Help still needed building New Orleans seven years after Katrina

USA (MNN) ― Think of all that has happened in your life since 2005. There could be big moves, job changes, new friends, marriages, deaths, births. Seven years is a long time.

Yet that time has still not been sufficient to complete rebuild efforts in New Orleans. Thework remains overwhelming.

"Believe it or not, we still have a major effort ongoing in New Orleans following up on Hurricane Katrina," says Mark Lewis, director of the EFCA TouchGlobal Crisis Response. "There are still over 20,000 Katrina-blighted properties in the city. So there continues to be an ongoing effort there of recovery and working with families."

The needs are not only ongoing, but they're urgent. Lewis just spoke with one woman who has been living on couches of friends and family since 2005. She just wants to go home.

"For those homeowners who are still displaced and still trying to get back into their homes, it's just an ongoing impact that has been totally forgotten," Lewis notes.

For the last seven years, TouchGlobal has been using volunteer labor to build one home at a time in New Orleans. But the rebuild effort has been much more than physical. Emotional and spiritual needs continue to be significant. TouchGlobal has been working with multiple local churches and has even been planting new churches in response.

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Canada’s Assisted Suicide Ban Struck Down in Court

The British Columbia Supreme Court has issued an opinion declaring the law in Canada against assisted suicides unconstitutional. Justice Lynn Smith issued a 395-page ruling Friday calling the law discriminatory in the case of Gloria Taylor, a British Columbia woman with ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Taylor was one of five plaintiff’s seeking to strike the law and Judge Smith agree with her saying that, because suicide itself is not illegal, assisted suicides should not be illegal either. Judge Smith said the law contravenes Section 15 of the Charter, which guarantees equality, because it denies the ability to disabled people to kill themselves in the same way an able-bodied person could.

“The impact of that distinction is felt particularly acutely by persons such as Ms. Taylor, who are grievously and irremediably ill, physically disabled or soon to become so, mentally competent and who wish to have some control over their circumstances at the end of their lives,” Smith wrote in the decision. “The distinction is discriminatory … because it perpetuates disadvantage.”

Smith, ironically, also claimed the law violated the right to life and liberty guaranteed under Section 7 of the Charter by claiming the assisted suicide ban could prompt people to take their lives while they’re physically able to do so.

Will Johnston of Euthanasia Prevention Coalition immediately critiqued the ruling and the group had sided with federal and provincial governments in opposing the case to strike the law. He urged Canadian officials to appeal the decision to the BC Court of Appeal and to seek an order stopping the decision from taking effect and nullifying the law until that appeal is heard.

“Most elder abuse is hidden from view – and if we can’t detect the abuse now, how are we going to do it when the stakes are raised? I have seen how easily influenced older people can be, and how inadequate are our national strategies against suicide. The present decision, which should be immediately appealed and corrected, is a huge step backwards, a blow to public safety, and would force changes in public policy which would do more harm than good,” he explained.

He added: “Today’s decision would point Canada towards the Oregon assisted suicide regime, which has become notorious for its erosion of medical standards and abuse of psychiatry to rubber-stamp suicide requests. The wish to avoid Oregon’s mistakes has been reflected in over 100 rejections of assisted suicide by legislatures in North America and by medical associations around the world.”

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Pastors Urged to Sign Newly Released Code of Ethics

The National Association of Evangelicals has developed and released a "Code of Ethics for Pastors" document and is asking church leaders across denominational lines to sign and uphold its outlined principles in their lives as ministers.

"This is to remind people who they are in ministry and how important their personal integrity, their personal conduct and lifestyle really are for what they are trying to accomplish," Dr. Joel C. Hunter, senior pastor of Northland, A Church Distributed in Longwood, Fla., told The Christian Post.

Hunter, who is a board member of the NAE and one of several pastors who have already signed the code of ethics, said that the document is an important way to reemphasize that those in ministerial leadership need to live above reproach.

"Personal conduct is as important as any theological knowledge – the medium is the message," he said. "With a lot of people coming into the ministry these days without a lot oftraining or a lot of growing up in the church, many ministers may not be aware or may have forgotten what the expectations are of someone in ministry. It's a great teaching device as well as a reminder."

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New York Principal: 'God Bless the USA' is still out

The American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ) is asking a New York schoolto reverse its decision to prohibit kindergartens from singing the song "God Bless the USA."

After months of rehearsals, Principal Greta Hawkins of PS 90 abruptly announced that the graduating kindergartners would not be singing Lee Greenwood's song at their moving-up ceremony. She thought it might offend people of other cultures (see earlier story). But Jordan Sekulow of the ACLJ reports that many multicultural families in that district are upset by her decision.

"This is a school with a lot of immigrants, a lot of people who fought hard to get to America," he details. "This has always been an important part of their graduation. Parents were excited about this, and then you have this kind of controversy erupt over 'God Bless the USA.' It kind of tells you what point we're at."

He says Hawkins' decision is not a "separation of church and state" issue; this is something new.

"There's also this new idea creeping in, this multi-culturalism political correctness, which misses the point. In our belief, a song like this is what unites America, because we don't all come from the same background," the attorney offers. "We all come from different places -- whether your family's been here since the Revolutionary War or has been here ten years."

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THIS CHURCH IS ALSO THE WORLD’S BIGGEST TREE HOUSE, BUILT BY THE ‘SPIRIT OF GOD’ (WITH NO BLUEPRINTS)

Christian EPIC FAIL to Reach the Lost! SHAMEFUL: SCREAMING ANTI-ISLAM PROTESTERS TAUNT MUSLIMS WITH PIG’S HEAD: ‘YOU’RE GOING TO MELT IN THE FIRES OF HELL!’

Authorities in Wayne County attempted to keep calm and order between the two parties, as they tried to separate them — a difficult task considering the religious nature of the fighting at hand. The Detroit-Free Press has more about the festival and past drama that has unfolded there between Christians and Muslims:

The three-day festival is the largest public gathering of Arab-Americans in the U.S.; it has drawn Christian missionaries for years, but in 2009, some become more aggressive, leading to arrests and legal feuds. Dearborn has the highest concentration of Arab-Americans in the U.S., many of them Muslim, making it a magnet for some Christian missionaries.

The Bible Believers [one of the groups present among the protesters] also protested at last year’s Arab Festival, holding up both anti-Muslim and anti-Catholic signs and causing one Arab-American Muslim girl to cry.

As the Free-Press notes, there were also peaceful Christian protesters at the event. These individuals spoke kindly to the Muslim attendees and handed out flyers. One Christian woman work a shirt that read, “I [heart symbol] Muslims,” while handing out gospel pamphlets.

(H/T: Urban Christian News)

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Adidas Under Fire For Revealing New Sneakers That Have Built In Shackles

Adidas has sparked outrage and been accused of 'promoting slavery' by creating a new pair of trainers which have bright orange 'shackles' that fit around the wearer's ankles.

The clothing giant is under fire for its August scheduled release of the JS Roundhouse Mids, which many have compared to the devices worn by black slaves in 19th Century America.

The seemingly innocent promotional material, uploaded to Facebook earlier this month, asks: 'Got a sneaker game so hot you lock your kicks to your ankles?'

But the shoes have sparked angry debate online, with many saying there is a more cynical tone to the advertisement.

More than 2,000 people have labelled the design 'offensive' and 'ignorant' and say the firm has 'sunk to new lows' in its 'slavewear' product.

Dr Boyce Watkins, writing for Your Black World,  said: 'Shackles. The stuff that our ancestors wore for 400 years while experiencing the most horrific atrocities imaginable.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2160977/Adidas-unveiling-new-trainer-orange-shackles-like-worn-black-slaves.html#ixzz1yBqOWpwk

Militants Cross Egypt's Sinai Peninsula Into Israel Opening Fire On Civilians

JERUSALEM (AP) - Militants crossed from Egypt's turbulent Sinai Peninsula into southern Israel on Monday and opened fire on civilians building a border security fence, defense officials said. One of the Israeli workers was killed, and two assailants died in a gunbattle with Israeli troops responding to the attack.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack, which underscored the growing lawlessness in the Sinai desert since longtime Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was toppled by a popular uprising last year.

Military spokeswoman Lt. Col Avital Leibovich said the assailants have not been identified but acknowledged that defense officials suspected Palestinian militants in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, which also borders the Sinai desert in that same area, might have been involved.

Several hours after the attack, an Israeli airstrike killed two men riding a motorcycle in the northern Gaza Strip near the Israeli border. The Islamic Jihad militant group said the men were members on a "reconnaissance" mission and vowed revenge. Military officials said the incident was not connected to the earlier infiltration from Egypt.

Israeli security officials have grown increasingly anxious about the security situation in the Sinai since Mubarak's ouster. Continued political turmoil in Egypt, weak policing in the Sinai and tough terrain have all encouraged Islamic militant activity in the area. 

The mountainous desert now harbors an array of militant groups, including Palestinian extremists and al-Qaida-inspired jihadists, Egyptian and Israeli security officials say. The tumultuous situation surrounding Egyptian elections, in which Islamic groups made a strong showing, has added to Israeli unease.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Army Radio that there has been "a worrisome deterioration of Egyptian control" over the Sinai. Barak said he expected the winner of this week's presidential elections in Egypt to honor the country's international obligations - an apparent reference to Egypt's 1979 peace treaty with Israel. The Muslim Brotherhood has said it would respect the historic peace accord but that it would also seek modifications.

Vice Premier Shaul Mofaz, a former defense minister and military chief, said he hoped Israel could conduct a security dialogue with the Egyptians and demand more forceful policing in the Sinai.

"No doubt Sinai has become a security problem," Mofaz told Army Radio. "Today's incident ratchets it up a notch."

There was no immediate comment from Egypt on the attack.

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Congressman Allen West Blasts President Obama's Immigration Plan

Speaking this morning to talk radio host Laura Ingraham, Florida congressman Allen West, a Republican, blasted President Obama's immigration plan to use prosecutorial discretion not to go after young immigrants who came to the United States illegally. Obama announced his new immigration plan on Friday.

"What country did we wake up in on Friday?," West asked. "It just causes people to ask, where are we? You know, the last time we had this was with King George III, and we didn't like it too much.

And I think that you’re seeing the resurrection of an imperial presidency, and the arrogance thereof.

To think that you can come out and basically tell the American people that this is what we're going to do ... and don't question me."

The big hold up for West seems to be Obama's decision to bypass Congress and the law of the land.

"America is not about ruling by verbal edict or just whims; the president has been elected to enforce the laws of this country. And he doesn't get to pick which laws he likes or dislikes. And I find it very perplexing and ironic that when he had control of the House and Senate, this did not seem like a very important issue."
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Google Reports Alarming Rise In Government Censorship Requests

(CNN) -- Western governments, including the United States, appear to be stepping up efforts to censor Internet search results and YouTube videos, according to a "transparency report" released by Google.

"It's alarming not only because free expression is at risk, but because some of these requests come from countries you might not suspect -- Western democracies not typically associated with censorship," Dorothy Chou, a senior policy analyst at Google, wrote in a blog post on Sunday night.

"For example, in the second half of last year, Spanish regulators asked us to remove 270 search results that linked to blogs and articles in newspapers referencing individuals and public figures, including mayors and public prosecutors. In Poland, we received a request from a public institution to remove links to a site that criticized it. We didn't comply with either of these requests."

In the last half of 2011, U.S. agencies asked Google to remove 6,192 individual pieces of content from its search results, blog posts or archives of online videos, according to the report. That's up 718% compared with the 757 such items that U.S. agencies asked Google to remove in the six months prior.

Overall, Google received 187 requests from United States law enforcement agencies and courts to remove content from its Web properties from July to December, up 103% from the 92 requests the 

Mountain View, California, company received in the previous reporting period.

In one incident cited in the report, a U.S. law enforcement agency asked Google to take down a blog that "allegedly defamed a law enforcement official in a personal capacity." The company did not comply with that request.

In another, a separate law enforcement group asked Google to take down 1,400 YouTube videos (Google owns YouTube) because of "alleged harassment."

And in Canada, the passport office asked Google to delete a YouTube video "of a Canadian citizen urinating on his passport and flushing it down the toilet," according to the report.

The tech company did not oblige either of those requests but did comply at least in part with 42% of the removal requests from the United States in the last half of 2011, the report says. That number is down considerably compared to previous reports; In the latter half of 2010, for example, Google said it complied with 87% of U.S. requests to remove content.

The biannual transparency report, which includes data to July 2009, also indicates a rise in world governments' requests to take a look at the data Google collects about its users. And with those requests, Google tended to be much more likely to comply.

In the last half of 2011, Google received 6,321 requests for user data from government agencies in the United States and complied at least in part with 93% of them, according to data released in the report.

Those requests for information about Google users come as part of criminal investigations, Google says, and are not unique to the company.

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