New Orleans / 2005 Hurricane Katrina

Here are some before and after photos from space.




Super dome

Hundreds more photos here





Our prayers go out to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Christian school sues UC

Christian school sues UC

Private high school says admission rules tread on freedoms.

LOS ANGELES A private high school filed a discrimination lawsuit against the University of California system Thursday in Los Angeles, alleging a "Christian viewpoint' in the school's classes keeps it from meeting UC admissions requirements.

A representative for the UC president's office could not be reached to comment on the lawsuit filed on behalf of Calvary Chapel Christian School in Murrieta and five of its students, along with a Christian schools group.

The Riverside County school's seniors are facing exclusion from the 10-campus UC system because of its admission policy, which the plaintiffs claim violates their right to freedom of speech and religious freedom.

The suit relates to a series of classes including science, English and history that incoming students are required to have taken in order to meet minimum UC admissions standards.

The plaintiffs say that for some 70 years, the UC system merely required that the classes be completed, but that UC officials have recently begun regulating the content of those classes and the books that can be used.

According to the complaint, the university system has sent a "form letter' to Christian high schools informing them that two popular Christian biology textbooks are not acceptable, and that the course outlines are "not consistent with the viewpoints and knowledge generally accepted in the scientific community.'

The letter states that, "As such, students who take these course may not be prepared for success if/when they enter science courses/programs at UC,' according to the court papers.

The UC system also found that a Calvary Chapel Christian School history course titled "Christianity's Influence on American History' did not meet the requirements, the suit states.

An English course titled "Christianity and Morality in American Literature' was also rejected, as was a government course titled "Special Providence: American Government,' according to the court papers.

The Murrieta school and the Association of Christian Schools International, "while not objecting to instruction in these courses and already offering them, object to government officials and bodies dictating and censoring the viewpoints that may and may not be taught in those courses, and regulating viewpoints and the content of private schools,' the suit states.

The plaintiffs further argue that the requirements are unfair in light of the "often superior academic performance by the students that are supposedly harmed by instruction that adds religious viewpoints.'

This may be a landmark case. It is interesting that Calvary Chapel Christian School is being singled out when universities such as Harvard offer courses with religious overtones like an ethics class based on the life of Jesus. I am sure UC would accept such credits from a transferring student from Harvard.

Hamas Bombmaker Vows to Continue Attacks

BREITBART.COM - Just The News

Hamas Bombmaker Vows to Continue Attacks

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip

A shadowy Hamas bombmaker who tops Israel's most-wanted list on Saturday issued his first videotaped statement since going into hiding more than a decade ago.

Mohammed Deif praised Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip as a victory for armed resistance, rejected calls for his group to disarm, and vowed to continue attacks on Israel until the Jewish state is erased from the map.

Deif, who has escaped three Israeli attempts to kill him, has been living underground since 1992. He is so shadowy that the most recent photograph of him is from the 1980s.

There is no appeasing these people until all Jews are dead. Nations have put pressure on Israel to give up land for peace. There will be no peace until the prince of peace returns.

Abstinence program funds are suspended

Abstinence program funds are suspended
US halts support after ACLU suit

By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff | August 24, 2005

The federal government has suspended funding of a nationwide faith-based abstinence program, three months after the American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit in Boston arguing that the public contribution of more than $1 million violates the constitutional separation of church and state."

The US Department of Health and Human Services yesterday notified the Silver Ring Thing program, which has held at least four events in the Boston area since 2002, that it has ''not adequately separated" its religious component from its secular message urging middle and high school students to forgo premarital sex.

Federal funding of the organization, which is based in suburban Pittsburgh, will be halted until the government is confident that the program is obeying department rules, said the letter from Harry Wilson, associate commissioner of the Family and Youth Services Bureau. The Silver Ring Thing has until Sept. 6 to submit a plan showing that it separates its abstinence message from its encouragement of Christian values.

Nikki Dingle, 19, who attended a Silver Ring Thing event as a senior at Melrose High School, said yesterday that the federal money helped the organization spread a worthwhile message, and she is upset that funding is being suspended.

Dingle attended a gathering held at Merrimack College in North Andover with a close friend and members of her Catholic parish. Partway through the event, she said, organizers allowed the young people to participate in two group discussions about chastity, one rooted in Christian values, which she participated in, and another that had no religious theme.

''People could choose whether they wanted to relate it to God or not," she said. ''Because of that choice, it was fine."

The ACLU doing a fine job of messing up something good. They do not care what is best for the teens. What matters to them is that no one hears about morals based on the Bible.

Researchers Cast Doubt on Fetuses' Pain

Researchers Cast Doubt on Fetuses' Pain

By LINDSEY TANNER, AP Medical Writer

CHICAGO - Doctors should not be required to discuss fetal pain with women seeking abortions because fetuses likely can't feel pain until late in pregnancy, according to a review critics say hardly settles the contentious topic. Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco reviewed dozens of studies and medical reports and said the data indicate that fetuses likely are incapable of feeling pain until around the seventh month of pregnancy, when they are about 28 weeks old.

Based on the evidence, discussions of fetal pain for abortions performed before the end of the second trimester should not be mandatory, according to the study appearing in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.

The review, researchers say, is an attempt to present a comprehensive, objective report on evidence to inform the debate over fetal pain laws aimed at making women think twice before getting abortions.

Critics angrily disputed the findings and claimed the report is biased.

"They have literally stuck their hands into a hornet's nest," said Dr. Kanwaljeet Anand, a fetal pain researcher at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, who believes fetuses as young as 20 weeks old feel pain. "This is going to inflame a lot of scientists who are very, very concerned and are far more knowledgeable in this area than the authors appear to be. This is not the last word — definitely not."

Proposed federal legislation would require doctors to provide fetal pain information to women seeking abortions when fetuses are at least 20 weeks old, and to offer women fetal anesthesia at that stage of the pregnancy. A handful of states have enacted similar measures.

The review says medical evidence shows that brain structures involved in feeling pain begin forming earlier but likely do not function until around the seventh month, when fetuses are about 28 weeks old.

The question is not whether the baby feels pain but is it right to terminate its life at all? Because the victim does not feel pain does not make the act right. Is it moral to take somebody’s life if you knock them out first? Is it less of a crime to rape if the woman is unconscious? This rhetoric about pain attempts to make this crime humane somehow. There is nothing humane about taking an innocent person’s life to make yours more enjoyable.

65 Girls At Area School Pregnant

65 Girls At Area School Pregnant
School To Unveil Three-Prong Program

CANTON, Ohio -- There are 490 female students at Timken High School, and 65 are pregnant, according to a recent report in the Canton Repository.

The article reported that some would say that movies, TV, videogames, lazy parents and lax discipline may all be to blame.

School officials are not sure what has contributed to so many pregnancies, but in response to them, the school is launching a three-prong educational program to address pregnancy, prevention and parenting.

The newspaper also reported that students will face mounting tensions created by unplanned child-rearing responsibilities, causing students to quit school and plan for a GED. This will make it difficult for the Canton City School District to shake its academic watch designation by the state.

According to the Canton Health Department, statistics through July show that 104 of the 586 babies born to Canton residents in Aultman Hospital and Mercy Medical Center had mothers between 11 and 19.

The newspaper reports that the non-Canton rate was 7 percent. Canton was 15 percent."

Here is the school's website. Timken high


If 13% of the girls at a high school were pregnant is that grounds to dismiss the principle?

Scientists Mess with the Speed of Light

Scientists Mess with the Speed of Light
By Ker Than

I found this fascinating.


Researchers in Switzerland have succeeded in breaking the cosmic speed limit by getting light to go faster than, well, light.



Or is it all an illusion?

Scientists have recently succeeded in doing all sorts of fancy things with light, including slowing it down and even stopping it all together. Now a team at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland is controlling the speed of light using simple off-the-shelf optical fibers, without the aid of special media such as cold gases or crystalline solids like in other experiments.

“This has the enormous advantage of being a simple, inexpensive procedure that works at any wavelength,” said Luc Thévenaz, lead author of the study detailing the research.

Using a technique called Stimulated Brillouin Scattering, the researchers were able to slow down or ratchet up the speed of light like the gas pedal on a car. They succeeded in reducing the speed of light by almost a factor of 4 (although that’s still plenty fast at 46,500 miles per second), but even more dramatically, the team was also able to speed up the speed of light.

Light in a vacuum travels at approximately 186,000 miles per second, but a popular misconception is that, according to Einstein’s special theory of relativity, nothing in the universe can travel faster than this speed.

This seeming paradox can be resolved because a pulse of light is actually made up of many separate frequency components, each of which moves at their own velocities. This is known as the pulse’s phase velocity. If all the frequency components have the same phase velocity, then the overall pulse will also appear to move at that velocity.

However, if the components have different phase velocities, then the pulse’s overall velocity will depend on the relationships between the velocities of the separate components. If the velocities differ, the pulse is said to be moving at the group velocity.

By tweaking the relationship between phase velocities, it’s possible to adjust the group velocity and create the illusion that parts of the pulse are traveling faster than the speed of light.

Court rules atheism a religion

LAW OF THE LAND
Court rules atheism a religion

Decides 1st Amendment protects prison inmate's right to start study group

A federal court of appeals ruled yesterday Wisconsin prison officials violated an inmate's rights because they did not treat atheism as a religion.

"Atheism is [the inmate's] religion, and the group that he wanted to start was religious in nature even though it expressly rejects a belief in a supreme being," the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals said.

The court decided the inmate's First Amendment rights were violated because the prison refused to allow him to create a study group for atheists.

Brian Fahling, senior trial attorney for the American Family Association Center for Law & Policy, called the court's ruling "a sort of Alice in Wonderland jurisprudence."

"Up is down, and atheism, the antithesis of religion, is religion," said Fahling.

The Supreme Court has said a religion need not be based on a belief in the existence of a supreme being. In the 1961 case of Torcaso v. Watkins, the court described "secular humanism" as a religion.

I think that in all fairness we need to remove all references to atheism and secular humanism from public schools and government buildings. That would include the teaching of evolution. We would not want to promote religion and violate the separation of church and state. Wink, Wink.

U.S. sacrifices science on the altar of religion

U.S. sacrifices science on the altar of religion


CYNTHIA TUCKER
MY OPINION

Whatever happened to good old American know-how? What became of those twin qualities of our national character — ingenuity and resourcefulness?

The nation could use a bit of those right now: Even as global petroleum reserves peak, we have no national program for developing alternative energy sources; NASA's shuttle program has been suspended indefinitely for fear of another disaster; and the South Koreans and others are outstripping us in vital genetic research.

The Pentagon is so desperate to attract a new generation of scientists and engineers that it is sending midcareer researchers to screenwriting school, hoping they'll write movies depicting scientists as flashy heroes. But that won't help much if President Bush is going to declare war on science.

Just last week, the president poked a sharp stick in the eye of modern biology, telling reporters that high schools should teach "intelligent design." This view challenges evolution by inserting a divine force into scientific theories about the origins of life.

According to The Washington Post, Bush, in an Oval Office meeting with a group of Texas reporters on Monday, said, "Both sides ought to be properly taught . . . so people can understand what the debate is about. . . . Part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought. . . ."

Like so many Americans who misunderstand scientific consensus, the president thinks there are two sides to the scientific debate about evolution. There are not. There is a side that teaches science — that which can be tested and re-tested against the evidence at hand. And there is the side that favors teaching religion in high school biology classes. (No matter how much proponents of "intelligent design" try to clothe their views in the apparel of science, it is what it is: religion. Whose intelligence? Whose design?)

Talk about not understanding the issue. This author cannot state what Intelligent Design is. If she knows then she is showing her bigotry by not stating it correctly. Either way this is a biased and misleading article. Intelligent Design can be tested against the evidence and is a view held by thousands of scientists. Here is what her argument is about. She does not want to follow the scientific evidence if it leads us to an intelligent designer. She has a moral problem with Intelligent Design not a scientific one.

She further goes on to state:

Now, this country is led by a cult of religious fundamentalists who wish to impose their narrow thinking on the rest of us. The dogma advanced by Bush and his ilk disputes more than a century of biological research, which relies on the foundations of Darwin's theories. It discounts the pain of countless sick and handicapped citizens, who might benefit from advances in stem cell research. It ignores the growing scientific prowess of other nations, including China and South Korea, where, just last week, scientists announced the successful cloning of a dog — a stunning development.

Never mind that millions of Christians, including me, are quite comfortable with the teaching of evolution, since it neither attempts to confirm or deny the existence of a Creator. Never mind that countless believers support broadening federal research on donated embryos that would otherwise be destroyed. The absolutes of a narrow minority rule the day.

Her very flawed thinking here cannot be ignored. By default, she proposes that her narrow thinking be imposed on the rest of us. A century of biological work does not mean that Darwinism is true. Intelligent design goes back for more that a millennium so should you not include it in debate? President Bush has spent more money on stem cell research than any other president including Clinton. He objects to embryonic stem cell research that kills babies in their earliest stage of development. If you are so concerned about people why do you support such a thing? If you value life you must value it at all stages.

No Christian should be comfortable with evolution because it does deny the existence of a creator. It proposes spontaneous chance happenings for the origin of life. By definition it leaves no room for a creator.

Smithsonian in uproar over intelligent-design article

WorldNetDaily: Smithsonian in uproar over intelligent-design article:

Once again we have an example of how bigoted and unloving the scientific community is to people who have facts that disagree with them.

Stephen Meyer's article advocates the theory of
intelligent design. (Photo courtesy Discovery Institute)

"Smithsonian in uproar over intelligent-design article
Museum researcher's career threatened after he published favorable piece

The career of a prominent researcher at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington is in jeopardy after he published a peer-reviewed article by a leading proponent of intelligent design, an alternative to evolutionary theory dismissed by the science and education establishment as a tool of religious conservatives.

Richard Sternberg says that although he continues to work in the museum's Department of Zoology, he has been kicked out of his office and shunned by colleagues, prompting him to file a complaint with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel.

Sternberg charges he was subjected to discrimination on the basis of perceived religious beliefs.

"I'm spending my time trying to figure out how to salvage a scientific career," Sternberg told David Klinghoffer, a columnist for the Jewish Forward, who reported the story in the Wall Street Journal.

Sternberg is managing editor of a nominally independent journal published at the museum, Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. His trouble started when he included in the August issue a review-essay by Stephen Meyer, who holds a Cambridge University doctorate in the philosophy of biology.

Hans Sues, the museum's No. 2 senior scientist, denounced Meyer's article in a widely forwarded e-mail as "unscientific garbage."

According to Sternberg's complaint, which is being investigated, one museum specialist chided him by saying: "I think you are a religiously motivated person and you have dragged down the Proceedings because of your religiously motivated agenda."

Sternberg strongly denies that.

While acknowledging he is a Catholic who attends Mass, he says, "I would call myself a believer with a lot of questions, about everything. I'm in the postmodern predicament."

The complaint says the chairman of the Zoology Department, Jonathan Coddington, called Sternberg's supervisor to look into the matter.

"First, he asked whether Sternberg was a religious fundamentalist. She told him no. Coddington then asked if Sternberg was affiliated with or belonged to any religious organization. ... He then asked where Sternberg stood politically; ... he asked, 'Is he a right-winger? What is his political affiliation?'

The supervisor recounted the conversation to Sternberg, who also quotes her observing: "There are Christians here, but they keep their heads down."

The complaint, according to the Journal column, says Coddington took away Sternberg's office, which prevents access to the specimen collections he needs. Sternberg also was assigned to the close oversight of a curator with whom he had professional disagreements unrelated to evolution.

"I'm going to be straightforward with you," said Coddington, according to the complaint. "Yes, you are being singled out.""

Russia says opposes use of force against Iran

Russia says opposes use of force against Iran:

Here is more evidence that Russia is slowly aligning itself with states that are hostile to Israel. This is what Ezekiel tells us in chapter 38.

"Russia says opposes use of force against Iran

Reuters
Wednesday, August 17, 2005; 8:27 AM

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia warned on Wednesday against using force to stop Iran's nuclear program, saying any such action would have grave and unpredictable consequences.

'We favor further dialogue and consider the use of force in Iran counter-productive and dangerous, something which can have grave and hardly predictable consequences,' said a statement posted on the ministry's Web site www.mid.ru.

The West fears Iran's nuclear program, which the oil-rich state insists is aimed only at the peaceful generation of nuclear power, conceals ambitions to develop atomic weapons.

Iran angered the European Union and the United States by resuming work at a uranium conversion plant earlier this month, rejecting EU incentives offered in return for giving up its nuclear program.

Earlier this month U.S. President George W. Bush said military force remained a last resort to press Tehran to abandon its nuclear ambitions.

'We consider that problems concerning Iran's nuclear activities should be solved through political and diplomatic means, on the basis of international law and Tehran's close cooperation with International Atomic Energy Agency,' the Russian statement said.

Russia, which has constructed a nuclear power plant for Iran and is hoping for more such contracts, has criticized Tehran for restarting the uranium conversion.

Moscow says there is no technical need for Iran to convert its own uranium since Moscow has agreed to supply all necessary nuclear fuel for the Bushehr power plant due to go into operation next year."

Thin skin will help robots 'feel'

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Thin skin will help robots 'feel':
"Thin skin will help robots 'feel'

Artificial 'skin' matrix Image: PNAS

The 'skin' can sense temperature and pressure simultaneously
Japanese researchers have developed a flexible artificial skin that could give robots a humanlike sense of touch.

The team manufactured a type of 'skin' capable of sensing pressure and another capable of sensing temperature.

These are supple enough to wrap around robot fingers and relatively cheap to make, the researchers have claimed.

The University of Tokyo team describe their work in the latest issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.


The materials they're using may not be completely novel but the integration appears to be something new
Douglas Weibel, Harvard University

The researchers explain how pressure-sensing and temperature-sensing networks can be laminated together, forming an artificial skin that can detect both properties simultaneously."

Some of you might say what are we supposed to do with this Data? I say exactly. Wink Wink

Father, Son and Holy Spirit not welcome in song book

More inclusive prayer book, hymnal is applauded by Lutheran assembly:

"More inclusive prayer book, hymnal is applauded by Lutheran assembly
David Briggs
Plain Dealer Reporter

Orlando, Fla.

-- Millions of Lutherans will be able to sing a new song -- actually some 300 new songs -- to the Lord in an updated worship book that offers more options for contemporary worship and less emphasis on exclusively masculine images of God.

The Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America gave the proposed new prayer book and hymnal a thumbs up by a 740-250 vote Wednesday at its biennial meeting. The action allows church officials to make final revisions to the new volume scheduled for publication in October 2006.

Not everyone was happy. Some delegates said the church had been too distracted with sexuality issues to give full attention to the worship book. Others protested a 'totalitarian' process in eliminating male imagery for God from worship.

The changes in the language about God 'will be like a poke in the eye with a sharp stick' to many in the church, said Larry Kallem of Iowa.

Before the final vote, proposals to keep the current Lutheran book of worship, which was published in 1978, and to delay any action until 2009 were overwhelmingly turned down.

Then, after two hours of debate, delegates gave sustained applause for the approval of work on the new book that attempts to be open to different cultures and new musical styles. It will offer alternatives such as 'Holy Eternal Majesty, Holy Incarnate Word, Holy Abiding Spirit' for the male-dominated Trinitarian image of 'Father, Son and Holy Spirit' in prayers during Sunday services.

'This is an important moment,' said Bishop Marcus Miller of the Northeastern Ohio Synod, which has some 93,000 members in 208 churches. 'I'm happy. I'm convinced it will be a great blessing to the church.'

The book still must be approved by denomination's Church Council."

Now more than ever we need to raise up Christian leaders with integrity and conviction that the Bible is the Word of God. I cannot tell you how much my heart hurts when I read that a main stream denomination is ashamed of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Where are those who really trust in the Lord and are not willing to be conformed to this world?

(Luke 18:8 NKJV) “I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”

Details of US microwave-weapon tests revealed

New Scientist Technology - Details of US microwave-weapon tests revealed:

"Details of US microwave-weapon tests revealed


VOLUNTEERS taking part in tests of the Pentagon's 'less-lethal' microwave weapon were banned from wearing glasses or contact lenses due to safety fears. The precautions raise concerns about how safe the Active Denial System (ADS) weapon would be if used in real crowd-control situations.

The ADS fires a 95-gigahertz microwave beam, which is supposed to heat skin and to cause pain but no physical damage (New Scientist, 27 October 2001, p 26). Little information about its effects has been released, but details of tests in 2003 and 2004 were revealed after Edward Hammond, director of the US Sunshine Project - an organisation campaigning against the use of biological and non-lethal weapons - requested them under the Freedom of Information Act.

The tests were carried out at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Two experiments tested pain tolerance levels, while in a third, a 'limited military utility assessment', volunteers played the part of rioters or intruders and the ADS was used to drive them away.

The experimenters banned glasses and contact lenses to prevent possible eye damage to the subjects, and in the second and third tests removed any metallic objects such as coins and keys to stop hot spots being created on the skin. They also checked the volunteers' clothes for certain seams, buttons and zips which might also cause hot spots.

The ADS weapon's beam causes pain within 2 to 3 seconds and it becomes intolerable after less than 5 seconds. People's reflex responses to the pain is expected to force them to move out of the beam before their skin can be burnt.

But Neil Davison, co-ordinator of the non-lethal weapons research project at the University of Bradford in the UK, says controlling the amount of radiation received may not be that simple. 'How do you ensure that the dose doesn't cross the threshold for permanent damage?' he asks. 'What happens if someone in a crowd is unable, for whatever reason, to move away from the beam? Does the weapon cut out to prevent overexposure?'

During the experiments, people playing rioters put up their hands when hit and were given a 15-second cooling-down period before being targeted again. One person suffered a burn in a previous test when the beam was accidentally used on the wrong power setting."

Teen Piercing Sparks Near-Fatal Infection

Teen Piercing Sparks Near-Fatal Infection:

"Teen Piercing Sparks Near-Fatal Infection

By BROOKE DONALD
The Associated Press

BOSTON -- A 13-year-old was in critical condition and her mother faced criminal charges Monday for failing to get medical help after the girl's attempt to pierce her own belly button caused a severe infection lasting weeks.

By the time Deborah Robinson's daughter was taken to the hospital last week, the former middle school track runner weighed about 75 pounds and was near death, authorities said.

On Monday, two days after being arrested, Robinson, 38, appeared in court and was ordered to undergo evaluation by a psychiatrist to determine whether she's fit to stand trial.

She faces up to five years in prison on a charge of wantonly and recklessly permitting substantial bodily injury to a child under 14, and up to two years in prison on a child endangerment charge.

A court psychiatrist testified that Robinson had signs of paranoia and a distrust of doctors.

A message left with her lawyer, William Concannon, was not immediately returned Monday.

The girl was found by paramedics in the family's apartment Wednesday morning after they received a 911 call about an ill child. According to a police report, the girl was lying on a couch in the apartment wearing an oxygen mask."

Option to stem cells found

Option to stem cells found:

"Option to stem cells found Pitt experts say placental cells offer palatable alternative

By Byron Spice, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

University of Pittsburgh researchers have discovered that one type of cell in the human placenta has characteristics that are strikingly similar to embryonic stem cells in their ability to regenerate a wide variety of tissues.

The cells, called amniotic epithelial cells, potentially could be used to produce new liver cells to treat liver failure, or new pancreatic islet cells to cure diabetes or new neurons to treat Parkinson's disease.

Unlike embryonic stem cells, which are obtained only by destroying human embryos, these cells can be extracted from the same placentas that now are routinely discarded after birth. They thus could be a non-controversial alternative to embryonic stem cells.

'We think it would be easier to get these to the clinic than [embryonic stem] cells,' said Stephen Strom, an associate professor of pathology at the Pitt medical school.

Not only do amniotic epithelial cells lack the controversy of embryonic stem cells, but they also do not generate the tumors associated with embryonic stem cells, he said. So it may be possible in some cases to simply transplant the amniotic cells to a patient, rather than to first grow the desired specialized cells in the laboratory."

This has been a known alternative to embryonic stem cells. Those promoting embryonic research have an agenda beyond helping people. If embryonic stem cell research stays outlawed then it suggests making abortion illegal as well. What is illegal is usually frowned upon in society. Whether it is moral or immoral the law has the power to persuade people to think a certain way.

Biblical Pool Uncovered in Jerusalem

Newsday.com: Biblical Pool Uncovered in Jerusalem:
"Biblical Pool Uncovered in Jerusalem




The reservoir served as a gathering place for Jews making pilgrimages and is said in the Gospel of John to be the site where Jesus cured a blind man.

By Thomas H. Maugh II
Times Staff Writer

Workers repairing a sewage pipe in the Old City of Jerusalem have discovered the biblical Pool of Siloam, a freshwater reservoir that was a major gathering place for ancient Jews making religious pilgrimages to the city and the reputed site where Jesus cured a man blind from birth, according to the Gospel of John.

The pool was fed by the now famous Hezekiah's Tunnel and is 'a much grander affair' than archeologists previously believed, with three tiers of stone stairs allowing easy access to the water, said Hershel Shanks, editor of the Biblical Archaeology Review, which reported the find Monday.

'Scholars have said that there wasn't a Pool of Siloam and that John was using a religious conceit' to illustrate a point, said New Testament scholar James H. Charlesworth of the Princeton Theological Seminary. 'Now we have found the Pool of Siloam … exactly where John said it was.'

A gospel that was thought to be 'pure theology is now shown to be grounded in history,' he said."

Getting even

United Press International�-�The Washington Times, America's Newspaper:
"Man pays in pennies; judge gets even

A man who tried to get even by paying a traffic ticket with $120 in pennies got upstaged by a North Dakota judge who made him stay until they were counted.
Robert John Zukowski brought a garbage can full of about 12,000 pennies to Clay County District Court to pay his fine for speeding, the Fargo Forum reported. Court Administrator Jan Crossette lugged the bucket of change to a bank, which used a machine to count the money and gave her $120 in bills.
Zukowski got a few pennies back in overpayment.
Judge John Pearson told the newspaper he thought Zukowski's anger was misdirected.
'If the person is mad at the cop, why take it out on court administration?' Pearson asked. 'They're punishing the wrong people.'"

It does not really pay to get even. People who let anger and vengeance consume them never get satisfaction in life. It is never as sweet and you think it will be. It is better to turn the other cheek and let God sort it out.

Abortion backers fear 'hostile' Roberts�

Abortion backers fear 'hostile' Roberts�-�Nation/Politics�-�The Washington Times, America's Newspaper:
"Abortion backers fear 'hostile' Roberts

By Charles Hurt

THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Pro-choice advocates say documents released this week from the National Archives suggest that federal Judge John G. Roberts Jr. would vote to curtail abortion rights if confirmed to the Supreme Court.

'We are gravely concerned this new information could indicate John Roberts holds a hostile position on the fundamental right to privacy,' Karen Pearl, interim president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said after reading a draft article Judge Roberts wrote in 1981 as a lawyer in the Reagan administration. 'The draft article attacks the very bedrock of reproductive freedom.'

The 1981 draft article about judicial restraint raises deeper concerns for abortion-rights advocates because it questions the validity not of Roe v. Wade -- the 1973 Supreme Court case that established abortion rights -- but of an earlier case that established a 'right to privacy' and is the foundation for Roe. "

If pro-abortionists dislike Roberts then he gets my vote.

I will be on hiatus

I will be on hiatus for a week receiving a little R & R for the family. We will be where the picture at the top of the blog was taken.

Mass. Debates Birth Certificates for Babies of Same-Sex Couples

FOXNews.com - Politics - Mass. Debates Birth Certificates for Babies of Same-Sex Couples: "
Mass. Debates Birth Certificates for Babies of Same-Sex Couples

BOSTON — Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (search) says babies born to couples of the same sex should be given amended birth certificates, but supporters of gay marriage who want to change those certificates say the governor's formula for doing so is wrong.

Birth certificates are supposed to establish identity and parentage. In Massachusetts, the only state in the union where same-sex marriage is legal, gay rights advocates want the words 'Mother' and 'Father' removed from birth certificates, and put in their place the terms 'Parent A' and 'Parent B.'

'There should be no doubt in Massachusetts that Massachusetts records should accurately reflect the true nature of Massachusetts families and that includes same-sex couples,' said Michele Granda, staff attorney for Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders.

Romney has instructed hospitals to cross out the words 'Mother' or 'Father' and write in the phrase 'Second Parent.'

'I'm opposed to taking the Massachusetts birth certificate and removing the term 'Mother' and 'Father' and substituting 'Parent A' and 'Parent B,'' Romney said. 'Look, each child has a mother and a father. They should have the right to have that mother and father known to them and that's something I'd like to preserve on a birth certificate.'"

This is only the first of many problems when you allow same sex unions.

Romney vetoes law on pill, takes aim at Roe v. Wade

Romney vetoes law on pill, takes aim at Roe v. Wade - The Boston Globe - Boston.com - Mass. - News:
Here is a follow up on a previous blog.

"Romney vetoes law on pill, takes aim at Roe v. Wade
Opinion article reflects a shift from '02 view

By Scott S. Greenberger, Globe Staff

Three years after expressing support for ''the substance' of Roe v. Wade, Governor Mitt Romney today criticizes the landmark ruling that legalized abortion and says the states should decide separately whether to allow it.




Romney outlines his abortion position in an opinion article today in The Boston Globe, a day after he vetoed a bill that would expand access to the so-called ''morning after' pill, a high dose of hormones that women can take to prevent pregnancy up to five days after sex.

In a written response to a questionnaire for candidates in 2002, Romney told Planned Parenthood that he supported ''the substance of the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade,' according to the group. Today, Romney describes himself as a ''pro-life governor' who wishes ''the laws of our nation could reflect that view.' Calling the country ''divided over abortion,' he says states ''should determine their own abortion laws and not have them dictated by judicial mandate.'

The bill that Romney vetoed would allow trained pharmacists to dispense the morning-after pill without a prescription and would require hospitals to offer it to rape victims. It almost certainly will become law despite Romney's rejection; both the House and Senate approved it by veto-proof margins, and legislative leaders said they plan to override his veto."