Friday, August 17, 2012

Lifeissues Newsletter #589

Lifeissues.net: clear thinking about crucial issues

Dear Friends For Life,

[U.K.] - The Commission on Dying in the United Kingdom has published a 400 page report that calls for the legalization of assisted suicide.  At this time they are not calling for direct euthanasia but rather promoting its predecessor, assisted suicide, for those who are predicted to have less than 12 months to live.  Such predictions have been notoriously inaccurate.  The article above lists a number predicted to die within six months who went on to live six more years.

[Europe - Euthanasia Prohibited] - The Parliament Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has adopted a resolution setting the principle that, "euthanasia, in the sense of the intentional killing by act or omission of a dependent human being for his or her alleged benefit, must always be prohibited." This is the first time in the past decade that euthanasia has been so clearly rejected by a European political institution and is a major victory for the protection of life and dignity. It comes a year after the European court asserted that there was no right to euthanasia or assisted suicide under the European Convention.

- The Dutch Medical Association is trying to expand euthanasia in the Netherlands. They want to include more people under the, "unbearable suffering," label, which allows physicians to kill their patients in that tiny country.

[South Australia] - It seems that in almost every legislative session direct euthanasia lifts its ugly head. We now see another attempt to legalize euthanasia in South Australia. Let’s hope that this fails as its predecessors have.

God Bless,
Jerry Novotny, OMI

(The Difference is LIFE) "In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst." - C.S. Lewis

*---*(Due to volume of spam received, do not reply to this message but instead send all emails to jerry@shirt.ocn.ne.jp. Thank you!)

****************************************
Lifeissues.net Newsletter #589
August 19, 2012

****************************************

(TABLE OF CONTENTS):

1. Contraception and Public Policy
2. Preaching About Pornography and Addiction
3. Discerning Marriage as Natural Vocation
4. Locked-in syndrome survivor did not want to die.
5. A dream for South Asia
6. Is Slavery and Human Trafficking legal in the United States?
7. Canadian Medical Association: babies not human until after birth
8. Planned Parenthood: 1.5 Million Abortions Under Cecile Richards
9. Traditional Values Resolution Hijacked at Human Rights Council in Geneva
10. 'Just being human doesn't give you a right to live': Peter Singer sums up pro-abortion philosophy
11. Surrogates and Their Discontents
12. INSIGHTS by Dianne N Irving, Ph.D.


****************************************
(Assisted suicide): "Assisted suicide Polls, Vote NO NOW" - 

1. Poll in the Toronto Sun. The question is - Should assisted suicide be legal? Vote NO.
The poll is found by scrolling down after article. Click here.
 
2. Poll in Calgary Sun. The question is - Is it right for a BC court to allow a doctor-assisted suicide? Vote NO. Click here.

Please forward to all of your contacts.

****************************************

ITEM #1: Contraception and Public Policy

One can readily see why there is an insistence against "artificial" methods of birth control, while something like Natural Family Planning is in accord with the natural law. It is not because they are artificial, per se, but because they are unnatural. In other words, they violate human nature.

****************************************

ITEM #2: Preaching About Pornography and Addiction

Because the slavery and pain of our flocks is obvious, we are called upon to offer the grace and healing of Christ. The pulpit can be an excellent platform for entreating even the most stained and hopeless heart.

****************************************

ITEM #3: Discerning Marriage as Natural Vocation

Marriage, as a vocation, is written into our human nature, into our very being. According to the Church, everyone is called to marriage because they are humans who have been created as either male or female.

****************************************

ITEM #4: Locked-in syndrome survivor did not want to die.

When Richard Marsh had a stroke doctors wanted to switch off his life-support - but he could hear every word but could not tell them he was alive. Now 95% recovered, he recounts his story.

****************************************

ITEM #5: A dream for South Asia

To be poor and female in South Asia is to be doubly cursed. Like women, children are acutely vulnerable to abuse. Human trafficking - to service the sex trade, the adoption industry, the begging-for-alms industry - is a problem across South Asia.

****************************************

ITEM #6: Is Slavery and Human Trafficking legal in the United States?

In September of 2010, six labor recruiters have been accused of luring 400 farm workers to Hawaii from Thailand and mistreating them in what the FBI said is the largest human trafficking case ever charged in U.S. history.

****************************************

ITEM #7 Canadian Medical Association: babies not human until after birth

The largest association of doctors in Canada, in an attempt to stonewall a looming abortion debate from being unleashed, voted yesterday to support the wording of the country's Criminal Code which states that a baby becomes a "human being" only after being born.

****************************************

ITEM #8: Planned Parenthood: 1.5 Million Abortions Under Cecile Richards

As head of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Cecile Richards presided over the grisly death by abortion of 1.5 million tiny, innocent babies from the time she took the helm at Planned Parenthood Federation of America in 2006 through 2010. She tucked an estimated $743 million in blood money into PPFA bank accounts for her efforts.

****************************************

ITEM #9: Traditional Values Resolution Hijacked at Human Rights Council in Geneva

Likely the Russians are furious. Last year the Russian government initiated a process at the Human Rights Council in Geneva that was supposed to lead to a resolution touting traditional values. They rediscovered what they likely already knew, that such debates at the UN are fraught with danger, particularly for those who want to support traditional values. The constellation of forces hostile to traditional values is large and aggressive. The Russians had hoped their resolution could find a positive link between traditional values and human rights generally. A drafting committee offered a preliminary study last February that was acceptable to pro-family delegates. But opposition quickly formed.

****************************************

ITEM #10: 'Just being human doesn't give you a right to live': Peter Singer sums up pro-abortion philosophy

To the ears of us ordinary people, it sounds like the ravings of some fringe group of European neo-fascists or Communists... "Opponents will respond that abortion is, by its very nature, unsafe - for the fetus," he wrote. "They point out that abortion kills a unique, living human individual. That claim is difficult to deny, at least if by 'human' we mean 'member of the species Homo sapiens." Singer is among the cadre of leading thinkers who maintain that being a human being isn't enough to confer any legal rights. To be a "person," one must fulfill a particular set of criteria.

****************************************

ITEM #11: Surrogates and Their Discontents


A recent veto of a bill that would lower restrictions on gestational surrogate mothers should prompt us to consider surrogacy's harmful effects on mothers and children.

****************************************

ITEM #12: INSIGHTS by Dianne N Irving, Ph.D

(a). Immortality Will Arrive via Singularity, Nanotech, or Genetic Engineering - say 800+ Transhumanists

[Note: I have to wonder if these people are already transhumans. Comments on the IEET website worth reading, also comments on the Kurzweil website:
http://www.kurzweilai.net/forums/topic/immortality-will-arrive-via-nanotechnology-genetic-engineering-or-singularity. Notice, if you dare, that both include the use of stem cell therapies, "therapeutic" cloning, genetic engineering, nanotech, etc., to reach Immortality. -- DNI]

(b). 'Coronation Street' Sam Aston hints at Chesney surrogacy "struggle"

 [Note: More "normalizing" the abnormal. Coronation Street is a British television soap opera series, and has been on the air for over 51 years. They are clearly enjoying the popular surge in surrogacies. Story line re "surrogacy" similar to our own U.S. version, The New Normal, that premiers September 11 on NBC: http://www.nbc.com/the-new-normal/. Where are the international rebuttals? -- DNI]

(c). CT Fertility Clinic Launches GayParentsToBe.com for LGBT Community

 [Note: ARTs, artificial reproductive technologies, most of which do not involve "conception/fertilization" but use various forms of genetic engineering to asexually reproduce new human beings, are required technologies for most "surrogacies", including for LGBT family-building. Hello -- anybody out there (like prolife, the Churches, etc.)? And even the UN is concerned about both legal and illegal trafficking in genetically engineered "eggs", "sperms" and embryos. Hello? (See Irving, "Any Human Cell - iPS, Direct Programmed, Embryonic, Fetal or Adult - Can Be Genetically Engineered to Asexually Reproduce New Human Embryos for Purposes of Reproduction ('Infertility')" (November 2011), at: http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/irv/irv_194cellasexuallyreproduce1.html). -- DNI]


*****************************


YOU CAN CHANGE SOCIETY:

1. BE INFORMED: "My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge." Hosea 4:6. Visit Lifeissues.net Website for insights into current Life Issues www.lifeissues.net. Access to all prior Newsletters is located in the Archives on main page.

2. PRAY DAILY: for the courage to be God's presence in society and to strongly support those who are deemed "unworthy of life". "If My people who are called by My Name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14

3. BECOME INVOLVED: Several years ago Fr. Jerry created a project entitled, "Journey for Life into the Heart of Asia". The project appeals for donations to help finance plane travel for lectures and seminars to developing countries in Asia. Strong focus is centered on reaching Asian Catholic Major Seminaries, Universities, Parishes, Hospitals and Family/Pro Life related groups. The lectures place emphasis on "The Asian Family at Crossroads: Life Issues, Trends and Challenges".

For information about no-cost Pro Life Talks to your group in Asia: contact Fr. Jerry at jerry@shirt.ocn.ne.jp.

To become a supportive Missionary participant for this Asian project, kindly send your donations to:

** Fr. Jerry Novotny, OMI

** LifeIssues.net, Editor

** Akebono-cho 1-15-9

** Kochi City, Japan, 780-8072

(or transfer donation directly to ProLife bank account: Jerome Novotny, Shikoku Bank, Asakura Branch, No. 102-1-0080824)

------------------------------

Get a weekly dose of clear thinking: subscribe to our free Lifeissues newsletter! Sign up at www.LifeIssues.net. Pass this free service to your friends and various groups.

------------------------------

Contact EDITOR:

Jerry Novotny, OMI

Akebono-cho 1-15-9

Kochi City, Japan, 780-8072

[tel/fax: 088-843-0406]

[email: jerry@shirt.ocn.ne.jp]

["Due to volume of spam received, we're asking you not to reply to this message but instead send all correspondence to jerry@shirt.ocn.ne.jp. Thank you! Editor"]

------------------------------

Websites by Editor:

English LifeIssues Site: http://www.lifeissues.net,

Japanese LifeIssues Site: http://www.japan-lifeissues.net,

HIV/AIDS Site: http://capcha.org

OMI Japan/Korea Site: http://omijapankorea.net/