Obama: Time for Rangel to end career "with dignity"-7/31 Rep. Maxine Waters Chooses Ethics Trial-7/31 Clinton comments trigger special meeting of Hu's security advisers-7/31 Navy Intel: China's new anti-ship ballistic missile nearly operational-7/31 China invests $40 billion in Iran oil and gas-7/31 Western intelligence monitoring unusual developments in North Korea-7/31 Russians not required to provide full telemetry data under new START-7/31 July is deadliest month of Afghan war for US-7/30 Recession was deeper than gov't previously thought-7/30 IMF backs more stimulus to help slow US recovery-7/30 Google, CIA Invest in ‘Future’ of Web Monitoring-7/29 Wired White House proposal would ease FBI access to records of Internet activity-7/29 Obama administration is considering using a back door to stop deporting many illegal immigrants-7/30 Democrat Ben Nelson Opposes Kagan-7/31 Inquiry into sex-assault claim against Gore dropped-7/31 North Korean football team shamed in six-hour public inquiry over World Cup, coach punished-7/31 |
Deaths From Pakistan Floods May Reach 3,000, Rescue Service Official Says-7/31 Report: BP's 'blowout preventer' overhauled by Chinese company-7/31 BP's evaporating oil slick leaves America without a villain-7/31 AP Cites Discredited NOAA Bureaucrat to Push Global Warming Alarmism Report-7/31 EPA rejects science and challenge to climate rules on business-7/30 Bear in Fatal Attack Is Killed; Cubs May Go to Zoo-7/31
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Arizona Immigration Decision-7/29 National Review Online, by Andy McCarthy-- On a quick read, the federal court's issuance of a temporary injunction against enforcement of the major provisions of the Arizona immigration law appears specious. In essence, Judge Susan Bolton bought the Justice Department's preemption argument — i.e., the claim that the federal government has broad and exclusive authority to regulate immigration, and therefore that any state measure that is inconsistent with federal law is invalid. The Arizona law is completely consistent with federal law. The judge, however, twisted to concept of federal law into federal enforcement practices (or, as it happens, lack thereof). In effect, the court is saying that if the feds refuse to enforce the law the states can't do it either because doing so would transgress the federal policy of non-enforcement ... which is nuts. ... Sounds like Catch-22 speak which the judge must have learned from Clinton since he appointed her. Editor From WikiLeaks to the Killing Fields-7/27 Wall Street Journal, by Bret Stephens-- Liberals contemplate withdrawal from Afghanistan, heedless of the consequences.-- Innocent civilians become the tragic casualties of war. Insurgents plant thousands of IEDs. Special-ops teams hunt down insurgents. The Taliban may have a few Stinger missiles. Pakistan plays a double game with the Taliban. The U.S. government can't keep its secrets. The New York Times has about as much regard for those secrets as a British tabloid has for a starlet's privacy. The Obama administration blames everything on Bush. Is any of this news? Not exactly. Still, you'd be forgiven for thinking it is, given the Pentagon Papers-style treatment now being accorded to the WikiLeak of 92,000 classified documents ... WikiLeaks: More US documents coming on Afghan war-7/26 Boston Globe, by Raphael Satter, Kimberly Dozier-- The release of some 91,000 secret U.S. military documents on the Afghanistan war is just the beginning, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange promised Monday, adding that he still has thousands more Afghan files to post online. The White House, Britain and Pakistan have all condemned the online whistle-blowing group's release Sunday of the classified documents, one of the largest unauthorized disclosures in military history. The Afghan government in Kabul said it was "shocked" at the release but insisted most of the information was not new. ... The WikiLeaks Afghanistan leak-7/26 Salon, by Glenn Greenwald-- The most consequential news item of the week will obviously be -- or at least should be -- the massive new leak by WikiLeaks of 90,000 pages of classified material chronicling the truth about the war in Afghanistan from 2004 through 2009. Those documents provide what The New York Times calls "an unvarnished, ground-level picture of the war in Afghanistan that is in many respects more grim than the official portrayal." The Guardian describes the documents as "a devastating portrait of the failing war in Afghanistan, revealing how coalition forces have killed hundreds of civilians in unreported incidents, Taliban attacks have soared and Nato commanders fear neighbouring Pakistan and Iran are fueling the insurgency." have killed hundreds of civilians in unreported incidents, Taliban attacks have soared and Nato commanders fear neighbouring Pakistan and Iran are fueling the insurgency." ... You Want to Talk About Scandal?-7/27 Commentary, Abe Greenwald - Forget Wikileaks. For genuine scandal, check out the newly released letter from the U.S. embassy in London to Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond. It reveals a) the Obama administration’s passivity in the run-up to Scotland’s release of Lockerbie bomber Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, b) the administration’s deception in claiming to have had no foreknowledge of Megrahi’s release, and c) the administration’s inability to persuade other governments of anything. Although President Obama previously said that he was “surprised, disappointed and angry” about Scotland’s release of Megrahi, the letter makes plain that there was no surprise whatsoever. ... Reverse Spins:
Around the World w/ Norman Rockwell on Pan Am-7/25 New at Reverse Spins, by William C. House III Economy & Geopolitics/ Off-the-Grid-7/28 Cpast to Coast Recap, Appearing during the first half of the program, analyst Craig Hulet offered commentary on the economy, and geopolitics. In the latter half, documentarian and journalist Nick Rosen discussed living off the grid, typically in alternative communities. This means living independently of the utility companies, and providing your own power. ... |
Leonardo DiCaprio has pulled out of Mel Gibson’s new film about Vikings. Leonardo said he doesn’t mind playing a vicious killer who rapes and pillages, but he doesn’t want people to think he hangs out with Mel Gibson. Fallon President Obama is going on “The View” to talk about the economy. Later on, he’ll go to “General Hospital” to explain to doctors how the new healthcare system works. Leno President Obama’s new message to the American people is “things could be a lot worse.” We’ve gone from “change you can believe in” to “things could be a lot worse.” The sequel is never as good as the original. Leno
"He certainly has a lot of Secret Service for protection." The Death of Paper Money-7/27 Telegraph (UK), By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard-- As they prepare for holiday reading in Tuscany, City bankers are buying up rare copies of an obscure book on the mechanics of Weimar inflation published in 1974. Ebay is offering a well-thumbed volume of "Dying of Money: Lessons of the Great German and American Inflations" at a starting bid of $699 (shipping free.. thanks a lot). The crucial passage comes in Chapter 17 entitled "Velocity". Each big inflation -- whether the early 1920s in Germany, or the Korean and Vietnam wars in the US -- starts with a passive expansion of the quantity money. This sits inert for a surprisingly long time. Asset prices may go up, but latent price inflation is disguised. The effect is much like lighter fuel on a camp fire before the match is struck. ...
• Google says search cut off from mainland China-7/30
$200M of Adams Photos Found at Garage Sale-7/28 AP, A lawyer says a trove of old glass negatives found in Fresno have been authenticated as the work of iconic photographer Ansel Adams and are worth at least $200 million. Arnold Peter says a team of experts has concluded the 65 negatives are Adams' early work believed destroyed in a fire decades ago. Their report is set to be released at a press conference Tuesday morning in Beverly Hills. The negatives were bought 10 years ago at a garage sale in Fresno for $45 by a local painter, Rick Norsigian. Norsigian noticed the negatives resembled Adams' famed photographs of Yosemite National Park and hired Peter to assemble a team of experts. ... The Lost Negatives here Adams heirs skeptical about lost negatives claim-7/28 Antarctica Experiment Discovers Puzzling Space Ray Pattern -7/31 LiveScience /Fox, by Clara Moskowitz-- A puzzling pattern in the cosmic rays bombarding Earth from space has been discovered by an experiment buried deep under the ice of Antarctica. Cosmic rays are highly energetic particles streaming in from space that are thought to originate in the distant remnants of dead stars. But it turns out these particles are not arriving uniformly from all directions. The new study detected an overabundance of cosmic rays coming from one part of the sky, and a lack of cosmic rays coming from another. This odd pattern was detected by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, an experiment still under construction that is actually intended to detect other exotic particles called neutrinos. In fact, scientists have gone out of their way to try to block out all signals from cosmic rays in order to search for the highly elusive neutrinos, which are much harder to find. Yet in sifting through their cosmic-ray data to try to separate it from possible neutrino signals, the researchers noticed the intriguing pattern. ... Hot debate over cold fusion-7//27 Paranormal Review, Misguided scepticism by some scientists was put under the microscope by author Richard Milton (right) in a presentation to the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) in London (13 July, 2010). His update on what he describes as "the forbidden science" included homeopathy, iridology, remote viewing, synchronicity and cold fusion. Though there appears to be nothing paranormal about the last of these subjects - which if harnessed could one day provide the world with abundant energy - many scientists have reacted to claims about it in the same way that they dismiss the evidence for paranormal phenomena like ESP, telepathy and psychokinesis. Because they don't believe it is possible, they refuse to examine or accept the evidence. They prefer to dismiss other scientists' findings as flawed, rather than open their minds to new possibilities. In other words, the statements they make are based on belief not evidence, which is hardly a scientific approach. Model describes universe with no big bang, no beginning, and no end-7/29 PhysOrg, by Lisa Zyga -- By suggesting that mass, time, and length can be converted into one another as the universe evolves, Wun-Yi Shu has proposed a new class of cosmological models that may fit observations of the universe better than the current big bang model. What this means specifically is that the new models might explain the increasing acceleration of the universe without relying on a cosmological constant such as dark energy, as well as solve or eliminate other cosmological dilemmas such as the flatness problem and the horizon problem. ... Darwinian Liberalism-7/26 Cato Unbound, by Larry Arnhart Lead Essay July 12th, 2010 Libertarians need Charles Darwin. They need him because a Darwinian science of human evolution supports classical liberalism. In his review of Darwin’s Origin of Species in 1860, Thomas Huxley declared, “every philosophical thinker hails it as a veritable Whitworth gun in the armory of liberalism.” The Whitworth gun was a new kind of breech-loading cannon — a powerful weapon, then, for liberalism. In 1860, liberalism meant classical liberalism — the moral and political tradition of individual liberty understood as the right of individuals to be free from coercion so long as they respected the equal liberty of others. According to the liberals, the primary aim of government was to secure individual rights from force and fraud, which included enforcing laws of contract and private property. They thought the moral and intellectual character of human beings was properly formed not by governmental coercion, but in the natural and voluntary associations of civil society. ...
Archaeologists Uncover John the Baptist Relics in Bulgaria's Sozopol - Report-7/30 Novinite, Parts of St. John the Baptist's relics might have been discovered during archaeological excavations in Bulgaria's southern Black Sea town of Sozopol, report Bulgarian media. Archaeologists investigating the Sv. Ivan (St. John) island off Sozopol have found an exquisite reliquary – a relic urn – built in the altar of an ancient church bearing the name of St. John the Baptist The reliquary has the shape of a sarcophagus and is dated end of 4th - beginning of 5th c. AD. It was discovered by the team of Prof. Kazimir Popkonstantinov. The church's name, as well as the fact that it had a special emperor's statute issued, has hinted to archeologists that it might actually contain St. John's relics. The urn is expected to be opened Sunday. ... |
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How India's Success Is Killing Its Holy River-7/26 Time, Jiyoti Thottam/Pipola-- In a pine-scented Himalayan valley, Sushila Devi is a reluctant soldier in India's new war over water. Her village, Pipola, sits just southeast of the Tehri Dam, which bestrides one of the precursors of the Ganges River and is India's largest hydropower project. Since the dam was completed in 2006, the natural spring that once fed Pipola has dried up. Several times a day, Devi drapes a red sari above her blue eyes, hoists a 2.5-gal. (10 L) brass vessel atop her head and walks to the nearest hand pump. There, she and the other women of Pipola spend two or three hours a day, sometimes more, locked in low-intensity combat. "We have to go to the next village," she says. "Oh, how angry they get. They fight. We wait." ... |
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In pictures: Rare Tibetan artefacts on show in Taiwan-7/20 BBC
AMONG MANY THINGS, ANGELS HAVE HIDDEN ROLE AT THE 'GATEWAY' OF OUR SPIRITUAL PERCEPTION-7/26 Spirit Daily, We are certainly in trying times for the Church (also the rest of the world), and there have been major disappointments (as occurs with humans). But the foundation is unshakeable and mystics "observe" things at the Vatican that we usually can't -- for example, one woman who claims to see angels on a constant basis (since birth) says she witnessed angelic beings in greatest profusion at the Vatican. "In St. Peter's Basilica it was fantastic," she recently told us. "I just saw so many angels there. And what an experience I had near the statue of Jesus and Mary [the Pieta]. It seemed to glow and come alive. When the Pope looked out from his apartment, she says, the angels were so numerous -- and "so much larger than him" -- that they "seemed to cover the entire building." It is for our discernment. Could it really be true that some folks see spirits and angels continuously -- as do many children, until they are taught not to? We always have to be careful with mysticism and especially anything that handles a spiritual dimension with such depth. But there are some points to be made. We are told that each person has a guardian angel whether or not the person is a saint or sinner, a devout believer or an atheist. No one is without one. Guardians watch over those matters and guide us from the material. They feed our intuitions. In communication with God, they raise our spiritual blinders, when God so wills (enabling us to see "backstage"). ...
Buddhists welcome new monastery-7/26 The Province/Buddhist Channel, By Sam Cooper -- Resident monks, lamas to teach enlightenment Richmond, Canada -- Struck by the light reflected from the four-metre-high, gold-plated Shakyamuni Buddha, one might think they were resting in an isolated shrine in the hills of Nepal. Actually, it's the new Thrangu Monastery in Richmond, the first of its kind outside Asia, according to its builders. The Thrangu Monastery will be home to seven monks and lamas from Nepal, here to guide local practitioners on the path to peace and enlightenment, ... Kindling Spirit: Everything is Filled with Spirit, Chapter 3-7/23 Reality Sandwich, by Carl Hammerschlag-- Do you remember your childhood teddy bear? The one that kept you company when things got rough, who showed you how to love and take care of yourself when you faced the night alone? Everything that holds good memories for us contains a feeling, an essence inspiring us when life seems impossible. Bears, baseballs, rosary beads, stones, sea shells, crystals, wooden carvings, your mother's chicken soup, even the smell of chocolate chip cookies in the oven -- they are all filled with an energy that helps us through the hard times. They are reminders of loving connections and they help us when we face new life challenges like moving, job loss, new boss, divorce, or disease. Then those reminders become energetically invested and they become sacred objects; they have an energy that inspires the soul. Everything that exists in the universe contains its own energy: every stone, animal, tree, and star. Every scientific discipline and religious group describes that energy in its own words. Physicists tell us that the energy is carried in particles or it flows in waves, and that energy and matter are interchangeable.... Space Weather Turns into an International Problem-7/21 NASA, "The problem is solar storms—figuring out how to predict them and stay safe from their effects. We need to make progress on this before the next solar maximum arrives around 2013." ... Archaeology: 7000 year-old village found near Bulgarian town of Shoumen-7/27 Dalai Lama consecrates Matreiya statue at Ladakh's Disket monastery-7/27 Dalai Lama: My Reincarnation Will Appear In Free Country-7/21 Professor: Aliens Altered My Body and Changed My Life Alternate-7/24 Société Perillos has been quiet for a long time. Noticed some intriguing pictures posted-7/28 |
In the footsteps of the Marys in France-7/22 Philip Coppens, Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, the ‘Saint Marys of the Sea’, is a small fishing village located on the French Mediterranean coast. Once every year, it transforms into a cult centre, as people come here in the belief that Mary Magdalene and her closest friends and family came to France. Legend… or fact?-- Archaeological excavations and local legends indicate that the site of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer has been venerated as a holy place from prehistoric times; it retained its holiness with the Celts, Romans and Christians. In Celtic times, the town had a holy spring and was known as Oppidum Priscum Ra. Worship to the triple water deity Matres co-existed with and was later superseded by Roman temples dedicated to Artemis, Cybele, Isis and Mithras. As early as 542 AD, the village was known as Saintes-Maries-de-la-Barque; in 1838, it received its present name: the Saint Maries of the Sea. That is the official and dry history of the town… whose legends are far more interesting, and important. The legend states that Mary Salome, Mary Jacob and several other disciples – many of them present at the Crucifixion of Christ – were forced, in ca. 45 AD, to flee the Holy Land by boat. Mary Salome was the mother of James, son of Zebedee; Mary Jacob the sister or cousin of the Virgin Mary. Following a perilous journey, their boat – equipped without sail and therefore destined to perish at sea – miraculously crossed the Mediterranean Sea, coming ashore near Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, where the passengers disembarked. However important the two Maries are in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, most attention goes to a third passenger on this boat: Saint Sarah, who is the object of an intense devotion by the gypsies. ...
Atlantis Rising's New PDF is Now Available-7/26
A man for all seasons-7/28 Prospect,
AC Grayling--
Sarah Bakewell’s expert life of Montaigne should bring new admirers into contact with one of history’s most remarkable and enduring inner worlds-- How to Live: a Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an AnswerBy Sarah Bakewell (Chatto & Windus, £16.99)
After inheriting his father’s estate in the interior of Aquitaine, Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) decided to quit public life as a magistrate in the Bordeaux parlement and devote himself to leisurely study. Instead of leading to the Horatian idyll of self-cultivation he expected, the inactivity and desultory reading led to a nervous breakdown. To steady himself, he began to write.
Since he was neither a military man nor a man of affairs, his only subject matter was himself; so he resolved to try (essayer) to assay himself, his nature, his opinions, his attitudes and reactions, pretending nothing and confessing all. “I am myself the matter of my book” he wrote; and he knew that he was engaged in producing something wholly original by being so. The result is a classic that has been admired, imitated and enjoyed ever since.
A reason for the enduring attraction of Montaigne’s Essays is that they do what all classics do: they illuminate the universal in the particular. ... Sister monument to Stonehenge may have been found-7/28 It's circular ... Archaeologists Uncover 'Bulgarian Machu Picchu'-7/28 Pillar of Eliseg, Wales: Archaeologists start to unearth Llangollen's past-7/28
Calcium supplements linked to heart attacks: study-7/30 One in five Californians say they need mental health care-7/29 Gel that can help decayed teeth grow back could end fillings-7/28 The Truth about Energy Bars-7/27 Is Hidden Fungus Making You Ill?-7/27 Raw-food raid highlights a hunger-7/25 LA Times, By P.J. Huffstutter,-- Some people balk at restrictions on selling unprocessed milk and other foods. 'How can we not have the freedom to choose what we eat?' one says. Regulators say the rules exist for safety and fairness.-- tWith no warning one weekday morning, investigators entered an organic grocery with a search warrant and ordered the hemp-clad workers to put down their buckets of mashed coconut cream and to step away from the nuts. Then, guns drawn, four officers fanned out across Rawesome Foods in Venice. ... The healing effects of forests-7/25 The Link Between Marijuana and Schizophrenia-7/25 Serotonin cell discoveries mean rethink of depression-7/22 Classical music moves the heart in vegetative patients-7/5 Eat Yogurt, Battle Cancer?-4/18 Irish Scientists Found That Good Bacteria in Yogurt Could Fight Cancer ... |






















