2/19/10

Soon to be a Saint.

What does it take to be declared a saint?

1. Investigation: A postulator (advocate) examines the nominee's life, writings, and religious acts. That evidence is presented to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, a special panel of theologians and cardinals. If the case has merit, they are declared "venerable" — a role model of Catholic virtue.

2. Beatification: The Congregation for the Causes of Saints must verify a miracle before beatification. Miracles are considered as extraordinary events produced by God, acting through others and verified by witnesses.

3. Canonization: The Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints must be presented with evidence of a second posthumous miracle.

Brother André will be canonized officially at the Vatican by Pope Benedict XVI on Oct. 17. (St. Joseph's Oratory of Mount Royal)

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/02/19/montreal-saint-andre.html#ixzz0g362S9xS from Montreal, Father Andre to be declared a Saint.

Sainthood

2/9/10

American health Care

1/24/10

Leonard Cohen

12/24/09

People and rats co-habit in some NYC spots.

Cruelty as an aspect of human nature.

http://www.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,52925818001_1943278,00.html

12/21/09

Sign found.

"Arbeit Macht Frei" was a sign above Dachau Death Camp It was stolen but it sure did not take long to find the bloody thing.

Tobacco Road: "plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose"

"plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose"
"the more it changes, the more it's the same thing",
usually translated as "the more things change,
the more they stay the same"

I was born in a dump
my mother died
my daddy got drunk
they Left me here to die or grow
in the middle of Tobacco Road

I grew up in a rusty shack
And all I ever owned was hangin' on my back
Lord above know how much I loathe
this mean ol' place called Tobacco Road.

Malawi's child tobacco pickers 'being

poisoned by nicotine'

Children in Malawi who are forced to work as tobacco pickers are exposed to nicotine poisoning equivalent to smoking 50 cigarettes a day, an investigation has found.

Child labourers as young as five are suffering severe health problems from a daily skin absorption of up to 54 milligrams of dissolved nicotine, according to the international children's organisation Plan.

Malawian tobacco is found in the blend of almost every cigarette smoked in the west. The low-grade, high-nicotine tobacco is often used as a filler by manufacturers, reflecting a long-term global shift in production.

Tobacco farms in America declined by 89% between 1954 and 2002. Three-quarters of production has migrated to developing countries, with Malawi the world's fifth biggest producer. Seventy per cent of its export income comes from tobacco and the country is economically dependent on it.

And the daddy still gets drunk.