Keep an eye out for human trafficking victims

Over the years I've been privileged to work with government agency officials to stem the tide of human trafficking, or modern-day slavery. Here's a notice from the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) that reminds us to be vigilant and ready to speak out to help rescue and protect victims:

Human trafficking is one of the most heinous crimes that DHS investigates. In its worst manifestation, human trafficking is akin to modern-day slavery. It is through the hard work and dedication of stakeholders like you, that we are able to increase public awareness, support victims, investigate cases and bring traffickers to justice.

As you travel this holiday season, be alert and aware of the indicators concerning a potential victim of human trafficking. Human trafficking is often “hidden in plain sight.” Victims may be afraid to come forward and get help; they may be forced or coerced through threats or violence; they may fear retribution from traffickers, including danger to their families; and they may not be in possession or have control of their identification documents. Recognizing the signs is the first step in identifying victims of human trafficking.

DHS relies on tips to dismantle these organizations. Report suspicious human trafficking activity to the ICE HSI Tip Line at 1-866-347-2423 or report tips online at www.ice.gov/tips.

Call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) at 1-888-3737-888 to get help or connect with a service provider in your area. The NHTRC is not a law enforcement or immigration authority and is operated by a nongovernmental organization.

Pay attention to your surroundings as you travel this holiday season. Thank you for your continued efforts to combat human trafficking. To learn more about human trafficking, how to identify victims, and report suspected cases of human trafficking, please visit www.dhs.gov/bluecampaign. 

Science is objective--but not necessarily scientists

Two science apologists put lipstick on a pig in a USA Today commentary, "Does science have honesty problem?" They assure us that concerns about the documented recent rise in scientific fraud are overblown and that we can trust the scientific community to monitor itself.

Conspicuously absent from the commentary is a monumental scientific fraud case uncovered in 2010, after the journal Science published the false claim of renowned scientist Dr. Hwang Woo Suk to have created human embryonic stem cells matched to patients. The claim conveniently corroborated prevailing dogma within the scientific community and the relentless lobbying of grant-seeking researchers hyping the supposedly miraculous healing power of human embryonic stem cells.

Hardly self-monitoring, the scientific fraternity ruthlessly ostracized anyone who dared question the hype.

The cacophony of claims for cures from this embryo-destructive form of stem cell research led gullible politicians to foolishly fast-track embryonic stem cell research funding. The hype tragically diverted funding away from research on stem cells derived from sources that avoid the destruction of human embryos--research already proven effective in producing cures and therapies for myriad diseases.

Embryonic stem cell researchers already rich from government grants and scientific journal editors who fueled the fire of embryonic stem cell research hype hardly will self-report their own fraud. Self-monitoring alone simply cannot withstand substantial financial and peer pressures. We need to bolster our defense against scientific fraud with a wary and probing public, more thorough media investigations and nonpartisan watchdogs who sniff out and follow the money trail.

Action alert: Oppose senate ratification of CRPD treaty

Many organizations recently sent the letter below to implore the U.S. Senate to oppose ratification of a treaty that would undermine parental rights and U.S. sovereignty. A vote in expected Tuesday, Dec. 4. Treaty ratification requires a yes vote from two-thirds of the senators present. Urge your senators to vote NO.

Contact your senators with this simple message: "I urge you to oppose ratification of the CRPD treaty, which would undermine parental rights and U.S. sovereignty."

RE: Please Oppose the UN CRPD

Honorable Senator,
We the below-signed leaders from forty national organizations represent millions of Americans. We respectfully urge the United States Senate to reject ratification of the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
We are troubled that article 7 of this treaty, in establishing the “best interests of the child” legal standard, would override the traditional fundamental right of parents to direct the education and upbringing of their child with special needs.
We are troubled that such a reduction in legal protection in cases of children with disabilities will create an atmosphere discriminatory against those children and their families.
We are troubled that New Zealand’s Education Act of 1989, which has been held to conform to the CRPD, allows the Secretary of Education to force any child with special needs into government-run schools “if the Secretary thinks [the student] would be better off.” This transfers the right to direct a child’s education from fit and loving parents to an officer of the State, in contravention of American tradition and the International Declaration of Human Rights. Yet it accords with this treaty.
We are troubled that accession to this treaty, despite assurances to the contrary, will lead to legal action against private individuals, as seen in the 2011 case of Bond v. United States. In this case, a woman was found guilty of violating the Chemical Weapons Convention Implementation Act, a federal law over a matter formerly of state jurisdiction, which was adopted as a direct result of the eponymous treaty.
We are troubled that accession to this treaty would place our nation under the scrutiny and review of an international committee unelected by the American people, thus violating the vital principle of American self-government.
For these and other reasons, we urge you: please vote against any effort to ratify the CRPD.

Sincerely,
Michael P. Farris
President
ParentalRights.org

Phyllis Schlafly
Founder and President
Eagle Forum

Dr. Richard Land
President
Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission Southern Baptist Convention

Morton Blackwell
Chairman
The Weyrich Lunch

Tom McClusky
Senior Vice President
Family Research Council Action

Tom Minnery
Executive Director
CitizenLink

Penny Young Nance
President and Chief Executive Officer
Concerned Women for America

Matt Staver
Founder and Chairman
Liberty Counsel

Erick Erickson
Editor
RedState.com

Mike Needham
Chief Executive Officer
Heritage Action for America

Austin Ruse
President
Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (C-FAM)

William J. Murray
Chairman
Religious Freedom Coalition

Jim Backlin
Vice President for Legislative Affairs
Christian Coalition of America

Gary A. Marx
Executive Director
Faith and Freedom Coalition

Al Cardenas
Chairman
American Conservative Union

J. Michael Smith
President
Home School Legal Defense Association

Janice Shaw Crouse, Ph.D.
Senior Fellow
Beverly LaHaye Institute

Deryl Edwards
President
Liberty Counsel Action

Dr. Jim Garlow
Chairman
Renewing American Leadership Action

Jeff Gayner
Chairman
Americans for Sovereignty

Mandi Campbell
Legal Director
Liberty Center for Law and Policy

Matt Smith
President
Catholic Advocate

Donna Rice Hughes
President
Enough Is Enough

Barbara Samuells
Co-Founder
912 Super Seniors

C. Preston Noell, III
President
Tradition, Family, Property, Inc.

Richard and Susan Falknor
Publishers
Blue Ridge Forum

Lisa Miller
Founder
Tea Party WDC

Seton Motley
President
Less Government

Colin A. Hanna
President
Let Freedom Ring

David Stevens, MD, MA (Ethics)
Chief Executive Officer
Christian Medical Association

Ron Pearson
President
Council for America

Dr. William Greene
Founder and President
RightMarch.com

Maureen Van Den Berg
Legislative Director
American Association of Christian Schools

Emmett McGroarty
Director
Preserve Innocence Initiative

Andy Blom
Executive Director
American Principles in Actions

Mark Williamson
Founder and President
Federal Intercessors

Peter J. Thomas
Chairman
The Conservative Caucus

Teresa A. Citro
Chief Executive Officer
Learning Disabilities Worldwide, Inc.

Curt Levey
President
The Committee for Justice

William A. Estrada
Director
Generation Joshua

Is ideology or science driving decisions on reproduction-related drugs?

A recent radical recommendation by a pro-abortion medical group raises the question: Is ideology or science driving decisions on reproduction-related drugs?

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) now wants contraceptives sold without a prescription, age requirement or physician's exam or consultation about complications. Besides stated concerns about reducing pregnancies, ACOG also highlighted in its decision "the possibility of pharmacists inappropriately refusing to provide oral contraceptives." ACOG actively lobbies for abortion rights and to limit conscience rights for health professionals.

The Obama administration shares these political positions of ACOG yet earlier nixed the notion of moving contraceptives to drugstore shelves. Besides stated concerns about teen safety, moving contraceptives out of the pharmacy would undermine the administration's carefully politically calculated mandate that employers' health plans must pay for contraceptive prescriptions.

It is naïve to assume that ACOG or the administration completely separate deeply seated ideological and political dogmas from health policy decisions. This potential for personal persuasions to influence public health policy poses a threat to women's health and safety. Policy decisions on  reproduction-related drugs must be probed by media, researched by consumers and vetted by experts well beyond the coterie of abortion advocates in ACOG and this administration.

ObamaCare autocrats, get with democracy

USA Today's in-your-face editorial headline, "ObamaCare resisters, get with the program" and demeaning assaults on opponents of government-run health care reveals the same partisan belligerence and arrogance that shoved ObamaCare through Congress and down the throats of half of the country's citizens who opposed it.

The snarky editorial compares ObamaCare opponents to Japanese soldiers hiding after the war's end, labels them "dead-enders" and "refuseniks" intent on "pointless" and "quixotic" opposition simply because they have been mindlessly "egged on by the conservative group FreedomWorks."

Like this USA Today editorial, ObamaCare autocrats managed to alienate and exclude the very people who could have moderated an extremely partisan, ideological bill into a pragmatic compromise that more Americans could support. Now the administration is wielding the unchecked federal power of ObamaCare to bludgeon into submission states that resist federal intrusion and against religious organizations and individual citizens who conscientiously object to abortion.

This is not how republican democracy is supposed to work, and this is not how American civil dialogue is supposed to resolve our differences.

It's challenging to all of us who hold strong views on health care, but we've got to learn to dialogue respectfully with our fellow citizens who are political opponents and to focus on pragmatic yet principled ways to attain our shared goals of compassion, quality, affordability and financial sustainability.