US appeals court rules against Defense of Marriage Act

BBC News, 31 May 2012

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• Anti-gay backlash for Obama in South?
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The Boston court is the first to rule
against the benefits clause of the
Defense of Marriage Act

A US appeals court has ruled key parts of a federal law denying benefits to same-sex couples are unconstitutional.

A three-judge panel in Boston, Massachusetts, unanimously said the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (Doma) discriminated against gay couples.

Under the act, legally married gay couples are denied benefits, including the ability to file joint tax returns.

The US Supreme Court must now decide the matter, since only it can rule if Congress' laws are constitutional.

The court did not rule on whether same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry.

The 1st Circuit appeals court agreed with a lower court's ruling that the federal law interfered with the states' right to define marriage.

Thursday's decision applies only to states within the circuit: Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine and New Hampshire and Puerto Rico.

It is the first federal appeals court to find the section of the law relating to federal tax, health and pension benefits unconstitutional.

"One virtue of federalism is that it permits this diversity of governance based on local choice, but this applies as well to the states that have chosen to legalize same-sex marriage," Judge Michael Boudin wrote.

"Under current Supreme Court authority, Congress' denial of federal benefits to same-sex couples lawfully married in Massachusetts has not been adequately supported by any permissible federal interest."

Doma - enacted in 1996 during the Clinton administration - defines marriage for federal purposes as a union exclusively between a man and a woman.

President Barack Obama said last year that the Department of Justice would no longer defend the Doma.

Gay marriage is legal in eight US states and the District of Columbia. In May, Mr Obama endorsed gay marriage.

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IMF chief Christine Lagarde pays NO TAX on her £300,000 salary (despite attacking Greece for dodging payment)

Daily Mail, 29 May 2012

• Questioned about Greek crisis head of IMF said country can help itself collectively 'by paying all their tax'
• Suggests that IMF's money would be better spent on African children than on people in Athens
• Lagarde takes home £298,675-a-year untaxed
• Receives further tax-free allowance package of £52,000

  

Laughing all the way to the bank:
 IMF managing director Christine Lagarde
 criticised beleagured Greeks for not
 paying taxes, while she earns a tax-free
salary herself

The head of the International Monetary Fund who controversially proposed that struggling Greeks should pay taxes contributes nothing herself to the public purse.

Christine Lagarde openly criticised citizens of the ailing EU country in an interview last week, but it has now emerged that the former French lawyer takes home every penny of her own £298,675 a year salary.

In addition the IMF managing director also receives a tax-free allowance package of £52,000 a year.

Ms Lagarde told the Guardian that she believes children in Niger with little schooling deserve the fund's money more than people in Athens.

She continued: 'Do you know what? As far as Athens is concerned, I also think about all those people who are trying to escape tax all the time.

'All these people in Greece who are trying to escape tax.'

She added: 'I think they should also help themselves collectively. By all paying their tax.'

Lagarde also criticised Greek citizens 'who are trying to escape tax,' and said the country needs to club together to make more of an effort to solve its economic problems.

Her comments came as the IMF increases the pressure on the Eurozone nation and makes it clear it will not be softening the terms of the nation's austerity package that is deeply unpopular with the country's electorate.

More...

• The Greeksshould not expect sympathy, says IMF boss Christine Lagarde who is 'moreworried' about schooling in Africa
• The truthis unpalatable, but Christine Lagarde is right to tell Greeks to pay theirtaxes

The former French finance minister took over from disgraced countryman Dominique Strauss-Kahn in June last year with strong support including the British, U.S., Chinese and German governments and is now a year into her five-year term.

At the time the former French president Nicolas Sarkozy described her appointment as 'a victory for France.'

Others were less impressed however, with Oxfam labeling the decision 'farcical' because of what it judged to be a lack of transparency in the appointment process.

Imposing: The headquarters of the IMF in Washington is where representatives
 of 184 countries aim to work together to foster global monetary cooperation
and secure financial stability

Mr Strauss-Kahn had been forced to step down under a media storm after he was charged with sexually assaulting a New York hotel maid - the charges were later dropped.

Lagarde, 56, who began her career at Chicago-based law firm Baker & McKenzie, earns more than US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron who both pay taxes.

Mr Obama earns around £255,000 a year while Mr Cameron receives a salary of £142,000 for running the country.

Lagarde's salary could also go up in a few weeks as her contract entitles her to a pay rise on July 1 every year.

Lagarde does not pay tax in line with other international organisations such as the United Nations where workers are entitled to a similar tax break.

It comes under article 34 of the Vienna convention on diplomatic relations which declares that diplomatic agents are 'exempt from all dues and taxes, personal or real, national, regional or municipal.'

Contributors: Christine Lagarde earns more than both Barack Obama, left,
and David Cameron, right

Annual pay for UN workers start at between £29,000 to £51,000 with senior salaries range between £61,000 and £80,000 although this figure varies depending on where an employee is based.

A UN worker based in Geneva could expect to see their base salary increased by 106 per cent while even in Juba, the relatively poor capital of South Sudan, a UN worker could anticipate a 53.2 per cent top up of their salary.

Additional perks include rent subsidies and travel expenses, as well as subsidised medical insurance.

Frustration at the luxury, tax-free lifestyles of international public service workers is not a new issue, the argument dates back to the moment the IMF was created at the Bretton Woods economic conference in 1944.

British representatives felt salaries put forward by U.S. delegates were huge, but they were overruled.

The counter argument suggested by those who work for the organisation is that the whopping salaries are required to attract the best people from the well paid private sector.

However, studies have found that in fact most senior employees are already working in government positions.

Related Article:

Christine Lagarde, scourge of tax evaders, pays no tax

China and Japan will start direct currency trading

Deutsche Welle, 29 May 2012

For the first time, China is going to let a major unit other than the dollar swap with its national currency. Beijing and Tokyo have agreed to start direct trading within days, with no bucks involved.

The two Asian economic powerhouses, China and Japan, will begin direct trading of their currencies from June 1, the governments in Beijing and Tokyo confirmed on Tuesday. The US dollar as an intermediary currency will no longer be used in bilateral operations.

"The move is to promote bilateral trade, facilitate the use of the yuan and the yen in international trade settlements and lower the cost of conversion," the China Foreign Exchange Trade System said on Tuesday.

China's central bank said it would support what it viewed as an important step in strengthening bilateral cooperation and developing financial markets. The direct currency trading decision came on the back of preparatory talks between Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda last December.

Hedging against risks

Chinawill set a daily rate based on dealer quotes, with trade allowed to move within a 3.0-percent band above or below that figure. This compares with a 1.0-percent band of variance fixed to yuan-dollar trading. No fixed rates will be set in Tokyo trading, though.

"From June 1, the yen-yuan exchange rate will be constantly indicated in both markets, facilitating full-fledged exchange trading," Japan's Finance Minister Jun Azumi told reporters in Tokyo. "By not using the dollar as an intermediate currency, we can lower transaction costs and reduce settlement risks at financial institutions," Azumi added.

Chinais Japan's largest trading partner, with bilateral trade valued at $345 billion (275 billion euros). At present, an estimated 60 percent of commerce between China and Japan is settled in US dollars.

hg/mll (AFP, dpa, Reuters)

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Obama pledges no more wars unless "absolutely necessary"

Reuters, Arllington, Virginia, Mon May 28, 2012

U.S. President Barack Obama (L) is applauded by U.S. Army Major General

 Michael Linnington (R), commander of the Military District of Washington, as

he  begins his remarks at the Memorial Day observance at Arlington National

Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, May 28, 2012. (Credit: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama honored veterans on Monday by noting "the light of a new day" of having U.S. troops home from Iraq and returning soon from Afghanistan, while promising not to send soldiers back to war without a clear need.

Obama did not mention tension with Iran and Syria in his remarks to veterans and military families at a hot, sunny Memorial Day ceremony, focusing instead on the wars started by his predecessor, George W. Bush, that he wound down as president.

"After a decade under the dark cloud of war, we can see the light of a new day on the horizon," he said at Arlington National Cemetery, drawing applause when he noted the "milestone" of it being the first Memorial Day in nine years without Americans fighting and dying in Iraq.

"As commander in chief, I can tell you that sending our troops into harm's way is the most wrenching decision that I have to make," Obama said shortly after laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

"I can promise you I will never do so unless it is absolutely necessary and that when we do, we must give our troops a clear mission and the full support of a grateful nation."

Later on Monday, Obama will attend a ceremony at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, introducing Obama at the Arlington military cemetery, said that 58,000 Americans died in the Vietnam War. More than 4,000 Americans died in Iraq from 2003 to 2011, and nearly 2,000 have died in Afghanistan from the war's start in 2001 to date.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Writing by Laura MacInnis; Editing by Doina Chiacu)

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"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Lose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.)

Apple CEO gives up $75 million in dividend income

Reuters, by Poornima Gupta, San Francisco, Thu May 24, 2012

Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks on stage during an Apple event introducing

 the new iPad in San Francisco, California in this March 7, 2012 file photo.

(Credit: Reuters/Robert Galbraith)

(Reuters) - Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook will not be earning dividend income on the more than 1 million shares to which he is entitled, which will cost him about $75 million.

Apple said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday that Cook had asked to be excluded from a recently instituted company program through which employees can accumulate dividends on their restricted stock units that are still vesting.

Asked why Cook was doing this, Apple declined to comment beyond the filing.

Cook, who took over as chief executive from late co-founder Steve Jobs in August, has 1.125 million outstanding restricted Apple shares that are vesting over the next 10 years.

In January, Apple's board granted Cook 1 million restricted stock units (RSUs) for running the company during Jobs' medical leaves and as a retention tool. Half of those units are due to vest in 2016 and the remainder are due to vest in 2021.

Apple said in March that it would pay a cash dividend of $2.65 per share to its shareholders.

(Reporting By Poornima Gupta)

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Propaganda firm owner admits smear campaign against U.S. journalists

The Raw Story, by Eric W. Dolan, Thursday, May 24, 2012

The co-owner of a U.S. defense contractor that specializes in Information Operations admitted on Thursday to trying to discredit two USA Today journalists with an online smear campaign.

“I take full responsibility for having some of the discussion forums opened and reproducing their previously published USA TODAY articles on them,” Camille Chidiac, the minority owner of Leonie Industries and its former president, said in a statement.

“I recognize and deeply regret that my actions have caused concerns for Leonie and the U.S. military. This was never my intention. As an immediate corrective action, I am in the process of completely divesting my remaining minority ownership from Leonie.” 

Tom Vanden Brook and Ray Locker reported in February on “dubious, costly” propaganda campaigns carried out by contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan. The reporters noted that Leonie Industries was awarded a contract from the Department of Defense, even though the company’s owners owed at least $4 million in federal taxes.

Leonie Industries is a relatively small company that specializes in cyber operations, intelligence analysis, psychological operations, and counter-IED explosives operations. The company said that due to the owner’s financial troubles, they were unable to fulfill their “personal tax obligations on time,” but have since been “faithfully paying their tax liabilities through installment plans.”

After reporting on the company, the two journalists were targeted by a online disinformation campaign apparently meant to destroy their reputation. Fake Twitter and Facebook accounts were created in their name, along with websites that purported to be owned and operated by them. Comments quickly sprung up on message boards, Yahoo! answers, Wikipedia, and blogs criticizing the two reporters’ investigation of Leonie Industries. Some comments even suggested the two journalists worked for the Taliban.

Leonie Industries said no federal contract funds were used in the smear campaign and that Chidiac acted alone. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta “has directed the department to review this matter and to take appropriate action,” according to a Pentagon spokesperson.

“I am glad to see that we now know who was responsible for these false attacks on Tom Vanden Brook, Ray Locker and USA Today,” Susan Weiss, executive editor of USA Today, said. “We stand behind our reporters and our stories.”

50 highest-paid CEOs in AP survey

Associated Press, May 25, 2012

Related Articles: 

• Interactive - Captains of industry: Comparing CEO pay and performance

The 50 highest-paid CEOs for 2011, according to an Associated Press analysis of Standard & Poor's 500 companies. The analysis includes companies that had the same CEO for all of 2010 and 2011 and that filed proxy statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission between Jan. 1 and April 30.

They are based on the AP's compensation formula, which adds up salary, perks, bonuses, preferential interest rates on pay set aside for later, and company estimates for the value of stock options and stock awards on the day they were granted last year.

1. David Simon, Simon Property Group, $137.2 million, up 458 percent
2. Leslie Moonves, CBS, $68.4 million, up 20 percent
3. David M. Zaslav, Discovery Communications, $52.4 million, up 23 percent
4. Sanjay K. Jha, Motorola Mobility, $47.2 million, up 262 percent
5. Philippe P. Dauman, Viacom, $43.1 million, down 49 percent
6. David M. Cote, Honeywell International, $35.7 million, up 135 percent
7. Robert A. Iger, Walt Disney, $31.4 million, up 12 percent
8. Clarence P. Cazalot Jr., Marathon Oil, $29.9 million, up 239 percent
9. John P. Daane, Altera, $29.6, million, up 278 percent
10. Alan Mulally, Ford Motor, $29.5 million, up 11 percent
11. Gregory Q. Brown, Motorola Solutions, $29.3 million, up 113 percent
12. Richard C. Adkerson, Freeport-McMoRan, $28.4 million, down 19 percent
13. Ian M. Cumming, Leucadia National, $28.2 million, up 531 percent
14. Brian L. Roberts, Comcast, $26.9 million, down 13 percent
15. Jeffrey L. Bewkes, Time Warner, $25.7 million, down 2 percent
16. Rex W. Tillerson, Exxon Mobil, $25.2 million, up 17 percent
17. Samuel J. Palmisano, IBM, $24.2 million, down 4 percent
18. William C. Weldon, Johnson & Johnson, $23.4 million, up 1 percent
19. James Dimon, JPMorgan Chase, $23.1 million, up 11 percent
20. Louis R. Chenevert, United Technologies, $22.9 million, up 17 percent
21. Kenneth I. Chenault, American Express, $22.5 million, up 38 percent
22. Laurence D. Fink, BlackRock, $21.9 million, down 8 percent
23. Paul E. Jacobs, Qualcomm, $21.7 million, up 23 percent
24. H. Lawrence Culp Jr., Danaher, $21.7 million, up 27 percent
25. Muhtar Kent, Coca-Cola, $21.2 million, up 10 percent
26. Kirk S. Hachigian, Cooper Industries, $21.1 million, down 16 percent
27. Wesley G. Bush, Northrop Grumman, $21 million, down 5 percent
28. Robert J. Stevens, Lockheed Martin, $20.5 million, up 7 percent
29. Louis C. Camilleri, Philip Morris International, $20.2 million, down 2 percent
30. Gregg W. Steinhafel, Target, $19.5 million, down 18 percent
31. James T. Hackett, Anadarko Petroleum, $19.5 million, up 4 percent
32. Steve Ells, Chipotle Mexican Grill, $19.4 million, up 38 percent
33. Leslie H. Wexner, Limited Brands, $19.2 million, down 6 percent
34. James J. Mulva, ConocoPhillips, $19.2 million, up 7 percent
35. Miles D. White, Abbott Laboratories, $19 million, down 6 percent
36. David M. Cordani, Cigna, $18.9 million, up 25 percent
37. Kevin W. Sharer, Amgen, $18.9 million, down 11 percent
38. Montgomery F. Moran, Chipotle Mexican Grill, $18.8 million, up 39 percent
39. Randall L. Stephenson, AT&T, $18.7 million, down 8 percent
40. Richard D. Fairbank, Capital One Financial, $18.7 million, up 26 percent
41. Debra A. Cafaro, Ventas, $18.5 million, up 117 percent
42. W. James McNerney Jr., Boeing, $18.4 million, up 34 percent
43. John S. Watson, Chevron, $18.1 million, up 30 percent
44. Michael T. Duke, Wal-Mart Stores, $18.1 million, down 3 percent
45. John G. Stumpf, Wells Fargo, $17.9 million, up 2 percent
46. Kent J. Thiry, DaVita, $17.5 million, up 24 percent
47. James M. Cracchiolo, Ameriprise Financial, $17.3 million, up 3 percent
48. Paul S. Otellini, Intel, $17.2 million, up 11 percent
49. Robert J. Coury, Mylan, $16.8 million, up 12 percent
50. Evan G. Greenberg, ACE, $16.6 million, up 6 percent

Source: Equilar.

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Top CEO pay equals 3,489 years for typical worker

$10 million a year: the average salary of an American CEO

FILE - In this Sept. 16, 2010 file photo,

 David Simon, CEO of Indianapolis-based

 Simon Property Group. (AP Photo/The
Indianapolis Star, Charlie Nye, File)

The Large Families that rule the world

Top CEO pay equals 3,489 years for typical worker

Associated Press, by Seth  Borenstein, AP Science Writer, May 25, 2012

Related Article: 

• Interactive - Captains of industry: Comparing CEO pay and performance

WASHINGTON (AP) -- David Simon of Simon Property received a pay package worth more than $137 million for last year, and the typical CEO took home $9.6 million, according to an analysis by The Associated Press.

FILE - In this Sept. 16, 2010 file photo, 

David Simon, CEO of Indianapolis-based 

Simon Property Group. (AP Photo/The

 Indianapolis Star, Charlie Nye, File)

Here are some ways to think about just how much money those salaries represent.

Simon's $137 million is almost entirely in stock awards that could eventually be worth $132 million. The company said it wanted to make sure Simon wasn't lured to another company.

HOW LONG IT TAKES OTHERS TO MAKE THAT MUCH: A minimum wage worker - paid $7.25 per hour, as some workers at Simon malls are - would have to work one month shy of 9,096 years to make what Simon made last year. A person making the national median salary, $39,312 by AP calculations, would have to work 3,489 years.

BY THE HOUR: Assuming Simon worked a 60-hour week, his pay was $43,963.64 per hour, or $732.73 per minute. To put that in perspective, the minimum-wage worker would have to labor for nearly three years to make what Simon earns in an hour. The average U.S. worker makes slightly less in one year than Simon makes in an hour.

COMPARED WITH AMERICA'S CEO: Simon makes about 342 times the $400,000 annual salary of President Barack Obama. In fact, if you add the salaries of Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, the Cabinet, the Supreme Court justices, all the members of the Senate and House of Representatives and all 50 governors, it is less than $110 million, so Simon makes well more than government's top 600 leaders. In the past 100 years, U.S. taxpayers have paid a total of $80.6 million, adjusted for inflation, to presidents from Woodrow Wilson to Obama.

The median CEO salary of $9.587 million:

HOW LONG IT TAKES OTHERS TO MAKE THAT MUCH: A minimum wage worker would have to work 636 years to make that much. A person making the national average salary would have to work 244 years to make the median CEO salary.

BY THE HOUR: If you assume the CEO works a 60-hour week, the pay comes to $3,072.84 per hour, or $51.21 per minute. To put that in perspective, the minimum wage worker would have to labor more than 10 weeks to make what the median CEO earns in an hour. It would take the average U.S. worker nearly a month to make what the average CEO makes in an hour.

COMPARED WITH AMERICA'S CEO: The CEO who made the median salary took in 12 times the total $789,674 in gross income that President Obama reported last year. But it is less than half the $20.9 million in income that presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney reported in his tax filing.

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$10 million a year: the average salary of an American CEO

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The Catholic Church's inquisition of American nuns

Though castigated by their own Church authorities, US nuns are far more in tune with the actual views of American Catholics

guardian.co.uk, Victoria Bekiempis, Thursday 24 May 2012

Bishops have opposed healthcare legislation, while nuns are supporting it.
Photograph: Getty/Reuters/Kacper Pempel

So, did you hear the one about the American nuns?

No, this isn't the beginning of a joke. In April, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith – the Catholic Church's current iteration of the Inquisition, if you will – issued an assessment of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious,which represents 80% of the US's 57,000 nuns.

Some key context here: the conference was formed 56 years ago at the behest of the Holy See, to provide "a unified voice" for US nuns who helped the poor, nursed the sick, taught students, worked as missionaries, and fought violence. (Another important bit of background: the congregation is the same arm of the church that bullied Lavinia Byrne, feminist theologian and former British nun, for arguing in favor of female ordination in a 1993 book.)

The conference, according to the Vatican, was spending too much time doing good – and not enough time enforcing church teaching (against abortion, homosexuality etc). So, the nuns actually got in trouble for being, well, nuns. So troubled was the church by this and the women's alleged "radical feminism" that the assessment demanded the appointment of an archbishop delegate to make them behave.

Nope, no joke.

At first, many members of the conference reacted with silent shock. They didn't speak out against the Church because of their vows of obedience. Many have since shot back, however, calling the charges wrongful criticism – and a distraction from the Church's failure to address adequately child molestation charges against clergy.

The Vatican might have gotten one thing right about these women: compared to the rest of the Pope Benedict XVI's ultra-conservative administration, they are radical feminists. But the Church has also gotten something terribly wrong: US Catholicism desperately needs "radical" feminist nuns – and should embrace, not criticize them – if it's going to remain relevant to American society.

A 2008 Pew forum on religion and public life study determined that nearly a third of Americans were brought up Catholic, but that "less than one in four remained so" – meaning the faith had shed "the greatest" proportion of US-born believers. Perhaps even more startling:

• "Roughly 10% of American adults, or 22.5 million, are former Catholics. That would qualify lapsed Catholics as the second-largest single US denomination, behind Catholics, at 54.8 million, and just ahead of the Southern Baptist Convention's 15.1 million members."

In addition, a study conducted by the center for applied research in the apostolate at Georgetown University indicates that "42.7 million Catholics, or two-thirds of US Catholics, are not going to mass." Only some 33% attend regularly. Another approximately 33% attend occasionally, and the rest never go, Catholic advocacy groups report. And the only reason the percentage of Catholics in the US population still hovers around 25%, Pew notes, is because of a steady stream of Latino immigrants.

The denomination's leaders worry so extensively about the hemorrhaging of parishioners that a group called Catholics Come Home launched a $3.5m ad blitz last December, according to the Denver Post, and had sponsored similar marketing campaigns in the past. The non-profit hoped that the 400-plus planned ads, with an estimated audience of 250 million viewers, would boost these sluggish numbers. If you look at lapsed Catholics' reasons for leaving the church, it doesn't seem like a lack of televised adverts quite tops their list.

Researchers at Villanova University's center for the study of church management recently reached out to several hundred lapsed Catholics in the diocese of Trenton, New Jersey. They wanted to figure out why they stopped frequenting mass. They were specifically asked "what issues they would raise if they could speak to the bishop for five minutes," according to the Newark Star-Ledger.

Their complaints included haughty clergy, "conservative haranguing", excessive focus on homosexuality and birth control, as well as negative attitudes toward female ordination. They also "didn't like the church's handling of the clergy sex abuse scandal and were upset that divorced and remarried Catholics are unwelcome at mass."

A key point is that some 66% of respondents "were female, and the median age was 53". This demographic detail has troubled Church leaders, who recognize that it is this group that has in the past tended to indoctrinate younger generations – their children and grandchildren – into the church. Anyone else see what's going on here?

The Catholic Church is shedding US members. Those who have left they church say they don't like the Church's conservative approach toward birth control, homosexuality, and female ordination. The Church has decided not to reconsider these policies – a move that could help maintain membership. Instead, the Holy See has decided to attack the one prominent and popular group among the clergy because they back the modern ideas demanded by believers.

Thus, rather than defending the faith, the Vatican's strategy works only to hasten the extinction of the very institution it's seeking to preserve.

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"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Based in Greece, Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to built Africa to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - New !

"Perceptions of God" – June 6, 2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Quantum Teaching, The Fear of God, Near-death Experience, God Becomes Mythology, Worship, Mastery, Intelligent Design, Benevolent Creator, Global Unity.... etc.) (Text version)

“.. For centuries you haven't been able to think past that box of what God must be like. So you create a Human-like God with wars in heaven, angel strife, things that would explain the devil, fallen angels, pearly gates, lists of dos and don'ts, and many rules still based on cultures that are centuries old. You create golden streets and even sexual pleasures as rewards for men (of course) - all Human perspective, pasted upon God. I want to tell you that it's a lot different than that. I want to remind you that there are those who have seen it! Why don't you ask somebody who has had what you would call a near-death experience?

(SaLuSa channelled by Mike Quinsey, March 16, 2012)

“…. Each project is underway and that will result in a sudden wealth of information reaching you. Events are such that the facts can no longer be kept hidden, and with that there will be an explosion of people coming forward to tell what they know. It may take longer where the Vatican is concerned, as it is akin to a secret society that has kept its dark secrets hidden well away. However, nothing will remain concealed for too long, as you are entitled to know the truth and the extent to which you have been deceived….”  

Christ Consciousness Is The Energy of The New World – Mar 7, 2012  (Kryon channelled by David Brown)

Vatican Bank chief Tedeschi dismissed

BBC News, 24 May 2012

Related Stories 

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• Vatican Bank 'being investigated'
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Mr Tedeschi is under investigation
for suspected money-laundering

The director of the Vatican Bank, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, has been removed from his post for dereliction of duty, the Vatican says.

The bank's board of directors unanimously passed a no-confidence vote in Mr Tedeschi, a statement said.

It said he had failed "to carry out duties of primary importance", but it did not elaborate.

In 2010 Italian police launched an investigation against Mr Tedeschi as part of a money-laundering inquiry.

Members of the board believed Mr Tedeschi's dismissal was needed to "maintain the vitality of the bank", the Vatican statement said.

The board will now look for a new director to restore relations with the international financial community, "based on mutual respect for accepted international banking standards".

Mr Tedeschi declined to comment on his dismissal. He told journalists: "I'd rather say nothing, otherwise I'd say ugly things."

The Vatican Bank, known officially as the Institute for Religious Works (IOR), was created during World War II to administer accounts held by religious orders, cardinals, bishops and priests.

It lost £250m in a scandal involving the collapse of one of Italy's biggest private banks - the Banco Ambrosiano - in 1982, with which it had close ties.

'Misunderstanding'

The Vatican Bank has been headed by Mr Tedeschi, 62, a trained economist, since 2009.

When Mr Tedeschi was placed under investigation in 2010, the Vatican said it was "perplexed and astonished", and expressed full confidence in Mr Tedeschi.

It said the matter was the result of a misunderstanding, and that none of its employees were involved in any wrongdoing.

As part of the inquiry, Italian tax police seized 23m euros ($29m, £18.4m) that the Vatican Bank had tried to transfer from a small Italian bank called Credito Artigianato.

A month later, the Vatican set up a new financial authority to combat money laundering and make its financial operations more transparent, ahead of an EU deadline.

Paolo Gabriele (bottom left) sees more of the

 Pope on a daily basis than most cardinals

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