FACEBOOK, THE NEW "FACE" OF THE APOCALYPSE

THE ROMAN Catholic Church has once again revealed how in touch it is with modern times by calling for a ban on Facebook-like social notworking sites.

The Cei (Italian Episcopal Conference) slammed social networks a day after opening a site of its own. Apparently the fear is that people who use social networking sites will turn into individuals who will start to think for themselves.

Archbishop Pompili hit out about what he called "networked individualism" which he said creates people who "terminate links with the surrounding area". We guess the Archbishop thinks that the only people who are supposed to live in such unhealthy isolation and "live in the world but [...] not of it" are monks and nuns.

He warned that relationships formed online were not real. Well, not as real in the same way as such important things like an invisible gods, angels, virgin births and Papal infallibility.

Facebook and its ilk create an "online egocentrism" and are responsible for drying up of real relationships, he said. Although asking a celibate priest about relationships is like asking a vegan about the best type of meat feast pizza to buy.

The chairman of the Cei, Bishop Mariano Crociata said that the Internet varies between "elation and mistrust" and it is time to find a middle way. He didn't say what that middle way was, however banging on the evils of Facebook does not strike us as particularly balanced.

All this is ironic when the church has released its own Vatican social notworking site which is designed to stick its priests a "little closer to the faithful". If the church fears people will become individuals by using social networking sites then surely it is sending its own faithful to hell and sticking demons on its friends list

CELEBRITY,ADDICTION REHAB. MORE LIKE "IMAGE" REHAB

Usually, I roll my eyes in disgust when I hear about celebs checking into rehab as opposed to facing a court of law when they mess up. In this instance, it's Kelly Osbourne, who's checking in after an alleged altercation with a woman who called her boyfriend stupid for not knowing what earthquakes are. Now, this is a justifiable complaint. Not knowing what an earthquake is, is really stupid.

Since Kelly IS an Osbourne, she deserves the benefit of the doubt: addiction runs in the family, and it's probably better to take control of it while you're young, so you can spend the rest of your twenties sober and bored by everyone you know. However, there should be a ban as of this year for 'rehab' being the response to 'I did something moronic because I have no self control'. Sobriety is a great thing for addicts, but the plethora of celebrities blaming their spoiled behavior on drugs or liquor is belittling to people who are genuinely suffering. Now that rehab is cool, even Intervention is getting shoddier, the drug addicts more questionable: the last few have seemed more addicted to attention than substances.

Jack already went through rehab for a heroin issue. Maybe the Osbournes should reconsider (SHARON) their desperate need at any cost to air their personal lives 24-7. The older daughter who refuse to be on the original Osbournes show is clearly the smart one. Sad, I used to love Sharon Osbourne because when she quit managing The Smashing Pumpkins, she stated, "I had to leave for medical reasons. Billy Corgan was making me sick.'

Powerfull evangelical now knows the hatered he Spewed

Ted Haggard, the powerful U.S. evangelist who fell from grace in 2006 amid a gay sex scandal, returned to the spotlight Friday saying his faith was stronger but he wished people had been more forgiving.

Haggard, 52, was exiled from the New Life mega-church he founded and told by church elders to leave Colorado after admitting "sexual immorality" and buying methamphetamines from a male prostitute.

It was a stunning admission for the president of the National Association of Evangelicals, a formidable force among U.S. conservative Christians and a group that had the ear of the White House.

An HBO documentary about Haggard's year in exile, his struggle with his sexuality in the face of his past condemnation of gays, and his attempts to make a living outside the church, will air on the cable TV network on January 29.

Haggard, his wife Gayle and two of his five children appeared on a panel for U.S. television critics Friday to promote the documentary, "The Trials of Ted Haggard." He had previously been barred by evangelical leaders from speaking to the media.

"I don't think it is a flattering piece. I think it is even-handed," Haggard told Reuters in an interview. "It is embarrassing for me for people to see it, but it does answer their questions."

Haggard refers to himself in the documentary as a sinner who deserved the punishment meted out to him. He says he came close to suicide.

"I DESERVED IT"

But he said the year his family spent living in cheap motels or the homes of friends had ultimately strengthened his faith -- although he held out no hope of returning to work as a pastor.

"I can't imagine very many churches inviting me to speak, even though I am a better Christian now and have a better understanding of scriptures than ever," said Haggard, who is back in Colorado working as a life insurance salesman.

"It has strengthened my faith. I do wish others had been more forgiving toward me. But I think those who hate me and judge me had a reason. I deserved it."

Three weeks after church elders told Haggard to leave and ordered him to undergo "spiritual restoration," they announced that after counseling he was "completely heterosexual."

Haggard smiled wryly at the statement, saying he fits into neither the gay nor the evangelical community.

"My therapist says I am a heterosexual with complications. I don't say that because it is more complex. I love my relationship with my wife. I am so much better than before. I am not restless," he said.

"For 30 years, I thought that you could take care of any problem with prayer. Now, a good therapist has helped me understand how the brain works."

During his exile, he told documentary maker Alexandra Pelosi that he continued to "struggle from time to time with same-sex attraction."

"Even though I'm a sinner, even though I'm weak," he told Pelosi, "God's best plan for human beings is for men and women to unite together."

Pelosi, the daughter of U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, told Reuters that Haggard asked to change nothing in the documentary.

During his exile, he attended a church in Arizona but sat at the back to avoid being recognized. He applied to work as an online admissions university counselor, and at one time got a job delivering fliers door to door.

"I wish I had resigned my position with the church way earlier than I did, and been more open with my family. But I was afraid," he told journalists. "I now know more about hatred and judgment than ever before, and I know it doesn't help."