Mass. Gay Marriage Foes May Get on Ballot

Mass. Gay Marriage Foes May Get on Ballot - Yahoo! News

By GLEN JOHNSON

BOSTON - Backers of a proposed constitutional amendment to put a stop to gay marriage in Massachusetts said Tuesday they have gathered almost twice the number of signatures needed to put it on the ballot in 2008.
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Beyond the signatures, the proposal needs to be approved by two successive sessions of the state Legislature before it can be placed before voters.

The Massachusetts Family Institute and its online counterpart, http://www.voteonmarriage.org, said they will submit over 120,000 signatures before Wednesday's 5 p.m. deadline. The measure needed the support of 65,825 registered voters.

The proposed amendment seeks to undo a 2003 ruling by Massachusetts' highest court that said gays are entitled to marry. In May 2004, the nation's first state-sanctioned gay marriages began taking place, and thousands of same-sex couples have since tied the knot.

The Massachusetts Republican Party and Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican and potential 2008 presidential candidate, also supported the petition drive.

Firefighters to erect monument with controversial poem

A Fireman's appeal to God offends some

BRUNSWICK, Maine --Firefighters will be allowed to erect a memorial that features a poem with a reference to God and language that some town councilors viewed as sexist.

The poem, "A Fireman's Prayer," was written in 1959 by Kansas firefighter A.W. Linn and is found on memorials across the country.

Some town councilors were concerned that a reference to God could violate legal standards on the separation of church and state, and that other lines might imply that only men can be firefighters. Objections were also raised to the use of the word "fireman" instead of the gender-neutral word "firefighter."

The Town Council voted Monday to allow the monument to be built as planned, but not without debate.

"To put a monument in 2005 on a public piece of property which completely cuts women out of the equation is wrong," said Newell Augur.

Councilor Joanne King saw no problems with the language.

"I think women are empowered by their actions to become firefighters, police officers or doctors," King said. "I don't think the average woman is going to be threatened by a poem that was written in 1959."

Members of the local firefighters union completed a $12,000 fundraising campaign in 2002 to build a memorial honoring town firefighters.

Firefighters selected "A Fireman's Prayer" to appear on the monument, which will be erected next spring next to a new fire station at Cooks Corner.

The poem's first line reads, "When I'm called to the duty of God." The final lines read: "And if according to my fate, I am to lose my life, Please bless with your protecting hand, My children and my wife."

Councilors had no problem with placing a monument on the property, but several questioned the poem's reference to God and asked the town's attorney to determine if it would leave the town open to a lawsuit.

Town Attorney Geoffrey Hole said the language would not give the impression that local government was endorsing religion. Councilors voted 9-0 to leave the word God in the poem.

In another vote, three council members did not want to allow the wording to remain as originally written. But the other six councilors said it would be inappropriate to change the wording and that, at its heart, the poem is simply an homage to the sacrifices firefighters make.

I am tired of all this political correctness. Firefighters will respond to any emergency to save and protect lives without regard to the political or religious views of the people they are saving. They need to show the same courtesy to the firemen and let them have their monument the way they want it.

Fifty babies a year are alive after abortion

Babies born alive after abortion

Lois Rogers

A GOVERNMENT agency is launching an inquiry into doctors’ reports that up to 50 babies a year are born alive after botched National Health Service abortions.

The investigation, by the Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health (CEMACH), comes amid growing unease among clinicians over a legal ambiguity that could see them being charged with infanticide.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, which regulates methods of abortion, has also mounted its own investigation.

Its guidelines say that babies aborted after more than 21 weeks and six days of gestation should have their hearts stopped by an injection of potassium chloride before being delivered. In practice, few doctors are willing or able to perform the delicate procedure.

For the abortion of younger foetuses, labour is induced by drugs in the expectation that the infant will not survive the birth process. Guidelines say that doctors should ensure that the drugs they use prevent such babies being alive at birth.

In practice, according to Stuart Campbell, former professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at St George’s hospital, London, a number do survive.

“They can be born breathing and crying at 19 weeks’ gestation,” he said. “I am not anti-abortion, but as far as I am concerned this is sub-standard medicine.”

Doctors are increasingly uneasy about aborting babies who could be born alive. “If viability is the basis on which they set the 24-week limit for abortion, then the simplest answer is to change the law and reduce the upper limit to 18 weeks,” said Campbell, who last year published a book showing images of foetuses’ facial expressions and “walking” movements taken with a form of 3-D ultrasound.

The Department of Health was alerted three months ago to the issue of babies surviving failed terminations. In August clinicians in Manchester published an analysis of 31 such babies born in northwest England between 1996 and 2001.

“If a baby is born alive following a failed abortion and then dies (because of lack of care), you could potentially be charged with murder,” said Shantala Vadeyar, a consultant obstetrician at South Manchester University Hospitals NHS Trust, who led the study.

Babies are alive in the womb from the moment of conception. They are a being because they exist. They are human because they can be nothing else. A person that is considered alive is more than just a beating heart.

Someone undergoing a heart operation sometimes has his heart suspended but that does not mean he ceases being a person. Why not? It is because he will have a beating heart with intervention from the doctors. How much more should we consider a child in the womb a person because they will have a beating heart without any intervention.

Former Canadian Minister Of Defence Asks Parliament To Hold Hearings On Relations With Aliens

Former Canadian Minister Of Defence Asks Canadian Parliament Asked To Hold Hearings On Relations With Alien "Et" Civilizations - Yahoo! News: "UFOs"

(PRWEB) - OTTAWA, CANADA (PRWEB) November 24, 2005 -- A former Canadian Minister of Defence and Deputy Prime Minister under Pierre Trudeau has joined forces with three Non-governmental organizations to ask the Parliament of Canada to hold public hearings on Exopolitics -- relations with “ETs.”

By “ETs,” Mr. Hellyer and these organizations mean ethical, advanced extraterrestrial civilizations that may now be visiting Earth.

On September 25, 2005, in a startling speech at the University of Toronto that caught the attention of mainstream newspapers and magazines, Paul Hellyer, Canada’s Defence Minister from 1963-67 under Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Prime Minister Lester Pearson, publicly stated: "UFOs, are as real as the airplanes that fly over your head."

Mr. Hellyer went on to say, "I'm so concerned about what the consequences might be of starting an intergalactic war, that I just think I had to say something."

Hellyer revealed, "The secrecy involved in all matters pertaining to the Roswell incident was unparalled. The classification was, from the outset, above top secret, so the vast majority of U.S. officials and politicians, let alone a mere allied minister of defence, were never in-the-loop."

Hellyer warned, "The United States military are preparing weapons which could be used against the aliens, and they could get us into an intergalactic war without us ever having any warning. He stated, "The Bush administration has finally agreed to let the military build a forward base on the moon, which will put them in a better position to keep track of the goings and comings of the visitors from space, and to shoot at them, if they so decide."

Hellyer’s speech ended with a standing ovation. He said, "The time has come to lift the veil of secrecy, and let the truth emerge, so there can be a real and informed debate, about one of the most important problems facing our planet today."

Na nu Na nu.
I could not resist!

Children and patients die in hospital suicide blast

More peace and goodwill spread by Islam extremists.

Suicide car bomber

Children and patients die in hospital suicide blast
By Jim Muir in Baghdad

A suicide car bomber killed dozens of people in an Iraqi town yesterday when he rammed his vehicle into American and Iraqi soldiers as they handed out toys and sweets to children outside a hospital.

But instead of inflicting mass casualties among the soldiers, the bomber's victims were mostly children, medics and patients, killed when the brunt of the blast was taken by the hospital's emergency room, which was wrecked by the explosion.

The attack in Mahmoudiyah, south of Baghdad, claimed at least 30 lives and was followed by a second blast last night in a shopping district in Hilla, also south of the Iraqi capital, where up to 11 people were reported to have died.

The bulk of the casualties were children at the gates of the hospital and civilians inside the emergency room.

"The bomber was parked in a nearby garage, and drove at the Americans when he saw them going into the hospital," said a hospital security guard. "But he missed them, and hit children, women, men and old people."

A doctor and five other medical staff were among the civilian dead. Many of the dozens of wounded were transferred to Baghdad for treatment.

Mahmoudiyah is one of a belt of towns with mixed Sunni and Shia Muslim populations around the southern periphery of Baghdad that have been riven by sectarian tensions in recent months.

N.M. Gov Admits He Wasn't Baseball Pick

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.

Gov. Bill Richardson is coming clean on his draft record _ the baseball draft, that is, admitting that his claim to have been a pick of the Kansas City A's in 1966 was untrue.

For nearly four decades, Richardson, often mentioned as a possible Democratic presidential candidate, has maintained he was drafted by the Kansas City Athletics.

The claim was included in a brief biography released when Richardson successfully ran for Congress in 1982. A White House news release in 1997 mentioned it when he was about to be named U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. And several news organizations, including The Associated Press, have reported it as fact over the years.

But an investigation by the Albuquerque Journal found no record of Richardson being drafted by the A's, who have since moved to Oakland, or any other team.

Informed by the newspaper of its findings, the governor acknowledged the error in a story in Thursday's editions.

'After being notified of the situation and after researching the matter ... I came to the conclusion that I was not drafted by the A's,' he said."

He was not drafted by any baseball team but by the way he drives one would think he was recruited by NASCAR.

Deaths After Abortion Pill to Be Studied by Officials

Deaths After Abortion Pill

By GARDINER HARRIS

WASHINGTON, Nov. 22 - Federal drug regulators have discovered that all four women in this country who died after taking an abortion pill suffered from a rare and highly lethal bacterial infection, a finding that is leading to new scrutiny of the drug's safety.

Since all four deaths occurred in California, an unusual clustering, the Food and Drug Administration quietly tested to see if abortion pills distributed in California were somehow contaminated. They were not.

Stumped, officials from the F.D.A. and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have decided to convene a scientific meeting early next year to discuss this medical mystery, according to two drug agency officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic.

Among other issues, the experts hope to explore whether the abortion pill, called Mifeprex or RU-486, somehow makes patients vulnerable to an infection with Clostridium sordellii, the lethal bacteria. If so, they will explore how such an infection "could be more easily diagnosed and even prevented," one official said.

Monty Patterson, whose daughter Holly died on Sept. 17, 2003, less than a month after her 18th birthday, said he believed that Mifeprex inhibits the immune system, making women more vulnerable to bacteria.

Mr. Patterson's campaign against Mifeprex helped persuade the family of at least one other woman who died to have tissue samples tested for the presence of the rare bacteria, he said.

"I believe this drug should be taken off the market," Mr. Patterson said.

For now, there is no indication that the F.D.A. is considering restricting access to the drug. Indeed, it has advised doctors against giving antibiotics as a precaution to prevent the rare infections since antibiotic therapy carries its own risks.

Mifeprex has been used in more than 500,000 medical abortions in the United States since its approval in September 2000. The risks of death from infection after using the pill are similar to the risks after surgical abortion or childbirth, said Dr. Steven Galson, director of the F.D.A.'s center for drugs.

It is unusual to see anyone reporting on the danger of this abortion drug. If I remember correctly there were more deaths when they were testing the drug. Also some women died not of an infection but bleed to death after aborting. We should not hold human life in such disregard.

In China, Bush Urges Religious Freedom

By TERENCE HUNT, AP White House Correspondent


AP Photo: U.S. President George W. Bush, right, and first lady Laura Bush arrive for morning services...

BEIJING -
President Bush took a front-row seat at a church service Sunday, sending a quiet signal to China's leaders that they should expand religious freedom in this communist nation.

"It wasn't all that long ago that people were not allowed to worship openly in this society," the president said after the hourlong service. "My hope is that the government of China will not fear the Christians who gather to worship openly. A healthy society is a society that welcomes all faiths."

In a day of talks, the president was expected to trumpet a trade concession from China. He also was to prod Chinese leaders about currency system changes, human rights and the piracy of American movies, computer programs and other copyright material. Bush also was seeking China's cooperation on North Korea, Iran, Syria and other trouble spots.

Bush, however, chose to make the worship service his first public event during a two-day state visit to China. The significance of Bush's visit to the church, a modest marble-and-brick building tucked off an alley, was clear to the congregation of about 400.

Bush received a standing ovation when he entered the sanctuary, which looked much like a classroom with wooden movie theater seats. There was more applause when the pastor announced his presence, and members of the choir assembled outside to see Bush off afterward.

"The spirit of the Lord is very strong inside your church," Bush said.

Most churches are underground churches in China. It is a crime to baptize people so they do it secretly in tubs but never in lakes or public places. The president did the right thing but I have little hope the Chinese government will change.

US military sets laser PHASRs to stun

New Scientist Breaking News

The US government has unveiled a "non-lethal" laser rifle designed to dazzle enemy personnel without causing them permanent harm. But the device will require close scrutiny to ensure compliance with a United Nations protocol on blinding laser weapons.

The Personnel Halting and Stimulation Response (PHASR) rifle was developed at the Air Force Research Laboratory in New Mexico, US, and two prototypes have been delivered to military bases in Texas and Virginia for further testing.

The US Department of Defense (DoD) believes the weapon could be used, for example, to temporarily blind suspects who drive through a roadblock. However, the DoD has yet to reveal details of how the laser works and has yet to respond to New Scientist’s requests for further information.

The PHASR may attempt to address safety concerns by automatically sensing its distance from a target (Image: US air force)

Radicals threaten to burn Christians to death

Warn of consequences if they don't reconvert to Hinduism by Sunday

WorldNetDaily.com

More than 60 Christian converts in northern India will be burned to death if they refuse to return to Hinduism by Sunday, a group of extremists has warned.

The radical Hindus severely beat the converts' pastor, Feroz Masih, in a Nov. 4 attack in the state of Himachal Pradesh, accusing him of "forcibly converting" Hindus, reported Compass Direct, a news service that monitors persecution of Christians.

Masih sustained internal injuries requiring medical treatment and still is recovering.

The pastor's son, Ramesh, told Compass Direct the estimated 10 attackers were members of the World Hindu Council and its youth wing Bajrang Dal, which has been blamed for waves of attacks against Christians and other religious minorities since the rise of the Hindu nationalist party BJP in the late 1990s.

The attackers forced Masih, 62, to sign a document stating his willingness to participate in a ceremony Sunday in which all of the Christians would convert back to Hinduism, Ramesh said.

If the pastor or church members refuse to participate, they will be burned to death, the radicals warned.

Masih and his son lead a local congregation related to Believer's Church in India that meets in their home in the town of Baijnath.

Compass said the police regarded the beating as a "minor incident."

"An official complaint [regarding the attack] has not been registered, and no one has been arrested," said Constable Rakesh Kumar.

Masih's son, however, said the beating was inspired by local media reports that claimed his father was forcibly converting Hindus.

"We simply preach the message of peace and joy as given in the Bible. All the believers who attend the worship ... have embraced Christianity out of their own will," he said.

The Masihs, who are connected to K.P. Yohannan's Gospel for Asia missionary group, say they still are waiting for a police response to the death threats.

Yohannan said it's not clear that the police will take any action, noting the area is dominated by a large temple to the Hindu god Shiva, which draws thousands of pilgrims.

This is unbelievable. Many of this pastors in India go out and commit themselves to ministry on as little as $200 a year salary or sometimes nothing at all. It is not uncommon for them to be threatened but this is horrible.

These Hindu follow the god Shiva who is the Destroyer; one of the three major divinities in the later Hindu pantheon. I guess you become like the one you worship.

Pray for the protection of these Christians.

San Diego to appeal cross decision

Judge nullified citizens' 75% vote to maintain landmark

WorldNetDaily:
by James L. Lambert

The city of San Diego will appeal a court ruling that nullified an overwhelming vote by its citizens to save a historic cross that sits on public land.

Attorney Charles LiMandri, who represented the city in the case, told WorldNetDaily yesterday that newly elected Mayor Jerry Sanders informed him of the decision to appeal the Oct. 7 ruling by San Diego Superior Court Judge Patricia Yim Cowett.

Cowett's decision effectively overturned Proposition A, passed by 75 percent of voters in July, which called for the city to donate the cross to the federal government as the centerpiece of a veterans memorial.

But Cowett ruled such action would be an unconstitutional aid to religion.

The conflict arises from an ACLU lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the 29-foot concrete structure, which has been the center of a war memorial on city land since 1954.



Mt. Soledad cross and veterans memorial above San Diego (soledadmemorial.com)




How offensive is a cross on a war memorial that the ACLU needs to file a lawsuit to get it removed. What's next? Are you going to get sued if you have a christian bumper sticker and drive on government property?

Europe's 'disaffected youths' conspiracy

WorldNetDaily: Europe's 'disaffected youths' conspiracy

More on the Islamic peace movements.


Hal Lindsey

For two weeks roaming bands of "youths" have rampaged across France, burning buildings and cars and daring police to intervene. At least one person was beaten to death by a mob as he tried to stop them from burning his car.

The mobs have already burned more than 6,000 cars across the country, they've burned hundreds of buildings, and more than 2,000 rioters have been arrested since the rioting broke out.

Nobody remembers the details surrounding the incident that sparked the unrest – ostensibly it was a protest over the deaths of two teenagers who were electrocuted while fleeing police. It seems a pretty thin excuse for weeks of rioting. The police didn't kill the pair – they killed themselves while trying to evade arrest. What would the alternative choice be for the government? If somebody runs, let them go?

But while it is a little unclear why the rioters are blaming the police for the accidental electrocution of the two evading arrest, it is even more unclear why the French and the mainstream media are conspiring to rehabilitate the rioters even as the smoke continues to rise over French cities.

According to the mainstream media, the rioters are "disaffected youths" who feel "alienated" from French society. The mainstream fiction is that they are rioting because of high unemployment and unfavorable social conditions.

Call me crazy. I agree with Iran. Not because France banned the wearing of religious symbols – the ban includes Christian and Jewish symbols as well. But I do agree with Iran that the reason for the riots is all about Islam and has little or nothing to do with "disaffected youths suffering high unemployment" and everything to do with Islam.

So, why are the Europeans (and the mainstream media on both sides of the Atlantic) blaming themselves and giving Islam a pass? It's simple. If it is the government's fault, there is some hope of fixing the problem. At the minimum, it creates the illusion of empowering the people, at least temporarily.

Adrian Rogers, Southern Baptist statesman, dies at 74

Adrian Rogers, Southern Baptist


MEMPHIS (FBW)-Adrian Rogers, 74, pastor emeritus of Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova, Tenn., and a former president of Southern Baptist Convention passed away in the early hours of Nov. 15 after battling cancer and double-pneumonia. He was born Sept. 12, 1931 in West Palm Beach.

Rogers, who was the only person in modern times to serve three terms as president of the 16.4 million member Southern Baptist Convention, saw the SBC through tumultuous times in two decades, beginning in1979 and then again in 1986-87.


BP News Photo

Iraqi Woman Admits on TV to Jordan Attack

Another daily example of peaceful Islam.

By JAMAL HALABY
Associated Press Writer

AMMAN, Jordan

An Iraqi woman confessed on Jordanian state television Sunday that she tried to blow herself up along with her husband during a hotel wedding reception last week, saying that the explosives concealed under her denim dress failed to detonate.

Sajida Mubarak Atrous al-Rishawi, 35, made her statement hours after being arrested by authorities tipped off by an al-Qaida in Iraq claim that a husband-and-wife team participated in Wednesday's bombings at three U.S.-based hotels. The attackers killed 57 other people at the Radisson SAS, Grand Hyatt and Days Inn hotels.

Al-Rishawi's brother was once the right-hand man to Abu Musab al- Zarqawi, the Jordanian leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, said deputy premier Marwan Muasher. He said the brother, Mubarak Atrous al-Rishawi, was killed in the former terrorist stronghold of Fallujah, Iraq.

Officials believe al-Rishawi, who entered Jordan from Iraq on Nov. 5, may provide significant information about the operations of al- Zarqawi's group, which claimed responsibility for the hotel bombings, Jordan's deadliest terrorist attacks. The group said the attacks were retaliation for Jordan supporting the United States and other Western powers.

Al-Rishawi was shown on state television wearing a white head scarf, a buttoned, body-length dark denim dress, and belts packed with TNT and ball bearings. Muasher told CNN the belts were captured with her.

Al-Rishawi said she and her husband, Ali Hussein Ali al-Shamari, 35, were wearing explosive-laden belts when they strolled into a Radisson ballroom where hundreds of guests, including children, were attending a Jordanian-Palestinian wedding reception.

18 year old may become mayor

washingtonpost.comTeen Holds Two-Vote Lead in Mich. Race

The Associated Press
Friday, November 11, 2005; 7:15 PM

HILLSDALE, Mich. -- An 18-year-old high school student held on to a two-vote lead to become mayor of this southern Michigan town.

County Clerk Thomas C. Mohr on Thursday announced the official tally: Michael Sessions received 670 votes. Mayor Doug Ingles had 668.

Earlier unofficial figures had shown Sessions with a 64-vote lead over the 51-year-old incumbent. But several votes for Sessions, a write-in candidate, were disqualified because they were actually cast for other candidates.

Ingles has until 5 p.m. EST Wednesday to ask for a recount.

Sessions used $700 from a summer job to fund his race, putting up signs throughout the city and campaigning door-to-door in the town of 8,200 people.

Sessions appeared Thursday on "Late Show with David Letterman" to read the Top 10 list of "Good Things About Being an 18-year-old Mayor."

The list included "Parents try to tell me what to do, I raise their taxes" (No. 10), "I got a call from Demi Moore" (No. 6) and "It's flattering when President Bush calls me for advice" (No. 1).

© 2005 The Associated Press

From student council to city mayor is a big jump. I wonder if he is still living at home? It would be funny to have the parents still giving chores to the mayor or asking if his homework is done.

Breaking News from Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World

Goliath found?
By OREN KLASS

Professor Maeir with shard at "ancient city of Gath."
Photo: Yoni Reif

A very small ceramic shard unearthed by Bar-Ilan University archaeologists digging at Tell es-Safi, the biblical city "Gath of the Philistines," may hold a very large clue into the history of the well-known biblical figure Goliath.

The shard, which contains the earliest known Philistine inscription ever to be discovered, mentions two names that are remarkably similar to the name "Goliath".

The discovery is of particular importance since the Bible attributes Gath as the home town of Goliath. "Gath of the Philistines," was one of the major cities of the Philistines, the well-known arch-enemies of the Israelites in the biblical text.

Professor Aren Maeir, Chairman of Bar-Ilan University's Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology, told The Jerusalem Post that the odds of this being the actual Goliath referred to in the Bible are "small if non-existent."

Professor Maeir explained that this find could chronologically be placed some 50 years after the story of David and Goliath was to have taken place.

Furthermore, according to Prof. Maeir, Goliath was a very popular type of name at the time.

Regardless of the low odds, the archaeological find may be seen as the first clear extra-biblical evidence that the story of the battle between David and Goliath may be more than just a legend.

Written in archaic "Proto-Canaanite" letters, the inscription found on the shard, dating to the 10th or early 9th century BCE, contains two non-Semitic names: Alwt and Wlt. Most scholars believe the name Goliath, of non-Semitic origin, is etymologically related to various Indo-European names, such as the Lydian name Aylattes.

Following intense examination of the inscription, Prof. Meir (along with his colleagues Prof. Aaron Demsky, an expert in epigraphy at Bar-Ilan University, and Dr. Stefan Wimmer, of Munich University) has concluded that the two names which appear in the inscription are remarkably similar to the etymological parallels of Goliath.

Shard to scale Photo: Professor Aren Maeir

This is interesting. Did someone doubt that the Bible was not accurate historically? Don't bet against it. God's word is amazing and trustworthy.

Terror attacks spark fury in Jordan

CNN.com - Terror attacks spark fury in Jordan - Nov 10, 2005

AMMAN, Jordan (CNN) -- Three terror bombings that killed at least 56 people in Jordan's capital sparked furious protests against al Qaeda on Thursday after a Web site carried a claim that the group was behind the attacks.

Jordanians flooded Amman blaring car horns and waving the nation's flag to protest the suicide attacks at three hotels with Western connections.

Hundreds of angry Jordanians rallied, shouting, "Burn in hell, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi!" after the claim of responsibility was posted.

The Wednesday attacks at the Grand Hyatt, Radisson and Days Inn hotels in downtown Amman took their greatest toll on a wedding party. (Watch what the explosion left behind -- 4:39)

The wedding reception of Ashraf al-Akhras and his bride, Nadia Alami, at the Radisson was targeted by one of the bombers, although no Westerners attended. The explosion killed the couple's fathers and a number of guests. The newlyweds were wounded.

The groom said the blast happened as he and his bride were entering the wedding hall. He lost as many as 10 of his relatives, he said.

"This is not Islam," al-Akhras said. "This is a terrorist fighting our capital."

In the Palestinian West Bank village of Silet al-Thaher, Akhras family members mourned their relatives.

"Oh my God, oh my God. Is it possible that Arabs are killing Arabs, Muslims killing Muslims? For what did they do that?" screamed 35-year-old Najah Akhras, who lost two nieces in the attack.

A relative of the Akhras clan wept Thursday for the 17 relatives killed while attending a wedding party.

Bring it on . . .�-�

If you are following the Supreme Court nominations then you will probably be interested in this piece.

By Cal Thomas

The same blogs that registered extreme opposition to Harriet Miers' Supreme Court nomination are overjoyed by President Bush's selection of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

Judge Samuel Alito Jr.

Manuel Miranda, chairman of the Third Branch Conference and former Bush speechwriter David Frum were among the first to openly criticize Miss Miers. He calls Judge Alito "immensely well qualified" and "a constitutionalist who has weathered one of the more liberal federal circuit courts in the country." Mr. Miranda likened the Alito nomination to that of now Chief Justice John Roberts, calling it "a grand slam."

Other reactions from conservatives were similarly ecstatic. Americans for Better Justice, which opposed the Miers nomination, said, "Judge Alito possesses both the brilliance and humility necessary in a Supreme Court justice."

More here

Chinese get prison time for Bible delivery�

China has not changed her ways.

Don't buy Christmas lights made in China.

By Julia Duin
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Religious persecution in China has reached the point that distributing Bibles is earning a three-year prison sentence.

Cai Zhuohua, 34, a Beijing underground church leader, was sentenced yesterday to three years in prison for distributing Bibles and other Christian materials.
His wife, Xiao Yunfei, got two years, and her brother Xiao Gaowen was sentenced to 18 months by the Haidian Lower People's Court in Beijing.

They were arrested September 2004, said the China Aid Association of Midland, Texas. They were accused of distributing 200,000 Bibles and other materials as part of an unregistered house church Mr. Cai oversaw for 10 years.

It is the latest in a long string of escalating arrests and harassment Chinese Christians have undergone in recent years.

"This is not an acceptable result," said China Aid President Bob Fu. "We urge President Bush to use his upcoming visit to China to address this serious religious-persecution case."

Mr. Bush will meet with leaders in Beijing during a Nov. 19-21 visit.
"You bet when the president goes to Asia next week, he will continue to talk about the importance of promoting human rights and human dignity for all," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said yesterday.

Friends of Falun Gong, a religious movement espousing meditative practices, say that more than 100,000 of its adherents have been detained, 20,000 sent to labor camps without trial and at least 253 members died from torture and beatings while in prison.

Imprisoned Falun Gong and Christians are forced to manufacture Christmas lights for export, according to Friends of Falun Gong and human rights activist Harry Wu.
Concerned Women for America, a Christian group, yesterday posted statements by Mr. Wu on its Web site (www.cwfa.org) reminding readers that "we never stop to think about where and under what conditions those pretty lights were made. Well, the truth is not so pretty."

In March, a law took effect in China mandating severe reprisals for house churches that have not registered with the government.

Visiting American seminarians were snatched up Aug. 2 during a police raid at a house church in China's Hubei province. On Aug. 15, five more were arrested at a house church gathering in the Henan province.

The Americans were released, but 42 Chinese -- members of the often-persecuted South China Church -- were not so fortunate. Several were tortured, China Aid said, but most were released by Aug. 13, mainly because of a pending visit by members of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

The commission listed China as one of the world's eight worst violators of religious freedom yesterday in its annual report to Congress. China has occupied a top spot on the agency's list since 1999.

"Underground Christian groups, Muslim Uighurs, Tibetan Buddhists, and members of groups that the government considered 'cults' were subjected to increased government scrutiny," the report said. "Security officials used threats, demolition of unregistered property, extortion, interrogation, detention, and at times beatings and torture to harass leaders of unauthorized groups and their followers."

For instance, Gong Shengliang, pastor of South China Church, was arrested in 2001 on trumped-up rape charges, human rights groups say. He languishes near death in Hubei's Hong Shan Prison.

Christian church to be built in Muslim stronghold

The Scotsman - International - Scot to lead Christian church to be built in Muslim stronghold

MICHAEL THEODOULOU

A SCOTTISH archdeacon is to run the first Christian church to be built in the conservative Muslim state of Qatar since the arrival of Islam in the 7th century.

The Ven Ian Young, 58, has been the chief Anglican priest in the capital, Doha, since 1991. Work on the �4 million Church of the Epiphany, which will not have a spire or free-standing cross, will begin next year on land donated by the reform-minded Emir of Qatar, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani. A quarter of the cost has been raised by the Anglican community in Qatar, with the rest to be met by fundraising abroad.

Speaking yesterday, Dr Young, who is from Perth, said: 'It will be a home for people who are away from home. As well as a place for worship, it will be a place where people can meet.'

The Most Rev Clive Handford, the Anglican Bishop in Cyprus and the Gulf, said: 'We are guests in a Muslim country and we wish to be sensitive to our hosts ... but once you're inside the gates, it will be quite obvious that you are in a Christian centre.'"

Judge Upholds Oregon Gay Marriage Ban

This did not get much play in the press. I wonder why?

The voters finally count

By BRAD CAIN, Associated Press Writer

SALEM, Ore. - A judge on Friday upheld a gay marriage ban adopted by Oregon voters last year, rejecting claims that the amendment made too many changes at once and interfered with local government.

In his ruling, Marion County Circuit Judge Joseph Guimond backed supporters of the law who said the measure only clarified marriage law in a single, simple sentence.

The Oregon amendment, passed overwhelmingly in November 2004 as Measure 36, reads: "It is the policy of Oregon, and its political subdivisions, that only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or legally recognized as a marriage."

Seventeen other states have similar constitutional bans.

Friday's ruling was the latest setback for gay rights backers in Oregon, where more than 3,000 marriage licenses were granted to same-sex couples in Multnomah County in spring 2004, until a judge halted the practice.

Short of achieving full marriage rights, gay rights backers mounted an effort in the Legislature earlier this year to pass a civil unions bill extending most of the benefits and rights of marriage to same-sex couples, but the bill died in the Oregon House.

Supreme Court considers hallucinogenic tea

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Several
U.S. Supreme Court members appeared supportive on Tuesday of allowing New Mexican followers of a small Brazilian-based religion to legally use hallucinogenic tea as a sacrament, a case that pits drug laws against those protecting religious freedoms.

During arguments about sacramental hoasca tea, several justices said the federal government already has made an exception by allowing peyote use by Native American churches.

"You can make an exception without the sky falling," Justice
Antonin Scalia told the government's attorney.

Associate Justice Antonin Scalia poses for an official picture with other justices at the Supreme

Repeating that the sky had not fallen, Justice
John Paul Stevens asked whether government's interest might be "not all that compelling" because of the small numbers who use the tea.

Referring to peyote and hoasca tea, Justice
Ruth Bader Ginsburg asked, "If the government accommodates one, why not the other?" She expressed concern about whether the government could give preference to one religion over another one.

Members of the religion called O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao do Vegetal believe the tea is sacred and that using it connects them to God. The tea is made from two plants that grow in the Amazon.

Founded in Brazil in 1961, the religion practices a blend of Christian theology and indigenous South American beliefs. It has about 8,000 members in Brazil and about 130 followers in a branch in New Mexico.

Deputy Solicitor General Edwin Kneedler urged the justices to overturn a U.S. appeals court ruling that held the government could not prohibit sacramental use of the tea because of the 1993 religious freedom law.

The tea contains dimethyltryptamine, or DMT, a controlled substance banned under U.S. drug laws. He said the appeals court ruling carved out an exception under the federal Controlled Substances Act.

The tea is needed for religious purposes. Yea right. Next they will be saying that Budweiser is part of their religious ceremonies and they need to make their own beer for use on Sundays preferably during NFL season. Give me a break.

Britons believe in ghosts

Ananova:
Britons believe in ghosts

More Britons believe in ghosts than God, according to research.

A total of 2,012 people were polled on their beliefs on the supernatural.

Over two thirds (68%) said they believe in the existence of ghosts and spirits.

Just over half (55%) said they believe in the existence of a God.

Some 26% believe in UFO's, 19% in reincarnation and 4% in the mythical Loch Ness Monster.

The survey found 12% believe they have actually seen a ghost.

Just over three quarters, (76%) said that reality TV shows and films like The Blair Witch Project have helped convince them spooks and ghouls really exist.

The poll was carried out in advance of Hallowe'en by entertainment retailer ChoicesUK.

Spokesman David Rich said: "We want to believe in ghosts more than ever."

This is frightening. England is slowly becoming a post Christian nation. Most of Europe already is. No Capital “c” in Christ and no God in the heart. The stage is set but when does the curtain go up?

European Union lowercases 'Christ'

THE NEW WORLD DISORDER

Brussels' grammar rule says title to be spelled with small 'c' in future

A new grammar rule devised by the European Union in Brussels stipulates the word "Christ" shall be spelled with a lowercase "c."

The rule was part of an orthography reform published in October, reported Canada Free Press.

The paper cites a German newssite, Kath.net, in reporting that the new guidelines also indicate the Dutch word for "Jews" (Joden) is to be spelled with a capital "J" when referring to nationality and with a lower-case "j" when referring to the religion.

The EU changes become mandatory next August. There are no penalties set out for those who insist on continuing to spell Christ with a capital "C."

Canada Free Press noted the title of Javier Solana, secretary general of the EU, was still to be spelled with capital letters.

Interesting how the EU is slowly becoming anti Christian and anti Jew. Another small sign of the end times.

China warns HIV cases could exceed 10 mln by 2010

This is a scary estimate considering 2010 is just five years away. Africa is devastated by AIDS and we hardly hear anything about it here in America.

Matt. 24: 7 "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.

8 "All these are the beginning of sorrows.

Reuters Photo: A nurse walks along the corridor in the AIDS station of a hospital in Beijing

BEIJING (Reuters) - China, once accused of being slow to acknowledge the threat of AIDS, could have as many as 10 million
HIV carriers in five years if no effective preventive measures are taken, state media said on Monday, echoing a grim UN warning.

China says it has 840,000 HIV-AIDS cases among its 1.3 billion population, but experts say at least a million poor farmers were infected in botched blood-selling schemes in the central province of Henan alone.

"If the preventive measures are slack, the number of people infected by HIV could reach 10 million by 2010," Dai Zhicheng, director of the Health Ministry's Committee of AIDS Experts, was quoted by the Xinhua Daily Telegraph as saying.

Dai said the number could be kept under 1.5 million if the right steps are taken and there are sufficient funds.

The United Nations has also said the number could rise to 10 million by the end of this decade if the epidemic is not treated seriously.

After initial reluctance to even talk about AIDS, China has poured millions of dollars into public awareness campaigns and providing free antiretroviral treatment.