Of Interest:

Canon 8. Of Property

Section a) Any Congregation or other institution holding or intending to hold title to real property shall be incorporated. Its form of incorporation shall be in accordance with the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and in harmony with the Constitution and Canons of The Episcopal Church and of this Diocese, and the directions of Diocesan Convention.

Section b) All property, real and personal, held by or for the benefit of any Congregation of this Diocese is held in trust for the Diocese and The Episcopal Church. The existence of this trust, however, shall in no way limit the power and authority of the Congregation otherwise existing over such property so long as the congregation remains a part of, and subject to, this Church and its Constitution and Canons.

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On Friday, with its stock plunging 27 percent, Wachovia experienced a “silent run” on deposits, but the bigger worry for regulators was that other banks wouldn’t provide the Charlotte bank with necessary short-term funding when it opened for business Monday, sources familiar with the situation told the Observer.

With Wachovia already looking for a merger partner, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., in consultation with other regulators, required the bank to reach a sale to Citigroup on Monday morning.

The FDIC, for the first time, used legislative authority created in 1991 to help it deal with a “very large complex bank failure” on short notice. It requires approval from heavy hitters ”“ two-thirds of FDIC board members, two-thirds of Federal Reserve board members as well as the Treasury secretary, who must consult with the president.

“When Wachovia opened Monday it would not have had a source of liquidity,” a source familiar with the situation said. “It really could not have opened under those circumstances. That’s why (the FDIC) put together the assistance package.”

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Bloomberg.com reports the cost of borrowing in dollars in London for three months rose for a fourth day, making clear that banks haven’t started to lend after the U.S. Senate approved a $700 bln plan to rescue beleaguered financial institutions. The London interbank offered rate, or Libor, that banks charge each other for such loans climbed 6 basis points to 4.21% today, the highest since Jan. 11, the British Bankers’ Association said.

Some small companies say they are no longer able to get loans from newly cautious banks as credit tightens across the country, and even those who do qualify are increasingly reluctant to borrow and expand, fearful of overextending themselves in the midst of the financial crisis.

Alan Petrucci, whose small factory near Chicago makes metal molds that other manufacturers buy to form plastic parts, says his bank recently offered him an additional loan. Though orders for his molds are still plentiful, Mr. Petrucci says he will borrow only to upgrade existing machinery, not to expand.

“We are bracing for the downturn that is coming,” Mr. Petrucci said. “It is coming; there is no question about that.”

Mark Snyder, another businessman, is more optimistic, but his bank refused two weeks ago to grant another loan to his fledgling medical supply company near Denver. So he turned to a commercial lender, which has offered credit ”” at 30 percent a year. Mr. Snyder does not want to borrow much at that rate. “We desperately need more capital to grow our sales,” he said.

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We emphasised that ”˜be it by birth or by conversion the men and women in GAFCON which the entire Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion is a part, are people who have grown to be Anglican Christians by conviction, upholding the tenets of Anglican biblical orthodoxy. We have no other place to go nor is it our intention to start another church. Anglicans we are, Anglicans we’ll remain until
the LORD shall return in glory to judge each one according to his deeds.’ Gafcon has been held with a world-wide acclaimed resounding success and with no financial deficit. I call on this holy assembly to express gratitude to all those who made generous donations to help us fund Gafcon. Lambeth Conference too was held. About 263 bishops from around the world including at least three from the Church of England and representing over 45% of the Anglican world chose not to attend. Unlike Gafcon, it ended in huge financial deficit, and there were no clear unanimous declaration or statement[s].

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This might not be the end of the world, but Cubs fans can see it from here. The Cubs spent six months working and hitting and pitching and fielding and sweating to get home-field advantage in the playoffs, and they gave it away in five innings.

They might’ve given this series away, too, because losing the first game at home in a five-game series is exponentially more disastrous than doing it in a seven-game series.

So now what?

Read it all. It was a horrible night for Cubs fans. Dempster didn’t have it, it is as simple as that. Congratulations to the Dodgers–KSH.

There are days when all it takes is a single speech to illustrate the decline of a world power. A face can speak volumes, as can the speaker’s tone of voice, the speech itself or the audience’s reaction. Kings and queens have clung to the past before and humiliated themselves in public, but this time it was merely a United States president.

Or what is left of him.

George W. Bush has grown old, erratic and rosy in the eight years of his presidency. Little remains of his combativeness or his enthusiasm for physical fitness. On this sunny Tuesday morning in New York, even his hair seemed messy and unkempt, his blue suit a little baggy around the shoulders, as Bush stepped onto the stage, for the eighth time, at the United Nations General Assembly.

He talked about terrorism and terrorist regimes, and about governments that allegedly support terror. He failed to notice that the delegates sitting in front of and below him were shaking their heads, smiling and whispering, or if he did notice, he was no longer capable of reacting. The US president gave a speech similar to the ones he gave in 2004 and 2007, mentioning the word “terror” 32 times in 22 minutes. At the 63rd General Assembly of the United Nations, George W. Bush was the only one still talking about terror and not about the topic that currently has the rest of the world’s attention.

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Take a look. Of interest at a local level, the two Senators from South Carolina voted opposite to each other.

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The convention of the Diocese of Fond du Lac is scheduled to consider a resolution that seeks consent from General Convention to explore a junctioning arrangement with the Diocese of Eau Claire when it meets Oct. 18-19 in Fond du Lac, Wis.

Junctioning, as defined in Article V of the constitution of The Episcopal Church, means the joining of two or more dioceses to form a new diocese. In order to come before General Convention, the Diocese of Eau Claire must approve a similar resolution at its convention Nov. 7-8. Fond du Lac is 134 years old. Eau Claire is 80.

Canon Matthew Payne, canon administrator for the Diocese of Fond du Lac, likened General Convention consent as something less than marriage and more like getting permission to date.

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After one spectacular failure, the $700 billion financial industry bailout found a second life Wednesday, winning lopsided passage in the Senate and gaining ground in the House, where Republicans opposition softened.

Senators loaded the economic rescue bill with tax breaks and other sweeteners before passing it by a wide margin, 74-25, a month before the presidential and congressional elections.

In the House, leaders were working feverishly to convert enough opponents of the bill to push it through by Friday, just days after lawmakers there stunningly rejected an earlier version and sent markets plunging around the globe.

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After one spectacular failure, the $700 billion financial industry bailout found a second life Wednesday, speeding toward passage in the Senate and gaining ground in the House where conservative opposition seemed to soften.

Senators loaded the economic rescue bill with tax breaks and other sweeteners for the right and left, hoping to secure approval in the House by Friday, just days after lawmakers there stunningly rejected an earlier version and sent markets plunging around the globe.

The measure has not caused the same uproar in the Senate, where both parties’ presidential candidates, Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama, were making rare appearances to vote their support. That would send the package back to the House, where passage would require a turnaround of 12 votes from Monday’s 228-205 defeat.

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The ongoing turmoil in the financial markets has diverted me from my usual tax academic pursuits, including this blog, for which I apologize. This post explores the causes of that turmoil. My next post will explore solutions currently under consideration, including aspects of the so-called “$700 billion bailout.”

The current financial crisis has many causes, some long-term and structural. I focus here, however, on three immediate aspects of the crisis: the trigger, how problems generated by that trigger spread through the markets, and how this produced the liquidity freeze that persuaded Mr. Paulson and Mr. Bush to act (unsuccessfully thus far).

Read it all. This is a pretty good basic analysis. It is missing some important pieces, especially the 1999 decision to expand Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s purview and the role that had in encouraging more risky mortgages. Also, I disagree with him about Lehman, he is way too kind– it was a big mistake by the Fed. More about credit default swaps would have helped too.

Anyway, you take a look and see what you think–KSH.

“We don’t have a lot of leeway on time,” [Harry] Reid told reporters in the Capitol. “One of the individuals in the caucus today talked about a major insurance company — a major insurance company — one with a name that everyone knows that’s on the verge of going bankrupt. That’s what this is all about.”

—As quoted in the Louisville, Kentucky, Courier-Journal political blog

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Check it out if you are so inclined. Is there some symbolism in the fact that what was originally three pages became 110 pages in the House version and has now become 451 pages? Just asking–KSH.