Magic Statistics

A new study has found that marriage is associated with lower mortality and better health among men.  Even one marital break-up was significantly associated with higher mortality.  Some cumulative effects were found: as the number of years divorced increased, mortality rates also increased.  Also, the association between marriage and lower mortality grew stronger with age.

The study was conduced by researchers at the University of Cogenhagen and published in International Journal of Epidemiology.

In an interview, lead researcher Rikke Lund elaborated on the study and its implications.

According to Lund, some of the males in the study committed suicide and others died of alcohol related illnesses, but a quarter of the men died of coronary heart disease. Lund hopes that the research will be used constructively.

'Considering the high amount of children growing up in broken homes we do believe that the study is very relevant. It proves that divorce can have a serious consequence.'

Both Lund and John Aasted Halse, another researcher on the project, think their findings bolster the case for compulsory counseling for those seeking a divorce.  Such a policy has proved successful in Norway.  Says Halse:

'It would be an idea to do the same as in Norway. When somebody files for a divorce there, they are obliged to seek counselling. This has resulted in 25-30 percent of people changing their minds and choosing to stay together.'

via MarriageDebate.com.

The 2006 General Convention of the Episcopal Church USA begins on 13 June, and Episcopal and Anglican bloggers are already moving into place to provide gavel-to-gavel coverage.  (I assume gavels are used at ECUSA conventions.)

CaNN has set up its umpteenth blog solely to bring the latest news from ECUSA GC06, and it’s now up and running.  A list of Episcopal bloggers attending the convention is provided, representing perspectives from all across the Anglican spectrum.  All are expected to blog from the site of GC06.  They’ll give you the news and views that you won't hear from the multitude of official Anglican and Episcopal news services in attendance.

First on the list of bloggers are WebElves Special Ops from Connecticut, who will be bringing a video camera.

The graphic at the top of this post shows a mini-version of the strikingly beautiful banner at CaNN’s GC06 site.  The photo at right shows CaNN’s operatives on their way to the scene.

The prayer campaign for GC06 continues at Lent and Beyond.

Binky, chief web elf at Classical Anglican News Net (CaNN), points out that the important ministry of CaNN runs on donations from those of us who appreciate news and occasional rants commentary from an orthodox Christian perspective.

Dear Friends:

Please remember to support CaNNet online ministries: WebElves shall not live by chicken-dinners alone, and all that.

The visible side of this mega-project is the CaNN Blog & Blogroll itself. However, our empire of hosted sites– and more importantly, a ’stable’ of top-notch bloggers, and the environment of good things thought and discussed– keeps growing.

We host, help, and encourage the following– CaNN, Titus-19, Pontifications, Drell’s Descants, Lent & Beyond, Clueless Christian, Confessing Reader, Andrew Carey, IRNS Blog, Dr. Leander Harding, All2Common Blogger, RAFwN; and host sites like the AAC Blog, Anglican Essentials Canada, The Anglican Planet, Bp. N.T. Wright, and Ekklesia (The Chicken Dinners People). We also host a number of African dioceses, and other ministry sites, at no charge. A certain Binky who shall remain nameless even taught a certain hairy Canon how to do the very first entries on his blog– which is now a huge success throughout the ECUSA/ Anglican world.

As they say, please give generously.  You can either send Binky an e-mail or put donations on a credit card via PayPal here.

Prayer is needed, too. ECUSA GenCon06 is starting in ten days and Binky will be very busy.

In the early hours of Friday morning, police launched an anti-terrorist operation on a house in east London after an informant told them they had only a few days before a planned chemical attack.  Over 200 police wearing chemical protection outfits and oxygen masks raided the basement of the house searching for materials used in making chemical weapons.  After a preliminary search, the building was declared safe, but has now been sealed pending a thorough forensic search of the premises.

THE informant told MI5 that they did not have much time to stop another lethal terrorist attack on London.
. . .
The belief was that the authorities had only days to act. Surveillance had to be hastily organised, the police and other agencies had to be told, along with ministers, that this time the terrorists were expected to use chemicals and not explosives to murder their victims.

The nervous informant claimed to have seen the chemical vest that the terrorist would use, and while he didn’t understand how the device would work, he did pass on a description and the address where he saw it. The man also offered a list of names.

One young man was arrested at the scene, while his brother, shot during the raid, was placed under arrest in hospital.  His wounds are not considered serious.  Both are suspected of preparing to commit acts of terrorism.

The informant told authorities he had seen a home-made “chemical vest”, but it has not yet been found.

A desperate search is under way for a “chemical vest” that a British suicide bomber was ready to deploy in a terror attack on London.

Police fear that the strike, using a home-made chemical device, was imminent after an informant told MI5 that he had seen the lethal garment at the home of two young men.

No sign of the vest was found at the scene.  Police are questioning the two suspects in custody.

In a meeting with families of 7/7 bombing victims earlier this month, Home Secretary John Reid stated that 20 “major conspiracies” had been detected.

Some have tried to connect terror in Britain with its participation in the liberation of Iraq.  But, as yesterday’s arrests of suspected terrorists in Ontario shows, refraining from sending troops to Iraq provides no exemption from jihadists.

On Friday night, RCMP arrested 17 Canadian residents under the Anti-Terrorism Act.  Hundreds of police were involved in co-ordinated raids on several locations in the Greater Toronto area.  Those arrested are suspected of plotting to bomb Canadian targets, including the headquarters of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) in downtown Toronto.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said they arrested 12 male adults and five youth and foiled plans for terrorist attacks against targets in southern Ontario.

Officials showed evidence of bomb making materials, a computer hard drive, camouflage uniforms and what appears to be a door with bullet holes in it at a news conference Saturday morning.

"This group took steps to acquire three tons of ammonium nitrate and other components necessary to create explosive devices," said assistant Royal Canadian Mounted Police commissioner Mike McDonell said.

McDonell said that is three times the amount used to blow up the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

Captain’s Quarters has the names of the twelve adults arrested.  Also apprehended were five “youths” who cannot be named.

Those arrested are described as Islamic extremists who have adopted the “al-Qaeda ideology”.

CSIS has been reporting for the past two years that a "new generation of jihadists" is emerging in Canada composed of youths angry about what they see as the oppression of Muslims.

CSIS now reports that a "high percentage" of the extremists on its target list are Canadian-born.
. . .
Canadians should not be surprised to see terrorism coming so close to home, said former RCMP jihadism expert Tom Quiggin, now a university researcher in Singapore.

"A clear sense of denial exists in Canada about the degree to which terrorism activity occurs," said Mr. Quiggin, who is Canada's only court-recognized expert on jihadism.

"Political correctness is wielded as a weapon against anyone who dares to speak out. Yet some of the world's most infamous terrorists have operated in Canada almost unhindered for years.

It’s time to wake up, Canada.  Those who favour politically correct multicultural pieties—Joe Clark’s inane definition of Canada as “a community of communities” comes immediately to mind—must realise that, in radical Islamism, we have one “community” that refuses to recognise the validity of other “communities”.  If Islamism has its way, liberal rights and freedoms and other manifestations of Western “decadence” will be destroyed.

Kathy Shaidle at Relapsed Catholic is all over this.