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The appointment of Herman Van Rompuy as “President of Europe” is a gift to conspiracy theorists who fear the re-emergence of a Europe dominated by Rome. The wellspring of the Belgian’s Eurofederalism, like that of the EU’s founders, is his Catholic faith. He makes monthly retreats to a Benedictine monastery; even his wife is overawed by “the force he can find in his faith”. I can already see the words “Holy Roman Empire” forming on the lips of Eurosceptics whose mistrust of the EU draws on a dislike of Catholicism. And perhaps there is just a grain of truth in...

(Reuters) - Here are some facts about Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy, who on Thursday became the European Union's president. Van Rompuy, 62, emerged as the strongest centre-right candidate. Although he has been prime minister for less than a year, after coming to power following a banking crisis, he has proved a steady hand running a difficult coalition. * RISE TO POWER: -- Van Rompuy helped calm the linguistically divided country after taking charge in December 2008 after 18 months of turmoil under predecessor and fellow Christian Democrat Yves Leterme. -- He had been president of the lower house...

My wife and I were in Israel in 1966, passing from Jordan into Israel. We went through the Mandelbaum Gate, prayed at the Wailing Wall, visited holy sites, including Gordon’s Calvary where we observed the communion sacrament with friends. Since then it has pained me to think Israel would lose any of that land fought for. I believe it was a miracle that they won that war in six days.

Life decisions are often made when we feel that we are at a crossroads where the decision to turn to the left or to the right seems as clear for us to make as it is to breathe. Yet what about those times when the decision is not quite as clear where the variables that we are weighing are as cloudy and murky as a morning fog? Usually that is the time where the weight is heavy on our soul that we have truly to come to a decision that shoves us out of our comfort zone and that demands...

Life decisions are often made when we feel that we are at a crossroads where the decision to turn to the left or to the right seems as clear for us to make as it is to breathe. Yet what about those times when the decision is not quite as clear where the variables that we are weighing are as cloudy and murky as a morning fog? Usually that is the time where the weight is heavy on our soul that we have truly to come to a decision that shoves us out of our comfort zone and that demands...

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What a wonderful and touching video and so true too. Take a minute and sit back and just watch and enjoy. This will bring a smile to your face and lighten your heart. (VIDEO)

On Friday November 13th the movie titled: 2012 which dramatizes global disaster was the number one weekend box office hit in what is the first of quite possibly a deluge of movies that will inundate America and rest of the globe about what far too many believe will be the end of the world. Sure it should be taken as just a light diversion to entertain the great masses, but for far too many it will be taken more seriously. For buried within the value of its entertainment is a nugget of less skepticism at it being just a movie...

Swastika Christmas tree ornaments, "Germanic" cookies and made-up traditions: A new exhibition highlights how the Nazis tried to take Christ out of Christmas. But their attempts to hijack a festival that began with the birth of a Jewish child weren't entirely successful.

“King David and King Solomon lived merry, merry lives, With many, many concubines and many, many wives. But when old age crept after them, with many, many qualms, King Solomon wrote the Proverbs and King David wrote the Psalms.” There are several versions of this anonymous rhyme, but the problem, some biblical archaeologists argue, is that there is little evidence that either king existed: archaeological remains have been assigned to their reigns on the basis of cryptic verses in the Old Testament, and then used to “prove” the date of similar buildings at other sites. Until 15 years ago, Professor...

Anyone trying to figure out what in the world is going on in today’s economy might remember Agatha Christie’s classic, Murder on the Orient Express. When master sleuth Hercule Poirot boarded that train, he’d no idea that before the night ended he’d face the most perplexing murder case ever. A carful of passengers, all of whom had motive and opportunity, maneuvered around so skillfully that even Christie’s brilliant Belgian couldn’t figure out whodunit. The best he could do was point a perfectly manicured finger at the most likely culprits — in the end, everybody walked away, except the luckless victim....

Note the bolded passage and its relevance to today's politics. ====================================================== The Torah has a way of conveying great drama in concise language. As a work of literature, it also incorporates some of the most sophisticated techniques of foreshadowing and thematic coherence. We see a masterful illustration of this literary virtuosity in the opening section of this week's Torah portion. Genesis 25:19 opens by telling us that we will learn of the descendants of Isaac―namely, Jacob and Esau, his twin sons. The first instance of foreshadowing appears in the very next verse. Rebecca, we read, is "the daughter of Bethuel...

I checked this out and this information turned out to be true. See here : http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1240595153301.shtm Obama and Janet Napolitano Appoint Arif Alikhan, a devout Muslim as Assistant Secretary for Policy Development. here : http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2009/06/obama-appointment-arif-ali-khan-asst-secretary-dhs.html and here : http://www.adc.org/ The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) is proud to announce that the DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano swore-in Kareem Shora, a devout Muslim, who was born in Damascus, Syria, as ADC National Executive Director as a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC). Obama and Janet Napolitano Appoint Arif Alikhan, a devout Muslim as Assistant Secretary for Policy Development Source for announcement...

"Gay American" Jim McGreevey is spending his Sunday mornings with a new man -- Jesus. The former New Jersey love gov has gone from Turnpike rest stops to the church rostrum as part of his training to become an Episcopal priest, working each weekend at All Saints Church in Hoboken. McGreevey -- who resigned from office in disgrace in 2004 -- isn't far enough along in his seminary studies to actually give sermons, but he assists the Rev. Geoffrey Curtiss at three Masses on Sunday and participates in parish programs, donation drives and activities.

Way, way back in Econ 101 you might remember hearing about a guy named Adam Smith. He described what nowadays would be called an "emergent event of a complex system" that he named "the invisible hand of the free market." Simply put, it means that the economic market is too complex for conscious control, but is self-correcting (the invisible hand) if everyone pursues their own interests on a level playing field (equal rules). After Smith, some historical stuff happened for awhile, and then a writer appeared named Ayn Rand. People read her books, and immediately started arguing whether she is...

House Republican Leader John Boehner (Ohio) says the Obama administration is putting "liberal special interests before the safety and security of the American people" in deciding to bring the 9/11 mastermind to the United States for trial in federal civilian court. Boehner issued the statement on Friday, shortly before Attorney General Eric Holder formally announced the decision to bring Kahlid Sheikh Mohammed and four other Guantanamo Bay detainees to New York City. “The possibility that Khalid Sheik Mohammed and his co-conspirators could be found ‘not guilty’ due to some legal technicality just blocks from Ground Zero should give every American...

Four hundred years after Renaissance philosopher Giordano Bruno was burnt at the stake for his belief in the "plurality of worlds" (aliens), scientists and religious leaders gathered this week at a seemingly more open-minded Vatican for a conference on astrobiology (aliens). The meeting focussed on current science, rather than the theological quandaries thrown up by the possibilty of other life forms beyond this planet. But that hasn't stopped debate spilling over outside the conference. Yesterday I spoke to Paul Davies, a cosmologist from Arizona State University, just after he addressed the conference. In his view, the possibility of other civilisations...

A SYDNEY couple has withdrawn their two children from a public primary school, claiming their 11-year-old son was bullied by Muslim students because he ate a salami sandwich during Ramadan. Andrew Grigoriou said yesterday he complained to the school and to police after his son Antonios was chased and later assaulted by Muslim students after a confrontation over the contents of his lunch, The Daily Telegraph reports. Antonios, a Year 5 student of Greek-Australian background at Punchbowl Public School in Sydney's southwest, said he and a friend had to be locked inside the library for an hour after being chased...

Sixty-one years ago, in May 1948, after nearly two thousand years of Jewish dispersal, the nation-state of Israel was created by U.N. mandate. As the “new guy” on the block, Israel immediately sought to become a responsible member of the world community. Surrounded by enemies and lacking natural resources, it faced an enormous challenge -- survival. Six decades later, it not only has survived but has become an economic oasis within a regional desert of poverty and despair. Today, Israelis enjoy a much better quality of life than its Arab neighbors possessing tremendous oil wealth. Before discussing how Israelis became...

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Animated tropical puffer fish with a Christmas Greeting accompanied with Christmas music, Joy To The World. Greeting given by grandson !

It looked like a stunning reversal: the same church that helped defeat gay marriage in California standing with gay-rights activists on an anti-discrimination law in its own backyard. On Tuesday night, after a series of clandestine meetings between local gay-rights backers and Mormons in Salt Lake City, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced it would support proposed city laws that would prohibit discrimination against gays in housing and employment. The ordinances passed and history was made: It marked the first time the Salt Lake City-based church had supported gay-rights legislation.

One would hope that common sense would prevail in perilous times, but that's not the case since political correctness reared its ugly head. It's my belief that P.C. advocates are basically cowards who fear that those offended will resort to lawsuits or violence. What other explanation can explain how Major Nidal Malik Hasan didn't raise the "potential terrorist" antennae of the authorities at Fort Hood, the most populous U.S. military base in the world? According to statements by his colleagues, Maj. Hasan, a 39-year-old U.S. Army psychiatrist, was very vocal about his opposition to the war and his feeling that...

OK, let's say Obama's gives us all some lines like "Iran has a right to nuclear power, right to exist, right for Palestinians to have their own state, blah, blah, blah". Then Israel reacts violently against Iran and the Pals. Then Obama orders the army to attack Israel. What do you think would go down, in this country as well as globally?

The driver of a Boston subway train that stopped just inches short of a woman who had fallen onto the tracks says she expected the worst. Charice (shuh-REES') Lewis told CBS's "The Early Show" on Wednesday that she said to herself, "Please God, let this woman be OK" before getting out of her cab to check. Lewis said the woman just smiled at her.

"The suspect grabbed his cell phone and calls 911, and claims that he is running after an Arabic male who attempted to rob him and that he is going to secure him and take him into custody," said Tampa Police Department spokesperson Laura McElroy. McElroy said Marakis fell to the ground several times during while Bruce hit him with a tire iron.

Damage caused by Oliver Cromwell's army 350 years ago is threatening to ruin the tomb of the Black Prince in Canterbury Cathedral.Stained glass windows overlooking the tomb of Edward, Prince of Wales, were destroyed by Puritan iconoclasts in the 1640s, allowing damaging UV rays to enter the cathedral unfiltered. Since then, clear replacements have been installed and the deterioration of the paintwork on the 14th century canopy surrounding the prince's resting place has continued. The brilliant colours of the artworks that look down on the bronze figure of the prince are fading rapidly and the red pigment used by the...

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The Vatican's Pontifical Academy of Sciences is holding its first ever conference on alien life, the discovery of which would have profound implications for the Catholic Church. The Pontifical Academy of Sciences is holding a conference on astrobiology, the study of life beyond Earth, with scientists and religious leaders gathering in Rome this week. For centuries, theologians have argued over what the existence of life elsewhere in the universe would mean for the Church: at least since Giordano Bruno, an Italian monk, was put to death by the Inquisition in 1600 for claiming that other worlds exist. Among other things,...

Baby Boy Gives Two-Finger Salute To The World... From Inside The WOMB DAILY MAIL REPORTER 09th November 2009 If Owen Skeffington grows up to show a lack of respect for authority, his parents can hardly complain that he didn't warn them. A scan taken at 27 weeks clearly shows the infant raising two fingers to the camera. Such was the hilarity at Royal Preston Hospital that the sonographer asked permission of his parents, Owen senior and Kelly, to put the picture on the wall. The 4D scan image of baby Owen Patrick Skeffington sticking his two fingers up to the...

JEDDAH: The operation of a monorail system during the Haj next year would facilitate the transport of millions of pilgrims between the holy sites of Makkah, Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifah. Habeeb Zain Al-Abidine, deputy minister of municipal and rural affairs, said the monorails would transport 500,000 pilgrims between the holy sites within six to eight hours. “This will help withdraw at least 30,000 small and large buses from the Haj service,” said Zain .Al-Abidene while addressing a seminar on civil engineering projects for Haj. Zain Al-Abidine said the monorail project, which is estimated to cost SR6.75 billion would bring about...

Does anybody remember reports of our Dear Leader reciting the muslim call to prayer? Which newspaper had this? Pretty important stuff, seeing his reaction to the terrorist attack on Ft. Hood. This information has been out for some time, but needs to be reiterated. People may be more willing to listen now than during the election.

After the 7/7 London transport bombings woke at least some people up to the phenomenon of British ‘sleeper’ Islamic terrorism – and, equally important, to the way this was continuing to be denied by the British establishment – the reaction across the pond was, to say the least, complacent. What on earth had happened to the British lion? Americans asked, scratching their heads in amazement at how a country which had once stood united in determination to fight the enemies of democracy on the beaches was now apparently indifferent to the spread of jihadi fanaticism and support for religiously inspired...

An Atlanta bus driver was suspended for insisting his passengers join him in a prayer , his employer says. Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority spokesman Lyle V. Harris said LeRoy Matthews received a five-day furlough after passengers said he stopped his bus and asked all riders to hold hands and take part in a moment of prayer, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Saturday. An unidentified passenger said he was trying to get off the bus Tuesday, when Matthews made his prayer request. The impromptu prayer session on the public bus lasted at least 4 minutes and the focus of the prayer...

Is Islam worthy of First Amendment protection? I think it might be time for a Constitutional amendment. Such an amendment would not necessarily have to ban the practice of Islam in the U.S. But certainly, it seems to be time to carve out an exception to the First Amendment so that Islam can be restricted. What better place to get the ball rolling than right here on Free Republic? Am I off base here? Thoughts?

Just as some people today believe a Maya calendar pinpoints 2012 as the end of the world as we know it, some ancient Romans saw the A.D. 79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius (pictured: Pompeiians flee the city in an illustration), as a sign of a coming apocalypse. That's because Roman philosopher Seneca, who died in A.D. 65, had predicted the Earth would go up in smoke: "All we see and admire today will burn in the universal fire that ushers in a new, just, happy world," he said, according to the 1999 book Apocalypses. The end never came, but that...

First of all, let me start with how Governor Palin looked tonight. We all know that she is a beautiful woman, but that does not come close to describing how she looked. She was stunningly beautiful tonight. Maybe better than I have ever seen her look when I have seen her in person....

Many of us parents just learned that ONE teacher complained that it offended her and they nixed the tradition. We are HOPPING mad and plan to do something about it. Any EFFECTIVE ideas????

Find a Mosque Near You

Can we all light a candle sometime tonight and gather with our families to pray for the fallin hero's at Ft Hood. Also lift up our soldiers fighting for our safety and the freedoms we enjoy in the USA. Thank you and God Bless The USA http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977887320

My Life of Drink and One-Night Stands Left Me Feeling Hollow, Now I've Found The Answer: I'm Going To Be A Nun KATIE COLBRAN 05th November 2009 New order: In a few weeks, Katie Colbran will become a trainee nun For the past four years, I've led the kind of glamorous life some people only dream about. Regularly jetting off to exotic destinations such as Rome, Istanbul and Marrakech, I've been fortunate enough to stay in some of the most exclusive hotels and see some amazing sights. I've made dozens of friends, partied until the early hours in some of...

Malaysia Withholds 'Allah Bibles' By Robert Pigott BBC News, Religious affairs correspondent About two-thirds of Malaysia's population is Muslim The Malaysian government has refused to release 10,000 Bibles which it seized because they contained the word Allah to refer to God. The government, which is dominated by Muslim Malays, claims that the word Allah is Islamic and that its use in Bibles could upset Muslims. The Roman Catholic Church is challenging the ban in court. Religion has become highly sensitive in Malaysia, where about two-thirds of the population is Muslim. Religious minorities have accused the government of undermining their rights....

This moving six-minute clip goes way beyond softball to touch the heart.

When I interviewed director Roland Emmerich a few months ago about his upcoming disaster flick "2012," the first question I asked was, "Why do you like killing the world?" His response: "It makes for a good story." Over the past fifteen years, Emmerich has crafted some great tales about global doom, featuring some spectacular scenes of destruction. He had aliens zap the White House in "Independence Day," he let a massive lizard flatten New York City in "Godzilla," and he sent killer tornadoes through downtown Los Angeles in "The Day After Tomorrow." For "2012," Emmerich set his sites on destroying...

When I interviewed director Roland Emmerich a few months ago about his upcoming disaster flick "2012," the first question I asked was, "Why do you like killing the world?" His response: "It makes for a good story." Over the past fifteen years, Emmerich has crafted some great tales about global doom, featuring some spectacular scenes of destruction. He had aliens zap the White House in "Independence Day," he let a massive lizard flatten New York City in "Godzilla," and he sent killer tornadoes through downtown Los Angeles in "The Day After Tomorrow." For "2012," Emmerich set his sites on destroying...

Christian Protests Over ‘Transsexual Jesus’ Play Three hundred protesters have held a candlelit protest outside a Glasgow theatre over the staging of a play which portrays Jesus as a transsexual. By Auslan Cramb, Scottish Correspondent 04 Nov 2009 The Tron Theatre will present a new play, Jesus Queen of Heaven, in which Christ is a man who wants to become a woman Photo: UNIVERSAL NEWS & SPORT The protest was held outside the Tron Theatre, where Jesus, Queen of Heaven, in which Christ is a transsexual woman, is being staged. The play is part of the Glasgay! arts festival which...

Recently, a new hypothesis about the origin of the image seen on the Turin Shroud has been presented by Prof. Luigi Garlaschelli1 during a press release. The results of the experiments based on this hypothesis were shown and the explanations and photographs are available on the author web site2. Starting from these data and some complementary explanations kindly furnished to me by Prof. Garlaschelli, it is now possible to begin to examine the plausibility of this hypothesis. The hypothesis of Prof. Luigi Garlaschelli (L.G. in the rest of the text) can be briefly but accurately summarized. A medieval artist originally...

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with a respectful, big-budget biopic of the prophet Muhammad – that’s not the point – but it’s well worth remembering that while he was one of the biggest movie stars in the world, Oscar-winning director Mel Gibson had his ”Passion of the Christ” turned down by every studio in town. You know, even though 70% of Americans identify themselves as Christians. Now, if Gibson had produced “The Pissing on the Christ…” Producer Barrie Osborne cast Keanu Reeves as the messiah in The Matrix and helped defeat the dark lord Sauron in his record-breaking Lord of the...

Draw near, infidels, for these are dark days for the Knights of Hubbard. Do not despair entirely – the Church of Scientology remains insanely rich, has excellent and rapacious lawyers, and according to the International Scientology News, "every minute of every hour, someone reaches for L Ron Hubbard technology … simply because they know Tom Cruise is a Scientologist". So unless the world's supply of troubled fools is melting away quicker than the Arctic ice cap, they can probably hold off trying to lure disaffected Kabbalists into their cultish communion, after the fashion of Pope Benedict and the Anglicans. And...

My prayer goes to my heavenly Father, that in Jesus Name, tomorrow's election will ring a sound of liberty and freedom that will be heard around the country and around the world. That the candidates that represent honesty and integrity would overcome those that do not. Father please thwart any illegal voting in any party. Please supress the desire in people to commit fraud and deceit. Let your people rejoice in the outcome of this election because it is in Your hands alone. Righteousness exalts a nation, But sin is a disgrace to any people. (Proverbs 14:34)