Tycoon to build porn-free townA relgious businessman is to spend ?250 million building a porn-free town where contraception will be banned.
Domino's Pizza founder Tom Monaghan, who was raised by nuns, says it's 'God's will', reports the Daily Mirror.
Ave Maria will be run on strict Catholic lines, with no selling of porn, condoms or birth control pills, and a ban on X-rated cable TV.
There have already been 7,000 inquiries about the 11,000, homes in Florida - next to a Catholic college also built by Monaghan.
But civil liberties groups predict big legal battles over the bans.
Sunday, March 5, 2006
Cosmonauts to attempt golf record
Russian cosmonauts are hoping to hit a golf ball into Earth's orbit from the International Space Station, setting a record for the longest drive ever made. 
If Nasa gives the go-ahead, the attempt will take place during one of three spacewalks planned for 2006.
The ball will be hit with a gold-plated golf club, made of the same scandium alloy used to build the station, and is expected to orbit Earth for four years.
Some experts warn a mishap could cause "catastrophic" damage to the station.
The ball is expected to travel millions of miles - its progress tracked using global positioning transmitters as it gradually loses altitude through atmospheric drag.
"It will come back through the atmosphere, heat up, melt away and never be seen again," said Bill Alior, director of the Center for Orbital and Re-entry Debris Studies in the US.?
If Nasa gives the go-ahead, the attempt will take place during one of three spacewalks planned for 2006. The ball will be hit with a gold-plated golf club, made of the same scandium alloy used to build the station, and is expected to orbit Earth for four years.
Some experts warn a mishap could cause "catastrophic" damage to the station.
The ball is expected to travel millions of miles - its progress tracked using global positioning transmitters as it gradually loses altitude through atmospheric drag.
"It will come back through the atmosphere, heat up, melt away and never be seen again," said Bill Alior, director of the Center for Orbital and Re-entry Debris Studies in the US.?
Italians Blame Soviets for ‘81 Pope Attack
ROME - An Italian parliamentary commission has concluded "beyond any reasonable doubt" that the Soviet Union was behind the 1981 shooting of
Pope John Paul II, the first time an official body has blamed the Kremlin for the failed assassination. The draft report, obtained by The Associated Press Thursday, said the pope was considered a threat to the Soviet bloc because of his support for the Solidarity labor movement in his native Poland. Solidarity was the first free trade union in communist eastern Europe.
The Italian report said Soviet military intelligence ? and not the KGB ? was responsible. Russian Foreign Intelligence Service spokesman Boris Labusov called the accusation "absurd."
"All assertions of any kind of participation in the attempt on the pope's life by Soviet special services, including foreign intelligence, are completely absurd," he said, according to the Interfax news agency.
In its report, the commission said Moscow was alarmed because "Poland was the main military base of the Warsaw Pact, its main supply lines and troop concentrations were there."
"This commission believes, beyond any reasonable doubt, that the leaders of the Soviet Union took the initiative to eliminate the pope Karol Wojtyla," the document said. Wojtyla was John Paul's Polish name.
The draft has no bearing on any judicial investigations, which have long been closed. If the commission approves the report in its final form at a meeting Tuesday, it will be the first time an official body has blamed the Soviet Union. - MORE
Pope John Paul II, the first time an official body has blamed the Kremlin for the failed assassination. The draft report, obtained by The Associated Press Thursday, said the pope was considered a threat to the Soviet bloc because of his support for the Solidarity labor movement in his native Poland. Solidarity was the first free trade union in communist eastern Europe.
The Italian report said Soviet military intelligence ? and not the KGB ? was responsible. Russian Foreign Intelligence Service spokesman Boris Labusov called the accusation "absurd."
"All assertions of any kind of participation in the attempt on the pope's life by Soviet special services, including foreign intelligence, are completely absurd," he said, according to the Interfax news agency.
In its report, the commission said Moscow was alarmed because "Poland was the main military base of the Warsaw Pact, its main supply lines and troop concentrations were there."
"This commission believes, beyond any reasonable doubt, that the leaders of the Soviet Union took the initiative to eliminate the pope Karol Wojtyla," the document said. Wojtyla was John Paul's Polish name.
The draft has no bearing on any judicial investigations, which have long been closed. If the commission approves the report in its final form at a meeting Tuesday, it will be the first time an official body has blamed the Soviet Union. - MORE
Pentagon develops brain implants to turn sharks into military spies
Military scientists in the United States are developing a way of manipulating sharks by remote control to turn them into underwater spies or weapons.
Engineers funded by the Pentagon have created electronic brain implants for fish that they hope will be able to influence the movements of sharks and perhaps even decode what they are sensing. - MORE
Engineers funded by the Pentagon have created electronic brain implants for fish that they hope will be able to influence the movements of sharks and perhaps even decode what they are sensing. - MORE
2102 space rock to give Earth its closest shave, say watchers
The rock, 2004 VD17, is about 500 metres (yards) long and has a mass of nearly a billion tonnes, which -- if it were to impact -- would deliver 10,000 megatonnes of energy, equivalent to all the world's nuclear weapons.
Spotted on November 27 2004, VD 17 was swiftly identified as rock that potentially crossed Earth's orbit, with a 1 in 3,000 risk of collision on May 4 2102.
Further observations and calculations have prompted the risk on that day to be upgraded to "a bit less than 1 in 1,000," said NASA Near-Earth Object (NEO) expert David Morrison in an emailed circular.
"The risk of an impact within the next century (is) higher than that of any other known asteroid," he said, stressing however that the likelihood of a hit was small.
"Fortunately, it is nearly a century before the close pass from VD 17. This should provide ample time to refine the orbit and, most probably, determine that the asteroid will miss the Earth." MORE
Spotted on November 27 2004, VD 17 was swiftly identified as rock that potentially crossed Earth's orbit, with a 1 in 3,000 risk of collision on May 4 2102.
Further observations and calculations have prompted the risk on that day to be upgraded to "a bit less than 1 in 1,000," said NASA Near-Earth Object (NEO) expert David Morrison in an emailed circular.
"The risk of an impact within the next century (is) higher than that of any other known asteroid," he said, stressing however that the likelihood of a hit was small.
"Fortunately, it is nearly a century before the close pass from VD 17. This should provide ample time to refine the orbit and, most probably, determine that the asteroid will miss the Earth." MORE
Pictures from the SF Museum of Modern Art
I was invited to a members-only surrealist art opening at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Calder was the artist, inventor of the mobile. Fun stuff. There were definitely a few things that made me go "Oh Wow" when I walked into the room. The room with the chairs was freaky, but you aren't really supposed to take pictures inside, so you'll have to go see it for yourself. Here are some tiny pics. I could make them all bigger, but they look good small.
Inability to empathize = Mental Illness = Neocon?
Generalizations are rarely true, but my latest hypothesis is this: Neocons can't empathize. They seem dangerously aggressive due to this mentally defect. I could be wrong, but here is what got me thinking this.
I heard an exchange between a talk show host and a professor a few days ago. A University professor said that it was important to understand that Hitler was, from his perspective, spreading freedom ... for his own people.
The talk show host went nuts, like his brain was short-circuiting. "You can't tell me that exterminating Jews is freedom!"
"Of course it isn't. I agree with you. That's not what I'm saying," the professor said calmly, "I'm saying that FROM HIS PERSPECTIVE and the perspective of the Nazi's following him, he was spreading freedom for his people by eliminating threats to his people."
The host became an enraged broken record, "You can't tell me that exterminating Jews is spreading freedom!" And so on. The host hung up on the professor and ranted about how crazy and dangerous liberals are. Actually, the host sounded wacko. It was like the simple phrase "from his perspective" completely freaked him out. He just didn't have the mental ability to understand the point. He was 100% incapable of seeing from the other's perspective. Some people can't do algebra because they can't get the concept of "x" representing any number.
If we want to avoid another holocaust, all people should understand the thinking which leads there. The blind fear-based rage of the talk show host is of the same kind of crazy dehumanizing thinking which leads to that dark place. Perhaps some people fear that by putting themselves in another's shoes, they will become lost? Each person should understand Hitler's tricks. If you study the mindset, you won't become a crazy killer. We must understand the thinking of history's evil tyrants in order to remove the power of such persons. This is done by seeing the way they seduce others to peform evil acts.
Here is some brain research about empathy and mental illness.
I heard an exchange between a talk show host and a professor a few days ago. A University professor said that it was important to understand that Hitler was, from his perspective, spreading freedom ... for his own people.
The talk show host went nuts, like his brain was short-circuiting. "You can't tell me that exterminating Jews is freedom!"
"Of course it isn't. I agree with you. That's not what I'm saying," the professor said calmly, "I'm saying that FROM HIS PERSPECTIVE and the perspective of the Nazi's following him, he was spreading freedom for his people by eliminating threats to his people."
The host became an enraged broken record, "You can't tell me that exterminating Jews is spreading freedom!" And so on. The host hung up on the professor and ranted about how crazy and dangerous liberals are. Actually, the host sounded wacko. It was like the simple phrase "from his perspective" completely freaked him out. He just didn't have the mental ability to understand the point. He was 100% incapable of seeing from the other's perspective. Some people can't do algebra because they can't get the concept of "x" representing any number.
If we want to avoid another holocaust, all people should understand the thinking which leads there. The blind fear-based rage of the talk show host is of the same kind of crazy dehumanizing thinking which leads to that dark place. Perhaps some people fear that by putting themselves in another's shoes, they will become lost? Each person should understand Hitler's tricks. If you study the mindset, you won't become a crazy killer. We must understand the thinking of history's evil tyrants in order to remove the power of such persons. This is done by seeing the way they seduce others to peform evil acts.
Here is some brain research about empathy and mental illness.
Farrow et al (Neuroreport 2001; 12:2433-2438) found that empathic judgments activated left superior frontal gyrus, orbitofrontal gyrus, precuneus, left anterior middle temporal gyrus and inferior frontal gyrus. Components of this circuit may be dysfunctional in psychopathy (Tunstall N., Fahy T. and McGuire P. in: Guide to Neuroimaging in Psychiatry, Eds. Fu C et al, Martin Dunitz: London 2003). - wikipedia
Friday, March 3, 2006
100s of Students Walk Out In Support Of Teacher who compared Bush to Hitler.
Bush and Hitler? Oh come on. There are really no fair comparisons, right??The only minor similiarities I see are that both were leaders of very powerful countries and both were unafraid to attack another country preemptively resulting in deaths of innocent people. Both used patriotism and fear as political tools and both exploited a major disaster. Sure, those facts are not in dispute. But Bush was nothing like Hitler. People have been comparing Bush to Hitler, however, since after 9/11 when the Patriot Act number I started to remove American's constitutional rights.
Bush is unlike Hitler in that he is not bent on extermination of a race or type of people, just bent on money and power under the guise of "protecting" people.
So, how about comparing Bush to Jesus? Based only on his actions is Bush more like Jesus or Hitler? Who would Jesus bomb? Should a teacher who compares Bush to Jesus be suspended?
Bush is unlike Hitler in that he is not bent on extermination of a race or type of people, just bent on money and power under the guise of "protecting" people.
So, how about comparing Bush to Jesus? Based only on his actions is Bush more like Jesus or Hitler? Who would Jesus bomb? Should a teacher who compares Bush to Jesus be suspended?
CBS4) AURORA, Colo. Hundreds of students at Overland High School walked out of class Thursday morning in support and protest of a teacher who was at the center of a controversy over comments he made about President Bush during a geography class.
Jay Bennish
Sean Allen
"Now I'm not saying that Bush and Hitler are exactly the same, obviously they're not, OK," Jay Bennish was heard saying on a recording of his class lecture on the day after President Bush's State of the Union Address. "But (there are) eerie similarities to the tones that they use."
The students left class for about an hour and lined the streets near the school Thursday morning. Many students said they were frustrated and angry about how Bennish had been criticized on talk radio.
"I think he inspires so many students and he's a great teacher," one student said during the rally. - MORE
Antarctica’s Annual Melt Equals Water in Lake Tahoe, Study Says
March 2 (Bloomberg) -- Antarctica is melting at an annual rate equal to dumping Lake Tahoe into the ocean, causing global seawater to rise as much as 0.6 millimeters (0.02 inches) a year, according to a study published by Science.
Researchers used two NASA satellites to measure the loss of the ice sheet on the Earth's fifth-largest continent between April 2002 and August 2005. The findings contradict an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment in 2001, which predicted the ice sheet would gain mass in the 21st century.
``We can now see Antarctica melting,'' said Isabella Velicogna, a member of the University of Colorado at Boulder's Cooperative Institute for Research Environmental Sciences. ``We have a number for the ice sheet. It's a big step toward understanding how the sea level is going to change.''
Antarctica's annual loss of 152 cubic kilometers of mass is 36 times the amount of freshwater used by Los Angeles annually, said Velicogna, chief author of the report. The melting slowed in the last two years of the study, although the researcher said she didn't see this as an indication the warming of the ocean had stopped.
``The Antarctica ice sheet is the largest reservoir of freshwater on Earth,'' she said, adding the continent has 70 percent of the Earth's freshwater resources. ``It's important we know how the sea level changes for everybody's life.'' - MORE
I heard Rush Limbaugh ( who for years has claimed there is no such thing as global warming ) this morning saying that people should just turn off their radios, ignore the news. Don't listen to the doom and gloom. In other words, if the truth gets so "in your face" that you can't believe the lies anymore, stick your head in the sand. I doubt that ignoring global warming will make it go away.
Thursday, March 2, 2006
Firefighters injured in massive grass fires
SanDiego Union Tribune
Chickasha Express Star, United States - .... Other fires burned in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area and blazes were reported near Wagoner and Sallisaw in eastern Oklahoma, said Anna Payne, a state fire ...
UFO group says 100 Tennesseans saw unexplained sights
Seeing strange lights and weird objects flying in the sky, nearly a hundred Tennesseans have made such claims over the last few years and the number of UFO sightings in the state is growing.
According to the Appalachian UFO research center, about a hundred people in Tennessee reported seeing UFO's between 2004 and the winter of 2005.
Some of those sighting were right here in the Mid-South.
Tony Pratt describes his first encounter back in 1986.
"It was about 11:30, we stepped outside and saw a big triangle outside a Baptist church," said Tony Pratt.
Pratt uses his video camera to document UFO's. He claims if you point the camera toward the sun, then block out the sun itself, you can see something flying in the sky.
wmc?
According to the Appalachian UFO research center, about a hundred people in Tennessee reported seeing UFO's between 2004 and the winter of 2005.
Some of those sighting were right here in the Mid-South.
Tony Pratt describes his first encounter back in 1986.
"It was about 11:30, we stepped outside and saw a big triangle outside a Baptist church," said Tony Pratt.
Pratt uses his video camera to document UFO's. He claims if you point the camera toward the sun, then block out the sun itself, you can see something flying in the sky.
wmc?
Are There UFOs in the NC Sky?
It's part of the human curiosity. Many of us wonder ... are we alone?
A Gallup poll shows that 72 percent of Americans believe there is life on other planets. And one in five of us believe aliens have been in contact with human beings. Our own curiosity made us want to find out what evidence, if any, there is of alien spacecraft flying over North Carolina's skies. And why do people believe in, and explore, life from beyond. That quest took us to the central part of the state.
... In one account, Caviness and a companion saw two UFO's approaching. They took these pictures. Then, whatever it was, was gone. "We looked up, and they had to be right over our heads because they were approaching us, and there were just not visible. But they clearly showed up in the photos."
Caviness does not just believe these unidentified flying objects are alien crafts, but that aliens are part of human life. He said, "There are a lot more people being abducted by these UFO's then you would ever dream."
People like Alan Caviness himself. "I know I've been abducted before."
Once, he says, he heard a strange clicking noise in open air. On the way from his mailbox to his home, something happened. Caviness recounted, "I walked to my front door-about 30 feet over short grass-and I no longer had my house key, my car key, in my hand. I think I was taken and returned, minus my keys. These things are happening."
Evidence of Children?s UFO and ET Encounters at UN Conference.
Evidence of Children?s UFO and ET Encounters to be Presented at a United Nations Affiliated Conference in Montreal
After being involved with over 1000 experiencers (alien abductees), a former registered nurse, who is now a professional counselor and clinical hypnotherapist, has concluded that alien ?abductions? are not only real encounters, but that they are about spiritual awakening and galactic contact. Mary Rodwell is not alone, as a growing number of academics, scientists and politicians, such as the former Canadian Minister of Defense Hon. Paul Hellyer, are starting to support the core of her paradigm shifting views about life in the Universe and that some UFOs are extraterrestrial spaceships.
... She will be making her presentation at the 31st annual conference of the International Institute of Integral Human Sciences (IIIHS) taking place in Montreal May 5th to 14th, 2006.The IIIHS is a non-profit organization affiliated with the United Nations Department of Public Information. It serves over 10,000 general members and students from many nations towards the convergence of new sciences with spirituality and universal human values, creating inter-religious and inter-cultural understanding for world peace.
Rodwell will be one of more than 60 speakers to address the IIIHS, with other distinguished professionals such as medical doctors, psychiatrists, physicists, scientists, psychologists, spiritual leaders, and even a former NASA astronaut (www.iiihs.org).
MORE
After being involved with over 1000 experiencers (alien abductees), a former registered nurse, who is now a professional counselor and clinical hypnotherapist, has concluded that alien ?abductions? are not only real encounters, but that they are about spiritual awakening and galactic contact. Mary Rodwell is not alone, as a growing number of academics, scientists and politicians, such as the former Canadian Minister of Defense Hon. Paul Hellyer, are starting to support the core of her paradigm shifting views about life in the Universe and that some UFOs are extraterrestrial spaceships.
... She will be making her presentation at the 31st annual conference of the International Institute of Integral Human Sciences (IIIHS) taking place in Montreal May 5th to 14th, 2006.The IIIHS is a non-profit organization affiliated with the United Nations Department of Public Information. It serves over 10,000 general members and students from many nations towards the convergence of new sciences with spirituality and universal human values, creating inter-religious and inter-cultural understanding for world peace.
Rodwell will be one of more than 60 speakers to address the IIIHS, with other distinguished professionals such as medical doctors, psychiatrists, physicists, scientists, psychologists, spiritual leaders, and even a former NASA astronaut (www.iiihs.org).
MORE
‘Tell us the truth on moorland UFO’
Feb 23 2006 | |
By Hywel Trewyn, Daily Post | |
A UFO investigator hopes to unravel a 30-year mystery - did spacemen land on a North Wales mountain?
Unexplained lights in the sky, an earthquake and secretive men in suits all happened on a dark winter's night in 1974 as the people of Llandderfel and Llandrillo, villages in the Berwyn mountains near Bala, sat down to their evening's TV.
But the quiet was shattered by the rumbles of an earthquake, registering 3.5 on the Richter scale.
As people ran from their houses, fearing another tremor, they witnessed a blaze of light on the mountainside above.
A local nurse and her daughters watched as a huge eggshaped craft lay on the ground with a pulsating orange and red glow.
Police converged on the mountains, expecting to dis-cover a crashed passenger jet - but what they did find has never been divulged.
Some think it was an experimental man-made top secret military aircraft, possibly a prototype Stealth bomber. Others believe it was an alien craft from another world.
1
Tape: Bush, Chertoff Warned Before Katrina
AP Exclusive: Video Shows Bush, Chertoff Clearly Warned Before Katrina Struck
By MARGARET EBRAHIM
The Associated PressWASHINGTON - In dramatic and sometimes agonizing terms, federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees, risk lives in New Orleans' Superdome and overwhelm rescuers, according to confidential video footage of the briefings.
Bush didn't ask a single question during the final government-wide briefing the day before Katrina struck on Aug. 29 but assured soon-to-be-battered state officials: "We are fully prepared."
Continue reading the story by visiting:
http://www.democrats.org/katrinavideo
By MARGARET EBRAHIM
The Associated PressWASHINGTON - In dramatic and sometimes agonizing terms, federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees, risk lives in New Orleans' Superdome and overwhelm rescuers, according to confidential video footage of the briefings.
Bush didn't ask a single question during the final government-wide briefing the day before Katrina struck on Aug. 29 but assured soon-to-be-battered state officials: "We are fully prepared."
Continue reading the story by visiting:
http://www.democrats.org/katrinavideo
Wednesday, March 1, 2006
New Blog Software: WordPress
Hi All. After a lot of research, I'm trying this new WordPress blogging software. A few cool new things about it: 1) You RSS supergeeks can now add my RSS channel and see daily blog updates by topics. 2) I hear I can post via email and have it show up on this blog automatically. If I can get that to work, I'm hoping I can send cell phone pics and have them show up live here from whereever I am. Stay tuned. 3) People can now respond to my posts in true blog fasion. (finally!)
Playing with RSS feeds again.
If you have an RSS feed reader (Try the free Firefox 1.5 browser with 100% Free RSS/Atom News Reader for Firefox ) you can click this Icon and drag it to your channels:
This will create a Xenophilia channel on your feeds which will then update as I add new articles.
You can also now check out my RSS feeds. For those not yet hip to RSS, this is like I'm sharing my bookmarks with everyone, but each bookmark is "live", that is, updated continually. If I add a new book mark, you can all see it here. Fun stuff.
Bush: In your face, America. Bin Laden helped me win election.
Bush admits Bin Laden tape was a political tool. Thanks Osama! By now there are about five people in the USA who?still haven't guessed that Bush's propaganda team created the tape.
Bush said there were "enormous amounts of discussion" inside his campaign about the 15-minute tape, which he called "an interesting entry by our enemy" into the presidential race. ... "I thought it was going to help," Bush said. "I thought it would help remind people that if bin Laden doesn't want Bush to be the president, something must be right with Bush." - reuters
The cost of Neocon paranoia continues to grow.
The U.S. government has agreed to pay $300,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by an Egyptian man among hundreds of Muslims detained after the September 11 attacks, his lawyer said on Tuesday.... Federal authorities detained 762 non-citizens -- virtually all Muslims or Arabs -- in the weeks after the attacks, and none of them was found to have links with the suicide hijackings or al Qaeda.?In Egyptian Ehab Elmaghraby's case, he was detained for almost a year and when he was finally charged it was not with terrorism but with credit card fraud. ...?The U.S. Justice Department declined to comment. Former Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller were among the defendants. ...?The government has defended its actions, saying extraordinary measures were required for national security.?The government admitted no wrongdoing, which is typical when a lawsuit is settled. - [see scotsman]
Credit card theft. So, these are the type of people we are told are so dangerous that they must be held in secret and tortured? If each gets 300K from a lawsuit, that's about $230 million.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)