(Washington, DC, Feb 8, 2013)—Humanists and other nontheists are enthusiastic about a proposal by Washington D.C. City Councilmember Tommy Wells to allow anyone to perform a wedding ceremony in the nation’s capital.

The bill under consideration will create a single-use “temporary officiant” designation for anyone to perform the marriage of a specific couple. Under current DC law, only religious authorities and court officers can perform marriages, with applications by those with a religious affiliation not always approved. The proposal by Wells for a temporary permit tied to a specific wedding would have no such requirements.

“Couples should have the freedom to choose an officiant, and she or he should not need a religious affiliation to solemnize a marriage,” said Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the American Humanist Association. “With the religiously unaffiliated nearing 20 percent of the general population, more and more people will be seeking the services of secular officiants and non-religious ceremonies.”

The Humanist Society, an adjunct of the American Humanist Association, trains and equips officiants to perform humanist, nonreligious, and interreligious weddings and other lifecycle ceremonies. Speckhardt continued, “I hope elected officials in other states will take notice and introduce similar legislation that gives all marrying couples the freedom to choose.”

http://www.americanhumanist.org/news/details/2013-02-humanists-applaud-dc-bill-allowing-secular-wedding-o

"Beliefs do not change facts. Facts, if one is rational, should change beliefs"

Ireland’s government was directly involved in sending girls and women to work for nothing in laundries run by Catholic orders, a landmark report published Tuesday concluded. The report by Irish Senator Martin McAleese found that orphans and abused, neglected or unruly children were among more than 10,000 sent to the Magdalen Laundries from 1922 to 1996.

Some had committed minor crimes, others were simply homeless or poor. Women with mental or physical disabilities and some people with psychiatric illness also found themselves in the laundries. Their average age, the report found, was 23, but the youngest child was just nine and the oldest known entrant was 89.

Activists called on the government to issue a formal apology and pay compensation, with one group saying those affected had been "treated like slaves."

Their plight came to greater public attention when it was the subject of a 2002 film called The Magdalene Sisters, which used a different spelling. And in June 2011, the United Nations’ Committee on Torture highlighted allegations of "physical, emotional abuses and other ill-treatment" and said it was "gravely concerned" at Ireland’s failure to "protect girls and women who were involuntarily confined."

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/05/16854772-ireland-sent-girls-women-to-catholic-workhouses-until-1996-report-finds

Recently, Dr. Mehmet Oz, the cardiologist who accepts “reiki” and “evening-out the human body’s energy aura,” announced his acceptance of homeopathy, possibly the most thoroughly tested quack medicine claim, ever; it has failed every double-blind, legitimate, scientific set of tests to which it has been subjected. In November 2002, I offered the JREF million-dollar prize to the UK homeopaths if their claims could pass an extensive test based upon the protocol designed by Dr. Jacques Benveniste [1935-2004] -- a major supporter of homeopathy -- supervised by the Royal Society, the Royal London Hospital, University College, London, and Guy's Hospital, and witnessed by the homeopaths themselves. The results were quite negative, but Dr. Oz has chosen to accept this weird idea, and endorsed it on his site. Comments immediately poured in on his website for his “Homeopathic Starter Kit”…

I took just the first 25 responses to examine. Two of them – falsely – asserted that the negative comments were being deleted, though for all I know, that might have been done, at first. Of the 25, there were nine that were in favor of Oz’s new woo-woo factor. Of those 9, five were from homeopathic “doctors” or from persons connected to “alternative” healing agencies, and two offered Dr. Oz “blessings.” There was one that I still haven’t figured out – #21, and the rest – 12 – ridiculed both the show and Dr. Oz.

Here they are, in order:

All the negative comments are being deleted. I suppose that the relative dilution of the negative comments will only make them stronger?
When a doctor tells you to take medicine with no active ingredients, it's okay to question the motives of that doctor. Just so you know.
Homeopathy is at best quack medicine and at worst potentially life threatening if taken in place of genuine medical treatment. Dr. Oz should be ashamed of himself for promoting this and in my opinion should be struck off the medical register for ignoring the first rule: “First, do no harm “. Homeopathy causes a great deal of harm.
See how your comment (and mine) gets deleted!
Jelly Beans are more delicious, and you can have a good witch doctor enchant them at half the cost. A fractional solution of atoms in a water pill isn't medicine. Investigate "peer reviewed medicine" and save your money. One can only hope the FDA discredits you and your snake oil before more people suffer while you sell them magic healing.
Seems the snake oil salesmen will never go away.
Homeopathy = water. LOLOLOLOL!
I knew Oz was a joke, but this is ridiculous. Homeopathy is one of the biggest jokes in history. LOL. Fools. Good for a laugh anyway.
Dr OZ - stick to what you know. Don't peddle overpriced water. If homeopathy worked, we'd have to recognize we are all surviving on urine.
Absurd! Sylvia Browne next?
A timely and important show to inform the public about the value of homeopathy for healing the body, mind and spirit. Very thankful that Dr Oz supports this form of medicine for his family and his audience. We appreciate having expert guests on in this field and that people can take basic steps towards healing and learning about fundamental remedies in every day ailments. Blessings, Debby.
Thirsty anyone? Homeopathy is known to cure thirst. Of course, why wouldn't it, if it's really nothing more than water?
Dr Oz thank you for your program on Homeopathy. I as a homeopathic doctor really appreciate like many others your courage to air such a program. May be in future shows you can continue to bring in Homeopathic doctors from all over the world to share their experiences. Congratulations. (from an “alternative school” in Calcutta)
is there a book/site that tells whats best for who? they touched a bit about it on the show, i kno sum things work different for sum people...im really interested in transitioning
No, I think what you'll have to do is take a medical degree. Homeopathy is a dangerous scam.
Homeopathic remedies are just water with no active ingredients and no therapeutic value, unless you are thirsty.
Wow, as usual, I learned so much. Thank you for having homeopaths on your show that were clear on what homeopathy actually is and practical ways to use it for myself and my family. I've been very interested in homeopathy and am excited to hear more successful remedies that it is used for, especially those ailments that traditional medicine doesn't have any answers for. I'll be ready for the next show.
Think about that for a minute... if traditional medicine does not have an answer, could it be because the answer is complex, the illness little understood? Do you really believe that medical science has not looked at these "cures" and found them useless. Save your hard earned money. Don't buy into this pseudoscience just because it's promoted by a handful of people with degrees. Do some research, and you'll find many feel that homeopathy is no better than placebo, if that.
Wonderful to see homeopathy presented here! Next shows might include using homeopathy for more chronic ailments where it also can offer benefit!
Yes, I agree with Dr. Khan, thanks to Dr. Oz for the courage to do this show on homeopathy!
If you have questions about homeopathy check this out!
You're the man Dr. Oz, thank you for coming out, glad to know that there are a few good men around after all... God bless you.
homeopathy is considered the first alternative healing after allopathy, by World Health Organisation (Davar’s College of Homeopathy, Mumbai, India And please note: “Allopathy” refers to all modern medical means other than homeopathy. Thus, this commenter is saying that orthodox medicine comes first in efficacy, followed by quackery!)
Amazing show. Thank You for your support for homeopathy. It heals at the deepest level by catalyzing the innate healing responses our body has. (Holistic Health Practitioner)
Thank you Doctor Oz for posting about homeopathy. It is a medicine that changed my life. I found out about it by accident, and I can say because of it, I am very healthy today. (posted by The Four Winds Society, a group of shamans preaching ancient Inca healing ideas)

Count on it, Dr. Oz will not be fazed in the least, and will continue to promote this nonsense from his TV pulpit…

http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/2014-homeopathy-again-strikes-out-in-style.html

Several potency scales are in use in homeopathy. Hahnemann created the centesimal or "C scale", diluting a substance by a factor of 100 at each stage. The centesimal scale was favored by Hahnemann for most of his life. A 2C dilution requires a substance to be diluted to one part in one hundred, and then some of that diluted solution diluted by a further factor of one hundred. This works out to one part of the original substance in 10,000 parts of the solution.[2] A 6C dilution repeats this process six times, ending up with the original material diluted by a factor of 100?6=10?12. Higher dilutions follow the same pattern. In homeopathy, a solution that is more dilute is described as having a higher potency, and more dilute substances are considered by homeopaths to be stronger and deeper-acting remedies.[3] The end product is often so diluted that it is indistinguishable from the dilutant (pure water, sugar or alcohol).[4][5][6]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathic_dilutions

A 666 stamped W-2 led to 52-year-old Walter Slonopas quitting his job, according to a Feb. 7 WFMY News report. Slonopas had worked in maintenance at Contech Casting LLC in Clarksville, Tenn. That all changed after his W-2 form was stamped with the number 666, which is referred to as the "number of the beast" in the Bible. After seeing the number on his tax paperwork, Slonopas resigned. In fact he said,

"If you accept that number, you sell your soul to the devil."

He was worried that continuing his job would damn him to an eternity in hell. It seems that when he began working on Contech Casting in April 2011, he was also mistakenly assigned the number 666 to use when he clocked in. He was supposed to be assigned 668. Ultimately, he complained and the number was changed. Unfortunately, that wasn't the end of the "number of the beast" for Slonopas. In July 2011, the company changed time clock services, and he got the number 666 again, and he promptly quit his job. However, the company changed his number and reinstated him.

Apparently this new instance of 666 stamped on his W-2 was just too much for him to take. In fact, he will not even file his taxes with the W-2 that has 666 stamped on it. He would like a new one issued without the number. The good news for Slonopas is that Contech Casting is mailing out a new W-2 this week, and they even want him to come back to work. Hopefully if he does, the 666 problem will not crop up again.

http://www.examiner.com/article/666-stamped-w-2-leads-to-man-quitting-job?cid=SM-facebook-020713-4.05p-666stamp

It was a startling assertion that seemed an about-face from church doctrine: A Catholic hospital arguing in a Colorado court that twin fetuses that died in its care were not, under state law, human beings.

When the two-year-old court filing surfaced last month, it triggered an avalanche of criticism — because the legal argument seemed to plainly clash with the church's centuries-old stance that life begins at conception.

But it is also now fueling an already raging debate in Colorado and beyond about whether fetuses should have legal rights and, if so, what kind.

On Monday, the hospital and the state's bishops released a statement acknowledging it was 'morally wrong' to make the legal argument.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2273557/It-morally-wrong-Catholic-hospital-apologizes-arguing-court-fetus-human-being.html#ixzz2K4uPrt6Z