The Point: No apologies here

re: "The Anglicans may have felt the need to apologize to Darwin, but the Catholics are still holding out://The Vatican said on Tuesday the theory of evolution was compatible with the Bible but planned no posthumous apology to Charles Darwin for the cold reception it gave him 150 years ago. . . . /In 1950, Pope Pius XII described evolution as a valid scientific approach to the development of humans, a view that was reiterated by Pope John Paul II in 1996. But [Archbishop Gianfranco] Ravasi said the Vatican had no intention of apologising for earlier negative views. /"Maybe we should abandon the idea of issuing apologies as if history was a court eternally in session," he said, adding that Darwin's theories were "never condemned by the Catholic Church nor was his book ever banned"...

Hanna on NRO: Virtue and Volatility - Acton Institute PowerBlog

re: "Frank J. Hanna III, Georgia CEO of Hanna Capital and cofounder of the Solidarity Foundation, is author of the new book What Your Money Means (and How to Use It Well). Hanna, a board member of the Acton Institute, talked to National Review Online editor Kathryn Lopez in a Q&A titled “Virtue and Volatility” about earning money, using it well, the market meltdown, and more..."...

A Private Conviction About Murder?

re: "Speaking Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," Sen. Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee for Vice President, made headlines by stating that he accepts "as a matter of faith" that human life begins at conception, but he would not impose that view on others as a matter of law. /Sen. Biden's statement is similar in form to those offered by other Catholic politicians like former New York Governor Mario Cuomo. Nevertheless, what it really represents is far more horrifying than may be recognized at first.../ ...[snip]... / Sen. Biden says, and we must take him at his word, that he accepts as a matter of faith that human life begins at conception. But, he argues, he is perfectly willing to support a woman's right to choose to end that human life. /The killing of human life is called homicide. Murder is the willful taking of a human life. The senator has here stated that he believes abortion to be homicide, but he defends a woman's right to kill the unborn human life within her because he would not impose his beliefs about human life (and thus about homicide) on others..."...

ADF Alliance Alert » Young pro-lifers jailed, shackled, strip searched for peacefully sharing message

re: from Sept. 3: "BALTIMORE — Alliance Defense Fund and allied attorneys filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Harford County, the town of Bel Air, and seven police officials on behalf of three young, pro-life women. At least a dozen police officers arrived in more than seven marked vehicles and then arrested, jailed, shackled, and/or strip searched 18 pro-life advocates, including the three women, after they held signs and shared their message along a public street. /“The state shouldn’t persecute Christians for expressing their beliefs on important social issues, nor deny them their constitutional rights,” said ADF Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot. “This incident paints an ugly picture of the state of religious freedom and free speech in America today.” /“The truth of the matter is that our clients were heckled, arrested, imprisoned, shackled, and strip searched twice for exercising their First Amendment rights,” said ADF-allied attorney Daniel Cox, who is serving as local counsel. “No excuse exists for how our young clients were treated.” /At least 12 police officers handcuffed 18 peaceful participants in Defend Life’s “Face the Truth” Pro-life Tour and denied them a reason for their arrests. They had relocated to Bel Air after being told by officers to move from another location for not having a permit to engage in free speech activities. Three young female participants—including teenagers—were subjected to two rounds of strip searches./The first search took place in the police station parking lot in front of other males. A female officer pulled out the young ladies’ shirt collars to inspect their breasts before reaching down their pants to feel around their waistlines. The Harford County Detention Center administered the second strip search after the pro-life participants were transferred there. A female officer took the women one by one into a bathroom with a partially open door and ordered them to lift up their shirts and brassieres. /Officials cast the pro-life participants in leg irons, denied them permission to call parents until after midnight, and did not release any of them until the following day. None were informed that attorneys Steve Peroutka and Scott Whiteman had been prohibited from having any contact with them after arriving at the station earlier that night to assist them. On Aug. 12, the state decided not to pursue the false charges against them, which included loitering, disorderly conduct, and failure to obey a lawful order. They were never charged for a permit offense. /The complaint filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, Northern Division, in Swagler v. Harford County is available at www.telladf.org/UserDocs/SwaglerComplaint.pdf. The Thomas More Society of Chicago and the American Catholic Lawyers Association represent some of the other pro-life participants..."...

Nazarene Communications Network - Christian homes on fire in India

re: "In the early hours of August 23, a Hindu nationalist leader, Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, was shot to death in Orissa, India. Five of his followers were also killed. Although it was allegedly an act by Marxist terrorists, many people are blaming the murder on Christians. In reaction to the killings, some have retaliated by burning down churches and homes. At least three more people have been killed following the initial attack. /Nazarene District Superintendent Sudipta reports: "I have contacted some of our church leaders and pastors in Orissa as they are watching their houses being destroyed. The villagers fled to the nearby jungle and for three days they have had hardly any food..."...

American Thinker: Why Palin Is a Bee in Dems' Bonnets

re: Kyle-Anne Shiver: "...Palin may come in a perfectly lovely, innocent-looking package, a bit like a bumble bee resting in the shade on a clover blossom, but when she sees professional politicians getting fat and rich at the public trough, she is immediately transformed into one threatening, buzzing, stinging machine. /Pompous, polished, under-performing Democrat pols meet down-to-earth, mom-of-five, rifle-toting, corruption-shredding, tenacious Governor Sarah, the taxpayers' best friend..."...

RedState: Dr. Land speaks out on Palin's upcoming granddaughter.

re: "Via The Brody File, a statement from a Dr. Richard Land, who is the President of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission on the Palin pregnancy matter...//start quote//"This is the pro-life choice. The fact that people will criticize her for this shows the astounding extent to which the secular critics of the pro-life movement just don't get it. Those who criticize the Palin family don't understand that we don't see babies as a punishment but as a blessing. Barack Obama said that if one of his daughters made a mistake and got pregnant out of wedlock he wouldn't want her to be punished with a child. Pro lifers don't see a child as punishment."

ADF Alliance Alert » Pelosi gets unwanted lesson in Catholic theology

re: "...The report suggests that Pelosi is confusing church teaching with the historic debate about when a fetus receives a soul. However, as numerous Bishops have pointed out science has made the the debate moot in the last 150 years as it is clear that a new human being comes into existence at conception. /According to the AP report the Archbishop of San Francisco will address the matter in the September 5th edition of the Diocesan newspaper. The USCCB has issued this press release in response to Pelosi. LifeSite News has several articles on the topic including this one: Two More Bishops Make 8 Who Have Come Out against Pelosi’s ‘Catholic’ Abortion Theology. The Christian Newswires carries this EWTN report: Pelosi’s Abortion Statements a Scandal Says EWTN Program Host. /Republicans have also joined the chorus of criticism as reported in the Hill: GOP demands Pelosi apology for abortion comments. /
Cardinal Egan of New York issued the following statement in response to Pelosi: //FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 26, 2008 /STATEMENT OF HIS EMINENCE, EDWARD CARDINAL EGAN CONCERNING REMARKS MADE BY THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES /Like many other citizens of this nation, I was shocked to learn that the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States of America would make the kind of statements that were made to Mr. Tom Brokaw of NBC-TV on Sunday, August 24, 2008. What the Speaker had to say about theologians and their positions regarding abortion was not only misinformed; it was also, and especially, utterly incredible in this day and age. /We are blessed in the 21st century with crystal-clear photographs and action films of the living realities within their pregnant mothers. No one with the slightest measure of integrity or honor could fail to know what these marvelous beings manifestly, clearly, and obviously are, as they smile and wave into the world outside the womb. In simplest terms, they are human beings with an inalienable right to live, a right that the Speaker of the House of Representatives is bound to defend at all costs for the most basic of ethical reasons. They are not parts of their mothers, and what they are depends not at all upon the opinions of theologians of any faith. Anyone who dares to defend that they may be legitimately killed because another human being “chooses” to do so or for any other equally ridiculous reason should not be providing leadership in a civilized democracy worthy of the name. /Edward Cardinal Egan / Archbishop of New York /August 26, 2008..."...

ADF Alliance Alert » Rabbi fights order to halt home prayer meetings

re: "The First Amendment Center reports: //A Hasidic rabbi is challenging an order by the city of Portland to halt weekly prayer meetings at his home because they violate zoning regulations. /
Rabbi Moshe Wilansky, with the backing of the Maine Civil Liberties Union, has asked the Zoning Board of Appeals to annul the order because it violates his right to practice his religion..."...

Christianity Growing in China - Christian World News - CBN News

re: "...Although members of China's Three Self Churches can worship openly, millions of other Christians worship in house churches, beyond the government's watchful eye. /But both the Three Self and house churches are growing at a staggering rate. /Thousands of people have come to Beijing's Kanjie church today, but they didn't come to get a glimpse of President Bush. Like millions of other Chinese believers, they came to worship. /Across town, more than 2,000 people flooded into Beijing's Haidian church for one of their six Sunday services. /The pastor here says church attendance has more than doubled since last May."..."...

Considerettes - There’s No Place Like Home

re: "Used to be that scientists thought that our solar system was pretty normal, and that there were plenty just like it out there..."...

Peter Wilby: The media's addiction to controversy can seriously damage your health

re: "Nearly all journalists aspire to emulate two stories: the Watergate scandal, which brought down a US president; and the thalidomide scandal, which, after years of campaigning and legal battles, forced a multinational giant to eat humble pie, and made Harold Evans and his Sunday Times Insight team world famous. Watergate explains why newspapers fiercely pursue public figures accused of minor expenses fiddling, attach "gate" to their names and try to implicate anybody up to and including Downing Street in a "cover-up". Thalidomide explains why, on the flimsiest of evidence, they accuse doctors of inflicting dangerous diseases or disabilities on children. The results of one such media frenzy became evident last week..."...

hat tip: Expat Yank

The Conservative Coalition Crack-up - Acton Institute PowerBlog

re: "...The purpose of yesterday’s meetings was ostensibly to urge McCain to pass over Mitt Romney as a possible running mate, in the interests of courting social conservatives. Debra Matney, a Huckabee supporter from Fairgrove who helped organize the meetings, said of McCain, “Who he chooses will speak volumes to us.” /It’s unclear, however, what effect meetings of this kind might have, as an interview with McCain published yesterday in the Weekly Standard has McCain saying that he would not rule out a pro-choice running mate like Joe Lieberman or Tom Ridge. / That fact alone ought to speak volumes to social conservatives. / Meanwhile, since his withdrawal from the presidential race, Mike Huckabee has done his best to remain in the national conversation. In a recent interview with Jim Wallis of Sojourners, Huckabee had this to say about the tension in the GOP between social and fiscal conservatism:..."...

Mary Meader, at 91; was pioneer as globe-circling aerial photographer - The Boston Globe

re: "NEW YORK - Mary Meader, who as a spunky new bride in the 1930s took off on a 35,000-mile journey to advance geographic knowledge by making unprecedented aerial photographs of South America and Africa, died March 16 in Kalamazoo, Mich. She was 91. /The saga began when Mrs. Meader, whose name was Mary Upjohn at the time, and her first husband, Dr. Richard Light, made plans to marry. They wanted to celebrate their union by approximating the highly publicized round-the-world flight he had made in 1934. She took flying lessons and learned Morse code to be her husband's copilot, navigator, and radio operator.../ ...[snip]... / Rachel Mary Upjohn was born in Kalamazoo. She was one of 11 grandchildren of Dr. W.E. Upjohn, founder of the Upjohn Co, the pharmaceutical concern. She was a language major at Smith College, specializing in French and Spanish, but dropped out to marry Richard Upjohn Light, a neurosurgeon and former military pilot who was her first cousin. They eloped to Maryland because first cousins could legally marry there. /The Lights took off first in September 1937 from Kalamazoo in a Bellanca monoplane, its cabin lacking heat and pressurization. They sucked oxygen from a tank through wooden mouthpieces. She wore a fur coat and boots as she shot pictures through an open window. Since she weighed only 95 pounds, she braced the 20-pound camera on the window frame and secured it with a clothesline. She said she once nearly froze to death. /The couple divorced in the early 1960s. In 1965, the former Mrs. Light married Edwin Meader, a professor of geography, among various callings. The couple became major philanthropists, giving millions to Western Michigan University, the University of Michigan and Kalamazoo charities..."...

Book Review - 'Iron Fists,' by Steven Heller - Review - NYTimes.com

re: Christopher Benfrey: "Steven Heller’s “Iron Fists” makes a sophisticated and visually arresting comparison between modern corporate-branding strategies — slogans, mascots, jingles and the rest — and those adopted by “four of the most destructive 20th-century totalitarian regimes”: Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, the Soviet Union under Lenin and Stalin, and Mao’s China. As he pursues his four “case studies,” Heller, by means of unsettling images and shrewd analysis, amply restores the vileness to branding..."...

The Point: How low can a Senator go?

re: "Never mind Ted Stevens. The real bad guy of the Senate these days is Tom Coburn . . . for delivering babies free of charge.
I'm not kidding..."...

News Releases: OREGON TO GET WORLD'S LARGEST WIND FARM

re: "The Oregon Energy Facility Siting Council (EFSC) today approved a site certificate for the 909 megawatt (MW) Shepherds Flat Wind Farm. Located in Gilliam and Morrow counties, Shepherds Flat will double Oregon’s current wind operating capacity of about 889 MW.../ ...[snip]... / The project is being developed by Caithness Shepherds Flat, LLC of Sacramento, Calif., which proposes 303 wind turbines with a peak capacity of 909 MW. Caithness says Shepherds Flat will be the largest single wind farm in the world. The project area is between Highway 19 and Highway 74 on privately-owned land, about five miles southeast of Arlington. The power output of the facility would enter the Federal Columbia River Transmission System through Bonneville Power Administration’s Slatt Substation..."...

Touchstone Magazine - Mere Comments: Spiritual Alzheimers

re: "Virtue On-line has this report from England about Cardinal Ivan Dias's speech to Anglican bishops at Lambeth. warning them of Spiritual Alzheimers. Indeed: Alzheimers seems to be competing with an acquired immune deficiency syndrome in many churches to destroy Christian memory and infect the body with heresy..."...

The Dawn Patrol: Something 'WIC'-ked this way comes

re: "Visit the USDA's WIC Learning Center, the official Web site for the U.S. government's Women, Infants and Children program, and you will find a link to the home page of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. / That's because a hefty chunk of the $5 billion in taxpayer funds for the program designed to help feed and provide health care for low-income pregnant women, new moms, and young children go to Margaret Sanger's organization./ ...[snip].../ Granted, the federal money that pays Planned Parenthood to serve WIC clients technically does not go towards abortions. But any money given to Planned Parenthood by the federal government keeps the organization's lights on and its paychecks coming, enabling it to spend its $115 million surplus on expanding its abortion business. And does anyone doubt that Planned Parenthood will attempt to impress upon a pregnant WIC client that it can make her un-pregnant if she wishes? Especially when the client walking into its clinic is greeted with posters like this ..."...

hat tip: The Point

Randy Pausch, Author Of 'Last Lecture,' Dies at 47 - WSJ.com

re: "Randy Pausch, a Carnegie Mellon University computer scientist whose "last lecture" about facing terminal cancer became an international sensation and a best-selling book, died Friday..."...

hat tip: The Point