. .
   
 
Morality and Decency Conference Speakers
  

 Newsletter Updates

August 17, 2009

 
Help Us Grow, DONATE
Controversial Issues Not Included

 

Carrie Gordon Earll is Focus on the Family Action's senior director of issue analysis. She also serves as the senior policy analyst for bioethics.

As a veteran life advocate and former TV news anchor, she has a keen eye on how the life issue plays out in Washington and in the media.

We asked her for an update on the health-care reform debate.

The end-of-life counseling provisions in the House version of the proposed health-care reform bill reportedly have been dropped by a Senate committee. What's the significance of that?

Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, who is the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, issued a news release Thursday saying the committee's version of health-care reform would not include this controversial component. Read On

   
   
   

The party in charge in Washington is doing a horrible job.

But can Republicans do any better?

To say that the Democrats are “drunk with power” or “out of touch” is inadequate. Something on the order of “clueless” or “oblivious” or “tone-deaf” would be more accurate.

But simply to have the Democrats tripping over their own kingly and queenly arrogance and their incompetence, is not enough to create success for the Republican Party. . Read On

   
   
   
   

PARENTS With the advent of the Internet, parents are finding it increasingly difficult to shield their children from pornography. Now, in addition to the exposure kids might encounter from classmates who borrowed one of their father's magazines, most school-age children and adolescents are spending large amounts of time online for homework or entertainment reasons. Attorney General John Ashcroft has estimated that nine in ten teens have been exposed to pornography. Unfortunately, many of these teens are susceptible to developing addictions or compulsions to these images. Read On

   
   
   
   
BUYING LOVE Proving that the President "can buy me love," the blog of the Los Angeles Times has uncovered a web ad that shows how desperate the Left is for support. The Fund for the Public Interest is actually offering to pay "volunteers" to support the President's takeover. "Work to pass Obama's health care plan and get paid to do it! $10-15 hr!" The ad promises anywhere from $400-$600 a week to people who agree to rally on the administration's behalf, presumably at townhall meetings. Maybe the slogan should be "Work for change--and make some too!" Not everyone has pure motives, but it's somewhat ironic that the Left blames conservatives for "manufacturing" anger when their groups are hiring it!

Of course, this strategy is bound to be more productive than the leadership's contribution, which has largely consisted of public name-calling. Just this week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) joined the messaging train wreck and called angry voters "evil-mongers." Yesterday he thought better of the term, telling reporters sheepishly, "I maybe could have been less descriptive. I doubt you'll hear it from me again." Read On
 
 
 

BURGLAR FOUND PORN A British man has been sentenced to three-and-a-half-years in prison after burglars found images of child pornography on his stolen laptop and turned it over to the police. Richard Coverdale was convicted of downloading pictures of child abuse as well as exposing himself to an unsuspecting teenage girl over the internet while posing as a 14-year-old boy, according to Gazettelive.com. Police started investigating the 24-year-old convicted arsonist after burglars discovered the images on a laptop they stole from Coverdale's house in August 2008 and contacted police, the Web site reported. According to prosecutors, the officers found 13 illegal photos and 65 illegal videos on the computer and uncovered online conversations between Coverdale and a 14-year-old girl, during which Coverdale pretended to be a fictitious 14-year-old boy named Danny, Gazettelive.com reported. The last of those conversations, which took place days before the burglary, showed Coverdale invited the girl to watch "Danny" on a webcam, then filmed himself performing a sex act, the site reported. Coverdale was sent to a juvenile detention for four years in 2003 for setting fired to five properties in one night — some with people inside, according to Gazettelive.com. In addition to his new sentence, Coverdale has been banned for life from working with children and is schedule to receive a sexual offences prevention order this week, the site reported.
 
 
FAMILY CONCERNS:

Opinions expressed in 'Perspectives' columns published by CentersForDecency.org are the sole responsibility of the article's author(s), or of the person(s) or organization(s) quoted therein, and do not necessarily represent those of the staff or management of, or advertisers who support the CfD.  If you wish to contact CfD - call 713-266-2715 or write: 1415 South Voss Road, #110-393, Houston, Texas 77057.  We also appreciate your Comments@CentersForDecency.Org.