A fumi-e (fumi "stepping-on" + e "picture") was a likeness of Jesus or Mary upon which the religious authorities of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan required suspected Christians to step on in order to prove that they were not members of that outlawed religion. The use of fumi-e began with the persecution of Christians in Nagasaki in 1629. Their use was officially abandoned when ports opened to foreigners on April 13, 1856, but some remained in use until Christian teaching was placed under formal protection during the Meiji period. The objects were also known as e-ita or ita-e, while the forced test was called e-fumi.

A Florida Atlantic University student who filed a complaint against his professor after he was ordered to stomp on the name of Jesus has been brought up on academic charges by the school and may no longer attend class, according to documents obtained by Fox News.

"One of the tests is they make you dive to the bottom of a pool and tie five knots," the Shooter says. "One guy got to the fifth knot and blacked out underwater. We pulled him up and he was, like, dead. They made the class face the fence while they tried to resuscitate him. The first words as he spit out water were 'Did I pass? Did I tie the fifth knot?' The instructor told him, 'We didn't want to find out if you could tie the knots, you asshole, we wanted to know how hard you'd push yourself. You killed yourself. You passed.'"

It's what remaining true to your faith may require.

A second time the angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven and said: “I swear by my very self—oracle of the LORD—that because you acted as you did in not withholding from me your son, your only one, I will bless you and make your descendants as countless as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore; your descendants will take possession of the gates of their enemies, and in your descendants all the nations of the earth will find blessing, because you obeyed my command.”

The Man Who Shot Osama bin Laden

Religious organizations that object to providing birth control coverage under the Affordable Care Act would be allowed to hand that responsibility off to a third party under new rules proposed Friday by the Obama administration.

Putting aside the obvious optics that this is analogous to the Gastapo telling the Dutch that they don't have to turn in the Jews themselves, but can designate a third party to do so, this is an interesting development from a Constitutional standpoint.

With this new action exempting churches and religious organizations but requiring individuals and every other organization to directly purchase abortifacient and contraceptive coverage, Mr. Obama has proven the non-Constitutionality of the HHS mandate.

Mr. Obama’s exemptions, which allow some to freely practice their faith, but denies others an identical practice of faith in an identical way, contravenes the establishment of religion clause of the First Amendment.

Furthermore, by making these exceptions, Mr. Obama acknowledges that the rules place a burden on the free practice of religion — similar to the way that a poll tax places a burden on the free practice of the right to vote.

Now will come the excluded others, like Hobby Lobby, making both of these points in court.

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM DAY, 2013

- - - - - - -

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

Foremost among the rights Americans hold sacred is the freedom to worship as we choose. Today, we celebrate one of our Nation's first laws to protect that right -- the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. Written by Thomas Jefferson and guided through the Virginia legislature by James Madison, the Statute affirmed that "Almighty God hath created the mind free" and "all men shall be free to profess . . . their opinions in matters of religion." Years later, our Founders looked to the Statute as a model when they enshrined the principle of religious liberty in the Bill of Rights.

Because of the protections guaranteed by our Constitution, each of us has the right to practice our faith openly and as we choose. As a free country, our story has been shaped by every language and enriched by every culture. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, Sikhs and non-believers. Our patchwork heritage is a strength we owe to our religious freedom.

Americans of every faith have molded the character of our Nation. They were pilgrims who sought refuge from persecution; pioneers who pursued brighter horizons; protesters who fought for abolition, women's suffrage, and civil rights. Each generation has seen people of different faiths join together to advance peace, justice, and dignity for all.

Today, we also remember that religious liberty is not just an American right; it is a universal human right to be protected here at home and across the globe. This freedom is an essential part of human dignity, and without it our world cannot know lasting peace.

As we observe Religious Freedom Day, let us remember the legacy of faith and independence we have inherited, and let us honor it by forever upholding our right to exercise our beliefs free from prejudice or persecution.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim January 16, 2013, as Religious Freedom Day. I call on all Americans to commemorate this day with events and activities that teach us about this critical foundation of our Nation's liberty, and show us how we can protect it for future generations at home and around the world.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this sixteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand thirteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-seventh.

BARACK OBAMA

In a land where businesses are fighting (and winning) in the courts to not be forced to do what Mr. Obama's HHS Mandate would force them to do -- against the dictates of their consciences -- there is just one word which suffices in response to this hubris.

Heh.

Microsoft said it supported it, but it didn't.

I just got my 1366x768 resolution back on my rather ancient Gateway LT3119U laptop after losing it to a Windows 8 Pro upgrade.

This laptop originally shipped with WIndows 7 Premium and a set of ATI proprietary drivers for an ATI Radeon X1200 GPU.

On a lark, I decided to see what upgrading to Windows Pro would do. I chose the Microsoft online update and downloaded something Microsoft calls the Windows Update Advisor.

Well, to make a long story short, Windows 8 Pro "supports" the x1200 with a Microsoft generic driver which gets quite a bit wrong about the x1200's capabilities. I wound up with it running at 1024x768, which looked sort of ok, but a bit blurry.

In other words, Windows 8 Pro did not support the native resolution of my display.

Microsoft Tech Support indicated that I should drop back to Windows 7 Premium.

ATI's website indicated my GPU was no longer supported.

Hmm.

Solution: Install the old Windows 7 drivers -- as Windows 8 supports them. But how?

Here it is:

1. Go to http://catalog.update.microsoft.com/ and search for "mobility radeon x1400 (strangely, the x1200 isn't mentioned, but it is in the drivers provided for the x1400)


2. download the appropriate driver set version 8.561.0.0 dated 1.12.2008 as appropriate for your architecture.


3. The driver set will be in CAB (cabinet file) format, so you need to unpack it. Unpack it into a directory on your desktop called (for example) amd (I used 7-up fronm 7-up.org to do this task).


4. you will now have a flat directory under the amd folder. Turns out that's not enough -- if you try to install the driver, it will fail. It did -- I had to use the event log viewer to get the following steps right.


5. under amd, make a new folder called B_72960 (don't even ask why -- that's what the error log said was missing).


6. Copy (don't move) all of the files in the amd folder into the B_72960 subfolder.


7. Install the drivers by right clicking computer, selecting Manage, then System Tools, then Device Manager, then Display Adapter, then (finally) Microsoft Generic Adapter.


8. An icon will appear in the toolbar with the tooltip "Update Driver Software". Click that icon.


9. A dialog will appear, and one of the choices will be "Browse My Computer for Driver Software"


10. Select the above choice, and it will allow you to navigate ("Search for Driver Software in This Location") the amd folder.


11. Uncheck the 'include subfolders" button.


12. Click "next"

Now, that wasn't painful, was it?

Well, certainly better than LT3119U's brief stint as a Scientific Linux 6.3 box -- the "free" driver was worth about as much as I paid for it (screen corruption and garbled text), and the ATI proprietary driver wouldn't compile without 32 bit support (which has been stripped fron all the RHEL 6.x 64 bit distros).

Why am I boring you with all of this? A: I'm reminding myself about what to do for the other two LT3119Us in the extended family.

I am living for my community and for suffering people and I will die to defend their rights. I prefer to die for my principles and for the justice of my community rather than to compromise. I want to share that I believe in Jesus Christ, who has given his own life for us.

-- Shahbaz Bhatti