NYPDS 08/15/07

Church won't hold funeral for gay man
By JEFFREY WEISS / The Dallas Morning News

The event placed High Point Church in the cross hairs of an issue many conservative Christian organizations are discussing: how to take a hard-line theological position on homosexuality while showing compassion toward gay people and their families.
http://tinyurl.com/25xwbk

Statement by High Point Church in Dallas, Texas

The family desired an associate of an openly homosexual choir to officiate the service and for the choir to sing. They also desired an open microphone format to allow anyone in attendance to speak. High Point Church ministers would not be directing or have control over what was said or emphasized. It became clear to the church staff that the family was requesting an openly homosexual service at High Point Church – which is not our policy to allow.
http://tinyurl.com/2yfv9s

Dead men farming
By John Stossel

By now you've probably heard that a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report states:
From 1999 through 2005, the USDA "paid $1.1 billion in farm payments in the names of 172,801 deceased individuals. ... 40 percent went to those who had been dead for three or more years, and 19 percent to those dead for seven or more years." One dead farmer got more than $400,000 during those years.
http://tinyurl.com/ytkff6

Iranian Unit to Be Labeled 'Terrorist'
U.S. Moving Against Revolutionary Guard
By Robin Wright Washington Post Staff Writer

The United States has decided to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, the country's 125,000-strong elite military branch, as a "specially designated global terrorist," according to U.S. officials, a move that allows Washington to target the group's business operations and finances.
http://tinyurl.com/3a75hc

Rule of Islam only way for salvation of mankind
Islamic Republic News Agency

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said here Tuesday that rule of Islam on mankind is the only way for salvation of human beings. "There is no truth on earth but monotheism and following tenets of Islam and there is no way for salvation of mankind but rule of Islam over mankind," said Ahmadinejad in a meeting with Afghan Sunni and Shiite ulama at Iranian Embassy in Kabul. http://tinyurl.com/38r6mk

'Hush Drive' Hand-Launch Spybot For US Special Ops

The US special forces are now using a "hand-launched" flying robot propelled by stealthy "hush drive" in the mountains of Afghanistan, according to recent revelations. Flight International reported yesterday that a team from the secretive, bleeding-edge Advanced Development Programmes unit within aerospace colossus Lockheed Martin (better known as the "Skunkworks") built the new air-droid.
http://tinyurl.com/2bd9jw

Lessons In Homosexuality Move Into Classroom

After five years, one legal defeat and a challenge on the way, Montgomery County, Md., is at the frontier of sex education in the United States. This fall, barring last-minute court action, the county will offer lessons on homosexuality in its 8th- and 10th-grade health education courses. To school officials, the lessons are a natural outgrowth of sex education and of teachings on tolerance and diversity.
http://tinyurl.com/29alyb

Syphilis Cases on the Increase

It was a scourge of centuries past, a disease that ravaged the body and brain, drove geniuses to madness and slowly brought its victims to a terrible death. But syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease that was so rare by 1998 that federal health officials had planned to declare it eliminated by 2005, has made a troubling comeback in New York City and across the nation. In the first three months of this year, more than twice as many syphilis cases were diagnosed than were in the first quarter of 2006, according to the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
http://tinyurl.com/yornte