Benedict XVI has appealed to the European Union to be more committed to world peace, particularly in the Holy Land, Lebanon and Iraq.
Societies with a superabundance of goods, particularly in the West, paradoxically lack what is most necessary to live: the meaning of life, says Benedict XVI. In this way, consumerism and moral subjectivism are endangering respect for human life, he warned.
A Vatican official says that democracy, understood as a political regime "that defends the rights of a person and promotes his duties," can "serve the dimension of the universal human family."
Israel's ambassador to the Holy See, Oded Ben Hur, has told reporters that he hopes the Vatican will let some time pass before proceeding with the cause for beatification of Pope Pius XII.
Drafted by the left-right grand coalition government of Chancellor Angela Merkel, the White Book identifies new challenges to German and global security, such as international terrorism, the proliferation of nuclear weapons, brewing regional conflicts and energy security.
Israel said that no aggression against German forces was intended during a confrontation between Israeli aircraft and a German naval vessel patrolling off Lebanon.
The publication of images showing German soldiers playing with a skull in Afghanistan have unleashed outrage in Berlin. But it's a war zone after all - and it's about time the German public realizes it.
The German and European press were united in the condemnation of the Bundeswehr skull scandal and many feared reprisals on German troops in Afghanistan while others searched for an explanation for the soldiers' behavior.
With imperialist forces increasingly losing control of Afghanistan, the German government has made clear its determination to intensify its involvement. Germany is also expected to come under increasing pressure from other countries to extend its military involvements at the start of 2007. In treading the path of militarism, the German government and its political allies are reawakening political and military forces and traditions.
White trash, fast food
In the West, gradual de-industrialization has created a new underclass of the unproductive and intellectually depraved. The spiritual cousin of the American phenomenon of "white trash," these strangers in their own land have become a serious threat to democracy.
Israel has visibly beefed up its military presence here in the Golan Heights while neighboring Syria reportedly has placed its army on high alert and has warned it is preparing for a possible war with the Jewish state.
During a visit to the Middle East, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana expressed concern at the absence of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians and said the European Union was ready to offer its help.
With the entry of Avigdor Lieberman into the government as deputy minister for "strategic threats" – essentially in charge of preparing for war with Iran – Israel makes a qualitative step toward a regime that increasingly resembles, in all its essentials, a rogue state, and, I might add, potentially a very dangerous one.
Southern Afghanistan is in trouble. But what can NATO do about it? With commanders in the field in need of support, Germany prefers staying in the relatively secure northern part of the country. Criticism is growing louder.
Premier Paranoid Protestant Prophecy Propagandist...
(The) prophets predicted that this would pave the way for a person of enormous powers who is waiting in the wings to be unveiled – he is called "the anti-Christ." The world is just about ready to embrace him.
Russia opposed a European draft UN resolution being discussed by major powers to impose sanctions on Iran while the United States believed it was not strong enough.
It’s been quite some time since the Islamic Republic of Iran felt so angry at Europe that crimson-faced Foreign Ministry officials in Tehran would summon EU ambassadors twice in as many days to rail against “mischievous actions” aimed at “undermining” the clerical regime. In a series of public statements, the government blasted the “double standards and dual policies of Belgium and the European Union” and ominously warned Europe of the “risks” of playing “such political games” with the Islamic Republic.
The social and political issues that created the context for the gunfight remain alive, and for the most part unresolved, in the American West today. For instance, there's the debate over federal versus local law jurisdiction.
That President George W. Bush and German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder were not the best of friends was hardly a secret. But Schröder's memoirs point to a deeper distrust of Bush's religious faith.
Overnight, demonstrably and palpably, a tax-cutting dry drunk from West Texas became the most powerful man in human history.
A multitude of people believe that George W. Bush is a conservative, that they are conservatives because they support his policies, and that anyone who criticizes Bush’s agenda must be "a leftist." Nothing could be further from the truth. George Bush has embarked on a radical program designed, in essence, to stop history in its tracks and reach a final resolution to geopolitics. And it is clear that there is nothing conservative about "Neoconservatism"; that it is instead the currently most virulent strain of Gnosticism.
Oct. 18, President Bush signed an executive order creating a new national policy which loudly proclaims that the U.S. will brook no restraint of any kind on its "rights, capabilities, and freedom of action" in space, and that it has the right to deny space "access" to any power deemed hostile to U.S. "national interests." Essentially, Bush has declared outer space an American colony with the stroke of a pen.
Paranoid Protestant Prophecy Propaganda...
As a Watchman on the Wall for these end times and the Return of Our Lord Jesus Christ in His Second Coming, I have been called by God to warn His people about the course of events that are about to unfold.
[WAR: "Oh, and by the way, I've got some Christian clothing to sell you - so that when you're raptured up to heaven, your clothes can still be a witness to the poor souls 'Left Behind'."]
In the United States, atheists are becoming an ostracized minority. But now evolutionary biologists are trying to turn the tables: According to their argument, religion is the source of evil. Morals and selflessness are not God-given - they are the result of evolution.
Outrageous!...
Oil industry behemoth Exxon Mobil's earnings rose to $10.49 billion in the third quarter, the second-largest quarterly profit ever recorded by a publicly traded U.S. company.
Shame is a potent weapon, but it should never be used against the already-injured and aggrieved. Instead, let's turn it against the aggrievers.
The mind reels. Mine is reeling, anyway. Too much is happening. I can't take it all in.
Rods, a rather new entry in the field of Cryptozoology, are creatures said to flit about in the air at such a high speed as to not be seen by the naked eye. Rods gain their name from their rodlike shape. However, they have also been called "flying rods", "skyfish" and "solar entities".
You may not leap tall buildings, but your diet will take a jump. Make these 10 foods part of your diet, and you'll be giving your body lots of what it needs in terms of nutrients.
Following an impressive outburst on Oct. 24th ... "On the evening of Oct. 24th, I estimated it to be magnitude +4.6 - a fairly easy naked eye comet!"
[WAR: The quote is from the "Oct. 25" issue of spaceweather.com. So this event happened on the night before Trumpets (which is during the day, and not sunset-to-sunset). Was this "outburst" a little heavenly sign just hours before the start of Trumpets? Could it have been a little heavenly explanation-point to what the next day was?]
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