Ura! Rasslin’ is Back in the Olympics

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The match isn’t finished. We have a second match to fight, but be careful, we’re good fighters.

Nenad Lalović

FILA President

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On Sunday, an International Olympic Committee vote reinstated wrestling as an Olympic sport, beating two other sports for a slot at the Games. In February, the IOC dropped wrestling from the Olympics from 2020 onwards, and relegated it to candidate status. A diverse coalition of countries, including Russia, Japan, the USA, and Iran all rallied around wrestling’s attempts to regain its place. In Sunday’s vote, wrestling won a majority of 49 votes, far ahead of baseball/softball with 24 and squash with 22. In an online statement, Nenad Lalovic, president of the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles, said, “To the millions of wrestlers, supporters, and fans around the world that came together to save Olympic wrestling I offer a very big thank you. Every one of you fought very hard for this victory. Now, we must remain united to make certain that we live up to the expectations that were placed on all of us by virtue of this vote”. Wrestling’s governing body made a range of changes to the rules since the sport lost its Olympic place and tried to give women’s competition a higher profile. Lalovic said, “With this vote, you’ve shown that the steps we’ve taken to improve our sport made a difference. I assure each of you that our modernisation won’t stop now. We’ll continue to strive to be the best partner to the Olympic Movement that we can be”. The 2020 Olympics will be in Tokyo, which beat Istanbul and Madrid in a vote held on Saturday.

8 September 2013

RIA-Novosti

http://en.rian.ru/sports/20130908/183281394/Wrestling-Reinstated-as-Olympic-Sport.html

Editor’s Note:

Rasslin’ stomped the competition! Squash is an Affluent Effluent “country club” non-sport, whilst baseball is a local American/Caribbean thing with no worldwide following. No wonder that rasslin’ skunked ‘em! Rasslin’ is the PEOPLE’S SPORT… all that you need is a mat and two grapplers. Let’s face it, rasslin’ was an important part of the Ancient Olympics, and to kick it out would’ve castrated the Games. Now that we’ve got rasslin’ back where it belongs, perhaps, we could revive the pankration. That would be something to see! Did you see what I saw? All the Politically Correct people just fainted away at the mere thought of two pankratists getting the lion’s share of the attention in a modern Olympics… well, they were the stars of the show in the Ancient Games, weren’t they? One can always hope…

BMD 

 

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8 September 2013. Metropolitan Philip Saliba Weighs in on the Syrian Catastrophe

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I write to you today as our President and the US Congress contemplate military action against Syria. As those of us with deep roots in that land already know, more bombs and destabilisation of the country will only lead to further bloodshed and devastation. In my opinion, based on a lifetime of knowledge in that area of the world, it doesn’t serve the interests of the USA, nor those of the Syrian people (or the people of the Middle East at large for that matter) to bomb and further destabilise the country. Extremists groups such as al-Qaeda wait in the wings to prey on any weakness in the Syrian government and infrastructure. The results of such a bombing would be yet another step in the extermination of our Christian presence in the Middle East, a presence that dates to the dawn of Christianity. Our Church has already suffered greatly and has new martyrs awaiting glorification… we don’t need any more! Therefore, I urge all of you during the next few days to contact your respective Senators and Representatives to urge them to vote NO to any unilateral American military action in Syria. Time is of the essence, so, please, distribute this e-mail to everyone you know as quickly as possible, and share this message on Facebook and other social networking sites.

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An Open Letter to President Obama Regarding the Situation in Syria

We write to you with a heavy heart having heard the recent news of the attack on the ancient Syrian Christian town of Ma’loula by the rebel forces.  This town houses one of the oldest and most important monasteries, the Covent of Mar Taqla, which is considered a holy place by both Christians and Muslims. This attack by rebel forces supported by the US government was an unspeakable act of terror, and it speaks volumes of the viciousness of those rebel forces that seek to overthrow the Syrian government.  Apparently, nothing’s sacred to these people, and it’s very disturbing that our government supported these people. Mr President, we appeal to your humanity, and to your compassion for people to halt consideration of any American military action against the Syrian government.  This would be a deadly and costly action, and you’d gain nothing by it.  Indeed, if chemical weapons were used (and this is still to be determined by the UN inspectors who recently returned from Syria), there’s no compelling evidence which points to the use of these weapons by the Syrian government.  On the contrary, there’s some compelling evidence that rebel forces had both the means and the will to launch such a heinous attack against innocent people, Christians and Muslims alike, who’re all children of God. May our Lord and God guide you to find a peaceful solution that relies on negotiation, not bombs.

3/6 September 2013

Antiochian.org

http://www.antiochian.org/metropolitan-philip-urges-faithful-contact-congress-syria-vote

http://www.antiochian.org/open-letter-president-obama-regarding-situation-syria

Witness in Ma’loula: “The Gunmen Wanted to Kill as Many Christians as Possible”

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On 5 September, Syrian opposition forces attempted to seize the predominantly-Christian town of Ma’loula, located 60 kilometres (37 miles) from Damascus. Our VOR correspondent managed to reach the scene, and spoke to an eyewitness of the attack, Wael Malas. The town of Ma’loula is one of the last places where Western Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus Christ, is still a living vernacular. Government troops repulsed the attack, but militants from Jabhat al-Nusra and al-Qaeda managed to gain a foothold on the surrounding heights, from where they continued to bombard the town below.

Christian activist Wael Malas told VOR about the assault on the town. We asked him what happened there and he said:

I was visiting relatives in Ma’loula, and had dropped in on some monastics when terrorists from Jabhat al-Nusra and other armed bands stormed the town. They captured the Convent of Mar Taqla, the oldest convent in the world, the Monastery of the Holy Prophet Elias, and the tourist hotel. After that, they began destroying buildings and desecrating holy places. They drove off most of the monastics, but they took some captive, and they killed some of the priests. The gunmen stole all the crosses, lampstands, and anything that might have any resale value from the churches. They destroyed the rest. Now, the militants use the two monasteries as strongpoints, as they’re higher than the town is. On top of all that, we’ve noticed gunmen toting some strange weapons that we’ve never seen before; I can’t describe them.

It all started when suicide bombers in a car blew themselves up at an army checkpoint near the town, killing a large number of soldiers. After that, several dozen vehicles with heavy weapons entered the town, with opposition fighters marching alongside. The militants seemed to number in the thousands, I couldn’t count them all, it seemed as though they’d sent all of their forces to Ma’loula.  When they entered the city, they shouted that they’d cleanse all sinners from the earth. Their goal was to kill as many Christians as they could and blow up the as many churches as they could. I’d like to tell you that the world media doesn’t mention one terrible fact… the militants began to check people’s passports, and if they saw that someone had a Christian name, they immediately shot him in the head, and went to check the papers of the next resident.

I only managed to escape because we weren’t far from the main highway during the assault on the town; we managed to find a bus, the driver packed it to the gills and escaped. I was one of the lucky ones. There were women and kids with us, all of us only had the clothes on our backs. A few hours later, we learned that the highway was in rebel hands.

6 September 2013

Voice of Russia World Service

http://rus.ruvr.ru/2013_09_06/Ochevidec-Cel-boevikov-bila-ubit-kak-mozhno-bolshe-zhitelej-hristian-1711/

Editor’s Note:

If this doesn’t convince you that the Odd Couple Gang of Four (Obama, Boehner, Kerry, and McCain) are lying through their teeth, nothing will. THIS is what they want… for this is what the rebels will mete out to all the Christians and Alawis if they gain power. We need to press the konvertsy to the wall on this. They’ve supported the neocon warmongers… now, it’s time for them to put up or shut up. It’s the duty of all Orthodox Christians to stand by our confrères in the Orthosphere. Full stop. These demented children better get with the programme… or leave. Reflect well on who’re the worst offenders… Paffhausen, Webster, Reardon, Dreher, and Mattingly. Don’t forget Potapov… Langley’s obsequious running dog.

The USA crossed a “red line”, indeed… it supports such murderous rapine and destruction… it applauds the jihadists; it refuses to succour the victims. In fact, what sort of “strange weapons that we’ve never seen before” did Langley give the terrorists? Betcha that chemical munitions were amongst them…

BMD

8 September 2013. Some Cabinet Input on Why JP Got Exiled to Bethesda

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One of the Cabinet told me:

I heard Fatso was getting very popular at the ROCOR parish, so, the regular ROCOR priests got upset… Fatso had his slobbering converts following him around. It’s getting bad… really bad.

In short, if this is true, Potapov got tired of JP and his raggedy entourage mucking up his parish life. Yet, this still raises questions. Did Potapov go straight to Hilarion Kapral, or, did he go through the Centre? Furthermore, was the OCA Holy Synod involved? After all, Potapov IS one of the more-powerful members of the First Families apparat (he inherited Basil Rodzianko’s mana). This is ending like a badly-plotted Mexican soap opera. The guy’s a monk… Mollard should send him off to a monastery… not in California, not in the South, and not near the District… that would put finis to it all.

BMD