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Power outage traps 180 people in Gateway Arch
April 21st, 2021 | Uncategorized |
Sunday, July 22, 2007
On Saturday at 8:45 p.m. (CST), a power outage due to equipment failure at the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri trapped 40 people in the two arch trams and 100 people in the observation center at the top of the Arch.
It took about two hours to evacuate the south tram after one of the nine cables supporting the tram car possibly snapped because of a power failure. The north side tram and people in the observation center had to walk down approximately 300 feet of steps to a freight elevator to be taken to the bottom of the Arch. They were met by anxious families who had been waiting for hours outside the Arch. Two people needed treatment for minor injuries.
The Gateway Arch will be back open Sunday with only the north tram operating. The National Park Service opened the Gateway Arch in 1966 and is one of the region’s most popular attractions.
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Microsoft extends warranty for all Xbox 360s
April 21st, 2021 | Uncategorized |
Saturday, December 23, 2006
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On December 22, 2006 Microsoft has announced that it has extended its warranty for all Xbox 360 video game consoles to one year in the United States. While this one year warranty applies to all Xbox 360 software as well, Xbox 360 accessories will still carry their original 90 day warranty.
According to a statement by Microsoft:
“Customers that experience hardware issues with their Xbox 360 within one year of purchase will have their consoles repaired at no cost. Moreover, the new warranty policy is retroactive, so consumers that may have already paid for out-of-warranty Xbox 360 repair within one year of the console’s purchase will be eligible for reimbursement of their console repair charges.”
This extension should help ease customers’ minds who have been concerned with the Xbox 360’s reputation for hardware failures. A partial list of hardware issues can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360_technical_problems
People who have paid for Xbox 360 repair will be automatically distributed a reimbursement check in about 10 weeks from the present date.
Previously in September, 2006, Microsoft had waived the cost for repairs on all Xbox 360 consoles made before January 1, 2006, and refunded any fees already paid.
A full description of the updated warranty can be found here: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/systemsetup/xbox360/resources/warranty.htm
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Thursday, September 25, 2008
A Louisiana representative has proposed a controversial solution to “generational welfare,” which would pay women on welfare to get sterilization. Republican John LaBruzzo said he thought of the idea because of his constituents’ outrage over paying for welfare.
“You have these people who are just fed up with working their buns off to try to provide for their own family and being forced by the government [to] provide for others’ families who just want to have unlimited kids”, he commented. He is currently working with Baton Rouge to gather data in support of his proposal.
The idea, which LaBruzzo has not finished forming, would award any woman on government assistance a check of $1,000 if she gets a tubal ligation operation. LaBruzzo is also considering rewarding sterilization in poor men and giving tax incentives for higher-income families to have more children.
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Is this proposal modern-day eugenics?
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LaBruzzo, who is pro-life, said that the people “on the other side of the political spectrum are pro-choice. Well, let’s give these people the ability to choose.”
While LaBruzzo has stated that he has received an outpouring of support over his idea, the ACLU spoke out against the proposal and called it a “meanspirited attempt to eliminate the poor.” Planned Parenthood representative Julie Mickelberry called it a “bribery”, suggesting a solution which attacked the root of the problem was needed and that the representative needed to “go back to addressing issues of education about unintended pregnancy and opening healthcare access.”
Sincethe beginnings of recorded history, there is evidence that manual pleasuring a healthy, natural activity in both men and women has been frowned upon, oreven downright forbidden, as an act that can cause physiological and/orspiritual damage. It is not the aim of this article to address the moral issuesrelated to self-pleasuring, as these are highly individualized. On the otherhand, many men have been exposed to an endless mythology about everything thatcan go wrong due to manual pleasuring, leading to feelings of guilt or fear inmen who engage in the practice. Here, some of these myths are addressed, withan explanation as to why they are simply not true; and in addition, we offersomemale organ caretips for keeping things healthy.
Myth#1: Manual pleasuring causes blindness
Theidea that self-stimulation can lead to loss of sight is centuries old. It islikely that this myth grew up around a need to discourage children fromexperimenting by threatening them with terrible consequences, but there is noscientific evidence linking the practice to blindness.
Myth#2: Manual pleasuring causes hair loss
Thisnotion may seem reasonable on a certain level. Self-stimulation, as well aspartner relations, is linked to increased levels of androgen, which are in turnlinked to male-pattern baldness. However, while theurgeto get off is linked to androgen, theact itself does not increase androgen levels in the blood, and therefore,arguing that self-pleasure causes baldness is misleading.
Myth#3: Manual pleasuring causes excessive hairgrowth
Thenotorious hair-on-the-palms rumor likely falls under the same category as theblindness myth. It is easy to see where a male would be discouraged fromexperimenting if he were afraid that the evidence would be plainly visible toeveryone. However, if this were the case, then most men would have hairy palms,and it is a safe bet that anyone reading this article would be among them.
Myth#4: Manual pleasuring causes infertility
Aswith the idea of hair loss, it might seem to make sense that spilling seedthrough manual pleasuring would lead to a loss of fertility. It is true thatright after release, a man will not have has many swimmers in the reservoirs,but the supply will quickly rebuild itself. In fact, the use it or lose itprinciple applies here, and men who do not take the opportunity to releaseevery so often may actually have fewer reproductive cells than those who takeadvantage of the occasional alone time.
Myth#5: Manual pleasuring causes weakness
Insome cultures, the release of male fluid (without the benefit of a femalepartner) is viewed as weakening a man, and those who do engage from time totime may believe that any feelings of fatigue or illness are related to theirexperimenting with self-pleasure. Again, no scientific link has ever been foundbetween weakness and manual pleasuring, so it is likely that any relatedphysiological problems are really all in an individuals head.
Caringfor the manhood and preventing manual pleasuring-related issues
Whilemanual pleasuring is certainly normal, and many of the stories told to preventmales from exploring their bodies simply are not grounded in fact, men canexperience some adverse side effects of self-pleasuring IFthey do not exercise some precautionsand engage in adequate male organ care.
Vigorousmanual stroking creates heat and friction, which can leave the skin feeling rawand chafed. Over time, this causes a thickened, protective layer of skin todevelop that can dull sensation and make it more difficult to experiencesensory pleasure. In addition, hard pulling or lying on a bed or pillow toself-stimulate creates a risk of bruising and other injury. In order to preventthese issues, a more gentle approach is recommended, and an appropriate lubricantshould be part of every session.
Toavoid friction injuries and reduce the risk of lost male organ sensation, ahigh qualitymale organ health creme(health professionals recommend Man1 Man Oil)can be applied tothe skin on a daily basis. Using a moisturizing, vitamin-rich cream as part ofthe daily male organ care regimen is a good way to improve overall male organhealth so that every experience solo or with a partner is more satisfyingand fulfilling.
Tuesday, June 30, 2020
Recently, Finnish open-source video game developer Perttu Ahola discussed Minetest, his “longest ever project”, with Wikinews.
Started in October 2010, Minetest was an attempt by Ahola to create a sandbox game similar to Minecraft. Minecraft is a multi-platform commercial game, which was in alpha version when Ahola challenged himself to create something similar to it from scratch, he told Wikinews.
Minetest is an open-source game, which is free for anyone to download and play. It is written in the C++ programming language, and the source code is available on code-hosting site GitHub. According to Ahola, Minetest attempts to run on older hardware, with limited graphics, but to be accessible to more people: those who have outdated technology, and making it available for no cost. Minecraft, on the other hand, is a paid game, currently costing USD 26.95 for its computer version. Minecraft is currently owned by Microsoft, and performs poorly on older hardware.
A correspondent from French Wikinews contacted Perttu Ahola via Internet Relay Chat a few weeks ago, discussing Minecraft. This interview is built on top of the previous interview, as we take a deeper dive into knowing more about this free game which is about to turn ten years old in a few months.
A compilation of brief news reports for Wednesday, September 3, 2008.
The United States military has handed Anbar province, once the centre of Iraq’s Sunni insurgency, to Iraqi control at a ceremony in the provincial capital. For Iraqi politics, the Anbar handover is especially meaningful because the Shiite-dominated Iraq military will now provide security in a largely Sunni province. Anbar is the eleventh of 18 provinces that the coalition has returned to Iraqi control, but it is the first Sunni province. President George W. Bush said that “Today, Anbar is no longer lost to al-Qaeda, it is al-Qaeda that lost Anbar.”
Sources
- Patrick Cockburn. “US hands control of Anbar province to Iraqi military” — The Independent, September 2, 2008
- “Victory in Anbar” — The Wall Street Journal, September 2, 2008
- “US hands over key Iraq province” — BBC News Online, September 1, 2008
Stanford University has developed an artificial intelligence software that allows their model helicopters to learn complex aerial acrobatics simply by “watching” a human. The human controlled helicopter is monitored by a variety of sensors which funnel all the data into the AI software. Once the acrobatic trick has been repeated a few times, the computer analyzes the data. It is then capable of repeating, with greater accuracy than the human controller, the acrobatics. This system allows the helicopters to preform aerial maneuvers far more complicated than previously possible.
Sources
- “‘Autonomous’ Helicopters Teach Themselves To Fly” — Science Daily, September 2, 2008
- Dan Stober. “Stanford’s “autonomous” helicopters teach themselves to fly” — Stanford News Service, August 29, 2008
A Malaysian man, who was about to be engaged, attempted to use a nut to weigh down and elongate his penis. Once he got an erection, the nut became stuck and he was unable to remove it. He sought treatment at a local hospital where they were able to remove it. He is expected to be released from the hospital shortly.
Sources
- “Malaysian man gets nut stuck in delicate place” — China Daily, September 2, 2008
- AFP. “Malaysian man gets nut stuck in delicate place: report” — Yahoo! News, August 31, 2008
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This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.
Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.
Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.
Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age. |
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
| This article mentions the Wikimedia Foundation, one of its projects, or people related to it. Wikinews is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation. |
Wikimania is an annual conference for users, developers and other people involved in the wiki projects operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. It is held yearly since 2005. The first conference was held in Frankfurt, Germany, on August 4-8, 2005. The second one was held in Boston, USA (on August 4-6, 2006), the third one was held in Taipei, Taiwan (on August 3-5, 2007), the fourth Wikimania was held in Alexandria, Egypt (on July 17-19, 2008) and Wikimania 2009 will be held in Buenos Aires.
Melbourne, Daytona Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Gda?sk, Montpellier and Oxford are among current unofficial Wikimania 2010 bids. Below is Wikinews‘ conversation with the Gda?sk bid promoter and initiator, Wojciech P?dzich.
Wikipedians from Tricity are involved in the process of making an offer, which will give Poland a chance of organizing a world-wide conference of Wikimedia Foundation, Wikimania 2010. Among the competing cities are Washington, D.C., Rio de Janeiro, and Oxford. This year the conference was held in Alexandria, Egypt, where the famous Library of Alexandria is located. Does Gda?sk stand a chance among such known cities?
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Poland is still an interesting, unknown, and a cheap-to-visit country |
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Wojciech P?dzich: Because of Wikimania continental rotation, Australian and European bids have the biggest chances in 2010. Australian, because they have not hosted Wikimania yet, and Europe, because the first Wikimania was held in Frankfurt back in 2005. Do we have a chance among other European cities’ proposals? Poland is still an interesting, unknown, and a cheap-to-visit country with a comprehensive list of countries from which their members can visit Poland without requirement of having a visa. We propose the conference to be held inside two adjacent buildings – Polish Baltic Philharmonic and the Polish Maritime Museum buildings, located just few steps from Long Market at the city’s centre. Yes, I do think that our offer will be attractive and will give us a real chance of organizing the Wikimania 2010 in grad upon Mot?awa.
((WN)) The tagline of your proposal is Gda?sk – the city of freedom. Could you tell us, why do you promote yourself with this line?
- Gda?sk is associated by many with freedom, with its political impact. On the other hand, we have the Wikimedia Foundation and its values of sharing knowledge created freely by volunteers. A conjunction of a cosmopolitan city with strong revolutionary and liberal inclinations and a world-wide free culture is in this case, kind of, natural.
((WN)) How many are involved into creating a proposal? Poland is relatively small country. Are you sure you will be able to guarantee the efficiency of conference, if your proposal wins?
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We can say we have a great community potential here. |
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- Poland is not exactly small – of course we cannot be compared to the USA, India, or China, but we are not a small country either. Let’s remember that according to the old way of presenting the Wikipedia language editions’ ranking, we were the fourth edition. Even after committing a change to this ranking system, we are still in the first ten. Therefore, we can say we have a great community potential here. Moreover, other Polish Wikimedia projects also place themselves within first tens of respective projects.
- Speaking about people involved – so far we have only few, and sometimes I lament about that. Every next person is a possibility of sending few mails, talking with other people, additional pair of eyes looking at the offer, some ideas, contacts, knowledge. That’s why Patrol110 has spammed Pomeranian Wikipedians, so they could get involved, and so am I giving a weight to this: we need more people. Especially if our offer will win, but then I believe in another famous Polish “national spurt”.
((WN)) Were there, in Gda?sk, already some world-wide conferences? Did the city manage to organize them?
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I do have a hope that we will get a world-wide coverage thanks to the Wikimania |
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- On December 5 and 6, 2008, the 25th anniversary of awarding president Lech Wa??sa with Nobel Peace Prize was held. Furthermore, it was held inter alia inside the Polish Baltic Philharmonic, which we propose as a place of the Wikimania 2010 conference. It was an event with over one thousand attendants from all over the world, and the city, in my humble opinion, did manage to organize this very well. The mayor of the city, Pawe? Adamowicz, has confirmed it, by saying After successful celebrations of 25th anniversary of awarding Lech Wa??sa with the Nobel Peace Prize we see that we can organize big events. […] O?owianka does its job as a big congressional place perfectly. […] Gda?sk will, once again, get a world-wide coverage in Dziennik Ba?tycki interview. I do have a hope that we will get a world-wide coverage thanks to the Wikimania.
- The City organizes a lot of cultural and trade events. There are Gda?sk International Fair, St. Dominik Fair, Shakespeare Festival, Good Humor Festival. We should also not forget other parts of the Tricity: Sopot and Gdynia which are also rich in cultural events.
((WN)) Lately Poland tried to get a bid for the European Institute of Innovation and Technology and Euro 2012. Both actions have brought a large government support. How is it this time?
- We’ve contacted the city’s authorities. After a meeting with representatives of the Mayor’s Promotion and Chancellery Department we have got assurance about supporting our actions, what was confirmed by Mayor’s letter sent to us. The representatives assure us about their support all the time. They even have made an initial reservation of both buildings for July 9-11, 2010. They also offer an organizational support, which will be extremely important in case or city is chosen.
((WN)) Poland is a part of the European Union. What about Wikimedians, who are inhabitants of countries requiring a visa?
- As I stated before, the list of countries, which citizens are not required to have a visa when entering Poland for 90 days is pretty long[1], and it does not restrict to Schengen Agreement participants. Long list of Polish missions abroad[2] and freely available Visa application form [3] should allow easy access to Poland for other countries citizens.
((WN)) Information about Gda?sk application to host Wikimania started to appear in local media. What is local community reaction to this idea?
- One can see it in the comments to the articles. Those that do not like Gda?sk in general are slightly against but most is for the idea. There are also people and organisations declaring help – I’ve got already some mails from potential supporters.
((WN)) As you said before some people are objecting, probably not knowing possible benefits. How will Gda?sk and it’s inhabitants benefit?
- In addition of prestige, as we are talking about international event run by the organisation managing a flagship of Free Culture movement, world’s focus, city presence in world’s media, the conference will cause a money influx, new guests who can decide whether to come back to the city or suggest visiting it to their friends. We try not to make any troubles to city inhabitants, hoping that a conference held in one place will not paralyse the whole city.
((WN)) Many possible visitors are not able to cover the cost of travel to Wikimania. What about organizers sponsorship?
- It will depend on talks with companies willing to be sponsors. But I do not imagine leaving such requests unanswered.
((WN)) Wikimania is not only lectures, but also a possibility for long night talks with participants from other countries. How does Gda?sk’s night-life looks like?
- There are plenty of places where you can meet and talk with each other. You can see it in a draft offer where one can see hundreds of places where you can talk while eating and drinking. Proximity of Old Town invites for a walk through streets with a wonderful and unmatched atmosphere, you can only feel by yourself.
((WN)) English is the language of Wikimania. Will the attendants be able to communicate with employees of restaurants, clubs, shops, etc.?
- Personally, I encountered the shop assistant, who couldn’t sell the product to foreign people only once; also just once I saw a rough translation of “polska kuchnia” as “Polish kitchen” instead of “Polish cuisine”. The Poles are able to communicate in English, I saw their communicativeness by teaching adults English for seven years. Most of menus and other informations in Old City’s venues are translated into English and German, and the waiters know English at a level, which allows the customers to get a trouble-free service.
File:Wpedzich z synkiem.jpg
Wojciech P?dzich (b. 1979) – comes from Szczytno, graduate of English linguistics in 2001, inhabitant of Gda?sk since 2001. Except of husband and father’s roles, an employee of the Purchase Department in a power hydraulics company. Involved in Wikimedia projects since December 2006, in the beginning as a translator of articles and guidelines for Polish Wikipedia, then the administrator of the project, a member of the first Arbitration Committee Board in Polish Wikipedia. Wikimedia projects’ steward since December 2007, member of the Wikimedia Polska Association. One of the initiators of Gda?sk Wikimania 2010 bid proposal.
The Pros and Cons of a Separation during Marriage Counseling
by
Dr. Jo
Short Separation as a Marriage Counseling Tactic
Can a marital separation save a marriage? Usually my opinion is: it depends
Whether the separation will help or hurt the marriage is unknown, unless you know the couple, have listened to them and assessed their mental state. Needless to say, a professional marriage counselor should feed-back his or her gained impression to the couple. Since the outcome could go either way, depending on what each of them really wants, this tactic should be an important topic during the marriage counseling sessions.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9CraDqP3_k[/youtube]
As a Psychologist who practices as a Marriage Counselor as well as a Life Coach and professional Relationship Advice provider I may quickly support a separation, for example when one spouse is living in an intolerable situation in the marriage. Perhaps one partner is verbally abusive, chronically has affairs, or shows continued disrespect towards his or her spouse in some other way. A number of couples are miserable living together and can t seem to co-exist without continuous arguing. Living apart can help each partner to better use their emotional strengths and problem solving skills. In situations like this, a separation can sometimes save the marriage.
But fortunately enough, these are not the majority of cases I have encountered; which result in more complexities for me, as the professional counselor. The main issue is the motivation and the attitude of each partner: does each spouse want the marriage to work? Is there a strong willingness to seek marriage counseling and work on the problems and issues while they are separated? Does the couple in this situation plan to use this separation period to let the dust settle, and reflect on the marriage but taking responsibility for their part, and work with me on their individual and joint issues?
Sometimes the serious problems that the couple present and share are only a cover-up for more deeper and underlying issues: unfulfilled desires and a lack of trust for a better future. When there is a hidden desire to split apart, or try living under an alternative roof and relationship, a split could be a one-way ticket from renewing the marriage. There is therefore a need to use this simple test detector apparatus: Do both spouses agree not to date anyone else? Do both commit to improve their marriage only?
A separation can be a time of healing, gaining strength and adding social resources to build new ties. Conversely living apart will allow each to pursue alternative relationships in which distance detachment and distance prevails while this period of trial for a better luck continues.
Does it mean that a free zone arrangement is the beginning of the end of the relationship? NO.
Human behavior is often as you see on the dance floor: two steps forward, one back, and then turn. It could be that one spouse or even both want to use the separation to build new relationships. Once they are on their own, they grow emotionally stronger, more independent but at the same time more in touch with their weaknesses. Each can now have a clearer perspective about their past negative contributions. Reconciliation in such cases is quick, meaningful and usually long lasting.
To summarize my Marriage Counseling advice: once you use a temporary split as a tool to heal your marriage: 1. Set a tentative time period for the separation; three, six, nine or twelve months, but no longer. 2. At three month intervals, set a time to meet and re-evaluate the decision to separate. 3. Agree to seek individual and joint counseling during the separation. 4. Set clear guidelines about how much contact you ll have with each other during the separation; the less the better.
Dr. Joseph Abraham, Director, Center for Human Growth and Business Insights, Mechanicsburg, PA Tel 717-943.0959 Online Psychologist and Life Coach: Marriage Counseling, Relationship Advice and Management Consulting.
Online Counseling
and
Small Business Advice
Article Source:
The Pros and Cons of a Separation during Marriage Counseling
Tuesday, June 30, 2020
Recently, Finnish open-source video game developer Perttu Ahola discussed Minetest, his “longest ever project”, with Wikinews.
Started in October 2010, Minetest was an attempt by Ahola to create a sandbox game similar to Minecraft. Minecraft is a multi-platform commercial game, which was in alpha version when Ahola challenged himself to create something similar to it from scratch, he told Wikinews.
Minetest is an open-source game, which is free for anyone to download and play. It is written in the C++ programming language, and the source code is available on code-hosting site GitHub. According to Ahola, Minetest attempts to run on older hardware, with limited graphics, but to be accessible to more people: those who have outdated technology, and making it available for no cost. Minecraft, on the other hand, is a paid game, currently costing USD 26.95 for its computer version. Minecraft is currently owned by Microsoft, and performs poorly on older hardware.
A correspondent from French Wikinews contacted Perttu Ahola via Internet Relay Chat a few weeks ago, discussing Minecraft. This interview is built on top of the previous interview, as we take a deeper dive into knowing more about this free game which is about to turn ten years old in a few months.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Scientology is facing renewed criticism, due to an extensive exposé in the Florida newspaper the St. Petersburg Times which contains revealing accounts of women involved in the organization who say they were forced to have abortions. Multiple different female members of the Scientology group called the Sea Org said they were pressured to have abortions, and were threatened with separation from their families, hard labor, interrogations, and shunning, if they did not comply.
Women that came forward to the St. Petersburg Times said that those who did not wish to undergo an abortion were shunned by others within the Sea Org group, and were labeled as “out ethics” and “degraded beings”. The Sea Org consists of 6,000 members of Scientology, who sign billion-year contracts to work for the organization for multiple lifetimes. Joining the Sea Org is considered a high calling within Scientology.
L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, stated his appreciation for families within the Sea Org. Scientology’s subsequent leader, David Miscavige, issued an order that children were to be banned in the Sea Org. The mandate by Miscavige asserted that children hampered the productivity of the Scientology order.
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There is no church policy to convince anyone to have an abortion, and the church has never engaged in such activity. |
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Scientology representative, Tommy Davis denied all of the assertions made by the women. “There is no church policy to convince anyone to have an abortion, and the church has never engaged in such activity. The decision to have a child or terminate a pregnancy is a personal decision made by a couple. That applies to all Scientologists. If any current or former Sea Org member ever ‘pressured’ someone to have an abortion, they did so independently, and that action was not approved, endorsed or advocated by the church,” stated Davis to the St. Petersburg Times.
Another woman is suing the Scientology organization in United States federal court, and stated she was threatened with severe repercussions if she did not have an abortion. Claire Headley, 35, a member of the Sea Org when she was in Scientology, told the St. Petersburg Times, “The policy was if a staff member became pregnant, that they were to have an abortion.”
In 1991, Headley became a member of the Sea Org at age sixteen, and began work with the division of the organization in Los Angeles, California. She married at age seventeen, while a member of the organization. Headley said that officials within Scientology leadership pressured her to have two abortions: one at age nineteen, and another at age 21. Headley believed she had “no choice”, as she had witnessed other women that refused to have abortions instructed to perform manual labor, with one pregnant woman ordered to dig ditches. Headley said that during pressure to have her second abortion she was forbidden to phone her husband to discuss the decision. She spent a total of thirteen years in the Sea Org.
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The policy was if a staff member became pregnant, that they were to have an abortion. |
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Laura Dieckman, 31, said that she was enthusiastic about beginning a family when she became pregnant within Scientology at age seventeen, but was instructed to have an abortion. In a federal lawsuit against Scientology, Dieckman stated she joined with the Sea Org at the age of twelve, and at age sixteen she married another member of the group, Jesse DeCrescenzo. She said she was pressured to have an abortion in 1996.
Dieckman said to the St. Petersburg Times: “I was pounded for two days by the top person in my organization … about how the baby wasn’t a baby yet, it was just tissue and it wouldn’t matter if I aborted the baby.” Dieckman left Scientology in 2004. In a video posted to the website of the St. Petersburg Times, Dieckman emotionally recounted how she had immediately regretted going through with the procedure, “They will do an ultrasound before the procedure so you see the heartbeat. … I’m lying there … and I was like, ‘No.’ But it’s too late. I’d already done it.”
Natalie Hagemo said that 20 years ago at age nineteen, she was pressured by Scientology officials to have an abortion, but she resisted. Hagemo gave birth to Shelby on August 20, 1990. Hagemo’s daughter was recruited into the Sea Org at age 14. Shelby contacted her mother a week later wanting to leave the Sea Org; Hagemo had a difficult time getting Shelby out of the group. It was not until this year that Hagemo told her daughter about experiencing pressure from Scientology officials to have an abortion.
The St. Petersburg Times received sworn depositions from additional women including Sunny Pereira, who said they were intimidated into having abortions they did not wish to undergo. “They put you in this position where you’re weighing the lives of all these people you’re supposed to be saving against this one little tiny speck of nuisance that’s growing inside of you,” said Pereira. Spokesman Tommy Davis stated the women were accusing Scientology of forced abortions because of choices they now “appear to regret”.
In Nevada, Republican party candidate for the United States Senate, Sharron Angle, was the focus of criticism for her support of a Scientology-associated program. Angle’s opponent, incumbent Senator and Senate Majority Leader Democrat Harry Reid, took out a 30-second negative political ad critical of Angle for supporting “a Scientology plan to give massages to prisoners”. The prison program Angle had supported was based on techniques developed by Scientology founder, L. Ron Hubbard. Angle had previously been the subject of a similar ad in the Republican primary, generated by the campaign of her opponent Sue Lowden. Sharron Angle is pro-life, and The New York Times columnist Ramesh Ponnuru noted her position against abortion helped her win the Republican primary. “Angle would not have been able to unite populist conservatives and beat the party establishment’s candidate had she been pro-choice,” noted Ponnuru.