Monday, August 08, 2011

The Report Card is in



On Friday 8/5/2011, Standard & Poor's lowered the United States of America's credit rating. I believe it was done primarily because of the difficulties on Capitol Hill, recently while negotiating the Debt Ceiling increase. Friday afternoon the Dow Jones dropped 513 points for the day. During the weekend the Asian Stock Markets experienced shocking losses, too. Today, Monday 8/8/2011, Dow Jones closed down 635 points after a phenomenal roller coaster slide on Wall Street. In the last two trading days the Market has dropped a total 1148 points. What all this equates to is that President Barack Obama gets a failing grade for his handling of the economy. In essence the Report Card for the Obama Administration is in, and the results are an F for Failure. The President can take this personal since he is the CEO of the U.S. Corporation; He can not deflect his responsibility on anyone; He promised change and hope, and has delivered nothing but excuses and platitudes.
Last week Mr. Obama celebrated his birthday in Chicago during a fundraiser with his closest supporters while the nation languished in the depths of the worst 'recession' since the Great Depression. The President reminds me of the Carly Simon song: You're so vain; He thinks everything revolves around him. Mr. Obama can do no wrong in his own mind; Yet, he has achieved nothing tangible during his 2 1/2 years tenure, except to side routinely with his fellow Democrats. The President talks a good game, but he can't score or change the outcome of the game.

The Dow Jones Industrial drop during the last two days, and the Standard & Poor's downgrade of the United States' credit rating is a direct indictment on the President's performance. No one can doubt such a clear and present fact. If you are the CEO of a Corporation you are responsible for all that happens within your organization. You can not project your problems on anyone since you are the one elected or selected to solve all of the entity's concerns.
The Report Card is in, and the average grade is a dismal F; The Failing Grade reflects Mr. Obama's failure to lead this country into prosperity, and away from all the mayhem that has accentuated most Congressional proceedings since Mr. Obama was inaugurated. He picked experts to surround and advise him on Domestic and Foreign issues; yet, the results seem more like an amateur night at the County Fair. The President and his experts are frankly not up to the task. Speaking of which I remember Mr. Obama once spoke about "bring a knife to a gunfight". Well, metaphorically, the President brought a "How to fight Wars" technical manual to a military command post, and the enemy is beating us badly.

The Report Card is in, and I ain't gonna lie to you: You Failed!
I won't beat around the bush, or will I say that there's a silver lining behind this cloud. It's as clear as day light, Mr. President you were a Community Organizer with Gamaliel in Chicago; But, your expectations were way over your capacity when you thought you could be President of the United States of America. The results are in and they show that a degree from Columbia or Harvard does not a president make. Scholarship does not equate to thinking on the level of a president of the largest economy, and greatest country ever. You tried and failed.
Why don't you do like your predecessor Lyndon B. Johnson, and not run for re-election?

Face the facts: The Report Card is in...

In today's speech President Obama mentioned his friend the Tycoon Warren Buffet (from Omaha) of Berkshire Hathaway:

The markets, on the other hand, continue to believe our credit status is AAA. In fact, Warren Buffett, who knows a thing or two about good investments, said, “If there were a quadruple-A rating, I’d give the United States that.” I, and most of the world’s investors, agree.

Well, speaking of Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway:
Standard & Poor's cut its ratings outlook on Warren Buffett's conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway to negative from stable .

Need I say anymore?

Arsenio.
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Oppose Sunday Laws by Pen and Vote


We cannot labour to please men who will use their influence to repress religious liberty and to set in operation oppressive measures to lead or compel their fellow men to keep Sunday as the Sabbath. The first day of the week is not a day to be reverenced. It is a spurious sabbath, and the members of the Lord's family cannot participate with the men who exalt this day and violate the law of God by trampling upon His Sabbath. The people of God are not to vote to place such men in office, for when they do this they are partakers with them of the sins which they commit while in office.--FE 475 (1899).

Sunday, August 07, 2011

Muzzled: The Assault on Honest Debate

Muzzled: The Assault on Honest Debate

muzzled cover
  • Juan Williams
  • Crown
  • 281 pp.

Reviewed by Stephen Goodwin

Last October, Juan Williams was summarily dismissed from his position at National Public Radio for a remark made during an appearance on “The O’Reilly Factor” on Fox News Channel. O’Reilly had just caused a flap by declaring “The Muslims killed us here” on another TV program, “The View,” and he challenged Williams to explain what was wrong with making that statement. Williams agreed with O’Reilly that “political correctness” could make people ignore facts, and he added, “When I get on a plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous.”

That exchange went viral, and two days later Williams was fired by Ellen Weiss, the vice president of the news division at NPR. Her message was succinct: “She informed me that I had violated NPR’s values for editorial commentary and my contract as a news analyst was being terminated.”

Williams, a senior correspondent for NPR and one of the most decorated journalists in Washington, was “stunned,” and the first chapter of his new book, Muzzled, is a detailed account of the episode, its causes and its consequences. Williams declares that his purpose is “not to get people to feel sorry for me” — but he needn’t have worried. Even readers who begin the book feeling that Williams was badly treated are likely to find their sympathy wavering as he rips into Weiss and NPR’s CEO Vivian Schiller (both of whom resigned within months) and savages NPR for its rigid, liberal orthodoxy: “If you dare to challenge or deviate from it even slightly, you will be punished.”

Before long, Williams begins to sound like an angry spouse in a divorce proceeding, tiresome and shrill. He doesn’t strengthen his case by gushing about the “heartening” support he finds at Fox from people like Karl Rove, Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin. He professes to be “surprised” – well, duh! The incident served up a juicy opportunity for the Fox crew to bash NPR, one of its favorite targets, for its liberal bias, and to bolster the case for suspending all public money for NPR. Within days, Williams signed a three-year contract with Fox News for a reported $2 million, considerably more than he was making at NPR.

In the author’s recounting, NPR is the villain and Fox News is the hero, swooping in to rescue not only Williams but the principle of free, open debate. As he says with characteristic self-aggrandizement, “My point is that what happened to me was not about me alone. It was an assault on journalism and honest debate.”

After this unapologetic first chapter, Williams recovers his balance. Devoting the remainder of the book to major issues like race, immigration, health care, national security and abortion, he outlines in broad and convincing strokes the way that our national discourse has become increasingly polarized. He documents how “political correctness” has become a bludgeon wielded by both conservatives and liberals, and how the loud voices of extremists have come to dominate. If his chapters sometimes veer off on tangents, and his prose is encrusted with clichés, Williams nevertheless shows us how we got to the place where a “debate” on any serious subject becomes an exercise in brinksmanship and a study in political dysfunction.

Yet Muzzled doesn’t quite live up to its subtitle: An Assault on Honest Debate. Though Williams offers himself as an example of one who has been muzzled, his claims for the book would have been strengthened by including chapter and verse on other journalists who’ve met with similar restraints, or by walking the reader through the process by which a media organization sets its agenda, privileging some stories and perspectives while suppressing others (only NPR is held up to this kind of scrutiny). Similarly, it seems that after mentioning notable instances when the government either prevented or attempted to manipulate coverage — for instance, about “enhanced” interrogation methods, or the use of wiretapping for national security — Williams could have provided more detail about the ongoing, vital, and often bitter push-pull between the government and the press.

A few specific cases of this sort might have added a valuable dimension to Muzzled, but Williams’s vision is sufficiently bleak without it. In his portrait of an angry, divided nation, it clearly takes courage for anyone — journalist or politician — to speak out independently. That’s what Williams does here, dishing out blame in equal measure to the left and the right (including his new employer). In the closing pages of the book, he professes his belief that “our freedom of speech remains vibrant, strong, and intact … we must modify our behavior to increase our openness to one another, to carry on a civil conversation, and to listen respectfully to one another’s ideas.”

He evidently believes that this can happen, though the source of his optimism is a bit of a mystery. But let me give credit where credit is due: Juan Williams has called for sane, honest debate in his book, and in his job at Fox News, he tries to put it into practice. A few nights ago, when I tuned into Fox to see how he was faring in his new job, he was locking horns with Megyn Kelly about the debt ceiling. He was attempting to make a case for a balanced solution to the debt problem, one that would include increased tax revenues along with spending cuts. Kelly was having none of it. Disdainful and sneering, she talked over everything he said. Williams was civil, agreeing with several of her points, and she still kept drowning him out. He was trying gamely, but in that setting, it was all but impossible to hear what he had to say.

Stephen Goodwin is the author of three novels. He teaches in the M.F.A. program at George Mason University. Visit his website at http://mason.gmu.edu/~sgoodwin.


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Rick Perry offers a prayer for Obama at 'The Response' rally


Texas Gov. Rick Perry, left, with Pastor C. L. Jackson of the Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church, speaks at "The Response," a daylong prayer and fast rally Saturday at Reliant Stadium in Houston. (Pat Sullivan, AP)

By Paul West

August 6, 2011, 10:23 a.m.
Reporting from Houston—

Appearing before more than 15,000 people he summoned to a national prayer meeting, prospective Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry prayed for President Obama and asked God to keep the president’s family safe.

"Like all of you, I love this country deeply," said Perry, greeted by a roar of approval when he took the stage at Reliant Stadium in Houston shortly before noon. "Indeed the only thing you love more is the living Christ."

The Texas governor, expected to enter the Republican presidential race soon, said he organized the daylong prayer meeting to seek divine help in fixing problems that are beyond the ability of government to solve.

To applause, Perry gave his view of a "personal God" whose "agenda is not a political agenda. His agenda is a salvation agenda." The governor added, with a chuckle, "He is a wise, wise God, and he’s wise enough to not be affiliated with any political party."

Perry, who issued a proclamation earlier this year urging Texans to pray for an end to the state’s severe drought, initiated the privately financed rally. He has used the event to promote himself nationally among religious conservative voters, a powerful bloc in GOP presidential primaries.

Critics assailed the gathering as an improper mingling of church and state and attacked the prominent role given to a number of controversial evangelists. Perry and other speakers were careful to avoid overt partisan appeals and the governor’s office said taxpayer money wasn’t used to put on the event, which was financed by the American Family Assn. of Tupelo, Miss.

Perry’s public role at the event itself was a relatively modest one. He delivered a prayer after reading several Bible verses, including from the book of Joel, a minor prophet whom Perry cited as the inspiration for the meeting.

"Father, our heart breaks for America. We see discord at home. We see fear in the marketplace. We see anger in the halls of government and, as a nation, we have forgotten who made us, who protects us, who blesses us, and for that, we cry out for your forgiveness," said Perry, praying with hands clasped.

"Father, we pray for our president, that you would impart your wisdom upon him, that you would guard his family," the governor said. "You call us to repent, Lord, and this day is our response."

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National Apostasy Will Be Followed by National Ruin






When our nation, in its legislative councils, shall enact laws to bind the consciences of men in regard to their religious privileges, enforcing Sunday observance, and bringing oppressive power to bear against those who keep the seventh-day Sabbath, the law of God will, to all intents and purposes, be made void in our land, and national apostasy will be followed by national ruin.--7BC 977 (1888).

It is at the time of the national apostasy when, acting on the policy of Satan, the rulers of the land will rank themselves on the side of the man of sin. It is then the measure of guilt is full. The national apostasy is the signal for national ruin.--2SM 373 (1891).

Roman Catholic principles will be taken under the care and protection of the state. This national apostasy will speedily be followed by national ruin.--RH June 15, 1897.

When Protestant churches shall unite with the secular power to sustain a false religion, for opposing which their ancestors endured the fiercest persecution, then will the papal sabbath be enforced by the combined authority of church and state. There will be a national apostasy, which will end only in national ruin.--Ev 235 (1899).

When the state shall use its power to enforce the decrees and sustain the institutions of the church--then will Protestant America have formed an image to the papacy, and there will be a national apostasy which will end only in national ruin.--7BC 976 (1910).

Last Day Events, pp. 133-134.
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A Failed Presidency -- The American Problem


Photos: A Failed Presidency -- The American Problem


By John Mariotti Forbes – 18 hrs ago


Few Americans needed Standard & Poor to confirm the mismanagement of the United States government and its finances. The downgrading of American credit will raise interest rates on America’s huge debt and ultimately on all Americans. Popular polls say that most Americans blame Congress—but that’s too simplistic. As much as Barack Obama would like to shift that blame onto Congress, the fault lies squarely on the shoulders of President. It is first and foremost a leadership problem that is crippling America—and the leader is President Barack Obama—not the many members of Congress.

No matter how many speeches he makes, the conclusion is clear: Obama’s greatest failure is spending America into enormous deficits, and being clueless about how to get the economy to recover. His speeches, riddled with “I” and “We” are mostly serving to indict him for his failings. Appearing on TV more than any other sitting president, Barack Obama is constantly “explaining” why things aren’t working, when he should be working on what to do different and better.

Instead he is “campaigning,” which is the only thing he knows how to do reasonable well. But he can’t fix the economy; he has neither the experience nor the knowhow to do it. His failed, misguided policies have only exacerbated the size of his mistakes and shortcomings. ----------------------------------------------------

“I didn’t say ‘Change we can believe in tomorrow.,.’ I didn’t say, ‘Change we can believe in next week…’ “We knew this was going to take time.” —Barack Obama, Aug. 4, 2011.

Obama has surrounded himself with academics, theoreticians and politicians and all of their solutions are wrong, flawed and ineffective. Don’t take my word for it. Look at the evidence. Nobody in his inner circle has meaningful business experience. He not only doesn’t understand business, he dislikes businesses; they are only useful as a way to collect taxes to redistribute.

For Barack Obama’s first 18 months, and occasionally even today, he and his loyalists try to place the lion’s share of the blame for America’s problems with George W. Bush. There is little doubt that Bush erred seriously on several counts: he initiated two expensive wars and then saw the Iraq war mismanaged for at least 2-3 years.

Then Bush failed, along with the (then) GOP led Congress to rein in spending to compensate for the cost of these wars. Finally, he reduced tax rates and created the Medicare prescription drug program (which turned out to work better and cost far less than was feared). Coincidentally, the much-maligned TARP initiated by Bush actually staved off a financial collapse and is largely being paid back by the banks and insurance companies involved. In perhaps his greatest mistake, Bush failed to veto a single spending bill sent to him by Congress.

Bush’s mistakes were clearly serious errors, but they pale in comparison with Obama’s failures since he took office. The Democratically controlled Congress was complicit with Obama’s failures. They have not submitted, and Obama has not submitted a realistic budget for the country in over 800 days—a clear failure to meet their responsibilities. (Exception: Obama’s irresponsible Feb. budget, which was voted down 97-0 by a Democratically controlled Senate.)

To chronicle Obama’s failures and his shortcomings is impossible within the length of a simple blog post. A few of them are most notable. Obama aided and abetted by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid rammed the new health care legislation down the throat of America—and Obamacare was created. Parts of it are well-intentioned, but much of it is feared by Americans and especially small businesses. Arguably some of Obama’s greatest damage to the economy has been done by his appointees in the EPA, NLRB, CPSC, et. al., and the Justice Department. American business is oppressed by regulation. Sadly, Obama barely realizes this.

Next came the $840 billion “stimulus” package, (mostly pork and patronage), which worked poorly or not at all—unless you consider creating jobs at $275,000 each to be a good solution. Not enough “shovel-ready” projects were really “shovel-ready” Obama admitted recently, chuckling awkwardly at his naiveté. Obama and his experts (now mostly gone back to finance or academia) predicted a drop of unemployment to under 8% when the number of jobless went the other way—upward. Now, more Americans have been out of work, for longer, than any time in the past half-century.

Obamacare not only violated many of his eloquent campaign promises; e.g., Taxes on Americans earning less than $200/$250,000 per year will no increase one penny—except for the new Obamacare tax to 3.8% applied to investment income—which will hit millions of Americans. When faced with his party’s impending losses in 2008 elections, Obama dispatched Rahm Emmanuel to attempt buying-off candidates in the 2008 primaries with a promise of high-level jobs, a legally questionable practice at best, and unethical one at worst.

During Obama’s term in office the deficit has grown astronomically as he continues, even to this day, to insist on more spending and more taxes (especially those on “millionaires and billionaires” a category that most Americans earning $200-250,000 per year hardly imagine including them.)

Those who point to his achievements name “bailing out” GM & Chrysler—but many experts feel that was done by using executive power for further illegal actions, denying legal bondholders their rightful returns. There is also a strong belief that ordinary bankruptcy could well have accomplished the same result at a cost of almost $20 billion less of taxpayers’ money. But then spending too much of taxpayers money has never bothered this White House.

To make Obamacare’s outrageous financial claims, Obama & his Democratic Congressional minions desperately needed to cut its cost. Thus, buried in the 2000+-page bill, Obama and his accomplices Reid and Pelosi cut $500 billion out of Medicare. Now he pretends to worry about seniors while ignoring Medicare’s impending insolvency. After all, even if Obama could win a second term, he will be gone before Medicare fails, and be able to blame it on his successor.

Barack Obama was going to close Gitmo—until he realized that it was as unrealistic as much of his campaign rhetoric. Obama has violated the law, which requires the president to act within 15 days after the Medicare commission advises him of a financing problem. His Democratic allies gave him a waiver in his first year, but this year—he simply ignored the law.

Obama followed Bush’s foreign policy and even left most Bush appointees in charge, until recently. Obama’s vanquished primary opponent Hillary Clinton has precluded him from making as big a debacle of foreign policy as he has on domestic policy. He tried, early in his career, kowtowing to foreign dictators and despots, apologizing for America instead of protecting and defending it.

The ultimate failure of President Barack Obama is that he is unable or unwilling to lead; to define anything more than vague generalities as a solution to America’s daunting problems. Even his own allies in the GAO state, “we can’t value a speech.” In his desperation to run for reelection, Obama continues to abdicate his responsibilities. The debt ceiling was a showcase of his failings as he periodically jumped in and out of negotiations until he literally neutralized himself.

The president made himself an outsider in the decision, even as he tried to sound like a voice of reason, making speech after speech, saying less in each successive one. Senator Harry Reid and House Speaker John Boehner finally fought through massive partisan problems to reach a compromise agreement—but it was clearly too little, too late. Kicking the hard work down to a twelve person “super-committee” was not enough to settle financial markets.

While Barack Obama campaigned, making still more speeches at his 50th birthday celebrations, the Wall Street voted with its money and the Dow-Jones average dropped over 500 points and the S. & P. dropped even more—5%+. 117,000 jobs created in July don’t even approach the number needed to offset new entries to the workforce. The drop in unemployment from 9.2% to 9.1% signals more unemployed Americans giving up, not more of them being hired.

Happy Birthday Mr. President. You have accomplished something no other president has done. You’ve spent America into a hole that will take a decade to fix, and kept more Americans out of work longer than anyone in recent history, and you’ve accomplished all this in record time, only 2-1/2 years. Who knows how much harm you can do given still more time.

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John Mariotti is an internationally known executive, consultant and an award-winning author. His book, The Complexity Crisis was named one of 2008’s Best Business Books. In a recent novel, The Chinese Conspiracy, he merges an exciting fictional thriller with the factual reality of America’s risk from Cyber-Attacks. (www.thechinesecomspiracy.com). Mariotti does Keynote speeches, serves on corporate boards and is a consultant/advisor to companies. He can be reached at www.mariotti.net .

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Note: Highlights added by EndrTimes Blogger.
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Copter shot down, killing 30 US troops, 7 Afghans






By KIMBERLY DOZIER - Associated Press,

SOLOMON MOORE - Associated Press AP – 7 hrs ago..

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Insurgents shot down a U.S. military helicopter during fighting in eastern Afghanistan, killing 30 Americans, most of them belonging to the same elite Navy SEALs unit that killed Osama bin Laden, as well as seven Afghan commandos, U.S. officials said Saturday. It was the deadliest single loss for American forces in the decade-old war.

The downing was a stinging blow to the lauded, tight-knit SEAL Team 6, months after its crowning achievement. It was also a heavy setback for the U.S.-led coalition as it begins to draw down thousands of combat troops fighting what has become an increasingly costly and unpopular war.

None of the 22 SEAL personnel killed in the crash were part of the team that killed bin Laden in a May raid in Pakistan, but they belonged to the same unit. Their deployment in the raid in which the helicopter crashed would suggest that the target was a high-ranking insurgent figure.

Special operations forces, including the SEALs and others, have been at the forefront in the stepped up strategy of taking out key insurgent leaders in targeted raids, and they will be relied on even more as regular troops pull out.

The strike is also likely to boost the morale of the Taliban in a key province that controls a strategic approach to the capital Kabul. The Taliban claimed they downed the helicopter with a rocket while it was taking part in a raid on a house where insurgents were gathered in the province of Wardak overnight. Wreckage of the craft was strewn across the crash site, a Taliban spokesman said.

A senior U.S. administration official in Washington said it appeared the craft had been shot down. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the crash is still being investigated.

"Their deaths are a reminder of the extraordinary sacrifices made by the men and women of our military and their families, including all who have served in Afghanistan," President Barack Obama said in a statement, adding that his thoughts and prayers go out to the families of those who perished.

The U.S.-led coalition said in a statement that 30 American service members, a civilian interpreter and seven Afghan commandos were killed when their CH-47 Chinook crashed in the early hours Saturday. A current U.S. official and a former U.S. official said the Americans included 22 SEALs, three Air Force combat controllers and a dog handler and his dog. The two spoke on condition of anonymity because military officials were still notifying the families of the dead.

Geneva Vaughn of Union City, Tennessee, told The Associated Press on Saturday that her grandson Aaron Carson Vaughn, a Tennessee native, was one of the SEALs who was killed.

Jon Tumilson of Rockford, Iowa, was also among the SEALs killed in the attack, his father George Tumilson told The Des Moines Register.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced the number of people killed in the crash and the presence of special operations troops before any other public figure. He also offered his condolences to the American and Afghan troops killed in the crash.

The deaths bring to 365 the number of coalition troops killed this year in Afghanistan and 42 this month.

The overnight raid took place in the Tangi Joy Zarin area of Wardak's Sayd Abad district, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) southwest of Kabul. Forested peaks in the region give the insurgency good cover and the Taliban have continued to use it as a base despite repeated NATO assaults.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a statement that the helicopter was involved in an assault on a house where insurgent fighters were gathering. During the battle, the fighters shot down the helicopter with a rocket, he said.

An American official in Brussels said the helicopter was a twin-rotor Chinook, a large troop and cargo transporter.

The casualties are believed to be largest loss of life in the history of SEAL Team Six, officially called the Navy Special Warfare Development Group, or DEVGRU. The team is considered the best of the best among the already elite SEALs, which numbers 3,000 personnel.

NPR and ABC News first reported that those aboard were believed to be Navy SEALs. The AP withheld the report at the request of their sources until they believed the majority of families of those lost had been notified.

The death toll surpasses the previous worst single day loss of life for the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan since the war began in 2001 — the June 28, 2005 downing of a military helicopter in eastern Kunar province.

In that incident, 16 Navy SEALs and Army special operations troops were killed when their craft was shot down while on a mission to rescue four SEALs under attack by the Taliban. Three of the SEALs being rescued were also killed and the fourth wounded.

Afghanistan has more U.S. special operations troops, about 10,000, than any other theater of war. The forces, often joined by Afghan troops, carry out as many as a dozen raids a night and have become one of the most effective weapons in the coalition's arsenal, also conducting surveillance and infiltration.

From April to July this year, special operations raids captured 2,941 insurgents and killed 834, twice as many as those killed or captured in the same three-month period of 2010, according to NATO.

The coalition plans to increase its reliance on special operations missions as it reduces the overall number of combat troops.

Night raids have drawn criticism from human rights activists and infuriated Karzai, who says they anger and alienate the Afghan population. But NATO commanders have said the raids are safer for civilians than relatively imprecise airstrikes.

The loss of so many SEALs at once will have a temporary impact on the tempo of missions they can carry out, but with an ongoing drawdown of special operations forces from Iraq, there will be more in reserve for Afghan missions.

The site of the crash, Tangi, is a particularly dangerous area, the site where many of the attacks that take place in the province are planned, said Wardak's Deputy Gov. Ali Ahmad Khashai. "Even with all of the operations conducted there, the opposition is still active."

The U.S. army had intended to hand over its Combat Outpost Tangi to Afghan National Security Forces in April, but the Afghans never established a permanent base there. "We deemed it not to be stategic and closed it," said coalition spokesman U.S. Army Maj. Jason Waggoner. "The Taliban went in and occupied it because it was vacant."

Western military commanders have been debating moving forces from other areas in Afghanistan to reinforce troops around the capital and in the east, where the Taliban is often aided by al-Qaida and other terrorist groups. Earlier this year, the U.S. military closed smaller outposts in at least two eastern provinces and consolidated its troops onto larger bases because of increased insurgent attacks and infiltration from the Pakistan border.There have been at least 17 coalition and Afghan aircraft crashes in Afghanistan this year.

Most of the crashes were attributed to pilot errors, weather conditions or mechanical failures. However, the coalition has confirmed that at least one CH-47F Chinook helicopter was hit by a rocket propelled grenade on July 25. Two coalition crew members were injured in that attack.

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Associated Press writers Anne Gearan and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington, and Rahim Faiez and Patrick Quinn in Kabul contributed to this report.

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London rioting roils UK in wake of man's shooting death by police

Published: Sunday, August 07, 2011, 6:21 AM
Updated: Sunday, August 07, 2011, 6:29 AM

By Conor Berry, The Republican The Republican



AP Photo

A riot police officer looks on as fire rages through a building in the North London neighborhood of Tottenham early Sunday. A demonstration against the death of a local man at the hands of the police turned violent as cars and shops were set ablaze.


LONDON — Rioting continued into Sunday morning in the North London neighborhood of Tottenham, where protesters angry over the shooting death of 29-year-old Mark Duggan took to the streets to vent their fury on British law enforcement officials.

Duggan, described by one police source as a "gangster," was shot dead by a special London Metropolitan Police unit after the minicab he was traveling in was stopped Thursday evening.

According to a report in The Daily Mail, there was an apparent "exchange" of gunfire and a bullet was found lodged in a police radio.

The incident remains under investigation by British authorities, who moved quickly to quell the violence that erupted in the streets of Tottenham on Saturday evening. The rioting continued through Sunday morning, according to published reports.

On Saturday evening, about two dozen Duggan supporters, including family members and friends, gathered outside the Tottenham police station to protest his death. About three hours into the demonstration, however, the crowd swelled and things quickly turned violent as protesters hurled projectiles and bottles and started fires, CNN reported.

Patrol cars, a shop and a double-decker bus were torched, followed by reports of looting, London authorities said.

CNN said London police officials didn't anticipate the violent backlash.


AP photo

Riot policeman stand guard in Tottenham, north London, Saturday night after two patrol cars were attacked by members of a community where a young man was shot dead by police on Thursday. Officers had been attempting to carry out an arrest under the Trident operational command unit, which deals with gun crime in the predominantly black Tottenham community, according to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.


"We did not have warnings that we were going to see the kind of disorder being witnessed tonight," Scotland Yard Police Commander Stephen Watson said. "We are aware of raised tensions in the community, which are understandable following the tragic death of Mark Duggan."

More than 100 officers and specialist riot police faced down crowds of more than 500 people, who turned the heavily Caribbean and immigrant neighborhood into a veritable war zone.

Protesters pelted officers with bottles and bricks as police charged at the crowd and blocked off streets. At least one officer and several others were hospitalized as a result of the rioting, according to The Associated Press,

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) is investigating the shooting. The Telegraph reported that IPCC Commissioner Rachel Cerfontyne has expressed her sympathy for the concerns voiced by Duggan family members and the community at large, who are demanding answers about what prompted Duggan's death.

"This case was referred to the IPCC immediately and we declared it an independent investigation and sent our investigators straight to the scene in Tottenham, where they took control and remained until late Friday night, supervising the forensic examinations," Cerfontyne said, noting that an independent investigation "means that all aspects are carried out by IPCC investigators."

Meanwhile, others are calling for calm as authorities attempt to sort out the chain of events that led to Duggan's death on Thursday.

The violence exhibited by some neighborhood residents is "not representative of the vast majority of people in Tottenham," said David Lammy, a member of Parliament who represents the North London suburb.

"The Tottenham community and Mark Duggan's family and friends need to understand what happened on Thursday evening when Mark lost his life. To understand those facts, we must have calm," Lammy told the BBC.

Material from CNN, the BBC, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail and The Associated Press was used in this report.


VIDEO of London rioting in the wake of Mark Duggan's shooting death by police:










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Saturday, August 06, 2011

European Sunday Alliance / European Sunday Law



Uploaded by on Jul 2, 2011

Information on the European Sunday Alliance spearheaded by the European Office of the Jesuits. This meeting is one step closer to the prophecy of Revelation, Chapter 14, Verse 6 - 10. The Sunday Law is prophesied to begin in the United States of America, However this is a glimpse of the beginning of the end and Sunday legislation in the Europe.

European Sunday Alliance launched in Brussels on 20 June 2011

“Together for decent working hours!”

European Sunday Alliance launched in Brussels on 20 June 2011


On 20 June, some 65 civil society organisations, trade unions and Churches launched the European Sunday Alliance at an event held in the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) in Brussels. In their Founding Statement “Together for decent working hours” the signatories commit to safeguard and promote work-free Sundays and decent working hours throughout Europe. The launch was part of an expert conference on the impact of Sunday work on the health, safety and social integration of workers.

unknownThe conference was opened by Luca Jahier, president of Group III (Civil Society) of the EESC and brought to a conclusion by George Dassis, president of Group II (Employees). Jahier emphasized that Europe needs a social model based not only on production and consumption, but also on shared free time for social interaction and societal engagement: “We need time for the collective rituals of society, not only mass occupations like shopping.”


Among the expert speakers were the psychologist Professor Friedhelm Nachreiner, who recently testified in the German Constitutional Court proceedings on Sunday work that resulted in a ban on shop openings on Sundays in that country. He presented the results of numerous studies, proving: “Whatever set of data you look at, whatever aspects you factor in or leave aside, the result is always the same: Any person working on Sundays is negatively affected both in terms of health and safety.” The social scientist Dr Jill Ebrey, who undertakes research on the social value of synchronised free time at weekends for workers, helped finding explanations for these findings: “Saturday and Sunday are not merely the end of the week, but form the weekend – a special time for almost anybody. Its demise causes great distress.” Other aspects covered were the impact of volunteer work and economic pressures on Small and Medium Sized Enterprises.


The members of the Alliance demand that both European and national legislation needs to be more protective of workers’ private lives, including the right to shared free time for family, social and civic engagement, and culture. They stress that societies need a collective rhythm, because people are embedded in social structures that are necessary for their well-being and for social cohesion: “Apart from our scientific findings, the political decision comes down to what sort of society we want to live in: a participative society, or a society where more and more people withdraw from interaction – with the negative impacts on democracy this would have,” concludes Professor Nachreiner.


In asserting these rights, the Alliance refutes a purely economically-driven lifestyle, but argues for a better reconciliation of private and professional life. The Alliance urges the EU and Member States to take all legislative and political measures to promote these aims, including working time regulations that respect the right to limited working hours, to weekends and holidays, and collective agreements. It invites other actors to join the Alliance and promote the aims at all political levels.


Photo 1, photo 2, photo 3, photo 4, photo 5, photo 6


Source

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France Before the Revolution...

File:Fête de l'Etre suprême 2.jpg

With the flight of the Huguenots a general decline settled upon France. Flourishing manufacturing cities fell into decay; fertile districts returned to their native wildness; intellectual dullness and moral declension succeeded a period of unwonted progress. Paris became one vast almshouse, and it is estimated that, at the breaking out of the Revolution, two hundred thousand paupers claimed charity from the hands of the king.
The Jesuits alone flourished in the decaying nation, and ruled with dreadful tyranny over churches and schools, the prisons and the galleys."

The gospel would have brought to France the solution of those political and social problems that baffled the skill of her clergy, her king, and her legislators, and finally plunged the nation into anarchy and ruin. But under the domination of Rome the people had lost the Saviour's blessed lessons of self-sacrifice and unselfish love. They had been led away from the practice of self-denial for the good of others. The rich had found no rebuke for their oppression of the poor, the poor no help for their servitude and degradation. The selfishness of the wealthy and powerful grew more and more apparent and oppressive. For centuries the greed and profligacy of the noble resulted in grinding extortion toward the peasant. The rich wronged the poor, and the poor hated the rich.

The Great Controversy, p.279.

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As we examine the conditions that prevailed in France back then;

Can anyone see a parallel with what happened then and what is taking place now?

Are there any similarities between France then, and the U.S., now? Or, the European Union's current economic turmoil?

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Sustainable Preparedness

We are very excited to announce the release of an imminently practical book. This is a great textbook for anyone learning how to live as independent a lifestyle as possible. Click here for more info

Many feel that “preparedness” is a good thing. They store gallon jugs of water, stock their pantry with canned food, buy a generator and gas cans, invest in a few gold or silver coins. But what if the issues we face are more than a short-term problem? more than just a few days of interruption...

Wouldn’t it be nice to live a lifestyle with Sustainable Preparedness already built in? One that combines peace of mind with a superior quality of life? A simpler lifestyle that places priority on the most important things? It is within the grasp of anyone...even you. Learn how to do it in this book.


Chapters include:

1.The First Steps
Beginning the process wherever you are
2.Making a Living in the Country
Tips to help you find work in your new location
3.Finding Your Country Property
What to look for in land or a homestead
4.The Home Grocery Store
Have it all--from produce department to bakery
5.Becoming Energy Independent
Making your own electricity at home
6.Independent Water Systems
Water systems that work--in good times and bad
7.Heating with Wood
The most independent and renewable way to heat
8.Essentials for Making a Home Independent
Criteria to consider when converting a home
9.Will the Children be Deprived?
Choosing an environment that will help them thrive
10.Equipping for Country Living
Useful tools to help you work efficiently

189 pages. Softcover.


Source

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Should Seventh-day Adventists Stock-Up on Food?


“The Lord has shown me in vision, repeatedly, that it is contrary to the Bible to make any provision for our temporal wants in the time of trouble. I saw that if the saints have food laid up by them, or in the fields, in the time of trouble when sword, famine, and pestilence are in the land, it will be taken from them by violent hands, and strangers would reap their fields. Then will be the time for us to trust wholly in God, and He will sustain us. I saw that our bread and water would be sure at that time, and we should not lack, or suffer hunger. The Lord has shown me that some of His children would fear when they see the price of food rising, and they would buy food and lay it by for the time of trouble. Then in a time of need, I saw them go to their food and look at it, and it had bred worms, and was full of living creatures, and not fit for use.” (Maranatha, p. 181)



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Self-Denial

There are many ways that we and others would be blessed if we denied ourselves harmful things such as tobacco and coffee.
There are many ways that we and others would be blessed if we denied ourselves harmful things such as tobacco and coffee. Illustration — Morgue File

I saw that there was danger of the saints making too great preparations for conferences; that some were cumbered with too much serving; that the appetite must be denied. There is danger of some attending the meetings for the loaves and fishes. I saw that all those who are indulging self by using the filthy weed tobacco, should lay it aside and put their means to a better use. Those make a sacrifice who deprive themselves of some gratification and take the means they formerly used to gratify the appetite and put it into the treasury of the Lord. Like the widow's two mites, such gifts will be noticed of God. The amount may be small; but if all wcll do this, it will tell in the treasury. If all would study to be more economical in their articles of dress, depriving themselves of some things which are not actually necessary and should lay aside such useless and injurious things as tea and coffee, giving to the cause what these cost, they would receive more blessings here and a reward in heaven. Many think that because God has given them the means, they may live almost above want, can have rich food, and clothe themselves abundantly, and that it is no virtue to deny themselves when they have enough. Such do not sacrifice. If they would live a little poorer and give to the cause of God to help forward the truth, it would be a sacrifice on their part, and when God rewards every man according to his works, it would be remembered by Him.

Early Writings, pp.121-122.
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Friday, August 05, 2011

Happy Sabbath


Psalm 32

1Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

2Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.

3When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.

4For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.

5I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.

6For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.

7Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.

8I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.

9Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.

10Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about.

11Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.
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Nehemiah Governor of Israel - Total Transformation

http://www.mefeedia.com/watch/40222859


16 Walter Veith Nehemiah Total Transformation

Jesuits and Jesuit Trained

Rev. Patrick J. Conroy, a Jesuit priest, former Georgetown University chaplain, House of Representatives (Congress) chaplain.

Adolfo Nicolás, Superior General (Black Pope) of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits)
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"In a country where there are Jesuits, they must either rule or the country must go to ruin, it is they who rule the world." -Luigi Desanctis, official Censor of the Inquisition, Protestant Reformed pastor (1852)


"The Illuminati consist of the Jesuits and some of the world's richest families including the Rothschilds, the Rockefellers and the Windsors. While they pay lip service to religion, they worship Lucifer. Their agents control the world's media, education, business and politics. These agents may think they are only pursuing success, but success literally means serving the devil. Prisoners of their wealth, the Illuminati prefer hatred and destruction to Love. Understandably, they can't go public with this. They pretend to be moral while working behind the scenes to degrade and enslave humanity in a "new world order." Hiroshima, Dresden, Auschwitz, Cambodia and Rwanda were sacrifices to their god Lucifer. They are responsible for the two World Wars, the Depression and the Cold War. Sept. 11, the War on Terror and the Iraq War are their latest achievements". The Illuminati Conspiracy Against God by HENRY MAKOW PhD


"That the Jesuits were the disturbers of kingdoms, the oppressors of nations, the masters of the world, I freely admit." -Marcel de la Roche Arnauld, Roman Catholic Priest (1827)


"The Society of the Jesuits has the power to hide the sun, and make men blind and deaf to its caprice." -Montlarc (circa 1700)


"It is my opinion that if the liberties of this country - the United States of America - are destroyed, it will be by the subtlety of the Roman Catholic Jesuit priests, for they are the most crafty, dangerous enemies to civil and religious liberty. They have instigated most of the wars of Europe." - General Lafayette, aide to General George Washington (1799)


"The Jesuits are a naked sword, whose hilt is at Rome but its blade is everywhere, invisible until its stroke is felt." -Andre Dupin, French Statesman, member of King Louis Philippe's Cabinet which expelled the Order (1831)


"They are a public plague, and the plague of the world! Every species of vice finds its patronage in them. There is no perjury, nor sacrilege, nor parricide, nor incest, nor rapine, nor fraud, nor treason which cannot be masked as meritorious beneath the mantle of their dispensation." -Paolo Sarpi, Italian Roman Catholic historian of the Jesuits? Council of Trent (1620)


"The Jesuits are a military organization, not a religious order. Their chief is a general of an army, not the mere father abbot of a monastery. And the aim of this organization is: Power. Power in its most despotic exercise. Absolute power, universal power, power to control the world by the volition of a single man. Jesuitism is the most absolute of despotisms: and at the same time the greatest and most enormous of abuses? The general of the Jesuits insists on being master, sovereign, over the sovereign. Wherever the Jesuits are admitted they will be masters, cost what it may. Their society is by nature dictatorial, and therefore it is the irreconcilable enemy of all constituted authority. Every act, every crime, however atrocious, is a meritorious work, if committed for the interest of the Society of the Jesuits, or by the order of the general." -Napoleon Bonaparte.


Source
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Here's a recent list (circa 2006) of Jesuit trained politicians of Capitol Hill -

The following is the full list of the Jesuit college and university alumni/ae in Congress:


UNITED STATES SENATE

Senator Jim Bunning

(R-KY), Elected 1998

B.S. Xavier University (1953)

Senator Robert P. Casey Jr.

(D-PA), Elected 2006

B.A., Holy Cross College (1982)

Senator Richard J. Durbin

(D-IL), Elected 1996

B.S.F.S. Georgetown University (1966)

J.D. Georgetown University (1969)

Senator John F. Kerry

(D-MA), Elected 1984

J.D. Boston College (1976)

Senator Patrick J. Leahy

(D-VT), Elected 1974

J.D. Georgetown University (1964)

Senator Robert Menendez

(D-NJ), Appointed & Elected 2006

B.A. Saint Peter’s College (1976)

Senator Barbara A. Mikulski

(D-MD), Elected 1986

B.A. Loyola College in Maryland (1958)

Senator Lisa Murkowski

(R-AK), Elected 2004

B.A. Georgetown University (1980)

Senator Jim Webb

(D-VA), Elected 2006

J.D. Georgetown University (1975)



UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Representative Timothy H. Bishop

(D-NY), Elected 2002

B.A. College of the Holy Cross (1972)

Representative John A. Boehner

(R-OH), Elected 1990

B.S. Xavier University (1977)

Representative Vern Buchanan

(R-FL), Elected 2006

MBA, University of Detroit Mercy (1986)

Representative Michael Capuano

(D-MA), Elected 1998

J.D. Boston College (1977)

Representative Michael N. Castle

(R-DE), Elected 1992

L.L.B. Georgetown University (1964)

Representative Barbara Cubin

(R-WY), Elected 1994

B.S. Creighton University (1969)

Representative Henry Cuellar

(D-TX) Elected 2004

B.S. Georgetown (1978)

Representative William D. Delahunt

(D-MA), Elected 1996

J.D. Boston College (1967)

Representative John D. Dingell

(D-MI), Elected 1955

B.A. Georgetown University (1949)

J.D. Georgetown University (1952)

Representative Michael Ferguson

(R-NJ), Elected 2000

M.P.P. Georgetown University (1995)

Representative Jeff Fortenberry

(R-NE) Elected (2004)

M.A. Georgetown University (1986)

Representative Luis G. Fortuno

(D-PR) Elected (2004)

B.S. Georgetown University (1982)

Representative Vito Fossella

(R-NY), Elected 1996

J.D. Fordham University (1993)

Representative Wayne T. Gilchrest

(R-MD), Elected 1990

Attended, Loyola College Maryland (1990)

Representative John J. Hall

(D-NY), Elected 2006

Attended, Loyola College Maryland (1965-66)

Representative Stephanie Herseth

(D-SD), Elected 2004

B.A. Georgetown University (1993)

M.A. Georgetown University (1996)

J.D. Georgetown University (1996)

Representative Mazie K.Hirono

(D-HI), Elected 2006

J.D. Georgetown University (1978)

Representative Paul W. Hodes

(D-NH), Elected 2006

J.D. Boston College (1978)

Representative Steny H. Hoyer

(D-MD), Elected 1981

J.D. Georgetown University (1966)

Representative William J. Jefferson

(D-LA), Elected 1990

L.L.M. Georgetown University (1996)

He received his L.L.M. while serving as a Member of Congress

Representative Mark Steven Kirk

(R-IL), Elected 2000

J.D. Georgetown University (1992)

Representative Frank A. LoBiondo

(R-NJ), Elected 1994

B.S. St. Joseph’s University (1968)

Representative Zoe Lofgren

(D-CA), Elected 1994

J.D. University of Santa Clara (1975)

Representative Daniel E. Lungren

(R-CA), Elected 2004

J.D. Georgetown Law School (1971)

Representative Donald Manzullo

(R-IL), Elected 1992

J.D. Marquette University (1970)

Representative Edward J. Markey

(D-MA), Elected 1976

B.A. Boston College (1968)

J.D. Boston College (1972)

Representative Thaddeus McCotter

(R-MI), Elected 2002

B.A. University of Detroit Mercy (1987)

J.D. University of Detroit Mercy (1991)

Representative Michael R. McNulty

(D-NY), Elected 1988

B.A. College of the Holy Cross (1969)

Representative Gwen Moore

(D-WI) Elected (2004)

B.A. Marquette University (1978)

Representative James P. Moran

(D-VA), Elected 1990

B.A. College of the Holy Cross (1967)

Representative Timothy F. Murphy

(R-PA), Elected 2002

B.A. Wheeling Jesuit College (1974)

Representative Jerrold Nadler

(D-NY), Elected 1992

J.D. Fordham University (1978)

Representative Charles Norwood

(R-GA), Elected 1994

D.D.S. Georgetown University (1967)

Representative William J. Pascrell Jr.

(D-NJ), Elected 1996

B.A. Fordham University (1959)

M.A. Fordham University (1961)

Representative Robert C. Scott

(D-VA), Elected 1992

J.D. Boston College (1973)

Representative Albio Sires

(D-NJ), Elected 2006

B.A. Saint Peter’s College (1974)

Representative Adam Smith

(D-WA), Elected 1996

B.A. Fordham University (1987)

Representative Lee Terry

(R-NE), Elected 1998

J.D. Creighton University (1987)

Representative Chris Van Hollen Jr.

(D-MD), Elected 2002

J.D. Georgetown University (1990)

Representative Peter J. Visclosky

(D-IN), Elected 1984

L.L.M. Georgetown University (1982)

Strategists Still See 17% S&P 500 Rally on Earnings

This morning I awoke to hear the mind boggling news report that the U.S. Stock Market had lost 2 Trillion Dollars in yesterday's enormous drop. Quickly I thought back to the recent haggling on Capitol Hill over the Debt Ceiling increase (3 ring Circus) negotiations. So much vexation of spirit for the supposed (reduction) savings of 1.5 - 2 TRILLION Dollars over 10 years. And yet, The Market which should stimulate (or reflects) a RECOVERY because of the AUSTERE measures that the Administration and Congress 'achieved'; took a 513 point dive within hours of the government's unprecedented spectacular DEAL.

Please read the details below:


Strategists Still See 17% S&P 500 Rally on Earnings


By Whitney Kisling, Inyoung Hwang and Lynn Thomasson - Aug 5, 2011 5:24 AM ET .


Wall Street has never been more sure that the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index will rally in 2011, even after speculation the U.S. economy is heading for a recession prompted the biggest plunge since the bull market began. Photographer: Jin Lee/Bloomberg


Wall Street has never been more sure that the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index will rally in 2011, even after speculation the U.S. economy is heading for a recession prompted the biggest plunge since the bull market began.

Chief strategists at 13 banks from Barclays Plc (BARC) to UBS AG (UBSN) see the benchmark measure of American equity surging 17 percent through Dec. 31, the average estimate in a Bloomberg survey. Their projection that the index will reach 1,401 hasn’t budged in four weeks, while mounting concern U.S. growth is slowing drove the S&P 500 down 11 percent since July 22, including yesterday’s 4.8 percent tumble.

About $1.8 trillion has been erased from American equities
as reports on manufacturing and consumer spending showed the world’s largest economy is slowing. Forecasters at UBS and Deutsche Bank AG (DBK) say rising profits mean the S&P 500 deserves a higher price-earnings ratio than the 28-month low reached yesterday. A year ago, strategists also remained bullish after a 14 percent drop, and proved prescient as the S&P 500 rallied 20 percent from its August low.

“I’m reluctant to overreact to some shorter-term weakness, no matter how real it is, because the market has proven to be unbelievably resilient,” Jonathan Golub, the chief U.S. market strategist at UBS in New York, said in an Aug. 3 phone interview. “If you would have been acting that way for the last two years, you would have gotten killed by this market. Companies have done an absurdly good job of managing through this environment.”

Most Since 2009

Golub says the S&P 500 will end the year at 1,425. It fell yesterday to an eight-month low of 1,200.07 amid a global rout, extending a nine-day retreat to 11 percent. That was the biggest loss over the same amount of time since March 9, 2009, when the gauge ended a 17-month bear market. The MSCI All-Country World Index slid 4.1 percent yesterday, the most since March 2009. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell to the lowest level since July 2010, while Brazil’s index sank the most since 2008, as commodities producers dropped.

Europe’s Stoxx 600 retreated 2 percent to 238.38 at 10:17 a.m. in London, headed for a weekly drop of 10 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index (HSI) lost 4.3 percent today, the most since November 2009, and equity benchmarks in Japan, Australia and Korea fell more than 3.7 percent.

A year ago, stocks also fell as investors speculated the U.S. economy would contract. Equities plunged until Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke foreshadowed $600 billion in bond purchases meant to prevent deflation and stimulate growth at a Aug. 27, 2010, meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

More Stimulus?

Bill Gross, who runs the world’s biggest bond fund at Pacific Investment Management Co., told Bloomberg Television on Aug. 2 that another asset-purchase program may be announced by the Fed, even after President Barack Obama signed a deficit reduction plan that demands less government spending.

Should a plan materialize, it won’t have the same impact as last year, said Mark Luschini of Janney Montgomery Scott LLC, which manages about $54 billion.

“The macroeconomic issues are trumping the good earnings picture,” Luschini, the chief investment strategist at the Philadelphia-based firm, said in a phone interview on Aug. 3. For valuations to rise, “we’d have to have better economic conditions than we do at the moment, and that’s not evident,” he said.

Credit Suisse, HSBC

Strategists say earnings growth will fuel gains. S&P 500 profit will rise 18 percent in 2011 and 14 percent in 2012, according to the average per-share analyst estimates in a Bloomberg survey. More than 75 percent of corporations in the index have exceeded earnings estimates for the second quarter, with total income topping projections by 5.2 percent.

Credit Suisse Group AG and HSBC Holdings Plc advised investors to buy equities today. Andrew Garthwaite, London-based strategist at Credit Suisse, reiterated an “overweight” recommendation on stocks even as he cut his 2011-end forecast for the S&P 500 by 7 percent to 1,350.

“Our economists are not forecasting a recession and, indeed, are looking for U.S. growth to accelerate in the second half,” Garry Evans, global head of equity strategy at HSBC in Hong Kong, wrote in a note today. “Investors should look to raise equity risk gradually over the summer.”

‘Better Shape’

Marc Faber, publisher of the Gloom, Boom & Doom report, said in a Bloomberg Television interview that he expects the S&P 500 to rally about 40-to-50 points. Templeton Asset Management’s Mark Mobius said emerging economies are in “better shape” than developed nations amid turmoil roiling global markets.

“We’re looking at equities all the time and equities are looking better and better with all this turmoil,” Mobius, who oversees about $50 billion as executive chairman of Templeton’s emerging markets group, said in a Bloomberg Television interview today. “If you look at the gross domestic product levels, foreign exchange reserves, emerging markets are in a very, very sweet spot.”

Even as companies from Ford Motor Co. (F) to Boeing Co. beat forecasts, the S&P 500 has plunged as investors turned their attention to reports showing slower economic growth. Consumer spending fell 0.2 percent in June, personal incomes grew at the slowest pace since November and an index of American manufacturing sank to a two-year low.

The Labor Department may say at 8:30 a.m. in New York today that U.S. employers added 85,000 jobs in July, the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists. The unemployment rate rose for a third straight month in June, climbing to a 2011 high of 9.2 percent.

‘Reactive Trader Mindset’

“It’s unlikely I will change my view because we had a bad week or get really excited because we had a good week,” Tobias Levkovich, Citigroup Inc. (C)’s chief U.S. equity strategist in New York, said in an Aug. 3 phone interview. “That’s not a well- reasoned market outlook,” said Levkovich, who forecasts the S&P 500 will end the year at 1,400. “That’s a reactive trader mindset, but that’s not what I’m supposed to be doing.”

The combination of falling prices and rising profits has driven the S&P 500’s price-earnings ratio down 17 percent since Feb. 18, data compiled by Bloomberg show. At 13.2 times profit, the valuation is 20 percent below the average since 1954.

Following the drop in valuations, “our view is growth picks up, and like last summer/fall as the data turn up, they will take the equity market up with it,” Binky Chadha, Deutsche Bank’s chief U.S. equity strategist in New York, said in an Aug. 2 e-mail. He said the index will reach 1,550, the highest projection in the Bloomberg survey.

Bond Purchases

The S&P 500 bottomed in 2010 at 1,022.58 on July 2. Gross domestic product expanded at an annual rate of 2.5 percent and 2.3 percent in the third and fourth quarters. The stock index rallied 10 percent to 1,127.79 through Aug. 9, before slipping 7.1 percent to 1,047.22 by Aug. 26.

At the time, strategists said the index would rise to 1,234 through the end of 2010, according to the average estimate. Three days later, Bernanke said the central bank would “do all that it can” to sustain growth, foreshadowing the bond-purchase program revealed two months later. The August announcement helped catapult the S&P 500 to 1,257.64 as of Dec. 31 and 1,343.01 by Feb. 18, a 28 percent advance.

Laszlo Birinyi, one of the first investors to recommend buying stocks when the bull market began in March 2009, said this week that stocks shouldn’t be abandoned.

More Scotch

“It’s like all these times when you second-guess yourself, and you probably wake up a little earlier than you’re used to, and maybe you put an extra finger of scotch in the glass,” Birinyi said in an Aug. 2 telephone interview. “It’s probably a good idea to have a gut check once in a while, because it makes you review and rethink your process. Our view is that this is still a market of some duration.”

The S&P 500 had the second-best performance in 2011 among the world’s 10 biggest stock markets through yesterday, even after the 12 percent slump since April 29 brought the year-to- date decline to 4.6 percent. China’s Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index did best with a 4.4 percent drop. Japan’s Topix lost 8.1 percent, while the FTSE 100 Index (UKX) of U.K. stocks dropped 8.6 percent.

Clean Slate

“Doing this 22 years, to me this has to be the type of bottoming that the U.S. needed to just clean the slate,” Brian Belski, the New York-based chief investment strategist at Oppenheimer & Co., said in a telephone interview yesterday. “A year ago, we were only a couple quarters into the rebound, now we’re further in. There was less belief a year ago because nobody really believed forward earnings growth. Now they’ve proven themselves.” He estimates the S&P 500 will reach 1,325.

Barry Knapp, the New York-based chief U.S. equity strategist at Barclays, said that it’s unlikely the economy will contract even though data show a slowdown. The Citigroup Economic Surprise Index has averaged negative 95.05 since sinking on June 3 to negative 117.20, meaning reports were missing the median estimate in Bloomberg surveys by the most since January 2009.

“If you sell stocks at 1,250, that’s a bet we’re going back to a recession, and we don’t buy that,” Knapp said in a telephone interview yesterday. His year-end projection is 1,450. “The probability of the U.S. going back into a recession is low. These things have a way of running their course.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Whitney Kisling in New York at wkisling@bloomberg.net; Inyoung Hwang in New York at ihwang7@bloomberg.net; Lynn Thomasson in Hong Kong at lthomasson@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Baker at nbaker7@bloomberg.net; Nick Gentle at ngentle2@bloomberg.net

Source.

Thursday, August 04, 2011

Celente Solution: The 21st Century 'Global Game Changer'



Previously by Gerald Celente: PIIGS, Presstitutes, and the Global Meltdown


After reading the newly-released SummerTrends Journal, no responsible journalist will be able, in good conscience, to paint Gerald Celente again as a purveyor of “Pessimism Porn,” a “gloom and doomer,” or an “alarmist.”

Celente will continue to make clear that “Happy Days” will not soon be here again. He will continue to explain that, budget deal notwithstanding, no future Fed quick fixes or DC schemes can reverse the “Greatest Depression”-bound economy. No bipartisan miracle will eliminate the budget or trade deficit, restore the dollar to its former glory, or bring back jobs lost to China, India, Mexico, etc.

Europe’s financial crisis is equally critical. And the EU, IMF and ECB rescue policies will prove as ineffective as America’s. Those warnings are not “alarmism” or “pessimism” – they are just a matter of drawing logical conclusions from hard facts and incontrovertible data.

Nevertheless, even with a major economic collapse ahead of us, Celente is convinced there is a basis for expecting positive global outcomes in the long-term. The potential “Game Changer” lies in a widespread recognition that the Industrial Revolution mindset and policies will not, and cannot, work in a 21st century world.

“It’s not just Model T economics that’s outmoded, so are our approaches to education, healthcare, politics and, yes, the military,” says Celente. “The old adage ‘Generals fight the last war’ is as valid as ever. While the technology may have changed, the mindset hasn’t. The conviction that brute force can prevail in an occupied country defended by guerilla combatants has proven a multi-trillion dollar, decade-long failure. Yet even as old wars drag on with no victory in sight, new wars are started such as ‘Operation Odyssey Dawn’ launched against Libya five months ago, a ‘kinetic military action’ that was supposed to end in ‘day’s, not weeks.’”

Celente Solution: Direct Democracy

“The government/political ‘system’ in place in America, and throughout much of the world, is obsolete and irreparable. The inept generals masterminding lost-cause wars are mirrored by warring senators and representatives in Congress. Anyone who watched weeks of the Washington Wrestling Federation’s (WWF) Reality Show, ‘Beltway Battle Over the Budget,’ and still trusts the judgment of politicians, is either delusional or ideologically trapped,” says Celente.

Yet, it is an undeniable fact that 535 elected members of Congress, despite their incompetence, pass laws that control the lives of over 300,000,000 citizens. “The problem isn’t just in the numbers,” says Celente, “it’s that the ‘Gang of 535? represents lobbyists and campaign contributors, not the constituents they claim to represent. ‘Representative Democracy’ is a cruel sham; it’s neither ‘representative’ nor ‘democratic,’ and people are getting wise to it. Polls show that only 17 percent of likely US voters say the country is heading in the right direction, while 46 percent believe most members of Congress are corrupt.

“In those beliefs rest the possibility for change, real change, not Obama-change. As Victor Hugo put it, ‘There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world, and that is an idea whose time has come.’ I believe that ‘idea’ is Direct Democracy, and I believe that the time has come for the entire world to wrest power from the hands of ruling political mobs and put it into the hands of the public. ‘Let the people vote!’ ”

Can Direct Democracy really work? It does in Switzerland! But is it a viable, realistic substitute for the many representative democracies, which, in practice, are not democratic at all? Or would it lead to mob rule? Can Direct Democracy really be “The Global Game Changer”?

August 4, 2011

Gerald Celente is founder and director of The Trends Research Institute, author of Trends 2000 and Trend Tracking (Warner Books), and publisher of The Trends Journal. He has been forecasting trends since 1980, and recently called “The Collapse of ’09.”

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Roubini: QE3 Is Coming, But Bernanke Will Be Too Late

By Chris Barth Forbes


Nouriel Roubini, the much heralded NYU economist who has gotten much attention – and the nickname Dr. Doom – for his gloomy predictions in the past few years, isn’t exactly confident in Ben Bernanke or the US economy. Over the past few days he has taken to Twitter to voice his concerns on the recent market free fall, the potential for a double dip and the ongoing crisis in Europe. Today, on the heels of currency market intervention by Japan and Switzerland, Roubini predicted that a third round of quantitative easing here in the United States, tweeting, “QE3 started in Japan & Switzerland via fx action &/or monetary easing. Fed will eventually get to QE3 but it will be too little too late.”

Japan and Switzerland have both gotten involved in currency markets over the past two days, stepping in to prevent outsized appreciation in the yen and the Swiss franc. Switzerland cut interest rates on Wednesday in an attempt to weaken the franc, while the Japanese government and the Bank of Japan collaborated on moves today in an attempt stifle similar appreciation in the yen.
Roubini has previously said that he thinks future rounds of quantitative easing are on the way. As he pointed out in another tweet today, “I argued last year we will get QE3, then QE4 & then QE5 (the Fed, as in the 1950s, targeting the 10yr Treas at 1.5% once all else fails).”

In January, when he sat down with Steve Forbes, Roubini identified states and local municipalities as potential recipients of QE3.

“Until now, we have back-stopped the states through the federal budget – transfer payments of a variety of sorts to make sure that they don't blow up. At this point, the political willingness to do more of it is limited,” Roubini explained.

“During the crisis, [the Fed] bought even toxic assets of Bear Stearns and of AIG. They could go along the lines – if there are financing pressures like the Europeans – of trying to make stop all the state governments that are in trouble. If Congress doesn't do it, there'll be some pressure on the Fed to do that. That might be a version of QE3, after QE2. QE1 was mostly agencies -- Fannie and Freddie, QE2 was treasuries mostly. QE3 could be state and local debt.”


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