Peter Schiff Testifies Before Congress

Part 1

Part 2

White House ignored red flags in loan to failed solar company

The Obama administration committed more than $500 million in taxpayer money to a maker of solar power panels despite repeated red flags about the company’s viability, NBC News’ Lisa Myers reported Wednesday.

The FBI raided the Silicon Valley headquarters of the company, Solyndra, last week, investigating whether the government was misled when it loaned the company $535 million in taxpayer funds. Solyndra officials say they are cooperating with the investigation.

Solyndra received the loan guarantees in 2009 as part of President Barack Obama’s promise to create millions of so-called "green" jobs. But last month, Solyndra declared bankruptcy, laying off all 1,100 workers.

“The evidence seems to be pretty clear to even the non-lawyer types that this smelled from the very get-go, that this was a really bad deal,” said Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

A committee panel, which has been looking into the company for months, will hold a hearing Wednesday on what went wrong with Solyndra. Two company executives are expected to appear before the panel next week, The Associated Press reported.

Read the rest here.

Moldovan Orthodox Church Rejects UN Official's Comments

CHISINAU -- Moldova's Orthodox Church has criticized a UN official for suggesting it has too much influence in the country, RFE/RL's Moldovan Service reports.

The Orthodox Church said comments by Heiner Bielefeldt, UN rapporteur for religious freedom, were "shameless and disrespectful." Bielefeldt visited Moldova earlier this month to gather information for a report he will publish next year.

At a press briefing in Chisinau last week he said the Moldovan government generally respects religious freedom but that the Orthodox Church is "excessively privileged" compared to others.

Bielefeldt pointed out that the top Orthodox priests in Moldova carry diplomatic passports and that the country's law on religious freedom singles out Orthodox Christianity as the country's most-important faith.

He also criticized the church for not distancing itself from a crowd of Orthodox believers that tore down a Jewish menorah in central Chisinau during the 2009 Christmas season.

Read the rest here.

The Vatican's offer to the SSPX

The Holy See is ready for a complete reconciliation with the Lefebvrian traditionalists, so that they accept the content of a brief “doctrinal Preamble”: this is what emerged from this morning’s meeting in the Vatican between Cardinal William Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and Monsignor Bernard Fellay, superior of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X, founded by Monsignor Lefebvre.

A tempting offer for traditionalists who would be welcomed back into the Catholic Church using the “personal Prelature” formula, in return for accepting what has been defined as the “fundamental basis” for a “future and much hoped for reconciliation.” The personal Prelature formula is a canonical structure which so far, only the Opus Dei has enjoyed, free as it is from any reference to specific territory and from the supervision of local bishops and Episcopal Conferences.

The “doctrinal Preamble” offered today to the Lefebvrians, as foreseen yesterday by the Vatican Insider, is a concise two to three page long text, which reaffirms the fundamental principles of the Catholic faith, needed to maintain the unity of the Church. The Vatican’s spokesman, Federico Lombardi, however, said that its content is supposed to be kept secret.

The Holy See’s newsroom published a communiqué explaining that the text “mentions a few doctrinal principles and criteria for the interpretation of the Catholic doctrine that are necessary in order to guarantee loyalty to the Church’s Teachings and to “feel cum Ecclesia”.” The note, however, left “the study and theological explanation of individual expressions or formulations in the documents of the Second Vatican Council and the subsequent Teachings, for a legitimate discussion.”

The “doctrinal Preamble” therefore, does not seem to contain an explicit request for “full recognition of the Council and the teaching of John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I, John Paul II, and Benedict XVI himself.” This was affirmed by the Secretary of State, in a communiqué published issued in December 2009.

The Vatican’s newsroom said that this morning’s meeting took place two years after the doctrinal talks which made it possible for “the two parties to clarify their respective motivations and relative motivations.” The Holy See’s dialogue with the Lefebvrians started again in 2009 thanks to Benedict XVI., who decided to annul the excommunications of the four traditionalist bishops. Amongst them, was Monsignor Richard Williamson who had denied the Holocaust during an interview. According to Father Lombardi, this morning’s talks were “courteous” and “lively.” The Lefebvrians’ response to the Vatican document will be given in about a month’s time.

The Holy See’s newsroom explained that the Vatican’s offer takes into account “the concerns and the motions presented” by the Lefebvrians “with regard to the safe-keeping of the Catholic Church’s integrity” in relation to what Benedict XVI defined as “the hermeneutics of the Second Vatican Council’s break with Tradition,” in a speech to the Roman Curia on 22 September 2005. His interpretation of the Council contradicted the thousand year old history of the Church.

Source

North Korean Army Faces Severe Food Shortages

As much as half of North Korea's army is starving as food shortages that were previously affecting only the civilian population worsen and begin to affect institutions tasked with protecting Kim Jong-Il's regime.

Disaffected North Koreans working secretly as journalists within the country for the Japan-based Asiapress International news agency have smuggled out video footage of interviews with soldiers in different parts of the isolated country, with many complaining of malnutrition.

Asked how many of the men in his unit are experiencing malnutrition, one young conscript said it is as high as 50 per cent in the spring.

"And it will get worse after a while," another soldier said. "After the potatoes are harvested, we only have seven small potatoes for one meal."

The soldier indicated that each potato is only the size of his thumb.

Read the rest here.

10 years after 9-11 St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church remains without a home

...Discussions began for the rebuilding of the church soon after the dust of the disaster had settled and the city had begun to heal. St. Nicholas was an important stakeholder in the dialogue -- legally, as a property owner in the immediate vicinity of the disaster area known as Ground Zero -- and symbolically, as the only house of worship destroyed in the terror attacks.

Almost immediately, the tiny church became a David amongst a field of Goliaths including the states of New York, Connecticut and New Jersey, their governors and local officials, several local New York agencies, hundreds of corporations, and of course (and most importantly) the victims' families.

As early as July 2002 -- less than a year after the attacks, the Port Authority issued a statement that affirmed it was looking at six different options for the reconstruction of the World Trade Center site. All six proposals that were set forth included "a rebuilt St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church," according to the official press release.

In July of 2008, the Port Authority and the representatives of the church ultimately agreed that the church's existing land would be swapped for a larger parcel less than a hundred yards away.

In exchange for the original church land, the Port Authority agreed to donate $20 million toward construction since the new St. Nicholas church would be built on a platform above a bomb screening center -- not an ideal location for a house of worship that would ultimately become a gathering place of people from throughout the world, as well as the new home to the original St. Nicholas congregation.

Then, abruptly in March of 2009, the Port Authority sent a curt email to the representatives of the church stating that negotiations would be "terminated," ultimately reneging on its previous agreements with the church officials that were well documented and publicly noted by officials.

Shortly thereafter the Port Authority illegally moved in on the Church's property, put up a fence and began excavating on it -- without even notifying the owners -- claiming that they needed to begin construction on the screening center underground.

Read the rest here.

Radical overhaul of military retirement eyed

WASHINGTON - The military retirement system has long been considered untouchable - along with Social Security and Medicare. But in these days of soaring deficits, it seems everything is a potential target for budget cutters. A Pentagon-sponsored study says military pensions are no longer untouchable - they're unaffordable.

CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports high-level, closely-held meetings are taking place at the Pentagon regarding a radical proposal to overhaul retirement for the nation's 1.4 million service members - a bedrock guarantee of military service.

The proposal comes from an influential panel of military advisors called the Defense Business Board. Their plan, laid out in a 24-page presentation "Modernizing the Military Retirement System," would eliminate the familiar system under which anyone who serves 20 years is eligible for retirement at half their salary. Instead, they'd get a 401k-style plan with government contributions.

They'd have to wait until normal retirement age. It would save $250 billion dollars over 20 years.

Douglas Holtz-Eakin, former director of the Congressional Budget Office says it's very important that the military attack its retirement issues. "We're talking about an underfunding that starts to look like hundreds of billions of dollars in the next 20 years. And if you want to maintain the core mission which is to defend the nation and have the strategic capabilities we need, we can't have all their money tied up in retirement programs."

Read the rest here.

Sources: Rome prepares document for SSPX

The Roman Catholic blogosphere is alive with reports that the Holy See is preparing to present the SSPX with a two page document that would outline the current state of the discussions between Rome and the Society and present options for moving forward.  The document is to be presented during a meeting on Sept 14th.  While it would be unwise to call the document an ultimatum, if the reports are accurate it would seem to be an indication that Rome wants to begin the process of bringing the Society back into full communion.  I for one am highly skeptical given the very hard nosed positions the SSPX has adopted.  But it will be interesting to see where this goes.

See related posts at Rorate here and here and another post at Fr. Z's blog here.

Euro Crisis: System May "Go Off The Rails"

International alarm over Europe's debt crisis reached new heights on Tuesday, with U.S. President Obama pressing the bloc's big countries to show leadership as talk of a Greek default escalated and markets heaped pressure on Italy.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel sought to quash talk of an imminent Greek default or exit from the euro zone, but confusion over whether she would issue a joint statement on Greece with French President Sarkozy sent markets gyrating up and then down.

Confidence in the 17-nation currency area was further dented when Italy was forced to pay the highest interest rates since joining the euro in 1999 to sell 5-year bonds.

"I think there is a possibility, if the wrong steps are taken, that the system goes off the rails," Sergio Marchionne, the CEO of Italian carmaker Fiat, told reporters in Frankfurt when asked if the euro's survival was at risk.

Read the rest here.

U.S. poverty rate reaches 15.1 percent

The nation’s poverty rate spiked to 15.1 percent in 2010, the highest level since 1993, the Census Bureau reported on Tuesday, providing vivid new evidence about the country’s inability to escape the lingering effects of the recession.

About 46.2 million Americans lived in poverty last year, marking an increase of 2.6 million over 2009 and the fourth consecutive annual increase in poverty.

Read the rest here.

Rick Perry goes on defensive in Republican presidential debate

TAMPA — Texas Gov. Rick Perry found himself on the defensive in a Republican presidential debate here Monday night, pilloried for suggesting that states should take over Social Security, attacked for trying to mandate vaccinations for young girls and roundly criticized for immigration policies he has supported in his state.

Some of the attacks came from former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who is Perry’s principal rival for the party’s nomination. But in contrast to a candidates debate in California last week, the criticism was just as strong and at times stronger from some of the other contenders.

Read the rest here.

Republicans hope for upset win in special election

NEW YORK — President Obama is not on the ballot in Tuesday’s surprisingly close congressional election here, but Republicans in Queens are doing everything they can to make the race a verdict on his performance.

This bastion of Democrats is tilting toward a 70-year-old Republican businessman who has never been elected to any office, and whose campaign is focused on “sending a message” to Obama — over the economy and his support for a Palestinian state and rolling back Israel’s borders to 1967 lines, a big issue for many Jews in the Ninth District.

Read the rest here.

Newly discovered planet may hold water

Astronomers on Monday announced the discovery of 50 new planets circling stars beyond the sun, including one “super-Earth” that is the right distance from its star to possibly have water.

“If we are really, really lucky, this planet could be a habitat” like Earth, said Lisa Kaltenegger of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany.

Read the rest here.

Russian Orthodox leader urges Vatican to resolve dispute and pave way for summit

(Reuters) - A senior leader of the Russian Orthodox Church on Monday called on the Vatican to do more to resolve outstanding disputes so that a meeting between Pope Benedict and the Russian Patriarch could take place.

In an exclusive interview with Reuters, Russian Orthodox Metropolitan (Archbishop) Hilarion, urged the Vatican to show "some signs" of readiness to resolve a decades-long conflict between Orthodox and Catholics in Ukraine that has been blocking a meeting of the two world religious leaders.

An unprecedented meeting between Benedict and Patriarch Kirill could begin to heal the 1,000-year-old rift between the Western and Eastern branches of Christianity, which split in the Great Schism of 1054.

Read the rest here.

I have said it before, here and elsewhere, but it bears repeating.  I may be Orthodox, but if the home team is wrong, it's wrong.  The Russian Church is skating on very thin moral ice when the subject is the forced unification of the Ukrainian Greek Rite Catholics in the late 1940's.  No reputable historian accepts the claim that it was voluntary and the transfer of church buildings and other property was little more than theft.  Let's grow up, admit the obvious and try to reach an amicable settlement.

My above opinion is utterly uninfluenced by the much discussed, but never materializing, Pope-Patriarch summit.  I could care less about that.  Bickering over real estate is not what divides Rome from the Orthodox Church, and any settlement will not end in restored communion.  Nor will any meeting between Benedict XVI and Patriarch Kyril.  We need to settle the dispute with the Ukrainian Catholics because they were the victim of a great injustice and right now the Russian Church is perpetuating that situation unnecessarily.  

In short we need to do this because it's the right thing to do irrespective of future relations with Rome.

Obama proposes raising taxes on the wealthy to pay for $447 billion jobs bill

President Obama would fund his $447 billion plan to create jobs largely by raising taxes on wealthier families, White House aides said Monday after the president again called on Congress to support the package.

During a Rose Garden appearance, Obama pledged to send Congress the American Jobs Act on Monday evening when the legislative body resumes its session. Aides revealed for the first time that the plan will include limits on itemized deductions for individuals who earn more than $200,000 a year and families that earn more than $250,000.

Eliminating those deductions will bring in an additional $400 billion in revenue, said Jack Lew, director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Read the rest here.

Greek economy may be running short on time

Time seems to be running out for the Greek economy.

A year and a half after European officials began scrambling to avert a default by Greece on its unsustainable pile of debt, their efforts appear to be falling short. The growing worries over Greece and Europe in general contributed to a stock market sell-off Friday, with the Dow Jones industrial average shedding more than 300 points .

Europe's stronger economic powers — mainly Germany and France — have insisted that Greece get its budget under control as a condition of providing financial assistance. But Greece has been unable or unwilling to meet the "austerity" targets it agreed to. Last week, officials from the International Monetary Fund, one of the agencies Greece is depending on, broke off talks, saying the government had failed to abide by its budget-cutting promises.

On Friday, Britain's Daily Telegraph reported that Germany and Holland also said, in effect, "Enough." The newspaper reported the two countries have threatened to block rescue payments unless Greece sticks to its budget promises.

The issue is a central sticking point at contentious discussions in France this weekend among finance ministers of the so-called Group of Seven, including the United States, Japan and major European economies.

"It is completely within the capacity of the stronger members of the euro area to absorb those costs," Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said at the meeting. "Those costs would be much, much greater for them and their economies if they sit here and do nothing and they recognize that."

Greek officials are in a tough bind. The Greek economy is stuck in a downward spiral with the economy shrinking at a annual rate of 7.3 percent, according to figures published Thursday. Yet the efforts to raise taxes and cut spending are making the Greek recession worse.

Read the rest here.

As I have been saying for more than two years now, Greece is broke.  Period.  They owe more money than they can repay.  The question is not whether Greece will default, but how the default will be managed.

Capital gains tax rates benefiting wealthy feed growing gap between rich and poor

The K Street office of Mark Bloomfield, president of the American Council for Capital Formation, is full of knickknacks collected in three decades of lobbying for cutting the capital gains tax.

The coffee table has campaign buttons that read “Capital Gains = Better Jobs.” One wall displays a blown-up cartoon retracing the steps that led President Jimmy Carter to reluctantly sign a cut in the capital gains tax rate. On a shelf sits a framed, handwritten note from President George W. Bush in December 2003 that says: “Dear Mark, I got your treatise on taxes — many thanks. I will look it over with keen interest. Merry Christmas.”

For the very richest Americans, low tax rates on capital gains are better than any Christmas gift. As a result of a pair of rate cuts, first under President Bill Clinton and then under Bush, most of the richest Americans pay lower overall tax rates than middle-class Americans do. And this is one reason the gap between the wealthy and the rest of the country is widening dramatically.

Read the rest here.

Asian Financial Markets Open Sharply Lower

TOKYO — Asian stock markets are sharply lower in early trading amid intensifying worries about Europe’s debt problems. Sentiment also soured after Wall Street sustained heavy losses before the weekend.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average fell 2.1 percent to 8,550.45, hitting six-month intraday lows.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index shed 3 percent to 19,264.68. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 lost almost 3 percent to 4,069.8.

Benchmarks in New Zealand and Singapore also retreated.

Read the rest here.

9-11's Self Inflicted Wounds

On Dec. 8, 1951, the day after the 10th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, the New York Times’ front page made a one-paragraph mention of commemorations the day before, when the paper’s page had not mentioned the anniversary. The Dec. 8 Washington Post’s front page noted no commemorations the previous day. On Dec. 7, the page had featured a familiar 10-year-old photograph of the burning battleships. It seems to have been published because a new process made possible printing it for the first time in color. At the bottom of the page, a six-paragraph story began: “Greater Washington today will mark the tenth anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack by testing its air raid defenses.” The story explained that “the sirens are part of a ‘paper bombing’ of Washington” that would include “mock attacks by atom bombs and high explosives.”

The most interesting question is not how America in 2011 is unlike America in 2001 but how it is unlike what it was in 1951. The intensity of today’s focus on the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11 testifies to more than the multiplication of media ravenous for content, and to more than today’s unhistorical and self-dramatizing tendency to think that eruptions of evil are violations of a natural entitlement to happiness. It also represents the search for refuge from a decade defined by unsatisfactory responses to Sept. 11.

Read the rest here.

LORD SAVE THY PEOPLE (CHESNOKOV)