Obama Invokes God & Shipping Containers for the Homeless

Obama to Rabbis: "We are God's partners in matters of life and death"
This is not the man I voted for. In Washington on Wednesday, the President appealed to a group of rabbis to help him pass health care reform legislation. "I am going to need your help in accomplishing necessary reform," Obama said on a conference call. "We are God's partners in matters of life and death." Ugh. Now, I have no problem with Obama addressing religious "leaders" but I ain't so crazy about invoking God when he's trying to sell his policies, which was Bush's area of expertise. Obama's compulsive need to make (and keep) everybody happy is ultimately going to piss a lot of people off. I would assume that he (and his PR flaks) are smart enough to know that pandering is never a successful long-term strategy and ultimately damages his credibility and alienates his core supporters. C'mon Bam, first Rick Warren and now this!? Don't you remember anything your secular humanist mama taught you!?


Report: 40 Female Honor Killings in May in Pakistan Province
In the Sindh province of Pakistan, 40 women were murdered in honor killings, 20 women were gang raped and 43 women were kidnapped in the month of May 2009, according to a report by the Peace and Human Rights Trust (PHRT). Reports for June and July will be released soon.


High Society Cult Linked to Child Sacrifice
In West Africa, police are investigating a religious cult of predominantly wealthy people linked to child sacrifice. Authorities learned about the cult earlier this year and are taking the claims seriously. Sadly, the problem of cults and child sacrifices are not entirely rare in certain regions of Africa. On August 6, members of a cult shot and killed a policeman in Nigeria who was considered a threat to the group’s activities and in December of last year, a businessman was arrested in connection with the kidnapping and ritual killing of 12-year-old boy.


Strip Poker Priest on Trial for Sex Abuse
In Fairfax, Australia, a child sex abuse trial is underway for a Catholic priest who lured young boys into sexual trysts using pervy card games. Peter Julian Brock, 63, allegedly played a game called "strip jack" where the players lose pieces of clothing depending on what they are dealt. After getting the boys out of their clothes, Brock would proceed to sexually abuse them. Brock is facing 22 child sex charges involving two alleged victims during the 1970s.


Apocalyptic "Zombie" Teen Stabs Three
In the Bronx, a teen who claimed to be a zombie nearly stabbed his three younger siblings to death before being stopped by a neighbor. Nelson Santos, 17, attacked his two little brothers and sister with a butcher knife in an apartment before a neighbor wrestled him to the ground. "He said the world was going to end so he had to kill his brothers and sister," said the good samaritan. According to the police, Santos "said he was seeing demons" and neighbors claim he practiced black magic.


And finally...God Tells Man to Build Houses for the Homeless
I remember flipping through the Old Testament a few months ago and being amused by The Lord's extremely detailed instructions on how to prepare His lamb dinners. But I guess it's precisely those bizarre little idiosyncrasies that makes the God character so memorable. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that when a man in Texas received a message from The Great One to build housing for homeless people, God was very specific about what materials to use; which, in this case, are large shipping containers. So far, Mike Wallace has built a prototype which features a ceiling fan, enough space for a living and running water. Now Wallace wants to build larger versions of his prototype on a lot and rent them out to homeless folks for $150 a month. But city leaders are not so thrilled with the idea. "We have over a thousand people that we're trying to house through our homeless program," said Fort Worth City Council member Kathleen Hicks. "We're trying to find them quality, affordable, sustainable housing. This doesn't really help us get to our goal."