Thursday, October 31, 2013

Digital Utopia: The Education Reform Racket


Decades ago the longshoreman-turned-philosopher Eric Hoffer asserted, "Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket." Nowhere does this observation apply more forcefully than in American public education. From the second half of the 19th century until perhaps the 1950s, reformers such as Horace Mann helped to improve U.S. public education. Alas, decades of progress have come to a standstill. Nevertheless, sensing the public craving for progress, thousands of would-be reformers happily peddle iffy but costly nostrums. Tiny exceptions aside, much of "reforming education" is now a lavishly funded racket.

The poster child for this profligate fantasy is distributing: gratis fancy new computers to millions of indifferent, often intellectually challenged students. According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, Americans schools in 2013 are expected to spend some $9.7 billion on technological fixes. It does sound alluring -- older Americans surely remember writing term papers on typewriters (or by now antiquated cursive) and trekking to libraries to look things up.

Unfortunately, the personal computer is not a miracle drug and nowhere is the boondoggle more obvious than in Detroit.  (more...)

Co-parental wisdom from Gender Based Violence Prevention TDSB





Enjoy an all-you-can-swallow smorgasbord here:

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

UN FREEDOM OF RELIGION OFFICIAL RECOMMENDS CONTROVERSIAL SEX ED

Only a couple of weeks ago I reported in the Friday Fax how the sexual left wants nations to undermine parental authority in order to treat children as autonomous holders of sexual rights. It looks as though they have made inroads with the UN’s religious freedom expert.

No one ever expects the UN Special Rapporteur on Religion or Belief Mr. Heiner Bielefeldt to say anything controversial. His tone is usually conciliatory, and to his credit, he puts a very strong emphasis on the freedom to exercise religion. But this year his report to the General Assembly on the subject of freedom of religion and belief and equality between men and women did raise some eyebrows. Specifically, on his treatment of the right of parents to educate their children as they see fit.  (more...)

Taxpayers funding 'lesbian haunted house' in Toronto


TORONTO - This haunted house warns of “severed” male genitalia while encouraging women to flash theirs.

Billed as art, you are paying for it.

“Don’t trip over the severed penises,” says one sign inside the guided tour of Toronto’s own “lesbian haunted house.”

There is also a mock “ball-busting room.”

Happy Halloween.

Creepy.

It’s an example of your tax dollars at work.

Allyson Mitchell, the artist behind “A Lesbian Feminist Haunted House,” has received thousands in government grants.  (more...)

Catholic guidelines for electing school trustees

Catholic Trustees Are Called to Defend Catholic Education
In Toronto, the Municipal elections will he held on October 27, 2014. The time to begin preparing for them is now. The Catholic Bishops of Alberta and the Northwest Territories recently released a Pastoral Letter on the importance of Catholic education and the responsibility that Catholic school trustees have. Theirs is the ministry of governance as well as the promotion and defence of the faith. We welcome and support this document. Parishes should make every effort to inform the faithful about this Letter. It's titled, "Reflecting on the Ministry of Catholic School Trustee." We do encourage visitors who care about Catholic education to read the  Letter.

The Bishops have actually outlined the characteristics that voters ought to expect and look for in candidates who want to run for the position. The Bishops instructed the pastors of all the parishes in the Archdiocese of Edmonton to read their Letter to the faithful at all masses on the weekend of September 28-29. This was done in an effort to guide the faithful in casting a more informed vote. We hope that the Archdiocese of Toronto will do the same.  (more...)

Tackling the Problem of Human Trafficking of Runaway and Foster Youth

In my former life, I was a criminal court judge for 22 years and spent 8 years as a prosecutor in Texas. Child abusers are the worst criminals in our society. But too often the justice system ignores the victim. So Congressman Jim Costa (D-CA) and I founded the Victims' Rights Caucus. The VRC is currently focused on combating human trafficking.

This topic is of particular interest to me because my hometown of Houston, Texas is unfortunately a hub for this despicable crime. Many are not aware that modern day slavery occurs right here in the United States. The problem is very real, especially amongst vulnerable youth in the child welfare system. This is Anna's story which Shared Hope International shared with me.  (more...)

Lawmakers demand stop to parents giving away adopted kids on Internet

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

CHICAGO -- U.S. lawmakers called Tuesday for federal action to prevent parents from giving unwanted adopted children to strangers met on the Internet, and the Illinois attorney general urged Facebook and Yahoo to police online groups where children may be advertised.

The demands come as nations whose orphans have been adopted by Americans contend that the U.S. government isn't doing enough to stop the practice, known as "private re-homing."

A joint Reuters and NBC News investigation last month revealed an underground market where desperate parents seek new families for children they adopted but no longer want. The parents connect through online forums on Yahoo and Facebook, privately arranging custody transfers that can bypass government oversight and sometimes violate the law.

Anna Barnes was adopted from Russia as a child and brought to the
US then subsequently adopted by Lisa and Gary Barnes.
No government agencies track the practice, but the news service identified eight Internet groups in which members discussed, facilitated or engaged in re-homing. In a single Yahoo group that the company has since taken down, a child was offered to strangers on average once a week during a five-year period. At least 70 percent of those children were listed as having been adopted from overseas.  (more...)

The dark side of commercial surrogacy in Thailand



IT IS a place where surrogacy is illegal, yet women are lured to Thailand in droves for a lucrative industry with the promise of cash.

Women literally have their wombs up for rent, a special investigation has found.
Journalist Patrick Abboud travelled to Thailand where he uncovered a booming black market baby industry and untold horrors and risks associated with international commercial surrogacy.  (more...)

An update on the BBC's sexual Krakatoa

Former BBC Radio 1 DJ Chris Denning
This was forwarded from British sources by SamJohnson, our British correspondent:

More mud sticks to the BBC...  
The BBC report this morning (29/10/13) that a BBC Chauffeur has been convicted. (Appears on the front page of the Sun today and is in all newspapers).
www.dailymail.co.uk/.../Former-BBC-driver-dead-stand-trial-sex-crimes-uncovered-Savile-inquiry.html 
But only last week whilst listening on the early morning listening BBC Radio4 radio an announcer stating that the chauffeur'- CHRIS SMITH was 'unrelated' to the Saville inquiry. (omitting the fact he was also employed by the BBC). I was led to think maybe Saville had employed his own Chauffeur. Not so it seems. 
The BBC is on the defensive (hence David Aronovich stating that it is all a big witchhunt) he of the former BBC, a confirmed Marxist homosexual (and now working for The Times).
I have been looking at the offences that are 'unrelated' to the Saville inquiry and some are very disturbing -  including the the BBC Radio 1 controller himself.  (more...)


More of the quickening trainwreck...

Jeffrey Baldwin family’s social worker could hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil

Margarita Quintana, former social worker with the Catholic Children’s Aid Society of Toronto
It isn’t in evidence, but Margarita Quintana must have had above her desk a copy of the Japanese three wise monkeys legend: Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil.

God knows, it was how the former social worker with the Catholic Children’s Aid Society of Toronto went about her job.

Ms. Quintana, who was the key worker involved in the dreadful case of Jeffrey Baldwin, retired from the CCAS in 2011.

Heaven forbid the death of one of her vulnerable charges — the five-year-old starved to death in 2002 while in the care of the grandmother with whom Ms. Quintana was clearly besotted and whom she had merrily endorsed as a loving caregiver for Jeffrey and three siblings — should have precluded her having a full career.

That grandmother, Elva Bottineau, and her common-law husband, Norman Kidman, were convicted of second-degree murder in Jeffrey’s death and of forcible confinement (for their regular locking up of the little boy and one of his sisters in a cesspool of their own waste) in 2006.

Given life sentences, they remain in prison, though Bottineau, to merciful little result thus far, has announced her interest in appearing, either as a witness or as a party with standing, at the Ontario coroner’s inquest probing Jeffrey’s death.

Though Tuesday was the third day Ms. Quintana was on the witness stand at the inquest, it was her first in cross-examination.

Her conduct as it emerged under the careful grilling of Freya Kristjanson, lawyer for the little boy’s surviving siblings, was disgraceful.  (more...)

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Stopping the Foster Care to Child Trafficking Pipeline

The crisis of child trafficking and exploitation in the U.S. is finally capturing our attention. But a critical part of the story has not been told. Most of the children who are being bought and sold for sex in our nation are foster care children. In the states that are tracking these children the following, devastating numbers reveal that:

  • In 2013, 60 percent of the child sex trafficking victims recovered as part of a FBI nationwide raid from over 70 cities were children from foster care or group homes.
  • In 2012, Connecticut reported 88 child victims of sex trafficking. Eighty-six were child welfare involved, and most reported abuse while in foster care or residential placement.
  • In 2012, Los Angeles County, California reported that of the 72 commercially sexually exploited girls in their Succeed Through Achievement and Resilience (STAR) Court Program, 56 were child-welfare involved.
  • In 2007, New York City identified 2,250 child victims of trafficking. Seventy-five percent of those experienced some contact with the child welfare system, mostly in the context of abuse and neglect proceedings.

Our very broken foster care system has become a supply chain to traffickers.  (more...)

“STOP PROMOTING MORAL CORRUPTION IN OUR COUNTRY” – GEORGIAN INTELLIGENTSIA WRITES OPEN LETTER TO EU SPECIAL ADVISER ON HUMAN RIGHTS

A traditional wedding in Georgia
The leading newspaper of Georgia (not the US State, but the Republic situated between the Black Sea and the Caucasus) has published an open letter signed by 36 of the country’s leading intellectuals, criticising the EU’s Special Adviser on Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg in reaction to a controversial report he wrote on the country’s human rights record.

It is not that there were no serious human rights abuses in Georgia, like in many countries emerging from Soviet rule. But those abuses do not seem to interest Mr. Hammarberg, who passes over them in silence. Instead, the single issue of what he and his political masters in Brussels believe to be a “human rights policy” is the promotion of sexual immorality under the guise of concepts such as “diversity”, tolerance”, or “fighting against homophobia”.

Some passages from that letter:  (more...)

Lawsuit Proceeds for Canada’s Lost Generation of Stolen Babies

The children who were taken from their families during the Sixties Scoop
are known as a hidden generation among those fighting for justice.
A class-action lawsuit against the Canadian government on behalf of tens of thousands of indigenous children who were seized and moved to white families in an adoption wave known as the “Sixties Scoop” can now proceed after being approved by an Ontario judge.

The decision was handed down after several previous lawsuits in Canada failed, and as attention in the U.S. focused on the Baby Veronica custody case.

“[The] harm done was profound and included lasting psychological and emotional damage,” said Justice Edward Belobaba in rejecting the government's arguments and summarizing his rationale for certifying the case, which affects at least 16,000 children in Ontario alone.  (more...)

Queer monsters, lesbian land, the history of hipsters: The 9 most bizarre university courses being offered this semester

Have you ever wondered what our future generations are being taught within the classrooms of our prestigious institutions of higher learning?

Well, you're in luck. The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) has compiled a list of the most ridiculous college courses offered on campuses nationwide and it's not pretty.

ACTA’s “What Will They Learn” research reveals courses are focusing on “queer” horror monsters, hipster history and extraterrestrial intelligence. But hey, at least underwater basket weaving is not on the list.

Here are some of the most ridiculous courses being offered.  (more...)

The Ivy League as a Mirror of the World


Last week, Prof. Esolen reflected on the biases and pretentious political opportunism exhibited by many American elites—particularly those who have brought a sense of exceptional privilege and arrogance to the levers of centralized government. I heartily agree with the crux of that argument, and with the deserved criticism directed at certain renowned institutions of higher learning, including Princeton University. Still, the satirical element of that discussion ought never be misunderstood. Having read much else of Prof. Esolen’s admirable prose, and invoking the freedom of a fellow Princetonian, I would like to add my own postscript to that article—an addendum with which (hopefully) the original author will largely agree.

Let me begin thus. History provides no shortage of horrid examples, wherein small cliques of ruling elites have stunned and oppressed the disenfranchised masses—have taken the whole of a nation’s traditions and beliefs, and attempted to turn them inside-out and upside-down. Tyrants and oligarchs have sometimes made men slaves, and bewitched them into the pursuit of profitless endeavors, even unto death.  The Protestant Reformation in England was in some ways a manifestation of exactly this type of elitist cabal—“a tyranny of literates over illiterates” in G.K. Chesterton’s simplistic, but not altogether misleading, phrase.  (more...)

Catholic board to continue partnership with Free the Children: says it does not ‘endorse’ abortion

OTTAWA, October 28, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Ottawa Catholic School Board (OCSB) will continue its partnership with Free The Children in spite of a group of parents who urged the board last month to cut ties with the charity due to its and its founders’ support for contraception and abortion.

The OCSB said it decided to continue the partnership after receiving the following written communication from Marc Kielburger, co-founder of Free the Children:

“Free The Children does not partner with development organizations or other international agencies which are in direct conflict with Catholic teaching. Furthermore, Free The Children does not endorse, advocate, counsel, fund or perform abortions in any way in any of our project countries.”

In a letter to Andy Pocrnic, representative of Parents As First Educators, who spearheaded the charge to have the OCSB distance itself from Free the Children, Mark D. Mullan, OCSB Chairperson, thanked Pocrnic for “bringing your concerns to the Board.”

“I trust that the above information will help clarify our involvement with Free The Children,” he stated in the letter obtained by LifeSiteNews.com.

Pocrnic called the board’s response “very discouraging”.

Pocrnic presented evidence to the board on September 24 that the Keilburger brothers’ charity is not in line with Catholic moral teaching, thus making it an inappropriate partner for a Catholic institution.  (more...)

Pedophilia Now Classified As A Sexual Orientation?


People can classify themselves as heterosexual, homosexual, asexual, metrosexual. There are endless sexual orientations under the sun, and now, pedophilia can be added to the list.

In the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM V), the American Psychological Association (APA) drew a very distinct line between pedophilia and pedophilic disorder. Pedophilia refers to a sexual orientation or profession of sexual preference devoid of consummation, whereas pedophilic disorder is defined as a compulsion and is used in reference to individuals who act on their sexuality.

APA's decision has given rise to numerous pedophilia-advocacy groups, the chief of them being B4U-ACT, a non-profit grassroots organization based in Maryland. Created in 2003 primarily as a means for “minor-attracted persons” to be open about their sexual preferences in a supportive atmosphere, B4U-ACT is now widening the scope of their organization.  (more...)

The Global Fight for Children’s Rights: Europe


On September 14, 2013, I had the privilege of attending the “Summer University” of the Manif pour Tous. The latter is the French grassroots movement that sprang up last year as a counterrevolution against President Hollande’s same-sex marriage law. While I had been involved in the Manif since January, it was at the September conference that I saw the larger picture of what is happening in Europe. This year I also traveled to Brussels, Strasbourg, and London for the first time, on a mission to forge a transnational alliance for children’s rights.

Those who have defended marriage until now may feel beleaguered. They may be irritated with the press’s misconstruing of Pope Francis’s multiple comments about compassion toward homosexuals. Nevertheless, Europe ought not to be cause for pessimism. On the contrary, Europe has an active underground building Defense of the Family 2.0.  (more...)

When the Sex Police Come to Town


Imagine a scenario in which you've just been told that you won't be allowed to teach the course you had been hired for because you sent an email to a fellow graduate student propositioning her. What gives? Or you have been charged with creating a "chilly climate"—a vague new form of sexual harassment—because you had your students read and discuss an article about false rape claims that offended some of the women students.

Welcome to the brave new world of feminist social regulation and its sometimes extreme consequences. In the case of math teacher Michael Bullock, an off-the-cuff remark to a female student led to his suspension from the classroom and ultimate suicide.

When many of us worry about threats to freedom of expression, our primary concern is likely to be Canada's so-called Human Rights Tribunals, those quasi-judicial bodies that determine which interest- groups in our society are deserving of special protection from the frank discussion, no-holds-barred criticism, and even harsh ridicule that are a necessary part of any free society.

But assaults on freedom come from another source, one that disproportionately affects heterosexual men and is therefore widely ignored: the sexual harassment regulations of universities and workplaces, designed to protect women from unwanted or offensive sexual attention (including speech). Such regulations have transformed many workplaces into minefields of disciplinary action and public shaming.  (more...)

Teaching with Your Eyes Closed


Teachers, perhaps more than anyone else, should recognize the intractable fact of inequality

It would be difficult to find a more staunchly left-leaning profession than teaching, at both the public-school and university levels. Although individual instructors may hold conservative views, teachers as a  group are firmly progressivist, committed to "social improvement" through state intervention. Leftist commitment has led schools to embrace a variety of ameliorative causes, most recently, in Canada, a gay-oriented anti-bullying campaign that is at times stridently anti-Christian (though also, ironically enough, pro-Muslim) and a zealous environmentalist philosophy that teaches children to condemn oil and gas production.

Perhaps the most notable and pervasive form of teacher progressivism is egalitarianism, the commitment not only to equality of opportunity but also to equality of outcome as a social goal. This is a form of utopian thinking that radically minimizes or outright denies  differences in human ability and intelligence, ascribing to social factors such as class privilege and "ableism" all significant variations in student performance.  (more...)

Monday, October 28, 2013

Former BBC driver who chauffeured Savile found dead

A former BBC driver was found dead yesterday as he was due to stand trial for sex crimes uncovered as part of the Jimmy Savile inquiry.

David Smith, 67, chauffeur to Savile and other celebrities during the 1980s is believed to have committed suicide on the eve of his court appearance.

Police were called to Smith’s address after receiving a court summons when he failed to appear for trial. When officers attended his home in Lewisham, south-east London, they found him dead.

Last night a spokesman said: ‘Police attended a private address in Effingham Road, Lewisham on Monday 28 October as a man had failed to appear at Southwark Crown Court today.

‘At approximately 2.20pm officers entered the address and found the body of a man. A forensic medical examiner attended and pronounced the man dead at the scene. Next of kin are being informed.

‘Whilst officers believe they know the identity of the deceased, they await confirmation of formal identification.’  (more...)

Hockey coach accused of sex crimes granted bail


A former minor hockey coach facing more than 30 sex-related charges involving children has been granted bail on strict conditions.

Kelly Jones, 57, of Ottawa, appeared in court Monday afternoon. He has been charged with sexual offences involving 11 alleged victims.

A justice of the peace ruled Jones must report in person every Friday and must not have any communication with any of the alleged victims.

Jones is also not allowed to be anywhere with minors under the age of 16 and has surrendered his passport to police.  (more...)


The Federal Government is Attacking the Catholic Church


Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of The Thomas More Law Center, discusses Catholic Priests being banned from saying Mass during the government shutdown and the ObamaCare/HHS Mandate.
Richard Thompson was the prosecuting Attorney in the trial of Jack Kevorkian.
{THE THOMAS MORE LAW CENTER}
http://www.thomasmore.org/

Notre Dame Celebrates "National Coming Out Day"


Michael Voris is joined by Editor-in-Chief of the Irish Rover Newspaper, Michael Bradley, to discuss "National Coming Out Day" which was recognized and celebrated by Notre Dame's Official Student Organization for LGBTQ, Prism-ND. (link below)
http://prism.nd.edu/

Sexual Radicalism: Imperial Project, Global Goliath


Speaking before the United Nations earlier this month—bragging about American leadership in a global movement to normalize homosexuality, same-sex marriage, artificial reproductive technology, and cross-dressing—John Kerry revealed the deep pockets and loaded guns that the world’s only superpower can count on to bring such ideas to nations that have religious or cultural objections:

The Global Equality Fund is one way in which like-minded countries can address this injustice and show their support for LGBT persons. Since the United States launched the Fund in 2011, it has allocated over $7 million in more than 50 countries worldwide. And the investments have helped to challenge the discriminatory laws that undermine human rights and bolster—and to bolster civil society organizations that defend those rights. 
With support from a range of like-minded governments, including The Netherlands, Norway, France, Germany, Iceland, Finland, Denmark, and private sector partners as well, we are expanding the scope of the programs that this Fund supports. Earlier this month, President Obama and the Prime Minister of Sweden Fredrik Reinfeldt announced an additional $12 million for this effort. And today, I’m happy to announce another $1 million contribution from The Netherlands, and we’re grateful to you for that.  (more...)

What Schools Can Do to Help Boys Succeed

Being a boy can be a serious liability in today’s classroom. As a group, boys are noisy, rowdy and hard to manage. Many are messy, disorganized and won’t sit still. Young male rambunctiousness, according to a recent study, leads teachers to underestimate their intellectual and academic abilities. “Girl behavior is the gold standard in schools,” says psychologist Michael Thompson. “Boys are treated like defective girls.”

These “defective girls” are not faring well academically. Compared with girls, boys earn lower grades, win fewer honors and are less likely to go to college. One education expert has quipped that, if current trends continue, the last male will graduate from college in 2068. In today’s knowledge-based economy, success in the classroom has never been more crucial to a young person’s life prospects. Women are adapting; men are not.

Some may say, “Too bad for the boys.” The ability to regulate one’s impulses, sit still and pay attention are building blocks of success in school and in life. As one critic told me, the classroom is no more rigged against boys than workplaces are rigged against lazy or unfocused workers. That is absurd: unproductive workers are adults — not 5- and 6-year-old children who depend on us to learn how to become adults. If boys are restive and unfocused, we must look for ways to help them do better.  (more...)

Tough Sentencing for Child Predators


The sexual revolution has placed our children in danger.   According to the Badgeley Report, a federal government study of cross-Canada child sex abuse,  “At some time during their lives, about one in two females and one in three males have been victims of one or more unwanted sexual acts,”.  Child abuse is now at epidemic proportions partly due to the eradication of serious penalties for child sex predators.  Finally, Canada has a government with a resolve to pass tough laws with serious penalties to protect children.  This may be the most important legal development of our lifetime when you consider the damage caused by sex abuse to almost every family in the nation.

Until the 1980's, the Criminal Code of Canada had the death penalty on the books for child rapists. Sentencing laws were gutted and the minimum sentence for raping a child went down to two weeks in prison.  Since then, many serious offenders have been given a light slap on the wrist, only to quickly re-offend raping more and more children.

Hockey coach Graham James received a 3.5 year sentence after admitting to 350 sexual assaults against the two players.  He was released and pardoned only to be charged again with raping three other players hundreds of times. He received just two years for those crimes.  A similar case involving a coach in the United States resulted in a 30 - 60 year sentence.  (more...)

Why teachers unions want sex offenders in your child's classroom


This past week the most prominent teachers unions in America made it painfully obvious: they are on the side of the sex offender, rapist, and murderer who has been convicted.

They are not now (and pretty much never have been) on the side of your child.

They claim to represent the interests of teachers. Yet I am hard pressed to find an average teacher who feels like the unions have done pretty much anything for them. The average teacher just feels the pinch when the union bosses take the dues from their paychecks and threaten any who dare to "get out of line."

Yet nary a teacher could be found this week who could take any pride from the latest actions of groups like the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers.

Last week -- in atypical overwhelming bi-partisan unity -- the House of Representatives passed a measure (H.R. 2083) that would allow schools to require teachers, coaches, and janitors to be subject to criminal background checks. The measure would allow the school to deny employment to any who had been convicted (not suspected, indicted, or accused -- but convicted) of past felonies. The measure would also allow the school to take a pass on any previously convicted sex-offender. The measure will now head to the Senate.

If the Senate cares about the welfare of children they will pass the measure forthwith.

The problem is -- they may not care about the kids.  (more...)

Penn State to pay $60 million to 26 men over Sandusky abuse claims

Jerry Sandusky, center, leaves the Centre County Courthouse
after his sentencing in his child sex abuse case
Penn State has announced that it is paying $59.7 million to 26 young men to settle claims of child sexual abuse at the hands of former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.

The university said it had concluded negotiations that have lasted about a year.

The school said 23 deals are fully signed and three are agreements in principle. The school faces six other claims, and the university says it believes some do not have merit while others may produce settlements.  (more...)

ROCKED BY SCANDAL, MILITARY ACADEMY MUST BE READY FOR WAR

Carlsbad’s Army and Navy Academy is very likely the least likely boarding school in the country where a sexual predator can prey upon boys.

Now, that is.

Penn State had its world rocked to its foundations when respected football coach Jerry Sandusky was exposed as a serial pedophile. Consciousness of child abuse spiked in Happy Valley. It’s a safer place. Eyes are wiser, more watchful.

Army Navy (as I grew up calling the boarding school) is now confronting the real possibility that it sheltered a pedophile, repeatedly failing to heed warning signals that a molester was in their midst.  (more...)

Fairfield University Undermines Church’s Sexuality Teachings

At a recent panel discussion for students entitled “The Pelvis and the Pulpit”—which included faculty from the Jesuit-run Fairfield University faculty—claimed to answer the question, “Is the Church wrong about sex?” Unfortunately, their answer seemed to be yes, according to reports from The Fairfield Mirror.

About 75 students and community members attended the panel discussion that touched on gay marriage and the Church’s teaching on premarital sex.

Dr. David Gudelunas, chair of the communications department at Fairfield, spoke about his views of the Church’s teaching on sex. “We talk about sex in the context of the Church, not in order to reflect on our own sexuality,” he said. “But rather to police and regulate the behavior of others.”  (more...)

Jimmy Savile 'was given key position at Broadmoor and even personally selected hospital's bosses'

Serial abuser Jimmy Savile had considerable influence at Broadmoor, former staff have claimed
Disgraced entertainer Jimmy Savile was given a key position running Broadmoor and personally selected managers, it was claimed last night.

A former manager claimed that politicians and civil servants thought he was the ‘bee’s knees’ and appointed him to a task force to run the hospital in 1988.

The Top Of The Pops presenter has since been unmasked as one of Britain’s most prolific sex offenders, but was ‘given the keys’ to Broadmoor.

Savile had had a long association with the hospital, having been a volunteer worker there in the 1970s and 1980s with the unofficial title ‘honorary entertainments officer’.

He had his own set of keys and living quarters on site and is accused of sexually abusing a number of patients.

It is now claimed that he had a far bigger role than previously thought and was able to choose managers to run the hospital.

He is also said to have been put in charge of a committee which examined the welfare of patients, even though the new management were given no say in his appointment.  (more...)

Do anti-bullying programs lead to more bullying?


October is Bullying Prevention Awareness Month. As if we needed to be more aware of it. The US government a website, a Facebook page and an app to help parents combat the scourge of bullying. “Bullying of any student by another student, for any reason, cannot be tolerated in our schools,” the Department of Education has told teachers in a letter reminding them of their legal obligations.

No wonder schools are rolling out anti-bullying programs.

But do they actually work?

According to a widely-publicised study in the Journal of Criminology, perhaps not. Researchers at University of Texas at Arlington and Michigan State University found that students at schools with anti-bullying programs are more likely to be victims than students at schools without them.  (more...)

Intolerant Tolerance -- Archbishop Leonard's Visit to Catholic Religious Instruction Refused


(Brussels) Laizisismus al la Belge . Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard of Brussels-Mechelen has been conducting pastoral visits since the beginning in many deaneries and parishes in Walloon Brabant. In Baisy-Thy parents on behalf of state neutrality obligation refused him to visit the Catholic religious instruction at the school. The pastoral visits are an occasion, in addition to the Holy Mass, are meetings in the parish church with the priests of the place, the Catholic organizations and groups, and the faithful. The Archbishop also visits the Catholic schools and kindergartens, but also the Catholic religious instruction taking place in public schools.

It was not possible to visit at the School of Baisy-Thy, the visit to religious instruction planned for the past 22 October at the state school. Some parents protested against this. The visit of a representative of religion in a public school violates the principle of neutrality of the state, they argued.

Finally, the Archbishop decided not to go to the school  (more...)


Further evidence of the European meltdown:

Sunday, October 27, 2013

FEMINISM TOO FAR


Canadian writer Gavin McInnes argues that modern feminism has made women miserable.

Also:

Help the Effort to Restore Catholic Identity at Georgetown University


William Peter Blatty, a devoted Georgetown alumnus best known as the author of The Exorcist book and screenplay, is leading the charge—along with other concerned alumni—to restore faithful Catholic Identity at Georgetown University and put an end to years of persistent scandal at this once hallowed institution.

Their cannon law appeal has now reached Rome for the Vatican’s response on Georgetown’s standing as a Catholic institution.

The petition is asking for the university to either live up to its Catholic mission or to relinquish its claim to be Catholic.

Show the Vatican that YOU support Blatty’s and his fellow alumni’s effort to restore Catholic identity at Georgetown by clicking the button below.  (more...)

The urgent need to detoxify the Catholic brand from the wickedness of immoral priests and the incompetence of weak bishops

A reader of Protect the Pope has posted a comment that gives a short and very insightful assessment of the pontificates of Blessed John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI and the challenges Pope Francis is addressing in his Gospel of Mercy:

Augustine writes:

‘I am sure that the Holy Spirit continues to guide the Church – and that history will judge that the Church has been served by outstanding Popes over the last 150 years. 
Pope John Paul II’s legacy is breath taking: the new Code of Canon Law, the new Catechism and a series of encyclicals that provides an authoritative hermeneutic for the interpretation of the Documents of the Second Vatican Council. In addition he preached the Gospel to more people than anyone else in history.  (more...)

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Toronto agent accused of sexually assaulting young models

Norwayne Anderson
A Toronto modelling agent has been charged with sexually assaulting young models and police believe that there may be more victims.

Norwayne Anderson, 43, faces five charges of sexual assault and two charges of sexual exploitation.

The sexual exploitation accusations are “because of the age of the alleged victims at the time of the offence and the position of power that he held,” said lead investigator Detective Constable Stacey Jennings. “He’s a talent modelling agent. They were models – young models.”

Investigators – who announced the charges on Thursday -- allege Mr. Anderson used his position to sexually abuse at least two teenage boys and one young man.

Police believe there may be other victims and asked anyone with information to contact investigators, an appeal that came as the city’s modelling community is gathered as part of Toronto Fashion Week.

“It is important to get the information out there as we do believe that there are other victims,” said Constable Wendy Drummond, a spokeswoman for the Toronto Police Service.  (more...)

Sages on Stages Desperately Needed


It was the first premise of all schools throughout history: students would be educated by people who were themselves already educated.  A biology teacher had to be an expert in biology; a history teacher must know history to teach history.  Who would question the wisdom of these statements?

This country's Education Establishment now preaches a contrary view.  Students must not be told that 2+3=5; this is not "authentic learning."  Essentially, teachers should stop teaching.  The theory, generally called Constructivism or Discovery, requires that students (typically working in groups) construct knowledge for themselves.

This approach gained traction in the 1980s and is now one of the central dogmas of progressive or modern education.  Classrooms, we are told, should be not "teacher-centered," but "student-centered."

Traditionally, students were entitled to sages.  But now the official slogan is: "We don't need sages on stages.  We want guides at their sides."  (more...)

Friday, October 25, 2013

MLA not resigning despite prostitution charge

FORT MCMURRAY-WOOD BUFFALO MLA MIKE ALLEN
FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. – Mike Allen will continue his political career, despite being caught up in a prostitution sting, and will return to the Alberta Legislature on Monday as an Independent MLA.

Allen, a rookie MLA for Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo, left the Progressive Conservative party after he was arrested in a prostitution sting during a government trip to St. Paul, Minn., on July 15. He has been charged with soliciting prostitution, a gross misdemeanor in Minnesota.

"I will devote this time to serving my constituents and their unique needs to the best of my ability. I expect to be held to a higher standard as a result of my previous action," Allen stated.  (more...)

Catholic Higher Education and Studies in Advanced Relativism

Campus of Georgetown University in Washington
Visiting a Catholic campus this past summer, I passed a class meeting outdoors on that sunny afternoon. A student was presenting to her classmates on the topic of “leadership.” She was confidently expressing to them how she exemplified leadership in her life: “When I speak, I make sure I speak in a way so that people listen. Even if you don’t know what you’re talking about, just speak like you do know and loud enough so that people will believe you.” Was this young woman knowingly spouting examples from Relativism 101? So convincing was she that I fell for her ruse: I believed everything she said in those few seconds I was within earshot.

For those involved in Catholic higher education as students, administrators, faculty and parents this is a unique academic year, one in which the persuasion of the Catholic vision is met with increasing blank stares and uncomprehending minds. What is a Catholic university today? Is the use of the word “Catholic” a mere marketing tool, a brand to attract prospective students from certain economic backgrounds?  (more...)

To Jesus, Through Mary, In the Spirit of St. Joseph: The Wheat, the Rose, and the Lily

 St. Louis de Montfort, the Holy Family, St. Maximilian Kolbe
So very few persons, pious Catholic Christians included, realize the tremendous role of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the sanctification of souls. Being spiritual mother of the Mystical Body, she, along with the Holy Spirit, has the tasks of forming Christ in souls, and nourishing her children with the milk of divine grace. St. Louis de Montfort and St. Maximillian Kolbe, two of the most outstanding Marian saints, along with a sig­nificant number of other great Marian saints and popes, have consistently taught that the most appropriate response on our part to Mary’s role as spiritual mother is filial entrustment, or “total consecration” to her. This perfect devotion of total con­secration to Jesus through Mary is truly the most sanctifying of all devotions. It is the purpose of this essay to study the essence of this devotion. We will begin with an exploration of the image of Mary as the Mediatrix of all grace, the firm theological foundation for Marian consecration. Next, we will study St. Louis de Montfort’s explanation of the nature and motives of the devotion. Finally, we will turn our attention to St. Joseph’s role in this devotion, focusing first on his spousal union with Mary as the ultimate model of total consecration; secondly, on his role as “spiritual father” and protector of the mystical body; and, finally, on the universality of Joseph as a model of holiness.  (more...)

Roma Face Persecution Across Europe In New Baby Stealing Panic

A girl is seen at the door of a caravan at an encampment of Roma families in Triel-sur-Seine, near Paris
It had been a long 72 hours for the Dublin Roma family whose seven year-old child was removed from them by the authorities, a series of events triggered after police read a Facebook message which called into question her parentage because she had blonde hair and blue eyes.  But at about 5:30pm last night, after a ruling from a secret family court a few miles and a world away in the centre of Dublin, the mood in the hardscrabble suburb of Tallaght began to lighten.

The adults were tight-lipped, but the kids gave it away. The DNA tests had revealed that yes, the girl was indeed the biological daughter of the Roma parents who claimed her. The children started running up and down the street, waving balloons, calling out the little girl’s name in celebration.

Shortly afterwards, a 21-year-old sister (neither the girl nor her family can be identified under Irish family law) dressed in a traditional flowing Roma dress, topped off by a less traditional fluffy pink dressing gown with polka dots, came out of the house and confirmed to journalists that the seven-year-old was coming home.

Holding back tears, the woman said that she was happy that her sister was coming home but talked in broken English about the agonizing trauma of the past three days. The child, she said, had not eaten for three days. The whole family had been very worried and upset. They had been crying every day. They hoped this would never happen to another family.  (more...)

Foster Care and Sex Trafficking Survivor Testifies on Hill


This afternoon on the Hill a 24-year-old college student and sex trafficking survivor,  Withelma “T” Ortiz Walker Pettigrew, shared her experiences growing up in the U.S., where she was used for money in the foster care system and ultimately forced into sex trafficking.

“I spent for the most part, the first 18 years of my life in the foster care system. Seven of those years I was a child being sexually trafficked on the streets, internet, strip clubs, massage parlors and even in the back of express papers,” Ortiz Walker Pettigrew said in her written testimony before the House Committee on Ways and Means’s Subcommittee on Human Resources.

Now, she has dedicated herself to sharing her story in hopes of helping young people and changing the system she grew up in for the better.  (more...)

Retired Chatham-Kent school teacher Jim Lekavy faces additional sex-related charges

Chatham-Kent police have charged a retired elementary school teacher with additional historical sex-related offences, after more alleged victims have come forward.

Jim Lekavy, 67, of Chatham was charged earlier this month with four counts of indecent assault on a male, three counts of sexual assault and one count of buggery, involving a school-aged boy, dating back to the early 1980’s.

Police said Lekavy was arrested again on Thursday and charged with the additional offences of 11 counts of gross indecency, three counts of sexual assault, three counts of indecent assault on a male, two counts of sexual exploitation, one count of uttering threats dating back between 1973 and 1991.  (more...)

Government of Canada Releases Findings of Internal Review of Federal Involvement in the Ernest Fenwick MacIntosh Case

Ernest Fenwick MacIntosh
HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA -- (Marketwired) -- 10/25/13 -- Today, the Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, the Honourable Steven Blaney, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, and the Honourable Chris Alexander, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, announced that the Government of Canada has released the findings of the internal review of federal involvement in the Ernest Fenwick MacIntosh case.

"First and foremost, our Government wishes to apologize and express our sincerest regret to the victims, for the mistakes made by federal employees who played a role in this tragic case, and the institutional failures that allowed this travesty to happen," said Minister MacKay. "Canadians expect and deserve better. It is my hope that the findings of this review will reassure Canadians that the shortcomings in federal processes have been addressed, and help restore confidence in our justice system."  (more...)

Georgetown Law Class Required to Work for Pro-Abortion Lobby


A class at Georgetown University’s law school scheduled for next semester will have students working with a pro-abortion rights advocacy organization, taught by that organization’s senior counsel, Kelli Garcia.  Garcia, a radical pro-abortion rights lawyer, wrote the poem titled, “Planned Parenthood, Why Do I Love Thee?” in 2011.  The poem was part of a larger effort by Garcia and her group to halt the potential defunding of Planned Parenthood, which is the nation’s largest abortion provider.

The Georgetown law class, titled Regulatory Advocacy: Women and the Affordable Care Act, will have students working with the National Women's Law Center (NWLC), “to develop projects that will assist in the organization's regulatory advocacy efforts.” Students will also have the opportunity to participate in strategy meetings and conference calls between NWLC and partnering organizations.

Patrick Reilly, president of The Cardinal Newman Society, views this latest scandal as the unfortunate culmination of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Reilly stated, “We have long warned about Georgetown scandals that undermine the Church's strong defense of innocent life.  But here students are being required to work for a pro-abortion lobby, making America's oldest Catholic university an active agent of the culture of death.  If allowed to continue, this puts Georgetown in direct opposition to the Church.”  (more...)

Now thats a politician who gets it


We are a non-partisan organization but appreciate those who support our efforts.

Vic Fedeli is the former mayor of North Bay and now the finance critic for the PC’s in Ontario. When he was mayor he worked for $1 a year and donated his mayor’s salary to charity.

Here is a series of articles that Vic wrote that highlight the serious state of Ontario’s finances.  (more...)

“All too often it is the so-called liberal priests…who personify clericalism”


Last week, I posted Fr. Michael Duffy’s response to “Lead Us Not Into Clericalism,”by Fr. Dan Horan in the current issue of America.
Now, another reaction comes from Fr. John Trigilio, a familiar face to regular EWTN viewers, but also the president of the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy.   He offers a different perspective on the issue, which he posted on his Facebook page, and which I reprint here with his permission:
Father Horan, OFM, is correct that clericalism is a vice, which ought to be repudiated by every pope, bishop, priest, deacon and consecrated religious. Problem is that it is unfair, unjust and inaccurate to portray clericalism as merely an indulgence of conservatives or traditionalists. I have been ordained twenty-five years and spent twelve years in seminary beforehand. Even went to high school seminary (hence, I am called a ‘lifer’). As a pastor of two parishes for more than eleven years and a parochial vicar for fourteen years in several assignments as a diocesan priest (secular clergy) and as president of a national association of 500+ priests and deacons (Confraternity of Catholic Clergy), my experience has been that all too often it is the so-called liberal and progressive priests who behave and act in such a way as to personify clericalism.  (more...)