News

In Australia, non-birth parents can now be named on birth certificates

Leave a comment

This applies to Victoria, own the more liberal states in Australia.

Story here from the Herald Sun. (H/T Thoughts Out Loud)

Excerpt:

Sweeping January 1 changes to the state’s reproductive laws mean that non-birth parents can now be named on birth certificates.

[…]Other changes to the Assisted Reproductive Act included recognition of “social” as well as “medical” infertility, meaning single women, gays and lesbians can access IVF treatment or commission a surrogate.

The new laws also mean children conceived using donors have the right to find out about their biological heritage once they turn 18.

Victorian Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages spokeswoman Erin Keleher, said the department was delighted it can recognise rainbow families. “It’s on the vanguard of social change,” she said.

So the state is assigning parental rights to people who are not biologically related to the child. Is that fair to the child? Is it in the best interests of the child? Do same-sex relationships offer the same benefits to a child as an opposite-sex marriage with two parents biologically linked to the child?

I wrote about the research that answers that last question here.

News

How do Afghans feel about the US military deployed in Afghanistan?

1 Comment

Article from Investors Business Daily.

Excerpt:

Nearly seven out of 10 Afghans support the U.S. presence in their country, and 61% favor the president’s military expansion there. Among congressional Democrats, the results would likely be reversed.

ABC News, the BBC and ARD German TV announced their fifth survey of Afghan citizens since 2005. The national random sample of 1,534 Afghan adults between Dec. 11 and Dec. 23 shows a huge turnaround from last year — a 30% increase in favorability toward the American troop presence.

The Afghan Center for Socio-Economic and Opinion Research in Kabul, part of Vienna, Va.-based D3 Systems Inc., conducted the field research.

The poll also registered a new high in Afghans expecting to live improved lives a year from now: 71%, a 20-percentage-point jump from a year ago. Added to that, 61% think their children will enjoy life quality superior to their own — a 14% increase from last year.

Some people watch the movie “Avatar” and are taken in by disgusting and repulsive smears against the US military. And some people care about the way the world really is. The US military is a great force for good in the world, and we owe them our gratitude and respect.

Wouldn’t it have been better for all concern if the money spent on making anti-military movies like Avatar had been spent helping the Afghan people? Oh – buy that’s what the US military does. And they safeguard the very liberties that are abused by rich Hollywood filmmakers who insult them for doing so.

I never watch movies in the theaters, and I never rent them. If there is a movie made that reflects my values, then I buy the DVD. Usually that’s one or two movies per year. Be careful with your money – there are more important things in life than entertainment. Like honor.

Mentoring

Neil Simpson stole all of the stories that I was going to blog about

4 Comments

Now what am I supposed to do?

You can read a bunch of the stories I was going to write about here in Neil Simpson’s round-up posted on Neil’s blog by Neil, (along with some other stories of interest that I missed!).

What should I do instead of blogging, then?

Well, nothing for me to do now. (I write these posts the night before they go up and schedule them, so it’s late Wednesday night right now)

I guess I’ll go play King’s Bounty: The Legend. (H/T ECM)

Here’s the trailer:

That track is called “Glory Ride”.

This week is “monitor my co-workers’ worldviews” week, so I am taking all my co-workers out for one-on-one lunches to monitor their worldviews, with a different co-worker every day this week. Today’s atheist and I discussed religious pluralism and Brit Hume’s evangelism. I pick the best people to have as non-Christian friends – every one is solid and engaging. I wish you all could see how much fun they are to talk to. Way more fun than the typical Christian you meet in church after the service!

Anyway, while walking up to my office after the lunch, I was humming the “Glory Ride” theme from King’s Bounty, because having relationships with non-Christians and talking about controversial things is dangerous and heroic, . If we had more Christians who could be friends with the people who are causing all these problems in high places, we would not be in this mess. We just need to study harder so that we have the confidence to speak up and connect Christianity to the issues of the day, e.g. – Brit Hume and religious pluralism.