I. HEALTHLEADERS - Federal Judge Strikes Down Key Healthcare Law Provision
A Virginia federal judge on Monday ruled that the individual mandate - a major precept of the Obama administration's healthcare legislation - exceeds the constitutional boundaries of congressional power. "On careful review, this Court must conclude that Section 1501 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act - specifically the Minimum Essential Coverage Provision - exceeds the constitutional boundaries of congressional power," wrote U.S. District Court Judge Henry E. Hudson. "At its core, this dispute is not simply about regulating the business of insurance - or crafting a scheme of universal health insurance coverage, - it's about an individual's right to choose to participate," he wrote. Hudson did not grant petitioners' request for an immediate injunction against the entire law, only on the portion regarding the individual mandate, the requirement that individuals purchase health insurance or pay a penalty. One consumer group, Health Care for America Now, said it was "pleased that Hudson rejected Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's attempt to strike down" the entire Act, but disagreed with Hudson's view that the individual mandate requirement is unconstitutional. "We think that is wrong on the merits and bad for people's health. If his decision is upheld, it would give the green light for insurance companies to deny people care based on pre-existing conditions," said HCAN spokesman Avram Goldstein in a statement. Four other federal district courts of equal rank "have determined that the law is constitutional or have dismissed complaints on procedural grounds, and the ultimate decision will rest with the U.S. Supreme Court," Goldstein added. More than 20 states have filed lawsuits challenging the Act, which may ultimately be decided the Supreme Court.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed the idea of sharing the city of Jerusalem with a new Palestinian state. Mr. Netanyahu said Sunday the division of Jerusalem does not reflect his government's policy. Palestinians hope that mainly Arab East Jerusalem will serve as their capital, while the Israeli government has claimed all of Jerusalem as its capital. Mr. Netanyahu's remarks come days after Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barack called for a sharing of Jerusalem in order to negotiate peace. Palestinian leaders have expressed frustration and doubt about the future of peace talks, after the Obama administration abandoned efforts to persuade Israel to resume a freeze on the building of Jewish settlements in the Palestinian-claimed West Bank. In violence Sunday, the Israeli military says its troops killed two Palestinians trying to enter Israel from Gaza. Israel says the men were spotted late Saturday near the security fence separating Israel from the Palestinian territory. The Israeli military says one of its soldiers was wounded in an exchange of gunfire. Violence along the border has increased in recent days.
III. UPI - Israel talks turkey to Greece
Executives of Israel's defense industry, the most advanced in the Middle East, are reportedly talking to NATO-member Greece about a possible multimillion-dollar sale of advanced weaponry. The negotiations follow the breakup of the Jewish state's strategic alliance with Turkey, Greece's longtime rival, and come amid a major geopolitical realignment in the region as Turkey and Iran draw closer. The Jerusalem Post gave few details but said the systems under discussion "could include weapons systems" for the Greek air force's fleet of 120 Lockheed Martin F-16s of various models. A Greek military official concerned with defense procurement who was in Israel on a weeklong trip earlier in December said he was involved in the purchase of unmanned aerial vehicles. Israel is a world leader in that field. The state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries, which manufactures UAVs, also specializes in upgrading F-16s, which the Greek air force uses extensively. IAI and other Israeli defense companies have developed world-class electronic systems for the F-16, as well as other U.S.-produced weapons platforms. The deal has apparently been in the works since July when Papandreou visited Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu reciprocated the following month, the first Israeli leader to visit Athens. This exchange followed a secret meeting in Russia between Netanyahu and Papandreou some weeks earlier. Diplomatic sources say the Greek prime minister initiated the approach because he saw an opportunity for Athens to replace Ankara in Israel's strategic worldview. Israeli sources say the blossoming relationship with Greece has been evolving since the summer of 2008 when Papandreou permitted 100 Israeli F-15I and F-16I strike aircraft to use Greek airspace to practice long-range flights and in-flight refueling. These were widely seen as an Israeli rehearsal for pre-emptive strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities. According to the sources, Papandreou allowed the Israelis to carry out mock attacks against powerful S-300PMU air-defense missile systems Athens bought from Russia in 2000. With Turkey out the frame now, the Israelis are turning to other countries in Europe with which to coordinate joint exercises. Over the last year, Israel has conducted four exercises in Greece, most recently in October and November. These are being extended across the Balkans to Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Croatia.
IV. ANA - Hellenic-Russian Society
The future prospects in relations shared by Russia, Greece and Cyprus were underlined in the Hellenic-Russian Society Conference on “Russia-Greece-Cyprus: Political Economic and Cultural Partnerships, Present and Future” held on Monday under the auspices of the Greek foreign ministry. The importance of the materialization of the South Stream pipeline and the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline in the current difficult conjuncture was highlighted in a message by Republic President Karolos Papoulias read in the opening of the conference. President Papoulias’ message referred to the close relations shared by the two peoples reflected in their centuries-old ties. Speaking in the conference, government vice-president Theodoros Pangalos stated that Greece’s relations with Russia are of major and strategic importance and referred to tourism, stressing that in a period of crisis, tourist arrivals from Russia increased 50 pct, predicting a further increase in the coming year. He criticized Bulgaria as regards the issue of the construction of the Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline, stressing that it is a project of major importance for the Greek government. Referring to the stance adopted by the Bulgarian government, he said that implementing the project appears to be difficult. He maintained that pressures are being exerted by oil companies trying to block the construction of the oil pipeline adding, however, that the dead end is not insurmountable. “The Bulgarian leadership should realize that it is against the interest of the Bulgarian people to adopt a policy that isolates the country,” he stressed. On behalf of main opposition New Democracy (ND) party, the conference was addressed by Hellenic-Russian Society 2nd vice-president MP Simos Kedikoglou, who stressed that the Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline is an environmentally-friendly project contributing to a reduction in oil-tanker traffic in the Dardanelles Strait, underlining that this argument should be taken under serious consideration. The conference was addressed representatives of the opposition Popular Orthodox Rally (LA.O.S) and Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) parties, the ambassadors of Russia and Cyprus to Athens, a Russian Duma representative and other Russian officials. According to Culture and Tourism Minister George Nikitiadis, meanwhile, Greece could well become the top European destinations for Russian tourists in the next two years, following Greek initiatives to hasten the issue of visas to visiting Russians and policies to attract Russian tourists to Greece.
V. RIANOVOSTI - Russia concerned over North Korean nukes
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed concern on Monday over North Korea's recent nuclear revelations. In late November, Pyongyang disclosed to visiting U.S. experts an operational uranium enrichment facility at Yongbyon, prompting fears that the isolated country has begun developing nuclear weapons. Lavrov held talks with North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui-Chun in Moscow earlier on Monday. "Lavrov has expressed deep concern over the information that facilities to enrich uranium are being built at Yongbyon and called on North Korea to abide by UN Security Council resolutions 1718 and 1874," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The statement also condemned Pyongyang's shelling of the South's Yeonpyeong Island in the Yellow Sea on November 23, which killed four people and led both sides to threaten war. North Korea has been subjected to several rounds of UN Security Council sanctions since it declared itself a nuclear power in 2005. The state broke off talks with South Korea, China, the United States, Japan and Russia over its nuclear program last April.
VI. ABC - Berlusconi faces no-confidence vote
Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has outlined his case for staying in his job, during an address to MPs ahead of a no-confidence motion in the Parliament. The scandal-plagued premier warned the government risked plunging the country into an economic crisis by calling early elections. He told MPs one of the Eurozone's biggest economies could not withstand the shock of early elections if they voted against him. Officially, Italy is not due to go the polls until 2013, but a public spat with Mr Berlusconi's chief coalition partner has destabilised his government. Headlines across Italy seriously question if this could be the end of the 'bunga bunga party' for the Italian PM - a reference to allegations by a series of young women that Mr Berlusconi hosted sex parties at his private villas.
VII. PRAVMIR - Living Liturgy: the Liturgical Method of the Fathers
As Orthodox, we are found of saying that we are the Church of the Fathers—that what the Fathers believed and how they worshipped and inter-acted socially with the world is paradigmatic for us. This using of the Fathers for a model is not a matter of slavishly reproducing the Fathers’ world in our 21st century, regardless of how much things have changed. An unthinking and fundamentalist use of the Fathers can be as destructive as an unthinking and fundamentalist use of the Scriptures. Rather, our following of the Fathers is more a matter of imitating their mind-set, their attitude, and their method. This is especially so in using the Fathers as models for our liturgical life. We cannot artificially reproduce the Liturgy of 1st century Palestine or 2nd century Rome or 4th century Constantinople. All liturgy changes and develops, and our Byzantine Liturgy perhaps most of all and we must receive with gratitude (and discernment) the Liturgy we have received throughout the past 20 centuries. Nonetheless, I would suggest that there are certain timeless principles we can glean from the Fathers which can and should guide us in our liturgical life. First of all, for the Fathers, all words in the liturgical services had a counter-part in lived experience and a set purpose. Words were not just said because they had a religious feel to them or because they were inspiring or poetic. They were said as expressions of actual actions and experiences in the congregation. For example, when the Deacon said “Pray to the Lord, you catechumens!”, he was actually inviting the catechumens present to pray to the Lord. When he said “Bow your heads unto the Lord, you catechumens!”, it was expected that this directive to those people would be followed by the appropriate action—namely, their bowing their heads unto the Lord. That was why it was said. When he said the words “Depart catechumens! All that are catechumens depart!”, it was said solely in order to make them leave—and the Church service waited until they left before proceeding to the next liturgical action. It was not a poetic, symbolic way of telling the faithful to “banish and cause evil thoughts to depart from our minds”, as a kind of mystical metaphor (as later writers have suggested). Rather, the words meant just what they said. Thus, in a truly Patristic liturgical methodology, there was a direct correspondence between what was said and what was expected to happen. Words were said in order to accomplish something specific. Secondly, for the Fathers, liturgical worship was a corporate and united action. That is, in the Liturgy, all people present had their particular and different roles to play, but all were conscious that the Liturgy was something they all did together. Each had his own contribution to make, and their contributions were different. But they were contributions towards one and the same thing. The Liturgy was not something that the clergy and the choir did, while the passive faithful watched, listened and were edified. The Liturgy was not a sacred concert put on for their benefit. Rather, it was something they did along with the clergy and the choir. For example, the Anaphora—the prayer consecrating the Bread and Wine to become the true Body and Blood of Christ—was their prayer as well. In this prayer, of all parts of the Church had their specific function to perform. The priest (or bishop) uttered the words of the prayer. The deacons assisted physically, pointing to the Gifts and lifting them up. The sub-deacons fetched the censer and the hot water. The faithful interjected their “Amens” and other praises, and sealed the entire Anaphora with the final “Amen” at its conclusion. Thus the Anaphora was not so much done for the people, as by the people. Thus in a truly Patristic liturgical methodology, there is a felt and tangible unity between clergy and laity, as they work in concert as partners in the liturgical actions. Finally, for the Fathers, fervent commitment of the entire Church is assumed. In the classic liturgies, those not committed or canonically allowed to commune of the Gifts were dismissed and sent away. This is the meaning of the dismissal of the catechumens and the closing of the Doors. It was not a matter of the assembled Church being some sort of “gathered sect”, a kind of collection of the pure and elite. The Church knew that it was territorial, gathering good and bad together (cp. Mt. 13:47—50) and it had no interest in pre-empting or anticipating the Final Judgment. Nonetheless, it did preserve an inner integrity and maintain some basic outward standards. Those present were assumed to be committed to Christ—or at least, they had professed that they were—and were treated as such. Thus, for example, it called everyone in the Church to Holy Communion. The Deacon says to all present, “In the fear of God and with faith, draw near!” and Eucharistic participation is expected from all—if not in fact, then at least in theory. (The Fathers, being realists, knew how little theory and fact sometimes went together!) Nevertheless, the liturgical texts themselves called all to Communion (not just the ones who felt they were worthy or ready that Sunday) and the Litany of Thanksgiving assumes that all have in fact received, for the Deacon says “Having partaken of the divine, holy and awesome Mysteries of Christ…” Thus, in a truly Patristic liturgical methodology, real faith on the part of the worshippers at the Eucharist is assumed. In the liturgical practice of the Church today, many questions are being asked—questions about the use of a more open iconostas, about the audibility of prayers, about congregational singing—in fact, a multitude of difficult and controversial questions. It is not necessary, perhaps, to achieve complete uniformity in these things—nor perhaps is it even desirable. There was a multitude of usages and variations in the Patristic Church, even in their ways of serving the same Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom and perhaps allowance of some variation might prove useful today . And certainly, mutual love should characterize our relations between us, in this as in all things. As the Church today struggles with these questions and finds its way in things liturgical, (obviously in obedience to its hierarchs), the underlying principles and methodology of the Fathers may prove to be a helpful guide.