Description:
Young Chinese Olympic Gymnasts Reduce Olympic Games To Childsplay.. E.P.A. Says Oil Goals Are More Important Than Food Costs.. Blogging For Human Rights.. Planned Parenthood Wishes You A Happy Mother's Day!..
Contents:
Young Chinese Olympic Gymnasts Reduce Olympic Games To Childsplay
 They bring serious threat to the U.S. gymnastic team, yet they have everybody talking for a different reason: China's Olympic gymnasts looks young... very young. They may not only young, but be young too, according to sources.
The New York Times' Harvey Araton questioned the seemingly young girl's age and went on to suggest what is happening: "When in North America, do as the North Americans do (overreact). When in China, do nothing. For better or worse, these are the shrug-and-don’t-tell Olympics, undoubtedly because it would be considered impolitic to embarrass the Chinese after they went to such great expense to throw the world this lavish party." MSNBC's coverage of the events suggested that the girls began to train for this Olympic quest when they were only 3 years old. What country or parent would drive their children to this kind of success? The Chinese gymnasts are probably not even old enough to understand the success of their careers, or even possibly the many schooling opportunities they missed to become the best. Cuba's Olympic beach volleyball team has a 37-year-old. The United State's Olympic swimming team as a 42-year-old. There is just no reason to reduce the Games to bitty 13-year-old competition. Let the girls live normal childhoods and let them choose to train for themselves.
(Image kindly borrowed from Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images).
E.P.A. Says Oil Goals Are More Important Than Food Costs
Not too many issues make me more ANGRY than the rising price of food. With so many families barely getting by-- especially with through-the-roof gas prices too-- there is no way that rising food prices aren't going hurt the average American. Come on people!
You see, the EPA decided against making less Ethinol despite the damage it is causing the price of grain in the U.S. Although the EPA wants to save the planet, they forget that even though humans EATING may hurt the Earth too, we still have to eat.
The New York Times reports:
WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency rejected on Thursday a request to cut the quota for the use of ethanol in cars, concluding, for the time being, that the goal of reducing the nation’s reliance on oil trumps any effect on food prices from making fuel from corn. I for one am offendede at the complete lack of concern for American families who are struggling to pay the bills and eat. I'm talking about working families with children. What do we have to do around here to eat: Go into the oil business?
Blogging For Human Rights
Well, that is what I usually do but today it's extra important. May 15 is Bloggers Unite For Human Rights day!!! This event has spread like wildfire thanks to Amnesty International and Facebook. Check it out here.
Some the issues the group is hoping to see blogs promote are:
1. Human Rights in China. This is especially on our minds after their tragic 7.9 magnitude earthquake that struck over the weekend. Amnesty hopes you will sign a petition to Yahoo! to protect Internet free speech in China.
2. Check out tearitdown.org to find how to campaign for an end to the Guantanamo Bay detaining center.
3. The crisis in Darfur, Sudan, which includes civil war, genocide, poverty, rampant AIDS, and a serious lack in education and military stability. Amnesty has a petition you can sign to protect Darfur.
Planned Parenthood Wishes You A Happy Mother's Day!
This is a story of near hilarity and yet awful, gut-wrenching sadistic irony.
Recently, the nation's top provider of abortions, Planned Parenthood sent out an email to supporters encouraging them to donate in honor of Mother's Day! What a warped thing to do.
The American Life League commented, "This same organization is asking for donations to celebrate Mother's Day? Of course! You wouldn't expect anything less from a baby-killing, pornography-pushing, rapist-protecting, $1-billion-in-assets business."
I wonder what they were thinking. I think this group does not honor Mothers but rather deems motherhood as a correctable curse and degrading position in society. Perhaps PP perpetrates the idea that motherhood takes away from womanhood, thereby increasing its staggering wages and profits!
Chinese Government Expands Censorship to America
 China has been in the news a lot lately. As she prepares to host the summer 2008 Olympics many are decrying the government's infringements on human rights and their involvement in Darfur, Sudan, Africa.
Today the Chinese government is angry with CNN for calling its government as a "bunch of goons and thugs." China refused to accept this apology. Ummm, freedom of speech and freedom of the press?? It's obvious those are big no-nos in China if their government is trying to stop CNN from its thoughts on China. Citizens in China are censored from CNN anyway.
Nice.
In the mean time, freedoms of speech and press are going to live on in America, thank you.
Sign A Petition!
Reporters Without Borders has been outspoken about China's repressiveness in media (and otherwise). The activist group has a petition to world leaders to boycott the summer 2008 Olympics which can be signed here. They are working hard to make sure Olympic sponsors measure up to human rights expectations.
Fifteen thousand have already signed the petition at Care2.com, criticizing China for discriminating against Tibetans and withholding health care and education from them.
Over 1 million have signed this petition to the Chinese government against their repression of Tibet. That's 1,649,163 signatures!
Hooray for freedom of expression.
Religious Persecution in North Korea
A religious watchdog group has tracked religious persecution against Christians for years and for the past six years, North Korea is the top offender. They are calling for action as the persecution turns into a huge refugee problem.
Carl Moeller, President/CEO of Open Doors USA, says: "It is certainly not a shock that North Korea is No. 1 on the shame list for the sixth year in a row. There is no other country in the world where Christians are being persecuted in such a horrible and systematic manner."
Leader Kim Jong Il is said to demand the worship of himself from citizens. It is reported that despite incredible hunger and poverty in the country "nearly 40 percent of the country's budget is spent on Kim-family deification" and "there are some 30,000 monuments to the current leader."
Tightly ruled Northern Korea has made Christianity illegal except through the State, a system identical to China's. Its regime has been brutally cracking down on believers, imprisoning them and sending them to forced labor camps. They estimate hundreds of thousands of North Koreans have escaped as refugees to China, a country not well-known for its friendly treatment of the religion either.
Open Doors has organized a call for letters to U.S. Representative urging them to co-sign a letter with Congressman Frank Wolf to President Hu Jintao asking for these North Korean refugees to be protected. The petition letter can be sent here. For now it seems only the refugees can be protected... Heaven help those suffering in North Korea.
Sudan Genocide Wages On
Sudan's Darfur, worse than ever, is still amidst genocide and civil war that often than not don't make headlines in Western media. TIME published a heart-wrenching 23 photographs describing the worsening violence, pillaging, and chaos the area now faces with little to no help whatsoever. Not recognized by world organizations as the crisis it is there is no stability or hope to be found in the country. A corrupt government and oppressive regime led America into the Iraq war, but it is not enough to draw America to action in Sudan's Darfur.
In recent months, western Sudan has witnessed a surge in violence not seen since the early days of the conflict in Darfur. The government and its surrogate, the Arab militias called janjaweed, have laid waste to areas where they claim rebels are in control. As before, the primary victims of the attacks are the defenseless civilians who inhabit the region. (TIME, see link below)
When will someone powerful step in? Do the powerful countries of the world continue to stain their hands with blood as they wait for somebody else to stop this?
TIME photospread: Darfur Descends Into Chaos
National Sanctity of Human Life Day
This Sunday many will be celebrating National Sanctity of Human Life Day, honoring the God-given dignity of all people including fetuses. This holiday falls on the Sunday closest to the anniversary of the infamous Roe v. Wade decision. That case 35 years ago wrote policy that is still in place today- a woman may choose to have an abortion for any reason. Just as Reagan allowed on-demand, no-fault divorce, so too did Roe v. Wade allow more choice and responsibility to a ruthless and irresponsible nation.
Second Look Project Tells the Truth About Abortion and Roe v. Wade
Have you heard of The Second Look Project? This website touts abortion realities and abortion policy education. The group encourages citizens (most of whom are against abortion at an early point) to learn more about the reality of abortion in America in order to better consider Roe v. Wade. Although this blogger doubts state-by-state voting rights on abortion are a right citizens were granted by Founding Fathers, I did learn a [shocking] handful of abortion facts-- the kind that leave a real bad taste in my mouth.
Abortions are rarely done for maternal or fetal health problems, or in
cases of rape or incest.
The U.S. abortion rate is among the highest of all developed countries in the world.
Most abortions are done after the fetal heart has begun beating.
Nearly half of all abortions are performed on women who have had at least one.
There is nothing like a woman's right to chose abortion as her preferred method of birth control, huh? Who has recently been termed "poor-choice advocates" have long been trying to dilute the health risks of abortion to women in order to sell abortions. This somewhat scarier reading should also be taken by up anyone who believes abortion is a grand blink-of-the-eye TV fix for society.
Tell World Congress Of Families That UNFPA Deserves Some Credit!
CLICK HERE TO TELL WCF TO GIVE UNFPA SOME DESERVED CREDIT!
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is a great resource for learning about what is going on in the world. They are studying current issues worldwide in humanitarian and human rights issues. Some of their most interesting projects include the sex-ratio imbalance in Asia, Manila slums, HIV in Latin America, and Fistula worldwide.
The organization was recently criticized by pro-life groups! It is reported,
An international network of pro-family groups is calling on the UN Population Fund to place development before its promotion of abortion and contraception under the agency's "reproductive health services." The criticism from the World Congress of Families International (WCF) comes in response to the UNFPA's recently released annual report which stated that "reproductive rights" and contraception are the primary focus of the organization's work.... "UNFPA acts as if this was one of the great tragedies to befall humanity – that a woman is expecting a child whose conception wasn't planned," commented Allan Carlson, secretary of the pro-family network.
UNFPA reports:
-Every minute of every day...
one woman dies from a treatable complication of pregnancy
-Every minute of every day...
9 people contract HIV and 6 die of AIDS
-Every minute of every day…
2 billion struggle to survive on a dollar a day or less
-Every minute of every day…
190 women get pregnant without intending to With HIV/AIDS as the biggest international problem, I'm not surprised this group is trying to address the pandemic and its awful effects. HIV/AIDS certainly seems like a prime candidate for the worst population crisis today. UNFPA spends $148 million annually on reproductive health programs, compared to only $51 million on development programs. World Congress Of Families International seems to suggest this is a bad thing.
With HIV/AIDS ruining families at an extraordinary rate, especially in most of Africa and Asia, it would seem that a pro-life group like the WCF would support such their gallant effort. HIV/AIDS is also to blame for failing economies in those areas, not to mention a high rate of orphans, sex slaves, poverty, and genital mutilation.
I think some pro-life groups need to get over contraceptives and look at some of the real issues in developing countries. Not only do these areas need contraceptives, they also need clean medical equipment, trained midwives and nurses, and educators to teach prevention. UNFPA's mission statement: "UNFPA supports countries in using population data for policies and programmes to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV/AIDS, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect."
This is not a group just trying to give out contraceptives or promote abortion. They are trying to fight AIDS, poverty, and the lack of medical services. Giving out contraceptives reduces the chances of passing on HIV/AIDS and having an unwanted pregnancy.
CLICK HERE TO TELL WCF TO GIVE UNFPA SOME DESERVED CREDIT!
Subject: Give pro-life UNFPA some credit!
Message: UNFPA does uphold pro-life values, as exemplified in their mission statement (http://www.unfpa.org/about/mission.htm). WCF should seek to work together with UNFPA to address issues of family, development, and international humanitarian efforts.
Thank you for your consideration,
NAME
and Life Consistency (http://lifeconsistency.blogspot.com/)
Ron Paul Fanatics Tore Me To Shreds... But He's Still Not Pro-Life
On October 12, 2007, I blogged about a rising star in the online world: Ron Paul. My article, So Ron Paul's Pro-Life? questioned the true intentions of his pro-life stance, one I will explore further here.
But first I have to tell you, what a nasty backlash! I can't say I didn't expect it. Speaking against"Republican" presidential candidate and Texas Congressman Ron Paul is quite frowned upon in the blogging sphere. That is, after all, where Ron Paul leads en mass. I mean come on! Online the man has 90% support in Web polls (Forbes). Believe me, I have heard about his "hundreds of thousands of friends", and all that money he raised... but in reality (off-line) Paul has received less than 10% of the Republican primary vote so far. He is loosing badly and may I just suggest that is because he is not the sort of man Americans want as President? The votes seem to prove it.
Ron Paul's friends (aka fanatics) were quick to call me names and threaten me, unfortunately I couldn't publish most of the comments on the article for these reasons. There was nearly no discussion or answers to my questions (does Ron Paul want to eliminate lots of policy and programs without plans to do much legislation and reform?) compared to the many nasty and immature name-calling, rude comments. Some went so far as to threaten and wish bad things on me. (Wow, I thought these people loved the First Amendment! So much for academic dialog and free speech!) One person even said "I didn't bother reading the rest of the article, I'd rather spend my time learning about the TRUTH." They are an open-minded bunch! Only one person actually wanted to participate in a dialog (thank you, always my goal), and he couldn't help himself from using the usual Ron Paul cliques. I find it quite difficult to talk to any Ron Paul fan because the Ron Paul Gospel does not allow for the discussion of issues. Everything comes back to Freedom, the Founding Fathers, etc.
John Hawkins listed a "Conservative Case Against Ron Paul" and he said it best (this guy is a conservative!):
#5) A lot of Ron Paul's supporters are incredibly irritating: There are, without question, plenty of decent folks who support Ron Paul. However, for whatever reason, his supporters as a group are far more annoying than those of all the other candidates put together. It's like every spammer, truther, troll, and flake on the net got together under one banner to spam polls and try to annoy everyone into voting for Ron Paul
My Guidebook For Ron Paul Fanatics: The Top 6 Ron Paul Cliques:
Home
|
