News



This past September, the secretive mercenary company Blackwater USA found its name splashed across front pages throughout the world after the company's shooters gunned down seventeen Iraqi civilians in Baghdad's Nisour Square. But by early 2008, Blackwater had largely receded from the headlines save for the occasional blip on the media radar sparked by Congressman Henry Waxman's ongoing investigations into its activities. Its forces remained deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and business continued to pour in. In the two weeks directly following Nisour Square, Blackwater signed more than $144 million in contracts with the State Department for "protective services" in Iraq and Afghanistan alone and, over the following weeks and months, won millions more in contracts with other federal entities like the Coast Guard, the Navy and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center.

Are we living in the last century of our civilization? Is it possible that all of our technology, knowledge and wealth cannot save us from ourselves? Could our society actually be heading towards collapse?

Scientists have unveiled a hypothetical Scenario describing how a magnitude 7.8 Southern California earthquake -similar to the recent earthquake in China- would impact the region, causing loss of lives and massive damage to infrastructure, including critical transportation, power, and water systems.

Environment Minister Hilary Benn again rebuffed calls this week for WW2-style energy rationing to return to the UK. He was responding to a Select Committee report urging ministers to issue 45 million Britons with an energy trading "credit card" - a mammoth techno-bureaucratic exercise costing several billions of pounds a year to operate.

.....ignoring the Posse Comitatus Act which fundamentally prohibits these types of exercises. These two weeks of training are also a contradiction of military tradition against deployments among the civilian population dating back to the end of the Civil War. Why then are the citizens of Indianapolis and six other Indiana towns being made to take part in two weeks of patrols and ambushes?

The leader of the religious Adhaalath party scholars’ council has said he advocates the death penalty for those who convert from Islam to another religion, as well as amputation of hands for certain types of theft.

Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, head of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue, said that the Church “has to have regard for all religions" and that the West's fascination with Islam was putting inter-faith dialogue at risk.

It is adopted without public or Congression debate. Its relevant procedures have far-reaching implications.
NSPD 59 goes far beyond the issue of biometric identification, it recommends the collection and storage of "associated biographic" information, meaning information on the private lives of US citizens, in minute detail, all of which will be "accomplished within the law":

....resulting in billions of dollars in revenues for drug companies and millions of children being put on mind-altering medications.

A few days ago Bishop TD Jakes released a statement in which he said that he got "visible goose bumps" upon hearing that Senator Barack Obama would be the Democratic nominee for president of the United States.

“It is now imperative that the Judiciary Committee begin a review of the 35 articles,” said Kucinich. “I will be providing supporting documentation to the committee so that it can proceed in an orderly manner.

The recent deaths mark the fourth and fifth to occur shortly following vaccination with Gardasil and the first in Europe. Previously, three young women, aged 12, 19 and 22, died in the United States within days after receiving a Gardasil shot. In addition, 1,700 cases have been reported of patients suffering non-lethal adverse reactions.

Dr. Alveda King, niece of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., spoke out powerfully in favor of life Tuesday as she compared abortion to slavery and among the worst inhumanities of our times.

The material, from basic kitchen goods to sleeping necessities, sat in warehouses for two years before the Federal Emergency Management Agency's giveaway to federal and state agencies this year.

Students who endured abuse and torment in Canada's residential schools will finally get a formal apology from the Canadian government on Wednesday, a prospect that has many feeling a mix of emotions.

(Remember the moonies newspaper Kelly M.)
I've been covering the Episcopal Church since 1986 and have taken a special interest in the largest property dispute in the denomination's history.

NBA commissioner David Stern dismissed allegations from a former referee at the center of a gambling scandal that the 2002 playoff series was rigged by league referees and officials, calling the claims baseless.

Barack Obama discussed Darfur, the Iraq war, homosexual rights, abortion and other issues Tuesday with Christian leaders, including conservatives who have been criticized for praising the Democratic presidential candidate.

U.S. President George W. Bush, visiting Europe for the last time before his presidency ends, expressed regret on Wednesday about divisions caused by the Iraq war.

An Ohio Democratic lawmaker and former presidential candidate has presented articles of impeachment against President George W. Bush to Congress.

Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) are quietly working together on a good-government bill despite their campaign-trail battle over who is tougher against Washington’s special interests.

Maverick GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul has booked an arena in Minneapolis for a "mini-convention" that could steal some of John McCain's thunder just days before he accepts the Republican nomination.

In an interview with the magazine “Maria Mensajera,” famous Italian exorcist Father Gabriele Amorth said, “Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan” and that “the devil loves to take over those who hold political office.”

Students from Stockdale High School are upset after being told by the school district they can't hand out Bibles to fellow classmates.

Southern Baptist Pastor Rick Warren has linked up with the Vatican’s most famous convert Tony Blair and his ecumenical Faith Foundation calling for " acts for global good…"

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Friday that leaders in an interdependent world must work to end religious conflict or face "catastrophe" as he introduced a new foundation dedicated to interfaith understanding.

Archaeologists in Jordan have unearthed what they claim is the world's first church, dating back almost 2,000 years, The Jordan Times reported on Tuesday.

Benedict XVI will welcome U.S. President George Bush on Friday with something of the same unprecedented cordiality the president showed when he received the Pope in the United States last April.

No comments: