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WASHINGTON, March 1, 2006 – U.S. military reserve forces are better trained and at a higher state of readiness than they've ever been as they continue to take on their new operational role in the war on terror, senior reserve-component leaders said here today. "We've all been to the battlefield; we've all been out to see our people, and I have to tell you, they are the best of the best. We have never had a fighting force like we have today," said Army Command Sgt. Maj. Lawrence W. Holland, senior enlisted advisor in the Office of the Assistant Secretary...

TBN EXPOSED! Hal Lindsey Refuses to Compromise to Stay on Air!Here is the letter written by Hal Lindsey to Paul and Jan Crouch, of TBN....(way to go Hal!) Hal Lindsey Leaving TBN http://www.hallindseyoracle.com/articles.asp?ArticleID=12286 Refuses to Compromise to Stay on Air January 1, 2006 Dear Paul and Jan, Paul, Jr. relayed your message to me that you are both in agreement on the policy of nothing negative being said on TBN about Muslims. Hearing that you also warned John Haggee, Perry Stone, Jack VanImpe and others of this policy caused me to realize that your are not going to modify your...

January 2, 2006 Memorial of Saint Basil the Great and Saint Gregory Nazianzen, bishops and doctors of the Church Psalm: Monday 4 Reading I1 Jn 2:22-28 Beloved:Who is the liar? Whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Whoever denies the Father and the Son, this is the antichrist. Anyone who denies the Son does not have the Father,but whoever confesses the Son has the Father as well. Let what you heard from the beginning remain in you. If what you heard from the beginning remains in you,then you will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is...

Romans may have learned from Chinese Great Wall: archaeologists The construction of the Roman Limes was quite possibly influenced by the concept of the Great Wall in China, though the two great buildings of the world are far away from each other, said archaeologists and historians. Although there is no evidence that the two constructions had any direct connections, indirect influence from the Great Wall on the Roman Limes is certain, said Visy Zsolt, a professor with the Department of Ancient History and Archaeology of the University of Pecs in Hungary. Visy made the remarks in an interview with Xinhua...

The economic indicators are painting a very bullish picture of the U.S. economy. In fact, the ongoing flow of good-news data has led President Bush to proclaim that the U.S. economy continues to gain strength and momentum, “thanks to good old-fashioned American hard work and productivity innovation, and sound economic policies of cutting taxes and restraining spending.” Fifty percent sound economic policy (in particular lower tax rates) is better than nothing. The U.S. economy grew faster during the third quarter of 2005 than initially thought. The seasonally adjusted annual growth rate of 4.3 percent was much stronger than the 3.8...

BAGHDAD, Dec. 8, 2005 – Iraqi and coalition officials have great hopes for the success of Dec. 15 national elections, officials here said on background today. Senior American officials said the elections are another important step in the evolution of Iraq from a country beat down by 30 years of tyranny to a functioning democracy. The elections are another opportunity for the Iraqi people to separate themselves from the terrorists who continue to try to intimidate Iraqis. The Iraqi people understand that al Qaeda in Iraq and other terrorist groups have only an incidental interest in the country, officials said....

5 Marines were killed in Iraq yesterday. The more than 2000 U.S. troops lost in Iraq makes me want to vomit. But now, as calls to pull our troops out of Iraq grow, I fear that a premature withdrawal will lead to an even greater disaster than the sacrifices already made. Cutting and running now would render this ultimate in human toll meaningless. Unfortunately, the great gains that have come from American sacrifices go under-reported. Iraqis are learning the intricacies of democratic politics, as “accountability has taken root.” Coalitions are being formed and reshuffled. Pundits are speculating on party endorsements....

November 16, 2005Wednesday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time Psalm: Wednesday 49 Reading I2 Mc 7:1, 20-31 It happened that seven brothers with their mother were arrestedand tortured with whips and scourges by the king,to force them to eat pork in violation of God’s law. Most admirable and worthy of everlasting remembrance was the mother,who saw her seven sons perish in a single day,yet bore it courageously because of her hope in the Lord.Filled with a noble spirit that stirred her womanly heart with manly courage,she exhorted each of themin the language of their ancestors with these words:“I do...

Homeless victims of South Africa's great eviction (Filed: 29/09/2005) A million black workers have been thrown off white-owned farms since apartheid. David Blair reports on the threat of a Zimbabwe-style backlash Almost a million black workers have been evicted from South Africa's farms since the advent of the "rainbow" nation's new democracy, more than during the last decade of apartheid. A new survey has disclosed the huge scale of an enforced upheaval sweeping the country, with 942,303 farm workers and dependants evicted in the 10 years after the transition to black rule in 1994. In the previous decade, when apartheid...

Persia's kings are history's great villains. Does the British Museum's show do them justice? By Jonathan Jones The title of this exhibition is a bit misleading. Forgotten Empire, the British Museum calls its spectacular resurrection of ancient Persia. Yet the Persians are as notorious in their way as Darth Vader, the Sheriff of Nottingham, General Custer, or any other embodiment of evil empire you care to mention. They are history's original villains. In its day, which lasted from the middle of the 500s BC until the defeat of Darius III by Alexander the Great in 331 BC, the Persian empire...

JAMES the Greater Also known asone of the Sons of Thunder; Jacobus Major; Iago; Santiago Memorial25 July; formerly 5 AugustProfileSon of Zebedee and Salome, brother of Saint John the Apostle, and may have been Jesus' cousin. He is called "the Greater" simply because he became an Apostle before Saint James the Lesser. Apparent disciple of Saint John the Baptist. Fisherman. Left everything when Christ called him to be a fisher of men. Was present during most of the recorded miracles of Christ. Preached in Samaria, Judea, and Spain. First Apostle to be martyred. The pilgrimage to his relics in Compostela...

LEGACY Oh say do you recall his shining city on the hill Though strained and scarred by wickedness, that city stands here still A proud and grateful people watched his strength illuminate her That beautiful, bright city of the Great Communicator

The good news is that polls continue to show that between one and two-thirds of the public thinks that extraterrestrial life exists. The weird news is that a similar fraction thinks that some of it is visiting Earth. Several recent television shows have soberly addressed the possibility that alien craft are violating our air space, occasionally touching down long enough to allow their crews to conduct bizarre (and, in most states, illegal) experiments on hapless citizens. While these shows tantalize viewers by suggesting that they are finally going to get to the bottom of the so-called "UFO debate", they never...

The European nation-state considered to be the least Europeanist, the United Kingdom, took the presidency of the E.U. on July 1, right after the double French and Dutch rejection of the E.U. Constitutional Treaty and the failure of the June 16-17 European Council -- a sign interpreted by many as the beginning of the end for the European political and strategic union. Although many observers believe that the British rotation is going to further aggravate the E.U.'s political crisis, and that the project of a common European Security and Defense Policy (E.S.D.P.) could suffer from a "final blow" in the...

"An almost hysterical antagonism toward the gold standard is one issue which unites statists of all persuasions. They seem to sense - perhaps more clearly and subtly than many consistent defenders of laissez-faire - that gold and economic freedom are inseparable, that the gold standard is an instrument of laissez-faire and that each implies and requires the other. In order to understand the source of their antagonism, it is necessary first to understand the specific role of gold in a free society. Money is the common denominator of all economic transactions. It is that commodity which serves as a medium...

"An almost hysterical antagonism toward the gold standard is one issue which unites statists of all persuasions. They seem to sense - perhaps more clearly and subtly than many consistent defenders of laissez-faire - that gold and economic freedom are inseparable, that the gold standard is an instrument of laissez-faire and that each implies and requires the other. In order to understand the source of their antagonism, it is necessary first to understand the specific role of gold in a free society. Money is the common denominator of all economic transactions. It is that commodity which serves as a medium...

Face to face with the great firewall of China Michael Geist Citizen Special Thursday, May 05, 2005 As the Internet was taking flight in the early 1990s, John Gilmore, one of the co-founders of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a leading online civil liberties group, is credited with having coined the infamous phrase that "the Internet interprets censorship as damage and routes around it.'' Gilmore's view has since been regularly invoked whenever there are failed attempts to limit the dissemination of information. Beginning with a string of cases dating back to the Paul Bernardo trial in the mid-1990s, the Internet has...

HILLARY STOKES '08 FIRE WITH RED-HOT SPEECH By IAN BISHOP ----------------------------------------- HILLARY CLINTON Photo: Rick Dembow April 11, 2005 -- MINNEAPOLIS — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton bowled over the Democratic faithful in the key 2008 presidential swing state of Minnesota with a fiery weekend stump speech that had fans hailing her as the "great hope" to take back the White House. "She speaks her mind and she's a leader," swooned Debra Manninen. "She's our great hope." Party faithful here devoured Clinton's brand-new, red-meat material in her first major political speech Saturday night since the November 2004 election, which aides said...

ROME (Reuters) - The "Great Satan," part of the "axis of evil" and an "outpost of tyranny" will gather for the funeral of Pope John Paul, who toiled for peace but whose mourners find it hard to forgive each other. At what is expected to be one of the biggest funerals ever, there will be heads of governments whose hostile exchanges have long dominated the headlines -- the United States and Iran, Israel and Syria, Zimbabwe and Britain among others. "The conviction he had about humankind, about life and about peace -- it just shone through," said former U.S. president...

What meaningful eulogy can a rabbi possibly add to the many heartfelt tributes being paid to the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II? Ancient Jewish wisdom advised that in this world a man is known by his father. Not only a man's last name, but much of his identity comes from his father. However, after the process of death transforms us to spirit, we look to our children and grandchildren for clues to our eternity. In the future world of the spirit, where all is light and truth, Judaism teaches that each of us will be known by the actions...