Congressional Report: Government Culprit in Housing and Economic Crisis
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were the chief culprits in the housing crisis because they encouraged people who could not afford payments to borrow money, according to a congressional report released Tuesday. The claims in the report have long been advanced by conservatives, who argue that the Community Reinvestment Act and other federal programs fed the housing bubble that burst in 2007 and led to the economic downfall in 2008. But the report explains in detail how Fannie and Freddie -- government sponsored enterprises (GSE) that were not subject to the same oversight as other publicly traded firms -- “privatized their profits but socialized their risks.”

Vice President gives Green Light to Israel on Iran!
Israel has a sovereign right to decide what is in its best interest in dealing with Iran's nuclear ambitions whether the United States agrees or not, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said in an interview on Sunday.

President gives Red Light to Israel on Iran!
US President Barack Obama on Tuesday strongly denied that the United States had given Israel an approval to strike Iran's nuclear facilities. Asked by CNN whether Washington had given Israel a green light for such an attack, Obama answered: "Absolutely not." In the interview, which was broadcast from Russia, where Obama is on an official visit, he added: “It is the policy of the United States to try to resolve the issue of Iran's nuclear capabilities," Obama said.

Obama's Assistant Attorney General: Terrorist have Constitutional Rights!
At a Senate hearing Tuesday on the use of military commissions to prosecute terrorists being held at Guantanamo Bay, some members of the Armed Services Committee took offense at the Obama administration’s view that the detainees should have the same legal protections under the Constitution as U.S. citizens.

Obama calls Putin President instead of Prime Minister!
In a slip of the tongue, U.S. President Barack Obama described Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Monday as president, echoing the widely held view that he remains Russia's most powerful man. Putin surrendered the presidency to protege Dmitry Medvedev last May to take the lesser post of prime minister, but most political analysts say Putin remains Russia's ultimate decision maker. The dual leadership has left foreign leaders to walk a difficult diplomatic tightrope. In line with protocol Obama met Medvedev ahead of talks with the lower ranking Putin.

Obama Dropping Fast
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Wednesday shows that 32% of the nation's voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-seven percent (37%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of –5.

The Growing Air Power Fighter Gap: Implications for U.S. National Security
Congress needs to examine carefully whether the planned numbers of new and modernized fighters in the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps inventories will meet service and operational requirements. Careful scrutiny is required given the reported structural problems caused by the stress of combat operations, the current and planned numbers of fifth-generation fighters, and the scheduled phase out of legacy fighters. In the ongoing Quadrennial Defense Review process, Congress and the Pentagon should carefully examine the inherent capabilities and qualities of each model of fighter to verify that it can fulfill these requirements and defeat the technological challenges that may be posed by future challengers. Congress must ensure that the U.S. military maintains both its technological edge and adequate numbers of aircraft to maintain U.S. air superiority well into the 21st century.

NRA Raises Alarm Over Sonia Sotomayor
The National Rifle Association says it has very serious concerns about Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor based on her rulings on weapons rights. Cox says Sotomayor's ruling as an appeals court judge that the Second Amendment prohibition against curbs on the right to bear arms only limits the federal government — not states — is extremely troubling. He says the judge has been "dismissive" of gun rights.

Gore likens fight against climate change to battle with Nazis
Al Gore today compared the battle against climate change with the struggle against the Nazis. The former US Vice-President said the world lacked the political will to act and invoked the spirit of Winston Churchill by encouraging leaders to unite their nations to fight climate change.

Pope Benedict XVI: Social Political Issues Tied to Pro-Life Ethic
Pope Benedict XVI has released a new encyclical Caritas in veritate (Love in Truth), that says the numerous social political issues are all tied to the pro-life ethic. The leader of the Catholic Church made it clear that human life must be protected from conception on and that the pro-life perspective can't be compromised in pursuit of common ground on other political issues.

Pro-life pamphlet series provides plain talk in defense of life
The pro-life group Human Life International (HLI) has introduced a new series of online pamphlets titled Pro-Life Talking Points (PLTP) addressing claims about the necessity of abortion, the effect of welfare on the abortion rate, and the distorted claims surrounding abortion-related violence and the promotion of condom use.

IRS tells pro-lifers to give up 1st Amendment
The Internal Revenue Service has told members of the Coalition for Life of Iowa they would have to give up their 1st Amendment rights in order to be recognized as a non-profit organization, according to a complaint being pursued by members of the Thomas More Society.

U.S. mortgage fraud 'rampant' and growing-FBI
U.S. mortgage fraud reports jumped 36 percent last year as desperate homeowners and industry professionals tried to maintain their standard of living from the boom years, the FBI said.

Congressman Blasts Media Compulsion over Jackson
Rep. Peter King (R-NY) said Jackson -- whom he called a "low-life pervert" -- is being glorified in the days after his death while society ignores the efforts, of teachers, police officers, firefighters and veterans. In the two-minute video, King claims the "day in and day out" coverage of Jackson's death is "too politically correct."

Slain Soldiers’ Relatives Decry Lack of Coverage Amid Jackson Spectacle
A day before New York Rep. Peter King called Michael Jackson a “pervert” unworthy of nonstop media coverage, the aunt of a U.S. soldier killed in Afghanistan on the same day Jackson died asked why her nephew's death went virtually unnoticed while the King of Pop got memorial shrines across the country.

T. Boone Pickens Scuttles Wind Farm Project
Texas oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens has called off plans to build the world's biggest wind farm in the Texas Panhandle, The Wall Street Journal said. Pickens said the wind farm project was scuttled partly because of the lack of adequate transmission lines to carry the electricity from remote locations to cities, according to the paper. The oil tycoon had hoped to build new transmission lines but could not secure financing, the paper said.

World’s First Bible Rediscovered – Now Available On-Line
The pages of 4th century biblical manuscript called the Sinaiticus Codex have been scanned and posted online after four years of work. The manuscript was written in Greek and dates to the time of the expansion of Christianity under Constantine. It can now be viewed with translations in English, German and Russian at www.codexsinaiticus.org. For centuries it was kept at the Catholic monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai, until it was divided up in the 19th century and sent to the University of Leipzig library in Germany, the National Library of Russia in St. Petersburg and the British Library. Some portions of the manuscript remained at the Mount Sinai monastery. The Codex, written by three scribes, also includes texts from the 1st century and is one of the best-preserved manuscripts of the era.

Cardinal Rigali rips Obama’s new embryonic stem cell guidelines
Cardinal Justin Rigali, chair of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-life Activities, has criticized the new National Institutes of Health (NIH) guidelines on human embryonic stem cell research, lamenting that they are “even broader” than their draft proposals. His statement on the draft guidelines had said federal tax dollars would be used to en courage destruction of “living embryonic human beings” for stem cell research, including “human beings who otherwise would have survived and been born.”

GAO: Electric cars won’t reduce carbon emissions
It’s a beautiful theory — highways full of electric cars emitting no greenhouse gases or pollutants after being plugged into an outlet in our garages overnight. The problem, according to a new Government Accountability Office report, is that the effort may only shift the problem somewhere else. “If you are using coal-fired power plants, and half the country’s electricity comes from coal-powered plants, are you just trading one greenhouse gas emitter for another?” asks Mark Gaffigan, co-author of the GAO report. The report itself notes: “Reductions in CO2 emissions depend on generating electricity used to charge the vehicles from lower-emission sources of energy.” The GAO report says a plug-in compact car, if recharged at an outlet drawing its power from coal, provides a carbon dioxide savings of only 4% to 5%. If the feeling of saving the environment from driving an electric car causes people to drive more, that small amount of savings vanishes entirely.

Red Sox player shares how faith sustained him in cancer battle
Mike Lowell, 3rd baseman for the Boston Red Sox, was featured on a CatholicTV talk show on Tuesday. A Golden Glove Winner, 4-time All-Star, and the 2007 World Series MVP, Lowell spoke about baseball, family and the faith that helped him survive his battle with cancer. Lowell was born in Puerto Rico and moved to Miami at age 3. In the interview with CatholicTV, he recalled the influence of his grandparents, whom he described as “very religious,” and his parents, who instilled family values in him from a young age.

Up To 10,000 Illinois Prisoners May Be Released
Up to 10,000 convicted criminals could soon be released early from prisons across Illinois. It's all because of the state's budget mess. Gov. Pat Quinn says cutting those prisoners loose could save more than $100 million. But at what cost to you? Higher crime is coming our way!

Pay to Play: Billions in aid go to areas that backed Obama
Billions of dollars in federal aid delivered directly to the local level to help revive the economy have gone overwhelmingly to places that supported President Obama in last year's presidential election. Counties that supported Obama last year have reaped twice as much money per person from the administration's $787 billion economic stimulus package as those that voted for his Republican rival, Sen. John McCain, a USA TODAY analysis of government disclosure and accounting records shows. That money includes aid to repair military bases, improve public housing and help students pay for college.

First Lady Carries $6K Handbag!
Italian luxury goods manufacturer VBH boasted yesterday that First Lady Michelle Obama had toted their $5,950 alligator manila clutch earlier this week while on a trip to Russia.

More spelling errors plague Obama releases
Misspellings continued to plague the Obama administration on Thursday, after two more releases containing errors were sent to reporters in the last 24 hours. After misspelling the president's name as "Barak Obama" yesterday on an official document sent to reporters, the General Services Administration messed up another message when announcing it had awarded an $18 million contract to redesign the website keeping track of spent stimulus dollars.

Hospital won't back Obama birth claim
The hospital in Hawaii where Barack Obama claims he was born refuses to produce any documentation – or even confirm the claim – without permission of the president himself. The Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women and Children in Honolulu has posted on its website a letter on White House stationery dated Jan. 24 in which Obama wrote, "As a beneficiary of the excellence of Kapi'olani Medical Center – the place of my birth – I am pleased to add my voice to your chorus of supporters."

Proposed law would require proof of future White House candidates
U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican, has become the sixth co-sponsor of a proposal by Rep. Bill Posey, R-Fla., that would require documentation of eligibility from presidential candidates. She has joined Reps. John Campbell, R-Calif.; John R. Carter, R-Texas; John Culberson, R-Texas; Bob Goodlatte, R-Va.; and Randy Neugebauer, R-Texas, in support Posey's H.R. 1503 plan.

Compare Hawaiian birth certificate with Obama's during the same year
Here is an actual Hawaiian birth certificate from 1963 (the same era as Obama's birth), which while redacted includes detailed information documenting a birth, including the name of the birth hospital and the attending physician. Beneath it is the short-form "Certification of Live Birth" offered by President Obama as proof of his Hawaiian birth. Did computers exist in 1963?

JOCO Judge executes Judicial Fiat on Concealed Carry for Prosecutors
Johnson County Presiding Judge Stephen Tatum issued an order forbidding all guns in his courthouse except for those used for court security. “You do meet some irascible people,” Tatum said of his courthouse, “but we have good security.” Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe agreed and said there would be no armed prosecutors in court.

Emporia man sentenced on child pornography charge
An Emporia was sentenced today to nearly seven years in federal prison for distributing child pornography. Federal prosecutors say Kidd stored pornographic images of young girls on his computer and made them available to Internet users through a program called Limewire. Limewire is a peer-to-peer file sharing program that lets Internet users access files from other users' computer hard drives.

Pittsburg Woman Embezzles from her Church
A business manager has pleaded guilty to embezzling thousands of dollars from the church where she worked. U.S. Attorney Lanny Welch says 43-year-old Lanora Michelle Spigarelli of Frontenac pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of mail fraud. She admitted embezzling $74,027 from Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Frontenac between January 2006 and September 2007.

Audits uncover more 'sloppiness' in state agency financial details
Just last week Gov. Mark Parkinson cut an additional two percent from most state agencies, forcing many departments to trim down spending as much as possible. At the same time, the legislative post audit department released a series of audits looking into possible inefficient usage of taxpayer dollars within various state agencies

"What on earth is the IRS doing to come anywhere near trying to control the content and free speech of American Christian people and Christian churches? How far of a jump is it to go from an organization that collects taxes to controlling religious speech?"

- Pastor Mark Holick, speaking on the IRS dropping their investigation into his Church “engaging in political activities” investigation.

From Proverbs 16:17
Pride goes before disaster, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

Gospel according to St. Matthew 9:32-38

32 And when they were gone out, behold they brought him a dumb man, possessed with a devil. 33 And after the devil was cast out, the dumb man spoke, and the multitudes wondered, saying, Never was the like seen in Israel. 34 But the Pharisees said, By the prince of devils he casteth out devils. 35 And Jesus went about all the cities, and towns, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease, and every infirmity. 36 And seeing the multitudes, he had compassion on them: because they were distressed, and lying like sheep that have no shepherd. 37 Then he saith to his disciples, The harvest indeed is great, but the labourers are few. 38 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth labourers into his harvest.

Charity and Truth

The Church has always held that economic action is not to be regarded as something opposed to society. In and of itself, the market is not, and must not become, the place where the strong subdue the weak. Society does not have to protect itself from the market, as if the development of the latter were ipso facto to entail the death of authentically human relations. Admittedly, the market can be a negative force, not because it is so by nature, but because a certain ideology can make it so. It must be remembered that the market does not exist in the pure state. It is shaped by the cultural configurations, which define it and give it direction. Economy and finance, as instruments, can be used badly when those at the helm are motivated by purely selfish ends. Instruments that are good in themselves can thereby be transformed into harmful ones. But it is man’s darkened reason that produces these consequences, not the instrument per se. Therefore it is not the instrument that must be called to account, but individuals, their moral conscience and their personal and social responsibility.

The economy needs ethics in order to function correctly — not any ethics whatsoever, but an ethics which is people-centered. Today we hear much talk of ethics in the world of economy, finance and business.

When we consider the issues involved in the relationship between business and ethics, as well as the evolution currently taking place in methods of production, it would appear that the traditionally valid distinction between profit-based companies and non-profit organizations can no longer do full justice to reality, or offer practical direction for the future. In recent decades a broad intermediate area has emerged between the two types of enterprise. It is made up of traditional companies, which nonetheless subscribe to social aid agreements in support of underdeveloped countries, charitable foundations associated with individual companies, groups of companies oriented towards social welfare, and the diversified world of the so-called “civil economy” and the “economy of communion”. This is not merely a matter of a “third sector”, but of a broad new composite reality embracing the private and public spheres, one which does not exclude profit, but instead considers it a means for achieving human and social ends. Whether such companies distribute dividends or not, whether their juridical structure corresponds to one or other of the established forms, becomes secondary in relation to their willingness to view profit as a means of achieving the goal of a more humane market and society. It is to be hoped that these new kinds of enterprise will succeed in finding a suitable juridical and fiscal structure in every country. Without prejudice to the importance and the economic and social benefits of the more traditional forms of business, they steer the system towards a clearer and more complete assumption of duties on the part of economic subjects. And not only that by the very plurality of institutional forms of business gives rise to a market which is not only more civilized but also more competitive.

Finance, therefore — through the renewed structures and operating methods that have to be designed after its misuse, which wreaked such havoc on the real economy — now needs to go back to being an instrument directed towards improved wealth creation and development. Insofar as they are instruments, the entire economy and finance, not just certain sectors, must be used in an ethical way so as to create suitable conditions for human development and for the development of peoples. It is certainly useful, and in some circumstances imperative, to launch financial initiatives in which the humanitarian dimension predominates. However, this must not obscure the fact that the entire financial system has to be aimed at sustaining true development. Above all, the intention to do good must not be considered incompatible with the effective capacity to produce goods. Financiers must rediscover the genuinely ethical foundation of their activity, so as not to abuse the sophisticated instruments, which can serve to betray the interests of savers. Right intention, transparency, and the search for positive results are mutually compatible and must never be detached from one another. If love is wise, it can find ways of working in accordance with provident and just expediency, as is illustrated in a significant way by much of the experience of credit unions.

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