Reading between the lines, and thinking outside the box . . .
In an interview for the Italian newspaper Il Giornale, Pope Benedict XVI's brother, Georg Ratzinger, revealed several unknown details from the childhood of the Pontiff, such as when he said one time that Benedict would be a good name for a pope, and that he never attended Hitler Youth meetings he was obliged to sign up for.
Here is the address Archbishop Celestino Migliore, permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, gave Monday at the general debate of the 63rd session of the General Assembly.
Politics needs Christianity and it is therefore totally legitimate for believers to participate in the public square, says Benedict XVI's secretary of state.
In response to the question on the relation of politics and religion in the global era, Cardinal Bertone said that in the review's various articles he detected "a certain convergence on the fact that, in the era of globalization, politics and the market aren't everything; they are a means, not an end."
The financial crisis under way in the United States should remind us that the human person must be at the center of the economy, says the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.
"The economic crisis, which is manifested throughout the world, perhaps is a sign that the world is not made up only of bills, money and the economy. [The crisis] serves as a reminder that the human person must be put at the center of the whole of world economy."
As Congress goes back to the drawing board to consider the nation's finances after today's failed bailout vote, the country's bishops have their own list of principles they hope will be taken into account.
In a letter sent to government leaders Friday, Bishop Murphy of Rockville Centre, New York, chairman of the episcopal conference's Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, urged a consideration of 5 key principles when considering how to bail out the nation's failing economy.
The governor of Bavaria, Günther Beckstein, announced his resignation today due to his party's poor showing in state elections on Sunday. His departure comes on the heels of news that Christian Social Union head Erwin Huber will step down too.
Party leaders have agreed that Horst Seehofer, currently Germany's agriculture minister, will take over for Huber and Seehofer has said he would make himself available to inherit Beckstein's position as well. Others, however, have likewise voiced an interest in the job.
The conservative premier of Germany's Bavaria region resigned today, following heavy losses in a state election that look sure to increase tensions in German Chancellor Merkel's government.
The new leadership is expected to push the interests of Bavaria more forcefully in Berlin.
It is mainly right-wing and conservative parties that have been able to profit from the decline of the CSU. A number of other smaller conservative parties as well as ultra-right groups were also able to pick up some votes—together about 6%.
Last Sunday, at 6 o'clock in the evening, one of the great political success stories of post-war Germany came to an end. The Christian Social Union, which had governed Bavaria for nearly half a century suffered a humiliating defeat, losing the absolute majority it had held since the early 1960s.
The outcome in Bavaria revealed much about what is happening to Germany's postwar political structures: political fragmentation.
A certain panic has set in among the Volkspartei, including the Christian Social Union. Instead of pursuing a modernizing, centrist path, the parties are playing the populist card in a desperate bid to show that they, not the Left Party, are the guardians of social justice and a benevolent state.
German press review
With the government bailout of Hypo Real Estate Holding Monday, the now-global financial crisis has arrived and reared its ugly head in Germany. Commentators here largely approve of the measure, but they also want more government action -- and less anxiety -- soon.
Heinz-Christian Strache, the leader of Austria's far-right Freedom Party, says Turkey should not be allowed to join the European Union. He added that non-EU members should not be allowed access to Austria's social service system.
Moscow has defied the international community after denying EU monitors access to a Georgian buffer zone still occupied by Russian troops more than 6 weeks after the war in the Caucasus ended.
(But: EU deploys monitors)
The Russian ambassador to Georgia and a group of Russian diplomats left the country yesterday.
Russia's supreme court has formally rehabilitated Nicholas II, the country's last tsar, declaring that he and his family were unlawfully killed by Soviet authorities in an act of political repression.
The outcome was welcomed by the Russian Orthodox Church and descendants of Nicholas II, including Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, who spearheaded the campaign to rehabilitate the imperial Romanov family.
The national warship "Heybeliada" and mine-sweeper "Akcay" were put to sea in a ceremony held at a dockyard in Pendik, Istanbul, according to the report.
Heybeliada and Akcay are the first part of Turkey's national corvette program of "Milgem," the purpose of which is to build a modern littoral combat warship with indigenous capabilities, extensively using the principles of stealth technology in its design.
The Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency has approved the sale of 25 F-35 fighter jets to Israel with an option for another 50. Israel is the first foreign nation to receive the state-of-the-art Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jet, which will replace its older F-16 fighters.
The BBC reports that on September 25 Pakistani forces opened fire on 2 US helicopters as they crossed the border from Afghanistan. This incident is yet another prime illustration of what America's biggest casualty has been in our woebegone war on terror: the truth.
At this point, when presented with a choice of believing a Pentagon spokesman or a tinhorn 2-star general of an army that lost every war it fought for a Bananastan country with imaginary borders and brooms don't even have handles, the decision is obvious: the Pentagon guy is lying.
Oh, yeah. Pakistan also has nuclear weapons. We don't trust Pakistan's army to guard them properly and we'd like to guard them ourselves, but Pakistan's army won't let us.
The leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Khamenei says the Islamic world has been awakened and is on alert about Palestine.
"Today, the Islamic world is becoming more sensitive and motivated about the Palestinian issue in comparison to 60 years ago when the enormous catastrophe occurred," he said today while addressing crowds of Iranians after Eid ul-Fitr prayer, which marks end of the holy month of Ramadan.
He also called on Muslims across the world to maintain their unity and to not allow enemies to cause strife between Shia and Sunni.
In one of the US presidential election's more unorthodox campaign initiatives, young Jewish Democrats are being urged to fly to Florida to persuade their grandparents to vote for Barack Obama.
A political scientist at a Christian college in New York City warns that if Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama loses the election on November 4, race riots could break out in large US cities.
Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis warned, "The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in the insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding."
There is no question that if one were to ask whether we Americans are moving toward more liberty or more government control over our lives, the answer would unambiguously be the latter – more government control over our lives.
We might have reached a point where the trend is irreversible, and that is a true tragedy for if liberty is lost in America, it will be lost for all times and all places.
Let there be no doubt as to our rulers' response to the stinging repudiation of the bailout, which was supposed to save their necks and those of their cronies and backers. On their panel board is a dial marked War, and it is conveniently within reach.
Today a president can unilaterally decide to "save" mankind, his political career, and jump-start the economy, all in one fell swoop. All he has to do is issue the order, and instantly the country is at war.
As the wheels of commerce screech to a grinding halt and the empire of lies begins to unravel, get ready for the alarm to go off signifying the start of yet another war scare.
Cities, states and other local governments in the US have been effectively shut out of the bond markets for the last 2 weeks, raising the cost of day-to-day operations, threatening longer-term projects and dampening a broad source of jobs and stability at a time when other parts of the economy are weakening.
Their revolt was anything but an act of courage to protect American families.
House conservatives torpedoed the measure in order to advance their own alternative "bailout," one that's an ideologically motivated back door to bailing out Wall Street without doing anything for Main Street.
The role of the Democratic Party in promoting the plan devised by the Bush administration and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to bail out Wall Street has exposed the real social interests that this party defends.
And whatever their minor tactical differences, both major parties are united in the defense of the financial elite and a bankrupt economic system that is preparing a social catastrophe.
Since the $700 billion bailout plan went down in the House of Representatives by a 228-205 margin, talking heads and politicos have been looking for ways to circumvent Congress and give the executive branch the authority to perform a bailout without their consent.
This bailout has minimal impact on the American people; it is primarily about paying off foreign interests before the collapse, even if that process is to be heavily veiled and masked by transactions.
The great rush to get this bailout through isn't about saving the markets. It's about sucking in as much capital as possible before the market collapses.
The banking crisis is upending American dominance of the financial markets and world politics. The industrialized countries are sliding into recession, the era of turbo-capitalism is coming to an end and US military might is ebbing. Still, this is no time to gloat.
A severe fuel shortage has gripped parts of the southeastern United States, causing long lines at filling stations and symbolizing for some people their fears about the wider economy. The effects on motorists have been dramatic. Most service stations in Atlanta are out of gas.
The stress in the money markets deteriorated sharply yesterday.The interest rate in the latest ECB auction of overnight dollars went up to 11%. The ECB also reported that banks had deposited a record €44.4bn overnight on Monday at the deposit rate, which is a full percentage point below the repo rate.
This is an act of sheer despair, as banks shun the money markets now almost completely, with the central bank become the one and only guarantor of liquidity.
Conniving US Treasury Secretary Paulson has turned out to be another typical swindler, and worse.
(And: Restore Glass-Steagall)
This week Europe has fallen deeper into the credit crunch. With multi-billion euro bailout packages, Germany, Britain and the Benelux states have saved banks from collapsing.
European leaders went on the offensive Tuesday in a bid to blunt the effects of the global financial crisis, bailing out another major bank that operates in France and Belgium and promising to protect all bank depositors in Ireland.
The actions, which reflected the range of financial troubles suddenly popping up across the Continent, were accompanied by soothing words and promises of further action from London and Paris to Madrid to Berlin.
Chancellor Merkel pressed the US on Tuesday to pass a financial bailout package this week, arguing that it is essential to restore confidence in financial markets.
"The German government expects, and I expect, that the rescue package in the United States of America be approved this week," she said in a brief statement to reporters. She said that is "the precondition for creating new confidence on the markets — and that is of incredibly great significance."
France's president is fleshing out his calls for a revamping of capitalism, pushing for a summit with Germany, Britain and Italy and a new law to regulate executive severance pay.
French government spokesman Luc Chatel said the summit could be held in the coming days. "The financial crisis testifies to a system that is running out of steam. Therefore we need to find solutions to restructure a capitalism that is adapted to today's era."
His comments echoed a fiery speech last week from Sarkozy, who said the world flirted with catastrophe during the financial crisis and that laissez-faire capitalism "is finished."
Europe is furious at Washington's failure to agree on a bailout plan, calling Congress "irresponsible." Increasingly, EU leaders feel the answer to financial instability lies in greater international oversight.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin lashed out at the US today for what he said was its inability to deal with the financial crisis affecting the global economy.
In remarks unlikely to go down well in Washington, Putin was especially critical of Congress's rejection of a $700 billion bank bailout – a rejection that hit Russian financial markets especially hard.
"Everything that is happening in the economic and financial sphere has started in the United States. This is a real crisis that all of us are facing."
European leaders are pleading with America's lawmakers to reach an agreement on a financial rescue package "for the sake of the world" after a string of banks on this side of the Atlantic had to be saved.
"Investors everywhere are suffering an almost complete loss of confidence in governments' ability to prevent a systemic failure of the financial system."
It is just over 3 score years and 10 since the Great Depression. Judged by its rejection of the plan put forward by Hank Paulson, Congress believes it is time to risk another one.
That slump was, arguably, the greatest catastrophe of the 20th century: it was, among other things, responsible for the events that led to WW2 – not least Hitler's rise. One can only imagine what horrors a depression might bring now?
"We have a looming French Revolution on our hands."
Vindictive measures will not solve the financial crisis, but helping out bank shareholders could stave off depression. If Congress fails to pass some kind of support package, then banks around the world will continue to fall like dominoes and the world economy will almost certainly suffer a deep depression.
The Paulson bailout failed in the House. If it isn't a deathblow to the plan, it should be. This is not an economic plan: it is a heist. It will go down as The Great Bank Robbery of 2008. The economics behind it are nonsense. This is a money and power grab, pure and simple.
Billion dollar fund manager Mark Tice says that the Federal Reserve's ceaseless printing of dollars could cause gold to surge past $2,000 an ounce, while the Dow could fall below 5,000.
He told Bloomberg TV that the time scale of his forecast will be determined by how quickly foreigners lose confidence in the dollar.
(And: End debt-based dollars)
A chilling report circulating in the Kremlin today states that the US Secretary of the Treasury has informed the China Development Bank that the US has shipped $800 Billion of a new currency called the Amero, which is to be based upon the merging of the economies of the US, Mexico and Canada into what is termed as The North American Union.
The current American debt obligation to China
Riots and other forms of civil unrest have already broken out around the world in response to a global grain shortage and surging food prices.
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[Latest edition of The Religion WAR]
In relation to recent global events; wars, invasions of lands, conflicts between states, political scandals, recognitions of new states, there is one phrase that everybody likes to use, that phrase is called international law.
You'll need an unobstructed western horizon to catch the thin waxing crescent moon and the planet Venus after sunset tonight. At mid-northern latitudes in North America, Venus sets over one hour after sunset, whereas the moon and Mars set roughly 50 minutes after sundown.
[WAR: Even though there will be a very thin crescent tonight, it will remain in the glow of the sun and will not rule with the stars at night. So therefore, tomorrow will not be the Feast of Trumpets as proclaimed by the Karaites and some COG/Yahweh groups.]
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