"The WAR on error"
On the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, Benedict XVI figuratively placed in Mary's hands the marginalized and defenseless members of society.
Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI delivered today before reciting the midday Angelus with several thousand people gathered in St. Peter's Square on the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.
For Blessed Pius, the Immaculate Conception was an idea whose time had come. It was an idea that had been growing in the Church since the very beginning—and seemed to grow stronger in times when the Church’s earthly fortunes were most in peril. When 150 years ago, on December 8, 1854, he finally declared the Immaculate Conception to be Church dogma, he brought that tradition to its fulfillment. It’s a story that begins in-between the lines of the Bible.
Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday encouraged the display of religious symbols in public buildings including schools, courthouses, hospitals and prisons, saying that God needs to be present in community life. The pope also defended the church's right to take a moral stand on political issues.
Jan Techau, Director of the Center for European Policy Studies, spoke to DW-radio about the issues Foreign Minister Steinmeier is expected to bring up when he meets Secretary of State Rice in Washington.
The prospect of a change in US strategy has prompted German lawmakers to talk about a bigger German role in helping to rebuild Iraq. Any military involvement remains out of the question though.
Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday advocated a "comprehensive diplomatic initiative" over Iraq that would involve the country's neighbors and contribute to stabilizing the Middle East. Merkel said Germany is ready to make "an active contribution" to tackling the region's problems during its presidency of the European Union and beyond.
German papers on...
Turkey's last-minute offer to open one sea port and one airport to trade with Cyprus has caught EU leaders by surprise. The dispute over Cyprus remains one of the most important obstacles to Turkey's EU membership. But is the Turkish offer more than a clever tactical maneuver?
Why is Europe suddenly full of people talking about values and virtue? None of this is entirely new, but it is unusual. European politics is normally about jobs, money and welfare. Is the politics of morality becoming more widespread in Europe (just as, ironically, it may be becoming less influential in America)?
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Friday he was ready to discuss Italy's proposal to send international troops to Gaza when he travels to Rome next week for a meeting with the Italian premier.
Saudi King Abdullah opened the annual summit of Gulf leaders on Saturday with a warning that the Arab world was like a powder keg waiting to explode. “Our Arab region is besieged by a number of dangers, as if it was a powder keg waiting for a spark to explode."
Nowhere was the Iraq Study Group report met with a stronger rebuke than in the northern Kurdish region of the country where the U.S. has developed its strongest alliance. According to U.S. intelligence sources, Kurdish leaders today reacted to what they fear is another U.S. betrayal of their people by advising all their personnel in Baghdad to develop evacuation plans "in case of all out civil war or fracture of the government."
The United States is again pressing for the urgent deployment of international peacekeepers into the Darfur region of Sudan. "The situation is dire and now's the time for action," said President Bush.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called for more dramatic measures to be taken against Iran and declined to rule out a military attack against Tehran in an interview with Germany's Spiegel magazine.
Europeans produced a revised draft of a Security Council resolution on Iran on Friday, and said they would formally introduce it on Monday in the hope of obtaining a speedy vote on much-delayed action to curb Tehran’s nuclear program. The text was drawn up after weeks of meetings in European capitals among the three nations drafting the measure, Britain, France and Germany, in consultation with the United States. It is aimed at meeting persistent objections from China and Russia.
Iran has begun installing 3,000 centrifuges in an expansion of its uranium enrichment program that brings the Islamic nation significantly closer to large-scale production of nuclear fuel, the president said Saturday. He also claimed that the international community was caving in to Tehran's demands to continue its nuclear program.
Germany condemned a planned Iranian conference on the Holocaust and summoned Iran's charge d'affaires to the Foreign Ministry, saying that attempts to question the Nazis' murder of Jews were "shocking and unacceptable."
The Islamic Consultative Assembly (Majlis) is agreable to replacing the US dollar with the euro in Iranian foreign transactions. "It has nothing to do with political issues. Even European countries have concluded that they should replace the US dollar with a stronger currency."
All in all, it was a tough week for Bush. The trip has exposed the fault-lines in US foreign policy and the steady erosion of American power. Bush seems completely oblivious to the damage he’s doing to the country by refusing to change the present strategy and by blundering ahead, blindly pushing us deeper and deeper into the quagmire.
What it looks like to me is that Daddy called on his old friend and consigliere to save Junior from himself. A couple of days after the public unveiling of the vaunted and eagerly-awaited report from the Iraq Study Group, it's beginning to looks as if Junior, clueless as ever, is ready to rebuff Daddy's well-intentioned rescue attempt.
A striking feature of the Iraq Study Group report is that its belated admission of the military-political debacle and catastrophic conditions created by the US intervention in Iraq excludes any assessment of how the “grave and deteriorating” situation in that country came to pass, and who bears political responsibility for it.
Last Monday, gathering in a conference room in Washington D.C., Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and her advisors worked on a draft copy of the articles of impeachment against President Bush. At the heart of the charges contained in McKinney's articles of impeachment, is the allegation that President Bush has not upheld the oath of presidential office and is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors.
America should worry more about fixed exchange rates in the Gulf than the gently rising Chinese yuan.
Why Henry Paulson should have gone to the Middle East not China.
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Central banks worldwide began discarding the dollar in favor of the euro in an attempt to minimize their losses following the decline in the value of the US currency. An opinion poll showed that more than two thirds of the world's central banks have reduced their exposure to the US dollar.
America's corporate chiefs are unloading their own stocks at one of the boldest paces in 20 years. In November alone, leaders of public companies dumped $8.4 billion worth of stock.
South American leaders agreed Saturday to create a high-level commission to study the idea of forming a continent-wide community similar to the European Union. The leaders agreed to form a study group in Rio de Janeiro to look at the possibility of creating a continent-wide union, and even a South American parliament.
The majority of animals are polygamous, and those who belong to the Homo sapiens species are not an exception to the rule. According to a popular myth, men are portrayed as the only ones inclined to engage in extramarital sexual relationships. In actuality, women are snapping at men’s heels when it comes to extramarital sex. The difference seems to stem from a “biological program” of the male and female, whether it refers to animals or humans. The male is programmed to fertilize as many females as possible, while the female aims to seduce as many males as possible so that she may choose the best of all.
As a dedicated secular humanist, I must regretfully acknowledge that the War on Christmas has not been going well. Some would use the word "quagmire," and urge a phased redeployment to other fronts, like Easter and Mardi Gras.
The legal crystallized-acid...
Continuous large doses of sugar and/or carbohydrates, overtime, usually cause the brain's serotonin sites to slow production or close sites to regulate the amount of serotonin in the brain. When the body cuts back on serotonin production it reduces the amount of serotonin available in the body at any given time. To maintain a normal level of serotonin in the brain the individual must eat more sugar and/or carbohydrates to get out of depression and maintain a normal mood level. This causes a vicious cycle of addiction.
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