Signs of the Times

Christianity to be restored in U.S. Capitol

WorldNetDaily — Documentation of the Christian heritage of the United States will be restored, at least partly, to a new $600 million Capitol Visitors Center in Washington which earlier had been scrubbed of references to the religious faith and influences of the Founding Fathers. The plans drew objections from members of Congress. The new 580,000-square-foot center, mostly built underneath the grounds just east of the U.S. Capitol to protect the scenic views of the historic building, is about three-quarters the size of the Capitol itself, has exhibition galleries, theaters, a 550-seat cafeteria, gift shops and myriad other features. But according to members of Congress, the project run by the office of the architect of the Capitol was on course to lack a full picture of the U.S. Rep. J. Randy Forbes, R-Va., organized a letter eventually signed by 108 members of Congress expressing concern the historical content simply was inaccurate. Now he's announced that the Committee on House Administration and the Senate Rules and Administration Committee have agreed to include references to the nation's religious history in the new project.

Wow! It's still OK to Pray in Jesus' Name

WorldNetDaily — The judges on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals have used a case from Cobb County, Ga., to proclaim that praying "in Jesus' name" is acceptable at county board meetings when other constitutional provisions are followed. The ruling this week sets up a conflict with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which concluded in an opinion written by ex-Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor that city officials properly excluded from a rotation of leaders for opening prayers at a municipal meeting a pastor who prayed "in Jesus' name." "Finally an appeals court with some common sense has ruled what I've been saying all along. The government cannot parse the content of anybody's prayer, nor forbid prayers offered 'in Jesus' name' in legislative bodies, or by government chaplains," said Chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt. Klingenschmitt was discharged from the U.S. Navy in a dispute with his commander over praying in uniform "in Jesus' name," although he later won a victory in Congress that now allows other chaplains to pray as their conscience dictates.

Archaeologist Finds 3000-Year Old Hebrew Text

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- An Israeli archaeologist has discovered what he says is the earliest-known Hebrew text, found on a shard of pottery that dates to the time of King David from the Old Testament, about 3,000 years ago. Professor Yosef Garfinkel of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem says the inscribed pottery shard -- known as an ostracon -- was found during excavations of a fortress from the 10th century BC. Carbon dating of the ostracon, along with pottery analysis, dates the inscription to time of King David, about a millennium earlier than the famous Dead Sea Scrolls, the university said. The shard contains five lines of text divided by black lines and measures 15 by 15 centimeters, or about 6 inches square. The site of Khirbet Qeiyafa is located near the place where the Bible describes the battle between David and Goliath -- the Elah Valley, which shares its name with the fortress. "The chronology and geography of Khirbet Qeiyafa create a unique meeting point between the mythology, history, historiography and archaeology of King David," said Professor Yosef Garfinkel of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

20% of Homeowners Owe More to Lenders than their Homes are Worth

NEVADA (AP) — Here's a shocker: almost half of Nevada homeowners with a mortgage owe more to the bank than their homes are worth. Nationwide, almost one out of every five homeowners with a mortgage owes more to their lender than their properties are worth. However, just a few states account for 60% of the total – Nevada, California, Arizona, Florida, Georgia and Michigan. If you subtract those states, the rate drops to about one in 10. Some experts predict the problem will get much worse. Nationally, home prices are already down about 20% from their peak in mid-2006. By the time the housing market hits bottom, prices may be down 40% from the top, leaving 40% of homeowners underwater, according to Nouriel Roubini, economics professor at New York University.

USA TODAY — The government is weighing a plan to restructure hundreds of billions of dollars in home mortgages, its most ambitious effort yet to curb high foreclosures. The plan is expected to help 2 million to 3 million homeowners at risk of losing their homes and cost the Treasury Department $40 billion to $50 billion, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The plan is still being finalized, and the details could change, the sources said. Under the proposal discussed, banks, thrifts and other mortgage servicers would stave off foreclosures by restructuring loans based on a homeowner's ability to pay. They could do so by lowering homeowners' principal balance, reducing interest rates or changing the loan terms.

• JJ Commentary: Why weren’t such mortgages based on “a homeowner’s ability to pay” in the first place? And why do we taxpayers have to bail out banks and borrowers for their stupidity?

Economy

WASHINGTON — The economy shrank July through September, as consumer spending fell by the most in nearly 30 years and businesses pulled back, the government said Thursday in a report that lends weight to widespread fears that the nation is in a recession. The Commerce Department said gross domestic product, the broadest measure of goods and services produced in the country, shrank at a 0.3% annual rate in the third quarter. Consumer spending, which accounts for about two-thirds of economic activity, shrank at a 3.1% annual rate. The new figures mark the worst performance since the July-September period of 2001, when the economy, mired in recession, shrank at a 1.4% pace. During the far steeper downturn of 1990-91, economic activity slid at a much steeper 3% annual rate in one quarter.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan's Prime Minister Taro Aso has announced a 30 trillion yen ($300 billion) stimulus package and credits to bolster the country's economy. Aso said Thursday the package would include loans and credits for small and medium-sized businesses, a reduction in highway tolls and 2 trillion yen ($20 billion) fixed-sum benefits to households. Aso said he was also considering raising consumption taxes.

USA TODAY — It's a measure of the global economy's current frailty that the prospect of a financial meltdown in nuclear-armed Pakistan is almost getting lost amid an ever-lengthening list of countries in trouble. In Europe, Hungary and Ukraine require multibillion-dollar International Monetary Fund rescues while Standard & Poor's lowers neighbor Romania's credit rating to junk status. Argentina's government is trying to close a financial gap by putting private pension funds under government control. And Asian nations with unsustainable finances such as Vietnam and the Philippines are braced for harder times. If the first wave of the financial crisis hit the United States hardest, the second blow seems set to punish foreign lands. Global pain now is spreading from the United Kingdom, where the economy already is shrinking, through Middle Eastern oil producers pinched by crude's price plunge, to Japan where the government said Tuesday that September's retail sales were lower than a year ago. Suddenly, after six consecutive years of expansion, the world economy appears to rest on quicksand.

• JJ Commentary: That “quicksand” Jesus warned about is comprised of greed, speculation and debt.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Exxon Mobil Corp. set a quarterly profit record for a U.S. company Thursday, surging past analyst estimates. Exxon Mobil, the leading U.S.oil company, said its third-quarter net profit was $14.83 billion, or $2.86 per share, up from $9.41 billion, or $1.70, a year earlier. The company's earnings were buoyed by oil prices, which reached record highs in the quarter before declining. Oil prices were trading at $140.97 a barrel at the beginning of the third quarter, and had fallen to $100.64 at the end.

• JJ Commentary: In a free-market, companies are free to make as much money as they can. However, it is an illusion to believe that we actually have a free-market anymore. Global collusion trumps free-market forces all the time nowadays.

Meltdown Hits Small Towns, Retirees and the Rich as Well

As the nation's economy worsens, workers are being laid off by thousands Georgia has been especially hard-hit. From August to September, this state shed 22,300 jobs, more than any other state except Michigan. Most of Georgia's job losses came in the carpet-producing region of north Georgia, says state Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond. Plant closings in small towns have a greater impact than in urban settings and can alter the demographic fabric of a community, says Kenneth Johnson, senior demographer at the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire. Demographer Johnson says small towns that lose their main employer often fade into obscurity.

USA TODAY — F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote that "the very rich … are different from you and me," but in the current financial meltdown, the rich are cutting back like the rest of us. Not to say their suffering is quite the same. A reader survey in Elite Traveler magazine, distributed on private jets and at yacht clubs, found more than 90% planned to spend the same or less until 2009. The merely wealthy worry more than the fabulously wealthy. Among families worth $1 million to $10 million, 76% planned to cut spending. Of those who are worth at least $30 million, only 29% planned to trim.

Older Americans are watching their retirement savings evaporate as the economy slumps and the stock market falters. Some have lost 35%-40% of their 401(k) savings due to the stock market crash. "We're seeing that those funds were never guaranteed, that the stock market can go down and stay down and that the fees can erode earnings and contributions so that people end up with less than they put in," says Teresa Ghilarducci, professor of economics at the New School for Social Research in New York.

Car Sales Going from Bad to Worse

Charting the rise and fall of car and truck sales is a simple way to gauge the health of the economy. When we feel good about our prospects, we buy. When fearful, we hold back. Vehicle sales have dropped so sharply that one analyst wonders how many people are just going to hold on to their vehicles until they fall apart. In September, taxable sales of new and used motor vehicles were down 29.8 percent from a year earlier, the Arizona Department of Revenue reported Thursday. The skid in sales puts pressure not only on automakers, auto dealers and their employees, but on state and local governments, which count on the sales-tax revenues. This decade, vehicle sales have run about 16 million to 17 million units a year. J.D. Power and Associates, a marketing-information services firm, predicts sales will fall to about 13.6 million units this year and 13.2 million units in 2009.

Company Layoffs Increase

NEW YORK — Motorola posted a hefty loss in the third quarter Thursday, citing the continued troubles of its cellphone division. The maker of communications gear said it would get rid of 3,000 jobs by April. In a stark acknowledgment of the tough times ahead in the credit card industry, American Express said Thursday that it plans to cut 7,000 jobs, or about 10% of its worldwide work force, in an effort to slash costs by $1.8 billion in 2009.

Medicare Drug Plan Spending Drops $6B in 2008

In a rare bit of good news for taxpayers, the cost of the Medicare prescription drug program fell $6 billion this year — savings driven by the widespread use of low-cost generic drugs. The prescription drug program for seniors has cost about one-third less — about $50 billion — than originally estimated since it started in January 2006. When the program started, the Congressional Budget Office had predicted it would cost $74 billion a year by 2008. Medicare actuaries predicted even higher costs. Seniors have seen savings, too. The monthly premium for basic drug coverage was $26.70 in 2008 — a third less than forecast. The drug plan was the most expensive new federal program since the 1960s, until the current financial bailout. About 32 million seniors are now enrolled.

FDA Ignored Evidence when Calling BPA Safe

The Food and Drug Administration ignored evidence when concluding that a chemical in plastic baby bottles is safe, according to an expert panel asked to review the agency's handling of the controversial substance. The excluded studies suggest bisphenol A, or BPA, could pose harm to children at levels at least 10 times lower than the amount the agency says is safe, according to the report written by outside scientists. The scientists took the FDA to task for basing its safety decision in August on three industry-funded studies. The expert panel also found the FDA underestimated how much BPA babies ingest on several counts. For one, the agency failed to consider the cumulative effect of being exposed to BPA from dozens of products, a fundamental error that "severely limits the usefulness" of the FDA's safety estimate.

• JJ Commentary: Unfortunately for us, the FDA has consistently used industry-funded studies to justify their safety rulings. Not surprisingly, such studies routinely support allowing tainted products to enter the marketplace. Greed and cronyism rear their ugly heads once again.

U.S. Deaths in Iraq on Track for Record Low

As of Thursday, the Pentagon had reported 13 U.S. troops killed in combat and non-combat incidents this month in Iraq. If the number holds, it would tie July for the lowest monthly U.S. death toll of the 5½-year-old war. Security has improved in the Iraqi capital and elsewhere thanks to truces by sectarian militias, more effective U.S. counterinsurgency strategies, and a dramatic increase in the size and effectiveness of Iraqi forces. Militant groups such as al-Qaeda have shifted their base to Afghanistan, where U.S. fatalities in October were higher than those in Iraq for the second consecutive month.

At Least 77 Dead Following India Blasts

GAUHATI, India (AP) — A series of coordinated blasts tore through India's volatile northeast on Thursday, killing at least 61 people, wounding more than 300 and setting police on a frantic search for any unexploded bombs. The largest blast was near the office of the Assam state's top government official, leaving bodies and mangled cars and motorcycles strewn across the road. It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the blasts that went off within minutes of each other, but the region is torn by dozens of militant separatist groups that have long fought the government and one another. At least 300 people were injured in the 13 blasts, most caused by bombs and at least one from a hand grenade.

• JJ Commentary: This cauldron of chaos is typical of the mindless mania stirred up by Satanic fury as his days grow short.

China's Animal Feed Tainted with Melamine

BEIJING (AP) — Animal feed producers in China commonly add the industrial chemical melamine to their products to make them appear higher in protein, state media reported Thursday, an indication that the scope of the country's latest food safety scandal could extend beyond milk and eggs. The practice of mixing melamine into animal feed is an "open secret" in the industry, the Nanfang Daily newspaper reported in an article that was republished on the websites of the official Xinhua News Agency and the Communist Party mouthpiece People's Daily. Publicizing such a problem is rare for the Chinese media and appears to be a tacit admission by China's central government that melamine contamination is widespread. The news comes after four brands of Chinese eggs were found to be contaminated with melamine, which agriculture officials have speculated came from adulterated feed given to hens. The discovery of the tainted eggs followed on the heels of a similar crisis involving compromised dairy products that sent tens of thousands of children to the hospital and was linked to the deaths of four infants. Health experts say ingesting a small amount of melamine poses no danger, but in larger doses, it can cause kidney stones and lead to kidney failure.

Turkish Ship Hijacked off Somalia

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Pirates have hijacked a Turkish freighter carrying 20 crewmembers and a load of iron ore in the waters off Somalia, Turkey's maritime authorities said Thursday, the latest of dozens of piracy incidents in those troubled waters. The waters off Somalia are considered among the most dangerous amid a renewed outbreak in piracy. Somalia is caught up in an Islamic insurgency and has no functioning government, no navy and no coast guard to police its coast. This week, the European Union announced details of its planned anti-piracy patrols off Somalia's coast, saying at least four warships backed by aircraft would begin policing there in December. NATO sent three ships over the weekend into the Gulf of Aden for anti-piracy patrols and escorting cargo vessels. Several warships of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet have also been deployed off the Horn of Africa. About 20,000 vessels pass annually through the Gulf of Aden, which links the Indian Ocean with the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea. The Gulf of Aden is one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.

Pakistan Quake Toll Rises to at Least 300

WAM, Pakistan (AP) — Authorities scrambled to help earthquake survivors in the frigid mountains of southwestern Pakistan on Thursday as the death toll rose to 215. The 6.4-magnitude quake hit an area of Pakistan's Baluchistan province near the Afghan border before dawn Wednesday, demolishing an estimated 2,000 homes in a string of villages. Hospitals were still treating dozens of seriously injured people. The army airlifted supplies and medical teams into the hard-hit Ziarat district, where an estimated 15,000 people were left homeless in the region, which is some 2,000 meters (6,561 feet) above sea level.

Weather Signs

Mission News Network reports that more than 270,000 people in Honduras have been forced to flee their homes again due widespread flooding and mudslides caused by unusually heaving rains. The flooding has devasted vulnerable areas and destroyed bean and maize crops. The country was just finishing rebuilding from Hurricane Mitch in 1998. "We've got people on the ground there now who are helping us become more specific in what the needs are," said Myles Fish with International Aid. The organization also responded to Mitch. "Our first attempts will be with healthcare supplies, some food, and we're sending our water filters down because we've heard that many of the water systems have been broken." Many in Honduras were already struggling to make ends meet before their harvest was destroyed.

Wildfires

The Marteen wildfire in Arizona (northwest of Williams) has scorched 9,500 acres. No structures have burned or are being threatened in this remote area, so the fire is being allowed to burn itself out.

Earthquakes

DALLAS (AP) — Two minor earthquakes have shaken the Dallas-Fort Worth area, but no significant damage has immediately been reported. The U.S. Geological Survey says an earthquake with a 2.5 magnitude was reported at 11:25 p.m. Thursday, centered in the Grand Prairie area. The agency says a slightly stronger quake, at 3.0 magnitude, occurred at 12:01 a.m. Friday, centered in Irving about 10 miles west of Dallas. USGS geophysicist Randy Baldwin says aftershocks could last several days.