Thursday, July 24, 2008

Collision Closes Mississippi River at New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS July 23, 2008 (AP)

w
Tug boats hold up the two pieces of a barge that is split in half after a tugboat pushing a barge... Expand
(AP Photos )

The Coast Guard says 29 miles of the Mississippi River at New Orleans are closed after a tugboat pushing a barge and a 600-foot tanker crashed, causing diesel to leak into the water.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Jaclyn Young says the barge split in half.

The double-hulled tanker was loaded with about 4 million gallons of biodiesel and more tha a million gallons of styrene.

Related

But the president of company that manages the tanker says nothing is leaking. Styrene is a liquid used to make plastics and rubber.
Young says the barge was carrying fuel oil and more than 419,000 gallons spilled into the river.

No injuries were reported Wednesday morning in the crash between the Liberian-flagged tanker Tintomara and the tug Mel Oliver.

Source: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=5432753

Earthquake Hits Japan, More Than 100 Injured

Powerful earthquake hits off Japan's northern coast, dozens injured but no danger of tsunami
People clean up the pieces of glasses shattered by a strong earthquake at an auto dealership in... Expand
(AP)

Japan's Meteorological Agency said there was no danger of a tsunami from the temblor, which had a preliminary magnitude of 6.8. It struck shortly after midnight about 65 miles underground and centered just off the coast of Iwate, 280 miles northeast of Tokyo.

At least 109 people were injured, including 16 seriously, according to the National Police Agency. Japan's Kyodo News agency said 131 people were injured, citing its own tally.

The earthquake caused strong shaking of up to 40 seconds in large parts of northern Japan, official said.

"Everything has fallen off the shelves, scattered all over the floor," grocery store owner Tomio Kudo told national broadcaster NHK from the town of Hirono, where the shaking was most violent. "Even a big refrigerator has moved about 30 centimeters (1 foot)."

Related

Several nuclear power plants in the region continued operations after inspection by plant workers found no problems, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said in a statement.

The quake caused a blackout at more than 8,000 homes, it said.

Japan's "bullet" super-express trains were suspended in some areas, according to operator East Japan Railway Co.The earthquake also triggered landslides at several locations, the police agency official said. Details were not immediately available.

Relief workers and local officials hit the streets to take a closer look to the affected areas in daylight Thursday. A team of government officials headed by Disaster Minister Shinya Izumi also arrived in Iwate.

"We must grasp the extent of damage as quickly as possible so that we can immediately take necessary steps," Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda told reporters.

Police said some of the more serious injuries included a woman in Hirono who broke a leg falling down stairs and another woman in Aomori city who broke her hip fleeing out a window.

Castro Cryptic on Russian Bomber Report

Castro Cryptic on Russian Bomber Report

Fidel Castro praises brother for silence on report that Russian bombers may go to Cuba










Castro
The 81-year-old former dictator made his first TV appearance in 6 months.

More Photos


Ailing Fidel Castro said Wednesday that Cuba's president was right to adopt a "dignified silence" over a Moscow newspaper report that Russia may send nuclear bombers to the island, and said Cuba doesn't owe any explanation to Washington about the story.


In a brief, cryptic essay posted on a government Web site Wednesday night, the 81-year-old former president neither confirmed nor denied the Monday report in Izvestia newspaper.


Moscow is angry about U.S. plans for missile-defense sites in eastern Europe and Izvestia cited a "highly placed" military aviation source as saying, "While they are deploying the anti-missile systems in Poland and the Czech Republic, our long-range strategic aircraft already will be landing in Cuba." Izvestia said this apparently refers to long-range nuclear-capable bombers.


Izvestia points out that there would have to be a political decision on landing bombers in Cuba, and quoted the unnamed source as saying there have been such discussions.



Related


In Washington, U.S. State Department Acting Deputy spokesman Gonzalo R. Gallegos said that American officials had received no official confirmation from the Russian government about the newspaper report, and was unaware of any U.S. efforts to directly contact Moscow about it. "We continue to continue to work with the Russians on this issue," Gallegos said Tuesday, referring to talks aimed at explaining the U.S. government's missile defense plan. "We have consistently made it clear to them that our proposed deployment of a limited missile defense system in Europe poses no threat to them or to their nuclear deterrent."


While Fidel Castro said the president, his brother Raul Castro, was wise not to respond to the newspaper report, he did not make clear why he was commenting.


Fidel Castro also said Cuba is not obligated to offer the United States an explanation about the newspaper report, "nor ask for excuses or forgiveness."


Despite Cuba's one-time alliance with the former Soviet Union, it seems unlikely that Raul Castro would allow Russian bombers on the island and risk the ire of the U.S. government.





Source: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=5438335

Gordon Brown's Jerusalem visit eclipsed by Barack Obama

July 21, 2008

Gordon Brown's Jerusalem visit eclipsed by Barack Obama

Prime Minister's trip to Israel was being treated as a warm-up for the US Presidential candidate's forthcoming visit







British Prime Minister Gordon Brown addresses the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem

(Ahikam Seri/Reuters)

Just a warm-up act? Gordon Brown speaks at Israel’s Parliament, the Knesset, in Jerusalem


Gordon Brown’s visit to Israel has been largely eclipsed by the impending arrival of Barack Obama, the possible future leader of the Jewish state’s most powerful ally, and by a domestic political scandal that has riveted the nation.

The unfortunate timing has meant that Mr Brown’s words of solidarity with Israel and his warnings that it must curb its settlement activity have all but been overlooked here.

While the Israeli government warmly applauded Mr Brown’s stern warnings to its main regional enemy, Tehran, the country is busily gearing up for the Democratic presidential candidate’s arrival from Iraq, Afghanistan and Jordan before he heads on to Europe. One leading Israeli newspaper noted that Mr Brown was being “treated as a warm-up act for Obama”.

But the Prime Minister’s brief sojourn also coincided with a new episode in the political sleaze scandal that has engulfed Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister. Mr Olmert’s lawyers have for four days been cross examining a key witness in the investigation into allegation bribes given to the Israeli leader over a dozen years before he occupied his current office.

In a harsh grilling, the witness, a 75-year-old American businessman named Morris Talansky has insisted that he slipped the prime minister $150,000 dollars in cash stuffed into envelopes that was meant as campaign donations but which he said Mr Olmert may have used to indulge his appetite for luxury hotels, first-class travel and fine cigars.

While Mr Olmert’s lawyers attempted to reveal a number of inconsistencies in the American’s story, the Prime Minister is still clinging to his political career by his fingernails, facing party primaries in the coming months and the threat of an indictment on the testimony of his former business associate, Uri Messer.

In addition, one of Israel’s leading newspapers today published a transcript of a police interrogation of Mr Olmert, in which the premier hinted at financial collusion with Mr Talansky during business trips to the United States.

"It may well be that during those trips, in the few times Talansky... asked me to appear before a certain body or organisation he was interested in, then he was charged to cover part of the expenses," Mr Olmert is quoted as having told investigators.

Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article4374170.ece

P.S. Brown's visit overshadowed by Obama's visit in Iraq??? What???

If I am not mistaken Gordon Brown, was also overshadowed when he visited the U.S. in April of 2008; Then it was by Ratzinger. Either his travel office has terrible scheduling (Ched-uling) judgement, or its an intentional 'faux-pas'. Let no one deceive you: There's a reason for these weird occurences. What do they mean?

Barack & Barack


"Step Brothers"

,

If they hear not Moses and the prophets...

Barack Obama at the Wailing Wall





And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.




Luke 16:31.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Environment an 'Adventist' issue?

Adventist Church president urges members to lead healthy, responsible lives



The Seventh-day Adventists are being urged by their top leader to develop an approach to environmental issues that is consistent with the church's historical values.

World church president, Pastor Jan Paulsen, writing in the July issue of Adventist World magazine, says he hopes Adventists "will move toward a fuller discussion of Adventism and environmental responsibility."

Acknowledging that environmentalism "may sometimes take on a flavor or set of dynamics that is not the same as care for the environment," such as political and economic agendas, Paulsen says the church could emphasize connections between a clean environment and optimum health.

"When we peel back the layers that surround 'environmentalism,' we find ideas that resonate also with our own deeply held beliefs and values: care for God's world and care for our fellow human beings," Paulsen states.

Paulsen also states the church could focus on its historic stance on "whole person" care and vegetarian advocacy, which requires fewer resources to produce than a non-vegetarian diet.

"When we choose a simple lifestyle and exercise restraint in our wants, when we emphasize the spiritual above the material and choose relationships before 'things,' we are following in the footsteps of our Lord," Paulsen states.


"Source: Adventist News Network"

Source: http://news.adventist.org/data/2008/1214929210/index.html.en

ADRA Highlights Innovations and Participates in High Level Meetings at United Nations

ADRA Highlights Innovations and Participates in High Level Meetings at United Nations
15 Jul 2008 21:19:00 GMT
Hearly Mayr
Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.

219487 logo
“Dr. Donatus St. Aimee, Permanent Representative of Saint Lucia to the United Nations, meets with ADRA president Charles Sandefur during the UN Innovation Fair in New York.”
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?Dr. Donatus St. Aimee, Permanent Representative of Saint Lucia to the United Nations, meets with ADRA president Charles Sandefur during the UN Innovation Fair in New York.?
Hearly Mayr/ADRA International
Silver Spring, Maryland—--The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) showcased a success story about sustainable development during the 2008 United Nations Innovation Fair held between June 30 and July 3 at UN Headquarters in New York, and participated in the High-Level Segment meetings of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

The Innovation Fair, sponsored by ECOSOC, an international body in which ADRA has held general consultative status since 1997, aimed to share examples of innovative development successes that various UN agencies and member non-government organizations, such as ADRA, have had recently. In the inaugural day of this year's fair, Mr. Sha Zukang, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, spoke with ADRA representatives about the work that ADRA is doing, in particular regarding sustainable development.

During the four-day event, ADRA featured a project that has significantly improved the production and commercial capacity of small milk and cheese producers in the Hualgayoc Province, Cajamarca Region, in northern Peru. The project, whose goal is to increase the commercial quality, marketability, and hygienic standards of dairy production, has already created more than 2,100 jobs, increased household income by 45 percent and sales by as much as 34 percent. As a result of this project, currently being implemented by ADRA Peru, production processes such as pasteurization and homogenization were introduced, extending the shelf life of products, improving their overall quality, and, ultimately, raising sales in important Peruvian markets. The success of this initiative has prompted its replication in other dairy producing communities of Cajamarca, and in Ayacucho, in Peru's central highlands.

In April, this project was selected from a pool of numerous applications to be presented during the NGO Forum at UN Headquarters, a meeting that was attended by representatives of member states, NGOs, and UN agencies whose aim was to demonstrate the work that is being done to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). The following month, the United Nations Non-governmental Organizations Informal Regional Networks (UN-NGO-IRENE) chose the project as the success story of the month.

ADRA also participated in the High-Level Segment meetings of ECOSOC's annual conference, which were held in conjunction with the Innovation Fair at UN Headquarters. The theme for this year was sustainable development, a concept of resource management that aims to meet the human needs of present and future generations while preserving the environment. During the meetings, attendees, including leaders of international financial and trade institutions, member state ministers and ambassadors, development experts, members of academia, and NGO representatives, discussed the progress of developing nations, solutions to the current global food crisis, and ways in which development cooperation can be streamlined to be more effective.

ADRA president Charles Sandefur, who attended the ECOSOC meetings, also participated in the Ministerial Roundtable, a forum hosted by the UN Industrial Development Organization, during which participants presented agri-business methods and solutions to improve food supply and raise farm production as a substantive way to address the existing global food crisis.

"ADRA's active participation at the United Nations provides not only a way for us to highlight successful ideas and engage the global community at its highest levels, but also serves to give an important voice to the millions of vulnerable people ADRA serves around the world every year," said Sandefur.

ADRA is present in 125 countries, providing community development and emergency management without regard to political or religious association, age, gender, race, or ethnicity.

Additional information about ADRA can be found at www.adra.org.

-END-

Author: Hearly Mayr Media Contact: Hearly Mayr, Director for Public Awareness ADRA International 12501 Old Columbia Pike Silver Spring, MD 20904 Phone: 301.680.6376

[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

P.S. Highlights added for emphasis. Arsenio.

Archbishop Burke of St. Louis to head Vatican's supreme court



11:41 AM Fri, Jun 27, 2008
Bruce Tomaso

Raymond Burke, the archbishop of St. Louis and an outspoken defender of Catholic orthodoxy, has been appointed by Pope Benedict XVI to head the church's highest court.

Here's a story from the Associated Press.

Burke is famous -- some would say infamous -- for going out of his way to rebuke Catholics who don't toe the church line on abortion.

In 2004, he announced that he would deny Holy Communion to Sen. John Kerry, then the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, because of Kerry's support for abortion rights. (Kerry lives in Massachusetts, not Missouri.) In 2007, he made a similar pronouncement about Rudolph Giuliani, then a Republican presidential candidate. (Giuliani lives in New York, not Missouri.)

Earlier this year, Burke called on St. Louis University, a Catholic school, to discipline men's basketball coach Rick Majerus because Majerus told a TV station at a Hillary Clinton rally that he was "pro-choice, personally."

And in 2007, he sought unsuccessfully to have Sheryl Crow removed from a benefit for a Catholic children's medical center in St. Louis because she supports embryonic stem cell research.

The AP story doesn't explain what the new job entails. (The government model that the Vatican most closely resembles is a monarchy, and what need the pope-king would have for a Supreme Court isn't clear.)

The court "is nothing like the U.S. Supreme Court," said the Rev. Thomas Reese, a Jesuit priest and senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University.

"It decides very few cases and focuses on procedural questions not substantive issues," Reese said. "It is concerned about whether church officials followed proper canonical procedures not whether their decisions were good or bad.

"For example, if the decision of a bishop to close a parish is appealed all the way to the Signatura, the court would only look at whether the bishop followed proper canonical procedures not at whether closing the parish was pastorally a good idea or not,"

The pope's decision has symbolic weight, Reese added:

"This appointment shows that Archbishop Burke is highly regarded as a canon lawyer by the pope and the Vatican," he said. "He will undoubtedly be made a cardinal."

Reese added: "The appointment should make pro-choice Catholic politicians very nervous. He will be a strong voice in the Vatican for cracking down on pro-choice politicians."


Source: http://religionblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/06/archbishop-burke-of-st-louis-t.html

P. S. Highlights added for emphasis. Blogman

Thousands converge on Barcelona for European gay games

Wednesday, July 23, 2008 - 19:00


AFP News Briefs List


More than 5,000 athletes, gay and straight, from across Europe are converging on Barcelona for the Eurogames which get underway on Thursday in the Spanish port city, organisers said.

More than 30,000 tourists are expected to attend the Olympics-style games which could pump 30 million euros (47.6 million US dollars) into the local economy, according to Barcelona gay sports group Panteras Grogues (Yellow Panthers) which is organising the event.

The four-day event will kick off with a colourful opening ceremony on Thursday at the Palau Sant Jordi indoor sporting arena, one of the main venues of the 1992 Summer Olympics which has a seating capacity for 17,000 people.

The athletes will compete in 28 different sports including tennis, swimming, track and field, basketball but also same-sex versions of ballroom dancing in venues across Barcelona.

Conferences and cultural events will be held at the same time as the sports events.

The Eurogames are open to everyone, irrespective of sex, age, sexual identity or physical abilities.

They are hosted by license of the European Gay and Lesbian Sport Federation and organised by one or more of the federation's member clubs.

The first Eurogames were held in the Hague in the Netherlands in 1992. The event was held last year in Antwerp, Belgium.

Source: http://www.france24.com/en/20080723-thousands-converge-barcelona-european-gay-games

An intolerant city and Catholic beliefs

Tuesday, July 22, 2008
DANIEL LEDDY
Staten Island Advance

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- On Dec. Dec 8, 1922, H. W. Evans, the newly elected Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, delivered a blistering attack against his organization's usual targets.

He claimed, for example, that giving the vote to "negroes" was the "greatest crime ever committed against his race or our race," and that the "The Jew produces nothing anywhere on the face of the earth."

The bigoted blowhard also zeroed in on Catholicism, asserting that, by undertaking "to make the United States of America a province of Rome," it had "challenged the white, native-born Protestant Christian of America to defend this Republic against invasion or else surrender the Republic to the domination of the foreign ecclesiastical potentate."

While vestiges of this kind of raw prejudice still exist in this country, Evans' attack on blacks and Jews would be met today with swift condemnation by government officials across the board, regardless of political affiliation. Not so, however, when it comes to his disgustingly stupid rant about Catholicism.

This became crystal clear when, on March 21, 2006, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors overwhelmingly adopted a shocking resolution that viciously attacked the Catholic Church and condemned the Vatican as a "foreign country" bent on interfering with the city's government. Though sensationally unprecedented, this official action generated no protests from the politically correct crowd that holds itself out as guardians of our civil liberties.

Properly alarmed and deeply offended, the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights filed suit seeking a declaration that the resolution was unconstitutional. Last Wednesday, oral arguments were heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

The controversy began when Cardinal William Joseph Levada, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican, noted that placing children for adoption with same-sex couples violates Catholic teaching on homosexuality. In accordance with that pronouncement, Archbishop George Niederauer of San Francisco directed that the local Catholic charities bring its adoption policy in line with the church's teaching on marriage and the family.

Niederauer's mandate had little practical effect on San Francisco's efforts to find suitable adoptive homes for its children. This because homosexual couples rarely sought to adopt through Catholic agencies. Moreover, what little impact the directive did have was addressed by a stepped-up effort to find appropriate heterosexual adoptive parents.

In explaining his obligation to comply with church teaching, Niederauer acknowledged that others held contrary points of view and declared that "we recognize and respect that fact." However, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors could not muster an iota of reciprocal tolerance for the sincerely-held, doctrinal beliefs of the Catholic Church.

UNMITIGATED GALL

Instead, speaking as public officials, they vilified Catholic teaching as "hateful," "callous," "insulting" and "ignorant." Then, while demanding that the "foreign country" stay out of San Francisco's business, they had the unmitigated gall to tell the Vatican to rescind its enunciation of Catholic doctrine regarding adoption by same-sex couples.

The First Amendment to the federal constitution provides in relevant part that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Though the "establishment clause" and the "free exercise clause" have generated an imposing and at times contradictory body of case law, they are widely understood to mandate that government remain neutral in matters of religion.

Most controversies involve what complainants maintain are unlawful efforts by the government to aid or advance religious causes. Arguing that the Constitution mandates a strict separation of church and state, plaintiffs have successfully invalidated a succession of innocuous activities including a non-denominational, student-initiated prayer that nobody be injured during a football game.

An essential element in striking down a challenged activity under the First Amendment is the existence of some form of government involvement. In the case of the nondenominational prayer, the mere fact that it was a public high school game was deemed sufficient.

The oft-overlooked corollary to these First Amendment cases is that government-mandated neutrality also precludes government hostility to religion. By passing a resolution attacking the Catholic Church in the vilest of terms, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors not only engaged in a flagrant, unprecedented violation of the First Amendment but stigmatized themselves as a rogue band of pretentious hypocrites.

Equally disgraceful, U.S. District Court Judge Marilyn Hall Patel, a Carter appointee and former attorney for the National Organization of Women, dismissed the Catholic League's lawsuit, brazenly declaring that the Vatican had "provoked this debate." Hence, the appeal heard last week.

The colossal irony here is that its Board of Supervisors has proclaimed San Francisco "America's most tolerant and progressive city." Intoxicated by the ambitions of the far left, they're obviously unaware that, if H. W. Evans were alive today, he'd be handing out flowing white sheets and masks to every one of them.

Daniel Leddy's On The Law column appears each Tuesday on the Advance Op-Ed Page. His e-mail address is JudgeLeddy@si.rr.com.


Source: http://www.silive.com/columnists/ledd/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1216728937186870.xml&coll=1&thispage=1

Gangster's tomb may be opened in hunt for missing Italian girl





Magistrates are to ask the Vatican for permission to open the tomb of a murdered gangster in the crypt of a Rome church to check whether it contains the remains a teenage girl who vanished 25 years ago, according to Italian reports.

Magistrates have re-opened the inquiry into the 1983 disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi, the daughter of a Vatican employee, in the light of new evidence. Sabrina Minardi, former girlfriend of Enrico De Pedis, boss of the notorious Magliana Gang in Rome, has told investigators Ms Orlandi was kidnapped as part of a Vatican-linked plot, but was killed and thrown into a cement mixer at a building site on the coast near Rome.

Two years ago an anonymous caller to presenters of an Italian television programme on missing persons suggested they should "take a look" at the tomb of De Pedis in the crypt of the church of Sant' Apollinare (Saint Apollinaris) near Piazza Navona. The church is next to the music school where Ms Orlandi attended a flute lesson before she was spotted by a policeman getting into a dark green BMW with a man, the last time she was seen alive.

It has never been clear why De Pedis, who was shot dead by riuval gangsters in a Rome street in 1990, was given the highly unusual honour of burial at Sant' Apollinare. Cardinal Ugo Poletti, the then Vicar of Rome, who gave permission, died in 1997.

Former members of the Magliana Gang have said De Pedis was "very religious", and gave "huge donations" to the Church before he died, perhaps to atone for his crimes. However a persistent theory is that the tomb in fact contains Ms Orlandi's remains, or some clue to the riddle of her disappearance.

This week the Vatican defended the late Archbishop Paul Marcinkus, the disgraced head of the Vatican Bank, against Ms Minardi's claim that he ordered the abduction of Ms Orlandi. Archbishop Marcinkus, an American of Lithuanian parentage, died in Arizona in 2006 at 84.

The Vatican said "defamatory and baseless accusations" had been made against the Archbishop, "who has been dead for some time and is unable to defend himself". It criticised media outlets which had reported the charge.

The predominant theory is that the girl was kidnapped to put pressure on Italy to release the Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca, who tried to kill Pope John Paul in 1981. Anonymous callers to the family said she would be freed if Agca was released.

However, an alternative theory is that the kidnapping was connected to financial dealings between the Magliana Gang, the Vatican Bank and the Italian banker Roberto Calvi, who had links to both the Vatican and the Mafia and was found dead beneath Blackfriars Bridge in London in 1982, leaving behind him massive debts to underworld figures.

A third theory, which the Italian news agency AGI said had also emerged from Ms Minardi's testimony, was that the girl was kidnapped because her father Ercole, a clerk in the Prefecture of the Vatican, "was in possession of documents that he should not have seen," possibly documents relating to money laundering, the Magliana Gang and the Vatican Bank.

Police said that the church of Sant' Apollinare was under Vatican control and therefore considered "extraterritorial" Vatican property. Permission for the white marble tomb to be opened would therefore have to be given not only by the Rome diocese but also by the Holy See, as well as by De Pedis' widow, Carla Di Giovanni.

Father Pedro Huidobro, the rector of Sant' Apollinare, said he had no objection to opening the tomb if permission was granted. He said curiosity about the tomb, hidden behind a locked grille, was interfering with the normal routine of the church. He said De Pedis' widow visited the tomb discreetly "once or twice a year" to lay flowers.

The Orlandi family says it does not believe Ms Minardi, a recovering drug addict formerly married to the Lazio football star Brunio Giordano, because her testimony is unreliable and "full of inconsistencies".

Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article4212107.ece

Herrmann Goering's thoughts on war, patriotism and propaganda

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

The Land of the Free, or a Dominican family’s nightmare?



Opinion - 22 July 2008, 3:05 PM


My name is Mercedes Seijas, a U.S. Citizen and resident of 1209 Fairmont Avenue, Elizabeth, New Jersey 07208. Felix Seijas immigration case number A71-490-769, my husband is presently in immigration custody at Hudson County Jail for supposedly “failure to appear” for an immigration appointment.


For a decade and a half, my husband has been fighting his case before the Immigration Court, Board of Immigration Appeals, and a Stay-of-Deportation at the federal level, (Habeas Corpus); including but not limited to an application for naturalization to U.S. Citizenship. This was initiated when a New York District Immigration Judge refused to change his venue to the jurisdiction of Newark Immigration Office, on account of my husband’s attorney winning a previous case against said judge. Any motions suggested by my husband’s attorney were muted because of the judge’s prejudice against him.


One of the grounds for denial of change of venue was that I gave birth to our second daughter Paloma: 1.That the birth of our daughter and the purchase of a home in Elizabeth, New Jersey were a ploy to remain in the United States, 2. If my husband were to be deported to his country of origin, the Dominican Republic, we would not suffer grievously; 3. The separation from our two daughters would affect our household. Not taking into account the addition financial hardship caused by the separation and the possibility of becoming a charge to the state.


On repeated occasion we have been to Immigration appointments, court hearings, and interviews to no avail. What we would receive in exchange for our efforts was, “you’ll get a letter in the mail”. Last week my husband was picked up by the Immigration Service for “failure to appear”. Come to find out after a trip to 970 Broad Street, in Newark and a visit to the First Fidelity Bond Office that my husband had exhausted all avenues for relief from deportation. A Stay-of-Deportation is presently pending but I was told that unless an immediate approval notification was received from the Federal Court he would be deported within two weeks.


The Immigration Judge’s personal vendetta with our former attorney denied my husband due process of law by not having an unbiased judge try the case. Where the justification for an Immigration Judge to separate a wholesome family, destroy the relationship our daughter have with their father during their father have with their father during their formative years, and driving to financial ruin our very livelihood and existence?


The Immigration Judge’s personal vendetta with our former attorney denied my husband due process of law by no having an unbiased judge try the case. Where is the justification for an Immigration Judge to separate a wholesome family, destroy the relationship our daughters have with they father during their formative years, and driving to financial ruin our very livelihood and existence?


I request that this injustice does not follow throw; that an investigation reveal the real motive behind the Immigration Judge’s decisions; and call into question the Immigration Service’s lackadaisical attitude when we unsuccessfully tried (by phone or in person) to get answer to our question but got the run-around repeatedly instead.


It’s a sad case indeed when struggling working class families feel so disenfranchised from their own government. When the American Dream is pulled from right under you, like a rug, and one feels so helpless that loses faith in this Democratic system. It reveals that in this new millennium America is drifting away from the values of the Founding Fathers of this country.


Source: http://www.dominicantoday.com/dr/opinion/2008/7/22/28758/The-Land-of-the-Free-or-a-Dominican-familys-nightmare/comment-posted#comments-note

Knights group raises funds for seminary



Knights group raises funds for seminary

From staff reports
Monday, July 21, 2008


The Adolfo Camarillo Knights of Columbus recently raised more than $900 for St. John's Seminary in Camarillo.

The Knights of Columbus held a free family night dinner at St. Mary Magdalen Parish Hall in Camarillo and ended up collecting $920 in donations.

The money will go to help endow two chairs — the Cardinal Timothy Manning Chair in Priestly Spirituality and the Cardinal William J. Levada Chair in Systematic Theology — at the seminary.

St. John's Seminary is a multicultural community of seminarians and lay ministry students pursuing advanced professional degrees leading to ordination and pastoral ministry.

For information on the seminary, call 482-2755, ext 2035, or e-mail advancement@stjohnsem.edu.


Source: http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/jul/21/knights-group-raises-funds-seminary/

Fla. Student Who Took Religious Icon Gets Death Threats

Fla. Student Who Took Religious Icon Gets Death Threats

Last Edited: Wednesday, 09 Jul 2008, 4:55 PM EDT

Created: Wednesday, 09 Jul 2008, 2:19 PM EDT

A University of Central Florida student claims he's getting death threats for messing with something sacred. (MyFoxOrlando)

By CHERYL GETUIZA
MyFoxOrlando / FOX 35 NEWS

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. --






A University of Central Florida student claims he's getting death threats for messing with something sacred.

Video: UCF Student Gets Death Threats (MyFoxOrlando).

Webster Cook says he smuggled a Eucharist, a small bread wafer that to Catholics symbolic of the Body of Christ after a priest blesses it, out of mass, didn't eat it as is custom, but instead walked with it. Once blessed, the piece of bread is viewed by Catholics as the true Body of Christ. (More on Transubstantiation)

Cook's friend, who didn't want to show his face, said he took the Eucharist, to show him what it meant to Catholics.

Cook gave the wafer back, but the Catholic League, a national watchdog organization for Catholic rights claims that is not enough.

"We don't know 100% what Mr. Cook's motivation was," said Susan Fani a spokesperson with the local Catholic diocese. "However, if anything were to qualify as a hate crime, to us this seems like this might be it."

"We just expect the University to take this seriously," she added "To send a message to not just Mr. Cook but the whole community that this kind of really complete sacrilege will not be tolerated."

Cook just wants all of this to go away. Especially now that he feels his life is in danger.

University officials said Cook is not in trouble. Individuals or group can file a formal complaint with the University through the student judicial system, officials said.

Source: http://www.myfoxorlando.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail;jsessionid=E690310A76F8C4ED9C25167634C4E680?contentId=6945924&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1.1.1&sflg=1

Wachovia has $8.9B loss, cuts 6,350 jobs, dividend

Customers use an ATM outside a Wachovia branch bank in Charlotte, N.C., Friday, July 18, 2008. Wachovia says it lost $8.86 billion in the second quarter, hurt by a big goodwill charge and an increase in reserves for bad loans as mortgage defaults soar.
Customers use an ATM outside a Wachovia branch bank in Charlotte, N.C., Friday, July 18, 2008. Wachovia says it lost $8.86 billion in the second quarter, hurt by a big goodwill charge and an increase in reserves for bad loans as mortgage defaults soar. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)
By Ieva M. Augstums
AP Business Writer / July 22, 2008

CHARLOTTE, N.C.—Wachovia Corp. lost $8.86 billion in the second quarter, and said Tuesday it was slashing its dividend and cutting 6,350 jobs after losses tied to mortgages soared.

Even excluding one-time items, the results substantially missed Wall Street estimates, and shares sank to mid-1991 levels in premarket trading.

"These bottom-line results are disappointing and unacceptable," Chairman Lanty Smith said in a statement. "While to some degree they reflect industry headwinds and weaker macroeconomic conditions, they also reflect performance for which we at Wachovia accept responsibility."

The nation's fourth-largest bank by assets says it lost the equivalent of $4.20 per share in the April-June period. In the same timeframe last year, the bank earned $2.34 billion, or $1.22 per share.

Excluding $6.1 billion in write-downs to the value of its intangible assets and merger-related and restructuring charges of $128 million, Wachovia lost $2.67 billion, or $1.27 per share. Second quarter results include the bank's October acquisition of A.G. Edwards Inc.

Analysts on average expected a loss of 78 cents per share on revenue of almost $8.4 billion.

The Charlotte-based bank cut its quarterly dividend to 5 cents per share from 37.5 cents, which will conserve approximately $700 million of capital per quarter. In April, Wachovia slashed its dividend 41 percent.

During the quarter, the bank boosted its provision for loan losses to $5.57 billion from $179 million a year ago, and added $4.2 billion to its reserves for bad loans.

Wachovia has been suffering from its 2006 acquisition of Golden West Financial Corp. The bank paid roughly $25 billion for the California mortgage lender known for exotic loans.

The so-called "Pick-a-Payment" loans, which Wachovia inherited from Golden West, have proved a headache for the bank and a lightning rod for shareholders, defaulting at higher rates than other mortgages.

Wachovia recently discontinued offering the "Pick-A-Payment" loan option, which allows customers to pay a less-than-full interest payment on all new home loans. The bank also had hired The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to conduct an analysis of its loan portfolio and advise it on strategic alternatives.

Late Monday, Wachovia announced plans to leave the wholesale mortgage lending business. And beginning Friday, the company will no longer offer mortgages through brokers, joining other lenders making similar moves to exit the troubled sector.

Big banks, such as Bank of America Corp. and National City Corp., have stopped making loans through brokers entirely, relying instead on their loan officers. National City said it was forced to do so by a continuing downturn in loan demand, while Bank of America said it saw better "long-term opportunity" in working through its own loan officers.

Wachovia spokesman Don Vecchiarello said in a statement that the company "recognized some opportunities to re-position our business" given the current market conditions.

Earlier this month, Wachovia named former Treasury Undersecretary and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executive Robert Steel as chief executive, replacing the ousted Ken Thompson. Within a week of being on the job, the bank's shares tumbled to a new 17-year low.

In premarket trading Tuesday the stock shed nearly 12 percent to $11.80. That level would mark the stock's lowest price since roughly June 1991.

Dissident group claims three women ordained as priests

Church calls ceremony invalid


From left, Judy Lee of Florida, Gloria Carpeneto of Maryland, and Gabriella Velardi Ward of New York, during the ceremony in which the Roman Catholic Womenpriests organization said they were ordained as priests.
From left, Judy Lee of Florida, Gloria Carpeneto of Maryland, and Gabriella Velardi Ward of New York, during the ceremony in which the Roman Catholic Womenpriests organization said they were ordained as priests. (Travis Dove for The Boston Globe)

By Michael Paulson
Globe Staff / July 21, 2008

A group advocating for the ordination of women held a ceremony yesterday in a packed Protestant church at which it declared three women to be Catholic priests and a fourth woman to be a deacon.

The ceremony, like several others that have taken place around the world over the past six years, was denounced by the Roman Catholic Church, and critics said the event was a stunt with no religious significance. The Catholic Church has consistently taught that only men can be ordained as priests, and the Archdiocese of Boston said that the women who participated in yesterday's ceremony had automatically excommunicated themselves by participating in what it said was an invalid ordination ceremony.

But the women who participated in the event, along with the several hundred people who spent nearly three hours in the sweltering Church of the Covenant, said they rejected the excommunications and believed that the women had been validly ordained. The women were vested with white chasubles and red stoles and greeted with a standing ovation as they were declared to be priests. They then helped preside over a service at which they declared bread and wine to be consecrated and offered what they called Communion to anyone who wished to receive it.

The ceremony was organized by Roman Catholic Womenpriests, an organization that is not recognized by the Roman Catholic Church. Catholic Church officials say the women are not Catholic, their ordinations are not real, and any sacraments they attempt to celebrate, including yesterday's Eucharist, are invalid.

"The organization calling itself Roman Catholic Womenpriests is not recognized as an entity of the Catholic Church," the Archdiocese of Boston said in a statement Thursday. "Catholics who attempt to confer a sacred order on a woman, and the women who attempt to receive a sacred order, are by their own actions separating themselves from the Church."

The Womenpriests organization says their ordinations are legitimate because Catholic bishops in good standing ordained their first members to become female priests and bishops. Therefore, they argue, the women being ordained can claim apostolic succession, or direct descent from Jesus's apostles.

"Why is Rome so upset about us? Because they know the ordinations are valid," said Bridget Mary Meehan, the spokeswoman for Roman Catholic Womenpriests. "We are not intimidated. We feel so strongly."

The organization has not released the name of the bishops it says consecrated the first women bishops, saying they would face sanction by the Vatican, but says it will release the names once the male bishops die.

C.J. Doyle, of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts, in an e-mail yesterday called the ceremony "a sacrilegious parody of Holy Orders conducted at a Protestant church by a collection of apostates misappropriating the Catholic name." Three women were declared to be priests at the ceremony yesterday: Gloria Carpeneto of Baltimore, Judy Lee of Fort Myers, Fla., and Gabriella Velardi Ward of New York City. A fourth woman, Mary Ann McCarthy Schoettly of Newton, N.J., was declared a deacon.

"I'm feeling such joy, I could rise up," Lee said in an interview after the ceremony. She pointed out that she was wearing a cross from Dignity, an organization of gay Catholics. "I am a priest for the poor and those who live at the margins, and we deserve the full sacraments of the Catholic Church," she said.

The women did not pledge obedience or chastity - the promises made by Roman Catholic priests - and one was introduced to the congregation by her daughter; another by her husband.

The ceremony was presided over by Dana Reynolds of California and Ida Raming of Germany, both of whom have been declared bishops by Roman Catholic Womenpriests. But church officials say the women are neither bishops nor Catholic - that they too have been automatically excommunicated as a result of their actions.

"We know only too well in how many ways Vatican church leaders refuse to acknowledge the equality in Christ that God has established between men and women, and how they constantly try to reimpose the precedence of men over women, which is unchristian," Raming said. "We give witness to the whole world that it is not male gender which is the prerequisite for a valid ordination, but faith and baptism, the foundation of our dignity and equality."

The ceremony was held at the Church of the Covenant, which is affiliated with both the Presbyterian Church and the United Church of Christ. The interim pastor of the church, the Rev. Jennifer Wegter-McNelly, declared the ordination of women "an important part of this church's identity," and said "we stand with you today."

The former president of the Massachusetts conference of the United Church of Christ, the state's largest Protestant denomination, was among several Protestant clergy who attended the ceremony to express their support for the women seeking ordination as Catholic priests.

"Prejudice in liturgical clothing is still prejudice," said the Rev. Nancy S. Taylor, the former conference president, who is now senior minister of Old South Church.

Michael Paulson can be reached at mpaulson@globe.com.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Ron Paul: "Some Big Events Are About To Occur"

Ron Paul's Announcement of the Campaign for Liberty


Ron Paul: "Some Big Events Are About To Occur"

Madam Speaker, I have, for the past 35 years, expressed my grave concern for the future of America . The course we have taken over the past century has threatened our liberties, security and prosperity. In spite of these long-held concerns, I have days-growing more frequent all the time-when I'm convinced the time is now upon us that some Big Events are about to occur. These fast-approaching events will not go unnoticed. They will affect all of us. They will not be limited to just some areas of our country. The world economy and political system will share in the chaos about to be unleashed.
Though the world has long suffered from the senselessness of wars that should have been avoided, my greatest fear is that the course on which we find ourselves will bring even greater conflict and economic suffering to the innocent people of the world-unless we quickly change our ways.
America , with her traditions of free markets and property rights, led the way toward great wealth and progress throughout the world as well as at home. Since we have lost our confidence in the principles of liberty, self reliance, hard work and frugality, and instead took on empire building, financed through inflation and debt, all this has changed. This is indeed frightening and an historic event.
The problem we face is not new in history. Authoritarianism has been around a long time. For centuries, inflation and debt have been used by tyrants to hold power, promote aggression, and provide "bread and circuses" for the people. The notion that a country can afford "guns and butter" with no significant penalty existed even before the 1960s when it became a popular slogan. It was then, though, we were told the Vietnam War and the massive expansion of the welfare state were not problems. The seventies proved that assumption wrong.
Today things are different from even ancient times or the 1970s. There is something to the argument that we are now a global economy. The world has more people and is more integrated due to modern technology, communications, and travel. If modern technology had been used to promote the ideas of liberty, free markets, sound money and trade, it would have ushered in a new golden age-a globalism we could accept.
Instead, the wealth and freedom we now enjoy are shrinking and rest upon a fragile philosophic infrastructure. It is not unlike the levies and bridges in our own country that our system of war and welfare has caused us to ignore.
I'm fearful that my concerns have been legitimate and may even be worse than I first thought. They are now at our doorstep. Time is short for making a course correction before this grand experiment in liberty goes into deep hibernation.
There are reasons to believe this coming crisis is different and bigger than the world has ever experienced. Instead of using globalism in a positive fashion, it's been used to globalize all of the mistakes of the politicians, bureaucrats and central bankers.
Being an unchallenged sole superpower was never accepted by us with a sense of humility and respect. Our arrogance and aggressiveness have been used to promote a world empire backed by the most powerful army of history. This type of globalist intervention creates problems for all citizens of the world and fails to contribute to the well-being of the world's populations. Just think how our personal liberties have been trashed here at home in the last decade.
The financial crisis, still in its early stages, is apparent to everyone: gasoline prices over $4 a gallon; skyrocketing education and medical-care costs; the collapse of the housing bubble; the bursting of the NASDAQ bubble; stock markets plunging; unemployment rising; massive underemployment; excessive government debt; and unmanageable personal debt. Little doubt exists as to whether we'll get stagflation. The question that will soon be asked is: When will the stagflation become an inflationary depression?
There are various reasons that the world economy has been globalized and the problems we face are worldwide. We cannot understand what we're facing without understanding fiat money and the long-developing dollar bubble.
There were several stages. From the inception of the Federal Reserve System in 1913 to 1933, the Central Bank established itself as the official dollar manager. By 1933, Americans could no longer own gold, thus removing restraint on the Federal Reserve to inflate for war and welfare.
By 1945, further restraints were removed by creating the Bretton-Woods Monetary System making the dollar the reserve currency of the world. This system lasted up until 1971. During the period between 1945 and 1971, some restraints on the Fed remained in place. Foreigners, but not Americans, could convert dollars to gold at $35 an ounce. Due to the excessive dollars being created, that system came to an end in 1971.
It's the post Bretton-Woods system that was responsible for globalizing inflation and markets and for generating a gigantic worldwide dollar bubble. That bubble is now bursting, and we're seeing what it's like to suffer the consequences of the many previous economic errors.
Ironically in these past 35 years, we have benefited from this very flawed system. Because the world accepted dollars as if they were gold, we only had to counterfeit more dollars, spend them overseas (indirectly encouraging our jobs to go overseas as well) and enjoy unearned prosperity. Those who took our dollars and gave us goods and services were only too anxious to loan those dollars back to us. This allowed us to export our inflation and delay the consequences we now are starting to see.
But it was never destined to last, and now we have to pay the piper. Our huge foreign debt must be paid or liquidated. Our entitlements are coming due just as the world has become more reluctant to hold dollars. The consequence of that decision is price inflation in this country-and that's what we are witnessing today. Already price inflation overseas is even higher than here at home as a consequence of foreign central banks' willingness to monetize our debt.
Printing dollars over long periods of time may not immediately push prices up-yet in time it always does. Now we're seeing catch-up for past inflating of the monetary supply. As bad as it is today with $4 a gallon gasoline, this is just the beginning. It's a gross distraction to hound away at "drill, drill, drill" as a solution to the dollar crisis and high gasoline prices. Its okay to let the market increase supplies and drill, but that issue is a gross distraction from the sins of deficits and Federal Reserve monetary shenanigans.
This bubble is different and bigger for another reason. The central banks of the world secretly collude to centrally plan the world economy. I'm convinced that agreements among central banks to "monetize" U.S. debt these past 15 years have existed, although secretly and out of the reach of any oversight of anyone-especially the U.S. Congress that doesn't care, or just flat doesn't understand. As this "gift" to us comes to an end, our problems worsen. The central banks and the various governments are very powerful, but eventually the markets overwhelm when the people who get stuck holding the bag (of bad dollars) catch on and spend the dollars into the economy with emotional zeal, thus igniting inflationary fever.
This time-since there are so many dollars and so many countries involved-the Fed has been able to "paper" over every approaching crisis for the past 15 years, especially with Alan Greenspan as Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, which has allowed the bubble to become history's greatest.
The mistakes made with excessive credit at artificially low rates are huge, and the market is demanding a correction. This involves excessive debt, misdirected investments, over-investments, and all the other problems caused by the government when spending the money they should never have had. Foreign militarism, welfare handouts and $80 trillion entitlement promises are all coming to an end. We don't have the money or the wealth-creating capacity to catch up and care for all the needs that now exist because we rejected the market economy, sound money, self reliance and the principles of liberty.
Since the correction of all this misallocation of resources is necessary and must come, one can look for some good that may come as this "Big Event" unfolds.
There are two choices that people can make. The one choice that is unavailable to us is to limp along with the status quo and prop up the system with more debt, inflation and lies. That won't happen.
One of the two choices, and the one chosen so often by government in the past is that of rejecting the principles of liberty and resorting to even bigger and more authoritarian government. Some argue that giving dictatorial powers to the President, just as we have allowed him to run the American empire, is what we should do. That's the great danger, and in this post-911 atmosphere, too many Americans are seeking safety over freedom. We have already lost too many of our personal liberties already. Real fear of economic collapse could prompt central planners to act to such a degree that the New Deal of the 30's might look like Jefferson 's Declaration of Independence.
The more the government is allowed to do in taking over and running the economy, the deeper the depression gets and the longer it lasts. That was the story of the 30s and the early 40s, and the same mistakes are likely to be made again if we do not wake up.
But the good news is that it need not be so bad if we do the right thing. I saw "Something Big" happening in the past 18 months on the campaign trail. I was encouraged that we are capable of waking up and doing the right thing. I have literally met thousands of high school and college kids who are quite willing to accept the challenge and responsibility of a free society and reject the cradle-to-grave welfare that is promised them by so many do-good politicians.
If more hear the message of liberty, more will join in this effort. The failure of our foreign policy, welfare system, and monetary policies and virtually all government solutions are so readily apparent, it doesn't take that much convincing. But the positive message of how freedom works and why it's possible is what is urgently needed.
One of the best parts of accepting self reliance in a free society is that true personal satisfaction with one's own life can be achieved. This doesn't happen when the government assumes the role of guardian, parent or provider, because it eliminates a sense of pride. But the real problem is the government can't provide the safety and economic security that it claims. The so called good that government claims it can deliver is always achieved at the expense of someone else's freedom. It's a failed system and the young people know it.
Restoring a free society doesn't eliminate the need to get our house in order and to pay for the extravagant spending. But the pain would not be long-lasting if we did the right things, and best of all the empire would have to end for financial reasons. Our wars would stop, the attack on civil liberties would cease, and prosperity would return. The choices are clear: it shouldn't be difficult, but the big event now unfolding gives us a great opportunity to reverse the tide and resume the truly great American Revolution started in 1776. Opportunity knocks in spite of the urgency and the dangers we face.
Let's make "Something Big Is Happening" be the discovery that freedom works and is popular and the big economic and political event we're witnessing is a blessing in disguise.

SOURCE: House.gov/Paul

Source: http://gcnlive.com/NewsStory/RonPaul.html

Top Bosnian Serb war crimes fugitive Karadzic arrested

Tue Jul 22, 2008 5:27am BST


By Ellie Tzortzi and Daria Sito-Sucic

BELGRADE/SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Bosnian Serb wartime president Radovan Karadzic, wanted for planning and ordering Europe's worst atrocities since World War Two, has been arrested after 11 years on the run.

"Karadzic was located and arrested," President Boris Tadic said in a terse statement on Monday night that Bosnian Muslims had begun to despair of ever hearing.

It brought people out in the night onto the streets of Sarajevo, the city his troops shelled mercilessly during a 43-month siege, to celebrate the capture of the man charged with authorising the slaughter of 11,000 of their fellow citizens.

"I called and woke up my whole family," said Sarajevo resident Fadil Bico, as cars streamed through the streets honking horns and Bosnian state radio played excerpts of Karadzic's wartime hate speeches.

Serbian government sources said Karadzic had been under surveillance in Serbia for several weeks, after a tip-off from a foreign intelligence service.

He did not resist arrest, they said. His lawyer, Svetozar Vujacic, told reporters Karadzic was arrested on Friday night, while taking a bus between two suburbs of Belgrade, and had been held for three days before the announcement.

His arrest was one of the main conditions of Serbian progress towards European Union (EU) membership, which most of its people desire.

Richard Holbrooke, former U.S. Balkan troubleshooter during the wars of the 1990s' described Karadzic as the Osama bin Laden of Europe," a real, true architect of mass murder". Continued...