Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Merkel: Climate change must be addressed


WASHINGTON, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- Climate change can no longer be ignored from either a scientific or an economic viewpoint, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told the U.S. Congress Tuesday.

"We need an agreement on one objective: Global warming must not exceed 2 degrees Celsius," Merkel said about December's U.N. Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen, Denmark. "To achieve this, we need the readiness of all countries to accept internationally binding obligations. We cannot afford missing the objectives in climate protection that science tells us have to be met."

Anything less, she told the joint session through the translator, "would not only be irresponsible from an environmental point of view, it would also be technologically shortsighted, for the development of new technologies in the field of energy offers great opportunities for growth and innovative jobs."

Merkel said today's generation must prove itself capable of meeting 21st century challenges, meaning tearing down philosophical walls just as Germans tore down the Berlin Wall to unify the country 20 years ago.

"(What) is important is to see to it that we tear down walls in the minds of people, walls that separate different concepts of life that make it difficult, time and again, for us to understand each other all over the world," she said.

Concerning the Middle East, she said, different solutions are available to create peaceful coexistence.

"Tolerance and showing tolerance means showing respect for the history, the tradition, the religion and the cultural identity of others," she said. "Tolerance does not mean anything goes."

Finishing her remarks in English, Merkel said the Freedom Bell in Berlin, just as Philadelphia's Liberty Bell, is a symbol that "reminds us that freedom does not come about of itself. It must be struggled for, and then defended anew, every day of our lives."



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P.S. Chancellor (Frau) Angela Merkel has some audacity to address a joint session of Congress in German when many U.S. citizens still carry tattoos on their arms reminders of the German atrocities of the recent past. This visit and this address were not planned with the sensitivities of Americans in mind. The Chancellor born in Communist East Germany, after 20 years of unification (freedom) feels she can demand from the U.S. anything that her European Union desires. How quickly do people forget things? "He (or she) Who Does Not Remember History Is Condemned To Repeat It"
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Germany instigated two world wars in the Twentieth Century... Who are they to talk?
How can Chancellor Merkel come to the same country that defeated hers just 64 years ago, demanding anything? Especially in a somber manner in Deutsch, even? This publicity stunt was ill advised mein Frau.
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F.Y.I. In Amerika we the people are not ruled by tyrants that deliver impressive speeches.
Your wishes too unify your continent are fine, just as long as you don't attempt to impose your dubious one world agenda upon us. Ever heard of the Monroe Doctrine? This is not the Sudatenland, or Poland or Hungary. So, keep your Panzers at home.
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Preoccupation about climate change is something that we can do without at this juncture; We have our hands full of drastic 'changes' as it is. If you want to enforce global binding obligations on your own, go right ahead; Just don't get too carried away! The greatest generation is not completely dead, yet.
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Arsenio.
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"You probably think this election's about you"

“You’re going to need to get Cousin Pookie off the couch and say ‘Pookie, it’s time to go vote ”. “You’ve all got a Cousin Pookie. You know whom I’m talking about.”


You're so vain
You probably think this election's about you
You're so vain
I'll bet you think this election's about you
Don't you? Don't you?


Well, I hear you went up to Saratoga
And your horse naturally won
Then you flew your Lear jet up to Nova Scotia
To see the total eclipse of the sun
Well, you're where you should be all the time
And when you're not, you're with
Some underworld spy or the wife of a close friend
Wife of a close friend, and


You're so vain
You probably think this election's about you
You're so vain
I'll bet you think this election's about you
Don't you? Don't you?



*My modern variation (adaptation) of Carly Simon's - You're So Vain.

Jeremiah Wright Praises Marxism

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YN09bAFlwYhttp://

TheBelobog
November 02, 2009
(more info)

he will despise the wisdom


Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.

Proverbs 23:9

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'Westernized' Woman Allegedly Hit by Dad's Car Dies


Tuesday, November 03, 2009


MySpace
Noor Faleh Almaleki


PHOENIX — A young Iraqi woman whose father allegedly hit her with his car because she had become too Westernized died from her injuries Monday after laying in a coma for nearly two weeks.

Noor Faleh Almaleki, 20, underwent spinal surgery and had been in a hospital since Oct. 20, when police say her father ran down her and her boyfriend's mother with his Jeep as the women were walking across a parking lot in the west Phoenix suburb of Peoria.

The other woman, Amal Khalaf, is expected to survive.

Faleh Hassan Almaleki, 48, fled after the attack but was arrested Thursday when he arrived at Atlanta's airport, where he was sent from the United Kingdom after authorities denied him entrance.

Peoria police interviewed him and brought him back to Arizona over the weekend, but have declined to release what Almaleki said to them.

At a court hearing over the weekend in Phoenix, county prosecutor Stephanie Low told a judge that Almaleki admitted to committing the crime.

"By his own admission, this was an intentional act and the reason was that his daughter had brought shame on him and his family," Low said. "This was an attempt at an honor killing."

Family members had told police that Almaleki attacked his daughter because he believed she had become too Westernized and was not living according to his traditional Iraqi values.

Almaleki, wearing a jail uniform, said only his name and birth date during the hearing. He has declined requests to be interviewed.

Almaleki had faced charges of aggravated assault, but Peoria police spokesman Mike Tellef said the charges will be upgraded in light of Noor Faleh Almaleki's death.

Police said the Almalekis moved to Peoria from Iraq in the mid-1990s.


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EU Presidency: Lisbon Treaty Could Enter Into Force Dec 1


BRUSSELS (Dow Jones)--The new European Union Lisbon Treaty could enter into force as early as Dec. 1, provided that the Czech president signs it, the Swedish government, which holds the EU rotating presidency until year-end, said Tuesday.

"Now all that remains is the Czech President's signature," Sweden said in a statement. "Provided that the treaty is signed in November, it can enter into force on 1 December 2009," it added.

Earlier Tuesday, Czech constitutional justices dismissed the complaint by a group of Euroskeptic senators that the Lisbon Treaty violates the country's constitution.

Czech President Vaclav Klaus has withheld signing until the court ruling, arguing that the document strips the Czech Republic of its sovereignty.

-By Alessandro Torello, Dow Jones Newswires; +32 2 741 14 88; alessandro.torello@dowjones.com



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Monday, November 02, 2009

Baha'is join global plan for "generational change" on climate change


27 October 2009


NEW YORK — The Baha'i International Community today announced that it has become a partner in a United Nations-sponsored program to promote "generational change" to address climate change and environmental sustainability.

The program, which is co-sponsored by the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), seeks to promote lifestyle changes that will help slow global warming and other environmental problems during a seven-year period from 2010 to 2017.

"We are very pleased to join with other world religions and with the United Nations in this inspiring initiative to promote lasting change in the way people interact with the environment," said Tahirih Naylor, a representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations.

"The significance of this effort is the manner in which it capitalizes on the strengths of faith communities – such as their strong grassroots network and the transformative power of religious belief – to address environmental problems at their foundation, which is human behavior.

"One of the long-term goals of the Baha'i Faith is to promote the positive transformation of individuals and communities, and to this end we already sponsor thousands of study circles, children's classes, devotional gatherings, and youth groups in more than 180 countries.

"We look forward to learning more about the efforts of other faith communities and are confident that we can make a useful contribution to this exciting program," she said.

Ms. Naylor will join representatives of the world's other religions next week at Windsor Castle when the ARC/UNDP program is formally launched. The event, scheduled for 2-4 November, will feature a keynote speech by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and will be hosted by HRH The Prince Philip.

More than 200 faith and secular leaders are expected to be present, and many faith groups will announce commitments to practical initiatives, like the Baha'i plan, to meet global environmental challenges. Joining Ms. Naylor as a Baha'i representative to the event will be Arthur Lyon Dahl, a former deputy assistant executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme, an author, and a well-known specialist on coral reefs and biodiversity.

Ms. Naylor noted that the BIC has been a member of ARC since its founding, and has consistently sought to support its program of interfaith conservation efforts.

"The worldwide Baha'i community has long been involved in promoting sustainable development and in creating small-scale projects that include environmental conservation," she said. "And so this initiative is especially exciting because of the way it concretely addresses the underlying attitudes and values that are at the root of many of humanity's environmental problems."

Specifically, said Ms. Naylor, Baha'is around the world will be encouraged to explore the relationship of humans to the environment as articulated in the Baha'i sacred writings and to take action at the individual and community level.

"In our experience, connecting the hearts of people to sacred writings is the best way to provide the motivation for social change and action," she said. "As well, Baha'is will be encouraged to engage in acts of service related to environmental sustainability."

At the present time, Ms. Naylor said, many thousands of Baha'is in virtually every country are engaged in a coherent framework of action that promotes the spiritual development of the individual and channels the collective energies of its members towards service to humanity.

These activities include the systematic study of the Baha'i writings in small groups in order to build capacity for service; devotional gatherings aimed at connecting the hearts of participants with the Creator; neighborhood children's classes that offer lessons aimed at laying the foundations of a noble and upright character; and groups that strive to assist young teens to navigate a crucial stage of their lives and become empowered to direct their energies toward the advancement of civilization.

The Baha'i International Community is an international nongovernmental organization that represents the worldwide Baha'i community, which has some five million members in 100,000 localities spread through virtually every country. Its members come from nearly every ethnic group, culture, profession, and social or economic background.

ARC is a secular body that helps the major religions of the world to develop their own environmental programs, based on their own core teachings, beliefs and practices. It was founded in 1995 by Prince Philip. Its members include 11 major world religions.




The Baha'i Influence at the United Nations


The Baha'i Influence at the United Nations

Jennifer Rast
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Contender Ministries

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The Baha’i faith now numbers some five million souls and the Encyclopedia Britannica lists Baha’i as the second-most widely spread independent religion in the world, after Christianity. With Haifa, Israel as the site of its international headquarters, its strong presence in the United Nations, and within other international groups, Baha’i is in a position to play a prominent role in the fulfillment of end times prophecy. In fact, they state in their literature that their goal is to do just that. They eagerly await the man who will usher in global peace (known to Christians as Antichrist), and hold as one of their central missions the establishment of a united global commonwealth that will control all things political, financial, and spiritual. At times, while reading from Baha’i writings, one begins to feel like you’ve picked up a Bible and began reading directly from the book of Revelation.

The ultimate deception of the end times will involve the worldwide worship of the Antichrist. But the Antichrist will not rise to power alone. His success will result from a worldwide spiritual deception perpetrated by his sidekick, the False Prophet. The Antichrist will not appear until after the falling away (2 Thess. 2:3), but the spirit of Antichrist is already at work perverting the gospel and corrupting the church. The False Prophet will look religious, sound religious and use religious terms, but his message will be straight from Satan (Rev. 13:11). The final phase of apostasy before the Antichrist arrives on the scene will introduce a religious system to be led by the False Prophet. It will be an ecumenical, interfaith religion much like the Baha’i faith.

There are nearly 130 agencies and organizations operating within the UN system, each overseeing programs that require vast sums of money and massive bureaucracies to operate. These UN programs are all strategic parts of a plan to achieve global governance and eliminate national sovereignty from the planet. Most of these programs are never covered in the world’s media and are able to operate outside of the awareness of the public they hope to govern. This giant bureaucracy is so far outside the realm of accountability that most people have no idea how it is operating or what agenda it is moving forward. Most Christians would be shocked to know how deeply involved the United Nations is in the spiritual agenda of the interfaith movement. Just as they are striving for a world government, they are also working with religious leaders and organizations to create the one world religion found in Bible prophecy - the religion that is to be an integral part of the Antichrist’s rise to power.

The Baha'i community has, as a duly accredited non-governmental organization, long worked closely with the United Nations, supporting many of its goals and programs, and taking a leadership role in several international gatherings. Its involvement in the United Nations dates back to the founding of the UN in 1945. In 1947, the Baha’i communities of the United States and Canada were recognized by the UN Department of Public Information (DPI), and the next year, the Baha’i International Community itself was recognized by the UN DPI as an international non-governmental organization. In May 1970, they were granted consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), allowing for a greater degree of interaction with the Council and its subsidiary bodies. Since then they have also been granted consultative status with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and relationships with the many UN bodies have deepened and expanded over the years. Today for example, the Baha’i organization has a working relationship with the World Health Organization (WHO), is associated with the United Nations Environment Programme, and is involved in joint activities with UNIFEM and UNICEF as well as many other religious, environmental and social programs within the UN, to include peace-building, human rights, women’s affairs, education, health, and sustainable development.

When you examine the beliefs and writings of the Baha’i community, it is not hard to understand the United Nations’ support and confidence in this organization. Their end goal is the same. Just as the United Nations believes that a new world order is just around the corner, the Baha’i believe the human race is nearing the next stage in their spiritual evolution - a phase that brings us one rung higher on the evolutionary ladder toward world peace and utopia. In their belief statement they write that, “The current world confusion and calamitous condition in human affairs is a natural phase in an organic process leading ultimately and irresistibly to the unification of the human race in a single social order whose boundaries are those of the planet.” They use their voice at the United Nations to convince global leaders of the need for a spiritual element in the development of the new world order. In the Baha’i document “A Vision of World Peace”, written by the Universal House of Justice, they state that “no serious attempt to set human affairs aright, to achieve world peace, can ignore religion.” The Baha’i “incarnation of God”, Abdu’l-Bahá, said, “religion is the greatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world.” They refer to the organized religions of today as “stuff of history” and claim that these religions of exclusivity, intolerance, and perversions of truth are the root of all evil and the cause for all of the world’s social, political, and economic ills.

“A Vision of World Peace” goes on to say that “those who have held blindly and selfishly to their particular orthodoxies, who have imposed on their votaries erroneous and conflicting interpretations of the pronouncements of the Prophets of God, bear heavy responsibility for the confusion and artificial barriers erected between faith and reason, science and religion”. They blame the resurgence of “fanatical religious fervor” occurring across the globe for what they call a “dying convulsion that is undermining the spiritual values which are conducive to the unity of mankind”.

In 2 Peter 3:3-5, the Bible warns the following: “First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation. But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water.”

Always eager to fulfill prophecy, a Baha’i statement reads: “The time has come when those who preach the dogmas of materialism, whether of the east or the west, whether of capitalism or socialism, must give account of the moral stewardship they have presumed to exercise. Where is the “new world” promised by these ideologies? Where is the international peace to whose ideals they proclaim their devotion?” Of course the new world of peace will come when our Lord Jesus Christ returns to establish His kingdom on earth.

I Thessalonians 1:10 “..and wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead--Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.”

God warns us not to be deceived by those who will try to pave the way for the Antichrists false peace and deception.

II Thessalonians 2:3, 6-7 "Let no one in any way deceive you for it (the Day of the Lord) will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction. And you know what restrains him now, so that in this time he may be revealed. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way."

The Bible teaches us that in the end times a global religion will be established. It is referred to as Mystery Babylon, the mother of all harlots, and it will ride in on the Beast that is Antichrist. We can see the beginnings of this global faith today in our increasingly ecumenical religious leaders, such organizations as the United Religions Initiative, the Parliament of World Religions, and in the United Nations.

The Baha’i faith sees the United Nations as the vessel by which the unifying of the world’s religions into one faith will come to fruition. Their plan for the future of our world and the role of the United Nations and a regionalized world, are an eerily complete and detailed picture of Bible prophesy. Baha’i writings state “the oneness of humanity implies an organic change in the structure of present-day society, a change such as the world has not yet experienced…It calls for no less than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole civilized world – a world organically unified in all the essential aspects of life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade and finance, its script and language.” They also promote a redistribution of wealth and a communist system of government that would be able to bring about this leveling of the playing field. This brings to mind the Antichrist’s future financial system in which no one will be able to buy or sell without the mark of the Beast.

While the Baha’i praise the United Nations as the only hope for the “world peace promised by all the major religions”, they are not satisfied with its progress and are a loud voice on the international stage for stepping up the pace of our “spiritual evolution”.

In a statement to the World Summit on Sustainable Development in August 2002, the Baha’i Community wrote, “despite significant achievements, the United Nations has yet to grasp fully both the constructive role that religion can play in creating a peaceful and prosperous global order, and the destructive impact that religious fanaticism can have on the stability and progress of the world.” They go on to say “while the United Nations’ human rights machinery has been used to condemn religious intolerance and persecution, UN development policies and programs have hardly begun to address religious bigotry as a major obstacle to peace and well-being.” While we do not deny that the world has seen a great deal of death and violence due to religious fanaticism (most prevalently today from Islamic fundamentalists), the Baha’i view goes further. The Baha’is won’t be satisfied until Bible-believing Christians join them in believing that all paths lead to God, and all claims to truth are silenced. In response to what they call religious fanaticism, they suggest that religious leaders need to “work untiringly to exorcise religious bigotry and superstition from within their faith traditions and renounce claims to religious exclusivity and finality”. And who decides what is superstition and what is truth? The Baha’i and the world community, of course. “Abdul’-Bahá, the Baha’i “incarnation of God”, in “The Promulgation of Universal Peace”, defined superstition as “beliefs and opinions that are found contrary to the standards of science; for the antithesis of knowledge is ignorance, and the child of ignorance is superstition.”

Baha’i writings also stress that force and coercion in matters of religion and belief are violations of the Divine command. This sounds reasonable. No one should be forced to accept a religion. However, Baha’i writings also consider simple proselytizing to be coercive. They believe humans should be able to investigate reality for themselves, and to present your truth to another is to violate that spiritual right. They believe all religions are equally valid and just different expressions of the same God, so there is no reason share your faith with others.

The Baha’i make no distinction between the government and private citizens when condemning intolerant religious speech and expression. They support building on the “Convention Against Discrimination in Education” to include sanctions for those who, in the name of religion, would use education and media to oppress freedom of conscience and to promote division. Whether public or private, they say, there should be no tolerance for educational institutions and initiatives, or media policies and programs that promote intolerant attitudes and behaviors. Remember, as proselytizing to others, claiming an exclusive path to salvation, or condemning a lifestyle like homosexuality is deemed intolerant, this would apply to private religious schools and quite possibly churches. In a statement to the United Nations on the spiritual dimension of Sustainable Development, the Baha’i International Community wrote “Ultimately, the creation of a peaceful and just global civilization, in which the diverse peoples of the world live in harmony with one another and with the natural world, will require a significant reorientation of individual and collective goals and a profound transformation in attitudes and behaviors.”

So, just how do they plan to bring about this transformation? In a statement to the World Summit on Sustainable Development, the Baha’i community presented several possible next steps for transforming the United Nations. As a first priority, they proposed holding a convention on freedom of religion and belief to be drafted and ratified as expeditiously as possible by all of the governments of the world. They suggested the foundation within the United Nations system of a permanent religious forum, patterned on the UN’s recently founded Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. The creation of this body would be responsible for beginning the integration of religion into the UN’s work of establishing a peaceful world order.

Of course, to participate in this forum, religious leaders would need to meet certain criteria. Their proposal states “only those religious leaders who make it clear to their followers that prejudice, bigotry and violence have no place in the life of a religious person should be invited to participate in the work of this body.” You can be sure that any religious leader who actually believes that Jesus is “the way, the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through Him”, would be disqualified from participation. A belief in the Bible as absolute truth puts you in the category of intolerant and would make you guilty of prejudice.

The statement closes by saying that “until the religions of the world renounce fanaticism and work wholeheartedly to eliminate it from within their own ranks, peace and prosperity will prove chimerical. It is they who must raise their voices to end the hatred, exclusivity, oppression of conscience, violations of human rights, denial of equality, opposition to science, and glorification of materialism, violence and terrorism, which are perpetrated in the name of religious truth.” How very tolerant! Oppress someone’s conscience, have the nerve to believe the Bible is the only absolute truth, or claim there is only one path to God, and you will be eliminated. Once again, the Baha’i have written their script for the world’s future directly from the prophecies of the Bible, and have given us a perfect example of the Spirit of Antichrist that marks all false prophets and false religions.


Source: http://www.contenderministries.org/UN/bahaiun.php
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NY Times: Second Stimulus Necessary



Monday, November 2, 2009 10:56 AM
By: Dan Weil

The consensus among mainstream economists is that another fiscal stimulus package isn’t needed yet.

The New York Times editorial page disagrees.

The majority view is that the impact of February’s $787 billion package hasn’t been fully felt yet, and the economy is headed for growth in the second half of this year in any case.

But The Times says, “The consensus among economists is that the recession is over, and, technically, the herd is probably right. Corporate profitability has been boosted by job cuts, pay cuts and a drive to restock depleted inventories. Immense federal stimulus has jolted the economy.”

But what happens next, The Times asks.

“The economy is going to need more government support, or it is bound to be very weak for a very long time — and vulnerable to a relapse into recession.”

The problems include growing joblessness, an increase in foreclosures, continued bank failures and budget crises at the state and local levels.

“Yet Washington is not providing a coherent plan for effective stimulus.”

Of course there is a reason for that. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner told CNBC that a second stimulus package isn’t needed.

The first stimulus and the bank bailouts have worked to stabilize the economy, he said.
And a stealth stimulus package is being adopted anyway, in pieces, CNNMoney.com points out. These measures, including extension of unemployment benefits and a job creation tax credit, could total $84 billion, it estimates.

© 2009 Newsmax. All rights reserved.
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Obama Signs Defense Bill With Hate Crimes Extension


Written by Steven J. DuBord
Friday, 30 October 2009 23:00


President Barack Obama signed the 2010 National Defense Authorization Act on October 28, simultaneously approving the attached extension of hate crimes legislation to include crimes committed because of gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.

The hate crimes provision is known as the Matthew Shepard Act, named for the homosexual Wyoming college student murdered over 10 years ago. Democrats had attached this act and the Military Commissions Act to the defense bill over the protest of Republicans who saw the attachment ploy as an unfair way to avoid dealing with the acts separately.

The Military Commissions Act alters the military tribunal system used by the Bush administration. The act disallows the use of any testimony obtained from a prisoner through coercion or torture and prohibits Guantanamo detainees from being released in the United States. It does allow prisoners to be brought here for trial if Congress is given notice 45 days in advance.

In total, the defense bill carries a $680 billion price tag. It authorizes $550 billion for the budgets of the Defense and Energy departments, including a 3.4 percent increase in pay for uniformed military personnel. It also devotes $130 billion to the war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan.

One wonders why a Nobel Peace Prize winner like President Obama wouldn’t veto an increase in war funding. Apparently he is at peace with the ongoing war and does not prize the lives of America’s sons and daughters enough to bring them home yet.

As for the hate crimes legislation, Obama said it will “help protect our citizens from violence based on what they look like, who they love, how they pray, or who they are.” This is also curious. Wouldn’t it be better to protect our citizens from all violence equally instead of currying favor from certain segments of the population by offering them a special victim status?

Hate crimes legislation expands the power of the federal government at the expense of states’ rights, something that makes all Americans less safe. It does not provide equal justice for all but rather treats some people as being more worthy of protection than others. Star Parker, the founder and president of the Coalition for Urban Renewal and Education, also known as CURE, wrote a commentary about this that was published in the Dallas Morning News on October 30.


Parker happens to be a black woman who sees the irony in America’s first black president supporting this legislation: “A society in which all life is not valued the same, where murder of one citizen is not the same as murder of another citizen, is a horror which black Americans have known too well. So it is a particular irony that this major expansion of the politicization of our law has been signed by our first black president.”

“What could it possibly mean that the penalty for the same act of violence — for murder — may be different depending on what might be deemed to be the motivation?” Parker asks. “Can you imagine a football game where the penalty for roughing the passer is 20 yards rather than 15 if the referee concludes that the violence perpetrated was motivated because the quarterback was homosexual?”

Parker’s insight is keen: “It should be clear that hate-crime legislation has nothing to do with improving our law but rather with creating favored political classes. This should be hateful to everyone who cares about a free society — particularly to those, such as blacks, who have been so victimized by politicization of law.”

Photo: AP Images



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EU Proposes Global Wealth Redistribution


Written by James Heiser
Thursday, 10 September 2009 18:30


Member states of the European Union may soon find that the joys of environmental self-righteousness quickly fade when the bill comes due. According to a report from BBCNews, the European Commission is proposing that the EU provide billions annually to poor countries for climate-change adaptation. Yet the amounts proposed are a relatively small part of what the United Nations says poor nations will need and are considered insufficient by environmental alarmists:

The UN estimates that poor nations will need about $100bn (£60bn) per year for climate adaptation, with much of that coming from levies on carbon trading.

The [European] commission hopes its proposal will stimulate negotiations leading up to December's UN summit in Copenhagen. Campaign groups say the sums are less than the EU ought to be spending.

"With less than 90 days before Copenhagen, we need to make serious progress in these negotiations," said commission president Jose Manuel Barroso.

"I am determined that Europe will continue to provide a lead, but developed and economically advanced developing countries must also make a contribution."

The commission is proposing that the EU’s “share” of the $100 billion would be somewhere between $2 and $15 billion. Given the usual natural expansion of all governmental programs, one can easily imagine how such a figure will be adjusted upward time and again in the coming years if the precedent of making such transfers is established.

What must be understood is that what is being proposed is essentially a global welfare system that is inextricably linked to submission to the environmentalist ideology and administered by the United Nations. The entire program neatly combines several major tenets of the anti-Western creed: internationalism, radical environmentalism, and guilt-tripping over a history of Western/European “oppression.” It also means that even as the U.S. Senate is considering adoption of a “cap-and-trade” carbon-credit system which could further cripple the American economy, the United Nations is preparing to add its own level of carbon-credit taxation to further strip wealth out of the American economy and transfer it to “developing nations.”

With all welfare schemes, no matter how much wealth is transferred, the recipients — and their advocates — may be expected to lobby for more. Such is also the case with the proposed Copenhagen carbon-credit redistributionism. According to BBCNews:

Environmental groups have been pressing the EU to come up with a strong proposal, and were not impressed with the final figure.

"The EU is trying to get away with leaving a tip, rather than paying its share of the bill to protect the planet's climate," said Joris den Blanken, climate and energy policy director of Greenpeace-EU.

Environmental groups argue that western nations are historically responsible for causing man-made climate change, and so must bear the brunt of any "compensation money" for the developing world - a position that is shared by governments of many poorer countries.

Recently the African Union suggested that African countries alone should receive $67bn per year.

If $2 to $15 billion a year may be considered merely a “tip,” one may question what “bill” organizations such as Greenpeace-EU would like to see thrown at the European Union — and, in time, the United States. The bidding up of the price of imposing the environmentalist ideology on the entire world has only begun; one can scarcely imagine where it will be by the time of December’s conference in Copenhagen.

Photo of Jose Manuel Barroso: AP Images
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It’s Really All About God




Posted September 28th, 2009 by Nathan Brown
Review by Nathan Brown

In our increasingly pluralistic societies, one of the most urgent questions facing Christianity--and Adventism--is how we relate to those who believe differently. Too often, the traditional approach seems to have been to dismiss these others--anyone and everyone who does not believe as we do. But our increasing interaction with those of other faiths forces us to re-examine these assumptions. Life is often not as black-and-white as we might like it to be.

Samir Selmanovic is one voice who can help Christians--and particularly Adventists--wrestle with these issues. Writing overtly as a Seventh-day Adventist Christian and pastor, his book It's Really All About God is published by a large mainstream press, Jossey-Bass, but highlights a number of distinctly Adventist contributions to Christian faith and how these also connect beyond Christianity.

In his introduction, Selmanovic is careful to emphasise the Christian foundation for this project. He acknowledges that some of his friends claim they are able to embrace four faiths--Muslim, atheist, Jewish and Christian--simultaneously but expresses his doubts that this is either possible or sustainable. Instead, he acknowledges that he "would not have become or stayed Christian without the blessings of Islam, atheism, and Judaism."

Yet, at the same time, Selmanovic maintains that it is his Christian faith that inspires him to seek good in and for other believers. It is precisely because he seeks to follow Jesus that he reaches out to others and has something of value and beauty to share with them. Applying such basic Christian tenets as the Golden Rule, he urges that we use these principles to guide us toward treating other religions as we would like them to treat ours--listening with respect, learning from their wisdom, standing up for their freedoms and serving their needs. Rather than watering down Christianity, Selmanovic seeks a more radical, costly and sometimes difficult engagement with our faith and each other.

Selmanovic has sought to model this approach to those of other faiths in the form of Faith House Manhattan, a multi-faith ministry project he founded in New York City. Described as "an experiment in the kingdom of God," Faith House seeks to create a space in which believers from the world's three major monotheistic religions can worship together, learn from each other's traditions and serve together in the world.

As someone who has spent portions of his life in a number of these faith traditions, Selmanovic is not merely a philosopher or theologian. He grew up in a nominally Muslim family in then-Communist Yugoslavia. When he became a Christian and Seventh-day Adventist while completing compulsory military service, Selmanovic was expelled from his family for a number of years. He eventually completed doctoral studies at Andrews University before pastoring on both coasts of the United States, including ministering in New York City at the time of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

It's Really All About God takes its narrative direction from this story, with Selmanovic's own realisation of God, growth in faith, slowly repairing relationship with his family and life experience escorting readers through a similar journey. As such, the book is part spiritual memoir but with added depth of reflection and engagement with other religious traditions and literature. Appropriately, the narrative climax of the book is perhaps a seemingly small moment bringing together Selmanovic's family and church family, reading of which is rendered more poignant in light of his father's recent death.

It's Really All About God is both deeply philosophical and profoundly pragmatic. One of the book's recurring statements is "Life wins," meaning that our beliefs or theories about life and God must have practical applications and benefits, or risk fading into irrelevance. Written and published primarily for a Christian readership, It's Really All About God might have helped some readers by a more direct engagement with some of the Bible references used to launch the "exclusive claims" of Christianity--but Selmanovic's aim is to outline a vision more than argue apologetics.

Although it's easy to be distracted, It's Really All About God is really a book about God--as the title suggests. Any authentic discussion about religion must ultimately be about the God we are seeking to worship and serve, and what He is like. And that is the book's greatest achievement.
Through his sometimes funny, sometimes moving and sometimes poetic reflections, Selmanovic points us back to a God Who embraces, Who stoops to serve, Who pursues us relentlessly but lovingly, Who weeps at the tragedies, heartaches, fear and brokenness of our world, and Who is truly "our Father" to all His children. This is the God Who calls us to join with Him in serving our world, to value each other and to participate now in the wonderful and mysterious kingdom He offers to us all.

It's Really All About God: Reflections of a Muslim Atheist Jewish Christian by Samir Selmanovic, Jossey-Bass, 2009, hardback, 320 pages.



More information at http://www.samirselmanovic.com/ and http://www.faithhousemanhattan.org/


Source: http://atoday.com/content/it’s-really-all-about-god


P.S. If you visit the site above (link) you will also see on Facebook Margin:


Adventist Today -- Top Story this week!


Seventh-GAY Adventists Documentary: An Interview with the Filmmakers Adventist Today
Source: http://www.atoday.com/
Filmmakers Daneen Akers and her husband Stephen Eyer are deep believers in the power of story telling. Daneen and Stephen, who are new parents, grew up in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, attended SDA schools and both taught at Pacific Union College. And now they make documentaries. ...
Yesterday at 1:42pm



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Psychological Warfare

Psychological Warfare

There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling


Psalm 91


1He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

2I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.

3Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.

4He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

5Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;

6Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.

7A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.

8Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.

9Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;

10There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.

11For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.

12They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

13Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

14Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.

15He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.

16With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.


Sunday, November 01, 2009

US sovereignty and the Climate Summit


October 21, 2009



Not content with his humiliation at Copenhagen this past September, President Obama will be traveling again to the Danish capital in December to attend the U.N. COP15 Climate Change Conference. This agreement would commit the United States to punitive and expensive greenhouse gas regulations dictated by the United Nations without recourse.


COP stands for "Conference of the Parties" and the December Copenhagen conference will be the 15th under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), hence COP15. According to their website, it will be one of the largest conferences ever held outside the New York or Geneva headquarters, with an anticipated attendance of over 10,000 people, including governmental representatives from 189 countries, industry groups, and other non-governmental organizations.


The theme of the December 7 - 18 conference is "Hope," so perhaps Mr. Obama will have more luck this time. Instead of soliciting the International Olympic Committee with trite cliché and no payoffs, he will be doing something much easier: selling out our country. After all, ceding power, relinquishing billions in U.S. tax dollars and destroying U.S. economic competitiveness is a pretty easy sell to the countries that will benefit, and he has had a lot of practice doing the same thing here at home. He will have a hard time screwing this one up.


The Hope site optimistically pronounces:
On 7 December, leaders from 192 countries gather for U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen and decide the fate of our planet...


Decide the fate of our planet... Do these people have any idea how mindlessly grandiose they sound? Of course not. They are out to save the planet, just like Nancy Pelosi! It is hard for a normal person to imagine making such proclamations without embarrassment. But this is today's political class


This agreement will cede U.S. sovereignty permanently and irrevocably to the United Nations. So said British Lord Christopher Monckton at an event at Bethel University in St Paul, Minnesota this past Wednesday, October 14th.


Lord Monckton was former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's science advisor. He has lectured and written extensively on the issue, including an in-depth scientific critique to the 50,000 member American Physical Society, a serious side-by-side comparison slap-down of Al Gore's global warming assertions, and a recent summary of the global warming issue. In introducing his topic at Bethel University, he states unequivocally:
...and I am going to show you the latest science, which now doesn't leave the question unsettled any more, this is now settled science, it is now settled science that there is not a problem with our influence over the climate. The science is in, the truth is out, and the scare is over.


You can watch his entire 1 hour 35 minute presentation here - well worth the time if you can spare it. The slideshow he frequently points to in this presentation can be viewed along with the video, here. Lord Monckton presents a series of statistics, charts and studies making a compelling case that not only is global warming insignificant - if it exists at all - but is likely not manmade, and more importantly, that the global warming alarmists have repeatedly, blatantly, deliberately lied, suppressing the facts to promote the myth.


Despite his effective refutation of manmade global warming, his closing remarks about the Copenhagen treaty are chilling:
I read that treaty. And what it says is this, that a world government is going to be created. The word "government" actually appears as the first of three purposes of the new entity. The second purpose is the transfer of wealth from the countries of the West to third world countries, in satisfaction of what is called, coyly, "climate debt" because we've been burning CO2 and they haven't. We've been screwing up the climate and they haven't. And the third purpose of this new entity, this government, is enforcement.


So, thank you, America. You were the beacon of freedom to the world. It is a privilege merely to stand on this soil of freedom while it is still free. But, in the next few weeks, unless you stop it, your president will sign your freedom, your democracy, and your humanity away forever. And neither you nor any subsequent government you may elect will have any power whatsoever to take it back. That is how serious it is. I've read the treaty. I've seen this stuff about [world] government and climate debt and enforcement. They are going to do this to you whether you like it or not.


Watch him make his powerful concluding remarks in this Youtube video. (4 mins.)

You might call it a bit of rhetorical overkill, but given everything else this administration and Congress have already done, only a bit. As Monckton later stated in a Q & A session, for such a treaty to be ratified requires a positive vote from a two-thirds majority in the U.S. Senate.
It seems difficult to imagine Democrats convincing seven Republicans to assist them in committing national suicide that way. Indeed, a recent Wall Street Journal article quoted Senate Republicans as saying that whatever deal Obama cut at Copenhagen would be dead on arrival:
Wisconsin Rep. James Sensenbrenner, the top Republican on the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, predicts "a repeat of Kyoto -- namely an environmentally ineffective agreement that cannot be ratified" by the Senate.

However, perhaps an easier option would be for Democrats to pass legislation enacting some or all of the proposals. The House has already passed the Waxman-Markey (Cap and Trade) bill. This onerous legislation calls for an 83 percent reduction in greenhouse gasses from 2005 levels by 2050. That means almost complete elimination of carbon based fuels, and parallels the goals identified in COP15, which asks participating countries to reduce global emissions 50-85% by 2050.


Such reductions would essentially bring our economy to a screeching halt, as Lord Monckton states in his speech. Even the more modest goal for 2020 of a 17 percent reduction will force radical changes in how we do business and conduct our daily lives.


Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and the increasingly addled Lindsay Graham (R-SC), put out an Op-Ed in the New York Times last week, under the frighteningly Obamanoid title "Yes We Can," indicating that perhaps Senate Republicans shouldn't be so sanguine either. Their article concludes thusly (emphasis added):
We are confident that a legitimate bipartisan effort can put America back in the lead again and can empower our negotiators to sit down at the table in Copenhagen in December and insist that the rest of the world join us in producing a new international agreement on global warming.
So if Kerry and Graham get their way, not only is America going to agree to U.N. global warming regulations, we are going to lead the charge in getting them imposed!

And the U.N. panel is fully anticipating a more conciliatory approach from the U.S. Recognizing Kerry's efforts, as UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer, stated:
I think that a major shortcoming of Kyoto was that the official delegation came back with a treaty they knew was never going to make it through the Senate. And this time I have the feeling that the communication is much stronger, that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, through John Kerry, is really expressing strongly what they feel needs to be done in Copenhagen.


Thank you, John Kerry.


The U.N. website states the following about COP15 (emphasis added):
This [the 2009 Bangkok climate change talks] was the penultimate negotiating session before COP15 in Copenhagen in December, at which an ambitious and effective international climate change deal is to be clinched.


Before COP15, there will be a final round of negotiations November 2-6 in Barcelona, Spain at the Barcelona Convention Center.


The most recent UNFCCC Working Group report (181 pages) can be accessed here in PDF format. Much of it references earlier documents, of which there are many. To fully assess the ramifications of this proposal would likely require referencing these earlier documents as well.
While the prospects for Senate ratification of this treaty are probably in doubt, it seems likely the U.S. Congress may try to pass Waxman - Markey or some other hybrid legislation using the same underhanded tactics now in play on healthcare. All the more reason to redouble our efforts at getting them out in 2010.

Suffice it to say that if the carbon reduction targets already discussed are adapted by this country, never mind whatever other onerous provisions are in this treaty, we might as well all buy a horse and buggy - sorry, rickshaw; horses create methane - because we will be headed back into the 18th century.


Additional Resources:
UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol: Guide to Climate Change Negotiations (2008)


SourceWatch: UNFCCC summary, listing all participating parties, all COP meetings past and scheduled, and other useful information


Businessman and Examiner.com columnist Jim Simpson is a former White House staff economist and budget analyst.. You may read more of his articles on his blog, Truth and Consequences.



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Ongoing Projects in Interreligious Dialogue


High Schools

Jesuits and their colleagues in the United States are committed to the integral development of students in Jesuit high schools. We know that this maturity involves well-grounded intellectual, moral, and religious development, and that in today's pluralistic world this too involves the ability to interact thoughtfully and maturely with people of other religious faiths, their beliefs, practices, and traditions. The High School Committee first compiled data on religious pluralism and interreligious dialogue in 2001-2002. In the summer of 2007 Carol Corgan conducted surveys and discussed religious pluralism at the JSEA meeting. At our annual fall meeting of 2007 the project was further revived and is headed by Carol Corgan ccorgan@gonzaga.org and Ray Bucko, S.J. mailto:ccorgan@gonzaga.org. We have undertaken four projects:

Networking:In order to expand participation in our discussion list and to more effectively gather data about religious pluralism in Jesuit school we have asked teachers in Jesuit high schools to recommend themselves and colleagues to join our discussion list and provide data. Our group is expanding gradually and we hope for fuller participation and to serve as a resource and network hub among the different Jesuit schools.

Discussion List:Our committee sponsors a discussion list for teachers and administrators at Jesuit high schools interested in issues of religious pluralism, teaching about other religions, and interreligious dialogue in Jesuit high schools. Any employee of a Jesuit high school is welcome to join this list. Please contact mailto:ccorgan@gonzaga.org for information.

Guides to Teaching Religious Pluralism in Jesuit High Schools:We have begun updating a chart showing each Jesuit High School and indicating their courses related to interreligious dialogue taught at Jesuit Institutions. Our hope is that this guide will serve as a resource for others at Jesuit schools and elsewhere interested in teaching about different religions on a high school level.

Religious Pluralism and Campus Ministry:In 2001 Frank Clooney, S.J. sent letters to the campus minister(s) at each Jesuit high school to ask how religious pluralism is incorporated into the life of the school. He received 11 replies which are now quite dated. We plan in the future once our grass roots network is stronger to revive this project and ask campus ministers about religious pluralism and their ministry at the schools.

Survey on Religious Pluralism:Once our network is stronger we also plan to conduct a survey to better portray the realities of religious pluralism at Jesuit High Schools. We we ask demographic questions about the religious makeup of our schools including faculty and staff, students and the surrounding region, teaching about religious pluralism (already partly covered in our guide), and best practices among the schools that have helped advance interreligious understanding and dialogue.

High School Religion Departments and Campus Ministry
Offices

Anthony Azzarto, S. J., St.
Peter's Preparatory School
Sharon Bilodeau, Boston College
High School
Jay Coleman, Rockhurst High
School
Carol Corgan, Gonzaga College
High School
Peter Corrigan, St. Xavier
High School
Evelyn Coupe, Loyola Blakefield
David Dixon and Sr. Frances Thibodeau,
Cristo Rey Jesuit High School
Patrick Lynch, S.J., Red Cloud
Indian School
Martin Kilbridge, McQuaid High
School
Gary Menard, S.J., Rockhurst
High School
Thomas Pipp, S.J., St. John's Jesuit
High School
Joseph Stickney, Brophy College
Preparatory

The Study of Religions and Dialougue

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It is essential today to engage in interreligious dialogue in the context of a contemporary understanding of the sources, histories, and conceptual complexities connected with religions and the study of them. This broader context involves the humanities, but also perspectives developed in the social sciences, including anthropology, sociology, and political science. This project, to be undertaken in a conversation among scholars in Theology and Religious Studies Departments at Jesuit colleges and universities, will highlight resources and trends in the study of religion that will be of use among those interested in dialogue and its conceptual bases.

As part of our research into programs geared towards cross-religions understanding and interreligious dialogue the committee has compiled a list of courses in World Religion Courses taught as part of the core curriculum and a list of World Religion courses taught as part of an undergraduate major in theology and/or religious studies.


Engaging Particularlites: Interreligious Dialouge among Theology Students

An initiative of the Board designed by Francis X. Clooney, S.J. and doctoral student Tracy Tiemeier, "Engaging Particularities: New Directions in Comparative Theology, Inter-Religious Dialogue, Theology of Religions, and Missiology" has built a tradition marked by camaraderie, scholarship, and connection. This graduate student conference, held annually at Boston College, brings interested students from Jesuit theology and ministry departments together with learning communities from other theology departments, seminaries, and divinity schools to explore over a spring weekend the history, current trends, and future directions of the emerging inter-religious academic fields. You can also access conference papers dating back to 2006.


Interreligious Dialogue and Ministry among Native Peoples

Jesuits Discuss Importance of Native American Ministry John Borelli

Interfaith Marriages

As part of Fr. Clooney's work as Coordinator for Interreligious Dialogue in Jesuit-related ministries in the United States, he would appreciate hearing from readers of this web page their reflections on interfaith marriages, i.e., marriages between Catholic and non-Christian persons. General commentaries welcome but also specifically: If you have counseled couples planning such marriages, what kinds of problems have arisen, and what kind of advice has been helpful? If you have helped plan or presided at such a ceremony, what issues have arisen regarding the ceremony? If you are a spouse in such a marriage, what have you learned about religious harmony and differences from the experience? Responses may be sent to Fr. Clooney, S.J. in writing (Jesuit Community, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467-3802) or (preferably) by email (clooney@bc.edu). Collated responses will be posted on this web site.Francis X. Clooney, S.J.

Articles

Rita George Tvrtkovic When Muslims and Christians Marry. Electronically reproduced with permission of America Magazine.

Work with Interfaith Couples As America becomes more culturally and religiously diverse, opportunities to meet and marry across religious boundaries increase. Yet there are few resources for interfaith couples, especially Christians and Muslims.


Web Sites

Muslim/Christian Marriage Support Group: This internet site, representing an organization located in England, announces itself as: "A Network for people involved in or affected by Muslim / Christian Marriage".

The Jesuit History Project

Our contemporary efforts in developing the potential for interreligious dialogue and cooperation in Jesuit-related ministries around the United States is a new initiative, but one with deep roots in Jesuit history and tradition. Beginning with St. Francis Xavier, Jesuits in the first centuries of the Society pioneered the study of religions and cultures around the world, and contributed greatly to the development of modern understandings of religions. Much research has been done on individual missionaries in various parts of the world - the Jesuits in China, for instance, have been well studied - but this project, aimed at a wider audience and not just at specialist scholars, will aim at integrating the wisdom we learn from the worldwide Jesuit tradition. Here we list just several resources for this anticipated project:


a) "A Charism for Dialogue: Advice from the Early Jesuit Missionaries in our World of Religious Pluralism," an essay by Francis X. Clooney, S.J

b) A brief bibliography from the above forthcoming essayc) The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents Project

c) The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents Project


Campus Ministry

Campus ministry at Jesuit universities and colleges offers a vital arena in which Roman Catholics work together with people of other faith traditions and others who share many of the values and commitments cherished in the Catholic and Jesuit traditions. The relationship between dialogue and campus ministry is a major agenda item for the national meeting of Jesuit Campus Ministries in March 2002 in Phoenix, Arizona Many initiatives are already occurring under the auspices of these campus ministry offices, and our hope is to locate here information from the different campuses which can be of help to all of us around the United States. Here we list thus far just several resources:

Rev. Alexei Michalenko, Sr. Dorinda Young, SSJ, Rabbi Mark Robbins Campus Ministry To All The Nations

Goddess in the Classroom: Is the Promotion of Religious Diversity a Dangerous Idea?

Francis X Clooney, S.J.

This essay was written for an issue of Conversations in Jesuit Higher Education (Fall 1999) commemorating the deaths of the six Jesuits, their cook and her daughter in El Salvador in 1989; the issue had the general title, Do Ideas have Dangerous Consequences? In this essay Frank Clooney puts forward the thesis that we are better off if we attend positively and attentively to the religious diversity that flourishes on Jesuit campuses today.

Other Subcommitees

Source:http://groups.creighton.edu/sjdialogue/projects/projects.htm

Is Digital Music Affecting Your Health?


Is Digital Music Affecting Your Health?
By: John Diamond, MD


HUMAN STRESS PROVOKED BY DIGITALIZED RECORDINGS:
JOHN DIAMOND, M.D.,
D.P.M., F.R.A.N.Z.C.P., M.R.C.Psych., F.I.A.P.M., D.I.B.A.K.


(First published 1980, modified and with a postscript, 2003)


Music is one of the great therapies. Throughout recorded history in all parts of the
world, music has been used as therapy. In fact, of all factors that have been
investigated, probably none enhances the Life Energy and reduces stress more
effectively than music.[1] Perhaps the most obvious example of this is the fact that
at the age of seventy, when some 50% of American males are already dead, some
80% of musical conductors are still alive, healthy, and productive. The tremendous
therapeutic power of music has always been recognized, and it has been the subject
of many discourses, from the time of Pythagoras to Moses Maimonides and
beyond.[2] To me, as to Pythagoras, music is not mere entertainment or amusement
(the absence of the muse), but therapy. It is one of the most potent modalities that
exists for actuating what the Greeks called thymos, what Hippocrates called the vis
medicatrix naturae, the healing power that exists within us all: Life Energy.
There are still many cultures in which there has been no divorce between music and
healing. For example, in many so‐called primitive societies, the healing shaman is
nearly always a musician, and music and incantation are as important as all the
other aspects of his profession. The only remnant we see of this in our society is the
use of music in religious ceremonies, a custom which dates back to a time before the
separation in our society of medicine and religion. And thus throughout the
centuries and today, over and above the usual satisfaction or the more physical
enjoyment we may derive from music, there is another quality, and it is this other
quality, this Life Energy enhancing quality to which I have devoted a major part of
my research over the years.

I have tested many thousands of phonograph recordings recorded over a period of
over eighty years, and it has been found that almost without exception this music
has been therapeutic,[3] often highly so. In fact, it has been used for stress
reduction, relaxation, general tonification, analgesia, as part of modified
acupuncture techniques, and as adjunctive therapy in drug withdrawal programs.
Music has also been used in programs to overcome fears and phobias, alleviate
insomnia, and even for the "tranquilization" of acutely disturbed psychotic patients.
In 1979 this changed. I suddenly found that I was not achieving the same
therapeutic results as before, that playing records of the same compositions to the
same patients was producing a completely contrary effect! Instead of their stress
being reduced and their Life Energy being actuated, the opposite was occurring.
Music examples that I had long used to promote sleep now seemed to be actually
aggravating the insomnia. And I found in one case that instead of the music helping a
patient withdraw from tranquilizers, it seemed to increase his need for them.
Special tapes for businessmen to use during their rest periods seemed suddenly to
increase rather than reduce their stress. These findings were very alarming.
When I investigated these paradoxical phenomena, I found that in all cases they
were related to the use of digital recordings. These were vinyl records made from
digital masters.[4] When I substituted analog versions of the same work, sometimes
even with the same performers, the positive therapeutic effects were again
obtained. There seemed to me little doubt that something was "wrong" with the
digital process. Apparently the digital recording technique not only did not enhance
Life Energy and reduce stress, but it was actually untherapeutic ‐ that is, it imposed
a stress and reduced Life Energy. Through some mechanism of which I am not
aware the digital process was somehow reversing the therapeutic effects of the
music!

In a number of instances I had analog and digital performances that we could easily
compare. One was of Zubin Mehta conducting Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto. The
digital performance (on London) had a stress‐inducing effect whereas the old analog
performance (on Vox) did not. Also the early LP transfers of Caruso and McCormack
were Life Energy enhancing whereas the Soundstreamed digital versions had the
opposite effect. Yet these were records of the same performance. The only
difference was the digitalization process. And this was apparent even though the
original recordings had been made nearly seventy years ago. Other examples were
the Japanese Denon PCM recordings of various Czech performers whose earlier
versions were on the Supraphon label. They were the same performers and the
same works. The only difference appeared to be the digital process.
As a part of my work and as one of my research tools, I employ muscle testing, in a
modification of the standard Applied Kinesiology testing. It is modified as I first
presented to an ICAK conference in 1977. See the description of my study with Dr.
Florence Kendall in my Kinesiology Report Number 10, December, 1977. At the
request of Dr. Goodheart, I demonstrated this again at the ICAK conference in Monte
Carlo in 1995.

If you play a digital recording, it will be found that the muscle that was previously
testing strong and could easily resist the pressure, will be unable to do so ‐ that the
digital effect has so stressed the subject that he cannot resist. Something has
happened. Some stress has been introduced which is now manifest in this negative
response. Perhaps even more striking are the differences in stress effects found
upon testing a recording session in which digital and analog recordings were made
simultaneously.[5] Similar effects are also apparent with the human speaking voice
using this newer digital recording process.[6]
This effect obviously is not due to the performer nor to the composer, since other
recordings, analog, of the same performer and the same composer do not have this
effect. In fact, they are therapeutic ‐ that is, they reduce stress and enhance Life
Energy on testing. There is a yet‐to‐be‐identified factor involved in the digital
technique which is causing this stress. At some level the ear is perceiving a signal
which it recognizes as being unnatural and alarming. This instantaneously causes a
stress reaction which is manifest in the loss of muscle response on test.

Many audiophiles and engineers state that they have noticed that they can discern
something vaguely "wrong" with the digital recording process but cannot quite
pinpoint the problem. Using the test, it can easily be shown that, using the same
playback system, the difference between analog and digital recording does exist.
While we certainly enjoy the benefits of this major technological breakthrough,
there are subtle physiological effects still to be considered.

It is important to emphasize that this is not a test of muscle strength. It is a test of
the integrity of the acupuncture system. Through it flows the electromagnetic
energy of the body. A heavy, powerful testing is a test of muscle strength, not of Life
Energy, and it is, in essence, a different test. When I demonstrated my findings at the
Audio Engineering Society conference in Los Angeles in May 1980, I was accused of
pushing too hard when the subjects were failing when the digital records were
being played. In point of fact, pushing "too hard" if anything will fail to demonstrate
the effect. It is not, I repeat NOT, a test of muscle strength. Hence the testing
requires considerable expertise. It is not for casual and amateurish usage. It is a
professional discipline.

This test has been performed both by myself and others under double blind test
situations on many occasions, and the results always tend to be about the same,
with many provisos. In particular, I wish to emphasize that for accurate testing
there are many variables that must be controlled, many more than I can elaborate
upon in this short presentation. Furthermore, as I have previously stated, for
accurate interpretation I test not just at the one superficial level of testing that I
have described above, but in at least twelve deeper levels as well. It is only when all
the variables are accurately controlled and testing is carried out at all levels and
parameters that the findings are meaningful.

I am more aware than any pro‐digital advocate of the shortcomings of the test. And I
would like nothing more than to be able to read a meter instead. However, although
many electronics experts have tried to help me to design such an instrument, they
have never been successful. They finally realize that perhaps the body itself may be
a better test device than any instrument that we can make. Will we ever measure the
difference between violins, or poems?

I personally believe that the proper research tool can be designed, but it will not
ultimately be related to any muscle test. It will involve measuring the change in
electromagnetic activity in that part of the body where is situated what we may call
the acupuncture central processor, because it is the electromagnetic disturbance
there which is manifested as a weakening of the test muscle. And it is there,
centrally, that the stressful effect of the digital recordings occurs, being then
reflected in a diminished acupuncture energy flow to the specific meridian feeding
the muscle being tested.

What if my findings and those of my colleagues are correct? For many years now,
nearly all recordings of otherwise therapeutic music have been made using the
digital process. The implications of this, both for today and for our future, are very
disturbing. If the major therapeutic recording artists of today are recorded for
posterity using the present digital technique their efforts will be valueless for us and
valueless for future generations. No more will we be able to call upon the
therapeutic powers, the true healing powers, of the musicians of our day as we have
called upon the musicians of the past. This will mark the end of the therapeutic era
of recorded music. The great technological advance of being able to bring the
greatest performers into our homes for true entertainment, and much more
importantly, to raise our Life Energy, will have been destroyed.

When a man comes home stressed after a day's work and puts on a record of a
Schubert piano sonata to help him re‐energize, the opposite will occur. He will
become more stressed. And he will learn over a period of time that music does not
help him to relax as he had expected. Or a person who as part of his religious pursuit
plays a record of the Bach B Minor Mass will perhaps recognize that he is further
removed from his goal ‐ that instead of serenity, instead of holiness, instead of a
feeling of life enhancement, the opposite has occurred. The music has become
untherapeutic, contrary to its true nature.
It is no longer Music!

We will then cease to regard music as being what it is: one of the great therapies.
Our recorded musical heritage will still satisfy the brain but will do nothing for the
rest of the listener. Our true recorded musical heritage will be at an end.

I have frequently been in the position where discoveries first made through
"unscientific" means have later been validated by what would be called the more
usual scientific methods, and I have no doubt that in the future it will be recognized
that the findings concerning digital recordings will be validated. But by that time, it
may be that many works of our great artists will have been preserved in an
unacceptable form.

By correcting the digital technique, we may actually now be able to make recordings
more therapeutic than they have ever been before, more so than analog. By
discovering the central problem in existing digital recording techniques, we may be
in a position then to so improve them that we ultimately have advanced the
therapeutic benefit to mankind.

Postscript, May 2003
Finally, about two years ago, I was contacted by several of the major recording and
electronic companies who said that they never forgot my address to the Audio
Engineering Society in 1980. They said they knew then that I was right with what I
had presented about the negative effects of the digital process, but unfortunately it
was released anyhow. They asked me to help in finding a solution to what they were
now calling “digital fatigue.” Over the years I have tried many methods but all
without success – until now.

Back then in 1980, I had only digitally recorded and/or mastered vinyl LPs to test.
The arrival of CDs a few years later increased the problem. As with LPs, but more so,
the stress leads after a certain time (different for each individual) to a reversal of
their usual ethical and medical standards of belief. The effects of this profound
change that I have now investigated for some twenty years are I believe a very
important etiological factor in the increase in childhood and adolescent
disturbances, (witness the soaring rate of Ritalin prescribing), and in the escalating
violence in our society.

Especially when we recall that the digital process is no longer confined to recorded
music but is now affecting us nearly all day: TV, radio, telephones etc. It is we who
have become digitalized!

With the advent of Direct Stream Digital (DSD) recording, it is now possible to
conclude that the negative effects I have stated above are due not to the digital
process per se but to the mode of achieving it, Pulse Code Modulation (PCM). For
DSD recordings do not have these negative effects.

Although it was suggested, unfortunately the record industry did not make analog
backups of their digital (PCM) sessions. So now there is a (very expensive) twenty
year hiatus. Hence some SACDs (the CD format for DSD) are being released which
have gone through the PCM process and are as negative as regular CDs.
Increasingly over the years, music lovers are turning against PCM – they are feeling
what I first demonstrated nearly a quarter‐century ago. And they are resisting –
proclaiming that it doesn’t sound like, feel like, analog. Cold, no heart. That is to say,
untherapeutic.

(We must remember that a generation has probably rarely heard non‐PCM music –
for it is now so pervasive in concerts halls as “digital reinforcement” as well.)
Perhaps now there will be a change. We all know something is wrong – and the
solution is available.

I write this not only as a music lover, and a believer in the therapeutic power of
music, but even more so as a doctor gravely concerned with the increasing
disturbance in our society, especially in the children. The very essence of Music is
the expression of peace, of comfort – of love. And this PCM has destroyed, even
reversed!

As a very experienced sound engineer and producer lamented, "Music has lost its
Spirit." That’s it – exactly! And a generation has grown up not knowing it any other
way: not knowing the higher dimension of music – the True Music.
And if their music has lost its spiritual dimension – then so have they!
We have lost our love of Music because we no longer feel loved by It. We must get it
back – and we can.

for more information visit www.diamondcenter.net
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