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[Carlos Spicy Wiener]

post World News For All Of Us To Discuss And To Enlighten Our Minds..........anything Goes!Crazy news to world events!

[Carlos Spicy Wiener]

Vandals have desecrated about 70 graves in two Palestinian Christian cemeteries in what a Palestinian Authority official said was a rare attack on the Christian minority in the occupied West Bank.


A church official in the village of Jiffna near Ramallah, where the attack took place, called in Palestinian security officials to investigate, but neither he nor the investigators said they had any initial clues who was responsible.

"This unfortunate incident has brought Muslims and Christians closer and many from the Muslim community have shown solidarity with us and have condemned this action," said George Abdo, Greek Orthodox Church official.

He said grave stones had been smashed and metal and stone crosses knocked off graves in the attack, which was discovered on Sunday. The head and a hand of a statue of the Madonna adorning one of the graves were also broken off.

Mr Abdo said it was the first time such an incident had occurred in the village.

Issa Kassissieh, a Palestinian Authority official and adviser to President Mahmoud Abbas on Christian affairs, said he believed it was "an isolated act against Christian symbols".

"Palestinian Christians and Muslims have always lived in harmony in the Holy Land," Kassissieh said.

Jiffna, northeast of Ramallah, is home to some 1,600 inhabitants, about two thirds of whom are Christians from the Greek Orthodox and Catholic communities.

The Palestinian Authority says 50,000 of the West Bank's 2.5 million Arab population are Christians.

Though statistics are unclear, officials say many Christians have emigrated in recent decades. Most cite economic hardships under Israeli occupation, though some also voice fears of less tolerant forms of Islam growing among Palestinians, who in 2006 gave a parliamentary majority to the Islamist movement Hamas.

During a visit this month Pope Benedict tried to soothe Muslim anger over past remarks on Islam and urged Palestinian Christians not to follow others in emigrating abroad.

[Carlos Spicy Wiener]

The Church of Scientology faces being thrown out of France if it is found guilty of organised fraud in a landmark trial which opened in Paris.



The charges, which also include claims of illegally prescribing drugs, were filed by France's professional pharmaceutical association and two women who accuse the Scientologists of bringing about their financial ruin.

One woman claimed she was psychologically pressured into paying thousands of pounds for lessons, books, drugs and a device called an "electrometer" which the church says can measure a person's mental state.

The church's main structure in France, the AGES-Celebrity Centre, and its bookshop face charges of "organised fraud", along with six of its leaders.

The six, including Alain Rosenberg, 60, the manager of the AGES-Celebrity Centre, face a maximum million-euro fine and ten year jail term if convicted. The church itself faces a five million-euro fine and closure.

The case has taken ten years to come to court.

Scientology is not banned in France but has been considered a sect since 1995.

It is a recognised religion in the United States, where it was founded in 1954 by L. Ron Hubbard, the science fiction writer. Followers include Hollywood stars Tom Cruise and John Travolta.

This is only the second time the church itself has been targeted in France. All other trials have been of individuals.

One of the female plaintiffs, Aude-Claire Malton, was allegedly approached by Scientologists in a Paris street in 1998 and offered a personality test, which, according to the prosecution were "void of scientific value". The Scientologists' sole aim, they argued, was to "claim their fortune" by "exercising a psychological hold" over her.

The 33-year old was allegedly gradually persuaded to hand over around ?20,000 on books, communication and "life healing" lessons, as well as "purification packs".

Three other former Scientologists retracted their complaints after reportedly reaching an out-of-court financial settlement with the church.

One reportedly received 33,000 euros (?29,000).

The Church of Scientology said: "It's a trial for heresy: this could only happen in France... Let people choose their own path." The body's lawyer, Patrick Maisonneuve, said that all organisations contained "lost sheep" ? including the Catholic Church ? but "the only question in this trial is: was there embezzlement ? certainly not whether Scientology is a religion or not".

The trial runs until June 10.

The Church of Scientology has powerful supporters in the US, notably Tom Cruise, the film star, who discussed his beliefs with Nicolas Sarkozy when he was still interior minister in 2004. Their meeting took place two months after the end of the embezzlement investigation.

Controversy erupted last year, when President Sarkozy's private secretary, Emmanuelle Mignon, said that sects in France were a "non-problem" and said that the Church of Scientology should be allowed to "exist in peace".

[Carlos Spicy Wiener]

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is proposing to completely eliminate the state?s welfare program for families, medical insurance for low-income children and Cal Grants cash assistance to college and university students.

The proposals to sharply scale back the assistance that California provides to its neediest residents came in testimony by the administration this afternoon at a joint legislative budget committee hearing. It followed comments by the governor earlier today that he would be withdrawing a proposal to help balance the budget with billions of dollars of borrowing and replacing it with program reductions.

The proposals would completely reshape the state?s social service network, transforming California from one of the country?s most generous states to one of the most tightfisted. The proposals are intended to help close a budget deficit estimated at $21.3 billion.

[Carlos Spicy Wiener]

Tony Blair viewed his decision to go to war in Iraq and Kosovo as part of a "Christian battle", according to one of his closest political allies


The former Prime Minister's faith is claimed to have influenced all his key policy decisions and to have given him an unshakeable conviction that he was right.

John Burton, Mr Blair's political agent in his Sedgefield constituency for 24 years, says that Labour's most successful ever leader ? in terms of elections won ? was driven by the belief that "good should triumph over evil".

It's very simple to explain the idea of Blair the Warrior," he says. "It was part of Tony living out his faith."

Mr Blair has previously admitted that he was influenced by his Christian faith, but Mr Burton reveals for the first time the strength of his religious zeal.

Mr Burton makes the comments in a book he has written, and which is published this week, called "We Don't Do God".

In it he portrays a prime minister determined to follow a Christian agenda despite attempts to silence him from talking about his faith.

"While he was at Number 10, Tony was virtually gagged on the whole question of religion," says Mr Burton.

"Alastair [Campbell] was convinced it would get him into trouble with the voters.

"But Tony's Christian faith is part of him, down to his cotton socks. He believed strongly at the time, that intervention in Kosovo, Sierra Leone ? Iraq too ? was all part of the Christian battle; good should triumph over evil, making lives better."

Mr Burton, who was often described as Mr Blair's mentor, says that his religion gave him a "total belief in what's right and what's wrong", leading him to see the so-called War on Terror as "a moral cause".

"I truly believe that his Christianity affected his policy-making on just about everything from aid to Africa, education, poverty, world debt and intervening in other countries when he thought it was right to do it.

"The fervour was part of him and it comes back to it being Christian fervour that spurred him into action for better or worse."

Mr Burton says that inherent in Mr Blair's faith was the belief that people should be treated fairly: "He applied that same principle in everything he did ? from establishing the Social Exclusion Unit to ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, and ridding Iraq of the evils of Saddam Hussein's rule."

The comments will add to the suspicions of Mr Blair's critics, who fear he saw the Iraq war in a similar light to former US President George W Bush, who used religious rhetoric in talking about the conflict, as well as the war in Afghanistan, describing them as "a crusade".

Last week, Donald Rumsfeld, the former US defence secretary, was accused of sending the Mr Bush memos during the Iraq war that featured quotes from the Bible alongside images of American soldiers.

Anti-war campaigners criticised remarks Mr Blair made in 2006, suggesting that the decision to go to war in Iraq would ultimately be judged by God.

Mr Blair was not worried by people questioning his decisions, Mr Burton says, but was "genuinely shocked if they questioned his morality because there was never a dividing line between his politics and Christianity".

Although key advisers such as Mr Campbell tried to stop him talking about his faith while prime minister ? famously declaring "we don't go God" ? Mr Burton says that he was nevertheless determined to fight secularism.

Mr Burton, who coauthored the book with Eileen McCabe, a journalist, said Mr Blair wanted to "buffet the secular society that dominated life in Britain" and thought it was "time to nudge it in the other direction".

Tony Blair complained in 2007 that he had been unable to talk about his faith while in office as he would have been perceived as "a nutter".

"It's difficult if you talk about religious faith in our political system," he said. "If you are in the American political system or others then you can talk about religious faith and people say 'yes, that's fair enough' and it is something they respond to quite naturally. You talk about it in our system and, frankly, people do think you're a nutter."

Since leaving Downing Street, he has set up the Tony Blair Faith Foundation and given a number of interviews about his faith.

Last month, he challenged the attitudes of the Pope on homosexuality, and argued that it is time for him to "rethink" his views.

[maxbailey]

The Australian government has admitted that cash hand-outs aimed at stimulating the economy have been sent to thousands of people who are dead.

The money was part of a multi-billion dollar package under which every tax-payer was entitled to a payment of up to A$900 ($700, ?440).

About A$14m of the money went to dead people, ministers said, and A$25m to Australians living overseas.

Local media have dubbed the deceased recipients "the grateful dead".

Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner said that the money would still help Australia's economy.

"Even where they go to people who are dead, of course they go to the estate," he told local media.

"The estate typically is going to consist of ordinary Australians who will in turn get the payments, and on balance over time, will spend those payments."

He did acknowledge that a "tiny proportion" of the money might be spend overseas, by expatriates.

But another minister said more than 99% of the money had gone to the right people.

Members of the opposition were not appeased.

"If anybody saw any of the dead out there spending up big at Harvey Norman or Coles or Woolworths, please let me know," ABC news quoted Liberal Senator Simon Birmingham as saying.

[Predator24]

No one was murdered during Bush vs. Gore.

Makes you think about what we are really doing over here.


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[Frothy Afterbirth]

Damn this is the first time I've actually seen this Neda. She was hot and it's really a shame. Good will come now that she's a martyr and a rallying cry.

FUCK YOU MULLAHS! May a MK-77 drop on your heads.

[Predator24]

I've been reading blogs from Iranian women over the last few months and the stories they tell are horrific and cool. Since 70% of the population is under 30, most of them just want to be like us in the West.

If you ever read the Scarlet Letter or been to Witch Trial country in Salem, Massachusetts, imagine living like that ALL THE TIME in this day and age.

These Iranian chicks want to FUCK!!!!

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[blixa]

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Theyve been ready for centuries....

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