Thursday, March 01, 2012

Let eurozone stew in its own juice

01 March 2012, Thursday


ASIM ERDİLEK

a.erdilek@todayszaman.com


The two-year-old eurozone sovereign debt crisis reached a dubious milestone last week with the default of Greece on its debt to private investors, as part of the proposed second Greek bailout. But the European Central Bank (ECB) refused to accept losses on the Greek bonds it holds, creating a double standard.

Standard & Poor's (S&P) downgraded Greece's “CC” long-term and “C” short-term sovereign credit ratings to “selective default,” after the Greek parliament retroactively inserted “collective action clauses” into sovereign debt contracts of private creditors. They are forced to accept a “voluntary” bond swap whose terms mean highway robbery for them. S&P added that if a sufficient number of private creditors did not agree to the bond swap, Greece would face “an imminent outright payment default,” since it would have access to neither market funding nor official financing through its second bailout, which is conditioned on the successful execution of the bond swap (see my last column).

Moody's Investors Service and Fitch Ratings are also expected to declare Greece in default. For the rating agencies a debtor is considered in de facto default when it fails to service its debt, i.e., pay the interest and the principal owed, in full and on time. European Union leaders are evidently upset with the recent sovereign downgrades of Greece and other troubled eurozone members. The European Parliament is considering a draft report to empower the EU Commission to ban issuance of sovereign credit ratings if they are unacceptable to EU members and to create a “fully independent public European Credit Rating Agency.”

Since the outbreak of the eurozone crisis, Germany, the eurozone's dominant leader, has pushed the International Monetary Fund (IMF) into getting heavily involved in the bailouts of Greece, Ireland and Portugal. The involvement of the IMF, committing almost 60 percent of its outstanding loans to the eurozone, has been justified in terms of not only its independence and expertise in monitoring how well the bailed out countries meet their performance criteria but also the danger of global contagion from the eurozone crisis. The IMF, with the overrepresentation of Europe on its executive board and with previous as well as present managing directors of French nationality and as an international financial institution which capitalized on the global financial crisis of 2008-2009 to save itself from increasing irrelevance, has been only too eager to get involved. It has been not only too generous in the amounts of its loans but also too lenient in its surveillance of the eurozone borrowers, especially Greece, failing to ensure that they met their performance criteria. Its involvement in Greece's first bailout has been an unmitigated disaster. Why should we expect the IMF to do any better in Greece's second bailout?

The eurozone, an inherently defective and rickety monetary union of economically very disparate countries, lacks a foundation of fiscal union and adequate intra-union labor mobility. Since the outbreak of its sovereign debt crisis it not only made feckless attempts to bail out its troubled members through the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), but also tried to turn the entire EU into a half-baked fiscal union under Germany's tutelage. But the future of that fiscal union is now further jeopardized by Ireland's decision to hold a referendum on the European Fiscal Compact, finalized in January and already rejected by the UK and the Czech Republic. Lately, the eurozone also began to seek salvation by the ECB through the Long Term Refinancing Operation I and II. The ECB has been bailing out troubled eurozone banks with unlimited cheap three-year loans, bypassing the ban on lending to eurozone governments directly.

But not content to stew in its own juice, the eurozone is seeking more financial help through the IMF from the rest of the world, arguing that otherwise its crisis could trigger another global financial crisis. That scary argument is debatable. The eurozone and the IMF, which is eager to boost its financial firepower by $500 billion to over $1 trillion and thus play an even greater role in the eurozone's salvation, have met stiff international resistance. The G-20 finance ministers and central bank governors declared after their meeting in Mexico City last Sunday that before the G-20 agrees to boost the IMF's financial clout, the eurozone should do more to help itself through its EFSF and ESM firewalls. The German government, which received parliament's approval for the second Greek bailout but now faces a potential legal obstacle put up by the constitutional court, is opposed. Its opposition, like its resistance to the issuance of eurozone bonds to mutualize sovereign debt, is on grounds of moral hazard: That would only encourage other fiscally irresponsible eurozone members besides Greece to act even more irresponsibly. But its real reason is the growing domestic opposition in Germany to throwing more money at salvaging the increasingly doubtful eurozone in its current form. If rich Germany, the largest EU economy, unquestionable leader and major beneficiary of the eurozone, is not willing to have more of its own skin in the game, why should the less rich rest of the world help any more?


Source


Conservative Publisher Andrew Breitbart Dead at 43

Updated March 1, 2012, 4:57 p.m. ET


Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesAndrew Breitbart

By RUSSELL ADAMS and JEFFREY A. TRACHTENBERG

Andrew Breitbart, a conservative Internet entrepreneur
known for controversial reports that damaged the careers of Democratic officials, died early Thursday.

"With a terrible feeling of pain and loss we announce the passing of Andrew Breitbart," a post on his website Breitbart.com said. "Andrew passed away unexpectedly
from natural causes shortly after midnight this morning in Los Angeles."

Mr. Breitbart, 43 years old, collapsed on the sidewalk near his Brentwood home, according to a spokesman for the Los Angeles County coroner's office. "Pending an exam, which will probably take place as early as [Friday], we have no opinion yet as to the cause of death," the spokesman said. He added that the coroner's office understood that Mr. Breitbart had seen a doctor about a year ago for a cardiac issue.

Mr. Breitbart oversaw a stable of sites including bighollywood.com, biggovernment.com and bigjournalism.com. He helped start the Huffington Post, though he left shortly after its launch.

In 2010, he posted a video of an address Shirley Sherrod, then an official with the Department of Agriculture, had given to the NAACP. In the clip, Ms. Sherrod, who is black, appeared to show bias against whites. She was dismissed from her job as a result.

Later, the full version of the speech showed that Ms. Sherrod's remarks had been heavily edited. The White House apologized, and Ms. Sherrod was offered a new position, which she declined.

Last year, Mr. Breitbart published revealing photos former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner had sent to women he met online. Before a news conference Mr. Weiner called to address the issue, Mr. Breitbart took the podium and began answering questions. Mr. Weiner later resigned.

Mr. Breitbart was a critic of what he regarded as a liberal bias in the major news media, which he sought to expose. In 2009, he offered guidance to conservative activist James O'Keefe on Mr. O'Keefe's video sting operation against Acorn, a community-organizing association accused of illegal voter-registration practices. Barack Obama's political opponents had highlighted the president's connections to Acorn on the campaign trail; Mr. Obama, who had represented the group as a lawyer years before, said his ties to Acorn were minimal.

The videos, posted on Mr. Breitbart's biggovernment.com, showed Acorn workers offering advice to Mr. O'Keefe and a cohort, who were posing as a pimp and a prostitute, on matters like how to claim underage prostitutes on a tax return.

"Andrew was very passionate about the so-called liberal bias, but he always had a twinkle in his eye that signaled he was exercising his American right of freedom of speech," said Rick Wolff, an executive editor at Lagardere SCA's Grand Central Publishing and Mr. Breitbart's editor. "He was very much a successful author. His followers loved him."

Even when Mr. Breitbart didn't write about politics, he brought an edgy style to his work. A review published in The Wall Street Journal of 2004's "Hollywood, Interrupted: Insanity Chic in Babylon—the Case Against Celebrity," co-written with Mark Ebner, described the book as "written in waspish, hipster lingo reminiscent of 1950s scandal sheets—worldly and shocked at the same time."

Mr. Breitbart's "Righteous Indignation: Excuse Me While I Save the World," published in 2011, sold 25,000 hardcover copies, according to Nielsen BookScan, which tracks about 75% of book sales in the U.S., though not digital-book sales. The book—part memoir, part manifesto—was a national best-seller, the book's publisher said.

Grand Central Publishing may move up the publication date of the paperback, currently scheduled for next month. That edition includes a new chapter that Mr. Breitbart wrote about the Anthony Weiner episode.

Mr. Breitbart grew up in Hollywood. His father was a restaurateur and his mother a banker, according to a 2009 interview with the Journal. After graduating from Tulane University, he returned to Southern California, where he worked for a time in film production and music journalism.

He launched his Internet career in the mid-1990s, working for a while on the conservative website Drudge Report. The site's founder, Matt Drudge, later introduced him to Arianna Huffington, sparking their eventual collaboration on the Huffington Post.

"We have lost a husband, a father, a son, a brother, a dear friend, a patriot and a happy warrior," the Breitbart.com post said. "Andrew lived boldly, so that we more timid souls would dare to live freely and fully, and fight for the fragile liberty he showed us how to love."

Write to Russell Adams at russell.adams@wsj.com and Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg at jeffrey.trachtenberg@wsj.com

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Wednesday, February 29, 2012

How To Adjust Your Privacy Settings, Before Google's Big Shift


11:16 am

February 29, 2012

by BILL CHAPPELL

News that Google will place its dozens of services under one privacy policy — a change that also means the company will compile and collate each user's data from all those products — has some of its customers scrambling to restrict their privacy settings before the new policy goes into effect on March 1.

Of course, not everyone who relies on Google for Web search, email or YouTube is concerned about the pending change. Some don't care a whit; others don't know the change is looming (says PC Mag).

But for those who are concerned, the idea that Feb. 29 is their last chance to change these settings seems to have lit the fire of urgency. So, here are some tips on making commonly recommended changes — and ways to find out more about online privacy.


Source

Freemasons And The US Capitol Cornerstone

Tuesday, January 04, 2011

Freemasons And The US Capitol Cornerstone


While the cornerstone ceremony for the President’s House had been hastily organized and performed by the Freemasons and the new city’s officials with little fanfare, the city commissioners decided that the Congress House needed a much bigger kickoff ceremony. On Wednesday, September 18, 1793, President Washington crossed the Potomac and was escorted to the construction site of the President’s House by members of Maryland’s Lodge No. 9 and Virginia’s Alexandria Lodge No. 22. There they were joined by the members of Federal Lodge No. 15, which had just received its charter from Grand Lodge six days before. It’s Master was James Hoban, the architect of the President’s House.

The assembled Masons marched “in the greatest solemn dignity, with music playing, drums beating, colors flying and spectators rejoicing,” up the barely cleared road that would eventually be Pennsylvania Avenue to the little hilltop clearing that would become the symbolic center of the Federal City and the nation.

A trench had been dug for the foundation, and the group took their place at the southeast corner of what would be the North Wing of the Capitol. Brother Clotworthy Stephenson, Grand Marshal, presented a silver plate to the commissioners. It read:
“This South East corner Stone, of the Capitol of the United States of America in the City of Washington, was laid on the 18th day of September 1793, in the thirteenth year of American Independence, in the first year of the second term of the Presidency of George Washington, whose virtues in the civil administration of his country have been as conspicuous and beneficial, as his Military valor and prudence have been useful in establishing her liberties, and in the year of Masonry 5793, by the Grand Lodge of Maryland, several Lodges under its jurisdiction, and Lodge No. 22, from Alexandria, Virginia.”
Thomas Johnson, David Stuart, Daniel Carroll, Commissioners.
Joseph Clark, R.W.G.M.—P.T.
James Hoban, Stephen Hallate, Architects
Collen Williamson, Master Mason


The tools used at the cornerstone ceremony,
on display at the George Washington Masonic Memorial in Alexandria, VA

After the reading of the inscription, the cornerstone was made ready. President Washington, the Grand Master pro tempore Joseph Clark of Maryland, and the three attending Masters of the lodges present—Elisha Cullen Dick of Alexandria No. 22, Valentine Reintzel of Maryland Lodge No. 9, and James Hoban of Federal Lodge No. 15—took the plate and stepped down into the trench. A beautiful silver trowel and marble gavel had been crafted especially for the occasion by Brother John Duffey, a silversmith in Alexandria who was a member of the president’s home lodge, Fredericksburg Lodge No. 4. The trowel had a silver blade, a silver shank and an ivory handle with a silver cap. Brother Duffey had also crafted Masonic working tools of walnut for use in the ceremony.


The square was applied, a symbol of virtue, to make certain that each angle of the stone was perfectly cut. Next, the level, a symbol of equality, was used it to ascertain that the stone was horizontally correct. And last, the plumb, an emblem of morality and rectitude, showed that the stone was perfectly upright. The stone was declared square, level and plumb and therefore suitable as the foundation for the new building.

Kernels of wheat were sprinkled over the stone from a golden cup as a symbol of goodness, plenty and nourishment. Wine was poured over it from a silver cup, a symbol of friendship, health and refreshment. Finally, drops of oil glistened down its sides like the sacred oil that ran down upon Aaron’s beard in the Old Testament, “to the skirts of his garments; as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion.” The oil symbolized joy, peace and tranquility.

President Washington placed the silver plate on the cornerstone, and it was consecrated in the Masonic tradition with corn, wine and oil. The silver trowel was used to spread a small amount of cement, and the marble gavel to symbolically tap the stone into place.
Today, the left “valve” doors of the Senate depict a scene from the laying of the Capitol cornerstone, clearly showing Washington in his Masonic apron, and there is a fresco painted in the Capitol depicting the scene, as well.

Non-Masons may be especially curious about the “year of Masonry” on the cornerstone’s plate—5793. One of the more confounding customs has to do with the way Freemasons date documents. The Gregorian calendar was standardized by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582, though the non-Catholic Western world took another 200 years before they went along with the pope’s idea. Since 1776, most of the world has been on the same calendar page, though Greece and Russia didn’t adopt it until after World War I. Because Western Europe and America switched to the Gregorian calendar in the mid-1700s, conflicting ages are attributed to some of the notable figures of the period. Because of the confusion during the changeover, they themselves weren’t always sure of their real age.

In 1658, Bishop James Ussher in Ireland believed he had determined the exact date of the creation of the world. Using the biblical account along with a comparison of Middle Eastern histories, Hebrew genealogy and other known events, he determined that the Earth was created on Sunday, October 23, 4004 B.C. At about the same time, John Lightfoot, vice chancellor of Cambridge University, went on to clarify that the Creation actually happened at about 9 a.m.

Ussher called his calendar Anno Mundi, the Year of the World. By 1700, Ussher and Lightfoot’s calculations of the date and time of the Creation were accepted as fact by most Christian denominations. Beginning in 1701, new editions of the King James Bible clearly stated it right up front. Because Ussher’s Creation date was so strongly believed at the time of modern Freemasonry’s origin, the Masons began dating their documents using 4004 B.C. as their beginning year . . . sort of. 4004 was an inconvenient number to remember, so Masons simply took the current year and added 4,000 to it. So, A.D. 1793 became 5793 Anno Lucis, or A.L., and A.D. 2007 would be 6007 A.L. Anno Lucis means “year of light” in Latin. Masons called it that to coincide with the Genesis passage, “And God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.” They did this early on to lend their fraternity an air of great and solemn antiquity. If they dated their documents as being 5717 years old, they’d certainly sound more respectable and impressive than some newly formed London drinking club. Today, you will often see two dates on Masonic cornerstones—both A.D. and A.L.

After seven years, the U.S. Congress met in the first completed portion of the Capitol, the North Wing, in November 1800. In the 1850s, major extensions to the North and South ends of the Capitol were required because of rapid westward expansion of the country and the subsequent growth of Congress. During this expansion, the distinctive dome that makes the building so readily identifiable replaced a less grandiose, much shorter, squatter (and leaky) one that made up Dr. Thornton’s original design. Since that time, additional office buildings have been built up on streets adjacent to the Capitol to handle the needs of an ever-increasing, swollen bureaucracy.

Because of modifications to the building following its burning in 1814 at the hands of the British, along with expansions in the 1850s, the original cornerstone laid by George Washington and the Freemasons has been lost. In 1893, on the one hundredth anniversary of the laying of the Capitol’s cornerstone, a plaque was placed near the spot where it was believed to have originally been installed.
Beneath this tablet the corner stone of the Capitol of the
United States of America
was laid by
George Washington
First President September 18, 1793
On the Hundredth Anniversary
in the year 1893
In presence of the Congress the Executive and the Judiciary
a vast concourse of the grateful people
of the District of Columbia commemorated the event.
Grover Cleveland President of the United States
Adlai Ewing Stevenson Vice President
Charles Frederick Crisp Speaker, House of Representatives
Daniel Wolsey Hoorhees Chairman Joint Committee of Congress,
Lawrence Gardner Chairman Citizens Committee

In 1932, the bicentennial of George Washington’s birth was celebrated across the nation. To mark the occasion, the Freemasons of Washington, D.C., dedicated a new stone at the Capitol building. Located at Old Supreme Court Chamber Entrance, on the First Floor, East Front, it reads:
Laid Masonically Sept. 17, 1932
in Commemoration of the Laying
of the Original Cornerstone by
George Washington






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Congress honors slaves who helped build U.S. Capitol

February 28, 2012 - 09:45 pm

WASHINGTON (AP) - Congressional leaders and
the chaplains of the House and Senate have dedicated a new stone marker to the slaves who helped build the U.S. Capitol building.


Today's ceremony was held on the next to last day of Black History Month.

The House chaplain, Father Patrick Conroy, noted that the Bible's book of Jeremiah says, "Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, making his countrymen work for nothing, not paying them for their labor."

Conroy called the historic marker in the Capitol's Visitor Center's Emancipation Hall "a small acknowledgement of those sins."

Senate Chaplain Barry Black, who is African American, said the ceremony should be a reminder that "in eternity, many who are now first will be last, and many who are now last will be first."


http://www.wjla.com/articles/2012/02/congress-honors-slaves-who-helped-build-u-s-capitol-73162.html
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Tuesday, February 28, 2012

The State of the World: Explaining U.S. Strategy



By George Friedman | February 28, 2012

The fall of the Soviet Union ended the European epoch, the period in which European power dominated the world. It left the United States as the only global power , something for which it was culturally and institutionally unprepared. Since the end of World War II, the United States had defined its foreign policy in terms of its confrontation with the Soviet Union. Virtually everything it did around the world in some fashion related to this confrontation. The fall of the Soviet Union simultaneously freed the United States from a dangerous confrontation and eliminated the focus of its foreign policy.

In the course of a century, the United States had gone from marginal to world power. It had waged war or Cold War from 1917 until 1991, with roughly 20 years of peace between the two wars dominated by the Great Depression and numerous interventions in Latin America. Accordingly, the 20th century was a time of conflict and crisis for the United States. It entered the century without well-developed governmental institutions for managing its foreign policy. It built its foreign policy apparatus to deal with war and the threat of war; the sudden absence of an adversary inevitably left the United States off balance. Read More »

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OCCUPY LONDON - Evicted By POLICE




Uploaded by TechbyTigz on Feb 28, 2012
OCCUPY LONDON - Evicted By POLICE State Storm-Troopers

The Occupy London camp outside St Paul's Cathedral was destroyed early Tuesday. Hundreds of officers converged on the camp just before midnight local time and began to dismantle what had been home to around 70 activists.

Bailiffs in high-visibility jackets dragged tents and their contents to garbage trucks and dumpsters where they were crushed. Police in riot gear formed cordons to keep protesters and their supporters out of the camp. Activists say the police were met with peaceful resistance. However, media reports say around 20 protesters have been detained.


Several dozen protesters have been camped on the steps of St Paul's Cathedral since October last year. It was one of the longest-surviving encampments inspired by the New York "Occupy Wall Street" movement against corporate greed.

Last week a court rejected an appeal by protesters against the eviction order. The court ruled that the right to protest did not justify a semi-permanent camp on a public pathway. Local authorities also claim the camp harmed nearby businesses, caused waste and hygiene problems, and attracted crime and disorder.


Death of US girl after school fight ruled homicide



Photos with notes are left at a memorial outside Willard Elementary School for Joanna Ramos, 10, in Long Beach, Calif. on Monday Feb. 27,2012. The Los Angeles County coroner's office has ruled that the death Ramos a Southern California schoolgirl after a fight was a homicide. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)



By GILLIAN FLACCUS,
Associated Press


LONG BEACH, California (AP) — What started as
an after-school fight between two young girls over a boy turned into a homicide investigation Monday, when authorities said a 10-year-old died of a head injury after the confrontation.

Blunt force trauma killed Joanna Ramos, who collapsed at home after Friday's fight, coroner's Lt. Fred Corral said.

The girl's older sister said Joanna died after surgery for a blood clot on the brain hours after the fight in an alley with an 11-year-old girl. Joanna had started vomiting and complained of a headache and was unconscious by the time she arrived at the emergency room, said Vanessa Urbina, 17, crying as she sat on the steps of Willard Elementary School near a memorial of flowers and balloons.

Police said they have made no arrests and were conducting an investigation that will be presented to prosecutors.

Punches to the head can often lead to delayed bleeding if a vein is torn, and that can lead to a clot when blood collects on the surface of the brain, said Dr. Keith Black, a neurosurgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

"This is rare, in that I've never seen it in a female, certainly not in a female adolescent," said Black, who was not involved in Joanna's medical care.

Symptoms — such as headache, nausea, lethargy — may not set in for hours and people can mistakenly think that they're fine.

"Just because you're OK immediately after a head injury, you still need to be very concerned" about pressure buildup in the brain that can be life-threatening, Black said.

He said a blow to the head from one young girl to another could "absolutely" be sufficient to cause enough trauma to lead to death.

Friday's fight lasted less than a minute, police said. It didn't involve weapons, and no one was knocked to the ground.

"They took off their backpacks, and they put their hair in a bun, and then that's when they said 'Go' and that's when they started hitting each other," Joanna's friend and classmate Maggie Martinez, who watched the fight, told KNBC.

Martinez and other friends said they tried to stop the fight but were held back by boys who were watching and wanted it to continue.

School officials believe the fight occurred in a 15-minute window between the time school ended and the start of Joanna's after-school program, said Chris Eftychiou, a spokesman for the Long Beach Unified School District.

Mothers said their children told them the fight was over a boy.

Fights involving young children are increasing in the U.S., in part because social media and text messaging mean students can continue their dispute 24 hours a day, said Travis Brown, a national expert on bullying and school violence.

Associated Press writers Robert Jablon and Alicia Chang in Los Angeles contributed to this report
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Why Christ Delays His Coming


The very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 5:23.

When Paul wrote, “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly,” he did not exhort his brethren to aim at a standard which it was impossible for them to reach; he did not pray that they might have blessings which it was not the will of God to give. He knew that all who would be fitted to meet Christ in peace, must possess a pure and holy character.

If Seventh-day Adventists practiced what they profess to believe, if they were sincere health reformers, they would indeed be a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. And they would show a far greater zeal for the salvation of those who are ignorant of the truth.

Greater reforms should be seen among the people who claim to be looking for the soon appearing of Christ. Health reform is to do among our people a work which it has not yet done. There are those who ought to be awake to the danger of meat-eating, who are still eating the flesh of animals, thus endangering the physical, mental, and spiritual health. Many who are now only half converted on the question of meat-eating will go from God’s people, to walk no more with them.

The controlling power of appetite will prove the ruin of thousands, when, if they had conquered on this point, they would have had moral power to gain the victory over every other temptation of Satan. But those who are slaves to appetite will fail in perfecting Christian character. The continual transgression of man for six thousand years has brought sickness, pain, and death as its fruits. And as we near the close of time, Satan’s temptation to indulge appetite will be more powerful and more difficult to overcome.

Again and again I have been shown that God is trying to lead us back, step by step, to His original design—that man should subsist upon the natural products of the earth. Among those who are waiting for the coming of the Lord, meat-eating will eventually be done away; flesh will cease to form a part of their diet. We should ever keep this end in view, and endeavor to work steadily toward it.

Maranatha, p.61.
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Monday, February 27, 2012

Cooper: White Dove Cafe in Collegedale features Christian contemporary music

published Saturday, February 18th, 2012



You may have heard of The Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, but are you aware of The White Dove Cafe in Collegedale?

The latter is an adult, coffeehouse-style, contemporary Christian music venue tucked into a room, the Connection Corner, at Collegedale Community Church.

It began in the spring of 2010 and is offered 7-9 p.m. on the third Friday of each month.

Tom Hayes, church life pastor of the congregation, said when he lived in Nashville he visited The Bluebird Cafe and appreciated how it allowed unknown and well-known songwriters to play their music.

"It's a sharing music space, especially for musicians who are not professional," he said of the Collegedale venue. "It's for songwriters who have a testimony, a poem, who want to share a song they've written."

Hayes said he and co-founder Jentry Tillman aren't looking for up-and-coming stars -- Kathy Mattea, Garth Brooks, Dierks Bentley, Kenny Chesney and Taylor Swift played The Birdbird before they were discovered -- but to allow songwriters to share and others to socialize, ask questions and enjoy themselves.

"It's very laid-back," he said. "We don't want it bigger. We want it intimate."

Hayes said the room is set up -- in round tables with candles -- for 35 to 40 people and has attracted an average of 20 to 35 per session.

The area has a public address system, he said, and is geared toward an acoustic piano or guitar.

Though most of the music is contemporary Christian, Hayes said, songwriters can share secular numbers.

"We're not holding them to [Christian]," he said. "It can be a mix but with an inspirational style."

Though the congregation is Seventh-day Adventist, Hayes said, songwriters and listeners do not have to be. And visitors are not given a denominational pitch or hounded with literature, he said.

"We're encouraging any musicians -- anybody who wants to come and share music," he said. "We do not want to make it intimidating. We encourage talk, [and] people can ask questions. It's a community sharing program."

Hayes said coffee, hot chocolate, cookies, pretzels and other light refreshments are available.

He said he had no specific long-range plans for The White Dove Cafe but hoped it would continue to offer an evening of Christian fellowship with a changing group of artists.

"We want to keep it fresh, keep it moving," Hayes said. "We'd love for everybody to come."

The next White Dove Cafe will be March 16.

Musicians interested in performing are asked to call the church office at 396-5464.

The church is at 4995 Swinyar Drive on the hill overlooking Collegedale City Hall.


Source

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In Michigan, GOP candidate Rick Santorum says religion needs greater role in public polic



Video: Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum criticized President Obama's apology for the burning of Korans in Afghanistan. (Feb. 26)

By Associated Press, Updated: Monday, February 27, 12:14 PM

LIVONIA, Mich. — Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum called Monday for a wider role for religion in public policy as he battled for conservative votes ahead of Tuesday’s Michigan primary.

Speaking to a suburban Detroit chamber of commerce, Santorum said the interpretation of the Constitution’s freedom of religion provision has been “turned on its head,” and offered his own.

“I’m for separation of church and state: The state has no business telling the church what do to,” the former Pennsylvania senator told about 300 local business leaders at the Livonia and Farmington chambers of commerce breakfast.

Santorum, locked in a tough fight for the key Midwestern battleground with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, is campaigning as the stricter conservative. He headlined a raucous rally in Flint Sunday evening where he also faulted the Democratic administration of President Barack Obama for marginalizing religion.

And while Santorum pressed his tax plan to spur manufacturing and economic growth Monday, he did not shy away during the business group breakfast from promoting a greater role for religion.

“Freedom to worship is not just what you do in the sanctuary, it’s how you practice your faith outside of the sanctuary,” Santorum said during the first of three public appearances across Michigan on the eve of the primary.

“All the reporters in the back will go, ‘Oh, there’s Santorum talking about social issues,’” he added. “No, I’m talking about freedom! This is an election about freedom.”

Santorum has emerged as the chief rival to Romney, who is well-financed and leads in the delegate count for the nomination but has struggled to ignite passion among conservatives.

He has benefited from the support of evangelical pastors and Christian home-school advocates, tightly-knit networks of conservative activists, who helped him in his win in Iowa’s leadoff caucuses and a three-state sweep of contests on Feb. 7.

Santorum’s comments come on the heels of his rebuke Sunday of John F. Kennedy’s 1960 speech about his Catholic faith. In the speech, Kennedy famously said: “I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute.”

Santorum said Sunday he “almost threw up” when he read Kennedy’s famous speech.

“I don’t believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute,” Santorum said during the interview with ABC News This Week. “The idea that the church can have no influence or no involvement in the operation of the state is absolutely antithetical to the objectives and vision of our country.”

Santorum questions separation of church and state

Republican presidential candidate defends criticism of JFK

By Shira Schoenberg |
GLOBE CORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY 27, 2012


JOE RAEDLE/GETTY IMAGES

Rick Santorum stood by comments he made last year when he said he was disturbed by President John F. Kennedy’s famous 1960 speech in which he declared that the separation of church and state should be absolute.


Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, who has made his conservative stance on religious and social issues one of the centerpieces of his Republican presidential campaign, questioned the idea of a complete separation of church and state yesterday.

Santorum stood by comments he made last year when he said he was disturbed by President John F. Kennedy’s famous 1960 speech in which he declared that the separation of church and state should be absolute.

“I don’t believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute,’’ Santorum said yesterday on ABC’s “This Week.’’ “The idea that the church should have no influence or no involvement in the operation of the state is absolutely antithetical of the objectives and vision of our country.’’

Santorum’s conservative social views have come under increasing scrutiny as he has soared in the polls nationally and come to challenge former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.

He has waded into battles about insurance coverage of contraception, federal support for education, and what he referred to as President Obama’s “theology’’ on the environment. Yesterday, Santorum was forced to defend his views on college education and on the separation of religion and politics.

His original comments on Kennedy’s speech came in a talk at the College of Saint Mary Magdalen in New Hampshire in October. “Earlier in my political career I had opportunity to read the speech, and I almost threw up,’’ Santorum said at the time.

Kennedy’s speech was intended to address skepticism over his own religion as a Catholic running for president. Kennedy called for an America “where no Catholic prelate would tell the president - should he be Catholic - how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote; where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference; and where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the president who might appoint him or the people who might elect him.’’

Santorum said he considered the speech as going beyond the First Amendment.

“That means bringing everybody, people of faith and no faith, into the public square,’’ he said. “Kennedy for the first time articulated a vision saying ‘no, faith is not allowed in the public square, I will keep it separate.’ ’’

Santorum said his point was how important it is for everybody - including those of faith - to feel welcome in politics. “What kind of country do we live in that says only people of nonfaith can come in the public square and make their case?’’ he said.

On NBC’s “Meet the Press,’’ Santorum said the major American movements that opposed slavery and supported civil rights were led by people of faith. “The idea we need to segregate faith is a dangerous idea,’’ he said.

Santorum also defended comments he made Saturday in Michigan, criticizing President Obama’s statements encouraging pursuit of a college education.

“President Obama wants everyone in America to go to college. What a snob,’’ he said.

On ABC, Santorum explained, “There are a lot of people in this country that have no desire, or no aspiration to go to college because they have a different set of skills, desires, and dreams that don’t include college.’’ Santorum said technical schools, apprenticeships, or vocational training could be more appropriate for some people than college.


Shira Schoenberg can be reached at sschoenberg@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @shiraschoenberg.

Satan’s Last Campaign


Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. 1 John 2:18.

The enemy is preparing for his last campaign against the church. He has so concealed himself from view that many can hardly believe that he exists, much less can they be convinced of his amazing activity and power....

Man is Satan’s captive and is naturally inclined to follow his suggestions and do his bidding. He has in himself no power to oppose effectual resistance to evil. It is only as Christ abides in him by living faith ... that man may venture to face so terrible a foe. Every other means of defense is utterly vain. It is only through Christ that Satan’s power is limited. This is a momentous truth that all should understand. Satan is busy every moment, going to and fro, walking up and down in the earth, seeking whom he may devour. But the earnest prayer of faith will baffle his strongest efforts....

Satan hopes to involve the remnant people of God in the general ruin that is coming upon the earth. As the coming of Christ draws nigh, he will be more determined and decisive in his efforts to overthrow them. Men and women will arise professing to have some new light or some new revelation whose tendency is to unsettle faith in the old landmarks. Their doctrines will not bear the test of God’s word, yet souls will be deceived. False reports will be circulated, and some will be taken in this snare.... We cannot be too watchful against every form of error, for Satan is constantly seeking to draw men from the truth....

Some men have no firmness of character. They are like a ball of putty and can be pressed into any conceivable shape.... This weakness, indecision, and inefficiency must be overcome. There is an indomitableness about true Christian character which cannot be molded or subdued by adverse circumstances. Men must have moral backbone, an integrity which cannot be flattered, bribed, or terrified....

God has set bounds that Satan cannot pass. Our most holy faith is this barrier; and if we build ourselves up in the faith, we shall be safe in the keeping of the Mighty One.

Maranatha, p.64.

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Global unrest = 6.8 magnitude earthquake in Siberia Russia




post with screenshots and video footage of the quake here:

http://sincedutch.wordpress.com/2012/02/26/2262012-6-8-magnitude-earthquake-i...

The movement continues to increase --- swarms of 5.0M+ earthquake, plus swarms occurring in Hawaii, Vanuatu, and Puerto Rico.

South Americas coast is literally cluttered with 4.0 and 5.0M earthquakes spanning the entire continent (in the past 24 hours)... also the west pacific ... new zealand north to vanuatu.. west through indonesia.. north through the philippines ... terminating in tawian with the 5.9M just a few hours ago (2/25/2012).

Be aware of the threat to the west coast USA --- last weeks 6.0 and 5.6M.. also the 4.0M+ earthquakes along the edge of the north american craton (new madrid seismic zone) and northeast in Quebec / Ontario canada.

The whole earth is in a obvious state of "unrest" , earthquake prone areas should be on alert.. and NON earthquake prone areas should be aware of the potential threat.


links for you to monitor the earthquake uptick are below:


monitor earthquakes on a global basis:

http://sincedutch.wordpress.com/2011/11/30/11302011-list-of-earthquake-links-...

Link to DOZENS of Volcano webcams:

http://sincedutch.wordpress.com/2012/01/02/112012-all-the-volcano-webcams-of-...


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