Thursday

THE DAILY WAR!
 
Non-pagan/papal date: 10-25
 
THE HOLY ROMAN
 
At his regular weekly audience on Wednesday, B16 said that God's law offers a blueprint for "peace and harmony in the world."
 
B16 has published his first encyclical to show how Christianity does not repress love, but elevates it.
(Presentation of encyclical)
(Press review: B16's ode to love)
 
Key topics of concern in Italy's upcoming elections are the "centrality of the person, the defense of the family founded on marriage, and respect for human life," says a cardinal.
 
Western European socialism has failed. Although some aspects of the Western European model originally claimed Christian inspiration and objective, it is now clear that the modern Western European welfare-state is collapsing. And while many modern countries share some of the problems loosely categorized under the “European social model,” it is Europe that most desperately needs a genuinely Catholic alternative.
 
 
EMPIRE OF THE GERMAN NATION
 
Blast from the past...
This article first appeared in the Sept. 11, 1972 issue of DER SPIEGEL. We have translated the story to coincide with the opening of Steven Spielberg's "Munich" at theaters in Germany and Israel. "The chancellor, after initially limiting himself to calling for a public investigation into the extent to which Bavaria was responsible for giving the orders to shoot, was soon speaking to journalists and launching serious accusations against the Bavarians."
 
The government is strenuously seeking to prevent a parliamentary committee of inquiry aimed at clarifying the role played by Germany’s former Social Democratic-Green Party coalition in supporting the Iraq war and other illegal practices carried out by the US government.
 
Bavarian Prime Minister Edmund Stoiber today again called for a dialogue between Czechs and Sudeten Germans in his speech to mark the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Sudeten German house in Munich.
 
She's gotta go!...
Angela Merkel yesterday promised a free-market revolution in Europe’s biggest and most troubled economy, dismantling the mass of regulations that have been built up over recent decades. She said that Germany must follow the economic policies of Britain, earning loud applause from the audience of leading capitalists at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. 
 
German exports to Iran will fall sharply this year because of Iran's escalating nuclear standoff with the West and a purge of officials at Iranian state firms and ministries, a top industry group says.
 
 
EUROPE/RUSSIA
 
B16's encyclical, "God is Love", attracts widespread comment, and very mixed views, while German and Austrian papers see signs that Europe's citizens may be having second thoughts about the future of the EU.
 
EU Political leaders, artists and scientists are gathering in Austria this week to rethink what it means to be a union of 25 nations in the aftermath of "no" votes to a constitution and a general malaise about unity.
 
Presenting an update on efforts by European governments to modernize their economies, the European Commission president, José Manuel Barroso, on Wednesday found as much to criticize as to praise.
 
The bombings of 2 Russian-controlled natural gas pipelines high in the Caucasus Mountains this week paralyzed Georgia and sent a message straight to Western Europe, which depends on Russian natural gas.
 
President Putin accused foreign intelligence operatives of using private organizations to interfere in Russia's internal affairs.
 
 
 
MIDEAST/AFRICA/ASIA
 
Hamas, responsible for over 100 suicide bombings and scores of shooting and rocket attacks, is ready to join the Palestinian government and lead its people to "victory and independence."
 
Iran says it is willing to send a team of "independent investigators" to visit former Nazi deaths camps across Europe.  
 
Plans to enrich uranium in Russia for use in Iran could help break a global stalemate over Tehran's nuclear aims, China's government has said.
 
Saddam Hussein wants George Bush and Tony Blair to be tried for committing war crimes, says his chief lawyer.
 
The US military has become dangerously overstretched because of the scale of its operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, 2 reports have warned.
 
 
HOUSE OF ISRAEL
 
Canadian voters have done the un-Canadian thing by electing a hard-edged Conservative as their new prime minister.
 
I'm ashamed of my country today. I'm embarrassed that America allows itself to be pushed around by a corrupt tinpot oligarchy in Mexico. Wars have certainly started with less provocation than this. Despite what President Bush says or may believe, Mexico is not our friend.
 
ECONOMY
 
Let's see how our major trends are holding up... The days of cheap energy are over... Meanwhile, wealth leaks rapidly out of the West and into the East.  
 
MISC
 
There are so many of them that no one can pursue all of them. In fact, the mark of a deranged conspiracy buff is someone who pursues dozens of them at once. He believes that there is one grand conspiracy behind all of them.
 
On Sunday, people all over the world will celebrate the Chinese New Year (4704). The calendar is based on the cycles of the moon, and the new year starts on the day of the 2nd new moon after the winter solstice.
[WAR: This is just as pagan and wrong as starting the new year on the 1st new moon after the spring equinox! And yes, I'm referring to all the COG and all who use the spring equinox, in any way whatsoever, to determine when the Holy Days are!]  
 
Who needs Spokesman's Club?!...
Forget learning lines or polishing jokes - having sex may be the best way to prepare for giving a speech.
 
 
#10-25
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