Federal agents arrested Charles Rust-Tierney, the former president of the Virginia chapter of the ACLU, Friday in Arlington for allegedly possessing child pornography.
According to a criminal complaint obtained by ABC News, Rust-Tierney allegedly used his e-mail address and credit card to subscribe to and access a child pornography website.
The complaint states that federal investigations into child pornography websites revealed that "Charles Rust-Tierney has subscribed to multiple child pornography website over a period of years."
As recently as last October, the complaint alleges, "Rust-Tierney purchased access to a group of hardcore commercial child pornography websites."
Complaint Alleges Access to Graphic Material
Rust-Tierney admitted to investigators that he had downloaded videos and images from child pornography websites onto CD-ROMs, according to the complaint.
The videos described in the complaint depict graphic forcible intercourse with prepubescent females. One if the girls is described in court documents as being "seen and heard crying", another is described as being "bound by rope."
The investigation is being conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and the Arlington County Police as part of the Northern Virginia and District of Columbia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
Rust-Tierney made an initial appearance in a federal court in Alexandria, VA, Friday. He is being detained pending a preliminary hearing scheduled for Wednesday, February 28.
Youth Coach, Argued Against Restricting Public Internet
Rust Tierney coaches various youth sports teams in and around Arlington, Virginia, according to court documents.
In the past, Rust-Tierney had argued against restricting Internet access in public libraries in Virginia, writing, "Recognizing that individuals will continue to behave responsibly and appropriately while in the library, the default should be maximum, unrestricted access to the valuable resources of the Internet."
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/24/2007 12:50 ||
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Posted by: Frank G ||
02/24/2007 12:54 Comments ||
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Rust Tierney coaches various youth sports teams in and around Arlington, Virginia, according to court documents.
Youth Coach, Argued Against Restricting Public Internet
the perverted fuckers like this lawyer throw a degree of suspicion on the vocation/avocation and on all coaches, the good straight up coaches and fathers who coach.
Video taken shortly before Britney Spears checked into rehab for a third time is a frightening example of why her family thinks she needs help. The video shot by the paparazzi agency X-17 shows Spears pounding a photographer's car with an umbrella, her face contorted in rage. She was apparently upset that the paparazzi followed her to Kevin Federline's house. Spears can be heard saying "don't guys, please, please guys don't do this" before slamming the umbrella into the car's closed window. Then she dropped the F-bomb toward the photographers a couple of times. "F**k you, you f**kers, youse f**kin' f**kheads!"
Hanging with Amanda F**cking Marcotte I see ...
Meanwhile, Britney Spears' father tells Fox News that his daughter is "a sick little girl." Jamie Spears says "we're just trying to take care of her." Spears is reportedly in a rehab facility. "Nurse! Give her an enema!"
Family law experts say it might help her become the primary custodian of her children. Right now, Spears and estranged husband Kevin Federline have joint custody of their five and 17-month-old sons. That agreement lasts through the end of the month. Spears filed for divorce from the 28-year-old aspiring rapper last November, citing irreconcilable differences. Since then, she has gone club hopping, shaved her head bald, gotten tattoos and had lips tattooed on her wrists.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/24/2007 00:00 ||
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LUCIANNE > ex-sis-in-law claims B. took Ecstasy and other hard drugs.
Cyclone Favio, which left a trail of destruction after sweeping through parts of Mozambique, was downgraded on Friday to a tropical depression as it moved towards neighbouring Zimbabwe. Chief forecaster in the national meteorological office, Helder Sueia said: "It is no longer a cyclone, it is now a tropical depression. "The winds are strong, between 60-80kph. It is travelling northwest to Zimbabwe." Heavy rains and strong winds continued to lash Nhamatanda in Sofala province, and the eastern part of Zimbabwe could expect heavy rains.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/24/2007 00:00 ||
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Mother Nature can't possibly do any more damage than Mugabe.
At least seven people have been killed in clashes between fighters from two communities in the Niger Delta in southern Nigeria sparked by the murder of an elderly woman, said human rights activists on Friday.
Trouble started when the corpse of the woman from Mogho community in the Ogoni area of Rivers State was found in farmland on Wednesday. Mogho immediately blamed Bodo, a neighbouring community, for the woman's death. "The Mogho people set up a roadblock and started stopping people from Bodo and forcing them out of their cars. They killed one of them on Thursday," said a local activist who did not wish to be named because he has contacts among the fighters. "So today the warriors from Bodo have taken over Mogho. They have killed at least six people and they are burning down the community. It's very serious. If it doesn't stop the whole place will be destroyed," he said. "The problem is that communities in this area all have their private armouries and militias and the slightest thing can provoke violence."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/24/2007 00:00 ||
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Circumcision may provide even more protection against AIDS than was realized when two clinical trials in Africa were stopped two months ago because the results were so clear, the International Herald Tribune reported on Friday. The trials, in Kenya and Uganda, were stopped early by the National Institute of Health, which was paying for them, because it was apparent that circumcision reduced a mans risk of contracting AIDS from heterosexual sex by about half. It would have been unethical to continue without offering circumcision to all 8,000 men in the trials, federal health officials said.
That decision, announced on December 13, made headlines around the world and led the two largest funds for fighting AIDS to say they would consider paying for circumcisions in high-risk countries. But the final data from the trials, to be published on Friday in the British medical journal The Lancet, suggest that circumcision reduces a mans risk by as much as 65 percent.
"If we had an AIDS vaccine that was performing as well as this, it would be the talk of the town"
The December announcement described only the follow-up on the men as originally divided into two groups: those who agreed to be circumcised and those who agreed not to. But some in the first group never went to the circumcision clinic, and some in the second had private circumcisions before the study ended.
Re-evaluating the data, excluding a few men whose H.I.V. status was misdiagnosed during the trial and combining the results of three trials those in Uganda and Kenya as well as one in South Africa that was stopped in 2005 when the protective effect became apparent produces a protection rate of about 65 percent.
Dr Anthony S Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which paid for the trials, said he planned to keep saying officially that circumcision cuts a mans risk by about half, not by 65 percent, because the validity of clinical trials depends on following randomised groups of patients, not selected ones. But, yes, the 65 percent makes me feel better, he conceded. This is a one-time, permanent intervention thats safe when done under the appropriate medical conditions. If we had an AIDS vaccine that was performing as well as this, it would be the talk of the town, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/24/2007 00:00 ||
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Well hey! If circumcision cuts it by 50% then think what castration might do!
Hehehe
Posted by: DanNY ||
02/24/2007 6:02 Comments ||
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#2
The fact is that because the tip of the penis spends all time without a protective layer of skin its outer layer becomes abit skin like. This skin like tissue who is probably formed of dead cells could be less vulnerable to infection than in a normal penis.
Note that an adult man has a nulmber of involuntary erections during the night so after an operation he will be scream from pian there or four times a night for months.
Note that circumcision does nothing to presvent infection to the woman so it can have an indirectly negative effect as men becom less careful, thus increasing the number of infected women thus increasing teh number of expôsures to "protected" men..
#4
I don't have one, so I am kiinda ignorant about this, BUT...
Wasn't the argument originally that male circumcision was only recommended when bathing was not done adequately-the skin was not pulled back and the penis cleansed thoroughly on a daily basis? Wouldn't that be preferable? Have they done any studies comparing infection rates in those that bathe adequately to those that are circumcised?
I would hate to see circumcision as currently done (without anesthesia) become unquestioned, codified practice worldwide-in part, out of sympathy for baby boys who go though it, and in part for selfish reasons; I can just hear all the brilliant Horn of Africa doctors talk about how female "circumcision" needs to be done to prevent HIV/AIDS, too.
#8
Yes, circumcision can be a difficult recovery. After I was circumcised, I couldn't walk for a year.
Circumcision is definitely one of those procedures that is best performed early!
Hey, it worked and still works (and probably will work, for a loooong time) for me!
And the world rejoices! Just kidding. I bet you really have all the HOT French babes with the plaited underarm hair making booty calls at all hours! ;-) I am so jealous!
#11
IIUC, the gay lobby has long worked against finding a cure for HIV. Neutralizing HIV would eliminate the victimhood platform and the research-grant gravy train. Much as eliminating prejudice would for [insert opportunistic "aggrieved" minority group here].
#12
bathhouse behavior including v1agra and meth are a huge reason for the increase in HIV and STDs in the gay community. They don't want to explain that. The propaganda is that we are all equally at risk for HIV/AIDS. We aren't. If circumcision keeps men from getting HIV in heterosexual relations (for the most part), they will lose the "it affects ALL of us", especially since uninfected men can't infect uninfected women. It's the $ and national attention PR campaign without addressing the worst case causes and situations
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/24/2007 18:04 Comments ||
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Circumcision better than any AIDS 'vaccine'
note to gays everywhere: a complete dick-ectomy works wonders and you can whine about it afterwards. [sic boost victim status]
The newly formed Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) will seek to have stringent laws and a sea change in the way things are done so that no one could get away with graft. "They will also propose that the government introduce some laws necessary for the commission to be tough on everyone irrespective of position, status or political affiliation," said sources close to the newly appointed ACC chairman.
The government on Thursday appointed ex-army chief Lt Gen (retired) Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury as the chairman and former district judge M Habibur Rahman and former National Board of Revenue (NBR) member Abul Hasan Manjur Mannan as the commissioners. The three will join their new jobs tomorrow. On entering the office, Hasan Mashhud, also a former adviser to the caretaker government, will submit his wealth statement.
Before agreeing to take up the position, he had a series of discussions with the government high-ups on issues like obstacles to curbing corruption and how those could be overcome, said a source in the administration. He had a firm assurance from the government that the ACC would be given full rein in its efforts to combat corruption effectively. He was also told that they would be allowed to maintain an even-handed approach to containing the graft menace. The commission would be free to act against anyone no matter how influential they might be, added the source.
With Mashhud at the helm, it will first assess how much room the existing system gives it for exercising the powers against corruption. It will turn to the government if the task ahead warrants radical reforms in the relevant laws and procedures. There's already a broad consensus of opinion about making some major amendments to the Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2004. Some other laws that have provisions pertaining to graft would also be reviewed and if needed amended.
The former army boss has already had an informal talk with ACC Secretary Delwar Hossain, said sources adding that he has been doing homework and weighing how to go about the new job. Initially, the commission will have a target set for six months and after that it will evaluate the performance and the effectiveness of the mechanisms it adopted during that period. They will proceed if the progress is satisfactory or otherwise they will work to overcome the shortcomings.
The reorganised ACC will get on with its work bearing two things in mind--it will strive to revitalise the commission and give people the impression that no one is beyond the reach of the law.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/24/2007 00:00 ||
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Sounded like a prelude to the conference hoops tournaments.
Chief Adviser of the caretaker government Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed Thursday informed a visiting US Congressman that his government is working relentlessly to hold free, fair and credible election. Our main focus is on election, he told Congressman Steve Chabot who called on the Chief Adviser at his office.
Especially his.
Chabot, on behalf of the US Congress, congratulated and appreciated the Chief Adviser for his governments steps and efforts in various fields, including the drive against corruption. We commend your efforts, the US Congressman was quoted by an official as saying to the Chief Adviser.
I'm guessing something was lost in translation. Like the epithet.
Congressman Chabot and US Ambassador in Dhaka PatriciaButenis offered the US support to the caretaker government if it wants in its efforts to hold free and credible election. Chabot told Dr Ahmed that he would inform the Congress on his return about the laudable steps taken by a bunch of crooks the caretaker government, including in setting the RAB loose maintaining human rights, following due process of law about those arrested around 4 am and the governments lack of awareness about shutter guns moving as per laws of the land.
He said Bangladesh is a moderate country and believes in democracy and the Bangladesh government is moving towards election.
Because they've had so much experience with democracy in Bangladesh.
Similarly appreciating the governments efforts, Ambassador Butenis said that during her visit to Washington next week, she would also inform the US State Department about the governments good initiatives and bad outcomes. She said the United States values its relation with Bangladesh.
"Oh yaassss! You're so important to us!"
Dr Ahmed said the reconstituted Election Commission is working with various proposals to hold a fair and credible election to realize the peoples aspirations as soon as the military tells them what those aspirations are. Everybody would come to know about the Election Commissions functions and once they sort out the details, he said.
The Chief Adviser said the caretaker government is accountable to the people and there is press freedom in the country.
Unless they diss the RAB.
He said Bangladesh attach lot of importance to its relation with USA terming the United States as a very good friend of Bangladesh. The United States is an important development and trading partner of Bangladesh, Dr Ahmed said and thanked the US Congress for its support to Bangladesh in various matters.
Boy howdy the things our diplomats have to endure. Thought that gas-bag would never shut up!
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/24/2007 00:00 ||
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After reading the article about AIDS and circumcision, I looked at the headline of this article and misread it:
Chief Adviser: Main focus on holding credible erections
Then I read the article and found out that I was mistaken. My bad. [gets head out of the gutter]
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/24/2007 13:43 Comments ||
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Police took control of the luxurious house of former BNP lawmaker Wadud Bhuiyan in Khagrachhari yesterday and joint forces recovered more relief materials from different places in the country. Meanwhile, arrested Chairman of Jamuna Group Nurul Islam Babul was sent to Jail.
The joint forces arrested barrister Amir Helaluddin, son of former state minister Mir Nasiruddin, and handed him over to the Gulshan Police Station. They also arrested Jahangir Alam, Daudkandi upazila Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal president and brother-in-law of BNP leader Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, early yesterday. Police headquarter at a press release said they recovered firearms, nine other arms and one cocktail-bomb and 15 bullets within the last 24 hours preceding 6:00am yesterday. They have also arrested a total of 1,699 people on various charges.
Posted on the off-chance that Europe still matters ...
The Italian president has asked Romano Prodi to stay on as premier and face a new vote of confidence in parliament in the coming week. It was hoped the move would bring a swift end to the political crisis prompted by the government's resignation days ago.
President Giorgio Napolitano announced his decision after holding two days of talks with party leaders and receiving reassurances that Prodi had the necessary parliamentary backing. "I will seek a vote of confidence as soon as possible, with renewed impetus and a united coalition," Prodi said after meeting with the president.
Prodi stepped down on Wednesday after an embarrassing parliamentary defeat over foreign policy, including the government's plan to keep troops in Afghanistan. Defections by radical leftists, who have been voicing opposition to various government policies, were to blame. But Prodi's majority in the Senate is slim and his allies, which range from Catholic centrists to Communists, have proven unreliable. Centre-left leaders have been shopping for votes among moderates and Catholics to broaden their margin and avert what would be a disastrous loss in the Senate.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/24/2007 14:34 ||
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Floyd Landis may retain his Tour de France title after all. The French laboratory that produced incriminating doping results against Landis may have had several errors along the way, including allowing improper access to the cyclist's urine samples, the Los Angeles Times reported. The same lab committed a similar error in 2005, which resulted in the dismissal of doping charges against against Spanish cyclist Inigo Landaluze.
Two technicians from the French-government owned lab were involved in the original urine analysis, and a second validating test, lab records turned over to the Landis defense lawyers and reviewed by the paper show. International law lab standards don't allow technicians from taking part in both tests it prevents them from validating their own findings, the paper reported. A French-government owned lab. Does that mean the techs were French government employees?
It's unclear in the records if the technicians, Esther Cerpolini and Cynthia Mongongu of Laboratorie National Depistage du Dopage, played significant roles in both tests to disqualify the findings.
Landis' attorneys have asked arbitrators to let them question the technicians.
Even if they didn't play a prominent role in Landis' case, it could still bode well for the U.S. cyclist, the paper reported. In a decision issued Dec. 19, 2006 regarding the Landaluze case, arbitrators said the risks of technicians violated lab standards. "The applicable rule is clear and devoid of any flexibility," they wrote. Other potential errors from the lab include:
* A document that was altered anonymously after Landis questioned its accuracy. The altered version was certified as "original," the paper reported.
* The lab reportedly operated one crucial piece of equipment under conditions that violated manufactures' specifications possibly because they didn't have the operating manual. The software installed on the machine was 10 years old, based on an operating system no longer in use and was designed for a different piece of equipment, the paper reported. The lab insists the machine was in proper working order.
* The lab was in possession of documents clearly linking Landis to his sample, a possible violation of anti-doping rules requiring that all samples handled by a testing lab be anonymous, the paper reported. At least one such document was provided by the French anti-doping agency to Landis' attorneys.
Class act over there. Do they really hate us that much over there?
#2
Over there, over there,
Send the word, send the word over there -
That the Yanks are coming,
The Yanks are coming,
The drums rum-tumming
Ev'rywhere.
So prepare, say a pray'r,
Send the word, send the word to beware.
We'll be over, we're coming over,
And we won't come back till it's over
Over there.
Recordings and lyrics of songs from the WWI era can be found at the First World War site. A great resource.
#3
Contrast the French response in this with that of the American response to the loss of the America's Cup. Ho-hum. I guess when you have nothing much left in the world to identify with, the little things become more important.
#4
Does that mean the techs were French government employees?
The answer is yes. Also on average governement employees are more likely to be left wing. Note however that the right can be worse than the moderate left: gaullists, national-europeists and front national all of them theoritically right wingers hate America more than most socialists.
Panel Cites Voter Error, Not Software, in Loss of Votes
Florida election officials announced yesterday that an examination of voting software did not find any malfunctions that could have caused up to 18,000 votes to be lost in a disputed Congressional race in Sarasota County, and they suggested that voter confusion over a poor ballot design was mainly to blame.
Or it was stoopid voters.
The finding, reached unanimously by a team of computer experts from several universities, could finally settle last falls closest federal election. The Republican candidate, Vern Buchanan, was declared the winner by 369 votes, but the Democrat, Christine Jennings, formally contested the results, claiming that the touch-screen voting machines must have malfunctioned. Legal precedents make it difficult to win a lawsuit over ballot design, but a substantial error in the software might have been grounds for a new election.
So long, Christine, good luck in 2008.
The questions about the electronic machines arose because many voters complained that they had had trouble getting their votes to register for Ms. Jennings, and the machines did not have a back-up paper trail that might have provided clues about any problems. The report said some voters might have accidentally touched the screen twice, thus negating their votes, while most of the others probably overlooked the race on the flawed ballot.
Still, the difficulty in resolving these complaints has helped fuel a drive in Congress to ban the paperless machines. Voting experts said the audit of the software code also was the first time any state had gone to such lengths to resolve a close election.
While some voters in Sarasota bristled yesterday at the idea that they had done anything wrong in casting their votes, or that nearly 13 percent of all voters could have failed to spot the race on the ballot, members of the investigative team said that those remained the only plausible theories.
"Let's face it, we got a bunch of stoopid people here. Seems they all voted Democrat, too."
The report acknowledged that the huge undervote in which voters cast a ballot in other races but not for the Congressional seat was both abnormal and unexpected. But it said that all eight members of the investigative team, including some experts who have long been skeptical about the paperless machines, agreed that the basic programming did not cause or contribute to the loss of votes.
The study suggested instead that the confusion over the ballot design, which had also drawn complaints from voters, probably accounted for the bulk of the problem, much as the infamous butterfly ballot distorted the vote in Palm Beach County, Fla., during the 2000 presidential election. In the Sarasota race, the names of Mr. Buchanan and Ms. Jennings were sandwiched between larger lists of candidates for the United States Senate and for governor. The House race was also squeezed in at the top of a ballot screen, and it lacked the kind of colorful headings that highlighted the other races.
The supervisor of elections in Sarasota County is a co-chair of the "Election Redesign Committee of The Election Center's National Task Force on Election Reform" and a certified elections administrator (they certify such things?). She's got an impressive bio. Don't know her political affiliation but I can guess. So the question is: does Florida have stoopid voters or do they have stoopid elections supervisors? I know where I'm putting my money ...
Ms. Jennings said in an interview yesterday that further investigation should still be done.
Anything to get her over the top. The investigation stops as soon as she finds 370 votes.
Hayden Dempsey, a lawyer for Mr. Buchanan, who was seated in the House last month pending the outcome of the challenges, said the state had now looked at every aspect of the election and found nothing wrong.
Clare Ward-Jenkins, a Sarasota resident who had trouble registering her vote, said she felt insulted by the reports implication that were too stupid to know how to vote.
Stoopid people usually are insulted when this fact is pointed out to them.
Ms. Ward-Jenkins and more than 100 other voters contacted The Sarasota Herald-Tribune shortly after the election to complain that even though an X appeared on the touchscreen when they pressed the box for Ms. Jennings, their votes had disappeared by the time they got to a final screen for reviewing their choices. Ms. Ward-Jenkins and most of the others said they had to go through the process at least one more time to make their votes stick, raising concerns in the Jennings camp that other voters might have failed to notice similar problems that voided their ballots.
The report also left open the possibility that aging hardware could have caused isolated problems. But the investigative team leader, Alec Yasinsac, a computer science professor at Florida State University, and David Wagner, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, both said in interviews that if there had been any widespread problems, they would have affected other races as well. Im persuaded that this wasnt caused by machine failure, Professor Wagner said.
Try using Win95 next time instead of DOS 3.3
But other voting experts said that because the machines used in the election have been sequestered by a court, only a portion of them have been examined closely. The software experts said they also found several security vulnerabilities in the programming for the voting machines, made by Election Systems and Software in Omaha. But the report said there was no evidence that any of them had affected the Sarasota race.
Edward W. Felten, a Princeton University computer scientist, wrote last night that the security weaknesses need to be fixed before this type of machine is used again. He also wrote: The study claims to have ruled out reliability problems as a cause of the undervotes, but their evidence on this point is weak, and I think the jury is still out on whether voting machine malfunctions could be a significant cause of the undervotes.
David Dill, a Stanford University professor who has been critical of the machines, added that the study is an admirable, but limited, piece of work and could not rule out all possible errors.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/24/2007 12:20 ||
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Ah Ha, here's the problem hanging chad a leaky bit bucket.
#2
"Clare Ward-Jenkins, a Sarasota resident who had trouble registering her vote" probably because she was spending too much time ensuring her hyphenazation was intact.
KATHMANDU - Nepals Maoists have surrendered nearly 3,500 weapons as part of a peace deal with the government, but it was not clear if this accounted for all the arms in their possession, the chief UN monitor said on Friday.
The United Nations Mission in Nepal, which completed registering former Maoist fighters and weapons at the weekend, said nearly 31,000 ex-guerrillas, most of them unarmed, had turned up at 28 camps set up under the November peace deal. UNMIN is not and will not be in a position to state whether the weapons it has registered correspond to the full total of weapons held by the Maoist army, Ian Martin told a news conference.
The UN announcement is the first official account of the size of the Maoist army and its weapons since the peace deal ended a 10-year civil war in which more than 13,000 people were killed. Martin said the arms registered in seven main camps and stored in containers included mortars, machine guns, automatic rifles, shotguns and home-made weapons.
In the past, the Maoists had said they had 35,000 fighters but had not given details of their arms.
Just one weapon per 10 fighters. Sure. They took turns, right?
The government and the Maoists had asked the UN to monitor the management of arms and armies under the peace deal. The UN will also provide officers to help Nepals election commission hold the polls, the countrys first in eight years. In the final phase of the disarmament, the Nepal Army will store an equal number of arms.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/24/2007 00:00 ||
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The maoists have been buying country made guns from India's Bihar state as well as obsolete firearms so that they have weapons to hand in.
The new AK-47s remain in their hands, for the revolution...
Posted by: John Frum ||
02/24/2007 6:27 Comments ||
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"This star could have *your* name on it! Call the International Star Registry! Operators are standing by!"
For the first time, astronomers have collected and analyzed a long-term set of activity and brightness measurements of a "solar twin." A team from Lowell Observatory and Tennessee State University recently announce that the close solar analog, 18 Scorpii, exhibits brightness changes over the course of its activity cycle that are nearly identical to the Sun's.
This star's activity cycle (the phenomenon that causes the periodic rise and fall in the number of sunspots on the Sun) is about seven years long, compared to about 10 years for recent solar cycles.
However, 18 Scorpii exhibits a suite of other characteristics that are essentially the same as the Sun's. These include mass, temperature, chemical composition, and luminosity.
"We found that where the Sun's overall brightness varies by typically 0.1 percent over its activity cycle, 18 Sco likewise varies by about 0.09 percent, which is effectively the same," said Jeffrey Hall of Lowell Observatory. "And just like the Sun, 18 Scorpii gets brighter as it gets more active."
This split is a bit of a microcosm of the entire cultural debate that we seem to be in the midst of. Further informed commentary can be found from Christopher Johnson, who writes an excellent blog that covers the Anglican debate from a traditionalist viewpoint. He links to Rantburg and I think he used to comment here many moons ago.
#1
The author of this piece seems to believe that the problem is the possibility of the Episcopal Church leaving the Anglican community. From what my Episcopal friends say, the Episcopal Church is in much greater danger of a large number of its congregations leaving it for the now more conservative Anglican church. In fact, it has gone far enough that in some dioceses the clergy is threatening legal action to evict rebellious congregations from their churches claiming that the property that the congregations paid for belongs to the church instead of them. The liberal clergy of the Episcopal Church is paying a price for its "sophisticated" interpretation of the Christian faith.
#2
Episcopalians on the other side of the divide from Kasch say they're in an equally painful position. They say they're being asked to give up what they cherish most about their denomination: its emphasis on social justice in Scripture, which led them to accept gay relationships, and its democratic policy-making that gives laypeople and clergy a vote in major decisions
Yes, they like to focus on the emphasis of social justice in the scripture and ignore all the other passages that cramp their style or get in the way their true creed: "If it feels good, just do it."
#5
" Halt your march a group believed to be largely welcomed a firm rebuke to try to cajole faced with a deadline to reverse their position are finding themselves struggling become too high in an examination Let it stand could face a much-reduced role While relatively small and well situated to continue might suffer more the time for talk ended have found themselves on the defensive more in line is more than seven times bigger than is leading the charge Liberals are torn, too on the other side they're in an equally painful position asked to give up is forcing The head personally supports Yet, she is not alone in wanting to that allows us move ahead a different view he supports back that view laity were split on who to select over a period leaned toward more inclined to support others
#6
Hats off to the rational church folk everywhere who have stood this test and rebuked the "liberal" pro homosexual clergy.
The same sick element causes chaos whenever and wherever they're allowed to flourish, for they secretly subvert any organization's primary purpose and supplant it with their own agenda.
#9
Its fairly simpl;e. The African part of the Anglican Chruch is becoming the MAJORITY of the Anglicans. And it is *very* orthodox. It diosallows teh gay clercy and condemns homosexual relations (but not the homosexual person, i.e. condemn sin not sinner).
The liberal U Episcopals are pissing off the orthodox ones by appointing openly gay clergy and even a bishop, discarding fundmantal Christian beleifes, watering down the moral aspects of Christianity in favor of socialism and liberal politics. So the US Episcopal churhc is tearign itself apart. A large number of orthodox Episcopal churches are elaving the US organizationand joining with the African churches over jsut those same political heterodox issues (gay marriace, abortion, etc).
The Episcopal churhc in the US is dying, or at least the libeal part of it is. The orthodox (conservative) parts of the Anglican Church, however, are thriving. Tells you something about what is growing and healthy and what is withering away.
#11
AND, the Chief Druid is looking to come to terms w/the RC church, 400 years after Henry.
Lizzie becoming Catholic?
What's Chuckie to do, decisions, decisions. Skip the prince of Islam and put in Wills, he'll be able to bridge the gap. At least it would open up the pool of eligible brides....
#12
Presbys are moving on up in the food chain.....
Preby's did the same thing back in the 70's. The liberals really didn't believe in Christ was the son of God. If you go in most Presbyterian churches you don't really notice that the wording changed but the difference in belief is significant. I think the Prebyterian Church that told the liberals they would go it alone is the Prebyterian USA. I'm guessing Presbyterian USA lost the real estate and it was a wake up call to the Episcopalians. The Prebyterian USA is more in line with evangelicals (who believe in the Trinity and that Christ is the son of God) and I don't think they allow women clergy, either. They believe the Bible is the actual word of God, not just food for thought from that nice guy, Jesus.
#13
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) believes that God wants justice and peace on earth. And so we believe that, as people of God, we are called to work for justice and peace. Justice includes a commitment to human rights; support for those who seek dignity, freedom, and respect; and the exercise of power for the common good. Violence, terrorism, and occupation are enemies of justice and must cease. In the face of increasing suffering and injustice, our church has held true to its calling and has taken steps toward a just and lasting peace in Israel and Palestine.
One action that the PC(USA) has initiated in an effort to seek peace is a phased, selective process of divestment with corporations whose practices support the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, assist the construction of the Separation Barrier, or facilitate Israelis or Palestinians with violent acts against innocent civilians. You've come to the right place if you want to know more about that action and other ways the church is working for a just peace in Israel and Palestine.
The Presbyterian Church, USA are not very nice people, at least they weren't as of June 2006, when the document from which this quote was taken was issued. Perhaps it's the other branch that aren't antisemites.
#14
Trailing Wife: You are correct, I should have done my homework before posting. And yes you are correct that the Presbyterian Church USA is the one that is not nice. Like unfortunately too many other Protestant churches, they were rotted by the liberals from the top. But don't get too angry at the congregation as a whole, because many of the Sunday worshipers are elderly and probably don't realize just how rotten that church has become. It's not that they are stupid, it is just that they only go on Sunday, or maybe just Easter and Christmas, and if they are actually listening to the sermon, hear a good message about forgiveness or charity and then go home. More dedicated Christians have already moved on to churches that actually believe in Christ.
If you are interested, here is some info:
The Presbyterian Church in America has a strong commitment to evangelism, missionary work at home and abroad, and to Christian education. From its inception, the church has determined its purpose to be "faithful to the Scriptures, true to the reformed faith, and obedient to the Great Commission."
Organized at a constitutional assembly in December 1973, this church was first known as the National Presbyterian Church but changed its name in 1974 to Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). It separated from the Presbyterian Church in the United States (Southern) in opposition to the long-developing theological liberalism that denied the deity of Jesus Christ and the inerrancy and authority of Scripture. Additionally, the PCA held to the traditional position on the role of women in church offices.
In December 1973, delegates, representing some 260 congregations with a combined communicant membership of over 41,000 that had left the PCUS, gathered at Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Alabama, and organized the National Presbyterian Church, which later became the Presbyterian Church in America. In 1982, the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod, joined the Presbyterian Church in America. The Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod, had been formed in 1965 by a merger of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church and the Reformed Presbyterian Church in North America, General Synod.
The members of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) are not anti-semites. The Presbyterian Church USA are the anti-semites and aren't even Christians in the true sense of the word.
Another participant in the discussion pointed out that the Koran explicitly prescribes violence against non-believers. This made The Rev especially voluble.
Christianity has had its share of violence! The Bible has its own violent verses dash the babies heads to pieces and so on.
Christs message to us is that we must love one another, and that love includes our Muslim brothers and sisters. This attitude of suspicion and hate is whats wrong with the world today.
#16
As always with Gates of Vienna, that is an excellent analysis. I do take some issue with his conclusion: If Christians refuse to look this truth squarely in the face and deal with it, then Christianity is on its last legs.
Defining Christians as a group that refuses to look this truth squarely in the face ignores the fact that a good majority of the churches in America do recognize this danger. Saying "Churches" is like saying, "universities". You can find many a professor of who provides his students with false, misleading or even dangerous information.
The homosexual issue in the Episcopal Church is a good example of how difficult it is to paint all congregants or congregations with the same brush. Since the 1970's many Episcopalians Ministers or congregants have stayed with their church despite disagreeing with the leadership's stance on homosexuality or theology.
Just because a student attends Duke University and receives A+'s from liberal professors who teach hatred to all things good about America, it does not mean that the student agrees or takes away from the class the lessons the professor intends.
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Federal agents arrested Charles Rust-Tierney, the former president of the Virginia chapter of the ACLU, Friday in Arlington for allegedly possessing child pornography. 
Video taken shortly before Britney Spears checked into rehab for a third time is a frightening example of why her family thinks she needs help. The video shot by the paparazzi agency X-17 shows Spears pounding a photographer's car with an umbrella, her face contorted in rage. She was apparently upset that the paparazzi followed her to Kevin Federline's house. Spears can be heard saying "don't guys, please, please guys don't do this" before slamming the umbrella into the car's closed window. Then she dropped the F-bomb toward the photographers a couple of times. 
Cyclone Favio, which left a trail of destruction after sweeping through parts of Mozambique, was downgraded on Friday to a tropical depression as it moved towards neighbouring Zimbabwe. Chief forecaster in the national meteorological office, Helder Sueia said: "It is no longer a cyclone, it is now a tropical depression. "The winds are strong, between 60-80kph. It is travelling northwest to Zimbabwe." Heavy rains and strong winds continued to lash Nhamatanda in Sofala province, and the eastern part of Zimbabwe could expect heavy rains.
At least seven people have been killed in clashes between fighters from two communities in the Niger Delta in southern Nigeria sparked by the murder of an elderly woman, said human rights activists on Friday. 
KATHMANDU - Nepals Maoists have surrendered nearly 3,500 weapons as part of a peace deal with the government, but it was not clear if this accounted for all the arms in their possession, the chief UN monitor said on Friday. 
