CHRISTIAN NEWS FROM RAY
A free service of Jesus Christ is Lord Ministries
News selected and edited by Ray Mossholder
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March 14, 2014
ISRAEL CELEBRATES PURIM WHILE TERROR FILLS THE SKIES
JERUSALEM, Israel — Some things never change. The Festival of Purim, commemorated by Jews every year, tells the story of an attempt thousands of years ago to annihilate the Jews. Sound familiar?
The story behind Purim is found in the Book of Esther in the Bible, which records how God used a man named Mordechai and his niece, Esther, married to the Persian King Ahasuerus, to thwart a plan to kill every Jew — from the youngest to the oldest — scattered throughout the 127 provinces of the Persian Empire.
The Bible mandates that Jews celebrate what took place throughout their generations in the country known today as Iran.
“So they called these days Purim, after the name Pur. Therefore, because of all the words of this letter, what they had seen concerning this matter, and what had happened to them, the Jews established and imposed it upon themselves and their descendants and all who would join them, that without fail they should celebrate these two days every year, according to the written instructions and according to the prescribed time, that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city, that these days of Purim should not fail to be observed among the Jews, and that the memory of them should not perish among their descendants.” (Esther 9:26-28)
Editor’s Note: Watch the story of Esther beautifully told in the film “One Night With the King” on reachmorenow.com
This year, that centuries-old festival begins at sundown Saturday when the Sabbath ends. Walking the streets of Israeli cities and towns this week, it was quickly evident that Purim is almost here. Costumed children skip along the sidewalks. Adults in funny hats and wigs smile their way around the streets.
But a rocket barrage by Gaza-based jihadists sent residents of the South running for cover Wednesday evening, as air raid sirens wailed across the region. Kids and their parents waited out the 60+ rocket barrage in bomb shelters. The following morning, they were back in class, smiling and getting ready to celebrate the holiday.
Throughout the centuries, the Book of Esther reminds Jewish kids — and adults — that the enemies of Israel have been around a long time, but with God’s help, they can be defeated.
Just last week, Israeli naval commandos intercepted a huge shipment of Iranian-made long-range rockets, mortar shells and ammunition en route to Islamists in the Gaza Strip. It served as a reminder that Israel’s enemies don’t give up easily and that, in part, is what keeps the story of Purim alive from year to year.
In ancient Persia, now modern-day Iran, it was Haman, the king’s chancellor, who purposed to annihilate the Jews and wound up hanging from the gallows he’d built for Mordechai. There have been many “Hamans” since then, each one infused with the same diabolical hatred we call anti-Semitism.
From the ashes of Hitler’s gas chambers, a modern, flourishing country has arisen, populated by people determined to live and raise their families in the Jewish state.
The Bible says “a merry heart does good like a medicine” and that’s what the Festival of Purim is all about — a joyful celebration that saw a diabolical plan fall back on the head of its perpetrator. The Jews triumphed over their enemies then and many times since.
God’s plan for His covenant people hasn’t changed and never will. The re-gathering of the Jewish people to their biblical land continues and no plan of the enemy, however fierce, will thwart His purposes. God said it would happen and it has.
God says through the prophet Jeremiah, “They will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.” For millions of Israelis, that’s reason enough to celebrate!
COULD THIS BE THE BEGINNING OF ARMAGEDDON?
At a joint press conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu vows retaliation, saying, “If there is no quiet in our south, no quiet for the residents of Israel, there will be noise, lots of noise in Gaza… and that’s putting it mildly.”
Different reports counted as many as 65 projectiles fired at Israel Wednesday evening and overnight. On Thursday morning, an additional four missiles were fired into southern Israel, two of which landed dangerously close to populated areas in the coastal city of Ashkelon.
A furious Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded: “There are no free shots, and terrorist elements in the Gaza Strip should start internalizing the fact that they are dealing with a very determined government and a very strong army.”
In fact, Israel had already hit back hard overnight, with aerial strikes on at least 29 Hamas and Islamic Jihad installations in Gaza. Islamic Jihad claimed credit for the initial barrage, the largest rocket attack on Israel since 2012, when Israel was forced to launch “Operation Pillar of Cloud” in response to escalating aggression from Gaza.
Believing the exchange to be over by early Thursday morning, local municipalities in southern Israel opened schools as usual, only to urgently evacuate the students as air raid sirens sounded once again shortly after classes had begun.
In a Hebrew-language video posted to the Internet, Islamic Jihad threatened to increase its attacks if Israel dared to retaliate too severely. The terror group also invited Israeli Jews “to leave our country [sic] and to find your own country.”
The US condemned the Palestinian attacks as “reprehensible,” and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon “deplored the severe escalation of violence.”
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, meanwhile, was conspicuously silent. He only began to speak up after Israel responded to the rocket attacks, Netanyahu noted, and even then he blamed the wrong side. Abbas told Reuters that he was calling for a cessation of “Israeli military escalation in the Gaza Strip.”
CRIMEA: WHAT IF ALL THE ELECTRICITY IS SHUT OFF?
As Russia’s stranglehold on Crimea tightens, the Ukrainian province to the north is warning it could make life on the peninsula miserable if the coveted region chooses sides with Moscow in Sunday’s referendum.
Pro-Moscow officials in Crimea, who favor secession from Ukraine, have said they will seize all utilities and assets owned by the Kiev-based Ukrainian government if the referendum goes as expected. But Crimea’s electricity, freshwater and natural gas all flows in from the province of Kherson, where leaders warn they will shut everything off if the referendum they say is illegitimate, goes forward.
Last week, Kherson’s regional legislature overwhelmingly passed a motion supporting the preservation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
“We are doing everything in our power to keep the situation calm,” Kherson region governor Yuriy Odarchenko told FoxNews.com.
Last week, FoxNews.com reported on a tense standoff just north of the Kherson-Crimea border, where suspected Russian troops have set up a checkpoint along a key highway, just 25 miles south of a Ukrainian checkpoint. Locals in Chonhar, a small border village, say the Russians have planted land mines along the border.
But while most of the emphasis has been on preventing the Russians from moving into Kherson, Odarchenko indicated the province could go on the offensive if Crimea, which is 60 percent ethnic Russian, votes to secede.
Crimea’s freshwater flows in from the Kakhov Reservoir in Kherson via the 250-mile North Crimean Aqueduct. The peninsula’s vast orchards and vineyards rely on mainland water supply for their livelihood, as do the people in Crimea’s cities of Simferopol, Sevastopol, Kerch, Sudak and Feodosia.
Just as important to Crimea is the power it gets from the Kakhov and Zaporizhiya hydroelectric power stations in Kherson, which provide the peninsula with 75-80 percent of its electricity needs. Finally, Crimea gets 35 percent of its natural gas delivered through pipelines that extend from the mainland via the Mykolayiv and Kherson regions.
Crimea’s chief gas supplier, Ukraine-owned Chornomornaftogaz, has already been targeted by the Kremlin-backed government that took power following the revolution in Kiev that ousted President Viktor Yanukovych last month. But even if they seize Ukrainian state-owned assets, including gas company Chronornaftogaz, it may prove moot if the raw resources are cut off in Kherson.
In the short term, Crimea cannot survive on its own without money from Kiev, according to observers. The peninsula gets $700 million from the national government each year, and Ukrainian economists have estimated that Crimea would need billions of dollars in new investments to integrate its economy and infrastructure with Russia.
While veiled threats emanate from the city of Kherson, the capital of the province of the same name, tension is high on the Crimea border. There are only two main roads leading into Crimea from the rest of Ukraine, one crossing the narrow Isthmus of Perekop in the west and another eastern route on the Azov Sea, known as the Kharkiv-Simferopol highway. Both are now patrolled by Russian and Ukrainian military units.
Ukraine’s State Security Service on March 12 said it had detected and detained a Russian military reconnaissance team dispatched to Kakhovka, Kherson region to assess Ukrainian troop strength near Kakhovka, south of Kherson.
“The group was monitoring the activities of the 3rd rocket artillery division in Kakhovka, the 208th rocket artillery brigade and the 79th motorized brigade,” the State Security Service spokeswoman said, adding its agents had confirmed that one of the men detained is a citizen of the Russian Federation from Ryazan, Russia working for Russian military intelligence.
DmytroTymchuk, who heads the center for Military and Political Studies and has been monitoring Russian troop movements, noted hat he called “a very disturbing picture” of Russian forces massing in the area of the narrow strip of land connecting Crimea to the mainland during the last 24 hours.
Tymchuk said at least 500 Russian soldiers from a battalion from Chechnya, Russia and up to 25 Russian artillery units, equipped with armored personal carriers and Russian Tiger fighting vehicles, are currently dug in at Perekop, south of Kherson province, with a corresponding number near deployed to Chonhar.
“The primary task of these units is to prevent Ukrainian troops from entering Crimea before the referendum on March 16. The military units may later be used to invade mainland strategic facilities in Kherson region,” Tymchuk said.
Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council head Andriy Parubiy said 80,000 Russian troops are deployed along the borders of Ukraine’s eastern regions. The Russian armed contingent includes 270 tanks, 180 armored personnel carriers, 18 rocket launches, 18 fighter jets, 90 combat helicopters and up to 19 navy vessels.
Yuri Bochkovsky, head of the all-Ukrainian Border Guards Veterans Association, told FoxNews.com that Kiev has dispatched armored personnel carriers and airborne troops from Mykolaiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions to checkpoints along the highway on the western route, at Chaplinka and Kalanchak a south of Kherson, as well as in eastern Kherson region at Chonhar, along the Kharkiv-Simferopol highway.
“I think we have enough armor on the ground now to repel any Russian advance,” Bochkovsky told FoxNews.com.
IS THE MISSING AIRLINER AT THE BOTTOM OF THE iNDIAN OCEAN?
(CNN) – It’s a mystery that authorities still haven’t been able to solve: Where is Malaysia Airlines Flight 370? There were still more questions than answers this morning as U.S. officials said investigators will start combing the Indian Ocean as they look for the missing aircraft.
Why would authorities expand their search rather than narrowing it? New information, U.S. officials told CNN, indicates the missing airplane could have flown for several hours beyond the last transponder reading.
Malaysian authorities believe they have heard several “pings” from the airliner’s service data system, known as ACARS, transmitted to satellites in the four to five hours after the last transponder signal, suggesting the plane flew to the Indian Ocean, a senior U.S. official told CNN. That information combined with known radar data and knowledge of fuel range leads officials to believe the plane may have made it to that ocean, which is in the opposite direction of the plane’s original route.
“There is probably a significant likelihood” that the aircraft is now on the bottom of the Indian Ocean, the official said, citing information Malaysia has shared with the United States.
It’s the latest twist in a case that’s baffled investigators and grabbed global attention for days since the plane disappeared on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Information about the missing flight has been hard to come by, and numerous leads have been revealed by some officials only to be debunked by others hours later.
This new information led to a decision to move the USS Kidd into the Indian Ocean to begin searching that area, the official said. The Navy destroyer is now on its way there at the request of the Malaysian government.
According to the manifest, the plane carried 227 passengers, and included 14 different nationalities—there were also 12 crew members aboard the Boeing 777 aircraft.
20 
Of the three Americans on board, two were children—ages 2 and 4—and one was Philip Wood – a 51-year-old IBM employee from Texas. Danica Weeks is trying to keep it together for her two young sons, though the possibility of life without her husband Paul, who was on the plane, is sometimes overwhelming.
Sondra Wood, Phillip’s mother, says of Danica, “She’s clinging to hope even though, as she told CNN’s Piers Morgan, it’s “not looking good. Every day, it just seems like it’s an eternity, it’s an absolute eternity,” Weeks said from Australia. “We can only go minute by minute. It’s devastating, but I know in my heart that Philip’s with God and I plan to be there with him because I have a deep faith in my God.”
Both Danica and Sondra noted that “their faith in Christ is what’s holding them together.”
WHERE IS DAVID PETRAEUS?
A leading Republican on the House oversight committee is asking Attorney General Eric Holder why the FBI probe into former CIA Director David Petraeus apparently remains open 16 months after he resigned from the agency following an affair with his biographer. Representative Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, pressed Holder on the matter in a letter and suggested the probe is being left open to keep Petraeus “quiet” on issues like the Benghazi terror attack.
“My understanding is that, as of today, the investigation into General Petraeus, is still ongoing. Why is the investigation still ongoing? When will the investigation conclude? What are the issues still in question?” he wrote.
In a separate interview, Chaffetz told Fox News that Holder had promised to answer a series of questions regarding the FBI investigation following a May 2013 hearing — including on when Holder first knew about the investigation into one of the nation’s most senior intelligence officials, when he notified the president, and at what point Petraeus likely knew he was under scrutiny. However, Chaffetz said he has not heard back.
“It’s been nearly two years since the investigation started on General Petraeus — if there is something serious and sinister, then let Congress know. If not, give this man’s reputation back. But I worry that the White House is just holding this over his head to keep him quiet,” Chaffetz said.
Lawmakers, including the powerful head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Democrat Dianne Feinstein, complained in the days immediately after Petraeus’ resignation in November 2012 that the Justice Department failed to notify Congress of the probe. “A decision was made somewhere not to brief us, which is atypical,” Feinstein told NBC News. “This is certainly an operationally sensitive matter. But we weren’t briefed. I don’t know who made that decision.”
During the May 2013 hearing, Holder defended the decision, stating the issues in question were not “national security” problems.
Chaffetz said the FBI investigation may be remaining open nearly two years after it began, for political reasons — and pointed to ongoing controversy over the administration’s flawed public narrative about the Benghazi terror attack.
“In the context of Benghazi, General Petraeus knows a lot about what happened with those talking points, what was going on there at the CIA. But he’s now in silence mode because of this investigation,” Chaffetz said. “We want to get that done.”
Petraeus has not spoken formally to the media about the scandal, and most recently was in the news when a new biography of Hillary Clinton quoted the former CIA director regarding her handling of Benghazi. “She’d make a tremendous president,” Petraeus told the authors of “HRC.” “Like a lot of great leaders, her most impressive qualities were most visible during tough times. … In the wake of the Benghazi attacks, for example, she was extraordinarily resolute, determined and controlled.”
Chaffetz said it is important for the Justice Department to clear up the matter, especially given recent Republican allegations against Petraeus’ former No. 2 at the CIA, Michael Morell, who is accused of misleading Congress over the administration’s role crafting the talking points. Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee said in a January 2014 Benghazi report that Morell insisted the talking points were sent to the White House for informational purposes, and not for their input — but emails, later released by the administration, showed otherwise.
Morell, who excised half the talking points text — to the dismay of Petraeus, according to emails released by the administration — has taken on high-profile assignments for the Obama White House since leaving the CIA which include the NSA review panel and the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board. He is now a paid TV commentator for CBS News, has a book deal, and works for Beacon Global Strategies, whose founder Philippe Reines has been described by the New York Times magazine as Hillary Clinton’s “principal gatekeeper.”
Both the Justice Department and FBI have previously declined to discuss the status of the Petraeus case, which Fox News is told includes an investigation of whether classified information was improperly shared. In FBI Director James Comey’s January 2014 roundtable with reporters, Fox News asked about the status of the Benghazi investigation. Comey said: “I think the only update I can give you is still … an active and enormous priority for the FBI. Something we’re working very hard on. Something we’ve made good progress on, and I probably have to leave it cryptically there.”
No-one has been arrested after more than 16 months for the brutal murders of the Benghazi four.
Catherine Herridge is an award-winning Chief Intelligence correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC) based in Washington, D.C. She covers intelligence, the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security. Herridge joined FNC in 1996 as a London-based correspondent.
U.S. SUPREME COURT REFUSES TO HEAR NRA
ASHINGTON – Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy has denied an emergency request by the National Rifle Association to block enforcement of a California city ordinance that bans gun magazines capable of holding more than 10 bullets. A court spokesman says Kennedy denied the request without comment.
NEW YORK CITY IS CROWDED WITH HOMELESS PEOPLE
Record high numbers of homeless people are seeking shelter in New York City.
The Coalition For The Homeless reports nearly 54,000 people stayed in overnight shelters in January, the highest number ever recorded. More than 22,000 of those were children.
On average, homeless families in New York City will stay in a shelter for almost 15 months.
WHILE THE POOR GET POORER, THE RICH GET MUCH MUCH RICHER
The New York financial industry’s bonus pool exceeded the annual earnings of the more than 1 million Americans who work full-time at the federal minimum wage.
Wall Street banks handed out $26.7 billion in bonuses to their 165,200 employees last year. That amount would be enough to more than double the pay for all 1,085,000 Americans who work full-time at the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. President Obama saYS that in itself is ample reason for wage hikes.
TOTALLY INNOCENT MAN SPENDS NEARLY 30 YEARS ON DEATH ROW
NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) – A Louisiana man who has spent nearly three decades on death row walked free on Tuesday, after prosecutors asked a judge to set aside his first-degree murder conviction and death sentence, citing new evidence in the case that exonerated him.
Glenn Ford, 64, a black man, was convicted by an all-white jury in the 1983 robbery and murder of Isadore Rozeman, a 56-year-old Shreveport watchmaker, who was found shot to death behind the counter of his jewelry shop. Acting on new information that exonerated Ford, a judge in Shreveport ordered him released from Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, where he has been held on death row since March 1985.
BE SURE YOUR SINS WILL FIND YOU OUT
Authorities say one of the U.S. Army’s 15 Most Wanted fugitives who escaped federal custody more than three decades ago has been captured in South Florida.James Robert Jones, 59, was arrested YESTERDAY morning when he showed up for work in Pompano Beach, the U.S. Marshals Service said in a news release.
“I knew it would catch up to me one day,” Jones reportedly told authorities after his arrest, according to Marshals Service spokesman Barry Golden, WFOR-TV reported.
Jones had been listed as one of the U.S. Army’s 15 Most Wanted for escaping from a federal prison in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1977. As a private in 1974, Jones was sentenced to 23 years in prison for premeditated murder and aggravated assault.
Authorities say Jones obtained a fraudulent Florida driver’s license in 1981 and used the name Bruce Walter Keith. He had been living at a home in Deerfield Beach since at least 2005.
The Army requested Marshals Service assistance in finding Jones in January. Using a facial recognition database, investigators found a positive match for Jones under his alias. “This arrest is an excellent example of the dedication, hard work and great cooperation of the U.S. Marshals and the military liaison officers assigned to the targeting center,” said William Snelson, assistant director of the Marshals Service Investigative Operations Division.
“Capturing a cold case fugitive who has been on the run for almost 37 years is a great arrest for law enforcement, but it also is comforting to the families of the original victim to know the person who escaped from custody is now behind bars again.”
Jones was being held late Thursday in Broward County Jail, but the Marshals Service said the Army will eventually take custody of him, WFOR-TV reported.
Golden said, “There’s an old saying in the Marshals service, ‘You can run but you can’t hide.’ My spin on that is ‘You can run. You can hide. But you can’t run and hide forever,’” Golden said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
MAN WHO AWOKE INSIDE A BODY BAG IN A MORGUE DIES
(CNN) – Walter Williams, the Mississippi man who returned to life after being pronounced dead about two weeks ago, died Thursday. He was 78.
“They came and got him again around 4:15 a.m.,” Williams’ nephew, Eddie Hester, told CNN affiliate WAPT. “I think he’s gone this time.”
CNN learned about the death from Holmes County, Mississippi, coroner Dexter Howard. He was the same man who first declared Williams dead on February 26.
“There was no pulse. He was lifeless,” the coroner said then. He completed his paperwork, placed Williams in a body bag and transported him to a funeral home. There, something strange happened: The body bag moved!
“We got him into the embalming room, and we noticed his legs beginning to move, like kicking,” Howard said last month. “He also began to do a little breathing. I was in shock.”
An ambulance was called. Paramedics arrived and hooked Williams up to monitors. Sure enough, he had a heartbeat, so they transported him to the Holmes County Hospital and Clinics. Williams was released a few days later.
He died of natural causes, according to the coroner.
“Every case I do is a learning experience,” said Howard. When asked what the Williams case taught him, he replied: “That miracles can happen.”
The longtime farmer, who family members called “Snowball,” died at his home. “It was a two-week miracle for me, and I enjoyed every minute of it, and my family did too,” Hester told CNN affiliate WAPT.
CNN’s Eliott C. McLaughlin and Suzanne Presto contributed to this report.
BILL GOTHARD RESIGNS AMIDST CHARGES OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT
Bill Gothard has resigned from the Institute in Basic Life Principles, according to an affiliated ministry email posted by Religion News Service (RNS). The popular seminar speaker and his ministry has weathered moral and financial controversies, as well as heavy challenges over his teachings, in the past. But recently a whistle-blowing website gathered accusations of sexual harassment by him from more than 30 women. The following is from the board of the Institute In Basic Life Principles:
Bill Gothard, Basic Seminar speaker and home-schooling advocate, has been placed on administrative leave as president and board member of the Institute in Basic Life Principles following multiple allegations of sexual harassment.
Image: Wikimedia
Bill Gothard
Billy Boring, chairman of the board, told CT:
The Board of Directors of the Institute in Basic Life Principles is doing a very prayerful, thorough, and Biblical review in regards to the assertions brought by various individuals and groups. After completion of the review the Board will respond at an appropriate time, and in a Biblical manner.
Mr. Gothard is on administrative leave while the Board completes its review. He will not be involved in the operations of the ministry. The Board of Directors will be prayerfully appointing interim leadership.
Gothard, 79, has never been married. His seminars, which explain “how Biblical principles of life will result in harmonious relationships in all areas of life,” have been popular among many conservative Christian families. More than 2.5 million people have gone through one of Gothard’s Basic Seminars, which began as a course at Wheaton College—his alma mater—shortly after he graduated in 1961.
Now, a whistle-blowing website—Recovering Grace—has collected testimonies from 34 women accusing the Christian leader of sexual harassment, as well as one case of abuse.
Religion News Service also says that Gothard’s Illinois-based organization has been facing a financial slump. RNS also recently reported how another Christian homeschooling leader, Doug Phillips, resigned after acknowledging an extramarital affair. His Vision Forum shut down soon after.
Editor’s Note: Please pray for Bill Gothard and Doug Phillips. They are human and are well-known in the kingdom of God. Pray beyond them too especially for those whose faith has been based in these men rather than in the Lord. Finally, pray for all who are emotionally or spiritually affected by these men’s alleged failures. As the chief of sinners, I know some of what these two men are going through.
GRADUATES OF TOP UNIVERSITIES NO LONGER NEED
AMERICAN HISTORY!
U.S. history doesn’t make the grade at the nation’s elite liberal arts colleges, where students can dodge classes on America’s founding by studying electronic dance, movie animation and, at one school, a course on “The Rhetoric of Alien Abduction,” a new report finds.
The report — “Education or Reputation?: A Look at America’s Top-Ranked Liberal Arts Colleges” — found that within those top 29 colleges, not a single institution except for three military academies requires a “foundational, college-level course” in American history or government.
“If you look at the course catalogs of most of these institutions, they recognize the importance of a strong foundation of varied skills and knowledge, but in many respects these are simply empty promises,” said Anne Neal, president of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, which released the report on Monday. “It’s essentially representative of the ‘anything goes’ curriculum that reigns on college campuses nowadays.”
For example, a student at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, can avoid a survey course in American history by fulfilling the general education concentration requirement by completing courses like “History of Electronic Dance Music” or “Decoding Disney: Race, Gender and Sexuality in the Animated Blockbuster,” according to the report.
“Majors must take two courses from either East Asia or Latin America, however,” the report continues. “It appears the faculty understands how shoddy these requirements are, since they add the warning on the history department site: ‘Students considering graduate study in history are advised to undertake some course work in U.S. and modern European history to prepare for the Graduate Record Examination.’”
Of the 29 top-ranked liberal arts colleges, only the United States Air Force Academy, the United States Military Academy, and the United States Naval Academy requires a survey course in American history. One school, Claremont McKenna in California, requires U.S. history or economics but not both. Just two of those institutions require an economics course, and five require a survey course in literature, according to the report.
A survey conducted in 2011 found that 70 percent of Americans think colleges and universities should require all students to take basic classes in core subjects such as writing, math, science, economics, U.S. history and foreign language. Those most likely to agree (80 percent) were ages 25-24, or those most aware of what the job market requires, the survey found.
“It’s time for students and families to take a hard look at what they’re paying for and what they’re going to get,” Neal told FoxNews.com. “It’s possible to invest $250,000 in an education that ends in little intellectual growth, narrowed perspective and which qualifies the graduate for very little.”
Nationwide, inflation-adjusted tuition and required fees at four-year nonprofit colleges increased by an average of 13 percent in 2012-13, costing an average of $29,056. That figure jumps to $43,742 among the “elite liberal arts colleges” detailed in the report. Factoring in housing costs and other costs, the total cost of attendance typically exceeds $53,000 annually. Furthermore, students who graduate with debt start their professional careers with an average debt between $12,749 and $26,567, the report found.
For those who devote their careers to education, the report is not especially eye-opening. “Maybe I’ve been doing this for too long, but none of this is particularly surprising,” said Neal McCluskey, associate director of the Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom. “What most people might find most disturbing or surprising is that the biggest reason the cost of college is going up is bureaucracy. There’s a tendency to think if you’re paying more, you’re getting more – well, that doesn’t seem to be the case.”
A lack of focus on the core product — a sound, varied education — on the nation’s campuses of higher learning is a key component of the problem, McCluskey said. Too much emphasis is placed on recreational and alternative activities and issues like grade inflation continue to plague colleges large and small.
“Because they’re small, we tend to think they’d be sort of immune from problems we tend to associate with giant research universities,” McCluskey said of elite liberal arts school in the report. “But this is telling us that those cute little colleges have the same problems as the mega-university with 30,000 students.”
As the sticker price of college continues to surge upward, coupled with rising inflation and a dwindling job market, McCluskey said more and more people may find that the typical four-year path “doesn’t make a whole lot of sense” for them.
“For some people, it would make more sense to get specific skills and then move on,” he told FoxNews.com. “The traditional, residential four-year model just makes less and less sense for most people and a report like this demonstrates one of the reasons why that is.”
MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY HOSTS CONDOM FASHION SHOW
Montana State University (MSU) will host its fifth annual “Latex and Lace Condom Fashion Show” this month in which about 30 students will model outfits made out of condoms. A family and public policy expert condemned the event as a distraction and discussed three sexual cultures that can be found on Americas college campuses today.
“Such publicity stunts avoid addressing the real challenges facing young people – including the desire for authentic, meaningful relationships,” Janice Crouse, Executive Director and Senior Fellow at Concerned Women for America’s Beverly LaHaye Institute, told The Christian Post in a recent interview. Crouse argued that, rather than promoting an agenda that actually helps or educates college students, “this event is counting on the shock factor of blatantly linking condoms to lingerie to get publicity for condoms and promote attendance.”
MSU sexual health educator Ashlyn Alsberg told the Daily Caller that the show is
meant to be an educational opportunity. “We want the audience and models to learn about sexual health in a very interactive and fun way.”
A video report on the 2012 Latex and Lace Condom Fashion Show features a discussion with Doug Fulp, who is dubbed an “MSU health educator.” Much like Alsberg, Fulp simply states that the purpose of the event is to “bring out educational information about sexual health,” and adds, “We want condoms to be not so much of a taboo thing to talk.’
But Crouse says, “Today, condoms are openly discussed, featured in advertisements and presented as the solution to any and all sexual risks,” she said. Widespread awareness of condoms, and other forms of contraception, give the lie to the stated purposes of the event.This is just another way for today’s college student population to feel they are avant-garde in blasé sexuality,” she added that this empty posturing is the event’s true purpose.
Crouse also relates the fashion show to three distinct sexual cultures found on college campuses, starting with the Sexual Revoultion of the 1960s.
1. The Sexual Revolution
“Adults long ago abandoned their leadership role on campus, leaving undergraduates to set the tone and cultural climate of student interactions.” In the 1960s, campus activists rebelled against the classical and Christian understanding of sexuality, as it restricted sex to marriage between one man and one woman.
The premise of the Sexual Revolution was “if it feels good, do it,” and “make love, not war.” This new freedom was meant to unleash sexual energy long kept dormant by traditional family structures.
2. Campus sexuality
Instead of new energy, however, the movement found boredom. Today, Crouse explained, “crudity, junior-high-type of behavior prevails with objectification of girls and unfettered sex.” But “college students seem to find it challenging to dream up titillating new innovations to spice up their events and feel risqué.”
“Sexual freedom degenerated into sexual license,” Crouse commented, noting that “each successive generation of students pushes the envelope even further.” Slowly, discovery, adventure and excitement have disappeared in the wake of sexual indulgence. “There are few frontiers of sexual crudity left,” Crouse explained, leaving the “pioneers” with nothing to discover, and an increasing sense of boredom.
3. A new Christian sexual culture
“Young people are seeing their friends destroyed by the drinking and drug scene; they are seeing the damage of drink-fueled, meaningless sex.” Among these damaging effects, Crouse listed abortion, rape and hooking-up, which, she believes, hurts people by taking the human connection out of sex.
In response to these negative effects, a Christian culture of sexually-restrained fun is re-emerging on college campuses.
“Strong Bible study groups and Christian para-church organizations are providing support, training and good, clean fun,” said Crouse, who predicts that these organizations will bring some of the meaning back into sex, and some healing to the damage caused by the “hook-up culture.”
George Barna’s research regarding the “50 Shades of Gray” discovering that as many Christians have read the books full of SNL as other people have and are greatly looking forward to the movie of that title that will be released next year, brings some question to Janice Crouse’s optimism. But she does present hope.
A BELATED HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE INTERNET
“I spent a lot of time trying to make sure people could put anything on the web, that it was universal. Obviously, I had no idea that people would put literally everything on it.” -Sir Tim Berners-Lee
If my daughter—turning 30 this year—thinks hard, she can likely remember a time growing up, when few people had computers and the only “web” was the icky kind that occasional spiders created in her room (which we would be quickly called in to remove). But the internet—which turned 25 on March 12 — had already been in place for 6 months before my son was born. This puts it in perspective for me.
But what about some anniversary thoughts from the one who actually created the World Wide Web? That would be (not Al Gore), Sir Tim Berners-Lee, from CERN.
“I spent a lot of time trying to make sure people could put anything on the web. That it was universal.” Berners-Lee said. “Obviously, I had no idea that people would put literally everything on it.” (Photo via NYTimes)
Indeed. Twenty-five years later, there are billions of people connected to the internet every minute, sending millions of messages, photos, and that’s not to mention the commerce that has developed.
On Google’s search page, Sir Tim posted a message:
On March 12, 1989, I distributed a proposal to improve information flows: “a ‘web’ of notes with links between them.” Though CERN, as a physics lab, couldn’t justify such a general software project, my boss Mike Sendall allowed me to work on it on the side. In 1990, I wrote the first browser and editor. In 1993, after much urging, CERN declared that World Wide Web technology would be available to all, without paying royalties, forever.
Sir Tim went on to ask questions such as:
Will we allow others to package and restrict our online experience, or will we protect the magic of the open web and the power it gives us to say, discover, and create anything? How can we build systems of checks and balances to hold the groups that can spy on the net accountable to the public? These are some of my questions—what are yours? On the 25th birthday of the web, I ask you to join in—to help us imagine and build the future standards for the web, and to press for every country to develop a digital bill of rights to advance a free and open web for everyone.
He then invited people to visit www.webat25.org or #web25 to join the discussion.
GEORGE ZIMMERMAN’S PARENTS ARE SUING ROSANNE BARR
(CNN)– George Zimmerman’s parents are suing Roseanne Barr for tweeting their home address, which they say forced them to go into hiding for years.
Robert and Gladys Zimmerman have filed a lawsuit against Barr, accusing the comedian and actress of posting “an open and obvious call for vigilante justice,” which she intended “to cause a lynch mob to descend” on their Lake Mary, Florida, home.
“It was foreseeable that the tweets would cause Robert and Gladys Zimmerman to have to flee their house in the middle of the night and never to be able to return, have to face a descent of media and others who would seek to do harm to Robert and Gladys Zimmerman and to their home, and have to live in seclusion to protect their personal and emotional well being,” the civil complaint said.
The Zimmermans accuse Barr of “intentional infliction of emotional distress” and “invasion of privacy” with the message to her 110,000 Twitter followers on March 29, 2012. The lawsuit does not indicate exactly how much the couple is asking for in damages.
The tweet was published a month after their son killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in a Florida subdivision, when national attention was focused on the incident and amid calls for Zimmerman’s arrest. A Florida jury acquitted Zimmerman of second-degree murder and manslaughter charges in the shooting of the unarmed teenager in a highly-publicized 2013 trial.
The tweet listed his parents’ names, telephone number and home address, even though they were “in no way involved in any of the incidents occurring on February 26, 2012,” the lawsuit said.
The complaint said Barr later tweeted: “At first I thought it was good to let ppl know that no one can hide anymore … If Zimmerman isn’t arrested I’ll rt his address again- maybe go 2 his house myself.” In doing that, Barr violated Twitter’s rules banning tweets with unauthorized personal information, the lawsuit said.
“Roseanne Barr acted extremely and outrageously in making the tweets which were intended to cause severe emotional distress to Robert and Gladys Zimmerman and possible great physical harm, if not death,” the lawsuit contends.
The Zimmermans “suffered emotional pain and suffering, mental anguish, loss of the capacity for the enjoyment of life, incurred additional living expenses due to the inability to live in their home and have suffered a loss in value of their home,” the complaint continued. “These losses are permanent and continuing in nature and Robert and Gladys Zimmerman will continue to suffer these losses in the future.” The suit demands a jury trial.
YOU’VE GOT TO HAVE HEART
Pay two tickets and call me in the morning.
Authorities installed red-light cameras near the emergency room entrance at University Hospital in Tamarac, Florida, to nail traffic violators, but those rushing to the facility for medical attention are getting ensnared too.
When Jacob Alcahe began to sweat and feel chest pains this past October, he thought he might be having a heart attack. “That day I felt very bad,” Alcahe said. “I couldn’t breathe and I was sweating and my chest hurt,” he told Florida Watchdog.
So Alcahe decided to drive himself to the Tamarac hospital. With the emergency room in sight, he stopped at the traffic light at the intersection of University Drive and 72th Street and waited anxiously for the light to turn green. After several minutes, he decided he’d waited long enough. “I was desperate to get to the hospital because I felt very nervous,” Alcahe said. Fortunately for him, the episode wasn’t life threatening. Alcahe was prescribed some medicine and was told to go home and rest.
The real heart stopper came a few days later when he received a fine of $158 for running the light
A FIERY DEATH TAKES SEVEN IN SPANISH HARLEM
A lifelong member of the church, Carmen Vargas-Rosa told a CBS News team that she smelled gas prior to the blast. “Last night we had prayer night, and when we came out of the church… there was a smell of gas that would come and go,” recounted Vargas-Rosa to a reporter. “I thought it was from the corner store there, so I went and told the owners…and then we went home.”
Carmen noted that a new gas pipe had recently been installed by Con Edison, following some complaints of possible gas leakage.
Vargas-Rosa said, “[The church] just celebrated [their] 80th anniversary; the building itself, I think we’ve had for maybe 70 years or more.”
Seven are known dead and five people are still unaccounted for. A relative of one of those who were killed remarked, “Life is too short, time is too short. It’s all about love and family—tomorrow’s not promised.”
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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
For a Christian, death is not a period but only a comma in life.
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CHRISTIAN NEWS FROM RAY – TOP STORIES TO THIS HOUR March 14, 2014