Wednesday, July 08, 2009

G8 welcomes developing states, eyes climate, trade

From L-R: Japan's Prime Minister Taro Aso, Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper, President Barack Obama, France's President Nicolas Sarkozy, Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev react as they pose for a family photograph at the G8 summit in L'Aquila July 8, 2009.
REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer



By Phil Stewart and Matt Falloon

L'AQUILA, Italy (Reuters) - Leaders of the world's richest and main developing nations meet on Thursday to try to find common ground on global warming and international trade, with the poorer countries seeking concessions.

U.S. President Barack Obama will chair the climate discussions, but hopes of agreeing ambitious goals have faded after China and India rejected demands to halve emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050.

The talks take place on the second of a three-day Group of Eight summit, with discussions broadened to include the heads of new economic powerhouses in recognition that the world's problems can no longer be dealt with by an elite few.

The fragile state of the global economy dominated the first day of the annual G8 summit, with the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Canada and Russia acknowledging there were still significant risks to financial stability.

They also agreed to try to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Farenheit) above pre-industrial age levels and pledged to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by between 50 and 80 percent by mid-century.

The 17-member Major Economies Forum (MEF), which groups the G8 plus big developing nations, also looks set to embrace the 2 Celsius goal on Thursday, but is balking at further commitments ahead of a decisive U.N. climate conference in December.

Indian negotiators said developing countries first wanted to see rich nation plans to provide financing to help them cope with ever more floods, heatwaves, storms and rising sea levels.

Temperatures have already risen by about 0.7 Celsius since the start of the Industrial Revolution ushered in widespread burning of fossil fuels, and Italy's prime minister said everyone should share the burden of tackling the problem.

"It would not be productive if European countries, Japan, the United States and Canada accepted cuts that are economically damaging while more than 5 billion people in other countries carried on as before," Silvio Berlusconi said.

ECONOMY, CURRENCIES, TRADE

Broader economic concerns will also be high on the agenda on Thursday, with emerging nations complaining they are suffering heavily from a crisis that was not of their making.

China, India and Brazil have all questioned whether the world should start seeking a new global reserve currency as an alternative to the dollar. They have said they may raise this on Thursday after discussing it among themselves on Wednesday.

Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon told reporters developing economies in the so-called "G5" had suggested the use of alternative currencies to settle trade between themselves.

The debate is highly sensitive in financial markets, which are wary of risks to U.S. asset values, and the issue is unlikely to progress very far in L'Aquila.

However, a breakthrough on trade did look within reach.
Diplomats say the G8 and G5 should agree to conclude the stalled Doha round of trade talks in 2010. Launched in 2001 to help poor countries prosper, they have stumbled on proposed tariff and subsidy cuts.

"We commit to reach a rapid, ambitious, balanced and comprehensive conclusion of the Doha Development Agenda," the G8 said in a joint statement on Wednesday.

G5 nations issued their own statement, saying they would try to address "any outstanding problems" on trade talks and that a successful conclusion of Doha would provide "a major stimulus to the restoration of confidence in world markets."

But they also called on the world's richest nations to tear down trade barriers and restore credit to the poorest countries.

(Writing by Crispian Balmer, editing by Ralph Gowling)
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G8 summit: Sarah Brown meets Pope Benedict XVI

Sarah Brown had a private audience with Pope Benedict XVI in the Vatican on the opening day of the G8 summit and was presented with a special papal medal.

By Nick Squires in L'Aquila Published: 7:27PM BST 08 Jul 2009


Michelle Obama and Nicolas Sarkozy's wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy missed the meeting with the Pontiff Photo: AFP


Mrs Brown and the wives of the other G8 leaders were given a tour of St Peter's Basilica and shown around the Vatican's gardens, which are closed to the public.
Mrs Brown provided a behind-the-scenes look at the G8 as she blogged about the “good food and good company".




"Landed in Italy, and Gordon is whisked off to the summit. I spend the first day in Rome and join the programme for the First Ladies and PMs’ wives,” one breezy entry began.

The blog details reveals that the audience with Pope Benedict XVI was a case of deja vu for Mrs Brown.

“In February, Gordon took me and our boys to a private audience with the Holy Father where we were touched by his kindness and concern for the developing world,” she wrote.

The prime minister’s wife, a 45-year-old former public relations boss, also found time to update readers on “excitement” at the British embassy in Rome about the resident beehives and their “imminent harvest of honey".

During the 30-minute audience, the Pope asked her to pass on his best wishes to the Gordon Brown and their sons, John and Fraser.

Mrs Brown was presented with the Annual Papal Medal, which bears a bust of the reigning Pope and the year of his papacy, and is struck each year to commemorate ecclesiastical, social and political events.

The first ladies also viewed Rome's historic monuments, including the Capitoline Hill and the ruins of the Forum, and enjoyed a private tour of a museum packed with ancient Roman statuary.

Michelle Obama and Nicolas Sarkozy's wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy missed the meeting with the Pontiff.

Mrs Obama and her husband will have a separate audience on Friday and the Italian-born Miss Bruni will only arrive at the summit on Wednesday.

Her absence has been interpreted as a snub by the Italian media, who recalled her remark that she was glad to have taken French citizenship after the Silvio Berlusconi, Italian prime minister, described President Barack Obama as "tanned" last year.

In the absence of Mr Berlusconi's wife, who is suing for divorce over his alleged philandering, Mrs Brown and the other G8 spouses were hosted by Italy's two most glamorous ministers: the former model Mara Carfagna and her colleague Maria Stella Gelmini.

Writing on her blog before leaving London for Italy, Mrs Brown said she was expecting "a busy few days" taking part in the spouses' programme which runs alongside the official meetings.

"I'm really looking forward to meeting up with the 'other halves'. They are all very interesting people and I'm hoping to get to know them better and to discuss some of the issues that we all feel strongly about."
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Canadian Prime Minister pockets consecrated host!

AmP Countdown: Time left until Pope Benedict meets Barack Obama: 1 day 16h 24m 10s

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Video: Canadian Prime Minister pockets consecrated host!
Much more than a faux pas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTH9b6YJ6mc&feature=player_embedded

LifeSiteNews:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is in hot water over a video that caught him taking Holy Communion in a Catholic Church, despite being a non-Catholic Christian. To make matters worse, the video shows him walking away without consuming the host.
And what makes matters really worse is how clueless everyone involved seems to be, beginning with Harper's spokesman:
Asked why the PM as a non-Catholic would receive Communion, which in Catholic teaching is reserved for Catholics and even only those Catholics who are properly disposed to receiving Communion, Soudas replied: "Who is the Prime Minister to judge once Communion has been offered to him?" Soudas added, "It is a well known fact that he's a Christian."
It's like Soudas is not even listening to the question. Sure, in protestant congregations they are (typically) very permissive about who is eligible to receive "communion." But Catholics aren't.


Harper is currently en route to the G8 leaders' summit, after which he will meet with Pope Benedict on Saturday. It would be appropriate for Harper to apologize to the pope at that meeting, and explain fully what happened. It's simply a matter of courtesy to Catholics and their strongly-held beliefs about the Eucharist.


Strongly-held, of course, with the exception of one Fr. Bourgeois, who delivered the homily at the Mass where this took place, and said: "Usually, to partake in Holy Communion in the Catholic Church, you have to be a member of it, but if you're not, exceptionally sometimes at major occasions (it is different)," he said. That's wrong. Where does it say that in Canon Law?!


Also falling down on the job, Monsignor (Bishop?) Andre Richard, who gave Harper communion, who said: "I didn't see anything wrong there because I was busy doing something else." Um, what else should you be doing except noticing that you a) gave the prime-minister of your country - who is not a Catholic - Communion and b) didn't even notice that he pocketed a consecrated host? It is your duty as a minister of Communion to observe what happens to it!


Source: Questions Catholics demand explanation for PM pocketing communion wafer at LeBlanc funeral in the Telegraph-Journal.


Source: http://www.americanpapist.com/2009/07/video-canadian-prime-minister-pockets.html
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How to Vote Catholic




How To Vote Catholic

As a Catholic, you have a moral obligation to live your faith in all aspects of your life -- including your voting. In this free report, you'll get a full overview of the major issues... from a Catholic perspective.






Source: http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_magazine&func=show_magazine&id=6&Itemid=31

(Excerpt of Document)

How to Vote Catholic 2007

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Applying the Principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Public Witness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Abortion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Bioethics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Population . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
The Death Penalty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Defense and Terrorism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Judicial Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Marriage and the Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Economic Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Taxation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Poverty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Health Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Religious Liberty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Immigration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
In Brief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22


...

Preparing for the End


Preparing for the End

by Lynnford Beachy

Financial instability, economic collapse, an astounding number of natural disasters, wars, diseases, and religious turmoil all point to an impending crisis on the horizon. Everyone seems to be expecting a catastrophic event that will change the world as we know it. Are you ready for such a change? What can be done to prepare for this crisis?

We could hide our heads in the sand and pretend nothing is going on. But the Bible informs us: “A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished” (Proverbs 22:3). The simple approach, to ignore the problem, can have some drastic consequences. It is much better to foresee what is coming, and hide ourselves.

There is a biblical precedent to prepare for hard times. God revealed to Pharaoh that there would be seven years of plenty, followed by seven years of famine, and God used Joseph to prepare for the seven years of famine.

Physical Preparations

There are a few practical things we can do to avoid difficulties during the upcoming crisis. One important measure to take in light of the instability of the banking system is, do not go into debt. If you are in debt do not go into anymore debt, and seek to free yourself of your existing debt. This may take drastic measures, such as selling some of your belongings to pay your debt, or mortgaging in such a way that at least your home is clear of debt.

The Bible says, “The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender” (Proverbs 22:7). In years gone by, borrowers were put into prison, or even taken as servants until the debt is paid. Do not think that bankruptcy will bail you out. Bankruptcy laws are changing, and you could still be held accountable for your debts. Not only that, but you have a moral obligation to do what is right. “The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again: but the righteous sheweth mercy, and giveth” (Psalms 37:21).

If your bank collapses with your money in it, it may be difficult or impossible to recover your money, so you may wish to keep your money elsewhere. Many large banks are in serious trouble. You may wish to switch to a local credit union instead of a bank.

You may also wish to get rid of some of your belongings that are not necessary, and trade them for things more necessary, both for yourself and for others. Determine the difference between your wants and your needs. “There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt” (Ecclesiastes 5:13).

Another important measure to be taken is to leave the cities. There are only a few days worth of food in a city, and if food supplies are limited, the cities will be the first to feel the crunch. Also, it takes a large amount of water to sustain an entire city. If you are dependent upon someone else to supply your food and water you will be more easily controlled. Cities can, and most likely will, be closed to incoming and outgoing traffic in a crisis.

Jesus warned His disciples to leave the city of Jerusalem before it was destroyed. Those who stayed in the city were trapped, with limited access to food and water, and they became victims of some of the most horrific violence and hardship. Those outside the city were relatively free from these hardships. Country living allows greater access to food and water. You can grow your own food, or find edible wild plants, and naturally occurring water is much more plentiful than in the city.

It would also be helpful to learn what you can eat in the wild. Some people starve in the wilderness while there is a plentiful supply of food all around, but they didn’t know what they could eat. It is easier to acquire immobile edible plants than to try to hunt animals that try to escape.

The Essential Preparation

You could live in a country home with your own garden, solar electricity, spring water, an ample supply of wood for heating, and plenty of food, yet you could become a victim of hardship. “Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death” (Proverbs 11:4).

Jesus said, “Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And 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. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But 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? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:15-21).

If you are not rich toward God, if you do not have a strong connection to Him, it does not matter how much physical preparation you have made, you could lose it all in a moment. “He that trusteth in his riches shall fall: but the righteous shall flourish as a branch” (Proverbs 11:28).

Hiding in the Time of Trouble

“A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished” (Proverbs 22:3). We are counseled to foresee the evil and hide ourselves.

God instructs us, “Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD’s anger” (Zephaniah 2:3). To be hidden in the time of trouble, we are counseled to seek the Lord, to seek righteousness. This agrees with what Jesus said about acquiring our earthly needs. He said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33).

To be hidden in the time of trouble we could hide ourselves in a cave, or on a mountain top, but is that the hiding it is referring to?

God said, “Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast” (Isaiah 26:20). There is a hiding place we are instructed to utilize, but where is that place?

There is some excellent comfort and strength to be found in Psalm 91. It says, “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet. Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation” (Psalms 91:1-16).

To truly be hidden in the time of trouble, we must set our love upon God and make Him our refuge and habitation, then we have nothing to fear. God will give His angels charge over us to keep us in all our ways. God sent ravens to feed Elijah in a famine. He made water come out of a rock in the desert for the Israelites. He caused containers of flour and oil not to go empty during a famine in Elijah’s day. God has a thousand ways to provide for us that we have never even thought about. But He will not do these miracles for us if we turn our backs on Him and His instructions. It doesn’t matter how many earthly provisions we have stored up, if we have not made the most important preparations of establishing a close relationship with God all your provisions are in vain.

God is able to get you out of any situation. I read an amazing story of some Christians in Russia who were instructed by God to flee the country before the really hard times hit. They traveled over 1,000 miles to China to escape persecution, and they did this by heeding God’s instruction at every turn. God told them to turn down an alley, and they would go, only to find out that an army was marching down the road they had just left. This type of thing happened over and over. God told them when to go, how to go, and where to go, and they made it safely into China. God is powerful, and can see you through any circumstances, but He must have your heart as His throne. You must be willing to follow His instructions even if they do not make sense to you. “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded” (James 4:8).

Final Considerations

Jesus admonished, “Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it” (Luke 17:33). Check your motives for what you are doing. Are you seeking to preserve your earthly life, or are you seeking to preserve your eternal life? Are you working to help others with their physical and spiritual needs, or are you only looking out for yourself?

If your life is not hidden with Christ in God, then any efforts you make on your own to hide yourself from the time of trouble will end with you crying for the rocks to hide you from the presence of the Lord when He comes in the clouds of glory (Revelation 6:15, 16). “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3).

Friends, I pray that you will take the time to prepare for the upcoming crisis by hiding yourself under the shadow of the Almighty. This is the only protection that will be worth anything in the time of trouble. God says to you, “Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me” (Psalms 50:15).
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Betrayed by Friends and Relatives


A man's foes shall be they of his own household. Matt. 11:36.


When the law of God is made void, and the church is sifted by the fiery trials that are to try all that live upon the earth, a great proportion of those who are supposed to be genuine will give heed to seducing spirits, and will turn traitors and betray sacred trusts. They will prove our very worst persecutors. "Of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them;" and many will give heed to seducing spirits. {Mar 197.1}

Those who apostatize in time of trial will bear false witness and betray their brethren, to secure their own safety. They will tell where their brethren are concealed, putting the wolves on their track. Christ has warned us of this, that we may not be surprised at the cruel, unnatural course pursued by friends and relatives. {Mar 197.2}

We shall find that we must let loose of all hands except the hand of Jesus Christ. Friends will prove treacherous, and will betray us. Relatives, deceived by the enemy, will think they do God service in opposing us and putting forth the utmost efforts to bring us into hard places, hoping we will deny our faith. But we may trust our hand in the hand of Christ amid darkness and peril. {Mar 197.3}

The followers of Christ must expect to encounter sneers. They will be reviled; their words and their faith will be misrepresented. Coldness and contempt may be harder to endure than martyrdom. . . . {Mar 197.4}

Parents will turn harshly against their children who accept unpopular truth. Those who conscientiously serve God will be accused of rebellion. Property that was willed to children or other relatives who believe the present truth will be given into other hands. Guardians will rob orphans and widows of their just dues. Those who depart from evil will make themselves a prey through laws enacted to compel the conscience. Men will take to themselves property to which they have no right. The words of the apostle will be verified in the near future: "All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." {Mar 197.5}

Can the blind lead the blind?


39And he spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch?

40The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master.
Luke 6:39,40.

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Jackson memorial: both affirmation and denial

Gabriel Bouys / AFP / EPA

(From left) Janet Jackson, Paris Katherine Jackson, LaToya Jackson, Jermaine Jackson and Prince Michael Jackson during the public memorial service for Michael Jackson held at Staples Center.


With no practical reason for so much coverage, we see the power of pop culture that a broadcaster ignores at its own peril. Death, for a moment, wipes a slate clean.

By ROBERT LLOYD, Television Critic
July 8, 2009


The protracted departure of Michael Jackson from this world formally ended Tuesday morning with a private funeral at Forest Lawn and a public memorial at Staples Center. The first event was seen from afar, on television and so by the world, primarily as a sequence of arriving and departing black cars. The latter was planned from the start as a television event and carried live by all the major broadcast and cable news networks. The stars of the evening news were all on site, blinking in the sun outside the very arena where Jackson had been rehearsing his upcoming return to the stage.

Like the gold-plated casket in which he was laid to rest, and which sat before the stage at Staples Center, the day provided the brighter coda to the darker days that preceded it. The memorial service, often referred to by reporters or commentators as a "show," seemed staged as if in partial recompense -- to Jackson himself, even more than his audience -- for the 50 London shows he'll never play. As does most any memorial service, it mixed mourning with celebration, laughter with tears. But in the way that it was universally reported on, from before its beginning until after its end, it also seemed a kind of apology for prior doubting or nasty press. Death, for a moment, wipes a slate clean.

You can say that the world has been divided in recent days into people who wondered what the fuss was about and people offended by the thought that anyone would wonder what the fuss was about. Practically speaking, there was no call for that much coverage -- one network's was very much like another's, and once the memorial itself began, the feed was identical. But there is a power to pop culture that a broadcaster ignores at its own peril, and once one network had signed on for the full run, it was inevitable that others would. In the end, everyone came.

"Circus" was a word often used in expectation of the event. You had to wonder, said Shepard Smith of Fox News Channel, "what sort of crazy something-or-other is going to happen, because Michael Jackson is in the house, and when Michael Jackson is in the house, crazy things happen." But pandemonium never erupted, and to the extent that a circus atmosphere reigned, it was one created and embodied by the media themselves.

"It's got to be chilling for the family to have 20 helicopters overhead as you're trying to mourn the passing of a relative," KTLA's Asha Blake said as her station filmed the mourners from a helicopter.

Overall, the early-morning coverage was tedious, trivial and trivializing, the natural result of talking heads required to keep talking when there is nothing much happening and little idea of what's about to. ("And up next," said Meredith Vieira on NBC's "Today," "a visit with the King of Pop's onetime best friend -- Bubbles the chimp.")

The tone improved once the memorial began. Perhaps because of the speed with which it was assembled, it was surprisingly straightforward -- in its dignified modesty as far as could be imagined from the experience of a Michael Jackson concert, or of the sort of tribute that a television network might have assembled. The songs, performed by artists including Mariah Carey, Stevie Wonder, Usher, Jennifer Hudson and Lionel Richie, embraced the gospel and inspirational.

And together with testimonials from Queen Latifah, Magic Johnson (he "made me a better point guard"), Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-Texas), the Rev. Al Sharpton and others, they created a story of roots and continuity that argued for Jackson -- his pale alien mien and crossover appeal notwithstanding -- as a fundamentally black artist and a specifically black American role model.

Every memorial is both an affirmation and a denial; we are all darker than the words that will attend our passing. Far from the good being interred with his bones, Jackson's better self was sprinkled over the stage and to the watching world like fairy dust from Neverland.

Even as childhood friend Brooke Shields described him in a way more than one observer later called "humanizing," his memory was garlanded with superlatives. He was pictured as saintly, not just in his charitable good works and love for the world, but in his public martyrdom.

"We will never understand what he endured," said brother Marlon, as the Jackson family, including Michael's 11-year-old daughter, Paris, took the stage at the memorial's end, "not being able to walk across a street without a crowd gathering around him, being judged, ridiculed."

But for Motown founder Berry Gordy's allusion to "some bad times and maybe some questionable decisions on his part," the judgment here was all reflected outward. Addressing himself to the Jackson children in the front row, Sharpton said, "There wasn't nothing strange about your daddy. It was strange what he had to deal with."

There were, of course, many strange things about Michael Jackson; he was only human.

robert.lloyd@latimes.com
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Yet another new flu virus emerges in Canada


Yet another new flu virus emerges in Canada
Tue Jul 7, 2009 11:32pm EDT



* New flu virus not connected to H1N1 outbreak

* Hogs may have transmitted virus to workers (Recasts, adds quotes from health minister 4th paragraph, background)

By Rod Nickel

SASKATOON, Saskatchewan, July 7 (Reuters) - Canadian officials said on Tuesday they had identified yet another new flu virus, this one a mixture of human and swine influenzas, in two farm workers in Western Canada.

The new virus did not make the two workers seriously ill and is not related to the current H1N1 pandemic influenza strain, the Public Health Agency of Canada said.

The two workers, both employees at a hog barn operation in the province of Saskatchewan, have fully recovered. A third case is under investigation.

"Preliminary results indicate the risk to public health is low and that Canadians who have been vaccinated against the regular, seasonal flu should have some immunity to this new flu strain," Canada's health minister, Leona Aglukkaq, said in a statement.

The new virus contains genes from a seasonal human H1N1 flu strain and a flu virus common in the swine population called triple reassortant H3N2, said Dr. Greg Douglas, Saskatchewan's chief veterinary officer.

The virus is not connected to the new swine flu H1N1 strain that has killed 429 people worldwide. That strain, labeled a pandemic by the World Health Organization, is also a mixture of swine viruses with some genes from human and avian influenzas.

Since the new H1N1 broke out, officials in Canada, the United States and a few other countries have stepped up testing of both people and swine for flu viruses. People and pigs can swap flu viruses, although it has been documented only rarely.

In April, a herd in Alberta became infected with the new H1N1 virus and although health officials initially suspected a visiting worker infected the herd, that has since been ruled out and no one knows how the pigs became infected.

"Initial testing of some of the pigs on the farm suggests they were infected with swine influenza A virus, a common flu found in swine herds," the Public Health Agency of Canada said in a statement.

HUMAN HEALTH ISSUE

But Douglas said the herd did not have an unusually high level of illness. Flu viruses are common among pigs and cause mild disease, usually. "This is a human health issue," Douglas said. "Saskatchewan pork continues to be safe ... This is not a food safety issue at all."

The Saskatchewan farm is not under quarantine, but the owner has agreed not to move the pigs, said Dr. Frank Plummer, chief science adviser for the Public Health Agency of Canada.

The virus would likely not have been detected at all if not for heightened influenza testing as a result of the pandemic, Plummer said.

"Any time there's a new influenza A strain, we have to be concerned about it, but these events occur and are almost always dead ends," he said.

All workers on the hog farm are being vaccinated. Douglas said he expects the hogs will eventually go to slaughter as they normally would.

The workers have been in Saskatchewan for about one year and had not recently traveled, said Dr. Moira McKinnon, Saskatchewan's chief medical officer.

Plummer said the new virus was likely transmitted from the pigs to the workers.

More than a dozen countries have banned Canadian hogs or pork since the quarantine.

Bob Harding, executive director of the Canadian Swine Health Board, said there is concern that markets could misinterpret the new virus's connection to swine.

"This is a poorly understood science. It's changing as we speak, but it's not a pig thing," Harding said. (Editing by Rob Wilson and Maggie Fox)



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Rules for Radicals


Rules for Radicals


In 1971, Saul Alinsky wrote an entertaining classic on grassroots organizing titled Rules for Radicals. Those who prefer cooperative tactics describe the book as out-of-date. Nevertheless, it provides some of the best advice on confrontational tactics. Alinsky begins this way:
What follows is for those who want to change the world from what it is to what they believe it should be. The Prince was written by Machiavelli for the Haves on how to hold power. Rules for Radicals is written for the Have-Nots on how to take it away.
His “rules” derive from many successful campaigns where he helped poor people fighting power and privilege

For Alinsky, organizing is the process of highlighting what is wrong and convincing people they can actually do something about it. The two are linked. If people feel they don’t have the power to change a bad situation, they stop thinking about it.

According to Alinsky, the organizer — especially a paid organizer from outside — must first overcome suspicion and establish credibility. Next the organizer must begin the task of agitating: rubbing resentments, fanning hostilities, and searching out controversy. This is necessary to get people to participate. An organizer has to attack apathy and disturb the prevailing patterns of complacent community life where people have simply come to accept a bad situation. Alinsky would say, “The first step in community organization is community disorganization.”

Through a process combining hope and resentment, the organizer tries to create a “mass army” that brings in as many recruits as possible from local organizations, churches, services groups, labor unions, corner gangs, and individuals.

Alinsky provides a collection of rules to guide the process. But he emphasizes these rules must be translated into real-life tactics that are fluid and responsive to the situation at hand.

Rule 1: Power is not only what you have, but what an opponent thinks you have. If your organization is small, hide your numbers in the dark and raise a din that will make everyone think you have many more people than you do.

Rule 2: Never go outside the experience of your people.
The result is confusion, fear, and retreat.

Rule 3: Whenever possible, go outside the experience of an opponent. Here you want to cause confusion, fear, and retreat.

Rule 4: Make opponents live up to their own book of rules. “You can kill them with this, for they can no more obey their own rules than the Christian church can live up to Christianity.”

Rule 5: Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. It’s hard to counterattack ridicule, and it infuriates the opposition, which then reacts to your advantage.

Rule 6: A good tactic is one your people enjoy. “If your people aren’t having a ball doing it, there is something very wrong with the tactic.”

Rule 7: A tactic that drags on for too long becomes a drag. Commitment may become ritualistic as people turn to other issues.

Rule 8: Keep the pressure on. Use different tactics and actions and use all events of the period for your purpose. “The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition. It is this that will cause the opposition to react to your advantage.”

Rule 9: The threat is more terrifying than the thing itself. When Alinsky leaked word that large numbers of poor people were going to tie up the washrooms of O’Hare Airport, Chicago city authorities quickly agreed to act on a longstanding commitment to a ghetto organization. They imagined the mayhem as thousands of passengers poured off airplanes to discover every washroom occupied. Then they imagined the international embarrassment and the damage to the city’s reputation.

Rule 10: The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative. Avoid being trapped by an opponent or an interviewer who says, “Okay, what would you do?”

Rule 11: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, polarize it. Don’t try to attack abstract corporations or bureaucracies. Identify a responsible individual. Ignore attempts to shift or spread the blame.

According to Alinsky, the main job of the organizer is to bait an opponent into reacting. “The enemy properly goaded and guided in his reaction will be your major strength.”


Source: http://www.vcn.bc.ca/citizens-handbook/rules.html


That no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark...



Revelation 13


1And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

2And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

3And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.

4And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

5And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

6And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.

7And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.

8And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

9If any man have an ear, let him hear.

10He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

11And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.

12And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.

13And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,

14And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

15And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

16And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

17And 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.


18Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

Pope proposes new financial order guided by ethics


VATICAN CITY -Pope Benedict XVI called Tuesday for a new world financial order guided by ethics and the search for the common good, denouncing the profit-at-all-cost mentality blamed for bringing about the global financial meltdown.
In the third encyclical of his pontificate, Benedict pressed for reform of the United Nations and international economic and financial institutions to give poorer countries more of a say in international policy.
"There is urgent need (for) a true world political authority" that can manage the global economy, guarantee the environment is protected, ensure world peace and bring about food security for the poor, he wrote.
The document "Charity in Truth," was in the works for two years, and its publication was repeatedly delayed to incorporate the fallout from the crisis. It was released a day before leaders of the Group of Eight industrialized nations meet to coordinate efforts to deal with the global meltdown, signaling a clear Vatican bid to prod leaders for a financially responsible future and what it considers a more socially just society.
"The economy needs ethics in order to function correctly — not any ethics, but an ethics which is people centered," Benedict wrote.
The German-born Benedict, 82, has spoken out frequently about the impact of the crisis on the poor, particularly in Africa, which he visited earlier this year. But the 144-page encyclical, one of the most authoritative documents a pope can issue, marked a new level of church teaching by linking the Vatican's long-standing social doctrine on caring for the poor with current events.
While acknowledging that the globalized economy has "lifted billions of people out of misery," Benedict accused the unbridled growth of recent years of causing unprecedented problems as well, citing mass migration flows, environmental degradation and a complete loss of trust in the world market.
He urged wealthier countries to increase development aid to poor countries to help eliminate world hunger, saying peace and security depended on it. He specified that aid should go to agricultural development to improve infrastructure, irrigation systems, transport and sharing of agricultural technology.
At the same time, he demanded that industrialized nations reduce their energy consumption, both to better care for the environment and to let the poorer have access to energy resources.
"One of the greatest challenges facing the economy is to achieve the most efficient use — not abuse — of natural resources, based on a realization that the notion of 'efficiency' is not value-free," he wrote.
Benedict said that the drive to outsource work to the cheapest bidder had endangered the rights of workers, and he demanded that workers be allowed to organize in unions to protect their rights and guarantee steady, decent employment.
Benedict called for a whole new financial order — "a profoundly new way of understanding business enterprise" — that respects the dignity of workers and looks out for the common good by prioritizing ethics and social responsibility over dividend returns.
The Rev. Drew Christiansen, editor of the Jesuit monthly America and a leading social ethicist, said he was most intrigued by the pope's call for a new sector of society to work alongside government, market and civil society: for-profit entities that work for the common good, which Christiansen suggested could include "fair trade" product makers and micro-finance institutions.
"I am not sure these enterprises yet constitute a sector of economic life," Christiansen wrote on his blog. "But they are harbingers of a different, conscientious kind of economics that would not repeat the mistakes of the last 30 years."
Kirk Hanson, a business ethics professor at Santa Clara University, said that while the encyclical went into some detail about the rights of workers and the duties of the state in protecting those rights, there was precious little about how an actual CEO leader should go about business.
"It's almost as if the church has so little trust in business leaders that it speaks to the political leaders urging regulation and the consumers urging voting with their buying power," said Hanson, who chaired hearings leading up to a similar U.S. Catholic bishops' statement on capitalism and social justice in the 1980s.
Benedict has written two previous encyclicals in his four years as pope: "God is Love" in 2006 and "Saved by Hope" in 2007.
The pope's focus on world finance raised questions about the state of the Vatican's own books.
The Vatican was implicated in the 1980s collapse of Banco Ambrosiano, in which the Vatican's bank was the major shareholder, and it agreed to pay $250 million to Ambrosiano's creditors, while denying any wrongdoing.
At the start of the meltdown in October, a top Vatican bank official assured that its deposits were safe and had no liquidity problems, saying the bank had stayed away from derivatives, the financial instruments blamed in part for the crisis.
Other officials have said 80 percent of the Vatican's investments are in low-yield government bonds and 20 percent in stocks and that the Vatican does not invest in companies that produce arms or contraceptives.
The Vatican in its annual financial statement issued Saturday said it ran a deficit in 2008 for the second straight year, posting a euro900,000 ($1.28 million) loss, compared with a loss of euro9.06 million a year earlier.
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One thing there, another here!


Today in Russia, the U.S. commander in Chief and CEO of G.M., announced that

gone are the days when EMPIRES can treat nations like game pieces on a board.

Here in the U.S. the Obama administration states the desire to create a Health Czar.

Czar of Health?

Why not name Jesuit superior general Adolfo Nicolas to that post, and rename him Czar Nicolas III? The constant allusions to Czars is really anachronistic especially when Russia hasn't had one since 1917; It's been almost 100 years.
Meanwhile, our president is in Russia home of the KGB; while we continue to name Czars: O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave...
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Arsenio.


G Stands For "Graft"


graft2  /græft, grɑft/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [graft, grahft]

–noun


1. the acquisition of money, gain, or advantage by dishonest, unfair, or illegal means, esp. through the abuse of one's position or influence in politics, business, etc.
2. a particular instance, method, or means of thus acquiring gain or advantage.
3. the gain or advantage acquired.
4. British Slang. work; labor.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/graft

On the ocassion of the G8 Summit in L'Aquila, Italy tomorrow, also comes a new insight;
I've come to the conclusion that the numbers don't add up. There is a graft factor in the G8.

Let's enumerate the members of the G8;



  1. United Kingdom

  2. United States

  3. Canada

  4. France

  5. Germany

  6. Italy

  7. Japan

  8. Russia


I see a double representation just from glancing at this list. In other words there is a redundancy in that UK, France, and Italy are also part of the European Union, therefore constitute a conflict of interest when they individually try to negotiate global objectives; Or, when they do the same thing collectively as the EU. That is double jeopardy in a sense. They can't be individual nations when it comes to one thing, then a Superstate when it suits them. This constitutes an uneven disadvantage for the other indutrialized nations.


Here's another fact that adds to this uneven equation; The Vatican is not only the seat of the Roman Catholic religion, it's also a city-state within Italy (G8 member). It constantly meddles in the affairs of the world as a whole, the industrialized nations mentioned individually above; Also, the Vatican is a unifying force behind the European Union. Remember when Ratzinger recently stated that Europe should include the Christian (Catholic more specifically) tradition as fundamental in the European Union constitution. Today, the vatican (Ratzinger) has released another encyclical calling for a new world ethical global (catholic) order. Ethical?


The facts that I've demonstrated above shouldn't fall on deaf ears. It's rudimentary.


The numbers don't add up! How can 8 plus 2 (EU & Vatican) equal 8?


Arsenio.

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G8 Summit in L'Aquila (Italy) from 8-10 July 2009


FAQs: the G8 Summit in L'Aquila (Italy) from 8-10 July 2009

Who are the G8 Members?

The G8 countries are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. The European Commission President is a full G8 Member and has a leading role in representing the Union at the G8 summit, along with the country holding the Presidency of the European Council (Sweden from 1 July).

What is the G8?

The G8 is an annual meeting for discussion and co-operation created by the world's major industrialised countries. The G8 is neither an institution nor an international organisation and has no legal basis. The G8 takes no binding decisions and there are no formal rules of procedure or a permanent secretariat. Instead the G8 operates as a sort of informal “club”.

When did it start?

The first Summit took place in 1975 in Rambouillet, France. The Leaders of Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan and the United States were invited by the President of France to discuss economic and financial issues at what was then called an Economic Summit.

Canada became a member in 1976.

The European Commission President was invited to attend the 1977 London Summit (the Commission’s role was initially limited to its areas of exclusive competences).

In the 1981 Ottawa Summit, the European Commission President fully participated in all summit discussions for the first time, and has done so ever since.

Russia joined at the 1998 summit, Birmingham, UK.

How does it work?

The year-long G8 Presidency, rotates between the group’s member nations on an annual basis, following the cycle of when a country first hosted the Summit. The country holding the Presidency in a given year is responsible for hosting the annual summit and for managing the agenda. The Summits are prepared by a group of personal representatives of each of the leaders, known as “Sherpas”.

Sequence of recent G8 Presidencies: United Kingdom (2005), Russia (2006), Germany (2007), Japan (2008), Italy (2009). In 2010 Canada will hold the G8 Presidency.

Why is the European Union at the G8 Summit?

Because even in 1975, when the first Rambouillet Summit was held, the then European Community was already a unique supranational organisation. In some sectors decision-making had been transferred from individual member states to a Community level. It had exclusive competence in international trade and agriculture policy, for example. Clearly, it made no sense for G8 members to discuss economic issues like international trade without Community involvement.

Representatives of the then European Community began participating in the London Summit in 1977. Originally, the EU had a limited role to those areas in which it had exclusive competences, but the EU’s role has grown with time. The European Commission was gradually included in all political discussions on the summit agenda and took part in all summit working sessions, as of the Ottawa Summit (1981). Today the President of the European Commission participates as a full member in the annual G8 summits and the European Commission in all the summit preparations through the President's G8 “Sherpa” (João Vale de Almeida, who is also his Head of Cabinet).

If the EU is a G8 Member, why is it not called the G9?

The European Commission is a unique supranational organisation - not a sovereign Member State – hence the name G8 “Group of Eight Nations.” For the same reason, the EC does not assume the rotating G8 presidency. The European Commission is not a G8 member country but has all the privileges and obligations of membership except the right to host and chair a Summit. The Commission has all the responsibilities of membership, and what the President of the Commission endorses at the Summit is politically binding.

Why are the leaders of third countries and international organisations invited to meet G8 leaders during the summit?

Outreach with third countries has always been an important feature of G8 Summits. Given the increased dimension and culmination of global challenges, more coordination, cooperation and dialogue have been entering the world stage. This year's G8 summit will reflect the strong willingness of G8 leaders to make the dialogue with their global partners an integral and important part of the summit and to build bridges towards other ongoing processes, notably the UN climate negotiations and the G20.

What does the provisional programme look like? Who will participate in the different parts of the programme?

The provisional programme of the 2009 G8 summit comprises a meeting of the G8 leaders on the first day. The second day will see a meeting of the G8 + G5 leaders (Brazil, China, India, Mexico, South Africa) and Egypt, followed by the Junior 8 meeting as well as the Major Economies Forum (G8 + their counterparts from Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Republic of Korea and South Africa). The third and last day will bring together the G8 with African leaders from Algeria, Nigeria, Senegal, Egypt, South Africa and Ethiopia as well as Libya as holder of the presidency of the African Union and Angola.

The United Nations, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, International Energy Agency, the International Labour Organisation, the World Trade Organisation, the African Union, the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the World Food Programme will also attend some of the meetings.

8 July: The summit will start with a G8 working lunch on the world economy, followed by a session on global issues, bilateral political meetings and a dinner where international issues will be discussed.

9 July: The second day will begin with a G8+G5+Egypt morning session on global issues/development. Future sources of growth will be the theme for the working lunch. In the afternoon trade and climate change will be discussed in the context of the Major Economies Forum, followed by a dinner hosted by Giorgio Napolitano, President of the Italian Republic.

10 July: The last day of the G8 summit will start with a working breakfast with African leaders on the impact of the crisis on developing countries, followed by a food security session with all participants.

Why is the G8 so important?

G8 summits are uniquely important. This informal grouping brings together the leaders of some of the world’s leading industrial nations. It is capable of setting the global agenda because decisions taken by these major economic powers have a real impact. And the political direction set by these leaders on a policy issue will have a “ripple” effect across many other international organisations and institutions – bear in mind that, for example, four of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council are in the G8. The G8 is a very powerful catalyst for change.

Are decisions taken at G8 Summits legally biding?

Decisions taken at the G8 are not legally binding, but they are “politically” binding. These are decisions taken by leaders personally and very publicly, after often intense discussions with their peers. There is a huge political imperative for leaders to live up to the decisions they take at this level.

Does the G8 make a difference? What has been achieved by the G8 in the last years?

Although the G8 is sometimes seen as being omnipotent or the world’s "directoire" by anti-globalization protestors, it is also criticised because it does not have real decision-making capacities. Nonetheless, the G8 can play a real and important role and the Summit should not be viewed as simply a symbolic meeting or only a photo-opportunity. For instance, the 1996 Summit in Lyon launched the first Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative while the preceding US and UK Presidencies have given the Summit process a new lease of life with attention to the Middle East, climate change and a doubling of aid to Africa. Germany was using the G8 in 2007 as a platform to put growth and responsibility in the world economy, including climate change and energy efficiency, and growth and responsibility in Africa centre stage. In Heiligendamm, G8 leaders agreed to "seriously consider halving global emissions by 2050", which was seen as a major step forward. In 2008, G8 leaders in Japan shared the vision of a global goal of halving greenhouse gas emission by 2050 with the emerging economies and decided to establish the International Partnership for Energy Efficiency Cooperation; they decided to address together the important challenge of global food security, in particular by supporting the Global Partnership for Agriculture and Food Security. In this occasion, G8 leaders also reaffirmed their commitment to achieving of the Milennium Development Goals.

Perhaps the best feature about the G8 is that it forces a group of world leaders to sit together and thrash out common approaches to identified problems and it has a huge co-operative and driving force. The key value added of the G8 is thus the impulse it can give to work in other fora.

In the restricted consensual forum that is the G8 and in the human context of meeting their peers regularly, the tendency is to reach some sort of compromise and complete rejections of Presidency initiatives are rare. Nobody wants to stay long in the corner. For example, the US first signed up to the idea that human activity was contributing to climate change in the G8.

Language agreed in the G8 is also generally reproduced or used as a basis for work in other instances. For example, the UN Security Council Resolution on Lebanon was based on the Saint Petersburg statement while the Canadians and the US generally try and replicate G8 text in any APEC communiqués. The finely honed Saint Petersburg compromise on energy security principles also regularly resurfaces.

For more information please see:

IP/09/1090
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There the eagles will be gathered together


33Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.

34I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.

35Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

36Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

37And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will
the eagles be gathered together.
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Luke 17:33-37


***L'Aquila means Eagle in Italian.


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Monday, July 06, 2009

Florida Atheists & Secular Humanists Billboard, July 2009

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHcdi5XC4Kk

The New Republic: Obama—Ask For Gay Rights

by The Editors The New Republic


Alex Brandon
President Barack Obama turns as he walks on the South Lawn of the White House to board Marine One in Washington Sunday, July 5, 2009. AP



PR.org, July 6, 2009 · This magazine has made no secret of its high regard for Barack Obama. Which makes it all the more distressing for us to observe the approach that his administration is taking on gay rights. During the campaign, Obama said all the right things (well, almost all—like most national politicians, he wouldn't endorse same-sex marriage). He invoked the importance of winning "equality" and "dignity" and "respect" for gays and lesbians. Now he is president. And one of the perks of being president is that you get to lead. But, when it comes to gay issues, leading does not seem to interest this White House.

There was, during the first few months of the administration, an understandable reluctance among liberals to believe that gay rights were being systematically sidelined—and a genuine willingness to be patient on the issue. Yes, the prominence of Rick Warren at the inauguration was irksome. But Obama had to reach out to religious conservatives somehow, to show them that he intended to be the president of Red America, too. And, yes, Obama seemed to evince little initial interest in fulfilling either of his principal campaign pledges to the gay community: finally permitting gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military and repealing the noxious Defense of Marriage of Act signed by Bill Clinton back in 1996. But let's be realistic: He had two wars to fight, an economy to mend, and an environment to save. And no one expected gay rights to be his top priority. Give him time, the thinking went.

But then hints began to trickle out that this optimism might be misplaced. First, there were the comments of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who told Fox News in March that repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell "has really not progressed very far at this point in the administration"—then added, "The president and I feel like we've got a lot on our plates right now and let's push that one down the road a little bit." Two months later came the revelation that the Justice Department had submitted a rather energetic brief in federal court backing the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act—the very same act Obama had pledged to repeal. Assailed by liberals, the administration protested that it was merely standard practice for the government to submit briefs in defense of existing law. That was true, as far as it went. But defending existing law, while the norm, is not a requirement; and administrations have declined to do so in the past over far less significant matters.

So last week, perhaps stung by growing outrage within the gay community, Obama signed a memorandum giving same-sex partners of federal employees some, but not all, of the benefits enjoyed by heterosexual spouses. (Notably missing: health care.) At the signing ceremony, Obama explained that he was prevented from going further by existing law. Then he pledged to try to get the law changed. This is all well and good. But if Obama thinks that these scraps can make up for the otherwise dismal record he is accumulating on gay issues, then he is quite mistaken.

In all of this, nothing is more infuriating than Obama's refusal to act on Don't Ask, Don't Tell. It is true that the issue affects a relatively small number of gays and lesbians. But discrimination in our armed forces carries a potent symbolism: It tells an entire class of people that the country is not interested in their service. And it would be an easy problem to fix. As Nathaniel Frank argued at tnr Online last month, Obama may need Congress's approval to officially repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell, but he has the legal authority to tell the Pentagon to stop enforcing the policy via executive order. He could do it tomorrow. As for the political risks: Obama should look at some polls. Unlike same-sex marriage, the question of whether gays should serve openly in the military is no longer a particularly controversial issue. According to Gallup, 69 percent of Americans believe gays should be able to serve openly. To put that number in perspective, it is 25 points higher than the percentage of Americans who endorse Obama's handling of health care, 19 points higher than the percentage who currently support the war in Afghanistan, and 18 points higher than the percentage who approve of the administration's economic policies. Obama is not afraid to push health care reform, send more troops to Afghanistan, or stand by his stimulus program—nor should he be. But why, when it comes to the far less controversial cause of gays serving in the military, is he apparently willing to punt?

And so, the Pentagon continues to expel gay troops. The Defense of Marriage Act continues to wreak havoc on the lives of gay families. And we fail to perceive "equality" or "dignity" or "respect" in any of this.
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Israel deports foreign activists headed to Gaza


Israel deports foreign activists headed to Gaza
By MATTI FRIEDMAN – 1 hour ago

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel on Monday deported a former U.S. congresswoman, a Nobel peace prize laureate and other activists who were arrested and jailed after trying to break the naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli navy commandeered their boat last week as it tried to sail from Cyprus to Gaza. It was the latest in a series of trips by activists trying to bring attention to the blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt on the territory after the Islamic militant Hamas seized power there two years ago.

There were 21 passengers and three tons of medical aid on board, and most of the activists were quickly expelled. But Nobel laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire and former U.S. congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, along with six other activists, remained in Israeli custody while the government arranged flights for them, according to Interior Ministry spokeswoman Sabine Haddad.

They were deported by late Monday afternoon, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

Israel says the embargo is a response to Hamas' hostility toward the Jewish state, including attacks by Gaza militants against crossings used to deliver cargo into the coastal strip.

The blockade has caused significant economic hardship in Gaza, sparking widespread criticism and growing international calls to ease the closure. Gaza suffers shortages of many basic items, such as cooking oil, diapers and construction materials needed to rebuild the area following an Israeli military offensive early this year.

McKinney is a former representative from Georgia and was the Green Party's candidate for president in 2008. Long a controversial figure in U.S. politics, McKinney drew fire for suggesting the administration of President George W. Bush might have known in advance about the Sept. 11 attacks and profited from them.

The Anti-Defamation League, a U.S. Jewish anti-racism group, decried anti-Semitic comments made by some of her supporters after her defeat in a 2006 Democratic runoff election. The ADL criticized her for not distancing herself from those statements or from a statement by her father blaming Jews for her congressional defeat in 2002.

In a statement written in jail and posted over the weekend on the Web site of the Free Gaza movement, the sponsors of the ship, McKinney complained that she had been arrested "because we wanted to give crayons to the children in Gaza."

"If Israel fears for its security because Gaza's children have crayons then not only has Israel lost its last shred of legitimacy, but Israel must be declared a failed state," she wrote.

Maguire, who won the 1976 Nobel peace prize for her work among Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland, has long been a pro-Palestinian advocate. She was wounded by an Israeli rubber bullet during a protest against Israel's West Bank separation barrier in 2007.

Israel has allowed several of the protest boats to dock in Gaza but has blocked others. Last year, one of the boats was damaged in a collision with an Israeli naval vessel.

Israel says the aid supplies on board the most recent boat will be transferred to Gaza after being cleared by authorities.
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2009 World Wealth Report


2009 World Wealth Report
Friday, 26 June 2009

2009 World Wealth Report finds record decline in high net worth individuals globally in 2008. It also projects Asia-Pacific will overtake North America as the region with greatest millionaire wealth by 2013.

HNWI POPULATION AND WEALTH CONTRACT SIGNIFICANTLY

At the end of 2008, the • world’s population of high net worth individuals (HNWIs) was down 14.9% from the year before, while their wealth had dropped 19.5%. The unprecedented declines wiped out two robust years of growth in 2006 and 2007, reducing both the HNWI population and its wealth to below levels seen at the close of 2005.
Ultra-HNWIs suffered more extensive losses in financial wealth than the HNWI population as a whole. The Ultra-HNWI population fell 24.6%, as the group’s wealth dropped 23.9%, pushing many down into the ‘mid-tier millionaire’ pool.

The global HNWI population is still concentrated, but the ranks are shifting. The U.S., Japan and Germany together accounted for 54.0% of the world’s HNWI population in 2008, up very slightly from 53.3% in 2007. China’s HNWI population surpassed that of the U.K. to become the fourth largest in the world. Hong Kong’s HNWI population shrank the most in percentage terms (down 61.3%).

HNWI wealth is forecast to start growing again as the global economy recovers. By 2013, we forecast global HNWI financial wealth to recover to $48.5 trillion, after advancing at a sustained annual rate of 8.1%. By 2013, we expect Asia-Pacific to overtake North America as the largest region for HNWI financial wealth.


Visit 2009 World Wealth Report Download Page
You can download World Wealth Report 2009 in PDF format.

TO OUR READERS,
Capgemini and Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management are pleased to present the 2009 World Wealth Report. Our annual report, now in its 13th year, was initiated as our two firms began collaborating to analyze the macroeconomic factors that drive wealth creation, and better understand the key trends that affect High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs) around the globe.

2008 ushered in an unprecedented global downturn that originated in 2007. What started as a financial crisis soon expanded into the larger economy, affecting mature and emerging markets alike. World equity markets lost a decade of gains, and volatility reached record levels.

Our 2008 findings show HNWIs began to lose trust in the markets, regulators, and, in some cases, their financial advisory firms. They also extended their allocations to safer investments—a trend that had its inception a year earlier. As a result, our research shows, cash and fixed-income instruments now make up 50% of HNWIs’ portfolios overall, and many HNWIs have retreated to familiar domestic markets.

Restoring trust and confidence in the markets and the industry are resounding themes as we move forward. Our Spotlight identifies the trends and forces driving HNWI client behavior and focuses on specific opportunities that wealth management firms and Advisors can pursue directly to help craft mutually value-creating relationships moving forward into the future.

We are pleased to present this year’s Report, and hope you find continued value in its insights.

Dan Sontag
President
Global Wealth Management
Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc.
Bertrand Lavayssière
Managing Director
Global Financial Services
Capgemini
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Who's in charge while Obama's away?




Who's in charge (Ex-Cathedra) while Obama's away?


Now that the Obama's are on a European-African vacation, who is in charge?


While President Barack Hussein Obama goes to a Perestroika event in Russia, then goes to see the wizard of Rome, who will mind the store?

Has Joe "Ash Wednesday" Biden returned from minding the troops in the trenches of Free Iraq? Is Nancy Pelosi , Speaker of the United States House of Representatives next on the chain of command? Then, who else is in the echelons of power?

  1. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D) Nevada;


  2. House of Representatives Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D) Mary-Land;


  3. The U.S. Supreme Court in which 5 out of the 9 are Catholics, and there's one more in the wings Sonia Sotomayor.

With VP Biden and the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, in charge (both Roman Catholics),the two leaders of Congress, also Democrats as the two previously mentioned, and the Supreme Court chock full of Catholics; What are we to expect while the Prez's away? Or, when he returns, even? You know he'll have new marching orders (for the krewe) when johnny comes marching home!

I expect another BAIL-OUT "or it's riots in the streets" proposal from President Obama to prevent a total collapse of the "global economy". This will possibly be the final straw "to break the camel's back".

Gone are the days when just the president was Catholic (or Democrat), and just about everyone else wasn't.

Politics is a dirty business! Especially now that were so...o close to the wire!

Arsenio.

Michelle Obama to Russia, Ghana, Italy, Will Meet Pope Benedict

Posted:
07/2/09
Filed Under:The Daily FLOTUS with Lynn Sweet



First Lady Michelle Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia, along with her mother, Marian Robinson, will join President Obama when he travels to Russia, Italy and Ghana next week. The First Couple will meet with Pope Benedict XVI on July 10 at the Vatican.
The White House announced in May that Mrs. Obama would visit Ghana -- and only recently confirmed that she will be with the president for the entire swing. The president will deliver two major speeches during the trip -- in Moscow, on U.S.-Russia relations, and in Accra, before the Ghanaian parliament.

Not all details about Mrs. Obama's activities on this trip are out yet, but a Wednesday briefing at the White House revealed some of her plans.

This is Mrs. Obama's second overseas trip in less than a month; she, her mom and daughters flew to Paris and London in June, marking Sasha's eighth birthday in London. Malia turns 11 on July 4. The next day, the Obama family flies to Russia aboard Air Force One, landing in Moscow on Monday.

Unlike the Paris and London trip -- basically a vacation for Mrs. Obama, with the exception of a side visit to Normandy to mark the anniversary of D-Day -- this travel is official business.

Once in Moscow, the president will meet with Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev, said Denis McDonough, deputy national security advisor for strategic communications.

"He will hold a press conference that afternoon in Moscow. After the meeting with President Medvedev, then he and the first lady will have dinner Monday evening with President and Mrs. Medvedev.

"They'll overnight in Moscow and the next morning will have breakfast with Prime Minister [Vladimir] Putin; will have a meeting with former President [Mikhail] Gorbachev. The president will give a major speech at the New Economic School that afternoon on U.S.-Russia relations. And then the president will hold meetings with a variety of Russian political, business leaders during the course of that afternoon."

On Wednesday morning, it's on to Rome and then to L'Aquila, Italy, for G8 meetings. It's not known yet what schedule, if any, Mrs. Obama will have in connection with the G8 spouses before returning to Rome on Friday for the meeting with the pope. The president will also meet with the Vatican secretary of state.

Next up, McDonough said, is Accra, Ghana, where the presidential party will arrive late Friday evening. On Saturday, the president will attend a series of meetings as well as make a major address in the Ghanaian parliament on development and democracy. After the speech, he and the first lady will tour the Cape Coast Castle, and then leave for Washington.


Michelle Gavin, the White House senior director for African Affairs, said the Ghana stop is an acknowledgement of the nation's stability and that Obama "certainly looks forward to traveling more widely in Africa in the future."

She noted that said the president wanted to emphasize "the importance of governance for stability. And Ghana is a truly admirable example of a place where governance is getting stronger, a thriving democracy. They just had an extraordinarily close election at the end of last year, decided ultimately by about 40,000 votes, that remained peaceful, power was transferred peacefully, and they continue to pursue a development agenda and bolster the rule of law.

"And this is worth pointing out, because far too often discussions of Africa are focused on crisis. Ghana is not in crisis, and it's an example for the region and more broadly."

Mrs. Obama was last in Africa in 2006 when, with her daughters and some of her friends, she flew to Nairobi to join then-Sen. Obama in Kenya, the homeland of his father.
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Source: http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/07/02/michelle-obama-will-travel-to-russia-italy-ghana-meet-pope-be/

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