It is the race within the race: while rescuers inch towards the trapped miners rival churches tussle over the miracle in the making. Evangelical, Adventist and Catholic clerics are vying to stamp their own particular faith on a surge in religious fervour as the drama nears a climax in Chile's Atacama desert.
The three Christian denominations have each claimed credit for what they say is divine intervention in the survival – and expected imminent rescue – of the 33 men who have spent 67 days beneath the earth.
"God has spoken to me clearly and guided my hand each step of the rescue," said Carlos Parra Diaz, a Seventh-day Adventist pastor at the San Jose mine. "He wanted the miners to be rescued and I am His instrument."
Yards from where he spoke Caspar Quintana, the Catholic bishop of Copiapo, prepared an altar to celebrate an outdoor mass for a small congregation of miners' relatives and phalanx of TV cameras. "God has heard our prayers," said the bishop. "I have received comments of encouragement from all over the world. Let us give thanks."
A litte bit further up the hill of Camp Hope, the improvised settlement of miners' families, rescuers, government officials and media, an evengelical preacher, Javier Soto , wandered from family to family with a guitar and songs of praise. "He listens to the music," said the pastor, gesturing to the azure sky.
Each church has reported a spike in religious faith in Chile and beyond, with candle-lit vigils and online communities following each step of preparations to extract the miners one by one in a capsule dubbed the phoenix.
Diaz, an intense 42-year-old dressed in black, claimed to be the first cleric at the mine and said it was no coincidence an exploration probe reached the trapped men - 17 days after the August 5 collapse - while he was praying above.
"The first probe missed them, they heard it going in the wrong direction, and thought they were doomed, that they'd starve to death. But the second probe went right to them."
Diaz mobilised colleagues in the capital Santiago to find miniature, 7cm-wide bibles to fit into the "pigeon" tubes which delivered supplies to the men below. He sent one to each miner, earning a letter of thanks from Jose Ojeda, the master driller.
None of the miners are Adventists but six have relatives who belong to the church, which believes in the imminent second coming of Christ.
Diaz stole a march over his rivals by obtaining permission to give a 10-minute talk to the assembled 33 families before their nightly briefing by government officials. "I do macro work. I am pastor to all." The other churches, he said, did "micro" work.
The pastor claimed his Catholic rival had trekked up to the bleak, muddy site just three or four times. Bishop Quintana, after concluding a mass in which TV cameras outnumbered worshippers, declined to be drawn on the subject of competition but said he had received supportive emails from all over the world. "What matters is that God is acting through human ingenuity to rescue these men."
Shrines to the men dotted around the site are adorned with statues of saints and posters of religous figures such as Pope John Paul II.
Some members of "los 33" who were not religious before, such as Franklin Lobos, have found faith during their ordeal, said family members. When the mine collapsed dust filled the chamber, blotting out lights, but what appeared to be a "white butterfly" led him to the refuge and safety, said his brother, Manuel Lobos.
"Imagine, a little white thing flitting through all that, leading him to the others. It was a miracle," said Manuel, 67. "A pastor told us that that this was an angel."
I thought it might have had something to do with an international effort, several million dollars and highly skilled, experienced drillers, psychologists, doctors, and engineers all working to find and rescue the miners while communicating with them to make sure they were healthy and handling the stress while they waited. Silly me. Now that I look at it, god must have been involved. That's why it took 2 tries and 17 days to find them, 50 more days to get them out and a failed drill that took over a week to fix. That definitely sounds like god's work.
But then again, this is the same God whose perfect design makes us able to painfully bite the insides of our own mouths, ripping the cunting things to shreds, so you can't expect much.
I honestly don't know where to put this. I'm just posting a link, but it's definitely news.
"Tony Tormenta" an especially violent top member of drug cartel "CDG" was tracked down and killed in a massive gunfight in Matamoros, a mere 100 or so miles from the border.
nearly 10 other firefights erupted at the same time elsewhere in the city.
My guess? Tormenta saw his bad situation and called for a distraction or ten.
The United Nations has removed a plea for lesbians, gays and bisexuals not to be executed in a narrow vote.
For the last 10 years sexual orientation has been included in a list of discriminatory grounds for executions – gay rights activists say the vote to remove that listing is “dangerous and disturbing.”
The UN resolution urges countries to protect the right to life of all people, calling on them to investigate killings based on discriminatory grounds. Sexual orientation was previously listed as one of these forms of discrimination, alongside ethnicity, religious belief and linguistic minorities.
Others protected by the resolution were human rights defenders (like journalists, lawyers and demonstrators), street children and members of indigenous communities.
But now sexual orientation has been taken out of the list. The amendment was supported by Benin in Africa on behalf of the African Group in the UN General Assembly. It passed on a narrow vote of 79 for, 70 against , 17 abstentions and 26 absent.
Some of those voting to remove sexual orientation were countries where gays are known to be or thought to be executed or summarily killed including Iran, Nigeria, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Iraq.
The UK, US, Australia, New Zealand and many European countries voted in favour of gays.
Cary Alan Johnson, Executive Director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, said: “This vote is a dangerous and disturbing development. It essentially removes the important recognition of the particular vulnerability faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people – a recognition that is crucial at a time when 76 countries around the world criminalise homosexuality, five consider it a capital crime and countries like Uganda are considering adding the death penalty to their laws criminalising homosexuality.”
How dare you judge these nation with your western ideals by placing this in the fucked up news thread. You need to learn to be more tolerant of cultures you don't understand.
The boy's family have reported the geography teacher to the police and the courts
The parents of a Muslim boy who attends a secondary school in La Línea, Cádiz province, have reported their son’s teacher for an incident in the boy’s geography class which the child said caused him offence as a Muslim.
The teacher, José Reyes Fernández, with more than 20 years in the profession, was explaining to the class how the cold climate in Trevélez, Granada province, aided in the curing of the village’s most famous local product, jamón serrano. The boy told his teacher that hearing the word ‘ham’ in class was offensive to him because of his religion and asked his geography teacher to stop referring to the product which caused him offence.
El Mundo newspaper reports that the boy’s parents
The teacher, José Reyes Fernández - Photo EFE
then reported the teacher to both the National Police and to the courts. They placed a denuncia against the teacher for psychological ill-treatment in the context of xenophobia and racism.
It’s understood that an internal investigation is also underway by the education authority in Cádiz province, although the regional government, The Junta de Andalucía, has said that it supports the teacher as the complaint is ‘out of place’.
The government’s Minister for Presidency, Ramón Jáuregi, was questioned on the incident in an interview on Onda Cero radio this Monday morning. He described the denuncia as ‘unfounded’ and said there was no hope of it going any further.
HOUSTON (KTRK) -- TSA checkpoints at airports are at the front lines of preventing terrorism. When you go through security, you expect to be scanned and searched. And you expect TSA to prevent contraband from getting on planes, but as we've learned, that doesn't always happen.
Houston businessman Farid Seif says it was a startling discovery. He didn't intend to bring a loaded gun on a flight out of Houston and can't understand how TSA screeners didn't catch it.
Nearing the height of last year's Christmas travel season, TSA screeners at Bush Intercontinental Airport somehow missed a loaded pistol, one that was tucked away inside a carry-on computer bag.
"I mean, this is not a small gun," Seif said. "It's a .40 caliber gun."
Seif says it was an accident which he didn't realize until he arrived at his destination. He says he carries the glock for protection but forgot to remove it from his bag. He reported the incident as soon as he landed, shocked at the security lapse.
"There's nothing else in there. How can you miss it? You cannot miss it," Seif said.
Authorities tell ABC News the incident is not uncommon, but how often it occurs is a closely guarded government secret. Experts say every year since the September 11 attacks, federal agencies have conducted random, covert tests of airport security.
A person briefed on the latest tests tells ABC News the failure rate approaches 70 percent at some major airports. Two weeks ago, TSA's new director said every test gun, bomb part or knife got past screeners at some airports.
"It's very concerning. I'm very scared. First of al, I can't even believe it could happen," traveler Joy Mansfield said.
"It makes you wonder what exactly all the security hoopla is all about if a loaded gun can go through," traveler Leeza Erfesoglou said.
KTRK's Aviation Security Expert Jim Conway says screeners have a demanding job and are susceptible to fatigue, staring for hours at monitors while looking for prohibited items.
"Look, this is simply human error," Conway said. "When something like this happens, it's human error. I mean, these folks are doing the best job they can."
Seif and others say that's not good enough, not when lives are on the line.
A representative for the Houston Airport System would not comment on the security breach at Bush Intercontinental Airport.
A TSA spokesperson says the agency has conducted an investigation, saying remedial training was provided to the security officers involved in the incident. Advanced imaging technology and more stringent pat downs have also since been implemented.
DAMMIT ALL! He was supposed to hide the gun in his crotch, then they'd have found it. You can't expect people to actually watch the x-ray screen, that shit is boring. These guys have gotta meet us halfway here.
Stan Lee Media Suing Founder and Namesake, Stan Lee
Years after the fact, Stan Lee Media Inc. is finally going to get its chance to sue comics legend Stan Lee for improperly transferring rights to his characters.
In an attempt to wrangle back control of many of Lee's characters, Stan Lee Media Inc. has submitted a complaint to the court, claiming to be the rightful owner of the characters currently controlled by Marvel.
The trouble started in 1998, which is when Stan Lee Media Inc. claims Lee transferred ownership of his characters to his company. When the company declared bankruptcy in 2000 Lee moved ownership from it to his other companies, POW! Entertainment and QED Productions.
Eventually, the characters ended up in Marvel's (and by extension, Disney's) hands due to a settlement between Marvel and Lee, and have been there for several years. Marvel has made several movies using the contested characters so losing them would be a heavy blow to the company.
And it is here that the tangled web of lawsuits and bankruptcies gets confusing. Stan Lee Media Inc. was originally a subsidiary of Stan Lee Media (no Inc.), which went bankrupt. Stan Lee Media Inc. argues that all property rights then transferred to the subsidiary company, including the characters signed over by Stan Lee himself in 1998 that were moved to POW! Entertainment, QED Productions, and Marvel. It also contends that Lee signed over all his characters, not just those he created while at Stan Lee Media, and so the characters Marvel currently owns are also at risk.
Finally, after years of bickering, failed lawsuits, and bankruptcies, Stan Lee Media Inc. has gotten the go-ahead from California Federal Judge Stephen Wilson to pursue a lawsuit against Stan Lee, POW! Entertainment, and QED Productions. Oddly, Marvel (and parent company Disney) have been left out of the list of defendants in the suit. I guess I wouldn't want to have to contend with Disney's lawyers, either.
AUSTIN, Texas – Texas is preparing to give college students and professors the right to carry guns on campus, adding momentum to a national campaign to open this part of society to firearms.
Supporters of the legislation argue that gun violence on campuses, such as the mass shootings at Virginia Tech in 2007 and Northern Illinois in 2008, show that the best defense against a gunman is students who can shoot back.
"It's strictly a matter of self-defense," said state Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio. "I don't ever want to see repeated on a Texas college campus what happened at Virginia Tech, where some deranged, suicidal madman goes into a building and is able to pick off totally defenseless kids like sitting ducks."
Guns on campus bills have been rejected in 23 states since 2007, but gun control activists acknowledge it will be difficult to stop the Texas bill from passing this year. "Things do look bleak," said Colin Goddard, assistant director of federal legislation for the Brady Campaign Against Gun Violence, who was in Austin recently to lobby against the Texas bills.
Goddard was a student at Virginia Tech when he was shot four times in his French class. Student Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people, including 10 in Goddard's classroom, before shooting himself. Goddard dismisses the idea that another student with a gun could have stopped the killer.
"People tell me that if they would have been there, they would have shot that guy. That offends me," Goddard said. "People want to be the hero, I understand that. They play video games and they think they understand the reality. It's nothing like that."
But Derek Titus, a senior at Texas A&M who has a state license to carry a concealed handgun, said someone with a gun that day could have improved the chances of survival.
"Gun-free zones are shooting galleries for the mass murderers," Titus said. "We do not feel that we must rely on the police or security forces to defend our lives."
Texas enacted its concealed handgun law in 1995, allowing people 21 or older to carry weapons if they pass a training course and a background check. The state had 461,724 license holders as of Dec. 31, according to the state Department of Public Safety.
Frankie Shulkin, a first-year law student at the University of Texas, said he doesn't think he'd feel safer if other students in his classes had guns.
"If I was taking an exam and knew the person next to me had one, I don't know how comfortable I would feel," Shulkin said. "I am in favor of guns rights and your typical conservative guy, but the classroom thing bugs me."
Wentworth said he heard the "blood on the streets" warnings when Texas first passed the concealed handgun law. "They said we'd have shootouts at every intersection," he said. "None of that has happened."
The picture seriously makes that article. GOD I hate that guy. Texas is retarded.
The same applies here to conceal and carry laws. I don't want to make a blanket statement about all laws, but in this specific instance of discussing university/school regulations, I still believe it will make things more dangerous than before, as I have stated above and as others have stated in other news and commentary sections.
If we're going to exercise discretion, I would suggest using statistics. Compare the amount of school shootings we have had. Let's take April 20, 1999. That was the day of the terrible Columbine School massacre.
Number of schools with a school shooting: 1
Number of schools without a school shooting: ~95,000
*95000 is still an understatement, as this does not include private schools, and I'm not sure if it includes universities. But we'll stick with it.
That is 0.0000105 of all schools that had a school shooting. There was a copycat shooting a few days later at another school (no one was hurt), but that was all of the schools that had a shooting that year. Let's figure out the yearly rate. We shall count by school days, as in every school every day. Since there were approx 95000 schools at this time, every single day has 95000 school days.
Number of school days in 1999 with a school shooting: 2
Number of school days in 1999 without a school shooting: 34,675,000
Now last year in 2008, there were a startling 9 school shootings, but if you still compare this to the grand scheme of other schools every day with no school shooting, it is still by any statistical standard to be not statistically significant.
It is much easier for these numbers to get worse than it is for these numbers to improve.
If you want to buy a gun, then go ahead and buy one (though I do believe gun show loopholes need to be closed up, refer to bastards comment again). But you don't need to bring it to a place that is statistically safe from gun shootings.
Let's think this through hypothetically, let's arm kids, and all of a sudden there's a school shooting. Will the students all turn into super patriotic Jack Bauers and shoot the bad guy(s)?
I think that a lot of deathly scared individuals each armed with the power of a god are going to start shooting hapharzadly in the general direction of a shooter. There's enough chance of hitting an innocent to make me think this is not worthwhile. I'm a decent shot, I've been shooting before and I can land a headshot in a stationary piece of paper in a shooting range when I have all the time in the world to concentrate and relax. I don't think I have the necessary training to handle being shot at and fearing for the lives of my friends or myself, much less if I was in a fit of rage if someone I cared about was injured. I won't delude myself into thinking I can efficiently and immediately take out a shooter if I was in the middle of a scene, and anyone else who thinks they can in their very first gunfight is fucking delusional.
You're never going to be 100% safe. If someone is determined, they will try to hurt people. But that's just something you have to live with, and I think the consequences of arming kids are going to outweigh the benefits.
LAGOS (AFP) – Nigerian police have raided a home allegedly being used to force teenage girls to have babies that were then offered for sale for trafficking or other purposes, authorities said on Wednesday.
"We stormed the premises of the Cross Foundation in Aba three days ago following a report that pregnant girls aged between 15 and 17 are being made to make babies for the proprietor," said Bala Hassan, police commissioner for Abia state in the country's southeast.
"We rescued 32 pregnant girls and arrested the proprietor who is undergoing interrogation over allegations that he normally sells the babies to people who may use them for rituals or other purposes."
Some of the girls told police they had been offered to sell their babies for between 25,000 and 30,000 naira (192 dollars) depending on the sex of the baby.
The babies would then be sold to buyers for anything from 300,000 naira to one million naira (1,920 and 6,400 dollars) each, according to a state agency fighting human trafficking in Nigeria, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP).
The girls were expected to be transferred to the regional NAPTIP offices in Enugu on Wednesday, the regional head Ijeoma Okoronkwo told AFP.
Hassan said the owner of the "illegal baby factory" is likely to face child abuse and human trafficking charges. Buying or selling of babies is illegal in Nigeria and can carry a 14-year jail term.
"We have so many cases going on in court right now," said Okoronkwo.
In 2008, police raids revealed an alleged network of such clinics, dubbed baby "farms" or "factories" in the local press.
Cases of child abuse and people trafficking are common in West Africa. Some children are bought from their families to for use as labour in plantations, mines, factories or as domestic help.
Others are sold into prostitution while a few are either killed or tortured in black magic rituals. NAPTIP says it has also seen a trend of illegal adoption.
"There is a problem of illict adoption and people not knowing the right way to adopt children," said Okoronkwo.
Human trafficking is ranked the third most common crime after economic fraud and drug trafficking in the country, according to UNESCO.
OAK PARK, Mich. (WJBK) - "The price of organic food is kind of through the roof," said Julie Bass.
So, why not grow your own? However, Bass' garden is a little unique because it's in her front yard.
"We thought it'd be really cool to do it so the neighbors could see. The kids love it. The kids from the neighborhood all come and help," she said.
Bass' cool garden has landed her in hot water with the City of Oak Park. Code enforcement gave her a warning, then a ticket and now she's been charged with a misdemeanor.
"I think it's sad that the City of Oak Park that's already strapped for cash is paying a lot of money to have a prosecutor bothering us," Bass told FOX 2's Alexis Wiley.
"That's not what we want to see in a front yard," said Oak Park City Planner Kevin Rulkowski.
Why? The city is pointing to a code that says a front yard has to have suitable, live, plant material. The big question is what's "suitable?"
We asked Bass whether she thinks she has suitable, live, plant material in her front yard.
"It's definitely live. It's definitely plant. It's definitely material. We think it's suitable," she said.
So, we asked Rulkowski why it's not suitable.
"If you look at the definition of what suitable is in Webster's dictionary, it will say common. So, if you look around and you look in any other community, what's common to a front yard is a nice, grass yard with beautiful trees and bushes and flowers," he said.
But when you look at front yards that are unsightly and overgrown, is Bass' vegetable garden really worth the city's time and money?
We asked Rulkowski what he would say to those who feel this is ridiculous.
"I would argue that you won't find that opinion from most people in Oak Park," he responded.
"I have a bunch of little children and we take walks to come by and see everything growing. I think it's a very wonderful thing for our neighborhood," said neighbor Devorah Gold.
"They don't have (anything) else to do (if) they're going to take her to court for a garden," said neighbor Ora Goodwin.
We did find one neighbor who wasn't a fan and thinks it needs to go.
"I know there's a backyard. Do it in the backyard," he said.
"They say, 'Why should you grow things in the front?' Well, why shouldn't I? They're fine. They're pretty. They're well maintained," said Bass.
It looks like this critical debate is headed for a jury trial and neither side is backing down.
"I could sell out and save my own self and just not have them bother me anymore, but then there's no telling what they're going to harass the next person about," Bass told us.
There's another pretrial scheduled for July 26. The next step could be a jury trial.
Just move the fucking garden. Zoning laws are up for debate at public meetings on a regular basis. That's the time to argue for allowing vegetable gardens in front lawns. The town officials have no choice but to enforce the code. They're not wasting the town's money, she is.
I like gardens, but it's not like she wasn't given fair warning that she was breaking the law (even if it is a flimsy, poorly-written, silly law). I suppose she could fight it in court if she wants to get the law changed.
Comments
"Tony Tormenta" an especially violent top member of drug cartel "CDG" was tracked down and killed in a massive gunfight in Matamoros, a mere 100 or so miles from the border.
nearly 10 other firefights erupted at the same time elsewhere in the city.
My guess? Tormenta saw his bad situation and called for a distraction or ten.
Borderland Beat
Also, "People who don't like others laughing at their beliefs shouldn't have such funny beliefs".
I'm allowed to further the joke, right?
Muslim pupil offended by the word 'jamón' in class in Cádiz
This is just people being outright intolerant.
Yeah I did just pull it from some other site, but I suck at reporting.
The picture seriously makes that article. GOD I hate that guy. Texas is retarded.
Edit: Also: