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Doctors, Parents Support
Sex-Changing Treatment for Children
The Washington Times
A small but growing number of teens and even younger children who think they were born the wrong sex are getting support from parents and from doctors who give them sex-changing treatments, according to reports in the medical journal Pediatrics. It’s an issue that raises ethical questions, and some experts urge caution in treating children with puberty-blocking drugs and hormones. An 8-year-old second-grader in Los Angeles is a typical patient. Born a girl, the child announced at 18 months, “I a boy” and has stuck with that belief. The family was shocked but now refers to the child as a boy and is watching for the first signs of puberty to begin treatment, his mother said. Pediatricians need to know these kids exist and deserve treatment, said Dr. Norman Spack, author of one of three reports published Monday.
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Tens of Thousands Women Rally in Pakistan
The Express Tribune
In a country where women continue to be marginalised politically, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement put its best foot forward Sunday by organising a mammoth all-women public rally themed "Empowered Women, Strong Pakistan." MQM chief Altaf Hussain, in his hour-long address to women and children who had flocked to the Mazar-i-Quaid grounds for the rally, paid a verbose tribute to the women in attendance. "Through this historical public gathering, we have sent out a message to our political opponents that only our women are strong enough to compete with them," he said. Altaf claimed that no other political party had managed to organise such a huge event even when men and women were in attendance. The MQM, he said, has the honour of being the first party to include women in its political movement.
Catholic Charities Denies Support
of Obama's Contraceptive Policy
FOX News
A leading Catholic charity group wants the public to know it has not endorsed the Obama administration's latest policy requiring free contraceptive coverage for employees, despite "mischaracterizations in the media." Catholic Charities USA has occasionally been cited as a supporter of the new policy, after the administration announced last week it would no longer require religious organizations to directly offer contraceptive coverage to workers. That's almost certainly because the White House listed the group on an official blog that cited "praise from a wide range of individuals and organizations" for the policy change. "We have not endorsed the accommodation to the HHS mandate that was announced by the administration last Friday," the group said. Rather, the group said it shares the goals of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Catholic Bishop Warns Pelosi, Biden, Sebelius
Catholic News Agency
Politicians who consider themselves Catholic but collaborate in “the assault against their faith” should remember they will one day have to give account for their acts before God, Bishop Daniel Jenky of Peoria, Illinois said Feb 10. “There is a last judgment. There is a particular judgment. May they change their minds and may God have mercy on them,” he told CNA during his visit to Rome. When asked specifically about recent actions of Democratic Health and Human Services Secretary Sebelius Kathleen Sebelius and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Bishop Jenky replied “I am utterly scandalized...Determined secularists see the Catholic Church as the largest institutional block to a completely secularized society and not for the first, and probably not for the last time, we’re under assault,” he said.
UK Government Minister Slams ‘Militant Secularism’
Associated Press
Europe is threatened by a wave of "militant secularism" and religion should play a bigger role in public life, a British Cabinet minister said, the latest British politician to embrace a subject long viewed as a political minefield. Sayeeda Warsi said "Europe needs to become more confident in its Christianity...You cannot and should not extract these Christian foundations from the evolution of our nations any more than you can or should erase the spires from our landscapes," she said in the Daily Telegraph. "My fear today is that a militant secularization is taking hold of our societies," she added, accusing some atheists of having the same intolerant instincts as authoritarian regimes. Warsi, a Muslim who is a prominent member of the Conservative Party, is leading a delegation of British government ministers to the Vatican this week.
Letter Writers Break Iranian Taboo
Radio Free Europe
Journalist and filmmaker Mohammad Nourizad has repeatedly defied one of Iran's most sacred taboos. Nourizad, who used to be a columnist for the ultra-hardline "Kayhan" daily which is said to reflect the views of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has now challenged Khamenei in open letters in which he has accused him of mistreating Iranians and isolating the country. Nourizad has recently called on religious and political figures to join his efforts and challenge the Iranian leader in "polite," but frank and open letters. The call has been answered by a number of Iranians inside and outside the country, including influential Iranian religious scholar Abdolkarim Soroush, who warned Khamenei that his rule would be over soon. Some believe the unprecedented campaign could deal a blow to Khamenei's stature.
Saudis Use Interpol to Have Journalist
Arrested for Criticizing Muhammad
The Guardian
Interpol has been accused of abusing its powers after Saudi Arabia used the organisation's red notice system to get a journalist arrested in Malaysia for insulting the Prophet Muhammad. Police in Kuala Lumpur said Hamza Kashgari, 23, was detained at the airport "following a request made to us by Interpol" the international police cooperation agency, on behalf of the Saudi authorities. Kashgari, a newspaper columnist, fled Saudi Arabia after posting a tweet on the prophet's birthday that sparked more than 30,000 responses and several death threats. The posting read: "I have loved things about you and I have hated things about you and there is a lot I don't understand about you...I will not pray for you." More than 13,000 people joined a Facebook page titled "The Saudi People Demand the Execution of Hamza Kashgari."
Liberal Catholics Oppose
Obamacare Contraceptive Mandate
The Daily Caller
Without former Michigan Democratic Rep. Bart Stupak, President Barack Obama wouldn’t have gotten his healthcare overhaul in 2010 passed through Congress. But Stupak, a pro-life Catholic who voted for the healthcare reform after being promised that federal dollars wouldn’t fund abortions, now isn’t happy with Obama. Appearing Wednesday night on FOX News, Stupak made clear he opposes the Obama administration’s insistence that religious-affiliated organizations are not exempted from the law’s requirement that health insurance plans cover contraceptives. “I’m disappointed that the administration would put forth such a rule,” Stupak told host Greta Van Susteren. The law does allow churches that oppose contraception for religious reasons to be exempt from the law.
UN: Genital Mutilation Ending in Africa
United Press International
Nearly 2,000 African communities abandoned female genital mutilation last year, prompting calls for a global push to end the practice, a UN report indicated. The report issued by the UN Population Fund and the UN Children's Fund said the number of communities renouncing the practice has reached 8,000 in the last few years, the United Nations said Monday in a release. "These encouraging findings show that social norms and cultural practices are changing, and communities are uniting to protect the rights of girls and women," said UN Population Fund Executive Director Babatunde Osotimehin. The report was released Monday, which also is the International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation. Female genital mutilation refers to the practice of cutting away part or all of a girl's external genitalia.
Nobel Peace Prize Jury Under
Investigation for Abusing Award Criteria
AP/USA Today
Nobel Peace Prize officials were facing a formal inquiry over accusations they have drifted away from the prize's original selection criteria by choosing such winners as President Obama, as the nomination deadline for the 2012 awards closed Wednesday. The investigation comes after persistent complaints by a Norwegian peace researcher that the original purpose of the prize was to diminish the role of military power in international relations. If the Stockholm County Administrative Board, which supervises foundations in Sweden's capital, finds that prize founder Alfred Nobel's will is not being honored, it has the authority to suspend award decisions going back three years -- though that would be unlikely and unprecedented, said Mikael Wiman, a legal expert working for the county.
DeMint: People 'Dependent on
Government' Will Soon Have Majority
The Hill
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) warned Monday that the majority of US voters would soon be dependent on the government. Speaking Monday on KFYO news radio in Lubbock, Texas, DeMint said Democrats have more time to be engaged in politics because Republican voters are too busy “raising kids” and “starting businesses” to keep up. “We’re at a point in America where about half of the people are getting something from government and the other half are paying for it, and we’re on track to have 60 percent getting something from government and 40 percent paying for it,” DeMint said. “What that means is people who vote are not going to vote for less government, and if we’re not careful we’ll end up like Greece, where even in the middle of a bankruptcy the people are still marching in the streets for more benefits.”
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