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January 29, 2013 Tuesday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time   Reading 1 Heb 10:1-10 Brothers and sisters:Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of them, it can never make perfect those who come to worship by the same sacrifices that they offer continually each year.Otherwise, would not the sacrifices have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, once cleansed, would no longer have had any consciousness of sins?But in those sacrifices there is only a yearly remembrance of sins, for it is impossible that the blood...

Your humble narrator has just been informed that today is "Cleavage Appreciation Day" -- which, we assumed prior to this notification, was simply any day ending in a "y." We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto.

Politics is said to make strange bedfellows, but the opposition of some Republicans to Chuck Hagel’s nomination as Secretary of Defense is downright surreal. The former two-term Republican Senator from Nebraska is President Obama’s choice to run the Pentagon for the next four years. Over the next several weeks you’ll be hearing arguments from the likes of Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and other prominent Republicans that Hagel doesn’t measure up to conservative standards for serving as the nation’s top military official. However, the more you scrutinize Hagel’s resume, the more you have to wonder whether anyone could meet those standards...

More than a dozen Israeli citizens are facing immigration charges for overstaying their visas after federal agents arrested them working at kiosks in the Galleria and The Woodlands Mall. Shortly before the two malls closed late Wednesday night, federal agents with Homeland Security Investigations arrested 13 Israeli citizens along with an immigrant from Moldova. They were detained on administrative charges of remaining in the U.S. beyond the expiration date of their tourist and student visas, confirmed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Greg Palmore. The eight women and six men detained Treasury approved big

U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee and former Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued the following statement on the new push for comprehensive immigration reform and amnesty: “Americans overwhelmingly oppose illegal immigration. They have pleaded with Congress to end the mass illegality for decades to little avail. All the while, millions have been added to the total of those illegally here. It’s time to fix that broken system. Now we are told that the Obama Administration and members of Congress say they have a plan that they promise will do the job....

I'm trying to find a school textbook about government mentioned on the American History Series show Jan 27, 2013 by Davide Barton. I believe he said it was the first textbook published for the State of Connecticut around the 1850s. He also said all of the thirteen states used it, and many states used it up until around the 1960s. I can't remember the title, but it was a tiny book with just four items: 1. The Declaration of Independence 2. The Constitution of the United States 3. George Washington's Farewell Address 4. [I can't remember] It ended with...

A relative called and told me that the number of references on Facebook concerning Martial Law just went up substantially. The references are to Martial Law training for local LEs by Homeland Security, and the people making the comments are LEOs themselves. They're expressing concern. I saw the article here on FR earlier today concerning a training activity last night over downtown Miami. This is not normal and seems to be part of the Feds efforts to solicit, I believe, a negative response from a specific sector of the general public. There is a lot of political activity going on...

For Lafayette stockbroker Kenneth Daigle, buying a gallon of milk is no longer the bargain it used to be on Tuesdays at Fresh Market. The upscale supermarket chain yanked milk from its $2.99 once-a-week promotion after a state auditor objected to the low price. A gallon of whole milk was priced at $5.69 Thursday at the Fresh Market in Perkins Rowe. State Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Mike Strain said Fresh Market violated state regulations by selling milk below cost as part of a promotion. The supermarket routinely sells a gallon of skim, 1 percent, 2 percent or whole milk for...

Possible Compromise On Immigration Reform Takes Shape By Dana Bash and Tom Cohen, CNN January 28, 2013 Washington (CNN) -- Millions of undocumented immigrants would get immediate but provisional status to live and work in America under a compromise plan proposed Monday by a bipartisan group of eight senators. While temporarily removing legal uncertainty for the nation's 11 million undocumented immigrants, the senators' outline also called for strengthening border controls, improved monitoring of visitors and cracking down on hiring undocumented workers. Only after those steps occurred could the undocumented immigrants already in the country begin the process of getting permanent...

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The United States military is preparing to establish a drone base in northwest Africa so that it can increase surveillance missions on the local affiliate of Al Qaeda and other Islamist extremist groups that American and other Western officials say pose a growing menace to the region. For now, officials say they envision flying only unarmed surveillance drones from the base, though they have not ruled out conducting missile strikes at some point if the threat worsens. If the base is approved, the most likely location for it would be in Niger, a largely desert nation on the eastern border...

Agenda21Radio is hosted by Paul Preston and Chriss Street. The show airs Monday thru Friday from 9 to 10 PM Pacific Time on 1410AM Marysville, CA and is simulcast on MySYTV.comCall in questions and comments at 530-742-5555. Or e-mail... Paul Preston at paul@edtalkradio.com Chriss@chrissstreetandcompany.com http://www.mysytv.net/kmyclive.html

NORWICH, England, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- British police said they have arrested a trio of suspects in an assault involving four attackers, two of whom were dressed as Oompa Loompas. Norwich police said the three suspects, two men in their late teens and one in his early 20s, were arrested Saturday on charges of grievous bodily harm, the Norfolk Eastern Daily Press reported Monday.

Former Republican star and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and FOX news ended their partnership on Friday after three years, a source close to Palin told the Real Clear Politics Web site, the Morning Joe panel discussed Palin’s exit on Monday morning. “Sarah Palin represented a time and place in American politics and not 2008 so much as 2010. And that time is passing us very quickly. Party leaders are finally understanding that,” Joe Scarborough told the panel. Palin last appeared on Fox on December 19, 2012 when she spoke with the channel’s Greta Van Susteren about Benghazi and the two...

Japanese researchers have developed a marshmallow-like material that can mop up hydrocarbons like a sponge and can then be wrung out.1 The work could one day lead to a cheap and simple solution for cleaning up large oil spills such as one that decimated the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Although similar materials have been made before, they have had shortcomings for large-scale clean-up operations including a lack of hydrophobicity, difficult or expensive production methods and an inability to be reused. Now, researchers at Kyoto University have made marshmallow-like macroporous gels that are free from all of these drawbacks.The...

All For One! And One For All! Jon Carson (JC), Deputy Director and Czar to the President, is looking for grass roots people to come up with a 2013 lobbying plan for Washington that includes immigration reform, gun control and a balanced budget.

After nearly five hours of heated testimony and debate, a measure that would have required mandatory background checks for firearm purchases from gun shows or private vendors failed to advance in the New Mexico’s House of Representatives. However, the 8-8 vote in the House Judiciary Committee means the legislation, sponsored by Rep. Miguel P. Garcia, D-Albuquerque, could be brought back up for additional discussion. One Democratic legislator, Rep. Eliseo Alcon, D-Milan, joined with the committee’s Republican members in voting against the legislation. The other Democratic committee members voted in favor it.

In a close vote, Poland’s lower house of parliament (Sejm) has rejected legislation to create same-sex civil partnerships. The Civil Platform bill, supported by Prime Minister Donald Tusk and brought forward by the ruling Civic Platform party, was rejected in the first sitting by 228 to 211. Two other bills that would have recognized same-sex unions, which were brought forward by homosexual MP Robert Biedron of the Palikot Movement party, were also rejected by solid majorities. Conservatives rejected the bills as an attack on the family and the traditional identification of marriage with procreation. The government’s bill was also opposed...

Syrian rebel groups have been accused of destroying religious sites in the north of the country over the past few months - incidents which have sparked concern for various religious denominations caught up in the Syrian conflict. Shiite and Christian Observers describe the fear in which they live. Two churches were stormed and ransacked in the villages of Ghasaniyeh and Jdeideh (in the region of Lattakia) in November and December 2012, according to Human Rights Watch. According to statements from witnesses, the attacks happened after the villages fell into the hands of the rebel Free Syrian Army.In Zarzour, a village...

Roe v Wade? No it's not, as Bob Hope memorably quipped about Dan Quayle a choice between two ways of crossing a river. It is the landmark ruling of the United States Supreme Court exactly 40 years ago that legalised abortion, a decision the court based on the constitutional promise of a citizen's right to privacy. And as anyone with the remotest interest in American politics will also be aware, the issue is today more divisive than ever. On Friday, thousands of abortion opponents braved Washington's icy weather to take part in a March of Life on the Mall, to...