U of Calgary "totalitarian regime"?

CALGARY, Alberta, November 19, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The U of C is again attempting to censor student members of the campus pro-life club by threatening them with arrest and sanctions for non-academic misconduct (including the possibility of suspension and expulsion) if they do not comply with an order to turn Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) displays inward. GAP is a graphic exhibit which includes photographs of unborn babies who have been aborted.

U of C lawyer Paul Beke addressed a letter to pro-life club members which said, "The university has the right to control what people do on its private property," and stated that the university wants the display set up so "passersby could avoid the displays if they were to wish."

.... Stephanie Gray of the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform, commenting on the university's attempt to censor the pro-life club said, "There is an important principle of free expression on campus at stake here. Universities should not be allowed to censor controversial, unpopular or minority viewpoints. If the University of Calgary can censor GAP (on the basis of anonymous complaints from people claiming to be offended), this will have direct implications and consequences for all persons on university campuses throughout Canada (not to mention the state of free expression off-campus)."

"Can you imagine them making this demand (turning the displays inwards) of animal rights activists or those who protest the genocide in Darfur?" Gray asked.

Read entire...

Related:

Calgary Herald - "No good reason to squelch this debate"

World Net Daily "College threatens pro-life students with arrest"

Calgary Campus Pro-Life Club from where you can download pdfs of the threatening letter sent to the club and the club's response.

Center for Bio-Ethical Reform which sponsors the GAP Project.

View the 24 signs which make up a GAP display.

Quotes from people who have viewed the display.


Is there anything the layperson can do about this? Since education is a provincial responsibility, you might want to contact your MLA (if you live in Alberta):


- Search for your Alberta MLA by postal code

- Write the appropriate government minister

If you'd like to write your member of parliament (federal) find out who your MP is and the contact information here.

euthanasia debate

Conjoined-at-the-head twins Tatiana and Krista Hogan-Simms are now seven months old. Should they have been allowed to be born, debate Michael Coren and Dr. Ken Walker (alias Dr. W. Gifford-Jones, who writes a medical column carried by about 500 newspapers).

Michael Coren says "YES":

"...There is an absolute that we have to tackle. Life is either sacred or it is not. If it is, preserve it at all costs. If it is not, we might as well destroy it at will. It is terribly expensive to keep the sick alive and wholly impractical to prolong the life of an ill person who will die anyway.

No civilized person or society, however, considers expense and practicality to be more important than goodness and humanity. If it did, it would immediately wipe out, for example, drug addicts, the homeless and people with AIDS.

Gifford-Jones says "No":

"...They will never walk, joined at the head in such an abnormal position. Physically they are destined for ill health, lying on their backs forever. They will become obese and develop the myriad of diseases that accompany this problem. Their lives will be a living hell.

This should be a wakeup call for us to prevent unimaginable future cruelty of this kind. We are a compassionate nation and we routinely remove children from parents who abuse them. I would ask this question. Is there anyone among us who would want to be born this way or willing to trade places with these conjoined twins?

...Peter Singer, Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University, believes that children with major deformities of this kind should have life terminated within 28 days of their birth. But in my opinion it would have been a greater kindness to terminate this pregnancy in the early weeks of gestation.

Chilling stuff, coming from a doctor! (The family of the twins thinks so too.) When someone else's parameters about quality of life become the measure of whether we live or die -- are any of us safe?