Thursday, August 22, 2013

Opus Dei and Jesuits

Opus Dei : A Dialogue Between Friend and Foe 


ADDENDUM: OPUS OBEDIENCE IS JESUIT OBEDIENCE (and also "openness of conscience" to the superior)


I hope to show here that there's no substantial difference between those 2 conceptions of religious obedience and so that you cannot avoid the conclusion that classical Jesuits are Fascists (It's obvious if we follow your FAQ at "6.2 Liberty"). Still more, If you read The Way 614-629 on Obedience, you'll see that it goes LESS FAR than St Ignatius, who's talking, YES, and explicitly, of BLIND OBEDIENCE.
True, those are only principles, and they don't prove that in practice misuses don't occur, or that the practice of Opus is not different from that of Ignatius. But for the moment you were talking about principles....

First, here's a cut of our exchange:

LUKE
it is very common among classical Jesuits to talk about the "surrender of one's own will" and to see the will of the Father superior as the will of God, not in all instances perhaps, but as an ascetic technique for self-detachment.

HOMEPAGE
>i can understand how that kind of obedience can help to increase spirituality. but it is a dangerous thing.. especially when it becomes a principle that they want to apply to society as a whole.

maybe i cut&paste a piece i have written about "obedience" to another person here:
>obedience is a difficult topic. on order to investigate its usefulness to society i tried to discuss it with an other person.. here is what i wrote to him:

when we talk about obedience than we have to distinguish between several forms of obedience.
first we can distinguish it by the target that is subject of the obedience.

there is

*) outward obedience. but you would still have your free will and would be able to think what you want...

*) intellectual & spiritual obedience. you would be obedient in what you believe and think. you would be obedient even if you know something is wrong because you do not have to "know" something yourself. you accept that your leader knows better than you..

then we can distinguish between a temporary obedience and a permanent obedience.

then we can distinguish between normal obedience and blind obedience. blind obedience is when you either thrust your leader so much that you do not question his commandments or if you are in a position where you have not enough information so that you could judge about a commandment.

finally it is important to also see by whom the obedience is demanded: a leader, a spiritual director, God, your conscience, the law, etc..


well, so much for the definition of terminology. the obedience that the opus dei demands in in this diction an obedience that is both outward and intellectual & spiritual side (with an emphasis on the i& s side). it is a permanent and most of all a blind obedience. they tell people that the obedience is demanded by God, but the leaders of the opus dei take out the right for themselves to decide what the will of God is and to demand obedience in his name. so the primary leader is the opus dei and not God.

now for the big questions: is obedience founded in the scripture? in other catholic orders? if yes: what type of obedience? (according to the above terminology) to whom is the obedience directed? etc..etc.. well i hope you people have answers to some of it. iwould especially be interested in how you think about the kind of obedience the opus dei demands.

my own view about that topic goes like this:
when we look at the kind of obedience that is demanded by other orders than i think (i am not an expert here) it is mostly outward obedience. (you have a strict plan on how you have to spend your day in the monastery, are not allowed to talk at certain hours etc etc.. but you are completely free in your mind). i guess this kind of outward obedience might help some people to develop more freedom on their inside and help them in spiritual growth.
you may argue that this obedience was a worldly one and that obedience to the church is different. well, if people would have been disobedient to the pope than maybe we would not have had the crusades or the burning of witches... etc..
the only "permanent blind intellectual & spiritual obedience" that you can sell me is if it is obedience to God. as long as there is no one that has the right to tell me what God wants from me but scripture and most of all conscience.
___


LUKE
--The Jesuit obedience is internal, permanent and blind. Before Opus, it was the only order like this, cause obedience is the center of their constitution, simply because, like Opus, It's an ACTIVE, apostolic order. So obedience comes from PRACTICAL purposes.

Those are quotations of 2 books by serious Jesuits:

- for him, the "elimination of the inapts" candidates was an essential part of government of the company

- One saw in him the soldier of God (...). Military man, Ignatius, they say, has created an army, with more or less secret instructions, with strict discipline (...) waging war to Satan

- War imagery (...) in the Spiritual Exercices all times.


- After the soldier has been recruited by taking the miliraty oath, has joined his commander camp and courageously decided to win a victory over the enemy, he must now begin to fight.

- a human group linked like that (...)by absolute obedience - that order uttered in Rome by the black pope being blindly followed everywhere, is likely to become powerful, if not glorious.

- this renouncement to one's own will , which is found in all mystical experiences...

- "complete indifference" is end of any asceticism of the will...
His disciple must not have any other inclination than to obey

- absolute obedience (...) do the sacrifice of they liberty in the hands of the Society Superiors.

- "The mind must be directed towards God (...) for the love of whom we obey to a man (...). All the energies must be put on that virtue, that is obedience, toward first the Pope, then to the Superior of the order (...). Everybody, on a word of the leader , as if it were from Christ himself (...) will renounce any occupation, even to write an alphabet letter that he has begun to write(...). All orders must be good to us . For our part we will renounce all other way to see things and all other opinion, in a kind of BLIND OBEDIENCE , and that in all what is not a sin. Everybody must be convinced that anybody who live in obedience must let himself be guided and lead by divine Providence, through his superiors, as if he was a corpse which we can move everywhere and treat in any way , or as if he was an old man's stick which is useful everywhere and for whatever purpose(...)
One must see Christ in him "
(CONSTITUTIONS)

- the corpse image comes from St Francis, who received it from an ancient tradition
(...)
it is necessary that the subordinate love the order and that he understand and approve it.
the duty of the subordinate, all explanations having been made, is to obey: he will put the issue in the hands of the Lord.

- The expression Jesuit General is liked by those who see in the society a powerful and disciplined army (...)
The General (...) is a monarch . The fact that this monarchy is elective must not give illusions: (...)the electorate is not elected but designated by the General

- The society organization looks heavily centralised. Nothing is outside the General's control. . From top to bottom a unique power is manifesting, through intermediaries , its sovereign authority.
This elective monarchy can become all-powerful only by relying on an aristocracy , that of the apti ad gubernationem.

- St Ignatius was of a very quick temper

-

- the essential point, the fundamental consideration, in the ignatian doctrine of obedience, is that the superior is the interpret of the divine will(...)
"But for the purity and perfection of obedience, for the true renouncement to our will and the self-denial of our judgment , I want earnestly (...) that those in this society distinguish themselves from others"

- he is very rigorous with some (...); that happen mostly when some don't want to obey or abandon one's own judgment against what is ordered

- "Perfect obedience to superiors, who hold the place of Christ..."

- Ignatius taught that obedience is an offering of all one's being : behavior , will , intellect ; an holocaust
- "If you want to remember that Master Salmeron is in authority and that God (...) is cooperating with him by a more special light (...) you will conclude that your own judgment may more easily be in error than his and that it is preferable, after having explained yourself, to submit your judgment to his"
... This doctrine is completely natural. If the subordinate must (...) obey to the authority's decisions, it is normal that the divine wisdom assist the superior by special graces.


- We must believe (...) that divine wisdom will guide all superiors for the best


- "A prudence of a lesser degree in the superior (...) is not a reason for disobedience (...) because he represent the person who is the infallible wisdom, and that one will compensate for what is lacking in his minister"

- When we enter the society, "one must put everything in to the hands of the superior, as the one who's taking place of Christ"

-
The representation of the subordinate must not be seen from a governmental point of view, but on the level of inspiration
"It seems to me that obedience want to be BLIND . I call it BLIND in 2 ways: the first one, that is the inferior -where there's no sin - must submit his judgment and follow the order given; the second one, that is the inferior (...) must tell with humility to the superior reasons against the order or inconveniences (...), without being attracted to one party or the other, so that "
"Once that indifference is present in the candidates , must consider the talents and natural inclination, when he will distribute the responsibilities"
"It is important to the utmost that the subordinates be entirely known from the superiors"
To this end, he has instituted what he calls the account of conscience. This (...) ask everybody to tell the superior, at set times , what concern their INNER and exterior life


- " open his conscience to the superior with a lot of humility, sincerity and charity (...);he will not hide anything concerning himself"
The practice of the account of conscience is in direct link with religious obedience(...)
In the account of conscience, obedience is able to deploy itself in an ideal fashion

- thus the account of conscience is the meeting of 2 charities, inside 2 submissions: that of the subordinate to his leader, that of the superior to divine will over the subordinate and the society

+++



--Isn't that impressive? I have 2 other facts to add. Like opus, Society of Jesus has grades: brothers, and above all 2 level of priests: professed (profes) and coadjutors, of which only professed can be superiors. Opus has 3 levels of membership, plus cooperators.

The last fact is that Jesuits were always the target of the same kind of attacks than Opus: Glick, Foreword to Estruch p. XV:
"secretiveness, greed for corporate wealth and power, elitism, and propensity for manipulation".

Isn't it interesting? That alone is not a proof, but at the very least it casts suspicion about the criticisms.


Now, some comments about obedience. In both cases it is rooted in faith, and supernatural; being a member implies that you think that God is there whatever the superior may be. The constitutions are approved, so it`s a part of the church, and everybody is free to follow this vocation, as a part of the tradition (no need of it being explicitly in the scriptures, for a catholic).
In both cases there are some external checks against abuse: scriptures, catechism, papal teachings, the pope himself, who can eliminate Opus. There are internal checks: consultations, written books, explanations with superiors (I think we can see it, or deduce it from Tapia's experience).
Now, differences: Jesuits didn't recruit the same way, but nevertheless were doing recruiting; as you know, the ignatian exercices are highly motivational, and you have to choose your vocation, and there is hell possibly at the end of life, etc... A lot of psychology in those 7 or 30 days in silence... Exercices were proposed to young men just at the end of high school...
Before final vows, a Jesuit wait and study 10 years, so he knows exactly what it's all about when he surrender his liberty. For Opus, it is 5-6 years, but there is no vows, just contracts.
The most important thing is that Opus is for lay people, and from that come the problems; it seems that the conflict, or the difference between the inside and the outside is much more acute, because members are in the lay world, with, let's say, all the temptations, all the objections or ideas, all other people. A good guess would be that they need a reinforced defense system, more than Jesuits do. And so when a clash arises between the inside and the outside of opus in a candidate's mind, there's a strong perception of the will being forced. It's just an hypothesis that i'm giving you here.
You can well say that opus use authority in a different and bad way. We have to check that. But from the texts one can see that St Ignatius obedience was more Fascist. So if we keep the word, we must distinguish between good and bad fascism. Or each time we use "fascist" we must add the Jesuits and Ignatius. And if somebody doesn't do so, we must suspect there are hidden reasons for this...

In "short", this is my argument is this addendum.

Better would be to address the only real issue, beyond "fascism" and "reaction": just say that they are over-authoritarian and that authority is misused. Then we will have to address the real facts and their interpretations. But then the question remains: are the Jesuits over-authoritarian? I'm afraid the answer is not as easy as you may have thought first...

Last word: your last paragraph is incomplete: your must add holy tradition, that is dogmatic doctrine, and scriptures as interpreted by the church and his authentic magisterium. I agree, however, that all depends on the word "Blind". Our strict obedience is not the same as the blind obedience that is a particular Jesuistic-opusian thing.
You're right, obedience to supernatural church is different than that to state, because state matters are much more contingent. Crusades and heresy crimes punished by prison or death have few things to do with faith matters, since they concern political defense of some territories and relations between criminal law, canon law, and common good in this or that historical circumstances. Opus obedience seems at first sight 90% spiritual.
 


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The constitutions of the Jesuits



Aug 10 2013 | PDS |




"The ravens have ascended to the nests of the nightingales." ` Persian Proverb: Tempore patet Occulta malum…Exsecrabile vaticinium. (Time brings to light hidden evil…The cursed prophecy, come true").

"Cannot discover," wrote the French famous lawyer la Chalotais, -himself educated by the Jesuits- "that the Constitutions of the Jesuits have ever been seen or examined by any tribunal whatsoever, secular or ecclesiastic; by any sovereign – not even by the Court of Chancery of Prague, when permission was asked to print them….. They have taken all sorts of precautions to keep them a secret." {Report on the Constitutions of the Jesuits}.

The most well-known Jesuit motto is Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam.{Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam (A.M.D.G.)} This phrase one Jesuit says recurs some 259 times in the constitutions penned by Loyola. {James Brodrick, S. J., The Origin of the Jesuits}. Another Jesuit, the biographer of Ignatius Loyola, Dominique Bouhours, called the Constitutions a revelation from God, and an "inspiration of the Holy Spirit." Thus, the Constitutions came to be seen by the Jesuits as having absolute authority over every member of the Order. This secret document is, in a manner of speaking, the Mission Statement of the Society of Jesus.

But now, reader, suppose we were to ask them to see these Constitutions, to look inside? They will not produce it. In Regulae Societatis Jesu, vol. 2, 1827, paragraph 26 we read: "No one can tell to persons outside what is done or to be done in the house [the noviatel]; nobody can show them the Constitutions or other documents of that kind, or any other written material about the Rules or Privileges of the Society without permission by the Superior."

Thankfully, we now know what it contains. And what principles do we find therein? What Godly virtues do they contain? Dear reader, of this monstrousity of the Jesuits none should be ignorant. It was aptly described by the French Parliament as a "Collection of 'dangerous and pernicious' teachings and precepts taught by the Jesuits with the approbation of their Superiors," and of every pope since 1540.

The Constitutions provide for a highly centralised form of authority with life tenure for the head of the Order, who the Jesuits call the 'Grey Eminence,' or the "Black Pope." Hence the Jesuits are referred to as the "Black Militia" – for reasons that will soon become apparent. The Constitutions places particular emphasis on the virtues of obedience to Superiors, and special obedience to the pope. One of its cardinal motto (as given by Ignatius) is perinde acsi cadaver esset – "to have no mind of one's own, but to be like a dead body" in the service, of the General – or "Black Pope." {Jean Lacouture, Jesuits: A Multibiography}.

William Russell writes, the Jesuits are, "as chosen soldiers [of the pope]… under the command of a general…this general or head of the order was invested with despotic authority over its members…" and he adds, they are, "required [by the Constitutions and the Secreta Monita] to attend to the transactions of the great of the world, to study the dispositions of persons in power, and to cultivate their friendship." {M. de Monclar}.

Like the Monita, the Constitutions require "Every Jesuit" "to regard the interest of the order as his principal object, to which all other considerations were to be sacrificed… as it was for the honour and advantage of the society [i.e. the Order], that its members should possess as ascendant over persons of rank and power…{M. de Monclar}. James Brodrick comments, "in the Constitutions of his Order, St. Ignatius laid it down that each of his sons {The sons of Loyola} ought to" have "a keen eye for the unconsidered trifles of life." {James Brodrick}.

The Constitutions gave the General immense power. The French lawyer La Chalotais gives us insight into the ultra-fascist nature of the Society of Jesus and the power of its General: "The General of the Jesuit Order is invested with control over every aspect of the government and regulation of the colleges of the society. From his orders there is no appeal – not even the Pope himself can rescind the General's interdict. Not only is he able to release from vows, he is also empowered to examine, by every means, into the consciences of the members of the society. In Short, the General is the Society." {Chalotais}.

To ensure utmost secrecy, the Constitutions of the Sons of Loyola direct that the provincials and superiors shall write to the society's General in cipher. "Such precautions" being "taken against enemies," says the French lawyer M. de La Chalotais. Who are their "enemies," and why the need to write in cipher?

Before sketching in outline – which is all that space would allow-of how the Constitutions came to be discovered by their "enemies," it is instructive to read the words of an impartial commentator. Referring to these sons of Ignatius Loyola, Professor S.F.B. Morse wrote:

And who are these agents? They are …the…Jesuits, an ecclesiastical order proverbial through the world for cunning, duplicity, and total want of moral principle: an order so skilled in all the arts of deception that even in Catholic countries, in Italy itself, it became intolerable…{Samuel Morse}.

Why did Professor Morse-famous inventor of Morse code, and a close friend of President Lincoln-speak so balefully of the Jesuits? To answer this question we must return to the cause of Father La Valette's undoing- the aforementioned French lawsuit against the Jesuits.

As stated earlier, Jesuit Father Père Antoine La Valetter had borrowed heavily from businessmen in France but his ambitious commercial venture failed at sea. Being unable to pay the debt he had incurred, La Valette's creditors sued him and the Jesuit order in the French courts, and won. Their victory, some would say, was an act of God-Digitus Dei {the finger of God} – in that, the wide-ranging geo-political plans of the Society of Jesus were, for the first time, brought before the eyes of men. Now the world had some light and proof of the true purpose of this Great Secret Society. All of France was stunned! The reputation of the Society was left in tatters, destroyed; the Jesuits were brought to disgrace and lost their case.

But watch closely how this drama unfolded. Having lost the argument in the provincial court in the Paris lawsuit, of 1760, the lawyer for the Society of Jesus appealed to the French Parliament. After much argument back and forth, the Jesuits having made several pleas-all of which they were later forced to abandon as hopeless-they prayed in aid one final desperate defence: that the Order could not be held liable for La Valette's actions, as he was a 'renegade,' because, according to the defence, all Jesuits were positively prohibited from engaging in commercial ventures. In this they committed a most serious blunder- they made reference to their Constitutions as the source of this prohibition.
 
 
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EndrTimes


Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Syrian army blamed as hundreds die in chemical weapons attacks


From: The Australian
August 22, 2013 12:00AM




Syrians inspect victims of the chemical attacks. Picture: AFP Source: AFP



MORE than 1000 people were killed yesterday when the Syrian army reportedly bombarded Damascus suburbs with chemical weapons, sparking opposition declarations of a "massacre" and calls for international intervention.

The claim, which could not be independently verified, was vehemently denied by the Syrian regime, saying it was intended to hinder the mission of UN chemical weapons inspectors now in the country.

Video footage showed medics attending to suffocating children and hospitals being overwhelmed. The opposition Syrian National Coalition said last night: "Over 650 confirmed dead result of deadly chemical weapon attack in Syria."

Later reports put the death toll at more than 1000.

French President Francois Hollande called on UN inspectors to examine the site of the alleged attack outside Damascus. During a cabinet session, Mr Hollande "announced his intention to ask the UN to visit the site of the attack and to proceed with an investigation so that all light can be shed" on the incident, a government spokeswoman, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, said yesterday.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said his country would refer the opposition charges of a massive chemical weapons strike to the UN Security Council.

He was "deeply concerned" by the reports and said if they were proved, they would mark a "shocking escalation" in Syria's war, which the UN says has claimed more than 100,000 lives in 29 months.

The war has morphed from a protest movement demanding Bashar al-Assad's fall into a complex civil war. Violence has been so fierce in recent days that about 30,000 Syrians, mostly Kurds, have fled to neighbouring Iraq, the UN said on Monday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, said at least 100 people were killed in yesterday's air raids and shelling that struck several rebel areas east and southwest of Damascus.

"This figure will surely go up," said the Observatory, which gathers its information from activists and medics.

"The raids and bombardment are continuing."

It did not comment on the allegations that the army had used chemical arms in its assault on the densely populated Ghouta suburbs, where rebels have been holding out against government forces.

State news agency Sana said: "Reports on the use of chemical weapons in Ghouta are totally false. It's an attempt to prevent the UN commission of inquiry from carrying out its mission."

The Syrian army said: "These allegations by the terrorist groups and the satellite channels that support them are just a desperate bid to conceal their failures on the battlefield and reflect the state of hysteria and collapse that these (rebel) groups are in.

"The army will continue on its national mission, by facing terrorism across Syrian territory ... to protect the nation from these armed terrorist groups," the army added, in reference to the regime's bid to crush the rebellion.

Throughout the morning, activists reported chemical attacks in several rebel areas east and southwest of Damascus.

The Local Co-ordination Committees, a network of activists, reported hundreds of casualties in the "brutal use of toxic gas by the criminal regime".

In videos posted on YouTube, the Syrian Revolution General Commission, another activist group, showed what it called "a terrible massacre committed by regime forces with toxic gas."

The attack "led to suffocation of the children and overcrowding of field hospitals with hundreds of casualties amid extreme shortage of medical supplies to rescue the victims, particularly Atropine," the LCC said.

Eastern Ghouta "was also shelled by warplanes following the chemical attack that is still ongoing, which led to hundreds of casualties and victims, among them entire families," it said. In one video, children are seen being given first aid in a field hospital, notably oxygen to help them breathe. Doctors appear to be trying to resuscitate unconscious children, who showed no signs of bleeding.

A nurse at a Duma medical facility, Bayan Baker, told Reuters: "Many of the casualties are women and children. They arrived with their pupils dilated, cold limbs and foam in their mouths."

Activist Abu Jihad said: "People working in the field hospital are overwhelmed and unable to do anything for the wounded. There is a severe lack of medicines. The wounded are being treated using water and onions. This regime considers children in liberated areas to be its enemies."

Footage showed dozens of people laid out on the ground, among them many children, some of them covered in white sheets. "Genocide! Genocide in the town of Moadamiyet al-Sham (southwest of Damascus) using chemical weapons," cries the man behind the camera. His voice trembling with fear, he adds: "Where are my parents? Where is my father? My mother?"

The authenticity of the videos could not immediately be verified.

In July last year, the Syrian government implicitly admitted that it had stockpiles of chemical weapons. Experts believe these consist of mustard gas and sarin nerve agent.

Syria's rebels called for an urgent UN Security Council meeting.

"I call on the Security Council to convene urgently," coalition leader Ahmad Jarba told Al-Arabiya television, condemning what he called a massacre.

Saudi Arabia urged the UN Security Council and EU ministers to immediately address Syria's "massacre".

"It is time for the UN Security Council to assume responsibility ... by convening immediately to reach a clear deterrent decision that ends the humanitarian tragedy," said Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal. "We ask EU foreign ministers meeting today in Brussels (to discuss the Egyptian crisis) to have this humanitarian catastrophe as the main topic of their talks."

UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon insisted on Monday that the inspectors be granted unrestricted access to Syrian sites.

"In order to credibly establish the facts, the mission must have full access to the sites of the alleged incidents," Mr Ban said.

Al-Watan newspaper said the government had "pledged to cooperate and facilitate the work" of the UN inspectors, who launched their mission on Tuesday.

There have been frequent claims by anti-regime activists of the alleged use of chemical weapons by the army, particularly in Damascus province and Homs.

AFP


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Warren Buffett Interviews Henry Paulson on the Collapse of the Global Financial System (2010)





The Film Archives

Published on Jul 23, 2013


Paulson, acting as U.S. Treasury Secretary, caused outcries from both the Republican and Democratic Parties as well as the general populace as he tried to get the situation under control.

Through unprecedented intervention by the U.S. Treasury, Paulson led government efforts which he said were aimed at avoiding a severe economic slowdown. After the Dow Jones dropped 30% and turmoil ensued in the global markets, Paulson pushed through legislation authorizing the Treasury to use $700 billion to stabilize the financial system. Working with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, he influenced the decision to create a credit facility (bridge loan and warrants) of US$85 billion to American International Group so it would avoid filing bankruptcy, after having been told that AIG held teacher pension plans, 401k plans, $1.5 trillion in life insurance plans for Americans, and the French Finance Minister called to let Paulson know that AIG held the interests of many Eurozone countries.

On September 19, 2008, Paulson called for the U.S. government to use hundreds of billions of Treasury dollars to help financial firms clean up nonperforming mortgages threatening the liquidity of those firms. Because of his leadership and public appearances on this issue, the press labeled these measures the "Paulson financial rescue plan" or simply the Paulson Plan.

With the passage of H.R. 1424, Paulson became the manager of the United States Emergency Economic Stabilization fund.

As Treasury Secretary, he also sat on the newly established Financial Stability Oversight Board that oversaw the Troubled Assets Relief Program.

Paulson agreed with Bernanke that the only way to unlock the frozen capital markets was to provide direct injections into financial institutions so investors would have confidence in these institutions. The government would take a non-voting share position, with 5% dividends for the first year on the money lent to the banks and 9% thereafter until the banks stabilized and could repay the government loans. According to the book Too Big To Fail, Paulson, Bernanke, New York Federal Reserve Chairman Timothy Geithner, and FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair attended the October 13, 2008 meeting on at which this plan was presented to the CEOs of nine major banks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hank_pau...


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NSA surveillance covers 75 percent of U.S. Internet traffic: WSJ






View Photo
A general view of the large former monitoring base of the U.S. intelligence organization …



(Reuters) - The National Security Agency's surveillance network has the capacity to reach around 75 percent of all U.S. Internet communications in the hunt for foreign intelligence, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

Citing current and former NSA officials, the newspaper said the 75 percent coverage is more of Americans' Internet communications than officials have publicly disclosed.

The Journal said the agency keeps the content of some emails sent between U.S. citizens and also filters domestic phone calls made over the Internet.

The NSA's filtering, carried out with telecom companies, looks for communications that either originate or end abroad, or are entirely foreign but happen to be passing through the United States, the paper said.

But officials told the Journal the system's broad reach makes it more likely that purely domestic communications will be incidentally intercepted and collected in the hunt for foreign ones.

In response to a request for comment, NSA said its intelligence mission "is centered on defeating foreign adversaries who aim to harm the country. We defend the United States from such threats while fiercely working to protect the privacy rights of U.S. persons.

"It's not either/or. It's both," NSA said in an email statement to Reuters.

The Journal said that these surveillance programs show the NSA can track almost anything that happens online, so long as it is covered by a broad court order, the Journal said.

Edward Snowden, a former NSA contractor, first disclosed details of secret U.S. programs to monitor Americans' telephone and Internet traffic earlier this summer.

(Reporting by Michael Erman; Editing by Philip Barbara)


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Asylum-seekers made it less than half-way from Indonesia when boat began to sink



by: Paige Taylor
From: The Australian
August 21, 2013 12:00AM



TRAUMATISED survivors of another fatal asylum boat journey will be delivered to Christmas Island this morning after being rescued by the Australian navy in the third tragedy at sea in five weeks.

The 106 survivors are due to be taken off HMAS Parramatta, the frigate that rescued them from their sunken vessel about 120 nautical miles north of the Australian territory. Up to five people are feared drowned.

The asylum-seekers had made it less than half-way from Indonesia when their boat began to sink. A search for five people the asylum-seekers said were unaccounted was called off last night. Navy officers in rigid inflatable boats rescued the 106 people from the sinking asylum vessel after somebody onboard phoned for help early yesterday saying two passengers were injured.

The Parramatta was more than six hours from the asylum vessel shortly after 5.30am (AEST) when the Australian Maritime Safety Authority received the phone call asking for help. At that time, there was no indication the vessel was stricken. The person who contacted AMSA indicated only that two people on board were injured and needed help, an AMSA spokeswoman said.

When the Customs and Border Protection Dash 8 aircraft arrived on the scene at 12:20pm, it sighted a "foundered vessel".

"The vessel was upright, but partially submerged. A number of people were sighted in the water," an AMSA statement said.

At 12:25pm, the Parramatta arrived and began pulling people out of the water. A merchant vessel was on the scene as well.

"After an extensive search of the area for further survivors or bodies, none have been sighted; it is therefore believed any people unaccounted for have gone down with part of the vessel," AMSA and Border Protection Command said in a joint media release at 6.38pm.

In two asylum boat tragedies north of Christmas Island last month, the vessels tipped over in rough conditions. Those two capsizes - one overnight on July 12-13 and another on July 16 - were also fatal.

In the first, officers from Customs Vessel Triton rescued 88 people with help from a merchant vessel. Rescuers also recovered the body of 10-week-old baby boy Abul Jafari from Afghanistan.

The July 16 capsize was closer to Christmas Island. The bodies of two men and two women were recovered. In that incident, officers from HMAS Warramunga and HMAS Albany rescued 144 people, including an eight-month-old baby Afghan girl found floating face down in the ocean and not breathing.

Her mother is missing presumably drowned. In that incident, the navy has confirmed an officer from the Warramunga spotted the girl, pulled her into a inflatable boat and revived her.

Those rescued yesterday are from the 40th boat to either arrive, be intercepted or rescued since Kevin Rudd announced his PNG Solution on July 19.


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Chasing the 'Brazilian dream,' migrants strain the country's immigration laws


An investigation this month found illegal immigrants from Haiti living in squalor in an overcrowded camp – highlighting Brazil's lack of policies for dealing with a growing issue.

By Janet Tappin Coelho, Correspondent / August 20, 2013




After making the journey from Port au Prince in Haiti to Brazil, illegal Haitian immigrants are housed in a make-shift shelter in Brasiléia, Acre state, in conditions criticized by a human rights organization, June 1, 2013.
Janet Tappin Coelho






Rio de Janeiro


As Brazil rushes to prepare for next year's World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, it is facing another unexpected pressure: rising illegal immigration, spurred by the growing perception of the country as a land of opportunity.

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Putting a spotlight on the problem are hundreds of Haitians being trafficked illegally into the country. Since a massive 2010 earthquake upended many of their lives, around 10,000 undocumented Haitians have surged into Brazil, with 4,000 alone arriving in Brasiléia, in Acre State, over the past seven months. Every day, 40 more arrive.

But Brazil's response has been chaotic. A three-day investigation earlier this month into the conditions at a refugee camp in Brasiléia by Conectas, a São Paulo-based human rights organization, revealed that more than 830 immigrants – mostly Haitians and including some 20 unaccompanied children – are living in a makeshift shelter built for 200 people.

Conditions are unsanitary: The refugees share 10 toilets and eight showers, while 90 percent are suffering from diarrhea and 10 percent from respiratory diseases. Three taps provide drinking water and migrants complain daily about the quality of the food. Every day the local hospital sees around 10 Haitian patients with stomach complaints.

“What we found was unhealthy and inhumane,” says Conectas spokesman João Charleaux. “The site has open running sewage, with the latrine area flooded by fetid water and the Haitians stacked on top of each other at night, sleeping on pieces of foam mats in the middle of bags, shoes, and personal belongings in the scorching heat. Many have spent months in this condition."

Broadly speaking, Brazil appears genuinely willing to admit undocumented people into its borders. But so far, its approach of issuing humanitarian visas to Haitians even if they arrive illegally undermines its stated commitment to combat human trafficking. Critics say that as the country's international profile and prosperity rises, it must ensure that its immigration policies are unequivocal and highly developed.

“Immigration here is being treated as a simple migration problem, which has resulted in an amateurish and uncoordinated approach, overloading the small municipality of Brasiléia and its population,” says Mr. Charleaux. “The situation should in fact be managed by specialists who understand complex humanitarian emergencies."

Brazil's struggle to cope with the influx of migrants is the flip side to an economic boom that has created growth, employment, and stability over the past 10 years, says Eurasia Group Latin America analyst João de Castro Neves.

“In the past, Brazil has been used to exporting its citizens abroad. Now it’s facing a new scenario. With the upcoming World Cup and Olympics creating job demands, Brazil is beginning to be seen as a land of opportunity, just like how the United States became an illegal immigrant magnet when it had a healthy economy,” says Mr. Castro Neves.

“It’s inevitable that Brazil will now start to attract illegal aliens, too. The problem is, Brazil doesn’t have an overarching legal framework or the infrastructure in place to deal with this new phenomenon,” he adds.
Chasing the 'Brazilian dream'

Osanto George, a 19-year-old high school graduate who arrived in Brasiléia last month, is bitterly disappointed that he gave up an internship in information technology in Haiti to chase the “Brazilian dream.”

"The conditions here are not fit for human beings,” Mr. George says.

“We might as well be back in Haiti with the earthquake. It’s the same dirt, the same type of shelter, unhygienic water, and unhealthy food. It hurts me and scares me," he says. "I knew the way here would be hard, because you're dealing with criminals, but to get here in Brazil and to end up in such a place is unbelievable."

Like others, George paid more than $4,000 to a criminal gang known as "coyotes" to smuggle him into Brazil. The path he took was tortuous and risky. Reports of robberies and assaults are rife, as the journey passes through several countries, including the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia, and often through the Amazon jungle.

But George is still likely to be given a humanitarian visa. Even though Brazil – from the beginning of 2012 until April of this year – insisted on capping the number of visas issued to 100 per month for Haitians, the government still held to a policy of not discriminating against undocumented Haitians. Nearly all who entered illegally have obtained permits, with the right to work but no guarantee of a job.

In April, in a bid to simplify the system and to curb illegal immigration, the government lifted the restrictions on visas, announcing that Haitians could apply for permanent residency at the Brazilian embassy in Haiti's capital of Port au Prince.

The strategy is not working, however, as Conectas discovered following its inspection of the camp in Brasiléia. Increasing numbers of Haitians are still using illegal routes to enter Brazil, claiming the process of applying for the visa in Port au Prince is convoluted and slow.

While the government grapples to resolve this situation, illegal immigration in Brazil is nevertheless tiny in comparison with the United States. Brazilian census figures in 2010 put immigration at a minuscule 0.05 percent of the total population of 193.9 million. At the time, the figure for undocumented migrants was given as 600,000. In comparison, the Pew Hispanic Center in 2011 estimated that the number of illegal immigrants in the United States was around 11.5 million.

Even so, as a signatory to the United Nations protocol against the smuggling of migrants, Brazil is obliged to protect the rights of illegal immigrants and to shield them from the abuse of organized criminal gangs.

“Brazil could be held responsible for not providing adequate shelter for those who arrive here," says Pedro Kenne, an attorney for the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) for the State of Acre. "We cannot leave [the Haitians] in a situation as dire as the one they are currently left in.”


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Tuesday, August 20, 2013

When No Man Can Buy Or Sell - Steve Wohlberg





samkadya

Published on Oct 29, 2012

When No Man Can Buy Or Sell - Steve Wohlberg.

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Signing of a Memorandum of Understanding


Between Financial Intelligence Authority of the Holy See and Vatican City State with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the United States

Signing of a Memorandum of Understanding





The Financial Intelligence Authority of the Holy See and Vatican City State (Autorità di Informazione Finanziaria - AIF), signed a Memorandum of Understanding yesterday, 7 May, in Washington, D.C., with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), its U.S. counterpart at the U.S. Department of Treasury, to strengthen its efforts to fight money laundering and terrorism financing globally.

The Memorandum was signed by René Brülhart, Director of AIF, and Jennifer Shasky Calvery, director of FinCEN, and will foster bi-lateral cooperation in the exchange of financial information.

“This is a clear indication the Holy See and the Vatican City State take international responsibilities to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism very seriously, and that we are cooperating at the highest levels”, said Brülhart. “The Vatican has shown that it is a credible partner internationally and has made a clear commitment in the exchange of information in this fight”.

AIF was established in 2010 and became operational in April 2011. It is the competent authority of the Holy See and Vatican City State for financial intelligence and for supervision and regulation in the prevention and countering of money laundering and financing of terrorism.

AIF is currently in discussions with various Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) of other countries and jurisdictions, including European countries, about entering into Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) to strengthen bilateral cooperation to fight Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing.

Until now AIF has already signed MoUs with the FIUs of Belgium, Spain, Slovenia, and now of the U.S., which plays a leading role in combating money laundering.

AIF is currently in discussions with more than 20 other FIUs, and expects several MoUs to be signed in the course of the year.

May 9, 2013


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Obama Administration Mulled Ending Holy See Ambassadorship



Monday, 19 Aug 2013 03:32 PM

By John Gizzi



During the past year, the Obama administration strongly considered ending diplomatic relations with the Vatican as it pondered whether it should appoint a new envoy to the Holy See, Newsmax has learned.

The recent Obama nomination and Senate confirmation on August 1 of Ken Hackett as the new U.S. Ambassador has ended internal Obama administration debate on the matter.

"I have heard the rumors and I believe them to be true," Jim Nicholson, former U.S Ambassador to the Vatican under President George W. Bush, told Newsmax. "It wouldn't surprise me in the least if the Obama White House seriously discussed downgrading U.S. diplomatic relations with the Holy See, given the devalued view they clearly hold this relationship in." Special Report: Obama’s Assault on Religion — Click Here Now

"This administration does not want a strong Catholic Church, nor a strong relationship with it, as it sees the Church as an obstacle to its liberal social agenda," Nicholson said.

The Obama administration has been in conflict with the Roman Catholic Church on a host of issues ranging from Obamacare's contraceptive requirements for Catholic hospitals to the administration's strong stance in favor of abortion rights. After Obama's first ambassador, Miguel Diaz, resigned last year, President Barack Obama had difficulty identifying a nominee who would represent his administration, but at the same time would be acceptable to the Holy See, according to one source familiar with the selection.

Faced with finding such a candidate, the Obama administration considered closing its Vatican offices, and opening offices in the U.S.'s Rome embassy for a smaller office to deal with Catholic matters.

In the end, the Obama administration moved to select Hackett, whose choice has won strong applause from Catholic leaders of all political stripes.

Hackett is the retired president of Catholic Relief Services (CRS), one of the Church's largest social welfare organizations supported by the U.S. Catholic bishops. Hackett, a graduate of Boston College, also served in the Peace Corps.

"I think Ken Hackett is an excellent choice," Thomas P. Melady, who was Ambassador to the Holy See under President George H.W. Bush, told Newsmax.

Melady, who is also a past president of Sacred Heart College in Connecticut, noted that prior to assuming the presidency of CRS in 1993, Hackett began his career with the group in Africa and oversaw its operations in East Africa during the Somali crisis in the late 1980s.

"The Holy See needs a good person and they've got one," Francis Rooney, George W. Bush's envoy to the Vatican, told the Catholic Standard, saying Hackett "is tremendously qualified to do the job, given his background with Catholic Relief Services."

Along with what he called "an excellent record" at CRS, Melady said that the nominee "knows the hierarchy at the Vatican well from his years [at CRS] and that is very important."

Since the U.S. extended full diplomatic recognition to the Holy See under President Ronald Reagan, U.S. ambassadors to the Vatican have always been practicing Catholics who accept the teachings of their church — even when they conflict with those of the administration in the White House.

Melady pointed out that the two ambassadors to the Vatican under Democratic President Bill Clinton — former Boston Mayor Ray Flynn and Rep. Lindy Boggs of Louisiana — were both strong abortion opponents and took stands that differed strongly with the stated policy of their party and Clinton himself.

The same was true of Diaz, President Obama's ambassador throughout his first term.

Because more than six months went from the time of Diaz's resignation and the naming of Hackett to succeed him, there were mounting rumors that the administration was having difficulty recruiting someone to represent it at the Holy See.

"As far as I know, while there was talk of many choices to be ambassador, there we
re no formal offers made before the White House went to Ken Hackett," Melady said.



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Obama asks for warrantless cellphone searches

 

LIFE WITH BIG BROTHER




Seeks permission from Supreme Court Published: 17 hours ago





(WASHINGTONPOST) — If the police arrest you, do they need a warrant to rifle through your cellphone? Courts have been split on the question. Last week the Obama administration asked the Supreme Court to resolve the issue and rule that the Fourth Amendment allows warrantless cellphone searches.

In 2007, the police arrested a Massachusetts man who appeared to be selling crack cocaine from his car. The cops seized his cellphone and noticed that it was receiving calls from “My House.” They opened the phone to determine the number for “My House.” That led them to the man’s home, where the police found drugs, cash and guns.

The defendant was convicted, but on appeal he argued that accessing the information on his cellphone without a warrant violated his Fourth Amendment rights. Earlier this year, the First Circuit Court of Appeals accepted the man’s argument, ruling that the police should have gotten a warrant before accessing any information on the man’s phone.


Read the full story ›


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Dear NSA and NYPD: If you watch us, we’re going to watch you.


Police the Police

By William Saletan
Posted Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2013, at 10:32 AM



Left: National Security Agency Director Gen. Keith Alexander at a symposium in Baltimore on June 27, 2013. Right: New York Police Department Commissioner Ray Kelly at a news conference on Aug. 12, 2013, in New York.

Photo illustration by Slate. Photos by Reuters.


Here’s a simple rule for any government agency that monitors or polices Americans: If you get to watch us, we get to watch you.

It’s a basic lesson of history and human nature: People are much more likely to behave badly when nobody’s watching. That’s why police patrol neighborhoods. It’s the rationale for New York City’s “stop, question, and frisk” policy. It’s also what led to the National Security Agency’s current surveillance programs. The Sept. 11 plotters used communications channels we weren’t monitoring adequately. Now the NSA is watching those channels.

NSA analysts and New York City cops are nothing like the thugs and terrorists they police. But they’re still people. They behave better when they’re monitored. And because they work for the government, with all its power, their misbehavior can become dangerous. The watchers must be watched.

The debates that have erupted in recent days—first over a federal court ruling that struck down parts of the stop-and-frisk policy, then over the Washington Post’s revelation of legal infractions by the NSA—are complex. There’s a good case to be made for allowing police to stop, question, and frisk people based a lower standard of suspicion than is needed for an arrest. There’s also a good case to be made for applying looser rules to the NSA’s collection of communications records than to its searches of those records. But one principle should be easy to accept: Both the NSA and the NYPD should be closely scrutinized by independent overseers who can make them suffer for exceeding their authority.

That’s what federal Judge Shira Scheindlin prescribed a week ago, when she found the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk methods unconstitutional. “The City’s highest officials have turned a blind eye to the evidence that officers are conducting stops in a racially discriminatory manner,” the judge concluded. To rein in this practice, she ordered “a trial program requiring the use of body-worn cameras in one precinct per borough, a community-based joint remedial process to be conducted by a court-appointed facilitator, and the appointment of an independent monitor to ensure that the NYPD’s conduct of stops and frisks is carried out in accordance with the Constitution.”

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly protested the oversight. “We have to give the members of our Police Department the tools they need to do their jobs without being micro-managed and second-guessed every day by a judge or a monitor,” said Bloomberg, borrowing the arguments of Dick Cheney. Putting tiny cameras on officers, as thousands of other police departments have done, “would be a nightmare,” Bloomberg asserted, since critics would just claim that the officers “deliberately chose an angle” or failed to capture the whole scene. On Sunday, Kelly went on three national talk shows to bash the judge’s decision. “The body camera issue opens up certainly more questions than answers,” he told Bob Schieffer. “When do you have the cameras on? When do you turn them off? Do you have it on during a domestic dispute? Do you have it on when somebody comes to give you confidential information?”

The NSA, like the NYPD, claims to be thoroughly supervised. An NSA spokeswoman says the agency reports all its mistakes “internally and to federal overseers.” But documents published by the Post show that the agency filters what it reports. The chief judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, when asked by the Post why the NSA used a new data collection method “for many months” before the FISC ruled it unconstitutional, explained that the court “is forced to rely upon the accuracy of the information that is provided” by the NSA. Dianne Feinstein, the Democratic chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, admits that the committee gets “some” information about compliance issues from the court and the NSA itself but “should do more to independently verify that NSA’s operations are appropriate, and its reports of compliance incidents are accurate.”

The public gets even less disclosure. More than two months ago, the Associated Press filed a Freedom of Information Act request to see the NSA’s vaunted “minimization procedures” for protecting Americans from inadvertent surveillance. The AP is still waiting for the documents. A few days ago, in a conference call with reporters, the NSA’s compliance director admitted the agency had experienced "a couple" of willful legal violations in the past decade but gave no details and declined to specify the number. Then, on Sunday, we saw this exchange between Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., and Fox News anchor John Roberts:

Roberts: You said that everything was self-reported by the NSA. The documents that were leaked at the end of last week clearly show that many of these violations were not appropriately reported, at least not to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, whose members also complain that they do not have the power to initiate investigations into noncompliance …

King: I'm on the Intelligence Committee. I am satisfied that we are told what the NSA is doing. …

Roberts: Did you know, Congressman King, all of what was reported at the end of the week?

King: It was all available. And there's nothing there that bothers me. Quite frankly, that shows that the system works.

In other words, the guy who’s supposed to supervise the NSA is satisfied that he’s being told enough, even though he didn’t know the full extent and nature of the compliance problems, which were apparently edited into reassuring summaries for the committee. That sounds a lot like the NYPD, which insists that court-ordered monitoring of its stop-and-frisk practices is unnecessary because its cops are already scrutinized by internal affairs, integrity-control officers, inspections units, quality-assurance personnel, and the Civilian Complaint Review Board.

Defenders of the NSA, like defenders of the NYPD, plead that their errors are largely inadvertent or well-intentioned. That’s a fair and important point. But their claims of adequate oversight are self-refuting. When you respond to evidence of infractions by telling us that everything you’re doing is OK and that you already have internal control mechanisms, that doesn’t show us the extent to which those mechanisms are working. It shows the extent to which they’re failing. It tells us you need better independent oversight.

Spare us the Cheney scare tactics. Appointing a civil liberties advocate to argue before the FISC won’t cripple national security. Nor will full reporting of compliance incidents to the FISC and the intelligence committees. Body cameras on cops won’t ruin policing, either. They’ve helped other police departments, vindicating accused officers and reducing misconduct complaints. When agents of the government are closely watched, compliance is verified, noncompliance is reduced, and citizens become more confident that our rights are being respected. Everybody wins.


Source
 Fuente
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Against Tech Solutions To Our Surveillance Problems



By JacobSloan on August 20, 2013





Via Wired, Jathan Sadowski writes that “tech hacks” to shield our own privacy shouldn’t be the answer we are looking for:


The notion of tech-centric solutionism: what tech hack, device, or app can I turn to for a quick fix to my privacy troubles? There’s no shortage of articles and how-to guides for securing privacy, with headlines promising “Five ways to stop the NSA from spying on you.”

Here’s the thing, though: We shouldn’t resolve ourselves to a life where cyber-hygiene and an obsession with technological solutions fools us into thinking we’ve somehow preserved our privacy.

It’s always going to be a losing battle when going against a panoptic titan whose methods are wide-reaching, constantly evolving, and classified. Just look at the fates of Lavabit and Silent Circle, the two email services that shuttered last week.

The fundamental belief in technology’s ability to “fix” everything ignores the fact that not everything needs to be fixed in the first place.



Read the rest

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Catholic Church in Egypt Release Statement on Violent Protests

Ibrahim Isaac Sidrak.jpg

Photo (Courtesy) Wikipedia


Patriarch Ibrahim Isaac States Situation is Not Political Struggle But a War on Terrorism


Cairo, August 19, 2013 (Zenit.org) Junno Arocho Esteves

The Patriarch of Alexandria of the Copts, Ibrahim Isaac released a statement today regarding the dire political situation occurring in Egypt. Violence erupted after Muslim Brotherhood supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi began killing and burning churches, schools and state institutions in protest.


Patriarch Isaac, who also serves as President of the Assembly of the Catholic Patriarchs and Bishops of Egypt, stated that Catholic Church in Egypt felt the need to clarify the reality of the current situation “out of love for our country and in solidarity with all lovers of Egypt, Christians and Muslims.”

The Catholic Church in Egypt, he said, expressed their “free, strong and conscious support for all state institutions, particularly the Armed Forces and the police for all their efforts in protecting our homeland.”

Patriarch Isaac also conveyed their appreciation to nations who understand “the nature of the events” while rejecting any interference by foreign countries to influence Egypt or its internal affairs.

The statement also thanked Egyptian and International media for objectively reporting the news and events that have occurred. However, the Catholic Church of Egypt strongly condemned “those media that promote lies and falsify the truth in order to mislead world public opinion.” The President of the Assembly of the Catholic Patriarchs and Bishops of Egypt also thanked the honorable Muslim compatriots” who have aided in defending the Churches and institutions which have been attacked by Islamic extremists and members of the Muslim Brotherhood.

“We address the international conscious and all national leaders that they understand and believe that what is happening in Egypt now is not a political struggle between different factions, but a war against terrorism,” the statement read.

Concluding the message, Patriarch Isaac expressed his condolences to the families of the victims who have died in the conflict and asked the Lord “to heal all the injured.”


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Related
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Statement of the Catholic Church in Egypt


Cairo, August 19, 2013 (Zenit.org)

Here is translation of the statement made by Patriarch Ibrahim Isaac, president of the Assembly of the Catholic Patriarchs and Bishops of Egypt, on the violent situation in Egypt.


* * *

With pain, but also with hope, the Catholic Church in Egypt is following what our country is experiencing: terrorist attacks, killings and the burning of churches, schools and state institutions. Therefore, out of love for our country and in solidarity with all lovers of Egypt, Christians and Muslims, we are trying to do our best to communicate with friendly organizations around the world to clarify for them the reality of events taking place in our country. We would like to express the following:

Our free, strong and conscious support for all state institutions, particularly the Armed Forces and the police for all their efforts in protecting our homeland.

Our appreciation of sincere nations to understand the nature of events while flatly rejecting any attempt to interfere in the internal affairs of Egypt or to influence its sovereign decisions whatever the direction might be.

Our thanks to all Egyptian and international media that report the news and events objectively and impartially while condemning those media that promote lies and falsify the truth in order to mislead world public opinion.

Our thanks to our honorable Muslim compatriots who have stood by our side, as far as they could, in defending our churches and our institutions.

Lastly, we address the international conscious and all national leaders that they understand and believe that what is happening in Egypt now is not a political struggle between different factions, but a war against terrorism.

In conclusion, we express our condolences to all families and relatives of the victims. We ask the Lord to heal all the injured.

+ Ibrahim Isaac

Patriarch of Alexandria of the Copt Catholics
President of the Assembly of the Catholic Patriarchs and Bishops of Egypt


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Monday, August 19, 2013

Jesuit criticizes Western support of Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt

I searched the Internet today and I found some statements made by a leading Jesuit cleric who lives in Cairo.  I found articles on what Henri Boulad, SJ, said about the current crisis in Egypt, in Spanish and French; I looked for a similar content in English... 
But, I could not find any recent statements from him in the digital media.  

Here are a couple of articles I found in foreign languages:

In Spanish:

In French:

 However, with a prolonged search on Yahoo and Google, I was able to find this article from (JUNE 2013) earlier this year:

Jesuit criticizes Western support of Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt


Written by Deborah Gyapong, Canadian Catholic News

Wednesday, 12 June 2013 11:48





Fr. Henri Boulad speaking to the Middle East Discussion Group on Parliament Hill on June 10. - Photo by Deborah Gyapong


OTTAWA - Western support for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt has created a looming catastrophe, warned a Jesuit priest invited to speak on Parliament Hill.

Fr. Henri Boulad, SJ, the Egypt-based director of the Jesuit Cultural Centre, said the Muslim Brotherhood has built a fascist regime in Egypt far worse than the military dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak that preceded it. He singled out the United States, France and Great Britain for supporting the Islamist group.

The Muslim Brotherhood is also one of the groups responsible for 100,000 deaths in his native Syria, Boulad told a meeting of the Middle East Discussion Group at a luncheon hosted by Senator Ann Cools.

“Syria is a disaster,” he said. “Egypt will soon be a disaster. How democratic countries can support such movements is disgusting.”

“As long as Islam is not reformed we are going to catastrophe,” he warned.

Bouland said he hoped liberal democracies would support a growing coalition mostly comprising Muslims who oppose the regime. The coalition includes journalist, thinkers, youth, and Christians, he said.

The Muslim Brotherhood has a systematic plan to harass Christians, including kidnap and rape of Christian women, so they will leave Egypt, he said. When opposed, the organization claims to be victims of discrimination. They cry “Islamophobia” and it “is politically incorrect to be an Islamophobe,” Bouland said.

“The United States, France and Great Britain are supporting this,” he said. “It’s crazy.”

He questioned how these countries can reconcile the promotion of human rights, democracy and rule of law with the practices of the Muslim Brotherhood in the region.

Bouland is concerned that Egypt has become extremely unstable as the government runs out of money. Income from tourism has dried up due in part to a dangerous lack of security, he said. “Security is a terrible problem.”

The Muslim Brotherhood succeeded in jumping over the original grassroots revolution that toppled Mubarak because it distributed food and money and supported women wearing the veil, he said. But today the majority of Egypt’s Muslims oppose the Muslim Brotherhood because they “don’t want this kind of Islam.”

“If you hear that I am stabbed in a few days, don’t be surprised,” the priest said. “It [would be] proof that what I am saying is true. Their only weapon is threats and menace.

“I am speaking up and saying ‘Don’t be intimidated by these people. Resist in the name of your principles.”


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--- Related ---

This is an article I posted on EndrTimes back in 2011; where H. Boulad SJ, expressed a slightly different point of view: 

(http://endrtimes.blogspot.com/2011/02/egypts-revolution-belongs-to-young.html)


Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Egypt’s Revolution Belongs to the Young People, Writes Jesuit


10 February 2011

Jesuit Father Henri Boulad, Director of the Jesuit Cultural Center of Alexandria, and Soliman Chafik, journalist and political analyst, have written their reading of recent events in Egypt, which is posted online.

They see a danger that the Muslim Brotherhood could exploit the unrest and wrote that the revolution belongs to the “ young people, specifically those between 25 and 35, just graduated, and still unemployed, frustrated, unemployed, homeless, without future prospects.”

They continued, “These young people beyond a brutalizing scholastic education, beyond empty religious slogans without substance, beyond alienating social and moral constraints, are searching for their own way to give meaning to their lives through the Internet, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.”

For more of their thoughts on Egypt visit AsiaNews.

,
Finally, I thought I'd mention: 
It seems as if the cleric Henri Boulad is following the developments (on the ground) closely. It also seems like the Jesuit Boulad has his finger on the pulse of the situation.

Arsenio.
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USCCB blog criticizes income inequality, Austrian School of economics



CWN - August 19, 2013




From Our Store: Essays in Apologetics, Volume III (eBook)


Writing for the blog of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, a priest who serves as a labor union official linked “rampant” income inequality to the Austrian School of economics.

After citing Popes Benedict’s criticism of “unregulated capitalism” and Pope Francis’s criticism of “ideologies which uphold the absolute autonomy of the markets and financial speculation,” Father Clete Kiley said that this economic philosophy, borne [sic] of the Austrian School of Economics, is at the heart of this income gap. Pius XI called this philosophy “the poisoned spring.” In this philosophy, no one cares about income gaps; after all, it’s all about me. Implementing unregulated free market capitalism necessarily means rolling back safety regulations, outsourcing jobs, cutting back hours, bringing in immigrant guest workers without labor protections, eliminating entitlements and mounting a coordinated effort to break labor unions.

Father Kiley serves as director for immigration policy at UNITE HERE, a labor union formed in 2004 that has 265,000 members.


Additional sources for this story
Some links will take you to other sites, in a new window.


Labor Day Reflection: Income Inequality, Labor Unions and a Call to Vigilance (USCCB Blog)
UNITE HERE (Wikipedia)


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Bloomberg Proposes Fingerprinting at Public Housing



Bloomberg Proposes Fingerprinting at Public Housing — Democratic Mayoral Hopefuls Pounce



Richard French

Published on Aug 16, 2013

Richard French and the RFL panel discuss New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's proposal to install fingerprint keypads in public housing.

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Jesuits offer to return donations that were earmarked for Staten Island's Mount Manresa (video and photos)





 The Rev. Edward Quinnan, S.J., and board chair Richard Nolan tell the Advance they acted in good faith regarding the fate of Mount Manresa Jesuit Retreat House in Fort Wadsworth. (Staten Island Advance/Clement Thiery)






By Maura Grunlund/Staten Island Advance

on August 16, 2013 at 6:00 AM, updated August 16, 2013 at 8:34 AM






Staten Island's Mt. Manresa is sold, not dead, say responsibles
Chairman of the Board Richard T. Nolan and former Director Rev. Edward J. Quinnan discuss the coming sale of the Mt. Manresa Jesuit Retreat House, on Thursday, Aug. 15, 2013.


STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The Jesuits adamantly deny allegations of fraudulent fundraising in connection with their Mount Manresa Retreat House in Fort Wadsworth and have offered to return the contributions of donors who believe they were "mistakenly misled" in the run-up to its closure.


The New York Province of the Society of Jesus says that as part of its mission shift to a community-based Jesuit Collaborative, it's trying to sell the 15.4-acre property zoned for townhouses to Savo Brothers of Prince's Bay for $15 million in cash.

The closing has been delayed by a lawsuit and a complaint to the attorney general's office by the Committee to Save Mount Manresa, which has bipartisan political support.


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Power Companies Offer Free Weekends and Prepaid Plans



Posted by Logan Wallace on Aug 18th, 2013





Consumers usually pay for the power they used for the month before. It doesn’t matter when they used it. But things are about to change as some electric companies are contemplating to come out with other business models. Some utilities are providing plans that include free nights, free weekends, as well as prepaid plans.

Digital meters have made it possible to provide more customized plans. They connect the electric companies and customers wirelessly and allow both sides to track usage in real time. Digital meters enabled utilities to decrease their costs by promoting use of electricity during off-peak hours.

41 percent of electric consumers in the United States have digital meters. The number was up from less than 5 percent in 2008. In 2015, it is estimated that 50 percent of consumers will have digital meters

But the new types of electric plans come with risks. Consumers might end up paying more for power consumption than expected. Some plans have low introductory rates that could go up after the expiration of the promo period. Other plans have high early termination fees. Some fixed rate plans look like good deals if power prices increase but become expensive compared to others when prices drop.

If consumers are careful about the plan they take, they could possibly pay much less. Some electric companies offer a plan that gives one day of free power each week. Consumers could choose a day when they can do much of their housework, such as doing the laundry or dishes.

TXU Energy in Texas has a plan that provides free power every night from 10 P.M. to 6 A.M. It offer has a plan that includes free power on Saturdays and Sunday but in return has a higher rate during the other days.

Customized electric plans are available in 13 states and Washington, D.C. Regulators in the said states allow companies to compete to sell electricity. Consumers who signed up for customized plans have increased to 13.3 million in 2011 compare to 8.7 million in 2008.


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