A director who shares the ideas of Iran’s hardline president has produced what he says is the first film giving an Islamic view of Jesus Christ, in a bid to show the “common ground” between Muslims and Christians. Nader Talebzadeh sees his movie, “Jesus, the Spirit of God,” as an Islamic answer to Western productions like Mel Gibson’s 2004 blockbuster “The Passion of the Christ,” which he praised as admirable but quite simply “wrong”.

“Gibson’s film is a very good film. I mean that it is a well-crafted movie but the story is wrong — it was not like that,” he said, referring to two key differences: Islam sees Jesus as a prophet, not the son of God, and does not believe he was crucified.

Betcha Hollywood will love the movie and give it a bunch of awards!

More 

if you buy a new house in California.

Next year in California, state regulators are likely to have the emergency power to control individual thermostats, sending temperatures up or down through a radio-controlled device that will be required in new or substantially modified houses and buildings to manage electricity shortages.

The proposed rules are contained in a document circulated by the California Energy Commission, which for more than three decades has set state energy efficiency standards for home appliances, like water heaters, air conditioners and refrigerators.

The changes would allow utilities to adjust customers’ preset temperatures when the price of electricity is soaring. Customers could override the utilities’ suggested temperatures. But in emergencies, the utilities could override customers’ wishes.

Just one more step…

More 

For those who thought the kookery would end when Rosie left “The View” (a show on ABC-TV in the USA which features numerous middle-aged women sitting on a set fulfilling stereotypes,) you shouldn’t have!  Joy Behar, alleged comedienne, is working hard to fill the void.  On the January 9 edition of the show, she and Whoopi spent time talking about how the Catholic Church has false idols (by way of statues) and also that there aren’t any saints anymore, because we now have psychotic drugs.  Yes, thanks to drugs, people don’t hear God’s voice anymore.  From the Catholic League:

On the January 9 edition of “The View,” panelist Joy Behar made it plain that she needs a shrink. She said the reason why there are so few saints anymore is because of “psychotropic medication.” She continued, “I think the old days, the saints were hearing voices and they didn’t have any Thorazine to calm them down.”

Besides being flatly wrong—a record number of saints have been named over the past few decades—it is Behar who needs to consult a shrink. Her musings about all things Catholic suggests a pathological condition so severe as to make those who hear voices positively sane by comparison.

Now Bill Donohue could have been a bit more charitable, but in fewer words, she’s knows not of what she speaks!

An Archbishop will be guiding part of President Bush’s tour of the Holy Land over the next couple of days, and he plans to scold Bush.

JERUSALEM (CNS) — A Catholic archbishop scheduled to accompany U.S. President George W. Bush on a tour of the Mount of Beatitudes said he would talk to him about Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.

Depending on the conditions, Archbishop Chacour said he may also speak to Bush about the “blood on his hands.”

Funny, I just don’t think that Jesus wanted prisoners justly held to be released…I think He was probably talking about those unjustly held.  The guys at Gitmo are known to be terrorists who have taken action against Americans.  And when he starts talking about blood on Bush’s hands, he might do well to remember that without the USA’s attempts at diplomacy, the rest of the Mideast would have gone after Israel a long time ago…of course, if that had happened, the Israel would have slaughtered them all and imposed peace on the region…so maybe we wouldn’t have some of the problems we have now.

More 

In a case of patients running the asylum,

Pregnant students in a Denver high school are asking for at least four weeks of maternity leave so they can heal, bond with their newborns and not be penalized with unexcused absences.

The request is unusual in Colorado’s public schools, where districts tend to deal with pregnant students or new moms with specialized programs or individualized education plans.

The article goes on to say that the school in question requires students to return to school the day after being discharged from the hospital.  The idea that these kids want to take 4 weeks off from school and still complete school on time (or on time according to their IEP) is crazy.  To allow it is simply to continue allowing them to exist in the dream world of government education.

Of course, the optimal situation would be for each of these kids to give their babies up for adoption where they’ll actually have a chance at a normal upbringing with a stable home life.  Alas, in our self-absorbed culture, somehow the needs of the mother are ahead of the needs of the baby.  But then I am probably an evil, evil man for saying that.

More

I’ve often been impressed with Dr. Phil’s common-sense advice…well, for some reason he decided he needed a publicity boost, so he decided to get involved with the Britney Spears situation (Britney Spears is a disgraced pop “star” who’s career is doing so badly that she decided to attempt to kidnap her kids to keep them away from her ex-”husband”.)

“My meeting with Britney and some family members this morning in her room at Cedars leaves me convinced more than ever that she is in dire need of both medical and psychological intervention,” McGraw told the programs.

“She was released moments before my arrival and was packing when I entered the room. We visited for about an hour before I walked with her to her car. I am very concerned for her,” he said.

McGraw planned to talk more about Spears on his daytime talk show this week, the press release said.

Responding to an e-mail request for further comment from McGraw, a “Dr. Phil” publicist referred The Associated Press to his statement posted on the etonline.com Web site.

Don’t have much use for Dr. Phil anymore, myself.

More

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — As the Jesuits choose a new superior general, they will be emphasizing their vision for the future, said Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, who has led the Society of Jesus since 1983.

Father Kolvenbach has asked to resign; 225 Jesuits were set to begin meeting in Rome Jan. 7 to discuss the current state of the order and to elect his successor.

“Choosing one from among the thousands of Jesuits capable (of being general), the society will say what it expects for its future: a prophet or a wise man, an innovator or a moderator, a contemplative or an activist, a point man or a man of unity,” Father Kolvenbach said in a joint interview with Vatican Radio and the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano.

The election, which will take place after formal presentations on the strengths and challenges facing the more than 19,200 Jesuits in the world, must point to the Jesuit who will help the order “progress on the path of God,” he said.

In the interview, released Jan. 4, Father Kolvenbach was asked about the Jesuits’ commitment to interreligious dialogue and particularly to dialogue with Islam.

“For a dialogue to be possible, it is necessary to begin with a sincere mutual respect that goes beyond mere courtesy,” he said. “Without this there will not be dialogue, but confrontation.”

Wish I could find some information on who are the front runners for the position…how’s about a solid one like Fr. Fessio?  Fr. Mitch Pacwa?

Time for the media to have another field day with the Church:

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – A Roman Catholic priest was arrested on perjury charges Wednesday, accused of lying about his relationship with a mobster in testimony to a grand jury investigating a casino owner’s possible ties to organized crime.

The Rev. Joseph Sica was arrested outside his home in Scranton. He is an adviser to Mount Airy Casino Resort owner Louis DeNaples, who is the subject of the grand jury investigation.

Sica’s arrest is the first to result from the Dauphin County grand jury probe, which is focused on whether DeNaples misled the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board when he said he had no connections to organized crime.

Sica was accused of lying to the grand jury last August about his relationship with the late Russell Bufalino, an organized crime boss who served lengthy prison terms in the 1970s and ’80s, according to grand jury findings cited in court papers.

The papers said Sica falsely told the grand jury that he had met Bufalino only by chance and had no relationship with him.

Prosecutors said the finding was based partly on a photograph that showed the priest arm-in-arm with Bufalino and another photo of him with William D’Elia of Hughestown, who reputedly heads the Bufalino crime family now.

Also, in a 1982 letter to Ginny Thornburgh, the wife of then-Gov. Dick Thornburgh, Sica referred to Bufalino as “his friend” and asked her to help free Bufalino, whom he called an innocent man, prosecutors said.

Sica was scheduled to be arraigned later Wednesday before Dauphin County Judge Todd A. Hoover, who is overseeing the ongoing grand jury investigation. It could not immediately be determined if Sica had a lawyer.

More.

Just in time for the Hawkeye Cauci (read the Iowa Caucus) the Clinton campaign is providing babysitters so parents can go to the Caucus.

In Thursday’s caucuses, it all comes down to getting out the vote. And Clinton is going to the extremes, even lining up baby-sitters and day care centers for caucus-going moms.

She is locked in a tight race with Democratic rivals Barack Obama and John Edwards. Securing every extra vote in a race in which fewer than 50,000 people may show up will be the difference between a momentum-building win or a humbling defeat.

Great comments on this story:

The teens will be watching the young ones and Bill Clinton (Sexual Predator at Large) will be watching the teens.

More