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They said it
"There is no way to
avoid the sad fact that Charlotte cannot live long after birth with
this condition [anencephaly, a rare condition which inhibits brain
development], but causing her to die earlier will not stop this from
happening. Causing her to die earlier will only take from us the beautiful
experience of knowing and loving her."
Teresa Streckfuss, Sunday Mail, 20 June 2004
"We have appropriate
anti-discrimination laws here
already that protect the rights of gay people. In terms of
marriage, I have always believed that it's a matter between a
man and a woman. I'm happy to be criticised for
that."
QLD Premier Peter Beattie, Sunday Mail, 23
May 2004
"First and
foremost I am Lawrence's wife and mother to his children ...
My first priority is the kids but I support my husband 100%."
QLD Opposition Leader's wife, Linda Springborg, Sunday
Mail, 1 February 2004
"Everyone talks about
parenthood like your life is going to shut down, you'll be incubated for
20 years, then suddenly re-emerge and get your life back. But our experience
has been the opposite. I feel like so many more ways of thinking and feeling
and being have been opened up to me. I love it ... Also, whenever you fall in
love, like when you fall in love with your child, your are on an absolute
high. People tried to describe that love to me before I experienced it. But you
never can explain it." Australian Actress Cate
Blanchette, Courier
Mail, 17 January 2004
"I would
trade all my gold medals for the life I have now, being a Mum.
All the years of swimming are a lovely memory but it took me
to have Jacob to realise that my earlier time wasn't the
be-all and end-all of life." Swimming legend
Hayley Lewis, Women's Day, February 2003
"In transforming culture so that it supports life, women
occupy a place, in thought and action, that is unique and
decisive. It depends on them to promote a ‘new feminism,’
which rejects the temptation of imitating models of ‘male
domination,’ in order to acknowledge and affirm the true
genius of women in every aspect of the life of society and
overcome all discrimination, violence and exploitation."
Pope John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life)
Bioethics, culture of life, culture of death
"Mother waits for baby that cannot survive"
Teresa Streckfuss, The Sunday Mail, 20
June 2004
A saintly story to light up the sea of darkness that engulfs
the abortion wars. Teresa Streckfuss's unborn child was
diagnosed with a fatal condition that impairs brain
development. Doctors gave the child only a few hours to live.
Rather than abort the child, Teresa and husband Mark chose to
have Charlotte Mary, and spend what little time they had
reading and singing to her, joined by their other children,
grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Extraordinarily, the
couple has been through this before. Their previous child,
Benedict Oliver, survived only one day, with the same
condition. "She is not a mistake – Charlotte is a
person made in the image and likeness of God," said
Teresa. If you ever wondered what real feminism, or "new feminism" in the words
of Pope John II (see "They said it" above), is, here
it is.
"Why Carry a Dying Child? A Mother's Perspective"
Teresa Streckfuss, Catholic Exchange, 6 January 2004
In Teresa Streckfuss own words, why she continued the
pregnancy of her baby whom she was told would not live long
after birth due to a fatal condition.
"Inflated Promise, Distorted Facts" Eric
Cohen, National Online Review 25 May 2004
Unlike Australia and other parts of the world, US federal legislation
(the Dickey Ammendment 1995) prevents government funding of
research for cures using human embryos, without preventing
private institutes from this undertaking . In August 2001,
President Bush announced new guidelines which allowed use of
human embryo stem (ES) cell lines that existed prior to the
announcement, but not those created after. Bush argued that
this did not sanction destructive use of embryos in the
future. Recently, a number of US congressman wrote a letter to
the president demanding increased federal funding for more ES
cell lines. Eric Cohen, editor of bioethics and culture
journal, The New
Atlantis, analyses the arguments put forward shows how
they distort the realities the scientific realities of cure,
how much is available under the current provision, and the
mass-scale of supply needed given the immunological
constraints of using ES-stem cells. Must reading for those
tracking the debate, particularly with next year's review of
our own federal government's ES research provision. (Here's an
excellent precis on the science behind stem cell research).
"Suing for the Right to Live" Wesley
J. Smith, The Weekly Standard 11 May 2004
Weak and vulnerable patients in the United Kingdom are
having a duty to die imposed upon them by medical ethicists
and the courts' approval of Futile Care Theory. Guidelines
which amount to "medical futility" or
"inappropriate care" are levers for hospital
bioethics committees pronounce judgements about whether lives
are beyond saving, and worth saving. Coming soon to
neighbourhood Australia.
Marriage
"Childless couples to rise dramatically in coming
years:ABS" ABC Queensland, 18 June 2004
Childless couples are on the increase due to delays in
marriage (and therefore decreased propensity for children),
higher divorce and separation, and increased ageing
population. As early as 2010, the number of childless couples
could exceed those with children.
"Comparing the Lifestyles of Homosexual Couples to
Married Couples" Timothy J.
Dailey, Family Research Council, 21 June 2004
Are the lifestyles of homosexual couples conducive to
responsibility of securely raising children, the traditional
function of marriage? This article demonstrates how homosexual
unions fare against traditional marriages on the following
factors: relationship
duration; monogamy versus promiscuity; relationship commitment;
number of children raised; health risks; and rates of intimate
partner violence. In case you're thinking, homophobia,
consider that gays intellects like Camille Paglia and Andrew
Sullivan (editor of The New Republic) openly acknowledge
these.
"Attack on marriage goes well beyond Play School"
Kevin Donnelly, The Australian, 8 June 2004
One working day after the amendment the Marriage Act 1961 was
discussed in federal parliament, ABC Play School aired a
segment in its show featuring a lesbian couple. In response to
criticism from family groups, a manager from Play School
defended the show as reflecting broader society, citing a
concern that children from gay couples had suffered ridicule
in schools. Education expert Kevin Donnelly warns that Play
School is the latest in the trend of public education agents
to get into the act of gay activism, pointing to sources of
the drumbeat - teachers unions.
"Before the Storm"
NR editors, National Online Review, 17 May 2004
"Judges have the power, indeed the duty, to vindicate
individual rights that the people, acting through legislatures
and the formal amendment process, have decided the government
should recognize. It cannot plausibly be said that the people
ever decided that two persons of the same sex have a right to
marry each other. That judges nonetheless are capable of
reaching this result is a testament to the way we have become
used to their seizing certain constitutional terms as a
warrant for freewheeling political philosophizing. That kind
of amendment from the bench now threatens to take another
important subject from the people's jurisdiction. We should
say no, and the only way to do that is by a constitutional
amendment."
"No hatred in keeping marriage laws sacred"
Janet Albrechtsen, The Australian, 12 May 2004
A dissenter among local media ranks. Albrechtsen's allows the
legal argument for marriage to speak; namely that marriage
bonds because husband and wife to each other it implicates
children. Drawing on Stanley
Kurtz's insights from Scandinavia, Albrechtsen argues from
empirical evidence that where accommodated, gay marriage will
lead to break-down of marriage.
"FAMILY:
Fatherhood and marriage - a vital connection" Bill
Muehlenberg, Newsweekly, 31 January 2004
Bill Muehlenberg is national Vice-President of the AFA and leading family
apostle in Australia discusses the evidence which shows
that stable marriage encourages good parenting, and vice
versa. His thesis is simple: "If you are
concerned about the decline of fatherhood, you should be
concerned about the decline of marriage. The two are closely
related, and when we do damage to the one we do damage to the
other. As sociologist David Popenoe succinctly puts it, 'The
decline of marriage is a disaster for fatherhood.' Or as Karl
Zinmeister simply but effectively says, 'no solid marriage, no
good family man'."
"The Case Against Same-Sex Marriage"
Tim Leslie, Crises magazine, 8 January 2004
A further
antidote against the knee-jerk charge that to be against gay
marriage and adoption is homophobia. The article surveys
familiar arguments against traditional marriage proponents and
offers insights from gays writers and activists, showing
clearly that concerns are hardly anti-gay. For instance,
studies shows, and gay writers themselves insist, that
promiscuity is largely alien in gay relationships. Some gay
writers suggest that marriage with its formalisation of commitment
would thereby strengthen gay unions. With the clerical sexual
abuse that hit the Catholic Church in mind, and with it high
correlation with homosexual priests (90% of abuse cases in the
US), Leslie warns against naive deference. Other gay writers
like Andrew Sullivan say that gay inclusion into marriage
itself will have to adapt for polygamous arrangements - indeed
heterosexual marriage could draw confidence that marriage can
endure and even accommodate infidelity. A unique statistic,
and one which will be awkward for proponents for gay
marriage/adoption, is the disproportionately high incidence of
sexual abuse by gay parents of their children - 29%.
Parenting, child-care and education
"Pity for for parents if Bill's flaws are ignored"
Jane Fynes-Clinton, The Courier Mail,
17 June 2004
Federal Health Minister Tony Abbot's Parental Access to Information Bill2004, to
give parents the right to apply for access to their children's
medical records up to the age of 16, was withdrawn after
strong rejection from the backbench. Here is a considered if
not flawless analysis of this delicate issue, in which
parental responsibility is delicately balanced against
teenagers enticed into seeking help through privacy. Fynes-Clinton
says the bill is good for parents finding out if their child
is thinking about suicide, but bad if they find out whether
the morning-after pill has been sought.
"Child-focussed sexual abuse prevention programs: how
effective are they in preventing child abuse" Crime
and Misconduct Commission QLD, 5 June 2004
A study of the current approaches for child sexual abuse
prevention, identifying the following flaws: inadequate sex
education background compromising an adequate description of
sex abuse; overemphasis of "stranger danger" and
under emphasis of "familiar" adult as abusers;
inadequate grooming against abusers, in particular resisting
adult authority when it comes to harmful acts; inadequate discernment
of sexual abuse, including the fact that all not all abuse
involves physical acts; inadequate catering for boys. A useful
study which is by not means the last word. Contact the CMC
with any feedback.
"Teach but don't preach" Andrew
Bolt, Herald Sun, 5 May 2004
Our education crises has been largely shaped by teachers and
education curricula that extend the duty of teaching into
social consciousness in which facts and legitimate debates
take a backseat to feelings and bias. Said otherwise, teaching
is becoming the podium for left-wing political indoctrination.
To cultural Marxists in the new education game, Andrew
Bolt is poison. The acidic key of Bolt is to tell is as it is,
and here he samples emails sent to him by school children, to
tell it as it is. Must reading for parents.
Health
"Abbot wants to clamp on morning-after pill" CathNews, 8 June 2004
Federal Health Minister Tony Abbot is considering measures
to restrict access to the morning-after pill (Postinor-2)
following reports that it has been sold to young teenage
girls. Since January this year, the drug has been available
over the counter. The Australian Medical Association welcomed
Mr Abbot's move, having raised warnings about the safety of
the drug. The AMA has said availability of the drug over the
counter trivialises women's health.
Society and culture
"QLD 2020: A State for All Ages" QLD
Department of Families, March 2004
"Amazing Grace and The Lord of the Rings" James
G. Dixon III, Vision and Values Consise March 2004
J.R.R Tolkien, a devout Catholic, and a spiritual mentor to C.
S. Lewis, insisted in a letter that “The Lord of the
Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic
work” but that he deliberately cut “all references to
anything like religion.... For the religious element is
absorbed into the story and the symbolism.”
Tax and benefits
"Nappy Families" Peter
McDonald, The Courier Mail, March 2004
A reflection of the family stimulatory
policy of Federal Budget 2004, which according the Australia's
leading demographer, Professor Peter McDonald, will enhance
the prospects of families to produce children.
Media / Internet
"Act won't slam the door on spam, but it will help"
Edward Mantla, The Australian, 20
April 2004
The Spam Act was passed earlier this year. It forbids bulk
email advertising, without a prior relationship between and an
opt-out of receiving mail. Since most spam comes from
overseas, and since most anti-spamming laws overseas have
failed, the act is unlikely to have a major impact on most
mail "inboxes." Here's some tips from the Australian
Computer Society, mainly applying to business users, where the
act will have impact. Alas, for parents and the community at
large, pornographic spam will continue to be a problem.
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