Granite City Abortion Clinic Part Of Rape Investigation
Police in Arkansas say a Granite City abortion clinic is part of a rape investigation involving a juvenile. Jeffery Cheshier, 41, is accused of raping a 15-year-old girl. Officers say he then forced the victim to have an abortion in Granite City.
Police in Bryant, Ark., say Cheshier began assaulting the juvenile last year. In October, he was arrested and charged with rape. The victim told police Cheshier had gotten her pregnant and forced her to have an abortion.
According to records obtained by Bryant police, the abortion was performed at the Hope Clinic for Women in Granite City. Angela Michael frequently protests outside the clinic and police used a photo she took of Cheshier's car to prove he was there in March.
In Illinois, juveniles do not need parental consent for an abortion. When we asked the Madison County State's Attorney's Office if clinics are required to notify police when a juvenile has an abortion, we were referred to the Hope Clinic who told us such notification is not mandatory.

http://www.ksdk.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=107632

Frozen embryos have no right to life: Irish court
DUBLIN (Reuters) - A woman lost her fight to have a child without the consent of her estranged husband on Wednesday when an Irish judge ruled frozen embryos did not enjoy the same constitutional right to life as those carried in the womb.
Justice Brian McGovern said most agreed frozen embryos resulting from infertility treatment deserved special respect but ruled "the right to life of the unborn" in the Irish constitution did not extend to them.
"I have come to the conclusion that the three frozen embryos are not 'unborn'," the judge said in a landmark High Court ruling complicated by the fact that existing legislation does not define "unborn".
"There has been no evidence ... to establish that it was ever in the mind of the people voting on the Eight Amendment to the Constitution that 'unborn' meant anything other than a fetus or child within the womb," McGovern added.
The judgment means spare embryos frozen after successful in vitro fertilization (IVF) in 2002 will not be returned to the mother.
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyid=2006-11-15T174650Z_01_L15783683_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRELAND-EMBRYOS.xml&src=rss&rpc=22


Adult Stem cells help dogs with dystrophy
Missouri voters should have read this article before they voted Nov 7.
In promising new research, stem cells worked remarkably well at easing symptoms of muscular dystrophy in dogs, an experiment that experts call a significant step toward treating people. "It's a great breakthrough for all of us working on stem cells for muscular dystrophy," said researcher Johnny Huard of the University of Pittsburgh, who wasn't involved in the work.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061116/ap_on_he_me/stem_cells_dystrophy

DNA from Neanderthal leg shows distant split
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Researchers have sequenced DNA from the leg bone of a Neanderthal man who died 38,000 years ago and said on Wednesday it shows the Neanderthals are truly distant relatives of modern humans who interbred rarely, if at all, with our own immediate ancestors.
They estimate that modern humans and Neanderthals split from a common ancestor at least 370,000 years ago, and possibly 500,000 years ago, although we share 99.95 percent of our DNA.
"We see no evidence of mixing 40,000, 30,000 years ago in Europe. We don't exclude it, but see no evidence," Edward Rubin of the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute in Walnut Creek, California, who led one study, told reporters.
This conflicts with some evidence from other researchers, including a team who said earlier this month that humans may have inherited a brain gene from Neanderthals.
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyID=2006-11-15T193028Z_01_N15369621_RTRUKOC_0_US-SCIENCE-NEANDERTHAL.xml&WTmodLoc=NewsArt-L3-Science+NewsNews-3

Woman Wins Religious Discrimination Case
SAVANNAH, Mo. (AP) -- Three years after she was fired for refusing to work on Sundays, Connie Rehm has won back her job on the staff of this small town's public library, and her employers have received a costly education in employment rights law.
A federal jury found in her favor after a three-day trial in May, and last month she was reinstated on a judge's order to the staff assistant job she had held for 12 years before her religious practice and the library's adoption of Sunday hours collided in 2003.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/N/NOT_ON_SUNDAY?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US

Missourians vote NO on constitutional Amendment 2

On November 7, Missouri voters will decide if the State of Missouri will give constitutional protection to the cloning of human beings for research purposes while providing the biotech industry the unchecked authority and funding to conduct these unproven and unethical experiments.
Missourians Against Human Cloning is a coalition of Missouri citizens and organizations established to provide Missouri voters with the truth about this amendment to our state constitution. We are confident that when Missourians understand the truth about this initiative and its ramifications, they will oppose it wholeheartedly.
Please join our growing coalition. Stand-up and speak-out against government funded human cloning being enshrined in the Missouri Constitution.
http://nocloning.org/

I sure hope this thing does not pass.

Boy or girl? Sex selection by embryo screening
Many U.S. Couples Seek Embryo Screening
Boy or girl? Almost half of U.S. fertility clinics that offer embryo screening say they allow couples to choose the sex of their child, the most extensive survey of the practice suggests.
Sex selection without any medical reason to warrant it was performed in about 9 percent of all embryo screenings last year, the survey found.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060920/D8K8SV101.html

Sounds like Brave New World is coming true.

Skeleton Sheds Light on Ape-Man Species

NEW YORK (AP) - In a discovery sure to fuel an old debate about our evolutionary history, scientists have found a remarkably complete skeleton of a 3-year-old female from the ape-man species represented by "Lucy."
The remains found in Africa are 3.3 million years old, making this the oldest known skeleton of such a youthful human ancestor."It's a pretty unbelievable discovery... It's sensational," said Will Harcourt-Smith, a researcher at the American Museum of Natural History in New York who wasn't involved in the find. "It provides you with a wealth of information."
For one thing, it gives new evidence for a contentious feud about whether this species, which walked upright, also climbed and moved through trees easily.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060921/D8K8U6PO0.html

This doesn't shake my faith. God is still in charge of creation, even if it took longer than 6 days.

Roe v. Wade': The divided states of America
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Two hours after South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds signed an abortion ban last month, NARAL Pro-Choice America blasted an e-mail to its supporters: "Is your state next?"The South Dakota legislation and the abortion rights group's warning are early skirmishes in a battle over what states would do if the landmark Roe v. Wade decision were overturned — though both sides concede that may never happen.
If it does, a fight that for three decades has focused on nine members of the Supreme Court would be waged instead among more than 7,000 legislators in 50 state capitals.
"Now is the time to get moving on this in Ohio," says Tom Brinkman, a state legislator who has introduced a bill to ban almost all abortions. Meanwhile, Kellie Copeland of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio is braced. "Our supporters feel the fight is coming back to the states," she says.
What would states do?
Ultimately, that would depend on factors ranging from who was governor to where public opinion stood. Even so, there are clues from what state legislatures have chosen to do already and what they're considering doing next.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-04-16-abortion-states_x.htm

Missouri would be a state that would be in the most pro-life category.

Tiller the Killer - Lock Him Up!
The infamous Tiller the Killer may have to do jail time for this.

Abortion Practitioner Who Killed Girl in Failed Abortion Hits Pro-Lifer With Car
Wichita, KS (LifeNews.com) -- A Kansas late-term abortion practitioner who killed a 19 year-old girl in a botched abortion last year has allegedly run over a pro-life person with his car who was praying outside his abortion business. George Tiller, who may soon find himself subject to a grand jury investigation, apparently struck the protester with his vehicle yesterday. http://www.lifenews.com/state1561.html

Unfortunately, this means the show will go on. Spreading lies, that is.
Judge Rules in Favor of 'Da Vinci' Writer LONDON (AP) -- A judge ruled Friday that best-selling author Dan Brown did not steal ideas from a nonfiction book, ending the suspense about whether the novelist committed copyright infringement in his thriller "The Da Vinci Code."
High Court judge Peter Smith rejected a copyright-infringement claim by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, authors of "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail," who claimed that Brown's blockbuster "appropriated the architecture" of their 1982 book. In the United States, the book is titled, "Holy Blood, Holy Grail."
A film based on Brown's book and starring Tom Hanks opens May 19.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/DA_VINCI_LAWSUIT?SITE=MOSTP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Boston -- We have a problem!

The Boston Archdiocese's Catholic Charities said Friday it would stop providing adoption services because of a state law allowing gays and lesbians to adopt children. Eight members of Catholic Charities board later stepped down in protest of the bishops' stance. The 42-member board had voted unanimously in December to continue considering gay households for adoptions.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/G/GAY_ADOPTION?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US

Pope envisions greater role for women in the Church
Vatican, Mar. 03 (CWNews.com) - Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) believes that women should hold more positions of responsibility within the Catholic Church, although they cannot be ordained as priests.
"The Church owes a great debt of thanks to women," the Holy Father told priests of the Rome diocese during a 2-hour meeting on March 2. He cited the immense contributions made by women, mentioning St. Catherine of Siena, St. Bridget of Sweden, St. Hildegard, and Mother Teresa. Women should have "real and deep participation in the government of the Church," he said.
http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=42769

Wal-Mart Decides to Carry Plan B Pill
Officials of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced Friday the company will reverse its earlier policy and stock emergency contraception pills in all of its pharmacies effective March 20, saying the giant retailer could not justify being the country's only major pharmacy chain not to carry the morning-after pill.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WAL_MART_CONTRACEPTION?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US

Scant Drop Seen in Abortion Rate if Parents Are Told
For all the passions they generate, laws that require minors to notify their parents or get permission to have an abortion do not appear to have produced the sharp drop in teenage abortion rates that some advocates hoped for, an analysis by The New York Times shows.
....But providers interviewed in 10 states with parental involvement laws all said that of the minors who came into their clinics, parents were more often the ones pushing for an abortion, even against the wishes of their daughters.
"I see far more parents trying to pressure their daughters to have one," said Jane Bovard, owner of the Red River Women's Clinic in Fargo, N.D., a state where a minor needs consent from both parents. "As a parent myself, I can understand. But I say to parents, 'You force her to have this abortion, and I can tell you that within the next six months she's going to be pregnant again.' "
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/06/national/06abortion.html?ei=5065&en=f7533d9d64b1db54&ex=1142312400&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print

Missouri Court Upholds 24-Hour Abortion Wait
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- The Missouri Supreme Court has upheld the state's 24-hour waiting period for abortions, a decision that turns the focus of the legal battle to federal court.
The unanimous ruling Tuesday by Missouri's highest court focused on whether the 2003 law ran contrary to the state constitution. The judges rejected arguments that it was overly vague and deprived people of liberty and privacy rights.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/ABORTION_WAIT?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US

Mississippi House committee votes to ban most abortions

JACKSON, Miss. - A Mississippi House committee voted Tuesday to ban most abortions in the state - an unexpected move that left abortion opponents grappling to stake out a position on a proposal that could prompt a lengthy court battle
http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/13984932.htm

Embryos are human beings, Pope insists
Vatican, Feb. 27 (CWNews.com) - Human embryos deserve the same protection as all other human beings, Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) told an audience of scholars on February 27.
"The love of God does not distinguish between the newly-conceived infant still in its mother's womb, the baby, the youth, the grown adult or the elderly, because in each of them He sees the sign of His own image and likeness," the Holy Father said. He was speaking to participants in a conference on the human embryo, organized by the Pontifical Academy for Life.
http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=42653

There has been a lot of good news on the pro-life front the last couple days. I guess it is motivated because Sam Alito is now a Supreme Court judge. When the court was so liberal, it seemed useless to pass pro-life legislation. Now there is reason for hope that Roe v. Wade can be overturned. I sense a lot more good news is on the way. Perhaps this is only the beginning. It is time to be optimistic again.

Ash Wednesday
So another Lent begins. What will I do different this year? How do I get closer to the Lord? Ordinary folks make New Year's resolutions. Catholics make Lenten resolutions. Hopefully, I will keep these better than I do New Year's resolutions.
I am taking a Paul VI Institute class on Liturgy and Sacraments. Since I am enjoying the class, does it count for a Lenten resolution? I guess Lenten resolutions can be something I enjoy, unlike the time when I gave up chocolate for Lent. That is one I can't keep anyway, so I won't do that again. At least I know I better do the work for my class or I won't get a good grade.

St. Joseph's Radio
St. Joseph's Radio is moving from California to Florissant, MO, which is pretty near where I live. I met the director yesterday. I am very excited to find out all the ways this ministry will operated in this area. They will be located at the Old St. Ferdinand Shrine, which is a very historic site for evangelization. I think I will be able to help this ministry and learn new skills at the same time. This ministry has a national audience, which blows my mind with the possibilities for serving God!

Supreme Court Backs Abortion Protesters
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court dealt a setback Tuesday to abortion clinics in a two-decade-old legal fight over abortion protests, ruling that federal extortion and racketeering laws cannot be used to ban demonstrations.
The 8-0 decision ends a case that the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had kept alive despite a 2003 ruling by the high court that lifted a nationwide injunction on anti-abortion groups led by Joseph Scheidler and others.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SCOTUS_ABORTION_PROTESTS?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=HOME

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I hope the folks suing Dan Brown win. I have friends whose faith has been damaged by "The Da Vinci Code". I don't know how anyone could fall for this, but they have.

Lawyer: 'Da Vinci' Ideas Are General LONDON — A lawyer for the publisher of the "The Da Vinci Code" argued in court Tuesday that ideas which two writers claim were stolen for Dan Brown's blockbuster novel are so general they are not protected by copyright. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,186297,00.html

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I am interested in a Family mission project. Perhaps there is a project my family can do in the St. Louis area for a week this summer. We have 3 teens, ages 17, 16 & 14. Is there some way we could help the poor?
I was also toying with the idea of distributing literature about the Missouri cloning initiative door-to-door. I would like to promote the Catholic objection to this bill.
I wonder if other families with teens would be interested in doing this with us.

Happy New Year!
For Christmas, I got some video editing software. I've made my first movie and slide show. I was surprised how easy it was to do after I got the hang of it.
I created a movie about my ancestors. I put photos of them, maps of where they immigrated from, background music, and video of my mom talking about them. I did a voice over, added transitions, titles, and lots of cool stuff.
The DVD slide show I did has 7 chapters with buttons on a menu with background music. I think that is going to be useful. I want to do something cool with all the digital photos I have.
The hard part was rotating the photos to vertical in Photo Shop Elements. There were a ton of photos to do. I'm doing this for a neighbor just to learn how to do it.
I would love to start a business making custom movies and slide shows. I'm planning to teach my teens how to do it, since it is not hard at all. Maybe they'll end up doing something more constructive than playing video games on my computer.
The kids started back to school today, so the fun of the holidays is over. It is hard work getting kids to be responsible for homework, getting out the door on time, and getting to bed on time. So school is hard on parents as well as kids. So it is back to the grind until June.

St. Norbert Upcoming Events
Christmas Mass
Saturday December 24, 2005 Time: 4:00 pm, 11:30 PM Choir sings, Mass at 12:00 Sunday December 25, 2005 9:00 AM, 11:00 AM

SCRIPTURE STUDY GROUP
Beginning Wednesday, January 4th from 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. We will be using a scripture study book on forgiveness. This will be a great way to observe Lent.
To sign up or for more information, call Jo-Ann Conti at 838-6342 or Pat Drury at 839-4028.

Ongoing Events
MOM’S BOOK CLUB

A small group of moms from St. Norbert Church has been meeting to discuss wonderful Christian, nonfiction books. We are beginning a new book for the Advent and Christmas season and want to invite other interested women to join us. We will be reading “Cradle of Redeeming Love: the Theology of the Christmas Mystery” by John Saward. This book can be found on Amazon.com new or used and may also be in local bookstores. We will begin this book on Thursday, December 8th at 8:30 a.m. in the playroom at the McDonald’s near Schnucks, 1090 Shackleford Road. Children are welcome to come and play while we discuss this book. All women are asked to prayerfully consider joining us. If you have questions or wish to join, please call Tammi at 972-0635.

Bible Study
Small groups on the Holy Spirit continue to meet at several different times. Contact the Rectory to find a leader of the group that is at a time convenient for you.

The St. Norbert Yahoo e-mail group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stnorbert/ is for parishioners of St. Norbert Parish. It was set up to allow quick dissemination of information about upcoming events or neighborhood issues. Members may post and view items on the parish calendar.

Gee! It's been a long time since I updated this blog. I've been busy taking a Church History class from Paul VI Institute this fall. I had a couple hours a week to work on it. It is part of my certificate in lay ministry that I am working on.

I had a great time in my hometown for Thanksgiving. All 7 of my siblings were there, which is rare. It was fun to see the new members of the family -- the new spouse of my niece and nephew -- from the weddings we attended this summer. A new member will join any day because my nephew's wife is expecting. That will be the second great-grandchild for my mom.

I'm not in the mood for Christmas yet. It takes me awhile. It snowed today, which helps. I'm working on Christmas cards and a newsletter. I got out the Advent candles. I'm going to stuff the stockings for St. Nick's day when I get home. I forgot to do it last night, because I was helping my daughter create a web site for a class. My kids really like this tradition. I wish I could surprise them though. That was the fun part when I was a kid.

Death Penalty - A matter of life, death and social standing
September 26, 2005
Michael Lenza sounds like a reluctant opponent of the death penalty.
"I wish I could say the death penalty is fair, the worst people get it; if its a crime of passion, we're not executing them; we're not executing children; were not executing somebody that's mentally retarded or has severe mental disabilities," he said. "But we can't say that. We just can't."
Lenza has the facts and figures to back up what he says. The Bluffton University sociologist spent 6 years analyzing 19 years of capital murder cases in Missouri.
He concluded that when it comes to sentencing in death penalty cases, "almost everything matters except the crime." What matters most, his findings suggest, is the relative value society places on the defendant and on the victim.
Lenzas presentation Friday was based his doctoral dissertation, a study of the death penalty in Missouri from 1978 to 1996.
He examined 9,857 homicides which resulted in 152 death sentences. He found that defendants were more likely to be sentenced to death if they were young, poor, black or had a previous criminal record.
He found a black defendant who killed a white victim was 3 times as likely to receive the death penalty as a white defendant with a black victim.
Lenza's findings track with numerous other studies. A California study published last week suggested the race of the victim could be the most telling factor: A death sentence was most likely when the victim was white, far less so when the victim was black or Hispanic.
"When the jurors decide guilt or innocence, they're looking at the case. Then the trial stops. Then they have a new (sentencing) trial, and it's about the social relationships and the social standing of the defendant," Lenza said.
http://www.demaction.org/dia/organizations/ncadp/news.jsp?key=1805

Loose CanonsRole Reversal
The anti-war, anti-Bush MSM both here and abroad have reached a state of near-rapture. The president's problems, Tom DeLay's indictment, the diminishing support for the war and the growing (and healthy) fight between fiscal conservatives and big government Republicans has enthused them like nothing since the last helo lifted off from the American embassy in Saigon. They're ready to declare conservatism over. But, like the Washington Post's reports that Rep. Mike Pence's "operation offset" was dead, they will be proven wrong if actions take the place of speeches.
A little-noticed role reversal has occurred in American politics. The MSM are performing the service that Heritage, AEI, Cato, and the Hoover Institution provide for conservatives. The media have filled the political and intellectual vacuum that left the Dems entirely bereft of ideas, able to say nothing other than "no." Today the opposition party to the Republicans is not the Dems but the mainstream media itself. They write, they speak, and the Dems follow.
http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=8830


Diesel Deliverance
"We could be driving powerful, stylish vehicles that get 35-45 mpg -- if we lived in Europe."
http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=8849
So don't buy a hybrid car anytime soon.

And they call this a crack down?
Gay priests 'must prove chastity for three years': Vatican
An upcoming Vatican document on gays and the priesthood says men who demonstrate homosexual tendencies cannot become priests unless they can show they have lived chastely for at least three years, an Italian newspaper reported today.
http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/story.asp?j=158372744&p=y5837345x


I heard it through the grapevine.
At least how we used to find out about the latest gossip. Now we get in from online, not the grapevine.
New draft translation of Mass prayers distributed to bishops
ROME (CNS) -- A new draft translation of the main Mass prayers in English has been distributed to bishops and was auctioned off Oct. 5 on eBay, the Internet auction site.http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0505666.htm


Too bad Terri Schavio's judges didn't hear this.
Italian man "understood everything" during 2-year coma
Oct. 06 (CWNews.com) - An Italian man who had been in a coma for 2 years has awakened and reports that he had been fully aware of his surroundings while he was comatose.
http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=40026

Government failure, private success
by Michael D. Tanner
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=4827
"While the response to hurricane Katrina has uncovered failures of government at every level - federal, state, and local - it has also revealed again the amazing generosity and effectiveness of America's private charitable efforts."

I've often thought exactly what this article says. You can't force people to be charitable by taxing them.

Harriett Miers? Who is she?
It seems all the media frenzy today is about who Harriett Miers is. Has the country reached the point where only unknowns can be nominated and successfully seated on the Supreme Court? The fear of being "Borked" keeps the most qualified from ever wanting to be nominated. Can't the Democrats remember that they lost the election in 2004 and stop their guerilla tactics on judicial nominees? The liberals who can't win an election and use the judiciary to get their way are not acting in the best interests of the nation.

A Case Of Life And Death http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/051010/10supreme.htm
The Supreme Court opens its new term with arguments in a case whose implications could not be more profound
By Liz Halloran
"The future of Oregon's 1994 Death With Dignity Act is in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court. This week, with John G. Roberts sitting in the chief's chair, the court opens its new term with arguments in Gonzales v. Oregon.
Balance of power. The central legal question in the case is fairly straightforward: Can a federal official charged with enforcing drug laws disregard the will of Oregon voters and bar physicians from prescribing lethal doses of controlled substances?
Gonzales v. Oregon will be this term's "premier federalism case," says Jonathan Adler, a Case Western Reserve University School of Law associate professor. Whatever its makeup, the court faces a full plate of controversial issues. Abortion, the religious use of drugs, and military recruiting on campuses are all on the court's new docket."

I think this case is as important for the pro-life cause as Roe v. Wade was for the pro-death cause. This Oregon law is a slippery slope that has to be stopped. I don't want our country to end up like the Netherlands.

So what's happening in Catholic morality?
http://www.the-tidings.com/2005/0923/benson.htm
“As we continue to conform ourselves more and more to Christ in all things, the question "What should I do?" will only be authentic if we first ask, "What do I want to be?" And, of course, the answer to that question is, "A disciple of Jesus.”
"What do I want to be?" is indeed an important question.

Shroud of Turin 'shows future of science,' says local expert
http://www.the-tidings.com/2005/0923/shroud.htm
"The image of the shroud and its riddle cannot be solved through the science of the past," said Piczek. Concurring with French physicist and shroud researcher, Dr. William Wolkowski, Piczek believes that transdisciplinary study of the shroud will give birth to a new scientific age. "The shroud shows the future of science," declared Piczek.

How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization: A review
Thomas E. Woods
This book is about what they don't teach you in World History class. I took two college level classes in World History and neither course gave any real hint of the contributions of the Catholic church. There was a small mention that 'Christianity' had monestaries that had schools, but that is misleading because 'Christianity' had only one denomination until 1517. Why did they leave that important fact out? Why did they misrepresent the church's role in science, education, economics, medicine, charity, morals, secular law and international law? This book tells the stuff that biased authors leave out. It is a real eye opener that is fun to read. I couldn't put it down! I finished it in a couple days. It leaves me thirsty to know more. The part I like the most was the contribution of the Catholic Church to the advancement of women. Before Jesus, only the woman was punished for adultery afterward the men were punished too which is much more fair. Also, women could establish convents and do social work, which was very empowering in an age where women were not allowed to work outside the home. Wow! That blows the 'sacred femininism' theory of the DaVinci Code to bits!

A Baptist writing about birth control?
Albert Mohler Author, Speaker, President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
"Deliberate Childlessness Revisited"
http://www.crosswalk.com/news/weblogs/mohler/?adate=8/15/2005#1345708
Clearly, I hit a nerve. Almost two years ago, I published an article entitled "Deliberate Childlessness: Moral Rebellion With a New Face." In that article I addressed the growing phenomenon of married couples who simply choose not to have children. I argued that this development indicates an eclipse of the Christian worldview in terms of the gift of children and a redefinition of marriage itself.

Pope: Faith is not all about rules
http://headlines.virgin.net/story/OOO/A16361311124031900A00
Pope Benedict has rejected the idea of Christianity as a religion of rules and prohibitions, and said he hoped to use his trip next week to Germany for a youth gathering to spur "a wave of new faith" in Europe.
The German-born Pope said "providence wanted my first trip abroad to take me to Germany."
He will fly to Cologne on Thursday to begin a four-day visit for World Youth Day, a Catholic jamboree of rallies and religious services.
Speaking about the hundreds of thousands of youths expected to converge on Cologne for the gathering, Pope Benedict said: "I would like to show them how beautiful it is to be Christian, because the widespread idea which continues to exist is that Christianity is composed of laws and bans which one has to keep and, hence, is something toilsome and burdensome, that one is freer without such a burden."
"I want to make clear that it is not a burden to be carried with great love and realisation, but is like having wings. It is wonderful to be a Christian with this knowledge that it gives us a great breadth, a large community," the pontiff said.
Vatican Radio provided an English translation of the 15-minute interview, which was conducted in Castel Gandolfo, the summer palace in the Alban Hills outside of Rome.
Pope Benedict was asked to describe the "ideal aim" for the Cologne appointment "if all would work out perfectly."
The pope laughed and replied: "Yes, well, a wave of new faith among young people, especially the youth in Germany and Europe."
In Germany, "many Christian things occur, but there is also a great fatigue, and we are so concerned with structural questions that the zest and the joy of faith are missing," the pontiff said.
On Sunday, Benedict raised the same theme of the need to invigorate faith in remarks to pilgrims and tourists at his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, in the hills outside Rome.

Biblical Pool of Siloam Is Uncovered in Jerusalem
http://www.drudgereport.com/flash1.htm
Tue Aug 09 2005 00:09:33 ET
Workers repairing a sewage pipe in the old city of Jerusalem have discovered the biblical Pool of Siloam, a freshwater reservoir that was a major gathering place for ancient Jews making religious pilgrimages to the city and the reputed site where Jesus cured a man blind from birth, the LOS ANGELES TIMES reports.
The pool was fed by the now famous Hezekiah's Tunnel and is ``a much grander affair'' than archeologists previously believed, with three tiers of stone stairs allowing easy access to the water, according to Hershel Shanks, editor of Biblical Archeology Review, which reported the find Monday.
``Scholars have said that there wasn't a Pool of Siloam and that John was using a religious conceit'' to illustrate a point, said New Testament scholar James H. Charlesworth of the Princeton Theological Seminary. ``Now we have found the Pool of Siloam ... exactly where John said it was.''
A gospel that was thought to be ``pure theology is now shown to be grounded in history,'' he said.
The discovery puts a new spotlight on what is called the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, a trip that religious law required ancient Jews to make at least once a year, said archeologist Ronny Reich of the University of Haifa, who excavated the pool.
``Jesus was just another pilgrim coming to Jerusalem,'' he said. ``It would be natural to find him there.''
The newly discovered pool is less than 200 yards from another Pool of Siloam, this one a reconstruction built between A.D. 400 and 460 by the empress Eudocia of Byzantium, who oversaw the rebuilding of several Biblical sites.
Developing...---

King David's fabled palace: Is this it?
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/08/04/news/david.php
By Steven Erlanger
The New York Times
FRIDAY, AUGUST 5, 2005 JERUSALEM An Israeli archeologist says she has uncovered in east Jerusalem what she believes may be the fabled palace of the biblical King David. Her work has been sponsored by the Shalem Center, a neoconservative think tank in Jerusalem, and funded by a American Jewish investment banker who would like to help provide scientific support for the Bible as a reflection of Jewish history. Other scholars who have toured the site are skeptical that the foundation walls Eilat Mazar has discovered are David's palace. But they acknowledge that what she has uncovered is rare and important - a major public building from around the 10th century BC with pottery shards that date from the time of David and Solomon and a government seal of an official mentioned in the book of Jeremiah. For nearly 10 years, Mazar thought she knew where the fabled palace built for King David, as described in the Bible, might be - just outside the walls of the ancient city of Jerusalem. Now she thinks she's found it, and if she's right, her discovery will be a new salvo in a major dispute in biblical archaeology - whether or not the kingdom of David and Samuel was of historical importance. For that idea, the Bible is a relatively accurate guide, but some question whether they were more like small tribal chieftains, reigning over another dusty hilltop. Her discovery is also bound to be used in the other major battle over Jerusalem - whether the Jews have their deepest origins there and thus have some special hold on the place, or whether, as many Palestinians believe - including the late Yasser Arafat - that the notion of a Jewish origin in Jerusalem is a religious myth used to justify occupation and colonialism. Hani Nur el-Din, a professor of archaeology at Al Quds University, says that Palestinian archaeologists consider biblical archaeology as an effort by Israeli archaeologists "to fit historical evidence into a biblical context," he said. "The link between the historical evidence and the biblical narration, written much later, is largely missing," he said. "There's a kind of fiction about the 10th century. They try to link whatever they find to the biblical narration. They have a button and they want to make a suit out of it." Other Israeli archaeologists are not so sure that Mazar has found the palace - the house that Hiram, king of Tyre, built for the victorious king, at least as Samuel II, Chapter 5, describes it. It may also be the Fortress of Zion that David conquered from the Jebusites, who ruled Jerusalem before him, or some other structure about which the Bible is silent. But Mazar's colleagues know that she's found something extraordinary - the partial foundations of a sizable public building, constructed in the Phoenician style, dating from the 10th-9th centuries BC, the time of the united kingdom of David and Solomon. "This is a very significant discovery, given that Jerusalem as the capital of the united kingdom is very much unknown," said Gabriel Barkay, a renowned archaeologist of Jerusalem from Bar-Ilan University. "Very carefully we can say that this is one of the first greetings we have from the Jerusalem of David and Solomon, a period which has played a kind of hide-and-seek with archaeologists for the last century." Mazar, 48, is the granddaughter of Benjamin Mazar, a famous archaeologist with whom she trained. She got her doctorate from Hebrew University, is the widow of an archaeologist and has worked on and supervised dozens of digs on her own. "Archaeology is technical, but you dig with a mind open to historical sources, and anything can help," she said, as she clambered over massive stones at bedrock. "I work with the Bible in one hand and the tools of excavation in the other, and I try to consider everything." Based on the chapter from Samuel II, but also on the work of a century of archaeology in this spot, Mazar speculated that the famous stepped-stone structure excavated previously was part of the fortress David conquered, and that his palace would have been built just outside the original walls of the cramped city, to the north, on the way to what his son, Solomon, built as the Temple Mount. "When the Philistines came to fight, the Bible said that David went down from his house to the fortress," she said, her eyes bright. "Maybe it meant something, maybe not. But I wondered, down from where? Presumably from where he lived, his palace. So I said, maybe there's something here," and in 1997 wrote a paper proposing a new excavation in the spot, which is in east Jerusalem. Mazar is building on the archaeologists who went before her, especially Robert Macalister in the 1920s, Kathleen Kenyon in the 1960s and Yigal Shilo in the 1970s and 1980s. Kenyon had found evidence of well-worked stones and protoaeolic capitals, which decorated the tops of columns, evidence of a large, decorative building. David's palace was the topic of a last conversation she had with her famous grandfather, who died 10 years ago, she said. "He said, 'Kenyon found the protoaeolic capitals, so go and find where she found them, and start there."' Five months ago, with special funding and permissions from the Ir David Foundation, which controls the site (and also supports Jews moving into east Jerusalem), and academic sponsorhip from Hebrew University, she finally began to dig - finding evidence of this monumental public building dating from the time of David and Solomon. Amihai Mazar, a renowned professor of archaeology at Hebrew University, and Eilat Mazar's second cousin, calls the find "something of a miracle." He believes the building may be the Fortress of Zion that David is said to have conquered, and where he lived for a time, and which he renamed the City of David. "The interpretation will be debated," he said. "But the achievement is great. What she found is fascinating whatever it is." There is a debate among archaeologists "to what extent Jerusalem was an important city or even a city in the time of David and Samuel," he said. "Some believe it was tiny and the kingdom unimportant." JERUSALEM An Israeli archeologist says she has uncovered in east Jerusalem what she believes may be the fabled palace of the biblical King David. Her work has been sponsored by the Shalem Center, a neoconservative think tank in Jerusalem, and funded by a American Jewish investment banker who would like to help provide scientific support for the Bible as a reflection of Jewish history. Other scholars who have toured the site are skeptical that the foundation walls Eilat Mazar has discovered are David's palace. But they acknowledge that what she has uncovered is rare and important - a major public building from around the 10th century BC with pottery shards that date from the time of David and Solomon and a government seal of an official mentioned in the book of Jeremiah. For nearly 10 years, Mazar thought she knew where the fabled palace built for King David, as described in the Bible, might be - just outside the walls of the ancient city of Jerusalem. Now she thinks she's found it, and if she's right, her discovery will be a new salvo in a major dispute in biblical archaeology - whether or not the kingdom of David and Samuel was of historical importance. For that idea, the Bible is a relatively accurate guide, but some question whether they were more like small tribal chieftains, reigning over another dusty hilltop. Her discovery is also bound to be used in the other major battle over Jerusalem - whether the Jews have their deepest origins there and thus have some special hold on the place, or whether, as many Palestinians believe - including the late Yasser Arafat - that the notion of a Jewish origin in Jerusalem is a religious myth used to justify occupation and colonialism. Hani Nur el-Din, a professor of archaeology at Al Quds University, says that Palestinian archaeologists consider biblical archaeology as an effort by Israeli archaeologists "to fit historical evidence into a biblical context," he said. "The link between the historical evidence and the biblical narration, written much later, is largely missing," he said. "There's a kind of fiction about the 10th century. They try to link whatever they find to the biblical narration. They have a button and they want to make a suit out of it." Other Israeli archaeologists are not so sure that Mazar has found the palace - the house that Hiram, king of Tyre, built for the victorious king, at least as Samuel II, Chapter 5, describes it. It may also be the Fortress of Zion that David conquered from the Jebusites, who ruled Jerusalem before him, or some other structure about which the Bible is silent. But Mazar's colleagues know that she's found something extraordinary - the partial foundations of a sizable public building, constructed in the Phoenician style, dating from the 10th-9th centuries BC, the time of the united kingdom of David and Solomon. "This is a very significant discovery, given that Jerusalem as the capital of the united kingdom is very much unknown," said Gabriel Barkay, a renowned archaeologist of Jerusalem from Bar-Ilan University. "Very carefully we can say that this is one of the first greetings we have from the Jerusalem of David and Solomon, a period which has played a kind of hide-and-seek with archaeologists for the last century." Mazar, 48, is the granddaughter of Benjamin Mazar, a famous archaeologist with whom she trained. She got her doctorate from Hebrew University, is the widow of an archaeologist and has worked on and supervised dozens of digs on her own. "Archaeology is technical, but you dig with a mind open to historical sources, and anything can help," she said, as she clambered over massive stones at bedrock. "I work with the Bible in one hand and the tools of excavation in the other, and I try to consider everything." Based on the chapter from Samuel II, but also on the work of a century of archaeology in this spot, Mazar speculated that the famous stepped-stone structure excavated previously was part of the fortress David conquered, and that his palace would have been built just outside the original walls of the cramped city, to the north, on the way to what his son, Solomon, built as the Temple Mount. "When the Philistines came to fight, the Bible said that David went down from his house to the fortress," she said, her eyes bright. "Maybe it meant something, maybe not. But I wondered, down from where? Presumably from where he lived, his palace. So I said, maybe there's something here," and in 1997 wrote a paper proposing a new excavation in the spot, which is in east Jerusalem. Mazar is building on the archaeologists who went before her, especially Robert Macalister in the 1920s, Kathleen Kenyon in the 1960s and Yigal Shilo in the 1970s and 1980s. Kenyon had found evidence of well-worked stones and protoaeolic capitals, which decorated the tops of columns, evidence of a large, decorative building. David's palace was the topic of a last conversation she had with her famous grandfather, who died 10 years ago, she said. "He said, 'Kenyon found the protoaeolic capitals, so go and find where she found them, and start there."' Five months ago, with special funding and permissions from the Ir David Foundation, which controls the site (and also supports Jews moving into east Jerusalem), and academic sponsorhip from Hebrew University, she finally began to dig - finding evidence of this monumental public building dating from the time of David and Solomon. Amihai Mazar, a renowned professor of archaeology at Hebrew University, and Eilat Mazar's second cousin, calls the find "something of a miracle." He believes the building may be the Fortress of Zion that David is said to have conquered, and where he lived for a time, and which he renamed the City of David. "The interpretation will be debated," he said. "But the achievement is great. What she found is fascinating whatever it is." There is a debate among archaeologists "to what extent Jerusalem was an important city or even a city in the time of David and Samuel," he said. "Some believe it was tiny and the kingdom unimportant." JERUSALEM An Israeli archeologist says she has uncovered in east Jerusalem what she believes may be the fabled palace of the biblical King David. Her work has been sponsored by the Shalem Center, a neoconservative think tank in Jerusalem, and funded by a American Jewish investment banker who would like to help provide scientific support for the Bible as a reflection of Jewish history. Other scholars who have toured the site are skeptical that the foundation walls Eilat Mazar has discovered are David's palace. But they acknowledge that what she has uncovered is rare and important - a major public building from around the 10th century BC with pottery shards that date from the time of David and Solomon and a government seal of an official mentioned in the book of Jeremiah. For nearly 10 years, Mazar thought she knew where the fabled palace built for King David, as described in the Bible, might be - just outside the walls of the ancient city of Jerusalem. Now she thinks she's found it, and if she's right, her discovery will be a new salvo in a major dispute in biblical archaeology - whether or not the kingdom of David and Samuel was of historical importance. For that idea, the Bible is a relatively accurate guide, but some question whether they were more like small tribal chieftains, reigning over another dusty hilltop. Her discovery is also bound to be used in the other major battle over Jerusalem - whether the Jews have their deepest origins there and thus have some special hold on the place, or whether, as many Palestinians believe - including the late Yasser Arafat - that the notion of a Jewish origin in Jerusalem is a religious myth used to justify occupation and colonialism. Hani Nur el-Din, a professor of archaeology at Al Quds University, says that Palestinian archaeologists consider biblical archaeology as an effort by Israeli archaeologists "to fit historical evidence into a biblical context," he said. "The link between the historical evidence and the biblical narration, written much later, is largely missing," he said. "There's a kind of fiction about the 10th century. They try to link whatever they find to the biblical narration. They have a button and they want to make a suit out of it." Other Israeli archaeologists are not so sure that Mazar has found the palace - the house that Hiram, king of Tyre, built for the victorious king, at least as Samuel II, Chapter 5, describes it. It may also be the Fortress of Zion that David conquered from the Jebusites, who ruled Jerusalem before him, or some other structure about which the Bible is silent. But Mazar's colleagues know that she's found something extraordinary - the partial foundations of a sizable public building, constructed in the Phoenician style, dating from the 10th-9th centuries BC, the time of the united kingdom of David and Solomon. "This is a very significant discovery, given that Jerusalem as the capital of the united kingdom is very much unknown," said Gabriel Barkay, a renowned archaeologist of Jerusalem from Bar-Ilan University. "Very carefully we can say that this is one of the first greetings we have from the Jerusalem of David and Solomon, a period which has played a kind of hide-and-seek with archaeologists for the last century." Mazar, 48, is the granddaughter of Benjamin Mazar, a famous archaeologist with whom she trained. She got her doctorate from Hebrew University, is the widow of an archaeologist and has worked on and supervised dozens of digs on her own. "Archaeology is technical, but you dig with a mind open to historical sources, and anything can help," she said, as she clambered over massive stones at bedrock. "I work with the Bible in one hand and the tools of excavation in the other, and I try to consider everything." Based on the chapter from Samuel II, but also on the work of a century of archaeology in this spot, Mazar speculated that the famous stepped-stone structure excavated previously was part of the fortress David conquered, and that his palace would have been built just outside the original walls of the cramped city, to the north, on the way to what his son, Solomon, built as the Temple Mount. "When the Philistines came to fight, the Bible said that David went down from his house to the fortress," she said, her eyes bright. "Maybe it meant something, maybe not. But I wondered, down from where? Presumably from where he lived, his palace. So I said, maybe there's something here," and in 1997 wrote a paper proposing a new excavation in the spot, which is in east Jerusalem. Mazar is building on the archaeologists who went before her, especially Robert Macalister in the 1920s, Kathleen Kenyon in the 1960s and Yigal Shilo in the 1970s and 1980s. Kenyon had found evidence of well-worked stones and protoaeolic capitals, which decorated the tops of columns, evidence of a large, decorative building. David's palace was the topic of a last conversation she had with her famous grandfather, who died 10 years ago, she said. "He said, 'Kenyon found the protoaeolic capitals, so go and find where she found them, and start there."' Five months ago, with special funding and permissions from the Ir David Foundation, which controls the site (and also supports Jews moving into east Jerusalem), and academic sponsorhip from Hebrew University, she finally began to dig - finding evidence of this monumental public building dating from the time of David and Solomon. Amihai Mazar, a renowned professor of archaeology at Hebrew University, and Eilat Mazar's second cousin, calls the find "something of a miracle." He believes the building may be the Fortress of Zion that David is said to have conquered, and where he lived for a time, and which he renamed the City of David. "The interpretation will be debated," he said. "But the achievement is great. What she found is fascinating whatever it is." There is a debate among archaeologists "to what extent Jerusalem was an important city or even a city in the time of David and Samuel," he said. "Some believe it was tiny and the kingdom unimportant." JERUSALEM An Israeli archeologist says she has uncovered in east Jerusalem what she believes may be the fabled palace of the biblical King David. Her work has been sponsored by the Shalem Center, a neoconservative think tank in Jerusalem, and funded by a American Jewish investment banker who would like to help provide scientific support for the Bible as a reflection of Jewish history. Other scholars who have toured the site are skeptical that the foundation walls Eilat Mazar has discovered are David's palace. But they acknowledge that what she has uncovered is rare and important - a major public building from around the 10th century BC with pottery shards that date from the time of David and Solomon and a government seal of an official mentioned in the book of Jeremiah. For nearly 10 years, Mazar thought she knew where the fabled palace built for King David, as described in the Bible, might be - just outside the walls of the ancient city of Jerusalem. Now she thinks she's found it, and if she's right, her discovery will be a new salvo in a major dispute in biblical archaeology - whether or not the kingdom of David and Samuel was of historical importance. For that idea, the Bible is a relatively accurate guide, but some question whether they were more like small tribal chieftains, reigning over another dusty hilltop. Her discovery is also bound to be used in the other major battle over Jerusalem - whether the Jews have their deepest origins there and thus have some special hold on the place, or whether, as many Palestinians believe - including the late Yasser Arafat - that the notion of a Jewish origin in Jerusalem is a religious myth used to justify occupation and colonialism. Hani Nur el-Din, a professor of archaeology at Al Quds University, says that Palestinian archaeologists consider biblical archaeology as an effort by Israeli archaeologists "to fit historical evidence into a biblical context," he said. "The link between the historical evidence and the biblical narration, written much later, is largely missing," he said. "There's a kind of fiction about the 10th century. They try to link whatever they find to the biblical narration. They have a button and they want to make a suit out of it." Other Israeli archaeologists are not so sure that Mazar has found the palace - the house that Hiram, king of Tyre, built for the victorious king, at least as Samuel II, Chapter 5, describes it. It may also be the Fortress of Zion that David conquered from the Jebusites, who ruled Jerusalem before him, or some other structure about which the Bible is silent. But Mazar's colleagues know that she's found something extraordinary - the partial foundations of a sizable public building, constructed in the Phoenician style, dating from the 10th-9th centuries BC, the time of the united kingdom of David and Solomon. "This is a very significant discovery, given that Jerusalem as the capital of the united kingdom is very much unknown," said Gabriel Barkay, a renowned archaeologist of Jerusalem from Bar-Ilan University. "Very carefully we can say that this is one of the first greetings we have from the Jerusalem of David and Solomon, a period which has played a kind of hide-and-seek with archaeologists for the last century." Mazar, 48, is the granddaughter of Benjamin Mazar, a famous archaeologist with whom she trained. She got her doctorate from Hebrew University, is the widow of an archaeologist and has worked on and supervised dozens of digs on her own. "Archaeology is technical, but you dig with a mind open to historical sources, and anything can help," she said, as she clambered over massive stones at bedrock. "I work with the Bible in one hand and the tools of excavation in the other, and I try to consider everything." Based on the chapter from Samuel II, but also on the work of a century of archaeology in this spot, Mazar speculated that the famous stepped-stone structure excavated previously was part of the fortress David conquered, and that his palace would have been built just outside the original walls of the cramped city, to the north, on the way to what his son, Solomon, built as the Temple Mount. "When the Philistines came to fight, the Bible said that David went down from his house to the fortress," she said, her eyes bright. "Maybe it meant something, maybe not. But I wondered, down from where? Presumably from where he lived, his palace. So I said, maybe there's something here," and in 1997 wrote a paper proposing a new excavation in the spot, which is in east Jerusalem. Mazar is building on the archaeologists who went before her, especially Robert Macalister in the 1920s, Kathleen Kenyon in the 1960s and Yigal Shilo in the 1970s and 1980s. Kenyon had found evidence of well-worked stones and protoaeolic capitals, which decorated the tops of columns, evidence of a large, decorative building. David's palace was the topic of a last conversation she had with her famous grandfather, who died 10 years ago, she said. "He said, 'Kenyon found the protoaeolic capitals, so go and find where she found them, and start there."' Five months ago, with special funding and permissions from the Ir David Foundation, which controls the site (and also supports Jews moving into east Jerusalem), and academic sponsorhip from Hebrew University, she finally began to dig - finding evidence of this monumental public building dating from the time of David and Solomon. Amihai Mazar, a renowned professor of archaeology at Hebrew University, and Eilat Mazar's second cousin, calls the find "something of a miracle." He believes the building may be the Fortress of Zion that David is said to have conquered, and where he lived for a time, and which he renamed the City of David. "The interpretation will be debated," he said. "But the achievement is great. What she found is fascinating whatever it is." There is a debate among archaeologists "to what extent Jerusalem was an important city or even a city in the time of David and Samuel," he said. "Some believe it was tiny and the kingdom unimportant."

We got back from vacation in Pensacola, Fl Sunday. Our teens enjoyed the beach and deep sea fishing. I did too. We caught at least two dozen big fish.
My niece, Laura, married Chris Sheperd July 23. We went to the wedding. That was beautiful and fun.
In route, we visited Southeast Missouri State Univ. in Cape Girardeau. My daughter might go there. I visited with a friend that was in our wedding that lives there now.