NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      WASHINGTON, DC (CWNews.com) - Cable News Network founder Ted Turner addressed the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association (NFPRHA) on Tuesday, peppering his remarks with insults and jokes about Pope John Paul II and the Ten Commandments -- to the applause and laughter of the audience -- as well as a call for an international "one-child" policy.

      Turner, now a vice-president of Time-Warner, Inc., was awarded the group's President's Award for his support of the United Nations Populations Fund. Last year, the billionaire and his wife, Jane Fonda, gave $1 billion to UN for population control programs.

      Turner said that while he is the father of five children, he fathered most of them before he was 30 when he didn't know any better. He added, "Once they were here, I couldn't shoot them." He said now he believes an ideal world population would be 2 billion -- it is now 5.9 billion. "We could do it in a very humane way if everybody adopted a one-child policy for 100 years," he said.

      In other remarks, Turner said the Ten Commandments are outdated and said, "If you're going to have 10 rules, I don't know if adultery should be one of them." When asked what he would say to Pope John Paul, he responded with an ethnic joke -- "Ever seen a Polish mine detector?" -- and suggested the Holy Father should "get with it. Welcome to the 20th century."