So far this year, more than 230 million people have been affected by flooding in China—that is equal to two thirds of the U.S. population or nearly half of Europe’s population! Also, more than 3,000 people have died in the flooding, resulting in $50 billion dollars in damage. The August floods alone claimed nearly 1,500 lives (ChinaDaily.com, September 1, 2010). Read More »

“Almost half a million new cases of [sexually transmitted] infection were diagnosed in Britain last year. Among women, two-thirds were aged between 15 and 24.” Read More »

According to at least one researcher, male circumcision rates in the U.S. dropped from 56% in 2006 to less than 33% at the end of 2009—that is almost a 50% drop in just three years. In a recent interview, pediatric bioethicist Dr. Douglas Diekema cited several factors that may have impacted this steep decline: (1) the American Academy of Pediatrics’ rather neutral stance on the matter beginning about ten years ago, which resulted in insurance companies dropping coverage of the procedure, (2) anti-circumcision activists using emotional pleas—referring to male circumcision as genital mutilation, and (3) increasing Hispanic populations that do not traditionally practice male circumcision of infants.  Read More »

Two weeks ago the American Bar Association (ABA) passed a resolution to urge state, territorial and tribal governments to eliminate barriers to same-sex marriage. According to Douglas Napier, senior legal counsel at the Alliance Defense Fund, “This [resolution] is so far afield from their primary purpose that this is nothing more than using the ABA to advance a political agenda—a social political agenda.” “They did it with the abortion issue in the 90’s, and now they’re doing it with marriage.” Read More »

Thomas Jefferson penned one of the great assumptions underlying modern democracies, “Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government”—yet this assumption appears to be highly suspect.  The Boston Globe (July 11, 2010) reports a number of recent studies that found, “when misinformed people, particularly political partisans, were exposed to corrected facts in news stories, they rarely changed their minds. In fact, they often became even more strongly set in their ways.”  Read More »

A London newspaper reports that Joao Vale de Almeida, the new EU ambassador to the U.S., has informed American officials that he should be regarded as “first point of contact for transatlantic discussions” regarding foreign policy and security issues because he is now “leading the show” among European representatives in Washington (The Daily Telegraph, August 12, 2010).  Read More »