Thursday, July 31, 2003

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/31/2003 08:01:00 AM | 0 comments

The Chinese are working on a medium-range missile that will give Beijing the ability to launch attacks against the 25,000 U.S. troops deployed on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa. The new missiles also will be able to hit Taiwan from bases farther inland from the Chinese coast, the report said.

Beijing has adopted a new strategy of what Beijing military planners call "assassin's mace" arms — advanced weapons designed for use against U.S. forces.

Current "assassins maces" that could trump advanced U.S. weapons include fighter bombers, submarines, antiship missiles, and mines that could attack U.S. aircraft carriers.

"Chinese doctrine continues to emphasize surprise, deception, and shock effect in the opening phase of a campaign," the report said.

China's military buildup has led the Pentagon to quietly build up its military forces in the Pacific in recent months. Attack submarines have been deployed in Guam, along with stockpiles of air-launched cruise missiles. Bombers also have been moved to the region to deal with either a conflict in Korea or possibly a war over Taiwan, defense officials said.

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/31/2003 07:49:00 AM | 0 comments

Israel continues to deny visas to religious wishing to enter the Holy Land, despite the commitments assumed with the Apostolic Nuncio, Father Giovanni Battistelli lamented.

"We are unable to obtain from the Israeli government entry and residence visas for Religious," Father Battistelli, superior of the Fransiscan Custody said in an interview with SIR, the Italian Episcopal Conference news service.

"Despite the agreements signed between the Holy See and Israel, difficulties always arise," he said.

The situation not only affects the Friars Minor (Franciscans) but also numerous religious of other congregations, the Franciscan said.

"With reference to the custody, there are 15 friars in Israel who are waiting to regularize their position; others are in Italy and Syria. We do not know what we can do so that they can return to Israel," Father Battistelli added.

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/31/2003 07:32:00 AM | 0 comments

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/31/2003 07:22:00 AM | 0 comments

Tuesday, July 29, 2003

RESource is an online resource for teachers of senior secondary religious education, in particular for the VCE Study Units Religion and Society and Texts and Traditions. It will offer teachers an orientation to various topics on the curriculum and an annotated selection of websites which relate to that topic. It also suggests a particular pedagogical approach.

While maintaining a broad acceptance of various intellectual and religious points of view, the RESource materials essentially convey the Catholic position and teaching on the topics covered.

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/29/2003 08:11:00 PM | 0 comments

Vice President Dick Cheney got up yesterday morning, boarded Air Force Two and flew to Columbia, S.C., where he rode in a motorcade to a private home, shook hands, and posed for pictures with 150 donors at a luncheon. There he raised $300,000 for the Bush-Cheney reelection committee before flying home.

Over four days ending last night, Howard Dean outdid the vice president -- without leaving his campaign headquarters in Burlington, Vt.

In a testament to the power of Internet fund-raising, and the intensity of the Democratic presidential contender's support, Dean raised $344,000 for his campaign by the time of the Cheney lunch. All Dean's staff did was tell their supporters about Cheney's event via the Internet and challenge them to surpass the vice president's total.

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/29/2003 03:39:00 AM | 0 comments

Monday, July 28, 2003

The 41-year-old Gillespie — a media maestro and Republican strategist skilled in the art of political counterpunching and message-crafting — was elected to the RNC top spot last week. In a recent interview, he says the 2004 election is going to be the political equivalent of the shootout at the OK Corral, and he's gearing up for battle.

For example: What does he think about the Democratic assault on Mr. Bush's handling of postwar Iraq?

Anyone else would dodge that question, fearing that it would sound like the party's point man was impugning the patriotism of Mr. Bush's enemies and potential opponents in the election. But not Mr. Gillespie:

"I would not go so far as to say they are wishing for defeat, but I think they are taking some satisfaction in the misfortunes of others," he says.

By "others," he is referring to "progress in Iraq," a term general enough to encompass U.S. troops stationed there, the Iraqi people and the life-and-death situations these groups find themselves in.

Translation: Mr. Bush's Democratic critics are delighted when it may appear that chaos is overrunning postwar Iraq and that Ba'athist guerrillas are running rampant.

"You know 'fear and loathing' was once a catchy title for a book," Mr. Gillespie says, "but it's a lousy way to play politics."

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/28/2003 09:56:00 AM | 0 comments

Recently, I was talking to a young man in his 20s who has left the church and believes that maybe he no longer even believes in God.

I asked him why he felt so abandoned or so disconnected with the mystery of God and he said that "if God really wanted any of us to believe, he would speak to us."

I thought, to which God himself might reply — through faith that he shouts at us all the time — through the beauty of his creation that surrounds and sustains us. Grace and goodness is everywhere for those who are able to sense its presence and are generous in their search for it in what might seem strange places — a hug, a quiet morning, a cool breeze, a child's laughter, a meal shared with loved ones.

A prominent American bishop has said that a major problem with American Catholicism is that so few Catholics seem to have a conversion experience. They have heard about Jesus or read about him, but they have never met Jesus. They know about him, but they don't know him. For us as Catholics we find Jesus primarily in our tradition, in the way we pray and in the way we worship, and all this within our Catholic faith.

Some may ask, with all that seems so wrong with the church today, "Why within this tradition am I able to encounter most fully this Son of God, Jesus Christ?" And all this should provoke in each one of us a response to, "Why are we Catholic?"

In answering that for myself I can say, after much reflection and soul-searching, that I am Catholic because I was born a Catholic, raised a Catholic, educated a Catholic, and I like being a Catholic. I am Catholic because of our beautiful belief in Mary, the Mother of God. . .

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/28/2003 09:52:00 AM | 0 comments

"These are the same kinds of voters that Edd Houck has appealed to and won elections in the old areas of his district," Bieber said. "You look at the profile of these voters--yes, they're Republican, but there are a lot of rural voters, particularly in Madison County. Edd relates very well to rural voters; he comes from a rural background."

Both Houck and Stuber--a first-time political candidate--are concentrating especially hard on the new areas of the district.

"The strategy is clearly to become known in the new areas of the district. What we're doing is working very hard with various networks that have been supportive of Edd in the old areas of his district--educators, farmers, the business community, other folks who he's gotten to know through his service in the state Senate," Bieber said. "A lot of those networks are very similar in these new parts of the district."

(MWC Political Analyst) Farnsworth said the amount of new territory in the district does reduce Houck's advantage as an incumbent. But, he said, Houck is the sort of centrist Democrat who will play better in a Republican-leaning district than more liberal Democrats would.

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/28/2003 09:46:00 AM | 0 comments

Sunday, July 27, 2003

The avoidance of uncertainty, for example, as well as the striving for certainty, are particularly tied to one key dimension of conservative thought - the resistance to change or hanging onto the status quo, they said.

Concerns with fear and threat, likewise, can be linked to a second key dimension of conservatism - an endorsement of inequality, a view reflected in the Indian caste system, South African apartheid and the conservative, segregationist politics of the late Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-South S.C.).

Disparate conservatives share a resistance to change and acceptance of inequality, the authors said. Hitler, Mussolini, and former President Ronald Reagan were individuals, but all were right-wing conservatives because they preached a return to an idealized past and condoned inequality in some form. Talk host Rush Limbaugh can be described the same way, the authors commented in a published reply to the article.

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/27/2003 10:56:00 PM | 0 comments

It is not for me to moralize and chastise you for your weakness and inability to control your various addictive type behaviors.

Unfortunately, however, I hold the requisite papers to prescribe a lot of medicines that have the potential to be addictive, and it is a grave and onerous responsibility deciding if it is appropriate to prescribe Oxycontin, Percocet, Xanax, Valium or whatever potentially habituating medicine to this or that patient.

To then find that patients are abusing that responsibility and conning me into prescribing for them, or falsifying their prescriptions, gets me fired up.

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/27/2003 10:32:00 PM | 0 comments

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/27/2003 10:41:00 AM | 0 comments

Friday, July 25, 2003

Hitler thought it was moral to exterminate Jews, Gypsies, and Slavs. Stalin thought it was moral to exterminate. . . well, anyone. John Paul II believes it is moral to preach against abortion. G.W. Bush thinks it is moral to take out Saddam Hussein. Certain liberals believe that it was moral to leave millions of Iraqis under a brutal dictatorship. Were these "moral" people performing moral acts? To their followers, they certainly were.

So where is the benchmark? Most people make the age-old mistake of confusing morals with ethics, but if all morality becomes is whatever is acceptable to society, then what is really moral?

In a world where might makes right, there is no morality because laws are dictated by those with the most power - positivism. That is most certainly not a moral position.

The only benchmark for morality is that which is perfect, which is why morality is properly the realm of religion and God. Laws therefore should always reflect the moral law, which is why there can never be a true separation of religion and lawmaking (church and state if you prefer).

Moral values are independent only in the sense that something other than ourselves have imposed them. In other words, it is an expression of the natural law.

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/25/2003 12:25:00 PM | 0 comments

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/25/2003 11:51:00 AM | 0 comments

Thursday, July 24, 2003

The Holy See has been informed of Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega's request for forgiveness for the "errors" committed by his government (1979-1990) with the Catholic Church, a religious source stated yesterday.

During the commemoration of the 24th anniversary of the triumph of the "Sandinista Popular Revolution," Ortega said that in a meeting with Nicaraguan Cardinal Miguel Obando last Saturday, prior to the celebration, he requested forgiveness for the errors of his government.

Ortega admitted that in the 80s there was acute tension with and antagonism toward the Catholic Church, which he said would not be repeated if the Sandinista Front of National Liberation (SFNL) returns to power following the 2006 elections.

The regime headed by Ortega expelled 18 priests, including one bishop. The most intense moment was experienced during John Paul II's first visit to Managua in 1983, when Sandinista militants tried to boycott the Mass.

Several times during the Mass, the Pope had to ask the group that interrupted his homily for silence.

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/24/2003 09:27:00 AM | 0 comments

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/24/2003 09:23:00 AM | 0 comments

Moser said Richards continues to deny taking the food, though he admitted to authorities that "the facts look awful bad for me."

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/24/2003 07:14:00 AM | 0 comments

Wednesday, July 23, 2003

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/23/2003 07:58:00 AM | 0 comments

Tuesday, July 22, 2003

Uday Hussein whipped and clubbed Alaa Hamed. But the TV producer was still sorry to hear Saddam Hussein's vicious elder son might have been killed.

''I don't want him dead. I want to torture him first,'' Hamed told Reuters as he recalled the beatings with cables and clubs whenever he made technical errors at Uday's television station.

What seemed to be the crackle of celebratory rifle fire rattled Baghdad neighbourhoods, where families had watched state television footage of Saddam and his sons for years, silently hating and hoping they might one day be gone.

''This is very good. Uday, Qusay and Saddam are the ones who ruined this country. We are in a mess today after the war because of them,'' shopkeeper Abu Muhammed said.

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/22/2003 04:12:00 PM | 0 comments

Yesterday's secret screening at the Motion Picture Association of America included columnists Peggy Noonan, Cal Thomas and Kate O'Beirne; conservative essayist Michael Novak; President Bush's abortive nominee for labor secretary, Linda Chavez; staff director Mark Rodgers of the Senate Republican conference chaired by Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.); former Republican House member Mark Siljander of Michigan; and White House staffer David Kuo, deputy director of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.

"I find this sad," said ADL National Director Abraham Foxman, who hasn't been permitted to see the movie. "Here's a man who appeals to the mass audience, but he feels he has to surround himself with a cordon sanitaire of people who back him theologically and maybe ideologically and will stand up and be supportive when the time comes. My request still stands: I would like to see the movie, and if it turns out I was wrong, I'll be the first to say so."

Yesterday when the lights came up, many in the audience -- who were required to sign a confidentiality agreement before being admitted to the screening room -- were in tears. Some were sobbing, we hear.

"Heartbreaking," Michael Novak told Gibson. "The Exorcist" author William Peter Blatty called the movie "a tremendous depiction of evil." MPAA President Valenti was perhaps the most enthusiastic. "I don't see what the controversy is all about," he told fellow audience members. "This is a compelling piece of art. I just called Kirk Douglas and told him that this is the movie to beat."

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/22/2003 10:35:00 AM | 0 comments

Raising some taxes and lowering others to offset it may not fly in Howell's House. Those whose taxes are raised will be angered, he said, and the commission--and the legislature--cannot operate in a vacuum.

"This isn't politics. We are elected to represent people. We're not elected to go down and say 'I don't care what the people think, this is what I'm going to do,'" Howell said. "It's incumbent on elected officials to try and echo the concerns of their people. I think people would reject the proposal of having to pay a sales tax when they go get a haircut."

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/22/2003 07:47:00 AM | 0 comments

Rule one: People listen through their stomachs. The key to the success of any presidential candidate is to convey to voters - in a way they can feel in their gut - that you as a leader know what world they're living in. George Bush Senior lost to Bill Clinton because he failed to convey to voters in their gut that he knew what world they were living in - a world of rising economic insecurity.

Rule two: Never put yourself in a position where you succeed only if your country fails. The Democrats can't just wait for Mr Bush to fail in Iraq, or hope the economy collapses, and assume they will benefit. People want to hear a positive alternative agenda. There can be a hard-nosed Democratic alternative. It is one that would say: "Yes, let's win the war on terrorism, but that requires a multi-pronged approach that addresses all our vulnerabilities, and levels with the American people."

Rule three: Get a candidate people like. I don't know George Bush, and I do not like his domestic policies. But I find him hard to dislike. The "likability factor" is hugely underestimated in politics.

Rule four: Get a candidate who can give a fireside chat. In these confusing times, people crave a leader who can explain why we're doing what we're doing and how it will lead to a better world. That is what the Democrats need. Mr Bush conveys a lot of sincerity, but he lacks the emotional or intellectual depth to really reassure people. I'm convinced that one reason for his high poll ratings is projection. We desperately want to believe that he knows what he is doing, and that he is always acting in the best interests of the nation - and not on naked political considerations - because if he isn't, we're all sunk.

Right now there is only one Democrat who could live up to all these rules: the British prime minister, Tony Blair. Maybe the Democrats should give him a green card. He's tough on national security, he has an alternative global vision, people like him and he is a beautiful, reassuring speaker. He's Bill Clinton without baggage. I'd say he's a natural.

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/22/2003 12:25:00 AM | 0 comments

How much of a pottymouth are you?

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/22/2003 12:11:00 AM | 0 comments

Monday, July 21, 2003

On October 13, 1884, after Pope Leo XIII had finished celebrating Mass in the Vatican Chapel, attended by a few Cardinals and members of the Vatican staff, he suddenly stopped at the foot of the altar. He stood there for about 10 minutes, as if in a trance, his face ashen white. Then, going immediately from the Chapel to his office, he composed the prayer to St. Michael, with instructions it be said after all Low Masses everywhere. When asked what had happened, he explained that, as he was about to leave the foot of the altar, he suddenly heard voices - two voices, one kind and gentle, the other guttural and harsh. They seemed to come from near the tabernacle. As he listened, he heard the following conversation:

The guttural voice, the voice of Satan in his pride, boasting to Our Lord:
"I can destroy your Church"

The gentle voice of Our Lord:
"You can? Then go ahead and do so."

Satan:
"To do so, I need more time and more power."

Our Lord:
"How much time? How much power?

Satan:
"75 to 100 years, and a greater power over those
who will give themselves over to my service."

Our Lord:
"You have the time, you will have the power.
Do with them what you will."

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/21/2003 01:46:00 AM | 0 comments

Sunday, July 20, 2003

The threat had not yet even fully emerged, Bush was asserting, but nonetheless it had to be faced because it would only get worse. Hussein was not going away. The sanctions were not going to restrain him. Even his death would be no reprieve, as his half-mad sons would take over. The argument was that Hussein had to be removed eventually and that with Hussein relatively weakened, isolated and vulnerable, now would be more prudent and less costly than later.

He was right.

In fact, Bush's case was simply a more elaborate and formal restatement of Bill Clinton's argument in 1998 that, left unmolested, Hussein would "go right on and do more to rebuild an arsenal of devastating destruction. And some day, some way, I guarantee you, he'll use the arsenal."

That was true when Clinton said it. It was true when Bush said it. The difference is that Bush did something about it.

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/20/2003 12:54:00 PM | 0 comments

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/20/2003 12:47:00 PM | 0 comments

On Wednesday morning, when the ABC news show reported from Fallujah, where the division is based, the troops gave the reporters an earful. One soldier said he felt like he'd been "kicked in the guts, slapped in the face." Another demanded that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld quit.

The retaliation from Washington was swift.

"It was the end of the world," said one officer Thursday. "It went all the way up to President Bush and back down again on top of us. At least six of us here will lose our careers."

First lesson for the troops, it seemed: Don't ever talk to the media "on the record" -- that is, with your name attached -- unless you're giving the sort of chin-forward, everything's-great message the Pentagon loves to hear.

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/20/2003 12:44:00 PM | 0 comments

Friday, July 18, 2003

The 59-year-old went missing from his home in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, at 3pm yesterday afternoon after telling his wife he was going for a walk, according to a Thames Valley police spokesman.

The body was discovered lying face down at 9.20am by a police search team at Harrowdown Hill, about five miles from Dr Kelly's home in Abingdon.

No note has been found either at the scene or at Dr Kelly's house. Responding to questions about whether the dead man had died of gunshot wounds, the spokesman said that Dr Kelly was not a licensed firearms holder.

Mr Mangold told ITV News: "She [Dr Kelly's wife] told me he had been under considerable stress, that he was very very angry about what had happened at the committee, that he wasn't well, that he had been to a safe house, he hadn't liked that, he wanted to come home.

"She didn't use the word depressed, but she said he was very very stressed and unhappy about what had happened and this was really not the kind of world he wanted to live in."

Mr Mangold said Dr Kelly was a source to many reporters. His ambition was to help serious journalists understand a complex topic.

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/18/2003 11:17:00 AM | 0 comments

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/18/2003 01:16:00 AM | 0 comments

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/18/2003 01:01:00 AM | 0 comments

Thursday, July 17, 2003

Graffiti denouncing Baathists covers many walls in the area once known as Saddam City. Squatters and local Muslim clerics have taken over the party's two main headquarters.

"If my finger was a Baathist, I'd cut it off," reads one spray-painted slogan. "Death to the Baath," proclaims another.

The mainly Shi'ite population of the area suffered bitterly under the Baath administration, which discriminated against them and brutally quashed uprisings in the 1990s.

Residents say almost all of them have lost a relative to Saddam or his Baathists and the desire for revenge runs deep.

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/17/2003 05:31:00 PM | 0 comments

After Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt rounded up more than 100,000 Japanese residents and citizens and threw them in internment camps. Indeed, both liberal deities of the 20th century, FDR and Earl Warren, supported the internment of Japanese-Americans. In the '20s, responding to the bombing of eight government officials' homes, a Democrat-appointed attorney general arrested about 6,000 people. The raids were conducted by A. Mitchell Palmer, appointed by still-revered Democrat segregationist Woodrow Wilson, who won the 1916 election based on lies about intelligence and war plans.

In response to the worst terrorist attack in the history of the world right here on U.S. soil, Attorney General John Ashcroft has detained fewer than a thousand Middle Eastern immigrants. Ashcroft faces a far more difficult task than FDR did: Pearl Harbor was launched by the imperial government of Japan, not by Japanese-Americans living in California. The 9-11 Muslim terrorists, by contrast, were not only in the United States but, until the attack, had broken hardly any laws at all (aside from a few immigration laws, which liberals don't care about anyway). And yet, Ashcroft's modest, carefully tailored policies have prevented another attack for almost two years since Sept. 11, 2001. No internment camps, no mass arrests. And no more massive terrorist attacks.

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/17/2003 09:39:00 AM | 0 comments

Wednesday, July 16, 2003

FOX TV says, "Photoblocker spray is surprisingly effective"

On Nov 7, 2002 Washington DC’s Fox 5 News did a story on how to defeat red light cameras and photo radar (speed cameras). Fox TV's investigative team in conjunction with Denver, Colorado police department tested Phantomplate’s products. They tested the Photoblocker spray, the Reflector and Photoshield license plate cover.

The verdict is in; ALL our products are effective.

This is what they actually said…

"It is no scam ... several companies these days market products that claim to legally blind those automatic cameras. The question is do they really work? Fox 5’s Michael Gargiulo puts them to the test ... the red light cameras are credited with snapping up an extra $20 million in fines for the city ... spurring some to try inventive ways of beating the system ... products that actually claim to out smart the cameras ... Will they make your tag invisible? ... Denver police department agreed to put them to the test. They examined a total of three products. Did they work? Here is a photo form the test drive. The first plate cover looks like a prism (Photoshield) and it is supposed to distort plate numbers when it viewed form an angle. It fared well. Notice some of the plate numbers are invisible.

The second plate cover, the Reflector has reflective sparkles and it did a better job. The flash reflected off the sparkles so the plate number was way over exposed in the picture.

Now the third product is that Photoblocker spray ... that is surprisingly effective. It puts a high gloss finish on your plate. Which causes a reflection. That makes the plate over exposed and unreadable .... The question is." Is it legal?" ... It is practically impossible for police to spot plates that have been treated with the reflective spray. And in many jurisdiction there is no specific rule that says your tag must be photogenic."

And what does Denver Police department have to say ....

" What we did is we went out to the Denver Police driving track and we set up a simulated a 20 mile an hour speed limit ... These products may increase your odds ..." on avoiding a ticket.

Like the film shot by red-light cameras, photo radar film is sent to a processing center run by Lockheed Martin IMS. Though the weapons manufacturer, whose IMS division was the largest automated enforcement vendor in the nation, sold the division to Affiliated Computer Services for $800 million, if Lockheed's projections hold, ACS will reap $44 million from D.C.-generated tickets by 2004 (the city itself will pull in $117 million). It is at this center that the vendor elves, or "image specialists," not only develop film, but decide which pictures warrant citations. Internal Lockheed documents reveal that their camera's success rate can be as low as 42 percent (other vendors fall as low as 33 percent)--meaning that pictures must be tossed for reasons ranging from "data errors" to "clarity of [license] plate." From there, success rates drop even further. After vendors send out the tickets--which may or may not be subject to police review before being issued, depending on the city--it has been estimated by an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) study that the registered owner of the vehicle--the one ticketed after a vendor matches a plate number to a DMV record--is the actual driver of the car only 72 percent of the time.

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/16/2003 10:17:00 AM | 0 comments

While some news reports after the Feb. 1 accident suggested that the astronauts died as soon as the shuttle broke apart, the space agency and the investigation board have been circumspect about any such details. Even in the hangar at the Kennedy Space Center, the debris from the crew cabin is laid out separately in a private area, and officials have promised to not disclose what they characterize as morbid details. Records indicate, though, that the crew capsule would have been severely buffeted, and the crew was aware of sensor readings indicating major problems.

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/16/2003 09:36:00 AM | 0 comments

Tuesday, July 15, 2003

The BBC, quoting what it said was a senior, credible intelligence source, said in May that Prime Minister Tony Blair's aides had pressured security services to "sex up" a dossier on Iraq by including an uncorroborated claim it could fire chemical and biological weapons at 45 minutes' notice.

Blair's officials have furiously rejected the allegations and said David Kelly, a government weapons adviser who has acknowledged meeting the BBC reporter, did not match the broadcaster's description of a high-level intelligence source.

"I believe I am not the main source," Kelly told a parliamentary inquiry aimed at ending weeks of controversy over the identity of the government mole.

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/15/2003 09:46:00 PM | 0 comments

These small booklets were once a familiar sight at the back of every Catholic Church. This Australian site has collected the text of a number of classic pamphets. Like old movies showing repeatedly on pay TV channels, reading them is for most an exercise in nostalgia, taking us back to another very different era. But some Catholics regard the titles such as 'Confession is a Joy' and 'After Death What? Heaven, Purgatory, Hell' as equally relevant now as more than 50 years ago.

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/15/2003 09:38:00 PM | 0 comments

Monday, July 14, 2003

Researcher Matthew Will said: “Our study suggests a high-fat diet alters brain biochemistry with effects similar to those of drugs such as morphine.”

In Britain, University of Sussex researchers also believe certain chemicals make humans want to eat more.

Their studies have shown that overeating is triggered by chemicals called opioids, which reduce the feeling of being full.

When the release of opioids was blocked obese people found they wanted to eat a third less food.

Meanwhile, researchers at Rockefeller University in New York say regularly eating fatty foods changes the body’s hormonal system so that diners want more fat.

There are more than 300million people worldwide who are clinically obese — when weight becomes dangerous to health — that includes one in five adults in Britain.

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/14/2003 08:06:00 PM | 0 comments

For America, September 11 was a new Great Awakening. It realized, for the first time, that it was a globalized entity itself. It no longer had frontiers. Its boundaries were the world, for from whatever part of the world harbored its enemies, it could be attacked, and if such enemies possessed weapons of mass destruction, mortally attacked. For this reason America was obliged to construct a new strategic doctrine, replacing totally that of National Security Council paper 68 of 1950, which laid down the doctrine of containment. In a globalized world the United States now has to anticipate its enemies, search out and destroy their bases, and disarm states likely to aid them. I call this defensive imperialism. It is a novel kind, but embraces elements of all the old. Significantly, NSC 68 of 1950 specifically repudiates imperialism. Its replacement will necessarily embrace it in its new form. There are compelling reasons why the United States is uniquely endowed to exercise this kind of global authority.

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/14/2003 09:20:00 AM | 0 comments

Bush Aides Seek to Put Out Credibility Firestorm

Top aides to President Bush insisted on Sunday he did not hype Iraq's suspected weapons of mass destruction as they sought to put out a political firestorm ignited by a disputed statement he made in his case for war.

But questions about Bush's credibility persisted, threatening to further erode public support for the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq and create more difficulty at home for U.S. ally British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Administration: Bush Statement Was Accurate

The Bush administration continued Sunday to defend remarks made by the president to the American people regarding Iraq's alleged attempts to obtain uranium from Africa.

"The statement that he made was indeed accurate," Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice (search), said on Fox News Sunday. "Not only was the statement accurate, there were statements of this kind in the National Intelligence Estimate (search)," a classified document compiled by U.S. agencies, she said.

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/14/2003 07:37:00 AM | 0 comments

Sunday, July 13, 2003

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/13/2003 11:47:00 AM | 0 comments

Saturday, July 12, 2003

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/12/2003 02:22:00 PM | 0 comments

Baby teeth may be far more valuable than parents imagined: Scientists have discovered they’re chock-full of stem cells, those seemingly magical precursors of heart, nerve and most other cell types. The find means parents may someday encourage kids to put their baby teeth into protective storage—not under a pillow—for future treatment of injuries and diseases, says Songtao Shi of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, who led the research.

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/12/2003 02:09:00 PM | 0 comments

In the 3 months since it launched, DraftWesleyClark.com has spurred tens of thousands of letters to General Clark, urging him to run for president. It has gained national and international media coverage on TV (CBS, NBC, CNN), in print, online, and on radio. It has raised over $130,000 in pledges And it has helped to launch local Clark chapters ("MeetUps") in over 100 cities across America. As hard as we have worked, however, we believe the real credit for the explosion of this movement belongs to General Clark himself -- who has shown himself to be a powerfully compelling alternative to the current roster of candidates.

We are not affiliated with Wesley Clark -- we are just impressed by his solid record of leadership and achievement. Former supreme commander of NATO. First in his class at West Point. Vietnam combat veteran. A Rhodes Scholar. A necessary voice of common sense and moderation on the foreign policy front. We like what we see -- and we want to see more.

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/12/2003 12:55:00 AM | 0 comments

Because it is easy to differentiate male and female cells under a microscope, the technique allows researchers to track the progress of the distribution of each kind of cell within a developing embryo. The resulting hybrid embryos are destroyed after six days, when they have grown into a microscopic mixed-sex ball of a few hundred cells.

Gleicher says he hopes the research will lead to treatments for congenital diseases, like sickle-cell anemia, before they can develop.

Using embryos in scientific studies is currently legal as long as the embryos were donated for research purposes.

Critics charge Gleicher and his team breached the boundaries of medical ethics because they manipulated and destroyed healthy embryos.

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/12/2003 12:49:00 AM | 0 comments

The Republic reported that the detainee, who was not identified, said the plan involved three or four people setting wildfires using timed devices in Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming that would detonate in forests and grasslands after the operatives had left the country.

The memo noted that investigators couldn't determine whether the detainee was telling the truth.

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/12/2003 12:44:00 AM | 0 comments

Friday, July 11, 2003

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/11/2003 08:14:00 AM | 0 comments

Thursday, July 10, 2003

Virginia should consider taxing services and Internet sales as part of the effort to rework the state tax system, Gov. Mark Warner told a 10-member legislative tax reform commission today.

Lawmakers should also evaluate the state's relationship with local governments and compel corporations to fulfill their tax responsibilities to the state, Warner said.

"My hope is we can find some common ground with these principles," Warner said. "If we do our job, tax reform holds the promise of more fairness" which could boost the economy and therefore increase revenue.

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/10/2003 09:47:00 PM | 0 comments

There are plenty of organizations that will provide food, clothing, education, even shelter to the homeless. But every one of them refuses to treat their "clients" as mature adults and the vast majority of them even have rules that forbid the legal consumption of alcohol.

So, that is where Beer For The Homeless steps up and strikes a blow for equality and human rights. Through this website, we will raise money to purchase and distribute beer to those who want it. Good old fashioned 100% American beer. The kind our fathers and grandfathers drank when defending this great country around the world to keep the principles of democracy and freedom of choice strong and alive.

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/10/2003 04:14:00 PM | 0 comments

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/10/2003 04:03:00 PM | 0 comments

South Korea's largest mobile phone operator said Thursday that it will offer cell phone users a new noise service that it says will repel mosquitoes.

SK Telecom Co. said subscribers can pay 3,000 won (US$2.50) to download a sound wave that is inaudible to human ears but annoys mosquitoes within a range of three feet. Customers can then play the sound by hitting a few buttons on their mobile phones.

The company claimed that the service worked during tests.

The service, which begins Monday, has one drawback: it consumes as much battery power as normal cell phone rings.

SK Telecom has 17 million subscribers and controls a little over 50 percent of the domestic market.

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/10/2003 03:36:00 PM | 0 comments

Wednesday, July 09, 2003

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/09/2003 10:28:00 AM | 0 comments

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/09/2003 10:23:00 AM | 0 comments

The former executive director of the state Republican Party was sentenced yesterday to three years probation, 180 hours of community service and a $5,000 fine for eavesdropping on Democratic conference calls.

(Judge) Spencer said he "agonized" over Matricardi's sentence, feeling that giving Matricardi jail time would set an example.

"I think about the young Democrats and young Republicans fermenting on college campuses and getting ready to join the culture wars," Spencer said. "They need to know that the minute they put party above principle they step over the line. They denigrate the system.There is wrong and right and what Mr. Matricardi did was wrong."

In the end, Spencer added, he decided to give Matricardi "the individual treatment he deserves," rather than make an example of him.

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/09/2003 07:01:00 AM | 0 comments

Tuesday, July 08, 2003

Your Results:

1. Bush, George W. - US President (100%)
2. Libertarian Candidate (89%)
3. Buchanan, Patrick J. – Reform/Republican (68%)
4. Lieberman Senator Joe CT - Democrat (64%)
5. Kucinich, Cong. Dennis, OH - Democrat (63%)
6. Kerry, Senator John, MA - Democrat (57%)
7. Dean, Gov. Howard, VT - Democrat (53%)
8. Feingold, Senator Russ, WI - Democrat (48%)
9. Phillips, Howard - Constitution (44%)
10. McCain, Senator John, AZ- Republican (43%)
11. Leahy, Patrick Senator, Vermont - Democrat (42%)
12. Sharpton, Reverend Al - Democrat (41%)
13. Biden, Senator Joe, DE - Democrat (40%)
14. Edwards, Senator John, NC - Democrat (38%)
15. Moseley-Braun, Former Senator Carol IL - Democrat (36%)
16. Gephardt, Cong. Dick, MO - Democrat (31%)
17. Green Party Candidate (26%)
18. Bradley, Former Senator Bill NJ - Democrat (26%)
19. Socialist Candidate (26%)
20. Hagelin, John - Natural Law (25%)
21. Clark, Retired Army General Wesley K "Wes" Arkansas - Democrat (22%)
22. Feinstein, Senator Dianne, CA - Democrat (21%)
23. Graham, Senator Bob, FL - Democrat (20%)
24. Jackson, Cong. Jesse Jr., IL - Democrat (20%)
25. Kaptur, Cong. Marcy, OH - Democrat (11%)
26. Vilsack, Governor. Tom IA - Democrat (7%)
27. LaRouche, Lyndon H. Jr. - Democrat (-13%)

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/08/2003 11:21:00 PM | 0 comments

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/08/2003 11:16:00 PM | 0 comments

Monday, July 07, 2003

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/07/2003 09:29:00 AM | 0 comments

Sunday, July 06, 2003

A group of Republicans and independents in the 99th House District have formed a political action committee to help re-elect Del. Albert Pollard, a Democrat.

Colonial Beach Treasurer Bobby Duke Jr., the group's chairman, said Republicans and independents will raise money, print bumper stickers and otherwise help Pollard's campaign.

A news release from Duke said group members include White Stone Mayor Lloyd B. Hubbard; Clerk of the King George Circuit Court Victor Mason; Richmond County Commonwealth's Attorney Wayne Emery; and Colonial Beach Councilwoman Linda Crandell.

Duke also named several area businessmen and Lancaster County Republican activists.

Duke, who described himself as a former campaign manager and aide to Republican candidates, said he has always voted Republican but now feels that the party has moved too far to the right. He is supporting Pollard "because of his strong record of independence, working with both parties, and his dedication to putting the Northern Neck first."

Duke also said the group is meant to give a voice to non-Democrats who want to support Pollard.

"It's very flattering," Pollard said.

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/06/2003 11:21:00 AM | 0 comments

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/06/2003 11:06:00 AM | 0 comments

Thursday, July 03, 2003

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/03/2003 09:18:00 AM | 0 comments

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/03/2003 09:16:00 AM | 0 comments

Wednesday, July 02, 2003

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/02/2003 11:22:00 PM | 0 comments

Tuesday, July 01, 2003

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/01/2003 07:43:00 PM | 0 comments

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/01/2003 07:16:00 PM | 0 comments

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/01/2003 01:24:00 AM | 0 comments

JEFFERSONIAD POLL: Whom do you support for Virginia Attorney General?

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