Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/308577267?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Monday, May 27, 2013
Boy Scouts: Will anti-gay troops emerge?
The decision by the Boy Scouts of America to stop seeing homosexuality as a moral failing and accept gay boys raises an important question for troops from Sheboygan to Atlanta: Will Cub scouts and Eagle scouts exodus en masse, and, if so, to where?
The wrenched decision by an organization founded in 1910 on quasi-military and Christian values came after months of debate and member polling, and the final vote looked much like America's general feeling on gay rights: Sixty percent supported the decision, which does not extend to gay adults. But the minority 40 percent may have stronger feelings, fueling a potential search for a new "character" organization for boys.
That debate had already begun this weekend in places like northern Virginia, where the Arlington Catholic Diocese is "prayerfully considering" leaving the Boy Scouts, as Bishop Paul Loverde told the Washington Post.
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Boy Scout troops are sponsored by third party groups, the majority of which are churches. About 110 million Americans have been Boy Scouts since the organization was founded as part of the international Scout movement. In the 1980s, the organization went through a series of sex abuse scandals, and last year it was forced to release 20,000 pages of internal documentation of some 1,200 sex abuse cases that took place between 1965 and 1985.
That background explains in large part why the Boy Scouts of America has struggled to repair its image, and why the organization voted to continue excluding gay leaders.
But that concession isn't enough for some critics of the decision, including some in Baptist churches, which sponsor over 100,000 of the Boy Scouts' current 2.6 million members.
?Frankly, I can?t imagine a Southern Baptist pastor who would continue to allow his church to sponsor a Boy Scout troop under these new rules,? Richard Land, a senior Southern Baptist Conference official, said Friday in an interview with the Baptist Press, the Southern Baptist Convention's news agency.
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The Assemblies of God says that its own Royal Rangers youth group could be a "positive alternative" to the Boy Scouts under the new rule. The Royal Rangers, which have a similar skill-testing program as the Boy Scouts, has a stated purpose to "evangelize, equip and empower the next generation of Christlike men and lifelong servant leaders."
That push by some to leave the Boy Scouts ? which, if it happens, will be felt when the policy takes effect at the beginning of 2014 ? reveals a paradox of the long-awaited decision: By becoming more accepting, will membership be hurt or bolstered?
And that question seemed to undergird the internal debate, given that Boy Scouts membership under the old policy had fallen 27 percent since 1997. And the Boy Scouts aren't alone among religious and conservative organizations pushing back against past injustices. In order to stem membership dips, the Southern Baptist Convention last year elected its first black leader, the Rev. Fred Luter, in a major move for an organization that once backed segregation.
Some observers suggest the fallout may be milder than the rhetoric that preceded Friday's vote.
"I'm sure many [Scout] units will have meetings to decide what this means for them," Aaron Chusic, a spokesman for the National Capital Area Council of Scouts, told the Washington Post, but added that so far he had not heard from any group that has decided to leave.
The drive to allow gay boys came from deep within the organization itself, especially given that the Boy Scouts had the full legal right to say no. In 2000, the US Supreme Court upheld the Boy Scout policy, saying private organizations don't need to accept members or leaders in violation of their own moral creed, specifically a line in its bylaws that says that gay people should be excluded because they are not "morally straight."
Indeed, a deeper look at the Boy Scouts, which are highly decentralized into near-autonomous "units," is that the de facto acceptance of gay boys or gay families is a quiet fact in many troops, from rural Wyoming to the suburbs of Atlanta.
"I don't think it's going to impact scouting because there are already gay members," Melanie Mork, the mother of Alex Mork in Wyoming's Troop 101, told the Wyoming News on Friday. "Young men have come out and said, ?I am gay and I?m a Scout,? and it didn?t impact their ability to become an Eagle Scout. And I think we?ll hear more of those types of stories as they become free to do that under this change.?
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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/boy-scouts-anti-gay-troops-emerge-193625987.html
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Sunday, May 26, 2013
In Ethiopia, African Union celebrates 50 years
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) ? The African Union on Saturday marked 50 years since the founding of a continentwide organization that helped liberate Africa from colonial masters and which now is trying to stay relevant on a continent regularly troubled by conflict.
Opening a summit of the African Union in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said the organization's original pan-Africanist aspirations remain relevant for a continent where many states are still struggling to overcome rampant poverty and violence.
"This historic day marks not only a great leap forward in the Pan-Africanist quest for freedom, independence and unity but also the beginning of our collective endeavor for the realizations of Africa's socio-economic emancipation," he said. "The major responsibility of the current and future generations of Africans is.to create a continent free from poverty and conflict and an Africa whose citizens would enjoy middle- income status."
AU chair Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said the pan-Africanism championed by the organization "united and inspired our people across the continent and globe never to accept oppression."
The festivities in Addis Ababa, where the organization was born 50 years ago, were attended by dozens of African leaders and foreign dignitaries including U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Founded in May 1963 by a handful of liberated African nations, the Organization of African Unity ? as it was known then ? was at the time preoccupied with ending apartheid in South Africa and colonialism across the continent. Now the AU is focused on Agenda 2063, a blueprint that officials here say will eventually lead to the political and economic integration of Africa. African leaders are expected to discuss this 50-year strategic plan during the summit.
By the 1970s, after almost all of Africa had been liberated from colonialism, the Organization of African Unity set its sights on ending white racist rule in South Africa. The organization granted the African National Congress ?the party of Nelson Mandela that has governed South Africa since 1994 ?observer status at a time when it was still outlawed by South Africa's apartheid regime.
President Jacob Zuma of South Africa praised the AU in a statement Saturday, saying the organization was a force for freedom and the economic emancipation of all African people.
"The (Organization of African Unity) therefore created a mechanism for the African intelligentsia and those at the forefront of the struggle against colonialism to coordinate and intensify their cooperation to emancipate the continent from colonial subjugation," the statement said. "The OAU thus provided a sense of purpose for the African people to restore their freedom, dignity and to strive for a better life for all Africans."
The 53-member AU has been trying to emerge as a force for stability on a continent regularly troubled by violence, conflicts and coups. As the AU strives to make peaceful transfers of power across Africa the norm, it often sanctions coup leaders and suspends membership of states. But it also often fails to mobilize resources to enforce its decisions, the reason some activist groups want to see more robust action from the organization. This week a coalition of over 120 civil society groups from across Africa and the Middle East issued a warning about conflicts in Sudan, urging the AU to support a bolder approach to peace there.
The organization is still a long way from its founders' dream of a united Africa. South Africa is an economic power, while citizens in countries like Somalia, Sudan, Congo and Chad suffer from warfare and poverty. Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, is currently in the grips of bloody violence orchestrated by a radical Islamic sect that threatens to divide the country.
But the continent also boasts nine of the world's 15 fastest growing economies and remains attractive to Western and emerging powers looking for natural resources. The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa says Africa's medium-term growth prospects remain strong, at 4.8 percent in 2013 and a projected 5.1 percent in 2014. The construction costs of the new building in Addis Ababa where celebrations are taking place were paid by China, whose growing economic footprint in Africa has been a cause for concern in the West. The visit to Ethiopia is Kerry's first trip to Africa as U.S. secretary of state.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ethiopia-african-union-celebrates-50-years-095354298.html
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Tech News Headlines - Yahoo! News
Xbox One Raises the Burden of Privacy Safeguards: 5 Questions for Microsoft
Some things you take for granted, like the fact that in Star Trek, there?s a computer that?s always listening, always observing, always standing More??
Time.com - Wed, May 22, 2013Source: http://rss.news.yahoo.com/rss/techblog
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Terrified Motorists Get Lift Across Bridge
The Mackinac Bridge in Michigan spans five miles and is one of the longest suspension bridges in the world with the roadway soaring more than 200 feet over Lake Michigan. The bridge's dimensions provide stunning views of the surrounding landscape, but those vistas can be stomach-churning for people with gephyrophobia, or an abnormal fear of crossing bridges.
Between 1,200 to 1,400 calls are made every year to the bridge's Drivers Assistance Program that provides motorists with a crew member to drive them across if they're too afraid to drive themselves.
After the Thursday collapse of a highway bridge in Mount Vernon, Wash., the number of calls might increase with more fearful drivers wanting to be chauffeured across the Mackinac Bridge. But experts say phobias like gephyrophobia are sometimes more complicated in their origins.
READ MORE: I-5 Bridge Collapse Sends Cars Into Water
Dr. Frank Schneier, a professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University and research psychiatrist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, said many people who're afraid to cross bridges are also suffering from agoraphobia, an anxiety disorder triggered by a fear of feeling trapped.
"They have intense anxiety symptoms or panic attacks," Schneier said. "It's not so much the idea that bridges are [going to collapse]. It's that they are places you can't escape from."
About 0.8 percent of Americans older than 18 have a form of agoraphobia, according to the National Institute of Health.
Paul Souders/WorldFoto/Corbis
Washington State Bridge Collapse Investigation Watch Video I-5 Bridge Collapses, 2 Cars Plummet Into Water Watch Video Bridge Collapse Survivor: 'Lucky to Be Alive' Watch Video"There are techniques that can help people overcome these kinds of fears," Schneier said, citing therapy and anti-anxiety mediation as options for drivers to ease their worries.
But for those who haven't conquered their fear of crossing the Mackinac Bridge, the Driver's Assistance Program is another option. Bob Sweeney, the secretary of the Mackinac Bridge, said phone booths on either side of the bridge allow motorists the chance to call the program. Some even use it during their commute to and from work.
"There's a truck driver, who comes once month," Sweeney said. "He gets into a sleeper behind the cab and lays down for the whole trip [under a blanket]. It's amazing."
Only one crew member is available during the night shift, so a toll operator has to pitch in and drive a second car that picks up the crew member for the return trip to the opposite side of the bridge.
The Mackinac Bridge isn't the only bridge that provides the extra service for fearful drivers. A similar program exists for New York City's Tappan Zee Bridge. The New York Thruway Authority allows motorists afraid of driving across the bridge to make an appointment to be chauffeured over.
But a New York Thruway Authority representative estimated that the service is used far less than the Michigan program, likely only a handful of times annually.
Schneier said such programs to ferry scared drivers across bridges can be helpful to keep traffic moving but don't solve the core of the problem and that people should seek help if their fears become incapacitating.
"It's a patch to get the person over the bridge that day," Schneier said. "Most people, with the right kind of help, can overcome these disorders if they become debilitating."
For some people, however, even being chauffeured over the bridge is too much. Sweeney said his own brother-in-law is too afraid to drive across the Mackinac Bridge and, as a result, has never been to his home in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, which is joined to the state's Lower Peninsula by the bridge.
"Surprisingly, there's a lot of people who [have this] phobia," Sweeney said. "I just found out my brother-in-law is so afraid they stay [on the other side of the bridge.]"
For an upcoming family visit, Sweeney's brother-in-law is planning to take two ferries to make the trip.
Source: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/terrified-motorists-lift-bridge/story?id=19250164
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Why Controlling Of Pests Via Assistance Of Folsom Pest Control Is ...
Eventually the day will come when the pest controlling would be a great challenge as these are omnipresent. Weeds in the vegetable garden, or ants or beetles in kitchen, pests can are irritating. Many of us sometimes are not interested in pest control and so the problems caused by pests become irresolvable. Hence, in order to avoid all types of undesirable situations, you need to take help from?Folsom Pest Control?experts and make your home free from pests as soon as possible.
Frequently asked question arise about pest control:-
- How to reduce and control pests safely
- Whether the pesticides available, are effective and safe?
- Way and timing of using pesticides
Pests are beneficial to humanity and at the same time a curse. Bacteria, animals, and some insects are beneficial in many ways, so also pests are. Rats, ants, cockroaches, fly and mice are pest in houses and apartments that are very common. So an effective pest control should be there to prevent pests multiplication in houses, it include active pest controlling
Pest Management
Pest Management could help a lot in pest control. For this the first and foremost requirement is to identify pest development. This is all about what you think harmful to you as pest as some pest like bacteria, animals are really very much useful. So you need to find out harmful one. Another thing is to decide pest control is necessary to which extend. Third is to decide which method is to be adopted for pest control chemical or non-chemical.
Options available for pest control are:
?? ?Pest controlling without chemical
?? Chemical pest controlling
? Biological Methods
So either chemical or non-chemical ways could be used for pest control.
It is obvious that chemical pest control is not the proper option though effective as if used on vegetable or fruit could harm to your health. Alternative solution for pest control is the use of non-chemical pesticides. Chemical pesticide are not advisable in and around the home and commercial premises, due to it adverse effect also its effect is temporary so needed repeated treatment. If used incorrectly, could be poisonous. Care must be taken while choosing for the right pest control.Biological method is another effective way in controlling pests. In this method, pest's natural enemies are used to control the pest targeted. Some of the beneficial bugs are Spiders, centipedes, ground beetles and ants. This method is not harmful in any ways and can be implemented effectively.
So of all we could say though some pests are useful still there are needs to be eliminated. For this, you need to choose either chemical or biological method based on the recommendations of?Folsom Pest Control?or any other reputable pest-controlling professional in your area.
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Priest who defied Mafia is beatified in Sicily
ROME (AP) ? An Italian priest who stirred consciences with his anti-Mafia preaching and was gunned down by mobsters has been honored by the Vatican as a martyr.
The Rev. Giuseppe "Pino" Puglisi was beatified in a ceremony Saturday in Palermo, the Sicilian capital where he worked in a mobster-infested, poor neighborhood.
He was slain in 1993, a few months after Pope John Paul II visited Sicily and urged priests to rally the faithful against organized crime.
Puglisi encouraged young people, often jobless and easily recruited by Cosa Nostra, to turn their backs on the mob.
Beatification is the last formal step in the Catholic church's process before possible sainthood.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/priest-defied-mafia-beatified-sicily-120320873.html
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