Perfection? No …
24-02-2007, 13:27News / SportsPermalink... but how about "expected to live to adulthood"?
Pope speaks out against "designer babies"
ROME (Reuters) - Pope Benedict on Saturday condemned genetic engineering and other scientific practices that allow people to select so-called "designer babies" by screening them for defects.
In a speech to the Pontifical Academy for Life, a Church body of experts, the Pope also attacked artificial insemination and the widespread use of medical tests that can detect diseases and inherited disorders in embryos.
"In developed countries, there is a growing interest for the most sophisticated biotechnological research to introduce subtle and extensive eugenics methods in the obsessive search for the 'perfect child'," the Pope said.
iTunes is currently playing: Lost Child (String Quartet Remix) from the album Moto.Tronic by Ryuichi Sakamoto.
Pope speaks out against "designer babies"
ROME (Reuters) - Pope Benedict on Saturday condemned genetic engineering and other scientific practices that allow people to select so-called "designer babies" by screening them for defects.
In a speech to the Pontifical Academy for Life, a Church body of experts, the Pope also attacked artificial insemination and the widespread use of medical tests that can detect diseases and inherited disorders in embryos.
"In developed countries, there is a growing interest for the most sophisticated biotechnological research to introduce subtle and extensive eugenics methods in the obsessive search for the 'perfect child'," the Pope said.
iTunes is currently playing: Lost Child (String Quartet Remix) from the album Moto.Tronic by Ryuichi Sakamoto.
Comments
Some things are sacred …
23-02-2007, 13:56News / SportsPermalink... and should NOT be tampered with.
We're talking about something you can only buy once a year, after all!
BOO HISS!!!!!!!!
Girl Scouts Cut Trans Fats From Cookies
The Girl Scouts have marked their 90th year in the cookie business by getting most of the artificial fat out of all varieties of their iconic treats, which had been under attack by a few health-focused consumer groups.
[USA Vice President Denise] Pessich said she was confident fans would notice few differences. The recipe changes have also given troop leaders an opportunity to talk more about the importance of eating right, Pessich said.
iTunes is currently playing: Mind Your Own Business from the album 24 Greatest Hits by Hank Williams.
We're talking about something you can only buy once a year, after all!
BOO HISS!!!!!!!!
Girl Scouts Cut Trans Fats From Cookies
The Girl Scouts have marked their 90th year in the cookie business by getting most of the artificial fat out of all varieties of their iconic treats, which had been under attack by a few health-focused consumer groups.
[USA Vice President Denise] Pessich said she was confident fans would notice few differences. The recipe changes have also given troop leaders an opportunity to talk more about the importance of eating right, Pessich said.
iTunes is currently playing: Mind Your Own Business from the album 24 Greatest Hits by Hank Williams.
Set your TiVo!
14-02-2007, 06:56Lit / Art / Music /PhotoPermalinkJennifer Holliday, who played Effie in the original Broadway production of "Dreamgirls," will perform the show's big number, "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going," during E! Entertainment Television's "Countdown to the Red Carpet: The 2007 Academy Awards," airing from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Feb. 25.
iTunes is currently playing: Can't Let Go from the album Heart Still Beating by Roxy Music.
iTunes is currently playing: Can't Let Go from the album Heart Still Beating by Roxy Music.
And who is surprised by this …
01-02-2007, 07:48News / SportsPermalink... after her four-day coronation?
The office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is pressing the Bush administration for routine access to military aircraft for domestic flights, such as trips back to her San Francisco district, according to sources familiar with the discussions.
The sources, who include those in Congress and in the administration, said the Democrat is seeking regular military flights not only for herself and her staff, but also for relatives and for other members of the California delegation. A knowledgeable source called the request "carte blanche for an aircraft any time."
Sources said Mrs. Pelosi's request goes beyond what [former speaker Dennis] Hastert received [following heightened security after 9/11].
iTunes is currently playing: Why Walk When You Can Fly from the album Stones In The Road by Mary Chapin Carpenter.
The office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is pressing the Bush administration for routine access to military aircraft for domestic flights, such as trips back to her San Francisco district, according to sources familiar with the discussions.
The sources, who include those in Congress and in the administration, said the Democrat is seeking regular military flights not only for herself and her staff, but also for relatives and for other members of the California delegation. A knowledgeable source called the request "carte blanche for an aircraft any time."
Sources said Mrs. Pelosi's request goes beyond what [former speaker Dennis] Hastert received [following heightened security after 9/11].
iTunes is currently playing: Why Walk When You Can Fly from the album Stones In The Road by Mary Chapin Carpenter.
R.I.P. Barbaro.
29-01-2007, 10:36News / SportsPermalink
We'll never know what might have been.
iTunes is currently playing: Fragile from the album Flyer by Nanci Griffith.
There is a reason why people wear t-shirts that say …
26-01-2007, 09:11News / SportsPermalink... "I SURVIVED CATHOLIC SCHOOL."
As kids, we were taught primarily by nuns, many of whom were clueless about the emotional needs of children. Most of us can recall incidents in which some child was singled out and publicly humiliated during class in a way that would be considered borderline-abusive today.
I like to think that those days are gone and that children who attend contemporary Catholic schools are being educated by people who understand children. Then I read something like this.
Sigh ... Why not just send your kid to reform school ...
From the Associated Press
January 26, 2007
WARWICK, R.I. — A Roman Catholic elementary school adopted rules this week requiring students to remain silent while eating. The move comes after three recent choking incidents in the cafeteria.
No one was hurt, but the principal of St. Rose of Lima School explained in a letter to parents that if the lunchroom is loud, staff members cannot hear a child choking.
Christine Lamoureux, whose 12-year-old is a sixth-grader at the school, said she respected the safety issue but thought the rule was a bad idea.
"They are silent all day," she said. "They have to get some type of release."
iTunes is currently playing: Don't Talk from the album MTV Unplugged by 10,000 Maniacs.
As kids, we were taught primarily by nuns, many of whom were clueless about the emotional needs of children. Most of us can recall incidents in which some child was singled out and publicly humiliated during class in a way that would be considered borderline-abusive today.
I like to think that those days are gone and that children who attend contemporary Catholic schools are being educated by people who understand children. Then I read something like this.
Sigh ... Why not just send your kid to reform school ...
From the Associated Press
January 26, 2007
WARWICK, R.I. — A Roman Catholic elementary school adopted rules this week requiring students to remain silent while eating. The move comes after three recent choking incidents in the cafeteria.
No one was hurt, but the principal of St. Rose of Lima School explained in a letter to parents that if the lunchroom is loud, staff members cannot hear a child choking.
Christine Lamoureux, whose 12-year-old is a sixth-grader at the school, said she respected the safety issue but thought the rule was a bad idea.
"They are silent all day," she said. "They have to get some type of release."
iTunes is currently playing: Don't Talk from the album MTV Unplugged by 10,000 Maniacs.
More on the discriminatory practices of Congress
26-01-2007, 08:07News / SportsPermalinkFrom the Associated Press
January 26, 2007
WASHINGTON — Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.), a White House hopeful, said Thursday that the existence of the Congressional Black Caucus and other race-based groups of lawmakers amounted to segregation and should be abolished.
"It is utterly hypocritical for Congress to extol the virtues of a colorblind society while officially sanctioning caucuses that are based on race," said Tancredo, who is most widely known as a vocal critic of illegal immigration.
"If we are serious about achieving the goal of a colorblind society, Congress should lead by example and end these divisive race-based caucuses," he said in a letter to Administration Committee Chairwoman Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-Carson).
Amen!
iTunes is currently playing: The Fences from the album Alexei and the Spring by Ryuichi Sakamoto.
January 26, 2007
WASHINGTON — Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.), a White House hopeful, said Thursday that the existence of the Congressional Black Caucus and other race-based groups of lawmakers amounted to segregation and should be abolished.
"It is utterly hypocritical for Congress to extol the virtues of a colorblind society while officially sanctioning caucuses that are based on race," said Tancredo, who is most widely known as a vocal critic of illegal immigration.
"If we are serious about achieving the goal of a colorblind society, Congress should lead by example and end these divisive race-based caucuses," he said in a letter to Administration Committee Chairwoman Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-Carson).
Amen!
iTunes is currently playing: The Fences from the album Alexei and the Spring by Ryuichi Sakamoto.
Apparently racism is ok …
23-01-2007, 06:54News / SportsPermalink... if blacks are the ones doing the discriminating...
Black Caucus: Whites Not Allowed
By: Josephine Hearn
January 22, 2007 08:33 PM EST
Freshman Rep. Stephen I. Cohen, D-Tenn., is not joining the Congressional Black Caucus after several current and former members made it clear that a white lawmaker was not welcome.
The bylaws of the caucus do not make race a prerequisite for membership, a House aide said, but no non-black member has ever joined.
Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., who is white, tried in 1975 when he was a sophomore representative and the group was only 6 years old.
"Half my Democratic constituents were African-American. I felt we had interests in common as far as helping people in poverty," Stark said. "They had a vote, and I lost. They said the issue was that I was white, and they felt it was important that the group be limited to African-Americans."
iTunes is currently playing: The World Isn't Fair from the album Bad Love by Randy Newman.
Black Caucus: Whites Not Allowed
By: Josephine Hearn
January 22, 2007 08:33 PM EST
Freshman Rep. Stephen I. Cohen, D-Tenn., is not joining the Congressional Black Caucus after several current and former members made it clear that a white lawmaker was not welcome.
The bylaws of the caucus do not make race a prerequisite for membership, a House aide said, but no non-black member has ever joined.
Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., who is white, tried in 1975 when he was a sophomore representative and the group was only 6 years old.
"Half my Democratic constituents were African-American. I felt we had interests in common as far as helping people in poverty," Stark said. "They had a vote, and I lost. They said the issue was that I was white, and they felt it was important that the group be limited to African-Americans."
iTunes is currently playing: The World Isn't Fair from the album Bad Love by Randy Newman.
Maybe it’s time for them …
16-12-2006, 14:41News / SportsPermalink... to leave the reservation and assimilate into American society ...
Tribe banking on bird's-eye view of Grand Canyon
HUALAPAI INDIAN RESERVATION, Arizona (AP) -- A struggling Indian tribe is hoping to change its fortunes by luring tourists out over the edge of the Grand Canyon on a glass-bottom observation deck 4,000 feet above the Colorado River. It's called the Skywalk, a horseshoe-shaped walkway that will jut from the canyon's lip and offer the kind of straight-down, vertigo-inducing views that had previously been available only to the likes of Wile E. Coyote.
"We have to do something, and this is something spectacular," said Sheri Yellowhawk, a former tribal councilwoman overseeing the project.
But the $30 million Skywalk, financed by a Las Vegas businessman and set to open in March, has also ignited a debate among Hualapai elders who question whether the prospect of riches is worth disturbing sacred ground. The Hualapai (pronounced WALL-uh-pie) believe their ancestors emerged from the earth of the Grand Canyon, and the area surrounding the project is scattered with the tribe's sacred archaeological and burial sites.
"We have disturbed the ground," said Dolores Honga, a 70-year-old tribal elder who regularly travels to the rim to perform traditional dances. She said workers on the Skywalk site often complain to her about nightmares. Our people, they died right along the land there. Their blood, their bones were shattered. They blend into the ground. It's spiritual ground. This is why you're awakened," Honga said.
But other elders say the Hualapai have to do something to end the despair and joblessness that plague the tribe's 2,200 members, more than a third of whom live below the poverty line.
In 1995, the tribe's only casino folded after foundering for seven months. Tourists were in no mood to travel 21 miles over an unpaved road to gamble on the reservation -- especially not when Las Vegas is just 2 1/2 hours away by car.
iTunes is currently playing: Lost You In The Canyon from the album Burning The Daze by Marc Cohn.
Tribe banking on bird's-eye view of Grand Canyon
HUALAPAI INDIAN RESERVATION, Arizona (AP) -- A struggling Indian tribe is hoping to change its fortunes by luring tourists out over the edge of the Grand Canyon on a glass-bottom observation deck 4,000 feet above the Colorado River. It's called the Skywalk, a horseshoe-shaped walkway that will jut from the canyon's lip and offer the kind of straight-down, vertigo-inducing views that had previously been available only to the likes of Wile E. Coyote.
"We have to do something, and this is something spectacular," said Sheri Yellowhawk, a former tribal councilwoman overseeing the project.
But the $30 million Skywalk, financed by a Las Vegas businessman and set to open in March, has also ignited a debate among Hualapai elders who question whether the prospect of riches is worth disturbing sacred ground. The Hualapai (pronounced WALL-uh-pie) believe their ancestors emerged from the earth of the Grand Canyon, and the area surrounding the project is scattered with the tribe's sacred archaeological and burial sites.
"We have disturbed the ground," said Dolores Honga, a 70-year-old tribal elder who regularly travels to the rim to perform traditional dances. She said workers on the Skywalk site often complain to her about nightmares. Our people, they died right along the land there. Their blood, their bones were shattered. They blend into the ground. It's spiritual ground. This is why you're awakened," Honga said.
But other elders say the Hualapai have to do something to end the despair and joblessness that plague the tribe's 2,200 members, more than a third of whom live below the poverty line.
In 1995, the tribe's only casino folded after foundering for seven months. Tourists were in no mood to travel 21 miles over an unpaved road to gamble on the reservation -- especially not when Las Vegas is just 2 1/2 hours away by car.
iTunes is currently playing: Lost You In The Canyon from the album Burning The Daze by Marc Cohn.
