Arizona prepares bill abolishing 14th Amendment

PHOENIX — Arizona lawmakers give their first hearing Monday to a bill that challenges automatic U.S. citizenship for children of illegal immigrants, the state's latest foray into the national debate over illegal immigration.

The bill to be heard Monday by the Senate judiciary committee seeks a court interpretation on an element of the 14th Amendment, which guarantees citizenship to people born in the U.S. who are "subject to the jurisdiction" of this country.

Supporters of the bill the amendment doesn't apply to the children of illegal immigrants because such families don't owe sole allegiance to the U.S.

The bill's sponsors say the goal is to force a court to rule that a child born in the U.S. is a citizen only if either parent is a U.S. citizen or a legal immigrant. Similar proposals have been introduced by lawmakers in Indiana , Mississippi, Texas, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

Read the rest here

Sorry. I am sympathetic with the basic complaint. But the Constitution is crystal clear.

14th Amendment: Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Pretending the Constitution means something different than its plain English meaning is what liberals do. It is a slippery slope. If you don't like part of the Constitution then amend it. This bill is so blatantly unconstitutional it should be laughed out of court and every legislator who votes for it should be fined for violating their oath of office and wasting the court's time.

Ecumenism IV: One-legged Afghan Red Cross worker set to be hanged after converting to Christianity

An Afghan physiotherapist will be executed within three days for converting to Christianity.

Said Musa, 45, has been held for eight months in a Kabul prison were he claims he has been tortured and sexually abused by inmates and guards.

Mr Musa, who lost his left leg in a landmine explosion in the 1990s, has worked for the Red Cross for 15 years and helps to treat fellow amputees.

He was arrested in May last year as he attempted to seek asylum at the German embassy following a crackdown on Christians within Afghanistan.

He claims he was visited by a judge who told him he would be hanged within days unless he converted back to Islam.

But he remains defiant and said he would be willing to die for his faith.

He told the Sunday Times: 'My body is theirs to do what they want with.

'Only God can decide if my spirit goes to hell.'

Defence lawyers have refused to represent him, while others have dropped the case after receiving death threats.

Mr Musa was arrested after a TV station showed western men baptising Afghans during secret ceremonies.

Source.

Ecumenism III: There are no sacraments outside the Church

...I believe the Church is the Body of Christ: one, visible and undivided. It is visible and undivided, not invisible and undivided, that’s a Protestant notion that saves anyone having to say hard things and hurt anyone else’s feelings; it is the result of a mechanistic, lowest common denominator Christianity that reduces belief to a handful of very weak statements and says everything else is optional. I don’t believe in the branch theory and I don’t believe in two lungs (again you need the ‘real’ church to be invisible for this) because if Christ was one physically visible, recognisable person then His Church must be the same. If not a single bone of His body was broken, not even in death, then it makes no sense to say that His body is broken now. As my spiritual father says: It is not true that we cannot know where the Church is not. ‘The Church’ is not beyond the boundaries of the Orthodox Church. What we cannot know is how an individual outside the church relates to it.

Read the rest here.

Caution: This is not an ecumenical warm and fuzzy post. But it is pretty much on target.

My own view: I remain agnostic on the subject of Roman Catholic sacraments, but Protestants are pretty much beyond any reasonable connection to the Church. Here in N. America (as opposed to the majority of the established Orthodox churches) there is quite a bit of vocal support for recognizing RC sacraments most of which seems to at least implicitly involve accepting Augustine's understanding of the dualistic nature of the Church which has never been accepted by the Orthodox. My problem is that this is very hard to square with the historic teaching of the Church especially given the self understanding of both the Roman Church and the Orthodox. Both claim unequivocally that they are The Church spoken of in the Creed. And they hold the fullness of the faith. Now given that Rome has dogmatized quite a few things that we Orthodox are not on-board with this creates some serious issues.

Either Rome is right, in which case we Orthodox are at least schismatics and arguably heretics, or Rome is wrong. In which case they have been adding to the Deposit of the Faith and are teaching heresy. You can put all the feel good lipstick you want on this pig, but there it is. If we accept Rome's (and Augustine's) understanding of the nature of the Church and the sacraments we have taken a very large step towards admitting Rome is right. That's all well and fine if you believe that. But it is a position that I believe gravely undermines the claims of the Orthodox Church. It is also inconsistent with the more or less unanimously held opinion of every Orthodox saint over the last five centuries or so who has bothered to comment on the subject.

And yes, in Orthodoxy that's a problem.

Ecumenism II: Orthodox Catholic Theological Consultation

See the post at Eironikon.

Not quite the waste of time that the Anglican Catholic dialogue is but until/unless Rome signals a willingness to backtrack on Vatican I or radically "develop" its understanding of the decrees that emanated from it, there is no hope for restoration of communion. There are a host of other serious issues that will need to be addressed (the Filioque needs to go) but Vatican I as it is written is a show stopper. I know of not one Orthodox bishop in the world who would accept those decrees.

My personal view is that we should stick to collaboration on issues we can agree on like charity and combating the rising tide of radical secularism and Islam.

Ecumenism I: Anglican Catholic "dialogue" resumes

VATICAN CITY, FEB. 3, 2011 (Zenit.org).- The Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) is opening a new phase of dialogue with a meeting scheduled for May 17-27.

A communiqué from the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity noted that this new phase of work was mandated by Benedict XVI and the Anglican archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, at their meeting in November 2009.

The first meeting of the new phase of the commission will take place at the Monastery of Bose in northern Italy.

The communiqué noted that "the task of this third phase of ARCIC will be to consider fundamental questions regarding the 'Church as Communion -- Local and Universal,' and 'How in Communion the Local and Universal Church Comes to Discern Right Ethical Teaching.'"

Read the rest here.

HT: The Young Fogey who nails it with his three sentence commentary... "What on earth for? Fallible church where everything’s up for a vote; infallible church they left. Each side knows all there is to know about the other. Corporate reunion can’t happen."

What a waste of time.

US backs Brazil in currency war with China

Timothy Geithner, the US Treasury Secretary, has voiced tacit support for Brazil in its "currency war" with China in a sign that the two giants of the Americas will work together to tackle the issue.

Speaking during his first official visit to South America's biggest country, Mr Geithner said "undervalued currencies" elsewhere meant Brazil has received a disproportionate share of global capital inflows.

Foreign investment has driven a 38pc appreciation of Brazil's real against the dollar in two years and a flood of cheap Chinese imports has damaged the country's manufacturing base.

But Mr Geithner said that when "countries with large surpluses" allow their currencies to "reflect fundamentals" the upward pressure on the real will fall, aiding Brazilian exports.

He did not name China but his comments come days after a Treasury Department report said the yuan remains "substantially undervalued" and that China had made "insufficient" progress in allowing it to rise.

"Investors around the world see Brazil growing at a faster pace and offering higher rates of return relative to other major economies," Mr Geithner said in a speech in Sao Paulo.

Read the rest here.

Britain: Cameron blames Labour for Lockerbie prisoner release

David Cameron today accused the Labour government of ''insufficient consideration'' over Libyan efforts to secure the release of convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi.

Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell has found that Labour did ''all it could'' to facilitate Libya in its appeal to the Scottish government to release Megrahi on compassionate grounds.

In a statement to MPs, Mr Cameron said: ''Insufficient consideration was given to the most basic question of all - was it really right for the British government to facilitate an appeal by the Libyans to the Scottish government in the case of an individual who was convicted of murdering 270 people, including 43 British citizens and 190 Americans and 19 other nationalities?

''That for me is the biggest lesson of this entire affair. For my part I repeat, I believe it was profoundly wrong.''

The Prime Minister said Sir Gus's review did not justify calls for a new inquiry but provided further evidence it was a ''flawed decision'' by the Scottish Executive.

Mr Cameron ordered Sir Gus to carry out a review of the papers following his visit to the United States last year.

Read the rest here.

Happy Birthday

Ronald Reagan born 100 years ago today
Memory Eternal!

A funeral and Ice

Yesterday I went to the funeral for my cousin Peg Dolan who reposed at 103 (memory eternal). It's the first time in a very long time I have been in a Catholic Church, and I have to say that the reason aside it was not a pleasant experience.

Our Lady of Good Counsel used to be a beautiful church (my grandparents were among the founding members). Alas, like so many others it has been recovated. They had some sort of new age design that is horribly modern and just weird. There was no fixed crucifix on or near the altar. Just a statue of Jesus suspended over a giant 'O' carved in a section of wall behind the altar with his arms outstretched.

In fairness there were two crucifixes that I saw in the building. One was located in an area segregated behind the altar area which was partitioned and it looked fairly normal. The other one was located by some candles in a stairwell. And that was just WRONG. Not the location. The crucifix. It had Jesus with His feet and left arm nailed to the cross and Him leaning forward with His right arm outstretched holding what looked like a bird in His hand. It seemed like He was trying the get down from the cross and to launch the bird. UGGG

There were of course the usual ugly felt banners including the ubiquitous "if you want peace work for justice" directly to the side of the altar. There was a female altar server and the two priests and deacon serving the funeral were dressed in very modern (which is to say plain) white vestments. With the exception of the consecration, the pall bearers and the Gospel reading (performed by the deacon) all of the various functions of the liturgy were performed by women.

Then there was the music. It was a guitar funeral. Almost the entire liturgy was done to the accompaniment of a guitar with a choir singing all of your favorite 1960's nails on the chalkboard folk hymns. On Wings of Eagles, Let There Be Peace on Earth etc...

The homily was the customary canonization of the recently departed. That said it wasn't bad. The deacon delivered the homily/eulogy and he seemed to know her pretty well. There were some nice and occasionally humorous anecdotes.

After the funeral we all repaired to the basement (that's when I saw the broken crucifix) where we had a very nice meal and I got to catch up with family members I don't see very often. Then it was time to go which brings me to part II of this post, the weather.

It was sprinkling on my way into town (I'm staying with mom out in the country) and by time I left the church it was raining steadily. Now in the northeast I can deal with snow but rain is a little scary especially when the temperature is hovering just above freezing. Between the rain and the melting snow we had water all over the place and predictably as the temperature started to drop everything turned to ice. A thin sheet of ice was already forming by time I got home and it just went down hill from there. I woke up to an icy winter wonderland. Even the newspaper was not delivered because of all the ice. A quick look at the road convinced me that God had decided I was not going to liturgy, so I enjoyed a nice breakfast for a change and have settled in for the day.

What's old is new

Some women are rediscovering that it is possible to dress in a manner that is both feminine and classy.

When Erin Ogg, 45, of New Orleans and her girlfriends sip cocktails at the Sazerac Bar in the city’s historic Roosevelt Hotel, they dress as if it’s the 1940s or ’50s; wearing dresses with cinched waists, or pencil skirts and blouses, accessorized with hats and gloves. “We get a lot of compliments,” said Ms. Ogg, a waitress and personal trainer. “It’s a feminine look with a lot more grace and style than a hoodie sweatshirt and Ugg boots.”

Some of what Ms. Ogg and her friends wear is vintage clothing. But more often these days, their outfits are reproductions of vintage fashions, created by a growing number of designers specializing in the retro look.

“I sell to women who say they go to the mall and can’t find anything that isn’t either flimsy and trendy or dowdy and frumpy,” said Theresa Campbell McKee, 55, owner of Blue Velvet Vintage, an online store that sells reproductions. “They want something classic and distinctive that makes them feel pretty.”

Read the rest here.

Lutherans trying to keep up with the Episcopalians

A production of the Ebenezer Lutheran (ELCA).

The Christian-Lutheran Feminist/Womanist/Mujerista Movements exist to celebrate the feminine persona of God/dess and dimensions of the sacred as expressed in faith, worship, learning, mutual care, and acts of justice.

From their website.

New York: Gov. Cuomo the fiscal conservative?

Looking for a tax-cutting, budget-slashing, fiscally conservative governor? How about Andrew Cuomo? Yes, that Andrew Cuomo.

With the possible exceptions of California and Illinois, no state is facing as big an economic mess as New York. Years of profligate spending and crushing taxes have left the state with a $10 billion budget shortfall. The conventional wisdom said that despite having the nation’s highest tax burden, and what Cuomo has called the “worst business climate in the country,” New York would have no choice but to hike taxes yet again. That is, after all, the path that Illinois just chose, raising its state income tax by 75 percent.

Cuomo rejected that approach, early, often, and loudly. He vowed to balance the state’s budget without borrowing and without raising taxes.

“The old way of solving the problem was continuing to raise taxes on people, and we just can’t do that anymore. The working families of New York cannot afford tax increases. The answer is going to have to be that we’re going to have to reduce government spending,” Cuomo declared.

In fact, Cuomo didn’t just rule out tax increases, he actually called for tax cuts. Already he has pushed through the state senate a bill establishing one of the nation’s strongest caps on property taxes. For New York businesses and homeowners, this is a long overdue move. Nationally, the median annual property tax is $1,917. In some New York counties, the average property-tax bill exceeds $9,000.

Cuomo’s proposal, modeled after nearby Massachusetts’s successful Proposition 2½, would limit property-tax increases to no more than 2 percent or 120 percent of the inflation rate, whichever is lower. Significantly, it does not include traditional loopholes for things like government employees’ health-insurance premiums or pensions. It would also eliminate the practice of localities’ voting separately to approve school budgets without regard to their impact on taxes. And most important, the bill would require a 60 percent supermajority for voters to override the cap, ensuring that taxes would only be raised for genuine emergencies or the most worthwhile projects.

Cuomo also has announced that he will allow the state’s “temporary” income-tax surcharge on the wealthy to expire as scheduled at the end of this year. That has outraged liberal groups, unions, and the New York Times, but Cuomo responds by warning that high taxes are a job-killer and would “just prolong the recessionary conditions in the state.”

Of course, tax-cutting is always easier than budget-cutting — as Congress has shown in recent years — but Cuomo also seems serious about controlling state spending. In fact, Cuomo sounds almost Reaganesque, declaring flatly, “The state spends too much money.”

Almost immediately, he imposed a freeze on salaries for state workers. While that move was more symbolism than substance, it was important symbolism. Public-employee unions have been some of the state’s most powerful special interests. Since 2007, while most Americans have been struggling, New York public employees have seen their wages and benefits go up by 13 percent. Beyond the symbolism, Cuomo’s freeze will save taxpayers $200 million this year. Cuomo is also set to cut the size of the state bureaucracy. His 2011 budget, released yesterday, calls for a reduction in the state work force of some 15,000 people, slightly more than 7 percent of the state’s 200,000 employees. And he cut his own office’s budget by 25 percent.

Overall, Cuomo’s budget represents the first proposed year-to-year drop in state spending since the mid 1990s. Everything is on the table, from prison construction to state aid to New York City.

Cuomo also appears ready to go after the sacred cows of state spending: education and health care. He has pledged to eliminate state budget rules that lock in annual increases to educational programs and Medicaid — a 13 percent hike this year. But beyond doing away with the automatic $8 billion hike built into the budget formulas, Cuomo plans real cuts as well. His budget would cut Medicaid spending by $3 billion.

He would also shave nearly $1 billion from state education spending. And Cuomo has made it clear that he was talking about actual cuts, not just the traditional game of decreases in the rate of increase.

The proposed cuts have engendered the usual howls of outrage that it will lead to fired teachers, overcrowded classrooms, and sick people dying in the street. In response, Cuomo notes that New York spends more per pupil on education and more per enrollee on Medicaid than nearly any other state, yet has little to show for the money.

Andrew Cuomo apparently understands that the secret to economic growth is a smaller, less expensive government. It’s an approach that some of his fellow Democrats in Washington — including the White House — could learn a lot from.

Source

Retired Science Teacher Seeks to Bar Evolution from Classrooms

A retired science teacher believes the teaching of evolution is "bad science" and has asked a federal court to declare it illegal to teach the subject in public schools.

Tom Ritter, a former physics and chemistry teacher of over 10 years, filed a lawsuit earlier this month against evolution in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, the same court that ruled that teaching of intelligent design in public schools is unconstitutional.

Ritter told The Christian Post this week that he didn't pay too much attention to biology before, but now in retirement he saw problems that he couldn't overlook any longer.

"It kind of got to be like picking a scab," he said.

In his one-page brief and one-page suit, Ritter argues that the Blue Mountain School District in Orwigsburg, Penn., is an illegal body because it teaches evolution.

A local resident, Ritter wants the district to stop collecting taxes from him until such teaching is halted. This is one scheme in his plan to get rid of public schools altogether, which he considers to be a waste of taxpayer dollars.

Read the rest here.

On a side note I want to thank Mr. Ritter for giving me an excuse to repost one of my all-time favorite blog pics.

SCOTUS to the 9th Circuit: Take a hint

The Supreme Court may be sending a message to one of the country's most liberal appeals courts, unanimously overturning five consecutive cases out of the 9th Circuit in less than a week.

As the nation's biggest circuit, representing most of the western United States, it should come as no surprise that the 9th Circuit has more cases heard before the Supreme Court than any other jurisdiction -- in turn resulting in more reversals. But the latest string of rulings is unusual even for the 9th, which often is at odds with conservatives on the Supreme Court. The fact that the rulings were unanimous can be seen as a signal from on high that the circuit needs to get in line.

"That's an indication this court is way out of the mainstream," said Kent Scheidegger, legal director for the California-based Criminal Justice Legal Foundation. "They're getting impatient with them. They just keep coming back with this stuff."

The Supreme Court, in its rulings, signaled that the circuit must hew more closely to precedent and, in some cases, give more weight to state court rulings. Scheidegger said the high court used some "severe" language to get that message across.

In a Jan. 19 reversal, Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote that the 9th Circuit committed a "clear error" by overturning the murder conviction in the case of a Sacramento man. The Supreme Court accused the circuit of having "failed to accord the required deference" to the state court's decision -- in other words, the 9th Circuit horned in on the state's business when it shouldn't have.

Read the rest here.

HT: Brian (who reads FOX News)

Roman Catholics in Vienna protest transfer of their parish church to the Serbian Orthodox

Members of the Roman Catholic parish of Neulerchenfeld in Vienna, whose church will be given as a present to the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC), are continuing to protest the decision of the Archdiocese of Vienna.

After collecting signatures against the decision, parish members - mostly of Polish descent - organized a protest in downtown Vienna late last year, and are now threatening disobedience to the Roman Catholic Church.

The Neulerchenfeld parish does not want to comply with the decision of Archbishop of Vienna Christoph Schonborn, and 800 of its members were very surprised when the gift was made official with a contract earlier this month.

The parishioners claim they were not informed about the signing of the contract between the Archdiocese of Vienna and the Serb Orthodox church of St. Sava.

In a statement to the media, they said they will continue to fight for their church, and might stop paying church taxes.

The Archdiocese of Vienna and the Serb Orthodox church in Vienna signed a deal at the start of the year that the Roman Catholic church in Neulerchenfeld will be given as a gift to SPC.

The church is set to replace the Temple of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, located in Vienna's 17th district, which was too small to hold all of the faithful. The church in Neulerchenfeld, also dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, was built between 1733 and 1753.

The church given as a present is much bigger that the current Serbian Orthodox church and can hold over 1,000 people.

Source

How The US Government Manipulates Inflation Data

If you always thought you were being lied to... guess what? You were right. An excellent piece explaining government manipulation of inflation figures.

A surprising number of people on Wall Street will tell you not to worry too much about inflation.

After all, they'll say, just look at the numbers. The inflation picture is incredibly benign. In the past 12 months the Consumer Price Index has risen just 1.5%—a remarkably low rate. And when you strip out volatile food and energy costs, they'll say, it's even lower—a meager 0.8%.

It doesn't stop there. Many economists will point out that wages are also rising by less than 2% a year. With so many people still out of work, goes the line, labor costs are going to stay low for a long time too. So what's the worry?

Clearly, a lot of investors agree. Inflation-protected government bonds, which people would buy to protect themselves if they were worried, have fallen in price in the past couple of months. Gold, another inflation hedge, is down. Ten-year Treasury bonds yield less—3.3%—than they did when President Eisenhower left office.

It's crazy. There is plenty to worry about. As you battle to manage your family's finances, be aware that there are three reasons why inflation needs to be on your radar screen.

• First, the official inflation numbers should be taken with a fistful of salt.

Over the past 30 years, the federal government has made a lot of changes to the way it calculates inflation. It's taken place under presidents of both parties. Each change in methodology has come with plausible-sounding justifications. But, as if by magic, each change has had the effect of flattering the numbers. Funny, that.

Read the rest here.

And yes, The Queen gets it.

More Money Printing May Be On The Way

Feb 1 (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve could debate extending its bond-buying program beyond June if U.S. economic data proves weaker than expected, Kansas City Fed President Thomas Hoenig said.

Another round of bond buying "may get discussed" if the numbers look "disappointing," Hoenig told Market News International in an interview published on Tuesday.

Hoenig, an inflation hawk who vocally opposed the Fed's commitment to purchase an additional $600 billion in government bonds, reiterated his call for the central bank to reverse course, according to Market News.

He called for the U.S. central bank to "normalize" policy by shrinking its balance sheet and raising interest rates.

Hoenig has argued the Fed should raise rates to 1 percent and potentially higher depending on the economy's performance.

The Fed has kept interest rates near zero percent since December 2008.

Source

Surprise! Churchill was really the villain in World War II

If you want to read some of the clap trap that passes for revisionist history these days take a look at this. If this were submitted to me as a paper I would have given it an F. Apparently Hitler's role in World War II is so trivial that his name is worth mentioning only in so far as Churchill at some point made some (probably grudging) compliments with respect to his perseverance.

The really unfortunate thing is that there are people who read this crap and actually take is seriously.

HT: The Young Fogey

Muni bonds taking a double hit

It has been rough sledding in the world of municipal bonds (also known as tax-exempt bonds) for several months. State and local government have been in the news for all the wrong reasons: bankruptcies (Vallejo, CA) and threats of bankruptcies, mushrooming budget deficits, burgeoning debt, sluggish tax revenue growth, falling property tax revenues and various contractual problems with unionized municipal and state workers.

A double whammy for muni bond investors

For investors in muni bonds, it has been a double whammy as fears of municipal deficits have added the specter of default to an already difficult environment of rising interest rates.

At every level, government is spending more, deficits are soaring and vast amounts of new debt are being issued...

...Since late August, when Mr. Bernanke foreshadowed the Fed’s second round of bond buying, the yield on 30-year Treasury bonds has increased to nearly 4.6%, a jump of 30%. Over the same period, Municipal Market Data’s AAA-rated 30-year muni benchmark has seen yields surge to 5%, an increase of 36%. That has spelled big losses for investors, since bond prices move in the opposite direction of yields. Long-dated bond prices are particularly sensitive to such moves because investors are locked into the paper for an extended period.

Rising Treasury yields are one response to the Fed’s money printing, which risks inflation and interest-rate increases down the line. Muni yields have risen somewhat faster because worsening state and local budgets also have raised the specter of muni credit risk.

But muni-market bulls focused on refuting Ms. Whitney’s argument about credit risk tend to underplay the big impact of a reflating economy, to say nothing of the end of the Build America Bonds federal subsidy. The bond program helped soak up heavy muni issuance by luring non-tax-exempt investors into the market, who have now left. These last two factors explain much of the increase in yields…

Read the rest here.

Category 5 Cyclone Yasi to land 300km/h punch on Queensland coast

CYCLONE Yasi is expected to be the most life-threatening storm in generations, the Bureau of Meteorology warns.

Yasi intensified to a category five overnight, the highest rating possible, and the bureau says it could pack winds upwards of 300km/h when it crosses the coast.

It's expected to make landfall between Cairns and Innisfail sometime late tonight.

Thousands of people have fled their homes in low-lying areas of Cairns and surrounds, Townsville and the Cassowary Coast ahead of what's expected to be a major storm surge.

Premier Anna Bligh said Yasi was now expected to cross the coast earlier than expected, about 10pm (AEST).

That development is a big blow for authorities, as it will come in on the high tide, exacerbating the extremely dangerous storm surge it will cause. On a moderate tide, it was expected to be up to two metres in Cairns.

"This impact is likely to be more life-threatening than any experienced during recent generations," the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said this morning.

Read the rest here.