Haggard donors sent to nonprofit led by offender

Former New Life Church pastor Ted Haggard has asked for donations [story below] to help support his family and suggested that they be sent to a nonprofit whose leader has been convicted of sex crimes.

Haggard was fired from the Colorado Springs church after he admitted to "sexual immorality" in November. He made the admission after a gay Denver escort said Haggard paid him for sex for more than three years.

In a letter [copy of letter is below] sent last week to KRDO-TV in Colorado Springs, Haggard said that both he and his wife, Gayle, are enrolled at the University of Phoenix, and "it looks as though it will take two years for us to have adequate earning power again, so we are looking for people who will help us monthly for two years."

Haggard suggested money be sent to his family in Arizona or to Families With A Mission, a nonprofit listed as a charitable organization in good standing with the state of Hawaii. The nonprofit was dissolved in Colorado in February 2007, according to the Colorado secretary of state's office.

"Our non-profit organization never authorized a mass public appeal for donations for the Haggard family, nor were we even aware of it until published by the media," Paul Huberty said in an e-mail to The Denver Post. "Not one donation has been solicited by our non-profit organization designated to or supporting the Haggard family - and our organization has not sent any solicited financial support to Pastor Haggard."

Huberty, who was convicted in Hawaii of attempted sexual assault, is listed in that state as a registered sex offender who has moved. He lists his new address in Monument - the same address listed in the Colorado secretary of state's office for Families With a Mission. [Don’t you love this… the guy in charge of the non-profit is a sexual predator… for the ex-minister from the sexual scandal? You would think they were Catholic!]

Federal records show Huberty was convicted by a panel of Air Force officers in 1996 of consensual sodomy, fondling his genitals in a public area, indecent acts and adultery. He was a lieutenant colonel at the time. [He must be a rebublican!]

Huberty was not listed on the El Paso County Sheriff's Office website as a registered sex offender in Colorado.

In the e-mail, he said: "My past record from years ago is documented and has nothing to do with Pastor Haggard or with this non-profit organization that seeks to help people in need."

Haggard, who has made $338,000 since the start of 2006, could not be reached for comment.

Happy 100th Birthday

Happy 100th Birthday granny, now light it up! Winnie Langley celebrated the big 1-0-0 by smoking her 170,000th ciggie. She started smoking in 1914 when she was 7-years-old.

She said, "I have smoked ever since infant school and I have never thought about quitting. There were not all the the health warnings like there are today when I started. It was the done thing."

"Certainly we did not create a healthy doughnut."

JOE SCAFIDO an executive at Dunkin Donuts, describing the store's new doughnut, which will be free of trans fats come Oct. 15

[What about Krispy Kreme?]

History of Same-Sex Marriage

Antonio Medina and Jorge Cerpa kiss each other after signing their civil contract, the first in Mexico that offers same-sex couples the same rights as marriage. A historian says gay marriage goes back 600 years and if the records are right, it wasn't taboo in the past.

Civil unions between male couples existed around 600 years ago in medieval Europe. Historical evidence, including legal documents and gravesites, can be interpreted as supporting the prevalence of homosexual relationships hundreds of years ago, said Allan Tulchin of Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania.

If accurate, the results indicate socially sanctioned same-sex unions are nothing new, nor were they taboo in the past.

“Western family structures have been much more varied than many people today seem to realize," Tulchin writes in the September issue of the Journal of Modern History. "And Western legal systems have in the past made provisions for a variety of household structures.”

For example, he found legal contracts from late medieval France that referred to the term "affrèrement," roughly translated as brotherment. Similar contracts existed elsewhere in Mediterranean Europe, Tulchin said.

In the contract, the "brothers" pledged to live together sharing "un pain, un vin, et une bourse," (that's French for one bread, one wine and one purse). The "one purse" referred to the idea that all of the couple's goods became joint property. Like marriage contracts, the "brotherments" had to be sworn before a notary and witnesses, Tulchin explained.

The same type of legal contract of the time also could provide the foundation for a variety of non-nuclear households, including arrangements in which two or more biological brothers inherited the family home from their parents and would continue to live together, Tulchin said.

But non-relatives also used the contracts. In cases that involved single, unrelated men, Tulchin argues, these contracts provide “considerable evidence that the affrèrés were using affrèrements to formalize same-sex loving relationships."

Pasadena church promotes 'hate free' zone after banner slashing

Following the third slashing of a Marriage Equality Banner, Neighborhood Church of Pasadena,CA, announced that they will hold a peace rally on Sunday, September 9 to dedicate the historic property as a “Hate-Free Zone,” according to a press release.

“This is so much more than just a banner,” Director of Administration for Neighborhood Church Aylssa Bellew said in the press release. “Besides having love and tolerance in our hearts and minds, our faith encourages us to proclaim it and take action against injustices wherever they might be. The world needs to see that people of faith, clergy, and religious institutions stand on the side of love and justice.”

The banner, which read, “LOVE makes a family. We support marriage equality!” was slashed sometime before church services on Sunday, July 29.

Churchgoers and staff, along with members of the community, will wrap the sanctuary and adjacent campus entirely in a “hate-free” ribbon to show “unwavering solidarity and dedication to equality for all marriages and families, and to reinforce the church's ‘Stand on the Side of Love’ covenant,” according to the press release. The ribbon will also be signed and decorated with “pledges from the heart” in support of gay rights. Following the peace rally, church officials say that they plan to raise a new banner.

Fire Near Altadena Forces Evacuations

The remnants of Hurricane Dean may have both started and slowed the spread of a 12-acre brush fire that was put out Sunday night in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains above Altadena.

Homes are threatened and dozens of hikers had to be quickly evacuated due to a brush fire burning in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains above Altadena today, a fire official said.Firefighters sent to North Lake Avenue north of East Loma Alta Drive at 1:20 p.m. found a brush fire was burning five acres and spreading up the hill, said Captain Mike Brown of the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

The fire broke out on an area heavily used by hikers heading to trails in the Angeles National Forest in the Flores Canyon area. The fire burned in grass and chaparral on very steep slopes about two miles southwest of Mount Lowe and did not reach heritage sites associated with the historic Mount Lowe Railway, according to the Forest Service.

Relatively cool and humid conditions slowed the spread of the flames, and with the aid of aircraft dropping fire retardant, the fire was declared out around 8 p.m., Brown said.

About 220 firefighters from the Angeles National Forest and Los Angeles County Fire Department were assigned to the blaze, he said.

Smoke from the fire was visible from as far away as Santa Monica.

[I will add the picture of the fire that I look from my front door. We had about a dozen helicopters dumping water on the fire non-stop. It was amazing to watch. Some of the helicopter were so close to the house, my windows were shaking and the dogs were going crazy.]

Ted Haggard Needs Money?

Have some extra cash? Feel like going to heaven? Then you might consider sending Ted Haggard and his family some monthly checks for the next two years while they move into a halfway house and get psychology and counseling degrees from the University of Phoenix.

The Haggard family plans to move into the Phoenix Dream Center to minister to ex-cons, recovering alcoholics, drug addicts, prostitutes, and "other broken people," Haggard writes. "I identify."

Haggard, the charismatic former head of the National Association of Evangelicals, was fired last November from the 14,000-member New Life Church that he founded after he admitted buying meth and getting massages from a male escort. After three weeks of intensive "restoration" therapy, Haggard claimed he was "completely heterosexual"; he and his family subsequently moved to Arizona.

In what is clearly a fundraising letter (below), Haggard indicated, "we need to raise our own support." However, he doesn't mention that when he left the church, New Life Church leaders agreed to pay his salary through 2007 - estimated at about $138,000 annually.

In addition, El Paso County Assessor property records show that the Haggard's still own their 5-bedroom, 3-bath home in Colorado Springs. Sitting on 5.1 acres, its current market value is listed at $715,051, which has not be put up for sale.

The Letter from Ted:

Gayle and I, along with Alex (16) and Elliott (14) have decided to move into the Phoenix Dream Center on October 1st. The Phoenix Dream Center is a half-way house for the homeless, those coming out of prison, recovering alcoholics, drug addicts, prostitutes, and other broken people. I identify.

The building is sponsored by Phoenix First Assembly, our new church home, but the workers are volunteers. The Dream Center also houses a church called "The Church on the Street." I met the pastor and he asked me if I would be willing to counsel some of the men and to teach the group from time to time. The woman directing the ministry to women invited Gayle to teach and minister to the women.

Gayle and I spoke to the boys about it, and after a series of discussions with several leaders and our pastor, Tommy Barnett, we decided to serve the dream center in whatever capacity asked, whether it's cleaning the building, hosting a visiting group, attending a meeting, or facilitating a study. In order to increase our availability to serve, we have decided to move and live in the Dream Center.

As a result, the Phoenix Dream Center team is creating an apartment for our family by combining a small, one-bedroom apartment with an adjacent room so our boys will have their own rooms. Even though Alex and Elliott's drive to school is quite a distance every day, we think it is worth it to be given the privilege of service.

In preparation for the future, Gayle and I are both enrolled at the University of Phoenix at their main downtown campus. Gayle is in the undergraduate program studying psychology. I am pursuing my master of science in counseling degree, which means we are both full time students. Alex and Elliott are both attending a local Christian school. Elliott is playing 8th grade football this fall. Everyone is busy!

It looks as though it will take two years for us to have adequate earning power again, so we are looking for people who will help us monthly for two years. During that time we will continue as full time students, and then, when I graduate, we won't need outside support any longer.

But for the next two years, we will need support. Between now and the end of the year, we have to find the people who want to help us transition into our future. So I am starting today to let friends like you know that we are raising money for support as we move into the Phoenix Dream Center.

Would you be willing to help us find people who can give a one time gift or make a commitment to help support us monthly for two years? If so, that would be a blessing.

If people want to support us directly, they can mail checks to Ted and Gayle Haggard, 9699 N. Hayden, Suite 108, PMB 180, Scottsdale, AZ 95259. This is a private mail box address that we have been using since we moved to the Phoenix area. If any supporters need a tax deduction for their gift, they can mail it to Families With a Mission at P.O. Box 63125, Colorado Springs, CO 80962. The supporters would need to write their check to "Families With A Mission" and put a separate note on it that it is for the Haggard family, then Families With a Mission will mail us 90% of the funds for support and use 10% for administrative costs.

Thank you so much. We feel our move into the Dream Center is the next step God would have us take. Any help we can get with this will be greatly appreciated and, I believe, rewarded in heaven. Please feel free to forward this to anyone you think might have an interest. Any assistance we receive will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

God bless,
Ted Haggard"Preparing"

P.S. Our handicapped son, Jonathan (20) has been taken care of financially by Victory Church (Mike Ware), Church of the Highlands (Chris Hodges) and New Life Church in Colorado Springs since November of 2006. It's our prayer that these churches will continue helping Jonathan while we're in this stage of our lives. We are so grateful for their assistance. Their faithfulness to Jonathan and consequently our family has given us room to heal. We are all very thankful for their prayers, love, and kindness.

You have to be kidding me! I love that he put his address in the letter… don’t worry, I already had a bible (below) sent directly to him in the mail.

National Truth for Youth Week

American Family Association has its free bibles again. I don’t really think it is fair to call them bibles. They are horrible hate-filled books.
"The Truth for Youth" consists of the entire New Testament in the God's Word version, along with powerful full color comics that are packed with "absolute truths" regarding issues young people are faced with, such as: Evolution, Sexual Purity, Homosexuality, Abortion, Pornography, Drugs, Drunkenness, Peer Pressure, School Violence and Secular Rock Music. God's wonderful plan of salvation is incorporated into each of the stories.

You can go online and get a bible for free: http://www.thetruthforyouth.com/tfy_bibles.asp

The American Family Association wants to get the “Truth for Youth Bible into the hands of our teenagers who will distribute them to lost students in our public schools. Parents and grandparents are urged to participate in this vital campaign.” "The Truth For Youth" will be given to all teenagers who commit to give the Bibles to their unsaved friends in school.

Please order a bible for yourself… they are free. I figure every bible we order – we spend their money and teenagers don’t get harassed with hateful literature in schools.

The have a quarter of a million bibles…. Please spread the word and get your copy today! http://www.thetruthforyouth.com/tfy_bibles.asp

The Homosexuality Cartoon

Here is the cartoon on homosexuality from the Truth for Youth bible:

Three Generations of “America to the Rescue”

In perhaps one of the most brilliant segment on “The Daily Show” I’ve ever seen, last night Jon ran through the last three decades of United States intervention in the Middle East to show how incoherent, ass-backwards and counter-productive it has been.

The video here:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/08/23/daily-show-three-generations-of-america-to-the-rescue/

Naked Man with Leopard

Yes, that is a completely naked man, strolling down the street with a leopard flung around his neck walking down Melrose.

The guy stopped for all traffic signals, took good care of the cat in the intersections. He was so nonchalant about it.

There were a lot of LA traffic cops trying to get a handle on the situation - figuring out what to do. Then at Melrose and La Brea the cops came in and arrested him. Not sure what happened with the cat but the guy did put up a little bit of a fight.

All the cops, traffic cops, people were shaking their heads - like only in LA.

HRC urges gays to come out to spread awareness

The Human Rights Campaign is asking you to “Talk About It.” That’s the theme for this year’s National Coming Out Day. The notion stems from a poll that revealed that 72% of people in America know someone who is gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender, compared with just 11% in 1987.

This year’s National Coming Out Day, on October 11, also falls on the 20th anniversary of the Gay and Lesbian March on Washington, when the AIDS Quilt was displayed on the National Mall.

Coming out was a matter of life and death. “In many ways, we have come a very long way in a relatively short time, and yet that lesson still resonates deeply today. Coming out and living openly is the most important thing that gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and straight supportive Americans can do to build lasting understanding and equality.”

Organizations file briefs for Calif. same-sex marriage court cases

Four civil rights groups filed briefs with the California supreme court last week, arguing that the state violates its own constitution by denying same-sex couples the right to marry. The American Civil Liberties Union, Equality California, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and Lambda Legal filed the briefs for the coordinated marriage cases now before the court in response to the state’s defense of the discriminatory law.

Appellants in earlier cases asserted that same-sex couples do not have the right to marry under due process of the law because marriage, by definition, is between a man and a woman. The brief argues that the state’s prohibition of same-sex marriage infringes on basic rights and discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation and gender.

Another argument that the brief counters is the presumption that marriage is intended for procreation. However, the groups state that the elderly, infertile people, or those who cannot procreate have the right to marry as long as they are heterosexual, but gays and lesbians do not.

The court agreed to hear the case in 2006 after the state’s court of appeal reversed a decision by a San Francisco superior court judge who ruled that banning same-sex marriage was unconstitutional.

Lambda Legal senior counsel Jennifer Pizer said in a statement that anything less than marriage is a “confusing twilight zone” for gay and lesbian couples. “We know this because we answer the distress calls every day—calls that began with the first statewide domestic partner bill in 1999 and haven’t slowed as the law broadened over the years. To the contrary, the distress calls have increased as more couples register, hoping to shield their families, and encounter inconsistent, incomplete protections. We’ve welcomed the supreme court’s invitation to explain how far domestic partnerships fall short of full marriage.”

"By design," the brief reads, "domestic partnership is a functional status for providing legal benefits to same-sex couples while withholding the unique government approbation and support conveyed by marriage. Predictably, this creates a barrier that makes it difficult for others to understand, to respect, or to see lesbian and gay men's committed relationships as similar to their own. As the court of appeal rightly observed [in Knight v. Superior Court, 2005], 'the legislature has not...granted domestic partners the same statutes as marries spouses.'"

More than 250 religious and civil rights organizations will also file amicus briefs in support of same-sex marriage on September 17; some include the National Black Justice Coalition, the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, and the California Council of Churches.

Gay Bishop Announces Civil Union, Infuriates Church Conservatives

The only openly gay bishop in the worldwide Anglican Church has unveiled plans for a civil union with his longtime partner, unleashing an attack by church conservatives who call it a publicity stunt.

New Hampshire's Episcopal Bishop, Gene Robinson, tells the British Broadcasting Corporation that he and his partner of 18 years, Mark Andrew, 53, will have a civil union shortly after the state's civil union law goes into effect next year.

"The decision to take advantage of the new law that will come into effect in New Hampshire on January 1 is simply our taking advantage of the kinds of rights which are now being made open to gay and lesbian people in New Hampshire," Robinson tells interviewer Michael Buerk in the program to be broadcast August 28.

The timing would bring it just weeks before bishops from around the world are to meet in London for their once-a-decade meeting called the Lambeth Conference.

Conservatives pressing the church to outlaw gay clergy accuse Robinson using the timing in a bid to gain a political advantage, something Robinson disputes.

"I am certainly not doing that to rub salt into anyone's wounds, but no one should expect me to penalize me and my partner when these rights are being offered," he said.

"I believe that Peter Akinola, the Archbishop of Nigeria, one of the primary spokespeople against my election [as bishop], I believe he is following his call from God as best as he can, I just wish he could believe I am following my call from God as best I can."

Nigerian Archbishop says Anglicans must not accept gay relationships

Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola, a leader of Bible traditionalists in the Anglican world, says the ''the moment of decision is almost upon us'' about whether Anglican conservatives and liberals can stay together.

In a statement Monday, Akinola said that theological conservatives cannot stand by as the U.S. Episcopal Church — the Anglican body in the U.S. — and the Anglican Church of Canada move toward full acceptance of gay relationships.

''We earnestly desire the healing of our beloved communion but not at the cost of rewriting the Bible to accommodate the latest cultural trend,'' Akinola said. ''We cannot turn away from the source of life and love for a temporary truce.''

Conservatives believe the Bible bars same-sex relationships. Liberals believe that the overarching message of Scripture is full acceptance for all people.

The U.S. church has apologized repeatedly for not fully consulting with other Anglicans before consecrating Robinson, but has not apologized for electing him.

The communion's spiritual leader, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, is scheduled to meet with the Episcopal House of Bishops in New Orleans next month.

At that gathering, the U.S. bishops must respond to demands from Anglican leaders that they unequivocally pledge by Sept. 30 not to consecrate another openly gay bishop or risk losing their full membership in the communion.

Union To Finally Recognize Gay Couple's 51 Year Relationship, Provide Pension Benefits

Marvin Burrows and life partner William Swenor thought they had done everything necessary to ensure for each other's financial future should either of them die.

The Hayward, California couple, together for 51 years, registered as domestic partners under the state law and in 2004 were married in San Francisco. The marriage was one of hundreds of same-sex marriages later annulled by the California Supreme Court but their domestic partnership remained intact.

Then suddenly in 2005 Swenor died.

When Burrows applied for the pension benefits left by Swenor the Industrial Employers and Distributors Association and Warehouse Union rejected the claim on the grounds the couple had not married and under federal law their relationship was invalid.

As a result, Burrows had to leave the home that he and Swenor had shared for many years and was left completely destitute. Assisted by the National Center for Lesbian Rights Burrows for two years fought the union, and this week learned he had won.

The ILWU has informed NCLR that it had changed its policy to provide registered domestic partners with the same pension benefits as spouses. The ILWU also agreed to make this change retroactive to March 1, 2005, thereby enabling Burrows to receive his deceased partner's pension benefits.

Western states pledge to curb carbon emissions

Several Western U.S. states and Canadian provinces on Wednesday agreed to cut greenhouse emissions 15 percent by 2020 in the latest regional pact to regulate the gases, an approach opposed by U.S. President Bush.

“Our collective commitment will build a successful regional system to be linked with other efforts across the nation and eventually the world,” California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a statement.

The Western Climate Initiative, led by Schwarzenegger, seeks to slash greenhouse emissions by 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. Mandatory cuts are at odds with the voluntary approach favored by his Schwarzenegger’s fellow Republican Bush.

VICKY POLLARD COMING TO AMERICA IN U.S. VERSION OF LITTLE BRITAIN

Among the characters being imported for the American version of Little Britain, which will run on HBO, are Vicky Pollard, Daffyd (the only gay in the village), Lou and Andy, and Marjorie Dawes.
Said Lucas: "We’re mixing it up. We’re writing six new American characters and the rest will be old favourites. How could we not take Vicky and especially Marjorie to America? I would like to say that we’re going to be kind about the Americans, but can you really imagine us being nice? No, I didn’t think so!"

Lucas also reported that the duo have two film deals in the works, one with Dreamworks, and the other with production company Working Title (Four Weddings And A Funeral, Notting Hill).

[for all of us in the cabin from Lake Arrowhead! Little Britian comes to the U.S. Greg will be very happy... okay, Daniel won't.]

President Bush Limits Child Healthcare Opportunities

In an effort to cut access to children’s health care opportunities, the Bush administration has released statements saying that it would not support efforts to expand the government subsidized State Children’s Health Insurance Program which offers coverage for children of low income families. Furthermore, the President has stated he would veto the bill, which was passed by both houses of Congress.

Starting in 1997, SCHIP was created to help insure children whose families earned too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to afford private insurance.

In order to qualify for the program, a family must make less than 200 percent over the poverty line, which currently is around 50,000 income for an entire family of four.

"If the government doesn't respond to the demands of the people, they will replace the government."

PRESIDENT BUSH warning Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki that a lack of political progress could lead Iraqis to vote out his government

[Foreshadowing... and the same thing in the United States next year!]

More gas station owners allege price fixing

Nearly two dozen gas station owners in California sued Shell Oil Co., Chevron Corp. and Saudi Refining Inc., on Tuesday, claiming the companies conspired to fix prices for 23,000 franchise owners nationwide.

The case filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco seeks class-action status for the plaintiffs. It is similar to another lawsuit filed in 2004 by other California gas station owners that was thrown out by the U.S. Supreme Court last year. The new group of plaintiffs hopes the court will consider a slightly different argument.

Like the previous case, the plaintiffs in this case say chairmen of the three oil companies met privately nearly every month starting in March 1996 for the "purpose of forming and organizing a combination." The lawsuit alleges executives destroyed documents from the meetings, and a now-defunct joint venture violated U.S. antitrust laws and caused artificially high wholesale gas prices in nearly every state from 1999 to 2001.

Gay Marriage On Agenda As Calif. Lawmakers Return To Work

California lawmakers returned to work in Sacramento today with legislation allowing same-sex marriage on the Senate agenda.

But with only four weeks to complete its work and a major budget battle at hand it is unclear whether the marriage bill will make it to a vote on the floor.

The measure passed the Assembly in June.

Even if the bill makes to a floor vote and passes Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has vowed to veto it, as he did an identical bill in 2005.

Prominent N.J. legislator voices support for marriage equality

The idea of moving beyond civil unions to provide full marriage rights to same-sex couples in New Jersey is gaining traction. A prominent New Jersey legislator who had not previously supported full marriage rights is now asking, "Why not gay marriage?"

Sen. Raymond Lesniak posted an entry on a New Jersey blog Thursday that concluded, "Allowing gay couples to marry is not going to repair the fabric of society, but it's not going to tear it apart either. To paraphrase John Lennon, let's give love a chance. We might just find it works."

The post came on the heels of a Garden State Equality poll that found 63% of people in New Jersey said they "would be fine" if the state legislature decided to grant gay couples full marriage rights because civil unions had failed to provide full equality under the law.

Steven Goldstein, chairman of Garden State Equality, said Lesniak is among a "handful of the most powerful politicians in New Jersey" and called the news "spectacular."

Why Gay Marriage is Un-American!

1. Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.

2. Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.

3. Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.

4. Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn't changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can't marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.

5. Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of Britany Spears' 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.

6. Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn't be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren't full yet, and the world needs more children.

7. Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.

8. Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That's why we have only one religion in America.

9. Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That's why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.

10. Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven't adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans.

"We've got to walk more humbly and a lot more wisely than the current president."

Sen. SAM BROWNBACK a Republican presidential candidate, criticizing President George. W. Bush's performance on the world stage

Facts About Bottled Water

Here are a few facts about bottled water:

The containers are made of plastic or glass. When full, both become very heavy. It costs a fortune in oil to ship heavy bottles around the country, much less around the world.

Close to 2 million tons of plastic was used to make bottles for water last year. That manufacturing involves an enormous about of petroleum, since it is a key ingredient in plastic. In the U.S. alone, 30 million bottles a day, billions of bottles a year get tossed out. Recycling them costs another small fortune in gasoline to haul them to plants.

Bottled water is being promoted all over the world by a host of companies such as PepsiCo, The Coca-Cola Co., Nestle and Cadbury Schweppes. These companies, plus the boutique outfits such as Evian and S. Pellegrino, are staking their future on getting you to drink water from bottles since it is getting harder and harder to persuade you to drink soda and other sugared water from their cans — and it’s working.

According to Beverage Marketing Corp., a provider of beverage-related data, consumption of bottled water has been growing by a gallon a year per capita in the U.S., and consumption has doubled in the past decade. Americans now drink more water from bottles overall than any other nation. However, we are only tenth among nations of the world in drinking bottled water per capita, trailing Italy, Mexico, Spain, France, Germany and Switzerland.

Then there's the cost. Why pay dollars per gallon for bottled water packaged with a fancy name and aesthetically impressive label when you can get pure and healthy New York City, Seattle, Boston, Geneva or Singapore tap water for pennies without adding to environmental problems?

In other words, if you want to do something to really reduce global warming and cut down the earth’s pollution burden, stop buying bottled water. The containers mean oil in the shipping, oil in the refrigerating and oil in the recycling, not to mention the oil that’s also needed in the manufacturing of plastic bottles. That’s a whole lot of oil to quench your thirst in a most unethical way.

"I made a mistake. I screwed up."

BILL RICHARDSON apologizing for his comments last week that homosexuality is a lifestyle choice, not a biological characteristic. His comments sparked an outrage in the gay community and on political blogs

10 Things You Didn't Know About Karl Rove

1. Karl Christian Rove was born on Christmas Day 1950 in Denver. His family moved a lot until settling in Salt Lake City. Rove's parents divorced when his stepfather, whom he considered his father, came out as gay. Rove would meet his biological father 20 years later.

2. Rove's affinity for politics and the Republican Party started at age 9, when he became a vocal supporter of Richard Nixon. He was a skilled debater and was elected president of the student council in high school. He was also active in local Utah elections.

3. He has attended the University of Utah, the University of Texas-Austin, and George Mason University in Virginia but still has not completed his college degree. He claims that he has a few requirements left and has been provisionally accepted at UT's doctoral program in government.

4. Rove left the University of Utah to become the executive director of the College Republican National Committee. A few years later, Rove ran for the chairmanship of the College Republicans. In an election that was fraught with controversy, Rove and his opponent tied. The head of the Republican National Committee, George H.W. Bush, chose Rove as the chairman. Rove met George W. Bush at this time when Rove was given the errand to deliver the family's car keys to George H.W. Bush's son, who was coming to Washington from Harvard Business School. It would be the start of a more than 30-year friendship.

5. During Rove's tenure at the College Republicans, the organization was accused of encouraging "dirty tricks" in the 1972 campaign. Rove has acknowledged that in 1970 he used a false identity to get into the headquarters of a Democratic candidate running for state treasurer of Illinois. Rove swiped the campaign's letterhead and sent out 1,000 invitations to the campaign headquarters opening promising "free beer, free food, girls, and a good time."

6. Rove's first marriage--to a Houston socialite--ended in divorce a year after they were married. Rove remarried in 1986 to Darby Hickson, and they have one son, Andrew. Darby Rove is a breast cancer survivor.

7. In the early '80s, Rove started a direct mail and political list company, Rove and Co. The company was one of the first of its kind to use direct mail as a tool in a campaign, and Rove was considered a pioneer in this field. He sold the company in the late 1990s to devote full time to George W. Bush's presidential campaign.

8. When Bush was elected president in 2000, Rove became the new president's top adviser. He was given the office once occupied by Hillary Clinton. According to a book published in 2006, Rove invited three priests to perform an exorcism to drive away the spirits of Hillary Clinton. Rove denies it.

9. President Bush is known to give people nicknames. Among Karl Rove's nicknames are "Boy Genius" and "Turd Blossom," which is a flower that grows in cow dung. Critics of Rove have nicknamed him "Evil Genius" and "Bush's Brain."

10. Rove has been involved in the latest White House scandals--the leaking of CIA covert agent Valerie Plame's name to the press and the firing of seven U.S. attorneys. In the Plame case, Rove denied that he had revealed Plame's name to the grand jury investigating the case. When it was revealed that he did leak her name to Matthew Cooper of Time, he was allowed to return to the grand jury and amend his statement. Rove was not charged in the case. In the U.S. attorneys firings story, E-mails have revealed that Rove has played a significant role in decisions about whom to dismiss. Rove also passed on complaints about U.S. attorneys' not prosecuting voter fraud cases and pushed the appointment of a former aide as U.S. attorney in Arkansas.

Compiled by the U.S. News Library staff

US slipping in life expectancy rankings

Americans are living longer than ever, but not as long as people in 41 other countries. For decades, the United States has been slipping in international rankings of life expectancy, as other countries improve health care, nutrition and lifestyles.

Countries that surpass the U.S. include Japan and most of Europe, as well as Jordan, Guam and the Cayman Islands.

''Something's wrong here when one of the richest countries in the world, the one that spends the most on health care, is not able to keep up with other countries,'' said Dr. Christopher Murray, head of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

A baby born in the United States in 2004 will live an average of 77.9 years. That life expectancy ranks 42nd, down from 11th two decades earlier, according to international numbers provided by the Census Bureau and domestic numbers from the National Center for Health Statistics.

"How many dead Americans is Saddam worth?"

Vice President DICK CHENEY in a just-surfaced 1994 video clip in which he explains that trying to take over Iraq would be a bad idea that would lead to a "quagmire"

Cheney on why America shouldn't invade Iraq (1994)

"I just think it's time."

KARL ROVE announcing he will resign his White House post on Aug. 31, having spent more than a decade as George W. Bush's right-hand political adviser

[I think most people believe it is way PAST time!]

Africans woo conservative U.S. Anglicans in gay row

As an Anglican row over gay clergy deepens, growing numbers of conservative American priests are abandoning the liberal U.S. church and pledging allegiance to traditionalist African bishops instead.

Africans, who take a tough line on homosexuality, are keen to recruit the dissident priests as bishops under their own authority and to provide a new spiritual home for their clusters of wealthy U.S. congregations.

But liberals say African bishops are violating church rules by setting up fiefdoms in the United States and deepening a crisis that threatens to split the Anglican communion, a world-wide federation of 38 member churches.

'It's a terrible breach of longstanding Christian tradition. You don't invade someone else's territory just because you disagree with them,' said Jan Nunley, deputy communications director for the U.S. Episcopal Church.

Traditionalist Anglicans, mostly from developing countries, are at loggerheads with the small but wealthy Episcopal Church – the main Anglican church in the United States headed by liberal Archbishop Katharine Jefferts Schori – over whether to ordain openly gay priests. Conservatives say Anglican provinces overseas have taken hundreds of the 7,000 Episcopal congregations under their wing, although liberals say the number is close to 70.

The Church of Rwanda started adopting conservative U.S. congregations in 2000 as part of its missionary outreach. Its Anglican Mission to the Americas group says it began with seven churches and now has 116, all under Rwandan authority.

Outspoken Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola caused a storm in May when he consecrated dissident Episcopal priest Martyn Minns as bishop of a new Nigerian church in the United States.

And now archbishops in Kenya and Uganda plan to consecrate three priests as bishops for breakaway orthodox congregations in the United States in coming weeks, creating more conservative African outposts amid the liberal American mainstream.

'In Uganda, we have provided a home for refugees from Congo, Rwanda, and Sudan,' said Ugandan Archbishop Henry Orombi, who is consecrating John Guernsey of Virginia on Sept. 2. 'Now, we are also providing a home for ecclesiastical refugees from America.'

Kenyan Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi will consecrate Americans Bill Atwood and Bill Murdoch on Aug. 30 as assistant bishops in the province of Kenya, looking after a handful of U.S. churches.

CLOSER TO SCHISM?
The 77-million-strong Anglican church has been divided since 2003 when its 2.4-million-member U.S. branch consecrated Gene Robinson as the first openly gay bishop in its history.
Conservatives say the U.S. church has disobeyed biblical commands and broken with Anglican teaching by backing gay priests, while liberals support a looser interpretation of scripture and say Anglicanism has always embraced diversity.

The Africans say they want to rescue U.S. churches and individuals who might otherwise abandon Anglicanism. 'We are not undermining the authority of anybody. We are actually saving a situation of people who so much need us,' Kenya's Nzimbi told Reuters. 'Otherwise if they are left on their own they would be like sheep without a shepherd.'

Anglican leader Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams is struggling to prevent full-blown schism and has appealed to the Africans to halt the consecrations. He has not invited Robinson and Minns to attend a key Anglican conference next year.

Jim Naughton, canon of communications for the Washington diocese, said most defecting parishes were small. He suggested financial gain could be a factor for struggling African churches – a charge they vehemently deny. 'The budgets of large American churches are sometimes larger than the budgets of entire African countries,' he said.

"While we have come a long way since the Stonewall riots in 1969, we still have a lot of work to do. Too often, the issue of LGBT rights is exploited by those seeking to divide us. But at its core, this issue is about who we are as Americans. It's about whether this nation is going to live up to its founding promise of equality by treating all its citizens with dignity and respect."

~ Barack Obama

"While we have come a long way since the Stonewall riots in 1969, we still have a lot of work to do. Too often, the issue of LGBT rights is exploited by those seeking to divide us. But at its core, this issue is about who we are as Americans. It's about whether this nation is going to live up to its founding promise of equality by treating all its citizens with dignity and respect."

~ Barack Obama

4.5-magnitude quake rattles Southern California

A moderate earthquake rattled the Los Angeles area early Thursday. The magnitude 4.5 temblor struck just before 1 a.m. about 4 miles northwest of Chatsworth, according to a preliminary report from the U.S. Geological Survey.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or significant damage, said spokesman Brian Humphrey, of the Los Angeles Fire Department. The quick jolt was felt by residents across Los Angeles County, and many reported that their houses vibrated, windows rattled and books, pictures and other items fell.

Chatsworth is about 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles.

Don't Call It A Vacation

It's August in Washington and the city is emptying out. Members of Congress left over the weekend and won't be back until Sept. 4. President George W. Bush goes tomorrow to his family's seaside compound in Kennebunkport, Maine, for a long weekend before heading for his ranch in Crawford, Texas.

Call it a recess, call it a break, just don't call it a vacation.

For lawmakers, it's a ``district work period,'' time to meet with voters, raise money or take ``fact-finding'' trips overseas. White House officials stress the president has regular briefings and is on call 24/7 for any emergency when he's in Crawford, where he has spent 418 days as president.

Worker Injured When Scaffold Collapses In Pasadena

A worker was seriously injured Wednesday when a scaffold collapsed at a construction site in Pasadena.

The worker suffered back and neck injuries, according to Lisa Derderian of the Pasadena Police Department. KNBC reported that the worker was on the scaffold when it collapsed.
The collapse occurred at a five-story office building under construction at DeLacey Street and Orange Place. [this is right near Curtis' shop]

Derderian said a large tarp was placed on the scaffold Wednesday morning. She said wind might have caused the tarp to pull the scaffold. The scaffold fell onto cars in a parking lot. About 12 vehicles in the lot were damaged. Thirty workers were at the site

The United States has quietly withdrawn from an international study comparing math and science students.

Americans took note when Bill Gates said last spring that American schools needed to beef up science and math standards if the country was going to maintain a competitive edge in the new century. So did Congress, which last week approved legislation called the America COMPETES (Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education and Science) Act, which carves out a whopping $43.6 billion for science education and research.

So why did the federal government quietly decide last year to drop out of an international study that would compare U.S. high-school students who take advanced science and math courses with their international counterparts?

The study, called TIMSS (Trends in Mathematics and Science Study) Advanced 2008, measures how high-school seniors are doing in algebra, geometry, calculus and physics with students taking similar subjects around the globe. In the past, the American results have been shockingly poor. In the last survey, taken in 1995, students from only two countries—Cyprus and South Africa—scored lower than U.S. school kids.

Conspiracy theorists suggest that the U.S. government withdrew from the study without making any announcement because it anticipated another poor showing. “Maybe they don’t want to hear more bad news,” says John Ewing, executive director of the American Mathematical Society.



[yes, No Child Left Behind has been such a positive policy for the U.S. educational system]

Bishops snub forum over gay ordination

Archbishop Peter Jensen and his diocesan bishops have snubbed the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, by failing to reply to their invitations to the Anglican church's most important gathering, the Lambeth Conference.

Sydney's bishops were due to reply to the invitations to the 2008 gathering by July 31, but are delaying their response until it is clear whether the church's US arm, the Episcopalians, will back down over the ordination of gay bishops.

The Episcopalians are due to respond formally by the end of September to a request from the church's primates to agree to stop authorising same-sex unions and ordaining anyone living in a same-sex union.

The latter is a reference to the 2003 ordination of Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire, despite his living in a same-sex union.

"In view of the real hesitations that we experience in joining with those who have consecrated Bishop Gene Robinson, and with others who have allowed for the blessing of same-sex unions ... we feel that we cannot give an answer to your kind invitation until later in the year," the Sydney bishops wrote.

All bishops in the Anglican church worldwide are invited to the Lambeth conference, which is held every 10 years.

Australia's Anglican primate and the Archbishop of Brisbane, Phillip Aspinall, said yesterday he would attend the conference. "I believe it is only when all of the church's bishops can sit together and enter a dialogue that these matters can progress," he said. The Archbishop of Melbourne, Philip Freier, will also attend. "Not to be there is to risk marginalising yourself from important discussion on real issues," he said.