A new wave of violence has erupted in Nigeria as Muslims and Christians battled in the northern Bauchi state.
The latest incident saw Muslims attacking Christian places of worship after two mosques were set on fire. The Muslims blamed this on the local Christian population.
However, Government officials were blaming the violence on local politicians. “This is a crisis fomented by troublemakers intent on causing disaffection in the state,” state governor Yuguda said in a radio broadcast.
(ACNS) The Synod of Bishops of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, meeting at Modderpoort in the Free State from 16 to 20 February 2009, have been shocked at the news that the Provincial Department of Health in the Free State has withdrawn anti-retroviral medication from HIV positive patients because of shortage of funds.
It is well known and often publicised by the National Department of Health, that patients must be counselled and prepared with great care before embarking on anti-retroviral medication. The Department is clear that it is vital for the medication to be taken consistently, with adequate food, and under diligent medical supervision; if this fails, it is said, the consequences in terms of illness and side effects may be severe.
Starring Kevin Bacon, it aired for the first time last night. Based on a true story. If you have a way to view it, do so. It was simply fantastic.
It ends this morning, the bishop is keynoting, and it is much in my thoughts and prayers so I wanted to mention it.
Renowned investor George Soros said on Friday the world financial system has effectively disintegrated, adding that there is yet no prospect of a near-term resolution to the crisis.
Soros said the turbulence is actually more severe than during the Great Depression, comparing the current situation to the demise of the Soviet Union.
He said the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in September marked a turning point in the functioning of the market system.
“We witnessed the collapse of the financial system,” Soros said at a Columbia University dinner. “It was placed on life support, and it’s still on life support. There’s no sign that we are anywhere near a bottom.”
President Obama is putting the finishing touches on an ambitious first budget that seeks to cut the federal deficit in half over the next four years, primarily by raising taxes on business and the wealthy and by slashing spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, administration officials said.
In addition to tackling a deficit swollen by the $787 billion stimulus package and other efforts to ease the nation’s economic crisis, the budget blueprint will press aggressively for progress on the domestic agenda Obama outlined during the presidential campaign. This would include key changes to environmental policies and a major expansion of health coverage that Obama hopes to enact later this year.
A summary of Obama’s budget request for the fiscal year that begins in October will be delivered to Congress on Thursday, with the complete, multi-hundred-page document to follow in April. But Obama plans to unveil his goals for scaling back record deficits and rebuilding the nation’s costly and inefficient health care system Monday, when he addresses more than 100 lawmakers and budget experts at a White House summit on restoring “fiscal responsibility” to Washington.
Professor JEREMY DAUBER (Yiddish Department, Columbia University): We have “Fiddler on the Roof” in Hindi, and we have “Fiddler on the Roof” in Japanese, so clearly the stories that Sholem Aleichem told, even translated, have this universal appeal, and I think a lot of it has to do with the way his stories talk about the appeal of tradition and the struggle of maintaining tradition in a rapidly changing world.
[BETTY] ROLLIN: Theodore Bikel, who has played Tevye more than 2,000 times, is now touring a one-man show called “Sholem Aleichem: Laughter Through Tears.”
THEODORE BIKEL (Actor and Singer): Sholem Aleichem doesn’t only appeal to Jews. I get non-Jewish audiences who find parallels in what he wrote and how he wrote. I ask them, “What does this play mean to you?” Pogroms, Jews, Russians, turn-of-the-century shtetls ””“What does that mean to you?” And they said, “Tradition.” We know what that is. We know what it is when children don’t want to follow the tradition of their parents.
Via email–the text of a resolution passed by the Diocesan Board.
Title: Disaffiliation with the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.
Sponsors: The Rev George Conger, The Very Rev. Eric Turner, The Very Rev Tim Nunez.
Resolved; The Diocesan Board of the Diocese of Central Florida on Feb 19 hereby dissociates itself from the affiliation of The Episcopal Church by The Executive Council with the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, and directs the Secretary to forward notice of this disassociation to the next meeting of the Annual Convention of The Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Central Florida with a recommendation that a resolution be made by that body endorsing dissociation.
Explanation:
The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC) is a political advocacy group dedicated to defending and expanding abortion rights””that is, legal rights to all abortions, whatever the circumstances, without exception””in American law.
The “RCRC was founded in 1973 to safeguard the newly won constitutional right to abortion,” according to The Rev Carlton W. Veazey, RCRC president and CEO (www.rcrc.org/about/index.cfm);
The RCRC’s founding mission remains unchanged: “The primary struggle for reproductive choice has shifted to the state level, with new legislation limiting access to reproductive health care traveling from state to state until enough momentum develops to bring it to the national arena. In such a climate, we need healthy state [RCRC] organizations so that we can stop each new threat as it arises” (www.rcrc.org/getinvolved/affiliate.cfm);
The Executive Council of The Episcopal Church, meeting in Des Moines, Iowa from January 9-12, 2006, approved The Episcopal Church’s membership in the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.
At the 74th General Convention of The Episcopal Church, the Diocese of Tennessee introduced resolution C-048, which called upon the General Convention to rescind The Episcopal Church’s membership in the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.
Resolution C-048 was withdrawn from consideration at the 74th General Convention and no action was taken affecting The Episcopal Church’s membership in the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.
While the RCRC works for abortion rights in any and all circumstances, The Episcopal Church teaches that moral discernment, on matters related to abortion, is essential. Resolution A054 adopted by the 1994 General Convention states “We emphatically oppose abortion as a means of birth control, family planning, sex selection, or any reason of mere convenience.”
Episcopalians hold varying political positions on the morality, legality and necessity of abortion, and it is therefore improper that this Diocese, by virtue of an action of The Executive Council of The Episcopal Church, be deemed a member of a political lobbying group whose goal is to promote abortion upon demand, for any reason and at any time.
The Rt. Rev. Don Wimberly, Bishop of Texas, unexpectedly announced that he is handing over the day-to-day operation of the diocese to his successor, the Rt. Rev. Andy Doyle, Bishop Coadjutor. Bishop Wimberly’s announcement came during his address to the annual council meeting held Feb. 13-14 in Houston. The changes became effective immediately following the adjournment of council.
Previously Bishop Wimberly had intended to transfer most day-to-day responsibilities to Bishop Doyle as part of his official retirement date, which remains June 6. The earlier-than-expected transition was prompted by Bishop Wimberly’s hospitalization in January. During the time that Bishop Wimberly was hospitalized, his visitation schedule was changed and Bishop Doyle assumed many of the day-to-day episcopal responsibilities for the diocese. After his return, Bishop Wimberly felt it did not make sense to change the visitation schedule again or to transfer the responsibilities back for just a few months.
“This time has proven to me that [Andy] is ready and we as a diocese are ready to move forward,” Bishop Wimberly said, adding “I will work with him as he takes on these new roles; such a partnership is natural for us.”
Rick Santelli, the CNBC reporter who went into a certifiable rant against the Obama housing plan Thursday, found himself in the White House bullseye 24-hours later: the object of scorn and humorous derision from the president’s press secretary Robert Gibbs.
“I’m not entirely sure where Mr. Santelli lives or in what house he lives,” Gibbs said during the daily briefing. “But the American people are struggling every day to meet their mortgage, stay in their jobs, pay their bills to send their kids to school, and to hope that they don’t get sick or somebody they care for gets sick that sends them into bankruptcy. I think we left a few months ago the adage that if it was good for a derivatives trader, that it was good for main street. I think the verdict is in on that.”
Right now, the economic landscape looks like that movie of the swaying Tacoma Narrows Bridge you might have seen in a high school science class. It started swinging in small ways and then the oscillations built on one another until the whole thing was freakishly alive and the pavement looked like liquid.
A few years ago, the global economic culture began swaying. The government enabled people to buy homes they couldn’t afford. The Fed provided easy money. The Chinese sloshed in oceans of capital. The giddy upward sway produced a crushing ride down.
These oscillations are the real moral hazard. Individual responsibility doesn’t mean much in an economy like this one. We all know people who have been laid off through no fault of their own. The responsible have been punished along with the profligate.
It makes sense for the government to intervene to try to reduce the oscillation. It makes sense for government to try to restore some communal order. And the sad reality is that in these circumstances government has to spend money on precisely those sectors that have been swinging most wildly ”” housing, finance, etc. It has to help stabilize people who have been idiots.