I certainly hope

that Mr. Webb will give us all a chance to see God's party membership card when it is issued...

God is a Lib Dem, minister says



(Today is a day for light news, I guess...)

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He must have been stunned!

Worker sent to remove graffiti finds image of himself on the same wall hours later

The artist raises a great point at the end of the article. The old argument of art vs. defacement continues...

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It's a terrible thing we do



And we're at it again...

Turtle doves: RSPB launches rescue mission

We're not very good stewards of creation. I certainly wouldn't trust human beings to look after anything more valuable than a used wad of chewing gum. Stories of our profligate ways and our destruction of other animals leaves me so sad. Actually angry first, then sad.

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This is very interesting...

The Raspberry Pi computer goes on general sale

Used monitors, keyboards and mouses can be picked up for nothing from recyclers and landfills. The only thing people will complain about is memory, I suspect...

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Such a peaceful, friendly religion

'Gay people should get the death penalty’: Five Muslim men on trial for stirring up hatred after 'handing out homophobic leaflets near mosque'

Sigh. What is left to say? While this is a small group, how many other Muslims in England (and around the world) feel like sentiments? It seems that their whole approach to the world is to kill anyone who doesn't believe as they do. And they want people to respect their beliefs?

So very sad...

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An interesting note

On this date in 1863 the

London Underground

opened for business. 1863! The industrial age continued for a long time in England...

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History - today

Today, in 1992, the

Hoxne Hoard

was found in Britain. Don't you love archaeology?

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Ummm...

London shooting: Victim 'was holding her baby son'

"A teenager holding her 11-month-old son was injured when she came under fire from a shotgun as she chatted to two friends in west London."

And the perpetrators took off on bicycles. Bicycles? What, they're too young to drive so it would be illegal? As if shooting someone isn't? And I thought gangs were getting bad in Canada...

I'm glad the people who were shot at will be ok, and that the innocent child wasn't hurt.

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This could be problematic for them

Police inquiry over Jehovah's Witness magazine 'mentally diseased' article

"An official magazine for Jehovah's Witnesses that described those who leave the church as "mentally diseased" is at the centre of a police inquiry, it has emerged."

If it were an internal magazine and not sold to people on the streets it might be different...

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The system HAS failed

Labour conference: Miliband war on 'fast buck' society

But that's really just because the system is designed to fail.

It can't work when all the power is invested in the people who have all the money, want all the money, will do anything to get the money, and their supporters are governments and justice systems that benefit from this faulty system. I firmly believe that as long as we have human beings involved in any system, it won't work. It can't. If every person were altruistic then fine, but only a few are, and the rest are out to get everything they can.

And there's the flaw...

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I can sympathize with both sides

Celibacy debate rages, but change unlikely

"Bishop Edward Daly has now added his voice to a growing chorus of Catholic leaders and commentators across the world calling for an end to the church's requirement that priests should remain unmarried and celibate. "

What would married priests do? Would the expectation be that the Church support them with a wife and family as they support them now? Where would the money come from? Would every parish then have to have only one priest (at most) and would that priest have to find another job outside of the church as many of our brethren in Protestant denominations have to when there isn't enough in the parish to pay for the needs of the pastor?

What would happen to Religious orders? Would chastity be out the window? Would they be able to govern themselves and cling to chastity as a vow or would that change as well? And orders of female Religious? Nuns with families? I can see a never-ending nightmare beginning with the removal of the celibacy rules, and I'm not exaggerating. If you think I am, just think of human nature and where the laws in Canada have gone now with the 'personal rights and freedoms' charter. You could not only fear it, but expect it...

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It's not a bad thing

Friday Penance

It appears that the Catholic Church in England has decided that a fast from meat on Fridays is a good way to follow the instructions on a penance that should be performed on this day. While some people may see this as a regression to 'the bad old days', it can also be seen as a reviving of a practice that did a great deal of good, both for the Church and for individuals. This is something that I wouldn't mind being reinstituted in CAnada as well. A good part of the time I try to follow it as a personal act of penance...

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It couldn't happen to a better group

Westboro preachers banned from Aberdeen church protest: Fred Phelps and Shirley Phelps-Roper refused entry into UK

Good. Let the British authorities spend time in litigation with these hate mongers.

Here's more information on the Westboro Baptist Church and Fred Phelps
.

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Belief

is obviously a choice, and things like this prove it...

Pipe-smoking alien crop circle attracts tourists

People could create a crop circle of an alien reading Fortean Times and other people would consider it created by aliens...

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In Britain

it's

A tradition of Church v state

"Rowan Williams's criticism of the government's Big Society policy is by no means the first time the Church of England has entered the political arena."

Obviously, if the reigning Monarch is the head of the Church of England, then separation of the two isn't as easily accomplished...

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I'd hate to live in this place!

Parish 'bullies' force vicar to flee his flock after 'whispering campaign sparked by attempts to modernise Christmas service'

If they treat their own this way they probably still hang, draw and quarter Catholics if they get the chance. No thank you, not even for a holiday...

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History and digging are synonymous

Badge dug up in field is medieval treasure

"Scrap of twisted silver found by metal detector in Lancashire will be part of British Museum's exhibition of reliquaries"

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Well,

this is interesting...

Believing in BBC's ethos is equivalent to a faith, job tribunal rules
 

"Rules to prevent religious discrimination can now also be used to protect a belief in the BBC’s ethos of public service broadcasting, a tribunal has ruled.

Its extraordinary decision elevates the BBC’s core principle to a place in the law equivalent to Christianity."

There are some interesting ramifications to this. I do think the courts in Britain might get involved in it...

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Something I didn't know

First, let's wish

Tony Blair

a Happy Birthday! He was born on this date in 1953. I didn't know that either, but that's not what surprises me. What surprised me was the fact that he was a guitarist and singer in a rock band called Ugly Rumours in his youth. (So what if they only played 6 gigs? I knew there was something about him I liked.)

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Here's someone

who is taking the wedding seriously for different reasons...

Prince William Ate My Religion

"The royal wedding is a reminder of what’s wrong with Anglicanism."

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