Wednesday, February 06, 2013

Magnitude 8.0 earthquake generates three-foot tsunami in South Pacific



Published February 06, 2013

Associated Press




Map locates an 8.0-magnitude earthquake that generated a 0.9 meter (3 feet) tsunami in the Solomon Islands. (AP)


A powerful earthquake off the Solomon Islands generated a tsunami of up to 5 feet that damaged dozens of homes and likely killed several people in the South Pacific island chain on Wednesday.

Authorities canceled warnings for tsunamis on more distant coasts.

Solomons officials reported two 4 foot, 11-inch waves hit the western side of Santa Cruz Island, damaging around 50 homes and properties, said George Herming, a spokesman for the prime minister. Many villagers had headed to higher ground as a precaution, Herming said.

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Tuesday, February 05, 2013

Facebook, we need a break: Study finds 61 percent of users left site for weeks at a time

Published February 05, 2013, 11:30 PM



NEW YORK — Too much drama, boredom and scads of irrelevant information are just some of the reasons Facebook users give for taking a break from the world's biggest social networking site for weeks at a time, according to a new study.

By: Associated Press, INFORUM


A Facebook vacation

Associated Press photo

NEW YORK — Too much drama, boredom and scads of irrelevant information are just some of the reasons Facebook users give for taking a break from the world's biggest social networking site for weeks at a time, according to a new study.

A report from the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project found that some 61 percent of Facebook users had taken a hiatus of at least several weeks for myriad reasons, whether they were weary from an onslaught of gossip, or for the more pious, the arrival of Lent.

Yet the use of Facebook, whether constant or not, is pervasive in America.

Of the American adults who use the Internet, 67 percent are on Facebook, Pew found. That compares with 20 percent who use LinkedIn and 16 percent who are on Twitter.

But users do come and go, some temporarily, and some for good. Seven percent of Internet users said they used Facebook at one point but no longer do. By its own count, Facebook Inc. has 1.06 billion users worldwide who check in at least once a month. This includes millions of duplicate and fake accounts. More than 150 million uses are in the U.S.


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Ireland admits involvement in Catholic laundry slavery

CBS/AP/ 

February 5, 2013, 12:37 PM



A man looks at a burial plot for victims of the Magdalene Laundries in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin, on the eve of the report to investigate the state's role in the laundries. / PRESS ASSOCIATION VIA AP IMAGES



DUBLINIreland has admitted some responsibility for workhouses run by Catholic nuns that once kept thousands of women and teenage girls against their will in unpaid, forced labor.

The apology comes after an expert panel found that Ireland should be legally responsible for the defunct Magdalene Laundries because authorities committed about one-quarter of the 10,012 women to the workhouses from 1922 to 1996, often in response to school truancy or homelessness.

"To those residents who went through the Magdalene Laundries in a variety of ways, 26 percent of the time from state involvement, I am sorry for those people that they lived in that kind of environment," said Prime Minister Enda Kenny on behalf of the Irish government, according to Reuters.

Survivors said they were unsatisfied with the prime minister's response. Steven O'Riordan, spokesperson for Magdalene Survivors Together, told Irish paper The Journal the apology was a "cop out."

Ireland stigmatized those that had been committed as "fallen" women - prostitutes - but most were simply unwed mothers or their daughters.

The report found that 15 percent lived in the workhouses for more than five years, and police caught and returned women who fled. They endured 12-hour work days of washing and ironing.

The state apology could pave the way for payments to survivors.


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U.S. cities are death traps like Brazilian nightclub




TheHealthRanger

Published on Jan 28, 2013

Here's why major U.S. cities like Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Chicago and Philadelphia are death traps just like the Brazilian nightclub that recently went up in flames, killing 230 people.

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Protestant Denominations, Catholics Sign Ecumenical ‘Mutual Recognition of Baptism’ Agreement







By: Heather Clark 

January 30, 2013


Austin, Texas – Leaders from several Protestant denominations met with representatives from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops last night to sign an ecumenical document agreeing to recognize each other’s baptisms.

The document, entitled “These Living Waters: Common Agreement on the Mutual Recognition of Baptism,” has been approximately four years in the making. The Presbyterian Church USA was reportedly the first to deliberate the move, followed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

“The Common Agreement affirms that both Catholic and Reformed Christians hold that baptism is the sacramental bond of unity for the Body of Christ, which is to be performed only once, by an authorized minister, with flowing water, using the Scriptural Trinitarian formula of ‘Father, Son and Holy Spirit,” wrote the bishops in a news release about the matter two years ago.

Therefore, if a person is baptized by a Catholic priest but later converts to a Protestant church, the denominations involved in the ecumenical gesture agree to accept the baptism and not ask that the person be baptized over again — and vice versa.

The Common Agreement was signed last night in Austin, Texas by members of both the Presbyterian Church USA and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, as well as the Christian Reformed Church of North America, the Reformed Church of America and the United Church of Christ.

Writer Brian Cross says that while there has been somewhat of an alliance between Protestants and Catholics over the matter for centuries, disagreement has remained.

“The Catholic Church has long recognized the validity of Protestant baptisms in which the person was baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” he explained. “In the last ten or fifteen years, however, there were concerns among Catholic bishops regarding Protestant baptisms in which different names were substituted for the Holy Trinity, or in which a method of sprinkling was used that did not achieve any flow of water on the skin.”

“The Dutch and German Reformed traditions have generally recognized the validity of Catholic baptisms, as have most Presbyterian churches. The major exception to this were the Presbyterian churches in the United States since the time of James Henry Thornwell in the mid-nineteenth century, especially in the south. Thornwell argued that Catholic baptisms were invalid because Catholic priests were not ‘lawful ministers of the Word,’” Cross continued. “Some Reformed denominations in the United States remain on Thornwell’s side of that debate, and still do not necessarily accept the validity of Catholic baptisms.”

While there remains debate over whether Protestants — those who agree with Reformers such as Martin Luther, who rebuked and separated from the Roman Catholic Church with his “95 theses,” a document that outlined his many concerns with the establishment’s traditions and teachings — should agree to recognize Catholic baptisms, the greater question of whether Protestants and Catholics should engage in any forms of ecumenicism at all continues to be an issue among Christians.

Everybody’s afraid to say that Roman Catholics are not Christians, and that if you make that statement, you are perceived as unloving or old school,” stated Pastor Jon Speed of the Log College and Christ is King Baptist Church in Syracuse, New York. “But, either we’re trying to hide what we believe about the Gospel, or we don’t really believe it.”


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Monday, February 04, 2013

Christian Churches Together urges fundamental immigration reform


Church of the Brethren Newsline

February 4, 2013





Christian leaders representing the breadth of Christian churches and denominations in the United States issued a strong and urgent call for fundamental immigration reform at an annual meeting of Christian Churches Together (CCT). The statement was released Feb. 1 at the close of the four-day gathering in Austin, Texas.



For the latest Brethren news go to the main Newsline page


The Church of the Brethren, which is a member denomination of CCT, was represented by general secretary Stan Noffsinger, Annual Conference moderator Bob Krouse and moderator-elect Nancy Heishman, and Brethren Press publisher Wendy McFadden who serves on the CCT steering committee. During the annual meeting, McFadden was elected president of the “Historic Protestant Family,” one of five “families” of churches that make up CCT.

The entire CCT meeting, planned a year ago, focused on the challenge of immigration reform, hearing from “dreamers,” a variety of immigrants, and experts on immigration issues. Its statement comes as the nation’s political leadership has turned its attention during the past week to this challenge. The CCT leaders said they would engage this debate “as followers of Jesus Christ who commanded us to welcome the stranger.”

“Each day in our congregations and communities, we bear witness to the effects of a system that continues the separation of families and the exploitation, abuse, and deaths of migrants. This suffering must end,” the statement declared in part (see full text below).

The diverse group, representing leadership from Catholic, Evangelical/Pentecostal, Historic Protestant, Orthodox, and Historic Black churches, agreed on these unified principles:

-- An earned path to citizenship for the 11 million people in the US without authorization.

-- The priority of family reunification in any immigration reform.

-- Protecting the integrity of national borders and protecting due process for immigrants and their families.

-- Improving refugee protection laws and asylum laws.

-- Reviewing international economic policies to address the root causes of unauthorized immigration.

During the course of the CCT gathering, the group heard from immigration advocates from evangelical organizations such as World Relief, immigration policy experts at the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, legislative advocates serving major Protestant denominations, and leaders from the Hispanic Christian community, among others.

The statement issued represents the broadest coalition of Christian denominations and groups to address together the urgency of fundamental immigration reform. It will be followed by advocacy to members of Congress from the membership of denominations and groups represented at the Austin meeting.

See www.christianchurchestogether.org for further information.

“Statement on Immigration Reform” by Christian Churches Together in the USA
February 1, 2013
Austin, Texas

Christian Churches Together in the USA, representing the breadth of Christian churches and denominations in the US, gathered in Austin, Texas, for its annual meeting to focus on the challenge of immigration reform. We heard from “dreamers,” a variety of immigrants, and experts on immigration issues. Through a process of prayer, reflection, and discernment of God’s call, we agreed on a statement that provides principles for just and humane immigration reform. In this hour, as our nation launches a national debate seeking immigration reform, we call upon people of faith, people of good will, elected officials in Congress, and the President of the United States to work together to enact just and humane immigration reform legislation in 2013.

As Christian leaders and Christian communities, we engage in this debate as followers of Jesus Christ, who commanded us to “welcome the stranger” (Matthew 25:35), and advised that “just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:40).

As Christians we believe that all will be judged, in part, by the way they treat strangers in their midst. “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left” (Matthew 25:31, 32a). We acknowledge that members of our own faith communities have been complicit in the establishment and reinforcement of our current system through active political engagement and apathetic inaction. As a moral matter, we cannot tolerate an immigration system that exploits migrants, is inhospitable, and fails to offer immigrants the full protection of the law.

While immigration is often viewed as an economic, social, or legal issue, it is ultimately a humanitarian and spiritual issue that directly impacts millions of unauthorized immigrants and the entire fabric of our society. The Bible frequently commands us to treat the immigrant justly. Further, every person is created in the image of God and possesses inestimable value. It is therefore paramount that our national immigration system protects the basic human rights and dignity of all persons. Sadly, our current system fails to meet this test and requires comprehensive reform now.

The timing of our statement on immigration is ever more poignant given that our country is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. We are reminded that there are those in our nation whose forebears were brought here involuntarily through the unjust institution of slavery. There are also those who lived here long before others arrived who experienced the denial of their basic human rights. Each day in our congregations and communities, we bear witness to the effects of a system that continues this legacy of separation of families and the exploitation, abuse, and deaths of migrants. This suffering must end. Therefore, in our relentless effort to achieve a more perfect union, we urge our elected officials to enact immigration reform consistent with the following principles and policies:

Pathway to citizenship

The 11 million individuals now in the US without authorization should be given an opportunity to earn citizenship, if the individual chooses. Many have built equities in our nation and have contributed to the economic and social fabric of this country. Such reforms would ensure that families are not separated and that the undocumented population can fully enjoy the rights and responsibilities of US citizenship. (Leviticus 18:33-34)

Family reunification

Family reunification should be the cornerstone of our nation’s immigration policy. Immigrant families have helped build this nation economically and socially, and will continue to do so. We support changes to the family-based immigration system, which expedite the reunification of families. Family-based visa categories should not be eliminated or reduced and the current lengthy backlogs should be addressed. (Mark 10:9)

Enforcement and due process

Enforcement measures should be just and include due process protections for immigrants. We support the right of our nation to defend our borders and to ensure the integrity of the workplace through immigration enforcement. However, for over twenty-five years, our nation has pursued an enforcement-only policy toward immigration, with severe humanitarian consequences. At the same time that our nation has spent billions of dollars on immigration enforcement, the number of undocumented in the nation has more than tripled. Millions have been incarcerated unnecessarily, thousands of families have been separated, and thousands have died attempting to enter the United States. We urge Congress to review our enforcement policies and restore due process protections to immigrants and their families in a way that respects their God-given dignity, including reform of our detention laws. (Exodus 1:1-22)

The human dignity and image of God has been further violated as a result of the cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration agencies that leads to racial profiling of people suspected of being in the US without authorization. Immigration laws should be reformed and implemented in a way that does not facilitate racial profiling. Enforceable detention standards and reforms should be established and include the review of partnerships between the federal government and for-profit prison corporations.

Refugees and asylum seekers

Refugees and asylum seekers should receive special protection as particularly vulnerable migrants because they are fleeing persecution. The United States has a moral obligation to continue to provide protection to ensure refugees and asylum seekers are able to find safety in the United States through the appropriate processes and not at heightened risk of being returned to their persecutors. There should be improvements to the asylum process to ensure asylum seekers are not detained upon arrival and are given a fair opportunity to express a fear of persecution. There should also be more robust support of the refugee resettlement program and adequate resources to help refugees integrate upon their arrival to the United States. We are also mindful of the millions of families and individuals waiting for resettlement, living, raising families, and dying in temporary refugee camps, and the many who perish attempting to reach those camps. (Matthew 2:13-18)

Root causes
In order to find a long-term solution to the problem of unauthorized immigration, the root causes of such migration should be examined. Persons should be able to find employment in their home countries in order to sustain their families in a place that is free from fear and violence. At a minimum, Congress and the Administration should review our international economic policies to ensure that they do not encourage unauthorized migration and do not eliminate living wage jobs in sending countries. Our country should help to foster job opportunities and respect for human rights in the countries from which many immigrants come. (Isaiah 2:1-4; Micah 4:1-5)

As Christian Churches Together, we recommit ourselves to be promoters and examples of justice, showing hospitality and love for the immigrant; for we know we may be “entertaining angels without knowing it” (Hebrews 13:2). We call for our nation to engage in an immigration debate that is conducted in a civil manner and does not dehumanize immigrants. We will speak out and educate communities about the past and current contributions of immigrants in building and growing this nation. Finally, we will work with our elected officials to ensure that, consistent with the aforementioned policies and principles, the human rights of immigrants are protected in any final legislation.

(This report is adapted from a press release from Christian Churches Together.)


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Calif. preschool closing after alleged sex between 4- and 5-year-olds


Parents are teaming up to file a lawsuit citing inept supervision after two boys at First Lutheran Church of Carson School reportedly received oral sex from a 5-year-old girl.


BY CHRISTINE ROBERTS / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY
3, 2013, 6:19 PM






A California preschool is reportedly closing its doors amidst allegations of sexual activity among several of its students.



A California preschool is reportedly shutting down after disturbing allegations of sexual activity among several of its 4- and 5-year-old students emerged.

First Lutheran Church of Carson School is closing midsemester amid reports that two boys received oral sex from a 5-year-old girl on school grounds, according to KABC-TV.

Attorney Greg Owen, who is representing some of the children's families, said the sexual acts took place at nap time, at a school playground and at an outside bathroom.

"It all boils down to a lack of supervision," Owen told ABC News. "There were times when teachers would let aides in the room for hours at a time to watch the kids. During nap time, the aides would be sleeping, and the children would have been molesting each other during this time."

RELATED: GIRL, 15, GANG-RAPED DURING CLASS: SUIT

Owen is representing several parents who are planning to file a lawsuit against the Carson, Calif., school, which has allegedly been cited by the California Department of Social Services for "at least one sexual incident that involved young students."

School officials told KABC that its decision to close comes after the school director resigned due to personal reasons and has nothing to do with the allegations.

Parent Richard McCarthy says that's far from the truth.

He said his son received oral sex from the young girl on multiple occasions.

RELATED: N.J. TEACHER BUSTED FOR HAVING SEX WITH 16-YEAR-OLD STUDENT




Richard McCarthy says his son received oral sex from a 5-year-old girl multiple times.



"He told me about all the bad things that girl had been doing to him," McCarthy told the local station. "It went down in the classroom, it went down in the bathroom and it went down out on the playground."

At least one other boy allegedly received oral sex from the same girl.

"Their lives will be ruined in many ways," Owen told ABC News of the children. "And we know there are many more (victims)."

Parents, meanwhile, are struggling to find new schools for their kids.

RELATED: GEORGIA TEACHER ARRESTED FOR SEX WITH STUDENTS

"There's no way I can just take him to another school and be that parent that just lets a predator loose," McCarthy said of his son. "How else do you explain it?"

McCarthy said he spoke to three other parents who are worried about sending their kids elsewhere.

"Parents are saying, ‘My child is now a predator. Now how can I let him go to another school?’" he explained.

"There were many children lying there, and they watched these acts. In our business and in psychological terms, that's sexualizing a child at a young age."

croberts@nydailynews.com

On a mobile device? Watch video here.

Video:
http://landing.newsinc.com/shared/video.html?freewheel=69016&sitesection=nydailynews&VID=24306814


Source
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The Chaplains of the U.S. Congress


Dr. Barry Black Chaplain of the U.S. Senate (the first Seventh-day Adventist, and the first military chaplain to hold the office of chaplain to the United States).





The Reverend Patrick J. Conroy, Chaplain, U.S. House of Representatives (is a Jesuit Priest who is serving as the 60th Chaplain of the House of Representatives).



What a dichotomy? 

An Adventist Chaplain and a Roman Catholic Jesuit priest as spiritual advisors on Capitol Hill?


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In Whose Name?

I see an aversion to using the name of Jesus in Dr. Barry Black's (Chaplain of the U.S. Senate)  prayer as I view these 2 recent 'prayers' on video.

Does anyone else see this?
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1. Prayer during Fiscal Cliff Negotations




2. Prayer for Sandy Hook Victims




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Boy Scouts of America board set to consider ending ban on gays


By Marice Richter

DALLAS | Mon Feb 4, 2013 7:01am EST

(Reuters) - Boy Scouts of America board members will meet this week to debate ending a controversial national ban on gay membership, prompting groups both for and against the move to converge on its Texas headquarters for demonstrations.
The national executive board, which lists more than 70 members, is expected to vote on Wednesday, the last day of a three-day meeting, on whether to lift the ban they had reaffirmed just last year amid criticism from gay rights groups and gay former Scouts and Scout leaders.

The Boy Scouts has not responded to inquiries about the private meeting, but activists for and against lifting the ban said they expected a vote on Wednesday.

The organization said on January 28 that it was considering removing the national restriction based on sexual orientation and leaving the decision to local chapters. It said it would not dictate a position to units, members or to parents.

Gay rights activists have said lifting the national ban, but allowing local units to maintain a ban, would not go far enough.

The board meeting comes as the century-old youth organization that prides itself on teaching boys life skills such as camping and leadership, faces membership declines and a donations boycott by some corporations over its anti-gay policy.

Youth membership in the Boy Scouts has dropped 21 percent since 2000 to nearly 2.7 million. Adult leader membership has fallen 14 percent to just over 1 million, and the number of units has declined 12.6 percent to 108,971.

Activists have pressed corporations, including Merck and UPS, as well as the Intel Foundation to withhold contributions to the Boy Scouts while the ban stands.

The Boy Scouts has also faced criticism for keeping from public view files covering decades of reports of child sex abuse in the organization. It released thousands of pages of files covering 1965 to 1985 in October under a court order.

The drive to lift the ban gained a powerful ally on Sunday in PresidentBarack Obama. In an interview with CBS, anchor Scott Pelley asked the president if he believed scouting should be open to gays, Obama said: "Yes."

"My attitude is ... that gays and lesbians should have access and opportunity the same way everybody else does, in every institution and walk of life," said Obama, who last year gave his backing to the right to same sex couples to marry.

"The Scouts are a great institution that are promoting young people and exposing them to, you know, opportunities and leadership that will serve people for the rest of their lives, and I think that nobody should be barred (from) that."

But Texas Governor Rick Perry, an Eagle Scout, told reporters on Saturday he did not see a reason for the Boy Scouts to change its longstanding policy, the Austin American-Statesman reported.

Parents are also split on the proposal. Pam Bakowski, the mother of an Eagle Scout and former den leader and Cub master who lives in the Dallas area, said the Boy Scouts were about teaching life skills and leadership.

"I think the ban is ridiculous and needs to be lifted," Bakowski said.

The mother of an Eagle Scout, who asked to be identified only by her first name, Denise, said she opposed lifting the ban.

"The current policy has worked fine for more than 100 years so there is no reason to change it," she said. "If my son had been in a troop with a gay leader, I would have taken him out."

LOBBYING BEFORE THE VOTE

The Boy Scouts won a 5-4 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2000 that upheld the organization's ban on gays, but it has come under increasing public pressure in recent years from activists.

The faith-based groups that have the most Boy Scouts youth members - the Mormon church, the United Methodist Church and the Catholic Church in that order - have so far stood by the Scouts.

Many local chapters have said they were waiting for the national board to render a verdict before weighing in, others want board members to take more time to consider a decision.

"We believe that any decision that strikes at the core of our 103-year history merits full input from all stakeholders in deliberation and discussion," The Great Salt Lake Council of the Boy Scouts of America said in a statement.

Activists on both sides of the issue urged supporters to lobby board members before the meeting and plan demonstrations at Boy Scouts headquarters in Irving, Texas, this week.

"Save our Scouts" plans a prayer vigil in support of the ban for Wednesday morning to coincide with the expected vote.

Activists who support lifting the ban plan to deliver more than 1.4 million signatures from online petition drives to Boy Scouts headquarters on Monday.

Jennifer Tyrrell, a lesbian mother from Ohio who was ousted as a Scout den leader, and Eric Andresen, whose gay son was denied the award of Eagle Scout - the highest achievement of Scouting - plan to be among activists delivering the signatures.

Two Boy Scouts board members have said publicly they support change. Jim Turley, chairman and chief executive of Ernst & Young, has called for ending the ban and AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson has said he favors change from within and supports diversity.

(Additional reporting and writing by David Bailey in Minneapolis; Editing by Tim Gaynor and Christopher Wilson)


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Sunday, February 03, 2013

Iron Rule (DVD 1 Part 1)




Description:

We are on the brink of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ! The nation is in extreme ferment across the land. Millions, seeing the handwriting on the wall, are preparing for the worst.

For the full series:
http://ftsnlibrary.fightingtyrannyforsalvation.com/sermons/video-sermons/iron-rule/

Video added on: 03-10-2010 03:36:20

Keywords: bob trefz wrm sda iron rule series

Language: English
Shooting location: United States


Video address: http://tcp.kewego.co.uk/video/iLyROoaf8ocU.html















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Author: ftsnadmin
Duration: 00:52:54

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Iron Rule DVD 1 Part 2



Views: 154

Duration: 00:07:22

Added on 03-10-2010


Iron Rule DVD 2 Part 1



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Duration: 00:52:54

Added on 03-10-2010



Iron Rule DVD 2 Part 2



Views: 106

Duration: 00:13:10

Added on 03-10-2010



Iron Rule DVD 3 Part 1 



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Duration: 00:52:54

Added on 03-10-2010



Iron Rule DVD 3 Part 2


Views: 92
Duration: 00:32:36
Added on 03-10-2010

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Friday, February 01, 2013

Poll: Most Americans Feel Threatened By Government


For the first time, survey finds majority of Americans feel under siege


By SETH CLINE    
January 31, 2013 




New York police grab at protesters during a mass arrest on the Brooklyn Bridge, Oct. 1, 2011. Police allowed around 700 people onto the bridge before surrounding and arresting them all.

A new survey from Pew Research Center finds more than half of Americans believe the government threatens their personal rights.

The national survey, conducted in mid-January, marks the first time a majority viewed the government as a threat since Pew began tracking public opinion on the subject in 1995.

This year 53 percent of the poll's respondents answered 'yes' when asked if the federal government "threatens your personal rights and freedoms." This year's poll also found more people viewed the government as a "major threat" than ever before.

[ENJOY: Political Cartoons Tease the TSA]

All of the survey's highest perceptions of the threat of government have come since President Barack Obama took office in 2009.

The survey was conducted from January 9-13, as Obama was about to begin his second term by pushing for reform of the nation's gun laws in the wake of the shooting at a Connecticut elementary school late last year. Of those who have guns in their homes, 62 percent viewed the government as a threat, up five percentage points from 2010.

However, the survey found negative feelings towards the government as a whole, and Congress in particular, are widespread.

[STUDY: Black Americans Feel Less Empowered Under Obama]

Respondents of all political affiliations felt more threatened this year than in 2010, when 47 percent felt threatened overall.

And 75 percent of those surveyed said they don't trust the government to "do the right thing" most of the time, if at all, a sentiment which held true across all ideologies and demographics. A similar consensus—68 percent—found Congress to be unfavorable, and majorities of Republicans, Democrats, and independents believed Congress' problem was not its political system as a whole, but its individual members.

Though some unhappiness was nonpartisan, the poll results show Republicans and conservatives are most upset with the state of the American political system.



A full 70 percent of those who identified as Republican felt threatened by the government, compared to just 38 percent of Democrats.

Republicans also have more anger towards the federal government since Obama took office. Nearly a third of respondents identifying as conservative said they were angry with government in this year's survey, while only 6 percent of that same group felt angry while George W. Bush was president in 2006.

The opposite is true of those identifying as Democrats and liberals, who were angrier during the Bush administration (though still less angry than their counterparts have been in the Obama years).

Pew polled about 1,500 adults in all 50 states and the District of Columbia for the survey.

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Mahony removed from public church duties




Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times

'Terrible failure' is cited in dramatic action

By Los Angeles Times Staff

Archbishop Jose Gomez says Roger Mahony, left, the former leader of the Catholic Church in L.A., is relieved of his public and administrative roles after recent revelations in the priest abuse scandal. Santa Barbara's bishop steps down.



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The Bob Menendez ‘standard’



Last Updated: 10:49 PM, January 31, 2013
Posted: February 01, 2013


Bob Menendez is certainly raising new questions about what the Senate means by “foreign relations.”

As the New Jersey Democrat assumes the chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he finds himself facing an FBI probe. Among the most serious allegations against him is that he engaged underage prostitutes during trips to the Dominican Republic paid for by a wealthy donor.

The bureau this week raided the offices of that donor, a Miami doctor who flew Menendez to a resort on his private jet for free, trips the senator failed to disclose until reporters discovered the truth.



AP
Bob Menendez



Menendez has now reimbursed the donor $58,500 for the flights, but his office denies reports that the 59-year-old senator has been traveling to the Caribbean to cavort with underage girls.

As officials sort out the charges and denials, it’s illuminating to look back at how Menedez responded in October, after US Secret Service officers doing advance work for a presidential visit to Colombia were caught bringing prostitutes to their rooms.

If the facts are true, they should all be fired,” he said back then, though under Colombian law it’s not illegal to hire hookers.

“The reality is that the Secret Service . . . represent[s] the United States of America.”

He got that right. We don’t know yet whether Menendez is guilty. But if, in his words, “the facts turn out to be true,” surely the Mendendez standard ought to be applied to Bob Menendez, too.


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Thursday, January 31, 2013

Are You Ready for a Cashless Society?



Published January 28, 2013 | By John Newman


A cashless society has long been a staple of sci-fi. Star Wars and Star Trek both have their version of credits, though more materially obsessed cultures do keep a form of hard currency around. It’s also a common trope in dystopian fiction, where money is completely electronic and usually controlled by either the government or mega-corporations.

Speaking as a citizen of a country that isn’t ready to let go of the penny, I’m not sure everyone is ready for a cashless society. Ready or not, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (Mines), and possibly all of surrounding Rapid City, are about to embark on a pilot program for a cashless society in partnership withNexus USA’s Smart Pay system.




The Nexus Smart Pay system uses Biocryptology to scan your finger like it was a credit card.

In place of a card or some other form of ID, the program uses a system called Biocryptology. The biometrics technology uses a radio frequency to penetrate down seven layers into the skin on a user’s index finger to identify a valid user. The Smart Pay system even checks for hemoglobin in the blood of the finger to determine the user is alive.

If Smart Pay works as well as Nexus hopes, it could be adapted for use in other areas, replacing things like keys for your car, allowing for cardless IDs (that can’t be faked), and improving other areas of security.

“The convenience factor is huge. It’s safe, and I believe it’s going to accelerate fast. We’re in tune with the technology age. Look at how the fax went to email and then to our cell phones. Within three years we’ve gone from making calls to taking care of everything we need in our lives,” said Al Maas, Nexus USA’s president.

Below you’ll find a video about Smart Pay.



Source: PRWeb

Complex portrait of doctor linked to Sen. Bob Menendez probe


Posted on Wednesday, January 30, 2013






Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) in December 2009. | Olivier Douliery/MCT



Amy Sherman, Alfonso Chardy and Daniel Chang | The Miami Herald


MIAMI — By most appearances, Dr. Salomon Melgen embodies the great American immigrant success story: A native of the Dominican Republic, Melgen has earned renown as one of South Florida's leading eye surgeons. He owns a sprawling, waterfront home in North Palm Beach valued at about $3 million. He gives generously to charities and rubs elbows with prominent politicians.

"He's a man that loves the limelight. He always has," said Patricia Goodman, 70, a former office administrator and personal assistant to Melgen, who is now at the center of two FBI probes, one involving published allegations that he provided free trips to the Dominican Republic and prostitutes for U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat.

Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has called the allegations a politically motivated smear by a right-leaning website.

FBI agents raided Melgen's West Palm Beach office Tuesday night, apparently seeking records related to the second investigation, one involving possible Medicare fraud. The feds continued to search the premises on Wednesday, joined by agents from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, suggesting that the raid was linked to Medicare.

Lawrence Duffy, a criminal defense attorney representing Melgen, said his client is unaware of the reason for the FBI raid.

"The government has not informed Dr. Melgen what its concerns are," Duffy said in an e-mail to The Miami Herald. "However, we are confident that Dr. Melgen has acted appropriately at all times."

Goodman said Melgen never hosted a fundraiser for Menendez during the time that she worked for the doctor from about 1989 to 1999. But she planned all of Melgen's parties during those years, and said he helped raise millions for political campaigns - and had a blast doing it.

"He liked the excitement of it," Goodman said on Wednesday from her home in Palm Harbor on Florida's Gulf Coast. "He liked being with the big shots. That was his thing. He was very impressed with the politicians."

The politicians were equally impressed with Melgen, 58.

Among the politicians whom Melgen has befriended, and for whom he has hosted private fundraisers at his 5,000-square-foot home: former U.S. Sens. Christopher Dodd and Bob Graham, late Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles - who also was a patient of Melgen's - former President Bill Clinton, and Leonel Fernandez, former president of the Dominican Republic.

Goodman noted that Bill and Hillary Clinton vacationed at the doctor's home in Casa de Campo in the Dominican Republic, and that he became good friends with Terry McAuliffe, former Democratic National Committee chairman and co-chair of Clinton's 1996 re-election campaign.

"He used to go to Dr. Melgen's home in Casa de Campo and play golf all the time," Goodman said of McAuliffe.

Behind Melgen's conspicuous success and powerful friendships, though, Goodman said, she also saw a man who behaved recklessly in his private life.

"There were things going on that I didn't like, not necessarily in the office," she said. "His personal life got to take a toll on me."

So much so, Goodman said, that she declined to return to work for Melgen in 1999 after she was diagnosed with cancer.

Melgen could not be reached at his home, office or on cell phones or by e-mail Wednesday, but his office issued a statement regarding Melgen's relationship with Menendez:

"Dr. Melgen has been a friend and political supporter of Senator Menendez for many years," the statement read. "Senator Menendez has traveled on Dr. Melgen's plane on three occasions, all of which have been paid for and reported appropriately. Any allegations of engaging with prostitutes are manufactured by a politically-motivated, right-wing blog and are false."

Menendez, who was first accused of improprieties in the conservative Daily Caller website in November, has denied what he calls the "fallacious allegations." He has not yet directly addressed his relationship with Melgen.

Interviews with Melgen's former employees and acquaintances paint a picture of an exceedingly generous man who struggled to adapt as an immigrant and succeeded wildly in his medical career and in various business ventures, including founding a Latino-themed digital media outlet, VOXXI.com, which is based in Coral Gables.

He donated $15,000 at a recent fundraiser for experimental research into a rare muscular-degenerative disease that afflicts the 2-year-old son of Art Estopinan, the chief of staff of Rep. Ileana Ros Lehtinen, a Florida Republican..

"He is an angel. I consider him to be an angel," said Estopinan, his voice breaking into sobs. "This is the only hope my son has."

Goodman said Melgen "has got a really big heart for people. We used to see thousands of people that had no insurance, just write it off. He did that. He would never turn anybody away if they didn't have the money."

A woman who holds a high-level position at the Dominican Healthcare Association of Florida, which gave Melgen its lifetime honorary member award in April 2012, said she was surprised about the allegations.

"I was shocked," she said, adding that she always regarded Melgen as a professional totally devoted to his work.

"I see him as a great professional of great trust whose patients hold in high regard," the woman said. The woman remembered that when Melgen accepted the award at a gala dinner at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables he talked about the difficulties he had adjusting to the United States as an immigrant.

No one has a specific date when Melgen immigrated to the United States, but the woman at the Dominican Healthcare Association said it was possible he arrived in the late 1970s.

Melgen graduated in 1978 from the Pedro Henriquez Urena National University in Santo Domingo, and by 1980 was doing an internship at Danbury Hospital in Connecticut.

He found professional and financial success in South Florida, where he says he was the first physician to perform out-patient eye surgery in 1986.

But Palm Beach court records show Melgen also has faced financial problems - including multiple IRS liens for millions of dollars.

One lawsuit hints at complications in his personal life. Melgen's company, Vitreo-Retinal Consultants, sued Yuddehiris Dorrejo in 2000 amid a business dispute that involved a close relationship with Melgen.

Online records available immediately at the Palm Beach Courthouse Wednesday did not contain the full case file, but a four-page order by Palm Beach Circuit Court Judge John Wessel dismissing the case in March 2002 summarized the details of the legal dispute.

In October 1998 Dorrejo came to Florida and met Melgen at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Palm Beach County.

"Thereafter, an intimate romantic relationship developed," the judge wrote.

Then Dorrejo entered into an oral agreement with Vitreo-Retinal Consultants, which was owned and controlled by Melgen.

Melgen's company had agreed to make a $700,000 loan for Dorrejo's interest in a franchise retail store in the Dominican Republic.

Melgen acknowledged it was his idea to set up an account with Northern Trust Bank in Palm Beach County because his company had a relationship with that bank.

"Melgen claims that such a large sum of money would not be deposited by a normal person as a gift for a romantic relationship," the judge wrote.

But Dorrejo claimed that she was not a resident of Florida and doesn't engage in business in Florida and that "the consideration for the money deposited in Northern Trust Bank was the intimate romantic relationship between Dorrejo and Melgen," the judge wrote.

Dorrejo told the court that she had not breached any contract and that, "The money bestowed upon her by her lover, Melgen, was without any obligation for repayment" wrote the judge, who granted Dorrejo's motion to dismiss it.

Dorrejo, who could not be reached for comment on Wednesday, also reported that Melgen owns property in the Dominican Republic and advertises medical services there.

The doctor cuts an impressive figure on the Caribbean island.

In 2009, Melgen's son was married at Santo Domingo's historic cathedral, the oldest in the Americas, in a ceremony blessed by Dominican Catholic Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez. The wedding was covered by Dominican newspapers, which published photos of the well-heeled guests.

In May 2010 - a date that corresponds with allegations of alcohol- and prostitute-fueled parties at Melgen's Casa de Campo house - Melgen hosted a dinner honoring Menendez in which he said, "For me, Mr. Menendez is not the leader of the Hispanic-American in the United States, but a leader of Hispanics in all the Americas."

(Staff writers Marc Caputo, Carli Teproff and Jay Weaver contributed to this report. Herald special correspondent Ezra Fieser reported from the Dominican Republic.)


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Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/01/30/181546/complex-portrait-of-doctor-linked.html#storylink=cpy

Path to citizenship best way to reform immigration





Posted on Wed, Jan. 16, 2013

BY THOMAS WENSKI



Now that the elections are over, perhaps a new bipartisan consensus can be forged to finally fix our broken immigration system.

Both Democrats and Republicans can read the demographic tea leaves — in the last election the president’s perceived support for immigration reform gained for him wide support from both Hispanic and Asian voters. Lawmakers in both parties have made strong statements about “fixing” immigration in 2013.

This is good news. Of course, any immigration reform legislation would  need to address the legal status of the 11 million undocumented in our nation. But instead of providing this population a chance to earn their citizenship, some in Washington are suggesting that these immigrants should receive legal status but not an opportunity to become citizens.

They propose something like President Obama’s administrative action to grant “deferred departure” to the “Dreamers” — those who were brought here without legal status by their parents. In other words, these policy makers would extend protection from deportation and perhaps work authorization, but would not provide this population an earned path to citizenship.

An earned path to citizenship for the undocumented, supported by the U.S. Catholic bishops and a strong majority of the American people, does not have to mean an “amnesty”. Reasonable requirements for permanent legal status and a chance at citizenship — such as paying a fine and any back taxes still owed or learning English — would in fact be gladly embraced by these immigrants who remain in illegal status not because they want to but because legal remedies are not available to them.

A bill introduced in the last Congress by Sens. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and Kay Hutchinson, R-Texas, modeled somewhat after the DREAM Act would not provide a path to citizenship for young immigrants. A similar proposal from Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida never put in bill form, would have done the same thing. Both proposals essentially addressed a situation that was already partially addressed by President Obama’s deferred action last year.

And like President Obama’s measure their proposal still leaves this population in limbo — with a quasi-legal status but no chance to upgrade to citizenship.

Even President Obama has given credence to the idea of legal status but not citizenship. In his first press conference after the election, he used the term “path to legal status” to describe a potential legalization program for the 11 million. It might have been a slip of the tongue, but words matter in Washington.

While perhaps better than no status, such an arrangement risks creating in our country a permanent underclass of persons who would never enjoy the rights of U.S. citizens. The lingering social costs of another era’s Jim Crow legislation show us that this is not the way to go. A path to citizenship is the best way to ensure that immigrants integrate fully into American society by allowing their civic participation and assuring them of access to full due process rights. It is, after all, the American way.

If the administration and Congress are serious about fixing our broken immigration system, they should fix it correctly, and not create more problems. A path to citizenship for the undocumented should be the centerpiece of any immigration reform effort this year. A path to citizenship offers immigrants the opportunities and freedom that are the essential components of the American dream. Both the party of Jefferson as well as the party of Lincoln should be able to embrace that.

Thomas Wenski is Archbishop of Miami


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Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/01/16/v-print/3185886/path-to-citizenship-best-way-to.html#storylink=cpy

USCCB Chair Calls Senate Immigration Framework Important First Step, Seeks Bipartisan Cooperation For Just, Humane Legislation


January 28, 2013



An important first step in process and tone, says Archbishop Gomez 
Promises bishops' support for system to protect human dignity, homeland simultaneously 
Plan gives hope to millions of fellow human beings


WASHINGTON—Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Migration, welcomed principles set forth by a group of eight U.S. Senators as a blueprint for reform of our nation's immigration system.

"I welcome the introduction of a bipartisan framework to help guide Congress on immigration reform," Archbishop Gomez said January 28."It is an important first step in the process and sets a bipartisan tone."

The framework released by the "Group of Eight" working group would include a path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented in the nation. It also would reduce family backlogs in the immigration system, which requires family members to wait years to reunite with their loved ones.

"It is vital that the framework includes a path to citizenship, so that undocumented immigrants can come out of the shadows and into the light and have a chance to become Americans," Archbishop Gomez said. "It gives hope to millions of our fellow human beings."

Archbishop Gomez noted that the framework leaves room for improvement, as it fails to restore due process protections to immigrants lost in the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) or address the root causes of migration, such as the absence of living-wage employment in sending communities or protection for refugees fleeing persecution.

Nevertheless, he pledged the support of the USCCB in pushing sound immigration legislation forward and working with Congress to create an immigration system which respects basic human rights and dignity while also ensuring the integrity of our borders.

"A reformed system can protect human dignity and the homeland at the same time," he concluded.

In their 2003 pastoral letter, "Strangers No Longer: Together on the Journey of Hope," the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) outlined several policy goals for immigration reform, many of which are consistent with the framework outlined today by the U.S. Senate:

″A path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented in the nation;

″The protection and enhancement of the family-based immigration system, including the reduction in backlogs and shortening of waiting times for husbands and wives and their families, ″A program which allows low-skilled migrant workers to enter and work in the United States legally and safely and includes appropriate wage and worker protections;

″The restoration of due process protections for immigrants removed by the 1996 Illegal Immigrant Responsibility Act; and

″Policies which address the root causes, or push factors, of irregular migration, such as the absence of living wage jobs in sending communities and persecution.

More information can be found at www.justiceforimmigrants.org.

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Social Networks: portals of truth and faith; new spaces for evangelization



Dear Brothers and Sisters,

As the 2013 World Communications Day draws near, I would like to offer you some reflections on an increasingly important reality regarding the way in which people today communicate among themselves. I wish to consider the development of digital social networks which are helping to create a new "agora", an open public square in which people share ideas, information and opinions, and in which new relationships and forms of community can come into being.

These spaces, when engaged in a wise and balanced way, help to foster forms of dialogue and debate which, if conducted respectfully and with concern for privacy, responsibility and truthfulness, can reinforce the bonds of unity between individuals and effectively promote the harmony of the human family. The exchange of information can become true communication, links ripen into friendships, and connections facilitate communion. If the networks are called to realize this great potential, the people involved in them must make an effort to be authentic since, in these spaces, it is not only ideas and information that are shared, but ultimately our very selves.

The development of social networks calls for commitment: people are engaged in building relationships and making friends, in looking for answers to their questions and being entertained, but also in finding intellectual stimulation and sharing knowledge and know-how. The networks are increasingly becoming part of the very fabric of society, inasmuch as they bring people together on the basis of these fundamental needs. Social networks are thus nourished by aspirations rooted in the human heart.

The culture of social networks and the changes in the means and styles of communication pose demanding challenges to those who want to speak about truth and values. Often, as is also the case with other means of social communication, the significance and effectiveness of the various forms of expression appear to be determined more by their popularity than by their intrinsic importance and value. Popularity, for its part, is often linked to celebrity or to strategies of persuasion rather than to the logic of argumentation. At times the gentle voice of reason can be overwhelmed by the din of excessive information and it fails to attract attention which is given instead to those who express themselves in a more persuasive manner. The social media thus need the commitment of all who are conscious of the value of dialogue, reasoned debate and logical argumentation; of people who strive to cultivate forms of discourse and expression which appeal to the noblest aspirations of those engaged in the communication process. Dialogue and debate can also flourish and grow when we converse with and take seriously people whose ideas are different from our own. "Given the reality of cultural diversity, people need not only to accept the existence of the culture of others, but also to aspire to be enriched by it and to offer to it whatever they possess that is good, true and beautiful" (Address at the Meeting with the World of Culture, Bélem, Lisbon, 12 May 2010).

The challenge facing social networks is how to be truly inclusive: thus they will benefit from the full participation of believers who desire to share the message of Jesus and the values of human dignity which his teaching promotes. Believers are increasingly aware that, unless the Good News is made known also in the digital world, it may be absent in the experience of many people for whom this existential space is important. The digital environment is not a parallel or purely virtual world, but is part of the daily experience of many people, especially the young. Social networks are the result of human interaction, but for their part they also reshape the dynamics of communication which builds relationships: a considered understanding of this environment is therefore the prerequisite for a significant presence there.

The ability to employ the new languages is required, not just to keep up with the times, but precisely in order to enable the infinite richness of the Gospel to find forms of expression capable of reaching the minds and hearts of all. In the digital environment the written word is often accompanied by images and sounds. Effective communication, as in the parables of Jesus, must involve the imagination and the affectivity of those we wish to invite to an encounter with the mystery of God’s love. Besides, we know that Christian tradition has always been rich in signs and symbols: I think for example of the Cross, icons, images of the Virgin Mary, Christmas cribs, stained-glass windows and pictures in our churches. A significant part of mankind’s artistic heritage has been created by artists and musicians who sought to express the truths of the faith.

In social networks, believers show their authenticity by sharing the profound source of their hope and joy: faith in the merciful and loving God revealed in Christ Jesus. This sharing consists not only in the explicit expression of their faith, but also in their witness, in the way in which they communicate "choices, preferences and judgements that are fully consistent with the Gospel, even when it is not spoken of specifically" (Message for the 2011World Communications Day). A particularly significant way of offering such witness will be through a willingness to give oneself to others by patiently and respectfully engaging their questions and their doubts as they advance in their search for the truth and the meaning of human existence. The growing dialogue in social networks about faith and belief confirms the importance and relevance of religion in public debate and in the life of society.

For those who have accepted the gift of faith with an open heart, the most radical response to mankind’s questions about love, truth and the meaning of life – questions certainly not absent from social networks – are found in the person of Jesus Christ. It is natural for those who have faith to desire to share it, respectfully and tactfully, with those they meet in the digital forum. Ultimately, however, if our efforts to share the Gospel bring forth good fruit, it is always because of the power of the word of God itself to touch hearts, prior to any of our own efforts. Trust in the power of God’s work must always be greater than any confidence we place in human means. In the digital environment, too, where it is easy for heated and divisive voices to be raised and where sensationalism can at times prevail, we are called to attentive discernment. Let us recall in this regard that Elijah recognized the voice of God not in the great and strong wind, not in the earthquake or the fire, but in "a still, small voice" (1 Kg 19:11-12). We need to trust in the fact that the basic human desire to love and to be loved, and to find meaning and truth – a desire which God himself has placed in the heart of every man and woman – keeps our contemporaries ever open to what Blessed Cardinal Newman called the "kindly light" of faith.

Social networks, as well as being a means of evangelization, can also be a factor in human development. As an example, in some geographical and cultural contexts where Christians feel isolated, social networks can reinforce their sense of real unity with the worldwide community of believers. The networks facilitate the sharing of spiritual and liturgical resources, helping people to pray with a greater sense of closeness to those who share the same faith. An authentic and interactive engagement with the questions and the doubts of those who are distant from the faith should make us feel the need to nourish, by prayer and reflection, our faith in the presence of God as well as our practical charity: "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal" (1 Cor 13:1).

In the digital world there are social networks which offer our contemporaries opportunities for prayer, meditation and sharing the word of God. But these networks can also open the door to other dimensions of faith. Many people are actually discovering, precisely thanks to a contact initially made online, the importance of direct encounters, experiences of community and even pilgrimage, elements which are always important in the journey of faith. In our effort to make the Gospel present in the digital world, we can invite people to come together for prayer or liturgical celebrations in specific places such as churches and chapels. There should be no lack of coherence or unity in the expression of our faith and witness to the Gospel in whatever reality we are called to live, whether physical or digital. When we are present to others, in any way at all, we are called to make known the love of God to the furthest ends of the earth.

I pray that God’s Spirit will accompany you and enlighten you always, and I cordially impart my blessing to all of you, that you may be true heralds and witnesses of the Gospel. "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to the whole creation" (Mk 16:15).

From the Vatican, 24 January 2013, Feast of Saint Francis de Sales.

BENEDICTUS PP. XVI

[00116-02.01] [Original text: Italian]


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Wednesday, January 30, 2013

2013 Annual Meeting Schedule of Christian Churches Together in USA





Christian Churches Together in the USA

2013 Annual Meeting Schedule

Omni Austin Hotel Southpark

Austin, Texas

January 29-February 1, 2013





Tuesday, January 29, 2013

2:30 – 5:30 PM Registration Lower Foyer

3:30 – 5:15 PM CCT Steering Committee Meeting Southpark B

5:30 – 6:30 PM Dinner The Oaks

Welcome, Call to Meeting and Prayer

Father Leonid Kishkovsky, CCT Moderator

Rev. Carlos L Malavé, CCT Executive Director

Video: “Dying to Live”

6:45 PM Board buses to Saint Mary Cathedral Omni Main Entrance

7:15 PM Opening Worship St. Mary Cathedral

Celebration of Catholic-Reformed Baptism Agreement

CCT Annual Meeting Opening Worship

Homily: Bishop Joe Vazquez, Diocese of Austin

Announcements - Rev. Carlos Malavé

8:15 pm Walk to Reception at Central Presbyterian Church

9:30 PM Board buses to return to the Omni Hotel




Wednesday, January 30, 2013

6:30 AM Breakfast (open) Southpark A & B

8:30 AM Worship: Historic Protestant Family, Rev. Dr. Wes Granberg-Michaelson The Oaks

9:00 AM Prayer and Sharing Groups of Five (see list in binder for names)

Sharing faith journeys and praying for one another

9:45 AM “US History of Immigration: Dynamics of Inclusion and Exclusion” The Oaks

Introduction: Ms. Lisa Sharon Harper

Speaker: Rev. Jenny Yang, Director of Advocacy and Policy for the 

Refugee and Immigration Program at World Relief

10:45 AM Break

11:00 AM Plenary: “The Immigration Experience at the Border” The Oaks

Introduction: Fr. Ronald Robertson

Speaker: Bishop Daniel Flores, Diocese of Brownsville

12:00 PM Lunch Omni D

1:00 PM Board buses to University of Texas Austin Omni Main Entrance

2:00 PM Free time

 Seminarians meet with Dr. Jay Alanis for debriefing. Room 102
 Experts meet to finalize document with pastoral message and Room 104
points of agreement on legislative actions.3

3:00 PM Brief report from Seminarians/Young Leaders Omni C
Plenary: Introduction and discussion on CCT Common Statement on Immigration
Lead by Mr. Alejandro Aguilera-Titus

4:15 PM Break

4:30 PM Praise and Worship: Evangelical/Pentecostal Family, Rev. Gary Walter Omni C
Introduction: Rev. Gary Walter
“Biblical Foundations of Welcoming the Stranger” - Preaching: Rev. Samuel 
Rodriguez, President, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference
Announcements – Rev. Carlos L Malavé

6:00 PM Dinner Omni D

7:00 PM Brief report from Rev. David Beckman, President, Bread for the World Omni C
Open Space Opportunities:

1. “I Was a Stranger Challenge” & “10,000 Pastor’s initiative” - Ms. Lisa
Sharon Harper, Director of Mobilizing, Sojourners
2. “Justice for Immigrant Campaign” - Mr. Tony Cubé, National Field 
Manager for Justice for Immigrant Campaign Office of the USCCB
3. “Church Between Borders“ Curriculum - Ms. Shannon Jammal-Hollemans, 
CRCNA Office of Social Justice and Office of Race Relations
4. “Gospel Without Borders” - video discussion led by Dr. Robert Parham, 
Executive Director, Baptist Center for Ethics, and Rev. Stephen Copley, 
Executive Director, Arkansas Interfaith Conference
5. "The Church As Provider of Physical Sanctuary While We Wait For The 
Dawning of a New Day for Immigrants in America" - Rev. Seth Kaper-Dale, 
Reformed Church in America

8:00 PM Good night rest



Friday, February 1, 2013

6:30 AM Breakfast (open) Omni D

8:30 AM Morning Opening Prayer: Bishop Mary Ann Swenson Omni D
Speaker: Rev. Stacy Martin, LIRS Vice President for External Relations and 
Development - Reflection on what we have heard at the gathering.

9:40 AM Stretch Break (5 min)

9:45 AM Final considerations & affirmations on CCT Statement on Immigration Omni D
Lead by Rev. Carlos L Malavé
Final Business Session
Election of at-large Steering Committee members
Other business

11:00 AM Break

11:15 AM Worship: African American Family Omni D
Commissioning Prayer and Closing of Annual Meeting

Noon......Safe travels!







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What Did Hillary Accomplish as Secretary of State?

January 29, 2013


HILLARY WAS A GREAT AMBASSADOR, NOT A GREAT SECRETARY OF STATE

Posted by John Cassidy




Having stopped off in a hundred and twelve countries during her four years as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, in her last week in office, seems intent on visiting almost as many televisions studios. At the weekend, she did “60 Minutes” on CBS. Today, she will be on ABC, NBC, CNN, and Fox. Tomorrow, it’s the BBC. If you are a news producer at CNBC, Bloomberg, New York 1, or the Weather Channel, give the State Department a call. As far as I know, Thursday and Friday are still open.

O.K., O.K., all you Hillary fans. I’m just being flippant. We all know that once she decides to do something, she gives it her all, and this is probably just another case of the Wellesley-Yale standout overdoing things. And, perhaps, after playing the role of the dancing monkey to President Obama’s organ grinder during the interview with Steve Kroft, she is eager to speak for herself about her record, without the boss looking over her shoulder.

That would be understandable. Still, in view of all the publicity she is receiving, and her elevated approval rating—sixty nine per cent in the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll—a nagging question remains: What has she really achieved?

During the joint “60 Minutes” interview, Obama said, “I think she will go down as one of the finest Secretary of States we’ve had.”  But while he praised Hillary’s stamina, her professionalism, and her teamwork, the President was a bit short on specific achievements that could be put down to her efforts. Asked by Steve Kroft about the biggest foreign-policy successes of his first term, he mentioned ending the war in Iraq, drawing down U.S. forces in Afghanistan, and dismantling the leadership of Al Qaeda, adding, “That’s all a consequence of the great work that Hillary did and her team did, and the State Department did, in conjunction with our national-security team.”

Fair enough. But it’s no secret that the Administration’s policies on Iraq, Afghanistan, and counterterrorism were conceived and managed in the White House. In foreign-policy circles, the knock on Hillary is that, unlike some of her storied predecessors—John Quincy Adams, George C. Marshall, Dean Acheson, Henry Kissinger—she failed to carve out a historically significant role for herself. “There’s no question that Clinton has been terrifically energetic, as well as a loyal team player,” Stephen Walt, a professor of international relations at Harvard, wrote last July, shortly after a profile in the Times Magazine referred to Hillary as a “rock star diplomat.” “The problem, however, is that she’s hardly racked up any major achievements… She played little role in extricating us from Iraq, and it is hard to see her fingerprints on the U.S. approach to Afghanistan. She has done her best to smooth the troubled relationship with Pakistan, but anti-Americanism remains endemic in that country and it hardly looks like a success story at this point… She certainly helped get tougher sanctions on Iran, but the danger of war still looms and there’s been no breakthrough there either.”

Other experts agree. “She’s coming away with a stellar reputation that seems to have put her almost above criticism,” Aaron David Miller, a former diplomat peace negotiator, said to Paul Richter, of the Los Angeles Times. “But you can’t say that she’s really led on any of the big issues for this administration or made a major mark on high strategy.” A former diplomat who served in the Obama Administration told Richter, “If you go down the line, it’s tough to see what’s happened in world politics over the last four years that wouldn’t have happened without her. So, it’s tough to see how she gets into that category of truly great, transformational secretaries, like Acheson and Marshall.”

It’s hard to quibble with that assessment. Marshall gave his name to an economic-recovery plan for war-torn Europe. Acheson laid down the Cold War policy of containment and helped create NATO. Adams helped conceive the Monroe Doctrine, which defined Central and South America as part of the U.S. sphere of influence. Kissinger pioneered détente with the Soviets, instigated a rapprochement with the Chinese, and did much else besides (by no means all of it estimable). By contrast, Hillary’s signature achievements look like small beer. She was the public face of the U.S. response to the Arab Spring, which involved persuading Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian President, to step aside peaceably, winning international support for U.S. military intervention in Libya, and resisting international pressure for similar action in Syria. How these policies will ultimately play out, it is too early to say.

The Benghazi killings and their aftermath, for which she has taken responsibility while insisting that more lowly officials made the key decisions, or pieces of indecision, were the most controversial incident of her tenure. The most serious gap in her record, and the record of the Administration, is any serious attempt to tackle the Arab-Israeli conflict—but there, too, the White House held sway. The fact that Hillary didn’t bring peace to Palestine, or redefine the relationship between the United States and China, doesn’t mean she was a failure. Far from it. In carrying out the task she was allotted, she was a big success. It’s just that the nature of her job was very different from the ones that Acheson and Kissinger held. In reality, she wasn’t directing American foreign policy, or anything close. At times, she wasn’t even the Administration’s chief troubleshooter—a niche occupied by a series of special envoys: Richard Holbrooke, George Mitchell, and Dennis Ross. The post she really had was that of U.S. Ambassador to the world, and she made a pretty good fist of it.

In the “60 Minutes” interview, President Obama was surprisingly explicit about how he conceived of Hillary’s role. Referring back to late 2008, he said, “She also was already a world figure. And I thought that somebody stepping into that position of Secretary of State at a time when, keep in mind, we were still in Iraq. Afghanistan was still an enormous challenge. There was great uncertainty in terms of how we would reset our relations around the world. To have somebody who could serve as that effective ambassador in her own right without having to earn her stripes, so to speak, on the international stage, I thought would be hugely important.”

As a globe-trotting representative for the United States, Hillary has had few equals. According to the Travels With the Secretary page on the State Department’s Web site, she has logged 2081.21 hours on the road—not 2081.20, mind you—and clocked up 956,733 miles on the federal frequent-flyer program. In total, she was traveling for four hundred and one days—more than thirteen months—enduring hundreds of long flights and sitting through countless boring meetings. How far this crazy schedule contributed to her recent illness can only be speculated upon—after contracting a stomach virus in Europe, she fell and suffered a concussion that led to a blood clot—but nobody can ever fault her work ethic.

As well as adhering to Woody Allen’s motto that ninety per cent of life is showing up, she also delivered a distinctive message. While it hardly added up to a full-blown “Clinton Doctrine,” it did present a different and more inclusive image of America than the one conveyed by G.I. fatigues and drone missile attacks. Throughout her tenure, she was a vocal proponent of female empowerment, gay rights, and equitable economic development in poor countries. She also defended freedom of expression. Perhaps her most memorable moment was helping to secure the freedom of Chen Guangcheng, the Chinese dissident, who is now a scholar in residence at N.Y.U.

Doubtless, these actions by themselves, were insufficient to drastically change how the world sees the United States. According to polling data from the Pew Foundation, since 2009, shortly after Obama’s election, the number of people holding favorable views of the United States has fallen modestly in China, Europe, and Muslim countries. Even now, though, the Pew survey shows, America is more popular in Europe and Asia than it was at the end of the Bush Administration. (In Pakistan and parts of the Middle East it is less popular.)

Hillary didn’t create these trends, but she did her part for Team U.S.A. As a “rock star diplomat,” she toured tirelessly and put on good shows. Since that’s what she was hired to do, it seems a bit unfair to judge her too harshly.

Photograph: Theron Kirkman-Pool/Getty

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