When Jesus said: Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in:  Naked, and you covered me: sick, and you visited me: I was in prison, and you came to me.  Then shall the just answer him, saying: Lord, when did we see thee hungry, and fed thee; thirsty, and gave thee drink? [Matthew 25: 34-37]

Romans don't have to wait for Halloween to enjoy the macabre. The spirit of Halloween stalks the city's myriad churches, from skeletons galore to mummified monks, embalmed papal hearts to a purported piece of John the Baptist's head.

A good place to start is the Church of Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Via Veneto.

The ghosts of La Dolce Vita are quickly forgotten when the visitor enters the church's crypt, elaborately adorned by the earthly remains of hundreds of Capuchin monks.

Vertebrae create a floral effect, while shoulder blades suggest the wings on the hourglasses symbolising the inexorable flight of time for us mortals.

Clavicles also make up the Grim Reaper's scythe held by a skeleton attached to the ceiling.

.....

For those on the threshold of eternity, there is the tiny but spooky Museum of the Souls of Purgatory, with purported messages from beyond the grave begging for help to get in.

The tortured souls seeking prayers to speed the process left imprints of burning hands or fingers on items such as prayer books and garments, collected by Father Victor Jouet in the late 19th century from around Europe.

 "One thing is wanting unto thee: go, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." [Mark 10:21]

But Jesus again answering, saith to them: Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the kingdom of God? [Mark 10:24]

Amen I say to you, unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. [Matthew 18:3] ?

But the other answering, rebuked him (who had mocked/tested Jesus), saying: Neither dost thou fear God, seeing thou art condemned under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this man hath done no evil. And he said to Jesus: Lord, remember me when thou shalt come into thy kingdom. [Luke 23:40-42]

(A) Acknowledged Jesus as God - no one else had - not even Peter.
(B) Acknowledged deserving their just punishment. He acknowledged their guilt and submitted himself to justice without complaining to God, yet
(C) Appealed to the Mercy of God [ Lord, remember me when thou shalt come into thy kingdom.] since he....
(D) Believed in the Kingdom of God as announced by Jesus.

"Microchip Implants: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions" by Katherine Albrecht, Ed.D.

Answers 85 of the most commonly asked questions about chip implants, including damning evidence that the VeriChip Corporation misled reporters, regulators, and the public about studies linking chips to cancer.

"Microchip-Induced Tumors in Laboratory Rodents and Dogs: A Review of the Literature 1990–2006" by Katherine Albrecht, Ed.D.

British Columbia's sheriffs and correctional officers were alarmed Monday to discover that the H1N1 vaccine is being made available first to prisoners and then to staff?

Officials at the Italian Embassy in Washington say Freeh was made a citizen at a ceremony Friday. An announcement on the embassy's Web site says Freeh was granted citizenship based on his close work with Italian authorities in fighting organized crime.

Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago when they stood up to King Nabuchodonosor? (1)

Eleazar? (2)

For several months, senior administration officials have been quietly deliberating behind closed doors how much to disclose to the world about extraterrestrial life. Dissatisfaction among powerful institutions such as the U.S. Navy over the decades-long secrecy policy has given a boost to efforts to disclose the reality of extraterrestrial life and technology.

The impending disclosure announcement follows upon the secret implementation of a year long openness policy on UFOs and extraterrestrial life. Over the period February 12-14, 2008, the United Nations held closed doors discussions where approximately 30 nations secretly agreed on a new openness policy on UFOs and extraterrestrial life in 2009. The openness policy was implemented but never publicly announced...

_________________

It was this silence, which according to TAP was caused by a problem with the communications system, that lead NATO to emit an alarm and dispatch the fighter jets.

Within 10 minutes of NATO’s warning being issued the German jets were on its tail.

FAA notified the military, which put Air National Guard fighter jets on alert at two locations. As many as four planes could have been scrambled, but none took to the air. (2)

The group say they have more money than they need, and the extra revenue could fund economic and social programmes to aid Germany's economic recovery.

Germany could raise 100 billion euros (150 billion US dollars) if the richest people paid a 5% wealth tax for two years, they say.

"The path out of the crisis must be paved with massive investment in ecology, education and social justice," they say in the petition.

Those who had "made a fortune through inheritance, hard work, hard-working, successful entrepreneurship, or investment" should contribute by paying more to alleviate the crisis.

The man behind the petition, Dieter Lehmkuhl, told Berlin's Tagesspiegel that there were 2.2 million people in Germany with a fortune of more than 500,000 euros (750,000 US dollars).

11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall seduce many. 12 And because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold. 13 But he that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom, shall be preached in the whole world, for a testimony to all nations, and then shall the consummation come. 15 When therefore you shall see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place: he that readeth let him understand.

16 Then they that are in Judea, let them flee to the mountains: 17 And he that is on the housetop, let him not come down to take any thing out of his house: 18 And he that is in the field, let him not go back to take his coat. 19 And woe to them that are with child, and that give suck in those days. 20 But pray that your flight be not in the winter, or on the sabbath.

21 For there shall be then great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, neither shall be. 22 And unless those days had been shortened, no flesh should be saved: but for the sake of the elect those days shall be shortened. 23 Then if any man shall say to you: Lo here is Christ, or there, do not believe him. 24 For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders, insomuch as to deceive (if possible) even the elect. 25 Behold I have told it to you, beforehand.

26 If therefore they shall say to you: Behold he is in the desert, go ye not out: Behold he is in the closets, believe it not. 27 For as lightning cometh out of the east, and appeareth even into the west: so shall the coming of the Son of man be. 28 Wheresoever the body shall be, there shall the eagles also be gathered together. 29 And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be moved: 30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all tribes of the earth mourn: and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with much power and majesty.

31 And he shall send his angels with a trumpet, and a great voice: and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the farthest parts of the heavens to the utmost bounds of them. 32 And from the fig tree learn a parable: When the branch thereof is now tender, and the leaves come forth, you know that summer is nigh. 33 So you also, when you shall see all these things, know ye that it is nigh, even at the doors.

The group of Anglicans that could be received into the Catholic Church on Tuesday may be erected as a personal prelature, which has the same canonical status held by Opus Dei.

The group previously separated from the Anglican Communion due to issues such as the ordinations of both women and sexually active homosexuals.

According to Giacomo Galeazzi from the Italian daily La Stampa, the press conference to be held at the Vatican press office by Cardinal William Joseph Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; and Archbishop Augustine DiNoia, Secretary of the Congregation for the Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments, will be the occasion in which the reception of the Anglican group, which claims to have some 500,000 members –among clergy and laity-  will be officially announced.

A row broke out in Portugal on Monday after a Nobel Prize-winning author denounced the Bible as a "handbook of bad morals".

Speaking at the launch of his new book "Cain", Jose Saramago, who won the 1998 Nobel Prize for Literature, said society would probably be better off without the Bible.

Roman Catholic Church leaders accused the 86-year-old of a publicity stunt.

The book is an ironic retelling of the Bible story of Cain, Adam and Eve's elder son who kills his brother Abel.

At the launch event in the northern Portuguese town of Penafiel on Sunday, Saramago said he did not think the book would offend Catholics "because they do not read the Bible".

This is the claim made by  in his first pastoral letter, "Ecclesia Semper Reformanda" (The Church is Always in Need of Renewal). The document was published last Thursday.

In his letter, the prelate reflected on the Second Vatican Council, something he called the "greatest gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church in centuries."

But, he said, citing Benedict XVI, the "implementation of the council has been difficult and is not complete."

Bishop Nickless concludes: "My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in the time I have been among you I have learned how admirably strong is the faith to which you cling, yet how far it is from the 'fullness of faith' to which we are called by our loving Savior. We truly need today those 'great acts of renunciation' for the sake of Christ: not so much renunciation of our material things, as of our false attachments to both material and spiritual things."

...even a strong magnet cannot erase or scramble the personal information stored in those ever-present chips in credit cards, phone cards, hotel keys, ID cards, etc.?

The M+G+R Foundation Comments: "Comforting" and "reassuring", isn't it?

It's too late for anyone to pretend that the U.S. government, whether under President Barack Obama or anyone else, can divert our nation from long-term economic decline. The U.S. is increasingly in a state of political, economic, and moral paralysis, caught as it were between the “rock” of protracted recession and the “hard place” of terminal government debt.

Even if the stock market can be shored up by more government borrowing for “stimulus” spending, it's a temporary reprieve, because nothing can bring back the consumer purchasing power that was lost when the banks stopped pumping money into the economy through out-of-control mortgage lending. We simply no longer have the job base for people to earn the income they need to live.

In the face of total global economic collapse, the prospects of a massive international war are increasing. Historically, periods of imperial decline and economic crisis are marked by increased international violence and war. The decline of the great European empires was marked by World War I and World War II, with the Great Depression taking place in the intermediary period. 

Currently, the world is witnessing the decline of the American empire, itself a product born out of World War II. As the post-war imperial hegemon, America ran the international monetary system and reigned as champion and arbitrator of the global political economy.

After gains in the fight against hunger in the 1980s and early 1990s, the number of undernourished people started climbing in 1995, reaching 1.02 billion this year under the combined effect of high food prices and the global financial meltdown, the agency said.

The blame for the long-term trend rests largely on the reduced share of aid and private investments earmarked for agriculture since the mid 1980s,

Despite those numbers, the banking system is no longer at risk of collapse. Megabank JPMorgan Chase, for instance, announced on Oct. 14 it earned $3.6 billion in the third quarter.

Most of the institutions in danger are small. But those failures are straining the FDIC, which underwrites the nation's saving and lending by insuring deposits. When a bank fails, the FDIC makes up the difference between what's left and what's owed depositors, up to $250,000 per person per bank.

Two years ago, the FDIC had about $52 billion in its deposit-insurance fund. Today that fund is technically broke.

The agency has money reserved to cover anticipated failures but no cash remaining for unforeseen blowups. It has asked banks to prepay three years' worth of premiums and could seek emergency funds from the U.S. Treasury. 

and that....

and that....

In its search for fugitives, the FBI has begun using facial-recognition technology on millions of motorists, comparing driver's license photos with pictures of convicts in a high-tech analysis of chin widths and nose sizes.

The project in North Carolina has already helped nab at least one suspect. Agents are eager to look for more criminals and possibly to expand the effort nationwide.

"Everybody's participating, essentially, in a virtual lineup by getting a driver's license," said Christopher Calabrese, an attorney who focuses on privacy issues at the American Civil Liberties Union.

Earlier this year, investigators learned that a double-homicide suspect named Rodolfo Corrales had moved to North Carolina. The FBI took a 1991 booking photo from California and compared it with 30 million photos stored by the motor vehicle agency in Raleigh.

In seconds, the search returned dozens of drivers who resembled Corrales, and an FBI analyst reviewed a gallery of images before zeroing in on a man who called himself Jose Solis.

Calabrese said Americans should be concerned about how their driver's licenses are being used.

Licenses "started as a permission to drive," he said. "Now you need them to open a bank account. You need them to be identified everywhere. And suddenly they're becoming the de facto law enforcement database."

4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, he is the greater in the kingdom of heaven.  5And he that shall receive one such little child in my name, receiveth me. 6 But he that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea. 7 Woe to the world because of scandals. For it must needs be that scandals come: but nevertheless woe to that man by whom the scandal cometh. [Matthew 18]

The story takes a surprising new turn with this report from the Canadian Broadcasting Centre, in which a man who was a victim of sexual abuse years ago reports that he warned police in the 1980s about a Father Lahey who was using child pornography.

The arrest of Bishop Lahey is one more devastating blow to the credibility of the Catholic hierarchy. As the prosecution of his case moves forward, we can expect more dramatic evidence that the sex-abuse scandal in the Catholic Church-- and the far more grievous scandal of dereliction of episcopal duty-- is not yet behind us.

During the early 1990s, the World Health Organization (WHO) had been overseeing massive vaccination campaigns against tetanus in a number of countries, among them Nicaragua, Mexico, and the Philippines. In October 1994, HLI received a communication from its Mexican affiliate, the Comite' Pro Vida de Mexico, regarding that country's anti-tetanus campaign. Suspicious of the campaign protocols, the Comite' obtained several vials of the vaccine and had them analyzed by chemists. Some of the vials were found to contain human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG), a naturally occurring hormone essential for maintaining a pregnancy.


In nature the hCG hormone alerts the woman's body that she is pregnant and causes the release of other hormones to prepare the uterine lining for the implantation of the fertilized egg. The rapid rise in hCG levels after conception makes it an excellent marker for confirmation of pregnancy: when a woman takes a pregnancy test she is not tested for the pregnancy itself, but for the elevated presence of hCG.

However, when introduced into the body coupled with a tetanus toxoid carrier, antibodies will be formed not only against tetanus but also against hCG. In this case the body fails to recognize hCG as a friend and will produce anti-hCG antibodies. The antibodies will attack subsequent pregnancies by killing the hCG which naturally sustains a pregnancy; when a woman has sufficient anti-hCG antibodies in her system, she is rendered incapable of maintaining a pregnancy.

The Rev. Lawrence Adams teaches his flock at the Westside Bible Church to turn the other cheek. Just in case, though, the 54-year-old retired police lieutenant also wears a handgun under his robe.

Adams is one of several Detroit clergymen who have taken to packing heat in the pulpit. They have committed their lives to a man who preached nonviolence and told followers to love their enemies. But they also say it's up to them to protect their parishioners in church.

"As a pastor, I'm referred to as a shepherd," Adams said. "Shepherds have the responsibility of watching over their flock. Do I want to hurt somebody? Absolutely not!"

Many people are uncomfortable with the idea of an armed clergy, because Christ preached against violence and taught people they should love their enemies.

"But the scriptures also are clear that civil authority is part of God's plan," said Claude Wiggins, a former pastor and current assistant at the Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary.

"In our country, it says in due process that you may bear arms to protect yourself. While we should be committed to trusting God, that doesn't prevent us or command us to be totally passive," Wiggins said.

African nuns told a Vatican meeting Friday they want more of a say in running the Catholic Church on the continent, saying they have special talents and shouldn't be left to clean churches and mend vestments.

Sister Felicia Harry of Ghana was more blunt, saying African nuns didn't want to usurp priests' powers but wanted to be part of the church's decision-making process.

"As well as teach catechism to children, decorate parish churches, clean, mend and sew vestments, we religious women in Africa would like to be part of various parish councils," she said, according to a summary of her remarks to the closed meeting.

The stunning choice made Obama the third sitting U.S. president to win the Nobel Peace Prize and shocked Nobel observers because Obama took office less than two weeks before the Feb. 1 nomination deadline.

"Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future," the committee said. "His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population."

"What very few people know is that Blackwater is living true to its training. There are hundreds of reported but suppressed [incidents] of Blackwater troopers killing the population in Iraq and Afghanistan, raping women, being involved in drugs just like their CIA counterparts and also in something very gruesome... organ trafficking on par with their Mossad counterparts in Israel who have been caught red-handed selling the organs (2) of the Palestinians whom they martyr every day."

"Former Pentagon Inspector-General Joseph Edgar Schmidtz quit the Pentagon in 2005 to work for Blackwater. He is a known member of the Opus Dei and the Knights of Malta Masonic cults. It is interesting to note that during his tenure at the Pentagon, about $2 trillion went 'missing!'

"The Malta Star newspaper affirms a report filed in Egypt's Al-Ahram Weekly that historian Jeremy Scahill argued that 'Blackwater's employees share the same religious zeal of ancient Crusaders.' The writer is the author of the book 'Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army' in which he links Blackwater operatives and their tactics to those of the Knights of Malta.

"People Might Say That This Theory is Absurd, But... World Events These Days Must Be Carefully Viewed From the Apocalyptic Angle"

The disappearance of an Iranian nuclear scientist on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia in June is raising questions about whether he defected and gave the West information on Iran's nuclear program.

Iran's foreign minister on Wednesday accused the United States of involvement in the disappearance of Shahram Amiri, who reportedly worked at a university linked to the elite Revolutionary Guard military corps.

In a sign of the sensitivities surrounding Amiri, Iranian officials have not even publicly identified Amiri as a nuclear scientist, referring to him only as an Iranian citizen. Amiri's wife has said he was researching medical uses of nuclear technology at a university and was not involved in the broader nuclear program.

In the most profound financial change in recent Middle East history, Gulf Arabs are planning – along with China, Russia, Japan and France – to end dollar dealings for oil, moving instead to a basket of currencies including the Japanese yen and Chinese yuan, the euro, gold and a new, unified currency planned for nations in the Gulf Co-operation Council, including Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Qatar.

Secret meetings have already been held by finance ministers and central bank governors in Russia, China, Japan and Brazil to work on the scheme, which will mean that oil will no longer be priced in dollars.

The plans, confirmed to The Independent by both Gulf Arab and Chinese banking sources in Hong Kong, may help to explain the sudden rise in gold prices, (2) but it also augurs an extraordinary transition from dollar markets within nine years.

"I make an urgent appeal to the earth. I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven; I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men; I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in My arms, so to speak, those who have lived according to My spirit. Finally, I call on the apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in union with God, in suffering unknown to the world. It is time they came out and filled the world with light.

Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children. I am at your side and within you, provided that your faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days. May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ. Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see. For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends. Our Lady of Lasalette  (1) 

DNA analysis confirms the evolution of humans; their relation to the Neanderthals, who populated Europe and the Near East; and Homo erectus, who roamed the steppes of Asia.

Most importantly, geneticists can trace the movements of a little band of human ancestors, numbering perhaps no more than 150, who crossed the Red Sea from east Africa about 50,000 years ago.

A few thousand years later, their descendents, Homo sapiens, became masters of all they surveyed, the other humanoid species having become extinct. 

MindSign Neuromarketing is leading the charge in applying neuroscience to feature films, with assistance from film producer Peter Katz. They are calling this new hybrid of neuromarketing and how it applies to film, rather than commercials or movie trailers, neurocinema.

Recently they finished their first full test with results that could change the way films are made.  The objective of the research, specifically, was to determine the brain response in the amygdala to watching scenes from the horror film Pop Skull. For those that don’t know, the amygdala is the emotional center of the brain. It’s involved in feelings of disgust, anger, lust and fear — all emotions especially elicited during a horror film.

Movies could easily become more effective at fulfilling the expectations of their particular genre. Theatrical directors can go far beyond the current limitations of market research to gain access into their audience’s subconscious mind. The filmmakers will be able to track precisely which sequences/scenes excite, emotionally engage or lose the viewer’s interest based on what regions of the brain are activated. From that info a director can edit, re-shoot an actor’s bad performance, adjust a score, pump up visual effects and apply any other changes to improve or replace the least compelling scenes.

In a defiant and provocative statement, issued following a meeting of the UN human rights council in Geneva, the Holy See said the majority of Catholic clergy who committed such acts were not paedophiles but homosexuals attracted to sex with adolescent males.

The statement, read out by Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican's permanent observer to the UN, defended its record by claiming that "available research" showed that only 1.5%-5% of Catholic clergy were involved in child sex abuse.

The statement said that rather than paedophilia, it would "be more correct" to speak of ephebophilia, a homosexual attraction to adolescent males.

"Of all priests involved in the abuses, 80 to 90% belong to this sexual orientation minority which is sexually engaged with adolescent boys between the ages of 11 and 17."

 The Holy See launched its counter–attack after an international representative of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, Keith Porteous Wood, accused it of covering up child abuse and being in breach of several articles under the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Representatives from other religions were dismayed by the Holy See's attempts to distance itself from controversy by pointing the finger at other faiths.

Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, head of the New York Board of Rabbis, said: "Comparative tragedy is a dangerous path on which to travel. All of us need to look within our own communities. Child abuse is sinful and shameful and we must expel them immediately from our midst."

- NO more retreats, spiritual exercises, conferences, foreign priests… without permission of the bishop
- NO own or foreign priests may propagate NON-recognized ‘messages’ or ‘apparitions’
- EVERY priest must show his ‘celebret’ before H.Mass
- NO more H.Sacrament or adoration in ‘Oasis of Peace’; even NO permission to reside in whole diocese [not sure what that last part means]
- NO services in the private church in Bijakovice; it is now closed.
- NO mentioning of ‘seers’, apparitions, messages’ in parish bulletin;
- NO mentioning of the word ‘sanctuary’ in Medjugorje
- NO mentioning or comment of ‘messages’ or ‘apparitions’ on the 25th of the month via Marija Pavlovic
- NO private ‘apparitions’ of Mirjana Dragicevic in ‘Cenacolo’ of Sr. Elvira
- NO permission for ‘Kraljica Mira’(founder : Tomislav Vlasic) in Medjugorje or in whole diocese
- NO ‘seers’ or others in the church to pray prayers from the ‘apparitions’
- NO intentions during the rosary concerning ‘apparitions’ or ‘messages’
- NO ‘seers’ in or around the church on anniversaries of ‘apparitions’ or ‘messages

The Oct. 8 concert will feature music by Jewish-born composers Gustav Mahler and Felix Mendelssohn, and will be performed by the InterRegionales JugendsinfonieOrchester, which gathers young musicians from 10 nations.

Vatican official Cardinal Walter Kasper said Thursday the concert aims to involve in the "tragic memory" of the war "not just the generation that has lived through its horrors but also the youth."

The German-born Benedict has spoken out frequently about the horrors of the war. He was forced to serve in the Hitler Youth corps and later in the army before deserting.

An (official) link between the death and the drug has not yet been established, health officials said on Monday.

The 14-year-old fell ill after she was given the Cervarix vaccination against the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV) at her school in Coventry, central England, as part of a national immunization program. She later died in a hospital.

"The incident happened shortly after the girl had received her HPV vaccine in the school," Dr. Caron Grainger, joint director for Public Health for NHS (National Health Service) Coventry and Coventry City Council, said in a statement.

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