Friday, April 01, 2005
I watched an Extreme Makeover programme last night. A man was having his face made over by another chap with a boxing glove...
Talking of coming punchups...a blurb for a roadshow that Peter Dunne is fronting at law firm Bell Gully’s office next week asks: "Are we watching the first act in a process that will replace the Queen with a president, produce a written constitution over which judges will rule and embed "rights" already given added weight in law by the courts in a new constitution?" There is an extremely tight deadline (only a fortnight) for the first round of submissions to the Parliamentary committee reviewing the constitution. For details on how to make a submission, visit this link.
CYF now has as many children registered on its books as a town the size of Timaru,” says Judy Collins. Figures show the number of children registered with CYF has increased from 24,624 in June 2001 to 27,724 in March this year, with three months still left to go in the June-to-June cycle. “Labour has spent $30 million on the Families Commission, and its much talked about ‘Agenda For Children’ appears to be in a constant holding pattern. Meanwhile many thousands more of our most vulnerable children are falling into the hands of the state.
Australia's mini baby-boom has continued for the second consecutive quarter, raising hopes the Government has succeeded in its bid to end a decade-long fertility slump. Population figures released over Easter reveal more than 133,000 babies were born in the six months to September last year, the biggest six-month total in the past 14 years. The surge has resulted in about 255,000 births over the past year - the largest 12-month total in nine years.
Vibrant cities find one thing missing: children. Officials say that the very things that attract people who revitalize a city - dense vertical housing, fashionable restaurants and shops and mass transit that makes a car unnecessary - are driving out children by making the neighborhoods too expensive for young families.
A One News Colmar Brunton poll found that 28 percent of New Zealanders went to Church this Easter. The poll also found that 54 per cent of New Zealanders never go to Church except for weddings and funerals. A new UK survey of 14,000 churchgoers indicates that the reason for the decline in Church attendance there has more to do with a lack of sincerity in preaching, and an inability to defend Christianity at the pulpit than a lack of faith. Overwhelmingly, attendants want churches to "robustly defend moral values with conviction and courage and cease being 'silent' and 'lukewarm' in the face of moral and social collapse.'
Meanwhile there are suggestions of a renaissance of church attendance in Canada.
The annual survey of US church attendance conducted by The Barna Group shows that one-third of all adults (34%) remain “unchurched.” That proportion has changed little during the past five years. The research also confirms that millions of unchurched people are spiritually active. For instance, one out of every five reads the Bible in a typical week; six out of ten pray to God each week; and during the past year 5% have shared their faith in Jesus Christ with people who are not professing Christians. In fact, nearly one million unchurched adults tithe their income, usually to parachurch ministries. (According to a 2004 Gallup poll, 44 percent of Americans said they attended church at least once a week or almost every week.)
And new research in the US among teens shows greater church attendance and more recognition of the importance of religion.
Meanwhile, the Sydney Morning Herald provides a breath of fresh air on the meaning of Easter to counterbalance the terrible vacuity of opinion pieces in some New Zealand papers.
Modern law likes to pretend it has nothing to do with religion, but it does, says Richard Ackland. It is deeply wrapped in religious symbolism, if not faith. Ackland explores the connection in the context of some current issues.
Naming the horror. David Neff says we need to resurrect the language of evil.
Planet Earth stands on the cusp of disaster and people should no longer take it for granted that their children and grandchildren will survive in the environmentally degraded world of the 21st Century, a major new report says. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment reported on the findings of 1,300 scientists from 95 countries. The academics found that two thirds of the delicately balanced ecosystems they studied have suffered badly at the hands of man over the past 50 years.
What are the Christian ethical guidelines for deciding whether to remove the feeding/hydration tube from Terri Schiavo? An interview with John Kilner, president of the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity. Some very helpful thoughts on the ethical questions surrounding right-to-life issues.
New research has revealed that the Nazi extermination camp experiments of Dr Josef Mengele were supported by a network of elite German scientists. Dr Susanne Heim has told the Guardian that "it was formerly believed that scientists in Germany were oppressed by the Nazi regime, that there were only a few guilty people. But in truth, these doctors were in paradise. The distinction between politics and science was hazy and doctors had the freedom to do as they liked, so long as they could prove that their goal was to breed a super-race of strong soldiers for the advancement of warfare."
"Frankenstein Report" Splits Uk Parliamentary Committee. A UK parliamentary committee has published libertarian proposals for a radical change of direction for government policy on reproduction and fertility treatment. It endorses sex selection, the creation of mixed-species embryos and anonymity for egg and sperm donors. It also calls for the scrapping of the current requirement that IVF clinics make the welfare of the child their first concern. Most controversial of all, it says that a total ban on reproductive cloning cannot be justified without further debate on fundamental issues, even if it is unsafe at the moment. Although the report by the House of Commons' select committee on science and technology was widely publicised, it was disavowed by half of its members, with one of them dubbing it "the Frankenstein
report".
A Canadian bioethicist and an American scientist have used the leading journal Science to float a proposal for a ethical code for researchers in the life sciences to reduce the risk of bioterrorism. Margaret Somerville, of McGill University, and Ronald Atlas, of the University of Louisville, argue that scientists must be aware of their ethical obligations, including the obligation to abide by government regulations and to blow the whistle on unethical research. ~ Science 2005 307: 1881-1882 (only available online by subscription)
Talking of coming punchups...a blurb for a roadshow that Peter Dunne is fronting at law firm Bell Gully’s office next week asks: "Are we watching the first act in a process that will replace the Queen with a president, produce a written constitution over which judges will rule and embed "rights" already given added weight in law by the courts in a new constitution?" There is an extremely tight deadline (only a fortnight) for the first round of submissions to the Parliamentary committee reviewing the constitution. For details on how to make a submission, visit this link.
CYF now has as many children registered on its books as a town the size of Timaru,” says Judy Collins. Figures show the number of children registered with CYF has increased from 24,624 in June 2001 to 27,724 in March this year, with three months still left to go in the June-to-June cycle. “Labour has spent $30 million on the Families Commission, and its much talked about ‘Agenda For Children’ appears to be in a constant holding pattern. Meanwhile many thousands more of our most vulnerable children are falling into the hands of the state.
Australia's mini baby-boom has continued for the second consecutive quarter, raising hopes the Government has succeeded in its bid to end a decade-long fertility slump. Population figures released over Easter reveal more than 133,000 babies were born in the six months to September last year, the biggest six-month total in the past 14 years. The surge has resulted in about 255,000 births over the past year - the largest 12-month total in nine years.
Vibrant cities find one thing missing: children. Officials say that the very things that attract people who revitalize a city - dense vertical housing, fashionable restaurants and shops and mass transit that makes a car unnecessary - are driving out children by making the neighborhoods too expensive for young families.
A One News Colmar Brunton poll found that 28 percent of New Zealanders went to Church this Easter. The poll also found that 54 per cent of New Zealanders never go to Church except for weddings and funerals. A new UK survey of 14,000 churchgoers indicates that the reason for the decline in Church attendance there has more to do with a lack of sincerity in preaching, and an inability to defend Christianity at the pulpit than a lack of faith. Overwhelmingly, attendants want churches to "robustly defend moral values with conviction and courage and cease being 'silent' and 'lukewarm' in the face of moral and social collapse.'
Meanwhile there are suggestions of a renaissance of church attendance in Canada.
The annual survey of US church attendance conducted by The Barna Group shows that one-third of all adults (34%) remain “unchurched.” That proportion has changed little during the past five years. The research also confirms that millions of unchurched people are spiritually active. For instance, one out of every five reads the Bible in a typical week; six out of ten pray to God each week; and during the past year 5% have shared their faith in Jesus Christ with people who are not professing Christians. In fact, nearly one million unchurched adults tithe their income, usually to parachurch ministries. (According to a 2004 Gallup poll, 44 percent of Americans said they attended church at least once a week or almost every week.)
And new research in the US among teens shows greater church attendance and more recognition of the importance of religion.
Meanwhile, the Sydney Morning Herald provides a breath of fresh air on the meaning of Easter to counterbalance the terrible vacuity of opinion pieces in some New Zealand papers.
Modern law likes to pretend it has nothing to do with religion, but it does, says Richard Ackland. It is deeply wrapped in religious symbolism, if not faith. Ackland explores the connection in the context of some current issues.
Naming the horror. David Neff says we need to resurrect the language of evil.
Planet Earth stands on the cusp of disaster and people should no longer take it for granted that their children and grandchildren will survive in the environmentally degraded world of the 21st Century, a major new report says. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment reported on the findings of 1,300 scientists from 95 countries. The academics found that two thirds of the delicately balanced ecosystems they studied have suffered badly at the hands of man over the past 50 years.
What are the Christian ethical guidelines for deciding whether to remove the feeding/hydration tube from Terri Schiavo? An interview with John Kilner, president of the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity. Some very helpful thoughts on the ethical questions surrounding right-to-life issues.
New research has revealed that the Nazi extermination camp experiments of Dr Josef Mengele were supported by a network of elite German scientists. Dr Susanne Heim has told the Guardian that "it was formerly believed that scientists in Germany were oppressed by the Nazi regime, that there were only a few guilty people. But in truth, these doctors were in paradise. The distinction between politics and science was hazy and doctors had the freedom to do as they liked, so long as they could prove that their goal was to breed a super-race of strong soldiers for the advancement of warfare."
"Frankenstein Report" Splits Uk Parliamentary Committee. A UK parliamentary committee has published libertarian proposals for a radical change of direction for government policy on reproduction and fertility treatment. It endorses sex selection, the creation of mixed-species embryos and anonymity for egg and sperm donors. It also calls for the scrapping of the current requirement that IVF clinics make the welfare of the child their first concern. Most controversial of all, it says that a total ban on reproductive cloning cannot be justified without further debate on fundamental issues, even if it is unsafe at the moment. Although the report by the House of Commons' select committee on science and technology was widely publicised, it was disavowed by half of its members, with one of them dubbing it "the Frankenstein
report".
A Canadian bioethicist and an American scientist have used the leading journal Science to float a proposal for a ethical code for researchers in the life sciences to reduce the risk of bioterrorism. Margaret Somerville, of McGill University, and Ronald Atlas, of the University of Louisville, argue that scientists must be aware of their ethical obligations, including the obligation to abide by government regulations and to blow the whistle on unethical research. ~ Science 2005 307: 1881-1882 (only available online by subscription)
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
A new website has just been started to provide a forum for the classical conservative viewpoint. It’s called the Locke Foundation.
The Government says it is forging ahead with plans for a scheme to encourage savings for tertiary education. Finance Minister Michael Cullen says a Herald report that the scheme was being dumped totally was wrong - although he confirmed it would not be part of the Budget’s savings initiatives.
A thoughtful article from Fran O'Sullivan on the tensions between the judiciary (particularly in the Supreme Court) and the Government. And Steven Franks asks whether we should have the right to sack judges?
Simon Upton introduces some real meat into the constitutional and republic/monarchy debate, with a lengthy extract from a speech made by expat scholar Bernard Cadogan to the Dunedin Rotary Club. Essentially, Cadogan says New Zealand is a unique democracy (arguably the world's first), but the debate needs to become more sophisticated.
The number of New Zealand parents who say they do not smack their preschool children has doubled in the past 12 years, suggesting the practice is becoming socially unacceptable. (But at least the government has backed off plans to outlaw it.)
The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to reinstate an Idaho law that requires girls to secure parental permission before getting an abortion. But Idaho lawmakers are already looking for a way around the court's decision. Julie Lynde of the Cornerstone Institute of Idaho said lawmakers anticipated the Supreme Court's decision and have already drafted legislation to answer the complaints of the 9th Circuit.
National’s Welfare spokeswoman Judith Collins has released figures which show that, in every region except Wellington, there are now more people getting sickness and invalid benefits than there are getting the dole.
A massive court case is going on in the USA that will define the future of copyright law for decades to come. It will also have a big bearing on the future of all digital technology, particularly those technologies that relate to recording (eg, videos, DVDs, CDs, etc). If this case had been brought in the 1980s and lost, today you would not be able to play music or video clips on your computer, there would be no video recorders, no CDs, no DVDs, and maybe not even any Internet. So this case - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. v. Grokster Ltd - is huge. Here's a good summary of the issues.
Promiscuous health. Using data from a 1998 survey, a recent study found that 7.5 percent of Americans suffered a negative health incident resulting from sexual activity and that 1.3 percent of all deaths in America can be attributed to sexual behavior. (Source: World Congress of Families)
Robert L. Spitzer argued in 1973 that homosexuality is not a clinical disorder—key to the American Psychiatric Association arriving at the same conclusion. Thirty years later, Spitzer caused another stir when he argued that some people who want to change their homosexual orientation may do so (Archives of Sexual Behavior, October 2003). An interview with Spitzer on why he changed his mind.
The Government says it is forging ahead with plans for a scheme to encourage savings for tertiary education. Finance Minister Michael Cullen says a Herald report that the scheme was being dumped totally was wrong - although he confirmed it would not be part of the Budget’s savings initiatives.
A thoughtful article from Fran O'Sullivan on the tensions between the judiciary (particularly in the Supreme Court) and the Government. And Steven Franks asks whether we should have the right to sack judges?
Simon Upton introduces some real meat into the constitutional and republic/monarchy debate, with a lengthy extract from a speech made by expat scholar Bernard Cadogan to the Dunedin Rotary Club. Essentially, Cadogan says New Zealand is a unique democracy (arguably the world's first), but the debate needs to become more sophisticated.
The number of New Zealand parents who say they do not smack their preschool children has doubled in the past 12 years, suggesting the practice is becoming socially unacceptable. (But at least the government has backed off plans to outlaw it.)
The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to reinstate an Idaho law that requires girls to secure parental permission before getting an abortion. But Idaho lawmakers are already looking for a way around the court's decision. Julie Lynde of the Cornerstone Institute of Idaho said lawmakers anticipated the Supreme Court's decision and have already drafted legislation to answer the complaints of the 9th Circuit.
National’s Welfare spokeswoman Judith Collins has released figures which show that, in every region except Wellington, there are now more people getting sickness and invalid benefits than there are getting the dole.
A massive court case is going on in the USA that will define the future of copyright law for decades to come. It will also have a big bearing on the future of all digital technology, particularly those technologies that relate to recording (eg, videos, DVDs, CDs, etc). If this case had been brought in the 1980s and lost, today you would not be able to play music or video clips on your computer, there would be no video recorders, no CDs, no DVDs, and maybe not even any Internet. So this case - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. v. Grokster Ltd - is huge. Here's a good summary of the issues.
Promiscuous health. Using data from a 1998 survey, a recent study found that 7.5 percent of Americans suffered a negative health incident resulting from sexual activity and that 1.3 percent of all deaths in America can be attributed to sexual behavior. (Source: World Congress of Families)
Robert L. Spitzer argued in 1973 that homosexuality is not a clinical disorder—key to the American Psychiatric Association arriving at the same conclusion. Thirty years later, Spitzer caused another stir when he argued that some people who want to change their homosexual orientation may do so (Archives of Sexual Behavior, October 2003). An interview with Spitzer on why he changed his mind.
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Where have all the babies gone? Three University of Minnesota researchers think they've found an unexpected answer. They blame the baby bust on the Social Security system, and similar government old-age pension and savings plans. Those programmes, they claim, have reduced the need for forward-thinking couples to produce lots of kids who could take care of Mom and Dad in their old age.
Not child, not adult. Research suggests that a growing number of twenty- and thirty-somethings are lingering for years in a newly emerging generational netherworld. More than two-thirds of all 30-year-old men and slightly more than half of all 30-year-old women would not be considered adults under traditional definitions of adulthood, claims the group of sociologists, which included professors Frank F. Furstenberg Jr. of the University of Pennsylvania and Ruben G. Rumbaut of the University of California-Irvine.
Want to reduce births by teenage girls? Increase the legal age when students can drop out of school, say three economists who have studied the impact of compulsory education laws in the United States and Norway. The economists found that requiring students to stay in school until at least 16 years old reduces the chances that a woman will give birth before turning 20 by 4.7 percent in the United States. Increasing the age when students can leave school to 17 nearly doubles the effect, reducing the probability of teen births by 8.8 percent.
The US Supreme Court heard arguments earlier this month in a potentially explosive set of cases that will determine whether the Ten Commandments can be displayed in or around government buildings. At issue is whether the displays constitute a government endorsement of religion or simply a recognition of the role that the Ten Commandments have played in American legal history. From the Christian Science Monitor, a short, informative look at the role of the Ten Commandments in relation to the Constitution.
Christianity is thriving. There are now some 39,000 Christian denominations in the world, ranging from several million to fewer than 100 members in all 238 nations. These denominations can be divided into six 'ecclesiastical megablocks': 1. Roman Catholics (1.119 billion); 2. Independents (427 million); 3. Protestants (376 million); 4. Orthodox (220 million); 5. Anglicans (80 million); 6. Marginals (34 million). The Independents, comprised of independent and post-denominational Christians, are the fastest-growing group, and already make up 20 percent of the world Christian population. Christianity is currently growing fastest in China, with an estimated 10,000 new believers each day. In 1900, around 81% of Christians were white; today, the percentage has shrunk to 43%. The current top 10 nations ranked by Christian population (2005) are: 1. USA (252 million); 2. Brazil (167 million); 3. China (111 million); 4. Mexico (102 million); 5. Russia (85 million); 6. Philippines (74 million); 7. India (68 million); 8. Germany (62 million); 9. Nigeria (61 million); 10. DR Congo (53 million).
The presidential predilictions of Helen Clark. Fran O'Sullivan provides a thoughtful analysis of Helen Clark's political style, and the changing role and powers of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
Our secular leaders don't reflect NZ society, claims an article by Sarah Stuart in the Sunday Star-Times. She quotes Massey University's Peter Lineham (Maxim supporter) and Victoria Uni religious studies lecturer Marion Maddox as saying the mainstream parties have ignored the new spiritual mood in the country. The newspaper version of the article gives leaders' religious beliefs, which could be summarised as follows: Helen Clark agnostic; Rodney Hide agnostic; Peter Dunne non-committal; Rod Donald atheist; Pita Sharples, Maori spirituality; Don Brash, non-committal.
Smacking still has big part in NZ society, says an article in Stuff - a new Government survey finds that half of all parents with young children admit physically disciplining their kids. A Social Development Ministry survey of 612 parents and 539 caregivers with children under five years old found half of parents – and a fifth of caregivers – said they had used physical discipline or had used it in the past three months. Asked why they smacked their children, 42 per cent said they were trying to end misbehaviour "immediately", while 14 per cent said they used it to teach children about safety and danger. About 8 per cent smacked because they had been smacked as children, while 6 per cent said they smacked because it was effective.
Stephen Franks' claim that anti-child porn legislation passed last month threatens the freedom of speech of all New Zealanders is complete rubbish, Phil Goff says. Amendments to the Films, Videos and Publications Classification Amendment Act is do not allow censors to age-restrict ideas or opinions that they think would be degrading to some groups in our society; it applies only to images. The act allows age restrictions to be placed on publications solely because they contain offensive language. To qualify, the language must be highly offensive to the public in general, to an extent that if not age-restricted in some way, the availability of the publication would likely cause serious harm to people under that age.
Funds from federal and provincial government agencies helped pay for a picture book for Canadian elementary school-aged children promoting same-sex marriage. In a letter to MPs accompanying the book, Corina Eberle described the book as "a gentle story for young children that celebrates the joyous planning of a wedding where the happy couple happens to be two women."
UK churches unite on abortion review. The Archbishop of Canterbury last weekend joined Roman Catholic calls for a review of the Abortion Act, and received immediate backing from other church leaders. There is a "groundswell of distaste" at the way the 38-year-old Act works, Dr Williams said, and "more and more … unhappiness and bewilderment around … its effects". Rt Revd Tom Butler, vice-chair of the Church of England mission and public affairs division, said there was widespread concern among Anglicans that there were more than 500 abortions a day.
Small families rob kids. Children in Western countries are growing up socially deprived because extended families have been broken down into unnaturally small groups, said an American child psychologist visiting New Zealand. Many children have one tenth of the "inter-relational time" that kids elsewhere have in extended families, said Dr Bruce Perry. Instead, children as young as four are spending time in front of the television and being drilled in cognitive skills such as reading and maths. ~ The Press, March 5 (sorry, no link).
A "depravity rating" that measures evil and will help courts decide whether convicted murderers should face execution or just imprisonment has been drawn up by American psychiatrists.
In a narrow 5-4 decision the United States Supreme Court has abolished the death penalty for juveniles, ruling that it is excessive and cruel to execute a person who was younger than 18 when the crime was committed.
While half the world mourns the impending death of Terry Schiavo (and the other half celebrates), here's a challenging personal story from Lindsey O'Connor: While I Was Sleeping - Why my husband finally refused to end my life during my two-month coma.
Not child, not adult. Research suggests that a growing number of twenty- and thirty-somethings are lingering for years in a newly emerging generational netherworld. More than two-thirds of all 30-year-old men and slightly more than half of all 30-year-old women would not be considered adults under traditional definitions of adulthood, claims the group of sociologists, which included professors Frank F. Furstenberg Jr. of the University of Pennsylvania and Ruben G. Rumbaut of the University of California-Irvine.
Want to reduce births by teenage girls? Increase the legal age when students can drop out of school, say three economists who have studied the impact of compulsory education laws in the United States and Norway. The economists found that requiring students to stay in school until at least 16 years old reduces the chances that a woman will give birth before turning 20 by 4.7 percent in the United States. Increasing the age when students can leave school to 17 nearly doubles the effect, reducing the probability of teen births by 8.8 percent.
The US Supreme Court heard arguments earlier this month in a potentially explosive set of cases that will determine whether the Ten Commandments can be displayed in or around government buildings. At issue is whether the displays constitute a government endorsement of religion or simply a recognition of the role that the Ten Commandments have played in American legal history. From the Christian Science Monitor, a short, informative look at the role of the Ten Commandments in relation to the Constitution.
Christianity is thriving. There are now some 39,000 Christian denominations in the world, ranging from several million to fewer than 100 members in all 238 nations. These denominations can be divided into six 'ecclesiastical megablocks': 1. Roman Catholics (1.119 billion); 2. Independents (427 million); 3. Protestants (376 million); 4. Orthodox (220 million); 5. Anglicans (80 million); 6. Marginals (34 million). The Independents, comprised of independent and post-denominational Christians, are the fastest-growing group, and already make up 20 percent of the world Christian population. Christianity is currently growing fastest in China, with an estimated 10,000 new believers each day. In 1900, around 81% of Christians were white; today, the percentage has shrunk to 43%. The current top 10 nations ranked by Christian population (2005) are: 1. USA (252 million); 2. Brazil (167 million); 3. China (111 million); 4. Mexico (102 million); 5. Russia (85 million); 6. Philippines (74 million); 7. India (68 million); 8. Germany (62 million); 9. Nigeria (61 million); 10. DR Congo (53 million).
The presidential predilictions of Helen Clark. Fran O'Sullivan provides a thoughtful analysis of Helen Clark's political style, and the changing role and powers of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
Our secular leaders don't reflect NZ society, claims an article by Sarah Stuart in the Sunday Star-Times. She quotes Massey University's Peter Lineham (Maxim supporter) and Victoria Uni religious studies lecturer Marion Maddox as saying the mainstream parties have ignored the new spiritual mood in the country. The newspaper version of the article gives leaders' religious beliefs, which could be summarised as follows: Helen Clark agnostic; Rodney Hide agnostic; Peter Dunne non-committal; Rod Donald atheist; Pita Sharples, Maori spirituality; Don Brash, non-committal.
Smacking still has big part in NZ society, says an article in Stuff - a new Government survey finds that half of all parents with young children admit physically disciplining their kids. A Social Development Ministry survey of 612 parents and 539 caregivers with children under five years old found half of parents – and a fifth of caregivers – said they had used physical discipline or had used it in the past three months. Asked why they smacked their children, 42 per cent said they were trying to end misbehaviour "immediately", while 14 per cent said they used it to teach children about safety and danger. About 8 per cent smacked because they had been smacked as children, while 6 per cent said they smacked because it was effective.
Stephen Franks' claim that anti-child porn legislation passed last month threatens the freedom of speech of all New Zealanders is complete rubbish, Phil Goff says. Amendments to the Films, Videos and Publications Classification Amendment Act is do not allow censors to age-restrict ideas or opinions that they think would be degrading to some groups in our society; it applies only to images. The act allows age restrictions to be placed on publications solely because they contain offensive language. To qualify, the language must be highly offensive to the public in general, to an extent that if not age-restricted in some way, the availability of the publication would likely cause serious harm to people under that age.
Funds from federal and provincial government agencies helped pay for a picture book for Canadian elementary school-aged children promoting same-sex marriage. In a letter to MPs accompanying the book, Corina Eberle described the book as "a gentle story for young children that celebrates the joyous planning of a wedding where the happy couple happens to be two women."
UK churches unite on abortion review. The Archbishop of Canterbury last weekend joined Roman Catholic calls for a review of the Abortion Act, and received immediate backing from other church leaders. There is a "groundswell of distaste" at the way the 38-year-old Act works, Dr Williams said, and "more and more … unhappiness and bewilderment around … its effects". Rt Revd Tom Butler, vice-chair of the Church of England mission and public affairs division, said there was widespread concern among Anglicans that there were more than 500 abortions a day.
Small families rob kids. Children in Western countries are growing up socially deprived because extended families have been broken down into unnaturally small groups, said an American child psychologist visiting New Zealand. Many children have one tenth of the "inter-relational time" that kids elsewhere have in extended families, said Dr Bruce Perry. Instead, children as young as four are spending time in front of the television and being drilled in cognitive skills such as reading and maths. ~ The Press, March 5 (sorry, no link).
A "depravity rating" that measures evil and will help courts decide whether convicted murderers should face execution or just imprisonment has been drawn up by American psychiatrists.
In a narrow 5-4 decision the United States Supreme Court has abolished the death penalty for juveniles, ruling that it is excessive and cruel to execute a person who was younger than 18 when the crime was committed.
While half the world mourns the impending death of Terry Schiavo (and the other half celebrates), here's a challenging personal story from Lindsey O'Connor: While I Was Sleeping - Why my husband finally refused to end my life during my two-month coma.
