CP World Report: Chick-fil-A, Pakistan Girl and Blasphemy, 9/11 Cross, Phyllis Diller
Six-term Republican Congressman Todd Akin of Missouri, who's running for the U-S Senate, is backpedaling from a controversial remark about abortion. And the Romney-Ryan campaign is even weighing in.
The organizer of a large picnic event designed to unify Republican leaders and supporters in Connecticut next weekend has canceled plans to serve 100 Chick-fil-A sandwiches. Mitch Beck decided….. the controversy over the restaurant owner—Dan Cathy's-- stand against same-sex marriage might become a distraction. But his own decision has become one. Democratic State Central Committee Chairwoman Nancy DiNardo issued a statement about it. She ridiculed the decision by Beck and framed it as a civil rights issue as many supporters of same-sex marriage have done. Beck plans to give 90 of the sandwiches to a homeless shelter and keep 10 for "event staff to taste."
Pakistan's president has ordered his Interior Ministry to look into the recent arrest of a Christian girl accused of violating Pakistan's blasphemy law. Rimsha is 11 years old with downs syndrome. She comes from a poor area in Islamabad. She is accused of desecrating pages from the Koran; and she could face the death penalty. But the law is often exploited as a means of revenge on adversaries or to persecute minority faiths and Christians. News of little Rimsha's accusation of blasphemy caused neighbors to go on a rampage. They attacked her sister and mother and burned down several Christian homes. Many Christians fleed the area out of fear.
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The Lord's Prayer is often heard as the opening of meetings and seminars across the country.
But atheists groups in Pennsylvania are calling for an end to the practice at local school board meetings.
Members showed up at one of those meetings to make their protest heard.
The National September 11th Memorial and Museum has filed court papers seeking to throw out a lawsuit by American Atheists against the presentation of the World Trade Center Cross-shaped steel beam. The lawsuit was filed last year. Now the museum is challenging the validity of the New Jersey-based atheist group's argument. American Atheists claim the display imposes religion "through the power of the state;" while the museum argues that it is an "independent non-profit corporation."
Annaleise Carr has become the youngest Canadian to swim across Lake Ontario. The 14-year-old's 27-hour trek across Lake Ontario was for charity. She was aiming to raise $30,000 for Camp Trillium, a childhood cancer center, but she ended up with close to $80,000. The first person ever to swim across Lake Ontario was 16-year-old Marilyn Bell in 1954.
FROM THE WORLD OF ENTERTAINMENT…..
68 year old Director Tony Scott had died in an apparent suicide. Scott was best known for the films "Top Gun" and "Beverly Hills Cop II." Police have reported….he jumped from the Vincent Thomas Bridge in California. The bridge spans the L.A. Harbor, connecting San Pedro and Terminal Island. Hollywood Journalist Jeanne Wolf talks about the shock of the news…..
Legendary Comedian Phyllis Diller, known for her self-depracating humor and hairstyle, died peacefully in her sleep yesterday. Her son Perry….found her with a smile on her face. Diller's career as a stand-up comic, started when she was 37, skyrocketed in the '60s, partly because of her many appearances with Bob Hope on his television specials.
AND IN SPORTS…..
Augusta National--home of the Masters golf tournament-- has admitted the first women members in its 80-year history. Among the first to hold the honors: Former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and South Carolina businesswoman Darla Moore. They accepted the invitations to join the club. Augusta National has come under increasing pressure to admit women members. The issue first came to a head in 2003 when Martha Burk, a leader in the National Council of Women's Organizations, conducted a rally across the street from Augusta National, where the first black member was inducted in 1990.
