News round-up

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Stories about abortion and the 20th anniversary of the Morgentaler decision:

Shutting down the campus debate
Pro-lifers' freedoms are under attack, particularly on our college and university campuses. Their freedom of speech is threatened by campus speech codes, and many of their clubs have been denied official status. Not only does that mean they receive no students' union funding (something, actually, they should be proud of), more damagingly it prevents them even from tacking up posters, handing out pamphlets, setting up displays and holding their meetings on campus.
Lorne Gunter, National Post, January 24

The Morgentaler decision: Choice? What choice?
Two decades after the landmark ruling on abortion rights, poor access and a lack of treatment alternatives still hamper a woman's ability to choose
Andre Picard, Globe and Mail, January 24

The 'transoption' solution
There are women who find themselves pregnant when they don't want to be. There are other women who are trying desperately to get pregnant but can't. What we need to do is match the two groups up and transplant the unwanted fetuses of the former into the wombs of the latter in a form of pre-birth adoption. That way, pregnant women can cease to be pregnant without killing fetuses, and would-be mothers can adopt infants without having to comb the world for them.
Karen Selick, National Post, January 25

Pro-life v. pro-choice: The debate beats on
Abortion may have few short-term physical complications, and the psychological impact may not be fully known but opinions are firm
National Post, January 26

Death threat disrupts abortion meeting
Morgentaler escorted from gathering marking 20th anniversary of historic abortion ruling
Toronto Star, January 26

Abortion a divisive issue that haunts us still
For 20 years, ending a pregnancy has been a woman's personal, if agonizing, choice, while opponents maintain that it's murder
Daphne Bramham, Vancouver Sun, January 26

Celebrating a victory for women
The majority of Canadians support a women's right to control her own body and have no moral problems with abortion. For me and thousands of other women who fought hard for reproductive freedom, this 20th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision striking down the abortion law is a day to celebrate.
Judy Rebick, National Post, January 26

Long live Morgentaler!
As the 20th anniversary of the Morgentaler decision approaches, let's stop and recall exactly what the Supreme Court of Canada did on that fateful day. They did, indeed, strike down Canada's existing laws concerning abortion -- both the criminal sanctions for their unlicensed practice and the licensing regulations themselves. No one who awoke to those headlines and struggled to comprehend the magnitude of the court's boldness will forget whatever feeling they experienced, whether it be mortification, uncertainty or pride. So it's understandable that we forget what else the decision did: It provided a simple, capacious ground on which future legislation could be built.
Colby Cosh, National Post, January 26

Abortion
Last Tuesday, supporters "celebrated" the 35th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, that opened America to abortion on demand. Tomorrow will be the anniversary of the even more radical decision of Canada's Supreme Court, on Jan. 28th, 1988, to strike down all the little that remained of our own restrictions on abortion. It went farther than that, for in making the decision in the Crown v. Henry Morgentaler, our Justices went beyond overturning the last vestiges of common law and precedent. They effectively ruled that male human beings had no right to an opinion in the matter, and that radical feminist precepts obviated any previous considerations of justice, right, and decency.
David Warren, Ottawa Citizen, January 27

An anniversary of death
It would be obscene to call it an anniversary. That word is indelibly linked with celebration, joy and achievement. It is 20 years since the courts bowed to Henry Morgentaler and his followers and introduced the universal right to abortion in Canada, making this country unique in the democratic world in having no law whatsoever to protect the life of an unborn child at any time during pregnancy.
Michael Coren, National Post, January 28

Proud to be pro-choice, but there is more work to be done
Having just returned from the state of South Dakota where activists fight on a daily basis to keep their right to choose, I am more than ready to celebrate here in Canada. But there is still a lot left on the agenda of reproductive rights. My involvement in the movement so far has shown me that just because abortion is legal, it does not mean it is accessible.
Jessica Yee, Globe and Mail, January 28

How Late Is Too Late?
Canada's pro-choice camp still ignores the most important moral question that abortion doctors face
Jonathan Kay, National Post, January 29

Earlier: Pro-lifers mark 20 years since Morgentaler decision

Stories about Quebec and religion:

400 years of forgotten history
The celebrations for Quebec City's 400th anniversary are off to a bad start. The New Year's Eve kickoff to 2008 -- four centuries after Samuel de Champlain found his settlement at "Kebec" -- was well attended but marred by logistical problems. Senior personnel have been dismissed, accusations of mismanagement and conflict of interest have been made and the "Urban Opera" spectacular has been cancelled. The Queen was not invited out of fear that she would not be received well, and the Pope has declined to come due to other travel commitments.
Fr. Raymond J. De Souza, National Post, January 24

Quebec's own two solitudes
'Getting to know you ... Getting to like you ..." Oscar Hammerstein's lyrics for The King And I come to mind as one reads the results of a recent CROP poll about the feelings of ordinary Quebeckers toward immigrants in the workplace. An astonishingly high proportion, 90 per cent, say they have very good relations with co-workers who come from religious or cultural minorities. Moreover, 75 per cent agree that these workers should benefit from special accommodations in accordance with their religious or cultural practices. These special accommodations include things such as special meals at the cafeteria or time out for religious holidays.
Lysiane Gagnon, Globe and Mail, January 28

Earlier: Stories about religion in Quebec

Stories about Islam and the West:

Dad decries would-be bomber's sentence
The father of a Canadian sentenced to life in prison last week for plotting suicide bombings against U.S. embassies in Southeast Asia says his son has reformed since his days as an al-Qaeda terrorist. "He has changed his ideology," Mansour Jabarah said yesterday in an interview with the National Post, adding defence lawyers are preparing to appeal the life sentence handed to his son Mohammed in U.S. District Court. The Kuwait City businessman and former vice-president of the Masjid-an-Noor mosque in St. Catharines said his son was 18 when he was recruited, but has matured during his six years in custody awaiting sentencing and renounced terror-ism before the judge.
National Post, January 24

Suicide by tolerance
Walt Kelly, the cartoonist and satirist once had his famous character Pogo say, "We have met the enemy and he is us." In the clash between the West and Islam, that is increasingly true. We are our own worst enemy. Those of us who care about the survival of Western civilization occasionally rage about the way Muslim organizations feign outrage in the media at the tiniest slight. We grind out teeth when those organizations file human rights complaints against the writings of the likes of Mark Steyn and Ezra Levant. We warn against our governments permitting the implementation of shariah law and against the insidious teachings of radical imams at mosques and Islamic community centres on our own continent. But really, could radical Islamists take over unless our elites let them?
Lorne Gunter, National Post, January 28

Continue article >>

Muslim Canadian Congress asks CMHC to drop Islamic banking study
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. is being urged by a moderate Muslim organization to abandon the idea of a study on Islamic banking because such a system could leave many Muslims isolated. The Muslim Canadian Congress, in a letter to CMHC, said the concept is "an attempt by Islamists, with backing from Middle Eastern Financial Institutions and their Western partners, to scare Muslim Canadians into believing that they should pay more to the banks and demand less in return as an act of religiosity."
Canadian Press, January 29

Halt Islamic banking study, group says
A growing interest in Islamic banking has ignited a public debate on the concept, with one Muslim group calling on the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. Tuesday to abandon its study about the sector. The secular group Muslim Canadian Congress issued a letter Tuesday criticizing Islamic products as more expensive than mainstream financial ones.
Globe and Mail, January 29

Killing Canadians 'best way': student
The case comes as Canadian security agencies are struggling to deal with extremism among a minority of Muslim Canadians, particularly youths. Intelligence analysts believe much of this radicalization is occurring on the Internet.
National Post, January 30

Invasion of Egypt
Whatever is surrendered to these people increases their power. There is one and only one possible strategy for resisting the advance of radical Islam -- and I mean, "Islamism," not conventional Islam. And that is to confront it, and destroy it, wherever it appears. The most disastrous possible policy is to appease it.
David Warren, Ottawa Citizen, January 30

A nation's delicate retreat from secularism
Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan has begun to rewrite the country's legal code. The push may upset a political and cultural balance
Globe and Mail, January 31

Earlier: Stories about Islam and the West

Other stories from the past week:

City's reported hate crimes have doubled since 2006
When Mira Oreck's mezuzah -- or Jewish prayer scroll -- was ripped from her front door frame, she knew police would likely treat it as an act of vandalism. But she suspected it could be a hate crime based on her religion because mezuzahs are always affixed to the front doorposts of Jewish homes. Her suspicions aren't far-fetched, considering 66 per cent of hate crimes in Vancouver are aimed at Jews, gays and lesbians.
Vancouver Sun, January 25

Hate crime or not? Police face a challenge
A half-written slur on a synagogue, a single K or a silent beating of a gay man could all potentially be linked to a hate crime. But unless someone is caught spray-painting the final touches on a swastika or shouting abuse as he swings his fists at a gay man, such incidents could be filed under mischief, vandalism or something else, Vancouver Police Det. Tim Houchen said.
Vancouver Sun, January 25

Anti-nutty professor
University College was threatened with legal action and the school asked him to move his Web site off its server. Prof. Colquhoun said he was surprised at the number of letters that poured in, criticizing the school for caving. Even Richard Dawkins, bestselling author of the atheistic tome The God Delusion, jumped in. "He is anti-delusional-thinking, like me," Prof. Colquhoun said. "And religion and homeopathy come in the same category."
National Post, January 26

Online group declares war on Scientology
An online group of hackers has declared war on Scientology, vowing to attack the controversial religion's Web sites and turn its adherents against it. Already the group, which describes itself simply as "Anonymous," has released hundreds of pages of Scientology material for which practitioners would normally have to pay and claims to have slowed down or even temporarily closed Scientology Web sites.
National Post, January 26

What we need to combat the culture of fear
Fear is natural and inescapable. It can come as we try to cross a car-jammed street, or come through a dream, bringing existential dread. But some fears are unnecessary; some are promoted by public figures.
Douglas Todd, Vancouver Sun, January 26

Sports, technology and the meaning of 'human'
To be sure, we have always used technology to allow us to live longer and better lives, but with the rapid progress of science, it's possible that we will soon develop technologies that allow us, not just to run faster or see farther, but to change our very physical and psychological essence -- to become, as it were, "post-human." The burgeoning philosophy of "trans-humanism" dedicates itself to exploring the scientific and moral questions associated with these developments. Most trans-humanists support the use of technologies to alter the human condition -- even to the point that it can no longer be called the human condition -- given their belief that biology should not be destiny, that we have a fundamental moral right to sculpt ourselves into whatever shape we prefer. But needless to say, trans-humanism has its critics.
Peter McKnight, Vancouver Sun, January 26

Courts to sort Jehovah's Witness blood battle when kids involved
They were not much bigger than an outstretched hand when they were taken from their parents and given blood transfusions against their parents' will and religious beliefs. The surviving four B.C. sextuplets have returned home but the fight is not over for their parents and it's not over for Canadian courts.
Canadian Press, January 27
Earlier: Stories about Jehovah's Witnesses and blood transfusions

Where greenliness is next to . . .
From solar panels to windows and paint, synagogue keeps the faith with eco-efficiency
Toronto Star, January 27

Who's screening our recruits?
Military accepts B.C. man who allegedly boasted of murders, said he was Christ
National Post, January 28

Canadian aid worker freed by North Korea
Humanitarian worker Je Yell Kim of Edmonton, who was detained for nearly three months by North Korea, is finally free and will soon return to Canada, a Canadian embassy official said here last night. . . . Kim, in his 50s, had been detained in November on undisclosed "national security" matters, according to Christian aid workers. Kim is well-known among the Christian aid and NGO communities and had dedicated the past decade of his life to pumping money and medical care -- primarily dental supplies and training -- into the northeast pocket of the country.
Toronto Star, January 28

Interfaith group to push for release of Montreal man jailed in India
Former justice minister Irwin Cotler and an interfaith delegation will meet with Indian authorities in Ottawa on Monday in hopes of freeing a Montreal businessman imprisoned in northeastern India. Saul Itzhayek, 42, was sentenced to three years in jail on accusations of entering the country from Nepal with an expired visa. He has been held in the remote, rat-infested Motihari Prison since last May.
Canadian Press, January 28

Gas-and-dash law aimed at worker safety
The mother of a gas station attendant who died trying to collect money from a customer says a groundbreaking new provincial law coming into effect Friday will protect other gas station employees from a similar fate. The law, the first of its kind in Canada, will require drivers in B.C. to always pay before they pump, day or night. "I'm elated about the law," said Corinne De Patie, whose son Grant De Patie was killed three years ago trying to prevent a gas-and-dash robbery when he was working alone at a Maple Ridge station.
Vancouver Sun, January 28
Earlier: Stories about the Grant de Patie case

Smooth-talking 'swami' built his shell game on eggs
All it took was a dozen eggs and a magic trick for "Roshanbhai" to convince people he was a spiritual healer who could fix their family, health and business problems -- and help them win the lottery. The catch? They had to fork over money for a special ceremony, in some cases more than $100,000. After the smooth-talking self-proclaimed swami was done, the egg was on the faces of his victims, scores of whom were bilked out of about $3 million in total before he fled to Mumbai last month.
Toronto Star, January 30

Taking on the Israel bashers
Both Judeophobes and Judeophiles agree that Jews are smart, but when it comes to thwarting anti-Semitism, Jews can be pretty dumb.
Barbara Kay, National Post, January 30

January 31/2008