CHRISTIAN NEWS FROM RAY
A free service of Jesus Christ is Lord Ministries
News selected and edited by Ray Mossholder
Saturday, January 25, 2014
AMERICA IS IN SERIOUS TROUBLE
In America today, close to 50 million people live in poverty; more than 100 million people get money from the federal government every month. As the middle class disintegrates, poverty is climbing to unprecedented levels.
47 million Americans recently had their food stamp benefits reduced.
Extended unemployment benefits X have been cut off for 1.3 million unemployed Americans, and it is being projected that a total of 5 million unemployed Americans will lose their benefits by the end of 2014.
The conditions for a “perfect storm” are being created. So how much longer will it be until we see all of this anger and frustration boil over in the streets of our major cities? Is America about to reach a breaking point?
For examples: A 600 person brawl broke out at at movie theater in Jacksonville, Florida just the other day. news.yahoo.com/600-people-involved-movie-theater-brawl-5-arrested-1..
Five teenagers were arrested when a 600-person brawl broke out in a Florida movie theater’s parking lot on Christmas night. abcnews.go.com› ABC News Blogs › Headlines › Nation
A “flash mob” of “400 crazed teens” was so violent that it forced a mall in Brooklyn to shut down just a few days ago…nypost.com/…/hundreds-of-teens-trash-mall-in-wild-flash-mob/
Approximately 6 million Americans in the 16 to 24-year-old age group are not in school and are not working either. What that means is that we have an alarmingly high number of very frustrated young people that do not have anything better to do than to cause trouble.
In some of our largest cities this has become a massive problem. Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Miami, Philadelphia, New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Riverside, Calif., each has more than 100,000 idle youth. www.opportunitynation.org/…/study-15-of-us-youth-out-of-school-wor...
We are seeing levels of anger and frustration rise to very dangerous levels in this country. So why is all this happening? Our current administration tells us that the unemployment rate has been steadily “declining” and that there are plenty of opportunities for everyone. www.donttreadonusblog.com/economic-news.html
- Of course that is only puff: Just before the last recession, about 63 percent of all working age Americans had a job. During the recession that number fell below 59 percent and it has stayed there ever since. www.slideshare.net/kynize/13-tax-increases-that-hit-in-2013
The total number of homeless people residing in tents and makeshift homes is unknown. Many of these communities are small and hidden from public view, while others claim hundreds of residents and are sprinkled through major urban areas.
The United States has only to look at Spain, Greece and Italy to see what happens when financial ruin affects the general public: “Spain Plunges Toward Financial Ruin As Violent Protests Sweep Nation” www.express.co.uk › News › World
Greece’s turmoil is well Known: theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/tag/greece
Donald Trump: The United States could soon become a large-scale Spain or Greece, teetering on the edge of financial ruin.
www.moneynews.com/Outbrain/Trump-Aftershock…/2012/…/462985
- The wild climb of the U.S. stock market in the last year is no barometer of the health and wealth of average Americans, unfortunately.
If there ever were a time when men and women are realizing that we are living in end-time years, it surely should be now! Prudence is surely the action-word. Some should be guarding their 401-Ks. Many others worked for years in circumstances that could not access this remarkable savings plan. Most people have never taken time to figure out on paper how much they have to live on, if jobs were lost tomorrow. How many debts remain to be paid, such as a house or car or credit cards—believe me, no one out there will pay off our/your debts.
We are not alarmists! Just realists, especially when the “handwriting is on the wall.” Whatever, our circumstances, we do know that the Lord will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).
from Red Alert: “Those who place themselves under God’s control, to be led and guided by Him, will CATCH THE STEADY TREND OF EVENTS ordained by Him to take place.” To see previous Red Alerts, go to www.eredalert.com Get a copy of the book Red Alert (PPPA) by calling: 1-800-400-1844.
PRAY FOR THESE PEOPLE AND CARE
“Long-term unemployment” was a term seldom heard before the 2007 financial crisis. Now it is a very grave reality for 1.3 million Americans, and a looming possibility for many others.
These are the people who have been out of work for 26 weeks or more, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and whose benefits have been subject to an unending game of political football. (The government does not count the over 700,000 “discouraged” workers who’ve stopped looking for work.)
Although 44 percent of the long-term jobless say they look for work every day, 30 percent of them haven’t been on a job interview in a year, according to a new survey by Careerbuilder. While the economy slowly recovers, making back only a small fraction of the jobs it would if growth were healthy, these Americans are shut out from many opportunities simply because they have not been employed recently. Employers worry that they are damaged goods because no one else has hired them or because their skills have eroded. Think on these things:
- 1.3 million Americans have been out of work for 26 weeks or more.
30% haven’t been on the job interview for an entire year
1 in 4 have not had enough money to eat.
1 in 10 have lost their homes.
44% look for a job every day
Employees don’t hire them because of their age and because they’ve been out of work for so long.
Most of them keep active and are learning new job skills.
IT COULD HAPPEN HERE
By Bob HowardReporter, Money Box
In England, HSBC customers requiring large cash withdrawals may be asked what they want the money for. Some HSBC customers have been prevented from withdrawing large amounts of cash because they could not provide evidence of why they wanted it, the BBC has learned. Listeners have told Radio 4′s Money Box they were stopped from withdrawing amounts ranging from £5,000 to £10,000.
HSBC admitted it has not informed customers of the change in policy, which was implemented in November. The bank says it has now informed its staff.
Stephen Cotton, from Worcestershire, went to his local HSBC branch this month to withdraw £7,000 from his instant access savings account to pay back a loan from his mother. A year before, he had withdrawn a larger sum in cash from HSBC without a problem. But this time it was different, as he told Money Box:
“When we presented them with the withdrawal slip, they declined to give us the money because we could not provide them with a satisfactory explanation for what the money was for. They wanted a letter from the person involved.”
Mr Cotton says the staff refused to tell him how much he could have: “So I wrote out a few slips. I said, ‘Can I have £5,000?’ They said no. I said, ‘Can I have £4,000?’ They said no. And then I wrote one out for £3,000 and they said, ‘OK, we’ll give you that.’ ”
He asked if he could return later that day to withdraw another £3,000, but he was told he could not do the same thing twice in one day.
He wrote to complain to HSBC about the new rules and also that he had not been informed of any change. The bank said it did not have to tell him. “As this was not a change to the Terms and Conditions of your bank account, we had no need to pre-notify customers of the change,” HSBC wrote.
BLOODY RIOTS CONTINUE IN UKRAINE
A 27-year-old police officer was found dead shortly before midnight in Kiev with a gunshot wound to the head, the Interior Ministry said on its website. Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said yesterday that he’s speaking to Swiss President Didier Burkhalter, while opposition leader Vitali Klitschko urged an international presence at talks that have so far failed to quell the anti-government protests.
President Viktor Yanukovych is struggling to stem rallies against his November snub of a European Union cooperation deal, with police crackdowns fanning people’s anger. Four days of clashes have turned bloody and cruel. Opposition politicians have been frustrated in their demands for snap elections.
Clashes resumed shortly after 10 p.m. near parliament as protesters threw Molotov cocktails and rocks and police responded with rubber bullets and stun grenades. The Interior Ministry said witnesses heard shots and saw two people running away before the policeman’s body was discovered.
The Swiss Foreign Ministry said by e-mail that Burkhalter offered Azarov the OSCE’s “support and expertise” to search for ways out of the crisis.
While this week’s escalation in the protest movement occurred in Kiev, the focus has now switched to the regions as buildings of governors picked by Yanukovych were taken over by activists in the western cities of Lviv, Ternopil, Rivne, Lutsk, Ivano-Frankivsk and Khmelnytskyi.
Activists also targeted administrative offices in at least five more of the nation’s 24 regions, smashing their way in when police offered resistance, Ukrainian 5 TV reported. Police detained 58 protesters in the Cherkasy region for attempting a takeover, the Interior Ministry said. Klitschko told reporters later that protesters won’t be satisfied until the president resigns.
As the unrest spread, Yanukovych made personnel changes. He named Andriy Klyuyev as head of his administration, promoting the Security Council chief protesters have called on to resign after demonstrators were injured in 2012 clashes with police. In a meeting with religious leaders, Yanukovych promised to make major shifts in his cabinet next week. But 27-year-old protest leader Artur Kapela responded, “We will force the authorities to respect us,” said. “Not they, but we will dictate the conditions of a truce.”
Vitali Klitschko, an opposition leader who is a former world heavyweight boxing champion, declared ‘The only way to end the street protests is for Yanukovych to resign.”
As part of a deal struck two days ago, three of the 103 activists who’ve been detained were freed yesterday morning. It’s unclear when crisis negotiations will resume, Natalia Lysova, spokeswoman for jailed ex-premier Yulia Tymoshenko’s party, said yesterday by phone.
“I don’t see talks leading to anything — it’s been tried so many times,” said Ivan, a 20-year-old in an army helmet who’s been at Independence Square for a month and who declined to give his last name. “We’ll achieve something once the president resigns.”
Demonstrators seized the Agriculture Ministry building near their tent camp yesterday to shelter from temperatures of minus 18 degrees Celsius (zero Fahrenheit) and set up a first-aid point, Interfax reported.
The protests that have gripped Kiev since last year escalated this week with the first deaths. Police are investigating the discovery Jan. 22 of two bodies with gunshot wounds. Live ammunition caused the deaths, the Interior Ministry said January 23, denying its officers fired the bullets.
EU officials, who’ve said they may reassess their relations with Ukraine after the violence, are seeking to broker a peace deal in Kiev. Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule met Yanukovych and opposition yesterday, while Catherine Ashton, the bloc’s foreign-policy chief, is due January 30-31.
It is confirmed that in Berkut the riot police have shown no mercy, beating up unarmed people, shooting, and arresting hospitalised protesters then taking them out of the hospital, torturing some and killing them all.
To contact any of the journalists who wrote the above story I’ve edited, you can email dkrasnolutsk@bloomberg.net; Ott Ummelas in Kiev at oummelas@bloomberg.net; Volodymyr Verbyany in Kiev at vverbyany1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at bpenz@bloomberg.net
NEW GUIDELINES ISSUED BY STATE DEPARTMENT
FOR THOSE GOING TO THE OLYMPICS
The State Department has issued an updated travel alert for Americans heading to the Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia next month, citing rising threats of violence and terror attacks.
The agency said the U.S. continues to monitor potential terrorist threats in Sochi, noting a series of recent bombings including three recent suicide bombing. It urged Americans traveling to the Olympics to register in advance and to remain vigilant while in the country.
“There is no indication of a specific threat to U.S. institutions or citizens, but U.S. citizens should be aware of their personal surroundings and follow good security practices,” the travel warning said.
As host country, Russia has prime responsibility for protecting athletes and spectators. The opening ceremony is scheduled for February 7, and U.S. officials are already in Sochi.
The travel warning also warned that foreigners could face jail, fines or deportation for violating Russia’s new laws banning gay “propaganda” to minors.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
“RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN HAS CANCER”
PRESIDENT PUTIN is seriously ill, according to a number of seasoned observers of the Russian scene. They suggest that he is suffering from cancer, perhaps even one of the most feared forms of the disease – cancer of the spinal cord, which might explain his periodically bad back. Rumours about the state of his health began surfacing more than a year ago, and then went quiet. But they are back again with a vengeance.
Just before Christmas, Putin pardoned and released his arch-enemy, the ex-oligarch Mikail Khodorkovsky who had been languishing in jail since 2003, on the grounds that Khodorkovsky’s mother was dying of cancer. This is out of character to say the least: Putin is known for pursuing vendettas against his perceived enemies with near Sicilian zeal. He is the former head of the KGB. Some have suggested he is trying to clear his conscience.
There is some evidence to suggest that Putin is religious. His mother had him christened as a baby even though it was illegal at the time. He is a staunch supporter of the Russian Orthodox Church, appearing regularly at major cathedrals on feast days, and keeping a copy of the Bible on the presidential plane.
He is a personal friend of the current Patriarch of Moscow and has visited three popes, most recently holding talks last November with Pope Francis on how to protect Christians in North Africa and Syria.
Putin’s heavy drinking and loose lifestyle have been well-known. But so havehis athletic feats. After the ski run was built for the Olympics, he tried it out and did well. He also played in the game with the same key players that Russia will present at the Olympics.
What happens to Putin is important to us all even though his fervent nationalism and strong preference for “traditional” (his word) sexuality have upset Western elite opinion. But he remains an important and influential figure.
As the UN sponsore Syrian peace talkscontinue in Montreux, it is worth remembering that Putin is still able to exert influence over President Assad’s government. His immediate assessment that Assad would be hard to overthrow seems uncannily prescient. If anything can be salvaged from the on-going horror in Syria his influence will be important.
Nor is an internally unstable Russia in American interests. Like many Russian leaders before him, Putin’s rule, although obeying the forms of the (elastic) Russian constitution, is basically personal. He is Tsar in all but name, and like the Romanovs, has appropriated a large chunk of Russia’s wealth to himself.
But unlike the Romanovs, he has no obvious heir. If he becomes seriously ill in office, any succession struggle will be made doubly bitter by his extreme wealth as well as political power up for grabs.
GOP URGES PRESIDENT OBAMA TO GET WITH THE KEYSTONE PIPELINE
Senate Republicans are calling on President Obama to make a decision on the long-delayed Keystone XL pipeline that would carry oil derived from tar sands in western Canada to refineries on the Gulf Coast. Senators John Hoeven, R-N.D., and John Barrasso, R-Wyo., sent a letter to the White House on Friday urging the president to approve Keystone XL, arguing the administration has had “more than enough time” to study the project.
The letter, which was signed by all 45 Republican senators, noted that Obama told Senate Republicans during a March 2013 meeting that a final decision on Keystone would be made before the end of the year. “We are well into 2014 and you still have not made a decision,” the lawmakers said.
The renewed lobbying on the pipeline comes as Calgary-based TransCanada, which has been seeking approval for Keystone since 2008, began shipping oil from its southern leg. Oil started flowing Wednesday through a 485-mile segment from Oklahoma to the Houston region.
The State Department, which has jurisdiction over the pipeline because it crosses an international border, is expected to release a report on the environmental impact of the proposed project in early or mid-February, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday. Officials familiar with the State Department review said the report, known as an environmental impact statement, is expected to be relatively vague, giving Obama wide leeway to make a decision for or against the proposal, the newspaper reported.
On Thursday, U.S. and Canadian accident investigators urged their governments to impose new safety rules on so-called oil trains, warning that a “major loss of life” could result from an accident involving the increasing use of trains to transport large amounts of crude oil. A spokesman for TransCanada said Friday it is in everyone’s interest to ensure that oil shipments are as safe as possible — whatever the method. TransCanada has agreed to implement 57 voluntary safety measures for Keystone XL in a bid to convince U.S. officials that the pipeline is a good risk.
“As we have said before, pipelines and rail continue to be complementary parts of the transportation equation, and the facts show that it is much safer to move large volumes of products, like oil, longer distances by pipeline,” said Shawn Howard, a company spokesman. TransCanada chief executive Russ Girling said last week that if the Obama administration doesn’t approve the pipeline, his company will look to build rail terminals in Alberta and Oklahoma. Girling called pipelines “by far a safer alternative” to oil trains, but said if customers want him to build rail terminals, he will.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
OBAMACARE NEEDS A LOT MORE SIGNATURES FROM THE YOUNG
ObamaCare hit 3-million enrollees on Friday — still short of the number the administration had hoped for by the end of December — but reached only by including enrollees who have not yet made their first payment. The insurance industry traditionally considers someone enrolled when they pay their first month’s premium.
Under the ACA, every individual in the country has to have insurance by April 1 — the end of open enrollment period — or they will face a $95 fine, or 1% of their annual income for failing to comply.
CHINA CRACKS DOWN HARD ON CITIZEN SURVEILLANCE
Beijing: Chinese police have arrested over 800 people suspected of producing, selling and using illegal wiretapping and photography equipment to conduct surveillance.
Through joint efforts by police from 14 provincial regions, 13 production facilities have been destroyed and 67 groups associated with illegal wiretapping equipment have been uncovered in the action, the Ministry of Public Security said.
The police have also uncovered over 1,550 criminal cases involving the use of wiretapping equipment in blackmail, kidnapping, illegal detention and other crimes. Over 15,000 sets of equipment for covert tracking, positioning, photographing and recording have been confiscated, state-run Xinhua news agency reported today.
CHINA ROUGHS UP CNN REPORTER
Chinese authorities blocked all broadcasts inside the country after a reporter was ‘kicked, pushed and punched’ while trying to cover the trial of a human rights activist in Beijing – and the police abuse was caught on camera by his news crew.
David McKenzie was covering the trial of Xu Zhiyong, a former law lecturer, who was arrested in July for organizing protests against official corruption.
While walking up to the court where Zhiyong was scheduled to appear, police physically barred McKenzie and his crew from getting close and the situation ‘violently escalated.” McKenzie was shoved and punched. All the time that was happening his camera crew was capturing it. So police ripped off the viewfinder from the CNN crew’s camera but the film remained in tact.
‘They’re physically manhandling us, they’re physically manhandling me,’ McKenzie said as he remained calm and continued to report. A policeman told the crew that they were just following orders and a government spokesman said they would be investigating the incident. McKenzie said that the incident ‘really shows how much China wants to manage the message and how dangerous it can become for journalists to be there.
JAPAN’S GOVERNMENT SUDDENLY PASSES A “STATE SECRETS LAW”
Last month, the ruling Japanese coalition parties quickly rammed through Parliament a state secrets law. We Americans better take notice. Under its provisions the government alone decides what are state secrets and any civil servants who divulge any “secrets” can be jailed for up to 10 years. Journalists caught in the web of this vaguely defined law can be jailed for up to 5 years.
Government officials have been upset at the constant disclosures of their laxity by regulatory officials before and after the Fukushima nuclear power disaster in 2011, operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). Week after week, reports appear in the press revealing the seriousness of the contaminated water flow, the inaccessible radioactive material deep inside these reactors and the need to stop these leaking sites from further poisoning the land, food and ocean. Officials now estimate that it could take up to 40 years to clean up and decommission the reactors.
Other factors are also feeding this sure sign of a democratic setback. Militarism is raising its democracy-menacing head, prompted by friction with China over the South China Sea. Dismayingly, U.S. militarists are pushing for a larger Japanese military budget. China is the latest national security justification for our “pivot to East Asia” provoked in part by our military-industrial complex.
Draconian secrecy in government and fast-tracking bills through legislative bodies are bad omens for freedom of the Japanese press and freedom to dissent by the Japanese people. Freedom of information and robust debate (the latter cut off sharply by Japan’s parliament in December 5, 2013) are the currencies of democracy.
Following the passing of the secrets law, the Japan Scientists’ Association, Japan’s mass media companies, citizens associations, lawyers’ organizations and some regional legislatures opposed the legislation. Polls show the public also opposes this attack on democracy. The present ruling parties remain adamant. They cite as reasons for state secrecy “national security and fighting terrorism.” Sound familiar?
History is always present in the minds of many Japanese people. They know what happened in Japan when the unchallenged slide toward militarization of Japanese society led to the intimidating tyranny that drove the invasion of China, Korea and Southeast Asia before and after Pearl Harbor. By 1945, Japan was in ruins, ending with Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But so much happened in between.
Ralph Nader is a leading consumer advocate, the author of The Seventeen Traditions, among many other books, and a four-time candidate for US President.
SNOWDEN MAY HAVE HAD A SNOW JOB!
The company that conducted a background investigation on the contractor Edward J. Snowden fraudulently signed off on hundreds of thousands of incomplete security checks in recent years, the Justice Department said Wednesday. The government said the company, U.S. Investigations Services, defrauded the government of millions of dollars by submitting more than 650,000 investigations that had not been completed. The government uses those reports to help make hiring decisions and decide who gets access to national security secrets.
Government lawyers accused the company of releasing investigations that had not been complete, a practice referred to in court documents as “dumping.” The government quoted from internal company emails to argue that the practice was widespread. “Have a bit of a backlog building, but fortunately, most people are off this week so no one will notice!” one USIS employee wrote in 2010.U.S. will
In addition to Mr. Snowden, the company performed the background check for Aaron Alexis, the 34-year-old military contractor who on September 16 of last year killed 12 people at the Washington Navy Yard with a sawed-off shotgun before the policeshot him.
The 2007 background report done by USIS on Mr. Alexis showed that investigators learned he had been arrested three years earlier in Seattle, but the report did not include the crucial information that he had shot the tires of a construction worker’s car in what he told the police was an anger-fueled blackout. Mr. Alexis was given a secret security clearance in 2008, which was still valid on September 16. a sawed-off shotgun before the police killed him. Investigators relied on an interview with Mr. Alexis, who claimed he had only deflated the construction worker’s tires, Merton W. Miller, an associate director for investigations in the personnel office, said.
Investigations Service, now known as USIS, is the largest outside investigator for government security clearances. It is one of many companies that has found lucrative government work during the expansion of national security in the last decade.
From 2008 to 2012, about 40 percent of the company’s investigations were fraudulently submitted, the Justice Department said. The government made the accusations in a 25-page complaint filed in United States District Court in Montgomery, Alabama. The government has officially joined that case as well as reported by The Wall Street Journal.
A spokesman for USIS said Thursday morning in a statement denied the problem is current and said they have implemented many new checks on all employees to ensure the utmost quality in everything they do.
In September, former and current USIS employees detailed how the company had an incentive to rush work because it is paid only after a file is marked “FF,” for fieldwork finished, and sent to the government. In the waning days of a month investigations were closed to meet financial quotas, without a required review by the quality control department.
USIS also conducted the most recent security investigation of Mr. Snowden, in 2011. Patrick E. McFarland, the inspector general of the personnel office, told a Senate hearing in June that “there may be some problems” with the Snowden investigation, but he declined to give details.
CUBA FREEZES aL QAEDA AND TALIBAN FUNDS
AND ALL OTHER TERROR GROUPS LINKED TO THEM
Havana: The Cuban government adopted legislation to immediately freeze funds from foreign banks linked to terror groups, including al Qaeda and the Taliban, officials said yesterday. The decree, signed by President Raul Castro, stresses that the sanctions are part of Cuba’s legal framework demonstrating its “commitment in the fight against money laundering, financing terrorism and the proliferation of weapons.”
“Funds or other derived or generated assets that belong to or are directly or indirectly controlled by persons or entities linked to al Qaeda or the Taliban will be frozen immediately and without notice,” it said.
| |
The measure also targets “persons or entities” identified as “terrorists” by the United Nations or “at the request of cooperation by third countries.” Sanctions may apply to foreign financial institutions that operate on the island under license from Cuba’s Central Bank and their representative offices, as well as to ”individuals and legal persons.”
Eleven foreign banks operate in Cuba, where the banking system operates under tight control by authorities, a far cry from nearby offshore tax havens.
Cuba’s latest effort to align its banking sector with international norms comes as the communist island prepares to push through a new law on foreign investment in March meant to attract much-needed capital for the country’s sagging economic system.
AFP
HOW THE SUPREME COURT LEGALIZED ABORTION IN THE FIRST PLACE
(CBN} WASHINGTON — Legalized abortion in America was not inevitable, according to Clarke Forsythe, senior counsel at Americans United for Life.
After researching the personal papers and files of the 1970s Supreme Court justices, he concluded the high court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling to make abortion legal was just an accident of history.
In his book Abuse of Discretion: The Inside Story of Roe v. Wade, Forsythe shows how Roeand its sister case, Doe v. Bolton, were supposed to be much less groundbreaking.
Before it morphed into a major ruling that would legalize abortion for the entire nation, Roe was a relatively small case about who had jurisdiction over abortion prosecutions Forsythe told CNN News. But the transformation began taking shape when two conservative justices faced serious health issues that caused them to retire in 1971, flipping the court from conservative to liberal. “It empowered a four-three majority — four justices who were bent on eliminating the abortion laws to push ahead during those twin vacancies to use the cases to declare a right to abortion and eliminate the abortion laws.”
Those four justices — William O. Douglas, William Brennan, Thurgood Marshall, and Potter Stewart — lobbied and pressured a wobbly Justice Harry Blackmun, the designated author of the Roe ruling, to join them in their cause. “And he was pushed continuously, month after month, at point after point, by the Justices to expand the decision, sweep away more regulations, declare a broader right to abortion and so forth,” Forsythe explained.
Forsythe said the court of that era was swayed by the 1960s sexual revolution and the belief at the time that a population explosion was about to cause global famine. “The population crisis was a big theme of political rhetoric in the 1960s,” Forsythe said. “It clearly influenced the justices.”
The justices also readily accepted the notion that abortion is safer than childbirth, which made it much easier to legalize. And they bought into this notion with little proof. “There was no evidentiary record on that. There was no trial. There were no medical experts, no cross-examination,” Forsythe continued.
Before the Roe ruling, abortion advocates hoped at the most to get the procedure legalized during the first 12 weeks after conception. But a staffer of Blackmun’s pushed him to make abortion legal before a fetus’ life could be “viable.” Then the justices arbitrarily decided that was 28 weeks.
“The pro-abortion organizations, the medical organizations, never argued for a right to viability,” Forsythe said. “And so when the sweeping ruling came out, even the most pro-abortion advocates were just astounded at the scope of what they thought was their victory.”
Forsythe’s book documents how the justices then decided to tag on that any abortion would be legal if the pregnancy threatened the mother’s health, but that that could mean mental or emotional health, not just physical health. “That gives us abortion on demand from conception to birth, and it also ranks the U.S. as one of four nations out of 195 around the globe that allows abortion for any reason after fetal viability,” Forsythe told CBN News. “Those four nations are China, North Korea, Canada, and the United States.”
Forsythe believes Roe v. Wade can still be overturned because this milestone ruling so went against the will of the American people, both then and now.
“It not only conflicted with public opinion in 1973, it conflicts with public opinion today,” Forsythe said. “The court’s edict is abortion for any reason at any time. And today only 7 to 9 percent of Americans agree with that — a tiny minority of Americans.”
ISRAEL IS ABOUT TO GO ALL OUT FOR ABORTION
Israel, a nation with a forceful religious lobby and a conservative prime minister, is poised to offer its female citizens some of the most liberal abortion coverage in the world.
The nation’s Health Ministry commission, led by Dr. Yonatan Halevy, last week announced its state-subsidized “health basket,” the package of medications and services that all Israeli citizens are entitled to under the nation’s health care system. It was approved by the cabinet last Sunday. The health basket is analyzed and amended on an annual basis, and among the many additional treatments to be offered to Israelis in 2014 are free-of-charge abortions for women ages 20-33.
Israel has always had a liberal stance on abortion, allowing women facing medical emergencies or those who are victims of rape or abuse to receive subsidies to help them terminate their pregnancies. Outside of those regulations, women can apply for abortions for reasons ranging from an emotional or mental threat caused by the pregnancy or for not being married to the baby’s father.
All women who seek to end a pregnancy must appear before a three-member committee to state their case, but 98 percent of requests are approved. Women under the age of 20 or over the age of 40 were always eligible for subsidized abortions, regardless of the reason.
With the newly amended health care package, however, funding will now be available for more than 6,000 additional women seeking to terminate their pregnancies, at the cost at some NIS 16 million ($4.6 million). No medical reason for the abortion is required.
Halevy, director general of Shaare Tzedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, rejects the idea that the health commission’s move is in any way radical, and is quick to point out that the boost in abortion funding is but one small piece of several alterations to Israel’s state-sponsored health care, ranging from mental health care to the treatment of diabetes and beyond.
“We want large families in Israel. We definitely encourage birth,” he says. “But when pregnancy occurs and it is undesired or inadvertent, I think we should supply the means to end the pregnancy properly.”
“We want large families in Israel. We definitely encourage birth,” he says. “But when a woman gets in trouble and can go to no one for the help they need. or have had incest committed on them, or are scared and alone or abandoned, we will provide the help she needs.”
Among Israel’s religious right wing, there have been low grumblings of protest against the new law, but the response has been surprisingly muted. Dr. Eli Schussheim, chairman of the pro-life group Efrat, likened the decision to theft, saying that by allocating funding for non-medically necessary abortions, the committee “is stealing… from sick people… and giving the money instead as a prize to 6,000 negligent women.”
His sentiments were echoed by Rabbi David Stav, head of the relatively liberal Tzohar group of Orthodox rabbis, who said there is “no question” that in the absence of a medical emergency, abortion is against Jewish law.
It is highly unlikely, however, that Israel will soon see protests that even come near those that target abortion clinics in the United States, where the legality of pregnancy termination remains one of that nation’s most polarizing issues. A backlash of societal shaming against abortion-seekers — such as in Spain, where some 60% of women are prompted to pay for the procedure privately rather than collect the available government funding — is also highly improbable.
The number of nations that now take a stance as liberal as Israel’s on abortion can be counted on one hand. In Canada, abortion is legal at any stage of a woman’s pregnancy, and those performed in hospitals (but not in private clinics) are for the most part covered by insurance.
In Slovenia, abortion has been free since 1977, and in 2006, a government minister who tried to limit funding to only those women whose lives were at risk was promptly asked to resign his post.
While Israel may seem an unlikely party to such liberalism, global legislation on abortion proves that when it comes to the life of a fetus, a nation’s politics do not always jive with its attitude toward the controversial procedure.
Some stalwartly left-leaning nations are surprisingly rigid on their abortion laws, including Sweden, where women have only the first 18 weeks of their pregnancy to apply for the procedure before being barred except in cases of mortal danger.
And in Russia, a nation whose conservative stance on issues like gay rights has prompted roiling protests ahead of the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, there are more abortions performed each year than there are live births.
The women set to benefit from the expansion of abortion benefits, Halevy says, will be those who need it most: single women, young women who are unable to ask their parents for the funds, or those who fall pregnant as the result of an extramarital affair but are financially dependent on their husbands. While he concedes that there have been some knee-jerk statements against the ruling, he says that “once you explain who the candidates are who are set to benefit from it, I didn’t hear much opposition.”
And he rejects the idea that easier access to abortion will create a laissez-faire attitude toward pregnancy, saying, “There is emotional and physical drama to pregnancy. I don’t believe someone would get pregnant just because her abortion could be financed.”
Despite the media focus to the abortion issue, Halevy says that what is radical about the new health care package – and is being lost in the din of debate – is sweeping new coverage for a range of oncological medications, and a cutting-edge, forward-thinking approach to mental health care, including the addition of a new and sorely needed treatment for schizophrenia that previously had to paid for out of pocket.
Other areas that have received a boost in funding are treatments for prostate cancer, diabetes and osteoporosis. The committee came to their recommendations after spending three months poring over more than 3,600 pages of new medical research from around the globe and then careful analyzing costs, prevalence of need, and recommendations made by Israel’s four health insurance funds as to what was most sorely needed.
“There is no country in the world where its citizens are entitled to public funding for such a wide basket of services,” Halevy says. “With the new mental health package, with some of the oncological diseases like melanoma and lymphona – we have made a lot of progress.”
CAMPUS SHOOTER ARRESTED
Authorities in South Carolina have arrested a suspect in the fatal shooting of a student outside a dormitory at South Carolina State University. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division said in a news release early this morning that 19-year-old Justin Bernard Singleton of Charleston was charged with murder in the death of 20-year-old Brandon Robinson. Singleton was taken into custody his morning in Orangeburg, where he is being held.
Robinson died Friday afternoon after he was shot outside Hugine Suites. The university went on lockdown.
Authorities initially said they were looking for four men who had left campus. Thom Berry, a public information officer for the law enforcement division, declined to say early today whether there was still an active manhunt.
Clarkson said police do not know what led to the shooting and provided no further information about the suspects.
The shooting shocked the entire campus, university President Thomas Elzey said.”We, again, are extraordinarily sad about this. He was a very nice young man. And it hurts. It hurts us all,” Elzey said, trying to hold back tears.
South Carolina State University is a historically black university with about 3,200 students in Orangeburg, about 40 miles south of Columbia.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
INDIA REJECTS RUSSIAN FIGHTER JET
Despite initial high expectations, the Indian Air Force appears to be souring on a joint development deal with Russia for a new fifth-generation fighter jet. The Russian prototype is “unreliable, its radar inadequate, its stealth features badly engineered,” said Indian Air Force Deputy Air Marshall S Sukumar
That contrasts sharply with high hopes voiced by the Indian government when the joint project, to which the Indian government has contributed $6 billion, began. India was promised by Russia, “[The new plane] will have advanced features such as stealth, supercruise, ultra-maneuvrability, highly integrated avionics suite, enhanced situational awareness, internal carriage of weapons and Network Centric Warfare capabilities.”
.
It is hardly surprising that the invisible-to-radar Russian fighter planes don’t quite live up to the billing, according to defense experts reached by FoxNews.com.
“The Russians are certainly not up to speed in avionics,” Robbin Laird, who has served as a consultant to the Marine Corps and Air Force and started the website Second Line of Defense, “For them to pull off a stealth airframe, and for it to actually be stealthy, the engine technology has to be very good. Americans have done it with the F-22 and F-35. But it’s not easy to do. No one has done it but ourselves.”
India is the largest arms importer in world, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. “The Indians for a long time have split their fighter industry between Western work and Russian work,” Laird said.
“Clearly they want to go more Western because they recognize that the Russian stuff just isn’t up to the western standards. You only have so much money to go around, and like everybody else they’ve got financial pressures,” he added.
“India has had so many problems absorbing modern equipment and supporting it that it’s difficult to know whether it says anything about the Russian systems at all,” Anthony Cordesman, who has served as a consultant for the State and Defense departments and who holds the Burke Chair in Strategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told FoxNews.com.
Laird said that India would be best off purchasing the already-developed fifth-generation Lockheed Martin F-35 – but that the United States government had not given permission for such a sale, even though Indian officials had asked several times to be able to consider the plane.
He added that India may in fact not be at the level where it should be trusted with F-35s, however, so the administration would be right to turn them down. But the F-35 is ahead of what Russia has.
The author of the piece can be reached at maxim.lott@foxnews.
DISGRACED STAFFER DEAD
A former aide to U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander was found dead in Maryland, just weeks after the former staffer’s arrest on child pornography charges, sheriff’s officials said yesterday. The Carroll County Sheriff’s office said on its website that Ryan Loskarn was found dead Thursday in Sykesville, Md. Deputies say the preliminary investigation shows Loskarn may have committed suicide. Family members reported finding Loskarn unresponsive in the basement where he had been living, according to the sheriff’s office.
His body has been sent to the state medical examiner for an autopsy.
Loskarn had been allowed to live with his parents while he awaited trial on charges of possession and attempted distribution of child pornography. The 35-year-old also was required to be electronically monitored. Authorities in South Carolina have arrested a suspect in the fatal shooting of a student outside a dormitory at South Carolina State University.
The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division said in a news release early this morning that 19-year-old Justin Bernard Singleton of Charleston was charged with murder in the death of 20-year-old Brandon Robinson. Singleton was taken into custody in Orangeburg, where he was being held.
Robinson died Friday afternoon after he was shot outside Hugine Suites. The university went on lockdown. Authorities initially said they were looking for four men who had left campus. Thom Berry, a public information officer for the law enforcement division, declined to say whether there was still an active manhunt.
The shooting shocked the entire campus, university President Thomas Elzey said.”We are extraordinarily sad about this. He was a very nice young man. And it hurts. It hurts us all,” Elzey said, trying to hold back tears.
South Carolina State University is a historically black university with about 3,200 students in Orangeburg, about 40 miles south of Columbia.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
WHAT’S THAT IN THE POT?
BENECIA, CALIF. – A Northern California elementary school teacher has been arrested for allegedly serving marijuana-laced food to her colleagues at a potluck dinner without their knowledge.
Benecia Police Department Lt. Frank Hartig said Teresa Gilmete Badger was booked into the Solano County Jail on Friday on suspicion of poisoning. The 47-year-old Badger’s arrest capped a month-and-a-half-long investigation that started with a tip from the Benicia Unified School District’s superintendent.
Hartig said that several people attending the Nov. 21 dinner at a private home complained of feeling ill or high from an unknown substance and that two of them sought treatment at a hospital. Blood work on one of the patients tested positive for THC, an active ingredient in marijuana.
A child also ate some of the pot-infused food that was brought home from the party for Matthew Turner Elementary School staff.
JUDGE ORDERS LIFE SUPPORT REMOVED FROM BRAIN-DEAD WIFE
FORT WORTH, TEXAS – A judge on Friday ordered a Texas hospital to remove life support for a pregnant, brain-dead woman whose family had argued that she would not want to be kept in that condition. Judge R. H. Wallace Jr. issued the ruling in the case of Marlise Munoz. John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth has been keeping Munoz on life support against her family’s wishes. The judge gave the hospital until 5 p.m. CST Monday to remove life support.
Munoz was 14 weeks pregnant when her husband found her unconscious Nov. 26, possibly due to a blood clot. Both the hospital and the family agree that the fetus could not be born alive at this point. However, John Peter Smith Hospital had argued that it had to protect the life of the unborn child.
Erick Munoz says he and his wife are paramedics who were clear that they didn’t want life support in this type of situation. Her parents agreed. His attorney argued to the judge Friday that keeping the woman on life support would set a dangerous precedent for future cases of pregnant, brain-dead women.
Attorneys for the family declined to say what the next steps would be.
20/20 ANCHOR IS AN ALCOHOLIC
In an appearance on Today In America 20/20 host Elizabeth Vargas acknowledged she was an alcoholic and said hiding her problem had been “exhausting.”
“I am. I am an alcoholic,” Vargas told “GMA” co-anchor George Stephanopoulos in interview that was aired Friday. “It took me a long time to admit that to myself. It took me a long time to admit it to my family, but I am.”
“The amount of energy I expended keeping that secret and keeping this problem hidden from view was exhausting,” Vargas said, adding that she had done hour-long “20/20″ specials on drinking but couldn’t acknowledge she had a problem.
“Even to admit it to myself was admitting, I thought, that I was a failure,” Vargas, who has anchored on “GMA,” said.
“I started thinking ‘Well, you know, I’ll only drink, you know, on weekends,” she said, laughing. “I’ll only drink, you know, two glasses of wine a night. I won’t drink on nights before I have to get up and do ‘Good Morning America.’ But those deals never work.”
Vargas sought treatment in rehab last fall, and said she returned to the air last night on “20/20.”
She called her drinking a “staggering burden” to carry. “You become so isolated with the secret and so lonely, because you can’t tell anyone what’s happening,” she said.
Vargas, 51, said her father had left to serve in the Vietnam War, and when her mother would leave home to go to work, Vargas said she suffered daily panic attacks that continued into adulthood.
“I dealt with that anxiety, and with the stress that the anxiety brought by starting to drink. And it slowly escalated and got worse and worse,” she said.
Asked whether anyone close to her knew what was happening, Vargas said her husband, musician Marc Cohn, did. “‘You have a problem. You’re an alcoholic,’” she recalled her husband saying to her, adding that “it made me really angry, really angry. But he was right.” She said it took her a long time to do anything about it.
“Denial is huge for any alcoholic, especially for a functioning alcoholic. I mean I haven’t been arrested,” she said. But when she showed up for a “20/20″ shoot one day and realized she was “in no shape to do that interview,” Vargas said she knew she had to get help.
Vargas, who has two sons, said wine was her go-to drink. “At night I – that was a ritual,” she said. “I should’ve realized it was a problem way back when Zachary, my oldest son, was born and he used to call my nightly glass of wine ‘mommy’s juice.’ I thought that was hysterical. It didn’t occur to me that that was a problem.”
Vargas said alcoholism was “a progressive, deadly disease,” and said she didn’t start drinking until later in life. She described having a panic attack on live television when she was anchoring local news in Chicago. She took beta blockers for her anxiety.
“That’s exhausting, to live like that. And it becomes very easy to think ‘I deserve this glass of wine. I’m so stressed out … ,” she said.
“I felt like I had to be, you know, perfect, which is ridiculous,” she said. “Nobody’s perfect.”
She went to a rehab center that specializes in treating trauma, stayed for 28 days, then left against doctors’ advice and came home. “And they said, ‘We think you need to do more work,’” she said. “And I came home for five days and realized they were right, and I went back and finished and stayed until the doctors there said I was ready to come back.” Instead of turning to alcohol, she now calls a friend, or meditates or prays. “There’s been a real spiritual component for me in all of this,” she said. “Reach out to somebody who can talk you through that rotten day.”
“I’m part of AA,” she said, referring to the group Alcoholics Anonymous. “I have a sponsor. I have great, great friends who I love and who love me. You know, this isn’t what I want to be known for, but I’m really proud of what I did,” she said.
GOODFELLAS BADFELLAS
The movie “Goodfellas” was thrust back into headlines yesterday when police made an arrest in the 1978 mob heist of a Lufthansa airplane, the crime that played a central, riveting role in the hit Martin Scorsese flick with Robert De Niro.
Agents arrested Vincent Asaro, 78, of Howard Beach, N.Y., allegedly a ranking member of the Bonanno crime family and allegedly part of the crew that made off with $5 million cash and $1 million in jewels during a heist at John F. Kennedy airport.
ARIZONA SHERIFF IS A DISCIPLINARIAN FOR SURE
(CNN) – A diet of bread and water is the punishment for dozens of Arizona inmates who allegedly defaced American flags placed in their jail cells.
The 38 male inmates are part of the Maricopa County jail system, which is under the control of controversial sheriff Joe Arpaio. For their alleged unpatriotic acts, the sheriff said Thursday, they’ll survive on bread and water for seven days.
He was elected to his sixth term as sheriff for the Phoenix area in November 2012. Rumors are that he may run for Arizona governor.
CNN’s Matthew Stucker contributed to this report
I LOVE MY WIFE, BUT OH YOU SQUID!
A 220-pound squid was caught alive off the coast of Japan. Experts estimate that the squid, which was alive when trapped in the fishermen’s net but died before reaching the shore, measured in at 26-feet long before losing its tentacles.
Local residents were reportedly trying to calculate how many people the massive animal could feed before it was discovered to contain too much ammonia to be edible. The Associated Press reports the squid will be used for research.
The case follows reports of several giant squids found off of Japan’s coastline. Last Sunday, one similar squid was reported to have washed ashore on the beach in the city of Kashiwazaki. Earlier this month, another pair of giant squids were found in fishing nets.
SEAHAWK CORNERBACK FINED FOR LOUD MOUTH
Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman was fined $7,875 for unsportsmanlike conduct/taunting in the final minute of the NFC championship game against San Francisco. Sherman’s fine was confirmed by the league yesterday. Sherman was flagged after he made a choking gesture toward the San Francisco bench that he said was directed at quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Sherman had just deflected a pass intended for Michael Crabtree in the end zone that was intercepted by linebacker Malcolm Smith and clinched Seattle’s 23-17 victory.
Sherman ran over and after tapping Crabtree on the backside and extended his hand for a handshake. Crabtree then shoved Sherman in the face. The All-Pro cornerback then made the choking gesture. Sherman was the only player fined in the game.
AP NFL
I HOPE IT KEEPS TIME
NEW YORK – Babe Ruth’s 1923 World Series championship pocket watch, for decades thought to be lost to history, is coming to a New York City auction, where it’s expected to fetch at least $750,000.
Ruth batted .368 and hit three homers in the 1923 World Series as the Yankees won the championship by beating the New York Giants in six games. It was a pivotal year for the franchise, as it moved into Yankee Stadium and won its first of 27 World Series championships.
The pentagonal gold timepiece is being sold at Heritage Auction’s Feb. 22 sale.
“It was the beginning of what’s become the most dominant dynasty in American sports,” said Chris Ivy, director of sports auctions at the Dallas-based auction house. “It changed the culture and Babe Ruth’s the ultimate leader of that team.”
At the time, winning players got watches, which later were replaced by the still-standard rings.
“No one knew where the piece had been. No one has ever seen it for public sale or public auction,” Ivy said. “The fact that there was no news about it for so many decades, it was just thought that at some point it had been lost to time.”
The 14-karat gold timepiece remained with Ruth until shortly before his death from cancer in 1948.
He asked his close friend, Charles Schwefel, what he would like from his collection. The Manhattan hotelier, who shared Ruth’s passion for helping disadvantaged youth, asked for the watch.
Schwefel kept it for two years until his wife gave it to Lewis Fern, her nephew and Ruth’s frequent golf caddy. It remained with Fern for decades until it was sold privately in 1988 to the current owner, a major East Coast sports collector who kept it in a safe deposit box.
“A lot of items from that era were lost or discarded, so the fact that the watch reappeared … obviously is of historical significance,” said Steve Costello, executive vice president of Steiner Sports collectibles in New Rochelle, N.Y.
The present owner, who wished to remain anonymous, declined to be interviewed. He said through Heritage that he acquired the watch for around $200,000 and was parting with it now to help fund charitable organizations important to him.
Ivy said bidding for the watch could easily reach seven figures, “being that it’s the first championship hardware that Ruth won.”
What makes the watch even more special is that Ruth had his name engraved on it and added a special inscription, “To My Pal Charles Schwefel.”
The engravings “really add to the provenance,” said Costello. “There aren’t that many things of that nature being done any more. … How many people in today’s society have a pocket watch?”
The Gruen Verithin watch also is engraved with a pitcher, hitter, catcher, a ball in flight and the words “Yankees” and “World Champions 1923.”
Babe Ruth’s championship ring from the 1927 World Series, the Murderers’ Row team that swept Pittsburgh, sold at auction for $250,000 in the 1990s. In today’s market, “there’s no question it would be a seven-figure piece,” Costello said.
“Whenever you get something that’s one-of-a-kind item from Babe Ruth. Just like his home runs, the sky’s the limit,” he said.
NO MAN IS AN ISLAND. NO WOMAN IS EITHER
Collin Garbarino argues on his Reflection and Choice blog that Disney’s animated movie Frozen is the most Christian movie of the year, out-Christianing the Man of Steel. It also reminds him of Dante’s Inferno, except colder:
Elsa is a young queen, and she can’t seem to control her supernatural ability to freeze things. She runs to the mountain to get away from her problems, and once there she creates a palace of ice and sings with abandon. Her song is one of defiance. She doesn’t need anyone else. She will be true to herself for the first time. She needs freedom.
Except, is Elsa really free? She’s trapped herself in an ice palace, and she’s all alone. She’s not free. By indulging her gift, she’s imprisoned herself.
While watching this scene I was overwhelmed with memories of Dante’s Inferno. In the Inferno, Dante takes a trip through nine circles of hell, telling about the sinners and punishments he sees along the way. When Dante gets to the very bottom of hell he finds Satan. But the bottom of hell isn’t a fiery pit, as most of us would suspect, it’s a frozen wasteland, and Satan is frozen up to his waist in ice. Satan has six great wings, and every time he flaps them, they produce an icy blast that further freezes him in place. His wings were a gift, but since he is trying to use his gift to serve himself rather than God, his wings have become a curse.
Satan and Elsa suffer from the same desire. They both long to be free. Elsa wants the freedom to be herself by shedding obligations to family and society. Satan wants to fly. Nothing says freedom more than flight. In both instances their desire for freedom imprisons them in ice. Ice of their own making.
******************************
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Christians should live contagiously.
****************************
Saturday, January 25, 2014