Ray McGovern: My Meeting With Rumsfeld - "As soon as the event was over, CNN asked me for my sources, which I was happy to share. The CNN folks seemed a bit surprised that they all checked out. To their credit, they overcame the more customary “McGovern said this, but Rumsfeld said that”—and the dismissive “well, we’ll have to leave it there”—kind of treatment. In Rumsfeldian parlance, what I had said turned out to be “known knowns,” even though he provided an altered version on Thursday of his “we know where they are.” Better still, in its coverage, CNN quoted what Rumsfeld had said in 2003. That evening a friend emailed me about a call she got from a close associate in “upper management at CNN” to ask about me. She quoted the CNN manager: “We checked and double-checked everything this guy had to say and he was 100 percent accurate.” He then asked if those protesting the war “were getting organized or something.” She responded, “Indeed we are and have been for some time, and it’s about time the mainstream media caught up.”" -- I find the media's ignorance repulsive.
For authors, a surprise: U.S. upbeat on diversity, but not on atheists - "Religion, however, is an imperfect proxy for morality. Not only are religious people capable of immoral acts, nonbelievers can be highly moral people. For many atheists, morality is based on law, contracts and understandings of human decency and mutual dependence rather than religious codes or beliefs. Yet most Americans can't imagine this, in part because most Americans don't actually know any self-avowed atheists."
Be Fruitful and Multiply - "How odd that they would think God gave them such marvelous reproductive capacities, commissioned their use, repeatedly celebrated children in Scripture, and then said it was no big deal if they made nothing of it. How can this be? Several reasons, I suppose. I do believe that the "zero population growth" hysterics have taken their toll. Careerism and materialism get much of the credit, too. Children take time and money. Biblical illiteracy is also a factor. But I think that overall, it's a matter of shunning things which might cramp our style. Well, God can be a major style-cramper when that style is sub-Christian. Am I saying we should dismiss all contraception? No. I don't see a moral obligation to use every God-given capacity to the max. I have the capacity to sing, but I don't sing myself hoarse every day. But if I never sang to the glory of God, I should be ashamed of myself. Certainly, there are those who are called to singleness. Of course, there are reasons for couples to delay or interrupt child-bearing. But the burden of justification before God always rests upon the willfully childless."
A Child's Hell in the Lord's Resistance Army - "She is here to put a face on the war. Tell about the atrocities, cruel and brutal; recount the scenes of a war in northern Uganda, where rebels led by a madman steal sleeping children from their beds, because children are easier to brainwash. Tell of rebels who smear the children with oil, promising that the oil will protect them. That the bullets will bounce off the oil. And the children believe them. Then they force the children to kill or be killed."
The housing bubble has popped - "Reports of falling sales and investors stuck with properties they can't sell are just the beginning. Property owners should worry; so should their lenders."
50-year mortgage hits the market - "As home prices and interest rates keep rising, lenders have figured out a way to keep the dream alive for millions of people who want to own their own home. It's called the 50-year mortgage." -- It's not owning a home. It's being a slave to the note holder and making them tons of money.
U.S. has second worst newborn death rate in modern world, report says - "American babies are three times more likely to die in their first month as children born in Japan, and newborn mortality is 2.5 times higher in the United States than in Finland, Iceland or Norway, Save the Children researchers found."
Vaccine makers helped write Frist-backed shield law - "Vaccine industry officials helped shape legislation behind the scenes that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist secretly amended into a bill to shield them from lawsuits, according to e-mails obtained by a public advocacy group." -- Setting the people up to be defenseless guinea pigs?
CDC wants HIV tests for everyone - "Testing for the AIDS virus could become part of routine physical exams for adults and teens if doctors follow new U.S. guidelines expected to be issued by this summer. Federal health officials say they would like HIV testing to be as common as a cholesterol check."
Anti-abortion crowd targets birth control - "It's no secret to those who follow Washington politics that birth control has been "next on the list" of anti-abortion, religious conservatives. Following the enthronement of President Bush's Victorian coterie in 2001, their top priority -- an imposition of "everything but" a ban on abortion -- has been accomplished in five short years. Now there's undeniable proof that abortion was not the home run they longed for, but more tantamount to first base in a long-range plan to ban birth control, too."
Oral and anal sex increasing among teens - "The finding is not all that surprising, Dr. Emily Erbelding from Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore told Reuters Health."
In condom fight, it's easy to see who's right - "Today, condoms have become the coin of the political realm, while debates break out in the politest of places -- from the Vatican to the Senate to the pulpit to the pew."
Half of new teachers quit within 5 years: study - "According to a new study from teachers' union the National Education Association, half of new U.S. teachers are likely to quit within the first five years because of poor working conditions and low salaries."
Quote of the Day
"As if there's a God who would understand."
~ Matthew Sweet, (Holy War)
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