Smokers stink. They’re getting tough on the cigarette manufacturers at last. It’s certainly no harm to put a check on their advertising or tax on their products. It’s definitely no harm to do away with misleading labels like “Low tar” What the Government cannot seem to do is to convince non-smokers to get tough too. For far too long they have been tolerant of a dirty and dangerous habit. As a passenger you would not sit quietly by while the driver broke the lights and the speed limits. You would protest loudly and clearly. You should do the same to smokers. Secondhand smoke their habit, is your risk. There are lots of advertisements advising people not to smoke. Most of them refer to the health risks.

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Shopping’s the new religion

At least it was for a while
But the recession has managed
To wipe off each retailer’s smile
We’re holding off and not buying
Since times they’ve got so tough
Being sensible and saying
“We don’t need it we have enough”,
But if the recession it comes to an end
We’re told that we will spend, spend, spend
Pent up demand will ensure that we
Spend our money most lavishly
Well fools and their money are soon parted
And we’ll be right back where we started.

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President Bush got one thing right when he cut financial support for stem cell research because scientists were using early stage human embryos. President Obama reversed that decision this year. His attitude to abortion and this decision are both examples of his lack of respect for life in the womb. Now the induced pluripotent stem cell taken from an adult human skin show there was no need to use those embryos at all.
Stem cell research is proving very promising indeed. There is hope that new body parts will be grown and that it will help those who are paralyzed regain movement. It is not, though, a magic cure all. It does have problems still such as the risk of cancer but scientists hope to combat that in a year or so. It’s a fascinating challenge and the best thing of all is that from now on curing doesn’t have to mean killing.

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There is a song that says you are never dressed without a smile. The motor authorities in four states don’t agree. Photographs for driving licences must be neutral in Virginia while in Arkansas, Virginia and Indiana they only allow a faint smile. This is to facilitate high-tech software that compares a new license photo with others that have already been shot. Obviously the reason is to cut down on false driving licenses being issued.
Other states have different rules and its fine to have a big grin in Pennsylvania for instance. It’s not that people there are more law abiding it’s just that the technology they use there allows for it. In a time of deep depression you would wonder why all the states don’t get their act together and use bulk buying to purchase the latest and best technology at a mark down price. The fact that it would save false licenses being issued would be a bonus.
Actually queuing to get your license is fraught enough without telling people to wipe the grin off their faces. Let’s face it if hackers can bring down the whole internet for hours falsifying a drivers license shouldn’t be beyond their abilities. We shouldn’t make it easier for them of course but there are more important matters such as road safety and the ozone layer. We should remember automobiles kill people and the environment. It might we worth considering too that in this respect cell phones and cars are a dangerous mix.
If we think of all those killed and maimed on our roads every year we won’t feel like smiling at all.

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The report on child abuse by the Catholic Church in Ireland has made both headlines and harrowing news. The orphanages and industrial schools in question could be equated to concentration camps. The treatment of the children by nuns and priests has left the Irish people with a deep sense of unease and a lot of unanswered questions.
The first, of course, is why the Government did not supervise such places and keep a check on them? The second is why the judiciary sent juvenile offenders to these prisons and why did the police not act on reports of the abuse? The third and most difficult of all to understand is why those in authority in the church did not protect the children by stamping down hard on the offenders?
It’s a lot of why’s and it seems unlikely that they will all be answered. The Government and the Church authorities agreed a compensation deal which critics, in the light of the report, now say is totally inadequate. No one can deny the horrific facts of the abuse but blame must be apportioned fairly. All priests are not paedophiles yet they are being found guilty by association. Yet there would be a public outcry if you said that all fathers are paedophiles. Parents who put their unmarried mothers in homes were surely, as bad as the abusers? Family members and neighbours who looked the other way are as much to blame as the Christian brothers. We, as a society, let it happen just as we are letting children be used as slave labour in many countries today. We cannot use the excuse that we don’t see it happening. In our communication rich world we know only too well that we, the rich, still exploit the poor.
Yet we must get the balance right. There are religious who gave an education to those who otherwise not have one. Nuns ran hospitals and clinics for the poor and underprivileged. How many of our parliamentarians would have gone on to third level education if it had not been for the Christian brothers? On the weighing scales of justice there would surely be many more good religious people than there were bad.  Whether offenders are jailed or not they will have to meet the Maker.
Certainly those who were harmed should have all the counselling and help they need. Instead of looking back though we should look forward. There are thousands of children still at risk in homes where there are drug and alcoholic problems. There are fathers still abusing their children. We don’t have safe homes for those fleeing abuse or social workers who are actually available twenty four hours a day. We do not have legislation that puts the rights of children first. We cannot undo the past but we can, and must make sure that the church, the state and citizens together care for the children who are our future.

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President Obama was elected on his platform of hope. He gave hope to minorities, hope to the poor and hope to the jobless. He gave hope that there would be a more equitable health system too not to mention hope that the environmental crisis would be tackled. He did not give hope to the unborn.
How can a father with two such beautiful little girls deny the right to life of others like them? How can he support those who support abortion? How can he support the rights of mothers and ignore the rights of their children? How, as a Christian, can he ignore Christ’s love for children when he said “Suffer little children to come unto me.”
He has decried the treatment of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay and said that prisoner will be tried fairly, yet the case of an innocent child is not heard. There are of course heartrending stories of women being raped and abused yet surely aborting the resultant child is punishing the victim instead of the perpetrator? Where is the justice in that?
As President it is his job to protect Americans all Americans. The unborn have the right to his protection too. Otherwise what hope is there for future Americans.

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The priest set us thinking with his sermon about peace. He said it was like the four points of the cross. One sort of peace was peace with God so obviously a little prayer does you a lot of good. The next point of the cross, he maintained was for peace with yourself which must mean that your should create your own personal lifestyle code and live by it. The third point he urged was for peace with those around you and there is no better way of doing that than to follow the golden rule and  do onto others as we would have them do unto us.. The forth and final point was for peace with the environment.  The Ozone layer gets a lot of attention as does reforestation but we rarely hear about marine pollution and the effect it has on our living world. Perhaps then we should be more conscious of what we, and others, do to our seas. All in all it was a good sermon and certainly thought provoking.

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Despite the recession there are still plenty of entrepreneurs around. They have new ideas and new skills to offer the world and we are seeing an explosion in items like new style windmills. Think of all the packing around new washing machines or computers. Surely someone can come up with a dust free alternative to all that polystyrene?
Alternatively, they may take an old business and make it more suitable for today’s economic climate. The opening of a new store, for instance, may seem like madness but if it is selling good as new clothes or second hand furniture it may do very well. The same doubts may well apply to the opening of a new restaurant. If, however, it provides delicious and nutritious school lunches for busy working mums the owners may find a ready market. Obviously if we are to save the planet we need new ideas on how to generate electricity and to encourage eco tourism. If every person who reads blogs went out to plant a tree for instance think of the difference it would make to the environment. Maybe too we need a change of mindset. Think of all those air miles and perhaps you might decide vacations -you are better off at home.
When a recession strikes it makes us re-think and re-evaluate. There may be less demand for luxurious items but there is a huge need for innovation and sound common sense. Coupled together that means there could be plenty of speeches praising the Entrepreneur of the year.

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Miss California Carrie Prejean has, predictably, been attacked for her views on same sex marriage. Like so many others who wish to protect the traditional institution of marriage itself she is seen as undermining the rights of those in a same sex relationship.  Christian churches have, of course, always promoted marriage as a union of man and woman for the procreation of children. Perhaps her critics would do well, though, to read the non-religious dictionary definition of marriage which is, “The legal union or contract between a man and a woman to live as husband and wife. Obviously a same sex couple cannot meet this criterion.
Every marriage is not perfect but a good traditional marriage is the ideal. It is what the majority of people would wish for as the basis for rearing children. If Governments have failed it is in their responsibility to children in this matter. They have not promoted and protected the institution of traditional marriage. Nor, of course, have they come up with a suitable alternative or complimentary title for the union of same sex couples. Marriage is more than a bit of paper. For many it’s a sacrament. Even for those who don’t have this belief they are following a tradition that goes back centuries, something that is intrinsically right and natural as a basis for any children they may have.
That is not to say that same sex couple should not have property rights and the legal rights of any citizen. It is merely to say that their union, while they would wish it to be the same, is different. It is not marriage. It is time for them and for governments to recognize this and work out a dignified solution. Two men or two woman are not a man and a woman. It’s as simple as that.
Miss California may have lost her crown but she has retained her integrity and her beliefs.

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The Swiss have decided that they don’t want nudists walking the Alps. The citizens of Appenzell Inner Rhodes voted overwhelmingly for such walkers to be fined. That is not to say that they do not want walkers in their region. An appropriate advertisement for the area would probably be get walking get fit and have fun. It’s just that they draw the line at walking in the nude. That is except for hiking boots and socks of course.
German walkers, and most of the nudists are German, are protesting that it is an ancient tradition. They claim to walk the quieter, less frequented walks but the Swiss are not impressed with this argument. They agree that when it comes to health it’s in your own hands but have given a chilly reception to nudity as a way of promoting such health. They probably feel that with all the publicity about skin cancer stay shaded stay safe should be the hikers’ motto instead!

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