WASHINGTON -- Antibiotics for breakfast? The drugs are supposed to kill bacteria, not feed them. Yet Harvard researchers have discovered hundreds of germs in soil that literally gobble up antibiotics, able to thrive with the potent drugs as their sole source of nutrition.
These bacteria outwit antibiotics in a disturbingly novel way, and now the race is on to figure out just how they do it - in case more dangerous germs that sicken people could develop the same ability...
By Sue Zeidler LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - If you are male and a Led Zeppelin fan, chances are you may be leaning toward voting Republican in the U.S. presidential election, according to a survey of rock radio fans released on Wednesday.
The Jacobs Media's Media/Technology Web Poll IV of more than 27,000 respondents cited stronger than expected interest in the November 2008 election among fans of rock, classic rock, and alternative radio stations.
It also found that John McCain, the Republican candidate for U.S. president, was the top pick for the Oval Office for men and classic rock partisans -- those people who tune in to stations playing music from the "original classic rock era" of 1964 to 1975, comprised of bands like Led Zeppelin, The Who and Pink Floyd...
There were also a fair share of write-in votes. Mickey Mouse ranked as the top presidential choice of 11 respondents, and singer Ted Nugent was written in by three members of the Rock sample.
There are things called memes
Vatican, Apr. 2, 2008 (CWNews.com) - More than 60,000 people attended a morning Mass in St. Peter's Square on April 2 marking the 3rd anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul II (bio - news). Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) recalled that his predecessor's "many human and supernatural qualities" commanded the world's attention, particularly at the time of his death. "He literally immersed himself in God, and during those last moments it seems as if everything else was foreign to him," he said.
The final suffering of Pope John Paul during Easter week provided the watching world with "a sign and testimony of Christ's resurrection," Pope Benedict said. He explained that the Polish Pontiff's final hope in the Resurrection "could not be expressed without his participation in the suffering and death of the divine Master and Redeemer."
Pope Benedict went on to say that throughout his pontificate, Pope John Paul II lived out the advice that he had given to the Catholic world on the day of his election in 1978: "Be not afraid." He observed that John Paul II said those words, and acted on them, "with unbending firmness-- at at first while carrying his bishop's staff with its cross and later, when his physical strength was waning, almost while supporting himself on it, until that final Good Friday in which he participated in the Way of the Cross from his private chapel, holding the cross in his arms." The Pope's final suffering, he said, "revealed to believers, and to the whole world, the secrete of an entire Christian life."
In his teaching, Pope Benedict continued, John Paul II responded to the horrors of the 20th century with a confidence that Divine Mercy could overcome every form of evil. He said that the Church today must carry on the witness of hope that John Paul II had offered, "continue in her evangelizing mission, faithfully and without compromise, tirelessly spreading Christ's merciful love."
The Pope ended his homily by thanking God "for having given the Church this faithful and courageous servant," and asking John Paul II "to continue to intercede from heaven" for the welfare of the Church and especially for his successor.
The Vatican commemoration of the late Pontiff continued in the evening with Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz of Krakow, the former personal secretary to John Paul II, joining with Cardinal Angelo Comastri, the archpriest of the Vatican basilica, in leading the recitation of the Rosary at the tomb of John Paul II. The Rosary was scheduled to conclude at 9:37, the time when the Pope died.
ALTOONA, Pa - Fans of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama might swoon at his speeches. They might stand in awe of his judgment and echo his call for change. But they probably are not impressed by his bowling skills...
“No worries,” he said. “I’m not done.”
Before praying the Regina Caeli, the Holy Father spoke about the significance of Divine Mercy Sunday.
Pope Benedict recalled that John Paul II designated the Sunday after Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday, and did so at the same time Sister Faustina Kowalska was canonized. The Polish sister, who died in 1938, is known as the messenger of God's Mercy, since it was through her diary that the message of mercy came to be known to the world, even before it was approved by the Holy See.
Speaking to thousands of pilgrims at Castel Gondolfo and in St. Peter's Square, Pope Benedict said, "Mercy is in reality the core of the Gospel message; it is the name of God himself, the face with which he reveals himself in the Old Testament and fully in Jesus Christ, the incarnation of creative and redemptive Love.”
“This love of mercy also illuminates the face of the Church, and is manifested through the sacraments, in particular that of reconciliation, as well as in works of charity, both of community and individuals,” said the Holy Father.
“Everything that the Church says and does,” continued the Pope, “shows that God has mercy for man. When the Church must call attention to an unrecognized truth, or a good betrayed, it is always driven by merciful love that all people might have life and have it abundantly (cf. Jn 10.10). From divine mercy comes hearts that are pacified, and then comes true peace in the world, peace between peoples, cultures and religions.”
“Like Sister Faustina, Pope John Paul II was in his time an apostle of Divine Mercy,” Benedict XVI noted. “Many noticed the remarkable coincidence that when he closed his eyes to this world on the evening of Saturday, April 2, 2005, it was on the eve of the second Sunday of Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday, and also at the same time as the Marian devotion of the first Saturday of the month. In fact, this was at the core of his long and multifaceted pontificate; his entire mission in the service of God and man and peace in the world was summarized in the announcement he made in Krakow in 2002.”
Pope Benedict recalled the ceremony in Krakow where John Paul II inaugurated the great Shrine of Divine Mercy and said: “'Outside the mercy of God there is no other source of hope for human beings.' His message, like Saint Faustina's, leads back to the face of Christ, the supreme revelation of God's mercy. Constantly contemplating that face: this is the legacy that he has left us, which we welcome with joy and make our own,” the Pope said.
After reciting the Regina Caeli, Pope Benedict greeted pilgrims in Italian, German, French, Spanish and English. He also greeted in a special way Polish pilgrims from the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Krakow- Łagiewniki.
Before imparting his apostolic blessing, he reminded pilgrims that this Sunday's Gospel calls us to recognize through the gift of faith the presence of the Risen Lord in the Church, and that we receive from him the gift of the Holy Spirit.
"During this Easter season, he said, "may we strengthen our desire to bear witness to the Good News of Jesus Christ calling us to a life of peace and joy. Upon each of you present and your families, I invoke God's blessings of happiness and wisdom."
.- A Croatian parish has found an effective means for getting young people to stick around after Mass. It has opened a café where they can get food and drinks by paying with prayers.
“In reality it kind of began as something fun,” youth minister Damir Stojic told the ENI news agency. “After Mass on Sunday, young people went to cafés in the town, and we wanted them to stay at the parish.”
So a café was opened at the parish, serving donated food and drinks. A cup of coffee costs three Our Fathers, a cappuccino, four, and a soda, five Hail Marys.
.- In an interview with Vatican Radio, Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints, said that like many people in the world, the Holy See hopes the beatification of John Paul II will occur “as soon as possible” but that the normal process would be followed. With the third anniversary of the late Pontiff’s death just a week away, Cardinal Saraiva reminisced about the events of those days. “We all remember the day of Pope Wojtyla’s funeral. We remember the shouts of ‘Santo subito!’ ‘Sainthood now!’ That phrase, that cry in St. Peter’s Square expressed what people were thinking. It meant that John Paul II genuinely had a true reputation for holiness among the faithful. And we know that is essential in the process of beatification,” he explained.
“If that reputation for holiness did not exist, a cause for beatification could not even begin,” Cardinal Saraiva stressed, noting that the process goes through a series of phases.
“Each process has two fundamental phases. One diocesan—local—and the other what we call ‘Roman,’ at the level of the Holy See. The diocesan phase was concluded on April 2 last year. Once the diocesan phase is closed, the Roman phase is opened immediately without delay, with the official handing over of all the documentation gathered during the diocesan phase to my dicastery.”
“Once this documentation is received, we immediately approve a postulator for the Roman phase, who is the same postulator that was in charge of the diocesan phase. We also appoint a relator who, guided by the postulator, puts together the so-called ‘positio,’ which is a collection of all the documents organized in a systematic and organic fashion. This ‘positio’ is printed out and is studied by the collegiate bodies of the dicastery,” the cardinal said.
“The postulator of the cause for beatification of John Paul II is the one drafting the ‘positio’,” Cardinal Saraiva continued, noting that it could consist of volumes of documentation. “It doesn’t depend on the dicastery, but rather on the time the postulator needs to finish his work. I don’t know how many months, a year…I don’t know and maybe he doesn’t either,” he said.
“What I can assure you is that once we receive the ‘positio’ we will study it immediately without delay. Because the dicastery certainly wants John Paul II to be raised to the altars as soon as possible and to be called ‘Blessed,’ responding thus to the cries in St. Peter’s of ‘Sainthood Now’.”[L'Osservatore Romano:] Don't you fear that the attempt to wish to bring back to the Church men and women who do not recognize the Second Vatican Council may provoke an aversion among those faithful who instead see Vatican II as a compass for navigation in the barque of Peter, particularly in these times of continuous changes?Castrillón Speaks: On the SSPX: "Discussions May Take Place Inside the Church"
[Castrillón:] First of all, the problem regarding the Council is not, in my opinion, as grave as it might seem. In fact, the Bishops of the Fraternity of Saint Pius X, headed by Bishop Bernard Fellay, have expressly recognized Vatican II as an Ecumenical Council and Bishop Fellay reasserted it in a meeting with John Paul II and, more explicitly, in the audience of August 29, 2005, with Benedict XVI. Nor can it be forgotten that Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre signed all Council documents.
I believe that their criticism of the Council is related mostly with the clarity of some texts, in the absence of which the path is opened to interpretations not in agreement with Traditional doctrine. The greatest difficulties are of interpretive character and are related even to some gestures of the ecumenical level, but not with the doctrine of Vatican II. It is a matter of theological discussions, which may take place inside the Church, where, in fact, there are several interpretive discussions of the Conciliar texts, discussions which may continue even with the groups which return to full communion.
Vatican, Mar. 26, 2008 (CWNews.com) - The Easter Octave draws attention to "the central truth of Christian faith in all its doctrinal richness," Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) told his public audience on March 26. The Resurrection of Jesus brings to believers "the certainty of our final resurrection," the Holy Father said. He pointedly remarked that the historical truth of the Resurrection "is amply documented, even if today, as in the past, there is no lack of people who put it in doubt or even deny it." In fact, the Pontiff continued, "the weakening of faith in the Resurrection of Jesus leads to the weakening of the testimony of believers."
The liturgy of the Easter season underlines the Church's full confidence in the reality of the Resurrection, the Pope said, encouraging Catholics to participate actively in the liturgical celebrations. Just as the disciplines recognized Christ on the road to Emmaus, the Pope said that the faithful "can meet and know Jesus Christ in the celebration of the Eucharist."
Pope Benedict arrived in Rome by helicopter from his summer residence, where he is relaxing this week after the rigors of Holy Week. As he spoke to the 30,000 people who gathered in St. Peter's Square, taking advantage of seasonable warmth in Rome, the Pontiff appeared happy and energetic, but spoke in a somewhat hoarse voice, perhaps showing the toll taken by his many public appearances during the past week. After his Wednesday audience he returned to Castel Gandolfo, to remain there until Sunday, March 30.
By Jack Tapperl just spoke with a Democratic Party official, who asked for anonymity so as to speak candidly, who said we in the media are all missing the point of this Democratic fight.
The delegate math is difficult for Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, the official said. But it's not a question of CAN she achieve it. Of course she can, the official said.
The question is -- what will Clinton have to do in order to achieve it?
What will she have to do to Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, in order to eke out her improbable victory?
She will have to "break his back," the official said. She will have to destroy Obama, make Obama completely unacceptable.
"Her securing the nomination is certainly possible - but it will require exercising the 'Tonya Harding option.'" the official said. "Is that really what we Democrats want?"
The Tonya Harding Option -- the first time I've heard it put that way.
It implies that Clinton is so set on ensuring that Obama doesn't get the nomination, not only is she willing to take extra-ruthless steps, but in the end neither she nor Obama win the gold.
(In this metaphor, presumably, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., would be Oksana Baiul. Does that make former President Bill Clinton Jeff Gillooly?)
