ARTICLES - HOT OFF THE FAGGOT

Judge for Yourself

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Fascists – Hell Rome
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Stalingrad, 1943. “Dude, where is my Father?”














“A better world shall emerge based on faith and understanding.” (Douglas MacArthur, year unknown)


 



General of the Armed Forces Douglas MacArthur together with Jesuit professor in geopolitics fr. Edmund Walsh S.J. who founded Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in 1919.














Say. No. More.



Hugo Chavez. Filling the void after Fidel Castro.










TIME magazine, 2005. Hell Rome









“The great masses of the people … will more easily fall victims to a big lie than to a small one.” (Adolf Hitler)




Celebration of Adolfs birthday in Berlin 1935 together with papal nuncio Cesare Orsenigo. Please note Adolfs schoolboy smirk.



Christmas Party



Christmas Party


 










The above symbol with the shortening “SS” represents:


1. Schutzstaffel [German for "Squadron"]


x. Sedes Sacrorum or Santa Sede [Latin for "Holy See"]


2. Both of “1″ and “x” are correct.












Adolf Hitler. Roman Catholicism.









Sieg Des Glaubens [Hail the Faith] , Leni Riefenstahl, 1933. I wonder which faith they are referring to.



 


 




Snapshot from the film; Adolf meeting up with with Goebbels and Franz von Papen. Pomp and high spirits.


Ardent Roman Catholic von Papen signed the Reichskonkordat together with Pope Pius XII in Rome the same year the film was made (1933). After that, Hitler was given the position of absolute dictatorship mainly because the Roman Catholic Zentrum party dissolved itself, which was one of the conditions of the Concordat itself.


During the war, von Papen chilled out as ambassador to Turkey. Close to to the end, he was “captured” by “allied” troops in Germany, and had to serve a “prison sentence” until 1949. His title as “Papal Chamberlain” was restored in 1959 by pope Paul XXIII. All the time, he had been a Knight of Malta.


Franz von Papen died in 1969, at the age of 89.



Easy-going roadtrip with Adolf and good chum Franz von Papen, also 1933.










Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler. White key (silver?)



Did anyone in this city state lose a silver key?











Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler.



Seal of the Jesuit order, a.k.a. Society of Jesus.









“The framers wanted to build a “novus ordo” that would secure “liberty and justice for all” … The underlying principle of this new order is the fact of human sin. To build a republic designed for sinners, then, is the indispensable task. … There is no use building a social system for saints. There are too few of them. And those there are are impossible to live with! … Any effective social system must therefore be designed for the only moral majority there is: sinners.” (Michael Novak, Jesuit political scientist in America, the weekly magazine for American Jesuits, 1989)




Washington DC, Pentagram goat structure, mouth at white house




George Washington, Goat pose. “As above, so below” cabalistic hand signs”










“Buried Standard” of Loyola painted in 17th century. Brought down for conservation in 1908, uncovered in the last years. Situated in Church of the Gesu in Rome which is the mother church of the Jesuits. Shown periodically. Loyola recieves red flag from deity. This entitles him to wage holy war on heretics in the mind of a Jesuit. Of course it is just a picture. Below some carriers of red flags.



Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, 1870 – 1924.



Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili, 1878 – 1953.



Mao Zedong, 1893 – 1976.



Adolf Hitler, der bannerträger, 1889 – 1945.










I, …………………….., Now, in the presence of Almighty God, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the blessed Michael the Archangel, the blessed St. John the Baptist, the holy Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul and all the saints and the sacred hosts of heaven, and to you, my ghostly father, the Superior general of the Society of Jesus, founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola, in the Pontificate of Paul the Third, and continued to the present, do by the womb of the Virgin, the matrix of God, and the rod of Jesus Christ, declare and swear, that his holiness the Pope is Christ’s Viceregent and is the true and only Head of the Catholic or Universal Church throughout the earth; and that by virtue of the keys of binding and loosing, given to his Holiness by my Saviour, Jesus Christ, he hath power to depose heretical kings, princes, states, commonwealths and governments, all being illegal without his sacred confirmation and that they may safely be destroyed. Therefore, to the utmost of my power, I shall and will defend this doctrine and his Holiness’ right and custom against all usurpers of the heretical or Protestant authority and churches of England and Scotland, and branches of the same now established in Ireland and on the Continent of America and elsewhere; and all adherents in the regard that they be usurped and heretical, opposing the sacred Mother Church of Rome. I do now renounce and disown any allegiance as due to any heretical king, prince or state named Protestants or Liberals or obedience to any of their laws, magistrates or officers.


I do further declare that the doctrines of the churches of England and Scotland, of the Calvinists, Huguenots and others of the name Protestants or Liberals to be damnable, and they themselves damned and to be damned who will not forsake the same.


I do further declare that I will help, assist and advise all or any of his Holiness’ agents in any place wherever I shall be, in Switzerland, Germany, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, England, Ireland, or America, or in any other kingdom or territory I shall come to, and do my uttermost to extirpate the heretical Protestants or Liberals’ doctrines and to destroy all their pretended powers, regal or otherwise.


I do further promise and declare, that notwithstanding I am dispensed with, to assume any religion heretical, for the propagating of the Mother Church’s interest, to keep secret and private all her agents counsels’ from time to time, as they may entrust me, and not to divulge, directly or indirectly, by word, writing or circumstance whatever; but to execute all that shall be proposed, given in charge or discovered unto me, by you, my ghostly father, or any of this sacred convent.


I do further promise and declare, that I will have no opinion or will of my own, or any mental reservation whatever, even as a corpse or cadaver, but will unhesitatingly obey each and every command that I may receive from my superiors in the Militia of the Pope and Jesus Christ.


That I will go to any part of the world whithersoever I may be sent, to the frozen regions of the North, the burning sands of the desert of Africa, or the jungles of India, to the centres of civilization of Europe, or to the wild haunts of the savages of America, without murmuring or repining, and will be submissive in all things commanded to me.


I furthermore promise and declare that I will, when opportunity presents, make and wage relentless war, secretly or openly, against all heretics, Protestants and Liberals, as I am directed to do, to extirpate and exterminate them from the face of the whole earth; and that I will spare neither age, nor sex or condition; and that I will hang, burn, waste, spoil, flay, strangle, and bury alive these infamous heretics, rip up the stomachs and wombs of their women and crush their infants’ heads against the walls, in order to annihilate forever their execrable race. That when the same cannot be done openly, I will secretly use the poisoned cup, the strangulating cord, the steel of the poinard or the leaden bullet, regardless of the honor, rank, dignity, or authority of the person or persons, whatever may be their condition in life, either public or private, as I at any time may be directed to do so by any agent of the Pope or Superior of the Brotherhood of the Holy Faith, of the Society of Jesus.


In confirmation of which, I hereby dedicate my life, soul, and all of my coporeal powers, and with this dagger which I now receive, I will subscribe my name written in my own blood, in testimony thereof; and should I prove false or weaken in my determination, may my brethren and fellow soldiers of the Militia of the Pope cut off my hands and feet, and my throat from ear to ear, my belly opened and sulphur burned therein, with all the punishment that can be inflicted upon me on earth, and my soul to be tortured by demons in an eternal hell forever.


All of which I, ……………………, do swear by the blessed Trinity and blessed Sacrament, which I am about to receive, to perform and on my part to receive inviolably; and do call all of the heavenly and glorious host of heaven to witness these my real intentions to keep this my oath.


In testimony hereof I take this most holy and blessed sacrament of the Eucharist, and witness the same further, with my name written with the point of this dagger dipped in my own blood and sealed in the face of this holy convent.









Etymology of the word Holocaust;


Old Greek Holokauston:   Holo —> whole, entire, total + Kauston —> burn ===> Total burning.


The word first appeared in English around 1250, and gradually came to signify Sacrificial Burning.










“… We shall slay one third of the [Orthodox] Serbian population, drive away another [third], and the rest we shall convert to the Roman Catholic faith and thus assimilate into Croats. Thus we will destroy every trace of theirs, and all that which will be left, will be an evil memory of them ….” (Mile Budak, Chief ideologist behind the Ustaša, 1941)



Mile Budak.



Ustaša.



Roman Catholic horror









Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini. Also known as Paul VI between 1963-1978.



Pope John VI, masonic handshaking.



Again, This time with “Patriarch of Constantinople” of the Orthodox Church.



Split V-sign of right hand. Freemasonry.


 









“We’re talking about a crime. You must think on a different level, like the CIA does. We’re through the looking glass. White is black. And black is white. ” (Kevin Costner as Jim Garrison in JFK as directed by Oliver Stone, 1991)


Costner




“We should always be prepared so as never to err to believe that what I see as white is black, if the hierarchic Church defines it thus.” (St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order)


Loyola - Fanatical Catholic fundamentalist militant








Tony Blair … 666






… who officially converted to Catholicism in 2007



Masonic handshake with the Pope















Joseph Goebbels. Hell Rome. Accidentally flanked by some other Nazis and unidentified Roman Catholic clergy









“Wenn ich Kultur höre … entsichere ich meinen Browning!”  ["Whenever I hear [the word] ‘Culture’… I remove the safety from my Browning!”] (Hanns Johst, German Nazi playwright from “Schlageter” which was written especially for Adolf Hitler’s birthday in 1933)



Hanns Johst.


The quote has also been linked to other Nazis, such as Hermann Göring and Julius Streicher.


BISMARCK’S KULTURKAMPF (1871-1878), which was the expression of anti-Catholic policy, namely cleansing the Prussian empire from subversive and manipulative Vatican influence including banning the order of the Jesuits. This lead to, among other things, a two-year imprisonment of Cardinal Mieczyslaw Ledochówski, who was the uncle of Wlodimir Ledóchowski. The latter became Superior General of the Jesuits from 1915 until his death in 1942. After his imprisonment, Mieczyslaw returned to the Vatican and played the role of a highly venerated and influential authority. Wlodimir was only eight years old when his uncle was incarcerated.


The Prussians have payed for their resistance to Roman catholicism the last 100 years. First through almost complete destruction of infrastructure and slaughter through the wars of 1914-1918 and 1939-1945, and then through the slower process of demoralization, geographical disruption and spiritual death which lasted until 1990 during the “Communist” era. Today the annihilation of Bismarck’s legacy is near completion.



Cartoon from the old times. Bismarck and the Pope.



Religious situation in Central Europe around 1618.










Grigori Rasputin. Crafty and evil Jesuit black priest who infiltrated the Russian royal family and threw it into darkness?



Cartoon from back then.



In bed with Satan. Claw-hand?



Claw-hand?


 










Klu Klux Klan. Concealed idiot in front of burning cross. Hell Rome.



Let’s indoctrinate and destroy our children immediately!


 










Wewelsburg Castle in Westphalia is the only triangular castle in Europe. That’s probably why the very sick inquisitor Heinrich Himmler liked it so much and turned it into his own “Reich SS leadership school” from 1934 until the “demise” of the infamous “thousand-year reich”.



Smirk of arrogant infamous satanic blasé.










Unidentified Roman Catholic Clergy










Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater Worldwide. Overt convert to Roman Catholicism.


Hell Rome.




















Silvio Berlusconi










Paolo di Canio









Two thousand years ago the proudest boast was civis Romanus sum [I am a Roman citizen]. Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is ‘Ich bin ein Berliner!’… All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words ‘Ich bin ein Berliner!’ (John F. Kennedy in Berlin, June 26 1963)


John F. Kennedy was assassinated under obscure circumstances on November 22 the same year.










“Is Rome worth one good man’s life? We believed it once. Make us believe it again. He was a soldier of Rome. Honor him.” (“Lucilla”, Gladiator, 2000)



Yeeeahh!!!









“The third Reich is the first power, which not only recognizes, but puts into practice, the high principles of the papacy.” (Vice-Bundeskanzler Franz von Papen, Der Voelkischer Beobachter, Jan. 14, 1934.)




Von Papen and Cardinal Pacelli (later Pius XII) sign a Concordat (agreement) between the Vatican city state and Nazi Germany in Rome, 1933.









“Throughout Christendom, Protestantism was menaced by formidable foes. The first triumphs of the Reformation past, Rome summoned new forces, hoping to accomplish its destruction. At this time the order of the Jesuits was created, the most cruel, unscrupulous, and powerful of all the champions of popery. Cut off from earthly ties and human interests, dead to the claims of natural affection, reason and conscience wholly silenced, they knew no rule, no tie, but that of their order, and no duty but to extend its power. The gospel of Christ had enabled its adherents to meet danger and endure suffering, undismayed by cold, hunger, toil, and poverty, to uphold the banner of truth in face of the rack, the dungeon, and the stake. To combat these forces, Jesuitism inspired its followers with a fanaticism that enabled them to endure like dangers, and to oppose to the power of truth all the weapons of deception. There was no crime too great for them to commit, no deception too base for them to practice, no disguise too difficult for them to assume. Vowed to perpetual poverty and humility, it was their studied aim to secure wealth and power, to be devoted to the overthrow of Protestantism, and the re-establishment of the papal supremacy.

When appearing as members of their order, they wore a garb of sanctity, visiting prisons and hospitals, ministering to the sick and the poor, professing to have renounced the world, and bearing the sacred name of Jesus, who went about doing good. But under this blameless exterior the most criminal and deadly purposes were often concealed. It was a fundamental principle of the order that the end justifies the means. By this code, lying, theft, perjury, assassination, were not only pardonable but commendable, when they served the interests of the church. Under various disguises the Jesuits worked their way into offices of state, climbing up to be the counselors of kings, and shaping the policy of nations. They became servants to act as spies upon their masters. They established colleges for the sons of princes and nobles, and schools for the common people; and the children of Protestant parents were drawn into an observance of popish rites. All the outward pomp and display of the Romish worship was brought to bear to confuse the mind and dazzle and captivate the imagination, and thus the liberty for which the fathers had toiled and bled was betrayed by the sons. The Jesuits rapidly spread themselves over Europe, and wherever they went, there followed a revival of popery.” (E. G. White, The Great Controversy, pp. 234, 235, Pacific Press Publishing Assn., 1911).















“I am Your Father.” (Darth Vader, The Empire Strikes Back, 1980)



Father Francisco de Borgia, 3rd Superior General of the Jesuit order



Father Wlodimir Ledóchowski, 26th Superior General of the Jesuit order



The Venerable Father Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Maria Pacelli; Pope Pius XII











Bellamy Salute










USA Congress. Politicians surrounded by the Fasces.










Ferenc Szálasi









“As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice.”


“I believe today that my conduct is in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator.”


“Who says I am not under the special protection of God?”


“The great masses of the people will more easily fall victims to a big lie than to a small one.”


“Through clever and constant application of propaganda, people can be made to see paradise as hell, and also the other way round, to consider the most wretched sort of life as paradise.”



Adolf Hitler – Horrific Perversion










John Kerry










Reinhard Heydrich










Heinrich Himmler










OK, sure. I´ll look into that.











Cardinal Pacelli (later Pope Pius XII)










Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Medvedev










Complex 320-325 of Coronado naval base in San Diego, California.


This American military complex has the shape of a Swastika. It was built between 1967 and 1970. You can see it for Yourself with Google Earth. Elite brainwashed Navy SEAL troops are trained here. The structure of the building is related to:


I. A mistake and funny coincidence.


X. Architectural sarcasm.


2. The fact that we are under freemasonic fascist supremacy.






















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The Inquisition Is Alive and Kicking

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The Inquisition Is Alive and Kicking

An interesting piece found via a Countinuing Counter Reformation comment box

http://judgeforyourselfnow.wordpress.com/

Disclaimer.I will provide a train of unconventional and controversial information. The intention is not to blog, but to create an archive which is relatively independent from time. This is a repository of my own thoughts, and I will continue to write as long as I can handle a keyboard, irrespective of feedback from the surrounding. I will periodically alter or withdraw information which I come to consider incorrect or misleading according to the due course of my own learning. Everything has to start somewhere, but after that point one must remain as objective as possible, and thereby become able to change any given subjective opinion at any time in order to stay honest in relation to oneself.

Unfortunately most people choose ignorance, simply because it is easier to anesthetize oneself with fake truths than to choose the narrow road and experience what Jean Paul Sartre called “the vertiginous feeling of absolute freedom”.

It is exactly this chosen ignorance which leads to concepts like “the banality of evil”, and in turn gives rise to genocide, war, slavery and other horrors.

Sadly, human beings throughout history have tended to discover their evils in retrospect, because the greatest horrors are brought ahead by false prophets.

This is nothing new, it has always been this way. Thus one should not hope or strive to inform others.

Although nobody is perfect, any human being can be beautiful and has the power to save him or herself to become one with God. That is beyond race, capacity or belief system. Many great people have lived and died in silence with fulfilment and happiness accompanied by superior knowledge. They are the “happy few” as I see it.

The actual truth is more insane than most people can imagine, but we owe it to the victims to speak it. It lies behind and beside the official explanations.

“Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them” (Ephesians 5:11)

Added on the 31 of December, 2010;

At this point, even though there would be much more to add, my own learning on the subjects of this archive has come to an end.
As saddened by the state of these matters as I am, I still believe that it is in the right and capacity of every person to reach an independent spirituality and connection with God untainted by the forces of evil. I will try my best to succeed with this myself in a simple life, and wish everyone else inclined to do so the best of luck.

Just remember that the inquisition is very much alive and kicking.
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Pope Sets Up Financial Oversight for Vatican

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Pope Sets Up Financial Oversight for Vatican

This article comes from the Catholic News Service.
Pope signs new measures to guarantee financial transparency in Vatican



By John Thavis

Catholic News Service



VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI has instituted a new agency to monitor all Vatican financial operations and make sure they meet international norms against money-laundering and the financing of terrorism.



The pope issued an apostolic letter Dec. 30 that established the Financial Information Authority as an independent agency to oversee the monetary and commercial activities of all Vatican-related institutions, including the Vatican bank.



At the same time, the Vatican promulgated a detailed new law that defined financial crimes and established penalties -- including possible jail time -- for their violation. The list of transgressions includes corruption, market manipulation, fraud and virtually any activity that facilitates or provides funding to acts of terrorism. The new law, which reflects the latest European Union regulations, takes effect April 1.



The pope's brief apostolic letter said the Vatican fully supported the international community's efforts to coordinate a response to financial crimes, which often involve more than one country.



"In our age of increasing globalization, peace is unfortunately threatened by many factors, including an improper use of the market and the economy, and the terrible and destructive violence perpetrated by terrorism, which causes death, suffering, hatred and social instability," the pope said.



The creation of such an oversight agency is unprecedented at the Vatican, where several departments have operated with some degree of financial independence for decades or centuries.



The Vatican spokesman, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, described the move as a courageous step that reflects the moral requirement of "transparency, honesty and responsibility" in the Vatican's operations.



"Vatican organizations will be less vulnerable in the face of the continuous risks that inevitably arise in the handling of money. Those errors which so quickly become the cause of 'scandal' for public opinion and the faithful will be avoided," Father Lombardi said.



"In the final analysis, the church will be more credible before the members of the international community, and this is of vital importance for her evangelical mission," he said.



The move came several months after Italian treasury police, in a money-laundering probe, seized 23 million euros (US$30 million) that the Vatican bank had deposited in a Rome bank account. The Vatican criticized the confiscation, saying the deposit was legitimate and that the Vatican bank was committed to "full transparency" in its operations.



The Vatican has been working for some time with Italian and international authorities to comply with procedures that ensure funds are not used for terrorism or money-laundering. The new documents represent the fruit of those efforts.



In addition, the Vatican announced three new laws aimed at curbing counterfeiting of euros and currency fraud.



The Financial Information Authority will operate with full autonomy and monitor all Vatican agencies that have financial dealings or commercial transactions. That includes major institutions like the Vatican City State, the Vatican bank, the Vatican's investment agency (APSA) and the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, and smaller agencies like the Vatican pharmacy, supermarket and the Vatican Museums.



The authority will be headed by a president and a council of four other people, all appointed by the pope. The president will name a director and additional staff. The appointments were expected to be announced in early 2011.



In addition to investigating reports of suspicious activity, the authority is obligated to examine any new business relationships by Vatican agencies and any single transaction involving more than 15,000 euros ($20,000). The authority has access to all financial and administrative records of the agencies; Vatican officials and employees are required to furnish all such information, an exception to the normal rules of secrecy in Vatican institutions.



All Vatican agencies are now required to verify the standing of any potential business partners, keep detailed records of all transactions and report any suspicious transactions. Anyone entering or leaving Vatican City with 10,000 euros or more in cash must now declare it in writing.



If the Financial Information Authority investigates and discovers evidence of financial impropriety, it is to report its findings to the Vatican's judicial system for prosecution. If a conviction results in a prison sentence, it would presumably be served in Italy, in accordance with an agreement between the Vatican and the Italian government.



The Vatican bank handles accounts of religious orders and other Catholic institutions. It was involved in a major Italian banking scandal in the 1980s, when fraud led to the collapse of Italy's Banco Ambrosiano. Although denying wrongdoing, Vatican bank officials made what they called a "good-will payment" of about $240 million to the failed bank's creditors.
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Crime UK Inmates Set Fire to Prison After Refusing Alcohol Breath Tests on New Year’s Eve

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Crime UK Inmates Set Fire to Prison After Refusing Alcohol Breath Tests on New Year’s Eve

Scott Baker

LONDON (AP) — Rioting inmates caused heavy damage to a low-security prison Saturday, smashing windows and setting fires that engulfed buildings and spewed clouds of black smoke.


Officials said about 40 inmates at Ford Open Prison near Arundel, 60 miles (95 kms) south of London, began the disturbance at around midnight New Year’s Eve after some prisoners refused to take breath tests for alcohol.


By midday, two buildings were still ablaze, though fires had been extinguished at several other buildings, which were heavily damaged.


The prison’s staff retreated and specialist officers were called in to handle the riot, the Ministry of Justice said. There were no immediate reports of injuries to staff or inmates.


The prison houses up to 500 offenders with less than two years remaining on their sentences to prepare them for release.


Mark Freeman, deputy general secretary of the Prison Officers Association, said the riot started after some prisoners refused to take breath tests. At the time, only two prison officers and four support staff were on duty, he said.


Freeman said a large amount of alcohol had been found at the prison.

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Another Ellipse around the Sun

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Another Ellipse around the Sun

The last year took you far--hundreds of millions of miles, in fact. Steve Mirsky reports


Listen to this Podcast



Happy New Year! And don't feel bad about taking today off. After all, you've traveled far. And I'm not talking about the trip home from the party last night. According to NASA, just by being on the planet Earth in the last year, you’ve zipped about 584 million miles around the sun to get back where you were. At an average speed of about 67,000 miles per hour. Again, not talking about the drive home last night.

Of course, the trip was not a perfect circle. As Kepler showed, the Earth’s orbit is an ellipse, with the sun at one of the two focal points. He also figured out the planet goes faster when it’s at perihelion, nearer the sun, than when it's at aphelion, its farthest distance.

Which would explain why summer seems to zip by, except the seasons are a function of the tilt of the Earth’s axis, not its different distances from the sun. And the Earth rotated 365 and a quarter times during its sweep around the sun. The trip took 8,766 hours. Or 31,557,600 seconds. Or 525,960 minutes just like this one.

—Steve Mirsky

[The above text is an exact transcript of this podcast.]

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Propane Leak Prompts Evacuation of 3,000 People on Long Island

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Propane Leak Prompts Evacuation of 3,000 People on Long Island

By AL BAKER

Propane seeping from a 30,000-gallon underground tank behind a department store in Suffolk County early Saturday led emergency officials to evacuate about 3,000 people from 900 homes within one mile of the leak, the authorities said.


Officials also closed the major roadways leading through the area, on Montauk Highway, in Shirley, N.Y., and Long Island Rail Road service in that region was temporarily suspended. The power to a grid serving southeastern Suffolk was also turned off as a precaution against ignition of the fumes.


By midday Saturday, no injuries had been reported, the officials said. “Propane is a very volatile substance that could explode,” said Steve Levy, the Suffolk County executive. “It is also heavier than air, so it will settle in one’s home, and this is not the type of substance you want to be breathing.”


About 1:15 a.m. Saturday, the driver of a propane delivery truck noticed a plume of vapors rising from the ground as he pumped around 9,000 gallons of fuel into the tank behind the Kohl’s department store at Montauk Highway and William Floyd Parkway, officials said.


Police officers, Town of Brookhaven workers and members of several volunteer agencies, including the Mastic Fire Department, converged on the area and began to knock on doors to get people out.


Many residents “found comfort with friends and relatives,” Mr. Levy said. But about 200 people were taken to an emergency shelter at William Floyd High School, in Mastic Beach. There, in coordination with the American Red Cross and county social service agency workers, evacuees were provided with “medicine and food,” he added.


Several large trucks were brought in and spent Saturday extracting the remaining propane from the faulty tank, he said.


By Saturday evening, Mr. Levy’s office announced that the leak had been successfully contained by closing a valve on the tank. Earlier, he had said that possible causes of the leak were a malfunctioning valve or a cracked pipe.


Officials gave the evacuated residents permission to return about 8:30 p.m. Saturday, said Dan Aug, Mr. Levy’s spokesman. Mr. Aug said that tests of more than 100 homes showed propane levels “low enough that it’s safe now for everybody to return to their homes.”

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U.S. Calls on Iraq to ‘Redouble’ Efforts to Protect Catholics

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U.S. Calls on Iraq to ‘Redouble’ Efforts to Protect Christians


The U.S. condemned attacks yesterday against Christians in Iraq, calling on the Iraqi government to redouble its efforts to protect the religious minority.

Bombs and rockets hit at least four homes of Christians in Baghdad last night, killing at least two people and injuring 13 others, according to the Associated Press. The violence followed a deadly Oct. 31 siege at Our Lady of Salvation Church in the Iraqi capital, and a declaration by al-Qaeda that it was waging war upon the minority group.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner called on the government of President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to swiftly “apprehend the terrorists behind these acts.”

Toner commended Iraqi authorities for increasing security measures to protect minority Christian communities since the October suicide attack, which killed more than 60 worshippers in the Baghdad church. He urged the government to “redouble its efforts to protect Christians.”

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Bomb Hits Egypt Church at New Year's Mass, 21 Dead

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Bomb Hits Egypt Church at New Year's Mass, 21 Dead


ALEXANDRIA, Egypt – A powerful bomb, possibly from a suicide attacker, exploded in front of a Coptic Christian church as a crowd of worshippers emerged from a New Years Mass early Saturday, killing at least 21 people and wounding nearly 80 in an attack that raised suspicions of an al-Qaida role.



The attack came in the wake of threats by al-Qaida militants in Iraq to attack Egypt's Christians. A direct al-Qaida hand in the bombing would be a dramatic development, as the government of President Hosni Mubarak has long denied that the terror network has a significant presence in the country. Al-Qaida in Iraq has already been waging a campaign of violence against Christians in that country.



The bombing enraged Christians, who often complain of discrimination at the hands of Egypt's Muslim majority and accuse the government of covering up attacks on their community. In heavy clashes Saturday afternoon, crowds of Christian youths in the streets outside the church and a neighboring hospital hurled stones at riot police, who opened fire with rubber bullets and tear gas.



Egypt has seen growing tensions between its Muslim majority and Christian minority — and the attack raised a dangerous new worry, that al-Qaida or militants sympathetic to it could be aiming to stoke sectarian anger or exploit it to gain a foothold.



Nearly 1,000 Christians were attending the New Year's Mass at the Saints Church in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, said Father Mena Adel, a priest at the church. The service had just ended, and some worshippers were leaving the building when the bomb went off about a half hour after midnight, he said.



"The last thing I heard was a powerful explosion and then my ears went deaf," Marco Boutros, a 17-year-old survivor, said from his hospital bed. "All I could see were body parts scattered all over — legs and bits of flesh."



Blood splattered the facade of the church, as well as a mosque directly across the street. Bodies of many of the dead were collected from the street and kept inside the church overnight before they were taken away Saturday by ambulances for burial.



Some Christians carried white sheets with the sign of the cross emblazoned on them with what appeared to be the blood of the victims.



Health Ministry official Osama Abdel-Moneim said the death toll stood at 21, with 79 wounded. It was not immediately known if all the victims were Christians. It was the deadliest violence involving Christians in Egypt since at least 20 people, mostly Christians, were killed in sectarian clashes in a southern town in 1999.



Police initially said the blast came from an explosives-packed vehicle parked about four meters (yards) from the church.



But the Interior Ministry said later it was likely the blast was detonated by a suicide bomber and that the attack probably involved "foreign elements." It said there was no sign the epicenter of the blast was from a car. Around six severely damaged vehicles remained outside the church, but there was little sign of a crater that major car bombs usually cause. Bits of flesh were stuck to nearby walls.



Alexandria governor Adel Labib immediately blamed al-Qaida, pointing to recent threats by the terror group to attack Christians in Egypt. Both car bombs and suicide attackers are hallmark tactics of al-Qaida.



Whoever was behind it, the blast appeared qualitatively different from past attacks on Christians. Most recent anti-Christian violence has involved less sophisticated means, mainly shootings. Stabbings at three Alexandria churches in 2006 sparked three days of Muslim-Christian riots that left at least four dead.



Egypt faced a wave of Islamic militant violence in the 1990s, that peaked with a 1997 massacre of nearly 60 tourists at a Pharaonic temple in Luxor. But the government suppressed the insurgency with a fierce crackdown.



The last major terror attacks in Egypt were between 2004-2006, when bombings — including some by suicide attackers — hit three tourist resorts in the Sinai peninsula, killing 125 people. Those attacks raised allegations of an al-Qaida role, but the governments strongly denied a connection, blaming them on local extremists.



Hours after the blast, Mubarak went on state TV and vowed to track down those behind the attack, saying "we will cut off the hands of terrorists and those plotting against Egypt's security."



Aiming to prevent sectarian divisions, he said it was attack against "all Egypt" and that "terrorism does not distinguish between Copt and Muslim." Egypt's top Muslim leaders also expressed their condolences and unity with Christians.



But Christians at the church unleashed their fury at authorities they often accuse of failing to protect them. Soon after the explosion, angry Christians clashed with police, chanting, "With our blood and soul, we redeem the cross," witnesses said. Some broke in to the nearby mosque, throwing books into the street and sparking stone- and bottle-throwing clashes with Muslims, an AP photographer at the scene said.



Police fired tear gas to break up the clashes. But in the afternoon, new violence erupted in a street between the church and the affiliated Saints Hospital. Some of the young protesters waved kitchen knives. One, his chest bared and a large tattoo of a cross on his arm, was carried into the hospital with several injuries from rubber bullets.



"Now it's between Christians and the government, not between Muslims and Christians," shouted one Christian woman at the hospital.



Many Christians blame violence against their community on Islamic extremists. They accuse the government of blaming attacks on lone renegades or mentally ill people to avoid addressing what they call anti-Christian sentiment among Muslims. The mistrust of the government is so great, that even the ministry's report that a suicide bomber was behind Saturday's blast raised suspicion among some Christians.



Archbishop Raweis, the top Coptic cleric in Alexandria, said police want to blame a suicide bomber instead of a car bomb so they can write it off as a lone attacker. He denounced what he called a lack of protection.



"There were only three soldiers and an officer in front of the church. Why did they have so little security at such a sensitive time when there's so many threats coming from al-Qaida?" he said, speaking to the AP.



Christians, mainly Orthodox Copts, are believed to make up about 10 percent of Egypt's mainly Muslim population of nearly 80 million people, and they have grown increasingly vocal in complaints about discrimination. In November, hundreds of Christians rioted in the capital, Cairo, smashing cars and windows after police violently stopped the construction of a church. The rare outbreak of Christian unrest in the capital left one person dead.



Just before Christmas, al-Qaida in Iraq made its latest threat to attack Christians. The group claims to be waging its anti-Christian campaign in the name of two Egyptian Christian women who reportedly converted to Islam in order to get divorces, which are prohibited by the Coptic Church.



The women have since been secluded by the Church, prompting Islamic hard-liners to hold frequent protests in past months, accusing the Church of imprisoning the women and forcing them to renounce Islam, a claim the Church denies.


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Christians, Police Clash after Egypt Church Bomb

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Christians, Police Clash after Egypt Church Bomb


ALEXANDRIA, Egypt (AP) — Christians clashed with Egyptian police in the northern city of Alexandria on Saturday, furious over an apparent suicide bombing against worshippers leaving a New Year's Mass at a church that killed at least 21 people. It was the worst violence against the country's Christian minority in a decade.

The Interior Ministry blamed "foreign elements," and the Alexandria governor accused al-Qaida, pointing to the terror network's branch in Iraq, which has carried out a string of attacks on Christians there and has threatened Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Christian community as well.

Egypt's government has long insisted that the terror network does not have a significant presence in the country, and it has never been conclusively linked to any attacks here. If al-Qaida was involved, it raises the prospect of a serious new security threat within Egypt.

The bombing, about a half hour after the stroke of the New Year, stoked tensions that have grown in recent years between Egypt's Christians and the Muslim majority.

It was dramatically different from past attacks on Christians, which included shootings but not serious bombings, much less suicide attacks. Christians have increasingly blamed the government for not taking violence against them or anti-Christian sentiment among Muslim hard-liners seriously.

In the wake of the New Year's bombing, their anger at authorities was unleashed.

"Now it's between Christians and the government, not between Muslims and Christians," shrieked one Christian woman as several hundred young men clashed with helmeted riot police in the street outside the targeted church hours after the blast. As the rioters threw stones and bottles, police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse them. Some of the protesters beat Muslim passers-by.

Nearly 1,000 Christians were attending the midnight Mass at the Saints Church in the Mediterranean port of Alexandria, said Father Mena Adel, a priest at the church. The service had just ended, and some worshippers were leaving the building when the bomb went off about a half hour after midnight, he said.

"The last thing I heard was a powerful explosion and then my ears went deaf," Marco Boutros, a 17-year-old survivor, said from his hospital bed. "All I could see were body parts scattered all over — legs and bits of flesh."

Blood splattered the facade of the church, a painting of Jesus inside, and a mosque across the street. The blast mangled at least six cars on the street, setting some ablaze. As bodies were taken away after daybreak, some in the congregation waved white sheets with the sign of the cross emblazoned on them with what appeared to be the victim's blood.

Health Ministry official Osama Abdel-Moneim said the death toll stood at 21, with 79 wounded, almost all Christians. Among the wounded were the three policemen and an officer guarding the church.

The Interior Ministry said in a statement that it was likely the blast was detonated by a suicide bomber and that the attack probably involved "foreign elements." Investigators were examining two heads found at the site on suspicion at least one was the bomber, the state news agency MENA reported.

Al-Qaida in Iraq has made a series of threats against Christians. The latest just before Christmas led the Iraqi Christian community to cancel most holiday festivities. After militants attacked a church in Baghdad in October and killed 68 people, it threatened more attacks and linked the violence to two Egyptian Christian women who reportedly converted to Islam in order to get divorces, which are prohibited by the Coptic Church.

The women have since been secluded by the Church, prompting repeated protests by Islamic hard-liners in Egypt accusing the Church of imprisoning the women and forcing them to renounce Islam, a claim the Church denies.

The last major terror attacks in Egypt were between 2004-2006, when bombings — including some by suicide attackers — hit three tourist resorts in the Sinai peninsula, killing 125 people. Those attacks initially raised allegations of an al-Qaida role. But the government has insisted local extremists were to blame.

While the government has denied an al-Qaida presence, Egypt does have a rising movement of Islamic hard-liners who, while they do not advocate violence, adhere to an ideology similar in other ways to al-Qaida. There have been fears they could be further radicalized by sectarian tensions.

Alexandria, the famed city of antiquity which a century ago Egypt's most cosmopolitan city with a mix of Muslims, Christians and foreigners, has become a stronghold for Islamic hard-liners the past decade. Stabbings at three Alexandria churches in 2006 sparked three days of Muslim-Christian riots that left at least four dead, though it's seen little violence since.

Hours after Saturday's blast, President Hosni Mubarak went on state TV and vowed to track down those behind the attack saying: "We will cut off the hands of terrorists and those plotting against Egypt's security."

Aiming to calm sectarian tension, he said the attack targeted "all Egypt" and that "terrorism does not distinguish between Copt and Muslim."

Egypt's top Muslim leaders also expressed their condolences and solidarity with Christians, and the biggest fundamentalist opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, condemned the bombing. Dozens of Christians and Muslims held solidarity marches near the site and in Cairo, sporting posters of crescents and crosses together.

But many Christians in Alexandria were seething. Soon after the explosion, youths clashed with police, chanting, "With our blood and soul, we redeem the cross," witnesses said. Some broke in to the nearby mosque, throwing books into the street and sparking stone- and bottle-throwing clashes with Muslims, an AP photographer at the scene said.

Police fired tear gas to break up the clashes. But in the afternoon, new violence erupted in a street between the church and the affiliated Saints Hospital. Some of the young protesters waved kitchen knives. One, his chest bared and a large tattoo of a cross on his arm, was carried into the hospital with several injuries from rubber bullets.

Later, hundreds gathered at an Alexandria monastery for funerals of the victims, chanting "Mubarak, the Copts' blood is boiling," and "we will no longer be afraid, we will no longer submit" as they waved crosses. Many shouted for the resignation of Alexandria's governor, Adel Labib.

Christians, mainly Orthodox Copts, are believed to make up about 10 percent of Egypt's mainly Muslim population of nearly 80 million people, and they have grown increasingly vocal in complaints about discrimination. In November, hundreds of Christians rioted in the capital, Cairo, smashing cars and windows after police violently stopped the construction of a church. The rare outbreak of Christian unrest in the capital left one person dead.

The bombing was the deadliest violence involving Christians in Egypt since at least 20 people, mostly Christians, were killed in sectarian clashes in a southern town in 1999. In the most recent significant attack, seven Christians were killed in a drive-by shooting on a church in southern Egypt during celebrations for the Orthodox Coptic Christmas a year ago.

Eruptions of Muslim-Christian violence are often intermeshed with local tribal or personal disputes. But many Christians also blame rising Islamic extremism and anti-Christian sentiment and accuse the government of always pointing the finger at lone renegades or mentally ill people to avoid addressing sectarian problems and possibly angering Muslims.

Archbishop Raweis, the top Coptic cleric in Alexandria, denounced what he called a lack of protection.

"There were only three soldiers and an officer in front of the church. Why did they have so little security at such a sensitive time when there's so many threats coming from al-Qaida?" he said, speaking to the AP.

The possibility of involvement by al-Qaida or its sympathizers introduces a dangerous new element.

Egypt faced a wave of Islamic militant violence in the 1990s which peaked with a 1997 massacre of nearly 60 tourists at a Pharaonic temple in Luxor. The government suppressed the insurgency with a fierce crackdown.

____

Lee Keath reported from Cairo.

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Re-enactors interested in restoring Civil War flag

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Re-enactors interested in restoring Civil War flag

The flag represented the 16th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, a 90-day regiment at the beginning of the war.
Flag submitted (Submitted)
York, PA -
A flag that represented some of the first soldiers from York County during the Civil War exists in a collection at the York County Heritage Trust.


The flag, which was presented to the 16th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment by the ladies of York in 1861, says "semper paratus," meaning always ready, and carries the name of the regiment. Thomas A. Ziegle of York served as the colonel in that regiment.


Some members of the Civil War Reenactors of Hanover, 16th Pennsylvania Volunteers, wish to restore that flag as the 150th anniversary of the Civil War begins this year.


"If you don't preserve and save this flag now, it might not be here," said Bob Resig, who plays the role of a private with the re-enactors.


Resig said he intends to ask the York County Heritage Trust about restoring the flag.


Conservation decisions are made by a committee based on immediate usage, condition and the ability to raise money for preservation, said Joan Mummert, president and CEO of the York County Heritage Trust.


"We agree this is an important piece, considering the sesquicentennial," she said.


The committee will take it under advisement in January, Mummert said. While the Trust has some funding, it cannot expend it all. It has to raise money to preserve a piece.


Some of the re-enactors are interested in raising money to preserve it, Resig said. It's not clear how much the restoration would cost.


Artifacts from the war give people more of a hands-on to history, said Bruce Yealy, president of the 16th Pennsylvania Civil War Reeenactors of Hanover.


President Abraham Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to serve 90 days, hoping to quash the Southern revolt quickly, Resig said.


The 16th Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers, which included volunteers from York County, organized at Camp Curtin in Harrisburg and trained at Camp Scott in York County, according to Samuel P. Bates in the "History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-1865."


The ladies of York presented the silk flag to the regiment during a ceremony at the York County Courthouse.


The Battle of Falling Waters, in what is now West Virginia, was the most significant engagement the regiment saw during its short service, said Scott Mingus Sr., a local Civil War author.


The July 2, 1861, battle included men who would become famous during the Civil War, such as Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson.


While it was a Union victory -- the number of Union soldiers far outnumbered the Rebels -- the Confederates were able to escape and meet up with fellow troops at Bull Run in Virginia, according to the website of the Falling Waters Battlefield Association.


Less than three weeks later, the Confederates would win the Battle of Bull Run, according to the association's website. The war would last four years.


Some of the soldiers in the Sixteenth Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment re-enlisted in other units after the 90 days were up to continue fighting.


Many battle flags have been lost over the years, and it's important to preserve such artifacts for future generations, Mingus said.


The flags not only were a strong symbol for the troops, but a way of communicating during the war, said Gary Gimbel, president of the Falling Waters Battlefield Association.


Soldiers often couldn't see their officers or hear the commands in battle because it was smoky and noisy, Gimbel said. The flags distinguished where each regiment was located and helped to control their movements.


That's why soldiers who captured the enemy's flag were awarded a medal of honor, Gimbel said.


These Civil War flags are unique as well, he said. It's not like today when the flags are manufactured to a standard size.


Some Civil War flags were cut up after the war because veterans wanted a piece of it as a souvenir, Mingus said.




About the flag


A book called "Advance the Colors!" by Richard A. Sauers and the Capitol Preservation Committee gives some history and description on the 16th Regiment's flag:


"At the request of a delegation of York ladies, Horstmann Brothers & Company manufactured a flag that the women presented to the regiment on June 8, in a ceremony in front of the York County Court House. This flag, now owned by the Historical Society of York County, is a 521/2" x 69" 34-star national flag, with '16th Regt. Penna. Vols.' painted on the center red stripe.


"The Latin motto 'Semper Paratus' (Always Prepared) is painted in the midst of the blue canton. 'Suspended from the heavily gilt spear and battle axe on the staff, was a pair of magnificent gold tassels and cord.' Horstmann also supplied the leather covering and carrying belt."

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