POST ENDORSES BARACK OBAMA

This is an article just looking at the Democratic candidates. I have to agree:

Democrats in 22 states across America go to the polls next Tuesday to pick between two presidential prospects: Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

We urge them to choose Obama - an untried candidate, to be sure, but preferable to the junior senator from New York.

Obama represents a fresh start.

His opponent, and her husband, stand for déjà vu all over again - a return to the opportunistic, scandal-scarred, morally muddled years of the almost infinitely self-indulgent Clinton co-presidency.

Does America really want to go through all that once again? Read More.

Bacteria Delivers "Buck-A-Gallon" Biofuel Solution

This would be good.

"Anonymous" against Scientology

A group calling itself anonymous are making videos against the cult Scientology.

This shadowy internet group has succeeded in taking down a Scientology website after effectively declaring war on the Church and calling for it to be destroyed.

How lenses are made

Q&A: Barack Obama

Interesting interview in Christianity Today.

Filming D-Day on a budget

€5bn bank trading fraud

This is going to have repercussions in Europe.

The French bank Société Générale stunned financial markets today by revealing that it had been the victim of a near-€5 billion (£3.7 billion) rogue trading fraud, one of the world's largest and four times the size of the cover-up by Nick Leeson, the man who sank Barings. Read More.

The Rainbow Coalition Evaporates

Long but worth the read:

Black anger grows as illegal immigrants transform urban neighborhoods. Read More.

Parody of Tom Cruise

Roe v. Wade, 35 Years Later: An Interview with Robert P. George

This is very interesting. Link.

U.N. Envoy Offers Upbeat Report on Iraq

Good news from the UN? Hard to believe.

In the most upbeat assessment by a U.N. official since America invaded Iraq, Secretary-General Ban's top envoy in Baghdad, Steffan de Mistura, told the Security Council yesterday that it "cannot ignore the recent improvements" in Iraq since last year's troop surge. Read More.

Nightmare Child

Banned From Church

Wow, I didn't realize this is gaining vogue again.

On a quiet Sunday morning in June, as worshippers settled into the pews at Allen Baptist Church in southwestern Michigan, Pastor Jason Burrick grabbed his cellphone and dialed 911. When a dispatcher answered, the preacher said a former congregant was in the sanctuary. "And we need to, um, have her out A.S.A.P."

Half an hour later, 71-year-old Karolyn Caskey, a church member for nearly 50 years who had taught Sunday school and regularly donated 10% of her pension, was led out by a state trooper and a county sheriff's officer. One held her purse and Bible. The other put her in handcuffs. Read More.

The Lost Archive

This will cause quite the stir:

On the night of April 24, 1944, British air force bombers hammered a former Jesuit college here housing the Bavarian Academy of Science. The 16th-century building crumpled in the inferno. Among the treasures lost, later lamented Anton Spitaler, an Arabic scholar at the academy, was a unique photo archive of ancient manuscripts of the Quran.

The 450 rolls of film had been assembled before the war for a bold venture: a study of the evolution of the Quran, the text Muslims view as the verbatim transcript of God's word. The wartime destruction made the project "outright impossible," Mr. Spitaler wrote in the 1970s. Read More. (Yes they found the archive)

Tom Cruise Babbles Like a Narcissistic Maniac

Wonder how long this video will stay up?
Update: New video and a video glossary.

Scientology-Awards-Show-Video---Tom-Cruise - Get Video Code

Teacher absences are hurting learning

Makes sense:

A year is a long time in a child's education, the time it can take to learn cursive writing or beginning algebra. It's also how much time kids can spend with substitute teachers from kindergarten through high school - time that's all but lost for learning.

Despite tremendous pressure on schools to increase instructional time and meet performance goals, the vacuum created by teacher absenteeism has been all but ignored - even though new research suggests it can have an adverse effect in the classroom. Read More.

Sonoran officials slam sanctions law in Tucson visit

This is beyond irony:

At a news conference, the legislators said Sonora - Arizona's southern neighbor, made up of mostly small towns - cannot handle the demand for housing, jobs and schools it will face as illegal Mexican workers here return to their hometowns without jobs or money. Read More.

First Temple seal found in Jerusalem

This is interesting:

A stone seal bearing the name of one of the families who acted as servants in the First Temple and then returned to Jerusalem after being exiled to Babylonia has been uncovered in an archeological excavation in Jerusalem's City of David, a prominent Israeli archeologist said Wednesday. Read More.

HT: Ken

Murder by Numbers

Looks like the New York Times article on our murdering soldiers (who have returned from combat) was just possibly a bit selective in the stats they used. What a surprise.

On Sunday, the New York Times printed a massive front-page story about a supposedly alarming homicide rate among Iraq and Afghanistan vets. The Times reported 121 cases of homicide or homicide charges and attributed them to post-traumatic stress disorder--presumably an attempt at making another case for ending the war, if we know anything about the Times's editors. Read More.

Rudy at the Jacksonville war memorial

Vaccine 'raises the chance of Aids'

This is a problem that I hope they get worked out soon:

The news coming out of the laboratory was scary. Not only had a promising new HIV vaccine failed, it may have increased the incidence of the disease in previously healthy volunteers. Scientists are now working hard to discover the cause of the biggest setback to HIV vaccine research for years. Read More.

'unclean' Bible book

A Muslim store worker at Marks & Spencer refused to serve a customer buying a children's book on biblical stories because she said it was "unclean".

Sally Friday, a customer at a branch of one of the famous stores, felt publicly humiliated when she tried to pay for First Bible Stories as a gift for her young grandson.

When the grandmother put the book on the counter, the assistant refused to touch it, declared it was unclean and then summoned another member of staff to deal with the purchase.

Mrs Friday was so upset that she has now complained to the store's manager.

Wow, this seems cropping up as an issue more and more. Read More.

S.F. gay community an epicenter for new strain of virulent staph

Scary:

A new variety of staph bacteria, highly resistant to antibiotics and possibly transmitted by sexual contact, is spreading among gay men in San Francisco, Boston, New York and Los Angeles, researchers reported Monday.

The study released online by the journal Annals of Internal Medicine found the highest concentrations of infection by the drug-resistant bug in and around San Francisco's Castro district and among patients who visit health clinics that treat HIV infections in gay men in San Francisco and Boston. Read More.

Blame Terrorists First

Very interesting:

Do terrorists hate us because of who we are (our way of life) or what we do (our foreign policy)? During a recent Republican presidential debate in New Hampshire, this question, which has been asked and answered many times since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, resurfaced once again. And, once again, Mayor Giuliani gave the right answer. Read More.

Illegal immigrants will be rounded-up by roaming prison vans

Can you imagine the howls (legitimate) that would go out in the states? I believe we are going to be seeing this more often the other side of the ocean. Link.

Religion and Politics

Very good article on what faith (religion) should mean for a person and why indeed it does matter when we vote.

Scott Adams is the author of "Dilbert" (the comic strip).

Do The Brits Live Better Than Us?

Best take out phrase:

Ashtonian says "it all comes down to plumbing and the U.S. wins hands down. I've never understood English toilets, or the lack of pressure in showers, or that it takes 20 minutes to fill up a bathtub."

I can agree with that! Read More.

Iran Encounter Grimly Echoes ’02 War Game

This shows what a small quick naval attack can do. Scary.

Secret Underground Cities

This is interesting. I had no idea these existed.

Ten Websites Every Pastor Should Know

There is some good stuff here.

The Ron Paul stench.

Reason magazine which has backed Paul in the past hast now come to the conclusion that this man has issues. Good for them, even if it did take a while.

Justice served.

Heh.

Judge orders man who tied up the courts claiming to have invented Trivial Pursuit to pay legal costs to the tune of $1.25 million. Read More.

“The Suicide of Reason,” Lee Harris

Interesting review by Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

Old gang hatreds die hard

Definitely not what you would expect.

Primer on Evangelizing Postmoderns

Very interesting summary on post-modernism and how the Church reacts.

The question is How do we as Christians engage a postmodern way of thinking? More specifically, how do we change the postmodern—or do we?

Overview

Erickson uses the illustration of leading a horse to water. It is very helpful. I will continue to use this illustration, but adapt them for my post. Please take note that in this illustration, the horse is the postmodern and the water is the Gospel.

Option 1: Deny the horse is really postmodern.

Option 2: Convert the horse from being postmodern.

Option 3: Change the rope.

Option 4: Change the water. Read More.

Don't speed in Virginia

If you thought traffic fines were bad in your own state, take pity on the poor Virginians!

Obama and the netroots?

Seems not all the Democrats are that happy with Obama.

Super efficient vehicles?

Seems that it is possible if you think outside the box. How about an H3 that gets 60 mpg and does zero to 60 in 6 seconds?

China Counterfeit Surprise

This isn't good:

One reason China tolerates the widespread manufacture of counterfeit products is because some of them have some military benefit for China's Cyber War effort. Read More.

Body counts in Iraq

This is a long article but delves into the Lancet studies on deaths in Iraq. Let's just say that there might be a few problems with methodology.

Reptilians?

I thought this site was a joke but I know think it's legitimate. Incredible what people will believe. HT to Andy F!

Jim Jones, the charismatic leader responsible for the Jonestown, Guyana, massacre, was closely connected to the CIA throughout his life and was a ‘test strip’ for some of the implant and mind-control techniques created or imported into the central R & D (Research & Development) facility under Colorado’s San Luis valley. (See A&E’s Investigative Reports on Jim Jones for his CIA connections).

Jones himself was a high-level Ciakar (winged reptilian) from the Orion home of these creatures. He was courted by both state and federal government leaders for his abilities, and actually served in a number of different positions for various civic leaders. He was described by some who knew him as having totally black eyes behind the dark sunglasses he wore both indoors and out.

Guidance has never let me say publicly until now that the wrap-around dark sunglasses are a favorite of the reptilians here on earth since their eyesight is sensitive to the UV rays of our sunlight. Yes, when you look at so many famous people there are the almost ubiquitous dark wrap-around sunglasses, worn both day AND night, indoors or out. It is understandable that others do wear these type sunglasses as well but it is amazing how many ‘people’ wearing these type of sunglasses have the morphogenetic energy fields of a reptilian. Link.