Wednesday, October 05, 2011

Apple Chairman, Former CEO Steve Jobs Has Died



--Co-founder and Chairman of tech giant seen as driving force behind company's rise

--Jobs stepped down as CEO in August amid battle with cancer

--CEO Cook says company lost "a visionary and creative genius"


(Updates with reaction from others, beginning in paragraph seven, and details about Apple's stock, beginning in paragraph 13.)

     DOW JONES NEWSWIRES   

Apple Inc. (AAPL) said Chairman and former Chief Executive Steve Jobs died Wednesday.

Jobs had suffered a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

On Wednesday, Chief Executive Tim Cook said the company had lost "a visionary and creative genius."

"Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple," he said.

The news comes after Jobs announced his resignation in August and recommended Cook, the company's then-chief operating officer, to be his successor. Jobs said at the time that he could no longer meet the "duties and expectations as Apple's CEO."

On Wednesday, Jobs's family asked for privacy in a statement released through the company and said a website will soon be available for those wishing to leave tributes and memories. "We are thankful to the many people who have shared their wishes and prayers during the last year of Steve's illness," the statement said.

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) co-founder Bill Gates expressed his condolences, saying it had "been an insanely great honor" to work with his long-time rival.

"The world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come," Gates said in a statement.

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook Inc.'s Chief Executive, said on his Facebook page Wednesday, "Steve, thank you for being a mentor and a friend. Thanks for showing that what you build can change the world. I will miss you."

Michael Dell, CEO and founder Dell Inc. (DELL), said, "Today the world lost a visionary leader, the technology industry lost an iconic legend, and I lost a friend and fellow founder. The legacy of Steve Jobs will be remembered for generations to come. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and to the Apple team."

Under Jobs's direction, Apple grew to become one of the world's most powerful technology companies through breakthrough hits like the iPod, iPhone and iPad.

A statement from Apple's board said the company co-founder's "brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives."

After-hours trading in Apple shares was halted before the news and hasn't restarted. The stock, up 31% over the past year, closed Wednesday at $378.25.

In past years, Apple shares would react to news of Jobs's health and appearance; however, more recently, his health developments have had less impact on the stock because of Apple's rapidly growing business and Jobs's seemingly worsening condition. For example, on the day after Jobs stepped down as CEO in August, the stock fell less than 1%.

-By Drew FitzGerald, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2909; andrew.fitzgerald@dowjones.com

--George Stahl contributed to this report.

Source


California workplace shooting: Car sought in manhunt is found

October 5, 2011 | 10:55 am

Authorities say they have found a car abandoned by the suspect in the Cupertino, Calif., workplace shooting as a manhunt continues for Shareef Allman, 49, identified as the man who killed two people and wounded six others.

The suspect was seen driving a Brown Mercury Cougar, but police communications officers reported that officers have found the vehicle and Allman was no longer with it.

A manhunt was going on for the suspect Wednesday morning in Cupertino, where schools were closed and police were searching door-to-door.

The first shootings took place at a 4 a.m. safety meeting at the Lehigh Southwest Cement Co. in the hills above Cupertino.

Later, authorities said, the suspect attempted to steal a woman’s car, then shot her. She was taken to a hospital, where her condition was not immediately known.

Allman, 49, apparently runs a self-publishing business and has published a novel about domestic violence.

And in a video on Youtube, which has now been taken down, an individual identified as Shareef Allman can be seen interviewing the Rev. Jesse Jackson on a San Jose community cable TV station.

And a Shareef Allman is listed in voter registration records as living in San Jose.

Facebook lists a user named Shareef Allman, featuring a photo of the cover of a novel written by Allman titled “Amazing Grace.” He gives his occupation as “miner.”

On a promotional website, a blurb for the novel states, “Many have asked him what made him decide to write a book that addressed domestic violence. His response was this ... 'I wanted to change, not only the mindset of abusive men, but to also change the mindset of their victims.'"

In March 2000, an individual named Shareef Allman appeared along with other black and Latino activists at a San Jose town hall meeting, organized by advocates against racial profiling by police.

At the meeting, the man told the San Jose Mercury News he was harassed in a parking lot at De Anza College in Cupertino, accused by a police officer of being a drug dealer on a day when he wore a lot of jewelry and a sweat shirt.

-- Sam Quinones

twitter.com/samquinones7


Source


Putin Calls for New ‘Euroasian Union’ of Former Soviet Countries


Tipping his hand on his foreign policy priorities if re-elected president next year, Prime MinisterVladimir Putinhas called for the creation of a "Eurasian Union" of former Soviet countries that could serve as "a bridge" between Europe and Asia.

The new union would further integrate the economies of existing customs union members Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan and gradually expand to include Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, Putin said in an article published Tuesday in Izvestia.

"We won't stop with this and have set an ambitious goal to reach the next, higher level of integration — the Eurasian Union," he wrote.

The Eurasian Union, which is supposed to become "a powerful supranational body" and "an effective bridge between Europe and the dynamic Asia-Pacific region," will welcome accession of other countries, with the CIS nations having a priority, the article said.


But it would be wrong to associate the new body with the Soviet Union, Putin said.

"It's naive to try to restore or copy what has already been left in the past, but tight integration on a new political, economic and value basis is the requirement of the time," he said.

The union will be part of "a greater Europe with common values of freedom, democracy and market laws," which will provide a faster integration into Europe for its members, Putin said.

He moved forward the idea of creating a free-trade zone between Russia and the European Union, which he voiced in his article published in Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung late last year.

In the Izvestia article, Putin reiterated that Russia and Europe could form a free-trade zone stretching "from Lisbon to Vladivostok."

The article indicates that the focus of the Kremlin's foreign policy is likely to move to strengthening ties with former Soviet countries after Russia has a new president next year, said Tatyana Stanovaya, a France-based analyst with the Center for Political Technologies.

If Putin returns to the Kremlin as the country's next president, Russia is likely to pursue a tougher foreign policy focused on developing the post-Soviet region, she said by telephone.

This issue is currently the No. 2 priority because PresidentDmitry Medvedevis largely focusing on the "reset" with the United States and the treaty on reducing the nuclear weapons, Stanovaya said.

But Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said integration of the post-Soviet region does not cancel the reset with the United States, since these are two priorities of Russia's foreign policy.

"Both these vectors can be developed simultaneously and independently. But the pace of the vectors' development can be different," he said by telephone.

Putin's article is "sort of a presidential manifest" aimed at outlining his initiatives after he returns to the Kremlin, said Alexei Portansky, a professor of the global economy and policy department at the Higher School of Economics.

But the idea of the Eurasian Union is not new because forming this body is the next integration step after creating the customs union and setting up a common economic space between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, he said by telephone.

But it is likely to take a while before implementing this initiative becomes possible, since the customs union has yet to prove its ability to work properly, he said.

"The economic crisis in Belarus in June proved that the customs union isn't working the right way yet," he said.

The customs union has been operating as a free-trade zone since July 1, when internal customs controls were removed at the borders of its member-countries.

But in a measure to protect the local consumer market, Belarus, in a severe economic crisis, restricted individuals from exporting food items and a number of other goods beyond the customs union borders in June. The country's authorities also restricted gasoline sales at the pumps.

Portansky said the move had not been agreed with the customs union commission, the organization's joint oversight body.

"It's impossible to imaging this in a developed customs union. A customs union member can't make such decisions without getting a permission from the supranational body," he said.

Meanwhile Putin pointed out that the Eurasian Union could be crucial for strengthening the global economy, as "the process of creating post-crisis models for global development is progressing with difficulties."

The Doha round of international trade talks "has almost stalled, and there are objective obstacles inside the World Trade Organization, the very principle of freedom of trade and the markets' openness is facing a serious crisis," he said.

The comments appeared as Russia made significant progress in its 18-year talks on its accession to the WTO.

Russia, which aims to join the organization by the end of this year, has reached an agreement on meat import quotas, which have been a sticking point in the negotiations, Deputy Economic Development Minister Andrei Slepnyov said Tuesday.

He declined to elaborate on the conditions of the agreement, saying only that they are "comfortable" for the Russian side and "imply a certain decrease in quota deliveries compared to what we had before," Reuters reported.

First Deputy Prime MinisterIgor Shuvalov, who is the country's main negotiator for joining the WTO and currently on a trip to the U.S., said Russia hopes to complete its entry into the organization this year.

"We are trying to complete the deal by the end of December and, I am pleased to say, thanks to the leadership in the United States, we are closer to that goal," he told a Russia-U.S. business group in Chicago, Reuters reported.

Putin said earlier this year that Russia would not fulfill the obligations that come with WTO accession until after joining the organization.

Meanwhile, his spokesman Peskov told The Moscow Times on Tuesday that a number of discrepancies remain before Russia can join the organization.

Shuvalov said that there are "a few minor things" that are hurdles to WTO membership, and mentioned a "third party I don't want to discuss publicly.

The main obstacle for accession is Georgia's position requiring that Russia remove customs points on borders with North Ossetia and Abkhazia, Stanovaya said. Georgia is already a WTO member and has the right to block Russia from joining.

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, who met Shuvalov in Washington on Monday, expressed his hope that "remaining issues, including satisfactory resolution of bilateral discussions between Russia and Georgia, would be addressed constructively and in a manner enabling Russia to meet its objective of concluding the WTO negotiations by the end of the year," according to a statement issued after their meeting.



Source:http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/putin-calls-for-new-euroasian-union-of-former-soviet-countries/444856.html#ixzz1ZtgUiaMt
The Moscow Times


'They'd rather sell arms than stand with the Syrian people': U.S. envoy storms out after Russia and China veto U.N resolution | Mail Online

Anger: Susan Rice, US Ambassador to the UN, walked out of a security council meeting after Russia and China vetoed a resolution on Syria

CBS News Reporter Says White House Screamed, Swore at Her Over Fast and Furious



12:55 PM, OCT 4, 2011 • BY MARK HEMINGWAY


The Fast and Furious scandal, in which the Justice Department knowingly gave Mexican criminal gangs thousands of guns, just keeps escalating. The latest development centers around whether or not Attorney General Eric Holder lied to Congress about having knowledge of the controversial gun trafficking operation. Recently released documents say Holder was briefed about the operation long before he told the Judiciary Committee he was first aware of what was going on. (Holder now claims he misunderstood the question was being asked.)

What's more, CBS News investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson -- who's been covering the scandal from the beginning -- says in an interview on the Laura Ingraham Show today that the White House and Justice Department have taken to screaming at her for reporting on the story. You can listen to the full interview below, but here are the key excerpts from Attkisson:

In between the yelling that I received from Justice Department yesterday, the spokeswoman--who would not put anything in writing, I was asking for her explanation so there would be clarity and no confusion later over what had been said, she wouldn't put anything in writing--so we talked on the phone and she said things such as the question Holder answered was different than the one he asked. But he phrased it, he said very explicitly, 'I probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks.'

And:

Ingraham: So they were literally screaming at you?
Attkisson: Yes. Well the DOJ woman was just yelling at me. The guy from the White House on Friday night literally screamed at me and cussed at me. [Laura: Who was the person? Who was the person at Justice screaming?] Eric Schultz. Oh, the person screaming was [DOJ spokeswoman] Tracy Schmaler, she was yelling not screaming. And the person who screamed at me was Eric Schultz at the White House."

Finally, Attkisson notes that the White House is claiming that a thorough investigation of the scandal is unwarranted:

[The White House and Justice Department] will tell you that I'm the only reporter--as they told me--that is not reasonable. They say the Washington Post is reasonable, the LA Times is reasonable, the New York Times is reasonable, I'm the only one who thinks this is a story, and they think I'm unfair and biased by pursuing it.

Here's the audio from the interview:





Source


Seismic Monitor



http://www.iris.edu/seismon/


U.S. "close to faltering," Fed ready to act: Bernanke

U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is pictured before testifying at a Joint Economic Committee hearing on the economic outlook, on Capitol Hill in Washington October 4, 2011. REUTERS-Jason Reed

1 of 2. U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is pictured before testifying at a Joint Economic Committee hearing on the economic outlook, on Capitol Hill in Washington October 4, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Jason Reed

WASHINGTON | Wed Oct 5, 2011 2:52am EDT

(Reuters) - The Federal Reserve is prepared to take further steps to help an economy that is "close to faltering," Fed chairman Ben Bernanke said on Tuesday in his bleakest assessment yet of the fragile U.S. recovery.

Citing anemic employment, depressed confidence, and financial risks from Europe, Bernanke urged lawmakers not to cut spending too quickly in the short term even as they grapple with trimming the long-run budget deficit.

He made clear that the U.S. central bank's policy committee considers inflationary pressures well under control and given high unemployment, would be ready to ease monetary conditions further following the launch of a new stimulus measure in September.

"The Committee will continue to closely monitor economic developments and is prepared to take further action as appropriate to promote a stronger economic recovery in the context of price stability," Bernanke told the Joint Economic Committee of Congress.

His language was firmer than the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee's statement less than two weeks ago, when the Fed said it would monitor the outlook and was "prepared to employ its tools as appropriate."

Since then, uncertainty about the outcome of the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis has undermined U.S. business and consumer confidence and helped to slow economic growth. The business cycle monitoring group ECRI last Friday said that the U.S. economy is tipping into a new recession.

Asked whether another round of bond purchases, known as quantitative easing, was in store, Bernanke was noncommittal.

"We never take anything off the table because we don't know where the economy is going to go. We have no immediate plans to do anything like that," he said.

The prospect of further Fed support for the economy lifted U.S. stocks though, after the market saw selling early in the day, pushing the S&P 500 briefly dipping into bear market territory.

Andrew Tilton, economist at Goldman Sachs, said contagion from the European crisis is a serious risk, threatening to tighten credit availability in the United States and weaken exports to the region. "This impact is likely to slow the U.S. economy to the edge of recession by early 2012," he said.

Recent U.S. economic data has been mixed after a dismal August, with a key manufacturing survey showing an unexpected improvement, but the slightly better tone has not been sufficient to dispel fears of another downturn.

Fresh clarity on the state of the economy will come on Friday, when the Labor Department releases monthly employment figures. Economists in a Reuters poll forecast a paltry gain of 60,000 jobs for September, and Bernanke in his testimony offered little hope for much improvement.

"Recent indicators, including new claims for unemployment insurance and surveys of hiring plans, point to the likelihood of more sluggish job growth in the period ahead," he told the Joint Economic Committee of Congress.

FISCAL WARNING

Bernanke said government belt-tightening was likely to prove a significant drag on the world's largest economy, which averaged less than 1.0 percent annualized growth in the first half of the year.

"An important objective is to avoid fiscal actions that could impede the ongoing economic recovery," he said,

Stressing that higher inflation earlier in the year had not become ingrained in the economy, Bernanke argued price pressures will remain subdued for the foreseeable future.

That backdrop made it easier for the Fed to launch its latest monetary easing effort in September, when it announced it would be selling $400 billion in short-term Treasuries and using the proceeds to buy longer-dated ones.

Bernanke estimated the new policy would lower long-term interest rates by about 0.20 percentage point which he said was roughly equivalent to a half percentage point reduction in the benchmark federal funds rate. Already 10-year Treasury note yields are at multi-year lows of 1.83 percent, helping keep mortgage and corporate borrowing costs extraordinarily cheap.

"We think this is a meaningful but not an enormous support to the economy. I think it provides some additional monetary accommodation, it should help somewhat on job creation and growth. It's particularly important now the economy is close -- the recovery is close -- to faltering," Bernanke said.

"We need to make sure that the recovery continues and doesn't drop back and the unemployment rate continues to fall downward."

INFLATION VS JOBS

Republican lawmakers pressed Bernanke on whether the Fed's dual mandate for full employment and price stability meant that it had to make compromises on inflation. On the 2012 presidential campaign trail, Republican candidate, Texas Governor Rick Perry earlier said it would be "treasonous" for the Fed to add further money to the economy.

Bernanke was categorical in defending the Fed's record of price stability in recent decades. He noted inflation has averaged 2.0 percent during his tenure and blamed regulatory failures, not excessively low rates, for the financial crisis.

Some economists believe the central bank could announce more concrete targets for policy goals, by linking the path of rates directly to unemployment and or inflation.

In response to the financial crisis and recession of 2008-2009, the Fed slashed interest rates to effectively zero and more than tripled the size of its balance sheet to a record $2.9 trillion, buyingbonds off banks balance sheets. Bernanke said this was not bailing out Wall Street, but was part of its mandate to provide price and financial stability.



Source

Tens of thousands protest Spanish education cuts



04/10/2011

Tens of thousands of teachers and students massed in Madrid's streets Tuesday to protest education spending cuts by the Spanish capital's regional government.

After a first demonstration September 20 followed by one-day strikes, teachers, parents, students and pupils rallied again under the slogan "public education of all, for all."

They massed in Madrid's centre, wearing green T-shirts that have become a symbol of the protest.

"At a time when Spain needs to improve its competitiveness, I think it is a mistake to be cutting spending on teaching," said 38-year-old Spanish literature teacher Carmen Abellan.

"What is at stake is the future of our country," Abellan said, reacting against a Madrid regional government demand that teachers spend an extra two hours a week in the classroom so as to reduce spending on supply staff.

"The government is pushing the idea that we should work two more hours but the problem is that there are fewer teachers, we are talking about 3,000 fewer teachers, " she said.

Many parents and school pupils joined the protest.

Elroy Romero, 48-year-old parent of two children at school, was wearing a shirt emblazoned with the word "father".

"I am very worried about what is happening to teaching in Spain. I have two children and I don't want quality education to be reserved only for private schools," he said.

Pressed by the ruling Socialist central government to shore up its balance sheet, the Madrid regional government, run by the conservative Popular Party, has asked teachers to increase in-class teaching time by two hours to 20 hours out of their total 38.5-hour working week.

Unions say the step will lead to a reduction in the quality of education and fewer new teacher hires and they have called for three more days of strikes in October.


Source

Busy September for Costa Rican volcanoes


Hard to believe we’ve already entered October, eh?

Some news on volcanic rumblings from Costa Rica:

The summit region of Costa Rica's Rincón de la Vieja in an undated image.

We tend to talk about three volcanoes in Costa Rica: the ever-active Arenal, the renewed Turrialba and Poás. Now we can add another volcano to the watch list, that being Rincón de la Vieja (see above). Like the other Costa Rican volcanoes, it is a composite volcano with overlapping craters at its summit. It is a hulk of a volcano with a total volume of over 130 km3 – and I love that the Global Volcanism Programsummary refers to it as the “Colossus of Guanacaste”. Most of the volcanoes known eruptions have been in the VEI 1-3 range until we get back to ~1820 BC, when a VEI 4 eruption produced pyroclastic flows. The volcano has seen somewhat-persistent fumarolic activity since its last eruptive period in 1995-98 with tremors reported in 2008. However, last month Rincón de la Vieja produced phreatic eruptionsthrough the small lake at the summit crater (see below). During the middle of September, small explosions, ash falls and fish kills were reported at the summit area of Rincón de la Vieja and a visit to the area by OVSICORI scientists revealed 10-15 cm layers of ash – mostly accidental sediment spit back out of the crater lake (pdf in spanish) – in the surrounding area. This new activity has prompted the government to limit access to Rincón de la Vieja and set up a new seismometer north of the volcano.

The crater lake at the summit of Rincón de la Vieja seen in mid-September, 2011. The debris on the edges of the lake were deposited in phreatic (steam-driven) explosions). Image from OVSICORI.

Meanwhile, at Poás, thecrater lake at the summit of that volcano (spanish) has dried up due to the elevated temperatures at the summit fumaroles. When the wind is low, steam plumes from the vigorous fumaroles can be seen in the nearby valleys. There was also an incandescent dome spotted in the last month at the volcano.Turrialba has also seen increase in activity as well. It has been producing light ash falls near the volcano, but theconstant release of volcanic gases such as sulfur dioxide have produced corrosion up to a few kilometers from the vent. Surprisingly, the poster child for Costa Rican volcanoes, Arenal, has been very quite of late, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t find amazing pictures of the volcano, showing the denuded flanks on the volcano mixed with the lush vegetation of the area.

Want to check out some of the activity? There are multiple webcams run by OVSICORI for Arenal, however, it looks like the webcam for Turrialba is out of commission right now. If you know of any other Costa Rica volcano webcams, let us know in the comments below!

Erik Klemetti is an assistant professor of Geosciences at Denison University. His passion in geology is volcanoes, and he has studied them all over the world. You can follow Erik on Twitter, where you'll get volcano news and the occasional baseball comment.
Follow @eruptionsblog on Twitter.


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Indonesia tells tourists to stay clear of volcano

By AP News Oct 04, 2011 2:58PM UTC

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Authorities are warning tourists and fishermen to stay more than a mile (two kilometers) from a smoking Indonesian volcano known as “Child of Krakatoa.”

The volcano in the Sunda Strait, 80 miles (130 kilometers) west of the capital, Jakarta, was created by the same tectonic forces that led to the 1883 Krakatoa eruption that killed tens of thousands of people.

Its “child,” growing five yards (meters) a year, is now 1,320 feet (400 meters) tall and popular among hikers.

Gede Suantika of the Center for Volcanology says the mountain’s alert level was raised to the second-highest level last week after the number of volcanic tremors soared from 200 a day to 7,200.

Suantika said Tuesday that he worries a powerful burst could shoot incandescent rocks down its slopes and far into the ocean.



Thousands of SUNY and CUNY Students to Walk-Out in Protest of Tuition Hikes, Cuts, and Debt

Published: 10/04 1:52 pm


Updated: 10/04 4:03 pm

From Binghamton NYSR:

In 2011 New York State cut the SUNY/CUNY budget by over $300 million, passed a 5-year automatic annual tuition hike, and cut the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) by $31 million. Thousands of students throughout SUNY and CUNY are being mobilized by New York Students Rising (NYSR) to oppose these massive cuts to Public Higher Education alongside tuition hikes, crushing student debt, and rising unemployment. On Wed. Oct. 5 at 1pm, students from across the state will orchestrate a state-wide student walk-out to oppose the drastic austerity measures that continue to undermine New York State’s young people. As our economy crumbles and public universities are forced to price out working class students, Governor Andrew Cuomo continues to support efforts to give tax breaks to the wealthy and undermine our public institutions. This event will also coincide with a large march in New York City organized by the Occupy Wall Street group to combat the rise of austerity and income inequality, where many CUNY students will join activists and labor unions in the streets of the financial district.

Across the state, NYSR demands the repeal of NYSUNY 2020 and the related tuition hikes, an increase of state funding to SUNY and CUNY to be financed through the an extended millionaires tax and enforced stock transfer tax, and, instead of cushioning the financial crisis on the backs of students and staff, we ask SUNY and CUNY to "Chop from the Top," reducing top administrator salaries by 2.5 to 5% percent in order to make up budget short falls. At Binghamton, we call on Interim President McGrath to give his $70,000 salary increase back to the university to help cover the budget cuts. Binghamton's NYSR affiliate Concerned Binghamton Students also organized last year's Rally Against Irresponsible Spending, part the National Day of Action for Public Education on October 7 2010.

WHEN: Wednesday, October 5, 2011 at 12 PM to 3 PM.

WHERE: Walkout beings out side the Library Tower at 12 PM; after marching around campus and rallying in the Cooper Administration Building, there will be a Teach In in Lecture Hall 7 at 2:15.

PARTICIPATING SUNY & CUNY CAMPUSES: University at Albany, Binghamton University, University at Buffalo, Purchase University, New Paltz University, Hunter College, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Brooklyn Community College, College of Staten Island, Bronx Community College, and CUNY Grad Center.


Source

Tuesday, October 04, 2011

Give the Trumpet a Certain Sound


—Those who present the truth are to enter into no controversy. They are to preach the gospel with such faith and earnestness that an interest will be awakened. By the words they speak, the prayers they offer, the influence they exert, they are to sow seeds that will bear fruit to the glory of God. There is to be no wavering. The trumpet is to give a certain sound. The attention of the people is to be called to the third angel’s message. Let not God’s servants act like men walking in their sleep, but like men preparing for the coming of Christ.—The Review and Herald, March 2, 1905.
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Evangelism, p.119.
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Protests against Wall Street spread across U.S.

By CHRIS HAWLEY, Associated Press

By Charles Rex Arbogast, AP

Protesters gather on the corner of LaSalle and Jackson during an "Occupy Chicago" protest Monday, Oct. 3, 2011, in Chicago.


Demonstrations are expected to continue throughout the week as more groups hold organizational meetings and air their concerns on websites and through streaming video.

NEW YORK – Protests against Wall Street entered their 18th day Tuesday as demonstrators across the country show their anger over the wobbly economy and what they see as corporate greed by marching on Federal Reserve banks and camping out in parks from Los Angeles to Portland, Maine.

In Manhattan on Monday, hundreds of protesters dressed as corporate zombies in white face paint lurched past the New York Stock Exchange clutching fistfuls of fake money.
In Chicago, demonstrators pounded drums in the city's financial district. Others pitched tents or waved protest signs at passing cars in Boston, St. Louis, Kansas City, Mo., and Los Angeles.

A slice of America's discontented, from college students worried about their job prospects to middle-age workers who have been recently laid off, were galvanized after the arrests of 700 protesters on the Brooklyn Bridge over the weekend.

Some protesters likened themselves to the tea party movement — but with a liberal bent — or to the Arab Spring demonstrators who brought down their rulers in the Middle East.
"We feel the power in Washington has actually been compromised by Wall Street," said Jason Counts, a computer systems analyst and one of about three dozen protesters in St. Louis. "We want a voice, and our voice has slowly been degraded over time."

The Occupy Wall Street protests started on Sept. 17 with a few dozen demonstrators who tried to pitch tents in front of the New York Stock Exchange. Since then, hundreds have set up camp in a park nearby and have become increasingly organized, lining up medical aid and legal help and printing their own newspaper, the Occupied Wall Street Journal.

About 100 demonstrators were arrested on Sept. 24 and some were pepper-sprayed. On Saturday police arrested 700 on charges of disorderly conduct and blocking a public street as they tried to march over the Brooklyn Bridge. Police said they took five more protesters into custody on Monday, though it was unclear whether they had been charged with any crime.

"At this point, we don't anticipate wider unrest," said Tim Flannelly, an FBI spokesman in New York, "but should it occur the city, including the NYPD and the FBI, will deploy any and all resources necessary to control any developments."

Flannelly said he does not expect the New York protests to develop into the often-violent demonstrations that have rocked cities in the United Kingdom since the summer. But he said the FBI is "monitoring the situation and will respond accordingly."

Wiljago Cook, of Oakland, Calif., who joined the New York protest on the first day, said she was shocked by the arrests.

"Exposing police brutality wasn't even really on my agenda, but my eyes have been opened," she said. She vowed to stay in New York "as long as it seems useful."

City bus drivers sued the New York Police Department on Monday for commandeering their buses and making them drive to the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday to pick up detained protesters.
"We're down with these protesters. We support the notion that rich folk are not paying their fair share," said Transport Workers Union President John Samuelsen. "Our bus operators are not going to be pressed into service to arrest protesters anywhere."

The city's Law Department said the NYPD's actions were proper.

On Monday, the zombies stayed on the sidewalks as they wound through Manhattan's financial district chanting, "How to fix the deficit: End the war, tax the rich!" They lurched along with their arms in front of them. Some yelled, "I smell money!"

Reaction was mixed from passers-by.

Roland Klingman, who works in the financial industry and was wearing a suit as he walked through a raucous crowd of protesters, said he could sympathize with the anti-Wall Street message.

"I don't think it's directed personally at everyone who works down here," Klingman said. "If they believe everyone down here contributes to policy decisions, it's a serious misunderstanding."

Another man in a suit yelled at the protesters, "Go back to work!" He declined to be interviewed.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a billionaire who made his fortune as a corporate executive, has said the demonstrators are making a mistake by targeting Wall Street.

"The protesters are protesting against people who make $40- or $50,000 a year and are struggling to make ends meet. That's the bottom line. Those are the people who work on Wall Street or in the finance sector," Bloomberg said in a radio interview Friday.

Some protesters planned to travel to other cities to organize similar events.

John Hildebrand, a protester in New York from Norman, Okla., hoped to mount a protest there after returning home Tuesday. Julie Levine, a protester in Los Angeles, planned to go to Washington on Thursday.

Websites and Facebook pages with names like Occupy Boston and Occupy Philadelphia have also sprung up to plan the demonstrations.

Hundreds of demonstrators marched from a tent city on a grassy plot in downtown Boston to the Statehouse to call for an end of corporate influence of government.

"Our beautiful system of American checks and balances has been thoroughly trashed by the influence of banks and big finance that have made it impossible for the people to speak," said protester Marisa Engerstrom, of Somerville, Mass., a Harvard doctoral student.

The Boston demonstrators decorated their tents with hand-written signs reading, "Fight the rich, not their wars" and "Human need, not corporate greed."

Some stood on the sidewalk holding up signs, engaging in debate with passers-by and waving at honking cars. One man yelled "Go home!" from his truck. Another man made an obscene gesture.

Patrick Putnam, a 27-year-old chef from Framingham, Mass., said he's standing up for the 99% of Americans who have no say in what happens in government.

"We don't have voices, we don't have lobbyists, so we've been pretty much neglected by Washington," he said.

In Chicago, protesters beat drums on the corner near the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. In Los Angeles, demonstrators hoping to get TV coverage gathered in front of the courthouse where Michael Jackson's doctor is on trial on manslaughter charges.

Protesters in St. Louis stood on a street corner a few blocks from the shimmering Gateway Arch, carrying signs that read, "How Did The Cat Get So Fat?," "You're a Pawn in Their Game" and "We Want The Sacks Of Gold Goldman Sachs Stole From Us."

"Money talks, and it seems like money has all the power," said Apollonia Childs. "I don't want to see any homeless people on the streets, and I don't want to see a veteran or elderly people struggle. We all should have our fair share. We all vote, pay taxes. Tax the rich."
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Verena Dobnik, Karen Matthews, Cristian Salazar and Jennifer Peltz in New York; Jim Suhr in St. Louis; David Sharp in Portland, Maine; Mark Pratt in Boston; Patrick Walters in Philadelphia; Pete Yost in Washington; Bill Draper in Kansas City, Mo.; Carla K. Johnson in Chicago, and Christina Hoag and Robert Jablon in Los Angeles contributed to this report.