It's Condom...Stupid

Outdated doctrine and misplaced faith creates perfect disaster that even Creator would shun.

Does the Church really care about her faithful?

• opposition of contraception make the poor even poorer -- Ghettos in Philippines and Latin America as proofs --, and
• creates downward spiral that the generation after generation could not escape -- destitution leads to lack of education, no health care hence diseases, teenage pragnancy, violence, drug abuses, sex trade, and crimes.
• Not willing to educate the faithful on the use of condom make them vulnerable to AIDS and SIDs
• With these groups of faithful being poor, uneducated, diseased, and crime-prone groups producing baby at much higher than world's average, the world even without wars will become a more dangerous place by the day.

Catholic condom ban helping AIDS spread in Latin America: UN
The Catholic Church opposes all forms of contraception and instead promotes abstinence.
Tue, Oct 23, 2007Reuters

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - The rapid spread in Latin America of the virus that causes AIDS is made worse by the Roman Catholic Church's stand against using condoms, a U.N. official said on Monday.

Some 1.7 million people across Latin America are infected with the HIV virus or full-blown AIDS, and the epidemic is spreading swiftly with up to 410,000 new cases in 2006, up from as many as 320,000 new cases in 2004, according the UN AIDS program, UNAIDS.

"In Latin America the use of condoms has been demonized, but if they were used in every relation I guarantee the epidemic would be resolved in the region," said Alberto Stella, the UNAIDS Coordinator for Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
The Catholic Church, which holds sway in Latin America despite the rise in evangelical churches, opposes all forms of contraception and instead promotes abstinence as a way to avoid spreading AIDS.

"The fact young people start to be sexually active between 15 and 19 without sex education contributes to the spreading of the virus, as well as the fact that the evidence shows abstinence is not working," Stella told Reuters.

Latin America is home to nearly half the world's 1.1 billion Catholics, but the Church's position on premarital sex and contraception often clashes with modern values. Brazil, the region's largest Catholic nation, regularly distributes free condoms to try and bring down HIV infection rates.

God created Adam & Eve Not Adam & Steve! ...

Following is my response to an article titled "God Created Adam & not Steve!" posted on Sammyboy's Forum by BBBrothers on behalf of Christians in Singapore (the original post is below my response).

Going by the logic of the title, all human must be descendent of Adam & Eve.

Question for the Christians: Are you also against INCEST???

Because after Adam and Eve, the family -- parents and child, siblings -- had to mount each other to mass produce the entire human race.

If you are against Incest then why do you support marriage -- and called it holy communion -- as that's aiding the Incest crime?

If you are not against Incest then why does homosexuallity bothers you as it's no more sinful or unnatural than Incest?

It has been scientifically proven that homosexuality (gayness) is inborn (natural) and exists in all animal segments. The statistics was between 10% and 20% of population are gay in any communities (i.e. 1 in every 5 to 10 people you know).

So, either your religion is wrong -- human are not from Adam and Eve, hence we are not incestious; which if that's the case, then there is no point talking about Adam and Eve --, or your logic is wrong as you obviously can't discern and reason.



"God created Adam & Eve Not Adam & Steve!
There has recently been wide discussion in the press and the Internet on the issue of homosexuality with different views expressed. Christians, like other thoughtful citizens, are also concerned about this issue.

We present our position below as a guide to Christians in our member churches and as our witness, as concerned citizens, to the society in which we belong. It saddens the church when we found out that a petition is out to change the penal code which will legalize homo related activities.

Our stand:
1) Recognizing the Bible as the authoritative standard for its faith and practice the Church has historically and consistently held the view that the practice of homosexuality is clearly incompatible with the teachings of the Christian faith. The only sexual relationship, sanctioned by God and given as a gift from God, is between a male and a female within the bounds of a monogamous marriage.

2) Therefore, we do not condone homosexual practice and we consider homosexual lifestyle as sinful and unacceptable. However, this does not mean that we reject or despise homosexuals (homophobia). We acknowledge that every person is loved by God and we all live under the grace of God. Homosexuals should be regarded and treated no less as persons of worth and dignity.

3) The Church is called to be a caring community and a sanctuary, always extending ministry to all persons. As sinners ourselves, we are committed to the path of true freedom made possible by the grace of God and found in and through obedience to Jesus Christ. Without minimizing their struggles, the Church offers those beset with homosexual desire the same opportunity to receive God's forgiveness and fulfillment in Jesus Christ and to experience His transforming power. Not accepting homosexual practice and lifestyle must not be confused with homophobia.

4) In public debate about homosexuality scientific data have sometimes been used to support certain claims. To the layperson, science has been unsuspectingly regarded as an objective discipline and conclusions based on its findings have been assumed as irrefutable and authoritative. But that is an assumption we do not accept especially with regard to attempts to give biological explanations to homosexual inclination and behaviour. We note that there is no clear evidence that homosexuality is biologically determined.

5) Though we deem homosexual lifestyle totally unacceptable on the basis of the Bible and our faith, we believe that unless there are legitimate reasons homosexuals, as individuals, should not be discriminated against in areas such as employment. It does not follow, however, that our society should be re-ordered or allowed to evolve to the extent that eventually homosexual practice is endorsed, permitted or encouraged as an alternative lifestyle. In this regard, we urge our government to maintain: a) current legislation concerning homosexuality;b) its policy of not permitting the registration of homosexual societies or clubs;c) its policy of not allowing the promotion of homosexual lifestyle and activities.

6) As churches we seek to remain faithful to our Christian faith and practice. We shall strengthen the education of our members in the teachings and practices of our faith. We are committed to serving our nation by helping to preserve and promote wholesome values and lifestyles that will contribute to the well-being of our society.

What is Unnatural must not be encouraged. "

Super City -- Greater Shanghai Area

Shanghai is in the process of building a super Greater Shanghai connecting cities within 300KM radius. The Greater Shanghai will be 34 times bigger than current and 8 times more populated.

The new super city will be the largest city in the world comprising 130M people -- a little more populated than Japan and half that of USA. Satellite cities within the Greater Shanghai areas will be connected by magnetic highspeed train and highways, as well as undersea tunnel linking Pudong and the outskirt islands to facilitate 25-min car ride from end to end.

Shanghai is also buidling a high speed magnetic rail to Beijing, making travel between the 2 most important cities in 5 hours. The rail will be ready for 2010 World Expo.

The new development is likely to reduce duplication investement, maximize return, permits efficiency in logistics and creates a synchronized region conducive for rapid production and international trade.

The arrangement will have Pudong as Financial Center, current Shanghai as international trading sea/air ports, and logistic hub. The satellite town and cities will serve as production bases and sub-urban living quarters. Shanghai sea port will definitely become the busiest container port in the world in near future.

Purely from investment perspective, this super city alone will grow at neck breaking rate for another decade or two. God knows if they would spread such development model to other parts of the country to raise the living standard of the inner land?

From ecology perspective, if done wrongly the super city could create super disaster for the world i.e. pollution magnifies and environment badly damage. However, if done right, it would be a sustainable high growth model.

I could imagine half of the world's cranes and cement and steel and plenty of oil... flowing to Shanghai...just not sure the earth could sustain such development.

What can I say? Holy F**K! Seldomly in a life time we get to see such a major happening -- quasi building a Japan in one go -- for better or worse.

It just make living in Singapore a stint in Mickey Mouse's land.

最有錢兩成家庭 囊括台灣逾半財富 -- Spore the same?

最有錢兩成家庭 囊括台灣逾半財富更新日期：2007/10/13 04:39 -- China Times Electronic Post



自二○○三年開始，台灣最有錢的五分之一家庭，其總收入占總體首度超越五成，收入最低的五分之一，此比例則已跌破五％。研究顯示，台灣與美國相同，財富也有快速集中化的傾向。



二○○三年，收入最頂尖的五％族群總收入占總體高達二三．八六％，而所得最低五％，只分到○．四六％，首度跌破○．五％的門檻。鄭保志說，這一群人年所得只有六萬八千八百四十九元，平均一個月只有五千元收入。「這群人不是真的很窮的人，就是做攤販，這種政府抓不到的人」



如果比較這兩群人的平均所得差距，一九九八年，最高與最低五％是三二．八倍，到二○○三年已高達五一．九倍。


如果以五分位法來看，最有錢的家庭，賺錢能力越來越驚人。二○○三年，最有錢五分之一家庭，總收入占全國高達五○．四三％，這是有史以來第一次超越五成。台灣經濟成長的果實，五成是落在這五分之一家庭身上。而這些收入，尚不包含海外所得、買賣股票的差價。



而收入最低的五分之一比重則跌落到四．八％。如果用這個數字來計算所得差距倍數，最高與最低所得者倍數早超過十倍。遠較主計處以問券調查的官方統計高。主計處的統計，所得差距倍數僅六點○七倍.



65er:

The same phenomena in Singapore.

• Top 20% earner made approx. 50% of total income.


• The next 30% made approx. 30% of total income.


• Hence, top 50% made 80% of total income.


• Top 20% family's income is 21 times that of the lowest 20% family's.
• Polarization happened.

What the brain sees

Capitalizing on Income Disparity

1) How conducive a country is for living depends on 1) level of development; 2) income disparity. The former the higher the better and the latter the narrower the better.
Never mind Canada is a more developed than Singapore, let's just compare income disparity of the same year.

Canada:
"In 2005, the average market income for families in the highest quintile was 12.8 times higher than those in the lowest quintile. However, once all government transfers are distributed, this ratio fell to 6.9 times higher. After taxes the average income for families in the highest quintile was 5.6 times higher than their counterparts in the lowest" -- Statistics Canada

Note: quintile means 20 percentile

Singapore (2005 income):
Top quintile (20%) avg. monthly income : S$12,890 (top 10%: S$16,480; 2nd 10%: S$9300); -- Department of Statistics, Singapore
Bottom quintile avg. monthly income : S$590 (lowest 10%: S$0; 2nd lowest 10%: S$1180); -- Department of Statistics, Singapore

Hence, income disparity for families in the highest quintile was 21.8 times higher than those in the lowest quintile.

Income disparity in Singapore is a lot higher even with the income re-distribution program named "Progress Package".

So Canada is a better place for making a living then Singapore.

2) When considering retirement, one needs to assess his disposable fund against equivalent in the national income scale to determine affordability and quality of life.

For illustration purpose, if S$4K monthly income is around 30th percntile income in Singapore, and a retiree with S$1K/mth disposable could live as well as a working person with S$4K/mth income but needs to pay for housing loan, tax, CPF, insurance, and transportation to work, then this retiree is said to have a quality of life equivalent to the 30th percentile income earner of that country.

Most of the time, a person who has income at a certain level will retire at a much lower level because the savings are usually not comparable to the expense needed to maintain the same level of quality of life while working. For example, a S$4K/mth earner might only be able to save enough to afford S$0.4K/mth for retirement -- equivalent to may be 70th percentile income earner.

A strategy to maintain the level of quality of life is to emmigrate to a place where cost of living is lower; which means income level is also proportionally lower.

So the same S$1K/month retirement will allow a person to live in the top 10% and S$0.4K/month the 30th percentile in Thailand, especially in places like Chiang Mai and lower cost cities.

So country like Thailand is a better place for retirement than Singapore.

Overall, one could live well and/or retire well by capitalizing on Income Disparity.

Sex crimes and the Vatican

"Sex crimes and the Vatican" was broadcasted by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on 2006-OCT-01. 1 They have placed the complete transcript online. 2

1. "Sex crimes and the Vatican" Panorama, BBC One, 2006-SEP-29, at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/

2. Transcript of the program is at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/

"Sex Crimes and the Vatican" was filmed by Colm O'Gorman, who was raped by a Catholic priest in the diocese of Ferns in County Wexford in Ireland when he was 14 years old. Father Seán Fortune was charged with 66 counts of sexual, indecent assault and another serious sexual offence relating to eight boys but he committed suicide on the eve of his trial. Colm started an investigation with the BBC in March 2002 which led to the resignation of Dr Brendan Comiskey, the bishop leading the Ferns Diocese. Colm then pushed for a government inquiry which led to the Ferns Report.

The Fern Report was the first to link church actions to a secret 1962 Vatican document called "Crimen Sollicitationis."

Crimen sollicitationis (Latin for "the crime of soliciting") was a confidential letter sent in 1962 by Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani , Secretary of the Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office, to "all Patriarchs, Archbishops, Bishops and other Local Ordinaries, including those of Eastern Rite".
It laid down rules for procedures to be taken against clerics (priests or bishops) accused of having used the sacrament of Penance to make sexual advances to penitents.

Crimen Sollicitationis was enforced for 20 years by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he became the Pope Benedict XVI.

On May 18, 2001, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (at that time prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) sent a letter to all Catholic Bishops reminding them of the strict penalties facing those who revealed confidential details concerning enquiries into allegations against priests of certain grave ecclesiastical crimes, including sexual abuse, reserved to the jurisdiction of the CDF.

How do one believe in a criminal and the criminal institution he lead?

How Fat Causes Diabetes

Obesity is condition of a body having big quantity of fats. Excessive fat overwhelms fat cells and the surplus stored in the liver. Fatty liver could cause insulin resistance and results in diabetes.

Possible explanations of fatty liver include the transfer of fat from other parts of the body or an increase in the extraction of fat presented to the liver from the intestine. Other explanations are that the liver reduces the rate it breaks down and removes fat. Eating fatty foods does not by itself produce a fatty liver.

After a meal, a portion of the food a person eats is broken down into sugar (glucose). The sugar then passes into the bloodstream and to the body's cells via a hormone (called insulin) that is produced by the pancreas. If the the person has insulin resistance, sugar builds up in the blood, overflows into the urine and then passes from the body unused. Over time, high blood sugar levels can damage:
eyes - leading to diabetic retinopathy and possible blindness
blood vessels - increasing risk of heart attack, stroke and peripheral artery obstruction
nerves - leading to diabetic neuropathy, foot sores and possible amputation, possible paralysis of the stomach, chronic diarrhea
kidneys - leading to kidney failure

Prevention of Diabetes
There is no foolproof way to prevent diabetes, but steps can be taken to improve the chances of avoiding it:

Exercise. Studies of both men and women have shown that vigorous exercise, even if done only once a week, has a protective effect against diabetes. Exercise not only promotes weight loss but lowers blood sugar as well.

Lose weight. There is evidence that both men and women who gain weight in adulthood increase their risk of diabetes. A study conducted at Harvard showed that adult women who gained 11 to 17 pounds since the age of 18 doubled their risk of diabetes; those who gained between 18 and 24 pounds almost tripled their risk. Fact: 90 percent of diabetics are overweight.

Diet. The use of a diet low in calories and in saturated fat is an ideal strategy for preventing Type II diabetes. (See the ADA guidelines stated in the TREATMENT section).

It seems that Exercise and Weight reduction are the best way to prevent/reduce Fatty Liver and prevent Diabetes.

Gout Relief

I had minor gout recently. As it was minor -- painful and affected walking but not wide spread--, I didn't take medication, but followed the following food recommendation by The American Medical Association.

The changes included avoiding certain foods (e.g. food with yeast) and consuming certain things like drinking more coffee black or with low fat milk.

Gout Treatment
With proper treatment, people who have gout do not usually progress to the chronic tophaceous phase of gout. What is the proper treatment of gout? Medications can be prescribed to help control gout and there are lifestyle recommendations. People with gout are advised to:

• Avoid alcohol or drink alcohol in moderation
  
• Drink plenty of water and other fluids
  
• Lose weight if overweight but avoid fasting or quick weight loss schemes
  
• Avoid eating foods high in purines
  

Note: purine produces Uric acid in the body; uric acid deposited in joints could become crystal -like and hurt the joints i.e. gout.

Purine-Rich Foods

According to the American Medical Association, purine-containing foods include:

• Beer, other alcoholic beverages.
  
• Anchovies, sardines in oil, fish roes, herring.
  
• Yeast.
  
• Organ meat (liver, kidneys, sweetbreads)
  
• Legumes (dried beans, peas)
  
• Meat extracts, consomme, gravies.
  
• Mushrooms, spinach, asparagus, cauliflower.
  

What Should You Eat?

Dietary restrictions suggest what people should not eat, but what should people eat? What foods will help control gout attacks? The American Medical Association recommends the following dietary guidelines for people with gout, advising them to eat a diet:

• high in complex carbohydrates (fiber-rich whole grains, fruits, and vegetables)
  
• low in protein (15% of calories and sources should be soy, lean meats, or poultry)
  
• no more than 30% of calories in fat (with only 10% animal fats)
  
  Recommended Foods To Eat
  
• Fresh cherries, strawberries, blueberries, and other red-blue berries
  
• Bananas
  
• Celery
  
• Tomatoes
  
• Vegetables including kale, cabbage, parsley, green-leafy vegetables
  
• Foods high in bromelain (pineapple)
  
• Foods high in vitamin C (red cabbage, red bell peppers, tangerines, mandarins, oranges, potatoes)
  
• Drink fruit juices and purified water (8 glasses of water per day)
  
• Low-fat dairy products
  
• Complex carbohydrates (breads, cereals, pasta, rice, as well as aforementioned vegetables and fruits)
  
• Chocolate, cocoa
  
• Coffee, tea
  
• Carbonated beverages
  
• Essential fatty acids (tuna and salmon, flaxseed, nuts, seeds)
  
• Tofu, although a legume and made from soybeans, may be a better choice than meat
  
• Foods considered moderately high in purines but which may not raise the risk of gout include: asparagus, cauliflower, mushrooms, peas, spinach, whole grain breads and cereals, chicken, duck, ham, turkey, kidney and lima beans.
  

It is important to remember that purines are found in all protein foods. All sources of purines should not be eliminated.