THE DAILY WAR!
Non-pagan/papal date: 10-02
[WAR: Well, I'm finally leaving Texas and heading back out to Arizona. So I don't know if I'll do the WAR tomorrow, or not.]
THE HOLY ROMAN
EMPIRE OF THE GERMAN NATION
At least 11 people were killed and many more injured following the collapse of a roof over an ice rink in the Bavarian Alps.
Bavarian Premier Edmund Stoiber visited the disaster zone and promised rapid help for the families of the victims. "We will establish a fund for the victims," Stoiber said. He also called on all of Germany to contribute to the fund.
For millions of workers, unemployed persons and pensioners in Germany the year 2005 will go down in memory as a year of social decline. Things look otherwise for the prosperous and propertied. There is a direct connection between the general social decline at work in Germany and the boom in share and stock quotations. A powerful driving force in the rise in share values is the activity of foreign share and hedge funds—so-called risk investors.
Fifty-one days have passed since the election of Angela Merkel as the first woman German chancellor. Usually, a newly elected political leader will be granted a grace period of 100 days to get things started his/her way before evaluation. Half of that period has expired, but it is clearly to be seen that nothing new is going to happen in Germany.
Even though Russia is the largest supplier of natural gas to Germany, consumers here have no reason to worry that their supplies will suffer as a consequence of the Russian-Ukrainian dispute.
Michael Glos (CSU) suggested Germany could backtrack on its decision to stop using nuclear power as natural gas companies reported disruptions in supplies from Russia due to the Moscow-Kiev gas dispute.
EUROPE/RUSSIA
An Italian judge has ordered a priest to appear in court this month to prove that Jesus Christ existed. The Vatican has so far declined to comment.
Russia has stoked fears of an energy crisis in Europe by cutting off gas supplies to its western-leaning neighbor Ukraine. The move has already hit gas deliveries to a number of European countries and left westerners wondering what Moscow it up to. Is it a case of power politics, cold economics or both?
(German papers: Russia's gas stranglehold on Europe)
(LX op/ed: The new cold war)
(LT cartoon: Putin's gesture)
Today the Russian Federation takes on the Presidency of the G8 for the first time, a chance for Vladimir Putin to underline Russia's importance as a key player on the international stage. The new role performed by the Russian Federation will allow this giant the chance to assume its rightful position as a major player on the world stage as regards both its external and internal policies.
MIDEAST/AFRICA/ASIA
Benjamin Netanyahu, the new leader of Israel's Likud Party, ordered Cabinet ministers from the party to quit Ariel Sharon's government. Sharon is expected to appoint new Cabinet ministers from his Kadima to replace the outgoing Likud ministers. Israeli radio reported it is likely that Shimon Peres will be appointed Foreign Minister.
Iran dropped a bombshell with a full-page ad in the New York Times (Nov. 18, 2005, p. A11). It presents clear factual information and levelheaded arguments on what kind of nuclear program Iran is pursuing and why, and why the European offer to Iran of August 2005 is not acceptable to Iran.
(And: Serious or suicidal?)
Recent reports in the German media suggest that the US may be preparing its allies for an imminent military strike against facilities that are part of Iran's suspected clandestine nuclear weapons program.
HOUSE OF ISRAEL
Wildfires that have killed at least 4 people and destroyed hundreds of homes raged across Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico yesterday, while northern California braced itself for more flooding and torrential rain. After bidding farewell to 2005, when there was a record hurricane season, a record downpour in the Nevada desert and record warmth in Alaska, parts of the southern and western US began 2006 with more extreme weather and destruction.
The landscape of America, at last count, is dotted with 79,272 large dams. Most of them safely deliver bountiful benefits. That's the good news. Here, in my opinion, is the bad news: Disaster lurks in thousands of those dams. At least 3,500 of America's big dams are unsafe, according to inspection reports filed away in obscure nooks and crannies of government offices across the country.
When Christians - liberal or conservative - invoke a biblical theocracy as a handy guide to contemporary politics, they threaten our democratic discourse.Christians are right to argue that the Bible is a priceless source of moral and spiritual insight. But they're wrong to treat it as a substitute for a coherent political philosophy.
When US News broke a story the day before Xmas about radiation detection efforts taking place in Washington DC, most of the attention such a startling development might have received was diverted by the timing and the emphasis on whether such monitoring might in some way violate civil rights. But the real story is that a massive government operation is under way to find terrorist nuclear weapons within North America in an effort to thwart a decade-long plot by al-Qaida to kill millions of Americans – the so-called "American Hiroshima" plan.
A new book on the government's secret anti-terrorism operations describes how the CIA recruited an Iraqi-American in 2002 to obtain information from her brother, who was a figure in Saddam Hussein's nuclear program. The book said her brother was stunned by her questions about the nuclear program because, he said, it had been dead for a decade. New York Times reporter James Risen uses the anecdote to illustrate how the CIA ignored information that Iraq no longer had weapons of mass destruction. His book, "State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration" describes secret operations of the Bush administration's war on terrorism.
ECONOMY
The investor Warren Buffett and the biggest banks in the currency market - Deutsche Bank, UBS and Citigroup - missed the dollar's rally in 2005. But for 2006, they are standing by their old predictions. Buffett and the analysts say they were not wrong, just early.
There is no shortage of numbers and studies detailing the widening gap between what American companies pay workers and the millions of dollars those same companies pay top executives.
(Ivans: Stupidity, survived)
How many times have we heard that filthy lie, "It's for your own good," as politicians and their owners overstuff their pockets and fat stomachs at your expense? Well, the other boot has finally dropped, and embedded in the rears of America's working families.
MISC
Paranoid Protestant Prophecy Propagandist
Hal Lindsey, considered the best-selling non-fiction writer alive today, has notified the Trinity Broadcasting Network he will not return to his twice-weekly Christian commentary program because of what he considers to be efforts to muzzle his opinions about radical Islam.
The power of blogs is exponential; blog posts can be linked and replicated instantly across the Web, creating a snowball effect that often breaks through to the mainstream media. This new weapon in the media wars is shifting the center of gravity in the way that news is gathered and presented, and it carries implications for the future of journalism.
Those who overindulged during the Xmas season would be better off drinking more tap water and going to bed a little earlier than wasting their money on expensive "detox" products, scientists say.
Homo on the range...
Somebody had to write this, and it might as well be me. I haven't seen "Brokeback Mountain," nor do I have any intention of seeing it. In fact, cowboys would have to lasso me, drag me into the theater and tie me to the seat, and even then I would make every effort to close my eyes and cover my ears.
#10-02
