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HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
Putting children's well-being first
Last week I began the
discussion of how the
increasingly “me-cen
tric” American and global
cultures are elevating the
desires of adults above the
needs of children. This week
I will look closely at another
area in which this attitude is
making its mark: the attack
on the traditional model of
parenthood.
Around the world, the
two-person, mother-father
model of parenthood is
being fundamentally chal
lenged, as evidenced in these
recent events reported by
the Institute for American
Values:
■ In Canada, the same law
that brought about same-sex
marriage quietly included a
provision to eliminate the
term “natural parent” and
replace it with the term
“legal parent.” With this law,
the power of defining who a
child’s parent is shifts from
civil society to the state.
■ In Spain, the birth-cer
tificate terms “mother” and
“father” have been changed
to “Progenitor A” and
“Progenitor B.”
■ In New Zealand and
Australia, laws are being
considered that would allow
children conceived through
the use of sperm or egg
donors to have three legal
parents.
■ In the United States,
courts are increasingly hear
ing cases to determine who
the legal parents are among
the many adults who might
be involved in planning, con
ceiving, birthing, and raising
a child - even over the objec
tion of the child’s biological
parent.
What is most shocking
about these reports is that,
despite the gravity of their
implications, the general
public is largely unaware
that things like this are even
going on, much less in their
own back yard.
Increasing state influence
in these issues demonstrates
how much children’s needs
are being downplayed in the
name of an adult’s perceived
“right” to form a family.
Despite sociological evidence
that children live much
healthier, happier and more
stable lives in a traditional
two parent, mother-father
scenario, social and legal
changes continue to under
mine the traditional family
and put children at risk.
Around the world, govern
ments are taking an increas
ingly active role in defin
ing and regulating parent
hood far beyond its historic
and child-centered purpose.
Court decisions are expand
ing the definition of a “par
ent” with little to no consid
eration of the effects that
these decisions are having
The bipartisan Katrina boon doggie
Government sucks. It
sucks billions of tax
payer dollars down
the drain in the name of pre
venting disasters. It sucks
billions more cleaning those
disasters up when preven
tion fails. It sucks millions
on top of the billions for
investigations and recrimi
nations. And then the cycle
begins anew.
The Bush administration,
like every administration
since Jimmy Carter creat
ed the Federal Emergency
Management Agency in
1979, has failed mightily to
break the natural disaster
federal disaster cycle. Next
to the systemic breakdown
on border security and
immigration enforcement,
the Hurricane Katrina
boondoggle stands as the
Republicans’ most disgrace
ful domestic failure. After
years of hawking five-pound
fiscal conservative blueprints
for downsizing government
bureaucracy and reforming
federal spending, the GOP
blew a monumental oppor
tunity to show liberals how
to end disaster socialism.
Federal investigators
now estimate the total for
Hurricane Katrina waste
could exceed $2 billion next
year. Some $1 billion in aid
has already been squandered
on everything from unused
trailers to empty cruise ship
cabins, junkets, and disaster
- or might have - on the
children involved.
For instance, many coun
tries have legislation in
place that
denies
children
the right
to even
know the
identity
of their
biological
parent if
they are
the child
of a single
parentand
Randy Hicks
Georgia Family
Council
a donor. These laws are said
to “curb the exploitation”
of donors, but they do not
consider a child’s desire or
right to know their biologi
cal parent and understand
their heritage.
Children in these situa
tions are suffering from the
loss of one of their parents
and are, judging by their
own statements, far from
well adjusted. The Institute
for American Values recent
report on these and similar
issues stated:
“The redefinition of par
enthood is taking new forms
as cultural attitudes contin
ue shifting; as reproductive
technologies advance, access
expands, and science contin
ues pushing the boundaries
on baby-making; as increas
ing numbers of same-sex
couples are openly raising
children, with many of them
also advocating for mar
riage rights; as new players
enter the marriage debate,
including advocates of group
marriage; and as the law
struggles to catch up, often
creating as many problems
as it resolves.”
Again, these decisions
are being made by adults.
Where are the advocates for
the children who are being
affected?
And the attacks are not
just coming in the courts.
They are also beginning to
permeate the court of public
opinion. A recent issue of
Newsweek ran a cover photo
of a well known photographer
with her three young, blond
daughters on her hip and at
her feet. It is clear from the
story that she is not mar
ried, and obviously beyond
child birthing age, but no
details are given about the
her children’s father, if there
is one. The only mention of
the children’s births is this
vague description, presented
as if it were perfectly admi
rable and normal:
“She gave birth as a sin
gle mother to her [oldest]
daughter...just after 9/11.
Then, a few months after
[...] her twin girls were born
via surrogate mother.”
These changing family
units are also being encour-
aid debit cards that covered
strip club and champagne
expenses. Investigators
reportedly will release the
first of
several
audits
examining
more than
sl2 billion
in Katrina
contracts
next
month.
Adding
to this
already
nauseat-
lipL > . JSm
Michelle
Malkin
Columnist
ing debacle: grandstanding
Democrats. According to the
Associated Press, when the
Dems take over in January,
“at least seven commit
tees plan hearings or other
oversight -- from housing
to disaster loans - on how
the SBB billion approved
for Katrina relief is being
spent.” Among those chair
ing oversight panels: Sen.
Robert “They call me ‘The
Pork King,’ they don’t know
how much I enjoy it” Byrd,
D-W.Va. When they hold
their windy hearings and
press conferences decrying
wastefraudandabuse, they’ll
bray about countless hurri
cane contractors with GOP
ties. They’ll turn over the
microphone to corporate
shakedown hypocrites such
as Jesse Jackson to moan
about favoritism in gov-
aged by governments around
the globe. Recently, the
Danish parliament passed a
law that gives lesbian cou
ples and single women the
right to obtain free artificial
insemination at publicly
funded hospitals. In essence,
this ruling gives the state’s
approval to intentional
ly deny a child access to a
father.
In New Zealand, the law
commission recently pro
posed that sperm and egg
donors be allowed to “opt in”
to legal parenthood if they
wish. This not only raises
numerous questions, such as
what will be the implications
of “opting” in and out of par
enthood, but also presents
the opportunity for children
to have three or more legal
parents - the mother, the
father and the donor(s).
If and when children are
recognized as having three
(or more) legal parents, the
arguments for recognizing
some form of group mar
riage will almost certainly
become prevalent. Not only
are polygamists already
being cast in a positive light
by the media, such as in
HBO’s show about a polyga
mist family, Big Love, but
“polyamorists” are starting
to make public appeals for
acceptance as well.
“Polyamory,” which is
basically polygamy with
out the marriage, questions
why it should be abnormal
to have numerous lovers
- and thereby parents - in
what is referred to as “ethi
cal non-monogamy.” Many
polyamorist forums are
appearing online in which
members complain that they
have to keep their lovers and
their lifestyle “in the closet”
for fear of social ridicule or
backlash.
Some forums for so-called
“poly-parents” have even
asserted that their relation
ships do not have a neg
ative effect on their kids.
They argue that while some
children have one or two
parents, others have four
or five. “Why,” they ask,
“should children with three
parents be denied the same
legal and social protections
that children with only two
parents have?”
As shocking as most of
these developments may
seem, the biggest concern
is that these extraordinary
moves are being made with
out any real public aware
ness or debate. Perhaps you
will help change that.
Georgia Family Council
is a non-profit organization
that works to strengthen and
defend the family in Georgia
by equipping marriage advo
cates, shaping laws, prepar
ing the next generation and
influencing culture.
ernment contracting. And
they’ll assail the Republican
culture of corruption while
looking the other way at
Katrina’s Democrat profi
teers.
You will hear a lot about
the Shaw Group, for exam
ple, which snapped up major
disaster relief and recon
struction contracts in the
aftermath of Hurricane
Katrina. Mainstream media
outlets and Democrat mau
mauers have zeroed in on
Shaw’s “ties to the Bush
White House” and the multi
billion-dollar conglomerate’s
status as a “major corpo
rate client of Joe Allbaugh,
President Bush’s former
campaign manager and a
former head of the Federal
Emergency Management
Agency.”
What Nancy Pelosi and
company will not mention,
though, is that the Shaw
Group was founded by major
Louisiana Democrat player
Jim Bernhard - a former
chairman, of the Louisiana
Democrat Party who worked
tirelessly for Democrat
Louisiana Gov. Kathleen
Blanco’s runoff campaign
and served as co-chair of her
transition team. Bernhard
was palsy-walsy with Blanco,
whom he has lent/offered the
Shaw Group’s corporate jets
to on numerous occasions.
Another Shaw executive
See MALKIN, page SA
LOCAL
Looming tower: Origins of Al-Qaida
Al-Qaida’s Ayman
al-Zawahiri’B pre-
Christmas rants
backfired in both Palestine
and in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Zawahiri - Al-Qaida’s
terror emir No. 2 - ordered
the Palestinians to wage
his globalist brand of jihad.
In the midst of their own
vicious civil war, Hamas and
Fatah quickly told Zawahiri
to butt out.
Zawahiri’s history lesson
for Washington Democrats
elicited yawns. Zawahiri
argued that the “the Muslim
... vanguard in Afghanistan
and Iraq ... won (the U.S.
election), and the American
forces and their crusader
allies are the ones who lost
**
Cave life in Pakistan evi
dently limits the al-Qaida
firebrand’s ability to affect
current events. It isn’t sim
ply a feat to simultaneous
ly flop in the Beltway and
Gaza Strip - it’s a defeat.
Zawahiri’s December case
of tin ear is small encour
agement, however, for his
insistent message remains
an enormous menace. At
the end of 2006, al-Qaida
is a shattered organization,
but not yet a shattered
idea.
The ideology al-Qaida
and its “affiliated cadres”
empowers a still potent
enemy. Oklahoma City
bomber Tim McVeigh pro
vided a domestic American
example of the horror a
handful of driven, delu
sional and violent men can
wreak. McVeigh, however,
was truly isolated.
Al-Qaida’s dark genius
- or, more accurately, the
dark genius of the Egyptian
strain of internationalist
jihadism - has been to con
nect the Muslim world’s
angry, humiliated and iso
lated young men with a uto
pian fantasy preaching the
virtue of violence.
That utopian fantasy
seeks to explain and then
redress roughly 800 years
of Muslim decline.
The rage energizing al-
mew wemm
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The New Bank In Town
Opening Soon
Qaeda’s ideological cadres
certainly predates the post-
Desert Storm presence of
American troops in Saudi
Austin Bay
Military Affair*
Creator* Syndicate
the Zawahiri’s Egyptian
militancy, but together the
Saudi-Egyptian link was
the combination that forged
al-Qaida operationally and
philosophically.
Zawahiri’s inspiration,
mentor and fellow Egyptian,
Sayid Qutb, is the modern
father of jihadist rage and
violence. Counter-terror
experts have long acknowl
edged Qutb’s resilient
appeal.
In his book “Assassins and
Zealots,” terror expert Dr.
Stephen Sloan notes Qutb
“demonized” Western and
secular Muslim leaders “as
agents of revived jahiliyah
(pre-Islamic heathenism)
who ... could be attacked at
will by true believers.”
Lawrence Wright’s mag
nificent new book, “The
Looming Tower: Al Qaeda
and the Road to 9/11,”
provides the most literate
narrative history available
of the origins and opera
tions of al-Qaida. In doing
so, Wright examines Qutb,
Zawahiri, bin Laden and
their cohorts in extraordi
narily informed detail.
“The Looming Tower”
treats Qutb rigorously and
poignantly. Qutb possessed
a brilliant intellect, and his
American sojourn (1948-
1950) had a profound effect
on the man. Qutb visited
New York and California,
and attended college in
Greeley, Colo. Wright says
the freedom of American
women led Qutb to conclude
that “Islam and modernity
First
1400 Sam Nunn Blvd.
Perry, GA, 31069
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2006 ♦
were completely incompat
ible.”
Qutb was palpably threat
ened by, yet deeply attract
ed to, Western women.
Personal repulsion and fas
cination fed a lurking sense
of cultural and political
humiliation.
Qutb key facts: Qutb was
born in 1903. He died in
1966 - executed by Egypt’s
Game! Abdel Nasser, who at
the time was a Soviet ally.
Qutb’s rage fed Zawahiri
and ultimately shaped bin
Laden.
The same rage contin
ues to feed disaffected and
isolated young Muslims
trapped in corrupt autocra
cies and denied other politi
cal, cultural and aesthetic
avenues of expression.
Both Zawahiri and bin
Laden grew up in compara
tively privileged circum
stances. Wright’s sources
on Zawahiri’s early years
include family members
and family friends, provid
ing a remarkable psycho
logical record of a young,
politically active intellec
tual on the road to global
murderer.
Wright documents bin
Laden’s inept record during
the Afghan war against the
Soviets. Hardened mujahi
deen regarded bin Laden as
a buffoon and poseur.
Azza Zawahiri, Ayman’s
wife, also receives tragic
attention. Trapped in the
debris of an air attack in
Afghanistan, Azza chose to
remain beneath the rubble
rather than take the risk
that men would see her
face.
She died there. The
Wright vignette illustrates
the fierce, unbending will of
al-Qaida’s most committed
cadres.
And demonstrates why
they remain a threat.
To find out more about
Austin Bay, and read fea
tures by other Creators
Syndicate writers and car
toonists, visit the Creators
Syndicate Web page at www.
creators.com.
Arabia.
After
9-11, the
popular
press
focused
o n
Osama
b i n
Laden’s
Saudi
money
rather
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Member
FDIC
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