TWO Star Wars fans yesterday formed a rebel alliance — with a wedding themed on the classic sci-fi films.
Groom Duncan Thomson dressed as space hero Han Solo while Sammi Gardiner turned out as Princess Leia.
Sammi’s meteorite ring was engraved: “May the 4th be with you” — in tribute to the line: “May the force be with you.” A supporting cast of 50 Jedis and Sith Lords saw Chewbacca as best man, while Darth Vader made a speech.
IT worker Sammi, 39, walked down the aisle to John Williams’ famous score.
And Duncan, 41, pledged in his vows: “I promise to protect you from the Dark Side, through hyperspace and into the far reaches of the galaxy.”
They then walked under a lightsaber guard of honour in Shanklin on the Isle of Wight.
The local couple decided on the ceremony as their first date was to see final film Revenge Of The Sith in 2005.
They invited original Han Harrison Ford and Leia actress Carrie Fisher. Director George Lucas sent his apologies.
Duncan said: “We wanted to do something different and they’re just great films.”
Pal Matt Archer, 32 — droid C-3PO — said: “You really believed you were watching Han and Leia getting married.”
KABUL (Reuters) - Bibles in Afghan languages sent to a U.S. soldier at a base in Afghanistan were confiscated and destroyed to ensure that troops did not breach regulations which forbid proselytizing, a military spokeswoman said.
The U.S. military has denied its soldiers tried to convert Afghans to Christianity, after Qatar-based Al Jazeera television showed soldiers at a bible class on a base with a stack of bibles translated into the local Pashto and Dari languages.
Apparently the footage was filmed by a documentary maker a year ago (from the SBS story at least).
Having invading soldiers proselytizing is not a good look.
Eco Sailors Rescued by “Big Oil” Tanker:
6 05 2009
An expedition team which set sail from Plymouth on a 5,000-mile carbon emission-free trip to Greenland have been rescued by an oil tanker.
Raoul Surcouf, Richard Spink and skipper Ben Stoddart sent a mayday because they feared for their safety amid winds of 68mph (109km/h).
All three are reportedly exhausted but safe on board the Overseas Yellowstone.
Mr Surcouf, 40, from Jersey, Mr Spink, 31, and Mr Stoddart, 43, from Bristol, are due to arrive in the USA on 8 May.
The Fleur crew were rescued by the Overseas Yellowstone in strong winds. The team, which left Mount Batten Marina in Plymouth on 19 April in a boat named the Fleur, aimed to rely on sail, solar and man power on a 580-mile (933km/h) journey to and from the highest point of the Greenland ice cap.
But atrocious weather dogged their journey after 27 April, culminating with the rescue on 1 May after the boat was temporarily capsized three times by the wind. Water was also getting into the boat from waves breaking over it and the crew took refuge in the forward cabin.
The crew were 400 miles (644km) off the west coast of Ireland when they sent a mayday to Falmouth coastguards who co-ordinated the rescue with Irish coast-guards.The transfer from the Fleur to Overseas Yellowstone was achieved in 42mph (67km/h) winds.
There’s not a day goes by when something like this doesn’t pop up :
Call for Italian-only public transport seats
Article from: Agence France-Presse
May 09, 2009 04:10am
AN Italian deputy from the anti-immigration Northern League party has sparked controversy after he said public transport seats in his constituency of Milan should be reserved for Italians only.
“Reserve seats for people from Milan, like those reserved for handicapped people and women. Because soon, if immigration does not stop, they (local Italians) will become a minority to protect,” said Matteo Salvini, Milan town councillor and Vice-Secretary for the Northern League.
As condemnation from the left and right parties spread, the head of the Northern League’s local branch said the proposition by Mr Salvini, who is a candidate for the June European elections, was “a joke, a provocation”.
He said he had asked the head of Milan’s transport board to reserve “one or two train carriages” for women irrespective of their nationality, after hundreds complained of experiencing aggression and insults during journeys.
The communist party called Mr Salvini’s proposal “racist”, while the leader of the centre-right Democratic party, Dario Franceschini, described it as “odious” and compared it to laws of former fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.
The Northern League, a junior coalition partner of Silvio Berlusconi’s government, seeks to crack down on clandestine immigration.
Slapping wife for overspending ok - says Saudi judge
Article from: Agence France-Presse
May 10, 2009 06:51pm
A SAUDI judge has told a seminar on domestic violence that it is okay for a man to slap his wife for lavish spending, a local newspaper has reported.
Jeddah judge Hamad al-Razine gave the example of overspending to buy a high-end abaya, the head-to toe black shroud Saudi women have to wear in public, as justifying a smack for one’s wife, Arab News said.
”If a person gives 1,200 riyals (320 dollars) to his wife and she spends 900 riyals (240 dollars) to purchase an abaya from a brand shop, and if her husband slaps her on the face as a reaction to her action, she deserves that punishment,” he said.
The judge’s remarks sparked an outcry at the seminar on the role of judicial and security officials in preventing domestic violence, the paper reported.
The seminar was attended by officials as well as activists on domestic violence, including representatives of the National Family Safety Programme.
Razine acknowledged the depth of the problem of domestic violence, until recently not acknowledged as a serious issue in the ultra-conservative Muslim country, where family problems traditionally remained behind closed doors.
Saudi women have in the past few years become more vocal about the problem of husbands beating wives and fathers mistreating children.
But Razine said some of the blame must be shouldered by wives for their behaviour. “Nobody puts even a fraction of the blame on them,” he said, according to the report.
Just got to love that EU and ALL their ‘stupid’ rules and laws :
‘Move to India or lose your job’
Article from: Agence France-Presse
From correspondents in Toulouse
May 10, 2009 09:30pm
A FRENCH textile firm has caused outrage by telling nine of its workers that they have the choice between the sack and redeploying to an Indian factory and taking a gigantic pay-cut.
Carreman told its workers at a plant in the southwestern town of Castres that it would offer them pay of 69 euros ($A122.37) a month if they moved to Bangalore, union officials said at the weekend.
The minimum legal monthly salary in France is 1,321 euros ($2,342.82).
Francois Morel, the boss of the factory, told a local paper that before being allowed to lay off the workers he was obliged to offer them work elsewhere in the group under legal requirements which he described as “stupid.’‘
CGT union official Edmond Andreu told AFP that the offer had provoked ``anger mixed with stupefaction’’ among workers at the factory, who say it is obvious no-one will take up the proposition.
Workers at the Bangalore factory are paid the equivalent of 69 euros a month for working a six-day week, and get an annual bonus of a month’s pay as well as medical insurance.
The nine Castres workers were also offered free plane tickets and a 1,000-euro bonus for moving.
At least they’re keeping the stand-up comedians supplied with new material to comment on ;)
McDonald’s plans to offer PhDs as part of training
Article from: AAP From correspondents in London May 11, 2009
FAST food giant McDonald’s is hoping to offer PhDs, after receiving approval to award its own nationally recognised qualifications in Britain, the company’s “chief people officer” said.
Speaking to the Financial Times, David Fairhurst said the company’s new power to award qualifications made it “a university in its own right”, and added that the company wanted to award qualifications equivalent to university degrees.
“One day, I’d love to see us doing a PhD, I definitely think we should go as far as we can,” he said.
He cautioned, however, that the company wanted to perfect its current training regimen, which includes courses in shift management that are equivalent in level to high school courses, before putting together a post-graduate qualification.
McDonald’s was one of nine employers or employer groups last year that received the power to award qualifications, which Britain wants to encourage so that more workers will have recognised certificates to increase their employability.
The company has long sought to challenge the perception that it only creates low-level, poorly-paid “McJobs”.
A far north Queensland hospital will investigate a bungle that saw staff declare a woman dead and notify her family, only to realise minutes later she was still breathing.
Rita Ring was admitted to Innisfail Hospital from a local nursing home on May 3, and was wrongly declared dead shortly before midnight.
Staff informed the 92-year-old woman’s next of kin, but had to call back a short time later to inform them there had been a mistake.
Ms Ring died in the hospital three days later.
Innisfail Hospital is investigating the circumstances around the error, and has apologised to the family.
The hospital’s medical superintendent Dr Peter McKenna said all staff involved in caring for Ms Ring were distressed about the incident.
“I can only imagine the distress this situation must have caused the family of the deceased, to be told their loved one had died and then to have that contradicted just a short while later,” Dr McKenna said in a statement.
“I can assure the family that, at all times, their relative was handled with the highest possible level of care and dignity.”
Dr McKenna said declaration of death was “dependent on the absence of a number of key life signs”, which were absent when an experienced doctor examined Ms Ring and certified her dead.
But nurses noted her life signs returned minutes after the doctor had left the room.
Cairns and hinterland district director Dr Neil Beaton said the investigation would examine whether the procedures around declaring the patient deceased were carried out properly.
But Dr Beaton told ABC Radio the signs of life could be “unpredictable” in a very elderly patient.
“The doctor concerned was a very experienced doctor,” he said.
”(Ms Ring) was very seriously ill when she was admitted and arrangements had been made to care for her and make her comfortable.
“We can only say to the family that we would like them to accept our sincere apologies that this has happened.”
Dr Beaton could not confirm reports Ms Ring was being placed in a body bag when nurses realised she was breathing.
He said no action would be taken against the doctor concerned while the investigation, which should be completed within two days, was pending.
A DANISH journalist is to go on trial next week for killing 12 guppy fish with shampoo live on television.
Lisbeth Kloester, a television presenter on the Danish public channel DV1, said she poured a “very diluted” amount of shampoo into a fish tank on a 2004 episode of the consumer affairs show she fronted to demonstrate the level of toxic material in a brand of anti-dandruff shampoo.
“After four days all but one of the fish were dead,” Ms Kloester said.
But a veterinary practioner who saw the show pressed charges for causing unnecessary suffering to animals, an offence under Danish law.
Ms Kloester pleaded not guilty and her lawyer Tyge Trier said he expected his client to be acquitted at the trial on Tuesday.
“The allegations are this experiment caused the fish’s fear and suffering…but expert witnesses told the court on May 12 that this was not the case,” he said.
“Fish are killed by suffocation in industrial fisheries and we throw live lobsters into boiling water, but we don’t press charges against fisherman or restaurant owners,” Mr Trier added.
And here was I thinking that the ad was just ‘descriptive’ of one incident - rather than ‘prescriptive’ of the whole “industry”. So PC of the Salvos to take a backward step instead of growing some ....s and being proud of what they achieved with this young man’s situation :
THE Salvation Army has apologised over an advertisement published in newspapers today which has outraged sex workers.
As the Army band trumpeted, sex workers with placards and red umbrellas stormed the launch of its Red Shield Appeal in Sydney.
The Australian sex workers association, the Scarlet Alliance, was protesting over the Salvos’ ad in newspapers which drew attention to its rehabilitation efforts.
The ad told the story of ‘Rick’, saying: “To get Rick out of prostitution, we had to resort to smuggling.’‘
Scarlet Alliance president Elena Jeffreys said the Salvation Army had exploited the sex worker involved and was encouraging community discrimination against legal prostitution.
“The Salvation Army has shamefully chosen to capitalise on stigma against sex workers in its advertising for their Shield doorknock,’’ Ms Jeffreys, who was allowed to speak at the event, said.
“This is a blatant use of the general community’s unease and misinformation about the sex industry.’‘
Another member of the Scarlet Alliance, Kelly, said the Salvation Army failed to help sex workers when they needed help and ‘Rick’s story’ was akin to kidnapping.
“The majority of sex workers do not need rescuing and the Salvation Army has not assisted sex workers when we have needed support,’’ she said.
“Instead, they are using us to get donations.”
Salvation Army spokesman Major General Philip Maxwell said the organisation apologised for the offence caused and had withdrawn the advertisement.
The doorknock appeal begins on Saturday.
You can see the ad on page 21 of today’s “Tele” and page 6 of “SMH” ( Friday 22 May 2009 ).
This man wants to borrow the pulpit provided by the church, but without paying the church its most basic due. Naturally, this is precisely the kind of taking-the-Christ-out-of-Christian bishop the Sydney Writers Festival gives a pulpit to as well.
Andrew West
May 20, 2009
Richard Holloway says the worldwide Anglican Church has made room for “happy clapping” evangelicals, bells-and-smells Catholics, women priests and, in the United States, openly gay clergy and even practitioners of other faiths. So surely, he argues, it can find room for people like him - Christians who don’t believe in God.
Holloway, contrary to popular belief, has not left the Episcopal Church, as Scottish Anglicanism is known. He may have taken early retirement as Bishop of Edinburgh but the writer remains an ordained priest and consecrated bishop, who still preaches from the pulpit, performs baptisms and weddings and even presides at communion.
“I had a crisis in 1998 and I was in a kind of internal exile for a bit,” he told the Herald yesterday, while en route to Sydney, where he is a speaker at the Sydney Writers’ Festival.
“I am in a slightly mellower place with the church right now. I’ve still got my pilot’s licence, so to speak. They didn’t take it away from me.”
But Holloway has abandoned his belief in - or at least certainty about - God and the afterlife, and is now known as a “Christian agnostic”.
“I am not trying to persuade people in the church to adopt my angle,” he insists. “I just want space enough to be honest about my own convictions. The congregation I belong to in Edinburgh knows my position and is hospitable enough to include me.”
That he still presides at communion - indeed, as recently as three weeks ago - raises the thorny question of how an agnostic, unconvinced about the divinity of Jesus, can consecrate the bread and wine as the body and blood of Christ. Surely, it becomes a mere gesture? “It very much depends on the interpretation you put on it,” he explains.
“I still very much believe in the community of the church. One of the most fundamental strengths of the church, or any religious community, is that it is still an expression of the human family.
“The eucharist [communion], in my understanding, is the family meal. It is the way you express your identity and membership of that body. I happen to believe that it is a beautiful art form as well.”
Holloway - whose most recent book, Between The Monster And The Saint, contemplates the way humans wrestle with their impulses towards evil - sees the church as a valuable institution, as much a social club, welfare organisation and counselling service as a community of believers - or doubters.
He still believes humans should live ethically, as though there is a promise of an afterlife. “What I hold is another great philosopher, [the Spaniard, Miguel de Unamuno], who said, ‘Man is perishing, that may be, but if it is nothingness that await us, let us perish resisting and let us so live that it will be an unjust fate.’ I want people to live as though life had eternal meaning. Even if you don’t believe in a God of unconditional love, choose to live as though there were.”
Richard Holloway spoke at the Sydney Writers’ Festival last Thursday, Friday and Sunday. See swf.org.au.
As our friend Charlie Brown would say ” Good grief ! “
The San Diego official asked the couple: “Do you have a regular meeting in your home?”; “Do you say amen?”; “Do you pray?”; “Do you say praise the Lord?”.
When Pastor David Jones and his wife Mary replied “yes” to these questions, the official told them their meeting was violating county regulations.
A few days later the couple received a written warning accusing them of “unlawful use of land”. It said they could either “stop religious assembly or apply for a major use permit”.
Obtaining such a permit would cost thousands of dollars. Pastor Jones has one for his church building, about three miles away from the couple’s home.
But the couple say their regular Bible study meeting simply consists of around 15 friends gathered in their house for a meal, discussion and prayer.
“Are you telling me I live in an America where I can’t pray with my friends? I would say your authority stops at my door,” Pastor Jones said.
He continued, “This is America, this is supposed to be freedom. I should be able to pray here whenever I want to, 7 nights a week.”
The San Diego authorities have defended their intervention, claiming that the group’s meeting was creating problems for neighbours and adding that people often ‘take it personally’ when presented with such warnings.
But Pastor Jones says his neighbours are supportive, and that the authorities’ letters consistently cited “religious assembly” rather than parking or traffic issues.
The couple have been told they will face successive fines and ultimately court action if they fail to comply.
The couple’s attorney, David Broyles, said “The government may not prohibit the free exercise of religion” and warned that the authorities’ actions were in danger of having a ‘chilling effect’ on other Christian groups.
He asked: “Is this county really going to treat a religious gathering any differently than a boyscout troop or a tupperware party?”
Mrs Jones added: “The implications are great because it’s not only us that’s involved.
“There are thousands and thousands of Bible studies that are held all across the country. What we’re interested in is setting a precedent here — before it goes any further — and that we have it settled for the future.”
In the UK similar stories of Christians facing censure and heavy-handed treatment by local authorities have prompted concerns about the erosion of civil liberties.
Discrimination law expert Neil Addison warned recently that attacks on religious freedom are symptomatic of this wider erosion.
Speaking at the London Oratory Mr Addison said: “We are in a society which is increasingly intolerant, repressive, regulated and untrusting and, in consequence, we have officials who are dictatorial, interfering and untrustworthy.”
He added: “It is no coincidence that the first thing any totalitarian state does is to regulate and control association, organisations and churches.
“We need to be alert to this danger, and we need to defend the rights of churches and other organisations, not simply in order to defend religious freedom but in order to preserve freedom itself.”
I found this via Tom in the Box and my initial reaction was it must be a joke!
A church pastor at the centre of a religious liberty row in America has been told he can continue holding Bible studies in his home while officials decide whether he needs a permit.
It emerged last week that officials from San Diego County, California, had threatened to shut down the informal gathering because it didn’t have a permit for a ‘religious assembly’.
In a warning letter, Pastor David Jones and his wife, Mary, were ordered to “cease/stop religious assembly on parcel or obtain major use permit.”
News of the official warning led to a flood of complaints that the County was stifling the free exercise of religion.
The County’s Chief Administrative Officer, Walt Ekard, has since backed away from the threat to close down the Bible study group.
He said: “I deeply regret that a routine code enforcement issue has transformed into a debate over religious freedom in San Diego County.”
He said the County “has never tried to stifle religious expression and never will.”
“This is a land issue,” he said, and not an issue of religious liberty.
According to reports, the investigation was sparked after a neighbour had complained about traffic and parking issues resulting from the weekly Bible study.
Pastor Jones believes the complaint was prompted when a Bible study member hit a car belonging to his neighbour’s visitor. Mr Jones paid for the car repairs.
But Mr Jones’ lawyer, Dean Broyles, believes the parking issue may be a smokescreen.
When an official first quizzed Mr Jones about the meeting, he demanded to know “Do you have a regular meeting in your home?”; “Do you say amen?”; “Do you pray?”; “Do you say praise the Lord?”.
Mr Ekard is reviewing the official’s actions and re-examining the policies and procedures the County uses “to deal with such complaints.”
If the officer is found to have acted inappropriately, Mr Ekard said he will take action immediately.
While the matter is being examined, Mr Jones and his wife have been told they can continue holding the weekly Bible studies at their home.
Summit to raise concerns about persecution of British Christians
Wednesday, 3rd June 2009. By: Judy West.
Church leaders and politicians are to host a summit in London next month to flag up concerns about the increasing persecutions of Christians in the UK.
The Tory MP Dominic Grieve QC, along with fellow MPs Paul Goodman, Gary Streeter and Paul Rowen, and the Bishop of Manchester, the Rt Rev Nigel McCulloch , are hosting a consultation at the House of Commons in Westminster on July 3 on the ‘Persecution of Christians in the UK’.
Leading Human Rights Barrister, Paul Diamond, and Yaqub Masih, secretary general of the Asian Christian Fellowship, will address a guest list of senior clerics, politicians and Christians who claim they are ‘discriminated against’ by employers, the public sector and local and central government if, in conscience, they share their faith or live it out in the workplace.
The Consultation will also hear ‘evidence’ from Andrea Minichiello-Williams, Director of the Christian Legal Centre which has supported and provided legal counsel to a wide variety of high profile ‘Christian persecution/discrimination’ cases in the past three years. Christians who have been in the media spotlight in recent months will also share their story. Guests will also hear from Professor Peter Wagner from the USA as to how increasing secularism in the USA has impacted freedom of speech and association for Christians in a country believed to be ‘Christian’.
Canon Yaqub Masih said: “Christians in this country are being sidelined and discriminated and even some Pastors have been threatened and beaten, because of preaching the Gospel. I believe it is time for Christians to raise our voices and stand up for our rights and values, which are being sacrificed in the name of political correctness.
“The Asian Christian Fellowship has arranged this consultation to encourage Christians to stand for Christ and Christian Values in this multi-culture and multi-faith Society, and also to raise our concern to the government for what’s happening.”
Citation against couple for Bible study rescinded
2:00 a.m. June 4, 2009
BONITA — San Diego County yesterday rescinded a warning citation issued to the Jones family of Bonita for holding Bible study in their home, and the county’s top administrator issued a formal apology to them.
Pastor David Jones and his wife, Mary, received a warning in April from a county code enforcement officer for hosting “religious assembly” in their home without first obtaining a permit. The Jones maintained that the county’s action violated their First Amendment right to freedom of religion.
Their case garnered international attention. Hundreds of people sympathetic to the Joneses wrote or called the county complaining about its treatment of the couple.
In a letter yesterday, Walt Ekard, the county’s chief administrative officer, offered an apology to the pastor, his wife and their congregation for “the unfortunate events of the past several weeks.”
Ekard assured them that he has directed county officials to review regulations on assemblies to make it clear that meetings, such as Bible studies, “may continue without regulation by the County.”
Ekard closed by stressing that he would “never condone a deliberate attack on religious activity.”
A MEXICAN man who arrived in Rome saying he wanted to become a priest was arrested at the airport with 6.5kg of cocaine, the Telenews agency reports.
The 33-year-old, who flew to Rome from Mexico City via Paris, had concealed the drug in super-thin vacuum packs inside the dust jackets of long-playing vinyl records, the airport news agency said said.
Italian police also arrested a Spaniard who toted some five kilos (11 pounds) of cocaine in an inflatable mattress, Telenews said, without saying when the two men were arrested or how their illicit cargo was discovered.
They just keep coming - these “Eh what ?” articles.
PETA attack Barack Obama for fly killing
Article from: The Associated Press June 18, 2009
PEOPLE for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is upset with Barack Obama killing a fly during a televised interview - and are sending him a parcel to prove it.
PETA is sending President Barack Obama a Katcha Bug Humane Bug Catcher, a device that allows users to trap a house fly and then release it outside.
“We support compassion even for the most curious, smallest and least sympathetic animals,” PETA spokesman Bruce Friedrich said Wednesday. “We believe that people, where they can be compassionate, should be, for all animals.”
During an interview for CNBC at the White House on Tuesday, a fly intruded on Obama’s conversation with correspondent John Harwood.
“Get out of here,” the president told the pesky insect. When it didn’t, he waited for the fly to settle, put his hand up and then smacked it dead.
“Now, where were we?” Obama asked Harwood. Then he added: “That was pretty impressive, wasn’t it? I got the sucker.”
Friedrich said that PETA was pleased with Obama’s voting record in the Senate on behalf of animal rights and noted that he has been outspoken against animal abuses.
Still, “swatting a fly on TV indicates he’s not perfect,” Friedrich said, “and we’re happy to say that we wish he hadn’t.”
Deputy press secretary Josh Earnest said the White House has no comment on the matter.
So apparently ( according to those ‘brainy’ ( and therefore morally superior ) PETA ( “PAN” ) off-with-the-fairies hippies ) those pesky disease carrying flies are now ANIMALS - and not insects. Anyway, you better send the RSPCA to come and arrest me - because my now-Peta-enlightened conscience dictates that I must confess to flagrantly murdering several dozen flies hanging around my guinea pigs’ cages last week. Could someone please come and visit me whilst I am in gaol repenting of my heinous crimes. Perhaps Barack Obama will be my cell-mate - and we can swap tales from our serial killer pasts.
Women becoming more violent towards partners - report
22 June 2009 | Content provided to you by AAP.
SYDNEY, June 22 AAP - It’s been revealed that women are becoming more violent towards their partners.
Figures from the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics show the number of women charged with domestic violence-related assault has increased dramatically.
The figures show 2,336 women faced court on charges of domestic violence in 2007, mainly for bashing their husbands, compared with just 818 in 1999.
News Ltd says men’s groups say they’re happy that police are finally taking men seriously, but it’s still hard for husbands to admit they’ve been attacked by their wives.
Research shows women tend to use guns, knives, boiling liquids and irons to attack their partners.
The increase in violence, which is often fuelled by alcohol, has sparked calls for refuges for men.
Assistant Commissioner Mark Murdoch says there’s no definitive explanation for the increasing number of women being prosecuted for domestic violence offences.
[null]Catholics File Suits on Contraceptive CoverageNew York Times[{}]At least 11 other Catholic and evangelical organizations had already filed lawsuits challenging the birth control mandate, but those cases are still pending. The White House declined to comment on Monday, instead providing President Obama's comments ...
[null]Catholic Groups File Suits on Contraceptive CoverageNew York Times[{}]At least 11 other Catholic and evangelical organizations had already filed lawsuits challenging the birth control mandate, but those cases are still pending. The White House declined to comment on Monday, instead providing President Obama's comments ...
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