[Quote]:

Ballmer doesn’t now and never has understood Apple. He doesn’t understand what Apple does, what it aspires to, or what consumers see that’s so appealing about Apple’s products. But he understands Google, including the ways that Google’s products threaten Microsoft’s.

[Quote]:

Wage disparity between the UK’s top earners and the rest of the working population will soon return to the levels of the Victorian era unless action is taken to curb executive pay, a new report by the high pay commission claims.

At the same time a new ICM poll shows that 72% of the public think high pay makes Britain a grossly unequal place to live, while 73% say they have no faith in government or business to tackle excessive pay.

[Quote]:

The Vatican told bishops around the world Monday that it was important to cooperate with police in reporting priests who rape and molest children and said they should develop guidelines for preventing sex abuse by next May.

But the suggestions in the letter from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith are vague and nonbinding and contain no enforcement mechanisms to ensure bishops actually draft the guidelines or follow them.

That is a significant omission given the latest scandal in the United States involves allegations Philadelphia’s archbishop left accused priests in ministry despite purportedly tough U.S. guidelines, and evidence that Irish bishops weren’t cooperating with an independent board overseeing compliance with the guidelines of the church in Ireland.

[Quote]:

Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday in the case of a 15-year-old girl who prosecutors say was raped by a fellow church member and forced to stand before the congregation to apologize for getting pregnant.

[Quote]:

According to bewildered and contrite legislators, a major budgetary mix-up this week inadvertently provided the nation’s public schools with enough funding and resources to properly educate students.

Sources in the Congressional Budget Office reported that as a result of a clerical error, $80 billion earmarked for national defense was accidentally sent to the Department of Education, furnishing schools with the necessary funds to buy new textbooks, offer more academic resources, hire better teachers, promote student achievement, and foster educational excellence—an oversight that apologetic officials called a "huge mistake."

"Obviously, we did not intend for this to happen, and we are doing everything in our power to right the situation and discipline whoever is responsible," said House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI), expressing remorse for the error. "I want to apologize to the American people. The last thing we wanted was for schools to upgrade their technology and lower student-to-teacher ratios in hopes of raising a generation of well-educated, ambitious, and skilled young Americans."

"That’s the type of irresponsible misspending that I’ve been focused on eliminating for my entire political career," Ryan added.

[Quote]:

“Watching the video I thought that it was wise of Major League Baseball to combine this sort of sentimental moment with mass speculative litigation. It kept brand values strong. I felt strangely grateful that I could have a moment to remember that afternoon. Surprised by the evidence of both copyright violation and father-daughter affection.” —Paul Ford, “Nanolaw with Daughter”

[Quote]:

The Independent claims AP’s words bear “the imprint of a spin doctor”, and there’s a certain legitimacy in suggesting that “fuelling the US narrative” is a euphemism for “feeding the US black propaganda machine”.

Let’s face it, the only way the US administration could have got more column inches out of the outrage was if Bin Laden had been caught in bed with a Las Vegas hooker and a bottle of Scotch, toking on a post-coital spliff while reading The Satanic Verses.

[..]

Roderick T Long, professor of philosophy at Alabama’s Auburn Uni, refused to be drawn on Friday, when he blogged: “I have no problem believing that Bin Laden was a hypocrite. But I also have no problem believing that the US government is a liar. Hence I have no opinion one way or ’tother as to the existence of bin Laden’s alleged porn collection..”

Quote

The Roman Catholic Church’s bishop for Nunavut is visiting the eastern Arctic hamlet of Igloolik to help local Catholics deal with the sudden departure of their priest, as well as address the pain many in the community feel about a former priest who is now accused of sex crimes.

[..]

The local church has been without a regular spiritual leader since March, when Rev. Tony Krotki left after receiving a verbal threat from a man in the community.

The amazing thing is not that it happened but it seems so unusual.