CHRISTIAN NEWS FROM RAY
A free service of Jesus Christ is Lord Ministries
News selected and edited by Ray Mossholder
CHRISTIAN NEWS FROM RAY, LATE EVENING EDITION – March 9, 2014
IRAQ SAYS “NINE-YEAR-OLDS ARE READY FOR MARRIAGE”
Only a couple dozen women were brave enough to demonstrate on Saturday in Baghdad against a draft law approved by the Iraqi cabinet that would permit the marriage of nine-year-old girls and automatically give child custody to fathers.
The group’s protest was on International Women’s Day and a week after the cabinet voted for the legislation, based on Shi’ite Islamic law, allowing clergy to preside over marriages, divorces and inheritances. The draft now goes to parliament.
“On this day of women, women of Iraq are in mourning,” the protesters shouted. “We believe that this is a crime against humanity,” said Hanaa Eduar, a prominent Iraqi human rights activist. “It would deprive a girl of her right to live a normal childhood.” The UN’s representative to Iraq, Nickolay Mladenov, also condemned the legislation.
The legislation goes to the heart of the divisions in Iraq since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003, as Shi’ite Islamists have come to lead the government and look to impose their religious values on society at large.
It describes girls as reaching puberty at nine, making them fit for marriage, makes the father sole guardian of his children at two and condones a husband’s right to insist on sexual intercourse with his wife whenever he wishes.
The legislation is referred to as the Ja’afari Law, named after the sixth Shi’ite imam Ja’afar al-Sadiq, who founded his own school of jurisprudence.
Now that it has been by the Iraqi cabinet, it must now be reviewed by Parliament. But since elections are scheduled for April 30, and vocal opposition is strong among secularists, the draft may linger until after the elections are over.
Iraq’s current personal status law enshrines women’s rights regarding marriage, inheritance, and child custody, and has often been held up as the most progressive in the Middle East. The proposed new law’s defenders argue that the current personal status law violates sharia religious law.
(Reporting by Suadad al-Salhy. Editing by Ned Parker and Andrew Roche)
JUST ANOTHER SUICIDE BOMBER IN IRAQ – KILLS 45 TODAY
(Reuters) – A suicide bomber driving a minibus packed with explosives killed at least 45 people and wounded 157 today in the southern Iraqi city of Hilla, police and medical sources said. The attacker approached a main checkpoint at a northern entrance to the largely Shi’ite Muslim city and detonated the minibus. At least 50 cars were set ablaze with passengers trapped inside and part of the checkpoint complex was destroyed.
Sunni Islamist insurgents linked to al Qaeda have been regaining ground in Iraq over the past year, particularly in the western province of Anbar bordering Syria.
NOOSE TIGHTENING ON TERROR GROUPS IN MIDEAST
The United Arab Emirates has thrown its support behind neighboring Saudi Arabia’s decision to label the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization, increasing Gulf Arab pressure on the Islamist group.
Saudi Arabia listed the 86-year-old Brotherhood along with several other groups, including Al Qaeda affiliates, as terrorist organizations on Friday. Those who join or support the groups could face five to 30 years in prison under the new Saudi policy.
The Western-allied UAE, a seven-state federation that includes the cosmopolitan business hub of Dubai, said it will cooperate with Saudi Arabia to tackle “those terrorist groups through liquidating all forms of material and moral support.”
“The significant step taken by (Saudi Arabia) in this critical moment requires concerted efforts and joint collective work to address the security and stability challenges that threaten the destiny of the Arab and Muslim nation,” the UAE said in a statement carried by official news agency WAM late Saturday.
The Saudi terrorist designation also blacklisted Al Qaeda’s branch in Yemen and its former affiliate in Iraq, the Syrian al-Nusra Front, Hezbollah within the kingdom and Yemen’s Shiite Haw.
The Brotherhood condemned the Saudi move against it Friday as a “complete departure from the past relationship” with the kingdom and insisted that it does not interfere in matters of other nations. But Saudi Arabia and the UAE, the two largest Arab economies, have increasingly clamped down on the Brotherhood in the wake of the Arab Spring uprisings.
They along with the tiny kingdom of Bahrain last week withdrew their ambassadors from nearby Qatar to protest what they saw as its failure to uphold a deal to stop interfering in other nations’ politics and supporting organizations that threaten the Gulf’s stability. Analysts say the move in large part reflects Qatar’s support for the Brotherhood and its supporters.
The Emirates has jailed dozens of people allegedly linked to Brotherhood-affiliated groups on state security charges over the past year. It accuses Islamist groups of trying to topple its Western-backed ruling system.
33 NUNS NOW FACING DEATH SENTENCE IN NORTH KOREA
33 nuns are being charged with attempting to overthrow the regime of Kim Jong-un, but their real crime is that they were working with jailed South Korean Christian missionary Kim Jung-wook to set up 500 underground churches in North Korea.
They are not being “executed.” Using that word would lend some legality and moral framework to Kim’s action. This is nothing less than a massacre of innocent human beings — a slaughter that should raise an outcry in every civilized nation of the world.
IN SYRIA aL QAEDA TRADES NUNS FOR FELLOW TERRORISTS
JDEIDET YABOUS, Lebanon –Syrian rebels released a group of about a dozen Greek Orthodox nuns who had been held since December, Lebanon’s official news agency reported Monday. The release of the nuns and their helpers, 16 women in all, is a rare successful prisoner exchange deal between Syrian government authorities and the rebels seeking to overthrow the rule of President Bashar Assad.
Syrian rebels, including members of the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front, seized the 13 nuns and their three helpers from the Mar Takla convent when fighters overran the Christian village of Maaloula, north of Damascus, in December. The nuns, who are believed to be mostly Syrian and Lebanese, worked in the convent’s orphanage. Their seizure confirmed the fears of many in Syria’s minority Christian community that they were being targeted by extremists among rebels. Syria’s three-year conflict has become increasingly sectarian.
Syria’s chaotic mix of rebel groups is overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim. The country’s patchwork of minorities, which includes Christians, Shiite Muslims and the Shiite offshoot, the Alawites, have mostly sided with Assad or remained neutral, fearing for their fate should rebels take power.
Approximately 150 female prisoners are to be released in exchange for the nuns’ freedom, said the head of Lebanon’s General Security agency, General Abbas Ibrahim, who oversaw the deal, speaking to Syrian television. Ibrahim said the deal nearly collapsed at the last minute after rebels demanded more prisoners be released.
7 DAYS LEFT TO KEEP PUTIN FROM TAKING CRIMEA
Russian forces have taken control of aUkrainian border guard post in western Crimea, trapping 30 personnel inside. The latest move by the Russians to tighten their grip on Crimea was made without the firing of guns – unlike on Saturday, when a Ukrainian border patrol plane was fired at, and European monitors trying to enter Crimea were repelled by “warning shots” from balaclava-clad militias. The capture of the Chernomorskoye border post – the 11th so far – unfolded without bloodshed before dawn.
Russian forces’ seizure of the southern Ukrainian region, which began 11 days ago, has been without open combat. Ukrainian troops are trapped in a number of bases but have offered no armed resistance.
International threats from the UN, NATO, and various countries, including the United States, are having no effect on Putin and his post-Olympic invasion.
The nation’s top court last week sentenced a Qatari doctor to seven years and two Emiratis to five years in prison for collaborating with an illegal Islamist group. The same court in January convicted 30 men, most of them Egyptian, of setting up an illegal Brotherhood branch in the UAE. They received prison terms ranging from three months to five years.
Another 69 people were last year sentenced to up to 15 years behind bars after being convicted of links to Al-Islah, an Islamist group suspected of ideological ties to the Brotherhood.
VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN WARNS OF VENEZUELA’S AGGRESSION
Vice President Biden calls Venezuela’s situation alarming in remarks published Sunday, suggesting its government is using “armed vigilantes” against peaceful protesters and accusing it of “concocting false and outlandish conspiracy theories” about the United States. Biden’s remarks, issued in writing to a Chilean newspaper in response to questions, drew an angry rebuke from Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
“We reject their aggression,” President Maduro told supporters at a rally the socialist-led government held at the presidential palace. “They were defeated in the OAS (ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES) and now they want revenge.” Maduro was referring to a declaration of solidarity for Venezuela that was issued by the OAS on Friday night.
Washington said the declaration contradicted the OAS charter, in part, by stressing non-intervention in Venezuela over guaranteeing that human rights and free speech are respected there. Twenty-nine states voted in favor of Friday night’s declaration with only the United States, Canada and Panama objecting.
“The situation in Venezuela reminds me of previous eras, when strongmen governed through violence and oppression; and human rights, hyperinflation, scarcity, and grinding poverty wrought havoc on the people of the hemisphere,” Biden told El Mercurio.
“The situation in Venezuela is alarming,” he wrote. “Confronting peaceful protesters with force and in some cases with armed vigilantes; limiting the freedoms of press and assembly necessary for legitimate political debate; demonizing and arresting political opponents; and dramatically tightening restrictions on the media” is not what Washington expects from a signatory to international human rights treaties.
Rather than engaging the opposition in a “genuine dialogue,” Biden added, “Maduro has thus far tried to distract his people from the profound issues at stake in Venezuela by concocting totally false and outlandish conspiracy theories about the United States.” Maduro claims student-led protests that ignited February 12, mostly peaceful but including almost daily street clashes with security forces, were an attempt by the extreme right to overthrow him.
The demonstrations have been joined mostly by middle-class Venezuelans fed up with inflation that reached 56 percent last year, chronic shortages of some food staples, and one of the world’s highest murder rates. But some poorer Venezuelans, students in particular, are taking part. The government says 21 people have died.
On Sunday afternoon in eastern Caracas, about 100 demonstrators threw rocks at police, who responded with tear gas and water cannon. Despite a growing body of evidence to the contrary, Maduro on Sunday denied that armed paramilitary supporters of the government have employed violence against protesters.
“The only violent armed groups in the street are those of the right,” he told the crowd. In a statement issued by the presidency, Maduro also said the opposition was “receiving financing from the United States” to undermine “a solid democracy that has had the popular backing in 18 elections over 15 years.” He offered no evidence.
The statement said Venezuela was nevertheless interested in renewing” full diplomatic relations with the United States based on “mutual respect” and “non-intervention.” The two nations have been without ambassadors since 2010 and Venezuela has expelled eight U.S. diplomats in the past 13 months for alleged meddling.
The hand-picked successor of the late Hugo Chavez, Maduro was Venezuela’s foreign minister before Chavez named him vice president. He narrowly won the presidency last April in an election that followed Chavez’s death by barely a month.
Biden and Maduro are both scheduled to attend Tuesday’s swearing-in of Michelle Bachelet as Chile’s president. Bachelet, who was also Chile’s president in 2006-10, recently said her administration will support Maduro’s government and the Venezuelan people so they can “search for the democratic means to social peace.”
PALESTINE REFUSES TO RECOGNIZE ISRAEL AS A JEWISH STATE
Arab foreign ministers today rejected Israel’s demands that the Palestinians recognize it as a Jewish state, saying such a move would undermine the rights of Palestinian refugees.
In a resolution released at the headquarters of the Arab League in Cairo, the foreign ministers called the issue of Palestinian refugees an integral part of a comprehensive and just peace. It blamed Israel for the floundering of peace negotiations.
The Arab statement offers strong backing to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who said publicly last week he will never recognize Israel as a Jewish state despite facing strong international pressure. Abbas did not identify who is pressuring him.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week the Palestinians must recognize Israel as a Jewish state to show they are serious about peace. It was the latest sign that despite seven months of mediation efforts by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, wide gaps remain between the two sides.
Abbas is due to meet President Obama in Washington on March 17, as part of U.S. efforts to press both sides. He has said that the Palestine Liberation Organization recognized the state of Israel in 1993 and that this is sufficient.
MISSING MALAYSIAN PLANE STILL MISSING
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia—A search-and-rescue plane spotted suspected fragments of a missing Malaysian airliner in the first potential breakthrough in the investigation of what happened to the flight after it disappeared early Saturday morning.
The fragments were believed to be a composite inner door and a piece of the plane’s tail, Vietnam’s ministry of information and communication said on its website. The objects were located about 50 miles south-southwest of Tho Chu island.
A BOEING 777 pilot, who was flying 30 minutes ahead of the missing Malaysia Airlines aircraft, said he established contact with MH370 minutes after he was asked to do so by Vietnamese air traffic control. The captain said his plane, which was bound for Narita, Japan, was far into Vietnamese airspace when he was asked to relay, using his plane’s emergency frequency, to MH370 for the latter to establish its position, as the authorities could not contact the aircraft.
“We managed to establish contact with MH370 just after 1.30 am and asked them if they HAD transferred into Vietnamese airspace. “I was sure it was the co-pilot.
There were a lot of interference… static… but I heard mumbling from the other end. That was the last time we heard from them, as we lost the connection,” he told the New Sunday Times.
He said those on the same frequency at the time would have heard the exchange. This, he said, would include vessels on the waters below.
He said he thought nothing of it, as the occurrence (of losing contact) was normal, until it was established that MH370 never landed.
“If the plane was in trouble, we would have heard the pilot making the Mayday distress call. But I am sure that, like me, no one else up there heard it.
A Chinese family successfully rang the mobile phone of a passenger on board Malaysia Airlines plane MH370. A video clip of a man dialing the number of his elder brother was shown on Beijing Television’s news bulletin. The call got connected, but no one picked up. He told reporters in Beijing that he made a total of three calls, but no one answered.
Desperate family members have asked Malaysia Airlines to use satellite technology to pick up the mobile phone signals of passengers before their phones run out of batteries.
PRESIDENT OBAMA WANTS BILLIONS MORE IN TAXES
The White House is proposing billions in additional tax incentives in fiscal 2015 for buyers of alternative-energy vehicles and others involved in the industry, according to a new Treasury Department report. Among the biggest proposals is extending the 30 percent tax credit for Americans who invest in properties involved in advanced-energy products, including facilities that store energy for electric or hybrid-electric vehicles.
The government argues the $2.3 billion already allocated under the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has resulted in roughly just one-third of eligible applicants receiving funding and that an additional $2.5 billion in credits should be authorized to meet the need.
A Treasury Department spokeswoman last week pointed to at least four major tax credits or incentives in the agency’s 297-page report.
President Obama since taking office in 2009 has made a top priority of helping U.S. companies involved in the production of “green” or alternative energy, largely to help reduce the country’s dependency on foreign oil.
Though Obama has said he backs an “all of the above” approach to domestic-energy production, he has faced sharp criticism for regulating the fossil fuel industry and most recently not approving the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline.
“While [Energy] Secretary Moniz touts the president’s ‘all of the above’ energy strategy, he is either ignorant of what the word ‘all’ means or he is being intentionally deceptive because the president’s plan is missing any promotion of conventional energy sources,” the Institute for Energy Research said last week.
Obama also has faced criticism for providing loan guarantees to companies in the alternative energy industry, including the California-based Solyndra. The solar panel maker received a guaranteed Energy Department loan, then went bankrupt in 2011 without repaying taxpayers roughly $500 million.
The others tax incentives included in the president’s 2015 proposal include increasing the maximum tax break for smaller alternative-energy vehicles, from $7,500 to $10,000. Obama’s proposal also calls for extending the credit beyond plug-in electric vehicles to include all advanced-technology vehicles and for providing more flexibility for the credit. The seller or financier could, for example, offer the credit as a point-of-sale rebate to the buyer, under the proposal.
But the $10,000 break would not apply to luxury vehicles costing more than $45,000 — including the Tesla Model S and the Cadillac ELR. The credit for those vehicles would be capped at $7,500, according to The Detroit News.
Another proposal is to extend tax credits on fuel-cell vehicles to those that run on such alternative fuels as hydrogen and liquefied natural gas. The credit would go to manufactures, $25,000 for smaller vehicles and $40,00 of medium-sized ones, and could be transferred to a dealer or buyer.
The White House last year explained the reason for the higher tax credit by referencing Obama’s goal in 2008 “of putting 1 million advanced technology vehicles on the road by 2015.” This year, the Treasury Department dropped that language. In January, Moniz acknowledged that meeting that goal would be a “stretch” because sales haven’t met the government’s prior expectations, the Detroit News also reported.
The final of the four incentives would be extending the $1.01 a gallon tax credit for cellulosic biofuel that expired at the end of last year. The proposal would also make the credit retroactive.
ATHEISTS ARE CROSS ABOUT THE CROSS
Atheists are trying to oust the “Miracle Cross” from the 9/11 museum arguing that its inclusion would violate the Constitution’s separation of church and state. But Eric Baxster of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty told MyFoxNY that the cross is part of the story of 9/11 and that museums don’t censor history. “They tell history as it happened,” Baxster said.
The 17-foot cross-shaped beam was discovered in the devastation at Ground Zero and became a symbol of comfort and hope after the horrific terrorist attack. But American Atheists say the cross is a part of religious history and are challenging its inclusion in the new National September 11 Memorial and Museum which opens in May. The group said the cross should not be in a museum that is on Port Authority property and financed by taxpayers.
In arguments before the U.S. Court of Appeals in Manhattan, American Atheist’s lawyer Edwin Kagin said his organization is seeking a similar object to be displayed at the museum, something like a plaque that would say “atheists died here, too. We’re arguing for equal treatment in some way, whatever that might be,” Kagin said after the hearing.
The museum’s lawyer, Mark Alcott, told the court that rescue workers took comfort in the cross and they prayed to it as a religious object. “But there is a difference between displaying an artifact of historical significance and saying we want you [the public] to bless it — museum-goers understand that distinction” he said, according to London’s Telegraph Newspaper. The newspaper said Judge Reena Raggi appeared skeptical of the claims by the atheist group.
“There are countless cases of museums including religious artifacts among their exhibits and it’s going to be described in a way that talks about the history of the object. What is the problem here?” she said. “An argument has been made that you are trying to censor history.”
Construction worker Frank Silecchia discovered the beam in the smoldering wreckage of the World Trade Center towers. He told the “Today” show “I was already working 12 hours. I was quite weary and the cross comforted me,” Silecchia said. “I never stood here before any media and said it’s about religion. But I say it’s about faith — the faith that was crushed on 9/11.” The cross became the object of comfort for many first responders.
The cross was meant to be part of a display that includes 1,000 artifacts in a 100,000-square-foot underground museum.
The appeals court is expected to make a decision in several months.
MANY CHRISTIAN FACES ARE 50 SHADES OF RED
WHILE PANTING OVER 50 SHADES OF GREY
Readers just can’t seem to get enough of E.L. James’ bestselling erotica in the Fifty Shades series, as the trilogy now has sold more than 100 million copies worldwide. The salacious series, which definitely counts Christians among its fans, marks that milestone amid anticipation of the sizzling movie adaptation being released next year.
Dannah Gresh, co-founder of Pure Freedom and who authored Pulling Back the Shadeswith Dr. Juli Slattery, said she was saddened to hear about Fifty Shades‘ latest milestone. Pulling Back the Shades: Erotica, Intimacy, and the Longings of a Woman’s Heartis Gresh and Slattery’s response to the pervasiveness of the erotica series, specifically among Christians. “I’m sad because the book honors and glorifies bondage, dominance, sadism and machoism [or BDSM sex play],” Gresh told The Christian Post during a conference call with Slattery. Gresh added that the “saddest part” was knowing that Christian women consume the erotica series as much as women in the general public.
As the two authors discovered firsthand during their research for Pulling Back the Shades, “Praying grandmas are reading it. Young human-trafficking activists are reading it. Pastors’ wives are reading it. … Missionaries are reading it. Jews, Muslims, and Christians are reading it.”
Indeed, Christians, usually resolute on the dangers of porn, are big fans of James’ explicit and allegedly profane sexual tales, as Barna Group researchers discovered in a survey last year. The evangelical Christian research group reported that “there is no difference between the percentage of Christians who have read Fifty Shades of Grey and the percentage of all Americans who have read the book.”
The Fifty Shades series, promotes violence against women, and follows the intense sexual relationship and eventual marriage between a college student named Ana and a multibillionaire named Christian.
For Slattery, a clinical psychologist who leads the nonprofit organization Authentic Intimacy, the pervasiveness of Fifty Shades of Grey, the first installment of the series, is alarming. “You’ve always had erotica and pornography available, but in the last 25 years we’ve seen men just by the millions get hooked on Internet pornography, and now this is showing that it’s become normal for women to engage in this form of pornography. It’s very alarming to just see that there’s no discernment and there’s not an outcry,” Slattery told CP.
Gresh echoed Slattery’s suggestion that Fifty Shades of Grey, currently the fastest-selling paperback ever, is helping to normalize erotica for women.
“I believe that this book and the normalization of erotica that’s resulting from it will have the same impact on the Church as the advent of Internet pornography and men using it 20 years ago,” explained Gresh. “By that I mean we are going to face a new kind of sexual numbness and inability to be intimate. Marriage and fully understanding the total joy God intends in married sex is the only lifestyle that can ensure authentic intimacy.”
In Pulling Back the Shades: Erotica, Intimacy, and the Longings of a Woman’s Heart, Slattery and Gresh examine the reasons for why books like Fifty Shades of Greyresonate with women, make the case for why “mommy porn is spiritual,” and explain how women can be both spiritually and sexually satisfied in marriage.
If the “temporarily out of stock” notice and rave reviews posted on Amazon are any indication, Gresh and Slattery are saying exactly what many Christian women want or need to hear. Pulling Back the Shades, released on Valentine’s Day, was sold out on Amazon as of March 7, and a representative with Moody Publishers told CP that the book had sold 2,722 copies as of that date.
“They broke the rules!” reads one glowing review of Pulling Back the Shades, a light read in terms of page length though a heavy-hitter considering its approach in taking on a subject — women’s sexuality — rarely discussed in Christian circles, at least openly.
While Gresh focused her research for Pulling Back the Shades by delving into “the stories of women whose lives have been impacted by erotica,” Slattery chose to read through the series. “Even though I read the books in a spirit of prayer — literally on my knees — I got pulled into the story. My body even got pulled in. … These books are powerful and had a significant impact on me,” confesses Slattery in Pulling Back the Shades. Her own experience made her balk at claims from other women who have also read the books but who insist they were not really affected by Fifty Shades of Grey, a 1,500-page series some readers reportedly have breezed through in just days.
Ultimately, the authors believe books like Fifty Shades of Grey are dangerous because they perpetuate distortions of God’s intent for sexual expression and intimacy in marriage, as do all forms of pornography, a source of addiction for millions of Americans, Christian men and women included.
Is there a double-standard between how women who indulge in “erotica” or raunchy “romance” books are viewed, and the tone of discussions on men who consume “porn”? Why are open and frank discussions about women and sexual intimacy in Christian contexts so rare? And why are so many readers flocking to Pulling Back the Shades?
“SON OF GOD” FINISHED FIFTH AT THE BOX OFFICE THIS WEEKEND
The greatest Christian film ever made, according to many Christians including your editor, finished only fifth its second week at the box office nationwide. The Lego Movie was fourth after many weeks of being first.
DETROIT PARENTS WANT TO SHUT DOWN A HIGH SCHOOL PLAY
A high school musical featuring supernatural powers, bullying and lots of blood has angry parents pushing to cancel the production. “Carrie: the Musical,” the spring theatrical production at a high school in suburban Detroit, is prompting outrage from some parents who say the show based on a 1970′s horror film must not go on. But school administrators and others defend the production, scheduled for May, as topical, saying the story portrays the tragedies of bullying and nonacceptance — and invites thought on how to better deal with their consequences, the Detroit Free Press reported.
Carrie is based on the tale of a shy girl who uses her telekinetic powers to exact a bloody revenge on schoolmates who bully her. The 1976 film starred Sissy Spacek and was based on a Stephen King novel.
The controversy is roiling Farmington North High School in Farmington Hills and was a topic of discussion at a recent meeting of the district’s board of education.
“When I heard [the upcoming production] was a musical version of ‘Carrie,’ I was dumbstruck,” parent Julie Devine told the board. “I thought, ‘How arrogant, how insensitive and how reckless to put on a show that ends with a mass murder in a high school gym.’ ”
The newspaper said Devine was also “disturbed by the portrayal of Carrie’s mom as a Christian nut job bent on destruction,” which conflicts with the schools’ support of diversity.
Another parent, Karie Acker, said: “The play is so wrong on so many levels, in my opinion.” Acker added that it is exposing young people to more “garbage.” She said if the production is allowed to continue it should be staged some place other than on the high school stage. But school principal Joe Greene said he hopes the play will prompt the audience to reflect on events of the story. “The musical ‘Carrie’ provides us a fantastical lens through which to examine and spur thought about the origin and impact of bullying, the impact of mental illness, and the choices we make about how we treat each other.”
At the school board meeting musical director Dean Cobb also defended the production.“We promise you that we wouldn’t and have never in the 80-plus shows we have done, put any child in mental, emotional or physical harm’s way.”
HIGH SCHOOL STAGE COLLAPSES INJURING TWO DOZEN STUDENTS
Authorities were trying to determine whether excessive weight was to blame for the collapse of a stage during a performance at Servite High School in Anaheim Saturday night, injuring about two dozen students.
About 250 girls from Rosary High School, Servite’s sister Catholic school, were on the stage when it collapsed, Anaheim Police Department spokesman Lt. Tim Schmidt told The Times. “Early investigations suggest the front of the stage gave out due to weight.” Orange County fire investigators are checkingto see if the permit for the stage included a weight limit.
A total of 300 to 400 students and parents were in the auditorium at the time of the collapse. Officials said most of the injuries were “minor to moderate,” though some students suffered broken bones.
The students were performing in “Red and Gold,” Rosary High’s annual musical theater challenge, in which teams prepare for six weeks to put on choral, dance, drama and other performances, according to the school’s website.
Servite High School is an all-boys Catholic School in Anaheim. Rosary is an all-girls school in Fullerton.
COLD CASE IS HEATING UP AGAIN IN SAN MATEO COUNTY
The FBI and California law enforcement agencies are launching a task force in an attempt to solve a decades-old cold case after linking another victim to a series of 1976 murders. The FBI announced Thursday that they suspect the murder of 19-year-old Michelle Mitchell, in Reno, may be linked to the killings of five females in
San Mateo County in California between January and April 1976. The announcement came after authorities found DNA evidence at Mitchell’s murder scene that ties all the cases together, a Reno Police Department spokesman told KTVN.
The San Jose Mercury News reports that starting this week, FBI agents and police officers from the San Mateo and Washoe County sheriff’s offices, and Daly City, Pacifica, South San Francisco and Reno police departments will comb San Mateo County neighborhoods, asking residents to recall anything suspicious they may have seen during the time of the killings.
ONCE BELIEVED DEAD AND NOW HE IS
Mexico’s government confirmed late Sunday that the leader of the Knights Templar Cartel was killed in an early-morning shootout with troops despite being declared dead by authorities in 2010. Tomas Zeron, head of the criminal investigation unit for the federal Attorney General’s Office, said the identity of Nazario Moreno Gonzalez had been confirmed 100 percent by fingerprints.
Moreno’s death was one of the more bizarre twists in Mexico’s assault on drug cartels, in which two others of the country’s most powerful capos have been captured in the last year without a shot fired.
The Mexican military had been tracking Moreno and marines and soldiers confronted him in Timbuscatio, a town in the remote mountains of the western farming state of Michoacan, his cartel’s home base. Officials said the troops fired to respond to an “aggression” as they tried to make an arrest.
Alejandro Rubido, security spokesman for President Enrique Pena Nieto’s administration, said that despite the December 2010 announcement Moreno had been killed in a shootout with federal police, national government officials taking over Michoacan in January discovered reports that he was alive. “Anonymous tips indicated that Nazario Moreno was not only living, but continued operating at the head of a criminal group conducting extortion, kidnapping and other crimes,” Rubido said, adding that at the time of his first reported death, he had committed multiple murders. “This person was known as dangerous.”
Moreno, nicknamed “The Craziest One,” would have turned 44 on Saturday, according to a government birthdate. He led the La Familia cartel when he supposedly perished in a two-day gunbattle with federal police in December 2010 in Michoacan, his home state. No corpse was found then, however. The government of then-President Felipe Calderon officially declared him dead, saying it had proof, but some residents of Michoacan had reported seeing Moreno since then.
La Familia was the first target of Calderon’s assault on Mexican drug trafficking, and he touted Moreno’s death and his dismantling of the cartel as a victory. But after Moreno’s supposed 2010 death, La Familia Michoacana, morphed into the more vicious and powerful Knights Templar. The cartel under both names preached Moreno’s quasi-religious doctrine and moral code even as it became a major trafficker of methamphetamine to the U.S. And since the 2010 claim of his death, Moreno reportedly helped build himself up as folk hero, erecting shrines to himself and to the Knights Templar, which adopted the Maltese cross as a symbol.
“I don’t think they want to open their mouths much right now,” said Raul Benitez, a security expert at Mexico’s National Autonomous University. “The successes of Pena Nieto so quickly in his government at the same time show the failure of the Calderon administration.”
“This is a victory,” said Hipolito Mora, one of the leaders of the vigilante groups whose rise caused Pena Nieto’s administration to finally act. “He did a lot of damage to the people of Michoacan.”
Moreno’s killing comes on the heels of the February 22 capture of Mexico’s most powerful drug lord, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who surrendered peacefully after 13 years of escapes when marines raided his condo in the Pacific resort city of Mazatlan. Another other top drug capo, Zetas chief Miguel Angel Trevino, was captured last summer, also by the Mexican navy’s elite troops.
Though Guzman’s capture leaked to the press, Mexican authorities waited several hours before announcing it so they could solidly confirm they held the leader of the Sinaloa cartel, Mexico’s largest. They later gave a detailed explanation of how they fingerprinted him and measured his facial features against photographs as well as analyzed genetic markers from a DNA swab.
12-YEAR-OLD HEALED THROUGH PENICILLIN DEAD AT 82
Genean Hixon, whose breakthrough treatment with penicillin at age 12 during World War II led to modern medical practices, died March 1 two days short of her 83rdbirthday, the Denver Post reported.
Hixon died of liver cancer, which was diagnosed in December.
Hixon was hospitalized on July 24, 1943, with severe osteomyelitis — a bone disease that at the time was seemingly incurable and potentially fatal. She became one of the first American civilians to be treated with a “mysterious miracle drug” – known now as penicillin — and the Denver Post reported on her treatment in a series of articles.
She is survived by her husband, four children, 11 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
WORLD WAR TWO HERO DEAD AT 90
Friends and family are mourning the death of a national hero. William “Wild Bill” Guarnere, a South Philly native and World War II vet who was portrayed on the television miniseries, “Band of Brothers.” Guarnere died on Saturday at the age of 90.
After enlisting in the paratroops in 1942, Guarnere joined Easy Company, earning the nickname “Wild Bill” for his daring battlefield exploits. Guarnere’s time in World War II was dramatized in the HBO miniseries “Band of Brothers” in which he was played by actor Frank John Hughes.
“He was without a doubt one of the bravest and best soldiers in all of Easy Company,said Easy Company’s historian. “He was one of the best combat leaders not only in his company but also the division. If there was a fight going on with the 1st Platoon or 3rd Platoon, Bill would miraculously show up and leave 2nd Platoon to go help. He would ‘march to the sound of gunfire.’ He had no reservations and was fearless in combat.”
Guarnere’s time in the war ended when he lost his right leg while trying to help a wounded soldier. For his efforts during the Brecourt Manor Assault on D-Day, he earned the Silver Star. He later received two Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts.
In 2007, Guarnere wrote the national best-seller “Brothers in Battle, Best of Friends: Two WWII Paratroopers from the Original Band of Brothers Tell Their Story” with fellow unit member Edward “Babe” Heffron as well as journalist Robyn Post. Heffron died last December, also at the age of 90.
DETROIT LIONS OWNER DEAD AT 88
DETROIT – William Clay Ford, the owner of the Detroit Lions and last surviving grandchild of automotive pioneer Henry Ford, has died. He was 88.
Ford Motor Co. said in a statement Sunday that Ford died of pneumonia at his home. Ford helped steer the family business for more than five decades. He bought one of his own, the NFL franchise in the Motor City, a half-century ago.
“RIGHT IN THE KISSER” HONEYMOONER DEAD AT 92
(CNN) — Actress Sheila MacRae, who portrayed Alice Kramden in a 1960s revival of “The Honeymoooners,” has died. She was 92.
MacRae played the iconic character on a Honeymooners segment that ran from 1966 to 1970 on “The Jackie Gleason Show.” MacRae also portrayed Miss Adelaide in “Guys and Dolls” on Broadway in 1965, in addition to TV roles in shows like “I Love Lucy,” “General Hospital” and “Murder, She Wrote.”
She is survived by two children, six grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
Her 26-year marriage to actor Gordon MacRae ended in divorce in 1967.
AFGHANISTAN’S VICE PRESIDENT DEAD AT 57
Afghanistan’s powerful vice president, Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim, died of natural causes on Sunday, only weeks before the country is due to elect a new leader. He was 57.
Once one of Afghanistan’s most feared warlords, Fahim had been a top commander in the Northern Alliance, a group of anti-Taliban militia leaders, after the 1992-96 civil war. The United Nations mission in Afghanistan called Fahim “a good and trusted partner of the UN”.
There will be three days of national mourning.
REPUBLICAN FRONTRUNNER RAND PAUL BEGINS OUTLINING HIS PLANS
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, who has emerged as a potential 2016 GOP presidential front-runner, inched closer Sunday to a full-fledged contender, outlining a likely platform that would appeal to young voters and knocking back criticism that he’s soft on foreign policy.
The first-term, Tea Party champion told “Fox News Sunday” that he would try to expand the Republican Party to include those long overlooked by government and younger, more libertarian-minded voters.
Paul laid out his vision one day after winning the Conservative Political Action Conference’s 2016 presidential straw poll and several days after a Washington Post columnist suggested he has emerged as the top choice among the GOP’s conservative wing.
On Sunday, Paul acknowledged that he has wakened young Americans, including those “fed up” with the National Security Agency tapping into their cellphone records. “The Fourth Amendment is just as important as the Second Amendment,” said Paul, who has been critical of the scope of the NSA’s domestic spying since those efforts were exposed last year. “That’s what distinguishes me from other Republicans.”
Paul defended his foreign policy views, including his position that the United States should seek “respectful” relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has sent troops into the Crimea region of Ukraine amid the country’s political turmoil. Paul said he would warn Putin that he’s creating “chaos” and potentially the next Syria-type crisis. He also said he embraces the Reagan maxim of “Don’t mistake our reluctance for war for a lack of resolve. Said Paul: “People still need to know this. Were I in charge, I think they would.”
He also said he has discussed with his family a presidential run and has “done everything that would make it work. But I still haven’t made up my mind.”
He argued that winning over younger voters is critical to the GOP’s future success, saying Obama won that voting bloc in 2012 by a 3-to-1 margin, but his popularity among such voters has dropped 20 to 30 percentage points. “It’s a real opportunity for Republicans,” he told Fox News.
CHAIRMAN OF IOWA’S REPUBLICAN PARTY RESIGNS TO HELP RAND
(CNN) —In a move that is generating even more 2016 presidential buzz, the chairman of Iowa’s Republican Party is leaving his position to work for Rand PAC, a group that supports Senator Paul.
A.J. Spiker, who’s been chairman since February 2012, sent a letter to Iowa GOP committee members Friday, saying that he was stepping down and that elections for a new chairman would take place on March 29, according to a statement released Saturday by the state party. Spiker said he would stay in his role until a new chairman is elected.
The party said he’ll leave the group “with more than $300,000 cash on hand, zero debt and with a voter registration advantage for Republicans” over Democrats in Iowa. Spiker will become an adviser for Rand PAC.
Iowa, the first state to hold nominating contests in presidential election years, is closely watched by political observers, and its party organization can play a crucial role in presidential campaigns.
Spiker was the Iowa chairman of Ron Paul’s presidential campaign in 2012. Rick Santorum bested Mitt Romney by just 34 votes in the state’s caucuses. Each candidate captured 25% of the vote, with Ron Paul coming in not far behind at 21%.
SENATOR TED CRUZ DECLARES “WE CAN STILL CANCEL OBAMACARE”
Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is still not willing to give up his crusade against the Affordable Care Act. During an interview with ABC’s “This Week” that aired today, Cruz said he believes Republicans could repeal “every single word” of President Barack Obama’s signature legislation — even while the president remains in office. ABC’s Jonathan Karl pressed Cruz to explain why he believes repeal is still worth pursuing:
KARL: We can acknowledge that that’s not going to happen while Barack Obama is president, right?
CRUZ: Yes, I’ll give you one scenario where it could. If there’s one things that unifies politicians of both parties, you know, their top priority is preserving their own hide. And if enough Congressional Democrats realize they either stand with ObamaCare and lose, or they listen to the American people and have a chance at staying in office, that’s the one scenario we could do it in 2015. If not, we’ll do it in 2017.
KARL: So you honestly think there’s a chance that you can get ObamaCare repealed, every word, as you say?
CRUZ: Every single word.
KARL: With Obama in the White House?
CRUZ: You know, what’s funny, Jon, is the media treats that as a bizarre proposition.
KARL: Well, it is.
CRUZ: Because…
(SILENCE)
CRUZ: It is…
KARL: It is a bizarre proposition.
CRUZ: It is the most unpopular law in the country. Millions of people have lost their jobs, have lost their health care, have been forced into part-time work, have their premiums skyrocketing. And right now, Washington isn’t listening to those people. That’s how we win elections and that’s also how we repeal ObamaCare
PALM DESERT, Calif. (AP) — A 71-year-old woman is believed to have suffered about 1,000 stings in Southern California after being attacked by a swarm of killer bees that covered her entire body. California Fire Battalion Chief says the woman was expected to recover after Thursday’s attack in Palm Desert. He said five firefighters were also hospitalized for stings.
A bee removal specialist told the Riverside Press-Enterprise that up to 80,000 Africanized honey bees found in an underground electrical vault stung a Verizon employee who opened the vault. Lance Davissaid the bees then attacked the woman, who had just gotten out of a car nearby. Davis said her relatives tossed a blanket over her and rushed her indoors. Then he removed the bees. He plans to donate them to farmers.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNIT FOR A PENGUIN?
The Penguin Foundation has a global callout for knitters to make pullovers for penguins in rehab. Penguins caught in oil spills need the little jumpers to keep warm and to stop them from trying to clean the toxic oil off with their beaks.
Knitter Lyn Blom is the receptionist at Phillip Island Nature Parks in Victoria, British Columbia, and has knitted many penguin jumpers over the years. The Penguin Foundation is based at Phillip Island, which is known for having a large penguin colony.
Lyn Blom says it’s not just major oil spills that cause problems for local penguins.
“Fishermen might clean out a container or something while they’re at sea.” “It’s a continuing problem,” she says. “We get probably about 20 birds a year.” One advantage of knitting a penguin sweater is that they are small.
“They’re very quick,” says Lyn. The Penguin Foundation also distributes the jumpers to other wildlife rescue centers where needed.
You can download more informationabout how to knit for penguins, including theknitting pattern and where to send the finished product by simply Googling the Penguin Foundation website. While the Penguin Foundation’s websitesays it currently has a ‘good supply’ of the little jumpers, the organization also uses them in educational programs as well as selling them as a fundraising measure.
In 2011 the foundation raised money for a new Phillip Island Wildlife Rehabilitation Center which can house up to 1500 penguins in the event of a major oil spill.
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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
It doesn’t take cold cash to make a penguin happy.
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CHRISTIAN NEWS FROM RAY – LATE EVENING EDITION – March 9, 2014