Benedict XVI told young people not to be afraid to dream. "Unfortunately, today it is not unusual that many young people see a full and happy life as a difficult dream, and sometimes almost as an impossibility. Many people of your age look to the future with anxiety and pose many questions."
[WAR: I dream of a world without Catholicism and Christianity.]
Benedict XVI invited half a million young people to go against the current in a world seduced by violence, despotism and "success at all costs." "There are so many messages, above all through the media, that are being directed toward you! Be vigilant! Be critical!"
[WAR: Kind of ironic that the Whore's mouth is warning people not to be seduced!]
British withdrawal from the EU is coming into sharper focus, with all the grave consequences that will ensue for the Atlantic order and the cause of market liberalism. What we take for granted as the permanent post-War order is more fragile than it looks. Tug too hard on the British thread, and the European system quickly starts to unravel. Jean Monnet would have seen the dangers of this. Germany's Angela Merkel does not.
Ministers from the 27-nation EU and its 16 neighbours are gathering in Brussels for the first ever meeting designed to give a new impetus to the €12 billion-strong policy of mutual cooperation. Trade, mobility, energy and immigration will be high on the agenda. Each state is offered a privileged relationship, including the chance to integrate into the EU's 500-million-strong internal market on condition they commit to democracy and reforms in a wide range of fields.
The EU is too big and too diverse to be able to rally around common political projects needed to survive, a former president of the European Parliament has said. "We are suffering from a crisis of heterogeneity and growth. We are many and with many different visions of the world, so our will is not unanimous and the political project is yet to be defined." He argued that the EU lacked a common political project, leaving one asking "what are we united for?"
Russia's Foreign Minister has warned that Moscow will not give in to pressure over "red line" issues such as missile defence and Kosovo. He said Russia could not remain passive in the face of any threat to its national security.
Islamic authorities using heavy machinery to dig on the Temple Mount have been caught red-handed destroying Temple-era antiquities and what's believed to be a section of an outer wall of the 2nd Jewish Temple.
After 4 1/2 years of standing "shoulder to shoulder" with the US in Iraq, the withdrawal of British forces from headquarters in Basra is seen as a "highly symbolic" move that could signal the "beginning of the end" of British military involvement. "Job done. Our boys pull out of Basra," said the Sun newspaper Monday. "Beginning of the end. Britain's nightmare in Iraq is drawing to a close," added the Mirror.
(LT cartoon: Civil war)
President Bush has made a surprise visit to Iraq, landing near Baghdad. Bush, accompanied by Condoleezza Rice and Stephen Hadley, national security adviser, touched down at Al-Asad air base. They joined the US Defence Secretary, and other security chiefs in what a Pentagon spokesman called: "the last big gathering of the President's military advisers and the Iraqi leadership before the President decides on the way forward".
Some of the same Arab tribes accused of massacring civilians in the Darfur region of Sudan are now unleashing their considerable firepower against each other in a battle over the spoils of war that is killing hundreds of people and displacing tens of thousands.
Smart move!...
Iran started building a huge new cultural and sports complex for its Jewish minority in central Tehran on Sunday, billing the project as proof of the freedoms enjoyed by its religious minorities. Iran's Jewish community numbers around 20,000 people and remains the largest in the Middle East after Israel. "In Iran, the followers of the different religions have freedoms guaranteed in the constitution. The followers of the divine religions are living under one flag."
Iran warned on Sunday it would "reconsider" its cooperation with the IAEA if the Security Council imposes a 3rd set of sanctions over its contested nuclear programme.
President Ahmadinejad has sought to justify his confidence the US will not attack Iran, saying the proof comes from his mathematical skills as an engineer and faith in God. I am an engineer and I am a master in calculation and tabulation. I draw up tables. For hours, I write out different hypotheses. I reject, I reason. I reason with planning and I make a conclusion. They cannot make problems for Iran."
Americans still haven't gotten the message. Compared to people in other developed countries, Americans don't ask for more vacation time, don't take all the vacation time their employers give them and continue to work while they are on vacation. And the US remains the only industrialized country in the world that has no legally mandated annual leave.
The current turmoil in the financial markets has all the characteristics of a classic banking crisis, but one that is taking place outside the traditional banking sector, Axel Weber, president of the Bundesbank, said. "What we are seeing is basically what we see underlying all banking crises."
If the sentiments expressed at the Jackson Hole summit are any guide, the Fed will concede to growing market demands for a significant interest rate cut on September 18, if not before. But even if such a cut does bring a halt to the current turmoil—and there is no guarantee of this happening—it will only do so by creating even greater problems for the future, in the same way the present crisis resulted from previous decisions to boost the economy and financial markets with an injection of liquidity.
Another Labor Day is here and American workers are still waiting for something to celebrate. How about a wage increase? Well, the average real wage today is just where it was nearly 5 years ago, in December 2002, despite the fact that our economy and productivity have been growing the whole time. In fact, wages are barely above where they were more than 3 decades ago: from 1973-2006, the average wage, adjusted for inflation, grew by a grand total of .5%. What kind of economy grows for decades on end but doesn't allow most of the population to share in the gains from that growth?
Unions and collective bargaining can effect small but significant changes that make a profound difference in the quality of workers' lives. Another important and overlooked contribution that the union movement makes to both our social discourse and economic decision-making: its advocacy of "moral capitalism."
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