Word: romes
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...theories you cite in your book speculate that America might be experiencing something similar to the downfall of Rome. Yet you reject that idea. The main reason I'm optimistic is because America is a society that is constantly refreshed by immigration. The demography of this country is changing so constantly and unpredictably that I sort of think it's going to be renewed and refreshed and changed going forward. I also don't think this is a despicable or amoral society. I just think it's of a warped and alienated and weird time...
...Brown's cultural history is entirely correct. He loves showing us places where our carefully tended cultural boundaries - between Christian and pagan, sacred and secular, ancient and modern - are actually extraordinarily messy. Langdon points out, for example, that the U.S. Capitol "was designed as a tribute to one of Rome's most venerated mystical shrines," the Temple of Vesta, and that it prominently features a painting of George Washington in the guise of Zeus. ("That hardly fits with the Christian underpinnings of this country," harrumphs Langdon's skeptical audience.) Power is power, and it flows from religious vessels to political...
...Brown has another agenda in The Lost Symbol, which is to rehabilitate Washington, D.C., as one of the great world capitals of gothic mystery, one that can hold its own with Paris or London or Rome. "America has a hidden past," Langdon thinks, italically. "Every time Langdon lectured on the symbology of America, his students were confounded to hear that the true intentions of our nation's forefathers had absolutely nothing to do with what so many politicians now claimed. America's intended destiny has been lost to history...
...ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). How does your appointment further U.S. involvement with the ICC and international law? The decision about the ICC treaty has to be made by the President of the U.S. In 2002, Congress passed the American Service Member's Protection Act that prohibited U.S. cooperation in the ICC in many areas. [There was a fear that U.S. soldiers could be targeted in politically motivated prosecutions.] But it also included a provision that U.S. authorities could cooperate to bring to trial individuals like [former Yugoslav President] Slobodan Milosevic. I think...
...outrun revelations about his private life has kept headline writers from Tallahassee to Tokyo busy for nearly six months now. The latest chapter began on Sept. 8, with the leaked court testimony of a Bari businessman accused of bringing prostitutes to the Italian Prime Minister's private residence in Rome. Though the deposition by Gianpaolo Tarantini confirmed Berlusconi's earlier claims that he didn't know the women were being paid, its contents were so juicy, it set off a whole new round of coverage. When Berlusconi was asked about Tarantini's testimony two days later at a press conference...