Nguyen Van Dai.

Protesting 600 days for Nguyen Van Dai.

On 7 August 2017, Nguyen Van Dai reached 600 days of being detained without trial. To commemorate this day, and every day he’s spent unjustly imprisoned, we tallied 600 days in chalk onto the pavement leading up to the Vietnamese embassy in London. Activists in several countries, including the US, Ireland and Czech Republic, also marked the day, which gave the case much-needed press attention. We’re continuing to advocate for Dai. Please keep him in your prayers. CSW.

Bees And Pollen.

 

SAFE SITES FOR POLLEN found, according to reports in ScienceDaily 6 September 2017 and PLOS ONE doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0182522, 6 September 2017. When bees visit flowers they will collect pollen all over their bodies and legs. Before they visit another flower the bees may groom themselves and move a lot of the pollen into their crop or transfer it to special structures on their legs to be transported back to the hive and used to feed the bee larvae. This means pollen gathered for feeding the young bees is no longer available to pollinate other flowers, which sets up an apparent conflict of interest between bees’ need for nutritious food for their young and plants’ need to be fertilised. Three scientists at the Institute of Sensory Ecology, Heinrich-Heine-University, DuÈsseldorf, Germany have tested a theory that there are pollen “safe sites” where the pollen is not removed by the bees, and is therefore available to the flowers. Researchers carefully observed the grooming pattern of bees by placing them in jars containing pollen. The bees behaved like the proverbial “bee in a bottle” and flew around stirring up the pollen, and ended up covered in pollen grains all over their bodies and legs. The pollen-covered bees were then transferred to clean jars and allowed to groom themselves. The researchers found that after grooming the bees still had pollen on their bodies – most in their waists and on the back of the thorax. They then tested bees with flowers to see if these sites on the bees were contacted by the flowers’ anthers (pollen producers) and stigma (pollen receptors). The scientists marked the anthers and stigma of two species of flowers with fluorescent dye, and then allowed bees to visit the flowers. They found the fluorescent dye was transferred to the same sites where the pollen had remained in the grooming experiment. Petra Wester, who led the study, summed up the results: “For the first time, we experimentally demonstrated the position, area and pollen amount of so-called safe sites at the body of honeybees and bumblebees. We also showed that these specific body areas bees cannot groom are contacted by pollen-sacs and stigmas of several plant species, confirming the importance of the bees’ safe sites”. The researcher team suggest more research should be carried out on the way flowers guide bees to take up a favourable position for pollen transfer to and from safe sites when bees visit flowers.
Link: ScienceDaily

ED. COM. So the bees choose to leave some pollen where it is, or they can’t reach their own plant friendly spots? Either way this is a classic case of two different living things meeting each other’s needs. In order to do this both must have the right structures and behaviour. Bees have a hairy surface, well suited for pollen to attach, along with the pollen storing structures for taking it back to the hive. Flowers need to produce an abundance of pollen, and have access to the “safe sites” on the bees’ bodies. This means it is not enough just to attract bees to the flowers with colour and fragrance, the flowers must have the right physical structure and/or specific guidance signals, e.g. colour patterns, that entice the bees to be in the right place for pollen transfer to and from safe sites. Therefore, the researchers are right in wanting to do more research into how flowers guide bees. This study and any that follow it are good reminders that nothing in the living world works in isolation. God created whole functioning ecosystems that work by cooperation. They only work when living things already have the necessary structures and functions built into them. The processes ascribed to evolution, i.e. competition, selection and survival of the fittest, will not produce any such systems, as these processes do not make new genetic information in bees or plants. The mutual benefit provided by such systems is also a reminder that God made everything very good. Natural selection and the struggle for life are destructive processes that are a result of the world going downhill following man’s sin and God’s judgement. They are not creative processes, and it is absurd to claim that God used these to create the very good world that was completed before sin spoiled it. Finally, this kind of mutually beneficial system has to be set up quickly because it won’t work until all the contributors are there. Six days of creation by God who designed the whole system will work, millions of years of chance random processes will not. Creation Research.

No Birdie Today: Stand-In Does A Fine Job.

May Promises That Brexit Will Occur.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/860967/brexit-news-latest-uk-eu-theresa-may-bbc-andrew-marr-florence-brussels-european-union

Our Forgiveness Rests On Us Forgiving, In Our Turn.

Henry.

'EU will negotiate FOREVER!' Ukip leader rails against EU chiefs over Brexit deadline.

UKIP leader Henry Bolton lambasted European Union negotiators saying Brussels will “negotiate forever” on Brexit if they have the chance.

By CHRIS CAMPBELL

Henry has made a good start. He has Nigel Farage's full support; won the vote comfortably and, seemingly, has nothing that the media could feasibly use against him.

I know so many of the senior Ukipites but must admit that I had never even heard his name prior to these elections.

Begotten Not Created.

Catalonia - Spanish Government Yields The Moral High Ground.

Catalans 'vote overwhelmingly for independence' in 'illegal' referendum as Spanish PM denies poll has taken place and world leaders condemn police crackdown that left 844 protesters injured while Barcelona fans were barred from their stadium.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4937860/Riot-police-clash-voters-Catalonia.html

DEMOCRACY MUST PREVAIL!

So True.

Acid In The Face.

Roger Crossley, Fall View, Silkstone, Barnsley. RECENTLY I learnt that a man, who had severely disfigured and partly blinded someone by throwing acid in his face, had had his sentence reduced from ‘life’ to eight years imprisonment. I expect that most people will be disturbed and angered by the picture of the victim’s face, and the reduction of the sentence. 

However, I ask that in cases like this when original sentencing is overturned, isn’t it in the “public interest” to be made aware of the rationale behind such action, making the judges accountable for their decisions, and to the public whom they serve? Obviously extenuating circumstances will have been considered, which I assume most right-minded people would also deem relevant. So by explaining their actions, we, the public, may have a better understanding behind these decisions, leading hopefully to less anger and annoyance. It all depends on the quality of the decision-making process in each case, but at least we should be made aware of them, and know that our judges are doing their jobs properly.

Read more at: http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/opinion/yp-letters-judges-can-t-be-a-law-unto-themselves-1-8774955

Acid Attacks: What Constitutes 'Just and Righteous Punishment'?

Just over two years ago I recall reading of a sentence given in an Islamic court in a country in the Middle East.

A man had thrown acid into the face of his victim and left that person disfigured and blind.

I never did discover if the perpetrator's appeals failed and whether he was blinded, in his turn, by having acid poured into his eyes by process of law.

I can recall my horror at that time and my screams against the perceived barbarity of that system.

I have pondered this situation long and hard in the interim - and even though I would probably never advocate a similar setup in the UK - my musings have, however, made me rather more ambivalent over this lengthy intervening period:

1) No punishment other than the sentence given could bring balance, proportionality as well as a disposal designed to ensure that the punishment would fit the crime.

2) Have I not, myself, railed against those abolitionists who oppose capital punishment because, allegedly, 'it is barbaric'.

3) The Lex Talionis directs us to 'eye for eye ... life for life'.

4) Jesus did not undermine the Law.

5) It is a civil punishment and not a question of forgiveness.

6) The victim should forgive but there is no such requirement on society.

7) No punishment, other than the sentence given, can match that disposal - even death is arguably a lesser outcome.

8) Punishment is very much a moral template: there is a moral imperative. It states what will be tolerated and what cannot.

9) This person is open to the possibility of God's forgiveness - but as this was a calculated act against society - society must demonstrate the horror of the act by the horror of its response.

10) There is no issue of rehabilitation involved. The original act was SO terrible - reform of the perpetrator canot be the issue.

11) The disposal is righteous - God says so!

12) If you think that The Woman Taken In Adultery is an equivalent to this - it is not. (Put that title into this Blog's search engine.)

13) Society is wholly protected from a repeat atrocity by this man without all of the attendant costs of incarcerating him.

14) Such a clinical act is horrendously cruel. Yes, it is. But ...

15) The deterrent effect of such an action would return us to the times when mothers taught their children to FEAR the Law - something which no longer obtains.

16) This deterrence will inevitably save others from such appalling victimhood. WHY are we not concentrating on the victim here?

17) The victim's forgiveness of the person should never outweigh society's need for an example.

18) Restorative justice is impossible.

19) In our own nation, we are in the midst of a host of acid attacks by gang members against rivals - and from moped riders in robberies. How do we respond in our courts?

 Please compare and contrast the two systems. Which of the two would wipe out this plague in our midst after the first two sentences have been put in place?

 After these astonishingly compelling thoughts, I am still unable to say that this is what I should like to see here. I would opt for incredibly lengthy sentences in harsh prison conditions.

But even now - I am asking myself whether these attitudes simply represent weakness on my part.

Justice is justice - after all.

Warming To Rees-Mogg.

Rees-Mogg defiant over abortion row: Furore after Catholic Tory MP says it is wrong to abort babies - even in rape cases.

The practising Catholic and father of six, who has been tipped as a future Conservative leadership contender, said all terminations were 'morally indefensible'. Mail.

The 'rape issue' is a non-issue IF we accept that this is perhaps the one set of circumstances where there is justification for the use of 'a morning after pill.'

Some argue this as being 'a very early abortion' - but anything which prevents partly-formed children being wrenched out of the mother's body has to be an improvement on what we currently have!

Amusing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFGiZT-MnI4

Parents Take A Stand.

Christian Parents Pull Son From Church of England School After It Allows Boys to Dress as Girls

BY STOYAN ZAIMOV

A Christian couple in the U.K. has decided to pull their six-year-old son from a Church of England primary school in protest against the school's handling of concerns related to allowing transgender students. http://www.christianpost.com/news/christian-parents-pull-son-from-church-of-england-school-after-it-allows-boys-to-dress-as-girls-198732/

Birdie.

Bernard Manning.

He was known by the left and supersensitive as being 'an offensive act'.

Funny how the silence is absolute when the same people are asked to condemn the vile Frankie Boyle. Innit?

'Controversial'? - Sez WHO?

James Jordan has weighed in on calls for ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ to feature same-sex dance pairings, and sure enough he’s been typically controversial. 

Speaking to the Daily Star, he raged: “No, there definitely shouldn’t be same-sex couples on ‘Strictly’.

“Ballroom and Latin dance is about masculinity and femininity. It’s not about sexual orientation. It’s not a dating show. Why can’t a gay man dance with a woman?

“It’s actually insulting that you’re trying to change our profession with people saying same-sex couples should definitely be on there when it doesn’t need to be.”The debate was back in the news again recently after one of this year’s contestants, Susan Calman, was forced to speak out on her decision to dance with man, rather than a woman. Aol

Avoiding Bowel Cancer.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-4936506/How-cut-risk-bowel-cancer.html
You cannot guarantee to beat this BUT you can change the odds into your favour.

Ephesians 4:1-3.

Hefner Dead - I Hope He Repented!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-4936920/Former-Girlfriend-No-1-reveals-life-Playboy-Mansion.html

Er ...

The Creation Guy - Itinerary.

http://www.creationresearch.net/2415-john-mackay-and-joseph-hubbard-uk-itinerary-october-2017