15. More Congressmen Trying to be a Light on the Hill

25. 'For sale' signs now hang on Newfoundland churches

Have You Voted Yet? Nov. 2 2005 Free Market Foundation

As we write this last Weekly Issues Alert before the Nov. 8 Constitutional Amendments Election, our hearts are deeply saddened by the events surrounding Proposition 2, the amendment that defines marriage as the union between one man and one woman. The same-sex marriage advocates have made attempts to deceive voters in the state by spreading deceitful messages to 2 million Texas homes.

This week has been filled with attack after attack, and experts say it is impossible to know which side will win this vote. Voter turn-out percentages from the Secretary of State website show the highest voter turn-out in areas with a more liberal population. Please understand that more than a half million dollars has come into the state in favor of same-sex "marriage."

The nation is watching. Please make sure and vote to proclaim that you will not be deceived! Do not be silent!

A vote AGAINST Prop. 2 is a vote in favor of same-sex "marriage" or other new social experiments.

 Free Market Foundation strongly believes all Texans should vote FOR Proposition!

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In New Orleans—where people are still picking up the pieces from Katrina—there are reports that many of those who lost everything are experiencing a spiritual renewal and are turning to houses of worship.

Todd Hallman, senior pastor at the New Orleans area First Baptist Church, said they're seeking the kind of relief that only comes from above.

"We're seeing people with renewed interest in spirituality, a new interest in church life, because they've lost everything," he told Family News in Focus. "They're coming to the church like I've never seen before."

While it's difficult to say exactly how many people have given their lives to Christ, Hallman said the process of change is evident.

"Most of the conversions we've experienced have been ongoing," he said. "It's been more of a process and I'd say more than the conversions, is probably just the renewed interest in faith in general."

Hallman said in New Orleans the word 'Baptist' was considered by many to mean judgmental and legalistic. Offering help to those in need has given First Baptist a chance to turn that around.

"The attitude that we don't care about people or that we're just focused on our Baptist battle, so to speak, has completely been obliterated," he said.

Dr. Joe McKeever, director of missions for the Baptist Association of Greater New Orleans, said God's hand is evident.

"People didn't have time to get to know their neighbors because they were so committed to activities inside the church," he said, "and so the Lord shut down the churches and sent everybody home!"

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HOUSTON, Texas, In her new book, Sex Appealed, a Texas judge documents why she concludes that a landmark 2003 US Supreme Court decision striking down anti sodomy laws was based on pre arranged arrests staged to test the constitutionality of Texas’ law.

The non-fiction book, her first, is subtitled "Was the U.S. Supreme Court Fooled?" The controversial 6-3 U.S. Supreme Court ruling favoring the defendants in the landmark case is the trigger event kicking away roadblocks to gay marriage. Lawrence v. Texas remains in headlines today in a larger cultural war over adoption, employee benefits, the military's Don't- Ask, Don't -Tell policy, and related issues of judicial activism.

The author, Judge Janice Law, is a former journalist. Lawrence v. Texas, was assigned to her Houston, Texas criminal court in 1998 shortly before she took her bench. "Rumors circulated immediately in the Harris County, Texas courthouse that the arrests were a set up, that the defendants invited their arrest," Judge Law said. The Supreme Court based its historic decision on right to privacy.

"If the set up were known during the case’s five year appeal journey from my court, then the defendants would not have a right to privacy claim, and the U.S. Supreme Court may never have heard the case, or may have decided it differently," Judge Law explained.

After the high court's reverberant ruling, she decided to investigate the still lingering set-up rumors. By then she was a visiting judge, sitting for judges who are on vacation or ill. She interviewed everyone from denizens of Houston’s gay bars, to the defendant’s New York attorneys whose dazzling brilliance was acknowledged even by their opponents.

"I researched and wrote Sex Appealed because I know many of the Lawrence participants, I had the time, contacts, and the journalistic background to investigate, and, as a lawyer and judge, I felt an obligation to history to find out what really happened behind the scenes in one of the most culture-altering cases in America’s legal history," Judge Law said. "I am the judge who, after the internationally publicized case was concluded at the highest level, embarked on her own investigation of rumors about the case assigned to her Texas court," she added.

The defendants and their Houston and New York attorneys have consistently denied rumors that the 1998 arrests of Tyron (c. q.) Garner and John Lawrence were manufactured for the purpose of litigation. "My conclusion that the arrests were invited will be debated for years by all factions," she added.

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 The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention has unanimously passed a resolution encouraging Christian parents to look into whether their local public schools are involved in homosexual activism and, where this is the case, to pursue alternative choices for their children's education, such as private Christian schools or home education.

Dr. Gary Ledbetter, a spokesman for the Texas Convention, says the public school resolution is similar to one passed last summer at the Southern Baptist Convention's annual meeting in Nashville, Tennessee.

The bottom line, Ledbetter asserts, is that parents have a responsibility to provide for the spiritual, emotional, and instructional education of their children. "That was the point of the resolution," he says. "The language went on to point out that other people have other agendas for our children, and ... we need to pay very close attention to what they are."

The Texas Southern Baptist feels the resolution was successful because Christian parents and churches are feeling increasingly threatened by what is being taught in public schools and are looking for ways to fight back. "Whatever means we use as parents, we need to be informed," he says.

"There are other agendas, particularly the homosexual agenda, that have been very aggressive in promoting tolerance of what we consider to be destructive and unbiblical lifestyles -- and building that tolerance into our children," Ledbetter contends. "And they're finding a listening ear. Whether it's on the Supreme Court or whether it's the textbook manufacturers, the National Education Association -- we find ourselves up against some pretty big boys."

The goal of the public school resolution is to put the responsibility for educating children in the hands of the parents where it belongs, Ledbetter adds. Now that more believing parents are becoming wary of what is being taught in public schools, he says these Christian moms and dads are looking to take a proactive response.

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Nov. 3 Christian Wire Service / Biblical Family Advocates
Public schools to replace parents, with state mandated immorality

 Biblical Family Advocates is outraged that the 9th Circuit Court has ruled against parents who have sued their local school district for giving explicit sex surveys to their elementary school children.

"This brazen decision by the 9 Circuit Court forces children to be force fed and questioned on highly personal, sexual information. And what about the vast majority of children who cannot afford to be sheltered from such immorality and sexualization, by availing themselves of a private education? How will parents be able to protect their children from such Stalinistic rulings that makes the State usurp the God given right of parents to have the primary authority over their children's lives, especially in the dispensing of information?

This is clearly a dismissal of a parents right to protect their children from being sexualized by a system that has no appreciation for a parents moral authority nor their religious rights, thus creating state sanctioned moral compromise," stated Phil Magnan, Executive Director of Biblical Family Advocates.

The Court ruled that, "We agree, and hold that there is no fundamental right of parents to be the exclusive provider of information regarding sexual matters to their children, either independent of their right to direct the upbringing and education of their children or encompassed by it. We also hold that parents have no due process or privacy right to override the determinations of public schools as to the information to which their children will be exposed while enrolled as students." --Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Nov. 3, 2005

Magnan continued, "I can only hope that many parents will begin to seriously consider taking their children out of the public school system or running for school boards and voting for School vouchers, that determine where their school dollars should go. Certainly this decision should make parents want to vote for initiatives like Proposition 73 that allows a parent to be notified when their child is seeking an abortion. It is time for parents to wake up and let the public school system know that they have the God given parental right to protect one's own child. We should convey our revulsion over the continuing intrusion by the State to indoctrinate and pervert an already troubled school system, as children should first honor their Father and Mother, not the State."

Biblical Family Advocates is a pro family organization protecting and promoting the moral interests of millions of families and churches throughout the U.S. and around the world.
Contact: Phil Magnan, director of Biblical Family Advocates, BFA, 619-933-1839

When parents of schoolchildren in Palmdale, California learned from their sons and daughters that they had been questioned in their public elementary school about sexual topics such as the frequency of "thinking about having sex" and "thinking about touching other peoples' private parts," some of them exercised their constitutional right to take their grievance to the courts.

In summary, we hold that there is no free-standing fundamental right of parents "to control the upbringing of their children by introducing them to matters of and relating to sex in accordance with their personal religious values and beliefs" and that the asserted right is not encompassed by any other fundamental right. In doing so, we do not quarrel with the parents' right to inform and advise their children about the subject of sex as they see fit. We conclude only that the parents are possessed of no constitutional right to prevent the public schools from providing information on that subject to their students in any forum or manner they select. We further hold that a psychological survey is a reasonable state action pursuant to legitimate educational as well as health and welfare interests of the state. Accordingly, the parent-appellants have failed to state a federal claim upon which relief may be granted. The decision of the district court is affirmed.

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WASHINGTON, The percentage of women who are unmarried when they have children has reached a record high according to statistics released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics.

The statistics for 2004, released Friday, revealed that 35.7 percent of all births were to unmarried women and that the percentage of unmarried mothers increased for all ages and races. The increase translates to almost 1.5 million children being born were to unwed mothers last year, up significantly – four percent – from 2003.

Over half of births to women in their early twenties and nearly three in 10 births to women aged 25–29 were to unmarried mothers, while four out of five teenage women who gave birth were unwed.

"It's really unfair to children," said Rutgers University sociologist David Popenoe, co-director of the National Marriage Project, according to a USA TODAY report. "It means more children are going to grow up without mothers and fathers."

Popenoe and his group at Rutgers confirmed that the increased prevalence of unwed mothers is bad news for children. Swedish researchers documented that children raised by single parents are twice as likely to suffer from psychiatric problems, suicide and other injuries as those raised; in intact two-parent homes.

US data suggested children reared by one birth parent are twice as likely to drop out of school or become teenage parents, regardless of a parent’s education credentials. They're also one-and-a-half times more likely to be jobless after leaving school.

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The Unborn Do Feel Pain Nov. 1 2005 Christian Wire Service

WASHINGTON, Concerned Women for America (CWA) commends Congress for recognizing scientific evidence that confirms that unborn babies experience intense pain when aborted.

"Not only do unborn children feel pain, the evidence suggests they feel pain more acutely than at any other stage of life," said Wendy Wright, CWA's Executive Vice President. "The Constitution forbids cruel and unusual punishment for the guilty; we should not have a lesser standard for the innocent.

"Each woman considering an abortion has the right to know the excruciating pain her innocent unborn baby will experience. In order to make an informed decision on whether to undergo an abortion, mothers should be aware that the 20-week-or-older baby they are carrying will feel agonizing pain.

"We applaud Congress for seeking information on an issue that the timid or abortion enthusiasts would rather sweep under the rug," concluded Wright. "Ignoring evidence does not make it untrue, it only makes us accomplices."

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 As you know, the Supreme Court has decided to allow city governments to take land from one private owner and give it to another. In "Kelo vs. City of New London", five Justices (led by David Souter) ruled that "eminent domain" allows any local government to TAKE anyone's private property if the government will generate greater tax revenue -- or any other economic benefits -- when the land is developed by the new owner.

Thank goodness, someone in Congress has moved quickly to counter this dictatorial and ANTI-constitutional decision by the Supreme Court -- but WE have to make sure this effort passes!

Last week (on October 27), the House Judiciary Committee approved legislation responding to the Kelo ruling: H.R. 3135, the "Private Property Rights Protection Act" was approved 27-3, and prohibits the use of federal funds by state and local governments that use eminent domain for the purposes of commercial development. House Judiciary Chairman Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-WI) was the bill's sponsor; House Resources Committee Chairman Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA) also held a parallel hearing on HR 3405, the "Strengthening the Ownership of Private Property" (STOPP) Act.

Both of these bills would be GREAT, but the BEST news is that the two bills have now merged into H.R. 4128, the "Private Property Rights Protection Act."  Prior to the merge, both bills had strong bipartisan support -- H.R. 3135 with 136 cosponsors and H.R. 3405 with 112. This means we have a GOOD chance of getting this bill through!

Rep. Sensenbrenner's bill reads, "No State or political subdivision of a State shall exercise its power of eminent domain, or allow the exercise of such power by any person or entity to which such power has been delegated, over property to be used for economic development or over property that is subsequently used for economic development, if that State or political subdivision receives Federal economic development funds during any fiscal year in which it does so." In other words, if they take away your property, the Feds will take away their funding.

Click below to send a FREE message to your U.S. Representative and BOTH of your Senators, urging them to SUPPORT H.R. 4128, the "Private Property Rights Protection Act":

President Bush fulfilled his campaign pledge to appoint a Justice to the U.S. Supreme Court who would be a solid conservative that would adhere to a strict interpretation of the Constitution, a Justice in the mold of Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.

Judge Samuel Alito is such a judge. He has a lengthy judicial track record that proves he believes that a judge should rule based on the application of existing laws and the Constitution – not by making new law from the bench to fit personal opinion.

Indeed, Judge Alito has more judicial experience than any other Supreme Court nominee during the past 70 years. At age 39, Judge Alito was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate to the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. He was the lone dissenter in the 1992 Casey case in which he issued an opinion that approved a Pennsylvania state law that required women to tell their husbands before having an abortion. Judge Alito is also a very tough law and order judge, one who does not coddle criminals.

As you can expect, the attacks from the left have already begun. Liberal groups are already lining up to oppose Judge Alito. Liberal senators such as Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid are already staking out positions against his confirmation.

The radical liberal group People for the American Way stated that it would mount a "major national campaign" against Judge Alito.

This is just the first of many attacks we can expect over the coming months leading up to a showdown in the U.S. Senate. The fight will be real – but the reward is far too important for conservatives to sit back and watch. We must let the Senators know how we feel!

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) has called Alito a "man of outstanding character, who is deeply committed to public service, and has a distinguished history of professional achievement and leadership." (GOPUSA)

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said that an Alito nomination would create problems for the Democrats and noted on CNN's Late Edition that Alito was "not one of the names that I've suggested to the president." (GOPUSA)

The battle has begun, and Christian conservatives everywhere need to do their part to help bring pressure on the Senate to confirm him as quickly as possible!

A homosexual advocacy group sees a "hopeful sign" that Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito may not be hostile to "gay rights."

On Tuesday, the Boston Globe reported that Alito -- as a senior at Princeton University -- chaired a student task force that recommended decriminalizing sodomy and said homosexuals should not be discriminated against in the workplace.

"This is a hopeful sign that may provide insight into his philosophy," said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese in a press release.

"There were very few people standing up for gay Americans 34 years ago, and most who did have evolved even more since."

Solmonese said his group expects to learn more about Alito's views before the confirmation hearings begin. "It's crucial that we find out more about his views on the right to privacy and other constitutional issues," he said.

According to the Boston Globe, Alito and 16 other Princeton students wrote a report in 1971 as part of a class assignment to examine the "boundaries of privacy in American society" and ways of protecting individual rights.

Alito wrote in the report's forward, "We sense a great threat to privacy in modern America. ... We all believe that privacy is too often sacrificed to other values; we all believe that the threat to privacy is steadily and rapidly mounting; we all believe that action must be taken on many fronts now to preserve privacy."

The highest judicial body in the United Methodist Church (UMC) has ruled 6-2 to de-frock--remove from office--a female minister, Irene "Beth" Stroud. In 2003, she announced to her suburban Philadelphia congregation that she was living in a "covenanted relationship" with another woman. The UMC's Judicial Council also acted to reinstate Rev. Edward Johnson, pastor of South Hill United Methodist Church. Rev. Johnson had been placed on involuntary, unpaid leave since last June for declining to accept a practicing homosexual as a member of his South Hill, Virginia, congregation.

Rev. Johnson maintained that while he welcomed all persons to his church, homosexual conduct is contrary to scripture. Mark Tooley, a leader in the renewal movement within the UMC, welcomed the Judicial Council rulings. Methodism, he said, "is not moving in the direction of the Episcopal Church and declining liberal Protestantism." It is moving instead "in the direction of global Christianity, which is robustly orthodox." We welcome these right moves within the UMC.

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Great Britain's Prince Charles is traveling across the "pond" to our nation's capital in part to deliver a message to President Bush. According to London's Daily Telegraph, the Prince's message to the President is greater tolerance towards Islam. "I find the language and rhetoric coming from America too confrontational," the pained prince reportedly said of Americans' reaction to the terrorist attacks on 9/11. The prince is said to believe that the actions of 19 hijackers should not be permitted to tarnish the reputations of millions of law-abiding Muslims throughout the world.

Fair enough, but the real source of concern in the West is the excessive tolerance of many Islamic leaders for jihadists who behead innocent people.

The latest horror story involves three Christian school girls in Indonesia who were savagely killed this way by machete-wielding men. Pope Benedict XVI has rightly condemned these horrific murders. Where is the worldwide denunciation by the leaders of this religion that insists it is peaceful? We are grateful for Britain's staunch support of our war on terror and we honor their sacrifices. But instead of lecturing Americans on tolerance, Prince Charles might want to read up on Jefferson and Madison. They had some useful insights on religious liberty for the American people that have proven helpful for other nations as well. Of course, they also had some revolutionary ideas about princes playing politics.

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Nov. 1 2005 American Values by Gary Bauers

Events in Europe this week offer a disturbing glimpse of the future, but you wouldn't know it from the American media which has virtually ignored the developments. First, there have been five nights of rioting in the suburbs of Paris by Muslim youth battling police.

In Denmark a number of young Danish Muslims have been arrested and charged with plotting suicide attacks in that country and throughout Europe. In Holland a group has been apprehended that was plotting to assassinate Dutch politicians who want to restrict further Muslim immigration into the country.

All in all, it looks like the strength of Muslim extremists is growing in Europe, posing a severe threat to the freedoms of many western nations. Seems like an important story to me.

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Nov. 3 2005 American Values by Gary Bauer

The riots in the suburbs of Paris by Muslim youth that I reported to you a few days ago have now entered their seventh night. The story is becoming too big for the United States media to ignore, although on CNN's website today you had to read nineteen paragraphs on the riots before there was any acknowledgement of the fact that the rioters are Muslims.

The situation appears to be deteriorating. Last night, shots were fired repeatedly at policemen and firemen. France's government is deeply divided on what to do. Some top cabinet ministers actually want to withdraw all police from the neighborhoods because they are "provocative." But, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy has called the rioters "scum" and says there should be zero tolerance of their criminal acts.

For 30 years France has stood by paralyzed while a massive influx of North African Muslims has entered the country. Fifteen percent of France is now Islamic. Government leaders thought that as long as France pursued a pro-Muslim foreign policy everything would be fine. The fires encircling Paris say otherwise.

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More Congressmen Trying to be a Light on the Hill

Oct. 26, 2005 Citizen Link

 A growing number of members of Congress are exercising their faith on Capitol Hill. They are a bright light in the daily business of power politics.

Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., believes that true statesmanship is found in applying Christian principles to politics.

"The whole purpose of government is to uphold human dignity and to protect the innocent and to keep the law of the jungle from prevailing," he said.

That purpose, he said, is what has drawn people of faith to run for office.

"Because that is so indigenous to a Christian's belief and heart that, yes, they feel called to government," he said.

Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., said progress is often slow, and more like-minded people are needed on the Hill.

"I think we really understand that we have been given the opportunity to serve our God and His people here in Washington, D.C. and we've got to be more vocal on these issues that we think are the Judeo-Christian values of America," he told Family News in Focus. "We need more people who will live their faith and vote their faith.

The Family Research Council (FRC) announced Wednesday the recipients of its annual True Blue Award, recognizing those with congressional voting records that demonstrate a commitment to families and the sanctity of human life.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: To download a listing of all 69 recipients of the True Blue Award, please visit the Family Research Council Web site. http://www.frc.org/

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Concerned Women for America Lobby Capitol Hill for Home-Schoolers

Amelia Wigton Oct. 28, 2005 Concerned Women for America

Members of Project 535, Concerned Women for America’s (CWA’s) monthly lobbying group, descended on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, October 26, to lobby for the Home School Non-Discrimination Act of 2005 (H.R. 3753). 

 The 535 ladies met in the Longworth House Capitol Building for a morning briefing before going to various appointments with House staff members and representatives on Capitol Hill.  Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colorado 4th) spoke to the ladies about the importance of H.R. 3753 to the 2 million home-schooled students around the country.  CWA applauds Rep. Musgrave for her work on this issue, and for her involvement in and support of Project 535.

 CWA’s director of government relations, Lanier Swann, said, "Being able to show support for home-schooled students who contribute so much was a highlight of October’s Project 535.  The ladies were greeted with a warm reception, and were commended for their work on this issue." 

 Swann continued, "Rep. Musgrave took time out of her full schedule to discuss this issue with the members of 535, and she obviously cares about children, families and education.  We are optimistic that this legislation will gain support and will pass the House in a timely manner."

 H.R. 3753 is an important bill with bi-partisan support that will give home- schooled students the same advantages as their publicly and privately schooled counterparts. The legislation simply calls for the equal treatment of students taught at home. 

 Home-schooled students are at a disadvantage because they are not considered eligible for certain forms of financial aid, savings accounts and scholarships.  These students are also not protected by important academic privacy laws.  H.R. 3753 would eliminate these disadvantages.

 According to National Home School Education Research Institute, home- schooled students save taxpayers $10 billion a year because they do not attend public schools, and they repeatedly outperform public and private school students academically and socially.

 Rep. Musgrave, the co-sponsors of H.R. 3753 and CWA believe it is time for these excellent students to receive the fair treatment they deserve. 

Wendy Cloyd, Oct. 12 2005 Citizen Link

The Bible Literacy Project presented to the Texas Association of School Boards ways the Bible can be taught in Texas public schools beginning today.

The convention, meeting in Dallas, saw attendance from 1,039 Texas school boards. The Bible Literacy Project will be on hand to introduce attendees to the "The Bible and Its Influence," the first high school textbook designed to meet constitutional standards for public school use.

"It was created to satisfy all constituencies involved in the heated public debate about the Bible in public schools," said Chuck Stetson, chairman and founder of the Bible Literacy Project.

The textbook, reviewed by more than 40 scholars, can be used in an elective course in English or social studies for grades nine through 12. It provides comprehensive coverage of the Bible's influence on literature, art, music and rhetoric.

Sheila Weber, vice president of communications for the Bible Literacy Project, said many Texans want this type of curriculum to be available in public schools.

"They do have some public schools that already have and academic course on the Bible," she told Citizen Link, "and some are looking for ways to do this better."

Weber added that the curriculum is designed to satisfy First Amendment standards outlined in a 1999 publication called, "The Bible in Public Schools: The First Amendment Guide."

"It's a consensus statement on how to teach the Bible in public schools," she explained. "(It was) signed off by 21 groups including all the teachers unions, the National School Board Association, as well as major faith groups—the National Association of Evangelicals included.

"The value of us having produced a student textbook is that it helps the teacher stay right on task and not veer off from First Amendment standards, nor veer off in other directions with their own opinion."

The standards dictate that you can present knowledge but not belief, she noted.

"Teachers should not promote belief but they should not denigrate, either," Weber said. "So our textbook comes at it with the perspective of tremendous respect for faith traditions which consider the Bible to be much more than literature, but sacred Scripture, sacred text."

Dr. Charles Haynes, senior scholar at the First Amendment Center, said until now, there has not been a Bible curriculum he could recommend to schools.

"Let me say how impressed I am by this," he said. "It is clear that much hard work and good scholarship have gone into the text. This promises to be an outstanding resource for public schools."

Weber said the Bible Literacy curriculum meets every standard for Texas schools. There are over one thousand independent school districts in Texas that could choose to use the textbook and offer a course in Bible literacy.

"That's the case across the nation," she said. "There are a lot of schools that can autonomously decide to incorporate this as a choice."

Learn more about the textbook and curriculum developed by the Bible Literacy Project, and to discover ways to bring the curriculum to your school district, visit the group's Web site

Authors Say Emotional Healing After Abortion Will Increase Likelihood of "Violence Free" Families

SPRINGFIELD, Il., Oct. 24, 2005 LifeSiteNews.com A new study published in the medical journal Acta Paediatrica has found that women who have had an abortion are 2.4 times more likely to physically abuse their children.

The study, led by Priscilla Coleman of Bowling Green State University, looked at data taken from a survey of 518 low-income women in Baltimore who were receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children and who had at least one child aged 12 years or younger. The data compared rates of child abuse and neglect among women who had experienced either an involuntary (miscarriage or stillbirth) or voluntary (induced abortion) pregnancy loss.

The results showed that women with a history of one induced abortion were 2.4 times more likely to physically abuse their children than women who had not had an abortion. In addition, the increase in risk among women who had experienced an abortion was more significant than the increase among women who had experienced a miscarriage or stillbirth.

The authors suggested that "emotional difficulties and unresolved grief responses" from pregnancy loss, whether voluntary or involuntary, could have a negative impact on women's mental health and lead to unhealthy parenting responses. Past studies have linked pregnancy loss to an increase in grief reactions, anxiety, depression, sleep disturbances, and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, all of which can have a negative impact on parent/child relationships.

In addition, induced abortion has been linked to an increased risk of substance abuse and suicidal thoughts, and a 2002 study published in the Journal of Child Psychiatry and Psychology found that children whose mothers had a history of abortion tended to have less supportive home environments and more behavioral difficulties.

The current study showed that although a single involuntary pregnancy loss did not significantly increase the risk of child abuse or neglect, physical abuse was more common among women who had experienced multiple involuntary pregnancy losses. However, women who had repeat abortions were not more likely to abuse their children than women who had one abortion, although abortion increased the risk of physical abuse overall.

In addition, neither form of pregnancy loss was linked to child neglect, leading the authors to speculate that mothers with unresolved losses may be able to "go through the motions" of meeting their children's basic needs but have difficulty coping with issues such as anger or parent/child conflict.

"Regardless of the specific mechanisms at play, maternal history of one induced abortion does appear to be a marker for increased risk of physical abuse," the authors wrote.

They also noted that while emotional difficulties related to miscarriage or stillbirth are usually resolved within a few years, women who have abortions are often not given an opportunity to resolve feelings of grief or other related emotions. According to Elliot Institute director Dr. David Reardon, who has worked on more than a dozen published studies documenting abortion's negative impact on women, many women either feel a need to keep the abortion a secret or are told to simply "move on" when they try to discuss their pain.

Reardon said that greater attention needs to be focused on the long-term effects of abortion on women and their families.

"The common perception seems to be that abortion solves the immediate problem of a crisis pregnancy and that therefore it must be a positive thing for women," he said. "However, more and more studies such as this one show that abortion can have a severe and lasting impact on women's lives, shaping their futures and the futures of their families for years to come."

The current study is one of the first to compare rates of child abuse among women who had experienced an involuntary pregnancy loss as opposed to those who experienced a voluntary loss. However, the authors noted that the findings were limited by the size of the study and called for more research to be done using larger groups of women.

"Video game playing, even more than television watching, is an activity that kids tend to do alone: among 7th through 12th-graders, more than half (55%) play video games by themselves, about one third (36%) play with siblings or peers, and only 2% play with their parents." The Kaiser Family Foundation, Kids & Media @ theNew Millennium

For more than fifty years, social scientists have insisted that exposure to violent media products leads to aggressive behavior in children.  Medical science can now support those claims.

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology, researchers at Michigan State University are able to observe which areas of the brain are stimulated when a subject plays violent video games.  Thirteen male volunteers between the ages of 18-26 were observed while they played the mature-rated first-person-shooter video game Tactical Ops: Assault on Terror. 

► For More Information about the effects of violent video games and legislation in your area visit http://www.parentstv.org/ptc/videogames/main.asp

DENVER — Residents of the Mile High City have voted to allow adults to possess up to an ounce of marijuana. Authorities, though, said state possession laws will be applied instead.

With 100 percent of precincts reporting early Wednesday, 54 percent, or 56,001 voters, cast ballots for the ordinance, while 46 percent, or 48,632 voters, voted against it.

Under the measure, residents over 21 years old could possess up to an ounce of marijuana.

Seattle, Oakland, Calif., and a few college towns already have laws making possession the lowest law enforcement priority.

Those tactics angered local officials and some voters. Opponents also said it made no sense to prevent prosecution by Denver authorities while marijuana charges are most often filed under state and federal law.

WICHITA, A Kansas State Representative is pushing for a tax on pornography, citing as reasons the harm that pornography causes, the cost of investigating sex offences and rehabilitation of offenders.

Herington, Kansas, Republican Rep. Shari Weber, said the tax is justifiable because of the increase in sex crimes associated with increased access and viewing of pornography. Attorneys representing state sex shops have taken their case to a legislative assembly. Their claim is that there is no connection between viewing pornography and violent sex-related crime. Many experts, including nationally renowned homicide investigator, retired NYPD Lieutenant Commander Vernon Geberth, disagree.

In a 2003 book titled Sex-Related Homicide and Death Investigation, Geberth argued that the internet is fuelling sex-related crime. Acting now as a consultant to police, he stated in his book, "The sex-related cases I am encountering today are more frequent, vicious and despicable than what I ever experienced as a homicide cop. There are more serial killers today. In my opinion, we have had a proliferation in serial murder events, as well as sex-related homicides."

Weber said the cost of investigating sex crimes, prosecuting and rehabilitating perpetrators, justifies the tax. "The state has a compelling interest to place an excise tax on these businesses because of their adverse effects on the health, well-being and safety of the citizens in our state," she said, according to a Wichita Eagle report. Weber proposed a 10% tax on pornography sales, which Kansas Department of Revenue estimates would net $1 million per year.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad defended his call to "wipe Israel off the map" on Friday as tens of thousands of Iranians took to the streets in anti-American and anti-Israel rallies to mark what's known in the area as "Jerusalem Day."

The protests calling for the destruction of Israel are an annual event on the last Friday of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, a tradition started after the 1979 Islamic revolution in the country.

But this year's protests follow an international outcry over comments made by Ahmadinejad earlier this week. He told a conference, entitled "A World Without Zionism," that Israel should be "wiped off the face of the earth."

On Friday, protestors chanted "death to Israel, death to America" and burned Israeli and U.S. flags, reports said.

Ahmadinejad joined the demonstrations and said his earlier comments were "the exact words of the Iranian people." He dismissed the international uproar over his comments, saying that if a word is "right and just," it would provoke a response.

Israel responded sharply to the original comments of the Iranian president. Israel is calling for an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council and is seeking support to have Iran expelled from the United Nations.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said any country that calls for the destruction of another country should not be a member of the United Nations.

"Such a country, in possession of nuclear weapons, is a danger not only to Israel and the Middle East but to Europe as well," Sharon said.

Iranian Foreign Manouchehr Mottaki said on Thursday that the demonstrations in Iran on Friday would express the anger of the Islamic world over the existence of the Jewish State.

Ahmadinejad's comment, he said, are "the declared and specific policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran," Mottaki said. Iran doesn't recognize the "Zionist regime" and considers it illegitimate, he added.

"It's absolutely clear that in his remarks, Mr. Ahmadinejad, president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, underlined the key position of Iran, based on the necessity to hold free elections on the occupited territories," the statement said.

Ahmadinejad's comments further strained relations with the West. The U.S. wants the issue of Iran's nuclear program brought to the U.N. Security Council.

The U.S. and European Union suspect that Iran is using its civilian nuclear program to hide the development of atomic weapons.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose country currently holds the rotating E.U. presidency, was among the international leaders to condemn Ahmadinejad.

"If they continue down this path, then people are going to believe that they are a real threat to our world security and stability," Blair said. He said he would discuss with Britain's allies in the next few days how they should respond.

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'For sale' signs now hang on Newfoundland churches Oct 26 2005 CBC News

The Roman Catholic diocese in Western Newfoundland has hired a real estate company to sell church  buildings and other property.

Funds raised from the sales will be used to compensate victims of sexual abuse, most were molested by Father Kevin Bennett.

More than 40 church properties owned by the Diocese of St. George's are now on the market, as the diocese attempts to raise $13 million to settle an agreement finalized this summer.

Bishop Douglas Crosby says the diocese has no choice but to proceed with listing dozens of its properties.

"It is difficult," Crosby said.

"The benefit is that we're now trying to move the whole process toward a resolution that is fair to the victims, and that would get us beyond it, so we can move forward into the future."

Judy Lacosta, who lives in the small Port au Port Peninsula community of Campbell's Creek, says she is heartbroken that Our Lady of Fatima church may be sold.

The tiny church is now used only occasionally – usually for funerals and at Christmas – but is now up for sale.

Crosby is also hoping Roman Catholics here and elsewhere can find money to buy back some church properties.

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Howard Wilson hwilson@texasmoralaction.org