The link below is to a very interesting article and infographic that outlines the various dialects of the US language (yes, I said language – it is different to how many people speak the queen’s English – said tongue in cheek of course… I am a republican in the Australian sense).
For more visit:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/09/dialect-map-of-the-us-region-aschmann_n_3245496.html
A Chinese human rights dissident and democracy advocate was awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, reports Peter J. Smith, LifeSiteNews.com.
Liu Xiaobo is the architect of a pro-democracy and human rights manifesto called Charter 08, which called for basic freedoms such as freedom of religion, assembly, protection of private property, and the guarantee of rights outlined under the U.N.’s Declaration of Universal Human Rights.
Authorities arrested Liu two days before the Charter’s December 8, 2008 release and charged him with "inciting the subversion of state power." After declaring him guilty, a Chinese court sentenced Liu on Christmas Day 2009 to 11 years in prison.
The Nobel committee in particular cited Liu’s pacifism in challenging communist China’s human rights abuses and calling for democratic reforms.
Liu was nominated in part by eight U.S. lawmakers who praised his work and suffering for human rights in China.
On behalf of himself and seven other U.S. Congressman, Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) recommended that the Nobel Peace Prize Committee recognize not only Liu, but jointly award the prize to two other human rights activists, Chen Guangcheng and Gao Zhisheng, who have been persecuted specifically for fighting China’s brutal policy of forced abortion and sterilizations under the “one-child” policy.
Chen is a blind self-taught lawyer, who took the burden upon himself to defend local Chinese peasant women from forced sterilization and their children from forced abortion by local government authorities.
Gao, a Beijing attorney committed to defending human rights in China, was one of Chen’s lawyers. On February 4, 2009, Gao went missing under suspicious circumstances.
Geng He, Gao’s wife, told the Associated Press that she has not spoken to her husband since April and fears for his safety.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry has blasted the Nobel committee’s selection of Liu, calling the award a “blasphemy” and Liu a “criminal.”
"The Nobel Peace Prize is meant to award individuals who promote international harmony and friendship, peace and disarmament. Liu Xiaobo is a criminal who has been sentenced by Chinese judicial departments for violating Chinese law,” the ministry said on its website. “Awarding the peace to Liu runs completely counter to the principle of the award and is also a blasphemy to the Peace Prize."
The AP reports that news of Liu’s Nobel award has been blacked out in China. It added that Liu Xia, his wife, is guarded in her Beijing apartment by police, who have forbidden her from meeting with reporters.
Liu’s wife, who is able to communicate by telephone and electronic media, told CNN that she intends to visit him in prison soon to inform him of the prize, and encourage him. She hopes to be able to visit Norway to collect the award on his behalf.
Last year’s Nobel Peace Prize recipient was President Barack Obama, who was nominated shortly after his presidential inauguration. Obama praised Liu for his sacrifice in a statement and called upon Chinese authorities to release him from prison.
“By granting the prize to Mr. Liu, the Nobel Committee has chosen someone who has been an eloquent and courageous spokesman for the advance of universal values through peaceful and non-violent means, including his support for democracy, human rights, and the rule of law,” said Obama.
Report from the Christian Telegraph
More than a thousand attendees are expected to gather for a four-day conference to celebrate John Calvin’s 500th birthday, reports Michael Ireland, chief correspondent, ASSIST News Service.
As America prepares to celebrate Independence Day this July 4, Vision Forum Ministries will be hosting the national celebration to honor the 500th birthday of John Calvin, a man who many scholars recognize as America’s “Founding Father.”
The event — The Reformation 500 Celebration — will take place July 1-4 at the Park Plaza Hotel in downtown Boston, according to a media release about the event.
“Long before America declared its independence, John Calvin declared and defended principles that birthed liberty in the modern world,” noted Doug Phillips, president of Vision Forum Ministries.
“Scholars both critical and sympathetic of the life and theology of Calvin agree on one thing: that this reformer from Geneva was the father of modern liberty as well as the intellectual founding father of America,” he said.
Phillips pointed out: “Jean Jacques Rousseau, a fellow Genevan who was no friend to Christianity, observed: ‘Those who consider Calvin only as a theologian fail to recognize the breadth of his genius. The editing of our wise laws, in which he had a large share, does him as much credit as his Institutes. . . . [S]o long as the love of country and liberty is not extinct amongst us, the memory of this great man will be held in reverence.'”
He continued: “German historian Leopold von Ranke observed that ‘Calvin was virtually the founder of America.’ Harvard historian George Bancroft was no less direct with this remark: ‘He who will not honor the memory and respect the influence of Calvin knows but little of the origin of American liberty.’
“John Adams, America’s second president, agreed with this sentiment and issued this pointed charge: ‘Let not Geneva be forgotten or despised. Religious liberty owes it much respect.’
“As we celebrate America’s Independence this July 4, we would do well to heed John Adams’ admonition and show due respect to the memory of John Calvin whose 500th birthday fall six days later,” Phillips stated.
Calvin, a convert to Reformation Christianity born in Noyon, France, on July 10, 1509, is best known for his influence on the city of Geneva, the media release explains.
“It was there that he modeled many of the principles of liberty later embraced by America’s Founders, including anti-statism, the belief in transcendent principles of law as the foundation of an ethical legal system, free market economics, decentralized authority, an educated citizenry as a safeguard against tyranny, and republican representative government which was accountable to the people and a higher law,” the release states.
The Reformation 500 Celebration will honor Calvin’s legacy, along with other key Protestant reformers, and will feature more than thirty history messages on the impact of the Reformation, Faith & Freedom mini-tours of historic Boston, and a Children’s Parade.
The festivities will climax on America’s Independence Day as attendees join thousands of others for the world-renowned music and fireworks celebration on the Esplanade with the Boston Pops Orchestra.
Report from the Christian Telegraph
A blaze swallowed Gov. Sarah Palin’s evangelical Christian church on Friday and caused severe damage that fire officials say was likely the work of arsonists, reports Kathleen Gilbert, LifeSiteNews.com.
The damage to the 2 1/2-year-old Wasilla Bible Church building is estimated at $1 million. Five women, and possibly a couple of children, were inside the church when the flames erupted, but escaped with no injuries.
Palin’s spokesman, Bill McAllister, said that Palin stopped by the church the following day to apologize in case the fire was connected to the “undeserved negative attention” the church has received since her unsuccessful run for the vice presidency. Palin was not present when the fire started, and did not attend Sunday services temporarily held at a local middle school, as she was on state business in Juneau.
Fire Chief James Steele told the Associated Press that the blaze is being investigated as a case of arson. He said investigators had no leads to discern whether the arsonist had a political motivation.
“Whatever the motives of the arsonist, the governor has faith in the scriptural passage that what was intended for evil will in some way be used for good,” McAllister said.
John Doak, associate pastor at Wasilla Bible Church, expressed the communion of faith that united churchgoers after the devastating blaze. “The definition of the church is the body of Christ, made up of God’s people,” said Doak after the Sunday service at Wasilla Middle School, attended by about 1,200 people. “The church is still there. We are the church.”
During Sarah Palin’s VP run on the Republican presidential ticket with John McCain, her home church came under harsh scrutiny from media analysts who found fault with the church’s teachings. In particular, homosexualists were outraged when it was discovered that the church advertised a Focus on the Family conference inviting homosexuals to overcome their same-sex attraction.
The Bible Church also made headlines for having hosted Jews for Jesus leader David Brickner. Political commentators warned Palin that the church’s decision to host Brickner would alienate her from the Jewish community, as Brickner’s organization has been criticized for “targeting Jews for conversion with subterfuge and deception.”
Report from the Christian Telegraph
A video has emerged in the last day or so of US Republican Vice Presidency candidate Sarah Palin being blessed by a Kenyan bishop for protection from witchcraft.
The footage shows Sarah Palin standing before the congregation of the Wasilla Assembly of God Church in Anchorage, Alaska. Palin stands at the front with a man on either side placing their hands on her shoulders as Bishop Thomas Muthee leads the church in ‘prayer,’ seeking God’s aid to assist Palin in running for governor of Alaska. This assistance would include finances, to be saved from Satan and protection from witchcraft. Palin credits the Kenyan bishop for helping her attain the office of governor.
Officials for the McCain-Palin campaign say that Palin is not Pentecostal and that she attends different churches – certainly the church in the video is ‘different.’
The video is posted below – make what you will of the footage:
No one does political propaganda like the United States and around presidential election time anyone and everyone seems to pull out some propaganda for this or that candidate.
Now here in Australia I don’t vote for the US president – even though under John Howard I thought we had become nearly another state of the United States (but that is another matter). So I don’t really have an opinion that matters much (though I do have one – I’ll keep that to myself at the minute).
Anyhow, I came across a couple of interesting videos (one from each side) that viewers may or may not be interested in.
Random Thoughts 