CHRISTIAN NEWS FROM RAY
A free service of Jesus Christ is Lord Ministries
News selected and edited by Ray Mossholder
Wednesday evening edition, March 5, 2014
AMERICA YOU ARE BEING RAPED BY YOUR GOVERNMENT
Editor’s Note: Rape is an ugly word and a far uglier action. But that’s exactly what is happening to you if you are a taxpayer working hard for the money you are paid. All of us should be aware by now that America could financially collapse at any minute. We’re headed straight toward bankruptcy as a nation. It is only because we are printing money 24 hours a day and borrowing billions of dollars on a regular basis that many think America will just keep going on as it always has.
So, where does all the money go? I think you will be stunned by what the Cato Institute has discovered. I’ve carefully quadruple checked on this to verify everything below. I can’t underline enough to tell you that this will continue unless you and all your friends are made aware of it and respond. This is not a Democrat or Republican crime, it is both.
Personal letters to your congresspeople and president are the most effective, followed by phone calls to those who represent you, even signing letters and faxes sent to you by email from organizations who reach you through the Internet have a strong effect. I urge you not to just read this and gasp, but to make it a personal point of your life to help stop this rape of America’s taxpayers. Otherwise I’ll see you in a breadline. – Ray
The Cato Institute released an updated 2013 study (original study in 1955) showing that welfare benefits pay more than a minimum wage job in 33 states and the District of Columbia. Even worse, welfare pays more than $15 per hour in 13 states. According to the study, welfare benefits have increased faster than minimum wage. It’s now more profitable to sit at home than it is to earn an honest day’s pay.
Hawaii is the biggest offender, where welfare recipients earn $29.13 per hour, or a $60,590 yearly salary, all for doing nothing. Here is the list of the states where the pre-tax equivalent salary that welfare recipients receive is higher than having a job:
1. Hawaii: $60,590
2. District of Columbia: $50,820
3. Massachusetts: $50,
4. Connecticut: $44,370
5. New York: $43,700
6. New Jersey: $43,450
7. Rhode Island: $43,330
8. Vermont: $42,350
9. New Hampshire: $39,750
10. Maryland: $38,160
11. California: $37,
12. Oregon: $34,300
13. Wyoming: $32,620
14. Nevada: $29,820
15. Minnesota: $29,350
16. Delaware: $29,220
17. Washington: $28,840
18. North Dakota: $28,830
19. Pennsylvania: $28,670
20. New Mexico: $27,900
21. Montana: $26,930
22. South Dakota: $26,610
23. Kansas: $26,490
24. Michigan: $26,430
25. Alaska: $26,400
26. Ohio: $26,200
27. North Carolina: $25,760
28. West Virginia: $24,900
29. Alabama: $23,
30. Indiana: $22,900
31. Missouri: $22,800
32. Oklahoma: $22,480
33. Louisiana: $22,250
34. South Carolina: $21,910
As a point of reference the average Middle Class annual income today is $50,000, down from $54,000 at the beginning of the Great Recession. Hawaii, DC, and Massachusetts pay more in welfare than the average working folks earn there. Is it any wonder that they stay home rather than look for a job. It is time for a drastic change.
Salary of retired US Presidents $180,000 a year FOR LIFE! (not counting perks)
Salary of House/Senate $174,000 a year FOR LIFE
Salary of Speaker of the House $223,500 a year FOR LIFE!
Salary of Majority/Minority Leader $193,400 a year FOR LIFE!
Average Salary of a teacher $40,065!
Average Salary of a Soldier DEPLOYED IN AFGHANISTAN $38,000!
Think about this:
Nancy Pelosi will retire as a Congress Person at $174,000 Dollars a year for LIFE.
She has retired as SPEAKER at $223,500 a year!
PLUS she will receive an additional $193,400 a year as Minority Leader.
That’s $803,700 Dollars a year for LIFE including FREE medical which is not available to us the taxpayers
She is just one of the hundreds of Senators and Congress that float in and out every year!
I think we just found where the cuts should begin!
WALL STREET ONCE LAID AN EGG,
BUT AMERICA MAY SOON LAY AN OMELETTE
President Obama’s latest budget proposal paints a troubling picture of America’s fiscal future.
Here’s a startling snapshot:
– By 2024, the total national debt would rise from $17.4 trillion to nearly $25 trillion.
– By 2020, U.S. taxpayers would be paying more in interest on the debt than they would on the entire Defense budget.
– By 2017, those interest payments would be bigger than the budget for Medicaid.
Despite Democratic claims that President Obama has tackled the deficit, the numbers give a sense of what fiscal hawks — who have not given up their fight despite an election-year aversion to dealing with the debt — are so worried about.
“We can’t let election-year malaise be an excuse for inaction on such an important issue,” Maya MacGuineas, of the Fix the Debt Campaign, said in a statement.
White House officials appear to be declaring a victory of sorts over the deficit — which is the annual budget shortfall. A White House statement touted the fact that “the deficit has been cut in half as a share of the economy” under Obama.
It is true that under the budget blueprint, the 2015 deficit would shrink to $564 billion from $649 billion this year. That’s a sharp fall from year after year of $1 trillion-plus deficits during Obama’s first term.
But even when the deficit shrinks, the national debt — which basically is the nation’s ultra-platinum credit card tab — will continue to grow. A lot. And every year the debt grows, the interest on that debt also grows, crowding out needed funding for everything from the military to education to infrastructure to entitlements.
Senator John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said he’s concerned that the fastest-growing part of the budget may actually be the interest. “We are not going to be able to sustain the safety net that we have in this country with this kind of debt,” he told Fox News, warning of a “super-sized” government whose budget “will never balance.”
Senator Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, said the president’s proposal will continue to inflict “an excruciating financial toll.”
According to White House budget documents, the proposal shows the interest on the debt rising from $223 billion this year to more than $800 billion a decade from now. What startles lawmakers is how that rapid rise compares with other parts of the budget.
The proposal shows the Defense budget shrinking from $612 billion today to $583 billion in 2020. That same year, the interest on the debt would soar past $600 billion. Soon, it would begin to crowd out other vital areas of the budget as well.
In arguing that the budget plan represents “fiscal responsibility,” Obama administration officials point to a select stat — the percentage the deficit or debt represents as a share of the economy. The White House budget documents show that percentage, in both cases, dipping over the next decade. Sylvia Mathews Burwell, director of the Office of Management and Budget, referred to this as “stabilizing our debt-to-GDP ratio.” But that assumes the economy will not fall victim to another recession. And even when the percentage drops, the debt total keeps rising.
“Although debt would decline as a share of GDP under the president’s budget, it will be far too high and could be even higher if the economy doesn’t grow as the president hopes or other assumptions in the budget prove to be too optimistic,” MacGuineas said.
Many members of Congress, though, have been just as reluctant as members of the administration to take on tough long-term talks about tackling the debt. Past talks between Obama and Republican leaders like House Speaker John Boehner failed to produce a so-called “grand bargain,” leaving both sides feeling burned by the effort. Republicans blame Democrats for pursuing tax increases and shielding some entitlement spending, while Democrats blame Republicans for their stalwart opposition to most tax hikes.
The White House says that it will nevertheless push for some savings in the budget plan, including $402 billion in “health savings” and $650 billion from proposed tax reform over the next decade.
Congress is likely to go its own way on the budget all the same, but the current fiscal trajectory is not much different than the one Obama proposes.
GERMAN CHRISTIAN FAMILY CAN STAY IN AMERICA
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security will not deport a Southern Baptist family from Germany that sought asylum in the United States so they could home school their children. The government’s reversal came one day after the Supreme Court declined to hear the Romeike family’s case – a decision that could have led to their deportation. The government did not explain why they decided not to send the family back to Germany.
“This is an incredible victory that I can only credit to Almighty God. I also want to thank those who spoke up on this issue—including that long ago White House petition,” said Michael Farris, chairman of the Home School Legal Defense Association. “We believe that the public outcry made a huge impact. What an amazing turnaround—in just 24 hours.”
Uwe Romeike said he is extremely grateful for the support and welcome he has received from America. “We are happy to have indefinite status even though we won’t be able to get American citizenship any time soon,” he said. “As long as we can live at peace here, we are happy. We have always been ready to go wherever the Lord would lead us—and I know my citizenship isn’t really on earth. This has always been about our children. I wouldn’t have minded staying in Germany if the mistreatment targeted only me—but our whole family was targeted when German authorities would not tolerate our decision to teach our children—that is what brought us here.”
In recent days, evangelical Christians around the nation have expressed outrage at the Obama administration’s assault on the family. Lawmakers and clergy alike had said anything short of asylum could lead to civil disobedience. “It may require civil disobedience with this bunch,” said Representative Phil Roe (R-Tenn.), who represents the east Tennessee congressional district where the Romeike family lives. “I am furious about this,” the congressman told me. “You’ve got law-abiding people who did everything right who simply want to home school their kids. We used to be that great shining city on a hill. There’s some rust on that city if we are doing free people this way.”
Roe was among many Tennesseans outraged over the Supreme Court decision not to hear the Romeike’s appeal to stay in the United States. The Christian couple sought asylum in 2008 after they fled Germany so they could home school their children. The family was initially granted asylum, but the Obama administration objected – claiming that German laws that outlaw homeschooling do not constitute persecution. “The goal in Germany is for an open, pluralistic society,” The Justice Department wrote in a 2013 legal brief. “Teaching tolerance to children of all backgrounds helps to develop the ability to interact as a fully functioning citizen in Germany.”
“Representative Roe said the Justice Department needs to butt out. I don’t know what the Germans are thinking, but we’re not Germany,” he said. “I don’t want to be Germany. I don’t want to be Europe. I want to be America. And right now we’re not acting very much like the America I know with the administration we have.” Roe called Attorney General Eric Holder “one of the most dangerous people in the country” and called his department’s assault on the Romeike family “appalling and worrisome.”
“I don’t see this as a Democrat or Republican issue,” he said. “It’s an issue of religious freedom. By golly, if we don’t stand for that, what do we stand for?”
Michael Farris, the chairman of the Home School Legal Defense Association, is representing the family. Farris predicted that if the Romeikes had been deported, it would have sparked a movement among religious liberty supporters. “If they come for this family, it’s going to ignite a movement that’s going to be the same as when they told courageous Rosa Parks to go to the back of the bus and she wouldn’t go,” Farris told me before the DHS announcement. “I think we may be approaching a similar moment in our country.”
Todd Starnes is host of Fox News & Commentary, heard on hundreds of radio stations.
NOTHING LEARNED FROM LERNER WHO AGAIN PLEADS THE FIFTH
A House hearing on the IRS targeting scandal rapidly broke down into a heated and deeply personal argument between a top Democrat and Republican, moments after former IRS official Lois Lerner once again invoked her Fifth Amendment right not to testify.
Lerner, who last year refused to answer questions about her role in singling out Tea Party and other conservative groups for extra scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt status, was called back before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee today. Though Republicans argue she waived her Fifth Amendment right by giving a statement during the last hearing, Lerner continued to invoke that right on Wednesday.
“On the advice of my counsel, I respectfully exercise my Fifth Amendment right and decline to answer that question,” she said in response to several questions.
But ranking Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., got into a heated argument with Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., after Issa tried to adjourn the hearing. Issa at first stood up and prepared to leave as Cummings said he wanted to ask a “procedural question.” In seconds, tensions flared. “Mr. Chairman, you cannot run a committee like this,” Cummings appealed.
Cummings’ microphone was then turned off, and then flipped back on again. Issa sat down momentarily, but then abruptly told Lerner she was “released” and said: “We’re adjourned, close it down.” Cummings, his microphone again turned off, continued to shout, complaining about the Republicans’ “one-sided investigation. I am a member of the Congress of the United States. I am tired of this,” he shouted. The clash bared long-running tensions between the Democratic and GOP members of the committee over the IRS probe.
Lerner headed the IRS division that improperly targeted Tea Party and other conservative groups. After publicly disclosing the targeting, Lerner refused to answer questions about it at a congressional hearing last year. Lerner then resigned from her post as the agency’s director of tax-exempt organizations.
Issa and Lerner’s attorneys have argued about whether she is now still protected from having to testify under the Fifth Amendment. Emails obtained by Fox News revealed an attorney for Lerner negotiated over whether she would testify. Issa claimed Wednesday that Lerner’s testimony remains critical. “Ms. Lerner is uniquely positioned to provide testimony that will help the committee better understand how and why the IRS targeted conservative groups,” he said.
Issa warned that the committee may consider whether to hold her in contempt if she continues to stay silent. House Speaker John Boehner later made the same threat.
Last week, Lerner lawyer William Taylor made public a letter in which he told the committee that Lerner would testify on Capitol Hill only if compelled by a federal court or if given immunity for the testimony. He was responding to a letter from Issa saying, in part, that Lerner’s testimony remains “critical to the committee’s investigation.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
FIRST OBAMA APPOINTMENT TO FAIL SENATE VOTE
Senate Democrats failed to muster enough support to push a controversial Justice Department nominee past a key test vote on Wednesday, leaving the nomination stalled amid bipartisan concerns about his past work on behalf of convicted cop killer Mumia Abu-Jamal. The nomination of Debo Adegbile for head of the Civil Rights Division was blocked, on a 47-52 vote.
Adegbile needed just 51 senators to support him in order to advance to a final vote. In anticipation of a tight vote, Vice President Biden even attended in case he was needed by his Democratic colleagues to break a tie. But it did not get to that point, as a total of seven Democrats peeled off, joining a nearly united Republican opposition.
One of them, Indiana Senator Joe Donnelly, said afterward he was “concerned about his ability to work with law enforcement” if confirmed.
Maureen Faulkner, widow of the Philadelphia officer killed by Abu-Jamal, told Fox News after the vote that Adegbile was “the wrong person for the job.” She thanked Democratic senators who “broke ranks and had the courage to do the right thing.”
Democrats were facing heavy pressure from police organizations, as well as Republicans, to vote against the nominee. After the tally, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus called the nomination itself “an embarrassment for President Obama,” and blasted “vulnerable Democrats running in 2014″ who voted “yes.”
Obama, though, stood by his nominee and called the outcome a “travesty based on wildly unfair character attacks against a good and qualified public servant.” In a written statement, Obama said: “The fact that his nomination was defeated solely based on his legal representation of a defendant runs contrary to a fundamental principle of our system of justice — and those who voted against his nomination denied the American people an outstanding public servant.”
One high-profile Democrat, Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey, effectively gave his Democratic colleagues cover to vote “no” after he recently came out against the nomination. Casey represents the state where Abu-Jamal killed a Philadelphia police officer.
At issue is Adegbile’s work with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund on behalf of Abu-Jamal. Perhaps America’s most well-known cop killer, he was convicted for the 1981 murder of Philadelphia officer Daniel Faulkner. The case has attracted celebrity and media attention for decades, amid claims that Abu-Jamal faced racial discrimination. Abu-Jamal’s death sentence was eventually overturned, but his conviction stands.
Along the way, Adegbile and the Legal Defense Fund got involved in the case, filing briefs and appeals on his behalf. Adegbile’s involvement came after Abu-Jamal’s death sentence was overturned and after the Legal Defense Fund first began working with the defendant. Adegbile’s defenders argue that he was obligated to work on the case since the Legal Defense Fund had already accepted him as a client. And they argue that defending unpopular clients is just part of the legal profession.
“This murderer’s a bad guy, but he’s entitled to a lawyer,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said on the Senate floor before the test vote. He stressed that Adegbile never stepped “into a courtroom” to defend Abu-Jamal, and called the nominee a “fine man” who “devoted his life to public service.” (Reid later joined the other seven Democrats in voting “no,” but only for procedural reasons.)
Critics claimed Adegbile took on the case as a political cause.
Republicans and law enforcement groups like the Fraternal Order of Police were staunchly opposed to Adegbile’s appointment. They called Obama’s choice called the nomination a “thumb in the eye of our nation’s law enforcement officers.” SenatorJeff Sessions, R-Ala., questioned Tuesday whether Adegbile could be counted on to advocate for the civil rights “of all Americans,” if confirmed to the post of Civil Rights Division director.
Faulkner’s widow adamantly opposed the nomination and lobbied senators to vote “no.” Both of Pennsylvania’s senators, Casey and Republican Pat Toomey, earlier announced their opposition. “I respect that our system of law ensures the right of all citizens to legal representation no matter how heinous the crime,” Casey said in a statement. “At the same time, it is important that we ensure that Pennsylvanians and citizens across the country have full confidence in their public representatives — both elected and appointed. The vicious murder of Officer Faulkner in the line of duty and the events that followed in the 30 years since his death have left open wounds for Maureen Faulkner and her family as well as the city of Philadelphia. After carefully considering this nomination and having met with both Mr. Adegbile as well as the Fraternal Order of Police, I will not vote to confirm the nominee.”
Obama nominated Adegbile to succeed Thomas Perez as head of the Justice Department after Perez was confirmed for Labor secretary.
The other Democrats who voted against Adegbile are: Senators Chris Coons, of Delaware; Heidi Heitkamp, of North Dakota; Joe Manchin, of West Virginia; Mark Pryor, of Arkansas; and John Walsh, of Montana.
Adegbile is the first Obama nominee to fail on a Senate test vote since Democrats pushed through changes that allow certain nominees to clear that hurdle with a simple majority, as opposed to the customary 60 votes.
Fox News’ Chad Pergram and Donald Fair contributed to this report.
AMERICA’S PRESIDENT AND ISRAEL’S PRIME MINISTER SPAR
President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traded jabs Monday as the leaders met in Washington, both aware that the window for a negotiated peace deal was closing. Netanyahu bluntly told Obama that Israelis expected their leader not to compromise on their security. His comments came as Obama sought to reassure him on Iran diplomacy and put pressure on him for Middle East peace talks.
“The Israeli people expect me to stand strong against criticism and pressure,” Netanyahu told reporters during a brief joint appearance Monday. But facing a U.S.-imposed April deadline, the Israeli leader added, “Israel has been doing its part and, I regret to say, the Palestinians have not.”
Netanyahu’s comments underscored the slim prospects of reaching an agreement to the long-running conflict, despite a robust effort led by Secretary of State John Kerry.
Despite the bleak outlook, Netanyahu said Monday the relationship between the U.S. and Israel is a turn on the old James Bond line: “It’s stirred but not shaken. It’s unshakeable.”
On Sunday, Obama urged the Israeli prime minister to “seize the moment” to make peace during an interview with Bloomberg View, once again saying that time is running out to negotiate an Israeli-Palestinian agreement.
In his remarks, Netanyahu referred to what he says he sees as a threat from Iran, an enemy of the Jewish state. “I as the prime minister of Israel will do whatever I must do to defend the Jewish state,” Reuters reported Netanyahu as saying.
Obama is seeking room for diplomacy with Iran, while Netanyahu says sanctions on Tehran are being eased prematurely. “We don’t see changes in Iranian behavior,” Netanyahu said. “It’s something that ought to be stopped … it ought to be stopped for peace.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
(Israel)—Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed today that his government would not alter the status quo regarding the Temple Mount, a day after Israel’s Knesset held its first ever debate on extending Jewish sovereignty over Judaism’s holiest site.“The policy of the government of Israel has been and continues to be the maintenance of the status quo at the Temple Mount, including freedom of access for all faiths to the holy sites,” Netanyahu spokesman Mark Regev told the Jerusalem Post. But the reason behind Tuesday’s Knesset debate was that currently Jews and Christians (all non-Muslims, in fact) do not enjoy full religious freedom at the Temple Mount.
Often, Jews and Christians are prevented outright from ascending to the holy site when local Muslims are feeling particularly agitated. And at all times, Jews and Christians are forbidden to carry Bibles or even utter silent prayers while atop the Temple Mount. Vigorous security checks are performed to ensure these restrictions are not violated, and many Jews have been arrested for even giving the impression that they might have been praying.
Many Israeli lawmakers are increasingly frustrated by this situation, which they deem to be a total surrender to the dictates and threats of radical Islam. They want Israel to become the official overseer of the Temple Mount, in place of the Jordanian government and the Palestinian-controlled Islamic Trust (Waqf).
The debate was punctuated by several outbursts by Arab Muslim members of Knesset, most notably MK Taleb Abu Arar (Raam-Taal), who insisted that “Jews have nothing to look for at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. It isn’t the Temple Mount, it’s the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Al-Aqsa Mosque belongs to the Muslims and not the Jews, and it is on occupied land.”
Liberal left-wing Jewish parliamentarians also opposed the suggestions of those who called the debate. Likud MK Tzipi Hotovely later told Israel National News that what the secular left is truly afraid of is not enraging the Muslims, but rather coming too close to the spiritual heart of the Jewish people, and therefore to God.
As expected, the debate also sparked angry reactions around the Middle East.
Egypt’s interim government warned that extending Israeli sovereignty over the Temple Mount would cause an “explosion” in the region. The Palestinian Authority called for an emergency session of the Arab League to discuss this latest “Israeli aggression.” And no fewer than 47 members of Jordan’s parliament demanded their government’s peace treaty with Israel be cancelled in response to the Jews daring to even think about fully reclaiming the Temple Mount.
300 WHITE HOUSE PROTESTERS WERE ARRESTED SUNDAY
More than 300 anti-Keystone XL protesters were arrested Sunday afternoon outside the White House in the latest push by environmentalists to convince the Obama administration to reject the Canadian oil pipeline. The student-led protest, organized by XL Dissent, started with a rally at Georgetown University. The students marched from there to the White House — with a stop at Secretary of State John Kerry’s house along the way.
Students from 80 colleges participated in Sunday’s event, and another protest was held Monday in San Francisco, said Aly Johnson-Kurts, a freshman at Smith College and one of the organizers of the event. “The youth really understand the traditional methods of creating change are not sufficient … so we needed to escalate,” said Johnson, shortly before she was arrested at the White House.
An organizer estimated the crowd at about 1,200 people. Organizers held civil disobedience training on Saturday to ensure that the demonstration went peacefully. The crowd marched down H Street, holding banners and chanting songs. Some wore painter’s scrubs with black paint on them — “hazmat suits” with oil — while others held signs with slogans like “Keystone XL: pipeline to hell” and “Keep your oil out of my soil.”
A tide of energy undulated through the crowd as speaker after speaker got up to encourage them to risk arrest. “I want you to know how important what you’re doing is,” Chris Wahmhoff, a member of the Michigan Coalition Against Tar Sands and candidate for the U.S. Senate, told the crowd, holding a block of oil sands in his hand. “The sick people in Michigan, the sick people in Canada, they’re looking to you.”
“They say we are too young to make a difference, but we are proving them wrong, right here, right now,” Earthguradians Youth Director Xiuhezcatl said to the cheering crowd.
“I think when the public sees college students coming out and getting arrested,” he said to POLITICO later, “people can say the youth came out. We were here. Because our generation will be the most impacted by whatever decision is made by the government.”
The crowd rushed from the grass and toward the White House gates, where U.S. Park Police horses and police buses and vans waited at the ready. The crowd pushed toward the sidewalk as protestors took plastic zip ties and secured themselves to the White House fence. Still others stood next to them, holding banners and singing call and response chants. “Hey, Obama, we don’t want no pipeline drama,” the activists yelled.
Amid the crowd of students, many sporting “No KXL” T-shirts, was one woman dressed as environmental superhero, Captain Planet. Activists at Lafayette Square Park unfurled a black tarp and about 50 people laid down on the sidewalk creating a “human oil spill.” From the side, volunteers threw plastic lobsters, fish and birds — all painted black — amid the spill. One person held a sign as he lay on the pavement: “The oil is still here and so are we.”
Officers blockaded the scene, moving spectators to the park sidewalk as first horses, and then vans moved in front of the protesters. For many of the students, this was their first time being arrested. Others said they just wanted to be a part of the rally to show solidarity and to make their voices heard.
“We get stuck in our worlds at school and we need to start being real people on the weekends and doing things you care about,” said Julie Xia, a student at Amherst College. “We talk about living lives of consequence at school. We have to try to do it.”
But did they think President Barack Obama would heed the messages being yelled at him from the streets below? “I’m not that confident,” said Miranda Willson, a Tufts freshman, citing the criticism that Obama would receive for denying the project amid continuing economic concerns. “But we wouldn’t be here if we didn’t have hope,” Ilana Hamer, another Tufts freshman chimed in. “So hopefully, it makes an impact.”
DOES THE WORD “BRAT” COME TO MIND?
A New Jersey honor student suing her parents in a potentially precedent-setting lawsuit had her motions for financial support, including high school tuition payment, denied Tuesday by a judge who said it would set a bad precedent by setting limits on parenting.
Rachel Canning, 18, of Morris Catholic High School, was denied her requests for child support of $654 a week as well as thousands of dollars in attorney fees and immediate reimbursement of her high school tuition.
Morris County Court Judge Peter Bogaard also ruled that Rachel’s parents must keep her on their health insurance policy and keep status quo on all college savings accounts set up for her.
Canning claims her parents threw her out of their Lincoln Park home two days before her 18th birthday in late October, although her parents insist she moved voluntarily.
Canning’s father, retired Lincoln Park Police Chief Sean Canning, told The Daily Record of Parsippany that his daughter left home of her own accord because she didn’t want to abide by reasonable household rules, such as being respectful, keeping a curfew and doing some chores.
Since moving out, Canning, who has reportedly already been accepted to several colleges, has been living in Rockaway Township with relatives of her best friend. Former Morris County Freeholder John Inglesino is funding the lawsuit, the newspaper reports.
Canning sought to have her parents ordered to immediately pay tuition at Morris Catholic High School, where she is a senior. Her parents have already paid tuition through Dec. 31, but haven’t signed additional checks since Rachel left the family’s home. Administrators at the school have said they won’t kick her out for unpaid 2014 tuition, The New York Post reports.
“This whole thing is just destroying our family,” Sean Canning told The Post. “We love our daughter. She’s our pride and joy. The door is wide open. We want her to come home.”
Canning told the newspaper he and his wife have disagreed on typical family issues. “I’m a liberal, liberal parent,” he said. “I wish I could have grown up in my house. I was tougher on my cops at work than I’ve ever been at my home, that’s for sure.”
Legal experts told The Post that the rare case, if successful, could evoke similar suits in the future. “In my 20 years of practicing family law in New Jersey, I’ve never seen anything like this,” Brian Schwartz, chairman of the New Jersey Bar Association’s Family Law Section, told the newspaper.
Jeralyn Lawrence, the incoming Family Law Section chair, said: “This could open the floodgates of recalcitrant kids fighting with their parents, moving out and then suing for them to keep paying.”
Another hearing to decide whether to require her parents to pay for Canning’s college tuition is tentatively scheduled for April 22.
TALKS BUT NO ROCKS IN UKRAINE
Kiev (CNN)– The European Union will consider sanctions against Russia if there is no deescalation in the Ukraine crisis, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Wednesday. Such sanctions will be on the agenda when EU leaders meet Thursday, he said via Twitter. “The invasion of one country into another is contrary to all international laws. We must return to dialogue and to bear in mind that Ukraine should work with Russia and the EU,” he said. “We cannot accept, we members of the international community, a country that invades another.”
Russian forces remain in effective control of Ukraine’s southern Crimea region, in a tense standoff with Ukrainian forces loyal to the new interim government in Kiev. Meanwhile, Russian lawmakers are working on a draft law to allow the confiscation of assets belonging to European or U.S. companies if sanctions are imposed, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti said Wednesday.
Andrei Klishas, a senior lawmaker in the upper parliament house, said the bill “would offer the president and government opportunities to defend our sovereignty from threats,” the news agency reported.
All this comes after a day of warring words Tuesday, when a defiant Russian President Vladimir Putin denied Russian troops were in Crimea but reserved the right to take military action to protect the safety of ethnic Russians in eastern Ukraine. He once again slammed the interim government, which replaced ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, a Russian ally, as illegitimate.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, speaking in Madrid, Spain, on Wednesday took a similar line. He said the crisis had begun when the international community failed to react to the anti-government protests which preceded Yanukovych’s ouster. “There was a military coup and the legitimate president was removed by methods which were not in the constitution or legislation,” he said.
“If we are so lenient to the people who are trying to govern our neighbor, everyone must realize a bad example can be spread and there shouldn’t be any double standards.”
Lavrov repeated Putin’s denial that Russian troops are in control in Crimea, saying that the troops in question are “self-defense” forces over whom Russia has no control. Decisions on whether international observers should be sent into Ukraine are for leaders in the country to make, he said. He pointed out that the newly installed pro-Russian government in Crimea does not see the authorities in Kiev as legitimate. “This problem is multi-faceted. In order to calm the situation down everyone must act in accordance with the law,” he said.
Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry are set to meet later on Paris, during international talks on Lebanon. On Tuesday, Kerry accused Russia of making up reasons for intervention in Ukraine, saying “not a single piece of credible evidence supports any one of these claims.”
As the high-stakes showdown in the Russian-majority Crimea region continues, diplomatic efforts to end the crisis continue. NATO members are set to meet with Russia’s ambassador to the alliance, amid concerns that the crisis could spread.
Lavrov also held talks with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton in Madrid.
Meanwhile, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt will meet with his Danish and Norwegian counterparts in Ukraine’s capital, Kiev, he said on Twitter.
Tuesday’s diplomatic efforts bore little fruit. But some observers saw a positive sign in Putin ordering Russian troops who were on mass military exercises close to the border with Ukraine back to their bases. No violence has yet erupted in Crimea, where Russian troops control military bases and key installations. But tensions are high.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is trying to construct what a senior U.S. administration official characterized as an “off-ramp” for Putin by having international observers in Crimea to ensure ethnic Russians’ rights aren’t violated.
President Barack Obama had floated this idea in a call Saturday with Putin, and he and Merkel talked about it Tuesday.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Tuesday that despite repeated calls by the international community, “Russia continues to violate Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and continues to violate its international commitments.” The developments represent serious implications for the security and stability for the Euro-Atlantic area, he said.
CNN’s Michael Holmes reported in Kiev and Laura Smith-Spark wrote in London. CNN’s Khushbu Shah, Neda Farshbaf and Larry Register contributed to this report.
ALL GOVERNORS GUARD NATIONAL GUARD
America’s governors disagree on a lot of issues. But they’re united on one front — stopping the Pentagon from proceeding with planned cuts to the Army National Guard. All 50 governors have asked President Obamaasking to keep the Guard’s ranks at 350,000, instead of cutting it down to 335,000 as the Pentagon has suggested.
“The nation’s governors strongly oppose the potential cuts,” they wrote, after meeting with him and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel during their annual winter meeting last week in Washington. “For more than a decade, our National Guard has demonstrated it is a cost-effective, operational force that is critical to our national security at home and abroad.”
The concerns about National Guard cuts come on top of widespread concerns about the Pentagon’s controversial plan to shrink the active-duty Army. As Republican and Democratic lawmakers prepare to challenge these and other cuts on Capitol Hill, the governors are taking an early stand over the National Guard. They argued the cuts will reduce the Guard’s ranks to pre-2001 levels — reducing its capacity as an active combat force and ability to respond to natural disasters and emergencies, while acknowledging the country’s “economic realities.”
Critics of the proposed cuts point to 2012, when guardsmen rescued — and delivered much-needed supplies to hundreds of New Jersey and New York residents hit by Superstorm Sandy. “The rapid response of the National Guard was invaluable to helping our residents survive the storm,” said New Jersey Assemblyman Joseph Egan, a Democrat. “They answered the call with exceptional coordination and management. Their continued involvement is integral in the rebuilding of our New Jersey.”
The governors are also expressing concerns about potential cuts to the Air National Guard and are calling for a commission to study future personnel levels throughout the Army.
The National Guard force size varies significantly from state to state. The Defense Department determines the size of each state’s National Guard unit based upon the needs of that state and the federal government. However, no change in the branch, organization or allotment of a unit entirely within a state can be made without the approval of its governor.
The governors signed the letter to Obama just days after they publicly squabbled on the White House lawn over the president’s budget plan.
Hagel argues that the proposed cuts to the Guard in fiscal 2015 are just part of the Pentagon’s efforts to reconfigure itself for the future, including cutting the active Army from 520,000 to between 440,000 and 450,000 soldiers. “We’re coming out of the largest war we’ve ever been in,” Hagel told CBS News this past weekend, referring to the fight in Afghanistan. “You reset your position based on the new realities … and the challenges of the future.”
But Senator Rob Portman, R-Ohio, told “Fox News Sunday” he worries about cutting troop sizes amid the unrest in Ukraine, the Middle East and the South China Sea.
RUSSIA’S ACTIONS ARE COSTING FORTUNES
PARIS — The growing crisis in Ukraine hit global financial markets on Monday, unsettling investors who had already been nervous about shaky emerging market economies. The biggest impact was felt on Russian and Ukrainian markets, with the Moscow benchmark Micex index dropping 9.4 percent, and the ruble falling to a record low against the dollar. Stock exchanges around the globe were jolted, with investors selling off shares particularly in companies with exposure to Ukraine and Russia, and moving into traditionally safer assets like United States bonds and Japanese currency.
Stocks in United States dropped, too. The Dow Jones industrial average fell nearly 1 percent, while the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index was off 0.74 percent.
FIRST WEEKEND RETURNS FROM “SON OF GOD” ASTOUNDING
(Hollywood, CA)—Approximately ten years ago, Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” blew moviegoers and film critics away with its cinematic message of redemption. Results were immediate. People’s lives were touched and saved, hearts were rededicated to Jesus, and Hollywood was forced to sit up and take notice.
This last weekend’s opening success of the much touted “Son of God” film promises to have the same effect. Reports from a variety of sources confirm it’s a runaway hit in theaters. A Newsmax report says the film has “confounded Hollywood elites, mainstream critics and industry experts with a staggering $26.5 million box office take.”
Editor’s Note: Georgia and I were finally able to get in to see “Son of God” tonight and it is no surprise at all to us that this movie is blowing box offices away. As we drove home from seeing it some of the words that came to our minds were “a masterpiece,” “real,” “best,” “amazing,” “deeply moving,” “biblical,” “tender,” and “authentic.”
“Son of God” is not a full account of the Gospels, but a powerfully selected zeroing in of certain moments in Christ ministry, including His death, resurrection and ascension. As magnificent as all of the rest of this film was, the end of the movie leaves a challenge for every Christian to share the Gospel with every living creature. It is absolutely the finest Christian movie ever made with acting that didn’t seem like acting and a storyline that is riveting from start to finish.
Critics, including Christian purists, will point out that The Gospel verses used in the film were used in different moments than the Bible shows them to have been used. Although this is true, the verses were well-placed and those familiar with the Bible will know they are spoken at wonderful moments that do fit well. They will also decry the fact that so many events in the Gospels are missing from the film – for example, the birth of Christ in the manger takes one minute, John the Baptist is shown for 10 seconds, the crowds healed by Jesus were missing completely and Jesus heals just one man. But if the whole gospel of Matthew Mark Luke and John was portrayed on film, the film would last at least 10 hours in length.
Critics will further challenge certain changes made in the film that are not biblical, for example the Magi coming to the stable rather than to a home where Jesus lived with his mother and stepfather as He approachedat the age of two. But directing and editing the film was obviously done painstakingly and artistic license is necessary in a few moments because even one minute more that is filmed can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. This film was a labor of love and love permeates the movie throughout.
Please see this film. I stress one more time that Hollywood is watching to see if a Christian film with this much detail from the Scriptures can at all be successful. Vote by buying a ticket and bring your friends both saved and unsaved. Perhaps in the fullness of time, “Son of God” has come to the world for such a time as this.– Ray
WORLD-FAMOUS KOREAN PASTOR RECEIVES VERDICT FOR TAX FRAUD
(South Korea)—News reports, this week, have been swirling around the indictment of South Korean Pastor David Yonggi Cho—Founder of the world’s largest church; Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul—on fraud and embezzlement of $12 million in church funds.
Cho (78) was sentenced to three years in prison-suspended, and five years probation, along with a fine of $5 million. He was also found guilty of tax evasion.
Cho’s oldest son, Cho Hee-Jun (49), was found guilty of the same charges, and according to the Charisma News report, because he was considered a flight risk, he was taken into custody immediately after his sentencing to serve a 3-year sentence.
The Charisma report noted that the court had “considered Cho’s life journey as a religious leader and his long-term contribution to social welfare as mitigating circumstances on his behalf. The court ruled that his son, Cho Hee-Jun, was the instigator of the crime related to the purchase of the shares of 1-Service stock.”
The presiding judge had reportedly stated, “The court considered that even though Pastor Cho had the final say in the church, he never took the lead in any of the crimes, including tax evasion, committed on the suggestion of the accounting firm.” Which is probably why his prison term was suspended for probation.
David Yonggi Cho told his congregation on February 23rd, “Through this suffering, I’ve learned a homework. An individual shouldn’t possess anything.”
(Editor’s Note: The following was written by my good friend Reverend Bob Rodgers, pastor of Evangel World Prayer Center in Louisville, Kentucky. – Ray)
David Yonggi Cho, pastor of Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul, South Korea, has been a personal friend of our family for more than 40 years. He has stayed in our home, and my father and I have served on his church growth board for a combined 38 years. Presently, I serve as president of Church Growth International of the Americas.
Because of the slant of some of the media reports, it is important certain details of the situation be made known. Not only was I present in Seoul during much of the trial, but there was also information disclosed during closed-door meetings which has not yet been made public. I want to share some of this as follows.
First, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Cho, 78, to a three-year prison term suspended for five years. He had been indicted for allegedly causing financial losses worth more than $12 million. He was also fined $5 million. He will not have to serve prison time, but he is on probation.
Second, Cho’s son, Cho Hee-Jun, 49, was indicted for the same charges. Because he was considered a flight risk, he was immediately taken into custody following a court order after being sentenced to three years in prison.
Cho has three sons. The second and third sons are very productive and work in church-related ministries. His eldest son has been the prodigal. He has been married four times and has been involved in sexual scandals with national personalities. In addition, he has served prison time for investment scams and embezzlement. His scandalized life has been an embarrassment to his family and the church.
Twelve years ago, this son purposely defrauded the church in excess of $12 million in a stock-related scheme. Cho testified that he trusted his elders and son and didn’t check and read the thousands of pages of paperwork, which was prepared for him to sign. Because Cho relied upon the direction of his choice elders and son, he signed the papers. He never received any monies from the transaction.
Third, the presiding judge said, “The court considered that even though Pastor Cho had the final say in the church, he never took the lead in any of the crimes, including tax evasion, committed on the suggestion of the accounting firm.”
The court also considered Cho’s life journey as a religious leader and his long-term contribution to social welfare as mitigating circumstances on his behalf. The court ruled that his son, Cho Hee-Jun, was the instigator of the crime related to the purchase of the shares of 1-Service stock.
Even though Cho established the world’s largest church, with more than 1 million members, he lives a simple life in a 1,000-square-foot church apartment. Neither does he own a car. Cho has raised and given personally to the church more than $170 million.
DID YOU EVER SIT THROUGH A SAT?
(CNN)– Standardized tests like the SAT have become “far too disconnected from the work of our high schools,” College Board President and CEO David Coleman said Wednesday — and he expects an updated SAT test to change that.
From an event in Austin, Texas, Coleman said a redesigned SAT debuting in spring 2016 would include three sections — reading and writing, math and an essay — and would shift from its current score scale of 2400 back to 1600, with a separate score for the essay. “We hope you breathe a sigh of relief that this exam will be focused, useful, open, clear, and aligned with the work you will do throughout high school,” Coleman said. “Admissions officers and counselors have said they find the data from admissions exams useful, but are concerned that these exams have become disconnected from the work of high school classrooms and surrounded by costly test preparation,” Coleman said.
For the first time, the College Board will partner with Khan Academy to provide free test preparation materials, starting in spring 2015. Coleman also announced that all income-eligible students will receive fee waivers to apply to four colleges for free. The redesigned test will take about three hours, with an additional 50 minutes for the essay, and will be administered by print and computer in 2016.
The updated test was expected to be released in 2015, but Coleman announced late last year it would be delayed until spring 2016. The last major changes to the SAT came in 2005 when the test added a written essay and altered some question formats.
The multiple choice SAT was first administered in 1926. In recent years, another exam, the ACT has gained popularity as several states adopted it as part of their standardized testing programs.
While the majority of four-year colleges require an SAT or ACT exam score for admission, hundreds of colleges have shifted to test-optional policies, that allow students to decide whether to submit a score.
Students’ grades and the academic rigor of their courses weighs more heavily in college admissions decision than standardized test scores, class rank or interest in attending a particular school, according to the National Association for College Admission Counseling’s 2013 “State of College Admission” report released in January. The report was based on surveys sent to public and private high schools, postsecondary institutions and data from the College Board, The U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Census Bureau.
BABIES IN WASHINGTON STATE DYING OF A RARE DISEASE
A rare birth defect is on the rise in Washington State, and the bizarre trend has health officials stumped. The odd development was brought to light in 2012 by Sara Barron, who was working a nurse at Prosser Medical Hospital in rural Washington at the time. That year, Barron encountered two cases of babies born with anencephaly – a neural tube birth defect that causes infants to be born without certain areas of the brain and skull. A devastating condition that affects only one or two babies out of every 10,000 pregnancies, anencephaly occurs when the upper part of the neural tube doesn’t close all the way during the first month of pregnancy. Almost all babies born with this condition die shortly after pregnancy.
“We had this first case, and it’s horrifying,” Barron, now a nursing instructor at Washington State University, told FoxNews.com. “And then less than a month later, we had another mother come in and have a baby with anencephaly… and it affected the whole hospital. But I thought, two in two months with a hospital that small – that’s a lot.”
Throughout her entire 30-year nursing career, Barron had only encountered this birth defect twice before. Then, when Barron heard of another case of anencephaly at a hospital 30 miles away, she decided it was time to inform the Washington State Department of Health (DOH). “As a member of the infection control group [at Prosser], we all meet once a month at the health department with lead epidemiologists in our area,” Barron said. “And I said, ‘This isn’t infectious per se, but I’ve become aware of three cases [of anencephaly] in two months. Has anyone else seen anything like this?’ And another person from another tiny hospital said, ‘Yeah, we just saw one.’ It was way too many in this small of an area.”
Barron’s report eventually sparked a state DOH investigation. After looking over hospital and medical records spanning a three-county area in the state, health officials found that the birth defect was indeed increasing in the region. According to the report, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there were a total of 23 anencephaly cases in the Washington state region between January 2010 and January 2013, equating to 8.4 cases per 10,000 live births. Comparatively, throughout the country there were an average of only 2.1 anencephaly cases per 10,000 live births during the same period.
While the exact cause of the Washington cases hasn’t been determined, Barron said she believes the pregnancies might have something to do with the agricultural industry – since most of the mothers affected have been from rural communities.
Health experts believe that many factors including genes, behaviors and the environment may contribute to incidences of anencephaly. According to the CDC, a low intake of folic acid in the first month of pregnancy can increase a woman’s risk of having a baby with neural tube defects – including anencephaly.
With so much mystery surrounding these anencephaly cases, Barron argued that health officials could utilize student researchers to conduct the investigation or interview mothers in the area. “I wish they could have done more…I know the state looked at drinking water and well water, and they said there was no difference between healthy deliveries and abnormal deliveries,” Barron said. “But because we didn’t do any interviews with the women, we don’t know for sure what water these women were drinking when they conceived. Even in medical records, we don’t necessarily know how early they started taking folic acid. We don’t know for sure what they were taking and when.”
ALZHEIMER’S ON STEEP RISE IN AMERICA
(CNN)– Alzheimer’s disease ravages the brain, robbing its victims not only of their memories but often their ability to do things as basic as swallowing.
Now, a study of aging patients suggests its true toll may top half a million lives a year — a figure that would put Alzheimer’s just below heart disease and cancer on the list of America’s top killers.
The incurable, degenerative brain disease was blamed for 83,000-plus U.S. fatalities in 2010, making it the sixth-leading cause of death that year.
But its true toll may be as much as six times that, said Bryan James, an epidemiologist at the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center in Chicago. “Death certificates are well known to underreport deaths from Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia,” said James, the lead author of the study published Wednesday. “The more immediate causes of death, such as pneumonia or heart attack, are usually listed, and the underlying causes of death are usually left off.”
The eight-year study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Neurology, followed more than 2,500 people over 65. Of those, nearly a quarter developed Alzheimer’s, and the disease was the cause of death in about 400 people, James said.
James and his colleagues — co-workers at Rush University in Chicago and at two California institutions, the University of California-San Francisco and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center there — then statistically extrapolated their results to arrive at their estimate of 503,000 Alzheimer’s deaths a year. By comparison, heart disease was blamed for nearly 600,000 deaths in 2010 and cancer about 575,000 – but the cancer numbers are going down while deaths from Alzheimer’s are going up. “I couldn’t say when, but in the next 20 years, it could catch up to cancer,” James said.
The study was funded by the National Institute on Aging and the Illinois Department of Public Health. Dallas Anderson, who oversees population studies of Alzheimer’s and dementia at the NIA, called the findings “eye-catching. People who I think are knowledgeable about the death registration system in the U.S. would not be surprised that the official number is low, but it is somewhat of a surprise to see that kind of a difference,” Anderson told CNN. “It’s just another reminder that Alzheimer’s is really an important public health problem, and we need to work on it,” Anderson said.
Keith Fargo, the science program director of the Alzheimer’s Association, said the new figures may help Americans realize that Alzheimer’s isn’t “just about forgetfulness,” but “a universally fatal brain disease. We think this is a solid paper that really puts the true impact of the disease into perspective,” he added.
The Alzheimer’s Association, which supports more research into causes and treatments, estimates that 5.2 million Americans had Alzheimer’s disease in 2013. Alzheimer’s deaths went up by 68% over the past decade as mortality from other major diseases declined, and the association expects the number of people over 65 with the disease to climb to 7.1 million
The Alzheimer’s Association estimates the disease costs more than $200 billion per year — and since the patients are mostly elderly, much of that is paid by the federal health programs Medicare and Medicaid. The promised increase in research funding is “a step in the right direction,” but not near enough, Fargo said. “Scientists have told us we need to invest $2 billion a year for 10 years if we are truly going to move the needle on Alzheimer’s disease,” he said.
OUR NATIONAL WINTER WEATHER A PROBLEM CHILD FOR SURE
(CNN)– Oh, weather, how moody you are!
The temperature ups and downs are downright extreme in parts of Texas. In less than 24 hours, Dallas went from a high of 81 degrees Fahrenheit at Love Field to a low of 17 degrees Monday morning. What’s responsible for the sudden drop? A cold mass from Canada brought frigid air moving southeast across Texas.
Across the Southern Plains, temperatures were 30 to 40 degrees below normal.
Brrrrrrr! Sorry, fans of springtime: Temperatures are expected to remain below normal this week. Several more pushes of cold, arctic air will invade the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, according to CNN As of now, it seems the snowstorms won’t be record-setting, but several weak systems will cause some travel headaches. People were feeling pretty fed up on Monday amid the third major storm of winter. Washington, Baltimore and Philadelphia all got hit by snow, and the Midwest and Great Plains were put into the freezer.
This is a transitional season, and the most difficult time of year for meteorologists to put out an accurate forecast. The number of flights canceled or delayed since December 1 has now topped 1 million, according to flight tracker masFlight. That’s up 25% from last winter.
MasFlight estimates that 7.8 million passengers have had a flight canceled since the start of December. The cost to them: Roughly $5.3 billion, due to lost productivity as well as extra meals and hotel stays. That’s not counting the broken hearts of those who missed weddings and funerals.
IN OTHER NEWS…….
Citigroup and its Mexican subsidiary have received grand jury subpoenas from federal prosecutors over issues of compliance with anti-money-laundering and bank secrecy laws. The disclosure in the bank’s annual securities filing comes after Citigroup said its Mexican unit Banamex had been defrauded of as much as $400 million.
Fans, players, coaches and executives for the Denver Broncos can breathe a sigh of relief, as Peyton Manning is officially cleared to play in the 2014 NFL season after passing his annual physical exam. The physical didn’t reveal any lingering effects of the neck injurythat kept him out of the entire 2011 season with the Indianapolis Colts
Georgia authorities have arrested 14 people they accuse of traveling with the intent to have sex with children, including Mount Carmel Elementary School Principal John McGill, a suburban school in Atlanta. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s sting targeted “persons who communicate with children on-line and then travel to meet them for the purpose of having sex,” a news release said. McGill was the principal at two other schools — one in the Douglas County system, the other out of state.
A senior aide and anti-porn adviser to Prime Minister David Cameron has been arrested and resigned after images potentially related to child pornography were found on computers at his workplace. According to a recent report in the Guardian. Downing Street is also facing inquiries about whether the government tipped off Cameron’s aide about the allegations against him before police showed up at his home.
The ailing teenager at the center of an interstate custody battle is going back under the care of Tufts Medical Center, where she was being treated until another Boston hospital made a different diagnosis and urged child protection officials to take her away from her family. She will now be restored to her family.
Police in Annapolis, Maryland, are looking for an assailant in an attempted armed robbery after a 24-year-old woman and her boyfriend were held at gunpoint and robbed, all while the woman was in labor.
Two Los Angeles gang members appear to have joined the flow of foreigners flocking to fight in Syria – in this instance, on the side of President Bashar al-Assad. In a video posted online, the two men boast that they are on the front lines and fire their guns in the direction of what they call “the enemigos.”
Retailer RadioShack Corporation reported a wider quarterly loss on Tuesday and said it will close up to 1,100 U.S. stores after a huge drop in sales over the holidays, sending its stock down nearly 24 percent. RadioShack peers Best Buy Co Inc and hhgegg also reported weaker-than-expected sales in what turned out to be the most heavily discounted holiday shopping season since the recession.
Last year, Cleveland Indians closer John Axford predicted 15 Oscar categories and got 14 winners correct, so close he took another crack at it this year, picking 18 categories, and at the end of the (incredibly long) ceremony, he had done it. Axford had pitched a perfect Oscar game – 18 for 18!The Disney Corporation will discontinue their part in funding the Boy Scouts of America because of their refusal to give leadership to gay adult leaders. In response, Deron Smith, a Boy Scouts spokesman said, “We believe every child deserves the opportunity to be a part of the Scouting experience and we are disappointed in this decision because it will impact our ability to serve kids.”
POPE FRANCIS WAFFLES ON GAY MARRIAGE
(CNN) - Pope Francis reaffirmed the Catholic Church’s opposition to gay marriage today, but suggested in a newspaper interview that it could support some types of civil unions. The Pope reiterated the church’s longstanding teaching that “marriage is between a man and a woman.” However, he said, “We have to look at different cases and evaluate them in their variety. For instance, civil unions provide financial security to cohabitating couples, “as for instance in medical care,” the Pope said in a wide-ranging interview published Wednesday in Corriere della Sera, an Italian daily.
A number of Catholic bishops have supported civil unions for same-sex couples, including Pope Francis when he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires in 2010.
This is the first time a Pope has “indicated even tentative acceptance of civil unions,” according to Catholic News Service.
In January, the Pope recalled a little girl in Buenos Aires who told her teacher that she was sad because “my mother’s girlfriend doesn’t like me.” “The situation in which we live now provides us with new challenges which sometimes are difficult for us to understand,” the Pope told leaders of religious orders. The Vatican denied that the comments signaled an opening toward same-sex unions.
Last June, refused to judge gay priests in comments that ricocheted around the world. He has also said that the church did not “interfere” in the spiritual lives of gays and lesbians.
Support of same-sex unions of any type is fiercely contested by many Catholic church leaders.
In Wednesday’s interview, Francis also addressed several other controversial issues, including the Catholic Church’s ban on contraception, the role of women and the devastating clergy sexual abuse scandal.
On contraception, the Pope praised Pope Paul VI for having the “courage” to “go against the majority” when restating the ban in 1968. But, Francis said, the church must also be “merciful” and “attentive to concrete situations.”
Contraception and the church’s ban on divorced Catholics receiving holy communion, will likely be addressed at major meetings of Catholic bishops in Rome this year and in 2015. “We must give a response. But to do so, we must reflect much in depth,” he said.
On the role of women in the church, an issue of particular concern to Catholics in the United States, the Pope hinted that changes could be in the works. “Women must be present in all of the places where decisions are taken,” Francis said in the newspaper interview, but the church must consider more than “functional” roles for women. To that end, Catholic leaders are engaged in “deep reflection” on women’s role in the church, he said.
On the sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy, a scandal that has rocked the church in the United States, the Pope said the abuse has left “very deep wounds” on victims. But, Francis said, the church has done more than other institutions to be open and transparent about sexual abuse by its employees. Yet the Church is the only one to be attacked.”
A United Nations panel sharply criticized Catholic leaders last month in a hard-hitting report on clergy sexual abuse. The report said the Vatican “has not acknowledged the extent of the crimes committed, has not taken the necessary measures to address individual cases of child sexual abuse and to protect children, and has adopted policies and practices which have led to the continuation of the abuse by and the impunity of the perpetrators.”
The Vatican said it would study the U.N. report.
On Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who has surprised church-watchers with public appearances recently after saying he would live a cloistered life in retirement, Francis said he considers his predecessor a “wise grandfather.” “The Pope Emeritus is not a statue in a museum,” Pope Francis said. Rather, the two men have decided that he participate in the church’s public life rather than live a shuttered life. “I thought about grandparents who with their wisdom, their advice, strengthen families and don’t deserve to end up in an old folks home,” Francis said.
Finally, he may sometimes wear a cape, but don’t call Pope Francis a Superman, the popular pontiff said. “To paint the Pope as a sort of Superman, a kind of star, seems offensive to me,” Francis tolD Corriere della Sera. “The Pope is a man who laughs, cries, sleeps soundly and has friends like everyone else. A normal person.”
Earlier this year, graffiti depicting a muscle-bound and flying Francis appeared on walls near Vatican City, but the Pope said Wednesday that he doesn’t like the “mythology” surrounding his papacy, which marks its first anniversary on March 13. For instance, Francis debunked the idea that he sneaks out of the Vatican at night to feed the homeless. “It never occurred to me,” he said.
(CNN’s Delia Gallagher assisted in translating Pope Francis’ remarks from the Italian.)
******************************
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Many a Christian expects the world to conform to the Bible they themselves never read.
******************************
CHRISTIAN NEWS FROM RAY – WEDNESDAY EVENING EDITION – March 5, 2014