Bronwen

National:
Sister Barbara Markey, a Roman Catholic nun in Nebraska, stole over $1,500 from the Omaha Archdiocese and gambled it away. She pleads guilty and agreed to pay $125,000 and faces up to twenty years in prison. This is not the first time Markey has been convicted of a crime; she was fired from her position as director of the archdiocese's family life office after an audit discovered Markey was spending $307,545 for her own use.

The Catholic church seems to be taking another hit. There are corrupt people affiliated with every religion, but Catholicism seems to be one of the most deficient or at least the most publicised. I wouldn't trust my money to such a large organization. The whole idea of nuns and priests is stupid.

International:
In Rome the Interior ministry said "cell phones or any other device that can take still pictures or video clips" will have to be left outside of the polling station during the April 13-14 elections. In Italy there are 61 phones to every 50 people. The law aims to prevent people from photographing ballots and showing the ballot to a politician in exchange for favor. All those who violate the law will face jail time.

How many people could a politician discreetly bribe anyway? That seems far fetched, but the rule certainly couldn't hurt anything. There could also be the instance when someone is forced rather than bribed to vote for a certain person. The law could protect against this. It still seems rather unlikely, especially for a country like Italy. I wonder if America will ever have a law banning cell phones in polling stations.

National:
Michelle Kosilek, a convicted killer serving time in a Boston prison, has been requesting a sex change. The prison commissioner, Harold Clarke, originally ignored Koselek's request on the basis of protecting the inmate from sexual assault, but now the commissioner says he is reexamining the request. I need to take a look at the information presented before I arrived, and with a fresh set of eyes, closely scrutinize it", Clarke said.
Kosilek faces life in prison for murdering his wife in 1990. He changed his name to Michelle.
It was ruled that Kosilek's eighth amendment rights (cruel and unusual punishment) were not violated because the commissioner did not deliberately ignore the request for a sex change. Medical experts say the change is essential for Kosilek, who has attempted suicide twice while in prison.

If the death penalty were enforced the prison wouldn't even have to deal with this.
The writer of this article called Kosilek "she". It's he, no matter what medical changes occur. I bet he would try suicide even after getting the sex change; it's a condition of the heart. Also, I wouldn't want to be a woman in prison with a sex changed man... nor would I want to be a man sharing a prison cell with a queer.

International:
Over 160 nations continue talks in Bankok about global warming. "The economic situation is going to make the fight about cost containment versus ambitious emissions reductions that much more controversial", Angela Anderson, head of the global warming campaign at the Washington-based Pew Environment Group said. The group expects global warming will kill many species of plants and animals by the end of this century. "The same people who opposed global warming legislation when the economy was doing well are now opposing it when the economy is doing poorly. They have only one constant and that is they oppose dealing with global warming", Yvo de Boer, head of the UN climate body said.

Well Mr, de Boer, I do oppose it. Here's why:
Global warming is a "problem" discussed everywhere from elementary school classrooms to political debates. It is such a concern that the United Nations feels obligated to issue a carbon tax. It seems Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth has people quite shaken.
Gore says his preferred explanation for global warming is depicted in two cartoons. The first shows a girl crying because her ice cream is melting and a man tells her it is because of global warming. The second shows the sky full of black demons killing sunbeams and then the dead sunbeams cause the earth to warm. As for the former illustration, the United States is warming by 0.5 degrees Celsius a century; that is not causing any ice cream to melt. In the latter depiction the demons are water and carbon dioxide molecules- these do not kill sunbeams. In fact, these elements comprise both humans and ice cream.
Al Gore shows pictures of a glacier melting between the years of 1980- 2007. This melting has been progressing at the same rate for 200 years previous (before man made hydrocarbon use at any significant level) but Gore does not reveal this fact. Since the dawn of earth temperatures have been fluctuating.Gore also shows CO2 as a factor in temperature increase. But in fact, carbon dioxide changes follow temperature changes. As heat increases oceans release more of the carbon dioxide molecules as do plants. Rising temperature is not a ramification of carbon dioxide output, it is vice versa.
If all 6 billion people on earth were to have 3 square feet, we would fit inside the parameters of Phoenix and Scottsdale. The sun is 109 times bigger than the earth and is responsible for 99.9% of the earth's heat. That leaves .1% of the blame on humans. To believe we caused and can control global temperature is to put ourselves above God.
For those who are afraid the planet will become unlivably hot, you are quite right. 2 Peter 3 :11-13 reads "Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness."