THE MORAL ME-NESS OF HUMANISM by Chuck Missler

FIRST: Religious humanists regard the universe as self-existing and not created. 

SECOND: Humanism believes that man is a part of nature and that he has emerged as a result of a continuous process. 

THIRD: Holding an organic view of life, humanists find that the traditional dualism of mind and body must be rejected. 

FOURTH: Humanism recognizes that man's religious culture and civilization, as clearly depicted by anthropology and history, are the product of a gradual development due to his interaction with his natural environment and with his social heritage. The individual born into a particular culture is largely molded by that culture.

Thus begins the first Humanist Manifesto (1933). With a sweep of their wrists, the humanists dismissed thousands of years of human religious history and decided that they knew better. There is no God, they said. All religion is merely the result of the cultural evolution of the human species. All life on earth is the result of a continuous process of biological evolution.

In 1933, when education guru John Dewey and 33 others signed the Humanist Manifesto, they were casting off what they saw as the outdated chains of established religion. They were forming a religion of their own, one in which man made the ultimate determinations of good and bad, right and wrong.  While there have always been atheists and there have always been "religious" people who were ignorant of God's ways, the humanists made a religion of it.  They boldly proclaimed that they did not recognize God (or His laws) and took the position that they were capable of using their human reason and intellect to determine morality.

However, rather than using its intellect to find true righteousness, mankind has used it instead to rationalize and justify its evil deeds. As the humanists worked hard to remove the law of God as the moral measuring rod in Western life, they infiltrated the Western education system - from grade school through graduate school.  Slowly, society absorbed their way of thinking.  Gone were absolute truths.  Rather than using its excellent reasoning ability to promote the good, humankind has used it to justify almost any evil action whatsoever.
 
Not that humanists are generally nasty people. In fact, they can be some of the nicest folks around, dedicated to demonstrating that man can be 'good' without the aid of a deity.  The rest of us rotten folks need a Savior, but the humanists, ah, the humanists are capable of recognizing good and evil on their own and of embracing the good.  That's what they say, anyway.

However, the natural result of their denying God has been a rationalizing of the limitations that can be put on the value of human life, even in our "civilized" society. Euthanasia, abortion, and genocide have been the result.

Humanists promote evolutionary theory, which teaches us that man is merely an intelligent animal with a conscience.  Since man is ultimately an animal, then, he has no more real value than the other animals. Therefore PETA can argue that man has no right to use other animals for food or clothing, and the environmentalists can endanger or kill loggers to "protect" the forests. 

It is worth noting that signers of the Humanist Manifesto III (1993) include such folks as Bill Baird, Reproductive (read "abortion") rights pioneer, Werner Fornos, president of the Population Institute, an organization advocating extreme population control, and Lester Brown, founder and president of the Earth Policy Institute.

While humanism heavily influences education and science and entertainment today, the battle is not over. Growing numbers of parents and educators are combating the constant effort to replace the wisdom of God with the faulty wisdom of man.  Several organizations have raised up banners to fight the invasion of humanism by exposing its religious, logical and ethical failures and by stressing the importance of knowing how to defend the Christian worldview.  We encourage our readers to educate themselves so that students, young and old, can know how to sanctify the Lord in their hearts and be "ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you," (1 Peter 3:15). 

Mankind constantly seeks to save the world through human means, but God has already provided the true answer through His Son.

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Housing Starts Fall to Lowest Since Late 2009

Groundbreaking for new US homes fell more than expected in December to the lowest in over a year, suggesting the battered housing sector remains a major roadblock to economic recovery.

U.S. housing starts dropped to an annual rate of 529,000 units, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday, down from November's 553,000 and well below forecasts around 550,000 in a Reuters poll. At current levels, starts account for less than a quarter of their boom-time peaks.

Unusually severe winter weather in parts of the country may have contributed to the decline, analysts said.

At the same time, building permits soared, possibly a hint of optimism about future demand. Permits jumped 16.7 percent to 635,000, far above a median forecast of 560,000 and the biggest jump since June 2008.

However, changes to state building codes set to take effect in January may have boosted permits in California, Pennsylvania and New York in December, the report said.  For example, permits surged 80.6 percent in the Northeast last month.

The U.S. economy expanded 2.6 percent in the third quarter despite a sharp drag from residential investment. Some analysts worry renewed weakness in housing might hamper broader growth.

Financial markets had a muted reaction to the figures, though gold prices did hit a session high following their release.

Jennifer Lee, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets in Toronto, called the housing report "very disappointing."

"Some builders went ahead in December with projects to beat the changeesday.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity rose 5 percent in the week ended Jan. 14.

The MBA's seasonally adjusted index of refinancing applications gained 7.7 percent last week, and the gauge of loan requests for home purchases fell 1.9 percent.

Fixed 30-year mortgage rates averaged 4.77 percent in the week, down 1 basis point from 4.78 percent the prior week. The rate is down from 4.93 percent at the end of December.

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Obama Misinforming Public about U.S Dollar and Yuan

 

 

Obama Misinforming Public About U.S. Dollar and Yuan

 

President Obama's comments on Wednesday in a joint press conference with Chinese President Hu Jintao, misinformed the public about potential changes in foreign exchange rates and their effects on U.S. citizens. Obama on Wednesday said that he would like to see the Chinese yuan appreciate faster in value. While Hu indicated that China is committed to allowing the free market to better dictate the value of the yuan, Obama said China is implementing their steps to allow the yuan to appreciate "not as fast as we'd like."

 

For years, the U.S. has been criticizing China by calling them "currency manipulators". The fact is, the Federal Reserve is the real currency manipulator because their actions will soon lead to a U.S. Hyperinflationary Great Depression that destroys the lives of all Americans who aren't prepared for life with a worthless U.S. dollar. All China is doing is pegging the yuan to the U.S. dollar so that their product manufacturers and exporters can maintain some level of stability. However, the U.S. is using this as an excuse to explain its rapidly deteriorating export market.

 

Obama was correct when he explained to the world how China would benefit by having a stronger yuan. Obama understands perfectly how a stronger yuan would bring down prices for Chinese citizens and allow them to enjoy a much higher standard of living. In fact, NIA believes China could solve their current inflation crisis simply by allowing the yuan to appreciate alone.

 

China has seen the prices of many food items soar by 25% or more in recent months, which is horrific for a country where many of its citizens spend half of their income on food. While most mainstream economists on CNBC, Bloomberg, and FOX Business are quick to blame China's food inflation crisis on the weather, NIA believes the weather has very little to do with it. It seems like the weather is always the excuse every time food prices rise. Mainstream economists would have you believe that the world has been experiencing never-ending droughts and floods that continue to worsen each year.

 

NIA members know better than that. After all, we have the most educated membership base in the world. The truth is, China's food inflation crisis is coming as a direct result of the Federal Reserve's destructive quantitative easing and money printing policies, and China's willingness to keep the U.S. dollar artificially propped up out of fear that Americans will no longer be able to afford their exports. China is importing all of its food inflation from the U.S. and if President Obama gets his way, China will throw its food inflation right back into the faces of all U.S. citizens.

 

Imagine a food fight in school between American and Chinese kids with the American kids throwing their free National School Lunch Program (NSLP) meals (paid for by Chinese purchases of U.S. treasuries) at the Chinese kids while the Chinese kids sit there ignoring it trying to enjoy their own meals that they spent half of their income to buy. All the while, the American kids are antagonizing the Chinese kids, calling them currency manipulators and blaming their need for free NSLP lunches on China's currency peg (when the peg is actually preventing the American kids from starving). Sooner or later, not only will the Chinese kids throw the NSLP lunch remains back at the Americans, but they might become so disgusted (because they paid for the food being thrown at them) that they actually regurgitate their meals that they worked half of the day to be able to consume, into the American kids' faces.

 

If the Federal Reserve continues down the path it is currently on, not only will China allow the yuan to rise to a free market determined level, which will send China's food inflation crisis back to the U.S., but China is likely to dump their U.S. treasury holdings that they are currently hoarding. China's foreign exchange reserves rose by $199 billion last quarter (its largest quarterly gain in 15 years and 78% higher than analyst estimates of $112 billion) to a record $2.85 trillion for total growth in 2010 of 18.7%. Most likely, about 2/3 of these reserves are in U.S. dollars. Americans have been deceived by the U.S. government and the mainstream media into believing the U.S. economy is recovering, because the U.S. has been enjoying the benefits of inflation without the consequences of rising prices. When the U.S. bond bubble begins to burst and these trillions of dollars being hoarded come home to roost, inflation will become the primary concern of all Americans.

 

NIA finds it completely outrageous how Obama can be so honest with Chinese citizens about their benefits of having a stronger yuan, but then seconds later outright lies to the American public by saying that Americans would gain by having a stronger yuan as well. A stronger yuan by definition would mean a weaker U.S. dollar. It is insane for Obama to proclaim that having a stronger currency is good for China but bad for America. The rules of economics are the same in both countries.

 

As the Chinese see their purchasing power increase by having a stronger yuan, Americans will see their purchasing power decrease by having a weaker dollar. These simple economic principles are easy for any human being to understand, but nobody in the mainstream media is calling Obama out on it. The media completely accepts Obama's statements as the truth, without providing any warning to American citizens that Obama's desired change in foreign exchange rates will shift China's inflation crisis completely to the U.S.

 

On November 12th, NIA's President Gerard Adams warned Americans on FOX Business to beware of massive food inflation in early 2011. We are less than three weeks into the new year and massive food inflation is already here. SuperValu, the third-largest U.S. food retailer with 2,349 stores that operate under such names as Acme, Albertsons, Save-A-Lot, just reported that all of their major vendors have announced their intentions to pass along rising costs throughout the calendar year and the company will be raising prices on all food items by 3% to 14%. NIA's experience tells us that SuperValu is planning to increase prices on most goods by approximately 14%. Trust us, if SuperValu was expecting to increase prices by an average of only around 5%, they would have given an average instead of such a wide range. (By the way, SuperValu's stock crashed 16% on the news and one of NIA's top 10 predictions for 2011 was that U.S. retail stocks will decline after reporting lower profit margins.)

 

The SuperValu situation confirms that double-digit U.S. food price inflation is just about guaranteed to occur in 2011. We also expect to see double-digit price inflation this year in clothing, oil, gasoline, natural gas, and all of the most important things Americans need to live and survive. If the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) somehow manages to report a CPI increase in 2011 of anything less than 5%, and the mainstream media continues to report the BLS's CPI numbers as the truth, any Americans who continue to listen to the mainstream media deserve to lose all of their purchasing power during hyperinflation.

 

It is important to spread the word about NIA to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, if you want America to survive hyperinflation. Please tell everybody you know to become members of NIA for free immediately at: http://inflation.us

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Henry Kissinger on the fall of the USA rise of China (19Jan11)

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how many states are planning to declare bankruptcy this year?

RED ALERT TOP STORY: 
Just how many states are planning to declare bankruptcy this year? 

http://www.redalert.wnd.com/ 
MAJOR STORIES NOW POSTED: 
BUDGET CRISIS
States declare bankruptcy in 2011
Insolvency talks under way with Obama administration
The most important question for 2011 may be just emerging on the national policy scene: How many states will declare bankruptcy this year?
It would be a first-time ever event, but the New York Times has already reported that state policy makers, congressional leaders and officials in the Obama administration are already involved in behind-the-scenes discussions regarding whether declaring bankruptcy may be the only solution available to states with budget crises that cannot be resolved any other way.
"Beyond their short-term budget gaps, some states have deep structural problems, like insolvent pension funds, that are diverting money from essential public services like education and health care," Mary Williams Walsh wrote in the Times. "Some members of Congress fear that it is just a matter of time before a state seeks a bailout, say bankruptcy lawyers who have been consulted by congressional aides."
Still, it is doubtful the federal government will bail out near-bankrupt states, despite the severe cutbacks in public welfare services the state budgetary crises are causing.
Federal bailouts of the states would amount to nationalizing the states and could produce a constitutional crisis, especially if the federal government assumes as it usually assumes that the federal government has a right to control whatever the federal government pays for.
By pursuing bankruptcy, a state could seek to get out of contractual agreements to pay public-employee pensions the state may no longer be able to afford.
"Bankruptcy could permit a state to alter its contractual promises to retirees, which are often protected by state constitutions, and it could provide an alternative to a no-strings bailout," Walsh noted.
Inevitably, states declaring bankruptcy could send major shocks through the municipal bond markets, with the unfortunate result that borrowing costs for all state and local governments may escalate dramatically.
The problem is that state governments, unlike the federal government, cannot simply print money.
New Jersey public-employee crisis
In December, the State of New Jersey disclosed that the unfunded pension liability for state government employees grew from $45.8 billion to $53.9 billion in 2009, an increase of 18 percent.
New Jersey public-employee-pension funds currently cover some 800,000 workers in seven different pension funds covering a wide range of government employees, including teachers, police officers, firefighters, judges and bureaucrats.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that New Jersey residents have the largest unfunded pension liabilities in the nation.
New Jersey pension funds now have only 62 percent of the funds necessary to pay future promised obligations, down from 66 percent the year before.
To put this in perspective, pension experts generally recommend that state pensions should be funded to at least 80 percent of their current and future obligations.
New Jersey also has an unfunded obligation of $66.8 billion for health-care costs, in addition to the $53.9 billion unfunded pension liability.
Again, to put this in perspective, the entire state budget for New Jersey this year is $29.4 billion.
Gov. Christie recommended a wide range of changes for New Jersey public employment pensions, including rolling back benefits by as much as 9 percent, increasing the retirement age for teachers from 62 to 65 and requiring all state employees to contribute 8.5 percent of their salaries to the state pension system, instead of the 3 percent some public employees now pay.
Still, even these changes might not be enough to make a meaningful dent on the state's unfunded pension obligations.
State-budget crisis faces nation in 2011
Last October, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reported that to balance their 2011 budgets, states had to address fiscal year 2011 gaps totaling an estimated $125 billion, or 19 percent of budgets in 46 states.
State tax revenues were 8.4 percent lower in fiscal year 2009 than in 2008, and an additional 3.1 percent lower in 2010, reflecting the worst recession since the 1930s.
"States will continue to struggle to find the revenue needed to support critical public services for a number of years, threatening hundreds of thousands of jobs," the Center reported.
The Center sees no diminishment in budget problems in 2012.
Already 39 states have projected budget gaps that are expected to total $112 billion for fiscal year 2012, a budget gap that is expected to grow to approximately $140 billion once all states have submitted their 2010 estimates. Even worse, the federal aid to the states provided by the February 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and to a smaller extent in the August 2010 jobs bill, estimated at $60 billion in 2011, is expected to decline to $6 billion in 2012.
"Taking all these factors into account, it is reasonable to expect that for 2012, shortfalls are likely to exceed $140 billion with only $6 billion in federal Recovery Act dollars remaining available," the report concluded.







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