Pope Urges Theologians to Keep Up Questions

Pope Urges Theologians to Keep Up Questions

Says They Also Need the Humility to Receive Answers

VATICAN CITY, APRIL 3, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI says that theologians should have the courage to ask questions but also the humility to receive answers from the Christian faith.

The Pope said this recently, when receiving in audience a delegation from the theology faculty of the University of Tuebingen. Joseph Ratzinger was a professor of dogmatic theology in that German university from 1966 to 1969.

Recalling his personal experiences at the university, the Holy Father mentioned an anecdote related to assigning the chair of theology. Everyone "gave their opinion," he said, "and it was notable that the university professors all somehow felt competent in theology, since they had the idea that they needed to participate in the decision."

"In this way, one could perceive that colleagues from the other faculties considered, in a certain sense, that theology was the heart of the university," the Pontiff continued, "and that theology is something that affects everyone; that it is something which everyone is involved in, and therefore, something in which we all feel competent."

Continued presence

In the March 21 audience, Benedict XVI mentioned that in some countries the secularity of the state and of public institutions is emphasized "to the extreme of leaving aside anything that deals with the Church, Christianity and faith." Yet, he said, "this complex reality which we call theology cannot be excluded."

The Pope explained that "it becomes evident that in this union of European realities, which are and have to be, in one sense, secular, still, Christian thought with its questions and answers continues to be present."

"Universities, societies and humanity need questions and also answers," the Holy Father affirmed. "In places where they no longer ask questions, particularly those regarding essential issues that go beyond specializations, they also no longer receive answers."

"Only if we ask questions, and are radical with our questions, radical as theology has to be, going beyond specializations, only then can we find answers to these fundamental questions that affect all of us," Benedict XVI said. "Before everything else, we have to ask questions.

"But, in the case of theology, in addition to the courage to ask questions, it is also necessary to have the humility to listen to answers which the Christian faith gives us: the humility to perceive in these answers their reasonable character and to make them in this way, accessible to our times and to ourselves.

"In this way, not just the university is built up, but also, humanity itself is helped to live."

Greek Orthodox Cathedral of New England

Easter '07: A Taste of Unity

Catholic-Orthodox Calendars Coincide

SYROS, Greece, APRIL 2, 2007 (Zenit.org).- It is a motive of great joy for many Christians that the Catholic and Orthodox Churches will celebrate Easter on the same day this year, says Bishop Franghiskos Papamanolis.

The Catholic Church, following the Gregorian calendar, normally celebrates Easter earlier than the Orthodox Church, which follows the Julian calendar. This year the two coincide with the celebration of Easter on April 8.

Bishop Papamanolis, president of the Greek Catholic episcopal conference, told ZENIT that the Catholic community in the country normally celebrates Easter on the same day as the Orthodox Church.

He said: "To celebrate Easter on different days creates social problems, and for us, it also creates pastoral problems.

"For us it is a suffering to celebrate Easter on a different day than Rome."

"The suffering is even greater," the bishop added, "when we can't celebrate Easter together in Greece, as there are many mixed families."

Bishop Papamanolis of Syros and Milos said that the ideal "would be to arrive to an agreement so that all Christians could celebrate Easter together."

Next year, he added, "the Catholic universal Church will celebrate Easter on March 23, while the Orthodox Church -- along with us Catholic Greeks -- will do so on April 27."

The Council of Nicaea established that the day of Easter should fall on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox. The difference of dates for the Catholic and Orthodox Churches is due to fact that they follow different calendars.

The next time Easter coincides for the two Churches will be April 4, 2010.

Since Latins and Greeks are celebrating Easter on the same day this year... maybe I will drop by the local Greek Orthodox cathedral on Sunday.

Hrm, is it located between Northeastern University and Harvard Medical School?
514 Parker St
Roxbury Crossing, MA 02120
(617) 427-4500

Seems like it, though the phone number given at Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Boston listing is:
Annunciation Cathedral
Parker & Ruggles Sts.
Mailing address: 162 Goddard Avenue
Brookline, MA 02445
Tel.: (617) 731-6633
Fax: (617) 730-2978
Rev. Fr. George Daskalakis
Rev. Fr. Philippe Mousis

photo gallery; a photo of the interior:



I would like to visit the Hellenic College/Holy Cross chapel again, but it's too far to walk... I've never been inside. A virtual tour of the chapel.

Ah, Annunciation Cathedral in San Francisco.
The Melkite Cathedral over in Roslindale.

The Myths and Reality of Living Together Without Marriage

Via Boundlessline.

The Myths and Reality of Living Together Without Marriage
Janice Shaw Crouse, Ph.D.
The Beverly LaHaye Institute
In the United States, living together instead of marrying has become the norm for couples - half of young adults aged 20-40 are cohabiting instead of getting married. Cohabitation has increased nearly 1,000 percent since 1980, and the marriage rate has dropped more than 40 percent since 1960.
Some see substituting living together for marriage as an insignificant shift in family "structure." Those who are better informed realize that the shift has disastrous ramifications for the individuals involved, as well as for society and public policy.

The faulty reasoning leading young adults to make such a poor choice must be exposed. Here are four myths surrounding the shift.

Myth #1: Living together is good way to "test the water."

Many couples say that they want to live together to see if they are compatible, not realizing that cohabitation is more a preparation for divorce than a way to strengthen the likelihood of a successful marriage -- the divorce rates of women who cohabit are nearly 80 percent higher than those who do not. In fact, studies indicate that cohabiting couples have lower marital quality and increased risk of divorce. Further, cohabiting relationships tend to be fragile and relatively short in duration; less than half of cohabiting relationships last five or more years. Typically, they last about 18 months.

Myth #2: Couples don't really need that "piece of paper."

A major problem with cohabitation is that it is a tentative arrangement that lacks stability; no one can depend upon the relationship -- not the partners, not the children, not the community, nor the society. Such relationships contribute little to those inside and certainly little to those outside the arrangement. Sometimes couples choose to live together as a substitute for marriage, indicating that, in case the relationship goes sour, they can avoid the trouble, expense and emotional trauma of a divorce. With such a weak bond between the two parties, there is little likelihood that they will work through their problems or that they will maintain the relationship under pressure.

Myth #3: Cohabiting relationships usually lead to marriage.

During the 1970s, about 60 percent of cohabiting couples married each other within three years, but this proportion has since declined to less than 40 percent. While women today still tend to expect that "cohabitation will lead to marriage," numerous studies of college students have found that men typically cohabit simply because it is "convenient." In fact, there is general agreement among scholars that living together before marriage puts women at a distinct disadvantage in terms of "power." A college professor described a survey that he conducted over a period of years in his marriage classes. He asked guys who were living with a girl, point blank, "Are you going to marry the girl that you're living with?" The overwhelming response, he reports, was "NO!" When he asked the girls if they were going to marry the guy they were living with, their response was, "Oh, yes; we love each other and we are learning how to be together."

Myth #4: Cohabiting relationships are more egalitarian than marriage.

It is common knowledge that women and children suffer more poverty after a cohabiting relationship breaks up, but it's not so well understood that there is typically an economic imbalance in favor of the man within such relationships, too. While couples who live together say that they plan to share expenses equally, more often than not the women support the men. Studies show that women typically contribute more than 70 percent of the income in a cohabiting relationship. Likewise, the women tend to do more of the cleaning, cooking and laundry. If they are students, as is often the case, and facing economic or time constraints that require a reduction in class load, it is almost invariably the woman, not the man, who drops a class.

Conclusion

A mass of sociological evidence shows that cohabitation is an inferior alternative to the married, intact, two-parent, husband-and-wife family. Increasingly, the myths of living together without marriage are like a mirror shattered by the force of the facts that expose the reality of cohabitation.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Janice Shaw Crouse is a Senior Fellow of Concerned Women for America’s Beverly LaHaye Institute. She writes about contemporary issues that affect women, family, religion and culture in her regular column "Dot.Commentary."

Jeon Ji-hyun Cedes Advertising Power to Jang Dong-gun

Jeon Ji-hyun Cedes Advertising Power to Jang Dong-gun

Consumers no longer feel that Jeon Ji-hyun is the most bankable advertising model and instead name Jang Dong-gun. The finding is the result of a survey of 1,465 people in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province by brand consultancy Brand38 from March 5 until 15. The interviewees were asked to choose three stars they think are most appealing as commercial models. Jeon, who had always ranked top or second from the top in the biannual survey that started in 2003, fell to fifth place.


Jeon Ji-hyun and Jang Dong-gun



¡ß Jeon Ji-hyun out, Jang Dong-gun in
Jeon took the top spot five times and second place three times in a total of eight surveys by Brand38, beating out superstars like Lee Young-ae, Lee Hyo-lee, Kim Tae-hee, Song Hye-gyo and Lee Na-young. But in the latest survey Jeon surrendered her place to Jang Dong-gun, the last survey¡¯s runner-up, and ended up in the fifth place.


From left: Lee Young-ae, Lee Hyo-lee, Kim Tae-hee, Song Hye-gyo and Lee Na-young


What the two stars have in common is that they have done nothing but appear in commercials for quite some time. So why is one falling and the other rising? ¡°Jeon still has name value as the most bankable commercial model, but it seems consumers are getting tired of her eternal sexy image and so-called ¡°mystery¡± which has meant she appears on hardly any TV programs except commercials,¡± Brand38 says. ¡°By contrast, Jang has successfully changed his image through commercials from unapproachable aristocrat to guy next door.¡±

¡ß Where have all the pretty boys gone?

Comedian and TV presenter Yoo Jae-suk rose to second place from 15th in the previous survey. Other comedians like Park Myung-soo (17th) and No Hong-chul (31st) also rose. The three saw their popularity grow on MBC¡¯s popular TV show ¡°Infinite Challenge.¡±


From left: Yoo Jae-suk, Park Myung-soo, Lee Jun-ki Daniel Henney and No Hong-chul



The consultancy says appearance still matters when it comes to commercials, but it is getting less and less important. ¡°Economic hardship and harsh realities throughout society seem to make comedians more appealing to consumers,¡± it explains. ¡°In the previous survey in the first half of 2006, Lee Jun-ki -- the star of the film ¡®The King and The Clown¡¯ -- and Daniel Henney, who rose to stardom with MBC hit drama ¡®My Name Is Kim Sam-soon,¡¯ ranked near the top in fourth and 12th respectively, but they both fell below 50th this time. That shows that good-looking stars tend to experience a sudden rise and fall.¡±

¡ß Who is suitable for what?

The survey also focused on what type of advertising is suitable for which star according to his or her image. Jang Dong-gun, who is thought of as ¡°handsome¡± and ¡°gentlemanly,¡± was thought to be suitable for fashion and car advertising. Singer Rain, who is associated with ¡°passion,¡± was judged to be perfect for telecom commercials, and ¡°sexy¡± and ¡°pretty¡± Jeon Ji-hyun and ¡°sexy¡± and ¡°attractive¡± Lee Hyo-lee were thought best suited to fashion advertising.

¡ß Politicians make it on the list

With a political season coming up with the presidential election, politicians, made their way into the list of the top 50. Former Seoul mayor Lee Myung-bak ranked 40th and former Grand National Party chairwoman Park Geun-hye 44th. Among businessmen, Samsung Group chairman Lee Kun-hee shared 40th place with the former mayor.

(englishnews@chosun.com )

And:
Koreans and Japanese Ranked World's Slimmest People

Tom Tancredo announces he is running

Tancredo enters 2008 presidential race By HENRY C. JACKSON, Associated Press Writer
Mon Apr 2, 9:32 PM ET


DES MOINES, Iowa - Criticizing other GOP candidates as weak in their efforts to stop illegal immigration, Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo announced Monday he would seek the Republican presidential nomination.

"The political elite in Washington have chosen to ignore this phenomenon," he said.

Tancredo, a congressman who has gained prominence in recent years for his staunch stance against illegal immigration, said immigration would be the primary focus of his campaign.

He said he would not enter the race if he thought one of the leading candidates was sufficiently conservative on the issue.

It's, "the field, the field," he said when asked why he was entering the race. "You look and you see no one is going to make this the primary issue of their campaign."

Tancredo made his announcement on a conservative Des Moines-area radio show, opting for a live broadcast rather than a more typical staged campaign event.

Tancredo said he chose radio because talk radio had for years given him a platform for his stand against illegal immigration. And he made the announcement in Des Moines rather than his home state of Colorado because of the importance of Iowa in the nominating process.

"That's how you get there," he said. "You do well in Iowa, you do well in New Hampshire."

Tancredo's goal for the Iowa caucuses are fairly modest. He said he would like to finish third or fourth in Iowa, a placement he contends would be enough to help launch him to the GOP nomination.

He said he wasn't intimidated by other campaigns with more money and resources. Tancredo said he had raised a little more than a million dollars for his presidential bid. In comparison, aides to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney announced on Monday that he had raised more than $20 million.

"We have something they don't have — a group of people out there who are there because of an issue," Tancredo said. "And they're never going to have that. They can use their 100 million to try and buy constituency. I have it. It's natural. It's there."

The campaign website appears to be down. I'll post something about his platform once it is back out.

Hwang Jin Yi trailer

Thanks to SongHyeGyo.net.

Catholic MP Comartin Pushes Canada to Allow Anal Sex for 16-Year-olds

Catholic MP Comartin Pushes Canada to Allow Anal Sex for 16-Year-olds

OTTAWA, March 29, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Joe Comartin, NDP MP for Windsor-Tecumseh, proposed an amendment to legislation that would have lowered the legal age of consent for sodomy to sixteen, from the current Canadian legal age of 18.
With legislation proposed by the government to raise the age of natural sex from its current 14 to 16, at the request of homosexual activists, Comartin proposed an amendment at the committee stage to “harmonize” the consent age for anal sex with that for vaginal sex; making it 16 for both. The amendment was also supported by Liberal party critic Marlene Jennings.

Comartin’s position has taken a distinct swing from last fall when, as the NDP’s justice critic, he reportedly met with homosexual activists in Toronto to try to convince them to support bill C-22 to raise the age of consent for natural sexual relations.

The amendment proposal was declared by Jennings to be impossible, however. Jennings told homosexual activists at the second day of public consultations by the justice committee, “We've been told that [amending the anal sex law] is outside the scope of the bill.”

Click on the link to read the rest of the article.

Oh Canada. Bah. And another "Catholic" politician who betrays Christ.

The Mid-Life Crisis of the EU

Mr. Pat Buchanan's thoughts on the 50th anniversary of the founding of the European Economic Community or Common Market . (wiki)


Also posted at his blog, VIDEO: Lou Dobbs: Income Disparity Widens to Levels Not Seen Since Great Depresssion. (the video)

Reconsidering Robert E. Lee

Reconsidering Robert E. Lee
by Chad Chaney

I found this while doing some research for the treason post, which I hope will be done later tonight.... it includes a rather interesting discussion of what Mr. William Lind would classify as 1GW:

Washington and Lee, both Virginian gentlemen, were devotees of conventional state warfare and disdained partisan and irregular actions. Washington had no choice (to his fortune). The Confederate leadership did and largely rejected it. Washington had sought and was denied a regular commission as a British army officer, and had something to prove. The wealth of experience in irregular war from a century of conflict with tribes on the frontier and their French allies, indeed his own experience from Monongalia…was wasted for the hope of respectability in the eyes of his enemies. The stately Virginian adopted the Fredrickan System of linear tactics as taught by a mercenary Prussian ex-captain von Steuben, and wed America fatefully to conventional war. Use of cover/concealment by the line-infantry was shunned wholesale for l’Ordre Mince the 2-deep line of infantry exchanging volleys with a similarly deployed opponent in open ground, followed by a bayonet charge by whichever side’s salvos had the most effect (who had been able to fire the most volleys). War was a chess game played by gentlemen officers with human pieces. My fellow history buffs will be quick to pounce on the 18th Century musket’s inaccuracy as an individual weapon and vigorously assert the necessity of these Frederickan phalanxes, given the technology. I’d respond by pointing again to Monongalia, and also to European experimentation with skirmishers (Croats in Austrian service and Prussian Jagers), who’s use was limited (for socio-political reasons) but always effective. In any case, the common militia in America didn’t take well, to being cannon fodder, as Washington bemoaned at New York in the 1776 campaign (modern anti-gunners revel in the Colonial militia’s supposed uselessness). In any case, implementation of regular tactics with troops other than Continentals (always few in number) was faulty at best and logistical challenges, administrative decentralization, and difficult terrain ensured that partisan, decentralized warfare still played a pivotal role in the 1776–83 Independence war.

An interesting advocacy of a different strategy for preserving the Confederacy--though one wonders how morally licit any sort of guerilla warfare or "insurgency" may be, according to Catholic moral theology. Would libertarian anarchists be so zealous in their denunciation of the state and "statist" ideology if they really had to rough it on their own, without the comforts of middle-class American existence?

Lou Dobbs Tonight, The War Within

on drug and alcohol addiction -- transcript

Some stuff from EB

Intentional community pioneer Albert Bates on surviving peak oil
Erik Curren, Conserve Magazine

Dysfunction - March 31
Staff, EB
(includes Developing countries are awash in e-waste by Anuj Chopra, SF Chronicle, and Income Gap Is Widening, Data Shows)

Food & agriculture - March 31
Staff, EB

Particularly of interest--
The limits of a Green Revolution?
Mark Doyle, BBC

JHK on the GAO report

In the Zone:

Meanwhile, also last week, the General Accounting Office came out with a report last week that acknowledges some problems ahead on the world energy scene -- oil in particular -- with possible adverse implications for the US. It's the first time that any responsible party in the executive branch has acknowledged the situation, but the tenor of the report was -- how shall I say -- fucking unbelievably stupid and craven -- insofar as it suggested global oil could top out somewhere around the year 2030 (possibly sooner!). The poor grinds in the GAO didn't want to stick their necks out too far on that one.

Independent researchers studying the global oil situation -- including retired geologists for major oil companies -- have established a pretty firm consensus that we are already in the zone of the global oil production peak -- meaning that whether we are just past, passing now, or passing imminently, the effects are already thundering through the complex systems we depend on to maintain advanced industrial societies. For instance, the crashing of Mexico's Cantarell oil field (60 percent of Mexico's production) means that inside of five years the US will receive no more imports from what has been its third leading source. Being in the zone means that the world's oil exporters in the aggregate will see their exports drop seven to eight percent this year -- because nations like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Venezuela, and even Norway are using more of their own oil and have less to send out. Being in the zone means that new pricing arrangements will be made, taking the power away from the spot futures markets in New York and London, and shifting that power to long-term deals made by nationalized producers like Russia and Iran, who may decide to embargo consuming nations who don't dance to their tune. Being in the zone means that people in poorer nations will starve because so much of the corn grown in North America will go to ethanol distilleries instead of the dirt-floor kitchens in the Third World.

The more interesting point in all this, for the moment, is that the media has still not put together the collapse of the housing bubble and the permanent oil crisis. These events will be happening simultaneously. The housing industry, so-called, will never recover because the oil crisis spells the end of the suburban build out. The cycle is over. The big production homebuilders will go down and never come back. We won't need any more retail, either. We won't be building anymore WalMarts and Target stores, and the thousands now running will die off just as the giant Baluchitherium of the Asian steppes crapped out in the early Miocene epoch.

The end of the suburban build-out will be a stupendous trauma for the United States because, unfortunately, we have made it the basis of our economy for a generation, as well as our living arrangement. Not only will incomes and livelihoods be lost on the grand scale, and never come back, but, as the global oil predicament deepens, the existing fabric of our vast suburbs will become increasingly useless and worthless. The people stuck in them will lose whatever wealth they have accumulated and our arrangements for daily life will become increasingly nightmarish.

Papal Homily for Palm Sunday

Papal Homily for Palm Sunday

"With the Cross, Jesus Opens Wide the Door of God"

VATICAN CITY, APRIL 1, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the homily Benedict XVI delivered today, Palm Sunday. He did not give the customary Angelus address.

* * *

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In the Palm Sunday procession we join ourselves to the crowd of disciples who, in festive joy, accompany the Lord in his entrance into Jerusalem. Like them we praise the Lord in a loud voice for all the great deeds we have seen. Yes, we too have seen and continue to see the great deeds of Christ: how he brings men and women to renounce the comforts of life and put themselves completely at the service of the suffering; how he gives courage to men and women to oppose violence and lies, to make a place in the world for truth; how he, in secret, leads men and women to do good for others, to bring about reconciliation where there was hate, to create peace where enmity reigned.

This procession is above all a joyous testimony that we give to Christ, in whom the face of God is made visible to us and thanks to whom the heart of God is open to all of us. In the Gospel of Luke, the account of the beginning of the procession on the outskirts of Jerusalem is composed in part on the model of the rite of coronation with which, according to the First Book of Kings, Solomon was made heir to David's kingship (cf. 1 Kings 1:33-35).

Thus the procession of palms is also a procession of Christ the King: We profess the kingship of Jesus Christ, we recognize Jesus as son of David, the true Solomon -- the King of peace and justice. Recognizing him as King means accepting him as the one who shows us the way, the one to whom we entrust ourselves and whom we follow. It means accepting his word every day as the valid criterion for our life. It means seeing in him the authority to whom we submit ourselves. We submit ourselves to him because his authority is the authority of truth.

The procession of palms is -- as it was then for the disciples -- above all an expression of joy, because we can know Jesus, because he allows us to be his friends, and because he has given us the key of life. This joy, that is at the beginning, is also, however, the expression of our "yes" to Jesus and of our availability to go with him wherever he takes us. The exhortation at the beginning of today's liturgy therefore rightly interprets the procession also as a symbolic representation of that which we call "the following of Christ": "Let us ask for the grace to follow him," we said. The expression "the following of Christ" is a description of the whole Christian existence. In what does it consist? What does "the following of Christ" mean concretely?

At the beginning, with the first disciples, the meaning was very simple and immediate: It meant that these persons had decided to leave their profession, their affairs, their whole life, to go with Jesus. It meant a new profession: that of disciple. The basic content of this profession was to go with the master, to entrust oneself entirely to his guidance. Thus the following was an external thing and at the same time something very internal.

The external aspect was walking behind Jesus in his travels through Palestine; the internal aspect was the new existential orientation, which no longer had its points of reference in matters, in the career that determined one's life previously, in one's personal will; instead one surrendered oneself totally to the will of an Other. Being at his service had by now become the reason for living. The renunciation that this demanded from what one once possessed, the detachment from self, we can see in a very clear way in certain scenes of the Gospel.

But with that, it is also evident what the following means and what its true essence is for us: It has to do with an interior change of life. It demands that I no longer be closed in considering my self-realization as the principal purpose of my life. It demands that I give myself freely to an Other -- for truth, for love, for God who, in Jesus Christ, precedes me and points out the way.

What we are talking about here is the fundamental decision to no longer consider utility and gain, career and success as the ultimate goal of life, but to recognize truth and love instead as the authentic criteria. We are talking about the choice between living for myself and giving myself -- for what is greater. And let us understand that truth and love are not abstract values; in Jesus Christ they have become a person. Following him, I enter into the service of truth and love. Losing myself, I find myself.

Let us return to the liturgy and to the procession of palms. The liturgy provides Psalm 24 for the song; this was also used in Israel as a processional song for the ascent of the temple mount. The psalm interprets the interior ascent of which the external ascent is an image, and explains to us once again what it means to ascend with Christ.

"Who may go up the mountain of the Lord?" the psalm asks, and it indicates two essential conditions. Those who ascend and really want to get to the top, to arrive at the true height, must be persons who ask themselves about God. They must be persons who look about themselves in search of God, in search of his face. My dear young friends, how important this is today: not allowing yourselves to be carried here and there by life; not being satisfied with what everyone thinks, says and does. Be attentive to God, seek God. We must not let the question about God dissolve in our souls. The desire for what is greater. The desire to know him -- his face …

The other very concrete condition for the ascent is this: "He who has innocent hands and a pure heart" can stand in the holy place. Innocent hands -- hands that are not used for acts of violence. They are hands that are not dirtied by corruption, by bribes. A pure heart -- when is the heart pure? That heart is pure that does not pretend and does not sully itself with lies and hypocrisy. A heart that remains transparent like water rises up, for it does not know duplicity. That heart is pure that does not weary itself with the drunkenness of pleasure; a heart whose love is true and not only a passion of the moment. Innocent hands and a pure heart: If we walk with Jesus, we will ascend and find purification that carry us truly to that height for which man is destined: friendship with God himself.

Psalm 24 that speaks of the ascent ends with an entrance liturgy before the temple gate: "Lift up your heads, O gates; rise up, you ancient portals, that the king of glory may enter." In the old liturgy of Palm Sunday, the priest, once he arrived at the church doors, knocked loudly with the staff of the cross at the closed doors, which were then opened. It was a beautiful image of Jesus himself who, with the wood of the cross, with the power of his love which he gives, knocked from the side of the world on God's door; from the side of a world that was unable to find access to God.

With the cross, Jesus opens wide the door of God, the door between God and men. Now it is open. But also from the other side the Lord knocks with his cross: He knocks at the door of the world, at the doors of our hearts, which so often and in such great numbers are closed to God. And he speaks to us more or less in this way: If the proofs that God gives of himself in creation do not succeed in opening you to him; if the word of Scripture and the message of the Church leave you indifferent -- then look at me, your Lord and your God.

It is this call that in this hour we let penetrate our hearts. May the Lord help us to open the door of our heart, the heart of the world, so that he, the living God, might, in his Son, arrive in our time and touch our lives. Amen.

[Translation by ZENIT]

4th Lenten Sermon of Father Cantalamessa

4th Lenten Sermon of Father Cantalamessa

"Let Us Call Even Those Who Hate Us 'Brother'"

VATICAN CITY, APRIL 1, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the Lenten sermon delivered Friday by Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa in the presence of Benedict XVI and officials of the Roman Curia. The Pontifical Household preacher delivered this final Lenten reflection of the year in the Redemptoris Mater Chapel of the Apostolic Palace.

* * *

1. The mercy of Christ

The beatitude on which we would like to reflect in this last Lenten meditation is the fifth in the order of St. Matthew's Gospel: "Blessed are the merciful for they shall find mercy." As we have done in all our meditations this Lent, we will take as our point of departure the affirmation that the beatitudes are a self-portrait of Christ, and, following the procedure we have used in the past, we will ask how Jesus lived mercy. What does Jesus' life tell us about this beatitude?

In the Bible, the word "mercy" has two basic meanings: The first indicates the attitude of the stronger part (in the covenant, this would be God himself) toward the weaker part and it usually expresses itself in the forgiveness of infidelities and of faults; the second indicates the attitude toward the need of the other and it expresses itself in the so-called works of mercy. (In this second sense the term appears often in the Book of Tobit.) There is, so to say, a mercy of the heart and a mercy of the hands.

Both forms of mercy shine forth in Jesus' life. He reflects God's mercy toward sinners, but he is also moved by all human sufferings and needs; he gives the crowds to eat, heals the sick, frees the oppressed. The Evangelist says of him: "He has taken on our infirmities and borne our sicknesses" (Matthew 8:17).

In the beatitude we are considering, the prevalent sense is certainly the first one, that of forgiving and remitting sins. This is what we conclude from considering the beatitude and its reward: "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall find mercy," that is, with God, who remits their sins. Jesus' admonition, "Be merciful as your Father is merciful," is immediately explained with "forgive and you will be forgiven" (Luke 6:36-37).

We know of Jesus' acceptance of sinners in the Gospel and the opposition this earns him from the defenders of the law, who accuse him of being "a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners" (Luke 7:34). One of Jesus' sayings which is best attested to historically is: "I have not come to call the just, but sinners" (Mark 2:17). Feeling accepted and not condemned by him, sinners listen to him gladly.

But who are the sinners in question? In line with the widespread tendency today to get the Pharisees of the Gospel entirely off the hook, attributing the negative image to a later doctoring by the Evangelists, someone has claimed that these "sinners" were only "the deliberate and impenitent transgressors of the law,"[1] in other words, the common delinquents of the time and those who had gone outside the law.

If this were so, then Jesus' adversaries would have been entirely right to be scandalized and see him as an irresponsible and socially dangerous person. It would be as if a priest today were to regularly frequent members of the mafia and criminals and accept their invitations to dinner with the pretext of speaking to them of God.

In reality, this is not how things are. The Pharisees had their vision of the law and of what conformed to it or was contrary, and they considered reprobate all those who did not follow their practices. Jesus does not deny that sin and sinners exist; he does not justify Zacchaeus' frauds or the deed of the woman caught in adultery. The fact that he calls them "sick" shows this.

What Jesus condemns is the relegating to oneself the determination of what true justice is and considering everyone else to be "thieves, unjust, adulterers," denying them the possibility of conversion. The way that Luke introduces the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector is significant: "He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others" (Luke 18:9). Jesus was more severe with those who condemned sinners with disdain than he was with sinners themselves.[2]

2. A God who prides himself on having mercy

Jesus justifies his behavior toward sinners saying that this is how the heavenly Father acts. He reminds his adversaries of God's word to the prophets: "It is mercy that I want and not sacrifice" (Matthew 9:13). Mercy toward the people's infidelity, "hesed," is the most salient trait of the God of the covenant and it fills the Bible from one end to the other. A psalm speaks of it in the course of a litany, explaining all the events in the history of Israel: "For your mercy is eternal" (Psalm 136).

Being merciful appears in this way as an essential aspect to being "in the image and likeness of God." "Be merciful, as your heavenly Father is merciful" (Luke 6:36) is a paraphrase of the famous: "Be holy for I the Lord your God am holy" (Leviticus 6:36).

But the most surprising thing about God's mercy is that he feels joy in being merciful. Jesus ends the parable about the lost sheep saying: "There will be more joy in heaven over one converted sinner than for ninety-nine just people who have no need to convert" (Luke 15:7). The woman who finds her lost coin calls out to her friends: "Rejoice with me." In the parable of the prodigal son also the joy overflows and becomes a feast, a banquet.

We are not dealing with an isolated theme but one deeply rooted in the Bible. In Ezekiel God says: "I do not rejoice over the death of the wicked person but (I rejoice!) in his desisting from his wickedness and living" (Ezekiel 33:11). Micah says that God "takes pride in having mercy" (Micah 7:18), that is he takes pleasure in being merciful.

But why, we ask ourselves, must one sheep count more on the scales than all the others put together, and to count more it must be the one that went away and caused the most problems? I have found a convincing explanation in the poet Charles Péguy. Getting lost, that sheep, like the younger son, made God's heart tremble. God feared that he would lose him forever, that he would be forced to condemn him and deprive him eternally. This fear made hope blossom in God and this hope, once it was realized brought joy and celebration. "Each time a man repents, a hope of God is crowned."[3] This is figurative language, as is all our language about God, but it contains a truth.

The condition that makes this possible in us men is that we do not know the future and therefore we hope; in God, who knows the future, the condition is that he does not want (and, in a certain sense, cannot) realize what he wants without our consent. Human freedom explains the existence of hope in God.

What should we say about the ninety-nine prudent sheep and the older son? Is there no joy in heaven for them? Is it worthwhile to live one's entire life as a good Christian? Remember what the father said to his older son: "Son, you are with me always and all that I have is yours" (Luke 15:31). The older son's mistake is to have thought that staying always at home and sharing everything with the father was not an incredible privilege but a merit; he acts more like a mercenary than a son. (This should put all of us older brothers on guard!)

On this point reality is better than the parable. In reality, the older son -- the First Born of the Father, the Word -- did not remain in the Father's house; he went into "a far off land" to look for the younger son, that is, fallen humanity; he was the one that brought the younger son back home and procured the new clothes for him and a feast to which he can sit down at every Eucharist.

In one of his novels Dostoyevsky describes a scene that has the air of having been witnessed in reality. A woman holds a baby a few weeks old in her arms and -- for the first time, according to her -- he smiles at her. All contrite, she makes the sign of the cross on his forehead and to those who ask her the reason for this she says: "Just as a mother is happy when she sees the first smile of her child, God too rejoices every time a sinner gets on his knees and addresses a heartfelt prayer to him."[4]

3. Our mercy, cause or effect of God's mercy?

Jesus says: "Blessed are the merciful, for they will find mercy," and in the Our Father he has us pray: "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." He also says: "If you do not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive your sins" (Matthew 6:15). These statements might make us think that God's mercy toward us is an effect of our mercy toward others and that it is proportionate to it.

If it were this way, then the relationship between grace and good works would be totally reversed, and the purely gratuitous character of divine mercy would be destroyed. God solemnly announced the gratuitous character of his grace to Moses: "I will give grace to whomever I wish, and will have mercy on whomever I choose to have mercy" (Exodus 33:19).

The parable of the two servants (Matthew 18:23ff) is the key for correctly interpreting the relationship between God's mercy and ours. There we see how it is the king who, in the first instance, without conditions, forgives an enormous debt to the servant (ten thousand talents!) and it is precisely his generosity that should have moved the servant to have pity on the other servant who owed him the tiny sum of one hundred denarii.

We must be merciful because we have received mercy, not in order to receive mercy; but we must be merciful, otherwise God's mercy will have no effect on us and will be taken back, just as the king in the parable took back the mercy he had shown to the pitiless servant. "Prevenient grace" is always what creates the duty: "As the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive," St. Paul writes to the Colossians (Colossians 3:13).

If in the beatitudes God's mercy toward us seems to be the effect of our mercy toward our brothers it is because Jesus links it to the perspective if the last judgment ("they will find mercy," in the future!). "The judgment," writes St. James in fact, "will be without mercy for those who have not been merciful; yet mercy triumphs over judgment" (James 2:13).

4. Experiencing divine mercy

If divine mercy is the beginning of everything and it demands mercy among men and makes it possible, then the most important thing for us is to have a renewed experience of God's mercy. We are drawing near to Easter and this is the Easter experience par excellence.

The author Franz Kafka wrote a novel called "The Trial." In it there is a man who is put under arrest without anyone knowing the reason why. The man continues his normal life and work but also carries out extensive research to find out the reasons, the court, the charges and the procedure. But no one knows what to tell him except that he really is on trial. In the end two men come to carry out the sentence, execution.

During the course of the story it comes to be known that there are three possibilities for this man: true absolution, apparent absolution, pardon. Apparent absolution and pardon would not resolve anything; with them the man would remain in mortal uncertainty all his life. In the true absolution "the trial procedures will be completed eliminated, the whole thing would disappear; not only the charge but also the trial and the sentence would be destroyed, all will be destroyed."

But it is not known whether there have ever been any of these true absolutions; there are only rumors about them, nothing more than "beautiful stories." The novel ends, as all the others of this author do: Something is glimpsed from far away; it is anxiously pursued like in a nightmare, but there is no possibility of reaching it.[5]

At Easter the Church's liturgy conveys the unbelievable news that true absolution exists for man; it is not just a legend, something beautiful but unattainable. Jesus has "canceled the bond that stood against us with its legal demands; this he set aside, nailing it to the cross" (Colossians 2:14). He has destroyed everything. "There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus," exclaims St. Paul (Romans 8:1). No condemnation! Nothing at all! For those who believe in Christ Jesus!

In Jerusalem there was a miraculous pool and the first one to climb into it when the waters were stirred up was healed (John 5:2ff). The reality, even here, is infinitely greater than the symbol. From the cross of Christ there flowed water and blood, and not just one but all who step into this fountain will leave it healed.

After baptism, this miraculous pool is the sacrament of reconciliation and this last meditation would like to serve as a preparation for a good Easter confession. A confession different from the usual ones, in which we truly allow the Paraclete to "convince us of sin." We could take as a mirror the beatitudes meditated on during Lent, beginning now and repeating the ancient expression, which is so beautiful: "Kyrie eleison!" "Lord have mercy!"

"Blessed are the pure of heart": Lord, I see all the impurity and hypocrisy that is in my heart, the double life I live before you and before others. … Kyrie eleison!

"Blessed are the meek": Lord, I ask your forgiveness for the hidden impatience and violence in me, for rash judgments, for the suffering I have caused those around me. … Kyrie eleison!

"Blessed are the hungry": Lord, forgive my indifference toward the poor and the hungry, my constant search for comfort, my bourgeoisie lifestyle. … Kyrie eleison!

"Blessed are the merciful": Lord, often I have asked for and quickly received your mercy, without reflecting on the price you paid for it! Often I have been the servant who was forgiven but who did not know how to forgive. … Kyrie eleison! Lord have mercy!

There is a particular grace when, not only the individual, but the entire community places itself before God in this penitential attitude. From this profound experience of God's mercy we leave renewed and full of hope: "God, rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our sins, he made us alive again in Christ" (Ephesians 2:4-5).

5. A Church "rich in mercy"

In his message for Lent this year the Holy Father writes: "May Lent be for every Christian a renewed experience of God's love given to us in Christ, love that every day we must, for our part, return to our neighbor." This is how it is with mercy, the form that God's love takes in relation to sinful man: After we have had an experience of it we must, for our part, show it to our brothers, and do this at the level of the ecclesial community and at a personal level.

Preaching from this same table during the retreat for the Roman Curia in the Jubilee Year 2000, Cardinal François Xavier Van Thuân, alluding to the rite of the opening of the Holy Door, said in a meditation: "I dream of a Church that is a 'Holy Door,' open, that welcomes all, full of compassion and understanding for the pain and suffering of humanity, completely ready to console it."[6]

The Church of the God who is "rich in mercy," "dives in misericordia," cannot itself fail to be "dives in misericordia." We can draw some criteria from the attitude of Christ toward sinners that we examined above. He does not make light of sin, but he finds the way to not alienate sinners but to draw them to himself. He does not see in them only what they are, but what they can become if reached by divine mercy in the depths of their misery and desperation. He does not wait for them to come to him; often it is he who goes in search of them.

Today, exegetes are fairly in agreement in admitting that Jesus did not have a hostile attitude toward the Mosaic law, which he himself scrupulously observed. What he opposed in the religious elite of his time was a certain rigid and sometimes inhuman manner of interpreting the law. "The Sabbath," he said, "is for man and not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27), and what he says about the Sabbath rest, one of the most sacred laws of Israel, holds for every other law.

Jesus is firm and rigorous about principles but he knows when a principle must give way to the higher principle of God's mercy and man's salvation. How these criteria drawn from Christ's actions can be concretely applied to new problems in society depends on patient study and definitively on the discernment of the magisterium. Even in the life of the Church, as in Jesus' life, the mercy of the hands and of the heart must shine forth together with the works of mercy, which are the essence of mercy.

6. "Put on mercy"

The last word in regard to the beatitudes must always be the one that touches us personally and moves each of us to conversion and action. St. Paul exhorts the Colossians with these words:

"Put on, then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience, forbearing one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive" (Colossians 3:12-13).

"We human beings," said St. Augustine, "we are vessels of clay that are damaged by the slightest nick" ("lutea vasa quae faciunt invicem angustias").[7] We cannot live together in harmony, in the family and in any type of community, without the practice of reciprocal forgiveness and mercy. Mercy ("misericordia") is a word composed of "misereo" and "cor"; it means to be moved in your heart, to be moved to pity, in the face of suffering or by your brother's mistake. This is how God explains his mercy when he sees the people going astray: "My heart is overwhelmed, my pity is stirred" (Hosea 11:8).

It is a question of responding not with condemnation but with forgiveness and, when it is possible, excusing. When we consider ourselves, this saying is correct: "He who excuses himself, God accuses. He who accuses himself, God excuses." When it is a matter of other people the contrary must be held: "He who excuses his brother, God excuses him. He who accuses his brother, God accuses him."

For a community, forgiveness is what oil is for a motor. If one drives a car without a drop of oil, after a few kilometers everything will go up in flames. Forgiveness that lets others go is like oil. There is a psalm that sings of the joy of living together as reconciled brothers; it says that this "is like perfumed oil on the head" that runs down into Aaron's beard and clothing to the very hem (cf. Psalm 133).

Our Aaron, our High Priest, the fathers of the Church would have said, is Christ; mercy and forgiveness is the oil that runs down from the "head" raised up on the cross, it runs down along the body of the Church to the edges of her robes to those who live on her margins. Where we live in this way, in reciprocal forgiveness and mercy, "the Lord gives his blessing and life forever."

Let us try to see where, in all our relationships, it seems necessary to let the oil of mercy and reconciliation run down. Let us pour it out silently, abundantly, this Easter. Let us unite ourselves with our Orthodox brothers who at Easter do not cease to sing:

"It is the day of the Resurrection!
Let us radiate joy through this feast,
embracing all.
Let us call even those who hate us 'brother,'
forgiving all for the love of the Resurrection."[8]

* * *

[1] Cf. E.P. Sanders, "Jesus and Judaism," London: SCM, 1985, p. 385.
[2] Cf. J.D.G. Dunn, "Gli albori del cristianesimo," I, 2, Brescia: Paideia, 2006, pp. 567-572.
[3] Ch. Péguy, "Il portico del mistero della seconda virtù," in Oeuvres poétiques complètes, Paris: Gallimard, 975, pp. 571 ff.

[4] F. Dostoevskij, "L'Idiota," Milano, 1983, p. 272.
[5] F. Kafka, "Il processo," Garzanti, Milano, 1993, pp. 129 ff.
[6] F.X. Van Thuân, "Testimoni della speranza," Roma: Città Nuova, 2000, p.58.

[7] St. Augustine, Sermons, 69, 1 (PL 38, 440)
[8] Stichirà di Pasqua, testi citati in G. Gharib, Le icone festive della Chiesa Ortodossa, Milano 1985, pp. 174-182.

More stuff from Song Hye Gyo's Hwang Jin Yi

From SongHyeGyo.net:

Yunyega interview:

Some more photos from Hwang Jinyi.

Leelee Sobieski

From Hiss and Pop.

From LeeleeSobieski.com.

How faithful is Persuasion 2007?

If one knows the novel, one can compare it with this synopsis of the adaptation. (Warning! Spoilers!) Thanks to the people at Austen Blog. (Plus, some reviews by readers of Austen Blog.)

The Once and Future Republic of Vermont

Via Mr. Mike Tuggle and Rebellion

The Once and Future Republic of Vermont

By Ian Baldwin and Frank Bryan

Vermont fought the Civil War primarily to end slavery; Abraham Lincoln did so primarily to save the Union.

Not exactly a better reason, when one looks at the big picture.

The authors write that Vermont is socially liberal--if the state chooses to secede, I would not advocate that it be stopped, even if its citizens life lives in discord from the Natural Law to one degree or another. Moral conversion cannot be directly achieved by force, and while society can and must be preserved through law, in a society that is in decline, the power of legislation to foster the development of virtue is even more limited. On the other hand, I believe I read somewhere that "conservatives" and "liberals" do get along in Vermont, despite their differences.

Second Vermont Republic
Vermont Commons (blog)
The Vermont Manifesto: The Second Vermont Republic ...
more essays by Thomas Naylor
Kirby Mountain blog

Hepsi

Range introduced this Turkish girl group to me.

wiki


Pepsi Hepsi cf
Dailymotion

Grup Hepsi : Olmaz Oglan

Grup Hepsi : Kalpsizsin


alt

Herseye Ragmen (turkish)


Hepsi
Grup Hepsi fansites
more fansites?
Fanclub sites
Grup Hepsi Net
Fan blog
US fansite
German fansite

Happy Birthday Yasemin !


Hepsi - Tempo - Forte


Grup Hepsi - Yalan

Yalan

Grup Hepsi - Yalan Performance

Miss USA 2007

In this handout photo provided by Harpo Productions Inc., Miss USA 2007 Rachel Smith, of Clarksville, Tenn., is shown with Oprah Winfrey Thursday, March 29, 2007, during taping of 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' in Chicago. Smith was a former intern for Harpo Productions and was being welcomed back and congratulated on winning the crown Friday, March 23. The show will air nationally on Monday, April 2, 2007. (AP Photo/Harpo Productions Inc., George Burns)


The new Miss USA Rachel Smith is interviewed on the NBC 'Today' television program in New York's Rockefeller Plaza, Monday March 26, 2007. Smith, 21, a 5-foot, 11-inch-tall brunette of Clarksville, Tenn., who won her title last Friday night, is a graduate of Belmont University and a former intern for the production company behind 'The Oprah Winfrey Show.' (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Newly-crowned Rachel Smith, Miss USA 2007, poses in her new Mikimoto tiara, YMI Jeans and Ritmo Mundo watch in downtown Los Angeles March 24, 2007, the morning after winning her title. The 21-year-old from Clarksville, Tennessee, will spend her year-long reign making special appearances on behalf of the Miss Universe Organization, its sponsors and affiliated charities. REUTERS/Miss Universe/Darren Decker/Handout (UNITED STATES). EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS.

Miss USA 2007 Rachel Renee Smith of Tennessee poses with Donald Trump after the competition in Hollywood, March 23, 2007. Trump will remain in the TV beauty contest business for three more years under a renewed deal with NBC for broadcasts of the Miss Universe and Miss USA pageants, the network said on Wednesday. (Fred Prouser/Reuters)

Rachel Renee Smith, Miss Tennessee USA 2007, poses with Donald Trump after wining the Miss USA 2007 pageant on Friday, March 23, 2007, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)

Rachel Renee Smith, Miss Tennessee USA 2007, speaks to the media after wining the Miss USA 2007 pageant on Friday, March 23, 2007, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)


Rachel Renee Smith, Miss Tennessee USA 2007, poses after wining the Miss USA 2007 pageant on Friday, March 23, 2007, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)



Rachel Renee Smith, Miss Tennessee USA 2007, is crowned by Miss USA 2006 Tara Conner after winning the Miss USA 2007 pageant on Friday, March 23, 2007, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)

Miss Tennessee Rachel Renee Smith (L) reacts after being named Miss USA 2007 as Miss USA 2006 Tara Connor presents the sash to Smith in Hollywood, California March 23, 2007. Conner ended her tumultuous reign as Miss USA on a high note, turning her highly publicized stint in rehab into a story of courage and female empowerment. (Fred Prouser/Reuters)

Rachel Renee Smith, Miss Tennessee USA 2007, is congratulated by Miss USA 2006 Tara Conner after winning the Miss USA 2007 pageant on Friday, March 23, 2007, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)

Rachel Renee Smith, Miss Tennessee USA 2007, and Danielle Lacourse, Miss Rhode Island, wait to hear who will be announced the winner during the Miss USA 2007 pageant on Friday, March 23, 2007, in Los Angeles. Rachel Renee Smith won the competition. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)

I had the pageant on the television but I didn't pay attention to all of it. The informal question session was somewhat revealing of the contestants--a lot of vapid answers, hedging, and nervousness. The backstage bits that they ran before the commercial did not help to give a good impression--the way the contestants talked, the "typical" American way (stunted adolescent way of atalking that one finds in tweens and children even younger now) and the rather artificial encouragement giving from Miss Tara Conner... it also seemed like the contestants were much skinnier this year. And I thought there the campaign against eating disorders and negative body image was having some impact...

In a related story on ABC News, Miss Sweden 2006 has 2 M.A.s and is planning on getting a Ph.D. A pageant that is less about beauty and more about finding a spokesperson. In fact, the pageant was advertised as a job search in the wants ads of a newspaper. Surely a contest that is more amenable to today's feminism. (One wonders what other progressive ideals are promoted by the Miss Sweden pageant. Wiki notes how it has capitulated to the demands of feminists.)

In attempting to update itself, the Miss USA pageant just makes itself even more irrelevant. At the same time, there is very little feminine grace in the Miss USA pageant--even if the local pageants do not teach the contestants 20th century standards of composure and how to "act like a lady" one would think that the national pageant would take up the slac, but that appears to have disappeared. They can walk like models, but they don't handle themselves as ladies. It's unfortunate that how a woman handles herself has been reduced to sex appeal and the catwalk strut. (Although it seems that this year they were doing something else during the introductions--they had the contestants be themselves? Instead of being 'original' or 'unique,' many came off as being uncertain and intimidated by the spotlight, not having the requisite confidence that a Miss USA contestant should have.)

The Miss USA pageant neither affirms tradition nor is it radical enough for the feminists. At least when winners were just a tool for advertising beauty products for women it made some sense to cater to the appetite (especially of men, but of women also) for beauty. While the pageant has tried to take take itself seriously, by engaging in philanthropy, providing educational "opportunity" for the winners, and having articulate spokeswomen who are concerned about "world peace and ending hunger" and so on, one cannot forgot how these pageants are funded in the first place--they are merely the by-products of a bad economic system that misallocates resources, and nothing "good" that can be done after the fact can really compare to rectifying those inequities. It's like the thief who desires to be praised for donating some of his ill-gotten riches to some charity out of a "philanthropic" spirit.

(AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)

iirc, the contestant from Kansas, Miss Cara Gorges, is Catholic--she even gave an answer that would be otherwise controversial, but I can't remember if it was pro-life or something else. As she was a finalist, did she lose points with the judges (and as a result, the crown) because of this?

Photos of the contestants at Yahoo

Tea ceremony

Holymtn.com
Chinese tea ceremony
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wiki: Chinese tea culture; gongfu tea ceremony
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History of Teapots - Chado: Adoration of the Everyday
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TEA CEREMONY
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photo
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Korean cuppa: It?s a truly different sip- Hindustan Times

I'm not really a tea-drinker, though it's a habit I would like to acquire (however, in an age of peak oil, perhaps it really is a luxury that I can do without). Learning to do some form of the tea ceremony would enhance the entertaining of guests. My mom and KK are tea drinkers--I still have a bag of jasmine pearls that is unopened. I also have two bags of green tea plus some tea that Fujian Gal gave me that I have not yet used. Perhaps tonight I will drink some tea...

'The coolest nail house in history'

'The coolest nail house in history' By Kent Ewing

Asia Times article on Wu Ping and Yang Wu, who are seeking to keep their home from being taken by developers. The developers have already dug the ground surrounding the home:

House owner Wu Ping shows the verdict of a local court which orders her family to move out of the house behind her, in the middle of a construction site in Chongqing, in southwest China, Thursday, March 22, 2007. Wu and her husband have stirred up an Internet and media frenzy over their fight to keep their home and restaurant from being razed by developers, in what is seen as the first major test of a newly passed private property law. (AP Photo/EyePress, File)
AP via Yahoo! News - Mar 27 4:26 AM

A house sits in the centre of a 10 metre deep pit dug by the real estate developer in southwest China's Chongqing municipality March 29, 2007. A couple, Yang Wu and Wu Ping, in Chongqing are holding out against property developers days after a court ordered them to abandon their home, local media reported on Monday. The home has become an island surrounded by a construction site up to 10 metres deep. All of their neighbours have moved, having accepted compensation offered by developers who want to build a shopping mall. REUTERS/Stringer (CHINA) CHINA OUT

Supporters pass food and water to property owner Yang Wu in his lone surviving house in an excavated construction site in Chongqing, in southwest China Saturday, March 24, 2007. Yang defied a court order to move, after refusing an offer of compensation from the site developer. The dispute comes days after China's controversial new property law, which protects private property rights, was approved by the country's legislature. (AP Photo/EyePress)

People walk past a house sitting on a mound in the middle of a construction site in Chongqing, in southwest China, Thursday, March 22, 2007. The family who occupy the house refused an offer of compensation from the land developer, but was ordered by the local court to move before March 22 or the house would be demolished by force. However on Friday the court announced the house would not be demolished yet, and that it would hold a press conference to explain the situation. The case has attracted a lot of attention in local media after China's legislators last week passed a law providing the most sweeping protection for private businesses and property since the nation's move toward a more capitalist-style economy beginning in the late 1970s. (AP Photo/EyePress)

China's national flag is raised on top of a house, whose owner refuses to vacate due to compensation disagreement with the real estate developer, in southwest China's Chongqing municipality March 21, 2007, a day before the deadline set by a local court for the owner to move out, China Daily reported. Picture taken March 21, 2007. CHINA OUT REUTERS/China Daily (CHINA)

Uncensored new media:
Chongqing nail house videos

Virtual China: personal rights: another Chinese housing hold-out

Young Blogger Took on the Coverage of Chongqing Nail House - Josie ...

Nail House - The China Blog - TIME

Thursday Video: China's "nail house" becomes a rallying point FP ...

The Hardest 'Nail House' in China (Photo) « Status of Chinese People

The Hardest 'Nail House' in China - OhmyNews International

Beijing aims to increase its control of ethnic minorities

Beijing aims to increase its control of ethnic minorities

A plan announced yesterday will fund the economic development of ethnic minorities, often among the nations poorest peoples. But there will also be a system of social control of minorities to prevent protests. Particular attention is paid to the Uyghurs of Xinjiang and Tibet.

Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The central government has issued a development programme for to improve conditions for 55 minorities. They are among the nations poorest social groups, and often their discontent has exploded into violent street protest. But analysts maintain that Beijing merely wants to install greater control mechanisms.

This is the first time the government has issued 11th five-year development programme for its 55 minorities separately from the nation's overall five-year plan. The programme sets goals to improve infrastructure and the environment, support the development of specialised economies, relieve poverty, create better welfare conditions and make ethnic relations "more harmonious".

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Danzhu Angben, a deputy director of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission, said the 22 small minorities with populations below 100,000, would receive 112 million Yuan from the Ministry of Finance every year to relieve poverty for a total population of 630,000. He insisted that “in China the ethnic groups are equal in status and live in harmony. There is no discrimination”.

The rapid economic development of the country has not stopped poverty from spreading in rural areas where a lack of social services and grave pollution has worsened it’s effects. Now Beijing is claiming that social unrest, which has increased over recent years transforming itself into violent street protests, is due to the lack of economic development in some areas. But experts observe that the protests are generally in reaction to violations of human rights which happen in the same areas were the population is from the Han ethnic group. Such as in Yunnan where protests by the ethnic minority were against the building of a dam.

Moreover Beijing has long favoured the migration of the Han (which constitutes over 90% of the population) to areas of different traditional and cultural ethnic origins, for example Tibet and Xinjiang, often promoting the Han in business and to positions of authority and even banning the use of local languages. To stave off inevitable protests the government, while it promises economic relief for these areas, now says that by 2010 it will create a specific control system for these minorities, to “avoid separatist activities and maintain national stability”. Meanwhile for the first time Beijing it will “increase” the number of bilingual teachers in the schools, who will speak both mandarin as well as the local language.

China claims that Xinjiang represents a possible source of extremist violence as it is home to over 8 million Islamic Uyghurs who are linguistically and traditionally linked to central Asia rather than the rest of the country. Beijing also claims that it fears secession attempts by Tibet, under the guidance of the exiled Dalai Lama, and punishes those who even carry his photo.