Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Iranian and Supreme Leader Speak about Presidents 2nd Term of Iran Today

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said "iran is a unified body in all its beauty and we are part of the unified whole".

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speak about the swearing in of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for his second term as iranian president of the islamic republic of iran today.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inauguration ceremony will be on wednesday this week.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad being sworn in today should bring a end to the troubles in iran with the disputed election results.

Chapter 65.4: Google.org Study and Where Our Goodwill Goes

There's an interesting report that all Americans should check out. The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, which is one of the best known groups of researchers on the American nonprofit sector, has released results of a study of where Americans give their money. These are the people who process the data in the annual Giving USA study, which presents the estimated amount of charitable giving by U.S. citizens, based on tax filings and statistical modeling.

(I have my own misgivings about the Giving USA estimates, which can turn out to be highly inaccurate. This past June the latest estimate was released, with the number reaching $295 billion in U.S. giving. Since the previous reported estimate had been $250 billion, this seemed quite a large jump. But the previous year's estimate had been revised in the fall -- to $289 billion. There are justifiable reasons, but it's still quite frustrating if you try to use these numbers, which are -- for better or worse -- the best that we have.)

Anyway, back to the point. Out of that $250 billion estimate that was reported for 2005, the amount that directly went to help the needy was only $19 billion. Any grammar school math student can see that it's not even 10 percent, which is deplorable. It's important to note that word "directly," however. The biggest chunk of money given by Americans goes to religious causes; that's been true for the half century or so that this study has been conducted. While a lot of that money goes to run various religious efforts (read: pay for salaries, pay for insurance, pay for phones and facility maintenance), a lot also funds programs and services designed to help the needy. Depending on how the Salvation Army is categorized, for example (I believe it's religion, but I'm not sure; it might depend on how the gift appears in the tax data), a few billion might be directly helping to feed and house the poor. And there are several thousands of organizations that might also fall into those types of descriptions that need to be looked at. Frankly, I find it hard to believe the amount of charity that goes to the most in need is less than 25 percent. It's sobering, nonetheless.

Of course, I'm glad people support the arts, and education, and the environment -- I do, too -- but I will start rethinking my charitable giving a bit now as a result of this study.

According to researcher Melissa Brown of the Center on Philanthropy, who posted on the Google.org Blog about the study she worked on, this is a first step.

As someone who takes a professional interest in the American nonprofit sector, I'm glad to see this important work is being done. And I look forward to seeing them to more to work through this data. I think the Center is an appropriate place for it, but I also agree with Patrick Rooney, the research VP, who called the data "much squishier than we prefer."

Ok, flabberdata, it's time to Pump ... you ... Up. Let's take a look at how we can help our fellow man in need. There but for the grace of God....

Chapter 59.6: RIP B.C. Creator

Johnny Hart, the cartoonist who created B.C. and co-created the Wizard of Id, has died. Longtime standard fare in the Sunday comics and the daily strips, B.C. is perhaps best known for its tendency toward theological statements. This got Hart into hot water sometimes, but I think he should be applauded for not being afraid to express his beliefs in a very secular world. Sometimes his message got misunderstood, but I don't think he meant to offend.

Personally, I stopped finding B.C. particularly funny a while ago, though he had occasional good strips. But it has remained a distinctive comic strip, and apparently his family will continue it into the future.

Chapter 57.1: Making Assumptions

The story is all over the place: ossuaries found nearly a quarter-century ago contained the bones of Jesus of Nazareth, his wife Mary Magdalene, and a son, Judah. The assertion is obviously offensive to Christians, who believe that Jesus not only resurrected from his death on the cross but was bodily assumed into heaven. In other words -- no bones. The other question about whether he was married is also a point of contention, but in my mind is not as significant a matter of faith as whether or not he assumed into heaven.

I'll have to brush up on my Revelations and probably Acts and other books of the New Testament, but the debate makes me curious whether these are the types of things that are predicted to occur before the second coming. Are Christians going to be stuck doubting their faith and only those who are deemed true believers judged worthy of the Kingdom of God? I don't remember the biblical descriptions with certitude. But I will say this: only people who have no concept of probability will believe unequivocally that this is THE Jesus and Mary. This is an argument for people who demand proof but can't be assured of recognizing it when they see it.

Another point I've not seen argued in this situation is the significance of Mary Magdalene's bones being in the Palestine region. Baigent and Lincoln, the guys who took the Holy Blood, Holy Grail argument to the public in the '80s and whose ideas were part of the genesis for Dan Brown's DaVinci Code, claim that their research points to Mary fleeing Palestine and coming to the shores of what is now southern France with her daughter, who passes on the bloodline. So if Mary Magdalene escaped to France, who's this woman that was in the ossuary?

I may fashion myself an intelligent man, but I'll admit that I take my religious belief as a matter of faith. I'll accept some things that might not make sense scientifically. Do I suspect that Mary Magdalene and Jesus were married? Yes. If what I've been taught about Jews in that time is accurate, it would have been odd if a man of his age weren't married with children. These things don't bother me in the slightest. To me, it makes his willingness to die for our sins more compelling, actually. It also makes his moment of doubt in the Garden of Gesthemene more realistic. He had a life that he was giving up, not just a growing group of believers. Mohandas Gandhi was married too, but it doesn't make his sacrifices for his people less noble. Of course, one significant difference is that Gandhi was not the progenitor of a religious belief system. That's a debate for another time.

My point is to say that while it's intellectually stimulating to see this issue of the ossuaries come into the public realm, I'll still be going to mass to celebrate a faith I share with millions of other people. Amen.