Concern Widens Over Anti-religion Book and Movie – The Golden Compass
The Dufferin-Peel Catholic board is conducting an informal review of The Golden Compass because concerns have been raised about the children’s fantasy book in the neighbouring Halton board.
“It warrants us having a look at it,” said community relations manager Bruce Campbell, adding staff members have been assigned to read the book and basically provide a plot synopsis “so we understand what it’s about.”
The Halton Catholic District School Board has pulled The Golden Compass – an award-winning book set to be released as a major motion picture next month – from library shelves after a complaint.
The other two books in the trilogy by British author Philip Pullman, which have been compared to the Harry Potter series, are also off the shelves for now, but available if students ask for them.
The Halton board is convening a committee to review the book and recommend whether it should be available to children.
Halton Catholic elementary principals were directed not to distribute the December Scholastic flyer because The Golden Compass is available to order.
A board-issued memo says the books are “apparently written by an atheist where the characters and text are anti-God, anti-Catholic and anti-religion.”
In the U.S., Catholic groups are urging a boycott of the movie and accuse the books of being anti-Christian and promoting atheism.
The author himself has said he was “trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief,” and that his “books are about killing God.”
The Golden Compass was published in 1995 and is generally recommended for students in Grades 5-6.
Peggy Thomas, president of the Ontario School Library Association, said books for any school collection are carefully researched before being chosen.
“My firm belief is this, that as a parent you have the right to say that your child cannot read a book,” she said.
“But as a parent, you don’t have the right to say nobody else’s child can read that book.”
Putin Lashes Out At The West
Vladimir Putin called his critics foreign-funded “jackals” and accused the West of meddling in Russian politics in a scathing speech Wednesday meant to drum up support for the main pro-Kremlin party.
The thunderous attack came as Russia heads toward Dec. 2 parliamentary elections that have turned into a plebiscite on Putin and whether he should retain power after stepping down as president next year after two consecutive terms.
Thousands of flag-waving supporters who packed a Moscow sports arena for the speech joined in chants urging Putin to remain Russia’s “national leader.”
It isn’t clear what formal title he might hold, but he heads the ticket of the dominant United Russia party and has suggested he could become prime minister. Opinion surveys suggest the party will win two-thirds of the votes and a crushing 80 percent of the lower house of parliament’s 450 seats.
U.S. Ready To Face Any Iranian Threat
The United States military machine is undiminished after four years of fighting in Iraq and is more prepared than ever to face any threat from Iran, one of the U.S. military’s most senior officials said.
Admiral Timothy Keating, head of U.S. military operations in 41 countries, was speaking in Bahrain days after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad labeled the U.S. army “shabby”, and said his Western foes had “rusty and disabled weapons”.
Iran and the West are at loggerheads over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear enrichment program, which the West suspects is for the development of a nuclear bomb, but Tehran says is for power generation.
“I don’t think our capability has diminished at all,” said Keating, Commander of U.S. Pacific Command and former head of navy operations in the Gulf.
Bahrain, an island close to Iran, is home to the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet. Working with British and Australian ships, the fleet is tasked with maintaining stability in the region, and often conducts exercises on Iran’s doorstep.
“Because of our continued presence and exercises we’ve had… the Fifth Fleet and Central Command’s ability to provide for peace and stability is even better than before,” he told Reuters on Wednesday on his way to visit troops in Iraq.
Washington, which also accuses Iran of backing insurgents in Iraq and funding terrorist groups, says it is committed to finding a diplomatic solution to the nuclear standoff, but has not ruled out military action if that fails.
Iran, which denies charges of funding terrorism, says it is ready to act if attacked, but Ahmadinejad on a visit to Bahrain on Saturday said conflict was unlikely.
Philippines Hunkers Down as Typhoon Mitag Nears
Typhoon Mitag intensified as it moved slowly towards the Philippines on Friday, triggering mass evacuations, flight cancellations and exacerbating flooding from a previous storm.
The typhoon has winds of 175 km per hour (108 miles per hour) at its centre and is forecast to strengthen.
The storm is almost stationary east of the central Bicol region, the Philippines’ typhoon alley, on Friday evening, but was likely to make landfall on Saturday, weather officials said.
People in Bicol sought refuge in churches, schools and town halls as more than 50,000 people fled their homes.
Disaster officials said 200,000 people would be evacuated from Bicol, where volcanic mud from the slopes of Mount Mayon can trigger lethal landslides.
Dollar Drops to Record Low Against Euro
The dollar hit a new low against the euro in thin trading Friday as speculation continued that the American credit crisis will lead to another cut in interest rates in the U.S.
The 13-nation European currency spiked early to hit $1.4966, breaking the previous record of $1.4873, set the day before.
“Once again the message … coming through is that with further rate cuts expected from the Fed, the dollar is struggling to find any serious supporters,” said James Hughes, an analyst at CMC Markets.
In late afternoon trading, the euro had retreated to $1.4838, up from the $1.4833 it bought late in Europe the day before, but down from the $1.4848 it bought in New York late Wednesday.
The dollar fell to purchase as little as 107.56 Japanese yen, dropping below the 108-yen level for the first time since 2005. It recovered slightly to purchase 108.18 yen, down from 108.62 yen late in Europe on Thursday and 108.68 yen in American trading Wednesday.
The British pound, meanwhile, fell to $2.0612 from $2.0634 the day before in Europe and $2.0644 in New York Wednesday.
Israels Best Friend Firmly Backing Arabs at Annapolis Conference
The mood is dark in the IDF’s General Staff ahead of next week’s “peace” conference in Annapolis. As one senior officer directly involved in the negotiations with the Palestinians and the Americans said, “As bad as it might look from the outside, the truth is ten times worse. This is a nightmare. The Americans have never been so hostile.”
Thursday a draft of the joint statement that Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are discussing ahead of the conference was leaked to the media. A reading of the document bears out the IDF’s concerns.
The draft document shows that the Palestinians and the Israelis differ not only on every issue, but differ on the purpose of the document. It also shows that the US firmly backs the Palestinians against Israel.
As the draft document makes clear, Israel is trying to avoid committing itself to anything at Annapolis. For their part, the Palestinians are trying to force Israel’s hand by tying it to diplomatic formulas that presuppose an Israeli withdrawal to the 1949 armistice lines and an Israeli acceptance of the so-called “right of return” or free immigration of foreign Arabs to Israel.
Second Minor Quake In Israel In A Week
A minor earthquake was felt throughout Israel early Saturday.
The quake, which occurred at approximately 12:15 a.m., lasted several seconds and was felt across various cities in central Israel as well as in some of its more northerly towns. The quake measured at 4.2 on the Richter scale, and its epicenter was located in central Israel, Army Radio reported.
This is the second earthquake to hit Israel in the past week.
On Monday, two successive earthquakes were felt across most of the country: the first was measured at 3.0 on the Richter scale and the second at 4.2.
Sex Scandal Hits Atlanta-Area Megachurch
The 80-year-old leader of a suburban Atlanta megachurch is at the center of a sex scandal of biblical dimensions: He slept with his brother’s wife and fathered a child by her.
Members of Archbishop Earl Paulk’s family stood at the pulpit of the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit at Chapel Hill Harvester Church a few Sundays ago and revealed the secret exposed by a recent court-ordered paternity test.
In truth, this is not the first — or even the second — sex scandal to engulf Paulk and the independent, charismatic church. But this time, he could be in trouble with the law for lying under oath about the affair.
The living proof of that lie is 34-year-old D.E. Paulk, who for years was known publicly as Earl Paulk’s nephew.
“I am so very sorry for the collateral damage it’s caused our family and the families hurt by the removing of the veil that hid our humanity and our sinfulness,” said D.E. Paulk, who received the mantle of head pastor a year and a half ago.
D.E. Paulk said he did not learn the secret of his parentage until the paternity test. “I was disappointed, and I was surprised,” he said.
Earl Paulk, his brother, Don, and his sister-in-law, Clariece, did not return calls for comment.
A judge ordered the test at the request of the Cobb County district attorney’s office and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which are investigating Earl Paulk for possible perjury and false-swearing charges stemming from a lawsuit.
The archbishop, his brother and the church are being sued by former church employee Mona Brewer, who says Earl Paulk manipulated her into an affair from 1989 to 2003 by telling her it was her only path to salvation. Earl Paulk admitted to the affair in front of the church last January.
In a 2006 deposition stemming from the lawsuit, the archbishop said under oath that the only woman he had ever had sex with outside of his marriage was Brewer. But the paternity test said otherwise.
So far no charges have been filed against Earl Paulk. District Attorney Pat Head and GBI spokesman John Bankhead would not comment.
The shocking results of the paternity test are speeding up a transformation already under way in the church after more than a decade of sex scandals and lawsuits involving the Paulks, D.E. Paulk said.
“It was a necessary evil to bring us back to a God-consciousness,” said the younger Paulk, explaining that the church had become too personality-driven and prone to pastor worship.
Dollar Falls To New Low
The dollar may extend its biggest loss in almost two years against the euro on speculation the Federal Reserve needs to keep cutting borrowing costs to prevent the world’s largest economy from slipping into recession.
Reports today are forecast to show an index regarding the U.S. economic outlook fell in October while consumer confidence sank to a two-year low this month. The dollar weakened to a record low against the euro and Swiss franc after the Fed cut its 2008 growth forecast yesterday.
“The trend of a weakening dollar will continue,” said Adam Boyton, a senior currency strategist in New York at Deutsche Bank AG, the world’s largest currency trading bank. “If the Fed doesn’t cut rates next month, the risk of a recession will rise considerably.”
The dollar traded at $1.4841 per euro and 109.97 yen at 7 a.m. in Tokyo. The U.S. currency touched $1.4852 yesterday, the cheapest level since the 13-nation currency started trading in January 1999. The U.S. currency fell 1.2 percent yesterday, the biggest decline since Jan. 23, 2006. The dollar also reached an all-time low of 1.1055 against the Swiss franc. The euro bought 163.16 yen.
The dollar will decline to $1.50 per euro by the end of the year, according to Boyton. Europe’s single currency will trade at $1.45 by year-end, according to the median forecast of 43 analysts and brokerages surveyed by Bloomberg News.
Kirkwood Professor Makes Push For Atheism
An Iowa community college professor is leading an effort to promote atheism and lobby for the removal of religious references from public life.
Lydia Hartunian, an assistant professor of humanities at Kirkwood College, organized a fund-raiser earlier this month in New York that attracted dozens of atheist authors and religious skeptics.
She says that atheism gets a bad reputation and that one misinterpretation people have is that atheists say they know there isn’t a God.
She says that’s an impossible claim to make — and that amethysts simply don’t know there’s a God.
Hartunian says ultimately atheists are skeptics and that “my sense of goodness, of being a good person, are entirely dependent on me.”
Minor Earthquake Felt Across Israel
A minor earthquake was felt throughout Israel at approximately 11:20 a.m. Tuesday
The quake, which lasted only a few seconds, was measured at 4.2 on the Richter scale and its epicenter was in the Dead Sea, Israel Radio reported. There were no reports of injured or damage.
“The whole house shook. Some things fell from their place,” a caller told Israel Radio.
A Magen David Adom ambulance driver who was in the northern Dead Sea area when the earthquake took place said that the quake had not been felt too strongly, even near its epicenter. “I was on shift with the ambulance. At first there was a small quake and then a larger quake came. It wasn’t very strong but it was enough to be a bit frightening,” he said.
Russia Readies Nuclear Fuel Bound For Iran
Russia on Friday gave the clearest indication yet that it was ready to send uranium to fuel Iran’s first atomic power station, upping the stakes in a diplomatic crisis surrounding Tehran’s nuclear program.
Russia’s state-run nuclear fuel producer said inspectors from the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog would later this month start sealing nuclear fuel bound for the Bushehr plant, a major step to shipping the fuel to the Bushehr plant in Iran.
In a report on Iran issued on Thursday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it had “made arrangements to verify and seal the fresh fuel foreseen (for Bushehr) on Nov. 26, before shipment of the fuel from Russia to Iran”.
Russia has so far given no concrete date for when it will send the nuclear fuel to Bushehr, but says it would be sent six months before the plant’s repeatedly delayed start-up.
According to Russian forecasts, the reactor at the plant could be started up in 2008 and nuclear fuel would have to arrive at the plant six months before that.
Evangelical Leaders Hope Radical Islam Threat Will Awaken Weary Voters
“The war against Islamofascism is in many respects a ‘values issue,’ ” Bauer wrote. “That may seem like an odd statement at first glance, but, as I have often said, losing Western civilization to this vicious enemy would be immoral.”
From one perspective, branding “radical Islam” as a family values issue is yet another example of the broadening of the evangelical agenda. But next November, it also could energize one of the Republican Party’s key voting blocs, much like anti-gay marriage measures did in 2004.
“It’s the ultimate life issue,” said Rick Scarborough, president of the Texas-based conservative Christian group Vision America. “If radical Islam succeeds in its ultimate goals, Christianity ceases to exist.”
That might sound alarmist, but Scarborough’s words illustrate how many conservative Christian leaders view matters of national security as a battle between good and evil – nothing short of a clash of civilizations.
The Big One Is Due – In Israel
Most Israelis can remember a day when their furniture started to shake, and can also take credit for surviving that day with little difficulty. But very few people are in a position to know firsthand the effects of a truly disastrous earthquake, on a magnitude of seven or higher on the Richter scale, as the last recorded such earthquake in Israel occurred in 1033.
And that’s the problem: Geology experts agree that Israel is long overdue for the next “Big One,” and it can happen at any time. This poses a significant threat to population centers in the country, since many buildings in Israel were erected prior to the formulation of earthquake-resistant construction codes. There is also substantial doubt that the codes are being strictly enforced. With the barrage of immediate threats competing for Israelis’ attention – whether terrorism, car accidents, global warming or secondhand smoke – a major earthquake may seem like an improbable, even paranoid fear.
