Scotish Catholic church acts over plans for gay marriage

The Catholic Church in Scotland has made more moves of protest of the plans to legalise gay marriage.

Quote:

"A letter criticising the Scottish Government for supporting plans to legalise gay marriage will be read out in all of the country's Catholic parishes.

The Roman Catholic Church has declared August 26 as National Marriage Sunday and is calling on politicians to "sustain rather than subvert marriage".

The letter, which will be read in all of Scotland's 500 Catholic parishes, will urge followers to continue to act against efforts to "redefine" marriage."

And:

"Cardinal O'Brien, who has described gay marriage as a "grotesque subversion of a universally accepted human right", said: "The Church's teaching on marriage is unequivocal, it is uniquely, the union of a man and a woman and it is wrong that governments, politicians or parliaments should seek to alter or destroy that reality."

These are the sort of people who you could argue with until you're blue in the face and they still won't relent. These sort of people will never accept that their outdated views on homosexuality and gay marriage are based on a farcical two thousand year old book and are not suitable to the 21st century. Homosexuality is perfectly fine and I have yet to see any evidence that gay marriage would seriously affect the sanctity of marriage or society as a whole in a negative way. Maybe that's because it wouldn't.

But don't just take it from me. Here's a snippet by US Political commentator Keith Olbermann who is a fantastic orator and has a great history of making excellent points:

And if that wasn't enough, recent poll suggested that a large amount of people are either indifferent about the issue or they aren't interested at all.

"According to the polling data around 31% of respondents were opposed to gay marriage, and within that third of the population only 12% said it would affect their vote.

Overall 41% of people were in favour of gay marriage, and 27% said they had no opinion one way or the other. "

I think that this is pretty telling. So often during debates I hear people (mostly right wingers) saying that the majority of the country is against gay marriage. Well I think that this proves otherwise. This is further ammunition in the campaign to legalise gay marriage. It shows that more and more people are supporting it.

It's time to throw off the shackles of religious belief and superstition and accept what's right, and that is the legalisation of gay marriage.

Sources:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5itQ5uBrPC4IbIX5ERbhqxL_kuSMg?docId=N0197141345960401114A

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/08/22/lord-ashcroft-poll-on-gay-marriage_n_1820817.html?1345626693

Rest in Peace Neil Armstrong

I think something would be amiss if I didn't mention the passing of Neil Armstong, the first man to walk on the moon. He passed away at the age of 82.

He was undoubtedly a great man whose words as he walked on the moon are engraved in history. Those famous words  "One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."

He died from cardiovascular surgery complications in the aftermath of Heart bypass surgery.

He was a humble man who hardly sought publicity after the moon landing.

"Armstrong famously refused most public appearances and interviews.

In a rare interview with Australian TV this year, he reflected on a moment during his three hours on the Moon when he stopped to commemorate US astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts who had died in action.
    "It was special and memorable, but it was only instantaneous because there was work to do," he said.

Rest in peace Neil. I know you're making footprints elsewhere, wherever you may be.

Sources:

http://news.sky.com/story/970428/neil-armstrong-recovering-from-heart-bypass

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-19384330

http://news.sky.com/story/977119/obama-armstrong-was-great-american-hero

Rest in peace Jerry Nelson, the voice of "Count Von Count!"

In the last few days the deaths of a few notable people have been reported. One is the news of the death of Jerry Nelson who voiced "Count Von Count" in Sesame Street.

"For more than 40 years, Nelson worked on numerous projects featuring Jim Henson's Muppets, including the TV series Fraggle Rock

.

Nelson, who suffered from emphysema, died on Thursday in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

A Sesame Workshop statement said he would be remembered for "the laughter he brought to children worldwide".

He did other work but he is best remembered for playing the and voicing the count which he did from 1972 until his death although he apparently ceased operating the puppet in 2004.

And now, some clips:

Rest in peace Jerry!

Source:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-19384794

Street debate after the riots

A year after the riots there seems to be the occasional mention of the riots one year on and what has changed and what has happened. Well whilst idly browsing youtube I came across the following video of a group of people who vary in race, nationality and background (and country of origin) who started discussing in public first the riots and then then origins of the riots and the problems in society that caused it.
 There's a lot of people talking over each other so be patient but there's a lot of good and interesting points made. It is well worth watching.

 I would recommend you watch it to the very end.
  It is my belief that these sort of debates really need to happen a lot more. Raw, spontaneous debates on the street where people can express themselves and talk about their society and why they think the things that happen actually happen.
  The next step would then have more publicised debates of that nature. That is how public opinion and knowledge grows.

Food for thought.

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqA9-QGhvZs