• http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=11544098

Offshore Oil Platform Explodes in Gulf of Mexico, but No Leak Found

Sept. 2, 2010 —
An explosion on an offshore oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico early today ignited a fire that caused workers to evacuate into the water, but the U.S. Coast Guard said that all the workers survived and there are no oil leaks reported near the platform.
The cause of the explosion is not yet known, but the 13 workers who were photographed floating in the ocean waiting to be rescued have been accounted for. They were airlifted to Terrebone General Medical Center in Houma, La.
U.S. Coast Capt. Peter Troedsson said none of the workers had serious injuries and the fire has been extinguished.
"The fire is out, and there are no reports of visible sheen in the water," Troedsson said at a press conference this afternoon. "There are no reports of leaks, but we continue to investigate."
Earlier reports from the U.S. Coast Guard had suggested that an oily sheen was seen near the site, sparking fears of another oil spill like the BP's Deepwater Horizon Spill, just east of this explosion.
A press release from the Mariner Energy said an initial examination of the site revealed no leaking oil.
"In an initial flyover, no hydrocarbon spill was reported," read the release.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said at a press conference that Mariner Energy has told his office and the U.S. Coast Guard that the production platform was active at the time of the explosion, servicing as many as seven active wells. There are a total of 13 wells connected to the platform, said Jindal.
"They are saying that they've shut in the production platform," said Jindal. "If that's true that's a very important step but we haven't independently verified that."
Current production averages 1,400 barrels of oil a day, said Jindal, and 9.2. million cubic feet of natural gas. The maximum production of the platform is 1,800 barrels per day.
Jindal warned of the fast-changing information flow from these types of explosions, and said will not be confident that there is no sheen or that the fire is contained until it's independently verified.
Initial reports of the incident described the platform as being "completely engulfed in flames," according to Jindal. He said Mariner Energy believes one of the seven active wells connected to the platform caught fire, but that all seven are now shut down.
"What they suspect is burning is condensate or what is stored on this platform," Jindal said.
The fire is contained but still burning, according to the Coast Guard's Masaschi, who said that one of three firefighting vessels headed to the scene has already arrived.

The Coast Guard sent seven helicopters, two fixed-wing planes and a number of watercraft to the scene.
According to the Coast Guard, the platform was fixed in 340 feet of water. Workers have told authorities that they started emergency shutdown procedures before evacuating.
The platform does not have a standard blow-out preventer, a safety mechanism used to seal gas and oil wells, according to the Coast Guard.
Lee Hunt, the president of the International Association of Drilling Contractors, told ABCNews.com that this rig is different from Deepwater Horizon, which dumped millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf after exploding last spring, because it is not floating and is likely a "fixed, manned production platform."
"This platform doesn't have a drilling rig on it, it's essentially a small refinery that brings the oil up through a riser or pipe onto the deck of the platform," said Hunt. "Then the refinery equipment separates the oil from the gas and salt water. Pure oil never comes up."
A platform like the one where the explosion occurred is placed in position after a well is drilled and completed, said Hunt.
Hunt said he suspects the report of an oil sheen may be from oil already on the platform going through the refining process.
"My estimate would be that the sheen would be from some small quantities of oil being processed or even from the fuel tanks that may have been ruptured," he said. "There should not be any oil from the wellhead itself, this would be a surface spill."
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs addressed the rig explosion in his daily briefing saying, "We obviously have response assets ready for deployment, should we receive reports of pollution in the water."
It was not immediately known what caused the explosion on the rig, positioned 100 miles south of Vermillion Bay in Louisiana.
Phone messages left for Mariner Energy were not immediately returned, but the press release from the company commented on its production:
"During the last week of August 2010, production from this facility averaged approximately 9.2 million cubic feet of natural gas per day and 1,400 barrels of oil and condensate," said the release.
Bob Dye, a spokesman for Apache Corperation, which was in talks to merge with Mariner Energy earlier this year, would only say that they "don't operate the facility" where the explosion took place.

•  http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2010/09/coast_guard_responding_to_rig.html  

• "The accident took place 80 miles off the coast of Louisiana on the Vermilion Oil rig 380, ..." 

http://www.docudharma.com/diary/22846/another-oil-rig-explosion-in-the-gulf Ongoing oil plume from the gushing Deepwater Horizon Well:BP Catastrophe Part XIII: the underwater oil plume...

• And here, in yet more unpublicized details, the whole story, by an astute blogger: access the extensive information provided - no need for me to repeat it, the author is brilliant, and apparently a geologist to boot.

• Of course, don't forget to go back to all the posts about the BP catastrophe on ISRAEL TRUTH TIMES, starting June 11, 2010, by searching for the label "BP" on this blog, for the scoop.

http://www.newsvine.com/

• 
  
  
  

  Which well are they "killing"?

Wed Sep 1, 2010 2:11 PM EDT
Some of the most critical details of the disastrous Deepwater Horizon (DWH) blowout on 20 April 2010 were never made public. We are told that only one well location was drilled when in fact BP drilled at 3 wells at 3 different seabed locations. In fact the 20 April blowout was the last of several serious near-misses and the blowout location was actually 714ft north of Well A location. Despite its importance, there were no public media reports of a second underground explosion 2 days after the initial blowout on 20 April 2010 burst into flames onboard the Deepwater Horizon.
Four and a half months is a very long time to permanently kill what was initially reported as a “small leak in a very big ocean”. We were first told that it would take 3 months to drill the two relief wells (C and D)? We were told that the Relief wells were the surest way to kill the wild gushing well. Well, mid-August had come and gone by without the promised permanent kill by the Relief wells.
Months had been spent discussing all the intricate details of killing the zombie well in so many ways, from Top Kill to Bottom Kill to Static Kill to Relief Kill that it was almost killing me instead of the zombie well. Has it occurred to them, the zombie Well A could not be killed because it was the wrong well?
What if the capped Well A was drilled only to slightly over 5000ft bml? It would easily explain why Well A could only be cemented to 5000ft. It could explain how 40% of the 500 barrels of cement went into the formation. It could explain why only 3000 ft of drilling rod was in the well and not 18,000ft. It could explain why Well A had to be abandoned on 13 Feb due to 3000ft of drilling rod reportedly jammed at the bottom of Well A. It could explain the mystery of BP's attempts to kill the zombie well that refused to lay dead.
See figure 114.1 on the depths of the 3 wells drilled in correct perspective.


http://bklim.newsvine.com/_news/2010/09/01/5024700-which-well-are-they-killing

• .... and somebody's comment on that blog:

"Is Well S20BC still leaking? In all probability - YES. Maybe gushing is a better word. Perhaps this could explain why we continue to have so much oil in the gulf despite capping Well A in mid July.
If killing Well A was so problematical, imagine killing an "open gushing" well. Perhaps that is why it is taking so long for the "sure kill" Relief Well to bottom kill S20BC."

• http://bklim.newsvine.com/_news/2010/07/30/4781973-why-is-bps-macondo-blowout-so-disastrous-beyond-patch-up- 

• http://bklim.newsvine.com/_news/2010/08/29/4994064-the-diagrammatic-illustration-that-says-it-all

-28 Aug 2010

The diagrammatic illustration that says it all.

Within 4 days of publishing this article, Why is-BP’s Macondo Blowout so disastrous and Beyond Patch-up with this diagrammatic illustration, visits to my column shot up by almost 20,000%.
This diagram which had been pasted all over the world had been ridiculed as total nonsense, comical, garbage and many other terms which I will not post here.
Please judge for yourself the accuracy of this qualitative model and the predictions that had since proven to be true with recent events.
The label “Well Location” intentionally left out the alphabet “A” as it was intended to be the well that was actually drilled which forensic analyses of the seabed debris determined to be 720 ft NNW of Well A. This mysterious “well that never was” (referred to as “S20BC”) is still being ignored publicly by the Authorities, BP and all those involved in the cover-up to continue duping the American public and world at large. This damaged S20BC well is the real gusher and the vertical conduit draining oil and gas out of the giant reservoir at 18,300 ft below mud line; not the bogus capped Well A.
Well A was drilled down to 5000 ft or thereof. It had to be abandoned on 13 Feb 2010 due to a broken drilling rod string which was jammed in the well. One must ask why a drill string of steel pipes could be jammed inside the well bore. Recently we hear BP admitting the possibility of formation collapse. And how could the formation collapse into the well bore without pressurized fluid forcing debris and jamming the drilling rods in the open section of the well?
So my independent geological model was right. Dr Bea was right. Matt Simmons was right. So did millions all over the world who did not fall for the Bogus Press releases and the blatant acts of Mass Deception.
Well A could not be the well that blew up on 20 April 2010. At 5000 ft bml, the bottom of Well A is still 13,000 ft above the reservoir. Well A was already leaking hydrocarbon migrating through the faults, GWSF zone and the pervious flanks of the Dome or whatever vertical structural deformities. Well B was drilled to 13,100 ft.
The mysterious “well that never was” (S20BC) reached the targeted reservoir at 18,300 ft bml. It was this well that blew on 20 April 2010. This well had to stay hidden to hide the many dark secrets of the Macondo well. Credit must be given to the determined few who against all odds and the myriad of half truths, distorted facts and Bogus Press information, persevered to bring to the world the truth.
Drilling at Well B and S20BC only made a precarious geological situation worse, by acting as vertical conduits to the shallower 176 ft thick gas-charged siltstone bed discovered by the Texaco Rigel Well in 1999 and BP’s targeted giant reservoir at 18,000 ft bml.
As long been suspected, Well A was deviously capped to mesmerize the world into a hypnotic trance, diverted from the real environmental disaster. A 5000 ft deep Well A would explain the many unexplainable inconsistencies and mysterious evidence that are surfacing now in killing the zombie well that refused to lay dead.
This geological illustration that says it all was independently created on 25 July 2010 based on limited publicly available information, thousands of miles from the crime scene. It explains the need for so many cover-ups. And if these cover-ups are any indication of BP’s misconduct, integrity and credibility, we should be worried about Another Deepwater Production Platform in the Gulf called Thunderhorse at Prospect 778/822. Sun Aug 29, 2010 6:16 AM EDT
By BK Lim&&

September 03, 2010 02:50 AM

This video was shot by another good friend from L.A, " JooTube"; his original video can be found at
http://jootube.org/

Moshe has been a frequent contributor to this blog ( under a pseudonym) , with his meaningful comments and analysis. Besides being a rabbi, he is a brilliant historian, who understands the intricacies of Rome and Edom very, very well.

Update: see this very special post about Moshe Parry that Tamar Yonah posted on her blog in Arutz7:

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/3Thanks, Tamar. Let all the great minds meet! You both deserve the attention of Am Yisrael, and our thanks.  **********
...And in Israel, we are proud to have another courageous leader, Rabbi Dov Lior, who received a tribute last night from some admirers, in the form of a poster:



To the honorable Rabbi Dov Lior shlita

Thank you for the lesson you gave us all in brave leadership,to the honor of Erets Israel, Torat Israel and Am Israel.According to the newsreports and even more so,according to what is not reported,we are headed towards difficult challenges.The Rabbi's strong stand vis-a-vis pressures by the authorities,is a breath of fresh air.We are lucky to be blessed with this kind of different leadership,and we, the activists on the ground, receive from it a lot of strength.With great honor and appreciation,
Women for Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green)- The Committee for a Jewish Shdema- The Judea Action Committee

See: Crossing the line... again. After Rav Yosef Ginsbu...
for all details about this sordid affair, where the Israeli government ( under guidance of our enemies, no doubt, but with full cooperation of our so-called "Jewish" courts and government) is in the business of arresting rabbis for Torah writings, and destroying synagogues. Time has come to put those Reshaim in their place!
And here is one more emerging leader of Israel, Rav Avraham Yosef, chief rabbi of Holon: true leaders of Israel are coming out of the woodworks, while our so-called present leaders show their true colors as weaklings and traitors.
Rav Avraham Yosef: Don’t Include Judges in a Minyan
Senior figures in the Israeli government or in the judicial system cannot join a minyan, according to Cholon’s Chief Rabbi Rav Avraham Yosef, who is also a representative on the Chief Rabbinate
Council and son of Shas spiritual leader Rav Ovadia Yosef.
“It is forbidden to allow them to participate or to integrate them in any shul liturgy,” Yosef said. “We must ignore their existence, as if they were just air.”
During the program on halachic issues he presents each morning on ultraradio station Kol Chai, Rav Yosef addressed the question of who is worthy of serving as a chazzan on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Whoever sends his children to learn in secular schools, he said, or brings his companions before courts which do not rule in accordance with the Torah, cannot take this role.
He also detailed what the judges in such courts should face: “The judge himself, even if he knows how to pray very well, even if he knows how to do everything excellently - from the moment he was appointed judge he made himself unworthy of joining a minyan,” the rabbi said. “Even if he promises that all his rulings will be in keeping with the Shulchan Aruch, he has still lifted his hand against the Toras Moshe and is not worthy of joining anything holy.”
Later, in response to a question from a visitor to the Moreshet website, Rav Yosef clarified that his ruling includes anyone working in the State Prosecutor’s Office or police investigation branch.
“Recently… some religious judges have been appointed with yarmulkes on their heads which makes it seem as if the court is ruling according to our holy Torah,” he said, adding that this was a gross distortion.
“According to our holy Torah, a single judge can never be appointed, and according to our holy Torah it is forbidden to sit in a court appointed by the State of Israel,” he continued. “The State of Israel rules and judges according to the laws of the nations… A man who fears God will keep away from a person like this - and not include him in any holy act or in any prayer.”
{Ynet/Matzav.com Israel}

September 03, 2010 02:50 AM

One might think that a salary of $111,000 negotiating contracts for teachers was more than ample pay, especially when teachers themselves have been forced to make contract concessions. Yet, One would be wrong. Greedy negotiators walked off the job even though 80% of the workers make over $111,000 a year.

The Columbus Dispatch reports Teachers union has labor trouble of its own

Ohio's largest teachers union is having labor problems of its own.

Labor-relations consultants, who help local teachers unions negotiate contracts with school districts, and other employees of the Ohio Education Association walked off the job this morning.

Most of the 110 striking workers - all members of the OEA's Professional Staff Union - earn more than $100,000 a year, according to reports filed with the U.S. Department of Labor. For instance, labor-relations consultants - who make up about 80 percent of the striking workers - were paid an average salary of $111,350 in 2009.

That is about $10,000 more than the average Ohio school-district superintendent made last school year, and more than double what the average teacher made, according to the state statistics.

The appropriate response from the Teacher's unions would be to fire the negotiators, thereby saving $12 million dollars a year.

Anyone making over $100,000 and goes on strike in this environment deserves to lose their job, their home, and their lifestyle.

Salem Oregon At Double-Dip Risk

Please consider Analysts: Salem at risk for double-dip recession

According to the economists, Salem is one of 22 U.S. cities at risk for a double-dip recession. There are 76,000 state employees in Oregon and 21,500 of them work in Salem. That’s almost a third of the entire state government workforce in the capital city.

At Saigon Restaurant, which caters to state employees, business started getting bad about a year ago. The owners say business has dropped off by 70 percent. In fact, they say they are no longer able to pay their bills.

“Very, very worried right now,” said owner Hien Tran.

There were few patrons at the restaurant during the noon lunch hour Tuesday. Things are so bad for the owners of Saigon they have lost their home and have been forced to live with their son.

They don’t have to go far to realize they are not alone. The Quiznos next door shut down six months ago.

Nickeled to Death by Bus Union

Oregon Live reports Trimet and taxpayers: Bus riders' dismay grows one nickel at a time

It's only a nickel. The latest fare increase from TriMet won't bankrupt anyone, not even the job seekers, college students and low-wage workers who make up a big portion of the Portland metro transit agency's ridership.

But frustration grows a nickel at a time. One more fare increase, another canceled bus route, a longer wait at the stop between buses -- it all adds up. The disquiet builds until, seemingly without warning, a nickel becomes a last straw.

TriMet is at that point now, as it raises fares and angles for more tax money before getting its labor costs under control. The transit agency shouldn't be surprised by Wednesday's rally against the new fare hikes and service cuts -- and it certainly shouldn't be shocked if voters reject the transit agency's bond measure this fall.

TriMet wants voters to approve a $125 million bond measure in November to replace old buses and improve bus stops.

TriMet's health care costs for transit operators continue to spiral unchecked. Out of 171 transit agencies surveyed last year, TriMet boasted the fourth highest insurance premiums in the country. Transit operators pay none of their $2,200 monthly premium, no deductible and token copays. Benefits for dependents and former workers are plush and far beyond the norm, even for public employees.

Abolish Tri-Met

It is time to send Tri-Met packing.

The correct response is to put the bus contract out to bid and take the lowest offer. It is absurd for bus drivers to have $2,200 per month health care costs at public expense. Bear in mind that pension costs are on top of that.

It's no wonder Oregon is falling apart.

Schwarzenegger Targets Pensions

The Sacramento Bee reports Schwarzenegger targets pensions in budget press conference

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger left little doubt today that cutting state employee pensions remains one of his top priorities in budget negotiations. He is demanding that lawmakers roll back pension guarantees for future state hires as a condition to signing the budget.

"The question we have to ask ourselves is, is it pensions or is it parks?" he said today in a budget press conference. "Is it pensions or higher education? Is it pensions or child care? And the list goes on and on, because that's where the money comes from. Those are the areas where we are taking this money because of the pensions."

"They are giving it to pensions, to the public employee unions," he said, apparently referring to Democrats. "They are taking the money away from those poor people. They are taking away the money from higher education. They are taking away the money from parks, from all of those things, so we have to make those cuts."

While I welcome this stance from Schwarzenegger, it is a stance 3 years late in coming.

California Budget Impasse in Third Month

Bloomberg reports California Republicans Block Budget Plan Proposed by Democrats

Republicans in the California Legislature blocked passage of a budget sought by Democrats who want to close a $19.1 billion deficit with higher taxes and less spending cuts than preferred by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The budget bill failed on a 50-25 Assembly vote today. It needed a two-thirds majority to pass. The Democrats’ centerpiece proposals are higher income taxes, a lower sales tax, a new levy on oil production, an increase in vehicle-registration fees and a suspension of corporate tax breaks. Those changes all require separate bills that weren’t voted on today.

Controller John Chiang, a Democrat, has said he may need to issue IOUs to pay bills for the second straight year if the impasse goes deep into September.

Assembly Democrats earlier rejected a competing budget plan proposed by Schwarzenegger and Republicans that sought to eliminate the state’s main welfare program for families.

Budget passage by legislative supermajority votes is written into the state constitution. While Democrats have majorities in both chambers, they are short of the two-thirds level by two votes in the Senate and five in the Assembly.

Republicans should hold out, forever if necessary.

Whitman Leads Brown in California Governor Race

Bloomberg reports Union-Led Group Halts Ads Attacking Whitman in California Race

A union-funded group that spent almost $9 million on negative advertising targeting Meg Whitman, the Republican running for governor in California, has suspended its campaign, designed to help Democrat Jerry Brown.

The ads were halted because Brown, the state attorney general, has kept competitive with Whitman, a billionaire who has dug into her personal fortune to finance her campaign, according to members of the group.

One ad accused Whitman of raising fees and creating “huge losses from failed mergers” while chief executive officer of EBay Inc.

“It’s rock-solid proof that there is seamless coordination between what is essentially the same political organization: Jerry Brown and the government unions that control him,” Andrea Rivera, a Whitman campaign spokeswoman, said by e-mail.

Whitman is supported by 48 percent of likely voters in the November election, an 8 percentage-point lead over Brown, according to a survey by Rasmussen Reports released on Aug. 26. A poll released July 7 by Field Research Corp. showed the two candidates in a “virtual tie.”

“On a return-on-investment basis, she hasn’t done well,” said Lou Paulson, president of the California Professional Firefighters and one of the leaders of the Working Families group.

Indications

The dropped union funded ads are indicative of one or more things.

• The union group is out of money
• The ads are backfiring
• Both of the above

All You Need To Know

The way to access how to vote in any election is to look at the candidate endorsed by labor and vote the other way.

No matter how much one likes or dislikes Meg Whitman, she is going to do a far better job than socialist Jerry Brown whose primary interests are to pander to public unions and raise your taxes.

Mush for Brains

If you intend to vote for Brown, you or your family are members of a public union, you are on welfare, you work for the state, or you have mush for brains.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post ListMike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.

September 03, 2010 02:15 AM

marcoponce: NO WONDER THE MYSTERY BABYLON PAPACY (WHORE THAT RIDES THE BEAST) CREATED JESUIT ORDER TO COUNTER THE REFORMATION. THE GENEVA BIBLE CLEARLY SAID THAT "THE WOMAN IS THE ANTICHRIST, THAT IS THE POPE..." THE FINAL POPE BEING THE FINAL 7TH PAPAL ROMAN CAESAR KILLED AND RISEN TO BE THE 8TH! PRAISE GOD FOR HIS GLORIOUS TRUE WORD!

September 03, 2010 02:03 AM

Birmingham Mail | Sep 2, 2010 by Vicky Farncombe BIRMINGHAM was the centre of the coldest August for more than 23 years, it has emerged. But the chilly end to the summer has done nothing to dampen the local tourism … Continue reading →

September 03, 2010 12:41 AM

Copyright trolls are nothing new, and Righthaven is just the latest group of lawyers to try to turn copyright litigation into a business model. What these lawyers have in common is that they seek to take advantage of copyright's draconian damages in order to bully Internet users into forking over money. To anyone who has watched the file-sharing lawsuits of the last few years or the current BitTorrent cases brought by a DC law firm, the Righthaven saga is developing into a familiar, unfortunate story. It also has some especially troubling twists.

The basic pattern: Righthaven has brought over a hundred lawsuits in Nevada federal court claiming copyright infringement. They find cases by (a) scouring the Internet for parts of newspaper stories posted online by individuals, nonprofits, and others, (b) buying the copyright to that particular newspaper story, and then (c) proceeding to sue the poster for copyright infringement. Like the RIAA and USCG before them, Righthaven is relying on the fact that their victims may face huge legal bills through crippling statutory damages and the prospect of paying Righthaven's legal fees if they lose the case. Consequently, many victims will settle with Righthaven for a few thousand dollars regardless of their innocence, their right to fair use, or other potential legal defenses.

However, Righthaven is unlike other copyright trolls in some key ways:

• Righthaven is going after bloggers using text news stories for comment or discussion. Many lawsuit targets are using the newspaper articles to augment discussions about current events. Reposting all or part of news stories is part and parcel of digital commentary and discussion and usually the goal of the reposting is to share the uncopyrightable facts included in the article, not the copyrighted expression, like the specific turns of phrase used by the author. By targeting news, Righthaven's lawsuits could have a chilling effect on individuals' attempts to engage their communities in free and open discussion.
• Righthaven is fighting the basic mode of Internet debate. Other copyright trolls have involved controversy over file-sharing programs and encoded digital media, like music and movies. But Righthaven is taking aim at folks who are using elementary "copy & paste" functionalities. Online discussion survives and thrives on showing others the original text before adding a commentary or response. Accurate quoting is a virtue of Internet discussion that can minimize mischarcterization and support progress in a debate.
• Righthaven lawsuits are demanding that courts freeze and transfer the defendants' domain names. Imagine if a single copyright infringement on Huffingtonpost.com or Redstate.com could result in forfeiture of the entire domain. Effectively asking for control of all of a website's existing and future content -- instead of only targeting the allegedly infringing material -- is an overreaching remedy for a single copyright infringement not validated by copyright law or any legal precedent. This also indicates that the attorneys are willing to make overreaching claims in order to scare defendants into a fast settlement.
• Righthaven goes straight for litigation. Righthaven isn't sending cease and desist letters or DMCA takedown notices that would allow the targeted bloggers or website operators to remove or amend only the news articles owned by Righthaven. Instead, Righthaven starts with a full-fledged lawsuit in federal court with no warning. It's sue first and ask questions later, which smacks of a strategy designed to churn up legal costs and intimidate defendants into paying up immediately, rather than a strategy aimed at remedying specific copyright infringements.

Righthaven is claiming that its activities are intended to have a "deterrent effect" on the reposting of news stories online, but it's hard to resist viewing Righthaven's actions as purely business-related. In addition to the sharp legal tactics discussed above, Righthaven appears to only buy copyrights that it believes can be used for lawsuits and otherwise has no involvement in the practice of journalism.

Righthaven also appears to be soliciting other newspapers to sign on with it. But newspaper publishers who think that suing bloggers a story at a time will save journalism are sorely mistaken. Newspaper publishers have actually been having meaningful discussions about innovative business models to support real journalism. Sadly, Righthaven -- if it continues to attract clients -- threatens to derail those conversations with a sideshow proven to distract from progress.

But no matter where a newspaper may stand on the debate about journalism's future, we think it is abundantly clear that a "sue the audience" tactic is nowhere near worth considering. Newspapers should resist the temptation to put themselves into the same position as the music industry circa 2004, where futile lawsuits distracted them from the incorporating new technology and creating new ways to market product to fans.

EFF is watching Righthaven and other copyright trolls closely for overbroad tactics that hurt free speech and fair use, and abuse the legal system. We're looking for good cases to defend and will deliver more news and analysis as the issue develops.

September 03, 2010 12:38 AM

marcoponce: THIS DEFINITELY HAS TO BE ONE OF THE CREEPIEST ALL SEEING EYES OF SATURN/SATAN I'VE SEEN SO FAR... THANK YOU MAXI

September 02, 2010 11:48 PM

Collecting Rainwater Illegal In Utah Man’s arrogant powers knows no boundaries, even stretching to the heavens By Greg Szymanski, JD Sept 1, 2010 Innovative methods of collecting rainwater is one way to provide fresh water in places like Lake Atitlan in Guatemala where basic natural water sources have been contaminated. Several local groups are trying these methods, especially during the rainy season. But beware Guatemala because  [...]

September 02, 2010 09:21 PM

When futures ramped into the close on Tuesday, with heavier volume, I had an inkling the ISM number would be hot Wednesday morning. Indeed, that was the case.

However, a hot manufacturing ISM makes little sense (not that any economic numbers have to make sense except perhaps in the long haul).

One thing that struck me right off the bat was how the monthly ADP jobs report does not confirm the ISM number. Nor do the regional Fed reports that I have been following, especially the Philly Fed report as noted in 58 out of 58 Economists Overoptimistic on Philly Fed Manufacturing Estimate; Median Forecast +7 Actual Result -7.7, a "Veritable Disaster".

August ADP Employment Reports Shows Contraction in Manufacturing Jobs

Inquiring minds are reading the ADP August 2010 National Employment Report for clues on strength of hiring trends.

Private-sector employment decreased by 10,000 from July to August on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the latest ADP National Employment Report® released today. The estimated change of employment from June to July was revised down slightly, from the previously reported increase of 42,000 to an increase of 37,000.

The decline in private employment in August confirms a pause in the recovery, already evident in other economic data. The deceleration in employment was evident in the major sectors and by size of business. This month’s decline in employment followed six monthly increases from February through July. Over those six months, the average monthly gain in employment was 37,000 with no evidence of acceleration.

August’s ADP Report estimates nonfarm private employment in the service-providing sector rose by 30,000, the seventh consecutive monthly gain. This increase was not enough to offset an employment decline in the goods-producing sector of 40,000. Employment in the manufacturing sector decreased 6,000, the second consecutive monthly decline.

Large businesses, defined as those with 500 or more workers, saw employment remain essentially flat while employment among medium-size businesses, defined as those with between 50 and 499 workers, decreased by 5,000. Employment among small-size businesses, defined as those with fewer than 50 workers, decreased by 6,000. In August, construction employment dropped 33,000. Construction employment has declined for over three years and the total decline in construction jobs since the peak in January 2007 is 2,275,000. Employment in the financial services sector dropped 5,000. Financial Services employment has declined for over 3 years.

ISM Smell Test

Rosenberg blasted the ISM report in Breakfast with Dave.

STRANGE ISM NUMBER ... DOESN’T PASS “SNIFF TEST”

Here’s why:

1.Most of the regional reports were very poor in August. Either they are collectively all wrong or the ISM is.

2. The share of respondents saying they experienced “growth” was 61%, the exact same as a year ago when ISM was sitting at 52.8.

3. The ISM gain was led by employment (58.6 to 60.4 — best since December 1983) in the same month that ADP manufacturing fell 6,000 (second decline in a row — it was -11k in July when ISM employment was 58.6, so clearly the latter is proving to be, at least for now, an unreliable labour market barometer). Production also ticked up to 59.9 from 57.0 and inventories rose to 51.4 from 50.2. These are all coincident indicators, as an aside (but an important aside).
Strange ISM number, it doesn’t pass the sniff test and here is one reason: most of the regional reports were very poor in August... either they’re wrong or the ISM is

4. According to the ISM, 76% of the manufacturers surveyed said that in August, their customer inventory levels were either “too high” or “about right”. At the turn of the year, just ahead of the big inventory swing that bolstered the GDP data, this metric was sitting at 60%. As a result, it would be folly to assume that the inventory and production categories will contribute to further ISM increases in the near- and intermediate-term. Norbert Ore, who presides over the ISM survey, had this to say about inventories: “If the inventory build isn't voluntary then we have a huge issue on our hands.”

5. Meanwhile, the more forward-looking components dropped, though were hardly a disaster. But orders slipped for the third month in a row, to 53.1 from 53.5 in July, 58.5 in June and 65.7 in both April and May. That is still a sharp squeeze in the growth rate of capital goods-related order books. At 53.1, ISM orders index is down to levels last seen in June 2009 (but when they were rising in “green shooty” fashion).

6. Backlogs were down as well, to 51.5 from 54.5 in July, 57.0 in June and 59.5 in May (and peaked in February at 61.0). At 51.5, order backlogs stand at their low-water mark of the year.

7. Supplier deliveries (measure of production bottlenecks) eased for the fifth month in a row — to 56.6 from 58.3 in July and well off the March peak of 64.9.

8. Looking at five decades worth of data, the share of the time in which we see orders, backlogs and vendor deliveries all decline in tandem, and the headline ISM index rise, is the grand total of 1%. No wonder equities rallies so much — we just witnessed a 1-in-100 event! Bring your camera.

9. Export orders dipped to 55.5 from 56.5 — the lowest they have been since last December. If the overseas economy is rocking and rolling, then why on earth would this component be declining? Not only that, but it looks as though, yet again, a good part of the inventory boost we still seem to be getting is being filled by imports — that sub-index jumped four points in August and does not bode well for the trade deficit, which subtracted 3.4 percentage points from headline GDP growth in Q2.

MORE ON THE DATA

It would be something if the ISM was being fuelled by broad based increases and occurring alongside a decent path in domestic spending. But the ISM gains were narrowly based and the inventories are continuing to be built up even as domestic demand is slowing down. And it is spending that drives production, not the other way around. The fact that fewer respondents are saying inventories are at low or desirable levels is going to set us up for some pretty hefty production and ISM reversals through the fall.

Art Cashin says "ISM is an Outlier"



For more from Art Cashin, please see 26 of Last 88 Trading Days have been 90% Days (Either Up or Down); 7 More Lean Years in Stock Market?

Let's assume for a moment the ISM number is correct. If so, manufacturers are ramping up production just as the economy is dramatically slowing by nearly every other measure.

I smell huge inventory problems coming up in the 4th quarter. In the meantime, let's party over a ramp in production with no buyers.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post ListMike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.

September 02, 2010 08:44 PM

Comment: The Republicans continue to outdo themselves in their heartless, amoral pronouncements and actions. Even with their track record of filibustering to prevent an extension of unemployment benefits to Americans who lost their jobs as a direct result of years of Republican “corporatism” (Mussolini’s term for fascism), it is hard to believe how outrageous they [...]

September 02, 2010 08:43 PM

San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and a coalition of public interest groups and law professors have asked a California appeals court to protect craigslist from a lawsuit that could spur websites to be less helpful in responding to complaints about user behavior.

In Scott P. v. craigslist, Inc., the plaintiff complained about a series of craigslist ads he said were written by impersonators. While craigslist removed the ads within minutes of his phone calls, the plaintiff sued, contending that craigslist broke a promise to "take care of it" when the impersonators posted additional ads. In cases like these, federal law -- specifically Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act -- shields Internet forums like craigslist from liability. Section 230 was designed to encourage parties to pursue action against those who created the questionable content instead of the platform that hosted it. But the California Superior Court has ruled that this case can continue because of the plaintiff's allegations that craigslist said it would help.

Craigslist filed a writ petition with the Court of Appeal for the State of California Wednesday, arguing that the trial court should have dismissed the case because of Section 230's protections for forum hosts. In an amicus letter filed today in support of craigslist, EFF argues that the lower court reasoning could create a hole in Section 230, discouraging forum owners from helping users.

"Section 230 was a deliberate effort by Congress to encourage service providers to find innovative ways to self-regulate," said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Kurt Opsahl. "Yet craigslist is facing the prospect of extended litigation because it tried to do just that. Allowing this litigation to continue could result in websites being less helpful to users with complaints."

Additionally troublesome is the specter of further lawsuits, which could convince other Internet innovators not to host user content at all.

"Congress created Section 230 to allow for online interactivity without a flood of lawsuits. But this case could undermine the immunity that the law created," said Opsahl. "If litigation can survive merely because a plaintiff asserts that the site made a vague promise, sites may decide that allowing comments or user generated content is not worth the legal exposure. Then we'll lose the vibrant online environment that Section 230 helped create in the first place."

Joining EFF in the letter to court were the Center for Democracy and Technology, the Citizen Media Law Project, and law professors Eric Goldman, David S. Levine, David G. Post, and Jason Schultz. Separately, a group of Internet companies, including Yahoo!, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, Google and Linkedin filed another amicus brief in support of craigslist.

For the full amicus letter:
http://www.eff.org/files/filenode/craigslist_v_sup/EFFletter9210.pdf

For more on this case:
http://www.eff.org/cases/craigslist-v-superior-court-california

Contact:

Kurt Opsahl
Senior Staff Attorney
Electronic Frontier Foundation
kurt@eff.org

September 02, 2010 08:29 PM

In the politician’s version of America’s Dumbest Criminals, a prominent Maryland state lawmaker actually kept a detailed list of the illegal favors he did for executives of a grocery chain that paid him nearly a quarter of a million dollars in bribes.

As chair of the state’s powerful senate taxation committee, Democrat Ulysses Currie sold his influence to the supermarket chain (Shoppers Food Warehouse) that he helped land government business and other favors that financially benefitted the company. Federal prosecutors say the grocery chain put Currie on its payroll for about six years, making monthly payments of up to $7,600 to the corrupt legislator.

In an 18-count grand jury indictment, the feds claim that after Currie became chairman of the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee in 2002, he asked to be put on the supermarket chain’s payroll to conceal the bribes. He later said his part-time grocery job was as a consultant of “minority recruitment and outreach, community relations and public affairs.” Instead the 73-year-old politician repeatedly used his power and leverage to benefit the firm and its top executives, prosecutors say.

In fact, Currie created a list, “Accomplishments on Behalf of Shoppers,” documenting his unscrupulous deeds for the grocer and justifying his bribes. Among them: Currie helped Shoppers secure a $2 million government handout for a Baltimore location and a $3 million grant for supermarket road improvements, used official letterhead to repeatedly lobby state highway officials for traffic signals at stores in two counties and coerced a county liquor board to allow the transfer of a liquor license.

Currie also persuaded government officials to give up the right to buy precious land—owned by the Washington Transit Authority—so that the property could be used to expand an existing Shoppers facility. Several executives from the grocery chain have also been indicted and the company has agreed to pay a $2.5 million penalty. Curie faces decades in prison.

 

September 02, 2010 08:09 PM

Source: guardian.co.uk Psychedelic drugs such as ketamine and MDMA (ecstasy) have been used to treat mental illness Long before hippie poster boy Timothy Leary invited the world to “Turn on, tune in and drop out”, a group of pioneering psychiatrists working in Canada began to treat alcoholics with lysergic acid [...]

September 02, 2010 04:53 PM

The Nelson Rockefeller Institute reports State Tax Revenues Are Slowly Rebounding. However, as always, the devil is in the details. Let's take a look.

Preliminary tax collection data for the April-June quarter of 2010 show improvement in overall state tax collections as well as for personal income tax and sales tax revenue. However, revenue collections remain significantly below peak levels and are still weak in a number of states.

The Rockefeller Institute’s compilation of data from 47 early reporting states shows collections from major tax sources increased by 2.2 percent in nominal terms compared to the second quarter of 2009, but was 17.2 percent below the same period two years ago.

State Tax Collections



Gains were widespread, with 30 states showing an increase in revenues compared to a year earlier. After adjusting for inflation, tax revenues increased by 1.4 percent in the second quarter of 2010 compared to the same quarter of 2009.

In terms of dollars, California reported the largest increase in personal income tax collections in the second quarter of 2010, where revenue collections rose by $1.6 billion or 11.5 percent. Such increase is mostly attributable to legislated changes. Without California, personal income tax collections for the second quarter of 2010 show a 1.1 percent decline nationally in the April-June quarter, compared to the same period of 2009.

Sales tax collections increased by 5.9 percent in the second quarter of 2010 compared to the same quarter of 2009, but were still 5.4 percent lower than two years ago. With 42 of 45 sales-tax states reporting so far, only seven states reported declines in sales tax collections compared with the same quarter last year.



Among the corporate income tax states, 19 of 43 early reporting states reported declines for the second quarter compared to the same quarter of the previous year, while 24 showed gains. Fourteen states reported double-digit declines, while seventeen states reported double-digit growth in corporate income tax collections in the second quarter of 2010. The large variation among states’ corporate income tax revenues is due to volatility in corporate profits and in the timing of tax payments.

Among individual states, California reported the largest decline in corporate income tax collections in the second quarter of 2010, where revenue collections declined by $2.7 billion or 42.3 percent. California’s corporate income tax collections were strong in the April-June quarter of 2009 due to legislation that required taxpayers to pay 30 percent of annual estimated payments in each of their two first prepayments (April and June for calendar year corporations) versus the prior requirement of 25 percent. Without California, corporate income tax collections for the second quarter of 2010 show a 1.9 percent decline nationally in the April-June quarter, compared to the same period of 2009.

The Outlook

The state tax revenue picture in the first two quarters of the calendar year 2010 represented significant improvement from the collapse of the preceding quarters. Still, in most states, the overall trend for fiscal 2010 was very much in the negative. Now that most states have closed the books for fiscal year 2010, preliminary figures show that 34 of 44 states for which complete fiscal 2010 data are available saw declines in overall tax collections for the year. Collections from the two major tax sources — personal income and sales — were also negative for the fiscal year. With revenues still below prerecession levels and question marks surrounding the national economy, states face continued uncertainty at best — with continuing budget challenges a sure bet.

Improvement Mirage

Please see article for more charts, data, and analysis.

The "improvement" in personal income taxes was a mirage caused by California speeding up collection of personal income taxes. California required payment of estimated taxes before money was even earned! Ignoring California, income tax collections actually declined from a year ago.

Much of the improvement in sales taxes is a result of tax hikes, not increased sales. Those effects will soon wear off in year-over-year comparisons (assuming of course there is not another round of sales tax hikes, by no means a good bet).

In simple terms that dramatic rebound shown in the first chart merely means things have stabilized but only vs. the rock bottom depressed level of second quarter of 2009.

Gallup Polls and sales data from MasterCard Advisors paints the same grim picture. Please see Gallup Poll Shows Consumer Spending Pullback, Consumer Confidence Levels Below Depressed 2009 Levels ; Back-to-School Sales Bust Says WSJ for details.

States remain in a world of hurt and the economy is slowing once again. I expect GDP contraction in the third quarter.

Thus, states are going to have to address the problem of public union wages and pension benefits whether they like it or not.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post ListMike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.

September 02, 2010 04:22 PM

'>http://



friendofmuslim March 30, 2009
Islam will overwhelm Christendom unless Christians recognize the demographic realities, begin reproducing again, and share the gospel with Muslims.

.

.

September 02, 2010 04:53 PM

American Democracy & The Vatican: Population Growth & National Security
$7.95 $5.95 Price reduced!!

Mumford explores a largely secret but powerful effort by the Vatican to oppose controlling runaway population growth. He dares to expose a largely secret but powerful opposition to controlling the runaway growth of the human population and establishing a sustainable society by the Vatican. If only half his claims are true, they still describe a grave threat to the future of humankind and the democratic institutions of the United States alike - Ann and Paul Ehrlich, Zero Population Growth.
". . . forecasts what could be America's second civil war. It also describes the action needed to prevent this impending catastrophe." - Elton Kessel, M.D., founder, International Fertility Research Program.
". . . sharp insights, unyielding courage, and philosophic sweep that is essential reading for everyone concerned with the assault of the Catholic hierarchy and right-wing fundamentalists on America's long tradition of church-state separation." - Larry Lader, President, Abortion Rights Mobilization, Inc.

"... should be required reading for all women.... The virulent moralists not only attack access to medically safe abortion but also attack family planning (especially in developing countries) indeed, women's economic rights and independence by seeking to turn women into breeding machines...." - Fran P. Hosken, Editor, Women's International Network News (WIN News) ". . . clearly shows that Paul Blanshard's warning of thirty-five years ago that the Vatican had a plan to impose its anti-democratic policies on America was justified . . . the effort has accelerated alarmingly.... Vatican policies, backed by Rome and the New Right, are increasing the overpopulation and insecurity of the world. Rome opposes planned parenthood, sex education, abortion, limitation of immigration, and to what end? To the increase of the Vatican's political and financial power. It is a power struggle, not a religious struggle." - Edwin H. Wilson, Executive Director Emeritus, American Humanist Association.

".....extremely interesting and indeed eye-opening.... well worth reading and digesting. Its message is deeply disturbing." - Rupert Cutler, Executive Director, The Environmental Fund.

Dr. Stephen Mumford is the president of the Center for Research on Population and Security (Research Triangle Park, North Carolina). His principal research interest is the relationship between world population growth and national and global security. This interest, pursued for the past fourteen years, first developed during a tour of military duty in Asia, where he first recognized the linkage between political stability and population pressures. He has a degree in agriculture from the University of Kentucky and was later commissioned in the Army Medical Corp. He obtained his master's in public health and his doctorate in population studies from the University of Texas Dr. Mumford is the author of Population Growth Control: The Next Move Is America's (Philosophical Library, 1977). He has also published two books on bio medical and social aspects of family planning and scientific articles in over fifteen journals.


Source: http://evolvefish.com/fish/product291.html

Related:


"Judge Dooling had spent a year gathering evidence and studying the anti-abortion movement, and his findings showed that the anti-abortion movement was essentially a Roman Catholic movement with a little non-Catholic window dressing."

"The bishops' Pastoral Plan prompted the creation of the Moral Majority."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From ...... AMERICAN DEMOCRACY & THE VATICAN:

POPULATION GROWTH & NATIONAL SECURITY

By Dr. [Phd.] Stephen Mumford

Page 43-44 .........

The Catholic Church and Social Justice Issues

............ The Reagan Administration is clearly being manipulated by the [Roman] Catholic Church, apparently with the president's blessing. In an April 1982 speech before the National Catholic Education Association, Reagan made the incredible statement,

"I am grateful for your help in shaping American policy to reflect God's will ...., And I will look forward to further guidance from His Holiness Pope John Paul II during an audience I will have with him in June."

Mr. Reagan is obviously leaning on the Vatican for a lot of help, and he's getting it - much of it not in the best interest of the United States. If the United States government shows no more willingness to deal with illegal immigration than has been shown by the Reagan Administration, then a migration from Latin America of the magnitude described above is certainly imminent. A [Roman] Catholic majority in the United States and Vatican control of our government would greatly enhance the power of the Church not only in this country but worldwide.

The Abortion Movement

In 1980, Federal Judge John Dooling, United States District Court, Eastern District of New York, declared that the Hyde Amendment, which prevented Medicaid payment for abortion, was unconstitutional. (Copies of Judge Dooling's 328-page decision in McRae vs. HEW are rare. During a recent conversation with the Brooklyn United States District Court, I was told that their copy had disappeared and, for this reason, they were not in a position to reproduce it.)

Judge Dooling had spent a year gathering evidence and studying the anti-abortion movement, and his findings showed that the anti-abortion movement was essentially a Roman Catholic movement with a little non-Catholic window dressing. The amendment, says Dooling bluntly, was a ploy by anti-abortion congressmen frustrated in their attempt to pass a constitutional amendment that would override the Supreme Court's 1973 pro-abortion decision; its purpose was quite simply to circumvent the Court's ruling and prevent as many abortions as possible.

Dooling, a practicing Catholic, makes short shrift of the anti-abortionists' pretensions to be a spontaneous grass-roots movement that owes its political victories to sheer moral appeal. He confirms that the right-to-life's main source of energy, organization, and direction has been the [Roman] Catholic Church, and he describes in detail how the movement uses one-issue voting to put pressure on legislators, candidates, and the party organizations that nominate them - a tactic that gains influence far out of proportion to its numbers. Please see appendix one for excerpts from Judge Dooling's decision in McRae vs. HEW.

What is most significant in this extract is Judge Dooling's finding that the anti-abortion movement's main source of energy, organization, and direction has been the [Roman] Catholic Church.

The bishops' Pastoral Plan prompted the creation of the Moral Majority.

Richard A. Viguerie, a Catholic, is the man most responsible for the development and success of the New Right, and he will be the first to claim that honor. He was also involved in the original discussions that led to the creation of the Moral Majority and, as its fundraiser, can be credited with its financial success.

Paul Weyrich, a [Roman] Catholic, claims credit for originating the idea for the group and the name itself. In their search for an attractive front man for the organization, they chose Jerry Falwell, who, according to intimates, has an insatiable lust for power - and, thus, Moral Majority, Inc., was born.

It is inconceivable that these Catholic laymen were not responding to the bishops' Pastoral Plan. Much went into avoiding public disclosure of the role of the [Roman] Catholic Church in the creation of the Moral Majority.

Maxine Negri, in "A Well-Planned Conspiracy," exposed involvement of the [Roman] Catholic hierarchy in the Moral Majority. Then, the June 21, 1982, issue of U.S. News and World Report noted:

At the heart of Moral Majority is a direct-mail operation..... Membership claims.... put the number of Moral Majority's active supporters at roughly 4 million Roman Catholics, Protestant fundamentalists, and orthodox Jews. The organization says its "hardcore contributors," numbered at more than 400,000, include a cadre of 80,000 priests, ministers, and rabbis organized into fifty autonomous chapters.

This claim of autonomy should not be taken seriously. What is described here is exactly the organization described in the Pastoral Plan of Action down to the details. None of us who has ever worked extensively with fundamentalist churches or lived among fundamentalists ever took the claim that the Moral Majority was a fundamentalist organization seriously.

One characteristic common among fundamentalists is a keen sense of individualism, and individualists are often fundamentalists because of this trait. There is self-selection. They strongly resist the "herding" that characterizes other major denominations such as the [Roman] Catholic Church. It is very difficult to organize two or three local fundamentalist church-......

[end page 44] -END QUOTE-

Also suggested reading-

The Right to Lifers ........ by Connie Paige, Summit Books

AND

Politics, Power and the Church .......by Lawrence Lader, Macmillan

Latter two available via-

Tom Davis Books POBox 1107 Aptos, CA 95001

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The anti abortion movement is a Roman Catholic movement.

Not Christian at all.

F. page 207

"The New Right, which is dominated by Catholics such as Richard Viguerie and which answers to the Vatican, drew the fundamentalists in under the guise of religion-but for explicitly political purposes".

page 203

AMERICAN CONSERVATISM vs. THE RADICAL RELIGIOUS

"If we didn't know the Pope agrees with us, we Catholics in the New Right would have serious conscience problems. I would never work counter to the Church's official position." -Paul Weyrich, founder Moral Majority Christian Voice Religious RoundtabIe

The radical religious in our country, the so-called New Right, religious right, religious conservatives, and the Moral Majority, according to Paul Weyrich, will be guided by policy established in the Vatican. To ensure that the Moral Majority does not act in ways in which the pope would not approve, the opinion of Weyrich and other Catholics in the organization must bear considerable weight in decision-making by the Moral Majority organization. They must be in positions of leadership. We have discussed earlier the Vatican's control over faithful laypersons, and Weyrich is apparently in this mold. Weyrich and his Catholic colleagues control the Moral Majority. The Vatican controls Weyrich and his colleagues. Thus the Vatican controls the Moral Majority. It is a fact that the American Catholic bishops described the Moral Majority in their 1975 Pastoral Plan of Action (appendix two), four years before Jerry Falwell was asked by the Catholics who named the organization to head it. The importance of this......

-END QUOTE-

AMERICAN DEMOCRACY & THE VATICAN: POPULATION GROWTH & NATIONAL SECURITY

By Dr. [Phd.] Stephen Mumford

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 84-72500

Pub.by- Humanist Press PO Box 146 Amherst, NY

Available [about $10] from-

Center for Research on Population and Security

PO Box 13067

Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
.
.
Source: http://www.mosquitonet.com/~prewett/amdem4344.html
.

September 02, 2010 04:40 PM

 

The Obama Administration’s taxpayer-funded Islamic defense program has been quite busy this week, filing several discrimination lawsuits on behalf of Muslims in different parts of the country and holding Justice Department meetings to discuss prosecuting “anti-Muslim hate speech.”

The legal actions come on the same week that the White House and various federal agencies—including the Department of Homeland Security—hosted a special workshop to provide members of radical Islamic groups with direct access to U.S. government funding, assistance and resources. Read all about that here.

Now the administration is flexing its legal muscle in its ardent quest to befriend the enemy. A federal civil rights agency known as the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has filed discrimination lawsuits against companies in Nebraska, California and Colorado for discriminating against Muslims by not accommodating prayer breaks and forbidding a headscarf on the job.

The government sued meatpacking plants in Greeley Colorado and Grand Island Nebraska for religious and racial harassment because dozens of Muslim employees were “denied prayer time” during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. The lawsuit seeks changes to policies and procedures to accommodate Muslim workers, payment for past and future damages and punitive damages.

In a third lawsuit filed this week the EEOC claims that an outdoor apparel store discriminated against a Muslim female job applicant in northern California because she wore a headscarf known as a hijab. The company has a longstanding employee dress code banning any sort of head covering but the government asserts that in this particular case it’s discriminating on the basis of religion.

Also this week, the Justice Department met with a coalition of Islamic groups that demand the administration criminally prosecute anti-Muslim rhetoric as hate speech. Besides investing more resources to combat discrimination against Muslims, coalition leaders want Attorney General Eric Holder to “make a strong public statement” condemning hate crimes, harassment and discrimination against Muslims.

 

September 02, 2010 03:32 PM

13 crew members rescued from water, Coast Guard says

KATC.com

Crew members float in the water, huddled together in survival outfits called "gumby suits."

updated 59 minutes ago

GRAND ISLE, La. — The Coast Guard is backing off its earlier report that an oil sheen about a mile long was spreading following a platform explosion in the Gulf of Mexico.

Coast Guard Cmdr. Cheri Ben-Iesau said Thursday afternoon that crews were unable to confirm the oil sheen. The Coast Guard says platform owner Mariner Energy reported a sheen about a mile long and 100 feet wide. But the company has said in a statement that an initial flyover didn't find an oil spill.

Ben-lesau says the fire on the platform has been put out. All 13 crew members were rescued from the water.

Patrick Cassidy, a spokesman for Mariner Energy, told Reuters that the fire was extinguished shortly before 3 p.m. CDT and all crew members have been brought ashore in Houma, La. There were no injuries, he said, although Ben-Iesau said one person was injured.

Video: Oil platform explodes off Louisiana coast
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38973757/#slice-2


The platform, which produces oil and gas, caught fire early Thursday. The scene is west of the site of the massive BP spill.

Cassidy said that the seven wells, which last week produced 1,400 barrels of oil per day and 9.2 million cubic feet per day of natural gas, were shut in.

"The facility is still standing. The fire was contained" to the upper of two decks, Cassidy said. He disputed descriptions of the fire as a blast. "It wasn't a blowout, it's not an explosion," he told Reuters. "The fire appears to have been in or near the living quarters on the upper deck."



But Coast Guard Petty Officer Bill Coklough said the sheen, about 100 feet wide, was spotted near the platform.

The company that owns the rig, Houston-based Mariner Energy, did not know what caused the blast, which was reported by a helicopter flying over the area.

Crew members were found floating in the water, huddled together in survival outfits called "gumby suits."

"These guys had the presence of mind, used their training to get into those gumby suits before they entered the water. It speaks volumes to safety training and the importance of it because, beyond getting off the rig, there's all the hazards of the water such as hypothermia," Coast Guard spokesman Chief Petty Officer John Edwards said.

msnbc.com Seven Coast Guard helicopters, two airplanes and three cutters were dispatched to the scene.

The platform is in about 340 feet of water and about 100 miles south of Louisiana's Vermilion Bay. Its location is considered shallow water, much less than the approximately 5,000 feet where BP's well spewed oil and gas for three months after the April rig explosion.

Responding to any oil spill in shallow water would be much easier than in deep water, where crews depend on remote-operated vehicles access equipment on the sea floor.

The rig is a fixed platform that was in production at the time of the fire, according to a homeland security operational update obtained by The Associated Press.

The update said the platform was producing 58,800 gallons of oil and 900,000 cubic feet of gas per day. The platform can store 4,200 gallons of oil.
Story: Mariner may be facing BP-style crisis Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said Mariner Energy officials told him there were seven active production wells on the platform, and they were shut down shortly after the fire broke out.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said President Barack Obama was in a national security meeting at the time of the accident.
"We obviously have response assets ready for deployment should we receive reports of pollution in the water," Gibbs said.
Story continues below More below Sponsored links Advertisement ad infoAdvertisement ad info.A company report said the well was drilled in the third quarter of 2008.
There are about 3,400 platforms operating in the Gulf, according to the American Petroleum Institute. Together they pump about a third of the America's domestic oil, forming the backbone of the country's petroleum industry.
Platforms are vastly different from oil rigs like the Deepwater Horizon. They are usually brought in after wells are already drilled and sealed.
So? .."A production platform is much more stable," said Andy Radford, an API expert on offshore oil drilling. "On a drilling rig, you're actually drilling the well. You're cutting. You're pumping mud down the hole. You have a lot more activity on a drilling rig."
In contrast, platforms are usually placed atop stable wells where the oil is flowing at a predictable pressure, he said. A majority of platforms in the Gulf do not require crews on board. Federal authorities have cited Mariner Energy and related entities for 10 accidents in the Gulf of Mexico over the last four years, according to safety records from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement.
The accidents range from platform fires to pollution spills and a blowout, according to accident-investigation reports from the agency formerly known as the Minerals Management Service.
In 2007, welding sparks falling onto an oil storage tank caused a flash fire that slightly burned a contract worker. The Minerals Management Service issued a $35,000 fine.
Mariner Energy Inc. focuses on oil and gas exploration and production in the Gulf. In April, Apache Corp., another independent oil company, announced plans to buy Mariner in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $3.9 billion, including the assumption of about $1.2 billion of Mariner's debt. That deal is pending.
On Friday, BP was expected to begin the process of removing the cap and failed blowout preventer, another step toward completion of a relief well that would put a final seal on the well. The Deepwater Horizon exploded April 20, killing 11 people and setting off a three-month leak that totaled 206 million gallons (780 million liters) of oil.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. .
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38973757/ P.S. The Oder is really busy at work! Next?.

September 02, 2010 04:25 PM

Source: Herald Sun DOES the universe need a creator? According to Britain’s most eminent scientist Stephen Hawking on Wednesday, the answer is a resounding “no”. Modern physics leaves no place for God in the creation of the universe, the acclaimed physicist has concluded in his new book The Grand Design [...]

September 02, 2010 02:52 PM

By Jerry Kenney August 31, 2010

American taxpayers are helping to put this material on the air whether they watch it or not.Imagine the shock that some viewers must have felt when they first clicked on their public TV station’s new digital sub-channels expecting to see more shows like Big Bird or Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood, only to find programming more attuned to the views of Osama bin Laden and Vladimir Putin.

About 30 non-commercial TV stations around the U.S. are airing “MHz Network Worldview,” which includes programs from Al Jazeera English, the Kremlin’s “Russia Today” and other foreign state-controlled instruments of propaganda. MHz Worldview is also available in the Washington, D.C. area.

MHz Networks’ slogan is “Many voices. One world.” A non-profit entity, it is designed for “globally-minded people.”

One of the controversial programs broadcast on MHz1 WNVC-DT every Sunday is titled, “Living Islam in America,” described as “a thirty minute discussion-magazine formatted television series with a primary goal of educating the general population about the faith & culture of Islam and the burgeoning Muslim communities throughout America.”

The host, Johari Abdul Malik, is described by his supporters as an advocate of non-violence. However, the Investigative Project on Terrorism says that he supports radical and political Islamic causes. It reports, “At a 2001 conference hosted by the Islamic Association of Palestine, a now defunct propaganda branch of the Specially Designated Terrorist organization Hamas, he called for attacks against Israeli infrastructure to show Muslim displeasure with Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.”

Abdul-Malik said, “I am gonna teach you now. You can blow up bridges, but you cannot kill people who are innocent on their way to work. You can blow up power supplies… the water supply, you can do all forms of sabotage and let the world know that we are doing it like this because they have a respect for the lives of innocent people.”

Abdul-Malik has also been quoted as saying, “before Allah closes our eyes for the last time you will see Islam move from being the second largest religion in America—that’s where we are now—to being the first religion in America.”

American taxpayers are helping to put this material on the air whether they watch it or not.

This odd-couple arrangement with some tax-supported TV stations (not to be confused with the PBS network) has been a windfall for many foreign-propaganda machines. After years of struggling to obtain carriage on American TV outlets, some foreign governments not only get multiple hours of free national broadcast airtime each week, but as a bonus, they get a few dangerously naive souls, mostly from academia (who own many of these stations) insisting that foreign governments actually have a First Amendment right to free carriage on tax-supported public TV. Their spokespeople imply that to remove the programs would go against their affiliate agreements, constitute censorship and even violate the lofty principles of academic freedom.

I do agree that MHz Network Worldview is educational TV because the very first day that I watched it I learned that: (1) The U.S. spends too much money on intelligence gathering; (2) The U.S. is a fascist country; and (3) Harry Truman was a war criminal. Gosh, I didn’t know that!

These are examples of the propaganda being disseminated through the foreign networks carried by MHz.

One would think that the oil-rich Emir of Qatar, who bankrolled Al Jazeera, would already have enough of our petrodollars in his pockets to buy his own doggone airtime just like Rupert Murdoch did when he started Fox News Channel. If the Emir can’t find a commercial station stupid enough to air his twisted version of the world, he could always lease access on cable, just like the other infomercial kings do. That would satisfy any First Amendment concerns without forcing our great grandchildren to borrow even more money to buy airtime for him.

One station that I spoke with said that while they may not like some of MHz Networks programs, they cannot pre-empt them even if they want to.

They cite their affiliation agreement which reads: “The Station shall distribute the Program Service in full as delivered to the Station by the Network and during the time periods provided for herein, without any additions, insertions, alterations or deletions of any kind not otherwise covered in this agreement.” Some might interpret that as an “unauthorized transfer of control” of a station.

In effect, foreign propagandists have hijacked public television stations made possible by the American taxpayers.

I always thought that public TV stations adhered to production standards that put a substantial emphasis on accuracy in content. But obviously something has changed.

This has come about because the digital transition has given stations a lot more air time to fill. They find themselves with many more channels to program but unfortunately only the same paltry amount of creativity, initiative and common sense with which to do so. So, being desperately in need of filler, they turn to almost anyone with a satellite uplink and a program feed. I call it state-of-the-art technology in the service of medieval ideology.

It seems that some bureaucrat-broadcasters are willing to air almost anything knowing that no matter how misleading, irresponsible or reprehensible it may be, they can always justify it in the name of improved global understanding, academic freedom or free speech. Take your pick. That is, if they are even aware that they are airing it at all.

The very first MHz affiliate program manager that I contacted was at WDSC-TV in Daytona Beach, Florida. She appeared not to have known for nearly seven months that her station was even airing Al Jazeera English (AJE). She found out only after she received a complaint from a soldier. Apparently, they don’t even watch their own channels. After she finally did watch one episode of AJE, she concluded that it was “innocuous.”

Maybe it was the multi-million dollar studio in Washington, D.C. with anchors wearing designer suits and having proper British accents that brought her to that conclusion. Everyone knows that Jihadist propaganda can only emanate from a dusty cave somewhere in the Middle East decorated with war maps and AK-47s.

The bottom line is this: U.S. taxpayers should not be forced to subsidize the distribution in the U.S. of another country’s propaganda. Period.

With regard to censorship, there is however, one country’s state-sponsored programming that is censored by federal law. That country is the good ole US of A.

Yes, domestic broadcasting of the Voice of America’s foreign programs has been prohibited by the Smith-Mundt Act since the 1940’s. I haven’t heard MHz Networks or any of its affiliates make any effort to UNcensor VOA. Go figure.

Nine years ago, fanatical Jihadists used civilian airliners as missiles in waging their war on our form of government. Military experts call it “Asymmetric Warfare” when one foe with far fewer military resources than the other must resort to strategies that exploit the other side’s weakness and if possible use the other side’s resources against him.

Any serious warrior also knows the value of wartime propaganda and its ability to manipulate a foe’s attitude toward the war in general with the ultimate goal of lowering the other side’s will to fight.

Let’s make sure that tax-supported public TV isn’t being hijacked, too, for use as a propaganda machine.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jerry Kenney is an independent television producer from Daytona Beach Florida, a graduate of Daytona State College, and a volunteer pilot for charity medical flights. He can be contacted at gkenney@kenneytv.com.
.
.
Source: http://www.aim.org/aim-column/public-tv-hijacked-by-foreign-propagandists/
.

September 02, 2010 03:51 PM

Source: Wired When automakers and safety advocates show off the results of crash tests, they inevitably feature videos of their cars crashing into things, with or without dummies aboard. Back in the 1980s, federal safety regulators even turned a pair of crash test dummies into the stars of an ad [...]

September 02, 2010 02:47 PM

This article comes from AsiaNews.
---------------------------------------

Lay Catholics in Asia: a "sleeping giant" that is waking up

By Bernardo Cervella

Seoul (AsiaNews) - Lay Catholics in Asia have been likened to a "sleeping giant", held back by too many commitments within the clerical structures. It is now time to awaken them to their specific mission, which is to live in the world like a leaven, transforming it, showing the diversity of their life of faith so as to arouse admiration and questions in those who are non-believers . This is a summary of the contents of discussions and conversations held today, the second day of the Congress of Asian Catholic laity here in Seoul which has stressed the present moment as one of transition to an all encompassing lay mission, in family life, the workplace, media in politics.

An authoritative support for this thrust towards the world was founding the intervention of Mgr. Josef Clemens, secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Laity. Thanks to his personal experience as a close collaborator of Josef Ratzinger until his election as Pope (he was his personal secretary), Mgr. Clemens highlighted many of Ratzinger's interventions in defense of a lay commitment "not in church structures, but as leaders in society", in contact with the world.

He also outlined the continuing relevance of the Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles laici asking for its implementation, 22 years on from its promulgation.

But the contributions that have aroused most interest were those of the first two Asians to speak to the Congress.

The first, Mgr. Dao Dinh Duc, a professor at the Seminary in Xuan Loc (Vietnam) emphasized that any commitment of the Church that does not include the mission ad gentes (to non-Christians) is not a true ecclesial commitment. This commitment is borne mainly by lay people, who live in daily contact with the world. What is to be feared, he said, is to have lay people who "are only in the structures of the Church and are insignificant in society".

The mission in the world should not rely on abused slogans, but tend to enliven the faith in culture. For this, he added, it is not enough to "serve the poor": we must ensure that the Gospel reaches "even the rich, the powerful, the intellectuals, policy makers, university students because the fate of the poor also depends on them."

The second person, the first Asian layman to make an address, was Jess Estanislao, who was actively involved in the world of politics, as a member of the Philippine government and former entrepreneur. A member of Opus Dei, Estanislao presented the scope of lay mission: professionalism and perfection in the workplace, commitment to family and life (he still battles alongside the Filipino Church against the law to control population that the government in Manila would like to see approved); freedom and personal responsibility in social decisions, fighting so that priests do not engage directly in political life, friendship with all; cultivating friends in the media. In this regard, as an example, he spoke of how important it is to maintain good relations with the authors of the television soap operas in the Philippines, full of sex, ambiguity and ignorance towards Christianity. "Only through these friendships - he said - can we help these authors to change their work and fill it with new values."

Every intervention stressed the importance of formation of the laity, placing of value on study and understanding of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church.

Among the signs of a "new approach" in the commitment of the laity, Mgr. Martinus Situmorang, bishop of Padang (Indonesia), cited two instances: a rural school in his diocese, founded by the laity without any "cue" from priests, the commitment of a Christian businessman who wants to structure his mines giving a better and more dignified life for its miners.

The first morning of the Congress was marked by a strong typhoon that passed off the coast of Seoul, which caused high winds and rain, but did not stop the work.

September 02, 2010 03:00 PM

This video comes from Rome Reports.-------------------------

September 02, 2010 02:45 PM

Not much if anything was known about human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) at the beginning of the AIDS era. By now, a great deal has been found out, and some of it is directly relevant to various conundrums and controversies about HIV. In my opinion, a recognition of the existence and characteristics of HERVs offers the [...]

September 02, 2010 01:38 PM

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has proposed new rules to comply with the provisions of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008.  The Court reviews government applications for intelligence surveillance and physical search under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

The proposed FISA Court rules (pdf) provide new procedures by which telecommunications companies can petition the Court to modify or dismiss a court order or a directive from the Attorney General or the DNI requiring them to assist in electronic surveillance, to provide “any tangible thing,” or to adhere to a nondisclosure requirement concerning intelligence surveillance.  Meanwhile, other procedures would permit the government to petition the Court to compel cooperation by a non-compliant telecommunications provider.  A new section in the proposed FISA Court rules accordingly addresses the conduct of “adversarial proceedings,” a term that does not appear in the current rules (last modified in 2006).

The proposed new rules make other minor editorial changes in current procedures.  For example, the existing rules provide for publication of FISA Court opinions, but state that “Before publication, the Opinion must be reviewed by the Executive Branch and redacted, as necessary” to ensure that properly classified information is not disclosed.  In a slight but possibly noteworthy revision, the proposed new rules state that “Before publication, the Court may, as appropriate, direct the Executive Branch to review the order, opinion, or other decision and redact it as necessary….”

The FISA Court has provided an opportunity for public comment on the new rules.  Comments are due by October 4, 2010.

The FISA Amendments Act of 2008, which provided the impetus for the new rules, was strongly opposed by civil liberties groups because it granted immunity to telecoms that may have violated the FISA by implementing President Bush’s Terrorist Surveillance Program, which circumvented that binding statute altogether.  The 2008 Amendments were also opposed by several Senators who went on to become leading figures in the Obama Administration and who expressed concern that the Act did not give the FISA Court enough independent authority.

“Although the bill gives the FISA Court a greater role than earlier bills did, it still fails to provide for a meaningful judicial check on  the President’s power,” said Senator Joe Biden during the July 9, 2008 floor debate on the Act.

Likewise, “while the bill nominally calls for increased oversight by the FISA Court, its ability to serve as a meaningful check on the President’s power is debatable,” said Sen. Hillary R. Clinton, explaining her decision to vote against the Amendments.

But the FISA Amendments Act was supported by then-Senator Barack Obama, along with a majority of other Senators and Congressmen, and it was enacted into law.

September 02, 2010 01:08 PM

The continuing controversy over whether the Government Accountability Office will be permitted to participate in intelligence oversight, as some in Congress wish, or whether cleared GAO auditors and investigators will be excluded from intelligence oversight tasks, as the Obama Administration prefers, was discussed in the Washington Post’s Top Secret America blog yesterday.

I participated in a Q&A on the issue with the Post’s Dana Hedgpeth here.

September 02, 2010 12:59 PM

The question of whether or not to disclose the number of nuclear weapons in the U.S. arsenal “goes to the very heart of our democratic system of government,” said Senator Brien McMahon (D-CT) in a newly rediscovered 1949 speech (pdf) on secrecy in nuclear weapons policy.

“Do we possess five bombs, or fifty bombs, or five hundred bombs?  Are we strong or weak in the field of atomic weapons?  Only the Atomic Energy Commissioners, high-ranking military men, and a few others know the correct answer to these vital questions,” Sen. McMahon said.

Sen. McMahon (1903-1952) was the principal author of the Atomic Energy Act of 1946, which established the Atomic Energy Commission and placed control of nuclear weapons in civilian hands.

“Though I have been a member of the Joint Congressional Committee on Atomic Energy since its inception, and though I have just been elected its chairman, I do not myself know how many bombs we possess or how rapidly we are making new ones,” he said.

“It is interesting to note that concealment of atomic production rates is secrecy of a scope which has never been attempted before during peacetime in the United States,” Sen. McMahon said. He indicated that he had not reached a definite conclusion as to whether the size of the stockpile size should be made public.

The text of Senator McMahon’s January 31, 1949 address to the Economic Club of Detroit was entered into his rather voluminous FBI file, which was obtained by researcher Michael Ravnitzky.

Illustrating the often glacial pace of secrecy reform, it was not until May 3 of this year that the current size of the nuclear arsenal was officially revealed for the first time.

September 02, 2010 12:54 PM

Source: Natural News The horrors caused by Merck & Co.’s Gardasil vaccine and GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) Cervarix vaccine continue as six young girls recently died from the shots during an experimental Indian trial. The two human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines have been implicated in at least 67 deaths in the U.S., prompting [...]

September 02, 2010 11:58 AM

A nice example of “predictive programming”

September 02, 2010 11:48 AM

The support for the conservative Independence Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn) has increased significantly this summer after the party underlined its opposition to membership of the European Union by demanding that the application would be withdrawn without delay.

The Independence Party continues to be by far the largest political party and now has according to Capacent poll 35 percent of the votes compared to only 24 percent in the last general elections in Iceland in the spring of 2009.

The party which has lost most support according to the poll is the Social Democratic Alliance which is the only Icelandic political party that favours EU membership.

Source:
Fylgi Sjálfstæðisflokksins eykst á milli mánaða (Capacent.is August 12, 2010)

September 02, 2010 11:19 AM

Iceland's Finance Minister, Steingrímur J. Sigfússon, stressed at a press meeting on Tuesday that it was neither his government's policy to apply for membership of the European Union nor join up. It was merely the decision of the country's parliament to send in an application.

This Sigfússon said in the wake of recent comments by the Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture, Jón Bjarnason, to the newspaper Morgunblaðið that the whole accession process should be stopped since it was not just simple negotiations as the Icelandic people had be told.

This is in line with previous comments this year by Iceland's Foreign Minister that the EU application was not  the government's policy but only the parliament's decision and that the purpose of the application was primarily to see what the EU had to offer but not to join.

Source:
„Ekki stefna ríkisstjórnarinnar að sækja um aðild að ESB“ - Hver sótti þá um aðild Steingrímur? (Pressan.is August 24, 2010)

September 02, 2010 11:09 AM

The economic crisis has been cited as a major contributor to interpersonal violence. The deaths of African-American men in Detroit due to homicide has accelerated. Funeral of Je 'Rean "Blake" Nobles on May 24, 2010.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File PhotosSeptember 2, 2010 http://detnews.com/article/20100902/METRO/9020418

Detroit struggles with rise in murders of young black men

MIKE WILKINSON AND SANTIAGO ESPARZA
The Detroit News

In Detroit, as jobs and hope have evaporated in the wake of a gnawing recession, the fallout has been more than just economic. For a tiny slice of the population, it's become increasingly fatal.

For black males in the city between ages 15 and 24, the chances of getting murdered have risen rapidly in recent years, increasing from 79 in 2005 to 102 last year. The number reached a high of 115 in 2008.

"We are aware of it," said interim Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee Jr. "We are concerned."

Young black men account for just 7 percent of the city's population, yet more than a quarter of all homicides. They have a murder rate -- 200 per 100,000 residents -- nearly seven times higher than the rest of the population. If they had died at the same rate as everyone else in Detroit, there would have been 16 killed last year, or one every three weeks.

Instead, police were investigating, on average, the murders of two young black men a week.

"There's a lot of young kids dying," said Lyvonne Cargill, a 39-year-old Detroiter whose son Je'Rean "Blake" Nobles was gunned down May 14 a few blocks from her eastside home. He was 17.

Most of Detroit learned about Je'Rean's killing because of what happened days later: Police looking for his killer raided an east-side home and accidently shot and killed a 7-year-old girl, Aiyana Stanley-Jones.

But Aiyana's death wasn't the only tragedy to follow. Cargill said two of her son's best friends, both 17, also have been killed. One was shot to death, the other beaten to death.

"It's so bad what's going on around here," she said.

Environment needs change

Antonio Webster, strolling through his crumbling neighborhood off Grand River north of I-94, is a 17-year-old high school dropout who doesn't have a steady job. He recently finished a stint in a juvenile detention center.

Webster admits trouble is always beckoning. But he said he wants to avoid getting labeled, as is happening more frequently in Detroit, as young, black anddead.

"It's around me all day, every day," Webster said.

Police have long known that youths like Webster are overrepresented at the county morgue. Yet, they and others have been surprised by an increase that can be found in area cemeteries, in graffiti memorializing the dead and in the fear that pervades the living.

"Nobody thinks positive," Webster said. When asked what he wants to be doing in five years, he shrugs.

It's not just in Detroit; national crime experts have noted the increase across the country. A 2009 report showed that young black males were both dying in greater numbers and committing more crimes, including murder.

As city leaders acknowledge and grapple with the problem, they find themselves trying to solve the murders -- and the problems that are causing so many.

Cargill wants her son's accused killer, Chauncey Owens, to go to prison. But she wants to see changes so her 11-year-old son can grow up safe. She said the city needs more opportunities for children to work and play.

"Us people have to step up," she said.

In a city struggling to keep cops on the street, it's been difficult to expand the types of recreation programs Cargill advocates. And jobs have been scarce in much of the city.

Godbee said the police department recently participated in a national youth violence prevention forum in Detroit hosted by the U.S. Department of Justice and city officials will travel to San Jose, Calif., in the fall for another forum.

In the short term, Detroit police will use data to determine how officers are deployed to head off crime. The practice started last year under former chief Warren Evans and is continuing under Godbee. Under this strategy, officials analyze crime trends and deploy patrols and sting operations accordingly.

To address the issue of youthful homicide victims over the long term, Godbee said mentors, jobs, better education, more involved parents and community-based programs will be needed, as well as anger management training.

"The end game is a holistic approach," Godbee said. "We have to change the systemic environment that leads to violence."

Mayor Dave Bing held a youth forum recently. Godbee said young people at the event cried out for mentors and for more involved parents.

Godbee praised community-based efforts like the Made Men patrols that started last fall at schools. The effort was spearheaded by the Rev. Edgar Vann, pastor of Second Ebenezer Church.

Vann also offers mentoring programs through his church and the Vanguard Community Development Corp.

"There is a lack of hope with many young people and we have to help them get that back," Vann said.

He agrees with Godbee that education is the key, but says many city schools are not up to par and threats of violence keep students away.

"It is easy to tell a young person to stay in school, but what if there are gangs?" Vann said. "What then?"

'Well out of control'

For Yusef Shakur, 37, a one-time gang member who went to prison and now counsels youths like Webster on how to improve their lives, the solution is simpler.

"The culture, it has to be changed," said Shakur, who has gotten a college degree and written two books on his experiences since his release from prison. "The normal has become abnormal and the abnormal has become normal."

Too many youngsters are numb to the possibility of death, he said. For them, it's a potential "badge of honor." High school isn't a viable option for many and most can't see beyond the boarded-up and fire-damaged homes in their neighborhoods.

That people find life cheap doesn't surprise Shakur. "It's a reflection of a deteriorating city," he said.

With the exodus of many of the city's middle-class families, what remains are homogenous neighborhoods filled with the poor and less educated. Far more boys drop out of high school than graduate and only one out of four has a job.

Common disputes can quickly escalate into gun battles; the results are often fatal.

"They're not abiding by anybody's rules," said criminologist Carl Taylor of Michigan State University. "It's a total breakdown of social norms."

When he grew up in Detroit, Taylor said, his teachers were his neighbors, as were area businessmen. There were standards to meet and social rules to follow.

Not so today, he said: "In some neighborhoods, there is almost anarchy and no one wants to address that."

Taylor said public officials have to acknowledge the problem first. He said many leaders have been reluctant to talk about Detroit's murder problem because it's bad news few want to share. Then, they have to act.

"This is well out of control but it's been well out of control for some time," Taylor said. "If you don't do something, the facts I'm looking at, it's only going to get worse."

On the east side, Lyvonne Cargill is recovering from back surgery and getting ready to relive her son's death with Owens' upcoming trial. She's still mourning the loss of her son.

Cargill is urging leaders and parents to work on a solution so no one, she said, has to follow in her shoes.

"Listen to your kids and pay attention to your kids," she said. "Our kids need us."

mwilkinson@detnews.com (313) 222-2563

September 02, 2010 09:54 AM

marcoponce: SATAN'S NUMBER ONE HITMAN THROWING THE 666 HAND SIGNAL IN HONOR OF HIS COMING HORUS, THE FINAL SLAIN & RISEN POPE!

September 02, 2010 08:44 AM

By William Branigin and Debbi Wilgoren
Thursday, September 2, 2010; 11:56 AM

An offshore oil rig exploded Thursday in the Gulf of Mexico, injuring at least one worker, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

All 13 people on board the Vermilion Oil Rig 380 have been accounted for, and the one who was injured is being transported to a hospital, Coast Guard Petty Officer Bill Colclough said.

The rig is believed to be on fire, Colclough told CNN in a live telephone interview. He said it has not yet been determined whether there is a leak as a result of the explosion.

Multiple Coast Guard, Navy and civilian vessels are en route to the site of the explosion west of the location of the April 20 blast on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that caused a massive oil spill.

The latest blast was reported by a commercial helicopter company about 10:30 a.m. EDT Thursday, the Coast Guard said.

Seven helicopters, two airplanes and four boats are en route to the site about 80 miles south of Vermilion Bay along the central Louisiana coast, the Associated Press reported.
.
.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/02/AR2010090202733.html?hpid=topnews
,

September 02, 2010 09:30 AM

[1] (http://www.bka.de/pks/pks2009/download/pks-jb_2009_bka.pdf) zufolge hat die sechsmonatige Protokollierung aller Internetverbindungen im Jahr 2009 weder von Straftaten abgeschreckt, noch den Anteil der aufgeklärten Straftaten erhöht. Obwohl im Internetbereich Verbindungsdaten teilweise der einzige Ermittlungsansatz sind, konnte ohne Vorratsdatenspeicherung sogar eine höhere Aufklärungsrate erzielt werden.

September 02, 2010 07:32 AM

marcoponce: LIKE SATANIST FATHER LIKE SATANIST SON. DRAKE MAKES IT OBVIOUS WHAT POWER MADE HIM FAMOUS SO FAST IN LATEST MV.

September 02, 2010 07:26 AM

.

September 02, 2010 08:08 AM

Ben Bernanke - Just back from Jackson Hole, Wyoming.




Imam Abdul Rauf - Back from a whirlwind tour of Muslim nations.


Here's a little ditty 'bout Ben and Abdul, two distant cousins acting a fool.

This is a present day version of the Patty Duke song:


Meet Abdul, who's lived most everywhere,
From Zanzibar to Barclay Square.
But Ben's only seen the sight.
A guy can see from Brooklyn Heights --
What a crazy pair!

But they're cousins,
Identical cousins all the way.
One pair of matching bookends,
Different as night and day.

Where Abdul adores a minuet,
The Ballet Russes, and crepe suzette,
Our Ben loves to rock and roll,
A hot dog makes him lose control --
What a wild duet!

Still, they're cousins,
Identical cousins and you'll find,
They laugh alike, they walk alike,
At times they even talk alike --

You can lose your mind,
When cousins are two of a kind. ...*Hot Dog: Hebrew National..

September 02, 2010 07:46 AM

Volume XXIX Issue IX September 2010
Last Trumpet Ministries, PO Box 806, Beaver Dam, WI 53916
Fax: 920-887-2626 Internet: http://www.lasttrumpetministries.org/



America - A Nation Oppressed And Controlled!

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever."

I John 2:15-17
"For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come."

Hebrews 13:14
"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death."

Revelation 21:1-8
In this issue of the Last Trumpet Newsletter, we will once again examine the current events of our time as we move ever closer to the return of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. There is so much going wrong in this world, and it is so very clear which direction we are headed. We need our faith in Jesus now more than ever, for these are very distressing times. If I didn't have the Lord with me, if I didn't have God on my side, I find it doubtful that I could even handle reading the news. It has become an endless stream of evil with one thing after another going wrong. I urge each and every one of you to yield your hearts to God and receive the salvation of Christ while you still can. Time is short!

There is a heavy foreboding throughout the world as many people can feel the pressure of these last days and sense that something very bad is going to happen. The scientific community generally attributes this to what they call global warming or climate change. In fact, Ove Hoegh-Guildberg, the director of the Global Change Institute at the University of Queensland in Australia, recently issued the statement, "We are well on our way to the next great extinction event." (1) The overwhelming sentiment seems to be that the world is on the very brink of an irreversible tipping point. It is because of this that they surmise that drastic action must now be taken in an effort to save the planet. The truth is, though people can drive their hybrid cars, recycle, compost, and do everything possible to reduce their carbon footprints, all of these efforts will change nothing. The Bible tells us this world is going to burn, and there is nothing that Al Gore, Barack Obama, the scientists or you can do about it. Don't let that scare you though. God has promised us "a new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness."

The BP Spill Aftermath

On July 15th, 2010, British Petroleum finally managed to cap their leak in the Gulf of Mexico and stop the flow of oil. It was the largest accidental oil spill of all time with an estimated 4.9 million barrels gushing into the Gulf. (2) Remarkably, much of the spilled oil seems to have already disappeared. Although that may seem like good news, experts familiar with the situation are worried that much of the oil is now underwater and may be impossible to capture or clean up. (3)

Another issue is the massive amounts of a highly toxic dispersant known as Corexit 9500 that BP used on the spill. Despite an order by the Environmental Protection Agency to use the dispersant sparingly, the Coast Guard issued seventy-four waivers, which allowed over a million gallons of the dangerous substance to be used. This activity has attracted the ire of Representative Edward Markey, D-Mass., who stated in a letter, "BP often carpet bombed the ocean with these chemicals and the Coast Guard allowed them to do it." (4) Dr. William Sawyer, a toxicology expert said, "The dispersants used in the BP clean-up efforts, known as 'Corexit 9500' and 'Corexit EC9527A' are also known as deodorized kerosene. With respect to marine toxicity and potential human health risks, studies of kerosene exposures strongly indicate potential health risks to volunteers, workers, sea turtles, dolphins, breathing reptiles, and all species which need to surface for air exchanges, as well as birds and all other mammals. Additionally, I have considered marine species which surface for atmospheric inhalation such as sea turtles, dolphins and other species which are especially vulnerable to aspiration toxicity of 'Corexit 9500' into the lung while surfacing." (5) Corexit was used in massive quantities despite the availability of less toxic dispersants such as Dispersit, which is manufactured by the U.S. Polychemical Corporation. (6)

The Road To Recovery Or The Road To Ruin?

Our leaders in Washington continue to insist that the economy is recovering. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner recently stated, "You are seeing a recovery. You're seeing private investment expand again, job growth starting to come back. And that's very encouraging." Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke also informed us that we would see "moderate growth, a gradual decline in the unemployment rate and subdued inflation over the next several years." (7)

The "gradual decline" of unemployment in this country has been very gradual indeed. A report by the Associated Press indicates that 71,000 private-sector jobs were added in July. This is a paltry number and doesn't even put a dent in the 9.5% of unemployed workers. The United States would need to add 200,000 jobs per month to make any significant gains. And even at that pace, it would still take years to regain all the jobs that were lost since the recession began. The same report indicates that 14.6 million Americans want jobs but are unable to find work. (8)

Many economists and other financial experts are now saying we could be heading for a "double-dip" recession, which is a recession followed by a short period of growth, followed by another recession. Peter Morici, a business economist from the University of Maryland, stated, "Signs abound that the economic recovery is faltering." An economist from Yale University named Robert Shiller claims that there is more than a 50-50 chance of a double dip. Even former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan admitted that a double dip recession could happen. (9)

The housing market continued to decline in July after the market ceased to be propped up by government incentives. Home-buying applications sank to a 13-year low according to Reuters News Service. (10) Reuters also reported that homebuilder confidence was at a 15-month low, (11) and banks are repossessing homes at a record pace. Banks took control of 269,962 homes in the second quarter of 2010 and are expected to foreclose on more than one million homes this year. (12) An unfortunate consequence of the housing collapse in this country has been an increase in homelessness. In 2009, more than 170,000 families had to seek refuge in homeless shelters, which was a whopping 30% increase since 2007. (13)

Regulators at the FDIC continue to shut down banks. Recent closures include banks in Florida, Georgia, Oregon, and Washington. The number of failed banks in the United States soared to 108 in July, and we will likely see more closures throughout the year. It's interesting to note that only three banks failed in 2007, twenty-five failed in 2008, and 140 failed in 2009. (14)

Yes, they call these the days of "recovery." And during these days of recovery, we have seen headlines such as "Economists see U.S. Recovery Weakening," (15) "State Governors Face Fiscal Strain," (16) "Federal Reserve Worry List Gets Longer," (17) "U.S. Counties Confront Shortfalls With Cuts," (18) "Schwarzeneggger Declares California Fiscal Emergency," (19) "Joblessness and Housing Add Risks to U.S. Recovery," (20) "More Americans' Credit Scores Sink to New Lows," (21) and "Competing Currency Being Accepted Across Mid-Michigan." (22) Apparently, some of the citizens of Michigan have such little confidence in U.S. currency that they are instead using money made at private mints. (23)

Meanwhile, there's chatter in Washington about raising the age one can collect Social Security to age seventy. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-MD., stated "We're lying to ourselves and our children if we say we can maintain our current levels of entitlement spending, defense spending and taxation without bankrupting our country. We could and should consider a higher retirement age or one pegged to life span, more progressive Social Security and Medicare benefits, and a stronger safety net for the Americans who need it most." (24) U.S. News and World Reports published an article last month entitled "Eight Realities of the New Retirement." The article contained suggestions such as "continue employment," instead of retiring, and even going back to school. (25) It's starting to look like many Americans may never even get a chance to retire. A recent report from The Business Insider indicated that 36% of Americans don't contribute anything to a retirement plan, and 43% of Americans have less than $10,000 saved for retirement. (26)

Perhaps you've heard that the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, and the middle class is disappearing altogether. Recent news reports indicate that is precisely what is happening. Consider the following facts: 83 percent of all U.S. stocks are in the hands of 1 percent of the people, over 1.4 million Americans filed for personal bankruptcy in 2009, (27) while 40 million Americans are now receiving food stamps. On the other hand, the number of millionaires increased 17.5 percent in 2009 over ten major metropolitan areas in the United States. (28)

Technology and the Death of Privacy!

There's a lot of amazing technology out there these days. And while this technology can be fun to play with and seemingly make our lives easier and more interesting, we need to keep in mind that the coming New World Order would be unable to operate without these amazing modern advances. We now live in a world where consumers carry a wide variety of gadgets that keep them connected to the Internet at all times. In fact, we can now use what they call "mobile broadband" to go online almost anywhere in the country as long as there are cell towers nearby.

Not only can we stay connected to the "world wide web" almost anywhere, but many people voluntarily report much of their activities to a website known as a Facebook. Facebook is a social networking site where you can post status updates to your friends and acquaintances, post pictures and videos, play games, and interact with other members of the website. Facebook is so addicting that many people are now checking it as soon as they wake up, even before using the bathroom. (29)

There has been a lot of controversy over Facebook's privacy policies these last few years. Many members grew upset after Facebook made certain information, such as friends' lists and pictures, available for everyone on the Internet to view. After receiving a lot of unwanted publicity, Facebook relented and added new privacy controls to ease the fears of its members.

But the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, doesn't seem to consider privacy all that important. In January of 2010 he stated, "People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people. That social norm is just something that has evolved over time. We view it as our role in the system to constantly be innovating and be updating what our system is to reflect what the current social norms are." (30)

It is likely that Facebook does store all the data its members submit indefinitely. It's possible that they may be holding onto your data, (which by the way, they consider their data) even after you cancel your membership and leave the site. So without even realizing it, Facebook members are leaving behind a wealth of information about themselves, their personal lives, and their families. Of course, if the federal government were to come along and request this information, I find it unlikely that Facebook would refuse to hand it over.

If you happen to be a smartphone user, your phone apps may be spying on you. According to an Associated Press article, many applications for Apple's iPhone and Google's Android operating system are pulling sensitive data off your phone and sending it to third parties. This data can include your contacts, pictures, text messages, and Internet histories. (31) I guess that explains why so many apps are "free."

CNET News has reported that HP Labs is looking to build computers that monitor every move you make. The computers would track every song you listen to, every movie you watch, every book you read, and probably every other thing you do on the machine. HP Labs director Prith Banerjee stated, "When you think about it, HP sells 75 million PCs per year. That is an incredible place through which we can monitor all kinds of things. If you look at Google, if you look at Amazon, they are only able to look at what a consumer is doing on their web page." (32)

Oppression In The Last Days!

There seems to be a horrific abuse of power these days, whether it be by school officials, law enforcement, or the federal government. Here are just a few examples:

In Providence, Rhode Island, school officials banned an eight year-old boy's hat because it was decorated with toy soldiers carrying weapons. The boy and his parents were told his hat violated a strict zero-tolerance weapons policy. (33)

In Portland, Oregon, health inspectors shut down a seven year-old's lemonade stand after discovering she didn't have a $120 license to operate it. (34)

Police officers in El Reno, Oklahoma, tasered an 86 year-old disabled grandmother not once, but twice, after she supposedly "took a more aggressive posture in her bed." The officers also stepped on the woman's oxygen hose until she began to suffer from oxygen deprivation. (35)

President Obama has been urging federal employees to cut down on business travel and commuting by car in an effort to reduce pollution. In a statement issued in July 2010, Obama said, "The government has a responsibility to use that energy wisely, to reduce consumption, improve efficiency, use renewable energy, like wind and solar, and cut costs." (36) I wonder if our President is planning to reduce his own consumption. Is he going to cut down on business travel and commute less? Is Obama going to improve personal efficiency and cut costs? No, Obama likes to fly around in huge gas guzzling planes and to ride around in big gas guzzling cars. Someone should do a study on the size of Obama's carbon footprint. It's probably enormous.

On August 6, 2010, Rasmussen Reports published the results of a shocking poll. The results indicate that 9% of Americans believe the federal government should be allowed to do whatever they want. That number itself is disturbing enough, but the results also indicated that within the U.S. Political Class, 54% believe the government "should be allowed to do most anything." (37) So basically, within our leadership and amongst those running the United States, over half of them believe there should be no limits on what they can do. At a town hall meeting last July, Democratic congressman Pete Stark of California stated, "I think that there are very few constitutional limits that would prevent the federal government from rules that could affect your private life." He further went on to say, "The federal government, yes, can do most anything in this country." (38) Clearly, the Political Class and the members of our government consider themselves an elite class, which is better than the ordinary American people.

Perhaps one of the most astounding discoveries regarding our government was uncovered by a twelve year-old girl. BridgeAnne d'Avigon started a genealogical research project at age ten. Upon completion, she discovered that every President of the United States is related to each other except for one. With the exception of Martin Van Buren, each president can be traced back to King John of England, including our current president, Barack Obama. (39) This is either one of the most extraordinary coincidences in the history of mankind, or it indicates there is an unseen force influencing and manipulating the presidential office of the United States.

War and More War!

The war in Afghanistan has now dragged on for nearly nine years. Despite the fact that the U.S. military possesses amazing technology and all sorts of advanced weaponry, they have been unable to overthrow the Taliban and win that conflict. Sadly, sixty-three U.S. soldiers lost their lives in Afghanistan last month. According to an Associated Press report, the month of July 2010 was the deadliest month on record in the Afghan war for the United States. (40) You would think that after nine long years of war, things would be getting better and not worse.

Not only is the U.S. military having difficulty winning the Afghan war, they're spending billions of dollars in the process. Last month, Barack Obama signed a spending bill to finance a surge in troops. The price tag on that bill is nearly 59 billion dollars with 37 billion of that going to the Iraq and Afghanistan war efforts. The U.S. Congress has appropriated over a trillion dollars for war since 2001. (41)

Meanwhile, tensions between the United States and Iran remain high. When the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, was asked if the U.S. military had any contingency plans to attack Iran, he confirmed that such plans do exist. In response, Iran has claimed they have already dug mass graves for U.S. troops in advance preparation of any American attack. (42) The hostility between Iran and the United States has prompted Toyota Motor Corp to cease all exports to Iran. (43) The UN Security Council, the United States, and the European Union have all enacted or expanded sanctions against Iran. In retaliation to those sanctions, the Iranian government has announced they will no longer use U.S. dollars or euros. First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi reportedly said, "These currencies are filthy and we will no longer sell our oil in dollar and euro." (44) As we watch things continue to intensify between the United States and Iran, one can only wonder how long it will be before we see World War III.

North Korea also remains a potential threat. After the United States and South Korea performed joint naval drills together in a show of force, North Korea responded by firing 110 rounds of artillery near its disputed sea border with South Korea. (45) This reaction was much less drastic than the previously issued threat to mount a nuclear response against the United States and South Korea. (46)

I have an article in front of me with the headline, "Chinese Missile Could Shift Pacific Power Balance." The article reports that China is in the process of perfecting a new missile called the Dong Feng 21D. This missile is so advanced that it can be launched from land and accurately hit moving aircraft carriers at a distance of 900 miles. This new missile is causing considerable worry among those in Washington and in the U.S. military. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates issued the following statement, "When considering the military-modernization programs of countries like China, we should be concerned less with their potential ability to challenge the U.S. symmetrically -- fighter to fighter or ship to ship -- and more with their ability to disrupt our freedom of movement and narrow our strategic options." (47) It's quite obvious that China has aspirations of taking over the role of "world's greatest superpower."

The Dark Rise of Vampirism!

A recent report by AFP, entitled "Vampires Get Their Teeth Into U.S. Public," highlights a disturbing trend. More and more teenagers and young adults now consider themselves vampires. According to the article, hundreds of "vampires" are gathering together to attend balls every few months. One such vampire, known as Seregon O'Dalley, stated, "It's like a religion. There are houses, and pageants, and clans, and kinds of presidents, ministers." The article also reports that she loves the taste of blood. "Every once in a while I drink blood. I make a prick on my finger and take the blood," she says. (48) Vampirism has been growing in popularity over the last few years due to the Twilight series of books and movies and the HBO television show known as "True Blood."

While Twilight may seem harmless to some, it serves as an introduction to vampire culture for many young people. Additionally, the movies have instilled a grievous amount of lust within not only teenage girls, but also within grown women in their 20s, 30s, and even in their 40s, as they swoon over the often shirtless male stars. As for "True Blood" the show is rated TV-MA and is reportedly so full of sex and violence that many of the show's fans affectionately refer to it as "vamporn." Quite obviously, Christians should stay away from it.

The Earth in Distress!

On July 5, 2010, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel featured an interesting little tidbit in its Earthweek section. Apparently, religious leaders in India's holy city of Varanasi decided to perform "frog weddings" in an attempt to please their rain gods. "This is an age-old tradition that if frogs are wedded, then Indra Dev will be pleased and monsoon will come," organizer Munna Lal Yadav said. (49) Since that time there have been floods and landslides all over Asia.

In Pakistan, the floods are reportedly the worst they have ever had. One hundred thirty-two people have been killed, hundreds are still missing, and fifteen million more have been displaced. A flood in China's Gansu killed at least 127 people while entire villages have been covered in water, mud, and rocks. China has seen its worst flooding in a decade this year with over 1,100 people killed and hundreds more still missing. In Indian-controlled Kashmir, floods have killed 132 people and injured 500 more. (50)

As always, the daily earthquakes continue. Earthquakes have become so common that they are now considered part of the norm and generally don't garner a lot of attention from the news media. While it's true that many earthquakes are not deadly, shouldn't the fact that the earth is constantly rumbling be a cause of concern to the world's population? While people continue to deny any significance of the quakes, they will grow in frequency and intensity as we move through these last days. Recent significant earthquakes include a 7.1-magitude quake in Ecuador on August 12, 2010, a 7.3-magnitude quake in Vanuatu on August 10, 2010, and a 7.0 quake in Papua, New Guinea, on August 4, 2010. (51)

In closing, I urge all of you to put your trust and hope in our Almighty God. I know that reading about what is happening in this world may be hard to bear, but we must remember that this world we presently live in is only temporary. Jesus has promised us Paradise, and when we get there we won't need to worry about earthquakes, floods, oil spills, wars between the nations, or economic distress. All of the problems and issues discussed in this newsletter will be non-existent, and we will live in perfect harmony with God and His people. If you have not yet completely yielded your heart to God, I urge you to do so now. Thank you to all who support this ministry. Your prayers and contributions are greatly appreciated as we seek to get the end time Gospel message to as many people as possible. As usual, if you have any prayer requests, you are welcomed to send them to us, and our teams of intercessors will give each request individual attention. Grace and peace be unto you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.


Samuel David Meyer

Acknowledgements
01. McClatchy Newspapers, July 04, 2010, By Les Blumenthal, Washington, D.C.
02. AFP, August 2, 2010, By AFP, Washington, D.C.
03. McClatchy Newspapers, July 30, 2010, By Curtis Morgan.
04. Associated Press, August 1, 2010, By H. Josef Hebert and Michael Kunzelman, New Orleans, LA.
05. PRNewswire, May 11, 2010, By PRNewswire, New Orleans, LA.
06. Wired, May 5, 2010, By Brandon Keim.
07. AFP, July 24, 2010, By AFP, Washington, D.C.
08. Associated Press, August 6, 2010, By The Associated Press.
09. Associated Press, July 31, 2010, By Tom Raum, Washington, D.C.
10. Reuters News Service, July 14, 2010, By Lynn Adler, New York, NY.
11. Reuters News Service, July 19, 2010, By Corbett B. Daly, Washington, D.C.
12. Reuters News Service, July 15, 2010, By Lynn Adler, New York, NY.
13. McClatchy News Service, June 17, 2010, By Tony Pugh, Washington, D.C.
14. Associated Press, July 30, 2010, By Marcy Gorden, Washington, D.C.
15. Reuters News Service, July 10, 2010, By Pedro Nicolaci da Costa, Washington, D.C.
16. Reuters News Service, July 12, 2010, By Ros Krasny, Boston, MA.
17. Reuters News Service, July 11, 2010, By Emily Kaiser, Washington, D.C.
18. Reuters News Service, July 9, 2010, By Lisa Lambert, Washington, D.C.
19. Reuters News Service, July 28, 2010, By Jim Christie, San Francisco, CA.
20. Reuters News Service, July 8, 2010, By David Lawder, Washington, D.C.
21. Associated Press, July 12, 2010, By Eileen AJ Connelly, New York, NY.
22. ConnectMidMichigan, July 12, 2010, By ConnectMidMichigan, http://connectmidmichigan.com.
23. Ibid.
24. McClatchy Newspapers, July 9, 2010, By David Lightman, Washington, D.C.
25. U.S. News And World Reports, July 10, 2010, By Philip Moeller.
26. The Business Insider, July 15, 2010, By Michael Snyder.
27. Ibid.
28. ABC News, August 5, 2010, By Rich Blake.
29. AFP, July 7, 2010, By AFP, Washington, D.C.
30. ReadWriteWeb, January 9, 2010, By Marshall Kirkpatrick, http://readwriteweb.com.
31. Associated Press, July 28, 2010, By Jordan Robertson, Las Vegas, NV.
32. CNET News, August 6, 2010, By Ina Fried, http://cnet.com.
33. Associated Press, June 18, 2010, By Michelle R. Smith, Providence, RI.
34. The Oregonian, August 04, 2010, By Helen Jung.
35. Courthouse News Service, June 24, 2010, By Tim Hull.
36. Associated Press, July 20, 2010, By Erica Werner, Washington, D.C.
37. Rasmussen Reports, August 6, 2010, By Rasmussen Reports.
38. Ibid.
39. Santa Cruz Sentinel, February 16, 2010, By Megha Satyanarayana, Santa Cruz, CA.
40. Associated Press, July 30, 2010, By Robert H. Reid, Kabul, Afghanistan.
41. AFP, July 29, 2010, By AFP, Washington, D.C.
42. Associated Press, August 10, 2010, By Associated Press, Tehran, Iran.
43. The Japan Times, August 12, 2010, By The Japan Times, Nagoya, Japan.
44. AFP, August 10, 2010, By AFP, Tehran, Iran.
45. Associated Press, August 9, 2010, By Hyung-Jin Kim, Seoul, South Korea.
46. Associated Press, July 24, 2010, By Jim Gomez, Hanoi, Vietnam.
47. Associated Press, August 5, 2010, By Eric Talmadge, Aboard the USS George Washington.
48. AFP, July 20, 2010, By Paola Messana, New York, NY.
49. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, July 5, 2010, By Steve Newman.
50. Associated Press, August 8, 2010, By Ashraf Khan and Aijaz Hussain.
51. US Geological Survey, August 12, 2010, http://usgs.gov.

Special Note: A new tribute website for Pastor David J. Meyer can now be accessed at http://pastormeyer.org.

http://lasttrumpetministries.org

September 02, 2010 06:52 AM

Jeremiah 10
1Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel:

2Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.

3For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.

4They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.

5They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.

6Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O LORD; thou art great, and thy name is great in might.

7Who would not fear thee, O King of nations? for to thee doth it appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto thee.

8But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities.

9Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman, and of the hands of the founder: blue and purple is their clothing: they are all the work of cunning men.

10But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.

11Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.

12He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion.

13When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.

14Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

15They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.

16The portion of Jacob is not like them: for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: The LORD of hosts is his name.

17Gather up thy wares out of the land, O inhabitant of the fortress.

18For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this once, and will distress them, that they may find it so.

19Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous; but I said, Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it.

20My tabernacle is spoiled, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone forth of me, and they are not: there is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains.

21For the pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the LORD: therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered.

22Behold, the noise of the bruit is come, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, and a den of dragons.

23O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.

24O LORD, correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing.

25Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name: for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate.
.

September 02, 2010 06:40 AM

Spending is up a tad from depressed 2009 levels but still way below 2008 levels. Looking ahead year-over-year comparisons will be much more difficult and weak sales will continue to impact state budgets.

A recent Gallup Poll shows U.S. Consumers Pulling Back on Spending in August

Americans' self-reported spending in stores, restaurants, gas stations, and online averaged $61 per day during the week ending Aug. 29. So far, August and back-to-school 2010 spending trends appear no better than those of August 2009.



Self-Reported Spending Suggests "New Normal" Continues

Gallup's consumer spending measure averaged $68 per day in July and $67 in June -- up $6 on average from prior-year comparables, and at the upper end of the 2009 "new normal" monthly spending range of $59 to $67. The July results seem consistent with Monday's report of a 0.4% increase in personal spending in July 2010.

At this point, consumer spending in August is running below that of June and July, falling back to roughly the $65-per-day average of August 2009. This is consistent with perceptions of a continued weakening of the U.S. economy and tepid back-to-school sales.

Economic Consumer Confidence Drops Below Depressed 2009 Levels

In spite of other survey that show a slight uptick in consumer confidence (with emphasis on slight) a Gallup Poll shows U.S. Economic Confidence Down in Recent Weeks

After improving slightly earlier this month, Gallup's Economic Confidence Index declined over the past two weeks to its current -33, matching the average for all of July.



"Poor" Ratings of Economy Are Near 2010 High

Forty-eight percent of Americans rated current economic conditions as "poor" during the week ending Aug. 22 -- approaching the highest levels of the year. This is marginally worse than the early August reading, is in line with the full July average of 47%, and is marginally worse than at this time in 2009.

Expectations Deteriorate



During recent weeks, slightly more consumers told Gallup they think economic conditions are "getting worse" than thought that was the case earlier this month. These expectations for the economy basically match the average for all of July and are worse than those consumers held at this time a year ago.

What Consumers Say

• 48% of consumers say that current economic conditions are "poor"
• 62% of consumers say economic conditions are "getting worse"

What consumers say and what they do may be two different things. However, in this case, actual sales data from Mastercard Advisers seems to confirm this lack of confidence.

Back-to-School Sales Bust

Please consider Back-to-School Shopping Bust Heralds Holiday Woes

In an ominous sign for the holiday shopping season, American consumers behaved like skinflints in August, focusing on bare necessities and budget-priced deals as they made back-to-school purchases.

Shoppers spent slightly more last month than they had the year before, according to MasterCard Advisors, which crunches data from credit cards, checks and cash payments to form sales estimates. But in nearly every category, the sales numbers were far short of 2008 levels, indicating the economic recovery remains sluggish.

Indeed, an index of consumer confidence released Tuesday by the Conference Board, a private research group, rose just 2.5 points in August, to 53.5.

And a Gallup Poll of consumers' self-reported spending in August showed that consumers estimated they spent $65 a day, less than in June and July and roughly the same as in August 2009. The estimates, released Tuesday, included restaurant and gasoline purchases as well as items like clothing.

Total clothing sales rose 2.6% in August from a year earlier, MasterCard said, but they were buoyed by an 8.4% jump in children's wear. Sales of men's clothing fell 1.9% and women's clothing fell 2.7%, suggesting that parents were forgoing purchases for themselves. Clothes sales were still off 2.3% compared with two years ago.

The story was similar in electronics, where sales rose a modest 2.3% from the year before but were down 9.9% from two years ago.

Luxury retailing saw a 1% sales drop in August and remained 13.8% below the same month in 2008, according to the MasterCard figures, which are set to be released Wednesday.

The back-to-school shopping season is second in importance only to the holidays for American retailers and often serves as a harbinger. If so, retail experts predict increased price competition this Christmas.

I see no reason for consumer spending or consumer confidence to rise in a meaningful way, anytime soon.

Moreover, those Gallup economic confidence numbers, as they sit now, are indicative of a Democratic blowup in the Autumn elections. Thus, I expect Republicans will win the house and pickup seats in the Senate in the November midterm elections.

Finally, those weak sales numbers, even if they stabilize will continue to pressure states in desperate need to get tax revenue back up to 2007 levels. It's not going to happen and states will be forced into additional huge cutbacks in public union wages, employment, pension benefits, or all three.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post ListMike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.

September 02, 2010 01:59 AM

Man Seeking becoming a Franciscan
Ducks from Facebook when suggested to google terms relating to the Franciscan Order’s WW2 history in clerical fascist Ustasha Croatia




http://www.reformation.org/holoc7.html
On Facebook, Sean M. Lyons, of Toldeo, Ohio, wrote of his intentions to become a Franciscan:

working on my autobiography and vocation journey. I have my interview with the Franciscan Friars on August 23rd, where I will undergo my behavioral assessment interview. This is big stuff, folks. This is where all my trials and htribulations have led me. It's time to shine!

Days later, Sean Lyons again writes about this upcoming Franciscan “behavior assessment interview", in particular about being nervous about it.

To which I simply commented that he ought to google the terms Croatia, Ustasha, clerical fascism, and Pavelic.

These terms refer to the Franciscan order’s bloody history as the executioners of heretics and schematics under Croatia genocidal clerical fascist regime of Antonil Pavelic, who with high level RCC officials as Stepinac, though I did not write that in my comment, merely suggested that he google the terms himself for his own education.

My comment was soon followed by that of Jennifer Brubaker, preserved in my email in full as follows:

Jennifer Brubaker also commented on Sean M. Lyons's status.

Jennifer wrote:
"Oh Behave!"

Reply to this email to comment on this status.

To see the comment thread, follow the link below:
http://www.facebook.com/n/?profile.php&id=632107729&v=wall&story_fbid=146540325375804&mid=2d7cd03G4f0805caG1643ee0G37&n_m=dougwill2001%40yahoo.com

Thanks,
The Facebook Team

Minutes later, in checking my friends list, I notice his name is no longer present. He is gone from FB. I then check some of our mutual friends – we met via our mutual interest in highways – and his name was no longer present there either, nor in a general FB search.

Hmm. The Franciscan behavior aptitude evaluation, for what I believe it is about, to see if he is sufficiently brain dead to join this religious order with its bloodiest of history.

A day or so later, on August 21, 2010, on another computer I check up on FB and find that he has returned. I look at where I placed my comment recommending that he google the terms Croatia, Ustasha, clerical fascism and Pavelic. I find that comment is gone, erased, with Jennifer Brubaker “Oh behave” comment now appearing as the first, followed by two subsequent comments.

Annett Silas- “You’re going to have it made. You’re quiet, honest, easy to speak with, have concerns for others. What more do you want? You’ll do just fine.”

Kim Walters- “Good luck”

Within 2 hours, after going out for some food and errands, and returning, I check up again on FB to find that his FB presence has again disappeared.

As I had not posted to Lyon’s wall, nor anything to him, only sending the comment’s url to myself and to my wall (via another friend’s FB account), that under two hour timing is telling.

So this is what Roman Catholicism is all about- to cut oneself off, in this case from Facebook, because of, frankly, a fear of facing the truth- that the RRC is not about Jesus Christ but rather is a cult to keep him crucified.

Sean M. Lyon, along with everyone else, ought to educate themselves about this shameful history:

http://www.ccg.org/_domain/holocaustrevealed.org/Church/Vatican_Hiding.htm

The Franciscan Priest Shimich stated bluntly: "All Serbs must be murdered within the shortest time. That is our program."(43) And the actions of the Catholic clergy were not limited to words. Catholic priests and members of orders were recruited into as many Ustasha military commands as possible. As with the clerical fascist state, the clerical fascist army was led by priests. Taking up arms as if in a medieval crusade, the Catholic clergy were transformed, as Carlo Falconi has said, "into thorough going butcher-leaders."(44) At the very first punitive action against Serbs at Ogulin it was the parish priest, Ivan Mikan, who addressed the Ustashi and said "Now there will be some cleaning.... Scoot you dogs (Serbs) over the Drina."(45) It was speeches such as these that gave the signal to launch massacres all across the Independent State of Croatia. Sometimes priests gave less than spiritual reasons for liquidating Serbs, such as Father Mate Mogus in Udbina who told his congregation "Look, people, at these brave Ustashi who have 16,000 bullets and who will kill 16,000 Serbs, after which we will divide among us in a brotherly manner the fields." Meanwhile, Franciscan priests in dozens of villages attacked Serbian and Roma settlements, tortured, killed and expropriated their victims. Father Mogus explained in another sermon that "We Catholics until now have worked for Catholicism with the cross and with the book of the mass. The day has come however to work with the revolver and the machine gun.(46) The Jesuit priest Dragutin Kamber, who was also the Ustasha Commander for the district of Doboj, personally led numerous raids and ordered the execution of 300 Serbs in Doboj. Father Peric of the Gorica monastery participated in the massacres of 5,600 Serbs in Livno. Father German Castimir, the Abbot of the Guntic monastery, personally directed the massacres at Glina.(47)

The genocide of the Serbs was to be carried out in three ways: extermination, deportation and forced conversion. There were simply too many Serbs to kill them all. We have left this third part of the genocide plan, forced conversion, for last because this phase of the genocide was almost exclusively carried out by the Catholic Church itself. At his trial for war crimes in 1986 Andrija Artukovic emphasized that the management of forced conversions was entirely in the hands of Archbishop Stepinac and the church leadership.(48) In June 1941 the Ustashi created an "Office of Religious Affairs" to handle the conversion of Serbs to Catholicism. On July 18, 1941 the government decreed that the Serbian Orthodox religion had ceased to exist. By early September 1941 the government decreed the expropriation of all Orthodox Church property. Across Croatia Priests were instructed to inform the Serbian population that they had only one way out: become Catholic or die. This was the ultimatum the Catholic clergy offered to a lucky third of the Serbs in fascist Croatia.

The Ustashi kept particularly good records of this phase of genocide. One of the reasons for this is that the Ustashi were so awfully proud of their accomplishments in this regard, that they filmed dozens of such forced conversions for Croatian newsreels. Another is that each Catholic diocese published weekly and sometimes daily reports of new conversions. Children were especially targeted for conversion, especially orphans. No doubt, today there are tens of thousands of people living in Croatia, if not more, who do not know that they had Serbian or Jewish parents or grand-parents, nor what happened to them. In a letter to the Vatican dated May 8, 1944 Stepinac informed the Holy Father that to date 244,000 Orthodox Serbs had been "converted to the Church of God."(49)

As the Serbs were marked for genocide, it was desired that no trace of their cultural heritage should remain. 299 Orthodox churches were destroyed. Some 300 Orthodox priests and five bishops were murdered. As this was a clerical-fascist crusade, the Orthodox clergy were marked for especially cruel torture, usually ending with the gouging out of their eyes or other forms of bodily mutilation. In one case the eighty-one year old Bishop of Banja Luka was shod like a horse and forced to walk until he collapsed, at which point his heart was cut out and he was set on fire. In Zagreb the Orthodox Bishop was tortured until he went insane. Some 400 Orthodox priests were transported to concentration camps.(50)

The Croatian Catholic clergy saw the rise of fascism as the beginning of an international Catholic-fascist crusade that would convert the world for Catholicism and the Papacy, as the following statement in "Katholicki Tjednik" of August 31, 1941 makes clear. This was the time to destroy the enemies of Catholicism: Communism, Judaism, Eastern Orthodoxy.

Until now, God spoke through papal encyclicals And? They closed their ears... Now God has decided to use other methods. He will prepare missions. European missions. World missions. They will be upheld, not by priests, but by army commanders, led by Hitler. The sermons will be heard, with the help of cannons, machine guns, tanks, and bombers. The language of these sermons will be international.(51) The clergy had to be ready to take on a military role if that was God's will. Indeed, it had to be prepared for death and destruction. Perhaps this explains the scale of the Catholic clergy's participation in running concentration camps. The exact number of Catholic priests who worked as commanders or guards at these camps in Croatia is unknown. However, there is no question that there were hundreds, if not thousands. In a surprising number of cases Catholic priests were named commanders or staff officers of concentration camps. These appointments were reported in the Catholic press during the war. Thus, we read in Novi List in 1941 that Father Stepan Lukic was named camp adjutant of the Zepce concentration camp, Priest Ante Djuric Commander of all camps in the Drvar district, and Father Dragan Petranovic commander of the camp in Ogulin. The active participation of clergy in running concentration camps in Croatia was known by the German, Italian, British and American intelligence services, as well as the Vatican. The U.S. intelligence report of February 23, 1943 entitled "Massacres of Serbs in Croatia" speaks bluntly of "the bloody hands of the Catholic clergy in the camps."(52)

The scene of some of the most barbaric killings of all time was the concentration camp complex known as Jasenovac. German, Italian, British and American intelligence reports (as well as Croatian accounts) suggest that between 600,000 and 700,000 prisoners were killed there. Aside from intelligence reports, we have the testimony of survivors and of a few of the perpetrators as to the crimes committed there by the Catholic clergy. Testimony was collected by a Yugoslav War Crimes Commission (established in 1945) and obtained during the trials of various Ustashi. A key witness was the parish priest of Jasenovac, Juraj Parshich, who, along with survivors, testified to the barbaric murders committed at Jasenovac by numerous priests, among whom the most infamous were Zvonko Brekalo, Pero Brzica, Anzelmo Chulina, Father Brkljanic, and the Jesuits Zvonko Lipovac and Father Cvitan. However, there was one priest who has carved out a special place for himself in the annals of sadism, barbarism and genocide. His name before the war was Vjekoslav Filipovich, a Franciscan priest who some say was excommunicated. During the war he went from wearing priestly robes to an Ustasha officer's uniform, and bore the name Miroslav Majstorovich. He directed numerous actions against Serbian villages in which he played a conspicuous part in the killings. Before one such attack in the town of Drakulic he strangled a Serbian baby in his hands. Then he went to Jasenovac where he served as Commander for four months, from September 1942 to the beginning of January 1943. At the War Crimes investigation prior to his trial, Filipovich testified that during the four months of his command "according to my own calculations between twenty and thirty thousand were liquidated in the Jasenovac."(53)

It is beyond the scope of this author's comprehension to explain the psycho-pathology of clerical-fascism. However, it is clear from their own statements that they killed a million with clear consciences for their belief in God, the Catholic Church and the Aryan race. This is nowhere more eloquently expressed than in the comment made by Father Srecko Peric of the Gorica Monastery who reassured his fellow Ustashi prior to a massacre by saying: "Kill all Serbs. And when you finish come here, to the Church, and I will confess you and free you from sin."(54) In other words, they were not responsible for their actions, for they killed in the name of God, and on behalf of God's vicar on earth, Pope Pius XII.

The Verdict: The Vatican is Guilty of Genocide

Today Pope John Paul II claims Pius XII was innocent, the Vatican was innocent, the Church was innocent. For all these years it has kept its archives closed, claiming it has nothing to hide. But we know otherwise. Even without the Vatican's archives we have sufficient evidence to find not only Pius XII, but Pope Paul VI (then Cardinal Montini, Pius XII's closest advisor) and the entire Vatican guilty of crimes of genocide. We cannot convict or punish them because the United States is their protector today in the same way the Habsburg Empire once was in centuries past. But we know enough of the details to reach a verdict.

We know that the Vatican met with and supported the Ustashi before they ever came to power. We know that on April 7, 1941, the day after the Nazi invasion of Yugoslavia, the British Ambassador to the Vatican, D'Arcy Osborne, implored the Pope to condemn the invasion, but that he refused to do so.(55) We know that Pius XII met with and embraced Pavelic on May 17, 1941, exactly one month to the day Pavelic arrived in Zagreb to take power, and in the very weeks in which most of the racial laws calling for a triple genocide of Serbs, Jews and Roma were being issued.

We know the Pope also met with dozens of the Ustasha leadership and blessed them all. Pavelic made another state visit in 1943, this one more friendly and loving than the first, at which point his regime had killed upwards of 400,000 people. No doubt, the Pope probably met with Pavelic after the war too when he was a wanted war criminal hiding in the Vatican before escaping with the Vatican's help to Argentina.

The Vatican cannot claim that it was too far removed from events in Croatia or too poorly informed. Croatia was on the Italian border and Vatican and Ustasha officials traveled regularly back and forth. The Vatican had its ambassadorial Legate Ramiro Marcone in Zagreb throughout the war and his Secretary Guiseppe Masucci who spoke Serbo-Croatian fluently. Both of them visited concentration camps in Croatia (including Jasenovac) and met directly with those most responsible for the Holocaust there: Artukovic, Kvartnik, etc. Meanwhile, the Italian military and government officials in Zagreb were protesting the Ustashi's massacres and the Italian press was writing about them regularly.

We also have dozens of acknowledgments of receipt from the Vatican of detailed descriptions of the Holocaust in Croatia, including those from the very few Croatian clergy who actually did protest the genocides, like the Bishop of Mostar. His protest is incriminating on several levels: on one it shows that Pius XII knew exactly what was going on; secondly, it shows that clergy could oppose the Holocaust if they wanted to and not be punished, though almost all supported it; thirdly, it offers a sickening justification for stopping the killings, namely that more Serbs and Jews would convert to Catholicism.(56)

We know that the Vatican was very enthusiastic about the thousands of forced conversions of persecuted people who converted to Catholicism merely to stay alive, and that the Vatican sent notes of encouragement to the Croatian clergy, though warning them that they should not accept conversions of adults who were not "sincere." We know that the Pope personally met with Archbishop Stepinac in May 1943 to discuss the persecution of the Jews. This is in the report of the Ustasha ambassador to the Vatican, Lobkowicz, to the Croatian Foreign Ministry where it is explained that Stepinac "spoke very much ...about the crime of abortion, which was very well received in the Vatican. On the basis of these laws the archbishop partly also justified the treatment of the Jews, who were the greatest advocates and the most frequent perpetrators of such crimes."(57) We know from his diary that Stepinac was an arch anti-Semite. And we know how staunchly Pius XII defended Stepinac after the war, even after his trial and conviction for war crimes in 1946, rewarding him with the robes of a Cardinal, and calling him a martyr. Indeed, every Pope since Pius XII has called Stepinac a martyr, including the current Pope who hints at Stepinac's beatification, and who has worshipped at his tomb. John Paul II will travel once again to Croatia this October to celebrate the Ustasha clergy. But the only real martyrs were those who died at the hands of the Catholic-fascist gangsters. Pius XII and Stepinac, as far as we know, never personally murdered anyone, but what they did was far worse than any single murder: they supported a triple genocide of Serbs, Jews and Romas in fascist Croatia that cost a million lives.

We know that the Vatican aided in the escape of thousands of war criminals from Croatia and all other parts of Yugoslavia. Although Vatican representatives and Stepinac's representatives visited Jasenovac several times, they did nothing to rescue its victims. However, when it was the turn of the fascists to face defeat and punishment at the end of the war, the Vatican stepped forward to rescue every single one of the millions of fascists it could, funneling tens of thousands of fascists from Austrian POW camps to the Vatican with false International Red Cross identity papers and the like. As early as 1943 the Vatican intervened forcefully with Allied military leaders on behalf of Nazi and other fascist POWs in Italy "to exercise that mission of charity proper to the Church." But where was that "mission of charity proper to the Church" for the one million Serbs, Jews and Romas killed by the Church's Catholic-fascist gangsters!?(58)

All of this was but one of theater of 26th Jesuit Order Superior General Wlodimir Ledochowski's continuing counter reformation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wlodimir_Led%C3%B3chowski

According to a slightly premature obituary in The New York Times, dated December 10, 1942 (three days before he actually died):

Dr Nicholas Murray Butler, who met Father Ledóchowski in 1930, wrote later that "... in Rome I was told that Father Ledóchowski would rank as one of the two or three greatest heads of the Jesuit Order", an estimate which would group him with such men as Ignatius Loyola, the first [Jesuit] general, Francisco Borgia, the third, and [Claudius] Aquaviva, the fifth.

Malachi Martin's The Jesuits: The Society of Jesus and the Betrayal of the Roman Catholic Church (p. 221) referred to Ledóchowski as follows:

It was during the twenty-seven year Generalate of Father Wlodzimierz ... that the traditional character of the Society received the firmest stamp and clearest definition since the Generalate of Claudio Acquaviva in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. One might even say that Ledóchowski insisted on fidelity to the structure of Jesuit obedience, was an almost merciless disciplinarian,and maintained a stream of instructions flowing out to the whole Society about every detail of Jesuit life and Ignatian ideals. He know exactly what Jesuits should be according to the Society’s Constitutions and traditions; and under strong hands of two quite authoritarian Popes, Pius XI and Pius XII, he reestablished the close ties that had once linked papacy and Jesuit Generalate. Ledóchowski, in fact, gave renewed meaning to that old Roman nickname of the Jesuit Father General, "the Black Pope". Just as Pius XII can be described as the last of the great Roman Popes, so Ledóchowski can be called the last of the great Roman Generals of the Jesuits. There seemed, indeed, during those years of Ledóchowski, Pope Pius XI, and Pius XII, no real limit to what both Jesuitism and overall Roman Catholicism could achieve. Even – especially, we should say – in the afterglow of Ledóchowski's long reign and into the Generalate of his successor, Belgian Jean-Baptiste Janssens, the magic power of momentum seemed to continue.

Wlodimir (Vladimir) Ledochowski's
Deranged Visions of a Divine Polish Mission?!
http://continuingcounterreformation.blogspot.com/2007/07/wlodimir-vladimir-ledochowskis-deranged.html

Mission, Motivation, Geopolitical Chessboard
http://continuingcounterreformation.blogspot.com/2007/06/wlodimir-vladimir-ledochowski-mission.html

Franciscan Maximilan Kolbe- God is Cleansing Poland
http://continuingcounterreformation.blogspot.com/2007/08/from-man-for-others-maximilian-kolbe.html

Wlodimir Ledochowski Kulturkampf Revenge
http://continuingcounterreformation.blogspot.com/2009/07/wlodimir-ledochowski-kulturkampf_17.html

God Must Dislike Mieczyslaw and Wlodimir Ledochowski's Bloody Revenge for Bismarck's Kulturkampf
http://continuingcounterreformation.blogspot.com/2010/07/god-must-dislike-mieczyslaw-wlodimir.html

September 02, 2010 01:50 AM

Thousands march down Washington Blvd. at the Detroit March for Jobs, Justice and Peace on August 28, 2010. The main chants were led by the Moratorium NOW! Coalition which repeated the slogan: "Bail Out the People, Not the Banks! (Photo: Abayomi Azikiwe)
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File PhotosThousands march for jobs, justice & peace

By David Sole
Detroit
Published Sep 1, 2010 6:31 PM

Some 5,000 protesters marched and rallied in downtown Detroit on Aug. 28 demanding jobs, peace and justice. A coalition of unions, community groups and churches, called together by United Auto Workers international union President Bob King and Rainbow/PUSH leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., backed the action.

Workers and the unemployed throughout southeast Michigan were joined by delegations from Cleveland; Chicago; Toledo, Ohio; and other Midwest locations to express their anger and frustration at the economic crisis and social injustice. This was also the first time in anyone’s memory that the largest unions marched against the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Union delegations were prominent from the UAW; the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, including many city of Detroit workers facing tremendous attacks; Service Employees; and other area unions.

Many community groups participated. Arab and Muslim delegations marched along with Latinos Unidos/United of Michigan. Members of Planned Parenthood, the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists and the Coalition of Labor Union Women were in the streets. Warriors on Wheels, a local disability-rights activist group, led the march just in front of the lead banner carried by the dignitaries.

The official march signs of “Rebuild America: Jobs, Justice, Peace” were supplemented throughout the crowd with hundreds of signs produced by activists from the Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, Evictions and Utility Shutoffs and the Michigan Emergency Committee Against War and Injustice.

Marchers from all over grabbed up these signs, which proclaimed “Jobs Not War!” “We Need a Massive, WPA-style Public Jobs Program Now!” “Money for our Cities, Not for War!” “Moratorium NOW! to Stop Foreclosures!” “Bring the Troops Home Now!” “Overturn Arizona Apartheid, Jobs Not Racism!” and “Bail Out the People, Not the Banks!”

As the thousands of protesters gathered on Detroit’s riverfront, activists from Moratorium NOW! and MECAWI conducted a spirited rally from the back of a pickup truck mounted with a huge loudspeaker.

Fighters against foreclosures called on the crowd to get involved in direct action against evictions and to march on the banks.

Anti-war activists explained how the cost of a jobs program, health care and education for all could be paid for by the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from around the world. A speaker from the immigrant rights struggle urged U.S.-born workers not to be fooled into thinking that immigrants were the problem.

The sound truck then positioned itself in the front of the thousands of marchers and led chants along the entire route. The crowd picked up slogans calling for jobs and education, not war, as well as many other demands.

The closing rally at Grand Circus Park featured mainly prominent religious leaders and politicians. Many urged the militant crowd to vote Democratic in the November elections. But others who were very well received by the people made it clear that waging a struggle is needed. Congressperson Maxine Waters announced, “It’s time to move. It’s time to get up and fight. Banks — we’re coming after you!”

Detroit attorney Vanessa Fluker fired up the crowd with her denunciation of the banks and the federal and state programs supposed to help workers and poor people avoid being foreclosed upon. She called on the crowd to get into the streets to directly stop foreclosures and evictions and announced a Sept. 1 demonstration at Bank of America in downtown Detroit to save the home of Michelle Hart, who was in the crowd.

Workers World Party activists passed out hundreds of leaflets for a Sept. 11 forum featuring Fred Goldstein, author of Low-Wage Capitalism, and the Sept. 18 WWP Midwest conference in Chicago. Six hundred copies of Workers World newspaper were eagerly grabbed up by marchers.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Articles copyright 1995-2010 Workers World. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.

Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
Support independent news DONATE
Page printed from:
http://www.workers.org/2010/us/detroit_0909/

September 01, 2010 11:35 PM

Germany to Approve Sativex, But Not Medical Marijuana
by Phillip Smith, September 01, 2010, 12:49pm, (Issue #647)

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2010/sep/01/germany_approve_sativex_not_medi

German press reports a couple of weeks ago carried headlines saying "Lawmakers Ready to Approve Medical Marijuana" and "Germany Plans to Legalize Medical Marijuana." Those reports were incorrect, and so was the Drug War Chronicle story based on them, "Germany Legalizing Medical Marijuana." (The title to that story, which we have since updated, now reads "Reports of Germany Legalizing Medical Marijuana Are Premature.")

Tetrahydrocannabinol (courtesy wikimedia.org)
According to the International Association for Cannabis as Medicine, whose executive director, Dr. Franco Grotenherman, also heads the German Association for Cannabis as Medicine, what actually happened is that the German government has modified its drug laws to reclassify marijuana from Annex I (no medical use) to Annex II, as long as it is "intended for the productions of preparations for medicinal purposes" -- not raw marijuana.

The health ministry also approved adding "cannabis extract (extract obtained from plants and parts of plants belonging to the species cannabis) in preparations approved as medicines" to Annex III of the drug law. That means that Sativex, a sublingual marijuana extract composed primarily of the compounds Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and Cannabidiol, will qualify as medicine under German law, and that its maker, Britain-based GW Pharma, can now apply to market it there.

GW Pharma is partnering with the pharmaceutical giant Bayer in marketing Sativex. Approval to use Sativex in Germany is expected to happen next year. It will only be approved for the treatment of spasticity in multiple sclerosis.

GW Pharma's move in Germany is part of a broader roll-out of Sativex, which has already been approved for limited use in Britain, won preliminary approval in Spain, and this week, was approved for MS spasticity in Canada. The company also plans to seek approvals in other European Union countries, including France and Italy.

"There are media reports that the German government is intending to ease the access to cannabis for medicinal purposes," said Dr. Grotenhermen in response to a Chronicle query. "Most of the reports are misleading. The German government has agreed to allow pharmaceutical companies to apply for approvals on cannabis-based medicines in Germany. No other changes with regard to the medical use of cannabis are intended by the German government. The German Association for Cannabis as Medicine is calling the media reports initiated by the German government 'misleading,' since they suggest that cannabis will be available in Germany soon for many patients, while it is only for spasticity in MS after the approval of Sativex for this indication," Grotenherman said.

"The German government announced a 'major breakthrough' for cannabis as medicine in Germany, and nearly all the newspapers repeated this without knowing what the 'breakthrough' actually was," explained German hemp activist Steffen Geyer. "The next day, the real decision was made public, and it basically said they will change the law so Bayer can sell Sativex to patients with multiple sclerosis. The 'breakthrough' is really a small step, and they aren't doing it for the patients, but for the companies."

Cannabidiol (courtesy Cacycle, wikimedia.org)

And that means no relief in sight for most of Germany's medical marijuana patients. As things now stand, people in Germany who want to use medical marijuana have two choices: If all other treatment options have been tried already, they can be prescribed Marinol, which is expensive and typically not covered by health insurance. Or, since a German court ruling forced the government's hand, they can apply to the government for special permission to use medical marijuana.

Only about 40 patients are permitted to do so, and they must buy their medical marijuana from a Dutch supplier, Bedrocan, in German pharmacies. They cannot grow their own, and no one can grow it for them, either. Just last month, the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices rejected a patient's bid to grow his own. The patient had permission to get cannabis at the pharmacy, but said he could not afford it.

"Most patients who tried Marinol said it didn't work like natural cannabis, so after a couple of years, the institute 'invented' an extract made from cannabis flowers and sesame seed oil," said Geyer. "That didn't work, either. It was even worse than Marinol. Again, a couple of years went by, some more patients died, then the court ruling forced the government to allow some patients to use cannabis as medicine. But that Dutch medical marijuana is expensive, so most patients can't afford the amount they actually need. But since, like everybody else, they are not allowed to buy or grow their own, some of them are in jail."

Pharmaceutical Bedrocan goes for $18-30 a gram, while black market marijuana sells for $6-15 a gram, Geyer reported.

"So, none of this changes, and now the wonderful news that Germany will be the next country where Bayer can get richer by selling Sativex," the activist sardonically noted. "But it won't be in the pharmacies, it will only be for specified conditions, you will still have to try all the other therapies first, and health insurance won't pay the bill."

The German government's resistance to expanding access to medical marijuana comes even as opinion polls show strong support for it among the citizenry. An August poll had 76% of German voters in favor of medical marijuana and only 18% opposed. Similarly, 65% said health insurance should pay for it.

Medical marijuana patients and would-be patients need to continue to organize, said Geyer. "We need to get the German patients more political," he said. "For the last 10 years, there was often a gulf between 'good' patients and 'bad' recreational users, and that sucked the political power out of the movement. But patients started to see this as a problem, and have begun to ask hemp activists about advice for political campaigns. This year, for example, for the first time, we had legal patients marching in the Hemp Parade, and that led to widespread news coverage related to cannabis medicine."

Geyer has a plan. "The next step on my medical cannabis agenda is to get more patients to ask for legal permission to grow their own marijuana," he said. "The cost problem may make that possible. Both Marinol and the Bedrocan are far, far more expensive than the plant, and most patients just don’t have the money. There is a chance this will work soon. After the first couple of 'I Can Grow' patients, I would like to establish a patients' cannabis social club, but that's at least two or three years away."

Germany has allowed corporate cannabis medicine a foot in the door, but it is so far still leaving the vast majority of possible beneficiaries of medical marijuana -- the patients -- on the outside waiting to get in.

September 01, 2010 11:18 PM

Rand Paul chooses 'States Rights' Over Freedom,
would allow continuing the 'drug war' criminal mercantilism via State rather then Federal govt.

http://blog.mpp.org/medical-marijuana/paul-campaign-clarifies-medical-marijuana-stance/08202010/

MPP's Mark Melo sums up this clarification of Rand Paul's position on continuing MJ prohibition:

Many readers have been questioning the accuracy of an Associated Press article I blogged about recently claiming Kentucky GOP Senate candidate Rand Paul, who has defended the rights of states to pass medical marijuana laws, “is opposed to the legalization of marijuana, even for medicinal purposes.”

As a former reporter, I always strive for accuracy, so I just got off the phone with a representative of the Paul campaign in order to clarify the candidate’s position — which isn’t as simple as the AP made it out to be.

“Doctor Paul’s stance has not changed, and that is a case of sloppy reporting,” said Nena Bartlett, Paul’s assistant campaign manager. “His position is that it’s a states’ rights issue.”

However, when I asked Bartlett if Paul personally supports medical marijuana laws, and would, for example, vote for a bill protecting patients from arrest if he were a member of a state legislature, she demurred.

“I’m actually not positive that he’s taken that stance,” Bartlett said. “He just believes it should be left up to the states … I’m not sure if that’s a position he would take at this time. It’s a decision for doctors and patients at the local level.”

So there we have it. Rand Paul believes the federal government should not interfere in state medical marijuana laws. But he does not support such laws himself, at least not at this time. It was therefore inaccurate for the AP to say he “is opposed” to medical marijuana laws. (Though the Paul campaign will not say he’s “in favor” of them either.) I regret having helped to spread that misinformation, and want to apologize to our readers.

MPP’s blog — like nearly every other one online — relies almost entirely on outside news organizations to provide us with information that we then analyze and make entertaining for our readers. As this episode demonstrates, sometimes news outlets get it wrong—even ones as old and esteemed as the AP. With that in mind, I hope our readers will appreciate where we’re coming from, and understand that we will always do what’s in our power to promote accurate information — and correct something when it’s wrong.

The expenditure of billions $$$ annually for a constitutionally criminal, immoral 'drug war' designed as market protection and initially pushed through the U.S. government via the U.S. Department of Agriculture is somehow OK if run by the various States rather then the Federal (national) government? Also note is utter failure to condemn MJ and other drug prohibition, nor dare say he would oppose it as a state legislature.

This sort of intellectual dance and cowardice, IMHO reeks of a fraternal order racketeering to protect various markets as long as they can.

That something as 'Virginia Bright Leaf' cigarettes, of a variety of the plant designed to provide little psychoactive satisfaction while being 'smooth' to be drawn deeply into the lungs, and described as more physically addictive then injected heroin, and sold with 100s of additives designed to increase usage (aka burn accelerants) and health problems and house fires, taking some 440,00 lives annually in the U.S. alone is "legal", while MJ, Coca and Opium which take no lives (unless made highly more concentrated then as they exist in nature- with their use likewise perverted) are "illegal"?

To me this reeks of an international shadow government, as plainly hidden in open site, as one the $1 bill, back and to the left, and via the label of the #1 brand of this Virginia Bright Leaf cigarette "dope".


Asking about the fraternal order membership -- note that many college fraternities were founded by masons, along with their logos' assorted masonic and roman catholic imagery -- of any political candidate, occurs with Rand Paul, along with that of his father, Ron Paul (the 1988 U.S. Libertarian Party and a candidate for the U.S. Republican Party presidential nomination in 2007).

As it should with any others.

For instance, IIRC, the 2008 U.S. Libertarian Party presidential candidate Bob Barr is reportedly a mason- hence showing that masonry's political infiltration goes beyond the 2-party Democrat-Republican duel-opoly.

Rand Paul's father, Ron Paul's Fraternal Connection
http://www.dailypaul.com/node/124082


Explaining People like FDR, Clinton, the Bushes, etc
http://continuingcounterreformation.blogspot.com/2008/11/explaining-people-like-fdr-etc.html


College Frats as Satanic (Luciferian) Romish-Masonry?
http://continuingcounterreformation.blogspot.com/2008/08/college-frats-as-satanic-romish-masonry.html


.

September 01, 2010 11:05 PM

A telling indication of the Jesuit driven 'white pride worldwide' ‘Stormfront’ organization

Page 1 of 2 1 2 >

LinkBack

Thread Tools

Display Modes

08-06-2007, 08:13 AM	#1 (permalink)
Jebivjetar Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 1,147	Operation "Storm" 4th August 1995, the end of Greater Serbia Dossier "Oluja"(Storm), Croatian victory day The decision is made When President Tudjman returned from Brijuni to Zagreb on the August 3rd it was clear that the decision has been made. News from Geneva confirmed earlier estimations that the rebel Serbs leaders are not taking seriously the situation and determination of Croatian state politics to finally end rebellion and secession. Looking back on that Thursday a few significant things crop up. International situation was particularly favorable for Croatia. Americans were furious at Serbs for running over Srebrenica and Zepa. They tacitly considered that Croats could offer the fastest and most efficient aid to Bihac. Croatian army was rapidly mobilizing reserve forces. In addition to 80 000 soldiers and officers further 70 000 were mobilized (Croatian Home Guard of the 2nd echelon) and 50 000 more in the third echelon. There was not a town or urban area not participating in major defense operation. All together 200 000 combat troops were ready for the action. 25 fully equipped brigades stood at the positions facing the rebel area. Zagreb will go all the way Well-informed analysts figured out that it was not restricted action this time. Zagreb would go all the way regardless of the warnings its allies gave saying resistance of the rebel army would be strong or even unbeatable. Germans believed Croatian military intervention to be unavoidable. American intelligence expected Croats to succeed if they would be able to bring the operation to the end within 7 to 10 days having own losses around 1000 dead and wounded. Noone assumed that secret plan "Storm '95" was planned even to be faster. Continuos demoralization of rebel Serbs that could not even be stopped by a professional soldier general Mile Mrk{i} is taken into account. He received his instructions from Belgrade to reorganize "krajina" defense and make it more flexible. Tactical and strategic estimations were placed on the desk of Croatian president 10 days before the operation started. The conclusion was unanimous: Serbia won't intervene for the reasons of inner instability (including the political-ideological conflict with Radovan Karadjic and Milan Martic) and in order to fulfill Milosevic's ambitions of getting economic sanctions lifted by the beginning of October. President Tudjman wanted everything to be checked out once again. Before signing the order for the operation he raises four important questions: major aims of the attack, a way to achieve them, situation among Croatian troops and the update of the situation in the enemy's army. "Storm '95" carefully looked into all scenarios. Minister of defense Gojko Susak and military and intelligence top people of Croatian army learned that the rebel troops represent mosaic of mutually incoherent military formation expected to breakdown within 5 to 7 days. According to the available data president Tudjman expected the breakdown to come even sooner, especially having in mind the psychological moment when rebels realize Belgrade abandoned them. On the eve of the "Storm" In all Croatian preparations it was taken into account that the intention towards the rebels couldn't be hidden because of the mass mobilization throughout Croatia so the surprise factor won't be forthcoming as in all the earlier operations. But it wasn't the aggravating circumstance. On the contrary the public demonstration of the military concentration was the additional psychological pressure onto rebels who were using their armed formations all the time as the means that should dissuade Croatian of making more serious attack. Even before Geneva, Knin was partially agitated. Declaring state of war rebel leaders were making efforts to strengthen their formations and to gather 50 000 men (5 000 to 10 000 were the best age group and 20 000 were younger or older. Rebel military leadership estimated that Croatian major strike directions would be Banija, Kordun and Lika in order to break a siege of Bihac. Because of that fact so called 15th, 21st and 39th corps got additional reservists and two thirds of heavy arms were thrown over and concentrated at the triangle Petrinja - ways to Karlovac - Glina. Seventh corps and less heavy arms were left to protect Knin and "northern Dalmatia" which wasn't enough (Croatian were evidently accumulating its troops around Zadar, Sibenik and Sinj, actions from the Grahovo region, permanent endangering of Strmica to open direct way to Knin and so on). Although threatening signals from Zagreb were increasing on the eve of the "Storm" rebel leaders decided once again they could count on the fast military support of Bosnian Serbs (air force and 10 000 men) and Milan Martic was persistently explaining that Belgrade won't be passive this time. Although nervous Serbian negotiators from Geneva sent the message that Croatian attack is completely certain, general Mrksic considered that his basic force of 37 000 men is enough to confront Croatian offensive and to resist further 10 days. 17 000 men of so called "army of the republic of Serb krajina" in eastern Slavonija should immediately start actions on the front line and with strategy of retaliation put pressure onto Osijek and Vinkovci what should force Croats to transfer part of their reserve forces to the eastern front thus giving the relief to the defense of the northern parts of "krajina". The dawn Serbs will remember In the evening of August 3rd, detonator of the conflict was inevitably ticking off last moments. Wick that was set on fire by Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina was to explode in Croatia. It seemed as nothing was going on along the 700 km long front line at 3 a.m. of the August 4th. But, 2 000 Croatian cannons , howitzers, mortars rocket launchers and recoilless canonns were ready to fire. An hour later, UN peace forces in Croatia were officially informed that unavoidable military and police operation would start, with purpose of reestablishing constitution, law and order in sectors North and South. Anyway nothing happened in the next 60 minutes that would disturb hot and moistly dawn. And then, exactly at 5 a.m. the artillery strike like none seen before started. Serbs will remember that dawn very well. They were encouraging themselves day by day: no retreat, no surrender. Our forts will be our bloody shirts. They did not expect that so much steel will fall over their heads immediately. Although they knew Croats were superior, their propaganda claimed that krajina fighters are not afraid of Croatian slings. At the same moment all the way from north to the south the command echoed: Fire! Roar of Croatian artillery broke the morning silence waking up sleepy Serbian quasyrepublic. Salvos were following one another all in all 40 minutes with no stops, somewhere even longer. In the Serbian pillboxes, forts, barracks, commands, storehouses, reserve positions, quickly digged trenches, on the approaches of all bigger cities there was panic with everyone shouting: Croats are coming . . . they are braking through from everywhere. Terrified men in the forts were hit by bouncing rocks, wood and deafened by noise. Dust and smoke were choking surprised garrisons. The cannon and rocket launcher fire were joined by a fire of Croatian tanks and sounds of Croatian infantry arms, who started unstoppable breakthrough through thinned mine fields and chopped barb wire. In Serbian lines, where many were totally stunned by the noise of explosions, they didn't know what to do next. In only ten hours of fighting Serbs suffered mentally and started to fall apart. Instead of fortified north Croats tightened the circle around Knin that trembled from the shell detonations which were destroying military targets. In four days of major operations Croatian armed force demonstrated they are ready, with methodical and continuos pressure of their formations, to surround completely rebel "krajina" as a kindled almond which suddenly found itself in the nut cracking pincers. Objections that too much force had been used are absurd. In the liberation war exaggerated force is only the sufficient force. __________________ Sačuvaj nas Bože, kuge, gladi, rata i Hrvata! Srpska istorija - najbolja istorija 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Internet rasist, a ne zločinac. The term "political correctness" is used almost exclusively in a pejorative sense, while "politically incorrect" is commonly used as an implicitly positive self-description ~Wikipedia Two side of the same coin
08-06-2007, 08:15 AM	#2 (permalink)
Jebivjetar Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 1,147	Re: Operation "Storm" 4th August 1995, the end of Greater Serbia CHRONOLOGY 4th August The storm began With the sunrise, at 5 a.m., the storm began. The storm that swept away "krajina" in four days only. While electronic media were broadcasting President Tudjman's address to the Croatian citizens of Serbian nationality guaranteeing them all rights and calling upon paramilitary troops to give over their weapons, offering them amnesty, Croatian army and police started the liberation of four years long occupied so called sectors North and South. Strike on Celavac "Following the decisive and strong action, Croatian troops penetrated the 700 km long front lines at 30 spots, in Bjelovar, Zagreb, Karlovac, Gospic and Split area of responsibility", was stated in Zagreb at a press conference, the same afternoon. Croatian air force launched a rocket attack and disabled Radio and TV transmitter Celavac. Penetration depth of Croatian forces ranged between 5 and 15 km. First day of action ran according to the schedule. Beginning of the Storm Sveti Rok liberated Great success of the first day of the action was liberation of Sveti Rok. Knin was already encircled and Croatian troops were in front of the town. Ministry of Defense stated that Croatian army in its action of liberating the territories does not demolish the towns or kill civilians. UNCRO was informed about the action before it started. In spite, a few incidents took place and led to a loss of two Czech UN soldiers. Serb rebels retaliated for their own losses attacking civilians in Sisak, Sibenik, Otocac, Gospic, Ogulin... Orthodox church in Plaski 5th August Knin is liberated Round about noon the breaking news came: Croatian troops entered the city of Knin. Knin is freed! On the medieval Knin fortress a big Croatian flag was set. Surrounding places such as Vrlika, Kijevo, Drnis, Zitnic, Benkovac, Gracac, Lovinac, Ljubovo were liberated as well. By the evening 80% of the plans were carried out. Serbian civilians were, in spite of repeated calls, made by Croatian authorities, to remain at their homes, fleeing from the area. Croatian army ensured the corridors for their withdrawal through the cities of Srb and Dvor. Cities of Petrinja, Glina, Udbina and Slunj were soon to be liberated too. Croatian flag on the Knin fortress Croatian police force in Lovinac and Gracac The establishment of the civilian authorities started immediately upon liberation and first to come were local police stations. Police station Vrlika, Lovinac... was written on the boards that were hung in presence of Ivan Jarnjak, Minister of internal affairs. At the same time Serbs retaliated, shelling civilians in Zupanja from Bosnia and in Osijek, Vinkovci, Nustar from eastern Slavonia. Karlovac and Dubrovnik were attacked too. Serbs retaliated targeting civilian targets Celebration On Saturday evening, while Croatian troops were advancing with the actions of liberation, Croatia was celebrating, opening bottles of champagne. People were laughing and crying at the same time. Happy for the victory that came. President Tudjman, escorted by his closest assistants, joined the celebration on the Zagreb main square. Dr. Franjo Tudjman joined the celebration on Ban Jelacic square in Zagreb 6th August Two armies joined Croatian forces joined with HVO and the 5th corps of Bosnian army on the border between Bosnia and Croatia on the river Korana near Trzacka Rastela. It was clear then, the Bihac enclave was saved and strategic communication Bihac - Knin was cut. Knin, Drnis, Kijevo got the police stations. The same afternoon, only 24 hours after it was liberated, President Tudjman visited the old Croatian town of Knin, where met by the 4th and 7th brigade of Croatian army. "Liberation of Knin means more than just a liberation of Croatian territory and a Croatian town. It means creating conditions for the stability of Croatian state for centuries ahead", said President Tudjman. Dr. Tudjman and his wife Ankica were accompanied by President of the Parliament, Deputy Prime Ministers dr. Mate Granic, Borislav Skegro, dr. Ivica Kostovic, Minister of Defense Gojko Susak and many others. They were awaited by the Minister Ivan Jarnjak and Minister of maritime affairs, traffic and communications Ivica Mudrinic who stated that in no more than two weeks railroad Zagreb-Knin-Split will be fully operating. Arrival of President Tudjman in Knin Croatian army and the 5th corps meet So called "krajina" does not exist any more So called "krajina" ceased to exist. Petrinja, Slunj, Kostajnica, Plitvice lakes, Obrovac were liberated. Major general Tolj once again called rebel Serbs to give over their weapons and surrender. Their military forces are broken down: 21st corps (that surrended on the 8th of August) was encircled and 15th and 39th corps were facing similar situation. Park "Plitvice lakes" Petrinja and Glina freed On Sunday morning Croatian army liberated Petrinja and about 11 p.m. Glina changed hands. It was one of the strongholds of Serb's rebellion. 7th August Karlovac celebrates peace Towns of Turanj and Tusilovic were freed on the last day of the action Storm, which gave a relief to the inhabitants of Karlovac who came out on the streets of the town to celebrate the peace after 4 years of alerts. Dr. Tudjman visits the wounded in "Nova bolnica" Complete defeat of rebels On Monday, chetnics were forced to leave Vojnic and Topusko, Gornji and Donji Lapac. Faced with a total military defeat in Croatia, Serbs planes took off from Banja Luka airport and launched attacks on several Croatian cities. Two casualties and 11 wounded were reported. Two planes of the "Eagle" type were shot down while attacking Mackovac and Savski Bok. Serbian army signs the defeat and surrenders the hardware Croatian army at the Croatian border At 18:00 Croatian Minister of Defense Gojko Susak announced the end of action Storm from the military aspect. Police actions remain to be carried out for some more time. Rebel Serbs surrended in Banovina region. Croatian army came out on the internationally recognized borders of Croatia. 118 Croatian soldiers fell in action and 620 were wounded till then. In days to follow, while searching the area 174 casualties and 1430 wounded were reported, all together. Thanks to Gromovnik from Phora Hrvatska who originally posted this article.

08-06-2007, 08:25 AM	#3 (permalink)
Ustasha no1 Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: CROATIA Posts: 1,704	Re: Operation "Storm" 4th August 1995, the end of Greater Serbia Great review--thank you Jebivjetar (svaki put se nasmijen na ovo jebivjetar,lol),and thank Gromovnik. VICTORY IS OURS
08-06-2007, 08:40 AM	#4 (permalink)
Jebivjetar Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 1,147	Re: Operation "Storm" 4th August 1995, the end of Greater Serbia Quote: REPUBLIC OF SERB KRAJINA SUPREME DEFENCE COUNCIL Knin, 4th Aug 1995 16.45 hrs No: 2-3113-1/95. Due to a newly created situation appearing from a large-scale agression of the Republic of Croatia against the Republic of Serb Krajina and in spite of successful defence at the beginning, the greater part of North Dalmatia and the part of Lika are endangered. Having considered all these facts WE DECIDED 1. To start evacuating population unfit to military service from the municipalities of Knin, Benkovac, Obrovac, Drnis and Gracac. 2. Evacuation to be carried out according to the plan towards direction of Knin and furthermore via Otric, and towards Srb and Lapac. 3. UNPROFOR HQ Sector South Knin to be requested support. Knin, 4th Aug 1995 Certified by Serb Army HQ dtd 4th Aug 1995 at 17.20 hrs under Reg. No. as above. P R E S I D E N T Mile Martic Today Serbian nationalists accuse Croatian people for ethnic cleansing and consider Operation Storm to be genocidal act although evacuation of civilians was initially ordered by Serbian Mile Martić president of pseudo republic Krajina. Croatian president Franjo Tuđman assured them civil right would be respected and no charges would be brought against all civilians who did not commit any war crimes, yet they chose by the order of Mile Martić to leave Croatia.

08-06-2007, 09:38 AM	#5 (permalink)
slobodagovora Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Hrvatska Posts: 1,571	Re: Operation "Storm" 4th August 1995, the end of Greater Serbia Quote: Originally Posted by Jebivjetar Croatian president Franjo Tuđman assured them civil right would be respected and no charges would be brought against all civilians who did not commit any war crimes, yet they chose by the order of Mile Martić to leave Croatia. Quote: 04/08/95 12:24 PRESIDENT TUDJMAN'S MESSAGE TO CROATIAN SERBS - FULL TEXT ZAGREB, Aug 4 (Hina) - Following is the full text of President Tudjman's message to Croatian citizens of Serb nationality: To the Croatian citizens of Serbian nationality from the occupied areas of Knin, Gracac, Lapac, Korenica, Slunja, Glina, Dvor and Petrinja. Since all past attempts, including negotiations held yesterday in Geneva, of both the Croatian authorities and the international community to achieve a peaceful reintegration of occupied Croatian areas have failed; Since the instigators of the rebellion in Croatia, Martic and others, instead of responding to the call for peaceful reintegration, continue to wage war against the Croatian State and to plot, together with the ringleaders of the rebellion in Bosnia, Karadzic and others, new schemes for the joint conquest of the Bihac safe haven, which Croatia cannot tolerate; Since Croatian and Bosnian Serbs not only obstruct the return of displaced persons, but also continue to persecute the non-Serb population; Since Serbian extremists, from the very beginning of the rebellion to the present moment, are invoking the help of the remnants of Italian fascism, offering a partition of Croatian territory between the Italian and Serbian imperialism; Since the unbridled paramilitary Serbian units continue to wage terrorist attacks on civilian population, from Slavonia to Dalmatia, to shell the Croatian regions and cities of Otocac, Gospic, Karlovac, even while political talks on peaceful reintegration were under way with the Croatian delegation in Geneva, again shelling the area of Dubrovnik causing new casualties; And since all the attempts undertaken by the Croatian State and the international community to peacefully restore Croatia's sovereignty over parts of the Croatian territories alienated by rebellion have been rejected and flouted, the Croatian state is forced to take police-military steps in order to reintegrate these occupied areas into its constitutional and juridical system. We have been forced to make such a decision in order to put a stop - after four years of futile negotiations - to further flouting of the Croatian and international public, and in order to secure the start of displaced persons' return to their homes. Therefore, on behalf of the democratic authorities of Croatia: I call upon the members of Serbian paramilitary units, who have have been mobilized into such units of their own free will or by force to surrender their weapons to the Croatian authorities, with the guarantee that they will be granted amnesty pursuant to Croatian laws; I call upon the initiators of the rebellion to understand the futility of their endeavour and its detrimental effect on the Serbian community in Croatia should they persist with their rebellion, to surrender to the Croatian authorities and to accept pardon or a fair trial for their offences; I call upon the Croatian citizens of Serbian nationality, who have not taken an active part in the rebellion, to stay in their homes and, without fear for their life and property, await Croatian authorities, with the guarantee they will be granted all civil rights, and that elections will be held for local self-government pursuant to the Croatian Constitution and the Constitutional Law, with the presence of international observers. I call upon the representatives of Serbia and Montenegro (and their FR Yugoslavia) to stop supporting the extremists in the occupied Croatian areas, as alos manifested during the talks held yesterday in Geneva, in which the Yugoslav charge d'affaires also took part, and at which the Croatian Serbs refused to accept the peaceful reintegration of the occupied areas. That would have been the first step toward the overall solution of Croato-Serbian relations throughout the sphere of interest of both neighbouring peoples, and towards a normalisation of relations based of mutual recognition. We are determined to put an end to the suffering and uncertainty of Croatian displaced persons from the occupied areas, and to guarantee to the Croatian Serbs human and ethnic rights within the constitutional and legal order of democratic Croatia. (hina) as bk http://www.hrt.hr/arhiv/oluja/950804/I040895141858.html In Croatian: http://www.hrt.hr/arhiv/oluja/950804/0408_01.html
08-06-2007, 07:32 PM	#6 (permalink)
dr.Franjo Tudjman Forum Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 1,157	Re: Operation "Storm" 4th August 1995, the end of Greater Serbia Great Victory. Proud To be Croat.

08-06-2007, 07:34 PM	#7 (permalink)
Jebivjetar Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 1,147	Re: Operation "Storm" 4th August 1995, the end of Greater Serbia Thanks to Grand Inquisitor for bringing this thread back to life. Hopefully thread will stay this way and other moderators won’t interfere in our business as long as we don't break any Stormfront rules.
08-06-2007, 07:41 PM	#8 (permalink)
janka pusta Forum Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Jasenovac Posts: 651	Re: Operation "Storm" 4th August 1995, the end of Greater Serbia Koja je to banda, smeta im da se cita o njihovoj bežaniji a tamo slave veliku pobjedu u Srebrenici gdje su klali razoružane vojnike i djecu. Bude li se ova tema ponovo obrisala bogami ce se brisat dosta toga iz njihove jazbine.

08-06-2007, 07:52 PM			#9 (permalink)
Hrvatski Legionar Forum Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 111			Re: Operation "Storm" 4th August 1995, the end of Greater Serbia Ne znam što uopće rade na našoj sekciji...
08-07-2007, 04:26 AM			#10 (permalink)
Ustasha no1 Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: CROATIA Posts: 1,704			Re: Operation "Storm" 4th August 1995, the end of Greater Serbia A šta rade na našoj sekciji...pa kako nebi dolazili,kad je u samo nekoliko dana postala 100 p u t a bolja od njihove i njihovih tema... Štaš nek se uče slobodno pravoj povijesti i činjenicama--istina koji put boli,tribaju to prigorit pa onda možda se i opamete.Možda...
		Page 1 of 2 1 2 >

September 01, 2010 11:00 PM

Comment: Metapedia is a fascist/Nazi version of the well-known Wikipedia. It is run by a Swedish Nazi named Anders Langerstrom. In FTR #707, we examined the virulent, long-standing fascist community in Sweden. The Google translation can be obtained at: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=sv&u=http://www.corren.se/ostergotland/linkoping/%3FarticleId%3D4185002 “Page Nazi is Appropriate for JK“corren.se; February/2007. Excerpt: Extremists “Encyclopedia” is a matter for the Chancellor. We [...]

September 01, 2010 08:57 PM

Brother Walt Williams reads and comments from the New Testament Book of I Timothy 6 warning of the love of money and the proper use of money by the rich. Share this on Facebook Tweet This! Subscribe to the comments for this post? Add this to Google Bookmarks Email this via Yahoo! Mail Email this [...]

September 01, 2010 08:50 PM

An Obama Administration program launched with great fanfare last summer to punish businesses that exploit illegal workers has given hundreds of flagrant offenders a free pass after Homeland Security audits determined they employed large numbers of undocumented immigrants. 

It’s the one area of immigration enforcement that President Obama vows to pursue, penalizing companies that benefit from cheap illegal alien labor rather than workplace raids that lead to mass deportations. To fulfill the mission, the commander-in-chief launched a “bold, new audit initiative” last July to inspect businesses suspected of hiring large numbers of illegal workers. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents scrutinize hiring records to determine if companies are complying with employment eligibility laws.

The inspections have determined that hundreds of companies throughout the U.S. have significant numbers of illegal immigrants on their payroll yet none have been punished, according to a Houston newspaper that obtained internal ICE records through the Freedom of Information Act. At least 430 audit cases listed as “closed” by the agency had high percentages of workers with “questionable” documents yet they faced no consequences.

The records show federal inspectors specifically identified more than 110 companies with suspect documents for multiple workers yet none of them were fined or criminally charged. They include a California business with suspicious documents for 93% of its employees, an Illinois firm with dubious paperwork for nearly all of its 200 employees and a Texas manufacturer with bogus files for more than half of its 107-member workforce.

Additionally, ICE agents in Atlanta reached a secret agreement with a manufacturing firm that had questionable records on file for 574 of its 1,187 employees. The undisclosed agreement allowed the company to avoid criminal prosecution on the condition that it complies with certain agency requirements, though ICE would not provide additional details.

So much for Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano’s promise that, under her leadership, the agency will focus on “renewing a priority on employers who are making money off of these illegal immigrants and giving them jobs that should be going to American workers.”

 

September 01, 2010 07:12 PM

Article published August 28, 2010


Diverse faiths can enhance beliefs

Samir Selmanovic grew up in a Muslim family in an atheist country before converting to Christianity while serving in the army. He lectures across the country, promoting interfaith education. Samir Selmanovic writes about his spiritual path in his book and says his faith has been enriched by Islam, Judaism, and atheism.


By DAVID YONKE
BLADE RELIGION EDITOR

When Samir Selmanovic describes himself as a "Muslim atheist Jewish Christian," he's not trying to be irreverent or overly inclusive. He's describing his Christianity.

"The words 'Muslim, atheist, and Jewish' are all adjectives toward the word 'Christian,'" he explained in a phone interview.

A New York-based pastor and author who is speaking in Toledo this weekend, Mr. Selmanovic asserted in an interview with The Blade that he is uncompromisingly and unflinchingly Christian. At the same time, he said, his faith has been influenced and enriched by Islam, Judaism, and atheism. He wishes he could add more religions to that list.

"It's basically saying that, together, people are not my competitors but mostly my teachers," he said.

Coming to the realization that everyone - not just those who share one's religion or culture - is created in God's image is a challenge, he said.

Yet Mr. Selmanovic has devoted himself to trying to break down the barriers that people put up between themselves and "the other."
The 45-year-old pastor has crossed over and maneuvered around a number of barriers in his own journeys. He grew up in the former Yugoslavia in Croatia, now independent, in a Muslim family that lived under an atheistic communist government.

He became a Christian while serving in the army, and eventually became a pastor.

Five years ago, Mr. Selmanovic quit a comfortable job as the pastor of a large and growing Seventh-day Adventist church in California and moved with his wife and two young daughters to New York City, where he is pastor of a nondenominational church called Citylights and the founder of the interfaith community Faith House Manhattan.Samir Selmanovic writes about his spiritual path in his book and says his faith has been enriched by Islam, Judaism, and atheism.


He wrote about his spiritual path in the book It's All About God: Reflections of a Muslim Atheist Jewish Christian, published last year by Jossey-Bass/Wiley Books, and gives lectures across the country promoting interfaith education, outreach, and understanding.

The days of religious and cultural isolation and belief in one's "spiritual supremacy" are over, Mr. Selmanovic said. In today's shrinking, increasingly diverse world, the religions and beliefs that are the strongest are the ones with the most bridges, not the biggest walls, he said.

"People who isolate themselves and are afraid are afraid because their faith doesn't have roots," Mr. Selmanovic said. "I think being open in a pluralistic society is a show of strength. Withdrawing and hunkering down is actually giving up."
IF YOU GO
Author Samir Selmanovic will speak at:
• 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Saturday at First Seventh-day Adventist Church, 4909 West Sylvania Ave.

• 9:30 a.m. Sunday at Washington Church, 3925 West Central Ave.

More information is available online at SamirSelmanovic.com.

Strangers play important roles in The Bible and in today's world, Mr. Selmanovic said.

"In the New Testament, you have 36 times 'Love the stranger,' and only two times 'Love your neighbor,'" he said. "As a community, the things we see that are wrong are just normal to us. That's the way things are. When others come here, they see things a different way and if we listen to them, there is plenty to learn. Even those people who are enemies and wish us bad, they have something to tell us. What they see is what we don't want to see."

Mike Fortune, pastor of Toledo First Seventh-day Adventist Church, said he invited Mr. Selmanovic to talk at his church because "he has a message worth hearing - that there are things that are inherently good in people, even if they are never going to believe everything we believe."

He said Mr. Selmanovic's teachings are biblically based and that it is unfortunate some people mistakenly accuse him of pluralism.

"Part of Christianity is being known by your love," Mr. Fortune said, "and if you can't have love and live in community with people who are dramatically different, regardless of whether they agree with you, then I'm not sure you really understand the Bible."

Contact David Yonke at:
dyonke@theblade.com
or 419-724-6154.

Source: http://www.toledoblade.com/article/20100828/NEWS10/8270349

..

September 01, 2010 06:52 PM

SNCC Chairman Stokely Carmichael delivery his historic speech at Garfield High School in Seattle, Washington in 1967. Carmichael, later known as Kwame Ture, was a target of both the FBI and CIA disruption campaigns.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos5th International Black Power Conference

Wednesday, September 1, 2010 12:55 PM

From: "Pan-African Roots"

The 40th anniversary of the “Black Power Uprising” in Trinidad and Tobago is being commemorated with an international academic conference at the University of the West Indies (UWI), St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago, from Friday 17th September to Sunday 19th September 2010.

This 5th International Black Power Conference is being organized by the Department of History at St. Augustine, Trinidad. Co-sponsors include the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies and the Centre for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (both at St. Augustine campus). Other supporting organizations in Trinidad include the National Joint Action Committee (NJAC), the History Society (at UWI), the Emancipation Support Committee, the Oilfield Workers Union and the Public Services Association. The All-African People’s Revolutionary Party (A-APRP (GC)) is also a supporting organization.

This historic Conference includes a record 90 presentations on 20 panels in 2 days. Participants include professors and organizers from Trinidad, Jamaica, Canada, Britain, the United States and other countries. They represent several academic and movement schools and traditions including: History, Trinidad and Caribbean Studies, Pan-African Studies, Black Studies, Black Power Studies, Black Radical Studies, Afro-centric Studies, NJAC Studies, Black Panther Studies, etc.

The A-APRP (GC) will present two papers:

(1) Mwalimu Keita will present, on behalf of the A-APRP (GC), a paper titled Black Power: An Ideological Channel for Mass All-African Revolutionary Political Education and Organization.

This paper provides a historical analysis of the call for Black Power in the U.S. within the context of African people's generational struggle for Africa's Unity, National Independence, Liberation, and Pan-Africanism. It documents the dialectical relationship between Black Power as an intellectual and ideological force in the worldwide anti-colonial movement and as an objective in the African Revolution, of which Pan-Africanism is its highest expression. It defines, defends, and reclaims Black Power as an objective necessity and channel to teach, politically educate, empower, and organize the African Masses in Africa and throughout the African Diaspora in all-African organizations as an expression of the revolutionary African Personality and Culture.

(2) Bob Brown will present, on behalf of the A-APRP (GC), a paper titled Kwame Ture Is Still Dancing In The Fire! Towards A New Historiography.

This paper will provide an overview of Kwame’s public life, work, study and struggle from 1950, when his philosophical conscience and political conscious was awakened in Trinidad, to his transition to the Ancestors in Guinea in 1998. It will serve as the Introduction to a book by the same title that will be “the definitive political biography of Kwame Ture.” As you perhaps know, Bob has been working on this book for the past 12 years. It will be published in late 2011 or early 2012.

The Conference invites all interested parties, worldwide, to attend. Email us for contact information at paroots02@yahoo.com

Bob, as a representative of the A-APRP (GC), has also been invited to visit Venezuela to observe the Parliamentary Elections, make several presentations and attend several meetings. We hope that he can visit other countries in the Caribbean Basin while in the area.

The A-APRP (GC) needs and asks for your assistance in raising the funds needed to defray travel to and in the region, and provide modest accommodations. Tax exemption is available for those who request it. Please contact Bob directly, if you can help: paroots02@yahoo.com or (202) 239-1651.

A copy of the A-APRP (GC)’s two papers will be emailed to all who make a donation, no later than September 17, 2001, the start of the Conference. Thank you in advance for any assistance that you might offer.

As always, we remain
Ready for Revolution!
Organizers, All-African People’s Revolutionary Party (GC)
info@a-aprp-gc.org

September 01, 2010 06:32 PM

Editor's note: Watch CNN's interview with Cardinal Brady in a special report by Nic Robertson on "Connect the World" on CNN International at 9 p.m. London time/4 p.m. ET.

Months after the revelation that he helped cover up for one of Ireland's most notoriously abusive priests, the country's top Catholic churchman, Cardinal Sean Brady, says he has "moved on" and will not resign.

"I've moved on there, I think, and I got a lot of support in my decision," he told CNN in a rare interview.


Read the full story:
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/09/01/ireland.cardinal/index.html.

September 01, 2010 06:18 PM

By SHANNON BEHNKEN The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 1, 2010

TAMPA - University Community Hospital has officially merged with Adventist Health System of Winter Park, a Christian hospital chain with 38 hospitals in 12 states.

The move gives UCH access to more capital. Adventist operates 37 hospitals in the Midwest and South, including 17 in Florida.

Adventist might benefit from UCH's greater presence in the Tampa Bay area. So far, Adventist's only local hospital is Florida Hospital Zephyrhills.

The new group's hospitals in the region include University Community Hospital; University Community Hospital-Carrollwood; Pepin Heart Hospital & Dr. Kiran C. Patel Research Institute; the Long Term Acute Care Hospital at Connerton; Florida Hospital Zephyrhills; and the soon to be built Wesley Chapel Medical Center.

Helen Ellis Memorial Hospital will also be joining Adventist Health System, serving the Tarpon Springs community.

The new hospital board appointed John Harding as president and CEO for the region. He is the currently president and CEO of Florida Hospital Zephyrhills and has more than 25 years of health care administration experience.

"John knows the Tampa Bay community and will provide the leadership experience needed to guide this new region," Mike Schultz, president and CEO of the AHS Florida Region and vice chairman for the UCH board, said in a news release.

"He embraces medical technology and advancement with an emphasis on quality and safety, all the while nurturing a Christian-based mission of health care delivery. These elements are vital to the future success of these hospitals."

Adventist Health System said it committed $125 million in capital investments, $10 million to the UCH Foundation and has agreed to take on UCH's debt and outstanding liabilities.

Adventist Health System, according to its website, is a not-for-profit health care organization that emphasizes Christ at the center of care.

It was founded in 1973 to support Seventh-day Adventist health care organizations in the south and southwest and is the now the largest not-for-profit Protestant health care provider in the nation, the website says.

Reporter Shannon Behnken can be reached at (813) 259-7804.
.
Source: http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/sep/01/uch-health-centers-merge-adventist-chain/
.

September 01, 2010 05:57 PM

Latest figures as of August 20, 2010

Bank Name....City State... CERT #.... Closing Date...Updated Date

Sonoma Valley Bank Sonoma CA 27259 August 20, 2010 August 26, 2010
Los Padres Bank Solvang CA 32165 August 20, 2010 August 24, 2010
Butte Community Bank Chico CA 33219 August 20, 2010 August 25, 2010
Pacific State Bank Stockton CA 27090 August 20, 2010 August 24, 2010
ShoreBank Chicago IL 15640 August 20, 2010 August 24, 2010
Imperial Savings and Loan Association Martinsville VA 31623 August 20, 2010 August 26, 2010

Independent National Bank Ocala FL 27344 August 20, 2010 August 24, 2010
Community National Bank at Bartow Bartow FL 25266 August 20, 2010 August 24, 2010

Palos Bank and Trust Company Palos Heights IL 17599 August 13, 2010 August 17, 2010
Ravenswood Bank Chicago IL 34231 August 6, 2010 August 11, 2010
LibertyBank Eugene OR 31964 July 30, 2010 August 6, 2010
The Cowlitz Bank Longview WA 22643 July 30, 2010 August 26, 2010
Coastal Community Bank Panama City Beach FL 9619 July 30, 2010 August 6, 2010
Bayside Savings Bank Port Saint Joe FL 57669 July 30, 2010 August 6, 2010
Northwest Bank & Trust Acworth GA 57658 July 30, 2010 August 6, 2010
Home Valley Bank Cave Junction OR 23181 July 23, 2010 July 30, 2010
SouthwestUSA Bank Las Vegas NV 35434 July 23, 2010 July 30, 2010
Community Security Bank New Prague MN 34486 July 23, 2010 July 30, 2010
Thunder Bank Sylvan Grove KS 10506 July 23, 2010 July 30, 2010
Williamsburg First National Bank Kingstree SC 17837 July 23, 2010 July 30, 2010
Crescent Bank and Trust Company Jasper GA 27559 July 23, 2010 July 30, 2010
Sterling Bank Lantana FL 32536 July 23, 2010 July 30, 2010
Mainstreet Savings Bank, FSB Hastings MI 28136 July 16, 2010 July 22, 2010
Olde Cypress Community Bank Clewiston FL 28864 July 16, 2010 July 26, 2010
Turnberry Bank Aventura FL 32280 July 16, 2010 July 22, 2010
Metro Bank of Dade County Miami FL 25172 July 16, 2010 July 22, 2010
First National Bank of the South Spartanburg SC 35383 July 16, 2010 July 26, 2010
Woodlands Bank Bluffton SC 32571 July 16, 2010 July 22, 2010
Home National Bank Blackwell OK 11636 July 9, 2010 July 19, 2010
USA Bank Port Chester NY 58072 July 9, 2010 July 12, 2010
Ideal Federal Savings Bank Baltimore MD 32456 July 9, 2010 July 12, 2010
Bay National Bank Baltimore MD 35462 July 9, 2010 July 19, 2010
High Desert State Bank Albuquerque NM 35279 June 25, 2010 August 26, 2010
First National Bank Savannah GA 34152 June 25, 2010 August 26, 2010
Peninsula Bank Englewood FL 26563 June 25, 2010 August 26, 2010
Nevada Security Bank Reno NV 57110 June 18, 2010 August 26, 2010
Washington First International Bank Seattle WA 32955 June 11, 2010 August 26, 2010
TierOne Bank Lincoln NE 29341 June 4, 2010 August 26, 2010
Arcola Homestead Savings Bank Arcola IL 31813 June 4, 2010 August 26, 2010
First National Bank Rosedale MS 15814 June 4, 2010 August 26, 2010
Sun West Bank Las Vegas NV 34785 May 28, 2010 August 26, 2010
Granite Community Bank, NA Granite Bay CA 57315 May 28, 2010 August 26, 2010
Bank of Florida - Tampa Tampa FL 57814 May 28, 2010 August 26, 2010
Bank of Florida - Southwest Naples FL 35106 May 28, 2010 August 26, 2010
Bank of Florida - Southeast Fort Lauderdale FL 57360 May 28, 2010 August 26, 2010
Pinehurst Bank Saint Paul MN 57735 May 21, 2010 August 26, 2010
Midwest Bank and Trust Company Elmwood Park IL 18117 May 14, 2010 August 26, 2010
Southwest Community Bank Springfield MO 34255 May 14, 2010 August 26, 2010
New Liberty Bank Plymouth MI 35586 May 14, 2010 August 26, 2010
Satilla Community Bank Saint Marys GA 35114 May 14, 2010 August 26, 2010
1st Pacific Bank of California San Diego CA 35517 May 7, 2010 August 26, 2010
Towne Bank of Arizona Mesa AZ 57697 May 7, 2010 August 26, 2010
Access Bank Champlin MN 16476 May 7, 2010 August 26, 2010
The Bank of Bonifay Bonifay FL 14246 May 7, 2010 August 26, 2010
Frontier Bank Everett WA 22710 April 30, 2010 August 26, 2010
BC National Banks Butler MO 17792 April 30, 2010 August 26, 2010
Champion Bank Creve Coeur MO 58362 April 30, 2010 August 26, 2010
CF Bancorp Port Huron MI 30005 April 30, 2010 August 26, 2010
Westernbank Puerto Rico Mayaguez PR 31027 April 30, 2010 August 26, 2010
R-G Premier Bank of Puerto Rico HatoRey PR 32185 April 30, 2010 August 26, 2010
Eurobank San Juan PR 27150 April 30, 2010 August 26, 2010
Wheatland Bank Naperville IL 58429 April 23, 2010 August 26, 2010
Peotone Bank and Trust Company Peotone IL 10888 April 23, 2010 August 26, 2010
Lincoln Park Savings Bank Chicago IL 30600 April 23, 2010 August 26, 2010
New Century Bank Chicago IL 34821 April 23, 2010 August 26, 2010
Citizens Bank and Trust Company of Chicago Chicago IL 34658 April 23, 2010 August 26, 2010
Broadway Bank Chicago IL 22853 April 23, 2010 August 26, 2010
Amcore Bank, National Association Rockford IL 3735 April 23, 2010 August 26, 2010
City Bank Lynnwood WA 21521 April 16, 2010 August 26, 2010
Tamalpais Bank San Rafael CA 33493 April 16, 2010 August 26, 2010
Innovative Bank Oakland CA 23876 April 16, 2010 August 26, 2010
Butler Bank Lowell MA 26619 April 16, 2010 August 26, 2010
Riverside National Bank of Florida Fort Pierce FL 24067 April 16, 2010 August 26, 2010
AmericanFirst Bank Clermont FL 57724 April 16, 2010 August 26, 2010
First Federal Bank of North Florida Palatka FL 28886 April 16, 2010 August 27, 2010
Lakeside Community Bank Sterling Heights MI 34878 April 16, 2010 August 27, 2010
Beach First National Bank Myrtle Beach SC 34242 April 9, 2010 August 27, 2010
Desert Hills Bank Phoenix AZ 57060 March 26, 2010 August 27, 2010
Unity National Bank Cartersville GA 34678 March 26, 2010 August 27, 2010
Key West Bank Key West FL 34684 March 26, 2010 August 27, 2010
McIntosh Commercial Bank Carrollton GA 57399 March 26, 2010 August 27, 2010
State Bank of Aurora Aurora MN 8221 March 19, 2010 August 27, 2010
First Lowndes Bank Fort Deposit AL 24957 March 19, 2010 August 27, 2010
Bank of Hiawassee Hiawassee GA 10054 March 19, 2010 August 27, 2010
Appalachian Community Bank Ellijay GA 33989 March 19, 2010 August 27, 2010
Advanta Bank Corp. Draper UT 33535 March 19, 2010 August 27, 2010
Century Security Bank Duluth GA 58104 March 19, 2010 August 27, 2010
American National Bank Parma OH 18806 March 19, 2010 August 27, 2010
Statewide Bank Covington LA 29561 March 12, 2010 August 27, 2010
Old Southern Bank Orlando FL 58182 March 12, 2010 August 27, 2010
The Park Avenue Bank New York NY 27096 March 12, 2010 August 27, 2010
LibertyPointe Bank New York NY 58071 March 11, 2010 August 27, 2010
Centennial Bank Ogden UT 34430 March 5, 2010 August 27, 2010
Waterfield Bank Germantown MD 34976 March 5, 2010 August 27, 2010
Bank of Illinois Normal IL 9268 March 5, 2010 August 27, 2010
Sun American Bank Boca Raton FL 27126 March 5, 2010 August 27, 2010
Rainier Pacific Bank Tacoma WA 38129 February 26, 2010 August 27, 2010
Carson River Community Bank Carson City NV 58352 February 26, 2010 August 27, 2010
La Jolla Bank, FSB La Jolla CA 32423 February 19, 2010 August 27, 2010
George Washington Savings Bank Orland Park IL 29952 February 19, 2010 August 27, 2010
The La Coste National Bank La Coste TX 3287 February 19, 2010 August 27, 2010
Marco Community Bank Marco Island FL 57586 February 19, 2010 August 27, 2010
1st American State Bank of Minnesota Hancock MN 15448 February 5, 2010 August 26, 2010
American Marine Bank Bainbridge Island WA 16730 January 29, 2010 August 26, 2010
First Regional Bank Los Angeles CA 23011 January 29, 2010 August 26, 2010
Community Bank and Trust Cornelia GA 5702 January 29, 2010 August 26, 2010
Marshall Bank, N.A. Hallock MN 16133 January 29, 2010 August 26, 2010
Florida Community Bank Immokalee FL 5672 January 29, 2010 August 26, 2010
First National Bank of Georgia Carrollton GA 16480 January 29, 2010 August 26, 2010
Columbia River Bank The Dalles OR 22469 January 22, 2010 August 26, 2010
Evergreen Bank Seattle WA 20501 January 22, 2010 August 26, 2010
Charter Bank Santa Fe NM 32498 January 22, 2010 August 26, 2010
Bank of Leeton Leeton MO 8265 January 22, 2010 August 26, 2010
Premier American Bank Miami FL 57147 January 22, 2010 August 26, 2010
Barnes Banking Company Kaysville UT 1252 January 15, 2010 August 26, 2010
St. Stephen State Bank St. Stephen MN 17522 January 15, 2010 August 26, 2010
Town Community Bank & Trust Antioch IL 34705 January 15, 2010 August 26, 2010
Horizon Bank Bellingham WA 22977 January 8, 2010 August 26, 2010
.
.
Source: http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/banklist.html
.
So far, not good!
.

September 01, 2010 05:39 PM

´Jose Manual Barroso; the European Commission President is out of sorts.

Faced with a plunging popularity of the EU institutions, European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso has blamed national capitals for not defending the European project during the economic crisis.

The devastating results of a Eurobarometer published last week showing that support for EU institutions is waning across the continent are due to the economic crisis, argued Mr Barroso in an interview with the Italian daily Corriere della Sera.

No you post-Maoist overpromoted bureacrat, The European Union is unpopular because it is unresponsive, bureacratic, undemocratic and irrelevant to people's lives.

When the crisis came it faffed.

It's response to everything is to aggregate more power to itself, claiming preposterously that the people - whoever they are - want more Europe. Fiddlesticks.

Let's get this straight. The national governments are responsible to no-one but their own electorates. They have no reason, nor do they have a duty (except in the minds of the Eurocrats) to the EU and its good name.

They are hired and fired by their own people. They have to respond to the hopes and fears of their own peopkle.

You know what the short hand for all that stuff is don't you, Mr Barroso?

It's called democtracy, and if you don't like it that's a pity, because you are going to get more of it, much much more.

September 01, 2010 04:47 PM

 

Following the steps of the nation’s Treasury Secretary and a powerful New York congressman, a two-term state treasurer who portrays himself as a vigilant custodian of public money has failed to pay taxes over the past decade.

Massachusetts Treasurer Timothy Cahill, a gubernatorial candidate, owes the state about $15,000 in taxes for income his campaign committee account has earned from investments in the last ten years. Like the other high-profile public servants who failed miserably to fulfill their civic duty, Cahill only agreed to right the wrong after the media exposed the crime.

Cahill has raised millions of dollars for his political campaigns over the years, much of it from sources with business before his agency, and a local newspaper discovered that there was no record of checks to the state to cover taxes. A former Democrat who is running for governor as an independent, Cahill quickly acknowledged the “lapse” and vowed to pay the decades worth of taxes.

He’s hardly the only public servant to blow off taxes. President Obama’s Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, got busted during confirmation hearings for failing to pay $34,000 in federal taxes on his lucrative salary at the International Monetary Fund. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) graciously waived the hefty penalties when Geithner was forced to pay the debt before getting confirmed.

Another high-profile tax evader, ethically challenged Harlem Congressman Charles Rangel, was actually the chairman of the House committee (Ways and Means) that writes the tax policy for the entire nation when he blew off the IRS. For two decades Rangel, who is embroiled in a major ethics scandal, “forgot” to pay taxes on rental income from a Caribbean villa.

Tax delinquency is so rampant among federal workers—including those at key presidential cabinet agencies—that Congress introduced legislation last year to fire derelict employees and ban the hiring of other scofflaws. Hundreds of thousands of federal employees and retirees owe Uncle Sam billions of dollars in taxes and the figure increases annually, according to the IRS, which revealed that in 2008 alone 276,300 federal workers stiffed the government out of $3.04 billion in taxes.

 

September 01, 2010 03:37 PM

Libyan leader of the revolution Muammar Gaddafi hosting the 2010 Arab League Summit in Tripoli.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File PhotosEU to discuss Gaddafi's €5 billion demand at Africa summit, Italy says

MATEJ HRUSKA
Today @ 09:29 CET

Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini has said the EU will in November discuss a proposal by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi that the 27-nation bloc pay the north African country €5 billion a year to stop immigration.

"The issue of the 5 billion has never been examined or discussed. We will tackle it at the European level and I imagine it will be dealt with at the November Euro-African summit in Libya," Italian foreign minister was quoted as saying on Tuesday (31 August) by AFP.


The EU will hold a summit with Africa in November (Photo: European Commission)
Mr Gaddafi suggested Monday during his speech to business representatives in Italy the EU should pay his country "at least €5 billion a year" to stop African migrants crossing the Mediterranean and avoid Europe becoming "black."

"Gaddafi is thinking what all north African leaders are thinking: they can't and don't want to be the keepers of Europe," Mr Frattini said, adding that: "Europe needs to finally get a migration policy, giving plenty of funds to the migrants' countries of origin and helping transitory countries face a huge burden."

While a European Commission spokesman declined on Tuesday to react to the Libyan leader's comments, France said the immigration issue would be included in a broader accord with Libya, on the negotiating table since November 2008.

According to French foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero, France wants to close the deal, which also addresses questions of trade and investment, "swiftly."

Mr Gaddafi's visit to Italy has caused outrage by left-leaning opposition and pro-Vatican groups after he was quoted as saying that "Islam should become the religion of Europe."

Mr Frattini dismissed the critics as "people who know nothing at all, either about foreign policy or Italy's interests," the Italian news agency ANSA reported from an evening ceremony commemorating the second anniversary of a friendship treaty between Libya and Italy.

Under the treaty, Italy agreed to pay Libya $5 billion over 25 years, mainly in the form of infrastructure investments, in compensation for the colonial period. In return, Tripoli allows Italy to take part in sea patrols of the country's coast with scores of Africans attempting to get to Europe from Libya.

Human rights groups have frequently criticised the pact. Human Rights Watch's Bill Frelick calls it "a dirty deal to enable Italy to dump migrants and asylum seekers on Libya and evade its obligations."

September 01, 2010 04:00 PM

I am traveling this morning will look at ISM and other data this afternoon. Meanwhile here a a few quick hits on propriety trading, bizarre charts of robo trader patterns, walking away from boats, Blogger fees in Philadelphia, birth rate demographics, and other potpourri.

JPMorgan to Shut Proprietary Trading Unit over Volcker Rule

Bloomberg Reports JPMorgan Said to Shut Proprietary Trading to Meet Volcker Rule

JPMorgan Chase & Co., the second- largest U.S. lender by assets, told traders who bet on commodities for the firm’s account that their unit will be closed as the company begins to shut down all its proprietary trading, according to a person briefed on the matter.

The bank eventually will end all proprietary trading to comply with new curbs on investment banks, said the person, who asked not to be identified because JPMorgan’s decision isn’t public. The New York-based bank will shut proprietary trading in fixed-income and equities later, the person said.

Closing the prop trading desk for commodities affects fewer than 20 traders, including one in the U.S. and the rest in the U.K., the person said.

This is a baby step in the right direction.

Developer Sells Zero of 141 Luxury Condos

The Press Enterprise reports Lack of sales spurs developer to lease

After two months of marketing his 141 luxury condos with not one sale, Mark Rubin said he has given up wooing buyers to the Raincross Promenade project in downtown Riverside that cost him $40 million to build.

Prospective buyers kept trying to beat down his prices, even after he shaved $30,000 off the initial list prices ranging from $240,000 for a one-bedroom, one-bath condominium to $475,000 for a two bedroom, 2 ½-bath townhouse. "There were no sales," Rubin said. "Everyone wants a bargain. They read about foreclosures and think they can buy for distress prices."

Rubin paid cash for the property and is now looking to lease units.

Walking Away From Boats

The USA Today reports Abandoned boats litter waters in tough economy

States across the USA are taking steps to deal with an armada of derelict boats abandoned by their owners in a tough economy:

In Massachusetts,Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick signed a bill this month that gave local governments the power to seize abandoned vessels. The problem was growing faster than the state's ability to deal with it, says Michael Nichols, legal counsel to Democratic state Rep. Antonio Cabral, who introduced the bill.

"The recession was affecting people's ability to keep and maintain a boat," Nichols says. "To have abandoned vessels taking up valuable space in the marinas and harbors was a problem."

Fines for abandoning boats in state waters vary. In Massachusetts, it's $10,000. In South Carolina: $475.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, as many boats were reported abandoned by the Coast Guard in the first quarter of 2009 as in all of 2008, says Deb Self, executive director of San Francisco Baykeeper, an environmental group. The number of eyesores, many of them leaking fuel and chemicals, continued to grow this year, from 64 in February to 76 this month, even after 12 boats were hauled away, Self says.

Twelve states, including Kansas, Missouri and Tennessee, have passed laws on abandoned boats in the past five years, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Most streamline the process of taking title and disposing of boats when owners cannot be found.

If you are going to walk away from your boat, do it in South Carolina, not Massachusetts which has a $10,000 fine. Better yet, donate the thing or haul it to the dump.

Birth Rate Drops Second Year

Physorg reports Recession may have pushed US birth rate to new low

The U.S. birth rate has dropped for the second year in a row, and experts think the wrenching recession led many people to put off having children. The 2009 birth rate also set a record: lowest in a century.

Births fell 2.7 percent last year even as the population grew, numbers released Friday by the National Center for Health Statistics show. "It's a good-sized decline for one year. Every month is showing a decline from the year before," said Stephanie Ventura, the demographer who oversaw the report.

The birth rate, which takes into account changes in the population, fell to 13.5 births for every 1,000 people last year. That's down from 14.3 in 2007 and way down from 30 in 1909, when it was common for people to have big families.

"It doesn't matter how you look at it - fertility has declined," Ventura said.

The situation is a striking turnabout from 2007, when more babies were born in the United States than any other year in the nation's history. The recession began that fall, dragging stocks, jobs and births down.

The US looks more Japanese every month.

Philadelphia Imposes $300 Blogger License Fee

The Washington Examiner reports Philly requiring bloggers to pay $300 for a business license

Between her blog and infrequent contributions to ehow.com, over the last few years she says she’s made about $50. To [Marilyn] Bess, her website is a hobby. To the city of Philadelphia, it’s a potential moneymaker, and the city wants its cut.

In May, the city sent Bess a letter demanding that she pay $300, the price of a business privilege license.

“The real kick in the pants is that I don’t even have a full-time job, so for the city to tell me to pony up $300 for a business privilege license, pay wage tax, business privilege tax, net profits tax on a handful of money is outrageous,” Bess says.

When Bess pressed her case to officials with the city’s now-closed tax amnesty program, she says, “I was told to hire an accountant.”

To say that these kinds of draconian measures are detrimental to the public discourse would be an understatement.

The Broad Street Hockey Blog comments on City of Philadelphia Charging Bloggers

City Hall wants your money. A lot of it.

We don't get into politics on this blog often. In fact, I don't believe we ever have. This, however, is an issue that could directly impact this blog and, honestly, any one of you.

When I started blogging two years ago, I wouldn't have been able to afford a $300 fee. Yet at the same time, I needed to keep ads on my pre-SBN site to earn enough to cover the server costs and the domain registration. None of the money went into my pocket. It wasn't a lot of money and the small ads were enough to cover costs, but without them, I wouldn't have been able to run the site.

By enforcing this law on bloggers who make little-to-no-money off of their sites, the City of Philadelphia is robbing its citizens of the opportunity to create. It's robbing them -- and the city itself, really -- at a change to innovate.

Philadelphia is amazingly desperate. Any city that would take this action is clearly in deep trouble.

401K withdrawals spike

CNN Money reports 401(k) Withdrawals Spike

Hardship withdrawals from 401(k) retirement saving plans rose to the highest level in 10 years during the second quarter, Fidelity Investments said on Friday, in the latest sign of a dismal economy.

Fidelity reported that, as of the second quarter, 2.2% of all 401(k) participants had made a hardship withdrawal at some point over the preceding 12 months. That's up from 2% in the prior year, and was the highest level in 10 years.

At the same time, the percentage of 401(k) participants that had an outstanding loan from their account rose to a record high of 22% in the second quarter. The average loan amount was $8,650 at the end of the quarter.

Borrowing against IRAs to meet unsustainable lifestyles or to pay mortgages on underwater homes are both horrendous ideas.

Market Data Firm Spots the Tracks of Bizarre Robot Traders

The Atlantic says Market Data Firm Spots the Tracks of Bizarre Robot Traders

Mysterious and possibly nefarious trading algorithms are operating every minute of every day in the nation's stock exchanges.

What they do doesn't show up in Google Finance, let alone in the pages of the Wall Street Journal. No one really knows how they operate or why. But over the past few weeks, Nanex, a data services firm has dragged some of the odder algorithm specimens into the light.

No matter why the bots end up executing these behaviors, the Nanex charts offer a window onto a kind of market behavior that's fascinating and oddly beautiful. And we may never have seen them, if not for the mildly obsessive behavior of one dedicated nerd.

"Who looks at millisecond charts?" Donovan said. "You'd never see those patterns in any other fashion. The SEC and CFTC certainly weren't."

Here are a few more bots at work with explanations of what's going on.

Here we see a "flag repeater" being executed on the BATS Exchange, the third-largest equity market after the NYSE and NASDAQ. 15,000 quote requests were made in 11 seconds in a repeating pattern. Each iteration upped the quote a penny until $9.36, and then the algorithm went down the same way, a penny at a time.



This chart shows a different kind of strategy. It represents 56,000 quotes in one second all at the same price (the top chart) but with the size of the order increasing by one (i.e. 100 shares) all the way up to 40,000.

There are several other interesting patterns in the article, some with explanations of what they mean. Does anyone think this serves an legitimate purpose? If so what purpose?

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post ListMike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.

September 01, 2010 02:57 PM

Source: Natural News A study out of the Netherlands has put the mainstream media in a mindless tizzy about the health effects of omega-3 fatty acids. Because a group of people fed four teaspoons of omega-3-enriched margarine a day for more than three years did not experience a reduction in [...]

September 01, 2010 01:41 PM

Source: Reuters Widely used anticonvulsant drugs, including Pfizer’s Neurontin and Novartis’ Trileptal, may increase the risk of suicide, attempted suicide and violent death in patients taking them for the first time, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday. Compared with Johnson & Johnson’s generic epilepsy drug topiramate or Topamax, the team found [...]

September 01, 2010 01:35 PM

NEW YORK

Drug developer Novartis spent just over $1.6 million in the second quarter lobbying the U.S. government on prescription drug issues and other legislation, according to a recent disclosure form.

The spending marks an 11 percent reduction from just over $1.8 million spent in the year-ago period, and is down from the $2 million spent in the 2010 first quarter.

Novartis makes flu vaccines and a range of pharmaceuticals. The Swiss company lobbied on bills focusing on health reform issues, market access issues and drug importation. The company also lobbied on global trade issues, pandemic flu treatment funding, patent issues, and Medicare coverage issues, according to the filing with the House clerk’s office on July 20.

Aside from Congress, the company also lobbied the Departments of Commerce, Defense, and Health and Human Services during the April to June period.

Read more at: http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9HNEKS00.htm

September 01, 2010 01:14 PM

By John Pulley   08/31/10 04:09 pm ET

Spending on health IT systems at the state and local level will surge almost 20 percent over the next five years, a trickle compared to the 20 percent annual growth rate forecast for the health care IT market in China.

The market research firm INPUT projects that the domestic health IT market will grow from $8.3 billion in 2010 to $9.9 billion in 2015, reports Healthcare IT News. Much of the increase will come from the adoption of electronic health records, as hospitals and providers move quickly to take advantage of federal incentive funds, worth billions of dollars, to offset implementation costs.

“States, localities and regional extension centers are going to move quickly to capitalize on EHR funding,” said Kristina Mulholland, an INPUT senior analyst quoted by Healthcare IT News.

Read more at: http://healthitupdate.nextgov.com/2010/08/spending_on_health_it_systems.php?oref=latest_posts

September 01, 2010 01:13 PM

• AUGUST 31, 2010

By LORETTA CHAO

BEIJING—The Chinese government’s plan to spend billions on health-care reform has multinational technology companies like International Business Machines Corp. and Dell Inc. racing to secure a slice of a huge potential market that has long been too fragmented and disorganized to crack.

IBM is deploying technology in a group of hospitals in China’s southern Guangdong province that will help the hospital standardize its patient records, then use the records to make statistical analyses of traditional Chinese medicine treatments.

The technology “is a kind of hospital solution that focuses on how to process [and] manage patient data … and enable all kinds of analytics to leverage the very valuable information within electronic medical records,” said Hou Xueqiao , health-care solution manager for IBM Healthcare Solutions Lab, a finalist in this year’s Asian Innovation Awards. The solution will be able to help doctors identify treatment plans combining Western and traditional Chinese medicine from statistics drawn from patient records, he said.

Read more at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703369704575462653035645256.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

September 01, 2010 01:11 PM

With Magnetic Nanoparticles, Scientists Remotely Control Neurons and Animal

Behavior

Research could lead to remote stimulation of cells to treat cancer or diabetes

July 6, 2010

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Clusters of heated, magnetic nanoparticles targeted to cell

membranes can remotely control ion channels, neurons and even animal behavior,

according to a paper published by University at Buffalo physicists in Nature

Nanotechnology.

The research could have broad application, potentially resulting in innovative

cancer treatments that remotely manipulate selected proteins or cells in

specific tissues, or improved diabetes therapies that remotely stimulate

pancreatic cells to release insulin.

The work also could be applied to the development of new therapies for some

neurological disorders, which result from insufficient neuro-stimulation.

Read more at: http://www.buffalo.edu/news/11518

September 01, 2010 01:10 PM

This article comes from the Catholic News Agency.---------------------------------
South Africa's Catholic bishops voice 'grave misgivings' about proposed media restrictions
Pretoria, South Africa, Sep 1, 2010 / 01:05 am (CNA).- Media restrictions proposed with the stated intention of protecting the public good are causes for “serious concerns,” the Southern African Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) has commented. Warning that the proposed law is so broad that it threatens the free press, the bishops called for its complete redrafting.
The ruling African National Congress (ANC) party has backed a bill which would punish reporters for “irresponsible and misleading reporting.”  It defended the proposal as necessary to protect the national interest.
The proposed law defines “national interest” to include “all matters relating to the advancement of public good,” the Christian Science Monitor reports. It also protects the trade secrets of the state including “profits, losses or expenditures of any person.”
Exposure of such secrets is punishable by jail terms of three to five years.
“In whatever we do, there is no interest on the part of the ANC to limit the freedom that all of us enjoy, including the press,” commented ANC chief spokesman Jackson Mthembu, claiming the media reaction was out of step with “ordinary people.”
According to the Monitor, South Africa President Jacob Zuma in his weekly letter to ANC members said that the media has “put itself on the pedestal of being the guardian.”
“We therefore have the right to ask, who is guarding the guardian?”
In a Tuesday statement from the SACBC, conference spokesman Cardinal Wilfrid Napier noted “serious concerns about the wisdom and the constitutionality of the Protection of Information Bill” and also of the creation of a Media Appeals Tribunal.
Aligning itself with “numerous” civil society groups and constitutional experts, the SACBC said the bill threatens the right to receive and impart information, the right to a free press and media and the right of access to information held by the state.
“Furthermore, we believe that the Bill violates the spirit of openness and accountability that is so necessary to underpin the Constitution’s provisions on good governance, essential for a healthy democracy,” Cardinal Wilfrid explained.
Among the bishops’ concerns are that unaccountable officials may classify almost any information as secret and that the definitions of national interest and national security are “so broad” they could be used to keep secret what ought to be accessible to the public.
They also charged that there is “practically no right of appeal” because any appeal would be “processed by the very people who made the original ruling.” According to the bishops, there is already an effective media ombudsman and there is merit in strengthening media self-regulation.
“We certainly do not want government to take us back to the oppressive practices of yesteryear, against which our common struggle was launched,” the SACBC commented, alluding to press restrictions under apartheid.
Acknowledging the necessity of some restriction of information, they voiced “grave misgivings” about the bill’s implementation.
“We, therefore, strongly urge government to withdraw the bill for complete redrafting to ensure … the openness and transparency required by the Constitution,” their statement concluded.
Karin Karlekar, managing editor of the Freedom of the Press report for the New York-based think tank Freedom House, told the Christian Science Monitor that the government’s proposal is “part of a broader trend” in the country and is “very worrying.”
The think tank’s annual report has downgraded South Africa to “partly free” for reasons including increasing restrictions on media and harsher rhetoric toward journalists by high-ranking government officials.

September 01, 2010 12:30 PM

The administrators of WeAreChange Austria believed that a comment with a fake email I never use  ie jane@burgermeister.at came from me, and left it up, concealing the email address so people might be misled even more.

In this fake comment, I give my surname and cheerfully declare myself to be a fake, a Tami Flu and a member of Al Qaeda, the terrorist group.

And they thought this was me making a positve comment about myself and/or a “goofy” fan.

Thanks, WARC!

In addition, all kinds of smileys have appeared on the birdflu666 blog, as well as other evidence of hacking.

September 01, 2010 09:25 AM

GlaxoSmithKline  plans to distribute 30 million doses of its flu vaccines Fluarix and Flulaval in the United States this season in spite of the fact that GSK admits in its prescribing information that there is no evidence that taking Flulaval flu shot will reduce the likelihood of getting the flu.

Under a section called „Indications and Usage“, it is stated „there have been no controlled trials demonstrating a decrease in influenza disease after vaccination with Flulaval.“

http://us.gsk.com/products/assets/us_flulaval.pdf

GSK also admits there are no proper studies on the safety and effectiveness of the jab for pregnant women or children, the very groups that were most affected by the swine flu jab.

„There are, however, no adequate and well-controlled studies in pregnant women.“ (page 7)

„Safety and effectiveness of FLULAVAL in pediatric patients have not been established.“ (page

Prescribing information lists the many adverse reactions reported in clinical trials and the even more serious events reported in he “postmarketing approval phase”, including immune system disorders and neurological disorders

The Flulaval vaccine contains mercury, whose role in  autism has just been highlighted by a UK court compensation award of 90,000 UKP to a family whose son suffered vaccine damage after having the MMR jab.

The many toxic and unnatural ingredients in Flulaval are listed on page 8 of the prescribing information:

 „FLULAVAL has been standardized according to USPHS requirements for the 2010-2011 influenza season and is formulated to contain 45 mcg hemagglutinin per 0.5-mL dose in the recommended ratio of 15 mcg HA of each of the following 3 strains: A/California/7/2009 NYMC X-179A (H1N1), A/Victoria/210/2009 NYMC X-187 (H3N2) (an A/Perth/16/2009-like virus), and B/Brisbane/60/2008. Thimerosal, a mercury derivative, is added as a preservative. Each dose contains 25 mcg mercury. Each dose may also contain residual amounts of egg proteins (≤1 mcg ovalbumin), formaldehyde (≤25 mcg), and sodium deoxycholate (≤50 mcg). „

In addition, there appear to be no studies on how these four viruses in this new vaccine  might interact and combine.

GSK and Sanofi Pasteur were recently ticked off by the FDA because tip caps of prefilled of syringes flu vaccine contain rubber latex, which can cause allergic reactions.

September 01, 2010 09:17 AM

August 30, 2010

Rumors have circulated in China that People’s Bank of China (PBC) Gov. Zhou Xiaochuan may have left the country. The rumors appear to have started following reports on Aug. 28 which cited Ming Pao, a Hong Kong-based news agency, saying that because of an approximately $430 billion loss on U.S. Treasury bonds, the Chinese government may punish some individuals within PBC, including Zhou. Although Ming Pao on Aug. 30 published a report on its website indicating that the prior report was fabricated by a mainland news site that had attributed the false information to Ming Pao, rumors of Zhou’s defection have spread around China intensively, and Zhou’s name has been blocked from Internet search engines in China.

STRATFOR has received no confirmation of the rumor, and reports by state-run Chinese media appeared to send strong indications that Zhou is in no trouble at the moment. However, the release of this rumor and its dispersion throughout the public is significant, particularly as the Communist Party of China (CPC) is preparing for a leadership transition in 2012.

Chinese state-run media and official government websites have run several high-profile reports about Zhou, which should be seen as a move to refute the rumors. The PBC website published two articles on its homepage reporting on Zhou’s meeting with visiting Japanese Financial Services Minister Shozaburo Jimi during the third China-Japan high-level economic dialogue as well as a meeting with an Italian delegation. Xinhua news agency reported that Zhou told the PBC Party Committee Enlargement Meeting on Aug. 30 it should “continue to implement justice, and strengthen legislative work in financial system.” Prior to this news, Zhou appeared at the 2nd annual conference of the heads of the Chinese, Japanese and Korean central banks held on Aug. 3, and his most recent public appearance was Aug. 10 for China’s Financial System Anti-corruption Construction Exhibition.

Zhou is known to have lofty political ambitions and is believed to be a close ally to former Chinese President Jiang Zemin, as well as a core figure for Jiang’s “Shanghai Gang.” There has been no shortage of rumors about Zhou’s possible dismissal in the past five years, as he is believed to be associated with several high-level financial scandals. For example, Zhou was rumored to be under “shuanggui,” a form of house arrest administered by the CPC, during the massive crackdown of Shanghai Party Secretary Chen Liangyu in 2006, which was perceived in the country as a crackdown of the Shanghai Gang and part of Hu’s effort to consolidate power ahead of the 2007 power transition. There was also a rumor that he might have been detained following the investigation and arrest of Wang Yi, the vice governor of the China Development Bank, along with several other officials in the financial circle. Currently, several financial scandals are still under investigation, and it is likely that Zhou, as PBC governor and one of the most powerful economic players in the country, could be associated with some cases. Therefore, whether or not the rumor is true at this time, the leaking of this news is very likely to be associated with a power struggle within the Communist Party’s economic hierarchy.
.
Source: https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=1&ov=1.

September 01, 2010 10:07 AM

By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 9:06 AM on 27th August 2010






'Wake-up call': U.S. Deputy Defence Secretary William J Lynn revealed details of the Pentagon hacker attack in a magazine interview



A foreign spy agency has pulled off the most serious breach of computer networks in Pentagon history by inserting a flash drive into a U.S. military laptop, Washington has admitted.

The previously classified incident, which took place in 2008 in the Middle-East, was disclosed in a magazine article by Deputy Defence Secretary William J Lynn.

He said a 'malicious code' on the flash drive spread undetected on both classified and unclassified Pentagon systems, 'establishing what amounted to a digital beachhead, from which data could be transferred to servers under foreign control'.

Writing in an article for Foreign Affairs, Mr Lynn said: 'It was a network administrator's worst fear: a rogue program operating silently, poised to deliver operational plans into the hands of an unknown adversary.

'This was the most significant breach of U.S. military computers ever and it served as an important wake-up call.'

The Pentagon operation to counter the attack, known as Operation Buckshot Yankee, marked a turning point in U.S. cyber-defence strategy, he said.

In November 2008, the U.S. Defence Department banned the use of the small high-tech storage devices that are used to move data from one computer to another. The ban was partially lifted early this year with the approval of limited use of the devices.

Mr Lynn did not disclose what, if any, military secrets may have been stolen in the 2008 penetration of the system, what nation orchestrated the attack, nor whether there were any other repercussions.

Audacious: A foreign spy agency pulled off the most serious breach of computer networks in Pentagon history by inserting a flash drive into a military laptop

The article went on to warn that U.S. adversaries can threaten American military might without building stealth fighters, aircraft carriers or other expensive weapons systems.

'A dozen determined computer programmers can, if they find a vulnerability to exploit, threaten the United States' global logistics network, steal its operational plans, blind its intelligence capabilities, or hinder its ability to deliver weapons on target,' Mr Lynn wrote.

'Knowing this, many militaries are developing offensive capabilities in cyberspace, and more than 100 foreign intelligence organizations are trying to break into U.S. networks,' he said.
Defence officials have said repeatedly that the military system of some 15,000 computer networks and seven million computers suffers millions of probes a day with threats coming from a range of attackers from routine hackers to foreign governments looking to steal sensitive information or bring down critical, life-sustaining systems.


Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1306594/William-J-Lynn-Pentagon-networks-attacked-foreign-hacker-significant-breach-ever.html?ITO=1490#ixzz0yIUiAjSn .

September 01, 2010 09:58 AM

Members of the Moratorium NOW! Coalition and MECAWI carrying banner and signs at the Detroit March for Jobs, Justice and Peace on Saturday, August 28, 2010. The demonstration was attended by over 5,000 people in downtown Detroit. (Photo: Abayomi Azikiwe)
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File PhotosSeptember 1, 2010
http://detnews.com/article/20100901/OPINION01/9010342

Labor Voices: Economic fix requires more government aid

BOB KING

Millions of Americans are hurting right now. When we help them, we're also helping to put the economy back on track.

Our program to rebuild Detroit and America includes these key initiatives:

Investments in our cities, infrastructure, industries and people.

Guaranteed justice for workers.

An end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Unemployment checks are being spent on necessities, providing a needed boost in consumer spending. More federal assistance to states and cities will prevent layoffs, cuts in services and tax increases that threaten to further squeeze consumer demand and push the economy back into recession. A moratorium on foreclosures will not only keep families in their homes, but also help stabilize neighborhoods and protect housing values.

Aid for the unemployed. Republicans tried to prevent extensions of unemployment benefits for Americans. In July, the Senate finally acted to extend unemployment benefits to jobless workers, but that extension runs out at the end of November.

In the meantime, the COBRA subsidy that allowed many jobless workers to continue health insurance coverage has been allowed to expire. So has the extra $25 per week that unemployed workers were receiving as part of the Recovery Act.

Congress needs to act promptly to ensure that benefits for the long-term unemployed continue beyond November. The 65 percent COBRA premium subsidy and $25 increase in weekly benefits should both be restored immediately.

Aid for cities and states. Cities and states continue to reel from the economic downturn, and their plight is adding to our jobs crisis. State and local governments nationwide have eliminated more than 300,000 jobs over the last two years.

The federal government has the power to stop this destructive cycle by extending financial assistance to state and local governments. Recent congressional action providing $26 billion for Medicaid and education was helpful, but did not go far enough.

Direct job creation. With hiring in the private sector weak, and with states and cities cutting their employment, the federal government should directly fund the creation of public service jobs, as it has done historically in other periods of high unemployment. The Local Jobs for America Act, introduced by Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., would provide $75 billion over two years to local governments and states, targeting those communities where the need is greatest, for programs to put the unemployed to work on community service projects run by local governments or nonprofits.

Moratorium on foreclosures. Foreclosures are devastating neighborhoods across the country. According to RealtyTrac, there were 11,889 homes in foreclosure in Detroit in July, and 100,995 across Michigan. Despite $75 billion in funding for mortgage modifications to assist beleaguered homeowners, financial institutions are dragging their feet.

Meanwhile, another 18,833 foreclosures were filed in Michigan in July, according to RealtyTrac. To give struggling families a meaningful opportunity to save their homes (and to create a push for lenders to work with them toward that end), we support legislation (S.B. 29) introduced in the Michigan State Legislature to establish a two-year moratorium on foreclosures.

Let's put the economy back on track and rebuild America.

Bob King is president of the United Auto Workers. E-mail comments to letters@detnews.com">letters@detnews.com.

Additional Facts
Labor Voices
Labor Voices columns are written on a rotating basis by United Auto Workers President Bob King, Teamster President James Hoffa, Michigan AFL-CIO President Mark Gaffney and Michigan Education Association President Iris Salters.

September 01, 2010 09:55 AM

TAKING AMERICA BACK is about freedom, the freedom the founding generation of leaders fought for in establishing the United States. As a nation, we have moved from being freedom fighters to comfort lovers, and it is time for all liberty-loving Americans to realize where our present state of affairs is taking us. It is time to choose the kind of country in which we want to live -- whether we want to live under the rule of law or under the rule of man. The choice is simple: the world of standards and morality, self-government and accountability to God or the world of tyranny and ever-changing moral codes enforced by government. How can Americans take back their nation? The only way we can reestablish our freedom -- our God-given rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness -- is to break the hammerlock of statism and the notion that moral relativism holds the answers to ordering people's passions and behavior. Take a stand with us in Miami as we confront the destruction and fall of our great country and TAKE AMERICA BACK!

You've never been to a conference quite like this!



Take advantage of the $99.00 per person conference rate!
Rates go up after 9/1/10


http://www.takingamericaback2010.com/ .

September 01, 2010 09:32 AM

Inquiring minds are investigating the FDIC Second Quarter 2010 Quarterly Banking Profile.

Quarterly Earnings Are Highest in Almost Three Years

Reductions in loan-loss provisions underscored improvement in asset quality indicators during second quarter 2010. The industry’s quarterly earnings of $21.6 billion are up dramatically from the year-ago loss of $4.4 billion and represent the highest quarterly earnings since third quarter 2007. Almost two out of three institutions (65.5 percent) reported higher year-over-year quarterly net income. The proportion of institutions reporting quarterly net losses remained high at 20 percent but was down from more than 29 percent a year earlier.

Reduced Loan-Loss Provisions Boost Net Income

Insured institutions added $40.3 billion in provisions to their loan-loss allowances in the second quarter. While still high by historic standards, this is the smallest total since the industry set aside $37.2 billion in first quarter 2008 and is $27.1 billion (40.2 percent) less than the industry’s provisions in second quarter 2009. Fewer than half of all institutions (41.3 percent) reported year-over-year reductions in quarterly loss provisions. Only 40 percent of community banks (institutions with less than $1 billion in assets) reported year-over-year declines. Reductions were more prevalent among larger institutions. More than half (56.2 percent) of institutions with assets greater than $1 billion had lower provisions in the second quarter.