recent iPods will now be able to set how loud their digital music players can go. Apple Computer, facing complaints and a lawsuit claiming the popular player can cause hearing loss,
You can well imagine the army of snoopers, informers and bureaucratic bullies that will grow up around ID cards.
... look at the scale of fines proposed. The failure to register will be punished by a maximum fine of £2,500. The failure to apply in a manner prescribed (whatever that means) to renew your ID, or to inform the national identity register of a change of your details, or to surrender the ID card, or to notify the register of an invalid card, will all incur a maximum fine of £1,000. Hold these rules in your mind and ask yourself whether a government that was merely interested in your being able to identify yourself would enforce ID cards with these enormous fines. Of course it would not. The fines are a measure of the government's terrifying determination to make your identity its property. You only have to consider how easy it will be for a local official to remove your name from electoral roll because of ID card irregularities to understand the truly terrifying potential of the scheme. For one of the many facts that the government has chosen not to publicise about this scheme is that despite the huge costs, both direct and indirect, to the British citizen, the card remains government property and may be withdrawn by the home secretary. Without the card, a person will not be able to function as a citizen of this society.
"It should not be legal, and yet we've proved that children, who by law are not allowed to drink alcohol, can broker arms from countries along a trade route from Poland to China, Israel to South Africa. And many of these arms are used against - or tragically even by - children," said Maddy Fry, 16, a pupil at Lord Williams's school.
Under the new plans, accepted by Home Office minister Baroness Scotland of Asthal, anyone applying for a passport before January 2010 can opt out of having an ID card.
Home Office minister Andy Burnham said in a statement: "...The amendment preserves the integrity of the national identity register by ensuring that everyone who applies for or renews a passport or other designated document has their biometric information and other identity details placed on the register.
the minister involved can amend any existing legislation; nothing is protected. So, as was pointed out in The Times by 6 law professors from Cambridge, a minister could abolish trial by jury, suspend habeas corpus (your right not to be arbitrarily arrested), or change any of the legislation governing the legal system. That's 700 years of democracy and the rule of law, thrown away in a heartbeat. What's left of the Magna Carta, the foundation of just about all modern democracies, would be finally gone, and our Parliament, which has influenced democratic systems all over the world, would just be a footnote in history.
People think, "I won't have to go to Florida anymore. Florida will come to me." People should realize that warmth doesn't mean Florida. It means New York is underwater. It may be that certain places like Siberia are more comfy, but it also means that they have no water. If people say, "Why should I be worried about global warming?" I think the answer is, "Do you like to eat?"
If all goes as planned, Rist and Martin intend to start what they're calling a "roadless trucking" service, eventually building a 990-foot-long hauler. Oh, the efficiency!
Fr Reid was approached several years ago by a Bilbao priest working for peace to advise him about how to end the armed conflict in Spain. He has been living and working in the region for the past four years, explaining the lessons from Northern Ireland. "Explaining especially," he said, "that the only way you can solve a conflict like the Basque one or the Irish one is through dialogue between all the participants. There are no military solutions and we would say that the first thing you have to do is to take the violence away from the streets. "You can’t solve it while it is on the streets. You have to bring it to the conference table, the table for dialogue." Fr Reid added: "My information is that Eta has been completely united leading into this. This is the end of the physical force tradition in Basque politics, it’s like what happened with the IRA last year with decommissioning and it’s the beginning of a whole new era."
associated press has admitted to taking large quotes from websites and not citing the source 'as we don't credit blogs'.
in the first Zapatero's Government and ETA would deal with the situation of prisoners and refugees, the reintegration into society of band members and the disarmament of the band, terms to dump ETA's arms. In parallel with these negotiations a table for political normalisation would be set up. There, every Basque political party would take part. This table would tackle the important issues that have been in the limelight in Euskadi for decades. These are the judicial-political frame, that is, the relationship of Euskadi with the State, links between the Basque Autonomous Region and Navarre, the right to decide of the Basque Country: the right to self-determination, and the referendum or popular consult on the future of the country. Furthermore, the statute reform would rise territoriality issues.
The compensation for the victims of the conflict will be another of the issues to solve in the process.
75: The percentage of married men that feel “children should be raised in a religion,” according to a 2004 study published by Rutgers University. Only 59 percent of unmarried men thought so.So the inevitable question is "why?"
Enough wind power will be available within four years to provide electricity to the households of London and Glasgow combined
The Government's Operating and Financial Review required UK companies to report annually on their social and environmental impacts. No one thought it would suddenly make all UK companies clean and green, but it was a start. Last November Gordon Brown scrapped the law - he wants to be seen as a friend to big business.
“The clash we are witnessing around the world is not a clash of religions, or a clash of civilisations,” the impassioned 47-year-old told Al-Jazeera’s stunned audience across the Arab world. “It is a clash between civilisation and backwardness, between the civilised and the primitive, between barbarity and rationality. It is a clash between human rights on the one hand and the violation of these rights on the other, between those who treat women like beasts and those who treat them like human beings.”
Church leaders have backed a new report that describes a low consumption, non-nuclear, energy strategy as a “moral imperative.” The report, entitled Faith and Power , urges an energy strategy informed by Christian principles of wise stewardship, peacemaking, justice, love for neighbours and moderation in consumption.
Church leaders have backed a new report that describes a low consumption, non-nuclear, energy strategy as a “moral imperative.” The report, entitled Faith and Power , urges an energy strategy informed by Christian principles of wise stewardship, peacemaking, justice, love for neighbours and moderation in consumption.
Did you know that 95% of the energy used by the UK’s mobile phone chargers is wasted energy? Only 5% is actually used to charge phones, the rest is used when the charger is plugged into the wall but not switched off at the socket. That’s over 50,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions that could be avoided if we all just unplugged our chargers after use – the equivalent of almost 500 football pitches’ worth of forest every year.
With some easy-to-do actions, you can probably halve the amount of greenhouse gas you produce. And you won’t reduce your quality of life one little bit. In fact, you’ll find you save money.
The 41-year-old convert from Islam to Christianity, who had been threatened
with a death sentence for apostasy, is to be released by the Afghan
authorities. In response to pressure from many Western governments a
pretext has been found to dismiss the case against him, though whether this
pretext is lack of evidence or his alleged insanity is not yet clear.
This resolution to the problem is not necessarily the good news which it
appears at first to be. For one thing, an anonymous official has said that
the prosecutors will be doing further investigation of the case. Secondly,
senior Muslim clerics in Afghanistan had already warned that if Rahman were
released he would be murdered. Indeed a member of the country’s main
Islamic organisation, the Afghan Ulama Council, said, “We will call on the
people to pull him to pieces so there’s nothing left.” It seems likely
that the people would willingly respond to such incitement for, according
to the BBC, “an overwhelming number of ordinary Afghans appear to believe
that Mr Rahman has erred and deserves to be executed”.
Even if Rahman is able to flee to a safe country which will agree not to
deport him, the question remains of Islam’s apostasy law, under which he
was convicted. All four schools of Sunni Islamic law, as well as Shi‘a
Islamic law, agree that the penalty for a sane adult male who leaves Islam
is death. The sanctioning of murder in this way makes Islam unique among
world faiths.
The 2004 Afghan constitution states that “no law can be contrary to the
beliefs and provisions of the sacred law of Islam.” (Article 3). Hence the
death sentence for apostasy from Islam which the Afghan judge and
prosecutor in Rahman’s case have declared to be a part of Afghan law.
In a complete contradiction of this, the constitution also states that
Afghanistan will respect (Preamble) and abide by (Article 7) the United
Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This declaration guarantees
the freedom to change one’s religion in its Article 18.
If Abdul Rahman were the only convert from Islam to Christianity, his
fellow Christians around the world and all who love liberty could simply
rejoice at his escape from hanging. The teachings of Islamic law [shari‘a]
and the ambiguity of the Afghan constitution would be irrelevant. But
there are former Muslims who now follow Jesus Christ in every country of
the world, including others in Afghanistan. For all of them Islam’s
apostasy law has implications. Though only a handful of countries have the
death sentence for apostasy in their law, in every Muslim society there is
a widespread knowledge of what shari‘a says on this subject. This
knowledge has tainted the attitudes of Muslims to those who have left their
faith. As a result converts from Islam suffer harassment even where the
law of the land does not forbid them from converting. Typically they are
rejected by their families, marginalised by the community, and persecuted
by officialdom and society by a variety of methods and pretexts. Often
they suffer violence, sometimes they are murdered. These things happen in
the West as well as in the Muslim world.
Unless the shari‘a’s ruling on apostasy is challenged this will continue.
Abdul Rahman himself recognises the futility of his fleeing Afghanistan
without the issue of punishment for a sane convert being settled. “If I
flee again that would mean my country hasn’t changed. It would mean that
they have won, our enemies.” He said, “I don’t want to die. But if God
decides, I am ready to confront my choices, all the way.” Abdul Rahman is
willing to die for his faith, but evidently hopes that if he has to die it
would help to save other converts from a similar fate.
A number of Muslim voices have been raised around the world in the last few
days saying that Islam does not really teach that apostates should be
executed. The argument usually is that (1) what the Qur’an says about
apostasy is ambiguous and (2) what the hadith [traditions] record of
Muhammad’s words and example on this subject should never have been
universalised but were only applicable for particular contexts in which the
apostates were also traitors to the Islamic state. This reasoning has long
been held by a minority of liberal Muslims, but has never yet managed to
make any impact on the official teachings of shari‘a, formulated in the
Middle Ages.
Let these arguments be addressed to Muslims as well as to non-Muslims. Let
them be announced and taught by Islamic leaders at every level, in every
country and within every group and sect of Islam. Let it be announced by
fatwas from the most senior scholars and in Friday sermons from local imams
in their mosques. Let it be promoted on Islamic television stations,
Islamic websites and circulated through the videos and DVDs by which
extremism is so often promoted. Let it be reinforced with new legislation
in the relevant countries and re-training of police and security personnel.
Let shari‘a be re-written on this point.
The armed Basque separatist group Eta declared a permanent ceasefire yesterday in what many hoped would mark a definitive end to almost four decades of domestic terrorism in Spain. In a video communique sent to a Basque television station, one of western Europe's longest-lived and most lethal terrorist groups said it would down arms at midnight tonight.
The Evangelical Climate Initiative is of enormous importance and could be a tipping point in the climate change debate, according to one secular environmental leader I talked to. But of even wider importance, these events signal a sea change in evangelical Christian politics: The Religious Right is losing control. They have now lost control on the environmental issue - caring for God's creation is now a mainstream evangelical issue, especially for a new generation of evangelicals. But now so is sex trafficking, the genocide in Darfur, the pandemic of HIV/AIDS and, of course, global and domestic poverty. The call to overcome extreme poverty abroad and at home, in the world's richest nation, is becoming a new altar call around the world - a principal way Christians are deciding to put their faith into practice.
the Gana and the Gwi, like indigenous people everywhere, exist today, and what they do belongs to the present as much as anything anyone else does. There is no scala natura of human validity, which places them at the bottom and us at the top. Faced with a different set of ecological conditions and economic constraints to ours, the Bushmen trying to return to their lands see that their traditional practices and technologies – or some of them at any rate – are more likely to ensure their survival than sitting in a tin shed drinking moonshine. They can also understand the benefits of western healthcare and education, but they want to use them if and as they choose,
You will need the card when you receive prescription drugs, when you withdraw a relatively small amount of money from a bank, check into hospital, get your car unclamped, apply for a fishing licence, buy a round of drinks (if you need to prove you're over 18), set up an internet account, fix a residents' parking permit or take out insurance.
Every time that card is swiped, the central database logs the transaction so that an accurate plot of your life is drawn. The state will know everything that it needs to know; so will big corporations, the police, the Inland Revenue, HM Customs, MI5 and any damned official or commercial busybody that wants access to your life. The government and Home Office have presented this as an incidental benefit, but it is at the heart of their purpose.
Andrew Burnham, a junior minister at the Home Office, confirmed the anonymous email by admitting that the ID card scheme would now include chip-and-pin technology because it would be a cheaper way of checking each person's identity. The sophisticated technology on which this bill was sold will cost too much to operate, with millions of checks being made every week. That is a very important admission because the government still maintains the fiction that the ID card is defence against identity theft and terrorism. The 7 July bombers would not have been deterred by a piece of plastic. And it is clear that the claim about protecting your identity is also rubbish because chip-and-pin technology has already been compromised by organised criminals. What remains is the ceaseless monitoring of people's lives. That is what the government is forcing on us.
Labour's manifesto said: 'We will introduce ID cards, including biometric data like fingerprints, backed up by a national register and rolling out initially on a voluntary basis as people renew their passports.'
It turns out that there is nothing voluntary about it. If you renew your passport, you will be compelled to provide all the information the state requires for its sinister data base. The Home Secretary says that the decision to apply for, or renew, a passport is entirely a matter of individual choice; thus he maintains that the decision to commit those personal details to the data base is a matter of individual choice.
Rowan Williams, has stepped into the controversy between religious fundamentalists and scientists by saying that he does not believe that creationism - the Bible-based account of the origins of the world - should be taught in schools.
Archbishop: stop teaching creationism
Williams backs science over Bible
Stephen Bates, religious affairs correspondent
Tuesday March 21, 2006
The Guardian
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has stepped into the controversy between religious fundamentalists and scientists by saying that he does not believe that creationism - the Bible-based account of the origins of the world - should be taught in schools.
Giving his first, wide-ranging, interview at Lambeth Palace, the archbishop was emphatic in his criticism of creationism being taught in the classroom, as is happening in two city academies founded by the evangelical Christian businessman Sir Peter Vardy and several other schools.
Article continues
"I think creationism is ... a kind of category mistake, as if the Bible were a theory like other theories ... if creationism is presented as a stark alternative theory alongside other theories I think there's just been a jarring of categories ... My worry is creationism can end up reducing the doctrine of creation rather than enhancing it,"
“Islamic scholars say the original rulings on apostasy were similar to those for treasonous acts in legal systems worldwide and do not apply to an individual's choice of religion. Islam advocates both freedom of religion and freedom of conscience, a position supported by verses in the Quran, Islam's revealed text, such as:
1) ‘If it had been the will of your Lord that all the people of the world should be believers, all the people of the earth would have believed! Would you then compel mankind against their will to believe?’ (10:99)
2) ‘(O Prophet) proclaim: 'This is the Truth from your Lord. Now let him who will, believe in it, and him who will, deny it.'’ (18:29)
3) ‘If they turn away from thee (O Muhammad) they should know that We have not sent you to be their keeper. Your only duty is to convey My message.’ (42:48)
4) ‘Let there be no compulsion in religion.’ (2:256)
“Religious decisions should be matters of personal choice, not a cause for state intervention. Faith imposed by force is not true belief, but coercion. Islam has no need to compel belief in its divine truth. As the Quran states: ‘Truth stands out clear from error. Therefore, whoever rejects evil and believes in God has grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold that never breaks.’ (2:256)
“We urge the government of Afghanistan to order the immediate release of Mr. Abdul Rahman.”
was interested in a "category of people who wanted to hop off the merry-go-round of status, money and social climbing that so often frames modern existence".
if you want to belong to a category, you will be sure to see yourself in it. Aren't a lot of people still left cold by status, money and social climbing?
cynical, bored, worried you'll never be able to buy a house or get a decent promotion
About 30% of Africa's university-trained professionals and up to 50,000 Africans with PhDs now live and work outside the continent. The problem is particularly acute in sub-Saharan Africa.
The Association of University Teachers(AUT) and the lecturers' union Natfhe are now looking at how developing countries can be better compensated for their loss. Ideas include reciprocal migration, better links between universities in industrialised countries and those in developing nations and improving the infrastructure in the countries faced with losing its workers.
the Home Office revealed that bank card-style PIN numbers - and not biometrics - would be used to verify the ID cardholder's identity in some cases.
Phil Booth, national co-ordinator of the No2ID campaign, ... said in a statement: "After all its overblown claims about the infallibility of biometrics and how highly secure its ID system will be, it turns out our identities are to be protected by nothing more than a four digit PIN. The Home Office may as well give away all our personal data to organised criminals and fraudsters, who will always target the weakest point in a system."
While those who convert to Islam, ... can publicly celebrate their new religion, those whose faith goes in the other direction face persecution. ... a growing number of former Muslims in Britain ... face not just being shunned by family and community, but attacked, kidnapped, and in some cases killed. There is even a secret underground network to support and protect those who leave Islam. One estimate suggests that as many as 15 per cent of Muslims in Western societies have lost their faith, which would mean that in Britain there are about 200,000 apostates.For police, religious authorities and politicians, it is an issue so sensitive that they are accused by victims of refusing to respond to appeals for help.
It is a problem that, with the crisis of identity in Islam since September 11, seems to be getting worse as Muslims feel more threatened.
RFID tags could be used as carriers for computer viruses. The reportage on this study has been fairly overblown, a problem exacerbated by the researchers titling their report "Is Your Cat Infected With A Computer Virus?". The real problem is both less frightening and more interesting than these reports suggest.
The researchers injected the blind hamsters at the site of their injury with a solution containing synthetically made peptides - miniscule molecules measuring just five nanometres long. Once inside the hamster's brain, the peptides spontaneously arranged into a scaffold-like criss-cross of nanofibres, which bridged the gap between the severed nerves. The scientists discovered that brain tissue in the hamsters knitted together across the molecular scaffold, while also preventing scar tissue from forming. Importantly, the newly formed brain tissue enabled the brain nerves to re-grow, restoring vision in the injured hamsters.
Doctors treating traumatic brain injury are confronted with a number of obstacles. When brain tissue is injured, the tissue closes itself like a skin wound. When this happens, scar tissue forms around the injury and large gaps appear where there was once continuous gray matter.
When the clear fluid containing the self-assembling peptides is injected into the area of the cut, it flows into gaps and starts to work as soon as it comes into contact with the fluid that bathes the brain.
Asking the question - "does God exist?" - is kind of pointless, because in reality, it has never been a question of whether some arguable historical sectarian definition of the word ‘God’ exists, but rather a question of whether life has any higher meaning that can be derived from a cosmic purpose.
So when the question is instead asked - "does life have any higher meaning that can be derived from a cosmic purpose?" - you find that the respondents are no longer divided along the lines of the secular and religious, because many secularists are also humanist idealists who believe that life does have some kind of higher meaning, even if they are unprepared to define the cosmic source of this meaning.
Japanese researchers have discovered a new source of stem cells: human menstrual blood. The ABC, Australia's public broadcast commission, reports the blood engendered 30 percent more stem cells than bone marrow, a more common source of the cells.
What more could the Government do on the demand or supply side to ensure that the UK’s long-term goal of reducing carbon emissions is met?
Or – How can our Government change things such that less climate-changing CO2 is produced in the UK?
"Perhaps we should move towards a rules and merit-based process for appointing the senior management of all the international financial institutions," said Mr Benn.
"Is it really acceptable that the presidencies of the World Bank and the IMF should be restricted to European and US nationals respectively, because of a cosy deal made 60 years ago?"
To me meditation is cultivating in my mind, heart and soul a state of receptivity which gives God space to make His presence felt, to work in me, to reveal Himself to me, to communicate His love to me. I know that He can do all this through Scripture, but I'm talking about a relationship with the living God who is active in the here and now.
"In our present context, an education system which conveys some sense of what religious motivation is actually like is more helpful in avoiding communal suspicion or violence and avoiding 'ghettoisation' than one which rigorously refuses to engage with any religious practice on its own terms."
Sunny Delight, formerly the UK's third largest-selling drink, is to be taken off the shelves by Asda after plummeting sales, the supermarket said at the weekend. Yesterday it was the turn of Northern Foods, makers of biscuits, pies, pizzas and ready meals, to admit that the trend to healthier food was causing it problems.
When presenting the bill, Jim Murphy MP, who seems to have the job of getting this bill passed, said:
I give the House clear undertakings, which I shall repeat in Committee, that the orders will not be used to implement highly controversial reforms.[- House of Commons debates, Febuary 9th 2006]
This is not enough. The current government can promise not to abuse it's power all it likes, but can it speak for every government that will exist after it? If the bill should not be used for "controversial reforms", then that limitation should be written into the bill. As it stands, the bill can modify any existing legislation, without exception.
The new association has been created in oder to get piece [sic!] in the Basque country taking into account every political ideas.
In Christendom churches, all "religious" energies must be focused toward the church. That means "professional" Christians must get the "amateur" Christians to "fill all the slots." ...
Obviously, these churches invest more in programs than in people. And, when necessary, they are ready to sacrifice people on behalf of their "first love." ... It's no surprise that Christian "movers and shakers" outside the church feel totally underutilized..."Put your dream on hold and come support a real ministry." That "real" ministry, however, turns out to be a frustrated club of part-time, spiritual dilettantes. And the clergy respond to their inevitable complaints by "getting what's-his-name to read a prayer."
This week MPs will vote on proposals which would make it significantly easier for householders across the UK to generate their own power. And the Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Bill, which is facing its final parliamentary hurdles when it comes before the Commons on Friday, has got all-party support to promote "micro-generation", such as solar and wind power. The bill would introduce official targets for the growth of micro-generation - and there would be a "buy-back" regulation in which householders who produce a surplus of power would be paid a fair price by energy suppliers.
If the Germans continue to expand solar power at the same rate, in another six years they will be getting more electricity from solar power than the UK gets from its nuclear power stations, says Professor Barnham.
This week MPs will vote on proposals which would make it significantly easier for householders across the UK to generate their own power. And the Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Bill, which is facing its final parliamentary hurdles when it comes before the Commons on Friday, has got all-party support to promote "micro-generation", such as solar and wind power. The bill would introduce official targets for the growth of micro-generation - and there would be a "buy-back" regulation in which householders who produce a surplus of power would be paid a fair price by energy suppliers.
The last few months have seen a startling number of announcements in high-efficiency, high-utility power storage. Most combine well-understood designs with cutting-edge nanoscale engineering -- and all have the potential to change how we think about power.
well Jesus Christ served up some loaves and fishes
he turned water into wine and it was delicious
he wore a lampshade on his head like a thorny crown
yeah, Jesus Christ, he liked to party down
he used to play hackysack and skinny dip in the creek
he was a bearded robe and sandle wearing long haired Pagan freak
well Jesus had a chalice called the Holy Graille
he used wafers and wine for his cakes and ale
he had a dozen brothers help to spread his lovin'
Jesus makes thirteen, hmmm... sounds like a coven
he had magickal powers and a certain mystique
he was a bearded robe and sandle wearing long haired Pagan freak
well Jesus went to the temple, they wuz stonin' some chick
he said "if you never sinned, you can toss the first brick"
well a rock come a'flyin', knocked him flat on his ass
Jesus say "Mama, you're a barrel of laughs!"
she nailed him again when he turned the other cheek
he was a bearded robe and sandle wearing long haired Pagan freak
well Mary Magdalene was a prostitute
she say "I'll rub your feet if you take off your boots"
Jesus said "Mary, do you think we're compatable?"
Magdalena say "Jesus, you're a party animal!"
he started speaking in tongues and she dug his technique
he was a bearded robe and sandle wearing long haired Pagan freak
well Pontious Pilate was a Roman pig
Jesus gave him the message, but he just couldn't dig
Jesus said "peace and love and blessed be!"
Pilate said "nail that hippie's ass to a tree!"
Jesus said "I guess this just ain't my week!"
he was a bearded robe and sandle wearing long haired Pagan freak
well they burried Jesus in a big old cave
they used a gigantic boulder to seal up his grave
Jesus woke up, he rolled away the stone
all his friends come a'callin', Jesus wasn't at home
the found him behind the rock, taking a leak
he was a bearded robe and sandle wearing long haired Pagan freak
well Jesus may be a god, but he isn't unique
cause he's a bearded robe and sandle wearing long haired Pagan freak
The Rev Julie Nicholson, 52, has felt unable to celebrate communion for her parishioners since her daughter, Jenny, was killed at Edgware Road on July 7 last year. Unwilling to be a hypocrite, she has resigned from the parish of St Aidan with St George in Bristol.
"It's very difficult for me to stand behind an altar and celebrate the Eucharist, the Communion, and lead people in words of peace and reconciliation and forgiveness when I feel very far from that myself, So for the time being, that wound in me is having to heal. In terms of my ministry, a colleague and a friend recently said priesthood begins in the world, not in the church, and I was very relieved to hear that; because what I am trying to do now is redefine my priesthood. I am looking for a way in which I can still have priestly ministry when there are some things I can no longer practise, or I can't currently practise, and for me that's about integrity."
The Bishop of Bradford, the Rt Rev David James, a keen lover of curries, didn't think twice about turning the idea down: "As I am not a vegetarian it would be hypocritical of me to support your initiative,"
"… St. Gregory writing to St. Augustine of England laid down the rule, 'We abstain from flesh meat, and from all things that come from flesh, as milk, cheese, and eggs.' This decision was afterwards enshrined in the 'Corpus Juris', and must be regarded as the common law of the Church."
the research establishes that even if the UK’s existing nuclear capacity was doubled, it would only give an 8% cut on CO2 emissions by 2035 (and nothing before 2010). This must be set against the risks.
the research establishes that even if the UK’s existing nuclear capacity was doubled, it would only give an 8% cut on CO2 emissions by 2035 (and nothing before 2010). This must be set against the risks.
The report identifies five major disadvantages to nuclear power:
1. Long-term waste – no long term solutions are yet available ... impossible to guarantee safety ...
2. Cost – the economics of nuclear new-build are highly uncertain. ...little, if any, justification for public subsidy, ... clear risk that the taxpayer will be have to pick up the tab.
3. Inflexibility – ... would lock the UK into a centralised distribution system ... when opportunities for microgeneration and local distribution network are stronger than ever.
4. Undermining energy efficiency – ... wrong signal to consumers and businesses, ... weakening the urgent action needed on energy efficiency.
5. International security – ... we cannot deny other countries the same technology*.... higher risks of accidents, radiation exposure, proliferation and terrorist attacks.
I am able to “pastor” in the way I feel most called to. Not as Julie McCoy-cruise director-pastor. Not as the Pastor-who-maintains-things-as-they-have-been-and-always-shall-be-amen. Not as She-who-runs-the-grand-institution-of-“We Have Arrived.” Instead, I get to be more of a spiritual director/companion/friend. Someone who will pray and listen and watch with you as you try to live the life God has called you to live. Someone willing to live in the questions. Someone willing to struggle together with a community of people as we figure out what it means to live as “Followers of God in the Way of Jesus.”
I got a response from my MP which got me kind of mad. You'll see why as I reproduce it here. Apologies for the strange changes in types...
