World & National News

U.S. birth rates rise, media finds negative story

Birth rates are up in the United States, and most are saying that's a good thing. But Associated Press began its reporting of the highest U.S. birth rate in 45 years with a negative spin -- describing Americans as "bucking the trend in many other wealthy industrialized nations." However, Carrie Gordon Earll of Focus on the Family has a different take. 

"We consider this to be very positive," she reports.

But according to Associated Press, unnamed experts blame the rise on "a mix of reasons, [including] a decline in contraceptive use, a drop in access to abortion, poor education and poverty." Other media reports blamed lack of career opportunities for the increase in U.S. fertility rates. But Earll thinks the media may be missing the real reasons behind the shift. 

"What it says is, to a great degree, Americans are still pro-baby. They are pro-child, and they're having children," she points out. "And we think that also speaks to the resilient message of the pro-life movement -- that children are a good thing, they are blessing, and that we want to be having them. 

In light of the negative reports, Earll warns media consumers to take any analysis of new statistics propagated by the mainstream media with a grain of salt. "You do need to take into consideration their political and ideological perspective," she maintains, "because that will have an impact on how they interpret the data."

 

Is oil a replenishable resource?

Author and investigative journalist Jerome Corsi says he agrees with a recently published article that refutes the notion that oil is a fossil fuel and is dwindling in supply. 

Dr. Jerome Corsi, co-author of Black Gold Stanglehold: The Myth of Scarcity and the Politics of Oil, says he believes in the abiotic theory for the origin of oil -- which asserts oil is a natural product the earth generates constantly rather than a fossil fuel derived from decaying ancient forests and dead dinosaurs.
 
Corsi says a recent article in Science Magazine cites a University of Washington study that supports that contention. But he argues that oil companies want consumers to continue to think oil is a fossil fuel and is being used up.
 
"Let's have the oil companies start telling the truth about oil -- that it is abiotic, that it's plentifully available," demands Corsi. "Let's have them build more refineries and let's get more supply into the system, so we don't have to pay these exorbitant prices that are completely unjustified."
 
And the journalist claims there is another little secret the oil companies do not want people to know. "The oil companies fund the environmentalists. They're both on the same side of wanting to restrict supply," he adds. "When the oil companies are able to make hundreds of billions of dollars in profit, they're not going to come along and tell the American people that oil is abundant, that we are never going to run out of it, that we're finding increasing resources."
 
According to Corsi, the Energy Information Administration says there are in fact 1.4-trillion barrels of oil worldwide, despite the fact that consumption has doubled since 1970.

 

Teachers boo pro-family pastor at MLK Day school assembly

A pastor known for overcoming racial discrimination to become an NFL star and pro-family advocate was booed during a recent Martin Luther King Day presentation.

You may know Ken Hutcherson's name from his pro football days or, more recently, his pro-family activism in defense of traditional marriage. But Hutcherson's daughter was introducing her father at her high school to talk about how he overcame racism thanks to the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
 
"And then she says, 'But the most important thing is, this is my Dad.' I stood up to walk up to the microphone and there were some boos. They started booing."
 
Hutcherson, senior pastor of Antioch Bible Church in Kirkland, Washington, ignored the hecklers and gave his presentation, which never mentioned homosexuality. But the homosexual activists who booed Hutcherson were not finished. After his speech, they challenged him directly in front of the entire assembly.
 
"The sponsor of the Gay Straight Alliance stood up and yelled out, 'I know that I am not on the program, but why is this man here when he doesn’t believe in equal rights for everybody?'" says Hutcherson.
 
The woman accusing Hutcherson was Kit McCormick, his daughter's favorite teacher. "And I felt like I couldn't sit and not say anything," says the teacher. "I felt like this was a moment that I had to stand up and say something."
 
McCormick told KING-TV that Hutcherson was misrepresenting himself. "He is not about equality for everyone," she asserts. "He's about equality for some people."
 
Hutcherson says the teachers' behavior was inappropriate and would never have been tolerated if they had been pro-family activists criticizing a pro-homosexual speaker.
 
"They would not only not have a job, they would never have another opportunity to teach -- and that's what makes it so bad," says the pastor. "And that's why I told the school board that I am waiting to see what you do with those teachers and what you do with those teachers is going to dictate what I am going to do with the school."
 
School officials have issued an apology and are investigating the incident. Hutcherson says he is waiting to see if the school disciplines the teachers before deciding what, if any action to take. "They broke every rule for assemblies and respect of guests," he says. "What is right is right, and I went in and kept the rules of what I was supposed to do -- [but] the teachers didn't. Now it's time for them to ... discipline the teachers."
 
Pastor Hutcherson believes the incident was a set-up. "They knew I was coming. They could have said something to the students. They could have said something to the administration. They could have said something to me," he argues. "But they waited to do it in front of the students to get out of order, [to] be inappropriate, to boo."
 
According to Hutcherson, students told him afterwards that if they had booed at a basketball game, they would have been kicked out of the gym -- and that they would have been expelled if they had acted out of order during an assembly. Those students are wondering why the teachers are being treated differently for their actions, he says.