Study: Praying for health of heart patients has no effect
By MALCOLM RITTER - AP Science Writer - 03/31/06
NEW YORK — Does praying for a sick person’s recovery do any good?
In the largest scientific test of its kind, heart surgery patients showed no benefit when strangers prayed for their recovery.And patients who knew they were being prayed for had a slightly higher rate of complications. Doctors could only guess why.Several scientists questioned the concept of the study.Science ‘‘is not designed to study the supernatural,’’ said Dr. Harold G. Koenig, director of the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health at the Duke University Medical Center.The researchers emphasized that their $2.4 million study could not address whether God exists or answers prayers made on another’s behalf. The study could look only for an effect from the specific prayers offered as part of the research, they said.
The study ‘‘did not move us forward or backward’’ in understanding the effects of prayer, said Dr. Charles Bethea, a co-author and cardiologist at the Integris Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City. ‘‘Intercessory prayer under our restricted format had a neutral effect.’’Dr. Herbert Benson of Harvard Medical School, co-principal investigator of the study, agreed. ‘‘We cannot come to a conclusion, except to say that by this study design, with its limitations, this is what we found,’’ he said.Researchers also said they didn’t know why patients who knew they were being prayed for had a higher rate of complications than patients who only knew that such prayers were a possibility.Maybe they became anxious by the knowledge that they’d been selected for prayers, Bethea said: ‘‘Did the patients think, ‘I am so sick that they had to call in the prayer team?’’’The researchers said family and friends shouldn’t be discouraged from telling a patient about their plans to pray for a good recovery. The study only focused on prayers by strangers, they said.It’s the largest and best-designed study ever to test the medical effects of intercessory prayers — praying on behalf of someone else. But critics said the question of God’s reaction to prayer simply can’t be explored by scientific study.The study followed about 1,800 patients at six medical centers. It was financed by the Templeton Foundation, which supports research into science and religion, and one of the participating hospitals. It will appear in Tuesday’s issue of the American Heart Journal.The research team tested the effect of having three Christian groups pray for particular patients, starting the night before surgery and continuing for two weeks. The volunteers prayed for ‘‘a successful surgery with a quick, healthy recovery and no complications’’ for specific patients — their identities known only by first name and first initial of the last name.The patients, meanwhile, were split into three groups of about 600 apiece: those who knew they were being prayed for, those who were prayed for but only knew it was a possibility, and those who weren’t prayed for but were told it was a possibility.The researchers didn’t ask patients or their families and friends to alter any plans they had for prayer, saying such a step would have been unethical and impractical.The study looked for any complications within 30 days of the surgery. Results showed no effect of prayer on complication-free recovery. But 59 percent of the patients who knew they were being prayed for developed a complication, versus 52 percent of those who were told it was just a possibility.Koenig, of Duke University Medical Center, who didn’t take part in the study, said the results didn’t surprise him.‘‘There are no scientific grounds to expect a result and there are no real theological grounds to expect a result either,’’ he said. ‘‘There is no god in either the Christian, Jewish or Moslem scriptures that can be constrained to the point that they can be predicted.’’Within the Christian tradition, God would be expected to be concerned with a person’s eternal salvation, he said, and ‘‘why would God change his plans for a particular person just because they’re in a research study?’’Dr. David Stevens, executive director of the Christian Medical and Dental Associations, said he believes intercessory prayer can influence medical outcomes, but that science is not equipped to explore it.‘‘Do we control God through prayer? Theologians would say absolutely not. God decides sometimes to intervene, and sometimes not,’’ he said.As for the new study, he said, ‘‘I don’t think ... it’s going to stop people praying for the sick.’’
Every year there is a study proving it doesn't work and other say that it does. Newspaper print these things just to stir the pot. Now there will be people upset, they have proof it does work. I know someone who is convinced prayer worked for him. He had some rare disease that was cured by prayer. I of course did not say anything to deny his belief. I just shook my head and said wow really. I think he should give the doctors the credit, or even himself for recovering. Prayers are similar to tossing a coin, god will either say yes or no. 50/50 chance he will say no. If god says no, is it because those that prayed didn't pray hard enough? Not enough people prayed? Did the person deserved to be prayed for in the first place? God was too busy? I think prayer works for some but only for its a meditative effect for the person praying. Or maybe the patient is encouraged that someone cares enough. Or like the study said, they are scared that they must be very sick for everyone to be praying for them, they have no confidence in the doctor?
I once had a fundamentalist say she would pray for me, but the tone in her voice was insincere. She sounded as if she was going to pray to god to have me struck down. NICE Or maybe was really concerned I was going to hell. Doubt it. People like her thrive on the fact people like me will be punished for disagreeing with them. Isn't her fault she was unable to convince me?
Mar 31, 2006
Mar 29, 2006
Solar Eclipse
Superstition and science Superstitions followed the eclipse around the world, as they have for generations.
One Indian paper advised pregnant women not to go outside during the eclipse to avoid having a blind baby or one with a cleft lip. Food cooked before the eclipse should be thrown out afterward because it will be impure, and those who are holding a knife or ax during the eclipse will cut themselves, the Hindustan Times added.
In Turkey’s earthquake-prone Tokat province, residents set up tents outside, despite assurances from scientists that there was no evidence of any link between eclipses and tremors. In August 1999, an earthquake in northwestern Turkey killed about 17,000 people just six days after a solar eclipse.
Along the path of totality, the moon blacked out the sun for up to four minutes. That is longer than most eclipses, which only last a minute or two, according to a NASA statement.
Total eclipses are rare because they require the tilted orbits of the sun, moon and earth to line up exactly so that the moon obscures the sun completely. The next total eclipse will occur in 2008.
One Indian paper advised pregnant women not to go outside during the eclipse to avoid having a blind baby or one with a cleft lip. Food cooked before the eclipse should be thrown out afterward because it will be impure, and those who are holding a knife or ax during the eclipse will cut themselves, the Hindustan Times added.
In Turkey’s earthquake-prone Tokat province, residents set up tents outside, despite assurances from scientists that there was no evidence of any link between eclipses and tremors. In August 1999, an earthquake in northwestern Turkey killed about 17,000 people just six days after a solar eclipse.
Along the path of totality, the moon blacked out the sun for up to four minutes. That is longer than most eclipses, which only last a minute or two, according to a NASA statement.
Total eclipses are rare because they require the tilted orbits of the sun, moon and earth to line up exactly so that the moon obscures the sun completely. The next total eclipse will occur in 2008.
Mar 24, 2006
The (Christian) Constitution Party
Constitution Party on move
By MIKE DENNISON - IR State Bureau - 03/23/06
HELENA — A last-minute rush of filings this week by candidates from the conservative Constitution Party may end up benefiting someone else in the battle to control the Montana Legislature: Democrats.
Twenty-two Constitution Party candidates filed to run for the Legislature on Wednesday and Thursday, the last two days candidates could file to run for office in the 2006 elections.Many of those candidates filed in “swing’’ districts, where the race between the Democrat and Republican party candidates is expected to be close.Jim Farrell, executive director of the Montana Democratic Party, said Constitution Party candidates in those districts could peel away valuable votes that otherwise would go to Republicans.“Everywhere they run, we stand to win,’’ he said. “That splits the Republican vote.’’
By MIKE DENNISON - IR State Bureau - 03/23/06
HELENA — A last-minute rush of filings this week by candidates from the conservative Constitution Party may end up benefiting someone else in the battle to control the Montana Legislature: Democrats.
Twenty-two Constitution Party candidates filed to run for the Legislature on Wednesday and Thursday, the last two days candidates could file to run for office in the 2006 elections.Many of those candidates filed in “swing’’ districts, where the race between the Democrat and Republican party candidates is expected to be close.Jim Farrell, executive director of the Montana Democratic Party, said Constitution Party candidates in those districts could peel away valuable votes that otherwise would go to Republicans.“Everywhere they run, we stand to win,’’ he said. “That splits the Republican vote.’’
Mar 23, 2006
Another wife/ mother snapped?
Thursday, March 23, 2006; Posted: 3:56 p.m. EST (20:56 GMT)
Tennessee
SELMER, Tennessee (AP) -- A popular and charismatic Tennessee minister was found shot to death in his parsonage, and authorities searched on Thursday for his wife and three young daughters.
Police Chief Neal Burks said it was unclear whether the family was abducted. He declined to say whether the wife was considered a suspect in the slaying.
Tennessee
SELMER, Tennessee (AP) -- A popular and charismatic Tennessee minister was found shot to death in his parsonage, and authorities searched on Thursday for his wife and three young daughters.
Police Chief Neal Burks said it was unclear whether the family was abducted. He declined to say whether the wife was considered a suspect in the slaying.
Mar 22, 2006
Death Penalty for rejection of Islam
WHEELING, West Virginia (CNN) -- President Bush on Wednesday defended an Afghan Christian who is on trial for rejecting Islam and who could eventually face the death penalty.
"It is deeply troubling that a country we helped liberate would hold a person to account because they chose a particular religion over another," Bush said during a speaking engagement in Wheeling, West Virginia.
I remember it was a year or so ago, there was a non-believer i.e. athiest or humanist in Iran was was threatened with the death penalty. No one in the American Government cared about this poor guy. I don't know what happend to him. He is probably still in prison if not executed.
"It is deeply troubling that a country we helped liberate would hold a person to account because they chose a particular religion over another," Bush said during a speaking engagement in Wheeling, West Virginia.
I remember it was a year or so ago, there was a non-believer i.e. athiest or humanist in Iran was was threatened with the death penalty. No one in the American Government cared about this poor guy. I don't know what happend to him. He is probably still in prison if not executed.
Mar 13, 2006
The ark, Mary on a cheese sandwich, face on Mars
High on Mt. Ararat in eastern Turkey, there is a baffling mountainside "anomaly," a feature that one researcher claims may be something of biblical proportions.
Images taken by aircraft, intelligence-gathering satellites and commercial remote-sensing spacecraft are fueling an intensive study of the intriguing oddity. But whether the anomaly is some geological quirk of nature, playful shadows, a human-made structure of some sort, or simply nothing at all that remains to be seen.
Whatever it is, the anomaly of interest rests at 15,300 feet (4,663 meters) on the northwest corner of Mt. Ararat, and is nearly submerged in glacial ice. It would be easy to call it merely a strange rock formation.
But at least one man wonders if it could be the remains of Noah's Ark a vessel said to have been built to save people and selected animals from the Great Flood, the 40 days and 40 nights of deluge as detailed in the Book of Genesis.
The Genesis blueprint of the Ark detailed the structure as 6:1 length to width ratio (300 cubits by 50 cubits). The anomaly, as viewed by satellite, is close to that 6:1 proportion.
Newfound optimism
Identifying the Ararat anomaly has been a 13-year-long quest of Porcher Taylor, an associate professor in paralegal studies at the University of Richmond's School of Continuing Studies in Virginia.
Taylor has been a national security analyst for more than 30 years, also serving as a senior associate for five years at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C.
"I've got new found optimism ... as far as my continuing push to have the intelligence community declassify some of the more definitive-type imagery," Taylor told SPACE.com/LiveScience. He points to a "new and significant development," a high-resolution image taken by DigitalGlobe's impressive QuickBird satellite and shown here publicly for the first time [alternate version with no annotation].
"I'm calling this my satellite archeology project," Taylor said. It's an effort that has now included use of QuickBird, GeoEye's Ikonos spacecraft, Canada's Radarsat 1, as well as declassified aerial and satellite images taken by the various U.S. intelligence agencies.
Making the mountain transparent
Taylor said his goal is straightforward: Combining this imagery to make the Ararat anomaly transparent to the public, as well as to the discerning, dispassionate eyes of scientists, imagery analysts, and other experts.
"I had no preconceived notions or agendas when I began this in 1993 as to what I was looking for," Taylor said.
As for the saga of Noah's Ark, he is quick to note that there are those who say it is fable while some take it as truth.
Nevertheless, the anomaly may not be a ridge line of ice, snow and possibly rock, but an artificial ridge line, Taylor said. "I maintain that if it is the remains of something manmade and potentially nautical, then it's potentially something of biblical proportions."
While chiding the intelligence communities to release more of their closely guarded satellite imagery, Taylor said that soon-to-fly commercial remote sensing spacecraft are sure to help his archeological undertaking.
"We've got three new birds that are going up. I'm using all my clout, rapport and lobbying to, hopefully, have them at least fly calibration runs over Mt. Ararat," Taylor said. Those images would make the mountain even more transparent, he said.
Will it float?
Meanwhile, Taylor has an ever-expanding network of experts to help tease out the truth about the anomaly.
For example, satellite imagery analyst Rod Franz of SunTek Media Group/RiteImage, Inc., located in Henderson, Nevada, has taken a look at imagery provided by Taylor of the Ararat anomaly and carried out additional analysis of the area. As director of training for the firm, Franz sharpened his skills by serving nearly 25 years as a military intelligence imagery analyst.
For the anomaly assessment, the same software tools used for studying government and commercial remote sensing data were employed, Franz told SPACE.com/LiveScience. Ground distances and scales of the anomaly were determined. That software also has the ability to adjust brightness, haze, sharpness, contrast and other factors of the area of interest, he said.
"Along with many other image manipulation functions ... I also used the pseudo-color function trying to determine if I could detect anything under the ice and snow," Franz said.
The face of the anomaly measured 1,015 feet (309 meters) across, Franz said. "I also found the shape of the anomaly appears to fit on a circle. I am not sure what this means, if anything, but I find it curious."
Given that length, Taylor pointed out, the anomaly dwarfs the Titanic and Bismarck in size, and equals the size of the largest modern aircraft carrier. That analysis would seem to call into question whether the anomaly is a wooden ship and raises a key question: If a boat were truly that huge, would it float?
There are also experts in remote sensing who offer a skeptical view. "Image interpretation is an art," said Farouk El-Baz, Director of the Boston University Center for Remote Sensing.
"One has to be familiar with Sun lighting effects on the shape of observed features," El-Baz said. "Very slight changes in slope modify shadow shapes that affect the interpretations. Up to this time, all the images I have seen can be interpreted as natural landforms. The feature that has been interpreted as the 'Ararat Anomaly' is to me a ledge of rock in partial shadow, with varied thickness of snow and ice cover.
Visual truth serum
Thanks to more satellite imagery in the offing, as well as other studies underway, Taylor said his remote archeological research is on the upswing.
There is an ultimate end-game. That is, on-the-spot ground truth ... and Taylor hopes his research findings will catalyze a top-notch expedition to the area. "It is whatever it is," he said.
But for now, satellite remote sensing to carry out archeological "digs" from space will fill in for an in-the-field expedition.
Just a few weeks ago, for example, NASA scientists utilizing space- and aircraft-based remote sensing hardware and techniques uncovered Maya ruins hidden in the rainforests of Central America for more than 1,000 years.
"For explorers, imagery from GeoEye's Ikonos satellite married with Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite data has become as indispensable as water and freeze dried food for any expedition. One does not want to leave home without it," said Mark Brender, GeoEye Vice President for communications and marketing, headquartered in Dulles, Virginia.
For researchers, imagery from space like those provided by GeoEye provides "the ultimate high shot" and a contextual view you could never get from observations on the ground or even from a plane, Brender told SPACE.com/LiveScience. "It's visual truth serum."
No mention of a Geologist on Mount Ararat, another supposedly scientific article. NOT!
People see all kinds of things- Human perception picks up familiar shapes in cloads etc.
I have a snow man/monster hiding in a chinese painting hanging on my wall.
I see wizards in the wood paneling. The mind is always at work processing, and so we see things that are not really there.
Images taken by aircraft, intelligence-gathering satellites and commercial remote-sensing spacecraft are fueling an intensive study of the intriguing oddity. But whether the anomaly is some geological quirk of nature, playful shadows, a human-made structure of some sort, or simply nothing at all that remains to be seen.
Whatever it is, the anomaly of interest rests at 15,300 feet (4,663 meters) on the northwest corner of Mt. Ararat, and is nearly submerged in glacial ice. It would be easy to call it merely a strange rock formation.
But at least one man wonders if it could be the remains of Noah's Ark a vessel said to have been built to save people and selected animals from the Great Flood, the 40 days and 40 nights of deluge as detailed in the Book of Genesis.
The Genesis blueprint of the Ark detailed the structure as 6:1 length to width ratio (300 cubits by 50 cubits). The anomaly, as viewed by satellite, is close to that 6:1 proportion.
Newfound optimism
Identifying the Ararat anomaly has been a 13-year-long quest of Porcher Taylor, an associate professor in paralegal studies at the University of Richmond's School of Continuing Studies in Virginia.
Taylor has been a national security analyst for more than 30 years, also serving as a senior associate for five years at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C.
"I've got new found optimism ... as far as my continuing push to have the intelligence community declassify some of the more definitive-type imagery," Taylor told SPACE.com/LiveScience. He points to a "new and significant development," a high-resolution image taken by DigitalGlobe's impressive QuickBird satellite and shown here publicly for the first time [alternate version with no annotation].
"I'm calling this my satellite archeology project," Taylor said. It's an effort that has now included use of QuickBird, GeoEye's Ikonos spacecraft, Canada's Radarsat 1, as well as declassified aerial and satellite images taken by the various U.S. intelligence agencies.
Making the mountain transparent
Taylor said his goal is straightforward: Combining this imagery to make the Ararat anomaly transparent to the public, as well as to the discerning, dispassionate eyes of scientists, imagery analysts, and other experts.
"I had no preconceived notions or agendas when I began this in 1993 as to what I was looking for," Taylor said.
As for the saga of Noah's Ark, he is quick to note that there are those who say it is fable while some take it as truth.
Nevertheless, the anomaly may not be a ridge line of ice, snow and possibly rock, but an artificial ridge line, Taylor said. "I maintain that if it is the remains of something manmade and potentially nautical, then it's potentially something of biblical proportions."
While chiding the intelligence communities to release more of their closely guarded satellite imagery, Taylor said that soon-to-fly commercial remote sensing spacecraft are sure to help his archeological undertaking.
"We've got three new birds that are going up. I'm using all my clout, rapport and lobbying to, hopefully, have them at least fly calibration runs over Mt. Ararat," Taylor said. Those images would make the mountain even more transparent, he said.
Will it float?
Meanwhile, Taylor has an ever-expanding network of experts to help tease out the truth about the anomaly.
For example, satellite imagery analyst Rod Franz of SunTek Media Group/RiteImage, Inc., located in Henderson, Nevada, has taken a look at imagery provided by Taylor of the Ararat anomaly and carried out additional analysis of the area. As director of training for the firm, Franz sharpened his skills by serving nearly 25 years as a military intelligence imagery analyst.
For the anomaly assessment, the same software tools used for studying government and commercial remote sensing data were employed, Franz told SPACE.com/LiveScience. Ground distances and scales of the anomaly were determined. That software also has the ability to adjust brightness, haze, sharpness, contrast and other factors of the area of interest, he said.
"Along with many other image manipulation functions ... I also used the pseudo-color function trying to determine if I could detect anything under the ice and snow," Franz said.
The face of the anomaly measured 1,015 feet (309 meters) across, Franz said. "I also found the shape of the anomaly appears to fit on a circle. I am not sure what this means, if anything, but I find it curious."
Given that length, Taylor pointed out, the anomaly dwarfs the Titanic and Bismarck in size, and equals the size of the largest modern aircraft carrier. That analysis would seem to call into question whether the anomaly is a wooden ship and raises a key question: If a boat were truly that huge, would it float?
There are also experts in remote sensing who offer a skeptical view. "Image interpretation is an art," said Farouk El-Baz, Director of the Boston University Center for Remote Sensing.
"One has to be familiar with Sun lighting effects on the shape of observed features," El-Baz said. "Very slight changes in slope modify shadow shapes that affect the interpretations. Up to this time, all the images I have seen can be interpreted as natural landforms. The feature that has been interpreted as the 'Ararat Anomaly' is to me a ledge of rock in partial shadow, with varied thickness of snow and ice cover.
Visual truth serum
Thanks to more satellite imagery in the offing, as well as other studies underway, Taylor said his remote archeological research is on the upswing.
There is an ultimate end-game. That is, on-the-spot ground truth ... and Taylor hopes his research findings will catalyze a top-notch expedition to the area. "It is whatever it is," he said.
But for now, satellite remote sensing to carry out archeological "digs" from space will fill in for an in-the-field expedition.
Just a few weeks ago, for example, NASA scientists utilizing space- and aircraft-based remote sensing hardware and techniques uncovered Maya ruins hidden in the rainforests of Central America for more than 1,000 years.
"For explorers, imagery from GeoEye's Ikonos satellite married with Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite data has become as indispensable as water and freeze dried food for any expedition. One does not want to leave home without it," said Mark Brender, GeoEye Vice President for communications and marketing, headquartered in Dulles, Virginia.
For researchers, imagery from space like those provided by GeoEye provides "the ultimate high shot" and a contextual view you could never get from observations on the ground or even from a plane, Brender told SPACE.com/LiveScience. "It's visual truth serum."
No mention of a Geologist on Mount Ararat, another supposedly scientific article. NOT!
People see all kinds of things- Human perception picks up familiar shapes in cloads etc.
I have a snow man/monster hiding in a chinese painting hanging on my wall.
I see wizards in the wood paneling. The mind is always at work processing, and so we see things that are not really there.
Mar 8, 2006
Above the law?
Area church broke campaign laws
By JENNIFER McKEE - IR State Bureau - 03/08/06
HELENA — A Helena-area Baptist church broke state campaign laws when it got involved in a 2004 effort to ban gay marriage but failed to file required campaign disclosure documents, the state’s political practices commissioner concluded Tuesday.
The Canyon Ferry Road Baptist Church of East Helena was free to get involved in the successful campaign for Constitutional Amendment 96, a change in the Montana Constitution that defines marriage as between one man and one woman, said Gordon Higgins, commissioner of political practices. But by hosting meetings, distributing CI-96 petitions and other political activities, the church became an “incidental campaign committee’’ in the effort, Higgins said, and as such, is required to file disclosure records with his office.
“The church is not restricted from participating in the election process,’’ he said, but it should have disclosed the monetary value of its help to the campaign.
In a 10-page ruling issued Tuesday, Higgins wrote that other churches in the state were similarly involved in the debate, but they filed required campaign disclosure.
The church has since sued the office, alleging that the investigation violated the church’s right to free speech. That case is now pending in federal district court.
The investigation came in response to a complaint from a defunct group called Montanans for Families and Fairness, which led the fight against CI-96. Higgins said the group’s last known address, a Helena post office box, no longer accepts mail.
Berthold G. Stumberg, the church’s pastor, was not available for comment Tuesday.
The ruling does not stipulate any punishment. It was forwarded to the Lewis and Clark County attorney’s office Tuesday, Higgins said, although county attorneys generally don’t choose to pursue criminal cases in such instances.
In most cases, Higgins said, the office and the violating party settle the issue with a civil fine ranging from $50 to thousands of dollars.
The investigation concluded that the church, possibly acting on the advice of Jeff Laszloffy, a former Republican legislator from Laurel who was heading up the CI-96 campaign, circulated petitions needed to get the measure on the 2004 ballot. Stumberg also preached in favor of passing the amendment, and the church hosted a viewing of a show called “Battle for Marriage,’’ which stressed the importance of defining marriage as between one man and one woman.
No one filed a complaint against Laszloffy, Higgins said, and there is no pending investigation into his activities in the campaign.
The amendment passed by a nearly 2-to-1 margin
By JENNIFER McKEE - IR State Bureau - 03/08/06
HELENA — A Helena-area Baptist church broke state campaign laws when it got involved in a 2004 effort to ban gay marriage but failed to file required campaign disclosure documents, the state’s political practices commissioner concluded Tuesday.
The Canyon Ferry Road Baptist Church of East Helena was free to get involved in the successful campaign for Constitutional Amendment 96, a change in the Montana Constitution that defines marriage as between one man and one woman, said Gordon Higgins, commissioner of political practices. But by hosting meetings, distributing CI-96 petitions and other political activities, the church became an “incidental campaign committee’’ in the effort, Higgins said, and as such, is required to file disclosure records with his office.
“The church is not restricted from participating in the election process,’’ he said, but it should have disclosed the monetary value of its help to the campaign.
In a 10-page ruling issued Tuesday, Higgins wrote that other churches in the state were similarly involved in the debate, but they filed required campaign disclosure.
The church has since sued the office, alleging that the investigation violated the church’s right to free speech. That case is now pending in federal district court.
The investigation came in response to a complaint from a defunct group called Montanans for Families and Fairness, which led the fight against CI-96. Higgins said the group’s last known address, a Helena post office box, no longer accepts mail.
Berthold G. Stumberg, the church’s pastor, was not available for comment Tuesday.
The ruling does not stipulate any punishment. It was forwarded to the Lewis and Clark County attorney’s office Tuesday, Higgins said, although county attorneys generally don’t choose to pursue criminal cases in such instances.
In most cases, Higgins said, the office and the violating party settle the issue with a civil fine ranging from $50 to thousands of dollars.
The investigation concluded that the church, possibly acting on the advice of Jeff Laszloffy, a former Republican legislator from Laurel who was heading up the CI-96 campaign, circulated petitions needed to get the measure on the 2004 ballot. Stumberg also preached in favor of passing the amendment, and the church hosted a viewing of a show called “Battle for Marriage,’’ which stressed the importance of defining marriage as between one man and one woman.
No one filed a complaint against Laszloffy, Higgins said, and there is no pending investigation into his activities in the campaign.
The amendment passed by a nearly 2-to-1 margin
Mar 6, 2006
Who are the real victoms
Playing the victimAnyone else remember when conservatives cultivated an image of being tough? Sure, that was illusory — things like World War II movie ‘veteran’ Ronald Reagan — but you could reliably count on conservatives appealing to so-called “manly” values like stoicism and personal responsibility.Of late, it seems that things have changed, especially among social conservatives, who often seek to paint themselves as victims. Whether it is prayer in school or claims about victimization in the media, conservatives are increasingly relying on creating an image of martyrdom. This transformation is demonstrated by a letter to the editor in IR about the Board of Public Education’s action on bullying. The author, Dallas Erickson, seems to believe that offering protection to students because of sexual orientation will lead to bullying of heterosexuals.As a classroom teacher, I can’t say that I have ever noticed much “bullying” of students for perceived heterosexuality. Bullying, harassment, and even violence associated with mere perception of homosexuality is still an all-too common experience in our schools, and for right-wing ideologues, consumed with hatred for gay people, playing the victim card when students are suffering is indefensible. Students — all of our students — deserve to feel safe in schools.Don Pogreba1046 E. 6th Ave.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
