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Archive for February, 2009
can confirms that Pelosi will have audience with the Pope
.- On Monday at noon in Rome, the Vatican’s Press Office confirmed to CNA that Pope Benedict will be receiving U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi in an audience at noon on Wednesday.
Pelosi, a self-proclaimed “ardent Catholic” who has sparked significant criticism from fellow Catholics in the U.S. for her pro-abortion views, arrived in Italy on Sunday for an eight-day official visit.
After landing at the USAF base in Aviano, she and the American delegation met with the mayor Florence, Leonardo Domenici at the “Palazzo Vecchio” (The Old Palace.)
On Monday, Pelosi began a series of meetings with Italian political authorities at the Quirinale Palace, where she was received by the President of the Italian State, Giorgio Napolitano. She then moved to the nearby Italian Congress for a meeting with the President of the Government, Gianfranco Fini.
Later in the evening, a reception honoring the U.S. delegation will take place at the Library of Montecitorio Palace where Pelosi will deliver the address: “Strong Allies for a Secure Future.”
On Tuesday, the Speaker of the House will be received by the President of the Council of Ministers, Silvio Berlusconi, at Villa Madama. In the afternoon Pelosi will hold meetings with the Minister of Defense, Ignazio La Russa and the Minister of International Affairs, Franco Frattini.
Although numerous reports have been published either confirming or denying that Pope Benedict would receive Pelosi in an audience, the Holy See’s Press Office confirmed to CNA on Monday at noon Rome time, that the Holy Father will receive the U.S. representative on Wednesday at midday.
The press office made clear that the Pope will meet with Pelosi in his capacity as a head of state since the Speaker of the House is the third in line to lead the U.S., should the president and vice president be unable to do so.
The idea of providing Pelosi with a photo-op has disturbed a significant number of U.S. Catholics and pro-life activists.
In August 2008, Pelosi attempted to offer a justification for why Catholics could support abortion and remain in good standing with the Church by giving a convoluted explanation based on misquotes of Sts. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas on “Meet the Press.”
Pelosi’s pretention at reinterpreting Catholic moral and theological teaching elicited strong criticism from more than 20 U.S. cardinals, archbishops and bishops.
More recently, Nancy Pelosi was strongly criticized for defending the insertion of millions in spending on contraceptives into the stimulus bill. Pelosi, who says she is an “ardent Catholic,” told ABC’s This Week that the money spent on family planning services would “reduce costs.”
Over this past weekend pro-life activists and bloggers launched verbal salvos against the Vatican because they believe that the Holy See plans to present Nancy Pelosi with an award.
This is definitely not true, the Vatican’s press office told CNA. The idea that Pelosi would be awarded by the Vatican most likely is the result of activists confusing the visit to the Vatican with the Speaker of the House being awarded by a group of Italian legislators for being the first Italian American to reach such a high rank in the U.S. government.
TOKYO, Feb. 17 — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday the Obama administration will make “a concerted effort” to restore the image of the United States in the Islamic world and will seek to “enlist the help of Muslims around the world against the extremists.”
Clinton, who on Wednesday will travel to Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country, told students at Tokyo University that “this is one of the central security challenges we face — as to how to better communicate in a way that gets through the rhetoric and through the demagogy and is heard by people who can make judgments about what we stand for and who we truly are.”
Clinton’s remarks came in response to a question about the “prejudice” in the United States against Muslims because of terrorism, a term she rejected forcefully, pointing to the history of Christians. “I am a Christian,” she said. “Through the centuries we have had many people who have done terrible things in the name of Christianity. They have perverted the religion.”
Clinton’s visit to Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital, appears to be part of the administration’s effort to reach out to Muslims during this week-long trip to Asia. President Obama spent part of his childhood in Jakarta, and expectations are high in Indonesia that he will also visit this year.
The town hall gathering came at the end of a busy first day of diplomacy for Clinton, who crisscrossed Japan’s capital in an effort to mix diplomacy and personal outreach to the Japanese people.
Clinton visited a shrine early in the morning, then signed an agreement moving 8,000 U.S. troops from Japan to Guam; she had tea with Empress Michiko in the imperial residence and took questions from students for an hour before having dinner with Prime Minister Taro Aso. She then followed that with a meeting with Aso’s political nemesis, Ichiro Ozawa, the leader of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan.
She extended an invitation to Aso to meet next week with President Obama, a coup for an embattled politician whose approval ratings sank this week to the single digits. But during the news conference announcing the invitation, Aso’s finance minister — and an Aso confidant — resigned over reports that he appeared drunk at a major economic meeting last weekend.
Clinton also held a private half-hour meeting with two families of Japanese citizens who were abducted by North Korean agents decades ago, an emotional subject in Japan. The Bush administration last year removed North Korea from the list of the state sponsors of terrorism, despite protests from the Japanese government, in a bid to win Pyongyang’s cooperation in the impasse over its nuclear program.
Clinton met with Sakie and Shigeru Yokota, parents of Megumi Yokota, who was abducted when she was 13, and Shigeo Iizuka, elder brother of Yaeko Taguchi, who was abducted at age 22. According to Teruaki Masumoto, a brother of an abductee and advocate for abductee families, the Yokotas showed photos of Megumi and Clinton asked what happened to Taguchi’s two children, who were left behind when their mother was abducted.
Masumoto said that the three Japanese came out of the meeting feeling that Clinton listened eagerly and showed interest in the issue. But he said Clinton did not make clear statements in response to the family members’ request to put North Korea back on the terror list.
The Yokotas and Iizuka gave Clinton two English-language copies of Sakie Yokota’s book, which details her struggle as a parent of an abductee — one for her and one for Obama — and a letter urging her to “seriously consider re-listing North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism.”
North Korea abducted at least 16 Japanese, starting in 1977, apparently to obtain Japanese teachers. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has conceded the abductions took place and returned five Japanese, but the North Korean government has refused to provide details on others, who it says have died.
At the town hall meeting, Clinton also said that the administration was reviewing policy on Burma, suggesting it was considering a major shift that would ease some of the strict sanctions the United States has imposed on the ruling junta there that has long kept under house arrest Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Prize-winning democracy activist. “We’re looking at what steps could influence the current Burmese government, and we’re looking at ways we could help the Burmese people,” she said.
Special correspondent Akiko Yamamoto contributed to this report.
CommentsAngelina Jolie Uses Her Fame for Human Rights Good
Angelina Jolie has gotten some press coverage lately because octuplets’ mom Nadya Suleman’s supposedly resembles her.
The Oscar nominated star of “Changeling” was reportedly irritated by several letters sent to her from Suleman.
It could be the actress was bugged by reports that the controversial single mother and newfound celebutante had plastic surgery so she could look like Brad Pitt’s squeeze.
What hasn’t been in the headlines is what Jolie accomplished recently in her role as a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador.
She was in Thailand touring a refugee camp and used her celebrity power to draw attention to Thai officials, who are allegedly violating the human rights of a little known oppressed people, the Rohingya.
The Rohingya are a Muslim minority who are fleeing from nearby Myanmar’s military dictatorship where members of the group are not recognized as citizens.
Jolie did not directly criticize Thailand’s actions but expressed optimism that Thai authorities would respect the rights of the beleaguered refugees.
Allegations of human rights abuses by Thailand against the Rohingya include the towing of more than 1,000 innocent people out to the far reaches of the ocean and leaving them to die on boats with no engines.
Hundreds purportedly died but miraculously some managed to drift to the shores of India and Indonesia weeks after being left for dead.
Hopefully, as Jolie continues in her efforts to promote awareness about the worldwide treatment of the helpless and voiceless, more folks will desire to imitate her actions even more than they want to emulate her physical appear
It’s only appropriate that Pelosi should take Kennedy’s place. When she became Speaker in January 2006, she chose Rev. Robert Drinan, S.J., as the celebrant of the Mass held in her honor. The late Father Drinan, a longtime professor of law at Georgetown University, had been the architect of the arguments now used as cover by Catholic politicians who wish to dodge the abortion issue. This effort began in 1964, when Father Drinan was among a small group of theologians who visited Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, to school the Kennedy clan on how to finesse the abortion issue in politics.
Pelosi’s 100 percent voting record on abortion, according to NARAL, is commonplace among Catholic Democrats in the House, but Pelosi is, perhaps, the most vocal among them. For example, millions of dollars for contraceptives were cut from the first version of the stimulus package; 0nly Pelosi, rather incoherently, defended the funding.
In August, she made such outrageous comments about the Church on Meet the Press that she single-handedly endangered President Barack Obama’s outreach to Catholic voters. When, to support her pro-abortion stance on when life begins, she asserted, “Over the centuries, the doctors of the Church have not been able to make that definition,” Pelosi elicited a rebuke not only from her ordinary, Archbishop George Niederauer of San Francisco, but also from dozens of other bishops.
Thus, the news that Pelosi will meet with Benedict spread like wildfire through the Catholic blogs last Thursday. Many Catholics, disgusted with her rabid pro-abortion politics, were outraged that the pope would agree to meet with her at all. They forget that the Holy Father is a head of state and regularly meets with political leaders from every nation, regardless of their positions on issues important to the Church.
It’s a good idea for Benedict to meet with Pelosi, because one can never underestimate the impact of being in his presence. It’s also worth remembering that, if the protocol of past meetings remains the same, the Holy Father will make formal remarks in front of the media before any private meeting. Benedict will very likely make comments criticizing the Obama administration for ending the Mexico City Policy and warning the new Congress against passing the Freedom of Choice Act.
When Pope John Paul II, meeting President George W. Bush for the first time in July 2001, made mild remarks critical of his position on embryonic stem cell research, the media talked about nothing else. It will be interesting to compare the media reaction to anything Benedict may say about Pelosi and Obama.
Just as important as Pelosi’s meeting with the Holy Father is all that will surround her visit to the Vatican. Will she attend Mass? Will she receive communion? How many from the media will be present? How widely will the photos and videos of her reception be spread around the world? How many of her fellow pro-abortion Catholics will be at her side?
You can be sure that Pelosi will choreograph her visit to get maximum exposure of her Catholic identity — down to a photograph of her entering St. Peter’s Basilica in a veil, no doubt.
Pelosi, of course, should be denied communion, but it is unlikely to happen. Any priest who celebrates Mass with Pelosi present will be carefully chosen beforehand in order to avoid embarrassment to the Speaker and her entourage. But I wouldn’t rule out some sort of protest from orthodox Catholic students and seminarians studying in Rome.
Given the publicity Pelosi will receive during this trip, Archbishop Niederauer should issue another public statement reiterating his criticism of her position on abortion — and that, furthermore, if she presents herself for communion, he will deny it to her. If he were to remain silent, he would experience the embarrassment of having other U.S. bishops responding to Pelosi, in his place, on behalf of the Church.
Rev. Tom Euteneuer has already taken a bold stand, expressing his belief that Pelosi should be publicly and formally excommunicated. Unfortunately, his public statement makes it less likely to happen: Bishops don’t want to appear to do what they are told by the head of Human Life International, or any other Catholic apostolate for that matter. But our good friend at HLI is right on the mark.
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Deal W. Hudson is the director of InsideCatholic.com and the author of Onward, Christian Soldiers: The Growing Political Power of Catholics and Evangelicals in the United States (Simon and Schuster).
Man gets seven life terms for torturing his children
Mansa Musa Muhummed, who beat, tortured and starved his children for decades, was sentenced to seven life terms in prison today by a judge in Murrieta who said the man’s “reign of terror” against his family merited the harsh sentence.
“Mr. Muhummed showed no remorse and accepted no responsibility for his twisted behavior, and the court is sending the strongest message possible,” Riverside County Superior Court Judge F. Paul Dickerson III said.
Some of Muhummed’s 19 children urged the court to show no mercy to their father because he showed no mercy to them. “I’m very afraid of him, please don’t let him ever get out of jail,” said Sharon Boddie, who was locked up in a dark garage and starved by her father. When police found her, she was 18 and weighed 48 pounds. “I still have nightmares about him,” she told the judge. “Parents are supposed to protect their children, not abuse them.”
During the trial, family members testified that Muhummed locked them in their home, hanged them from the ceiling and beat them, made them eat their own feces and vomit, and routinely hit them with boat oars, hoses and electric cords. He also had three wives.
One of his wives finally slipped a letter detailing the abuse to the mailman, who notified child protective services. The police raided the family’s rural Aguanga home in 1999 and freed the family. The case took 10 years to get to trial because of legal maneuvers by Muhummed.
He denied any torture today, saying his children would someday regret accusing him. “I never tortured them, I don’t know where that came from,” he said. “I still cheer for them and love them even if they hate me.”
Most of his family left the room when he spoke but returned for the sentencing.
He could be eligible for parole in 65 years, his attorney said.
– David Kelly
Family Contact
According to the Russian national paper Novye Izvestiya (Sept. 10), a Russian province organized a “Family Contact” day in an effort to boost flagging birth rates. The special day for encouraging procreation was dreamt up by the governor of the Ulyanovsk province, Sergei Morozov, who will award prizes ranging from a television to a Russian-made all-terrain vehicle for giving birth on Russia’s Constitution Day on June 12. “The purpose is to improve the demographic situation and su
naked dining fad is proving popular in New York. With the motto, “no hot soup,” about 50 diners meet regularly for meals where the dress code is literally non-existent. John Ordover, who rents city restaurants for the monthly dinner parties, assured the New York Post (July 21): “We’re not out to shock or put on a public spectacle. We want only to do things that other people do in the way that we are most comfortable doing them. That, for us, is without clothes.” Diners are served by regular restaurant staff — forced by city laws to keep their clothes on. “If you work in a restaurant in New York City,” added Ordover, “the chances are you’ve seen a lot more shocking things than a room full of naked diners.” Naked dining is believed by some to be an outgrowth of naked yoga, popular in the Big Apple for some years now.
Rock-Solid Marriage
A Swedish woman is celebrating her 29th anniversary of being married to
the Berlin Wall. Eija-Riitta Berliner-Mauer, 54, whose surname means
“Berlin Wall” in German, wed the concrete structure in 1979, reported
London’s Daily Telegraph
(May 27). Berliner-Mauer claimed she fell in love with the wall when
she first saw it on TV as a child. She began collecting “his” pictures
and saving up for visits. On her sixth trip in 1979 they tied the knot
before a handful of guests. According to Berliner-Mauer, “The Great
Wall of China is attractive, but he’s too thick — my husband is
sexier.” While the rest of mankind rejoiced when the Berlin Wall was
largely torn down in 1989, its “wife” was horrified: “What they did was
awful. They mutilated my husband.”
Orchard Park police are investigating a particularly gruesome killing, the beheading of a woman, after her husband — an influential member of the local Muslim community — reported her death to police Thursday.
Police identified the victim as Aasiya Z. Hassan, 37. Detectives have charged her husband, Muzzammil Hassan, 44, with second-degree murder.
“He came to the police station at 6:20 p.m. [Thursday] and told us that she was dead,” Orchard Park Police Chief Andrew Benz said late this morning.
Muzzammil Hassan told police that his wife was at his business, Bridges TV, on Thorn Avenue in the village. Officers went to that location and discovered her body.
Muzzammil Hassan is the founder and chief executive officer of Bridges TV, which he launched in 2004, amid hopes that it would help portray Muslims in a more positive light.
The killing apparently occurred some time late Thursday afternoon. Detectives still are looking for the murder weapon.
“Obviously, this is the worst form of domestic violence possible,” Erie County District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III said today.
Authorities say Aasiya Hassan recently had filed for divorce from her husband.
“She had an order of protection that had him out of the home as of Friday the 6th [of February],” Benz said.
Muzzammil Hassan was arraigned before Village Justice Deborah Chimes and sent to the Erie County Holding Center.
Baby-faced boy Alfie Patten is father at 13
The baby father … Alfie Patten with little Maisie
BOY dad Alfie Patten yesterday admitted he does not know how much nappies cost — but said: “I think it’s a lot.”
Baby-faced Alfie, who is 13 but looks more like eight, became a father four days ago when his girlfriend Chantelle Steadman gave birth to 7lb 3oz Maisie Roxanne.
He told how he and Chantelle, 15, decided against an abortion after discovering she was pregnant.
The shy lad, whose voice has not yet broken, said: “I thought it would be good to have a baby.
“I didn’t think about how we would afford it. I don’t really get pocket money. My dad sometimes gives me £10.”
Little family … Alfie, Chantelle and baby Maisie
Lee Thompson
Alfie, who is just 4ft tall, added: “When my mum found out, I thought I was going to get in trouble. We wanted to have the baby but were worried how people would react.
“I didn’t know what it would be like to be a dad. I will be good, though, and care for it.”
Alfie’s story, broken exclusively by The Sun today has sparked a huge political storm with Tory leader David Cameron saying: “When I saw these pictures this morning, I just thought how worrying that in Britain today children are having children.
“I hope that somehow these children grow up into responsible parents but the truth is parenthood is just not something they should be thinking about right now.”
Secret
PM Gordon Brown refused to comment directly on the story but said it was important that the Government did all it could to prevent teenage pregnancies.
Alfie’s dad Dennis yesterday told how the lad does not really understand the enormity of his situation — but seemed desperate to be a devoted and responsible father.
He wanted to be the first to hold Maisie after the hospital birth. He tenderly kisses the baby and gives her a bottle.
And Dennis, 45, said: “He could have shrugged his shoulders and sat at home on his Playstation. But he has been at the hospital every day.”
Maisie was conceived after Chantelle and Alfie — just 12 at the time — had a single night of unprotected sex.
They found out about the baby when Chantelle was 12 weeks pregnant.
But they kept it a secret until six weeks later when Chantelle’s mum Penny, 38, became suspicious about her weight gain and confronted her.
Devoted … Alfie holds and cuddles Maisie
Lee Thompson
After that Alfie’s family told only those closest to them for fear he would be “demonised” at school.
Chantelle gave birth to Maisie on Monday night after a five-hour labour at Eastbourne Hospital, East Sussex.
Last night she told The Sun: “I’m tired after the birth. I was nervous after going into labour but otherwise I was quite excited.”
Chantelle told how she discovered she was expecting after going to her GP with “really bad” stomach pains. She said: “Me and Alfie went. The doctor asked me whether we had sex. I said yes and he said I should do a pregnancy test. He did the test and said I was pregnant. I started crying and didn’t know what to do.
“He said I should tell my mum but I was too scared.
“We didn’t think we would need help from our parents. You don’t really think about that when you find out you are pregnant. You just think your parents will kill you.”
But Penny figured out what was going on after buying Chantelle a T-shirt which revealed her swelling tum.
Chantelle admitted she and Alfie — who are both being supported by their parents — would be accused of being grossly irresponsible. She said: “We know we made a mistake but I wouldn’t change it now. We will be good loving parents.
“I have started a church course and I am going to do work experience helping other young mums.
“I’ll be a great mum and Alfie will be a great dad.”
Caring … Alfie bottle feeds his little daughter
Lee Thompson
Chantelle and Maisie were released from hospital yesterday. They are living with Penny, Chantelle’s jobless dad Steve, 43, and her five brothers in a rented council house in Eastbourne. The family live on benefits. Alfie, who lives on an estate across town with mum Nicola, 43, spends most of his time at the Steadmans’ house.
He is allowed to stay overnight and even has a school uniform there so he can go straight to his classes in the morning.
Alfie’s dad, who is separated from Nicola, believes the lad is scared deep down.
He said: “Everyone is telling him things and it’s going round in his head. It hasn’t really dawned on him. He hasn’t got a clue of what the baby means and can’t explain how he feels. All he knows is mum and dad will help.
“When you mention money his eyes look away. And she is reliant on her mum and dad. It’s crazy. They have no idea what lies ahead.”
Dennis, who works for a vehicle recovery firm, described Alfie as “a typical 13-year-old boy”.
He said: “He loves computer games, boxing and Manchester United.” Dennis, who has fathered nine kids, told how he was “gobsmacked” when he discovered Alfie was to be a dad, too.
He said: “When I spoke to him he started crying. He said it was the first time he’d had sex, that he didn’t know what he was doing and of the complications that could come.
“I will talk to him again and it will be the birds and the bees talk. Some may say it’s too late but he needs to understand so there is not another baby.”
Lovely
Chantelle’s mum said: “I told her it was lovely to have the baby but I wish it was in different circumstances. We have five children already so it’s a big financial responsibility. But we are a family and will pull together and get through.
“She’s my daughter. I love her and she will want for nothing.”
Last night Michaela Aston, of the anti-abortion Christian charity LIFE, said: “We commend these teenagers for their courage in bringing their child into the world.
“At the same time this is symptomatic of the over-sexualisation of our youngsters and shows the policy of value-free sex education just isn’t working.”
Today Sussex Police and the local council’s children services said they have investigated the case and pledged continued support for the young parents.
Britain’s youngest known father is Sean Stewart. He became a dad at 12 when the girl next door, 15-year-old Emma Webster, gave birth in Sharnbrook, Bedford, in 1998. They split six months later.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE IS LOCATED AT: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2233878.ece
hursday, Feb. 12, 2009 14:30 PST
Will you be mine, religious radicals?
OK, you Valentine’s Day curmudgeons in need of defibrillation, I have just the news to jump-start your hearts: Four Indian women have founded a “consortium of pub-going, loose and forward women” to fight back on Feb. 14 against an extremist Hindu group that has vowed to “not allow celebration on that day in any form” and is responsible for a recent violent attack on a group of women deemed “obscene” for drinking at a bar. The women’s Facebook group, which has attracted 25,000 members in just a few days, has a clear mission: Go bar-hopping on the lovers’ holiday and send pink panties to Pramod Mutalik, head of the radical group Sri Ram Sena.
It will be “the day in which Indian women’s virginity and honour will self-destruct”
From their self-proclaimed “looseness” to their in-yo’-face knickers initiative, it’s clear these are some gritty gals. Indeed, the group’s Facebook page is swimming in snark: It will be “the day in which Indian women’s virginity and honour will self-destruct unless they marry or tie on a rakhi, a bracelet that signifies two people of the opposite gender are brother and sister.” I haven’t always been in favor of panty protests (see: Burma’s “Panties for Peace” campaign), because they so often seem dopey, but it’s fitting in this case, given that it’s a revolt against attempts to force women into “decent” and “pure” behavior.
So, this Saturday, instead of complaining about the preposterous cost of roses or the excessive pity showered on singles, consider sending a pair of pink underoos to India post-haste. Now there’s a Valentine’s gift that will make a girl like me swoon.
Having (apparently) killed off the Dark Knight, DC Comics offered another look this week at the superhero filling his shoes — or rather, replacing his shoes with fire engine red patent leather boots. The re-imagined Batwoman, who will make her comic comeback this summer as the star of the Detective Comics series, has long crimson hair, a matching cape, a black latex suit and blood-red lips. Oh, and she’s also a lesbian. That’s right: Not only is Batman’s replacement a chick — she also likes chicks. (That sound you hear? Around the world little boys’ heads are exploding.)
So, what do we think of Batman’s hot homosexual replacement? I’d love to get fired up about the fact that the franchise is being taken over by a woman or that DC Comics has introduced an openly lesbian crusader. But my real response is: Meh. She looks like every other female superhero, which is to say: a caped dominatrix. Now, show me a butch lesbian superhero who fights crime in practical shoes and I’d get excited.
What do readers think?
Murtha in trouble over campaign contributions?
It hasn’t been a great few months for Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.).
During the election campaign last fall, the congressman got in trouble for saying his own district is in a “racist area.” All of a sudden, he found himself in a real fight for re-election, and though he eventually pulled out a comfortable victory, he needed to bring in a lot of new funding for his campaign in order to do so. Now, one of the sources he turned to for that money could land him in some hot water.
Federal prosecutors are currently looking at PMA Group, a lobbying shop founded by Paul Magliocchetti, a former top aide of Murtha’s. And, the New York Times reports, they’re investigating the possibility that Magliocchetti may havc directed “bogus” contributions to Murtha and two other Democratic congressmen, Virginia’s Jim Moran and Indiana’s Pete Visclosky.
“In the first half of 2007, the PMA Group and its clients contributed more than $500,000″ to the three men, the Times says. “The lawmakers, meanwhile, earmarked more than $100 million in defense spending for PMA clients in the appropriations bills for 2008.”
Amazon.com Drops Japanese Simulation Video Game Featuring Rape, Abortion
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
February 12, 2009
Seattle, WA (LifeNews.com) – Massive online retailer Amazon.com has dropped its listing for a controversial Japanese video game called Rapelay that involves raping women and forcing them to have abortions. The so-called “rape simulator” game was sold on the web site and included a graphic description of the gameplay.
Although a listing for the product is available through online searches, the link to it on Amazon’s web page no longer functions.
Gaming web sites that have reviewed the simulation describe the “tears glistening in the young girl’s eyes” as the player attacks her in graphic detail.
Owners of the game begin it by assuming the role of a man who stalks a mother on a subway in Japan before violently sexually assaulting her. They eventually move on to attacking two daughters described a virgin schoolgirls.
The Rapelay game, made for the Microsoft Windows platfform, also includes a “freeform mode” where the player can rape any woman and get friends to join in on the attacks.
According to a post in a gaming forum, the game also includes abortions. Every time a rape is committed there is a chance the victim could become pregnant.
“If she does become pregnant you’re supposed to force her to get an abortion, otherwise she gets more and more visibly pregnant each time you have sex. If you allow the child to be born then the woman will throw you in front of a train,” the post explains. “Take that pro-life movement!”
The Japanese-based company Illusion is the maker of the video game and it creates other 3-D games for various video gaming systems.
In a Wikipedia post, the company says it makes its games only for use in Japan and that it will only provide customer support in Japanese for local gamers.
However, through Amazon.com, prior to the delisting of the product, people from across the world could purchase the rape game.
The Belfast Telegraph newspaper says Labour MP Keith Vaz was shocked that anyone could purchase the game through Amazon and he plans to bring up his concerns at a meeting of Parliament.
“It is intolerable that anyone would purchase a game that simulates the criminal offence of rape,” he told the Telegraph.
“To know that this widely available through a major online retailer is utterly shocking, I do not see how this can be allowed. I will be raising this matter in Parliament and hope that action is taken to prevent the game from being sold,” Vaz added.
Illusion is a company based in Yokohama, Japan that also makes an offensive series of games called Battle Raper and Battle Raper 2 that feature sexual assaults but no abortions.
The only English words featured on its web site note: “We thank you for your interest in our softwares and sending many e-mails. Unfortunately, under the company’s regulation, our softwares are only available for domestic customers over 18 and not for sale in foreign countries.”
ACTION: Contact the company with your concerns at http://www.illusion.jp (in Japanese). Thank Amazon.com by going to this link.
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Feb 11, 4:59 PM (ET)
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WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) – For years, the juvenile court system in Wilkes-Barre operated like a conveyor belt: Youngsters were brought before judges without a lawyer, given hearings that lasted only a minute or two, and then sent off to juvenile prison for months for minor offenses.
The explanation, prosecutors say, was corruption on the bench.
In one of the most shocking cases of courtroom graft on record, two Pennsylvania judges have been charged with taking millions of dollars in kickbacks to send teenagers to two privately run youth detention centers.
“I’ve never encountered, and I don’t think that we will in our lifetimes, a case where literally thousands of kids’ lives were just tossed aside in order for a couple of judges to make some money,” said Marsha Levick, an attorney with the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center, which is representing hundreds of youths sentenced in Wilkes-Barre.
Prosecutors say Luzerne County Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan took $2.6 million in payoffs to put juvenile offenders in lockups run by PA Child Care LLC and a sister company, Western PA Child Care LLC. The judges were charged on Jan. 26 and removed from the bench by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court shortly afterward.
No company officials have been charged, but the investigation is still going on.
The high court, meanwhile, is looking into whether hundreds or even thousands of sentences should be overturned and the juveniles’ records expunged.
Among the offenders were teenagers who were locked up for months for stealing loose change from cars, writing a prank note and possessing drug paraphernalia. Many had never been in trouble before. Some were imprisoned even after probation officers recommended against it.
Many appeared without lawyers, despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 1967 ruling that children have a constitutional right to counsel.
The judges are scheduled to plead guilty to fraud Thursday in federal court. Their plea agreements call for sentences of more than seven years behind bars.
Ciavarella, 58, who presided over Luzerne County’s juvenile court for 12 years, acknowledged last week in a letter to his former colleagues, “I have disgraced my judgeship. My actions have destroyed everything I worked to accomplish and I have only myself to blame.” Ciavarella, though, has denied he got kickbacks for sending youths to prison.
Conahan, 56, has remained silent about the case.
Many Pennsylvania counties contract with privately run juvenile detention centers, paying them either a fixed overall fee or a certain amount per youth, per day.
In Luzerne County, prosecutors say, Conahan shut down the county-run juvenile prison in 2002 and helped the two companies secure rich contracts worth tens of millions of dollars, at least some of that dependent on how many juveniles were locked up.
One of the contracts – a 20-year agreement with PA Child Care worth an estimated $58 million – was later canceled by the county as exorbitant.
The judges are accused of taking payoffs between 2003 and 2006.
Robert J. Powell co-owned PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care until June. His attorney, Mark Sheppard, said his client was the victim of an extortion scheme.
“Bob Powell never solicited a nickel from these judges and really was a victim of their demands,” he said. “These judges made it very plain to Mr. Powell that he was going to be required to pay certain monies.”
For years, youth advocacy groups complained that Ciavarella was ridiculously harsh and ran roughshod over youngsters’ constitutional rights. Ciavarella sent a quarter of his juvenile defendants to detention centers from 2002 to 2006, compared with a statewide rate of one in 10.
The criminal charges confirmed the advocacy groups’ worst suspicions and have called into question all the sentences he pronounced.
Hillary Transue did not have an attorney, nor was she told of her right to one, when she appeared in Ciavarella’s courtroom in 2007 for building a MySpace page that lampooned her assistant principal.
Her mother, Laurene Transue, worked for 16 years in the child services department of another county and said she was certain Hillary would get a slap on the wrist. Instead, Ciavarella sentenced her to three months; she got out after a month, with help from a lawyer.
“I felt so disgraced for a while, like, what do people think of me now?” said Hillary, now 17 and a high school senior who plans to become an English teacher.
Laurene Transue said Ciavarella “was playing God. And not only was he doing that, he was getting money for it. He was betraying the trust put in him to do what is best for children.”
Kurt Kruger, now 22, had never been in trouble with the law until the day police accused him of acting as a lookout while his friend shoplifted less than $200 worth of DVDs from Wal-Mart. He said he didn’t know his friend was going to steal anything.
Kruger pleaded guilty before Ciavarella and spent three days in a company-run juvenile detention center, plus four months at a youth wilderness camp run by a different operator.
“Never in a million years did I think that I would actually get sent away. I was completely destroyed,” said Kruger, who later dropped out of school. He said he wants to get his record expunged, earn his high school equivalency diploma and go to college.
“I got a raw deal, and yeah, it’s not fair,” he said, “but now it’s 100 times bigger than me.”
Newborn baby discovered at Sydney tip
- Georgina Robinson
- February 11, 2009 – 4:20PM
Workers at a waste disposal centre found the body of a newborn baby boy while they were sorting through rubbish south-west of Sydney today.
The baby was found in a sorting line at Jacks Gully Waste Disposal Centre in Spring Farm, near Narellan, about 10.30am.
It is understood workers sorting recyclable materials from general waste made the discovery.
Police believe the body may have been carried to the tip in a rubbish truck from the northern suburbs of nearby Camden.
Camden commander Superintendent Ian Foscholo said at this stage police had no idea how the baby died.
Superintendent Foscholo told the Camden Advertiser the baby was found on a conveyor belt, wrapped in a blanket, within hours of the rubbish being collected.
He would not comment on whether the baby had any injuries or if he was born prematurely.
The baby was most likely newborn, he told the newspaper.
“Obviously [there is] forensic evidence that’s with the body that indicates that it’s newborn,” he said.
He would not confirm whether an umbilical cord was still attached.
Superintendent Foscholo said he was “pretty confident” police would identify the area the body came from.
At this stage they have narrowed down the suburbs to Catherine Field, Bringelly and parts of Campbelltown including Eschol Park, Eagle Vale and Claymore, based on other rubbish found nearby and the rubbish pick-up schedule, he said.
A police spokesman said investigations were continuing. A report would be prepared for the Coroner.
Anyone with information about the incident or who knows the whereabouts of the infant’s mother is urged to contact Camden Police on 4655 0599 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
A spokesman for WSN Environmental Solutions said staff would be offered counselling. The centre was closed today.
NEW YORK —Vincent Pastore, who played gangster Salvatore “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero on “The Sopranos,” settled a $5.5 million lawsuit accusing him of assaulting his ex-fiancee.
Lawyers for both sides said the terms of the settlement were confidential.
The settlement was announced Tuesday just before Pastore, 62, was to testify for the second day in Manhattan’s state Supreme Court in the assault trial filed by Lisa Regina, 47.
Pastore, who played a gregarious, genial mob killer on the hit HBO series, said little as he left court.
“I think I just want to say, ‘Thank God it’s over,’ and leave,” the actor said. “How can anybody be happy about something like this?”
Regina, a writer, actress and acting coach, said she was “just glad there’s closure and I can move forward.”
She declined to disclose the settlement terms. “What I got, you can’t put a price on — peace and closure.”
In her 2006 lawsuit, Regina said that Pastore attacked her on April 2, 2005, after they began a car trip to New Jersey, punching her, grabbing her hair and forcing her head down on the car’s gear shift.
Pastore pleaded guilty later that year to attempted assault and was sentenced to 70 hours of community service and anger management therapy.
Pastore was the only witness to testify so far in the trial that began on Friday. He said he began fighting with Regina when she tried to call a former boyfriend, and wept when he concluded that she didn’t love him.
He said the couple yelled and cursed at each other in the car on a street in Manhattan’s Little Italy neighborhood. When he got out to open the passenger-side door, Regina started yelling at onlookers, “Big Pussy’s beating me up! ‘Sopranos!’,” Pastore said.
Pastore said he yanked her out of his car and dumped her and her luggage on a street while she tore at his clothing, pulling down his pants. He denied hitting her, but said that he had pulled her hair.
Regina’s lawyer, David Perecman, said that if the trial had continued, he had planned to question Pastore further about that admission and about the guilty plea in the criminal case.
Call for obese children to be taken into care
- Louise Hall
- February 2, 2009
Severely obese children should be notified to child protection authorities, and even taken into care, if their parents are unwilling or unable to help them lose weight, experts have argued.
The continuing failure of parents to ensure treatment for their obese child could be considered medical neglect when the child is suffering, or is at high risk of suffering, associated severe health problems.
Clinicians already have a legal requirement to contact welfare authorities when parents fail to follow medical advice in the treatment of other illnesses, such as parents who reject medication for a HIV-infected child, or who refuse a life-saving blood transfusion for a child on religious grounds.
Writing in the Medical Journal of Australia, doctors at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead say the growing prevalence of severe obesity is leaving many health workers unsure if they should notify child protection workers when parents fail to follow medical advice.
“We argue that in an extreme case, the notification of child protection services may be an appropriate professional response,” pediatric obesity experts Dr Shirley Alexander and Professor Louise Baur wrote.
Dr Alexander said the multidisciplinary team of specialists at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead who look after cases of extreme obesity had decided to notify the NSW Department of Community Services if parents were unwilling or unable to co-operate with medical advice.
“The child may have insulin resistance and you’ve put them on medication to help prevent diabetes and the parents disagree with giving their child medication, or you show them evidence that children are at a higher rate of obesity if they have a TV in their bedroom, but the parent refuses to take the TV away,” Dr Alexander said.
The article, published yesterday, described the case of a four-year-old girl, Jade, who was 110 cm tall and weighed 40 kilograms.
She had associated health problems including a fatty liver, hyperinsulinaemia and obstructive sleep apnoea.
Her separated parents let her watch up to six hours of TV every day, allowed her eat whatever she wanted and regularly failed to turn up for appointments with the hospital’s dietitians and other health professionals.
After 12 months her weight had increased and Jade had become hypertensive (high blood pressure) and violent.
The hospital notified DOCS and Jade was admitted to hospital, where with a program of daily physical activity and a healthy diet, she lost three kilograms in two weeks.
After her discharge, the authorities insisted on supervised visits with her father and community health workers visited the mother to help her learn to buy and cook healthy food, and Jade lost another dress size.
Dr Alexander said while placing children in care was a sensitive issue, notifying child protection workers may lead to other forms of intervention, such as financial help to buy healthy food, or the drawing up of “responsibility contracts”.
What do you think? Discuss news and social issues with Essential Baby members.
Sexually assaulted just metres from her Manly front door
- Arjun Ramachandran
- February 11, 2009 – 9:58AM
A young woman was sexually assaulted last night just metres from the front door of her apartment in Manly, police say.
Police are hunting a man who they said pinned the 21-year-old woman to the wall of the stairwell as she walked up the stairs to her Gilbert Street unit about 8.15pm.
The pair struggled for a while and the man indecently assaulted the woman before she escaped and ran to nearby Eustace Street, police said.
Police believe the man followed the woman for a short distance before walking away towards Sydney Road.
Police were told the man was of Asian appearance, between 25 and 30 years old, and 170 to 180 centimetres tall.
He was wearing dark suit pants and had a dark suit jacket over his arm, police said.
He was cleanly shaven and had dyed hair, although police did not know what colour it was.
Anyone with information can phone Manly police via Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
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uin Your Health With the Obama Stimulus Plan: Betsy McCaughey
Commentary by Betsy McCaughey
Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) — Republican Senators are questioning whether President Barack Obama’s stimulus bill contains the right mix of tax breaks and cash infusions to jump-start the economy.
Tragically, no one from either party is objecting to the health provisions slipped in without discussion. These provisions reflect the handiwork of Tom Daschle, until recently the nominee to head the Health and Human Services Department.
Senators should read these provisions and vote against them because they are dangerous to your health. (Page numbers refer to H.R. 1 EH, pdf version).
The bill’s health rules will affect “every individual in the United States” (445, 454, 479). Your medical treatments will be tracked electronically by a federal system. Having electronic medical records at your fingertips, easily transferred to a hospital, is beneficial. It will help avoid duplicate tests and errors.
But the bill goes further. One new bureaucracy, the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, will monitor treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective. The goal is to reduce costs and “guide” your doctor’s decisions (442, 446). These provisions in the stimulus bill are virtually identical to what Daschle prescribed in his 2008 book, “Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis.” According to Daschle, doctors have to give up autonomy and “learn to operate less like solo practitioners.”
Keeping doctors informed of the newest medical findings is important, but enforcing uniformity goes too far.
New Penalties
Hospitals and doctors that are not “meaningful users” of the new system will face penalties. “Meaningful user” isn’t defined in the bill. That will be left to the HHS secretary, who will be empowered to impose “more stringent measures of meaningful use over time” (511, 518, 540-541)
What penalties will deter your doctor from going beyond the electronically delivered protocols when your condition is atypical or you need an experimental treatment? The vagueness is intentional. In his book, Daschle proposed an appointed body with vast powers to make the “tough” decisions elected politicians won’t make.
The stimulus bill does that, and calls it the Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research (190-192). The goal, Daschle’s book explained, is to slow the development and use of new medications and technologies because they are driving up costs. He praises Europeans for being more willing to accept “hopeless diagnoses” and “forgo experimental treatments,” and he chastises Americans for expecting too much from the health-care system.
Elderly Hardest Hit
Daschle says health-care reform “will not be pain free.” Seniors should be more accepting of the conditions that come with age instead of treating them. That means the elderly will bear the brunt.
Medicare now pays for treatments deemed safe and effective. The stimulus bill would change that and apply a cost- effectiveness standard set by the Federal Council (464).
The Federal Council is modeled after a U.K. board discussed in Daschle’s book. This board approves or rejects treatments using a formula that divides the cost of the treatment by the number of years the patient is likely to benefit. Treatments for younger patients are more often approved than treatments for diseases that affect the elderly, such as osteoporosis.
In 2006, a U.K. health board decreed that elderly patients with macular degeneration had to wait until they went blind in one eye before they could get a costly new drug to save the other eye. It took almost three years of public protests before the board reversed its decision.
Hidden Provisions
If the Obama administration’s economic stimulus bill passes the Senate in its current form, seniors in the U.S. will face similar rationing. Defenders of the system say that individuals benefit in younger years and sacrifice later.
The stimulus bill will affect every part of health care, from medical and nursing education, to how patients are treated and how much hospitals get paid. The bill allocates more funding for this bureaucracy than for the Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force combined (90-92, 174-177, 181).
Hiding health legislation in a stimulus bill is intentional. Daschle supported the Clinton administration’s health-care overhaul in 1994, and attributed its failure to debate and delay. A year ago, Daschle wrote that the next president should act quickly before critics mount an opposition. “If that means attaching a health-care plan to the federal budget, so be it,” he said. “The issue is too important to be stalled by Senate protocol.”
More Scrutiny Needed
On Friday, President Obama called it “inexcusable and irresponsible” for senators to delay passing the stimulus bill. In truth, this bill needs more scrutiny.
The health-care industry is the largest employer in the U.S. It produces almost 17 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product. Yet the bill treats health care the way European governments do: as a cost problem instead of a growth industry. Imagine limiting growth and innovation in the electronics or auto industry during this downturn. This stimulus is dangerous to your health and the economy.
(Betsy McCaughey is former lieutenant governor of New York and is an adjunct senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. The opinions expressed are her own.)
To contact the writer of this column: Betsy McCaughey at Betsymross@aol.com
Last Updated: February 9, 2009 00:01 EST
The average teenager spends one hour and 40 minutes a week browsing sites for pornography, according to new research.
That equates to 87 hours a year spent surfing for porn. A further hour and 35 minutes is spent looking at dieting and weight loss websites.
The study of 1,000 youngsters found the average teenager was online 31 hours each week looking at soft pornography, plastic surgery, dieting, family planning and emotional support.
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