Looking at The Media continues
Man admits problem with child porn
A Stafford County man already facing trial on 40 child-pornography charges has picked up 180 more after telling authorities that he had a problem and needed help...The 220 charges against Mr. Merritt each carry penalties of five to 10 years in prison. - The Washington Times - 10 December 2004
Canada to allow gays to 'marry'
Ruling clears way for law
Canada's highest court gave its blessing to homosexual "marriage" yesterday, but protected religious organizations from being forced to sanction same-sex unions...ruling Liberal Party to proceed with legislation to legalize the unions, making Canada the third nation to recognize homosexual unions, after with the Netherlands and Belgium... - The Washington Times - 10 December 2004
Lifelong atheist changes mind about divine creator
A British philosophy professor who has been a leading champion of atheism for more that a half-century has changed is mind. He now believes in God - more or less- based on scientific evidence and says so on a video released yesterday.
At 81, after decades of insisting that belief is a mistake, Antony Flew has concluded that some sort of intelligence or first cause must have created the universe...
"I'm thinking of a God very different from the God of the Christian and far and away from the God of Islam, because both are depicted as omnipotent Oriental despots, cosmic Saddam Husseins, he said. "It could be a person in the sense of a being that has intelligence and a purpose, I suppose."...- The Washington Times - 10 December 2004
Disciplinary inaction
Parents picket:
Cat Barnard chairs a picket line outside her home in Enterprise, Fla. She and husband Harlan moved into the tent and went on strike Monday, claiming children Benjamin, 17, and Kit, 12, refuse to do chores. "If we have to stick it out here until Christmas, the ho, ho, ho, we're out here, she said".- The USA Today - 9 December 2004
Steriod case takes on new life
Conte implicates Jones; newspaper reports Giambi's testimony
If there are any sports fans in America who have yet to be shocked by charges of rampant doping in sports, the graphic revelations of the last two days should change that.... Conte tells ABC, there's nothing to be ashamed of: "It's not cheating if everybody is doing it - and if you’ve got knowledge of what everyone is doing, and those are the real rules of the game, then you're not cheating." - The USA Today - 3 December 2004
Apology given for prayer
A high school principal apologized Monday for reading a poem called "The New School Prayer" over the school's intercom, which brought complaints from some parents... - The Washington Times - 2 December 2004
NEW School Prayer.
Now I sit me down in school
Where praying is against the rule
For this great nation under God
Finds mention of Him very odd.
If Scripture now the class recites,
It violates the Bill of Rights.
And anytime my head I bow
Becomes a Federal matter now.
Our hair can be purple, orange or green,
That's no offense; it's a freedom scene.
The law is specific, the law is precise.
Prayers spoken aloud are a serious vice.
For praying in a public hall
Might offend someone with no faith at all.
In silence alone we must meditate,
God's name is prohibited by the state.
We're allowed to cuss and dress like freaks,
And pierce our noses, tongues and cheeks.
They've outlawed guns, but FIRST the Bible.
To quote the Good Book makes me liable.
We can elect a pregnant Senior Queen,
And the 'unwed daddy,' our Senior King.
It's "inappropriate" to teach right from wrong,
We're taught that such "judgments" do not belong.
We can get our condoms and birth controls,
Study witchcraft, vampires and totem poles.
But the Ten Commandments are not allowed,
No word of God must reach this crowd.
It's scary here I must confess,
When chaos reigns the school's a mess.
So, Lord, this silent plea I make:
Should I be shot; My soul please take!
Amen
HIV rate for gay men rises, CDC says
A new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) say new HIV and AIDS diagnoses rose 11 percent among homosexual and bisexual men from 2000 to 2003, increasing concerns that the disease is resurgent nationwide...- The Washington Times - 2 December 2004
Lesbian minister resolute
PUGHTOWN, Pa - (Reuters) - A Methodist minister was tried by an ecclesiastical court yesterday for being a practicing homosexual. She said she thinks God created here as a lesbian, but she does not expect to keep her job... - The Washington Times - 2 December 2004
Parents on drug binge when infant dies
BOCA RATON - A month old baby died while his parents were on a three -day crack cocaine binge that began after Thanksgiving dinner, police said Tuesday. The cause of death was not clear...- The Washington Times - 2 December 2004
Priest get 5 years for raping boy
CAMBRIDGE - A Roman Catholic priest was sentenced yesterday to 41/2 to five years in prison for repeatedly raping an altar boy in the 1990s...- The Washington Times - 2 December 2004
Student badly burned during drinking ritual
A student was severely burned during a fraternity drinking ritual when an oil lantern ignited a bottle of nearly pure grain alcohol, police said... at the University of Georgia... - The Washington Times - 2 December 2004
College bans alcohol at fraternities, dorms
Drinking will be banned at University of Oklahoma fraternities and residence halls under policies announced yesterday, two months after a 19-year-old student died of alcohol poisoning...- The Washington Times - 2 December 2004
Stem-cell results claimed
Patient upright; research sketchy
A paralyzed South Korean woman is walking again after doctors used stem-cell therapy to replace her damaged spine, researchers in that country say... world's first published report...spinal-cord injuries had been successfully treated with stem cells from umbilical-cord blood. - The Washington Times - 30 November 2004
Leroy Aarons;
Gay Journalists Group
Leroy F. Aarons, 70, a tough and exacting newsman who was a pioneer in the effort to bring greater visibility to gay and lesbian journalists and who worked to improve coverage involving gays, died Nov. 28 of a heart attack at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Santa Rosa, Calif... Survivors include his partner of 24 years, Joshua Boneh of Sebastopol, and a brother. - The Washington Post - 30 November 2004
Evangelist Bill James Hargis Dies;
Spread Anti-Communist Message
The Rev. Bill James Hargis, 79 who died Nov. 27 at a nursing home in Tulsa, was a "bawl and jump" broadcast evangelist whose anti-communist message helped him flourish during the Cold War... Survivors include his wife, the former Betty Jane Secrest; four children; 11 grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. - The Washington Post - 30 November 2004
Students may thank anyone except God
School treats holiday as secular
Maryland public school students are free to thank anyone they want while learning about the 17th-century celebration of Thanksgiving as long as it's not God.
And that is how it should be, administrators. say...
But teachers don't mention when they describe the feast is that the Pilgrims not only thanked the Indians for their peaceful three-day indulgence, but repeatedly thanked God... - The Washington Times - 23 November 2004
Pro-life groups celebrate 'major victory' in Congress
Spending bill passes with new restrictions
Pro-life groups won a key victory this weekend when Congress passed legislation stipulating that state and local governments can't coerce hospitals, insurers and other health care groups into performing or supporting abortions... - The Washington Times - 23 November 2004
Arafat blames Israel
Nephew won't rule out poison as death cause
Armed with Yasser Arafat's weighty medical dossier, his nephew blamed Israel for the Palestinian leader's death and refused yesterday to squelch rumors of poisoning-even though he acknowledged that doctors found no known poison... - The Washington Times - 23 November 2004