CORRECTS RI Bishop-Kennedy By RAY HENRY (AP) – 10 hours ago (Stations: Please substitute the following for V3958, slugged RI Bishop-Kennedy, which moved at 5:05 a.m. Eastern time. The new version CORRECTS Kennedy not disclosing how bishop told him of ban sted in discussions.) PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Rep. Patrick Kennedy says Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin has barred him from receiving communion because of his support of abortion rights. The Providence Journal reports on its Web site Sunday that Kennedy said in an interview that Tobin issued the order, further escalating a simmering ideological dispute between the two men. Under church rules, Tobin can prevent Kennedy from receiving communion within his diocese, which covers Rhode Island. It's unclear whether bishops outside Rhode Island will take the same path. The dispute between the men began when Kennedy criticized the nation's Catholic bishops for threatening to oppose an overhaul of the health care system unless it included tighter restrictions on publicly financed abortion. Tobin asked for an apology and questioned Kennedy's faith.

37 Grad: Sendung "Unterricht am Küchentisch" am 24. November, 22.15 Uhr (MEDRUM) Das ZDF wird unter der Überschrift "Unterricht am Küchentisch" am 24. November in der Sendereihe 37 Grad die Situation der Familien Dudek aus Herleshausen und Neubronner aus Bremen dokumentieren. Wie MEDRUM berichtete, wurden die Eltern von sieben Kindern der Familie Dudek zu dreimonatigen Haftstrafen verurteilt, weil sie es ablehnen, ihre Kinder in eine staatliche Schule zu schicken und sie stattdessen zuhause unterrichten. "Kaum ein Land hält so verbissen an der Schulpflicht fest wie Deutschland, mit allen Konsequenzen für die Betroffenen", schreibt das ZDF in der Ankündigung seiner Sendung. In den meisten europäischen Ländern sei Unterricht zuhause, so genanntes Homeschooling, erlaubt oder zumindest geduldet. Warum sich Eltern für eine Unterrichtung ihrer Kinder außerhalb staatlich anerkannter Schulen entscheiden und welche Konsequenzen dies hat, stellt das ZDF in der Dokumentationsreihe "Deutschland, 2009" in

Holdren’s claim that he “never has been an advocate for policies of forced sterilization,” alongside the Ehrlich’s claim that “formulations” in the Ecoscience textbook have been misrepresented as endorsements, is provably an outright lie. Phrases such as “it has been concluded” are used in the book alongside proposals for forced abortion, such as the passage on page 837 which reads, “Indeed, it has been concluded that compulsory population-control laws, even including laws requiring compulsory abortion, could be sustained under the existing Constitution if the population crisis became sufficiently severe to endanger the society.”

'Equality' legislation could prompt officials to stop Christmas celebrations: English bishops' spokesman November 19, 2009 In a message to members of Parliament, the general secretary of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales has warned a pending "Equality Bill" could result in suppression of Christian celebrations, including Christmas festivals. Msgr. Andrew Summersgill noted that even existing legislation has prompted some officials to stop some Christmas celebrations. He argued that "we have seen the development of a risk-averse culture with outcomes as ridiculous as reports of a local authority instructing tenants to take down Christmas lights in case they might offend Muslim neighbours, or of authorities removing the word Christmas out of cultural sensitivity to everyone except Christians."

Growing up, I always thought Jesus' admonition in the Book of Matthew, "The poor you will always have with you," wasn't meant to be taken literally as a directive to ignore the poor, but that's exactly what a prominent Roman Catholic charity believes. As this Sunday's "second collection" approaches, most Catholics planning to donate to the Catholic Campaign for Human Development probably think their money will be used to help the poor by funding soup kitchens and homeless shelters. Well, the joke's on them. CCHD has never provided direct relief to the poor. That's not its purpose. It is an extreme left-wing political organization created to feed and foster radical groups like ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now). Most Catholics are blissfully unaware of its true mission, though it says right on its Web site that it aims to support "organized groups of white and minority poor to develop economic strength and political power."

Dem Fußball droht ein neuer Wettskandal Auch Spiele in Deutschland betroffen? Ein neuer Wettskandal scheint auf den internationalen Fußball zuzurollen. Bei Durchsuchungen in Deutschland wie im Ausland sind eine Reihe mutmaßlicher Wettpaten festgenommen, etliche Spiele, auch eine Partie in Deutschland, seien manipuliert worden.

Politische Parteien ziehen Konsequenzen aus "Kreuz-Urteil" Initiativen von SPÖ, ÖVP und FPÖ 19.11.2009 Wien, 19.11.2009 (KAP) Das umstrittene "Kreuz-Urteil" des Straßburger Menschenrechtsgerichtshofs bewegt auch die österreichischen politischen Parteien. Bundeskanzler Werner Faymann sagte in einem "Österreich"-Interview wörtlich: "Das Kreuz bleibt in der Klasse. Niemand kann unser Konkordat mit dem Vatikan auflösen. Sollte Gefahr drohen, dass die Kreuze per Gericht verboten werden, wäre ich dafür, die Konkordats-Regel zum Kreuz in die Verfassung aufzunehmen". Auch die ÖVP-Burgenland will das Kreuz-Urteil "nicht ohne weiteres hinnehmen". "Ab sofort" liegt laut Klubobmann Rudolf Strommer im ganzen Burgenland eine Unterschriftenliste auf, die die "Beibehaltung des Kreuzes im öffentlichen Raum" fordert. Neben Schulklassen geht es auch um Behörden oder Gerichtssäle. Zugleich bringt die ÖVP einen Antrag im Landtag in Eisenstadt ein, der ein "klares Bekenntnis" der Parteien zum Konkordat fordert. Solche Landtagsinitiativen sind laut ÖVP-Burgenland auch in Salzburg, Nieder- und Oberösterreich geplant.

UN "Alternative Care" Guidelines Scrutinized for Pitting Children Against Parents By Piero A. Tozzi, J.D. Co-authored by Marie Connelly (NEW YORK – C-FAM) The United Nations (UN) General Assembly (GA) will consider a document on alternative, non-parental care of children this fall in conjunction with the twentieth anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Certain delegates are expressing concern, however, at one provision in particular that appears to pit the rights of children against their parents. The Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children call upon States to implement policies aimed at “empowering youth to face positively the challenges of everyday life, including when they decide to leave the parental home." They further call for governmental programs aimed at youth as "future parents" to make "informed decisions regarding their sexual and reproductive health."

Nations Rap UN "Gender-as-Social-Construct" Rapporteur By Piero A. Tozzi, J.D. (NEW YORK – C-FAM) A host of nations lined up this week to criticize a special report on "gender-based human rights abuses in counterterrorism measures" for pushing a notion of gender as a fluid social construct and advancing a United Nations (UN) "gay rights" document known as the Yogyakarta Principles rather than focusing on the assigned task of examining the abuse of women caught up in the global "war on terror."

New Study Says UN Development Goals Fail to Uphold Human Dignity By Susan Yoshihara, Ph.D. (NEW YORK – C-FAM) A new paper investigating the United Nations (UN) Millennium Development Goals (MDG) asserts that the project could do more harm than good. The paper finds the sweeping global development project generally views the poor as “a problem to be solved rather than partners in achieving their own development and success.” It explains that world leaders set forth the MDGs with high hopes in 2001, but now at the midpoint for achieving them, they have become susceptible to politicization and influence by special interests.