News

From AP to Enforce High Security Number Plates For Vehicles.

The Andhra Pradesh government has decided to enforce high security number plates for all vehicles in the state.

The new number plates, to be introduced in six months, would also have the chassis and engine numbers of the vehicle, apart from the registration number, according to sources.

Officials of the police and transport departments met recently and decided to introduce the new number plates in view of the increasing naxal attack and vehicle theft problems.

This seems like such a good idea generally, could help reduce the dangers of purchasing a stolen car with a fake car number plates, especially where a same make and model of car is stolen and the plates are switched, so why don’t we have something like this in the UK?

Two weeks ago, the tabernacle, including Our Lord present in repose inside, along with several sacred vessels, was stolen from St Augustine and St Monica Parish on Detroit, Michigan’s east side. Today, although the lock on the tabernacle is damaged and it no longer closes, all has been returned. The items were brought back by a neighborhood man who knew the 3 people who had stolen the objects. He said they were poor and desperate, and, after eating the Hosts inside, were unable to sleep peacefully. He, as well, after many sleepless nights, retrieved the tabernacle and objects from the trio and brought all the objects back to the parish. A $500 reward was given to the man, and he in turn, gave some money to the three, telling them to leave town. The pastor of the parish, however, does not want to press charges. He is thankful that the Sacred Hosts were not desecrated and that so many prayers around the country were answered.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to consider Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s appeal over the so-called Terri’s Law, leaving the fate of the severely brain-damaged woman for whom the measure was enacted with state courts that have repeatedly ruled she should be allowed to die.

“Do you see this lantern?” cried Syme in a terrible voice. “Do you see the cross carved on it, and the flame inside? You did not make it. You did not light it. Better men than you, men who could believe and obey, twisted the entrails of iron and preserved the legend of fire. There is not a street you walk on, there is not a thread you wear, that was not made as this lantern was, by denying your philosophy of dirt and rats. You can make nothing. You can only destroy. You will destroy mankind; you will destroy the world. Let that suffice you. Yet this one old Christian lantern you shall not destroy. It shall go where your empire of apes will never have the wit to find it.”

Jihad Watch provides more clues pertaining to the Armanious family murders:

“The Armanious family had inspired several Muslims to convert to Christianity — or thought they had. These converts were actually practicing taqiyya, or religious deception, pretending to be friends of these Christians in order to strengthen themselves against them, as in Qur’an 3:28: ‘Let believers not make friends with infidels in preference to the faithful — he that does this has nothing to hope for from Allah — except in self-defense.’
Of course, the family, not suspecting the deception, was happy to see the ‘converted’ men and willingly let them in to their home. That’s why there was no sign of forced entry. Then the ‘converted’ Muslims did their grisly work.

This grisly murder here has Islamic terror written all over it.

Hossam Armanious, 47, who along with his wife and two daughters was found stabbed to death in his Jersey City home early Friday, would regularly debate religion in a Middle Eastern chat room, one source said.
Armanious, an Egyptian Christian, was well known for expressing his Coptic beliefs and engaging in fiery back-and-forth with Muslims on the Web site paltalk.com.

He “had the reputation for being one of the most outspoken Egyptian Christians,” said the source, who had close ties to the family.

Incredible, isn’t it, that we have so long forgotten our most ruthless and persistent enemy. It is certainly time to act. America is no place for the violence and barbarism of the Mohammedan religion. Perhaps an amendment to the Constitution is in order …

ECR does not spend much time commenting on bishops. My general sense is that a few are zealous, but the general lot of them are (at best) lukewarm bureaucrats whom the faithful should charitably ignore most of the time. Nevertheless there are times when ignoring bad bishops does more harm than good, as in the case of Bishop Lynch of St. Petersburg. CWN’s Off The Record, quoting Mary Ann Kreitzer of the Catholic Media Coalition, informs us of the Bishop’s continuing reprehensible conduct here:

Here’s a little something to brighten your pro-life evening. Remember that building contractor who organized a boycott of Planned Parenthood’s proposed slaughterhouse in Austin, Texas? Well, on the heels of President Bush signing the partial-birth abortion ban, a commenter has more good news for us:

“An update is that the general contractor dropped the job today. The story has already made CNN and Austin media is in an uproar. Planned Parenthood is vowing to finish and local government is freaking out….but this thing is going to be very difficult to complete without a GC and with few subs willing to do the work. In the past 2 weeks alone, the AC guy dropped out, the foundation contractor dropped out, the lumber supplier cut off lumber and the most likely roofing materials provider also dropped out. This led to the GC giving up on the project and announcing his termination today! We are ecstatic….. Mark Proeger”

Or, at least they get close. After days of reading ignorant headlines about a “comatose woman”, CNN has upgraded Terri Schiavo’s condition to “disabled”. I say they get close. The article still describes her as being in a “coma-like” state and does not make it clear that Terri is verifiably conscious.

Meanwhile, Greg Krehbiel reminds us that the executive branch is not helpless in the face of bad court decisions:

“Gov. Bush has swallowed the lie of the imperial court. Who, after all, controls the police in the state of Florida? Isn’t it the governor? By the wise design of our founders, judges have no power at all to enforce their decisions. They rely entirely on the executive branch. It’s one of those checks that was supposed to keep us from tyranny, but the check has bounced. Executives act as if they’re captive to courts.

It just gets better and better. Bryan Baldwin of Catholic Light has the following report:

“This afternoon at the Hospice Center Terri Schiavo, whose feeding tube was removed on Wednesday, was denied Viaticum. Monsignor Malanowski was told by police and the attorney for her husband that she could not receive the 1/4 Host he had brought her. (Mrs. Schiavo is fully capable of swallowing.) She has been visited by Msgr. Malanowski for over three years and today, as always, she reacted with joy at his presence as she sat in her chair and turned to greet him.

Here’s an inspiring story of small private businesses making a big difference:

“In a boycott that may be the first of its kind, a group of builders and contractors in Austin, Texas have banded together to stop construction on a new abortion business. Workers were slated to begin construction on Tuesday of a new $6.2 million Planned Parenthood abortion facility.

‘We’re going to do everything we can to stop it, slow it down and make it more expensive,’ said Chris Danze, owner of Maldonado and Danze, Inc. an Austin concrete contractor. Danze is chairman of the Austin Area Pro-Life Concrete Contractors and Suppliers Association. He said every concrete supplier within 60 miles of Austin has indicated it will not supply materials or labor to the project …”

At one time there was a billboard in town that displayed in large, bold red letters the following message: 400,000 SMOKING RELATED DEATHS THIS YEAR. As I recall, it also showed the face of a child or a young woman. Most of you have probably seen or heard this figure tossed around before, and perhaps you have wondered where it came from. A study by the Cato Institute titled “Lies, Damned Lies, and 400,000 Smoking Related Deaths” here examines this number and the deception behind it: