mightychurch.com

http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/ipad/four-injured-in-ipad-fight-at-apple-store-20110508-1edx2.html

Four injured in iPad fight at Apple store

SMH - May 9, 2011 - 8:28AM

Four people were taken to hospital and a glass door smashed as a near-riot broke out at Beijing’s top Apple store among crowds rushing to snap up the popular iPad 2 tablet computer, according to state press.

A Chinese man told the Associated Press he saw a fight between an Apple store employee and a customer amid a frenzy to buy the newly launched iPad 2.

Thirty-year-old Wang Ming said Saturday’s scuffle at the Apple store in Beijing’s Sanlitun district was between a “foreign” Apple staffer and a Chinese customer. He said he heard that the customer had cut into a line and was a scalper.
Photos taken in the aftermath of the scuffle showed Wang and another man with a wound on his back lying on the ground outside the shop and the store’s glass front door shattered.

Wang says he was passing by when a bottle hit his head, causing a gash.

Angry consumers began rushing the store on Saturday afternoon after a “foreign” Apple employee allegedly stepped into the crowd to push and beat people suspected of queue jumping, the Beijing News said.

After the employee retreated back into the store, a crowd of consumers smashed the glass front door and shoved security guards as they surged forward in anger over the alleged beatings, the report said.

Consumers have lined up for hours at Apple stores in Beijing and Shanghai since the iPad 2, the updated version of the tablet computer, went on sale in the world’s biggest internet market on Friday.

The store in Beijing’s chic Sanlitun commercial district closed early Saturday because of the altercation, but according to a voice recording on the store’s phone was open for business Sunday.

Apple officials were not immediately available for comment when telephoned.

Police were investigating the incident and have interviewed four people hospitalised with injuries, the Beijing News said.
Lines for the popular iPad 2 have grown so long that people have begun selling their places in the queue, while a secondary market has also developed with consumers reselling their tablet computers for profit after leaving the store, the report said.

Late Saturday, the store posted a notice saying that queue jumping and the unauthorised sales of Apple products would not be tolerated, the paper said.

AFP and AP

I thought they were just throwing apples at each other ;)

” people have begun selling their places in the queue” - so CAPITALISM has finally taken precedence over COMMUNISM ;)

HOT OFF THE PRESSES comes something that sounds like a “GOONS” script :

link

Chinese watermelons explode

From correspondents in Beijing From:AP May 17, 2011 4:38PM

THE overuse of a chemical that helps fruit grow faster is causing a rash of exploding watermelons in eastern China.

An investigative report by China Central Television airing today found farms in Jiangsu province were losing acres of fruit to the problem. It said farmers sprayed too much growth promoter, hoping they could get fruit to market ahead of season and make more money.

China is battling rampant misuse of pesticides, fertilizers and food additives, like dyes and sweeteners, meant to make food more attractive and boost sales.

Atheist business vows to rescue pets on May 21 in case of Rapture, and owners ascend to heaven :

Atheist business vows to rescue pets on May 21 in case of Rapture, owners ascend to heaven

BY LINDSAY GOLDWERT       DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER     Thursday, May 19th 2011

If a group of Christian fundamentalists is correct, we may be headed for the pearly gates or the fires of hell on May 21.

Luckily for those concerned, there are businesses dedicated to looking after Fluffy and Fido when the lucky few ascend to heaven.

“You’ve committed your life to Jesus. You know you’re saved. But when the Rapture comes, what’s to become of your loving pets who are left behind?” Eternal Earth-Bound Pets says on its website, offering to “take that burden off your mind.”

The post-doomsday pet rescue service, comprised of sworn atheists, already has 259 clients who have paid $135 for the first pet and $20 for each additional pet at the same address.

You can trust an aetheist, according to Eternal Earth-Bound Pets.

“Being an atheist does not mean we lack morals or ethics. It just means we don’t believe in God or gods. All of our representatives are normal folks who love and live for their family, are gainfully employed, and have friends of varying beliefs. Some of us are married to believers,” it reads on the site’s FAQ. “We fully endorse the “Rule of Reciprocity,” also known as ‘The Golden Rule.’”

The funds will ensure that the pets are looked after and loved even when their Christian owners are at God’s side.

When Judgment Day occurs, Eternal Earth-Bound Pets co-founder Bart Centre “will notify all of our rescuers to go into action and they will drive to the homes of anyone who has signed a contract with us, pick up their pets and take them home and adopt them as their own, keeping them happy and healthy for the rest of their lives.”

“This will happen only if and when the Rapture happens. So we do not expect to have to do anything on Saturday,” Centre told AFP.

Then again, if the Rapture occurs on May 21, then these adoptive pet owners really only have to look after their charges for a few months.

Those who believe in Judgment Day predict that Earth will be destroyed by fire on Oct. 21.

link

Another day, another cult. This time it’s some deluded brain-dead Greenies in Melbourne.

Yarra Council planning on charging $105 per outdoor heater to try and force cafe’s to provide blankets instead!  How many people interviewed in this news clip voted for the Greens? Just wondering….

Anger over outdoor heater tax :
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/video.aspx?videoid=a2b83dc1-15d0-46c3-b8e2-08246076a627

Wow - another self deluded FAKE exposed. Who would have guessed ?

link to whackos

Well goodness gracious me !

Heroin worth $1.3m concealed in SA bibles       From: AAP May 31, 2011

A 31-YEAR-OLD Indian national has been charged with importing $1.3 million of heroin concealed in bibles sent to an address in Renmark, in South Australia’s Riverland.

Australian Customs officials said on February 20 an international mail parcel containing 29 Bibles was examined by border protection officers at the Sydney international mail gateway facility.

Eight of the Bibles were found to be hollowed out and contained packages wrapped in carbon paper and plastic.

“Further investigations revealed the packages contained approximately 900 grammes of a light brown granular powder which tested positive for heroin,” a customs spokesman said.

The drugs were estimated to have a street value of about $1.3 million, though tests were continuing to determine the exact weight and purity of the drugs.

The Indian man was arrested when he arrived at Adelaide Airport yesterday.

He was charged with importing a marketable quantity of a border controlled drug and faces a maximum jail term of 25 years as well as a $550,000 fine.

link

Well I’ve seen numerous CSI episodes which regularly involve drug-smuggling in dolls and innocent toys, but in Bibles?!

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/breaking-news/man-rescued-after-being-instructed-by-god-to-swim-to-new-yorks-liberty-island/story-e6freuyi-1226070001501

Man rescued after being ‘instructed by God’ to swim to New York’s Liberty Island

By staff writers at the New York Post       From:NewsCore       June 06, 2011

United States Park Police rescued a swimmer today after he dove into the frigid waters of New York Harbour on what he claimed was mission from God.

The unidentified 29-year-old man stripped down to his swimmers, stretched out and then dove from a Liberty State Park footpath in front of stunned park-goers about 4.30pm local time, authorities said.

But the onlookers amazingly never bothered to call for help as he attempted a three-quarter mile swim to Liberty Island, authorities said.

It wasn’t until 45 minutes later that a witness spotted him floundering and called for help.

US Park Police dispatched a rescue vessel and within a minute they caught up to the man about a quarter mile from Liberty Island, shivering and fighting the tide, which threatened to sweep him out to sea.

“When we got to him he was shivering like a leaf and the tides were taking him away from Liberty Island,” said United States Park Police Officer Kurt Ziel, who responded to the call along with fellow US Park Police Officers Eddie Scocco and Christopher Murphy.

“He said God told him to swim to Liberty Island,” said Ziel. “He said he would rather drown than get on the boat.”

After brief negotiations, the exhausted swimmer climbed aboard the rescue craft and he was taken back to Liberty State Park, where an ambulance was waiting. He was taken to Jersey City Medical Centre for psychiatric evaluation, authorities said.

I prefer the header in the New York post :

Instructed ‘by God,’ nut rescued in swim to Liberty Island

link

link

Court sentences dog to death by stoning
From:AFP     June 18, 2011

A JERUSALEM rabbinical court has condemned to death by stoning a dog it suspects is the reincarnation of a secular lawyer who insulted the court’s judges 20 years ago.

According to Ynet website, the large dog made its way into the Monetary Affairs Court in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighbourhood of Mea Shearim in Jerusalem, frightening judges and plaintiffs.

Despite attempts to drive the dog out of the court, the hound refused to leave the premises.

One of the sitting judges then recalled a curse the court had passed down upon a secular lawyer who had insulted the judges two decades previously.

Their preferred divine retribution was for the lawyer’s spirit to move into the body of a dog, an animal considered impure by traditional Judaism.

Clearly still offended, one of the judges sentenced the animal to death by stoning by local children.

The canine target, however, managed to escape.

“Let the Animals Live”, an animal-welfare organisation, filed a complaint with the police against the head of the court, Rabbi Avraham Dov Levin, who denied that the judges had called for the dog’s stoning, Ynet reported.

One of the court’s managers, however, confirmed the report of the sentence to Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot.

“It was ordered… as an appropriate way to ‘get back at’ the spirit which entered the poor dog,” the paper reported the manager as saying, according to Ynet.

Certain schools of thought within Judaism believe in the transmigration of souls, or reincarnation.

Mark Driscoll and Fred Phelps ....

 
Church welcomes Westboro protests, even though they deeply disagree
By Eric Marrapodi, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor         June 17th, 2011

(CNN)–When Westboro Baptist Church protesters roll into any given town, most places don’t exactly put out the welcome mat, until this Sunday.

“This False Prophet and His Blind Lemmings Welcome You to Our Whore House for God’s Grace and Free Donuts,” Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle announced on his blog this week after learning that Westboro plans to picket one of his churches on Father’s Day.

Driscoll is a popular pastor in the Pacific Northwest. He heads a group of multisite churches that regularly draw 10,000 parishioners a week across 10 locations. He preaches live at one location, and his sermons are sent out by video to the other locations the following week, when the services are held with live music and another onsite pastor.

Driscoll, a popular author and speaker, is “Christian-famous,” which appears to have led to the protest.

Driscoll found out about it when someone posted a link on his Facebook wall.

“At first I thought maybe it was a joke,” Driscoll said. “A church picketing a church seems peculiar.”

In turns out it was not a joke, so Driscoll said his church plan to roll out the welcome mat.

“They need Jesus too, maybe as bad as anyone on the Earth. As a church, we’re called to love people. They’re people, so they make the list.”

Some towns have gone so far as to create laws barring Westboro Baptist Church from protesting military funerals. Bikers have shown up with huge American flags and revved their engines to drown out their shouts, and counterprotesters have donned giant angel wings to block the protesters from the mourners’ view.

”We need to be nice to these people, go out shake their hands, say hi, give them a bite to eat, cup of coffee and just try to be friendly and nice. The last thing I want is for our people to get into a shouting match with a bunch of crazies,” Driscoll said.

Topeka, Kansas-based Westboro was started by Fred Phelps in 1955 and is best known for protesting soldiers’ funerals carrying signs that say “God Hates Fags,” and “Thank God for dead soldiers.” It says on its website that it is an “Old School (or, Primitive) Baptist Church,” though it has no known ties to any broader national Baptist denomination.

Phelps told CNN in 2006, “You can’t preach the Bible without preaching the hatred of God.”

The church’s membership is small and mainly made of Phelps family members.

They are regularly sued for defamation but often win those cases. Last year, one such case went all the way to the Supreme Court, where the justices upheld their right to free speech. One of Phelps’ daughters, a Harvard Law-trained attorney, represented the family before the court.

Its website, Godhatesfags.com, says the church will picket the Mars Hill Church site in Auburn, Washington. Mars Hill officials said that probably means their Federal Way campus, where about 600 people come to services each week.

Detective Jeff Kappel, a Seattle Police Department spokesman, said officers know the church is coming Sunday and said their city is more than familiar with protesters of all sorts.

“We’re not going to infringe on anyone’s First Amendment rights as long as no one is violating the law. If they’re protesting peacefully within the bounds of the law, they’re more than welcome to express their First Amendment rights.”

Westboro Baptist said in the announcement about the protest that it is picketing Mars Hill Church because “they teach the lies that God love (sic) everyone and Jesus died for the sins of all of mankind. You have caused the people to trust in lies to their destruction, and to your damnation.”

“For us, we do believe in judgment, but we believe God is the one who judges ultimately,” Driscoll said. Some moral judgments along the way notwithstanding, he said, “whether or not people are going to go to heaven or hell, that’s God’s judgment, not our judgment. Ultimately, heaven is God’s house. He gets to determine the guest list.”

Driscoll said the sermon this week will be pre-taped, in part so he can attend a baseball tournament his son is playing in. The message, he said, comes from the Gospel of Luke and is about Zacchaeus, a crooked tax collector who found redemption.

“He was a total con man. Jesus became friends with him, and he became a Christian. Then his heart changed, and he paid everyone back he had ripped off and made a public apology,” Driscoll explained. The religious leaders of the day weren’t thrilled, he said.

“They were all basically protesting that Jesus loved this guy. He didn’t deserve to be loved. The point is, no one is. Jesus loves just because he’s loving, not because we’re lovable.”

Therein lies the difference between Mars Hill Church’s theology and Westboro.

“It’s kind of funny,” Driscoll said. “They’re showing up on the Sunday where the story is, Jesus loved a really bad guy, and the religious people stood around and protested.”

link

Who Are History’s Greatest Heretics?
JUN 23 2011,
[Courtney Knapp]

Three hundred and seventy eight years ago today, the Roman Inquisition forced Galileo Galilei to recant his heliocentric views as written in Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems. Galileo spent the rest of his life under house arrest and died in 1642.

Unsurprisingly, the Catholic Church wasn’t ready for Galileo’s controversial views but Galileo famously complained that even other scientists and philosophers who opposed his discoveries refused to look through his telescopes.

My dear Kepler, I wish that we might laugh at the remarkable stupidity of the common herd. What do you have to say about the principal philosophers of this academy who are filled with the stubbornness of an asp and do not want to look at either the planets, the moon or the telescope, even though I have freely and deliberately offered them the opportunity a thousand times? Truly, just as the asp stops its ears, so do these philosophers shut their eyes to the light of truth.”

It took the Catholic Church 359 years to correct their mistake. In 1992, Pope John Paul II vindicated Galileo and in 2000 a formal apology was issued by the church. Scientists were quicker to realize their mistake. 

link

“It took the Catholic Church 359 years to correct their mistake” :

-  You just gotta admire the speed of radical ecclesiastical progress !

Hillsong makes a song and dance over satirical lyrics and calls in lawyers .  Seems that someone doesn’t have a sense of humour anymore. But resorting to threats of legal action seems over the top and looks more like an action that cults would indulge in .....

Hillsong makes a song and dance over satirical lyrics and calls in lawyers
Andrew Hornery SMH   June 25, 2011

WITHIN opera circles, Stuart Maunder is known as ‘‘Australia’s Mr Gilbert & Sullivan’‘, but the accolade has failed to impress the Hillsong Church.

The evangelists called in lawyers after Hillsong featured in Maunder’s satirical rendition of The List from The Mikado at the Sydney Symphony’s Gilbert & Sullivan Spectacular last Saturday. He was portraying Ko-Ko, the executioner who draws up a list of potential clients ‘‘who would not be missed’‘.

Maunder has performed the humorous song many times, tweaking it to embrace contemporary events. No one was safe. Not Alan Jones, Tony Abbott or Julia Gillard. ‘‘That shock jock journalist, gorgeous Gloria’s on my list,’’ he sang. ‘‘And that politician prancing around in Speedos tightly packed, he thought it cool, but really, it just showed us what he lacked.’‘

’‘Canberra’s favourite red-head, who is afraid of sticky beaks, who would like to keep her fumbles and mistakes from WikiLeaks.’’ The house roared with delight.

But it was when Maunder sang: ‘‘That Hillsong lot on television, all joyfully singing psalms, I wish they would desist, and their happy claps resist’’ that ears were pricked. A legal letter was sent from Hillsong’s lawyers to the Sydney Symphony, demanding a copy of the lyrics.

’‘There is one reference to Hillsong in what is a very jovial song … It was very tongue-in-cheek. If you are in the public arena, you are fair game,’’ Maunder told the Herald yesterday. ‘‘I’m very surprised anyone would have taken offence. It’s affectionate and charming. It would be a mistake to say there was any malicious intent.’‘

The symphony’s managing director, Rory Jeffes, confirmed its lawyers had responded to the legal letter, adding a video was online. A Hillsong spokesman did not return the Herald’s calls.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/private-sydney/hillsong-makes-a-song-and-dance-over-satirical-lyrics-and-calls-in-lawyers-20110624-1gjma.html#ixzz1QFSGgtco

US Evangelist Jason Hooper claims he’s on a mission from God .....

Sunday Telegraph June 26, 2011

A VISITING American evangelist who claims healing powers has walked from a NSW court without even a fine despite driving 110km blind drunk and crashing into a parked car.

Self-claimed “prophet of God” Jason Hooper - touring with Hillsong protege Ben Hughes - declared God had forgiven him for his double-shot whisky binge that ended in a mangled wreck on the Mid North Coast.

“I’ve worked it out with the Lord. I was wrong,” Hooper told The Sunday Telegraph.

It was a miracle the Christian revivalist, with a huge following in the US, didn’t cause further turmoil on the Pacific Highway earlier this week after driving with a blood alcohol level of .206.

Hooper not only had God on his side but magistrate Wayne Evans who let him go, saying the preacher was a “person of good character” under a lot of “ministerial pressure”.

The decision disgusted local police, who said Hooper could have been sent to jail for 18 months but got off with “a slap on the wrist”.

The disgraced and dishevelled preacher, who claimed God had forgiven him for his terrible sins, also found he had the court on his side, escaping without a fine after he was involved in a crash with another car…......

Makes one wonder just how many other ministers are under such a lot of ‘ministerial pressures’ that they indulge in a “double-shot whisky binge” before driving on our highways? Must be metholated spiritualists ;)

Read the rest of the article to see how Hooper got a ‘miracle’ judgement which has upset police and road safety campaigners because of it’s leniency.

link

Insanity :

One of ( New Zealand’s ) most notorious criminals has been awarded $3500 compensation - for breach of privacy and hurt feelings.

The man, who is currently serving a prison sentence, has been convicted of crimes including attacking a police officer, unlawful possession of firearms, aggravated robbery, theft, burglary and trying to escape from custody.

But he took umbrage when he learned that the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) had wrongly listed him as having a conviction under the heading of “domestic violence”.

“I have never been convicted of domestic violence,” he told MSD officials.

“Indeed, the only violent offence I have ever been convicted of was for aggravated assault on a police constable.” ............

full story at :  http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10739008

????

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/breaking-news/couple-grief-stricken-over-loss-of-toy-monkey/story-e6freuyi-1226108741684

Couple grief-stricken over loss of toy monkey
By the New York Post     From:NewsCore       August 05, 2011

THE loss of a child is every parent’s worst nightmare, a grief-stricken New York City couple said - even when the “kid” is a stuffed toy monkey.

Jack Zinzi, 58, and Bonni Marcus, 47, went bananas with grief after their beloved Bongo vanished in Brooklyn this week, plastering the Park Slope neighbourhood with signs offering a $US500 reward for his return, the New York Post reported today.

“It’s heartbreaking,” Mr Zinzi said. “It’s like losing a child. We take him everywhere we go, we talk to him. We even love to stand him up and make him dance and come alive.”

Bongo is always by their side, accompanying the couple on trips to Coney Island and around the world, he said.

But their constant companion mysteriously vanished at around 7pm local time on Sunday as the couple headed to a favourite Park Slope restaurant. They suspect poor Bongo fell out of Mr Zinzi’s pocket. “Please Help Me Get Home,” read fliers Mr Zinzi posted.

The apartment-building manager described the 20cm tall Beanie Baby as having furry peach skin, a tail, black eyes and a stitched smile.

Ms Marcus, a teacher, says she and Mr Zinzi have a “spiritual connection” with Bongo and that losing him put a strain on their relationship.

She said Bongo’s three siblings - three Beanie Babies identical to Bongo named Doe, Ray and Me - are also suffering.

“The head of the family is gone,” she lamented.

Mr Zinzi bought the monkey 10 years ago for $US8 at a discount store.

The doll stood out from other stuffed animals in a barrel, and he “knew it would be a great gift for Bonni”, he said. Even when temporarily broken up a few times, they shared joint custody of Bongo.

“I’m not sure if I should laugh or cry,” said Ralph Mallone, a security guard in Park Slope. “But, really, I feel bad for them ... buying another stuffed animal probably won’t make up for their monkey.”

“The head of the family is gone”    :
Who could possibly disagree with that ? I would rather have called Bongo the brains of the family.

Psalm 135v18 says this about idols:
“Those who make them will be like them,
  and so will all who trust in them. “
Ample proof here, I think.
 
Thanks for the morning cup of crazy!

The lady’s sign says it all ... “I’m lost”. As for me, I’m speechless - for once.  ;)

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/godless-ethics-led-to-nazism—nile-20110805-1iepq.html

Godless ethics led to Nazism: Nile

August 5, 2011

Conservative crossbench MP Fred Nile has introduced his private member’s bill to abolish school ethics classes, arguing the course is based on a philosophy linked to Nazism and communism.

The Christian Democratic Party MP told the upper house his bill would abolish ethics classes in public schools at the end of this school year, saying that with just 2700 students enrolled, the program had been a failure.

Ethics classes were introduced by the former Labor government as an alternative for children who did not want to attend traditional scripture classes.

The Reverend Nile provoked anger among Greens and Labor MPs when he said the “dangerous” secular humanist philosophy taught in the ethics course had led to the worst atrocities committed during World War II.

“It’s relative ethics, which is the basis of secular humanism and I believe ... this is the philosophy we saw during World War II with the Nazis and with the communists,” Mr Nile told the Legislative Council today.

“Situation ethics, as I see it, was followed by other regimes such as the Nazis and communists.

“Situation ethics means nothing is right and nothing is wrong ... Therefore, you can kill human beings without any embarrassment and any reservations.

“It’s a very dangerous philosophy.”

Mr Nile had threatened to withdraw his support for the government’s public-sector wage changes if it did not abandon the school ethics classes.

However, Premier Barry O’Farrell negotiated a truce last week by promising to have Mr Nile’s private member’s bill considered by the Coalition party room and cabinet.

Mr O’Farrell has repeatedly said the government had no intention of breaking an election pledge and scrapping the ethics classes.

In his speech to the upper house on Friday, Mr Nile denied blackmailing the O’Farrell government over the ethics classes, and said the issue of the industrial relations changes was not even raised at the meeting last Thursday.

“I have not sought to blackmail the coalition government,” he said.

“I simply reminded them before they flatly rejected my ethics repeal bill that they should consult and they need our votes to pass their legislation, particularly the controversial industrial legislation.”

Debate on Mr Nile’s bill has been adjourned to September 16.

Greens and Labor MPs said the government’s decision to allow the early introduction of the ethics bill today was a sign a deal had been reached to ensure Mr Nile’s support for their public sector wages cap.

“Barry O’Farrell continuously denies he has a deal with Fred Nile, but today we saw what looked like the first downpayment on what is 30 pieces of silver,” Greens MP John Kaye said.

Opposition Leader John Robertson said Mr Nile’s comments showed how ridiculous the debate on ethics had become.  “Fred Nile’s comments like that just show the sheer desperation and how ludicrous the debate is when it comes to ethics,” he said.
“I just think it’s extraordinary that you’d see someone in the middle of a debate on ethics even raising Nazis and communists in that context.”

Mr Robertson said it appeared Mr O’Farrell had done a deal with Mr Nile in having debate on his bill delayed until September.
“What we are seeing is more evidence in an extraordinary set of events,” he said.

“This is clear evidence that there is a deal being done.”

I guess Fred Nile doesn’t know about Godwin’s Law. 

http://xkcd.com/261/