We’re working to build a new online home for the Fairfax Family Forum using Google Sites.  Hopefully this will be more functional with an online calendar and document library, etc.  Please let us know if you have any feedback or suggestions!  Check out the developing site at www.fairfaxfamilyforum.org.

In the world of Web 2.0 and social networking, there are tons of great resources to keep up to date and engaged. The Family Foundation has been getting more involved in this realm with their own twitter feed and blog. So, if you have a Windows Mobile smartphone you’ll want to download a twitter client to keep up to date with the latest happenings in Fairfax, Richmond and around the Commonwealth! One great client is Twikini. This Windows Mobile software is simply one of the best out there and enables all kinds of functionality. Through its simple interface you can post “tweets,” send direct messages, open web-pages linked in others tweets, and much much more. We here at the FFF hope to use Twitter to keep Fairfax citizens informed and involved, so if you have a Windows Mobile device you’ll want to check out Twikini! A screenshot of Twikini is below:

On this Independence Day weekend, Lon Solomon, pastor of McLean Bible Church, gave a sermon on how Christians and the church can help America. You can find the audio for the sermon on the church’s archives under July 5, 2009. Worth listening to as we celebrate our great nation’s 233rd birthday!

Today the DMV went live with the online order form for the new Choose Life license plates we’ve been involved in bringing about. Please consider ordering this colorful new pro-life license plate. Once we exceed 1,000 plates across the Commonwealth (which should be soon seeing as we had nearly half that many sign up before they were even printed) $15 of the $25 annual fee will go to support non-profit pro-life adoption providers.

Head on over to the DMV website today to sign up!

Great quote via the Family Foundation blog, pulled from the recent 4th Circuit Court decision upholding Virginia’s partial-birth infanticide ban the pro-abortion community was aggressively trying to nullify.

In yesterday’s decision handed down by the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals upholding Virginia’s ban on partial-birth abortion/infanticide, Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson had this to say in his concurring opinion:

“Perhaps fine art, great invention, sustained prosperity, or enhanced longevity mark the quality of civilized life. Perhaps, I say, because there must be something more. How a society treats its most vulnerable members may do more than grandiosity to shape its lasting worth. A partially born child is among the weakest, most helpless beings in our midst and on that account exerts a special claim on our protection. So we can talk at length about facial challenges and as-applied challenges, and “standard D&E” procedures and “intact D&E” procedures, and “anatomical landmarks,” and “disarticulation,” and “fetal demise.” And we can deploy this terminology to disguise what is happening, in the name of our founding document no less.

The future, however, will not be similarly misled. The fact is that we-civilized people-are retreating to the haven of our Constitution to justify dismembering a partly born child and crushing its skull. Surely centuries hence, people will look back on this gruesome practice done in the name of fundamental law by a society of high achievement. And they will shudder.

One can only pray that he is right.

Very comprehensive, check it out here. He rationally deals with common objections and truly advances the discussion.

Great article today on LifeNews.com discussing the impact of Virginia’s gubernatorial contest on the life issue.  Here’s a clip:

The race will receive national attention and pro-life advocates will be hoping for a McDonnell victory to help prove that they can win back Virginia from President Barack Obama, who came away with the state last year.
McDonnell has long had a strong relationship with the pro-life movement and the head of the state pro-life group in Virginia told LifeNews.com her organization will support him.

Olivia Gans, the president of the Virginia Society for Human Life, says the group is “proud to support Bob McDonnell in his bid for the governorship of Virginia.”

“As Attorney General he has been a steadfast and vocal supporter of the rights of the unborn as well as protection for women from unscrupulous abortionists,” Gans said. “He is an articulate leader on the full range of pro-life issues in Virginia and the nation.”

Gans said McDonnell’s office has spared no effort in defending the Virginia partial-birth abortion ban, which pro-abortion groups took to court. The measure is currently before the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.

“Pro-life Virginians have been fortunate to work alongside Attorney General McDonnell since his days in the Virginia House of Delegates and look forward to continuing to work with him as governor,” Gans added.

There is certainly a clear contrast when it comes to protecting the lives of the most innocent and vulnerable among us.

Check out Dr. Wilcox’s latest Wall Street Journal opinion article on pregnancy and marriage, found here.  The whole thing is worth reading, but here is a little taste:

So what is driving the upward spike in nonmarital childbearing? Some groups, such as the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, have been focusing on contraceptive failures among young adults. It is true that most nonmarital pregnancies are unintended. But the percentage of unmarried, sexually active women who have been using contraception has increased significantly over the past four decades, according to a study by the National Center for Health Statistics.

Here are three more likely explanations: First, young Americans have been postponing marriage, but they are not postponing sex and cohabitation. Indeed, my own research indicates that cohabiting couples are much more likely to get pregnant than couples who do not live together. Second, working-class and poor men have seen their real wages fall since the early 1970s, which makes them less attractive as husbands to their girlfriends and to the mothers of their children. This also helps explain why nonmarital childbearing is concentrated among blacks, Latinos, and working-class and poor whites.

Third, the meaning of marriage in the U. S. has changed over the past 40 years. As sociologist Andrew Cherlin has noted, marriage used to be the “foundation” for adulthood, sex, intimacy and childbearing. Now, marriage is viewed by many Americans as a “capstone” that signals that a couple has arrived — financially, professionally and emotionally.

From Supervisor Herrity’s April e-newsletter:

Raising Awareness of the Serious Dangers of “Sexting” to Our Youth 

 

On May 13 Delegate Dave Albo, the Fairfax County Police Department and I will be hosting a Town Hall Meeting to raise the public’s awareness of the very real dangers of the recent phenomenon of “sexting” (the sending or receiving of nude or semi-nude photographs via cell phone message). I would like to invite all interested persons to the meeting which will take place at 7 pm, in the Cafeteria of the West Springfield High School, 6100 Rolling Road in Springfield.

 

“Sexting” is here. It is destroying lives. Because the distribution or possession of child pornography is a felony, “sexting” among high-schoolers is a much bigger problem than many young people can imagine, and the consequences are devastating. It can also land you permanently on the sexual offenders list.  How do you know if your teen is sending or receiving racy photos using their cell phones? What steps should you take?

 

The Town Hall Meeting will address these and other questions and include powerful presentations by members of the Fairfax County Police Department’s Online Child Sexual Exploitation Unit, a School Resource Office.

 

If you’re a Fairfax parent with kids who have cell phones, please consider attending this event on Wednesday.  Kuddos to Supervisor Herrity, Delegate Albo and the Fairfax Police Department for raising awareness on this important issue.