Friday

The Daily WAR (10-29)

Reading between the lines, and thinking outside the box . . .
 
 
 
    Benedict XVI proposes that Lent be a time to fast from words and images, and to create a space for silence. "It seems to me that the time of Lent should be a time of fasting from words and images, because we need a little silence, a little space, without being constantly bombarded with images. We need to create spaces of silence [...] to open our hearts to the true image, to the true word."
 
    US bishops voiced their support for Benedict XVI's change to the 1962 missal's Good Friday prayer for the Jewish people. In a statement, the bishops note that the Pope responded to concerns raised by Jewish communities.
    "The Pope has chosen to omit from his revision any language from the various editions of the (Latin) Missal of 1962 that have long been associated with negative images of Jews. For example, there are no references to the 'blindness of the Jews,' to the 'lifting of a veil from their heart,' or to their 'being pulled from darkness.'"
 
    The top Vatican cardinal in charge of relations with Jews denied that a new prayer for their conversion was offensive and said Catholics had the right to pray as they wish. The Vatican had come under fire from Jewish groups in recent days for changing its Good Friday service to include a prayer urging God to let Jews "recognize Jesus Christ as savior of all men."World Jewish leaders said the new prayer could set back inter-religious dialogue by decades.
 
    Israeli and Vatican representatives met on Monday to continue their negotiations toward the completion of a legal-financial agreement. The meeting was described as taking place in an atmosphere of "great cordiality."
    The 2 sides were meeting for their first negotiating session of this year. They will meet again on March 17. The negotiations -- which have continued for nearly 15 years, with Vatican officials showing mounting impatience at the pace of the talks -- are intended to finalize an agreement establishing the legal and financial rights of Church institutions in Israel."
 
 
 
    The tragic apartment building fire in Ludwigshafen brings back bad memories of a string of xenophobic attacks in Germany in the 1990s. German politicians should react with sensitivity, making their sympathy clear and making sure the incident is cleared up quickly and thoroughly.
 
    German officials fear that al-Qaida may be planning to stage attacks in their country, which so far has escaped a major attack by Islamic extremists, according to a report.
    The daily Die Welt said German intelligence services believe al-Qaida has largely recovered its operational capability in the Afghan-Pakistani border region. "The basic decision has been made there to stage attacks in Germany."
 
    Kessler provides the entire engaging story relating to the reliance by Secretary of State Powell on information from German intelligence in preparing his speech to the UN in which he asserted that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. Powell had refused to use the US generated intelligence information.
 
 
 
 
 
    The secretary of Spain's Socialist Party said this week the bishops' voting guide encouraging Catholics not to vote for policies that go against Church teachings will not go unanswered after the general elections to be held on March 9.
    "The relations between the Catholic hierarchy and the government will not be the same after March 9," he said, threatening that the government will "go from words to deeds" and promising that the legislature would take "definitive steps" to eliminate the economic aid the Church receives in Spain.
 
    The French parliament has approved the new EU treaty, making France the first of the large member states to ratify the document. Both the national assembly (336 in favour and 52 against) and the senate (265 in favour, 42 against and 13 abstentions) voted strongly in favour of the Lisbon Treaty.
    A socialist MEP, who advocated a 'no' to the old EU constitution, explained ahead of the vote that he was voting in favour of its replacement, the Lisbon Treaty, because "it is neither about the same text or the same context."
    He points out that the third part of the EU constitution "that constitutionalised the liberal policies of the European Union and made free and undistorted competition an objective of the Union" no longer exists."
    The French ratification, which has to be formally signed and sealed by president Nicolas Sarkozy, makes France the 5th country after Hungary, Slovenia, Malta and Romania to approve the treaty.
 
    An online campaign to petition against Tony Blair becoming President of the European Union is fast gathering signatures, even though the post has not even been officially created yet. The petition - which has signatures mostly from the UK but also from France, Belgium, Portugal and Germany - says that if Mr Blair took on the post, it "would be in total contradiction with the values professed by the European project."
 
    The European Union and Russia are battling over the future of a pipeline aimed at diversifying Europe's energy imports. Ever since Russia temporarily shut gas to Ukraine until it agreed to pay higher prices, Europe has been looking to diversify its energy imports.
    The so-called Nabucco pipeline, first planned in 2004, would transport natural gas to Austria from the Caspian region. However, Nabucco has run into problems because Iran and Syria remain politically unstable, and the Central Asian countries have promised huge amounts of gas to China as well as Russia.
 
    Kosovo appears set to declare independence in 10 days' time, just ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers, sources in Pristina and observers say.
    The authorities were "awaiting the green light from the West and consider the weekend before the EU meeting as the most probable date," according to a source close to the Kosovo government. "Everything is prepared. The only problem is coordination with the European Union."
    A US diplomat said independence was likely to be proclaimed on a Sunday, when the UN Security Council does not meet. A European diplomat says that, in any event, the declaration should occur before March 1, the date on which Moscow takes the chair of the Security Council.
 
    Russia's foreign minister called US plans to build a global missile defense shield an example of "imperial thinking," and suggested in comments that Washington was using the system to try to encircle Russia. "If we look at a map, it's clear that all of it is concentrating around our borders."
 
    President Putin has criticised the US and NATO for military expansion toward Russia's borders and for failing to respond to Moscow's security concerns. He accused Washington of stonewalling Russia over its concerns about the new military sites, adding that it used consultations with Russia as "merely an information and diplomatic cover for implementing their plans."
 
 
 
    A senior Iranian cleric has described the Winograd Report on the 33-day Israeli war against Lebanon as a political earthquake. Ayatollah Khatami said that the report admitted that Zionist regime had failed to achieve any of its political or military goals during the war.
 
    A NATO rift over Afghanistan deepened on Thursday after US Defense Secretary Robert Gates raised concerns that some allies were not prepared to "fight and die" in the battle against Taliban insurgents.
    His comments came ahead of a NATO meeting in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius where Germany, France and other European allies face a concerted US-led call to send troops to the violent south of the country.
 
    NATO's future is at stake in Afghanistan, warned Asia's senior statesman, and unless America's European allies abandon appeasement and the US realizes Afghanistan cannot succeed as a democracy, the world balance of power will shift in favor of Russia and China.
 
    "Currently, the tribal jirga is holding informal talks with both government officials and Mehsud and hopefully there will be a major breakthrough quite soon." On Wednesday, Mehsud's spokesman announced that Taliban forces would observe a unilateral ceasefire throughout the tribal region.
    The announcement came after the government halted military operations in South Waziristan last weekend and released more than a dozen local tribesmen. In turn, the Taliban was due to release 4 paramilitary soldiers they had captured 2 weeks ago.
 
The humanitarian temptation:
    Darfur is unquestionably in crisis, but the situation on the ground for the last few years—when all of the media proclamations were made—is less a Rwanda-style bloodbath than a large-scale humanitarian crisis with some 2 1/2 million people driven from their homes. In other words, the media's main justification for intervention is a severe distortion of reality.
    Those in power use the rhetoric of "humanitarian intervention" as a smokescreen for US geopolitical ambitions. It's worth recalling that Wesley Clark claimed that Sudan was on the administration's short list of countries it was considering "taking out" post–September 11. Sudan has over 6 billion barrels and climbing in proven oil reserves, with US companies currently barred by sanctions from operating there.
 
    A new conflict could break out between Eritrea and Ethiopia, the UN says, as it prepares to withdraw its troops. "Clearly the signs point towards a resumption of the conflict. We know that troops are being amassed in the Temporary Security Zone between Eritrea and Ethiopia. We know the rhetoric has been warlike and increasingly so. All this bodes ill for peace in the region."
 
 
 
    By my count, we are probably dealing with as many as 8, maybe even 9, unexplained cut or damaged undersea cables within the last week, and not the mere 3 or 4 that most mainstream news media outlets in the US are presently reporting.
 
    There's a growing uneasiness in the global Internet community over a series of crippling Internet blackouts overseas that has resulted from four cuts and disruptions to underwater cables over the past week.
    The cable breaks have been causing a growing buzz on tech blogs and drawing attention from conspiracy theorists, who suspect everything from information warfare to terrorism to sabotage by the US to take out Internet connections to Iran, whose connectivity indeed has been pretty much blacked out for most of the past week.
 
    Given the sort of government we are dealing with – a regime that lied us into one war, and is not-so-subtly trying to finagle us into yet another one – why shouldn't we be suspicious? We'd have to be crazy not to be.
 
    Ayatollah Khamenei says Iran's 'nonstop progress' highlights the nation's determination. He added that despite the enemy's efforts to hamper the country's development, Iran has constantly moved forward and will continue to do so.
    Turning to the February 11 rally, which marks the 29th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, the Leader called on the nation to show 'the Islamic Republic of Iran's sovereignty and willpower' to the enemy.
 
Neocon wet dream...
    An Iranian diplomat says that it has started building a 2nd atomic power plant to meet the growing energy needs of the country.
 
    Germany called on Iran Thursday to respond to overtures from the EU and the US and prove that its controversial nuclear programme is not a threat. So far "there has not been a positive commitment" from Iran, Chancellor Merkel said after a meeting with the prime minister of the United Arab Emirates.
 
    The former chief UN weapons inspector and a retired Middle East diplomat recently warned that America was heading straight toward imminent war with Iran. The White House is using outright fabrications and exaggerations to persuade the American public that Iran has an active nuclear weapons program, Ritter and Peck claimed.
    There is an 80% chance of war with Iran, probably in March or April, insisted the impassioned Ritter. A 2nd window of opportunity for an air assault opens in October or November, he added.
 
    Recent statements coming from one of Russia's highest-ranking military commanders indicate that America and Israel plan to go ahead with war on Iran despite the release of the National Intelligence Estimate late last year.
    His statements come a week after Bush's visit to the Persian Gulf, in which he attempted to rally the nations in that region around US and Israeli plans of "confronting Iran's nuclear program before it is too late."
    What is of particular importance in General Baluyevsky's statement is his mention of "defending the sovereignty and territorial integrity" of, not just Russia, but her "allies" as well. Russia has not, as of this moment, signed formal mutual defense agreements with nations such as Iran and Syria.
    Both are on Israel and America's list of countries targeted for destruction. Both are important trading partners occupying Russia's peripheries and therefore a first-line defense of Russian territory.
    Throughout this nightmare in the Middle East, Russia has demonstrated a sane and rational character. By contrast, Israel and the US have been irrational and unpredictable. Indeed, Putin recently compared Bush to a "maniac running around threatening everyone with a razor."
 
    John McCain says the US and its European allies will adopt unilateral sanctions against Iran. He also said that a military solution should remain on the table as a last resort and that Iran is playing "a game it cannot win."
 
 
 
Wow!...
    Today, more than 23,000 representatives of private industry are working quietly with the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. The members of this rapidly growing group, called InfraGard, receive secret warnings of terrorist threats before the public does -- and, at least on one occasion, before elected officials.
    In return, they provide information to the government. But there may be more to it than that. One business executive, who showed me his InfraGard card, told me they have permission to "shoot to kill" in the event of martial law.
 
    With Mitt Romney dropping out of the Presidential race and Mike Huckabee likely to join him very soon, the mainstream media will soon be faced with a situation they never thought possible (and tried their best to avoid), a head-to-head between John McCain and the "people´s champion" Ron Paul!
 
 
 
    "In the future, I would predict that the US dollar will decline. I don't know what it will look like in the short term, but force-feeding the rest of the world $2 billion a day is inconsistent with a stable dollar."
    It doesn't take a financial genius to see the stiff head winds facing the currency. The deficit means foreigners are sitting on constantly growing piles of American currency. When they shift their holdings out of dollar-denominated assets, the value of the dollar falls.\
 
     Congress is about to sell us the biggest fraud in American history. It's been highly touted as an economic stimulus bill that will help millions of Americans. But, as the old adage goes, nothing comes for free.
    As part of the bill, Congress is set to rush through an increase in the mortgage loan limits for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (and FHA insurance, too) - from $417,000 to $729,750 - the first step toward a massive financial disaster in which taxpayers will end up paying through the nose.
    Now, thanks to Congress, junk bond investors will be able to pawn off their bad debt to Fannie and Freddie, instead of suing the big investment houses for ripping them off. This shift will certainly doom Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, so don't be surprised if we, the taxpayers, have to bail out poor Fannie and Freddie - to the tune of more than $1 trillion.
 
Asset securitization - the last tango
    The Greenspan New Finance revolution literally opened the floodgates to fraud on every level from home mortgage brokers to lending agencies to Wall Street and London securitization banks to the credit rating agencies.
    Leaving oversight of the new securitized assets, hundreds of billions of dollars worth of them, to private "self-regulation" between issuing banks and their rating agencies, was tantamount to pouring water on a drowning man.
 
    The big news yesterday was Jean-Claude Trichet's (ECB chief) news conference, in which he emphasised the risks to growth, which led financial markets into believing that an interest cut is, if not imminent, around the corner. He also emphasised the continued inflationary risks, but appeared to tone their importance.
    Financial market economists were all over the place, as Trichet's statement leaves about every possibility open.
 
    Inflation in the 15-member eurozone could have been lower if the European Central Bank had explained its monetary decisions more openly, according to a fresh study. The analysis claims that "At a time when euro area inflation expectations are ringing alarm bells, ECB credibility is sliding down."
    Moreover, the authors of the study say the bank's policy effectiveness would improve if it "anticipated interest rate paths", as several central banks have started to do, instead of using the current code-word communication to signal its future moves.
 
    The European Central Bank has ditched its bias towards interest rate rises, preparing to join the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England in easing monetary policy to head off a sharp downturn.
    "It is a total capitulation," said the eurozone economist at the Royal Bank of Scotland. "The ECB was wrong in thinking that Europe could decouple from the US and has misjudged the loss of momentum. We think they will start cutting rates in April."
    An economist at BNP Paribas, said cuts could come as soon as March, warning of a "vicious spiral" as the credit squeeze and sliding confidence feed on each other.
    The euro plummeted to $1.4450 against the dollar as Trichet's comments flashed across traders' screens. Funds have taken massive 'short' positions, betting that the euro's 6-year march to record highs is over.
    Trichet has had to navigate a delicate course between 2 opposed blocs of ECB governors from North and South. A German-led group has been pushing for rate rises, afraid of a wage-price spiral. The Latin bloc has starkly different needs as the housing booms subside. It appears that the doves have finally managed to impose their collective will.
    [WAR: Do you see what is happening -- seeing reality as it is, and not how the COG "prophets" want you to see it? Before Germany was forced to give up the mark and the power of the Bundesbank, it did what it wanted and whatever was necessary to insure Germany's economic stability.
    Now, however, Germany's voice -- however loud and threatening it may be -- is just one of the many sitting at the ECB's table. It's only a matter of a very short time before this whole euro experiment is over and the individual Europen national currencies will return. And as the euro goes, so goes the EU experiment -- to the dustbin of history.]
 
 
 
 
    Education is in shambles. I doubt very much if government-paid school teachers in either the US or UK would know more than the general population. They're too busy lobbying for more government spending and control over education.
    It seems you just can't get too much of a failed thing. And FAILED, with a capital F, is the only way to grade our modern, top-down, command-and-control, politically correct, centralized government mis-education system.
    Having failed children and parents for 20, 30, 40 years now, our very way of life is threatened as a result. From Western Civilization sprang the unique and relatively new idea of self-government – that individual people are best suited to run their own lives, to govern themselves freely and with minimal interference from government.
    [WAR: The same thing wrong with the educational system is the same thing wrong in the corporate COG: a "top-down, command-and-control, centralized government" where the teachers "have turned from the way and by [their] teaching have caused many to stumble." (Mal 2:8)
    Remember how HWA would describe the educational system, and the cartoon of kids sitting at a desk with a funnel in their heads? Well, that's exactly what happens at the corporate COG services!]
 
 
    With rapidly advancing technology spreading across the globe, US spies are shifting their focus from surreptitiously photographing secret Soviet documents to trolling the Internet for what could be the next key nugget of foreign intelligence.
    "We're looking now at YouTube, which carries some unique and honest-to-goodness intelligence," Doug Naquin, director of the CIA's Open Source Center said.
    "We're looking at chat rooms and things that didn't even exist 5 years ago, and trying to stay ahead. We have groups looking at what they call 'Citizens Media': people taking pictures with their cell phones and posting them on the Internet. Then there's Social Media, phenomena like MySpace and blogs."
 
    Today's media barons control the world as opinion makers. Like in Orwell's world, they're our national thought control police gatekeepers sanitizing news so only the cleansed residue portion gets through with everything people want most left out - the full truth all the time.
    They manipulate our minds and beliefs, program our thoughts, divert our attention, and effectively destroy the free marketplace of ideas essential to a healthy democracy they won't tolerate. None more ruthlessly than Murdoch and the info-entertainment empire he controls.
    Corporate media control is the core issue of our time along with overall corporate dominance with governments as their handmaiden. Democracy and a free society are impossible unless that changes. It's we the people vs. the Murdochs of the world.
 
     In the body, a kiss triggers a cascade of neural messages and chemicals that transmit tactile sensations, sexual excitement, feelings of closeness, motivation and even euphoria. Silent chemical messengers called pheromones could have sped the evolution of the intimate kiss.
    Many animals and plants use pheromones to communicate with other members of the same species. If pheromones do play a role in human courtship and procreation, then kissing would be an extremely effective way to pass them from one person to another.
 
    The techniques used in 1988 by 3 separate teams of scientists to date the Shroud of Turin to the middle ages, may have been inconclusive, a radiocarbon dating expert at Oxford University has told the BBC.
    According to the Church official in charge of the Shroud, he told the BBC that radiocarbon dating techniques have developed since 1988, and that the Shroud's long history of travel, exposure to the elements and handling could have skewed the results.
 
    It could be the thinnest crescent you'll ever see. Behold, the 0.5% Moon: (pic). "I took this picture on Feb. 7th about 30 minutes after sunset." As the sky darkened, "the Moon became visible against the Austin skyline for a grand total of 8 minutes" before following the sun over the horizon.
    Tonight the illumination of the Moon increases 8-fold to 4%. Look west after sunset for another crescent, 2nd-thinnest.
    [WAR: This pic is NOT of a "new moon". But tonight's crescent (the "2nd") will be higher in the sky, with sunshine and earthshine ("heaven and Earth as a witnesses" - Deu 4:26) making the whole moon visible.
    This moon, together with the "stars governing the night," (Psa 136:9) give us the multiple witnesses of light (Gen 1:14) we need to "establish the matter" (1Cor 13:1) of when the month begins. So tomorrow (the Sabbath DAY) -- not the sunset at the end of this current day! -- will be the 1st day of a new month.]
 
 
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