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Dear Friends For Life,
A current movement is pointed out by Catholic League president Bill Donohue. The new normal is yesterday's abnormal: what was seen as bizarre, if not literally crazy, is now seen as normal. The converse is also true: those who still value the judiciously exercised role of shame, guilt and modesty are now seen as representative of the new abnormal. The following examples are taken exclusively from news stories of May 9 and May 10:• The president of the U.S. thinks it's fine for two men to marry• Homosexual and transgender characters - all positively portrayed - are proliferating on TV (by contrast, positively portrayed Catholic characters are almost nonexistent)• There is a bill in California that would make it illegal for a trained psychologist to convert gays and lesbians• New York's top court said it is perfectly fine to view unlimited amounts of child pornography online• The cover of Time magazine shows a young boy standing on a chair sucking his mother's bare breast• Tupperware parties run by suburban moms have been replaced by sex-toy parties featuring vibrators and lubricants• A Nebraska mother has been arrested for charging men to have sex with her daughters, ages 7 and 14Not all of these incidents are of equal moral weight, but put together they convey a powerful message: cultural ordinates are being obliterated. And when boundary lines disappear, the social fallout can be wicked. Put differently, if it were our goal to create moral anarchy, we couldn't have done a better job. There is a risk in pointing this out, but it's worth being tagged the new abnormal.God Bless,
Jerry Novotny, OMI
(The Difference is LIFE) It's the fact that we are so afraid of being considered 'intolerant' and lacking compassion toward women, that we need to de-legitimize the status of the child. As a lawyer, I am embarrassed by the members of my profession who continue to ignore science and maintain that until the moment the baby leaves the birth canal, it has no legal (let alone human) rights. - Christine Flowers
*---*(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!)
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Lifeissues.net Newsletter #576
May 20, 2012
****************************************(TABLE OF CONTENTS):1. Child sacrifice in 21st Century America
2. The female screams we don't want to hear
3. A Child
4. The Media's Abortion Blinders
5. Planned Parenthood's Hostages
6. The Effects of Divorce on Children
7. Women able to delay motherhood through ovary freezing
8. Huge increase in assisted suicide cases in Oregon and Switzerland
9. Plight of disabled goes to UN
10. Two Futurisms: One old, the other new
11. Brazil's Supreme Tribunal says anencephalic babies not alive, ok to abort
12. The Contraception Trap
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(Focus on Asia): "Beijing "has no mercy" for North Korean refugees" - Some press rumors spoke of a shift in Chinese policy of repatriation of North Koreans fleeing the regime. But the activists on the ground deny them: "Nothing has changed." A source in the North: "We all want to escape, the only thing stopping us is the cruelty of China."
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ITEM #1: Child sacrifice in 21st Century America
Yet the fact remains that America is a country in which almost 1 in 4 pregnancies ends in the willful, violent death of the unborn child. And this slaughter of the innocents has been going on, often in higher percentages, for almost four decades. As the Psalmist and Ezekiel might have told us, feeding the demons inevitably leads to a terrible hardening of sensibilities. The warnings from ancient Israel about where that hardening leads are worth pondering in this election year, and indeed in every year.
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ITEM #2: The female screams we don't want to hear
While the problem of sex-selection abortions is presented as a pathology of Asian cultures that prefer boys to girls, it actually is not rare in respectable Canadian medical practice. The euphemism is "family balancing": couples who already have a boy and want a girl, upon discovering another boy on the way, abort him and try again.
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ITEM #3: A Child
Everywhere outside of Christianity, wrote Hans Urs von Balthasar, the child is automatically the first to be sacrificed. Only for Christians is the adult the imperfect child.
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ITEM #4: The Media's Abortion Blinders
Even if some forms of partiality are inevitable, journalists betray their calling when they simply ignore self-evident truths about a story.
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ITEM #5: Planned Parenthood's Hostages
The abortion provider uses a vast media and political network to maintain its subsidies from government and private charities.
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ITEM #6: The Effects of Divorce on Children
Divorce damages society and consumes social, human, and economic capital. Though it might be shown to benefit some individuals in some individual cases, overall it causes a temporary decrease in an individual's quality of life and puts some "on a downward trajectory from which they might never fully recover."
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ITEM #7 Women able to delay motherhood through ovary freezing
Women will be able to delay motherhood by freezing parts of their ovaries at the first specialist fertility clinic to be opened in Britain. Pro-life commentators have objected to procedure as contrary to nature.
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ITEM #8: Huge increase in assisted suicide cases in Oregon and Switzerland
There has been a huge increase in assisted suicide in Oregon and Switzerland, says a UK doctor. Peter Saunders, head of the Christian Medical Fellowship (CMF), said that the latest figures suggest that since 1998 assisted suicides have risen by 45% in Oregon and by 700% in Switzerland. Dr Saunders argues that such increases are an inevitable result of legal approval of assisted suicide.
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ITEM #9: Plight of disabled goes to UN
Representatives from 22 civil groups briefed a UN committee in Geneva yesterday on how society treats people with disabilities in Hong Kong as it prepares a list of issues for Beijing and local governments to address.
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ITEM #10: Two Futurisms: One old, the other new
[Note: Singularity University (California), at: http://singularityu.org/, founded by Google and NASA, is predominantly composed of futurists, transhumanists, technoprogressives, postnaturalists, etc., and sponsors much of the genetic engineering (seeds, plants, animals, humans) and synthetic biology currently subject of growing disputes internationally. Their purpose is for us to reach "the Singularity": "the moment when evolution takes a quantum leap forward, fusing the powers of Homo sapiens and technology into a new, godlike entity." The following article (odd in itself) gives a brief history of Futurism. These are the people we want in charge of our Future? My guess is that most of us would also fall into the category of "old-fashioned stick-in-the-muds". Hopefully. See 1909 "Futurist Manifesto" copied at end - will make your hair stand on end. But then, gnosticism goes back to at least 5000 B.C., so what's new? - Dianne Iving, Ph.D.]Additional reading: The Futurist ManifestoAdditional reading: WSJ -Singularity Univ. Announces Inaugural SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY Accelerator Program[Note: So you see how Singularity University (in seeking "the singularity"!) pulls together all the "converging technologies" across the board - well-listed below. This one is about "synthetic biology" - aka, "genetic engineering on steroids" - where computer geeks (who have no academic degree in Genetics 101, much less HUMAN genetics) can put together computer software programs in their garages or frat houses that can design any kind of synthetic DNA mixture imaginable (all of which would be "foreign" DNA that never existed before anywhere). They then take their patentable "designs" to a real DNA-bank (several such warehouses in California) where the original computer-designed synthetic foreign "DNA" is put together using real DNA. This synthetic "product" is then inserted into living cells of plants, animals, and humans by means of "vectors" (which usually have their own "foreign" DNA's as well), and the result is studied in research laboratories (even IVF/ART clinics?) -- "for the greater good of society". Lots of money here. Who will monitor this "entrepreneurial industry" and their "libertine market" products? FDA? Where are the standards, regulations, laws? Who will be LEGALLY accountable for mess-ups or genetic "surprises"?, Etc. How do they continue to get away with this research free-for-all? - Dianne Iving, Ph.D.]You may contact Dr. Dianne Irving at DNIrving@aol.com
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ITEM #11: Brazil's Supreme Tribunal says anencephalic babies not alive, ok to abort
"Brazil's high court has approved of slaughtering the country's most vulnerable people, the severely disabled," said pro-life leader Piero Tozzi.
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ITEM #12: The Contraception Trap
And so I find it ironic when contraception is said to allow anyone to live "freely." Secular culture assures women that they can go ahead and engage in the act that creates babies, even if they are not ready to be mothers. They are handed contraception, and told to forget all about the possibility of parenthood. Then, when the contraception fails, as it so often does, they find themselves feeling trapped, perceiving that their only escape is through the doors of an abortion facility. This, to me, does not look like freedom.
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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 7:143. 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, OMIAkebono-cho 1-15-9Kochi 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.orgOMI Japan/Korea Site: http://www.omijapankorea.net
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