Mary Christmas
December 16th, 2008Best Buy to Match Customer Donations up to $1 Million
September 9th, 2008MINNEAPOLIS — Beginning September 3, Best Buy stores across the nation will accept cash donations for the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund to support those impacted by Hurricane Gustav and in anticipation of the support needed to recover from Hurricane Hannah. The public can donate at any U.S. Best Buy store register in any dollar amount; no purchase is necessary. Donations will be accepted through September 30, 2008. Best Buy will match donations up to $1 million. To locate a store near you, visit www.bestbuy.com.
10 years ago in Havana
September 9th, 2008From Herald Wire Services Published Wednesday, September 9, 1998, in the Miami Herald
Cubans honor saint as dissidents detained
HAVANA — For the first time in 37 years, Cuba’s Roman Catholics were granted permission to remove a statue of Our Lady of Charity from a Havana church Tuesday night and take it on a 12-block procession through the capital to mark the feast day of the island’s patron saint.
The religious observance coincided with a report of a crackdown on political dissidents.
At least six people were detained after the “most intensive police operation” against dissidents this year, a human rights leader said Tuesday.
Authorities were holding four women and two men from several groups opposed to the government of President Fidel Castro, according to a statement released by Elizardo Sanchez, head of the Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation.
They were arrested in simultaneous raids on their apartments about 6 p.m. Monday but it was not known what charges they face, said the statement, which identified the dissidents as Vicky Ruiz, Miriam Garcia, Nancy de Varona, Ofelia Nardo, Luis Lopez and Roberto de Miranda.
The six had attended the sentencing Aug. 28 of dissident Reynaldo Alfaro Garcia, who was given three years in jail. A rare protest demonstration took place outside the Havana court after Alfaro Garcia’s sentencing.
About 20 people shouted anti-Castro slogans while a similar number of counterprotesters chanted pro-Castro cheers, but the encounter was peaceful, according to eyewitnesses. Read the rest of this entry »
Again an annoying Spammer
September 3rd, 2008I used to get a lot of spam from Lithuania, after some 150 times the person must have gotten bored, grew up or died. Now I have a new one, hopefully he will stop soon too.
Give up, Please stop!!
At first glance it looks as if you come from Uruguay and I would say Por favor, dejar de! but apparently you have some connection with theplanet.com and I guess you do not like my competition.
I found this Thread: FTAHQ, TOTALFTA, THETOTALFTA (very Long Post) that got some problems with the 200.63.42.136 IP address too.
Fun Stuff, Happy and Prayers
September 3rd, 2008
Locus iste a Deo factus est…
Originally uploaded by
Lawrence OP
I am constantly searching for new and valuable content on the internet for my Websites, that’s how I found “Catholic Cancer Prayerline “.
Having a friend that her Mom suffers of cancer I joined the group at Flikr immediately. Unfortunately after 40 perfectly healthy years, I became sick; some problems with my liver. Immediately I asked mr.e’s mom (the group admin) to pray for me too.
Well she must have done a very good job, since miraculously I am healthy again.
I named this entry fun stuff, happy and Prayers as for the Categories that I am using.
The picture description.
“This place was made by God…”
The beautiful Lady Chapel in Westminster Cathedral has the distinction of being the first completely decorated chapel in the cathedral, c.1903. In contrast to the dark brickwork around the chapel, the sense of awe is intensified as one enters the gleaming mosaic-decorated space with its narrative drawn from the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Vespers is beautifully sung every evening in this chapel, which adds to the numinous experience of praying in this holy space.
Peace ships break through Israel's blockade of Gaza
August 30th, 2008The Age 
Andra Jackson August 25, 2008
TWO peace ships organized by a Melbourne man, Michael Shaik, have broken through Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip.
The ships, the SS Free Gaza and the SS Liberty, set out from Cyprus on Friday with dozens of human rights activists from around the world, carrying children’s hearing aids to the Palestinian territory.
Two years of planning went into running the blockade after Mr Shaik came up with the idea of challenging Israeli restrictions on Palestinian movement and access to basic services.
Israel, with US backing and Egyptian help, has controlled entry and exit from Gaza since its withdrawal in 2005, but virtually sealed off its 1.5 million people last summer after the militant Islamists Hamas put down a Fatah coup attempt.
Those on the Greek-flagged ships included Eliza Ernshire, 32, of Newcastle, NSW, Israeli human rights activist Jeff Halper and journalist Lauren Booth, the sister-in-law of former British prime minister and current Middle East envoy Tony Blair.
“We will surely try to bring the boats back again,” activist Huwaida Arraf said. “The goal is to open a route between Cyprus and Gaza. People here are just ecstatic to see that someone cares.”
At one stage on the 30-hour trip the navigation and communications systems on both ships failed. Some activists accused Israel of jamming the systems, which Israel denied.
More..
Israel warns activists against breaking Gaza blockade
Published: August 19, 2008 By MIDDLE EAST TIMES
ATHENS (AFP) Israel has warned a group of pro-Palestinian activists sailing for the Gaza Strip to break a year-long blockade to steer clear of the territory, the Israeli embassy in Athens said on Tuesday.”The area to which you are planning to sail is the subject of an (Israeli Navy) advisory notice which warns all foreign vessels to remain clear of the designated maritime zone,” the Israeli foreign ministry said in an open letter to the participants of the Free Gaza Boat Expedition.
“We assume that your intentions are good but, in fact, the result of your action is that you are supporting the regime of a terrorist organisation in Gaza,” the ministry said.
Ruled since June 2007 by Hamas, an Islamist movement that is considered a terrorist organisation by the West, the Gaza Strip has been under Israeli blockade for the past year except for humanitarian aid.
But the California-based Free Gaza Movement says Israel’s aid supply record is “deplorable”.
Formed two years ago, the Free Gaza Movement (www.freegaza.org) is composed of human rights activists, aid workers and journalists.
© 2008 Agence France-Presse More..
Dead Sea Scrolls to be available on internet
August 30th, 2008According to “Joseph Nasr in Jerusalem August 28, 2008 11:45am ”
SCIENTISTS in Israel are taking digital photographs of the Dead Sea Scrolls with the aim of making the 2000-year-old documents available to the public and researchers online.
Israel Antiquities Authority, the custodian of the scrolls that shed light on the life of Jews and early Christians at the time of Jesus, said this week it would take more than two years to complete the project.
For many years after Bedouin shepherds first came upon the scrolls in caves near the Dead Sea in 1947, only a small number of scholars were allowed to view the fragments.
I was puzzled by the comments people left, Read the entire article…
Ben Knight a Middle East correspondent for ABCNews Posted Thu Aug 28, 2008
Writes “”Revealing scrolls online
That is when the idea expanded to put all of the images on the internet where they could be seen and studied by anyone who wanted.
Professor Steven Fassberg is a scrolls expert from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and says every new letter revealed will make a difference. ” more..
Political Emancipation.
August 29th, 2008This year Americans have no alternative but to leap in modern time history.
According to God all men are equal; rather I should say to be politically correct, all humans are equal, When John McCain announced Sarah Palin as his VP, I realized that this election gives us the opportunity to prove that we too believe in all humans are equal to be a President.
Major progress reported in building Jordan's Baptism Site
August 23rd, 2008www.chinaview.cn 2008-08-20 14:42:06
AMMAN, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) — Jordan’s tourist authorities has made major headway in efforts to build the Baptism Site, where Jesus was said to be baptized, into a global pilgrimage destination, local daily The Jordan Times reported on Wednesday.
“The infrastructure work for the Russian Pilgrimage House, the Roman Catholic Church on the east bank of the Jordan River as well as the Greek Orthodox monastery have been completed and others are on track as planned,” Baptism Site Commission Director Dia Madani said.
At least five more churches representing various Christian denominations are set to be established this year, including the Coptic, Armenian, Syrian and Ethiopian churches, according to Madani.
“Once the churches are built and monks and priests settle in, the entire concept of the site will be transformed from a historically important site to a leading destination for Christian pilgrimage,” Madani said, adding that the site will be open 20 hours a day and offer facilities for pilgrims who choose to spend the night.
According to the official, the site is growing steadily in prominence among tourists and pilgrims, citing figures that tourist arrivals has climbed to 108,000 in the first seven months of this year, an increase of 99 percent from a year ago.
The official expects the site to attract up to half-a-million visitors annually in three years.
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