialized Medicine: The Nightmare Edges Closer and Closer

* In His Grip: PGA Star Scott Lehman Uses Golf to Promote the Gospel

* Nebraska State Senator Ernie Chambers Sues God

* Vatican Insists Nutrition and Hydration be Provided Even for Comatose Patients

* Maryland Court Upholds Marriage Law

* While America Slept: Holy Land Foundation Trial Reveals Extent of Jihad Threats

* Nebraska Senators Back Bush in Key Pro-Life Votes

Socialized Medicine: The Nightmare Edges Closer and Closer

Last week I pointed out that Michael Moore, maker of the documentary "Sicko," portrayed the Cuban health-care system as though it were utopia -- until I hit him with some inconvenient facts. So he backed off and said, "Let's stick to Canada and Britain because I think these are legitimate arguments that are made against the film and against the so-called idea of socialized medicine. And I think you should challenge me on these things."

OK, here we go.

One basic problem with nationalized health care is that it makes medical services seem free. That pushes demand beyond supply. Governments deal with that by limiting what's available.

That's why the British National Health Service recently made the pathetic promise to reduce wait times for hospital care to four months.

The wait to see dentists is so long that some Brits pull their own teeth. Dental tools: pliers and vodka.

One hospital tried to save money by not changing bed sheets every day. British papers report that instead of washing them, nurses were encouraged to just turn them over.

Government rationing of health care in Canada is why when Karen Jepp was about to give birth to quadruplets last month, she was told that all the neonatal units she could go to in Canada were too crowded. She flew to Montana to have the babies.

"People line up for care; some of them die. That's what happens," Canadian doctor David Gratzer, author of The Cure, told "20/20". Gratzer thought the Canadian system was great until he started treating patients. "The more time I spent in the Canadian system, the more I came across people waiting. You want to see your neurologist because of your stress headache? No problem! You just have to wait six months. You want an MRI? No problem! Free as the air! You just gotta wait six months." ...

Feeling sick now? You oughta' be. But if the next President of the United States really pursues a "socialized medicine" scheme, it'll be awhile before you'll see a doctor. My suggestion then? Go ahead and read the rest of John Stossel's column; then take two aspirins, lie down for awhile, and then get up with a new resolve to work for candidates who truly have the "health" of America in mind.

In His Grip: Scott Lehman Uses Golf to Promote the Gospel

Kay Adkins wrote this interesting piece about golfer Scott Lehman for Baptist Press:

By personal experience, teaching golf professional Scott Lehman discovered a principle that many church men's ministries are discovering as well: Where there is a common interest in an activity, there is an inroad to a man's heart.

About 10 years ago, Lehman for the first time in his life entered a Christian bookstore seeking help for his then-failing marriage. He soon noticed a book with a golf theme -- the devotional "In His Grip" by Jim Sheard and Wally Armstrong. He picked it up and began reading it.

"In golf, the most important key fundamental is the grip and how your hands are placed on the club," Lehman told Baptist Press. "The book started to talk about how the key fundamental in life is living a lifestyle in His grip. God began to open my heart to the message."

Now Lehman's greatest passion is to reach other golfers through In His Grip Golf Association, a ministry he founded that uses the golf course as a mission field and golf as an evangelistic tool. In 2006 Lehman focused full time on developing the ministry. He conducts leadership training workshops teaching churches how to organize an In His Grip Invitational and how to implement a year-round golf ministry.

Also, at his Pastor's Masters Golf Retreats held at LifeWay's Ridgecrest and Glorieta Conference Centers, pastors play golf. But, more important, they attend seminars on golf-related ministry and golf-centered life lessons -- ideas they can take back and develop in their own settings.

Lehman says he presents a "reach, teach and send" message, believing that golfers can grow in the image of Christ "through Scripture passages at every hole, small group Bible studies [and] golf retreats," and then be sent out to fulfill the Great Commission. Thus far Lehman has helped about 24 churches host In His Grip invitationals, which average about 100 men per tournament.

Nebraska State Senator Ernie Chambers Sues God

Some acts of blasphemy are more childish, self-aggrandizing, and patently foolish than others.

Vatican Insists Nutrition and Hydration be Provided Even for Comatose Patients

Catholic health care and ethical groups thanked the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for clarifying its stand on artificial nutrition and hydration for patients in a persistent vegetative state in a pair of Sept. 14 documents.

"The Catholic health ministry is grateful for the clarification provided today," said Sister Carol Keehan, a Daughter of Charity who is president and CEO of the Catholic Health Association, in a Sept. 14 statement.

"Patients in a persistent vegetative state, while making up a very small percent of all patients, pose some of the most challenging and heart-wrenching situations for families and caregivers," she added. "This clarification affirms the church's belief in the value of their lives in spite of the circumstances of their condition."

The Vatican's responses to two questions posed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and its commentary on those responses "provide a clear rejection of the claim of certain theologians that the provision of food and water for patients in the persistent vegetative state is not morally obligatory," said the Philadelphia-based National Catholic Bioethics Center in a Sept. 14 statement.

The USCCB questions were prompted by confusion in the U.S. over a 2004 talk by Pope John Paul II in which he said nutrition and hydration, even by artificial means such as feeding tubes, should generally be considered ordinary care and not extraordinary medical treatment.

"The (Vatican) commentary takes pains to note that John Paul II's address stands in conformity with previous tradition, and is not, in any way, an innovation or abandonment of previous teaching," the bioethics center statement said, adding that the commentary's "review of previous (papal and Vatican) statements speaks to the claim of those who have said John Paul II's address was completely unexpected and without precedent."

Sister Carol said the latest Vatican documents make clear that "the provision of artificially administered nutrition and hydration to patients in a vegetative state is morally obligatory except when they cannot be assimilated by the patient's body (and, hence, don't achieve their purpose) or cause significant discomfort."

In addition, she said, "artificially administered nutrition and hydration cannot be discontinued for a patient in a persistent vegetative state even when physicians have determined with reasonable certainty that a patient will never recover consciousness..."

Here's the rest of Nancy Frazier O'Brien's article for Catholic News Service about this humane and much-welcomed announcement.

Maryland Court Upholds Marriage Law

The Maryland Court of Appeals yesterday upheld a state law defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. The decision (4 to 3) should put an end to challenges by homosexuals who claim they are denied equal protection under the law. However, the court ruled that the state's 1973 ban on same-sex marriage does not discriminate on the basis of gender, nor does it deny any fundamental rights.

Here's more on the story.

While America Slept: Holy Land Foundation Trial Reveals Extent of Jihad Threats

Joseph Myers' article in the American Thinker ("Homeland Security Implications of the Holy Land Foundation Trial") is a riveting read, all the more so because the crucial information Myers shares should be (but isn't) leading the nightly news broadcasts.

The on-going Holy Land Foundation trial has established important facts about the resident domestic Islamic jihad threat inside the United States. Although evidence brought forward in documents and testimony has explosive implications for US Homeland Security, the intelligence community, and every American citizen, relatively little media attention has been paid to it.

This information also has serious implications for professionals, military and civilian, involved in homeland security, DoD plans and strategy as well as national agency intelligence analysts and local law enforcement. The raw documents outlining the strategic goals and activities of the Muslim Brotherhood in America, now exposed for public view, are substantiating the concerns and information long raised by various private sector counterterrorism think-tanks, organizations and blogs such as Stephen Emerson's Investigative Project and Robert Spencer's Jihad Watch among others...

It will take a few minutes to read through the article because it is detailed and comprehensive. But it is very important to do so because you're quite likely not to learn anywhere else these remarkable revelations about the jihadist threat to the safety and security of American citizens.

Nebraska Senators Back Bush in Key Pro-Life Votes

Julie Schmit-Albin, the Executive Director of Nebraska Right to Life, sent out this press release yesterday. In it she applauds Nebraska's Senators for the important votes on recent pro-life legislation and encourages Nebraska pro-life advocates to do the same.

SENATOR NELSON UPHOLDS WORD ON MEXICO CITY POLICY PROHIBITING FUNDING FOR OVERSEAS PRO-ABORTION ORGANIZATIONS;

VOTES WITH SENATOR HAGEL THREE TIMES ON 9/6/07 TO UPHOLD MEXICO CITY & PROHIBIT FUNDING FOR UNFPA

During the 2006 Senate election, dissention was expressed by some pro-lifers for Nebraska Right to Life's sole endorsement of Senator Ben Nelson. The dissent arose largely due to Senator Nelson having voted previously against the Mexico City policy, which prohibits taxpayer funding of pro-abortion organizations overseas. Senator Nelson said in 2006 that he would no longer vote against the Mexico City policy and made good on his word on September 6, 2007. Senator Nelson voted along with Senator Chuck Hagel three times in support of upholding the Mexico City policy and against funding of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) because of its participation in China's coercive population control policy.

There were three abortion-related votes on September 6, 2007 on the State-Foreign Operations appropriations bill (H.R. 2764). The first was a vote on an amendment by Senator Sam Brownback to restore the Kemp-Kasten law which prohibits funding of any organization that "supports or participates in the management of a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization." The Kemp-Kasten law has been law for over 20 years, and has been the basis for the denial of funding to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) because of its participation in China's coercive population control policy, that includes coercive abortions. The Brownback amendment passed 48-45, with both Senators Ben Nelson and Chuck Hagel voting for it.

The second was a vote on an amendment by Senator Barbara Boxer to repeal the "Mexico City Policy," which prohibits U.S. "population assistance" grants from going to private overseas organizations that "perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning." The Boxer amendment passed by a vote of 53-41, with both Senators Ben Nelson and Chuck Hagel voting against it.

The third vote was on an additional Brownback amendment to strike language from the underlying bill that would gut the "Mexico City Policy" by allowing in-kind grants to abortion-promoting organizations. The Brownback amendment failed by a vote of 41-53, with both Senators Ben Nelson and Chuck Hagel voting for it.

Both of Nebraska's Senators should be commended for their votes. They can be contacted by sending an e-mail through their web sites at : www.hagel.senate.gov and www.bennelson.senate.gov

The Mexico City Policy is currently in place. President Bush reinstated the Mexico City Policy by Executive Order in 2001, when he first came into office. The Boxer amendment was attached to the State-Foreign Operations appropriations bill (H. R. 2764). This bill still needs to go to conference, and then be sent to the President. The Bush Administration has issued a Statement of Administration Policy saying that "if the President were presented a bill such as H.R. 2764 that weakens current Federal policies and laws on abortion, he would veto the bill." It also said "Specifically, the Administration strongly opposes section 622 of the bill, which permits contracts and grants for organizations regardless of whether they perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning and is contrary to the Administration's Mexico City policy."

Today's Posts

Communist China: Toying with Your Kid's Safety

Back to Jail...But This Time for All the Right Reasons

U.S. Delegation Fights United Nations Leadership on Abortion

The Mainstream Media Coverage (or Cover-Up) of the Washington Anti-War Rally

Pro-Life Concerns About Michael Mukasey...and Fred Thompson

Why the Left Turn?

Petraeus Outclasses the Opposition

Amnesty International's Abortion Policy Continues to Draw Protests

Communist China: Toying with Your Kid's Safety

"China manufactured every one of the 24 kinds of toys recalled for safety reasons in the United States so far this year, including the enormously popular Thomas & Friends wooden train sets, a record that is causing alarm among consumer advocates, parents and regulators.

The latest recall, announced last week, involves 1.5 million Thomas & Friends trains and rail components - about 4 percent of all those sold in the United States over the last two years by RC2 Corporation of Oak Brook, Ill. The toys were coated at a factory in China with lead paint, which can damage brain cells, especially in children.

Just in the last month, a ghoulish fake eyeball toy made in China was recalled after it was found to be filled with kerosene. Sets of toy drums and a toy bear were also recalled because of lead paint, and an infant wrist rattle was recalled because of a choking hazard.

Over all, the number of products made in China that are being recalled in the United States by the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission has doubled in the last five years, driving the total number of recalls in the country to 467 last year, an annual record.

It also means that China today is responsible for about 60 percent of all product recalls, compared with 36 percent in 2000.

Much of the rise in China's ranking on the recall list has to do with its corresponding surge as the world's toy chest: toys made in China make up 70 to 80 percent of the toys sold in the country, according to the Toy Industry Association."

(Source: Eric S. Lipton and David Barboza, "As More Toys Are Recalled, Trail Ends in China," The New York Times, June 19, 2007) (Hat tip: World Congress of Families.)

For more on shoddy, unsafe Chinese products, read this recent post.

Back to Jail...But This Time for All the Right Reasons

Here's an exciting story from the Beacon News, a suburban Chicago newspaper, which focuses on a dear friend, Tom Beatty. It's encouraging reading.

Repent is one of those words that stirs up images of a Baptist preacher slamming his worn leather bible down on the podium while shouting out condemnations to the congregation. It implies wrongdoing, makes us feel guilty.

But repent doesn't mean the same thing to Tom Beatty, the newly appointed director of New Life Corrections Ministry, a division of Wayside Cross Ministries in Aurora. "Repent means change," he says. And change is something Beatty is familiar with.

"I was a drug addict and a drunk and in and out of so many jails, I couldn't count," says Beatty. "I knew what I was doing was wrong, but I did it anyway."

All that stopped one winter evening back in 1979, Beatty says, when he asked Jesus Christ into his life while an inmate in a Nebraska county jail. "There weren't any bells or whistles," he says with a chuckle. "But when I woke the next morning I knew I was different..."

And just how different I could describe in a hundred stories from my personal interaction with Tom over the last couple of decades. But for now, why not finish reading the rest of the Beacon News report, including as it does details on Tom's current ministry with New Life Corrections Ministry in Aurora, Illinois. It's right here.

U.S. Delegation Fights United Nations Leadership on Abortion

Despite President Bush's decision to again (for the sixth year in a row) suspend the U.S. contribution to the United Nations Population Fund because of the organization's continued push for abortion (even forced abortion as perpetuated by Communist China), the U.N. leadership remains committed to abortion. Indeed, as this news story from C-FAM shows, U.N. leaders keep tying abortion to their aid and advocacy programs...even when they no legitimate authority to do so!

The US delegation to the UN sharply scolded a top UN official this week for perpetuating the falsehood that there is a new UN mandated global goal related to "sexual and reproductive health." The exchange came during the Executive Board meeting of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA). The US also criticized UNFPA's promotion of abortion.

UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Obaid was presenting UNFPA's strategic plan and its proposed global and regional programs. In her report Obaid claimed “The target on universal access to reproductive health under Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5 paves the way for further progress to improve the health of women, reduce maternal and newborn deaths, expand contraceptive choice, and protect reproductive rights.” The US representative interjected that there is no new global target on reproductive health and that the only thing that could generate one was a resolution of the General Assembly.

The Millennium Development Goals were first negotiated in 2000 by more than 150 heads of state, the largest such gathering in history, and included eight broad goals none of which included the controversial issue of "reproductive health," a term that is frequently used by UN agencies to promote abortion. Pro-abortion radicals, including UNFPA, tried to get a new goal on “reproductive health” negotiated by heads of state in 2005 but they were defeated. Since then, they have tried to get a ninth goal or at least a target as part of an existing goal but continue to be defeated. Their defeat has not stopped UNFPA and others from continuing to claim that such a new target exists. Governments around the world are being told such a target exists and are being asked to change their laws accordingly, most recently in the Philippines.

The US also complained to Obaid about UNFPA's promotion of abortion and asked Obaid for a clarification. Obaid claimed UNFPA was neutral on abortion and only tries to prevent "unsafe abortion." "UNFPA does not speak for or against the legalization of abortion," said Obaid. UNFPA, however, has a history of promoting the legalization of abortion most recently when the agency intervened when Nicaragua's National Assembly banned all abortion. UNFPA, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and other UN agencies directly intervened to stop the law which eventually was passed unanimously by the Nicaraguan Assembly...

The Mainstream Media Coverage (or Cover-Up) of the Washington Anti-War Rally

Power Line has photos, showing losers carrying signs reading, among other things, "Socialist revolution is the only solution," "Free Iraq from imperialist occupation," and "9-11 was an inside job: Bush liar murderer, terrorist."

Yet if you read the news coverage--e.g., the Associated Press, the New York Times, the Washington Post--you'd have no idea that this was anything more than a gathering of normal, if perhaps slightly overenthusiastic, Americans.

The Times gives away the game when it says, in its lead paragraph, that the event "evoked the angry spirit of the Vietnam era protests of more than three decades ago." But that era's protests draw huge numbers of people, many of them young men who didn't want to get drafted and young women who didn't want the supply of men curtailed by the draft.

Many of those baby boomers grew up to be journalists, and many of them wish to keep alive the idea that their motives back then were idealistic rather than selfish. So it's no wonder that the press describes today's Potemkin "antiwar" movement as if it were the real thing. (Source: James Taranto in the "Best of the Web" column over at WSJ Online.)

Pro-Life Concerns About Michael Mukasey...and Fred Thompson

There's some strong reasons for concern by pro-life advocates about the Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey...and also about Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson. Here's LifeNews.com on both stories: Mukasey and Thompson.

Why the Left Turn?

Whether one is on the left or right, it cannot be denied that the left has had an enormous impact on the major institutions of American society -- specifically journalism, education and the judiciary.

In every poll I have seen, liberals overwhelm conservatives in academia, including the teachers' colleges, which are quite far left, and in journalism. And few deny the leftward tilt of the Supreme Court for most of the last 40 years.

The question, then, is not whether the left has had such an impact, but why...

Curious as to the answer? Of course you are. So find out by reading the rest of Dennis Prager's exceptional Town Hall piece.

Petraeus Outclasses the Opposition

Slam dunk. Total success. That's about all you can say about the Gen. David H. Petraeus Iraq war hearings last week. Once again, the public saw a highly competent, professional man of true integrity staying calm during the vicious, mean-spirited personal attacks of the Democrat leadership.

At the same time, he clearly exposed their hypocrisy, ineptitude and disingenuousness as they tried to strut their stuff before the cameras.

Oliver North did the same thing to them 20 years ago, and they didn't learn their lesson one bit. It was actually kind of laughable the way they both outclassed them...

Thus begins an impressive op-ed column written for the Daily Star (Oneonta, New York) by Tom Sears, a professor at Hartwick College there. Read it in its entirety here.

Amnesty International's Abortion Policy Continues to Draw Protests

The negative repercussions of Amnesty International's decision to pursue the protection of "abortion rights" continues...and for sound reasons. And, as is usual, it is principled Roman Catholics who have taken the lead in protesting the new policy, a policy obviously irreconcilable to AI's purported defense of human rights.

In the latest responses, Monsignor Angelo Bagnasco, head of Italy's conference of bishops opened their conference with a strong denunciation of Amnesty International's "astounding inclusion" of abortion among recognized human rights. And, a bit further north, the Guardian (U.K.) reports the Catholic church in Northern Ireland is taking up the disbanding of Amnesty International support groups in Catholic schools there.

In relation to the banning of school Amnesty groups, a church spokesman told the Guardian: "An inquiry did come from a school principal, on behalf of the teacher who is in charge of the school Amnesty group, asking for guidance on the future of the Amnesty group in the school. The advice to the school is that it would be inappropriate for the school branch to continue in existence in the context of Amnesty International's new position regarding abortion."...

Unless and until Amnesty International recognizes that the promotion of the lethal barbarism of abortion (denounced by civilized nations since Hippocrates) is a base abandonment of the ideals of their founders, the organization deserves nothing but strict and energetic opposition from those genuinely dedicated to fighting human rights abuses.

If you would like to add your voice to those urging Amnesty International to drop its new promotion of abortion rights, please use this page to find the appropriate contact information for your country.

(Previous posts on this issue can be read here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc.)