Goodbye Marriage Hello Alternative Family Arrangements
January 23, 2008 by admin
Filed under Stories Of Interest
Britain has become a significantly more tolerant nation over the last 20 years, with increasingly liberal views on marriage, relationships and same-sex partnerships, according to research showing that the heterosexual married couple is no longer at the centre of UK life.
The British Social Attitudes report, conducted annually since 1983, reveals both dramatic social change around family life and a widespread acceptance that traditional structures and life patterns are being eroded.
However, it also shows that some traditional norms endure: adulterous sex is still as strongly condemned as it was two decades ago – 85% say it is always or mostly wrong – and people are more wary of alternative family arrangements where children are involved.
The latest report, based on more than 3,000 interviews with a random, representative sample of people in 2006, offers a picture of a fast-changing landscape of relationships and living arrangements, including partners who do not live together, unmarried, long-term cohabitees, “reconstituted families” made up of previously divorced parents and their stepchildren, and a rise in solo living.
The Victorian notion of marriage as the “socially accepted and religiously sanctified means of having sex” has vanished, says the study: 70% of people think there is nothing wrong with sex before marriage, compared with fewer than half (48%) in 1984. Cohabitation and marriage have become effective equivalents in the minds of most: two-thirds of people believe there is little difference between being married and living together, and only just over one in four (28%) think married couples make better parents than unmarried ones.
Malaysia Seizes Christian Books
Malaysian authorities confiscated Christian children’s books, claiming the illustrations of prophets such as Moses and Abraham violate Islamic Shariah law.
The independent news agency Malaysakini reported the Internal Security Ministry confiscated the literature from bookstores in two cities and one small town in mid-December.
The Malaysian Embassy declined to comment on the news service’s Jan. 11 report.
The Rev. Hermen Shastri, general secretary of the Malaysian Council of Churches, confirmed the report and accused the government of persecuting Christians.
“The officials have offended the sensitivities of Christians because their publications and depictions of their Biblical personalities have now become targets of unscrupulous Muslim officials bent on curtailing religious freedom in the country,” Mr. Shastri said.
Russia Bombers To Test Fire Missiles In Atlantic
Russia on Tuesday sent two long-range bombers to the Bay of Biscay, off the French and Spanish Atlantic coasts, to test-fire missiles in what it billed as its biggest navy exercise in the area since Soviet times.
British and Norwegian Tornado and F-16 jets were escorting the Russian ‘Blackjack’ bombers, Interfax reported, quoting the Russian Air Force.
However, the French Defence Ministry spokesman said his country had been informed about the Russian exercises.
Firing missiles off the coastline of two members of the NATO military alliance is the latest in a series of Kremlin moves flexing Moscow’s military muscle on the world stage.
The Russian bombers joined aircraft carriers, battleships and submarine hunters from the Northern and Black Sea fleets for the Atlantic exercises, which come as the country enters an election campaign to choose a successor to President Vladimir Putin.
“The air force is taking a very active part in the exercises of the navy’s strike force in the Atlantic,” Russia’s air force said in a statement.
“Today, two strategic Tu-160 bombers departed for exercises in the Bay of Biscay, which … will carry out a number of missions and will conduct tactical missile launches,” it said.
Putin, widely popular as his second four-year term draws to a close, has sought to use such moves to revive domestic and international respect for Russia’s armed forces which were shattered by the chaos of the 1990s.
Epidemic Superbug Strains Evolved From Single Bacterium – USA300
The drug-resistant “superbugs” that have cut a swathe through day care centers, schools, locker rooms and prisons across the United States in the last five years stem from one rapidly evolving bacterium, US scientists said Monday.
Scientists studying the genetic make-up of these bugs, which are resistant to almost all antibiotics, say they are nearly identical clones that have emerged from a single bacterial strain, which they have dubbed USA300.
“The USA300 group of strains appears to have extraordinary transmissibility and fitness,” said Frank DeLeo, a researcher with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in Hamilton, Montana.
“We anticipate that new USA300 derivatives will emerge within the next several years and that these strains will have a wide range of disease-causing potential.”
Most drug-resistant staph infections cause soft-tissue infections such as boils that are readily treatable, but a skin infection can become a deadly pneumonia or blood or bone infection in a matter of days if the patient doesn’t get the right drugs.
What’s particularly worrying to health authorities is that the MRSA infections, (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) have spread beyond their traditional hospital setting, seeding an epidemic in the wider community.
The NIAID scientists studied the DNA of 10 patient samples of the USA300 bacterium taken from individuals treated at different US locations between 2002 and 2005. They compared the genetic sequences of the bugs to each other and to USA300 strains used in earlier studies.
The genomes of eight of the 10 patient samples were virtually identical, indicating they came from a common strain. The remaining two bacteria were related to the other eight, but more distantly.
The study appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Global Markets Continue To Plunge
Global stock markets extended their shakeout into a second day Tuesday, plunging amid worries that a possible U.S. recession will cause a worldwide economic slowdown. The dramatic declines were expected to spread to Wall Street, where stock index futures were already down sharply hours before the trading day began.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index, the benchmark for Asia’s biggest bourse, skidded 4.4 percent in morning trading to 12,738.31 points, after dropping 3.9 percent Monday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 5.2 percent after plunging 5.5 percent the day before.
“Unless we get some positive ’shock effects,’ such as drastic measures from the U.S. government, there is almost no hope for a recovery in stocks,” said Koji Takeuchi, senior economist at Mizuho Research Institute in Tokyo.
U.S. markets were closed Monday for a holiday commemorating civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. But Wall Street future prices were down sharply, portending a plunge when trading begins at 9:30 a.m. Eastern time.
Dow Jones industrial average futures were down 436 points, or 3.6 percent, at 11,670, while Standard & Poor’s 500 futures were down 57.1 points, or 4.3 percent, at 1,268.
Markets have been plunging amid pessimism about the ability of the U.S. government to prevent a recession. The Federal Reserve has indicated it will lower interest rates further, and President Bush has proposed an economic stimulus package that includes $145 billion in tax cuts, but investors around the world are doubtful that the measures will lift the economy quickly.
Bolton – Israel May Have To Take Military Action Against Iran
Former US ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said on Monday that Israel may have to take military action to prevent its archfoe Iran from acquiring an atomic bomb.
Bolton also said that further UN sanctions against the Islamic republic will be ineffective in stopping Iran’s controversial nuclear programme which Israel and the US believe is aimed at developing a bomb — a claim denied by Tehran.
“One can say with some assurance that in the next year the use of force by the United States is highly unlikely,” Bolton told AFP on the sidelines of the Herzliya conference on the balance of Israel’s national security.
“That increases the pressure on Israel in that period of time… if it feels Iran is on the verge of acquiring that capability, it brings the decision point home to use force,” he said.
The hawkish former diplomat said that after a US intelligence report published late last year that claimed Iran had suspended a nuclear weapons programme in 2003, the US was unlikely to take military action against it.
“The pressure is on Israel now after the National Intelligence Estimate because, I think, the likelihood of American use of force has been dramatically reduced,” he said.
Widely considered the Middle East’s sole if undeclared nuclear power, Israel considers Iran its number one enemy following repeated statements by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for the Jewish state to be wiped off the map.
Bolton said that military action against Iran should be taken before Tehran acquires a bomb.
“The calculus in the region changes dramatically once Iran has nuclear capability, meaning the preemptive use of force or the overthrow of the Iranian regime has to come before they get the weapon,” Bolton said.
“If you are worried about an Iran with nuclear weapons and an extreme theological regime in power, the time to take the plan of action is before Iran acquires the weapons.
“Once it acquires the weapons there is a risk of retaliation with nuclear capability and that’s why Israel is in danger — it is a very small country and two or three nuclear weapons (and) there is no more country. The pressure to act is intensive and the window of time available is narrow.”
Bolton also said that despite Iranian threats to hit hard if it is attacked, “their response will be a lot more measured than people think.”
Nato Must Be Prepared To Launch Nuclear Attack
Nato must prepare to launch pre-emptive nuclear attacks to ward off the use of weapons of mass destruction by its enemies, a group of former senior military officials has warned.
Calling for a major change to Nato’s approach to defending its members and their interests, the authors of the report, which has been handed to Nato and Pentagon chiefs, said the first-strike use of nuclear weapons was a “indespensible instrument”.
According to a report, the authors of the blueprint for reforming Nato include Lord Peter Inge, the former British chief of the defence staff and US General John Shalikashvili, the former Nato commander in Europe and chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff.
“The risk of further proliferation is imminent and, with it, the danger that nuclear war fighting, albeit limited in scope, might become possible,” the report said.
“The first use of nuclear weapons must remain in the quiver of escalation as the ultimate instrument to prevent the use of weapons of mass destruction.”
The document reportedly includes Lord Inge’s comments on the controversy surrounding nuclear weapons policy: “To tie our hands on first use or no first use removes a huge plank of deterrence.”
Online Game Rivalry Ends With Real Life Murder
January 21, 2008 by admin
Filed under Moral Decay
A young Russian man has been charged with murder after an internet game jumped off the screen onto the street. It’s alleged he killed an internet gaming rival after they met face to face in the city of Ufa.
Violence on screen isn’t harmful to anyone. But when virtual reality and real life collide an innocent game can end in tragedy.
It all started when two clans – the Coo-clocks, made up of mostly students, and the so-called Platanium with more experienced gamers of over thirty – started fighting to wipe out each other on screen.
33-year-old Albert used to spend hours in front of his computer. On the web he had his own clan and a dozen of warriors. Just days before the New Year in a virtual battle his clan killed a member of the hostile Coo-clocks.
Days later the enemies agreed to meet literally face to face in the real world.
Their confrontation led to tragedy. Albert was badly beaten and died from his injuries on the way to hospital.
“I think they have confused the game and reality. And after we buried him on December 31, they continued to threaten us,” Albert’s sister Albina says.
The alleged murderer hasn’t shown regret and hasn’t justified himself. 22-year-old student just calmly explained why he killed his opponent.
On the web each of the clans had its own hierarchy and rules
“Beat everything that moves, and everything that doesn’t move – move and beat!” – this is one of the rules of the Coo-clocks clan.
In this case the rule applied to real people in real life. Members of the internet Coo-clocks clan continue to harass the family of the murdered man, threatening to kill his sister, who hasn’t turned on the computer for days.
In an unrelated case another gamer in his twenties came to Moscow from Ukraine to meet his rival. The confrontation ended in with the Moscow man being beaten to death.
And a twenty-year-old from Petrosavodsk killed his grandmother after she interrupted his game calling him to eat.
However, internet experts say these cases shouldn’t be lumped together just because some people can’t handle the situation.
“Not many talk about the benefits of internet games for disabled people who don’t have a chance to communicate with others like themselves or able-bodied people. Nobody mentions the benefits the internet can offer in education,” says Aleksandr Kuzmenko of a computer game magazine.
With more and more people logging on to get their fix of virtual reality the experts say incidents like these are rare, and want it to stay that way.
Should Proselytism In West Be Prohibited
Christian proselytism is discouraged, where not outright prohibited, throughout the Muslim world and Muslims who convert to Christianity (or any other religion) are subject to death according to Sharia law. Ironically, this situation is not applicable to the Muslim communities in the West: for where Muslim clerics struggle against the Christian missionaries in Islamic countries, Muslim missionaries in the West enjoy many freedoms and may welcome new converts.
The laissez-faire Western attitude concerning Muslim missionaries must be reviewed to deal with the case in the West regarding the principle of reciprocity – whether or not one is to sanction Islamic proselytism or prohibit it depends on how Islamic institutions perceive freedom of religion.
Westerners have the right to get clear answers from Islamic organizations in the West as to (1) Muslim attitudes toward Christianity and Judaism; (2) whether it is permissible for Muslims to covert to Christianity or any other religion; and, (3) whether those who leave the Islam may go about their lives absent threats on their lives from the community to which they belong. These are questions that must be addressed to representatives of “Western” Islamic organizations.
This can be done by starting a dialogue with Islamic organizations which work within Christendom. Important preliminary knowledge can be obtained from the Koran, the holy text of Islam. Once familiar with Koranic views on religion, Westerners will then be able to engage in dialogue with “their” Islamists.
We should now review some Koranic texts that pertain to religion.
Montana Governor Leads Fight In Real ID Rebellion
January 21, 2008 by admin
Filed under Stories Of Interest
The real story here is that everyone over 50 (at this time) will eventually be required to possess a Federal Real ID Card or their activities will be restricted in a variety of ways.
Montana governor Brian Schweitzer (D) declared independence Friday from federal identification rules and called on governors of 17 other states to join him in forcing a showdown with the federal government which says it will not accept the driver’s licenses of rebel states’ citizens starting May 11.
If that showdown comes to pass, a resident of a non-complying state could not use a driver’s license to enter a federal courthouse or a Social Security Administration building nor could he board a plane without undergoing a pat-down search, possibly creating massive backlogs at the nation’s airports and almost certainly leading to a flurry of federal lawsuits.
States have until May 11 to request extensions to the Real ID rules that were released last Friday. They require states to make all current identification holders under the age of 50 to apply again with certified birth and marriage certificates. The rules also standardize license formats, require states to interlink their DMV databases and require DMV employee to undergo background checks.
Extensions push back the 2008 deadline for compliance as far as out 2014 if states apply and promise to start work on making the necessary changes, which will cost cash-strapped states billions with only a pittance in federal funding to offset the costs.
Hayward Fault Might Be More Dangerous Than Scientists Thought
The Hayward fault has long been pegged by geologists as the most likely candidate to host the Bay Area’s next big earthquake. Now some scientists say the fault may be even more dangerous than they thought. By analyzing gradual changes in stress on the deepest parts of faults in the area, geologists found that several faults, including the southern portion of the Hayward fault, may be more primed to rupture than previously estimated.
“The slip on the faults in the shallow part of the crust is really a catch-up with what’s happening below,” said geologist David Schwartz of the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park.
The new research suggests that current earthquake forecasts for the area may underestimate the danger on three faults — the Hayward fault; its northern neighbor, the Rodgers Creek fault, which runs from San Pablo Bay north past Santa Rosa; and the northern portion of the Calaveras fault from Sunol to the Danville area.
The most recent USGS assessment of earthquake probabilities from 2002 gives a 62 percent chance of a magnitude 6.7 or greater quake somewhere in the Bay Area in the next 30 years. Together, the Hayward fault and the Rodgers Creek fault account for 27 percent of that probability, more than any other fault in the area, including the San Andreas, which has a 21 percent chance.
The estimates were made by combining results from five different models that are based on different ideas. For example, one model assumes that thenext 30 years will be similar to the last 30 years and have very few major earthquakes.
Russia Could Use Nuclear Weapons as Preventive Measure
Russia’s military chief of staff said Saturday that Moscow could use nuclear weapons in preventive strikes in case of a major threat, the latest aggressive remarks from increasingly assertive Russian authorities.
“We have no plans to attack anyone, but we consider it necessary for all our partners in the world community to clearly understand … that to defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Russia and its allies, military forces will be used, including preventively, including with the use of nuclear weapons,” Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky said.
The comments from the hawkish Baluyevsky did not appear to mark a policy shift for Russia, whose leaders have stressed the need to maintain a powerful nuclear deterrent and reserved the right to carry out preventive strikes to counter existential threats. But in most of their public remarks about preventive strikes, President Vladimir Putin and other officials have not specifically mentioned the use of nuclear weapons.
Baluyevsky’s remarks came at a time of increasingly strained relations between Moscow and the West, which are at odds over a range of issues and are embroiled in persistent disputes over U.S. plans for missile defense facilities in former Soviet satellite states that have joined NATO as well as alliance members’ refusal to ratify an updated European conventional arms treaty.
Jim Cramer – Market Will Drop 2000 Points In 2-3 Weeks -Video
Jim Cramer spoke out today and said the debt bubble will collapse quickly and he expects the stock market to drop 2000 points sometime in the next few weeks. Watch the entire video the news you want to pay close attention to to comes at about the 3 minute mark.
Morgellons Study Seeks Clues On Skin-crawling Syndrome
Morgellons, a straight-out-of-science-fiction type syndrome will be the subject of a major new study, federal health officials said Wednesday.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has contracted with Kaiser Permanente Northern California to investigate the mystery disease which makes sufferers feel like bugs are crawling under their skin. Symptoms include itching, biting and crawling sensations and red, blue or black filaments that emerge from skin lesions.
“The cause of this condition is unknown,” Dr. Michele Pearson, principal investigator with the CDC, said during a telephone news conference Wednesday. “Those who suffer from this condition, as well as their families and physicians, have questions, and we want to help them find meaningful answers.”
The San Francisco Bay Area is believed to be one of the nation’s hot spots for the malady, according to a patient registry maintained by the Morgellons Research Foundation, an advocacy group. Others include the Los Angeles region, Texas and Florida.
Scientists and doctors continue to debate whether Morgellons (pronounced mor-GELL-uns) represents a real, physical disease or is a type of mental illness. People suffering from the syndrome are typically treated with psychiatric drugs, although one clinic in Texas has treated patients with long-term antibiotics.
In addition to the feeling of bugs crawling under the skin and the mysterious
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fibers, patients also complain of fatigue, joint pain, hair loss, vision problems and difficulty in thinking clearly.
