Reading between the lines, and thinking outside the box . . .
Benedict XVI has expressed his condolences to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta for the death of its Grand Master, who died Thursday in Rome. The Order of Malta, recognized by the Pope in 1133, is the 4th oldest religious order in the Church. For a time, the order was one of the most advanced fighting and naval forces in the world, but currently works serving the poor and the sick throughout the world.
Unemployment and poverty are offenses to human dignity, and a good society is one that assists its weakest members, says the Holy See. The poor "are the hardest hit in times of economic downturn, thus, any policy to stimulate the economy must provide them concrete economic help. Assisting them is a question of justice and solidarity."
"A good society is measured by the extent to which those with responsibility attend to the needs of the weaker members, especially those most in need. A good society is one in which all benefit from the common good, and nobody is left outside the common concern.
"Economic policies that help low-income working people live dignified, decent lives should be a priority of any good society worthy of the name."
(And: Full text of address)
Fantasy...
From 554 to the present, there have been 6 Holy Roman Empires. Charlemagne began his rule over the Holy Roman Empire in 800. Now the 7th Holy Roman Empire is rising fast.
You can begin to see the power the Vatican has over the European Parliament—the nucleus of the coming Holy Roman Empire, the world's next great superpower!
[WAR: The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation only existed from the crowning of Otto I by the pope in 962 to its dissolution on August 6, 1806. You can read that at the official 2006 German exhibition in Magdeburg and in Berlin -- as well as The Society for the Study of the Holy Roman Empire.
And Vatican power over the EP? Puh-leaze! This is nothing but delusional thinking that is deceiving not only the PCG members, but others as well.]
Reality...
After quoting Hitler's public statements that state outright that he is a Christian, and a very devout one at that, Dawkins quotes private statements that reveal a deep hatred for Christianity surpassing that possessed by even the most militant New Atheist. "Indeed, the leading Nazis -- Hitler, Himmler, Rosenberg, Goebbels and Bormann -- were all fanatically anti-Christian."
Released to the public in 2001, the report from the archives of Gen. William J. Donovan, special assistant to the US chief of counsel at the Tribunal, is a fascinating description of the Third Reich's methodical plan to co-opt, pervert, and ultimately usurp the Catholic and Protestant churches of Germany.
Reality...
With the arrest of the NPD party's national treasurer on Thursday, things are looking increasingly grim for the far-right organization. Cooked books, poor finances and internal corruption are all leading to self-strangulation. Good riddance, say German newspapers.
The German government has rejected calls for a fiscal stimulus to cushion the impact of a US recession on Europe's largest economy, yet the discussion is making headways in the domestic political debate. On Wednesday, the Christian Social Union broke ranks with the chancellor by calling for tax cuts as early as next year.
Worries about the US economy have rekindled an old debate between the CDU/CSU and the Social Democratic Party about whether the government should intervene in case of a sharp slow-down in growth.
A key annual conference on global security opened in Munich on Saturday. Close to 400 high-profile delegates from 50 countries - among them 4 presidents, 3 prime ministers and scores of military leaders and experts - were attending the weekend event.
The conference's theme is: "A world in disarray - shifting powers - lack of strategies." On Friday, Serbia's president set the tone for the gathering with a fiery speech over dinner in which he cautioned the West against "cutting corners" and recognising Kosovo as an independent state.
Afghanistan was another topic that was expected to feature highly on this year's packed Munich agenda.
A German utility giant plans to sink new oil wells in a location the federal government wants to see listed as a UNESCO biosphere reserve. In recent weeks, the news became public that German energy giant RWE has plans to drill 6 new test wells deep into the bedrock off the German North Sea coast.
But the consortium, which consists of RWE and Wintershall, a subsidiary of German chemical giant BASF, produces more than 2 million tons of oil a year from wells as deep as 6,500 to 9,750 feet. This represents more than half of Germany's total oil production, making the reserves under the Wattenmeer Germany's equivalent of Texas.
"The reserves are roughly the equivalent of the oil we import from Azerbaijan, Saudi Arabia or Nigeria. With this operation, we are helping to secure Germany's oil supply."
As the Archbishop of Canterbury comes under fire for suggesting parts of Shariah law be applied in the UK, the head of Germany's Protestant Church told Deutsche Welle a country needs a single legal system for everyone.
"Hoping to achieve integration through a dual legal system is a mistaken idea. You have to ask the question as to what extent cultural characteristics have a legitimate place in a legal system. But you have to push for one country to have one system."
[Europress] / [Russopress]
As global economic storm clouds gather on the horizon, all eyes this week will be firmly focused on the gathering of EU finance ministers in Brussels on Monday and Tuesday.
Remember that "utopia" can have 2 meanings in Greek: "good place" and "no place." So utopias traditionally have promised paradise and ended up going nowhere.
So too with the EU: it promises to solve the perennial tragedies of human life and provide peace and prosperity, yet its radical simplification of human life means that this promise is doomed to fail.
In an interview with DW-TV, Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media, spoke about the reform treaty as a force for change, enlargement and the tendency to blame Brussels when things go wrong.
"This is about the first fixed president of the EU and we must have George Washington in mind as the precedent." Closed meetings of ambassadors to the EU will begin to hammer out a job description later this month.
If you feel Europe is boring and shrug your shoulders as the UK rams the Lisbon treaty through Parliament, can I recommend a strong dose of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing? He is a crazed Eurofanatic.
Those who fear a superstate always do well to keep an eye on the musings of the high priest of European integration, because he articulates what his followers are thinking but are not honest enough to say.
His latest comments on the nature of the new president of Europe are even more frightening: "This is about the first fixed president of the EU and we must have George Washington in mind as the precedent."
None of this need be inevitable, even though Eurofanatics rely, like Scottish nationalists, on the Marxist myth of historical inevitability. The currents are instead moving against the old-fashioned concept of a Brussels-based superstate.
The Serbian breakaway province of Kosovo intends to proclaim independence next Sunday, Serbia said on Friday, saying it has information to back up the claim. "The Serbian government has received more and more significant information that [Kosovo's prime minister] Hashim Thaci will illegally declare the unilateral independence of Kosovo on February 17th."
Serbian President Boris Tadic has warned of an escalation in conflicts if Kosovo declares independence as expected later this month. "Should Serbia be partitioned against its will ... it could in turn result in the escalation of many existing conflicts, the reactivation of a number of frozen conflicts, and the instigation of who knows how many new conflicts."
(And: Transcript/audio of speech)
(And: The spectre over Belgrade)
Russian PM in Munich on:
New vision of pan-European security
"It gives me pleasure to note that the authority of the Munich Conference on Security Policy has increased considerably in recent years. It has gradually turned into a universal venue where leading politicians and experts can express their opinions on international developments, exchange views and jointly discuss solutions to various problems.
"I am sure that everyone here clearly realizes that the process of Russia's revival objectively combines our ambition to occupy an appropriate place in the world politics and commitment to maintain our national interests.
"Right away I would like to make a point: we do not intend to meet this challenge by establishing military blocs or engaging in open confrontation with our partners. We have abandoned ideological and other prejudices.
"We don't export ideology anymore, you will agree with that. We export only goods and capital. This is also a point of departure in our relations with international partners.
"We do not aim to buy the entire Old World with our petrodollars. But welcoming foreign investors in Russia, we naturally expect this to be a 2-way traffic.
"And, finally, to answer the question chosen as the topic of our discussion - "Where is Russia heading?" ‑ I will formulate a short answer.
"Russia is heading towards the creation of a socially-oriented market economy, improvement of living standards and quality of life of its people, as well as evolutionary development of the country in the context of close international cooperation based on the principles of international law."
The Middle East and North Africa are in the process of being divided into spheres of influence between the European Union and the United States. Essentially the division of the Middle East and North Africa are between Franco-German and Anglo-American interests.
While on the surface Iraq falls within the Anglo-American orbit, the Eastern Mediterranean and its gas resources have been set to fall into the Franco-German orbit. In fact the Mediterranean region as a whole, from Morocco and gas-rich Algeria to the Levant is coveted by Franco-German interests, but there is more to this complex picture than meets the eye.
Unknown to the global public, several milestone decisions have been made to end Franco-German and Anglo-American squabbling that will ultimately call for joint management of the spoils of war. Franco-German and Anglo-American interests are converging into one.
The reality of the situation is that the area ranging from Mauritania to the Persian Gulf and Afghanistan will be shared by America, Britain, France, Germany, and their allies. These spheres of influence are really spheres of responsibility in a long campaign to restructure the Middle East and North Africa.
The services agreement between Total S.A. and Chevron to jointly develop Iraqi energy reserves, NATO agreements in the Persian Gulf, and the establishment of a permanent French military base in the U.A.E. are all results of these objectives. Militant globalization and force is at work from Iraq and Lebanon to the Maghreb.
The resigning Israeli Knesset member of ruling party Kadima yesterday harshly slammed Prime Minister Ehud Olmert saying he "is dangerous to Israel. He is the worst prime minister in the history of the State of Israel."
Iran recently aided Syria in improving a missile capable of better targeting Israeli installations, including military bases and the country's international airport, according to Israeli intelligence briefings this week provided to top Knesset members.
The lawmakers were also told Syria has greatly accelerated its acquisition of missiles and arms, including anti-tank, anti-aircraft and ballistic targeting missiles, and that Iran worked with Syria to improve the Iranian Zelzal missile -- which has a range of about 155 miles and is considered one of the most accurate projectiles in Syria's arsenal.
Prior to this week's NATO meeting in Vilnius, heated bickering between Berlin and Washington had led to discomfort and harsh words in the NATO family. Despite the outward harmony and the smiles for the group photo, significant differences within the alliance became apparent. This divide will become all the more apparent at the NATO summit in April.
Germany's defense minister on Saturday called for greater dialogue and more joint decisions among NATO partners operating in Afghanistan and said it would be stepping up its military efforts in the west of the country.
He said lack of unity and cooperation was hindering the alliance's role as a pillar of global security. "We need greater cooperation with our partners. We need more dialogue and consultation, the basis for joint decisions. Above all, however, we need more unity in our intentions."
(And: Transcript/audio of speech)
The European public needs convincing that NATO's mission in Afghanistan is part of a wider fight against global terror, the US defence secretary says. Robert Gates warned that the future of NATO was at risk if it became a "2-tiered alliance" of countries which fought, and those that did not. He was speaking on the last day of a security conference in Munich.
(And: Gates criticizes NATO allies)
(And: Transcript/audio of speech)
NATO is the world's most powerful military alliance. It has 2 million men under its command, 1,000 helicopters and countless other military resources. Yet it is facing failure, if not actual defeat, in Afghanistan. Why?
The answer is simple. The Afghan war was misconceived from the very start. It was decided in rage and haste by Washington, without proper thought or planning. Instead of seeking to separate al-Qaida from its Taliban hosts, the US war has cemented them together.
The result is that, 5 years on, NATO is today fighting not just a small band of al-Qaida extremists, but a mass tribal movement, which enjoys strong support from its brothers across the 2,500 kilometre Afghan-Pakistan border.
Finally, the truth is seeping out. Contrary to how President Bush has tried to justify the Iraq war in the past, he has now clumsily — if inadvertently — admitted that the invasion and occupation of Iraq was aimed primarily at seizing predominant influence over its oil by establishing permanent military bases.
He made this transparently clear by adding a signing statement to the defense appropriation bill, indicating that he would not be bound by the law's prohibition against expending funds:
"(1) To establish any military installation or base for the purpose of providing for the permanent stationing of United States Armed Forces in Iraq," or
"(2) To exercise United States control of the oil resources of Iraq."
Senior UN officials have said that the situation in Sudan's western Darfur region has sharply deteriorated, to the extent that a full-scale war could break out. "The situation is running out of control. We cannot get the political talks going if we cannot have an atmosphere ... in which talks can take place."
The lessons of Europe's muddle over its military mission to Chad
An "embarrassment", says a diplomat of the delays over a EU peacekeeping mission to Chad. EU members have squabbled over who should provide troops, kit and helicopters—and who should pay the bills.
This week deployment of the 3,700-strong EUFOR was postponed yet again, because of rebel attacks on Chad's capital. Proof that Europe is a "paper tiger", jeered one blogger with a Eurosceptic following: not so much a soft power as a "gone-soft power".
French history in Africa weighs heavy. There was a "lot of scepticism" when France began pushing the case for a European mission in Chad, admits one diplomat. The humanitarian aim seemed to make sense when French colleagues explained it, but plenty of listeners feared it might really be "all about oil contracts".
On February 2, rebels attacked Chad's capital in an attempt to unseat President Idriss Deby. Alex de Waal, an Africa expert, says this rebel attack was backed by the Sudanese government, and was timed to precede the arrival of the EU peacekeeping force on the ground in eastern Chad.
Deby has rounded up most of Chad's civilian opposition and civil society leaders, and de Waal is "very concerned" that Deby might massacre these individuals. He says it's possible the rebels will take the capital, and if they do, Khartoum will become even more powerful in the region.
If Deby manages to prevail, which de Waal thinks is likely because he has the backing of Libya and France, he anticipates a short-term escalation of the crisis in Darfur. If that happens, there is a danger that Sudan will, in turn, escalate the war in Chad.
(And: "There can be little doubt that Khartoum sparked last week's attack, and that beyond that, its own patron in Beijing consented as well. With 10,000 UN peacekeepers in Sudan and another 9,000 UNAMID soldiers in Darfur, the NCP doubtless sees EUFOR as an additional threat, as it would hinder deploying Chadian rebels against Déby -- who is a key backer of the JEM, mainly comprised Zaghawa kinsmen and thought to be close to Hassan al-Turabi."... who earlier in the year, "launched a vicious attack on the Government of his arch adversary, Sudanese President al-Bashir" and said 'it has provided a bad example of Islam.'")
[WAR: It's my contention that Sudan is the modern-day country where the "King of the South" of Daniel 11:40 comes from. When Yahshua called the Queen of Sheba "the Queen of the South," he was indicating WHERE the SOUTH was located!
Just looking at a map will show that Sudan is SOUTH of Jerusalem, and the area where al-Turabi was born is straight, due-SOUTH from Jerusalem. This is in direct opposition to "The Prophet" from the PCG who says that the KOS is Iran -- which is due-EAST of Jerusalem.
Also, other COG "prophets" claim that "the Arabs" and/or "Islam/the Muslims" are the King of the South. But this is just a vague and general, shooting-in-the-dark shotgun approach -- in the hopes of hitting something. The King of the South is a specific person, that comes from a specific place/kingdom -- not a group of ethnic/religous people.]
More on Turabi...
Since the start of the border conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea we have seen the proliferation of organizations and groupings aimed at destabilizing the government of Eritrea.
The Alliance of Eritrean National Forces is one among those political groupings. It was formed upon the initial request of Sudanese Islamic Front lead by Hassan Al Turabi and the Weyane cliques.
It is important to note that Turabi is the architect of this Alliance as well as of the fundamentalist Islamic Front in Sudan that is spreading and exporting its religious ideology and dogma in neighboring countries. Turabi is a bitter man who has lost his son in the Jihad war and determined to continue the islamazation process in memoriam of him.
Chinese entrepreneurs are invading Africa and reviving the fortunes of the world's poorest continent. Are they just stripping it of its resources — or have they finally found the answer to a problem the West has been unable to solve?
There are estimated to be 750,000 Chinese across the continent, 900 Chinese companies, and an overall Chinese investment of $6 billion.Where will it end? One Chinese expert was so bold as to suggest that China needed eventually to send 300m people to Africa to solve its problems of over-population and pollution.
What Africans think of the idea is another matter. But they may have no choice as African country after country succumbs to Chinese advances.
China's overriding motivation is raw materials. It may have become the workhouse of the world but it has almost no natural resources of its own to sustain its new dynamic role, and has had no alternative but to seek them out in Africa.
[WAR: This Chinese move into Africa that has been transpiring, is just the setting-up of the future scenerio of the Kings of the East that will be heading west -- to defend their interests against the coming German aggression in the area, especially in Sudan. China has never had a reason to make a military towards the west ... until now.]
For example...
Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier departed today for a 3-day tour of West African nations. The tour is his 2nd to West Africa in just 7 months.
[WAR: The 2nd time in 7 months? Why is there such interest? What's going on? And if I'm not mistaken, Germany's president is also on an African trip, or just finished it up.]
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohammad ElBaradei, on Saturday reported "good progress" on clarifying all outstanding issues and questions over Iran's nuclear program. Addressing the Munich security conference, he said the next IAEA report will reflect this progress in the negotiations between the UN nuclear watchdog and Iran.
(And: Transcript/audio of speech)
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was due to travel to Berlin today, where he was expected to push for further international measures to halt Iran's nuclear drive, officials said.
"During his visit to Germany, Olmert will discuss the serious problem of Iran's nuclear programme. We expect further efforts in terms of economic and political pressure on Iran to renounce its nuclear projects, and Germany is a key player in this."
Warmongering in Munich...
Joseph I LIEberman's Munich speech on Iran (excerpts)
"In my remarks this afternoon, I would like to focus on a particular threat: the nuclear ambitions of the Islamic Republic of Iran. If we do not work together to get Iran right, a great deal else in the world is likely to go very wrong.
Some people inside and outside the United States have seized on the recent National Intelligence Estimate on Iran's nuclear activities to diminish or even dismiss the nuclear threat from Iran. That is a profound mistake. Other respected national intelligence services believe that Iran already has restarted its nuclear weaponization program.
Some nations are unfortunately using the sanctions regime as an opportunity to expand business ties to Iran and reap profits, at the expense of the rest of the world.
For example, it is outrageous when Germany makes the principled decision to curtail its exports to Iran, only to watch as the People's Republic of China moves in and exploits that decision for its own commercial advantage.
This is more than just self-serving behavior. It ensures that the sanctions regime is less likely to persuade Iran to suspend its illicit nuclear activities—and that, in turn, increases the likelihood of military confrontation.
Distinguished delegates, the dangers of a nuclear Iran cannot be denied, diminished, or dismissed. There is no room for complacency, and no excuse for inaction, about this threat.
The question now is NOT whether we recognize the nature of the danger, but whether we, who are privileged to lead the international community, will summon the insight, determination, and courage, to address this danger before it is too late."
The usual fate of populist presidential candidates is to burn brilliantly for a moment and then fizzle out. This year the populist flame is burning brighter and longer. America has seen not 1 but 2 significant populist insurgencies.
Hillary Clinton's most senior advisers are in a state of "panic" about her presidential prospects and are plotting to enlist Democrat leaders in Congress to thwart Barack Obama's ambitions.
A long-standing member of the Council on Foreign Relations John McCain will pursue the goals and ambitions of the globalists with a vengeance. As Pat Buchanan said recently, "John McCain will make Dick Cheney look like Gandhi."
Catholic Cult Causing Chaos...
Catholic voters backed John McCain Hillary Clinton in many Super Tuesday presidential primaries and caucuses for their respective parties. Former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee, an outspoken Evangelical Protestant, attracted little Catholic support.
Some political observers believe that attracting the predominantly Catholic Hispanic vote could be a deciding factor in the national elections this November.
The geography of recession
The latest national statistics are gloomy. Yet America's economic downturn will be felt unevenly. A downturn centred on housing will have pernicious effects, even on the regions it hits least. That is because it constrains one of the biggest safety valves in America's economy: people's ability to move. And mobility is hampered by people's inability to sell their homes.
The latest national statistics are gloomy. Yet America's economic downturn will be felt unevenly. A downturn centred on housing will have pernicious effects, even on the regions it hits least. That is because it constrains one of the biggest safety valves in America's economy: people's ability to move. And mobility is hampered by people's inability to sell their homes.
The global economy could deteriorate further in the wake of the global credit crunch, a meeting of the G7 has warned. They also called on oil producers to increase output and on China to let its currency appreciate faster. US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson said current financial turmoil was "serious and persisting".
German FM sees $400bn in write-offs
Financial institutions around the world face $400 billion of write-offs as a consequence of the US subprime mortgage crisis, according to G7 estimates, German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck said. He said the crisis that spread from the US property market to global financial markets may continue well into 2008.
World equity markets lost $5.2 trillion in the month of January, taking back previous market gains and leaving developed markets in the red for the trailing 3 months, said Standard & Poor's. Emerging markets fell 12.44%, while developed markets lost 7.83%, according to S&P, making it one of the worst-ever starts to a new year.
There is still $300bn of bad debt out there, and Japan could be hiding most of it.
The next shoe has dropped with an almighty thud in Japan. Echoes are rumbling across the Far East. The Tokyo bourse has crumbled, suffering the worst start to the year since WW2.
The nagging fear is that Japan's lenders - the conduit for the world's greatest stash of savings - have taken on a far bigger chunk of mortgage securities, collateralised loans obligations and other exotica from America's structured credit boom than they have yet revealed.
Somebody, somewhere, must be sitting on a vast nexus of undisclosed losses. We may find out soon enough whether the hold-outs are in Japan.
"We know from Bank of Japan's lending survey that the banks are already tightening hard, so something is brewing. Right now, we are in the lull before the 2nd storm in global markets, and Asia is going to be the source of the nasty surprises."
What we know is that Japan's economy - still the 2nd biggest in the world by far - has fallen over a cliff since October. And we tend to forget that Japan remains the world's top creditor nation by far, the shy master of fate. So the storm spreads East...
In broad strokes, the parallels are alarming. After a long boom, the Japanese economy in the 1990s, as America's today, was jolted by a sharp plunge in the real estate market. In Tokyo, the government, bankers, and policy makers were slow to recognize the scope of the problem.
Bad loans piled up. The financial troubles rippled through the economy, as consumer spending and job growth fell. It was a humbling and lasting setback for a country once feared and admired as a model of economic dynamism.
The shadow of Japan hangs over the US economy these days. The US is sliding into a downturn, economists said, just as it appears to be losing some of its global edge from the productivity-enhancing gains driven by technology investments of recent decades.
The so-called "credit crisis" is gaining momentum. Investors increasingly question the solidity of the banking system, as evidenced by banks' tumbling stock prices and rising funding costs. The current credit crisis appears to be a precursor of great inflation.
If a deliberate policy of great inflation is chosen in the US, a monetary policy of debasing the currency would most likely also take hold in other currency areas of the world.
With problems spreading from Wall Street to Main Street, America's credit crisis will get worse before it gets better
Commercial property is an even bigger headache. The property story has a uniquely worrying twist for banks across America. That's because, in addition to offering commercial mortgages, regional and local banks also make huge numbers of "construction loans" to developers building malls, condominiums and other properties.
A business the big investment banks pretty much ignored, construction lending was wildly profitable during the property boom, but now a growing number of these loans are turning sour in the bust.
Regulators are getting nervous. In a speech to Florida bankers at the end of January, the Comptroller of the Currency noted that more than one-third of America's community banks—and more than three-fifths of Florida's—have commercial-property loans that are more than 3 times their capital. And he went on to predict increases in loan-loss reserves and a rise in bank failures.
On January 14, 2008 the FDIC web site began posting the rules for reimbursing depositors in the event of a bank failure. The implication is clear, the FDIC has begun the "death watch" on the many banks which are currently drowning in their own red ink.
The problem for the FDIC is that it has never supervised a bank failure which exceeded 175,000 accounts. So the impending financial tsunami is likely to be a crash-course in crisis management. Today some of the larger banks have more than 50 million depositors, which will make the FDIC's job nearly impossible.
So, what does it all mean? It means there's going to be an unprecedented wave of bank closures in the US and that people who want to hold on to their life savings are going have to be extra vigilant as the situation continues to deteriorate. And it is deteriorating very quickly.
Oil futures jumped back above $91 a barrel Friday, building on the previous session's gains on renewed concerns about supply disruptions. Crude gained on word that oil exports from Nigeria, Africa's biggest oil producer and a major US supplier, could fall as much as 1 million barrels a day due to the nation's deteriorating security situation and planned maintenance.
Prices also rose on news that North Sea oil production has been cut by 280,000 barrels a day due to technical problems at a Total oil field, and that Russian crude output could fall this year due to the depletion of a large oil field.
Concerns that Venezuela might retaliate in some way after ExxonMobil won court orders freezing the assets of its state oil company, and worries that OPEC will cut production in a bid to keep prices from falling too low, also pushed prices higher.
In the competitive world of media today, swift and conveniently selective reporting is of prime importance. Google News, for example, claim to scan 4,500 news sources, of which only a few are highlighted as main stories.
There are thousands of similar services, all competing to produce a story in the fastest time. Thorough - and thus slower - reporting is relegated and crucial information often appears too little too late.
Genetically, people still look pretty much alike
Some light was shone this week on the vexed question of the genetics of race in humans. The Pasteur Institute published a study in Nature Genetics that looked at which genes have undergone recent natural selection at different rates in different parts of the world, and might thus contribute to any biological differences between races.
All in all, the school of thought which holds that humans, for all their outward variety, are a pretty homogenous species received a boost.
I hate to blithely dismiss a whole swathe of scientific findings but I don't believe a word of this. Fat gene, my foot. Funny how it seems to manifest itself only in the prosperous, cake-guzzling carb-and-sugar-laden West. Where are the obese Sudanese toddlers? The porky Ethiopians?
Being fat is as much a mental state as a physical one. People overeat for psychological reasons, not physical ones. We need to get to grips with the fact that fatness is a personal choice, one that can't be blamed on anybody -- or anything -- other than our own greedy behaviour.
Masonic Men Making Monuments...
Almost 5 years have passed since Dan Brown's epic account of Vatican skulduggery and long-hidden secrets stormed to the top of bestseller lists around the globe. He has revealed that he is working on a story about the influence of freemasonry in Washington DC in the mid-19th century.
There have been sporadic sightings of Brown undertaking his freemasonry research and speculation on the web that he is planning to do for masons what The Da Vinci Code did to Opus Dei, the secretive Vatican sect.
Brown's American publisher, Doubleday, sparked a fresh wave of speculation by hinting that Brown had "a very specific release date" in mind. "When the book is published, readers will see why."
There is speculation that the key date in Brown's new book may be July 4. In addition to being America's national independence day holiday, it was on July 4, 1848, that a group of freemasons laid the corner-stone of the Washington Monument, the 555ft tall obelisk that towers over the Mall across from the White House.
* "Obelisks were a prominent part of the architecture of the ancient Egyptians, who placed them in pairs at the entrance of temples. The obelisk symbolized the sun God Ra. Rome is the obelisk capital of the world. The most prominent is the 25.5 m obelisk at Saint Peter's Square in Rome." (Wikipedia)
* An obelisk is a monument to the fertility deity, Egyptian Osiris (AKA Ashar (Asher Asherah), Hades, Pluto, Tammuz, Adonis, Balder, Baal, Bel, Dionysus, Bacchus, Herne, Pan, and others). The obelisk was erected in Egypt as a monument to Osiris. It was a phallic symbol, the symbol of male fertility. The Asherah (called a grove in the KJV) is an obelisk, a phallic symbol erected to the fertility God Asherah, who was none other than Osiris. (BibleWord)
[WAR: So what was the purpose/function of an obelisk/Asherah, besides just standing there as erect phallus/steeple? There is one, and only one, possibility: it was used to determine when the vernal equinox occured, so that the pagan holy days could be determined.
With this being the case, does it make sense for the COG/Jews to use the same thing to determine the appointed times? I've known people in the COG who've used a stick/pole to figure out when the equinox is. Sure it's not a big and fancy obelisk, but it serves the same purpose: looking for "shadows in the soil."
And what about using astronomy software, or relying on the Naval Observatory or NASA, to figure out when this un-event takes place? Again, it serves the same purpose -- but now looking for "calculations on a computer" or "numbers from NO/NASA."]
Yesterday in Scripture
"In the 40th year, on the 1st day of the 11th month, Moses proclaimed to the Israelites all that YAHWEH had commanded him concerning them..." (Deu 1:3-
E-mail format for military: YAHOO! WARriors
WAR fund: PayPal (payable to thedailywarrior@gmail.com)
