Peaceful Marriage Demonstrators Assaulted

From LifeSiteNews

Demonstrators with the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property (TFP) were assaulted yesterday in Warwick, Rhode Island, as they peacefully held signs in support of traditional marriage.

"We were at a busy intersection, getting strong support for traditional marriage," recounted Volunteer Rex Teodosio. "Three women approached us - one threw mayonnaise, while the other two grappled with our photographer.

"Then we were sprayed with mace. Finally, a burly woman got out of a car and punched our photographer in the face. They shouted obscenities the whole time."

Teodosio said the group was able to get the license plate number of the second car, and file a police report. The first car's license plate had been covered with a shirt.

The group says that pro-homosexual individuals have thrown water bottles, pesticide, rotten eggs and soda at TFP volunteers. But, they say, this is the first time the Catholic group was pepper-sprayed and physically attacked.

TFP said that police at Warwick station responded promptly and have opened a case. Pictures and video footage of the assault are helping the investigation.

"So much for tolerance," said TFP member Joseph Ferrara, who was struck by the attackers.

"Homosexual activists talk about tolerance, but everyone who saw the attack, saw their 'tolerance' in action. For me, these attacks reinforced my resolve to defend traditional family values."

'Stimulus' Grants Going to Porn Producers?

"Stimulus" funds awarded to the National Endowment for the Arts may be being used to produce pornographic material.

Editor's note: This story contains descriptions that some may find offensive.

From OneNewsNow
By Charlie Butts and Jody Brown

The NEA was allotted $80 million out of the $787-trillion stimulus bill approved earlier this year by Congress and President Obama. Alliance Defense Fund special counsel Pat Trueman shares what he found upon close examination of the NEA's expenditures.

"The National Endowment for the Arts is using money from the stimulus bill, which was supposed to create economic activity, for the production of pornography," he states. "They've specifically given grants to companies that they know produce pornography -- primarily homosexual pornography."

Among the recipients of federal stimulus money, according to a Fox News report:

• Frameline, a "gay and lesbian" film house which recently screened Thundercrack, which is described as "the world's only underground kinky art porno horror film, complete with four men, three women, and a gorilla." ($50,000 grant)
• San Francisco-based CounterPULSE, a group that produces the weekly "Perverts Put Out" -- a performance that invites guests to "join your fellow pervs for some explicit, twisted fun." ($25,000 grant)
• "The Symmetry Project" -- a dance piece that Fox News says "amounts to two people writhing naked on the floor, a government-funded tango in the altogether." ($25,000 grant)

Trueman says it is an "outrage" that federal monies are being given to porn-producing organizations. "The National Endowment for the Arts has long been fought by American Family Association and other pro-family groups because year in and year out, they fund pornography and blasphemy," he tells OneNewsNow.

And of the allegedly misspent stimulus funds? "This is an outrage," he exclaims. "People are hurting financially, and our federal government is funding pornography?"

Trueman believes the public ought to call on members of Congress to take a closer look at the National Endowment for the Arts and pull its federal funding.

Pope Records Album of Litanies and Prayers

Proceeds will help to provide music education for underprivileged children

From BBC News

Pope Benedict XVI will be heard singing and speaking on an album to be released on the record label that was home to Nirvana and Guns N' Roses.

The pontiff is to release Alma Mater, an album of Lauretan litanies and prayers with musical accompaniment, through Geffen Records.

The label said listeners would be "shocked" by his "incredible voice".

The album, which features the Pope using five different languages, will be released on 30 November.

The project came about after the label learned earlier this year that Benedict XVI had been working on an album with the Choir of the Philharmonic Academy of Rome.

'Very happy'

Colin Barlow, president of Geffen UK, explained: "We travelled to Rome, heard some of the music and realised it was a beautiful piece of music and something that actually could be an incredible record for us to work on.

"It's very much about delivering a really brilliant piece of music and making sure we treat it with the respect it deserves."

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Pakistan: Christians Flee After Muslims Destroy Village

From UCANEWS.com

Smoke was still rising from the Christian village of Korian in Punjab province on July 31 after it was completely destroyed in a violent raid the previous night by thousands of Muslims.

A Christian house set ablaze by Muslims

Korian was home to about 100 Christian families, most of them laborers, who all fled the area in the wake of the attack. No one died in the incident.

The village in Faisalabad diocese was attacked after Muslims accused a family there of blasphemy. In all, 60 houses and two churches belonging to the Church of Pakistan and the New Apostolic Church were destroyed and livestock stolen.

"They have left nothing. My horse, my only source of income, has also been taken," said Shubaan Masih, a local Christian.

The mob also blockaded the road leading to the village for several hours refusing entry to police or firefighters.

Masih said the mob was armed with firearms and explosives. "They used trucks to break the walls and petrol to start the fires," he said. "We saved our lives only by hiding in the fields until three in the morning, when relatives arrived with vehicles to collect us. The children cried all night," Masih said.

Tension between the Christian and Muslim communities in the area arose after pages containing Islamic inscriptions were found in front of a Christian home on July 26 following a wedding.

A group of Muslims then interrogated those who attended the wedding party, and accused the family of desecrating the Qur'an. The family says it has no knowledge of the offence but nevertheless apologized on July 30, saying that children who did not know what they were doing could have been responsible.

Muslims from surrounding villages gathered that evening at the local mosques before the mood turned ugly, Atif Jamil Pagaan, spokesperson of a Christian NGO told UCA News.

Local Muslims have filed charges against the family according to the country's blasphemy laws. They are accusing the family of blasphemy against Prophet Muhammad, which carries a mandatory death sentence in Pakistan. They also accuse the family of blasphemy against the Qur'an, which is punishable with life imprisonment.

A Christian home in ruins

Christian politicians and Catholic priests have condemned the incident and demanded investigations of the assault. A group of seven Catholic priests went to visit the site.

"One cannot but weep upon seeing the trail of destruction left behind," said Father Aftab James Paul, director of Faisalabad diocese's Commission for Interfaith Dialogue.

"It is yet another example of a feud being given a religious color. We shall visit the police station and demand the arrest of the instigators of this terrorism," he said.

According to media reports, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif also strongly condemned the incident and expressed his sorrow over the destruction of homes and loss of livestock.

Reports said that Sharif has directed authorities to secure the area and control the situation.

Health Reform and Cancer

The danger is that ObamaCare will stifle medical innovations that could save patients like me.


From The Wall Street Journal
By Myrna Ulfik

I have been battling non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, an incurable blood cancer, for the past nine years. Last year, I was also diagnosed with uterine cancer.

I didn’t run to Canada for treatment. Medicare took care of my needs right here in New York City. To endure, I just need the freedom to choose my insurance, my doctors, and get the diagnostic scans and care I need. And one more thing: I need hope that a treatment will be developed that can control my diseases the way insulin controls diabetes.

Every cancer patient needs these things, especially hope. But the government’s plan to reform the health-care system in this country threatens all of this—particularly the development of new treatments.

When I was first diagnosed in 2000 I had chemotherapy. It put me in remission, but nearly killed me.

Three years later the lymphoma was back and I faced more chemo. This is so often the pattern of cancer: recurring disease and repeated chemo. In the end patients often die not from the disease, but from the treatments.

I took a different path, seeking a cancer vaccine. One had been developed at Stanford University 12 years earlier that had given 90% of patients very long remissions and cured some entirely. Unlike chemotherapy, there were no severe side effects.

But I couldn’t get the vaccine because the Food and Drug Administration required another trial that would take nine more years. Over-regulation has kept this treatment from patients for 21 years, as some 24,000 lymphoma patients died each year.

My husband and I searched the Internet and found another vaccine being tested at Freiburg University in Germany. That vaccine has helped me avoid chemotherapy for years. My oncologist says he’s never seen another patient do so well with the type of lymphoma I have.

I am still here because my care was managed by doctors—not a government agency. My doctors do what the bureaucracy can’t: They see me as a human being.

Patient-as-person will be a lost concept under the new health-care plan, where treatments will be based not upon individual patient needs, but upon what’s best for everyone. So cancer drugs for seniors might take second place to jungle gyms and farmers’ markets—so-called preventive care—which are covered under both the House and Senate versions of the health bill.

The stimulus package passed earlier this year allocated $1.1 billion for hundreds of “Comparative Effectiveness Research” studies. This project will compare all treatment options for a host of diseases in order to develop a database to guide doctors’ decisions. Research of this sort typically takes years. But the data will likely be hastily drawn conclusions that reflect the view of the government agencies that fund the studies: Cheap therapies are just as good as expensive ones.

In order to finance health-care reform, Democrats in Congress have proposed cutting $500 billion from Medicare over the next 10 years. Yet in his press conference last Wednesday, President Barack Obama denied that Medicare benefits would be cut. He has surrounded himself with advisers who believe otherwise.

Tom Daschle, Mr. Obama’s original pick to head Health and Human Services, argues in his book “Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis,” that we should accept “hopeless diagnoses” and “forgo experimental treatments.” Mr. Daschle blames the “use and overuse of new technologies and treatments” for runaway health-care costs. He suggests a Federal Health Board modeled after the British “NICE” board to make decisions on health-care rationing.

But the British system is infamous for denying state-of-the-art drugs to cancer patients. Thus cancer-survival rates in Britain are far below those in America, just as they are in Canada.

Canadian cancer patients told to wait months for treatment and diagnostic scans frequently go south and pay out-of-pocket for care in the United States. A number of Quebeckers even sued their government for violating their “right to life and security” under the Quebec Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Canada’s Supreme Court has acknowledged the pervasive rationing that occurs. In the 2005 case Chaoulli v. Quebec (Attorney General) , the majority opinion stated: “The evidence in this case shows that delays in the public health care system are widespread, and that, in some serious cases, patients die as a result of waiting lists for public health care.”

Despite such evidence, the Obama plan is likely to target various treatments—including radiology scans—in order to cut costs. I survived this long because my radiologist examines each of my scans with me in detail.

One of those scans also saved my life by picking up unsuspected uterine cancer. The congressional majority seems blissfully unaware that all cancer patients need those scans to monitor their diseases.

Also uneasy with the cost of medical progress is Dr. David Blumenthal, Mr. Obama’s new head of Health Information Technology. It is not reassuring that he stresses that two-thirds of the annual increases in health spending result from medical innovation, as he has written in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Cancer patients need nothing more than such innovation. Yes, developing more effective, less toxic treatments is expensive. The prices of new cancer therapies reflect the billion-dollar cost of developing each new drug. But such treatments can be life-saving, as they have been for me.

Despite its warts, our system works. Carelessly tinkering with it will have a world-wide penalty—the stifling of new drug development. What company would spend a billion dollars to develop a drug that will not be reimbursed by the new health plan? This would be a direct, devastating blow to the most vulnerable Americans.

In spite of the president’s assurances, there is every sign that this plan will be financed by deep cuts to Medicare, which, like the public option, will limit payments for specialists, radiology scans, and cutting-edge cancer drugs. These are prime targets because they are more expensive than other services. But are we really expected to forgo new medical technology and return to the cancer care of the 1970s?

When members of Congress are asked if they will opt for the public plan, they say no. That’s for the rest of us.

The number of Americans who have cancer exceeds 10 million. It’s time for cancer patients and their families to remind those on Capitol Hill that health-care reform is a matter of life and death for us.

Ms. Ulfik is a writer in New York.

SC Crimes Lead To NC Probation Policy Changes

Alan Hawes/The Post and Courier

From WYFF4.com

Two high profile crime cases in South Carolina involving parolees from North Carolina have led that state to make some big policy changes.

Gov. Beverly Perdue signed a measure into law Thursday that gives police officers better access to probation and parole records without waiting for a court order.

Officers will also have access to an offender's juvenile records and warrantless searches will be allowed as a condition of probation.

Read the rest of this entry >>

Info on Homosexual Health Risks Squelched

A pro-family activist group is calling for a federal study of the health risks of homosexual conduct.

From OneNewsNow
By Charlie Butts

Americans for Truth about Homosexuality president Peter LaBarbera tells OneNewsNow it only makes sense because the government will investigate the dangers of such habits as smoking and work to curb it. He cites information released by the Food and Drug Administration.

"[Men who have had sex with men since 1977 have] an HIV prevalence rate 60 times higher than the general population, 800 times higher than first-time blood donors, and 8,000 times higher than repeat blood donors," LaBarbera says.

The pro-family activist also notes an increased level of STDs and hepatitis.

"The people have a right to know about the health risks of homosexual activity just like they had a right to know about the health risks of smoking," he contends. "There was a huge effort to cover up the risks of smoking, just like there's a massive politically correct effort today to hide the true health risks of homosexual sex -- and the people have a right to know about that."

LaBarbera especially wants to warn school children who are being taught to accept the homosexual lifestyle as normal and healthy.

Senators Launch Bipartisan Effort to Save D.C. School Choice

Senator Lieberman Introduces Bill Preserving D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program. Cosponsors Include Diane Feinstein and Robert Byrd

Senator Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) today unveiled a bipartisan reauthorization bill for the D.C. school voucher program.

Lieberman, along with Susan Collins (R-ME) and four other senators, introduced legislation this morning to reauthorize and strengthen the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) for five years. This move provides continued hope for thousands of low-income families in the District of Columbia who seek equal access to a quality education.

"This is not a liberal program or a conservative program, but a program that puts children first," Lieberman said. "And I am proud to say that it's working."

Under Senator Lieberman’s bill, the program would be preserved and strengthened significantly. The Lieberman bill would increase scholarship amounts to $9,000 for K-8 students and $11,000 for high school students—indexing the scholarship amounts to inflation. While these amounts remain significantly below the amounts for the D.C. Public Schools, they provide the necessary increases to account for inflation over the past five years.

The bill would also:

--Give scholarship priority to siblings of students who currently participate in the program
--Require participating schools to have a valid certificate of occupancy
--Require teachers of core subject matters to have bachelor’s degrees
--Require an Institute of Education Sciences annual evaluation of the program
--Require students to take nationally norm-referenced tests

To date, the program has allowed low-income children to receive up to $7,500 in scholarships to attend the private schools of their parent’s choice. Since its inception in 2004, the program has served more than 3,000 residents—primarily extremely low-income children. More than 8,000 families have applied for scholarships, demonstrating overwhelming demand.

The school choice initiative in the nation’s capital has been bolstered by more than five rigorous studies demonstrating positive student achievement outcomes and parental support. The OSP is supported by a majority of the D.C. City Council and has the backing of nearly three quarters of D.C. residents—according to a poll released this week.

In May, a similar bill was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Minority Leader Rep. John Boehner (R-OH). Mr. Boehner is a longtime champion of the scholarship program and has spearheaded efforts in the House to preserve the program for low-income District families.

“Today’s action is a strong step in the right direction for low-income D.C. families,” said Kevin Chavous, the former D.C. City Councilman who is leading the fight to save the OSP. “We are pleased to see a strong, bipartisan effort to provide continued opportunity and hope to D.C. children through the extension and strengthening of the OSP.

Chavous added that efforts remain underway to save the educational futures of the so-called “D.C. 216”—a group of students who had their 2009-10 scholarship offerings revoked by the U.S. Department of Education earlier this year. He applauded Senators Lieberman and Collins, as well as 12 other Senators, who had previously written to Secretary Duncan expressing support for these children to enter the program.

From Our Mail: Are We Slaves on Obama's Plantation?

From: Randall A. Terry

Re: Comedy Videos: Are we Slaves on Obama's Plantation? Kill Granny, and more

Hello Pro-life Friend.

It is time for some satire!

G.K. Chesterton said: "That which is ridiculous deserves to be ridiculed." The idea of Obama forcing us to pay for dead babies is evil - but it also worth mocking.

I hope you enjoy these videos, and forward them to your friends!

1) Are we slaves on Obama's Plantation? (Filmed at the White House!)

2) The KKK endorses Obama' sHealth care: Abort more black babies.

3) The KKK endorses Obama: YOU are a racist!

4) Kill Granny, Save your Inheritance, and lower health care costs!

On a serious note, go to www.OverturnRoe.com to learn what you can do to defeat this damnable healthcare bill.

VISIT your congressmen's local offices IN PERSON. Let them hear your anger; let them see your eyes.

Go to them, and tell them you will not pay your taxes.

And maybe forward these videos to them!

Keep in the fight.

Randall

Obama 'Like Romans Who Destroyed Jewish Temples'

Jews read Lamentations at U.S. consulate on religion's saddest day

Jewish protesters at U.S. consulate in Jerusalem (WND photo by Gemma Blech)

From WorldNetDaily
By Aaron Klein

Marking the saddest day on the Jewish calendar, about a thousand Jewish protesters today read the biblical book of Lamentations in front of the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem to protest against the Obama administration's demand to freeze Jewish construction in eastern sections of the city.

Tonight marks the fasting day of Tisha B'Av, or the 9th day of the Hebrew month of Av. It commemorates a series of tragedies that befell the Jewish people all on the same day, most significantly the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem, which occurred about 656 years apart on the same day. Jewish tradition calls for the reading of Lamentations.

"The Obama administration is following in the footsteps of Rome. He is trying to do what the Romans did, passing anti-Jewish decrees at the time of the destruction of the Temple," Nadia Matar, the protest organizer, told WND.

Read the rest of this entry >>

New Evidence Supports Authenticity of Shroud of Turin

From Catholic World News

A new study of the Shroud of Turin has discovered traces of writing in Aramaic, judged by experts to be more than 1800 years old. The visible letters appear to (be) portions of the phrase "king of the Jews"-- thereby strongly supporting the belief that the fabric is the burial cloth of Jesus Christ.

Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

• Pope confirms visit to Shroud of Turin; new evidence on shroud emerges (CNS)

Obama’s Science Czar Said a Born Baby ‘Will Ultimately Develop Into a Human Being’

Is Obama Science "Czar" John P. Holdren human yet?

From CNSNews.com
By Terence P. Jeffrey

President Obama’s top science adviser said in a book he co-authored in 1973 that a newborn child “will ultimately develop into a human being” if he or she is properly fed and socialized.

“The fetus, given the opportunity to develop properly before birth, and given the essential early socializing experiences and sufficient nourishing food during the crucial early years after birth, will ultimately develop into a human being,” John P. Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, wrote in “Human Ecology: Problems and Solutions.”

Holdren co-authored the book with Stanford professors Paul R. Ehrlich and Anne H. Ehrlich. The book was published by W.H. Freeman and Company.

At the time “Human Ecology” was published, Holdren was a senior research fellow at the California Institute of Technology. Paul Ehrlich, currently president of The Center for Conservation Biology at Stanford, is also author of the 1968 bestseller, “The Population Bomb,” a book The Washington Post said “launched the popular movement for zero population growth.”

“Human Ecology: Problems and Solutions” argued that the human race faced dire consequences unless human population growth was stopped.

“Human values and institutions have set mankind on a collision course with the laws of nature,” wrote the Ehrlichs and Holdren. “Human beings cling jealously to their prerogative to reproduce as they please—and they please to make each new generation larger than the last—yet endless multiplication on a finite planet is impossible. Most humans aspire to greater material prosperity, but the number of people that can be supported on Earth if everyone is rich is even smaller than if everyone is poor.”

The specific passage expressing the authors’ view that a baby “will ultimately develop into a human being” is on page 235 in chapter 8 of the book, which is titled “Population Limitation.”

At the time the book was written, the Supreme Court had not yet issued its Roe v. Wade decision, and the passage in question was part of a subsection of the “Population Limitation” chapter that argued for legalized abortion.

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Home Depot building a 'le-gay-cy' for children

Home Depot is helping to introduce children to the homosexual lifestyle.

From OneNewsNow
By Charlie Butts

The Nashville Gay Pride website notes that Home Depot contributed more than $5,000 to help finance the 2009 festival. The retailer also participated by conducting children's craft workshops at a special booth set up for them. The company has sponsored similar children's venues at pro-homosexual events in Atlanta, Kansas City, Durham, Portland, and San Diego.

Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel tells OneNewsNow the home improvement store is facilitating the exposure of children to sinful behavior.

"Out of some kind of notion of political correctness and being tolerant, Home Depot is contributing to all of this," he notes. "They're contributing to the corruption of children, and they need to answer for that."

Many parents are already outraged and are taking action, according to Barber. "I would tell parents to go tell Home Depot that they don't appreciate it and that if they continue it, they're going to take their business elsewhere," he adds.

Barber says that will help drive a message home to company officials that in the interest of political correctness, they are driving away business and alienating a large percentage of their customer base who do not appreciate children being exposed to debauchery.

Other corporate sponsors of the Nashville event included Southwest Airlines and Bridgestone Tires.

"Tolerance" Camp for Future Community Organizers

Looking for a summer camp for your aspiring community organizer?

At Camp Wananame future left-wing activists learn tolerance for everyone and everything but conservatives. A project of the Pasco, Florida School District and Pathfinders in Bradenton, the camp trains young comrades to become advocates for greater state and federal spending for the Pasco, Florida School District and government grant funding for groups like Pathfinders in Bradenton.

After all, a left-wing agitator can't learn too soon how to shake down the system for left wing causes and ensure that conservatives foot the bill.

Jihad in North Carolina

From Law Enforcement Examiner
By Jim Kouri

Seven suspects have been charged with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and conspiring to murder, kidnap, maim, and injure Americans overseas, according to law enforcement officials in a report to police organizations such as the National Association of Chiefs of Police.

On Wednesday, July 22, 2009, a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of North Carolina returned a sealed seven-count indictment against the following defendants:

• Daniel Patrick Boyd, 39, a U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina
• Hysen Sherifi, 24, a native of Kosovo and a U.S. legal permanent resident located in North Carolina
• Anes Subasic, 33, a naturalized U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina
• Zakariya Boyd, 20, a U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina
• Dylan Boyd, 22, a U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina
• Mohammad Omar Aly Hassan, 22, a U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina
• Ziyad Yaghi, 21, a U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina

All the defendants are charged with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, as well as conspiracy to murder, kidnap, maim and injure persons abroad. In addition, Daniel Boyd, Hysen Sherifi and Zakariya Boyd are each charged with possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. Daniel Boyd and Dylan Boyd are also each charged with selling a firearm to a convicted felon. Finally, Daniel Boyd is also charged with receiving a firearm through interstate commerce and two counts of making false statements in a terrorism investigation.

The defendants were arrested at various locations Monday morning by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies. They made their initial appearances today federal court in Raleigh, N.C. At that time, the indictment was unsealed.

Read the rest of this entry >>

Parental Rights Amendment Reaches 110 Co-Sponsors

Grassroots Movement Behind Effort to Ensure Parents' Rights to Raise their Children

From Christian Newswire

A Constitutional Amendment to protect the parent-child relationship introduced by U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Michigan, has reached 110 co-sponsors in the House.

"More and more members of Congress are recognizing the threat from government and foreign interference into the parent-child relationship," Hoekstra said. "I encourage my colleagues to support the initiative by co-sponsoring the Parents' Rights Amendment."

The Parental Rights Amendment (H.J.Res.42) would state explicitly in the U.S. Constitution that parents have a fundamental right to raise their children as they see fit, while protecting against abuse and neglect. Threats to the parent-child relationship include potential Senate ratification of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child and the erosion of fundamental parental rights in our federal courts.

"Just about every member of Congress agrees with the legal principle that parents have the fundamental right to make decisions for the upbringing of their children," said Michael Farris, J.D., president of Parentalrights.org. "Because of international law and shifting judicial philosophies, the right is being steadily undermined. We now have 110 members of Congress with the foresight to say that we need to protect this long-standing right before the erosion goes too far. We appreciate the leadership of Pete Hoekstra and the 109 other members of Congress who believe that it is important to secure the rights of American families for generations to come."

More information on the Parental Rights Amendment can be viewed at www.parentalrights.org.

Episcopalians Reject Controversial Bishop-Elect

From OneNewsNow

Leaders of the Episcopal Church have rejected the appointment of a bishop-elect who denies that Satan exists, doesn't believe God sent Jesus Christ to die for the world's sins, and teaches that many paths lead to salvation.

The Diocese of Northern Michigan's election of the Rev. Kevin Thew Forrester was declared "null and void" yesterday. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori says he failed to receive the necessary consent from a majority of Episcopal bishops and diocesan committees.

Thew Forrester also has been criticized for blending elements of Christianity and Buddhism. In a 2004 diocesan newsletter, Thew Forrester said he had "received Buddhist 'lay ordination."'

Bloggers also have criticized Thew Forrester for calling a reading from the Quran "the word of God."

'Two styles of being Anglican'

Meanwhile, the Archbishop of Canterbury says Anglicans -- of which American Episcopalians are a part -- may have to accept a "two track" communion that embraces churches with conflicting beliefs about homosexual clergy and same-sex unions.

Rowan Williams wrote on his website yesterday that there are "two styles of being Anglican" and that both sides should work to keep the church together.

Williams is the Anglican spiritual leader. His comments are in response to the U.S. Episcopal Church's decision to lift a moratorium on homosexual bishops and to allow blessings of same-sex unions.

The Rev. Ian Douglas, who serves on the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church, says this is what happens when what he calls "local leadings of the Holy Spirit bump up against received tradition in the church." He says the question is whether there are any "limits to diversity" in Anglican beliefs.

Biden's Gaffes Undercut Obama

Perhaps it's time to let Neil Kinnock write all his material. But would the plagiarized speeches be as entertaining as his "off the cuff" comments?

From The Washington Times
By Jon Ward

The Obama White House's vaunted message machine has been thrown off-track with increasing regularity by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., whose five verbal missteps in the past three months have created obstacles at home and abroad.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was forced Sunday to correct publicly Mr. Biden's characterization of Russia as a crumbling country, a description that infuriated Russian officials and contradicted President Obama's efforts to "reset" relations with the world power.

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Graham Only Judiciary Committee Republican to Support Sotomayor

The Senate Judiciary Committee has reported the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the full Senate, with every Republican member of the committee -- but one -- voting against the racist, unqualified nominee. Only Lindsey Grahamnesty, among all Republican Judiciary Committee members, voted to support Sotomayor.

The South Carolina Senator voted with Al Franken, Diane Feinstein, Chuck Schumer, Patrick Leahy and other liberals to report the nomination favorably.

Viet Catholics in Unprecedented Mass Protests Against Police Violence

From Catholic World News

An estimated 500,000 Vietnamese Catholics participated in a mass protest against police violence-- the largest such demonstration of the country's Communist era-- on Sunday, July 26. The protest was a response to last week's brutal police assault on Catholics protesting the confiscation of parish property. The Vinh diocese announced unflinchingly: "We have enough evidence to state that the police of Quang Binh had beaten our faithful before arresting them illegally." The mass demonstrations sparked new police violence, as two priests in the central coastal city of Dong Hoi were badly beaten and left in critical condition

Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

• Half a million Vietnamese Catholics march through the streets against police violence (AsiaNews)

Divorce Damages Health and Remarriage Doesn't Help, New Study Finds

From LifeSiteNews
By Patrick B. Craine

Divorce and widowhood have a lingering, detrimental impact on health, even after a person remarries, research at the University of Chicago and Johns Hopkins University has shown.

"Among the currently married, those who have ever been divorced show worse health on all dimensions," said University of Chicago sociologist Linda Waite and co-author of a new study on marriage and health. Further, "Both the divorced and widowed who do not remarry show worse health on all dimensions," she said.

Waite, the Lucy Flower Professor in Sociology and Director of the Center on Aging at the National Opinion Research Center at the University, conducted the study with Mary Elizabeth Hughes, Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins' Bloomberg School of Public Health. Their research, which was based on a study of 8,652 people aged 51 to 61, will be published in the September issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior in the article, "Marital Biography and Health Midlife."

The findings are consistent with previous studies, said Dr. Mark Hayward, Professor of Sociology at the University of Texas and an expert in the field of health and marriage, in an interview with LifeSiteNews.com (LSN). In his own work, he said, for example, "We actually found a very, very similar pattern to the findings that were in this study."

But while numerous studies have looked at the effect of marriage and divorce upon health, this is the first to examine both marital transitions and marital status on a wide range of health dimensions.

"Prior to this time, most people have been looking at kind of singular outcomes," Dr. Hayward said. "So in the work I've done, for example, I've looked at cardiovascular disease in particular. Other people have done the same: some people have looked at mortality, some people to depression. This study is probably one of the few studies that looks at a broader array of health, both in terms of physical and mental."

The study found that divorced or widowed people have 20 percent more chronic health conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes, or cancer, than married people. They also have 23 percent more mobility limitations, such as trouble climbing stairs or walking a block. Further, people who remarried have 12 percent more chronic conditions and 19 percent more mobility limitations, but no more depressive symptoms, than those who are continuously married.

The impacts of marriage, divorce and remarriage on health are based on the ways in which the various illnesses develop and heal, study co-author Linda Waite said. "Some health situations, like depression, seem to respond both quickly and strongly to changes in current conditions," she said. "In contrast, conditions such as diabetes and heart disease develop slowly over a substantial period and show the impact of past experiences, which is why health is undermined by divorce or widowhood, even when a person remarries."

Dr. Hayward admitted the importance of helping people through difficult marriages, but emphasized the importance of helping people through divorce and after a divorce. "I think if there's any room for social policy in here," he said, "it's the issue of to what degree should we have a safety net in response to people that are suddenly finding themselves in these precarious positions. ... We do want to help people to pick up the pieces, so to speak, when their marriages go awry."

Divorce, he said, "is an incredibly adversarial situation. ... There may be room for social policy in helping people navigate these kinds of processes in ways that aren't so adversarial, and in that way mute the negative consequences of the divorce experience and what happens after divorce."

Hayward suggested that, on the level of health, divorce should not be discouraged because the health benefits of marriage may decline due to people staying in "bad" marriages.

However, previous research has shown that divorce has a worse impact on the couple's children than staying in a 'bad' marriage. A 2004 study at the University College Dublin discovered that separation even in the case of a 'bad' marriage, is more harmful to children than staying together. The study found that divorce was even more harmful to children than the loss of a parent.

Further, a book released by the Institute for American Values entitled Between Two Worlds: The Inner Lives of Children of Divorce, based on a survey of 1,500 adults ages 18-35, revealed that even 'good' divorce has a negative impact on children. The book's author, Elizabeth Marquardt, commented, "Even when divorced parents behave well, their divorce confronts the child with the monumental task of having to make sense, alone, of the parents' very different beliefs, values, and ways of living - a job the parents are no longer required to do."

"As a consequence, children of both 'good' and 'bad' divorces come to feel like divided selves," she continued. "They lead a wholly separate life in each parent's world, leading over time to a troubling inner division that goes to the heart of their identity."

Fr. Thomas Dufner, a priest at a parish in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, who has been an outspoken defender of the Christian view of marriage (in 2003 he testified at a legislative hearing during Minnesota's debate on a proposed marriage amendment) told LSN that in his view this most recent study provides natural evidence in support of the traditional Christian view that marriage is "for life."

"By faith we know that in the beginning God created marriage for the good of spouses and the procreation of the race," said Fr. Dufner. "Now research confirms that health is also better for people who stay married. No surprise. Faith and reason go together confirming the same truth: What God has joined together, let no man put asunder."

Shock Video: Professor Gates Goes on N-Word Rant

'We're also trying to end what we call the one n-gger syndrome'

From WorldNetDaily
By Aaron Klein

A video has surfaced on YouTube of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. delivering a church speech in which he uses the N-word, rails against "racist historically white institutions in America" and accuses Newt Gingrich of attempting to block blacks from entering the middle class.

Gates became a lightning rod of racial controversy when President Obama defended the professor handcuffed in his home

last week by police in Cambridge, Mass.

"We are trying to end what we call the one n-gger syndrome

– you know, this place ain't big enough for more than one of us," said Gates in the video, which was filmed in 1999 in the All Souls Church in Washington, D.C.

"We in the academy have to know that our people, those of us who practice African-American studies, have to know that our people are under assault," Gates said.

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5 Freedoms You'd Lose in Health Care Reform

If you read the fine print in the Congressional plans, you'll find that a lot of cherished aspects of the current system would disappear.

From Fortune
By Shawn Tully

In promoting his health-care agenda, President Obama has repeatedly reassured Americans that they can keep their existing health plans -- and that the benefits and access they prize will be enhanced through reform.

A close reading of the two main bills, one backed by Democrats in the House and the other issued by Sen. Edward Kennedy's Health committee, contradict the President's assurances. To be sure, it isn't easy to comb through their 2,000 pages of tortured legal language. But page by page, the bills reveal a web of restrictions, fines, and mandates that would radically change your health-care coverage.

If you prize choosing your own cardiologist or urologist under your company's Preferred Provider Organization plan (PPO), if your employer rewards your non-smoking, healthy lifestyle with reduced premiums, if you love the bargain Health Savings Account (HSA) that insures you just for the essentials, or if you simply take comfort in the freedom to spend your own money for a policy that covers the newest drugs and diagnostic tests -- you may be shocked to learn that you could lose all of those good things under the rules proposed in the two bills that herald a health-care revolution.

In short, the Obama platform would mandate extremely full, expensive, and highly subsidized coverage -- including a lot of benefits people would never pay for with their own money -- but deliver it through a highly restrictive, HMO-style plan that will determine what care and tests you can and can't have. It's a revolution, all right, but in the wrong direction.

Let's explore the five freedoms that Americans would lose under Obamacare:

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Obama's Approval Rating: The Tide Turns

Only six months into his radical regime, Obama's poll numbers are beginning to tank. Rasmussen's Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday shows:

29% of the nation's voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty percent (40%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -11. That’s the first time his ratings have reached double digits in negative territory (see trends).

Another interesting development is reflected in a Washington Post-ABC News poll. Republicans and GOP-leaning independents were asked: "If the 2012 Republican presidential primary or caucus in your state were being held today, and the candidates were (READ LIST) for whom would you vote?

                       7/18/09
Mike Huckabee         26   
Mitt Romney             21        
Sarah Palin               19     
Newt Gingrich            10     
Tim Pawlenty              4  
Jeb Bush                    3   
Haley Barbour             1
Bobby Jindal (vol.)       2       
Charlie Crist (vol.)        *      
Other (vol.)                  2          
None of these (vol.)      5         
Would not vote (vol.)    1        
No opinion                  6     

Given that many Americans are rejecting socialized medicine and the rationing of health care, we believe that Mitt Romney, who already implemented a disastrous forerunner of ObamaCare in Massachusetts, will only fade. Since America as we have known it hangs in the balance, it's not too soon to rally around a principled conservative like Mike Huckabee.

Westminster Abbey Choir and Congregation - "Dear Lord and Father of Mankind" - Parry

This beautiful hymn combines the words of the American Quaker poet, John Greenleaf Whittier (text below), with music written by Sir Hubert Parry.

Dear Lord and Father of mankind,

Forgive our foolish ways!

Reclothe us in our rightful mind,

In purer lives Thy service find,

In deeper reverence, praise.

In simple trust like theirs who heard

Beside the Syrian sea

The gracious calling of the Lord,

Let us, like them, without a word

Rise up and follow Thee.

O Sabbath rest by Galilee!

O calm of hills above,

Where Jesus knelt to share with Thee

The silence of eternity

Interpreted by love!

With that deep hush subduing all

Our words and works that drown

The tender whisper of Thy call,

As noiseless let Thy blessing fall

As fell Thy manna down.

Drop Thy still dews of quietness,

Till all our strivings cease;

Take from our souls the strain and stress,

And let our ordered lives confess

The beauty of Thy peace.

Breathe through the heats of our desire

Thy coolness and Thy balm;

Let sense be dumb, let flesh retire;

Speak through the earthquake, wind, and fire,

O still, small voice of calm!

Does Ted Kennedy Deserve His Extended Cancer Care?

From American Thinker
By James Lewis

Senator Ted Kennedy, who is now 76 years old and was diagnosed with brain cancer in May of last year, is telling the world that nationalized medical care is "the cause of his life." He wants to see it pass as soon as possible, before he departs this vale of tears.

The prospect of Kennedy's passing is viewed by the liberal press with anticipatory tears and mourning. But they are not asking the proper question by their own lights: That question -- which will be asked for you and me when we reach his age and state in life --- is this:

Is Senator Kennedy's life valuable enough to dedicate millions of dollars to extending it another month, another day, another year?

Because Barack Obama and Ted Kennedy agree with each other that they of all people are entitled to make that decision. Your decision to live or die will now be in their hands.

Ted Kennedy is now 76. Average life expectancy in the United States is 78.06. For a man who has already reached 76, life expectancy is somewhat longer than average (since people who die younger lower the national average); for a wealthy white man it may be somewhat longer statistically; but for a man with diagnosed brain cancer it is correspondingly less. As far as the actuarial tables of the Nanny State are concerned, Kennedy is due to leave this life some time soon. The socialist State is not sentimental, at least when it comes to the lives of ordinary people like you and me.

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Harry Patch, Last British Survivor of First World War Trenches, Dies

Harry Patch, the last British soldier to have served in the First World War trenches, has died at the age of 111.



From The Telegraph
By Sean Rayment

Mr Patch, who was known as the Last Fighting Tommy, was the last living soldier to have fought in bloody battle of Passchendaele, at Ypres, in 1917 in which more than 70,000 troops died.

The veteran's death follows that of Henry Allingham, also a veteran of the Great War who died on July 18 at the age of 113.

Mr Patch, who was a machine-gunner in the Duke of Cornwalls's Light Infantry, died on Saturday morning at Fletcher House care home in Somerset where he was living.

The Prince of Wales was among the first to pay tribute to Mr Patch, telling the BBC: "The Great War is a chapter in our history we must never forget, so many sacrifices were made, so many young lives lost. So today nothing could give me greater pride than paying tribute to Harry Patch from Somerset.

"Harry was involved in numerous bouts of heavy fighting on the front line but amazingly remained unscathed for a while. Tragically one night in September 1917 when in the morass in the Ypres Salient a German shrapnel shell burst over head badly wounding Harry and killing three of his closest friends.

"In spite of the comparatively short time that he served with the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry Harry always cherished the extraordinary camaraderie that the appalling conditions engendered in the battalion and remained loyal to the end."

Chief Executive of Somerset Care, Andrew Larpent, said Mr Patch had been unwell for some time and had died peacefully in his bed.

He said: "His friends and his family have been here. He just quietly slipped away at 9am this morning. It was how he would have wanted it, without having to be moved to hospitals but here, peacefully with his friends and carers."

Mr Patch never revelled in the fact that he was one of the last survivors of a war which had claimed the lives of so many of his friends. "I don't like it," he once said when asked what it was like. "I sit there and think. And some nights I dream – of that first battle. I can't forget it."

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Raphael: The Mortal God

The following is an excellent documentary on the life and work of Raphael Sanzio, one of the greatest Italian painters of the High Renaissance. The great master, who left posterity so much, died at the age of 37.

North Korean Woman Publicly Executed for Distributing Bible

From Taragana
By Kwang-tae Kim

A Christian woman accused of distributing the Bible, a book banned in communist North Korea, was publicly executed last month for the crime, South Korean activists said Friday.

The 33-year-old mother of three, Ri Hyon Ok, also was accused of spying for South Korea and the United States, and of organizing dissidents, a rights group said in Seoul, citing documents obtained from the North.

The Investigative Commission on Crime Against Humanity report included a copy of Ri’s government-issued photo ID and said her husband, children and parents were sent to a political prison the day after her June 16 execution.

The claim could not be independently verified Friday, and there has been no mention by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency of her case.

But it would mark a harsh turn in the crackdown on religion in North Korea, a country where Christianity once flourished and where the capital, Pyongyang, was known as the “Jerusalem of the East” for the predominance of the Christian faith.

According to its constitution, North Korea guarantees freedom of religion. But in reality, the regime severely restricts religious observance, with the cult of personality created by national founder Kim Il Sung and enjoyed by his son, current leader Kim Jong Il, serving as a virtual state religion. Those who violate religious restrictions are often accused of crimes such as spying or anti-government activities.

The government has authorized four state churches: one Catholic, two Protestant and one Russian Orthodox. However, they cater to foreigners only, and ordinary North Koreans cannot attend the services.

Still, more than 30,000 North Koreans are believed to practice Christianity in hiding — at great personal risk, defectors and activists say.

The U.S. State Department said in a report last year that “genuine religious freedom does not exist” in North Korea.

“What religious practice or venues exist … (are) tightly controlled and used to advance the government’s political or diplomatic agenda,” the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said in a May report. “Other public and private religious activity is prohibited and anyone discovered engaging in clandestine religious practice faces official discrimination, arrest, imprisonment, and possibly execution.”

The report cited indications that the North Korean government had taken “new steps” to stop the clandestine spread of Christianity, particularly in areas near the border with China, including infiltrating underground churches and setting up fake prayer meetings as a trap for Christian converts.

Ri, the North Korean Christian, reportedly was executed in the northwestern city of Ryongchon — near the border with China.

“North Korea appears to have judged that Christian forces could pose a threat to its regime,” Do Hee-youn, a leading activist, told reporters Friday in Seoul.

The South Korean rights report also said North Korean security agents arrested and tortured another Christian, Seo Kum Ok, 30, near Ryongchon. She was accused of trying to spy on a nuclear site and hand the information over to South Korea and the United States.

It was unclear whether she survived, the report said. Her husband also was arrested and their two children have since disappeared, it said.

The U.S. government commission report cited defectors as saying an estimated 6,000 Christians are jailed in “Prison No. 15″ in the north of the country, with religious prisoners facing worse treatment than other inmates.

In Seoul, the rights group said it would try to take North Korean leader Kim to the International Criminal Court over alleged crimes against humanity.

Activists say such alleged crimes — murder, kidnap, rape, extermination of individuals in prison camps — can’t take place in North Korea without Kim’s knowledge or direction since he wields absolute power over the population of 24 million.