Pope Prefers Communion on Tongue

VATICAN CITY, JUNE 26, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI would prefer to distribute communion on the tongue and to people who are kneeling, according to the master of papal liturgical ceremonies.

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Protect The Texas Jaguarundi!! He’s Cute!!

Ever heard of the jaguarundi? Neither have we.

Perhaps that’s because this unique type of cat that lives along the Texas border with Mexico is endangered. Perhaps it’s because nobody really cares. We’re guessing it’s a bit of both, but that doesn’t mean every animal shouldn’t have some human in their corner pulling for them.

WildEarth Guardian, a non-profit environmental organization, recently waged war in the form of a lawsuit in Houston federal court against Ken Salazar, Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, demanding that he put a conservation and survival plan together for the animal. After all, the organization argues, the cat has been listed as endangered since 1976, plenty of time to create such a plan as required under the Endangered Species Act.

Two types of the endangered species call south Texas their home, the Gulf Coast jaguarundi and the Sinaloan jaguarundi. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, they are larger than a domestic cat and have small ears, long, narrow bodies with short legs and flattened heads and tails. They generally look more like an otter or a weasel than a cat. They make their homes, according to the lawsuit, in the “dense thorny mesquite, cacti and cat claw thickets of southern Texas.”

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German court rules pupils can rate teachers online

BERLIN (Reuters) – A German court ruled Tuesday that schoolchildren may rate their teachers online, rejecting the case of a woman who argued her rights had been infringed by pupils who gave her bad grades on a popular website.

The Federal Court of Justice found that the rights of the woman, a teacher of German and religion, had not been compromised by the ratings and that pupils had a right to offer an opinion as long as they did not hinder her professionally.

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Bag of Randomness

dogchess14wr2

  • Star Wars humor – It’s a trap!
  • I read an article about how the FAFSA forms will be easier to fill out.  The part that caught my attention was how the Dept of Education and the IRS will form a partnership so families can automatically download their tax data int online FAFSA forms.  It always bugs me that related organizations don’t share information.  I’ve seen first hand how different departments within the same company will require the customer to fill out additional paperwork, when the actually information being requested is actually on hand, but just in a different department.  The efficiency of sharing data is not only more customer friendly, but a cost and time saving efficiency.
  • I also think the medical community would benefit from sharing information.  When my mother was sick and we had to visit one doctor one day and another doctor the next day, she would have to go through the same x-rays and blood tests.  I know a person’s health can change from one day to the next and that the numbers could look different from day to day, but depending on what they are looking for, it could also be a time and cost saving efficiency.
  • Filling out forms at the doctors office can be a pain, especially when you have to list your name and address on about five different forms.  One time I saw a lady simply apply address labels in those sections.  I thought it was a good idea, but I wonder if the clerk accepted them.  Sometimes they can be picky requiring that is all must be hand filled or something.
  • I saw Sandra Day O’Connor on Letterman the other night.  She jovially mention something about the highest court of the land being a basketball court that is a floor above the Supreme Court chamber.  I had no idea there was an actually basketball court above the Supreme Court, and that actually sounds a bit silly, but I researched it and it’s true.
  • But before you play on days when the court is in session, you need permission.  Check out this sign outside the basketball court.
  • I can just imagine court being in session over some kind of very emotional and tense case, and Chief Justice Robert’s kids are shooting hoops above and the justices and lawyers can’t concentrate because of the bouncing balls.
  • In that interview, O’Connor also stated that before they enter each court session, all the justices shake hands before entering the chamber.  Interesting.
  • She also mentioned that even though she’s retired, she still has to work in a lower level court or something.
  • One thing I’ll always remember about Ed McMahon is his socks, they were always thin, looked like pantyhose, and looked so tight that they were cutting off circulation.  See for yourself.
  • Quite possibly the cutest picture you will see all day.
  • There was a health fair at work yesterday.  Someone from my high school was actually there as a chiropractor.  We had nothing to say other than the typical small talk.  I didn’t even recognize the guy until I read his name tag.
  • At the health fair a dental office was giving away four free teeth whitening visits if I scheduled an appointment.  Since I really didn’t care for my dentist, I decided to give this lady a try.
  • I hear female dentist can maneuver around better because their hands are more slender.
  • It seems the GOP is having a hard time rebuilding its image as of late, with Senator Ensign’s affair and South Carolina’s governor taking a hike with no one knowing his whereabouts but then was really cheating on his wife in another country.  Oh, and that racist email.
  • Regarding that governor, you would think he could cover his tracks better, and of all times to skip the country and cheat on your wife and kids . . . on Fathers Day weekend.
  • And I’m sure Fox News decided to spin the story with a bunch of empathy of human frailty and make it completely different than the Clinton, Spitzer, and Edwards affair.
  • George Stephanopoulos had an interesting analysis of the event.  He stated that Gov Sanford’s press conference appeared to full of raw emotion, that you usually see the person in this situation have his wife by his side and looking almost defiant, but not so in this case.
  • Families are at stake here, pray for all parties involved, including the governor.
  • But the governor should resign, not for the affair, but as head of his state, he was missing for about five days and didn’t delegate any authority in case something were to happen.
  • I tried to visit his webpage last night just to see what it might say due to the current events, but the server was too busy.   Give it a try yourself:  www.scgovernor.com
  • If you are interested, here are some emails between Gov Sanford and the his mistress.
  • The race to be the next Texas governor is going to be interesting with Tom Schieffer entering the race along with Rick Perry and Kay Bailey Hutchinson.  Tom is the brother of Bob, the host of Face the Nation on CBS.  I wonder how Bob feels about it, and wonder if there is any concern about his brother being a Democrat and Bob’s coverage, that it can be seen as liberal biased.  And yes, I’ll go ahead and say it for some of you even if I don’t agree with you, Bob has been part of the liberal media years.
  • But Tom Schieffer did serve as a diplomat in George W. Bush’s administration.
  • The one thing that has really gotten my attention about the protests in Iran is that a lot of the signs held by protesters are in English.
  • Those protests are going to die down quickly unless that losing candidate appears in public.  I know he fears for his life, but these protesters are fighting for a cause bigger than he is.
  • I don’t like the Oscars increasing Best Picture nominations from five to ten.  I felt the same way when Texas UIL allowed the second place team in each district to make the playoffs, if that makes any sense.
  • iPhone 3G or Palm Pre?
  • I like the idea of ABC showing a special edition of Primetime with Obama in a town hall setting, but I can understand why the Republicans feel it’s an infomercial.  I think if Bush did something similar during primetime television, I wouldn’t have had a problem with it.  I like the idea, maybe it’s just the perception, that the President is accessible to public questions.  If anything, it puts the issue out there for public debate, and if anyone after watching the program is really against the idea, then they can certain contact their congressional representative or the president about their concerns.  I wish stuff like this would happen more often with all the networks and different representatives of government, getting big issues on the table and actually discussing them – democracy at its best.
  • I never liked the idea of naming the championship of baseball the World Series.  It’s a tag that doesn’t fit for MLB or college, but oddly enough, it works for the youth league.
  • I bet being the son of Michael Jordan has its perks, but I also bet it has its drawbacks such as everyone’s expectations regarding his basketball skills.
  • Just about every news website allows comments on stories.  I rarely ever read those comments, and when I do, I’m usually shaking my head in disgust.
  • I tried Wendy’s new Sweet and Spicy Asian Chicken last night – I highly recommend it, and recommend it with rice.
  • Grace
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