18 September 2012. Oddbod Nuns in Maryland May Have Jumped to Church of Georgia… That Be the Buzz

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Got this from one of my better contacts:

Heard this AM that the DC nuns were received by the Orthodox Church of Georgia, a Bishop Dimitri? Someone wrote that this was up on the ROCOR website.

I checked the main ROCOR site… NADA. Oh, well, let’s try the Eastern America Diocese site… ZERO there too. Firstly, since my contact reported this in all good faith, I did some quick shouts, and my interlocutors hadn’t heard of it either. The Church of Georgia doesn’t have any parishes here that I know of, and, trust me, the Centre wouldn’t be happy at their interference in what the Centre considers its canonical territory (the OCA‘s pretty much a dead letter and rotten borough). Of course, there’d be consequences back home… if this be true, the Centre could reverse its stance on the Church in Abkhazia. That would make the Georgians think twice!

There’s no official stamp on this one, so, I gotta say it may be kosher, it might not be. It’s a “maybe”… it’s what’s “out there”… but I advise all comers that I give it a strong caveat that it’s not official or substantiated… what I call “buzz”. I wonder if Freddy M-G, Dreher, and Fathausen had a hand in this? Now, that’s something worth digging into…

Barbara-Marie Drezhlo

Tuesday 18 September 2012

Albany NY

This Just In Department:

Apparently, there are four parishes and one monastery of the Georgians in the USA. Click here for confirmation. Trust me, they didn’t exist prior to the mid-90s. Indeed, they may even be post-millennial. It’s proof that the OCA’s days are numbered… everybody thinks that they can establish parishes here without telling Syosset.

BMD

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Russia Without YouTube?

 

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The YouTube video hosting service may become unavailable to Russians. The reason is that the trailer to the notorious film Innocence of Muslims is available there. The Genprokuratura recognised the film as extremist and insulting to Muslims. However, Google, which owns YouTube, refused to restrict access to the clip. The Genprokuratura filed a case in court to forbid the circulation of the film in Russia. There’s been no decision taken on the matter yet, but the Genprokuratura already instructed the Public Oversight Commission to take the appropriate steps. The trailer, which appeared on YouTube, provoked a wave of anti-American protests in Muslim countries.

In spite of requests from governments around the world, Google declared that it wouldn’t delete the clip. Later, access to it was restricted, but not in all countries. For example, in Pakistan, the scandalous film wasn’t blocked. As a result, the local authorities ordered ISPs to close access to YouTube for all Pakistani users. The same could happen in Russia. Amendments to the law protecting children from harmful material come into effect on 1 November. If YouTube doesn’t delete the page containing the forbidden clip by that time, all Russian ISPs would have to restrict access to this site.

Ivan Zasursky, the Chairman of Communications Theory of the Journalism Department of Moscow State University believes, “Still, it’s unlikely that things would go that far, with YouTube being blocked. Even if the law allowed putting YouTube on the list of sites to be blocked, it isn’t obligatory to do so. YouTube is a law-abiding company in all countries where it broadcasts. In some Arab countries, the film is unavailable. I believe that in Russia it’d be unavailable too”.

Meanwhile, Terry Jones, the mastermind of the scandalous film, has become persona non grata in Europe. The American pastor was notorious even before Innocence of Muslims was posted online. He’s known for burning Qurans. Recently, when he wanted to visit Germany at the invitation of an ultra-right group, the German authorities declared that his presence in their country was undesirable. Washington also seems to realise what kind of genie it let out of the bottle. The American government admitted that the wave of protests in the Arab world could result in a long crisis with unpredictable consequences.

18 September 2012

Mikhail Aristov

Voice of Russia World Service

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_09_18/Russia-without-YouTube/

 

Mitt Romney: No Wisdom Like Silence

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Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential candidate in the upcoming American election, found himself in the spotlight of a scandal, which may well deny him victory. An American magazine released video footage of Romney meeting his rich sponsors. During this meeting, Romney said that Obama’s supporters were government dependents who saw themselves as victims. The Democrats are using this scandal to their maximum advantage. Until now, Romney hadn’t faced a scandal like this in the course of his presidential race. He faced accusations of closing factories and engineering bankruptcies for his personal profit, and there was a prize for the person who could prove that Romney was socking funds offshore to avoid taxes. Now, Romney bit himself. The video, taken by a hidden camera, appeared on the website of an American magazine that supports Obama. The footage came from a dinner where Romney met potential donors. Judging from what Romney said, the audience was affluent and was critical of the poor.

This was only a fragment of an ardent speech. Romney called Obama’s supporters dependents. When he spoke about Obama, probably, Romney decided to flatter his audience and said that he’d fight for the 5 to 7 percent who were independent voters who understood what was going on in the country and who were disappointed in Obama. The film was a bombshell. Obama’s camp called Romney’s words shocking and added that it was difficult to imagine a man who spoke about half of the nation in such a humiliating manner as President. Vilen Ivanov, Deputy Head of the Institute of Social Political Studies said, “The scandal will cost Romney votes. When one rival criticises the other, that’s normal, it’s within the boundaries of political discourse. However, when a presidential candidate criticises the voters who support his rival, this may stir a negative attitude towards him, even on the part of his own supporters”.

Romney’s camp said that their candidate would fight for prosperity for all voters. At a press conference held to explain this occasion, Romney regretted that his statements weren’t the most polished, but he didn’t apologise to the 47 percent of the population he’d insulted. Aleksandr Gusev, head of the Institute of Strategic Planning at the Higher School of Economics said, “The incident proves that Romney chose the wrong strategy. There are always two ways… either you present your own programme, or you condemn the programme of your rival. Romney chose the latter, which is bound to fail. He did his best to criticise Obama, and by doing so, he only raised Obama’s rating”. Many Republicans also condemned Romney’s words, showing discontent over their candidate’s callous opinion and indifferent attitude towards the retired, Latinos, and Afro-Americans. Romney’s mistakes only strengthen Obama’s position. Recent polls show that many Americans would vote for Obama not because they like his policies, but simply because they don’t like Romney.

18 September 2012

Roman Mamonov

Voice of Russia World Service

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_09_18/Mitt-Romney-no-wisdom-like-silence/

18 September 2012. Sergei Yolkin’s World. Want to Lose Weight? Go to Bed!

Want to Lose Weight? Go to Bed!

Sergei Yolkin

2012

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An article by researchers in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found that good sleep is an important part of weight-loss programmes and should be considered when planning a diet and increased physical activity.

18 September 2012

Sergei Yolkin

RIA-Novosti

http://www.ria.ru/caricature/20120918/753179130.html