Reading between the lines, and thinking outside the box . . .
The economic crisis requires a new relationship between labor and capital and between the common good and the market, says Benedict XVI.
"The great challenge and opportunity that the worrying economic crisis of the moment invites [us] to know how to take advantage of, consists in finding a new synthesis between the common good and the market, between capital and labor."
He affirmed that the world of work is the "essential key" to every social question, "because it conditions not only the economic development but also the cultural and moral development of persons, families, communities and all of humanity."
Citing Pope John Paul II, the Bavarian Pontiff emphasized that the Church "has never halted in considering the problem of work within a social question that has progressively taken on worldwide dimensions."
Pope Benedict XVI is going to publish a new social encyclical precisely in order for a teaching dating back centuries to continue to be ever timely, alive and at work in history.
One of the reasons explaining a certain degree of slowness or even delays in the awareness of Christians with respect to assuming personal and collective responsibility for the Social Doctrine of the Church may be seen in that fact it is not considered part of ecclesial tradition.
"The Church's social teaching is born of the encounter of the Gospel message and of its demands with the problems emanating from the life of society." It has to be understood in a theological sense, not a sociological one.
Present in the Church's social doctrine is an inexhaustible and irreducible element of prophecy bestowed upon it by the Gospel. Christ is ever timely, and let us not forget that the social doctrine of the Church is "announcement of Christ."
[WAR: Of, and by, itself, there is nothing really wrong with the social doctrine of the Whore. As a matter of fact, the world would be a much better place if everyone followed its precepts.
But .. big but! ... the devil-in-the-details is in the "Gospel" and "announcement of Christ" -- which is the theological poison contained in the oh-so good tasting social wine that is offered to the nations to drink.]
Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, became the first world leader yesterday to condemn Pope Benedict XVI over his rehabilitation of an ultra-conservative British bishop who denies that Jews died in the Nazi Holocaust.
(And: B16's BROTHER SLAMS MERKEL)
Jewish groups, the press and politicians all praised Chancellor Merkel's criticism of the rehabilitation of a Holocaust-denying bishop. Now the Vatican has also called on him to recant his statements.
A few days after the events, the lifting of excommunication from the four Lefebvrist bishops is increasingly manifesting itself at the Vatican as a double disaster, of governance and of communication.
In the disaster, Pope Benedict XVI found himself to be the one most exposed, and practically alone. Both within and outside of the curia, many are blaming the pope for everything.
The Vatican's ties with the Chief Rabbinate of Israel are "fluid," and a meeting set for March between both parties was never cancelled, according to Vatican sources. "Everything is fluid. It will be decided during the upcoming days if the meeting will take place in March."
"The lion has roared" (Amos 3:8) ...
This is a Google translation of a German article, but I don't feel like taking the time to render it in better English.
[WAR: "Where now is the lions' den, the place where they fed their young, where the lion and lioness went, and the cubs, with nothing to fear?" (Nahum 2:11) The lion's den is in Munich -- modern-day Nineveh which was founded by Henry the Lion.]
Germany's Foreign Minister plans to push for a "new trans-Atlantic agenda" during a meeting yesterday with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
As part of a new start for US-German relations, he is looking for progress on disarmament.
Frank and Hillary were all smiles when the German foreign minister met the new US secretary of state.
Steinmeier and Clinton were both optimistic on US-German ties but admitted future friction may not be that far away.
The Czech parliament's lower house has again postponed the vote on the European Union's stalled reform treaty. The vote is now scheduled to take place on February 17.
"Real co-operation" between the European Union and NATO, as well as a closer EU–US coordination on security issues and improved relations with Russia are needed in order for Europe to better face "current challenges," the leaders of France and Germany have said.
In order to respond to the "demands of the future," some areas – such as EU–NATO co-operation – are key.
Barack Obama will aim to slash the nuclear weapons stockpiles of the US and Russia by 80%, it has been reported.
(And: OBAMA OFFERS NUKE CUTS)
"The Government of Israel flatly rejects the establishment of a Palestinian Arab state west of the Jordan river. The Palestinians can run their lives freely in the framework of self-rule, but not as an independent and sovereign state."
Extremist rabbis and their followers, bent on waging holy war against the Palestinians, are taking over the Israeli army by stealth, according to critics.
In a process one military historian has termed the rapid "theologisation" of the Israeli army, there are now entire units of religious combat soldiers, many of them based in West Bank settlements.
They answer to hardline rabbis who call for the establishment of a Greater Israel.
Rabbi speaking out against Zionism lies and the peaceful coexistence the true Jews have had while living alongside muslims.
Palestinian Authority President Abbas and top members of his Fatah party have been strongly lobbying Israel behind the scenes to continue the Jewish state's military offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, WND has learned.
Informed diplomats in Jerusalem said Abbas and other top PA officials are concerned the Israel Defense Forces did not mount a strong enough campaign against their Hamas rivals, who in 2007 seized complete control of the Gaza Strip from Abbas' US-backed Fatah forces.
Israel is set on the road to expand its naval fleet with advanced US warships amid speculation that it plans to take out Iran after Gaza.
Al-Qaeda's #2 Ayman al-Zawahri has criticised Barack Obama for not mentioning Gaza in his inauguration speech, and urged Muslims around the world to target American interests to avenge the country's support of the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip.
The US began its war in Afghanistan 88 months ago. The "war on terror" has no sunset clause.
As a perpetual emotion machine, it offers to avenge what can never heal and to fix grief that is irreparable.
The British are trying to get US soldiers killed in a trap which the British themselves have set, with their role, as with George Soros, in promoting the international market in drugs.
In Moscow to seek financial support, the president of Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday announced that a decision to close a US air base in his country — a decision that will seriously hamper US efforts in Afghanistan.
(And: US LOSES AIRBASE TO RUSSIA)
(And: US TO RESPOND TO REPORT)
India has warned Barack Obama that he risks "barking up the wrong tree" if he seeks to broker a settlement between Pakistan and India over the disputed territory of Kashmir.
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman said today that the country's newly launched satellite serves no military purpose.
Dismissing the concerns over its recent launch of a domestic satellite, he said that "Iran's space advancement serves no military purpose" and that the launch of the country's satellite "is a scientific and technical achievement and has no military aim."
Representatives of Britain, the US, Germany, France, China and Russia are to hold talks on Iran. Today's talks are to take place in the German town of Wiesbaden.
(And: WORLD KEPT IN DARK ON TALKS)
Hillary Clinton has described the special relationship between Britain and America as alive and well, calming nerves in Downing Street that Obama's promise to forge new alliances around the world would eclipse it.
What a difference an election makes. On the campaign trail, candidate Obama vowed to fix Washington's "broken politics", which had become "gummed up by money and influence."
Now that he is in office, however, the new dawn is looking like a false one.
His administration is crammed to the gills with alumni of Bill Clinton's White House; Hillary Clinton, whom Obama mocked as the epitome of what was wrong with politics, is now secretary of state.
There have been attempts to give lobbyists top jobs in the Obama administration.
(Cartoons: DASCHLE DROPS OUT)
On the evening of January 31, Washington's political and business elite met under the aegis of the annual dinner of the Alfalfa Club, billed by the Washington corporate media as one of the nation's capital's most secretive and elite groups.
Obama's turn to the right is not surprising to one African American Democrat who spoke to WMR. The long-time politician observed, "With Obama, now you will see fascism with a black face."
(Wiki: ALFALFA CLUB)
Obama deepened his extraordinary efforts at bipartisan collaboration with the Republican Party on Tuesday with the announcement of New Hampshire Republican Senator Judd Gregg as his pick for commerce secretary.
The extent of Obama's bowing before the Republican right is highlighted by his agreement, as demanded by Gregg, to have New Hampshire's Democratic governor appoint a Republican to assume the vacated Senate seat.
It is abundantly clear that the Republican leaders are going to do everything to prevent Obama and the Dems from doing anything constructive. They are still playing politics and are focused on the 2010 elections.
There is no doubt that the government is preparing a nationwide system of detention facilities under the guise of emergency management that could be used to house large quantities of Americans during a time of civil strife.
Many think that it is a conspiracy theory, but it is not.
The world's economies are falling together, and either the rope connecting them will save them, or they will all disappear together over the cliff. The world is sliding downhill fast, and no one can say if the rope will hold.
In brief, the entire world monetary-financial systems, including those of Russia and China, are already, if only momentarily, hopelessly bankrupt, at the brink of plunging into a global "new dark age" of proportions far worse than struck Europe during the middle of Europe's 14th-Century New Dark Age.
With no money available for useful production, and most world leaders still not willing to address the necessary bankruptcy reorganization of the entire international financial system, unemployment is skyrocketing, factories are closing, state and national governments around the world are teetering at the edge of insolvency, and world trade is grinding to a halt.
Furthermore, the London-centered international drug cartel known as Dope, Inc. is moving in "to take over the whole world economy."
This drug takeover of the world economy by the British Empire, operating through front men like the Nazi-trained George Soros, has to be stopped cold.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown appeared to acknowledge for the first time today that the world economy was heading for a 1930s-style "depression".
"We should agree, as a world, on a monetary and fiscal stimulus that will take the world out of depression."
Our rulers are destroying the economy. Not little by little, as they usually do, but in huge swaths.
The prospects for the US economy have become uniquely dreadful, if not frightening.
In this paper the authors argue that the US and the rest of the world's economies will not be able to achieve balanced growth and full employment unless they are able to agree upon and implement an entirely new way of running the global economy.
The European Union warned the US yesterday against plunging the world into depression by adopting a planned "Buy American" policy, intensifying fears of a trade war.
The EU threatened to retaliate if the US Congress went ahead with sweeping measures in its $800 billion stimulus plan to restrict spending to American goods and services.
Last night Obama gave a strong signal that he would remove the most provocative passages from the Bill. "I agree that we can't send a protectionist message."
When it comes to learning lessons, we humans all too often have a tendency to go from one extreme to the other.
What we've heard over and over again from proponents of free trade is that if we buy other nations' products, they're bound to buy ours and everyone will live happily ever after.
Unfortunately, that thinking is no less shortsighted than Smoot-Hawley, but it is only now, during our worst economic crisis since the 1930s, that many Americans will finally start to see why.
Dollar monetary stock worldwide has grown 2-fold over the last half-year and this printing press does not seem to be slowing down.
Would this financial pyramid eventually collapse? No one from the Federal Reserve System so far has intelligibly explained what they are planning to do with the paper, and this mystery probably holds the key answer.
So, the devaluation of the dollar is probably not far away but what could happen before this event? Here are just some of the most fabulous yet entirely possible worst-case scenarios.
The Federal Reserve System faces a dilemma of its own creation: the doubling of the monetary base.
The only thing that is keeping this from creating mass inflation is the decision of commercial bankers to deposit the bulk of this increase with the Federal Reserve.
The banks are not lending out this money. Neither is the FED. This money does not legally belong to the FED.
There is a reason why the banks are not lending money to the public. Instead of taking the risk of lending, the banks are depositing hundreds of billions of dollars with the Federal Reserve.
Layoffs are spiking as the recession rips through the country, with retailers, banks, factories and others cutting costs ever deeper this week.
It's inflicting a painful toll on workers, and there's little relief in sight.
With jobs vanishing at a breakneck pace, it's becoming increasingly difficult for the unemployed to find new jobs.
And some of those who still have jobs are rapidly losing ground in other ways.
A Ponzi scheme does not generate any wealth whatsoever; that is why it ultimately collapses.
We have a national Ponzi scheme where Congress collects about $785 billion in Social Security taxes from about 163 million workers to send out $585 billion to 50 million Social Security recipients.
Social Security's trustees tell us that the surplus goes into a $2.2 trillion trust fund to meet future obligations. The problem is whatever difference between Social Security taxes and benefits paid out is spent by Congress.
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If this forecast holds true, and a major portion of our states file bankruptcy, there will be widespread panic, our state funded services and programs will be closed down immediately, and confusion amongst political leadership and the citizenry.
An academic maverick is challenging conventional wisdom on Canada's prehistory by claiming an archeological site in southern Alberta is really a vast, open-air sun temple with a precise 5,000-year-old calendar predating England's Stonehenge and Egypt's pyramids.
He says it is in fact the centre of a 26-square-kilometre stone "lacework" that marks the changing seasons and the phases of the moon with greater accuracy than our current calendar.
The spring and autumn equinoxes, when day and night are equal, are similarly marked. They are not the equinoxes of the Gregorian calendar currently used, however, but the true astronomical equinoxes.
A New Zealand researcher has found - 2000 years after it was built - that the ancient Roman temple known as the Pantheon may play the role of a colossal sundial.
At the equinoxes, in March and September, the sunlight coming in through the hole strikes the junction between the roof and wall, above the Pantheon's grand northern doorway.
By marking the equinoxes, the Pantheon was intended to elevate emperors who worshipped there into the realm of the gods.
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