Lead Stories
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In June, while the Bush camp was attempting to mobilize support for an invasion of Iraq, administration representatives were also working with Iraq, the Vatican, and a powerful bloc of dozens of Islamic nations to fight United Nations resolutions supported by almost all of America’s traditional allies; points of contention for the U.S. team included reproductive health services (because those services could include abortion) and sex education (because only abstinence should be taught). One critic called it perverse to blame Iraq for “unspeakable acts of terrorism” while joining it in “the oppression of women.”
In September in Thailand’s Phang Nga province, a frog discovered near a stone footprint of the Buddha ostensibly revealed two winning lottery numbers on its belly when rubbed with talcum powder. Also in September, a potato in the shape of the Hindu god Ganesh attracted pilgrims to a Muslim home in Mumbai, India; the family living there has become vegetarian out of respect for the beliefs of its visitors. And in the same month, a greenhouse in Ile a la Crosse, Saskatchewan, became a holy site when an image of the Virgin Mary appeared to the faithful in the condensation on its walls.
From the August newsletter of Alta, Utah, excerpted in the Salt Lake Tribune: “July 14: At 12 PM, the deputy on duty responded to a report of a man chasing a moose in Albion Basin. It is suspected that this is related to a subsequent report of a moose chasing a man.”
In the Last Month
