Canada

In its first post-budget polling, Ipsos Reid found that the federal Conservatives are headed into majority territory, leading the Liberals 40-29 per cent, with the NDP behind at 14 per cent and the Greens at 7. Political observers say that breaking the 40 per cent mark, opening up a double-digit lead over the Grits and the perceived weakness of Liberal leader Stephane Dion has Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his political strategists just itching to head to the polls ... Among the 18 MPs the Hill Times newspaper reports as not running again, at least seven are pro-life: Liberals Ray Bonin (Nickel Belt, Ont.), Paul Steckle (Huron-Bruce, Ont.), and Tom Wappel (Scarborough Southwest, Ont.) and Conservatives Norman Doyle (St. John’s East, Nfld.), Ken Epp (Edmonton-Sherwood, Alta.), Brian Fitzpatrick (Prince Albert, Sask.) and John Williams (Edmonton-St. Albert, Alta.) ... Former NDP Ontario premier Bob Rae will run for the Liberals in the riding of Toronto Centre ... Sonya Thompson of the University of Alberta has found that 90 per cent of 13- to 14-year-old teenage boys and 70 per cent of young teenage girls have viewed pornographic material at least once and that one-third of the boys view pornography regularly ... Environmental zealot and population-control advocate David Suzuki will be the guest editor of the Vancouver Sun for its Saturday, May 5 edition. Suzuki has said he would like all news outlets to begin publishing daily indicators of the state of the planet, from “population to pollution.”

United States

Dr. Paul Fassbach has admitted that Miami’s premature “miracle baby” – born Oct. 24, 2006, just 21 weeks and six days after conception – might not have received medical intervention if doctors had known her real gestational age. By lying about her baby’s term, Sonja Taylor protected daughter Amilia from the medical standard, which is to not resuscitate a 22-week baby. The media highlighted the story, including pictures of a pint-sized Amelia, as an example of the modern medical marvels that are possible … The South Carolinia legislature ratified a state constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex ‘marriage’ that was approved by voters last November … New York senator and Democratic presidential nominee aspirant Hillary Rodham Clinton was the keynote speaker at the gay rights activists’ Human Rights Campaign luncheon in Washington. She told them, “Just as you always have an open door to my Senate office, you will have an open door to the White House. And together we will continue our struggle.” She also said of the HRC: “I love the fact that it’s my initials. Have you ever noticed that?” ...

The Interfaith Alliance has kicked off the “First Amendment First”
campaign aimed to reduce the role of religion in the public sphere. Among the campaign’s supporters is former CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite, the Alliance’s honourary chairman ... The Barna Group says the number of “unchurched” – those Americans who have not attended any religious service in six months – has remained constant at 33 per cent since 1994. It also found that political liberals were more likely to be unchurched than political conservatives (47-19 per cent), as were singles compared to married individuals (37-29 per cent) and homosexuals compared to heterosexuals (49-31 per cent) ... Heidi Zamecnik has petitioned an Illinois court to order her school, Neuqua Valley High, as well as Indian Prairie District 204, to permit her to wear a T-shirt that says, “Be happy, not gay” on April 20, the day after the Day of Silence “anti-homophobia” campaign. Zamecnik says she believes “true happiness cannot be found through homosexual behaviour.”.

International

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women committee has ordered Suriname to repeal its laws restricting abortion. Currently, abortion is allowed only in cases where the mother’s life is immediately threatened. Suriname Health Minister Celsius Waterberg responded by saying that abortion ought to be legalized in the “hard cases” of rape. The CEDAW committee also called for the distribution of contraceptives ... An estimated 10,000 youths protested against abortion, drugs and alcoholism in a rally organized by Youth for Life in Manila, Philippines. The rally was led by Ali Atienza, chairman of Manila’s Inner-City Development. His father, Lito Atienza, is mayor of Manila and president of Pro-Life Philippines ... Poland’s deputy prime minister and education minister, Roman Giertych, told an informal meeting of European education ministers that “Europe needs changes” and “abortion needs to be banned immediately” ... Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi’s l’Unione coalition was able to maintain control of the government only after it dropped its support of same-sex civil unions ... Kevin Whitrick, 42, of Wellington, England, killed himself live while involved in an online video chatroom. This Is London reported that the divorced father of two “took his life after being goaded by dozens of chatroom users from across the world who initially believed he was play acting.”