Saturday, February 27, 2010

AUTHORS CORNER: "God's Battered Child" by April Lorier


April Lorier suffered through hellish abuse as a child. She was used as a servant in her own home and reaped only beatings and neglect. It was a generational pattern, as her mother had also been battered.

Upon entering marriage like every girl dreams of, April’s nightmare only progressed through spousal abuse. The lack of love she received, plus illnesses suffered during and as a result of the abuse, made her think she was completely unworthy of anyone’s love, let alone to be caressed by God.

But He had another design. Through all of this, she believes God sent help for her to climb out of the valley and head for the mountaintop, so she could help others. Thus, the name of her book, God’s Battered Child: Journey from Abuse to Leader.

April’s testimony before the California State Legislature helped to bring about the Mandatory Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Law in 1974 (see some of its principles here). She's never stopped ministering to families with the problem of abuse since then, and formed a non-profit organization, C.O.P.E.—for the retraining of abusive and neglectful parents and to educate the public on these matters. She also writes tirelessly wherever she can to get the cycle of abuse noticed, prevented or stopped.

God’s Battered Child is April’s true story of defeat turned into faith and victory. Check out April’s website for the book - she would love to know you’ve heard about it. It may also be ordered here at Amazon.com.

The writer of this 20-20 Faith Sight blog has also published a book: What Every Christian Should Know about the Jewish People. See details in right-hand column.
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Friday, February 26, 2010

Supreme Court says: Campaign money in, McCain-Feingold out

On Jan. 21, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution's First Amendment freedom of speech does not prohibit corporate campaigning for candidates close to election cycles.

The Court narrowly split in a 5-4 decision. Citizens United v. FCC has been called a free speech victory by some but a defeat by others.

At the state level, the ruling overturns limits on corporate election spending in dozens of states. In the federal arena, it negates about sixty years’ worth of previous laws limiting corporate campaign money, especially the most recent Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (commonly known as the McCain-Feingold Act).

The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) prohibits corporations and organizations from sponsoring advertisement for a particular candidate within 30 days of a primary or 60 days of a general election.

It’s been debated whether this Act, prohibiting “issue advocacy ads” or "election communications broadcasts,” is unconstitutional, in that it stifles the free speech of collective groups around elections when it is most important to keep citizens informed.

Although not specifically stated in BCRA, the Act’s wording also limited paid election free speech from unions, general marketplace organizations, religious and grassroots organizations, even those with non-profit 501 (c) 3 status.

Concern about losing this type of freedom of speech came from members of Congress and organizations running the spectrum from conservative pro-life groups to liberal green environmental groups.

The grassroots organization Concerned Women for America (CWA) sees this Supreme Court decision as a victory for religious free speech.

In its Media release on 1/21/10, CWA’s CEO Penny Nance wrote:
"The Court correctly concluded that judges should stop playing semantics with our Constitution and read the text as it is written. The government should not be limiting political speech because someone is rich or poor, or because they disagree with a particular point of view. Americans are the real winners today.”

Nance also noted it's a matter of record that many senators voted for McCain-Feingold with the knowledge that it might be unconstitutional.

According to a Washington Post report, President Obama called the Supreme Court ruling a defeat for American people, saying that removing these limitations will allow "a green light to a new stampede of special interest money."

Writing for the Court’s decision, Justice Kennedy stated, “We find no basis for the proposition that, in the context of political speech, the Government may impose restrictions on certain disfavored speakers.”

For the dissenting judges, Justice Stevens called it a radical change in the law ignoring the opinion of most previous Supreme Court justices.

The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act prohibited campaign money not only for candidates, but for simple discussion of issues within election time frames.

This article was originally published at The Underground Online Magazine. Check out the Underground for a fresh perspective.
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Friday, February 12, 2010

Boys and Sex: And the survey says...

Are teen boys going to have sex? Are ALL teen boys having sex? Answers in a new survey may surprise readers.

What boys think about sex can be found in a 2010 survey conducted for Seventeen Magazine in conjunction with The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.

February 12 is National Purity Day, a teen movement now in its seventh year, and an appropriate time to look at some of these survey results.

In “That's What He Said: What Guys Think About Sex, Love, Contraception, and Relationships,” 1200 online interviews were conducted by TRU with teen boys and young men ages 15-22.

P. 3: (page numbers not counting the cover)
• Over three-quarters (78%) stated there is too much pressure from society to have sex (this could be due to findings on p.7 that guys are influenced by pornographic images and sex education).

P. 4:
Bad news:
• More than half (57%) of those who have had sex admit they’ve had unprotected sex.
• Nearly one-third (30%) say they would have sex even if there was no condom handy.
• Three out of ten (19% of the younger, 35% of the older) say they've had sex with a girl whom they knew was drunk.
• One in six (17%) say they wait for their partner to insist on using protection.
• 15% don’t know that condoms aren’t foolproof.

Good news:
• 23% have lied about not being virgins when they actually were! Of the 60% who admit they’ve lied about having sex:
• 44% lied to appear more sexually experienced; 39% say they lied to appear “cooler.”

• Seven out of ten (71%) say that a girl who has “sexted” (sent nude or semi-nude photos of herself via cell phone or internet) is not girlfriend material. See this blog site’s previous post on “sexting.”

P. 7:
•542 of those surveyed were virgins! That’s the best news on boys and sex in a while - and surprising, with all the encouragement on television and in movies to just go ahead and do it.
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