Monday, February 23, 2009

Obama, like Bush, is Throwing Public Money into a Black Hole


Friday, February 13, 2009

Obama, like Bush, is Throwing Public Money into a Black Hole

by Rodrigue Tremblay


“The [financial] crisis was not a failure of the free market system and the answer is not to try to reinvent that system. ...Government intervention is not a cure-all."

President George W. Bush, Thursday November 13, 2008

"There is no cause to worry. The high tide of prosperity will continue."

Andrew W. Mellon, Hoover's Secretary of the Treasury. September 1929

"While the crash only took place six months ago, I am convinced we have now passed the worst and with continued unity of effort we shall rapidly recover. There is one certainty of the future of a people of the resources, intelligence and character of the people of the United States - that is, prosperity."

President Herbert Hoover, May 1, 1930

Tuesday, February 10, may be the date when the U.S. economy officially entered into an economic depression. This was when President Obama's Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, announced that the Obama administration was about to expand Bush's Secretary Paulson's $700-billion plan to rescue large U.S. banks from insolvency, euphemistically called the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP). The purpose now, as it was previously, is to use public capital, loans and guarantees to remove toxic financial assets from private banks' balance sheets and to transfer them to the Government and/or to willing private investors (hedge funds, private equity firms and other investors). One must keep in mind that Mr. Paulson and Mr. Geithner were the principal architects of last October's original plan. This was then, and it is now, a plan designed primarily to use hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars to prevent banks from declaring bankruptcy, while in fact doing little to accomplish its presumed primary objective of getting banks to resume normal lending. Such a cure has failed in the past and is likely to fail now. Saving insolvent banks is not the same as fixing them and making them viable.

Indeed, when Mr. Geithner announced on Tuesday, February 10, that he was expanding the Paulson plan to make it a $1.5 trillion bailout plan, financial markets saw it as simply rearranging the chairs on the deck of the Titanic, and they sold off. I believe the markets are right and the Obama-Geithner plan only makes the Bush-Paulsen plan worse. Both are misguided and do little to address the root cause of the financial crisis, which is a mountain of unsustainable bad debts that was allowed to expand recklessly over the last ten years, and which is now crumbling down, dragging the entire economy down with it.

With more public money thrown at the problem with little strings attached, large U.S. banks will only use the new cash to de-leverage themselves and pay off their debts, buyout smaller banks and find a way to reward their incompetent executives with large bonuses, but little will trickle down to the real economy. We are back to the discredited Reagan era's economic trickle-down theory, the rich helping themselves first and the poor getting the crumbs.

Let's look coldly at the situation. The ratio of total debt to the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is now higher than it was in 1933, when it reached the lofty and unsustainable level of 299.8 percent. It took nearly twenty years to bring down the debt/GDP ratio to below 140 in 1952. In the second quarter of 2008, all debt records were broken when the total debt ratio in the U.S. registered at 356,7 percent of GDP. If the same process of unwinding of excessive debt level plays itself out this time, this could translate into a debt deflation process lasting possibly until 2027!

It all depends on the problem being recognized for what it is, that is to say a mountain of unsustainable and insolvable debts and bets that have to be cancelled and erased from the books. Transferring such bad debts from the banks and other entities to the government will not solve the problem. It will only displace the it from one place to another and potentially create new and even more serious problems, such as horrendous future tax increases or an onset of hyperinflation down the road.

There exists a state of denial in Washington D.C. regarding the excessive debt problem, essentially because the same people who are responsible for creating the mess are in power. It doesn't matter whether a Republican or a Democratic administration is in place, they remain in charge and they rely on the same failed economic policies. The Geithner plan is the son of the Paulson plan. Both are destined to fail because they are based on a flawed diagnosis.

To deflate the mountain of bad debts and unclog the credit system in an orderly fashion, and to prevent a deflationary spiral from taking hold, the Obama administration should take the advice of L. William Seidman, chairman of the S&L Resolution Trust Corp. (RTC), the agency created in the 1990s to manage hundreds of insolvent thrifts. At that time, the RTC seized the assets of troubled savings and loans and resold them to bargain-seeking investors. The Obama administration should bite the bullet and create a similar Banking Restructuring Trust to temporarily take over the large insolvent American banks, streamline their operations, liquidate their bad debts and bets, and reorganize them on a firmer financial basis. I myself proposed such a restructuring trust last September. This would be more efficient and less costly than throwing trillions of dollars down a black hole without even solving the structural problem at hand.

The creation of such a Trust to unify government intervention has also been proposed by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul A. Volcker and by former Treasury Secretary Nicholas F. Brady. This would entail, of course, that many of the banks' illiquid assets in CDOs ("Collateralized Debt Obligations") and in CDS (“Credit Default Swaps”) and other shaky assets, would have to be written off or cancelled in a chapter 11-like process. Such a process would cleanse the banks from the excesses accumulated in previous years and prepare them to meet credit demand as the economy recovers. But, above all, it would mark an end to incremental, complicated and improvised 'ad hoc' government interventions to solve the banking crisis. I would bet that there would be a powerful rally of financial markets if such a take-charge and decisive approach were to be adopted.

The Geithner bank bailout plan must not be confused with the close to $800 billion fiscal stimulus plan for the entire economy that Congress has adopted. The latter, contrary to the former, is designed to cushion the fall of real spending in the economy and is likely to have a net positive impact. Indeed, as households increase their savings rate and curtail their discretionary spending to compensate for the loss of housing and financial wealth, government spending has to take up the slack.

However, it should be realized that the multiplier effect on aggregate spending of each dollar of fresh public spending is not very high because national economies nowadays are globalized. Indeed, as domestic spending is being sustained, imports increase but exports may decline as world demand contracts. It is only if all governments adopt expansionary fiscal policies that all economic boats can be lifted. With European and Chinese economies weakening, this may take some time before world demand stops contracting.

All this is to say that while the Geithner bank rescue plan is misguided and should be reengineered, Obama's fiscal stimulus package is most likely too timid and should be enlarged, considering the scope of the problem at hand. All in all, let us hope that a prolonged economic depression can be avoided.


.

Can You See The Handwriting On The Banks?


Today the Dow dropped to 1997 level; It's setting new lows daily.
It went down to 7149.91.

Citicorp and Bank Of America Stocks are down to barely $2 and $3, per share respectively.
What does all this mean?
What does it indicate?
Well, the Administration has been denying that it will 'nationalize' the banking giants. Yet, Citicorp is facing more government intervention. Something that could amount to the government owning up to 40% of Citicorp's stock value. If this doesn't equate to 'nationalizing' of the bank; I don't know what does?

And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. .Revelation 13:17.

(To get the full impact of this fact please read verses 11-18.)

What my Bible points out in Revelation 13, is that the conditions that we see before us have the potential of becoming the end time despotic regime that will impede God's Remnant faithful few from buying and selling; And, will begin this restrictive practice here in the USA, then to continue the Globalization process, impose the same standards worldwide.
The conditions are ripe. The fig tree is full of the 'ripe' fruit ready to be picked.

This can, and may possibly be the beginning of the end as President Obama, half-jokingly called the passing of his humongous Economic Stimulus Package.
Some may call me paranoid, or an alarmist; But, how can you call someone paranoid who's seeing all the pieces falling into place before their very eyes? Just like every other sober minded individual who is observing the times that match the prophecies in the Bible. The signs are all around us: failing financial institutions, a call for consolidation of governments, a call for tolerance for all religions (for now), escalation and preponderance of wars, earthquakes and volcanoes menacing, wicked natural disasters; We can see that a change is coming, but, not the one some expect.
If Citicorp is 'nationalized' that would mean the nation's largest bank would cease from being so; That would make the Federal Government the administrator of the nation's credit lines. Bank of America, the second largest would be the largest 'private bank'. From what I have come to know about Bank Of America, it is already controlled; not by our government, but, by the Jesuits who supposedly own 51% of the stocks of BOA. So, the situation is similar to a check mate in a chess game (I don't play Chess). The next move will be a strategic one. We wait, and watch, and pray. Come Lord, Amen!


Arsenio.

IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn warns second wave of countries will require bail-out


IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn warns second wave of countries will require bail-out


A "second wave" of countries will fall victim to the economic crisis and face being bailed out by the International Monetary Fund, its chief warned at the G7 summit in Rome.

Edmund Conway in Rome

Last Updated: 9:19PM GMT 15 Feb 2009


Dominique Strauss-Kahn's warning comes amid growing concern that at some point in the next year a major economy could have to seek support from the Fund. Mr Strauss-Kahn, who was yesterday attending the Group of Seven leading finance ministers' meeting in Rome, said: "I expect a second wave of countries to come knocking."

The IMF managing director also said the rich world was now in the midst of a "deep recession". It came as the G7 pledged to avoid slipping into protectionism and repeating the same political and economic mistakes as were made in the 1930s. Ministers also pledged to do more to support their banking systems, sparking speculation that a number of countries, including Germany and France, will unveil new bail-outs and possibly set up "bad banks" as they scramble to fight the crisis.

But with some countries' economies effectively dwarfed by the size of their banking sector and its financial liabilities, there are fears they could fall victim to balance of payments and currency crises, much as Iceland did before receiving emergency assistance from the IMF last year.

Some have speculated that the UK may have to seek IMF support if capital markets become frightened of the size of its foreign financial liabilities, which increasingly appear to have become supported by the state. But there are a swathe of Eastern European countries which appear particularly vulnerable and may need IMF support.

With the Fund's warchest expected to run dry later this year, the Japanese confirmed in Rome that they would supply an extra $200bn of capital to the Washington-based institution.

Mr Strauss-Kahn, who warned recently that his resources could run dry within six months, said: "This is the largest loan ever made in the history of humanity.

"The biggest concrete result of this summit is the loan by the Japanese... now I will continue with the objective of doubling the Fund's resources."

He added that it was now essential for countries to support their banking sectors.


Mexico: The Third War


Mexico: The Third War
February 18, 2009 1923 GMT


By Fred Burton and Scott Stewart

Mexico has pretty much always been a rough-and-tumble place. In recent years, however, the security environment has deteriorated rapidly, and parts of the country have become incredibly violent. It is now common to see military weaponry such as fragmentation grenades and assault rifles used almost daily in attacks.

In fact, just last week we noted two separate strings of grenade attacks directed against police in Durango and Michoacan states. In the Michoacan incident, police in Uruapan and Lazaro Cardenas were targeted by three grenade attacks during a 12-hour period. Then on Feb. 17, a major firefight occurred just across the border from the United States in Reynosa, when Mexican authorities attempted to apprehend several armed men seen riding in a vehicle. The men fled to a nearby residence and engaged the pursuing police with gunfire, hand grenades and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs). After the incident, in which five cartel gunmen were killed and several gunmen, cops, soldiers and civilians were wounded, authorities recovered a 60 mm mortar, five RPG rounds and two fragmentation grenades.

Make no mistake, considering the military weapons now being used in Mexico and the number of deaths involved, the country is in the middle of a war. In fact, there are actually three concurrent wars being waged in Mexico involving the Mexican drug cartels. The first is the battle being waged among the various Mexican drug cartels seeking control over lucrative smuggling corridors, called plazas. One such battleground is Ciudad Juarez, which provides access to the Interstate 10, Interstate 20 and Interstate 25 corridors inside the United States. The second battle is being fought between the various cartels and the Mexican government forces who are seeking to interrupt smuggling operations, curb violence and bring the cartel members to justice.

Then there is a third war being waged in Mexico, though because of its nature it is a bit more subdued. It does not get the same degree of international media attention generated by the running gun battles and grenade and RPG attacks. However, it is no less real, and in many ways it is more dangerous to innocent civilians (as well as foreign tourists and business travelers) than the pitched battles between the cartels and the Mexican government. This third war is the war being waged on the Mexican population by criminals who may or may not be involved with the cartels. Unlike the other battles, where cartel members or government forces are the primary targets and civilians are only killed as collateral damage, on this battlefront, civilians are squarely in the crosshairs.

The Criminal Front
There are many different shapes and sizes of criminal gangs in Mexico. While many of them are in some way related to the drug cartels, others have various types of connections to law enforcement — indeed, some criminal groups are composed of active and retired cops. These various types of criminal gangs target civilians in a number of ways, including, robbery, burglary, carjacking, extortion, fraud and counterfeiting. But of all the crimes committed by these gangs, perhaps the one that creates the most widespread psychological and emotional damage is kidnapping, which also is one of the most underreported crimes. There is no accurate figure for the number of kidnappings that occur in Mexico each year. All of the data regarding kidnapping is based on partial crime statistics and anecdotal accounts and, in the end, can produce only best-guess estimates. Despite this lack of hard data, however, there is little doubt — based even on the low end of these estimates — that Mexico has become the kidnapping capital of the world.

One of the difficult things about studying kidnapping in Mexico is that the crime not only is widespread, affecting almost every corner of the country, but also is executed by a wide range of actors who possess varying levels of professionalism — and very different motives. At one end of the spectrum are the high-end kidnapping gangs that abduct high-net-worth individuals and demand ransoms in the millions of dollars. Such groups employ teams of operatives who carry out specialized tasks such as collecting intelligence, conducting surveillance, snatching the target, negotiating with the victim’s family and establishing and guarding the safe houses.

At the other end of the spectrum are gangs that roam the streets and randomly kidnap targets of opportunity. These gangs are generally less professional than the high-end gangs and often will hold a victim for only a short time. In many instances, these groups hold the victim just long enough to use the victim’s ATM card to drain his or her checking account, or to receive a small ransom of perhaps several hundred or a few thousand dollars from the family. This type of opportunistic kidnapping is often referred to as an “express kidnapping”. Sometimes express kidnapping victims are held in the trunk of a car for the duration of their ordeal, which can sometimes last for days if the victim has a large amount in a checking account and a small daily ATM withdrawal limit. Other times, if an express kidnapping gang discovers it has grabbed a high-value target by accident, the gang will hold the victim longer and demand a much higher ransom. Occasionally, these express kidnapping groups will even “sell” a high-value victim to a more professional kidnapping gang.

Between these extremes there is a wide range of groups that fall somewhere in the middle. These are the groups that might target a bank vice president or branch manager rather than the bank’s CEO, or that might kidnap the owner of a restaurant or other small business rather than a wealthy industrialist. The presence of such a broad spectrum of kidnapping groups ensures that almost no segment of the population is immune from the kidnapping threat. In recent years, the sheer magnitude of the threat in Mexico and the fear it generates has led to a crime called virtual kidnapping. In a virtual kidnapping, the victim is not really kidnapped. Instead, the criminals seek to convince a target’s family that a kidnapping has occurred, and then use threats and psychological pressure to force the family to pay a quick ransom. Although virtual kidnapping has been around for several years, unwitting families continue to fall for the scam, which is a source of easy money. Some virtual kidnappings have even been conducted by criminals using telephones inside prisons.

As noted above, the motives for kidnapping vary. Many of the kidnappings that occur in Mexico are not conducted for ransom. Often the drug cartels will kidnap members of rival gangs or government officials in order to torture and execute them. This torture is conducted to extract information, intimidate rivals and, apparently in some cases, just to have a little fun. The bodies of such victims are frequently found beheaded or otherwise mutilated. Other times, cartel gunmen will kidnap drug dealers who are tardy in payments or who refuse to pay the “tax” required to operate in the cartel’s area of control.

Of course, cartel gunmen do not kidnap only their rivals or cops. As the cartel wars have heated up, and as drug revenues have dropped due to interference from rival cartels or the government, many cartels have resorted to kidnapping for ransom to supplement their cash flow. Perhaps the most widely known group that is engaging in this is the Arellano Felix Organization (AFO), also known as the Tijuana Cartel. The AFO has been reduced to a shadow of its former self, its smuggling operations dramatically impacted by the efforts of the U.S. and Mexican governments, as well as by attacks from other cartels and from an internal power struggle. Because of a steep decrease in smuggling revenues, the group has turned to kidnapping and extortion in order to raise the funds necessary to keep itself alive and to return to prominence as a smuggling organization.

In the Line of Fire
There is very little chance the Mexican government will be able to establish integrity in its law enforcement agencies, or bring law and order to large portions of the country, any time soon. Official corruption and ineptitude are endemic in Mexico, which means that Mexican citizens and visiting foreigners will have to face the threat of kidnapping for the foreseeable future. We believe that for civilians and visiting foreigners, the threat of kidnapping exceeds the threat of being hit by a stray bullet from a cartel firefight. Indeed, things are deteriorating so badly that even professional kidnapping negotiators, once seen as the key to a guaranteed payout, are now being kidnapped themselves. In an even more incredible twist of irony, anti-kidnapping authorities are being abducted and executed.

This environment — and the concerns it has sparked — has provided huge financial opportunities for the private security industry in Mexico. Armored car sales have gone through the roof, as have the number of uniformed guards and executive protection personnel. In fact, the demand for personnel is so acute that security companies are scrambling to find candidates. Such a scramble presents a host of obvious problems, ranging from lack of qualifications to insufficient vetting. In addition to old-fashioned security services, new security-technology companies are also cashing in on the environment of fear, but even high-tech tracking devices can have significant drawbacks and shortcomings.

For many people, armored cars and armed bodyguards can provide a false sense of security, and technology can become a deadly crutch that promotes complacency and actually increases vulnerability. Physical security measures are not enough. The presence of armed bodyguards — or armed guards combined with armored vehicles — does not provide absolute security. This is especially true in Mexico, where large teams of gunmen regularly conduct crimes using military ordnance. Frankly, there are very few executive protection details in the world that have the training and armament to withstand an assault by dozens of attackers armed with assault rifles and RPGs. Private security guards are frequently overwhelmed by Mexican criminals and either killed or forced to flee for their own safety. As we noted in May 2008 after the assassination of Edgar Millan Gomez, acting head of the Mexican Federal Police and the highest-ranking federal cop in Mexico, physical security measures must be supplemented by situational awareness, countersurveillance and protective intelligence.

Criminals look for and exploit vulnerabilities. Their chances for success increase greatly if they are allowed to conduct surveillance at will and are given the opportunity to thoroughly assess the protective security program. We have seen several cases in Mexico in which the criminals even chose to attack despite security measures. In such cases, criminals attack with adequate resources to overcome existing security. For example, if there are protective agents, the attackers will plan to neutralize them first. If there is an armored vehicle, they will find ways to defeat the armor or grab the target when he or she is outside the vehicle. Because of this, criminals must not be allowed to conduct surveillance at will.

Like many crimes, kidnapping is a process. There are certain steps that must be taken to conduct a kidnapping and certain times during the process when those executing it are vulnerable to detection. While these steps may be condensed and accomplished quite quickly in an ad hoc express kidnapping, they are nonetheless followed. In fact, because of the particular steps involved in conducting a kidnapping, the process is not unlike that followed to execute a terrorist attack. The common steps are target selection, planning, deployment, attack, escape and exploitation.

Like the perpetrators of a terrorist attack, those conducting a kidnapping are most vulnerable to detection when they are conducting surveillance — before they are ready to deploy and conduct their attack. As we’ve noted several times in past analyses, one of the secrets of countersurveillance is that most criminals are not very good at conducting surveillance. The primary reason they succeed is that no one is looking for them.

Of course, kidnappers are also very obvious once they launch their attack, pull their weapons and perhaps even begin to shoot. By this time, however, it might very well be too late to escape their attack. They will have selected their attack site and employed the forces they believe they need to complete the operation. While the kidnappers could botch their operation and the target could escape unscathed, it is simply not practical to pin one’s hopes on that possibility. It is clearly better to spot the kidnappers early and avoid their trap before it is sprung and the guns come out.

We have seen many instances of people in Mexico with armed security being kidnapped, and we believe we will likely see more cases of this in the coming months. This trend is due not only to the presence of highly armed and aggressive criminals and the low quality of some security personnel, but also to people placing their trust solely in reactive physical security. Ignoring the very real value of critical, proactive measures such as situational awareness, countersurveillance and protective intelligence can be a fatal mistake.

Tell Stratfor What You Think

This report may be forwarded or republished on your website with attribution to http://www.stratfor.com/


"Have we mourned like this before?"


Friday, February 20, 2009


A century after his grandfather died in a Korean prison for the crime of being a Catholic, the prelate who led the church into the mainstream on the peninsula -- Seoul's Cardinal Stephen Kim -- was mourned by weeping thousands at a state funeral earlier today in the South's capital.

The first Korean cardinal, Kim -- who led the Seoul church for three decades, watching it grow sixfold in the process -- died Monday at 86. Including the country's current and former presidents, some 400,000 mourners of all faiths were said to have filed past his coffin over its four-day lying in state in the city's Myeongdong Cathedral.

Hailed as a "true guiding light" and the last "reliable leader in Korean society" despite the church's minority status -- around 15% of South Korea's 38 million citizens are Catholic -- the outpouring of reaction at the cardinal's death moved one newspaper to lead its coverage with a headline asking "Have We Mourned Like This Before?"

Religious leaders from Protestantism, Buddhism, Won-Buddhism and Cheondoism took up the first-row at the funeral Mass.

Monk Wontaek from Haein Temple said, ``I hope Cardinal Kim, the spiritual leader of Korea, takes a kind interest in us in Heaven.''

Italian Ambassador Massimo Andrea Leggeri also attended the Mass. ``I came to the Mass because I want to honor his good nature,'' he said.

Gong Ji-young, a celebrated novelist and Catholic, said, ``Cardinal Kim left us new `eyes' in many aspects. All these people waiting to pay their respects to the late Kim shows how much we needed someone to depend on.''

Park Bi-ho, 42, arrived in Myeongdong at 6 a.m. He had visited the cathedral for the five days preceding the funeral as the cardinal lay in state, arriving there early in the morning and returning home between 9 and 10 p.m.

``I saw the cardinal being placed into the cedar coffin, Thursday. It was snowing as if Heaven was blessing Kim's last moments. I was moved that he only had rosary beads in his coffin, simple and frugal, as his life was before. I will live for other people without greed like Cardinal Kim,'' Park said.

Eighty-year-old Jeong Il-hwa also came to see the cardinal's last moments before the public. She said, ``I come today again because I feel sorry for missing the coffin rite, Thursday. He was a great priest. I feel like I am losing a family member.''

Citizens who couldn't make it to the cathedral watched the funeral Mass on television. The viewer rate marked 19.2 percent, according to an aggregated total of the three major broadcasting stations, KBS, MBC and SBS.

Heo Ye-jin, 20, a university student and Catholic, watched the mass on television. ``I visited the cathedral, Wednesday, and cried a lot. I wanted to go and see the mass, but I couldn't. But I watched it all on TV instead. I couldn't forget his words, `You can step on me','' she said.

``You can step on me, before you can take away the students'' is a famous saying of the late cardinal ― words uttered in 1987, when police came to the cathedral to arrest student activists seeking refuge from former President Chun Doo-hwan.

The crowd began to cry when Kim's coffin was moved outside on its way to the Catholic Priests' Cemetery in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. Female Catholics held their veils in a show of respect to the cardinal.

Sohn Myeong-suk, 50, who watched the cardinal's hearse leaving the cathedral, said, ``I feel as if Kim is already in Heaven and saying the Mass with us,'' as she wiped away tears.

Arriving at the cemetery around 1 p.m., Kim was buried next to Archbishop Paul Marie Ro Ki-nam. His grave is small and simple, 2.5 meters long and 1.5 meters wide. His tombstone will bear his pastoral motto and his favorite phrase from the Bible's Book of Psalms, ``The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.''


The sentiments echoed in another daily's lead editorial:

The mourning transcended age, social status and political ideology.

People gathered at the cathedral from 2 to 3 a.m., and by 6 a.m., when people were allowed in to pay their condolences, a line stretching for 3 km had already formed, while people continued to pour in until midnight when the cathedral closed its doors. Mourners had to wait three to four hours in the freezing cold, but there was no jostling, shouting or cutting in line. Rather, people yielded their spots to let the elderly go first.

We’ve all waited in long lines to buy tickets to our hometowns during holidays or to sign up for new apartment units. But never has there been a time when we formed a line for something that transcends personal gain. Cardinal Kim, who taught us the spirit of sharing through his words and actions, left us something much more valuable.

A wise society uses the deaths of great people to mark the era that preceded that event and to prepare for the next one. The 58 years that transpired from 1951, when Cardinal Kim was ordained as a priest, until his death in 2009, were a microcosm of Korea’s history of trials and accomplishments, ranging from war and devastation, the division of a nation, dictatorship, industrialization and democratization to social polarization. Cardinal Kim embraced all Koreans living in such difficult times, consistently urging us to be patient. He told us that there is an end to pain. And in doing so, he gave us both courage and hope.
Already, reports from the peninsula indicate that the public focus on the church since the cardinal's death hasn't just led to an increase in queries from potential converts, but a spike of interest in the previously-unpopular practice of organ donation which had been Kim's "lifetime wish."

His organs removed to be given to others after his death, the cardinal's eyes were quickly used in two successful cornea transplants.

PHOTOS: AP/Jin Sung-chul(1); Reuters(2)

-30-
posted by Rocco Palmo at 07:53

.

In Hanoi, Preparing the Way


Thursday, February 19, 2009

Just months after a renewed round of tensions between the nation's Communist authorities and its Catholic community, a high-level Vatican delegation has spent the week in Vietnam meeting with top Hanoi officials in the hope of laying the groundwork... not just toward diplomatic relations, but a possible papal visit, to boot:

Talks between the government and Vatican have been held since 1990, but the latest round marked the first meeting of a working group studying the renewal of diplomatic ties.

It was held in a "very frank and open atmosphere," Monsignor Pietro Parolin, Vatican vice foreign minister, told reporters after meeting with Nguyen The Doanh, head of Vietnam's religious affairs commission.

"We have already set up good basis for further progress," he said, adding that it was impossible to say how long the process would take. "The outcome will be diplomatic relations."

Parolin told reporters he hoped the Pope might come to Vietnam this year, although no plans had been made for a visit.

"It depends on many things to be discussed, to be reflected upon, and I think that it's impossible to say yes or no," he said.

The working group held its first sessions on Monday and Tuesday, when Parolin met with Vice Foreign Minister Nguyen Quoc Cuong.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Dung said this week's meeting was an "important step" in the development of relations between Vietnam and the Vatican.

"The two sides acknowledged the encouraging developments in the relations between Vietnam and the Holy See and also agreed to continue their efforts," he said.

Parolin's delegation is scheduled to visit two dioceses in northern Vietnam later this week before departing on Sunday.

Although communist authorities closely monitor faith groups and insist on approving most church appointments, relations between Hanoi and the Holy See have begun to thaw.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung became the highest official to meet the Pope when he visited the Vatican in 2007.

Vietnam has one of Asia's largest Catholic populations, with more than 6 million followers.


In their ever-emergent Stateside diaspora, Vietnamese Catholics put on one of the US church's largest annual gatherings: summer's Marian Days in Missouri, which has grown to attract 75,000-plus over a weekend in August.

Last year saw another milestone for the group -- the election of the first Vietnamese member of Congress, the Louisiana Republican Anh Joseph Cao, an immigration lawyer and former Jesuit seminarian.

PHOTO: Reuters

-30-
posted by Rocco Palmo at 08:07

Source: http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/
.
P.S. Bolds and Highlights added.

Milwaukee archbishop chosen to succeed Cardinal Egan in NY


Milwaukee archbishop chosen to succeed Cardinal Egan in NY

7:18 AM Mon, Feb 23, 2009

Archbishop Timothy Dolan of Milwaukee, a conservative but generally conciliatory Catholic cleric, has been appointed archbishop of New York -- the job Pope John Paul II once characterized as "archbishop of the capital of the world."

Laurie Goodstien of The New York Times (religion writer of the capital of the world?) said Dolan "has a towering frame and a gregarious presence" and "is orthodox in his theology but more likely to use persuasion than punishment on Catholics who do not share his views."

Dolan succeeds Cardinal Edward Egan, who, at 76, is retiring.

"In choosing him," Goodstein writes, "the pope passed over other candidates equally conservative but more confrontational with Catholic priests, parishioners and politicians who question church teaching."
P.S. Bolds and Highlights added.

This people draw near me with their mouth, with their lips do honour me


9Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.

10For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered.

11And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed:

12And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.

13Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

14Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.

15Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?

16Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?
Isaiah 29:9-16.
.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Brazil aircraft maker to cut jobs


Page last updated at 01:19 GMT, Friday, 20 February 2009


Brazil aircraft maker to cut jobs

The cuts will affect about 20% of the firm's global workforce
Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer is to lay off more than 4,000 employees as a result of the global economic downturn, it has said.

One of the world's largest passenger aircraft makers, the firm said demand for new planes had dropped and there was no prospect of swift recovery.

The cuts will affect about 20% of the firm's global workforce. It has offices in Brazil, Asia, the US and Europe.

Embraer's main market is the US, which has been badly affected by the crisis.

Last November, Embraer reported a 70% fall in profits following a sharp decline in Brazil's currency against the dollar.

'Unprecedented crisis'

Most of the job losses were expected to affect workers in management, administrative and production roles, rather than engineering, the company said. It has become inevitable to revise our cost base and workforce to adapt them to the new reality in the demand for aircraft


"It has become inevitable to revise our cost base and workforce to adapt them to the new reality in the demand for aircraft"
Embraer statement

Embraer said the decision to cut jobs was forced by "the new reality of demand for commercial and executive aircraft".

Its statement said: "As a consequence of the unprecedented crisis hitting the world economy, especially the aviation sector, it has become inevitable to revise our cost base and workforce to adapt them to the new reality in the demand for aircraft."

It is not yet clear whether the cuts will affect workers outside Brazil.

Embraer, which employs 21,000 workers, vies with Canada's Bombardier for the title of the world's third-largest commercial aviation company, after Airbus and Boeing.


European leaders meet amid euro-zone worries


European leaders meet amid euro-zone worries


Sun Feb 22, 2009 6:33am EST



By Matt Falloon and Francesca Piscioneri

BERLIN (Reuters) - European leaders met in Berlin on Sunday to agree a common stance on overhauling global financial rules but their summit risked being overshadowed by concerns about the fragility of euro zone and eastern European states.

The host, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, wants the meeting to reaffirm a commitment to free trade, stronger regulation of financial markets and coordinated action to shield the bloc from the worst downturn in the postwar era.

European countries would then take this message of unity to a broader summit of G20 nations in London on April 2, showing they are serious about delivering on an action plan agreed last November in Washington to combat the financial crisis and guard against future meltdowns.

But new tensions within the single currency bloc and the financial woes of European Union members to the east have cast a cloud over the meeting in the German capital.

Ahead of the gathering, the IMF threw its weight behind the idea of a common European bond to alleviate pressure on euro states such as Ireland and Greece that are being forced to pay hefty premiums over stronger bloc members to finance their debt.

In eastern Europe, the currencies of countries such as Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary have come under severe pressure, hitting millions across the region who have borrowed in foreign currencies such as the euro.

Germany, Europe's benchmark issuer of debt, has rejected this idea of a euro-zone bond and Merkel is keen not to let the issue hijack her summit with the leaders of Britain, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Czech Republic and Luxembourg.

All the leaders, the president of the European Commission and finance ministers and central bankers had arrived at Merkel's Chancellery by 1030 GMT (5:30 a.m. EST) and are due to hold a joint news conference at 1345 GMT (8:45 a.m. EST).

In an interview with top-selling German newspaper Bild to be published on Monday, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi highlighted a problem within the 10-year old currency bloc as it works to coordinate a response to the crisis.

"Europe suffers from anachronisms -- for example the fact that it was born as a monetary union but still lacks a political dimension," Berlusconi said. "The only tools to face the crisis are monetary."

Since the G20 summit in Washington late last year, recessions in Europe and the United States have deepened, forcing governments to push through massive stimulus packages.

The Berlin meeting takes place after a week of accusations of protectionism between European nations, with some of France's partners objecting to its plans to offer 6 billion euros ($7.6 billion) in state loans to domestic carmakers.

Ahead of the meeting, German officials acknowledged that differences also existed with Britain over how strictly to regulate hedge funds.

Agreement is expected on giving the International Monetary Fund and Financial Stability Forum, a body of central bankers, regulators and finance minister, new responsibilities for overseeing financial reforms and boosting the funds of the IMF.



Source:
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE51L01A20090222

Malcolm X

Malcolm X was a Nation of Islam minister and a black nationalist leader in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s. Since his assassination in 1965, his status as a political figure has grown considerably, and he has now become an internationally recognized political and cultural icon. The changes in Malcolm X's personal beliefs can be followed somewhat by the changes in his name, from Malcolm Little when he was a young man to Malcolm X when he was a member of the Nation of Islam to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz-Al-Sabann after he returned to the United States from a spiritual pilgrimage to Mecca in 1964. He was a ward of the state, a shoe shine boy in Boston, a street hustler and pimp in New York, and a convicted felon at the age of twenty. After embracing Islam in prison and directing his grassroots leadership and speaking skills to recruit members to the Nation of Islam, he ultimately became an influential black nationalist during the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

The fifth child in a family of eight children, Malcolm was born May 19, 1925, in Omaha, Nebraska. His father, Earl Little, was a Baptist minister and a local organizer for the Universal Negro Improvement Association, a black nationalist organization founded by Marcus M. Garvey in the early twentieth century. His mother, Louise Little, was of West Indian heritage. Malcom's father was killed under suspicious circumstances in 1931 and his mother had a breakdown in 1937.

After his father's death and his mother's commitment to a mental hospital, Malcolm was first placed with family friends, but the state welfare agency ultimately situated him in a juvenile home in Mason, Michigan, where he did well. Malcolm was an excellent student in junior high school, earning high grades as well as praise from his teachers. Despite his obvious talent, his status as an African American in the 1930s prompted his English teacher to discourage Malcolm from pursuing a professional career. The teacher instead encouraged him to work with his hands, perhaps as a carpenter.

In 1941, shortly after finishing eighth grade, Malcolm moved to Roxbury, a predominantly African American neighborhood in Boston. From 1941 to 1943, he lived in Roxbury with his half-sister Ella LeeLittle-Collins. He worked at several jobs, including one as the shoe shine boy at the Roseland State Ballroom. He became what he later described as a Roxbury hipster, wearing outrageous zoot suits and dancing at local ballrooms.

Malcolm moved to Harlem in 1943, at the age of eighteen. Here, he earned the nickname Detroit Red, because of his Michigan background and the reddish hue to his skin and hair. In his early Harlem experience, Malcolm was a hustler, dope dealer, gambler, pimp, and numbers runner for mobsters.

In 1945, when his life was threatened by a Harlem mob figure named West Indian Archie, Malcolm returned to Boston, where he became involved in a burglary ring with an old Roxbury acquaintance. In 1946 he was caught attempting to reclaim a stolen watch he had left for repairs, and the police raided his apartment and arrested him and his accomplices, including two white women. He was charged with larceny and breaking and entering, to which he pleaded guilty at trial. On February 27, 1946, he entered Charlestown State Prison to begin an eight- to ten-year sentence; he was twenty years old.

Malcolm was transferred in 1948 to an experimental and progressive prison program in Norfolk, Massachusetts. The Norfolk Prison Colony gave greater freedom to its inmates. It also had an excellent library, and Malcolm began to read voraciously. Prompted by his brother Reginald Little, Malcolm converted to Islam while in prison and became a follower of Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam. The Nation of Islam, founded by Wallace D. Fard in the 1930s, advocated racial separatism and enforced a strict moral code for its followers, all of whom were African American.

Malcolm was paroled from prison in 1952. He immediately moved to Detroit, where he worked in a furniture store and attended the Nation of Islam Detroit temple. Malcolm soon abandoned the surname Little in favor of X, which represented the African surname he had never known. With his oratory skill, Malcolm X quickly became a national minister for the Nation of Islam. As a devout follower of Elijah Muhammad, he helped to establish numerous temples across the United States. He became the minister for temples in Boston and Philadelphia, and in 1954, he became minister of the New York temple. In 1958 he married Sister Betty X, who had earlier joined the Nation of Islam as Betty Sanders. Together, they had six children, including twins who were born after Malcolm's assassination.

During his early years with the Nation of Islam, Malcolm's primary role was as spokesman for Elijah Muhammad. He was a highly effective grassroots activist and successfully recruited thousands of urban blacks to join the organization. In 1959 a television program entitled The Hate That Hate Produced resulted in a focused public scrutiny of the Nation of Islam and its followers, who became known to many U.S. citizens as Black Muslims. Increasingly, Malcolm was seen as the national spokesman for the Black Muslims, and he was often sought out for his opinion on public issues. In vitriolic public speeches on behalf of the Nation of Islam, he described whites in the United States as devils and called for African Americans to reject any attempt to integrate them into a white racist society. As a Nation of Islam minister, he denounced Jews and criticized the more cautious mainstream civil rights leaders as traitors who had been brainwashed by a white society. He further challenged the so-called integrationist principles of recognized civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr.

Elijah Muhammad took a somewhat less rash approach and favored a general nonengagement policy in place of more confrontational tactics. Malcolm's increasing popularity—as well as his caustic public remarks—began to create tension between him and Elijah Muhammad. Malcolm became frustrated at having to restrain his comments.

When President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, Malcolm exclaimed that Kennedy "never foresaw that the chickens would come home to roost so soon." Malcolm later regretted his comment and explained that he meant that the government's involvement in and tolerance of violence against African Americans and others had created an atmosphere that contributed to the death of the president. Nevertheless, his comments and his increasing public notoriety prompted Elijah Muhammad to "silence" Malcolm and suspend him as a minister on December 1, 1963. Members of the Nation of Islam were instructed not to speak to him.

However, by 1963, Malcolm had become disillusioned by the Nation of Islam, particularly with rumors that Elijah Muhammad had been unfaithful to his wife and had fathered several illegitimate children. On March 8, 1964—while still under suspension from the Nation of Islam—Malcolm formally announced his separation from the organization. He soon announced the creation of his own organization, Moslem Mosque, Incorporated (MMI), which would be based in New York. MMI, Malcolm stated, would be a broad-based black nationalist organization intended to advance the spiritual, economic, and political interests of African Americans. On March 26, Malcolm met for the first and only time with the Reverend King, in Washington, D.C. King at the time was scheduled to testify on the pending Civil Rights Act of 1964.

In April 1964, Malcolm made a spiritual pilgrimage to Mecca, the holy site of Islam and the birthplace of the prophet Muhammad. He was profoundly moved by the pilgrimage, and said later that it was the start of a radical alteration in his outlook about race relations.

Upon his return to the United States, Malcolm began to use the name El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz Al-Sabann. He also exhibited a profound shift in political and social thinking. Whereas in the past he had advocated against cooperation with other civil rights leaders and organizations, his new philosophy was to work with existing organizations and individuals, including whites, so long as they were sincere in their efforts to secure basic civilrights and freedoms for African Americans. In June 1964, he founded the secular Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU), which espoused a pan-Africanist approach to basic human rights, particularly the rights of African Americans. He traveled and spoke extensively in Africa to gain support for his pan-Africanist views. He pledged to bring the condition of African Americans before the General Assembly of the United Nations and thereby "internationalize" the civil rights movement in the United States. He further pledged to do whatever was necessary to bring the black struggle from the level of civil rights to the level of human rights. When he advocated for the right of African Americans to use arms to defend themselves against violence, he not only laid the groundwork for a subsequent growth of the black power movement, but also led many U.S. citizens to believe that he advocated violence. However, in his autobiography, Malcolm said that he was not advocating wanton violence but calling for the right of individuals to use arms in self-defense when the law failed to protect them from violent assaults.

In 1965 Malcolm's increasing public criticism of Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam prompted anonymous threats against his life. In his attempts to forge relationships with established civil rights organizations such as the Student Non-ViolentCoordinating Committee, Malcolm was criticized severely in the Nation of Islam's official publications. In a December 1964 article in Muhammad Speaks— the official newspaper of the Nation of Islam— Louis X (now known as Louis Farrakhan) said, "[S]uch a man as Malcolm is worthy of death, and would have met with death if it had not been for Muhammad's confidence in Allah for victory over the enemies."

On February 14, 1965, Malcolm's home in Queens, New York—which was still owned by the Nation of Islam—was firebombed while he and his family were asleep. Malcolm attributed the bombing to Nation of Islam supporters but no one was ever charged with the crime. One week later, when Malcolm stepped to the podium at the Audubon Ballroom in New York to present a speech on behalf of the OAAU, he was assassinated. The gunmen, later identified as former or current members of the Nation of Islam, were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in April 1966.

Malcolm left a complex political and social legacy. Although he was primarily a black nationalist in perspective, his changing philosophy and politics toward the end of his life demonstrate the unfinished development of an influential figure. Although some people point to his identification with the Nation of Islam and dismiss him as a racial extremist and anti-Semite, his later thinking reveals profound changes in his perspective and a more universal understanding of the problems of African Americans. In his eulogy of Malcolm, the U.S. actor Ossie Davis said,

However we may have differed with him—or with each other about him and his value as a man—let his going from us serve only to bring us together, now. Consigning these mortal remains to earth, the common mother of all, secure in the knowledge that what we place in the ground is no more now a man—but a seed—which, after the winter of our discontent, will come forth again to meet us.
.
.
.
.
P.S.
  • *On this page there were several short biographies; I chose the one I thought that was most balanced and concise.
  • Bolds and italics added for emphasis.

.

Arsenio

Roubini: ‘The Anglo-Saxon Model Has Failed’


February 20, 2009, 10:45 am — Updated: 10:45 am -->

Roubini: ‘The Anglo-Saxon Model Has Failed’
By Eric Etheridge

Writing at Forbes.com yesterday, Nouriel Roubini says that “It is clear that the Anglo-Saxon model of supervision and regulation of the financial system has failed.”

[W]hile this crisis does not imply the end of market economy capitalism it has shown the failure of a particular model of capitalism: the laissez faire unregulated (or aggressively deregulated) wild-west model of free market capitalism with lack of prudential regulation and supervision of financial markets and with the lack of proper provision of public goods by governments.

It is the failures of ideas such as the “efficient market hypothesis” that deluded itself about the absence of market failures such as asset bubbles; the “rational expectations” paradigm that clashes with the insights of behavioral economics and finance; the “self-regulation of markets and institutions” that clashes with the classical agency problems in corporate governance that are themselves exacerbated in financial companies by the greater degree of asymmetric information -how can a chief executive or a board monitor the risk-taking of thousands of separate profit-and-loss accounts? Then there are the distortions of compensation paid to bankers and traders. . .

[W]e now need more binding rules on liquidity, capital, leverage, transparency, compensation and so on.

But the design of the new system should be robust enough to counter three types of problems with rules: A tendency toward ‘regulatory arbitrage’ should be borne in mind, as bankers can find creative ways to bypass rules faster than regulators can improve them. Then there is ‘jurisdictional arbitrage’ as financial activity may move to more lax jurisdictions. And finally, ‘regulatory capture’ as regulators and supervisors are often captured - via revolving doors and other mechanisms - by the financial industry. So the new rules will have to be incentive compatible, i.e. robust enough to overcome to these regulatory failures.


Why Christ Delays His Coming


Why Christ Delays His Coming


But this I do say, brothers. The appointed time has grown very short. 1 Cor. 7:29, Goodspeed.


The angels of God in their messages to men represent time as very short. Thus it has always been presented to me. It is true that time has continued longer than we expected in the early days of this message. Our Saviour did not appear as soon as we hoped. But has the word of the Lord failed? Never! It should be remembered that the promises and threatenings of God are alike conditional.


God had committed to His people a work to be accomplished on earth. The third angel's message was to be given, the minds of believers were to be directed to the heavenly sanctuary, where Christ had entered to make atonement for His people. The Sabbath reform was to be carried forward. The breach in the law of God must be made up. The message must be proclaimed with a loud voice, that all the inhabitants of earth might receive the warning. The people of God must purify their souls through obedience to the truth, and be prepared to stand without fault before Him at His coming.


Had Adventists, after the great disappointment in 1844, held fast their faith, and followed on unitedly in the opening providence of God, receiving the message of the third angel and in the power of the Holy Spirit proclaiming it to the world, . . .the Lord would have wrought mightily with their efforts, the work would have been completed, and Christ would have come ere this to receive His people to their reward.


But in the period of doubt and uncertainty that followed the disappointment, many of the advent believers yielded their faith. . . . Thus the work was hindered, and the world was left in darkness. . . .


For forty years did unbelief, murmuring, and rebellion shut out ancient Israel from the land of Canaan. The same sins have delayed the entrance of modern Israel into the heavenly Canaan. In neither case were the promises of God at fault. It is the unbelief, the worldliness, unconsecration, and strife among the Lord's professed people that have kept us in this world of sin and sorrow so many years.


{Maranatha p. 61}

Woe To The Nations


Zephaniah 3

1Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city!

2She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the LORD; she drew not near to her God.

3Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow.

4Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law.

5The just LORD is in the midst thereof; he will not do iniquity: every morning doth he bring his judgment to light, he faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no shame.

6I have cut off the nations: their towers are desolate; I made their streets waste, that none passeth by: their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, that there is none inhabitant.

7I said, Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive instruction; so their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I punished them: but they rose early, and corrupted all their doings.

8Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.

9For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent.

10From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, even the daughter of my dispersed, shall bring mine offering.

11In that day shalt thou not be ashamed for all thy doings, wherein thou hast transgressed against me: for then I will take away out of the midst of thee them that rejoice in thy pride, and thou shalt no more be haughty because of my holy mountain.

12I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the LORD.

13The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.

14Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.

15The LORD hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy: the king of Israel, even the LORD, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more.

16In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack.

17The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.

18I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly, who are of thee, to whom the reproach of it was a burden.

19Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict thee: and I will save her that halteth, and gather her that was driven out; and I will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame.

20At that time will I bring you again, even in the time that I gather you: for I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the LORD.


Saturday, February 21, 2009

Global Poverty Act of 2007-Bill Forces U.S. to Give 'Til It Hurts


Friday, February 15, 2008

Stop Sen Obama's S.2433: Global Poverty Act of 2007-Bill Forces U.S. to Give 'Til It Hurts



This is Sen Obama. From the Family Research Council


Less than a day after the President agreed to put more money in taxpayers' pockets, the U.S. Senate is attempting to take some of those dollars back. The Global Poverty Act, while seemingly charitable and big-hearted, sounds nicer than it really is. Under a guise of Good Samaritanism, the bill would require our government to spend $845 billion above and beyond what America already spends on global aid! In addition to surrendering more dollars, the U.S. would also be required to surrender some of its own sovereignty over foreign aid by putting it under UN control. The bill would force the U.S. to sign onto the U.N.'s Millennium Declaration, which would commit us not only to "banning small arms and light weapons," but also to ratifying a series of objectionable treaties such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the International Criminal Court Treaty, the Kyoto Protocol (global warming), the Convention on Biological Diversity, and so on. Considering the magnitude of the legislation, one would think that the Senate would proceed with caution. Not so! In an effort to fast-track the bill, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has yet to hold a single hearing. Instead, S. 2433 is scheduled for a vote in the Committee as early as today. Currently, the bill has just seven sponsors, who include Senators Barack Obama (D-Ill.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), Richard Durbin, (D-Ill.), Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), and Robert Menendez (D-N.J.). Contact your senators and tell them to oppose S. 2433! Impoverishing Americans through oppressive taxation and regulation will never succeed in enriching the world.


Unreal. If that does not scare you, I don't know what will. Take action to stop this bill now.



Go read what UCV has up about this.


posted by Carl Kilo at 10:12:00 AM



Source: http://kilosparksitup.blogspot.com/2008/02/stop-sen-obama-s2433-global-poverty-act.html


P.S. Bolds and Highlights added.

Deeper North American Integration Still in the Cards


Deeper North American Integration Still in the Cards

By Dana Gabriel http://www.borderfirereport.net/dana-gabriel/deeper-north-american-integration-still-in-the-cards.html

Many Canadians view a Barack Obama presidency as an opportunity to further renew Canada-U.S. relations. This includes a more North American approach in dealing with challenges that face not only the continent, but the world as well. The Security and Prosperity and Partnership (SPP), a trilateral initiative between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, has stalled and in some cases, Canada-U.S. bilateralism has also been hampered. Many policy papers and reports are still calling for deeper North American integration.

The policy paper entitled “From Correct to Inspired: A Blueprint for Canada-U.S. Engagement” was released to the public in January of this year. It was prepared by Carleton University’s Centre for Trade Policy and Law and outlines how the Canada-U.S. partnership can be rejuvenated. It details how Canada can help Obama further reshape America’s role in the world. At almost every turn, the report promotes stronger U.S. relations and emphasizes how Canada must present itself as a valued partner on broader global issues. The report recommends more Canada-U.S. bilateralism in areas of security, trade, energy, and the environment. It also proposes an annual bilateral summit between the two countries to foster more cooperation. It suggests that Canada’s influence and visibility with the new administration might be reduced, if its mission in Afghanistan is not extended beyond 2011.

In addition, the Carleton University Canada-U.S. Project calls for deeper integration and recommends moving beyond NAFTA through separate North American bilateral initiatives. This would still be within the trade agreements framework. On Obama’s pledge to fix NAFTA’s labour and environmental provisions, the report notes that Canada should not worry, as any such move is directed more towards Mexico. It does caution against Canada using its energy resources as a weapon and bargaining tool. The report acknowledges the failures of the SPP and calls for wholesale changes. It blames the sometimes unnecessary inclusion of Mexico from preventing more meaningful Canada-U.S. bilateralism. According to the report, Canada should pursue a NAFTA policy of trilateralism when necessary, but on certain matters, Canada-U.S. bilateralism should be a priority.

A recent trilateral effort put forward by the Arizona State University’s North American Center for Transborder Studies, also calls for deeper integration. In the policy paper entitled “North America Next: A Report to President Obama on Building Sustainable Security and Competitiveness,” it urges the new administration to further improve relations with its NAFTA partners. The goal is to build a more North American strategy and it suggests that this could be achieved through further energizing and expanding the current Trilateral Leaders Summit. The report calls for developing an effective North American trade and transportation plan, which would include an integrated multimodal transportation system. This sure sounds like the NAFTA Superhighway! According to the report, this could be partly paid for by a joint, revolving fund for infrastructure investment. The report also calls for harmonizing freight transportation standards, a special trucker visa, along with complete NAFTA truck access inside all three countries. There has been an ongoing battle to prevent Mexican long-haul trucks access to U.S. roadways beyond the current 25 mile commercial zone restriction.

In advance of Obama’s visit to Canada, a coalition of organizations was stressing the importance of Prime Minister Stephen Harper to commit to a transparent and thorough renegotiation of NAFTA. The Canadian coalition included the Council of Canadians, the Sierra Club of Canada, the Canadian Auto Workers and the Canadian Federation of Students, as well as other organizations. In the letter addressed to Harper, they call for the elimination of the energy clause in NAFTA, which requires Canada to export oil and gas to the U.S., even in time of shortages. They also recommend that the prime minister place a moratorium on the negotiation and ratification of all Canadian bilateral free trade agreements, as well as an end to the SPP. There are other concerns in regards to NAFTA as many Canadians would like to see water excluded from the agreement. This includes a ban on bulk water transfers, along with safeguards against NAFTA Chapter 11 challenges.

There are fears that under an Obama presidency that many on the left will go to sleep, now that Bush is out of office. This includes in Canada, where the left have been instrumental in exposing the SPP and fighting deeper integration into a North American Union. In most instances, North American integration is still very unpopular, but this is a very deep-rooted agenda. Even with a new president, it will likely carry on in some form or another. It is imperative that concerned citizens in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico continue to resist any move towards a North American Union.

The two witnesses in Revelation chapter eleven!


The two witnesses in Revelation chapter eleven!

Q.: Who are they? Are they Elijah and Moses, or someone else coming in the spirit of Elijah and Moses only?



The Two Witnesses!


GOD has two special Witnesses that were murdered or destroyed and resurrected again. Of these GOD says: “And if any man will hurt them, fire proceeds out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.” [Revelation 11:5].

Now it is true that GOD gave us special Pentecostal Power to be His special Witnesses and we could say that the gift of tongues fires out of our mouth, but I would not go as far as to say that anyone could hurt Moses or Elijah up in heaven who have already experienced the physical resurrection. How then could they be slain and their bodies lie exposed for three and half prophetic days or three and half years? In their glorified immortal state they would not be subjected to death.

JESUS declared of the Old Testament Scriptures, “They are they which testify [witness] of Me.” [John 5:39] and again :”This Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a Witness unto all nations.” [Matthew 24:14].

Protestant Commentator George Croly wrote: “The ‘Two Witnesses are the Old and New Testaments…..The essential purpose of the Scriptures is to give Witness to the mercy and verity of GOD. Our Lord commands, ‘Search the Scriptures,…they are they which testify [witness] of Me.’

To hurt the Word of GOD is to oppose, corrupt, or pervert its testimony, and turn people away from it. Judgment fire pronounced against such will devour them in the lake of fire [Malachi 4:1; Rev.20:15, ; 22:18,19].

“And I will give power unto My two witnesses, and they shall prophecy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.”

Now remember that Revelation 10 stops all wild speculations for the end-time after the great disappointment which occurred in 1844 A.D. at the end of the 2300days/years of Daniel 8:14 and the Arab league in 1840 A.D.. Let us not be fouled by the Roman Futurism adopted by Protestants, that there will be such a thing as 3 ½ years etc. still to come. No more date setting please for this side of the second coming! It is only certain events remaing to be fulfilled such as the Sunday-law enforcement, the mark of the beast 666

The period of the 1260 days is variously referred to in the Scriptures. It appears in three forms: As 1260 days in Revelation 12:6

As 42 month in Revelation 11:2 and 13:5

As 3 ½ times in Daniel 7:25 and 12:7, Rev.12:14.

These all refer to the same time period and can easily be calculated. A time is a year, as evident from Dan. 11:13, marginal reading. A year has 12 month, and a biblical year contains 12 month and exactly 30 days each. As an example, the record of the flood in Genesis 7 and 8 that it came on the 17th day of the second month [7:11] and the waters subsided on the 17th of the seventh month [8:4].

That the flood continued for five month-from the second to the seventh month. Reference in Genesis 7:24 reveals that “the waters prevailed upon the earth 150 days. Our calculation shows 5 months. This text mentions 150 days, or 30 days to a month. One prophetic day stands for a literal year [Ezekiel 4:6 Numbers 14:34].

Thus we have a definite measure for calculating the prophetic periods, bearing in mind that in prophecy a day is equal to a year of ordinary time.
During this time of the 1260 years the witnesses are in a state of sackcloth, or obscurity, and GOD gives them power to endure and maintain their testimony through the dark and dismal period.

How are the two Witnesses further identified? “These are the two olive trees, and they the two candlesticks standing before GOD of the earth.” Verse 4

Evident allusion is made here to Zechariah 4:11-14, where it is implied that the two olive trees are taken to represent the word of GOD. David testifies, “The entrance of Thy words gives light and Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” [Ps.119:130,105]. Reference is made to the sanctuary of GOD where the oil of the olive trees fed the seven branched candlestick continually day and night. [Hebrews 9:2]

To compare Moses and Elijah to olive trees and candlesticks is unreasonable and nowhere found in Scriptures. The setting of the Two Witnesses in Revelation chapter eleven shows by its first two verses and the last two, that it refers to the judgment of the heavenly temple sanctuary of GOD.

Papal Rome had outlawed the Holy Scriptures during its long reign of 1260 years from 538 A.D. to 1798 A.D.

“And they have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy; and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.” V.6

In what sense have these witnesses power to shut heaven, turn water to blood, and bring plagues on the earth? Elijah shut heaven so that it did not rain for 3 ½ years, but not on his own, but on the word of the Lord.

Moses by the word of the Lord turned waters of Egypt to blood. Just as these judgments, recorded in their testimony [witness], have been fulfilled, so will every threatening and judgment pronounced by them against any people surely be accomplished. Of these two, only Moses was dead and resurrected again. Elijah never saw death and went up in a chariot of fire.

“As often as they will” means that as often as judgments are recorded on their pages to take place, so often they will come to pass. An instance of this the world is yet to experience in the last seven plagues.

“And when they shall have finished their testimony [their witness], the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.” Verses 7,8

When they shall have finished their testimony or witness, that is, in sackcloth. The sackcloth state ended. A “beast” denotes a kingdom or power [Dan.7:17,23]. The question remains, when did the sackcloth state close? And did such a kingdom make war on them for 1260 years?

We already showed that the 1260 years of papal supremacy had outlawed the Word of GOD from 538 to 1798 A.D. but the tenth part of the city is apparently the most wicked part and the greatest offender.

France or the Franks, were one part of the 10 Divisions of the Roman Empire after its collapse. Three of them were uprooted by the little horn power according to Daniel 7 and 8 in order for the little horn to grow exceedingly great, greater than Alexander the great. This cannot refer to Antiochus Epiphanes who never changed GOD’S laws and times. The Papal see however claims divine power to modify divine law and changed the Sabbath to Sunday and the time from sundown to the darkest hour of midnight.

France was the atheistical power here compared to spiritual Egypt. On the 1st November in 1793 A.D. the holy Scriptures were banned in France and also GOD’S weekly cycle. After exactly 3 ½ days of years, as the Bible prophesied, till June 1797 the Scriptures or the two Witnesses stood on their feet again.

Were they exalted to heaven after that date? Oh yes, shortly after 1797, in 1804, the British Bible Society was organized and followed by the American in 1816.

Before 1804 the Bible had been printed and circulated in 50 languages. But by 1942 translated in whole or in part to 1,058 languages and has since been voted the number one best seller in the world.


Out Of The Cities


Out of the Cities!


Just imagine, at least try to imagine.


Author Unknown



A few parents or grandparents are alive today to share their memories of those terrible years historians have labeled "The Great Depression." So that you and I can just imagine it, I will share a bit of history.

 "The Great (Economic) Depression" was global, affecting the entire industrialized, civilized world. The hardships and sorrows associated with "The Great Depression" were largely unknown however and scarcely felt by people living in the primitive third-world. Poverty for the "primitive poor" was everyday normal. But things were very different elsewhere on the planet.

In the autumn of 1929, the legendary New York City Wall Street Stock Market crashed! At this moment I am reading the actual headline of ‘The Brooklyn Daily Eagle’, dated Thursday, October 24, 1929 (a framed reproduction hangs above my desk): "WALL ST. IN PANIC AS STOCKS CRASH." Countless thousands of intelligent, wealthy persons, in America and abroad, were bankrupted overnight by the crash and lost everything they owned. More than a few committed suicide rather than face the "depression of The Depression."

History reveals that The Great Depression reached its economic low point about three and half years later in 1932. I wasn’t around at that time and likely you were not on the ground either. My mother was though. She was a teen and the eldest of seven children. Her father, a 1917 immigrant coal miner from Birmingham, England, worked in Alabama coalmines supplying coal for the steel mills in Birmingham, Alabama.

During those Depression years, heart-wrenching photographs recall the haggard-faced thousands of American city-dwellers standing in long "soup lines," begging day after day for a scrap of bread and nourishment. Multiplied thousands of "hobos," fled America’s great cities, hopping trains and crisscrossing our nation, begging for meals and looking for any kind of employment they could find. Many left hungry and destitute families at home.

Nothing about the brutal experience of "The Great Depression" was imaginary for these people. For those who experienced it, "The Great Depression" was not a dream it was a nightmare!

You should know that things and people were different 75 years ago. Seventy percent (70%) of Americans lived in rural America, many of them on farms. During the Depression, at least 70% of America’s population could garden, keep a few chickens and maybe a cow to feed themselves—not so with city-dwellers! For more than a decade, millions of families, in America and abroad, suffered privation!

In Birmingham, Alabama, my yet to be mother, still a teen living at home with her parents and six brothers and sisters, at times went for days without a bite of food in the house! Sometimes a Good Samaritan would leave a loaf of bread and a few potatoes at the front door. My mother could never relate the experience without tears.

Just imagine; at least try to imagine.

I hope that I am mistaken in my interpretation of prophetic Scripture, but I don’t think that I am misreading what the Prophets have written. Another global Great Depression is on the way, but this one will be A Great, Great Depression! It will be global and the entire industrialized, civilized world will soon be thrust into an unimaginable crisis

Today, America is very different from the America of 75 years ago. 75 years ago most Americans left their homes unlocked. Most Americans allowed their children to walk to school and to town—hardly imaginable today. Today the tables are turned. 70% of Americans are crowded into cities that are waiting to explode with unimaginable human fury and suffering.

Today, even smaller American cities are being invaded by vicious gangs, druggies and increasing numbers of poor that can scarcely find enough food for a month. When the economy collapses and there are no monthly checks from Uncle Sam, just try to imagine!

Imagine angry mobs, looting and rampaging through city streets, taking what they need or want. Imagine lawless packs assaulting trucks as they attempt to deliver food, medicine and necessities to desperate city centers—trucks that will likely never arrive because they have been hijacked, looted and burned as a storm of rage sweeps across the land.

Just imagine.

So where are the police? Hello! Katrina was America’s wake-up call for city dwellers! Okay, what about our National Guard? Hello! Most of them are away fighting mad Muslims in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East, and "what has been will be again!"

Aren’t you thankful that you and your family are not living in or too near a large metropolis? Aren’t you thankful that you obeyed the warnings of Heaven and history, that you used common sense, and moved to a rural setting while you could?

Try to imagine the fear that will grip thousands upon thousands who will try to flee the coming fury but find no gasoline in the pumps. Think of those who will discover major highways blocked with fleeing-on-foot mobs, throwing stones, some waving guns, attempting to hijack anything with wheels and gasoline. Aren’t you thankful that you "got out of Dodge" before the coming war with Iran and The Great, Great Depression that will surely follow.

Just imagine the spiritual consternation of hundreds and thousands of sincere Christians, taught by thousands of sincere Shepherds to proof-text rather than context Bible teachings regarding the Great Tribulation and the return of Christ. Self-inflicted blindness is awful!

Through the ages God’s people have always suffered persecution (tribulation). Christ, the Baptist and the Disciples suffered tribulation, but modern millions have been taught that they will be "raptured" and never experience such tribulation. Somehow they have failed to read Jesus’ admonition regarding the Tribulation time: "The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord." Matthew 10:24. Imagine sincere people waiting, waiting, waiting for deliverance, as the world sinks around them.

Just imagine, at least try to imagine, when this time comes, how many people would have appreciated an opportunity to read and heed insightful warnings, like these, written by a sincere Christian; Ellen White; who received the instruction below, by inspiration, 100 years ago:

"The work of the people of God is to prepare for the events of the future, which will soon come upon them with blinding force."

"Unless we understand the importance of the moments that are swiftly passing into eternity, and make ready to stand in the great day of God, we shall be unfaithful stewards. The watchman is to know the time of night... The judgments of God are about to fall upon the world, and we need to be preparing for that great day."

"God has revealed what is to take place in the last days that His people may be prepared to stand against the tempest of opposition and wrath. Those who have been warned of the events before them are not to sit in calm expectation of the coming storm, comforting themselves that the Lord will shelter His faithful ones in the day of trouble."

"I see the necessity of making haste to get all things ready for the crisis." 

"In the great final conflict, Satan will employ the same policy, manifest the same spirit, and work for the same end as in all preceding ages. That which has been, will be, except that the coming struggle will be marked with a terrible intensity such as the world has never witnessed."

"Transgression has almost reached its limit. Confusion fills the world, and a great terror is soon to come upon human beings. The end is very near. We who know the truth should be preparing for what is soon to break upon the world as an overwhelming surprise."

"It is often the case that trouble is greater in anticipation than in reality; but this is not true of the crisis before us. The most vivid presentation cannot reach the magnitude of the ordeal."

"If in the providence of God we can secure places away from the cities the  Lord would have us do this. There are troublous times before us."

"The time is near when the large cities will be visited by the judgments of God. In a little while, these cities will be terribly shaken."

"Erelong there will be such strife and confusion in the cities that those who wish to leave them will not be able. We must be preparing for these issues. This is the light that is given me."

"For this reason I see the necessity of the people of God moving out of the cities into retired country (places) where they may cultivate the land and raise their own produce. Get out of the cities into rural districts, where the houses are not crowded closely together, and where you will be free from the interference of enemies."

"During the night season I was pleading with some families to avail themselves of God’s appointed means, and get away from the cities...Some were loitering, making no determined efforts. The angels of mercy hurried Lot and his wife and daughters by taking hold of their hands... Lot had too much of a lingering spirit... Those who obey this warning will find refuge. Let every man be wide awake for himself, and try to save his family...God will reveal from point to point what to do next."

"Again and again the Lord has instructed that our people are to take their families away from the cities, into the country, where they can raise their own provisions... Purchase a little piece of land where you can have a garden. God will help His people to find such homes outside the cities." 

"A great terror is soon to come upon human beings. The end is very near. We who know the truth should be preparing for what is soon to break upon the world as an overwhelming surprise." 

"The time is coming when we cannot sell at any price. Hoarded wealth will soon be worthless. Money will soon depreciate in value very suddenly when the reality of eternal scenes opens to the senses of man."

"In the last great conflict in the controversy with Satan, those who are loyal to God will see every earthly support cut off. Because they refuse to break His law in obedience to earthly powers, they will be forbidden to buy or sell."

"Now I plead with every soul to look not too strongly and confidently to human counselors, but look most earnestly to God, the One wise in counsel. Submit all your ways and your will to God’s ways and to God’s will. Spread every plan before God with fasting, (and) with the humbling of the soul before the Lord Jesus, and commit thy ways unto the Lord. The sure promise is, ‘He will direct thy paths.’ He is infinite in resources."