Foreclosure Rate is Up: Another Residential Real Estate Crisis is Entirely Possible

 

 

 

They say that the next big real estate crisis is the collapse of the “commercial real estate market” but that’s too optimistic by half: we’re likely to see another sharp downturn in residential real estate as ever more mortgages go under water.  A German analyst recently conclude that shortly half of American mortgages will be underwater, that is, worth less than the mortgage balance, and when the bank sells the properties at a steep discount it drives the market prices down. It’s fashionable to speculate that real-estate has hit bottom and found a floor just like its fashionable to speculate that the recession and our economic woes are over. 

The stock market has enjoyed a reprieve and some of the big banks give the illusion of being on the mend.  The fact that the government has stepped in to manipulate the market so as to avoid an unavoidable crisis will work for a time, just as it will with the banks, but as foreclosures mount the pressure continues to build.  The reprieve we’ve seen in recent days in real estate and banking are largely an illusion brought about by foolish and ham handed attempts by government to stave off the inevitable consequences demanded by our behavior.

Commercial Real Estate is going to crash as the economy derails again within the next six months.

Residential Real Estate is going to crash again as foreclosures continue and as unemployment and inflation skyrocket.

Banks will continue to be stressed, even destroyed, as the real estate assets in all classes’ lose value from the foreclosure cycle.

Out of Control Government Debt and our Broken Political System will continue to drive down the value of the dollar, perhaps to catastrophic levels and more and more nations lose faith in us.  Government intervention is destroying the economy, the currency, and perhaps the social cohesion of this nation. 

We’re in a reprieve right now but don’t kid yourself: it’s going to get hairy again soon!  It’s just a question of when the next shoe drops and if the economic and political structures can survive and events unfold.

Consider the following from the Associated Press:

Foreclosures rise 7 percent in July from June

By ALAN ZIBEL, AP Real Estate Writer Alan Zibel, Ap Real Estate Writer – 1 hr 57 mins ago

WASHINGTON – The number of U.S. households on the verge of losing their homes rose 7 percent from June to July, as the escalating foreclosure crisis continued to outpace government efforts to limit the damage.

Foreclosure filings were up 32 percent from the same month last year, RealtyTrac Inc. said Thursday. More than 360,000 households, or one in every 355 homes, received a foreclosure-related notice, such as a notice of default or trustee’s sale. That’s the highest monthly level since the foreclosure-listing firm began publishing the data more than four years ago.

Banks repossessed more than 87,000 homes in July, up from about 79,000 homes a month earlier.

Nevada had the nation’s highest foreclosure rate for the 31st-straight month, followed by California, Arizona, Florida and Utah. Rounding out the top 10 were Idaho, Georgia, Illinois, Colorado and Oregon. Among cities, Las Vegas had the highest rate, followed by the California cities of Stockton and Modesto.

While there have been numerous recent signs that the ailing U.S. housing market is finally stabilizing after three years of plunging prices, foreclosures remain a big concern. Foreclosures are typically sold at a deep discount, hurting neighbors’ home values.

The mortgage industry has been slow to adapt to the surge in foreclosures. Many lenders have needed government prodding to get up to speed with the Obama administration’s plan to stem foreclosures.

The Treasury Department said last week that banks have extended only 400,000 offers to 2.7 million eligible borrowers who are more than two months behind on their payments. More than 235,000, or 9 percent, those borrowers have enrolled in three-month trials in which their monthly payments are reduced.

“The volume of loans that are in distress simply overwhelms” those efforts, said Rick Sharga, RealtyTrac’s senior vice president for marketing.

 

Unprecedented Saudi Support for Israel: Moderate Arab States and Israel Dealing with Iran while Obama Chases Fantasy Diplomacy

 

 

 

 

First the Egyptians let an Israeli Dolphin Class Sub traverse the Suez Canal so that this nuclear capable submarine can take up a station in range of Iran; and now the Saudi’s may have given Israel permission to use their air space to attack Iran.  Ever since our new President threw the moderate Arabs and Israeli’s under the bus, to demonstrate his cultural sensitivity to the raving dictator Ahmadinejad; our betrayed allies have been cooperating with each other—- without Obama!  No sane nation in the region, regardless of other differences, want Iran to be a nuclear power and the abdication of leadership and trust by the United States, has forced former enemies to truly work together.  Even the naiveté of Obama may have the unintended consequences of forging a stronger relationship between the sane powers of the Middle East.

 

Consider this article from the Times Online:

From The Sunday Times

July 5, 2009

Saudis give nod to Israeli raid on Iran

Uzi Mahnaimi in Tel Aviv and Sarah Baxter

The head of Mossad, Israel’s overseas intelligence service, has assured Benjamin Netanyahu, its prime minister, that Saudi Arabia would turn a blind eye to Israeli jets flying over the kingdom during any future raid on Iran’s nuclear sites.

Earlier this year Meir Dagan, Mossad’s director since 2002, held secret talks with Saudi officials to discuss the possibility.

The Israeli press has already carried unconfirmed reports that high-ranking officials, including Ehud Olmert, the former prime minister, held meetings with Saudi colleagues. The reports were denied by Saudi officials.

“The Saudis have tacitly agreed to the Israeli air force flying through their airspace on a mission which is supposed to be in the common interests of both Israel and Saudi Arabia,” a diplomatic source said last week.

Although the countries have no formal diplomatic relations, an Israeli defence source confirmed that Mossad maintained “working relations” with the Saudis.

John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the United Nations who recently visited the Gulf, said it was “entirely logical” for the Israelis to use Saudi airspace.

Bolton, who has talked to several Arab leaders, added: “None of them would say anything about it publicly but they would certainly acquiesce in an overflight if the Israelis didn’t trumpet it as a big success.”

Arab states would condemn a raid when they spoke at the UN but would be privately relieved to see the threat of an Iranian bomb removed, he said.

Referring to the Israeli attack on an alleged Syrian nuclear facility in 2007, Bolton added: “To this day, the Israelis haven’t admitted the specifics but there’s one less nuclear facility in Syria . . .”

Recent developments have underscored concerns among moderate Sunni Arab states about the stability of the repressive Shi’ite regime in Tehran and have increased fears that it may emerge as a belligerent nuclear power.

“The Saudis are very concerned about an Iranian nuclear bomb, even more than the Israelis,” said a former head of research in Israeli intelligence.

The Israeli air force has been training for a possible attack on Iran’s nuclear site at Natanz in the centre of the country and other locations for four years.

The Clock is Running Out for Iran: Israel is getting into Position for War

 

 

 

 

 

Some people in the media like to pretend that Israel can’t effectively negate the Iranian Nuclear Program by military action.  Well, a nuclear strike on certain hardened underground facilities just might change the equation: and little known Israeli subs could well deliver such a knockout punch.  Interesting how this article in the Debka file mentions a low key traversing of the Suez Canal by an Israeli sub that can deliver nuclear armed cruise missile.  It seems to underline the growing friendship between Israel and moderate Arab states like Egypt and the Saudis with a low key display of cooperation. (About as subtle as a heart attack!)  It also manages to give Mr. Obama pause in thinking that he’s going to be the odd man out when the shooting starts because he’s clearly over his head in determining an effective Middle East Policy.

The allies that Obama foolishly threw under the bus will deal with this matter without worrying about the “culturally sensitive” potentate inhabiting the White House. 

Mr. Ahmadinejad would do well to consider giving up the game now before his country is taken into a fully preventable holocaust that must ensue if Iran will not give up its nuclear program.  The Program is vulnerable to Israeli attack but the cost in collateral damage with be huge due to the types of weapons necessary to do the mission.  Israel will pay that price because it knows it has no choice. 

Consider this article from Debkafile.com

---

Israeli sub said armed with nuclear-capable torpedoes navigates Suez Canal

DEBKAfile Special Report

July 3, 2009, 7:26 PM (GMT+02:00)

 

Dophin-class submarine

The Dolphin-class attack submarine is reported to be the first Israeli naval vessel to transit the Suez Canal in four years on its way from Haifa to Eilat last month. According to DEBKAfile‘s military sources, the move indicates a strengthening of the informal Israel-Egyptian-Saudi pact forged in recent months against Iran and first revealed by our sources. The three Middle East nations have opted for an Iran policy which is separate from the track pursued by US president Barack Obama.

According to foreign military sources, the Israeli Dolphins are stationed in the Mediterranean, the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean opposite Iran’s shores. They are said to be armed with torpedo tubes capable of launching nuclear-capable cruise missiles.

To transit the Suez Canal, the armed submarine would have required Egyptian permission at the highest level, possibly even President Hosni Mubarak. An official in Cairo told Reuters that its passage would not be problematic as Egypt and Israel are not at war.

This noncommittal response indicates that Egypt has no objection to Israeli military craft passing through the canal on their way to the Red Sea and on to the Persian Gulf in case of a decision to strike Iran. The alternative would be a voyage of weeks around the Horn of Africa.

Our military sources report that since the Israel Navy lost the Dakar submarine near Greece in 1968, all Israeli subs are armed when they move out of harbor. Disclosure of the Israeli sub’s passage through the Suez Canal last month is rated by our sources as of high regional significance, over and above the Middle East diplomatic moves afoot.

Democrats Want to Mandate Vacations: Forcing Employers to Provide Paid Vacations Stimulates the Economy!

 

 

 

Well it had to happen sooner or later….  Now we have become France without the cute berets, the Eifel tower or the snooty food. (Trust me: French food and fussy sauces are overrated!)  Our Friends in France demand that employers provide 30 days of paid vacation for their workers, making the French economy the envy of the world, and now this government mandate for the workers to “unwind” may have infected the United States.  Yes, according to the Politico the Democrats are going to use government to force your employers to give you a certain amount of paid vacation.  Not for you.  Not so you can unwind.  It’s to stimulate the economy.

What’s wrong with this picture…. How does more government interference in the form of an unfunded mandate to every employer in the nation become an economic stimulus if it forces employers to cut way back on their work force?  Employees already cost a fortune and more government red tape and expenses on employing workers for already overtaxed businesses can only harm the economy.  Look at what government mandated vacations, sick leave and maternity benefits have done for the legendary productivity of France!

At a time when the nefarious Federal Reserve System is preparing to buy more American Debt, by printing more of our money… at a time when our creditors are forming new currency alliances with any nation who has a decent currency… at a time when China is buying the assets of the world with worthless American dollars and acquiring hard assets… At a time when China is becoming a military superpower every bit our equal: our Political Leaders want everyone to have a paid vacation.  Charming.

I have but one question.  How come we don’t get as much paid vacation as the French?  It almost makes me want to call a labor strike in the name of economic justice……

Consider the article below from the Politico and consider a world in which your health care, your vacations, your car, your insurance, your bank, and your ability to drink a coke; are all dependant on getting an OK from the government.

There’s something fundamentally immoral in allowing a government to make helpless, dependent, children of their citizens.  To be an adult is to carry responsibility in many forms but to deliberately abdicate adulthood in favor of a gilded cage of big government slavery has got to be a mortal sin.  God gave us our rights and our free will but he won’t stop us from giving control of our lives to Nancy Pelosi if that’s what we choose to do.  We’ve traded faith in God and faith in our family and friends for a false faith in Barak Obama and the Politics of Malignant Narcissism. 

We confront staggering problems all around us as our political and economic institutions fail and all we can do is entertain the foolhardiness of socialist-democrat politicians peddling bad health care and unemployment disguised as government mandated paid vacations.

There was a time when adults realized that there’s no free lunch….  There’s just lunch that someone else pays for.  (Until the government runs out of other people’s money to bribe various groups out of their vote and their freedom)

May God Forgive us for our greed, and stupidity, and may the real Americans who haven’t been bought by the welfare state stand up and take this country back while there’s still time.

Congressman: We’re going to Disney By: Erika Lovley May 21, 2009 04:28 AM EST FD HIDDEN DIV
Rep. Alan Grayson was standing in the middle of Disney World when it hit him: What Americans really need is a week of paid vacation. So on Thursday, the Florida Democrat will introduce the Paid Vacation Act — legislation that would be the first to make paid vacation time a requirement under federal law. The bill would require companies with more than 100 employees to offer a week of paid vacation for both full-time and part-time employees after they’ve put in a year on the job. Three years after the effective date of the law, those same companies would be required to provide two weeks of paid vacation, and companies with 50 or more employees would have to provide one week. The idea: More vacation will stimulate the economy through fewer sick days, better productivity and happier employees. “There’s a reason why Disney World is the happiest place on Earth: The people who go there are on vacation,” said Grayson, a freshman who counts Orlando as part of his home district. “Honestly, as much as I appreciate this job and as much as I enjoy it, the best days of my life are and always have been the days I’m on vacation.” According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, 28 million Americans — or about a quarter of the work force — don’t get any paid vacation. The center says that a lack of vacation causes stress and workplace burnout and that those evil twins cost the economy more than $300 billion each year. One more if-you’re-reading-this-then-you’re-probably-not-on-vacation fact: The United States is dead last among 21 industrial countries when it comes to mandatory R&R. France currently requires employers to provide 30 days of paid leave. Not surprisingly, some in the travel industry are salivating over Grayson’s bill; Grayson spokesman Todd Jurkowski said the U.S. Tour Operators Association and the Adventure Travel Trade Association are both on board. Other tourism and labor groups are expected to sign on in the coming days. The Politico 44 Story Widget Requires Adobe Flash Player. The U.S. Travel Association has not yet endorsed the measure, but Senior Vice President Geoff Freeman says Congress does need to consider new ways to stimulate the vacation industry and travel economy.  So far, no group has come out in opposition of the bill. Nor has anyone announced opposition to roller coaster rides, cookouts on the beach or salt-water taffy on the boardwalk.   But with many Americans out of work and an economy in shambles, some say this may not be the best time to propose more time away from the office, especially on the boss’s dime. The Society for Human Resource Management issued a statement Wednesday warning that “a one-size-fits-all, government-imposed mandate is not the answer.” Because of the 50- and 100-employee thresholds, most small businesses wouldn’t be directly affected by the bill immediately. But the National Small Business Association warned of indirect consequences; companies might artificially hold their hiring at the 50-to-100-employee level to avoid the costs of paid vacation time. The bill also could have a negative impact on manufacturers already bracing for higher costs that could be associated with the climate-change legislation working its way through the House. One place where the bill wouldn’t have much of an effect: Capitol Hill. Congressional staffers already get paid vacation, even if they don’t actually have time to take it. And members can take time off during recesses — as they will next week — albeit not as much as they once did. While members once had much of the summer off, Congress will be in session this year virtually all of June and July. That leaves August, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) says that’s not really enough time to unwind. “I’m off in the state for a full month catching up on all the things I’ve missed throughout the year, but you don’t have time for yourself,” she said. “You don’t have much time for your family. And after a while, you do start to get just tired.” Grayson’s bill is part of a larger move by Democrats to improve employee and workplace standards. Earlier this month, Democrats introduced a bill that would make employers give mandatory sick time. “The committee is looking at a number of proposals to help workers balance family responsibilities and work duties,” said House Education and Labor Committee spokesman Aaron Albright. “The fact is the United States is behind the rest of the world in ensuring that workplaces have paid leave policies. These policies not only benefit workers but also help the employers’ bottom line because of lower turnover and better job satisfaction.” But in the workaholic world of Washington, not everyone is so impressed with the restorative — or stimulative — powers of time unplugged. Asked Tuesday what he’d do with an extra week of paid vacation, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said: “I’d keep the cash and spend the week working on the farm, with my BlackBerry and office files.
© 2009 Capitol News Company, LLC

Swine Flu? Assassination Attempt on Obama? Terrorist Attack? Something’s Very Strange with Swine Flu Outbreak!

 

 

The Swine Flu Story just took a crazy turn as reported by Bloomberg.com.  It seems that one of the men who died from this new, never before seen swine flu bug died the day after shaking hands with President Barak Obama of the United States.  I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that the flu should get this close to Obama because if it were not a coincidence it might be a bizarre assassination attempt or perhaps a terrorist attack.  I’m sorry——- an international contingency event or whatever the democrats have renamed terror attack.

Is there any evidence to support the idea that this is a terror or manmade disaster as DHS Secretary Napolitano might call it?  No.   There’s just a coincidence and a bug that they can’t contain.

By the way: the school in New York?  It’s confirmed to be flue and likely swine flu.  Is it the same bug from Mexico?  We don’t know yet but maybe it’s just a coincidence if it is. 

Mexico has now declared an emergency and President Calderon has invoked the power to quarantine and other emergency powers.  No travel restrictions to Mexico yet, that wouldn’t be politically correct but we can all take heart that the Catholic Church will indeed have mass in Mexico city tomorrow—- even if they are advising communicants to wear a gauze mask.  Soccer games will be played but to empty stadiums because of the flu. 

This is a story to keep an eye on and the facts are beginning to suggest that it could be a terror attack, a really sick assassination attempt or one big coincidence.

How about getting the FBI and the CIA involved in investigating this thing?  Well maybe just the FBI because Obama is thinking of prosecuting the CIA.

Here’s the story from Bloomberg:

Mexico’s Calderon Declares Emergency Amid Swine Flu Outbreak

Share | Email | Print | A A A

 

By Thomas Black

April 25 (Bloomberg) — Mexican President Felipe Calderon declared an emergency in his country’s swine flu outbreak, giving him powers to order quarantines and suspend public events.

Authorities have canceled school at all levels in Mexico City and the state of Mexico until further notice, and the government has shut most public and government activities in the area. The emergency decree, published today in the state gazette, gives the president authority to take more action.

“The federal government under my charge will not hesitate a moment to take all, all the measures necessary to respond with efficiency and opportunity to this respiratory epidemic,” Calderon said today during a speech to inaugurate a hospital in the southern state of Oaxaca.

At least 20 deaths in Mexico from the disease are confirmed, Health Minister Jose Cordova said yesterday. The strain is a variant of H1N1 swine influenza that has also sickened at least eight people in California and Texas. As many as 68 deaths may be attributed to the virus in Mexico, and about 1,000 people in the Mexico City area are showing symptoms of the illness, Cordoba said.

Obama’s Visit

The first case was seen in Mexico on April 13. The outbreak coincided with the President Barack Obama’s trip to Mexico City on April 16. Obama was received at Mexico’s anthropology museum in Mexico City by Felipe Solis, a distinguished archeologist who died the following day from symptoms similar to flu, Reforma newspaper reported. The newspaper didn’t confirm if Solis had swine flu or not.

The Mexican government is distributing breathing masks to curtail the disease’s spread. There is no vaccine against the new strain of swine flu, health authorities said.

Museums, theaters and other venues in the Mexico City area, where large crowds gather, have shut down voluntarily and concerts and other events canceled to help contain the disease. Two professional soccer games will be played tomorrow in different Mexico City stadiums without any fans, El Universal newspaper reported. Catholic masses will be held, the newspaper said, although church officials urged worshipers to wear breath masks and to avoid contact.

Schools will likely remain closed next week, Calderon said in the Oaxaca speech. The decree allows Calderon to regulate transportation, enter any home or building for inspection, order quarantines and assign any task to all federal, state and local authorities as well as health professionals to combat the disease.

“The health of Mexicans is a cause that we’re defending with unity and responsibility,” Calderon said. “I know that although it’s a grave problem, a serious problem, we’re going to overcome it.”

Normal Airport Operations

Mexico City’s international airport, which handles about 70,000 passengers each day, is operating normally, said Victor Mejia, a spokesman. Passengers are given a questionnaire asking if they have flu symptoms and recommending they cancel their trip and see a doctor if they do. The measures are voluntary, Mejia said, and no case of swine flu in airport passengers, workers or visitors has been confirmed.

Authorities throughout Central America have issued alerts to prevent the outbreak from spreading. Guatemala ordered tighter control yesterday of its northern border with Mexico, according to EFE. Gerberth Morales, who’s heading the Guatemala government’s response, said no cases of swine flu have been reported in his country, the Spanish news agency reported.

Brazil is intensifying vigilance in ports, airports and borders to check travelers’ health, luggage, aircrafts and ships in a preventive action against the outbreak in Mexico, the Agency for Sanitary Vigilance said on its Web site.

 

Swine Flu Threat Very Serious: World Wide Pandemic is Possible if not Likely

 

As I understand it the disease began in Mexico and there are some 60 dead in Mexico City.  As you know Mexico City is one of the worlds “Mega Cities” with an astronomical population like Cairo, or LA or New York City.  The Mexicans have far greater poverty and at one time they had thousands of homeless people who were permanent residents of the Mexico City Landfill.  Men, Women and Children alike were living in the landfill surrounded by squalid conditions that would make anyone sick, physically and spiritually. Now there are cases reported in San Diego and in Texas who share a common border with Mexico.  It’s possible that the disease may have made it to a prep school in New York City where as many as 75 kids may be ill.  This Prep School Outbreak is not confirmed to be the killer bug from Mexico. 

Authorities have been reluctant to close the boarder to Mexico because the ramifications for trade and commerce are pretty expensive.  There is the Political correctness factor as well in that the USA does not want to be seen closing its boarders to keep potentially infected Mexicans out of our country because someone might call us racists. According to the World Health Organization it’s too late to contain the thing in Mexico anyway.  It’s no surprise that major pophttp://wcbstv.com/health/swine.flu.nyc.2.994071.htmlulation cities are infected give the constant commerce and travel in today’s world.  Mexico City is a huge city so to is the vast population base in Sothern California, San Diego and LA. Air travel and trucks are constantly in and out of all our major cities so a report that from Mexico, Texas and Sothern California that it could make the jump to New York Cities is not surprising or unusual.  As of today I can find no credible reports or whispers that this is anything other than a natural outbreak as opposed to a weponized bug that someone dropped on us.  There’s not even a hint that this is anything but natural.

Protection for your family includes taking really good care of yourself from diet to exercise and rest to keep a good healthy immune system.  Frequent hand washing is always a good idea and very effective in combating flu bugs but if you do feel ill make sure you cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze.  See a doctor if you’re having flue like symptoms and don’t let this report bug you too much.  All the deaths to date have been in Mexico and not the United States where our public health facilities, doctors and drug industry give us a huge advantage in handling a nasty flu outbreak.  Avoiding large gatherings is a good idea until this blows over.  Keep an eye on this story because bugs can mutate into more benign types of bug or more virulent so keeping a prudent eye on what’s going on with the bug allows you to take precautions and change your behavior if you deem it necessary.

Consider these reports from WCBSTV in New York as well as Reuters and Newsmax.

WCBSTV News New York

http://wcbstv.com/health/swine.flu.nyc.2.994071.html

Possible Swine Flu Outbreak At NYC Prep School

Department Of Health Officials Testing 75 Students At St. Francis Preparatory School In Queens

 

As many as 75 students at St. Francis Preparatory School in Queens got sick on Thursday. More got sick on Friday. What health officials want to know is was it swine flu or something more benign.

There are mounting fears about a deadly swine flu virus that is reported to have killed as many as 60 people in Mexico, one that health officials fear has already seeped into the United States.

St. Francis Prep was ordered to cancel an evening program Friday night because the New York City Department of Health isn’t sure what made students sick Thursday and Friday with flu-like symptoms.

“I just saw lot a lot of kids lined up along the wall near the nurse’s office,” sophomore Kelsey Dittmeir said.

If it’s the flu, the question is what kind of flu? And could it be the unique strain suspected in 20 recent deaths?

Tests are underway.

“It could be a strain we’ve seen before. It could be the regular flu,” Dr. Ross Weiss said. “It could be flu B that happens late in the year. It could be any of those so we really can’t speculate at this point. That’s why we were very anxious to get samples to the lab and get them tested so we can find out what we are dealing with.”

If it’s the new strain of swine flu it could be a problem. Most cases have been reported in Mexico, where schools, museums and public gathering places have been closed.

Eight patients have also turned up in California and Texas, although their symptoms have been mild.

Students told CBS 2 HD they plan on getting tested over the weekend. One senior we spoke to said she left school Thursday before her fellow classmates got ill.

“My chest just hurts and I have shortness of breath. My ears were hurting me earlier but they are okay now. My head is still in and out,” Noel Alexandria said.

Added Dr. Weiss: “There were people tonight interviewing students and we’ll be here tomorrow. And when we get the test results that will dictate what our next steps are.”

The city hopes to identify those symptoms as flu it has seen before. If the tests come back negative they will be sent down to the Centers for Disease Control. So far, officials have been told all the cases have shown mild symptoms.

Swine flu could infect U.S. trade and travel

Sat Apr 25, 2009 1:25am IST

 

 

 

By Kyle Peterson

CHICAGO, April 24 (Reuters) – Mexico’s deadly swine flu could disrupt trade and travel between the United States and Mexico if it prompts restrictions on the movement of goods across the border or sparks fear in consumers, analysts say.

The potential impact is far from clear as experts race to learn more about the disease, which has claimed the lives of as many as 61 people. But shipping and travel industries are especially vigilant.

“If you end up with a significant demand shift, you could end up with a very substantial effect on our products, whether it be government-imposed restrictions or alternatively if the consumers just decide to say ‘no’,” said Bob Young, chief economist with the American Farm Bureau Federation.

Since Mexico and Canada are the two largest buyers of U.S. agricultural goods, such restrictions could be a drag on U.S. agriculture, Young said.

The World Health Organization has said it is concerned about 800 “influenza-like” cases in Mexico. The group confirmed the outbreak of a new strain of swine flu in the United States and said about 60 people had died in Mexico. [nN24524032]

Any decision to restrict food shipments due to flu would come from the U.S. Agriculture Department, which has the power to “shut down movement,” said Russell Laird, an executive director representing agricultural and food carriers at the American Trucking Associations.

“So far, we haven’t heard anything, but if that call is made we’ll make sure to do our part,” he said.

Katherine Andrus, general counsel for the Air Transport Association (ATA), said the airline trade group is taking its cues from the WHO and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) but that so far there had been no decision to restrict travel between the United States and Mexico.

TRAVEL RESTRICITONS?

“We generally monitor reports of these outbreaks,” Andrus said. “Any time there is an outbreak of something … we certainly pay attention. But we really look to CDC.”

“We wouldn’t expect to see international air traffic actually halted for something like this,” she said.

U.S. Commerce Department data show about 5.9 million U.S. citizens flew to Mexico in 2008.

The last major health-related disruption of air travel occurred during the 2002-2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, outbreak, which killed hundreds of people around the world.

The outbreak, which began in China, came on the heels of the Sept. 11 attacks and hit earnings for airlines with large operations in Asia.

“Avian flu in 1997 and SARS in 2002-2003 killed economic activity, so a swine flu problem in 2009 might result in more of the same,” said Stephen Schork, editor of the Schork Report, an energy-related newsletter in Philadelphia.

In 2008, Mexico was the top export market for U.S. beef, with sales valued at nearly $1.4 billion. It was the No. 2 market for U.S. pork, valued at $691.28 million.

The pressure on oil prices that could result from decreased travel and economic activity was echoed by several other industry sources, who also noted that Mexico and Texas have large numbers of oil industry workers that could be affected. (Additional reporting by Bob Burgdorfer and Nick Carey in Chicago and Robert Gibbons; Editing by K.T. Arasu and Todd Eastham)

Newsmax.com

 

Mexico Swine Flu Deaths Spur Global Epidemic Fears

Friday, April 24, 2009 6:55 PM

MEXICO CITY — A unique strain of swine flu is the suspected killer of dozens of people in Mexico, where authorities closed schools, museums, libraries and theaters in the capital on Friday to try to contain an outbreak that has spurred concerns of a global flu epidemic.

The worrisome new virus _ which combines genetic material from pigs, birds and humans in a way researchers have not seen before _ also sickened at least eight people in Texas and California, though there have been no deaths in the U.S.

“We are very, very concerned,” World Health Organization spokesman Thomas Abraham said. “We have what appears to be a novel virus and it has spread from human to human … It’s all hands on deck at the moment.”

The outbreak caused alarm in Mexico, where more than 1,000 people have been sickened. Residents of the capital donned surgical masks and authorities ordered the most sweeping shutdown of public gathering places in a quarter century. President Felipe Calderon met with his Cabinet Friday to coordinate Mexico’s response.

The WHO was convening an expert panel to consider whether to raise the pandemic alert level or issue travel advisories.

There is no vaccine that specifically protects against swine flu, and it was unclear how much protection current human flu vaccines might offer. A “seed stock” genetically matched to the new swine flu virus has been created by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, said Dr. Richard Besser, the agency’s acting director. If the government decides vaccine production is necessary, manufacturers would need that stock to get started.

Authorities in Mexico urged people to avoid hospitals unless they had a medical emergency, since hospitals are centers of infection. They also said Mexicans should refrain from customary greetings such as shaking hands or kissing cheeks. At Mexico City’s international airport, passengers were questioned to try to prevent anyone with flu symptoms from boarding airplanes and spreading the disease.

Epidemiologists are particularly concerned because the only fatalities so far were in young people and adults. It’s possible that more vulnerable populations _ infants and the aged _ had been vaccinated against other strains, providing some protection.

The eight U.S. victims recovered from symptoms that were like those of the regular flu, mostly fever, cough and sore throat, though some also experienced vomiting and diarrhea.

U.S. health officials announced an outbreak notice to travelers, urging caution and frequent handwashing, but stopping short of telling Americans to avoid Mexico.

Mexico’s Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordoba said 68 people have died of flu and the new swine flu strain had been confirmed in 20 of those deaths. At least 1,004 people nationwide were sick from the suspected flu, he said.

Scientists have long been concerned that a new flu virus could launch a worldwide pandemic of a killer disease. A new virus could evolve when different flu viruses infect a pig, a person or a bird, mingling their genetic material. The resulting hybrid could spread quickly because people would have no natural defenses against it.

Still, flu experts were concerned but not alarmed about the latest outbreak.

“We’ve seen swine influenza in humans over the past several years, and in most cases, it’s come from direct pig contact. This seems to be different,” said Dr. Arnold Monto, a flu expert with the University of Michigan.

“I think we need to be careful and not apprehensive, but certainly paying attention to new developments as they proceed.”

The CDC says two flu drugs, Tamiflu and Relenza, seem effective against the new strain. Roche, the maker of Tamiflu, said the company is prepared to immediately deploy a stockpile of the drug if requested.

Both drugs must be taken early, within a few days of the onset of symptoms, to be most effective.

Cordoba said Mexico has enough Tamiflu to treat 1 million people, but the medicine will be strictly controlled and handed out only by doctors.

Mexico’s government had maintained until late Thursday that there was nothing unusual about the flu cases, although this year’s flu season had been worse and longer than past years.

The sudden turnaround by public health officials angered many Mexicans.

“They could have stopped it in time,” said Araceli Cruz, 24, a university student who emerged from the subway wearing a surgical mask. “Now they’ve let it spread to other people.”

The city was handing out free surgical masks to passengers on buses and the subway system, which carries 5 million people each day. Government workers were ordered to wear the masks, and authorities urged residents to stay home from work if they felt ill.

Closing schools across Mexico’s capital of 20 million kept 6.1 million students home, as well as thousands of university students. All state and city-run cultural activities were suspended, including libraries, state-run theaters, and at least 14 museums. Private athletic clubs closed down and soccer leagues were considering canceling weekend games.

The closures were the first citywide shutdown of public gathering places since millions died in the devastating 1985 earthquake.

Mexico’s response brought to mind other major outbreaks, such as when SARS hit Asia. At its peak in 2003, Beijing shuttered schools, cinemas and restaurants, and thousands of people were quarantined at home.

In March 2008, Hong Kong ordered more than a half-million students to stay home for two weeks because of a flu outbreak. It was the first such closure in Hong Kong since the outbreak of SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome.

“It’s great they are taking precautions,” said Lillian Molina, a teacher at the Montessori’s World preschool in Mexico City, who scrubbed down empty classrooms with Clorox, soap and Lysol between fielding calls from worried parents.

U.S. health officials said the outbreak is not yet a reason for alarm in the United States. The five people sickened in California and three in Texas have all recovered.

It’s unclear how the eight, who became ill between late March and mid-April, contracted the virus because none were in contact with pigs, which is how people usually catch swine flu. And only a few were in contact with each other.

CDC officials described the virus as having a unique combination of gene segments not seen before in people or pigs. The bug contains human virus, avian virus from North America and pig viruses from North America, Europe and Asia.

Scientists keep a close eye on flu viruses that emerge from pigs. The animals are considered particularly susceptible to both avian and human viruses and a likely place where the kind of genetic reassortment can take place that might lead to a new form of pandemic flu, said Dr. John Treanor, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

The virus may be something completely new, or it may have been around for a while but was only detected now because of improved lab testing and disease surveillance, CDC officials said.

The most notorious flu pandemic is thought to have killed at least 40 million people worldwide in 1918-19. Two other, less deadly flu pandemics struck in 1957 and 1968.

____

 

 

Killer Swine Flu Bug Emerges in Mexico: It May be Spreading North to the USA

 

 

 

According to Breitbart.com the health officials in Mexico City are launching a massive vaccination outreach against what other sources are calling a new, never before seen strain of swine flu.  This action was apparently prompted by nearly a thousand infections with some 45 deaths that may be a result of the new bug.  Here are three mainstream news sources, Reuters, Associated Press and Bloomberg who have now written on the subject.  This would seem to be a serious and developing story with the possibility (not certainty) of a pandemic.  In any event the cat is out of the bag and it’s wise to keep an eye on this outbreak because most of what I’ve read on the subject indicates that we’ve been very lucky, by historical standards, that we haven’t had an outbreak sooner.  In other words we’re overdue for a nasty bug and we have been for some years.

New, deadly swine flu hits Mexico, may spread

24 Apr 2009 15:22:25 GMT

Source: Reuters

Mexican government announces fatal swine flu outbreak

* New mixture of viruses never seen before

* Some Mexico City residents don surgical masks (Updates with color, quotes)

By Noel Randewich and Armando Tovar

MEXICO CITY, April 24 (Reuters) – A deadly strain of swine flu never seen before has broken out in Mexico, killing at least 16 people and raising fears it is spreading across North America.

The World Health Organization said it was concerned about what it called 800 “influenza-like” cases in Mexico, and also about a confirmed outbreak of a new strain of swine flu in the United States.

Mexico canceled classes for millions of children in its sprawling capital city and surrounding areas on Friday after authorities noticed a higher number of deaths involving flu-like illness than normal in recent weeks.

“It is a virus that mutated from pigs and then at some point was transmitted to humans,” Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova told the Televisa network.

He linked the disease in Mexico to a new kind of swine flu that struck seven people in California and Texas.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the virus in the United States was a never-before-seen mixture of viruses typical among pigs, birds and humans. All seven American patients have recovered.

The Mexican government warned people not to shake hands or kiss when greeting or share food, glasses or cutlery for fear of contracting the flu.

Mexico City, one of the world’s biggest cities and home to some 20 million people, was quieter than usual on Friday morning. Normally choking traffic was less chaotic in the absence of school buses and parents driving kids to school.

Many people waiting to enter subway stations had their faces covered with surgical masks.

The virus is an influenza A virus, carrying the designation H1N1. It contains DNA typical to avian, swine and human viruses, including elements from European and Asian swine viruses, the CDC has said.

WHO said about 60 people in Mexico have died from the disease. The Geneva-based U.N. agency said it was in daily contact with U.S., Canadian and Mexican authorities and had activated its Strategic Health Operations Center (SHOC) — its command and control center for acute public health events.

Surveillance for and scrutiny of influenza has been stepped up since 2003, when H5N1 bird flu reappeared in Asia. Experts fear this strain, or another strain, could spark a pandemic that could kill millions. (Additional reporting by Maggie Fox in Washington and Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Writing by Frances Kerry, Editing by Eric Walsh)

 

Health experts hunt new swine flu after 7 sickened

 

By MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer Mike Stobbe, Ap Medical Writer – 22 mins ago

ATLANTA – Federal health experts expect to find more cases of a unique new form of swine flu as they check people who had contact with seven California and Texas residents diagnosed with the illness.

All of the seven victims recovered from the flu that combines pig, bird and human viruses in a way that researchers have not seen before, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.

The cases are a growing medical mystery because it’s unclear how they caught the virus. The CDC said none of the seven people were in contact with pigs, which is how people usually catch swine flu. And only a few were in contact with each other.

Still, health officials said it’s not a cause for public alarm: The five in California and two in Texas all recovered, only one person was hospitalized and testing indicates some mainstream antiviral medications seem to work against the virus.

Dr. Anne Schuchat of the CDC said officials believe it can spread human-to-human, which is unusual for a swine flu virus.

The CDC is checking people who have been in contact with the seven confirmed cases, who all became ill between late March and mid-April.

Because of intensive searching, it’s likely health officials will find additional cases, said Schuchat, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

CDC officials detected a virus with a unique combination of gene segments that have not been seen in people or pigs before. The bug contains human virus, avian virus from North America and pig viruses from North America, Europe and Asia.

Health officials have seen mixes of bird, pig and human virus before, but never such an intercontinental combination with more than one pig virus in the mix.

Scientists keep a close eye on flu viruses that emerge from pigs. The animals are considered particularly susceptible to both avian and human viruses and a likely place where the kind of genetic reassortment can take place that might lead to a new form of pandemic flu, said Dr. John Treanor, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

The virus may be something completely new, or it may have been around for a while but was only detected now because of improved lab testing and disease surveillance, CDC officials said.

The virus was first detected in two children in southern California — a 10-year-old boy in San Diego County and a 9-year-old girl in neighboring Imperial County.

The cases were detected under unusual circumstances. One was seen at a Navy clinic that participates in a specialized disease detection network, and the other was caught through a specialized surveillance system set up in border communities, CDC officials said.

On Thursday, investigators said they had discovered five more cases. That includes a father and his teenage daughter in San Diego County, a 41-year-old woman in Imperial County who was the only person hospitalized, and two 16-year-old boys who are friends and live in Guadalupe County, Texas, near San Antonio.

The Texas cases are especially puzzling. One of the California cases — the 10-year-old boy — traveled to Texas early this month, but that was to Dallas, about 270 miles northeast of San Antonio. He did not travel to the San Antonio area, Schuchat said.

The two 16-year-olds had not traveled recently, Texas health officials said.

The swine flu’s symptoms are like those of the regular flu, mostly involving fever, cough and sore throat, though some of the seven also experienced vomiting and diarrhea.

CDC are not calling it an outbreak, a term that suggests ongoing illnesses. It’s not known if anyone is getting sick from the virus right now, CDC officials said.

It’s also not known if the seasonal flu vaccine that Americans got last fall and early this year protects against this type of virus. People should wash their hands and take other customary precautions, CDC officials said.

U.S. health officials are consulting with Mexican and Canadian health officials, and the CDC is beginning to receive samples from Mexico for testing, a CDC spokesman said. The ethnicity of the seven confirmed cases was not disclosed.

 

 

 

Swine Flu, Mexico Lung Illness Heighten Pandemic Risk (Update1)

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By Jason Gale

April 24 (Bloomberg) — Disease trackers are trying to determine whether a previously unseen strain of influenza in the U.S. is related to more than 130 cases of severe respiratory illness in Mexico and may spark a pandemic.

A new variant of H1N1 swine influenza has sickened at least seven patients in California and Texas, the Atlanta-based U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said yesterday. Mexico’s Health Minister Jose Cordova canceled classes in the capital, Mexico City, today and recommended citizens avoid public places after 20 fatalities from an illness possibly caused by a flu virus.

Scientists in both countries and Canada are studying the illnesses to determine whether they pose a larger public health threat. A pandemic can start when a novel influenza type-A virus, including swine flu, begins spreading, since no one has a natural immunity. The so-called 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, which may have killed as many as 50 million people, began when an avian flu virus jumped to people, experts said.

“The infection of humans with a novel influenza-A virus infection of animal origins, as has happened here, is of concern because of the risk, albeit small, that this could represent the appearance of viruses with pandemic potential,” the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said in a statement.

There’s no evidence a pandemic strain is evolving in the U.S., the Stockholm-based agency said. The CDC reached the same conclusion.

“We don’t think this is a time for major concern,” Anne Schuchat, CDC’s director of respiratory diseases, told reporters on a conference call yesterday.

Health-Care Workers

Authorities in Mexico asked the Public Health Agency of Canada to help identify what’s causing the lung infection that has also spread to five health-care workers, the Ottawa-based agency said in an e-mail yesterday.

Canada’s National Microbiology Lab received 51 specimens from Mexico on April 22 and will test them for pathogens. Tests in Mexico found patients had the H1N1 and type-B influenza strains and the parainfluenza virus, the agency said.

Three main human flu strains — H3N2, H1N1 and type-B — cause 250,000 to 500,000 deaths a year globally, according to the World Health Organization, a United Nations agency. Pigs also are susceptible to flu, including the H1N1 subtype.

“It will be critical to determine whether or not the strains of H1N1 isolated from patients in Mexico are also swine flu,” Donald Low, an infectious diseases specialist at Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital, told the Canadian Press.

The CDC is discussing its cases and viruses with Mexico and the Pan American Health Organization, Schuchat said.

“At this point, we do not have any confirmation of swine influenza in Mexico,” Schuchat said.

Fatal Cases

Thirteen fatal cases of severe respiratory illness were reported in Mexico City; four in San Luis Potosi, north of the capital; two in the state of Baja California Norte, bordering California; and another in Oaxaca city in the south. Most cases occurred in southern and central Mexico in previously healthy adults ages 25 to 44.

Symptoms include high fever, headache, eye pain, shortness of breath and extreme fatigue with rapid progression of symptoms to severe respiratory distress in about five days, the Canadian agency said. A “high proportion” of cases require mechanical respiration, it said.

The four males and three females in San Diego County and Imperial County, California, and in San Antonio, Texas, diagnosed with swine flu had mild flu-like symptoms. The patients, 9 to 54 years old, included a father-daughter pair and two boys attending the same Texas school.

Human-to-Human Spread

The virus is contagious and spreading from human to human, the CDC said in a statement on its Web site. The patients began feeling sick from March 28 to April 19. All have recovered and only one was hospitalized, according to the CDC. None had direct contact with pigs.

“That’s unusual,” Schuchat said. “We don’t know yet how widely it’s spreading and we certainly don’t know the extent of the problem.”

As precaution, CDC is preparing the virus as a vaccine seed strain that could be used to make immunizations, she said.

The swine flu virus contains four different gene segments representing both North American swine and avian influenza, human flu and a Eurasian swine flu, CDC said.

“We haven’t seen this strain before, but we haven’t been looking as intensively as we are these days,” Schuchat said. “It’s very possible that this is something new that hasn’t been happening before.”

Human Infections

Swine influenza is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type-A influenza that regularly causes outbreaks among the animals, according to the CDC. Swine flu doesn’t normally infect people, though human infections do occur and cases of human-to- human spread of swine flu viruses have been documented.

Infection in pigs is regarded as especially problematic because of the risk of “reassortment” to produce a new virus, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said.

“These mild U.S. cases infected with a novel influenza are not reflecting the emergence of a pandemic strain, but they at least raise the possibility that there has been limited human- to-human transmission,” the health agency said.

 

 

Our Toxic Professional Politicians are Killing Us: Obama to Force Amnesty for Illegal’s in the Fall

 

 

The Extreme leftist agenda of the Democrats will add another seminal issue to the landslide of outrageous anti American legislation they want to enact in the fall: they want to legalize tens of millions of criminal aliens and pay off the Hispanics for their votes. Obama’s minions in the “Hispanic Community” otherwise known as “activists” have begun to prepare the ground for an amnesty proposal Obama will push starting in May with a rubberstamp of the democrat congress in the fall.  The votes of legitimate Americans, and honorable immigrants who have achieved citizenship by respecting American law, will be diluted by 12 million or more illegal aliens mostly from Mexico. The Democrats are well aware of the opinion of the American People from the “comprehensive immigration reform” championed by George W. Bush and John McCain that was defeated largely from public outrage.  Bush, however reluctantly, bowed to the will of the American People while Obama will ram it down our throats because he has the votes and he doesn’t care what we think. (Apparently Barak Husain Obama bows only to the King of Saudi Arabia.) Already Hispanic activists are preparing the ground to raise a ground swell of manufactured outrage from the Hispanic community who will doubtless paint all who dare disagree as “racist, sexist, homophobic, right wing extremists”. How dare Americans set the laws for America without the approval of the Mexicans!  Who do we think we are??

Democrats and the Immoral Political Correctness they push are destroying the social fabric of our nation with this crazy leftist socialist grab bag of failed socialist policies from the last fifty years.  Their mission is to do so much damage in the first two years that much of their socialist agenda will never be fully undone by successive congresses. Democrats believe that the ends justify the means and they’ve become a menace to our national security with their weakness and they’ve become a menace to our moral character with their hedonism and contempt for any kind of law.  Hatred and contempt for America has been a part of the democrat mission for many years and now we see the consequences of electing anti Americans to lead America.  Decent Americans are rapidly coming to the conclusion that we’re at war with our own professional political class including all democrats and about half of the republicans. 

·        Democrats in recent days have declared war on financial success with massive spending and tax increases that penalizes success by confiscatory tax policy.

·        Democrats have declared war on the energy resources we have (Oil, Coal, Nuclear, Natural Gas) in favor of mythical energy technology we don’t have.

·        Democrats have declared war on banks and have resorted to outright nationalization of banks and now are busy capping pay for executives and the whole industry according to some bizarre socialist ethic that acts out their class hatred and contempt for excellence.

·        Democrats are hell bent on socializing medicine so that we’re all equal in receiving the same substandard care that socialized medicine always produces.

·        Democrats want to stop all research and development of new drugs because excessive regulation makes them expensive to produce and high cost means that not everyone can afford them.  Kiss your grandma goodbye because the democrats don’t want to allow us to develop drugs because someone might not be able to afford it! 

·        Democrats have declared war on auto companies, they refuse to deal with union contracts and insane benefits that have destroyed American manufacturing and are insisting that bankrupt company’s build environmentally better cars that NO ONE WANTS TO BUY. 

·        Democrats have declared war on employers and they move to strengthen their union commissars by taking away the right to secret ballots when voting on allowing a union to organize them. The secret ballot and voting is a basic right of Americans that Democrats will take away so they increase their contributions and electoral interference by Union Goons in our national elections.

·        Democrats have declared war on America by giving our financial sovereignty to a faceless panel of regulators concocted by the G20, and advocated by nations like France.

·        Democrats have declared war on humanity by experimenting on human children for stem cell research we don’t need, but they want, because the thought of anyone telling them “no” drives them stark raving mad.

·        Democrats have declared war on free speech by attacking internet freedom, Advancing Political Correctness, colonizing and corrupting whole industries like education and the media.  They try for censorship laws to muzzle those who don’t agree with them and give things cute fake names like the “Fairness Doctrine.” 

·        Democrats are constantly making up new names for themselves and their despicable policy initiatives because if they called it what it was no one would vote for it.  They don’t call themselves Socialists they call themselves “Democrats” or “Progressives”.  They don’t call it infanticide they call it “A Woman’s Constitutional Right to Reproductive Freedom”. 

·        Democrats have corrupted the census by using estimating techniques invented by liberal social scientists rather than counting people as required by the constitution. Democrats will use corrupt front groups like ACORN to do the counting regardless of the fact of the accusations of voter fraud in many states and if that wasn’t enough they intend to give the White House political hacks supervision of the thing.

·        Democrats are engaging in generational theft in their headlong attempt to bankrupt the United States of America. Democrats don’t believe in private property.  What’s yours is theirs and they can make the laws to enforce this perverse ethic.

·        Democrats have declared war on Christianity by deriding every Christian value and by attacking charitable giving and expressing contempt for Christians “imposing their values on society” as if we don’t have the right to be who we are and let our faith inform our vote! Democrats hare trying to excise words like “Christmas” and “Easter” from our vocabulary. You don’t say merry Christmas you say happy holidays.  You don’t have Christmas break you have winter break.  You can’t have a Christmas tree anymore you have a “giving tree”.   Democrat lawyers are attacking every public display of faith or Christian symbols. No manger scenes, crosses or even the Ten Commandments on public land unless you have a shrine to Islam, Judaism and Wicca right next to it.  Democrats have excluded Christianity from the schools but not Islam or Judaism.  Democrats mock and deride Christianity at every turn and their commentators and columnists equate Islamic terror as religious terrorism.  When’s the last time you saw a Methodist plant a pipe bomb or blow himself up in a shopping mall?

Joe McCarthy was right.  He warned us about communists in the 1950’sand now look at the insanity we have in Washington.  If we don’t stop Obama and Pelosi and their “fellow travelers” our grandkids will inherit the lifestyle of a pavement dweller in the third world.

Well here’s yet another outrage in the New York Times.  Obama is going to stick it to us racist, sexist, homophobic Americans, just like he bragged to the Europeans he would, by legalizing any Mexican who can sneak across the border!

It sure was nice of Obama to apologize for all our American values last week in Europe by bravely pointing out what a worthless nation we are.  Thanks Mr. President!  America really does suck and deserve to be transformed into something resembling the Soviet Union or Kenya.  It’s really stylish for us to elect a rabid anti American like Obama to be our leader and mock us on the world stage.

Barak Obama and the Democrats are the greatest threat to this nation since the Revolutionary War and every decent American needs to find the time to call their representatives, contribute to democrat foes, march non violently in the streets or we’re going to lose this country for good. The Democrats have become toxic to the body politics and this Immigration Scam is just the latest example of that fact.

The Democrats have declared war on America as their actions clearly demonstrate.  If the people don’t stand up and fire the congress, all of them, in the next election we’re finished as the land of the free and the home of the brave.  Our own professional politicians have betrayed us and only new elections and term limits can save us now.

Democrat City with a Conservative Protest: Philadelphia May Deny Americans Their Rights to Freedom of Assembly, Freedom of Speech and the Right to Protest

 

I’m a middle aged guy who’s never really attended a protest on anything.  I saw one once when I was a student at the University of Minnesota.  My wife and I have seen the course of the nation deteriorate for some time now and as a result I started this blog and we even planned to attend a Philadelphia Tea Party on April 15^th and on the Saturday before Easter. I ordered t shirts for myself and my wife and we’ve kinda joked about becoming “activists” for common senses and sanity in this, the youth of our old age!  Neither of us exactly thought we would be at a protest march at this stage in our life but being a bit fired up has been kinda fun because for the first time our political system needs our participation beyond voting on election day.  I’ll never wear a tie dye or love beads, this is not California after all, and I gave thought to attending the protest in a suit coat with my tea party t shirt instead of a dress shirt and tie. That’s as radical as a conservative like me gets.

I’ve seen goofy protests on the news from gay parades to naked protests for the environment and I expected the tea party to be a good natured boring affair of a bunch of Americans getting together to put the brakes on government spending at all levels.  I believe that’s the right thing to do and it’s a matter of conscience. I believe its going to take people like me who never do things like this to just show up in non violent protest to get the governments attention and remind them who they work for.  Something must be done.  Somehow we need to find a way to stand up and “just say no” to bigger more intrusive government and its insane spending and tax policy.

Then I got this as an E mail:

Thursday, April 09, 2009

Philadelphia Tries to Stop Tea Party

The City of Philadelphia is trying to put the brakes on the upcoming Philadelphia Tax Day Tea Party.

Diana Reimer, the organizer for Philadelphia, was notified (one week before the event) that this event is no longer a “demonstration,” but a “special event” and will be required to pay $8000, even though the city has already provided a permit for demonstration in Love Park.

The folks at TaxDayTeaParty.com want folks to call the Office of Managing Director (215-686-3488) or the Special Events Office (215-685-0060) to voice their concerns.

I’m with Alex Charyna on this one – it’s time for some civil disobedience. Folks should just show up, and see if the city will arrest thousands of Tea Party protesters for practicing their First Amendment right to peaceably assemble. Better yet, why not just print some money to pay the bill, just like the federal government is going to do (of course, that is part of what folks are protesting).

For our listing of Tea Parties in Pennsylvania, go to PATeaParties.com.

I would rather listen to a six hour Al Gore speech or attend a Michael Moore beach party than be arrested for most any reason.  I’ve never been arrested in my life and I never dreamed that I would actually contemplate an act of civil disobedience here in middle age. I’ve never seen anything that I believed warranted the risk of jail for something I thought the Government was doing wrong.  I don’t want to go to jail and I won’t pay any fines for exercising my right to protest under the law as a concerned American.  I don’t want any trouble but I won’t let liberal democrat Philadelphia infringe my rights as an American.  I urge everyone who reads this in Philadelphia to consider engaging in non violent civil disobedience to this craven attempt to disrupt a bunch of conservative Americans from exercising our right to free assembly and free speech.

I never thought I would see the day that the government tries to intimidate a bunch of ordinary Americans from protesting crazy government spending and poor tax policy.

I pray that the authorities in Philadelphia will reconsider this unwise action and return to a prudent tolerance of a bunch of middle age conservatives trying to send a message to our elected representatives.  I am convinced that Philadelphia has no moral or legal right to interfere with this lawful protest but in either event I urge everyone who can get there to attend. 

I never thought I would say this at my stage of life but I’ll see you at the protest.

Peace be with you.

It’s been a Month since Doomsday Pastor Wilkerson’s Prediction: The Big Apple is Still Here

 

 

Here’s something I found at Christianity Today that is an excellent article that helps put Wilkerson into perspective.  The fact that a month has gone by doesn’t make him wrong, by any means, but it means that time is ticking by.  By the time it gets to 3 months I suspect we can discount his warning as a false alarm.  One month has passed and with that in mind take a look at this article from Christianity Today:

What You Need to Know about David Wilkerson’s ‘Urgent Message’

How people are responding to his warning of riots, fires, and economic collapse in NYC.

Ted Olsen | posted 3/16/2009 12:08PM

 

What did David Wilkerson say that got so many people talking?

On March 7, evangelist David Wilkerson posted an “urgent message” to his blog, ministry website, and mailing list. It began:

I am compelled by the Holy Spirit to send out an urgent message to all on our mailing list, and to friends and to bishops we have met all over the world.

AN EARTH-SHATTERING CALAMITY IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN. IT IS GOING TO BE SO FRIGHTENING, WE ARE ALL GOING TO TREMBLE — EVEN THE GODLIEST AMONG US.

For ten years I have been warning about a thousand fires coming to New York City. It will engulf the whole megaplex, including areas of New Jersey and Connecticut. Major cities all across America will experience riots and blazing fires — such as we saw in Watts, Los Angeles, years ago.

There will be riots and fires in cities worldwide. There will be looting — including Times Square, New York City. What we are experiencing now is not a recession, not even a depression. We are under God’s wrath.

Aren’t such prophecies relatively common online?

Prophetic words in general are not very rare. For example, you can subscribe to Charisma magazine’s “Prophetic Insight” newsletter to get the latest messages from those who say they have a message for the church directly from the Lord. The newsletter tends more toward the “words of encouragement” prophecies than “end times” parsing, though you can find lots of those newsletters online, too.

Are most of the other prophecy newsletters as calamitous?

Actually, Charisma‘s latest “Prophetic Insight” seems to be a response of sorts to Wilkerson. “Contra the doom-and-gloomers, and despite my own emotional pull to hit the panic button, America will not collapse economically or politically,” wrote R. Loren Sandford, pastor of New Song Fellowship in Denver. “We are not under judgment. Destruction is not just over the horizon.”

If prophecy is so common online, why is this getting so much attention?

Wilkerson has more credibility and name recognition than many other online prophets. He is the author of The Cross and the Switchblade, one of the most popular books in evangelical history. (It ranked #32 in Christianity Today‘s list of “Top 50 Books That Have Shaped Evangelicals.”) His Teen Challenge ministry is very prominent in discussions of drug treatment and social service partnerships between church and government. And Times Square Church, which he founded, reportedly draws 8,000 people weekly and is known for its many social service ministries.

Still, Wilkerson’s message probably wouldn’t have received as much notice without the Drudge Report prominently promoting it at the top of its page under the headline: “Famed pastor predicts imminent catastrophe.”

What does Wilkerson say people should do about his message?

There’s “no need to hide. This is God’s righteous work,” he said. But he added, “I give you a practical word I received for my own direction. If possible lay in store a thirty-day supply of non-perishable food, toiletries, and other essentials. In major cities, grocery stores are emptied in an hour at the sign of an impending disaster.”

Doesn’t that sound like the warnings about Y2K that some Christian groups were giving in 1999?

Many critics think so. “It does not resonate with my spirit when he claims that God told him to ‘lay in store a thirty-day supply of non-perishable food, toiletries and other essentials’ because when disaster comes ‘grocery stores are emptied in an hour,’ ” John Piper wrote on his blog. “God might have said this. But it doesn’t smell authentic to me. Too prudential. Too reminiscent of the embarrassing Y2K excesses. … [M]y own effort to be discerning says: Stick with the Bible, David. It is scary enough. And it is absolutely true. And your credibility will never fall.”

Prison Fellowship’s Roberto Rivera was also reminded of Y2K to such a degree that he has dismissed Wilkerson’s comments as (borrowing from philosopher Jeremy Bentham) “simple nonsense … rhetorical nonsense — nonsense upon stilts.” “Check your thorazine, because you’re probably hallucinating,” Rivera wrote.

How has Wilkerson responded?

He posted a follow-up note on his blog: “I can only answer by sharing what the Holy Spirit is speaking to my own heart and what I am to do. I shared that I was led in a practical way to lay aside a month’s supply of food — because I have witnessed the panic in the wake of terrorism. That has to be a personal word for every individual.”

Wilkerson’s son, Gary, says it sounds less like Y2K to him than pastoral advice resonant with the Bible: “Joseph heard God say to store up food for the season to come (Genesis 41). Moses heard God say to receive gifts from the Egyptians for their journey (Exodus 12). We as well can hear from God for our situation.”

Are mainstream media paying attention?

So far coverage has been very low-key. Tampa’s WFTS ran a piece essentially just quoting a few excerpts from Wilkerson’s original blog post. Hartford, Connecticut’s WVIT, meanwhile, openly mocked Wilkerson: “Perhaps Wilkerson has stock in some company that makes toilet paper and this is his plan to replenish his 401k,” wrote LeAnne Gendreau. “Anyone who cannot sleep at night knows you can find Bible thumping doomsdayers on television.” Illustrating the photo is a goblin-looking creature in front of a bonfire.

Does anyone agree with him?

He seems to have a number of supporters in various blog comment boxes. Among the more prominent defenders (of sorts) is Focus on the Family’s Ted Slater. “I honestly don’t know what to think of Wilkerson’s vision,” he said. But regardless of “earth-shattering calamity,” Wilkerson’s advice just seems “fairly reasonable. For example, the U.S. government recommends that we keep several days’ worth of food and water on hand, in case of emergencies. And it’s always the right time to place your faith in the Lord.”

Are there critiques other than the echoes of Y2K?

Several online critics are pointing to an Internet list of visions and prophecies Wilkerson has had that have not come true. Among them: a prophecy that the stock market would crash in 2000, and a 1994 statement that “I sense in my spirit that there will be no more so-called gospel television networks. They will all fall into bankruptcy and absolute ruin.”

But even the author of the now widely circulated critique credits Wilkerson’s humility. “In prayer, I have told the Lord I am ready at any time to confess I am wrong — that I must have spoken from my own fears or that I have spoken unadvisedly,” Wilkerson said after the market climbed in 2000. “Recently, when the market reached record highs, I wondered if those calling me a false prophet were right.”

So should we listen to Wilkerson?

Not surprisingly, it depends on whom you ask.

“Wilkerson is not like the Old Testament prophets who spoke, ‘Thus says the LORD,’ ” pastor Dave Watson wrote on his blog. “If anything, he is like those of whom Paul says ‘for we know in part and we prophecy in part’ and ‘we see in a mirror dimly’ (1 Corinthians 13:9-12) 1 Corinthians 14:29 says ‘let two or three prophets speak and let the others judge.’ “

Piper, meanwhile, is concerned that Wilkerson is not handling Scripture carefully. Wilkerson’s warning quotes Psalm 11:4 this way: “He fixed his eyes on the Lord on his throne in heaven — his eyes beholding, his eyelids testing the sons of men.” Piper responded: “This does not have the feel of authority to me because what Psalm 11:4 really says is: ‘The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven; his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man.'”

Dallas Morning News columnist and Beliefnet blogger Rod Dreher, meanwhile, says Wilkerson’s comments create a real dilemma for Christians who believe that prophecy is real. “Personally, I don’t take it seriously, but I will note that a friend in NYC who used to go to Times Square Church said that in the three months before 9/11, people in the church were constantly praying for the city because they had a sense that something terrible was about to happen,” he wrote. “The question is, how do you know when to take a particular prophecy seriously, and how do you know when to disregard it? History is replete with prophets whose predictions amounted to nothing.”