UN's Latest Efforts to Attack Moral Foundations of Families

I wanted to share this Email from Michael Farris

Dear Supporter of Parental Rights,

Last week, I asked for your participation in building our network of parental rights supporters so that we can make a push to pass the Parental Rights Amendment in the next Congress. If you meant to pass on last week’s information, but forgot to do it, it is not too late. We really need your help.

But, it is very obvious that a great number of you did participate with great success because we had our all time record for new petition signers in one week. Over 10,000 new people signed up to support the parental rights cause because of your efforts last week.

And like we promised last week, we are going to continue to supply you with good information that you can use to help promote our mutual cause within your circle of influence.

During the last week, a well-respected leader in the pro-family movement, Terrence McKeegan, Vice President and Senior Counsel for C-FAM, shared with me his research about the UN’s latest efforts to attack the moral foundation of families and children. In the last week a major youth conference was held in Mexico which was aimed at creating a new declaration for youth to be enacted by the UN General Assembly in connection with the “International Year for Youth.”

One of the things called for in the proposed resolution is full access for all youth to “universal access to reproductive health.” These words are loaded with hidden meanings. However, McKeegan has unmasked these hidden meanings by gathering copies of UN brochures that it distributed at its youth conference in March, 2010. Click here to look at the actual sections from these brochures. The content of this material is shocking. It is not pornographic, but the behavior that it is encouraging is lewdness and immorality personified. I would strongly suggest that only parents look at this material. Here are just a few examples:

· Young people living with HIV have the right to sexual pleasure

· Some people have sex when they have been drinking alcohol or using drugs. This is your choice.

· There is no right or wrong way to have sex. Just have fun, explore and be yourself.

· Sexual and reproductive rights are recognized around the world as human rights.

Now you know the kinds of ideas that are offered when the UN calls for “safe sex education and awareness-raising activities among adolescents” (UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2006, Concluding Observations, Lebanon).

There is already a political movement in the United States to offer these egregious forms of sex education without parental knowledge or review. But, if the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is adopted in the US, then the debate is over—we would be required to implement the kind of adolescent “health” education dictated by the UN.

We must preserve our families. We must preserve common sense and morality. We must preserve American self-government.

If you have already joined our efforts to stop the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child thanks so much. Would you continue to share this information with your friends as we build toward the next session of Congress? If you have not joined with us, Click here and do so today.

Thanks so much.

Michael Farris, J.D.

President

Parentalrights.org

Elena Kagan's Description of Christian Homeschooling Family Causes Concern

This is from the Homeschool Legal Defense Association's Website:

Full Senate to Vote on Supreme Court Nominee Elena Kagan

William A. Estrada, Esq.
Director of Federal Relations

July 26, 2010

On Tuesday, July 20, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to send Elena Kagan’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court to the full Senate for approval. The committee vote was 13–6. It is expected that the full Senate will vote on Ms. Kagan’s nomination sometime this week or next week.

HSLDA has previously voiced our concerns about Ms. Kagan’s nomination due to her support of international law. These concerns grew after Senator Chuck Grassley (IA) asked her pointed questions about her reliance on international law.

We have now found out additional information that may reflect Ms. Kagan’s views on homeschooling. In the 1980s, Ms. Kagan—fresh out of law school—clerked for Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. At that time, HSLDA was battling in state courts for homeschool freedom. One particular case we handled in Ohio was State v. Schmidt, 505 N.E.2d. 627 (1987). In that case, a homeschool family was convicted of failing to send their child to school, and the conviction was upheld by the Ohio Supreme Court. HSLDA petitioned for a writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court, but it was denied.

Ms. Kagan reviewed the case for Supreme Court Justice Marshall. You can view a copy of her memo below. She recommended against the Supreme Court taking this case, saying:

[The Schmidts] are self-described born-again Christians who adhere to a literal interpretation of the Bible and have little sympathy with the secular world. When their child reached school-age, they decided to educate her at home. They did not seek the permission of the school superintendent; they simply did not enroll her in school.

Ms. Kagan went on to imply that the family’s expression of religion had not been infringed upon by the school district because the family was not being compelled to attend public school. She said that asking permission to homeschool was reasonable. The Schmidt family objected to asking for permission to homeschool because of their religious beliefs.

During Ms. Kagan’s confirmation hearings, Senator Jeff Sessions asked Ms. Kagan what she meant in her memo. Kagan didn’t back away from her memo. Read the full text of Senator Sessions’ questions and her answers online. Question 17 deals with the Schmidt case.

The full Senate will vote on Ms. Kagan’s nomination sometime before the August recess. We encourage you to call your two U.S. senators and share with their staff your thoughts about Ms. Kagan’s confirmation.

You can reach your two U.S. senators by calling the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121, or toll-free at 866-220-0044. You can find your U.S. senators by using HSLDA’s Legislative Toolbox.

Other Resources

Read Elena Kagan’s law clerk notes concerning Schmidt v. Ohio (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader).

We Need SR 519 NOW!

We Need SR 519 NOW!

…and here’s why.

With November elections coming up, timing is everything. If we can focus on the Parental Rights Amendment during the August recess and beyond, we can add more cosponsors between now and November, as candidates looking to win their seats begin to feel the popularity of our cause. August through Election Day is a crucial opportunity for the Amendment. But we can’t take advantage of that if we have to spend August (or worse, September and October) finishing up with Senate Resolution 519 (SR 519).

And we don’t dare save SR 519 until after the elections. The current leadership have made clear that they will use any chance to push their agenda, which is unwanted by the majority of Americans. Historically, a lame duck Congress such as we are likely to have for November and December is just such an opportunity. Voters have “won the election” and let their guard down, and BOOM – lawmakers on the way out leave behind one final mess. This year, that mess could very well include ratifying the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child.

But not if SR 519 reaches 34 cosponsors before then.

And that’s why we need to get just 9 more senators on board this month!

Action Items

1. Call your Senators and urge them to support U.S. sovereignty and American families. Urge them to cosponsor SR 519 to end the threat of ratifying the CRC. (Get talking points here.) For your senators’ status and phone number, visit parentalrights.org/Status.

2. Give generously to our Declaration Campaign to fund ads decrying the CRC, and making your senator’s position on it public knowledge. Ads will run August 2, so time is running out!

3. Pass it on. Time is pressing, and more calls will mean faster success. Please forward this email to family and friends, post it on bulletin boards, add it to Facebook, Twitter, and so forth.

Together we will win to secure America’s future!

Gratefully Yours,

Michael Ramey
Communications Director

Supreme Court Nominee Favors Use of International Law

This article was on the Homeschool Legal Defense Association's Website and I wanted to pass it on. It shares with us how Elena Kagan could be a threat to our parental rights because she favors using international law when deciding cases that come before the bench. This is not a new trend, but it is a dangerous one. Our country should be ruled by it's own citizens and it's own laws. Because of this concern the HSLDA is recommending we call our Senators to try and stop this nomination. For more review of Elena's history with her preference for International law read their other article “Will Elena Kagan use International Law as Supreme Court Justice?”.

Elena Kagan Confirms Her Support for International Law

William A. Estrada, Esq.
Director of Federal Relations

Melanie Palazzo
Congressional Action Program Director

July 12, 2010

HSLDA urges our members and homeschoolers nationwide to call their two U.S. senators and express their opinions on the nomination of Elena Kagan for Supreme Court.

Elana Kagan was recently nominated by President Obama to replace Justice John Paul Stevens on the Supreme Court. Ms. Kagan underwent a four-day confirmation hearing held by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee ending July 1.

HSLDA has been concerned about Ms. Kagan’s nomination because of her support of international law over the U.S. Constitution while she was Dean of Harvard School of Law. Our concerns were not alleviated, but only grew with Kagan’s answers during her hearing.

For instance, Senator Chuck Grassley (IA) asked Ms. Kagan on the second day of the hearings, “Should judges look to foreign law for ‘good ideas.’ ”

Ms. Kagan responded, “I am in favor of good ideas wherever we can get them.”

Senator Grassley later asked, “If you were confirmed, would you rely on or cite international foreign law when deciding cases?”

Ms. Kagan’s response: “It depends. There are some cases in which the citation of foreign law or international law might be appropriate.” (Watch the hearings in their entirety online.)

We are concerned about Kagan citing foreign or international law as a Supreme Court justice because of the danger that could ensue if she ever cited the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) as precedent in a Supreme Court opinion. This treaty could severely limit parental rights. To learn more about why Kagan citing the CRC as a Supreme Court Justice would be dangerous please read “Will Elena Kagan use International Law as Supreme Court Justice?”

We encourage you to call your two U.S. senators and share with their staff your thoughts about Ms. Kagan’s confirmation. We expect that the full Senate will vote on Ms. Kagan's nomination in the next couple of weeks.

You can reach your two U.S. Senators by calling the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121, or toll-free at 866-220-0044. You can find your U.S. senators by using HSLDA’s Legislative Toolbox.

S. Res. 519 Introduced to Stop Ratification of CRC

S.Res.519 is a resolution to stop the Senate from ratifying the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This treaty would ultimately give a foreign body and a foreign document precedence over even our own constitution and undermines traditional US law regarding parents and children. Please take a moment to read the resolution and then visit ParentalRights.org to see if your Senator has already co-sponsored this legislation. If they have not please urge them to become one so that we may protect the sovereignty of our nation and to be governed by our own laws and our own citizens. That was the very principle that made us a nation, let us not lose sight of it now.

Children's Day for Parental Rights in Washington DC (Nov 20)

Parental rights supporters will hold a rally in Washington tomorrow, November 20, 2009. Since the United Nations has declared November 20th as "Universal Children's Day" they figured this would be the best day to send our message that we want to protect children by empowering their parents.

The rally will begin at 11:00am and will be held on the U.S. Capitol grounds (House side on the East Lawn, in front of the Library of Congress and on the Independence side of Cannon HOB.) Speakers include U.S. Representative Peter Hoekstra (MI), J. Michael Smith, President, Home School Legal Defense Association, Steven Groves, Bernard and Barbara Lomas Fellow, The Heritage Foundation among many others.

To learn more visit the Parentalrights.org Facebook Family Day Event page.

Mike Farris and Chuck Norris on Huckabee

Michael Farris and Chuck Norris talk to Huckabee about how parental rights are under attack. From the current health care bill in the Congress to cases before the Supreme Court, we need to be aware of how these rights are under attack.