China kills dogs for fur.

The Chinese government hit the news recently for two stories of animal cruelty. Many reporters have written articles on how the Chinese are killing all the cats to pepare for the Olympics. But one story receiving less attention is how the Chinese are profiting from the slaughter of dogs. The Chinese government has been killing dogs and exporting the fur for luxury coats.

Link to the story: http://www.voice4dogs.org/takeaction.htm

"Prayer" is considered illegal and offensive

"Pray" is one of the new four-letter word. The Common Cause club at Mountain Ridge High School in Arizona simply wanted to exercise the same rights given to other student organizations. The school district permits student club members to submit written announcements to be read over the school's public address system, as well as video announcements to be played to the student body. In these announcements, club members are allowed to inform the student body not only of club meeting logistics (date, time, and location), but also to share information about the specific types of activities that will occur. As an example, the Young Democrats of America club aired a video announcement which shared the following information: "In 2006, young voters ages 18-29 supported Democratic candidates by an impressive 58%"

On the other hand, Common Cause club has been prohibited from communicating even the fact that religious activities will take place at its meetings. On January 14, 2007, a club representative, Erin, submitted a weekly announcement which read, "Common Cause will be having weekly prayer every Friday morning at 7:20 at the administration flagpole, come join us!" The same day, the club submitted a video message communicating, "Our motto is...don't worry about anything...instead, PRAY about everything! ...we pray together...encouragingly...hopefully...upliftingly." The next day, Erin met with the school's assistant principal and was told that her written and video announcements would not be allowed because they contained the words "prayer" and "pray." The assistant principal claimed the announcements would violate the supposed "separation of church and state."

When the student responded that the First Amendment provided protection for such announcements, the assistant principal claimed none of that mattered. Erin then asked to have the announcement back, but the assistant principal ripped up the announcement in front of her and discarded it.

Rome Unveils Rare Vatican Documents

http://news.aol.com/story/_a/rome-unveils-rare-vatican-documents/20080222220509990001

By FRANCES D'EMILIO, AP
Posted: 2008-02-23 13:45:21
Filed Under: World News

ROME (Feb. 23) - If you are inquisitive about the Inquisition, a rare public glimpse of centuries-old Vatican documents will leave you wanting more. There are no heresy trial transcripts or descriptions of torture methods at a show on view in Rome and through March 16. Still, enough curiosities on display allow fascinating insights into how the Vatican once systematically tried to gain control over many aspects of life that had nothing to do with faith.

Church Secrets Made Public A show at Rome's Central Risorgimento Museum offers the public a glimpse into aspects of the Roman Catholic Church that were kept secret for centuries. This tome from the early 1600s lists books banned by the Church. Click through the photos to see more objects on display.

For centuries, the archives of what was once known as the Holy Office were secret. Then, in 1998, they were opened to scholars.The intriguing show, at Rome's Central Risorgimento Museum, is the first time the public can study a sampling of what those archives preserve.There is the 1611 Holy Office order instructing Inquisitors how to carry out their job and how to conduct themselves in their time off the job.A calendar from 1708 gives the day-by-day schedule of religious orders whose members took turns helping in Rome's hospitals, starting with Holy Spirit hospital, which still serves the city today.A 1703 list of rules spells out a crackdown on Huguenots and heretics and those sheltering them. Huguenots were persecuted French Protestants. A 1599 edict targets game hunters, bird hunters and fishermen who were poaching at a Vatican estate south of Rome.The edicts and orders were printed on what turned out to be remarkably durable material made out of recycled rags at a Vatican printing establishment.The Holy Office "wanted total control," said Monsignor Alejandro Cifres, one of the show's curators and on the staff of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, previously known as the Holy Office.

The Church in past centuries had its hand in everything, ranging from "culture to literature to economics, even architecture," Cifres said. The Holy Office relied on reports from Dominicans, Franciscans and lay people, he said, and the Church had a "network" of monitors.Napoleon's forces carted off bundles of documents from the Holy Office. After his fall in the early 1800s, the French government wanted to return the material but the cost of transport was too high, Cifres said, and the order went out from Rome to burn many of the files.

But documents from famous trials such as that of Galileo were saved, Cifres said, and much of the other material had been duplicated and held in local churches or institutions. Galileo, the Italian astronomer, had been condemned by the Church for supporting Nicholas Copernicus' discovery that the Earth revolved around the Sun, and not vice versa as the Vatican then held. Pope John Paul II in 1992 declared the 17th-century denunciation of Galileo in error.On display is the first tome, from the early 1600s, of banned books. The last index was published in 1930 and reprinted in 1948. Pope Paul VI abolished the index in the mid-1960s.Even scholars who have consulted some of the material in the archives were surprised at some of the exhibits.

Pencil and watercolor drawings for the design of a crucifix for San Damiano Church in Assisi grabbed the attention of Andrea Del Col, a history professor at the University of Trieste. The Holy Office's "corrected" version of the sketch eliminated graphic spurts of blood pouring out of Jesus' knees in the original design.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
2008-02-22 22:14:43

God Is Back On Top!

Here is a news blurb:

"In God We Trust" motto moves on Presidential Dollar from coin’s edge to obverse or reverse.

The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008, is H.R. 2764. SEC. 623 is interesting and will cause a design change to the new $1 Presidential coins starting in 2009. The motto, "In God We Trust", would be moved from the edges of $1 Presidential coins to the obverse or reverse. Given current spacing considerations in design and following tradition, it would seem most likely that the motto will be placed on the coin’s face.

***

To give you a little more background, the national motto, "In God We Trust" has been seen on our coinage since the period of the Civil War. Over history there have been attempts to remove the motto from US coinage and currency. Each time the effort has been met with overwhelming opposition by the American people. It is the so-called, "people in the pews" who have rallied together and demanded their politicians rectify the situation and restore God to our coins.

When the discussion of the new Presidential Dollar Coin Series was presented to the public, many people were suspicious of the proposed movement of the motto to the outter edge of the coin, where it could be hardly noticed. The Mint cited design and artistic reasons for the move, but many critics saw the placement of the motto, containing the embarassing and Politically incorrect word "God" on the rim of the coin, as symbolic for the marginalization of religion within our modern society. Despite criticism the Mint moved forward with this design.

As the first coins rolled off the Mint's presses, the discovery of an error sent E-bay sales spiking. An unknown quantity of the new dollars had been printed without the motto on the rim. As with any error that escapes the mint, the near perfect condition, paired with an unknown number, lead to speculation of their worth. These one dollar coins surpassed auctions prices $100 dollars, then 2, then 3, some individual godless coins sold for over $500 a piece. As news spread to traditional newspapers and magazines, the general population became alerted to the United States minting godless coins, i.e. coins without the motto, "In God We Trust." While the Mint could rightly say that this was a mistake, the public was not so easily calmed. Many individuals wrote to their Congressman or Senator. The wheels of democracy sprang to live and bills were quickly introduced to not only ensure that the motto would remain on the our US coinage, but laws were passed stipulating that God must be returned to a place of easy visibility on either the obverse or reverse of the coin. If this caused the artistic eye to squint, or the PC eyebrow to raise, so be it. Thanks to the democratic process, in 2009 God will be back on top.

Fantasy on Facebook -- grounds for punishment?

College Player Dismissed Over Threat

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (Jan. 27) - A Wake Forest reserve running back has been dismissed from the team after writing on his Facebook page that he would "blow up campus." Wake Forest running back Luke Caparelli was dismissed from the team after writing on his Facebook page that he would "blow up campus."

Campus police said 19-year-old Luke Caparelli posted the note on the social-networking page on Jan. 13.The note was written in third person and included a threat that Caparelli would have an Uzi submachine gun "locked and loaded in his bag."A detective's affidavit made public Thursday said police apparently didn't find any weapons when they searched Caparelli's bags and dorm room on Jan. 14.The affidavit said Caparelli acknowledged writing the statements but said he wouldn't do anything to harm anyone on campus or hurt the school.District Attorney Tom Keith said his office is awaiting reports from campus police before deciding whether to file any charges.

______ My Comments:

Wow. We run into a question of the public nature of personal expression. I would venture to say most of us have fantasized about "getting back" at our parents, our boss or the school bully. For those who drive, I would suggest that most have yelled threats at the car which just cut us off or made us veer into the next lane. We don't always check to see that our windows are rolled up before screaming epithets in panic. Some girls tell me they record their mental fantasies in their diaries. Well, for many teens, the "notes" section of Facebook is their online diary. It may be posted and public, but it is not delivered or sent to anyone in particular. It is not even part of an exchange of emails between two people. Rather it is a mental vent for frustrations.

This appears to me to be comparative to hate crime legilation where one is punished not for their actions, but for what they are thinking.

Go O, Go O. Oh--Obama

Obama Wins South Carolina Primary
By DAVID ESPO and CHARLES BABINGTON,
AP Posted: 2008-01-26 20:20:18

COLUMBIA, S.C. (Jan. 26) -- Barack Obama routed Hillary Rodham Clinton in the racially charged South Carolina primary Saturday night, regaining campaign momentum in the prelude to a Feb. 5 coast-to-coast competition for more than 1,600 Democratic National Convention delegates.

The victory was Obama's first since he won the kickoff Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3. Clinton, a New York senator and former first lady, scored an upset in the New Hampshire primary a few days later. They split the Nevada caucuses, she winning the turnout race, he gaining a one-delegate margin. In an historic race, she hopes to become the first woman to occupy the White House, and Obama is the strongest black contender in history.

About half the voters were black, according to polling place interviews, and four out of five of them supported Obama. Black women turned out in particularly large numbers. Obama, the first-term Illinois senator, got a quarter of the white vote while Clinton and Edwards split the rest.

Overall, Obama defeated Clinton among both men and women. "South Carolina voters rejected the politics of the past and they wanted something different," said Robert Gibbs, a spokesman for Obama.

Sapienza's Papal Roots: University Founded for the Pursuit of Wisdom

ROME, JAN. 24, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Last week's events at Rome's La Sapienza University have been front-page news everywhere in the free world, and the 67 professors who protested Benedict XVI's projected visit last Thursday have been left with egg on their face.The irresponsible protest has drawn nearly universal condemnation, the hypocritical intolerance of a university named "wisdom" has been rightly chastised, and the absurdity of a place of learning banning a lecture by a world-class professor has brought shame upon the entire Italian educational system.And happily, the emphatic response from politicians, university professors and students all over Italy, culminating in the 200,000 participants in last Sunday's Angelus to express solidarity with Benedict XVI and the voice of reason, has also been extensively covered. This whole sad episode, which ended in the most wonderful of ways, has provided a vivid reminder of how God is able to turn evil into good.Just one thing keeps nagging at me.

What explains the deafening silence of the history department at La Sapienza? Don't these people even know where they came from?Pope Boniface VIII founded the University of Rome (later to be called "La Sapienza") on April 20, 1303, with the papal bull "Supremae Praeminentia Dignitatis," making it one of the first universities in the world. At the time, Rome had many schools but lacked an academic institution of higher education, complete with schedules, courses and degrees, a void the Bishop of Rome saw fit to fill.Although funded by a municipal tax on wine, and supplemented by donations from rich prelates, the first century of the university was marked by great economic difficulties due especially to the papacy's move to Avignon in 1307.The return of the papacy brought with it new facilities for La Sapienza. The university moved from its original home in the Trastevere region to the neighborhood of Sant'Eustachio, next door to the Pantheon. The course offerings expanded from theology and law to philosophy, humanistic studies, medicine and Greek.During the 17th century, the University of Rome was enlarged and renovated. Pope Alexander VII (Fabio Chigi) conferred the title of "La Sapienza" in 1660. This learned Pope had formed an exceptional library that he housed in the university's new facilities, and he sought to underscore the university's charter as an institution founded for the pursuit of wisdom.La Sapienza added departments for Arabic and Asian languages, while envoys were sent all over the world to gather texts and specimens. The university worked tirelessly to keep abreast of the latest scientific, geographic and philosophical discoveries.The papacy, however, was also aware that as one grew in knowledge, the temptation of intellectual pride grew proportionately, reflecting St. Paul's well-known adage, "Knowledge puffs up, whereas love edifies" (1 Corinthians 8:1).

To highlight the transcendent purpose of the academic programs, the Pope hired Francesco Borromini in 1643 to build a church in the heart of La Sapienza's campus. The result is a Baroque masterpiece. Sant'Ivo, dedicated to St. Ives, the patron saint of lawyers, stands apart even today as a message regarding the privileges and responsibilities of education -- for those who care to read it.Borromini always designed buildings using geometrical shapes, creating increasingly complex forms out of circles, triangles and squares. For La Sapienza, he started his plans with two equilateral triangles superimposed over each other to form a Star of David, the symbol of wisdom.The Swiss architect then inscribed six circles -- the symbol of infinity -- in the outer points of the triangles and traced the characteristic undulating form of the dome of Sant'Ivo. Light and airy despite its heavy masonry, the dome has been likened to a canopy billowing above the tabernacle.The curving walls fluctuate in constant motion. The body of Borromini's church seems to flex and move, ready to accommodate each individual's intellectual growth. Sant'Ivo allows space for exploration and discovery, but at the same time firmly focuses the attention back on Christ and the altar.The pilasters supporting the dome lead straight up to the ribs of the cupola. This vertical axis emphasizes the ultimate goal of wisdom and knowledge -- to serve God.

After half a millennium of papal administration, La Sapienza was annexed by the Italian government, along with the rest of Rome, in 1870, with the fall of the Papal States.Mussolini closed the historic site of La Sapienza, moving the university to the new complex he had constructed, La Città Univeritaria, where it remains today. And although it can now accommodate 100,000 students, it has lost Borromini's beautiful testimony of a papacy that fostered and nurtured education in Rome, while always remembering Psalm 111, "The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord."

Pope remains kind amid anti-Catholic bigotry

In undelivered speech, pope urges scholars, students to seek truth

By Cindy WoodenCatholic News ServiceVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Even before protests led him to cancel his visit to Rome's Sapienza University, Pope Benedict XVI knew there would be some people who questioned why the leader of the Catholic Church should be delivering a formal address to a secular university.In the text prepared for his suspended Jan. 17 visit, the pope wrote that he would speak as a "representative of a community that safeguards a treasure of knowledge and ethical experience that is important for all humanity," and he encouraged all involved in the university to seek the truth.

The Vatican published the remarks the pope had prepared for his visit a few hours after a group of Sapienza students attended the pope's Jan. 16 general audience to show their support.The students held up signs saying "University students are with you" and another saying that, because the pope was not going to the university, the university was coming to him.Pope Benedict's visit to the university was canceled after 67 professors wrote a letter protesting his visit on charges that the pope was "hostile to science" and after a group of students threatened to demonstrate while he was speaking.The Vatican had said "it was deemed opportune to defer the visit" because of the protests.Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state, said in a letter to the university rector that while the climate necessary "for a dignified and tranquil welcome" would be lacking because of the protests by a small portion of the university community the pope still wanted to share his thoughts with those who were interested.

The university, which claims to be the largest in Europe, was founded in 1303 by Pope Boniface VIII and became independent in 1870.In his prepared remarks, the pope wrote, "What should the pope do or say at the university? Certainly, he must not try, in an authoritarian way, to impose on others' faith, which can be given only in freedom."The pope wrote that his role in speaking at a university that includes believers and nonbelievers is to encourage professors, researchers and students "to seek the truth, the good, God" and to not allow power, technology or selfish interests to silence consciences or belittle those seeking meaning in their lives."The danger in the Western world today is that man, precisely because of the greatness of his knowledge and power, gives up in the face of the question of truth," he said. In the prepared text, Pope Benedict acknowledged that people in the church have not always been right about everything."Various things said by theologians over the course of history or put into practice by church authorities have been shown to be false," he said, but the example of the saints and the Catholic Church's influence on the development of humanism and of various cultures "demonstrates the truth of this faith in its essential nucleus."

Interacting with those who do not believe, he said, the Church is dedicated to promoting a search for truth and the common good, a search it believes can be found fully only by recognizing Jesus Christ as savior.Andrea Frova, a professor of physics and one of the organizers of the professors' letter of protest, told the Italian newspaper Il Giornale that he and his colleagues were "offended by the fact that a pope hostile to science" was invited to give a major lecture at a formal university event. The professor said it did not make sense "to entrust the inauguration of our academic year to a foreign head of state who also is the head of the Catholic Church." In addition, he said, the fact that the pope was invited to speak last at the event meant that there would be no opportunity for public questions, comments or debate. But mostly, Frova said, the 67 professors -- most of whom are scientists -- objected to the invitation because "this pope has always had a closed, even hostile, attitude toward science."

Frova said, "Even in his last encyclical, Ratzinger (the pope) sets science and faith in opposition: His argument is that if science arrives at conclusions that are in any way opposed to faith, science must retreat." In that encyclical, "Spe Salvi" (on Christian hope), Pope Benedict wrote, "Francis Bacon and those who followed in the intellectual current of modernity that he inspired were wrong to believe that man would be redeemed through science. Such an expectation asks too much of science; this kind of hope is deceptive. Science can contribute greatly to making the world and mankind more human. Yet it can also destroy mankind and the world unless it is steered by forces that lie outside it."

The protesting Sapienza professors also objected to remarks that then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger made about the church's 17th-century condemnation of Galileo Galilei. They quoted him quoting another author defending the church's condemnation, although they did not point out that the future pope said he found the author's remarks "drastic." In fact, in the speech, he had said, "Faith does not grow from a resentment and refusal of rationalism, but from its basic affirmation."

Cardinal Camillo Ruini, papal vicar for Rome, issued a statement Jan. 16 inviting Romans to gather in St. Peter's Square Jan. 20 for the pope's midday Angelus as "a gesture of affection and serenity" and to demonstrate "the joy we experience in having Benedict XVI as our bishop and our pope." The cardinal said the opposition of a small group of university professors and students does not reflect "that love, that trust, that admiration and gratitude for Pope Benedict XVI that is in the heart of the people of Rome."Italian President Giorgio Napolitano sent Pope Benedict a letter of support late Jan. 15, saying, "I am convinced this event would have offered a precious opportunity for reflection on themes of great relevance for Italian society, as well as all societies."The president said the "manifestations of intolerance" and the threat of demonstrations were "inadmissible" and incompatible with the climate of freedom and dialogue that should mark a university.

Atheism is becoming more popular

"Atheists put their faith in backlash of politics" by Julia Duin ("Washington Times," December 24, 2007)

Washington, USA - Not since the April 8, 1966, famous "Is God dead?" cover of Time magazine has atheism been the topic du jour. "Atheism has come into vogue in cycles pretty reliably for the past 300 years," said Nick Gillespie, editor of Reason, a libertarian magazine. "These days, at least you won't get burned at the stake, and you might get a New York Times' best-seller." A flood of post-September 11 books on the topic have done quite well. Among them are "Breaking the Spell" by Daniel Dennett, Michael Shermer's "Why Darwin Matters," Michel Onfray's "Atheist Manifesto," Sam Harris' "The End of Faith," Ibn Warraq's "Leaving Islam," biologist Richard Dawkins' "The God Delusion," and journalist and critic Christopher Hitchens' "God is Not Great."

Reasons for the surge range from a backlash against radical Islam to a general unhappiness with the Bush administration. "The rise of militant Islam revived questions as to where does faith lead people?" Mr. Gillespie said. "It all proceeds from September 11, which in many profound ways was a religious act." Plus, he added, the current administration has given religion-friendly policies a bad name. "To the extent that this administration has been seen as a complete failure," he said, "on the right, you'll see a reach for a new kind of conservatism. It will have more in common with atheism that says religion should not be part of politics." According to the American Religious Identification Survey, conducted by the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, the share of American adults who do not subscribe to any religion increased from 8 percent in 1990 to more than 14 percent — about 30 million people — in 2001. "Forty-three percent of Americans don't attend church," said Paul Kurtz, founder and chairman of the Amherst, N.Y.-based Center for Inquiry. "A lot of people realize they don't believe in religion, and they don't want the state to meddle in private belief. They're looking to literature, ethics or philosophy to get guidance." His group has established 11 "inquiry centers" — the skeptic's answer to a church building — including one on Pennsylvania Avenue. Nine more for what he called "the unchurched, the untempled, the unmosqued" are planned in the next two years. The circulation of "Free Inquiry," the group's magazine, has grown 30 percent in the past two years to reach 35,000. "We're peeling back the burqa on unbelief," said Nathan Bupp, Inquiry spokesman. Other cultural indicators include a March revelation by Rep. Pete Stark, an 18-term California Democrat, that he is an atheist. He is the first known congressman to do so.

The Skeptics Society will observe tomorrow as Newtonmass, the 365th birthday of Isaac Newton. Fred Edwords, a spokesman for the American Humanist Association, says nonbelievers are pouring out of the closet. "Conferences and events put on by various humanist and free-thought organizations have been bursting at the seams with attendance," he said. "We had 1,000 people at a gathering put on earlier this year by our Harvard chapter. Usually we get a few hundred." The Harvard gathering, which featured novelist Salman Rushdie, ironically ended up in the campus chapel.

Pope Gets Snubbed

Where is the media crying our for free speech? The university refuses to allow the pope to give a speech on campus and none of the major news agencies are calling this censorship. Why not?


Pope's university visit cancelled
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/536641/1546327
Jan 16, 2008 9:30 AM
Pope Benedict cancelled a speech at Rome's most prestigious university after student and faculty protests, the first time demonstrations had forced him to scrap an appearance since he became Pontiff in 2005. The protest began with a petition by 67 professors who portrayed the German-born Pope as a backward theologian who put religion before science and should not be allowed to speak. After resisting calls by protesters to scrap his speech at La Sapienza university, the Vatican said the Pope had decided to postpone the visit. "I deeply regret Pope Benedict's decision," Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi said, inviting him to reconsider. "No voice should be silenced in our country, and all the more so when it comes to the Pope." The protesters cited a speech he gave nearly two decades ago, saying it showed he would have favoured the Church's 17th century heresy trial of Galileo for teaching that the Earth revolved around the sun.
The Pope's supporters denied that. The controversy ballooned into a fierce debate that divided Italians, protesters questioning the Church's role in secular society and the Church and free-speech advocates accusing the protesters of censorship. "I think the Pope's visit is not a good thing because science doesn't need religion. The university is open to every form of thought but religion isn't," said Andrea Sterbini, a computer science professor and one of the signatories. One student protest banner read: "The Pope is holding La Sapienza hostage. Free the thinkers". Climate of intolerance The debate drew unusual allies for the Pope.
Dario Fo, a Nobel prize winner and outspoken critic of the Church, defended the Pope's right to speak. "I'm against any form of censorship because the right to (free) speech is sacred," the writer told La Repubblica daily. Politicians including Prodi complained of a climate of intolerance in Italy, but Prodi's opponents said the government should have done more to guarantee free speech.
"It's a very painful surprise that injures and humiliates...the state, which couldn't ensure freedom of expression," said former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. La Sapienza was founded by a pope 705 years ago, and the chancellor who invited Pope Benedict to speak said the incident was food for thought for "believers and non-believers". Much of the debate centred on a speech the Pope gave in 1990, when then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger quoted an Austrian philosopher saying the Galileo trial was "rational and just". The Pope's defenders say the quotation did not reflect his own position, but that failed to quell the protests. By arguing that the Earth revolved around the sun, Galileo had clashed with the Bible, which read: "God fixed the earth upon its foundation, not to be moved forever." Another quote the Pope used in 2006 upset Muslims around the world.
In a speech at a university in his native Germany, he quoted a 14th century Byzantine emperor as saying Islam had only brought evil to the world and that it was spread by the sword. The Pope said he was misunderstood and has several times expressed his esteem for Muslims.

Counting Down

School starts in ten days. :(