Pope: 'Without faith in the Resurrection, everything falls apart'

VATICAN CITY (AsiaNews) - If faith in the resurrection diminishes in the Church, "everything stops, everything falls apart. On the contrary, the adherence in heart and mind to Christ dead and risen changes lives and illuminates the entire existence of persons and of peoples".

Benedict XVI made these remarks today during the general audience held in the courtyard of St Peter's basilica, in the presence of about 50,000 people. Immediately after the audience, the pope spent a few moments with some children who survived the massacre of Beslan, hosted in Italy by the association "Reset".

The pontiff, who dedicated his catechesis to the resurrection of Christ, emphasises how "it is the certainty that Christ has risen that imparts courage, prophetic audacity, and perseverance to the martyrs of every age. Is it not the encounter with the living Jesus that converts and fascinates so many men and women, who ever since the beginning of Christianity have continued to leave everything in order to follow him and put their lives at the service of the Gospel?".

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Gus: Crappo. Without "faith" the earth still spins around the sun and the marmosets still do what marmosets do... Without faith, only faith bites the dust... 

read blog above this one. Peace...

The head of Australia's peak science body has spoken out in defence of climate scientists, saying the link between human activity and climate change is beyond doubt.

The head of the CSIRO, Dr Megan Clark, says the evidence of global warming is unquestionable, and in Australia it is backed by years of robust research.

Dr Clark says climate records are being broken every decade and all parts of the nation are warming.

"We are seeing significant evidence of a changing climate," she said.

"If we just take our temperature, all of Australia has experienced warming over the last 50 years. We are warming in every part of the country during every season and as each decade goes by, the records are being broken.

"We are also seeing fewer cold days so we are seeing some very significant long-term trends in Australia's climate."

Dr Clark says the long-term data across a number of measures stacks up in favour of climate change proponents and against those who say the planet is not warming.

Israeli riot police and soldiers have, since Friday, sealed off the Al Aqsa mosque, Islam's third holiest shrine, restricting entry to women and Palestinian men over 50. Outside the walled Old City, where the Al Aqsa mosque is situated, and in several West Bank villages, clashes were reported between Palestinian protestors, their Israeli and international supporters, and the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), leaving at least 20 Palestinians wounded.

Following a security assessment Israeli defence minister Ehud Barak ordered security forces to stop tens of thousands of Palestinians from entering Jerusalem.

The tense situation on the ground has coincided with a diplomatic crisis of sorts with the Israeli government in confrontation with visiting United States Vice-President Joe Biden.

An announcement on Tuesday by the Israeli interior ministry to build 1,600 new homes for illegal Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem provoked strong rebuke from the U.S. administration as well as international condemnation.

Israeli officials followed the announcement by stating that in the next few years, perhaps decade, approximately 50,000 new homes would be built in the occupied East Jerusalem - mostly for Jewish settlers.

http://www.truthout.org/israel-lands-public-relations-nightmare57671

This article from Chris Floyd is as momentous as he suggests but, are we in Australia surprised at this attitude of the "all powerful" media?  Being able to learn of these important events is just another tick in the value of Your Democracy.

The previous forum from which I was expelled, would not accept my opinions that the media elects and by definition, can dismiss the governments under the loosely used and abused title of "democracy".

I can trace this injustice in my mind back to the early days of information.  My father used to sit conscientiously beside the radio during WW. II. In retrospect, I accept that the propaganda which was (as surely as that of our "enemies") constantly convincing us that we were "winning".  I can understand that.  When the politicians declare war on our behalf we certainly need some comforting "news" when our citizens are being sacrificed to the "powers that be".

The Howard/Costello "New Order" used this principle to the extreme by claiming that to reveal what they were doing would not be in the National Interests!  Struth.

So, to consider what went wrong with the "freedom of the Press" it simply requires the knowledge of WHO were powerful enough financially, to buy up as many if not all of the major sources of "information".  If possible, in both the major competing nations of military power - and act only for a profit of land or natural wealth.

IMHO good intentions of the masses was taken under consideration by the powers that always controlled public information such as Monarchies - dictators - religiously committed peoples - Communism - and Capitalism.  Just to make my point - we in Australia are now in that very position.

Howard made a career out of paying homage to the media moguls and even had the cheek to declare that the Daily Telegraph was his favorite "Newspaper".  Struth.

It is indeed a sad state of affairs that, in times of relative peace, it is not the government elected by the people who is providing the information from which we make our decisions - but the media moguls.

If the people of Australia - let alone the Americans - can ever come to realize that the media - in all of its forms - is controlled by a relatively small number of "the powers that be" - they may be able to shake off the belief in media integrity - because there isn't any. Only profit and influencing the readers to increase that objective.

That's the problem - what is the solution?  The Howard "New Order" sued two Herald Sun reporters who stepped outside of their "lock down" principle.  Do we remember?  He also had a well financed "dirt digging unit" while all of the participants plus all senior public servants were refused permission to testify at any Senate or otherwise enquiry.

The Rudd government has reversed that policy as any government should but, the "censor powered" media tried to convince us that the transparency and accountability of these public servants was bad no matter what they did.

Shonky businesses have been very active during Kevin Rudd's successful attempts to keep our unemployment as low as possible during the world wide financial disaster.

Free press has become a system where any or all media barons can decide who they will “allow” to be our government.

I find that so repulsive that I wonder at the intelligence of our people.

God bless Australia and give us as much regulation on the media as we the people have to accept.  NE OUBLIE.

The Prime Minister would have to be totally insular or brain dead like F.F. Fielding to ignore the problems facing his government by the obstructionist policies of the Coalition and their Green accomplices.

With the increase in Bob Brown's representation in the Senate, there has been a significant increase in demand - signaling that the Government is in the tragic position of not being allowed to govern in its own right.  Some may see that the position sometimes (too often) when Fielding has the deciding vote as an indication of democracy - when the opposite is the case.

When one person, representing one state and a one only party can defy the voting intentions of an entire nation then - something is radically wrong.  Democracy is built on "majority rules" but the make up of the Senate is in contradiction to that.  A Mandate means nothing to the “Mad Monk” nor does his infamous “iron clad and rock solid” promises.

Does any mature citizen really believe that the major parties and the Greens; F.F.F.; and the independents are actually performing as a "House of Review"?  Which would mean that it doesn’t endorse any matter which disadvantages any State or Territory – the latter being represented in the Senate by only two? 

Whether we like it or not the fact remains that the present system of electing the Senate is "party orientated" because the organized increase in the number of supposedly "independent" aspirants makes it easier to just elect the known parties - and this conflicts with the intentions of Ancient Senates as well as the intentions of those who drafted our Constitution. 

Surely it is counter-productive to allow two governments to be elected in a manner that the truly National House of Representatives can be overruled by the State elected representatives of independent states?

The make-up of the Senate and the principles by which it was to function, was that all State Senators must only vote for those who elected them - not by those who paid for their election as Barnaby Joyce loudly acclaimed (on an occasion when he was lucid).

Not only did I not vote for Barnaby Joyce but - and this is surely the important point - I was not given the opportunity to do so.  That means that the true GOVERNING body in the Australian Parliament is, in fact, the Senate - is it not?  So the buck stops with them?

As I have already written - my Wife and I have resigned from the NSW Labor Party over the victimization of a friend by secret accusers.  I ask the forum this - if we pay for our own registration, could we get elected as Independents by a "donkey" vote and be in a position to decide the fate of legislation which is or is not in the best interest of Queensland? Even though every other State and Territory party hacks have reached a stand-off? 

That means that, neither the "party" votes will succeed and perhaps F.F.F. will again be "top of the Wassa". Struth.

If the State elected Senators were all independents then it would have a stronger appeal of true Senatorial representation.  In the absence of this, all Senators should be separated much better than they are and forced to attend debate in their own particular State position and only allowed to vote, as a group (as the Constitution requires) for their constituents alone. Only then can the people of their state judge whether their best interests are being protected.

Otherwise the current position of manipulation can punish the Australian people for political points by opposing ALL major legislation - it is so crazy as to be ignored by third world nations.

Using the principles of "Greek Theater" - imagine a Nationally elected House of Representatives who happen to be completely Liberal/National and a Senate - whose duty is ONLY to REVIEW legislation on behalf of their respective STATE constituents - is all Labor - would it work?

That is not the way it was intended but, like all criminal minds, dodging rules is standard procedure.

God Bless Australia and keep "Rattus" making support for the “Mad Monk” on T/V.  NE OUBLIE.

Footnote:  In America, which we copy so often, a person not born in the US is not allowed to be President.  Is that the same in Australia? Because the “Mad Monk” was born in England.  A cat among the pigeons eh? Fair dinkum.

The apology offered by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Interior Minister Eli Yishai recalls the joke about the servant who pinched the king's bottom. En route to the gallows, the servant apologized: He thought it was the queen's bottom.

The statement issued by Netanyahu's bureau said that in light of the ongoing dispute between Israel and the United States over construction in East Jerusalem, the plans for new housing in the Ramat Shlomo neighborhood should not have been approved this particular week. It also said the premier had ordered Yishai to draft procedures that would prevent a recurrence. In other words, Yishai is welcome to submit more plans for Jewish construction in East Jerusalem next week, when U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will no longer be here.

Based on Biden's reaction, it seems that he (and, presumably, his boss) has decided that it is better to leave with a few sour grapes than to quarrel with the vineyard guard. In his speech at Tel Aviv University, he said he appreciated Netanyahu's pledge that there would be no recurrence. But what exactly does that mean? That next time he comes, the Planning and Building Committee will be asked to defer discussion of similar plans until the honored guest has left?

With the media storm dying down, Netanyahu can breathe a sigh of relief.

In a sense, the uproar actually helped him: To wipe the spit off his face, Biden had to say it was only rain. Therefore, he lauded Netanyahu's assertion that actual construction in Ramat Shlomo would begin only in another several years.

Thus Israel essentially received an American green light for approving even more building plans in East Jerusalem.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1155895.html

Cud and Complicity: Burying the Alternatives to Empire's Dominion



Written by Chris Floyd      

Rep. Dennis Kucinich's proposal to withdraw from Afghanistan was debated, heatedly, for hours in the House of Representatives on Wednesday. After the debate, dozens of Representatives cast their vote to end the war immediately. This was an unprecedented event in the history of the conflict, now in its ninth year.

Think about that for a moment: an unprecedented event, on the floor of the House, going on for hours, involving a question of supreme national importance. Regardless of one's position on the issue, is this not the very definition of "news"? But on Thursday morning, you could search high and low on the front pages (print and web) of both the New York Times and the Washington Post -- our national arbiters of serious newsworthiness -- yet find no mention whatsoever of this event. This, even though the web fronts -- unlike the paper versions -- contain headlines for dozens of stories, including sections devoted entirely to Washington politics.

You would have had to know about the debate already -- or else trawl diligently through piles of pixels or print -- to reach the small stories that our papers of record deigned to release on the subject. No ordinary newspaper reader -- someone who has a more than passing interest in current events but also has a life to live -- would even know that such a debate took place, much less learn anything about the powerful arguments against the war delivered on the floor of the national legislature. That is to say, it is entirely possible that a reasonably informed and engaged citizen of the Republic would not even be aware that dozens of elected officials at the highest level of government voiced their support for the most radical position on the war: immediate withdrawal.

But such is the way of our imperial system. Our ruling class does not want the citizenry to know there are any alternatives to the grand bipartisan consensus on the true aims of government: servicing the needs of Militarism and Money. And so what cannot be ignored entirely is buried "certain fathoms in the earth ... deeper than did ever plummet sound."

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read more of Chris Floyd

from the Guardian

Pressure is growing on David Cameron to identify the mystery Tory MP who deliberately scuppered a landmark anti-poverty bill that could have stopped "vulture" bankers profiteering from the developing world's debt burdens.

Debt campaigners have reacted in fury and disbelief to the killing of the bill and Labour MP Sally Keeble, one of the bill's backers, has accused the Conservatives of "duplicity" by pretending to back the legislation and then sabotaging it at the last minute.

Campaigners are now calling on the leader of the opposition to clarify his view of the bill and asking whether the MP concerned will be identified. The international development secretary, Douglas Alexander, has sent a letter to Cameron demanding an explanation.

The frustration has been compounded by the secrecy surrounding the events in the Commons last night. During the reading, three Tory MPs were seen to huddle together on the benches before one shouted the word "object!", which under parliamentary procedure effectively stopped the bill passing.

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see toon at article at top...

G'day John,

In this day of enlightened non-discriminatary governance, I feel that the apology of a generation which was not even thought of during the years of Koorie regulation, is merely a symbolic gesture.

I joined the Navy with a fantastic man and boxer whose Mother was of the Warramunga tribe and whose father was a Scot.  A great mate even when he tried to "punch down" the Shanghai and Hongkong bank building in 1949.

I have lost my contact with "smokey" but I can clearly understand why the tribal leaders in early days made the women who fell pregnant to a "whitey" to either kill the child with a rock to the temple or be banished from the tribe.  Fair dinkum and true.

So, with that principle, the original Tribal elders were trying to keep their race - and even their tribe - as "true bloods" and if you like - thorougbreds. 

I believe that our original "protectors" of the indigenous people were religiously based and with good intentions.  The school marches into class was for them no different than it was for us.  Discipline may have been harder for them to accept than it was for us.

Currently we have a politically exploited situation where anything that happens to a Koorie person against their welfare - not their sacred sites - but any law that is in contrast to ancient laws of that of their tribal elders.

If this is accepted by the Koorie people of many, many various tribes, and if their Elders have demanded racial perfection - why do we consider people who are only vaguely blood relatives to some well passed generation?

It seems to me that if the Aboriginal people deserve compensation from our nation - we -as descendants of the British occupation - and we have spoilt their tribal blood - why don't we genuinely accept their demands and pay compensation to those who can clearly prove that their blood is totally Koorie?

Why do we treat them as political items?  What I am saying is of course contrary to the shameless political attitude of our many previous governments but as I see it, the consistent attempt to blend the Koories into our society of people, under current standards, will NEVER cease.

We, as a nation are accused by the UN (WHO?) of treating our indigenous people with disrespect - or something similar.  They classify us with the Americans who, even in th 19th century were murdering anyone who opposed their expansionist plans.

In finality, I would like to suggest that IF the RACE issue is sacrosanct for the Apology to the Koorie people - then it should be appropriately applied only to those who are genuinely true bloods.

If you are still alive "smokey" I know because of your pride that you will at least consider my post.

God Bless Australia - our original inhabitants and those of us who have had the pleasure of learning from them.  Smokey, even the demand of special treatment declares that you are different.  Why?

The variety of subjects that you John and Gus indulge in is amazing.

I believe that I can get a better picture of what is happening in Australia and the world by reading your posts.  As I have said, you go to great pains to tell both sides. Fair dinkum.

So my bitch is this.  If you can invite comment as proposed - if you can give your opinion for or against - and you let people like me have their say - what better example of a "democratic" and truthful society is that.  And we would pay for that before we would even consider the Murdoch plan to charge the internet.

I sincerely believe in everything I write, with some emotion at times.  I would dearly like to see more people of independent thought contribute to this rare window of free opportunity.

God Bless Australia and our areas of free expression.  NE OUBLIE.