Greetings From James, A Servant Of God

Greetings From James, A Servant Of God

James 1 Amplified Bible

1 JAMES, A servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes scattered abroad [among the Gentiles in the dispersion]: Greetings (rejoice)! 2 Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations.

3 Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience. 4 But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing.

5 If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God [Who gives] to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or faultfinding, and it will be given him. 6 Only it must be in faith that he asks with no wavering (no hesitating, no doubting). For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the billowing surge out at sea that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind.

7 For truly, let not such a person imagine that he will receive anything [he asks for] from the Lord, 8 [For being as he is] a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute), [he is] unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything [he thinks, feels, decides].

9 Let the brother in humble circumstances glory in his elevation [as a Christian, called to the true riches and to be an heir of God], 10 And the rich [person ought to glory] in being humbled [by being shown his human frailty], because like the flower of the grass he will pass away.

11 For the sun comes up with a scorching heat and parches the grass; its flower falls off and its beauty fades away. Even so will the rich man wither and die in the midst of his pursuits. 12 Blessed (happy, to be envied) is the man who is patient under trial and stands up under temptation, for when he has stood the test and been approved, he will receive [the victor's] crown of life which God has promised to those who love Him.

13 Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted from God; for God is incapable of being tempted by [what is] evil and He Himself tempts no one. 14 But every person is tempted when he is drawn away, enticed and baited by his own evil desire (lust, passions).

15 Then the evil desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully matured, brings forth death. 16 Do not be misled, my beloved brethren.

17 Every good gift and every perfect (free, large, full) gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of all [that gives] light, in [the shining of] Whom there can be no variation [rising or setting] or shadow cast by His turning [as in an eclipse]. 18 And it was of His own [free] will that He gave us birth [as sons] by [His] Word of Truth, so that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures [a sample of what He created to be consecrated to Himself].

19 Understand [this], my beloved brethren. Let every man be quick to hear [a ready listener], slow to speak, slow to take offense and to get angry. 20 For man's anger does not promote the righteousness God [wishes and requires].

21 So get rid of all uncleanness and the rampant outgrowth of wickedness, and in a humble (gentle, modest) spirit receive and welcome the Word which implanted and rooted [in your hearts] contains the power to save your souls. 22 But be doers of the Word [obey the message], and not merely listeners to it, betraying yourselves [into deception by reasoning contrary to the Truth].

23 For if anyone only listens to the Word without obeying it and being a doer of it, he is like a man who looks carefully at his [own] natural face in a mirror; 24 For he thoughtfully observes himself, and then goes off and promptly forgets what he was like.

25 But he who looks carefully into the faultless law, the [law] of liberty, and is faithful to it and perseveres in looking into it, being not a heedless listener who forgets but an active doer [who obeys], he shall be blessed in his doing (his life of obedience). 26 If anyone thinks himself to be religious (piously observant of the external duties of his faith) and does not bridle his tongue but deludes his own heart, this person's religious service is worthless (futile, barren).

27 External religious worship [religion as it is expressed in outward acts] that is pure and unblemished in the sight of God the Father is this: to visit and help and care for the orphans and widows in their affliction and need, and to keep oneself unspotted and uncontaminated from the world.

A Special Story About A Man And His Dog! A Person's True Character Is Revealed By How They Treat Animals... And Other People!

A Man and His Dog

A man and his dog were walking along a road. The man was enjoying the scenery, when it suddenly occurred to him that he was dead.

He remembered dying, and that the dog walking beside him had been dead for years.. He wondered where the road was leading them.

After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall along one side of the road. It looked like fine marble. At the top of a long hill, it was broken by a tall arch that glowed in the sunlight.

When he was standing before it he saw a magnificent gate in the arch that looked like mother-of-pearl, and the street that led to the gate looked like pure gold. He and the dog walked toward the gate, and as he got closer, he saw a man at a desk to one side.

When he was close enough, he called out, "Excuse me, where are we?"

"This is Heaven, sir," the man answered. "Wow! Would you happen to have some water?" the man asked.

"Of course, sir.. Come right in, and I'll have some ice water brought right up." The man gestured, and the gate began to open.

"Can my friend," gesturing toward his dog, "come in, too?" the traveler asked.

"I'm sorry, sir, but we don't accept pets."

The man thought a moment and then turned back toward the road and continued the way he had been going with his dog.

After another long walk, and at the top of another long hill, he came to a dirt road leading through a farm gate that looked as if it had never been closed. There was no fence.

As he approached the gate, he saw a man inside, leaning against a tree and reading a book.

"Excuse me!" he called to the man. "Do you have any water?"

"Yeah, sure, there's a pump over there, come on in."

"How about my friend here?" the traveler gestured to the dog.

"There should be a bowl by the pump."

They went through the gate, and sure enough, there was an old-fashioned hand pump with a bowl beside it.

The traveler filled the water bowl and took a long drink himself, then he gave some to the dog.

When they were full, he and the dog walked back toward the man who was standing by the tree.

"What do you call this place?" the traveler asked.

"This is Heaven," he answered.

"Well, that's confusing," the traveler said. "The man down the road said that was Heaven, too."

"Oh, you mean the place with the gold street and pearly gates? Nope. That's hell."

"Doesn't it make you mad for them to use your name like that?"

"No, we're just happy that they screen out the folks who would leave their best friends behind."

Star Wars Episode IV - A New Hope 1977 Trailer

YAY!!! After much channel surfing I finally found something I am interested in... I'm watching Star Wars episode IV on Spike TV. Woot Woot! :)

May the Force be with us ALL!

Life is... ♥

I love this!!! Thanks for sharing Rene!!! :) ♥

The Boss ~ by Diana Ross ♥ I Included A Bonus Track/Vid For More INSPIRATION And To Let You Know That YOU ARE NOT ALONE! :)

My mom has always been a huge Diana Ross fan. I grew up listening to her albums and dancing in the living room with my mom. I was also fortunate enough as a child to experience Diana Ross live in concert with my mom on several occasions. Diana Ross would always wear the most beautiful elaborate gowns on stage and change gowns after every set. She would also walk out into the audience and shake everybody's hand. She always without fail LEFT ME MESMERIZED! Diana Ross is an AWESOME entertainer! Pure CLASS.

The Boss was a huge hit when it came out. Nevertheless, this is actually a very powerful spiritual song if you really choose to listen. God is LOVE. Therefore, God is The Boss! Creator and Source of ALL living things. Love to you all. Enjoy this song and lyrics! This was me. I can totally relate to this song, as I am sure many of you can as well or soon will. ♥

This is such an AWESOME song! I can't get enough of it tonight! :) This was not released as a spiritual song. It was a dance hit in 1979. The lyrics just have more meaning for me. ♥

The Boss ~ by Legendary Diana Ross

Fancy ME
Thought I had my degree
In life and how LOVE
Ought to be a run
I had a one step plan to prove it
Guide in my pocket for FOOLS
Folly and fun
LOVE had to show me ONE THING:

I was so right
So right
Thought I could turn emotion
On and off
I was so sure
So sure (I was so sure)
But LOVE TAUGHT ME
Who was who was who was The Boss!
(Taught me who was who was The Boss)

I'D DEFY
Anyone who claimed that I
Didn't control whatever moved in MY SOUL
I could tempt
Touch delight
Just because you fell for me
Why should I feel uptight
LOVE had to show me ONE THING:

I was so right
So right
Thought I could turn emotion
On and off
I was so sure
So sure (I was so sure)
But LOVE TAUGHT ME
Who was who was who was The Boss!
(Taught me who was who was The Boss)

LOVE TAUGHT ME
Taught ME
Taught ME
Taught ME

I was so right
So right
Thought I could turn emotion
On and off
I was so sure
So sure (I was so sure)
But LOVE TAUGHT ME
Who was who was who was The Boss!
(Taught me who was who was The Boss)

BONUS TRACK

God wants you to know: If you need me, call me. No matter where you are, no matter how far. Just call my name. I'll be there in a hurry. On that you can depend and never worry.

I know you must follow the sun. Wherever it leads. But remember. If you should fall short of your desires. Remember life holds for you one guarantee. You'll always have me. ♥

10 Inspirational Quotes By Walt Whitman

Walter Whitman (May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist, journalist, and humanist. He was a part of the transition between Transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse. His work was very controversial in its time, particularly his poetry collection Leaves of Grass, which was described as obscene for its overt sexuality. [source: wikipedia]

10 Inspirational Quotes By Walt Whitman

1. Oh while I live, to be the ruler of life, not a slave, to meet life as a powerful conqueror, and nothing exterior to me will ever take command of me.
   
   
2. I exist as I am, that is enough.
   
   
3. Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you.
   
   
4. Let your soul stand cool and composed before a million universes.
   
   
5. Produce great men, the rest follows.
   
   
6. After you have exhausted what there is in business, politics, conviviality, and so on - have found that none of these finally satisfy, or permanently wear - what remains? Nature remains.
   
   
7. Behold I do not give lectures or a little charity, When I give I give myself.
   
   
8. The shallow consider liberty a release from all law, from every constraint. The wise man sees in it, on the contrary, the potent Law of Laws.
   
   
9. There is no week nor day nor hour when tyranny may not enter upon this country, if the people lose their roughness and spirit of defiance.
   
   
10. The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem.

BONUS

I say to mankind, Be not curious about God. For I, who am curious about each, am not curious about God - I hear and behold God in every object, yet understand God not in the least.

BONUS BONUS

Be curious, not judgmental.

INDONESIA: A Boat Carrying Illegal Immigrants Heading For Australia Sank Off The Coast Of Indonesia; Over 300 People Missing

Reuters news

Boat with illegal migrants sinks off Indonesia, 300 missing

written by Olivia Rondonuwu

Saturday December 17, 2011

A boat carrying illegal immigrants heading for Australia sank off the coast of east Java in Indonesia and over 300 people were missing with many feared dead, a senior emergency official said.

Only 76 people of 380 people on board had been rescued, said Sahrul Arifin, the head of emergency and logistics at the East Java Disaster Mitigation Center.

He said strong waves wrecked the wooden boat about 90 km (56 miles) out to sea late Saturday night. "Our search and rescue team have begun sweeping the water around where the accident took place but we are now sending body bags to that area," Arifin said.

He said the passengers were mainly believed to be illegal migrants from countries including Iran and Afghanistan. Many boat people from the Middle East and Asia use Indonesia as a transit point en route to Australia.

Local TV showed images of more than a dozen shocked-looking survivors huddled in a clinic in Trenggalek, a town on Java island's southern coast.

Many economic migrants from the Middle East attempt to cross the Indian Ocean in boats in search of a better life in Australia.

Australia-based refugee advocate Jack Smit told Reuters first reports indicated the boat was overloaded. He suggested it might involve a new and inexperienced people-smuggling operator trying to make money quickly, as the boat reportedly left from the same port in Java as another that sank recently.

"It all points to new operators, and also the population of the boats is changing," Smit, of Project SafeCom Inc, told Reuters. "It seems to me it's a new operator that took a risk that was too big."

Smit said there appeared to be an increasing number of Iranians taking to the boats and fewer Afghans than previously. He estimated that 2 to 5 percent of thousands of asylum-seekers taking to boats in this way each year died en route, with many deaths not reported.

Asylum-seekers often pay thousands of dollars to board the boats, whose journeys are organized by people-smuggling networks based in Indonesia using ramshackle vessels often poorly equipped for the perilous journey to Australian waters. This sinking is the latest of several such disasters in recent years.

PHILIPPINES: Typhoon Rages Through Southern Philippines, More Than 436 Dead

Reuters news

Typhoon kills more than 436 in southern Philippines

written by Erik De Castro

Saturday December 17, 2011

* Local governments declare state of calamity

* Dozens of bodies washed ashore in nearby towns

* Houses swept into the sea while people slept

CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines - More than 400 people were killed and an unknown number were missing after a typhoon struck the southern Philippines, causing flash floods and landslides and driving tens of thousands from their homes.

In a text message to Reuters, Gwendolyn Pang, secretary-general of the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC), said the death toll of 436 was expected to rise.

"Our death toll was based on the actual number of bodies that were brought to funeral homes in the two cities that were the hardest hit by the typhoon," Pang said, adding it was difficult to estimate how many were still unaccounted for.

Typhoon Washi, with winds gusting up to 90 kmh (56 mph), barrelled into the resource-rich island of Mindanao late on Friday, bringing heavy rain that also grounded some domestic flights and left wide areas without power.

Emergency workers, soldiers and police were recovering more bodies - most covered in mud - washed ashore in nearby towns.

Pang said nearly 360 bodies had been found in the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan and about 50 in four other southern provinces. The government's official death toll stood only at 131 people and nearly 270 missing.

Another 21 people drowned on the central island of Negros, the PNRC said.

Hundreds were also unaccounted for, most of them from a coastal village in Iligan. Houses were swept into the sea by floodwaters while people were sleeping inside late on Friday.

The Philippines social welfare department said about 100,000 people were displaced and brought to nearly three dozen shelters in Iligan and Cagayan de Oro.

"WE RAN FOR OUR LIVES"

Army spokesman Colonel Leopoldo Galon said search and rescue operations would continue along the shorelines in Misamis Oriental and Lanao del Norte provinces.

"I can't explain how these things happened, entire villages were swept to the sea by flash floods," Galon said.

"I have not seen anything like this before. This could be worse than Ondoy," he said, referring to a 2009 storm that inundated the capital, Manila, killing hundreds of people.

Television pictures showed bodies encased in mud, cars piled on top of each other and wrecked homes. Helicopters and boats searched the sea for survivors and victims.

"We ran for our lives when we heard a loud whistle blow and was followed by a big bang," Michael Mabaylan, 38, a carpenter, told Reuters. He said his wife and five children were all safe.

Aid worker Crislyn Felisilda cited concern about children who had became separated from their families or lost their parents. "Many children are looking for their loved ones... (and children were) crying and staring into space."

Rosal Agacac, a 40-year-old mother, was begging authorities to help find her two children after their shanty was swept to the sea. "Please President Noynoy, help me," she cried, holding a candle at a spot where their house stood before the floods, referring to President Benigno Aquino.

Aquino met with cabinet members and disaster officials to assess conditions on the main southern island and ordered a review of disaster plans to avoid a repeat of the tragedy. He is due to inspect typhoon-hit areas after Christmas.

Rescue boats pulled at least 15 people from the sea, said another army spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Cabangbang.

Iligan City Mayor Lawrence Cruz said many people were caught by surprise when water rose one metre (three feet) high in less than an hour, forcing people onto roofs. "Most of them were already sleeping when floodwaters entered their homes. This is the worst flooding our city has experienced in years."

The national disaster agency said it could not estimate crop and property damage because emergency workers, including soldiers and police officers, were evacuating families and recovering casualties.

Six domestic flights run by Cebu Pacific were cancelled due to the rain and near-zero visibility in the southern and central Philippines. Ferry services were also halted, stranding hundreds of people.

An average of 20 typhoons hit the Philippines every year.

SAUDI ARABIA: 60 Year-Old Woman Executed For Practicing Magic And Sorcery! :o Saudi Arabia Follows A Strict Version Of Islamic Law That Bans Sorcery! Sharing 2 Articles To Compare Reporting.

BBC news

Saudi woman executed for 'witchcraft and sorcery'

written by Staff

December 12, 2011

A Saudi woman has been executed for practising "witchcraft and sorcery", the country's interior ministry says.

A statement published by the state news agency said Amina bint Abdul Halim bin Salem Nasser was beheaded on Monday in the northern province of Jawf.

The ministry gave no further details of the charges which the woman faced.

The woman was the second person to be executed for witchcraft in Saudi Arabia this year. A Sudanese man was executed in September.

BBC regionalist analyst Sebastian Usher says the interior ministry stated that the verdict against Ms Nasser was upheld by Saudi Arabia's highest courts, but it did not give specific details of the charges.

The London-based newspaper, al-Hayat, quoted a member of the religious police as saying that she was in her 60s and had tricked people into giving her money, claiming that she could cure their illnesses.

Our correspondent said she was arrested in April 2009.

But the human rights group Amnesty International, which has campaigned for Saudis previously sentenced to death on sorcery charges, said it had never heard of her case until now, he adds.

A Sudanese man was executed in September on similar charges, despite calls led by Amnesty for his release.

In 2007, an Egyptian national was beheaded for allegedly casting spells to try to separate a married couple.

Last year, a Lebanese man facing the death penalty on charges of sorcery, relating to a fortune-telling television programme he presented, was freed after the Saudi Supreme Court decreed that his actions had not harmed anyone.

Amnesty says that Saudi Arabia does not actually define sorcery as a capital offence. However, some of its conservative clerics have urged the strongest possible punishments against fortune-tellers and faith healers as a threat to Islam.

***************************************************

CBS news

Saudi Arabian woman executed for "sorcery"

written by CBS/AP Staff

December 12, 2011

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Saudi authorities have executed a woman convicted of practicing magic and sorcery.

The Saudi Interior Ministry says in a statement the execution took place Monday, but gave no details on the woman's crime.

The London-based al-Hayat daily, however, quoted Abdullah al-Mohsen, chief of the religious police who arrested the woman, as saying she had tricked people into thinking she could treat illnesses, charging them $779 per session.

The paper said a female investigator followed up, and the woman was arrested in April 2009, and later convicted in a Saudi court.

It did not give the woman's name, but said she was in her 60s.

The execution brings the total to 76 this year in Saudi Arabia, according to an Associated Press count. At least three have been women.

Her case wasn't the first death penalty for practicing witchcraft. The kingdom follows a strict version of Islamic law that bans sorcery. Though dozens of people are arrested each year for practicing magic, the last known execution before 2011 was of an Egyptian pharmacist convicted in 2007.

Sorcery in Saudi Arabia also made headlines when Lebanese TV psychic Ali Sibat was arrested by Saudi religious police in May 2008 when he made a religious pilgrimage in the country. He sentenced to execution by beheading in Nov. 2009 for similar charges, but reports say he has yet to be executed.

15 AWESOME Quotes Made By Friedrich Nietzsche

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) was a German philosopher of the late 19th century who challenged the foundations of Christianity and traditional morality. He was interested in the enhancement of individual and cultural health, and believed in life, creativity, power, and the realities of the world we live in, rather than those situated in a world beyond. Central to his philosophy is the idea of “life-affirmation,” which involves an honest questioning of all doctrines that drain life's expansive energies, however socially prevalent those views might be. Often referred to as one of the first existentialist philosophers along with Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855), Nietzsche's revitalizing philosophy has inspired leading figures in all walks of cultural life, including dancers, poets, novelists, painters, psychologists, philosophers, sociologists and social revolutionaries.

During his creative years, Nietzsche struggled to bring his writings into print and never doubted that his books would have a lasting cultural effect. He did not live long enough to experience his world-historical influence, but he had a brief glimpse of his growing intellectual importance in discovering that he was the subject of 1888 lectures given by Georg Brandes (Georg Morris Cohen) at the University of Copenhagen, to whom he directed the above April 1888 correspondence, and from whom he received a recommendation to read Kierkegaard's works. Nietzsche's collapse, however, followed soon thereafter. [source: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]

15 AWESOME quotes by Friedrich Nietzsche

1. Without music, life would be a mistake.
   
   
2. And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.
   
   
3. We should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once.
   
   
4. It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages.
   
   
5. Sometimes people don't want to hear the truth because they don't want their illusions destroyed.
   
   
6. He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.
   
   
7. That which does not kill us makes us stronger.
   
   
8. All credibility, all good conscience, all evidence of truth come only from the senses.
   
   
9. It is not when truth is dirty, but when it is shallow, that the enlightened man is reluctant to step into its waters.
   
   
10. No one lies so boldly as the man who is indignant.
    
    
11. Fanatics are picturesque, mankind would rather see gestures than listen to reasons.
    
    
12. The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.
    
    
13. The "kingdom of Heaven" is a condition of the HEART - not something that comes "upon the earth" or "after death."
    
    
14. Love is not consolation. It is LIGHT.
    
    
15. The voice of beauty speaks softly; it creeps only into the most fully awakened souls.

BONUS

There are horrible people who, instead of solving a problem, tangle it up and make it harder to solve for anyone who wants to deal with it. Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.

BONUS BONUS

Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.

US Tea Party Exports Movement to Ailing Japan Per Request Made By The Tokyo T.E.A. Party! YAY! Right On! :)

T.E.A. = TAXED ENOUGH ALREADY!

Australian TEA Party
Dutch TEA Party
Italian TEA Party
Tokyo TEA Party
TEA Party Patriots (US)

************************************************************

US news

Tea Party Exports Movement to Ailing Japan

written by Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers

Thursday December 15, 2011

The two-year-old Tea Party movement, already responsible for shaking up Washington and the 2012 presidential race, is taking its political revolution overseas, sought out by Japan's emerging anti-tax activists.

This weekend, the Keli Carender, the original Tea Party Patriot organizer, is meeting with members of Japan's official Diet and Tokyo's Tea Party members to map their path into a U.S.-styled protest group.

"They've taken the first step and it's really exciting to be there," Carender told Whispers. "Their message is very similar to ours."

The historic teaming of the Japanese and U.S. Tea Party movement is the latest evidence that the protest born in 2009 from American outrage over the "TARP" bank bailout and stimulus packages is being mimicked overseas by activists also upset with high taxes and unresponsive governments.

"They are very, very highly taxed," said Carender of the Japanese. "They have the same sort of complaints that we have."

Unlike the stormy protests in Greece and the Middle East, Carender plans to tell the Japanese activists to fight from within the system as the group has in the United States. "I will tell them that you can do this peacefully and within your system," she said.

In her role as a Tea Party diplomat, Carender is making history in just two short years. In February 2009, she created the first Tea Party group in Seattle. Now the Tea Party Patriots are the largest of the Tea Party groups, with 3,500 affiliated groups.

The Tokyo Tea Party asked her fly to Japan to help them fight Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda planned increases in corporate and consumption taxes. Local Tea Party groups in the cities of Osaka and Nagoya have revolted against the two major political parties and some have defeated incumbents in a recent election. Carender is meeting with the mayor of Nagoya, a Tea Party supporter.

She will also give a keynote speech to the Tokyo Tea Party event in Japan's capital and speak with Diet members in an effort to promote collaboration among the various groups and push tea party principles.

Japan joins Italy and Australia as nations forming Tea Party movements.

"We've had inquires from other nations," added Carender.

She said that it is inspiring for her group that the movements overseas have kept the "Tea Party" name, despite it's being directly related to the 1773 Boston Tea Party.

"Some people have made fun of that" overseas, she said. But each of the groups has related the historic event to their home-grown battle.

Lala Penguin Goes Shopping in Japan :)

I love it! Here is a great story to put a BIG SMILE on your face. :D So very cute! ♥

CZECH REPUBLIC: More Than 15,000 Czechs Listed Jedi Knights As Their Faith In Recent Census. :)

AFP news

Jedi knights top 15,000 in Czech census

written by Staff

Thursday December 15, 2011

PRAGUE — More than 15,000 Czechs follow the faith of the Star Wars movies' Jedi knights, official census data showed Thursday, while half of the country's 10.5 million people declined to list any religion.

"Many people adhered to the moral values of Jedi knights from the Star Wars saga," the Czech Statistical Office said in a statement, noting that the invented faith also had a strong following in countries such as New Zealand, Australia, Canada and Britain.

It said 15,070 Czechs registered as Jedi knights in the census held in March, against 1,083,899 Roman Catholics and 707,649 people who said they believed in God but did not belong to any church.

"Fifteen thousand adherents, which is the size of a small town, is not a negligible social phenomenon," Stanislav Drapal, deputy head of the statistical office, told reporters.

In Prague, statisticians registered 3,977 Jedi knights, or 0.31 percent of the capital's population.

The lightsabre-wielding Jedi knights are an order of guardians of peace for the interplanetary Galactic Republic of the cult Star Wars series, known for their enhanced mind powers that allow them to harness "The Force" to control objects and influence others.

Their moral code has long struck a chord among fans of the films, some of whom over recent years have decided to live their lives according to the Jedi philosophy, which taps elements of several existing religions.

"We included this option (in the census form) despite a fierce debate over whether it's serious or not. But it's not up to statisticians to say what is or is not a religion," said Drapal.

Almost five million people left the religion column empty.

"If we add the 3.6 million citizens who said they were not religious at all, it looks as if Czech citizens ignored the issue or as if they really had no relationship to faith and religion," added Drapal.

CHILE: Government Tells Men To Take Off Their Ties To Help Fight Global Warming! Oh Come On Now! This Is Super Silly. :/

Reuters Africa

Take off that tie to save energy, Chilean men told

written by Hugh Bronstein and Esteban Medel

Wednesday December 14, 2011

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chile's government wants men in the South American country to take off their ties to help fight global warming, hoping the campaign will save on air conditioning as summer starts in the southern hemisphere.

"Let's all take our ties off this summer to save energy," Economy Minister Pablo Longueira says in television spots airing around the country.

In the commercial, he undoes the knot of his pink and white tie and whips it off with gusto, unbuttoning the top of his shirt and smiling. A tie-less energy minister and other senior government officials also appear in the TV spot.

Mornings and evenings are still cool in Chile's capital Santiago but the midday sun has already become quite strong and will remain so until fall begins in March.

While many men welcome the idea of a tie-less summer, others are put off, saying that serious people need to dress the part.

"There are things that really go along with being formal and well-structured," said Santiago resident Gonzalo Castro. "The president can't go around without a tie. Nor should a government minister, an engineer, a doctor or a journalist."

GREECE: A Greek Man Who Invented 19 Fictional Offspring To Claim Govt Benefits Has Been Arrested For Benefit Fraud

Reuters India

Greek man claims for 19 kids-none real, police say

written by Karolina Tagaris and Tatiana Fragou

Thursday December 15, 2011

A former Greek policeman who invented 19 fictional offspring to claim benefits for what would have been the largest family in Greece has been arrested for benefit fraud, police said.

The former police officer, divorced and with no children of his own, quit his 1,000-euro-a-month ($1,300) job in 2001 and has been living solely on benefits ever since, police said on Thursday.

Using photographs of children he found online, the 54-year-old man forged birth certificates and other documents needed to claim benefits for at least one child a year since 1996.

Police estimate he made at least 150,000 euros in claims over 15 years, but the actual amount is probably much higher.

The fraud was so expert, police said, that they only realized something was amiss when they noticed his was the only Greek family with that many children. The average Greek family usually has two or three children.

"We have never seen (a scam) like this before," said a police official who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

The former policeman, who under Greek law cannot be named, was arrested Wednesday as he was about to collect 8,000 euros in benefits from an Athens branch of Greece's employment agency OAED. He was taken to the prosecutor's office Thursday.

Widespread fraud, a generous welfare state and a notoriously inefficient public sector have been blamed as root causes of Greece's financial trouble that threatens to break apart the euro zone. [SOUND FAMILIAR? (emphasis mine)]

A team of tax investigators recently discovered that a seemingly humble Greek farmer on the island of Thasos, who owned a red Ferrari and a Porsche, was in fact into loan sharking. ($1 = 0.7721 euros)

India And Pakistan Could Be In For Monkey Diplomacy Literally After An Unsuspecting Primate Strayed Across The Border Into Pakistan! :o

Photo: AFP - A Langoor monkey hangs from a branch of a tree in Dachigam National Park, India, in 2009.

Yahoo news

Monkey business for India, Pakistan

written by Tauseef Mustafa, AFP

Thursday December 15, 2011

..India and Pakistan could be in for monkey diplomacy after an unsuspecting primate strayed across the border into Pakistan to be snapped up by soldiers and packed off to a British-era zoo.

The monkey, who has not been given a name by his Pakistani handlers, was apparently found ambling around the desert region of Rahim Yar Khan on November 19.

Paramilitary troops manning a border post spotted the animal and sent him to Bahawalpur zoo in Pakistan's Punjab province. The case may be open and shut for the zoo, but his status is attracting a flurry of media attention.

"We were given him by the Rangers. They found him strolling near their post," the zoo's curator Irfan Farooqi told AFP by telephone.

He added: "We don't suspect the monkey has been deliberately sent to Pakistan. I don't think it is a trained spy. It is a common monkey."

The monkey is now locked up, joining half a dozen others, including another monkey that apparently strayed across the border from India a few months ago.

"India has a huge population of monkeys and often when they are hungry they head towards Pakistan," Farooqi said.

The zoo was established in 1942 during British colonial rule before the sub-continent was divided between India and Pakistan upon independence in 1947.

An animal rights group in India has reportedly written to Pakistan's ambassador to New Delhi asking that the monkey be released back into the wild. But Farooqi said the zoo had received no request.

The zoo official said there was no question of just releasing him because "monkeys are usually naughty and they can harm the civilian population".

"We got (another) one (from India) a few months ago and no one asked for its repatriation. We can release them only if we get orders from our bosses."

India and Pakistan resumed a tentative peace process this year, following a three-year hiatus over the 2008 attacks in Mumbai, blamed on Pakistanis.

The two countries have fought three wars since independence and relations remain mired in distrust.

Asghar Gilani, a Pakistani wildlife department official, said the monkey's fate was "just a media attraction".

"Such incidents have happened in the past also but no demand for their return had been made."

U.S. Will Not Finance NEW Research on Chimps! Thanks HSUS For All Your Work!

I wonder now if this federal agency and other research facilities will find another way of obtaining federal grant money using some other medical lingo. These types of inhumane research facilities need to be shut down entirely. The undercover work HSUS did at one of their facilities was horrifying to say the least. The undercover HSUS volunteer was able to capture the horrific Chimpanzee abuse that was being committed at these facilities on video for proof. I urge our government officials to watch the video. No living creature should be treated in such a horrific manner. How can any of you watch this and make excuses for this cruelty? Chimpanzees are sentient, emotional creatures.

***************************************************************

The New York Times

U.S. Will Not Finance New Research on Chimps

written by James Gorman

Thursday December 15, 2011

The National Institutes of Health on Thursday suspended all new grants for biomedical and behavioral research on chimpanzees and accepted the first uniform criteria for assessing the necessity of such research. Those guidelines require that the research be necessary for human health, and that there be no other way to accomplish it.

In making the announcement, Dr. Francis S. Collins, the director of the N.I.H., said that chimps, as the closest human relatives, deserve “special consideration and respect” and that the agency was accepting the recommendations released earlier in the day by an expert committee of the Institute of Medicine, which concluded that most research on chimpanzees was unnecessary.

The report and the quick response by the N.I.H. do not put an end to research on chimps, but they were claimed as victories by animal welfare groups that have long been fighting for a ban on such research, arguing that chimps should not be subjected to experimental use. They said that the move was a step toward eventually ending chimp research, already a tiny segment of federal research.

Jeffrey Kahn, chairman of the Institute of Medicine committee that produced the report and a professor of bioethics and public policy at Johns Hopkins University, said the group’s recommendations would make it harder to use chimps in research.

“What we did was establish a set of rigorous criteria that set the bar quite high for use of chimpanzees in biomedical or behavioral research,” he said. He also said that, in effect, the writing was on the wall: “One of the important themes in the committee report is that there is a trajectory toward decreasing necessity for the use of chimps in biomedical and behavioral research.”

Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States, which is strongly opposed to any experimentation on chimpanzees, said, “We’re tremendously encouraged.” He said the report’s “overarching conclusion was that chimps are largely unnecessary” for research, and that the report and N.I.H. action could influence two other continuing efforts to stop research on chimps.

One is the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act of 2011, now before both houses of Congress. Another is a petition before the federal Fish and Wildlife Service to declare captive chimpanzees endangered, as wild chimpanzees are. The exemption has allowed research to continue and permits the use of chimpanzees in entertainment and as pets.

“ ‘Endangered’ stops all those uses,” Mr. Pacelle said, and the report’s skeptical assessment of the value of chimps in research would provide support for the Fish and Wildlife Service to categorize all chimps as endangered.

At the same time, people involved in chimp research said they, too, were happy.

Dr. Thomas Rowell, director of the New Iberia Research Center in New Iberia, La., which houses 471 chimpanzees, more than any other center in the country, also said he was “quite pleased” with the report. “It just confirms what we’ve been saying all along in regard to the chimpanzee model for advancing public health research,” he said.

Dr. Collins said the N.I.H. would set up a working group to decide how to carry out the recommendations. Until the group finishes its deliberations, no new grants would be awarded and all N.I.H. chimpanzees that are not already enrolled in experiments would not be involved in any further research projects. Dr. Collins did not offer a timeline or say how many chimpanzees were currently involved in research.

Use of chimpanzees has already been waning, partly because it is expensive. The report covers only chimps owned or supported by the government, 612 of a total of 937 chimps available for research in the United States. Only a few are in experiments at any one time.

The committee identified two areas where it said the use of chimpanzees could be necessary. One is research on a preventive vaccine for hepatitis C. The committee could not agree on whether this research fit the criteria and so left that decision open.

In the second area, research on immunology involving monoclonal antibodies, the committee concluded that experimenting on chimps was not necessary because of new technology, but because the new technology was not widespread, projects now under way should be allowed to reach completion.

The report offered two sets of criteria, one for biomedical experiments, which it said could be considered necessary when there was no other way to do the research — with other animals, lab techniques or human subjects — and if not doing the research would “significantly slow or prevent important advancements to prevent, control and/or treat life-threatening or debilitating conditions.”

For behavioral and genomic experiments, the report recommended that the research should be done on chimps only if the animals are cooperative, and in a way that minimizes pain and distress. It also said that the studies should “provide otherwise unattainable insight into comparative genomics, normal and abnormal behavior, mental health, emotion or cognition.”

The report also recommended that chimpanzees be housed in conditions that are behaviorally, socially and physically appropriate. All United States primate research centers are already accredited by the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care, and Dr. Kahn said that this accreditation meets the committee’s recommendation.

That was one area where the Humane Society disagreed with the report. “That language,” said Mr. Pacelle, referring to the requirements for adequate cages and enclosures, “was disappointing to us,” because it could mean that chimps that were not in experiments would stay at research centers.

“I’m arguing for the movement of all of them to the sanctuaries,” he said, where large open enclosures are much more common.

The N.I.H. commissioned the report after an outcry over its plan in 2010 to move a colony of chimpanzees it owned out of semiretirement in Alamogordo, N.M., and back into medical research at a primate center in Texas.

The N.I.H. responded in January 2011, by announcing it would leave the chimps in New Mexico for the time being, and by commissioning the Institute of Medicine to do the study released on Thursday. Dr. Collins confirmed that for now, the Alamogordo chimps would stay where they were.

Iowa Republican Presidential Debate On FOX News Tonight

Me BEFORE the GOP debate

Me AFTER the GOP debate

Almost an hour into the Republican FOX news Iowa debate and my feathers were already ruffled. :/

The FOX news GOP Iowa debate is over and I was left wanting... :/ God help us all.

NEW MEXICO: A 13-Year-Old Boy Was Handcuffed And Hauled Off To Juvenile Detention For Burping In Class!!! UNREAL! This Is SO WRONG! :|

Brownsville Herald

New Mexico teen cuffed for burping in class

written by Jeri Clausing, AP

December 1, 2011

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A 13-year-old was handcuffed and hauled off to a juvenile detention for burping in class, according to a lawsuit filed against an Albuquerque school principal, a teacher and school police officer.

The boy was transported without his parents being notified in May after he "burped audibly" in PE class and his teacher called a school resource officer to complain he was disrupting her class. The lawsuit also details a separate Nov. 8 incident when the same student was forced to strip down to his underwear while five adults watched as he was accused of selling pot to another student; the boy was never charged.

The suit was one of two filed Wednesday by civil rights attorney Shannon Kennedy, who says she has been fighting the district and police for years over the use of force with problem children. She says a review of school and Bernalillo County records shows more than 200 school kids have been handcuffed and arrested in the last three years for non-violent misdemeanors.

In the second lawsuit filed Wednesday, the parents of a 7-year-old boy with autism accuse a school officer of unlawful arrest for handcuffing the boy to a chair after he became agitated in class. New Mexico law prohibits officers and school officials from restraining children under 11.

The suits come one year after the same attorney settled a class action lawsuit against the district that was prompted by the arrest of a girl who Kennedy said "didn't want to sit by the stinky boy in class." And Kennedy says she has a number of other cases she is preparing over treatment of students in Albuquerque by school officials, school police, city police and sheriff's officers.

"I am trying to get all the stake holders in a room to get people properly trained to prevent this from happening," Kennedy said.

Kennedy said the problem lies with the schools more than with the law enforcement agencies.

"It lands in the lap of the principal. There are good schools and bad schools. The principals ... who are handling their schools properly don't need to have children arrested. It's ridiculous."

A spokesman for Albuquerque Public Schools did not immediately return calls and emails seeking comment on Thursday. A police spokeswoman said the department does not comment on litigation.

One school board member, Lorenzo Garcia, said he had not seen and could not comment on the lawsuits, but he did say he was concerned about what appeared to be schools getting stuck on a "zero tolerance policy."

"Really, in my opinion, this really increases the whole idea of the schools-to-prison pipeline," he said.

Christmas Miracles In Kmart Aisles As Anonymous Santas Pay Off Strangers' Layaway Accounts! More Sweet News To Help Lighten Things Up A Bit. :) ♥

The Associated Press

Anonymous donors pay off Kmart layaway accounts

written by Margery A. Beck

Thursday December 15, 2011

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- The young father stood in line at the Kmart layaway counter, wearing dirty clothes and worn-out boots. With him were three small children.

He asked to pay something on his bill because he knew he wouldn't be able to afford it all before Christmas. Then a mysterious woman stepped up to the counter.

"She told him, `No, I'm paying for it,'" recalled Edna Deppe, assistant manager at the store in Indianapolis. "He just stood there and looked at her and then looked at me and asked if it was a joke. I told him it wasn't, and that she was going to pay for him. And he just busted out in tears."

At Kmart stores across the country, Santa seems to be getting some help: Anonymous donors are paying off strangers' layaway accounts, buying the Christmas gifts other families couldn't afford, especially toys and children's clothes set aside by impoverished parents.

Before she left the store Tuesday evening, the Indianapolis woman in her mid-40s had paid the layaway orders for as many as 50 people. On the way out, she handed out $50 bills and paid for two carts of toys for a woman in line at the cash register.

"She was doing it in the memory of her husband who had just died, and she said she wasn't going to be able to spend it and wanted to make people happy with it," Deppe said. The woman did not identify herself and only asked people to "remember Ben," an apparent reference to her husband.

Deppe, who said she's worked in retail for 40 years, had never seen anything like it.

"It was like an angel fell out of the sky and appeared in our store," she said.

Most of the donors have done their giving secretly.

Dona Bremser, an Omaha nurse, was at work when a Kmart employee called to tell her that someone had paid off the $70 balance of her layaway account, which held nearly $200 in toys for her 4-year-old son.

"I was speechless," Bremser said. "It made me believe in Christmas again."

Dozens of other customers have received similar calls in Nebraska, Michigan, Iowa, Indiana and Montana.

The benefactors generally ask to help families who are squirreling away items for young children. They often pay a portion of the balance, usually all but a few dollars or cents so the layaway order stays in the store's system.

The phenomenon seems to have begun in Michigan before spreading, Kmart executives said.

"It is honestly being driven by people wanting to do a good deed at this time of the year," said Salima Yala, Kmart's division vice president for layaway.

The good Samaritans seem to be visiting mainly Kmart stores, though a Wal-Mart spokesman said a few of his stores in Joplin, Mo., and Chicago have also seen some layaway accounts paid off.

Kmart representatives say they did nothing to instigate the secret Santas or spread word of the generosity. But it's happening as the company struggles to compete with chains such as Wal-Mart and Target.

Kmart may be the focus of layaway generosity, Yala said, because it is one of the few large discount stores that has offered layaway year-round for about four decades. Under the program, customers can make purchases but let the store hold onto their merchandise as they pay it off slowly over several weeks.

The sad memories of layaways lost prompted at least one good Samaritan to pay off the accounts of five people at an Omaha Kmart, said Karl Graff, the store's assistant manager.

"She told me that when she was younger, her mom used to set up things on layaway at Kmart, but they rarely were able to pay them off because they just didn't have the money for it," Graff said.

He called a woman who had been helped, "and she broke down in tears on the phone with me. She wasn't sure she was going to be able to pay off their layaway and was afraid their kids weren't going to have anything for Christmas."

"You know, 50 bucks may not sound like a lot, but I tell you what, at the right time, it may as well be a million dollars for some people," Graff said.

Graff's store alone has seen about a dozen layaway accounts paid off in the last 10 days, with the donors paying $50 to $250 on each account.

"To be honest, in retail, it's easy to get cynical about the holidays, because you're kind of grinding it out when everybody else is having family time," Graff said. "It's really encouraging to see this side of Christmas again."

Lori Stearnes of Omaha also benefited from the generosity of a stranger who paid all but $58 of her $250 layaway bill for toys for her four youngest grandchildren.

Stearnes said she and her husband live paycheck to paycheck, but she plans to use the money she was saving for the toys to help pay for someone else's layaway.

In Missoula, Mont., a man spent more than $1,200 to pay down the balances of six customers whose layaway orders were about to be returned to a Kmart store's inventory because of late payments.

Store employees reached one beneficiary on her cellphone at Seattle Children's Hospital, where her son was being treated for an undisclosed illness.

"She was yelling at the nurses, `We're going to have Christmas after all!'" store manager Josine Murrin said.

A Kmart in Plainfield Township, Mich., called Roberta Carter last week to let her know a man had paid all but 40 cents of her $60 layaway.

Carter, a mother of eight from Grand Rapids, Mich., said she cried upon hearing the news. She and her family have been struggling as she seeks a full-time job.

"My kids will have clothes for Christmas," she said.

Angie Torres, a stay-at-home mother of four children under the age of 8, was in the Indianapolis Kmart on Tuesday to make a payment on her layaway bill when she learned the woman next to her was paying off her account.

"I started to cry. I couldn't believe it," said Torres, who doubted she would have been able to pay off the balance. "I was in disbelief. I hugged her and gave her a kiss."