Friday, August 29, 2008

Brazilian Representative Seeks Answers Regarding Suspicious Vaccination Program

Brazilian Representative Seeks Answers Regarding Suspicious Vaccination Program

Pro-Abortion World Health Organization denounces internet "rumors" that vaccines include sterilizing agents

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

BRASÍLIA, August 29, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In response to questions raised about Brazil's massive vaccination program for Rubella, which appears similar to other campaigns that have included sterilizing agents in the vaccines, Brazilian Representative Miguel Martini has submitted an official request for clarification from the country's Ministry of Health.

In his letter, which cites LifeSiteNews articles as well as other sources, Martini observes that Argentina conducted a similar rubella campaign in 2006, and that tests showed the presence of the Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin (HCG) hormone, which creates immunity against pregnancy when included in a vaccine, triggering miscarriages.

"In Argentina, the Faculty of Pharmaceutics and Biochemistry of the University of Buenos Aires confirmed the presence of the HCG hormone in vaccines against rubella distributed by the Ministry of Health of that country: http://www.diario7.com.ar/nota_completa.php?id=1536 ; he writes.

Brazil's Health Minister, like his counterpart in Argentina in 2006, is a strong promoter of abortion, contraception, and other population control methods.

Martini points out that the Brazilian campaign, which is the largest in history, is being carried out to prevent only 17 birth defects annually, in a country with 180 million people, and is mandatory even for those who have already been inoculated.

"Because of only 17 cases of rubella in babies in gestation per year, the Ministry of Health wants to vaccinate 70 million Brazilians, even those who have already had the disease or have been vaccinated," he writes.

Martini asks the Ministry of Health to answer eight questions, including: "if any test has been done to detect the presence of HCG", "what is the origin and name of the laboratories that manufactured the vaccines", and "if the objective is really to eliminate rubella to eradicate the illness, then why vaccinate those who are already vaccinated?"

"It is urgently necessary to receive verification regarding the vaccination being done in Brazil," continues Martini. "It is minimally necessary that such tests be done in Brazil, by appropriate research institutions, on the vaccines distributed in Brazil."

Meanwhile, the questions raised by Martini, as well as pro-life activists Julio Severo and Human Life International, have been circulating widely on the internet, provoking a defiant response from the pro-abortion World Health Organization (WHO).

After stating its support for Brazil's rubella vaccination, the statement claims that "rumors" are being spread on the internet "by special interest groups to propagate false information with the objective to divert attention from the campaign. Rumors can begin with anonymous messages that question the safety of the vaccines used or the justifications for the campaigns"
( http://www.opas.org.br/sistema/fotos/comunicado_ref_rumores_sobre_vacina.pdf ).

The WHO claims that "antivaccine" organizations have spread such rumors in such countries as Argentina and Nicaragua, and denounces such activity as "defamation". However, it does not mention the fact that laboratory tests in Argentina and previous campaigns proved the existence of sterilizing HCG.

Julio Severo, a pro-life activist who helped to raise the alarm about the current vaccination program, dismisses the WHO's statement.

"The role of the WHO in population control efforts has been documented for more than 20 years," he told LifeSiteNews, "and since the 1970s, the WHO has supported research for the invention of sterilizing or micro-abortive agents to work stealthily in conventional vaccines."

"Yet, when caught and exposed in its dirty works, WHO blatantly denies, as if it did not know anything about population control and as if it were the most pro-life group in the world, innocently concerned only about unborn babies and their health."

Previous LifeSiteNews Coverage:

Massive Brazilian Vaccination Raises Suspicions of Covert Sterilization Program
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/aug/08081407.html

UNICEF Nigerian Polio Vaccine Contaminated with Sterilizing Agents Scientist Finds
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/mar/04031101.html

NEW WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION CHIEF INVOLVED IN POPULATION CONTROL VACCINE SCANDAL
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2003/jan/03013003.html

UNICEF's Other Agendas
Popular Children's Aid Agency at Odds With Conservative Religious Groups for Embracing Politically Correct U.N. Viewpoints
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2002/oct/021030a.html

Source: LifeSiteNews

Divulgation: http://www.lastdayswatchman.blogspot.com

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Brazilian Supreme Court Hears Testimony on Eugenic Abortions

Brazilian Supreme Court Hears Testimony on Eugenic Abortions

Mother of anencephalic baby who lived 18 months testifies that her daughter was "marvelous"

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

SAO PAULO, August 28, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Supreme Court of Brazil continued to hear testimony today from various organizations regarding eugenic abortions for anencephalic babies.

Following a previous, narrow decision to allow embryonic stem cell research, the issue was revived by a pro-abortion justice in the hope that the court was now "ready" to decide in favor of terminating the lives of unborn children at later stages of development.

Anencephalic babies are born with part or all of their upper brain missing. Although they normally die within days of birth, some have lived for years, and their parents report that they exhibit signs of awareness, a conclusion that is supported by some doctors.

The first round of hearings on Monday included comments from religious groups and medical experts.

Father Luiz Bento, representing the Catholic Church, testified that aborting anencephalic babies is "a racist and discriminatory act" as well as being a form of "pre-natal euthanasia."

Also in attendance was Cacilda Galante Ferreira, the mother of Marcela Ferreira, an anencephalic baby who died earlier this month after a year and a half of life (see LifeSiteNews coverage at http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jun/08060502.html).

"My relationship with her was marvelous, she was marvelous," said Ferreira. "She would breathe, react, and smile. I would caress her and she recognized it. She would sense my presence and my absence."

"It never crossed my mind to interrupt the pregnancy," she added. "It wasn't difficult to take care of her, it was a true joy. God gave me a more than special child. I never suffered for even a minute."

Rudolfo Nunes, a professor of Medical Science in the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, testified that the very term "anencephalic" is misleading, because such babies always have some brain matter.

"Anencephaly is not the equivalent of brain death," he said. "A child with anencephaly, when he breathes, is not in a state of brain death. Despite the high mortality rate, some children can survive for months or even years."

"No in-depth studies exist on the part of the brain that is not compromised by anencephaly. Many things exist that are unexplained. For that reason, is it necessary to be prudent."

However, the court also received testimony from a pro-government sect known as the Universal Church of the Reign of God, which has a close association with the socialist Worker's Party of President Luiz Lula da Silva, and which has a history of supporting abortion. The leader of the group, bishop Edir Macedo, when queried about his religion's view on abortion, asked, "Who is interested in a multitude of children without parents, without love and without anyone?"

"Catholics for the Right to Decide", an organization long-denounced by the Catholic Church for misleading the public about Catholic doctrine on abortion and other human life issues, also was invited to testify.

Today's hearings include medical experts, scientists, and government officials. The final hearing will be held September 4th.

Source: LifesSiteNews

Divulgation: www.lastdayswatchman.blogspot.com

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

In Defense of Marriage: When Rights Trump Freedom

In Defense of Marriage: When Rights Trump Freedom

S. Michael Craven

President, Center for Christ & Culture

Soviet communism attempted to construct a society under a new social and ethical system, which subverted the natural moral order. In doing so, people were compelled to live in contradiction to their conscience. Without the influence of the conscience, moral governance shifts from the self to the state. The lesson here is this: when the society demands conduct that is in contradiction to what mankind knows in his heart to be right and true, the state will coerce such conduct. This principle is summed up in “Colson’s Law,” which essentially states that the more a society is governed by conscience, the less it requires outside enforcement or police. The less conscience, or self-governance, the more police will be required (i.e. totalitarianism).

This same pattern accompanies activist efforts, which seek to legitimize homosexual acts through the imposition of same-sex marriage (SSM). Unable to rely on the democratic process to advance their agenda, gay-rights advocates have instead employed activist judges, propaganda campaigns, indoctrination of youth, and intimidation tactics to impose their moral vision.

The essence of the homosexual agenda and its demand for legal marriage is not about the expansion of civil rights. It is, instead, committed to the complete reordering of our society. Paula Ettlebrick, the former legal director of the Lambda Legal Defense Fund, as much as confirmed this when she said:

Being queer is more than setting up house, sleeping with a person of the same gender, and seeking state approval for doing so . . . Being queer means pushing the parameters of sex, sexuality, and family, and in the process transforming the very fabric of society (quoted in William B. Rubenstein, Since When is Marriage a Path to Liberation? Lesbians, Gay Men, and the Law [NY: New York Press, 1993], 398, 400.).

In the minds of such, it is Christianity (and religion, in general) that stands in the way of this social transformation. Therefore, it is only natural that as SSM gains traction, there will follow a suppression of religion and persecution of the religious. Harvard professor of law Mary Ann Glendon acknowledged this real consequence of legalizing same-sex marriage. She writes:

Religious freedom, too, is at stake…. Every person and every religion that disagrees will be labeled as bigoted and openly discriminated against. The ax must fall most heavily on religious persons and groups that don’t go along. Religious institutions will be hit with lawsuits if they refuse to compromise their principles (Mary Ann Glendon, “For Better or for Worse? The federal marriage amendment would strike a blow for freedom,” opinion post to online editorial page, The Wall Street Journal, 25 February 2004).

Under unrelenting pressure from this despotic minority, Western nations have already begun to criminalize and suppress any public criticism of homosexuality, encroaching upon our most fundamental rights of conscience and free speech.

In British Columbia, Dr. Chris Kempling, a school counselor, was suspended without pay for three months in 2005 for writing a letter to the editor of the local newspaper criticizing the Liberal government’s same-sex marriage legislation. In 2006, Canadian professor David Mullan was fined $2,100 by Cape Breton University, after he told a student homosexuality was “unnatural.”

In January of last year, Christian Vanneste, a member of France’s ruling party, was fined almost $4,000 under French hate speech law for comments opposing homosexuality. What was so egregious? Vanneste dared to suggest that homosexuality was “inferior” to heterosexuality and said the practice would be “dangerous for humanity if it was pushed to the limit.”

Last year, the Brazilian Association of Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals, Transvestites, and Transsexuals (ABGLT) filed a criminal complaint against Christian activist Julio Severo and the National Vision for Christian Awareness (VINACC) for inciting “hatred” against homosexuals, and “homophobia.” The complaint was made because Severo regularly denounces homosexual behavior as immoral on his Web site, and opposes the goals of the homosexual movement. [VINACC was] successfully prosecuted simply for denouncing homosexual behavior as sinful during a campaign to promote family values. As a result, the ministry was ordered to cancel its campaign and all related events.

In America—the land of the free—a Christian photographer who declined to photograph a same-sex “commitment ceremony” was hauled before the New Mexico Human Rights Division (NMHRD) in January of this year. Elane Photography turned down the job because their beliefs were in conflict with the message communicated by the ceremony. The same-sex couple filed a complaint with the NMHRD, which is now trying Elane Photography under state antidiscrimination laws for sexual orientation discrimination.

Last year, June Sheldon, an adjunct professor teaching a human heredity course at San Jose City College, was fired for answering a student’s in-class question about heredity and homosexual behavior. Apparently professor Sheldon did not offer the student the “right” answer. Marcia Walden, a licensed counselor at Computer Sciences Corporation in Atlanta, was fired after she chose to refer a person seeking counsel in a same-sex relationship to another colleague. The New Jersey Division on Civil Rights threatened to prosecute the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association of the United Methodist Church after it refused to allow a same-sex civil union ceremony at one of its worship facilities. Students in Boyd County, Kentucky, were threatened with “suspension” and the “possibility of court referral” if they publicly voiced moral objections to the school’s diversity training, which normalized homosexual behavior. A Christian high school student in Michigan was suspended for refusing to remove an “I’m Straight” sticker from his t-shirt when other students were wearing duct tape over their mouths to show support for the pro-homosexual National Day of Silence.

And in a most ludicrous act, Christian publishers Zondervan and Thomas Nelson are facing a $60 million federal lawsuit for publishing “homophobic and prejudicial” translations of the Bible, from a man who claims he and other homosexuals have suffered based on what the suit claims is a misinterpretation of the Bible.

These are just a minuscule sampling of the many actions emerging as the push for SSM gains momentum. This is nothing less than tyranny and injustice under the banner of tolerance and acceptance. With the advance of the SSM movement there has followed an increased tyranny of the state—a concept unthinkable in America—and yet this is one predictable consequence of imposing a moral value that is in contrast to moral truth and the human conscience.

S. Michael Craven is the founder and President of the Center for Christ & Culture. Michael is the author of Uncompromised Faith: Overcoming Our Culturalized Christianity, published by Navpress and scheduled for release January 2009. Michael's ministry is dedicated to renewal within the Church and works to equip Christians with an intelligent and thoroughly Christian approach to matters of culture in order to demonstrate the relevance of Christianity to all of life. For more information on the Center for Christ & Culture, the teaching ministry of S. Michael Craven, visit: www.battlefortruth.org

Source: Crosswalk.com

Divulgation: www.lastdayswatchman.blogspot.com

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Brazilian Homeschool Couple May be Jailed if Their Children Fail Harsh Government Tests

Brazilian Homeschool Couple May be Jailed if Their Children Fail Harsh Government Tests

Despite Deception by Authorities, Brazilian Family is Optimistic

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

MINAS GERAIS, BRAZIL, August 22, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - After receiving four days of intense testing by government authorities in a showdown over the future of homeschooling in Brazil, David and Jonatas Nunes are optimistic, despite the fact that the tests were changed on them only one week before, allowing little time for adequate study.

Although the Nunes family was initially told that the tests the children would be given were to be on mathematics, geography, science, and history, they were told only a week in advance that they would also be tested on Portuguese, English, arts, and physical education, including questions about the history of handball, basketball, soccer, and other sports.

The change put enormous pressure on two children who were already studying in a stressful situation.

"They're two adolescents of 14 and 15 years of age who are studying for a test that could determine if their parents are going to be imprisoned or not," said Cleber Nunes to the television network Globo. "It's a huge burden for them."

As LifeSiteNews reported previously, the Nunes children passed law school entrance exams at the ages of 13 and 14. Despite this success, Brazilian authorities decided to prosecute the family for "intellectual abandonment" because they were schooling the children at home rather than in a government-approved institution. If the Nunes lose the case, they could forfeit custody of their children, pay a steep fine, and even spend time in jail.

The Brazilian media, including the nation's major television networks, are following the case closely, and the public is supportive of the Nunes' struggle. Reports posted on network websites have received hundreds of comments, mostly indignant at the treatment being received by the Nunes family.

"I think it's unjust to apply special criteria to them," said one reader, who added that "it would be more fair if the tests were done with other students who study in public schools." Another said that the public school system is "shameful".

"I asked the Portuguese teacher, in front of the cameras, if she could take the same tests the kids were going to take," Nunes told LifeSiteNews. The woman told him she couldn't.

"Then, her boss said that every teacher has to know the subject they teach," said Nunes. "Isn't it ironic?"

According to Nunes, the tests ask questions that few high school students, or even adults, could answer, on topics as diverse as Japanese theater, choral theory, and the works of Claude Monet. The tests were created by a committee of 16 public school teachers, specifically for the Nunes trial.

However, the Nunes family remains optimistic that the children answered a majority of the questions correctly, despite the seemingly impossible conditions under which they were administered.

In any case, Cleber Nunes is aware that the story of his children's success has already reached the Brazilian public. "We already won," he told LifeSiteNews.

Previous LifeSiteNews Coverage:

Homeschooling Showdown in Brazil: Children to be Tested by Court in Battle Over Educational Rights of Parents
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/aug/08081802.html

Brazilian Government Prosecutes Homeschooling Family, Threatens to Remove Children
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/mar/08030610.htm

Source: LifeSiteNews

Divulgation: http://www.lastdayswatchman.blogspot.com

Monday, August 18, 2008

Homeschooling Showdown in Brazil: Children to be Tested by Court in Battle Over Educational Rights of Parents

Homeschooling Showdown in Brazil: Children to be Tested by Court in Battle Over Educational Rights of Parents

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

MINAS GERAIS, BRAZIL, August 18, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Two homeschooled children face a battery of tests this week in a showdown between the Brazilian government and a Christian family over the educational rights of parents in the South American nation.

The children of Cleber and Bernadeth Nunes have already passed the entrance exams for law school at the ages of 13 and 14, but that doesn't satisfy the Brazilian government, which has been trying to force them into its troubled school system since 2006.

After over a year of battling authorities for the right to home school their children, the Nunes' two prodigies will be tested on a variety of subjects to prove that their parents are not guilty of "intellectual abandonment", a legal term that indicates that one has not fulfilled the obligation of providing for the education of one's children.

The tests will include a wide array of subjects, including mathematics, Portuguese, science, history, English, geography, arts, and physical education. The family has been preparing their children for the test for over a month, and the Brazilian media is covering the case.

The outcome could determine the future of homeschooling for countless families who are currently forced to homeschool their children secretly, or submit to the public education system.

Cleber Nunes believes that his children will pass their tests. He hopes that a victory in his family's case will legitimize homeschooling and pave the way for pro-homeschooling legislation that is currently under consideration in the Brazilian National Congress.

Bill 3518/2008, which is being cosponsored by Deputies Henrique Alfonso and Miguel Martini, would allow parents to homeschool their children up to the third grade, and would require annual testing to demonstrate their progress. Those failing to meet minimum standards for two years would be required to return their children to the public schools.

"After several failed attempts, I think our chances of being approved are much better," Nunes told LifeSiteNews.

"First, the failure of the Brazilian school system is clear. Second, because now, more than ever, the efficacy of home schooling is being discussed," he said. "The fact that the children passed the law school exams proves that they are at least five years ahead of other students of the same age."

"This case has been in the nationwide media, and the great majority has shown to be on our side," he added.

In Brazil, a country with a tradition of heavy state control, the obligation to educate one's children is currently understood to be satisfied only by attendance at a public school or licensed private school. The Nunes case could change that.

The Nunes' problems began in 2006 when they pulled their children out of the public school system in response to the low educational standards and anti-family values that pervaded the system.

The Brazilian system has received low rankings in international assessments, according to Nunes, and is marred by high levels of violence and intimidation on the part of students. Condoms are distributed in vending machines to children as young as 10 years old.

State authorities responded by threatening to remove the Nunes' children from their custody, and to fine them the equivalent of $1,800, a high penalty in a country with substantially lower incomes than the industrialized world.

But the Nunes decided to fight the system with the help of pro bono attorneys, and they now may be on the verge of achieving social legitimacy, and even legal recognition, for homeschooling in Brazil.

Contact Information:

Cleber Andrade Nunes (speaks English)
cleber@andradenunes.org

Deputy Henrique Afonso
dep.henriqueafonso@camara.gov.br

Deputy Miguel Martini
dep.miguelmartini@camara.gov.br

For info about homeschooling in Brazil
http://www.escolaemcasa.blogspot.com

Brazilian Homeschooling Movement

Related Links:

Homeschooling Bill 3518/2008 (English translation)
http://lastdayswatchman.blogspot.com/2008/08/homeschooling-i...

Homeschooling Bill 3518/2008 (Portuguese Original)
http://www.camara.gov.br/sileg/integras/572820.pdf

Previous LifeSiteNews Coverage:

Brazilian Government Prosecutes Homeschooling Family, Threatens to Remove Children
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/mar/08030610.html

Source: LifeSiteNews

Divulgation: http://lastdayswatchman.blogspot.com/

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Homeschooling in the Brazilian Congress

Homeschooling in the Brazilian Congress

Rep. Henrique Afonso and Rep. Miguel Martini introduce bill to guarantee that Brazilian homeschool parents and children may be legally respected and protected

Julio Severo

On 5 June 2008 Rep. Henrique Afonso introduced in the Brazilian Congress PL-3518/2008, one of the most daring bills in the Brazilian Parliament. Daring not because it brings into existence something that has never existed before, but because, in the midst of the sea of a voracious statism, it tries to return to families more decision-making power in one of the most important areas: the education of their children.

If the subject is to defend life and family, Rep. Afonso is not afraid to face challenges. He knows what is to be persecuted because of those values.

Even having a background of political career radically committed to the communist and socialist ideology, today Afonso seeks to be guided by God’s justice, which is above human ideologies. He has been the author of distinguished pro-life initiatives, including a bill to protect Indian children from being killed by tribal witchcraft conventions and government apathy.

Because of these ethical stands, he is under threat of being expelled from PT, the party of Socialist President Lula. I see in such expelling much more blessing and privilege than remaining in a party having infamous connections with Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez and Farc, the largest drug-trafficking terrorist group in Americas.

In the homeschooling issue, he and Rep. Miguel Martini saw that the current laws do not give real freedom to homeschool families, leaving them exposed to unnecessary hostilities from government agencies. Both parliamentarians have an exemplary political curriculum on defense of life and family. So it is natural such union to defend homeschooling.

Family exists much before the State, and for millennia it has always fulfilled its basic functions of upbringing and educating the next generations. Later, the State appeared to help and complement the family responsibilities. Today, the State with its colossal and authoritarian power seeks not longer to complement, but replace entirely families in their functions.

Even though not having dominance over reproduction to control the continuity of the next generations, the State has already usurped education, imposing on families a mere role of complementing the state goals in the indoctrination of children.

That role inversion, where the complementing State became the owning State, happened in a way that many families did not perceive.

In the US, Australia and other nations, parents were awakened on time and were able to guarantee, through proper legislation, the protection of their rights. With such freedom, many families may choose homeschooling. Even in Portugal parents are free to homeschool their children.

In Brazil, past constitutions, according to Dr. Rodrigo Pedroso, recognized that parents have a right to homeschool their children. Yet, the 1988 Brazilian Constitution, made by many totalitarian left-wingers, established a greater state control over education, eliminating the acceptance of homeschooling and removing families from their central place in the education of children.

When families waked, it was too late. After this slip-up, where left-wingers were allowed to impose the role of the State as an exclusive owner of schooling, it remained to families only the secondary role of assisting the State in its educational goals. Even so, some families, nevertheless the legal threats, kept homeschooling their children.

In the intention to protect those families, there were attempts in the 1990s to open again legal room for homeschooling through bills in the House of Representatives, but experts in the Brazilian Congress said that such bills were unnecessary because, in their view, the Brazilian Constitution already guarantees to parents the homeschooling option.

The paper “Homeschooling no Brasil”, published by the House of Representatives in January 2001, says,

According to Rep. Carlos Lupi, there is no constitutional hindrance for homeschooling. After all, under the conditions of observance of the general regulations of the public education and of authorization and quality evaluation by government agencies, education is free for private enterprises (besides, it’s a state duty), and there is no need for transforming it into a monopoly of the school system. Furthermore, Rep. Lupi argues in his opinion that, according to the article 64 of the Law 5.692/71, in the time when it was in force, the state educational councils could “authorize pedagogical experiments, with different systems from those prescribed in the current Law, securing the legitimacy of the made studies” and that the new LDB [education regulations] expressly accepted the “enrolling in any grade of the elementary and middle school regardless previous schooling”. So the vote rejected the bill because a new law was seen as unnecessary.

The official opinion of this document of the House of Representatives was that the Constitution already assures to parents the right to choose home education. In reality, though, the Constitution and especially ECA are used to persecute Christian families that chose to take complete responsibility for the education of their children. ECA is the acronym for Child and Adolescent Statute, a domestic legislation made to reflect the UN Convention on Children’s Rights.

Therefore, in order to solve this conflict and shield homeschooling families from aggressions of state institutions, Rep. Henrique Alfonso (evangelical) and Rep. Miguel Martini (Catholic) joined together and introduced in the House of Representatives PL-3518/2008.

Evangelicals and Catholics are in this way united, through this bill, in the defense of the right of families to exert their functions and responsibilities without state persecution.

While some members of the House of Representatives occupy their time and our money creating bills in favor of sodomy or abortion, Alfonso and Martini have shown real interest in the well-being of the family. And it was very timely.

In a fitting speech on 26 January 2004 in the floor of the Congress in Brasília, Brazil, then Rep. Elimar Damasceno declared:

Sadly, in Brazil to teach children at home, in the place of the institutional school, is activity contrary to law, because the Ministry of Education does not recognize such practice. However, the State cannot be above of the family. Parents should decide which education model they desire for their children. The time has come for the Brazilian Parliament to discuss home education, and give parents the opportunity to choose what kind of education they want for their children.

With PL-3518/2008, Rep. Henrique Alfonso and Rep. Miguel Martini were able to introduce the homeschool discussion into the Brazilian Congress. Now, Catholics and evangelicals need to join themselves together so that home education may be approved in Brazil.

To know the complete bill in Portuguese, follow this link: http://www.camara.gov.br/sileg/MostrarIntegra.asp?CodTeor=572820

Its translation is on the final of this article.

To send a message of encouragement, congratulation and compliment to the authors of the home education bill, write to:

Rep. Henrique Afonso dep.henriqueafonso@camara.gov.br

Rep. Miguel Martini dep.miguelmartini@camara.gov.br

Source: http://www.lastdayswatchman.blogspot.com

Portuguese version of this article: Educação escolar em casa no Congresso Nacional

*********************************************

Brazilian Homeschool BILL 3518/2008

By Henrique Afonso and Miguel Martini

It regulates home school and adds a sole paragraph to the article 81 of the Law nr. 9,394, of 1996, which establishes the National Education Guidelines and Bases and makes dispositions for home education.

National Congress decrees:

Article 1: A sole paragraph has been added to the article 91 of the Law nr. 9,394, from December 20, 1996, having the following text:

“Art. 81 ................................................................................

Sole paragraph. Home education mode, in the elementary level, is granted as long as it is administered in the home by family members or legal guardians only and as long as the regulations of this Law are obeyed. This is a must of the State facilitate, not to obstruct, this educational modality”.

I - Parents or guardians of children or adolescents in the system of home education shall use the services of an institutional school on an annual basis for the evaluation of educational progress, according to laws governing schools.

II - Evaluations will be done according to the national guidelines established in this Law and to the national curriculum commanded by the National Council on Education.

III - Parents will be accounted before schools for the results in the evaluation of a student in the home education mode. If the child’s or adolescent’s basic battery achievement score in reading, writing, and math is below the minimum of student achievement nationwide, at the end of the school year the permit for his home education will be made provisional and parents will be given another school year for recovery in order the student may score at or above the minimum of student achievement nationwide. Otherwise, the permit for his home education will be canceled at the end of the provisional school year and the child shall attend an institutional school in the following school year.

Article 2 This law shall go in effect in the date of its publication.

JUSTIFICATION

The Federal Constitution determines, in its article 205, that education is the right of all and duty of the State and of the family, and it shall be promoted and fostered with the cooperation of society, with a view to the full development of the person, his preparation for the exercise of citizenship and his qualification for work.

Furthermore, in the article 209, the Constitution makes clear that education is open to private enterprise, if the compliance with the general rules of national education and under authorization and evaluation of quality by the Government are met. Therefore, education shall not be considered a monopoly of school institutions.

Home teaching allows one to adapt education to the needs of each child and offers a room of intense intimacy and reciprocal education or schooling for the family. Therefore, it reinforces the irreplaceable educational role of the family in the development of their children.

Family is the main gearing in the education and the creation of home education. It also increases schooling opportunities for children and adolescents, and stimulates a differentiated integration between home school and conventional school, with redistribution of responsibilities. In addition, it promotes the development of self-discipline and self-learning, qualities eagerly looked for in the modern-day professionals.

Lawgivers, conscious of the changes and potentiality of the educational developments outside of the institutional school setting, allowed the establishment of courses or institutions of experimental teachings, provided that the regulations in the National Guidelines and Bases Law, Law nr. 9,394, 1996 (article 81), are met.

The Guidelines and Bases Law also tells, in its article 38, that the teaching systems will keep supplemental courses and evaluations, which shall encompass the common national curriculum base, enabling the continuation of studies for 15-year olds and older, and in the conclusion of the middle education, for 18-year olds and older.

Therefore, I ask the support from my Representative friends for this bill, so that the possibility of evaluation and certificate granting in education obtained outside of the school setting may not be limited only by age issues to youths and adults who had no access to school in their proper age.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Massive Brazilian Vaccination Raises Suspicions of Covert Sterilization Program

Massive Brazilian Vaccination Raises Suspicions of Covert Sterilization Program

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

August 14, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) — The commencement of a massive, mandatory vaccination program in Brazil has raised suspicions among international pro-life activists, who note that the program is similar to others in recent years that have included a hidden sterilizing agent in the vaccines.

The campaign, which was begun last week by Brazil's pro-abortion Health Minister, Jose Gomes Temporao, claims that its goal is to annihilate rubella in the South American nation.

Temporao, who has expended considerable energy to legalize abortion, claims he is concerned about the fact that 17 Brazilian children each year suffer birth defects from the disease, in a nation of more than 180 million people. Rubella is normally little more than a nuisance for those who contract it, with symptoms that pass in a matter of days or weeks.

Although the number of children affected by Congenital Rubella Syndrome (CRS) is less per capita than that of both the United Kingdom and Australia in the 1990s, Temporao is heading a mandatory program to vaccinate 70 million Brazilians, which would make it the largest vaccination in history.

Adolfo Castañeda of Human Life International notes that just two years ago, researchers found that the rubella vaccine used in a similar campaign in Argentina was laced with Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG), a pregnancy hormone that is necessary for a newly conceived zygote to implant in the uterine wall after conception.

When the body receives HCG in a vaccine, it perceives it as an intruder and creates antibodies that fight the presence of the hormone in the body. The body's immunological response is turned against pregnancy, causing abortions when conception occurs.

"In 2006, there was a similar campaign to the current one in Brazil in Argentina," Castañeda writes in a recent HLI bulletin. "The presence of HCG in various samples of the vaccine used against rubella were discovered. The suspicion that brought about the investigation was caused by the fact that there were very few cases of the disease in Argentina, which didn't merit a large-scale campaign."

Castañeda also notes that the age group of women targeted by the campaign is the same or similar to other programs that were proven to include sterilizing agents in vaccines.

"The age of the people who will be vaccinated is 12 to 49 years for women (reproductive age), and between 12 and 39 for men," he writes. "The ages for women are the same as those who received the vaccines in Nicaragua, where they included a hormone that sterilizes the woman who receives it, and similar to the age of those who received another sterilizing hormone in the Philippines."

In fact, as the Australian government notes in its journal, Communicable Diseases Intelligence, small children are the primary conduit for the disease, and highly-effective programs in the US and Australia have therefore focused on that group (http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/content/cda-pubs-cdi-1999-cdi2308-cdi2308a.htm). Yet the Brazilian government is ignoring children and is focusing on women in their childbearing years.

Brazilian pro-life activist Julio Severo, who is in hiding from the Brazilian government for his refusal to participate in forced vaccination programs, notes that, strangely, even those who have already received the vaccine, or who have already had rubella (thus ensuring immunity) will be required by the government to receive the vaccine during the current drive.

"If the campaign goal is really to eliminate rubella, then why vaccinate those already vaccinated?" he asks on his blog, Last Days Watchman. "Why compel the vaccination of those that had the illness in the past? It is a fact more than proven that an individual who has had rubella in the past will never have it again."

Severo says that the campaign is seeking to find people wherever they congregate or travel, and there is no option but to receive the vaccine. In fact, he notes, the government has already carried out a widely-publicized prosecution of one woman because her children did not receive some of the the mandatory vaccines. The woman's children were taken from her custody, and co-workers who were aware of the situation and failed to report it were prosecuted. The story has appeared in the media as an example for those who might wish to resist the government's efforts to forcibly vaccinate them.

He also points out that the same international agencies that are backing the current vaccination in Brazil have been involved in research on sterilizing vaccines for decades, and warns that these same groups, which are dedicated to abortion and population control, cannot be trusted.

"In the mass vaccination campaigns in Argentina, Nigeria, Philippines and other countries, UNICEF showed that it knows how to unite the worse intentions to the most angelic appearances," writes Severo. "In Brazil, we have the assurance of Temporao that the mass vaccination campaign is only for protecting babies and helping families."

Related Links:

What is behind the campaign "Brazil Free of Rubella"?
http://lastdayswatchman.blogspot.com/2008/08/what-is-behind-...

HLI Report on Sterilizing Vaccines
http://educate-yourself.org/vcd/vcdvaccineslacedwithbirthcon...

Related LifeSiteNews Coverage:

UNICEF Nigerian Polio Vaccine Contaminated with Sterilizing Agents Scientist Finds
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/mar/04031101.html

NEW WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION CHIEF INVOLVED IN POPULATION CONTROL VACCINE SCANDAL
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2003/jan/03013003.html

UNICEF's Other Agendas
Popular Children's Aid Agency at Odds With Conservative Religious Groups for Embracing Politically Correct U.N. Viewpoints
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2002/oct/021030a.html

Source: LifeSiteNews

Divulgation: http://www.lastdayswatchman.blogspot.com

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

What is behind the campaign “Brazil Free of Rubella”?

What is behind the campaign “Brazil Free of Rubella”?

Because of only 17 cases of birth defects in unborn babies each year in Brazil, the nation's pro-abortion health minister is seeking the mandatory vaccination of 70 million Brazilians, even those already had the disease or who have already been vaccinated. What are the real interests behind this program?

Julio Severo

From August 9 to September 12 of 2008, all the population of men and women in the 12 to 39 age group in the Brazilian states of Maranhão, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso, Rio De Janeiro and Rio Grande do Norte will be subject to mandatory vaccination. It will be the biggest vaccination in the history of the world. What is the reason for such a massive vaccination program against an illness that is not mortal nor represents risk for the vast majority of the population in Brazil?

UNICEF, abortion, population control and vaccines

“Brazil Free of Rubella” campaign counts on the support of UNICEF, an UN agency that has been accused of collaborating in the global population control agenda. The envolvement of UN and UNICEF in initiatives to reduce the world population through abortion, birth control and even measures to introduce esterilizing agents in mass vaccines is nothing new.[http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2002/oct/021030a.html]

However, even though very few Brazilians are at risk to suffer damages from rubella,100% of the population have a reproductive system. This is a great concern for pro-abortion militants. In similar vaccination campaigns in other countries, which implement them on behalf of a supposed concern about an illness with no significant risk, tests have indicated the presence of esterilizing agents in vaccines. As in the current case of the "Brazil Free of Rubella" campaign, people in reproductive age were targeted. As in the case of Brazil, UNICEF was behind all the campaigns that involved vaccines laced with sterilizing agents.

In the mass vaccination campaign against rubella in Argentina in 2006, the presence of sterilizing agents in vaccines was confirmed. [http://www.diario7.com.ar/nota_completa.php?id=1536] UNICEF was behind the campaign.

In 2004, in a state campaign of mass vaccination against polio in Nigeria, a scientist found sterilizing agents in vaccines. [http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/mar/04031101.html] The campaign counted on the support of UNICEF.

For years, UNICEF has made it clear that, behind its reputed concern about children, its biggest interest is abortion and other ways of population reduction. In this issue, UNICEF is very similar to Temporão. To understand what really UNICEF wants, consider:

- In 1987, UNICEF officially endorsed “good quality abortion services” at the International Conference on Better Health for Women and Children in Nairobi, Kenya.

- In 1993, UNICEF boosted its quiet contribution to UNFPA's open support for China’s “one-child family” policy — Beijing’s program to shrink its population with coerced sterilizations, late-term abortions and sometimes infanticide — from $2 million to $5 million.

- In 1995, the Supreme Court of the Philippines halted a mass vaccination program against tetanus. The campaign, supported by UNICEF, involved a vaccine that had been laced with B-hCG, which creates antibodies to pregnancy, causing miscarriages in its recipients.

Source: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2002/oct/021030a.html

The examples of Nigeria, Philippines and Argentina show that “innocent” vaccines contaminated with sterilizing agents may be part of mass vaccination campaigns against determined illnesses as rubella. These vaccines are given in a way that recipients may not be aware of what was injected to them. This fact occurs largely in Third-World countries where the popularity and the large-scale acceptance of vaccination facilitate the introduction of anti-fertility agents in vaccines. Thus, vaccination campaigns turn into real population control campaigns.

Programming the human body to fight reproduction

Since the 1970s, birth control experiments have been carried out in Third World countries. These experiments were performed by wealthy population control groups with the purpose of developing sterilizing substances that could act jointly with the formula of existing vaccines. The initial experiences, with the support of the World Health Organization (WHO) and UN, were with vaccines against tetanus and diphtheria. (Proc. Nati. Acad. Sci. The USA Vol. 91, pp. 8532-8536, August 1994)

The stated aim of antifertility ‘vaccines’ is to induce temporary infertility by turning the immune system of a mother against her pregnancy. It is not known precisely how many types of esterilizing methods have been developed by population control groups, but years ago WHO helped produce an agent that neutralizes the human pregnancy hormone hCG (human chorionic gonadotrophin), a hormone that the fertilized egg produces in the body of a woman immediately after conception. The agent, which is included in vaccines against illnesses (as tetanus, diphtheria, rubella, etc.), makes the immune system mistake the natural pregnancy hormone for an infectious germ. Then the body of a woman does not recognize the natural signal to prepare itself for implantation in the uterine wall. The result is that the fertilized egg is eventually expelled, thus occurring a micro-abortion right at the beginning of a pregnancy.

The function of the sterilizing agents in vaccines against illnesses is to make the human immune system react against reproduction or the beginning of a pregnancy in the same way it reacts to an infection: fighting and rejecting.

Because of its interference in the functioning of the delicate and complex immune and reproductive system, anti-fertility agents are never harmless. There may have many potential risks: induction of illnesses in the immune system and allergies, aggravation of infectious illnesses, etc.

Are there anti-fertility agents in vaccines of the “Brazil Free of Rubella” campaign? It is a hard question to answer, because the creators of these agents had the intention to use them in the most undetectable and imperceptible way possible. But what is no secret are the feelings of Temporão and UNICEF regarding to the life of unborn babies.

Thus, today we have in Brazil a pro-abortion president, with a pro-abortion minister of health together with a pro-abortion UNICEF promoting the innocent “Brazil Free of Rubella” campaign or the “National Vaccination Campaign for the Elimination of Rubella”.

Everything for the well-being of unborn babies?

The pretended objective of the campaign is the eradication of rubella and to protect unborn babies of possible infection from their mothers. Do you want greater reason for laughter (or sadness) than a pro-abortion minister of health saying he wants the well-being of unborn babies?

If Temporão had a genuine concern about unborn babies in Brazil, doubtless he would launch a campaign to eradicate from Brazil all illegal abortion clinics — not mentioning, of course, the state health-care services that carry out the procedure. Moreover, he would also rebuke President Lula for the support, in Brazil and UN, his administration has given to abortion issues.

Poll after poll indicates that, much far from supporting the ideology of implantation of abortion in Brazil, the Brazilian population is pro-life. Perhaps the vaccination campaign of José Temporão is only mirroring this popular Brazilian pro-life feeling — at least in the propaganda.

However, there is only one problem. Although the vaccination campaign is presented as a measure to protect unborn babies — reason enough to attract the support of all the population that is mainly pro-life — Temporão has not even slightly changed his position about these babies. He still wants the legalization of abortion in Brazil.

Then, what is behind his supposed concern about the risk of some few babies getting rubella? Although Brazil has an enormous population of about 200 million inhabitants, in 2007 were registered only 17 cases of congenital defects in all Brazil provoked by rubella. http://portal.saude.gov.br/portal/arquivos/pdf/nota_rubeola140708.pdf

This number is very inferior to the number of cases registered in England, which has a very lesser population than the Brazilian population. In comparison to Brazil, which has 17 cases per year, England has 43. http://www.patient.co.uk/showdoc/40024887/

Moreover, the rubella cases — which do not represent a public health risk — had fallen of 30,000 in 1997 to 326 in 2005. [http://www.cives.ufrj.br/informacao/rubeola/rubeola-iv.html]

Where are the state campaigns to eradicate abortion?

Now consider that if the number of 17 babies hit by rubella is enough justification to compel a very high number of the population to get vaccinated, then should not the thousands of abortions per year be reason to forbid all pro-abortion propaganda, bills and activity in Brazil?

Are the intentions of Temporão obscure? Abortion, according to the social engineers’ ideology, is a social measure to reduce the world population. Thus, the interest of Temporão in the legalization of abortion has — underneath of all confetti of “concern about questions of public health” — the registered and obvious mark of international interests that want to reduce the Brazilian population. For this purpose, any justification is worthwhile, however fictitious they may be.

It seems like madness. A pro-abortion minister fighting for the well-being of some few unborn babies forcing a mass vaccination, while on behalf of a right to abortion he wants to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of babies to abortion. Does it make sense?

Mysteries, mysteries and more mysteries

What is then behind the “Brazil Free of Rubella” campaign? Are there good intentions in the “National Vaccination Campaign for the Elimination of Rubella”?

The state initiative has the goal of vaccinating 70 million Brazilians and will include the states of Maranhão, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso, Rio De Janeiro and Rio Grande do Norte, and also all aboriginal population living in villages. No Brazilian of the selected areas will have right or the option to exemption, excepting people with AIDS and immune problems.

Although it would be a waste of time to wait the Minister of Health to appear in public to disclose his real intentions, it is possible to get important clues through the secular press, generally coupled to government interests. Let us see then what the press is saying:

Elimination of rubella:

The campaign is part of a preventive measure to prevent the dissemination of this illness. It is an effort according to the commitment established for the countries of Americas during the 44th session of the Managing Council of the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) to eliminate up to 2010 rubella and the Congenital Rubella Syndrome — which may provoke abortion or malformations in the baby”. Patrocínio Hoje

“Besides the goal of elimination of rubella up to 2.010 and of the outbreaks occurred in Brazil, other reasons that led to the decision of the Ministry of Health to launch the campaign are: the gravity of rubella in pregnant women, with the possibility of abortions, stillborn and irreversible sequels”. Portal Novidade

“The national campaign, promoted by the Ministry of Health, has as objective to eradicate rubella up to 2010 and it will be initiated August 9, extending up to September 12. In Mogi, 127,719 people will be vaccinated”. Prefeitura Municipal de Mogi das Cruzes

“The National Vaccination Campaign for the Elimination of Rubella intends to vaccinate approximately 70 million people of both sexes during five weeks. This is the biggest vaccination campaign ever executed in the world.” Capital News

“In Brazil, about 70 million will be vaccinated. It is the biggest vaccination campaign ever executed in the world”. Portal Novidade

“The Ministry of Health is preparing a pioneering, large-scale campaign starting August 9. The National Vaccination Campaign for the Elimination of Rubella intends to vaccinate approximately 70 million people of both sexes during five weeks. This is the biggest vaccination campaign ever executed in the world.” Diário da Serra

Although vaccination is mandatory in Brazil, for propaganda effect and not to scare the population, the campaign, according to Portal Novidade, will have “a family-oriented vaccination focus”. It will be then a campaign supposedly for the well-being of families and unborn babies. Do you want a prettier propaganda than this?

In which places will the governmental campaign force citizens to be vaccinated?

“Strategies are being planned for vaccination high-transit areas and places where people gather; in the institutionalized population; in women after childbirth and after abortion; and many others”. Portal Novidade

Who will be forced to be vaccinated?

“The vaccine must be taken by all 20-39 years old people, even those having received recent immunization against the illness”. Prefeitura Municipal de Mogi das Cruzes

“All the citizens in these ages, regardless if they were vaccinated previously or if they did or didn't have the illness, must be vaccinated.” Portal Novidade

“It is important to highlight the importance of mass vaccination of 12-39 years old people, even those having been vaccinated previously in their infancy or adulthood”. Só Notícias

Is rubella so mortal and dangerous as to justify the mandatory vaccination of 70 million Brazilians?

“Rubella in itself is not considered dangerous for adults”. Prefeitura Municipal de Mogi das Cruzes

“[Rubella] does not present great risks for the individual, being the great concern women in fertile age (until 49 years) that had not the illness or that have never received the vaccine. They should be vaccinated before pregnancy. In non-vaccinated women the application is made until 49 years and, in men, up to 39 years of age”. O Estadão Matogrossense

Questions:

If the campaign goal is really to eliminate rubella, then why vaccinate those already vaccinated? Why compel the vaccination of those that had the illness in the past? It is a fact more than proven that an individual who has had rubella in the past will never have it again. Even so, the Lula administration insists on forcing the vaccination of all, even those that had rubella in the past.

More questions:

Although rubella does not represent a serious health risk for the population, the Lula administration, with its pro-abortion minister of health, is investing millions to pay powerful pharmaceutical companies, which greatly profit from vaccination campaigns. How can one explain that Brazil is launching the biggest vaccination in history (and also probably the most expensive vaccination in history) to fight an illness that is not serious, while patients die daily in the public hospitals for lack of medicines and adequate equipment? Patients even die because ICUs do not have enough room. [http://www.camacarifatosefotos.com.br/cff_fatos.php?cod_fato=8172]

Questioning:

The population targeted for vaccination is 12-49 year-old women and 12-39 year-old men. This age group is what is defined as reproductive age.

If 100% of the population were hit by a serious and fatal illness, perhaps a mass vaccination would be justifiable. But rubella is not serious or fatal in the vast majority of cases. So, in the vast majority of the cases, this vaccine will be useless, because the vast majority of the population does not have problems with rubella. Moreover, does 17 unborn babies struck per year justify so massive campaign? A genuine concern about unborn babies should encourage the government to launch, instead of an unnecessary “Brazil Free of Rubella” campaign, a necessary “Brazil Free of Abortion” campaign.

Controlling through lies

When a population-controlling government wants to lead a population to accept its impositions, the usual propaganda is that it is for the good of the citizens. The worse intentions are covered by the most attractive and pleasant masks. It is for this reason that, “to save” women who die in clandestine abortion clinics, the citizens are convinced that the legalization of abortion is beneficial for all.

It is for this reason that, to give self esteem to those that take the homosexual option, the Lula administration uses public money to carry out expensive sex-change surgeries in the public hospitals, while less expensive surgeries to save lives lose priority, because of politically correct interests. In the public hospitals, where the resources are scarce even for urgent necessities, lives are literally sacrificed so that homosexuals may have their desires fulfilled. As the writer Diogo Costa said, each transexual dream of sex change costs the nightmare of a patient between life and the death. When the subject is abortion and sex-change surgery, nobody better (or worse) to enter in the scene than the Minister of Health, José Temporão.

Abortion and contraception are the first items in the list of objectives of the population controllers —individuals and institutions dedicated to promote the reduction of the world population. To lead the world population to support pro-abortion politics, population-controlers appeal to overpopulation scare propaganda and other horror stories. Everything is valid to control and reduce human fertility, even the promotion of homosexuality. Otherwise, in a country where the health-care system is in chaos, how does one explain so many expenses in unnecessary surgeries whose only objective is to try to give self esteem to those that practice homosexuality? By the nature itself, homosexuality is infertile, being the “ideal” sex to achieve the objective of world population reduction.

If abortion, contraception and homosexuality have everything to do with population control, then evidently Brazil has a population controlling government. Such a government will use any way — however beneficial it may seem — to reduce the fertility of its population.

We live in a world of illusory good intentions. The devil disguises himself as an angel of light and promises paradise in the earth. In exchange of false promises, he takes souls to destruction.

In the mass vaccination campaigns in Argentina, Nigeria, Philippines and other countries, UNICEF showed that it knows how to unite the worse intentions to the most angelic appearances. In Brazil, we have the assurance of Temporão that the mass vaccination campaign is only for protecting babies and helping families.

I do not know how many innocent justifications and other strange rabbits Temporão and UNICEF are able to pull out of their hats. I only know that it is risky to participate in a spectacle that may harm the fertility of men and women who see children as blessings, not as disposable beings.

Source: http://www.lastdayswatchman.blogspot.com

Portuguese version: O que está por trás da campanha “Brasil Livre da Rubéola”?