400-408 – Hugh Ross, founder and president of Reasons to Believe (reasons.org), is both an astrophysicist (PhD Astronomy, University of Toronto, and post-doc research at Cal Tech), and a pastor at Sierra Madre Congregational Church. The author of over a dozen books, including his latest, now in paperback, Why The Universe Is The Way It Is. Today we talk about the Pope's announcement yesterday that God caused the Big Bang, and the bizarre animal deaths we've been hearing about lately.
• Yahoo (1/6/2011) God was behind Big Bang, universe no accident: Pope.
413-423 – Hugh Ross
• Mail Online (1/7/2011) Mystery of mass animal death epidemic deepens after 8,000 turtle doves fall dead in Italy with strange blue stain on their beaks.
// 450 red-winged blackbirds, brown-headed cowbirds, grackles and starlings found littering a highway in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
3,000 blackbirds on roofs and roads in the small town of Beebe, Arkansas
Thousands of 'devil crabs' washed up along the Kent coast near Thanet
100,000 drum fish washed along a 20-mile stretch of the Arkansas River
Two million small fish in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland
Thousands of dead fish found floating in warm Florida creek
Hundreds of snapper fish found dead in New Zealand
Scores of American Coots found dead on Texas highway bridge
Experts have speculated that New Year fireworks, thunderstorms, cold weather, parasites and even poisoning may be behind the deaths.
But conspiracy theorists have also speculated on the internet that secret government experiments could be behind them, with some even claiming it was a sign of a looming Armageddon at the end of the Mayan calendar next year.
• Another theory is that the rapid movement of the Magnetic North Pole towards Russia may have affected the birds' innate navigation systems.
428-437 – Let's talk about the n-word, without ever saying it.
• Popeater (1/6/2011) Roger Ebert Gets Fired Up Over 'Huck Finn' Censorship, Then Apologizes.
• Huffington Post (1/7/2011) Roger Ebert Apologizes For Using N-Word In Tweet. His tweet that started it all on Wednesday to his 300,000 followers was, "I'd rather be called a n----- than a slave." On Thursday, after the fierce backlash, he tweeted "You know, this is very true. I'll never be called a n---- *or* a Slave, so I should have shut the **** up." His wife, Charlie "Chaz" Hammel-Smith is black.
•• Rich Lowry, NRO (1/7/2011) Don't Rewrite Mark Twain: The whitewashers are missing the point. Mark Twain published it in 1885. NewSouth publisher Alan Gribben announced Tuesday that for his new-and-improved version that will be out in February, he's removed all 219 N-words and the word "injun" too.
443-452 – Calls
458-508 – Calls
•• National Post (1/5/2010) N-word revisited: Anchor sues over firing. In two weeks, a Philadelphia jury will be asked to decide if a white employee can be fired for using the "n-word" at work, while African-Americans go unpunished for uttering the same racial slur.
512-523 – Calls
528-539 – Calls
• Fox News (1/7/2011) 'Mother,' 'Father' Changing to 'Parent One,' 'Parent Two' on Passport Applications. What's next? Eliminating the gender-biased terms "husband" and "wife" in favor of the gender-neutral "partner?"
The words "mother" and "father" will be removed from U.S. passport applications and replaced with gender neutral terminology, the State Department says.
"The words in the old form were 'mother' and 'father,'" said Brenda Sprague, deputy assistant Secretary of State for Passport Services. "They are now 'parent one' and 'parent two.'"
A statement on the State Department website noted: "These improvements are being made to provide a gender neutral description of a child's parents and in recognition of different types of families." The statement didn't note if it was for child applications only.
The State Department said the new passport applications, not yet available to the public, will be available online soon.
544-554 – Calls
558-608 – Calls
612-623 – •• Yasmine El-Rashidi, Ahram Online (1/7/2011) Egypt's Muslims attend Coptic Christmas mass, serving as "human shields." Muslims turned up in droves for the Coptic Christmas mass Thursday night, offering their bodies, and lives, as "shields" to Egypt's threatened Christian community.
• Luke 10:25-37 (New King James Version) The Parable of the Good Samaritan
25 And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"
26 He said to him, "What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?"
27 So he answered and said, " 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,'[a] and 'your neighbor as yourself.'"[b]
28 And He said to him, "You have answered rightly; do this and you will live."
29 But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
30 Then Jesus answered and said: "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. 33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 On the next day, when he departed,[c] he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.' 36 So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?"
37 And he said, "He who showed mercy on him."
Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."
628-639 – Calls
644-656 – Calls
(2:10) Facebook Obsession preview. (A short clip from CNBC featuring Lester Holt, host and Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook.)
• Newsday (1/17/2011) 'The Facebook Obsession,' on CNBC.
• MSNBC (1/6/2011) Woman announced suicide on Facebook, no one helped. Annie's suggestion: Do an hour on Facebook with calls: What is the impact of Facebook on our society? Do we think we are engaged in 'real relationships' when posting an update? Parents, what age do you let your kids have a personal Facebook page? Do you have access to their account? In what ways is Facebook detracting from our face-to-face interactions with people? What ways is Facebook being used in ministry, for example, at your church?
• USA Today (1/4/2011) Cross atop San Diego mountain ruled unconstitutional.
• Charles Krauthammer, NRO (1/7/2011) Constitutionalism: In the Constitution, conservatives have found a potent symbol.
