VATICAN ENDORSES EVOLUTION

In a blow to intelligent design and creationism, the Vatican's cultural secretary Archbishop Ravasi argued that biological evolution and a christian view of creation were not incompatible.

In 1996 Pope John Paul II had said that evolution was more then a mere hypothesis, but intelligent design proponents had seized on statements by Benedict XVI that referred to a "intelligent project". But it was for naught. Intelligent design was almost banned from a papal backed conference marking the 150th anniversary of the Origin of Species, as "poor science, poor theology". It was eventually allowed to be discussed at the fringes of the event as a "cultural phenomenon" but not as a scientific or theological issue.

The Vatican is claiming that they have never formally condemned evolution. They are also claiming that a 4th century saint, Augustine of Hippo and a middle age saint, Aquinas had made observations that life seemed to be transitory, transforming slowly over time.

Even the Church of England has waded in.

What is extraordinary is that Darwin was surrounded by the influence of the Church his entire life. Having attended one of the best Church of England boarding schools in the country in Shrewsbury, he trained to be a clergyman in Cambridge; was inspired to follow his calling into science by another clergyman who lived and breathed botany; and married into a staunch Anglican family

It's strange but for once the Catholic church is not the weird religious nuts desperately clinging to and out dated mode of belief.

Fetch

Dogs force teenager to overdose on drugs!

That's right. According to NSW Greens MP Sylvia Hale and other campaigners, the presence of sniffer dogs at the Big Day Out caused a 17-year old teenager to overdose and die.

The girl had taken three ecstasy tablets to the concert, panicked when she saw the dogs and swallowed all three tablets at once to escape detection. Hale has been warning governments for years that this might happen.

“The heavy presence of police and sniffer dogs only will only serve to alienate and intimidate concert goers.

“The bulk of people accosted by the dogs will be young people intent on enjoying themselves who will be needlessly harassed, frightened and humiliated.

So a teenage girl goes to an major event, once that due to problems in the past will be heavily policed, carrying illegal and deadly substances. Once there she sees the cops and dogs and decides to get rid of the incriminating evidence. Instead of dropping the tablets to the ground, dumping them in a toilet/rubbish bin, or even handing them to police and claiming she found them, she swallows them.

But it's not her fault. It's the big mean police man and his vicious dogs that are to blame.

Doesn't anyone have to take responsibility for their actions any more? I'll tell why this girl died, because she was an idiot. She broke the law, did the most incredibly stupid thing in her life to escape responsibility for breaking the law in the first place and lost her life. Tragic, but still the fault lies entirely with the girl, not the police.

Can you imagine how many more overdoes there would be if police weren't at these events? Drug dealers would have a field day. People who don't take drugs to these events due to fear of being caught, would take them. The number of young people hyped up on drugs would escalate and bring with it the social ramifications that it entails.

Hale and associates would be better off campaigning against drugs then against police measures to reduce drug use if they were serious about saving lives.