* JUST A THOUGHT - High unemployment is causing headaches and heartaches across the world, but an overwhelming number of vacancies in God's business across the world are being overlooked.
(By Fano Sibisi, 8 August 2010, www.cft.org.za) (to index)

* PORN ISSUE HEATS UP - Adults who expose children to pornography should be jailed, the Family Police Institute says.
Speaking on Monday at the Film and Publication Board's anti-child pornography conference in Newlands, institute director Errol Naidoo said that exposing children to pornography was a criminal offence.
Pornography caused long-term damage, and should be prohibited in the public domain.
Naidoo accused adults who allowed children to view pornography of negligence, adding that the relevant laws had to be enforced, or no one would take them seriously.

Sibo Myeni, spokesperson for the Film and Publications Board, said that it was difficult to monitor adults viewing pornography in the privacy of their own homes.
"We advise adults to exercise caution, but if it is happening where children are exposed to pornography, it must be reported," she said.

Another panelist, Freedom of Expression Institute attorney Mbalenhle Cele, said it was their role to promote and protect the right to freedom of expression.
Each case was different, she said, and its individual merits had to be taken into account.

Professor Tovial Zabow, from Doctors For Life, led the discussion around the effects of children's exposure to pornography with a presentation about the effects of pornography on the development of the brain.
He said pornography could potentially cause addiction to abnormal sexual behaviour.
"There is definite science that says it could lead to addiction, and the addict would want more and more."
Zabow warned that the addict could also want to experiment, and become more sexually aggressive.

Yoliswa Makhasi, chief executive officer of the board, said that as a society, "we need to take a stand against child pornography, against the exploitation of our children who surf the Internet or communicate via mobile chat rooms".
While it was difficult to monitor children with cellphones, parents had to explain to them why pornography is a crime, she said.
(IOL.co.za, 27 July 2010) (to index)

* THREE ACCUSED OF TRAFFICKING GIVEN BAIL (SA) - Three people accused of human trafficking have been granted bail in the Welkom Magistrate’s Court.
The three were caught for employing under-age girls in strip clubs.
Police said on Friday the South African girls had been promised work but were then forced into prostitution.
Businessman Daniel Rune was granted R10 000 bail and Brenda Snyman and Abram Sekaleli were released on R2000 bail each.
The police’s Mmako Mophiring said the girls asked for help during a raid of the strip clubs.
"We asked them a lot of questions [about] how they got there and who brought them. That gave us more information that helped us track down the person involved," he said.
The suspects will re-appear in court on August 16 when a trail date will be set.
(EyeWitnessNews, 24 July 2010) (to index)

* PRO-LIFE CONGRESSMAN TELLS U.N. ABORTION WILL HARM, NOT HELP, MILLENNIUM GOALS - Pro-life human rights advocate and U.S. Congressman Chris Smith testified at a U.N. subcommittee hearing on the Millennium Development Goals, where he argued that strong evidence indicates that encouraging legal abortion would harm the U.N.’s commitment to reducing maternal and child mortality rates all over the world.

The U.N. is deep in negotiations over the Outcome Document for the High-Level Summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), in which pro-abortion advocates are trying to include "reproductive health services" – language that can serve as a Trojan horse to introduce legal abortion into signatory countries with pro-life laws.

Smith, a member of the U.S. Foreign Affairs committee, and ranking member of the Africa and Global Health Subcommittee, spoke Tuesday before a hearing conducted by the International Subcommittee on International Organizations, telling committee members that the spread of legal abortion would actually undermine MDGs 4 and 5, goals dedicated respectively to reducing child and maternal mortality.

"The inclusion of legalized abortion or ‘reproductive health services’ defined as abortion in the Outcome Document would be unjust to the littlest humans, intellectually dishonest, and counterproductive to these successful efforts," said Smith.

The congressman referenced the April 2010 Lancet medical journal, which published a study funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation that indicated worldwide maternal mortality had been declining since 1980. As of 2008, the number of maternal deaths per year had dropped to 342,900 – a 40 percent decline from 526,300 in 1980. The report noted that had not the HIV/AIDS pandemic broken out, that drop could have been as much as 50 percent.

But Smith also pointed out that the Lancet study showed no correlation between the expansion of legal abortion and the drop in maternal mortality. He told the committee that the study showed, "Many of these countries with very low maternal mortality rates have laws that restrict abortion."

Real success, he indicated, was due to governments improving basic, life-affirming health care services and conditions that encourage the socio-economic advancement of women.

"While still too high, this landmark report is encouraging to governments who have been seriously addressing maternal mortality in their countries by increasing the number of skilled birth attendants, the availability of c-sections for women with obstructed labor, access to health care including safe blood, education of women, and economic development," he added.

However, Smith also pointed to evidence from studies showing that abortion itself can harm the chances of survival for subsequently born children by sharply increasing the risk of pre-term birth and low birth rate.

"Preterm birth is the leading cause of infant mortality in the United States, and causes one-fourth of infant mortality in the world," Smith pointed out.

He said that at least 113 studies "show a significant association between abortion and subsequent premature and low birth weight births."

One such study in the International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology found that women with one abortion had a 36 percent increased risk for preterm birth; but for women who had two abortions, that statistic leapt to a 93 percent chance . It added that the risks for children being born with low birth weight were also comparable, increasing 35 percent after one abortion, and 72 percent after two abortions or more.

"Abortion is child mortality for the child aborted, and can be mortality or morbidity for future children," continued Smith, adding that for these and other reasons, the term "safe abortion" is a misnomer.

Smith also said at least 102 studies show that women who abort set themselves up for "significant psychological harm, major depression, and elevated suicide risk." He pointed to a comprehensive 2006 New Zealand study which "found that almost 80 percent of the 15-18 year olds who had abortions had major depression as compared to 31 percent of their peers." Additionally, it found that 27 percent of 21-25 year olds who had aborted their children had seriously contemplated suicide, compared to 8 percent of their peers.

The congressman then recommended the international panel to seek to improve medical care for mothers and newborns, especially, in the "golden minute" right after birth, where birth asphyxia is a real danger. The condition he said is a major cause of infant mortality, killing one million newborns each year.

"Skilled attendance at birth, temperature support, stimulation to breathe and assisted ventilation through the use of low cost resuscitators are interventions we can make and should be made available to achieve MDG 4," he said.

Smith concluded his remarks by saying the MDG Summit Outcome Document "will be very important for guiding our steps as an international community over the next five years" and he exhorted those present to use their influence "to ensure the Outcome Document keeps us on the path of saving both mother and child."
(LifeSiteNews, 28 July 2010) (to index)

* HOW TO FIGHT THE GAY AGENDA: PRO-FAMILY GROUP ORGANIZES THREE-DAY CONFERENCE - The pro-family organization Americans for Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) has scheduled a three-day conference on fighting the homosexual political agenda in the United States.

The Americans for Truth Academy will be "probably one of the most comprehensive pro-family conferences on homosexuality ever to occur in the United States," according to Peter LaBarbera, the organization's founder and president.

LaBarbera told LifeSiteNews (LSN) that he decided to organize the conference to counteract the large number of similar events held by homosexualist activists.

"I have a little Irish blood but I'm also Italian, and when political correctness and the thought police tell you what not to do it only makes me want to do more of it, and so in this case the gay thought police are basically saying the issue is over and there is no other side, and so I thought we have to start educating people on the agenda," said LaBarbera.

"The gay movement has made significant headway through personal instruction and firsthand training. They've got the Creating Change Conference from the National Gay and Lesbian Task force which trains thousands of people per year. We're completely outgunned on this issue," said LaBarbera. "We face a variety of homosexual activist groups that have set specific purposes whereas we try to deal with the issue with our generalized pro-family groups, which do good work on homosexual issues but don't do enough."

Noting that the pro-life movement has been successful in communicating its message to younger generations, LaBarbera says that the same has to be done regarding homosexuality.

"Clearly what the pro-life movement has accomplished is they've changed the paradigm, and they've gotten people thinking about the life of the unborn child, about the human rights issues at stake, about the innocent victims of abortion on demand, and I think what has not happened on the homosexual issue is the basic talking points of the pro-gay movement have not been addressed adequately," LaBarbera told LSN.

Lamenting that young people have been "brainwashed" by homosexualist propaganda, LaBarbara says he intends to "reach them with some in-depth training because they're completely ignorant ... The polls show that young people are more pro-life and more pro-gay at the same time. And I think that speaks volumes about the problem that we're in and the long term debt that we face on this issue unless we educate people on what's really at stake with the debate."

The Academy will run from August 5 through August 7 at the Christian Liberty Academy in Arlington Heights, Illinois. Speakers will include Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel, who was famously fired from his job with an insurance company for opposing homosexual activism on his own time, and Professor Rena Lindevaldsen, a law professor at Liberty University and defender of ex-lesbian Lisa Miller against her former lover's attempts to take custody of her daughter. Professor Robert Gagnon of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, an expert on the Biblical teaching on homosexuality, will also speak.

Homosexual groups schedule protest

Homosexual activists have already scheduled a protest for the event, claiming that AFTAH is teaching "hate," a charge repeated by the ultra-leftist People for the American Way, and strongly denied by LaBarbera.

"We're not haters, we're people who simply disagree with homosexuality, profoundly, we believe it is immoral, that it's changeable, that it's unnatural, that it's against God," he said. "We don't shrink from those beliefs. But to equate the advocacy of those beliefs with hatred is itself an act of bigotry and hatred against people of faith and against people of moral persuasion."

LaBarbera says he is aware of the preparations to protest his event, and will have security on hand to prevent the disruptive tactics historically used by gay activists to intimidate those opposed to their agenda.

"We already know the Gay Liberation Network, which is a radical homosexual hate group, has announced that they're going to protest against us. ... we expected that," LaBarbera told LSN. "The reason that we did not open this event up to gay activists who want to attend ... is that there is a history of homosexuals using direct action to disrupt and intimidate people. We're not going to tolerate that here."