For decades the folks at Visa and MasterCard have been slobbering over the prospect of a cashless society, and they’re getting their wish.
The Swipe-Fee Free-for-All
Tag Archives: society
Just Say Om
The one thought I cannot purge, the one that keeps coming back and getting between me and my bliss, is this: What a waste of time.
Atheist ads to adorn New York subway stations
Some New Yorkers may want to reconsider exclaiming “Thank God” when arriving at their destination subway station beginning next Monday. Or at least that’s what a coalition of eight atheist organizations are hoping, having purchased a month-long campaign that will place their posters in a dozen busy subway stations throughout Manhattan.
Brazil’s soap operas linked to dramatic drop in birth rates
The love-triangles, family feuds and paternity mysteries of Brazil’s telenovelas have commandeered the nation’s airwaves for decades and generated a fortune for Globo — the powerful TV network that produces many of the genre’s most popular shows. But aside from lining the pockets of television executives, evidence is emerging that the telenovelas have had a surprising impact on the fabric of Brazilian society.
Web site seeks donations to help O.J. Simpson appeal conviction
A new Web site is seeking donations to help free O.J. Simpson, who it says was wrongly convicted of robbery and kidnapping. Creators of the site say the controversial former football star was railroaded by a “kangaroo court” in Las Vegas, Nevada, last year.
Pope admits mistakes over Holocaust-denying bishop
The Pope has admitted making mistakes over the lifting of the excommunication of a Holocaust-denying bishop. In a letter to church leaders, parts of which have been published on a popular Catholic blog, Pope Benedict XVI says the church should have been aware of the views of Bishop Richard Williamson. Williamson, an Englishman, hit the headlines partly because the pope lifted his long-standing excommunication, along with that of three other members of the ultra-conservative Society of St
Japan sees mixed economic news
Japan’s unemployment rate unexpectedly dropped in January to 4.1 percent, down from 4.4 percent in December, according to figures released by the government Friday morning. Harlyn Geronimo has sued Yale and the society — the Order of Skull and Bones — to try to recover the remains.
Bishop who denied Holocaust ordered to leave Argentina
Bishop Richard Williamson, who last month denied the existence of the Holocaust in an interview with Swedish television, was ordered Thursday to leave Argentina within 10 days, the Ministry of Interior said. “The bishop has repeatedly forged the true motive for his stay in the country, having declared that he is an employee of ‘La Tradicion’ Civil Society when, in reality, his true activity was as priest and seminary director of the Society of Saint Pius X in the neighborhood of Moreno,” Interior Minister Florencio Randazzo said in a written statement. Williamson and three other bishops who belong to the Society of Saint Pius X were excommunicated in 1988
Holocaust-denying bishop loses court battle
A German court Monday refused to intervene in the case of Bishop Richard Williamson, who is facing prosecution for denying the Holocaust — a crime in Germany. Williamson asked the court to order Swedish Public Television to restrict broadcast of an interview in which he doubts the existence of Nazi gas chambers and a systematic Nazi plan to annihilate European Jewry
Merkel phones pope over Holocaust denier
German Chancellor Angela Merkel phoned Pope Benedict XVI Sunday over a Holocaust denier whom the pope welcomed back into the Roman Catholic Church last month. Neither side seems to have shifted its position over Bishop Richard Williamson, who, shortly before the pope lifted his excommunication, denied the Nazis had systematically murdered six million Jews during World War II