Saturday, November 08, 2008

Keep The Faith (Upcoming Events)


Current Events



November 13, 2008 — December 8, 2008
Rio de Janeiro, Fortaleza, Sao Paulo, & Cochabamba
Brazil & Bolivia

December 13, 2008 — December 14, 2008
Pentiction, British Colombia
Canada

December 12, 2008 — December 14, 2008
Croton, OH
Lighthouse Church

December 31, 2008 — December 31, 2008
Australia
Australia



In Some Nations, People Look to Obama as President of the World


President-elect Barack Obama is being embraced worldwide as a symbol of a new beginning for international relations.


FOXNews.com
Thursday, November 06, 2008


Barack Obama's election on Tuesday set off international celebrations and ignited a fervor for the United States that has been unseen since the days immediately following the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.

To some observers, the international reaction has elevated America's president-elect to an unparalleled post: president of the world.

In Kenya, where Obama's father was born, a national holiday was declared on Thursday. In Indonesia, children danced at the school Obama attended when he was a young boy, embracing him as much for what he represents abroad as for the policies he advocates at home.

Click here to see photos of celebrations around the world.

"People from all over Africa, especially in Kenya, where this is a holiday, are feeling that the most powerful person in the world does not have to be a white guy. That's a huge breakthrough for the United States and for humanity," said Walter Russell Mead, the Henry A. Kissinger senior fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations.

"This is the fall of the Berlin Wall times ten," Rama Yade, France's junior minister for human rights, told French radio. "On this morning, we all want to be American, so we can take a bite of this dream unfolding before our eyes."

America's popularity abroad waned dramatically during the Bush administration, and some voters expressed hopes that in electing Obama, they could restore the country's image. The wave of good feelings since Tuesday night suggests that even before taking office, Obama has made substantial inroads.

"This may be the beginning of a new world. It marks the end of old elites and opens the door for new approaches worldwide," an Israeli man in his mid-50s said in Tel Aviv.

Foreign observers, who paid rapt attention during the long election season, are taking a personal stake in the outcome of a vote a world away. Expectations are high for the 47-year-old Obama, who will take over on January 20 amid a financial collapse and who will preside over two wars on his first day in office.

"The standing of everybody in the world is going to be affected by what President Obama does or doesn't do," said Mead, noting that all eyes will be looking to the new president for a way out of the global financial crisis.

In the Muslim world, the response has been mixed. A journalist with a pan-Arab news channel told FOX News that on election night, workers were going around the newsroom congratulating each other, as if Obama were their president-elect.

Iraqis have expressed skepticism that any rapid changes will come as a result of the election, but many see their fates ineluctably tied to Obama's foreign policy. "By God, the new American President Obama has promised to pull the troops out. This is in the best interest of the Iraqi people," said one Baghdadi.

Arab heads of state have been more circumspect, waiting to see whether Obama's Mideast policy will depart significantly from that of the Bush administration, and some newspapers in the Arab world have openly announced their distrust of the president-elect.

"There is no significant difference between Obama and McCain. They disagree only on the means to achieve America's chief goal, which is to rule for another hundred years," said an editorial in the Saudi daily Al-Watan, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute, which monitors the Arab press.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad congratulated Obama Thursday for his win -- the first time an Iranian leader has welcomed an incoming president since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. And some Iranians, speaking to FOX News, said they were excited by the prospect of the coming administration.

"I want to congratulate you on Barack Obama's victory that really turned a new chapter in the world's history -- that an African-American man, decent and intelligent, became president of the world," one Iranian said.

"This was done in America. Your nation has the credit for it."

Not all observers expect this world embrace to be long-lasting. "I think overseas, as at home, opinion over the longer term will depend on what he actually does," said John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Obama was issued an early challenge Wednesday, as Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered the deployment of short-range missiles near his country's border with Poland.

"Those who have issues with us are certainly not giving him a honeymoon," Bolton said of Russia's action, which may have been intended to send a cold word of welcome to Obama and to test his resolve.

Russian citizens, too, have been wary in their evaluation of the next president.

"I don't think he can really become the world political leader," said Tatyana Solomonova, a real estate agent in Moscow. "The fact that he's black can be an obstacle -- there's still a lot of racism in the world, in Europe and Russia too. I think he can take a leading role in the Western hemisphere, but not in this part of the world."

In Moscow Thursday, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who has a history of controversial remarks, was asked by a reporter about the prospect for U.S.-Russian relations after Berlusconi met with Medvedev.

Berlusconi responded by saying that the relative youth of Medvedev, 43, and Obama should make it easier for Moscow and Washington to work together.

Then he said, smiling: "I told the president that [Obama] has everything needed in order to reach deals with him: he's young, handsome and even tanned."

Italian news agencies said Berlusconi later defended his remark, calling the statement "a great compliment."

"Why are they taking it as something negative? ... If they have the vice of not having a sense of humor, worse for them," the ANSA news agency quoted him as saying.

But Italy's only black lawmaker, Jean-Leonard Touadi, called the comment embarrassing.

"In the United States, a joke like that wouldn't just be politically incorrect, but a great offense to this amazing example of integration, which it seems the Italian premier should take as an example," Touadi said.

For good or ill, all eyes are now on Obama.

"Not everybody is going to get what they want, but this is a moment of hope," said Mead, who added that Obama was sure to fall short of some expectations.

"If you look at Jesus Christ, he walked on water and fed the 5,000 and he ended up getting crucified, so I think it's not unlikely that President-elect Obama is gonna disappoint some people also."

FOX News' Dasha Bond, Courtney Kealy, Reena Ninan and Amy Kellogg contributed to this report.

Art thou the King of the Jews?


1And the whole multitude of them arose, and led him unto Pilate.

2And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a King.

3And Pilate asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And he answered him and said, Thou sayest it.

4Then said Pilate to the chief priests and to the people, I find no fault in this man.

5And they were the more fierce, saying, He stirreth up the people, teaching throughout all Jewry, beginning from Galilee to this place.

6When Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked whether the man were a Galilaean.

7And as soon as he knew that he belonged unto Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who himself also was at Jerusalem at that time.

8And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad: for he was desirous to see him of a long season, because he had heard many things of him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him.

9Then he questioned with him in many words; but he answered him nothing.

10And the chief priests and scribes stood and vehemently accused him.

11And Herod with his men of war set him at nought, and mocked him, and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, and sent him again to Pilate.

12And the same day Pilate and Herod were made friends together: for before they were at enmity between themselves.

13And Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people,

14Said unto them, Ye have brought this man unto me, as one that perverteth the people: and, behold, I, having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye accuse him:

15No, nor yet Herod: for I sent you to him; and, lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto him.

16I will therefore chastise him, and release him.

17(For of necessity he must release one unto them at the feast.)

18And they cried out all at once, saying, Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas:

19(Who for a certain sedition made in the city, and for murder, was cast into prison.)

20Pilate therefore, willing to release Jesus, spake again to them.

21But they cried, saying, Crucify him, crucify him.

22And he said unto them the third time, Why, what evil hath he done? I have found no cause of death in him: I will therefore chastise him, and let him go.

23And they were instant with loud voices, requiring that he might be crucified. And the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed.

24And Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required.

25And he released unto them him that for sedition and murder was cast into prison, whom they had desired; but he delivered Jesus to their will.

26And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus.

27And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him.

28But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children.

29For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck.

30Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us.

31For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?


32And there were also two other, malefactors, led with him to be put to death.

33And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.

34Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.

35And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God.

36And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, and offering him vinegar,

37And saying, If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself.

38And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

39And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.

40But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?

41And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss.

42And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.

43And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.

44And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.

45And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.

46And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.

47Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man.

48And all the people that came together to that sight, beholding the things which were done, smote their breasts, and returned.

49And all his acquaintance, and the women that followed him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these things.

50And, behold, there was a man named Joseph, a counsellor; and he was a good man, and a just:

51(The same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them;) he was of Arimathaea, a city of the Jews: who also himself waited for the kingdom of God.

52This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus.

53And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid.

54And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on.

55And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid.

56And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.


Luke 23

Friday, November 07, 2008

The Gay Mafia That's Redefining Liberal Politics


Illustration by C.J. Burton for TIME


By John Cloud / Beverly Hills Friday, Oct. 31, 2008


A few weeks before Virginia's legislative elections in 2005, a researcher working on behalf of a clandestine group of wealthy, gay political donors telephoned a Virginia legislator named Adam Ebbin. Then, as now, Ebbin was the only openly gay member of the state's general assembly. The researcher wanted Ebbin's advice on how the men he represented could spend their considerable funds to help defeat anti-gay Virginia politicians.


More Related
The Episcopal Property War
Mark Warner
American Notes

Ebbin, a Democrat who is now 44, was happy to oblige. (Full disclosure: in the mid-'90s, Ebbin and I knew each other briefly as colleagues; he sold ads for Washington City Paper, a weekly where I was a reporter.) Using Ebbin's expertise, the gay donors — none of whom live in Virginia — began contributing to certain candidates in the state. There were five benefactors: David Bohnett of Beverly Hills, Calif., who in 1999 sold the company he had co-founded, Geo-Cities, to Yahoo! in a deal worth $5 billion on the day it was announced; Timothy Gill of Denver, another tech multimillionaire; James Hormel of San Francisco, grandson of George, who founded the famous meat company; Jon Stryker of Kalamazoo, Mich., the billionaire grandson of the founder of medical-technology giant Stryker Corp.; and Henry van Ameringen, whose father Arnold Louis van Ameringen started a Manhattan-based import company that later became the mammoth International Flavors & Fragrances.

The five men spent $138,000 in Virginia that autumn, according to state records compiled by the nonprofit Virginia Public Access Project. Of that, $48,000 went directly to the candidates Ebbin recommended. Ebbin got $45,000 for his PAC, the Virginia Progress Fund, so he could give to the candidates himself. Another $45,000 went to Equality Virginia, a gay-rights group that was putting money into many of the same races.

On Election Day that year, the Virginia legislature stayed solidly in Republican hands; the Democratic Party netted just one seat. But that larger outcome masked an intriguing development: anti-gay conservatives had suffered considerably. For instance, in northern Virginia, a Democrat named Charles Caputo (who received $6,500 from Ebbin's PAC) had beaten a Christian youth minister, Chris Craddock, by an unexpectedly large margin, with a vote of 56% to 41%. Three other candidates critical of gays were also defeated, including delegate Richard Black, who had long opposed gay equality in Richmond. Black had had no single donation as large as the $20,000 that Ebbin's PAC gave his opponent. "This was my ninth election campaign, and it wasn't unusual to have homosexuals involved," says Black, who now practices law. "But it was different, certainly, in degree. There had not been a concerted influx of money from homosexuals as a group before."

The group that donated the money to use against Black and the others is known as the Cabinet, although you won't find that name on a letterhead or even on the Internet. Aside from Bohnett, 52; Gill, 55; Hormel, 75; Stryker, 50; and Van Ameringen, 78, the other members of the Cabinet are Jonathan Lewis (49-year-old grandson of Joseph, co-founder of Progressive Insurance) and Linda Ketner, 58, heiress to the Food Lion fortune, who is running for Congress against GOP Representative Henry Brown Jr. of South Carolina.

Ketner's is something of a long-shot bid — her district has been reliably Republican for years — but recently Congressional Quarterly described her "suddenly strong run" against Brown as "the biggest surprise" in this year's House races. Ketner, who was invited to join the all-male Cabinet as a way of diversifying it, declined to discuss her role in the group.

Among gay activists, the Cabinet is revered as a kind of secret gay Super Friends, a homosexual justice league that can quietly swoop in wherever anti-gay candidates are threatening and finance victories for the good guys. Rumors abound in gay political circles about the group's recondite influence; some of the rumors are even true. For instance, the Cabinet met in California last year with two sitting governors, Brian Schweitzer of Montana and Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas, both Democrats; political advisers who work for the Cabinet met with a third Democratic governor, Wisconsin's Jim Doyle. The Cabinet has also funded a secretive organization called the Movement Advancement Project (MAP), which a veteran lesbian activist describes as the "Gay IRS." MAP keeps tabs on the major gay organizations to make sure they are operating efficiently. The October 2008 MAP report notes, for example, that the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force fails to meet Better Business Bureau standards for limiting overhead expenses.


See TIME's Pictures of the Week.

See pictures of how Obama's election energized the heart of the civil rights movement.



Obama's Birth Certificate Gadfly




Obama's Birth Certificate Gadfly


Democratic nominee Barack Obama is still in the fight with John McCain, but it appears that he has managed to beat one foe: Philadelphia attorney Philip J. Berg. Berg is not running for political office, though. He has tried to use the U.S. Supreme Court to call off today's election so that it can hear, on appeals, his already-dismissed claims that Obama is not a native-born U.S. citizen and is thus ineligible for the presidency.


Berg claims that Obama's birth certificate is a forgery, and that the senator was in fact born in Kenya. He makes these claims despite the fact that there is already a birth certificate with Obama's name on it that shows he was born in Hawaii. Still, Berg is unswayed. "That document is a forgery," he says. "Our experts have determined it's non-valid."


Most other experts differ with Berg. Snopes.com debunked Berg's claim, saying that it would make little sense for Obama to base his entire candidacy on a lie that is easily checked simply by examining state health records. Factcheck.org went even further, claiming that its researchers have seen, touched, examined and photographed the original birth certificate and have found nothing amiss.


Berg responds that Factcheck.org is suspect because it is owned by a group called Annenberg of Chicago. Adding insult to injury, he noted, it was on the board of this very firm that Obama sat with the now infamous William Ayers. So the fix is in.


Annenberg of Chicago has no website, and a phone number reached through information was disconnected. A message left with the Annenberg Public Policy Center was not returned by press time.


As for Snopes.com, it is also part of the problem, as it is also simply saying the forged birth certificate is legit, Berg says. "They're all playing on the same document."


Of course, even if the Supreme Court fails to return Berg's calls, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has already weighed in on Berg v. Obama. It dismissed Berg’s case on October 24, despite his pleas that Obama's nominee status will result in "irreparable harm to the Plaintiff and other 'Democratic Americans.'" In its 34 page decision, the court called Berg's case "frivolous and not worthy of discussion."
--David Serchuk













Emanuel tied to Freddie Mac collapse; Update: The numbers for Emanuel


posted at 11:30 am on November 7, 2008 by Ed Morrissey

During the campaign, Barack Obama had to fight off assertions that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae had him in their pocket while the two GSEs committed fraud and declined to their collapse. Obama didn’t help that perception when he chose Jim Johnson, Fannie Mae’s former CEO and chair, as the leader of his VP search committee, a position Johnson resigned shortly afterwards. Now ABC reports that Obama’s new chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, sat on the board of Freddie Mac during the critical period:


President-elect Barack Obama’s newly appointed chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, served on the board of directors of the federal mortgage firm Freddie Mac at a time when scandal was brewing at the troubled agency and the board failed to spot “red flags,” according to government reports reviewed by ABCNews.com.


According to a complaint later filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Freddie Mac, known formally as the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, misreported profits by billions of dollars in order to deceive investors between the years 2000 and 2002.


Emanuel was not named in the SEC complaint (click here to read) but the entire board was later accused by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) (click here to read) of having “failed in its duty to follow up on matters brought to its attention.”


Emanuel’s action, or lack of it, came during a time when the SEC says Freddie Mac misrepresented its income to investors in order to maintain its price. In other words, they committed fraud. The SEC specifically notes that Freddie did this in 2000, 2001, and 2002, and Emanuel sat on the board in 2000-2001.


This is no small matter. Had this happened when Sarbanes-Oxley was in effect, Emanuel would have had to sign off on those numbers under penalty of perjury. He could be liable for criminal prosecution. As it is, his actions and omissions as a board member may still result in civil and criminal liability, if the SEC discovers that he had a hand in the fraud committed at Freddie Mac, or if Emanuel knew about it and failed to act to stop it.


For an incoming administration that ran on cleaning up the greed on Wall Street, the selection of Emanuel speaks a lot louder than any campaign promises. One might think that anyone who sat on the boards of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac while the two GSEs cooked the books and set the stage for global financial collapse should at least be considered political poison for any appointment, let alone one as significant as White House Chief of Staff — if nothing else, then at least on the basis of competence. Instead, it looks like Obama is bringing the Chicago Way to Pennsylvania Avenue.


Hope and change, indeed.


Update: Business & Media Institute notes the numbers on Emanuel and Freddie Mac:


“Clinton’s going-away gift to Emanuel was a seat on the quasi-governmental Freddie Mac board, which paid him $231,655 in director’s fees in 2001 and $31,060 in 2000,” Lynn Sweet wrote for the Chicago Sun-Times on Jan. 3, 2002.


During the time Emanuel spent on the board, Freddie Mac was plagued with scandal involving campaign contributions and accounting irregularities. Freddie Mac and its sister organization Fannie Mae were taken over by the federal government in September 2008 after years of mismanagement and scandal. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson put the two beleaguered GSEs into a conservatorship, stripping common stock shareholders of their rights to govern the companies. …


“Freddie Mac was accused of illegally using corporate resources between 2000 and 2003 for 85 fundraisers that collected about $1.7 million for federal candidates,” an Associated Press story from April 18, 2006 said. “Much of the fundraising benefited members of the House Financial Services Committee, a panel whose decisions can affect Freddie Mac.”


And, since his successful run for the House of Representatives in 2002, Emanuel has been the beneficiary of campaign cash from Freddie Mac and its sister organization Fannie Mae – $51,750 according to the Center for Responsive Politics Web site OpenSecrets.org.


That’s certainly something to keep in mind while recalling the promises by Barack Obama to change the way business gets conducted in Washington.



Demise of Same-Sex Weddings Disheartens Businesses


Jim Wilson/The New York Times
Kard Zone, a card shop in the Castro district of San Francisco, displayed items that had been popular with gay couples.



By JESSE McKINLEY
Published: November 6, 2008



SAN FRANCISCO — A week before Election Day, Christopher Burnett’s floral shop filled an order for one of the many same-sex weddings he has worked in the last five months: eight corsages, a dozen boutonnieres and two bouquets for the two brides, each with three dozen roses.


Related
Bans in 3 States on Gay Marriage (November 6, 2008)




Now, Mr. Burnett said, since Tuesday’s voter approval of Proposition 8, which amended the state’s Constitution to recognize only marriages between men and women, that type of business is gone.

“I have done a gay wedding every week,” he said. “And so it’s very disheartening, because other business is very slow.”

Even as opponents of the measure officially conceded defeat on Thursday, California business owners — particularly those in the marriage business — were trying to determine how many wedding cakes would now go unsold and how many tuxedos unrented.

Arturo Cobos, a manager at Kard Zone in the city’s traditionally gay Castro neighborhood, said he had done “big sales” of same-sex wedding cards and other trinkets since marriages began in June, but had recently stopped stocking new goods.

“We were afraid that they would pass Proposition 8,” Mr. Bobos said, “and that’s exactly what happened.”

In Palm Springs, another gay-friendly city, Mayor Steve Pougnet said he had performed 115 same-sex weddings since June, when such ceremonies began, some of which had as many as 180 guests. By contrast, this week the city has canceled eight planned ceremonies.

“That’s a huge economic impact, which is gone in these difficult economic times,” said Mr. Pougnet, who is openly gay and married his partner in September.

Another mayor, Gavin Newsom of San Francisco, was blunt.

“It’s a great day for Massachusetts,” Mr. Newsom said, referring to one of only two remaining states to allow same-sex marriage. The other, Connecticut, legalized such unions in October.

The approval of Proposition 8 comes even as the state is suffering through another bout of bad economic news. On Thursday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who opposed Proposition 8, in part on economic grounds, announced that the state’s budget deficit had already swelled to $11.2 billion for the coming year, and called the Legislature back into session and proposed higher taxes to address the budget problems.

David Paisley, a San Francisco-based marketing executive with a specialty in gay tourism, said California had four of the nation’s top 10 destinations for gay travelers: San Francisco, Palm Springs, Los Angeles and San Diego.

Mr. Paisley said that it was too early to speculate on the exact economic impact of Proposition 8, but that some public relations damage might have already been done.

“California has always been perceived on the vanguard of gay-friendly destinations,” he said. “Well, when a ballot measure passes says it’s not, it’s terrible publicity for gay and lesbian tourism.”

Frank Schubert, the campaign manager for Protect Marriage, the leading group behind Proposition 8, said any potential impact, or the specter of bad press, was overstated.

“This is an issue of restoring the institution of marriage as it always existed,” said Mr. Schubert, noting that same-sex marriage had only briefly been legal. “I can’t imagine that returning to the history of 4,000 years before that is going to cause an economic upheaval.”

In June, the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, which studies sexual orientation and the law, estimated that legalizing same-sex ceremonies in the state would result in about $63.8 million in government tax and fee revenue over three years.

Several civil rights and gay rights groups said Thursday that they had asked the State Supreme Court, which legalized same-sex marriage in May, to bar the carrying out of Proposition 8, which went into effect as soon as the result of the referendum was known. San Francisco tourism officials, meanwhile, said they would continue to push the city as a destination for “commitment ceremonies and other celebrations of partnership.”

All of which gave a small measure of hope to merchants like Mr. Burnett, who said he would miss the extra work. “Unless,” he said, “we get gay marriages back.”

Rebecca Cathcart contributed reporting from Los Angeles.

More Articles in US » A version of this article appeared in print on November 7, 2008, on page A20 of the New York edition.


Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/us/07marriage.html?hp

Wal-Mart Reports October Sales



Last update: 7:15 a.m. EST Nov. 6, 2008
BENTONVILLE, Ark., Nov 06, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (WMT:Wal-Mart Stores, Inc
News, chart, profile, more
Last: 54.23+0.74+1.38%

11:50am 11/07/2008

Delayed quote dataAdd to portfolio
Analyst
Create alertInsider
Discuss
Financials
Sponsored by:
WMT 54.23, +0.74, +1.4%) reported net sales for the four- and 39-week periods ending Oct. 31, 2008, and Nov. 2, 2007, respectively, as follows (dollars in billions).

Net Sales
4 Weeks Ended 39 Weeks Ended
10/31/ 11/2/ Percent 10/31/ 11/2/ Percent
2008 2007 Change 2008 2007 Change

Walmart U.S. $18.362 $17.438 5.3% $183.485 $172.182 6.6%
Sam's Club 3.443 3.296 4.5% 34.882 32.540 7.2%
International (Note 1) 6.760 7.186 -5.9% 73.570 64.916 13.3%
Total Company $28.565 $27.920 2.3% $291.937 $269.638 8.3%




On a constant currency basis -- without the effect of foreign exchange rate fluctuations -- total International sales increased 8.9 percent for the four-week period. The sharp strengthening of the U.S. dollar against most currencies during the October period reduced Wal-Mart International's reported U.S. dollar sales by 14.8 percentage points for that period. Constant currency is the current period's local currency sales translated into U.S. dollars at the exchange rate in effect for the comparable prior year period.
Comparable store sales for the four- and 39-week periods ending Oct. 31, 2008, and Nov. 2, 2007, respectively, appear below.


Four Weeks Comparable Store Sales
Without Fuel With Fuel Fuel Impact
10/31/ 11/2/ 10/31/ 11/2/ 10/31/ 11/2/
2008 2007 2008 2007 2008 2007

Walmart U.S. 2.2% 0.0% 2.2% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
Sam's Club 3.6% 2.7% 4.0% 4.2% 0.4% 1.5%
Total U.S. 2.4% 0.4% 2.5% 0.7% 0.1% 0.3%


Thirty-nine Weeks Comparable Store Sales
Without Fuel With Fuel Fuel Impact
10/31/ 11/2/ 10/31/ 11/2/ 10/31/ 11/2/
2008 2007 2008 2007 2008 2007

Walmart U.S. 2.9% 0.7% 2.9% 0.7% 0.0% 0.0%
Sam's Club 3.5% 4.8% 6.4% 4.8% 2.9% 0.0%
Total U.S. 3.0% 1.4% 3.4% 1.4% 0.4% 0.0%




Walmart U.S.
Walmart's focus on price leadership resulted in positive comparable store traffic for the four-week October period. Traffic driving initiatives were led this month by the seasonal presentation of Halloween merchandise across multiple categories in the entire store.
"Customer comparable traffic is higher and our seasonal merchandising events are delivering improved sales," said Eduardo Castro-Wright, Walmart U.S. president and chief executive officer. "Highly competitive pricing, especially on basics throughout the store, is driving these results."
Walmart's latest marketing campaign, which includes a series of television commercials, is resonating with customers trying to stretch their budgets. One spot, for example, shows that a family of four can save $700 a year by shopping for groceries at Walmart.
"We see more customers shopping more often at Walmart," Castro-Wright added. "Customers see that we are broadening the price gap against our competitors. They saw it during the Halloween season and they will continue to see it during the Christmas shopping season."
In a separate news release issued this morning, Walmart U.S. announced price rollbacks across all categories in the store that could save customers an additional $200 million during the next seven weeks.
Sam's Club
Sales at Sam's Club during the October period continued to be driven by strengths in fresh food, dry grocery and consumables. Produce, meat, baby care and pets were stand out categories. Weaker categories included electronics, jewelry and home-related products. Halloween inventory sold through well and at a higher rate than last year. Traffic and ticket were up for both Business and Advantage members.
"We introduced the October Savings Challenge program to show current and prospective members how much they can save by shopping at Sam's Club based on their own purchasing patterns," said Doug McMillon, Sam's Club president and chief executive officer. "In connection with this, we also offered a 10-week membership for $10 that added incrementally to membership with no significant impact on the trend of new regular one-year memberships."
Sam's Club fuel sales increased both in dollars and gallons sold. The retail price of fuel moderated during the period and finished the month at a level lower than in the October period last year. As a result, the fuel impact on comparable club sales was 0.4 percent for the four-week period, significantly less than the 2.9-percent fuel impact for the year-to-date period. The retail price of fuel is lower than the year-to-date average, which also impacted the Sam's Club total net sales increase for the period.
Wal-Mart International
"Economic conditions around the world continue to put pressure on consumers," said Mike Duke, vice chairman, Wal-Mart International. "While this is impacting our and other businesses, we are uniquely positioned by our stability and every day low price strategy to help customers in these difficult times. This is reflected in our sales results, on a constant currency basis."
In the October period, sales results were significantly impacted by the strengthening U.S. dollar. Results from each country are discussed on a constant currency basis, before any impact from exchange rates.
In a difficult economic environment in the United Kingdom, ASDA had another strong month as a result of increased customer count and ticket. Comparable store sales were strongest in grocery and clothing. In general merchandise, sales of Halloween merchandise were ahead of expectations.
Hypermarkets and the Maxxi cash-and-carry business led Wal-Mart Brazil to a mid single digit real comparable store sales increase. Pharmacy, electronics and computer sales performed well in October.
The supercentre expansion program, which added two more openings in Ontario, fueled high single digit sales growth at Wal-Mart Canada. Comparable store sales there were in the low single digits, as a result of increased average ticket and electronics and food sales.
Higher average ticket pushed Wal-Mart China comparable store sales to the mid single digits. Trust-Mart comparable store sales were in the low single digits, driven by increased customer count.
At Seiyu in Japan, comparable store sales were in the negative mid single digits. While food sales were down, certain food categories were up due to improved pricing and higher sales of Great Value brand items. Consumables increased in the mid single digits, driven by a continued shift to every day low pricing.
The economic slowdown continued to impact sales in Mexico, where nominal comparable store sales were 0.4 percent lower. The strongest performances came from Bodega Aurrera and Sam's Club, with continued weakness in the discretionary spending formats, Suburbia and Vips.
Guidance
"The Company expects U.S. comparable store sales for the four-week November period to be between one and three percent," said Tom Schoewe, executive vice president and chief financial officer. "Our underlying business in the United States and around the world remains strong. While there remain some uncertainties with the global economy, we believe falling gas prices could help customers as we enter this holiday season."
The November period runs from Saturday, Nov. 1 through Friday, Nov. 28, 2008, and includes one less week of post-Thanksgiving Christmas shopping due to the later occurrence of Thanksgiving this year. Ninety of the 3,491 Walmart U.S. stores and all 599 U.S. Sam's Clubs will be closed on Thanksgiving.
Wal-Mart will announce earnings results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2009 on Nov. 13, 2008.
Note 1: The Company's operations in Argentina, Brazil, China, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua and the United Kingdom are consolidated for financial reporting purposes using a Dec. 31 fiscal year-end, generally due to statutory reporting requirements. The Company's operations in Canada and Puerto Rico are consolidated using a Jan. 31 fiscal year-end.
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. operates Walmart discount stores, supercenters, Neighborhood Markets and Sam's Club locations in the United States. The Company operates in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom and, through a joint venture, in India. The Company's common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol WMT. More information about Wal-Mart can be found by visiting http://www.walmartstores.com. Online merchandise sales are available at http://www.walmart.com and http://www.samsclub.com.
This release contains statements that Wal-Mart believes are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended, and that are intended to enjoy the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements provided by that act. These forward-looking statements relate to our management's expectations regarding customers continuing to see a broadening price gap between the Company and its competitors during the Christmas shopping season, and our management's expectations for our comparable store sales in the United States for the November four-week reporting period to end November 28, 2008. These statements are identified by use of the words "will continue" and "expects" in the statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, domestically and internationally, including general economic conditions, the availability of consumer credit, consumer spending patterns and debt levels, unemployment levels, fuel prices, inflation levels, weather conditions, competitive pressures and other risks. The Company discusses certain of these matters and other risk factors more fully in its filings with the SEC, including its most recent annual report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC. This release should be read in conjunction with that annual report on Form 10-K and certain other Company filings with the SEC through the date of this release. The Company urges you to consider all of these risks, uncertainties and other factors carefully in evaluating the forward-looking statements made in this release and not to place undue reliance on such statements. As a result of these and other matters, including changes in facts, assumptions not being realized or other circumstances, our actual results may differ materially from those discussed in such forward- looking statements. The forward-looking statements included in this release are made only as of the date of this release, and we undertake no obligation to update such statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.
SOURCE Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
http://www.walmartstores.com

Copyright (C) 2008 PR Newswire. All rights reserved

SOURCE Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. http://www.walmartstores.com/


Source: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Wal-Mart-Reports-October-Sales/story.aspx?guid=%7B429A30AF-0385-46A6-B839-B6EF101990B2%7D

Walmart destroying jobs since 1950


Change


BARACK OBAMA - THE WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING



by THEYLIVE2012
February 16, 2008


I was getting curious as to why Obama, has been dethroning the heir apparent, Hillary Clinton, and gaining such a wide following. You can't even turn on the news without seeing his face blasted on every news channel.


A man who can mesmerize the masses, talking of standing up to organized money, to lobbyists, special interests, but his whole political apparatus is made of members of the same globalist organizations that most of Bush's administration is made up of, except this time the stated agenda is CHANGE & YES WE CAN


The mantle is being passed, and it seems that Henry Kissinger's associate, and one worlder Zbigniew Brzezinski, along with David Rockefeller, the co-founders/directors of the Trilateral Commission, a group an institution that openly declares itself a supranational government on their website, is going to have their very own puppet to play with, as well as massive powers that Bush signed onto.


The change that is coming, comes in the form of doubled foreign aid, carbon taxes, poverty taxes in the form of 0.7% of the GDP, and that's just for starters, increasing the size of the military, expanding the theatres of operations, the expansion of surveillance... who even knows what will happen between now and then


The open dismantling of the US, the merging of the North American Union, and really the dawn of the RFID tracking age. A President of the world's dying superpower will have to oversee the transition into biometric scanning and a cashless society


Do you think anyone will by it from Bush? Of course not, but you can be absolutely sure Obama will sell this system to everyone, and grab those guns as fast as he can.


I've spent much time watching his speeches, listening to his words, watching his mannerisms, bringing crowds to fever pitch frenzy, with a media campaign behind him that no money can buy, thanks to links and connections that almost ensure his victory as Democratic nominee, having Hilary retain a Dick Cheney type position.


If you think you put up with tyranny under the Bush administration, you can just imagine what's ahead...


TO THOSE WHO THINK I'M PRO-MCCAIN, I BELIEVE THAT ALBINO NUTJOB IS JUST AS BAD, IF NOT WORSE THAN OBAMA, AND THAT'S HOW THE HAND IS PLAYED, CALLING FOR ENDLESS WAR, 100 YEARS IN IRAQ JUST TO ASSURE THAT THE PUBLIC GETS OBAMA...

CAN'T YOU SPOT A FALL GUY WHEN YOU SEE ONE?



The Parable of the Rich Man Whose ground brought forth plentifully


13And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me.

14And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?

15And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.

16And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:

17And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?

18And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.

19And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.

20But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?

21So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.


Luke 12: 13-21

Thursday, November 06, 2008

How The New World Order Is Being Plotted In Secret


by Alan Adaschik

July/03/2007

from TheFreePressOnLine Website


The New World Order (NWO) is presently dissolving our borders, forming a common economic union between Mexico, Canada, and the United States, and fighting a war of subjugation in Iraq with our troops and resources.



As Bob Dylan said, “The times they are a’changin” and unfortunately, what’s changing is how we are governed. Most Americans are unaware of what is happening and even more incredibly, of those in the know, many condone and support what is being done. I do not and this is why I sit at this keyboard trying to wake people up.

Americans take pride in our government. This is because the government we think we have is something to be proud of. However, the simple truth of the matter is that we no longer have the government we think we have and instead, have something that is the brainchild of the New World Order. This here-to-fore secret organization has placed our present government under the thumb of their new government and by so doing, has turned the government we have into a figment of what it once was.



The question is should we be proud of our new government and pledge allegiance to it?



My answer to both of these questions is no and in case you fail to get my drift, let me state for the record that I am an American who is ashamed of the kind of government we have and also ashamed of my fellow Americans who by living in denial are unwitting participants in our subjugation and enslavement.

The problem is that the NWO, up to recently, has planned and plotted in secret. Fortunately, this has changed and we now know a lot more about who they are and what they are trying to accomplish.



Recently, David Rockefeller, a NWO principle and founder went public with the following statement.

“We are grateful to the Washington Post, the New York Times, Time Magazine and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost forty years. It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subjected to the light of publicity during those years.



But now the world is more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government. The supra-national sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national auto-determination practiced in past centuries.”

The “we” David Rockefeller refers to is the New World Order.



Let’s not mince words here. If you wish to choose another name for what Mr. Rockefeller is talking about then you are free to do so, but whatever you call this fledging world government it should be clear that David Rockefeller has assured us that one exists.



This much is certain and now that one of the NWO’s founders has let the cat out of the bag, we also know the following:

The leadership of the New World Order has met in secret for almost forty years to develop their plan to rule the world.

The Directors of major news publications of our main stream media have attended these meeting and failed to report what was going on to the American people.

If the American people had been aware of what was going on, they would have been opposed to the decisions being made and stopped these changes from happening.

A world dictatorship of the moneyed elite is a superior to democracy.

Mr. Rockefeller’s words tell us a lot about the New World Order and it should be evident that the government we are talking about is peopled by unelected individuals who rule for life.



This being the case, two issues are of concern; what is the nature and character of the government under question and what is the nature and character of the people we are talking about. If we are stuck with this government and these individuals for the foreseeable future, knowing its nature and their character is very important.

The first thing evident is that our NWO masters have an ego problem.



They think having unconscionable amounts of money makes them better than everyone else and even more incomprehensibly, they think that it bestows upon them a special right to rule the world. However, the situation is far worse than this. Their ego problem has rendered them out of touch with reality. If they are better than everyone else, then it follows that they believe that are superior human beings. This being the case, it logically follows that the rest of us are inferior human beings.



Therefore, not only do they believe they have a special right to rule the world, they also think they have a duty and obligation to because us lesser human beings are not capable of governing ourselves.

This kind of warped and perverted thinking is similar to the philosophies that gripped Nazi Germany under Adolph Hitler’s rule. The Nazis also believed they were superior to everyone else in the world. In fact, if we substitute “intellectual elite” for Aryan, we find that David Rockefeller and Adolph Hitler are cut from the same block of wood. Furthermore, if Adolph Hitler suddenly arose from his grave, he undoubtedly would shake Mr. Rockefeller’s hand and congratulate him for a job well done.



History teaches us that we are in real danger when individuals in positions of authority think they are better than other people and unfortunately, history is now repeating itself. Once again a group of megalomaniacs is trying to take over the world.

However, this is not the entire story.



David Rockefeller admits that if Americans had been aware of what he and his fellow conspirators where up to, they would have been opposed to their plans. This is shocking! What kind of despicable human being brags about being able to fool an entire nation and sees nothing wrong with forcing his will upon a free and independent people? At least Adolph Hitler was honest enough to announce his intentions to the world before he assumed power.

No such claim to candor can be made by David Rockefeller and his co-conspirators.



Their actions are not a mark of honest men or honorable human beings. Furthermore, they also fall short of the bar when it comes to integrity. From my perspective, Mr. Rockefeller and his cronies, including the depraved corporate moguls from the fourth estate who watched in silence while these people plotted against us, are not only not as good as the rest of us, but in truth are despicable human beings who deserve our contempt and ridicule.

This now brings us to a far more sinister topic.



For the most part our NWO masters are Americans who were born in this country. Therefore, they are citizens of this nation who, like the rest of us through the years, have pledged allegiance to our flag and the Republic for which it stands. Apparently, this pledge meant nothing to them because for the past forty years they recited our Pledge of Allegiance before God and the people of this Nation while meeting in secret to plot against us.



It is highly ironic that a group of people labeling themselves “intellectually elite” and who think this gives them a mandate to rule the entire world, upon analysis, are nothing more than a cabal of lying traitors who corrupted the nation of their birth and had the unmitigated gall to reduce their fellow citizens to subjugation and bondage.

A bedrock principal of good government and the American experiment in democracy is that a government’s legitimacy depends upon the consent of the governed. If the New World Order had to fool us in order to assume power, how legitimate is the government they created? I certainly didn’t give them my consent and I certainly do not approve of the way I am being governed.



And what “way” are we talking about?

The overriding characteristic of the abomination they created is that they decide and we abide; the hallmark of a dictatorship! You can call it Communism, Fascism, totalitarianism, imperialism or whatever “ism” you like!



All these terms fit our situation quite well, but irrespective of what you wish to call it, the bottom line is that the government of the people, by the people and for the people of which Abraham Lincoln spoke has perished from the earth and President Lincoln, our Founding Fathers, and all the other great Americans we have held in reverence throughout our lives are turning over in their graves.


Jesuits found dead in Moscow flat


Otto Messmer (left) and Victor Betancourt suffered head injuries


Russian police have launched a murder inquiry after two Jesuit priests were found dead in a Moscow apartment.

The bodies of Otto Messmer, 47, leader of the Russian Jesuit order, and Ecuadorean priest Victor Betancourt, 42, were found on Tuesday night.

The door was found ajar and there were no signs of any theft from the flat in upmarket Petrovka Street.

Police said they had suffered severe head injuries and the bodies had lain undiscovered for at least a day.

The attack on Father Betancourt is believed to have happened at the end of last week as he did not turn up for mass as usual on Sunday, according to Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican's chief press spokesman.

He added that Father Messmer had returned to Moscow from Germany on Monday evening and was probably killed shortly afterwards.

'Brutally murdered'

A statement from the official investigators' office said: "We have launched a probe into the murder.

"[The priests] had skull and brain injuries. Forensic experts have established that they died more than a day before."

The secretary general of the Catholic Bishops' Conference in Russia, Father Igor Kovalevsky, said priests had been murdered in Russia before, but the killing of two priests was "something exceptional".


"They were brutally murdered," Father Kovalevsky told the Associated Press news agency.

The Society of Jesus, as the Jesuit order is named, owns the apartment where the priests' bodies were found in one of Moscow's most exclusive districts, close to the Kremlin and the Bolshoi Theatre.

The Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, Alexy II, has expressed his condolences over the killings.

Several Russian Orthodox priests have been killed across Russia in the past few years.

Prosecutors blamed the attacks on criminals looking to steal icons and other church property.


Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7697900.stm

Energy Conservation & Globalized America






By Mike - Jun 18th, 2008 at 6:38 pm EDT
Also listed in: Barack Obama sponsors Fair Elections Now Act West Seattle for Obama



There have been a lot of changes in the past 100 years. Not only have we seen gang activity increase along with crimes, but so has energy consumption. The other change I realized was the recinding of the "Sunday Laws" across the united states.

Originally, the sunday law were instituted to make sure that people wouldn't have to choose between work and church. Often, the nobility would use financial enticements toward the religious heads of households in order to coherce them to work in order to increase his own financial gain. This was unfair to those who needed money, feared losing their means of supporting themselves, and without such a law banning people from working (though I don't believe it applied to you working for your own business), people would be further burdened.

I have to wonder if there weren't more benefits to this. First, without businesses being open, your kids would have nowhere to go for entertainment. Parents would have at least 1 day they could spend with family & friends without having to align work schedules. Decrease in gas use across the board. Less crime (since parents are home on Sundays, there is no reason why you can't keep an eye on them.) Fewer homeless people begging in the street (Since there are no people to beg from). Less Police would be necessary (if any at all... They could go on an "On Call As Needed" basis so they might be able to spend time with family. Neighbors would have time to get to know each other. How well do you know your neighbors now? Have you had any barbecues? Right now, I would guess that most people who may have barbecues, are only hanging out with people who are white collar regardless of the neighborhood you live in. Our work schedules can determine what class you relate to and hardens those lines even more.

So perhaps we should consider enacting a Sunday Law. Not to restrict people from working, but to give liberty to those who can't choose. And imagine the tax dollars that would be saved?

Problem is, I don't believe that this would be acceptable in Washington D.C. and states that collect an Income Tax. That's the real reason why the Sunday Laws were lifted. People could be forced to work more days, some part-time workers without insurance.

Speaking of Insurance... When you are seeing a doctor, you are paying for his time. The amount he charges is dependant upon how many appointments there are. Have you noticed that people have appointments with doctors booked up? Do you think that medical insurance might be the cause of that? Are you more likely to make an appointment when you have insurance or don't? Most of the time when I go to the Doctors Office, there are Seniors filling up the waiting room. In order to maintain the busy schedules, Seniors need health care insurance. This keeps the price of their time up.

So what is the only real solution to the health care issue is? not insurance because you know they make a lot of money from the work they do and have locked in prices lower than what's available to cash paying customers. The truth of the matter is, when you think about it, in order for a person to do well financially, several people have to do poorly. It's not an opinion, it's the truth. If you start a business and are the only employee... either you get paid, or the company get paid. not both. Either you receive a larger portion, or the business does.

Originally when businesses were created in each state, they were granted a franchise to provide a service. They would pay a franchise fee for it, and competitiion was determined by the contract they signed related to the type of business. They were also limited to only that business. The country has changed drastically in the past 100 years... And if you ask me, The American people have been paying so that elected officials can enjoy the step above socialism.

Congress has become what we fought for. There's no denying it. And if people disagree, it's likely because they envision aristocrats to be worse than they were. They don't have to spit in your face, to spit in your face.

Stocks open lower as economic woes mount


Thursday, November 6, 2008


NEW YORK - Wall Street recoiled again Thursday, sending stocks lower for a second straight day as new readings on retail sales and jobless claims fanned investors' worries that the economy is in recession.

New claims for unemployment benefits did dip by 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted level of 481,000, according to the Labor Department. But jobless claims above 400,000 are considered recessionary levels, and have run above that figure for 16 weeks. Also, long-term claims jumped to 3.84 million, the highest level in 25 years. The numbers arrive a day ahead of the key October jobs report, a widely watched barometer of the economy's health.

Meanwhile, retailers are releasing October sales figures that indicate consumers are pulling back their spending sharply. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. reported a better-than-expected 2.4 percent rise in October sales at stores open for at least a year, but investors are worried about other specialty retailers; Limited Brands Inc. and Gap Inc., for example, posted worse-than-expected sales drops.

In the first hour of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 119.55, or 1.31 percent, to 9,109.72.

Broader stock indicators also declined. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 14.58, or 1.53 percent, to 938.19, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 30.37, or 1.81 percent, to 1,651.27.

Stocks appeared to draw some support following interest rate cuts by central banks in Europe. The Bank of England slashed its key interest rate by a bold 1.5 percentage points Thursday; the Swiss Central Bank cut its own key rate by a surprising half-point; and the European Central Bank lowered its key rate by a half-point.

On Wednesday, Wall Street plunged as investors considered once again how deep and protracted a U.S. recession President-elect Barack Obama will face in January when he is sworn in. After a string of huge gains in stocks, jitters returned to the market, driving the Dow down nearly 500 points. All three major indexes dropped more than 5 percent.

A late Wednesday warning by Cisco Systems Inc. added to investors' nervousness and weighed on the technology-heavy Nasdaq. The world's largest maker of computer networking gear said orders fell off sharply last month, suggesting to the market that the weak economy and tight credit markets are taking a larger-than-expected toll on many companies. Cisco fell 49 cents, or 2.8 percent, to $16.90.

And in other troubling corporate news, Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp. reduced its annual earnings forecast Thursday to less than a third of what it was in previous fiscal year. Toyota tumbled $11.50, or 14.3 percent, to $68.87.

The dollar traded mixed against most other major currencies, while gold prices turned higher.

Light, sweet crude fell $2.39 to $62.91 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Bank-to-bank lending rates fell for the 19th straight day, a sign that banks are becoming more willing to lend. The London Interbank Offered Rate, or Libor, for three-month dollar loans dipped to 2.39 percent from 2.51 percent.

The three-month Treasury bill, considered the ultimate safe asset, saw its yield dip further to 0.38 percent from 0.42 percent late Wednesday. In general, a lower yield means higher demand, but it is also affected by the federal funds rate.

In Asian trading, Japan's Nikkei index fell 6.53 percent, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 7.08 percent. In afternoon trading in Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 fell 3.39 percent, Germany's DAX index fell 4.28 percent, and France's CAC-40 fell 3.72 percent.

---

On the Net:

New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com

Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com/



RC theologian refuses to retract criticism of Vatican


A prominent Roman Catholic theologian from Poland has rejected a demand from the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith that he retracts and rewrites an article criticising its attitude to other Christian churches.
“I was told disciplinary sanctions would be imposed on me if I did not recall and renounce my unfair, unjust and disrespectful language about the congregation. I do not know what this means - maybe just a publishing ban or excommunication for disobedience,” Hryniewicz told ENI.

The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, formerly the Holy Inquisition, defends theological orthodoxy within the Roman Catholic Church. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, once headed the body.

Professor Hryniewicz’s article, “The saviour uses many tunes”, was published in Open Theology, an online inter-faith journal based in London. The article criticised a June 2007 Vatican document that reaffirmed the Roman Catholic view that Protestant denominations are not churches, “in the proper sense”.

Hryniewicz wrote that the Vatican document represented a “serious regression” by reflecting attitudes that dated from before the 1962-65 Second Vatican Council, which sought to introduce reforms into the Roman Catholic Church.

He received the demand to retract his article in a January letter from Heinz Steckling, the Rome-based Father-General of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate order, to which the professor belongs.

However, Hryniewicz’s told his order he would not write “clarifications or rectifications”, and said other leading Roman Catholics shared his disappointment with the Vatican’s stance.

“My only intention was to share the pain and sorrow of many Protestant sisters and brothers in the Christian faith very profoundly hurt by the Vatican statement,” the 72-year-old said in a 26 March letter. [ENI]


British Church Newspaper

10 October 2008

Source: http://www.ianpaisley.org/new_details.asp?ID=601

Huss Commences His Battle With Rome


John Huss





Taken from Wylie’s History of Protestantism, and edited by Dr Clive Gillis
Dr Clive Gillis


In 1404 two theologians, James and Conrad of Canterbury, influenced by Wicliffe, travelled from England to Prague.

These Oxford graduates arranged public disputations to challenge the pope‘s primacy. With their hosts leave, they completed a mural in a corridor where they resided. On the one wall they portrayed the humble entrance of Christ into Jerusalem, "meek, and riding upon an ass". On the other they displayed the more than royal magnificence of a Pontifical cavalcade. There was seen the Pope, adorned with triple crown, attired in robes bespangled with gold, and all lustrous with precious stones. He rode proudly on a richly caparisoned horse, with trumpeters proclaiming his approach, and a brilliant crowd of cardinals and bishops following in his rear. In an age when printing was unknown, and preaching nearly as much so, this was a sermon, and a truly eloquent and graphic one. The fervour so aroused soon threatened their safety and they had to leave. (This was to become a powerful pre-Reformation form of expression eventually used by Luther.)

Huss shocked

John Huss saw this mural and was aroused to study more carefully than ever the writings of Wicliffe which fired his preaching at Bethlehem chapel. The Bohemian preacher was shocked. He had appealed to the Bible, but he had not the absolute and unreserved submission of the English pastor. To overturn the hierarchy, and replace it with the simple ministry of the Word; to sweep away all the teachings of tradition, and put in their room the doctrines of the New Testament, was a revolution for which Huss was not yet prepared. It may be doubted whether, even when he came to stand at the stake, Huss's views had attained the breadth and clearness of those of Wicliffe.

But witnessing lying miracles at Wilsnack on the Elbe intensified his fervour against superstition. Cures attendant upon exposing Christ's blood were attracting pilgrims from Poland, Hungary, and even Scandinavia. The Archbishop of Prague appointed a commission including Huss, to investigate. The cures were found bogus and the pilgrimages were banned.

The Pope furious

Furious that the contagion of Wicliffe was spreading, Pope Alexander V commanded the Archbishop of Prague, with the secular authorities, to proceed against all who preached in private chapels or read the writings or taught the opinions of Wicliffe. Over 200 volumes piled up on the street of Prague were publicly burned amid the tolling bells. Their costliness showed that their owners were men of high position, attesting how widely the English reformer was becoming known in Europe. Huss, undaunted, now attacked indulgences as well as the abuses of the hierarchy. A second mandate arrived from Rome. The Pope summoned him to answer for his doctrine in person. The king, the queen, the university, and many Bohemian nobles recognising the trap asked that Huss be represented by legal counsel. The Pope condemned Huss in his absence and interdicted Prague.

To the superstitious medieval mind interdict was the terrible shutting off of heaven. Closed church-doors, extinguished altar lights, corpses waiting burial by the way-side and sackcloth draping the public images which sanctified and made safe the streets soon turned the populace against Huss. He fled to Husinec where the territorial Lord protected him. Gradually things quietened, at least superficially, in Prague and he was able to return to preach at Bethlehem Chapel. Foxe the martyrologist noted the people were being undeceived concerning Rome as many "complained of the court of Rome and the bishop's consistory, who plucked from the sheep of Christ the wool and milk, and did not feed them either with the Word of God or good examples."

Jerome of Faulfish

A powerful opposing party now arose at the University. Two former friends, the priests Paletz (Palec) and Michal de Causis now became Huss's bitter foes. But others, now used to uplifting preaching in the vernacular at Bethlehem chapel, supported him. Further the queen and many nobles were on his side. But Huss had no fellow-worker. So at this time it pleased God to give him Jerome of Faulfish. Jerome was a Bohemian knight, who had returned some time before from Oxford, where he had also imbibed the opinions of Wicliffe studying particularly his theological writings. Their lives became inextricably linked. Huss was the more powerful character, Jerome was the more eloquent orator but retained towards Huss the relation of a disciple. Their affection for each other ripened day by day, and continued unbroken till death came to set its seal upon it, and unite them in the bonds of an eternal friendship.

Warring Popes

This drama was by now no longer confined to Bohemia. Events were lifting up Huss and Jerome to a stage where they would have to act their part in the presence of all Christendom. Let us cast our eyes around and survey the state of Europe. There were at that time three Popes reigning in Christendom. The Italians had elected Balthazar Cossa, who, as John XXIII, had set up his chair at Bologna. The French had chosen Angelo Corario, who lived at Rimini, under the title of Gregory XII; and the Spaniards had elected Peter de Lune (Benedict XIII.), who resided in Arragon. Each claimed to be the legitimate successor of Peter, and the true vicegerent of God, and each strove to make good his claim by the bitterness and rage with which he hurled his maledictions against his rival. Christendom was divided, each nation naturally supporting the Pope of its choice. The schism suggested some questions which it was not easy to solve. "If we must obey", said Huss and his followers, "to whom is our obedience to be paid? Balthazar Cossa, called John XXIII, is at Bologna; Angelo Corario, named Gregory XII., is at Rimini; Peter de Lune, who calls himself Benedict XIII., is in Arragon. If all three are infallible, why does not their testimony agree? and if only one of them is the Most Holy Father, why is it that we cannot distinguish him from the rest?"

Nor was much help to be got towards a solution by putting the question to the men themselves. If they asked John XXIII he told them that Gregory XII. was "a heretic, a demon, the Antichrist". Gregory XII obligingly bore the same testimony respecting John XXIII, and both Gregory and John united in sounding, in similar fashion, the praises of Benedict XIII, whom they stigmatised as "an impostor and schismatic" while Benedict paid back with prodigal interest the compliments of his two opponents. If these men were to be believed, instead of three Popes there were three Antichrists in Christendom. And if they were not to be believed, where was the infallibility, and what had become of the apostolic succession?

Distractions and calamities

The chronicles of the time stress the distractions calamities and woes that grew out of this schism. Europe was plunged into anarchy; every petty State was a theatre of war and rapine. The rival Popes sought to crush one another, not with the spiritual bolts only, but with temporal arms also. They went into the market to purchase swords and hire soldiers, and as this could not be done without money, they opened a scandalous traffic in spiritual things to supply themselves with the needful gold. Pardons, dispensations, and places in Paradise they put up to sale, in order to realize the means of equipping their armies for the field. The bishops and inferior clergy, quick to profit by the example set them by the Popes, enriched themselves by simony. At times they made war on their own account, attacking at the head of armed bands the territory of a rival ecclesiastic, or the castle of a temporal baron. A bishop newly elected to Hildesheim, having requested to be shown the library of his predecessors, was led into an arsenal, in which all kinds of arms were piled up. "Those" said his conductors, "are the books which they made use of to defend the Church; imitate their example". How different were the words of St. Ambrose! "My arms", said he as the Goths approached his city, "are my tears; with other weapons I dare not fight".

Eyes opened

This was a deplorable picture. Of the practice of true piety nothing remained save a few superstitious rites. Truth, justice, and order banished from among men, force was the arbiter in all things, and nothing was heard but the clash of arms and the sighings of oppressed nations, while above the strife rose the furious voices of the rival Popes frantically hurling anathemas at one another. Although truly a melancholy spectacle, it was perhaps necessary that the evil should grow to this head. Peradventure at last the eyes of men might now be opened that they might see that it was indeed a "bitter thing" that they had forsaken the "easy yoke" of the Gospel, and submitted to a power that set no limits to its usurpations, and which, clothing itself with the prerogatives of God, was waging a war of extermination against all the rights of man.

Taken from Wylie's History of Protestantism, and edited by Dr Clive Gillis





Source: http://www.ianpaisley.org/article.asp?ArtKey=hussbattle

No sign of foul play found in Mexico plane crash


Gregory Bull / Associated Press


Investigators in Mexico City sift through debris where a small aircraft crashed into rush-hour traffic. All nine people aboard, including the interior minister and a presidential aide, and at least five on the ground were killed.


U.S. experts join the inquiry into the crash Tuesday of a small plane into rush-hour traffic in Mexico City. The death toll is raised to 14 people.


By Ken Ellingwood
November 6, 2008



Reporting from Mexico City -- Mexican authorities said Wednesday that investigators found no immediate signs of foul play in the plane crash that killed the country's interior minister and 13 other people.

The crash, which killed Interior Minister Juan Camilo Mouriño and eight others aboard a Learjet 45 on Tuesday night, was a serious blow to President Felipe Calderon at a time when his government is locked in a violent struggle against drug traffickers and faces growing signs of economic trouble related to the global downturn.

As interior minister, traditionally the country's second- most powerful office, the 37-year-old Mouriño's sprawling portfolio included domestic security. He was the closest among Calderon's tight circle of advisors on crime and a host of other issues and had been mentioned as a possible successor when Calderon's term ends in 2012.

"It's a strong blow," said Alfonso Zarate, a political analyst in Mexico City. "It is the loss of a key figure from some of the most sensitive issues in the country."

But Mouriño did not carry the political heft of some of his predecessors, and commentators already had started asking how long he would last in the post. He was interior minister for just 10 months and took a back seat to the army and other federal law enforcement officials in the crime fight, analysts said.


Mouriño's death seems unlikely to significantly alter the course of Calderon's 2-year-old, uphill campaign against drug traffickers.

"He may have been incredibly important, personally, to the president. But it's hard to see where the ship of state has been affected," said Daniel Lund, a Mexico City-based pollster and political consultant.

Also killed was a former top anti-drug prosecutor, Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, spurring immediate suspicion that the plane crash might have been the work of criminal gangs. Mexico's public safety director, Ramon Martin Huerta, died three years ago in a helicopter crash that was deemed an accident.

Luis Tellez, the transportation secretary, said Tuesday's crash did not appear to involve an explosion before the plane hit the ground, reducing the likelihood that a bomb had been planted.

"We have detected no evidence leading to a hypothesis other than an accident," Tellez told reporters. "But it will be investigated until all possibilities are exhausted."

He said the inquiry could take weeks. Officials said U.S. and British air crash investigators would join the investigation. Specialists from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board arrived early Wednesday.

In an effort to stanch rumors, Mexican officials took the unusual step of releasing radar images and radio exchanges between the pilot and air traffic controllers. The pilot did not report any problems before controllers lost contact.

Tellez said the investigators would analyze flight data from the plane's "black box."

At least five people were killed on the ground. The plane went down in dense rush-hour traffic next to a busy boulevard, the Paseo de la Reforma. Witnesses described a fiery explosion. At least 40 people were injured, many of them hospitalized with severe burns.

Guillermo Ortiz, a 30-year-old waiter, said the plane looked as though it was preparing to land, then veered toward office buildings nearby.

"Then it hit the ground -- boom! -- and it all started: the flames, noise," he said. "There was a taxi stand and the guy that sells tortas -- I'm sure they're all dead."

Mexican authorities covered the site with blue, orange and green tarps as investigators looked for evidence. Soldiers stood by while curious passersby snapped cellphone pictures and shared conspiracy theories. Crumpled, burned cars were still visible. A glassy high-rise was charred black.

"We will never know what really happened," said Jose Perez Flores, 73, a retired government worker. "There is something fishy going on. Between the politicians, the narcos -- who knows. That's what we've come to here in Mexico."

Mexican politicians issued messages of sympathy for the loss of Mouriño, and the main newspapers carried full-page condolence notices.

In Washington, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff praised Mouriño as a "courageous and strong partner" in the binational fight against organized crime.

Calderon did not signal who would take over as interior minister, a post that oversees a wide array of functions, including security and disaster relief, and serves as the link between the president and Congress. Mouriño's deputy, Abraham Gonzalez Uyeda, will serve as interim minister.

Calderon was thought to be grooming Mouriño, his former chief of staff, as the next standard-bearer of their conservative National Action Party.

But Mouriño was hobbled early on by criticism from leftist political foes, who accused him of having acted on behalf of his family's gasoline business when he served as a top energy official. He also was a leading target for critics who said the administration was losing its battle against organized crime.

Mexico has been awash in violence since Calderon launched his war on drug traffickers in December 2006. This year, about 4,000 people have been died in drug violence, much of it bloody turf wars between competing smuggling organizations.

Ellingwood is a Times staff writer.

ken.ellingwood@latimes.com

Times staff writer Tracy Wilkinson contributed to this report.



Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg-mexcrash6-2008nov06,0,3488599.story