In what came as a shock to some, U.S. First Lady Laura Bush promoted condom use “every time” in the pages of the Washington Post on Dec. 1. Writing on World AIDS Day, Bush urged: “Practise safe sex,” and advocated the “correct and consistent use of condoms” which, she said, “means not just occasionally, but every time.”

{mosimage}Pope Benedict XVI told members of the International Theological Commission, in an October address, that the natural law must be the foundation of democracy, so that those in power are not given the chance to determine what is good or evil.

 
The countdown is on for my eldest daughter’s mission trip. It’s only a few weeks away now. She’ll be travelling to the Dominican Republic to build housing as part of the Dominican Republic Education and Medical Supplies (D.R.E.A.M.S.) project. This is her high school’s second year participating.

{mosimage}Many people are filled with joyful anticipation and festive good cheer right now. But some are apprehensive and may also experience heightened feelings of loneliness as Christmas approaches. Or perhaps they feel empty inside.

There may be a large found within the media coverage of Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical on hope and the holding of the first International Symposium on Euthanasia in Toronto at the beginning of December. The first received paltry, pro forma coverage, the other almost none and the obvious links between the two were scarcely noted.

Afghanistan leads the news these days and for good reason. But the fixation on the question of whether our troops should remain or come home has obscured the most important objective of Canada’s presence — namely, supporting the struggle of the Afghan people to live in peace with decent living conditions. 

All of England appears to be waiting for confirmation that its former prime minister has at last crossed the Tiber. Given that if the average Brit had a choice between going to Westminster Abbey for Evensong or dropping by Leicester Square for a bit of celebrity gazing there would be no choice, the pending conversion of Tony Blair as a news item of national interest does appear at first blush to be surprising.

It’s been several weeks since we turned back the clocks, ending daylight savings time, but I’m still adjusting. It feels particularly strange to drive home from work in the dark. I much prefer being out and about during daylightot hours; I have more energy and I feel safer, too.

On Christmas afternoon, Hope, my five-year-old, will carefully deliver baby Jesus to grandma’s Christmas manger. Mom and dad have had their manger for as long as I can remember. It appears every year in early December and takes up its position of prominence on the end table in the living room.

Journalism is not really about objectivity or neutrality. There are biases in the choice of story, biases in perspective, biases in the way we do stories, especially the language we use.