Reading between the lines, and thinking outside the box . . .
Mockery is not acceptable in public discussions, especially when the subject is the pope, said the president of the Italian Catholic bishops' conference.
"We will not accept that the pope, in the media or anywhere else, is mocked or offended."
At the same time, India's bishops defended Pope Benedict XVI's leadership of the Catholic Church.
"It is the moral duty (of the pope) to direct and guide the consciences of people in general, and of Catholics in particular."
Despite being rocked by criticism, this pope continues to enjoy the trust of the masses. His trip to Africa and a survey in Italy prove this.
The reason is that he speaks of God to a humanity in search of direction.
Popularity and presence of God. The interweaving of these two elements is the secret of Joseph Ratzinger's pontificate.
The Vatican has published the complete schedule for Pope Benedict XVI during his trip to theHoly Land in May.
He will visit Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinian territories during his voyage, which will take place May 8-15.
[WAR: On Passover day, B16 will visit the supposed site of Yahshua's baptism.
The next day, the 1st day of Unleavened Bread, he'll be in Jerusalem. So on the same calendar day that Israel left Egypt, B16 arrives in Jerusalem. How 'bout that!
But the significance of this event is only apparent by following the correct biblical calendar -- otherwise it's just another ordinary day.
Interesting side note: On the last last day ("May 15th") of his trip, he'll again be in Jerusalem -- when Angels & Demons is released in the theaters. (The Da Vinci Code was also released during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.)]
The Vatican has dismissed as a heretic a mystical medieval monk apparently cited by Barack Obama as a moral authority and visionary.
According to the preacher to the Pontifical Household, Obama referred in campaign speeches to Gioacchino da Fiore, or Joachim of Fiore, as a ''master of contemporary civilisation'' who had sought to create a better world.
Drawing on the Book of Revelation, Gioacchino envisaged a "new age of the Holy Spirit" in which the Church hierarchy would cease to exist and Christians would unite with infidels in an "Order of the Just".
Gioacchino's views were ''false and heretical'', Cantalamessa said, since Christian believers were guided not only by the spirit but also by the laws of the Church.
A referendum next month may import religious teaching into Berlin's schools.
The little-known judges on Germany's Constitutional Court exert real influence, not only at home but also abroad.
The German government is applying pressure on offshore tax havens.
It is also taking action against German banks operating in Switzerland, where they maintain accounts for shadowy Liechtenstein foundations.
In a time of economic crisis, Berlin needs all the tax euros it can get.
His newly merged right-wing party entrenches Silvio Berlusconi in power. For the moment, the ever-smiling, ever-tanned media tycoon remains a Caesar with no Brutus in sight.
The Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, wants to give the largely ceremonial office of president some real teeth – and then campaign for the job himself.
If successful, he would be entrenched as the most powerful Italian politician since Benito Mussolini.
Even Gordon Brown's trip to Strasbourg cannot disguise Britain's structural problem with Europe.
Seven western Balkan nations aspiring to join the EU had their hopes dampened by French and German officials reluctant to see the 27-member bloc expanding in times of unfinished inner reforms and global economic crisis.
NATO is increasingly lacking solidarity and unity of vision over future strategic options, such as its relation with Russia and enlargement, a study issued by the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies, a Dutch think-tank, shows.
Meanwhile, the security aspects of the current economic crisis also featured at the event.
A potential break-up of the eurozone, a topic of speculation in financial circles, could have a significant impact on European security and defence, the head of the Dutch think-tank said at the event.
"If the eurozone breaks up - there is this possibility - then it will surely affect defence and security in Europe," said the director of the Hague Centre.
He later told EUobserver that talk about a eurozone breakup was "no longer as taboo as [it was] 2 to 3 months ago" and is being debated in the financial world.
(And: NATO AND ITS FUTURE)
Thanks to Binyamin Netanyahu's overweening ambition, Israel is to be saddled with a foreign minister who is a national disgrace.
The European Union told Israel's incoming new government that there would be "consequences" if it did not accept Palestinian calls for statehood.
Turkish media sources detail information implicating the Israeli Mossad in a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Erdogan.
Palestinian Islamic Hamas movement has denied any link to a weapon convoy which was said to be en route to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip but was bombed in Sudan.
(And: ISRAEL CARRIED OUT 3 STRIKES)
Catch me if you can...
Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president, has arrived in Qatar on the eve of an Arab League summit, defying an arrest warrant issued against him for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.
"He is taking an important standing. It is a real act of defiance."
Egypt's President Mubarak will not be attending a key Arab League summit aimed at ending inter-Arab divisions, sending a minor Cabinet official instead, his foreign minister said Saturday.
As disagreements between Arab leaders come to the fore before this week's Arab League summit, the emergence of new key players in the region presents fresh challenges for traditional Arab powers.
The crown prince is seriously ill, and Saudi Arabia's normally secretive royal family is openly clashing over who will take the throne.
A dispute over Saudi Arabia's royal succession burst into the open yesterday, revealing a power struggle in which one of the most senior princes in the oil-rich kingdom is reported to have disappeared.
Rumours are rife over the position of Prince Bandar bin Sultan, son of the heir to the Saudi throne, who has not been seen in public for weeks.
One theory in political circles in Riyadh is that Prince Bandar was seeking to oust King Abdullah before Prince Sultan dies, thus placing his father on the throne.
The prospect of instability in a country that is not only the world's largest oil exporter but also a key Western ally at the heart of the Middle East will cause serious concern in Washington, London and beyond.
[WAR: The limo company I worked for in the Dallas area provided the transportation for Bandar and his family when they were visiting their house in Dallas. And I drove one of his sons to his graduation at Baylor University.]
Obama unveiled his new Afghanistan strategy on Friday, one week before a major NATO summit.
He said the top goal was to destroy al-Qaida and announced a further 4,000 US troops would go to Afghanistan.
German commentators say Washington is unlikely to get its European allies to commit to sending more soldiers.
(Cartoon: OBAMA'S AFGHAN HOUND)
More than 7 years after America declared war on the Taleban, Afghanistan still stands on the brink of disaster, Obama declared Friday as he unveiled a new regional strategy to win the war in South Asia.
An additional 21,000 US troops will be sent to Afghanistan and civilian aid to neighbouring Pakistan will be trebled, Obama said in a speech that showed his desire to take full US ownership of the deepening conflict.
One ambitious element of Obama's plan is to recast the war as a regional conflict involving Pakistan, Russia, Iran, India, China and the Central Asian states.
(And: 12 NATO TRUCKS ATTACKED)
Missile experts from Iran are in North Korea to help Pyongyang prepare for a rocket launch, according to reports.
Japan's Sankei Shimbun newspaper claimed today that a 15-strong delegation from Tehran has been in the country advising the North Koreans since the beginning of March.
(And: HOW BUSH PUSHED NK TO NUKES)
A vast electronic spying operation has infiltrated computers and has stolen documents from hundreds of government and private offices around the world Canadian researchers have concluded.
In a report to be issued this weekend, the researchers said that the system was being controlled from computers based almost exclusively in China, but that they could not say conclusively that the Chinese government was involved.
The real story behind the US media's "told-you-so" response to Obama's New Years message to Iran.
Gordon Brown and Buckingham Palace have been in talks about ending the 300-year discrimination against Roman Catholics in Britain which still prevents an heir to throne from marrying a Catholic.
President Warren Harding once said: "I have no trouble with my enemies," but noted that his friends "keep me walking the floor nights."
That maxim should have applied to US foreign policy since 9/11 and even before that.
Obama is losing friends - and the G20 will be a further test.
When he visited Europe last July, Barack Obama stood in Berlin's Tiergarten park to declare his "global citizenship" and call on the "people of the world" to "come together to save this planet". Europeans were eager to fall in love.
But that was 8 months ago, and the innocence of that summer has started to evaporate.
Obama has become the first black man to occupy the White House, but the world is in the grip of the worst economic depression since the Thirties, with no path back to prosperity in sight.
(And: COMING DOWN TO EARTH)
(Op-ed: LEARNING THE HARD WAY)
A majority of Americans breathed a sigh of relief when the Bush/Cheney regime ended, but has it?
Obama's performance as POTUS is pretty convincing, if not Oscar-worthy. What's pitiful is that he really thinks he is in charge.
Well before Obama seriously considered a run for president, others evaluated his potential. Khalid Al-Mansour, associate of Saudi prince Alwaleed bin Talal, one of the world's richest men, helped get Obama into and through Harvard.
The Obama campaign promised "Hope" and "Change," but delivered neither. Instead, the same, old socialist-Democrat agenda put on a new costume and a face.
Obama's administration is almost a repeat of the Clinton team. And there's a good reason.
A thorough analysis of Obama's administration reveals that those recalled from the Clinton years have much in common: They share membership in the same organizations that have guided public policy since Roosevelt.
The Council on Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission have produced the people who have shaped public policy. These are the people who tell Obama's teleprompter what to say.
Obama is simply playing the role of president while others use him to advance their own agenda.
Military, Veterans, and peace officers who will honor their oaths to defend the Constitution, will NOT "just follow orders," will stand for liberty, and will save the Republic, so help us God. Our motto is: "Not on Our Watch!"
The revival of American populism is partly synthetic, but mostly real.
Obama hopes that his budget will channel destructive anger into support for his policies.
But he could also find his administration blown off-course or even swept aside by popular outrage.
An Infowars reader has sent photographs of an expansion underway at the Houston National Cemetery in Texas administered by the VA.
"Could this be related to what is going on in Phoenix?"
It is said to be the most impregnable vault on Earth.
For several prominent investors and at least one senior US congressman it is not the security of the facility in Kentucky that is a cause of concern: it is the matter of how much gold remains stored there - and who owns it.
They are worried that no independent auditors appear to have had access to the reported $137 billion stockpile of brick-shaped gold bars in Fort Knox since the era of President Eisenhower.
A member of Congress is warning the Obama administration to keep its hands off the US dollar's status as the world's international currency.
US Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-Minn), has introduced a resolution that would bar the US from recognizing any other currency than the dollar as its reserve currency.
(And: HANDLE WITH CARE)
Barack Obama met behind closed doors for more than an hour and a half with the chief executives of the largest American banks on Friday, reassuring the titans of finance that his administration has their best interests at heart.
Every aspect of the administration's economic policy caters to the interests of the financial elite, of which the president is merely a mouthpiece.
The private meeting at the White House had the air of a conspiracy against the public, a gathering to discuss carving up state resources in order to hand them over to the banks and major investors.
While no transcript of the discussions has been released (nor will there be), the bankers emerged very pleased.
Something is very wrong. The public is being fleeced by a finance Ponzi scheme, sheer flimflam, and here's how from what we know...
Leading Wall Street bankers pledged to support Obama's plans to revive and restructure the financial sector as he attempted to smooth over a fraught fortnight in which members of the industry have become public enemy #1.
In an unprecedented meeting at the White House, the heads of 13 of some of America's biggest banks plus industry lobby groups told Obama that they will work with him to heal the US economy, while at the same time setting out their views on regulation, compensation, and the $1 trillion public-private fund to buy up toxic assets.
In return, Obama stressed the need for open lines of communications between Wall Street and the White House, and also touched on the need for international co-operation ahead of next week's G20 summit in London.
(And: GEITHNER'S BANK REHAB)
(Cartoons: TOXIC ASSETS)
The more the banks holding junk mortgages pay for this toxic waste, the more the government will pay as part of its 85%.
So the strategy is to overpay, overpay, and overpay.
Paying 15% is a small price to pay for getting the government to put in 85% to take the most toxic waste off your books.
The free market at work, financial style.
It has become increasingly clear over the past few days that top officials in the Obama administration are still in the grip of the market mystique.
They still believe in the magic of the financial marketplace and in the prowess of the wizards who perform that magic.
For a few fleeting, horrifying moments this past week the fault lines that underlie the global economic crisis erupted into plain view.
With deft and quick effort leaders in Washington, Europe and Asia papered over the fissures and fears largely subsided.
But the shock of plain truths which resulted in violent currency movements are the latest reminder that the 21st century economic order will bear little resemblance to the world we now know.
Barack Obama is facing challenges to American power on multiple fronts as he prepares for his first trip overseas since taking office, with the nation's economic woes emboldening allies and adversaries alike.
Despite his immense popularity around the world, Obama will confront resentment over American-style capitalism and resistance to his economic prescriptions when he lands in London on Tuesday for the Group of 20 summit.
The spectre of 1933 hangs over this week's G20 summit. Then, as now, the world economy was reeling from a huge financial shock and trade was collapsing.
Industrial production is collapsing faster than during the Great Depression. Social and political devastation will not be far behind, unless the G20 can heal global divisions, writes Ambrose Evans-Pritchard.
The fundamental circumstances are worse today than in the early 1930s. The debt burden is higher. The global economy is more tightly intertwined. The virus spreads more swiftly.
In any case, the European Central Bank is still standing pat. Only the printing presses can rescue us, and the ECB refuses to print.
Germany's finance minister, Peer Steinbruck, is still digging in his heels against "crass Keynesianism."
If the summit degenerates into a shouting match between mercantilist creditors and prostrate debtors, it may serve only to frighten markets and tip us into the next – more violent – downward leg of this slump.
(Q&A: THE G-20 SUMMIT)
(Op-ed: LONDON CALLING)
Key politicians from around the world
have underlined the need for unity in addressing
the world economic crisis ...
Oops, never mind...
Gordon Brown's carefully laid plans for a G20 deal on worldwide tax cuts have been scuppered by an eve-of-summit ambush by European leaders.
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, led the assault on the prime minister's "global new deal" for a $2 trillion-plus fiscal stimulus to end the recession.
"I will not let anyone tell me that we must spend more money."
Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, has insisted that "radical reform" of capitalism is more important than tax cutting.
The assault by European Union leaders also represents a defeat for Barack Obama, who is desperate for other big economies to copy his $800 billion stimulus plan.
Adding to the disarray, a draft of the agreement Brown hopes to secure was leaked to a German news magazine, prompting suggestions of "dirty tricks" by Berlin.
(And: BLOW FOR BROWN)
(Cartoon: BROWN EXPLAINS "QE")
The meeting will be too short — a single day — to make more than a start on fixing the weaknesses in the international financial system that contributed to the current crisis.
But it will help determine the extent to which the economic model shaped largely by Britain and the US after WW2 — call it Anglo-American capitalism — survives as the touchstone for economic growth worldwide.
London is bracing itself for the G-20 meeting next week, as thousands of demonstrators prepare to descend upon the British capital.
(And: BRACE YOURSELVES)
As global demand contracts, trade is slumping and protectionism rising.
Comparisons to the Depression feature in almost every discussion of the global economic crisis. In world trade, such parallels are especially chilling.
With increased dependence on the Internet and information technology infrastructure, a cyberattack could devastate society, London-based Chatham House said.
The report said the more reliant Europe, the US and other modern industrial societies are on the information and communications technology infrastructure, the greater damage a cyberattack could have on the global economy.
[CFR Opinion Roundup][Newseum][Global Incident Map][Earthweek][Day-Night Map][Tonight's Sky][Moon phase]
If you are really serious about being prepared for what ever may come your way, and want to be prepared to be on your own for extended periods of time, then "Basic Preparedness" (DVDs and book) is a must have.
The package includes 3 DVDs (6 hours) and the book (200 pages) -- plus The Survival Center's Catalog.
Do genes dictate our fate? Of course not — but they do have a say in who we become.
The evidence points to something more complex: Genetic predispositions interact with circumstances to produce unique individuals.
When a bank manager or investment adviser recommends a financial decision, the brain tends to abdicate responsibility and defer to their authority with little independent thought, a study has suggested.
Such expert advice suppresses activity in a neural circuit that is critical to sound decision-making and value judgments, scientists in the US have found.
"This study indicates that the brain relinquishes responsibility when a trusted authority provides expertise," said the Professor of Neuroeconomics and Psychiatry at Emory University in Atlanta, who led the research. "The problem is that it can work to a person's detriment if the trusted source turns out to be incompetent or corrupt."
[WAR: Now apply this research to the field of religion and relying on the "experts" (ministers, priests, etc.) to tell you what the Bible says on any given subject -- especially the calendar issue, for those of you who attempt to observe the holy days.
Don't let their assumed authority allow the activity in this particular neural circuit to be suppressed. Rather, be like a Berean and examine the Scriptures to prove what the "experts" say.]
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