The RECORD

HONEST THINGS ARE DISCUSSED OPENLY

"For the king knoweth of these things, before whom also I speak freely: for I am persuaded that none of these things are hidden from him; for this thing was not done in a corner."

(Acts 26:26)

QUOTATIONS FOR THE DAY

"And if, to be sure, sometimes you need to conceal a fact with words, do it in such a way that it does not become known, or, if it does become known, that you have a ready and quick defense."

(Machiavelli)

"We endeavor to conceal our vices under the disguise of the opposite virtues."

(Henry Fielding)

"Some frauds succeed from the apparent candor, the open confidence, and the full blaze of ingenuousness that is thrown around them. The slightest mystery would excite suspicion and ruin all. Such stratagems may be compared to the stars; they are discoverable by darkness and hidden only by light."

(Charles Caleb Colton)

WESTBROOK SCHOOLS DRAW CURTAIN OF SECRECY
AROUND PROPOSED SEX ED CHANGES

The following is the text of a press release issued yesterday by the Christian Civic League of Maine on the proposed sex education curriculum changes in Westbrook. The parent referred to in the article was banned from sending e-mails to teachers and staff members of the Westbrook schools after he sent each of them a RECORD article critical of the proposed curriculum changes.

The Christian Civic League believes that no principle is more important to a democratic society than the principle that the actions of public officials should be conducted openly and with the complete knowledge of the public. Similarly, nothing is more import to parents than the welfare and safety of their children. For that reason, the Christian Civic League of Maine deplores the efforts of the Westbrook School Department to rush through a vote on proposed sex education curriculum changes before the parents of Westbrook have an opportunity to learn the origin and purpose of the proposed changes.

The proposed changes to the sex education curriculum are currently the subject of a Freedom of Access Act request by the Christian Civic League. Another Freedom of Access Act request by a concerned Westbrook parent has revealed that the proposed curriculum changes are in their entirety the product of the New York-based group SIECUS, and are not the product of consultation with the Westbrook community, as the school administration would have parents believe.

SIECUS, or the Sex Information and Education Council of the United States, was co-founded by Lester Kirkendall and Mary Calderone in 1964. Calderone, who had been the Medical Director of Planned Parenthood, then became the first Executive Director of SIECUS. Kirkendall also served as the Vice President of the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists (AASECT), and was a founding member of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sex (SSSS). SIECUS was in fact created by the Kinsey Institute with the goal of serving as a vehicle for Alfred Kinsey's theories about sex. Wardell Pomeroy, Kinsey's co-author on many books, served on the founding board of SIECUS.

According to a report in the Washington Times, SIECUS has published articles advocating various bizarre forms of sexual liberation, including a SIECUS Report which suggested "abolishing the taboo against sex among nine-year olds." The same article asked if prostitutes should be obtained for teenagers who are unable to find sex partners for themselves. According to the Washington Times, another SIECUS Report asked if it wasn't time for society to re-examine the taboo against incest.*

In April, the League filed a Freedom of Access request asking for copies of all documents between the school and such organizations as SIECUS, Planned Parenthood, and the like. In a review of documents released to the League under a Freedom of Access Act request on May 5th, the League learned of at least one document between the school and Planned Parenthood which was withheld from the League.

The final vote on the proposed changes was moved from June 5th to May 24th, precluding any chance that the League would have the documents needed for a thorough review of the contacts between the school, SIECUS, Planned Parenthood, and other such organizations. Similarly, the League requested copies of all documents between the school and any gay rights organization. None were released to the League.

Other actions of the Westbrook School Department prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the school is intent on drawing an impenetrable curtain of secrecy around the entire issue. The school recently blocked the e-mails of a concerned parent who attempted to e-mail an article critical of the Curriculum Committee to the staff of the school. This same parent was prevented from speaking in a public meeting about the ideas of a Westbrook teacher who enjoys a world-wide reputation as a proponent of the teachings of Wilhelm Reich, the father of the sexual liberation movement. The Westbrook teacher currently runs a website which contains a section "The Sexual and Sensual Rights of Infants and Children" on which is posted a review of a book which advocates lowering the age of consent to twelve. The teacher subsequently posted a disclaimer repudiating this idea.

As the League was pursuing Freedom of Access Act requests for documents, it was learned that the statistics on teen pregnancy which were offered as the justification for the proposed changes were plainly erroneous. Contrary to the assertion of the School's Health Coordinator -- a former Lesbian activist -- that teen pregnancies are on the rise in Westbrook, the statistics show the exact opposite, that teen pregnancy rates are declining sharply.

Thus it becomes clear that the Westbrook School Department is not only intent on rubber-stamping the SIECUS proposals, but that the Curriculum Committee intends to adopt these proposals despite the fact that they are fully aware the proposals are based on a blatantly false premise.

The League deplores the attempt by the Westbrook School Department to promote the destructive hidden agenda of SIECUS, while cynically disguising the recommendations of this outside group as a grassroots, community effort.

*Article by Robert Rector, "The War Against Abstinence" published in The Washington Times, April 19, 2005.

GONE WITH THE WIND?

RON HOWARD'S " THE DA VINCI CODE"
FAILS TO LIVE UP TO EXPECTATIONS

Pro-life activist Terry Hughes offers his thoughts on the lackluster opening of The Da Vinci Code in the following insightful column.

The word is out. The Da Vinci Code is bombing at the Box Office. Here's my take on the whole thing. Hollywood has been smarting ever since Mel Gibson made a fortune on The Passion of the Christ, which none of the Hollywood moguls would finance. I saw it three times, and it succeeded for two reasons.

First, it was marketed ingeniously, playing on the controversy, and courting the vast Evangelical Christian community to lock up early showings in churches and in group showings at selected theaters.

Second, it was a gripping story which compressed into three hours the last fifteen or so hours in Our Lord's life. Every minute was packed with action and drama, but intensified, since it was all shown in three hours. It was a true story about the most remarkable Man in human history, on the most important mission in human history.

Most Americans were already familiar with the story, and in love with the main character. People were intensely curious about how Mel Gibson would tell the story, and how it would "play" with actors speaking only Aramaic and Latin. It really was an unbeatable formula. It couldn't fail. And it didn't. It far exceeded all expectations.

Since then Hollywood has been smarting from the "scourging" Mel Gibson administered, having to endure the enthusiastic public acceptance of what it loathed the most. Snubbing The Passion at the Oscars wasn't enough. They had to expose the "lie" of Jesus Christ --even if they had to tell more and bigger lies themselves.

That's when the moguls took close notice of the forty million copies sold of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. Here was a book pushing the view that Jesus Christ was a fake, not the Son of God, just an ordinary rabbi who consorted with a prostitute and sired a daughter by her, thereby starting a line of corrupt Earthly rulers in Medieval Europe. Christianity was invented by a Roman Emperor who turned the memory of Jesus into a Christ he never was for the self-serving purpose of trying to revitalize a corrupt and dying Empire.

The church Constantine founded was led by people who were in on the conspiracy from the beginning, and to keep the deception from getting out, they used secret societies, from the Knights Templar in medieval times, to Opus Dei today - names which, by their very sound, invoke vague images of intrigue, secrecy, and, yes, murder. Nothing you can ever pin down, mind you, but true just the same.

To sustain that image, Ron Howard filmed most his scenes at night in dark corridors where people met only to hatch plots or uncover plots hatched long ago, all of it designed to invoke images reminiscent of "Jesuits who are forever gliding behind curtains and hiding in cabinets," to quote the vivid words of G. K. Chesterton on that subject.

Fascinating as this was to Howard, today's moviegoer, who is used to fast-paced action films, found all this meticulous detective drudgery by a geriatric-looking Tom Hanks too far-removed from the refreshing innocence of Forest Gump, and simply too boring.

Hollywood moguls and their Sony financiers thought they had an unbeatable team in Ron Howard and Tom Hanks. Most Americans still remember Howard as fresh-faced Richie Cunningham, an appealing teenager who -- the Moguls were fully aware -- never had to read one line of script that even hinted he had any Christian sympathies or loyalties. They saw Hanks as a box office draw of mythic stature with an unbroken string of financial and artistic acting triumphs, now cast in a role as win-win as casting Clark Gable to play Rhett Butler in Gone With the Wind.

And that's the epitaph being written of The Da Vinci Code even after its opening week - Gone with the Wind.

And here is another epitaph: God is not mocked. -- by Terry Hughes

BREAKING NEWS: First Hand Report from Westbrook Sex Education Meeting Held Last Night

George Rodriguez is the loving father of four who has been battling the lesbian activist who heads the sex education program for the Westbrook MIDDLE School. George and his wife attended the Curriculum Committee meeting last night and testified. Here is his report from the meeting as posted to the online website, As Maine Goes.

The Westbrook train has left the station. The Curriculum Committee voted unanimously tonight to adopt the state endorsed SIECUS and Planned Parenthood curriculum. This occurred despite strong opposition from parents present.

Sandy Hale (the lesbian activist) was asked to clarify what was meant by the "types of families" to be taught in Kindergarten. Her response was that these would include: Single Parents, Traditional Couples, Same Sex Couples and others such as kids living with grandparents.

Congrats to Maine Lesbian Gay Political Action -- Your victory last November has moved quickly into the Kindergarten.

Also in Kindergarten, kids will learn about body fluids, but no mention of feces. (Note: Those who enjoy anal intercourse hate to teach anything bad about feces.)

The committee declined to even answer on the record whether abstinence education under federal guidelines was even considered. We know from FOA that materials were delivered to the facilitators, but withheld from the committee. With the cameras rolling, the question was ignored.

The entire event tonight was well controlled and all parental suggestions were expertly rejected. Rejected ideas included: consideration of abstinence education that meets federal standards, and opt-in rather than opt-out.

The Westbrook locomotive is gathering steam and will be passing through the School Board on Wednesday. A shameful example of partisan power politics. The kids will suffer and Westbrook will carry another divisive political sore.

The best received new idea was offered by my wife. She requested that the school send home a form with three options for parents to decide: comprehensive, abstinence, and opt-out. Many heads nodded, it looked like it might get consideration, but the chair was prepared and smoothly killed this proposal.

I presented the accurate teen pregnancy statistics, Sandy Hale rebutted with inaccuracies, and the event was structured so that no rebuttal or follow up was allowed. So, I had the option of sitting silently in the face of factual untruths, or being ruled out of order.