Saturday 20 December 2008

40 CHRISTIANS ARRESTED IN NANYYANG , 16 SENTENCED TO ADMINISTRATIVE DETENTION , PLEASE DO PRAY FOR THEM


HENAN, China, -- In Taoling village, Pushan town, Nanyang city, Henan, more than 40 Christians were detained at a Christian leaders' gathering on December 16, 2008. Officials told them they must pay a 1,000 to 2,000 yuan fine to be released. Some Christians were released after paying the fine. However, 16 Christians were sentenced to 10 to 15 days administrative detention for engaging in an "illegal religious gathering." Mr. Yan Linshan, the host of the meeting received 10 days of administrative detention and a 1,000 yuan fine.

SARAH PALIN PICKED AS TIME'S RUNNER -UP PERSON OF THE YEAR


Completely ignoring Al Gore because he'd already won the world's other top two prizes -- the Nobel and Oscar -- and pretty well rested on his warming climate laurels this year, Time magazine has chosen Alaska's Republican Gov. Sarah Palin as a runner-up Person of the Year.
Along with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson.
Also Zhang Yimou.
The immense individual honors were created by the aging weekly magazine many years ago to help sell copies in a normally very slow year-end period for news and sales.
At one point in history this issue actually made news and people talked about it, if there wasn't much else going on.
But being in Time's year-end edition can also be a dangerous distinction. Many of Time's past Persons of the Year have died after receiving the honor, for instance, Adolph Hitler and Josef Stalin. Also President Eisenhower.
Sarkozy was obviously chosen a runner-up because of his wife's beauty and his ability to get french fries back on the menu in Congress.
Paulson was chosen for reasons that have something to do with the financial mess and still being unable to identify the mortgages of dubious value but being incapable of doing that in a very quiet, behind-the-scenes kind of way that didn't cause complete market panic because no one really understands the numbers stuff anyway.
Also in recognition of Paulson's work, President-elect Barack has decided to replace him with another numbers gnome.
Zhang Yimou's runnerup award really needs no explanation. His amazing accomplishments pretty much speak for themselves. So we won't.
Palin was picked because she almost singlehandedly saved the Republican Party from total annihilation as its surprising vice presidential candidate.
Her GOP selection by the old Arizona guy annoyed the nation's news media because it wasn't ready and thinks Washington is a qualifying experience for the White House now that Bill Clinton and the new guy have some.
So reporters wrote a lot about Palin's children and a future son-in-law and her baby with Down syndrome and jumped all over her effort to help salvage the 2008 women's clothing sales, as if that was a bad thing for the struggling economy.
Time calls hers "the most astonishing political debut in modern times" and says the 44-year-old mother of five who upset a corrupt GOP party establishment in a place many people don't ever want to visit "a one-woman rescue team for the Republican ticket."
Which, some of you may have heard, lost anyway.
In fact, Sarah Palin's Republican National Convention speech before a record TV audience electrified the party at a somnolent time of late summer.
Time, like all print, online and broadcast media, knows the magnetic draw of merely mentioning Sarah Palin's name among fans and foes. Putting Sarah Palin's name in a headline and adding Sarah Palin photographs draws thousands of people, even if they haven't a clue about her politics. Sarah Palin is simply great for the media business. The more photos the better too.
"Saturday Night Live" had its best ratings in 14 years the night it had the real Sarah Palin on. By golly, she just has a presence.
Time says it'll be interesting to see what happens to Sarah Palin's political evolution now and whether she emerges with a viable conservative philosophy beyond a beguiling but fiscally responsible wink.
Although many prominent Republicans campaigned for Saxby Chambliss in the recent Georgia Senate runoff election, it wasn't until Sarah Palin spent a day there that Chambliss actually won easily over a Democrat endorsed by Obama and Gore.
At the same time as it announced its Person of the Year runners-up, Time also revealed its winner, the same guy Ebony already picked.
-- Andrew Malcolm

WILL SMITH GIVES $1.5 MILLION TO CHARITIES ( TO BORN AGAIN CHRISTIAN ORGANIZATION RUN REVEREND JAMES ROBINSON )


Just-released tax returns for movie star Will Smith’s charitable foundation show he and wife, Jada, gave $1.3 million in donations last year to a variety of religious, civic and arts groups.
Smith’s biggest single contribution was, as usual, Yesha Ministries of Philadelphia. He gave the born-again Christian based organization run by Reverend James Robinson a whopping $250,000. That’s a hefty raise from the $140,000 he gave them the previous year. Another $200,000 went to a Christian ministry outside Los Angeles called Living Waters.
He also gave a combined $122,500 to the Church of Scientology, broken into these donations: $67,500 to the New York Rescue Workers Detoxication Fund, $50,000 to the group’s Celebrity Center in Hollywood and $5,000 to ABLE, another Scientology offshoot. Smith and his wife have also supported a private school called New Village Academy they opened this fall in suburban Los Angeles that uses Scientology learning concepts.


The star ofmovies like “Hancock,” “I Am Legend,” and the upcoming “Seven Pounds” also donated thousands of dollars to a Los Angeles mosque, other Christian-based schools and churches, and to the Yitzhak Rabin Memorial Center in Israel. And though Smith is not featured in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” he also sent $25,000 to the Progeria Research Foundation. Progeria is a disease that causes rapid aging.
The newest federal tax filing for the Will Smith Foundation covers 2007, and there is no donation to New Village Academy. So far there is no listing with guidestar.org, the website that tracks charities and not-for-profit institutions, for New Village. That seems odd since it was announced more than a year ago that Smith had given them a $1 million endowment.
It’s the Smiths’ intense and sudden friendship with Tom Cruise over the last couple of years that sparked speculation the superstar couple had joined Scientology. But Smith told me earlier this year he was definitely not a Scientologist. He told "Access Hollywood" some time before that: "I was introduced [to] it by Tom and I’m a student of world religion. I was raised in a Baptist household, I went to a Catholic school, but the ideas of the Bible are 98 percent the same ideas of Scientology, 98 percent the same ideas of Hinduism and Buddhism."
‘Valkyrie’ and The L.A. Times
I sort of have to thank Patrick Goldstein, who writes a popular blog for the Los Angeles Times about movies and the film industry. He devoted his whole entry yesterday to this column getting banned from advance screenings of Tom Cruise in "Valkyrie."
There were also mentions of it in a variety of movie blogs like Dan Cox’s on mediabistro.com and Jeff Wells at hollywoodelsewhere.com
Is it a tempest in a teapot? Sure. But by preventing me from seeing "Valkyrie" at a regular screening, the flacks involved didn’t leave me much choice. I had to use Emanuel Levy’s review of "Valkyrie" in place of one I’d have written. Levy called Cruise "feeble" and predicted his move into secondary roles. The ironic thing is, I would never have used such a word nor made such an assumption. That’s where Cruise’s publicists went wrong. They bungled what could have been a simple process into a calamity.
One of my sources, who has seen "Valkyrie," tells me: "Tom is very wooden. On the face of it, this is a fascinating story. But Cruise is an external actor. It needed someone with real acting chops. The title sounds as if it should have been a musical. The problem is that it's not as awful as it should be, which in a way makes it worse. It's a bore!"
Or, to quote another advance screener: "This movie won’t make two cents."
And then what happens? "Valkyrie" cost $100 million to make, and another $50 - $60 mil to market. United Artists had a $500 million promise of credit from Merrill Lynch. That entity no longer exists. If "Valkyrie" really does tank, UA will likely cease to exist either as MGM struggles to right its leaking ship. Cruise has no movie ready for 2009, so it will be a year or more before he’s on screen again in anything to erase this memory.
In the end, the publicists capitulated to a lame duck leader with no future leverage but a lot of paranoia. Sound familiar?
On The Whole, She’d Rather Not Be In Cleveland
From the New York Times, yesterday: "The last 15 years have been boom years for theater — I always expected the pendulum to swing, and I simply see this as a correction," said Nancy Coyne, chairwoman of the theater advertising agency Serino Coyne. "The good news is that so many straight plays are now coming in the spring, and I think New Yorkers will come out for them once the tourists go away. We’re horrible snobs. We hate tourists from Cleveland."
Actually, Cleveland: we love you. Keep coming and buying tickets to all our shows. As Donald Trump might say: Nancy, you’re fired!
About Peter Falk: One More Thing
It seems like the great actor and good guy Peter Falk may be in some trouble. He’s 81, and his daughter says he has Alzheimer’s. There will be a court hearing next month. Let’s say this: it’s so unfair to freeze someone in time this way. Peter Falk was nominated twice, back to back in 1961 and 1962, for Academy Awards. He’s won five Emmy Awards out of 12 nominations. The movies he’s made with late pal John Cassavetes are classics, as well as the original "In-Laws" with Alan Arkin.
In the winter of 1990, Falk and I were each coming out of Madison Square Garden after a Knicks game. We flagged the same cab and wound up sharing it. He was just great, reminiscing about real Little Italy. I left on Mott Street, where he disappeared into one of his old joints. I hope he’s okay now, and if he’s not, that he gets lavish care and attention from his family.
By the way, the same daughter, Catherine, sued Peter back in 1992 and won an out of court settlement. She was 21 then and wanted her college tuition paid at Syracuse University. Falk wanted her to return to Los Angeles and participate in family counseling. Catherine is now 37 and a private investigator, according to reports. No word on Falk’s second wife, actress Shera Danese, who married Falk in 1977…

OBAMA DEFENDS WARREN CHOICE


Responding to outcry from homosexual-rights leaders over his choice of evangelical pastor Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at his inauguration, President-elect Barack Obama said today Americans who disagree with each other on social issues need to "come together."
"That dialogue is part of what my campaign is all about," he told reporters in Chicago.
The announcement yesterday of Warren's role in the Jan. 20 inauguration prompted an angry response from homosexual-rights activists who decried the Southern California megachurch pastor's vocal support for Proposition 8. The ballot measure, which passed Nov. 4, enshrines in the California constitution a definition of marriage limited to one man and one woman.
Defending his choice, Obama told reporters today he's been a "fierce advocate for equality" for homosexuals and will remain so.
Obama noted that despite his disagreement with Warren on a number of issues, the pastor invited him to speak at Saddleback Church's Global Summit on AIDS and the Church in 2006. Some evangelicals at the time objected to a pro-choice Democrat being given the pulpit of a church that opposes abortion. At last year's AIDS summit, in November, Sen. Hillary Clinton gave a warmly received speech while Obama was among several candidates who presented taped messages via satellite.
In August, Obama appeared with Republican presidential nominee John McCain at Warren's church for a forum in which each candidate was questioned by the pastor for an hour.
Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., an outspoken homosexual, said he was "very disappointed" with Obama's choice, according to The Hill, and insisted it is irrelevant that Warren had invited Obama to the Saddleback forum, since McCain was there.
"Religious leaders obviously have every right to speak out in opposition to anti-discrimination measures, even in the degrading terms that Rev. Warren has used with regard to same-sex marriage," Frank said. "But that does not confer upon them the right to a place of honor in the inauguration ceremony of a president whose stated commitment to LGBT rights won him the strong support of the great majority of those who support that cause."
Warren, in his first statement after the announcement, commended Obama "for his courage to willingly take enormous heat from his base by inviting someone like me, with whom he doesn't agree on every issue."
"Hopefully individuals passionately expressing opinions from the left and the right will recognize that both of us have shown a commitment to model civility in America," Warren said.
"The Bible admonishes us to pray for our leaders," he continued. "I am honored by this opportunity to pray God's blessing on the office of the president and its current and future inhabitant, asking the Lord to provide wisdom to America's leaders during this critical time in our nation's history."


Obama said the inaugural ceremonies in January will include people with a "wide range of viewpoints."
Yesterday, Joe Solomonese, president of the "gay" rights group Human Rights Campaign, fired off a letter to Obama calling the president-elects choice of Warren "a genuine blow" to homosexuals.
People For the American Way also quickly issued a statement, calling the pick "a grave disappointment."
Rick Warren and Barack Obama at presidential candidate forum in August
Solomonese said to Obama that "by inviting Rick Warren to your inauguration, you have tarnished the view that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans have a place at your table."
The homosexual-rights leader cited Warren saying during the Proposition 8 campaign: "There is no need to change the universal, historical definition of marriage to appease 2 percent of our population. ... This is not a political issue – it is a moral issue that God has spoken clearly about."
Solomonese complained Warren "cannot name a single theological issue that he and vehemently, anti-gay theologian James Dobson disagree on."
Homosexuals, Solomonese wrote to Obama, have been "moved by your calls to religious leaders to own up to the homophobia and racism that has stood in the way of combating HIV and AIDS in this country."
"But in this case," he said, "we feel a deep level of disrespect when one of architects and promoters of an anti-gay agenda is given the prominence and the pulpit of your historic nomination."
People for the American Way accused Warren of being a true conservative.
"Pastor Warren, while enjoying a reputation as a moderate based on his affable personality and his church's engagement on issues like AIDS in Africa, has said that the real difference between James Dobson and himself is one of tone rather than substance," the statement said.
The group says Warren, author of all-time best-selling hardback, "The Purpose-Driven Life," has "repeated the Religious Right's big lie that supporters of equality for gay Americans are out to silence pastors."
"He has called Christians who advance a social gospel Marxists," People for the American Way said. "He is adamantly opposed to women having a legal right to choose an abortion."

WOMAN SAYS CHURCH THREATENING TO MAKE SINS PUBLIC



Woman Says Church Threatening To Make Sins Public


JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A divorced Jacksonville woman said her former church has threatened to "go public with her sins" and tell the congregation about her sexual relationship with her new boyfriend.
Rebecca Hancock said harassment from Grace Community Church in Mandarin over her sex life caused her to leave, but she said that didn't put an end to the problem. She said she received a letter from the church's elders telling her the church plans to make her personal life very public.
"I'm basically run out. I'm the church harlot," Hancock said.
The 49-year-old said she has been dating a man for a while and she said members of the congregation at Grace Community Church haven't been happy about the relationship.
"Because I have a boyfriend that I'm involved with … to not be married to that person is a sin," Hancock said.
She said the issue caused her to leave the church. However, she said the church has not let go of her.
The letter Hancock received from the church states that because she has refused to end her sexual relationship with her boyfriend, "you leave us with no other choice but to carry out the commands of the Lord Jesus Christ" … "In accordance with Matthew 18:17 we intend to 'tell it to the church.'"
"On January 4, my sins will be told to the church, publicly, with my children sitting in the church and my friends," Hancock said.
The pastor of Grace Community Church, Dr. T. Scott Christmas, told Channel 4 he had no comment.
Pastors with whom Channel 4 spoke on Monday said announcing a sin to a congregation is not abnormal. They said it's written in the Bible to punish sinners who continue to sin.
The difference in Hancock's case is that she has left the church, and the pastors said that's is usually where punishment ends.
Despite the church's letter stating its biblical backing, Hancock said she has backed out of the church and they should leave her alone because she is no longer a member.
"I am a Christian, and that will never change. My relationship with Jesus has to do with me and Jesus, and he knows my heart," Hancock said.
The book of Matthew does have three steps that the church talked about in taking action against a member who is in sin.
Hancock said she is now attending a different church, and said she is planning to send a letter to Grace Community Church to make sure it's understood that she no longer a member.

U.S TURNS ' BLIND EYE ' TO PERSECUTIONS IN IRAQ


U.S. Turns 'Blind Eye' to Persecution of Christians in Iraq


Congressman SaysWednesday, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) said at a press conference at the Capitol on Tuesday that the Bush administration has ignored the persecution of religious minorities in Iraq. Washington - The Bush administration has “turned a blind eye” to the plight of Christians and other religious minorities in Iraq, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) said Tuesday at an event sponsored by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Wolf blamed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and even Christian churches in the United States for not coming to the aid of people in Iraq who are fleeing the country by the thousands to avoid torture and even death because of their allegiance to non-Muslim faiths. “We are spending billions of dollars and have shed the blood of some of this country’s finest, and the U.S. government has not done a darn thing to protect the freedom and safety – forget freedom – the safety of Christians in Iraq,” Wolf said. “Secretary Rice has failed when it comes to this point. “When I talk about it, I get mad,” Wolf said. Tuesday’s press conference marked the release of the commission’s 2008 study on religious freedom around the globe. The commission also announced that it voted 5-4 to elevate Iraq from the watch list of countries where religious persecution is suspected, to a “country of particular concern” because of “ongoing severe abuses of religious freedom and based on the Iraqi government’s toleration of these abuses.” The report names the minority religious groups being persecuted in Iraq, including the ancient Chaldean Catholics and Assyrian Christians, the Sabean Mandaeans and the Yazidis. “The lack of effective government action to protect these communities from abuses has established Iraq among the most dangerous places on earth for religious minorities,” said Felice D. Gaer, chairwoman of the commission. Aside from a panel of seven of the nine commissioners, several other lawmakers weighed in on the commission’s report and recommendations at the press conference. “In the last three months alone it is estimated that about half of the 20,000 Christians in the largely Kurdish city of Mosul have fled that city,” Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said in a prepared statement. “Since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, over one-third of the Christian population of Iraq, a community of some 800,000, have left the country.” In a joint statement by Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.) and Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), co-chairmen of the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, the lawmakers said both the U.S. and Iraqi governments should be held accountable for the ongoing religiously motivated violence in Iraq. “The Iraqi government has a moral obligation to protect the rights of all minority communities by implementing concrete solutions to ensure their safety,” the statement said. “The United States must take the lead and provide a ‘humanitarian surge’ in responding to this crisis.”


The commission’s report provides details of violence against Christians in Iraq, including the February 2008 abduction and murder of the Chaldean archbishop of Mosul, Paulos Faraj Rahho, and two of his aides. In April 2008, Assyrian Orthodox priest Youssef Adel was killed in a drive-by shooting in Baghdad. The summary of the report details numerous recommendations the U.S. and Iraqi governments should take. Recommendations for Iraqi action include training and funding police units representative of minority communities to enhance security in neighborhoods and places of worship, and prosecution of individuals or groups that commit human rights violations. It also calls for changes in the Iraqi constitution, including revising Article 2, which guarantees “the Islamic identity of the majority” to ensure the “identity of minorities” in Iraq. The long list of recommendations for the U.S. government – noted by panelists and Wolf to be aimed at the incoming Obama administration – includes increased funding for the cause of reducing violence against religious minorities and the creation of task forces to study the issue and to send a human rights special envoy to Iraq. The report also calls for the upcoming election in Iraq to be “safe and fair,” and recommends that the U.S. government also address the plight of religious refugees who have fled Iraq, including facilitating the resettlement of the “most vulnerable Iraqis” in the United States and to work to curtail delays in that resettlement process.

ABORTION PILL TO BE MADE AVAILABLE IN ITALY : PLEASE DO PRAY



Abortion pill to be made available in Italy
RU486 abortion pill to be made available in Italy next month despite Vatican's objections

The RU486 abortion pill is to be made available in Italy next month despite objections from the Vatican and the ruling centre Right, which described it as "legal back door abortion".
The pill, which blocks the action of hormones needed to keep a fertilized egg implanted in the uterus, was censured by the Vatican in a basic document last week on bio-ethics which also condemned artificial fertilization, human cloning, "designer babies" and embryonic stem-cell research.
Today Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, the Holy See's health minister, said "The Catholic Church understands the personal drama of a young woman who is pregnant against her will, but condemns abortion, in whatever form it is practised, because an innocent being is killed. An embryo is a human being, with all the rights of a human being".
However Corriere della Sera reported that a decision to approve the RU486 pill by the then centre Left government of Romano Prodi in February, cannot be reversed by the present centre Right government of Silvio Berlusconi, which took office in May.
Francesca Martini, deputy minister of Welfare, said "Experience abroad has shown there are wide margins of risks, ineffectiveness and complications related to chemical abortion attempts." However Guido Rasi, head of the Italian medicines agency AIFA, said it expected to give the final go ahead by the end of this week. RU486 would be available only in hospitals, and doctors who disapproved had the option of conscientious objection.
Giorgia Meloni, the Minister for Youth, said "This is not a contraceptive. This is something else. It's a drug with serious risks that interrupts a pregnancy already under way. Every new tool to stop life is not a victory for someone. On the contrary, it is a defeat for society".
However Silvio Viale, a gynaecologist at a Turin hospital, insisted that "Worries about the dangers are baseless: studies have proved it is safe. Patients have to return to the clinic two days after taking the first pill for a second one based on prostaglandin, which aids expulsion of the foetus". Silvana Mura of the centre Left Italy of Values party said the Prodi government had taken its decision "in the interests of women. They will now have an alternative to surgery".

CONGO'S BLOOD DIAMONDS : FACT , FICTION IN WASHINGTON


Congo's Blood Diamonds: Fact, Fiction in Washington


WASHINGTON-Famous television journalist Valerie Grey went to the Democratic Republic of Congo to cover the seemingly endless and bloody war that's being waged between rival Congolese factions. What she found was a multibillion-dollar diamond smuggling scheme that began with slave labor, was orchestrated by both a famous American televangelist and the Congo's controversial dictator and blazed a trail of corruption all the way to the White House.
Throw in a saucy love triangle, and this enticing tale of suspense and romance sounds like a great premise for a fictional thriller. After all, a conspiracy of this magnitude couldn't possibly be true-And that's because it isn't, at least not completely.Westchester County author Dave Donelson, who offered the narrative in his third book, the recently released "Heart of Diamonds," admits that his work is fiction, but it certainly contains carats of truth.Those interested in learning exactly how true or not the story is can ask Mr. Donelson directly at a reading and discussion next week at the Gunn Memorial Library."This war has been going off and on for 15 years, but it's really heated up in the past couple of months. And the parties are fighting over the same thing as always-mineral wealth," said Mr. Donelson about the African conflict. "In [the book], a television reporter goes to cover this war and discovers a diamond smuggling scheme meant to avoid paying ... the Congo government. As bizarre as it may sound, even though the book is fiction, it is based on some actual events."It seems that the book finds itself jumping between literary invention, reality and that opaque area in between the two. Fiction: Though some resemblances are uncanny, all the characters, even the politicians, are made up. So is the love triangle, which finds the main character caught between conflicting feelings for companion David Powell, the colleague who helped shape her career, and Dr. Jaime Talon, who runs a struggling clinic near the diamond mine she has discovered.Truth: The backdrop for the story, the Second Congo War, has seen nearly six million people killed in the past 10 years. It is officially the bloodiest war the world has witnessed since World War II. The diamond mines in the book, ones which have too many Africans employed at the end of a gun, do exist. In modern vernacular, the product they generate is known as "blood diamonds."Curiosity: The book's televangelist, Gary Peterson, befriends the Congo's illusory dictator, Moishe Messime, and the two become business partners in a large-scale mining operation. When a rebel faction threatens the operation, the reverend uses his powerful political connections to send American troops into the country under the guise of a humanitarian effort. In the mid-1990s, famed televangelist Pat Robertson received a 50,000-acre diamond mine from the now-deceased Congo dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. In return, Mr. Robertson pushed, though unsuccessfully, for American military support and political asylum for Mobutu. Though questions about his dealings, and so-called humanitarian efforts, in Africa have been raised, there is no evidence Mr. Robertson was ever involved in a blood diamond smuggling scheme. Mr. Donelson, a writer and entrepreneur, has been working on "Heart of Diamonds" for about five years. The inspiration came to him after first reading of atrocities in the Congo in a 1995 Time magazine article. Since then, he has twice visited the Congo's surrounding region, though for safety reasons, never ventured into the actual country."We went to Zambia, which is to the south of the Congo, and by that time the war was at its peak, so I was not permitted to visit the Congo. Nor would my wife let me," commented Mr. Donelson. "As the manuscript wrapped up, we went to Uganda, right over the eastern border of the Congo. There were thousands of refugees there, and that's where the fighting is going on." The eastern section of the Congo is arguably the most lawless region of the planet. Ever since the country's liberation from Belgium some 50 years ago, it has been mired in political corruption and social upheaval. Dozens of rival tribes harbor ethnically-charged resentment toward each other that dates so far back it is fit for a Shakespearian tragedy. If battles are waged over anything tangible, such as minerals, all the money earned typically winds up in a Swiss bank account, as opposed to the revenue side of a federal budget. This unchecked greed leaves basically no funds for medicine, education or infrastructure. In land area, the Congo is about the size of Western Europe, yet it only has about 2,500 miles of roads. Malnutrition and disease are rampant. Children carry semi-automatic weapons like T-ball bats. And it's almost unheard of for a woman to make it through life without experiencing some degree of sexual assault. All of this, according to observers, raises an interesting policy question: Given the level of these atrocities, why hasn't the United States, or any other country, intervened? Though Saddam Hussein was an indisputably vicious man who gassed scores of Kurdish Iraqis, he kept Iraq relatively stable and, at least by Middle Eastern standards, Westernized. Millions of Congolese, meanwhile, live daily in unspeakably horrific conditions yet have seen almost no American presence. "We don't have a dog in this fight," said Mr. Donelson of the current political climate. In other words, despite all that there is to gain from implementing stability and building good relations with a country so rich in natural resources, the U.S. lacks a vested interest in the Congo. "The U.S. doesn't have a good record of world policing. The battle cry, 'We will never let Rwanda happen again' has proved largely untrue," said Mr. Donelson, referring to the massive Rwandan ethnic genocide of 1994. "But the U.N. hasn't done anything either. U.N. mandates protect the civilians, but it won't stop the fighting."But not all hope is lost. Mr. Donelson sees better days ahead for the Congo, just not anytime soon. Away from the eastern portion, the rest of the country is in the midst of slowly rebuilding. And a central government is on its way. Two years ago, a new president, Joseph Kabila, was voted in, and next year the country will vote for a new parliament and a more efficient system of checks-and-balances. "As dark as it is, steps are being taken. It's going to be a long struggle," said Mr. Donelson, who said he would take "Heart of Diamonds" off shelves if it meant peace in the African nation. "But I'm optimistic the Congo can be a leader of the continent."The library program, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 9, is free and open to the public. A book-signing will follow the discussion.

UNCLE SAM WILL PAY $450 MILLION THIS YEAR JUST TO COVER INYEREST ON NATIONAL DEBT


Uncle Sam Will Pay $450 Billion This Year Just to Cover Interest on National Debt


- A November Treasury Department report states that the interest payment on the federal debt for Fiscal Year 2009 will be about $450 billion, making it the fourth largest expense in the federal budget behind Medicare-Medicaid, Social Security and defense spending. The federal fiscal year runs from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30. The Treasury Department report presents the budget estimates for the full fiscal year 2009, which the interest payment and federal department budget projections are based upon. If President-elect Barack Obama and the Democratic congressional leadership enact a proposed $1 trillion stimulus plan in early 2009, it could add about $50 billion to those annual interest payments, budget experts told CNSNews.com on Monday. According to the Treasury Department report, released on Dec. 10, the federal government expects to pay $449,070,000.00 in interest on Treasury debt securities for FY 2009. The Health and Human Services budget, which includes Medicare and Medicaid, will cost $739,241,000.00 for the fiscal year; Social Security Administration, $699,976,000.00; and the Defense Department-Military budget, $656,722,000.00. (Estimates by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget are nearly identical.) Chris Edwards, director of tax policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute, told CNSNews.com on Monday that the money paid by the Treasury for interest is different than other expenditures, because it does not directly benefit taxpayers. “It represents money that can’t be used for tax reduction or spending programs,” said Edwards. If the Obama administration is able to enact a $1 trillion stimulus package, taxpayers can expect to see $50 billion added to the annual payment, because the federal government usually borrows at an interest rate of about 5 percent, said Edwards and Brian Riedel, the latter who is a senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation. The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday that Obama's team is considering a stimulus package for the faltering U.S. economy that could reach $1 trillion over two years. “The fact that we are borrowing a trillion dollars means that someone has to pay that back,” said Edwards. “The economic fact is that while Americans are consuming a trillion more in stuff this year, people in later years will have to pay for it.”

CATHOLIC NEWSPAPER FACES BAN FOR WRITTING " ALLAH "



Catholic newspaper faces ban for writing "Allah"


A Catholic newspaper in Malaysia is facing a ban for using the word "Allah" to describe the Christian god.
Unless the government changes its mind, the Herald Catholic Weekly has only two weeks left to run before its licence expires at the end of the year.
The deputy home minister Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh said: "Until December 31 we are not going to announce anything. There is plenty of time till then. Let them wait."
Malaysia is a semi-authoritarian country with strict media laws which has been ruled by the same government since independence from Britain 51 years ago.
Almost 60 per cent of the population are ethnic Malay Muslims and the remainder are ethnic Chinese or Indians following a variety of religions. These large ethnic and religious minorities claim that the government is attempting to stir Malay Muslim sentiment in attempt to deflect its unpopularity and maintain power.
"The Catholic Herald's 'Allah' is seen as a threat to national security," said Father Lawrence Andrew, editor of the Herald.
"We are now a scapegoat, a means for the Malay Muslims to rally together."
His newspaper, established in 1980 with a circulation of 14,000, is published in a variety of languages. In the Malay language the only word for "God" is "Allah" and the enwspaper claims it is impossible to avoid.
In March this year the government slumped to its worst ever election result due, analysts say, to a weakening economy and public anger over corruption. Ethnic minorities are also angry at laws which offer cheap loans, job opportunities and other preferences to ethnic Malays.
The 51-year-old regime is now seen as vulnerable to a challenge by the opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who wants to abolish the racial preferences system.
In recent weeks the Chinese community has been angered by a proposal to close Chinese language schools. A group of Indian community leaders are languishing in prison without charge after leading a protest against the demolition of Hindu temples a year ago.
Earlier this week police detained a group of mostly Indian protesters attempting to deliver a petition on labour rights to the government.
The ruling UMNO party has internal elections early next year and the new prime minister designate, Najib Razak, is seen as a hardliner.

LIVING DISPLAY OF JESUS'S LIFE DRAWS RECORD CROWDS



Living display of Jesus' life draws record crowds

STERLING HEIGHTS
-- Bethesda Christian Church's popular drive-through Christmas display logged more visitors than ever this year, as modern worshippers sought a leisurely -- and warmer -- way to celebrate the season.
More than 7,000 people wound through the church property at Metropolitan Parkway and Schoenherr during the four-day "Living Christmas Story" last week, the biggest attendance in its three-year history, organizers say.
The homage to the life of Jesus is "a gift to the community," Senior Pastor Analee Dunn said. "We don't always have things people can come to and feel comfortable ... especially if you're on a tight budget. Each year we get a little better at it."
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More than 500 volunteers took part in the event that featured outdoor scenes stationed around the property. Drivers watch the story while creeping along in their vehicles and listening to the narration on a complementary compact disc. The event featured 11 scenes, each depicting an aspect of Jesus' life, including the angel visiting Mary, the Last Supper and Jesus walking on water.
Mary Cherry, 91, said the retelling of Jesus' life had a profound impact.
"We went through the gates of Jerusalem, and it felt like we were right there," said Cherry, who attended a preview show with seniors from Maple Village Retirement Center in Bloomfield Hills. "I have never seen anything like it. It was remarkable.
"It was such a contrast to what's going on in the world around us."
With the economy in the doldrums, "people are looking for hope," said the Rev. Timothy Helland, a family pastor at the church. "The story of Jesus is a story full of hope."
Denise Johnson said it was a necessary reminder of what the holiday is all about.
"Unfortunately, we sometimes forget the meaning of Christmas," said Johnson, a Medilodge employee. "It can see how it would become a family tradition. It was fabulous."