Reading between the lines, and thinking outside the box . . .
In the "Cronica Maiora," Bede (672-735) traces a chronology that would become the basis of the universal calendar "ab incarnatione Domini."
Up to then, time was calculated from the foundation of the city of Rome.
Bede, seeing that the true point of reference, the center of history is the birth of Christ, gave us this calendar that reads history beginning with the Lord's Incarnation.
The calculation elaborated scientifically by him to establish the exact date of the Easter celebration, and thus of the entire cycle of the liturgical year, became the text of reference for the whole Catholic Church.
Benedict XVI met with the British prime minister and is encouraging his work to aid development despite the global economic crisis.
According to a communiqué from the Vatican press office, the meeting's "cordial conversations dealt with the present global economic crisis and on the duty to pursue initiatives benefiting the less developed countries, and to foster cooperation on projects of human promotion, respect for the environment and sustainable development."
(And: BROWN TRIES TO SPIN B16)
(Cartoon: BROWN'S CONFESSION)
Members of the Bilateral Permanent Working Commission formed by representatives of the Holy See and Israel are making progress and resolved to conclude their agreements soon, according to both groups.
The commission met Wednesday in Israel. According to a joint statement, the theme of this most recent meeting was the economic agreement regarding the fiscal system and Church properties.
Richard Williamson, the British bishop whose denials of the Holocaust embarrassed the Vatican, has been ordered to leave Argentina within 10 days.
The Interior Ministry said it had ordered Bishop Williamson out of Argentina because his comments on the Holocaust "profoundly insult Argentine society, the Jewish community and all of humanity by denying an historic truth."
The embarrassments for Germany's far-right NPD party just keep coming. A power struggle for the party's leadership is getting more and more bitter as party finances collapse.
(And: NPD FACES FINANCIAL DISASTER)
Germany's new research station could change the way we build in Antarctica. The lifespan of earlier research centers was limited because structures were buried in snow over the years and crushed by ice. The latest station, though, uses hydraulic stilts that can adjust to the rising snow.
The upper house of parliament today approved the German government's $63 billion economic stimulus plan aimed to lift the German economy out of its worst recession since WW2.
Chancellor Merkel said her country was ready to help eastern European countries experiencing economic difficulty. Aid would come mainly via the IMF and likely go to nations outside the euro zone.
President Klaus of the Czech Republic has long been one of the most strident critics of the European Union, making withering attacks at every opportunity.
Now he has inherited the ideal pulpit to air his views: the EU presidency itself.
In a diatribe before EU legislators Thursday, Klaus, whose country assumed the bloc's rotating helm in January from France, branded the union an undemocratic and elitist project comparable to Soviet-era dictatorships that forbade free thought.
His speech provoked boos from many lawmakers, some of whom walked out, but drew applause from a minority of nationalists and other anti-EU legislators.
While deeply unpopular in many EU circles, Klaus strikes a deep chord in some countries where citizens fear a stronger Europe could reduce national sovereignty - concerns reflected in the bloc's inability to adopt a charter intended to give new impetus to the European project.
Female employees from Russia's nuclear energy industry are competing for the Miss Atom 2009 title this month. The event's sponsors hope the beauty pageant will help dispel the industry's negative image.
Bomb-'em-Bibi's back...
Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of Israel's Right-wing Likud party, has won the endorsement of Israel's 'kingmaker' in a crucial step towards becoming prime minister.
Avigdor Lieberman, the leader of the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party, formally recommended that President Peres send for Netanyahu and make him prime minister.
Consequently, Israel may soon have a hardline, Right-wing government that may prove an exceptionally difficult partner for America's new administration.
While the endorsement of Yisrael Beiteinu chief Avigdor Lieberman has likely secured the Likud Party the first opportunity to form a coalition government, but getting the controversial right-winger to actually join that coalition is going to cost would-be Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu far more than anyone could have imagined.
Lieberman is now demanding 3 major portfolios for members of his parties: the foreign ministership (presumably for himself), the justice ministership, and the public security ministership
She told party members Thursday that "we weren't elected to legitimize this extreme right-wing government, and we must represent an alternative of hope and go to the opposition."
(Profile: LIKUD PARTY)
After 8 years of the closest possible relations, the US and Israel may be headed for a period of increasing strain.
Two US Democratic representatives expressed shock at the plight of the war-shattered Gaza Strip during a rare visit to the Hamas-run Palestinian enclave on Thursday.
"The amount of physical destruction and the depth of human suffering here is staggering."
Senator John Kerry reportedly accepted a letter for Obama from Hamas leaders in Gaza on Thursday.
The US Defence Secretary pleaded with NATO allies to send more civilian personnel to Afghanistan yesterday, after proclaiming disappointment at their failure to meet his requests for troops.
Washington had hoped to capitalise on Obama's appeal by gaining further troop commitments from European allies, but so far no pledges have been forthcoming.
The new US "surge" is smaller than commanders in Afghanistan had hoped and comes amid growing concern over the logistics of prosecuting the war with too few troops and too few supply routes into the country.
(And: THE NEXT US QUAGMIRE)
(And: WHERE WILL OBAMA TAKE US?)
(And: US PATROL FINDS ANGER AND DISTRUST) [WAR: My half-brother is in that patrol.]
The Indian government as well the opposition reacted sharply to a peace deal between the Pakistan government and the Taliban in the Swat Valley.
Iran called on Thursday for global negotiations aimed at total nuclear disarmament, saying that the elimination of atomic weapons was the only guarantee against their use or threatened use.
Iran has now built up a stockpile of enough enriched uranium for one nuclear bomb, United Nations officials acknowledged on Thursday.
However, UN officials emphasise that in order to produce fissile material Iran would have to reconfigure its Natanz plant to produce high enriched uranium rather than low enriched uranium – a highly visible step that would take months – or to shift its stockpile to another clandestine site. No such sites have been proved to exist.
Iran has considerably slowed down the expansion of its contested uranium enrichment programme, said a confidential International Atomic Energy Agency report obtained by Reuters on Thursday.
(And: NOTHING NEW IN REPORT)
Former German Chancellor Schroeder, upon arriving in Tehran, said he would be "very happy" if the US and Iran engaged in direct dialogue.
He is reportedly scheduled to meet with President Ahmadinejad.
The cousin of alleged 9/11 hijacker Ziad al-Jarrah has been exposed as a long standing Israeli spy in yet another startling intelligence connection between the Zionist state and the attacks on New York and Washington.
A New York Times report details how Ali al-Jarrah was a highly valued spy for Israel for no less than 25 years.
Texas has joined the states' right and 10th Amendment movement by introducing House Concurrent Resolution No. 50, filed earlier this week.
"The 10th Amendment assures that we, the people of the United States of America and each sovereign state in the Union of States, now have, and have always had, rights the federal government may not usurp."
Campaigners who have brought dozens of lawsuits challenging Obama's eligibility to occupy the Oval Office continue chasing those cases through arguments over discovery and hearing schedules, but now they also have turned their attention to state legislatures, which could require their states to verify such information about candidates.
At least 3 proposals have been submitted to state legislatures since Obama's election in November, and at least one – in Oklahoma – has gained enough traction to pass a committee vote.
Obama affirmed in an interview with a Spanish-language radio show that his administration is preparing to push for a new round of "comprehensive immigration reform."
Across the border from McAllen, Texas, a war has been raging in affluent Mexican neighborhoods, main streets and shopping areas as cartels openly fire rocket-propelled grenade launchers and assault rifles at law enforcement authorities.
(And: TEXAS READY FOR VIOLENCE)
Kathy Lovelace lost her job and was about to lose her house, too. But then she made a seemingly simple request of the bank: Show me the original mortgage paperwork.
And just like that, the foreclosure proceedings came to a standstill.
Lovelace and other homeowners around the country are managing to stave off foreclosure by employing a strategy that goes to the heart of the whole nationwide mess.
During the real estate frenzy of the past decade, mortgages were sold and resold, bundled into securities and peddled to investors.
In many cases, the original note signed by the homeowner was lost, stored away in a distant warehouse or destroyed.
It is not simply the banks that are the problem. It is also what lies behind them.
Largely hidden from view is a vast financial system that serves as the banker to the banks.
And, like many lenders, this system is in deep trouble. The question is how to fix it.
Most banks no longer hold the loans they make, content to collect interest until the debt comes due.
Instead, the loans are bundled into securities that are sold to investors, a process known as securitization.
The $787 billion federal spending spree we are all but required by law to call a "stimulus package" is many things, all of which are thoroughly contemptible and economically ruinous.
It is a veritable piñata of plunder made plump with plentiful perks and payouts to various Democratic Party-aligned parasites.
Credit barely available; watch the fabric of our nation disappear due to policy; More money for the wealthy, more debt for everyone else; long time now since the top of the market; a purge should be part of the financial solution; expect a metals breakout; the promised change has not arrived; the reality of the stock market today is grim; SEC continues to work for Wall street and play down criminality...
(Cartoons: GEITHNER'S GOOFY PLAN)
Madoff is suspected of transferring much of his ill-gotten gain to Israeli banks.
(Again: WHO'S BEHIND MADOFF?)
About 220,000 stores may close this year in America, says retail consultant Howard Davidowitz.
As more Americans save and spend less, it's clear there's too much retail space. And luxury retailers? They're on "life support," Davidowitz says.
(Cartoon: FED SEES TURNAROUND)
The Labor Department reported Thursday that the number of US workers receiving unemployment benefits hit 4.99 million in the week ending February 7, the highest number in 27 years.
Officially, the jobless rate reached a 16-year high of 7.6% last month — or 11.6 million people.
It almost seems amusing that we are still discussing the "coming" depression because of the fact that it is already arrived and settling in.
Really, what this entire new "era" is all about is watching our dreams deteriorate right before our eyes.
The number of high-level officials and experts warning that the economic crisis could lead to revolt and revolution world-wide - even in the US - is growing every day.
What is life going to be like when we stop using dollars? Will we revert to bartering? Will we adopt euros or yen? Will we hoard gold? Or will we just roll wheelbarrows full of American currency to exchange for something more valuable – like toilet paper?
(And: BARTER THE NEXT BIG THING)
[CFR Opinion Roundup][Newseum][Global Incident Map][Earthweek][Day-Night Map][Tonight's Sky][Moon phase]
A "grid of streets" on the seabed at one of the proposed locations of the lost city of Atlantis has been spotted on Google Ocean.
The network of criss-cross lines is 620 miles off the coast of north west Africa near the Canary Islands on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean.
(Pics: IS THIS ATLANTIS?)
According to legend, the Nabau was a terrifying snake more than 100ft in length and with a dragon's head and 7 nostrils.
But now local villagers living along the Baleh river in Borneo believe the mythical creature has returned after this photo of a gigantic snake swimming along the remote waterways has emerged.
All genuine feminine women love genuine masculine men. What is the definition of masculinity, though? Is there a formula to it?
(Yes: WILD AT HEART!)
"On the 24th day of the 11th month, in the 2nd year of Darius, the word of YAHWEH came to the prophet Zechariah..." (Zech 1:7 - 6:15)
WAR for military: YAHOO! WARriors
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