Synopsis of Pope's Book

Synopsis of Pope's Book

"Jesus of Nazareth"

ROME, APRIL 15, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Here is the synopsis of Benedict XVI's book "Jesus of Nazareth," released by the Italian publisher Rizzoli, which has handled worldwide sale of the rights to the work.

The Italian edition will be in bookstores Monday, and the English-language edition will be made available May 15 by Doubleday in North America, and by Bloomsbury in the United Kingdom.

* * *

The Pope's Path to Jesus
A personal meditation, not an exercise of the magisterium

This book is the first part of a work, the writing of which, as its author states, was preceded by a "long gestation" (Page xi). It reflects Joseph Ratzinger's personal search for the "face of the Lord" and is not intended to be a document forming part of the magisterium (Page xxiii).

"Everyone is free, then, to contradict me," the Pontiff stresses in the foreword (Page xxiv). The main purpose of the work is "to help foster [in the reader] the growth of a living re¬lationship" with Jesus Christ (Page xxiv). In an expected second volume the Pope hopes "also to be able to include the chapter on the [infancy] narratives" con¬cerning the birth of Jesus and to consider the mystery of his passion, death and resurrection.

It is primarily, therefore, a pastoral book. But it is also the work of a rigorous theologian, who justifies his assertions based on exhaustive knowledge of sacred texts and critical literature. He underlines the indispen¬sability of a historical-critical method for serious exegesis, but also highlights its limits: "Admittedly, to believe that, as man, he [Jesus] truly was God exceeds the scope of the historical method" (Page xxiii).

And yet, "Without an¬choring in God, the person of Jesus remains shadowy, unreal, and unexplainable" (Schnackenburg, "Freundschaft mit Jesus," Page 322). In confirming this conclu¬sion of a notable Roman Catholic representative of historical-critical exegesis, the Pope states that his book "sees Jesus in light of his communion with the Father" (Page xiv).

In addition, based on "reading the individual texts of the Bible in the context of the whole" -- a reading that "does not contradict historical-critical interpretation, but carries it forward in an organic way toward becoming theology in the proper sense" (Page xix) -- the author presents "the Jesus of the Gospels as the real, 'historical' Jesus," underlining "that this figure is much more logical and, historically speaking, much more intelligible than the reconstructions we have been presented with in the last decades" (Page xxii).

For Benedict XVI, one finds in the Scriptures the compelling elements to be able to assert that the historical personage, Jesus Christ, is also the Son of God who came to Earth to save humanity. In page after page, he exam¬ines these one by one, guiding and challenging the reader -- the believer but also the nonbeliever -- by way of an enthralling intellectual adventure.

Grounding his core premise on the fact of the intimate unity between the Old and the New Testament, and drawing on the Christological herme¬neutics that see in Jesus Christ the key to the entire Bible, Benedict XVI presents the Jesus of the Gospels as the "new Moses" who fulfills Israel's an¬cient expectations (Page 1). This new Moses must lead the people of God to true and definitive freedom. He does so in a sequence of actions that, how¬ever, always allow God's plan to be anticipated in its entirety.

The Baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan is "an acceptance of death for the sins of humanity, and the voice that calls out, 'This is my beloved Son,' over the baptismal waters is an antici¬patory reference to the Resurrection" (Page 18). Jesus' immersion in the waters of the River Jordan is a symbol of his death and of his descent into hell -- a reality present, however, throughout his life.

To save humanity "He must recapitulate the whole of history from its beginnings" (Page 26), he must conquer the principal temptations that, in various forms, threaten men in all ages and, transforming them into obedience, reopen the road toward God (Chapter 2), toward the true Promised Land, which is the "Kingdom of God" (Page 44). This term, which can be interpreted in its Christological, mystical or even ecclesiastical dimension, ultimately means "the divine lordship, God's do¬minion over the world and over history, [which] transcends the moment, indeed transcends and reaches beyond the whole of history. And yet it is at the same time something belonging absolutely to the present" (Page 57). Indeed, through Jesus' presence and activity "God has here and now entered actively into history in a wholly new way." In Jesus "God ... draws near to us ... rules in a divine way, without worldly power, rules through the love that reaches 'to the end'" (Pages 60-61; John 13:1).

The theme of the "Kingdom of God" (Chapter 3), which pervades the whole of Jesus' preaching, is developed in further depth in the reflection on the "Sermon on the Mount" (Chapter 4). In the Sermon Jesus clearly appears as the "new Moses" who brings the new Torah or, rather, returns to Moses' Torah and, activating the intrinsic rhythms of its structure, fulfills it (Page 65).

The Sermon on the Mount, in which the beatitudes are the cardi¬nal points of the law and, at one and the same time, a self-portrait of Jesus, demonstrates that this law is not just the result of a "face-to-face" talk with God but embodies the plenitude that comes from the intimate union of Jesus with the Father (Page 66). Jesus is the Son of God, the Word of God in person. "Jesus understands himself as the Torah" (Page 110). "This is the point that demands a decision [...] and consequently this is the point that leads to the Cross and the Resurrection" (Page 63).

The exodus toward the true "Promised Land," toward true freedom, requires the sequel of Christ. The believer has to enter the same communion of the Son with the Father. Only in this way can Man "fulfill" himself, because his innermost nature is oriented toward the relationship with God. This means that a fundamental element of his life is talking to God and listening to God. Because of this, Benedict XVI dedicates an entire chapter to prayer, explaining the Lord's Prayer, which Jesus himself taught us (Chapter 5).

Man's profound contact with God the Father through Jesus in the Holy Spirit gathers them together in the "we and us" of a new family that, via the choice of the Twelve Disciples, recalls the origins of Israel (the twelve Patri¬archs) and, at the same time, opens the vision toward the new Jerusalem (Revelation 21:9-14) -- the ultimate destination of the whole story -- of the new Exodus under the guidance of the "new Moses."

With Jesus, the Twelve Disciples "have to pass from outward to inward communion with Jesus," so as then to be able to testify to his oneness with the Father and "become Jesus' envoys ¬-- 'apostles,' no less -- who bring his message to the world" (Page 172). Albeit in its extremely variegated composition, the new family of Jesus, the Church of all ages, finds in him its unifying core and the will to live the universal character of his teaching (Chapter 6).

To make his message easier to understand and indeed to incorporate that message into daily living, Jesus uses the form of the parable. He comports the substance of what he intends to communicate -- ultimately he is always talking about his mystery -- attuned to the listener's comprehension using the bridge of imagery grounded in realities very familiar and accessible to that listener. Alongside this human aspect, however, there is an exquisitely theological explanation of the parables' sense, which Joseph Ratzinger high¬lights in an analysis of rare depth. He then comments more specifically on three parables, via which he illustrates the endless resources of Jesus' message and its perennial actuality (Chapter 7).

The next chapter also centers round the images used by Jesus to explain his mystery: They are the great images of John's Gospel. Before analyzing them, the Pope presents a very interesting summary of the various results of scientific research into who the apostle John was. With this, as also in his explanation of the images, he opens up new horizons for the reader that re¬veal Jesus with ever-increasing clarity as the "Word of God" (Page 317), who became man for our salvation as the "Son of God" (Page 304), coming to redirect humanity toward unity with the Father -- the reality personified by Moses (Chapter 8).

This vision is further expanded in the last two chapters. "The account of the Transfiguration of Jesus [...] interprets Peter's confession and takes it deeper, while at the same time connecting it with the mystery of Jesus' death and resurrection" (Pages 287-¬288). Both events -- the transfiguration and the confession -- are decisive moments for the earthly Jesus as they are for his disciples.

The true mission of the Messiah of God and the destiny of those who want to follow him are now definitively established. Both events become comprehensible to their full extent only if based on an organic view of the Old and New Testament. Jesus, the living Son of God, is the Messiah awaited by Israel who, through the scandal of the Cross, leads humanity into the "Kingdom of God" (Page 317) and to ultimate freedom (Chapter 9).

The Pope's book ends with an in-depth analysis of the titles that, according to the Gospels, Jesus used for himself (Chapter 10). Once again it becomes evident that only through reading the Scriptures as a united whole is one able to reveal the meaning of the three terms "Son of Man," "Son," and "I Am." This latter term is the mysterious name with which God re¬vealed himself to Moses in the burning bush. This name now allows it to be seen that Jesus is that same God. In all three titles "Jesus at once conceals and reveals the mystery of his person. [...] All three of these terms demonstrate how deeply rooted he is in the Word of God, Israel's Bible, the Old Testament. And yet all these terms receive their full meaning only in him -- it is as if they had been waiting for him" (Page 354).

Together with the man of faith, who seeks to explain the divine mystery above all to himself; together with the extremely refined theologian, who ranges effortlessly from the results of modern doctrinal analyses to those of their ancient precursors, the book also reveals the pastor, who truly succeeds in his attempt "to help foster [in the reader] the growth of a living relationship" with Jesus Christ (Page xxiv), almost irresistibly drawing him into his own personal friendship with the Lord.

In this perspective the Pontiff is not afraid to denounce a world that, by excluding God and clinging only to visible and tangible realities, risks destroying itself in a self-centered quest for purely material well-being -- becoming deaf to the real call to the human being to become, through the Son, a son of God, and thereby to reach true freedom in the "Promised Land" of the "Kingdom of God."

* * *

The page numbers refer to the U.S. edition of the book, which will be published by Doubleday.

Father Cantalamessa on Preaching to the World

Father Cantalamessa on Preaching to the World

Comments on Liturgical Readings

ROME, APRIL 15, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of a commentary by the Pontifical Household preacher, Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, on the readings from today's liturgy.

* * *

Second Sunday of Easter
Acts 4:32-35; 1 John 5:1-6; John 20:19-31

The Gospel of this Sunday "in Albis" tells of the two appearances of the risen Jesus to the apostles in the cenacle. In this first appearance Jesus says to the apostles: "'Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, so I send you.' After having said this he breathed on them and said: 'Receive the Holy Spirit.'" It is the solemn moment of sending. In Mark's Gospel the same sending is expressed with the words: "Go and preach the Gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15).

Luke's Gospel, which has accompanied us this year, expresses this movement from Jerusalem to the world with the episode of the two disciples who travel from Jerusalem to Emmaus with the risen Christ, who explains the Scriptures to them and breaks bread for them. There are three or four villages that claim to be the ancient Emmaus of the Gospel. Perhaps even this particular town, like the whole episode, has a symbolic value. Now Emmaus is every town; the risen Jesus accompanies his disciples along all the roads of the world and in all directions.

The historical problem that we will deal with in this last conversation of the series has precisely to do with Christ's commission of the apostles. The questions that we ask ourselves are: Did Jesus really order his disciples to go into the whole world? Did he think that a community would be born from his message, that this message would have a following? Did he think that there should be a Church? We ask ourselves these questions because, as we have done in these commentaries, there are those who give a negative answer to these questions, an answer that is contrary to the historical data.

The undeniable fact of the election of the Twelve Apostles indicates that Jesus had the intention of giving life to a community and foresaw his life and teaching having a following. All the parables whose original nucleus contains the idea of an expansion to the Gentiles cannot be explained in another way. One thinks of the parable of the murderous tenants of the vineyard, of the workers in the vineyard, of the saying about the last who will be first, of the "many who will come from the east and west to the banquet of Abraham," while others will be excluded -- and countless other sayings.

During his life Jesus never left the land of Israel, except for some brief excursion into the pagan territories in the north, but this is explained by his conviction that he was above all sent for the people of Israel, to then urge them, once converted, to welcome the Gentiles into the fold, according to the universalistic proclamations of the prophets.

It is often claimed that in the passage from Jerusalem to Rome, the Gospel message was profoundly modified. In other words, it is said that between the Christ of the Gospels and the Christ preached by the different Christian churches, there is not continuity but rupture.

Certainly there is a difference between the two. But there is an explanation for this. If we compare a photograph of an embryo in the maternal womb with the same child at the age of 10 or 30, it could be said that we are dealing with two different realities; but we know that everything that the man has become was already contained and programmed into the embryo. Jesus himself compared the kingdom of heaven to a small seed, but he said it was destined to grow and become a great tree on whose branches the birds of the sky would come to perch (Matthew 13:32).

Even if they are not the exact words that he used, what Jesus says in John's Gospel is important: "I have many other things to tell you, but you are not ready for them now (that is, you are not able to understand them); but the Holy Spirit will teach you all things and will lead you to the whole truth." Thus, Jesus foresaw a development of his doctrine, guided by the Holy Spirit. It is plain why in today's Gospel reading the sending on mission is accompanied by the gift of the Holy Spirit.

But is it true that the Christianity that we know was born in the third century, with Constantine, as is sometimes insinuated? A few years after Jesus' death, we already find the fundamental elements of the Church attested to: the celebration of the Eucharist, a Passover celebration with a different content from that of Exodus ("our Passover," as Paul calls it); Christian baptism that will soon take the place of circumcision; the canon of Scripture, which in its core stems from the first decades of the second century; Sunday as a new day of celebration that quite early on will take the place of the Jewish Sabbath. Even the hierarchical structure of the Church (bishops, priests and deacons) is attested to by Ignatius of Antioch at the beginning of the second century.

Of course, not everything in the Church can be traced back to Jesus. There are many things in the Church that are historical, human products, as well as the products of human sin, and the Church must periodically free itself from this, and it does not cease to do so. But in essential things the Church's faith has every right to claim a historical origin in Christ.

We began the series of commentaries on the Lenten Gospels moved by the same intention that Luke announces at the beginning of his Gospel: "So that you may know the truth of the things about which you have been instructed." Having arrived at the end of the cycle, I can only hope to have achieved, in some measure, the same purpose, even if it is important to recall that the living and true Jesus is properly reached not by history but through the leap of faith. History, however, can show that it is not crazy to make that leap.

On Divine Mercy

On Divine Mercy

"A New Reality, Fruit of the Love of God"

VATICAN CITY, APRIL 15, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI delivered today before reciting the Regina Caeli with the crowds gathered in St. Peter's Square.

* * *

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

To all of you I renew the wish for a happy Easter, on the Sunday that closes the octave of Easter and is traditionally called Sunday "in Albis." This Sunday is also called Divine Mercy Sunday according to the wish of my venerable predecessor, the Servant of God John Paul II, who died right after the first vespers of this celebration.

On this singular occasion this morning I celebrated, in St. Peter's Square, a holy Mass, accompanied by cardinals, bishops, and priests, by the faithful of Rome and many pilgrims, who wanted to be close to the Pope, on the eve of his 80th birthday. From the depths of my heart I renew my most sincere thanks, which I extend to the whole Church, which, like a true family, especially in these days, surrounds me with its affection.

This Sunday -- as I said -- ends the week or, more precisely, the "octave" of Easter, which the liturgy considers a single day: "the day the Lord has made" (Psalm 117:24). It is not a chronological but a spiritual time that God has opened in the fabric of days when he raised Christ from the dead. The Creator Spirit, breathing the new and eternal life into the interred body of Jesus of Nazareth, brought the work of creation to its completion, bringing about a "first fruit"; a first fruit of a new humanity that is at the same time the first fruit of a new world and a new era.

This renewal of the world can be summed up in a word: the same word that the risen Jesus pronounced as a greeting, and much more as an announcement of his victory to his disciples: "Peace be with you!" (Luke 24:36; John 20:19,21,26). Peace is the gift that Jesus left to his friends (cf. John 2:27) as a benediction that was destined for all people and all nations.

It is not a peace according to the mentality of the "world," as a balance of power, but it is a new reality, fruit of the love of God, of his mercy. It is the peace that Jesus Christ earned at the price of his blood and that he communicates to those who trust in him. "Jesus, I trust in you": In these words the faith of the Christian is summed up, a faith in the omnipotence of the merciful love of God.

Dear brothers and sisters, as I thank you again for your spiritual nearness on the occasion of my birthday and the anniversary of my election as the Successor of Peter, I entrust all of you to Mary "Mater Misericordiae," Mother of Jesus who is the incarnation of Divine Mercy.

With her help let us be renewed by the Spirit to cooperate in the work of peace that God is accomplishing in the world and that does not make noise, but that is realized in the countless acts of charity of all its sons.

[Afterward the Holy Father greeted the English-speaking pilgrims with the following words:]

To the English-speaking pilgrims I offer warm greetings of Easter joy. In today's Gospel, the Lord Jesus extends to us the gift of his peace. May this peace fill your hearts and inspire you to spread the Good News of his resurrection. I thank you for your prayerful presence. A Happy Easter to all!

© Copyright 2007 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Our favorite Ethiopian seminarian

A photo from Cardinal Sean's recent visit to St. Charles the Borromeo Seminary for the Feast of the Annunciation.

Looks like the seminarians are wearing cassocks. Good for them!

Good riddance?

Domenico Bettinelli on the closing of the Jesuit Urban Center.

A new breed of migrants fans out

CHINA'S THIRD WAVE, Part 1
A new breed of migrants fans out
By Bertil Lintner

Northern Thailand is only one of their destinations. Large numbers of Chinese are also moving into northern Myanmar, northern Laos, Cambodia and further abroad - including the Pacific islands, Australia, the United States, the Russian Far East and Japan. More recently, South Korea has become a popular destination for Chinese migrants - both legal and illegal - as it's easier to enter than tightly sealed Japan.

China's new migrants are a breed apart from their peripatetic forebears, who spoke regional dialects and exhibited little nationalism, identifying more with the localities in China from which they hailed. The recent arrivals not only speak the national Mandarin language, but also tend to identify with China as a whole.

This new wave of Chinese migrants to Southeast Asia and beyond - what some Sinologists are referring to as the "Third Wave" of outward Chinese migration - is unprecedented in Chinese history not only because the migrants originate from northern and central Chinese provinces, but also because travel has become easier due to better transportation links both inside and outside of China. That's resulting in potentially larger numbers than previous waves of Chinese migration throughout the globe.

"The new-wave Chinese are very different from those who migrated in the past," says Andrew Forbes, a Chiang Mai-based China expert who has spent more than 20 years studying China's relations with Southeast Asia. "They've grown up in a country which is far more unified than before. There's now a different sense of being Chinese: the new migrants are patriotic and loyal to the motherland."

Nyiri Pal, a Hungarian Sinologist and academic, agrees that unlike earlier Chinese settlers in Southeast Asia, the United States and Australia, these new migrants do not feel they have stopped being part of China. According to Nyiri, they see themselves not as local minorities, but as a "global majority" with an attachment to China that has nothing to do with territorial nationalism. Not only is China their ethnic and cultural base, but it remains the foundation of their economic success - a place where they continue to invest in and draw on, he says.

Beijing admits fish in Yangtze River are dying

Beijing admits fish in Yangtze River are dying

An official report reveals that the amount of solid and liquid waste, including industrial pollutants, pesticides and fertilisers, pumped into the Yangtze runs in the billions of tonnes. All life in the river is at the risk of extinction, even the common carp. The river provides 35 per cent of China’s freshwater resources.


Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The Yangtze, China’s longest waterway, is so polluted that all life it contains is at risk of extinction, this according to a report released by the Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology (NIGLAS) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in association with the World Wildlife Organisation and the Yangtze River Water Resources Commission. The river, which is also the world's third longest, represents 35 per cent of the country’s total fresh water resources. And the disaster is of such magnitude that much of the damage “is largely irreversible.”

For NIGLAS Director Yang Guishan, more than 600 kilometres of the Yangtze River and nearly 30 percent of its major tributaries—Minjiang, Tuojiang, Xiangjiang and Huangpu —are critically polluted.

Pollution, damming, heavy traffic, pesticides, fertilisers, sewage and freshwater use have caused a dramatic decline in Yangtze aquatic life. Rare species like the Baiji or white-flag dolphin, which had survived for 20 million years, are thought to be functionally extinct since none have been found in the most recent research expeditions. Even common species like the carp are gasping for survival, the report said.

The river's annual fish catch dropped from 500,000 tons in the 1950s to about 100,000 tons in the 1990s. Given the situation the absence of more recent official data is highly significant. And algae growth has become another major problem.

“Fishermen along the river said even if they catch some fish from the polluted river, they dare not eat them,” said Li Lifeng, freshwater programme director of the WWF China.

Official data indicate that cities along the river annually dump at least 14.2 billion tonnes of waste into the waterway. Altogether more than 26 billion tons of wastewater, sewage and industrial waste, are pumped into the river.

During the report’s presentation on the week-end in Changsha (Hunan), Water Resources Minister Wang Shucheng said that the Yangtze’s problems could negatively affect the sustainable development of its delta area which accounted for 40 per cent of China's gross domestic product in 2005.

For experts the fact that the authorities are realising the seriousness of the problem is in itself something new; however, they also believe that the situation is actually worse than thought.

The Yangtze and Yellow River basins are home to some 11,000 thousand industrial plants. (PB)

Are mobile phones wiping out our bees?

From The Independent:

Are mobile phones wiping out our bees?
Scientists claim radiation from handsets are to blame for mysterious 'colony collapse' of bees
By Geoffrey Lean and Harriet Shawcross
Published: 15 April 2007
It seems like the plot of a particularly far-fetched horror film. But some scientists suggest that our love of the mobile phone could cause massive food shortages, as the world's harvests fail.

They are putting forward the theory that radiation given off by mobile phones and other hi-tech gadgets is a possible answer to one of the more bizarre mysteries ever to happen in the natural world - the abrupt disappearance of the bees that pollinate crops. Late last week, some bee-keepers claimed that the phenomenon - which started in the US, then spread to continental Europe - was beginning to hit Britain as well.

The theory is that radiation from mobile phones interferes with bees' navigation systems, preventing the famously homeloving species from finding their way back to their hives. Improbable as it may seem, there is now evidence to back this up.

Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) occurs when a hive's inhabitants suddenly disappear, leaving only queens, eggs and a few immature workers, like so many apian Mary Celestes. The vanished bees are never found, but thought to die singly far from home. The parasites, wildlife and other bees that normally raid the honey and pollen left behind when a colony dies, refuse to go anywhere near the abandoned hives.

The alarm was first sounded last autumn, but has now hit half of all American states. The West Coast is thought to have lost 60 per cent of its commercial bee population, with 70 per cent missing on the East Coast.

CCD has since spread to Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece. And last week John Chapple, one of London's biggest bee-keepers, announced that 23 of his 40 hives have been abruptly abandoned.

Other apiarists have recorded losses in Scotland, Wales and north-west England, but the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs insisted: "There is absolutely no evidence of CCD in the UK."

The implications of the spread are alarming. Most of the world's crops depend on pollination by bees. Albert Einstein once said that if the bees disappeared, "man would have only four years of life left".

No one knows why it is happening. Theories involving mites, pesticides, global warming and GM crops have been proposed, but all have drawbacks.

German research has long shown that bees' behaviour changes near power lines.

Now a limited study at Landau University has found that bees refuse to return to their hives when mobile phones are placed nearby. Dr Jochen Kuhn, who carried it out, said this could provide a "hint" to a possible cause.

Dr George Carlo, who headed a massive study by the US government and mobile phone industry of hazards from mobiles in the Nineties, said: "I am convinced the possibility is real."

The case against handsets

Evidence of dangers to people from mobile phones is increasing. But proof is still lacking, largely because many of the biggest perils, such as cancer, take decades to show up.

Most research on cancer has so far proved inconclusive. But an official Finnish study found that people who used the phones for more than 10 years were 40 per cent more likely to get a brain tumour on the same side as they held the handset.

Equally alarming, blue-chip Swedish research revealed that radiation from mobile phones killed off brain cells, suggesting that today's teenagers could go senile in the prime of their lives.

Studies in India and the US have raised the possibility that men who use mobile phones heavily have reduced sperm counts. And, more prosaically, doctors have identified the condition of "text thumb", a form of RSI from constant texting.

Professor Sir William Stewart, who has headed two official inquiries, warned that children under eight should not use mobiles and made a series of safety recommendations, largely ignored by ministers.

Muriel Spark Archive

at the National Library of Scotland

an interview by Janice Galloway

Vids: Sarah Chen

!!!

Because I Love You:


Shakin Stevens original(?)











Bye Bye

M14 ebr

Top: A 18.5 inch barreled M14 wearing the Sage ChopMod Rifle Chassis. Bottom: an 18.5 inch barreled M14 wearing the Sage EBR Rifle Chassis



source

Blackwater demo of the rifle


Defense Review
Bastards, Inc. post on the M14 ebr.

Sage International Ltd.

2004 Shootout at Blackwater
American Defense Systems coverage of the event

Someone doing a shooting drill with his M14.

Is sustainability a drag?

Published on 15 Apr 2007 by Resource Insights. Archived on 15 Apr 2007.
Is sustainability a drag?
by Kurt Cobb

Only when others see with their own eyes that those seeking sustainability are having enjoyable lives will the switch seem worth making. Just one shot of genuine cheerfulness, humor and even exuberance goes much further than a year's worth of pious sermons. Again, it doesn't mean that people should not talk about sustainability. They should talk about it and focus on making it happen in their own lives--not in order to be a good example for others, but rather because it is a good thing in itself for each individual. After all, if moving toward sustainability is miserable (and I don't think it is), who's going to want to do it?

Moving toward sustainability is a daunting task. And, it seems as if the best any of us can do is simply to become less unsustainable. But, we must start somewhere. Some people may even admire our less unsustainable lifestyle, but say that they could never live that way. I think that's because they believe such changes have been made all at once. Certainly, some people achieve sudden, thoroughgoing changes in their lives. But most of us who are trying to live more sustainably add saner, more sustainable practices gradually over time as we become more comfortable with the steps we've already taken and as we understand more deeply what is truly sustainable.

Christians who know the meaning of sacrifice and penance should be able show others that the simple life is the happy one. They really should be at the forefront of something this countercultural; while some may be trapped in bad living arrangements, a vibrant parish life can substitute for the various forms of packaged entertainment that we take for granted.

The German army training clip

that has caused a controversy because the instructor told the machine gunner to imagine he was facing a group of African-Americans in the Bronx and to shout MF each time before firing.



AP article

JHK takes on Tom Friedman

His critique of Friedman's "The Power of Green."

EB coverage

Maximum Security Education

60 Minutes feature on a prison college program run by Bard College.

A liberal's dream--except that a liberal arts education can improve someone, but only intellectually--it can't make him better morally. And one does not commit an unjust act in the first place because they didn't receive a liberal arts education. So, if a private college or university wishes to use its resources in such a way, that's fine--but don't expect the community to subsidize such efforts. As it is, prisoners should not be living off the taxpayers but growing their own food, etc.

Humus, Humility, and Humanure

Humus, Humility, and Humanure
by Dana Visalli

Humanure can be easily and safely composted and made completely safe to use as fertilizer. For the full details, consult The Humanure Handbook: A Guide to Composting Human Manure by Joseph Jenkins, available at your favorite bookseller or as a loan from the PSM office.

Briefly, the three critical elements to composting humanure are


1) Creating a compost pile that has the necessary carbon: nitrogen (C/N) ratio for aerobic bacteria to break the manure down into humus. The ideal C/N ratio for bacterial decomposition is 30:1. Humanure has a C/N ratio of about 10/1 (it is high in nitrogen), so it is necessary to add high carbon material like straw to the compost pile. When properly built, a humanure compost pile does not give off any offending odor.

2) Adequate oxygen. The bacteria that break down the manure are aerobic—they require oxygen to function properly. Oxygen is easily made available by using bulky, hollow material such as straw in the compost pile.

3) Heat. Aerobic bacterial action produces heat; compost piles can warm to 140 degree or higher. Complete pathogen destruction in the humanure is guaranteed by arriving at a temperature of 143 degrees F for one hour, 122 degrees for one day, or 115 degrees for a week.

4) Time. Letting the compost pile “cure” for a year after it has finished the aerobic decomposition will offer a guarantee that all potential pathogens are destroyed.


The end product of this decomposition process is humus—organic matter rich in critical nutrients, like the composted steer or chicken manure we purchase at the feed store. These nutrients give life to plants, which give life to us, and then they go back into the living soil in an endless cycle.

The Latin root for humus, humility, and humanure are all the same, and translates as “earth.” Re-integrating our lives with the endless cycling of nutrients and elements is an act of humility in that it brings us out of the imaginary world we create inside our heads and back down to earth, which is a good place to be.

Dana Visalli is a biologist living in Twisp, WA. He is the president of The Partnership for a Sustainable Methow (www.sustainablemethow.net) and the editor of The Methow Naturalist (www.methownaturalist.com)

Photos: SHG, 26th HK Film Awards

Here





More photos from other events.

Vids: Cherie Chung

Photos from a fansite












Kenny Bee MV

Clean HK commercial:


Peking Opera Blues trailer:


lovehkfilm entry
wiki

KSB2 interview with SHG

Plus 2 vids related to the 26th HK Film Festival:
w/Kwon Sang Woo


leaving the hotel for the ceremony:


Thanks to songhyegyo.net.

Vids: Danny Chan

Danny Chan
HKPVRadio

Yat Sang Ho Kau


You Liu Nei


Nam Bak Yat Ga Chan


Anita Mui sings 2 of Danny Chan's songs:


Anita Mui with Danny Chan
second song
Documentary

Concert
Danny88Concert

Someone playing piano version of one of his songs.

Oil of L.A.

Oil of L.A.

The Rude Awakening
Los Angles, California
Thursday, April 12, 2007

There are probably more oil fields that could be found beneath the streets of LA, because almost all of the past exploration in the urban part of the basin was performed before the mid-1960s. By the late 1960s, the public perception of the oil industry had turned negative, and even the likes of the well-connected Armand Hammer and his Los Angeles-based company Occidental Petroleum could not get drilling permits in most parts of the Los Angeles region. So the past 40 years have been a time of oil companies extracting product from existing wells, maintaining what wells they have, and very occasionally extending or redrilling an aging well. There is virtually no "modern" seismic work going on, and very little drilling. Even redrilling old wells takes a lengthy permitting process, and there is quite a bit of political opposition from people who don't think twice about turning the keys and starting the engines of their nice cars.

The potential for new oil discovery is there, though. There is really no way that the early oil exploration found "all" of it. The hydrocarbon traps are far too subtle and stacked, deeply buried, and truncated by extensive faulting and permeability pinch-outs. So the older forms of exploration found only the obvious deposits, not the more clandestine deposits. In the modern oil industry, advances in the field of sequence stratigraphy, structural modeling, and seismic methodology, coupled with directional drilling and what is called "extended reach drilling," have made it possible to find and extract such deposits. And it would be quite possible, from a technical standpoint, to drill the oil deposits even in a built-up urban area such as Los Angeles. But these oil deposits will probably never be drilled, due to modern city development, coupled with NIMBY attitudes and political opposition…at least not until the price of crude oil soars to levels that very few investors can imagine.

The Beautiful and the Dammed

How the West Got Flooded
The Beautiful and the Dammed
By JEFFREY ST. CLAIR

An e-book on distributism

The ChesterBelloc Mandate Distributism: A Catholic System of Economics.

The Pope's homily for 15 April 2007

Open Book links to "Teresa Benedetto's translation of the Pope's homily this morning, at the Mass in honor of his 80th birthday."

(His birthday is tomorrow.)

Pope Benedict XVI is framed through a salute by a Vatican Swiss guard as he arrives in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, April 15, 2007. Benedict XVI celebrated his 80th birthday a day early with a Mass in his honor Sunday on the flower-bedecked steps of St. Peter's Square, giving thanks for his long life and the support of the Church. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

Pope Benedict XVI is framed between two unidentified cardinals as he arrives in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, April 15, 2007. Benedict XVI celebrated his 80th birthday a day early with a Mass in his honor Sunday on the flower-bedecked steps of St. Peter's Square, giving thanks for his long life and the support of the Church. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

Clerics look at Pope Benedict XVI as he arrives in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, April 15, 2007. Benedict XVI celebrated his 80th birthday a day early with a Mass in his honor Sunday on the flower-bedecked steps of St. Peter's Square, giving thanks for his long life and the support of the Church. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

Pope Benedict XVI arrives to lead a birthday mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican April 15, 2007. Pope Benedict begins a week of celebrations for his 80th birthday and the second anniversary of his election as pontiff. (Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters)

Pope Benedict XVI blesses the faithful, who are wearing traditional Bavarian clothing, during his birthday mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican April 15, 2007. (Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters)

Pope Benedict XVI blesses the faithfulls gathered in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, 15 April 2007. The Pope marked his 80th birthday Sunday with a mass before thousands of worshippers in which he spoke of "darkness" threatening the world in the form of war, oppression and hate.(AFP/File/Filippo Monteforte)

Pope Benedict XVI, accompanied by his personal aide Rev. Georg Gaenswein, seated behind him, greets the crowd as he is driven through St. Peter's Square after celebrating his birthday Mass at the Vatican, Sunday, April 15, 2007. Benedict XVI celebrated his 80th birthday a day early with a Mass in his honor Sunday on the flower-bedecked steps of St. Peter's Square, giving thanks for his long life and the support of the Church. Writing on placard at left reads in German: 'Bavarian Pilgrimage Office' and on small flags: 'Greet God'. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)
Pope Benedict XVI blesses Edmund Stoibe (R), premier of the state of Bavaria in Germany, at the end of his birthday mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican April 15, 2007. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi (VATICAN)

A giant birthday banner is seen in the background as Pope Benedict XVI is driven through the crowd at the end of his birthday Mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, April 15, 2007. Benedict XVI celebrated his 80th birthday a day early with a Mass in his honor Sunday on the flower-bedecked steps of St. Peter's Square, giving thanks for his long life and the support of the Church. (AP Photo/Angelo Carconi)

SEP on secession

SEP entry on secession

It includes this link to The Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination

The Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination supports teaching, research, publication and negotiation about issues pertaining to the state, self-determination, self-governance, sovereignty, security, and boundaries with particular consideration of sociocultural, ethnic, and religious issues; and related legal, diplomatic, economic, strategic, and environmental matters involving state as well as non-state actors. The program is funded through the generosity of H.S.H. Prince Hans Adam II of Liechtenstein, and is directed by program founder Wolfgang Danspeckgruber, lecturer in public and international affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.

The Institute’s focus is global, nonpartisan, and innovative. LISD seeks to enhance peace and stability by contributing to the understanding of the root causes of a people’s desire for increased autonomy or independence, while reducing the tumultuous and potentially violent processes that can occur in times of transition. The Institute does this by bringing together key events, practitioners, representatives, and decision-makers to explore conflicts from cultural-religious, economic, and geostrategic perspectives, in order to find new solutions to current and traditional problems, and to educate the next generation of leaders.

Sounds like a typical think-tank, but I wonder if it isn't a bit more useless than most. Then again, even if it is virtually unheard of here in the United States, perhaps it has a greater influence abroad. Although in imperial China, intellectuals believed that they had an obligation to serve the state (especially as they were members of the literati state), and to make policy recommendations, the development of think tanks in the United States (and Europe?) seems to be rather recent? I wonder if it is not tied in some way to the rise of a liberated liberal intelligentsia and the Enlightenment.

Some of the Institute's publications

The Principality of Lichtenstein
Official site for the Princely Family (of Liechtenstein) -- English version