O último a sair apague a luz ...

Católicos e maçonaria (Elias Couto)

2012-01-27T11:53:00.000Z

"... unidade ... supõe entender a Igreja a partir da Igreja e não a partir dos próprios desejos e convicções.

... é cada vez mais comum a tendência para fazer uma Igreja a la carte: ser católico deixa de ter como referência a doutrina da Igreja, passando a referência a ser o indivíduo que, por sua iniciativa, escolhe o que quer ou não quer aceitar...

O ensino da Igreja não está ao dispor de conveniências privadas nem de opções individuais. Do mesmo modo, não está ao dispor de cada um definir o que é ser católico. Embora a Igreja não o diga expressamente, é legítimo pensar que pessoas e grupos explicita e publicamente opostos ao ensino da Igreja em temas fundamentais estão em situação de cisma, separados da Igreja. E seria bom, como afirmava o Cardeal de Viena, Christoph Schönborn, em carta aos promotores do “manifesto da desobediência”, que assumissem tal situação e abandonassem a Igreja (ver aqui a tradução espanhola da carta). Prestavam, desse modo, um serviço maior a todos, deixando de contribuir para a confusão dos mais distraídos."

Portugal is fighting a losing battle and may be forced to impose haircuts of up to 50pc on private creditors

2012-01-27T10:30:00.000Z

"A report for the Kiel Institute for the World Economy said Portugal would have to run a primary budget surplus of over 11pc of GDP a year to prevent debt dynamics spiralling out of control, even in a benign scenario of 2pc annual growth.

"Portugal's debt is unsustainable. That is the only possible conclusion," said David Bencek, the co-author, warning that no country can achieve a primary budget surplus above 5pc for long...

Portugal is the only EMU country that has not seen confidence return since the European Central Bank flooded the financial system with cheap 3-year loans...

The Kiel Institute said the haircut for Portugal would need to be 56pc to put the country back on a sustainable path if long-term growth was 2pc, or 46pc if growth rose to 4pc.

The IMF expects Portugal's public debt to peak at 118pc of GDP next year. However, combined public, household, and corporate debt is nearer 360pc, much higher than in Greece. Private firms are already struggling to roll over external debts. That is Portugal's Achilles Heel.

... Economists fear that Portugal's "internal devaluation" within the eurozone has barely begun."

FORMER APPLE EXEC: Labor Abuses Works For Us

2012-01-26T12:10:00.001Z

"We've previously reported on the seemingly endless difficulties that surround working for Foxconn, one of Apple's largest suppliers.

Employees threaten mass suicide over pay, the CEO takes his management cues from zookeepers, and there have been problems in the past regarding its employing underage employees.

Now a new report from the New York Times says Apple has known about these high human costs for some time and doesn't seem interested in changing anything.

An anonymous Apple executive told the Times, "We’ve known about labor abuses in some factories for four years, and they’re still going on. Why? Because the system works for us. Suppliers would change everything tomorrow if Apple told them they didn’t have another choice.”

Another executive on the fact that underage worker violations keep occurring: "If you see the same pattern of problems, year after year, that means the company’s ignoring the issue rather than solving it. Noncompliance is tolerated, as long as the suppliers promise to try harder next time. If we meant business, core violations would disappear."

... Apple is supposedly working on it, however. Another one of the Times's sources said, "We’re trying really hard to make things better but most people would still be really disturbed if they saw where their iPhone comes from."

RAISING SAINTS IN THE DIGITAL AGE

2012-01-24T23:18:00.000Z

"Temperance

In 1971, the Vatican issued a pastoral letter explaining that, “media consumers should exercise self-control. They must not allow themselves to be so beguiled by the charms of media that they neglect urgent duties or simply waste time” (Message for the Fifth World Communications Day). In an age hampered by digital excess and addiction, our antidote lies in temperance, which includes restraints like moderation and self-control. Here are a few ways you can help your kids develop media temperance:

Digital Fasting. Choose one day each week — Sunday is a great choice — when your entire family unplugs. Toss all the cell phones, iPads, Kindles, and other digital devices into a basket for the day and enjoy being disconnected. It will be hard at first, but you’ll be amazed at how liberating it is.
Time Limits. Put a hard-limit on the amount of time your kids can be online. To do that, you might have to get creative. One set of parents gives 14 poker chips per week to each child. Throughout the week, the kids can redeem one chip for a half hour of media time – TV, computer, or video games – or they can trade their unused chips at the end of the week for $0.50 per chip. This is one of the best ways to keep your kids from mindlessly wasting time in front of a screen.
Online Filters. To make sure your children don’t come across objectionable content — including pornography, violence, and graphic language — consider installing an online filter. Two of the best are Covenant Eyes and Safe Eyes. Though it won’t prevent all bad content from hitting the screen, you’ll block out a huge proportion.

Prudence

When your children are using the home computer, they can be fairly easy to supervise, especially if the computer is in a public location (highly recommended.) You can ensure they aren’t browsing any undesirable sites, and you can help moderate the amount of time they spend using media. But what about when you’re not around? What about the times when they use a friend’s computer, or the computer at school, or the browser on their phone? What these situations require in addition to temperance is prudence. Prudence requires making the right decisions at the right times, even when parents aren’t around. Two areas prudence is especially needed include:

Online Privacy. One of the biggest misconceptions about the internet is that you have control over what you post. “If I make it private,” some kids think, “nobody else will see it. And if I delete it, it will be gone forever.” In reality, nothing on the Internet is 100% private and nothing can be deleted without a trace. This can have huge ramifications as our children grow up and apply to colleges and employers. We parents need to teach this to our children now so that something posted in their adolescence doesn’t come back to bite them later.
Digital Literacy. Many kids don’t realize that almost every website has an agenda. Sometimes that’s good, like the U.S. Bishops’ site, which seeks to strengthen their Catholic faith. But sometimes the mission is to get you to click on ads and buy more stuff. To prudently navigate the web, our children need to become literate in “reading” the goals of different websites."

[continua]

Flexibilidade laboral: "How U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work" (The New York Times)

2012-01-22T21:15:00.000Z

Cara:

"Mr. Jobs demanded glass screens in 2007.

For years, cellphone makers had avoided using glass because it required precision in cutting and grinding that was extremely difficult to achieve. ...

Then a bid for the work arrived from a Chinese factory.

When an Apple team visited, the Chinese plant’s owners were already constructing a new wing. “This is in case you give us the contract,” the manager said, according to a former Apple executive. The Chinese government had agreed to underwrite costs for numerous industries, and those subsidies had trickled down to the glass-cutting factory. It had a warehouse filled with glass samples available to Apple, free of charge. The owners made engineers available at almost no cost. They had built on-site dormitories so employees would be available 24 hours a day.

The Chinese plant got the job.

In mid-2007... The first truckloads of cut glass arrived at Foxconn City in the dead of night, according to the former Apple executive.

A foreman immediately roused 8,000 workers inside the company’s dormitories, according to the executive. [... who crawled into their uniforms — white and black shirts for men, red for women — and quickly lined up to assemble, by hand, the phones] Each employee was given a biscuit and a cup of tea, guided to a workstation and within half an hour started a 12-hour shift fitting glass screens into beveled frames. Within 96 hours, the plant was producing over 10,000 iPhones a day.

“The speed and flexibility is breathtaking,” the executive said. “There’s no American plant that can match that.”

“The entire supply chain is in China now,” said another former high-ranking Apple executive...

An eight-hour drive from that glass factory is a complex, known informally as Foxconn City... nothing like Foxconn City exists in the United States.

"The facility has 230,000 employees, many working six days a week, often spending up to 12 hours a day at the plant. Over a quarter of Foxconn’s work force lives in company barracks and many workers earn less than $17 a day."

Coroa:

"A few years after Mr. Saragoza started his job, his bosses explained how the California plant stacked up against overseas factories: the cost, excluding the materials, of building a $1,500 computer in Elk Grove was $22 a machine. In Singapore, it was $6. In Taiwan, $4.85. Wages weren’t the major reason for the disparities. Rather it was costs like inventory and how long it took workers to finish a task.

“We were told we would have to do 12-hour days, and come in on Saturdays,” Mr. Saragoza said. “I had a family. I wanted to see my kids play soccer.”

Mr. Saragoza was too expensive for an unskilled position. He was also insufficiently credentialed for upper management. He was called into a small office in 2002 after a night shift, laid off and then escorted from the plant. He taught high school for a while, and then tried a return to technology. But Apple, which had helped anoint the region as “Silicon Valley North,” had by then converted much of the Elk Grove plant into an AppleCare call center, where new employees often earn $12 an hour.

There were employment prospects in Silicon Valley, but none of them panned out. “What they really want are 30-year-olds without children,” said Mr. Saragoza, who today is 48, and whose family now includes five of his own.

After a few months of looking for work, he started feeling desperate. Even teaching jobs had dried up. So he took a position with an electronics temp agency that had been hired by Apple to check returned iPhones and iPads before they were sent back to customers. Every day, Mr. Saragoza would drive to the building where he had once worked as an engineer, and for $10 an hour with no benefits, wipe thousands of glass screens and test audio ports by plugging in headphones.

... “New middle-class jobs will eventually emerge,” said Lawrence Katz, a Harvard economist. “But will someone in his 40s have the skills for them? Or will he be bypassed for a new graduate and never find his way back into the middle class?”

EXISTEM ALTERNATIVAS - PERGUNTE-ME COMO !

Portugal to need "debt haircut" as economy tips into Grecian downward spiral (Ambrose Evans-Pritchard)

2012-01-19T22:02:00.002Z

A disabled Catholic who died to defend a girl (China)

2012-01-19T13:29:00.000Z

"According to what was reported to Fides by Faith of He Bei, in the afternoon on May 1 last year, the desperate cry for help from a girl broke the quietness of the small town of Gao Cheng, in the province of He Bei. None of the other passers-by, on foot or in their car stopped to lend the girl a hand who was struggling with a robber. Wu Wen De, who was cleaning the chimney of a nearby iron factory, after hearing the screams immediately ran towards the place where the robbery was taking place, despite being handicapped from birth because of polio. He did not hesitate to confront the robber, but the man, enraged, stabbed him. Wu Wen De bled to death shortly after being taken to hospital. At his funeral there was not only the entire Catholic community, but also a lot of ordinary people who came spontaneously, in addition to the municipal and provincial authorities. Wen Wu De was appointed as a "moral example of the city", "hero of justice and courage", with official recognition."

Portugal slips into default territory (Finantial Times)

2012-01-18T17:11:00.000Z

"The markets are pricing in a 65 per cent chance that Portugal will default over the next five years, according to credit default swaps...

Elisabeth Afseth, fixed-income analyst at Investec Capital Markets, said: “The growing worry that Greece will default is now hitting Portugal because of contagion fears. If Greece defaults, then the worry is so will Portugal. We have seen how quickly this crisis can spread.”

Fitch warned on Tuesday that Greece was likely to default in March when Athens is due to pay €14.5bn in bonds."

o "takover maçónico no PSD" (José Pacheco Pereira)

2012-01-17T12:04:00.002Z

Health effects of financial crisis: omens of a Greek tragedy (The Lancet)

2012-01-16T14:28:00.001Z

"... [In Greece] Although people were less likely to visit GPs and outpatient facilities, there was a rise in admissions to public hospitals of 24% in 2010 compared with 2009, and of 8% in the first half of 2011 compared with the same period of 2010.10 Major private health providers, although comprising a smaller proportion of care delivery than public providers, were also hit by pressure on personal budgets and registered losses after the onset of the crisis. A 2010 study reported a 25—30% decline in admissions to private hospitals.

There are signs that health outcomes have worsened, especially in vulnerable groups. We noted a significant rise in the prevalence of people reporting that their health was “bad” or “very bad” ... Suicides rose by 17% in 2009 from 2007 and unofficial 2010 data quoted in parliament mention a 25% rise compared with 2009. The Minister of Health reported a 40% rise in the first half of 2011 compared with the same period in 2010. The national suicide helpline reported that 25% of callers faced financial difficulties in 2010 and reports in the media indicate that the inability to repay high levels of personal debt might be a key factor in the increase in suicides.

Violence has also risen, and homicide and theft rates nearly doubled between 2007 and 2009.

The number of people able to obtain sickness benefits declined between 2007 and 2009, probably owing to budget cuts, and further reductions to access and the level of benefits are to be expected once austerity measures are fully implemented.

A significant increase in HIV infections occurred in late 2010. The latest data suggest that new infections will rise by 52% in 2011 compared with 2010 (922 new cases versus 605), with half of the currently observed increases attributable to infections among intravenous drug users. Data for the first 7 months of 2011 show more than a 10-fold rise in new infections in these drug users compared with the same period in 2010.20 The prevalence of heroin use reportedly rose by 20% in 2009, from 20 200 to 24 100, according to estimates from the Greek Documentation and Monitoring Centre for Drugs.

Budget cuts in 2009 and 2010 have resulted in the loss of a third of the country's street-work programmes; one survey of 275 drug users in Athens in October, 2010, found that 85% were not on a drug-rehabilitation programme. Many new HIV infections are also linked to an increase in prostitution... An authoritative report described accounts of deliberate self-infection by a few individuals to obtain access to benefits of €700 per month and faster admission onto drug substitution programmes. These programmes offer access to synthetic opioids and can have waiting lists of 3 years or more in urban areas.

Another indicator of the effects of the crisis on vulnerable groups is increased use of street clinics run by NGOs. Until recently, these clinics mainly catered to immigrants, but the Greek chapter of Médecins du Monde estimates that the proportion of Greeks seeking medical attention from their street clinics rose from 3—4% before the crisis to about 30%.

Despite many adverse signs, there are some indications of improvement. There have been marked reductions in alcohol consumption and, according to police data, drink-driving has decreased.

Overall, the picture of health in Greece is concerning. It reminds us that, in an effort to finance debts, ordinary people are paying the ultimate price: losing access to care and preventive services, facing higher risks of HIV and sexually transmitted diseases, and in the worst cases losing their lives. Greater attention to health and health-care access is needed to ensure that the Greek crisis does not undermine the ultimate source of the country's wealth—its people."

S. Paulo sobre o "Self-ownership"

2012-01-15T20:46:00.000Z

DA II Leitura da Missa de hoje (1 Cor 6, 13c-15a.17-20):

"Não sabeis que o vosso corpo é templo do Espírito Santo, que habita em vós e vos foi dado por Deus? Não pertenceis a vós mesmos, porque fostes resgatados por grande preço: glorificai a Deus no vosso corpo."

Working with the Muslims

2012-01-15T11:54:00.000Z

"It would be good if the coalition of those who support unborn children at the U. N. were broad and vast and deep. It is not.

... It is post-Christian Europe that leads the fight to make abortion the law of the world. Even such solid countries as Poland and Malta go along with Germany, France, and the United Kingdom after the EU takes a common position, which is almost always in favor of the culture of death.

What about Catholic Latin America? There are a number of reasons they are not with us. Their elites long ago sidled up to Europe on the question of abortion. They view abortion practically as a sacrament and also a badge of sophistication. Their governments also do not want to be hectored by U.N. “human rights” committees who push for a universal right to abortion.

They also tend to throw a bone to their domestic radical feminists and allow them to represent their countries at U.N. negotiations. These governments also do not want to be labeled as part of what the prestige media calls the “unholy alliance” of the Vatican and the Muslim states...

Africa? They are so poor they cannot give up even a single dime proffered by the U.N. and the donor nations. Is financial assistance linked to support of the pro-abortion agenda? A few years ago a new diplomat questioned her country’s sponsorship of a resolution. Immediately afterward the lobbyist from the U.N. Population Fund threatened her country with losing financial aid. That is a potent weapon.

I could go on throughout all the regions of the world and find similar reasons why our pro-life coalition at the U.N. is so small.

Some will say it is not worth protecting the unborn child if we have to make common cause with the Muslim states. Recently, at Andrew Breitbart’s “Big Peace” website, respected columnist Diana West suggested that in working with the Muslims, pro-life Christian NGOs help spread Sharia and radical Islam. She believes that religious persecution is a more important issue than protecting unborn babies from their own holocaust.

Many individuals and groups would agree. They work on religious freedom and ignore the plight of the unborn. That is their right. Groups must choose their mission. But West and, I suspect, others go further. They actually want us to stop our work because the cost is too high if it includes Muslims.

No one knows the yearly global body count owing to abortion. Is it 50 million? The “official” data say so, but it is likely more; possibly much more. This represents the grossest human rights tragedy of all time and would get exponentially worse if U.N. radicals get their way.

If one were simply adding up columns of death, this column would dwarf all others; all wars, all persecutions, all pogroms, and all final solutions. It is all the more barbaric because these victims have no way to fight back, and nowhere to run.

And we are supposed to stand aside because the Muslims make defending the unborn possible?

We in the U.N. pro-life movement believe we are called to this fight in particular. We applaud those who work on other legitimate human rights issues like religious persecution. But we believe the right to life comes first. It is the right that makes all other rights and freedoms possible including freedom of religion.

We also believe that in our own way we do fight for religious freedom. In working with Muslim diplomats, in becoming friends with them, even by loving them, we believe we are changing hearts and minds. And in our own – perhaps mysterious – way, we do help our beleaguered brothers and sisters. This commonly misunderstood way is the way of Christ."

The remarkable true story of the miraculous intercession of the Virgin Mary for death-row convict Claude Newman

2012-01-15T11:17:00.000Z

Benedict XVI's new friends: Greenpeace and the Socialists

2012-01-14T23:02:00.001Z

"Pope Benedict XVI today delivered his annual address to diplomats accredited to the Vatican,... In terms of issues, Benedict identified three priorities: defense of the family, religious freedom, and protection of the environment...

In the context of the family, Benedict XVI struck the usual notes: marriage as a union between a man and a woman, abortion as a threat to the “future of humanity.” If things hold to form, that language will be cheered by social conservatives in the West and either ignored or excoriated by liberals.

The twist came when the pontiff identified two developments in the past year he sees as especially encouraging:

An October decision by the Court of Justice of the European Union banning the commercial patenting of embryonic stem cells.
A resolution adopted in the same month by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe condemning prenatal selection on the basis of sex.

The fascinating point is that in both cases, political support in Europe for these moves came from the left... The legal complaint ... on patenting embryos was brought by the German branch of Greenpeace, while the parliamentary resolution on prenatal selection was introduced by a Swiss Socialist and feminist...

... To be sure, Benedict’s logic is a bit different from his new friends on the European left. In the case of the ban on stem-cell patents, Greenpeace sees it as a blow against the commercialization of life and in favor of free access to medical research, while for the pope it’s a step towards ending the destruction of embryos; Stump supported the resolution on pre-natal selection as a means of fighting discrimination against women, while Benedict sees it as a means of curbing abortion.

Politics, however, notoriously makes strange bedfellows. The bottom line is that in a growing number of new bio-debates, erstwhile enemies find themselves on the same side.

One unintended side effect of today’s biotech revolution is to turn the “culture wars” on their head. More often than one might expect, the Catholic church will be aligned with elements of the secular left, both of whom have reservations about these technologies. They'll be facing off against pro-business conservatives, the medical and scientific establishment, as well as libertarians opposed to government regulation on principle.

..."

The Truth About Falsely Accused Priests

2012-01-14T22:28:00.000Z

Catholics and Occupy Wall Street

2012-01-14T17:52:00.000Z

"There was a time... when not a few Catholics heeded the call of the popes, especially of Pius XI and Pius XII, and battled on behalf of the Church’s social doctrine for the reconstruction and renewal of human society... even writers who are not particularly known for addressing the social question espoused positions which today would be considered quite radical, but were quite in accord with Catholic doctrine. For example, Msgr. (later Archbishop) Fulton Sheen wrote in his work, Communism and the Conscience of the West:

'The basic assumption of bourgeois civilization was that the best interests of the world, the state and the community could be served by allowing each individual to work out his economic destiny as he saw fit. This is known as the principle of laissez faire. As far as possible individual life is unregulated by the state, whose function is purely negative, like that of a policeman. The less the state does, the better. It was not long until the evil of this principle manifested itself. If every individual is to be allowed to work out his economic destiny as he see fit, it will not be long until wealth is concentrated in the hands of the few and the vast majority are reduced, as Hilaire Belloc showed, to a slave state.'

... So while the tradition of radical action may be foreign to many Catholics, we should see in Occupy Wall Street and similar protests allies or potential allies, people who recognize, even if not always clearly, the flaws of both Capitalism and Socialism and the need of a new way of organizing our economy. So let Catholics embrace their own heritage, and by so doing, they will find a surprising affinity with others whose message for economic justice is the best hope for transforming America that we have seen for years."

The Case for a 21-Hour Work Week

2012-01-14T17:34:00.000Z

A/C do Álvaro.

Uma braçadeira amarela com a cruz de cristo para os católicos ou um Führer em tamanho XXL

2012-01-14T10:57:00.000Z

Em 02/06/2011, antes das eleições, questionava-se neste blog se:

"O primeiro líder não católico do PSD (nunca tinha havido nenhum em quase 40 anos de existência do partido)" que escolhe para seu conselheiro e cabeça de lista por Viana do Castelo um dos mais destacados anti-católicos da blogosfera (e não só), será o melhor garante da "liberdade da Igreja na sua expressão pública"?

Se pensam isto estão muito enganados. Por exemplo, o mencionado conselheiro é um dos mais assanhados críticos das escolas católicas e do seu financiamento público. Defendeu até, em tempos, a existência de um registo obrigatório para membros do Opus Dei e da Maçonaria ... não sei se estão a perceber ..."

Em 13/01/2012, o referido cabeça de lista por Viana do Castelo e que agora ocupa uma cadeira (ou duas) na primeira fila do grupo parlamentar do PSD, juntamente com vários maçons, perguntava-se:

será justo e coerente que quem, legitimamente, participa em entidades em que existe o dever de “entreajuda” e de “lealdade” entre os seus membros (maçonaria) ou, inclusivamente, o “dever de obediência” às hierarquias (Opus) não tenha o mesmíssimo dever de registar essa participação no “registo de interesses”?

Clássico !

Aproveita-se uma crise que surgiu por causa da Maçonaria e ataca-se o nosso ódio de estimação que é a Igreja em geral e o Opus Dei em particular.

Foram as pessoas da Opus Dei que utilizaram os serviços secretos para servir interesses privados ? Foram as pessoas da Opus Dei que censuraram os relatórios e as investigações parlamentares ? Foram as pessoas da Opus Dei que esconderam a sua pertença à Obra no momento da sua ascensão a ministro ou à liderança de grupos parlamentares ?

Não foram.

Mas não faz mal, porque o objectivo não é promover a transparência mas sim combater a Igreja e o Opus Dei e não se podem desperdiçar estas oportunidades. Aliás, esta proposta seria, na prática, aplicável apenas à Opus Dei. De facto, como é que se fiscaliza a aplicação de uma lei que abrange membros de uma sociedade SECRETA, especialmente se os membros aderiram à mesma com propósitos obscuros e não pretenderem revelar a sua filiação ?

Então e a questão da obediência ?

Como já lhe foi explicado em público e em correspondência privada, a obediência não tem a ver com questões políticas. As únicas obrigações que nesta área têm os membros da Opus Dei são aquelas que todos católicos têm e que estão listadas neste documento (vd. n.º 4):

"... a consciência cristã bem formada não permite a ninguém favorecer, com o próprio voto, a actuação de um programa político ou de uma só lei, onde os conteúdos fundamentais da fé e da moral sejam subvertidos com a apresentação de propostas alternativas ou contrárias aos mesmos...

... É o caso das leis civis em matéria de aborto e de eutanásia ... Analogamente, devem ser salvaguardadas a tutela e promoção da família, fundada no matrimónio monogâmico entre pessoas de sexo diferente e protegida na sua unidade e estabilidade, perante as leis modernas em matéria de divórcio... Igualmente, a garantia da liberdade de educação... No mesmo plano, devem incluir-se a tutela social dos menores e a libertação das vítimas das modernas formas de escravidão (pense-se, por exemplo, na droga e na exploração da prostituição). Não podem ficar fora deste elenco o direito à liberdade religiosa e o progresso para uma economia que esteja ao serviço da pessoa e do bem comum, no respeito da justiça social, do princípio da solidariedade humana e do de subsidariedade,... Como não incluir, enfim, nesta exemplificação, o grande tema da paz?"

É claro que o nosso Führer em tamanho XXL preferia que ninguém votasse de acordo com estes princípios que são contrários à visão da sociedade que ele o PSD actual pretendem implantar no país.

Um passo na direcção da solução final para este problema será começar por identificar e segregar quem vota desta maneira. Depois, poderão ser legitimamente excluídos das listas e obrigados a usar braçadeira amarela com a Cruz de Cristo.

O tratado de Lisboa e o Pacto de Varsóvia

2012-01-13T10:11:00.000Z

O primeiro tratado permite que o José Barroso determine aquilo que os Hungaros podem ou não legislar. O segundo tratado justificou a invasão soviética da Hungria em 1956.

Um post interessante e equilibrado sobre a situação na Hungria e a intervenção da Comissão Europeia.

O intervencionismo comunitário (e a propaganda associada) começou na Áustria (por causa de Georg Heider), continuou na Irlanda a propósito do referendo ao tratado e navega agora no Danúbio.

Quantas divisões tem o José Barroso ? Biliões (de euros)...

Baptizing the imagination

2012-01-11T10:16:00.000Z

" ... read to your children. Fill their heads with wonder. Wash their minds with fantasy and whim. It’s not just their soul that needs baptizing but their imaginations, too."

Democratização da Economia

2012-01-09T14:38:00.000Z

"As nomeações para a EDP são um mimo. Catroga, Cardona, Teixeira Pinto, Rocha Vieira, Braga de Macedo... isto não é uma lista de órgãos societários, é a lista de agradecimentos de Passos Coelho. O impudor é tão óbvio nas nomeações políticas que nem se repara que até o antigo patrão de Passos, Ilídio Pinho, foi contratado."

Loja dos 500

2012-01-09T12:42:00.000Z

A "Maçonaria" é o monstro de Loch Ness da política portuguesa: todos afirmam que não existe mas, de quando em vez, é avistada emergindo das águas lodosas do pântano.

Parece que são muitos. O Parlamento, em particular, é quase uma loja dos 500.

A propósitio de outras aparições, já aqui tinha publicado alguma coisa sobre o assunto:

Confissões de um antigo Maçon

É uma entrevista com Maurice Caillet a propósito deste livro que até já foi editado em Portugal.

Um relato na primeira pessoa que serve muito bem para perceber o que a Maçonaria é na realidade.
"A influência da maçonaria no sistema jurídico português"

Entrevista do DN ao ex-Grão Mestre António Arnaut. Afinal parece que a Maçonaria é que puxa os cordelinhos da política - mesmo.
Catolicismo e Maçonaria

Nos últimos dias têm sido publicadas várias defesas da Maçonaria. Alguns dizem que a Maçonaria é uma instituição de benemerência. O livro de Maurice Caillet desmente. Outros dizem que "é a vida". A influência existe mas também não se pode fazer nada. Vivemos no melhor dos mundos possíveis, que é imperfeito. Mas, mesmo neste mundo imperfeito, pode-se tentar substituir uns políticos por outros. A criação de círculos uninominais, por exemplo, facilitaria esta tarefa e permitiria ainda um maior controlo da acção dos políticos pelos eleitores. Uma versão mais sofisticada do argumento anterior é dizer: "Ah, mas também existe o Opus Dei e tal". Eu gostava que me informassem qual é o partido em que as pessoas do Opus Dei ocupam lugares de chefia e influenciam directamente as medidas legislativas. Se eu soubesse qual era este partido, passava a votar nele porque teria a certeza que essas medidas não punham em causa a vida, a família, os direitos da Igreja e uma economia solidária. P.S. Já agora, há mais de 100 anos o Papa Leão XIII escreveu esta encíclica onde se resumem os objectivos da Maçonaria. Agora mais de 100 anos depois, pode-se fazer um balanço da sua actividade.

Ebeneezer Scrooge, herói libertarian

2012-01-07T17:50:00.000Z

Christmas and Contraception

2012-01-07T17:00:00.000Z

A Brief And Fascinating Guide To North Korea's Economy

2012-01-07T14:23:00.002Z

Fascinante.

Algumas ideias para o Vitor Gaspar:

"North Korea tried to pay off a $500,000 debt in ginseng.

In the summer of 2010, North Korea offered to pay off 5% of its $10 million Cold War-era debt to the Czech Republic in ginseng. Czech officials declined, noting that the proposed payment of ginseng would last the country 200 years. Instead, they suggested that North Korea pay up in zinc ore if cash was not an option".
No caso de Portugal, podíamos tentar pagar a dívida com pedreiros desempregados (livres).
"North Korea executed finance official over failed currency reform.

In November 2009, North Korea carried out a currency reform that equaled confiscation of wealth. The reform was intended to punish those who accumulated wealth by trading on private markets with illegal merchants. Each household was only allowed to exchange about $200, which left many North Koreans with worthless money.

Pak Nam Gi, the ruling Workers' Party finance and planning department chief, spearheaded the currency reform and was later accused of ruining the nation's economy. He was executed by firing squad in March 2010."
Um método alternativo de empobrecer a população e mais justo do que a diabolização dos funcionários públicos.
E na área das relações externas com a China comunista:

"The $2.3 billion defense budget is actually not that high considering that it is used to maintain 1.17 million member military. That's about $2000 a member compared to $40,000 per soldier spent in China and $420,000 per soldier spent in the U.S."