Americans' Unhappy Birthday: 'Too Much Wrong'
http://www.newsmax.com/us/americas_bad_mood/2008/07/06/110250.html
-- Even folks in the Optimist Club are having a tough time toeing an upbeat line these days. Eighteen members of the volunteer organization's Gilbert, Ariz., chapter have gathered, a few days before this nation's 232nd birthday, to focus on the positive: Their book drive for schoolchildren and an Independence Day project to place American flags along the streets of one neighborhood.
They beam through the Pledge of Allegiance, applaud each other's good news _ a house that recently sold despite Arizona's down market, and one member's valiant battle with cancer. "I didn't die," she says as the others cheer.
But then talk turns to the state of the Union, and the Optimists become decidedly bleak.
They use words such as "terrified," "disgusted" and "scary" to describe what one calls "this mess" we Americans find ourselves in. Then comes the list of problems constituting the mess: a protracted war, $4-a-gallon gas, soaring food prices, uncertainty about jobs, an erratic stock market, a tougher housing market, and so on and so forth.
One member's son is serving his second tour in Iraq. Another speaks of a daughter who's lost her job in the mortgage industry and a son in construction whose salary was slashed. Still another mentions a friend who can barely afford gas.
Joanne Kontak, 60, an elementary school lunch aide inducted just this day as an Optimist, sums things up like this: "There's just entirely too much wrong right now."
Happy birthday, America? This year, we're not so sure.
The nation's psyche is battered and bruised, the sense of pessimism palpable. Young or old, Republican or Democrat, economically stable or struggling, Americans are questioning where they are and where they are going. And they wonder who or what might ride to their rescue.
These are more than mere gripes, but rather an expression of fears _ concerns reflected not only in the many recent polls that show consumer confidence plummeting, personal happiness waning and more folks worrying that the country is headed in the wrong direction, but also in conversations happening all across the land.
"There are so many things you have to do to survive now," says Larue Lawson of Forest Park, Ill. "It used to be just clothes on your back, food on the table and a roof over your head. Now, it's everything.
"I wish it was just simpler."
Lawson, mind you, is all of 16 years old.
Then there's this from Sherry White in Orlando, Fla., who has a half-century in years and experience on the teenager:
"There is a sense of helplessness everywhere you look. It's like you're stuck in one spot, and you can't do anything about it."
In 1931, when the historian James Truslow Adams coined the phrase "The American Dream," he wrote of "a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement."
In 2008, using history as a yardstick, life actually is better and richer and fuller, with more opportunities than ever before.
"Objectively things are going real well," says author Gregg Easterbrook, who discusses the disconnect in his book "The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse."
He ticks off supporting statistics: A relatively low unemployment rate, 5.5 percent in June. (Employers did, indeed, cut payrolls last month by 62,000 jobs, but consider the 10.1 rate of June 1983 or the 7.8 rate of June 1992.) Declining rates of violent crimes, property crimes and big-city murders. Declining rates of disease. Higher standards of living for the middle class and the working poor. And incomes that, for many, are rising above the rate of inflation.
So why has the pursuit of happiness _ a fundamental right, the Declaration of Independence assures us _ become such a challenging undertaking?
Some of the gloom and doom may simply reflect a society that demands more and expects to have it yesterday, but in many cases there's nothing imaginary about the problems.
Just listen to farmer Ricardo Vallot, who is clinging tight to his livelihood.
Vallot expects to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on diesel fuel to plant and harvest his family's sugar cane crop in Vermilion Parish, La. His two combines burn up to 150 gallons a day, and with diesel running an average of $4.68 a gallon in the region, he sees his profits burning away, too.
"My God, it's horrible, it really is," the 33-year-old says, adding: "If diesel goes north of five, it will be really difficult at the price we're getting to stay in farming."
Stay-at-home-mom Heather Hammack grapples with tough decisions daily about how to spend her family's dwindling income in the face of rising food costs. One day, she priced strawberries at $1.75. The next day, they were $2.28.
"I could cry," she responds when asked how things are.
"We used to have more money than we knew what to do with. Now, I have to decide: Do I pay the electric this week? Do I pay for gas? Do I get groceries?" says Hammack, 24, who lives with her boyfriend, a window installer, and their 5-year-old son in a rented home in rural Rowlesburg, W.Va. "You can't get ahead. You can't save money. You can't buy a house. It just stinks."
Those "right direction, wrong direction" polls _ the latest of which, in June, had only 14 to 17 percent of Americans saying the country is going the right way _ show a general level of pessimism that is the worst in almost 30 years. Those feelings, coupled with government corruption scandals, lingering doubts over whether the Iraq war was justified, even memories of the chaotic response to Hurricane Katrina, have culminated in an erosion of our customary faith that elected leaders can get us out of a jam.
Says Arizona retiree Dian Kinsman: "You have no faith in anybody at the top. I don't trust anybody, and I'm really disgusted about it."
Stoking the furor is that Americans seem to feel helpless. After all, how can the average Joe or Jane control the price of gas or end the war?
"How am I, a little old West Virginia girl, going to go out and change the world?" asks Hammack.
Still, others suggest a lack of perspective and a sense of entitlement among Americans today may make these times feel worse than they are.
At 82, Ruth Townsend has experienced her share of downturns _ in her own life and that of the country. She suffered a stroke years ago that left her in a wheelchair, and lives now in an assisted-living center in Orlando, Fla. Townsend recalls World War II and having to ration almost everything: sugar, leather shoes, tires, gas.
"You made do with the little you had because you had to. You shopped in the same stores over and over because you HAD to. We had coupon books and stamps to figure out what we could have," Townsend says. Americans have gotten so used to "things," she says, "that we can't take it when we hit a bad patch."
Allison Alvin condemns an "out of style" values system, in which even kids have cell phones, credit card debt is out of control and families purchase four-bedroom homes they can't afford instead of the two-bedroom ones they could.
"I'm mad at us ... all of my fellow Americans. Maybe a little hardship would be good for us," says Alvin, who at 36 has a job as a freight exporter in Cincinnati, a husband with a factory job, two healthy children, her own home and four cars, all paid off.
At the same time, she acknowledges feeling that "things are getting worse."
"When you're my age, you feel like you should be improving _ more financially stable, instead of hand-to-mouth. It doesn't matter that we're better off than (others). It still hurts. It's still painful."
Easterbrook ascribes some of this to the media, noting that talk of "crisis" has become almost trendy _ especially in an election year when politicians and pundits alike seem to feed on discontent as a catalyst for change, or ratings.
Round-the-clock saturation, shouting commentators and ceaseless images of "whatever's burning or exploding," he says, "give you the impression that the whole world is falling apart." Media reports noting that the world isn't rallying around U.S. policies also build frustration.
Perhaps that's why one of the Arizona Optimists, Marilyn Pell, couldn't help but raise her voice when referencing something she'd heard on the news: That gas prices might rise to $7 a gallon by 2010.
"What do you mean I've gotta pay $7 a gallon?" she exclaimed, even though it was just a prediction.
Such anxieties have concrete implications _ affecting how we spend, how we vote and whether we are willing to take risks. These collective "bad moods" matter because they help steer the country's direction just as the country's direction shapes our mood. Franklin D. Roosevelt expressed this when he said in the depths of the Depression: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
Perspective also varies between the haves and have-nots.
In California's Silicon Valley, one of the wealthiest places, the nation's housing crash can be seen as a healthy correction and a buying opportunity, and high gas prices are unpleasant, yes, but not unbearable.
Maybe it's no surprise that at Ferrari Maserati of Silicon Valley, where $200,000 models are still being snapped up, sales manager Larry Raphael says, "We really haven't been affected by what the media says is a low mood in the country."
Yet in these rarefied ZIP codes, others are affected _ even if they feel personally secure. "I worry about my gardeners and how they're dealing with the cost of fuel, for example. Floods, fires, there are so many things going on that are going to cost everyone money," says Suzanne Legallet of Atherton, Calif.
Whether things are going well or not, it is part of human nature to be dissatisfied with the present state of things, says Arthur Brooks, professor of business and government policy at Syracuse University and the author of "Gross National Happiness: Why Happiness Matters for America _ And How We Can Get More of It."
"Very few Americans wake up in the morning and say, 'This is an unbelievable country. I'm going to go to the supermarket, and there's going to be food. When I go and vote, nobody's going to beat me up,'" he says. "We're horrible at appreciating the status quo. We're really good at appreciating positive changes."
With that in mind, then, Americans might take heart. Throughout our history, tough times have proved to be learning moments that provoked course corrections. The Civil War brought an end to slavery. Sit-ins and mass demonstrations prompted anti-segregation laws. Sept. 11 led to new anti-terrorism vigilance.
As Bob Dylan once said, "Chaos is a friend of mine."
At least it can be.
Perhaps, out of these trying days, we may see a more comprehensive energy policy, a sooner-than-later resolution of the war and, even, a more profound sense of personal responsibility _ the motivation we needed to spend within our means, or make use of car-pool lanes and mass transit.
It's happening already, in big ways and small.
Hammack planted a garden of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots. "If I can save a few bucks," she says, "I'm going to."
In Louisiana, Vallot buys fuel in bulk now and is looking at ways other farmers might pool together to bring the cost of diesel down further. "We have to take matters into our own hands," he says.
Many have, and that certainly erases some of the helplessness that begets despair. But Americans also must recognize that happiness _ the stuff that truly fulfills and gratifies _ comes not from what we own but who we are, says Dr. David Burns, a psychiatrist at Stanford University's School of Medicine.
"We tend to base our self-esteem on certain things that we think we need to be worthwhile as human beings. A lot of us base it on achievement, intelligence, productivity. Our sense of self-esteem gets tied up with our career, our income. So when things start reversing, you begin to feel like less of a person."
Nevertheless, says Burns, "Where joy comes from is a completely different place."
For Ernestine Leach, it's keeping the faith that this, too, shall pass.
"I think that it's so deeply rooted in us," the 59-year-old substitute teacher says on a recent Sunday as sunlight filters through a stained-glass window at First Baptist Church in Raleigh, N.C. "It's all that most Americans ... have ever known: That things did get better."
Her minister, the Rev. Dumas Harshaw Jr., has noticed some new faces in his pews as troubles deepen. He senses that more Americans are "in a wilderness, psychologically and spiritually," and "are trying to find grounding."
As Harshaw tells his congregation, we Americans are in a "season of testing."
Katy Neild, the Arizona Optimist whose son fights on in Iraq, understands that better than most. She worries about her child, and about the many other dilemmas confronting Americans.
"Did I cringe when I filled my car last week? Yes," she says. "But 100 years from now, if I were still alive, would I really care that I paid $4 a gallon for gas? No. I care my grandbaby is safe and she's well and she has a good place to live.
"Your joy can't be about your circumstances."
As she says this, the other Optimists nod in agreement. Then their president, Susan Kruse, begins reciting one of the 10 tenets of the "Optimist Creed," and the others soon join in, their smiles returning.
"Forget the mistakes of the past," they chime in unison, "and press on to the greater achievements of the future."
In the end, that's what the Optimists do. They get their troubles off their chests, debate possible solutions _ and then move on to doing what they can to make some positive changes in their communities, and in their own lives.
A birthday lesson for all Americans, perhaps.
Veterans Group Plans Ad Campaign Touting Iraq War
http://www.newsmax.com/politics/veterans_ads/2008/07/05/110194.html
WASHINGTON -- Republican John McCain, who has made support for President Bush's troop buildup in Iraq the centerpiece of his presidential campaign, is getting from help from a veterans group that's launching a national TV ad campaign next week.
Vets for Freedom is spending $1.5 million on ads that will run on national cable television and in five states in July _ the first set of ads in a multimillion dollar campaign in coming months touting the troop buildup, Pete Hegseth, the 25,000-member group's chairman, said in a telephone interview Saturday. Aimed at "informing the American people about the truth regarding progress in Iraq and Afghanistan," the issue ads will feature veterans of the war describing the accomplishments they've seen since the buildup began in early 2007.
"We need to finish the job no matter who is president," the ads say, according to Hegseth. The five states being initially targeted are Colorado, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio and Virginia.
Vets for Freedom also said it would send its members to about a dozen swing states as part of a four-month education campaign that will "call for victory in Iraq and Afghanistan." The group planned to formally launch their campaign and unveil the first ads at a news conference on Wednesday.
In late May, Vets for Freedom released ads praising some of the troop buildup's successes and criticizing expected Democratic nominee Barack Obama for not visiting Iraq since 2006. After McCain echoed the criticism, Obama soon after said he would visit Iraq later this summer.
In the last week, Obama has said that "I'll ... continue to refine my policy" on Iraq after his visit there, drawing a flurry of commentary whether he might be softening his position on a troop pullout. Later Thursday, Obama said any refinement of his position on Iraq wouldn't be related to his promise to remove combat forces within 16 months of taking office, but rather to the number of troops needed to train Iraqis and fight al-Qaida.
WWII Soldier's Life a Testimony to Forgiveness
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/349298.aspx
Enemy. Captive. Missionary.
Jacob DeShazer's life was defined by his relationship with the Japanese people. But it was his relationship with Jesus Christ, born in a prisoner of war camp, that turned him from hating the Japanese to loving them.
DeShazer, 95, died on March 15 at his home in Salem, Oregon. The Methodist missionary spent 30 years preaching the Gospel to the people he once swore to destroy for attacking the United States. His ministry left a lasting impact, including the conversion of the Japanese pilot who led the attack on Pearl Harbor.
A young man in 1942, DeShazer burned to take revenge on Japan after the attack on Pearl Harbor that drew America in World War II.
He got his chance in April 1942, becoming a member of the famed "Doolittle Raiders" that carried out a daring daylight bombing raid on Tokyo and other cities. It was the first strike of the war against the Japanese homeland, designed to boost morale among a U.S. populace still angry over the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor.
It was a desperate bid: the sixteen B-25 bombers had to be launched from aircraft carriers so far from the Japanese coast that they didn't have enough fuel to return. The plan was for the crews to continue to China, crash-land and make their way to safety. But DeShazer's plane ran out of fuel over Japanese-held territory and he became a prisoner of war.
For 40 months his captors starved, beat, and tortured him. DeShazer, the son of a minister, had never given his life to God, but while in prison he made only one request of his captors: a Bible.
"I begged my captors to get a Bible for me," he wrote in a religious tract he authored, titled: "I Was a Prisoner of Japan."
"At last, in the month of May 1944, a guard brought me the book, but told me I could have it only for three weeks. I eagerly began to read its pages. I discovered that God had given me new spiritual eyes and that when I looked at the enemy officers and guards who had starved and beaten my companions and me so cruelly, I found my bitter hatred for them changed to loving pity. I realized that these people did not know anything about my Savior and that if Christ is not in a heart, it is natural to be cruel."
DeShazer returned home after the war, but only long enough to gain the training he needed to spend his life serving the Japanese people. He went back to Japan in 1948 and spent the next 30 years as a missionary and church planter with the Free Methodist Church, helping start 23 new congregations.
Among the people who came to God through DeShazer's ministry was Mitsuo Fuchida, the Japanese navy pilot charged with leading the attack against Pearl Harbor. Fuchida found the tract written by DeShazer.
"It was then that I met Jesus, and accepted him as my personal savior," Fuchida said at a memorial service on the 25th anniversary of the attack in Hawaii, according to The New York Times. Fuchida and DeShazer met several times before Fuchida died in 1976.
US lawmakers decry Olympics after dissidents blocked
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/us.lawmakers.decry.olympics.after.dissidents.blocked/20188.htm
Two US Congressmen last Tuesday urged President George W Bush to rethink attending the Beijing Olympic Games after they were prevented from meeting Chinese human rights activists.
Republican Congressmen Frank Wolf from Virginia and Chris Smith from New Jersey said they had come to Beijing to meet Chinese citizens pressing for greater political and religious freedoms, including two who recently met the US president.
But Chinese authorities pressured or forced nine activists from meeting them at a dinner Sunday or subsequently, according to a document handed out by the lawmakers.
They said such actions, and other repressive steps taken by the Chinese Communist Party, have cast a shadow over the Games and over Bush's vow to attend them.
"Tragically, the Olympics has triggered a massive crackdown designed to silence and put beyond reach all those whose views differ from the official 'harmonious' government line," Smith told a news conference held in the US embassy in Beijing.
The friction between the visitors and wary Chinese authorities has underscored the political tensions of the Games, with Beijing under criticism from Western politicians and international rights groups over Tibet, censorship and restrictions on religion and political dissent.
Wolf, who with Smith presented Chinese officials with a list of 734 Chinese prisoners they said were jailed for dissent, said Bush should not attend the Games unless there were big changes.
"I personally believe that unless there's tremendous progress over the next few weeks whereby they release some of these prisoners, I personally do not believe the president should attend. Nor do I think the Secretary of State should attend," said Wolf.
"SIMPLY RIDICULOUS"
China later hit back, saying the politicians' attempted meetings violated the claimed purpose of their visit.
"The two US Congressmen came to China as guests of the United States Embassy to engage in internal communications and consultations," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told a news conference.
"They should not engage in activities incompatible with the objective of their visit and with their status."
Speaking by telephone before leaving Beijing, Wolf called China's explanation "simply ridiculous" and said he expected the US ambassador to Beijing to take up the issue.
Two of the Chinese citizens who could not meet the lawmakers, Beijing-based lawyers Li Baiguang and Li Heping, met Bush at the White House on June 23 after receiving awards from the US National Endowment for Democracy.
Li Heping said security officers had ostentatiously tailed him and told him not to meet the US politicians. He said by telephone that he was surprised the audience with Bush had not given him and Li Baiguang some immunity.
"He [Bush] said he was very concerned about human rights and the rule of law in China, especially religious freedom and the freedom of the press," Li Heping said of the meeting.
"He also said that when he comes to Beijing for the Olympics he will raise these issues with President Hu."
Li Baiguang, an evangelical Christian who has now met Bush twice, could not be contacted. His mobile telephone was cut off and other activists said he has been held by state security police on the outskirts of Beijing.
Wolf said the US Government should apply more public pressure to seek the release of jailed Chinese dissidents.
"I think you need to do it publicly," he said. "Frankly, they have to be done the way we used to do it with regard to the Soviet Union."
Bush Defends Attending Olympic Opening
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/404551.aspx
CBNNews.com - TOYAKO, Japan - President Bush spoke out Sunday on the Beijing Olympics and North Korea's abduction of Japanese citizens, two sensitive issues in Asia, before turning attention to global talks on the Earth's rising temperature and oil prices.
He defended his decision to attend the opening ceremonies next month despite boycott plans by other leaders over China's human rights record.
"The Chinese people are watching very carefully about the decisions by world leaders, and I happen to believe that not going to the opening ceremony for the games would be an affront to the Chinese people, which may make it more difficult to be able to speak frankly with the Chinese leadership," the president said.
Soothe Emotions on Abductions
At a news conference with Japan's prime minister, Yasuo Fukuda, Bush also sought to soothe emotions about the abductions, a matter entangled in the nuclear standoff with North Korea.
Japanese citizens are upset about the U.S. move to remove North Korea from the State Department's terror blacklist in exchange for the North's decision to admit to some of its nuclear weapons work.
As a condition for sending aid and improving relations with the impoverished North, Japan long has pushed for the resolution of North Korea's kidnappings of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s. The abductees apparently were used to train North Korean agents in Japanese language and customs.
Bush recalled a White House meeting a few years ago with Sakie Yokota, the mother of a 13-year-old Japanese girl kidnapped by North Koreans agents on her way home from school in 1977.
"As a father of little girls, I can't imagine what it would be like to have my daughter just disappear," Bush said. "So, Mr. Prime Minister, as I told you on the phone when I talked to you and in the past, the United States will not abandon you on this issue."
Japan is an important participant in the six-nation talks that led to North Korea's recent declaration about its nuclear activities.
Decision Requires Verification
Bush, speaking on the eve of this year's Group of Eight meeting of industrialized nations, said persuading North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons was a sign of progress and required verification. He noted that North Korea did provide a declaration of its plutonium-related activities and did blow up the cooling tower of its reactor at Yongbyon on June 27.
The North needs to do more, he said, citing U.S. concerns about its enriched uranium, arms proliferation, human rights abuses and ballistic missile programs. "I view this process as a multi-step process where there be action for action," he said.
President's Last G-8 Summit
Bush arrived for his last G-8 summit as he turned 62 and with fewer than 200 days left in office. Overshadowing Bush's talks with other leaders is the White House election; at next year's summit, Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama will set the U.S. agenda.
The site of this year's meetings is a heavily guarded luxury resort 2,051 feet above sea level atop Poromoi Mountain in Hokkaido, an island in northern Japan.
Every hotel room has a view of either Lake Toya, formed in a crater left behind by a collapsed volcano, and Mount Yotei to the east, or Uchiura Bay on the Pacific Ocean to the west.
Set Targets to Reduce Pollution
At the summit, presidents and prime ministers hope for a deal that would set targets for reducing the pollution that causes global warming. But few analysts expect major headway or concessions from Bush. He insists on holding China and India, fast-growing economies and among the world's biggest polluters, to the same emission-reduction standards as older, developed economies.
Fukuda, who is seeking agreement for 50 percent overall reduction in greenhouse gases by 2050, hedged when asked whether the U.S. was holding up any such deal. Fukuda said he did not know whether the G-8 nations would agree on a long-term target at the summit or not.
Bush lowered expectations too.
"I'll be constructive. I've always advocated that there needs to be a common understanding and that starts with a goal," Bush said.
China and India Must Do Their Part
But he added: "I'm also realistic enough to tell you that if China and India don't share that same aspiration then we're not going to solve the problem."
During the next several days, Bush also will delve into a range of other issues -- from aid to Africa to international trade, Iran's nuclear programs to the world food shortages -- with the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia.
Hundreds of protesters rallied under heavy police security Sunday in Sapporo as world leaders began arriving for the summit. That city, about 60 miles north of Toyako, is the closest that protesters have gotten to the secluded summit venue.
G-8 Leaders Face Rising Expectations Mon.
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/404580.aspx
CBNNews.com - RUSUTSU, Japan - The world's top industrialized nations begin their annual summit Monday confronted with demands they reinvigorate the world economy, push ahead languishing climate change talks and make good on pledges to battle poverty and hunger.
Leaders from the Group of Eight - the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Canada, Italy and Russia - started gathering in the northern Japanese resort village of Toyako on Sunday for three days of meetings among themselves and with heads of African nations and top economies such as China.
The summit also coincides with demanding foreign policy issues like the effort to strip North Korea of its nuclear weapons, mounting international pressure on Iran to stop its uranium enrichment program, and the threat of U.N. Security Council sanctions on Zimbabwe over its recent one-sided presidential election.
The meeting's Japanese hosts poured security agents and riot police - about 20,000 of them - into the isolated venue and surrounding towns, sealing access to the summit hotel and cloistering the 5,000 journalists covering it at Rusutsu, a resort 20 miles away. Protesters were limited to rural villages or the distant city of Sapporo.
Despite the demanding agenda, concerns were high that the political uncertainties in some member countries - particularly the United States, where President Bush is 200 days away from the end of this term - could prevent decisive action. The leaders of France, Japan and Britain also face domestic problems.
Bush on Sunday urged his fellow leaders to push forward stalled talks on world trade in the so-called Doha Round, and to pour more aid into Africa, after a bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.
Climate change was a top agenda item for the Toyako summit. The U.N.-led talks aimed at forging a new global warming accord by the end of 2009 have stalled because of deep disagreements over what targets to set for greenhouse gas reductions, and how much developing countries like China and India should be required to participate.
As of Sunday, it was still unclear whether nations would be able to agree to a goal of cutting their emissions 50 percent by 2050. A more ambitious goal of setting nearer-term targets for 2020 were considered well beyond reach.
"I don't think they're going to do much. They're going to kick the can down the road," said Alden Meyer, a climate change expert with the Union of Concerned Scientists, suggesting real progress would have to wait for a new U.S. president in January.
With global oil prices surging, the G-8 leaders are expected to urge major oil producers to increase supplies while also calling for steps to improve energy efficiency and develop alternative sources of energy within their own economies. Oil spiked to a record $145.85 a barrel Thursday.
It was unclear how effective a call by the G-8 to boost oil production when the group does not include Saudi Arabia, the world's largest exporter of crude, or any OPEC members.
The Toyako meeting was also to extend the G-8's emphasis on Africa. Eight African leaders headed to Japan, and the summit faced rising expectations that it would address key problems like food supplies, infectious diseases and economic development.
In a measure of the expectations on the group, Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday urged the G-8 to help the world's poor.
"Many voices have been raised asking (G-8 leaders) to realize the commitments made at previous G-8 appointments and to courageously adopt all necessary measures to conquer the plagues of extreme poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy," Benedict said while addressing pilgrims at the papal summer residence in the hill town of Castel Gandolfo near Rome.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, scheduled to arrive in Japan on Monday, said the G-8 leaders would discuss how they can toughen sanctions on Zimbabwe in the wake of President Robert Mugabe's widely denounced presidential election runoff victory.
"I hope that we will also get support from our African colleagues here," Merkel said in her weekly video message.
The European Union already has travel bans and an asset freeze in place on Mugabe and other senior Zimbabwean officials. The U.S. also is seeking international sanctions against Mugabe and his top aides.
Europe: America Dreamin’
http://www.fulfilledprophecy.com/commentary/europe-america-dreamin/
One things for sure, the European Union’s new name won’t be the United States of Europe.
Never mind the fact that Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, president of the Convention on the Future of Europe, spent his summer reading about the founding fathers of the United States and America’s own constitutional convention.
And, never mind the fact that those Europeans who wish to build more democracy into the new, super EU, always point to the US as their example.
Although the US of E is becoming more like the US of A everyday, no European wants to admit it. Why? For one reason, the Europeans are very proud of what they call their own “rich spiritual heritage.”
Yet, the US has become the dominate power in the world. And, no matter what their words say, wise leaders don’t argue with success – they imitate it.
So, the wise Western European leaders decided to have their own constitutional convention. But, they don’t admit that’s what they decided.
And, they’ve decided to have their own president and their own federal government. But, they don’t admit that’s what they’ve decided.
So far, so good. But, these leaders have now arrived at the point where I believe their American imitation will begin going wrong. You see, the US of E’s founding fathers must decide the religious future of their creation. And, in so doing, it’s only natural these leaders of Europe would each look to their own spiriutal heritage.
I believe this is the reason Pope John Paul recently paid a visit to Giscard. As I said before, Giscard is the president of the Convention on the Future of Europe. The Pope wants Giscard to include a clause in Europe’s new constitution that officially recognizes Christianity. And for both Giscard and John Paul, Christianity means Catholicism.
And, this is also the reason the Pope recently addresses, for the first time in history, the Italian Parliament. Italy will hold the last of the old EU presidency. Italy’s Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, will be the person who makes the final decisions about the political nature of the new super EU. Berlusconi, of course, is also a Catholic.
Here’s my point: That so-called “rich spiritual heritage” the founding fathers of the US of E are now being asked to preserve in their new, super EU, is the same dark heritage the founding fathers of the US of A were so frightened of. In fact, it was that European spiritual heritage that so many of the early America settlers were pursecuted by and escaping from.
As I said at the beginning, one things for sure: The EU’s new name won’t be the United States of Europe. Now, I believe there’s something else for sure. The EU will never become like the USA either.
And, it’s for the same reason: Europe has its own, rich spiritual heritage.
Quartet Statement
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2007/february/79867.htm
Following is the text of a statement issued by the Quartet (United Nations, Russian Federation, The United States and European Union).
Begin Text:
The Quartet Principals - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, High Representative for European Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and European Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner - met today in Washington to discuss the situation in the Middle East.
The Quartet welcomed UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the representative of the EU Presidency, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Recognizing the critical need to end the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, which would contribute to security and stability in the region, the Quartet pledged to support efforts to put in place a process with the goal of ending the occupation that began in 1967 and creating an independent, democratic and viable Palestinian state, living side-by-side in peace and security with Israel, and reaffirmed its commitment to a just, lasting, and comprehensive peace based on UNSCRs 242 and 338.
The Quartet expressed the hope that the result-oriented dialogue initiated between Israeli and Palestinian leaders will continue in the framework of a renewed political process with the aim of launching meaningful negotiations.
The Quartet undertook to give active follow-up to these meetings and to remain closely engaged at this moment of increased activity and dialogue. The Quartet reaffirmed its commitment to meet regularly at both the principals and envoys level according to an agreed calendar, including with the parties and other regional partners, to monitor developments and actions taken by the parties and to discuss the way ahead.
The Quartet noted its support for renewed dialogue between Israeli and Palestinian leaders and welcomed the December 23 meeting between Israeli PM Olmert and PA President Abbas, and the subsequent implementation of some steps discussed at that meeting. The Quartet urged the parties to implement fully steps discussed at the December 23 meeting, to refrain from taking any measures that could predetermine the number of issues that will be resolved in negotiations, to meet their respective obligations under phase one of the Roadmap and under the Agreement on Movement and Access, and to seek to fulfill their obligations under the Sharm el-Sheikh Understandings of 2005.
The Quartet discussed U.S. efforts to facilitate discussions between the parties. The Quartet welcomed the upcoming meeting between Prime Minister Olmert, President Abbas, and Secretary of State Rice, that could begin to define more clearly the political horizon for the Palestinian people, and help engender a sense of partnership. The Quartet affirmed the primacy of the Roadmap, and welcomed U.S. efforts to accelerate progress on the Roadmap.
The Quartet noted the continuing importance of the Arab Peace Initiative, particularly its reflection of a shared commitment to a two-state solution.
The Quartet reiterated its call for an immediate and unconditional end to all acts of violence and terror. It condemned the suicide bombing in Eilat on 29 January and called once again for an immediate end to all rocket attacks against Israel.
The Quartet expressed its deep concern at the violence among Palestinians and called for respect for law and order.
The Quartet called for continued international assistance to the Palestinian people, and encouraged donors to focus on preserving and building the capacity of institutions of Palestinian governance as well as the development of the Palestinian economy. The Quartet welcomed international efforts to reform the Palestinian security sector and thus to help improve law and order for the Palestinian people. It called for the Temporary International Mechanism to be further developed to support the political process, to identify suitable projects for international support in the areas of governance, institution building and economic development, and urged other members of the international community to consider practical support to the parties.
The Quartet called for Palestinian unity in support of a government committed to nonviolence, recognition of Israel, and acceptance of previous agreements and obligations, including the Roadmap. The Quartet reaffirmed that these principles endure. The Quartet reiterated its call for the PA government to commit to these principles.
Hizballah-sponsored Galilee group claims “Israel girl soldier” from Tiberias held hostage 5 years
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5414
Is this an Israeli version of Ingrid Betancourt’s long agony as the hostage of terrorists?
An unnamed man, saying he was chief of the Galilee Liberation Brigades, claimed in an interview Sunday, June 6, to have carried out the last two terrorist attacks in Jerusalem – the bulldozer rampage and the yeshiva massacre. He then said his group has been holding an Israeli girl soldier from Tiberias hostage for five years and promised a video-tape soon to prove it.
DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources are convinced he was referring to Dana Bennett, 18, who disappeared after a late-night shift as a waitress in Tiberias on Aug. 1, 2003, and was never heard of since, although hundreds of searchers hunted for her across Galilee. A month later, the family of the teenager, who held dual US-Israeli citizenship, posted a $50,000 reward for any information of her whereabouts.
The man interviewed by the London Arabic newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi Sunday said the release of three Arab Israelis serving life sentences would be demanded. He would name them after releasing the video-tape of the girl hostage to launch negotiations for a deal.
DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources have insisted since July 2003, when Cpl, Oleg Shaikhet, 20, was kidnapped and murdered a week before Dana Bennett’s disappearance, that the Galilee Liberation Brigades were a serious terrorist menace. Then, as now, after the latest Jerusalem attacks, the authorities maintain no knowledge of the group.
On July 2, the day a Palestinian bulldozer driver murdered 3 Israelis and injured 70 on Jerusalem’s Jaffa Road, DEBKAfile alone reported that the three terrorist attacks Jerusalem had suffered in 11 months were all perpetrated by this same Hizballah Arab Israeli offshoot.
Our sources also noted that a few hours after the July 2 attack, Hizballah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah announced in Beirut that the prisoner swap with Israel would take place in mid-July.
The nameless Galilee terrorist chief’s interview in the London paper Sunday coincided with the announced start of the reciprocal trade, yet no Israeli official source connected this chain of events.
DEBKAfile’s sources interpreted the interview as a signal from Hizballah that the impending handover of Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, the two Israeli soldiers kidnapped two years ago in a cross-border raid, is not the end and more Israeli hostages remain in terrorist hands.
The anonymous terrorist chief also had this to say:
1. The Israeli police recently renewed their search for Dana Bennett in Galilee woods.
2. Israel Arab lawmakers must quit the Israeli parliament and not run for re-election.
3. The group’s goal is to sow fear in all parts of the Zionist state.
4. Its links with Hizballah were confirmed but the interviewee said there were others too.
5. The two last terrorist attacks in Jerusalem were part of the revenge for the killing of Hizballah military commander Imad Mughniyeh.
6. The group is not offended by being treated as non-existent by the Israeli government, but is using its undercover status to embarrass Israeli security.
Israel Reopens Gaza Crossing Despite Broken Cease-fire
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,376845,00.html
JERUSALEM — Israel has opened its border crossings with the Gaza Strip after closing them once again because of Palestinian rocket fire.
Israeli military spokesman Peter Lerner says the crossings opened Sunday morning and that food, fuel and cement are being sent into Gaza. He says Palestinians seeking medical treatment are also being allowed into Israel.
Israel and Gaza militants reached a truce agreement on June 19. Under the deal, Israel agreed to reopen the crossings to allow much-needed goods into Gaza.
But since then, militants have repeatedly launched rockets into Israel and Israel has shut the crossings in response. The last closure was on Friday. Both sides accuse each other of violating the cease-fire.
Gaza's Hamas government says it is expecting around 80 trucks to enter Gaza Sunday.
Iran, Syria sign secret new intelligence cooperation accord
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5412
Under the intelligence cooperation agreement Iran and Syria signed secretly in Tehran on June 27, thousands of Syrian intelligence and police officers will receive special training in Iran, DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources report. It was signed at the end of an unpublicized five-day visit to Tehran of Syria’s clandestine and security service chiefs headed by Gen. Fouad Sultan, superintendent of internal security. His opposite number was the director of the Iranian interior ministry’s external affairs department Ahmed Hosseini.
The accord they concluded is a crucial element in the deepening strategic relationship between Tehran and Damascus. It belies the contention by French president Nicolas Sarkozy and prime minister Ehud Olmert, accepted also by Washington, that the Syrian regime is about to desert its close alliance with Tehran and embrace the West. On the strength of this false premise, Olmert is pressing forward along his peace track with Syria, and Sarkozy invited president Bashar Assad to be his guest of honor at the Bastille Day parade of July 14.
While secretly bolstering his partnership with Iran, Assad has no trouble spreading the illusion of his willingness for a turn to the West, especially when his propaganda effort is promoted by none other than former Israel foreign ministry official Alon Liyel.
Liyal, calling himself “an Israeli diplomat” asserted in an interview to the July 6 Sunday Times that Damascus would sever its strategic ties with Tehran, Hizballah and Hamas for substantial American military and economic aid and Israel’s renunciation of the Golan. All this would happen, the ex-official promised, on Assad’s behalf, after the change of presidents in Washington.
DEBKAfile’s sources report that Liyel spoke without authority or factual corroboration about Assad’s intentions. He omitted to mention the fact that the Assad regime would have acquired a facility to produce fuel for Iran’s nuclear weapons program, were it not for Israel’s pre-emptive strike in September 2007. He also forgot that Damascus has for years provided friendly hospitality for the headquarters of the most extremist Palestinian terrorist groups and shown no sign that he means to evict them.
Report: United Arab Emirates Cancels Iraqi Debt
http://www.newsmax.com/international/uae_iraq_debt/2008/07/06/110278.html
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates -- The United Arab Emirates is canceling all the debt Iraq owes to the tiny oil-rich Gulf state.
Emirates' official news agency quotes the UAE president as saying he will cancel $4 billion in debt owed by Iraq.
The announcement came as Iraq's prime minister was visiting the Emirates.
Red Mosque anniversary marked by suicide bombing killing 11 Pakistani policemen
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5413
Thousands of Islamic extremists gathered for the anniversary called for President Pervez Musharraf’s hanging in revenge for last year’s bloody siege of the radical mosque in Islamabad. Fifteen minutes after they dispersed, the 50-strong security contingent was targeted by a suicide bomber. At least 11 policemen were confirmed dead and more than 30 wounded in the blast. The siege in which 100 people were killed sparked a wave of suicide attacks across Pakistan which left more than 1,000 people dead.
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