The New York Times reports that after the resounding 53%-47% defeat of same-sex marriage at the ballot box in liberal Maine, advocates of SSM are going to have to change tactics, probably by-passing the public and appealing directly to legislators to ignore the expressed wishes of voters or legally challenging the traditional definition of marriage in the courts. According to Angus Reid, 57 [...]
Each year, The Interim co-sponsors the Fr. Ted Colleton Essay Writing Contest. Open to third- and fourth-year high school students in Canada, prizes are $1500, $800 and $500. Essays and applications are due December 8, 2009. The topic: The culture of death is all-pervasive, arising in one little corner and then engulfing the whole culture. Demonstrate whether there is a real link [...]
I don't want to be guilty of Christmas creep but Kathy Shaidle points to a wonderful seasonal lawn sign. (My first thought was "a Christmas lawn sign?")
Big Blue Wave is probably correct in a literal sense when she notes that the English media coverage of the Quebec College of Physicians press conference is wrong when it reports that the College was advocating legalization of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide while the French media is reporting that the College was merely calling for a debate on the issue. (BBW has the pertinent links.) But generally [...]
David Herszenhorn and David Kirkpatrick of the New York Times report that Congressional leaders are trying to work out a "compromise" that attempts to address pro-life concerns about public funding of abortion. Considering the games pro-abortion Democrats have played to expand abortion coverage under any new health care scheme, the compromises are sure to be nothing more than cosmetic and pro-life representatives should [...]
WorldNetDaily and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review both report on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals throwing out a Pittsburgh ordinance that created both a bubble and buffer zone around abortion facilities in the city. The Court ruled the expansive prohibitions violated the free speech rights of pro-life sidewalk counselors. The Alliance Defense Fund, which represented Mary Kathryn Brown, a pro-life nurse and sidewalk counselor [...]
It appears that Question 1, the referendum to overturn legislated same-sex marriage, will go down to defeat. With 80% of the vote counted, the yeas have about 52% to maintain the traditional definition of marriage. Referendum 71, the domestic partnership initiative (everything but the word 'marriage'), in Washington state has about 51% support as of midnight EST by running up huge margins [...]
The Owen Sound Sun Times reports that Gus Mitges passed away Sunday. He was the Progressive Conservative MP for Grey-Simcoe or Bruce-Grey from 1972-1993. He was involved in school board and municipal politics in Owen Sound for a decade before running federally. He never once lost an election, retiring in 1993 due to health concerns. In 1981, he voted against the Charter of Rights. In 1987, [...]
Details magazine interviewed openly gay actor Ian McKellan (Gandalf). It includes this exchange: Details: Is it true that when you stay at hotels you tear out the Bible page that condemns homosexuality? Ian McKellen: I do, absolutely. I'm not proudly defacing the book, but it's a choice between removing that page and throwing away the whole Bible.
LifeCanada commissioned the Environics Research Group to do a poll on euthanasia and they found that despite the fact 61% of Canadians say they favour legalizing euthanasia, the majority of even those who support it are worried about abuses. The National Post reports: Fifty-five per cent of those who expressed strong support for euthanasia are worried that a “significant number” of people could be [...]
The Calgary Herald reports that the Crown attorney has stayed trespassing charges against six members of the Genocide Awareness Project, including five students at the University of Calgary's Campus Pro-Life Club. An Alberta Justice spokesman said there wasn't enough evidence to proceed, but I'm guessing that they wanted to avoid the embarrassment of prosecuting some brave young people for peaceabley if controversially engaging their fellow students in public [...]
In Washington, polls show Referendum 71, which would enshrine in law full marriage rights (domestic partnerships) without applying the word marriage to homosexual couples, is likely to pass. The Seattle Times recently reported that people are confused about the initiative -- some gay rights activists see it as second class citizenship while some opponents of same-sex marriage do not want to extend the benefits of [...]
Abby Johnson was director of the Byran, Texas Planned Parenthood facility until "realized she wanted to leave, after watching an ultrasound of an abortion procedure." Now she supports Coalition for Life. KWTX, the Waco CBS affiliate, has the story. At The Corner, Maggie Gallagher argues that gay marriage is different politically speaking than other socially conservative issues. Same-sex marriage is on the ballot [...]
The Daily Telegraph reports that New Zealand researchers have found that women who had an abortion suffered mental illness and depression in "proportion to the degree of distress" associated with their abortion. That doesn't sound significant but as David Fergusson, of the department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Otago, says: “Collectively, this evidence raises important questions about the practice of [...]
Kudos to Conservative MP Brad Trost (Saskatoon-Humboldt) for promoting a petition urging the federal government to stop funding International Planned Parenthood Federation. LifeSiteNews.com reports: The goal, says Trost, is to stop the IPPF funding when it comes up for renewal, which he says is supposed to happen around December 31st. He has circulated a similar petition "on a low-key level" by word-of-mouth [...]