Bits 'n' Pieces
UNITED STATES
Outspokenly pro-life Alan Keyes, a former U.S. ambassador
to UNESCO and two-time candidate for the Republican presidential nomination,
was picked to face rising Democrat star Barack Obama
in the open Senate race in Illinois. Keyes is making abortion a priority
issue and comparing Obama's pro-abortion position - he supports even
partial-birth abortion - to a "slave-holder" mentality. Both Keyes and
Obama are black ... South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds
(R) is standing firm in opposing a link on the state library website
to Planned Parenthood. Rounds says that Planned Parenthood, the country's
largest abortion services provider, is too political and state regulations
prohibit political links on educational website, which would include
the state library ... Former First Lady Nancy Reagan,
a supporter of embryonic stem cell research, endorsed pro-life Republican
President George W. Bush's re-election bid over Senator
John Kerry (D), a supporter of ESCR ... Beer giant
Coors announced that the company's health plan will
no longer cover the cost of abortion.
CANADA
The Ontario Progressive Conservative Party leadership
will be held Sept. 18. Two pro-life, pro-family candidates - former
Harris-era cabinet ministers Jim Fhaherty and Frank
Klees - will face pro-abortion and pro-gay "marriage" former
Rogers CEO John Tory ... The Christian Heritage
Party ran 62 candidates in the June 28 federal election. That
is 16 more than they ran in 2000 and just one less than it did in 1988
... Socially liberal Toronto Sun editor Lorrie Goldstein
writes, "That while social attitudes are liberalizing over time, the
idea that social conservatives represent only a handful of crazed right-wing
lunatics is pure media myth" ... The British Columbia Supreme Court
awarded $60,000 to a woman whose child survived a botched abortion attempt
at Prince George hospital. The money is to compensate for stress and
lost income, but the judge said that, since the boy or girl was a source
of joy to the mother, she would not get money for the child's upkeep
... It was revealed that the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
hosted a Gay Pride reception at this year's gay pride parade in Toronto.
CIBC chairman John Hunkin addressed the crowd claiming
his company played a small role "in the legal battle for same-sex marriage,"
describing how employee Joe Varnell and former employee
Kevin Bourassa became the first legally "married" homosexual
couple in the world ... La Presse reports that Divers/Cite,
the organizer of the Montreal Gay Pride, received $550,000 in federal,
provincial and municipal subsidies, not to mention donations from private
corporations such as Molson and Air Canada.
INTERNATIONAL
A Marie Stopes Inc. abortuary in Perth, Australia
persuaded a neighbouring child care centre to erect a two-metre high
wall so that women seeking abortions would not become upset by the sight
and sound of children playing ... Bolivia is considering permitting
birth control. Introducing the Sexual Reproductive Rights bill, Julieta
Montano said it would give all Bolivian citizens the "right"
to exercise "a pleasurable and responsible freely decided sexuality"
... Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, head of the Vatican's
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, reiterated to the French
magazine Le Figaro that Catholic politicians out of step with
the Church on abortion should not receive communion: "A politician who
takes a different position, which does not respect the image of God
(in man) and the inviolability of the human person, is also in opposition
to the rational elements of faith" ... Italian Health Minister Girolamo
Sirchia called abortion "murder" telling La Republica
that "Before resorting to a violent and bloody act that suppresses a
life, substantially murder, contrary to my morals, there are other ways
to act. I accept it only if the woman's health is in serious danger.
I believe abortion to be a serious act, detrimental to the rights of
the unborn child and to society"... Rocco Buttiglione,
Italy's pro-life Minister for European Affairs and former Professor
of Philosophy, was named commissioner in charge of the Justice, Freedom
and Security portfolio for the Commission. Buttiglione, who introduced
pro-life legislation when Silvio Berlusconi returned
to power there in 2001, is the only known pro-lifer among 24 new commissioners
named to the EU Commission on August 12 ... The Brazilian government
plans to distribute 3 billion free condoms each year to help combat
the country's rising HIV rates even though numerous studies show that
the easy availability of condoms statistically increases promiscuity
and risk of contracting HIV. LifeSite Daily News reported that each
of the 85 million citizens would get 35 condoms per year.
