Monthly Archives: January 2012

Church asks Pacquiao to be ‘bible ambassador’

Why of course The Catholic Church is asking Pacquiao to be a Bible ambassador; what better way to help convert non-Christians while simultaneously solidifying the faith of the ignorant masses who already believe in fairy tales.

It’s all about numbers, as numbers represent dollars. The people of the Philippines, who for the most part are quite poor, are more than happy to give the corrupt Catholic Church a portion of their meager earnings. Their goal, of course, is to be “saved.” This is the promise of religion – surrender to faith in this world (naturally for a fee) in the hopes of salvation in the next. Unfortunately, the fools believe it. TGO

Refer to story below. Source: Associated Press

AFPAFP

The influential Catholic church in the Philippines said Monday it had asked boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao to follow in the footsteps of NFL hero Tim Tebow and become a “bible ambassador”.

Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, who presides over the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines’ (CBCP) bible ministry, said church leaders had approached Pacquiao with the idea, but received no feedback from the 32-year-old fighter.

“We asked him to partner with us in promoting the reading of the Bible among Catholics,” David told reporters.

“We told him: ‘You would be a big help to us brother Manny’, but he has not pledged his partnership yet.”

He said Pacquiao could follow the example of the Philippine-born National Football League star Tebow, a devout Christian dubbed by some in the press as “God’s quarterback.”

“Tim Tebow became very popular by promoting the word of God,” David said. “Some have referred to Manny Pacquiao as the Tim Tebow of the Philippines.”

Tebow, born in Manila in 1987 to a Baptist missionary couple, has emerged as America’s hottest football star with his come-from-behind heroics for the Broncos.

Tebow has been very vocal about his Christianity and recently pledged to help fund a $3 million hospital in the southern Philippines.

Pacquiao is regarded as one of the greatest boxers in history, amassing a 54-3 win-loss record with two drawn bouts. He holds a record eight world titles in as many weight divisions.

Pacquiao, who is also a politician and recently elected to the Philippines’ lower house of parliament, often cites God as the source of his success, and wears a rosary around his neck before and after his fights.

But the ultra-rich sportsman has not escaped intrigue, and reports of him womanising and gambling have become rich tabloid fodder.

In an interview with Philippine TV station ABS-CBN this month, Pacquiao said he had recently renewed his faith and given up vices following an “encounter with God” during a dream.

In the dream, Pacquiao said he found himself in a forest, where a bright light shone, believed to be God, asking the fighter why he was veering away from Him.

“I woke up crying. I remember I was crying in my dream and when I touched my pillow, it was wet,” he said.

“If I had died last year or in the last two years, I’m sure I would have gone straight to hell. My faith in Him was there, 100 percent, but behind it, after prayers, I would still do evil things.”

Pacquiao said he now immersed himself in Bible study and spent more time when not in training with wife Jinkee and his four children, according to ABS-CBN.

Afghan woman killed, apparently for bearing girl

For once I’d like a Muslim (male or female) who reads this post to respond with commentary pertaining to the barbaric and despicable acts that their fellow Muslims, members of that “peaceful” faith, continue to perform.

Come on now, don’t be a wimp, explain how you can belong to a religious group whose members (most of them) are still living in the Stone Age. A religion known for terrorist acts, suicide bombers, rapists and the like. 

At their core, religions are founded on ignorance and superstitious dogma, and naturally they were all invented by men, not women. This is why in the most religious societies across the globe women are treated like dirt by their male counterparts, and nowhere is this more evident than in Muslim-dominated countries, which are the most religious of all. This all goes to show just how “good” religion is. TGO

Refer to story below. Source: Associated Press

Associated PressBy AMIR SHAH and HEIDI VOGT | Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An Afghan woman has been strangled to death, apparently by her husband, who was upset that she gave birth to a second daughter rather than the son he wanted, police said Monday.

It was the latest in a series of grisly examples of subjugation of women that have made headlines in Afghanistan in the past few months — including a 15-year-old tortured and forced into prostitution by in-laws and a female rape victim who was imprisoned for adultery.

The episodes have raised the question of what will happen to the push for women’s rights in Afghanistan as the international presence here shrinks along with the military drawdown. NATO forces are scheduled to pull out by the end of 2014.

In the 10 years since the ouster of the Taliban, great strides have been made for women in Afghanistan, with many attending school, working in offices and even sometimes marching in protests. But abuse and repression of women are still common, particularly in rural areas where women are still unlikely to set foot outside of the house without a burqa robe that covers them from head to toe.

The man in the latest case, Sher Mohammad, fled the Khanabad district in Kunduz province last week, about the time a neighbor found his 22-year-old wife dead in their house, said District Police Chief Sufi Habibullah. Medical examiners whom police brought to check the body said she had been strangled, Habibullah said.

The woman, named Estorai, had warned family members that her husband had repeatedly reproached her for giving birth to a daughter rather than a son and had threatened to kill her if it happened again, said Provincial women’s affairs chief Nadira Ghya, who traveled to Khanabad to deal with the case. Estorai gave birth to her second daughter between two and three months ago, Ghya said. Officials did not have a family name for either Sher Mohammad or Estorai.

Police took the man’s mother into custody because she appears to have collaborated in a plot to kill her daughter-in-law, Habibullah said. Ghya, who visited the man’s mother in jail, said that she swears that Estorai committed suicide by hanging. Police said they found no rope and no evidence of hanging from the woman’s wounds.

Boy babies are traditionally prized much more highly than girls in Afghanistan, where a son means a breadwinner and a daughter is seen as a drain on the family until she is married off. Even so, a murder over the gender of a baby would be rare and shocking if proved true.

The U.S. Embassy issued a statement Monday praising the Afghan government for recent declarations supporting women’s rights in the wake of the latest abuse cases that have garnered media attention.

“The rights of women cannot be relegated to the margins of international affairs, as this issue is at the core of our national security and the security of people everywhere,” the statement said. It did not address the killing of the young woman in Kunduz.

Giants vs. Patriots II: Does 2008 matter?

Coaches and players can downplay it all they want, but in my opinion there is no doubt that the Patriots have a HUGE revenge factor going into Sunday’s Super Bowl. In fact, I’ll bet there will be something posted inside their locker room, maybe inside individual lockers, to reinforce what happened when these teams met in the Super Bowl four years ago.

Having lost to the Giants after the 16-0 2007 season, on a fluke catch to keep the last drive of the game alive by an unknown Giants player, when clearly the Patriots had the superior team, has to be eating at the Patriot players and coaches still. Having said that, if Bill Belichick doesn’t come up with a brilliant defensive strategy, the Patriots might lose yet again, because whereas they were clearly the best team in 2007, this season’s Giants’ team is much more balanced overall than the Patriots are. TGO

Refer to story below. Source: Associated Press

By BARRY WILNER | Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — That was then. This is now.

That’s what players on the Giants and Patriots are saying about their previous Super Bowl meeting, New York’s 17-14 stunner over the then-unbeaten Patriots four years ago.

To hear them talk, it has little or no relevance to Sunday’s matchup at Lucas Oil Stadium.

“Honestly, for us, that ’07 thing was kind of like us coming together as a football team,” defensive end Justin Tuck said Monday when the NFC champions arrived in Indy. “We just said we wanted to kill a dynasty, and that’s what they were. But now, we’ve been here before and we felt as though all that is secondary. We just want to come in here and have our mind focused on playing a great football game, and not really getting caught up in all the hoopla around the game.”

Or the hoopla still attached to the 2007 NFL championship. Replays of David Tyree’s incredible ball-against-helmet catch or Plaxico Burress’ winning TD reception in the final minute seem to be shown around the clock — along with the Giants sacking Tom Brady five times.

The Giants (12-7) might need to replicate that performance to stop New England (15-3) from winning its fourth Super Bowl under Bill Belichick and Brady at quarterback.

“We had a lot of hits on him,” Tuck said. “Even when we didn’t hit him, he didn’t have the time to sit back there and allow some of the routes to develop. We know that as a D-line, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to make sure that we are in his face. He is a hell of a quarterback, and he is going to do a lot of things to throw us off our rhythm.

“You are going to get your shots because they are an explosive offense and they like to take shots downfield, too. We are going to have our chances, and we just are going to have to do a great job of taking advantage of them.”

New England didn’t take advantage in that Super Bowl, the last time both teams got this far. Dredging up what went wrong not only is painful but, the Patriots say, it’s useless.

“Every time you get to this level, it’s a special level. You have to enjoy it,” defensive tackle Vince Wilfork said. “This is something that is going to stick with you for the rest of your life. 2007 was 2007, now we’re in 2012. Both teams are different. I don’t think we’re looking for revenge.”

Belichick is playing down that angle, too — even if some believe he’s constantly reminding his players that the Giants not only beat them in the Super Bowl four years back, but beat them at home in November.

“I’ve been asked about that game for several days now. All of the games in the past really don’t mean that much at this point,” said Belichick, 3-1 in NFL championship games. “This game is about this team this year. There aren’t really a lot of us coaches and players who were involved in that game, and very few players, in relative terms, between both teams. We are where we are now, and we’re different than where we were earlier in the season. The Giants are where they are now, and I think they’re different than where they were at different points of the season. To take it back years and years before that, I don’t think it has too much bearing on anything.”

Tiger pleased with progress despite Sunday disappointment

Tiger Woods should be primed to win multiple Majors this year. But if he somehow doesn’t manage to win at least one, the odds of ever tying or surpassing Jack Nicklaus’ record of Major titles is probably all but gone. TGO

Refer to story below. Source: Reuters

By Tony Jimenez | Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) – Tiger Woods’s joint third-place finish at the Abu Dhabi Championship showed the former world number one was getting closer to regaining his imperious form of old.

For the opening three rounds in the desert heat of the Middle East, the 36-year-old American was almost metronomically accurate with his irons and stunningly precise off the tee.

Woods’s putter was cold on the first day but from then on he found his range on the greens and by Sunday’s final round, could be backed with near certainty to hole the six-to-eight footers that have been his nemesis for the last two years.

The 14-times major champion eventually finished two strokes behind surprise winner Robert Rock of Britain but chose to accentuate the positives rather than highlight the negatives of his week.

“I’m pleased at the progress,” Woods told reporters after a closing level-par 72 gave him an 11-under total of 277.

“Basically, since playing in Australia (at the end of 2011) my strokeplay events have been pretty good. I just need to keep building, keep getting more consistent.”

When the heat was on in his head-to-head duel with Rock on Sunday, Woods was unable to find any sort of consistency from tee to green.

He was expected to stamp his authority on his little-known playing partner early in the round but instead it was the Englishman who wrested the initiative away as Woods reached only one green in regulation in the opening eight holes.

The former world number one, up from 25th to 17th after his result in Abu Dhabi, had to scramble on and around the greens to simply stay in contention.

Birdies proved elusive for Woods on the back nine and Rock moved three shots clear of the field with three holes to play before he bogeyed the last to win by a stroke from U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy.

TURNING POINT

“I think the turning point for me was at the 10th where I hit the most beautiful little wedge after I had just birdied nine to cut the deficit to one,” Woods said.

“But I don’t know how it did what it did because from our view it looked pretty good. Next thing you know I’m making bogey instead.”

Woods’s wedge finished off the green and two putts later a six on his card meant Rock was two shots ahead again.

“That was a big turnaround there and I never closed the gap after that,” the American added.

“I hit the ball beautifully all week which I’m very pleased about but I was just a touch off on Sunday. I was hitting the ball a little bit further than I thought I would.

“A couple of my three-woods were going about 320 yards which I don’t normally do and a couple of my irons were going further than they are supposed to,” he said.

“That’s something to look at and something to try and figure out.”

Overall, his performance against a world-class lineup in Abu Dhabi represents a continuation of the revival he started by winning the Chevron World Challenge limited-field event in California last month.

Woods last triumphed in a full-field event at the 2009 Australian Masters before his game went into decline following injuries and the breakdown of his marriage.

His next outing is the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am that starts on February 9 as he counts down to the first major of the season, the U.S. Masters at Augusta in April.

“I hit the ball good enough to win the golf tournament this week,” said Woods. “I just didn’t get it done.

“Now I’ve got a week off to get ready for Pebble and then we have a couple of big World Golf Championship events.”

Catholics hear protests of Obama health ruling at Mass

Don’t you just love it? The clergy citing the U.S. Constitution to protect their rights to religious freedom, yet when it’s convenient for them to do so they pee all over the Constitution by pushing their faith on public entities; schools, courts, etc. In those instances, the clergy have no problem in bridging the separation between Church and State. They’re such hypocrites!

These priests would rather hold on to their archaic precepts than do what’s good for mankind, and this is understandable since the only thing they can hold onto is those archaic precepts; once they lose those their stupid religion crumbles.  TGO

Refer to story below. Source: Reuters

ReutersReuters

(Reuters) – U.S. Catholic bishops and priests across the country read out letters at Mass on Sunday protesting plans by President Barack Obama’s administration to force religiously-affiliated nonprofit groups to offer birth-control coverage to women employees.

On Jan 20, the Obama administration made final a proposal requiring most employer-sponsored health plans to offer women contraceptive services including sterilization without copays, co-insurance or deductibles.

Religious authorities including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops condemned the rule as a violation of religious conscience and the constitutional right to religious freedom.

In an organized protest, numerous local media reported on Sunday that Catholic clergy read out letters of protest Mass.

“We cannot, we will not, comply with this unjust law,” wrote Phoenix bishop Thomas J. Olmsted in one such letter, adding that the rule was an attack on religious freedoms enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.

“Our parents and grandparents did not come to these shores to help build (America) … or to have the posterity stripped of their God given rights,” he added.

The rule changes ordered by the administration were welcomed

by birth control advocates including the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

The government’s decision does not apply to churches, synagogues, mosques, temples and some religiously-affiliated elementary and secondary schools, which remain exempt.

But it came as a blow to religious officials who pushed hard for a broader exemption that would have included religious organizations whose main purpose is not to provide religious services for their members. These include institutions such as Catholic-affiliated hospitals.

The Obama administration said it sought to meet those concerns by allowing religious groups an extra year to adjust.

The change is intended to reduce health costs, unwanted pregnancies and abortions, as part of Obama’s healthcare overhaul.

The 2010 healthcare reform law, his signature domestic policy achievement, is facing unprecedented challenges in the Supreme Court and from Republicans this year as the president seeks re-election.

(Reporting By Tim Gaynor; Editing by Greg McCune)

What the Republican Candidates Say About Moon Colonization

The Moon is where some of these Republican candidates’ heads (and ideas) are at… TGO

Refer to story below. Source: Yahoo

Yahoo! Contributor NetworkBy Charles Joel | Yahoo! Contributor Network – Fri, Jan 27, 2012

A day before the most recent Republican debate in Florida, Newt Gingrich promised that if he were elected president, there would be a permanent base on the moon. The former Speaker of the House added that if 13,000 Americans were living there, the moon could apply for U.S. statehood.

At the Florida GOP debate, Gingrich was asked to outline his proposal, while the rest of the Republican field reacted to this grandiose plan. Here is what the candidates said, according to the presidential debate transcript provided by CNN:

* Newt Gingrich: “If we had a handful of serious prizes, you’d see an extraordinary number of people out there trying to get to the moon first. … It is really important to go back and look at what John F. Kennedy said in May of 1961 when he said, “We will go to the moon in this decade.” … But I’ll tell you, I do not want to be the country that having gotten to the moon first, turned around and said, it doesn’t really matter, let the Chinese dominate space, what do we care? I think that is a path of national decline, and I am for America being a great country, not a country in decline.”

* Mitt Romney: “That’s an enormous expense. And right now I want to be spending money here. Of course the space coast has been badly hurt and I believe in a very vibrant and strong space program. To define the mission for our space program, I’d like to bring in the top professors that relate to space areas and physics, the top people from industry. Because I want to make sure what we’re doing in space translates into commercial products. I want to bring in our top military experts on space needs. … I’m not looking for a colony on the moon. I think the cost of that would be in the hundreds of billions, if not trillions. I’d rather be rebuilding housing here in the U.S. I spent 25 years in business. If I had a business executive come to me and say they wanted to spend a few hundred billion dollars to put a colony on the moon, I’d say, ‘You’re fired.’”

* Rick Santorum: “I agree that we need to bring good minds in the private sector much more involved in NASA than the government bureaucracy that we have. But let’s just be honest, we run a $1.2 trillion deficit right now. We’re borrowing 40-cents of every dollar. And to go out there and promise new programs and big ideas, that’s a great thing to maybe get votes, but it’s not a responsible thing when you have to go out and say that we have to start cutting programs, not talking about how to how to grow them. We’re going to cut programs.”

* Ron Paul: “Well, I don’t think we should go to the moon. I think we maybe should send some politicians up there. … The only part that I would vote for is for national defense purposes. Not to explore the moon and go to Mars. I think that’s fantastic. I love those ideas, but I also don’t like the idea of building government business partnerships. If we had a healthy economy and had more Bill Gateses and more Warren Buffetts, the money would be there. It should be privatized, and the people who work in the industry, if you had that, there would be jobs in aerospace.”