Cuba survived Hurricane Charlie, with no deaths reported. One man was killed in Jamacia as the tropical storm gained strength.
Florida has prepared to be hit today.

In China, in spite of the evacuation of nearly 1/2 million citizens in the patch of typhoon Rananim, 63 people are dead and over 1,800 are wounded.
The storm hit south of Shanghai and is the most powerful typhoon to hit the country in seven years. Winds were clocked at over 160km/h.

A British journalist has been kidnapped in Iraq.
James Brandon is a freelance reporter for the Sunday Telegraph, and is experienced in war reporting.

Using religion to sell a war
A researcher at the University of Washington has documented the US president’s public use of religious words since September 11, 2001.
David Domke looks at the media timeline of staying quiet and failing to challenge what he calls political fundamentalism. Domke has released a book called “God Willing?: Political Fundamentalism in the White House, the ‘War on Terror,’ and the Echoing Press.

As Bush makes his case for a second term, the research by David Domke documents how during his first term the president effectively linked religious terminology with political goals in the turbulent months after the Sept. 11 attacks.

In all but one of Bush’s 15 national addresses between 9/11 and the end of major combat in Iraq, for example, he cast the campaign against terrorism as a simple struggle of good (America) vs. evil, according to Domke’s book. And in four of the speeches, Bush issued explicit declarations that administration policies and goals were in line with divine powers.

Yet only two of the 326 post-speech editorials in 20 leading newspapers challenged the religiously derived notion of good vs. evil, and none questioned the president’s statements about God’s will.

There are institutes and blogs that monitor the use of religious-political fundamentalist language from Arab countries and the Middle East. Domke says the US media failed the public by uncritically echoing the message.

The coverage, Domke found, gave uncritical voice to four key fundamentalist messages from the administration:

1) Simplistic, black-and-white conceptions of the political landscape.

2) Calls for immediate action on administration policies as a necessary part of the nation’s “calling” and “mission” against terrorism.

3) Declarations about the will of God for America and for the spread of U.S. conceptions of freedom and liberty.

4) Claims that dissent from the administration was unpatriotic and a threat to the nation.

“These messages were rooted in a religiously conservative worldview,” Domke said, “yet they were often framed by both the administration and the news media to emphasize a sense of nationalism.

“That made the fundamentalist approach attractive, or at least palatable, to the press and public,” Domke added, “in a period when Americans were trying to understand what had happened and why.”

Keep quiet Canada
Canada’s Revenue Agency apparently called a meeting of various church and para-church leaders prior to our summer federal election and told them they risked losing their tax exempt status if they got involved in partisan political action.
Hello. CRA. Why not go after the several thousand fradulent charities in Canada that are a disgrace to us and the rest of the world?
And another thing. Canadians want civil discourse and respect shown during elections, but Ottawa, you really need to get a clue. Don’t push too hard Ottawa. Canadian citizens have ways of pushing back.

link via relapsed catholic

Athens
The Olympics begin today. If you like getting your information from a blog I recommend an international group effort out of Australia.
The world’s most popular search engine has carried on it’s tradition of marking special days with some whimsy.