Hampton Roads Publishing Company Blog

She turned to the translator for help. “I accept your apology,” she said quietly. “I accept your love.” Then she put her arms around me, kissed me firmly on the cheek, put her head on my shoulder and began to cry. And so did I.

[Joan Chittister's column from http://ncrcafe.org/node/677]

Road to Damascus still a place for conversions

by Joan Chittister, OSB

The day our small delegation from the Woman’s Global Peace Initiative arrived in Syria, CNN ran a ticker tape news flash announcing that a “huge storm was swirling around the tip of Saturn.” I smiled at the sight of it. Frankly, I was more concerned about the huge political storm in Syria. Saturn, I figured would take care of itself. Syria, I wasn’t sure.

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Hello, Hampton Roads Publishing Company readers! There is a well-hidden page on our website which many of you probably haven’t seen yet: it’s our company’s Environmental Statement.

Our publishing company is a participant in the Green Press Initiative, committed to reducing the impact of the publishing industry on our environment. Publishing companies rely on a lot of paper, and so dealing with the issue responsibly takes some effort. You are invited to read our Environmental Statement for some fascinating statistics, updated intermittently, about how many trees have been saved, pounds of greenhouse gas saved, and more!

This was sent by a friend. From SFGate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here:http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/10/25/EDG6PKE0BH1.DTL

(SF Chronicle)

Enron’s enablers go unpunished
Robert Scheer, Creators Syndicate, Inc.

NO, I’M NOT THRILLED about Jeffrey Skilling getting 24 years in prison for
his role in the Enron scandal. While he and fellow Enron head-honcho
Kenneth Lay were clearly guilty as charged, the handling of this case by
the Bush Justice Department is a functional coverup of the Bush family’s
role in enabling these crimes.

The thousands of Enron employees who lost their jobs, as well as $2
billion in pension money and $60 billion in share value, deserve better.

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from Edward Hasbrouck’s blog

http://hasbrouck.org/blog/archives/001156.html

Permission to travel

Should you have to ask for permission from the government before you are allowed to get on a plane or cruise ship? (”Mother, may I?”)

The USA Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has proposed that airlines cruise lines, and operators of all other ships and planes — including charter flights, air taxis, fishing vessels, etc. — be required to get individual permission (”clearance”) from the DHS for each passenger on all flights or ocean voyages to, from, or via the USA. Unless the answer is “Yes” — if the answer is “no” or “maybe”, or if the DHS doesn’t answer at all — the airline wouldn’t be allowed to give you a boarding pass, or let you or your luggage on the plane.

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This is worth reading, however much of it you agree or disagree with. From http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/912E1DED-250C-4956-8A50-8D3FCDB90E6F.htm

Let us be rational

By Abdelwahab El-Affendi

Saturday 23 September 2006, 15:43 Makka Time, 12:43 GMT

The Muslim overreaction to the pope’s remarks may go to support his point about Muslim’s problems with rationality.

Had Pope Benedict XVI omitted the citation of Emperor Manuel II Paleologus’s remarks about Prophet Muhammad bringing only what is “evil and inhuman” to the world, a quote he himself admits was “marginal” to his argument, then he would have focused attention on his real offence in that scholarly talk: his shoddy scholarship on Islam.

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Think you know who is in charge of the “liberal media” or the “vast right-wing conspiracy?” What about those up and coming? From Foreign Policy, via the Schwartzreport

The People Who Control What You Know

The List: Powerful Media Moguls

Rupert Murdoch, Richard Branson, and Oprah Winfrey are some of the most powerful media moguls in the world. They may be household names, but they’re not alone. Armed with new technology and emerging markets, a new crop of media titans is increasingly changing what the world watches, reads, and hears. In this week’s List, FP singles out a few of these moguls in the making.

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There have been a couple of incidents of extremely rude and foolish comments on the blog. Currently, comments are open to everyone, but we will turn on “comment moderation” if people abuse this freedom. We don’t mind people having healthy disagreements, but this is a place for intelligent discourse, not a bar fight. We are quite content to delete any and all comments which we consider offensive, crude, pugilistic, or just nonsensical. Fortunately, we’ve only had a couple like that; thanks for being so insightful so far!

Hello, HRPC readers and fans! This is the webmaster of the hamptonroadspub.com website, with a quick notice about ongoing website development. Frequent visitors may have noticed that our home page has changed a bit, and now features excerpts from the Insights Blog right from the front page and links to each full posting. There’s also a prominent In the Spotlight box for breaking news and announcements. We hope these and future planned enhancements will help visitors get a better overview of what’s happening on the website for the evolving human spirit. Feel free to post comments below and let us know what you think!

And with that, I’ll turn things back over for more of Frank’s Insights!

The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page is pathetic, but its reporting is superb. This from http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB115988852620681211-xnn44DDJPi_diEvt2EQ9IO9mRrk_20061102.html?mod=tff_main_tff_top It’s probably time for another “terror alert.”

Hastert Faces Intense Pressure
As Foley Mess Roils Republicans

By DAVID ROGERS and JOHN HARWOOD
October 4, 2006; Page A1

With Republicans’ woes deepening, House Speaker Dennis Hastert is holding fast against calls for him to resign over the congressional-page scandal. But there appears to be a real chance that the Illinois Republican could step down after next month’s election even if his party retains power.

A new poll shows voter support for the party slipping, and Mr. Hastert and his divided leadership face immense pressure to respond more emphatically to the stream of revelations about former Rep. Mark Foley’s sexually explicit cyber-communications with teenage former pages.

“We have to do something different, more dramatic,” said Rep. Ray LaHood (R., Ill.). “This is a political mess and what we’ve done so far is not working. Somebody has to take responsibility for this. It is on our watch.”

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I hardly know what to think of this one. which comes from a newspaper in India. Do we really want stolen cellphones shrieking in public? But on the other hand anything that could slow down the upward spiral in cell-phone theft seems a good thing. Well, you decide. I hate the things, myself, but then I am finding this century even more annoying than the 20th, so I may not be the best judge.

Cell phones that scream “thief!”

(Reuters) London: A UK firm is hoping a cell phones security system it has developed which sets off a high pitch scream, permanently locks the handset and wipes all data if stolen, will halt the spiralling rise in phone theft.

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