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The Adoption Option Needs Sound Nourishment From Bush

EVEN if the Supreme Court does not change Roe vs. Wade in some way that greatly decreases the number of abortions performed, America faces a rising number of out-of-wedlock births. They are now nearing 900,000 a year - one out of four births in our country. Meanwhile, more than 300,000 children are cycled through foster-care homes, some for their whole childhood. But adoption, the policy, is an orphan, relatively unfunded and poorly advertised. In the Reagan administration, the president sincerely supported adoption, calling it ``the forgotten option.'' Among those forgetting it, however, were key White House aides and most officials at the Department of Health and Human Services. They believed, cynically, that adoption and the abortion issue were synonymous in people's minds, and that such issues should not be raised, except when unavoidable. Adoption and abortion, indeed, are connected subjects, but they also are separable. Adoption has its own history, identity and claims. Those who are ``pro-choice'' certainly should encourage the choice of adoption, especially in light of the huge number of out-of-wedlock births that have developed, even after the Roe vs. Wade decision. ``Pro-life'' people should take responsibility for the children who result when abortion is averted. Adoption alone cannot solve the whole problem, of course, but it can help. Read More ›

Happy Birthmother’s Day

Wall Street Journal; New York; May 10, 1985; By ; Edition: Eastern edition Start Page: 1 ISSN: 00999660 Abstract: But you could not bring yourself to abort your baby. And it also became clear to you that you were in no position to raise a child alone. My wife and I know from the adoption agency that you quit school Read More ›

Does it Have to be Europe versus NATO?

It’s an experience we’ve all had in our private relationships and affairs. The incident, the argument, not too important in itself, that tells us there may be deeper problems here. Most often, we back away. Don’t go there – at least, not yet. It’s happening now between the United States and Europe. There’s been a nasty snit and counter-snit over Read More ›

Beyond Acronyms

Whatever happened to Europe? The question sounds ridiculous. It’s not. Ever since the USSR folded, and the Balkan mess notwithstanding, Europe’s centrality to American security and prosperity has slowly faded from public consciousness. Indeed, much of what passes for general European reportage nowadays seems little more than a shallow mix of Schadenfreude and bemusement – tales of falling Euros and Read More ›

It’s perilous to ponder the design of the universe

Professor William A. Dembski, 40, does not show his face at Baylor University in Waco, Tex., all that often anymore. “That’s a very hostile environment over there,” he told United Press International. “I go to the library and use the athletic facilities, but I work from home.” Baylor calls itself the world’s largest Baptist university with 18,000 students. So why Read More ›

Ethic Cleansing

The Clinton honeymoon is hardly underway and the Society of Permanent Busybodies is already questioning the integrity of his Transition Committee. They want to know: How can Vernon Jordan, former head of the Urban League and co-chair of the transition, presume to give advice on presidential appointments when he serves on the board of a tobacco company? About the time Read More ›

Evolution Theater

One thing I love about the creation/evolution controversy is that it provides no end of amusement.Take the summer of 1999 for example. When the Kansas state board of education voted to de-emphasize the more speculative aspects of evolution in the state science standards, folks went wild. In a broadside published in Time, Harvard paleontologist and science writer Stephen Jay Gould Read More ›

Army Ad Aggravation

Alas for the Army. Nobody likes their new ads. Of course, the Army isn’t the only service drawing flak for making changes. The Air Force recently adopted a new recruiting slogan, “No One Comes Close” not that swift a choice for a service specializing in precision bombing, perhaps. The Navy’s Spike Lee spots, showing happy, attractive young sailors (both genders) Read More ›

Objections-Sustained-scaled

Objections Sustained

Objections Sustained is a collection of essays by UC Berkeley law professor Phillip Johnson, also the Program Advisor to Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture. In the first half of the book, Johnson presents nine short chapters about Darwinists and Darwinism. Johnson first takes aim at the myth that science and religion occupy completely separate realms. This myth, formally Read More ›