Britain's £200bn time bomb of debt interest

A little bit of inflation is a good thing, right? Well, that's one way of looking at it, and if you were being charitable, it might even provide a decent explanation of why the Bank of England appears to have given up on the inflation target.

One of the effects of relatively high inflation is to ease the burden of debt by reducing its real value. For a highly indebted nation such as Britain, inflation therefore seems to make sense as an economic strategy.

With no control over their own monetary policy, the Portuguese and other fiscally-challenged eurozone nations don't have that luxury. Without inflation to do the work for them, the austerity required to get public debt under control becomes that much greater, which is one of the reasons why Portugal will soon be following Greece and Ireland into seeking a bail-out. Britain, by contrast, gets a relatively pain-free way out of the mire.

That's the conventional wisdom, anyway, but it is also largely rubbish. Wednesday's analysis of the public finances by the Office for Budget Responsibility provides further evidence of why elevated inflation can never be economically benign.

Three powerfully negative effects are identified by the OBR. As a result of higher than expected inflation, living standards will fall for longer than previously anticipated, public borrowing will end up higher, and real terms cuts in public spending will have to be deeper.

Read the rest here.

Governor’s Change of Heart Is Influenced by Faith

Early on the morning of Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent’s season of penitence, Gov. Pat Quinn of Illinois went through some final, solitary rumination. For much of his political career, he had supported capital punishment, albeit with reservations, even debating it at the dinner table with his mother. Now a legislative bill abolishing it was waiting for his signature, or his veto.

In the preceding weeks, he had heard arguments on the subject from prosecutors who spoke of the death penalty’s deterrent effect and from the grieving relatives of murder victims who saw in it fierce justice. He had reacquainted himself with about 20 capital cases overturned by DNA evidence or tainted by judicial error.

But on that decisive morning of March 9, he laid aside the secular factors and opened his Bible to a passage in II Corinthians about human imperfection. He prayed. And when he signed the bill striking down the death penalty, he cited one influence by name: Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago.

The cardinal has been dead for nearly 15 years. To the last days of his life, he advocated what he termed a “seamless garment” or “consistent ethic of life,” which charged Roman Catholics with the task of ending abortion, poverty, nuclear war, euthanasia and capital punishment. For of all his eloquence, however, he had never built the constituency to transform theological precepts into public policy.

With the stroke of the governor’s pen, the cardinal has been posthumously vindicated on at least one piece of that seamless garment. In doing so, Mr. Quinn also ratified the cardinal’s belief that religious thought has a place in the formulation of law, a premise the governor’s fellow liberals generally disdain.

Read the rest here.

G.E.’s Strategies Let It Avoid Taxes Altogether

General Electric, the nation’s largest corporation, had a very good year in 2010.

The company reported worldwide profits of $14.2 billion, and said $5.1 billion of the total came from its operations in the United States.

Its American tax bill? None. In fact, G.E. claimed a tax benefit of $3.2 billion.

That may be hard to fathom for the millions of American business owners and households now preparing their own returns, but low taxes are nothing new for G.E. The company has been cutting the percentage of its American profits paid to the Internal Revenue Service for years, resulting in a far lower rate than at most multinational companies.

Its extraordinary success is based on an aggressive strategy that mixes fierce lobbying for tax breaks and innovative accounting that enables it to concentrate its profits offshore. G.E.’s giant tax department, led by a bow-tied former Treasury official named John Samuels, is often referred to as the world’s best tax law firm. Indeed, the company’s slogan “Imagination at Work” fits this department well. The team includes former officials not just from the Treasury, but also from the I.R.S. and virtually all the tax-writing committees in Congress.

Read the rest here.

This is morally repulsive. The tax code is an abomination. It needs to be abolished and we need to start over with a very simple premise. If money changes hands from person or entity A to person or entity B, it is subject to taxation. We need to get rid of 99% of all the deductions. Charity, college tuition and one (1) household mortgage if the owners actually live there, that's it. No, I do not support medical deductions because very reluctantly I have come to the conclusion that we need some form of universal health insurance.

Our Lady of Kazan and American Pluralism

The icon of Our Lady of Kazan (also known as the Black Virgin of Kazan) is one of the most famous in Russian Orthodoxy. One of the Virgin’s two feast days coincides with the Day of National Unity. This is appropriate. Kazan occupies an important place in Russian history. Its conquest and destruction in 1552 eliminated the last stronghold of Mongol power in what since then has been southern Russia. The Mongols of that region, descended from the mighty Golden Horde, had long before converted to Islam. Thus the conquest of Kazan (which was followed by a massacre of its civilian population) is also a highly symbolic marker of the conflict between Orthodox Christianity and Islam, which still reverberates today along the southern perimeter of the former Soviet Union. The association of the Virgin with national unity is symbolic as well. It evokes the so-called sinfonia—the close unity of church and state—which characterized Russia from the beginning of its national history to the Bolshevik revolution. It would be an exaggeration to say that the Putin regime has once again established Orthodoxy as the state religion, but it has come close to doing so. Thus Our Lady of Kazan again bestows legitimacy on the Russian state, including its foreign policy, which has been supported by the Patriarchate of Moscow. The state in turn has supported the policy of the Patriarchate to re-assert its authority over previously independent Russian Orthodox churches abroad. The long shadow of the Black Virgin has extended to America.

According to the Atlas of Global Christianity (a very useful source, edited by Todd Johnson and Kenneth Ross, and published in 2009), there are 6,200,000 Orthodox Christians in the United States. This figure has been challenged. If it holds, the number of Orthodox is more than Episcopalians, still regarded in the media and public awareness as an important denomination, and roughly comparable to the number of Jews, whose cultural influence has been enormously larger. (Can one imagine speaking of the role of Orthodox Christians in Hollywood? Or in American humor?) Despite its place in the religious demography of America, Orthodoxy is still widely perceived as marginal and exotic. I don’t know just when Orthodox priests, with their black robes and elongated black hats, first appeared with Protestant, Catholic and Jewish clergy at important national ceremonies such as presidential inaugurations. But it would be a mistake to deduce from this some great political or cultural influence.

The explanation of this paradox is simple. It is what one may call the ethnic captivity of Orthodox Christianity in America.

Read the rest here.

Many Years

To bishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the newly elected primate of the Ukrainian Greek Rite Catholic Church (UGCC). Read the story at Byzantine Texas.

Thousands of Christians Displaced in Ethiopia After Muslim Extremists Torch Churches, Homes

Thousands of Christians have been forced to flee their homes in Western Ethiopia after Muslim extremists set fire to roughly 50 churches and dozens of Christian homes.

At least one Christian has been killed, many more have been injured and anywhere from 3,000 to 10,000 have been displaced in the attacks that began March 2 after a Christian in the community of Asendabo was accused of desecrating the Koran.

The violence escalated to the point that federal police forces sent to the area two weeks ago were initially overwhelmed by the mobs. Government spokesman Shimelis Kemal told Voice of America police reinforcements had since restored order and 130 suspects had been arrested and charged with instigating religious hatred and violence.

Read the rest here.

A tongue in cheek take on the OCA's current problems

Funny, but serious.
HT: Dave Brown

The Austerity Delusion

I rarely agree with Paul Krugman about anything, but in the interest of offering an alternative point of view to what I usually post, here is his latest op-ed. For those not aware of his background; Dr. Krugman is a professor of economics at Princeton University, a winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics and an outspoken liberal and champion of Keynesian Economics.

Portugal’s government has just fallen in a dispute over austerity proposals. Irish bond yields have topped 10 percent for the first time. And the British government has just marked its economic forecast down and its deficit forecast up.

What do these events have in common? They’re all evidence that slashing spending in the face of high unemployment is a mistake. Austerity advocates predicted that spending cuts would bring quick dividends in the form of rising confidence, and that there would be few, if any, adverse effects on growth and jobs; but they were wrong.

It’s too bad, then, that these days you’re not considered serious in Washington unless you profess allegiance to the same doctrine that’s failing so dismally in Europe.

It was not always thus. Two years ago, faced with soaring unemployment and large budget deficits — both the consequences of a severe financial crisis — most advanced-country leaders seemingly understood that the problems had to be tackled in sequence, with an immediate focus on creating jobs combined with a long-run strategy of deficit reduction.

Why not slash deficits immediately? Because tax increases and cuts in government spending would depress economies further, worsening unemployment. And cutting spending in a deeply depressed economy is largely self-defeating even in purely fiscal terms: any savings achieved at the front end are partly offset by lower revenue, as the economy shrinks.

Read the rest here.

NATO Reaches Deal to Take Command in Libya Effort

TRIPOLI, Libya — NATO reached agreement Thursday to take over full command of the military campaign in Libya as allied warplanes delivered a ferocious round of airstrikes on Libyan ground forces, tanks and artillery that seems to have begun to shift momentum from the forces loyal to Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi to the rebels opposing him.

The deal within NATO was reached after a four-way telephone call between Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and the foreign ministers of Turkey, France and Britain, which apparently allayed Turkish concerns that the allies were exceeding their authority in their sustained attacks on Colonel Qaddafi’s froces.

Earlier on Thursday a French Rafale fighter jet fired on a Libyan warplane that had been detected by reconaissance aircraft flying above the embattled city of Misurata, the French Defense Ministry said in a statement. The plane was hit by a missile shortly after landing at a nearby military airbase, the Defense Ministry said.

In Misurata, rebels say they are feeling reinvigorated by a second night of American and European air strikes against the Qaddafi forces that have besieged them. The rebels say they continue to battle a handful of Qaddafi gunmen in the city but that the armored units and artillery surrounding the city appeared to have pulled back, their supply and communication lines cut off by the air strikes.

Read the rest here.

In California City, Layoffs for Nearly Half the Staff

COSTA MESA, Calif. —To solve a looming pension crisis and budget gap, city officials said, they needed to take drastic action. Now everyone agrees on one thing: they did.

Nearly half of this city’s workers were told late last week that, come September, they would probably be out of a job. Nearly every city department will be eliminated. More than a dozen tasks will be outsourced, including graffiti removal, firefighting, building maintenance and street cleaning.

Unlike the drama that played out over several months in Madison, Wis., the battle over public workers in this bustling suburb of upscale shopping malls in the heart of Orange County is happening at lightning speed.

The letters went out last week to more than 200 of the city’s roughly 450 workers, sending many into a panic as they scurried to look for new jobs. The move will, in one great swoop, reinvent municipal government here, and perhaps lead the way for other cities to adopt similar plans.

Emotions in Costa Mesa, already running high, grew more intense after one city worker, summoned to receive his pink slip, instead climbed five stories to the roof of City Hall and jumped to his death. A small side entrance to the building is now decorated with supermarket bouquets and tall, white candles, a memorial to the 29-year-old man, who had worked for the city’s maintenance department for four years.

The layoffs have deeply divided this small city, just over the coast from affluent Newport Beach. While Costa Mesa has long been a politically conservative enclave, much like the other wealthy suburbs that surround it, the move to privatize so many city services strikes many residents as a harsh political tactic, meant to remake the city into a national model in the battle over public employee unions.

Read the rest here.

“Hard Choices” for Policymakers as Europe’s Debt Crisis Flares Up … Again

It takes a lot these days to muscle the Mid-East or Japan off the front page, but Europe has done it with the latest chapter of its never-ending debt crisis story.

As European finance ministers began a meeting in Brussels Thursday, the focus was on Portugal, where Prime Minister Jose Socrates resigned after parliament rejected his austerity package. The political turmoil raises the prospect Portugal will need to tap the EU-IMF bailout fund, following the lead of Ireland and Greece. In response, yields on Portuguese debt widened to record levels vs. comparable German bonds.

The good news is most observers believe the EU bailout package, currently at $710 billion, will be sufficient to cover Portugal's needs, which analysts estimate may approach $100 billion, Bloomberg reports. The bad news is there's widespread concern the EU doesn't have enough money (or political will) to bail out Spain, whose debt yields also widened early Thursday after Moody's downgraded 30 of its regional banks. (See: Europe Catches Up to the Can: Spain's Downgrade Puts Crisis Back in Focus)

"It seems increasingly plausible that hard choices will need to be made at some point over the rating horizon, balancing the sovereign's incentive to support the banks with the need to protect its own balance sheet," Moody's said in explaining the downgrades. "It is, in Moody's view, increasingly likely that the sovereign will not be prepared to write all banks a blank check."

Read the rest here.

Warren Buffett: Euro's Collapse Is Not Unthinkable

Warren Buffett told CNBC Thursday that the collapse of the euro zone's single currency is far from "unthinkable."

"I know some people think it's unthinkable...I don't think it's unthinkable," Buffett said in an interview.

Still, Buffett said he believes there will be "huge efforts" put forth to preserve the euro. In the meantime, struggling peripheral countries like Portugal must find a way to resolve fiscal crises.

"You can't have three or four or five countries that are in effect free-riding on the other countries. That won't work over time-they have to get their fiscal houses in reasonable harmony," he said.

The widely-watched investor spoke as yields on Portuguese bonds soared to new highs and markets remained alert for a potential European Union bailout of the troubled nation. Late Wednesday, Portugal's prime minister stepped down after the country's parliament rejected a fiscal austerity plan proposed by his government.

Buffett's comments didn't affect the euro. In fact, the European currency extended its gains against the dollar after data showed an unexpected decline in orders for U.S. durable goods, casting some doubt on the strength of the American economy.

For now, Buffett said Europe's fiscal woes won't have a huge impact on the businesses under his holding company Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: brk'a), noting that "currencies have been fragile things for centuries."

"It isn't the end of the world, but alot of adjustment would be needed if the euro proved to be in real trouble," he said.

Source

About that liberal revolution in Egypt...

Members of the Muslim Brotherhood beat a Coptic Christian

Source

Annulment Nation

The United States, with 6 percent of the world’s Catholics, accounts for 60 percent of the Church’s annulments.

Apart from the papacy, few doctrines divide the Catholic Church from non-Catholic ecclesial communities as does the doctrine of the indissolubility of a consummated Christian marriage. Eastern Orthodox Christians are permitted three marriages; King Henry VIII’s desire to remarry helped lead to the formation of the Anglican Communion. Martin Luther permitted divorce in the cases of adultery, desertion, failure to fulfill conjugal duties, and “where husband and wife cannot get along together.”

The Catholic Church holds that the teaching of Jesus Christ is clear: husband and wife “are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.… Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery” (Mark 10:8-12).

Thus, in 1563, the Council of Trent decreed that

if anyone shall say that the Church has erred in having taught, and in teaching that, according to the teaching of the Gospel and the Apostles, the bond of matrimony cannot be dissolved, and that neither party—not even the innocent, who has given no cause by adultery—can contract another marriage while the other lives, and that he, or she, commits adultery who puts away an adulterous wife, or husband, and marries another; let him be anathema.

In our own time, Pope John Paul II taught that “it is a fundamental duty of the Church to reaffirm strongly…the doctrine of the indissolubility of marriage” (Familiaris Consortio, 1981). He affirmed the discipline of “not admitting to Eucharistic Communion divorced persons who have remarried,” adding that

reconciliation in the sacrament of penance, which would open the way to the Eucharist, can only be granted to those who, repenting of having broken the sign of the covenant and of fidelity to Christ, are sincerely ready to undertake a way of life that is no longer in contradiction to the indissolubility of marriage. This means, in practice, that when, for serious reasons, such as for example the children’s upbringing, a man and a woman cannot satisfy the obligation to separate, they take on themselves the duty to live in complete continence, that is, by abstinence from the acts proper to married couples.

Read the rest here.

New-home sales plunged in February to record low

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sales of new homes plunged in February to the slowest pace on records dating back nearly half a century, a dismal sign for an already-weak housing market.

New-home sales fell 16.9 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 250,000 homes, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. It's the third straight monthly decline and far below the 700,000-a-year pace that economists view as healthy.

New-home sales now account for just 5 percent of total home sales so far this year. They typically represent closer to 15 percent in healthier housing markets. There were just 186,000 new homes available for sale in February, the lowest inventory in more than four decades.

The median price of a new home dropped nearly 14 percent to $202,100, the lowest since December 2003. The median is now 30 percent higher than the median price of resold homes -- twice the typical markup.

In response, homebuilders are cutting their selling prices and building more inexpensive homes, pushing down sales prices. They are struggling to compete with a wave of foreclosures, which has lowered the price of previously occupied homes. High unemployment, tight credit and uncertainty over prices have also kept many potential buyers from making purchases.

Read the rest here.

Germany Withdraws From NATO Naval Patrols

BERLIN — Germany, already at odds with its European allies and Washington over its decision not to support a United Nations no-fly zone over Libya, said on Wednesday it was withdrawing four vessels from NATO operations in the Mediterranean because it did not want to be dragged into a military role in the region, Defense Minister Thomas de Maizière, said on Wednesday.

The decision means that Germany will withdraw two frigates and two support vessels with a total of 550 sailors from NATO’s command and place them under its own orders. It was made after the NATO secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, announced that the alliance would monitor sea traffic in the region and intercept vessels suspected of carrying illegal arms or mercenaries to Libya.

“All allies are committed to meet their responsibilities under the United Nations resolution to stop the intolerable violence against Libyan civilians,” Mr. Rasmussen said.

But the German Defense Ministry said that because the mission included an arms embargo that permitted force if necessary, Germany decided it would not participate.

Read the rest here.

With Silence, Bonds’s Trainer Risks More Than Jail Time

SAN FRANCISCO — Greg Anderson, the childhood friend and former trainer of Barry Bonds, went to jail Tuesday for refusing to testify in Bonds’s perjury trial. For Anderson, it is nothing new.

The federal judge presiding over the case ordered him into custody for the fourth time in the past five years for contempt of court. He will remain there for the duration of the trial, which could last as long as four weeks.

If Anderson changes his mind, Judge Susan Illston of United States District Court said that he would be freed. But if he does not, some legal experts say Anderson is headed for even bigger trouble based on his repeated reluctance to take the stand.

They say Anderson — who spent three months in prison in 2005 for conspiracy to distribute steroids and for money laundering in connection to the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative steroids case — may face his most serious charge yet: obstruction of justice. That charge carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years.

“I have absolute confidence that Greg Anderson will be charged with obstruction of justice when the Bonds trial is over,” said Rory Little, a former federal prosecutor who is a professor at University of California Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco. “It’s very uncommon to have someone who is willing to go to jail for months for no direct promise of payback from the defendant. And the government doesn’t take intentional obstruction of justice lightly.”

Read the rest here.

Important: Russian Church and N. American Episcopal Assembly Tackle Baptism vs Chrismation Debate

Via Byzantine Texas

On 21 March 2011, the Inter-Council Presence’s Commission on Attitude to Non-Orthodoxy and Other Religions met at the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations. The session was chaired by Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk.

The participants discussed the results of the work done by the Commission during its first year and a draft document on the Accession of non-Orthodox Christians to the Orthodox Church. The Commission decided to form a working group and invite experts to study various aspects of the practice of accession to the Orthodox Church through the Sacrament of Chrismation and its history. The Commission set up a working group for study and classification of sects. Other working groups will consider the question of the accession rite for the Pentecostals, Baptists, Adventists, Anglicans, the Reformed, Lutherans, and Old Catholics. (A similar discussion is going on in the American Episcopal Assembly not only with the intake of converts but of the process for clergy as well (e.g. Is vesting sufficient?)

Draft documents on the practice of accession to the Orthodox Church will be submitted to the Commission’s next session in June 2011.

Source.

I think this is excellent news. It is time that the Orthodox Church make some effort at establishing some sort of guidelines for the reception of converts that are uniform at least in N. America. The Russian Church also has some division since ROCOR repudiated the guidelines in the Great Book of Needs in the early 1970's and adopted a more rigourist approach to the reception of converts. The Moscow Patriarchate (and the OCA) still follow the guidelines contained in the Book of Needs (last updated during the reign of Czar Alexander III). Those guidelines generally provide for reception by Chrismation and Confession for non-Orthodox Christians coming from Confessional and Trinitarian denominations, including most of the so called Mainline Protestants as well as Roman Catholics provided they received a Trinitarian Baptism that at least approximates the intent of the Orthodox Church from their previous spiritual home.

On the other side, ROCOR, the Serbian Church, the Jerusalem Patriarchate, the monks of Mt. Athos and unofficially many parish clergy in Greece and the Balkans are generally more conservative and require converts to be Baptized in all but unusual circumstances. Many of these jurisdictions have accepted the controversial decree of the Synod of Constantinople (1755) declaring all Western sacraments, including baptisms, to be void of any grace and mandating that they be baptized into the Church when converting.

In addition many Orthodox (including me), while not on board with the 1755 synod, have become increasingly concerned by the doctrinal self destruction now rampant within the Mainline Protestant churches. It has reached the point where it is debatable whether some of these groups are in fact confessionally Christian churches at all. One need only look at what is going on in the Episcopal Organization for an example. The simple truth is that we just don't know what any Episcopal "priest(ess)" is doing, or thinks they are doing when they baptize someone anymore. It is not possible with a striaght face to call the the Episcopal Organization confessionally anything. It has become the church of "What's Happening Now."

During the reign of Alexander III of blessed memory, whatever problems the mainline Protestants had, we knew they were Christian and that they had a sacramental understanding of Baptism. I respectfully submit that in far too many cases this is no longer true. Times and circumstances change. When this happens the Church should reevaluate the relevant aspects of church discipline.

This is a good and overdue topic of discussion.

Court to Hear Case Stalled by Mistake in Mailroom

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear an appeal from a death row inmate who faces execution after a mailroom mix-up at one of the nation’s most prominent law firms.

Lawyers at the firm, Sullivan & Cromwell, had agreed to represent Cory R. Maples, a death row inmate in Alabama, without charge. When an Alabama court sent two copies of a ruling in Mr. Maples’s case to the firm in New York, its mailroom sent them back unopened and stamped “Return to Sender.”

Two associates handling Mr. Maples’s case had indeed left the firm, but it appears that no one told the court or the mailroom that new lawyers there had taken over. A court clerk in Alabama put the returned envelopes into the court file and did nothing more.

An Alabama lawyer, John G. Butler Jr., also represented Mr. Maples and also received a copy of the ruling. Mr. Butler said in a sworn statement that he was Mr. Maples’s lawyer in name only, serving as local counsel for the New York lawyers handling the case. He said he had not passed the ruling along to them or to Mr. Maples.

A deadline for filing an appeal from the ruling came and went, and so far the courts have rejected Mr. Maples’s request for an extension given the circumstances. “How can a circuit court clerk in Decatur, Ala., know what is going on in a law firm in New York, N.Y.?” Judge Glenn E. Thompson of the Circuit Court in Morgan County, Ala., later wrote.

Mr. Maples’s new lawyers, led by Gregory G. Garre, a former United States solicitor general, had asked the Supreme Court to consider two legal questions in the case, one technical, the other more fundamental. The court agreed to answer only the broader one: Whether missing a filing deadline may be excused when the inmate was blameless, the government’s actions were a contributing factor and the inmate’s lawyers had effectively stopped representing him?

Read the rest here.

Russian Church urges Catholics to organize missionary "attack" on Europe

Moscow, March 21, Interfax - The Moscow Patriarchate urged the Catholic Church to strategic alliance.

"Orthodox and Catholic need to take each other not as competitors but as allies in protecting rights of Christians. We have shared field of missionary work - modern Europe that has lost its religious, moral and cultural roots," head of the Synodal Department for External Church Relations Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk said speaking at the 4th International Congress in Wurzburg (Germany).

He believes that "future of Christianity in the third millennium depends" on joint efforts of Orthodox and Catholics.

The Metropolitan noted that good will of the both sides helped reach "real positive results in normalization of Orthodox-Catholic relations in recent years."

"Especially significant changes in this direction have happened after election of Pope Benedict XVI of Rome in 2005 as he knows the Orthodox Church very well. Today, for example, we don't see aggressive proselyte activity of Catholics in our territory that took place in early 90s," Metropolitan Hilarion said.

"Orthodox and Catholics face the same challenges cast by modern epoch to the traditional life style. Here it's not the matter of theological issues, but present and future of human community is in question. It's the sphere where Orthodox and Catholic can cooperate without any harm to their church identity," the hierarch said.

He called this form of interaction "a strategic alliance."

It includes joint efforts taken to affirm in society Christian ideas of family, marriage, bringing up children, value of human life from conception to death. Other direction of possible interaction which becomes more actual is "protection of Christians from discrimination," the hierarch said.

Source

Old New York

Lower West Side Piers Circa 1920's (click to enlarge)

The ship's bow in the foreground is the SS Leviathon (ex SS Vaterland). Yes, the car on the left is a checker taxi cab. Some things thankfully haven't changed.

CBO: Obama understates deficits by $2.3 trillion

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A new assessment of President Barack Obama's budget released Friday says the White House underestimates future budget deficits by more than $2 trillion over the upcoming decade.

The estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says that if Obama's February budget submission is enacted into law it would produce deficits totaling $9.5 trillion over 10 years -- an average of almost $1 trillion a year.

Obama's budget saw deficits totaling $7.2 trillion over the same period.

The difference is chiefly because CBO has a less optimistic estimate of how much the government will collect in tax revenues, partly because the administration has rosier economic projections.

But the agency also rejects the administration's claims of more than $300 billion of that savings -- to pay for preventing a cut in Medicare payments to doctors -- because it doesn't specify where it would come from. Likewise, CBO fails to credit the White House with an additional $328 billion that would come from unspecified "bipartisan financing" to pay for transportation infrastructure projects such as high speed rail lines and road and bridge construction.

Read the rest here.
HT: T-19

A remarkable glimpse into another era

I draw the reader's attention to a wonderful collection of more than 250 photographs and postcards located here. They document a world cruise on the SS Belgenland in 1925. The Belgenland was a popular ocean liner of the 1920's operated by the Red Star Line. The photographs represent a magnificent glimpse into a world now long gone. A few are below... (click to enlarge).

Two ladies dressed for exploring ruins

Classy shore transportation

India during the British Raj

Passing another ship (the SS France) in the Mediterranean

A rug shop

Quote of the day

Did you catch that? The president of the United States is going to the UN to seek permission to attack a sovereign and independent country.

Where is the Tea Party when you need it? Aren’t they the ones that carry the miniature-sized versions of the U.S. Constitution in their pockets? Attention Tea Partiers: Check out the section of the Constitution that requires the president to secure a formal declaration of war from Congress before he can wage war against a foreign regime. Let’s hear from you. This is no time for silence.

The fact that Obama decides to go to foreigners to seek permission to wage another war of aggression just goes to show, once again, how far our nation has strayed from its founding principles.

Source
HT: The Young Fogey

European Court Rules In Favor of Crucifixes In Schools

Via Byzantine Texas

VATICAN CITY (AFP) — The Vatican on Friday welcomed as "historic" a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that said displaying crucifixes in schools in Italy did not breach the rights of non-Catholics. The Russian, Ukrainian, and Greek Churches were also vocally in opposition to the proposed crucifix ban; labeling it "Christianophobia." The EU ruling is available here (PDF).

"It is an important and historic ruling," Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said in a statement, adding that the decision "has been welcomed with satisfaction by the Holy See."

The European Court of Human Rights ruled earlier that displaying crucifixes in schools in Italy did not breach the rights of non-Catholic families, overturning a previous decision.

Read the rest here.

French Air Force Attacks In Libya

It is being reported that French military aircraft are now in action over Libya against the forces of Col. Qaddafi.

Qaddafi defies West as attacks on city continue

TRIPOLI, Libya — Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi urged President Obama and European leaders on Saturday to hold back from enforcing a no-flight zone over Libya as reports indicated that his forces were continuing to press their attacks against rebels in the east despite warnings from the United States and other Western countries that such moves would provoke military action from the West.

Colonel Qaddafi’s comments, in open letters to President Obama and other leaders that were the Libyan leader’s first public response to the threat from the West, were the latest indication that military confrontation in the skies over Libya may be imminent. And their tone suggested that Colonel Qaddafi was leaving himself little room to back down in order to avoid a clash with the West.

One letter was addressed to Mr. Obama and a second to President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain, and Secretary General Ban Ki-moon of the United Nations.

“Libya is not yours. Libya is for all Libyans,” Colonel Qaddafi wrote, according to the government spokesman. “This is injustice, it is clear aggression, and it is uncalculated risk for its consequences on the Mediterranean and Europe.”

“You will regret it if you take a step toward intervening in our internal affairs,” he added.

President Obama sent Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to a meeting in Paris on Saturday to consult with France, Britain and members of the Arab League on further action. An allied military strike on Libya did not appear imminent as he spoke.

President Obama on Friday ordered Colonel Qaddafi to carry out an immediate cease-fire, withdraw his forces from rebel-held cities and stop all attacks on Libyan civilians or face military action from the United States and its allies in Europe and the Arab world.

Read the rest here.

I am absolutely opposed to sticking our nose into this mess. But given that intervention appears to be a done deal, my feeling is let's get this done and over with as quickly as possible. The decision has been made and troops committed. So it's time to take care of business and ring this tin pot dictator's bell. And then let's get the H--- out of there, within a month if possible.

The only thing worse than getting into a war we should not be in, is getting into a war by half measures. Smash him and then go home... QUICKLY.

Paris skyline to be remodelled by Russian Orthodox church

It is one of the most recognisable skylines in the world, featuring one of the most famous monuments.

On the banks of the river Seine, Gustave Eiffel's iron tower, the symbol of France, juts high above the 19th-century Haussmann buildings and the trees of the Champ de Mars park that surround it.

But all this is about to change if the Russians have their way.

Moscow has unveiled plans to build a large Orthodox cathedral complete with five golden onion domes next to the Eiffel Tower. The building on the sought-after site will include a cultural centre and public garden, and was agreed directly by the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and his Russian counterpart, Dmitri Medvedev.

Architects' drawings show the domes sitting on an undulating roof of glass panels, with the tower in the background.

At 27 metres from the top of the highest dome to the ground, the cathedral is unlikely to detract from a structure that rises to 324 metres. City authorities say they will need to be sure it "fits into its surroundings and is built to last" before giving their approval for the building.

The winning design was unveiled on Friday after an international competition won by a Franco-Russian company.

When Moscow bought the site, formerly the HQ of the French weather service, last year, it was a diplomatic coup as at least two other countries were vying for the land. However, Le Nouvel Observateur magazine reported French concerns that it could be used as a front for spying as it is near a diplomatic complex.

Russian officials in Paris said work on the project was planned to start in 2012 and was likely to cost about €34.5m (£30.1m). Moscow has already paid around £60 million for the site.

"We wanted to find a combination of Orthodox tradition and contemporary architecture to stand out in the heart of Paris," said a spokesman for the church.

Source.

Rod Dreher: What's so appealing about Orthodoxy?

I came to Orthodoxy in 2006, a broken man. I had been a devoutly observant and convinced Roman Catholic for years, but had my faith shattered in large part by what I had learned as a reporter covering the sex abuse scandal. It had been my assumption that my theological convictions would protect the core of my faith through any trial, but the knowledge I struggled with wore down my ability to believe in the ecclesial truth claims of the Roman church (I wrote in detail about that drama here). For my wife and me, Protestantism was not an option, given what we knew about church history, and given our convictions about sacramental theology. That left Orthodoxy as the only safe harbor from the tempest that threatened to capsize our Christianity.

In truth, I had longed for Orthodoxy for some time, for the same reasons I, as a young man, found my way into the Catholic Church. It seemed to me a rock of stability in a turbulent sea of relativism and modernism overtaking Western Christianity. And while the Roman church threw out so much of its artistic and liturgical heritage in the violence of the Second Vatican Council, the Orthodox still held on to theirs. Several years before we entered Orthodoxy, my wife and I visited Orthodox friends at their Maryland parish. As morally and liturgically conservative Catholics, we were moved and even envious over what we saw there. We had to leave early to scoot up the road to the nearest Seventies moderne Catholic parish to meet our Sunday obligation. The contrast between the desultory liturgical proceedings at Our Lady of Pizza Hut and what we had walked out of in the Orthodox parish down the road literally reduced us to tears. But ugliness, even a sense of spiritual desolation, does not obviate truth, and we knew we had to stand with truth – and therefore with Rome – despite it all.

Read the rest here.

An interesting read, and I can identify with some of Rod's experiences (as an ex Traddie). That said it sounds like he still has some issues with the Catholic Church. I think he was spiritually wounded by some of what he came into contact with. That is regrettable (although understandable) because one's view of the RCC should not be so heavily framed by the sex abuse scandal. If I remember correctly he had to swim in the deep end of the septic tank as part of his journalistic investigation into that scandal. That can and will leave deep scars.

San Francisco's Pension Gap Is Truly Terrifying

San Francisco's public pension crisis is way worse than many thought, according a new study from Stanford professor Joe Nation.

Here are some highlights from the report:

* The San Francisco Employees Retirement System (SFERS), which covers most of the city's municipal workers,faces an unfunded liability of $4.4 billion on a market value basis. That's nearly $35,000 per every San Francisco household.

* SFERS' reported liability is based on an optimistic 7.75% annual rate of return. If the 1990-1999 historical average rate of return - 6.2% - is used, the city's unfunded pension liability grows to $6.8 billion.

* The city also reports more than $4.364 billion in unfunded retiree health care costs. That figure will likely grow to $9.5 billion by 2028. Without major policy changes, "the probability of San Francisco meeting its unfunded health care obligation is zero."

* The city now spends $514 million on pension and healthcare. By 2016, that cost is likely to balloon to $1 billion - more than the police department, fire department, sheriff's department, DA's office and probation departments combined.

The report concludes that the only way San Francisco could even begin to dig itself out of its pension hole is through serious pension reform - namely, increased employee contributions. The city's labor unions, however, have made it clear that any changes will meet stiff resistance.

Source

Washington Post: Metropolitan Jonah goes to Washington (long story)

A reasonably well written and balanced article on the recent issues within the OCA and the leadership of Metropolitan Jonah...

They appeared at the edge of the crowd on the Mall, a group of men seemingly out of a distant century. Their heads were crowned with klobuks, the distinctive headgear of Orthodox clergy. Sporting black cassocks and untrimmed gray beards, with golden icons dangling from their necks on long chains, these visitors stood out among the crowd clad in jeans and winter coats. The man in their center carried a bejeweled walking stick.

Metropolitan Jonah, 51, leads the Orthodox Church in America, the second-largest Eastern Orthodox body in the United States. He was there to rally the huddled masses waiting in the freezing air to begin the March for Life, the annual demonstration protesting the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion nationwide. His aim was to boost Orthodox participation in political issues. But his efforts to change the OCA would spark a ferocious reaction from his own bishops one month later. At issue is the very nature of Orthodoxy in the New World.

The tensions began with Jonah’s surprise election as head (or “metropolitan”) of the OCA in late 2008. The new leader, who is the first native-born convert to head the church, wasted little time instituting change. He put word out to his bishops and seminarians that their presence was expected at the March for Life, held every January. It was time, he would later tell a reporter, for the Orthodox “to step out in the public square” on a number of social concerns, including abortion. To encourage such stepping out, Jonah also decided to move the offices of the OCA from its isolated Syosset, N.Y., chancery to St. Nicholas Cathedral in Northwest Washington.

On the morning of the march, Jonah preached an uncompromising Gospel at the cathedral. “We need to see and call things what they are and not in some disguised politically correct language,” he said, dressed in resplendent gold brocade vestments, his salt-and-pepper beard making him appear like an Old Testament prophet. “Abortion is the taking of human life.”

Jonah continued: “So often, people think that if we name sin for what it is, that we’re judging people. No, we’re just pointing out reality. It is not a matter of judgment to say abortion is a sin. It is not a matter of judgment to say that homosexual activity is a sin. It is a matter of simply stating the truth of the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ.”

A few hours later at the march — while 80 Orthodox seminarians from New York and Pennsylvania stood, shivering, underneath a large “Orthodox Christians for Life” sign — Jonah told his listeners to stand firm against “the plague of abortion.” He received a rousing ovation. As he swept away down the steps, various clergy kissed his hand, and Washington’s Cardinal Donald Wuerl came up to greet him.

Read the rest here.

Patriarch Kirill, Cardinal Koch speak about Catholic-Orthodox partnership

Cardinal Kurt Koch, the president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, met on March 16 with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill.

Neither the Vatican nor the Russian Orthodox Church released a detailed report on the meeting, which was held in Moscow. But the Orthodox patriarchate indicated that Kirill had stressed his support for Pope Benedict in the effort to combat secularization, particularly in Europe. The Russian prelate also commented on the positive trend in relations between Rome and Moscow.

Cardinal Koch was visiting Moscow for the first time since his appointment as the Vatican’s chief ecumenist. Prior to his meeting with Patriarch Kirill, he had spoken earlier in the week with Metropolitan Hilarion, his counterpart as ecumenical-affairs officer for the Moscow patriarchate.

Source.

UN Approves Air Attacks And No Fly Zone Against Libya

UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations Security Council approved a measure on Thursday authorizing “all necessary measures” to protect Libyan civilians from harm at the hands of forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.

The measure allows not only a no-fly zone but effectively any measures short of a ground invasion to halt attacks that might result in civilian fatalities. It comes as Colonel Qaddafi warned residents of Benghazi, Libya, the rebel capital, that an attack was imminent and promised lenient treatment for those who offered no resistance.

“We are coming tonight,” Colonel Qaddafi said. “You will come out from inside. Prepare yourselves from tonight. We will find you in your closets.”

Speaking on a call-in radio show, he promised amnesty for those “who throw their weapons away” but “no mercy or compassion” for those who fight. Explosions were heard in Benghazi early on Friday, unnerving residents there, Agence-France Presse reported.

The United States, originally leery of any military involvement in Libya, became a strong proponent of the resolution, particularly after the Arab League approved a no-fly zone, something that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called a “game changer”

With the recent advances made by pro-Qaddafi forces in the east, there was a growing consensus in the Obama administration that imposing a no-fly zone by itself would no longer make much of a difference and that there was a need for more aggressive airstrikes that would make targets of Colonel Qaddafi’s tanks and heavy artillery — an option sometimes referred to as a no-drive zone. The United States or its allies might also send military personnel to advise and train the rebels, an official said.

In the most strident verbal attack on Colonel Qaddafi to date by an American official, Mrs. Clinton said Thursday that the Western powers had little choice but to provide critical military backing for the rebels. “We want to support the opposition who are standing against the dictator,” she told an applauding audience in Tunisia on Thursday. “This is a man who has no conscience and will threaten anyone in his way.”

She added that Colonel Qaddafi would do “terrible things” to Libya and its neighbors. “It’s just in his nature. There are some creatures that are like that.”

Read the rest here.

Great, another war. You would think two were enough. Someone explain to me exactly how this is any of our business.

Ecumenical Patriarch Excommunicates "Vassula" Ryden and Her Followers

The Orthodox Church, following strictly the shining example and teaching of the Holy Apostles, the teaching of the Fathers of the Church who have their succession, and the divinely-inspired decisions of the Ecumenical Synods, safeguards as a pearl of great price the faith of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church which the Christian plenitude experiences through their participation in the Sacraments and entire spiritual life of the divinely-founded ecclesiastical body.

Hence, whatever movement and improvised tension, personal or collective, in contempt or in breach of the dogmas of the Orthodox Christian faith and life in Christ within the Church as the only path for the salvation of our souls, all the more the self-proclaimed "supposedly charismatic" personality, is rejected always as an unacceptable innovation.

In this spirit, and for the beneficial protection of our pious Orthodox plenitude from dangerous spiritual confusion, who do not know well matters underlying the risk of delusion, rejects from the Mother Church Vasiliki Paraskevis Pentaki - Ryden, widely known as a "Vassula", and her organization founded under the title "True Life In God" which rashly and frivolously proposes teachings based on the supposed "direct dialogue between her and the Founder of the Church Jesus Christ our Lord", and those conquered by her and the supporters of "True Life In God", which deviate arbitrarily from the God-given teaching of the Church, but also scandalize the Orthodox phronema of pious believers.

Hence, we call upon the proponents of these unacceptable innovations and the supporters who maintain them, who henceforth are not admitted to ecclesiastical communion, not only to not be involved in the pastoral work of the local Holy Metropolis, but also to not preach their novel teachings, to prevent the appropriate sanctions under the Holy Canons.

Read the rest here.

Hat Tip: Carlos Antonio Palad of Rorate Caeli

While the EP is not the Orthodox Pope, he is the First Hierarch of the Church. When he speaks with this kind of language his words carry great weight. My guess is that this will put pressure on the Patriarchate of Alexandria, which has tolerated this woman's heretical nonsense for far too long to deal with her. She has now been formally or informally barred from communion by most of the canonical Orthodox churches.

Royal Wedding: 'Skip the gifts and give to charity'

Prince William and Kate Middleton have asked wedding guests and well wishers to donate to their own special charitable fund rather than give them presents, St James’s Palace has announced.

The gift fund will support 26 charities of the couple’s choice, incorporating the armed forces, children, the elderly, art, sport and conservation.

Each was hand-picked and chosen with careful thought.

Many of the organisations are small local projects with extremely limited budgets and they spoke yesterday of their great delight and surprise at being chosen, acknowledging that the recognition alone was a real boost.

Read the rest here.

Very classy. Maybe this will start a trend.

Libyan army calls for Benghazi to surrender as Saif Gaddafi says town will fall within 48 hours

The Libyan army has told people in Benghazi to lay down their arms as its troops advanced closer to the rebel stronghold for what could be the decisive battle in the uprising against Muammar Gaddafi.

Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam, speaking to French-based TV channel Euronews, said his troops were near Benghazi and "everything will be over in 48 hours".

The town of Ajbadiyah, 150 km (90 miles) south of Benghazi on the Gulf of Sirte, was firmly in government hands after most of its rebel defenders retreated under fire from a withering artillery barrage on Tuesday. Those who stayed had now handed over their guns, a rebel officer said.

In Benghazi, seat of the insurgents' provisional national council, the mood was a mixture of defiance and nervousness, with some citizens predicting a bloodbath and others confident the rebels would still snatch victory against the government offensive.

Read the rest here.

American Who Worked for C.I.A. Freed in Pakistan

LAHORE, Pakistan — American officials won the release on Wednesday of a C.I.A. contractor under investigation for two counts of murder here after they spent more than six hours with the families of the victims, the lawyer for the families Asad Manzoor Butt said.

The families accepted a payment of money, ending the case, Mr. Butt said. He did not specify the amount.

The Punjab law minister, Rana Sanaullah, confirmed on television that payment had been agreed to and paid, and that the contractor, Raymond A. Davis, 36, had been handed over to the United States consul general.

Mr. Butts also said he thought Mr. Davis had already left the jail. A five-car convoy from the United States consulate left the Kot Lakhpat jail at 4:20 p.m., local time.

Read the rest here.

Emperor Delivers Rare Address on Nuclear Crisis

TOKYO — Emperor Akihito of Japan, in an unprecedented television address to the nation, said on Wednesday that he was “deeply worried” about the ongoing nuclear crisis at several stricken reactors and asked for people to act with compassion “to overcome these difficult times.”

An official with the Imperial Household Agency said that Akihito had never before delivered a nationally televised address of any kind, not even in the aftermath of the Kobe earthquake in 1995 that killed more than 6,000 people. The address was videotaped.

The remarks on Wednesday afternoon were the first public comments from Akihito, 77, since a devastating earthquake and tsunami struck northern Japan last Friday, and they underscored the urgency of multiple crises confronting the country. Akihito expressed his concern for the survivors of the disaster and thanked the rescue teams working under difficult conditions in the north.

Read the rest here.

Food Prices See Sharpest Rise in 36 years

WASHINGTON — Wholesale prices surged last month at their fastest pace in just over 1-1/2 years due to higher energy costs and the steepest rise in food prices in 36 years.

Excluding those volatile categories, inflation was tame.

The Labor Department said Wednesday that the Producer Price Index rose a seasonally adjusted 1.6 percent in February — double the 0.8 percent rise in the previous month. Outside of food and energy costs, the core index ticked up 0.2 percent, less than January's 0.5 percent rise.

The report comes one day after the Federal Reserve said it expected the upward inflation pressure from energy and other commodities to prove transitory, but that it would keep a close eye on inflation and inflation expectations.

Read the rest here.

No need for alarm folks. The Federal Reserve assures us that inflation is not a problem.

Japan: For Elderly, Echoes of World War II Horrors

NATORI, Japan — Hirosato Wako stared at the ruins of his small fishing hamlet: skeletons of shattered buildings, twisted lengths of corrugated steel, corpses with their hands twisted into claws. Only once before had he seen anything like it: World War II.

“I lived through the Sendai air raids,” said Mr. Wako, 75, referring to the Allied bombings of the northeast’s largest city. “But this is much worse.”

For the elderly who live in the villages lining Japan’s northeastern coast, it is a return to a past of privation that their children have never known. As in so much of the Japanese countryside, young people have largely fled, looking for work in the city. The elderly who remained are facing devastation and possible radiation contamination, a challenge equal only to the task this generation faced when its defeated, despairing nation had to rebuild from the rubble of the war.

Read the rest here.

Easing the Way in Therapy With the Aid of an Animal

We’ve all seen guide dogs that can direct blind people around obstacles and tell them when it is safe to cross the street. Perhaps you also know of guide dogs for the deaf, which can alert people to a ringing phone, a doorbell or a smoke alarm, or dogs that can warn people with epilepsy of an incipient seizure, giving them time to get to a safe place before they lose consciousness.

Dr. Marty Becker, veterinarian and author (with Danelle Morton) of “The Healing Power of Pets” (Hyperion, 2002), tells of a golden retriever named Dakota, who was able to warn his master, Mike Lingenfelter, that a heart attack was imminent and alert Mr. Lingenfelter to the need to leave a stressful situation and take preventive medication.

“This dog is leading me through life,” Mr. Lingenfelter told Dr. Becker. “All I’m doing is following the dog.”

In recent decades, there have been countless such stories of animals helping to improve and even preserve the lives of children and adults with all manner of diseases and disabilities. Trained dogs are being used to help keep children with autism safe and to break the “freeze” that can afflict people with Parkinson’s disease when they try to walk. And dogs, cats, bunnies and birds are often brought to schools and institutions, as well as to hospitals and nursing homes, where they help to relax and inspire residents and distract patients from their health problems.

Read the rest here.

Japan Disaster Latest

• Most Workers Evacuated From Damaged Plant
• More Radiation Leaks
• Hundreds of Thousands Told To Stay Indoors
• Fears That Radiation Could Enter Food Chain
• Tokyo In Near Panic As Stores Are Stripped
  
• Thousands of Bodies Wash Ashore
• Critical Shortage of Coffins and Body Bags
• Millions Homeless Seeking Food and Shelter
  
• Tokyo Stock Exchange Drops 10% As World Financial Markets Nosedive

Read the latest news here.

Please pray for the suffering people of Japan.

Japan: Nuclear Catastrophe Imminent

TOKYO — Japan faced the likelihood of a catastrophic nuclear accident Tuesday morning, as an explosion at the most crippled of three reactors at the Fukushima Daichi Nuclear Power Station damaged its crucial steel containment structure, emergency workers were withdrawn from the plant, and much larger emissions of radioactive materials appeared immiment, according to official statements and industry executives informed about the developments.

Japanese Prime Minsiter Naoto Kan was preparing to make a televised address to the nation at 11 a.m. Tokyo time.

The sharp deterioration came after government officials said the containment structure of the No. 2 reactor, the most seriously damaged of three reactors at the Daichi plant, had suffered damage during an explosion shorly after 6 a.m. on Tuesday.

They initially suggested that the damage was limited and that emergency operations aimed at cooling the nuclear fuel at three striken reactors with seawater would continue. But industry executives said that in fact the situation had in fact spiralled out of control and that all plant workers needed to leave the plant to avoid excessive exposure to radioactive leaks.

If all workers do in fact leave the plant, the nuclear fuel in all three reactors is likely to melt down, which would lead to wholesale releases of radioactive material — by far the largest accident of its kind since the Chernobyl disaster 25 years ago.

Read the rest here.

Ecumenical Patriarch Of Constantinople Bartholomew I Hoping For Unification Of Ukrainian Orthodox Churches

Ecumenical Patriarch Of Constantinople Bartholomew I hopes for unification of Ukrainian Orthodox Churches, he said at the meeting with Prime Minister Mykola Azarov in his residence in Istanbul, Turkey.

At the same time, he said the Ecumenical Patriarch is ready to assist in that.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, during his visit to Ukraine in 2008, Ecumenical Patriarch, Archbishop of the Constantinople Orthodox Church Bartholomew I will continue promoting unification of Ukrainian Orthodoxy.

Bartholomew I highly appraised the results of his official visit to Ukraine July 25-27 on the occasion of the 1020th anniversary of converting Kyiv Rus into Christianity, and assured the Constantinople Patriarchy would further foster unification of Ukrainian Orthodoxy.

The Ukrainian Ambassador conveyed Bartholomew President Viktor Yuschenko's personal massage and presented video of festive celebrations on the occasion of the 1020th anniversary of converting Kyiv Rus into Christianity.

Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Aleksiy II and Bartholomew I agreed to cooperate in creating the Ukrainian Unified Orthodox Church.

Ecumenical Patriarch, Archbishop of the Constantinople Orthodox Church Bartholomew I is interested in unification of all Ukrainian Orthodox churches into the Ukrainian Unified Local Church.

Yuschenko considers the visit of Bartholomew I to Ukraine a historical event.

Yuschenko believes in proclamation of the Ukrainian Unified Local Church.

Source

Moscow Patriarchate to promote three Orthodox values in the 21st century

Moscow (AsiaNews) – The Russian Orthodox Church has come up with a “Code of Eternal Russian Values”. At the same time, Moscow Patriarch Kirill reiterates the principle of division between political and spiritual powers. Human rights groups are weary of such a code, seen as the expression of religion’s excessive interference in social life.

Presented last month by Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, head of the Synodal Department for Church and Society Relations, the proposed code is still “under discussion”. Political parties, youth groups and journalists have already addressed the issues raised by the document. Currently, it is being discussed by the Council of Orthodox Public Associations

The Synodal Department chose three core values out of a list of 14 on which society should base itself in the 21st century. They are faith, freedom and patriotism, which, according to Archpriest Chaplin, have remained rooted in the country despite processes of modernisation.

If the first two are uncontroversial, the third one has raised eyebrows, and fed a chorus of critics who reproach the Moscow Patriarchate for flirting with the Kremlin’s nationalist policies.

Read the rest here.

Japan's nightmare gets even WORSE: All THREE damaged nuclear reactors now in 'meltdown' at tsunami-hit power station

* Fuel rods appear to be melting inside three over-heating reactors
* Experts class development as 'partial meltdown'
* Japan calls for U.S. help cooling the reactor
* 180,000 people have been evacuated amid meltdown fears

The Japanese nuclear reactor hit by the tsunami went into 'meltdown' today, as officials admitted that fuel rods appear to be melting inside three damaged reactors.

There is a risk that molten nuclear fuel can melt through the reactor's safety barriers and cause a serious radiation leak.

There have already been explosions inside two over-heating reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, and the fuel rods inside a third were partially exposed as engineers desperately fight to keep them cool after the tsunami knocked out systems.

Read the rest here.

Pope Benedict XVI on Immigration

Via Rorate Caeli...

Citizenship must be considered today within the context of globalization, which is characterized, among other things, by large migration flows. Faced with this reality, as I mentioned above, it is necessary to combine solidarity and respect for the law, lest they upset social life, and the principles of law and cultural and even religious tradition which formed the Italian nation must be taken into account. This need is felt especially by you, as local administrators, closer to people's daily lives. A special dedication to the public service of citizens is always required of you, [in order] to be promoters of cooperation, solidarity, and humanity. History has left us an example of Mayors whose prestige and commitment marked the life of the community: you rightly mentioned the figure of [the Servant of God] Giorgio La Pira, an exemplary Christian and an esteemed public administrator. May this tradition continue to bear fruit for the good of the country and its citizens! For this I assure you of my prayers, and I urge you, distinguished friends, to trust the Lord, because - as the Psalm says - "unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman guards in vain" (127.1).

Memory Eternal: Metropolitan Nicholas

JOHNSTOWN, PA - His Eminence, Metropolitan Nicholas, 75, spiritual leader of the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese of the U.S.A., reposed in the Lord today, March 13, 2011 after waging a courageous battle with cancer.

Read the rest here.

HT: Orthodixie

Quake Moves Japan Closer to U.S. and Alters Earth’s Spin

The magnitude-8.9 earthquake that struck northern Japan on Friday not only violently shook the ground and generated a devastating tsunami, it also moved the coastline and changed the balance of the planet.

Global positioning stations closest to the epicenter jumped eastward by up to 13 feet.

Japan is “wider than it was before,” said Ross Stein, a geophysicist at the United States Geological Survey.

Meanwhile, NASA scientists calculated that the redistribution of mass by the earthquake might have shortened the day by a couple of millionths of a second and tilted the Earth’s axis slightly.

Not all of Japan jumped 13 feet closer to the United States, said Kenneth W. Hudnut, a geophysicist with the United States Geological Survey. The shifts occurred mostly in the area closest to the epicenter, and stations farther away reported much less movement.

Read the rest here.

17 in U.S. Navy Treated for Radiation

WASHINGTON — American Navy officials in Japan said early Monday that 17 military personnel who had been aboard three helicopters assisting in the earthquake relief effort had been exposed to low levels of contamination.

Cmdr. Jeff A. Davis, a spokesman for the American Seventh Fleet in Japan, said the Navy personnel — who apparently had flown through a radioactive plume from a damaged nuclear power plant — had been ordered to dispose of their uniforms and to undergo a decontamination scrub that had successfully removed radioactive particles.

“They received very, very low levels of contamination,” Commander Davis said in a telephone interview from Japan early Monday.

“It certainly is not cause for alarm,” he said. “It is something we have to watch very carefully and make sure we are able to monitor, and to mitigate against this environmental hazard.”

The Navy personnel aboard the three helicopters had received the equivalent of one month’s natural background radiation from the sun, rocks or soil, he said.

The helicopter crew members had landed aboard the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier whose on-board sensors had indicated that the warship, too, had been exposed to airborne contamination at very low levels. The helicopter crew members were tested individually with hand-held radiation monitors.

Read the rest here.

Tokyo Stock Exchange Plunges

It's Monday morning in Asia where Japan's central bank injected a record 7 trillion yen into money markets and the Tokyo stock market nosedived on the first business day since an earthquake and tsunami devastated the country's northeast and raised dire worries about the economy. The Nikkei Index opened down by almost 500 points.

Japan: Worst disaster since World War II

Death toll soars, more than 10,000 feared killed in one village alone; danger of nuclear meltdown; millions displaced.

Read the latest here.

The Triumph of Orthodoxy

Some interesting news on the Western Rite

On Monday, 14 February, Father Edward Hughes, Vicar General of the Western Rite Vicariate of the Self-Ruled Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, and his duly appointed assistant, Father John W. Fenton, met at the Russian Synod chancery with His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion (Kapral), First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR); His Grace Bishop Jerome (Shaw), Bishop of Manhattan and vicar of the Eastern-American diocese (ROCOR); and the V. Reverend Anthony Bondi, Pastoral Vicar for the Western Rite (ROCOR).

This meeting was the first between the hierarchy and leadership of the jurisdictions which oversee all canonical Orthodox parishes in North America which are exclusively Western Rite. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the present situation, and to compare visions in order to foster cooperation in furthering Western Rite Orthodoxy in America.

Read the rest here.

Catastrophic Earthquake Hits Japan

There has been a massive earthquake in Japan. Damage and loss of life is expected to be severe. If you are on the West Coast near the sea please check local news as tsunami warnings have been issued throughout the Pacific.

February federal budget deficit sets record

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The federal government's budget deficit grew by $222.5 billion in February, the largest one-month increase in history. Economists are forecasting the deficit for the year will be the biggest imbalance on record.

The Treasury Department says the February deficit surpassed the old record for any month, a $220.9 billion imbalance set in February 2010.

Through the first five months of this budget year, which began Oct. 1, the deficit totals $641.3 billion, 1.6 percent below the pace set last year.

However, economists are predicting the deficit for this year will exceed last year's imbalance. The Congressional Budget Office is forecasting a $1.5 trillion gap, giving the country a third straight year of $1 trillion-plus deficits.

Read the rest here.

As of this posting all of the major financial markets are down sharply.

Bill Gross is dumping US Treasury Bonds

Bill Gross has dumped all Treasuries from the world’s biggest mutual fund, Warren Buffett is shifting to shorter-term debt, and Swiss Reinsurance Co. is boosting equities and corporate bonds.

Some of the biggest private investors in the bond market, from fund managers to insurers and pensions, are preparing for an end to the three-decade Treasury rally, as interest rates near zero and unprecedented spending by the U.S. government and the central bank threaten to fuel inflation. Their strategies range from reducing the longest-dated holdings and shifting to higher-yielding corporate debt, to investing in stocks, commodities, non-U.S. bonds and even holding cash.

“U.S. government bonds are not a safe haven,” Jim Rogers, the global investor who predicted the 2007-2009 housing-market crash, said in a telephone interview from Singapore. “I cannot conceive of lending money to the U.S. government for 30 years.”

Pacific Investment Management Co. said yesterday that Gross, who runs the $237 billion Pimco Total Return Fund, eliminated government-related debt from his flagship fund last month as the U.S. projected record budget deficits. Gross, who has overseen the expansion of Pimco into a $1.2 trillion bond shop over four decades, predicted a year ago that “bonds have seen their best days.” Last month, he said Treasuries may have to be “exorcised” from model portfolios.

The bonds, considered the safest and most liquid, have been an investment staple for generations. The U.S. is the world’s biggest debt issuer, with $14.2 trillion outstanding. Most of that is owned by U.S. government entities, foreign countries such as China and Japan, and investors including mutual funds, pension funds, insurers and banks.

Read the rest here.

When Bill Gross speaks of bonds, people listen.

Catholic and Orthodox Unity: Close Enough to Imagine (Not)

From what Fr. Z so aptly refers to as the "National Catholic Fishwrap"...

As we celebrate another Week of Prayer for Christianity, what is there to fuel our hope that this isn’t all just an exercise in futility? What’s to celebrate?

Signals are there that this movement called “ecumenical” does in fact move, that reflection as we go along on an increasing degree of “life together” is shaping our perception of the future in positive ways.

One noteworthy sign of this was the statement by the North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation last October.

For the past forty-five years they have been sifting through the pastoral and doctrinal issues that historically have prevented our churches from sharing a single life of faith, sacraments and witness before the world. But in this document, as indicated by its title, they are getting down to brass tacks: “Steps Towards A Reunited Church: A Sketch of an Orthodox-Catholic Vision for the Future.”

Their listing of what we share is substantive and long. In short: We believe our life as churches to be centered on the Divine Liturgy, the Word of God, and the sacraments from baptism to marriage.

Both churches recognize each other’s bishops as legitimately ordained into the apostolic succession. Both venerate Mary, the Mother of God, and a whole range of holy men and women from every age, many of them common to both our traditions. Both our churches cherish ancient practices that help the faithful grow in holiness, such as reverencing sacred images, fasting, the monastic life, and various forms of contemplative prayer.

All of which pushes the commission members to state:

It is urgent that Orthodox and Catholic Christians find an effective way to realize our common tradition of faith together, and to present the world with a unified testimony to the Lordship of Jesus. To be what we are called to be, we need each other…. To become what we are…we cannot stop short of re-establishing full Eucharistic communion among ourselves.

Read the rest here.

I have been refraining from posting most of the endless silly articles from the RCC press predicting imminent reunion, but this one is just too in your face to ignore. It is a expose for why there will not be communion between Rome and Orthodoxy anytime in the foreseeable future. It totally ignores almost every point of difference on doctrine between us and it further demonstrates a gravely flawed concept of what it means to be in communion. "Close enough" is clearly acceptable to many in the Roman Catholic Church. It is not in Orthodoxy. There must be full agreement on all essential points of doctrine for us to commune from the same chalice. And since Rome has about a thousand years of additions to the Deposit of the Faith that we are not onboard with (in fairness some are probably resolvable) that's going to be a really major problem.

Vatican I and it's unyielding and crystal clear language is a deal breaker. It is heresy, and we do not and will not accept it as written. But one must also add the Filioque to that list. We don't even recite the same Creed. How can we share the cup?

With that in mind I say let's stop trying to turn the clock back a thousand years and work on things that are in fact doable. The author is correct that we do share a great deal in common. And there are a myriad of common interests. Charitable works and the dangers post by militant sucularists and Islamists are just the two most obvious. One could also add a common witness againts the creeping tide of liberal and relativist theology in many parts of the Christian world, especially among the so called Reformed Churches.

Anyone who sees unity as close enough to imagine is living in a fantasy world. But that doesn't mean we can't work together on meaningful issues and present a common witness to the world on at least some subjects.

GOP rams anti-union bill through Wis. Senate

MADISON, Wis. — Republicans pushed a provision stripping public employees of their collective bargaining rights through the state Senate Wednesday evening after finding a way to bypass the chamber's missing Democrats.

Republican senators separated the provision from Gov. Scott Walker's controversial budget bill, removing the requirement that 20 senators be present for a vote on the anti-union measure.

The vote in the Senate was 18-1. Sen. Dale Schultz was the sole no vote. No Democrats were present.

Spectators in the gallery screamed at the Republicans on the floor, "You are cowards."

All 14 Democrats had left the state for Illinois nearly three weeks ago to prevent passage of the overall budget bill, because it contained the anti-union measure.

The Senate is split 19-14 with Republicans in the majority. Because the union provision was part of a budget bill, Republicans in the Senate needed at least 20 senators present for a quorum.

By separating out the anti-union measure, Republicans did not need 20 senators to allow a vote on that piece.

Read the rest here.