Category Archives: Culture News

Obama Nominee: Childbirth Worse Than Abortion

President Barack Obama has come under fire for pro-abortion nominations for various positions and now he is drawing heat for nominating a pro-abortion Deputy Attorney General. His nominee David Ogden, is drawing criticism for authoring a Supreme Court brief dismissing negative effects from an abortion.

During the campaign, Obama came under heavy criticism for a comment saying he did not want his daughters punished with a pregnancy — intimating that abortion would be the preferred course of action.

Now, Obama has appointed a top Justice Department official who appears to feel the same way.

Millions of women deal with a multitude of problems following an abortion, ranging from medical issues to mental health consequences.

But, in legal papers filed during the consideration of a 1992 Supreme Court case, Ogen claimed women don’t deal with negative experiences resulting from an abortion.

Ogden wrote and filed an amicus brief on behalf of the American Psychological Association for the Supreme Court’s seminal decision in Casey v. Planned Parenthood.

In it, Ogden argued, “Abortion rarely causes or exacerbates psychological or emotional problems. When women do experience regret, depression, or guilt, such feelings are mild and diminish rapidly without adversely affecting general functioning.”

“The few women who do experience negative psychological responses after abortion appear to be those with preexisting emotional problems,” Ogden claimed.

“In sum, it is grossly misleading to tell a woman that abortion imposes possible detrimental psychological effects when the risks are negligible in most cases,” Ogden claimed.

[Continue…]

Culture News: Americans and the Supernatural

Gene Veith points out this recent poll:

A new Harris Poll gives some fascinating details about what Americans believe and don’t believe .

The numbers clearly favor the proverbial Big Man Upstairs: 80 percent say they believe in God; among those who attend church weekly, the number is 98 percent. Three-quarters believe in miracles, 73 percent believe in heaven, 71 percent say Jesus is the Son of God and 71 percent believe in angels, the survey found. Seven out of 10 say Jesus Christ rose from the dead and that the Bible is, all or in part, the “Word of God.”

More than two-thirds – 68 percent – believe in the “survival of the soul after death” and would describe themselves as religious. About 62 percent think that hell exists, 61 percent believe in the Virgin Birth and 59 percent say the devil exists.

In contrast, fewer than half – 47 percent – said they believe in Darwin’s theory of evolution; a third said they did not believe in it while 22 percent were not sure what they thought. A full 40 percent said they believe in creationism, though the question did not elaborate on exactly what that term meant.

Supernatural phenomena of other kinds attract Americans’ attention.

Overall, 44 percent of the respondents said they believe in ghosts, 36 percent say UFOs are real while 31 percent believe in both witches and astrology. About a quarter believe in reincarnation, or “that you were once another person,” the survey found.

Culture News: Muslim pleas for Obama to convert to Islam

Muslim plea to Obama: Return to ‘Islamic roots’
‘Allah will reward you for all who convert in your footsteps’

Posted: December 07, 2008
5:17 pm Eastern – By Aaron Klein

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JERUSALEM – Claiming Barack Obama has roots in the Islamic religion, an Egyptian cleric has broadcast a plea urging Obama to convert to Islam while warning if the U.S. doesn’t withdraw its troops from the Middle East and provide aid to Muslims, those “eager for [death]” will attack America.

“My message to [Obama] is threefold,” declares Egyptian cleric Hassan Abu Al-Ashbal, speaking last week on the state-funded Al Nas religious television network. “First, I invite him to convert to Islam. This is the call of the Prophet and of Allah. Oh, Obama – convert to Islam, and you will be saved.”

Video of Ashbal’s message can be seen here.

Continues Ashbal, “I hope that Allah will reward you twice: once for converting to Islam, and another reward for all those who will convert in your footsteps. If you want glory, you will find it in Islam. If you want honor, you will find it in Islam. In religions other than Islam there is utter humiliation, even if you are the president of the entire world.”

“You, Obama, are among those who have pledged before Allah – Allah who created you, sustained you, and brought you to this position – to be a Muslim who believes that Allah is the one God, especially since you have some kind of roots in Islam,” declares Ashbal. “Convert to Islam, and you will be saved. All glory and honor lie in following Allah and his messenger, Muhammad. Know that the true religion is the religion of Islam, and all other religions are fabricated religions, which are null and void – religions that were abrogated by the shari’a of Muhammad.”

The Egyptian cleric says if Obama refuses to convert to Islam, his administration should at the least “withdraw your huge armies and military bases from the lands of the Muslims.”

“Know that all your predecessors have ended up in the garbage bin of history, and that America’s black and bleak history in the land of the Muslims and the Arabs constitutes an evil omen for you, your predecessors, and your successors,” Ashbal states.

Ashbal further warns there will be no peace “as long as a single Muslim child lacks food, drink, medicine, or housing,” implying suicide bombers would strike American targets.

“If you refuse,” Ashbal declares, “and insist on remaining in Muslim lands, know that Allah still plants in [Muslims] obedience to Him, and that they are willing to wait for paradise, which is closer than their own shoelaces. Know, Obama, that in the lands of Islam, there are people who seek death, and are eager for it, even more than you and your people are eager for life – any kind of life, even a life of humiliation.”

[Continue Reading…]

Give your girlfriend a gift card for abortion!

Planned Parenthood has decided to offer gift cards for people to purchase that can be used towards funding all their services. Now all those boyfriends and parents who don’t want their girlfriends and daughters having babies can give them gift cards for Christmas to kill their unborn children! Imagine if Joseph gave this wonderful gift to Mary when he found out she was pregnant before they were married… what would the world be like then?!

And what will they think of next??? One week abortion vacations to help you forget that you just murdered your baby before “it” was born? Let’s all thank president-elect Obama for wanting to fund organizations like this with our tax money! We should all be soooo thankful this holiday season… or not.

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Planned Parenthood offering gift option
Published: Nov. 26, 2008 at 12:24 PM

INDIANAPOLIS, Nov. 26 (UPI) — Planned Parenthood in Indiana says it is selling gift certificates this holiday season for the first time in its history.

Chrystal Struben-Hall, Planned Parenthood in Indiana vice president, said the reason for the controversial sales move is due to current economic woes nationwide and how such problems may impact women’s healthcare needs, WISH-TV, Indianapolis, said Wednesday.

“People are making really tough decisions about putting gas in their car and food on their table, so we know that many women especially put healthcare at the bottom of their list to do,” she said.

The gift certificates, which are only available in $25 increments, can be used on a number of Planned Parenthood services, including abortions.

Struben-Hall told WISH-TV while the decision to place abortion services under the certificate umbrella would undoubtedly prompt criticism, Planned Parenthood did not want to restrict those seeking healthcare.

“They really are intended for preventative healthcare,” she said. “We decided not to put restrictions on the gift certificates so it’s for whatever people feel they need the services for most.”

Culture News: Michael Jackson converts to Islam

Report: Pop star Michael Jackson converts to Islam
By Haaretz Service – 23/11/2008

The American singer Michael Jackson has converted to Islam, the Sun newspaper reported over the weekend.

The 50-year-old pop star, who changed his name to Mikaeel, pledged allegiance to the Koran at a friend’s house in Los Angeles. An Imam was summoned from a nearby mosque to hold the shahada, the declaration of belief in Allah and Mohammed’s prophecy.

An associate said that Jackson chose his new name, which is the name of one of Allah’s angels, after rejecting another Muslim name, Mustafa, which means “the chosen one.”

Last week, he sold his multimillion California estate, Neverland Ranch, to cover his debts. He is also facing a lawsuit by a Bahrain prince, Sheikh Abdulla Bin Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa, who alleges he gave Jackson $2.2 million after he was acquitted of child molestation in 2007

Culture News: Gay anarchist ‘action’ hits church

Gay anarchist ‘action’ hits church
Gay anarchist group infiltrates, protests outside Eaton County church
Tuesday, November 11,2008
by Nathan Harris

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A gay anarchist group infiltrated the Mt. Hope Church in Eaton County Sunday morning, disrupting a service by pulling a fire alarm, dropping leaflets and yelling at parishioners, a pastor said.

The group, Bash Back, was simultaneously picketing outside the church, beating on buckets and using a megaphone to shout “Jesus was a homo” and other slogans as confused churchgoers continued to enter the building.

Members of Bash Back issued a press release Tuesday saying that it targeted Mt. Hope, a church that claims a flock of around 5,000, because it is “complicit in the repression of queers in Michigan and beyond.”

According to the Myspace.com page of the Lansing chapter, the network initially sprung up with the intent of increasing homosexual visibility within the anarchist community.

The “action” began early Sunday morning at the Northstar Center on Lathrop Street in Lansing where a group of around 20 protesters gathered. Pink bandanas, signs, a rainbow-colored “Bash Back!” flag and a pink, wooden cross were distributed among about half the group — the “outside team.” The rest — “inside team” — were dressed in conservative clothes and carried Bibles and stacks of fliers, intending to blend in to the church‘s 11:30 a.m. “contemporary-laid back service.”

City Pulse was alerted to the Bash Back event through a press release and had no prior knowledge of where the “action” would take place or what it would entail.

“We’re having an action today,” one of the organizers told this reporter at the Northstar Center. “You’re in for a treat.” [Continue Reading…]

Culture News: Bush Gives Control of Economy to European Union

Well, I cannot say that this surprises me completely… given that I know Bush has always been a big government fan. But I really didn’t want this day to come so quickly. We don’t need to ask whether Obama will govern from the left anymore… Bush has already done it for him by preparing him a fine dinner in the name of socialism. Read the story below, since it just unfolded yesterday during the G-20 summit:

Dick Morris’ Political Insider
Bush Hands Over Reins of U.S. Economy to EU
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 2:28 PM
By: Dick Morris & Eileen McGann

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The results of the G-20 economic summit amount to nothing less than the seamless integration of the United States into the European economy.

In one month of legislation and one diplomatic meeting, the United States has unilaterally abdicated all the gains for the concept of free markets won by the Reagan administration and surrendered, in total, to the Western European model of socialism, stagnation, and excessive government regulation.

Sovereignty is out the window. Without a vote, we are suddenly members of the European Union. Given the dismal record of those nations at creating jobs and sustaining growth, merging with the Europeans is like a partnership with death.

At the G-20 meeting, Bush agreed to subject the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and our other regulatory agencies to the supervision of a global entity that would critique its regulatory standards and demand changes if it felt they were necessary. Bush agreed to create a College of Supervisors.

According to The Washington Post, it would “examine the books of major financial institutions that operate across national borders so regulators could begin to have a more complete picture of banks’ operations.”

All kinds of political agendas are advancing under the cover of responding to the global financial crisis.

Where Franklin Roosevelt saved capitalism by regulating it, Bush, to say nothing of Obama, has given the government control over our major financial and insurance institutions. And it isn’t even our government!

The power has now been transferred to the international community, led by the socialists in the European Union.

Will Obama govern from the left? He doesn’t have to.

George W. Bush has done all the heavy lifting for him. It was under Bush that the government basically took over as the chief stockholder of our financial institutions and under Bush that we ceded our financial controls to the European Union.

In doing so, he has done nothing to preserve what differentiates the vibrant American economy from those dying economies in Europe.

Why have 80 percent of the jobs that have been created since 1980 in the industrialized world been created in the United States? How has America managed to retain its leading 24 percent share of global manufacturing even in the face of the Chinese surge?

How has the U.S. GDP risen so high that it essentially equals that of the European Union, whose population is 50 percent greater?

It has done so by an absence of stifling regulation, a liberation of capital to flow to innovative businesses, low taxes, and by a low level of unionization that has given business the flexibility to grow and prosper.

Europe, stagnated by taxation and regulation, has grown by a pittance while we have roared ahead. But now Bush — not Obama — Bush has given that all up and caved in to European socialists.

The Bush legacy? European socialism. Who needs enemies with friends like Bush?

[Read the whole story here]

Culture News: CA Court Urged to Review Gay Marriage Ban

California Court Urged to Review Gay Marriage Ban
Monday, November 17, 2008 11:25 PM
SAN FRANCISCO

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California’s Attorney General on Monday urged the state Supreme Court to consider whether a gay marriage ban passed by voters this month was legal.

The state’s top lawyer, former governor Jerry Brown, said the court should keep the ban in place while it considers the issue — and it should rule quickly.

California’s ban marked a major reversal for same-sex couples, who had won state Supreme Court approval to marry in the trend-setting state in May.

Only a handful of states, provinces and European countries recognize same-sex marriage and gay marriage advocates have demonstrated vocally around the country since the November 4 vote.

Gay marriage advocates have argued in court that the ban vote was improper, since it was passed in an amendment process requiring majority approval — the ban won 52 percent support.

A measure which takes away rights already granted to a minority needs to follow a more substantial process, called a revision, gay marriage advocates said.

Gay marriage opponents say the process was constitutional and the losers are tying to overturn the will of the people, but on Monday they agreed California’s highest court should hear the challenge to the measure, called Proposition 8.

“Other courts addressing similar revision/amendment arguments under closely analogous constitutional provisions have rejected them,” a ProtectMarriage.com statement said.

“Proposition 8 is simple, narrow, and targeted to a single issue.”

Brown said that allowing same-sex marriage during the review process would increase uncertainty and urged the court to act promptly.

“The public interest would be best served not by issuing a temporary stay (on the ban), but by an expedited resolution of the important issues raised,” he said in a review requested by the court, which is expected to decide as early as this week whether to hear the matter.

Culture News: ‘Gay’ bishop in private meetings with Obama

Barack Obama asked gay bishop Gene
Robinson what it was like to be ‘first’

Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent
Times Online, November 6, 2008

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Barack Obama sought out controversial gay bishop Gene Robinson not just once but three times during his campaign to become President of the United States, The Times can reveal.

Bishop Robinson, the 80-million strong Anglican Communion’s only openly gay bishop whose consecration in 2003 has left the Anglican Communion on the brink of schism, was sought out

by Mr Obama to discuss what it feels like to be “first”.

Bishop Robinson, who received death threats after his election as Bishop of New Hampshire and was advised by police to wear a bullet-proof vest at his consecration, also discussed with Mr Obama the risks incumbent upon being a high-profile leader in a country such as the US.

Bishop Robinson said: “At the end of the day you have to decide whether or not you are going to be paralyzed by threats and by violent possibilities or whether you just move on and do what you feel called to do despite the risks. [Continue…]

Culture News: Islamic Fundamentalists Cheer Obama Win

Indonesian Islamic fundamentalists cheer Obama win
Jakarta, 5 Nov. (AKI)

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Representatives of some of Indonesia’s fundamentalist Islamic groups on Wednesday celebrated United States President-elect Barack Obama’s sweeping victory in Tuesday’s presidential polls, claiming the win will be good for interracial relations and world peace.

Obama, the Democratic Party candidate, took 51.9 percent of votes, earning him 349 seats in the Electoral College, compared with 46.8 percent for Republican Party candidate John McCain (who won 162 seats in the Electoral College).

Many parts of the US recorded a record turnout in what observers have termed an historic election. Obama will be the first African American president of the United States.

The Democrats also registered a clear victory over their Republican opponents in voting for both houses of the US Congress. The party captured at least five Senate seats from their rivals, increasing their majority in the 100-seat chamber. With results still due from some states, the Democrats have already won the 218 seats needed for a majority in the 435-seat legislature, the House of Representatives.

Muhammad Nidzom Hidayatullah, general secretary of the Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI) East Java branch, told Adnkronos International that Obama’s election was the result of democracy and this showed that the US has begun to open up to different races.

“Everyone should cherish this because it is likely that it will lead to improvements to race relations all over the world,” he said.

The MUI is the country’s top state-endorsed Muslim organisation. It is considered rather conservative and out of sync with most of the country’s 200 million Muslims, who profess a liberal and moderate version of Islam.

Achmad Sobry Lubis, secretary general of the militant, anti-American Front Pambela Islam (FPI) said that he “praised Allah for Obama’s win.”

“This is what we all wanted and we are now very hopeful that he can restore peace in the world,” he told AKI. [Continue…]