Washington and Wall Street seem to be treating California as if it were a sideshow in the financial circus of these turbulent times.It’s not.
California is home to the largest manufacturing belt in the United States and to Silicon Valley, the nation’s largest high-tech center.
California is America’s most populous state with 38 million people. Its GDP of $1.8 trillion is the largest in the U.S. Its economy is bigger than those of Russia, Brazil, Canada, or India.
The patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Ethiopia says he will announce to the world Friday the unveiling of the Ark of the Covenant, perhaps the world’s most prized archaeological and spiritual artifact, which he says has been hidden away in a church in his country for millennia, according to the Italian news agency Adnkronos.
Abuna Pauolos, in Italy for a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI this week, told the news agency, “Soon the world will be able to admire the Ark of the Covenant described in the Bible as the container of the tablets of the law that God delivered to Moses and the center of searches and studies for centuries.”
Nearly two dozen tornados ripped through the Midwest last night, flipping cars, knocking out power for thousands and injuring one person severely.
In Austin, Minn., one possible tornado tore through the northern side of the town causing damage estimates in the millions and injuring several horses.
T
he entire United States faces the threat of a shortage of food because of the severe drought in California, the state which meets about 1/3 of the country’s food needs.
The farmlands of California are irrigated by diverted rivers and streams that are filled yearly with runoff from the Sierra Nevada snowpack and by pumping of groundwater as well through some other less-reliable methods. But, the snowpack is disappearing fast.
The cruel drought is now in its third year. In California’s central valley – which is home to a majority of the state’s agricultural output – farmers are leaving hundreds of thousands of acres fallow.
Commodity analyst says crop failure would shock more than $150 oil
A commodities expert has launched a warning that the next major crop failure around the world could be a bigger shock than $150 oil and result in “mass starvation.”
The forecast comes from Chicago-based Don Coxe, a leading agricultural industry expert, in a report in the Commodity Online publication.
“When we have the first serious crop failure, which will happen, we will then have a full-blown food crisis, which we will not be able to get out of because we will still be struggling to catch up (as a result of diminished crop yields),” he told the publication.
A specter is haunting the world—the return of capitalism. Over the past six months, politicians, businessmen and pundits have been convinced that we are in the midst of a crisis of capitalism that will require a massive transformation and years of pain to fix. Nothing will ever be the same again. “Another ideological god has failed,” the dean of financial commentators, Martin Wolf, wrote in the Financial Times. Companies will “fundamentally reset” the way they work, said the CEO of General Electric, Jeffrey Immelt. “Capitalism will be different,” said Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
No economic system ever remains unchanged, of course, and certainly not after a deep financial collapse and a broad global recession. But over the past few months, even though we’ve had an imperfect stimulus package, nationalized no banks and undergone no grand reinvention of capitalism, the sense of panic seems to be easing. Perhaps this is a mirage—or perhaps the measures taken by states around the world, chiefly the U.S. government, have restored normalcy. Every expert has a critique of specific policies, but over time we might see that faced with the decision to underreact or overreact, most governments chose the latter. That choice might produce new problems in due course—a topic for another essay—but it appears to have averted a systemic breakdown.
10 My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
11 If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:
12 Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:Â (Sounds a little like today’s dog eat dog business world doesn’t it?)
13 We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:
15 My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:
16 For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.
17 Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.
18 And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.
19 So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
So instead of greed being good, it takes away the life from the owners thereof!! People get overwhelmed with greed and can’t stop! Profit is one thing, however, how much money does one person need?  Is God against profit? Oh, my NO! He says in Isa 48:17 “Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.” Even in the Parable of the Talents, He praises the ones that have doubled their money by trading. But WAY beyond the scope of this Biblical Perspective is how we can fix all of this without letting greed destroy us–AND, make no mistake–we are almost destroyed and the jury is still out whether the financial system of the world can yet be repaired before it fails totally. Needless to say, the correct way to profit is outlined in the Bible. One of the best things in the Bible is doing away with usury–especially with loans between brethren. Can you imagine the world subscribing to not getting the maximum interest rates the market will bear? Then how about the Biblical years of release on every 7th year , but even better the Jubilee every 50 years where ALL debts are erased and all land reverts to its original owners? Can you see today’s greedy business world subscribing to that??? Neither can I.
So the system WILL be fixed, but not until Christ returns. God speed that day!!!
Ron Wheeler
Elder, Church of God-Faithful Flock
PBS board members have decided to enforce a rule barring religious broadcasts in a move that spells the beginning of the end for most spiritual shows like Catholic Masses and Mormon devotionals on public television.
PBS board members, who for 25 years have turned a blind eye to religious programming at some of their member stations’ religious programing, have decided to enforce a rule banning the broadcasts — a move that spells the beginning of the end for religious shows on public television.
Six PBS stations currently broadcast “sectarian” programs produced by local religious groups, including the morning “Mass for Shut-Ins,” which is popular among elderly and ailing Catholics who cannot attend the daily service.
New Brit report: Authorities have ‘right to access of the home’
A British plan to allow local authorities “the right of access to the home” and “the right to speak with each child alone” in order to evaluate homeschooling families and make certain they do what the government wants is a warning about what could happen in the United States, according to the world’s largest homeschool advocacy organization.
“On June 11, 2009, a report on home education in England by Graham Badman, a former Managing Director of Children, Families and Education in the County of Kent, was accepted in full by the British Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families,” according to today’s report from the Home School Legal Defense Association.
ORIGINAL CAPTION: When Darrel Watson went outside his home west of Elbert, he had quite a view. After running in to get his camera, he ended up with quite a photo. His subject was a 100-yard-wide tornado that destroyed two barns but did not cause any injuries. story, 10A (Darrel Watson, Special to The Denver Post)
CASH is accelerating down the path to extinction as new technologies threaten to mark the end of loose change within a decade.
Bank and credit union bosses say cash won’t be alone, with wallets and credit cards also likely to disappear too.
By Anthony Keane
http://www.news.com.au/
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