Saturday, April 28, 2012

Introduction to Punta Cana




Photo (Courtesy) http://www.turquoise-to.fr/iles/hebergement.php?url=punta-cana-hotel-paradisius


On the easternmost tip of the island, 211km (131 miles) east of Santo Domingo, is Punta Cana, the site of major vacation developments, including the Barceló and Meliá properties, with more scheduled to arrive in the future. Known for its 32km (20 miles) of white-sand beaches and clear waters, Punta Cana and Bávaro are an escapist's retreat. Set against a backdrop of swaying palm trees, these beaches are unrivaled in the Caribbean. Within some of the most arid landscapes in the Caribbean -- it rarely rains during daylight hours -- Punta Cana and Bávaro have been recognized throughout Europe (especially Spain) and the Americas for their climate.

Both Punta Cana and Bávaro, two resort areas at either end of a long curve of beach lined with coconut palms, are virtually towns within themselves. The beach is so mammoth there is rarely overcrowding, even with masses of visitors every month of the year. Bávaro and Punta Cana combine to form what is nicknamed La Costa del Coco, or the Coconut Coast, land of the all-inclusive resorts. Don't expect a town or city. From Punta Cana in the south all the way to Playa del Macao in the north, there's only one small community, El Cortecito. Everything else is all-inclusives and beaches.

Capitalizing on cheap land and the virtually insatiable desire of Americans, Canadians, and continentals for sunny holidays during the depths of winter, European hotel chains participated in something akin to a land rush, acquiring large tracts of sugar-cane plantations and pastureland. Today their mega-hotels attract a clientele that's about 70% European or Latin American. Most of the other clients are Canadians and Americans. The hotel designs here range from the not particularly inspired to low-rise mega-complexes designed by the most prominent Spanish architects.

Some of them, particularly the Barceló Bávaro complex , boast some of the most lavish beach and pool facilities in the Caribbean, spectacular gardens, and avant-garde concepts in architecture (focusing on postmodern interplays between indoor and outdoor spaces).

The mailing addresses for most hotels is defined as the dusty and distinctly unmemorable town of Higüey.

If you choose to vacation in Punta Cana, you won't be alone, as increasing numbers of Latino celebrities are already making inroads there, usually renting private villas within private compounds. Julio Iglesias has been a fixture here for a while. And one of the most widely publicized feuds in the Dominican Republic swirled a few years ago around the owners of Casa de Campo and celebrity designer Oscar de la Renta, who abandoned his familiar haunts there for palm-studded new digs at Punta Cana.

Above all, don't expect a particularly North American vacation. The Europeans were here first, and many of them still have a sense of possessiveness about their secret hideaway. For the most part, the ambience is Europe in the Tropics, as seen through a Dominican filter. You'll find, for example, more formal dress codes, greater interest in soccer matches than in the big football game, and red wine rather than scotch and soda at dinner. Hotels are aware of the cultural differences between their North American and European guests, and sometimes strain to soften the differences that arise between them.





Adventist president explores clash between secularism and religious belief

Apr. 26, 2012 Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
Bettina Krause

Seventh-day Adventist world church President Ted N. C. Wilson today challenged believers to grasp the opportunities for open discourse that a secular state preserves.

His comments came during a keynote address to the 7th World Congress for Religious Freedom. The gathering has drawn hundreds of religious liberty advocates, government officials, scholars and legal experts to the Dominican Republic this week to examine the influence of secularism on religious expression.



Adventist world church President Ted N. C. Wilson addresses the audience at the 7th World Congress for Religious Freedom on April 26. Tensions between the "values of believers" and secular culture are an inevitable part of a free society, he said. [photos: Ansel Oliver]

Although acknowledging the inevitable conflict between the values of believers and that of secular culture, Wilson said, “We have to accept this tension as part of a free society. We have to accept the challenges and find appropriate responses, through God’s leading.”

Wilson drew a distinction between “radical” or “extreme” secularism—which seeks to exclude religion from the public sphere—and “secular governance,” which remains neutral toward religions and protects the religious freedom rights of minorities.

“If intolerant and ideological secularism attacks our religious values, we have to stand up for them with conviction,” he said. Wilson cited examples of where secularism has been taken too far, including attempts to prohibit Muslim girls from wearing headscarves to public school, or to mandate the provision of abortions by institutions that reject the practice as a matter of conscience.

“It’s taken too far when the mention of creation of the world is totally forbidden in the public schools or when Christian agencies for adoption of children are threatened to lose their legal recognition, if they refuse to list as potential parents same sex couples,” he said.

However, Wilson also said that people of faith should reject the temptation to see a “religious state” as an acceptable alternative to secular governance. “If the state gives one religion a privileged legal position, no equality is possible and life becomes a nightmare for those who are different,” he said.


Nigel Coke is an International Religious Liberty Association leader in Jamaica. He is one of nearly 900 delegates at the IRLA 7th World Congress in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic this week.

“Which type of society is it that condemns to death someone for apostasy because they have changed religions?” he asked. “Is that a secularized or religious society?”

Wilson said that Adventism’s strong heritage of religious freedom activism and its support for state neutrality between religions has firm biblical foundations, and that Adventists “feel very close to believers who have stood for religious freedom during thousands of years of restrictions and persecution.”

He said his life-long passion for promoting religious liberty has its roots in memories of his father, Neal Wilson—a former world church leader—who often spent hours with government officials explaining the value of freedom of conscience.

“We need to instill in young people the love for preserving religious liberty and freedom of conscience,” said Wilson. “Let us encourage them to join in this vitally important pursuit of freedom of conscience for all.”

Source: © 2012, Adventist News Network.


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Religious Freedom, Religious Liberty

Dialogue Seminar on Religious Freedom
30 March 2012

http://www.flickr.com//photos/comece/sets/72157629360666684/show/

The EU should more clearly monitor violations of Freedom of Religion both within the EU and throughout the world. This was the main request put forward by the Church and Society Commission of CEC and COMECE to the European Commission and the European External Action Service on the occasion of the Dialogue Seminar held in Brussels on 30 March. Read more


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Apr. 20, 2012
Hundreds of religious liberty advocates, government officials and legal experts will meet in the Dominican Republic next week. They’re gearing up for the largest religious freedom conference on record. John Graz has this preview.

Read more

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Thursday, April 26, 2012

Indonesia bans American beef over mad cow scare


April 27, 2012

Indonesia imports 20 per cent of its beef from the United States.
Indonesia imports 20 per cent of its beef from the United States. Photo: Louie Douvis


INDONESIA has stopped imports of US beef, following a case of mad cow disease that was detected in California.

The country has broken ranks with other importers, providing a potential windfall for Australian beef producers.

Indonesian Agriculture Minister Suswono said yesterday the government had no time frame, but said the suspension applied to all beef shipped after April 24. This week the first US case of mad cow disease was detected in California.

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American officials said the case was ''atypical'' and not related to feed, which calmed fears of a widespread outbreak.

America's four biggest beef trading partners, Canada, Mexico, Japan and South Korea, have not stopped imports. Australia imports no beef from the US.

But two major South Korean retailers have pulled American beef from their shelves.

Indonesia imports 20 per cent of its beef from the United States.

Australia and New Zealand make up about 40 per cent of the country's beef imports, according to Indonesian Meat Importers Association figures.

The Australian export industry, worth more than $4 billion, predicted on Wednesday that it could benefit from any ban on United States imports, with Australia ready to pick up any slack, including that in Indonesia.

David Farley, the chief executive of the Australian Agricultural Co, the nation's largest cattle company, said that when the world's largest exporter was under pressure, competitors would benefit. ''In a relatively tight world market, any market opportunity there is bodes well for Australia,'' Mr Farley said.

But Meat and Livestock Australia's chief economist, Tim McRae, said it was still too early to see any changes in trade.

And he warned that Australia's ability to pick up an Indonesian import deficit would be tempered because the nation had reduced its quota on boxed beef imports.

The United States is Australia's second-biggest beef export market behind Japan, and Mr McRae also warned that a mad cow scare could have a negative impact the consumer demand for beef.

Mad cow disease can kill humans who consume infected beef, but it is not transmitted through milk.



Source: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/business/indonesia-bans-american-beef-over-mad-cow-scare-20120426-1xnwg.html#ixzz1tCfIHhDP
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Wednesday, April 25, 2012

China Ramps Up Auto Exports


Updated April 24, 2012, 7:50 p.m. ET



More Car Makers Look Abroad for Sales as Domestic Capacity Begins to Outrun Demand

By CHESTER DAWSON And SHARON TERLEP



While foreign brands are betting on long-term growth in China, some domestic brands are considering exporting to boost demand. The WSJ's Deborah Kan speaks to reporter Sharon Terlep, who's at the Beijing Auto Show.

BEIJING—China's auto factories are stepping up still-tiny exports as domestic growth slows, raising the stakes in global auto markets by heightening competition with local and foreign brands.

Chinese-made vehicles now being shipped abroad aren't yet a threat to developed markets in the U.S. and Europe, where Made in China cars would face stiff consumer scrutiny. But the low-cost cars are making inroads in fast-growing emerging markets such as Africa, Asia and Latin America.


CEXPORT
Bloomberg News
Chinese auto maker Geely nearly doubled its exports from China last year. Above, a worker at a Geely factory in Zhejiang province last month.

The move overseas has been led by domestic auto makers, which increasingly have Beijing's blessing to tap export markets. Zhejiang Geely Holdings Group Co. almost doubled its exports of sedans to 39,600 vehicles last year over 2010, accounting for 9% of its sales volume. Chery Automobile Co. and Great Wall Motors also are ramping up their exports.

Beijing Auto Show

[SB10001424052702303592404577360901691071854]
Nelson Ching/Bloomberg News

Chinese exports of cars and trucks reached 849,500 vehicles last year, up 50% from 2010, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. Such exports are expected to grow at a similar annual pace over the next few years. Most of the export vehicles are priced well below $15,000, with some selling for as low as $6,000.

The drive for exports comes amid concern that China may face a production glut at home. Foreign auto makers and their joint venture partners are racing to add capacity in anticipation the market will grow to at least 30 million by decade's end, up from 18.5 million last year.

Chinese plants ran at 81% capacity last year, down from 88% a year earlier, and that trend is expected to continue, Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas said in a research note.

This year, the growth of China's auto market is expected to stay in the single digits like last year after a decade of double digit gains, even as expansions in production capacity have been announced recently, including by General Motors Co., GM -0.26% Volkswagen AG, VOW.XE +2.13% Ford Motor Co. F +0.35% and Japan's three largest brands.

Toyota Motor Corp.'s TM +1.64% has "no plans" to export cars from China, said Dong Changzheng, executive vice president of Toyota Motor (China) Investment. But he said the government on Friday encouraged industry officials to consider exports at a conference sponsored by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

CEXPORT
ImagineChina
Honda recently began exporting Chinese-made Fits to Canada. Above, the subcompact at an auto show in Beijing in 2010.

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Honda Faces Long Road Back in China


Industry analysts said any capacity glut is likely to be felt most by Chinese brands, which only have about 30% of the country's market. Dogged by a reputation for low quality and poor customer service, China's auto makers increasingly have had to compete on price.

"The profitability on exports is better than for selling cars in the domestic market. So recently we've seen exports from China growing very quickly," said Boni Sa, a Shanghai-based manager for light vehicle forecasts at IHS Automotive.

Most developed markets aren't interested in the low-cost cars that Chinese companies offer. Many forgo creature comforts like air conditioning and power windows.

"The type of lower quality car that comes from China just isn't viable for North America or Europe unless it is a specialty vehicle filling a niche," said Rudy Schlais, a former senior GM executive who runs Shanghai consultancy ASL Automobile Science and Technology.

One example of a niche export is Honda Motor Co.'s 7267.TO -0.03% Fit subcompact, which is being exported to Canada from a plant in Southern China that has exported the car to Europe for five years.

But Mr. Schlais notes Chinese passenger cars are easing into markets in Africa and Asia pioneered by the country's heavy truck makers. Buoyed by cheap labor and vast scale economies Chinese brands are quickly taking root in the world's fastest-growing countries.

China's Geely plans to sell one million cars overseas annually, about half of its total sales goal, by 2015. Its top car-export markets included the Ukraine, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Chile and Sri Lanka.

The new competitors have become so successful that even some foreign auto makers recently pushed the Brazilian government to curb Chinese makers' entry into that country's market.

The heightened South American competition prompted GM this month to tap Chinese partner, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp., to export some Chinese-made SAIC models to South America.

In China, foreign makers also are moving downscale, increasing competition for low-margin, entry-level cars that Chinese manufacturers dominate. In large part, that is because Beijing is pushing them to launch local brands with their joint venture partners to speed the transfer of technology.

Some foreign brands in China also are headed overseas to compete with Chinese and others' vehicles. GM, which makes cars in China under a local joint venture, more than tripled exports from China last year, to 48,000 vehicles.

Many of those vehicles landed in South America, where GM sells Chinese-made mini commercial vans and its Chevrolet Sail compact car in countries such as Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. It also exports some vehicles to Egypt and Libya.

"Where there is a gap and we have a product that adequately fits that need, we will export it," said Kevin Wale, GM's China chief.

GM in 2010 launched the low-budget brand Baojun with its China partner, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. and Nissan Motor Co. 7201.TO +1.08% set up its Venucia brand with partner Dongfeng Motor Group 0489.HK +0.94% in 2010.

On Monday, Ford Motor's Asia chief Joe Hinrichs said it is looking to bring a model to China that is smaller than its subcompact Fiesta model. He also said Ford is studying whether to launch a local brand with its partner, Chongqing Changan Automobile 000625.SZ -0.62% Co

The Chinese government is also showing signs of being more flexible when it comes to exports, especially to natural resource rich emerging economies where China runs trade deficits.

Ford is taking a different approach to dealing with competition from Chinese makers in Latin America. Mr. Hinrichs said it is driving down costs by using shared parts.

China's low cost advantage is lost once the cost of logistics, tariffs and other expenses are factored in. "It still makes sense to build the vehicles where we sell them," he said.

Write to Chester Dawson at chester.dawson@wsj.com and Sharon Terlep at sharon.terlep@wsj.com

A version of this article appeared April 25, 2012, on page B6 in some U.S. editions of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: China Ramps Up Car Exports.


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Secret Service needs more women in its ranks




By Joe Davidson, Published: April 24


Maybe the Secret Service has too much testosterone.

Would more female agents have made the sex scandal involving special agents and Colombian prostitutes less likely?

No one can answer that with any certainty, but the scandal does raise the issue of gender diversity among those who are willing to die for the president. There is very little diversity among them — about 90 percent of Secret Service agents are men.

The probability of the scandal happening “would have been reduced significantly” if there were more women on the Cartagena detail, said Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.).

Greater gender diversity can set a different tone in “recreational liberties,” said Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex.)

Ironically, the first agent to investigate the scandal was a woman. Paula Reid, the special agent in charge of the Miami office who was in Cartagena at the time, ordered the offending personnel home.

Maloney cited a former agent quoted in Sunday’s Washington Post who said: “If every boss was Paula Reid, the Secret Service would never have a problem. It would be a lot more boring, but never a problem.”

Barbara Riggs was the agency’s highest-ranking female, deputy director, until her retirement in 2006 after 31 years of service. She said there’s no way to know whether more women in Cartagena would have made a difference, adding the question “does a disservice to men who serve honorably.”

When she joined the agency, women carrying guns was still a novel idea. The first woman in what is now the agency’s Uniformed Division was hired in 1970. The first five female special agents were sworn in the next year.

Of course, women also can act like “knuckleheads” — President Obama’s word. But there aren’t many of them to act good, bad or in any other way as agents in a force that still looks like a fraternity, a brotherhood, a good ol’ boys club.

It’s a status the agency says it wants to shake.

Diversity “is a continued agency priority that is critical to our success,” says its Web site, which also promotes “a comprehensive, proactive, model Equal Opportunity Program that is integrated into the agency’s mission.”

The agency runs the expected recruitment and diversity routes, but it doesn’t have many women to show for it.

Edwin M. Donovan, a special agent and spokesman for the agency, said its recruitment division targets pools of candidates in an effort to better diversify its workforce. Agency officials have engaged an outside recruitment service to find female applicants, and recruiters visit women’s colleges and participate in dozens of career fairs that focus on women.

Of those employed, seven of 45 special agents in charge of field offices are women, as are four deputy assistant directors out of 20. The chief of staff is a woman. About 25 percent of the whole workforce is female.

Those stats aren’t good, but at least they are a little better than the 11 percent women that Donovan said is the case with special agents.

So why is its record so bad?

Riggs cites the tremendous toll the job takes on personal lives.

“Being a special agent in the Secret Service, it’s not just a job, it’s not just a career,” she said. “It’s a lifestyle.”

The protection mission separates it even from other high-stress law-enforcement gigs.

“That requires people to be away from home for a significant amount of time,” she added. “There are some people who don’t want to make that commitment.” Particularly for women who are primary caregivers, “that’s a difficult position to be in.”

The 11 percent is a difficult position for the agency to be in.

“That doesn’t reflect America, and once you look at the overlay of race. . . . The Secret Service still has some work to do,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.).

He recalled a visit to the agency training facility in Laurel where “there was not a single African American in the class, maybe two Hispanics and a few women. . . . It was so shocking . . . virtually devoid of diversity, whether it was gender or race.”

Black agents filed a racial bias lawsuit against the agency in 2000. It’s still active litigation.

Riggs said the percentage of female agents steadily increased when she was on the job. But then, “it hit that 11 or 12 percent and just plateaued.”

That plateau is not a great place to be.

“They need to be aggressive in their outreach,” Jackson Lee said. “They need to do more.”


Previous columns by Joe Davidson are available at wapo.st/JoeDavidson. Follow the Federal Diary on Twitter: @JoeDavidsonWP


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Congresswoman calls Secret Service scandal an “international incident”



msnbc.com - 6 days ago MSNBC's Thomas Roberts speaks with Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee about impact of the photos of US troops posing with suicide bombers, and the international ...

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The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him,..



Psalm 25

 1Unto thee, O LORD, do I lift up my soul.

 2O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me.

 3Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.

 4Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths.

 5Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.

 6Remember, O LORD, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses; for they have been ever of old.

 7Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness' sake, O LORD.

 8Good and upright is the LORD: therefore will he teach sinners in the way.

 9The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.

 10All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.

 11For thy name's sake, O LORD, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great.

 12What man is he that feareth the LORD? him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose.

 13His soul shall dwell at ease; and his seed shall inherit the earth.

 14The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.

 15Mine eyes are ever toward the LORD; for he shall pluck my feet out of the net.

 16Turn thee unto me, and have mercy upon me; for I am desolate and afflicted.

 17The troubles of my heart are enlarged: O bring thou me out of my distresses.

 18Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins.

 19Consider mine enemies; for they are many; and they hate me with cruel hatred.

 20O keep my soul, and deliver me: let me not be ashamed; for I put my trust in thee.

 21Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee.

 22Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles.


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Monday, April 23, 2012

1 in 2 new graduates are jobless or underemployed


In this photo taken Thursday, April 19, 2012, barista Michael Bledsoe smiles as he chats with a visitor in the coffee shop where he works in Seattle. The college class of 2012 is in for a rude welcome to the world of work. A weak labor market already has left half of young college grads either jobless or underemployed in positions that don't fully use their skills and knowledge. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)


By HOPE YEN, Associated Press – 1 hour ago  
WASHINGTON (AP) — The college class of 2012 is in for a rude welcome to the world of work.
A weak labor market already has left half of young college graduates either jobless or underemployed in positions that don't fully use their skills and knowledge.
Young adults with bachelor's degrees are increasingly scraping by in lower-wage jobs — waiter or waitress, bartender, retail clerk or receptionist, for example — and that's confounding their hopes a degree would pay off despite higher tuition and mounting student loans.
An analysis of government data conducted for The Associated Press lays bare the highly uneven prospects for holders of bachelor's degrees.
Opportunities for college graduates vary widely.
While there's strong demand in science, education and health fields, arts and humanities flounder. Median wages for those with bachelor's degrees are down from 2000, hit by technological changes that are eliminating midlevel jobs such as bank tellers. Most future job openings are projected to be in lower-skilled positions such as home health aides, who can provide personalized attention as the U.S. population ages.
Taking underemployment into consideration, the job prospects for bachelor's degree holders fell last year to the lowest level in more than a decade.
"I don't even know what I'm looking for," says Michael Bledsoe, who described months of fruitless job searches as he served customers at a Seattle coffeehouse. The 23-year-old graduated in 2010 with a creative writing degree.
Initially hopeful that his college education would create opportunities, Bledsoe languished for three months before finally taking a job as a barista, a position he has held for the last two years. In the beginning he sent three or four resumes day. But, Bledsoe said, employers questioned his lack of experience or the practical worth of his major. Now he sends a resume once every two weeks or so.
Bledsoe, currently making just above minimum wage, says he got financial help from his parents to help pay off student loans. He is now mulling whether to go to graduate school, seeing few other options to advance his career. "There is not much out there, it seems," he said.
His situation highlights a widening but little-discussed labor problem. Perhaps more than ever, the choices that young adults make earlier in life — level of schooling, academic field and training, where to attend college, how to pay for it — are having long-lasting financial impact.
"You can make more money on average if you go to college, but it's not true for everybody," says Harvard economist Richard Freeman, noting the growing risk of a debt bubble with total U.S. student loan debt surpassing $1 trillion. "If you're not sure what you're going to be doing, it probably bodes well to take some job, if you can get one, and get a sense first of what you want from college."
Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University who analyzed the numbers, said many people with a bachelor's degree face a double whammy of rising tuition and poor job outcomes. "Simply put, we're failing kids coming out of college," he said, emphasizing that when it comes to jobs, a college major can make all the difference. "We're going to need a lot better job growth and connections to the labor market, otherwise college debt will grow."
By region, the Mountain West was most likely to have young college graduates jobless or underemployed — roughly 3 in 5. It was followed by the more rural southeastern U.S., including Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee. The Pacific region, including Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington, also was high on the list.
On the other end of the scale, the southern U.S., anchored by Texas, was most likely to have young college graduates in higher-skill jobs.
The figures are based on an analysis of 2011 Current Population Survey data by Northeastern University researchers and supplemented with material from Paul Harrington, an economist at Drexel University, and the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington think tank. They rely on Labor Department assessments of the level of education required to do the job in 900-plus U.S. occupations, which were used to calculate the shares of young adults with bachelor's degrees who were "underemployed."
About 1.5 million, or 53.6 percent, of bachelor's degree-holders under the age of 25 last year were jobless or underemployed, the highest share in at least 11 years. In 2000, the share was at a low of 41 percent, before the dot-com bust erased job gains for college graduates in the telecommunications and IT fields.
Out of the 1.5 million who languished in the job market, about half were underemployed, an increase from the previous year.
Broken down by occupation, young college graduates were heavily represented in jobs that require a high school diploma or less.
In the last year, they were more likely to be employed as waiters, waitresses, bartenders and food-service helpers than as engineers, physicists, chemists and mathematicians combined (100,000 versus 90,000). There were more working in office-related jobs such as receptionist or payroll clerk than in all computer professional jobs (163,000 versus 100,000). More also were employed as cashiers, retail clerks and customer representatives than engineers (125,000 versus 80,000).
According to government projections released last month, only three of the 30 occupations with the largest projected number of job openings by 2020 will require a bachelor's degree or higher to fill the position — teachers, college professors and accountants. Most job openings are in professions such as retail sales, fast food and truck driving, jobs which aren't easily replaced by computers.
College graduates who majored in zoology, anthropology, philosophy, art history and humanities were among the least likely to find jobs appropriate to their education level; those with nursing, teaching, accounting or computer science degrees were among the most likely.
In Nevada, where unemployment is the highest in the nation, Class of 2012 college seniors recently expressed feelings ranging from anxiety and fear to cautious optimism about what lies ahead.
With the state's economy languishing in an extended housing bust, a lot of young graduates have shown up at job placement centers in tears. Many have been squeezed out of jobs by more experienced workers, job counselors said, and are now having to explain to prospective employers the time gaps in their resumes.
"It's kind of scary," said Cameron Bawden, 22, who is graduating from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas in December with a business degree. His family has warned him for years about the job market, so he has been building his resume by working part time on the Las Vegas Strip as a food runner and doing a marketing internship with a local airline.
Bawden said his friends who have graduated are either unemployed or working along the Vegas Strip in service jobs that don't require degrees. "There are so few jobs and it's a small city," he said. "It's all about who you know."
Any job gains are going mostly to workers at the top and bottom of the wage scale, at the expense of middle-income jobs commonly held by bachelor's degree holders. By some studies, up to 95 percent of positions lost during the economic recovery occurred in middle-income occupations such as bank tellers, the type of job not expected to return in a more high-tech age.
David Neumark, an economist at the University of California-Irvine, said a bachelor's degree can have benefits that aren't fully reflected in the government's labor data. He said even for lower-skilled jobs such as waitress or cashier, employers tend to value bachelor's degree-holders more highly than high-school graduates, paying them more for the same work and offering promotions.
In addition, U.S. workers increasingly may need to consider their position in a global economy, where they must compete with educated foreign-born residents for jobs. Longer-term government projections also may fail to consider "degree inflation," a growing ubiquity of bachelor's degrees that could make them more commonplace in lower-wage jobs but inadequate for higher-wage ones.
That future may be now for Kelman Edwards Jr., 24, of Murfreesboro, Tenn., who is waiting to see the returns on his college education.
After earning a biology degree last May, the only job he could find was as a construction worker for five months before he quit to focus on finding a job in his academic field. He applied for positions in laboratories but was told they were looking for people with specialized certifications.
"I thought that me having a biology degree was a gold ticket for me getting into places, but every other job wants you to have previous history in the field," he said. Edwards, who has about $5,500 in student debt, recently met with a career counselor at Middle Tennessee State University. The counselor's main advice: Pursue further education.
"Everyone is always telling you, 'Go to college,'" Edwards said. "But when you graduate, it's kind of an empty cliff."
Associated Press writers Manuel Valdes in Seattle; Travis Loller in Nashville, Tenn.; Cristina Silva in Las Vegas; and Sandra Chereb in Carson City, Nev., contributed to this report.



Sunday, April 22, 2012

Obama Asks Donors for A $75,800 Contribution



By LAUREN FOX
April 20, 2012 RSS



The Obama campaign may constantly paint presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney as the corporate fat cat candidate, but a new fundraising invitation from the president may even break the biggest wallets on Wall Street.

For $75,800, donors can attend the Obama-backed 18th Annual National Women's Issues Conference in Washington. The price tag earns a donor the title of "chairman," special seating, a photo op and special recognition at the conference. [See pictures of Obama's re-election campaign.]

The Sunlight Foundation, which tracks campaign fundraisers, reports it is the highest contribution request it has ever seen.

It would actually be a violation of FEC rules to hand over all that dough over to the Obama campaign, so here's how the president's fundraising staff is breaking it down: Obama for America, the fund going directly to the president, will get $5,000 of the donation. Then, the Democratic National Committee will get significant $30,800 chunk. Finally, the campaign will donate varying amounts to Democratic parties in swing states like Ohio, Virginia, Colorado, Iowa and North Carolina.

However, if $75,000 is too rich for your blood, for just $3, you could win a free trip to Los Angeles to eat dinner with the president and George Clooney at the movie star's house. [Learn What's Next for Ron Paul]

While the title of "chairman" may impress some, dinner with George Clooney sounds like it will be a lot more fun.


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How the US uses sexual humiliation as a political tool to control the masses


Believe me, you don't want the state having the power to strip your clothes off. And yet, it's exactly what is happening

 Naomi Wolf

guardian.co.uk, Thursday 5 April 2012 10.50 EDT

Bagram airbase
Bagram airbase was used by the US to detain its 'high-value' targets during the 'war on terror' and is still Afghanistan's main military prison. Photograph: Dar Yasin/AP


The discussion continues today at 12pm ET (5pm UK time) when Naomi Wolf takes your questions about her column. Join us for an hour long live chat about the supreme court, strip searches and sexual humiliation.

In a five-four ruling this week, the supreme court decided that anyone can be strip-searched upon arrest for any offense, however minor, at any time. This horror show ruling joins two recent horror show laws: the NDAA, which lets anyone be arrested forever at any time, and HR 347, the "trespass bill", which gives you a 10-year sentence for protesting anywhere near someone with secret service protection. These criminalizations of being human follow, of course, the mini-uprising of the Occupy movement.

Is American strip-searching benign? The man who had brought the initial suit, Albert Florence, described having been told to "turn around. Squat and cough. Spread your cheeks." He said he felt humiliated: "It made me feel like less of a man."

In surreal reasoning, justice Anthony Kennedy explained that this ruling is necessary because the 9/11 bomber could have been stopped for speeding. How would strip searching him have prevented the attack? Did justice Kennedy imagine that plans to blow up the twin towers had been concealed in a body cavity? In still more bizarre non-logic, his and the other justices' decision rests on concerns about weapons and contraband in prison systems. But people under arrest – that is, who are not yet convicted – haven't been introduced into a prison population.

Our surveillance state shown considerable determination to intrude on citizens sexually. There's the sexual abuse of prisoners at Bagram – der Spiegel reports that "former inmates report incidents of … various forms of sexual humiliation. In some cases, an interrogator would place his penis along the face of the detainee while he was being questioned. Other inmates were raped with sticks or threatened with anal sex". There was the stripping of Bradley Manning is solitary confinement. And there's the policy set up after the story of the "underwear bomber" to grope US travelers genitally or else force them to go through a machine – made by a company, Rapiscan, owned by terror profiteer and former DHA czar Michael Chertoff – with images so vivid that it has been called the "pornoscanner".

Believe me: you don't want the state having the power to strip your clothes off. History shows that the use of forced nudity by a state that is descending into fascism is powerfully effective in controlling and subduing populations.

The political use of forced nudity by anti-democratic regimes is long established. Forcing people to undress is the first step in breaking down their sense of individuality and dignity and reinforcing their powerlessness. Enslaved women were sold naked on the blocks in the American south, and adolescent male slaves served young white ladies at table in the south, while they themselves were naked: their invisible humiliation was a trope for their emasculation. Jewish prisoners herded into concentration camps were stripped of clothing and photographed naked, as iconic images of that Holocaust reiterated.

One of the most terrifying moments for me when I visited Guantanamo prison in 2009 was seeing the way the architecture of the building positioned glass-fronted shower cubicles facing intentionally right into the central atrium – where young female guards stood watch over the forced nakedness of Muslim prisoners, who had no way to conceal themselves. Laws and rulings such as this are clearly designed to bring the conditions of Guantanamo, and abusive detention, home.

I have watched male police and TSA members standing by side by side salaciously observing women as they have been "patted down" in airports. I have experienced the weirdly phrased, sexually perverse intrusiveness of the state during an airport "pat-down", which is always phrased in the words of a steamy paperback ("do you have any sensitive areas? … I will use the back of my hands under your breasts …"). One of my Facebook commentators suggested, I think plausibly, that more women are about to be found liable for arrest for petty reasons (scarily enough, the TSA is advertising for more female officers).

I interviewed the equivalent of TSA workers in Britain and found that the genital groping that is obligatory in the US is illegal in Britain. I believe that the genital groping policy in America, too, is designed to psychologically habituate US citizens to a condition in which they are demeaned and sexually intruded upon by the state – at any moment.

The most terrifying phrase of all in the decision is justice Kennedy's striking use of the term "detainees" for "United States citizens under arrest". Some members of Occupy who were arrested in Los Angeles also reported having been referred to by police as such. Justice Kennedy's new use of what looks like a deliberate activation of that phrase is illuminating.

Ten years of association have given "detainee" the synonymous meaning in America as those to whom no rights apply – especially in prison. It has been long in use in America, habituating us to link it with a condition in which random Muslims far away may be stripped by the American state of any rights. Now the term – with its associations of "those to whom anything may be done" – is being deployed systematically in the direction of … any old American citizen.

Where are we headed? Why? These recent laws criminalizing protest, and giving local police – who, recall, are now infused with DHS money, military hardware and personnel – powers to terrify and traumatise people who have not gone through due process or trial, are being set up to work in concert with a see-all-all-the-time surveillance state. A facility is being set up in Utah by the NSA to monitor everything all the time: James Bamford wrote in Wired magazine that the new facility in Bluffdale, Utah, is being built, where the NSA will look at billions of emails, texts and phone calls. Similar legislation is being pushed forward in the UK.

With that Big Brother eye in place, working alongside these strip-search laws, – between the all-seeing data-mining technology and the terrifying police powers to sexually abuse and humiliate you at will – no one will need a formal coup to have a cowed and compliant citizenry. If you say anything controversial online or on the phone, will you face arrest and sexual humiliation?

Remember, you don't need to have done anything wrong to be arrested in America any longer. You can be arrested for walking your dog without a leash. The man who was forced to spread his buttocks was stopped for a driving infraction. I was told by an NYPD sergeant that "safety" issues allow the NYPD to make arrests at will. So nothing prevents thousands of Occupy protesters – if there will be any left after these laws start to bite – from being rounded up and stripped naked under intimidating conditions.

Why is this happening? I used to think the push was just led by those who profited from endless war and surveillance – but now I see the struggle as larger. As one internet advocate said to me: "There is a race against time: they realise the internet is a tool of empowerment that will work against their interests, and they need to race to turn it into a tool of control."

As Chris Hedges wrote in his riveting account of the NDAA: "There are now 1,271 government agencies and 1,931 private companies that work on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in about 10,000 locations across the United States, the Washington Post reported in a 2010 series by Dana Priest and William M Arken. There are 854,000 people with top-secret security clearances, the reporters wrote, and in Washington, DC, and the surrounding area 33 building complexes for top-secret intelligence work are under construction or have been built since September 2011."

This enormous new sector of the economy has a multi-billion-dollar vested interest in setting up a system to surveil, physically intimidate and prey upon the rest of American society.

Now they can do so by threatening to demean you sexually – a potent tool in the hands of any bully.




Join Pastor John Bradshaw for ‘Le Grand Espoir' Live from Paris This May


Posted on Apr 16, 2012
Interest in prophecy has recently captured the attention of the world, and many people are wondering if the 2012 end of the Mayan calendar predicts the destruction of the planet. Others see political and economic upheaval as a sign of the end.

In the midst of all this confusion, people are turning to the Bible for answers. From May 1-12, live from Paris, Pastor John Bradshaw of It Is Written International Television will be hosting a series called Le Grand Espoir. These meetings will be streamed worldwide via the Internet at www.legrandespoir.fr, and will be added to www.vimeo.com after each program.

Over the course of this free multimedia series, Pastor Bradshaw will open the Bible to explore the book of Revelation. In a world where many people are terrified of what the future holds, Pastor Bradshaw has found that Revelation actually contains a message of peace and hope for the future. He also believes that the Bible itself holds the keys to revealing the signs of Revelation, and that by studying other parts of this holy Book, one can find answers to what will happen in the final days of Earth's history. The first three topics will be:“Our Day in Bible Prophecy” – May 1

The prophecies of the Bible demonstrate that we are living in the time of the fulfillment of these prophecies. Discover the details! Continuing topics will include: "Unfolding the Revelation," "Peace at Last," "Revelation's Eternal Sign," "The Time of the End," "The Mystery of Death," "Revelation's Lake of Fire," "Buried and Forgotten by God" and "Le Grand Espoir." The meetings will take place May 1-12 from 7:30 – 8:45 p.m. Paris time. Visitwww.legrandespoir.fr for more information about the local and worldwide event, and click "Voir le Live" to watch the meetings as they happen.

"The book of Revelation is possibly the most misunderstood and confusing book in the Bible, when in fact it is the revelation of Jesus Christ,” said Pastor Bradshaw. "During this series, Bible subjects typically shrouded in confusion will be made clear as we learn how the messages in this book apply to our lives today. We hope you will join us for this relevant event!"


Source


Saturday, April 21, 2012

I wonder what they are up to?



A visitor from Littleton, Coloradoviewed "EndrTimes: Hollywood's Satanic Agenda" 12 mins ago
A visitor fromWashington, District of Columbiaviewed "EndrTimes: IMF's Lagarde: Global Economy Sees 'Dark Clouds on the Horizon'" 15 mins ago
A visitor fromWashington, District of Columbiaviewed "EndrTimes: Pilgrimage to the crosses" 15 mins ago
A visitor fromWashington, District of Columbiaviewed "EndrTimes: Pope Benedict quietly celebrates 85th birthday" 15 mins ago
A visitor fromWashington, District of Columbiaviewed "EndrTimes: "For we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men"" 15 mins ago
A visitor fromWashington, District of Columbiaviewed "EndrTimes: Secret Service Calls Nugent Over Anti-Obama Screed" 15 mins ago
A visitor fromWashington, District of Columbiaviewed "EndrTimes: Hillary Clinton Parties at Cuban-Themed Bar, Sparks Dumbest Scandal Ever" 16 mins ago

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The Persecuted Protestants of Ireland

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Uploaded by PurpleRed36 on Mar 10, 2010

A video depicting the often horrific persecution of Irish Protestants at the hands of Irish Catholics. Events depicted include the 1641 Massacre which precipitated the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland.


(The song used in this video is owned by Evanescence/Wind-up Records)
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What an Oxymoron?



Bible Trivia.


These two words are incongruent, incompatible; the two words are complete opposites. One is the authority in the lives of the faithful, while the other is the favorite pastime of the worldly.  The Bible is the Word of God in a book, and Trivia is literally (semantics) knowledge of insignificant things. 


its literal meaning could have the meaning "appropriate to the street corner, commonplace, vulgar.
-wikipedia [triviālis]
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"For we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men"



For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.

We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised.

 Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace;

And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it:

Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day.

1 Corinthians 4: 9-13.
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Friday, April 20, 2012

IMF's Lagarde: Global Economy Sees 'Dark Clouds on the Horizon'


CHRISTINE LAGARDE, managing director, International Monetary Fund: We are seeing a light recovery blowing in a spring wind, but we're also seeing some very dark clouds on the horizon.

Read more


P.S.
What a difference a year makes?  Last year it was "The Arab Spring" for several North African countries and Middle Eastern nations; This year Christine Lagarde, the new HEAD of the IMF, is talking about "a light recovery in a spring wind...also seeing some very dark clouds on the horizon."   
Remember all the jubilation because there would finally be freedom in those Muslim places?  Well, this Spring, the powers that be, are not as enthusiastic.  Remember DSK: Dominique Strauss-Kahn (Tenth Managing Director of IMF), who was swept from his leadership role by a convoluted sex scandal?  Well, the man who became so famous they gave him initials to facilitate his descent from popularity to notoriety;  DSK has ever since been replaced by Christine Legarde, who is now giving the GLOBAL ECONOMY a bleak forecast.  I think back on how optimistic she was when she replaced DSK, after his fall from grace (in disgrace).  Funny how things change in one year?  Funny, but, It's not really funny at all since there are some shenanigans going on in high places.... We see some strange bedfellows....
Speaking of which there is another salacious HETEROSEXUAL SEX SCANDAL in the headlines; This time it is the Secret Service that is in the Cross-Hairs. Ain't that peculiar?

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Spring  Wind?  Very Dark Clouds?
What else is new?  What else is news?


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