Texas Supreme Court: No damages awarded to girl who had forcible exorcism performed on her

Exorcism ruling was overturned in Texas:

A North Texas Pentecostal church should not be held liable for emotional trauma a former parishioner suffered as a youth when church members physically restrained and touched her during two exorcism attempts in 1996, the Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday. The high court’s decision reverses a $300,000 judgment a jury ordered paid to Laura Schubert in 2002… church members held her down and “laid hands” on her while she cried, kicked, clenched her fists, gritted her teeth and made guttural noises. She said the ordeal left her deeply depressed and suicidal and needing psychiatric help.

Full story here

St. Louis-area Town to bar swearing in bars

A St. Louis-area town is
considering a bill that would ban swearing in bars, along with
table-dancing, drinking contests and profane music.

Too weird…

Full story here

Video of Japanese Castles

Interesting video of Japanese castles:

Catholic Church crosses the line by telling people who they can or cannot vote for!

A pro-life Republican, Douglas Kmiec, was denied Communion because he endorsed Barack Obama.

In their statement “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” issued last November, the [US Conference of Catholic Bishops] said: “A Catholic cannot vote for a candidate who takes a position in favor of an intrinsic evil, such as abortion or racism, if the voter’s intent is to support that position.”

This is why religion an politics should never mix.

What if there are two candidates with these positions:

Candidate #1

• anti-choice — wants to overturn Roe vs. Wade
• pro war — wants to continue the Iraq War and is interested in starting new wars

Candidate #2

• pro-choice — is against abortion, but knows that people are going to have abortions anyways and wants to keep them as safe as possible
• anti-war — wants to end the Iraq War ASAP and is interested in diplomacy more than starting new wars.

The US Bishops are forbidding Catholics from voting for Candidate #2 just because of the abortion issue? What about the war issue? Is Jesus OK with people dropping bombs on civilians–or even on enemies?

Before one votes for a pro-war candidate, one should carefully read the Book of Matthew Chapter 5.

Full story here.

Debt causes health problems

Edward Driscoll, 38, of Braintree, Mass…blames debt — $10,000 worth — for contributing to his ulcers and his wife Kimberly’s panic attacks. “Just worrying, worrying, worrying, you know, where the next payment of this is going to come from,” he says.

Read the full story here.

Crocodile Trapped in South Carolina

A 6 foot long croc was spotted in the surf in South Carolina. It isn’t known whether the crocodile swam up the coast from Florida, or if it was an escaped pet.

Full story here.

The Expat Resource List

Some useful sites for people interested in spending time abroad:

• Expatriate FAQs
• Transitions Abroad
• Escape Artist
• Expat Exchange

New record for oil prices

Oil prices are up to a record $139:

Oil prices shot up more than $11 to a new record above $139 Friday after Morgan Stanley predicted prices would hit $150 by the Fourth of July. The unprecedented jump is all but certain to drive gas prices well past the $4 mark in the coming weeks. Oil’s meteoric surge, which pushed prices more than 8 percent higher in a single day, added to a huge increase Thursday to cap oil’s biggest two-day gain in the history of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Full news story here.

Funny pics

Weird, funny stuff from around the Web:

• Cat beats dog
• Running with the bulls (ow)
• weird cat (!)
• Mini-Bush

Baby for sale on Craigslist?

Weird story about baby for sale on craigslist.org:

A couple has been arrested in what Canadian police said on Tuesday was an apparent offer to sell a seven-day-old baby girl on Craigslist for C$10,000 ($10,100).

More here.