"The WAR on error"
During the month of February, Benedict XVI will pray "that the goods of the earth, given by God for all men, may be used wisely and according to criteria of justice and solidarity." The missionary intention reads: "That the fight against diseases and great epidemics in the Third World may find, in the spirit of solidarity, ever more generous collaboration on the part of the governments of all nations."
Benedict XVI again highlighted his concern over the difficulties Christians are experiencing in the Middle East. After mentioning that some of many of the representatives of the Oriental Orthodox Churches come from Middle East countries, the Pope said that "the difficult situation which individuals and Christian communities face in the region is a cause of deep concern for us all."
It is with great joy that I welcome you, the members of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches. Your meeting concerning the constitution and the mission of the Church is of great importance for our common journey toward the restoration of full communion.
Benedict XVI received a delegation from the Foundation for Inter-religious and Inter-cultural Research and Dialogue. In his address to the group the Pope, who as Cardinal Ratzinger was one of the foundation's founding members, thanked Metropolitan Damaskinos for his gift of the first fruit of their labors: a joint edition of the 3 sacred texts of the 3 monotheistic religions, in chronological order and in the original languages.
Being tied to your mother's apron strings is sufficent grounds to annul a marriage by the Vatican, it has emerged. Officials ruled on several cases of men and women who were judged to be so dependent on a parent that they were unfit for marriage.
490 years after Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to a door in Wittenberg, the city is the staging post for a revival aimed at reversing the fortunes of the nation's ailing Protestant church.
The public prosecutor's office in Munich has issued arrest warrants against 13 suspected CIA agents. There is no historical parallel for the current measures being taken by the German judiciary against officials of the US government. The fact that officials of the US government are now openly and systematically abusing such rights to an extent where German judicial authorities feel obliged to intervene is an indication of how much the US government has abandoned any attachment to legal principles.
Press review
In a historic first, German prosecutors have issued arrest warrants for 13 suspected CIA agents thought to have illegally kidnapped a German citizen as part of the war on terror. The decision has been universally welcomed by German commentators.
Press review
According to the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung, the warrants were "a terrible blow to the US government. Their methods in the fight on terror were treated as criminal acts, and not just from enemy propaganda, but from an independent court of a friendly country. It could hardly be a worse political slap in the face for George Bush."
Chancellor Merkel will not be packing a headscarf in preparation for her tour of 4 Arab countries which kicks off on Saturday.
Germany's EU presidency
Germany has taken over the presidency of the EU in the midst of what is perceived to be a serious crisis for European integration. But even if the problems resulting from the faltering enlargement and deepening processes seem to be extremely complex, 3 important issues can be identified in which public debate since May 2005 has shown that there is the need for some action in the years to come. These areas will determine the scope of the initiatives and proposals to be addressed during the German presidency.
Political divisions are emerging over the EU's 50th birthday declaration, with the European Commission set to propose an explicit reference to the need for a constitutional solution and with Germany pushing a social agenda. The first consultations by the German EU presidency on the so-called Berlin declaration - to be signed in the German capital by EU leaders and institutions on 25 March - are exposing strongly contrasting views on the content and the political role of the document.
The German Presidency has begun its heroic task of salvaging as much of the existing constitutional treaty as it can before proposing a resumed ratification process. But we are still bound by the Gordian knot - it will only take one single state to say 'no' for the whole process to come grinding to a halt once again. Either you have a mini-treaty without referenda or you have a full treaty with referenda (and probable rejection). Given the Gordian knot of ratification, there ain't a middle way.
Internal market commissioner Charlie McCreevy has thrown his weight behind Germany's push for closer economic ties between the EU and the US.
European parliamentarians have ditched normal procedures as a means of freezing out Europe's new extreme right group out of Strasbourg's positions of power.
Them's fightin' words...
Kosovo will be allowed to separate from Serbia and use its own national symbols under proposals to end its limbo status drawn up by the UN's special envoy.
A dispute between Turkey and Greek Cyprus over Greek Cypriot attempts to open tenders for offshore oil and gas exploration in the eastern Mediterranean took on new dimensions yesterday when news reports said the Turkish military had sent warships to the international waters off Cyprus.
Premier Paranoid Protestant Prophecy Propagandist Preaching Poop...
Making the situation even more dangerous is Chavez's close alliance with Iran. The prophet Ezekiel predicted the development of a vast alliance that would include Russia, Persia (Iran) "and many people with thee" in the last days that would launch a surprise invasion of Israel. So how does Israel fit into all this? A Texas oil company, Genco, recently announced the discovery of a large oil field near the Dead Sea. Israeli Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer called the strike "just the beginning." A massive oil strike in Israel would completely change the balance of power in the Middle East.
The Saudi Arabia which Chancellor Merkel will visit this weekend sees itself as a force for order in the Middle East. Not only is the country trying to stem conflicts in Iraq and Lebanon, but it has also taken a tough stand against Iran.
Many aspects of what transpired last Sunday on the outskirts of the southern Iraqi city of Najaf are confused and unclear. But one thing is certain: American and British jets and helicopters killed hundreds of men who were resisting an assault by Iraqi government troops on the village of Zarqa. Who the men were is still the subject of controversy.
Russian Military Analysts are reporting today that the US Military Leaders ordered the massacre of one of Shiite Muslims most Holy, and mysterious, sects known as the 'Gate Keepers' of Babylon
Our World's most ancient myths of Babylon
Even as the US intensified its efforts to isolate Iran, President Putin said yesterday that Russia would consider OPEC- like cooperation with Iran on sales of natural gas.
French officials rushed to repair the diplomatic damage yesterday after President Chirac appeared to condone "one or two" Iranian nuclear bombs and sketched an apocalyptic vision of a nuclear war between Iran and Israel.
Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday, Zbigniew Brzezinski delivered a scathing critique of the war in Iraq and warned that the Bush administration's policy was leading inevitably to a war with Iran, with incalculable consequences for US imperialism in the Middle East and internationally. That a man such as Brzezinski, with decades of experience in the top echelons of the US foreign policy establishment, a man who has the closest links to the military and to intelligence agencies, should issue such a warning at an open hearing of the US Senate has immense and grave significance.
Military and intelligence sources continue to tell me that preparations are advancing for a war with Iran starting possibly as early as mid-to-late February. The sources offer some differences of opinion over whether Bush might cite a provocation from Iran or whether Israel will take the lead in launching air strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities. But there is growing alarm among military and intelligence experts that Bush already has decided to attack and simply is waiting for a second aircraft carrier strike force to arrive in the region – and for a propaganda blitz to stir up some pro-war sentiment at home.
Both sources used the same word "crazy" in describing the plan to expand the war to Iran. The two sources, like others I have interviewed, said that attacking Iran could touch off a regional – and possibly global – conflagration. "It will be like the TV show '24'," the American military source said, citing the likelihood of Islamic retaliation reaching directly into the US.
In what looks like the military and diplomatic equivalent of a full court press, Washington has unleashed a barrage of threats, maneuvers and limited military actions that seem calculated to set the US on a collision course with Iran in Iraq and the Persian Gulf. All in all, it is an exceedingly risky and dangerous gambit. Even if the intent is not to create a shooting war between the two countries, one false move by radicals on either side could ignite exactly that.
It is widely assumed in Europe that the US is planning to attack Iran, and even members of Congress are openly talking about their concern that Bush is planning to attack Iran. Does anyone think this is lunacy? We are, it appears, about to witness the American equivalent of Hitler's suicide orders to the German people as he scurried to his bunker in Berlin.
Not gonna happen...
Investigators were stumped at how the attackers, who wore American-style uniforms, secured forged US identity cards and American-style M-4 rifles, and used stun grenades like those used only by US forces. They are also confounded at the way the attackers' convoy of SUV's gave the impression that it was American and slipped through Iraqi checkpoints. Wednesday's article in the Times cites a theory that "a Western mercenary group" may have been involved. In the past the US government used the CIA to covertly overthrow governments. Could mercenaries now be doing the Bush administration's dirty work?
[WAR: I thought this "raid" was suspicious, and I've been wondering about this also.]
Among the first service members to feel the effects of President Bush's much-debated plan for a troop surge in Iraq are hundreds of sailors from Lemoore Naval Air Station. Some 360 of them flew out of the base late yesterday to rendezvous with the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, which will return to sea earlier than scheduled as part of a worldwide redeployment of forces resulting from the president's decision.
Their zealous advocacy of the invasion of Iraq may have been a disaster, but now they want to do it all over again - in Iran. What I find remarkable about the neoconservative line of argument on Iran, however, is how little changed it is in its basic assumptions and tonalities from that taken on Iraq in 2002, despite the momentous events of the past five years and the manifest failure of policies that neoconservatives themselves advocated.
One of the stranger items in President Bush's energy program is his proposal to double the capacity of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The reserve's purpose is to provide an emergency supply of oil in the event of, say, a terrorist attack somewhere along the global oil supply chain or a natural disaster that limits imports. The US is highly vulnerable to such interruptions. The reserve now holds 55 days worth of net oil imports.
[WAR: Well, duh! I would increase it also if I were about to attack Iran, with the resulting effects on the price/supply of oil!...]
The people were once confused, troubled, even angry. But that was before we started listening, really listening, to our very own architect of Armageddon, a proud halcyon-kingfisher of Halliburton, that pied piper of neoconservatism. Cheney's outlandish and otherworldly interview with Wolf Blitzer has been studied humorously, seriously, with great concern (and not only for his mental state). We have joked, analyzed, divined and meditated on the esoteric meaning of Cheney's words, and perhaps, his very existence. Yet, as with so many merely human pursuits, we needn't have bothered. Cheney has given us the answer, in his own words. He and his pals have indeed accomplished their objectives in Iraq.
The stage is now set for what could become a major constitutional crisis between executive and legislative branches. Bush's last term marks the zenith of the long growth of the imperial presidency and decline of congressional authority.
What happened to critical thinking? I thought "the Left" believed that the system's power is based on lies, exploitation and a media controlled by its own culture of overly cautious professionalism. The Left should be leading this 9/11 movement, not taking potshots from outside.
Tony Blair was last night struggling to prevent a collapse of his authority and being forced to stand down within weeks after it was disclosed that he had been interviewed for a second time by police in the cash for honours affair.
We are all rubber-neckers now. The slow-motion car crash in Downing Street makes a gruesomely compelling spectacle. With every day, the analogy with Watergate becomes more compelling. One of the most poignant aspects of this crisis is that Mr Blair genuinely does not seem to understand how close he is to the edge. He has already lost his power of persuasion; now his power of perception is going, too.
People are saving at the lowest level since the Great Depression, and that could be a problem for the millions of baby boomers getting ready to retire. In fact, the Commerce Department reported yesterday that the nation's personal savings rate for all of 2006 was a -1%, the worst showing in 73 years. The negative rate means people are spending all of the money they have left after paying taxes – and then some. They are dipping into savings or increasing their borrowing to finance current spending.
Global forces have taken control of the economy. And government, regardless of party, will have less influence than ever. The idea of a national economic policy may be fundamentally out of date in a world of global markets. Washington is no longer the center of the economic universe.
A US proposal to cut billions in government subsidies for America's richest farmers is unlikely to inject new momentum into the Doha round of global trade talks, European trade negotiators said.
Venezuela's president has said he will nationalise a series of oil projects in the Orinoco river belt within months.
When the subject of the "end-times" comes up, many Christians and non-Christians don't want to talk about it. Some Christians, annoyed with all the competing theories and terminology just say, "What difference does it make? Jesus is coming back and I just need to be ready." Non-Christians just assume that since Christianity isn't true, then the whole issue doesn't matter. Well, actually, it does matter. I will submit that the popular doctrines of the Left Behind series pose very real threats not only to Christianity, but also to the wider culture. Dispensationalists have a vision for the world and it is bad news for everybody. Therefore, it would do you all good to spend some time in the Bible and see what exactly the Scriptures have to say on this subject.
Phil did not see his shadow today which, according to German folklore, means folks can expect an early spring instead of 6 more weeks of winter. The Germans believed that if a hibernating animal cast a shadow on Feb. 2 the Christian holiday of Candlemas winter would last another 6 weeks. If no shadow was seen, legend said spring would come early.
Wikipedia
It is a cross-quarter day, midway between the Winter Solstice and the Vernal Equinox. This tradition also stems from similar beliefs associated with Candlemas Day and Hedgehog Day. When Christianity came into being, Candlemas was the name given to the formerly pagan observance Imbolc. Some ancient traditions marked the change of season at cross-quarter days such as Imbolc when daylight first makes significant progress against the night. Other traditions held that Spring did not begin until the length of daylight overtook night at the Vernal Equinox. So an arbiter, the groundhog / hedgehog, was incorporated as a yearly custom to settle the two traditions.
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