Scrolling around...November 29, 2012

British teen suffers 7 heart attacks, hundreds of blood clots after one month on the Pill
The Daily Mail has reported that a British teenager suffered seven heart attacks after the popular contraceptive pill Microgynon caused her to develop hundreds of blood clots...

Hollywood: Where Christian conversion is a ‘meltdown’
...I don’t want to make any claims about the authenticity or longevity of Mr. Jones’ conversion, and I don’t know anything about the church he’s joined up with. I pray he’s sincere and is able to stay the course.

But what’s amazing is how his reported conversion to Christian faith and profession of traditional sexual values is somehow being compared to the meltdown of former lead Charlie Sheen...

The Rise of Faux Diversity-Should skin color be a determining factor in college admissions?
...The complexities of actual diversity are ignored by its more superficial variant. The contradiction in most universities’ idea of diversity is that it functions in terms of stereotypical, simplistic, race-based categories that ignore all of the other ways in which people are diverse, ways that could actually enrich the university. For example, most universities today are secular and philosophically materialistic; they could use the intellectual diversity that more religious believers might bring to the student body. Wouldn’t those perspectives confer “educational benefits” in the classroom, providing alternative points of view that might enrich the learning experience of their classmates?

Additionally, given that faculties are overwhelmingly liberal, a concern with genuine diversity surely would include the recruitment of conservative students and faculties. But the admissions officers at elite colleges and universities are not worried about having too few Christians or Republicans. Indeed, a sure-fire way for a candidate to be blacklisted in academia is to profess a belief associated with conservativism or Christianity.

Moreover, of all the various categories of diversity—whether ethnic, economic, political, or religious—most universities are really interested in only those minorities that the Civil Rights industry recognizes: Hispanics, African Americans, and occasionally Third-World “persons of color,” no matter how rich and privileged they may be. Indeed, in the Fisher oral arguments, the University’s lawyer explicitly said that a minority applicant from a privileged background would add diversity to the university. It helps that these minority groups have organized vocal lobbies adept at putting together telegenic demonstrations or applying political pressure whenever an administrator does something they don’t like...

Sweden bans mention of Jesus at kids’ Advent services
Head teachers in Sweden have been told they can take pupils to Christmas services in church – but Jesus cannot be mentioned.

Advent services for children are part of the curriculum, but religious content has been ruled out by education officials.

They said “prayer, blessings or declarations of faith” are all banned, yesterday’s Metro newspaper reported...

Egyptian parliament endorses Sharia law
Egypt’s Constituent Assembly has endorsed Article 2 of the country’s proposed constitution making Sharia law the basis for the country’s civil legal code.

On 29 Nov 2012 members of the Egyptian parliament began voting on each of the 234 article proposed by a constitutional committee chartered by President Mohammad Mursi. However, representatives of Egypt’s Christian communities and the opposition walked out of the talks last week after the Muslim Brotherhood-dominated drafting committee refused to compromise over Sharia law...

UK: Now sick babies go on death pathway: Doctor's haunting testimony reveals how children are put on end-of-life plan
...One doctor has admitted starving and dehydrating ten babies to death in the neonatal unit of one hospital alone.

Writing in a leading medical journal, the physician revealed the process can take an average of ten days during which a baby becomes ‘smaller and shrunken’.

The LCP – on which 130,000 elderly and terminally-ill adult patients die each year – is now the subject of an independent inquiry ordered by ministers...

The Coming Middle Class Tax Hike
Employee payroll taxes are scheduled to rise nearly 50 percent in 2013 absent action by lawmakers, and there is a growing sense that both parties might be willing to let that happen.

Party leaders have about five weeks to resolve a host of budget issues to avoid going over the “fiscal cliff,” the term used to describe more than $600 billion in automatic spending cuts and tax increases scheduled to occur on Jan. 1, 2013...

Baby named 'Hashtag' draws Internet fame, ire, skepticism
Media outlets introduced the world to Hashtag Jameson, a baby girl reportedly named after Twitter's #

A color-coded map of the world’s most and least emotional countries
Singapore is the least emotional country in the world...
The Philippines is the world’s most emotional country...

Girl, 15, ‘beheaded’ in Afghanistan after her family turned down marriage proposal
A teenage girl was beheaded by a relative in northern Afghanistan after she turned down his marriage proposals, according to reports.

The victim, named as Gisa, was decapitated with a knife in the Imam Sahib district of Kunduz province on Tuesday, local police said. She is believed to be around 15-years-old.

No God, not even Allah
...MOB attacked Alexander Aan even before an Indonesian court in June jailed him for two and a half years for “inciting religious hatred”. His crime was to write “God does not exist” on a Facebook group he had founded for atheists in Minang, a province of the world’s most populous Muslim nation. Like most non-believers in Islamic regions, he was brought up as a Muslim. And like many who profess godlessness openly, he has been punished.

In a handful of majority-Muslim countries atheists can live safely, if quietly; Turkey is one example, Lebanon another. None makes atheism a specific crime. But none gives atheists legal protection or recognition. Indonesia, for example, demands that people declare themselves as one of six religions; atheism and agnosticism do not count. Egypt’s draft constitution makes room for only three faiths: Christianity, Judaism and Islam...

Re-evangelizing New England
...The Northeast is the historic cradle of American Christianity, and just about every postcard-ready town here boasts a white church with a steeple. But sometime between the Second Great Awakening and today, the region evolved into the most secular part of the country. In the words of one regional missions group, “pulpits that once boasted gospel preachers like Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield now proclaim universalism, liberalism, and postmodernism.” A Gallup poll this year found that the four least-religious states in America are in New England. For evangelicals, the issue is more pointed: Evangelical researcher J.D. Payne has found that of the five U.S. metro areas with the lowest percentage of evangelicals, New England cities are beat only by Mormon-dominated Provo, Utah. New England is relatively wealthy and educated, and overall, its population is shrinking and aging. That’s why some Christians see New England as “hard soil”—and desperate for re-evangelizing. There’s a palpable sense of momentum growing among evangelicals in New England, who say this hard soil may soon bear fruit thanks to institutional efforts, individual leaders, and an intangible sense of energy often credited to the Holy Spirit. But do they have any hope of success in the most proudly and profoundly secular region in America?...
Also excellent... Brothers, Live a Visible, Exemplary, Everyday Life

$500 Million Powerball Jackpot: The Tragic Stories of the Lottery’s Unluckiest Winners
Need a little proof that money doesn't buy happiness? For these 10 lottery winners, cashing in turned out to have been the worst decision of their lives...