World Family Policy Center Newsletter
* News
relative to protecting the family worldwide *
Volume 4 Issue 29 - August 1, 2005
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Quote of the Day: “Tolerance
once meant an attitude of patience and
forbearance toward those who failed to live up to
social ideals; the
new Tolerance means denying the existence of such
ideals.”
—Dr.
Bryce Christensen, The Family in America, June 2005
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Today’s Contents:
A. Featured Articles:
1. Australia Family Centres to Stem Divorce
2.
Frist Backs More Ebryonic Stem Cell Research
3. NZ
and Australia in 'man drought'
4.
Numbers Abusing Prescription Drugs Swiftly Rising in U.S.
5.
Hollywood Insider Works to Redeem Industry
6.
Abortion pill warnings 'insufficient'
7.
Complaints bring down 'gay' billboard
8. How to keep those
kids in class? Pay them.
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FEATURED ARTICLES
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1. Australia Family Centres to Stem
Divorce
By Phillip Hudson
Canberra
July 31, 2005
The Federal Government will today unveil the first
phase of its push to stem a growing tide of divorce and family breakdown, when
it announces plans to open four family relationship centres in Victoria.
The centres are to be set up in Sunshine, Ringwood,
Frankston and Mildura. The locations of 15 centres nationwide will be announced
today, and they will be the first of 65 to be opened in the next three years,
at a cost of $189 million.
Attorney-General Philip Ruddock will pledge to
"change the culture of family breakdown" by using the centres to
shift the focus from high-cost litigation to mediation.
The centres will offer free or low-cost help to broker
disputes between separated parents and resolve marriage problems. They will
also provide pre-marriage education and tips to improve relationships. Mr
Ruddock will soon call for tenders from community, religious and private
organisations to run the centres for the Government in a similar way to the Job
Network.
To read entire article:
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/family-centres-to-stem-divorce/2005/07/30/1122144059147.html?oneclick=true
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2. Frist Backs More Ebryonic Stem Cell
Research
FoxNews.com
Friday, July 29, 2005
WASHINGTON — Breaking with President Bush, Senate
Majority Leader Bill Frist (search) on Friday threw his support behind
legislation to expand federal finding for human embryonic stem cell research so
long as it stays "within ethical bounds."
"It's not just a matter of faith, it's a matter
of science," Frist, R-Tenn., said on the floor of the Senate.
Frist's announcement of support for the House-passed
legislation immediately dented his support among Christian conservatives but
won lavish praise from former first lady Nancy Reagan, whose husband, the late
former President Ronald Reagan, had Alzheimer's disease for years before his
death.
"Embryonic stem cell research (search) has the
potential to alleviate so much suffering," Nancy Reagan said.
"Surely, by working together we can harness its life-giving
potential."
At the White House, press secretary Scott McClellan
said Frist had given Bush advance notice of his announcement.
"The president and Senator Frist had a good
discussion last night. They were discussing legislative priorities when Senator
Frist mentioned his intention regarding stem cells," McClellan said.
"The president told the leader, 'You have to go with your
conscience.'"
McClellan said Bush still stands by his threat to veto
a pending bill that would liberalize federal support for stem cell research.
"There is a principle involved here from the president's standpoint when
it comes to issues of life," McClellan said.
To read entire article:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,164029,00.html
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3. NZ and Australia in 'man drought'
By Greg Ansley
New Zealand Herald
July 27, 2005
CANBERRA - Is the great Kiwi OE stealing our men? With
far more 30-something women than men, this is not a good time to be a single
woman looking for a mate in the Antipodes.
Nor is the news good for governments on either side of
the Tasman, increasingly chewing their nails as their economies outstrip the
supply of skills needed to feed them.
And our young, single men continue to vanish at a
gathering pace, heading overseas and never returning.
According to Australian demographer Bernard Salt,
that's already resulted in an increasingly matriarchal New Zealand culture and
will continue to change everything from households to consumption patterns.
It will also get worse as larger, richer, skill-hungry
countries in the Northern Hemisphere target bright young men trained and
educated at the expense of New Zealand and Australian taxpayers.
In a new study of transtasman populations, Mr Salt, a
partner in KPMG's risk advisory services practice and one of Australia's
best-known demographers, warns of a growing "man drought".
To read entire article:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?ObjectID=10337789
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4. Numbers Abusing Prescription Drugs
Swiftly Rising in U.S.
By Mary Rettig
July 27, 2005
(AgapePress) - A new study from the National Center on
Addiction and Substance Abuse reports that teenagers across the U.S. are
abusing prescription drugs in increasing numbers. A spokesman for the Christian
Medical & Dental Associations says there are several possible explanations
for the growth of this phenomenon.
Psychiatrist Dr. Robert Rogan of the CMDA believes
more teens may be abusing prescription drugs because these pharmaceuticals may
offer the illusion of greater safety. He says teens may see prescription drugs
as safer alternatives to street drugs since the latter usually come in a clean
bottle from a medicine cabinet or from a friend.
Also, Rogan observes, prescription drugs are extremely
accessible to kids, whether they get them from their friends, from a neighbor
down the street, or from their parents' own medicine cabinet. And as alarming
as the rise in abuse of these prescribed medications can be, he adds, the
illegitimate ways some people acquire them can be even more shocking.
To read entire article:
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/7/272005a.asp
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5. Hollywood Insider Works to Redeem Industry
By Rebecca Grace, AFA Journal
July 25, 2005
(AgapePress) - What do Jeff Bridges, Michael Douglas,
Michael Reagan and Ted Baehr all have in common? These men were born heirs to
the Hollywood hall of fame. All sons of movie stars, each man is staking a
claim for himself somewhere on or between Pennsylvania Avenue and Sunset
Boulevard.
For Ted Baehr, chairman of The Christian Film &
Television Commission and publisher of MovieGuide, this meant making the most
of his family legacy by becoming an award-winning producer, writer, director,
media personality and scholar. He is the son of the late actor known as Bob “Tex”
Allen.
Today Hollywood is his home and the entertainment
industry is his passion. This passion is rooted in something much deeper than
the royalty of the red carpet. His work is grounded in his personal
relationship with Jesus Christ who transformed his life years ago and revealed
to him Hollywood’s need of redemption.
“The knowledge of Christ opens your eyes consistently
to the truth that will set you free from the confusions of our age,” Baehr
explained. “At the time when I came to Christ, I said there has to be something
done to redeem the film industry.”
And Baehr was just the man to do it.
After being challenged by a friend to read the Bible
in an attempt to disprove it, Baehr “came to the realization that this was a
true story.” Four months later, in 1975, he asked Christ into his life and
immediately went to seminary. Then in 1979, Baehr was elected president of the
Episcopal Radio & Television Foundation and began to envision the creation
of what now exists as The Christian Film & Television Commission.
Today, the Commission functions “to change and
transform the values of the media to create a Biblical worldview,” Baehr
explained. . . .
Baehr’s efforts to redeem the entertainment industry
are tri-fold in that the report helps the studios become more effective in
maximizing their profits, encourages the production of movies aimed at the
Christian audience, and, hopefully, provides Christians with more
family-friendly entertainment.
To read entire article:
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/7/252005d.asp
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6. Abortion pill warnings 'insufficient'
Pro-life groups point to deaths of 2 more women
WorldNetDaily.com
July 29, 2005
The Food and Drug Administration's decision to
strengthen language on the "morning after" abortion drug is
'insufficient' after reports that two more women have died, a pro-life advocacy
group maintains.
Five women in the United States and Canada have died
from septic shock after taking RU-486, or mifepristone, points out Concerned
Women for America.
"The FDA allows the death toll to mount and
confesses to being ‘baffled' by the deaths," said Wendy Wright, CWA's
senior policy director.
Wright says the work of Brown University professor
Ralph P. Miech holds a possible answer to why RU-486 causes harm to women as
well as their babies.
To read entire article:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45492
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7. Complaints bring down 'gay' billboard
After WND story, Clear Channel responds to 'community
concerns'
July 29, 2005
WorldNetDaily.com
After complaints sparked by a WorldNetDaily article,
media giant Clear Channel removed a billboard in Cambridge, Mass., that
advertised a 'gay' website.
A Clear Channel spokesman told the Boston Globe it
planned yesterday to take down an ad featuring two bare-chested men, wrapped in
each other's arms and the American flag.
The image was scheduled to come down today, but the
complaints motivated the company to remove it one day early, said Drew Hoffman,
president of Phoenix-based Clear Channel Outdoor.
The billboard space was purchased by the San
Francisco-based dating and news website Gay.com.
''We're very sensitive to the community
concerns," Hoffman said from his Stoneham, Mass., office.
The complaint calls received Wednesday were the first
since the billboard went up in early April, he said.
Gay.com spokesman Spencer Moore said his company was
not upset the ad came down early.
The activist group that drew attention to the
billboard, Article 8 Alliance, is working to overturn same-sex marriage in Massachusetts.
Director Brian Camenker told the Globe, ''You have two
men embracing, wrapped in the American flag, advertising a porno website. How
can you get more offensive than that?"
To read entire article:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45496
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8. How
to keep those kids in class? Pay them.
By Sara B. Miller
The Christian
Science Monitor
July 29, 2005
BOSTON – When
students return to Chelsea High School next month, they'll get more than an
impeccable attendance record if they make it to class each day: They'll get
cash.
Under a new plan, a
student who misses not a single day per quarter will receive $25 in an account
- redeemable upon graduation. In doing so, the school joins a number of
districts throughout the country turning to incentives to boost test scores,
GPAs, and student turnout.
Some schools, like
Chelsea High, are focused solely on attendance. Officials there maintain that
they can't carry out their mission if a student is not in class absorbing the
material. Others are doling out gift certificates, coupons, and checks if
students earn straight A's or land on the honor roll.
Supporters say such
reward systems make good sense. Humans, they say, respond to enticements. A
student is no different from a football player working to clinch a championship
or a budding broker putting in extra hours for a year-end bonus.
But critics call it
bribery and say a capitalist mind-set is invading an institution built around
the notion that knowledge itself is the quest. What's more, not all kids can
control their attendance, or their achievement, and rewarding only a select few
could further undermine the efforts of the rest, they say.
The move is driven
in large part by the new emphasis on accountability: Under the No Child Left
Behind Act and various state laws also focused on results, increased scrutiny
has put pressure on schools to perform.
To read entire
article:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0729/p01s03-ussc.html
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Note: The preceding
article excerpts are highlights of current events and
do not necessarily
represent the views of the World Family Policy Center
or Brigham Young
University.
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Newsletter created
and distributed by:
World Family Policy
Center
J. Reuben Clark Law
School
Brigham Young
University
Managing
Director: Richard Wilkins
Executive
Director: A. Scott Loveless
Newsletter Editors:
Joy S. Lundberg and Gary B. Lundberg
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