Woman loses assisted suicide case
Debbie Purdy on the court ruling
A woman with multiple sclerosis has lost her Appeal Court case to clarify the law on assisted suicide.
Debbie Purdy, 45, from Bradford, is considering going to a Swiss clinic to end her life, but fears her husband may be charged on his return to the UK.
She wanted clarification of where her husband, Omar Puente would stand legally if he helped her in any way.
But Ms Purdy said after the ruling: "I feel that I have won my argument, despite having lost the appeal."
I'm not prepared for him to face the British justice system without me
Debbie Purdy
She was diagnosed with primary progressive MS in 1995 and is now losing strength in her upper body. She has been in a wheelchair since 2001. More
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
Child porn viewing Punishable with Five years jail and Rs. ten lakh fineh
Child porn viewers to be jailed
New IT Act broadens list of offences
By Jayant Mishra in Mumbai @ Monday, February 16, 2009 9:11 AM
Browsing child pornography sites is to become an offence in India, along with the creation or transmission of child pornography.
The newly-proposed Information Technology bill, which is awaiting presidential assent, will punish anyone publishing, creating, exchanging, downloading or browsing any electronic depiction of children in an "obscene or indecent or sexually explicit manner". Offenders are liable to five years of imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1,000,000.
This is the first time in nine years that the bill has been revised. Other changes include bringing cyber terrorism, identity theft and violation of privacy into the domain of cyber crime. Critics of the bill say that it will enable the government to snoop into citizens’ computers while investigating "any offence".
Section 67 of the existing act deals with "publishing obscene information in electronic form", but does not specifically define "pornography" or make it an offence. Child pornography is not even mentioned. But the revised avatar, Section 67B, proposes specifically to punish involvement in sexually explicit content that depicts children. It will also be an offence to "cultivate, entice or induce children to online relationship with other children for a sexual act."
Cybercrime experts believe that once the bill is introduced it will have a huge positive impact. The only fear is that innocent users who accidentally open a site could be branded offenders. Source
New IT Act broadens list of offences
By Jayant Mishra in Mumbai @ Monday, February 16, 2009 9:11 AM
Browsing child pornography sites is to become an offence in India, along with the creation or transmission of child pornography.
The newly-proposed Information Technology bill, which is awaiting presidential assent, will punish anyone publishing, creating, exchanging, downloading or browsing any electronic depiction of children in an "obscene or indecent or sexually explicit manner". Offenders are liable to five years of imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1,000,000.
This is the first time in nine years that the bill has been revised. Other changes include bringing cyber terrorism, identity theft and violation of privacy into the domain of cyber crime. Critics of the bill say that it will enable the government to snoop into citizens’ computers while investigating "any offence".
Section 67 of the existing act deals with "publishing obscene information in electronic form", but does not specifically define "pornography" or make it an offence. Child pornography is not even mentioned. But the revised avatar, Section 67B, proposes specifically to punish involvement in sexually explicit content that depicts children. It will also be an offence to "cultivate, entice or induce children to online relationship with other children for a sexual act."
Cybercrime experts believe that once the bill is introduced it will have a huge positive impact. The only fear is that innocent users who accidentally open a site could be branded offenders. Source
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Marriage rates fall to 21.6 per 1000 men and to 19.7 for 1,000 women
Marriage rates fall to record low
Marriage is at its lowest level since records began nearly 150 years ago, new figures showed.
By Nick Allen
Last Updated: 1:15PM GMT 12 Feb 2009
Marriage: The levels for men and women were the lowest since records were first kept in 1862.
High profile divorce cases, the escalating cost of weddings, and the failure of the Government to support the institution of marriage were among the factors blamed.
It is now likely that married couples will be in the minority by next year as people increasingly choose to live together out of wedlock.
Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics, for the year 2007 in England and Wales, showed that 21.6 men out of every 1,000 men got married, down from 23 the previous year. The rate for women was 19.7 per 1,000, down from 20.7 in 2006.
The levels for men and women were the lowest since records were first kept in 1862.
There were a total of 231,450 marriages in 2007, an annual fall of 3.3 per cent, and the lowest number since 1895 when the population was little more than half its present level.
The figures pre-date the current financial crisis which is likely to have exacerbated the downward trend in marriage as couples put off their weddings because of the cost.
Average costs for a wedding have more than doubled over the last decade to more than £21,000.
The Government has been accused of fuelling the breakdown of marriage by introducing changes to the tax and benefits system that left married couples up to £5,000-a-year worse off than people who stay single. Mpre
Marriage is at its lowest level since records began nearly 150 years ago, new figures showed.
By Nick Allen
Last Updated: 1:15PM GMT 12 Feb 2009
Marriage: The levels for men and women were the lowest since records were first kept in 1862.
High profile divorce cases, the escalating cost of weddings, and the failure of the Government to support the institution of marriage were among the factors blamed.
It is now likely that married couples will be in the minority by next year as people increasingly choose to live together out of wedlock.
Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics, for the year 2007 in England and Wales, showed that 21.6 men out of every 1,000 men got married, down from 23 the previous year. The rate for women was 19.7 per 1,000, down from 20.7 in 2006.
The levels for men and women were the lowest since records were first kept in 1862.
There were a total of 231,450 marriages in 2007, an annual fall of 3.3 per cent, and the lowest number since 1895 when the population was little more than half its present level.
The figures pre-date the current financial crisis which is likely to have exacerbated the downward trend in marriage as couples put off their weddings because of the cost.
Average costs for a wedding have more than doubled over the last decade to more than £21,000.
The Government has been accused of fuelling the breakdown of marriage by introducing changes to the tax and benefits system that left married couples up to £5,000-a-year worse off than people who stay single. Mpre
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Niebuhr and Obama
Last year, Barack Obama cited Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971) as one of his favorite philosophers. The choice contrasted with George W. Bush's famous citation in 2000 of Jesus Christ as his favorite philosopher. Citing a deceased theologian with a German name seems sophisticated, and Jimmy Carter likewise often pointed to Niebuhr, and justifiably so. Niebuhr was probably the 20th century's finest ethicist in the liberal Protestant tradition.
Despite lay fans like Obama and Carter, who are themselves liberal Protestants, Niebuhr is today rarely embraced by the modern Religious Left, which prefers utopianism to Niebuhr's school of Christian realism. Niebuhr would appreciate the irony, because he himself was once a sort of utopian who shared the pacifism and socialism of Social Gospel enthusiasts after World War I. The rise of Nazism jolted Niebuhr back to the reality of transcendent evil, and he steadfastly endorsed World War II, even while criticizing the Allied bombing of German cities and questioning the atomic attacks on Japan. Later, he supported Western resistance to Soviet communism, though he opposed the Vietnam War almost from its start.
Niebuhr always remained left of center politically, endorsing the New Deal and welfare state, and heartily endorsing civil rights. A Lutheran, he taught for 30 years at Union Seminary in New York, which was then America's flagship liberal seminary. Today, like most once distinguished liberal seminaries, Union is a shadow of its former influence. But in Niebuhr's day it hosted some of America's great theological minds, including Niebuhr's colleague and close friend, Paul Tillich. Read it all here
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
In India one suicede in every 4 minutes 7000 baby girls killed every day
It is reported a staggering 336 suicides EVERY DAY during the last year (more than 1 suicide every 5 minutes), based on the latest report of the National Crime Records Bureau of the Incredible India. With this astonishing number of suicides taking place every few minutes, one can not stop wondering if this suicidal nation is in a fit state of mind at all to possess nuclear arms. After all, those in govt seats are also from this suicidal nation !!
Another sad factor that came out of this report was that more Indian men were ending their lives compared to the women, whereas traditionally in the Indian macho image, men were supposed to be mentally and physically stronger, and be able to support their families and the country, through rough times.
In addition, out of every three cases of suicides reported every 15 minutes in India, one is committed by a youth in the age group of 15 to 29. Even in Kerala, the country’s first fully literate state, some 32 people commit suicide in Kerala every day. Many questions arise about the education system, parenting, social system, govt actions and the current political situation which seems to be more of a dog fight to be fair. Politicians are at each other throats, using every dirty trick on the innocent common man in their fight. To be honest, it seems more like a jungle, where the fittest survives, and a common man, well, suicides.
In addition, out of every three cases of suicides reported every 15 minutes in India, one is committed by a youth in the age group of 15 to 29. Even in Kerala, the country’s first fully literate state, some 32 people commit suicide in Kerala every day. Many questions arise about the education system, parenting, social system, govt actions and the current political situation which seems to be more of a dog fight to be fair. Politicians are at each other throats, using every dirty trick on the innocent common man in their fight. To be honest, it seems more like a jungle, where the fittest survives, and a common man, well, suicides.
A wise man once said, “Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.” Every problem has a solution, and every good and bad time passes by. As this cowardly act is on the increase, especially amongst the educated, I am hoping that the Indian Govt is not ignoring the problem still. And along with the numbers from my other article about 7000 baby girls being murdered every single day in the “Incredible” India , now the numbers look even higher with one suicide every 4.2 minutes! source
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