Today's Top News
Many Iowa Conservatives Still Undecided
12.26.07 -- 2:58 PM
Presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee would seem to be the answer to their prayers, yet for many Christian conservatives in Iowa, he has not closed the deal for the Republican caucuses.
Do they still like Mitt Romney? Are they intrigued by Fred Thompson? As always, voter uncertainty comes with the Jan. 3 caucuses, now just a week away.
Huckabee, the former Baptist minister, is leading in the Republican polls here, though his advantage has narrowed. Perhaps, that's due in part to the negative TV commercials Romney is airing.
"I think I'm leaning toward Governor Huckabee," says Lori Brown, who works at an accounting firm in Sheldon. "I guess I'm not sure who else I really like. But he seems to be just a real guy. I'm a Christian, too, so I see eye-to-eye with him. "At this point."
Read more | Save and Share | Trackbacks(0) | Comments(0) | Email to a friend
Giuliani Says He's 'Cancer Free'
12.26.07 -- 2:54 PM
Rudy Giuliani handed out presents and read a Christmas story to Harlem youngsters Monday, then talked about what, for him, might be the best gift of all.
"I'm perfectly healthy. I don't have cancer," the Republican presidential contender told reporters after reading "A Visit From St. Nicholas" to more than a dozen children at Hale House, a residence for needy children. More journalists than children were crammed into the tiny room.
Giuliani, who was treated for prostate cancer seven years ago, was briefly hospitalized last week in St. Louis after suffering what he described as a severe headache. He canceled some events but was back campaigning in New Hampshire over the weekend, declaring he was tested and given a clean bill of health.
Read more | Save and Share | Trackbacks(0) | Comments(0) | Email to a friend
'Nuclear bunker being built for Olmert'
12.20.07 -- 7:46 AM
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office issued a statement Thursday strongly denying a report that Olmert's residence was being outfitted with a bunker that can withstand a nuclear or chemical attack.
The PMO called the Yediot Ahronot report "unfounded and misleading." The statement said workers were merely adding a "safe room," a room with thick concrete walls and metal-shuttered windows that is a feature of many Israeli buildings. Israeli construction codes require such rooms to protect residents in case of rocket attacks.
"No atomic bunker is being constructed at the prime minister's official residence, or a bunker equipped with special filters or any special equipment," the statement said.
Read more | Save and Share | Trackbacks(0) | Comments(0) | Email to a friend
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has dismissed the Christmas story of the Three Wise Men as nothing but “legend”
12.20.07 -- 5:57 AM
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, dismissed the Christmas story of the Three Wise Men yesterday as nothing but “legend”.
There was scant evidence for the Magi, and none at all that there were three of them, or that they were kings, he said. All the evidence that existed was in Matthew’s Gospel. The Archbishop said: “Matthew’s Gospel doesn’t tell us there were three of them, doesn’t tell us they were kings, doesn’t tell us where they came from. It says they are astrologers, wise men, priests from somewhere outside the Roman Empire, that’s all we’re really told.” Anything else was legend. “It works quite well as legend,” the Archbishop said.
Further, there was no evidence that there were any oxen or asses in the stable. The chances of any snow falling around the stable in Bethlehem were “very unlikely”. And as for the star rising and then standing still: the Archbishop pointed out that stars just don’t behave like that.
Read more | Save and Share | Trackbacks(0) | Comments(4) | Email to a friend
Senate passes gun bill in response to rampage
12.19.07 -- 6:58 PM
The U.S. Congress, prodded by the deadliest shooting rampage in modern American history, passed legislation on Wednesday to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill.
Without objection, the Senate and House of Representatives approved the measure, which would bolster background checks for gun buyers, and sent it to President George W. Bush to sign.
The measure would be the first major new U.S. gun-control law since 1994. It was drafted after a gunman with a history of mental illness killed himself and 32 others in April at Virginia Tech university.
Read more | Save and Share | Trackbacks(0) | Comments(0) | Email to a friend
Vatican blasts "Golden Compass" as Godless and hopeless
12.19.07 -- 7:44 AM
The Vatican on Wednesday condemned the film "The Golden Compass," which some have called anti-Christian, saying it promotes a cold and hopeless world without God.
In a long editorial, the Vatican newspaper l'Osservatore Romano, also slammed Philip Pullman, the bestselling author of the book on which the family fantasy movie is based.
It was the Vatican's most stinging broadside against an author and a film since it roundly condemned "The Da Vinci Code" in 2005 and 2006.
"In Pullman's world, hope simply does not exist, because there is no salvation but only personal, individualistic capacity to control the situation and dominate events," the editorial said.
The film, which premiered earlier this month in the United States and stars Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, is an adaptation of Pullman's acclaimed novel "Northern Lights".
The Vatican newspaper said "honest" viewers would find it "devoid of any particular emotion apart from a great chill."
In the fantasy world created by Pullman's trilogy, 'His Dark Materials', the Church and its governing body the Magisterium, are linked to cruel experiments on children aimed at discovering the nature of sin and attempts to suppress facts that would undermine the Church's legitimacy and power.
In the film version all references to the Church have been stripped out, with director Chris Weitz keen to avoid offending religious cinema goers.
Still, some Catholic groups in the United States have called for a boycott, fearing even a diluted version of the book might draw people to read the bestselling trilogy.
The Vatican newspaper said the film and Pullman's writings showed that "when man tries to eliminate God from his horizon, everything is reduced, made sad, cold and inhumane".
The U.S.-based Catholic League, a conservative group, has urged Christians not to see the movie, saying that its objective was "to bash Christianity and promote atheism" to children.
The Vatican newspaper called the movie "the most anti-Christmas film possible" and said that it was "consoling" that its first weekend ticket sales were a disappointing $26 million.
New Line Cinema, a unit of Time Warner Inc, had hoped the film would pull in between $30 million and $40 million. It is doing better overseas but New Line sold the foreign distribution rights to help cover the movie's cost.
Read more | Save and Share | Trackbacks(1) | Comments(8) | Email to a friend
Mike Huckabee Surges Into a Virtual Tie With Front-runner Rudy Giuliani in New National Poll
12.19.07 -- 7:05 AM
Mike Huckabee has surged into a virtual tie with front-runner Rudy Giuliani in the national 2008 Republican presidential race two weeks before the first contest, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.
Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas whose campaign has caught fire in recent weeks, wiped out an 18-point deficit in one month to pull within one point of Giuliani, 23 percent to 22 percent.
Among Democrats, Hillary Clinton's national advantage over second-place rival Barack Obama shrunk slightly to eight percentage points as the races for the White House tightened in both parties. Clinton had an 11-point edge last month.
Read more | Save and Share | Trackbacks(0) | Comments(0) | Email to a friend
Pope's talks with Muslims scares al Qaeda: Vatican
12.18.07 -- 8:05 PM
The Vatican on Tuesday rejected condemnation by al Qaeda of a historic meeting between Pope Benedict and Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, saying the militants were afraid of inter-religious dialogue.
Al Qaeda's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri, referred to Benedict as a Pontiff who had "insulted Islam and Muslims" and criticized King Abdullah's meeting with him last month.
Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said Zawahri's video-taped comments, posted on the Internet on Sunday, showed al Qaeda's was worried about the implications of the meeting - the first between a Pope and a Saudi monarch.
Read more | Save and Share | Trackbacks(0) | Comments(0) | Email to a friend
Ron Paul Raises More than $18 million in third quarter, on track to best all GOP presidential candidates in fundraising for the Qtr
12.18.07 -- 7:58 AM
Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul so far has raised more than $18 million in the final three months of the year, an aide to the Texas congressman said Monday.
The campaign's fourth-quarter fundraising total of $18.2 million includes a one-day haul of $6.2 million raised Sunday through the Internet, said campaign spokesman Jesse Benton.
Paul, a 10-term congressman with libertarian views, said his fundraising success ensures he'll continue to campaign regardless of how he fares in the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3, the first contest on the presidential nominating calendar.
"We have the support, the momentum and the money," Paul told The Associated Press after an event in downtown Des Moines.
Read more | Save and Share | Trackbacks(0) | Comments(0) | Email to a friend
Kucinich Votes Against Afghan War Fund: “Our Troops Are At Risk, Occupying A Narco-State In Which Heroin Production Is At Record Levels”
12.18.07 -- 5:48 AM
Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) released the following statement in opposition to the 2008 omnibus appropriations bill presently before the House of Representatives:
“The dangerous bill contains three items that I feel compelled to bring to the attention of my Colleagues and the American people: more funding for the war in Afghanistan, more funding for nuclear energy, and funding that would support dirty coal.
“The omnibus bill provides another $31 billion for Afghanistan. The House continues to fund a fruitless war in Afghanistan," Kucinich said.
“Just as we must get out of Iraq, we must leave Afghanistan as well. I have proposed legislation – HR 1234 – to provide for the stability of Iraq as we exit. We must change our direction in this region. The longer we stay, the greater the disaster.”
Read more | Save and Share | Trackbacks(0) | Comments(0) | Email to a friend
